Ray Bradbury Tribute: Fahrenheit 451 – “There is more than one way to burn a book. And the world is full of people running about with lit matches.”

June 13th, 2012

“”One of the most brilliant overall jobs of social satire.”
The Nation

“My art is on its final breaths, and chances are it will be dead, buried, and forgotten before most of you walk out of here with degrees.” The seismic words fell so hard on the 400 undergraduate shoulders surrounding me in an ASU lecture mega-hall that I can still vividly recall nearly falling out of my seat. The class was titled “Mass Media & Society” and the speaker was not (to everyone’s delight) our elegant, and aging instructor – the excruciatingly eccentric “original Dr.FUN” (who literally wrote the book on how media portrays sex, love, and relationships and its consequences) – but rather a previous radio executive and disc jockey, and current “expert scholar”; which apparently included spending time in front of groups like an intro elective course at a public university. Regardless of his overt melodramatic undertone, the speaker’s sentiment was hard not to empathize with as an aspiring creative type myself. If you haven’t figured it out by now, this industry insider was – quite broadly – referring to all the “cool new shit (his words, not mine)” that was causing radio to progressively fade into obscurity until only a handful of super-stations would remain. To be more specific, his presentation focused on the greatest threat to radio since television itself: internet in cars. It doesn’t take a genius to put two and two together to realize that once moto-WiFi is as common as removable cup-holders that most people – particularly those with roots elsewhere than the state on their license plate – if given a choice out of every radio station on the planet, will pick something other than their commercial-littered local indie jukebox for the drive home.

Assuming you possess an average reader’s attention span, right now you’re probably thinking, “cool story bro (assuming you also possess an average reader’s courtesy), but what does this have to do with Ray Bradbury, his death, or Fahrenheit 451 – you know, the book this review is supposed to be on.” Beyond the painfully obvious parallel of “technology is killing art” theme that F451 is remembered for (among other reasons), here, right before my eyes – in whatever relatively infinitesimal, isolated form – was Bradbury’s meticulously crafted nightmare coming true. Something, unfortunately, that is now – given a watchful and interested eye – observable on a daily basis. It wasn’t just that technology like internet-enabled Honda’s would be the death of the “his art” (partly, yes) that precipitated the invisible tears I saw running down the side of the speaker’s face for 65 minutes. It was what that death meant for the rest of us.

Ray Bradbury is one of only a small handful of names that would undoubtedly be on every list of nominees for the Mt. Rushmore of Science Fiction (if such an awesome monument were ever to be erected). With his place among an echelon of genre juggernauts such as Arthur Clarke, Isaac Asimov, and Robert Heinlein; his influence on future masters in their own right including Ursula Le Guin ,Phillip K. Dick, and Neil Gaiman; his work garnering comparison over the years to the likes of George Orwell – with over 500 publications and a laundry list of awards; Mr. Bradbury’s passing is a significant one.

You might say it was peculiar that I found myself researching a secret bookstore called Brazenhead in New York the day it happened; a physical symptom of Bradbury’s great diagnosis. You might say it was peculiar that the day before I was sketching an idea for a piece on outdoor libraries and breathtaking bookshelves; more attempts at fighting a war that is already lost. You might say it was less peculiar that almost every writer/literary/culture/arts/creative/humane type I knew had something to say in the form of everything from status updates, Tweets, and blog entries; to using what other great writers had to say about this great writer to say what he meant to them. To say the very least, on June 6th, 2012 there was a painfully gaping hole pierced into the heart of the American cultural landscape. And while I am in no way qualified to write an ode worthy of patching even a pixel of it, I however can pay homage by using this week’s first review to re-visit one of his most paramount works.

The occasion that lead to my first reading of Fahrenheit 451 is a fairy universal one: assigned reading. Oddly enough, I originally encountered the title on my preparatory summer reading list for sophomore chemistry class (a coincidence that led to some very imaginative interpretations of the title, as I grew up around adults who strictly read, and shelved, the classics – in the most archaic sense of the term). Four-hundred and fifty-one degrees: the temperature at which paper burns. The reference to which perhaps is reason why the first thing that most people think of in regards to the book is book burning – or censorship – itself. The publishers of the mass market paperback version – Del Ray Books – certainly seemed to think so, adorning the more commercial than praising byline of “The Classic Bestseller About Censorship – More Important Now Than Ever Before.” The latter half of which is more interesting, given the edition came out in 1987, as the observation remained a consistent one over the course of the book’s 50+ year lifetime. Ironically enough, less than a fifth of the class had read the book when the first day of class eventually came. But that didn’t stop Guy Montag from – horrible pun incoming – igniting a debate that an innocent onlooker might mistake for an actual scholastic discussion. This of course, speaks less in support for the matter, and more for the subject. No one wanted to be in a generation that was too dumb to realize that it was too dumb to realize anything. Wherein of course lays the dilemma, if we ever did reach that point, how would we know?

