The Knothole: Volume 68, Issue 2

FREE www.facebook.com/esfknothole Wednesday, October 30, 2013 Volume 68, Issue 2

• halloween • horror • BEEF •• om • acid • dogs • diwali • spooky •

Happy Halloween

2 • THE KNOTHOLE • Student Life & The Environment

Letter From The EditorDear Readers, I hope this semester is treating you well. I know it has been pretty hectic here on campus with midterms just over and finals starting to loom in the distance but keep your head on straight and persevere. We have a great issue here for your squishy grey matter to devour. A cross section of the minds of the very brightest on our campus sliced fresh and delivered here on our pages. Juicy morsels of words and sentences (and even some pictures) to quench that hunger growing deep inside you, and yes I know, I have the hunger as well. The ceaseless desire to consume every bit of information, to gobble down any stray fact, to maw on even the slightest of unknowns. Don’t restrain yourself, give in to the urge, become part of the horde. The student horde, the mindless thinkers, we are the future zombies, and this forsaken world will be our hunting grounds. Our kind will flourish, so long as there is more to learn and a universe full of mysteries, our hunger will never die. So have a snack on our new issue. The center spread is on all things festively Autumn, but we have much more. Continuing our tradition from last year Nick has given us the scoop on the best, and worst, horror movies to watch. As well we have the return of a much-loved piece from last time, The College Carnivore, teaching us that we don’t need pumpkins for a festive jack-o-lantern. New to this issue is on our penultimate page, a little interactive fun for ya, try out the Halloween flavored word search. Take a break, you probably deserve it, procrastinate a little with our newest issue and most of all, stay hungry for more knowledge.

-Love, Gavin Cohen, Co-managing editor.

Inside Issue #:

In The Know..................................................3 Haloweenie..................................................4Bringing Hapiness Back................................5Deeper Thoughts...........................................6Outlands......................................................7Spooky Spectacles.....................................8-9Baby, Its Cold Outside.................................10Scared Straight............................................11Mixing Bacon & Style.................................12Articles Cont’d.......................................13-14Tricks No Treats...........................................15Mindspill....................................................16

The views and opinions expressed are those of the writers only and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the publication’s staff or anyone affiliated with the State University of New York College of Environmental Science & Forestry.

The mission of The Knothole is to provide its readers with

writings that are both stimulating and contemporary: to inform its students of clubs, events, and off-campus happenings, to challenge a world driven by progress to uncover the truth about current environmental policies and innovations, and to express such ideas, ingeniously and collectively. We are not a newspaper; we are not a magazine; we are not The Daily Orange. We are simply created by Stumpies, for Stumpies... and we like it that way.

is the State University of New York College of Environmental Science & Forestry’s exclusive monthly student publication. The contents of the publication include recent and upcoming event coverage, interviews, editorials, opinion articles, political cartoons, artwork, poetry, club announcements, and much more. SUNY-ESF students are able to make submissions at The Knothole office in 12d Bray Hall (BraySpace) or by email at [email protected] before 5:00PM on Fridays the week after Issue meetings.

Co-Managing EditorsGavin CohenMeg Callaghan

Layout & DesignGabrielle Alper

Liane DeRosaConn Fraser

TreasurerHui Lin

Editorial StaffEmily Adams

Yocasta PichardoJennifer Louie

Corie BoolukosAdvisorKaren Moore

PrinterScotsman Press

The Knothole meets every other Friday at 5:30 pm in the basement of Bray Hall. If you are interested in attending, please send us an email at [email protected] so we can expect you!

THE KNOTHOLE

Cover Photo: Gabrielle Alper, 2014

Student Life & The Environment • THE KNOTHOLE • 3

Minamata Convention sparks nations to set legally binding mea-sures to curb mercury pollution On Oct. 10, the United Nations Environmental Program and member nations, meeting in Kumamoto, Japan, adopted the Minamata Convention on Mercury, according to the BBC. The in-ternational treaty is designed to protect human and environmental health from anthropogenic, or human-caused, mer-cury emissions. The convention declares that all signatories must create measures within each country to decrease mer-cury pollution. Tenants of the treaty include the agreement of phasing out certain commercial products contain-ing mercury by 2020, as well as new regulations on industry. On the day of adoption, 86 countries and the European Union all signed the treaty, while five more coun-tries have signed since then. The treaty will enter into force 90 days after it has been ratified by 50 nations. This treaty is the culmination of four years of international negotia-tions on mercury pollution.

Federal government shutdown closes slew of science, nature and environmental pro-grams As the United States legislative branch could not come to agreement on this year’s fiscal budget, federal depart-ments have been shut down as of Oct. 1. All “non-essential” positions in those

departments have been furloughed, or

sent home without pay. While it is most likely that many, if not all, furloughed workers will receive retroactive pay when the shutdown comes to a close, currently some of the hardest hit departments include the Environmental Protection Agency and NASA. Roughly 94 percent of the EPA and 97 percent of NASA’s workforce has been furloughed, according to the New York Times. Other areas closed include the National Parks system and the Nation-al Zoo.

Euclid bike lane: ren-ovation possible in fu-ture In Syracuse, talks have been proposed to renovate bicycle lanes on Euclid Avenue. Current bicycle lanes on the street, a major hub between Syracuse University and the State University of New York College of Environmen-tal Science and Forestry campuses to many students, faculty and staff hous-ing in the University Neighborhood and close by Westcott Neighborhood. Many commuters, including a large number of cyclists, find that the current bicycle lanes are insufficient for the high traffic area. Presently, the bike lanes are mixed with on-street parking. Cycling to work and school has many positive effects, not only on the cyclists’ health, but also in the reduced consumption of fossil fuels by taking an alternative transportation mode than automobiles or buses. Residents and commuters in the area are asked to voice opinions on the issue at hand, communicating to the universities and local government in the area. Public support for reno-vation must be garnered before any changes will be made.

