uconn free press issue 7 2011: "a gift of justice"

8/3/2019 UConn Free Press Issue 7 2011: "A Gift of Justice"

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A S tu d en t O c cu p ie r'sTake on #O WS

*A n N Y P D O f f i c e r ' s T a k e o n l O W S*H o w to C ele br ate a F es tiv us fo r th e

Rest -of -us*How to Cook a

SCrt ImtrtJ le lcentH o lid a y M e al

*S ic k P oe tr y fr omU C on n S tu d en ts*

A n d l o t s , L O T ~m o r e !C E l l ' i ' I I ~ I E I ) 1 ~ l l E E P l l E S S E X C I J I ] S l ml I s e . I~IINJ)EJ) 'I'HIS

THE FO LLOW ING DOSE OFHOL ID A Y -T H EM ED , CA R AMEL -CENTERED , FREE PRESSG OO DN ESS IS IRO UG HT TO

YO U I Y . . .

y = :

,~~fi1t"~1l~wilen its"demociatkally elected: repre-I jl 'entafves--a small , trusted few chosen.' ~l(/" r~yxth'e~assest/to ~epresent !h~?cie~ 'S s~nab is be legal ized and regulated?"0'}tlterests at lar:ge,..-cannot settle their "&1"S'rece"end ". ' 1 bl" ' . thr , . . ~ , c #' J H J:I " um IS avai a e HI 0 erdifferences "W1th words? What happ~lils ' ~nie.F~s:an states. however), polls and

when~!:l;r Je~ders cann9t tall\outl inte~- petiti~Fis ar~usea 1i~ Heat and interp;~tnalproble~s amongst themselv~s wi~- the will Qfthe mass,rs. Eb.r d:am Ie:Re-'?.ut;,somekind of debacle breaking o~t? cent Gallup Dollsshow that for1he firstWHat d o, s it mea n ' , ;h eomY'0ead er s ~ ;: 0 .1; f / ' 16 "h ~ t/ ~.114 '1' lt& , 6 , ,' ,. 1,' time, 50~ of Arnericaris t'Stlpp0rtave 0 car lIJ peop e WIll gun} fO,:!SOe 1: 4 /I( . ' I . J . '. .what they cann.ot with speech ? p d rea-" le~ahzmg s : a n . Q : ~ l ; > l s . Oe )OU1s.llIll-

1""'7(( J : 1 " ' / / ; . . th t 'I ., 1 -' '# .' b dson? . e , agme a o ur n at rona g ove rnmg, 0 y,- '1$"h '_y ' ." . z '// 11 As a collective. o. representatives fbf the:L I. ',/4'7. I ' )If"I t i s ~ :quest io~tha ( does not requi re a / Arpel 'lCan c tnzens a t l arge , wou ld act

~ po li ti~ al a ct ivi st o r e ve n a PQl~IS cim aP on su ch a manda te; Or , yq,u khow,}he.p 0'711' 0t.1' dmi trati uld . ,,; c,~or to /ayswer. 'There's a reason society' u~a a' mInIS ration C ? " mcreaser,has)~at, le~t very ladually moved ' ro9 1 ~e war o~ d)ugs to an, , .gpFecede~tealhesword (av~ry person way ofusing scale,ie;vep. worse tJlan iliat seen under~ l;g Iii j/ '~ , r Bus t: .'[ r (Sa rc ( s id th . 'Af. murae r to eon trol people) to the 'kun (a f:n,) ,asm aSI fl, esecono one IScomfortablv lets ,personal.way'"'of using t;4eone ~at's, actu~~}j,nappened over theI", ;f If ',' ( p;r fi ' / Y f ' . , .murder to control people) to" the pen (aY ,past ew years)!

d 'cl f / ..},'-mo ern , mur e r- r ee way to ,cont ro l the{), '1'; ln~asses. Now available }t a'far:getj nearyou!) In.the me pt!arge, cQsm9politansociety;;we are used td, ' democratic vot-. / . ,"l I/de') . ' . ! ' . ; ' I I : . .IiLngISuse .to gIve,-precise V1e~..> f ho~the I m p l i c is vibing on a/certain issue. fnv 'if J ,'. 7)areas sl; lchas the State of Connecticut, I .

I I 1 I : ~ _ ~ '~ f c l 1 n e ~ . ~ ~~m.lDl11l~g~ -it JUSt re.q~ires tlJenough afientlOn to cat


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you've ever had to gothrough theandburdensome processII student group funding.

"The glasses"The t-shirts

Dogs ( they cur rent ly run i ttheir own pockets. I t shouldits own Tier-III, but that's a

ly different story)time you didn't vote but kept

a sked to regi st er and do soby thOIStJ~~Jrpeople in ties" (good call

by the way. It's for squaresgrandparents)


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f . t l t f i l l i y a r " - i l i e t i m e w h e n a n ~ h i n g a n d e v e r y i l i i n g t h a t c a n b e c o v e r e d i n l i g h t s , t i n s e l , a n d s h i n y o r n a m e n t sw i l l b e c o v e r e d i n l i g h t s , t i n s e l , a n d s h i n y o r n a m e n t s , A t i m ew h e r e o u r c u l t u r e t a k e s i r s a l r e a d y e x c e s s i v e e m b r a c e o f c o m m e r c i a l i s m a n d h l c k s i t u p a n o t c h , L u c h l l y , i l i e r e a r e s o m e o p t i o n s f o r t h o s e o f u s w h d d r a t h e r n o t b o w d o w n t o i l i e c o r p o r a t i o n s t h a t s t a n d t o p r o f i t f r o m i l i e g e n e r a l p o p u l o u s ' i n s a t i a b l en e e d t o s p e n d m o n e y o n f l a s h y p r e s e n t s f o r e v e r y o n e w e k n o w ,F o r u s , i l i e r e i s f e s i M ! A h o W a y t h a t f J i l s i D d J e i a o f t h e

o v e r z e a l o u s m a t e r i a l i s m w e r e u s e d t o ,< -- -A T Y PI CA L F E ST IV U S P O LE ( NOW A V AI LA B LE A T T H E C O -O P !~ )*p r ob ab ly n ot

