bNEW YEAR
STARTINGPOINT
NEW COACH«
THERE’S NO PLACE
LIVING IN A CO-OP«LIKE HOME
10WINTERTIME ACTIVITIES TO GET YOU READY FOR THE HOLIDAYS
‘TIS THE SEASON««
FALL 2012
Floor plans, photos and more information at www.diversifiedproperties.net
Contact Alecia Moquin740.592.5262 or [email protected]
375 Richland Ave.Apts. A & B3 bedrooms, central air, large open kitchen/dining/living area, onsite parking for all residents.
80 Mill St.Apts. 1, 2 & 34 bedrooms, central air, onsite parking for all residents, private back patio, close to everything.
5 Atlantic Ave.3 bedroom, 1 1/2 bath house located at the end of a quiet south-side street, central air, washer/dryer, plenty of off-street parking.
77 N. Congress St.4 bedroom, 1 1/2 bath house. Great uptown location, large front porch, central air, washer/dryer, onsite parking for all residents.
28 N. College St.Incredible central uptown Athens location! 15 person occupancy, park-ing included, perfect for Greek organization.
22 Blick Ave.
Like new! 2 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath townhouses featuring spacious open & bright floor plan, onsite parking with garage, deck and much more. Close to everything…bike path, OU, O’Bleness Hospital, easy access to all major highways.
16 Blick Ave.
19 Herrold Ave.
Like new! 3 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath townhouses featuring spacious open & bright floor plan, onsite parking with garage, deck and much more. Close to everything…bike path, OU, O’Bleness Hospital, easy access to all major highways.
30 Blick Ave.
18 Blick Ave. 21 Herrold Ave.
Providing quality residential rental properties to the Athens Community for over 25 years!
New Senate website:Black Affairs:
2012-2013Student Senate
Updates
The last Women 2 Women event of the Semester on December 6th 7:30-8:30 in the Women’s Center. The topic is how to dress for success and all are wel-
come.
Predawn Toys-for-Tots on Nov. 29th
The One Card System:The One Card
System will serve as a one stop shop for
all of students’ needs including food,
laundry, dorm access, and poten-
tially banking and off campus meals.
University Life:We will be taking a tour of Central Kitchen in early December to see how food at the university is pre-
pared.
Tuition Survey:Available online until the end of the semester. Students are encouraged to take the
survey at http://surveymonkey.com/s/outuition and can be entered to win a $75 Chipotle Gift
Card.
Letter Writing Campaign:Senate will be delivering
letters to the legislators in December. The letters
will discuss rising tuition.
The new site will be a cen-tral location for students looking to get involved not
only in Senate, but on campus.
backdrop | Fall 20124 5
LETTER FROM THE EDITORbHappy December—
Even though we all dreaded the change to semesters, one good thing did come out of the switch: The First December. Ohio University students will be able to enjoy the holiday festivities in Athens for the first time this month and Backdrop wanted to showcase the best events around town. Check out page 18 for 10 of the best December events around town to get ready for the holiday season, and don’t forget to join us this Thursday, Dec. 6, at 10 p.m. at Red Brick for this issue’s release party—we’d love for you all to join us.
Although the holiday season is a time of joy, Backdrop also wanted to shed light on a few social issues. In this issue, explore the problem of being homeless in Athens (pg. 14), the movement behind educational revolution in the United States (pg. 16) and the reasons behind why today’s universities are perhaps much less politically active than in the past (pg. 22). In some ways, you could view this issue as the “Social Issue”— something that Backdrop has dabbled in before, back in the Spring 2009 issue. (Shh! We like this issue’s cover a lot better than the one in 2009.)
Our photostory is especially heartwarming (pg. 36). Photographer Daniel Owen stepped into the life of 19-year-old Nathan Tilley who suffers from severe scoliosis, in addition to other ailments. Despite Nathan’s health and setbacks, he continues to exemplify hope and friendliness at all times—something that we could all embrace a little more.
Speaking of hope, as a follow-up to last issue’s spread about Bobcat basketball dominating the MAC, Backdrop’s Chris Longo looked further into how the team is working with new coach, Jim Christian, in hopes of making it to the big dance again (pg. 24).
As always, Backdrop would love to hear from you. Send us your letters to the editor, ideas for improvement or your favorite stories from this issue or past issues to [email protected].
FALL 2012 » VOLUME 6 ISSUE 2
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Shannon Miranda
MANAGING EDITOR Melissa Thompson ASSISTANT MANAGING EDITOR Sara Portwood ASSOCIATE EDITORS Kelsi Bowes & Nick Harley ASSISTANT EDITOR Stephanie Fisk
CONTRIBUTORS Kelsi Bowes, Lindsey Brenkus, Andrew Downing, Nick Harley, Tim Howard, Chris Longo, Margaret McGinley, Kaitlyn Richert, Mamie Silver, Rebecca Wagner, Olivia Young
COPY EDITOR Julianne Mobilian ASSISTANT COPY EDITOR Margaret McGinley
CREATIVE DIRECTOR Cassandra Sharpe
DESIGN DIRECTOR Emilee Kraus ART DIRECTOR Olivia Reaney MARKETING DESIGN Morgan Decker
DESIGN TEAM Lindsey Brenkus, Cassandra Fait, Tasha Gardone, April Lander, Emily Pignatiello, Karlee Proctor, Jessie Shokler
PHOTO EDITOR Amanda Puckett CONTRIBUTORS Kasey Brooks, James Conkle, Emily Harger, Daniel Rader
TABLE OF CONTENTSb
Actively NumbStop being a political slacktivist and make your voice heard.
22
Starting PointAfter a winning season, OU’s new basketball coach hopes to power through this year’s MAC conference.
24
Follow us on Twitter @Backdropmag
FEATURES »
Happy Holidays,
SEE THE PHOTO STORY PAGE 36
ON THE COVER
bNEW YEAR
STARTINGPOINT
NEW COACH«
THERE’S NO PLACE
LIVING IN A CO-OP«LIKE HOME
10WINTERTIME ACTIVITIES TO GET YOU READY FOR THE HOLIDAYS
‘TIS THE SEASON««
24
18
28
Cover photo by Emily Harger Cover design by Emilee Kraus
& Cassandra Sharpe
The VineThese nine Athens residents thrive at The Vine, living without a landlord.
28
FALL 2012
TABLE OF CONTENTSb
PUBLISHER Katie Mefferd
ADVERTISING DIRECTOR Adrienne Krueger MARKETING DIRECTOR Angela Ignasky ASSISTANT MARKETING DIRECTOR Jared Looman MARKETING TEAM Kelsi Bowes, Jess Carnprobst, Morgan Decker, Virginia Ewen, Alyssa Keefe, Alyssa Pasicznyk, Rose Troyer, Rebecca Zook
WEB EDITOR Jacob Betzner ASSISTANT WEB EDITOR Kerry Crump ONLINE PHOTO EDITOR James Conkle
VIDEO EDITOR Chris Longo VIDEO ADVISOR Colin Brown VIDEO ASSISTANTS Denny McCarthy, Tim Howard
DISTRIBUTION DIRECTOR Rose Troyer
Stop by one of our weekly meetings, Tuesdays at 8 p.m. in Scripps Hall 111.
Interested in working with us?
FALL 2012 » VOLUME 6 ISSUE 2
Simply send an email to [email protected] to get started.
Want an advertisement in Backdrop?
H4T » Freshly BrewedThese hot teachers profess their love for coffee, travel and the local farmer’s market.
8THE DROP »
Comfort Food Go outside the Athens’ bubble and get a feel for The Plains at GiGi’s Country Kitchen.
12
Open Hearts, Open Homes With the cost of living increasing and lack of local jobs, more people in Athens are experiencing homelessness.
14
ENTERTAINMENT »The First DecemberInstead of grieving over semesters, celebrate the First December in Athens!
16
20 The Learning CurveThrough Teach for America, one OU alumna was given an opportunity that changed her life and many others.
44 Exhibit ATake a peek inside Backdrop’s very own art gallery.
47 RR&R » Instascam Sick and tired of questioning the authenticity of her photofeed, this Backdrop writer calls out the fakers.
46 For Fun » Photo HuntHow well do you know Court Street? Can you spot all the differences between these two photos?
36 Photo Story » Enduring Spirit: Nathan’s Story19-year-old Nathan Tilley battles severe scoliosis and undergoes surgery that will remove and replace most of the bones in his upper body.
42 On The Web » Foiling AroundIs there a right way to eat a Chipotle burrito? Backdrop blogger Andrew explores the different plans of attack for your next Mexican meal.
10 Sounds Like » Fathers of the Revolution March to the beat with the new “Fathers” of the Athens music scene.
33 Diet DilemmasStudents with food allergies struggle to find food in the dining halls, but OU Culinary Services won’t let any student go hungry.
SEX & HEALTH »
28 Cup CuisineTake your hot cocoa a step further and make a chocolate cake in your coffee mug with Backdrop’s latest recipes.
RECIPE »
Jackieos.com 592-9686 New expanded menu featuring locally produced items!
You have the power to change things.• All mAjors and career interests encouraged to apply
• Full salary ranging from $25,500 to $51,000 plus benefits
• AmeriCorps education award and federal student loans deferred
• Exclusive scholarships and benefits from graduate schools and employers
• Placements in 46 urban and rural regions across the U.s, including ohio.
• opportunity to earn a master’s degree
Next Application Deadline: Friday, January 11, 2013
For more details about Teach For America, compensation andcosts in each of our 46 regions, visit www.teachforamerica.org.
Homeless children are sick four times more often than other children. It costs far more to execute a person than to keep him or her in prison for life.backdrop | Fall 20128 9
HOT4TEACHb
Arthur Trese: Associate Professor of Plant Biology Beth Quitslund: Associate Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies for English
[email protected]@ohio.edu
BY LINDSEY BRENKUS | PHOTOS BY AMANDA PUCKETT
CONTACT
FRESHLY BREWEDYou may not be able to pinpoint it exactly, but these professors must
be doing something right. Judging by their answers, we’re thinking it’s either the coffee or their world trotting that keeps them hot.
Where have you traveled, and where would you like to?I have traveled in most of Western Europe, except the Iberian Peninsula. And Russia, and of course Canada, Mexico, Nicaragua, for the western hemisphere. Where would I like to travel? Probably Greece and Turkey are the highest on the list at the moment.
What can you not live without?Coffee.
What do you think the hottest quality about someone can be?A really striking command of classical rhetorical figures.
What is your greatest weakness?My extraordinary inability to quickly name a greatest weakness.