Environmental NewsMeg Callaghan, 2014

In the Know

Mercury polltuion is not only detrimental to our environment, but also to human health. Credit: Cornerstonemag.net

Current bike lanes on Euclid Ave. dual as parking lanes. Credit: Drew Gamils


Do you want to hear a spooky fac-toid? We are currently closer to

the end of this semester than we are to its beginning! This may frighten many of you but be not afraid—you have time to put in some more work! Keep in mind: “all work and no play make Jack a dull boy.” Have you fallen into the same mundane routine, dragging yourself to class each day and moving from homework assignment to lab re-port like a lifeless zombie? Well there is ample opportunity to add some vari-ety into the mix—with some Halloween activities, of CORPSE (prepare yourself for some wacky and quite frankly, hys-terical puns). Haven’t had the time to pro-cure a terrifying Halloween costume yet? “Be yourself. Be someone else. Be

who you want to be,” proclaims Dough-erty’s Masquerade, a Halloween su-perstore just twelve minutes from the SUNY ESF campus. In this extensive costume coliseum you can find a variety of garments to suit any wacky idea you

may have for any outfit. Be a pirate. Be Voldemort. Be Heisenberg-be the dan-ger! Secure a Halloween costume and go pull some tricks and get some treats! Impress everyone at a party with your realistic Gandalf costume! Is dressing up not your thing? Not to worry—there are a variety of happy haunts around the Syracuse area WITCH are sure to rattle your bones and send a ghostly shiver down your spine. Haunted houses, trails, and hay-rides are available through Halloween and the first weekend of November that appeal to kids, adults, and college stu-dents alike. The Abandoned-Canastota Fire Department Haunted House has been running its haunted attraction throughout October, but has one last event on October 31st for the public. For $10 (bringing a canned good gives you a two dollar discount!), you can try your luck with “The Abandoned”. Leg-end has it that a family of outcasts in the area terrorizes the night, and this haunted center will bring you face-to-

face with them! Also hosting one final event on October 31st is the Haunted Forest Halloween attrac-tions center. Lo-cated in William-stown, New York, this spectacle may be a bit of a drive but is well worth it. A walking tour through the for-est called “The Dark Harvest,” a haunted hayride, and a bonfire are the three chilling components of this thrilling ad-

venture, which includes a new “hearse ride.” The name suggests the precise nature of this crowd puller, wherein you can pay to take a drive in a hearse. It’s to DIE for. One more opportunity to scare

your pants off can be found in the Nightmare Woods of Port Byron. Run-ning through Halloween and until No-vember 2nd, this haunted trail prom-ises to be one of the scariest attractions in Central New York. A percentage of your admission goes towards children battling cancer, and at $10, you’ve got yourself a bargain! Mystery surrounds Syracuse’s Landmark Theater, the premier per-forming arts center on South Salina Street. While the previously noted Halloween spooks are only available for a few days at the end of this Octo-ber and the beginning of this Novem-ber, the supposedly haunted theater is open year-round. There’s thought to be a handful of ghosts who dwell in the historic building, sighted by patrons and thrill-seekers on many occasions. Who knows—maybe investigating into these occurrences could yield your own personal, X-Files-worthy encounter! Keeping in mind that there’s a limited amount of time to get your spooky on this October and November, all of these events will surely shock you, make you shiver, and ensure that you have one of the most strikingly stupefying and phantasmagorical Halloweens ever!

For more information on any of the aforementioned locations, please visit:

http://www.cfhauntedhouse.com/in-dex.html

http://www.doughertys.net/

http://thehauntedforestcny.com/

https://www.facebook.com/portby-ron.hauntedwalk?fref=ts&ref=br_tf

http://syracusehauntedattractions.blogspot.com/2013/09/nightmare-woods-of-port-byron.html

Let’s Get Spooky!Cyndi Jacobson, 2017

Halloweenie

The Haunted Forest in Williamstown, NY delivers an event to die for. Credit: http://thehauntedforest-cny.com/


Diwali: A Hindu HolidayJennifer Louie, 2015

The Black and Tan Coonhound, first bred in the early 1700s, is a very

beautiful breed. Its bold black body is colored orange, or a deep tan, in the legs and muzzle. It’s a strong breed, used primarily for tracking and tree-ing raccoons. They are characterized by their deep chests, long legs, and long ears that are the same length through-out their lives. High energy and very de-voted to their hunting sport, the breed has a tendency to be aloof and seem-ingly unfriendly to strangers. Because of their aloofness, they aren’t necessar-ily the best breed to have with children who want a lot of attention from their dog. In terms of being a pet, the Black and Tan makes an excellent house dog. Although stubborn, they are incredibly intelligent and catch on to things very quickly. Like most coon-hounds, though, they will test their

handler to see how serious he or she disciplines. They occasionally resort to silliness to get away from having to do any work, and from this, have fit into the “hound dog” stereotype very well. If given enough exercise and a job to do, they are wonderful in the home. However, with-out the proper exercise, the hound will pace and be somewhat dif-ficult to deal with. They are playful in their p u p p y h o o d , but grow out of it as they mature. They require little to no grooming and have few health problems.

