Dear Editor,

I write to you today in order to condemn your newspaper’s policy of publishing anonymous letters to the editor (LTEs), which was done by The Statesman as recently as the April 16, 2012 (Volume LV, Issue 26) edition.  Publishing anonymous LTEs provides a forum for personal attacks without any accountability, providing a powerful avenue for smearing a target without needing to reference any facts or evidence.  Furthermore, anonymity often leads to disruptive remarks that diminish the quality of discourse, as is doubtless your experience and that of your readers who take part in discussions on online forums.  Anonymity online often leads to vulgarity, “trolling” and “flaming”, which have no place in respectable print media.

While LTEs written by the public can be a powerful tool to criticize a policy or even the character of a politician, which may serve the public good, anonymous LTEs targeting a politician can easily be written by a rival in order to give the appearance of public opposition.  Anonymity deprives the reader of the ability to ascertain the motivations of the author.  As a comical example, suppose that an anonymous LTE derided The Statesman as “a rag whose dual purpose is to kick-start the recycling programs of the communities where it is distributed and to serve as toilet paper for poor college students.”  The sting of such an attack would be greatly mitigated, however, if the author was known to be the editor of a rival newspaper.  The publication of an anonymous attack can inflate the private grudge of a rival or detractor into the public condemnation of the silent majority.

Finally, contrary to journalistic standards that give the target of a critical story the opportunity to respond to allegations of wrongdoing, LTEs ambush their targets, who must wait until after the damage to their reputation is done before being able to respond.

I therefore urge The Statesman to modify its guidelines for submission, to state that opinion pieces and LTEs cannot be published anonymously.  Additionally, where LTEs directly criticize an individual, I urge you to give an opportunity for the target of an LTE to write a rebuttal that is published simultaneously, so that your readers have the benefit of both sides to the story in forming their opinions.

Sincerely yours,

Esam Al-Shareffi

Many of you may have seen my face around campus over the past two weeks. I am the guy with blond hair running for CAS Senator. Sadly, that is the best description I can give for you because my face on a poster is often the only information that people have about me before I am able to tell them what I stand for and what my qualifications are. I am not writing to campaign for myself, rather I am writing to express my overall opinion of this election.

By far the biggest complaint of many candidates in this election has dealt with the Elections Board. From the first day of information sessions, when a room was failed to be booked, potential candidates were informed that the Board would strictly enforce the rules and regulations of both USG and the campus. However, this was never the case. First, the board made an illegal extension of the deadline to submit intent forms because there were vacant and unopposed positions. The USG code states that 24 hours of notice must be given to the student body in order for them to submit feedback on such an extension. However, the announcement was simply posted on the USG website on Tuesday, March 12 (the day before the new deadline). This is an extreme violation because candidates, such as myself, were denied the opportunity to argue against such an extension.

Second, during the petitioning process, multiple people, including myself, reported infractions such as electioneering within 100 feet of a SINC site and petitioning without a platform statement attached. To my knowledge, people were only disqualified because they did not have enough petition signatures. Then, during campaigning and elections week, there were more violations including illegal posting on surfaces such as walls, doors, and glass. Seawolves for Change wore t-shirts advocating their party throughout campus including, but not limited to, the library, where they were within 100 feet of a SINC site. Members of my party might as well have walked through the library with signs saying “S.A.F.E.” As current USG Senator David Adams put it, “If I can’t trust you with less than a page of posting policy, how am I supposed to trust you with a 137 page long code?” Eventually the Elections Board did give warnings for these violations with time for correction but did not take action when violations were repeated. Eventually this turned into a battle to get everyone disqualified and no party was exempt. I was targeted by someone writing my name on another candidate’s poster. And during all this the Elections Board did not disqualify one person. It is their duty to take action. Think of how much worse our national elections would be if the Federal Election Commission also did not take action against infringing candidates.

The Elections Board aside, there were other things that made me sick. While this election saw some of the most creative campaigning tactics, there was one thing in particular that vexed me. I must be clear that I do not intend to bash Seawolves for Change, and I do apologize in advance because I do have friends in the party, but I believe that it was one of the most tactless methods of campaigning and I hope that it is never repeated. Using the school’s mascot as a party icon and slogans like, “We are all Seawolves,” gives the appearance that it is sanctioned by the University. I could not distinguish a “Stony Brook Athletics” shirt from a “Seawolves for Change” shirt. It is propaganda that could make students feel disenfranchised from the school for not voting for the party.

