Free Press March 2015

a binghamton media group publication

MARCH 2015

“They brought buses and packed them with beautiful and young girls.”

This is a statement made by Amu-sha, an elderly Yazidi woman whose daughter was abducted by members of ISIS, and whose voice goes un-heard in the fight against Islamic ter-ror organizations in the Middle East.

The voice of Amusha, along with two oth-er Yazidi women, can finally be heard in

a series of films known collectively as A Hell Like No Other, created by UN spe-cial envoy Angelina Jolie in partnership with the United Nations High Commis-sioner for Refugees (UNHCR). This series captures the stories of three young Ya-zidi women living in Iraq, stripped from their homes and stripped of their fami-lies by terror organizations that have been running rampant in the country. It provides much-needed input on behalf of those who have had their streets pum-

meled, their family members kidnapped, and their sons and daughters murdered -- sometimes right before their eyes. This, of course, is not to downplay the importance of the videos that we do see on the news regarding terrorism in the Middle East: victims of heinous crimes laying on the ground, hands behind their backs with guns pointed to their heads, or the ever-popular image of the recently identified “Jihadi John,” clad

The Right Angle to Human Rights

By MYCAH HAZELFree Press Contributor

continued on page 2

2 THE BINGHAMTON FREE PRESS | March 2015

in his signature all-black ensem-ble, eyes of hatred facing the cam-era, and a knife that has become a symbol of evil pointing to the lens. However, such images only gener-alize the victims of these crimes against humanity, reducing them to either a faceless being that cow-ers before terror groups or an or-ange jumpsuit that has become a symbol of death and defeat. Jolie’s films give voices and faces to the Iraqi people, from the mothers who worry for their children’s safety to even the youngest of daughters and sons, who describe the moment their family was taken from them with in-sight and precision that proves ter-ror truly blurs the barriers of age. Four-year-old Dilvian, for example, is far from unaware of the torment that occurs around her; she wit-nesses it in front of her very eyes. Held in captivity with her older sis-ter Sabreen for four months before the two bravely escaped, she de-scribes the torture she was forced to watch her sister endure: “I was cry-ing and begging him to stop,” says the little girl, speaking of the man who would electrocute her sister for an hour each day for those four months, “but he wouldn’t listen.” She also talks of yearning to let her dad know she loves him. Her father, along with many other men from her town, had been taken and shot

by members of “Daesh” (in these films, the term “Daesh” is used to refer to ISIS). This was just before she and her sister were taken pris-oner by members of the same group. These films are not for the purpose of generalizing those for whom fear, radical militancy, and constant warfare have become everyday oc-currences. Too often do we silence the voices of those who need help because we think that we’ve seen the same thing or heard the same complaint too much before. Howev-er, A Hell Like No Other is exactly what we should be paying attention to. This film is one of the few ways by which we can truly understand what these refugees go through and why their cause deserves our attention. We cannot subdue the growing problem that is Islamic terrorism overnight, and it is com-mon for many people to believe that films such as A Hell Like No Other ask for just that: immediate action. But that is not the purpose of such films. While these films call for aid both to refugees and countries as a whole, what they call for most is awareness. Becoming aware that these people do not deserve to be portrayed in the media as faceless and that they have stories worth our attention is a milestone in our society’s journey to finding the right angle to achieving human rights.

Continued from front cover

EDITORIAL BOARD

EMILY D’EMICPublisher and President

free pressthe

LORY MARTINEZEditor-In-Chief

JEREMY ISABELLAAssociate Editor, Layout

REGINA BELLCopy Editor

RALPHSUN NAYEMTreasurer

RAVI PRAKRIYABusiness ManagerMELISSA NEIRA

Photo Editor and Layout

The Binghamton University Free Press is a Student Association Chartered student-writ-ten and managed newspaper published by the Binghamton Media Group for the Binghamton

University community.

The editorial board of BMG has sole authority for the content of the newspaper. All inquiries

can be sent to [email protected].

No part thereof may be reproduced in any from, in whole or in part without the explicit written

consent of the Publisher.

Letter from the Editor: Print is Not Dead, But it Almost Was

There has been much talk about print being on its way out in the past few years. But there is something to be said for hav-ing that tangible item under your arm as you walk over to Jazzman’s to get a cup of coffee. Reading a newspaper or maga-zine is an experience, that, though a bit slower than scrolling, has its merits too. As such, we here at the Free Press have done our best to bring you engaging alternative media content in print for years.

