Catalyst

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Features Dogma, The Messenger .. page 5 Volume X, Issue 10 Town Meeting discusses athletic fees by David Saunders November's Town Meeting started with pomp and circumstance as yet unseen during such a usually mundane occasion. After a sufficient crowd had gathered, the procession of the King and Queen of New College began. Apotheosis' 0' Fortuna blared as a handsome yet unnamed young goth escorted the King and Queen to Palm court, where they were seated, serviced and shot. Then pizza was served, and the Town Meeting reverted to normalcy. After announcing the winners of feature d in the Catalyst's previous issue) branch report were made. On behalf of the SAC, Jennifer Shaw took the microphone. The issue in question was whether or not the SAC should fund the renting of a limo to transport students back and forth between Hamilton Center and College Hall for the Queer Formal. After the near bankruptcy of the SAC last year, they decided to set aside different budgets for various things such as parties, barbecues and the like, and that to gain any more funding, the issue would have to go before a Town Meeting to be voted on. After some discussion, the limo-renting was voted down. Someone also brought up the fact that we have no Assistant Director of St:1dent Affairs and that New College is hiring a search commit tee. Student Affairs Director Mark Blaweiss needs volunteers to sit on the committee to represent New College's needs. The next order of business was a touchy one at best. Fourth-year Michael Shannon brought up that he felt that Student Court Supreme Justice Brynne Romano was lacking in her duties, as she had had not ISEE ((MEETING" ON PAGE 2 Opinion Editorial: Inept Student IDs, Opinion: Listserv Mania .. -page 7 My life is a dark room. One big dark room. November 17, 1999 Tibetan nuns offer a cultural experience The nuns gave a performance of their cultural and religious ceremonies. by Michael Sanderson Members of a millennia-old religious tradition visited New College last Wednesday, September 8, as part of a pilgrimage across the United States to raise funds for their monastery. The Tibetan nuns are of the Khachee Ghakyin Ling order and based in Nepal due to Chinese persecution. They performed a variety of sacred dances, chants, and other rituals on the Sudakoff stage, in what Professor of Asian Religion John Newman said was a "totally authentic" presentation of their culture. At about 7:30, Sudakoff began to fill up with New College students and local area residents, many of the latter group older and well dressed. Several tables were set up in the anteroom. Third-year students Christy Brown and Jason Rosenberg, organizers of Students for a Free Tibet, sat at one table collecting signatures for a petition and passing out photocopied information on the Tibetan situation. At several tables pushed together a wide vari ety of souvenirs were available: banners, robes, decorations, video-5 and CDs. Two robed nuns stood be hind the tables making sales. performance began. An English-speaking nun, Tsnel<;t, ., The Tibetan nuns act out a story about a Buddhist monk. introduced each performance with a description of what the audience would see and how it functioned into Tibetan culture. First the nuns chanted, in melodic Tibe t an, a meditation practice meant to remove the ego tistical, egocentric self. Most of the segments, however, were dances, in which the nuns danced in glittering cosFAU Honors College fights the system The newly formed college struggles for student government representation by Kathryn Dow share their campus wi : h about 2000 commuter student Imagine a small honors college, comprised of about Their learning system is not identical to ours, they have five or six-hundred students, that shares its campus with grades and a core curriculum, bm as Honors College stu the commuter students of a large Florida university. The dent Sarah Turk puts it, they "don't focus on that too students of the Honors College are bright, mostly liberal, much." She adds, "Most of us, (faculty too) are more innovative thinkers, who crave autonomy and freedom in concerned with what we're actuaJly learning." Of the their educations. The admis-core curriculum, she writes sions process is highly .----:;'-;-' --=s=-o_m_e_o_n_e----;:fr:-o-m-=U-:::-:::S:-::F=---:1.:-n-____, that the required classes aren't selective, and looks not only at the traditional .ones. The SAT and ACT scores and GPA, Honors College is very fo-but also other aspects that Sarasota told [Isadore that)... cused on interdisciplinary might make the applicant tand learning, and as Turk reout and above the rest. having separate governntents marked,"Most classes, no Imagine a group of individualmatter how unrelated, relate to istic young people, striving to [causes] nothing but one another." make their school the kind of FAU's student government place they want to attend and 'trenlendous confusion and is set up with one Student get the education they Body President, who is a stufrom college. Sound familiar? fi h dent at the main campus in Now imagine that school with constant lg ttng. Boca, and a Vice President and no student government of its __ Sarah Senator from each individual own. l.: campus. Each campus branch This school is the newly '------------------__j is bound to the overall FAU formed Honors College of Florida Atlantic University. constitution, but is allowed to write their own set of adThe school currently has only 7Q students, but plans to ditional statutes. When the Honors College was formed, increase their numbers to five or six hundred in the next the Con titution stated that they would be able to form few years. Other than the main branch of FAU in Boca their own campus branch of Student Government. Raton, the Honors College, located at FAU's MacArthur However last month, a bill was proposed by Assistant campus in Jupiter, is the only residential campus. They Dean of Student rEE "FAU" ON PAGE 6 r