Dog Breed Spotlight: Black and Tan CoonhoundAshley Huehn, 2017

Diwali, the brightest and most colorful of Hindu

holidays, is typically celebrat-ed in October or November, depending on the Hindu lu-nisolar calendar. This year, the five-day festival of lights commences on November 3rd. In ancient India, Diwali was an opportunity to cel-ebrate the last harvest of the year. Although there are vari-ous legends associated with the festival across the Indian subcontinent, the common thread among all interpreta-tions of Diwali concerns the victory of good over evil. The festival is filled with bustle: cleaning the home, donning new colorful

clothes, exchanging gifts of sweets and dried fruit, preparing elaborate meals, decorating with fancy lights, and set-ting off fireworks and firecrackers. Small clay oil-filled lamps illuminate homes and businesses to welcome Lak-shmi, the goddess of wealth Doors and windows are left open so that Lakshmi can enter the premises. You have a chance to sample Diwali here on campus: The Baobab Society is hosting a Diwali celebration extravaganza on November 2nd, Satur-day evening, in Nifkin Lounge. There will be free food, music, crafts, henna, dance performances and more! For more details, follow facebook.com/TheBaobabSociety for updates.

Doesn’t it just make your heart melt? Image Credit: www.adoggiein-thewindow.com (both)

Bringing Happiness Back


A discussion of culture is an inter-esting and sensitive one to have. I

spent this weekend at the South East Wise Women’s Herbal Conference in Black Mountain, NC. It was a week-end full of insightful discussions and workshops on holistic lifestyle choices. One discussion that took place was one about culture and identity. There were women of all dif-ferent ethnic and socioeconomic back-grounds gathered together. A beautiful woman native to Africa named Ola-tokunboh Obasi was the facilitator. She started the open dialogue on our simi-larities and differences, which caused several people’s emotions to surface, from pride, joy, and empathy to anger, resentment, jealousy and guilt. Little did I know, there is such tension when it comes to diversity. There were many women that did not know their family’s history. Some women displayed jealousy to-wards those who knew their history.

There were women who displayed re-sentment towards those who have the privilege to travel and find their own niche in a different community aside from their own ethnic background. Two women displayed anger because of how people that are ignorant toward diversity act in their presence; smelling their hair, asking where they are from, or asking when they come to the coun-try. Many white women displayed guilt and apologized for their ancestor’s ac-tions. While this discussion was tak-ing place, there seemed to be underly-ing racism and inequality happening as well. Resentment, anger and guilt are creating problems in our communities and within our selves. I believe that in order for us to move forward, we have to learn from the past rather than dwell on it. Our country has had a rough his-tory with racism and discrimination, but if we look at where we are today, there has been a significant change.

People from all over the world come to the States and bring their culture with them. We have food, rec-reational activities and more impor-tantly friends from various countries. I consider it to be a privilege to have grown up in New York City. I spent my youth surround by diversity, which has shaped me to create my own unique identity. I have pulled concepts from different cultures to figure out how I would like to view the world. In this discussion, I learned that it is hard to have a conversation about culture and not have our emo-tions surface. I learned that it is a very complex topic but it is an impor-tant one to have. It is something that is not spoken about often because of the sensitivity that it brings up. We even have a hard time communicat-ing about it properly because we don’t know how to talk about it. We are never

Uncovering the Truth Beyond Our SkinCayla Naranjo, 2014

Something to Meditate on: On the Origin of ‘Om’Emily Adams, 2014

If you’ve ever taken a yoga class, or you practice meditation, you’ve

probably heard ‘Om’. Om is a mantra, which is a word or phrase that is spo-ken repeatedly to focus and calm the mind. But why that word? What does it mean? If you ask ten different people, you’re likely to get ten very different answers, and this is because the word has a complicated meaning rooted deeply in Hinduism and simply cannot be summed up in just one or two sentences. ‘Om’ (also spelled ‘Aum’) is composed of three sounds: a-u-m, and the theme of ‘three’ is central to the meaning of the word. It represents the three worlds (the earth, the atmosphere, and the heavens), the three major Hindu gods (Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva), and the three sacred Vedic scriptures (Rg,

Sama, and Yajur). Om is essentially the essence of the entire universe, and it is believed that Om is what holds ev-erything together. In the Indian philo-sophical belief, God first created the sound ‘Om’ and the universe was cre-ated from the sound.

With the traditional spelling of the mantra: a-u-m, we can see signifi-cant meanings in the let-ters and the sounds they make. The sound that ‘A’ makes in ‘Aum’ occurs in the very back of the throat and is said to in-clude and be included in

every sound that a human can produce. ‘A’ also represents the ‘waking state’ in the mind. It lies at the beginning of the meditative journey. ‘U’ symbolizes the ‘dream’ state, which is appropriately between the waking state (‘A’) and the state of

deep sleep, which is represented by ‘M’. The last part of Aum, the ‘M’, is known as the ‘maker’ and causes the mouth to close. This is akin to locking the door to the outside world and reaching a deep state within. Om is more than simply the sum of its parts; it is everything that ever has been, is, and will be. Om is said so that one can be closer to the essence of the universe, to be in tune with all of existence. It is the most sacred sound, and indeed, some Hindus believe that Om is the gods in the form of a sound. Amit Ray, a spiritually enlight-ened master of meditation, explains in his book Om Chanting and Meditation, that, “Om is not just a sound or vibra-tion. It is not just a symbol. It is the en-tire cosmos, whatever we can see, touch, hear and feel. Moreover, it is all that is within our perception and all that is be-