Festivus boas ts several othertraditions, namely the Festivusdinner and the Airing ofGriev-ances. A Festivus dinner is sup-posed to be held on December

I t's a lw a y s g r ea t w h e n a w e so m e t h in g s 23rd; the only specific require-l d . t h t h ment for a Festivus dinner isa r e a y e X ls s an s- p 0 o s O p tha t it has an Airing of Griev-ances during the meal. In termsof its meaning within Festivus,the Air ing of Grievances con-sists of everyone at the dinnertable taking turns telling theother people at the table howand why they 've been a disap-pointment over the last year.Feelings might get hurt, butthat's the beauty of the holiday!

Originally popularized whenit appeared in an episode ofSeinield; Festivus is a secularholiday that focuses on reduc-ing the commercial aspect ofthe traditional holiday season.Unlike Christmas, Festi-vus isn't attached to anyparticular religious belief,making i t an excel lent choicefor atheis ts who don' t like theidea of a yearly celebrat ion ofJudeo-Christian ideology (orreligious folks looking to spice

it up).The most well-known aspect ofFestivus is its symbolic contrastto the average Christmas tree,the Festivus Pole. The poleitself isn't much more than ametal rod, but that's the point.A perfect Festivus pole shouldbe nothing more than a pla inmetal rod with no decorationsand maybe even a few dings or

scratches. You can put a Fes-t ivus pole anywhere a Chris t-mas tree would usually go, justmake sure that i t isn' t f lashy asthat would defeat the purpose.Beyond its recognizable pole,

Festivus i s tons of fun to cele-brate if you can manage to geta dinner table's worth of par-t icipants who 'get' the idea of itand don't just see the holiday asan abomination of Christmas. Ifyou can't manage to find peopleto have a Festivus dinner with,and want to do more to mockChristmas than simply puttingup a Festivus pole there are sti ll

plenty of options.You can start of by rewrap-ping your Christmas presentsin something that says 'HappyBirthday' on it and subsequentlytaking a sharpie to the wrapping

paper and writing 'Jesuevery instance of Happday. Y'know, just soremind your Christianwhat they're supposed t

ebrating.There's also the choicethe Pastafarian route

holiday celebratio

FLY ING I MOD I ET Y OF P A S TAFA R IA

For those who don't kntafarianism is a satiricalmeant to showcase howlous our modern -daycan get byworshippinging Spaghetti Monster aThe Pastafar ian equivChristmas is simply caliday' and is completelended; there are no reson how Hol iday is c(as that isthe Pastafarialife, free of dogma andism) or even a specif icit to be celebrated on.sence, someone couldFestivus (with any aprovisions) and have ias a Pastafarian Holidaahead and have a ball, ayour own holiday fit t

liking!


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* other words , i t set s a mindsetreminding people to buy, buy,buy.

In a 2004 survey, alcosumption was raised an41 % in December, whsales are expected to t~50B I L L I O N alone. Soyou may be asking, whpoint? The overarchingto this excessin consumthat money can't buy haIn many surveys, Amerported increased stresthe Holiday season, wicit ing the need to buy gtight budget asthe mainWhile, no, I am notanybody to not get prebe frugal in their expenI simply am encouragto make informed dand understand the coist culture while beingto certain marketingschemes, and propagan

vertising.

This intense sense of con-sumerism begs an inter-est ing question; when is

enough, enough.According to the National RetailFederation, 2010 pre-Christmassales were ~584,3 I L L I O N . How-ever, 2007 pre-Christmas saleswere ~566,3 I L L I O N , before therecession. This trend shows thatChris tmas sales have been onthe rise, virtually remaining re-cession-proof. In a recent Gal-lup Poll, "Americans currentlyestimate they will spend an av-erage of~764on Christmas giftsthis year. That is ~50more thanwhat they estimated at this timelast year, a 7% increase, andpoints to a modest r ise in holi -

day retail sales:'

In 2008, this physiological fren-zy even turned violent. In NewYork, Nassau County, a Wal-Mart employee was trampled todeath by a mob oftwo-thousandcrazed shoppers. A sign some-one hung over the entrancestating, "Blitz Line Starts Here:'begun what was a mad dash asthrongs flooded through thedoors inhopes to get good deals.Even this Black Friday, nearlytwo dozen people were injuredwhen a woman pepper-sprayedher fellow shoppers in an at-tempt to ge t the upper hand at

the bargain-hunting.

,,~ ~ -h fk Q A\ k Q A\~ ~*Asthe lines get longer, theshopping lis ts grow, andthe shelves become bar-ren, the Christmas season

is officiallyupon us.While many think of theChristmas holiday as a timefor celebration, others see it asa time of marketing, advertis-ing, and $ $ $ $ . Holiday themessuch as mist le toe, reindeer ,and Santa Claus usually cometo mind, and yet seldom dowethink about gluttony, drunken-ness, and consumerism. How-ever, these three insatiable ap-petites fuel the Holiday season,and whi le presents s it underthe tree, businesses are raking

in billions.

Meanwhile, the national unem-ployment rate hovers at 9.1%.Putting all ofthis in perspectivecan be summed up in one sen-tence: the amount ofmoneythat is spent on Christ-mas exceeds the total GDP'(Gross Domestic Product)or total wealth ofsome na-

tions.