What has always impressed me most about Bradbury’s masterpiece is the immersive world he creates. A quick survey of only a few reviews over the past half-century will tell you I am not alone. While Fahrenheit’s America is a comprehensive one that stylishly emanates the dismal and spiritless aura Bradbury intended with a visceral force, the reason its setting is so remarkable (to me anyway) is how it defies all genre conventions, yet remains one of its staple achievements. Science fiction novels are supposed to be filled with flying cars, shiny clothes that talk, sleek gravity-and-architecture defying mountains of pristine steel, ubiquitous bliss and void of disease. But there is none of this in Fahrenheit 451. In fact the only discernible difference between our world and the one Bradbury constructed in 1953 is that books aren’t banned and that firefighters are still just that – and not firestarters. Hell, are the homes that Bradbury’s characters inhabit, with their four-walled television surroundings, igloos of mind-numbing media, any different than our iPhone-tablet-notebook-cinema-3DTV-HD modern day cyber-cemented environment? In this fictional society, happiness is commoditized, allotted, and distributed; and the proliferation of books – thoughts and ideas – only reduces the supply, the quality, while also most importantly, raises the price. Perhaps Montag’s boss, Chief Beatty, says it best:

“Give the people contests they win by remembering the words to more popular songs or the names of state capitals or how much corn Iowa grew last year. Cram them full of non-combustible data, chock them so damned full of ‘facts’ they feel stuffed, but absolutely ‘brilliant’ with information. Then they’ll feel they’re thinking, they’ll get a sense of motion without moving. And they’ll be happy, because facts of that sort don’t change. Don’t give them any slippery stuff like philosophy or sociology to tie things up with. That way lies melancholy. (61)”

However, this book is not about book burning or censorship. As Bradbury himself has openly stated, it is about how television has corroded the literate circuits of society’s neurology. It is about the virus that makes it more appealing to drool upon one’s Cheetos covered flesh in a La-Z-Boy than browsing on one’s knees in some dusty library to find a relevant 10 hour cerebral journey. It is about the danger of believing in the “sense of motion without moving.” It is about the burning of culture. At their core (at least in theory), our technology is always intended to enrich the human experience. Facebook was supposed to make it easier to connect. Twitter was supposed to make it easier to communicate. Television was supposed to make it easier to tell stories. The internet was supposed to bring us all together. Even with appropriate historical deviations from these (admittedly trivial reductions) mentioned, the intentions can, more or less, be generalized as noble. And the results don’t necessarily support the opposite as the current digital-zeitgeist might suggest. Some people do use technology to enrich life, rather than permitting its erosion, as this TED talk by Stefana Broadbent eloquently, and empirically, expresses.

In other words, Bradbury’s message is not “we should say to hell with the machine”, but rather, “we will find ourselves to be hell if we become like the machine.” We allowed Facebook to turn friendship into a list of “friends” and preferring to “like” instead of love. We allowed Twitter to turn talking to tweeting. We kept watching Jersey Shore instead of The History Channel (or were inexplicably late in recognizing art like The Wire). The two sides at war here are not technology and man, but rather two forms of happiness: the hedonist and the spiritualist. Happiness doesn’t come in megabytes of data; it comes from taking mega bites out of the source. Books as they stand, both in Bradbury’s time as much as our own (though this is less and less becoming the case) were merely the review of the fruit – intended to entice. They are merely vessels for carrying the history of those who “braved the storm of life and lived” so that the rest of us may know that such a courage exists in us all. Bradbury says it best, ventriloquizing through ex-professor and Montag’s second significant mentor, Faber:

“It would be funny if it were not serious. It’s not books you need; it’s some of the things that once were in books. The same things could be in the ‘parlor families’ today. The same infinite detail and awareness could be projected through the radios and televisors, but are not. No, no, it’s not books at all you’re looking for! Take it where you can find it, in old phonograph records, old motion pictures, and in old friends; look for it in nature and look for it in yourself. Books were only one type of receptacle where we stored a lot of things we were afraid we might forget. There is nothing magical in them at all. The magic is only in what books say, how they stitched the patches of the universe together into one garment for us. (82).”

So, go forth and find your own cosmic sewing machine; whether it burns at 451 degrees or not. Because otherwise the same flames will consume your exposed, naked mind – and you’ll believe in the “sense of motion, without moving at all”. Chances are you can find a copy of Fahrenheit 451 sitting on one of those side-walk book buys on your way to or from work (especially during the next few weeks).

