September 2011 Insight Magazine

SEPTEMBER 2011 VOLUME 4 • ISSUE 1

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Date September 6th, 2011

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16 prosper from losing your job

18 find redemption in life

22 take back your education

26 survive long distance relationship

30 bring back fashions from the dead

THANk you!Please read again

PHOTO BY GEOFF ROSEBOROUGH

2 | Insight | September 2011

PHOTO BY GEOFF ROSEBOROUGH

2011 September | Insight | 3

4 EDITOR LETTERContentsSEPTEMBER 2011

6 BEHIND INSIGHTSee how far the Insight staff has come from high school

8 PACK PROFILEInsight sits down with one of the campus’s important staff members.

10 PEOPLE FIRSTWhy it’s important to see past a person’s disabilty.

16 BENEFITS OF LOSING YOUR JOBWhy losing your job rocks!

22 A CUT ABOVEInsight talks to UNR professors who have either lost their job or almost lost it due to recent budget cuts.

26 GOING THE DISTANCEHow one couple manages to maintain a long distance relationship

30 THE RUNDOWNFashions we should bring back from the dead.

28 STRAIGHT AND NARROWThe realities of the “straight edge” lifestyle.

5 UNRInsight.com

12 PATHWAYSTwo students’ paths to redemption.

18 SIN: FOR A LIMITED TIME ONLYStudents from different spiritual background discuss their take on redemption.


LETTER { } EDITORFROM THE

I’m writing this on the last day of my last school-defined summer vacation. I’m graduating in May, provided the University and I both make it until then. It’s been a rough year for both of us. We both had some financial issues, thought

our futures were going nowhere and had someone tell us to “stay positive” when everything around us was falling apart. We attend a land grant institution that cut its agriculture program. I know you’ve heard that before, but think about it again. That’s like opening a deli, but after awhile, you decide to stop serving bread. It’s an awkward time to be a member of the Pack.

The reason why I think I’ll make it to May (and hopefully far beyond) is because I’ve evaluated the worst of me; I’ve made selfish decisions, been irresponsible and felt hopeless. The coolest thing about that is that I felt so worn down, I felt liberated. I could do anything and it would either turn out well, or I’d fail: two things I had already done. Once you’ve screwed up, you’re not as afraid of it the next time, and a sense of daring is instilled. It takes torching yourself terribly to rob you of any inhibitions. And it’s only when you finally let yourself do what you thought was impossible that you finally start achieving what you want to. That’s what redemption means to me, and I think I’ve got a shot at it, and I feel the same way about the University. Though it might take longer, I refuse to believe the people of UNR are incapable.

As you flip through this issue, you’ll find a variety of reasons why UNR’s going to be okay, and how we’ve already begun redeeming ourselves. Students who failed out of college and instructors who were told they no longer had a job here are managing to find the small things to keep them going. Whether those be in the form of self-fulfillment, or simply realizing they made a mistake, it’s valuable and inspiring. I’m not saying everything happens for a reason, but bad things rarely have solely

Geoff McFarland - Print Managing [email protected]

Derek Jordan - [email protected]

Geoff Roseborough - Design [email protected]

Sebastian Diaz - Photo [email protected]

Diamond Lambert - Assistant Photo [email protected]

Jessie Gray - Office [email protected]

Amy Vigen - Story [email protected]

Vicki Tam - Story [email protected]

Evynn McFalls - Web [email protected]

Charlie Woodman - Web [email protected]

Lucas Combos - Staff [email protected]

Cambria Roth - Staff [email protected]

Contributors:Chris FavataKarina Stanton

Sam DiSalvoEditor-in-Chief

The opinions expressed in this publication and its associated Web site are not necessarily those of the University of Nevada, Reno or the student body. www.unrinsight.comCOVER ILLUSTRATION BY GEOFF ROSEBOROUGH

Sam DiSalvo - [email protected]


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PACK PROFILE

aSun prESiDEnt caSEy StitElEr

WORDS BY LUCAS COMBOSPHOTO BY SEBASTIAN DIAZ

In Fall of 2007, Casey Stiteler was a freshman recruited (and excited) to drive a convertible up Virginia St. as part of the homecoming parade. He was picked for his ability to drive a manual transmission—a somewhat rare skill amongst his young

peers. As this freshman became acquainted with the long inclines of Virginia Street, he also remembered the perils of driving in only first gear. One burnt transmission later, the parade was over and the young Nevada native was freshly inspired.

“That’s when I learned I could really get my hands on things,” Stiteler says.


That spirit of optimism seems intact today, as the 22-year-old political science major looks toward graduation and further schooling. Sworn in this past

April, Stiteler serves as President of the Associated Students of the University of Nevada. In a way, things are not all that different now. Instead of dealing with shifting gears, there’s a stalled economic situation. Rather than a blown-up transmission, there are unhappy students with big problems. And, just like before, there are highs and lows.

Also, Casey is still a student.Even among the most driven of students, successfully pairing

coursework with employment can be a task. With the added dynamic of a leadership position, Stiteler says that assigning times to study is a challenge, albeit a necessity.

“For me personally, I have to schedule times when I’m not allowed to be in the office,” Stiteler says. “If I don’t, I’d be here all day.”

The key is finding a balance.“We, as students, put a lot of pressure on ourselves,” Stiteler

says. “It’s hard, every once in a while, to remember it’s time to just sit down, study and focus.”

While few would question the number of hours consumed by student government, a piece of the student population often find themselves at odds with the ASUN’s actions. In the past, groups like “Abolish ASUN” have staged events to express displeasure, and it is not uncommon to overhear students unhappy over how funds are put to use. According to Stiteler, both the problem and the solution are within the discourse.

“I think sometimes we in ASUN don’t do a great job of communicating to students what we are working on,” Stiteler says. “Sometimes we’re not always hearing what students want as best we could.”

To mend these shortcomings, the ASUN Senate is pushing for “town halls” within the various colleges to address their concerns specifically. Another slated initiative, aptly named “Pizza With the President,” will invite students to a lunch with faculty members, deans, student government and UNR President Marc Johnson. Inquisitive students may also attend senate meetings on Wednesday nights, contact their college senators or just drop by the ASUN offices.

“There is a lot that can be done on our part to improve—developing a good relationship and a good way of communicating back and forth,” Stiteler says.

During his campaign, Stiteler learned it was more effective for him to ask what students wanted, rather than outlining a preconceived plan from a singular point of view.

“What I realized doing it was it’s a lot better to ask questions,” Stiteler says.

Though a seemingly low number, last years student voter turnout was approximately 20 percent—a number Stiteler says leads UNR’s previous years and is well above the national average. This significant rise is credited to the use of an easier, online voting system. Beyond an increase in campus voters, Stiteler would like to see a growth in the number of candidates.

“This year, our big push is going to be not only getting students to vote…but getting students to run,” Stiteler says.

Although the state’s economic forecast remains less than stellar, ASUN is setting aside nearly $100,000 for what they call “academic initiatives.” Among these is a work grant program intended to recover student jobs that were lost in the university’s previous budget cuts.