But like many other publications on campus, we were hit hard by the shutdown of our local printer this past fall. As a work-around, we published the majority of our work online last se-mester. As Editor-In-Chief, it was tough to walk past our news-stand above the marketplace and see it bare.

I joined the FreeP my freshman year because it is a different kind of publication, one that gives writers the opportunity to be creative with their work. It’s a publication that celebrates the voices of young people with differing opinions, always leaving room to play with structure and narrative in a way that engag-es readers in new and interesting ways.

And it’s in print. I’ve always been a sucker for print. It’s this

tangible thing you can take home and save, or cut out an article or artwork from, because it inspires you. It’s this item covered in words, thoughts and feelings that belong to both writer and reader in the brief moments between coffee and class.

Now,we may not have been on the shelves, but we made it through our printer-less winter thanks to digital publishing. Our staff put forth some really cool op-eds about feminism, hip-sterism, art, music and all the things in between on our web-site: bufreepress.com.

And, truth be told, though our our hearts were always in print, we saved our publication and promoted the talents of our staff with the help of an online presence.

We spent a lot of time googling,facebook messaging and even calling to find ourselves a new printer and finally get back on the shelves next to the other great alternative news publica-tions on campus this week.

And so, it is with great pleasure that I present to you this March issue of the Binghamton University Free Press. Enjoy.

By LORY MARTINEZEditor-In-Chief


Hello Cupid, Where’s The Love?By RACHEL FREEDMANFree Press Contributor

“First best is falling in love. Second best is being in love. Least best is falling out of love. But any of it is better than never having been in love.” – Maya Angelou

“You know you’re in love when you can’t fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.” – Dr. Seuss

I guess I understand why over a million searches occurred this past Valentine’s Day weekend with love quotes like these waiting to be read. If I received a card filled with lovey-dovey words, there would only be dirty thoughts in my mind. Though I think that is the hopeless romantic stirring within me, yearning for the day her Prince Charm-ing will come and sweep her off her feet. I know it is 2015 and many wom-en say they do not need a man to be happy – myself included – but wouldn’t it be nice to have someone love you that much?

However, that is my problem with Val-entine’s Day: it set me up for romantic failure. My mom always told me that Valentine’s Day was created so Hallmark could make a profit. Why else would there be a reason to exchange candy hearts in the first grade? There was certainly no boy at that age which I loved or I wanted to “be mine” when I could not even comprehend long division. Although, I real-ized from a young age the importance of finding someone to love you: in my mind it would be a person to call your own, to be with forever, and to have every Valentine’s Day.

Is it wrong, then, to have a day to appreciate the significant other in your life? At first, one would probably say no; however, with further thought, shouldn’t we express our love as much as possible? If you love someone, then show your love everyday. I think we all can pick a random day dur-ing the week and surprise the significant other in our lives. Perhaps you

can make dinner, go to the movies, or sit and talk over wine. The time, appreciation, and effort is what counts. I think those random moments mean more than the box of chocolates, bouquet of roses, or big teddy bear; but that might be the hopeless romantic talking in me.

I would love to share my days with a tall, dark and handsome man; unfortunately, he does not seem to be in my cards in the near future. It

is a good thing, however, that I have amazing friends, especially for Valentine’s Day. My friends and I may have wanted boyfriends for a notably romantic day, but I can honestly say that spending the day with them made me for-get about my lack of a love life. We spent the entire day watching movies, talking about our lives, and eating hordes of junk food. I real-ized that there are different kinds of love in our lives.

I will always want a man in my life, but until then I have my best friends. I can accept be-ing single, because my friends understand me for who I am. I tell them everything, we do it all together, and they only judge me when I deserve it. That is how I know I would be

lost without them, and would want no one else but them. If that is not the greatest kind of love, then I do not know what is. Go love your best friend! Whether it is your roommate, sibling, or even your cat, spread the love. As long as you are content, do not let a holiday make you feel oth-erwise. If Valentine’s Day turns out to be wonky, love is always around.

