Comics – Pee Wee Oct. 6
Arts
SOSA takes part in Orlando climate strike
Photo by Florida Tech SOSA.
This past week millions of people participated in the global climate strike.
A small fraction of those striking were Florida Tech students, demanding a change to protect and preserve the planet.
Nearly two weeks ago, Florida Tech’s Student Organization for Sustainability Action sent four of its chapter members to Orlando to attend a Friday’s For Future climate strike outside city hall.
“The energy was amazing, and seeing 200 people plus unite for a cause that they are equally, if not more, passionate about than I am was an unforgettable experience,” said Taylor Greene, SOSA president.
The Friday’s For Future is a movement started by 16-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, which so far has activated weekly student strikes in 150 countries.
Participating Orlando organizations and activist groups included IDEAS for Us, the Sunrise Movement Orlando, Fridays For Future USA and Fleet Farming.
These groups encouraged participants to wear green and raise their recyclable homemade signage high in the sky, reflecting the climate action they would like to see in Florida.
Guest speakers included Florida democratic state representative Anna Eskamani as well as others raising awareness for climate change.
“One of the things that resonated the most with me was when I heard Anna Eskamani preach that she didn’t run for office to talk about what was impossible, rather to fight for what is possible,” Greene said. “That was something that really spoke to me and demonstrated that there are people out there trying to do good.”
Tagging along with Greene were fellow SOSA members Jack Weaver and Jeffrey King, both of whom are juniors majoring in ocean engineering and minoring in sustainability.
Both students described attending the strike as “being a part of history and fighting for something our generation believes in.”
“I think some people believe that climate change doesn’t affect us,” Weaver said. “But people are dying as a result all around the world.”
According to Weaver, climate change goes beyond affecting the animals, it has repercussions on a human level that the majority of society should care about.
While Florida Tech’s SOSA chapter and other environmentally conscious activists rallied in Orlando, the scene in New York City was amplified.
World leaders, corporate executives and activists gathered at the United Nations Climate Action Summit.
A collaborative effort was made to turn promises into reality in hopes of global warming and rising CO2 emissions.
Topics such as the benefits and use of renewable energies were debated as well as setting a goal of reaching net-zero emissions by 2050.
“You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words, and yet, I’m one of the lucky ones,” Thunberg stated as she addressed presidents, prime ministers, and other diplomats. “People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing.”
While there has been tremendous outrage and protests globally with frustration for the destruction of ecosystems, there has also been distress and efforts on a more local note.
For example, the same day as the strike in Orlando, there was also a rally and march held that night at the Eau Gallie Causeway hosted by young Brevard teens.
When she wasn’t marching along side community members with decorated signs covered from head to toe in green attire, Florida Tech senior and marine biology major Erin Casellas was trying to get signatures for the Florida Climate Pledge.
Casellas works as a campus ambassador for CLEO Institute, a Miami based non-profit that strives to educate and promote climate action.
By obtaining signatures Casellas was gaining support from those who want to protect Florida’s biodiversity.
“I think that a lot of people see how beautiful a place like Melbourne is, and we have these amazing ecosystems, but people don’t understand how fragile they are,” said Casellas when asked why some may not believe in climate change.
After a week full of awareness for the environment, the invaluable resources it provides us and the necessary action society needs to take for future generations, SOSA wanted to close their week of insightful environmental mandates and motives to “stand for what we stand on” with a tree planting ceremony on the Crawford Green.
A Florida Gumbo Limbo Tree, also known as the iconic south Florida tree, which is expected to grow up to 60-feet tall, was planted in a ceremonial atmosphere.
“Today, Friday, September 27, 2019, we set the roots for a better future,” Greene said as she introduced her final words of wisdom.
Perhaps the most simple and powerful statement came from a sustainability professor and faculty advisor for SOSA, Ken Lindeman left students with this lasting remark: “You got to come back and look at this tree in 10 years, this thing is going to be epic.”
Comics – PeeWee
Haikus by Sonja Michaels
Florida Tech Fall
Pumpkin drinks in hand
Fall leaves instead are palm trees
Midterms end summer
Forgot
Alarm is chirping
A ten minute walk to class
Forgot the text book
Comics – PeeWee
A Casual Review – REMNANT: FROM THE ASHES: Souls-like with a unique twist of flavor
“Remnant: From the Ashes” is a game that focuses on being fun and engaging instead of making everything complicated and irrelevant.
Developed by Gunfire Games, the studio that is best known for its Darksider franchise, “Remnant” is a third-person shooter action game which takes place in the post-apocalyptic Earth.
It is also categorized as a “Souls-like” game by many players and reviewers, meaning it features similar mechanics to FromSoftware’s Souls series, notably the Dark Souls trilogy.
These games are known for their limited check points, dark settings, hidden stories and challenging difficulty.
While “Remnant” certainly took inspiration from the Souls series, it is still very different from most games that fall within the same category.
The player begins on ruined Earth, progressing to three other worlds as they navigate the game.
Each world has its own unique environment and enemies, which makes it very interesting to explore.
Gameplay wise, “Remnant” feels like most third-person shooter games, and the player also gets to use a melee weapon if they prefer.
However, most parts of the game play revolve around shooting.
The world of “Remnant” is procedurally generated when the player starts a new game, so each player’s world can be a little different from one another.
This also means that the players may face different bosses and get different rewards every run.
The difficulty of the game is not too challenging, but hard enough to make it feel exciting and action packed.
There are roughly 120 different enemy types in the game; each have their own strengths and weaknesses, making it important for the player to learn and remember the enemies’ patterns.
Another element that made “Remnant” a thrilling game is its three player co-op.
