Volume 70 Issue 3

FREE www.facebook.com/esfknothole February, 2015 Volume 70, Issue 1

The Knothole What the France terror attacks meanby Katie Oran

Nature Deficit Disorderby Colette McDonald

Isabellas Journeyby Isabella Kaplan

Ask-a-Nut

Infinite Clarityby Zach Corey

Surviving the fruit fly lab:

A tale of anguish,

triumph, and pointless busy

workby Stephen ScadutoImage CredIt: Betanews.Com

2 THE KNOTHOLE Student Life & The Environment

By Katie Oran

The deadly January 7th terrorist attack at the Paris headquarters of the French satirical newspaper Char-lie Hebdo is also, what many are calling, an attack on freedom of speech. The newspaper is known for its controversial car-toons, reports, and jokes that often mock government, religion, and public figures. The paper, not new to threats, was firebombed in 2011 for its illustration of the Prophet Mohammad, who “guest edited” an issue. Some, including the founder of the newspaper, say that Charlie Hebdo provoked the January 7th attack by continuing to publish cartoons despite the numer-ous threats, and that the attack was a result of their unwillingness to censor themselves. The right of Charlie Hebdo to publish articles and im-ages, which may be offen-sive, is protected by French law, as it should be. Fol-lowing the attack, however, many major newspapers refused to print some of the more controversial is-sues published by Charlie Hebdo. Many criticized the decision calling their refusal to print the images a “victory” for the terrorists and a blow to free speech within the media. Others view the decision as their right not to publish material that is blatantly Islamo-phobic. As the French philosopher Voltaire would say, we may not agree with what Charlie Hebdo pub-lished, but we must defend their right to say it. Two days later, on January 9th, a man took 19 people hostage in a kosher supermarket in Porte de Vincennes, Paris. The attacker had pledged his alli-ance to ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant), and was close with one of the Charlie Hebdo attack-ers. Four Jewish hostages were killed in the attack, and nine others were injured. At the same time, the men who attacked Charlie Hebdo were ambushed, and killed in Dammartin-en-Goële, just outside of Paris near Charles De Gaulle Airport. The attacks come as an anti-Islamic sentiment is

spreading across Europe. Many in France fear that the attack will only serve as a platform for the far-right Front National politicians, who are advocating for stricter immigration laws and restoration of the death penalty. They argue that the open immigration policy of France and many other European countries led to the attacks. In the south of France, far from the events in Paris, French citizens are feeling the increased tension. Yves de Chiris, a French national, believes that Charlie Hebdo did not distinguish enough between criticizing radical Islamics and the masses, who are peaceful. He says that he condemns the killing, but he believes that Charlie Hebdo provoked the attack. It angers him that politicians are “playing politics” around the issue. He is concerned that the attacks

will cause a rise of anti-Is-lamic feeling across France. In Germany, weekly ral-lies against Islamic immi-grants are held by PE-GIDA (Patriotic Europeans against the Islamization of the Occident), and 1 in 8 Germans would join an anti-Islamic march if one was organized in their city.

These marches are growing in size and location with more than 25,000 people attending a march in Dres-den on the 12th of January, up from previous num-bers of 500. Greece’s neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party entered parliament when the phrase, “So we can rid this land of filth,” and set up “Greek only” food banks. Nationalist leaders in Sweden, the Netherlands, and Britain are also capitalizing on the current situation on Europe. Since the attack, police have mounted major anti-terrorism operations across Europe. People are scared but are not letting the events in France stop them from living their lives. Millions of people attended marches across the world in support of France, and donations for the continuation of Charlie Hebo reached hundreds of thousands of dollars. The first issue of the newspaper after the attack sold 3 million copies in minutes, with more printed the next day.

What the France terror attacks mean for freedom of speech and the rise of Islamophobia in Europe