The Holidays are certaintime for families, coupindividuals to enjoy withting hammered by feelsured into excessive buyconsumption. Soenjoytopen the presents, andin the Hol iday spir it ,advise you to be infor

modest inyour appr

' l i l !J PR.OrYE 'YOU LO',VE VOU I R . FAMIL 'Y iThus, Christmas andconsumerism become

intertwined.But before you read on: No, Iam not bashing Christmas orthe Holiday season. Nor amI agreeing with dear old Mr.Scrooge when he uttered his fa-mous "Ba-Humbug:' I,too, likesomany others look forward tothe presents under the tree andthe stockings on the wall. How-ever, before you tear open the

~usic and start having Holi~day themes earlier and earlier?This i s not because they wantto bring Christmas early or be-cause they enjoy the Holidays,i t's all about that l it tle, all im-

portant, green paper.

r wrapping, eat till your >stomachexplodes, and drink till youknock yourself cold; let's thinkabout a couple of th ings f irst .The "Christmas Spirit:' asit hasbeen called, is a categorized,boxed, and exploitative mind-set that businesses meticulous-

ly calculate and market. " t h i s i s n o t t o s u g g e st t h a t X m a s i s t h e od a y t o s u ff e r c o m m o d i f i c at i o n n o r i s i th o li d a y i n t h is b ig h a pp y " ho li d a y s e a so n

Christmas music, themes, andadvertising are aimed at mak-ing the average consumer feelthe Christmas crunch. In

Have you ever noticed thatstores start playing Christmas


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cuts and donate a portion (or allof it), again to a charity of yourcnoice*. You may be surprised athow much you can scrounge up.IF deflating money is completely

Here at m @ ~ l1 ' @ @ ~ W @ SS SS ,we love tomess with popular culture. So

them based on financial stability,accountability, and transparency.Being aninformed donor isan im-portant part of contr ibut ing to an

effective charitable society.our

one season?


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the free press.


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and flashed the off icer behind theglass my ID.He briefly looked atitand buzzed open an armored doorto the le ft and whi ch I walked in .I t rotted down a long hal lway andin to t he l ocker room down at theend . Foley was a lr eady in thereget ting changed. "Hey O'Brien,they called you in too?" Foleywas about my age, we had goneth rough the academy toge ther,no t in the same company bu t thesame class.We were also just aboutthe only two I rish cops le ft in theprecinct. "Yeah,they need the un-stoppable force that is the rookiesfor some th ing today" I quippedback. Foley had finished tying hisboots and started walking out. "Al-right, I'll see ya in there:' I openedmy locker and qui ck ly pu t on myblues, boots, bel t, cover and vest.Everything was standard issue onmy bel t: radio, f lashlight, kni fe ,cuffs, expandable. I put my serviceissue-on my bel t and stepped out

ofthe locker room.

hour. As ofnow our est imates putthe number ofprotesters a t about1200. It i s a lso start ing to get un-ruly and which what makes i t ourproblem now. The city has alreadyhave about 200 officers there alongwith riot pol ice just incase the sit -uatien deteriorates. Sergeant Wor-thington wil l take a team of eightto the protest. Sergeant Worthing-ton, have you chosen your team?"

may havebeen an older gconnected with the rookic lass a t least. He was l ikebrother but without theA r e N o t t h e A i i r e s s o r s "

Lights and sirens the whoWallStreet. Weparked indle of the street and theus p iled ou t Assoon a sout I could see the WallSBroadway s tr eet s ign.Worthington reunded ubefore we could wanderbunch of fifth graders otr ip . He ges tu red for ush im and we a ll f el l i n. Wth rough the sea o f parkevehicles; all different typers, vans, communicationer s. ja f ew scoot er s, I t hinhave even seen of thospeacekeeper t rucks. Wefor a minute to grab rjust in case things got reI grabbed a hanQ~full anthem to mybelt like everyI felt like I had just stepp lane in I raq and I wasabou t by my new comofficer. "O'Brien and Fothere: ' Wor th ington poempty s top in f rom of tcade, the crowds behind iing and chan ting. "Youl ieved eventually, don't

if".

A ND A NO NY MO US N YP D O FF IC ER 'S P ER SP EC TIV E O N T HE W A LL S TR EE T P RO TE ST Sdiner:' "Well alright then, so long:' have your ttE.l$;tsout and ready':

He stepped up to me and I flashedmy badge and ID. "Grand Central,off icer?" "Yessi r: ' I replied as heclipped a ticket receipt and place iti nmy sea tback. Hemoved on a sI

dozed off for a few minutes.

Iwas awoken from my sleepby the vibrations coming

from mybedside table.I was qui ck to re ali ze t hat it wasmya larm ca lli ng me in on my dayoff.I had worked 56hours over thelast three daysand was running ona mix of fumes and fi ve hour en -ergy drinks. This was the first daythat I was actually able to gehomerather than sleep inthe back oftheprecinct. I drug myself out ofbedand pul led on:an old pair ofjeansas well as a worn in gray t-shirttha t lay wrinkled on the ground. Istumbled over to myweapons safe,knelt down and carefully enteredthe combination and retrieved m-x;service issue and holster . I stum-bled back up and walked down thestairs, out ofthe attic and down an-other flight, into the living room.