And in honor of Ray Bradbury and intelligent thinking and meaningful human interaction everywhere – take a trip out to the New York Public Library. Remind yourself of the breathtaking resource tucked away in the heart of downtown. Read Fahrenheit 451 in a way and place similar to how and where it was written. While you’re at it, either before or after, stop by BareBurger for a great bite – and take advantage of the great student discount (below) provided by your friends at #CampusClipper!

Mahad Zara, The University of Arizona and Columbia University, Read my blog and follow me on Twitter

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The Museum of the American Indian

June 11th, 2012

Right off the Bowling Green subway stop in the financial district is a free museum worth visiting. The National Museum of the American Indian is in the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House. A great building that represents  international trade and exploration now commemorates the native people and culture of America.

Admission to this museum is free because it is an extension of the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. Unlike the museum in Washington, DC, there is a focus on the art. American Indians from the Andes, Amazon, Planes, and Caribbean each have a unique style in the way they design and make their clothing, pottery and jewelry.  The headdresses alone demonstrate the uniqueness of each cultural area from Patagonia to the Arctic.

I went the museum with an artist friend who spent two and a half hours in the museum sketching. I was not bored at all even though the exhibits should only take an hour to look through. I think the reason why I enjoyed my experience so much was because the everyday items were displayed like art, in glass cabinets and under dimmed lights. I was compelled to view each piece not only as representations of each nation but as individual art. There were many unique pieces from a statue made out of seal materials to look like the statue of liberty to a Chimu Jar representing a squash.  The part that makes this museum most worth seeing is the collection of contemporary art at the end of the Infinity of Nations Exhibit. Each piece represents the lives and culture of the American Indian in unique and creative ways. One of the most unique pieces is made out of hubcaps, tires, chair legs, and PVC plastic. These items are arranged together to look like a walrus. I found this small wing contained the most stunning and moving pieces of the museum.

If you are looking for a cultural and artistic experience in New York this is a museum I recommend. I was reminded that even everyday items like a bowl can be considered art. I was inspired to view everything I experience with a more artistic eye. As I walked home from the museum I noticed the artistry in things I used to overlook, from cracks in sidewalks to patterns in people’s clothes.  It is amazing what a little free culture can do to one’s frame of mind.

After your visit to the National Museum of the American Indian I recommend going across the street towards the river for a great view of the statue of liberty and continue your cultural experience at  Oaxacana Revolucion de Taco.

Shailyn Tavella, NYU 2013, Read my blog and follow me on Twitter

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The Forgotten People: Gangs of New York

June 10th, 2012

Gangs of New York

I’ve never gone on one of those websites that does your family tree for you, but I can understand the draw. The thought that we creatures of Apple, Walmart, Facebook, and suburbia may count kings and queens among our ancestors is exciting, or incredibly depressing if you think about it. Nations want the same thing. They create myths surrounding their origins, as if playing king of the sandbox with the rest of the world—“we were here first, we’ve always been here.” America is a young nation, so we have no King Arthur and his knights. But we do have the myth of Opportunity, and considering two centuries of almost uninterrupted immigration, one could say it’s a commodity well marketed. In Gangs of New York, Martin Scorsese follows the myth to its source—New York City. It was here that Irish, Chinese, and Eastern European immigrants poured in by the boatload, and it was here they found a city as much a window into opportunity as a comic parody of that same myth.

Scorsese’s epic unfolds in the Five Points, the meeting-place of five streets in Lower Manhattan where both immigrants and “natives” were thrown together in squalor and in blood. After the death of his father, “Priest Vallon” (Liam Neeson), in a literal war between the Irish and the native gangs led by “Bill the Butcher” Cutting (Daniel-Day Lewis in usual top form), Amsterdam (Cian McCormack, later Leonardo DiCaprio) spends fifteen years an orphan in Hellgate.  Though sworn to avenge his father after his release, he finds himself a gang member back in Five Points under the protection of the very man he seeks to kill. Cutting bleeds men and pigs with equal pleasure and precision, however, so any thought of murder must also be accompanied by consideration for the tender parts of one’s own torso.

Through Amsterdam’s eyes, we see not only his own personal quest for vengeance but also the unfolding of one of the most tumultuous periods in American history. In one particularly compelling sequence, Amsterdam’s and Cutting’s respective Irish and native forces go head to head as New York bubbles over with the heat of the Draft Riots, which were aimed at overturning Lincoln’s conscription of men into the Union army. What a time it was, Scorsese tells us—a time when the army of the Union fired upon the same men they would have join them, and a time when foreign and native fought with knife and cudgel in the alleys of the city as North and South took turns facing the barrel of the cannon upon the field.