Again I ask that you not perceive this as a jab at another party because I have a problem with parties in general, including my own. Joseph Santangelo, a candidate for CAS senator, wrote to The Statesman last week saying, “The several parties are a little more than a ruse that employs a catchy name to get votes.” While I disagree with almost everything else that he wrote, this statement is all too accurate. In the USG elections, parties are not about increasing or decreasing expenditures, raising or cutting taxes, or whether or not utilizing socialized healthcare is right; they are about us versus them. USG parties are about electing people who stand for something no different than someone on the opposing party. They are about maximizing the number of votes that a candidate can get. Candidates tell their friends to vote for their party without explaining anything about what they stand for.

The result is informal straight-ticket voting. While this method of voting is practiced in many states it causes many undergraduate students to vote for people that they know nothing about. It ruins the democratic process of voting for representatives that actually represent one’s interests. Instead of voting for the most qualified person, people who have no knowledge about Senate, Rules of Order or how USG operates are elected in. Many times I heard people saying things such as, “Vote for my party because we will try to get fraternities/sororities funding.” Statements such as this err in two ways: USG is unable to fund fraternities and sororities because they are selective in membership (the same with honor societies) and voters are led to believe that these candidates and their parties are capable of impossible tasks. The effect is people receiving votes for lying to student body and leaving them with high expectations of that party.

Unfortunately we may never be able to rid USG of large parties as people would argue that it would be taking away the students’ right to collectively assemble. However, it is possible because the laws for forming parties are outlined in the USG code, a document which is much easier to amend than the USG constitution.

As this election comes to a close I find myself to be increasingly sick from all that has happened. I have been pitted in supporting friends over other friends and at this point in time (Thursday, the night before voting ends) I still have yet to cast my votes. I have seen rules go unenforced, attempts to tarnish my name, the school’s mascot being used as a tool against other students and students fighting against each other to be the one to bring change to campus. It is abhorrent. I may not be elected, but I only hope that these issues will be corrected by next year’s governing body.

However, that beauty is quickly coming to an end. Soon, one of the more peaceful and open sections of campus will be replaced by a four-to-five story dormitory and cafeteria that will make one of the few remaining open areas on campus cramped.

Expected to be completed by 2014, the new complex will include two new dormitories and a new cafeteria. Also included in the plans are the closure of the Student Union following the completion of this project.

Most college campuses, especially in the Northeast, show their heritage through the aged buildings on campus. The old brick and mortar buildings stand as a testament to all that the university has accomplished. Some of these buildings date back to the 1700s in the case of the Ivy League. Shouldn’t the older structures be the ones that are most worth preserving?

We’re a young university when compared to others in our area, we’ve just passed the half-century mark. How would it feel to one day bring your children back to this campus, say 20 years from now, and not be able to recognize most of the buildings? It would feel probably as if you had lost a part of your personal history.

Not only will the building of these new dormitories further decrease the open space on campus, but they would also become an eyesore on the skyline. Sitting outside on the patio of the Wang Center, it’s nice to look out and see blue sky and trees. Imagine looking at that same skyline a few years from now, and seeing dormitories instead of that once wide open sky.

It’s sort of ironic in a way. By adding new buildings, we’re actually beginning to destroy the heritage of our own university.

This isn’t to say that modernizing the campus’ structures is inherently bad. It’s important. Even the oldest universities have constructed new buildings in recent years. They’re easier to maintain and some people enjoy walking into a modern building the first time they visit a campus.

There just simply is no need to attempt to condense the entire campus into one very small section of an enormous plot of land. If we really wish to expand our campus, why not venture into areas that aren’t being used? Sure, that would involve removing portions of the larger wooded areas on campus, but it’d be better to have some breathing room.

Stony Brook has accomplished a lot in its short life, and we will continue to do great things in decades to come. Let’s just be sure that the Stony Brook we know now, will be the same decades from now.

I wasn’t aware the van was driving us anywhere but we arrived in what I believe was Manhattan where the street was neon blue and there were dolphins swimming in the pavement. I looked up at the sky to try and figure out what time it was and a giant, blinking eye looked at me. The iris and pupil were a clock and a comic book speech bubble came out of the eye to tell me it was midnight. It turns out the cosmic eye was wrong though as the gnome eating a dolphin told me it was actually, “Banana, just like the fruit. Open your mind and consume the flesh of the dolphin. Let the colors of fate bleed into your soul and paint the canvas of your life.” Wizard pushed the gnome away and dragged me into a whale’s mouth.