I had moved in with my grand fa -ther after college in order to get onthe forc e. L ike th re e cous in s be-fore me , i twas t he next s tep af terschool but before the real world. Itwas a logic choice after a ll ; I sti llhad student loans to pay back. Iqui ck ly and s loppi ly t hrew on apair ofshoes and t ied them. In oneswift mot ion I grabbed by wal le tand badge from offthe kitchen ta-ble and stepped out the front doorand down the stoop steps. IfI hur-r ied I cou ld cat ch the 9:48 out ofValhalla to Grand Central . That' swhen i tme. Itwas 9:31. I got got-ten l ess t han fou r hours o f s leep.Itwas going to be another one of

those days.

"Yes sir:' Sergeant Worthingtonstood up and said hastily. "Every-body listen up: Shaw, Griffin, Tor-res, Miller, O'Brien, French, Foley,and Ward. In t he motor poo l, van4, after morning briefingRoycewen t on with t he re st o f b rie fingand d ismi ssed us soon enough .The eigh t of us walked d ir ect lyto the motor pool in silence andwaited for the sergeant who wasn'tfar behind us. We piled into thevan with the sergeant driving.

"Alright boys listen up. We areheading up to Wall Street andBroadway for this protest. The ma-jority of stree ts have been closedoff.The protesters are supposed tobe getting rowdy but I want youguys to restrain yourselves. Don'tgoflyingoffthe handle atevery as-shole who calls you a fascist. Bele-nient but don't let them abuse you.

Got me?"

I awoke to the passengers ofthe t ra in car exi ting. I wai ted un-t il t he ca r was empty before I gotup. I s tepped out and onto the hotpla tform looking forward I couldsee the passengers ofthis train andthe adjacent one walking to theexit, they looked like herded cattle.There were still a few stragglers soI walked on the yel low line on theright side of the pla tform, next tothe train. I moved rapidly throughthe ma in concourse; I don 't evenlook at the cei ling anymore , but Ican't help but try and dodge every-one with their necks cranked backa4miring the stars. I jogged downa flight of stairs to the subwaywhere I jumped on the shu ttl e t oTimes Square. That ismy everydaycommute; Metro north to GrandCentral , the shutt le to the 1train,

and that to 34th street.

A few doors past the locker roomwas the briefing room. I was greet-edby about 25other officers. Foleywas s tanding in the back roomwith the rest ofthe rookies. Iwasn'tin t he room for 2 minut es beforeLieutenant Roycewalked in. "goodmorn ing folks: ' Royce had beenon the force for god knows howmany years. His dark brown skinhad begun to sag but that didn'tmean he wasn' t the most respect -ed officer in the room. LieutenantRoyce stepped up and behind theawait ing podium, shuff led somepapers and begun. "Today isgoingto be a rough one. There isan evergrowing protest going on at Wal lStreet. It i s growing in sizeby the

I walked to t he end of SunnysideAvenue, past the middle school,public library a n a the bus stop. Itwas a "nic eday out , not t oo manydouas and a cool breeze. I wish Iwas able to enjoy i tmore but I hadto pick up the pace if I wanted toca tch the tr ain . I was going to cu tit close but I made it. A s soon asI had stepped onto the train thedoors had closed and I had hea rdthe classic "watch the closing doorsplease" come over the intercom.I found a seat midway down thecar and collapsed into the leather.Before I was even able to close myeyes I heard the conductor say"tickets please. Please everyone

My grandfa tHer was up al readywatching fox news. They had as to ry about some pro te st s i n t hec it y. "We ll, good morn ing Mat -thew! What time did you get inlast night?" my grandfa ther saidfar too loud for the amount oftime I'd been awake. "Good morn-ing grandpa. I got in late, rea l late.And thank you for the diner youleftout for me"l replied. "Oh goodyou got it, good, good:' "Yeah,butI have to goin now:' "So soon? Ohboy:' "Yeah,I don't know what timeI'll be back either so I wouldn'tbother saving me anything for

S ergeant Worthington was Sergeant Worthingnothing short of a badas s. I had walking with the rest ofheard that he was once a semi- Foley and I turned to facpro boxing but I don't know hower-changing crowd. The etrue that rumor was. He only car- absolutely reeked ofpot.ried his weapon, handcuffs and a came to realization thatr adio on h is bel t. He was tough these peop le a re my age.Tenough to be abl e t o t aken down al l holdi ng s igns and sany assai lant , tha t didn' t require a All ofthei r faces blurredweapon with h is bare hands. He The l as t t ime I saw aga th...

The subway let out just a blockfrom the precinct. The precinct it-selfwasjust a dilapidated red brickbui lding. If i t weren 't for the halfdozen cruisers parked outside youwouldn 't even be able t o t ell t hati t was a pol ic e s ta tion. I walkedin through the front double doors


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this was the Puerto Rican day pa-rade but this was much more in-tense. The only difference betweenthat and this was that Iknew whatpeople were cheering about there.A por tl y woman r ight i n f ront o fme wore a camouflage jacket andheld a sign that said "We are the99%:'Iidn 't want toshow itonmyface but I t the t ime Ihad no ideawhat the hel l that meant . Over thecourse of the first hour the crowdshifted quite a bit but Ikept seeingthe same things over and over. GuyFawkes masks, 99% signs, twenty-some things with scruffy lookingbeards. As expected, every singleone ofthem had something to sayto me; after a whi le Iust t uned i tout. Nobody was that creative.Iouldn't have been there for morethan an hour and a half when ithappened. A trail in the crowdopened up, like somebody wasrunning with the Olympic torch.A man in his thirties, wearing bluejeans , a black t-shirt, and a GuyFawkes mask was sprinting at thebarricade holding a chair over hishead. Itwasn't some plastic lawnchair but a metal folding chair thatwre st le rs use t o smash ove r e acho the r's heads . He s topped at t hebarricade and threw it at Foley.He was quick enough to duck andlet i t smash into the windshield ofthe pat rol car behind him. Inev-e r t ook my eye off the guy and henever had a chance. He had turnedaround torun when Igrabbed un-der his armpits and ripped himoverthe barricade and pinned himon the ground in one swift motion.The chair hadn' t even slid off the

was inbetween his shoulder bladesas Iput a pair of my riot cuffs onhim. A black officer,who had beens tanding nex t t o me , p icked theguy up and walked him to await -ing van that Foley had called inove r the rad io . The who le crowdbooed us for taking him away. Re-a lly? Somebody throws a chair a tme and I 'm jus t supposed to take

it?Fuck that.