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2 The Catalyst Experts Examine Eg yptAir F light 990's Black Boxes They w e r e d elivered to the Na t iona l T r a n sp o r t ation S afety Boar d Headquarters on Sund ay The doome d flight, which crashed off the c oast of Nantucket on Halloween, took an ini t ia l nose-dive so fast and steep passengers were rendered weightless. Both engines were off as the plane climbed briefly out of its de scent. It then turned and plunged to the bottom of the Atlantic with all 217 passengers. The Navy recovered the cockpit flight recorders, or "black boxes," Saturday. Experts had pointed o u t only someone familiar with the layout of a commercial airline cockpit would have known h ow to shut down the engines, interpreting the st r ange emergency maneuvers as a possible sign of strugg l e. The b l ack boxes, which provided 31 1/2 minutes of data, told a different story: 28 minut es of friendly chat between the pilots fol lowed by a desperate attempt to resolve an u n k nown prob l em. Ex t r a Sola r Pl anets Defi ni tely Exist Training a large telescope in the Arizona desert on the constellation Pegasus, as tronomers observed the eclipse of a star by a planet November 7. This was the first direct confirmation of the existence of planets outside our Solar System. Previously, extra-solar plan ets could only be inferred by the wobble of their s t ars Astronomers observed a dimming of the star s rad ia nc e b y 1.7% on Novem b er 7, and again last Thursday, verifying the calcu la ted planet. A gas ant e tba Jupiter, but havin g only 63% of J u piter's mass, the planet couJd not have formed s o d os e t o the star. This supports the theory that gas giants in other star systems migrate in toward their par ent star. CIA on the Lookout for College Grad Suckers Hoping to rejuvenate its ranks, CIA re cruiters are touring college campuse this Fall, offering signing bonuses and complimentary popcorn to potential analysts, computer pro grammers, engineers, linguists and scientists. The CIA joins the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) in a wave of efforts to bolster its legions News November 17, 1 999 Winds might move second only to those instigated during 4 the Cold War fervor of the early 80's. Fortunately for recruiters, angry mobs and bomb threats during campus vis. its are few and far between these l parhc1pated m t h e days. Recruiting is still hard work, vote counting, which is one of the minimal requirement s though. Exposure is a problem, and for the job. He also brought up issue that members of now competition, too. "We've never Student Court have no way of holdmg each other account had competition with anyone for able for their responsibilities. Romano was not at the tow n mathematicians except academia," meeting and had not attended any town meeting since the said Deborah Bonanni, NSA head of beginning of the year. A motion to impeach her was made, human resources. "Now Microsoft is but was replaced by a motion to phone her and ask her hiring mathematicians. We're a little opinion. Later, she was contacted and tendered her resigconcemed about that." nation by phone. "Death to America!" Thousands of protesters filled the streets of Kabul, Afghani tan, Sunday after the U.N. imposed sanctions on the country. "Death to America!" they shouted as they surged toward the U S. embassy, which has been empty for ten years. The sanctions were re taliation for Afghanistan's refusal to hand over suspected terrorist Osama bin Laden. Bin Laden suspected in the U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania last year that killed 2 2 4 people. The United State s retaliated by hurling mis iles a t Afghanistan and Sudan. In the Sudan, U.S. firepower took out a pharmaceutical p l an t in the capi t al. The pla n t was a source o f pride and m a l a ri a antidote for the nation. Malaria is a loading k iller i n S u dan. Ex p e rt s a nd p ress from variou s countries toured the plant after the attack. Many con cluded there were no signs explosive had been produced there, as the U.S. claime d. The current sanctions agai n st A fg h anista n f r eeze the Taliban regime's overseas a s set s a nd halt all flights owed it, save those in tended for humanitarian reasons or pilgrimage to Mecca. Rachael Morris then stepped up to the plate with her report on what is going on with the USF athletic fee increase (see "Controversy over athletic fees escalates", (issue 9). Essentially, Morris stated that the committee used to reac h the decision to raise our fees was in violation of Florida Statute 240.235 (section c), which states that the commi t tee recommending an athletic fee increase must be at leas t half student-appointed by the student body preside nt. Morris has consulted an attorney and, if the Board of Regents approves the increase, says that it would be i n New College's best interest to take the issue to court. Discussion followed, during which points were brough t up, s uch as the fact that ew College receives none of the mon e y generated by athletic fees, and the fact that USF has a l a rger budget for its football team than for the entire USF campu s, which includes both the University Program and New College. Fourth-year Carly Earnshaw also brought up that at a Promise Keepers convention at USF, there was a free dinner for all Promise Keepers funded by th e U S F a thletic depar t m ent. A motion was made to back Morris in her plan, .and it was vo te d th at. if t h e Board of Regents approves the increase, New Colle ge Will sue After the vote, Morris announced that the bill for raisingA&S fees from $7 to $10 bas been passed and has been sent to the Board of Regents The final order of business was the 4 Win d s cafe a k ing if they could move into Hamilton Center, whic h to the s u rprise of many, is to be remodeled in a way t ha t would b e accommodating to t h is p lan. The organizers of the cafe felt that i t w o u l d h a v e m u c h more bu si n ess i f i t w ere lo cated on this side of campu s The y are a l s o very worried that they will not be able to s t a y in busin ess if s omething drastic doesn t happen. Some we r e w o rried about the loss Compiled from the Bradenton -of money that might occur, as so much h a d been i nve sted Herald Tribune. in remodeling the Barn where the cafe i s currently located. After discussion it was voted t hat