Inside the whale, there were nebulae floating in the air while snakes with multiple tentacles jumped through the clouds. The Pillars of Creation were on a stage and glowed orange. The color slipped through my nose and it smelled like lilies. Wizard floated onto the stage and pulled me up with him. The ghosts of my ancestors stood before me and took my shoes. I loved those shoes. Wizard grabbed my arm again and we flew back into his van, which transformed into a porcupine that had hair instead of quills. I sat on the porcupine’s liver and its lungs breathed to the tune of “C.R.E.A.M.” by the Wu Tang Clan.

The porcupine crawled through a giant green pipe and we entered a forest with trees made of glowing screens projecting images of my ex-girlfriends and the formulas for various vector fields. Wizard produced a guitar made of dried and hollow pineapples and played a beautiful melody. The music hopped off of the strings and crawled into my ears. I could feel my head filling and all the hatred I had kept inside of me poured viciously out from beneath my finger nails. Wizard pulled on me once and we flew outside of the porcupine into the wild unknown.

Jagged rocks stabbed out from the gelatinous Earth and we bounced about on the surface, being careful to avoid the rocks. We stopped to observe a road moving down a hill like a solid waterfall. The porcupine had abandoned us to be one with its kin and so we bounced to the nearest trading post. The trading post was run by a giant slug with a human’s face. It told me the dangers of gluttony and I traded it my shirt for this knowledge. A robotic man approached Wizard and I and spoke these words, “The pursuit of knowledge is the pursuit of truth. Do not waver in the struggle of conquering the ignorance of your minds. Death is but the return of your being to the Earth. Now give me your pants.” I took off my pants and a gust of wind carried Wizard and I into a giant bosom.

The bosom opened and there was a river of milk flowing with groups of fish dressed like scuba divers walking around while various Batman costumed rainbow beings danced around poles that flashed the words, “TO THINK IS TO STEAL THOUGHT. KNOWLEDGE COMES FROM YOUR HOLY BOOK.” I could feel myself sweating my thoughts away as the Adam West-era rainbow started dancing upon me. I grabbed for the words “UNIVERSAL TRUTH” as they slid down my leg but couldn’t reach them. Satchmo’s “La Vie En Rose,”  started dripping from my ears and I cupped my ears to hear the liquid vibrate as best I could. The rainbow dancing upon me vaporized and roses sprouted around me, vibrating to the drum of the universe.

The rhythmic pounding continued as the liquid of Satchmo evaporated. The petals of the roses withered into a green, ethereal mist that lingered about my feet and lifted me from that poisonous place into a dreamy, hazy environment. I looked at my feet and saw that my socks were now missing but they felt so free that I didn’t mind. Everything was a blur and I could feel like pain in my side now. A consistent pounding on my rib until I finally gasped for air and opened my eyes.

I then woke up in an alley clutching a bald and naked doll. I was only wearing boxers and socks while a police officer prodded me with his night stick. I told him I arrived here on a spirit quest, to which he replied, “You took a spirit quest and ended up half-naked in Hoboken, New Jersey?” His logic was flawless – I had been drugged. While I may have been drugged and spent some time in jail until someone could identify me, I will never forget my night with the Wizard. #YOLO

Wizard Khalifa had just finished his set at Stony Brook and I waited in his van for him to arrive so I could interview him. He entered the van and took a defensive position, not expecting me. I showed him my credentials using my psychic paper and he took out a large paper plane, about the size of my forearm. I took a few large hits from the massive paper plane and the room started waving about while the color orange started dripping from the roof onto my tongue. It tasted remarkably like yellow. I asked him what that joint was laced with but all he said was, “We gon’ party now.” Confetti snakes swam out of his mouth after he spoke.

I wasn’t aware the van was driving us anywhere but we arrived in what I believe was Manhattan where the street was neon blue and there were dolphins swimming in the pavement. I looked up at the sky to try and figure out what time it was and a giant, blinking eye looked at me. The iris and pupil were a clock and a comic book speech bubble came out of the eye to tell me it was midnight. It turns out the cosmic eye was wrong though as the gnome eating a dolphin told me it was actually, “Banana, just like the fruit. Open your mind and consume the flesh of the dolphin. Let the colors of fate bleed into your soul and paint the canvas of your life.” Wizard pushed the gnome away and dragged me into a whale’s mouth.

