FANGLE MAG SPRING 2014 MASTER_V1

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Culture
lifestyle
Society
Submission
2
Food Challenge
Books to Movies
DIY Makeup
Internships
Diversity
The DL
Dating
Athens' Locals
Anxiety
Mental Illness
Freedom of Speech

A letter From the Editor
3
Dear Readers:
When I was passed this magazine from our previous Editor-in-Chief, I was honestly scared. Scared of
failure, scared of letting people down, and possibly, scared of proving those who secretly hoped I would
mess up, right. What this past semester had taught me was that in journalism, you have to stay strong
and always look to find alternative and innovative ways of addressing challenges that might inhibit your
publication from telling the stories of those who may not have the means of getting their voices heard.
This past semester was one that was filled with changes, transitions and inspirations. There were a lot
of obstacles and unforseen trials for FANGLE, but my staff knew how to face these problems head on
and that is how you—the reader—are holding the third issue of the magazine. This very magazine you’re
holding in your hands is the sum of all the dedication, hard work and heart that 40 or so students put into
for this Fall/Winter edition.
That is why, this edition of the magazine is so important to me. I have always seen potential in this
group of journalists and that is why I’m so proud of what they have accomplished this past semester. That
is why, even though I’m graduating in the winter, I’m so confident that each staff member will become
leaders in his or her own right.
There are so many good stories in these pages like the examination of mental health, the importance of
free speech and how to talk about race. You might also note that there are visual changes being reflected
in the design of the magazine. That, my friend, I hope lets you know that FANGLE is moving forward in a
positive direction.
I am so proud of my staff. We created a website and now have an online presence with improve social
media interaction when we established relationships with OU ImPRessions—immense gratitude goes
toward you, guys—We improved circulation by 150 percent. Now, we finished our third ever issue of the
magazine and will be working on our spring issue.
Though I will have graduated by the time this issue is released, I just wanted to let every reader know
that where there is a will, there is a way. My successors will do so many great things and I have the upmost
confidence in their abilities to lead FANGLE even further than I ever could. This letter, marks the last
thing I write as the Editor-in-Chief and as an Ohio University Bobcat.
To those who have supported our mission, thank you.
To those who believe in us, thank you.
To my beloved FANGLE staff…we’ve come a long way, and thank you for everything.
Yours Always,
Hannah Yang
FANGLE Editor-in-Chief

Fangle's MISSION
FANGLE is a print and weekly online magazine on the Athens campus, produced by Ohio University
students for the Ohio University and Athens community. At FANGLE, we are excited about the
world around us and we want to translate this excitement into our writing. FANGLE challenges
its staff and readers to think outside the box, to find new angles to traditional stories and present
unique perspectives to our audience. We at FANGLE look to break the “sphere” and bring awareness
to stories beyond the Athens and OU scope, with hope in bringing information and starting
conversations in daily life.
Editor-in-Chief
Hannah Yang
Associate Editor
Adrienne Green
Creative Director
Rachel Daub
Public Relations Director/ OU
ImPressions Liaison
Logan Trautman
Social Media Director
Billy Hartman
Webmaster
Luca Wistendahl
Treasurer
Corrine Herris
Submissions Coordinator
Jenna Roberts
Submissions Editor
Madeline Schreiber
Section Editors
Jackie Petre
Diana Wiebe
Kali Borovic
Copy Chief
Amanda DePerro
Assistant Copy Chief
Leah Keiter
Photography Directors
Kate Jackson
Tabor Wordleman
Staff Writers
Kahla Keegan
Julia Fair
John Carpenter
Melanie Foster
Hallie Rawlinson
Calli Whaley
Jessica Sees
Kaitlin Webb
Isabella Karamol
Jeremy Humbert
Sage Foote
Madison Lantelme-Capitano
Sydney Otto
Catherine Hofacker
Paige Bennett
Emma McCallister
Katie McNicholas
Laura Frey
Kate Keverline
Liam Niemeyer
Katie Flowers
Columnists
Tess Stevens
Sophia Borghese
Devin Ellis
Leah Diedrick
Copy Editors
Brianna Coss
Kaitlin Webb
Katie Flowers
Isabella Stocker
Marisa Fernandez
Emily Ginty
Rachel Rogoala
Staff Designers
Brooke Baldi
Emily Brockmann
Cushon Crump
Mallory Haack
Elizabeth Settineri
Kristin Schmit
Illustrator
Mary Smart
Staff Photographers
Erica Brechtelsbauer
Stephanie Luczkowski
Tyler Ross
Stylist
Jillian Sermonte
Special thanks to:
OU ImPRessions
FACES Modeling
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OurStaff

CULTURE
6
Food Challenge
Booksto movies
DIY Makeup
Pg. 7
Pg. 9
Pg. 11

7
Bobcat v. Food
Blazin’ Challenge
Location: Buffalo Wild Wings
Cost: $10
Time Limit: 6 minutes
The Challenge: Whoever chooses to take on this
challenge will rival 12 Blazin’ Wings without water or
napkins to aid in the conquest. BestFoodChallenges.
com calls the challenge "definitely not vanilla."
Although 12 chicken wings might not seem too
daunting, this challenge is all about heat, not portion
size. The sauce used on the wings ranks around an
estimated 250,000-300,000 units on the Scoville scale,
a scale used to measure the hotness of chili peppers.
Prize: The prize for completing this challenge at the
Athens Buffalo Wild Wings is a free T-shirt. The prizes
vary at other Buffalo Wild Wings locations, from
the successful challenger’s picture on the wall, a free
headband or any combination of the three.
The Mafioso
Location: GoodFella’s Pizza
Cost: Around $16 (if not completed)
The Challenge: The contender will face a half sheet
of thick crust pizza. That’s eight slices covered in 100
pieces of pepperoni and an additional one-quarter-
pound layer of cheese, broadcasted in a post via the
restaurant’s Facebook. According to a GoodFella’s
employee, only several other employees know all the
official rules of this challenge, so calling ahead is wise
if you plan to take on The Mafioso.
Prize: If someone is capable of finishing the entire
half sheet of pizza, they receive a free T-shirt, in
addition to the pizza at no cost.
PICKLE FEST
Location: Bagel Street Deli
Cost: $5 (goes to charity)
The Challenge: According to BSD’s website, Pickle
Fest is an annual event that takes place the second
Friday of March beginning at 4 p.m. The contest
is done in heats consisting of 10 pickle-eaters per
session. Whoever can devour the most deli-style dill
pickles within 10 minutes is named the winner. Bagel
Street Deli tells participants to "watch out for the
relish!"
Prize: The winner gets his or her “bagelwich”
creation placed on the restaurant’s deli menu, where it
will remain forever.
MegaMamma Challenge
Location: Big Mamma’s Burritos
Cost: $17.99 (if not completed)
The Challenge: For this challenge, the burrito
connoisseur must devour a burrito that is three times
the size of a regular Big Mamma’s burrito. That’s five
pounds of burrito.
Prize: The winner of this challenge receives a free
Big Mamma’s T-shirt, the burrito at no cost, and their
picture on the MegaMamma Challenge Winners
Facebook wall of fame. However, if not completed,
the challenger has their picture posted on the
MegaMamma Wall of Shame and must pay $17.99.