the 4 Winds Cafe could move. The Catalyst is available on the World Wide Web at http://www.sar.usfedu / -catalyst / catalyst General Editor Shanon Ingles Managing Editor Ben Ruby Online Editors Nikki Kostyun and David Saunders Layout Editor Michael Jones Photography Heather Whitmore The Catalyst is an academic spon sored by Professor Maria Vesperi. It is developed in the New College Publications Office using Adobe Photosbop and Quark Xpress for PowerMacintosh and printed at the Bradenton Herald with money provided by the New College Student Alliance. Contributions may range in len gth from 250 to 500 words. Letters to the Editor should be no more than 250 words. Submi s sion s s hould be labeled as either letters to the Editor or contributions and include name s and contact information. Submissions in "rtf' or '' WriteNow format may saved to the Catalyst Contributions the Temp Directory on the Publications Office file server, printed submissions may be place? in. campus box 75 and all contnbuttons may be e mailed to catalyst @v irtu No will be accepted Staff Writers Max Campell Kathryn D o w Darren Gu ild, Ryan McCormick Price Esq., Mich a el Sanders o n Mario R o drigu e z Contributors Beetlejui ce Direct submissions and inquiries to: The Catalyst 5700 N. Tamiami Tr. Box #75 Sarasota, FL 34 2 43 c atalyst @ virtu.sar.usfedu The Catalyst reserves the right to edit s ubmissions for space, grammar or s t y le All must be received by 5:00 p.m. Sa!urday m order to appear in the following week s 1ssue. c

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3 The Catalyst New s Artis t Tanja Soft ie brings images of mortality to Softie unties her Bosnia roots with a passion for humanity's beauty through "Mnemosyne's by Heather Whitmore "People always ask why my pieces are so dark, why there's so much black in my work. 'Are you depressed?' [they ask]. It's not that, I don't see a large black surface as being impenetrable. I see it as infinite," explained artist and Chair of Rollins College Art Department Tanja Softie last Friday afternoon in New Caples at the installation of her work M nemosyne Garden. Later at a lecture and slide-show given the same afternoon, Softi:c illuminated how her history as a Bosnian painter gone Floridian professor has fueled her artistic mission and vision. On behalf of Florida's Public Arts Program Committee, including Chair of the Humanities Department Professor Steve Miles, Softie was commissioned to create a small piece for New Caples' two-dimensional design building. Softlc's passion for architecture made her ideal for the job. According.to Miles, she was chosen be cause, "Her work was harmonious with the space." Upon visiting Caples, Softie observed the nu merous patterns of nine-paneled widows that fill the building and was reminded the Greek myths regarding the nine muses. With this spark of in spiration, she cultivated "Mnemosyne's Garden," a series of mirror images fashioned from Japanese paper and acrylic pigment revealing the darker and lighter halves of human life. In a delicate Croatian accent, Softie described her inspiration: I wanrea tfits piece to evolve into something about t h e im pul se t o create a nd human propensi t i e s to grow a nd r em ember, rath e r th a n the propensity t o ki l l." Softie bas found her new liberal arts college to be an apt environment for expressing frustrations through her work. After, receiving her under graduate degree in painting from The Academy of Fine Arts of Sarajevo, she went on to Old Dominion University in Norfolk Virginia, where she earned a Masters degree in printmaking. Educated by what she describes as "dogmatic modernists" in Europe, Softie was thrusted into post-modern "guerrilla girl" techniques. In the U.S., she joined Rollins in 1992. She coincidenBosnian artist Tanja Soft/.c stands next to her new installation in New Caples. tally signed her employment contract on the day war in Bosnia began Compelled by newspaper photos of the burn ing of Sarajevo University Library, Softlc became "prolific out of panic. Grappling with her com munity s loss of literature, she created a series of Angry Books constructed out of her classes d isca rd e d art materia l s. Much of the books addres b er rese ntm e nt f o r the m e dia's di s tanced treatment of the Bosnian war, representing the different faces of Softie's emotions. Her book ti tled The Indifference Machine strikes at the heart of this issue. Softie described her thoughts on the piece: "It's about perpetuating the horror that goes on around the world by our own un poken, inac tive involvement with it." Softie impressed her intere t in the "dark ness ... behind the facade" of human life, striving to reveal the evil in the world through her work. "We have a tendency to feel shielded from the cataclysmic things that go on around the world," she explained, "I wish I could somehow drive home the point that you're not safe. Until every one is, no-one is." A second series of Softie's work, titled What Remains, deals with the realities she found upon returning to Bosnia. Adapting her eye for form, nature and the body, Softie showed how skeletal figures and empty shells play an important role in developing her history of death and remembrance. As she showed a picture of a large grenade splat ter on a concrete street in her old neighborhood Softie remarked, "I can't help but see it as beauti ful. I guess that's what a modernist education will do for you." In Softie's lectures, excitement and detail im pressed the audience. Among the students James Sheridan, third year and local artisan, found Softie's work to be most compelling, "lt's a feminist or domestic form of histoT-y, it's a personalized account of how national political is sues are feJt. It gives a degree of power that an issue in The New York Times or CNN can't inspire." Shaken by the ravages of war in he r home l and, Marriott consults students about the quality of its food A meeting was held last Wednesday regarding the improvement of food service on campus. by Michael Jones On Wednesday, November 10, at 4:30pm, about a dozen students and Marriott officials met in the fishbowl to discuss the future of student dining here on