Inside the whale, there were nebulae floating in the air while snakes with multiple tentacles jumped through the clouds. The Pillars of Creation were on a stage and glowed orange. The color slipped through my nose and it smelled like lilies. Wizard floated onto the stage and pulled me up with him. The ghosts of my ancestors stood before me and took my shoes. I loved those shoes. Wizard grabbed my arm again and we flew back into his van, which transformed into a porcupine that had hair instead of quills. I sat on the porcupine’s liver and its lungs breathed to the tune of “C.R.E.A.M.” by the Wu Tang Clan.

The porcupine crawled through a giant green pipe and we entered a forest with trees made of glowing screens projecting images of my ex-girlfriends and the formulas for various vector fields. Wizard produced a guitar made of dried and hollow pineapples and played a beautiful melody. The music hopped off of the strings and crawled into my ears. I could feel my head filling and all the hatred I had kept inside of me poured viciously out from beneath my finger nails. Wizard pulled on me once and we flew outside of the porcupine into the wild unknown.

Jagged rocks stabbed out from the gelatinous Earth and we bounced about on the surface, being careful to avoid the rocks. We stopped to observe a road moving down a hill like a solid waterfall. The porcupine had abandoned us to be one with its kin and so we bounced to the nearest trading post. The trading post was run by a giant slug with a human’s face. It told me the dangers of gluttony and I traded it my shirt for this knowledge. A robotic man approached Wizard and I and spoke these words, “The pursuit of knowledge is the pursuit of truth. Do not waver in the struggle of conquering the ignorance of your minds. Death is but the return of your being to the Earth. Now give me your pants.” I took off my pants and a gust of wind carried Wizard and I into a giant bosom.

The bosom opened and there was a river of milk flowing with groups of fish dressed like scuba divers walking around while various Batman costumed rainbow beings danced around poles that flashed the words, “TO THINK IS TO STEAL THOUGHT. KNOWLEDGE COMES FROM YOUR HOLY BOOK.” I could feel myself sweating my thoughts away as the Adam West-era rainbow started dancing upon me. I grabbed for the words “UNIVERSAL TRUTH” as they slid down my leg but couldn’t reach them. Satchmo’s “La Vie En Rose,”  started dripping from my ears and I cupped my ears to hear the liquid vibrate as best I could. The rainbow dancing upon me vaporized and roses sprouted around me, vibrating to the drum of the universe.

The rhythmic pounding continued as the liquid of Satchmo evaporated. The petals of the roses withered into a green, ethereal mist that lingered about my feet and lifted me from that poisonous place into a dreamy, hazy environment. I looked at my feet and saw that my socks were now missing but they felt so free that I didn’t mind. Everything was a blur and I could feel like pain in my side now. A consistent pounding on my rib until I finally gasped for air and opened my eyes.

I then woke up in an alley clutching a bald and naked doll. I was only wearing boxers and socks while a police officer prodded me with his night stick. I told him I arrived here on a spirit quest, to which he replied, “You took a spirit quest and ended up half-naked in Hoboken, New Jersey?” His logic was flawless – I had been drugged. While I may have been drugged and spent some time in jail until someone could identify me, I will never forget my night with the Wizard. #YOLO

Donoghue began his speech by talking about debilitating diseases that can be treated Deep Brain Stimulation. He showed a side-by-side video of a woman suffering from Parkinson’s disease. The left screen showed her hand quivering, the right screen showed the same hand not moving. The woman been treated with DBS, a treatment where electrodes are placed in the subthalamic nucleus, a Tic-Tac-sized area deep in the brain. DBS has been shown to improve hyperactivity, ADHD, OCD, epilepsy and dementia. More than 80,000 people have gone through DBS to help treat their disease.
Claire Gladstein of Roslyn, New York was intrigued by the possibility that Donoghue’s research could possibly help children who suffer from mental handicaps. Gladstein was a special education teacher for 40 years, and she can see the possibility of this helping children with hyperactivity and ADHD.

“I would be very happy with the success of his research if there was no need for special education teachers,” said Gladstein.
The team at Brown is currently working on a Brain Computer Interface, or as Donoghue called it, “BrainGate.”
“BrainGate’s vision is to re-connect the brain to the external world to recreate actions performed by the arm and hand,” said Donoghue.
One of the subjects for BrainGate, a man named Matt, was stabbed in high in the neck at the second cervical vertebrae. This type of injury usually produces paralysis. Using BrainGate Matt was able to control a circle on the screen and play a simplistic video game using only his thoughts.