“The last few years of cuts have changed our ethos a little bit,” Stiteler says.

In addition, the ASUN has established an “emergency tuition fund” to provide for students who have experienced unforeseen personal tragedies. They have also partnered with the Graduate Student Association in taking control of the campus’ food pantry. The funding for these projects, Stiteler maintains, involved no significant alterations in ASUN’s budget, but rather moving money from contingency funds and other areas.

Though the economic condition of Nevada remains an issue, Stiteler has witnessed big changes on campus since his arrival. As new buildings opened, homecoming reignited and the athletics department strengthened, he feels campus unity improved tremendously.

“The level of school spirit and campus tradition has just sky-rocketed since my freshmen year,” Stiteler says. “The campus feels more connected.”

Citing the university’s history of published papers—authored by students and faculty alike—Stiteler also sees UNR as a true academic force.

“A lot of people forget that this university is a top-tier research institution,” Stiteler said. “The kinds of research that we have taking place, at the graduate and under-graduate level, are really outstanding.”

As the semester roars to life, Stiteler’s goal of increasing student engagement remains at the forefront. Throughout the first six weeks, student services intends to coordinate programming, hoping to aid students in finding extracurricular activities.

“It’s proven if students are engaged—if they’ve got something to do, between, after or before classes, that they really love—that will help them graduate on time,” Stiteler says. Stiteler also credits student involvement with aiding the ASUN in rallying against further statewide cuts last year. “Had we been absent through that whole process, legislators would have been just looking at a budget and making decisions based on whether or not they liked the way the numbers looked,” Stiteler says. “We were able to, more than anything, put a face to higher education.”

Meanwhile, Stiteler, who graduates in Spring, is gearing up for law school. After that, he intends to return to the Reno area to stay. For incoming freshmen, his advice is simple: sign up for everything.

“Worst case scenario, you quit—it’s not for you,” Stiteler says. “Best case scenario, you will find something that will completely definite the next four years of your life. That’s a risk worth taking.”


Self-determination and video games were two things in Travis Mills’s life that helped him overcome his learning disability – a disorder he’s had since he was born. Like

many people with disabilities, he wanted to be treated like everyone else in society who didn’t have a disability. And he didn’t let those struggles stand in his way. Mills is now a People First of Nevada advocate.

For many of us, we cannot relate to people like Mills because we, ourselves, are not disabled nor have any form of medically diagnosed disability. But 12 percent of

the United States does – that’s 36 million people who have at least one form of disability according to Disbabled-World.com. Regardless of a disability or not, we are all people within the United States – within Nevada.

“They are people first and they are not their disabilities. The disabilities are a part of them, but they are not the whole,” says Judy Johnston, Volunteer in Service to American (VISTA) Youth Transition Project in Las Vegas. “I always think about what former President Clinton used to say, ‘We can’t afford to waste a person.’”

Programs like VISTA Youth Transition Project and People First of Nevada help those with disabilities to overcome their struggles. The VISTA project focuses mostly on youths with developmental disabilities – that include, but are not limited to, learning and speech impairments, autism, dyslexia, and Down’s syndrome – to assist them in higher education and the work force, and to successfully transition from youth to adulthood by helping them understand more of their disabilities.

People First of Nevada is a program that focuses on

individuals of all ages with developmental disabilities. The staff is also made up of people with disabilities, who want to help others overcome their struggles and to learn more about their disabilities. People First of Nevada and VISTA Youth Transition Project are partner programs. Both programs want to provide support by educating individuals on how to tackle real-world problems and that they all have the right to live self-determine lives.

“We remind them that the individual is an expert on him and herself,” Johnston says. “However, no man is an island, and we all need help from family or friends because we don’t want them to think that self-advocacy means that it’s somehow wrong or undesirable to accept help or accommodations.”

Now as a People First staff member, Mills states that it didn’t matter if an individual has a disability or not, but it is the capability of how one can push him or herself to overcome his or her disability.

“I like to help others with disabilities in the community,” Mills states. “I like going into schools and meeting the students. (I) tell them about myself and get to know them as a person. That’s how I help them.”

Growing up, Mills was assigned to special education classes

WORDS BY VICKI TAMPHOTOS BY SEBASTIAN DIAZ

People First

because of his learning disability, but he knew he could be in the same classes as his non-disabled friends. His self-determination to learn and to demonstrate that his disability did not hinder him began with three regular high school education classes, in which he received straight A’s in. He was also able to use video games to his advantage by setting up subtitles while he played because they helped him read better.

Katherine Rodriguez, VISTA in Reno/Sparks, says, “(Travis) will come with me to the schools, and at the end of my lesson, I’ll have him add his point of view and his aspects on the lesson. The kids can look up to Travis because he’s an adult now and he was in their shoes before – going through high school and going through the same challenges they’re going through with a disability. He’s somebody who (the students) can relate to and seek for advice and ask questions.”

Rodriguez, like many VISTAs, go to high schools to teach youths with disabilities about self-advocacy, self-determination, job skills (such as writing resumes and interview skills) and other life skills (such as future goals, motivation and responsibilities, and understanding their own strengths and weaknesses) in hope that it will help motivate the youths to be successful in college and/or in the workforce.

“I have to say it’s fun to return to a high school that which I have made a presentation during a previous school year and have students tell me, enthusiastically, that they’re now employed, or that he or she was the only candidate at the interview who was dressed professionally,” Johnston says.

The program organizes summer camps for high school graduates. Within these camps, the youths have the opportunity to learn more about college life and becoming employed in a work environment. The college-based workshops

consist of what kind of steps to take to succeed in college and what kind of college support the youths can get for their specific disabilities. As for career-based workshops, the youths can ask professionals from other companies questions about the work environment and they can also work on basic jobs skills (interviewing and resume building).

“There were kids who went into that summer camp never expecting to go to college, no interest at all, and after we showed them that they can do it – that they can actually get help,” Rodriguez says. “And just because they have a disability doesn’t mean that they can’t go to college and learn like everyone else.”

Not only does Nevada have programs that help the disability community, but there are movements within the nation that also benefits the community, such as Spread the Word to End the Word that works to eliminate the r-word and Rosa’s Law that changes “mental retardation” to “intellectual disability.”

VISTA Youth Transition Project and People First of Nevada have volunteer opportunities for individuals who have enthusiasm, people skills, a flexible schedule, and a genuine interest in the disability community. Some of the volunteer qualities the staff looks for are compassion, intelligence, humor and a desire to service, Johnston says.

“A volunteer can expect his or her expectations challenged,” she says. “You’ll meet interesting, inspiring people and you’ll learn a lot.”

For anyone who is interested in volunteering, contact People First of Nevada at peoplefirstofnevada.org or VISTA Supervisor

Kari Horn at [email protected].