By Emma McCallister
Many people have seen the reality television series “Man v. Food,” a staple on the Travel Channel for three
artery-clogging seasons. However, what most do not realize is that similar challenges, like those seen on the
show, can be found right in the heart of Athens. The host of the show, Adam Richman, traveled across the States
to find these challenges. Luckily, Bobcats can take on big food challenges at several uptown restaurants. Whether
the craving is for Mexican food, some American cuisine or something as basic as pickles, Athens offers a variety
of choices when it comes to food challenges.
Photographs By Tyler Ross

Music
8
Food
One Bobcat, Chris Rode, was brave enough to
take on the five-pound burrito. Upon entering Big
Mamma's and choosing what type of burrito he would
be eating, Rode stated, "I'm starving, I haven't eaten all
day. I've had a bite of a granola bar."
According to employee Jason Hudson, about 246
people have attempted the challenge. Only 24 have
completed it. Hudson prepared the Mamma Mia
Burrito that Rode had chosen, commenting as he made
it, “The odds are definitely not in his favor. It’s like a
small baby.” Rode watched as Hudson prepared his
burrito, saying “I’m getting excited.” After the burrito
was fully stuffed, it was weighed and presented to
Rode.
The employees counted down from three seconds
and set a stopwatch for Rode to begin eating. “It’s like
feeding time at the zoo,” another employee remarked,
watching as Rode tore into the burrito. He started out
strong, finishing the first half of the burrito in less than
four minutes. As Rode ate the cheese-loaded burrito,
he mentioned that he is lactose intolerant.
Rode’s girlfriend, Emily Wilson, was present to watch
him take on the burrito. When asked her thoughts
about it, she responded, “I mean, I’m impressed.”
Although his attempt at the burrito was impressive, he
struggled after the first half of the meal. Rode shared
his plan for the remainder of the burrito saying, “Gotta
get in the zone again. Take a bunch of big bites.” Rode
clarified that the issue wasn’t that he was full. “The
cheese is just killing me,” he said through a mouthful.
Although Rode’s effort to complete the MegaMamma
Challenge was valiant, he was not able to finish the
burrito. “I’ll weight it and wrap that for you,” Hudson
told Rode. Rode shook his head emphatically — he
didn’t want any more of it. According to the scale,
he had successfully made a 3.8-pound dent in the
originally five pound burrito. Although he was not able
to defeat the massive burrito this time, upon leaving
the restaurant Rode said, “There will be a next time.”
If any Bobcats are brave enough to take on a food
challenge like something out of “Man v. Food” and are
searching for a monstrous meal to tickle their taste
buds, they’re in the right place. With choices from
Blazin’ Wings, eight slices of pizza, endless pickles or
a baby-sized burrito, Athens has an array of choices
if you’re looking to gorge yourself. The result is either
newfound glory and a prize, or a full stomach for a
little while, neither of which are

Entertainment
The crackling of a new spine opened for the first
time, the crisp smell of never-been-touched pages and
the building suspense of the start of a new journey.
These are just a few things book lovers look forward to
when getting a brand new book. So what could make a
much loved, New York Times Best-Seller even better?
An epic, mega-hit movie! Finally, all those who have
gorged themselves on the written words can finally
watch all they’ve envisioned become reality.
Novels have been adapted to film since the film
industry began, but recently there has been a pop
culture book craze, which film producers have caught
on to. “Divergent,” for example, has sold over 10
million copies since the start of 2014, according to
publisher Harper Collins. However, before it was even
released in April of 2011, Summit Studios snatched it
up. They did so for good reason, as the movie version
grossed $56 million in just the opening weekend.
Movies open up this book craze to an even larger
audience. Some people just aren’t about the reading
life, and that’s okay. Movies allow for the craze and
love of the story to grow to an immense size. But this
does lead to a topic of controversy, especially from the
readers: What happened to all of the details?!
The films deviate from the books, sometimes so far
it could be considered a different story. “How to Train
Your Dragon” was first a children’s book about a young
and scrawny viking boy named Hiccup. What may
surprise you is that instead of fighting dragons, the
vikings already used them as pets. They were already
training dragons that they caught, and Toothless is
actually an infant dragon without teeth. Why were
details left out? Why were some added? Why did some
change? These questions torment those who have read
the books.
So why can’t a movie be exactly like the novel it was
based off of? There are a lot of answers to that question.
Why are some details omitted when a novel is
transformed into the film version? Picoult, author of
“My Sister’s Keeper,” said, “Sometimes it’s for pacing,
but more often it is because a filmmaker doesn’t
recognize how literal and rabid a book’s fans can be.”
When asked the same question as Picoult, Ohio
University student Sarah Black had a similar view.
Black believes that “Some parts of the book can be
dull, and Hollywood doesn’t want anything dull.”
Black’s “dullness” and Picoult’s “pacing” are often
what big-budge film producers omit in order to keep
the storyline moving. This way, a 544-page book like
Stephanie Meyer’s “Twilight” won’t leave you at the
theater all day.
Dr. Robert Miklitsch, who teaches a course on
popular literature here at OU, also tackled this
question. He posed yet another perspective on the
topic, known as “psychological depth.”
“Films have a difficult time conveying interiority.
A complex novel appears to be virtually incapable of
translation to the ‘big screen,’” he says, referring to
“Cloud Atlas,” the complex novel that was adapted to
film in 2012.
Some aspects of a novel simply can’t be carried over
to the movie version. Filmmakers use devices such
as voice over narration and dreams, according to
Miklitsch. This allows the viewers to glimpse into the
private world of the characters. In novels it is through
this private world that the story is usually told,
making it difficult to translate some deeper meanings
the novel holds.
It seems that the price for the abstract world behind
the words to become concrete is the loss of detail.
Book lovers may be left slightly unsatisfied and those
less obsessed may be missing out, but for the most part
the story is still the same, and it’s an amazing privilege
to be able to watch a novel come to life.
Details over PaceWhy Book Lovers are Disillusioned with New Movies
By Kaitlin Webb
10

11
Over the course of 60 years, the average woman will
absorb 30 pounds of the chemicals in her moisturizer
through her skin. How many of us can name even
the first ingredient in our favorite blush or makeup
products? Unfortunately, the common ingredients that
make up most commercial brands of makeup contain
known carcinogens (cancer-causing chemicals) and skin-
irritating agents.
Our skin, as a delicate system made up of tissue,
is constantly living, breathing and responding to the
environment we put it in. Switching to more naturally
based products can clear up acne, allergies and skin
diseases such as eczema. Natural cosmetic demand
is predicted to rise to a $9.4 billion industry by 2016,
proving that consumers are asking for a change in the
way their makeup is made.
While the industry may be making a shift to more
natural selections, homemade solutions are not very
difficult to make with a few simple ingredients. Below
are some simple yet effective recipes for natural makeup
recipes, inspired by WellnessMama, a popular blog on
natural beauty. Everything in these recipes is a common
cooking product that can easily be obtained from most
natural food stores.
NATURAL MAKEUP
By Raichel Jenkins
The make-up of your makeup
Photographs By Erica Brechtelsbauer

Add three parts shea butter to every one part coconut oil and
whip together. Adding too much coconut oil will make the
mixture too oily to use. Although the shea butter is flaky, it
whips finely with a small amount of coconut oil. Tip: If you
make this mixture and store in bottle caps, use metal caps
that won’t melt on the stove.
After mixture is whipped adequately add either natural beet
juice or a pinch of eye shadow and stir until mixed evenly
with no film on top of mixture.
Place on stove and heat until mixture bubbles, then remove
and let stand. Once cooled, the mixture will have an even,
creamy tone to it and have the consistency of lipstick.
DIY
12
Foundation Powder
Ingredients
Flour (arrowroot, soy or tapioca)
Cinnamon
Nutmeg
Pour out desired amount of flour, depending on how much
foundation you’d like to make and grind it to desired softness.
Slowly add in cinnamon to desired color, folding and
grinding the cinnamon into the mixture of flour.
Add one part nutmeg for every five parts cinnamon
To make a compact, add rubbing alcohol to the mixture
until it is the consistency of peanut butter and press down,
allowing the mixture to set 48 hours before use.
Liquid Eyeliner
Ingredients
Natural activated charcoal tablets
Coconut oil
Shea butter (raw)
For this recipe, about a capful of this mixture is the same as
one tube of liquid eyeliner.
Add two parts coconut oil to every one part shea butter and
beat to the consistency of milk.
Open one charcoal tablet carefully from the middle and pour
charcoal powder into mix, stirring as you add.
Stir mixture before every use to evenly disperse charcoal and
use a small makeup brush or fine tipped paintbrush to apply.
Recipe can also be used as mascara by changing the ratio to
two parts shea butter for every one part coconut oil.
Lipstick
Ingredients
Pinch of eye shadow color of choice (or splash of beet juice)
Coconut oil
Shea butter
Stove