Donoghue and his team implanted a tiny chip into Matt’s brain that was picking up signals of his intentions to move his arm and they translated it into a command signal. The command signal was then sent to the computer and the computer reacts as though it was being controlled by the mouse- but it was really Matt’s brain. BrainGate bypassed the inoperable functions of Matt’s nervous system.

Seems complicated at first. It’s actually quite simple. Being paralyzed isn’t a disease. The brain is still functional; it’s just that the brain has lost communication with the muscles and/or the spinal cord. BrainGate’s goal is to bypass the missing link by grabbing signals in the brain and decoding them so that machines can read them, and then turns it into action.

The target for this experiment was the primary motor cortex, the region of the brain responsible for sending signals to the arm that make it move.

The microelectrode array implanted in the brain is four millimeters in length. It goes on the outside of the cerebral cortex, which then goes to a connector in the skin, about the size of a penny. The connector has about 100 signals on it, and those signals are then brought to the outside world.

Donoghue and his team then implanted the electrode into the motor cortex of a monkey. The monkey had to make two dots on a screen touch using a joystick while the scientists monitored activity in his brain. Every time the monkey did this, he was rewarded with a drop of juice. They realized if they could decode those signals, they could take away the joystick and hook up the electrodes in his head straight to the computer so it could decode activity sans-joystick. They then ran the same experiment on Matt.

Donoghue told the audience about a patient named Cathy who suffers from locked-in syndrome. She is fully awake and aware of her surroundings, but she can’t move or talk, she can only blink. Cathy’s technician asked her to imagine her opening and closing her hand. As she opened her hand, her motor cortex produced signals as if she was opening and closing her hand. The robotic arm that was linked to her brain reacted to the commands. The motor cortex was stimulated and the signals were decoded so the robot arm could read them and Cathy, who cannot move from the neck down, was able to make a robotic arm move a glass of water.

The BrainGate project still has many factors to explore, such as safety, durability, reliability, and if they are cosmetically acceptable.
“In 15 years, hopefully people who are paralyzed, and literally cannot move, will be able to control robotic arms, to at least take care of some of the day-to-day functions,” said Dr. Craig Evinger, a professor of Neurobiology, Behavior and Ophthalmology.

“What do I do with this new department?” Youdelman recalls asking himself. “We had ideas but we didn’t even have a building at the time.”

After a few months, Vito-Buckley and Youdelman decided on a festival—one that would incorporate music, activities and awareness about the environment. The festival would take place right around Earth Day, which usually falls on April 22, to make students more conscious about the importance of Earth Day and what they can do to help.

“We wanted to create an event that would become a part of the culture and fabric of the university,” said Youdelman.

Youdelman and Vito-Buckely ended up doing just that. Eight years ago, the first ever Earthstock festival, then called “Earthfest” was born. Partnering with the Commuter Student Association, the two departments were able to bring about 25-30organizations to the festival from both on and off campus to talk about their efforts to help the environment. Even without the music, live performances or clowns on stilts, the festival was a hit and the Earth Day celebration was here to stay.

As the years progressed, Earthstock went from a small, unheard of event to a campus-wide tradition. Eventually both the SBU President’s office as well as the Dean of Student’s office became involved allowing the festival to reach more and more vendors each year. As the festival grew in popularity, the numbers of vendors increased year after year, ranging from campus organizations like Campus Residences and the Office of Sustainability to off-campus organizations such as local high schools and businesses.

“It’s truly a community event and we wanted the entire community involved,” said Youdelman. “It puts fun into raising awareness about the environment.”

Today, Earthstock has evolved into a week-long celebration hosting various lectures, keynote speakers, presentations and panels on environmental topics throughout the week and ending the week with the festival. With the help of various departments and organizations on campus, the festival comes together like “clockwork,” according to Youdelman, where in the beginning “it was very stressful.”

With each progressing year, the festival’s popularity grows as more and more vendors try to book a table. Last year, there were 88 exhibitors that showed up to the festival, which was up from the 85 that booked a spot the previous year. This year, according to Robert Drago, the Undergraduate Student Staff Assistant to the Dean of Students who is in charge of vendors, the festival booked over 90 exhibitors, a record high.

“We literally ran out of tables and had to start turning people away,” said Drago. “There are a lot of people out there that want to help and it’s really inspiring. We want to give them a venue to broadcast what they are doing for the environment.”