2011 September | Insight | 112011 September | Insight | 11

It’s approximately 6:00 a.m. and Clinton James Cox has just arrived at the bus stop on Utah Street in Boulder City, Nevada. In 10 minutes, the bus will arrive and carry him across the 21 mile stretch between Boulder City

and Las Vegas. He’ll then walk the rest of the way to one of Las Vegas’s many business plazas where he works at AT&T as a customer service representative.


P A T H W A Y St w o s t u d e n t s ’ p a t h s

t o r e d e m p t i o nWORDS BY EVYNN MCFALLSPHOTOS BY SEBASTIAN DIAZ

“I’m not sure what I was thinking when I stopped going to classes. I just knew I wasn’t going anywhere, and that I felt really, really stupid,” says Cox, who stands

among the 35 percent of college students who either drop out, or fail out of college by the end of their first year.

He doesn’t work until 10:00 a.m., so there’s plenty of time to talk. He’s told this story several times, and had so many not witnessed it first-hand, one might be inclined to believe that Cox – dressed in a blue dress-shirt, black slacks, and black Oxford shoes – might be wildly embellishing his story. According to his mother, Teresa Daley, he’s not.

“I was worried about C.J. because he wasn’t talking to me for weeks, sometimes months, at a time. I didn’t even find out he’d failed all of his classes until he’d already stopped living with me for the summer, and I just-so-happened to find a repayment notice for one of his student loans,” Daley recalls of her son’s Spring 2011 failure out of college.

Knee deep in debt due to demands from loan companies who sought immediate repayment and becoming more uncertain about his future than ever before, Cox spent the summer of 2010 in the small-town of Moab, where he worked two food service jobs and lived with the grandparents of a close family friend. Though he worked tirelessly, the monotony of constant food service gave him ample time to develop a plan for his future over the next several months. It also gave him a great deal of time to deeply consider why he had given up on school when he did -- a choice which led him to leave the University of Nevada, Reno in May 2010 with a semester G.P.A. of 0.0.

“I knew, deep down, that I screwed up, but I was in denial. I tried to hide it, but I didn’t do a good job. I noticed I was getting mad more easily. I was constantly on edge, and I blamed everyone but myself for everything that went wrong,” Cox says.

By Cox’s account, he lived a life lacking in stability, with choices made at a whim and largely influenced by the activities of his peers as well as the images perpetuated by society. Cox had never been much of a student to his recollection and had performed to mediocre standards up until he graduated from High School.

While he had barely managed to obtain Governor Guinn’s Millennium Scholarship as a member of the graduating class of 2009, he managed to lose it by the end of his first semester—a blow which would further influence Cox toward failure in his second semester at the University. While Cox acknowledges that his failure could have been avoided, hindsight has allowed him to understand the contributing factors to his failure with relative clarity.

“There were a lot of reasons why I ended up slipping through the cracks. I thought (my girlfriend back home) was cheating on me. I didn’t have many friends. I kept screwing up all of my assignments, and I had a terrible roommate,” Cox says. “Those were some of the things I blamed for dropping out, but it was more than that. You know, the real reason I dropped out was because I didn’t even know what I went to college for. I’d never given it any thought and only went because my friends were going and society said that college was the next step.”

Cox does not believe that it was the right step for him, and in fact, he feels that rushing into his choices was what led him to the series of hardships that would define his life for the better part of a year. In October 2010, Cox would return to Reno with the intention of finding employment and returning to the University in the spring of 2011.

Unfortunately, due to the continuing decline of the economy and other factors, Cox remained jobless for the entirety of his time in Reno and as a result, he quickly burned through the entirety of his savings due to the high price of his debt to the University and to general costs associated with living such as rent, groceries, and utilities. Because of his financial situation and inability to find a job, Cox quickly sank into poverty, depression, and a brief bout of constant partying to distract himself from the reality of his increasingly desperate situation. At one point, Cox became so desperate to remain in Reno that he began to donate his plasma to the Biomat clinic, a plasma donation center which compensates donors for their donation with cash on a limited basis. He would not remain in Reno long, unfortunately, and by the end of his time in Reno, Cox would have nothing more than a briefcase of clothing, debt, and several maxed-out credit cards.


How did this all happen, though? According to Cox, it all came down to three failures: a failure to plan, a failure to choose, and a failure to be realistic about his situation.

“I didn’t think anything through. I let life come at me and had no structure or routine. I didn’t know how to get a job, I didn’t save my money, and I borrowed from everyone just to live here (in Reno) for no real reason. I only made one choice, and that was to fail. Take it from someone who really screwed up: failure is a decision. When you choose not to think things through and rush in just because that’s what everyone else seems to be doing, you’re choosing to fail, and that’s the worst thing anyone can do to themselves.”

Cox’s story is an unfortunate one, but his advice is sound. In fact, Zac Haley, 19, feels similarly about failure. Haley, an “A” student majoring in wildlife ecology, believes that success is a choice.

It’s a hot day in Reno, and Haley is unpacking a trailer filled with treasures, quality furniture, skateboards, and music equipment. One-by-one, he moves each piece with painstaking care and silent determination, until the arrangement of his new home resembles something one might see in an interior design magazine. A wet bar complete with whiskey, wine, and a drink-mixer stands on the easternmost part of the house, while an antique furniture set decorates the westernmost end of the front room. Paintings of Haley’s own making, as well as pieces completed by close friends and family, line the walls. The loud

hum of music can be heard emanating from behind the door of Haley’s garage, which he has repurposed into a sound-proofed, acoustic workspace.

“Everything here, I’ve collected with time. I’ve had this planned since I was young, and now it’s here, and it looks great. Things are only going up from here,” says Haley of his first college home, a modern and expensive one-story home complete with hard-wood floors, surround-sound hook-ups, and more amenities than the average college student can even imagine affording. A lot of descriptors may apply to the ambitious Haley, but “broke college student” is hardly one of them. He is well-off, and more importantly, he’s self-made.

“The key to success is thinking like successful person. If you want to succeed, it’s not hard. It just has to be what you’re thinking about all the time,” Haley says. An extremely busy, but successful individual, Haley has modeled much of his life thus far on that principle. With the exception of one semester of High School, in which he received a B grade in pre-calculus, Haley has maintained excellent grades for the majority of his life. He attributes this success not to an enhanced intellect, but instead to his drive to do as best as is possible for him — a facet of his nature about which he is particularly emphatic.

“When I say ‘as best as I can’, I’m being optimistic, but realistic. Anyone can be successful in their own realm: what’s important is having standards,” Haley says. “Put it like this: my standard is nine out of ten. Ten is perfection, and that’s



unrealistic for most people. Nine is the result of hard work and determination. You can always reach nine if you push yourself, and think about what you want. You can always meet your own standards if you choose to, but you have to have standards in the first place.”

Haley, who has self-produced various projects — two albums of genre-crossing music, a high-quality skate video, and a three-piece soul band called Bazooka Zoo — might be characterized as a busy savant with little time for a social life. This is not the case. In fact, Haley’s social life serves as an inspiration for his success and is, in fact, an important part of it. Claiming that an individual is, in some ways, an average of the people with which they associate, Haley believes that it is of the utmost importance to surround oneself with positive people who are like-minded about success.