Can you tell me a little about your cats?I have two cats: a 12-year-old and a kitten. The grande dame is named Tiramisu. She’s a long-haired tori with very appropri-ate bobcat ear tufts. The kitten is probably going to be a medium-haired tori. Her name is Trifle. I’m still not sure whether that’s a noun or a verb.
So is she a little sassy? How would you describe their personalities?Yes. Tiramisu got her name partly for her coloring but also because as a kitten, she constantly wanted to be held. Tiramisu means “pick me up”. Trifle is a squirmer and a pouncer, and finds all cat tails, including Tiramisu’s and her own, to be the most entertaining toys in the world. She’s unbelievably cute. Although, she’s developed a kind of stoicism since my 4-year-old likes to carry her around.
If you could pick a literary character who would you be?I think I would like to be in The Canterbury Tales. I would be the narrator. His name is Geoffrey Chaucer.
What is your favorite website or publication and why?My favorite actually is a place called Green Car Congress. It’s all about new technology and automotive segment, and it links to all sorts of stuff about energy.
What is something that your students would never guess about you?
Students in most of my classes would never guess that when I was in high school, I was voted “Most Shy” in my graduating class.
Now I teach 300 students in a classroom.
Do you tell your high school classmates that you’re a professor?Well, I was “Most Shy,” which means I don’t know anybody from high school!
Where have you traveled, and where would you like to?Traveled to Europe and to the Caribbean. To the Bahamas,
I was teaching a class in the winter intersession when we had one. I’ll be doing an education abroad class to Panama, the real Panama—not what Ohio University students say spring
break in Panama.
What can’t you live without?My garden. My wife will say “Hold on! How did your garden get in there at the top of the list?” My family, and then my garden.
Pepsi or Coke?Coffee. Black coffee.
When life gives you lemons you...Make some hummus. You put lemon juice in hummus; it’s part of the recipe.
Massachusetts was the first state to legalize gay marriage in 2004. Marijuana is the most common illegal drug in the United States.backdrop | Fall 201210 11
Seth (Drums): I started actually playing music in fifth grade. I tried trumpet for a year, but it wasn’t really my thing. Then, I decided to go into the family business of drumming. I was the only one [in my fam-ily] who ever really learned how to read music. For some reason, in high school, I got into orchestral music and that is when I decided I wanted to make it my life.
So what is the meaning of your band’s name?Daniel: Oh, we were going through a mildly red phase.
Lukas: It isn’t like I had a communist flag in my basement, or anything.
We have covered personal his-tory, so give me some insight into the history of your band.Daniel: Buddy and I have been playing music on and off since the seventh grade. And for a long time, we played in a rock outfit with a couple friends of ours. There were a lot of Zeppelin covers. I cringe—I love Zeppelin, but they were bad covers. We got interested in a lot of metal music and things coming out of the ‘90s. We got into things like Soundgarden and Tool and Rage Against the Machine.
Buddy: We [made] a MySpace page and were officially Fathers of the Revolu-tion. And it was just the two of us writ-ing songs on two guitars, and that was in early 2008. Our first show as Fathers was the end of our freshman year of high school. We played a local festival and got paid $350, so that was pretty sweet. We just kept on writing, got a nice catalog of songs and we decided we should record. We recorded grungy stuff; grungy as in the way we recorded it.
Buddy: We came down to Athens and de-cided to really try to become something. We decided to hit every open mic night to take over this town. We had this one show at the Front Room that was packed and we had their attention the second Daniel opened his mouth. This year was a little different, because we had a drum-mer and decided to do a little more and play an electric show. We got an oppor-tunity to play at the Union and thought, “Let’s play electric.”
Do you guys have a single show that you consider to have been your most exciting?Daniel: I would say the Union show hit a strange peak, because it was our first electric show. But it was also one of the bigger shows we have ever played, and one of the more well received shows we have ever played. There was more dancing at that show than I think I have ever seen in my life.
We are going to switch gears, now. Tell me a little bit about your songwriting process.Daniel: When I write music, I don’t do it because it’s easy. Dear God, writing music is probably the hardest thing I ever do. It is hard to find that perfect blend. We will have a tune and let it sit and we will love it, and then we will come back to it maybe a year later.
Buddy: I personally wonder how the audi-ence takes some of our music. We have this re-ally sad ballad and a year later in the middle of the song we add some surf rock, which is one of the most crowd interactive things we have done. I like to play with people’s expectations.
What are your plans for thefuture?Daniel: Hopefully we will start that record-ing with the record label [Brick City] soon. They talked to us and they want to record us. I also want to find more electric shows, write bigger, more theatrical tunes, and def-initely paint our faces more often. Oh, and start world domination.
Fathers of the Revolution is one of Athens’ new rising musi-cal acts. With the catch phrase “We are The Fathers, and we have come from another planet to save you all!” and an energetic sound somewhere between swing music and punk rock, Fathers of the Revolution has been knocking out tunes since 2008. Last year, the band came to Athens ready to rock with a seasoned stage presence and their home-recorded EP in hand. The band consists of lead vocalist and bass guitarist Daniel Spencer, guitarist Buddy Smith, percussionist Lukas Chaffin and drummer Seth Alexander. After a quick, mid-week show at Donkey Coffee, Fathers of the Revolution sat down with Backdrop to talk about their style, success and plans to take over the world.
How would you categorize Fathers of the Revolution’s music?Daniel (Vocals/Bass): We have sort of advertised ourselves
as cabaret dark-folk music before. The term “genre” is mal-leable. It can change at our will, to our own discretion.
How did you discover your love for music?Buddy (Guitar): It was an interest of mine when I was about nine years old. I got into a lot of horrible music; I used to be a Juggalo. And then, around age 13, I started listening to Ozzy Osborne, because everyone wore T-shirts of metal bands. It was more of wondering why everyone was so inter-ested in music that got me into music.
Daniel: For me, it was over a period of a couple months in my early- to mid-teens when I consciously decided to be-come a serious musician.
Lukas (Percussion): There was no defining moment when I was like “You know what? I like music.” My parents were in a band growing up and I was around a lot of music as a kid.
The incredibly versatile Fathers of the Revolution have jumped genres and styles, while solidifying their sound. Grab your fellow comrades and head to Donkey for a show to remember.
SOUNDS LIKE ›› The Pixies, Squirrel Nut Zippers, Brian SetzerScan to
listen online
SETH ALEXANDER
DRUMS
BUDDY SMITH
GUITAR
WHO PLAYS WHAT?DANIEL SPENCER
VOCALS BASS
LUKAS CHAFFIN
PERCUSSION
BY MAMIE SILVER | PHOTOS BY JAMES CONKLE
FATHERS OF THE REVOLUTION
SOUNDS LIKEb
Approximately 100 million Americans have tried marijuana at least once. The United States currently leads the number of its residents residing in our prison systems.backdrop | Fall 201212 13
THE DROPb
COMFORTBY REBECCA WAGNER | PHOTOS BY EMILY HARGER
Travis Brand received his degree from Hocking College and then left his small-town roots. However, the allure of Athens County
beckoned him home to open his very own restaurant.
A 15-minute drive into the florid autumn leaves of the Plains, GiGi’s Country Kitchen is situated comfort-
ably behind a dilapidated f lower shop and accompanied by a sign proclaiming ‘It’s Just Plain Good.’ A down-home country eatery, GiGi’s is fully maintained and op-erated by Travis Brand and his wife, Kendra. Brand is a baseball cap wearing man with a firm handshake and eyes that crinkle when he smiles.
The ranch-house style restaurant emits the comfort-
ing smell of warm apple-cinnamon. Taped to the wall above a rough-hewn wooden sign proclaiming ‘Friends Gather Here’ is a high school football schedule for the Athens Bulldogs. The above-grill TV is perpetually set to scenes of Shania Twain belting out classic songs about moonlighting men and lonely nights. Country accents and assorted twangs drift in and out of earshot as vari-ous blue-collar locals gather and converse. In a town where everyone knows you and your mother, a close-knit
community huddles here around omelets and heap-ing stacks of homemade sweet potato fries to ex-change small-town gossip.
Brand studied restaurant management at Hocking College after moving back to Athens 10 years ago. Working in hospitality at the Ohio University Inn managing a “little bit of ev-erything,” he discovered GiGi’s lease was up for grabs. While filling out forms for a children’s birthday party in a flower shop, he saw it as a sign and took the plunge.
“The restaurant’s always been a dream. It’s by God’s grace, I guess, we’re here,” Brand says.
Only two months after being in operation, GiGi’s en-tered into Habitat for Humanity’s Taste of Athens Battle of the Chefs. The Brands were both excited and terri-fied, but emerged victorious. Their chicken dumplings and homemade mashed potatoes swept the competi-tion, landing first place in both the People’s Choice and Judge’s Choice.
Post-competition, the Brands received a handwritten letter from Sean Kiser, owner of local Athens favorite, Kiser’s Barbecue. In the letter, Kiser congratulated Gi-Gi’s on their awards and offered them genuine advice about advertising, where to spend their money, and of-
FOODfering help if needed. The let-ter was warmly received by the Brands, who felt very welcomed into the community.
“It was a great experience. We got a lot of positive support from the community,” he says. “It’s a small town and people treat it that way. We get along with everybody.”
With the small-town aesthetic comes a steady f low of regulars.
GiGi’s is a definitive stomping ground for token locals with colorful stories and perpetually refilled cups of cof-fee. A good chunk of their profits are generated from these allegiant patrons, some of whom show up five days a week. Everyone knows everyone. It’s “like Cheers in here,” Brand says, whose favorite part of work is getting out and talking to people.
GiGi’s enjoys steady business and copious amounts of craziness. A regular day is “busy, extremely busy,” ac-cording to Brand. GiGi’s is open exclusively for break-fast and lunch seven days a week. Even without a din-ner crowd, the hectic population can be hard to keep up with. Stress aside, GiGi’s gracious welcome into the Ath-ens community and their unwavering dedication to cus-tomer satisfaction is encouraging enough. The Brands are ready no matter what.
“‘Expect the unexpected’ is our expectation.”
“The restaurant’s always been a dream. It’s by God’s grace, I guess, that we’re here.”Travis Brand, Owner of Gigi’s
According to the 2010 Census, 46.2 million people in the United States live below the poverty line. In 2010 more than 30 percent of Americans dropped out of high school.backdrop | Fall 201214 15
THE DROPb
Open Hearts,
BY KELSI BOWES | PHOTOS BY DANIEL RADAR AND KELSI BOWES
Homelessness in Athens is on the rise, but some locals are doing everything in their power to help.
