Garnet and Black Winter Issue 2017 by Garnet & Black Magazine

Winter 2016

Student Magazine of the University of South Carolina

RAISING THE ARCADE EXPLORING COLUMBIA’S UNDERGROUND

FEZ THE IMMIGRANT MARIACHI-INDIE MEETS THE SC STAGE

INTERNATIONAL COMFORT THE CITY’S BEST NOODLES

BUILDING FOUNDATIONS ADDRESSING TRIGGERS IN THE CLASSROOM

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STUDENT MAGAZINE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA EDITOR-IN-CHIEF JAKE MARGLE CREATIVE DIRECTOR CHARLOTTE PRICE MANAGING EDITOR OLIVIA RESZCZYNSKI PUBLIC RELATIONS DIRECTOR TYSON BLANTON

ART ART DIRECTOR RACHEL JOHNSON STAFF DESIGNER ALEX RUSNAK STAFF DESIGNER ASHLYN MURPHY

EDITORIAL ARTICLES EDITOR JULIA HOGAN COPY CHIEF MADELEINE VATH

PHOTO PHOTO DIRECTOR JOSH THOMPSON ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR BRENNAN BOOKER STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER CHRISTIAN HINTY

STYLE STYLE EDITOR DOMINIC BELLOTTI STYLE ASSISTANT MYLEA HARDY STYLE ASSISTANT CLARA MARZOLF

WEB WEB EDITOR KATHERINE FINNEY ASSISTANT WEB EDITOR ROBIN HENDRICKS

DIRECTOR OF STUDENT MEDIA SARAH SCARBOROUGH

FACULTY ADVISER SCOTT FARRAND

STUDENT ADVERTISING MANAGER LOWMAN HARLEY

CREATIVE DIRECTOR EDGAR SANTANA

CREATIVE SERVICES WANDA FELSENHARDT ELIZABETH JENNINGS EMILY LOR CHARLOTTE PRICE

ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVES ADRIENNE COOPER AMANDA GRANT KAIT NIEMAN ANDREW SNIGHT DREW THIEL PERRY WEST

PRODUCTION MANAGER DEGAN CHEEK BUSINESS MANAGER KRISTINE CAPPS

Advertising: (803) 777-3018 To contact G&B, email sagandbe@mailbox.sc.edu or visit www.gandbmagazine.com Garnet & Black magazine is produced four times a year by students of the University of South Carolina and is distributed free to members of the university community. All editors and staff members can be contacted at (803) 777-1149. The office is located in Russell House room 339. Email letters to the editor to sagandbe@mailbox.sc.edu or to Garnet & Black magazine, Student Media, 1400 Greene Street, Columbia, SC 29208. Letters should be 250-400 words and must include name, address, phone number and academic information (if applicable). Garnet & Black reserves the right to edit for libel, style and space. Anonymous letters will not be published.

CONTENTS

12 29

COLD WEATHER COMFORT From Italy to Asia, Columbia’s best noodles.

How trigger warnings create freedom in the classroom.

RAISING THE ARCADE

08 10 14 15 17 21 4

25 42

HOUSE OF CARDS

Exploring the past and future of Columbia’s underground clubs.

FEZ THE IMMIGRANT USC student Ricardo Tafolla is finding his voice in Columbia’s music scene.

PRO FIL E S TSA President Theo Santos talks activism while Shannon Rike Henry kicks SASS.

RO S E-T INT E D WO R LD The Rocky Horror Show returns to Trustus Theatre.

A l l T H A I’ D UP Cold weather fare fit for any season.

HE IR LO O M A poem from College of Charleston’s Miscellany.

D E E P E R M E M E ING An investigation of memes in language.

SOUT H E R N WI T H D R AWA L

Embracing a new kind of identity.

32 40 44 45 46 47

LUSTE R & LUX E

Lessons in excess.

MO LDING MUNDAN I T Y Ordinary objects inspire Brittany Sparks’ creations.

O N THE A IR WUSC veteran Clair Delune brings classic tunes to new ears.

NUMB E R S G A ME An argument against the Common Core.

E VE NTS How to stay busy during the holiday season.

OVE R HE A R D AT COOKO UT

“I don’t know how I got here. No idea.”

CONTRIBUTORS LOIS CARLISLE

My new Bill Murray tattoo, day drinking, this family’s affinity for back-handed compliments, Brexit, my feminist manifesto, other people’s mid life crises, how uncomfortable Twitter users over 40 make me, veganism and Kate McKinnon’s job security.

SAMANTHA MORRIS

My family is CRAZY about Black Friday sales, and once the conversation starts, it doesn’t stop. So I will be bringing up the touchy topic of what deals are available, how to weasel through loop holes, what time we will be hitting the deals, how we are going to split up, who’s cutting the coupons and making the entire family Christmas list by the time pie hits the table.

CAROLINE FAIREY

I plan to bring up SB1070, the Arizona senate bill that allows officers to search, without a warrant, any vehicle that contains person the police “reasonably suspect” could be in this country without documentation. This type of racial profiling is harmful to all minorities, as well as blatantly unconstitutional.

LAUREN NIX

“WHAT TOUCHY TOPIC DO YOU PLAN TO BRING UP AT THE THANKSGIVING TABLE?” KEYA TALLEY

“Who’s getting the dishes?” because my family always makes me and my cousins the designated clean up crew. I guess it’s only fair.

HALEY SPRANKLE

Is Kanye actually an a------, or is it all a construct of fame? Are selfies a form of empowering self-expression or frivolous narcissism?

CHANDNI AMIN

I’d bring up how I’m planning on marrying one of my best female friends sometime this year, and then look at my parents and say, “I hope y’all are cool with that. I’m in it for the FAFSA money.”

SARAH CASSIDY

This Thanksgiving, I’ll be bringing up the age old question, “Is golf a sport?” My family is really into golf, either playing or watching, and sometimes I really question whether it should be categorized as a sport or not. It seems like a mindgame to me. Does this mean chess is a sport too?

COLE LOWRY

I haven’t seen my grandparents for a while, so I’ll probably tell them about all the photos I’ve taken since coming to college. My grandfather gave me my first camera and is always excited to see my projects. I’m sure he’ll love to see what I’ve taken so far!

The removal of the headphone jack on the iPhone 7.

ERIKA RYAN

Even though the election will be over with, it’s time to bring up the Trump debate with my uncle once and for all. Maybe he’ll finally stop forwarding me articles from RightWingNews.com.

JACOB REEVES

“So which one of you guys is willing to donate to my Jacob-needs-rentmoney-after-he-graduates fund?” The reactions would be amazing.

BRITTANY PYLES

I plan to talk to my family about how I’ll be graduating in May and that I’ll begin applying for jobs in Atlanta this coming January. I know they (especially my dad) still see me as this little girl, but they’ll have to accept I’m a grown woman now and I’ll be taking care of myself very soon (but that doesn’t mean I’ll stop being their daughter and asking them for money).

SAVANNAH FISHER

I plan on bringing up the fact that Thanksgiving is a sham and was just invented during the Civil War to boost falling poultry sales. We all need to stop pretending we actually like turkey.

CASSIDY SPENCER

My boyfriends’ pansexuality because there’s bound to be jokes about him being attracted to frying pans.

THE FOLLOWING CONTRIBUTORS DID NOT OFFER RESPONSES: ATHENA MAROUSIS, TORI MCANALLEN, LUKE HAVENS, JESSICA BLAHUT *RESPONSES EDITED FOR CLARITY

Letter from the Editor EDITOR-IN-CHIEF JAKE MARGLE

I’VE GOT TO ADMIT that I

chuckled to myself as I checked the word count for my article on meme culture. I wrote almost 1500 words on the origins and evolution of images brewed in the bowels of the internet. For all I know the trend could be over tomorrow, replaced by something more cryptic and unseemingly humorous. This got me thinking about the evolution of images and presentation of identity. We’re done with our second issue of G&B now and I feel as though we’ve really begun to find our identity. Identity seemed to be a recurring theme in this issue. Read the profiles on Theo Santos and Shannon Rike Henry on pages 8 and 9. Theo came to USC, and in the process of finding himself, also helped found the Trans Student Alliance, an organization that was much needed on campus. Shannon Rike Henry teaches self-defense classes for women, a practice that helped her find her way after a traumatic experience. Our web editor Katherine Finney takes a closer at southern identities in her piece Southern Withdrawal

PHOTOS BY BRENNAN BOOKER

on page 21. It’s a look into the stereotypes and characteristics of southern culture. In our cover story, House of Cards, on page 17, articles editor Julia Hogan takes on the topic of trigger warnings and why they matter in the classroom, especially after the University of Chicago’s decision to avoid them. Even Columbia’s culinary identity comes under scrutiny as we take a tour around the city for the best noodles. Read Haley Sprankle’s breakdown of how each contender stacked up on page 12. And identity is an important aspect of Erika Ryan’s piece on Ricardo Tafolla, aka Fez The Immigrant, who’s making his mark on the local music scene. As 2016 comes to an end and we bring in the new year, I’m anxious to see how the identity of Columbia and USC changes and how we can reflect it in these pages.