Lifestyle
14
Theworkbehind
theRunway
Tellmeagain how
i'm Privileged?
The DL
Dating Behindthe
Screen
Pg. 15
Pg. 17
Pg. 21
Pg. 23

15
“This is what I saw in the movies,
people don’t actually do this in real
life.”
Anastasia Souris is not your average
college student, and her experiences
thus far in life are what many people
only dream about.
Souris, a senior at Ohio University
majoring in retail and fashion
merchandising, already has a lot of
success under her belt. She grew
up in Olmsted Falls, right outside
of Cleveland, and has known ever
since she was young that she had a
passionate love for fashion. “I used
to cut up dresses and put on fashion
shows for my mom,” she says.
Souris’s adventure started when
she was a junior in college after
landing her first internship with Steve
Madden in New York City. She left her
hometown the day after Christmas for
the Big Apple and lived there until the
end of the school year. Her internship
focused on design, and although it
was not what she went to school for,
it was an enlightening experience.
Souris’s internship focused on the
Steve Madden winter accessory line —
she even got to design her own scarf
and have it modeled on the sales floor.
Having the chance to design and sell
a piece for a big name brand is not in
the cards for every college student.
Souris’s journey doesn’t stop there.
Shortly after arriving back home,
she was notified just three weeks
in advance that she was offered an
internship in Los Angeles with BCBG.
After offering her the internship,
BCBG didn’t know if they really
wanted an intern, as they hadn’t
had one in two years due to bad
experiences. She was told she wasn’t
needed. Luckily, after some back-and-
forth negotiations, Souris was finally
offered the internship. She packed
her bags, moved out to L.A. and
became a merchandising intern. Once
Souris got settled in and started the
internship, she came to love her boss,
her job and, of course, California.
Loving New York was one thing, but
Souris absolutely adored L.A. “The
weather is perfect. You have room
to run around and there is grass and
flowers, and in New York everyone
just seems to be in a rush,” she says.
Souris quickly became best friends
with her boss, Marion Ben Yuda.
Being the only intern, her boss
granted her a lot of freedom. Her
internship with BCBG showed Souris
how much she really loved event
planning, public relations and being
in a fast-paced environment on top of
her love for fashion. During her time
in California, she planned multiple
charity events and sample sales. One
of the warehouse sales she set up even
had 900,000 people attend — a party
that even Gatsby would be jealous of!
Souris’s boss could see how much
she loved fashion and how much drive
she had, and with that, her boss set
her up with a gig to attend New York
Fashion Week. Souris was ecstatic,
saying, “I had no idea what to expect.
By Isabella Karamol
Photographs By Stephanie Luczkowski
TheWorkbehind
theRunway

16
Internships
It was the most work I have ever done in a
period of three days.”
Her three work days consisted of a 17-
hour day, 14-hour day, and 13-hour day,
but Souris said it didn’t even feel like work
because she loved it so much. Souris got
the chance to style, dress, fit and undress
models for their shows as well as help
with photo shoots. “It was so much chaos
and work in a matter of — I think the
show was eight minutes long.”
Souris’s life seems like a dream or a
plot to a movie, and she shares some wise
words on how to get where you want to
go with your career: “I just really, really
love it and I think it shows. I have known
forever this is what I wanted to do and I
put everything into it.”
Souris pushes herself to be even more
outgoing in her internships to really
stand out. She also asks for additional
projects, which is how she got her own
scarf design onto the sales floor for the
winter season. She makes it apparent that
she is not afraid to ask for more and take
on additional challenges. She also pushes
hard and jumps at the chances she is
given. Souris applied more than once to
BCBG, kept emailing the recruiter and
stayed in touch until she finally received
it, even after she was given the internship,
and it was taken away.
Souris is set to graduate this spring
from Ohio University to pursue her
works in the fashion world. Souris’s drive,
personality and determination have
already gotten her so far, and it is only just
the beginning. She is the perfect example
of not giving up one one’s dreams, and to
just keep pushing until you get what you
want. “Just love it, and it will show.”

17
He is from everywhere and nowhere. Not that
he doesn’t have a home, but the small town of
Marion, Ohio isn’t much different than any other
homogenous town in the Midwest. With fields that
run for miles, and traditions that run even deeper, its
most distinguishing features include cornfields that
line the perimeter of town and the annual popcorn
festival that draws in crowds of thousands. There
are many people who look upon this town with a
sense of nostalgia, remembering a time when the
most important thing was the smell of dirt billowing
from a high school football field and whistle of wind
driving down a township road that ran underneath
an archway of wilted tree branches — classic Middle-
America.
Mason Norris is a product of that town’s sweet
simplicity. A muscular, self-identified redneck known
to his Ohio University friends and co-workers as a
kind-hearted man, often speaks fondly of his home
in the middle of nowhere. Most know him as the
friendly former-resident assistant, the diversity
council member and an all around accepting
individual. His family-owned businesses thrive in a
town supported by a tight-knit elderly community
and lots of old money. But there is something to
be said about a place that doesn’t change, doesn’t
progress, diversify or adapt. Throughout the years that
he’s been in college, the façade of the simple country
town has turned into the reality that he comes from a
place where some people aren’t welcome.
“Closed minded. Small town, small thoughts,”
Norris says of Marion after recalling one disturbing
experience at home. His face crinkles at the edges
when he spits amber chewing tobacco into a water
bottle, as if he’s spitting out the memory. He’d brought
home a college friend, as he’s done many times before.
He looked forward to sharing this part of his life
with someone who’d had a very different upbringing.
His friend was from a city, a community that was
nowhere near as close as the one Norris was used
to; but he was black. Although that fact meant little
to Norris, the community of Marion was much less
forgiving of this social misstep. While at home, people
Norris had known his entire life greeted his friend
with the n-word, glared at him as though he didn’t
belong and eventually provoked a physical altercation,
which Norris had to stop. Wives abandoned polite
conversation to join husbands in their bigotry,
seething words resonated against the stone basement
walls of a friend’s home, and Norris walked away
with brown bruises speckled across his pale neck and
shoulders.
“My heart hurt just watching my good friend get
assaulted,” he said. In that moment he said illusions
of the classic country town eroded, replaced by
the fact that his home wasn’t safe for his friend. He
now remembers the Marion that housed a Ku Klux
Klan organization, the high school he attended that
Tellmeagain how
I'm Priviledged?
By Adrienne Green
Illustration By Mary Smart

Diversity
18
enrolled only four people of color in his grade, a town
that is divided on racial lines. He’s grown older and
more sensitive to the racism that is embedded within
his family, a great-great grandfather who owned a
plantation, the hatred that runs throughout his father’s
family and the choices that some members of his family
make to see only skin color of those who break into their
stores. Mason realized that his experiences in Marion
were ones of privilege; that his memories of football,
his ability to be or not to be around people who looked
like him, to not be followed around the store that his
family owned, were colored by the fact that he was lucky
enough to be white in Marion and not black.
“Nobody knows what diversity is or would even
consider it,” he said. “I want to make sure that the racism
dies with that generation,” he said.
Though commendable, the task of eliminating racism
in a place like Marion, and everywhere else, is actually
the more daunting task of teaching people about race.
It takes Martin Luther King, Jr.’s dream of a more equal
nation and attaches it to the necessary development of
emotional intelligence in people who have been reluctant
for generations. Is there an appropriate way to teach
race depending on the setting, whether the person is a
racist or just naive? There seems to be two polar opposite
schools of thought, one that champions empathy,
compassion and open dialogue and another that is much
less sensitive. Those who teach race have decided that
the idea of colorblindness, post-racialism and the “hope
to God that if we stop talking about it, it’ll disappear,”
methods aren’t the most effective. Mason chooses the
path of education. “You’ve got to realize that I’ve had
access to the education that a lot of people haven’t, but
that’s what makes race so hard to teach,” he said. “When
it’s your peer you really have to watch how you do it.
They don’t want to come across as being uneducated or
stupid.”
This, he hopes, will justify that their bigotry stems
simply from their lack of experience at colleges like
Ohio University. But what happens when the college
classroom is the most difficult place to facilitate
education? There are many people in this world who
accept that the burden of teaching race relations falls
on the shoulders of people of color, and Nile Harris was
among them, or at least tried to be. Harris, a freshman
passionate about the topic of race, was no longer in the
mood to talk about educating the white community
about their privilege. He was livid.
Last spring, he stood in front of his English class to
present a paper he’s written on how Stand Your Ground
laws disproportionately advantage the killers of black
men. He went to class and wondered what the backlash
would be from white classmates who he knew were
insensitive. Would they get upset? Would he be able
to convince them? He described how eyebrows slowly
inched into the middle of perplexed white faces as they
contemplated the idea that they were somehow given
this awful gift of privilege without asking for it. He’s

