the
October 27, 2011 | Issue #249
y o u r. i n d y @ g m a i l . c o m editor-in-chief: Ri l ey Ken ny s mith layout editor: To m D au er writers: M a da me Q u er y A l ex a Dillen b eck Ri l ey Ken ny s mith Ra ch el Margolin Ró i sí n McCarty print manager: To ny Pon tiu s cover photo by: D avi d Grimald i copy editor: To m my Roach artwork by: M a rg o t Allis on web design by: D a n i el l e Lemp p The Purchase Independent is a nonprofit news magazine, paid for by the Mandatory Student Activity fee. We welcome and encourage submissions from readers. The Indy is a forum for campus issues and events, to give students the voice they deserve. Letters, articles, comics, ads, event photography and event listings are welcomed. The deadline for submissions is every Friday before midnight, and accepted pieces will be published the following Thursday. Publication of submissions is not guaranteed, but subject to the discretion of the editors. No anonymous submissions will be considered, but we will accept use of pseudonyms on a caseby-case basis. Send all submissions and inquiries to your.indy@gmail.com. Send questions to Madame Query at formspring. me/madamequery. Back page quotes can be submitted to formspring.me/ indybackpage or put in the Back Page Box that hangs on the office door. Our office is located on the first floor of Campus Center North, room 1011. Staff meetings are held in the office every Monday night at 9:30; anyone is welcome to join.
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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
I can only assume that this was slipped into the back page submissions box with the intent of insulting my publication. But that’s not the way the world works for me, and I’m not insulted at all. I haven’t seen the Art Co-Op zine yet, but I’m sure it’s great and I hope that the Art Co-Op continues to publish it. Because as far as I’m concerned, the more publications on campus, the better! We’re not in competition with each other and there’s no reason we should be—each publication serves its own purpose. We’re surrounded by threats that the art of the written word is dying, but so long as we continue to put as many words out there as we can, and try to make those the best words we can find, we’ll keep the language alive. Each publication serves a different purpose and a different audience, so if someone prefers the Art Co-Op zine or the Submission or the Brick or the Indy, that’s fine. We’re not here to compete with each other. We’re here to publish for you, the students. And hopefully, between all of the publications on campus, each student here can find one they personally enjoy best. As always, I invite the students of Purchase College to bring their writing to the Indy. This is your weekly newsmagazine, not mine—I’m only here to create this for you. So if there’s something you want to see, or something you’d prefer to see less of, just come talk to us about it. Our weekly staff meetings (every Monday night at 9:30pm in CCN 1011) are open to everyone and are a great place to brainstorm what you’d like to see from us in the future.
DIVERSIONS
JUST WRITE IT OUT The feeling the Christmas-celebrating and -enjoying portion of the human race feels when the Santa-Land goes up in Macy’s? That’s how I feel waking up on November 1st. NaNoWriMo is my Christmas, my Thanksgiving, my Valentine’s Day, my everything in between. National Novel Writing Month means selling your soul to writing a 50,000-word novel between November 1st and November 30th. If you succeed, you get a printable certificate, an e-certificate that you can plaster all over any social networking site you so desire and three metric fucktons of respect from me. Maybe four, if it’s actually good. The project started in 1999 with only 21 participants, but last year over 200,000 people took part, writing over 2.8 billion words. It’s not all about winning, though. If anyone has the pleasure of knowing me, they are also privileged to the displeasure of knowing that I act like my fictional characters are my best friends, because, well, they are. My two favorite characters (who have been mistaken by some as actual living and breathing humans) started when my English teacher told me that I couldn’t finish NaNoWriMo when I was in the eighth grade. I didn’t finish, but I got two best friends out of the mix who I still write about today. So even if you don’t finish, you could have a great sequel, or prequel, or even just a few really rad characters that you can watch grow and become something so much more. It’s also great because that terrifying number makes you want to sit down and bleed out five thousand words a night, even if they’re complete shit. November is for writing; December is for editing. I can only stand to read one of my NaNoWriMo projects, and it isn’t from any of the times I’ve won. I haven’t even opened half
BY RÓISÍN MCCARTY
of them because I know that I’d want to vomit before the document even loaded. But that’s the thing: writing anything makes you a better writer, even if it’s a story about a girl who has an imaginary friend that turns out to be God. It’s fine, no worries, don’t be embarrassed. You never know what kind of genius idea you’re going to stumble on if you just start writing. One of my good friends, who has won NaNoWriMo in the past, is using this year as an excuse to start working on the writing project that she’s been putting off for months. My plan starts with a character description I typed up in the notes section of my phone while half asleep.