THEO SANTOS BY CHANDNI AMIN PHOTO BY COLE LOWRY DESIGN BY TORI MCANALLEN

ONE STUDENT’S I N I T I AT I V E H A S L E D TO THE FOUNDING OF ONE OF USC’S MOST INFLUENTIAL O R G A N I Z AT I O N S . “Gender is really such a concept, so it’s really hard to pinpoint where everything fits into place.” Since he was young, Theo Santos had never considered gender to be black and white — or, in this case, an idea restricted to the categories of “female” and “male.” However, when he first arrived at USC, Santos found the university to be less than conducive to this fluidity of identity. “The resources and staff and programs were very 8

PROFILES

outdated,” Santos says. There was no organization that trans students could call their own. Seeing a hole in the fabric of the university, Santos decided to help sew it up and started what is now known as the Trans Student Alliance. Now a fourth-year Honors College student at USC, Santos is the president of the TSA. Since its conception, the organization has undergone many changes, but it has helped to transform the college campus and the surrounding city into a safer place for trans people. Through screenings, panels and meetings, the TSA has become an integral part of the trans community, even spearheading protests of

the proposed S 1203 bill in early 2016. The S 1203 bill aimed to control which bathrooms trans people could use, designating that people had to use the bathroom that corresponds with the gender listed on their birth certificate. North Carolina passed the similar HB2 bill last fall and has faced extreme outrage from politicians, citizens and businesses. More than 100 trans youth and allies alike lined up to give testimonies in opposition to the proposed bill in South Carolina. “It was really moving and really great to see everyone come out, speaking about their stories and how this bill would directly impact them,” Santos says. “It was really powerful.”

After spending around three years working to improve conditions for transgender students both inside and outside of the university, Santos is glad to see the results of the TSA’s hard work bear fruit for future classes to pick. With an increasing number of gender neutral bathrooms, name-change forms and counseling services, the university has undergone a transition of its own. “I’m just really excited for what the future holds,” Santos says. “Even though progress sometimes may be slow, I think it’s important that students on campus know that they do have the power to make change happen.”

SHANNON RIKE HENRY BY ATHENA MAROUSIS • PHOTO BY SARAH CASSIDY • DESIGN BY TORI MCANALLEN

FROM COLUMBIA T O D.C . , T H I S SELF-DEFENSE INSTRUCTOR TEACHES EMPOWERMENT AND MORE. “It’s about power. It’s about precision.” — these are the words Shannon Rike Henry teaches her Self Defense for Women class. It’s not just about physical practice. It’s about the mental practice — being aware of your surroundings. Henry has been teaching Self Defense for Women at USC for three years. But it’s not only the moves that empower her students — it’s her story behind them. At 16, Shannon was sexually assaulted by her boyfriend. “I didn’t tell anybody,” she said. “I was changed that day.” After the encounter, Henry struggled to lead a normal

life. It wasn’t until she sat down with her family and psychologist years later that she began to rediscover the caring, kind-hearted person she once knew. But the events of that day would never disappear entirely. She describes their lasting effects like a “videotape” on replay in her mind. And that videotape scenario resurfaced when she was pregnant with her first child. She recalled the day when she and her husband visited their doctor for an ultrasound. When they were told they’d be having a daughter, Henry burst into tears. “I’d have nightmares that something would happen to her.” Henry discovered SASS, Surviving Assault Standing Strong, upon speaking with her pastor, Ed Carney. He

developed SASS Defense in 1997 and was teaching classes at USC. Henry found what she had been looking for. “If you train me,” she said, “I will never stop, and I will train every girl that comes to my class.” SASS Defense has trained not only students, but also military, SWAT teams and police forces. The instructors, which include USC graduates, travel around the world empowering women with the knowledge to defend themselves. Henry was invited to the White House last June on behalf of SASS Defense to participate in the United State of Women conference hosted by Michelle Obama. She described it as “a powerhouse of women” all working toward betterment and equality.

“We’ve taken it and run with it,” she said. “But USC is home.” Henry never saw her attacker again, but she said, “If I saw him now, I would want to thank him in a weird way for empowering me. Without that experience, there are thousands and thousands of women that would have never been trained.” Students are constantly sharing their experiences with Henry of how her class has helped them protect themselves from potential attackers and operates as a form of recovery for women who have been victims of sexual assault. “You take the class, and you change that tape to where you do win.”

ROSE-TINTED WORLD BY CAROLINE FAIREY • PHOTOS BY SAMANTHA MORRIS • DESIGN BY ALEX RUSNAK

T HEAT ER -DR ESS Y W ITH A DA SH O F SEX APPEA L. C ULT C L AS SIC C O MES TO T R USTUS. Fans of The Rocky Horror Show: You can stop here. Trustus Theatre has tickets for students at $25 apiece, showing through Nov. 5. Dig your black corsets and fishnet tights out of your closet and get ready to give yourself over to absolute pleasure. For those of you who have never heard of The Rocky Horror Show before: Please read on. The Rocky Horror Show first came to stage in 1973. A film version of the musical, 10

STUDENT EXPERIENCE

dubbed “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” made it to the big screen in 1975, and starred Tim Curry as Dr. Frank-N-Furter, the “sweet transvestite” villain of the film. (You might know him as the hotel concierge in Home Alone 2.) The plot follows a naive young woman named Janet Weiss and her fiance Brad Majors. On their way to break the happy news of their engagement to their high school science teacher, their car breaks down outside of a strange, European-style castle in the middle of the New England countryside. When the couple knocks on the door to use the telephone, they stumble into a glitter-infused, otherworldly dance party, hosted by the

seductive Dr. Frank-N-Furter. The rest of the plot involves erotic dancing, infidelity, epic musical numbers, a teleportation device and, above all, sexual liberation. It makes sense that a show about letting loose and giving into base desires has a wild fanbase. Live Rocky Horror shows are famous for their audience participation. After 40 years, a good many of the “callback” lines are tradition — for example, Brad and Janet’s names are always followed by an emphatic “A------” and “SLUT.” Some theaters, including Trustus, sell audience participation goodie bags ($3 for one and $5 for two) containing a lighter, three or four playing cards, a water gun, a news-

paper and lots of confetti. Some seasoned audience members even dress up as their favorite characters for the show. If this sounds interesting to you, but you’re worried about attending the show with no squad and no experience, fear not. I did it so you don’t have to. As a disclaimer, I attended a performance over fall break, so only a few USC students were there. I met a freshman from Capstone whose ticket was Row A, Seat 1, and who said her Frank-N-Furter wig, corset and fishnets were in her closet in NYC. I also met a student who had glasses and a plaid shirt like Brad, but was not, in fact, dressed up as Brad. I got my own costume (Janet Weiss) from

Goodwill the day before —white ballet flats, a white empire waist skirt and a white utilitarian bra (and a pink cardigan for walking around in daylight). A surprisingly small number of people were actually in costume, although many adults bought feather boas from concessions to wear over their “night out on the town” clothes. I’d say the dress code was theater-dressy with a dash of sex appeal. Although 75 percent of the adults attending the show bought wine by the bottle from the theater bar, I’d recommend watching the show sober. It’s the only way you’re going to pick up on the audience cues. A list of common refrains and actions (like when to throw confetti or shoot water into the air) can be found in the program, but the official audience script requires a response after almost every line. Luckily, there was a guy standing in the back of the theater who belted out each obscure line for the convenience of the virgins (virgins being the technical term for people who have never attended a live performance of this cult classic musical). After a while, you start to get the hang of it. (For those of you with delicate ears or strict parents, this show involves a lot of R-rated yelling/cursing. Be warned.) This particular run of Rocky Horror is the sixth at Trustus; Scott Blanks, who played Dr. Frank-N-Furter in every previous production, directed this production. The in-house talent blew me away: the costuming was extravagant, leathery and tight; the vocal range of Magenta and Dr. Frank could fare well on a Broadway stage; and the dancing ranged from child’s birthday party to strip club. In addition, the theater felt like a collaborative, fun atmosphere, even before the

show — I heard the players warming up with “Let’s Get It Started” by the Black Eyed Peas. One of my favorite parts of attending the show was interacting with the non-millenials in the audience. I saw multiple women who could have been my grandmother rocking out with the “pelvic thrust that really drives you insa-a-a-a-ane.” Buttoned-up fathers were shooting water guns into the air like little kids. The group seated next to me was particularly noisy during the unveiling of Rocky and his perfect, muscular body. After the show, I asked one man if they’d been to the show at Trustus before. “We saw it here in high school,” he said. “Me and my wife drove from Pennsylvania to see it again.” My own mother, who covers her eyes when she sees televised nudity, told me to make sure to buy tickets. “It’s definitely part of the college experience,” she said. “You’ve got to go at least once.” As Janet and Brad lose their clothes onstage, so the audience lose their inhibitions. It truly felt freeing to shoot a water gun into the air while a performance was going on and to yell profanity at the actors without being escorted out. The Rocky Horror Show is an integral part of a classic coming-ofage narrative — it’s a little wacky, a little raunchy, but ultimately the best show you’ll see all season. As the MC said before the show began — “It’s a Thursday night, so you might feel the need to be well-behaved. We’d prefer you not to be.”