Tucked away at the end of Central Avenue, the Timothy House is more than it first appears. Despite its decep-
tively small appearance from the outside, it is actually a homeless shelter that houses 15 residents year-round—the only such shelter in nine surrounding counties. Its warm and inviting atmosphere is a reflection of those that live and work there.
“They are not homeless. They are a person that is expe-riencing a situation called homelessness,” Keith Wasser-man, founder of Good Works Inc., stresses. “And [Good Works] thinks it is important to separate what is going on in someone’s life from who they really are.”
The WorksGood Works was founded by Wasserman in 1981 and has
developed into a parent organization which branches off to include 20 other projects including the Timothy House. It provides housing for anywhere from 150 to 225 people each year. There are full-time staff members and roughly 60 people who volunteer throughout the year to help keep the shelter going.
“There is a deep sense of caring that goes on with the people in this community,” Wasserman shares. “. . . This community pro-vides almost 100 percent of [Good Works’] meals, over 21,000 meals this year—primarily from donations.”
Athens’ mayor, Paul Wiehl, also thinks the local community does much to help.
“[Good Works] is the only [homeless shelter] in eight or nine counties,” Wiehl points out. “So, therefore, in one sense we are probably doing more than any other county in this location.”
In order to guarantee that Wasserman and his staff run Good Works in the most caring and sup-portive way possible, he uses an unconventional training method; Wasser-man actually chooses to live in homeless shelters. In over 20 years, he has
lived homeless 10 different times, in 10 different cities.“Each of these experiences, I’ve done them intentionally
because I want to see what it’s like to be on the other side,” Wasserman says. “It completely revolutionizes how we do things, particularly how we treat people.”
He adds that it replenishes the compassion he and his workers show toward those they help. This is important to him because he wants Good Works to be as humane as possible.
“The most significant thing about humanizing is are we loving people? Are we respecting them? Do they feel honored?” Wasserman clarifies. “ . . . Do they feel a sense of dignity?”
Wasserman also emphasizes that homelessness is really an experience of loss.
“Not only have you lost your housing, but you’ve also lost your support system,” Wasserman says. “Then you’ve lost your source of income, and you’ve lost your sense of sanity, and you’ve lost your sense of identity. And all these combine to create a great deal of instability.”
The Impact of the University For people without homes in Athens, the OU community
can provide some benefits due in large to the amount of sup-port from the student population.
“The OU students are great. Student clubs, they raise a lot of money,” Nicolas Claussen, community relations co-ordinator for the Athens County Job and Family Services, says. “. . . And there’s a whole Community Involvement Center in Baker where they send students out to help with different things.”
But experiencing homelessness near the university also has some consequences. Because of the high demand for hous-ing, lessors are able to maintain steep rent prices. Most of the residents of the Timothy House that are working full-time are unable to afford the price of rent in Athens.
By the People, for the People
The state of the economy in Athens is also a significant reason that people become homeless.
To soften the blow, Athens County Job and Family Ser-vices is responsible for many different types of assistance such as welfare, cash assistance and food assistance. In ad-dition, they refer people to Good Works. Claussen says that there are about 2,000 people a month on cash assistance and about 11,000 on food assistance in Athens. But the as-sistance Athens County Job and Family Services is able to provide just isn’t enough.
“Assistance needs to be expanded. A lot of people aren’t even eligible for assistance,” he notes. “If you’re single and you don’t have any kids, you’re not going to get cash assistance.”
Claussen adds, “If we just provided more money for as-sistance, it would alleviate a lot of problems because people meet their basic needs.”
Another fundamental problem the community faces while attempting to aid people without homes, aside from funding, is shelter. Because of the lack of available housing, Good Works has been forced to make some very tough de-cisions. In 2011, they had to turn away 142 people seeking shelter. This year they have turned away over 248 people,
including families with children. And the year isn’t over yet.“It’s very difficult to operate a 15-bed shelter as the only place
for people without homes in nine counties,” Wasserman con-fesses. “We have maximum capacity all the time.”
In 2007, Good Works applied for a variance in order to renovate the house next door to the Timothy House. Was-serman says they had wanted to use the property to focus on providing shelter and for families, while under the supervi-sion of Good Works. But the variance was denied.
“The official reason? It’s not in the code,” Wasserman ex-plains. “We knew that. That’s why we applied for a variance. But we were denied the variance because it’s not in the code . . . it’s a circular argument.”
When applying for a variance, the cases are brought to the Board of Zoning Appeals, a citizen board that decides what is acceptable and what is not.
“[Wasserman]’s been given many variances and he’s been denied some variances as well,” Wiehl says. “. . . To change the code, it’s easy to say that. But the fact is, when you change the code there are unintended consequences. Changing the law is a broad brush there to dealing with the problem. That’s why the Zoning Board of Appeals exists.”
In January of this year, several people spoke at a pub-lic meeting voicing their concerns about the problem of homelessness in Athens. After a six-month commitment to addressing the issues, Wasserman went to the June meet-ing and Wiehl’s responded, “We talked about it.” Wiehl says that the main focus of the meeting was to “get all the resources together and make sure everybody is talking to each other.”
“The city has a very specific role, whether they like it or not,” Wasserman says. “They have enormous power, and they have a role to play. The question is: will they do their part?”
However, the city’s part is complicated.“We do as much as we can, but there’s not a lot we can
do in many cases,” Wiehl says. “ . . . But what is the role of government to do in these things? Do we apply dollars for homeless? Do we let the private non-profits do it? Do we let the church groups, the volunteer groups do it?” he asks.
For the time being, the Athens community must work with the resources that are available to them in order to help those who need it most.
“I’ve said from the beginning [that] homelessness is not a Good Works problem; it is a community problem,” Wasser-man states. “It’s against the law to do more than we’re doing now. There is something wrong with that.”
OPEN HOMES
High school dropouts have a life expectancy 9.2 years shorter than high school graduates. Young people who bully are more likely to drink alcohol and get into fights.backdrop | Fall 201216 17
ENTERTAINMENTb
Ohio University alumna Brianna Savoca never planned on becoming a teacher. She certainly never planned on land-ing a managerial position at one of Fortune’s “100 Best
Companies to Work For” just three years after graduating. In fact, the young broadcast journalism major always had dreams of becoming a famous news anchor.
However, by a random turn of events, Savoca’s plans changed when she stumbled upon Teach for America (TFA).
TFA is an organization that works to eliminate educational inequity by placing passionate and adequate teachers at the heads of classrooms. According to its website, TFA recruits committed recent college graduates and professionals of all backgrounds to teach for two years in urban and ru-ral public schools. They then train and develop those corps members so that they have an immediate positive impact on their students.
Savoca first learned about TFA while researching a paper she was writing for a “Critical Race Theory” class during her fall quarter of graduate school at OU. The question on the prompt asked, “What is one area of society that we could improve that would make for a more positive future?”
After discovering the statistic that one in 12 children in a low-income school will graduate from college, the answer to Savoca seemed easy: education.
“I argued that education is the one thing we can fix because clearly without an education, you have very limited options in our society and lack of choices,” Savoca says.
While conducting research for her argument, a Google search brought her to the TFA website.
That was when Savoca realized her true calling. “More than anything, the education reform movement is my
newfound passion,” Savoca says.A native of North Royalton, a suburb outside of Cleveland,
Savoca grew up with her younger sister, Kali, and her parents, neither of whom attended college. Because of their lack of sec-ondary education, Savoca’s parents were of little help when it came to the college admissions process— forcing her to rely heavily on the advice and support of high school teachers and coaches when applying for colleges.
“I had this revelation that my teachers were the ones that got me here,” Savoca says. “If I hadn’t had those teachers, I don’t think I ever would have accomplished even going to college.”
Cue Ohio University.While attending OU, Savoca majored in broadcast jour-
nalism. She kept herself busy serving a brief stint on Stu-dent Senate, working at Ohio Sport Zone and reporting for WOUB’s Newswatch, where she got her first taste of the low-income side of rural areas.
“Athens is very nice but un-less you go out and explore Ap-palachia, you don’t realize that there’s low-income all around
us,” Savoca says. “Reporting those news stories definitely sparked my interest and made me open my eyes and realize that not everything is picture perfect.”
The downward spiral of the economy, coupled with news station hiring freezes and low-paying salaries deterred Savoca from her original dream of becoming a news anchor. How-ever, her newfound interest in education reform propelled her to make an effort to “pay it forward” to all of the children from low-income backgrounds afflicted by the inequalities in the public education system.
“When you have good teachers it makes such a difference,” Savoca says. “I could be that teacher for kids.”
Upon completing the time-consuming application and in-terview processes for TFA, Savoca was accepted in January of 2010. Just one week after graduating grad school in June, she went to Tulsa, Okla., for six weeks of intense corps training
THE LEARNING
“When you have good teachers it makes such a difference. I could be that teacher for kids.”
Brianna Savoca, Teach for America Recruiter
CURVE
WHERE THEY WORK
Bay Area
Colorado
Hawaii
Las Vegas Valley
Los Angeles
Sacramento
Washington
Dallas-Fort Worth
Houston
New Mexico
Oklahoma
Phoenix
Rio Grande Valley
San Antonio
TRACKING TEACH FOR AMERICA
Chicago
Detroit
Indianapolis
Kansas City
Milwaukee
Northeast Ohio-Cleveland
South Dakota
Southwest Ohio
St. Louis
Twin Cities
MIDWESTSOUTHWESTWESTAlabama
Appalachia
Charlotte
Eastern North Carolina
Greater Nashville
Greater New Orleans
Louisiana Delta
Jacksonville
Memphis
Metro Atlanta
Miami-Dade
Mississippi Delta
South Carolina
South Louisiana
SOUTHEASTBaltimore
D.C. Region
Delaware
Greater Newark
Greater Philadelphia
New York
EASTConnecticut
Massachusetts
Rhode Island
NEW ENGLAND
The disturbing statistics of children in low-income schools changed this alumna’s career path.
BY MARGARET MCGINLEY | INFOGRAPHIC BY EMILEE KRAUS
where she was taught how to lesson plan effectively, how to organize a classroom and how to handle issues that students from low-income backgrounds may be facing, such as abuse and malnutrition.
Post-training, Savoca received a job at REACH! Partnership School in Bal-timore, Md., where she taught seventh grade English and language arts. Shock set in when Savoca learned that her stu-dents were not only reading much below the seventh-grade level, but that they ac-tually had no books to read at all.
“This school existed long before I ever got there so the fact that when I arrived there was no novels for the seventh grad-ers to be reading, I was absolutely ap-palled,” Savoca says.