"defecating of a police vehicle:' Iexhaled, rol led my eyes and keptwalking. Sergeant Worthingtoncaught me before Ireturned tomy spot in from ofthe barricades.He point ed to a whi te shi rt, whoalready had about five rookiesfol lowing h im , and told me to go

with him.The whi te shi rt was a capt ai n, anolder w liite man with gray hair

After 5 hours Sergeant Worthing- and slightly overweight. The cap-ton came back and dismis sed tain led us to amoderately seclud-Foley and Ior an hour. Idecided ed area and briefed us . "Alrightto goand f ind a p la ce t o ea twhe re l is ten up, t he Fir st Depu ty Com-Iwouldn't get harassed byprot es - m issi oner i shere and you are t hetors . Wading back through the detail as signed with making suresea of police vehicles Iwitnessed nobody kil ls him. Here he isnow: 'a unit of officers in full riot gear, A skinny, older man wearing aI couldn' t help but think "I rea lly blue sui t with graying hair walkedhope those guys don' t see ac ti on up and greet ed us. He exchangedtoday:' Igot about a block away words with the captain for a min-before Iwas approached byano ld-ut e. The Deputy Commissione rer woman asking for directions. wore his s hield plate on the out-She came up and very pol itely said side ofhis jacket; i twas covered in"excuse me officer , how do Iget medals and accommodations heto 50th street?" Iooked at what had received after years ofservice.street we were on and s aid "yes He looked back at u s, nodded, andma 'am, you have to - " , A short , s ta rt ed walk ing towa rd the p ro tes -very angry looking woman came tors.up and started screaming "you're aFascist ! Those are words of a Fas-cist!" Ishot tha t woman an angrylook and she shuffled away, then Igave the older woman directions.She thanked me and weboth went~ on our way.Igot lunch at a roach coach Ifound and walked back to the war-zone. When Iarrived Isaw fouroff icers carrying a man, with hispants around his ankles, and tosshim into the back ofa van. Isked

chai r before he was on the g round one of t hem wha t he was a rre st edwith four off icerson him. Myknee for , he responded promptly with

Wemade our way through the po-lice vehicles once again. The Dep-uty Commissioner went immedi-ately to the barricade looked atthecrowd. Hetook a step closer tothec rowd when an a rm came out andgrabbed him. The arm grabbed hisshi el d and proceeded to t ry andrip it offhis jacket. On the officers,without missing a beat, whippedout h is expandable and swung i tdown on the mans arm. Ihearda very satisfying metal clang. Therest ofus pul led him over the bar-ricade and pinned him on the}

ground . He had torn the Depu tyCommissioner's jacket but hisplate was still hanging on. Iook apair ofmy riot cuffs and put themon him. We stood Ri m up and theDeputy Commissioner gave hima pissed off look. Iook himawaiting cruiser. Iaterwas charged with attempted

larceny, obstructing governmentadministrat ion and resisting ar-rest. I 'm not ent irely sure what he

was trying to accomplish.

vorcmg their opinionsmined the ent ire movemecating on a police vehiclend corpora te greed. Calfascist willnot make youemployable. Iam a persoa p o li ce o ff ic er , a n d I

t h e a g g re s s o r .The protestors have every right tobe here and voice their opinions. Iagreed with the majority of themtoo. But they way they went about

D o r li R a in e y , 8 4 y /o , a ft er b e in g y.p e p p er -s p ra y ed b y p o li ce a t O c -c up y S e a tt le . A p re gn a nt w o m -a n w a s a ls o p e pp e r s pr ay ed o n

th e s am e d ay a t t h e p ro te st .S h e m i sc a rr ie d l at er t ha t d a y.

E x -M a r in e S c o tt O l se n , a f te r b e in g s h o t i n t he h e a d b y p o li cw i t h a t ea r- ga s c an is te r, a nd th e n s u ff e ri ng m o re d a m agw h en a f la sh g re n ad e w a s l o bb e d a t h is h e a d a s h e l a y i n ju re

a n d m o t io n le s s o n t he g r ou n d .

p m ess , non -viole nt , an d c le ar ly aggre ssive p n g s tude nts a he althy

d os e o f c o nc e n tr at ed p e pp er -s pr ay t o t he f ac e .\


12/15

An anonymous UConn

The Occupy Wall Streetgrassroots movementand its over 1ffiOsiblingsThe Occupy Wal l Street grassrootsmovement and i ts over U; O siblingsacross the country have achieved un-precedented puBlic support, despitenumerous incidents ofextreme policeviolence on the par t of the s tate . Themovement's unique structure isBasedon participatory, consensus-baseddecision-malting, as exemplified bythe General Asser~.bly. Some seethisa s a weakness t ha t t he re a re no tan-gible 'goals: whi le for many this i s infact the movements greatest strengthand makes its appeal far reaching.Students from the Uni-versity of California toHarvard have organized'walk -outs' to opposetuition hikes ana course con-tents , as wel l as protest s and teach-in' s to support the ethos of the move-ment. M any of these event s, a s inthe most recent OReat UC Davis andbefo re t ha t a t UC Berk ley, have r e-sulted in extreme police violence in-volving pepper spray and batons onnon-violent s tudent protestors whoare exercising their First AmendmentRights. These violent reactions on thepart of institutional powers (whethera university or a government) clearlyshow that thi s movement i s evokingfear and that weare in fact 'free' to ex-press ourselves only in 'theory: Manyacademics have also shown their sup-port along with students by staying atOccupy sites , by running teach-in' sand 1 or by publi shing their views.

