Expressions :: Spinnaker

It is up to this generation to ensure the enjoyment of the earth for future generations, according to an environmental professor's lecture March 30 at the University of North Florida.

     Dr. David Orr, a professor and chair of the Environmental Studies Program at Oberlin College in Ohio, has written several books, his latest being "The Last Refuge: Patriotism, Politics and the Environment in an Age of Terror."
     The book and his lecture touched on environmental issues he said the current generation must solve to sustain the earth and its environment.
     Orr's presentation was geared toward environmentally friendly architecture, along with the degradation of earth and its systems.
     Oberlin College created an ecologically friendly center from which to study and understand how buildings may be made more efficient and better suited to the environment. It is on this center that Orr concentrated his architectural presentation.
     The environmental center is nearly self-sufficient, meaning it requires fewer resources to run than an average building. Nearly 53 percent of its power comes from solar energy, a number Orr hopes will reach 100 percent - or more, causing the building to be what he terms a "net exporter" of energy.
     Wastewater is also treated within the system, first cycling through a series of aquatic plants that cleanse the water while benefiting from its nutrients. The water is then returned to the aquifer so that it may be reused.
     A virtual tour of the revolutionary center, including a daily update on its systems, is available at www.oberlin.edu/envs/ajlc/Default.html.
     In his lecture, Orr also touched on productivity statistics. Production is too inefficient and creates too much waste, Orr said, and it detrimentally impacts the Earth in ways that are not yet understood by scientists.
     "It takes 11 calories of energy to produce one calorie of finished processed energy," Orr said. "For every pound of material that ends up on store shelves, 3,200 pounds of waste is created."
     It is the job of the generation currently in college, he said, to begin to change the system for the betterment of humanity and the environment. Orr placed a large amount of blame on current politicians who do not understand, or perhaps do not care to understand, that the policies they create and carry out may be causing harm in the long run and "passing on a debt and burden that should not have to be passed on to those future generations."
     The "debt" to which Orr referred includes higher levels of greenhouse gases, particularly carbon dioxide, which he said can increase global warming. Greenhouse gases result from the burning of nonrenewable fossil fuels - fuels Orr said the current generation may exhaust.
     "Many scientists believe that fossil fuels could be gone by 2050, and that peak production of these fuels has either passed or will come to pass soon," he said.
     Unfortunately, Orr added, little is being done to wean American dependence on oil, even though the appropriate technology exists and need only be developed and implemented.
     Education is the key to success and change, Orr said. People must educate themselves and demand education for their children on environmental matters. He suggested perhaps using a portion of the $400 billion defense fund to include ecological awareness in education curricula, rather than using it to fight a war with oil at its root.
     Orr, in "The Last Refuge," wrote, "Students of all ages will need the kind of education and skills appropriate to building a society with fewer cars but more bicycles and trains, fewer large power plants but more windmills and solar collectors, fewer supermarkets and more farmers' markets, fewer large corporations and more small businesses, less time for leisure but more good work to do, and less public funding but more public spirit."
     It will take cooperation among all people and political figures, Orr said, to begin to restructure the environmentally harmful ways in which humanity lives - and to do so before it is too late. "The transition to sustainability will require learning how to recognize and resolve divergent problems," Orr wrote in his latest book, "problems formed out of the tensions between competing perspectives that cannot be solved but can be transcended, which is to say a higher level of spiritual awareness."

Contact Zan Gonano at uspinnak@unf.edu.

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Nothing flaky about Bela and Flecktones
Dave Strupp
Contributing Writer

It was no April Fool's joke when Bela Fleck and the Flecktones gave a jaw-dropping performance April 1 in the Lazzara Performance Hall, concluding the 16th Annual Great American Jazz Series at the University of North Florida.