Essentially starting from scratch, Sav-oca did whatever she could to design an appropriate yet challenging curriculum for her students. She prepared worksheets and exams, and she also bought the class a set of novels to read.
Due to Savoca’s unbridled determina-tion to make a difference, each year, on average, her students’ reading skills im-
proved over two grade-levels.“My students grew more than they
should have,” Savoca says. “And it was simply just getting books in their hands and setting a really high expectation.”
However, Savoca became more than just a teacher to her students; she was a role model and a trusted ally.
One student confided in Savoca that her mother’s boyfriend had raped her. Another student confessed that she had been cutting herself.
“She said to me, ‘It’s because of you that I’m still alive,’” Savoca says.
Those problems weren’t all Savoca’s students had to deal with. Police offi-cers were often stationed at the kids’ bus stop, a hot spot for drug deals. People carrying knives or other weapons were also commonplace.
“It’s just a different world,” Savoca says. “For a child to have to be so hard and put up such a front just to protect themselves, it’s not the childhood that most people get the pleasure to grow up with and enjoy.”
Savoca plans to spend her life improv-
ing those disadvantaged childhoods. “Remember those kids from your
two years in the corps and from now on be a leader, give them a voice and change the future, because we can,” Savoca says. “That’s what TFA has in-spired me to do.”
In the future, Savoca hopes to start an urban authors league where she could write books with urban or low-income protagonists. These pro-tagonists would be more relatable to students like the ones she taught in Baltimore. Ideally, part of the profits from her books would be put towards low-income scholarships for kids.
For now, however, Savoca is still involved with TFA working for the non-profit side of the organization as a recruit manager. In addition to OU, Savoca also recruits at the University of Pittsburgh, Oberlin University and Case Western Reserve in Cleveland.
“Those kids changed my life forev-er,” Savoca says. “I will forever want to do something that helps them and gets them to college.”
COURT STThe FirstDECEMBER
For decades, Athenians have gath-ered on Court Street in early De-cember to light the town Christmas tree. Percheron horses gallop up and down the sides of Court Street, of-fering jovial wagon rides for up to 20 people at a time. Uptown retailers stay open late into the evenings and offer hot chocolate and other treats for holiday shoppers. This year, the courthouse and college gate will host carolers on Wednesdays and Sat-urdays, Ron Lucas, deputy service safety director for the City of Ath-ens, says. The horse-drawn carriages will be trotting through town on those days too, looping around Col-lege Street and down sorority row. Don’t forget to snap a photo with Santa inside his makeshift workshop on the corner of Court and Wash-ington Streets.
Ride in a horse-drawn sleigh down Court Street
4
Hundreds of local children wouldn’t have gifts to unwrap on Christmas morning without the help of Athens County Children Services’ Santa Tree Christmas Project. The tree that sits in the middle of the Market on State is covered in 1,200 to 1,500 paper orna-ments, describes Sherri Oliver, public relations and community events co-ordinator at Athens County Children Services. She thinks the project will benefit from OU’s new semester sys-tem and that she has already received calls from service learning projects of-fering assistance.
“It has eclipsed the last four years that I’ve done this project,” Oliver says. “And I think it gives students a nice feel for what’s going on in the county.”
The project will run until December 14, the last day of fall semester.
1Pick a name from the Santa Tree
Watch local renditions of Christmas classics
Hearing Ebenezer Scrooge scream “bah humbug” around Christmas time is a holiday tradition, but Ath-ens offers its own rendition of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Stuart’s Opera House hosts “An Appalachian Christmas Carol” every year, ex-cept this version features Ebenezer Scrooge as a blue-collar coal miner. If fairy tales are more your style, the ABC Players will perform Hansel and Gretel this year at ARTS/West, where the Local Girls will also be perform-ing classic holiday tunes.
3
If you’re looking to deck the halls of your col-lege apartment this year, John Hutchison, op-erator of the carriage service for Uptown Ath-ens festivities, has about five acres of White Pine to choose from. He’ll even usher you through the farm on a horse drawn carriage to find the perfect tree for $15. “How could you have more fun than riding a horse drawn wagon around?” Hutchison asks.
After selling so many trees last year, he doesn’t have as big of a crop this year as he would have hoped, but he said he wel-comes bonfires and other festivities at his winter wonderland to make up for it.
Cut your own Christmas tree2
After the change to semesters, Ohio University students will be experiencing the holiday festivities in an Athens winter wonderland for the first time.
BY OLIVIA YOUNGILLUSTRATIONS BY EMILY PIGNATIELLO
Horse-drawn carriage rides across the bricks of Court Street, handmade gifts from the Nelsonville Historic Square and a holiday trail of lights are just a few things that make up the Athenian holidays. However, most students missed out on the fun when they used to head home each December for their beloved six-week winter break.
This year, for the first time since the late 1960s, Ohio University students will spend at least a fraction of the holiday season in this neck of the woods—and there is no doubt that Athens can be a pretty merry place if you know where to look.
Put a handcrafted pottery piece or a pair of one-of-a-kind earrings under the tree this year from the holiday edition of Final Fridays on the Square. You’ll find books, pottery, paintings, handmade jewelry and holiday treats to wrap up and take home.
5 Shop for one-of-a-kind artwork in Nelsonville’s Historic Square
About 8 percent of eighth graders stay home once a month to avoid a bully. Revenge is the strongest motivation for school shootings.backdrop | Fall 201218 19
In the grassy hills of Shade, Ohio, Shade Winery has been turning grapes into wine for about eight years. But students better hurry to winemakers Neal and Oui Dix’s comfy cabin to try one of their 13 vinos before January, when they close for two months. While the winery is open on Fridays and Saturdays, it is also available to rent. The winery, however, only sells cheese, salmon and olive trays. So you may want to take along a pre-Christmas feast to complement a night of wine.
Host a winter wine tasting at Shade Winery
9
What’s a better way to spend a winter day than to take a train ride through the Appalachian hills with a glass of wine in hand? Hop aboard the Winter Wine Express this month for a tour of the Hocking Valley Scenic Railway. Proceeds from the Wine Express’ $25 tickets go toward Stuart’s Opera House in Nelsonville.
Tour the Hocking Valley on a vintage train10
Each year, more than 75,000 lights are spread throughout the trail of Lake Hope State Park. This December, Lake Hope will host a light show throughout the whole park, which spectators will be able to view from their warm vehicles, Lake Operations Manager Coy Lehman says. He is unsure of whether the Friends of Lake Hope, a nonprofit group, will string lights along the trails again this year. However, you can still cruise through a real-life enchanted forest for free.
Holiday Trail of Lights at Lake Hope8
Take a ride on the snowy side: Athens styleThe snow doesn’t often fall in Athens in December, but when it
does, you’ll certainly find folks sliding down the slippery hills of campus and other secret spots. In years past, Jeff Hill has been
prime location for sledding on a snowy day, but now that it allows car traffic, Athenians instead flock to the Ridges
and the mini-mountain on which Athens High School sits. Students have been known to hijack food trays
from the dining halls for this particular winter ac-tivity, but stick to store-bought car tires, baby
pools and plastic sleds to avoid being tracked down by OU officials.
6
15 miles north of Athens is a village of elf houses and giant candy canes that sur-round Athens County’s only outdoor ice skating rink. Each December, the Nelson Commons Park in downtown Nelsonville is transformed into a local North Pole. Check out this winter wonderland on the first day of December to watch the Nelson-ville Christmas Parade pass by. The “North Pole” is open Thursdays through Sundays during December.
Take a trip to the North Pole
7
77 percent of students are bullied mentally, verbally or physically. 22,000 children around the world die everyday due to poverty.backdrop | Fall 201220 21
this year, The Post ran a story told by a former editor, Andy Alexander who presided over the paper from 1969-1970. During 1970, a series of protests took place, one of which was a sit-in that occurred in Cutler Hall—a pro-test against a fee increase. But the inflammatory gather-ing resulted in the National Guard being called to watch over on- and off-campus activities. After the May 4 mas-sacre at fellow Mid American Conference school Kent State, students at Ohio University became increasingly enraged with the war and the way their fellow Ameri-cans were being utilized to squelch their first amendment right. The protests turned violent, and a firebomb was used at the ROTC building. On May 15, OU closed its doors, sent students home and canceled all classes until summer quarter 1970.
Director of Veterans’ Affairs, in OU’s Student Senate, Eric May, believes that perhaps one reason there is a dif-ference in political protests is because of the absence of a draft.
“It starts with recognizing that compared to Vietnam, where there was a draft, this was different. Part of it stems back to the fact that when we went to Afghanistan in 2001 and 2003 when we went to Iraq, the majority of Americans agreed with the wars,” May explains. “When it doesn’t affect you, it’s a lot easier to be apathetic or sup-port something that just doesn’t have an affect on you.”
Pressure from college administrations could also be to blame. Yesteryear, when campuses were flooded with pro-testors, academia was as outlandish as the Wild West. Then, the student-professor relationship was so blurred that professors marched out of their classes to join their outraged younger comrades in the picket lines. Ideas flowed freely; professors didn’t mind sharing their opin-ions and took an active interest in molding young minds to think outside of just the curriculum that was required of them to teach.
But after prestigious institutions like the University of California at Berkeley began receiving reputations as ha-vens for hippies and ne’er do wells, and the tragedy at Kent State University occurred, college administrations started feeling pressure. They decided to muffle the stu-dent body’s protesting efforts. College classrooms became a much more vanilla place, decorum became the word-of-the-day, and the only arena that a well-mannered, heated debate about the military industrial complex could take place was in a political science classroom.
Dr. William Lamb, a professor in the college of busi-ness, summarized the way that one of his professors
taught him to broach a sensitive subject in the classroom. He stated that if a student left his classroom clear on his stance about a particular subject, that he hadn’t done his job properly, that day. Interim Vice President of Student Affairs, Ryan Lombardi echoed an eerily similar senti-ment. Referring to politics, Lombardi stated, “I don’t feel it’s my role as the teacher in this case to be partisan one way or another, because I want to make sure that students of all angles feel comfortable having a discussion with me about the politics or this and that.”
Political correctness takes many forms. It can be good, such as when an individual’s feelings are spared because the correct term to identify their gender, race or sexual orienta-tion is used. But it can be abused as well. Such as when a person’s first amendment right to free speech is infringed upon, when a community’s right to have a free press is oblit-erated, or when a student’s right to an education is hindered because his or her classroom discussions are curtailed so as not to offend.