“I judge people based on the quality of their friends,” admits Haley. “If I go to someone’s house and he’s surrounded by slobs that do nothing, then I think he probably does a lot of the same things. If he’s around people that are constantly wasted, then he probably is, too. I don’t put myself in that position. My friends are constantly working, and saving their money, and being creative, and producing new ideas with me. I don’t let anyone bring me down, ever.”

Perhaps the most important part of being successful, according to Haley, is having the willingness to do what is necessary to reach one’s goals. While thinking like a successful

person can help, and surrounding oneself with successful people is certainly a boon, overcoming one’s own mental barriers, and personal hang-ups, as well overcoming monotonous routines in search of innovation is the most important facet to success—or so Haley claims.

“I hate a person who’s all talk and no rock,” believes Haley. “You’ve got to get up and go. A lot of people talk about wanting to be the ‘best’, or the ‘greatest’. They talk about their goals constantly, but don’t deliver. What people need to realize is that success doesn’t come to you. Success doesn’t just happen. Success is created.”

Though it is true that both Haley’s and Cox’s stories are extremes when one considers the spectrum of experiences which form the lives of college students, it is also true that elements of their stories apply to students of all kinds. These stories are proof that there is very little that separates failure from success. Anyone can lose all that they have, and anyone can save. Almost anyone can achieve “A” grades, and anyone can fail all of their classes before they’ve even managed to conclude their first college year. It seems that, in the end, the fate of a student is self-determined, and the realization of that fact may just be the difference those who succeed from those who fail.

It seems that the old phrase rings true: “Make it a good day, or not. The choice is yours.”

A job means many things to people: a status symbol, a source of self-worth, an excuse to leave the house or get out of things you don’t want to go to. For most, it’s also a means of surviving or providing for their family. Lately, the job market hasn’t been

much of a market. Unemployment is alarmingly high and it’s coming to get you too. This is obviously something out of our control, so what’s the use of worrying? Just as easy as we can get foreclosed on, we can buy a new house at a great price. And as long as we have business cards left over, we can drop them in the bucket at restaurants for the chance to win free food. I’m always hearing about people being afraid they will lose their job. I don’t get it. I lost my job not too long ago, and it’s been wonderful. Here are a few reasons why:

The Benefitof Losing Your JobWORDS BY CHRIS FAVATAPHOTO BY GEOFF ROSEBOROUGH



The Benefitsof Losing Your JobWORDS BY CHRIS FAVATAPHOTO BY GEOFF ROSEBOROUGH


1. Getting paid to do nothing.

I’ve been telling people for years that my ultimate goal is to get paid to do nothing. It turns out that this goal is as easy as getting a job temporarily and losing it. “Unemployment insurance” is essentially payment for nothing. As long as you are “actively” seek-ing out employment (which is essentially filling out applications casually) and “failing to find” a new job, you are set for a YEAR. Sure, it’s only about one-third of what you were getting paid before, but isn’t that about the same amount of time on the clock you did nothing? Seems fair. The key is to not get too bent out of shape early on with the bureaucratic process. You have to fill out some stuff, but you can do that online now. And unlike those more and more frequent online job applications for corporations with 30-minute personality surveys, this one gives you money. Just successfully have a phone interview with the bureau and you’re set!

2. Mooching off your parents.

If your parents are anything like mine, they feel obligated to support you during college. Clairvoyant me knew I would be losing my job about this time so I made sure to stay in school one extra semester. Well, that’s not true. I stayed in school an extra semester because I didn’t want to take more than 12 credits a semester. Why stress out to get done in four years? What am I going to do after that, get a real job? Nah. Now, my parents will help me with bills and food. Just tell them that you’re going to take care of them when they’re old. By the time you’re supposed to cash in that favor, they probably won’t remember that you told them.

3. Free time!

Yes! Now that you have no job, you have all the time in the world to sit on the couch and watch all seven seasons of The Office in three weeks (heads up: Mad Men is available to stream now on Netflix!). All of those TV shows you used to miss because of stupid work are now yours for the viewing. Oh, what about books? Those too. This is also the perfect time to take a vacation, provided that you have savings and/or a credit card. You can spend about one hour a day (or week) “looking” for a job - keep in mind this can be done largely on the internet - and unemployment will still be coming in weekly.

4. New beginnings!

About two halves of the people I meet hate their job. Here’s a perfect opportunity to change your life! All those corporate policies, those gimmicky things you need to say/do can be escaped. Ahhh, the relief! Watch out, though, because most jobs you can get from this point are exactly the same. This is especially true if you are a part of a restaurant opening somewhere, because you are subject to corporate training over the course of a week or so. This means team-building exercises, chanting, and repeating things because you didn’t say them with enough enthusiasm. Come to think of it, that’s how all of my jobs have been so far. Best stick to unemployment for a while longer.

5. Having an excuse to not spend money

As a man, I’m apparently expected to pay for dates. Since I don’t have money anymore, I don’t have to pay for dates (they don’t know how much my credit line is)! This has been a wonderful change of pace for my relationship. I’ve been ordering steak and wine every night out and it’s basically free. I should have lost my job months ago! I’ve always seen myself as a house husband anyway. Well, she told me she wanted to break up last night, but that’s OK (See: items 3 & 4).





3. Free time!


4. New beginnings!






A metaphor: You’re in American Apparel, buying a circle scarf. You realize at the register that you don’t have the money

to pay. Lucky for you, the scarf ’s manufacturer has printed a coupon—the scarf ’s 100 percent off.

Sin: For a Limited Time OnlyWORDS BY GEOFF MCFARLANDPHOTOS BY SEBASTIAN DIAZ


This transaction—a benefactor covering a beneficiary’s debt—is called redemption, and its

parallel in Christianity is a tenet of the faith. Substitute the debt you owe at the register for the debt you owe for your sinful ways. Pretend that the corporate manufacturer is God, Creator of All Things. The circle scarf is your soul. You get to keep that.

This metaphor is not meant to be glib. The origins of the word “redemption” are in fact monetary, dating back to the Latin redemptiō, invented to describe the action of purchasing slaves. The 6th century Vulgate etymon refers to the act of “buying back” prisoners of war. The 13th century Anglo-Normans prac-ticed redempcion when they ransomed feudal princes, the French rédemption when they freed convicts. The history of redemption has always been economic, specifically referring to the purchase and resale of people. Some pecuniary mean-ing lingers in American English, where we redeem coupons, bonds and recy-clables. But “redemption” has settled into the vernacular largely in its theological interpretation.

“Redemption is the deliverance from the wages of sin by the blood of Jesus Christ” says Jacqueline Tisthammer, staff leader of UNR’s InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. IVCF is an evangelistic campus mission and the largest faith-based organization recognized by ASUN. “Redemption means that a price has to be paid in order to rescue someone,” says Tisthammer. “We need rescue because…the wages of sin are death.”