19
worked for two weeks, consulted with his professor
and even played a Louis C.K. comedy clip to make
sure that he presented his racially charged topic
in a way people would be receptive to. Eventually,
heads nodded, and for a moment he thought that
he was chiseling away at stereotypes.
A white student, who based his presentation
on rap music, included spoken references to the
n-word while reading NWA (“Straight Outta
Compton”) song lyrics, replacing the ephemeral
moment of clarity in the classroom moments later.
Eyes quickly sliced to study the only black face in
the room, as if Harris’s lack of reaction soothed
their awkwardness. In the middle of this rap
presentation, Harris left the room. Conversation
filled the seat he left behind while students laughed
at racist side comments and enjoyed a presentation
that degraded an element of black culture.
“He’s trying to fight a stereotype in his paper but
he is contributing to all other types of stereotypes,
right after I just finished breaking them all down.
It defeated the point of what I did,” he said. Being
a person of color means you always have to know
what the other guy thinks. “Black people have to
see the pieces to the puzzle because we are learning
about a culture that is contrary to what we are,” he
said. His teacher asked what she could do about
the offensive projects, and he resisted giving her
an answer. “As a black person, I have to make
the decision to say something every day. Now it’s
your turn.” He began his project with the same
perspective as Norris. He thought that if you could
teach people a broad enough history to give them a
platform and then connect people’s understanding
of human nature to make them empathize with
those who are different. But if experiencing
culture means taking abuse at the hand of people
in Marion or hearing the n-word in your classes,
maybe empathy has had its day.
Political science Professor Deborah Thompson
seems to think so. She promotes radicalism,
and compares herself to the writer James
Baldwin, because frankly, she thinks not much
else is working. Thompson stands in front of
a classroom each week trying out her secret
to reaching people about race. Discomfort. “I
think this idea that we need to ease into meeting
people where they’re at, ultimately who does it
place more of a burden on? Us, again! Why do we
continually have to tiptoe around white people’s
feelings to make them realize how privileged
they are?” she said. Thompson doesn’t shy away
from the uncomfortable conversations with white
people, and claims radicalism is the only way to
overturn institutional injustice.
She goes to classes knowing that her mere
presence as a woman — and a woman of color
at that — makes her relationship with students
awkward in addition to what she chooses to say.

Diversity
20
“We’ve been talking for 50 years! The idea that dialogue
is the answer reduces real culpability of those who are
not ready to listen,” she said.
Teaching race isn’t easy, especially to people who
don’t understand their privilege. Those who come
from places like Marion and have only seen people of
color at a distance often view the dynamics of race in
binaries. Either we have race riots or post-racial society,
without much room for the narratives of those that are
still struggling to figure out their place in the middle.
That’s where Norris is. He is an advocate while trying
not to be a mouthpiece, a man who is the product of a
racist upbringing that he’s never understood, a man who
sometimes struggles to separate his privilege from his
hard work.
“I’m a white male living in America; there is not a
group that marginalizes me. I am, in the world’s eyes,
a superior class. I don’t like hearing that, I don’t like
hearing that I am a part of that class because I don’t
view myself as being better than anybody. It implies that
there is a power difference,” he said. “I’ve always been
middle-class borderline white trash America, we go
after each other with hammers at family reunions. We
are not anything special.”
Special? Maybe not. People exhibit a range of
emotions when talking about race: discomfort, guilt,
confusion; and there is no formula to get around that.
For now, racism falls in the hands of white people, and
they can decide whether or not to dish it out, whether
to be educated or be complacent. So again, how to we
teach people about race? Just start now.

21
THE DLFifty Shades of Grey and BDSM
We’re the ones to ask about your dirty little secrets. Known as the
DL, we’re two classy (and never too trashy) ladies who will answer
your questions the best we can and hopefully help others in the
same position. Think of us as OUCounseling, the twitter account for
after you’ve met your OUCrush and made your OUConfessions.
Question: Is it acceptable to want to do the activities mentioned in
“Fifty Shades of Grey?” What even is all that stuff?!
Of course it is fine to want to do what Christian
Grey and Anastasia Steele do in their complicated
and, quite frankly, HOT relationship. Though I’ve
personally never participated in BDSM, it’s not
something to laugh at or brush off as weird. I’ve always
held the belief that if that’s what you want to do with
your partner and you feel safe, why not?
If we’re being totally honest right now, the truth
is that millions of people participate in so-called crazy
sex-capades every day. There’s nothing wrong with
wanting to try something new because you’re curious
or just bored. Vanilla ice cream is always delicious and
reliable, but trying Ben & Jerry’s Karamel Sutra might
just open up a whole realm of possibilities.
The main thing to remember is that in order to
have a good experience, I think it’s better to be with
someone you trust. Call me old fashioned, but there’s
no way I would try any of the terms in the sidebar
unless I completely believed I’d be safe with my
partner. Talk to your friend with benefits or significant
other and don’t be shy about laying down the law with
what you want and don’t want out of the experience.
My best advice is to do what you feel is right
for you. If you don’t just want to live life vicariously
through Mr. Grey and Ms. Steele, then go for it. If not,
vanilla ice cream is still pretty damn good.
D.

TheDl
22
L.
I actually encourage just trying some of the things
in “Fifty Shades of Grey.” This is not me saying that
I know from experience, but I have read the entire
trilogy several times. I have come to the conclusion
that Christian and Anastasia are doing life right.
I have always viewed sex as something that doesn’t
happen all the time, so when it does happen, I want it
to be exciting, fun and different. This is where BDSM
comes into play, literally. BDSM is a very big umbrella
that covers many different sexual experiences, and not
all of them are the things you see in porn videos. It can
mean talking dirty, dressing up in costume and role
playing or even spanking and choking. On the other
end of the spectrum, BDSM can also mean whipping,
gagging, being either a dominant or a submissive and,
in some situations, shocking a partner.
People who participate in BDSM do not look any
different than the norm. They are just regular people,
who really like to spice it up in the bedroom (or
the playroom).
So if you are unsure about this lifestyle, start slow.
Start talking dirty, and then maybe buy a costume one
day and role play. I do disagree with D on one thing.
I think if you and a one-night stand are both feeling
a little frisky, go for it. To quote Drake, “YOLO!” You
most likely will never see this person again, so why not
go all out?! Go get kinky, Bobkittens!
Fifty shades TERMINOLOGY
BDSM: This stands for bondage
and discipline, dominance and
submission and sadism and
masochism.
BONDAGE: Physically restraining
your partner. Think along the lines
of ties or handcuffs.
DISCIPLINE: Psychologically
restraining your partner. There are
rules/forms of punishment if your
partner “disobeys.”
DOMINANCE/DOMINANT:
The person who exercises control
in the situation.
SUBMISSION/SUBMISSIVE:
Person that gives up control either
all the time or for a specified period.
SADISM: Act of inflicting pain for
sexual pleasure.
MASOCHISM: Act of receiving
pain for sexual pleasure.
SOFT LIMITS: Specific activities
that someone is unsure or nervous
about trying. They can be talked
about in advance or gradually
happen during the experience.
HARD LIMITS: Specific activities
that are non-negotiable and will not
happen during the experience.
SAFE WORD: Code word that is
used to stop the activity at any time
someone feels uncomfortable
or unsafe.

