Q & Athe

December 9, 2010 | Issue #228

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y o u r. i n d y @ g m a i l . c o m LETTER FROM THE EDITOReditor-in-chief:Riley Kennysmith

layout editor:Tara Connel ly

writers:Hil lary AndersonGaby Fiore BolandAdam BreidbartVanessa CavanaghScott DavisMol ly Mur phyMadame Query

copy editors:Erica BascoAlex Prosc ia

print manager:Robyn Wilk ins

cover photo by:Kate McCor mick

artwork by:Riley Kennysmith

web design by:Daniel le Lempp

The Purchase Independent is a non-profit news magazine, paid for by the Mandatory Student Activity fee.

We welcome and encourage submis-sions from readers. The Indy is a forum for campus issues and events, to give students the voice they deserve. Letters, articles, comics, ads, event photography and event listings are welcomed.

The deadline for submissions is every Friday before midnight, and accepted pieces will be published the following Thursday. Publication of submissions is not guaranteed, but subject to the dis-cretion of the editors. No anonymous submissions will be considered, but we will accept use of pseudonyms on a case-by-case basis.

Send all submissions and inquiries to your.indy@gmail.com. Send questions to Madame Query at formspring.me/madamequery. Back page quotes can be submitted to formspring.me/indyback-page or put in the Back Page Box that hangs on the office door.

Our office is located on the first floor of Campus Center North, room 1011. Staff meetings are held in the office every Monday night at 9:30; anyone is welcome to join.

This is our last issue of the semester, and I’m so pleased with how

well the semester has gone for The Indy. We have an amazing staff, and it’s all

thanks to the staff that this publication has become everything I had hoped

of it. Naturally, this last letter must be an expression of my gratitude.

Tara—You’re currently testing all the levers on the office chairs, and I think

the fact that you’re sitting here while I go through my final edits and you

don’t hate me is amazing. You and I work so well together, and I’m glad we

have been able to execute our visions for The Indy so cohesively.

Robyn—Your patience with the printer amazes me. Your patience with me

amazes me, actually. I can never thank you enough for the late nights you

spend babysitting Gerald to print out The Indy each week. You are a saint.

Erica & Alex—The two of you save my life every single week. Without your

edits I would probably spend years staring at copy, slowly losing my sanity

and wondering whether to judiciously split the infinitives.

Hillary, Adam & Vanessa—I’m going to miss having you as my interns.

The three of you have very diverse viewpoints and writing styles that made

this magazine the multi-dimensional work I wanted it to be. I never had to

worry about the next week’s stories because you all come up with pieces

that come together into a thorough coverage of our campus.

Her Campus girls—The day you walked into the office and proposed

our collaboration was a great day for Purchase news. Your human interest

pieces add a great sense of our campus community’s culture and I hope

our publications continue to work together for years to come.

Danielle—Thank you for your amazing ability to already know how to do

something I’m barely imagining. Issuu.com was such a great find for our

online publishing, and your Indy facebook updates sometimes remind me

that we have meetings!

Kate—The photos you come up with are always more than perfect. You

take my obnoxiously vague ideas and bring this magazine to life each week

with your stunning cover photos. The pink umbrella one is my favorite.

Finally, I want to thank Ricky, the PSGA and the campus for

your support. Your faith in me as an editor, your notes and comments of

encouragement, are what keep me going when the proofs start swimming in

front of my eyes. My job is to serve our campus, and I’m glad you feel that I

have been successful.

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C A M P U S

Thus concludes another year, and another semester at

Purchase. What did we learn? I can name a few things:

THE RETURN OF TERRA VE: Ah, bread bowls,

I missed you. Although, Purchase still seems to

be laboring under the delusion that vegetarians

don’t eat on the weekends.

THE STOOD STRIKES BACK: In the past

semester the Stood has expanded metaphorically

and literally. The new rooms benefit students

with art installations in Sweet’s, events in the

Cinema and sustainable goods at the Art Co-Op.

HARRY POTTER: From the release of the new

film to a Quidditch team on campus, HP culture

has been more prevalent than ever this semester.