 

Odd loyalties were formed and broken. Though Jimmy Spoils (Larry Gilliard Jr. of The Wire), the sole black member of one of the Five Points’ own band of thieves, once may have found acceptance among the Irish—both minorities, both hated and feared—when the riots break out, to an angry mob he is the cause of Lincoln’s war and competition for their labor. Amsterdam and love interest Jenny (Cameron Diaz) find him stretched out upon the stones of Five Points, his body lit by candlelight in a row of a hundred others nameless.

Scorsese no doubt takes some liberties with the myth of New York—though not so many as one might think. Many of the gangs depicted in the film operated throughout the 19th century, and Five Points may have been even more terrifying in real life than it was in the movie. And Hellcat Maggie, the wild-haired gangstress with the sharpened teeth and claws? Really existed.

I went walking down South Street Seaport the other day with some friends. The street carts were out selling Dippin Dots and lemonade, and there atop the quaint rows of brick houses that once would have greeted the merchants as they unloaded at port sit the shining logos of Abercrombie, cafes, and bars full of the young and the fashionable. Suspend this enchanting touristic vision for a moment, however, and imagine what this might once have been. One of many doorways onto a city of multitudes, where Americans were not yet a people but people, merely. Suspend disbelief, and you can almost imagine one of Scorsese’s young rogues leaning casually against a back alley wall, hat turned down to conceal his eyes. Imagine this, and listen to the thousand voices of the city that once were and are now forgotten, their owners’ bones beneath the very stones that now scream out in strident tones: “Dippin Dots! Get cher’ Dippin Dooots!”

Speaking of Dippin Dots… go get yourself something sweet with this coupon for free bubble tea at T-magic!

 

Andres Oliver, Emory University
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Long-Distance Relationships and Weird Technologies that Help Close the Gap

June 9th, 2012
long-distance

Image Credit: http://www.yourtango.com/long-distance-relationship-0

Ahh, summertime. The smell of suntan lotion is in the air, breezes tickle bare skin and make girls paranoid about their skirts, and grains of sand can be found in every corner of your room after your first trip to the beach. But for many college students, summer also means leaving the college environment to return home or go abroad, and forces them to separate from friends and significant others, resulting in even more long-distance relationships, or LDRs, than ever before.

According to statistics from the now-closed Center for the Study of Long Distance Relationships (yes, it actually existed), over four million college couples in the United States alone were in long-distance relationships in 2005. A more recent study conducted by the Communications Research journal found that as much as 75% of college students have or will, at some point, find themselves in a long-distance relationship. Even those in post-graduate life are increasingly finding themselves in LDRs, in part due to better technology but also majorly because of ever-increasing demands of economic situations.

With all the controversy over long-distance relationships, are they worth it? And what can be done to help maintain one?

There are many physical factors that play into a long-distance relationship, including the distance between the two involved, the modes of contact available, and the frequency and duration with which the couple can come into physical contact. Interestingly, however, studies suggest that distance is ultimately not the deciding factor for whether or not a long-distance couple will stay together.

See? It doesn’t have to be so bad!

A study conducted by the Center’s founder Greg Guldner titled “Time Spent Together and Relationship Quality: Long Distance Relationships as a Test Case” challenged the idea that relationship qualities are significantly affected by the amount of time a couple spends together. The study states, “Clearly, relationships require some level of contact and extremely infrequent contact probably does ultimately result in relationship instability. However, that level of infrequent contact does not occur in the vast majority of relationships.” In an interview with USA Today, Guldner says that his studies have found that a couple’s communication frequency “has almost no impact on whether they stayed together or the quality of the relationship.”

Rather, what makes long-distance relationships so different from others is the way that, particularly the rate at which, they develop. Guldner says, “Such relationships progress slowly because relationships develop through conflict and the breaking down of illusions—and long-distance couples don’t want to spoil their time together by fighting.” So while a close-proximity couple might break up within two months of starting a relationship, a LDR couple might do so in three or four.

I, for one, support this theory. My first relationship was one separated by about 200 miles and a $40 one-way bus ticket (which would have been more expensive had I not had used student discounts). But I don’t think it was the distance that broke us up; rather, I think that it kept us together for as long as we were. We hadn’t known each other much before we started dating, but we still decided to jump into a labeled “boyfriend-girlfriend” relationship from the start because we liked each other enough and felt that we wanted to be exclusive and needed to feel some sort of commitment before pledging to make a habit of crossing state borders. When our relationship started to get shaky, our phone calls never really addressed changing feelings even though it was clear that they were there. We didn’t want to argue, and the distance made our problems easier to ignore.

The good news is that, when commitment level and level of trust are high, long-distance relationships tend to have a success rate identical to relationships where the partners are in proximity to one another, implying that a couple’s needs are less physical than commonly believed and, instead, more emotional and psychological. This summer, my current boyfriend and I are long-distance, but commitment, trust, and communication are making it easier for us to deal with the distance.