I T ’ S A L I T T L E W A C K Y, A L I T T L E R A U N C H Y, B U T U LT I M AT E LY THE BEST SHOW YOU’LL SEE ALL SEASON.

COLD

WEATHER COMFORTS A TOUR OF THE CAPITAL CITY’S BEST COMFORT FOOD.

BY HAYLEY SPRANKLE • PHOTOS BY BRENNAN BOOKER • DESIGN BY ASHLYN MURPHY

Pho Viet IT’S AMAZING HOW much

variation is found in Asian cuisine. Pho Viet, located in Five Points across from Moosehead Saloon, is a Vietnamese restaurant with an extensive menu offering everything from curry to spring rolls and even bubble tea. Pho Viet’s signature is the soup from which they derive their name. Pho follows the same basic structure as ramen, but in place of wheat noodles pho uses rice noodles and thin slices of meat. The most popular dish at Pho Viet is the number 11, which is filled with thin slices of rare steak that cook in the hot broth. Pho’s uniqueness comes from the toppings included on the side. Cilantro, bean sprouts, lime and jalapeno make for a delightful mix of texture, heat and flavor that is sure to please the pallet — and clear those sinuses.

FOOD FIGHT

Villa Tronco MAMA TRONCO BROUGHT

her recipes to Columbia over 75 years ago, but they taste as fresh as ever. Whereas many Italian restaurants seem to try too hard, seeking to make the next most interesting dish, Villa Tronco knows what exactly what it is — the charm of your grandmother’s homemade spaghetti — and does it with confidence.The classic taste of Italy shines through in the simple, but satisfying linguine with meat sauce. The hearty sauce paired with a thicker noodle proved to be the perfect pair. The aroma of garlic, basil and oregano are so tantalizing, you won’t be able to wait to get a taste. If you’re seeking alternative, diet-friendly options, they also have gluten-free noodles and vegetarian options available. They may be Columbia’s oldest Italian restaurant, but they’ve certainly still got it.

Menkoi Ramen House TAKING YOU TO the islands

of Japan, Menkoi Ramen House is the only ramen noodle establishment in the downtown Columbia area. They offer a variety of ramen styles, but I went for a standard favorite: chicken ramen. The meal includes homemade broth, alongside plentiful noodles, chicken, seaweed, spinach, bean sprouts, an egg and narutomaki (that adorable, swirly fishcake we all love and know). The portion is huge, yummy, and perfect for taking home leftovers

for that next day, hangover lunch. If that’s not enough, they have a myriad of appetizer options to accompany your meal like traditional rice balls or gyoza. To further address your needs, they also have vegetarian options for your ramen toppings and broth. They’re open late on the weekends, so the next time you’re having a wild night out, be sure to tell your Uber driver to make an extra stop before you head home!

ALL THAI’D UP BY LUKE HAVENS PHOTOS BY BRENNAN BOOKER DESIGN BY CHARLOTTE PRICE

LET’S BE HONEST: THE WINTERS IN CAROLINA DON’T OFTEN GET SEVERE, SO AS FAR AS WINTER DISHES GO, YOU’LL GET MORE MILEAGE OUT OF A HEARTY RECIPE THAT YOU CAN STILL ENJOY IN THE SPRING OR SUMMER. TOM KHA GAI FITS THIS DESCRIPTION TO A T. A TRADITIONAL THAI SOUP MADE WITH COCONUT MILK AND CHICKEN, PAIRED WITH SALAPAO (THAI STEAMED BUNS) MAKES A SATISFYINGLY FILLING WINTER MEAL YOU CAN STILL EAT WHEN YOU FEEL THE SUN ON YOUR FACE.

S A L A PA O 1 cup lukewarm water 3 tablespoons sugar 1 package (2 ¼ tsp.) dry yeast 3 ¼ cups all-purpose flour 3 tbsp. vegetable oil ¼ tsp. salt 1 ½ tsp. baking powder Combine water, sugar and yeast in a bowl and let stand for five minutes. Add flour, vegetable oil and salt. Knead together until smooth. Put dough in a greased bowl and let rise until doubled in volume, about one hour. Knead the baking powder into the dough and separate into ten balls of dough. Let rest five minutes. After resting, roll the dough balls into five-inch circles and put a little bit of the chicken and mushrooms from the soup in the center. Pinch the perimeter of the circle together above the filling and twist. To cook, spread out in a steam basket on top of bits of wax or parchment paper. Steam above boiling water with a lid until set: 10-15 minutes. Let rest a few minutes before serving Optional: If you’re a fan of fried dumplings, you can briefly fry these on one side in shallow oil after steaming for a Shanghai-influenced salapao.

RECIPE

TOM KHA GAI 1 tbsp. vegetable oil 2 thumb-sized pieces of ginger, peeled 1 large stalk lemongrass (or two small) 2 birds eye chilis (or other hot pepper) Heat veg. oil in a large stockpot over medium heat. Slice ginger and chilies into thin strips. Bruise the lemongrass and tie it in a knot. Add all of these and lime zest to the pot. Split the chicken in half along its breastbone. After sweating the aromatics, push them to the side and add both halves of the chicken, skin down. Increase heat to medium-high and drizzle the chicken with 1 tbsp. of fish sauce and the juice of half a lime. Once the chicken browns and releases from the bottom of the pot (1-2 minutes), flip it and cook for another two minutes.

Zest of one lime, cut into strips 4 lb. whole chicken 2 tbsp. fish sauce, divided Juice of one lime, divided 6 cups water

Cover the chicken with six cups of water. Add dried galangal and bring to a slow simmer. Reduce to a low heat and cover. After 45 minutes, flip the chicken and continue to simmer. Cook until the chicken can be pulled off the bone with gentle pressure, another 45 minutes to an hour. Remove the chicken and add shiitake mushrooms and a tsp. of fish sauce to the broth. Continue to simmer, covered. When the chicken has cooled, remove the bones and tear the chicken into chunks. Return the bones to the broth and simmer

3 slices of dried galangal 10 dried shiitake mushrooms 2 bunches oyster mushrooms 1 can of coconut milk Chili oil for another hour. Strain the solids out of the broth, reserving the mushrooms. After cooling, strained broth can be stored in the fridge for a few days. Heat broth to a simmer uncovered. Slice and add mushrooms. Cook until the mushrooms are tender. Add coconut milk and chicken. Cook until heated through. Adjust seasoning with fish sauce and lime juice to taste. Depending on how much of the broth has evaporated, you should need around 1 more tsp. of fish sauce and about ¼ of the lime juice. Serve with lime wedges, chili oil and salapao.

A SELECTION FROM THE COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON’S MISCELLANY

HEIRLOOM BY EMILY KNOTT

For weeks, nights are punctured by the needle cry of baby bats nested in our Christmas ornaments. Each evening, a scorch of tree-frog song rises from the swamp like a myth, like the earth stripping herself bare after summer rains, her steam and asphalt. My father says the bats call to us because they’re dying, stifled in the stale heat of June attic. This is where we come from: patio doors where tree frogs slouch their white bellies against the outside glass, moth wings still hanging from half-open mouths. Carolina anoles in my grandmother’s window blinds. Us and the earth meeting like two water moccasins I once found twined beneath a hollow tree, something between fear and holiness in the oil slick of their bodies. No one knows better how to grapple the edges than my father, how he pulled snakes by their mouths and gave them back to freshwater sanctuary. How he fished a stray bat from his toilet bowl and blow-dried its wings on the trampoline, his hands cupped to funnel warmth back into its crumpled tissue-paper body.