Student Life & The Environment THE KNOTHOLE 3

By Colette McDonald

For many children living on the Southside of Syracuse, fresh produce and a safe-proper space to play may be hard to come by. How-ever, the SUNY-ESF based club, The Student Environmental Education Coalition (S.E.E.C), is doing everything in their power to keep the kid’s curiosity both inside the classroom and out in nature. There is no doubt that this generation of chil-dren has spent significantly less time playing outdoors and more time in front of the TV, the computer screen, or their portable tablet that goes anywhere they do. The Alliance for Child-hood, a nonprofit advocacy group, reported that, “compared to the 1970s, children now spend 50 percent less time in unstructured outdoor activities. Children ages 10 to 16 now spend, on average, only 12.6 minutes per day in vigorous physical activity. Yet they spend an average of 10.4 waking hours each day relatively motion-less.” But in an age where juvenile diabetes is at an all-time high, a third of the children in the U.S are overweight or obese, and interest in science is drastically on the decline, a reintroduction to nature may be exactly what these chil-dren need to turn their physi-cal and mental health around. “To many kids living in the urban areas of Syracuse, they don’t realize that nature always surrounds us and they don’t always have to go outside of the city to find it,” says S.E.E.C’s club president, Olivia Donachie. She adds, “be-ing able to connect with the kids about some-thing as important as the environment is truly rewarding and just helpful for them in the long run.” The club has established a relationship with Dr. King Elementary on the west side of I-81, Ed Smith Elementary in the campus area, and has even become involved with a program to connect with students from Cape Town, South Africa to discuss food issues and how to combat poor nutrition for youth on a global scale. The club visits these elementary schools week-ly, each member averaging about two hours each week educating their students on environ-

mental issues, healthy eating in their school’s garden, and urging the kids to find nature in their own back yards, which to many is in the heart of South Salina Street. With a dropout rate of 50 percent in the City School District, students need encouragement to stay engaged with their curriculum and to not give up on formal education. “S.E.E.C has changed the Syracuse City School District’s curriculum - which is huge,” says David Scalisi, the Coordinator for the Urban Farm Garden Project for Downtown Syracuse. “Now environmental education is included in their science programs and we have kids who have reached the middle school level asking why S.E.E.C’s program isn’t happening in their schools too.” Author and co-founder of the Children & Na-ture Network, Richard Louv, coined the term “Nature Deficit Disorder” in his book, “The Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children

From Nature-Deficit Disor-der.” The term refers to peo-ple, specifically children, who are suffering from spending less time outdoors resulting in a wide range of behav-ioral problems. Throughout his book, Louv describes the substantial effects that con-necting children with nature can do on their personalities as well as their schoolwork.

“When truly present in na-ture, we do use all our senses at the same time, which is the optimum state of learning,” says Louv. Nature Deficit Disorder has become a national issue in the US, gaining attention from nu-merous organizations aimed at combating the threat it poses to American children. Louv says, “schools that use outdoor classrooms and other forms of nature-based experiential education have reported significant student gains in social studies, science, language arts, and math. An environment-based education movement--at all levels of education--will help students realize that school isn’t supposed to be a polite form of incarceration, but a portal to the wider world.” Louv also states, “some of the best-known research comes from the Human-Environment Research Laboratory at the University of Il-

The Nature Deficit Disorder: What SEEC is doing to help

Image Credit: www.pinterest.com


linois, where researchers have discovered that children as young as 5 show a significant re-duction in the symptoms of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder when they are engaged with nature.” It has been reported also by NC State University that connecting children with nature also supports creativity and prob-lem solving, improves nutrition and eyesight, helps develop social relationships, establishes self-discipline, reduces stress and depression, and many other benefits that our children are perhaps lacking due to a decrease in environ-mental exposure. “When we go into the classrooms the kids re-ally seem to appreciate us being there. It’s a break from their everyday routine and they’re enjoying science even though they don’t really realize that is what we are teaching them,” says Donachie. “We use games and crafts to demonstrate environmental concepts and they really enjoy that. Our biggest hope is that they take what they’ve learned back to their fami-lies to introduce them to the concepts as well.” By teaching today’s youth about healthy choices, both mental and physical, the chances that they can turn their community around in the coming years are sub-stantial. The club is also involved with a community based program known as the “Urban Farm Garden Hoop House Project” coor-dinated by Dave Scalisi and prominent community member, Mike Atkins. The program is the Syracuse branch of Mi-chelle Obama’s national project, Let’s Move, focused on improving the health of impover-ished communities. They are in the process of building a community garden in the abandoned Raynor lot across from Jimmy’s Super Savers in downtown Syracuse to combat the “food des-ert”- an area without access to fresh, healthy, and affordable food. Atkins and Scalisi’s project aims to help pro-vide cost effective and nutritious food options for the community’s residents who now receive most of their food from convenient stores and fast food restaurants. The lack of nutrition in the area has led to dangerously low birth weights as well as obesity and diabetes. Most of the children in this area attend Dr. King El-ementary where S.E.E.C is doing their part to encourage healthy eating habits and informing the kids on how gardens are an efficient and