Today, there is a great deal of variety among vendors as they range from students displaying their work to local businesses showcasing what they are doing to be more environmentally friendly and aware. Some of the more unlikely candidates, like Rewind Board Shop in St. James, made a first-time appearance at this year’s Earthstock displaying their longboards as a form of carbon-free transportation.

“Getting local businesses to sit next to students is powerful and really important since those students can one day work for them,” said Drago. “It’s important that we continue to push the agenda on important issues like the environment and continue to direct conversations and shape discourse since Stony Brook has become such a focal point on Long Island.”

Although this year, Youdelman claims that there were not as many children or people from the greater community as in previous years, he expects next year to be better than ever.

“It’s is a must-have,” said Youdelman. “We have a responsibility as an institution of higher education to lead by example and Earthstock is that example.”

Each club brought a different environmental issue to light to raise awareness, whether it be protecting wildlife or reducing negative environmental impact by not smoking and making your own organic products.

Most unusual to Stony Brook during the celebration were the exotic animals from the wildlife preservation organizations, which included falcons, snakes, and owls. The Sweetbriar Nature Center in Smithtown, a wildlife rehabilitation and educational center that reintegrates injured and orphaned wildlife back into the wild, brought a falcon and screech owl to Earthstock. The center also permanently houses some animals that are unable to be released and uses them for programs, such as going to schools and other public functions, to educate the public about birds of prey, reptiles and mammals.

“We have people come to the nature center itself, it’s open to the public to visit and see the wildlife,” said John Fieger, a member of the organization. “We’re trying to educate the public about wildlife and what to do if you find injured wildlife, and who to bring it to.”

Permanent residents of Sweetbriar include bald eagles, gray horned owls, red tailed hawks, goats, chickens, pigs, ducks, falcons, and screech owls, the last two of which the organization had brought with them to Earthstock. This time of year is especially busy for Sweetbriar because of all of the animals giving birth, such as squirrels, rabbits and birds that are injured or orphaned and in need of rehabilitation.

Their purpose for setting up at Earthstock this year was to educated people about what Sweetbriar is and what they do. Their 50-acre reserve is only 10-15 minutes away from the Stony Brook campus, and has trails that are open to the public. Sweetbriar also advertised their 32nd Annual Nature and Craft Fair that will take place on June 2.

Another wildlife refuge present at Earthstock was a non-profit organization from Riverhead that houses rehabilitated animals fixed up by rescue centers. Many of the animals can to be brought to birthday parties and public events, like Earthstock, to promote education and “the responsible stewardship of the environment,” according to society representative Brendan Dickson.

The organization also holds various programs such as night and nature hiking, kayaking tours, public seminars and summer ecology camps for kids from pre-school al the way through high school. Everything is free of charge, but they accept donations.

Their reservation is in the middle of Pine Barrens, which is very important to the area because people and animals alike rely on Pine Barrens to filter water. With so much construction of new housing, the Pine Barrens need to be protected to conserve wildlife.

They teach responsible ethics of the land through programs for Boy and Girl Scouts. They emphasize all the small things you can do, like turning off lights and conserving water.

“We try to teach little tid-bits that everyone can kind of take home and do their part because that’s really what it’s down to,” said Dickson. “If everyone helps just a little bit, it goes a long way.”

Many students on campus had tables set up in honor of Earthstock as well, and were nothing but passionate about their cause. One student in particular, Lindsay Amabile, who is currently studying English and sustainability, stood out because of her enthusiasm and love for the environment.

Amabile’s table promoted toxin-free cosmetics and personal care products, and encouraged students to sign the Safe Chemicals Act petition, which would put a ban on chemicals that are known to cause cancer. She also aimed to raise awareness of the dangers of many common products that contain carcinogenic chemicals.

“We list websites that are guaranteed chemical-free and you can get anything from essential oils to cosmetics to shampoos and deodorants, and we’re sending out a recipe book, which is a lot cheaper than you think,” said Amabile.

Everyday items such as baking soda, honey and different types of fruits can be used to make safe, organic personal care products, which is better for people and the environment. Holistic products were also among those promoted, and are said to be able to cure illnesses such as colds and even eczema.

“This is a huge environmental issue,” said Amabile. “It’s not just harming us as people. These chemicals are harmful to our environment, for instance, with things like nail polish remover that have really heavy aromas are leaching into our environment and it’s just really not good.”
Every club and organization at the festival related to the theme of sustainability and saving the Earth in some way, but each had their own opinion on what Earthstock meant to them and the community.