F E AT U R E D P O E T R Y 15

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DEEPER

MEMEING THE SPACE BETWEEN LANGUAGE AND IMAGE.

BY JAKE MARGLE â&#x20AC;¢ DESIGN & ILLUSTRATIONS BY ASHLYN MURPHY

F E AT U R E 17

The late Edward Sapir once said that language is “the most massive and inclusive art we know.” You’ve probably never heard of Sapir, but the Germanborn Columbia University graduate was best known for his theory which, simply put, states that language and culture are inseparably linked. Sapir died in 1939, but his theories were revolutionary for their time, as they placed language and culture into a comparative dialogue, something that had never been considered before, especially in regard to more primitive languages. Fast forward to 2016 and the formality of Sapir’s theory becomes more difficult to apply to the uncorked torrent of memes and internet language that pour out from Reddit, Tumblr and Twitter. For those living under a rock, figurative or actual, a meme is an image, video or phrase that is spread via the internet with the sole purpose of spreading. These images are often altered as they pass through users. Those images of a ponderous Velociraptor that your high school friends won’t stop sharing on Facebook? Those are memes. That video of the tail-wagging corgi that your mom thinks is absolutely hilarious? Meme. That image of grumpy cat with a mildly offensive political statement in block text that your uncle shared? Upsetting, but still a meme.

Any visual item that is perpetuated by online users to a great extent can be considered a meme. This definition is important to remember because memes have penetrated so far into our daily conversations and interactions that they’ve begun to teeter on this fence between resilient trend and actual language. “In terms of how linguists tend to think about language, a meme, much like other forms of spoken language, is a way of representing the world in some way,” says Elaine Chun, an associate English professor at USC. Chun has a bachelor’s degree in linguistics from Stanford and a Ph.D. in the same field from UT Austin, and she agrees that while memes may have characteristics of language, as it stands they are not one in themselves. “They often have linguistic properties like words on them,” Chun says. “I do think that the way in which memes spread or are meant to spread is different because the point of a meme is to spread.” And spread they have. It would seem that the contemporary idea of a meme began with the so-called rage comics that originated from the bowels of 4chan, an image posting forum. These crudely illustrated stick figures and faces became reactionary responses to whatever users felt appropriate to use them for. We’ve moved

to a much more colloquial use of memes since then. The Harambe trend set the internet ablaze. Hashtags and replies led to the deletion of the Cincinnati Zoo’s Twitter account. The ubiquitous “D---- out for Harambe” made an appearance on countless banners draped from second story windows, and spoken references can still be heard in passing on campus. If these elements exist so pervasively within our cultural context, surely they have an influence on the actual English we use. After all, language, including its grammar and context, is influenced by our daily lives. Traditions and habits are the vehicles for change, but while memes have certainly introduced us to a new way of communication, they’re not necessarily advanced enough to influence language. “They definitely have some effect, but the effect I would say is lexical, meaning words,” Chun says. “Words get picked up, but it doesn’t change the grammar of the language or the rules.” If these phenomena are not predisposed to change the language they’ve sprung from, where does their influence lie? “I do see that on one hand it could have productive benefits,” Chun says on the subject of memes in political discourse. “More people are engaged because they think it’s interesting. On

THE POWER IN MEMES COMES FROM THE ORIGINS AS USER-GENERATED CONTENT. THESE ARE IDEAS AND IMAGES FOR AND BY THE PEOPLE. 18

the other hand, there is a simplification of ideas because it’s boiled down to just a few words or a few images. It’s not like these memes actually explore ideas in complicated ways.” She has a point. The 2016 election year has been called the “meme election” by countless publications. The Los Angeles Times, USA Today and New York magazine have all deemed memes as the language that’s inspired the most conversation about this quadrennial maelstrom. Earlier in the primaries, memes played a surprisingly large role in inspiring attitudes toward candidates. Ted Cruz couldn’t escape the tidal wave of images pointing out his supposed likeness to the Zodiac Killer. Jeb Bush’s seemingly endless foolishness was only exacerbated by unfortunate moments caught on camera. “Please clap,” anyone? And Twitter never let him or other candidates forget these moments. Hillary Clinton’s cringeworthy pandering attempts will live in infamy thanks to memes. Seeing a prospective commanderin-chief whipping and nae naeing on daytime talk shows is painful in whatever light it’s painted. This approach to political opinions is not new. The bulk of a voter’s opinion on a candidate largely stems from how the candidate is represented visually and how they come across in the press, so while these memes may be bringing political topics and images to a global audience, albeit with a side of humor, the behavior they inspire is nothing revolutionary. “Politics has always been a game of simplification,” says Doug Fisher, a journalism professor who specializes in reporting and new media. “Politics and campaigning is in

many ways a game of reductionism. How do you take very complex issues and boil them down to something that, for better or worse, or good or ill, can be transmitted to a large group of people?” The work that memes do actually has historic parallels. Fisher described them as the modern day editorial cartoon. “I think the reason these images as well as the editorial cartoon became so popular was because of the semiotics involved,” says Fisher. “Symbols are much more powerful, and they say so much more. Memes basically embody that idea.” In this sense, memes have presented themselves as a viable medium for text and imagery, so if they have no place in our lexicon, maybe their properties are

well suited to storytelling and information sharing. “They’ve become part of the words that we use in online discourse. I don’t think I’ve seen a journalist utilize them as mainstream storytelling, but maybe that’s something they should begin looking into,” Fisher says. “In editing (class) now, I have teams each week do a Storify on all of that stuff. Some of them have embraced bringing in memes or GIFs. Maybe an organization decides that their online editorials are not going to be these ponderous columns, but these sorts of things. I think they have their place.” But the power in memes comes from their origins as user-generated content. These are ideas and images for and by the

people, so an attempt at commercialization might be thwarted by the very people being marketed to. “It does seem like it could be a tool for anyone who wants to get their point across,” Chun says. “I can imagine that whether a politician or a company that’s trying to sell a product or anyone who wants to get their word out there could use it. The one risk with memes is that users can creatively subvert the original intention of the meme. They’re not always in the originator’s control.” It might not be appropriate to call memes a trend. Yes, the shelf life for an individual image or element may be a few weeks at most, but this cultural shift seems to have truly taken hold of our technologically mediated

society. For now, it’s evident that memes will not be changing our vernacular in any meaningful way. Until we all start conversing in text talk and acronyms, memes are solidly stuck as a cultural reference point: something to call on and say, “Did you see that? It was hilarious!” As for the future, it’s difficult to predict where this movement might go considering the volatility of the internet. “I don’t see why it would end. It’s a particular genre. It could change,” Chun says. “Who knows, with technology and everything, there could be other ways to present these images.” “Who knows, maybe we’ll start having virtual reality memes,” Fisher says with a laugh.

WHY YOUNG SOUTHERNERS ARE DISTANCING THEMSELVES FROM THEIR ORIGINS. BY KATHERINE FINNEY • PHOTOS BY JOSH THOMPSON • DESIGN BY CHARLOTTE PRICE

O P I N I O N 21

IN THE DIGITAL AGE, IT’S EASY TO ERASE OR OBSCURE PLACE OF ORIGIN. “A few generations ago,” Professor Bob Brinkmeyer, head of the Southern Studies department at USC, says, “people ended up where they grew up. But now, particularly with the internet, you can remake yourself. It’s much more fluid.” With the click of a mouse, we can change our locations on Twitter or Facebook, tagging ourselves only in the parts of the world that make us seem most interesting and cultured. Using a profile picture from a study abroad or spring break trip can communicate a different version of us to friends and followers. But while location is malleable, origin is not. Spending a semester in France or obscuring an accent doesn’t change the past, but embracing a new kind of Southern identity can change the present. When a young person admits to being Southern, they are voluntarily associating themselves with an identity that is intrinsically linked to violence and hatred. Southern hospitality coexists with a history of Southern violence, and that dissonance is hard to come to terms with. But while refusing to acknowledge Southern identity may make young Southerners feel better about themselves, it isn’t enacting any useful social change. Southern pride feels wrong. There are the benign aspects of Southernness, like cheese grits and chicken biscuits and a love for college football, but the most enduring images of the South are of the plantation and the Confederacy. When I was eight years old I moved with my family from southern California to Dallas, Texas because of my

dad’s job. I had no choice in the matter. When I asked what Texas was like, my dad gave me a miniature plastic figurine of a horse and a Dixie Chicks CD. I was in third grade, and that satisfied my curiosity. Three years later, we moved to Raleigh, North Carolina. I didn’t know much about North Carolina at that point, but I knew that it was The South Proper, as opposed to Texas, an ambiguous appendage of the Southwest. My relatives in California judged my new home. Their judgment existed on a continuum, ranging from quiet awe at my ability to understand the Southern drawl, to open distaste as we explained that, yes, many of our friends down South owned guns and hunted. My mother fed into their fears. She liked to imagine herself as an outsider, braving the South, taking on the small town. She ignored the fact that Raleigh is a city with a metropolitan population of over one million, and the home to three major universities. To her, Raleigh was inseparable from the South that she had seen presented in popular culture her whole life, from “Dukes of Hazzard” to “Gone with the Wind.” When she speaks with our relatives, she impresses them with her stories of the “hicks” that surround her. She propagates every stereotype that they have about the South. Southernness, as it’s propagated, is intrinsically tied to ignorance, racism and a horrifying history in a way that no other regional identity in the United States is.