God made us best friends because no mother could handle us as sisters. – Google

A best friend is someone who when you show up at their door with a dead body they say nothing, grab a shovel and follow you. – Someecards

Ever wanted to tell your professor what you really think about that required reading? Well you can live vicariously through me as I do my homework and spout my deepest, darkest thoughts that I barely withhold in class. This is HONEST BOOK REVIEWS by Sydney Fusto.

I am not going to lie, the second I am required to read a book for class I immediately lose any and all interest in its subject matter whatsoever. I guess it must be the psychol-ogy of being told to do something that makes me feel such resentment. I have read plenty of sub-par novels in my spare time, and yet I did so without any sense of begrudg-ing or resistance. Having to read suddenly takes all the enjoyment out of reading, and then instead of a riveting classic I might as well be reading a telephone book from the late 90s. In Sanskrit.

The requirement of book reports also zaps all the life out of the novel. It puts an enormous pressure upon reading the book because now you have to read not for your own sake,

HONEST BOOK REVIEW: The Virginian by Owen Wister

By SYDNEY FUSTOFree Press Contributor


but for the sake of passing. The focus shifts from the essence of the story to the anxiety of finishing the book in time to pass. So, what I have attempted to achieve in this column is an honest take on my feelings about a required book for one of my classes. The book is called The Virginian and I actual-ly have a paper on it coming up terrifyingly soon. What fol-lows are my personal thoughts on the novel and, for the sake of my own GPA, will definitely not be appearing anywhere in my report.

This book, as its namesake suggests, is about a cowboy living in Wyoming in the 1800s who is known to everyone simply as The Virginian. Why? Excellent question: because he was born in Virginia. Even from the get-go I am sensing a lack of creativity. I would have gone with something slightly more eye-grabbing, like the Blue Ridge Mounter (Get it? He mounts horses and also the Blue Ridge is a mountain range in Virginia? Well, it’s better than just stating the obvious!)

The narrator is a silly character who is traveling to the West and frankly has absolutely no business being there. The Virginian is assigned to be this poor creature’s guide and all-around babysitter until he can escort the narrator to the home of a man called the Judge, who the narrator will be liv-ing with during his Western adventure and is the employer of the Virginian. The narrator runs around like an imbecile, shooting willy-nilly at gophers and attempting to reason with rattlesnakes, while the stoic Virginian looks on until his presence becomes absolutely crucial to the survival of the absurd narrator. But, the strange thing about this narra-tor is that he remains central to the story as a character in the beginning, then suddenly disappears into thin air while continuing to narrate the story. His physical presence as an eyewitness returns only once in the very middle of the book, then disappears into omnipotence.

After the narrator’s storyline disappears into thin air, the plot becomes an excruciating love story between the Virgin-ian and a young woman named Molly. Molly is a highly educated, pretty little thing with a yearning for adventure outside her suffocating well-to-do family from Vermont. She travels on her own to a godforsaken backwater in Wyoming

to be a school teacher. It is here she meets the Virginian.It is crucial to note that the Virginian is attractive. But he isn’t just handsome, he’s cover-of-a-smutty-grocery-store-romance-novel handsome. Even the male narrator has to take a moment to collect himself when describing his painful good looks. The Virginian immediately falls head over heels for Molly, who’s a bit too smart for her own good. This court-ship, which spans THREE YEARS by the way, makes you want to rip your own eyelashes out. Not because it’s boring, oh no. It is because The Virginian is written as literally the most perfect male specimen. He’s rugged, strong, tall, kind, honest, and devastatingly handsome. The Virginian even be-gins to read Shakespeare and Jane Austen and practice his penmanship as an excuse to keep seeing Molly. He trains a horse and gives it to her, and the entire time Molly just pre-tends she doesn’t notice and is barely impressed. The ma-jority of the book was just me internally screaming at Molly for the absurdity in her seemingly unmerited rejection of the John Wayne prototype throwing himself at her feet. But granted, if there was some dark, handsome, talented man with an irresistible Southern drawl reading my favorite au-thors and calling me beautiful and amazing, I would wonder what was up too. I would probably keep turning around to see the girl he must be talking to behind me. Guys like that don’t just happen, and when they do, there’s usually a catch. Most likely, psychopathy. But nope, not here. The Virgin-ian is as 100 percent as they come. His genuine tenderness towards Molly makes you want to be sick it’s so goddamn beautiful. It got to a point where I was in Bartle eating cook-ies from Jazzman’s, shedding tears and hysterically yelling into my paperback, “Girl, just let go! Take a chance and open your heart, he loves you!” Things were beginning to get out of hand, and I quickly removed myself from the Fine Arts collection.