OUR NEW FRIENDS: Being spied on by cats

while walking to class dramatically improved my

semester, I don’t know about anyone else.

FALL FEST: Music, wristbands, the girl attacking

Raekwon: all tender memories of a Fall Fest

we won’t forget. (If you remember it in the first

place, that is.)

THE LOOP: It has a Twitter account now.

Instead of having to wonder where the hell the bus

is while you wait at the bus stop, let the power of

the internet enrich you with the non-news that it is

running late! But seriously, the new buses get the

comfy seat award from me. Much better than

standing squished in the aisle without even a

safety bar to cling to.

THE NEW MALL: Rejoicing in walking between

the Hub and the Library without having to lap

the campus is quickly countered by the suspense

of what they will fence off next. What strange

routes will we be forced to walk next semester?

Who knows, but at least it will all be done by the

time most of us graduate! Oh, wait…

EVENTS, DOING IT DIFFERENT: There’s been

an upsurge in creativity with events. Theater X

wouldn’t be the first place you’d look for a wild

mosh pit. Lightening Bolt and the GPCs made

it happen. Then Stefan Fink’s senior project

took a childlike sense of wonder to the Great

Lawn, mixing math rock with performance and

puppetry.

FOUR LOKO BANNED: For those students

whose veins pump Fruit Punch Four Loko rather

than blood, it was a sad day. For the rest of us

who prefer not to drink strongly flavored rubbing

alcohol, it was just like any other day.

COVERS SHOW: Singing along to Mariah

Carey, the Jonas Brothers, Weezer and more all

in one night? No, it’s not the playlist you put on

when no one’s around. The crazy crowd at the

covers show would have you looking for a Rivers

Cuomo cameo, but no, all that sweat was merely

the product of childhood dreams coming true.

END OF SEMESTER TOP 10BY HILLARY ANDERSON

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Sweet’s is a new artists’ residency

program at Purchase, open to all students

regardless of year or major. Located behind the

Stood’s main stage, the space was previously

designated as artists’ studios and now functions

specifically to recognize the creative pursuits

of the campus community. I came up with

the proposal for Sweet’s after having ideas for

projects but no way of actually making them.

Rather than leaving these ideas in the conceptual

sphere, I turned to the Student Center and

established Sweet’s as a way to realize these and

others’ artistic ideas.

Sweet’s spring schedule is open for

residencies, for which any student may apply.

Just send me a proposal outlining the project

you wish to pursue and a projected time frame

for the residency. Each residency culminates in a

final exhibition of the students’ work.

The first show at Sweet’s was an

introduction to the space, with work by John

Pierce, Kai Lord-Farmer and myself. Jen

Hitchings followed as the first artist in residence,

culminating in her show “Visual Confessional.”

Most recently Sue Bonanno and Sessa Englund

have been working on their residency exhibition,

which opens this Friday at 6 p.m. They’ve been

working daily on large installation called “Dirty

Laundry,” an exploration of clothing and

its debris.

BY SCOTT DAVISSWEET’S AT THE STOOD

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C A M P U S A RT

For the remainder of the semester,

Art Co-Op invites everyone to keep making

appointments to browse or acquire materials in

the inventory. Or come to our location in the

Stood on December 10 at 6 p.m. for a Holiday

Card Making event! And don’t forget to stop by

to see our vibrant, nearly-completed mural. If

public art is your scope, stay tuned for more Art

on the Fence next semester.

This upcoming break will be spent

researching and contacting organizations like

Materials for the Arts (www.mfta.org) and online

bartering network Our Goods (www.ourgoods.

org) to develop new ways of expanding and

evolving our organization. When we get back

two great sophomores, Zach Babcock and Skyla

Winters, will be joining the team for Spring

2011. Molly Murphy (Coordinator) is taking the

semester off to study in South Africa.