While the West has been the host of its own horrors (from Japanese internment camps to the systematic slaughter of native peoples), representations of the West in pop culture don’t confront the dirtiest parts of its history. Instead, there are images of John Wayne, gun slung across his hip, traversing dusty, wide-open expanses. There’s the beauty of Yosemite, the Gold Rush, and the pursuit of the American Dream. If any negatives are portrayed at all, it’s that Hollywood is fake — too shallow, with too much glamour and not enough substance. It’s easy to use the South as a scapegoat, and it’s easier, as a young person, to discard one’s southern identity in an attempt to escape the South’s negative history. Talking to someone who isn’t from the South, it’s much easier to shed an accent that suggests ignorance than to embrace it.

Going to school in South Carolina, there is a dichotomy. There are those who came to USC because they wanted to perform as a part of the Southernness that they knew they would find here, from bowties and barbecue to tailgating and sweet tea. In the other camp, there are those who came to USC because it was the best option academically, or because they had no other option, but who didn’t choose South Carolina for its culture. Ask someone who is ashamed of being from the South, “Where are you from?” and they will qualify their answer with some sort of statement about how they were born in South Carolina but their parents aren’t southern, or how they’re from South Carolina but plan on leaving once they’ve finished school. Even people who aren’t ashamed of their Southernness may

do this because they are afraid they will be judged for where they’re from, or simplified into a stereotype. These negative associations with southern identity can be complicated even further for individuals who are part of a minority groups. People of color, women, and LGBT youth can feel an even more acute dissonance with their southern identity since the South is portrayed in popular culture as the least accepting part of the country. Brinkmeyer remembers the difficulty he had in recruiting faculty members the southern studies program at the University of Mississippi. “I remember one woman we brought in from Rhode Island was just convinced that if the car broke down it was going to be like “Deliverance,” Brinkmeyer says. “That’s what the South was. And that’s what the South is. The stereotypes are still

there, and a lot of them are from film.” It’s unfair to associate these negative stereotypes exclusively with the South. There are ignorant, racist people all over the country, not just in the South — the Republican nominee for president’s widespread popularity is a testament to that. But because the South has such a strong tie to these histories, it’s hard to distance the people that live there from it. If only one type of person identifies as southern and embraces their southern identity — the stereotypical, NRA-card holding conservative — then stereotypes of the South will never change.

W H Y T R I G G E R W A R N I N G S A R E I M P O R TA N T T O V I C T I M S O F T R A U M A BY JULIA HOGAN ∞ PHOTOS BY JOSH THOMPSON ∞ DESIGN BY RACHEL JOHNSON

F E AT U R E 25

MY SISTE R US ED TO C AR RY ARO UN D A DECK O F PL AYIN G C AR DS AND BUILD HO USES AT RESTAURANT S OR AT OUR K I TC HEN TAB LE. SHE GOT PRET T Y GO O D AT I T. MY B R OT HER AND I LOVED TO KNO CK HER HOUSE S OVER , T HOUGH, WITH A BREATH O R A GEST U RE, WH E N MY PAR ENT S WER EN’ T LO O KIN G. SHE GOT SO M A D, A ND BEC AUS E WE WERE YO UNG AN D MEAN, WE TH OUGHT I T WAS FUNN Y. ALL THE CARDS C A M E SWO OP I NG DOWN, AN D SHE WAS LEFT WITH A MESS O N T HE S TAI NED OAK. IF I FELT GEN ERO US, I’D H E LP H ER PI C K T HEM UP.

*NAMES CHANGED TO PROTECT THE STUDENTS.

WHEN YOU EXPERIENCE trau-

ma, your brain is like that. Like someone trying to build a house of cards. Shaking Jacks and haggard Queens. A lesson in patience, in careful breathing. Each new level brings a shuddering rush of adrenaline. Triggers are words, or images, or stories, which, like a breath or a careless hand, can bring the whole tower crashing down. All that careful patience, flat on the table, and you have to start all over again. It’s exhausting. It’s difficult. And after awhile you start to wonder if you even want to bother with it anymore, or instead just let your trauma swallow you whole and become a ghostshell over your being. 26

Dr. Sarah Wright, a counselor at the University of South Carolina’s mental health center, says that trigger warnings are a nuanced topic. “It’s an attempt to make an unfair situation seem fair,” she says. “And it’s not.” She points out that professors could never imagine the sorts of things that could be triggers. And though trigger warnings can help, in a general sense, each person is specific and individual, and so are their responses. She does point out that trauma has a physical response in the brain. According to Dr. Wright, when we store memories normally, we store them chronologically. Getting a kitten for

Christmas, turning 11, buying your first car. But with trauma, memories are stored in the “fight or flight” part of the brain. “It’s an evolutionary response,” she says. “It’s like when you see a spider, or something that looks like a spider, your brain goes ‘Ah! Spider! Run away!’” When you see something that reminds you of your trauma, your brain still has that same reaction, even though what you see could be a movie in class or a scene in a book, not an immediate threat. This past August, when the University of Chicago sent out their welcome letters to incoming freshmen, trigger warnings were put in the spotlight: “Our commitment to academic freedom means

that we do not support socalled ‘trigger warnings’... and we do not condone the creation of intellectual ‘safe spaces’ where individuals can retreat from ideas and perspectives at odds with their own.” UChicago stated that they wanted to provide a space for “freedom of learning.” And I have to wonder, freedom for who? According to Aileen Hill*, a student at USC who has struggled with abuse, trigger warnings are important to creating a strong learning environment. At a gaming conference, she says that a speaker had a triggering introduction to their speech. There was no warning. “Needless to say, it freaked

me out. I was shaken the whole rest of the week and I was so anxious. I just kept thinking of my own experience with sexual assault and the death and rape threats,” Hill says. “It just ruined my week and it was so hard to concentrate or learn anything. I guess that’s why I’m really passionate about making sure that places of education are open about these discussions.” Shay Malone, who works with USC’s Office of Multicultural Student Affairs, says that there is a perceived contention between freedom of speech and trigger warnings. “I think that as universities have started to realize that these two things are colliding, they’re having a hard time trying to figure out how to combine them, how to make sure students are safe and have a positive learning environment and how we can talk about freedom of speech at the same time,” Malone says. “We’re trying to find a balance. We are a state, public institution, so we are definitely about freedom of speech as an institution, but we’re also struggling to find a way to have that freedom of speech and also not have microaggressions happening in the classroom, or have students walking in and being hurt.” “At the University of Chicago, they were having students walking out of classrooms because of content,” she says. “They would say, ‘Because I have this trigger or because I didn’t get this trigger warning, I’m not participating in this content.’ So people were actually opting out of the learning environments because of the trigger warnings. I think that’s why the University of Chicago went to that extreme.”

She still feels that the letter from the University of Chicago was poorly worded. “As a professional, I was taken aback. I thought the way he worded that letter was absurd. Why would you create that type of environment?”For reference, the letter states, “ Survivors do have a certain right to opt out of material that may be traumatic to them. “My truth, my personal truth,” Malone says, “is that I think students should [opt-out]. I don’t think they should opt-out of the learning, because I think the learning is important, but I’m saying work with the faculty to find other ways to have that learning. I think you have to have that discussion.” There is freedom of speech, and academic discussion, but students also have to have the ability to control their own healing. Trigger warnings help with that process. “You can’t withdraw from life,” Malone says, but you need to have that conversation. Be it a disclaimer in the syllabus, or a meeting with your professor before a discussion, trigger warnings can be a powerful tool for healing. They don’t impose on freedom of speech. They don’t discourage discussion of offensive topics. They simply serve as a warning that, for some students, there might be rough waters ahead. Much of abuse is about power. You can’t control the situation, or what happens. This is why survivors of abuse are in no way responsible for what happened to them. This is why when you’re healing, control is specifically important. When a university takes away trigger warnings, they take away control over your own learning and healing. They take away your ability to im-

plement care techniques or survival skills that you might have learned in therapy, and they take away your choice to discuss other alternatives to that material if you’ve had a particularly hard day with trauma, or are in a delicate spot in your healing process. By denying trigger warnings, they become a careless brother or sister, blowing your house of cards over, so that you have to look at the table, at all your kings and queens and jacks laying flat on their faces. All your progress. And you’re the only one with the power to start again.