23
Remember the days when boys would ask you to go
on a date at the sock hop and pick you up at your house,
precisely at seven? They would have flowers in one hand,
leaving the other hand open to shake your father’s? No?
I didn’t think you would, because our generation has
never experienced such a thing, unless you are one of the
lucky ones.
Our generation has grown up with technology, so it
shouldn’t be surprising that technology has shaped the
way we date. When our parents were younger, they would
go out on actual dates, through friends and people they
met at school. They might have had the same class and
passed notes to one another that said, “Go out with me?”
If they were dating, Mom might have worn Dad’s letter-
man jacket, and they would go for ice cream. They would
do all the cliché things you see in an ’80s movie. The only
time they could talk was in person or on the home phone,
which risked family members listening in on their intimate
conversations.
Brenda Wickaman, the house mom of Pi Beta Phi, sees
how our generation dates every day. “I recently got di-
vorced and I’m dating now. It is hard because everyone just
texts now, and you can’t always tell how the other one feels
through text,” Wickaman says.
Times have obviously changed, and technology is a big
reason for it. “I would say getting a cell phone changed the
game in a big way,” says Brenna Bokar, a sophomore. “Now
I’m able to communicate with boys easily outside of school
without my parents knowing.” Texting has made it possible
to stay up late talking to your crush, and keep it hidden
from your parents.
Kevin Cox, a senior, still manages to meet girls the
old fashioned way. “I was quarterback of the junior high
football team, so I guess I met girls naturally,” says Cox. “I
remember we used to use chat sites such as MSN Messen-
ger or AOL to talk to girls when we were not at school or
hanging out at someone’s house. I think I got my cell phone
in eighth grade, and texting took over as the new fad and
just one more way to stay in touch with girls all the time,”
says Cox.
Dating has gone from note passing, to phone calls, to
AOL Instant Messenger and now to texting. However, times
and technology are still changing. College students now
have Tinder, an app that allows people to create a profile
with a series of five pictures and a short biography about
him or herself. If you don’t like the picture you see, you
swipe left; if you do like the picture, you swipe right. If the
person has also swiped right on your picture then you two
have “matched” and can now start up a conversation.
“I find Tinder very entertaining to just scroll through
the pictures. I’ve only had a handful of conversations on it
though, and never have had the intention to meet up with a
Tinder girl for lunch, drinks, etc.,” says Cox.
Bokar believes that most people only use the app in
hopes of finding a one night stand. “I think that is has the
potential to work, but most people go on apps like Tinder
to find something of just a hook up rather than an actual
serious relationship,” says Bokar.
Cox agrees, “I think that is why the app was created,
only so people could hook up.”
Of course, there is the exception to every rule. “I've
heard tons of hilarious stories from friends who have
met up with tinder chicks and one of those instances led
to them dating and they are still together to this day,”
explains Cox.
Dating is never easy, and technology only blurs the
line more, so stop hiding behind your screens and get
out there.
Dating
Behindthe
screenBy Laura Frey
Photograph By Kaitlin Jackson

Society
26
Athens' locals
Anxiety
MentalIllness
Freedom of
speech
Pg. 27
Pg. 31
Pg. 33
Pg. 37

27
At a young age, Sandy Plunkett had his rise
to fame in the comic book world, working
with large companies such as Marvel and DC
Comics. Plunkett has since moved to Athens and
is still illustrating for many local business and
festivities including, Shade Winery, Jackie O’s, the
Nelsonville Music Festival, Shagbark Seed & Mill,
album covers and even a cookbook.
Plunkett started his journey in Pennsylvania,
but soon moved to Mexico and then to New York.
His mother and sister often said that he was too
old to read comic books, and when his friends,
who were also into comic books, were no longer
around, he lost interest.
He later realized that losing interest was a
mistake. He now says that if someone has a passion
for something, they should follow their heart no
matter what. As he aged, Plunkett found that he
had a raw passion for drawing. All it took was
passing a comic book stand and deciding to buy an
issue to rekindle Plunkett’s interest in comics.
After spending a year studying fine arts,
Plunkett decided to drop out and follow his
passion for drawing. He stumbled upon his
job at Marvel at the young age of 18. He walk
quickly offered a job after walking into the office,
portfolio in hand.
“I wish I had an interesting story for you,” says
Plunkett. “It just sort of happened.”
Although Plunkett has had many successes
from a young age, including working with large
comic art companies, he does not believe that
there has been a highlight yet in his career. He
joined Marvel, drawing realistic characters, but
soon realized that his perceptions of superheroes
were different from everyone else’s.
Plunkett believes his work at Marvel and DC
has shaped him for the good, but New York City
soon started to become overwhelming. He felt
that he no longer had the freedom to illustrate the
way he pleased, so he made the decision to leave
the place where he’s grown up.
“Two or three years after I dropped out of
college, [New York] was changing slowly, and the
things that I really liked about New York were
disappearing,” Plunkett says.
Plunkett found himself becoming depressed in
the big city. A friend introduced him to Athens
Marvel
Illustratorturned
athenslocal
“Something is gained and something is lost with computers,” he says.
“On computers you can’t make mistakes, but mistakes spur creation.”
By Leslie Termuhlen
Drawings Courtesy of Sandy Plunkett

Bios
28
because of his interest in hills and the woods, and he decided the town
was exactly what he needed. He has lived in Athens for 24 years.
After visiting, Plunkett found this town ideal as a spot that he could
be surrounded by nature and easily stick to riding a bike rather than
owning a vehicle. Plunkett has moved away from large illustrating
and comic book corporations and he now finds himself doing more
commercial work. He has done work for many local bars, musicians and
companies. His work has ended up on T-shirts and on the sides of cars.
“Now I’m less worried about where my work will appear,” says
Plunkett. “I want jobs that I am proud of.”
Although illustrating is changing with the advancement of computers,
Plunkett does not wish to learn how to draw on the computer. He
realizes he would have to spend a large amount of time learning the
software and does not feel that it is worth it for his types of illustrations.
“The scratch of the pen late at night” is part of the thrill of his drawing,
says Plunkett.
“Something is gained and something is lost with computers,” he says.
“On computers you can’t make mistakes, but mistakes spur creation.”
OU Press called Plunkett and asked if he would like to have his work
showcased at the Kennedy Museum of Art. His work has been displayed
for six months. Some of his most famous illustrations, such as the
Rocketeer, have been shown. This was special because it was the first
exhibition of comic art presented at this museum.
In an email, Sally Delgado of the Kennedy Museum of Art said that
Plunkett’s display “Created many opportunities for programs and tours.”
The tours focused on the relationship between the story and the piece of
art, sparking discussions regarding visual narratives.
Plunkett also had a collection of 18 years’ worth of sketch work,
journal entries and prose pieces published into “The World of a
Wayward Comic Book Artist: The Private Sketchbooks of S. Plunkett.”
This book was the first of its kind for OU Press to deliver. David
Sanders, the director of OU Press, and Plunkett worked together to give
the book a direction. Although not considered a memoir, it is compiled
of original works from Plunkett’s private journals.
After all of his accomplishments, Plunkett’s advice to aspiring
illustrators is to network and learn from others. He also urges comic
book readers to read them in newspaper form instead of electronic form
to preserve the sequential story telling.
“Take the chance; more than half the time you’ll probably mess it up,
but it’s that time when you get it right — it’s a breakthrough.”