In an older, more literal Christianity, redemption was God’s actual ransom-ing of humanity from its rightful owner, Satan. This interpretation lost traction as contemporary Christianity moved to devalue the Devil (C.S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe initially raised eyebrows because the titular White Witch suggested this older archetype, the devil with a just claim on humanity). Tisthammer sees redemption’s etymology as significant: “We basically sold ourselves into sin with these ideals…these sins.”

For Tisthammer, Christ’s death on

the cross makes up for the payment otherwise owed for our sins. She stresses the generosity of the redemption: “It’s a free gift, from Jesus…dying on the cross makes was that payment for all the things we’ve done.” Remember our start-ing metaphor? Jesus is the coupon. With bonuses, says Johnson Wang.

“Jesus saves us, but more than saving us and leaving us at zero, he redeems us and makes us kings and queens” says Wang, speaking for Little City Interna-tional Student Fellowship. ISF’s evangeli-cal student volunteers work with UNR international students, housing and escorting them to different ministries in Reno. Wang insists that ISF does not seek to convert students; he does how-ever define the organization to be “based in Christianity.” For Wang, redemption doesn’t only free humanity; it raises them up. “Redemption is a strange idea; it’s different than salvation because salvation is when God saves you…but redemp-tion is Him restoring you to your former glory”

The idea of a restored state resonates with Sarah Canak, president of UNR’s Women’s Federation for World Peace. Canak believes the WFWP “presents Unification theology in a relatable, universal way”, especially in campus outreach focusing on women’s and relationship issues. While Unification departs in several notable ways from Christianity (most notably by declaring Moon the Second Coming of Christ) Canak asserts that “the strongest influ-ence on the Church is Christianity.” She cites Old Testament stories of Adam and Eve and Cain and Abel when explaining the Unification concept of Restoration, by which “God is continually working through history to give humanity an-other chance.” Tisthammer agrees: “God takes care of us.”

“(Muslims) don’t have people who intercede to take care of your sins for you” says Ahmad Saeed, president of the graduate student chapter of UNR’s Muslim Student Association. “We don’t have this idea in Islam”. Instead, Saeed explains, “In Islam, there is a scale” upon which good deeds are weighed against

bad. Bad deeds must be forgiven by the individual wronged, either in life or death. If forgiveness is refused, “you take from your good deeds…and (they) are given to him, or….he gets his bad deeds given to you.” Somehow, says Saeed, the score must be settled: “God will not forgive you until that guy gets his share out of you.”

For Muslims, there is no store cou-pon—just sin at the register and good deeds in your wallet. “You are account-able for your wrongs, to the person you have wronged,” says Saeed. And he worries about the consequences of a Christian theology that, to quote, “takes away the responsibility of sin.” He argues that redemption can lead to spiritual laxity: “(Christians) don’t have to do anything further…don’t have to worship, don’t have to pray, they don’t have to supplicate.”

Tisthammer believes this perspective misses a crucial second step in the course of redemption. Redemption is more, she says “than just a simple ‘rescue’ or ‘deliverance.”’ “If it were just Jesus cover-ing for our sins, we could go out and do whatever we wanted.” Tisthammer says, redemption comes into two parts. “The second is sanctification…I think you can call it ‘ongoing redemption.’” Sanctifica-tion—the process by which one becomes more holy—is for Tisthammer a personal undertaking. Wang echoes this view; “Redemption goes beyond the spiritual idea of the word, into the larger world,” affecting behavior, making believers more like Christ himself.

The idea of continual redemption is fairly new in Christianity. For centuries, redemption was considered a definitive moment, concurrent with the death of Christ—such that Shakespeare and his contemporaries dated from “The yeere of our Redemption.” But Canak, Tistham-mer and Wang reflect a contemporary understanding of redemption as a process undertaken daily by the individual.

“Being Christ-like is the most practi-cal thing I can do,” says Rev. Denise Cordova, minister of Reno’s Light of The Soul United Church of Christ. “If I can model those things I really believed

Jesus modeled…people are more likely to want to find out who Jesus is.” Not that Jesus is the only option; while Cordova believes that salvation is auto-matic for followers of Jesus, she allows that other belief systems may also lead to salvation—contingent on a Godly life. “It is possible,” she says, to be redeemed, even in the absence of Christ.

“Honestly, we don’t really talk about redemption that much,” says Elliot Malin, president of the UNR chapter of Hillel, an international Jewish college organization. Malin is also president of Alpha Epsilon Pi, UNR’s Jewish frater-nity, which he co-founded in 2010. “AEP is mostly cultural, but if you want to get religious we have those avenues for you through Hillel,” he says, which include free weekly Hebrew classes, Torah read-ings, and building a sukkot in front of the Knowledge Center. While Malin seeks to “keep (Hillel) a religious base, specifically for the learning aspect” both AEP and Hillel focus largely on cultural and political issues related to Judaism, especially Israel.

Malin takes his definition from the Tanakh, which includes the Five Books of Moses contained in the Christian New Testament, but is ultimately an older text. In the Tanakh, the word “redemption” still carries with it the older implications of land and ownership. “Redemption to Jews is the returning of the diaspora to Israel,” say Malin. “When

the Messiah comes, he’ll lead us back to Israel.”

Judaism affirms a belief in a future redeemer (or simply a redemptive period, depending on the branch and level of Orthodoxy), but differs from Christian-ity, which holds that redemption both happened and is happening now. “We’re still waiting,” says Malin. As to whether this belief influences his organizations’ work on campus, Malin says “It’s another way to educate people about Israel…Israel and the reasons for it are misrepre-sented all the time.”

Malin considers correction of misrep-resentation a key duty of Hillel: “Other-wise, it leads to…the conditions for anti-Semitism.” That feeling of embattlement is common in UNR’s spiritual communi-ty. “There’s a lot of persecution that hap-pens to our students that our followers of Christ,” says Tisthammer. Canak believes students self-censor in classes, because “you expect campuses to have a less than welcoming atmosphere…for people with faith. All over this campus,” says Wang, ”you have people rejecting the things Christ taught.”

“I think it’s rather silly” says Lindsey Doolittle, president of UNR’s Student Secular Alliance. The newly established SSA hopes to be a forum “for Secular, Atheist, Humanist, Naturalist and Ag-nostic students”. While secularism is not considered a faith-based organization—“the linking characteristic for atheists and

agnostics is our lack of belief ” Doolittle stresses—nontheists are necessarily part of the conversation about religion. Doolittle herself identifies as an “agnostic humanist,” a viewpoint that leads her to dismiss the religious definitions of redemption.

For Doolittle, “redemption in my everyday life (is) simply an exchange of one thing for another, like redeeming a gift card on iTunes.” This fall will be SSA’s first at UNR, but with Doolittle al-ready counting “members from both the humanities and the sciences, freshmen, grad students...and support from both faculty and community members” SSA is more than ready to enter the conversa-tion. Wang isn’t surprised: “There are a lot of secular people on campus…Reno is already one of the least religious places in America.”