THE Y S IM PLY S E RV E AS A WARN I N G THAT, F O R S OM E S TUD EN T S , THE RE M IGH T BE RO UG H WATER S AHE AD. 27

Raising the Arcade:

Columbia’s Forgotten Underground Era AS TOURS FOR THE HISTORIC ARCADE COME TO AN END, THE FUTURE OF THE LANDMARK REMAINS UNCLEAR.

BY LOIS CARLISLE • PHOTOS BY JOSH THOMPSON • DESIGN BY ALEX RUSNAK

F E AT U R E 29

A MAN IN a feathered brown wig emerges from a hole in the ground and asks me if I remember the seventies. I don’t, of course, but hands shoot up all around me in the massive Historic Columbia tour group. We are gathered in the portico of the Equitable Arcade Mall on Main Street. Passersby give our guide strange looks and our group a wide berth. The property owner mills around the atrium. A woman in a fluorescent pink and yellow dress holding an electric lantern, disappears below the surface of the earth. Below us, a catacomb-like space still hums with the spirit of 1971. But I’m about 104 years ahead of myself. The Arcade on Main Street was completed in 1912 to the tune of $200,000. Its design was state-of-the art. There was nothing else like it in the state of South Carolina. Shopping malls were a relatively new institution and took time to spread to the Southern United States. To the folks at the turn of the century, the Arcade was modern. It was dynamic. It was glass and steel and masonry, carefully combined to create a one-of-a-kind shopping experience in the state capitol. People flocked to this space. Families traveled overnight to catch a glimpse of the arcade while it was still under construction. It becomes an iconic Main Street landmark before it even opens its doors in 1912. Something else that happens in 1912? An ocean liner grazes an iceberg on its way to New York. Columbia’s flagship arcade mall is christened as the Titanic sinks. The irony is not lost on the folks at Historic Columbia. But the joke won’t stick for another sixty years when the Arcade enters its second life as a nightclub district. Columbia Underground opened in 1971 and hosted a 30

variety of clubs, restaurants, bars, and shops on the basement level of the Arcade Building. Modeled after famed Underground Atlanta, Columbia Underground aimed to create an attractive nightlife atmosphere in the heart of Downtown. For three years, that’s exactly what it did. Young people, families, college students, and out-of-towners enjoyed a unique experience, tucked away beneath street level. After three years, however, things became strained and Columbia Underground was forced to close its doors. Today, the Equitable Arcade has been acquired by Peach Properties, a Columbia-based developer responsible for rehabilitating it to its former glory. And that’s part of the reason I’m standing in the lobby of the Arcade, along with nearly one hundred other members of Historic Columbia. We listen politely as the co-owner of Peach Properties, a welldressed young man with a trendy haircut, explains the renovations his company will carry out on the atrium. He goes into great detail about the care Peach Properties has taken to ensure the building’s current tenants (a barber, a handful of galleries, One Columbia for Arts and Culture, and various corporate offices) are satisfied. This is exciting, we all agree. But what we really want to see is beneath our feet. A catacomb of deserted bars is rumored to exist in otherworldly-stillness beneath the Arcade. Every once in a while, Historic Columbia, a private non-profit preservation society, prizes up the cellar door and invites its members to descend into a realm most Columbia residents have never seen before. I’m here because I’m nosy. Rumors of the USC

catacombs run rampant and I’m jonesing to see what an underground world, locked up and abandoned, looks like. So I find myself drinking complimentary River Rat and milling around with Columbia’s friendliest group of history buffs. They’ve gathered around the shag carpet-catacomb entrance half an hour before the first tour is even set to leave. When our be-wigged tour guide rises like a ghost from below, the crowd goes silent immediately, totally captivated. “What do y’all remember about the ‘70s?” he asks. “Anything?” The crowd laughs. People start sharing stories so wild they make me blush into my beer. The woman next to me asks what I’m doing with a notebook out. I explain that I’m a reporter. “Well, he,” she said with a low voice, nodding to Sherrer. “Looks just like someone I used to know.” I laugh. She doesn’t. “I’m serious,” she says. “Except the guy I knew wouldn’t be caught dead without wingtip shoes.” John Sherrer, the man in the wig with disappointingly rounded-toe shoes, also happens to be the Director of Cultural Resources at Historic Columbia. As if the outfit didn’t reveal his enthusiasm for the site, the tour he leads certainly does. I follow a man in a white suit (“Like I wore when this place was still serving drinks!”) into the narrow entrance to the space. The stairs are a steep slope and I have to duck not to hit my head. The passage is dark and cool. It smells, strangely enough, like Thomas Cooper library. (This probably has something to do with the old newspapers plastered around to black out windows.) It takes a moment for my eyes to adjust. Though the space is dotted with flood lights,

the dark-paneled walls and long hallway inexorably dim the space. Cobwebs hang so thickly from the rafters, it looks like someone’s mother got over-enthusiastic with Halloween decorations. When I say there’s an underground world beneath the Arcade, I’m not exaggerating. There are shops and bars and nightclubs all abandoned. Bathrooms are covered in graffiti from 1971, a time when Earth, Wind, & Fire were turning out number ones. Nixon’s approval rate was still high. Smoking happened almost exclusively indoors. Elvis was still alive. Star Wars hadn’t been released yet. John directs us into barafter-bar. They all have their own themes—or remnants of them at least—Jim’s Place is all red velvet. The carpet is long gone, giving the whole room a haunted look. We’re using cell phones as flashlights to peer into dark corners. Across the hall is a trolley-turned-bar. Its paint has peeled, but still stands fully-intact. Real curtains hang across false windows in the corridor. Some doors hang off their hinges, some are gone completely, and some are sealed shut. I am struck by how eerily similar this all looks to photographs of shipwrecks I’ve seen. Every time I turn around, I expect a James Cameron-like

transition to Columbia Underground’s glory days. And though Leonardo DiCaprio doesn’t emerge, other characters do. Claire de Lune, an alumni DJ at WUSC is on the tour. During our stop at the SoHo Place Limited, a British-themed restaurant, she remembers very clearly her time working as a waitress. By day, SoHo operated as a restaurant. After hours, it was as Mod as you could get in Columbia. Probably even South Carolina. It was a veritable go-go, she says. Claire tells us about her uniform: a short, tight skirt, tall boots, and a wallet filled with tip money. In this space, totally captivated, I can’t help but wonder why no one has remodeled and reopened the space to the public. “I know it would take a lot of effort, it would take a lot of money, a lot of capital expenses,” Sherrer tells me later. “You would have to do things to physically alter the building. There’s some really cool stuff there, but a lot of the stuff is pretty deteriorated. Not all of it. There’s some facets of those bars that could be saved and reincorporated. I think just the general idea of reopening 14000 square feet underneath a building, captured people’s imagination in 1971, it would continue to do that today.”

Rumors of contractors’ bids ebb and flow like tidewater. Something will become of the space, I have no doubt, it may just be another 30 years before it’s open to the public again. As the tour comes to an end, I wonder what the virtue is in all this. Is there reprieve in renovations and tours and tickets? According to Sherrer, the Arcade Mall is an integral part of the fabric of Downtown Columbia. “Generations of people have interacted with the building. It’s something that’s a character-defining feature of Columbia and so retaining those architectural elements that make it important, that make it what it is, is something that is important to do. It’s an investment. But it’s an investment for cultural as well as financial dividends.” The life of Underground Columbia was not a long one. It fought to make a profit for three years before

finally boarding up its fake windows and ripping up the shag. The financial strategy it would take to unsink such a ship are immense. But with an increased student population living a block away at the Hub, the future may not be that far away. Let me leave you with this: Around the turning point of Cola Underground’s life, a fistfight broke out in one of the bars. A band called Iron and Lace were performing that night (on a stage shaped like a functioning draw-bridge no less!) and over the din of the brawl, the bartender— making no tips and a scant profit—commanded them to keep playing. Fists flew, glass shattered, the ship was sinking, and the band played on.