31
Soyouthinkyou
haveanxiety
By Jessica Sees
It’s a word that haunts your self-worth and rips through your ambitions like a category five
hurricane. Anxiety makes its home in the back of your mind and constantly reminds you that
you’re not smart, attractive or courageous enough. It’s a condition that represents an internal
battle that many students fight more than they’d care to admit. In fact, according to the Anxiety
and Depression Association of America, anxiety disorders affect 40 million adults in the United
States, yet only one-third of these people receive treatment.
Many people simply don’t know the feelings and thoughts they are experiencing are categorized
under anxiety. Other people know that they have a problem, but the stigmas surrounding mental
disorders have impeded them from seeking the help they need.
So what's the issue here? Why aren't people seeking help?
Aside from financial limitations, people shy away from treatment because:
They don’t know that the symptoms
they are experiencing belong to the
family of anxiety disorders. OR
They know they are suffering from
an anxiety issue, but are afraid of the
stigmas that surround mental illness.
According to Elisabeth Knauer-
Turner, M.S., a doctoral intern at
OU’s Counseling and Psychological
Services, it is normal to feel anxiety
before major events such as exams
where there is pressure to perform.
CPS has drop-in hours Monday-
Friday from 9:45 a.m. - 3:15 p.m.
if you’re feeling overwhelmed by
life. Sometimes it’s nice to hear an
outsider’s advice, especially when
they’re there to help you work through
“I think many people are worried
that others will judge them and
think they are crazy. Talking about
my issues with my family was
difficult at first. Little by little they
came to understand mental illness
more and see it is not a choice, and
it is a process,” said Melanie Foster, a
freshman studying journalism.
However, that
anxiety, nervousness
and worry becomes
a problem if it is
keeping you from
living your life.
“The best way to
think about anxiety
(and nearly every
other mental health
concern) is on a
continuum, rather
than ‘Yes, you have
it,’ or ‘No, you
don’t have it,’” said
Knauer-Turner.

Health
32
“If you have an anxiety problem,
please do not be ashamed of
speaking out. You need to sleep
and not consistently worry because
it will only create more problems,
especially among social situations. I
would indeed to go counseling and
psychological services, because at
least there you can talk your head
off about all of the situations in
your life. You do not need to suffer
alone,” says a student suffering from
generalized anxiety disorder who
wished to remain anonymous.
If you are feeling like you are suffering
from an anxiety disorder but still feel
uneasy about counseling, here are a
few steps you can take to ease some of
your stress.
If you need some
serious zen in your
life, you can try
meditation. Meditation
is known to decrease
anxious thoughts and
increase inner peace.
Once you are centered
with yourself, your
worries may not seem
so frightening.
If you want to take the
natural route, you can
try some chamomile
or green tea. These
teas are known to have
calming effects on the
amygdala (the fear
center of the brain).
Knock it off with the
negative self-talk.
Mindful meditation
is where you make
yourself hyper-present
in the moment. When
you do this, you focus
on the smallest details of
that moment.
Oftentimes with
anxiety, you get stuck
in a vicious circle
of self-deprecating
thoughts.
As a person with
generalized anxiety,
I can assure you
that the minute you
stop telling yourself
that you are awful at
everything and start
recognizing all of your
beautiful qualities,
your demeanor
instantly transforms.
Spend more time
thinking of your
achievements rather
than your downfalls.
Most importantly, recognize that you are human. You are going to mess up and stumble
and make a fool of yourself sometimes, but that is okay. Even if it feels like it in the
moment, it isn’t the end of the world as you know it.
If you are experiencing anxious thoughts and
feelings more often than not, there are resources
available to you through Ohio University. It is very
important to know that you are not alone in the way
you are feeling. Counseling and Psychological Services
is located on the third floor of Hudson Health Center.
They offer drop-in sessions Monday-Friday from
9:45 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. You can also call their 24/7
hotline if you feel overwhelmed and need help after
hours. You can call any time at 740-593-1616. If you’re
not sure if you have anxiety, you can take this test,
offered through OU’s counseling website, that will give
you some suggestions:
http://screening.mentalhealthscreening.org/ohio.

33
ANXIOUS
EATING DISORDERS
MUST STUDY
MUST STUDY
FROZENFOOD?
FRESHFOOD?
M
US
T
STAY THIN MUST STAY THIN MUST ST
AY
THIN
HAVE TO
EXERCISE

Health
34
MENTAL
ILLNESSTransitioning to the Triggers of College
By Melanie Foster Illustration by Mallory Haack
Coming to college can be a daunting and challenging
time. However, for some this phase can be an even
more damaging move. Many people transition easily
to college, while others find they are struggling with
the anxiety of being completely alone and having to do
everything for themselves.

35
This transition can be more than a period of
change, but a feeding ground for mental illness. From
depression to anxiety to eating disorders, college
can be a hard time for even those in recovery. Being
thrown into a world of new food and new routines
brings stress of trying to balance having more free
time to exercise or eat whatever we want. What we lack
in fresh food we gain in frozen, processed food.
At a young age, I was diagnosed with multiple
eating disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder,
depression and severe anxiety. Even after three years
of being in recovery, my eating disorder mind quickly
began to scream after coming to Athens. I found that
structure is important. I had my daily routines; I knew
when I was going to work out, when I would take a
break from exercise and what my normal meals were.
Living in a small dorm in college with minimal
food and the addition of eating out more was
frightening. Everyone has individual triggers — mine
include frozen foods, having a gym in walking distance
and not knowing exactly what I will be eating next.
These trigger negative thinking.
After years of therapy and treatment in Utah, I
am in recovery but I battle every day. Three years is a
How do people know they need help?
Symptoms? Coping skills?
Thoughts about food/dieting/
body image are taking up more
than a few moments per day
Exercising when injured or tired
Social isolation
Dropping grades
Binge drinking/eating
Trouble concentrating
Putting exercise before
social/academic obligations
Food restriction Talking to a close friend or family member
Seeking counseling at university counseling center
Yoga
Seeing a dietitian
Eating three meals and three snacks per day
Exercising with a partner
Doing meditation/mindfulness activities
Being open with your family and close friends
about what is really going on
Binge drinking/eating
Weight loss/gain
Over exercise
Purging
Dizziness
Memory Problems
Food rules
Calorie couinting or weighing self

Health
36
long time in recovery, and I am a very strong person
who has learned to subdue my eating disorder voice,
but I do not do this alone. After coming to college, I
immediately started therapy and have a treatment team
and family at home to catch me should I fall. However,
I still I struggle every day; now more than ever.
Clinical psychologist Sara Boghosian, of the
Avalon Hills Eating Disorder Treatment Center in
Utah, realizes that “The transition to college is often
a point of high risk for relapse in young people with
eating disorders, and freshman year is a time when
some people first develop an eating disorder.”
Boghosian states that college is unique because
of new pressures, including cafeteria-style food, high
stress and pressures to be perfect — for your career,
Greek Life, peers or parents. All of these burdens can
add up to an explosive mindset, which can quickly
spiral into bigger mental issues.
Boghosian also offers telltale signs for someone
to recognize that they need help, including being
preoccupied with thoughts about food, dieting and
putting exercise before more important issues, or
having symptoms of dizziness, extreme fatigue or hair
loss. Talking to someone you trust, seeking counseling
and even doing yoga are excellent coping skills that
can help you.
As Boghosian mentions, there are many ways to
get help on campus. A vital concept to understand
is that you are not alone. Everyone must adjust to
college and even seniors may still be struggling with
this. Along with time, new stressors are inevitable, but
many professionals suggest being able to open up and
ask for help when you realize you need someone to be
there for you.
The National Eating Disorder Association
(NEDA) has done extensive research on mental illness
at 165 colleges and universities in the United States,
including The Ohio State University and University
of Kentucky.
At Pace University in New York City, the rate of
eating disorders among college students has risen from
10 to 20 percent in women and from four to 10 percent
in men.
Over a 13-year period, another college showed an
increase in eating disorders in females from 23 to 32
percent, and from 7.9 to 25 percent in males. Studies
showed that about five percent of teens enter college
are already struggling with an eating disorder. The
study also states that the average age when anorexia
forms is 19, for bulimia it is 20 and for binge eating
disorders it is 25, clearly showing the effects of college
pressures on young men and women.
A senior at Ohio University began to have issues
during the summer transitioning into sophomore year.
She struggled living in dorms at school, and would
panic every time she had to decide what to eat because
she never considered it healthy enough. Like many
others with an eating disorder, she would find herself
avoiding eating out with friends and would constantly
scrutinize her choices.
She has yet to be professionally diagnosed.
However, she still struggles daily. She obsesses about
calories and explains that she has good days and bad
days depending on stress she encounters. “It really
helps when she talks to people about it and her best
friends have been extremely helpful.” However, she is
still closed off to her family.
She wants society to “Never underestimate how
serious a problem is,” because your problems can
quickly get out of control. “Do not feel stupid or think
any less of your problems because they aren’t as serious
as anyone else’s.” No one is alone in his or her battle,
and no one should compare their fight another’s.
For those in recovery, it is important to have a
support system in place to help you when you slip.
Going to counseling, talking to your family and being
open with your friends and roommates are all ways to
start talking, get help and not be alone in a difficult
process. This will help ensure your life and health is
happy and balanced in and out of college, and allows
you to have an ongoing support team to assist you
www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/sites/default/
files/CollegeSurvey/CollegiateSurveyProject.pdf