Wang is citing The Barna Group, a Christian polling firm that in 2008 published a survey ranking Washoe Country as the third least likely to attend church— out of more than 3,000 US counties. What’s more, national surveys by Gallup Press, Pew Forum and the As-sociation of Religious Data all show col-lege students least likely among adults to attend church or self-identify as religious. Students (and the data seems to suggest, UNR students especially) just aren’t buy-ing religion.

“It’s difficult to value things that don’t have a basis in reality” Doolittle says. “I


have issue with some of the underlying assumptions made to support a reli-gious notion of redemption.” One such assumption is sin. It was one of the few elements about which all interviewed (besides Doolittle) are in agreement: sin exists and redemption is contingent upon it existing. Tisthammer explains how the idea of total depravity, or the univer-sal sinfulness of humanity, stems from the belief in the original sin in Eden: “Because of that…there is an ongoing, almost generational sin that goes through all mankind.”

There is no such inherited sin in Islam, says Saeed. The approximately 124,000 prophets of Islam were all without sin. Prepubescent children are called “zero-persons” to denote that they have neither credits nor demerits upon their soul. “You are responsible for your own sins”, he says. “You start from zero.” And yet, ask him if any students on UNR’s campus could be without sin, and he shakes his head. Vehemently. What is the state of UNR’s spiritual life? “Very bad” he says. “Way off.” What is the solution? “Being religious.”

“I can’t support some of the premises that allow (for redemption),” Doolittle says. “They result in an understanding of the world, not necessarily how it is, but how religion wants it to be.” The question is: Why does religion want humanity sold on the premise of sin?

One could see it as a sales promo-tion—sell the idea that everyone sins,

offer the remedy for free, and hope the faithful buy a few extra things at the register. The consumer who buys the idea of sin might also buy into the idea of Church authority, moral absolutism, the necessity of the tithe. From this perspec-tive, redemption is a free gift—one that gets you in the store.

The faithful wring their hands over Reno’s poor church attendance (and have since at least 1940, when a UNR student magazine covering the issue was featured in Time). But ultimately, UNR’s spiritual community doesn’t seem overly con-cerned with size.

Measure quality in strength of the core—and UNR appears to be approach-ing the goal. As the number of religious students shrinks, UNR’s options for those students have increased. UNR’s multiplying ecumenical and interde-nominational organizations demonstrate increasing tolerance and coordination—at least within religions. Maybe UNR’s faith-based community is widening its tent simply to survive. More likely its leaders, the vast majority students them-selves, genuinely reflect their generation’s ideals of inclusiveness.

That inclusiveness may be its own kind of redemption. “Most people think there’s a lot of hypocrisy in Christianity” Cordova says, whose work on campus as Manager of Equal Opportunity and Af-firmative Action brings her into classes to discuss discrimination, where she often

chooses to out herself as a lesbian. And as a minister. She believes that moment of epiphany for students—“when they realize that these two things can exist in one person”—is redemptive. “People can forgive themselves,” Cordova says, “and forgiveness and redemption are tied together…you have a second chance to make things right.”

Second chances abound on college campuses. It’s not only faith-based organizations which need to worry about misrepresentation. There is a cultural assumption that college students have their decisions regarding spirituality or secularity made for them—by overbear-ing parents or activist professors. And yet the founding of the SSA shows students actively interrogating the religion they were raised with. Hillel’s Torah study and IVCF’s GIGs (Groups Investigat-ing God) seek answers in scriptures. The revival of UNR’s spiritual communi-ties—and of secular forums to answer them—shows that students are genuinely interested in interrogating and exploring their belief systems.

Students decide for themselves—are they buying redemption?


A Cut Above


WORDS BY SAM DISALVOPHOTOS BY SEBASTIAN DIAZ

In one standard-length college career of four years, the University of Nevada, Reno has eliminated $100 million in resources, including 700 positions lost and 30 degree programs cut. A mass of students began college hoping to further develop their

aspirations and enrich their worldview, only to watch the University offer less each year, while requesting the students give up more in way of tuition and hope. This unbalanced relationship has people wondering what constitutes a university and if the students that originally hoped to gain something by coming to UNR have been shorted. Dan Sorensen, an instructor of philosophy, will no longer be teaching at Nevada. After teaching at UNR for 10 years, Sorensen found his department cut. Though he hoped to be a full-time instructor at this point in his career, he currently teaches part-time at Yuba Community College, while still living in Reno. He says the philosophy department’s departure from UNR is stifling human curiosity. “The idea of cutting philosophy is like asking a human being not to ask a question,” Sorensen says. “If you ask people to not grow intellectually, you’re asking them not to grow.”


Growing is composed of an amalgamation of experiences, and that does not change in the academic world. Each of the 30 programs cut were viewed,

not as individual instances, but as a slow fading of a whole. Associate English professor James Mardock teaches Renaissance Literature, and says the texts he shares with his class have less meaning if there’s no Italian department. There are sentiments, meanings and traditions that would be better understood with a grasp of the Italian language, but Mardock is left to convey both the literary, cultural and etymological significance of his material. “There is no department, there is no individual, there is no program that can function at a university in isolation,” Mardock says. Many console Mardock when he talks about these issues by saying at least his job is safe because “they’ll never cut English.” Mardock is quick to retort “Sure, but I don’t work for an English department; I work for something called a university.” Keeping his job is not his only concern. Mardock wants to make sure that job holds weight. “The insidious effect on all of us is that our jobs are less meaningful when the university becomes less diverse, and less universal and more monolithic,” Mardock says.

Expanding the definition of monolith slightly, the University is reflecting a dedication to only the “core” classes: English, math and science. All students are required to dabble in these subjects during their college career before progressing to see what interests them. Though many students choose these subjects as majors, they choose specializations in them that are particularly engaging. But many students never take another one of these classes after completing the core requirement. This ability to seek out an interest and pursue it further shrinks as the options disappear, or are combined into other programs

that vaguely mean the same thing. English lecturer David Fenimore says the University narrowing its focus to, what he calls “skills deemed central for a basic education” will have dire effects on the international workforce. “It’s an incremental loss of human capital for Nevada, and ultimately for the nation and the world,” Fenimore says.

And it starts from the ground up: budget cuts have impacted K-12 in the state of Nevada, making class sizes larger, resources sparse and material outdated. Fenimore points out that the lack of education will prevent Nevada from recovering “You look at high-tech economies rebounding from the last recession, and maybe laying the groundwork to weather the next one and provide the jobs of the future...What do they have that Reno doesn’t? They have to greater or lesser extents a much more highly educated population, and good K-12 schools.” Fenimore adds that, at this rate, Nevada’s only jobs will be in that of retail, warehousing and tourism. “This may be okay if you want to retire here, or keep a Nevada address as a shelter for your wealth, but not if you want to raise a family here or enjoy a civilized life.”