In order to keep up the emotional and psychological stability of a relationship, communication is necessary. As products of Generation Y, we tend to not have much trouble in the field of long-distance interaction. Ever since we exchanged AIM screen names in grammar or middle school, we have been using such communication tools as email and instant messaging. SMS- and text-messaging are practically our second language.

Some couples have taken this interaction a step further, creating avatars that interact through virtual reality sites like SecondLife and VirtualDateSpace. A problem with such sites, however, is that it may cause an idealized version of reality. Though it helps couples to communicate and interact, it is, long story short, exactly what it claims to be—virtual reality: an alternate reality, not real life. For example, if you are communicating with your significant other’s attractive avatar when you are not attracted to the actual person, well, things could get a little complicated.

But it is not verbal communication that is so much of a problem today. Despite the science suggesting the insignificance of the role that physical contact plays in creating strong relationships, one of the biggest complaints among long-distance couples is a lack of physical contact, both sexual and not. The human need for touch extends beyond a release of oxytocin, a feel-good hormone released through affectionate touch. Sometimes people pine for touch simply because it is comforting to know that the other person is “there,” even if they cannot be “here.”

Technology seeks to rid LDRs of this barrier through such inventions as the “hug shirt” which recreates the strength, warmth, and heartbeat of someone’s embrace through sensors embedded in the shirt, allowing you to hug and be hugged in return. An iPhone app launched in March called “Pair” sets up a direct connection between couples through which they can quickly send texts, photos, and more. Its feature “thumb kiss” vibrates when the people on either end of the phone touch the screen in the same place at the same time, letting each other know that they are both “here” and “there” and thinking of each other.

A big pillow hugger myself, my favorite invention that I found is the product “Pillow Talk,” which allows couples to feel like they are sleeping with each other by simulating their partner’s heartbeat through a pillow. One person (or both) cuddles the pillow as the other wears a ring that detects the wearer’s heartbeat. The pillows miles away beat in real time with the heart of each pillow hugger’s lover, simulating a G-rated night together.

As much of a romanticized view as this might seem, when two people are right for each other, there is no distance that commitment cannot overcome. The biggest question that one should ask when considering a long-distance relationship is not if the distance is right, but rather if the person is right. Once this question receives a “yes,” staying in touch, both literally and figuratively, will not be as hard as it seems.

UPDATE: I’ve tried the Pair iPhone app, and it’s pretty cool. You can password protect it if you want, to ensure privacy. You can send pictures, videos, or drawings, and can directly link to FaceTime through it (though the FaceTime accounts are linked through email addresses, not the phone, which is strange). You can send a cute little thought bubble that simply says “Thinking of you,” or you can live draw with each other, or drop a pin to let your Pair-mate know where you are.

In the settings, you can list your anniversary and both of your birthdays to remember. You can set up a to-do list in the “Shared Task” section, document “Moments” with pictures, and suggest the application to another couple.

Bad news, though, for polygamous relationships: you can only pair with one person.

 

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Carina, New York University. Read my blog and check out my Twitter!

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Ideal Career Choices for Personality Types

June 7th, 2012

Society today has been keen on putting people into categories: tall or short, educated or uneducated, sociable or shy. Because of this constant grouping of people, the Internet has been swarming with various personality tests that tell you what type of individual you are and the type of people you would be the most and the least compatible with. Though some people say that this categorization of people is discriminatory and encourages unfair separation of human beings, I find it interesting how answering a couple questions can tell you who you are as a whole person and even provide you with options for your future. I don’t like to rely on these personality tests, but one test that I have recently taken and found to be strangely accurate is the Myers Briggs Personality Test. This test consists of nearly fifty questions that you must answer in order to determine your personality through the different integrations of pre-determined letters. These letters stand for a specific personality, such as E for extrovert and I for introversion, and using the combination of four letters, the Myers Briggs Personality Test reveals your true personality at its raw.

For college students who are just beginning to discover themselves and testing different major options, Myers Briggs Personality Test is the perfect tool that creates a list of options that would work to the benefit of their distinct personas. Upon completing the test, Myers Briggs presents the four-letter definition of your personality with an explanation and the career choices that would suit your characteristics. I am an ENFJ: extroversion, intuition, feeling, and judging, and Myers Briggs had summed me up as an idealist organizer. The compatible career options for an ENFJ are journalist, social worker, chiropractor, and graphic designer. As an English major, becoming a journalist was something that I had contemplated over, and after seeing the results of my test, I’m even more tempted to pursue after it as a possible career.

Myers Briggs Personality Test  proved true for myself, but it might differ from person to person, depending on how honestly you answer the questionnaire. Even if you are set on the career of your dreams, take the Myers Briggs Personality Test at http://similarminds.com/jung.html to explore yourself in depth and also to have some fun to see what possible apposite alternatives you have. http://vocational-careers.toptenreviews.com/personality-test-assists-professionals-in-making-career-choices.html gives the explanations you need in order to decipher the codes that the test presents you with. There’s no harm at all in taking this test; do it for fun and explore you’re the endless options you have for your life.