beneficial addition to their community. The project is still in the works, but its sphere of influence has reached community members, legislators, incarcerated youth, and of course, S.E.E.C members. The hoop house project is yet another way in which Syracuse is heading in the right direction to benefit its people and where they live. S.E.E.C, who won the SUNY-ESF volunteer award this year, has shown a significant inter-est in the community’s wellbeing by providing its children with environmental knowledge that they can carry with them throughout their schooling. The club continues to have a pres-ence in the city’s elementary schools, giving lessons to kindergarten through fifth grade every day at Dr. King Elementary and once a week to Ed Smith Elementary Parks and Rec-reation Program. “It’s a very satisfying feeling when you teach these kids about the environment. When you introduce them to ways they can reduce, re-use, recycle, or teach them what composting

is and let them taste their first cherry tomato from the school’s garden, it is a rewarding experience,” says Donachie. In a city where low interest in school and little motiva-tion at home is prevalent in the children’s lives, action from a group like S.E.E.C is important in keeping these

students engaged, specifical-ly in something as important as environmental science. With the club, kids are able to learn hands on about gardening in their communi-ties as well as conservation of their resources through numerous lessons. As Louv states, “It’s easy to blame the nature-deficit disorder on the kids’ or the parents’ back, but they also need the help of urban planners, schools, libraries and other commu-nity agents to find nature that’s accessible.” The issue of nature-deficit disorder is prevalent throughout the city of Syracuse and allowing our kids to engage with nature while being introduced to science may be a solution that is just starting to be tapped into to by S.E.E.C and its members. S.E.E.C is open to new members at any time. If you are interested in joining, email [email protected] or attend their meetings every Thursday at 5:30pm in 19 Moon Library.

Image Credit: www.pinterest.com


Isabella’s Trip: Turkey, Part OneBy Isabella Kaplan

After a few years of saving up from my sum-mer lifeguarding job, I was able to spend my Winter break in Turkey visiting my Cousin Yael, and exploring Europe. Here are my stories. Day 1Hello! I am currently writing to you in the back seat of my grandfather’s car, anxiously waiting to arrive at the Toronto Pearson International Airport and the adventure that awaits me after. I’m so excited to start this 2 week adventure and even more excited to share it with you! Day 2 During the War of Independence, generals from the Turkish army walked upon the corpse littered ground where a horrific battle had just taken place. Looking at what lay by their feet, the generals saw the crescent moon reflected in the pools of blood. So moved by what they saw, this powerful image became the Turkish flag. Burak, my cousin Yael’s boyfriend, told stories like the origin of the flag and many others as we drove away from the surprisingly low-stress Turkish airport. As we traveled into the heart of the old city, I saw ancient ruins crumbling next to everyday homes. There were elegant palaces surrounded by proud mosques. The city of Istanbul was beautiful and alive with its rich history and to my surprise it had a more European feel than I expected. After a Turkish brunch containing little plates of vegetables, eggs and cheese, the three of us headed to the underground cistern. The cistern is a huge dark room of columns sitting in a pool of water. At one end of the cistern sat two Medusa carvings of great mysterious beauty. After we visited the cisterns, we went two mosques: The Blue Mosque and the Hagia So-phia. Both contained amazing Islamic art and stain glass windows. However, the Hagia Sophia really took my breath away. Walking into the mosque I was taken a back by how massive the art was. The mosaics, the paintings, and the Ara-

bic writings were all enormous but so detailed and wonderful. After the mosques and a quick bite to eat at Yael’s favorite café—where we ate mezzes, which is also known as olive oil food—we embarked on to the grand bazaar. The grand bazaar was full of color and move-ment. The tan stone walls were covered in evil eye jewelry, mosaic lights, and rugs. The ceilings were delicately painted with flower patterns. The hundreds of shop owners flattered and shouted at us as they tried to sell us their goods. After walking around the original shopping center for a few hours, and bartering with shop owners, I finally bought my own small Turkish rug!

Unlike the day, the night was calm. We had a fun dinner where we ate more Turkish food. To-day was crazy, and we never stopped moving, but we had a fantastic first day! Day 3 Today was just as wonderful and insane as yesterday. After having breakfast, we left the beautiful old city. As we walked towards our destination, we again passed hundreds of venders selling goods, and trying to grab our attention with the little English they knew. We walked through alleys between old homes


until we arrived at our destination. Hidden, and between shops, was an old ticket both for the Jewish Museum. Walking inside was like en-tering Narnia. Unlike the beat up exterior, the inside of the old synagogue was breathtaking and very well preserved. There were elegant chande-liers, 1800’s wedding outfits, Torahs, and more. Walking through I was reminded how kind the Ottoman Empire was to the Jewish people and learned about how important the Jews were to Turkey’s independence. After the Jewish Museum, we journeyed to the Topakpi Palace. This was my favorite part of the

trip. We saw the gardens, the Harem, and kitch-en of the palace. The walls were absolutely amaz-ing. From floor to ceilings the walls were covered in intricate blue and green tiles. The domes were painted with fantastic patterns. The palace was so ornate! Soon I will be leaving for a snack then off to the airport for Paris. Turkey was such a great adventure, a little short, but still amazing. Thanks for letting me share my stories with you! IsabellaMore of Isabella’s journals will be in the next is-sue – stay tuned!