Lastly and as always, we at Art Co-Op

look for new ideas, volunteers and donations to

propel our movement forward. New participants

are welcome to contact us at any time!

email: purchaseartcoop@gmail.com

website: purchaseartcoop.tumblr.com

or search “purchase art co-op” on Facebook

BY MOLLY MURPHY

ART CO-OP UPDATE NEED AN INTERNSHIP

FOR NEXT SEMESTER?(you know you need those extra credits to live in Alumni)

THE INDY OFFERS THE FOLLOWING 2 CREDIT INTERNSHIPS:

writing intern•editing intern•graphic design intern•photography intern•art intern•print managing intern•

INTERESTED? Send us your resume and

3–5 samples of relevant work.

your. indy@gmai l .com

Don’t worry,

has internships for everyone!

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Campus Technology Services will soon

emerged from its reputation as the evil faceless

monster on campus and become every student’s

hero. For years it has been Purchase tradition

to blame anything and everything on CTS as

often as possible, from slow uploads to password

issues and more. Students will have to find a new

scapegoat because CTS is doing everything right

this coming semester.

The big thing to get excited about is that

we’re getting more bandwidth in just a few weeks. According to Bill Junor,

director of CTS, Purchase has two internet

circuits for the campus; back when they were

purchased it was necessary to buy bandwidth

under a long-term contract. Throughout the

time of this contract, the bandwidth became

dated and insufficient as things like Youtube

and other popular video streaming sites came

into vogue. The contract comes to an end on

December 31, 2010, leaving Purchase CTS free

agents to find a new company to provide us

with some much-needed better bandwidth. By

January 1 we will have twice as much bandwidth

as we have now, followed by triple the amount

once both circuits are replaced. Our internet

woes should be long gone when we return to

campus next semester.

Those still hoping for wireless in the

dorms can keep dreaming. It would cost about

$1000 to put up one section of wireless, and

the school would need about 100 of these to

blanket the dorm areas. For those whose brains

are too finals-fried to do math, wireless in the

dorms would cost about $100,000. Wi-fi is not

a necessity, and is seen as a convenience service.

Free wi-fi would be nice, but we’re all still stuck

to the wall with our power chargers anyway, so

ethernet isn’t the end of the world. For those

determined to drop their ethernet cords, students

are allowed to bring their own wireless as long as

they encrypt it and set it up themselves. Students

will be surveyed to find out where more wireless

would be most useful elsewhere on campus.

Campus Technology Services is located

in the basement of the Social Sciences building.

Students frequently bring their computer

troubles down the steps, a service most of us take

for granted, but

CTS is actually in no way bound to fix students’ computers. CTS abides by a code: assuming your computer

used for academic purposes, they will make an

honest effort to fix it if they can do it within an

hour. Considering that they aren’t paid to do

this, the gesture is very friendly and respectable.

According to Bill Junor, a survey is given to

every student helped by the CTS team; the

most recent tally shows a 95% approval rating

from students. “I am thrilled,” said Bill Junor

at a recent senate meeting. “No one goes to the

help desk happy so it’s nice to know that they’re

happy by the time they’re done.”

BUFFERING IS SO LAST YEARBY ADAM BREIDBART

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BUFFERING IS SO LAST YEAR

your. indy@gmai l .com

Our world is not a perfect place, by any

means. But it’s common knowledge that those

of us in first-world countries have a ton of shit

we don’t need. And then there are those of us

who want to do something to make a difference,

and maybe even balance out the injustices of

the world. Hey, we have shoes, and pillows, and

microwaves! Some of us even have flat screen TVs

and more than one winter coat, if we’re lucky.

The fact of the matter is, we are all

pretty lucky, despite whatever teenage angst

you might’ve encountered in your lifetime. By

lucky I mean, we are fortunate enough to have

clean water. We have the opportunity to go to

school, some of us choose to pay thousands

of dollars a year for it, and sleep through our

classes, or are too hungover to haul our asses out

of bed and go. There are millions of children

around the globe who will never own a pair of

shoes, will never go to school, who will rest their

heads down on cement tonight. For those of us

who want to do something about it, there are

opportunities to make a change.

You want to volunteer. Great, so do I!