     In addition to their musical act, Fleck and his Flecktones also worked with students from the university's music department, giving them advice and hands-on experience with the band before and during the show.
     Fleck is regarded as one of the best and most innovative banjo players in the world. His style of play not only delves into typical bluegrass banjo sounds, but mixes jazz, funk and other genres into one dazzlingly rich performance.
     The Flecktones are also considered to be some of the most inventive musicians in the world. Saxophonist and woodwind player Jeff Coffin tends to have four or five instruments on stage, at times playing two saxophones at once, which can boggle the mind with the sounds they produce. His creativity and range of style nonetheless make him a premiere sax player and a virtuoso.
     The ability to be versatile is something the Flecktones grasp. Never sticking to one genre of music allows them the opportunity to reach new levels. Fleck was in between sessions with UNF music students when he said his favorite thing was that his band members have remained friends after so many years.
     "We've known each other for so long, and it's a real community feeling," Fleck said. "Also, it's great how quickly we came together and how passionate everyone is about making music with one another."
     On bass is Victor Wooten, one of the best, if not the best, bassist in the world. Wooten has played bass since he was 3 years old, and seeing him live shows how incredibly good he is. The sounds he produces do not seem to correlate with the movement of his hands on the bass, but often the audience is left in sheer amazement at the complexity and quickness of his playing. His solo performances astound the most seasoned veterans of music, and his ability to find the groove is uncanny.
     On percussion is Future Man, aka Roy Wooten. His style of drumming is unparalleled because of his invention, the drumitar. The drumitar, or synth-axe, is a drum synthesizer that looks like a guitar.
     Future Man posted on his Web site that he created this instrument so he could have the greatest possible emotional sensitivity over his sound. At times he plays the drumitar and a standard drum kit at the same time.
     His synthesized drumming may seem like cheating, but the sounds he produces are so real and fulfilling that one tends not to care, being so blown away by the sheer complexity of it.
     Fleck has been recording music since the late 1970s, but came together with the Flecktones in 1988. He said the band members communicate well.
     "With Victor and Roy, those guys are just very easy to get along with," Fleck said. "Neither one of them ever has a problem with anyone, and I think I'm the same way. I never want to make a problem.
     "And Jeff fits into the mold because he is more fiery than anybody. He's the most Northern, you know. But it works OK because he doesn't dominate, and everybody goes about it differently. Victor, Roy and I are so chill - and Jeff can be chill, too, but he can get a little noisy."
     The award-winning UNF Jazz Ensemble I opened the show. The ensemble, directed by Dr. Keith Javors, proves to be living up to its reputation as a nationally and internationally renowned group of jazz musicians. Throughout their set, members of the ensemble showed off their talents through speedy solos and full-sounding harmonies.
     As a special treat, the Flecktones came out during the ensemble's last song of the evening and joined them in performing "Hoe Down."
     The interaction between the Flecktones and the ensemble was brilliant. Each member of the Flecktones set off on a duel against a member of the ensemble, which proved to show how talented both groups of musicians truly are.
     Once the Flecktones took the stage, they wasted no time producing their emotionally stirring sounds. The simple use of lights and smoke set the mood perfectly for each of the musicians without being ostentatious. Each band member seemed to try to outshine the others with nonstop solos and duels, but it would be impossible to say one musician was more talented than any other.
     What is possible to say is that this band comprises four of the most talented and innovative musicians to ever take the stage.
     "Wherever I am and there are people there that are digging it, I'm happy," Fleck said. "We get to play in some of the most beautiful places in the world, and I really like those. But we get to play in all sorts of festivals and what not. But variety is what I like."

Contact Dave Strupp at uspinnak@unf.edu.

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Second Injection deals quite a fix
Angela Dryden
Features Editor

For fiction junkies who need a "fix" this semester, a "Second Injection" is available from Fiction Fix - though some may have to wait for the journal currently on back order in the University of North Florida bookstore.
Fiction Fix celebrated the release of Second Injection, the latest volume of fiction stories from its literary magazine Fiction Fix, March 26 in the UNF Art Gallery.