The American Association of Uni -versity Professors has also declaredtheir support , recognizing such is-sues as student debt that has readied1 trill ion. Additionally, according toDan Berrett writing in the Chronicleof Higher Education the intellectualroots of the movement l ie in the aca-

deme itself.David Graeber is the British anthro-pologis t credi ted with int roducingt his decen tra li zed s tr uc tu re to t hemovement. He based i t on researchp e d id wi th t he people o f Be ta fo i nadagascar who practice what hecalls "consensus decision-making':Berrett in his article quotes Graeberwho states that one key lesson of thelast 20years ofrevolutionary strugglehas been t ha t "The means and ends

b e the same" (10/16 /011) .

The methods of engagement are themessage, making their commit-ment to non-violence akey aspect oftheir defining ethos. Yet,despite sig~ificant campus support,as wel l as Barrett 's c la im, I have notread or heard of anyone discuss ingthe implications of this movement'sdecentralized structure and complex

participatory, consensus-based deci-sion-making for college classroomsor for higher-learning institutions atlarge. More signi ficant ly I have notyet read or heard of anyone put tingt he movements def in ing qua li tie s

into practice: have you?The structures of the average collegeclassroom in terms ofthe pedagogicalpractices asmost ofyou know involvenothing akin to direct democracy orconsensus decis ion making. In fact,everything from the chosen readings,assignments, day to day engagementand ways in which you are assesseda re a ll dec ided oy one i nd iv idua l -the professor. I am therefore not sur-pri sed that according to a study thatfollowed several thousand studentsa t 24 col lege s f or f ou r yea rs , mosts tudent s d id not improve in e ithertheir critical thinking, or their writ-ten communication (Arum & Roksa,

2011).Obviously, something is goingawry ifin most cases students (manyof you included) are not learning tothink complexly and communicateclear ly. In the art ic le "Study: ManyColl ege S tudents Not Lea rn ing toThink Critically" (10/17 /11) aboutArum and Roksa 's research, authorSara Rimer paraphrases educationaltheor is t Howard Gardner 's view ofthe resul ts ; i t underscores the needfor higher education to push stu-dents harder. In contras t, I think weneed t o r ad ical ly t rans fo rm muchof the structure of our classes tomake th em mo re akin to a Gener-al Assembly. As Graeber i s quotedin Berrett's article "Itmakes you feel

d if fe rent t o go t o a mee ti ng wher eyour opinions are really respected:'Imagine how dif ferent ly you wouldfeel and consequen tl y l ea rn , i f i n-stead of b eing told wHat to do andhow to do i t you were abl e t o r ea llydebate and discuss key componentsof your classroom exper iences witheach other and us. Would you notthen constantly be pract ic ing cri ti -c al th inki ng? For i f t he re is one keylesson about authentic direct democ-racy , i t is t ha t once you open it s boxthen everything is up for discuss ionand debate, including the box itself.

Tosuppor t my claim that consensusdecis ion making automat ical ly in-volves cri ti cal thinking ski ll s, I wil lshare an example I read about in theOccupied Wal l Street Journal pub-l ished by Manissa Mccleave Maha-rawal (10123/11) . In this piece "SoReal ItHurts: Building a New Repub-lic", Maharawal describes the nightthat the Declaration of the Occupa-t ion was read and how when she real-ized that the "proposed text ignoredpeople from countries that have beencolonized ..." she knew that this "wasnot somet hi ng [she ] cou ld get be-hind': Instead ofleaving asshe mighthave done (or inthe caseof the class-room tuning out 1 texting ...etc) hadshe fel t there was no chance for dis-

Check out the "OccupyUConnand Storrs" face.ook pa&e to sdated on the Occ-UConnMove,ent: www.face.ook.colI/OccupyU

cussion or democratic process (giventhat her voice represented a his tori -cally marginalized one) she and someof her South Asian friends decidedto block the decis ion; the most ser i-ous act a par tic ipan t can per fo rm .Gathering up all her courage in frontof hundreds of people, she told " theGeneral U\ssembly that they wanteda small change made to the language,bu t that this ch ange represented alarger ethical concern. Toerase a his-tory of oppress ion . ..was not some-thing that we could allow to happen':A debate ensued among those assem-b led and i n t he end a change wasac -tually proposed. Maharawal and her

friends withdrew their block.In reflecting upon this incident, Ma-harawal states "Letme tellyou what itfeels like asa woman ofcolor to standi n fr on t o f a wh it e man and exp la inprivi lege to him. It hurts.. .. Everysingle time, I am proud of myselfthat I 'vebeen able to say these thingsbecause I used t o not be able t o, andbecause some days I jus t don't wantto: ' She goeson to say that asa resul to f her b lock t he a ss embly ended updoing "acrash course on white privi-lege, s tructural racism and oppres-sion" that "was real. ..was hard" that" hu rt" but i n whi ch she fe lt , " peop elistened ... : ' This is critical thinkingin action, especially when negotiat-ing unequal relat ionships of power ,both historically and currently. Ifwestructured more of our classes to al-low all ofyou to authentically engageand share how you really feel aboutyour course topics, the readings, eachother, even u s and the ways we areacces sing you , .. . et c, t hen I f irmlybel ieve that you would in fact learnto critically think by actually practic-ing critical thinking. As a result, l ike