All in all, the book as a whole was certainly not the worst or most boring piece of literature I have ever read. In fact, I actually liked it. I give this novel solid 6 out of 10. If you’re down to read about outrageously sexy cowboys with a heart of gold, go for it.

Now about that paper...

Boyhood did not win Best Picture at the Oscars this year, and I’m honestly a little shocked considering how big ev-eryone’s boner for this movie was. I’ll admit I cried when I saw the trailer. It seemed so beautiful and unique to me. It sucks that the trailer was infinitely better than the actual movie. I’m just going to say this right now: Boyhood was just a straight-up bad movie. And I know what you’re thinking, “it took twelve years to make!” but, and hear me out, just because it took a long time to film doesn’t necessarily mean

it’s good.

Ok, yes, I think it’s really cool that the director, Richard Linklater, would attempt something of this magnitude. I do think it’s super important to recognize innovative ideas in the often overly-redundant film industry (how many more Marvel movies are they going to roll out?), and it is obvious that Linklater cared a lot about this project, otherwise he wouldn’t have spent over a decade working on it. That be-

By ASHLEY LIEBERMANFree Press Contributor

Why Boyhood Didn’t Win Best Picture


ing said, the fact that it was filmed over the span of twelve years was really the only remotely interesting thing about the whole movie, and to be honest it got pretty old once the protagonist, Mason, became a bullshit-spewing teenager.

Although the film spanned over twelve years I can safely say that nothing happened, absolutely nothing. The longer I sat watching Boyhood the more I prayed for some sort of horrific tragedy to occur. I’m not crazy for thinking something terri-ble would happen either. Considering how poorly the effects of alcohol are portrayed throughout the film and how often Patricia Arquette, Mason’s mom, reminds him to wear a seatbelt, it almost seemed like Linklater was foreshadowing a car accident. He had the perfect opportunity while Mason was driving his girlfriend to his sister’s college. After one of Mason’s more pretentious rants about how he refused to live life behind a cellphone screen, his girlfriend playfully shoves her phone in his face in order to show him a picture of a pig (I really wish I was joking). Mason takes his eyes off the road for an uncomfortably long amount of time to do exactly what he just spent ten minutes ranting about, but instead of causing an accident there are simply no consequences for Mason and the couple arrives un-scathed at a bar with his sister. This kind of constant teas-ing happens multiple times throughout an almost three hour long film.

Of course not all movies need melodrama to be good, in fact I usually prefer it that way. But if you’re going to have no ac-

tion, nothing for the viewer to be invested in, you should at least have strong characters. But again, this is lacking from Boyhood. By the end of the film Mason, the character who we followed for nearly twelve fucking years is completely unlike-able. Once a pretty average kid, he transforms into a preten-tious philosophizing douche, almost everything that comes out of his mouth sounding like he just read Catcher in the Rye for the first time and didn’t understand any of it. Grow-ing up is hard and uncomfortable, I get that, I was annoying too, and that would be ok if we had seen Mason grow up and make these changes, but we don’t. We see him as a child and then almost overnight he becomes a teenager. The only truly fascinating character was the mother and it’s unfortunate that we only see her through the eyes of her son. It seemed like she had a lot going on and had actual facets to her per-sonality but we never learn more about them.

Twelve years is a long time to work on a movie, but I’m real-ly curious to know what they did for all that time. It doesn’t really seem like there was a set script or idea for what the film was supposed to be. I don’t think simply watching some random, unlikeable kid grow up is enough for me to care or like the movie. Long-running television shows do basically the same thing as Boyhood except there’s usually a story-line. I’m glad that Boyhood was made, I really am, because I think it will inspire other filmmakers to attempt new ideas of their own, and hopefully do a better job of it.

The Top 10 Tweets of 2015, So Far

These select 10 tweets have officially been declared by me, Regina Bell, Girl That’s Good At Laughing at Tweets and Occasionally Making Funny Ones But Not Much Else, to be the best 10 tweets of 2015 (so far):

By REGINA BELLCopy Editor



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Free Press March 2015