Deeper Thoughts

See Om, cont’d pg. 13

See Skin, cont’d pg. 13


Losing the War Against AcidLeah Samson, 2017

One of the things I like best about living in the Northeast is the his-

tory. There are buildings and graves in select places that are over 400 years old! Wandering among the graves in a cemetery near my home, there are stones marking the final resting place of soldiers who fought in the American Revolution. There are graves from the Civil War to the World Wars and even the war in Iraq. The most notable thing I’ve observed about these gravestones is how difficult it is to read the names and dates that represent the life and death of someone who made my free-dom as an American possible. If those men were alive today, they would be aware of the war we’re fighting now. Our enemy’s ammunition is acid. Not the kind that protestors throw in peo-ples’ faces to permanently disfigure them, but the slow sulfuric acid that is a waste product of coal burning. The soldiers of the Civil War would recognize the black lumps of coal, which trains weaving around the Northeast consumed. After the Indus-trial Revolution, in the mid-19th cen-tury, coal overtook wood as a source of energy. The United States has an overwhelmingly large amount of coal reserves, most concentrated in the Ap-palachian mountain range. While other

industrialized countries like Great Brit-ain used up their coal reserves quickly, the massive amount of coal that exists under the mountain cottages of Ameri-cans has enabled us to continue using it as our main source of power. Most coal mining in the United States occurs in Appalachia, a region including southern Kentucky, Tennes-

see, and West Virginia. The extensive coal mining has destroyed the once pristine Appalachian Mountains, and the scars inflicted on the mountains are visible from the air. The coal min-ing has had outstanding environmental impacts, from contaminating water to destroying the habitats of endemic spe-cies.

On Wilderness, at the Time of Government ShutdownMichael Dillon, 2016

There are many definitions of wil-derness. If we go with the official

United States Government definition, it is relegated only to protected lands that have as much restrictions as any privately owned land. When accept-ing this definition, we also have to ac-count for the government closing these wildernesses. As unimaginable as this seems, it happened at midnight on Oc-tober 1, 2013. The House Republicans could not agree on passing the new budget. This means national parks, monuments, and memorials across the country are closed until a deal is passed. This means no visitors are al-

lowed into these areas and everyone inside must leave. Wilderness is not just a place to get lost in or be somewhere untram-meled by man, but an idea, one of free-dom and a place to escape to in our ever increasingly urbanized and industrial-ized society. Edward Abbey, an Ameri-can anarchist and wilderness follower, states the “idea of wilderness preserva-tion is one of the fruits of civilization like Bach’s music or Tolstoy’s novels…” We all have a bit of Wilderness (capital W) in our hearts. This type of wilder-ness is one that cannot be shut down without the possibility of being re-

opened. It is a wilderness of the soul, the kind we dream of where raw life is felt and where truth and honesty is the only reality. There’s freedom in Wil-derness, a place to be the wild men we still are, to get naked, swim in rivers, and climb mountains. We need those mountains, deserts, and seashores to escape from this society that traps us into a way of life that is not fulfilling or sustaining. There are healing powers in wilderness that are extremely valuable. It is a place to recharge and reflect. Since wilderness areas are so

Outlands

The Adirondacks of New York State are greatly affected by Acid Rain. Image Credit: Michael Mel-ford, National Geographic

See Acid, cont’d pg. 13

See Wild, cont’d pg. 13


Virus Detected Click. Click. Click.

Curiously, they’re not the sounds I expect of my computer booting up. I come to a likely conclusion: it must be coming from upstairs. I’ve already forgotten it by the time my default homepage is opened: there are emails from my younger brother. He’s the smart-est little guy I know and I brag about how proud I am of him every chance I get. The newest email from him has no subject and the body only contains two let-ters, hi. He’s probably up to something, that sneaky fel-low. Sure enough, I can hear childish giggles from up-stairs.“Get down here, silly!” No response.He’s probably scared that I’m going to come upstairs and tickle-torture him. Luckily for him, I’m feeling lazy today. ‘Raven’ is the subject of his new email. It begins: ‘I dreamt of one par-ticular raven last evening. It sat upon my brow and fed me blood of our fore-fathers. Sear, slash, stifle, and sever.’

“Are you messing with me? Where did you copy and paste that from? This isn’t funny” I shout in his general direction. ‘Earnest’ claims the following email but I’m already suspicious. He doesn’t know many complicated words. The text in the email’s body is distorted but I can make out ‘gush, gape, garrote, gore.’

My blood’s gone cold. It’s my responsibility to watch my little brother today and I have to see what he’s up to. I can’t imagine which website he’s us-ing that contains these horrible words. As I reached the bottom of the stairs a key turns in the door lock. It’s my dad.

“I’m going to check on the little bro,” I inform him as he’s stepping in. Dad’s smile falters. He nervously tugs at his collar. “Darling, are you OK?” “Yeah, dad. Why do you ask?” An uneasy pause. “We’ve had this conversation before,” he begins gruffly. “You don’t

have a brother. He was a still-born six years ago. Don’t you remember?” I point at my computer weakly and attempt to argue back but no words come out of my mouth. We stare at each other, neither of us willing to accuse the other. A klaxon sounding off nearby startles the both of us. Of course it’s my com-puter. It’s finally finished its virus scan, loudly declaring, “1 threat detected.” My email page is reopened and we both notice the email

address affixed to the chilling emails: [email protected]. I’m not certain that I’ve a brother anymore but I am pretty certain there’s no attic up-stairs.