While it may be entertaining to play a game alone, it gets even better when there are two friends around.
Not only do the players get to progress faster with rewards and loot, but the rewards and loot are also shared among the players and are carried forward to each player’s own game.
In addition, the game adjusts the difficulty level by the number of players in the game, so it will never feel too hard or too easy during a co-op session.
While the game is not that impressive on a technical level, it has a lot of character building customization choices and replay value.
The multiplayer element of the game also works well, which reinforced its replayability.
An Experiment in Metal: King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard ’s Infest the Rats’ Nest Album Review
Australian rock band King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard released their fifteenth studio album, “Infest the Rats’ Nest,” on Aug. 16 as an experimental look back upon old school metal and psychedelic rock.
The album’s style is pleasantly cluttered.
There is a lot going on in the sound space, and not a single instrument is left unattended to.
Effects are used tastefully to create a balance of clarity and distortion.
Some of the more refined sounds call back to psychedelic rock, adding a trippy flair to familiar metal roots.
Powerful bass lines from Joey Walker blend with full, thrash-inspired guitars, driven by consistent all-out drumming from Michael Cavanagh.
The second track, “Mars For The Rich,” is a standout.
For four and a half minutes, it is impossible not to at least nod along to the groove, and the last minute or so of the track is likely to get you drumming on the nearest surface.
Though the album is categorized as metal on iTunes and other music platforms, there are many genres providing influence.
While metal fans will undoubtedly enjoy thrashing guitar tracks and frontman Stu Mackenzie’s gritty vocals, there are experimental elements at play that could certainly draw in fans of psychedelic rock, punk, surf rock and experimental music as a whole.
Each guitar track calls back to metal bands like Motörhead and Black Sabbath, with guitar credited to Mackenzie, Walker and Cook Craig in the album notes.
The metal mentality of this album shines through on tracks like “Organ Farmer” and “Perihelion,” that sound is contrasted by the slower pace of “Superbug.”
This lengthy track provides a rest in the middle of the album; there are frequent instrumental breaks, with an outstanding one coming in at 2:20.
“Superbug” is a perfectly timed change of pace from fast-paced vocals and driving instrumentals, readying the listener’s palette to dive right back into five more tight tracks.
It is followed up with “Venusian 1,” a heavy metal blitz with a quick enough pace and feeling to give any ‘70s punk track a run for its money.
“Perihelion” feels like a natural continuation from “Venusian 1.” Its intro might lead you to believe that the song is not going to impress, but it is saved by some interesting backing vocals that come in right in time to save the song and push things forward into the closing tracks.
“Infest the Rats’ Nest” serves as a tribute to the metal of yesteryear, but with crystal clear production and experimental influences from a range of genres.
The music refuses to pull at your emotions or sympathize with you at all, but that is not its purpose; it is an energetic, down-and-dirty collection ready for you to lock your door, pile on your darkest makeup or most studded clothing and rock out for a little over 34 minutes
Hurricane Dorian Limericks
Don’t Kill Flori’an, a limerick
We all think the weathermen lie
Despite them all showing the eye
Oh please ole Dorian
Don’t kill Flori’an
We are all not ready to die.
The Aftermath, a limerick
Oh wow — that was quite a scare
Dorian ended up fair
Pray for the affected
Not all were protected
Some were even left bare.
Comics – Sunny Vol. 4
Ruth Funk Center’s foray into American History
With the upcoming exhibit at Florida Tech’s textile museum, the Ruth Funk Center, anyone will be able to come in and learn about the history of the American art form of basketry.
The exhibit is titled “Rooted, Revived, Reinvented: Basketry in America.”
It will open to the public from Sept. 21-Dec. 14, as detailed from the museum’s website at www.textiles.fit. edu.
“[The exhibit] chronicles the history of American basketry from its origins in Native American, European and African traditions up to contemporary baskets,” said Donna Sewell, manager of visitor services at the Ruth Funk Center.
The exhibit will divide all basket-related items into four sections based on the themes of “cultural origins,” “living traditions,” “basket as vessels” and “beyond the basket.”
The museum’s goals for the exhibit are listed on their website as, “To model how to look at, talk about and analyze baskets aesthetically, critically and historically; and to contextualize American basketry within art and craft history specifically and American culture generally.”
Before the exhibit opens, the Ruth Funk Center will hold a Funky Fall Art Fest across from Evans Library from 3-7 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 30.
The museum will be empty, as it’s in-between exhibits, so the event will be both indoors and outdoors.
Inside the museum for the event’s participants will be painting, pottery wheels, a game room, performances and more.
Outside activities include lawn games, chalk art and a live band with free food via food trucks.
The museum is hoping to make this an annual event going forward to celebrate the anniversary of the Ruth Funk Center opening up on campus.
“As a staff, we’ve been wanting to do a student-led event,” Sewell said. “So the idea developed through these collaborations with SMART and SGA.”
SMART is the museum’s student advisory committee that students can join to plan events with the museum, help the museum bring in new visitors and give insight into the planning of museum exhibits.
Sewell said that the first weekly meeting for the exhibit was held in May.
“As a staff, we’ve been planning this for a year,” Sewell said.
Other coming events will include a gallery tour by Exhibit Co-Curator Jo Stealey on Oct. 8 and basket weaving demos from Oct. 8-12 as part of the museum’s spinning and weaving week.
After this semester’s coming exhibit closes, the next exhibit titled “Ubuhle Women: Beadwork and the Art of Independence” will run from Feb. 1-April 25.
“We want to let the students know that we are the center of creativity, fun and art,” Seawell said. “We want the students to have fun and relax.”