campus. Over the course of an hour or so, shtdents raised concerns and compliments about exactly how and what we are fed. Liz Beck, District Manager of the Education Division and her associates were "here as representatives of Sodexho Marriott to look at fo.od service and how they're meeting your needs and what additional services might be needed." According to Beck the main goal and function of their visit to campus was to gather information on Marriott's food service. They spent their time on campus interviewing and meeting with New College and University Program students. Students in attendance ranged the entire gamut, from first-years to thesis students. First-year Maggie Phillips serves on the Food Service Committee, whose main capacity is to act as a voice for the student body. As Phillips puts it, "If people have problems with Marriott they .come ta l k to us and we take care of it." One of the first topics of conversa t ion involved the discrepancy over beverage pricing. Why is it t}Jat the dti\11..< _costs more in Marriott when compared to the C-store? According to Jerry Dixon, Marriott manager for this campus, "Students came to us to push for a greater usage of fountain beverages, so bottle and can prices were raised and fountain prices were lowered to en courage the use of the fountain. The recycle mug also has a lower price, and since there is no foun tain in the C-store, prices stayed the same." The change was evidently motivated by ecological consciousness, to encourage recycling. Another concern students brought up was vari ety versus quality. According to Marriott officials both are changing as we speak. A new brand of salad dressing "Ken's Dressing" will be instituted, which is reputed to be the best dressing available on the market. Also, according to Dixon, Marriott is open to trying new recipes, especially those submitted by st u dents: "Recipe suggestions are encouraged. Especially for vegetarian and vegan meals. All the new meals you're seeing lately are recipes brought in by students." Stu d ents in attendance generally agreed that Marriott was improving, but still had some im proving to d o. Fourth-year and Marriott emp l oyee Mike Pal mieri commente d on the overall im provement of Marriott since his first year, "I've been here four years an d there is a d efinite improvement over the four years. I used to eat rice and beans everyday my first year." What kind of future improvements may be in store? Suggestions from students included fresh produce (fruits, vegetables, eggs, etc.) in the C slore, and perhaps even carrying beer in the C-store again. Also, Marriott may be looking to change its hours. The question that quickly arose was: how ac commodating are Marriott's operating hours? Although the amount of hours of operation is ac ceptable, students tended to agree that the hours could still use some changing. They suggested that dinner be moved back a couple of hours, per haps having dinner from 5:30 to 7:00 rather than 4:30 to 6:00, especially on weekends. More elaborate future plans for Marriott include possible cooking tutorials and ISPs where Marriott equipment is used to instruct stu d e nts in the cu l inary arts. Also, student c ooko ffs u tilizing the Marriott kitchen were pro p osed. Exactly w h at is in store for Novo Collegians i s ye t t o be deter mined, as the powers t h a t be collabo r a t e a n d deHberate the information they've ga th ered into some kind of workable goal.

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-------------4 The Catalyst News November 17, 1999 Dr. Castronovo presents a new look at masculinity of the past Masturbation, Flesh, Desire: what more could you ask for? by Darren Guild ing the optic nerve which caused blindness. The third slide depicted a droolUniversity of Miami Professor Dr. Russ Castronovo's color coordinated ing man "polluted by vice." forest green trousers and sunflower spotted tie sparkled with properness, but Castronovo began by separating two parts from the body politic: the po he soon showed that appearances don't necessarily dictate intellectual interlitical body and the body politic. The political body, according to est. From the moment Castronovo began to speak about masculinity in the Castronovo, is "flesh and desire." The body politic is how the human form 19th century in front of a sparse crowd in Sudakoff Center on Friday night, is used to represent parts of government; it is characterized where the indi he dove into the deep dark and repressed areas of the human sexual experividual gives up his or her sovereignty to the greater public. Castronovo ence in that time period; mainly masturbation, slavery and the social-political talked of the effect it had when that body politic becomes the white male. power struggles that help shape how the public looks upon privacy and sexEspecially in the 19th Century, slavery was a part of shaping public and priual acts. vate sexuality. Representing blackness as a whole, the slave was turned into Castronovo was invited to speak at New a submissive sexual being, while the white College by Assistant Professor of Literature .-----.,..-.,.-=--------------.,--------, male was depicted as dominant. On a sodMiriam Wallace, who is a personal friend of There was a growing etal level, Castronovo pointed out that this his. Castronovo and Wallace know each allowed whiteness to set the precedent for other from graduate school at the University COnCeffl among proper what sexuality is. of California--Santa Cruz, where Wallace The second part of Castronovo's talk covstudied 18th century British Literature and 19th CCfltUry AmericanS ered the corruption of the self through the Castronovo focussed on 19th century individual's participation in civic life and the about the ever lllCfeasing democratic institution. There was a growing concern among proper 19th Century American Literature. lnfluence of the publtc on Americans about the ever increasing influ ence of the public on the self's moral the Self's moral behaVl.O. behavior. Some of these socially dangerous environments mentioned were "college dormitories." Castronovo spoke of the shift from Some of these socially the primacy of family sphere to the