     The 11 stories range in variety and length, from a suicidal 98-year-old woman in "A Revolution Against Her Skin" to the "Cold War," which ends the journal with squelching love, regrets, indifference and things unsaid.
     The most condensed story is three pages, with others taking readers through 15. But the success of each author is evident throughout the book, and the ability to capture a reader though such short stories is a testament to the strength of the writing. Readers become so lost in the characters, so in tune to the situation presented, that everything else becomes unreal except for that story, that moment.
     One story that captures such a moment in only nine pages is "A Revolution Against Her Skin" by junior English major April Fisher, which begins Fiction Fix's second volume.
     "I thought it was my most complete story at the time, and I thought students would like to read it," Fisher said. "I always have some moral I try to share."
     Fisher's story recounts the life of a 98-year-old woman, Dolores, and jumps to different ages of her life and the events in her past that helped create the inner struggle now plaguing her. Dolores has kept horrible events hidden throughout her life, which eventually prod her to be released in the form of her own blood in this a tale of darkness, evil, illumination and love.
     Fisher said she builds on ideas for her fiction stories.
     "Usually, I can always tell when a story is starting," Fisher said. "I get very attentive to things going on around me and start taking notes. I'll have an idea, some moral, like existence and nonexistence. Most of the time I don't know the end when I start, I'll just sit down and put my notes together and it just comes out."
     Fisher had originally workshopped this story in one of visiting professor Mark Ari's Fiction Workshop classes, and after revisions, submitted it to Fiction Fix. The idea for Fiction Fix was born from a workshop Ari taught in 2002.
     "One semester, I proposed the idea to my Fiction Workshop, that idea being to create a Literary Journal to publish the best work [from] UNF writers - both from the workshop and from the university community at large - and, hopefully, beyond that to the widest pool of writers possible," Ari said.
     "People seemed excited about the idea, so I asked everyone interested to stay after class," he continued. "Most of the workshop stayed. Through their dedication, ingenuity and determination, the First Injection was published, entirely paid for through the efforts of the students themselves."
     English graduate student and president of Fiction Fix Melissa Milburn was in Ari's first workshop when the idea for the journal was born. Her story "Fishin'" was published in the first volume of Fiction Fix.
     She said she has gained more than just a writing credit from her time with the group and hopes more students will participate in this medium.
     "The rewards are personal," Milburn said. "You have to have tenacity, a passion for the art. It's a really amazing process, but you have to work for the sake of the process."
     The members of Fiction Fix do more than showcase their writing talents. They encourage and foster aspiring writers through an online workshop and a group workshop held on campus once a month.
     Thelma Young, vice president of Fiction Fix, became involved with the group this year and sponsors the workshops at UNF. She also contributed the story "Old Blacky" to Second Injection.
     "We take submissions from writers - they don't have to be students - and then people interested in getting opinions of their work can come to one of the workshops we have," Young said. "At workshops, we give all of the comments back to the writer. It's not sugary, but the goal is to make us better writers, so they have to come in and not take it personally."
     The group also has the authors of the publication visit professors who use Fiction Fix in their classes to answer questions about their work.
     "Through Fiction Fix, we're able to expose people to advanced writing courses," Young said. "We do readings in classes that are using it, and students have the chance to talk to the author directly."
     Fisher said she had gained the most insight into writing from reading her story to one of these classes.
     "It was really amazing," Fisher said. "It was the first time I had an audience outside of a workshop, and it was really neat. Some students would audibly react while my story was read, so I could hear what things the reader responded to."
     Fisher's advice to writers working on a piece for publication is relatively simple.
     "Once you write something, have someone else read over it," Fisher said. "Fiction Fix is a good thing to get into for that reason; it's made up of people that are very serious about writing."
     But the most important thing for those afflicted with writer's disease is "to be interested in life," she said.
     "That's where you get your material," Fisher said. "Living life - that's what they should focus on; that's where the stories will come from."
     Fiction Fix is accepting short story submissions for its Third Injection through June 15. Guidelines are available at www.fictionfix.net. Young advises keeping stories to 10 pages or less in length, though content is most important. She said a story with possibility would win out over one that is error-free.
     "Even if students aren't sure about how to do it or their own writing, we encourage people to contact us," she said. "We look for interesting and unique stories - and they don't have to be perfect, we have an editor in chief that will correct grammar."
     The process of putting together a publication like Fiction Fix was arduous and time-consuming, Young said, with those involved volunteering their time. She said they raised money for the second issue by having bake sales where they accepted donations.
     Ari said volunteers from all over campus were involved in publication.
     "For the second issue, people from past workshops joined in, and also some people from the broader university community," he said. "By the same process, and with no institutional or foundational support whatsoever, the Second Injection was published."
     Ari continues to help develop future Fiction Fix authors through writing workshops he leads at UNF, along with his encouragement to aim for printing a third edition.
     "I made a suggestion," Ari said. "A terrific bunch of people jumped on it and made it happen. It really comes down to that. I told them I'd believe we had truly accomplished our goal after the third issue - I've been saying that since before the first one; rule of three, you know. But I am terrifically proud of what these people have accomplished already."
     Each story brings a new and fresh idea to the journal, but readers may want to keep a box of Kleenex close, as the power of the characters to convey emotion is clearly infused throughout.
     "They've brought light to our campus and given the university community something of which to be proud," Ari said. "They have raised the profile of art in a place where that has been sorely needed. They have created something, making themselves better and stronger in the process, making our university richer and more full of light. I believe that. And I believe they have and will continue to inspire others by the example they've set."
     Once the reader begins, the title reads true: It's a "fiction fix" kind of state that causes the dilemma. Readers are compelled to finish, but then find themselves on the last page, the last sentence, the last word, and are left jonesing for more.