Some, like 60 Minutes correspondent Morley Safer, la-ment the current class of scholars, referring to them as “the coddled generation.” On November 11, 2007 he did a piece for 60 Minutes titled “The ‘Millennials’ are Coming.” He pointed to the deluge of participation trophies and plaques adorning the new generation’s child-hood bedrooms and said that the new breed of college student doesn’t understand what it’s like to lose. He and many his age believe that the new generations parents’, and Barney, spent so much time mak-ing sure that each child felt special, that they’ve never actually grown up. Perhaps this idea has permeated because of the general malaise that the new generation shows when con-fronted with a difficult topic.
An estimated 40 million people are living with HIV/AIDS. Every year there are 350-500 million cases of malaria and 1 million fatalities as a result.backdrop | Fall 201222 23
FEATURESb
JUNE 11, 1963 INTEGRATION AT ALABAMAAlabama Governor George Wallace blocks African Americans from registering for classes.
MAY 14, 1970KENT STATE MASSACAREOhio national guard opens fire at Kent State University.
MAY 15, 1970OHIO UNIVERSITY CAMPUS CLOSUREProtests at Ohio University turn violent resulting in campus evacuation.
FALL 2011OCCUPY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Protests break out at University of California branch schools.
SEPT. 17, 2011OCCUPY WALL STREETProtests over what the masses viewed as an uneven playing field for America’s elite.
AUG. 28, 1963MILLION MAN MARCH ON WASHINGTONMartin Luther King Jr. delivers his “I Have a Dream” speech.
ACTIVELYnumbBY TIM HOWARD
Facing similar issues as students from 50 years ago, today’s scholars can’t seem to find the motivation to roll out of bed
and onto College Green, with picket signs in tow.
AMERICAN POLITICAL PROTESTS THEN AND NOW
Scan to view video of Professor Frederic Cady talk about political protests
A fter May 4, 1970, news of the Kent State shootings had settled into universities across the nation. Stu-
dents began to band together and mirror the actions of Kent State students by protesting the National Guard’s violent reactions and the presence of ROTC programs on campuses during the Vietnam War. Students of Ohio University responded to this violence with more violence. From destructive protests on College Green to the fire-bombing of the ROTC supply center at Peden Stadium, OU made the decision to close on May 15 and canceled the class of 1970’s graduation ceremony. The actions of these students have been burned into history, but the same cannot be said for today’s generation and political correctness may be to blame.
Today, society intimidates the public into being po-litically correct. Speech is never black and white. Words can be misconstrued, misused and misinterpreted to fit
nearly any meaning that the speaker or listener wants to impart upon it. Being politically correct can be for the benefit of a potential eavesdropper, or it can be a tool for tyrannical governments to oppress their citizens.
The lack of political upheaval on college campuses seems strange, especially considering the same issues that gripped the nation in the 1960s are staring down the cur-rent generation of scholars today. Civil Rights for Afri-can Americans five decades ago has transitioned into the battle for lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender equal-ity today. While a controversial war in Vietnam waged throughout the ‘60s and ‘70s, an equally inflammatory war is taking place in the Middle East. And President Nixon’s Watergate Scandal in the 1970s has led to gen-eral distrust of the government in the 21st century.
In the 1970s, Athens was going through as much up-heaval as any campus in the country. On October 9 of
“I don’t feel it’s my role as the teacher in this case to be partisan one way or another.”Ryan Lombardi Interim Vice President of Student Affairs
The U.S. poverty rate is now the third worst among developed nations. 25
FEATURESb
STARTING
POINTBY CHRIS LONGO | PHOTOS BY ALEX GOODLETT
Ohio returns a plethora of talent from a record-breaking season, but it lost the linchpin to their success. What it found is the man poised to take the Bobcats to the next level, new head coach Jim Christian.
PHOTO BY EMILY HARGER
After the final buzzer, after all the magic wore thin, there was still a sense of nervous anticipa-
tion during the final week of March. It wasn’t the same hands-on-your-head, crossing-your-fingers eagerness that OU fans had gotten used to throughout the month. It wasn’t the feeling in the pit of your stomach when an alert DJ Cooper found the ball at mid-court and launched a last-second prayer against North Carolina—the kind of shot that lingers in the air forever. As the calen-dar shifted to April, Bobcats fans were fearful they would lose the man who brought all this madness upon them.
Rather than return to Athens and try to replicate the Bobcats’ March run, head coach John Groce was of-fered an opportunity he couldn’t walk away from. When Groce, well known as a player’s coach and fan-favorite, landed in Illinois during the ensuing week after OU’s overtime loss to North Carolina in the Sweet 16, he left a void in Athens. His most prized recruiting class, including seniors DJ Cooper, Ivo Baltic, Reggie Keely and redshirt senior Walter Offutt, remains on the roster to embrace life under new head coach Jim Christian—a task not im-possible, but uncomfortable for a team that blossomed together under their former leader.
Despite the fanfare of the Sweet 16 run, the media attention during the first week of practice was limited. With so many players returning, the vibe of shoot around was loose and familiar. In a small circle under the left basket, Of-futt and Cooper joked around before a Wednesday afternoon practice. Notice-ably missing was the raspy voice of the man who brought the duo to Athens. His echo that once filled an empty Convocation Center is now gone, but
not forgotten. “I’m sure he’s
thinking about me and I’m thinking about him too,” Of-futt says.
His relationship with Groce started in middle school when the Indianap-olis native was in his basketball infancy. He was recruited to play at Ohio State where Groce was an assistant. When Groce left Colum-bus for a head-coaching gig in Athens, Offutt put his trust in a man that always believed in him and transferred to Ohio University.
“I grew up with him and he instilled a lot of confidence in me,” he says.
The recruitment process wasn’t as important for Cooper as the success he had from the start. As a freshman, the centerpiece of Groce’s first recruit-ing class, Cooper impressed in the 2010 Mid-American Conference title game and NCAA tournament first round, scoring 23 points versus both Akron and Georgetown, respectively. Groce gave him free reign, allowing the play-making point guard, once thought to be too small to play against Big Ten competition, to flourish. His trust in Cooper paid off, as he saw impressive returns on the player who would come to define his tenure as OU’s coach.
Both Offutt and Cooper remain in contact with Groce and emphasize that their non-basketball relationship with their former coach is and will always be strong. But Cooper, ready to start his fourth full season as the catalyst for the Bobcats, knows that the team will only
go far if they embrace the man brought in to continue what Groce started. Just two weeks into the preseason, he found out that Jim Christian’s coaching style picks up right where they left off.
“[Coach Christian] is really passion-ate,” Cooper says. “He wants to win. He comes to practice like it’s a game every day.”
Christian admired the team’s will-ingness to buy into Groce’s defense-first approach from last season. Their work ethic is something that has im-pressed him from the start, but it’s the senior leadership that has helped ease the transition.
“The thing about this group that I’ve really enjoyed is the maturity with which they do things and their ability to take things from the video room and put it on the floor,” Christian says. “That makes you move a little bit quicker.”
Statistically one of the best defensive teams in college basketball last season, it was the Bobcats offense that strug-gled at times during the regular season. To capture the elusive MAC regular season title, Christian will have to get the most out of his two best offensive
weapons, Offutt and Cooper. As head coach at Kent State from 2002–2008, Christian’s half-court offense was con-sidered the best in the MAC by former Miami University coach and longtime rival Charlie Coles.
“That was pulling a rabbit out of the hat when [OU] got him and it will prove to be that way as the season un-folds,” the recently retired Coles says.
In a sport where coaches often leave teams in sham-bles for their successors, Christian was given the rare opportunity to take over a team set up to win right away. For all the talent that he inherits, Christian will have to shoulder the weight of high expectations and get the Bobcats to buy into his system if a return trip to the big dance is in order.
“There’s probably as much that can go wrong as can go right,” Coles says. “You’re dealing with expectations of the fans and of your team and now
you’re kind of at a disadvantage be-cause everybody knows you’re sup-posed to be good.”
OU’s newfound prominence led Ath-letic Director Jim Schaus to make the call to then Texas Christian University (TCU) head coach Jim Christian once Groce said his goodbyes. Recogniz-ing the opportunity to bring in some-one with a proven track record in the
MAC, Schaus offered Christian the chance to take over the program. On April 3, Christian left TCU and was named the next head coach of Ohio
University basketball. If Christian’s past is any indication, he’ll fit right into the winning atmosphere fostered over the past three seasons.
Like Offutt and Cooper, Christian is no stranger to crashing the big dance in March. A hardworking guard from Long Island, Christian was originally recruited by Rick Pitino to Boston University but transferred to Rhode Is-
land where he played his senior season under legendary coach Tom Penders. Rhode Island, a team that never won a tour-nament game in its history, advanced to the Sweet 16 of the 1988 NCAA tournament before losing a heartbreaker to Duke. With one of the best backcourts in the country on his team, Christian struggled to get playing time his senior year but possessed the basket-
ball knowledge that Penders thought would pay off down the road.
“I could tell he was interested in be-ing a coach,” Penders remembers. “He
One in every five children in the United States is living in poverty. 27
“It’s a different transition, but life is about changes and how you adapt to them.” DJ Cooper, Point Guard
“
“I don’t know if there are too many coaches in the country I have more respect for than [Jim Christian]. Anytime you get ready to play one of his teams you know you’re going to play against a team that plays extremely hard.” Sean Miller, University of Arizona Head Coach
He’s at Ohio University, which is the finest basketball school in the league because of its crowd and all the enthusiasm down there. I think that will really get him going.” Charlie Coles, Former Miami University Head Coach
OPPONENT INSIGHTTIME OUT
backdrop | Fall 201226 27
For more Ohio basketball coverage, including a story on the O-Zone, scan the flare code.
Africa accounts for 90 percent of malaria deaths.
always knew the plays and was well re-spected by his teammates.”
After taking over a Kent State team that had reached the Elite 8 in the pre-vious season, Christian didn’t waste any time in winning the MAC East division in 2002–2003—his first sea-son as a head coach. He’d go on to win more than 20 games in all six seasons as coach of the Golden Flashes, includ-ing two MAC championships and two NCAA tournament appearances.
Consistency at Kent State led to the TCU coaching job, a school with a big-time football program but little tradi-tion in basketball. Three losing seasons followed by a winning season would be all for Christian in Texas as TCU athletics prepared to move to the Big 12 conference where they’d be all but buried in the bottom of the standings.
“It was a great move by Jim to get out of TCU,” Penders, who most recently spent six seasons coaching at Houston, says. “In the Big 12, you have to think hard about who the hell you might beat.”
The marriage of Christian and OU made enough sense to make him, at the time, the highest-paid employee at the university—an investment in the pres-ent, as well as the future of the program. A return to the MAC brings lofty ex-pectations, giving Christian more pres-sure to win now.