Photo credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/

Tales from the InboxJennifer Louie, 2015

Have you heard the legend of the thing that resides below? With a

putrid smell and countless razor sharp teeth, it lies in its own filth, gnashing bone and feeding off of your very life-essence. Have you ever tried to make a sound, only to find your voice not there? As if it vanished, taken to some forlorn realm and obliterated in the furnace of some vile beast’s stomach. You aren’t alone on this one; it’s a well-documented phenomenon, covered by

the likes of British demonologist, Chip C. Chippington III. Chip claims that this entity was brought into existence with the creation of what we call “the internet.” It may live in your computer, or the Internet cables. He isn’t sure. There is a theory that the tubes carrying the data from server to server actually pass through an ancient sub-abyssal cavern full of undocumented “life” forms. These ap-paritions desire a stronger connection

to the human surface world, so as your data flies through the cables, a “life form” snatches your email out and ab-sorbs all of its substance and content. After it’s done, what’s left is a flaccid husk of correspondence that it sends back your way to discover the next morning, after you take a zero on the homework assignment. This brooding evil thing will never relent; its haunting may persist even as you send chain emails to your

The ConjecturingConn Fraser, 2014

Photo credit: http://murrkimbai.deviantart.com/

Spooky Spectacles


“I’m going to check on the little bro,” I inform him as he’s stepping in. Dad’s smile falters. He nervously tugs at his collar. “Darling, are you OK?” “Yeah, dad. Why do you ask?” An uneasy pause. “We’ve had this conversation before,” he begins gruffly. “You don’t

have a brother. He was a still-born six years ago. Don’t you remember?” I point at my computer weakly and attempt to argue back but no words come out of my mouth. We stare at each other, neither of us willing to accuse the other. A klaxon sounding off nearby startles the both of us. Of course it’s my com-puter. It’s finally finished its virus scan, loudly declaring, “1 threat detected.” My email page is reopened and we both notice the email

address affixed to the chilling emails: [email protected]. I’m not certain that I’ve a brother anymore but I am pretty certain there’s no attic up-stairs.

Photo credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/

The season of spook has run its course, but Halloween is embel-

lished with more than just spook. Many of our beloved Halloween sto-ries have been inscribed into social and cultural discourse, but where do they really come from? Rounding the corner from the bales of hay, the fa-mous tale of the Great Pumpkin’s ori-gin sets back to 1966 Charlie Brown series It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. The famous story comes with the almost-as-famous quote from Linus, “There are three things I’ve learned never to discuss with people: religion, politics, and the Great Pump-kin.” Well, we don’t need a grave turn-over, but how’s that for hegemony, Schulz? The Legend of Sleepy Hollow dates back to the 1820 literature of es-sayist Washington Irving, containing the story of one Headless Horseman post-*nameless battle* in quest for his head lost to a cannon shot during the American Revolutionary War. The story is set in the countryside of Tar-ry Town, New York, where villagers sworn to experience visions of a Hes-sian Trooper raised from the dead, roaming the fields in search for- you

guessed it- his dual-headed mistress. Irving failed to mention that at this time the residents of Tarry Town were experimenting with the mushroom industry, one villager states: “Salem ain’t got nothin’ on us!” Let’s add All Saints Day to this mix, giving Catholic school kids

worldwide the day after Halloween off from school to recuperate from the traumatizing ghoulish-ness of the night before. Halloween itself originates

in the ancient Celtic traditions sur-rounding the festival of Samhain (pro-nounced sow-in). According to histo-ry.com, before celebrating their New Year on November 1st, the Celts would end their summer in preparation for a season usually associated with its hu-man death toll. The Celts would sur-render their crops and animals to the living dead, who were believed to be able to cross over on Halloween night. After the Roman’s conquered Ireland and the UK, it was actually the Celts who were able to blur the worlds of the living and the dead, whichever was truly more unfortunate they never said. Once Halloween became routed in American culture, people were encouraged to dress up, walk door-to-door and ask for food or money. This socially acceptable solicitation has now been passed down to the children who now [understandably] throw commodities, such as food and toilet paper at other people’s homes. They’re giving back! Halloween is the source of spook for many thrill-seekers, so re-fer to our article featuring the scariest places to visit in Syracuse, or simply google “Honey Boo Boo”.

The Halloween Hegemony: Tales from the Headless & Greatness of the Season of Spookby Hoople Babooshka, 2014

grandkids in the future. There is a way to temporarily cleanse your email ac-count, however, but the e-exorcism is incredibly volatile because it tampers with the dark energy festering be-low the binary fabric of the internet. If you are feeling brave, take 2 paper clips and bend them into the shape of a cross. While holding this in your hand, read the entire Wikipedia ar-ticle on “The Internet” aloud in Latin while opening and closing your email. Be forewarned, there are documented

occurrences of e-priests experienc-ing abnormal conditions within their own home during the e-exor-cism. Reported anomalies include dimming lights, Skype video chat requests coming from someone named B. Zill Bob, and all of the number keys on their keyboard turning to 6’s. Though with luck, perseverance, and divine interven-tion, encounters with the mailer daemon should cease for the next few months.

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Spooky Spectacles


Bad Reputations: The Emo GenreConn Fraser, 2014

The genre label of emo is rife with misappropriations and incorrect

associations, which leads to an igno-rance amongst some music listeners who think it’s just a bunch of whiney teens in all black self-harming. While some of those aforementioned teens identify with the label, the genre may as well have a scope comparable to hip-hop or rock. The word “emo” results from a shortening of the phrase “emotional hardcore.” Hardcore being a more ag-gressive and fast version of “regular” punk rock. However, there is still a substantial amount of debate and de-liberation, with many bands, detesting the label. Even defining a genre as emo-tional seems misleading, because most music contains the emotions of the art-ist somewhere within the track. Despite nomenclature, there is a consensus that a number of bands reside in their city’s respective emo scenes. Initially, older emo like Rites of Spring, Embrace, and One Last Wish were all integral in the D.C. scene in the ‘80s, exploring themes like confes-sional lyrics, coupled with more melod-

ic guitar playing than traditional hardcore. Ever since then, the la-bel has been spiraling in a countless number of directions sonically and geographically, bending the frame-work of genres in cities across the globe and budding new forms of music. Not long after the explosion of the scene in D.C., bands like Jawbreaker and Braid took a sharp upturn in tone, melding increasingly catchy rhythms and pop-punk with bit-tersweet sing-songy vocals about failed relationships and wasted years. For the listeners, this fostered a more upbeat feeling of “it’ll be okay, even if it sucks.” With hardcore bands still doing their thing, pounding whatever emo-tions they feel into their songs, there came into existence an even more off-putting sub-genre deemed screamo, pi-oneered by groups like Orchid, Pg. 99, and more recently, Pianos Become the