“We have a right to know what we’re eating, we have a right to know what we’re drinking, that our water’s not polluted,” said Amabile. “We have a right to good, clean air, water, food and products. You can’t mislabel like that, it’s wrong.”

The Marine Science Club, which aimed to get more people interested in their club and raise awareness about coral bleaching, also had a unique perspective of the festival.

“It’s about the student body getting together to raise awareness about how important our planet is,” said Molly Vogt, a member of the Marine Science Club. “Our school is a beautiful campus, everybody loves to be out on the Staller Steps and I think everybody needs to be aware of how important it is to preserve this kind of stuff.

But this tradition is much more than a university-wide phenomenon — it lies within the community’s history, which is laden with tales of the building and sailing of wooden boats.

“We do live on an island, and we live in a maritime community, and people are interested in maritime heritage,” said Charles F. Kenny, a member of the original group of directors that created a traditional small boat building program in Port Jefferson in 1989. “There are a number of people that still sail and recreate on Long Island Sound.”

Kenny and other community members opened the Bayles Boat Shop in 2006. The shop resides on the site of the Bayles Boat Yard, one of about 30 yards in the Port Jefferson Harbor complex that constructed vessels during the 1800s up until about 1910, Kenny explained.

Inside the timber frame construction, labeled by a strip of dark wood with the words “Bayles Boat Shop” engraved in gold, about 30 volunteers practice the craft of boatbuilding on Wednesday and Saturday mornings from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.

The volunteers have constructed or renovated about 14 vessels to date, and recently built a 17-foot kayak.

“We are an educational program, so we do spend a lot of time teaching, and learning ourselves,” Kenny said, noting that community members who participate in boat construction projects regularly develop their skills through the work.

Students at Stony Brook educate themselves every year, as they form teams to build boats that will race in the Roth Regatta—an event infamous for its sinking ships. Using only cardboard and duct tape, students attempt to construct boats that will float.

Deborah Machalow, Undergraduate Student Government Executive Vice President, said the Regatta brings students together.

“When you really think about it, building a boat out of cardboard and duct tape is comical,” Machalow said. “People get pulled in by the tradition and the laughs.”

Jawad Mourabet, a sophomore engineering major, competed in the Regatta for the second time in his college career Friday, April 27 and said that people come to the Regatta not only to see the race, but also to see the different and creative boat designs.

“If you only have duct tape and cardboard, there is only so much you can do, but with the imagination of some people you can get so extravagant with it, which is why it is so successful,” said Mourabet, who participated in Tabler Quad’s Douglass College boat build.

But Mourabet does not think about the area’s history or maritime surroundings when he thinks of the Regatta. He sees it as a day when everyone on campus, for once, participates in events planned by USG.

“We should be having more days like that,” he said.

Evan Burke, a junior business major, participated in the Regatta for the first time this year, and said that he enjoyed the boat building as well as the competing.

“This was my first Regatta, and since I had so much fun it will definitely not be my last,” said Burke, who also worked with the Douglass team.
Burke also noted that part of the boat building was socializing with the people in his building.

“We were always playing a lot of music, eating snacks and having a good time,” Burke said.

But whether students see the event as a bonding experience or the manifestation of the area’s rich history of boat building, all agree that boat building brings people together—just as people at the Bayles Boat Shop come together twice a week to keep tradition alive.

One of the staples of the festival is the information about Fair Tade practices and companies. Fair Trade aims to create sustainable practices and farms, recyclable products, produce free of chemicals and ensures labor rights and appropriate wages for workers. One of the most popular areas of Fair Trade is in the coffee industry, with companies like Starbucks and Green Mountain Coffee both helping workers and farmers to earn a stable living through their produce.

At Earthstock, SBU’s Oxfam America chapter and Sobornost for the World Foundation, Inc. had tables promoting Fair Trade. The two groups are non-profit organizations that are supported by donations and try to raise money and awareness in an effort to end extreme hunger and poverty.
According to their website, Oxfam America’s mission is to “create lasting solutions to poverty, hunger, and social injustice.” The Oxfam table at Earthstock gave away Fair Trade milk and dark chocolate, as well as accepting meal point donations for the organization. The main attraction to the table came from the club’s free pots that festival attendees could fill with soil and plant seeds in, ranging from marigolds and dahlias to cilantro and hot peppers. Club President Nader Nouraee explained the message the Oxfam America table was spreading.