37
Whether students believe they can speak freely on
campuses or not, the political divide developed in today’s
society will continue challenging student’s so-called right to
“free speech.”
Recently, Foundation for Individual Rights in
Education (F.I.R.E.), a national non-profit organization
aiding student’s right to free speech on campuses, has
shown tremendous backbone, providing information,
regulation assurance, and assistance to students fighting for
free speech.
Students Defending Students, a campus-lead student
rights ambassadorship at Ohio University, has designed
t-shirts that sure have caught the eye of some. The front
could be any other t-shirt, but what draws attention is the
back, which reads “We Get You Off For Free,” with Ohio
University’s Students Defending Students phone number
and email address. Yes, the shirts are a double entendre, but
also represent the student body’s desperate need for a call to
action to stand up for your free speech.
Students are losing “free” speech day-by-day in today’s
society. University handbooks and Code of Conduct
regulations have become so broad and ambiguous as to
baffle anyone who would logically try to understand them.
It’s discouraging how many students have never actually
been in contact with their university’s Student Code of
Conduct legislature and have no idea the boundaries of
such an extensive set of rules.
Ohio University’s Student Code of Conduct forbids any
“act that degrades, demeans, or disgraces” another student,
rendering a vast amount of speech, protected by the
First Amendment, off-limits and subject to punishment. If
our Code of Conduct is suppressing free speech, protected
by the First Amendment, then our speech is unjustifiably
limited on school grounds.
On July 2, Students Defending Students leader Isaac
Smith sued Ohio University president Roderick McDavis,
Jenny Hall-Jones, Dean of Students, and Martha Compton,
Director of the Office of Community Standards, for
deliberately hindering his group’s right to wear the shirts.
The lawsuit charges OU officials with illegally ordering
students at the Campus Involvement Fair to stop wearing
the t-shirts saying, “We Get You Off for Free,” saying it was
offensive.
American universities shouldn’t need any additional
incentives to sustain the free speech rights of their students.
Protecting freedom of speech on campuses meets the
universities legal obligations under the First Amendment
and demands institutional responsibility.
In Smith’s case, the same laws apply. The interpretation
of “sexually offensive” and “exemplifying prostitution”
printed on the facetious t-shirts, are subjective to women.
As students grow from being young freshman to astute
seniors, they begin to clearly see that our speech is limited
on campus and that we have to abide by a nebulous Code of
Conduct.
This September, four Ohio University students were
arrested at a Student Senate meeting for deliberately
protesting and disrupting a lawful meeting. Most of the
Leaving
Students
Speechless:
John Carpenter
How OU Has Restricted Students ‘Speech’

technologyPolitics
38
protestors were a part of the
student organization Bobcats for
Israel, a group that supports Israeli-
American ties. One of the members, also
arrested for protesting, was Gabe Sirkin,
who clearly disagrees with on-campus speech.
“I think what they’ve [Student Senate/Police]
done here by clearly not allowing us to protest for
what we believe in will easily make us want to stand
up for our rights even more. I honestly never thought
I’d be arrested for something like this. Colleges want us
to be proud and believe in these student organizations
then come down on us for standing by them. I’ll never
understand it,” Sirkin said.
Student Senate president Megan Marzec could
be to blame for the uproar of protest. A week before
the arrests, Marzec posted a controversial video,
identifying herself as the Ohio University Student
Senate president, criticized Israel, then demanded that
OU eliminate its connections with Israel. In addition,
Marzec poured a bucket of, what was suppose to be blood
on her head, a bad response after being nominated for the
global “ALS Ice Bucket Challenge.”
The Pro-Israel students protested the exotic abuse
while several of them were arrested and escorted out of
the meeting by Ohio University’s campus police. The four
students arrested and charged were Maxwell Peltz, 20,
Rebecca Sebo, 22, Gabriel Sirkin, 20, and Jonah Yulish, 19,
Sebo being Bobcats for Israel’s president. Apparently, the
students were reading statements of university presidents
from a Legal Insurrection post, University statements
that rejected academic boycott of Israel.
“Nowadays students don’t know what they can and
can’t say, leaving most of them speechless. I don’t want to
feel that what I’m standing up for is a “bad” thing. I
was arrested for protesting something
the university basically got me
involved in. I will always
stand up for Israeli and
American ties, whether
this school wants me to
or not,” Sirkin said.
This begs the question
whether student’s rights of free
speech are suppressed by miniscule
regulations that revoke them or that
students bare no rights at all. Universities across
the country have been inundated with lawsuits focused
on student free speech and student rights, including
Arizona State University where Tau Kappa Epsilon, a
fraternity chartered at ASU, was expelled for hosting a
Martin Luther King party that was declared racist.
Arizona State University officials said students who
attended the event, under the code of conduct, could
potentially face additional consequences. Looking further,
it may seem appropriate for these students to be punished,
up to whatever degree, but it’s important to think about
what kind of example the university is setting. Students
should not have their free expression be restricted simply
because some consider it offensive, while others, maybe
a larger percent, do not. Abiding by this logic completely
contradicts our Constitution’s First Amendment
principles.
This case is a clear example of the misguided power
university administrator’s dictate over students while
enforcing vague and confusing student conduct codes.
Students rely on university handbooks to pave a way for
student conduct that is generally respected and understood
around campus. Students in college are experiencing all
sorts of freedoms and responsibilities that enable us to
grow. Students in college want to be free, which should
include their speech.
“I’ve never had a problem at OU, in terms of actual
speech. I mean I’ve never been on the sidewalk with a
picket sign protesting my rights but I’ve certainly stood up
for what I believe. Especially in Women Genders Studies,”
said senior psychology major Anna Rutkousky.
Students at universities across the country subject
themselves to agree to conduct codes that restrain
many subjectively harmless ideas. Conduct codes are
filled with obtuse or vague language granting school
administrators broad power to act upon free speech. As
a result universities continuously violate students’ right
of free speech, but often forget the battle on free speech
resides within the Constitution. Many students also take
for granted that American freedom of expression alone,
regardless of legal consideration, is a value we should all
cherish.
Ohio University should be open to free, candid
thought. The current position of the student conduct
codes is maintaining a questionable position. If OU has
the authority to eliminate expression simply because of
political correctness, they also have authority to silence
students for far less outrageous reasons.
“I want to stand up and be apart of something bigger
then myself but at times I feel like it’s hard to express that.
Nowadays no one has a clue what they can get in trouble
for, so it’s better to just be civil in my mind,” Rutkousky
said.
Such a mindset leaves students “speechless.” We don’t
know the boundaries of a very vague Code of Conduct, so
we just keep quiet. Not for the Bobcats for Israel. Those
students understood that if they continued speaking
during the Student Senate meeting they’d be arrested.
Under insurmountable pressure, the strength of four
students to speak out for what their freedom is, that’s
brave. No matter what circumstance, the right of speech,
is a human necessity and a civil entity that makes us who
we are.