Not all aspects of the University are in bad shape. Fenimore is quick to say that he feels his colleagues have been nothing but supportive, offering a feeling of belonging when the campus felt foreign. He also believes the late Milton Glick did a lot to keep worries at bay, and the students’ interests at the forefront. “Milt Glick did a lot for me to restore my confidence that the higher administration at UNR was indeed looking at the big picture and putting students first on the list of overall priorities,” Fenimore says. “Milt set the tone, and after his untimely death, I think the new folks who stepped up can maintain that friendly but tough, far-seeing and education-centered approach.”

Sorensen believes that, in all his years of teaching, he has never seen a group of students so willing to learn. “It’s not the kids I was teaching the first five or six years (of my career),” Sorensen says. “There’s a desire to want to know. There’s not a hostility.” Sorensen values the atmosphere of the classroom, saying a fulfilling discussion can make or break a student’s interest in the subject. “It’s hard to create that space—helping people in a public space express themselves clearly about matters that interest them the most—but when it goes down and it goes down right, it’s one of the most gratifying things ever,” Sorensen says. At this point in his life, Sorensen finds it difficult to construe a future for himself. He reflects on the texts he uses in class and says “It’s hard to think of who I am without talking about these books,” Sorensen says. “Teaching’s been my identity for ten years and now it’s up in the air.”

THE SHEEP SOLUTION

Across the nation, education cuts are being enacted. Tuition hikes and faculty layoffs are headlines that everyone in America is looking at right now. Some other ways of cost-cutting have gotten a bit more creative, such as Carlisle School District in Pennsylvania. Instead of spending money on cutting the grass, seven sheep were brought in for the job. It saved $15,000. It’s a drop in the bucket compared to the $900 million that Pennsylvania is going to suffer in education cuts, but it’s a start.

The “sheep solution” in Nevada varies depending on the person being spoken to. Former journalism instructor Deidre Pike taught at UNR for eight years after receiving her PhD. Pike is a graduate of the Reynolds School of Journalism and received her PhD in Literature and Environment in 2010. This past February, a job opened up for a full-time lecturer in digital media. Pike figured she was qualified and applied for the job, passing up other jobs that were open in her field because they weren’t here in Nevada. Job searches stopped, and the position was never filled. Pike is now teaching at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Though she didn’t want to leave Nevada, she felt the education situation was too dire and says there are other solutions besides cutting funding for schools. “Our budget problem isn’t so bad that it could not be solved by the fact that we have natural resources that other places don’t have,” Pike says. “We have a pot of gold; we’re sitting on it.”

Mardock agrees that there are other viable options that are

being overlooked. “The government is so aligned with mining interests and gaming interests that we won’t tax them, even though they’re a billion dollar industry,” Mardock says. “This is not a tenable structure. If we’re going to continue having public education in the state, we’re going to have to fix that.”

THE HEART STILL BEATS

Though the budget cuts have brought their share of heartbreak, uncertainty and anger they have not been without some hope. There is a renewed strength in the University that might have not come had something drastic like this not happened. Or maybe it was always there, and it took a significant event to bring it out completely. Mardock recalls the rally in Carson City as highlighting to him just how aware the people of UNR are. He says the experience stressed to him that professors had done their job to instill the need to be constantly questioning. “We have a lot of good people with excellent ideas who know when they’re being screwed,” Mardock says. “That really is the first step toward positive change: eliminating false consciousness. It’s nice to see the kinds of methods and thought we teach having real world applications.”

There is a victory in the dialogue students and teachers were able to partake in, as it allowed them to outline what makes a full education, and work to obtain it. Just because there’s shaky ground, doesn’t mean it’s going to crumble. It could be said that ground’s a little stronger now.

“To quote Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., times like these can be ‘dancing lessons from god,’” Fenimore says. “I want to believe that we’re all a little faster on our feet now, and that we all—students, staff, faculty and administration—will be dancing better together.”

There is also victory in being able to look at yourself and still have satisfaction, even if it’s the only thing you’re sure of. For Sorensen, the fact that he has been able to get through to students is enough. “I can honestly say (teaching’s) one of the few things I can do and do well,” Sorensen says. “If my life were to come to a close, I wouldn’t like that I still have my outstanding student loans or a mortgage, but the fact that I’ve left both my relationship with my wife better than I found it and the classes I taught better than I found them...I could live with that version of Dan, even though I don’t plan on that being the final cut.”


Most college students wouldn’t choose to have a long distance relationship during school. Next to writing twelve

page papers, and studying for their next big exam, maintaining a healthy relationship seems to be the last thing on a student’s mind. Besides, when surrounded by people at close range, why hold out for a person hundreds of miles away? Originally, 21-year-old Amy* agreed that a long-distance relationship couldn’t work, but soon found out she was wrong.


Going theDistanceWORDS BY JESSIE GRAYPHOTO BY SEBASTIAN DIAZ

“Well, I didn’t expect us to get together while he was away with the military,” Amy says. “If you’re apart from each other all the time,

what’s the point?” Amy grew up just a few houses away from her future boyfriend Jeremy, but never really saw herself with him, especially knowing that he would one day follow in the footsteps of his family and join the military.

Amy started at the University in the fall of 2010 after receiving her associate degree from Truckee Meadows Community College. These days, she is holding down three jobs while going to school full time during the normal semester, and part time during the summer. She is pursuing an art major, focusing on drawing and painting.

As planned, Jeremy eventually moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado to live at Fort Carson and serve as a journalist in the military. During the last year and a half at Fort Carson, Jeremy


has been promoted to sergeant and has dealt primarily with public affairs and media.

Despite Amy’s initial resistance to the idea of a long distance relationship, things don’t always happen exactly as we plan them. “During the summer of 2010, Jeremy came home to visit and things started to happen between us,” Amy explains. “Then a few months later, I went to visit him in Fort Carson, and the rest is history.”

After this last visit in 2010, Amy says she felt relieved that the two had gotten together. “After a few months of just feeling like I didn’t want to see anyone else, after that day, I felt better, like everything was solidified.”

In order to deal with her new far-away boyfriend, she decided to use a different technique then most people. Instead of constantly stressing over what Jeremy was doing at every moment, she decided to trust him and used his absence as a way to stay focused on her own life. She held her relationship at a far distance from herself, and tried to stay in the moment. When they couldn’t see each other for long periods of time, she concentrated more on school and work. In fact, Amy even admits to preferring the distance at times when she really needed to focus on school. “I don’t have to worry about calling him and letting him know what I’m doing at every single second, because he isn’t here anyway.”

Many students on campus believe that long distance relationships won’t work out, especially when school is in session. “It’s easy to meet new people on campus, and even easier to hook up with them,” says Jennifer Turner, University junior.

Amy used to be one of these students. “I have never seen a long distance relationship work out,” says Amy. “It’s not the same as being around a person all the time, but some people expect it to be, so when (long-distance) doesn’t meet those expectations, it turns into a disaster.”