“We’ve talked about what we’re trying to do and not worrying about what any-body thinks,” Christian says.
For a senior-laden team, the only thing that could prevent OU from reaching its potential is looking too far
ahead. As the Bobcats prepare for the season, Christian looks to take the ad-vice of his college coach and keep the same up-tempo style that Groce was known for.
“Embrace the old coach,” Penders warns. ““It’s hard to sell a new system to kids who have been successful.”
A week before the first regular season game, the Bobcats took to the Convo-cation Center floor for an exhibition against Mercyhurst. Play opened with a couple of sloppy turnovers and missed shots on both ends of the floor before OU’s leader took control of the ball.
Cooper, eyes seemingly everywhere at once, noticed the Mercyhurst guard playing him tight. He stepped back with ease and drained a deep two-point shot, silky smooth, like last sea-son never ended.
“It doesn’t make a difference who is standing on the sideline,” Christian says. “They have certain things that they want to accomplish individu-ally and collectively and that has never changed.”
For Cooper, not having Groce, some-one he’s regularly referred to as a father figure, in Athens for one last run is bittersweet. He has little time to dwell on missed opportunities or missed coaches—that’s all in the past. He’ll be the Bobcats’ floor general under a new commander, a relationship that will define the most highly anticipated season in program history.
“It’s a different transition,” Cooper says. “But life is about changes and how you adapt to them.”
Breast cancer is the most common cancer worldwide to kill women. Tobacco is the single largest preventable cause of cancer in the world.backdrop | Fall 201228 29
I t’s an unusually warm autumn evening in Athens. Leaves dance across Elliott Street, and the
brushing of foliage across the pave-ment breaks the silence of the quiet Sunday evening. The majority of the windows that are overlooking the street from the houses are dark, and the humid air and blustery breeze give discernible tells of a coming storm. At the end of the road, light radiates from a front porch that is cloaked and blanketed by emerald vines. The stairs to the porch and the foundation of the home all lay com-fortably wrapped and cradled by the beautiful vegetation, and in the cen-ter of all the landscape lays one sign that reads, “The Vine.”
“Our meetings haven’t been start-ing right on time,” Erin Swift, a non-student and resident at 23 El-liott, the Vine Co-op says as she ti-dies the room.
The walls are painted dark blue and gold, both collegiate and cozy. Draped on the wall directly oppo-site the door is an enormous map of the Mediterranean Middle East. Bookshelves line the other nearby walls of the living room, stuffed full of various texts spanning genres and decades. No doubt that the collection has expanded since the inception of The Vine Co-op in 1994, with for-mer residents leaving traces of them behind, adding to the character and personality of the home.
“It’s hard to get nine people in the same room at the same time,” Swift continues as more of her roommates, who happen to be home this evening, descend the stairs.
They join in sporadically through-out the conversation, adding their own insights and experiences. The roommates exchange warm, friendly smiles as they pass, and get comfy on the jumble of mismatched furniture that fills up the room. The 9:30 p.m. start time of the house meeting has been missed, but no one in the room seems concerned or anxious. They will gladly sit and talk while they wait for their remaining roommates to arrive. The comfortable, familial atmosphere is the essence of what The Vine is all about.
The Vine Co-op is a cooperative living experience offered in Athens. This home is owned by the North American Students of Cooperation (NASCO), an organization that “or-ganizes and educates affordable group equity co-ops and their members for the purpose of promoting a commu-nity oriented cooperative movement,” according to the NASCO website. Members join NASCO by applying through their website and hold their membership by paying dues. Three different membership opportunities exist inside NASCO for those looking to actively participate in the coopera-tive movement, those looking to help organize and support NASCO, and those that associate with the coopera-tive movement, but do not qualify to be active members. Membership is available to all students and commu-nity members who are committed to cooperative education and values.
Formed out of Ann Arbor, Michi-gan, in 1968, NASCO promotes the cooperative way of life, instilling the values of self-help, self-responsibility, equality, and democracy through a communal living experience. NAS-CO members live in NASCO owned properties across America and these members maintain and control their home without the interference of a landlord, allowing occupants to have an adaptable living experience with few limitations.
“Technically the house is owned by NASCO,” Kevin Green, Vine Resident/Maintenance Director and student explains, “but everybody who is a member of the co-op is a member of NASCO, so basically when you live here you’re a partial owner of the house.”
Green is no stranger to co-ops and NASCO properties. When traveling the country and living in Ann Ar-bor, Michigan, Green was exposed to NASCO and the idea of coopera-tive living.
“There’s a huge co-op scene,” Green enlightens. “I guess there’s about 10 different NASCO co-ops in Ann Ar-bor. The first one I lived in was very old, it was Michigan House, origi-nally called the Michigan Socialist House, which started in the ‘30s, and it’s just been a continuous co-op house since then.”
Green, an Athens native, enjoys the freedom that is unique to the co-op experience.
“Basically they don’t tell us what to do or how to run the co-op,” Green states. “It’s all democratic.”
The Vine almost works as its own form of government. There is a consti-tution, regular meetings of members and all decisions are based on votes. Each member of The Vine is issued a job with unique responsibilities that range from “food buyer,” responsible for buying the communally shared
THEBY NICK HARLEY | PHOTOS BY AMANDA PUCKETT
At 23 Elliott Street, a progressive housing movement has grown and flourished into the community. The Vine, as it is colloquially known, expects open communication and cooperation amongits residents.
vine
Each person throws away approximately four pounds of garbage a year. 14 billion pounds of trash are dumped into the ocean every year.backdrop | Fall 201230 31
THE HOUSE POSITIONS
The treasurer collects the rent from each member, deposits money into the house account and distributes money to house necessities.
AVERY TUCKER: TREASURER
The social coordinator is responsible for scheduling social gatherings and maintaining full membership at The Vine. The grocery buyer is responsible for buying the groceries that are available for all the members of the house.
TASHA SEITER & ERIN SWIFT: GROCERY BUYERS & SOCIAL COORDINATORS
The maintenance directors are responsible for any maintenance that the house may need.
JEFF FLETCHER& KEVIN GREEN: MAINTENANCE DIRECTORS
The gardeners are responsible for maintaining the front and back gardens and for planting and harvesting the many vegetables at The Vine.
SEEDER CHAMBERLAIN-WHALEY & EVAN FENSTER-MAKER: GARDENERS
The NASCO representative keeps contact with the larger co-op organization as a whole. She keeps the NASCO updated in addition to attending regular NASCO conferences.
MELANIE CHERASO: NASCO REPRESENTATIVE
STEPHANIE FISK: SECRETARYThe secretary takes meeting minutes, checks the account books and updates the Vine’s website.
“I think the kind of people that want to move to a place like this are the people who kind of want a sense of community in their house and actually want to interact with their housemates.”Kevin Green, Resident of The Vine
food items, to NASCO Properties Board Representative, responsible for attending national NASCO board meet-ings and checking in with the NASCO Correspondent for The Vine. These jobs are issued by the membership coordi-nator based on the interest of the member, expressed by a rating of each perspective job on the resident’s application. Normal house chores are divvied up between the house-mates via a neatly made chart, where each person rotates through the designated necessary chores.
“It’s not super tightly policed or anything like that,” Green says. “There are some jobs that kind of need to be done and it’s helpful if there’s a specific person to do that job.”
Attending weekly meetings is also an obligation of the occupants of The Vine. At these meetings, members dis-cuss vital matters of the house, but also talk about how they are doing, or how their weeks went.
“Throughout the week if there is an issue that comes up, this is the time to discuss it as a community,” Swift explains.
House meetings typically last anywhere from 30 min-utes to an hour and a half.
“We’ve had some more lengthy meetings, either because we’ve had a lot of things on the agenda or because they are important issues and we can’t come to an agreement on something,” Swift describes.
The cause of these disagreements are usually summed up in one word.
“Food,” Swift states. “Food has definitely been a point of
contention in the house, just what we want to be purchased.” Most food items are bought individually, but as part of the
cooperative element of the home, some items are bought and shared communally, using funds from the house accounts. These accounts are managed and maintained by treasurer, Avery Tucker, a senior here at Ohio University.
“When people have to pay their rent each month, I’ll deposit that, or if people need money for food, I transfer money to their account,” Tucker says of his position. “I keep tabs on everything and balance the accounts.”
Using the account money, the housemates decide what items to purchase, but these items can be harder to agree upon than one might think.
“There are nine of us, so of course we have different needs and tastes,” Swift says. “Last week it came up that some people wanted to buy coffee as a house thing, those of us who don’t drink coffee were like, ‘well that kind of sucks,’ because we don’t use that. It’s kind of like going back and forth.”
Though it may take some time, the group is always able to make decisions.
“Our problem solving bounces back and forth between consensus-based decision and then sometimes straight up voting,” Swift explains. “It just depends what the issue is. I think in one of our meetings where we had a lot of dialog about the food we basically decided that since we spent this long talking about it maybe we just shouldn’t buy it, you know?”
The key aspect of communal living is the community, and at The Vine, the housemates all take the time to build the collective atmosphere.
“It’s not rare to find five or six of us at the dining room table talking,” Swift says of her interaction with her room-mates. “I feel like I see everyone pretty regularly and usually it’s more than just a, ‘hi, bye,’ sort of thing. Usually it’s more of a detailed conversation.”
The group also participates in stir-ring projects, like using the namesake of the house to have a little fun.
“We actually had grapes growing on all of those vines,” Green describes. “Earlier actually, around the time we all moved in, we decided to make some wine out of it, also some jelly. There’s some wine downstairs, so it will be ready in about a month and a half.”
The housemates have also brewed beer. “We’ve got Pawpaw trees on the
side,” house gardener and OU junior Evan Fenstermaker reveals, “they had a lot of fruit this year so we made some beer.”
If there’s no home brew available at the house, it’s not uncommon to find all nine occupants of The Vine hitting Court Street together.
To apply to be a member of The Vine, applications are available on The Vine’s Facebook page, but the shy and withdrawn need not be hesitant to apply.
“Not everybody has to be a social butterfly, but you have to be comfort-able being around people and interact-ing with them,” Fenstermaker states.
“People who are open communica-tors too is a big a thing,” Swift adds, “and willing to be really honest and
open and open to constructive criti-cism or hearing things that maybe could be sensitive, those are the kind of people who definitely would thrive in this type of environment.”
For Green, it’s all about the community.“I think the kind of people that want
to move to a place like this are the people who kind of want a sense of community in their house and actually want to inter-act with their housemates,” Green muses.
Tucker finds the arrangements avail-able at the Vine as a comforting aspect.