There are thousands of ways to volunteer—in

your own community, in areas of natural

disasters, et cetera. But the kind of ambitious

volunteer work I’m talking about is overseas. An

excuse to travel, and to make a difference. Still

sound appealing? Good. Open up your laptop,

conduct a few Google searches. Wait a goddamn

second. Some internet browsing may quickly

dampen your hopes of helping those starving

children, or preserving those majestic gorillas.

Why should I have to PAY to VOLUNTEER?

Show me a place that requires shelter-

building, and I’ll show you a thousand local

people desperate for food and shelter. Looking

after volunteers takes time and resources. That’s

why no-one’s jumping to pay for middle class

white kids like you and me to do unskilled labor.

Volunteering is work for no pay, not work just for

food and accommodation, and the organizations

you want to work with are sorely lacking. That’s

why so many of them charge you to volunteer.

Is it still worth it? It’s a confusing and

frustrating question to have to ask yourself,

and then to further evaluate your real reasons

for going. Is it worth it to pay a $400 program

fee, (which is relatively cheap—some of the

more luxurious programs charge a fee upwards

of $3500 to travel to impoverished nations

around the globe) in addition to the cost of

plane tickets, at a place where you’ll make no

money? For some people, the answer will be yes.

Volunteering isn’t always pretty work, but for

many people, it’s the experience of a lifetime.

Even if that means living in a rural village

with no running water or electricity. And you’ll

probably have to poop in a hole.

One standout program I’ve come across

is International Volunteer HQ. You can choose

how long you want to volunteer somewhere,

whether it’s for two weeks or seven months.

VOLUNTEER ABROADBY VANESSA CAVANAGH

(continued on page 11)

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Tattoos already create a generational

gap, but according to Purchase students, there

is also a gender gap. A 2004 study showed that

22% of women in the U.S. have tattoos, but

inked women are treated differently than their

male counterparts.

Rachel Moses, a junior sculpture major,

said, “Guys in tattoo parlors treat guys and girls

very differently.” Moses has several tattoos, and

her current work-in-progress is a large piece on

her back, a lamb surrounded by flowers. “I hate

walking into tattoo parlors and getting treated

like shit,” Moses said. “They’ll usually ignore

you. It’s so sexist, and that’s why I’ve resorted

to giving myself tattoos.” Moses is referring to

‘stick-and-poke,’ a primitive process where a

needle is dipped in ink and poked into the skin

by hand. She has given herself four of these

self-made tattoos and estimates that she’s given

10 to 15 to friends so far. Moses plans to get a

tattoo apprenticeship while studying abroad

in Australia next semester. She’s uncertain if

tattooing is something she wants to do as a

career, but she proposed the idea of an all-

female tattoo parlor as something that would be

both “marketable and really cool,” a safe place

for women to go without facing discrimination.

Melissa Blackerby, a freshman, liked

the idea of a female tattoo shop. She was

uncomfortable getting tattooed by male artists,

who she felt behaved inappropriately. The artist

who did her first tattoo was “really rude” and

overcharged her. He “seemed really rushed, even

though there was no one else there,” and instead

THE TATTOOED LADYBY GABY FIORE BOLAND

RACHEL MOSES DO ING S T I CK -AND-POKE , PHOTO BY CHELS I E MACK

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HER CAMPUS

of taking Blackerby to a private room, did the

piece in the waiting room. When she got her

second tattoo at a different shop, the artists there

redid the first one for free. The first tattoo was

only five months old and already fading: a sign

that it had been botched.

Kimberly Alyse, a junior, said tattoo

artists have always treated her respectfully. It’s

possible that the type of tattoos is what leads to

discrimination from artists: serious ink versus the

stereotypical butterfly on the ankle. “I hate girls

that have those tiny sporadic tattoos,” Alyse said.

Jon Mesa, an artist at Big Joe and Sons

Tattoo in White Plains, agreed. Most of his

clients are women. Although some go for large

pieces, he said, “Most of them get little tiny

cute things.” Mesa added, “I hate when girls

have a bunch of little tattoos squared out in the

most obvious places in the world.” He thinks

tattoos should be original, but he likes tattooing

anybody, with “whatever makes them happy.”