public -Currently, Castronovo is an Associate Professor of English at the University of Miami, but he is soon to be Director of American Studies. He works in English and American Studies and often integrates both subjects into his courses. "I teach American Studies and English, so I'll do courses on American Popular Culture in the 19th and 20th Centuries," be said, "I'm doing one next semester called 1870-1920: Literature and Democracy.'' He has also published several books, of which the best known is Fathering that was caused by a migration from rural dangerOllS environments areas to urban areas. This resulted in a lack of role models in the family to tell kids that mentioned were ''college and Freedom. It is available in tbe New College library for all interested persons. However, Castronovo's talk was based on a new book, which he is finishing and hopes to publish soon, called Necro America. The lecture was thick with information and packed with quotes from Ralph Waldo Emerson, Michel Foucault, and other 19th-century philoso phers and social critics. A main theme, which ran throughout the lecture, was the concept of self-reliance. Castronovo separated his talk into two parts. Part one of the lecture cov ered Castronovo's notion of the body politic. He attempted to contrast the popular conception of Emerson's self-reliance with the image of a strong masturbatory being. He displayed three slides used in the 19th Century to show how the masturbator, a cartoon square-faced white male, could do great harm to himself by undertaking in free masturbation. Castronovo character ized the first slide as "anti-bourgeois lassitude." The second slide showed a wide eyed man, and was used to connected masturbation with over-stimulat . context of 19th century America. One slide showed the typical masturbating family as decrepit, weak, lethargic, and sloppy. This slide was contrasted with the next slide that showed the masturbation-free family, depicted as impeccably fashionable, upright; proud, and energetic. Castronovo's work sometimes intersects with contemporary politics. He mentioned some of the topics that particularly concern him: "One thing l am very concerned about is our governor Jeb Bush's plan to do away with affir mative action. It seems sort of two feet apart, but the thought that affirmative action harms white people--and thinking about how race works then in the 19th Century can help us ask how we want to evaluate what sort of concerns we want to manifest about Jeb's plan. Say to gay rights agendas or civil rights agendas--those are things that what I hope they do is make us think about some of the 19th Century achievements and failures of equality, and how can they make us look at the failures and achievements of the 20th and 21st Centuries." Tibetan Nuns prove to be savvy fundraisers, as well as performers FROM "NUNS" ON PAGE J wind instrument and wooden horns. Each individual dance lasted approxi mately 10 to 15 minutes, all "excerpts" according to Newman, who said, "the only changes were that some of the dances could [last longer]." After about an hour, there was an intermission explicitly to allow the au dience to visit the gifl table outside. "Since this is a fund raising tour," Tsnela told the audience, "we invite you to do your Christmas shopping with us." Judging by the apparently brisk sales., a plethora of Tibetan paraphernalia will soon be appearing on campus. The performance lasted another hour after intermission. One longish fea ture was a Tibetan formal debate, in which three nuns spoke extremely rapidly, gesturing intensely and making loud cracking sounds with instru ments they were holding. Tsnela, who had explained the nature of philosophical point beforehand, joking said afterward "I hope you under stood that completely." Newman, who knows the Tibetan language, said that it was a highly abridged debate; in actuality, it could continue for hours, with Fund raising is crucial to preserving the monastery, which preserves tra ditions that are highly persecuted in Tibet, now occupied by the People' Republic of China. Many of the nuns, Newman said, fled from Tibet on foot, a dangerous journey that many die on. Tsnela described the tour as "a form of cultural preservation" and to expose people to the Tibetan cause. First-year Rebecca Wood had mixed feelings about the event. "I thought it was neat," she said, "But it felt weird that these rituals that were supposed to be sacred, we were applauding to, as if it was a perfonnance." "I thought it covered a lot of aspects," Newman said. "Anybody who sat through it would see it's a complex process difficult to get across." The nuns' tour, now near its conclusion, started in March. Although their purpose in touring was to raise money, Newman, a Tibetan Buddhist himself, has a connection to this group. "I knew them," he said. 'One of my first teachers in Nepal founded this convent." Newman thanked the students who helped him set up the event and the SAC for providing the $3,000 speaking fee.

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s The catalvst Entertainment November 17.1999 Kevin Smith gives birth to newest bastard child: Dogma Dogma lacks stink palms, but offers a new perspective on a really old topic: organized religion. by Nikki Kostyun not aware that their reentry will contradict religious axioms and thus "negate From Quik Stop convenience store clerk to View Askew Productions exall existence." Ironically enough it becomes the job of abortion clinic worker ecutive, Kevin Smith navigated American youth and Gen Xers through a Bethany (Linda Fiorentino looking very old and dirty) to embark on a holy comedic cultural cross section with his New Jersey trilogy, and has now tackcrusade to save humankind from being wiped out by a couple of cocky an Jed the most delicate of subjects with his newest creation, Dogma, all without gels. leaving the town of Redbank. From the start we experience signature Kevin Smith anecdotes as well as Dogma, a more or less religious commentary that focuses on Catholicism, logical arguments that lead to ridiculous conclusions. Jay and Silent Bob, has elicited the most passionate responses from lovers and haters alike, even