By Stephen Scadato

I had heard whispers about it, dark tales of the most dreaded assignment: the fruit fly lab, capable of sin-gle handedly ruining a semester. It sounded scary, but in the rush of moving in and figuring out where all my classes were, fruit flies were hardly a worry of mine. Besides, it was only the first day of genet-ics lab, and no class would ever give out a huge and terrible assignment on the first day, right? I walked in ready to zone out as the TA read through the syl-labus. Little did I know the horror that awaited me. We would have to come in every twelve hours at the beginning of the assignment. That was one of the first thing that the TA told us about the fruit fly lab. Coming in every twelve hours ensured that the female flies were virgin, which apparently was necessary in order to keep the crosses “pure”. For the next month and a half, we would be working in groups of four to breed two generations of Drosophila melanogaster, the common fruit fly. We did not get to pick our groups, but would be working with who-ever we happened to have sat next to on the first day of class. There would be a full lab report due on each generation of flies. The purpose of this gargantuan task? To prove that genetic inheritance happens, something that every student learns in high school.To say the very least, walking to Illick late at night to work on the assignment was annoying. The flies were like demanding little children that needed con-stant attention in order to function, the main differ-ence being that most parents actually enjoy spend-ing time with their children. Instead of hanging out with friends at night, I was counting flies. Instead of watching Monday Night Football, I was counting

flies. Instead of studying for an exam in Genetics lecture that was the next day, I was counting flies. In fact, the only thing more frustrating than having to waste my free time counting flies was the actual lab technique that we used to do the experiment. In order to count and identify the sex of the flies, they first needed to be anesthetized. This would be done by filling a plastic “chamber” with a chemical called FlyNap. The chemical is designed to knock the flies out for approximately 15 minutes, long enough to sex the flies and place needed ones in a breeding vial. In reality, the FlyNap worked only one of two ways. Either the flies would wake up after two minutes and proceed to escape, or they would be killed by the chemical. Two minutes may have actu-ally been enough time if the microscopes we were supplied could actually be focused in order to get a clear view of the flies. What was even more fun is that there were somehow never enough microscopes for everyone to use, whether there were thirty people in the lab room or three. In fact, the only enjoyable part of the procedure was getting to kill off flies that we no longer needed. I am not a violent person, but there was something extremely satisfying about watching the creatures that cost us so much of our time drown in oil. In the end, my group did complete the ex-periment. Many others simply gave up and made up their data, but we stubbornly stuck it out to the bitter end. I honestly have no idea why we did. Amazingly, only one of our four crosses finished with incorrect data, a feat that gave me no satisfaction at all. And what will our reward be for toiling for a month and a half while still completing other assign-ments for genetics lab? One credit hour.

Surviving the fruit fly lab: A tale of anguish, triumph, and pointless busy work


By LIAM DONAHER

On the 17th of October, the Sustainable En-ergy Club toured one of the largest wind farms in Canada. Located on Lake Ontario’s Wolfe Island, it consists of 86 turbines and supplies power for thousands of buildings in the south-ern Ontario province. The question is “where does this massive amount of energy come from?”Most sources of sustainable energy start with the sun. Capturing light energy directly from the source with solar panels and solar-thermal plants is a reasonable route to take: it cuts out the energy middlemen, theoretically maximiz-ing efficiency. Then how can wind energy be up to ten times more efficient than solar? It must be magic*.The main problem with solar power is its con-sistency (or lack thereof). Cloudy weather and the pesky time of day where the sun is behind the earth, render these systems temporarily useless. They function best where the sun is directly overhead and efficiency drops dramati-cally when using these solar systems far away from the equator. On the contrary, wind turbines seem to perform better in bad weather. Snow does nothing to in-hibit power production: in fact, since colder air is denser, it pushes harder against the turbine blades and produces more energy. Every per-cent increase of wind speed results in a cubic increase of power production, which is great for generating energy but can be disastrous when exposed to wind speeds above what the turbine can handle. For both safety and economic effec-tiveness, every component of the turbine must be engineered perfectly.The blades, made of lightweight fiberglass and flexible balsa wood, weigh more than ten tons each. The center hub connects to each blade individually, ensuring that each blade can be rotated in its “socket” to catch more wind dur-ing a calmer day. This pitch keeps each turbine at a constant speed to produce the most effi-cient amount of energy. In the case of produc-tion, consistency is the name of the game. Each blade is so fine-tuned that if a single one needs repair, the entire triplet must be replaced. Each blade can be removed individu-ally, but it is usually easier to assemble the entire rotor system on the ground. They are all raised together using one of the largest cranes on the continent, and attached to the body. The incredible generator at the top of the turbine accounts for most of the money and weight of the turbine. Image your car engine. Now forget about your car engine, and imagine a zero-emission elec-