Maharawal, many of you,of your race, social c lass ,der and lor sexuality . .. etcthe opportunity to peacefuwith those inyour classes asultend.up feeling that "thejust alittle bit more mine': athe world ... could be allof oshouldn't this be one of achofyour higher education exWhat chance though is theto feel Maharawal 's senseship over your leaming iprofessors only link thimovement to student debt,speak orwrite about our suitwere merely a theoreticalwould say there islitt le to nThis i swhythe t ime has comthe students to invite and ifmake your professors willinaspects ofthe General Asseyour actual daily classroominorder toturn 'our lessonslearning: Are you wiUi1Ja stand for your Firstmen t Rights in your claon your campuses and in ymunit ie s that wi ll not onthat you learn cri ti cal thinkwill also help ensure that yoin a nat ion were you are abtice critical tlUnking and toupon ypur thoughts? Ifso tt li e move from theory to p

occupying your classro
http://www.face.ook.coli/OccupyUConnhttp://www.face.ook.coli/OccupyUConn


13/15

have ingested the body ofthe lord,and i t was del ic ious" They do thisall the time sohe'lltotally be into it(again, still waiting on the citation

for that one).A 'RE . iPE .fO l \ a DE . I i iOU .sHo l iJ ay S" ak( I r s W J W D t )Everycannabis connoisseur wantssobadly to bring some carefullycrafted cannabis cui-sin e to Christmas dinner, but justdont know how they could get awaywith it.I mean, I reallydon't seewhatallthefusswouldbe about. Christmasis Jesus'sbirthday and he manifestedweed based off of his image of theperfect plant.In fact,lasttime I spokewith mypriest,he hadheardthroughthe vatican grapevinethat Jesusmadecannabis one night when he was outchillenwith MaryMagdeline.They were just kickin it, floatin onsome water when things got boringso Jesus enchanted a nearby herb,t hrew i t i n a p ipe and mary was al ll ike "Damn Jesus,let me show youhow wedo it round here, you cantjust throw thenug in,yougottabreaki t up n ice and f ine ." Jesus was in -stantly smitten by her bold and bra-zen knowledge of botany and Jesusreplied "Damn Mary, I think I loveyou." (I'm still waiting on a celestialcitation for that, but it sounds aboutastrue asanythingelsein thebible).Everwonder whythere'sno mentionof Jesusin hisyoung adult years?It'sjust Jesusas a babyand then a 30+year old Singlecarpenter. Could this

J E SUS

possibly be someone leaving outthe portion ofthe story where Jesusdropsout ofschool,becomesa hippie,finds a beautiful wife and eventuallybecomesa radicalsocialistcommunityorganizerhellbent on destroying theevilsof usury and capitalism througha localorganicweed farm?Naw,thatwouldbe crazytalk.With that in mind, I don't reallyseehowyou couldcelebratethe man, themyth, the legendWITHOUT bring-ing in someof the hol iest of holy

herbs.Soif you reallywant to be into theXmas Spiri t, then bringing someCannabis Crisp to the dinner table isthe only way to go. Cannabis Crispwas chosen for both it's homey andgrandma-esque sensibilities, whilealsobeingincrediblyinexpensiveandan especially sneaky vessel for im-parting some peaceful piff into thedessert round. Allowmeto introduceyou to the stealthiest ofsneakystonertreats, Cannabis crisp! Butfirst , you 're going to need a basicbui lding block for a great canna-

recipe: Cannabutter

Myrrh? What the fuck is myrrhanyway?*"

Once you have afinepowder fit forthe k ing o fk ings , set it as ide andbring a smal l pot to the oven andbring roughly 1.5 cups ofwater toaboil. Once boiling, insert the but-ter and reduce heat tomedium lowand allow butter to melt but notburn. Once mel ted, add the powero f Lord Jesus h imsel f ( the herb)to the butter and allow to sim-mer as long aspossible, minimumof 1 hour, s tir ri ng occas iona ll yand adding water i fneed be. Thiswould be a great t ime to thank theLord for answering those prayersover finals and giving you thatoh so perfect ly t imed snowstorm Now on to the actual dessert.r ight be fo re your organic chemf inal. Consider t his a t ime of re -f le ct ion for how lucky you are tobe alive and in such a secure placethat you can spend an a fte rnoonmaking t rea ts and no t wor ry ingabout where you will live, how \\1"_ II C N i s . r .you will feed yourself, or the other \7~ I dconcerns the half ofthe world who 6 (JrD-nny Smi1'i-1 D-pples. pee e .l ives in poverty have to deal with c or ed . ch opp ed i n1 'o 9uD-1'ersa s a fac t o f li fe. Yeah , spend th is 3 1'D-blespoons D-II-purpose flourhour thinking about that. It'swhat 1/2 c up b rown SU9D-rJesus would do on Christmas. 8 1'D-blespoons(1 s1'ick) cD-nnD-bu1'-

Now place the t upperwa re cov -ered in the fridge and allow to cooloff. Once the butter has separatedfrom the water , you can pul loutt he dele ct abl e c annabu tt er and(bes1' if mD-de D-heD-dof 1'ime)2 sticks of butter

1/2 ounce Herb11/2 cups Wo.terSmo.\l so.uce po.n

Cheese d01 'h o r reo .l ly f ine S1' ro .ine rlndio.n 1'o.keou1'sized 1'upperwo.re

pour out the waste water. Somepeople use it to water their plants,I'm pretty s ure thats what Jes uswould do with it. Place the can-nabut ter aside and cut into quar-ters for easy measuring. 112of thebutter equals 1stick ofholy glory.