Express your personality through a collection of piercings or body jewelry with a discount!

Becky Kim, Queens College, Read my blog and follow me on Twitter

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Finding the Humor in Collegehumor.com

June 7th, 2012

Recently on Facebook, my friend had posted up a link to a website I had never heard of before. Of course, being a curious cat, I clicked on the link to find a video taking over my entire laptop screen. Stunned thinking that it was one of those spammed adult videos, I scrambled to exit out, but I saw a petit blonde woman with pursed lips and sharply raised eyebrows enter my screen. She closely resembled the fashion icon Mary-Kate Olsen and my guess had been correct. This video was from a series called “Very Mary-Kate,” a parody on the real Mary-Kate Olsen, depicting her life as an empty-headed multi-millionaire without a proper education. The real Mary-Kate Olsen is nothing like this, as her PR confirms, and the maker of this parody had even defended her videos from angry fans of the Olsen twin, stating that her videos were merely exaggerations based on the rumors of celebrity life to create light humor.

A parody well done

I can understand why fans were enraged after watching these videos, but to be honest, this was just an overtly reactive response to the two-minute clips. “Very Mary-Kate” is only a segment of a variety of video clips posted on www.collegehumor.com, a website dedicated to humorous videos for the purpose of sheer entertainment. Some of the topics that these videos discuss run along the fine lines of vulgarity and comedy, but for college students who want to take their minds off of the worries of studying, this website perfectly suitable. Aside from videos, collegehumor.com also uploads entertaining pictures and articles that deal largely with the main-stream media today – something all college students can relate to and laugh about. Collegehumor.com contains so much more material than this satirical parody of a celebrity, and needless to say, it’s all just for some laughs and giggles. Everyone needs a break from reality and what better way is there than to rely on light-humored comedy.

Although browsing through this website can help one in easily releasing stress, it can also become an instant trap for procrastination if not monitored carefully. I’ve spent hours on this site, mindlessly laughing over hilarious videos when I should have been writing my final papers. With a good amount of self-control, collegehumor.com is definitely a good remedy for an overworked college student in search of an oasis. Look through the site, enjoy it, and spend some time by yourself with effortless humor; I’m positive that you’ll be hooked on it.

Watch: Very Mary Kate Photo Shoot

Try other ways of enjoying a relaxing time other than staying on your computer by receiving a discount on a body massage!

Becky Kim, Queens College, Read my blog and follow me on Twitter

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Book Review: About a Mountain by John D’Agata – “To whomever I did not help.”

June 7th, 2012

"...one of the most significant U.S writers to emerge in the past few years." - David Foster Wallace

“It seemed to us we we’re a very great people” – The United States of America

John D'Agata

      A week into November of last year at the University of Arizona, right around when the leaves of date palms litter the walkways all over Tucson, I found myself in a familiar place: nose wedged in a book, eyes drowned in its ephemeral words, limbs temporarily frozen and forgotten; I was lost. My wasteland: the nuclear storage fields at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. My drug: our future. My spirit guide: John D’Agata. About a Mountain is one of those rare firecrackers of books that not only sparks  widespread controversy, but does so for a reason only other writers, penetrating thinkers, acerbic comedians and unattractive vampires can appreciate – being misunderstood. It took all of 10 pages before someone who didn’t fall into one of those categories – ironically, a geology professor (who is a leader in his field, and thus remain unnamed) – was overwhelmed by what could only have been a personal agitation that superseded general human etiquette, to point out – let’s say less than eloquently – that an entire book was dedicated to fact-checking the 200 pages of brilliance that laid in my hands, and unequivocally supported a conclusion that many readers had come to: in About a Mountain, John D’Agata is at his best, and John D’Agata is  completely full of shit.

      It isn’t hard to see why. Consider the book’s opening lines, describing Las Vegas’ centennial: “If you take the population of Las Vegas, Nevada, and you divide that by the number of days in the year, there should be 5,000 people in the city and its suburbs with a birthday on the same day that Las Vegas began. On the hundredth anniversary of its founding, however, Las Vegas had only gathered twenty-nine of those people.” Alongside lines such as the dedicatory inscription at the beginning of this review – in particular, one’s seemingly intended for an exceedingly enlightened, mysterious audience somewhere in the distant future – D’Agata immediately introduces readers to his favorite (and, unsurprisingly, most misunderstood) move: bending time and place while simultaneously trapezing between the ledges of fact and fiction. It is in this uncomfortable domain of the known and unknown where D’Agata’s peculiar logic, his idiosyncratic mind, and fascinating personal experience are employed (and shine) to reexamine not only where we are, but also where we’ve been; and most portent – where we are going.