“I like this kind of living style, it has a little bit of structure to it and it’s kind of built into the house,” Tucker says. “I just remember last year there [weren’t] established guidelines or rules in my house and we didn’t have a good sense of community. The house was kind of empty and it really didn’t feel like a home. It’s like a family [at The Vine].”
As the evening grows later, even more of The Vine’s family begins to arrive. Every roommate who enters through the door is enthusiastically and warmly received. At the end of a long day, it’s comforting to return home to a family, and though slight-ly untraditional, The Vine’s family takes solace in the comfort that its housemates provide. The communal and cooperative spirit of the house wraps residents in like the vines that wrap around the front porch. Back on Elliott, the winds are rushing and the street is dark and lifeless, all except the light and voices flooding from The Vine. A lone black cat races from across the street and up the stairs of the porch. The cat is instantly let in through the door, just another fam-ily member escaping the storm, with a warm welcome home.
People at home use more than 1/3 of all energy. At least 50 million acres of rainforest are lost every year.backdrop | Fall 201232 33
RECIPEb
BY NA’TYRA GREEN | PHOTOS BY JAMES CONKLEThe holiday season is nearing and you can undoubtedly feel the chill in the air. It’s time to warm up with a cup of Backdrop-inspired recipes that provide the perfect opportunity to skip the soup and fight the frost with a toasty treat. So bust out your stolen dining hall cup or favorite mug and be prepared to snack on something scrumptious!
CRAZY FOR COCOA CAKE
BADASS BROWNIE BITE
Microwave the brownie batter for 60 to 90 seconds, depending on microwave. When it is done, let cool for an additional minute. Then it is ready for nomming.
Ingredients4 tbsp. flour4 tbsp. sugar2 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder2 tbsp. vegetable oil2 tbsp. water¼ tsp. vanilla extract (optional)Dash of salt
Mix until batter is smooth. It’s okay to get creative—add some Hershey kisses or
M&M’s to mix it up. Microwave the batter for three minutes and voilà! Your cocoa
masterpiece is ready for munching.
Ingredients2 tbsp. cocoa (don’t be afraid to use
different flavors. They work just as well!)4 tbsp. sugar4 tbsp. flour
2 tbsp. vegetable oil or olive oil2 tbsp. milk (or water)
1 egg
CUP CUISINE
Prep
Prep
BREAKFAST SCRAMBLE
2 eggs1 tbsp. milk
2 tbsp. shredded cheddar cheeseSalt and pepper as needed for taste
Make sure to thoroughly mix eggs and milk. Microwave on high for 45 seconds and then give it a
stir. Microwave again until eggs are almost set, 30-45 more seconds. Next, top with cheese and your cup will
be filled with fluffy, cheesy goodness.
*Adapted from Incredible Edible Egg
Ingredients
Prep
OU who have custom-made meals built for them on a daily basis. That number more than doubles when fac-toring in those who have approached Culinary Services for help, but have decided to deal with their dietary needs independently.
Any OU student can be granted ac-cess to a nutritional consultant by con-tacting Culinary Services. Rapposelli says he initially meets with those stu-dents to discuss any specific dietary re-strictions, as well as what the student is seeking in his or her individual meals.
Chelsea approached Culinary Ser-vices in March of 2012. Because of the personalization and availability of the custom-made meals, her culinary situ-ation turned around. Since then, she has been working with a nutritional consultant who cooks her custom-made meals for lunch and dinner, Monday through Friday.
“They’ve been pretty accommodat-ing,” Chelsea says. “Although there’s only so much I can eat because there’s a limited access to those items, they’ve done a very good job.”
While Chelsea does not have aller-gies to specific foods, she does have sensitivities, which are less severe food intolerances. This means that when she consumes food she cannot have such as milk, pineapple or corn, Chelsea gets a migraine or an upset stomach instead of a severe reaction.
For every student receiving help from Culinary Services, gluten, a pro-tein found prominently in wheat, rye and barley, is the culprit.
“We always have some ingredient issue to deal with. Right now, gluten is number one. Hands down,” Rappo-selli says.
While sensitivity allows a little room for tolerability with the popular ingre-dient, an allergy doesn’t provide any wiggle room. Celiac disease, a condi-tion where consuming gluten causes a damaging reaction to the small in-testine, is becoming more and more prevalent in the United States.
John Demsky, a freshman studying English, was diagnosed with Celiac disease approximately two years ago. But because he hasn’t yet arranged to have custom-made meals cooked for him, he’s been living off dining hall salads and fruit for every meal.
“It’s the little things that can get me,” he says. “Like at the salad bar, if someone accidently puts a crouton into the lettuce, I’ll have a reaction to the breadcrumbs. It’s all really frustrating.”
John says that having Culinary Ser-vices make him gluten-free meals is the only realistic way for him to get through his two years on a meal plan.
Culinary Services’ providing nutri-tion consultants for these students is nothing new, but Rapposelli says he thinks the gluten issue has shed some light on what they have to offer. He knows it can be confusing for gluten-free students to know what is and isn’t safe.
“Things like processed meat and soy sauce have gluten in them and it’s like a hidden ingredient,” he says. “So if there’s any question about it, a lot of them will just steer clear.”
Of course, annoyance must ensue with this type of diet situation. ®QA0-Gluten is included in almost any stan-dard dining hall entrée option from pizza and pasta to tacos and soups.
“Really following it is a challenge every day,” John says. “People who choose to become gluten free forget about cutting out starches and sauces. Just recently, I found out that the din-ing hall’s balsamic vinaigrette has glu-ten in it, and I knew because I had a reaction to it. I’m still learning too.”
Despite the frustration and cravings, both Chelsea and John have accepted their diets with open arms.
“There are foods that I miss, but when I look at pizza or cake, all I do is think of having those really bad reactions,” he admits. “It’s just not worth it.”
With Culinary Services backing those students’ dietary issues, sensi-tivities and allergies can be set aside and stomachs can finally be filled. Chelsea says that in the end, that’s all that matters.
“I love the way I eat,” she says con-fidently. “I’m blessed to eat the way I do. I’m blessed to know what’s go-ing on in my body because not many people do.”
DIETDilemmas
BY KAITLYN RICHERT | PHOTOS PROVIDED BY CULINARY SERVICES
Food allergies eliminate several food options from a student’s diet. However, Ohio University Culinary Services employees go to great lengths to ensure the well-being of each and every campus resident with dietary restrictions.
E verybody has a favorite food—but imagine not being able to consume it. And even worse— imagine your body losing its ability to sustain entire food groups.
How would you get by, especially in the midst of a busy college schedule?
Chelsea Csuhran, a sophomore studying French, expe-rienced this horror at the start of her freshman year at Ohio University. In a matter of 12 months, she was obli-gated to cut gluten, dairy, egg, nut, soy and yeast out of her everyday diet.
“I couldn’t do it anymore,” she says. “The upset stom-ach, the horrible headaches. I was sick all of fall quarter. I didn’t know what to eat; I didn’t know what was safe and what wasn’t.”
Being a vegetarian since late 2007, she was used to hav-ing a selective diet. But she started noticing signs of glu-ten intolerance in September 2011 because of frequent abdominal pain.
“I considered cutting it completely out of my diet, but go-ing to the dining halls meant that there was a limited supply of what I could have,” she explains. “So I just continued to
eat gluten, dairy and everything else.”After a rough quarter spent with a constant upset stomach,
Chelsea had her blood drawn to detect any unknown aller-gies. Doctors explained that not only did she have gluten intolerance, but she was also sensitive to 33 specific foods. To top it off, they discovered a reoccurring stomach yeast infection in her system.
Shocked and reluctant to continue eating in the dining halls, Chelsea sought help.
Although Chelsea’s situation is extreme, there are a few dozen underclassmen at OU who are also battling diet sen-sitivities every day. They’re continuously struggling to eat at dining halls because they’re either sensitive or allergic to the common ingredients in the foods they’re expected to consume. For these students, Ohio University Culinary Services is here to help.
Matt Rapposelli, the former executive chef of Culinary Services, says that they can provide special diets for students of all needs. In severe cases, the students can have custom-made meals cooked to meet their dietary necessities.
Rapposelli says there are about six to eight students at
SEX & HEALTHb
40 to 45 percent of households in the U.S. contain a gun. The cost of autism over a lifespan is 3.2 million dollars per person.backdrop | Fall 201234 35
Contact Culinary Services
740.593.2970 for a nutrition consultant
http://www.ohio.edu/food/menus/diets.cfm
PHOTO ESSAYb
Through the pain of his disease and the worry about the upcoming operation that may leave him paralyzed or even take his life, Nathan remains a joy and inspiration for others.
NATHAN’S FIGHT
ENDURINGSPIRIT:
N athan Tilley is not your average 19 year old. Sure, Nathan is not the only person out there dealing with a serious physical disorder, but his positive outlook on life makes him unique in many ways. Nathan has debilitat-
ing Scoliosis, Neurofibromatosis and Severe Restrictive Lung Disease—all of which have left him with many scars and physical restrictions, plus a life story of trials, pain and hope.
In early spring of this year, Nathan had corrective surgery, which resulted in him suffering many complications. What was meant to be a nine-hour pro-cedure lasted over 17 total hours. With his vertebrae removed and replaced, spine straightened and ribs removed, Nathan would face 44 days in Children’s Hospital in Cincinnati.
The issue of healthcare is an important one in the Tilley home in rural Jack-son, Ohio, as Nathan’s bills had not been covered under the health card pro-gram in Ohio, he would have faced staggering medical fees. His hospital stay alone cost over $5 million.
Through his pain and physical limitations, Nathan shows the world what is really important: keeping a smile on his face even on the bad days. He spends time with his friends and enjoys life, always having enough hope and humor to go around.
STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY DANIEL OWEN
Fun fact goes here Fun fact goes here Fun fact goes here backdropmag.com 48
Nathan reviews X-rays of his spine with his mother, Lisa, at
their home. Nathan mentally prepares for his upcoming
surgery, which will remove his ribs as well as replace vertebrae
with hopes of straightening his spine, easing his breathing and relieving some of the pain
caused by his severe scoliosis.
ABOVE
Nathan shows an X-Ray of his spinal deformity on his
iPhone. Though you wouldn’t know it by his constant smile,
Nathan suffers from severe pain due to his debilitating condition, as well as from
tumors throughout his body.
RIGHT
The procedure lasted over 17 hours due to complications with Nathan’s non-responsiveness to stimulus in his left leg and left arm.
LEFT
Nathan hugs his father and says goodbye as he heads off into surgery.
After an unexpectedly longer operation than anticipated, Nathan recovers in the ICU.