So check out nanowrimo.org and sign up to create a profile and keep track of how many words you’ve written, whether you’re doing it with plans of publishing, to practice writing, or just for the bragging rights. Add your location and get invited to classy cocktail parties with local writers to make friends on- and offline. My username is anelegantsonnet for those who are interested.
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HAPPY SLUTOWEEN BY ALEXA DILLENBECK Dressing up for Halloween to go trickor-treating has been the traditional way for children to celebrate the spooky holiday for years. Halloween for college students frequently means getting dressed up and getting blackout drunk. Specifically for college women, Halloween means getting barely-dressed and going out to face the bitter October cold and getting hit on. At least, this is what is projected by the women’s costume selection at party and costume stores. When looking for store-bought costumes for women, there aren’t many costumes that actually cover anything. The problem lies within our society. The very limited selection of modest options are either cheap, boring, had sexual undertones, or were extremely expensive. These revealing costumes reinforce standards women
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are expected to follow in order to be accepted. “At the costume store, I don’t think there are a lot of options at all,” said Gabriella Ibacache, co-president of FORTH. “It’s a problem that women are highly sexualized. It’s degrading and it holds everyone to this ridiculous beauty ideal.” By the end of October temperatures usually drop pretty significantly, especially at night, which means that anyone wearing a skimpy outfit will be cold. Some women may enjoy these costumes and don’t mind sacrificing some body heat, but some women just don’t feel comfortable wearing revealing outfits because of the positive or negative responses that they might recieve regarding their costumes. “If it’s empowering to wear those costumes, then that’s great,” said Ibacache, “But it
HALLOWEEN doesn’t mean that anyone has a right to comment or touch your body. Society sends a message that that’s what to wear as a girl.” Women know what these expectations are. It’s not subconscious, it is right in front of them. This is obvious within pop culture itself. In an episode of Sex and the City, Miranda says to Carrie, “The only two choices for women: witch or sexy kitten.” Another example is in the popular 2004 movie Mean Girl., Cady, the female protagonist, says that “in Girl World, Halloween is the one day a year when a girl can dress up like a total slut and no other girls can say anything else about it.” If someone wants to wear a revealing costume, it is entirely their choice, but if they are wearing one because that’s what they feel like they are supposed to wear, then it becomes problematic. “I think it’s about attitude,” said Dina Cook, sophomore sociology major. “If you’re putting sexy out there, you’re probably aware of what you’re going to get back. And if you’re not doing it for yourself, you become vulnerable.” In American culture, Halloween can become much more about women being the treats to the male gaze. Instead of going door to door, people go to parties looking for what they can get. When a day becomes hyper-sexualized like this, it poses a threat to anyone who chooses to express themselves in a sexual manner. “The trick to wearing these costumes is body positivity,” said Nicolas Hornyak, freshman creative writing major. “You have to be empowered when you do it. If I feel empowered, I don’t give a fuck [about unwanted attention.]” Halloween is not a contest of how much skin one can show. Confidence is what will really make a costume stand out, and that is as true for Halloween as for any other day. “People want Halloween as an excuse to be sexy,” said Cook. “I feel more comfortable in small amounts of clothing and I get catcalled a lot. It’s like people assume that if you’re wearing
that, you’re down for anything they want to do.” Cook also spoke about how younger girls are sexualized in their costumes. Younger girls get put into child-size versions of adult costumes and are expected to project this image for the rest of their lives. “A lot of people try really hard, and it’s expected for girls to do, and it’s really wrong,” said Ibacache. This follows through with yearly cultural traditions and it looks like it is only going to get worse. These costumes make people think it’s okay to view women as sex machines, objects, and animals; men are only expected to be funny, scary, or sleek. Women’s costumes go as far as turning a woman into a remote control (available online at halloweenpartystore.com) with buttons that will be able to mute her, turn up her “hotness,” and make her more of a “good girl” or a “bad girl” for only $45.95! “We don’t teach girls to be knowledgeable about their bodies, and they become exploited for the male gaze,” said Ibacache. “Without that knowledge, they lack a positive and open way to build a healthy sexuality. You’re not allowed to be a whore, but you still have to be a slut.” These meanings shove a double standard in the faces of women and girls. We grow up being fed these images of very beautiful princesses who need men to save them and they would never dare get sexy with anyone, but at the same time they’d better know how to get sexy, and they’d better look like they know how. “Our culture makes people need to dress this way, but it should be the individual’s decision,” said Hornyak.