unaware that they are prophets sent to aid Bethany, rant on the atrocities that before the movie's release. It has been regarded as a mockery, a disgrace, a John Hughes and his Shermer, Illinois movies brought to the 80s. The fallen blasphemous attack on the sacred doctrine of Catholicity, and at the same angels Bartelby and Loki use pragmatic arguments about the story of the time been praised for its wit and comic genius. For purposes of enjoying and Walrus and the Carpenter to convince a nun that atheism is the way to go. reviewing this movie I had to reconcile my strict religious beliefs and The 13th Apostle, played by Chris Rock, explains his exclusion from faith, or lack thereof, in order to present the most objective view the Bible and reveals the true ethnicity of Jesus Christ. These moon a subjective topic. ments constitute the classic random banter and screwy logic Let us review the experience. that elevated Smith's previous films to the cult classics that T minus 11 hours. I embark on a venture 'cross the plains '" they are. How does one cope with a lack of intelligent disof Sarasota to purchase tickets for my band of eager moviecussion about the Man of Steel's sperm or the status held by goers. For some reason, those educated box office clerks a comic book tracer? give you quite a hassle when you have eight student IDs, $35 I'll tell you how. You eat your JuJu Bees and move on cash and a debit card. Not to mention some mystery ticket with the rest of the movie. stub signed by "Francis" which can somehow be redeemed for Have no fear View Askew fans, Dogma still holds true to another movie ticket because the projector fell over during Fight its New Jersey roots. The story links to former characters and is Club. set in the town of Redbank. Dante Hicks' apparent triplet, Grant T minus 10 hours 30 minutes. I arrive back to Novo "Buddy Christ" prevails as Hicks (Brian O'Holleran), cameos as a news caster, while Collegian Land, 10 tickets in hand and visions of cookie eater-the new marketable Steve-Dave (Bryan Johnson) and Fanboy (Walt Flanagan) ies dancing in my head. Catholic icon in Dogma. again turn up as minor extras. Jeff Anderson, who played the T minus 1 hour. Eight of my closest friends and one outHe's your pal. hermaphroditic porn-watching clerk Randal Graves in Clerks, sider mill around my room, sporting a bottle of Polish vodka and complaints reappears and graduates to the status of Gun Salesman. of "why the hell are we leaving so godamn early?" We divide and conquer, The remainder of this review will not be devoted to plot essence or the piling into two Hondas, headed for the Promised Land on Fruitville Road. roles of other notable actors (Salma Hayek, George Carlin, Alanis T minus 30 minutes. An enormous line formed behind us, mostly conMorrisette, Jeneane Garafalo, Jason Lee). ll will a\so not tel\ you sisting of high school unks and NC students all awaitin the 12:15 am Dogma com letely satirizes and mocks the Christian (ai.th, 'oecause \hat lS showi'ng' of Dogma. Told ya not what Dogma does. Cut through all the red tape, the bloody T minus 10 minutes. Almost all of us remam seated m one Jess-than-Jolly horny potheads, the pro-choice advocacy, and what you. are left 18 Smith's' interpretation of organized religion, belie. fs and __ Jf anythmg, row in a theater full of boys in black trench coats. 1 t mpt Dogma would be an inspiration to seeking spmtua I y, or a e The journey begins. ing to resolve his own religious What is this? A plot? "Dogma: a doctrine or body of doctnnes concernmg fa1th or morals forA couple of renegade angels, played by popular cute (yes are mally stated and authoritatively by a boys Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, have found a lD Heavens Dogma: a highly anticipated feature fJim that genumely tackles morals, entry/reentry rules, which would allow them to to JOY they were banned from so many millennia ago. Elated by thetr new dtscovery, they are faith, and anal retention. Save time, money and vomit bags: don't see The The movie tortures audiences with ineffectual acting, unnecessary violence, and a horrzble scrzpt. by Mario Rodriguez With that extra $ .25 they've begun chargmg stu.dcnt_s, Regal Cinemas' Hollywood 20 should try investmg m some vomit bags. f The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc is a travesty o the film industry. I left the theater embarrassed. Not was it boring, it was so cheesy and poorly acted out that ll became physically painful to watch. Beautiful Milia Jovovich, quivering her way thr?ugh the annals of history, makes Joan of Arc look more hke a character out of Pokemon than France's most revered herome. h & d ng t e Jovovich was Director Luc Besson s w11e un filming though so we can't place too much blame on her. d wanThe problem is more pointless battle sequences an ton decapitation. The insipid rattled off as If one were watching a high school productiOn. This $64 million fiasco falls back on Hollywood !or mulas, where recent films like Fight Club, Amencan Beauty and Being John Matkovich soar. Messenger have some jolting transitions, arresting d1g1tal sequences and plays Joan of Arc, in the poorly constructed movie The Messenger. an interesting soliloquy by Dustin Hoffman, though, all of which play with conventional notions of a linear plot. Hoffman portrays Joan's conscience and Fay Dunaway is Charles VII's plotting step-mother. Both are wasted on this movie. As for Charles the VII, someone else must have been impersonating the usually mesmerizing John Matkovich. The film's laborious pace led one critic to liken it to being screamed at for 2 1/2 hours. That would have been more exciting. Even the fighting was unfocused to !he point of boredom. I would have expected more action director Besson, whose works include The Pro[esswnal: After a dull hour of close-ups on Jovovich s trembling lips, meant to pass as psychological drama,_ I hoped. Besson would at least close the movie well, but mstead 1t ended with a poor rip off of Carmina If you really have a craving for the hfe and ttmes o_f of Arc, please avoid this movi.e. try Home s newly released and restored v1deo ver. n of Dreyer s 1928 The Passion of Joan of Arc.