Teeth and Old Gray. It’s exactly what it sounds like: the vocalist screams lyrics while the rest of the band plays the usual music, ranging from twinkly staccato spirals to chugging scummy chords. What the artists invoke within themselves and the crowd is a cathar-tic experience, earnest, forthright, and above all, organic. Toning the intensity down a bit, there’s a revival of mid ‘90s emo going on a n d

Make-A-Danket: Pumpkin Pie Bites

Gabrielle Alper, 2014These tiny delights are easy to make. Aside from the ingredients, you will need just a few tools: a pumpkin shaped cookie cutter, a rolling pin, a miniature muffin tray, and if you’re really creative, you’ll also need a pas-try bag with a fine point metal tip.

Ingredients:2 refrigerated ready-to roll pie crusts8 ounces cream cheese (room tempera-ture)1/2 cup sugar1 cup canned pumpkin3 eggs1 tsp vanilla extract1 tsp pumpkin pie spiceAgain, if you’re creative, you’ll want to

get some chocolate morsels Instructions:Preheat oven to 350 degrees.Take the refrigerated pie crusts and roll them out a couple of times with the rolling pin. With pumpkin shaped cookie cutter, cut 12 pumpkin-shaped pie crusts out. Push the pie crusts into the muffin tray, ensuring that none of the “pumpkin stems” are touching. Take one egg and discard the yolk, “paint” the top of the pie crust with the egg whites.Set aside. Combine remaining ingredients (with the exception of the chocolate chips)

until you have a consistent mixture. Scoop the mixture into the cups using a tablespoon, until about ¾ full. Pray to the Great Pumpkin, and put them in the oven for 14 minutes.If you’re interested in decorating them, melt down the chocolate morsels fon-due style on the stove or in the micro-wave. Put the chocolate in the icing bag, and get creative! (If you don’t own an icing bag, you can use a Ziploc bag by cutting the corner off.)Hopefully, you have been very mischie-vous this year, and the Great Pumpkin blessed your mini pies with perfection. If not, practice makes perfect!

Source: bakerella.com

Miniature pumpkin pies perfect for the Halloween season

Baby, It’s Cold Outside

Snowing performing a live show at the model home. Credit: Melissa Brain.

See Emo, cont’d pg. 13


Ah Fall... that time of year when the air smells of wood smoke, the trees

turn into a plethora of orange, reds and yellows, and I sit down to watch some of the scariest, bloodiest, most brutal (and some the dumbest), horror mov-ies I can find. For the 31 days of Oc-tober my roommates and I follow this yearly ritual because, well who doesn’t love a good scare? If you’re like me when it comes to everything horror, you probably find yourself searching for the new movie to rave about. You’re also probably sick of sifting through the garbage that Hol-lywood seems to crap out all too often these days. Here’s a list of some sugges-tions to guide you along your journey along that creepy dirt path in the woods we all know and love as the month of October.

1: The Descent (2005) Written and directed by Neil Marshall (Dog Soldiers, Centurion), this thriller has always been a favor-ite of mine. With an all-female cast, it packs quite the punch in delivering a simple plot in an almost poetic manner. Six friends reunite a year after a tragic car accident in search of cheap thrills in the depths of an unmapped cave. They soon find out they aren’t alone in the claustrophobic caverns. The dark lighting and eerie shadows really help to build the paranoia even before the heads start to roll. What could have been a typical monster flick suddenly turns into a gripping tale of survival with an ending that will leave you re-thinking your next spelunking trip.

2: Tucker and Dale vs. Evil (2010) A quick nod to this brilliant horror/comedy is pertinent, as I have only recently discovered it. Although I try to avoid horror comedies (Scary Movie 3-5, A Haunted House... do you catch my drift?) I couldn’t pass this one up. It follows two rednecks hoping for some rest and relaxation in their new

vacation home in the woods. In a clever twist, the two happen upon some col-lege kids who mistake them for serial killers. One-by-one, they begin to die from freak accidents, appropriately blaming the oblivious pair. With wit-less hicks, horny college kids, and a good deal of dismemberment, impale-ment, and other forms of death... this was one fun ride.

3: Curse of Chucky (2013) Although it was released this year, this classic franchise dates back to the late 80’s. As a kid I was truly ter-rified of this ugly lookin’ doll stalking children in their attics. When I finally overcame this fear (last year), I found myself in love with the foul-mouthed, plastic killer doll. Unfortunately, the series took a real negative dip. By Child’s Play 3 the ticket sales had plum-

meted, and the movies began to turn into a horror/comedy... much to the dismay of fans. Don Mancini (creator of Chucky) decided to finally go back to the serious manner of the original three and boy was it great. Strangely released straight to DVD, this installment was set at the home of a paraplegic woman,

living with her elderly mother. They re-ceive a strange package of a “Mr. Good-Guy” doll. The bodies begin to pile and the doll mysteriously appears at each crime scene. This film was well script-ed, and had great suspense, (it was also creepy as sh*t). Overall, it was a great revival of the Child’s Play franchise.