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C A L E N DA R
THURSDAY
Spooktacular Spa Night Thursday, October 27th Southside at 7pm
• massages • Alexander Technique • “speed relating” • biofeedback • manicures • bead making
Open People’s Mic share your Occupy Wall Street stories
Thursday, October 27th the Co-Op at 6pm
Thursday, October 27th the Stood at 8pm
• RECORD FAIR • costume making • hot cider • pumpkin carving • Skalloween • wristbands
SKALLOWEEN (powered by WPSR) Thursday, October 27th
FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY Friday, October 28th Red Room at 5pm
join Hillel for Shabbat!
Friday, October 28th Crossroads Lounge at 6pm
help make Halloween decorations for Blythedale Children’s Hospital
BFA Senior Project Dance Conservatory Concerts
Fri & Sat, October 28th & 29th Dance Building at 8pm
tickets $3
FALL FEST
Saturday, October 29th the Stood at 5pm
the Stood at 8pm
• • • •
Uzimon • Menace Camille Wallace Test Tube Casanova Brigade Paper Planets • Krytical H!t
GET YOUR FALL FEST BRACELET! WRISTBAND DISTRIBUTION
Thursday, October 27th
at tables in front of Whitson’s at 8pm
bring your More Card to get yours!
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Celebrity Day
Sunday, October 30th Southside at 5pm
Sunday, October 30th Halloweekend in the Fort Lobby Mask Decorating 6:30pm Pumpkin Carving 7pm
MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY
FALL FEST 2011 Saturday, October 29th
MAIN STAGE
Genderf*$k Film Festival Monday, October 31st (1-4pm) • Two Spirits (short film) • Against a Trans Narrative
documentary, Q&A with director Wednesday, November 2nd • An Evening with Barbara Hammer Hammer Speaks and Q&A at 7pm screening and Q&A at 9pm
Monday, October 31st Humanities Theatre at 7:30pm
Jewish Film Festival
For My Father Monday screening
Halloween Hair, Makeup and Safety Tips Monday, October 31st
Crossroads Lounge at 8pm
Homosexuality & Islam
Wednesday, November 2nd Red Room at 7pm presentations by Profs. Gaudio & Abbas documentary screening: A Jihad for Love
1pm Bad Sound 2pm Big Muff 3pm Friends 4pm Real Magic 5pm Zoroaster 6pm David Wax Museum 7pm Jessica Lea Mayfield 8pm Kvelertak 9pm G Side 10pm Fang Island 11pm Janka Nabay and the BuBu Gang
Lit Society Open Mic Night Wednesday, November 2nd
Stood, sign up at 8pm, show at 9pm flip for the side stage lineup!
FALL FEST 2011 Saturday, October 29th
SIDE STAGE
12:30pm Swing Fish 1:15pm Baked Goods 2pm Gills 2:45pm DJ Evan Shornstein 3:30pm Michael Mario 4:15pm Quincy Vidal 5pm Rotten Jazz Quartet 5:45pm Wyldlife 6:30pm The Electric Set 7:15pm DJ Jonathan Toubin
flip for the main stage lineup!