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. ----,.,.------6 The Catalyst News November 17. 1999 NCSA e l ections bring hope of a golden age to Student Court The elected officials are eager to augment Student Court and maintain the success of the SAC. by Max Campbell score," Ruby added. From the wise Student Court Justice to the Also elected to the Student Court this term benevolent Student Activities Committee (SAC) were first-year Amanda Kennedy and second-year representative, it is our beloved NCSA officials Adrienne Winney, to both of whom Ruby declared whom we depend upon to protect our interests and his full support, despite the fact that he had not advance the quality of student life on campus. met either one at the time of the interview. Fortunately for us all, New College's fall elections Kennedy explained that her own motivation in have left us with a fine selection of politicians, and running for a position as Justice came from her de the promise of a golden age of political reform, sire to take part in New College's student fiscal responsibility and moral ambivalence. government: "I wanted to get involved with the "Moral ambivalence" is the key phrase used by NCSA, but not especially with the SAC positions Ben Ruby, a New College second-year and the on campus." Having served on such bodies as the Managing Editor for the Catalyst, when describStudent Council in her high school years, ing his glorious election as a Justice on the Kennedy said that she found the Student Court Student Court. Ruby characterized his philosophy Justice position particularly attractive because it as one of leniency: "Not for something like somecoincides with her academic interests: "I thought one who was harassing another students, but for it would be a cool position, because I'm going to things like underage drinking and indecent expostudy law." sure." He expressed the belief that his term as The newly-elected Justice Kennedy admitted Justice would be a boon to the campus populace: to being somewhat surprised at her own electoral "I believe I will be able to fulfill this role given to victory: as a first-year, she said, "I hadn't expected me by the people of New College, and to act reanyone to know who I was." Still, now that she sponsibly ... and to make people feel freer to drink bas been catapulted into office by her successful and take off their clothes." poster campaign, which her friend Sarah Jane That said, Ruby went on to emphasize that, helped engineer, "Kennedy is very enthusiastic "the Student Court is not a joke-it's a resource to about her position." help students, especially in mediating difficulties, "I'm really pleased to be involved in every a nd I t h ink t h at's s o met h ing the students shou l d be thing," Kennedy explained, "I kind of felt out of aware. the l o op a nd n o w I can b e m o r e involve d in camAccording to Ruby, his path to power and inpus policy." .iJ" la t se ter' the cafeteria, when I decided that it would be a good idea to run for Student Court, because there were a Jot of issues to deal with. I started a peti tion, and 15 minutes later I was running for Student Court." First-year June Gwalthney, how ever, told the story a bit differently, saying that Ruby "became aware of how much power a Student Court Justice could wield," when asked to sign a petition for her own campaign for a Student Cou rt Justice p ositio n "I deny these allegations," Ruby responded I n the end, Ruby went on to defeat Gwalthney 62 to 60. Ruby credi t s his victory to his campaign policy of, "silence on all issues, and of not speak ing out on any policy, or reform, or anything that. might require people to go to a town meeting." Another important element which he cited was the fact that he voted for himself-"but I also voted for June, so I have no guilty feelings on that Court as "pretty disorganized," but noted that "as a first-year, "I don't know how it has changed from last year and how it should be changed." Winney, however, definitely has some ideas on that score, ''I think the fact that it hasn't met all se mester is a bad sign," she said, noting that "students who couldn't get Student Court to hear their case had to go to a higher court, off campus." Winney, who has never had a student govern ment position before, but bas worked in law offices and is familiar with legal situations, ex pressed her belief that the Student Court should meet on a weekly basis and her commitment to eeing it happen. She explained that, "I imagine that we can't technically do anything until January 1, when our terms start," but added that she hoped to "set up a few preliminary meetings with the other Justices before January, so we can be ready to go before the term starts." On the SAC front, the fall elections have seen the return of such notables as third-year represen tative Molly Robinson and fourth-year Jennifer Shaw, who won her reelection through a write in campaign. Robinson, who credits her own reelec tion to word of mouth, first received her SAC post two years ago, when she was appointed to replace someone who couldn't fill the position. "I think the SAC is important because it controls so much money: $58,000 a year," Robinson explained. With regard to allocations, she explained that, "I want to know that people have looked for other sources of money before they came to us, and that it will be something that can benefit the entire stu dent body-that's SAC policy." "It can't be too outlandish, or too expensive, like 'The Silversrnithing Guild,"' Robinson ex plained. Shaw, who bas held an SAC position twice be fore, during her first and third years at New College, was quick to express her satisfaction over the efforts and progress of that committee. "The SAC is more organized this semester than ever be fore," she explained. "We've budgeted our money into various categories and set caps on each type of allocation, so that we don't lose track of how much to fund for, say, a barbecue. These budgets are based on precedent: we looked at how other SACs h ave s p e n t m one y i n the p ast an d we learned from the trends." of inson added. "There's only one boy on the committee, and that's the way it should be." "Being on student government has connected me to this place, by making me realize how valu able the structure of students government is," Shaw said of her position. "Unfortunately, it has also made me aware of how little people seem in terested in being active in student government and influencing the course of New College's future. So many positions are left unfilled after the elections, and so many people run unopposed." For all of their convenience, after all, our NCSA officials don't just appear and elect them selves. Shaw pointed out that New College's student government relies on the students them selves: ''I don't think that more competition for office would be a good thing at New College, but having more people want to the ropes of ac tive citizenship WOUld be a great thing. II FAU studen ts co nt i nu e the fight for indepe n d ence IFROM "FAU" ON PAGE 1 I ..... ____________ ___, Affairs Joe Isadore stating that having two governments on the same campus would cause "tremendous confusion" and that the Honors College should share a government with the MacArthur commuter students. In or d er to ratify the constitution, three out of the four campus branch sen ates had to vote for the bilL Last week, the Boca campus voted, and due to lo b bying by Honors College students, they were one vote shor t of passing it. The Browa r d com m ute r campus then voted to ratify, and the MacArthur campus vo t ed not to. So, as of now, the h onors College is still technically a b le to set up their own branch of the government. T h eir fight is no t over yet however. The B oca senate is calling for a revote, and questioning the legit imacy of t he MacArthur cam p us vote. Turk wrote that Isadore said in a meeting in la t e October that "the ONLY REAS O N he wrote it to begin witb was because someone from USF in Sarasota told him [that]. .. having separate governments [causes] nothing but 'tremendous confusion' and constant fighting." Isadore has not responded to any e-mail about this. In her letter, Turk urged New College students to help the Honors College with this issue. She writes, "We think it would really help if someone from the NCSA would write a letter that explains why it's really important that you have an independent govemment....how effec t ive it is. how it would be different if you didn't have it, how it has helped.... I would like to send this letter to everybody involved in t h e FAU student gov ernmen t system." Turk can be reached via e-mail at St u rk401@aol.com. Fif t h-year NC s t udent Co r ey Yuska compared t he idea of not all owing the Honors Co ll ege its own sena t e to the Colonia l pro b lem of taxation without representat i on And as he put it: W e all know what happened to British lm perialism."