A CATACOMB OF DESERTED BARS IS RUMORED TO EXIST IN OT H E R W O R L D LY STILLNESS BENEATH THE ARCADE. 31

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MOLDING MUNDANITY ARTIST IN RESIDENCE BRITTANY SPARKS DRAWS INSPIRATION FROM THE MUNDANE TO MAKE PIECES YOU’LL WANT TO TOUCH. BY CASSIDY SPENCER • PHOTOS BY JOSH THOMPSON DESIGN BY JESSICA BLAHUT

rittany Sparks is a fifth-year ceramics student working on building her portfolio for grad school, but in a way, she’s been sculpting her whole life. “I grew up with boys, and we would play and make our own simple stuff with branches and sticks. I guess my first sculpture was some creation of leaves and twigs in our backyard,” Sparks says. Without a program dedicated to clay in grade school, she was essentially her own teacher growing up. Lack of guidance didn’t stop her, however, from submitting pieces to the state fair and pursuing her love of sculpting. It wasn’t until she arrived at USC that she took her first class on the subject. Transferring from Clemson after her first year, Sparks fell in love with the ceramics program after her first course with professor Virginia Scotchie. “She’s the head of the department, and usually she just teaches advanced or intermediate classes, but I was fortunate enough to have her my first year here,” Sparks says. “She actually played a big part in making me want to stay in the ceramics department because she is just this wealth of knowledge.” Since that course, Sparks’ love of sculpting has only

ARTIST IN RESIDENCE

grown stronger, and her own unique style has developed. She works largely with cylinders, ranging in sizes, and likes to test how they interact with each other. In terms of inspiration, she is drawn to exposed piping behind restaurants, or water towers left to rust. “I draw from the mundane — dirty stuff that everybody uses and it serves its function, but nobody really looks at,” Sparks says. “Nobody is going up to these things and saying, ‘Oh, let’s take a photo of this.’ I look at things that serve a purpose but don’t necessarily stand out, mostly pipes, and that’s where the cylinders come from.” She also likes to experiment with glazes on her pieces and describes her artistic process as essentially a series of experiments with configurations of cylinders, combinations of glazes and various firing techniques. Four of Sparks’ pieces are to be shown in an art show in Chicago titled “Sculptures: Shaping Ideas” alongside her professor Virginia Scotchie, ceramics department adjunct faculty instructor Bri Kinard, and two other prominent artists. Her work was chosen because of the relationships between her forms, surfaces and compositions. The show is in March, but until then, she

continues to create and glean textural inspiration from various artists, mostly contemporary. Some notable influences include Takuro Kuwata and George Ohr, but she also enjoys looking at MFA candidates from different universities and even contacting them to inquire about glaze recipes or firing methods. When asked about what she wants to elicit from audiences through her pieces, she offered a refreshing perspective: “I want them to question it, not so much feel something or admire

it from afar — I want them to want to know more. I want people to actually go up and feel the sculptures, and I know that in museums that is sort of frowned upon, but I want people to really experience the surfaces and textures. Because I know that when I see a texturally fascinating piece, that’s what I want to do.”

“I D RAW FROM THE M U NDANE — DIRT Y STU FF THAT EVERY B ODY USE S AND IT SE RV E S ITS F UNCTION, B UT NOBODY RE AL LY LOOKS AT. ” 41

Fez the THE SELF-DESCRIBED MEME-ROCKER IS MAKING HIS PRESENCE KNOWN IN VENUES AND HOUSE SHOWS ALIKE. BY ERIKA RYAN • PHOTOS BY CHRISTIAN HINTY DESIGN BY RACHEL JOHNSON

NOT MANY PEOPLE have

heard of the genre “meme rock,” but that might be because Ricardo Tafolla coined the phrase. “Mariachi indie” is another way that Tafolla describes Fez The Immigrant’s music online, which he says is something people take too seriously. He admits the group would be more accurately described as alternative indie, but that just doesn’t roll off the tongue like “meme rock.” Tafolla, a third-year media arts student, started recording music under the name Fez The Immigrant two years ago. He describes the band as a “long-distance relationship.” Bassist Julio Barragan lives in Bluffton, South Carolina, Tafolla’s hometown, and drummer Mirco Cavallarin just recently moved to Columbia. Band practice is a kind of back and forth. Tafolla records something on guitar. Barragan sends back a bass riff. They put the pieces together when there’s a chance to see one another. Fez The Immigrant always performed as a group until recently when Tafolla started 42

SCENE & HEARD

playing acoustic sets solo when the other members couldn’t make a trip. After growing up in Mexico, Tafolla moved to Bluffton when he was 15 years old, but he spent sixth grade as an exchange student in Phoenix, Arizona. This was when Tafolla remembers watching Green Day on YouTube and Billie Joe Armstrong inspired him to pick up the guitar. “I saw him strumming with confidence and I thought, ‘Man, I want to be this guy,’” Tafolla says. “So I picked up the guitar and learned ‘Sweet Child o’ Mine,’ and I thought I was the s---. Then I realized I’m not the s---. I had to practice more.” Tafolla started his first band, I Hate Vegans, when he was still living in Mexico at 15, and he got his first taste of criticism when people seemed to miss that the name was a joke. Tafolla laughs about it now. “There was so much hate coming from people in so many different countries.” Even though the humor behind I Hate Vegans didn’t pan out like he thought it

might, that didn’t stop him from seeking out names with a little shock value. At 19, Tafolla started recording under the name Fez The Immigrant. He says he originally got the idea from moving to Bluffton during the era of “That ’70s Show” when people constantly told him he “looked and talked like Fez.” He figured it might be useful to use that to his advantage. “When you see people perform, you don’t always remember their name,” he says. “Maybe this time they’ll think ‘Oh, that guy that looks like Fez,’ so it’s easier. I just added ‘immigrant’ for the shock value.” Reactions vary when people hear the name Fez The Immigrant, but he says that’s part of the fun. During the group’s first performance together, the open mic announcer refused to say “Fez The Immigrant” over the loudspeaker. “It was hilarious,” he says. “I think he just didn’t want to sound racist. People have this really strong connotation about ‘immigrant,’ like when you hear that you think ‘illegal,’ but it’s nothing like that at all. People just like to misinterpret things.” Fez The Immigrant’s mel-

low, lo-fi, synthpop sound paired with a goofy stage presence is most accurately compared to one of Tafolla’s influences, Mac DeMarco. The studio recordings paint the picture of a much more serious indie group, but jokes are slipped in throughout if you listen closely, like Tafolla melodically singing “Take me out, Take me out, like a garbage bag” in “Tell Me To F--- Off” on their second release, Cielo. Starting out, Tafolla planned on rocking a lot harder. Their chill-wave sound stemmed from Tafolla recording their first album in the studio solo and having no access to drums. He experimented with sampling beats from artists such as Indian Indian and Washed Out for many of the songs and liked what he came up with, which set their music off to where it is now. Time in the studio is great, but he says performing live with the rest of the band is the most fun. According to Tafolla, Fez the Immigrant wouldn’t be where it is today without the support of Columbia’s music scene. “Everyone here helps each other out,” he says. “Maybe that’s because the scene isn’t gigantic — it’s definitely growing, but it’s not huge. I never felt exclusivity performing here. You can play wherever you want and that’s awesome.” And even though he’s networked with other musicians through venues such as New Brookland Tavern and Conundrum Music Hall, house shows are where Fez The Immigrant is in peak form. With a brand like “meme rock,” Tafolla takes advantage of intimate settings as a way to make the crowd laugh. Any live performance is a good time, but the more formal the setting, the harder it is to talk to the audience. “We’re not professional at all. We’re going to tell some meme jokes,” he says. “If it’s a small crowd, you really

don’t give a f--- about what’s going on, like, let’s just have some fun. But also if there are a lot of people, there’s this whole energy going on, and that really pumps you up.” They joke, but the band is something Tafolla and his bandmates take seriously, even if it’s somewhat of a hobby. They’re currently working on a third album, which Tafolla hopes to finish by January. The future of Fez The Immigrant is unsure at the moment. Each of them are perusing individual

goals, and Tafolla is going to study in Korea for the spring semester. At the end of the day, Fez The Immigrant is an outlet where the members can enjoy themselves, and to Tafolla, if you’re not having fun, what’s the point? “Whether it becomes popular or not, I really don’t mind. I just do it and share it because it’s something I really enjoy,” he says. “Memes should be shared with everyone — everyone should enjoy memes.” 43

BLUES MOON Good Ol’ Blues music with Claire Delune

BY SAVANNAH FISHER • PHOTOS BY LAUREN NIX • DESIGN BY KEYA TALLEY

GROWING UP IN her aunt’s record shop, Clair Delune always loved the blues. Her show, “Blues Moon: with Clair Delune,” has been playing rare blues and roots for 27 years. In that time, she’s shepherded countless students to graduation, researched and recovered rare records and has a few furry co-hosts to help her along the way. HOW DO YOU PICK TRACKS?