      You might have noticed that I’ve reached several hundred words without actually diving into the masterful narrative that Charles Bock of The New York Times called “unquestionably art, a breathtaking piece of writing.” A review that reprimanded – and derided – the artist only a few paragraphs later for the same reasons for which it initially protruded with admiring jaundice: “I don’t know what to think. What’s specific or representative or smudged? Pandora’s box is wide open.” What Mr. Bock fails to realize, despite his awareness of D’Agata’s explicit claim that “I[He] is in search of art” and not fact is that this was precisely the book’s purpose – one that (perhaps without the reader’s acknowledgement) it polemically fulfills.

So why should you, or anyone, really care? The overarching message of About a Mountain serves as a messianic compass as we attempt to successfully navigate our way through this precarious storm of cultural and technological chaos. More than ever, the ability to critically parse between fact and fiction, numbers and art, truth and wisdom is paramount to our continued existence; one that is worth preserving anyway. The book itself weaves an in-depth coverage of the political suave and maneuvers used to re-interpret a million year problem into a 10,000 year solution (an absolutely stunning metaphor for the pattern of thinking that has lead us here) along with the tragic story of Levi Presley – a boy who jumped off the Stratosphere tower in Vegas – and the connection of his death to D’Agata’s own experience answering calls on a suicide hotline. It is because, not despite, this discordance that D’Agata’s ambition and pursuit of art is realized. Here, the details that are debated  (resolved with end notes in later editions) – from the significant, such as the day of Levi’s death, to the minuscule, such as the actual color of hills in the Nevadan autumn – are irrelevant. Keeping up? Good. Because it is through this very deliberate and aesthetically striking ridiculing of fact, or knowledge, that any of the information is made relevant.

credit: IowaNow

      Creative Nonfiction is not journalism – D’Agata despises the term, instead championing the “essay”, invoking Montaigne’s “essai”, meaning ‘an attempt or trial’ to route the journey of consciousness throughout a narrative; a provocative stance to say the least. His elastic perspective regarding this paradigm is manifested in the titles of the book’s chapters: starting with the journalistic staples of “Who, What, How, Where and When” and concluding with a trifecta that outlaws objectivity entirely, “Why, Why, Why.” Certainly, this complex concept is beautifully articulated when he writes, “Clear that if I point to something like significance, there is the possibility that nothing real is there. Sometimes we misplace knowledge in pursuit of information. Sometimes our wisdom, too, in pursuit of what’s called knowledge.” Indeed this is a hefty price to pay for maintaining the beloved boundary, the artificial security, between objectivity and subjectivity, where intellectual vertigo and doubt are priceless casualties in the name of conventional tradition. D’Agata’s perspicacious observation is further reflected in the portrayal of back-door politicians who recommend the feasible option instead of confronting the truth with wisdom. Despite the borderline infinite data on Yucca Mountain, “a place that we have studied more thoroughly at this point than any other parcel of land in the world… still it remains unknown, revealing only the fragility of our capacity to know.”

“When we are not sure, we are alive.” – Graham Greene

While I can’t direct you anywhere in the city with palm trees year round, there are plenty of opinionated strangers everywhere. So why not grab a copy of  About a Mountain  and head to Cafe Mocha, fill up with a great sandwich, then focus in with a free Cappuccino (using the coupon below), and if you absolutely can’t help yourself, ‘fact-check’ this monumental work with their free WiFi.

Mahad Zara, The University of Arizona and Columbia University, Read my blog and follow me on Twitter

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Cool Down with Horchata

June 7th, 2012

This year it felt like summer never left, and with a blistering temperatures ahead of us, it’s important to stay hydrated, fresh, and cool. If you’re looking for a new way to cool down, why not try drinking some horchata? Horchata (the h is silent) is a refreshing drink popular in Spain and Latin America. Vampire Weekend sang about it’s warm variant on their sophomore album Contra, but it can also be served cold to ease long summer nights. Horchata varies from country to country, and my personal favorite is of course Salvadorean horchata (my mom is from El Salvador so I’m obviously biased about this). Distinct from other horchata recipes is its inclusion of morro seeds from the jicaro plant. Horchata has a flavor similar to taro, but horchata is a bit sweeter. Horchata is typically made with the ground almond, rice, sesame seeds, or barley.

morro seeds

morro seeds from the jicaro plant

You can buy instant horchata mix at Latin American grocery stores, but if you really want to get great authentic flavor, here’s a relatively simple recipe for homemade horchata with morro seed.