BELOW
Nathan’s recovery in the ICU at Cincinnati
Children’s Hospital spanned over a
period of 44 days.
ABOVE
Nathan analyzes the before and after photos
taken from his successful spinal operation that
helped realign his vertebrae from the effects
of severe scoliosis.
RIGHT
The medical costs that accompany major diseases can be as large an obstacle as the disease itself. Nathan has had millions of dollars in medical bills over the years for corrective surgeries and hospital stays, which have helped him stay alive and healthy.
Nathan poses with his neck and back brace along with the screws and rods that were removed after his successful operation to straighten his spine, which lessen the effects of his severe scoliosis.
TOP TO BOTTOM
backdrop | Fall 201242
ON THE WEBb
Only 11 percent of the earth’s surface is used to grow food.
“I like to attack my food, you know like primal instincts. It gets all over your face and all over your clothes, but that’s how I like it. That’s how you know it’s a good bur-rito,” Ben Witosky, a freshman studying business at Ohio University says as he recalls the previous times he ordered the humongous filled wrap.
A burrito from Chipotle isn’t for the faint of heart, nor is it for clean freaks.
“Especially the sour cream and the hot sauce… it drips out of the bottom,” Ben adds.
Well, that’s the result of committing the rookie mis-take: tearing off the foil com-pletely. Anyone that has fallen victim to this decision certain-ly has asked himself or herself, “What’s the best way to eat this calorie-packed, Mexican delight known as a ‘burrito?’”
Going back to 1993, Chipotle was started by Steve Ells, an In-dianapolis native, in an old ice cream shop in Denver, Colo. As a chef in San Francisco, Ells observed the popularity of burritos and sculpted his knowledge into the Mexican Grill known today. Within just the first month of business, the original restaurant was handing out hand wrapped tortillas
at the rate of 100 a day, and over 1,000 a month. But how were those customers eating their wrapped
tortillas? On each and every Chipotle napkin there are three illustrations that depict the “proper” way to eat the massive burritos. The first etched picture shows a burrito that has been tightly wrapped with foil being held by two hands. The next scene reveals the same set of hands peel-
ing back a sliver of the foil, only to reveal the burrito sitting gra-ciously in the shimmery pocket. The final step is accompanied by a picture that shows the same bur-rito, this time with a bite taken out of it. The anonymous hands are still holding the treat as they were in the beginning step.
One can assume that this is the best way to eat the burrito, seeing as the actual company sponsors the message on each and every napkin. But is it really? Of course, the peeling of the foil is correct;
that’s the easy part. The difficult part comes when one must make the decision of how to continue to eat the burrito. This is the point when one can be creative, use imagination, have style, be flashy, and dare it be said, have swagger. Yes, swagger while eating a burrito is per-
fectly acceptable as long as it’s done right. The two most popular variations seem to
be the two-handed method and the ever more dangerous one-handed grasp. Using two hands is classy, saying, “I know what I’m doing and I’m confident in my ap-proach to the meal in front of me.” But it also gives off the assumption that the con-sumer is totally aware of the conditions that the burrito can leave their favorite shirt in if they’re not careful. Understandable.
What about the one-handed method? “When I get a burrito I prefer eating it with
one hand so I can unwrap with one and take a bite with the other,” Dominique Barnett, a sophomore studying nursing explains.
This brings about the many perks that come with the one handed approach. While eating, you can easily use your off-hand to take a sip of the drink that you most likely ordered, to wash down the black beans you so happily asked for in the assembly line minutes prior. You can also text. Yes, think about it: what’s bet-ter than Instagramming a picture of your-self at Chipotle? If you do decide to post a quick snapshot of yourself, the caption on that photo would most surely say, “I’m an interesting character. I don’t mind a little adventure in my life—even it happens to come in the form of going to the Laundromat to get a salsa stain out of my shirt.” The one-hander is an experienced eater and he or she
knows the consequences may be serious, but the benefits outweigh the risks.
“I must admit I have a strange way of do-ing it. I like to unwrap it all the way and lay it in a bowl and then eat it with a fork and knife,” Jillian Hill, a Chipotle com-pany representative says. “In the old days, when we only had one restaurant, Steve didn’t want there to be any utensils avail-able so people had to hold their burritos… luckily he changed his mind!”
Without this change of heart, the ques-tion at hand would not be so heavily de-bated, but that’s the beauty of it all. There is no right or wrong way to eat a Chipo-tle burrito—it all depends on what kind of person you are. When you order, make sure you do so with confidence. And if you should ever find yourself asking, “How should I eat this Chipotle burrito?” Just take the time to look into the shiny foil that protects it—what’s reflected there will most likely be your answer.
FOILING AROUND
BY ANDREW DOWNING | PHOTOS BY KASEY BROOKS
“I like to attack my food, you know, like primal instincts. It gets all over your face and all over your clothes.”Ben WitoskyFreshman studying business at OU
&THURSDAY 12.6.12Red BrickBasement
10 PM — 2 AM
DANC
E LIKE
IT’S
YOUR
LAST
CHA
NCE
Celeb
rate t
he up
comi
ng ap
ocaly
pse A
thens
style
21+
BACKDROP BLACKOUT
18+ $4
$1
Gorging on a magnificent concotion from Chipolte Mexican Grill can prove to be a trying task, but these students take
on the challenge with talent, style and dedication.
See the burito-eating tactics of fellow OU students here.
The U.S. has less than 4 percent of its forests left.
One out of every three homeless people is under the age of 18. Autism is the fastest growing developmental disability.backdrop | Fall 201244
EXHIBIT Ab
45
These stars bear too much weight, And this sky presents too many questions, These trees seem to deflate, When the wind is not around to protect them. This ground seems to shake, As these buildings slowly crumble, These steps are all erased, So the wicked are forced to stumble. These light posts are quick to break, But still the shadows somehow dance, This cliff tries but cannot relate, to how the bridge screams romance. The owl is doomed to fate, The moon seems to remind him, Now his hollow is where he lay, Before the sun peaks over the horizon.
EquanimityBY ANDREW DOWNING
AppreciationBY GENO DONOTELL
What Once WasBY KATHRYN FETHEROFF
UntitledBY REBECCA ZOOK
When words are not enoughTo save what once wasA closeness, a bond,Created by two joined at heart,Their souls intertwined, becoming one.When the foundation on which the fabrication cracksAnd the walls start to deteriorate,When the comfort you felt starts to fade away.Time is a funny thing,Like the autumn leavesChanging right on cue,As if they weren’t falling leaves at allBut actors in a Broadway show,Playing their parts to perfection,Not waiting for anyone who fell behind.The memories in the back of your mind play a filmAs they seem to slowly disappear,Like staring out the back window of a bus,Your face pressed against the glass,Watching everything you became familiar withBlend togetherUntil it finally vanishes,Leaving not a trace as to what once was.And I can feel the path beneath my feetTwisting into the unknown,But hope filters through my body,Praying that I will find you there in the end;Reviving what once was.
To MotherBY EVAN FENSTERMAKER
Father tells me to be strongwhen I start to whimper.To be rigid as the ironwoodbracing against the swirling flakesglossed roseate by the setting sun.
He brings home the fallen doe,her legs twisted and frozen,the arrow wound visible just above the armpit.Her eyes are closed and each lash ends in a dropletof melted ice.
Father unslings his compound bow.His knife works smoothlyas if driven by a secret compass,and we’ll have my favorite soup tonightinstead of the usual peanut butter sandwichesmade from stale bread.
He kisses my forehead and I feelthe prick of his whiskers.He tells me to be brave as I board the bus to school,chased past its mechanical doors by the whispered threatsof the frigid breeze.
Father tells me to be strong,but one afternoon,I catch him crying alone in his room;his head bent over your picture.And I come to him,holding his big rough hands in my small smooth ones,and tell him that it’s okay;no one can be strongall the time.
Check out more artwork by Ohio University students.
Ath
ens
Sky
BY IS
AAC
HALE
Seas
onBY
KAT
E KA
NDEL
70 to 80 million Americans own guns. Mississippi receives the most food stamps in the U.S. at 20.8 percent.backdrop | Fall 201246 47
RUTHLESS RANT & RAGEbPHOTO HUNT
Think you know Court Street like the bottom of your glass? Take another look and try to find all the differences between these two pictures.
Write the differences next to the circles.
The first person to submit the
correct answers to [email protected]
will win a prize!
1234
65
BY MARGARET McGINLEY | PHOTO BY AMANDA PUCKETT
A picture is worth a thousand words.
An Instagram, however, is a waste of time for both the picture taker and the picture viewer.
Pictures are supposed to capture a memory, whether it is a person, a place or an event, as it actually looked at the time it occurred. Instagram gives one the power to change virtually every-thing about a photo, from the color scheme and the focus, to the border and the lighting.
In addition to capturing memories, pictures are also meant to tell a story. The unnatural filters and effects em-ployed by Instagram completely botch the story that a natural photograph is supposed to tell.
To be blunt, Instagram is nothing more than a forum for people to make their lives look more exciting and glam-orous than they actually are. With other
social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, which allow our generation to brag in words about everything from accomplishments to vacations, why not add one where we can brag about such things through a slew of edited pictures?
The truth of the matter is, Instagram allows people to show off what they want others to see, not a moment as it actually was.
Don’t get me wrong— Instagram is a major technological advancement, not to mention a great artistic outlet for many people. Furthermore, it is only an application for devices such as cell phones and tablets; professional photographers are still opting to use a camera over an iPhone for those truly high-quality photos—for now, at least.
But as far the social aspect goes, Insta-gram is taking over. I see multiple pho-tos of various landscapes, fancy drinks and happy couples posted on Facebook
or Twitter daily that have been “Insta-grammed.” I do admit: they’re pretty cool. Although I know such photos may be aesthetically pleasing, they aren’t en-tirely real. If the landscape is so pretty, your drink is so good or if you and your boyfriend really are the cutest couple in the world, why go through all the trou-ble of editing the picture?
Maybe it’s because we can, or may-be it’s because we have nothing better to do. Whatever the reason, I’m keep-ing my fingers crossed that Instagram doesn’t escalate to anything more than the fad it is now, or eventually all of our photographed memories will be nothing but a collage of out of focus embellishments.
So for those of you addicted to the craze, maybe you should think twice the next time you share a photo on Instagram. After all, who are you try-ing to kid?
When a picture is worth a thousand words, how many more does a filter add, or in this case, subtract? Instagram has removed quirky truths of
reality and has replaced them with synthetic perfection.
Agree or Disagree with Maggie?
InstaSCAM
Tell us what you think! Tweet us at @backdropmag
Recommended