I do a lot of theme shows. Today it’s the hurricane. Last week it was Ryder, my dog. He’s the one that started me on my long chain of German Shepherd co-hosts.

YOU HAVE DOG CO-HOSTS?

Oh yeah, well in spirit. They wouldn’t let me bring [Claudette], but she would help me plan the show. She used to sit in my lap and pick the songs, I swear to God, I don’t make this stuff up. Rocky (my current dog), is more hands-off.

SON GS FOR TH E RAIN 44

ON THE AIR

DO YOU EVER TRACK DOWN OLD RECORDS FOR THE SHOW?

That’s the fun! A few years ago, I got excited about something called Jake Leg Liquor Blues. During Prohibition they snuck liquor into other other things, long story short they put this nerve damaging tonic in with Jake ginger to hide the taste. It gave people neurological disorders. I’ve been doing independent research on the songs about that and am on the major hunt for those records.

WHAT DO YOU WANT PEOPLE TO GET FROM THE SHOW?

I wrapped my arms around this because it is what I would be researching anyway. The students have opened their arms to me and I’ve worked my way up to a grandma figure which I love since I don’t have any babies of my own. I want this lore to go out there. I don’t want people to forget who these people were and what their work was and what these things meant.

1 . MUDDY WAT E R S

4. M I K E Z I TO

“STANDING AROUND CRYING”

“NEVER KNEW A HURRICANE”

2 . C AS E Y BIL L W E L D O N

5. R O G E R H U R R I C AN E W I L SO N

“FLOOD WATER BLUES”

3. E LLIOT AN D T H E UN TO UC H A B L E S “ BLOW WIND BLOW”

“HURRICANE BLUES”

NUMBERS GAME The argument against the Common Core.

BY LOIS CARLISLE • PHOTOs BY OLIVIA GRIFFIN • DESIGN BY ASHLYN MURPHY

DECEMBER GRADUATION

looms. Do I feel prepared to go out into the world as a degree-toting Carolina alum? Not at all. Why? Because 68 percent of my graduation requirements are for disciplines in which my degree is not. The Carolina Core has been the bane of my collegiate existence. More than tuition hikes, more than game day traffic, more than an endless stream of political chatter. The core curriculum grates me to my very soul. Here’s why: 1) It wastes my time. 2) It wastes your time. 3) It makes us lazy. Of the 120 credit hours I need to graduate with a history degree, only 27 of those must be specific to my major, and 12 to my minor. The rest are prescribed by the Carolina Core. That’s only 32 percent of four years spent preparing me for the job market — the entire reason for getting a college degree in the first place. I don’t have to be a business major to tell you that’s a

weak investment. Time that I could spend specializing my knowledge is instead watered down by an arcane conglomeration of liberal arts. I am in no way knocking the liberal arts or humanities. If you’re a mass communications student who wants to take a poetry course, you have every right to. You should feel encouraged to, even. That is the spirit of liberal arts — pursuing your own curiosities. What you should not do is be forced to explore the curiosities of someone else. Here’s what happens when we’re put into classes we don’t need: We detract from the experiences of those who do want (and need) to be there. When it comes time for discussion in a Carolina Core political science class that’s only one quarter PolySci majors, no one grows or gains. Me, a history student, sitting silent through a discussion about effective advertisements, doesn’t enrich any marketing students in the class. I

am effectively wasting your time by being there. Only 32 percent of the education we are paying for — thousands and thousands of dollars every semester — is actually something related to the degree we wish to pursue. Of our time at Carolina, 68 percent is under the guise of illusionary free choice. We may be able to choose which lab science we take, but someone else gets to set the range from which we make our selections. At some level, we all receive the same degree. And that’s not an exercise in consistency; that’s a waste of our time. When we’re forced to mindlessly tick boxes set forth by a board of faceless, disconnected men and women who haven’t set foot in a college classroom for 30+ years, college more and more resembles the farm-like institution of high school. No specialization, no critical thinking; just a heard of undergraduates bowing to please a rotating

“THE C A ROLI N A CO RE H A S BE E N T H E B AN E OF MY CO L LE GE E X I S TE N CE . ” cast of advisers, deans and registrars. They say those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it. But those who don’t strike their own path are doomed to a much more troublesome fate: thoughtlessness. At least I’m 68 percent sure on that.

R A N T 45

Events

NOV 19 - DEC 30

LIGHTS BEFORE CHRISTMAS

Riverbanks Zoo and Garden hosts Lights Before Christmas, which is open every night from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. starting Nov. 19, except for Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve and Christmas. The zoo will be filled with holiday lights and other decorations and will have hot chocolate available. Unfortunately, the majority of the zoo’s animals will not be on display during the event evenings, but Santa will be there for the kids every night before Christmas. With moderate ticket prices of $11 for adults and $9 for children older than two, this is a fun and affordable way to spend an evening during the holidays

EVENTS

WHAT TO LOOK OUT FOR IN COLUMBIA THIS WINTER.

BY ROBIN HENDRICKS ∞ PHOTOS BY JOSH THOMPSON ∞ DESIGN BY BRITTANY PYLES

DEC 2 - DEC 17

THE GREAT MAIN STREET ICE AMERICAN For anyone who grew up TRAILER PARK in the north, winter means CHRISTMAS snow days and skating on a frozen pond. UnfortuMUSICAL

NOV 24 - JAN 16

nately, that’s often not the case in South Carolina, but a few years ago, some of that changed for Columbia. Main Street ICE is opening back up on Nov. 24. The outdoor ice skating rink will be open all through winter break and will close Jan. 16. True to its name, this rink is in the heart of Columbia. It’s the perfect place to go with friends or family to experience a fun winter day, even if the temperature is in the 60s. Monday through Wednesday, adult tickets will be $8 and the child tickets will be $5. Weekend prices, Thursday through Sunday, will be $10 for adults and $8 for children.

Trustus Theatre, located downtown on 520 Lady St., will be showing “The Great American Trailer Park Christmas Musical” from Dec. 2 through Dec. 17. This funny holiday musical has tickets priced at $30 on weekdays and during matinee showtimes and $35 on the weekends. There is a student discount available, which lessens the ticket price to $25 all through the week and weekend. Showtimes vary, so go to the theater’s website to see which time would work best for you. Grab a few friends who are staying in town for winter break and head over to Trustus Theatre to put a little humor in your holidays.

DEC 31

FAMOUSLY HOT NEW YEAR The beginning of any year is a time for starting over and trying new things, and a great place to do that is at Columbia’s very own Famously Hot New Year. It’s an annual party that takes place downtown on New Year’s Eve. Party-goers gather in the streets to watch fireworks and musical performances as part of the celebration. While the weather itself might not be “famously hot,” the spirit of the party and of the new year will keep you warm.

BY G&B STAFF ∞ PHOTOS BY JOSH THOMPSON DESIGN BY JACOB REEVES

OVERHEARD AT COOKOUT

“I jumped on a moving train today! You think I won’t order a second tray?!”

“

YOU BET YOUR A-THAT POLO IS SICK!

“

“BILL COSBY DID IT!”

(POINTS PLASTIC KNIFE DRENCHED IN BBQ SAUCE) “B---- I AIN’T PLAYING WITH YOU.”

“SHOW US ON THE FRENCH FRY WHERE HE TOUCHED YOU.”

“IF IT WAS KANYE WEST ON THE REPUBLICAN VP BALLOT, I WOULD VOTE TRUMP. I TOTALLY WOULD!”

“

I CAN SAY THAT ‘CAUSE I’VE SMOKED WEED.

“HE THINKS DANCING IS OK?”

“

“THOSE ARE MY FRENCH FRIES, WHAT THE F---! YOU CROSSED THE LINE.”

“I was never going to touch you.”

“Have you ever met a nerd?”

I DON’T KNOW HOW I GOT HERE. NO IDEA.

“Magicians shouldn’t be allowed. That s--- is crazy.”

“MOONSHINE? NO WAY, I’LL DO THAT S--- IN THE LIGHT OF DAY.”

“I DON’T WANT TO FEEL ANYTHING. THAT’S WHY I’M OUT TONIGHT.”

“The Nazis lived in a lot of caves and underground places.” O V E R H E A R D AT 47

Strom Thurmond Wellness & Fitness Center Solomon Blatt Physical Education Center 803.576.9375 803.777.5261 campusrec.sc.edu University of South Carolina Campus Recreation @UofSC_CampusRec