Contact Angela Dryden at spinnakerfeatures@yahoo.com.

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Take a jab at group fitness
Ann Pahlic
Contributing Writer

     Trying to get in shape or lose weight but can't seem to stay motivated? Group fitness is one way to keep exercise interesting.
     There is a variety of group fitness classes offered at the University of North Florida, including yoga, kickboxing, Pilates and spinning. One of these may spark an interest for students - especially since there is no cost to participate.
     Plus, group fitness can be an effective way to get in shape because participants in the class can keep one another motivated.
     "It's fun," said Bellmary Rodriquez, a sophomore majoring in graphic design. "You meet a lot of new people. The schedules are flexible, and the people you meet motivate you to go."
     The fitness program at UNF has not always been as diverse as it is now. When it began approximately 20 years ago, aerobics and dance were the only classes offered. Since then, the program has expanded to include its current variety of classes.
     "We try to stay up with the latest trends in working out," said junior nutrition major Dana Snapp, a student fitness instructor at UNF.
     One of the new exercise trends added this semester is Pilates, a workout designed to focus on stability to strengthen and tone the body.
     "Pilates is our biggest class right now, which is surprising considering it is so late [in the evening]," said Jim Baur, coordinator for the Dottie Dorion Fitness Center.
     The classes are scheduled based on student demand. According to Baur, workout classes are chosen based on information gathered from student surveys. Then the availability of rooms in the UNF Arena and the schedules of the instructors are taken into consideration.
     "It's a puzzle that has to be pieced together to make it work," Baur said.
     The group fitness instructors are certified and seem to enjoy teaching the classes, if Snapp is any indication.
     "I always wanted to help people get in shape," Snapp said. "And it is such a fun atmosphere."
     Many instructors also teach fitness classes outside of UNF. Snapp teaches killer abs, boot camp and kickboxing classes on campus and also teaches at Bailey's Powerhouse Gym, where she has taught yoga, Pilates and power pump.
     But UNF students do not have to join a gym to take advantage of group fitness with the free classes and facilities available on campus for students.
     "Everybody should try it," Baur said. "Their tuition pays for it. It is really a great service."
     For more information on specific classes, call 620-1551 or visit www.unf.edu/recsports/fitness.htm.
Contact Ann Pahlic at uspinnak@unf.edu.

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Students prepare for life after graduation
Stephanie Gramling
Contributing Writer

     Jumping into the real world can be a scary leap for University of North Florida seniors, but the office of alumni services is trying to help to prepare students for their careers.
     A free Etiquette Dinner from alumni services took place April 5 to polish students on the finer points of the business world. An Etiquette Luncheon scheduled for 11:30 that morning was canceled from lack of attendance.
     Sixty-one people attended the dinner in the University Center, and two students won a blazer courtesy of Dilliards department store to close out the evening. A four-course meal, including spinach salad, tomato bisque soup, chicken breasts with potatoes au gratin and vegetable medley, and French silk pie were served at the dinner.
     Faith Hall, director of alumni services, taught the dining etiquette portion of the event by walking the attendees through each part of the four-course meal.
     "Our goal is to help our graduates feel more comfortable and confident during business dining," Hall said. "If they feel confident in their appearance and know proper dining etiquette, then they will feel less awkward and can focus on the business discussion."
     Lenroy Jones, associate director of career services, spoke after Hall at the dinner to discuss the proper business attire for interviews.
     This is the second year for the dinner event, Hall said. The Etiquette Dinner is presented twice each year, usually in November and April.
     "The event is hosted primarily for all UNF seniors who have applied to graduate, but any UNF student who really wants to learn dining etiquette is welcome to attend," Hall said.
     Dining etiquette was discussed at the dinner, and ranged from the correct placement of the napkin to tipping the server. Hall also provided extra tips on general business courtesy such as handshakes and proper introductions.
     "Many graduates will find themselves in careers that require them to 'wine and dine' clients - some may even find it to be part of their interview process," Hall said. "The individuals who can handle themselves the most professionally in these types of situations will have the edge."
     At the end of the event, dining etiquette handbooks were provided, as well as a publication explaining matters such as health insurance options and retirement plans.
     Students interested in learning more can contact the office of alumni services at 620-4723.
Contact Stephanie Gramling at uspinnak@unf.edu.

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