41
TheArithmetic
ofWords
What hath the Gods wrought, Archimedes?
I must confess: I am at an impasse
Tell me, mathematician; can you explain
that which I do not know?
Will you teach this ill-learned student
that which her tutor could not?
Can you?
Will you?
A million questions I have for you, sage.
How can it be that fate is the deciding factor
despite factions of fractions adding up otherwise?
Why did Zeus grow jealous of the thunder
that glinted between my lover and me?
Why did Aries wage an odious war
to distract the two of us from our ardor?
And speaking of ardor, why did Aphrodite
decide that only she could love as fiercely
as I?
Why did she take him away from me, I wonder?
Oh, come now Archimedes;
surely your wits and schemes
could equate an answer for me.
The arithmetic of my words shouldn’t
be so difficult to understand I hope.
After all, you are the master: I am the slave.
“It does not do you well to blame fate,” you murmur softly.
Then who do I blame, sir? The Gods?
If not the Fates then who?
Surely not him, dear theorist.
Surely not I.
“Yes, you,” you say.
And suddenly, I question why I ever asked a mathematician
to provide me answers to an inquiry
that only a philosopher could solve.
Poetry Submissions by Jayme Pollock

Submission
42
I’ll commit the most egregious of sins with my pen and stain each paper red, with a mixture of
ink and blood, giving a pulse to my words, oh you will remember me: you won’t be able to get
my face out of your head; you won’t be able to get my taste out of your mouth.
I’ll dabble in the forbidden, criminal that I am— and reveal all my wrongdoings in my intricate
prose, as sweet as a rose, my fragrance will smother you whole: you’ll remain unforgiven, an
insignificant grain of sand I can find another muse quite easily; you were just the first.
I’ll murder your memory and trap it in a poem they’ll hang me for my crimes, but at least they
will know that you were the ink in my veins, and I have cut them open for all to see; I’ll bleed.
Paper sinner, they’ll call me, and send me to confessional, where I will sing like a canary—
La, dee, da, la, dee, da, la, dee, da…
PaperSinner

43
I bought a home from a dead guy. The housing
market was in the toilet, and I snatched the place
up for practically nothing, not that it mattered.
To clarify, he wasn’t dead when I signed the
papers, but transitioned sometime after the deal
closed and I opened the front door.
I noticed the smell right off the bat. It wasn’t
that rank smell of decomposition, but more of
a subtle rotten-egg odor that reminded me of
Yellowstone, even though I was nowhere close. I
figured I had a gas-leak and went to phone it in,
but as I made my way into the other room some
odd noise distracted me. It sounded sort of like
someone banging on steel pipes, but it wasn’t
altogether unpleasant, to be honest.
The smell and sound vanished, and I settled
back onto the cardboard box I had been
temporarily using as a table/chair combo. That’s
when “it”, aka John, the dead guy, literally
starting to come out of the woodwork. My
bookshelves, the cabinets, even the entire
foundation of the house started shaking.
The tremor was strange, and I took it for an
earthquake; they had mentioned the area was
prone. So, I began counting to ten, figuring if I
reached it, then I should seek cover. I made it
to number six when the house settled back into
place.
After the shaking had ceased, that’s when I saw
“it”. At first, I assumed I must’ve smudged my
glasses during the shake-down, but after I wiped
them and returned them to my face, I realized it
was no smudge. Now, I keep using “it”, instead
of “he”, since “it” always corrected me whenever
I misspoke. “It” still looked like a man, but only
if that man was a drawing and all that had been
sketched out so far was the stenciled outline of
its features. “It” drew closer to me, smiled, and
threw a hand up.
“Hey,” “it” said.
“Hi,” I said, licking my lips. I had noticed a
subtle iron taste in my mouth, like that of blood.
“I’m sorry if I frightened you, but that
floating through the wall shit is so convenient.”
“It’s okay,” I said, probing a finger around
the inside of my mouth since the taste persisted.
“Are you haunting this house?”
“Haunting? Nah. I’m living here. And don’t
worry about that bloody taste. It just sort of
happens when I appear. Same with the theatrics.
Different for everyone.”
I looked “it” up, down, and through. It took me
a moment to realize “it” was the man I’d bought
the place from.
“I figured we could be roommates,” “it” said.
“I had everything packed up, was real bummed
about leaving. Then I had a little accident, and
ended up being able to stay here. How awesome,
right?”
“It doesn’t feel like you’re giving me much of
a choice.”
“If you want to see it like that. You don’t
really know what I had to do to get back here.
That selling your soul shit, it’s no cake-walk. If it
makes you feel any better, I’ll be gone in twenty-
four years.”
Like I said, the housing market was terrible
here. And a roommate didn’t seem so bad,
considering I was alone more often than not. It
got tedious at times, but, needless to say, we made
it work.
So, a few months into the gig, I met a girl from
the library where I worked. I brought her back
to my house, although I was nervous she might
freak after encountering my roommate. Once we
settled onto the couch, about to start a movie, the
room began to shake. The smell picked up, as did
the rhythmic ambiance, and then “it” appeared. I
told her not to be afraid, and that my roommate
was pretty similar to us, except for the no body/
soul deal.
My date quickly warmed up to “it”, figuratively
speaking. She actually left early that night,
complaining about how freezing the house had
gotten. Her lips were blue by the time I kissed
them goodnight. After that, we always met at her
NOT FEELING ITBy Alex Terlecky

Submission
44
place until we stopped seeing one other.
I forgot all about the coldness that my date had
complained of, at least until my parents flew out to
pay me a visit. They loved the house, saying they
were really proud of me for making this step. I told
them the new job was going well, and I had a lot of
time to myself. I carefully brought up my roommate,
and waited for the right time to have “it” appear.
I didn’t want to scare them, unsure of how they
behaved around ghosts.
The sounds arrived, the smell, the house-quake,
and then “it” appeared. “It” was particularly
charming, and my parents’ fears had alleviated after
I assured them “it” was benevolent and only needed
a place to stay. I prepared cocktails to cover-up the
blood-taste in our mouths, and the four of us played
Life until it was time for bed.
I drove my parents to the airport the next morning.
They both hugged me goodbye, and my dad dropped
me fifty bucks.
To fix that old heater,” he said.
On the drive back I was genuinely puzzled. My
parents experienced the same coldness that my date
had, but to me the place felt, not exactly warm, but
comfortable at the very least.
When I walked back inside, I endured the house-
quake, sulfur scent, and out-of-tune steel drum noise,
to talk to my roommate.
“Do you know anything about why it’s so cold
in here?”
“Is the heater broke?”
“No. Everybody that visits complains about
how cold it is.”
“And you don’t feel it?”
“I don’t. Is that some sort of a problem?”
“No, it’s not a problem.”
“Is that weird?”
“You’re asking a ghost.”
“Right. So, what’s the answer?”
“You experience all the other shit? The house
rattling, gross smells—”
“—the blood-mouth, the awful banging, yeah,
yeah.”
“It seems like you aren’t feeling.”
“Feeling? Like this?” I pinched my arm. “I felt
that. What do you mean, I’m not feeling?”
“I’m not arguing with you. I’m just saying you
get the other senses, just not that one.”
I sighed and sat down on my couch. How do you
stop feeling? And not even real feeling, but some sort
of pseudo-feeling only ghosts know about. Was this
some sort of health detriment I should be concerned
about? Maybe just stress? Maybe I was too caught
up in my new job; maybe the move had been too
much. Had that sense been one of those “use it/lose
it” things? Was this my fault?
I had all these immediate questions, without any
tangible answers, but when I thought about my
inability, it didn’t seem like I had much choice to
live with it or without it. I only knew of one way
to experience my world, and it was the same way
everyday.
My roommate came over and hovered down next
to me. “It” looked at me through those pallid pupils
that connected to nothing.
“If it makes you feel any better,” “it” said, “I
never sense any of those things."
About the Author:
Alex is a a fourth year English major at Ohio
University. He has had his work published previously
in The Medulla Review.

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