“Right now we’re launching a grow campaign. It’s about spreading awareness of Fair Trade, because there are a lot of farmers and small farm communities that are being exploited by larger corporations, and there’s a lot of injustice going around regarding who gets how many crops and who gets properly paid for their labor,” Nouraee said.

Oxfam America is currently considered one of the best non-governmental organizations in the world and is supported by many other groups, and bands such as Coldplay and Radiohead. Not only does the humanitarian organization support Fair Trade practices that benefit workers and farmers, but the club members at the table were also informing students of the widespread issues of hunger faced by many in impoverished countries.
“It’s estimated that one billion people go to bed hungry every night,” Nouraee said. “That’s one in seven people, so we’re trying to bring an end to that by spreading awareness.”

Further down the academic mall towards the fountain was the table for the World Village Fair Trade Market. The store in Hampton Bays, opened by Sobornost for the World Foundation, Inc., supports countries and their workers in making recyclable and sustainable products in order to earn a living. Members of the organization also help teach these same workers in African and Indian countries how to turn the resources available to them into sellable products.

Some of the items for sale were three-dimensional magnets in the shape of various animals and jewelry made from recycled paper, wall sculptures created from old metal drums and bracelets made from recycled saris in India. Painted pan flutes, whistles and messenger bags were some of the other popular items at the table, and also available at the store and on their website.

Eileen McPhelin, the store’s manager who helped to run the table at Earthstock, said the doors of the World Village Fair Trade Market have been open for ten years selling products from across the globe. She explained what Fair Trade means and the mission of the founding organization, Sobornost for the World Foundation, Inc.

“Fair trade means that all the people who make [the products], all the artisans, are guaranteed a fair living wage and there is no child or slave labor involved,” she said.

McPhelin said that the prices of the goods sold are marked up so that the profits made are put towards taking care of orphans in Kenya and Zambia. “So it’s a double-mission that we have going on,” she added.

The products on sale at the store in Hampton Bays and at the table at Earthstock were made in several different countries including Cambodia, Guatemala, Thailand and India, as well as countries across the African continent. McPhelin described some of the various materials the artisans used to make the pieces that were for sale, such as used rice bags, newspaper clippings and flips flops, but said that not everything is recycled; many things are just indigenous to where the workers live. Organization members also employee themselves to these countries to aid in the manufacturing of these items.

“Usually about six months of the year [members of the organization are] living with these people and helping them to develop so that they can market something…other than what they may be used to doing for hundreds of years. They’re traditionally doing what they like, but then incorporating [ways] to be a little bit more sellable,” McPhelin said.

One of the pledges for the World Village Fair Trade Market was on the front of the pamphlets handed out to buyers at the event: “Providing Fair Trade Products Made with Pride, Sold with Hope, Bought with Conscience.” This reminded event-goers that they were purchasing products that benefited a just cause. Oxfam America and Sobornost for the World Foundation, Inc. will assuredly continue to be definitive and easily accessible non-profit organizations that will spread awareness and help support impoverished families and workers around the globe to create better working and living conditions for as many people they can reach out to as possible.

Set in the Black Box Theatre of the TAC, the Battle produced a good number of students filling the dark room, with some sitting and others standing as the bands performed their tunes. Rob Drago, one of the staff members of the TAC, described the first band that performed, SBSS, as “kinda screamo.”

“But then their lead singer kinda walked off and then they became a lot of fun,” Drago said.

With a great bass and mellow beat, this year’s winners, Yesterday’s Pants, won over the audience with their cover of “Take Me Out,” by Franz Ferdinand, and harmonized it with the Ting Ting’s “Shut up And Let Me Go.” Their first song was pretty fun, but with lyrics like, “We are not today’s band, we are just the best band,” a well played cover gave them the leg-up needed to win.

The Lawn Chair Bombers were probably the most fun and actually interacted with the crowd. The lead singer had a sinus infection, but no one would have ever known if he didn’t say so. They called themselves a ska band and brought together the crowd. Students started dancing around together in the audience. With a song about morning wood and one named, “Hey Mike, Let’s Go Golfing,” the Bombers seemed the least serious of the gang of bands, and in my opinion, the best.

Midhowl was the last to play and placed third in the competition with their screamo/rock/metal style. I’ve never moshed, and I’ve never been to an actual rock concert where people did so, so witnessing it for the first time scared me a little. I was concerned for the patrons that took part, but the music was good nonetheless.

Midhowl’s lead singer Rama Kumar said, “It’s good to see a lot of bands come out and have a place to play and compete.”

Maybe next year they’ll win first place.