For this recipe we are going touse 2 sticks ofbutter , and asmuchChris tmas Kush as you have onhand but no more than 112cup. Directions350 degreesGrind the 0 1' Leaf o f Jesus i ntoa s f ine a powder as t he wise menwould have b rought t o Mary andJoseph (who were in serious needof some rel axati on at t he t ime ).The journey through the desert forthe Three Wise Men was along andbumpy came l r ide, so you knowthey had to have rolled out witheverything pre-rol led, and prob-ably had countless slaves grindingand rol ling for weeks to prepare .Their journey was to meet THESON OF GOD for Chr is t's sake!Do you really think they brought

1'erOnce some good s immer ing hasgone on, Foldthe cheese cloth overthe Tupperware and fasten with arubber band or piece ofst ring, butleave a littlegiveto the cheese clothfor the body ofChrist to get caughtin. Ifyou are using a strainer, place

it over the Tupperware.

3/y 1'eD-spoon c:innD-monlopPin9:

1/2 cup D-I I-pu rpose f lourI/y cup OD-1S

1/2 cu p brown SU9D- rI/y 1'eD-spoon 9round c:innD-mon

I/y 1'eD-spoon SD-I1'I s1'ick chilled cD-nnD-bu1'1'er . CU1'

in1'o piecesI/y cup cOD-rsely chopped pecD-nsSLOWLY pour i n the Holy b rew

and col lect the lef t over herbs andsave them for whenever. Perhapsgive t hem toyour p ri es t and say " I In a la rge g lass baking d ish, cut

the apples into quaters,again into 1I8ths which san easy measu remen t fremember. Mix the floumon and sugar togetherthe apple slices. Place tin rows on the bott om omaking a second row witmaining apples in the oprection. take 1 stick of caand put in the microwame lt ed again and then p

the apples.For topping:

Mix the flour, brown sugmon and sal t in large bowthe cannabutter into theunt il i t forms pea size luin pecans and sprinkle ovPlace Cannabis Crisp infor abou t 30 minut es o rgets toasty and crunchy, b

long that the apples liAllow to cool off before sgrandma with a dollop ofcream and a big smile.Jes us would do on Ch

maybe..M Y R RH : i s a r es in p ro d uc e d b y as cr ag g ly t re e t ha t g ro w s in s e m i- do f N o r th A fn ca a nd t he R e d S e a M ybe w o rd f o r b tt e r a nd rt i s c o n S id eh e a le r b e ca u se o f i ts s tr o ng a n ti se pi nf la m m a t o r y p r o p e r ti e s C a ll in g rt m on e se u se d rt f o r c e n tu n es t o t re a t w oa nd b le e d in g a nd t o r el ie v e p a in fu l

P R O B A BL Y A N C IE N T H A


14/15

1JJe~ Poetry Co rne r . .How~re~ it is a n a w e s ~ : : : ! ~ : : ~ t g r o u p

by Devin SamuelsSothey started by killing all the plants that already lived there.

Cutting down every tree, bush, fern, and vineReplaced them all with grass

Lots of grassStopped all the grazers from eating the grass

All the dogs from peeing on the grassAll the burrows from even thinking about returning home

Then, they paid many people to make sureThat all the grass stayed the same shade of green,The same height and same feel

getting lostby amandaWhat is life all about,

Taking the most direct route?Following maps and guides,

Ensuring a perfect, flawless ride?What ifgetting lost iswhat you need,In order to truly see,What there may actually be,

Outside of society's,Bounds and limits,Instilled in you from birth.

Limiting talents and abilities,Suffocating them in a cubicle box,As another drone in society.

Some plots were removedFilled with sand, or a pond, or patches oftrees

Not even indigenous to the area,And holes

Tiny, teacup sized holesWere dug all over the place

A specific number, unusual distances from each otherFlags like conquerors' trophies wave valiantly in opposition

Baring bright colors and numbersSmelling something like spring and plastic and 4a.m sprinklers on rainy days

All so people could practice a pastime as useful as self-aggrandizing conversation

Bea1ways so .eaut1:fby anonymousThisis no ageto sellout.Ifyou still have half a soul, holdHide it somewhere safe.You are the superhero oftodDon't take your mask off,or youcreditand you'll get paidAnd everything you say will bemeaningless- an affirmationI am the nameless dreamer of a

that is brightI am the chi ld of the sunI am the champion ofthe woI am the chosen oneI am you.dreamsby a younger shade of myselfIt isn't dreamers that have dreams

It's dreams that have dreamersDreams can prefer, but not have preference

Refer,not having referenceSustain without substance

I have dreams where I 'm big, ta ll, shor t andsmall,

White, black, thin fat, red, yellow, angry, mel-low

Dreams that are abstract; not even factThey' re out there, f lippin' and floppin' like

KramerI th ink to myself "Is th is a thing I can tame orshould I let i tflow

let i tgowatch it grow?"

Justwhen I came to this new realization,All of the sudden I feltthis sensation

Take a ball the size of a baby chickWhack it with a skinny metal rodAnd try to make it learn flight before its maturity

Aim from the flag, and hit a hole from a distance farther than sightThen walk to where the bal l lands and try it again.

I wonder if the rest of the planet finds golfAnywhere near as entertaining

As we do

I was in a dazeA haze

A mental maze with no wallsOne that doesn't stop or stall

Just like thisSucked into an abyssPound for pound

Pulled into the groundLeftreeling from a feeling ofmadne

Or was it gladness?Badness?Sadness?I can't decide

My senses they've liedBut before I can figure itout

Configure my doubtBefore I can utter a letterI wake up...and everything isbetter


15/15

uconn free press issue 7 2011: "a gift of justice"

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