CLUBS/ORGS Thursday, October 13th Fusion: CCN 0014B at 7pm Film: Humanities Theatre at 7pm RPGA: Hub Basement at 8pm Chess Club: comm. lounge at 8pm Cheese Club: Co-Op at 10pm OAPIA: Hub Basement at 10pm Trans*Action: LGBTQU at 10pm
Monday, October 17th MSA Club: Sparks at 5pm FORTH meeting: Southside at 8pm Bible Talk: Starbucks at 9pm
Tuesday, October 18th CoCOaS: the Stood at 5:30pm Green Team: Co-Op at 6pm DDR Club: the Stood at 7pm Public Relations: Co-Op at 8pm PUSH: Hub basement at 9pm SAC: PSGA Office at 9pm General Events: Stood at 9:30pm Complexuality: LGBTQU Lounge at 10pm LU: Hub basement at 10pm
Wednesday, October 19th Hillel: Hub basement at noon Psych Club: NatSci1030 at noon Senate: Southside at 12:30pm Sociology: SPARC room at 1pm Stood meeting: Stood at 2:30pm CBLA: commuter lounge at 7pm Anime: commuter lounge at 8pm SOCA: Hub basement at 8pm Hip Hop: Hub basement at 10pm LGBTQU: Red Room at 10pm
READING
ALL HALLOW’S READ
BY RILEY KENNYSMITH
Most Halloween-related articles are about costume ideas or drinks recipes, and while that’s all well and good, it’s about time that we stepped up and started thinking about books. Neil Gaiman started All Hallow’s Read last year, a holiday/event that takes place on Halloween and the week surrounding, to encourage people to give others the gift of a scary book. Gaiman calls it “a great excuse to give someone a book,” which seems like a perfect thing to celebrate to me!
Get the books new or find them used, give kids books they’ll like and give adults books adults would like. The website allhallowsread.com offers a list of book recommendations, many of which are Gaiman’s books because he’s fabulous and tends to write things that are a little bit scary, like Coraline or The Graveyard Book. But here’s my suggestion: see if you can find any of your old Goosebumps books. Give them to everyone, children and adults alike, because the
kids probably haven’t seen them yet (generation gaps are sad!) and the adults will be glad to see them again. I wouldn’t mind seeing Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark around my life again, either—those stories would probably still scare me, but then, I’m kind of a baby when it comes to being frightened. Figure out who you want to give books to, assess how scary they like their books, and get to giving so you can proudly say that you celebrated All Hallow’s Read this year. So when you find yourself out picking up last-minute costume pieces or mixers for your Halloween drink concoctions, see if you can locate a nearby used bookstore and stop inside. Find a few inexpensive scary books and then find some people to give them to! If you can’t decide which books to get, ask the bookseller—they’re there to help with exactly that sort of problem, and you may even be introducing them to All Hallow’s Read for the first time, since it’s only a year old. The All Hallow’s Read website also offers a “take this book” sticker to put on any book, so you can then leave your All Hallow’s Read gift in a random place for a stranger to find. This option is particularly appealing because it means that you’re sharing the tradition of All Hallow’s Read with someone who might otherwise have never heard of it. And the more people hear about this, the more books will find their way to new homes! Give someone a scary book this week. You’ll be glad you did.
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MADAME QUERY
HAS YOUR REMEDY
Madame Query, help! My best friend
Madame Query, my boyfriend thinks my
asked me if I’d be okay if she went out
Halloween costume is too skanky and
with my ex (not serious). And I was all
doesn’t want me to wear it this weekend.
like “Sure!” Then my ex asked if it was
I was planning on being a sexy French
really okay and I was like “Yeah!” Now
poodle. How do I tell him that I worked
they’re dating and I can’t believe I said I
hard on this costume and that it’s not his
was okay with it. So not okay.
body to dress?
Madame is pretty sure you already know that answer. Tell him, “I worked hard on this costume and it’s not your body to dress.” I’m pretty sure that is the most right-to-the-point way of letting him know. If you want to be a little nicer about it, then assure him that you’re not dressing sexy to have sex, you’re dressing sexy because you have sex appeal and you like it. You’re not going out to find other guys to sleep with, you’re going out to have fun. Wearing a sexy Halloween costume is a lot of fun, if you’re comfortable with yourself. Don’t let your boyfriend act like a devilish troll while you want to be a pretty poodle. Quite honestly, you don’t even have to explain yourself. Sitting him down and giving an explanation as to why you have this costume is doing him a favor. You are wearing the costume you made yourself, you worked hard on it. Madame will be damned if she finds out one of her readers is stuck wearing a shitty-ass costume they had to piece together last minute, when they could have been the prettiest, sexiest of French poodles!