Women must also contend with other

criticism. Moses says that men have to accept her

body modifications for her to date them. In her

experience, some men are completely turned off

and for others it is a fetish; she says they see her

tattoos and not her. Jon Mesa agreed, and said

he sees men in the shop telling their girlfriends

not to get big tattoos. He shook his head, “I’d

love it if my girlfriend got a big tattoo.”

Their tattoo plans are also consider

their future plans for having families. Blackerby

wouldn’t get any tattoos on her stomach and

Moses agreed. Both want children and don’t

want pregnancy to distort the image. Alyse was

unconcerned about a distorted tattoo. “If I’m

30 and want a kid, and I was 18 when I got my

tattoo, I had all that time to enjoy the tattoo.”

Children are another reason Moses

is reluctant to become a tattoo artist. “It’s

something you do for life,” she said. She

doesn’t want to raise a child in a tattoo parlor,

although she believes the stereotypical tattoo

counterculture associated with alcohol and

smoking no longer exists. Alyse notes that there

are a lot of false drug associations with tattoo

culture. About half of the right side of her body

is covered by a massive tattoo of a lionfish, and

she said, “I get judged very easily.”

However, Alyse has found a positive

outcome from her tattoos. At the NYC Tattoo

Convention, she was pulled out of the crowd

and asked to model for Tattoo Magazine. She

was a pinup for three months, and was featured

in an article. These experiences counter the

negativity experienced elsewhere. “There’s no

way I’m stopping,” Alyse said. Her next plan is

for a big piece that will cover her chest and wrap

around her shoulder.

Blackerby acknowledges the existing

stigma and is waiting before she gets highly

visible tattoos, since she’s still deciding on a

future career. If she had job security, she’d “go

all out.”

“It’s gotten to be more accepted now.”

Moses said. She recalled that working as a

waitress, she met a 53 year old woman who saw

her tattoos and excitedly told Moses that she was

going to get her first tattoo that very day.

“I’m imagining what our generation in

a nursing home will be like.” Moses said, and

predicted herself as an elderly woman and what

her tattoos will mean then. “I’m old and saggy

and wrinkly now, but I was awesome.”

This article is published courtesy of Her Campus.http:/hercampus.com/purchase

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MADAME QUERY HAS YOUR REMEDY

Madame has had a wonderful semester advising

all you Purchasians. Forgive her for getting too sentimental,

it’s that time of year when we celebrate giving.

Madame knows that other favorite things lists

from other certain mentorish ladies contain expensive items

no one our age can afford. Have no fear,

Madame Query’s Favorite Things (for a Purchase Holiday) are here!

mooched-off meals:• There are two kinds

of people at Purchase, those who spent their

last meal in November and those who never

had time to eat and now have 55 meals to

their name. Madame is not a Communist,

but ‘tis the season, and we don’t want a kids

forced to dumpster dive in this cold weather.

a good old-fashioned hug:• We’re too

cheap to spend money and these dorms are

always drafty.

taking a shower:• Everyone loves

surprises, even people at Purchase!

a nice library date.• You like that girl, but

it’s finals and you have no time (or money) to

do anything. What better’s better than sitting

in silence together, scrambling over work

that you should’ve started weeks ago?

good old creepy anonymous notes: •Some gems sent to my formspring:

“Every time I read your page I have to catch my

breath and sit down. Your inner beauty and wisdom

transcends the pages leaves me awestruck.”

“I find the way you answer questions gets me hot

and bothered.”

Ahh, who said Madame wasn’t critically

acclaimed?

I’m madly in love with my professor, what do I do? Premiering this week on Lifetime

Television for the Delusional: He’s the new guy

on a campus, quirky handsome professor of

literature. She’s just a shy student with a secret

desire to play vixen. Teacher, I Love You.

Don’t do it! Don’t! This smells of

disaster. Well, do it if you need a good grade.