Despite all of these doubts, there were still some things that made Amy want to still be with him. Although Jeremy has his faults, he constantly redeems himself by reassuring her of his commitment. They text each other a few times a day and occasionally talk on the phone. This might seem like a minimal amount of contact, but Amy explains that “it isn’t the amount that you contact that person, it’s the meaningfulness of the conversation when you do…we talk about interesting things, not just daily bullshit.”

“He is just really great at putting effort into seeing me…that is the most redeeming thing to me,” says Amy, “and knowing that he will be home one day makes it much easier to stay with him. It isn’t like he permanently moved across the country; he’s just serving the rest of his time.”

*name changed at source’s request




The Benefitof Losing Your JobWORDS BY CHRIS FAVATAPHOTO BY GEOFF ROSEBOROUGH

Straight and NarrowWORDS BY EVYNN MCFALLSPHOTO BY SEBASTIAN DIAZ







3. Free time!


4. New beginnings!




It’s a Friday night, around 10:00 p.m. Most young adults are out of their houses, up to all sorts of mischief. Some may be out at bars, or house parties, drinking the night away and awaiting the inevitable slam of a morning hangover. Others might be out with their

significant other or love interest, pushing their proverbial plows into the record books--so to speak. A smaller group might be relaxing within the humble vestiges of a suspicious-looking house, decorated with Bob Marley regalia and “water-pipes” as they inhale marijuana-smoke and discuss the intricacies of the universe. There are other young people that are out in the streets, but there is one group of young people whose activities stand out—not for the scandalous nature of said activities, but for their shocking simplicity.

A crowd of pierced, tattooed, body–modified youths stand outside of the garage of a downtown home just around the corner from Reno’s own Siena Hotel

and Casino. There are no sounds of shattered glass. There is no scent of marijuana smoke, nor sounds of animal-like fornication emanating from behind the bedroom door of a drunken individual who’s had just a bit too much fun at their latest party. Instead, there are sounds of laughter. There are sights of camaraderie and fellowship. There are guitar-screeches and blast-beats. Most notably, there are no drugs. There is no alcohol. Nobody, for the time being, is having sex.

This is a typical night among participants in the hardcore Straight-Edge scene. A small but growing community of youths often spend their nights abstaining from substance abuse and listening to the live, very loud, musical performances of various groups which share in their beliefs. Youths that might otherwise be misbehaving out on the streets convene at places like this to be among peers that share in their personal philosophy—a philosophy of abstinence and clarity.

Adam Farnsworth, 21, has always been drug free, but he chose to claim that he was Straight-Edge in September 2010, when he was certain that he was ready to make a lifelong commitment to the philosophy.

Still, there are many who believe that members of the Straight-Edge community are replacing the practice of cracking open beers with the practice of cracking open skulls. In many U.S. cities, open practitioners of the Straight-Edge lifestyle are classified as gang members, or suburban terrorists. Violent incidents, extreme political statements by individuals who have claimed the Straight-Edge lifestyle, and negative media coverage have all contributed to a less than savory image of the Straight Edge community.

Members are quick to point out that this image is out of touch with reality, and based on a minority within the group whose views are not necessarily embraced by the community as a whole.

“It’s just like everything else. Not every Straight-Edge kid fights. Violence doesn’t solve anything,” Farnsworth says. He speaks to the sentiment that violent members of the Straight-

Edge community aren’t violent because of the music they listen to, or by virtue of Straight-Edge philosophy. Farnsworth believes that violent Straight-Edge practitioners are violent for other reasons, noting the possibility that these individuals have a desire to prove themselves as “tough guys” and are simply violent by nature.

Even so, the Straight-Edge sub-culture does lend itself to the notion that it is, indeed, a gang. “Straight-Edge is mistaken for a gang because it’s a group of mutually interested kids,” Farnsworth says. While this may be the case, there are other elements to the culture which do share similarities with a gang-mentality. For example: members of the Straight-Edge culture often proclaim that to claim Straight-Edge should be a lifelong commitment, there are symbols within the community that are universally recognized and displayed among its members as a signifier of their “mutual interests”, and the sense of community that goes along with the Straight-Edge philosophy is described by some of its practitioners as familial. Farnsworth realizes this, but argues that Straight-Edge is misclassified a gang merely by coincidence.

Though these similarities may be purely coincidental, it makes sense that the general public would perceive their activities much as they would a gang. Of course, what media coverage the Straight-Edge community receives rarely does them any favors.

“The media eats up the negative connotation associated with Straight-Edge. As soon as someone dies or gets hurt, that’s when we’re noticed,” says Farnsworth, referring to the various high-profile cases of violent crimes tied to the Straight-Edge movement by the media. Some members of the community have even likened the misconceptions about the Straight-Edge lifestyle with the misperception of Islamic culture that has taken America by storm since September 11th. “Some kids are militant, but that’s not what Straight-Edge is about. I don’t drink. I don’t smoke...but that doesn’t mean that I’m going to beat somebody up if they do. I’m not saying that people who drink are bad people. That’s a common misconception. All Straight-Edge is not doing something that other people do.”



THE RUNDOWN

WORDS AND PHOTOS BY KARINA STANTON

FaShion rEDEmption: FaShionS wE ShoulD brinG back From thE DEaD

When my dad was helping me load into a trailer, I’d packed my wardrobe for the next nine months. It was tightly packed into five 36 gallon storage bins. You know, like the ones your mom packs away the Christmas decorations in. Not only did he think it was quite ridiculous that I was bringing so many clothes up, but the one thing that really put him over the edge was that I was bringing a large, red hat box filled with hats. This then got me thinking how sad it is that wearing hats aren’t considered the norm as much as they were, say, 50 years ago. Wearing hats wasn’t just an accessory as it is today; it was a necessity. Women and some men had a hat for each occasion, even for a trip to the grocery store. Thus said, I propose we redeem ourselves from the depths of typical baseball caps by including stylish hats in daily fashions. May it be veils, cloches or sun hats, a beret for you ladies or a fedora, top hat, or newsboy cap for you gents. Go out and buy yourself a hat, dammit!

h a t S


Yes, yes, ladies, we know your bright, red lipstick was super “bold” and “dramatic” this year but are you adventurous enough to go places few lips have gone since the ‘90s? Well, if so, pucker up and try on deep shades such as the dark plum Chanel lipstick color that I’m pictured wearing. Really lather it on for a dramatic look, or for a more subtle look, blot your lips with paper. Good luck finding your perfect shade.

b o l D l i p S t i c k

Be a kid, play dress up again. When getting dressed in the morning or planning out an outfit the night before, forget about the rules and what is socially accepted; have fun and do what feels right to you. If you’re not too sure about wearing something, just listen to the little stylist inside your head. Remember as a child, if you were one of those kids who played dress up, and, by the end, every article of your clothing was sprawled out on your bedroom floor? Let’s drag out that creativity again. If it feels right to you, wear it with confidence. It may take many outfit changes, but it’s worth it for that knockout outfit.

rEvErt to chilDhooD

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SEBASTIAN DIAZ

September 2011 Insight Magazine

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Transcript of September 2011 Insight Magazine