4: Dracula 3000 (2004) This list just wouldn’t feel right without an awful movie to tear apart, and this movie delivered on every lev-el of the sh*t-scale. 31 days is a lot of scary movies, so often times we find ourselves scrolling the Netflix queue in search of a potential gem amongst the trash. Well damn my soft spot for sci-fi or I would have used 86 minutes for something productive, like liter-ally anything else. Regardless, I forced myself to sit through this stinker of a

film. This was apparently an attempt to bring Bram Stoker’s Count Dracula to the 31st century, with a sci-fi twist (you would think the ridiculous prem-ise would have raised a few flags before they even made this P.O.S.). Exhausted from how bad this movie was, I’ll leave the rest to a quote from a review that pretty much sums up my opinion: “...To call this film sh*t is an insult to fra-grant brown logs everywhere... Dracula 3000 makes Leprechaun 4: In Space

Fright-fest 2013: A Horror Movie RoadmapNick Hlat, 2014

Scared Straight

Don’t miss these old horror flicks. Credit: imbd.com

See Horror, cont’d pg. 14


College Carnivore: Beef-o-Lantern complete with sweet meat treatsAndrew “Mangus” Timmis, 2014

I love Halloween. It’s a grand time with all of the spooky movies, deco-

rations, and dressing up in awesome costumes. I do have one beef with it though. Pumpkins. Just big ol’ veg-etables being carved into and put on display. Where’s my meat? And when I go trick or treating, why do I get can-dy instead of some nice, crisp bacon? So my mission this Halloween season was to devise a way to have my own jack-o-lantern without those devi-ous pumpkins. And what better way to make a meat pumpkin than with ground beef?

Ingredients: • 2 ½ lbs. of ground beef• 2 eggs (makes the meat stick to-

gether better for shaping)• 2 tbsp. of butter• ½ tsp. black pepper• 1 ½ tsp. salt• 1 tsp. cayenne pepper• ¼ cup of spicy mustard• ¾ cups of Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ

sauce• Jar of queso• Dinosaur BBQ Pulled Pork (can

buy packs of this stuff)• Pack of bacon (Of course)• 1 sweet potato (a few vegetables

aren’t evil)• 1 tbsp. ground cinnamon • ¾ cup of brown sugar

Preparation:1. First we are going to make our main dish. Start by preheating the oven to 400° and putting the beef into a large bowl.2. Next, break and stir up them eggs, then add them to the meat with salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, spicy mustard, and BBQ sauce. Melt down 1 ½ tbsp. of butter and also add it in. Then mix it all up into the meat with your hands (just take care with the melted butter). 3. Prepare a baking sheet with tin-foil and cooking spray then place the meat mound on it. Save some meat for

the lid and begin making a large bowl out of the meat. The sides may seem flimsy and fall in on themselves but

we fix this by fill-ing it with queso and the pulled pork, which has the added bonus of making it look like the inside goop of a pump-kin. We then top it off with the lid and I make a rope of tinfoil and

wrap it around the base of the meat to help keep its form.

4. Place it in the oven and let it cook for 1 hour. Keep an eye on it and pour out the extra grease carefully when needed. 5. While it’s cooking we can make ourselves some treats like candied ba-con and some sweet potato. 6. Cut up the sweet potato into little disks (saving the gnarly end for later) and place them into a pan to cook with

butter and a bit of brown sugar and salt. Place a cover on it to seal in the moisture and soften them up and let them cook for 15 min-utes, stirring occasionally.7. F o r candied ba-

con prepare another baking sheet and place the strips on roughly an inch apart from each other. Rub them down with a combination of brown sugar and cinnamon and place them in the oven to cook for 7 ½ minutes at 400°. Take them out, pour out the extra grease, and then flip the bacon to reapply some more brown sugar and cinnamon. Cook

them for 7 ½ minutes longer. When they are done let them cool a bit before eating so then get nice and crunchy.8. When the pumpkin is done just take it out and place the gnarly end of the sweet potato on top. Now just carve yourself a face on it, letting the cheese come oozing out, and serve it with the treats. 9. HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Roommate Reviews:“That was yummy in my tum-my!” Val Mitchell“I enjoyed the meat. I like ba-con!”Emily Adams“So many yummy animals in one meal!”Kate McManus “The best damn pumpkin I ever had.” Justin Evanicki “A hearty Halloween meal fit for the courageous carnivore.” Dan “the man” Dohman

Pouring pulled pork into the meat bowl filled with queso. Photos by Andrew Timmis

Candied Bacon!

The finished horrifically spooky product.

Mixing Bacon and Style


Articles Cont’d“Om,” Cont’d from pg. 6yond our perception. It is the core of our very existence. If you think of Om only as a sound, a technique or a sym-bol of the Divine, you will miss it alto-gether. Om is the mysterious cosmic energy that is the substratum of all the things and all the beings of the entire universe. It is an eternal song of the Divine. It is continuously resounding in silence on the background of every-thing that exists.”

“Skin,” Cont’d from pg. 6taught how to communicate with each other about culture, especially if we are new to a diverse community. Think twice before asking someone “What are you?” or “Where are you from?” Those can be very dif-ficult questions to answer. If you are really interested and would like to know, get to know the person better in a different situation first. If you feel that you may have difficulty answering those questions, know that you can al-ways reply by saying you are a human being from planet Earth.