  • Crushed pound of morro seeds, you can find morro seeds in Latin American grocery stores across New York City.
  • 2 ounces of cinnamon
  • 2 whole nutmegs
  • 2 ounces of coriander seeds
  • 25 allspice berries
  • 4 pounds of rice

 

Begin to brown the rice (do not add water). To make sure it doesn’t burn, keep stirring it. Add in the cinnamon, coriander seeds, nutmeg, and allspice berries. Keep stirring until golden brown.

Later mix in a blender with the crushed pound of morro seeds until it becomes a fine powder. (In Latin America, cooks have the added benefit of local mills to do this, but for city dwellers, a blender will do). Your yield will be high, perhaps enough to last you all summer. In this case, store extra horchata powder in airtight container, like the ones you use for cereal, or in glass jars.

Now to make a liter of horchata you’ll need 2 cups of water, a cup of milk (almond milk adds an extra dimension of nutty flavor to the drink), and 8 table spoons of your horchata mixture. Mix the 8 table spoons of mixture with some of the water and strain through a cheese cloth. You may want to strain it back and forth a couple of times to get the most out of the horchata powder. Once strained, add in the rest of the water and milk and add sugar or honey to taste. Garnish with a stick of cinnamon, serve ice cold and enjoy.

Wary about the taste? Why not try some taro bubble tea at T-magic and see if horchata might interest you!

Catherine, Hudson County Community College, Read my blog and follow me on Twitter

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How Reliable are the Ratings of Your Professors?

June 6th, 2012

Choosing classes and making the semester’s schedule happens to be one of the things I love the most about being a college student. I love the freedom I have in deciding between the option of classes and feeling in charge of my own life for once. But for many students, this time of the semester is the most stressful and possibly the next worst thing from finals week. It’s definitely understandable why scheduling is one of the biggest pressures as a student. The competition in prying for the same courses vital for graduation within a certain major drives people to the state of extreme tension and desperation.

Often times, this intense competition rises because students are constantly relying on how well the professor teaches and chasing after the course with the best rated professor. The website, www.ratemyprofessor.com, has become an extremely popular site for college students to turn to in order to get a preview of how difficult the course they’ve chosen will be. How reliable is this site? For many students, this website is the shortcut to an excellent grade for the semester. However, the ratings listed are created by other students’ previous experiences with the professors, so everything really depends on the individual’s study habits, passion for education, and individual chemistry with the instructor. Ratings on this website are personal, and sometimes, too personal. Sure, it’s tempting to believe all of the reviews posted on the website, but nothing is valid until you face the professors head-on and first handedly experience their teaching methods yourself.

Avoiding bad professors as Cameron Diaz's role in "Bad Teacher"

What I’m trying to tell you is to not become dependent on these reviews that merely tell you someone’s experience with a certain course or professor. Some of the ratings may be reliable, but most of the time, you’ll receive mixed opinions about the same professor – everyone is different, thus everyone produces different judgments. Knowing this now, don’t’ stress about landing a class with the “best” or the “easiest” professor. Succeeding in class does not depend on the professor, but it depends solely on your responsibility and willingness to put in the effort. Feel free to take a look at these ratings once in a while, but liberate yourself from becoming consumed by them. Explore and take risks – that’s what college is for!

Stop your stressing and take a breather by enjoying a discount on an all-organic meal of burger and fries at Bareburger!

Becky, Queens College, Read my blog and follow me on Twitter

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Be savvy with your free time

June 4th, 2012

Cultural experiences shouldn’t cost you the $15 entrance fee!  New York City has an overwhelming amount of free or inexpensive events that happen every day.   Make your free time free by knowing how to find free events throughout the city.
There are several resources available for finding free events in the city.  These websites provide a comprehensive list of free or inexpensive events by date or subject. I recommend looking at multiple websites because there are so many events some websites do not list them all.
Here is a list of some of the resources I use:
Time Out New York
Go NYC
New York Magazine
Living Free NYC
Club Free Time NYC

Sifting through all of the possible events can be daunting. There are free pickup games in the park, free lectures, movies, concerts, and art shows. It is helpful to know what you are interested in and passionate about so you can pick which type of events you want to search.

The best part about going to these events is that you are going to be around people who are just as interested in doing these things as you are. If you go to a free Stargazing Event on the Highline, you will meet  other people who like stargazing.

To make sure you don’t miss out on great opportunities create a calendar (I use google calendar).  I know it may seem weird organizing your free time but  I have been mad at myself many times because I wasn’t aware of amazing events like Free Wanda Jackson concert in Central Park.

I will be posting some of my favorite free events around the city in the posts to follow! So keep looking at Campus Clipper Blog  to find out more tips on living in the city.

With all the running around the city you will be doing with free things you may need a gym membership to stay in shape!

 

Shailyn Tavella, NYU 2013, Read my blog and follow me on Twitter

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