But seriously, no! Imagine you ask your professor

for some “extra help” and then you two start

smooching. Ew. Wouldn’t you just feel so

weird? Then you see him in class the next day

interacting with other students. All you would

be able to think is “Oh my God, they don’t

know. Or do they? Is he hitting on them?” Even

if you’re the first student he gets with, he turns

into a “Student Fucker.” Do you really want to

be with a guy who is unprofessional? Do you

really want to risk your reputation and his?

Madame wouldn’t want to be with someone who

couldn’t keep his cool in a professional setting. If

something nasty happened (other than hooking

up with a professor) and you stopped hooking up

but he was still your professor, he might give you

a really bad grade.

You know what my advice is. So don’t

do it. I don’t care how hot he is, or what type of

“connection” you have, just forget it! I’m sorry

to make you feel embarrassed for asking this

question, but I want you to snap out of it and

find a fellow student, who you wouldn’t still have

to see twice a week if your eggnog went sour. So

please, be madly in love with someone else.

submit your questions to Madame Query: http://formpsring.me/madamequery

11

A DV I C E

I’ve always wondered, when you are grinding at a party/club etc is the guy supposed to get a boner or not? I know some girls probably wouldn’t appreciate it but it’s bound to happen. The first time a boy ever asked Madame

to bump and grind dance was in the ninth

grade, she was fourteen years old and very

inexperienced. So as you would imagine, it came

as a complete surprise when she felt a little poke

on her back. “What is that? His hands are on my

hips. I’m very confused,” she thought.

Well, that night I learned about the

eleventh finger. And eventually I came to

understand that it was perfectly natural. So yes,

a guy can get a boner when he is grinding. Is

he supposed to? Not necessarily, but it’s human

nature if he does. I just wouldn’t suggest trying

to get a good wankin’ during an extremely bad

Sean Paul song.

As for girls not appreciating it, ehhh...

I’d take it as a compliment, but if you can make

your pokes less noticeable, you would definitely

be safer that way. It’s okay if you get a boner in

public, but it’s not okay if you go poking girls

with it on purpose.

Can I get knocked up if I do it underwater in a hot tub? It’s wintertime and we all have means

of getting warm. Whether it’s shacking up,

hot-tubbing or putting the hot in hot-tubbing.

Obviously, this is an age-old question. According

to AskJeeves (because I am a professional) the

sperm would burn up. Not cause a fire, but you

know, get too hot to still be alive to swim into an

egg. Of course, this is if there is just sperm in the

tub and not actual intercourse occurring. So, yes,

you might be able to get knocked up in a hot tub.

So wrap it up and don’t be a Ho-Ho-Ho.

(continued from page 7: Volunteer Abroad)

The program fees are modest, ranging from

$200-500, but the tricky part is the airfare. A

round-trip ticket to Vietnam or Cambodia will

cost you at least $1500, if you get a good deal.

That doesn’t even include all the vaccination

fees, heftiest for those going to Africa. For some

programs that will pay your airfare and cover all

your other expenses, certain requirements need

to be met, and it’s unlikely that broke college

students will have 5+ years’ experience working

in hospitals or extensive foreign language skills.

But there are other programs out there for us, if

you really dedicate yourself to browsing the web.

Then there’s always the Peace Corps.

They cover every last expense, and even

compensate you at the end of your tour with

roughly $7,000 to get yourself settled. This can

only be considered by those willing to commit

two years of their life to the cause, and who

don’t mind living on sixty cents a day or less,

depending on the region you’re assigned to. It

looks really great on a resumé, though.

Personally, I plan on raising enough

money this summer to travel to Vietnam next

winter break. If I’m home for a month and a

half, what the hell am I going to do besides watch

Netflix and eat too much ice cream? But that’s

only half the battle. The other half is convincing

my parents that I’ll be safe flying across the

world, to prove that I’m determined to do this, to

travel. To help in any way I can, because I want

to. And if you feel simarlily, then you’ll find a

way. Three cheers for the internet.

12SUBMIT BACK PAGE QUOTES VIATHE BOX OUTSIDE CCN 1011OR ON THE WEB AT: HTTP://FORMSPRING.ME/INDYBACKPAGE *some quotes have been rewritten for legibility or to preserve the anonymity of the submitter