The environmental impacts of coal mining and combustion are much more widespread than the mutilation of a mountain range. The Ohio River Valley contains the highest concentra-tion of coal plants, and the environ-ment there suffers also. The pollutants emitted from the coal plants have in-filtrated their waterways and caused massive pollution. There are both soot and chemicals released by the plants during the combustion of the coal and only recently have the impacts been addressed. Now there are “scrubbing mechanisms” to remove the most harmful chemicals released by coal burning, but it’s too late. The environmental repercus-sions of coal burning goes even further than just the mountain range and Ohio River Valley traumas. Due to wind pat-terns, most weather systems go from west to east, ending up in the North-

east. Weather systems go across the Ohio River Valley, dissolve the chemi-cals released by the coal plants in the water droplets-forming strong acids like sulfuric acid and dump them along the Northeast. If you’ve ever experimented with dissolving a tooth in a class of Coke, you can see the powers of acid. The acid rain dropped by weather sys-tems has been falling over the North-east for decades and the effects have been devastating for both living and non-living things. Trees suffer dam-age to their needles and leaves from the acid, and plants die due to the increased acidity in soil. Animals have injuries to their skin and are more susceptible to illness. Non-living things-such as the gravestones nearby my home are dis-solving quickly. Many carvings in stone seen on buildings are fading away to nothing, dulling the once crisp corners

on our buildings and damaging nation-al monuments. Something that should be tak-en away, from the specific situation of gravestones being worn away at accel-erated rates due to coal burning in the Ohio River Valley, is the sheer vastness of the externalities from our actions. At each level of this equation, the environ-ment is hurt. The beautiful forests on the mountain ranges that are home to endemic organisms are destroyed. The bodies of water fish swim in are turn-ing to acid. The organisms far away from the mining are injured. All of this is directly caused by human consump-tion and energy use. When we turn on a light switch we only think about the clean electricity, not the dirty and hor-rifying things that needed to happen in order to create that electricity.

“Acid,” Cont’d from pg. 7

valuable to the American spirit of free-dom and liberty, I plead the United States Government and especially the House Republicans to work as hard as possible to decide on a new budget to reopen our public lands. People are ri-oting at Lee’s Ferry, the launching point for raft trips down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon because of the closures. Without even being able to camp at the put in, these people are losing their sanity without wilderness to calm them down. This might sound selfish, but wilderness and natural ar-eas are the only thing worth saving. Spend some time in a wilderness area and you will soon find the power that it creates in you, the feeling of freedom and honesty. One last thing, to the House Republicans who are bickering over the budget based on Obamacare being unconstitutional: spend some time in the outdoors. There really is no bet-ter healing effects and therapy for the mind and the soul than a visit to one of America’s beautiful designated wilder-ness areas.

“Wild,” Cont’d from pg. 7bands like Everyone Everywhere, and the now defunct Algernon Cadwal-lader, are injecting life into a scene left by Cap’n Jazz and The Promise Ring. These bands play with the fer-vor you’d expect from an adolescent youth regardless of their age. Mixed up rhythms, shifting and unconventional time signatures, along with an unbe-lievable amount of syncopation clash in an incendiary composition are sure to put the fire of those high school years back in your gut. Whatever your taste in music is, just know that there’s a lot more going on with this type of music than MTV would lead you to believe. It’s not just My Chemical Romance and Red Jumpsuit Apparatus putting tracks out. There is a lot of refreshing creativity to be found in one of the many nooks and crannies of the emo umbrella. So, as the days get a little bit colder, and we all get older, appreciate the bitter fall nights and deep piles of leaves. Youth is fleeting, after all.

“Emo,” Cont’d from pg. 10


Articles Cont’d

look like Alien.” -Darrel Roodt

5: Scream 2 (1997) Lets throw in one more dud shall we? Sequels are always prone to receive some heavy backlash, and this one may not be terrible when you con-sider the whole franchise, but some-how it struck a chord with me... and not a good one. To be fair, I was never a fan of the whole Scream series, but the sec-

ond installment was particularly bleak and boring. Years after the events in the first film, a killer emerges that begins to replicate the murders of the original movie. Every scare is predictable, each scene is incredibly well-lit (which in horror, isn’t a plus), and the acting is way too god-awful. I would stay away from this one, unless you don’t want to be surprised or scared... at all. Got any suggestions or argu-

ments? Feel free to send your thoughts and ideas for my next article! Make sure that on this Halloween you grab some popcorn, an alcoholic beverage of your choosing, and maybe a buddy or two- then hit the lights and watch some of these flicks! They’ll be sure to keep you up at night, from fear or sheer dis-gust. It’s been fun! Horror Guru out.

“Horror,” Cont’d from pg. 11

ADVERTISMENT


Hi Nut,I met this guy at a bar a couple of weeks ago. We had a really great chat, and he asked for my phone number. A week or two later, I ran into him and he in-vited me to an on-campus concert that night. That too seemed to go well, since he gave me a lift home and a hug at the door. Then, this past weekend, I ran into him at the grocery store. He gave a quick “hello” but then walked very swiftly into the frozen food sec-tion. Was it because I was talking to him with raw chicken in my hand?

Sincerely,Stranded in the Meat Section

Dear SMS,I happen to very much enjoy the fro-zen food section in the grocery store. It’s always so cool in there, you know? Maybe he ran away from you to there because you were just so hot that he needed to escape. Sometimes guys just need a chance to cool down when confronted with a hot girl, and the fro-zen food section is just an ideal place to do that. Most of the time, you only see moms getting chicken nuggets for their kids and depressed girls getting ice cream to be paired with their Life-time movie marathons in the frozen foods section. This makes it a good place to cool down after a run-in with a hot girl.My personal solution would be to dress as hideously as possible. Sure, he may not want to go out with you anymore, but he’s less likely to run away from you to the frozen food sec-tion! Just don’t worry that he’ll prob-ably ignore or avoid you. That’s not what’s important. What’s important is that he doesn’t run from your chicken-bearing beauty!

-Nut

Ask-A-Nut

Do you have any burning quandaries or embarrass-

ing inquiries? Ask-a-Nut!Email [email protected]

BANSHEEBONESBOOCANDYCEMETERYCOSTUMEEERIEGHOULHALLOWEENHAUNTEDLAIRPUMPKINSARCOPHAGUSSKELETONSPIDERSSPOOKYTOMBSTONETRICK-OR-TREATVAMPIREZOMBIES

SPOOKY NL!+&^%$Tricks, no treats


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The Knothole: Volume 68, Issue 2