Madame is about to get a little harsh. DEAL WITH IT. Your friend followed through with typical friend code procedure and asked you. Even your ex thought about your feelings and asked you, and definitely did not have to do that. Your ex especially did not have to do that if the relationship you had together was not serious. I can tell that both of the times you were approached, you honestly thought “No, I don’t mind. I totally wouldn’t care,” so I really don’t think you were lying to them or yourself. So why are you not okay with it? Madame suspects you have a little case of jealousy. Jealousy strikes us all, so don’t be embarrassed. You are jealous because your best friend is now in a relationship. You are jealous because your ex found someone new before you did. You are even more jealous because those two are together. You feel like you don’t have a best friend to rag on your ex’s new girl with because she is the new girl. Doesn’t that suck? You know what though? You still have a best friend. She’s dating your ex, but she asked you first, she wanted to be upfront with you. She didn’t pull any kind of manipulation bullshit Madame sees so frequently around this campus. Yes, a million thoughts are running through your head, but a situation like this could be a lot worse. It feels awkward, but eventually you won’t even recognize it as that.
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A DV I C E Madame, I am having a lot of trouble figuring out if a ghost lives underneath my bed. I only think this because I’ve been hearing a lot of ruffling and clambering around my room. How do I find out?
Who are you going to call? Madame says: GHOSTBUSTERS! However, I don’t think that is necessary. In case you haven’t noticed, there are a lot of strange noises that come from this campus; falling trees, annoying laughter, freshmen with acoustic guitars, and of course, airplanes. I think a combination like this could make most people believe there is a ghost amongst. Heck, after all the years Madame has been on this campus sometimes she wakes up in the night thinking there is a tall figure beside her. As it turns out, there is, but it’s just a jug of Carlo Rossi. If you are really unsure, then set up a camera on a night vision setting. Try some Paranormal Activity shit. My guess is you’ll watch it the next day and find footage of you rolling around in your bed and no ghost in sight. If you do find some ghost, befriend him; maybe get a nightlight so your relationship with him won’t be so strained. He could be your new best friend!
HALLOWEEN EXPLORATIONS BY RAchel MARGOLIN
As Halloween approaches, the average paranormal fanatic’s intrigue with the unexplained increases. Especially here at Purchase where the weirdest of the weird congregate in flocks to watch scary movies and dress like they’re going to a funeral. For such avid fans, and those who want to feel out-of-body experiences without using inhalants, there are plenty of “haunted” locations on campus that might be a good place to set the mood this holiday season: the Elephant Tree behind Admissions:
Reputedly haunted by the ghosts of slaves who worked here when this was farmland, whose faces some say they can see in the branches, the tree is believed to give off a palpable energy. The Elephant Tree has been a popular spot to meet on Halloween since The Independent first covered it in October of 2002. the silos behind Farside:
Although they were once working silos, Purchase now knows them as abandoned, after a fire ravaged the structure’s foundation. The spirit of a girl who hanged herself supposedly now haunts the silos. Anderson Hill Road:
SUBMIT YOUR QUESTIONS
TO MADAME QUERY http://www.formspring.me/madamequery
Creepy and poorly lit, the rumors of Anderson Hill Road being haunted range from it being the home to Slender Man, to blasphemous tales of crazed bus drivers mowing down joggers in the wee hours of night. Drive safe, kids! While the interesting places like these are a fun diversion, keep in mind that they should be treated with respect and are still a part of the campus that others want to experience, so defiling them with toilet paper or silly string is probably a very bad idea. Have a safe and scary Halloween!
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ALL HALLOW’S READ COSTUMES FALL FEST HALLOWEEN NANOWRIMO NEIL GAIMAN PUMPKINS SEXY POODLE SKALLOWEEN TRICK OR TREAT SUBMIT BACK PAGE QUOTES VIA THE BOX OUTSIDE CCN 1011 OR ON THE WEB AT: HTTP://FORMSPRING.ME/INDYBACKPAGE
*some quotes have been rewritten for legibility or to preserve the anonymity of the submitter