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7 The catalyst Opinion Editorial: ID cards don't scan What's blue, white and peel s at the edges? a book bag. We'll give you a clue: It's the same thing that The source of the problem is obvious. stops scanning two days after you ve had it reSomeone needs to buy the Business Office a placed. It's a student ID! We thought they higher quality ID making machine. Simply were supposed to last at least four years, not the fact that the lamination doe not extend four days. down the sides of the ID contributes to the Certainly not every student ID becomes ID' s capac ity for defectiveness. For the defective after four day s but if you stand we invest in student IDs, we have a in the cafeteria checkout line you will nght to expect an ID that can with s tand see a surprising number of peeling, more than a modicum of stress. In scratche?, and IDs. \ fact the price of IDs has accrued The detenorahon of these over the past five years, but the November 17, 1999 food cards h.as left the Catalyst edt-quality hasn't improved. tors hungry m the past, unable to access An important thing to remember about their dearly bought Marriott money. student IDs is that the $10 cost of purchas .-'<1'-"l ... J !W;y UH! i'llld MMC:arir. .,., r.toat&sctlroo Crll.". .;.1 Scrambled Egg Platter $3.20 T>n 1 wrl 1<:. < f t;,t \i(X}(f;r; I lam, l t'I\J h&-)1 We, at the Catalyst, apologize for any mistakes or misprints in the last i ss ue 1) We attend the University of South Florida (not Southern) 2) The Chancellor's memorandum, referred to in "Controversy overathletic fees escalates" article, did not come from the tr n anc or, am r e u i pr c Charles Reed. The memo came out of Reed's office in 1996, so it is not recent. Opinion: Listservs: what to do, what to do? by Kathryn Dow When the Clothesline Project came up, the New College listserv generated more frustrated traffic than US 41 at rush hour. Ten or so people were posting back and forth on-list, arguing about whether or not the Clothesline Project oppresses men, women, or other small mammals; meanwhile, at least five or so other peo ple were busy posting to the list about how they didn't want all this mail in their inbox. Not wanting to be in voluntarily subscribed to a mailing list is certainly understandable. I'm not thrilled about it myself, even though I am a listserv junkie. And from that perspective, I can safely tell you that even at its peak, the amount of mail generated by the New College listserv is negligible. It's not that hard to hit the delete key, kids. But enough of this rambling. Some students like the listserv as a place for discussion of issues of some rele vance to New College students. Some people see it as appropriate for announcements only. Some would rather tear their eyeballs out of their sockets with a grapefruit spoon than receive any e-mail from the Iistserv. Nonetheless, the listserv does seem to be a good way to disseminate news and announcements quickly, and if only important announcements were posted, most stu dents would probably learn to appreciate the list. The biggest problem with the current incarnation of the list, I feel, is that it was not explained at the outset. For such a forward-thinking institution, a remarkable number of students are not very familiar with e-mail beyond the snippet of understanding they need to write home to Mommy and Daddy to beg for more money to go see the Pokemon movie. Students with no knowledge of how listservs function were put on one that they could post messages to. Bad Idea. There was no intra explaining how the list works, and what was and wasn't appropriate to post. Worse Idea. So, step one is to make the current list announcement only, and have everything that is posted to it moderated, preferably by a student. That way, only serious an nouncements would be appearing unsolicited in student inboxes. Step two is to create a discussion list, where students can discuss everything from the new hours over at the Four Winds Cafe to the mandatory castration of frogs. Both lists need to have a form letter sent out at their inception, explaining how the list is run, how to un subscribe if they wish, and other useful things, such as "nettiquette." Once both lists were in place, ideally, all students would be subscribed to the moderated, announcement only list. The "reply-to" address for those posting would be the address of the discussion list. The best way to deal with this right now, then, is to make the current list a moderated, announcement-only list, and form a committee of students and faculty to cre ate and maintain the two separate lists. A campus mailing list or two could definitely be a valuable tool if executed correctly. So, who's on the committee? I'm raising my hand. Contribution Guidelines Letter to The Editor: A reader's response to previ \etters that is to be shared with the student body. Letters to the Editor should be no more than 250 words, and are not a forum for free advertising. Contribution: A factual article written by someone not on staff. Contributions should be informative and pertinent to the interests of New College students as a whole. Contributions may ran_ge in length from 25050Gwords. Guest Column: A so liCited OQinion piece. Guest columnists do not necessarily represent the views of the Catalyst, but rather opinions of which we feel the New College community should be made aware. Guest columns may range in length from 250-500 words. All submissions should be received by Friday at 5pm in order to appear in the next issue. -