tricity-generating machine capable of power-ing 500 homes at once, only by moving air. It is much bigger than your car engine— bigger than your entire car in fact. It is perched upon a 100m tower, supports the three blades, and is angled slightly upward to account for the huge wind forces bending the blades backwards to-wards the tower. This is the hub of the turbine.

*It’s science.For skeptics and general ponderers, here are a few commonly asked questions: Do the turbines still perform in blustery wind?They are able to handle wind speeds up to around 60mph, after which they slow down and stop production. When wind temporarily dies down, the blade momentum continues to gener-ate for a couple minutes until the wind picks back up. The rotor is able to rotate to face the direction of the wind 3 full times before stop-ping to unwind the internal cables.

Aren’t they really loud?No, the only sound heard from the ground is the whooshing of the air past the blades—the turbines themselves are completely silent.

I heard they kill thousands of birds each year!These really aren’t sounding like questions any-more. But yes, this is true for wind turbines, and a sad fact for most modern infrastruc-ture—building windows account for hundreds of millions of bird deaths annually. Studies for turbine-related bird deaths also add a 20x mul-tiplication factor to account for experimental error, which may present numbers higher than what they actually are.

I want one!Well, first you’d need a property with optimal wind conditions. If you’re lucky, a company might ask to put a turbine on your land and even pay to have it there! Otherwise, you’d need about six million dollars to do it yourself: three million to build the turbine, and another three million for a giant fan that the turbine would power. Too much energy is a lot more dangerous than too little, so you might actually be better off with a smaller residential- sized turbine to power the lights in your shed. Not only will this save you money, but it will also lower your energy use and impact on the natu-ral environment.

Such simplistic-looking turbines are, in reality, marvels of complex engineering. Some-times, to be truly invested in sustainable en-ergy, you really must be a big fan.

WIND FARMS: ENERGY FROM THIN AIR

Student Life & The Environment THE KNOTHOLE 9 8 THE KNOTHOLE Student Life & The Environment

Image Credit: Katie Oran

Image Credit: Mark Tepper

Image Credit: BBC.com

Image Credit: BBC.com

Image Credit: wsj.net

Image Credit: Joseph O’Reily

Image Credit: Joseph O’Reily

Image Credit: Apple Maps

Infinite Clarityby Zach Corey

It comes and goesLike a summer breeze

Grabs attention Like the sting of a bee

Lets down easy And without pain

That is,

Until I wish to see it again.

Confused as to whyThat it comes in waves

But, for certain the truthThat it fades with age.

Not stolen, never borrowedLike feelings of the past

A sweetness I have tastedAnd I wonder, “Was that the last?”

What’s in issue 4 ?!

DoOdlEs!!!

send your favorite doodles from your

notes to

[email protected]

asaP!!Image Credit: standardmagazine.com


Grace Belisle

Tree pose. Mountain pose. Chair pose. Down-ward dog. Upward dog? You’ve heard it all before. It’s not new. But it can be intimidating.

Tadasana. Vrksasana. Utkatasana. Adho Mukha Svanasana. Urdhva Mukha Svanasana.

Seems to be a theme of “-asana”, am I right?

No worries, those terms are another way of saying the colloquial versions introduced prior, respectively.

Yoga is not as challenging as it is to pronounce some (or all of…) the poses. You know what it is, but how do you do it?

Step 1. Try

You can’t do it, unless you try it. It’s a harsh reality.

Step 2. Relax

Seems obvious. But it’s easy to think that there is no way you can lean down and touch your toes. It just doesn’t happen, so obviously you can’t do yoga! This is what I like to call my own personal yogi pet peeve #1. It does not matter if you can touch your toes or not. Lean over; see how far your arms hang. Feel the stretch? Stop there. You’re doing yoga, and you’re doing it perfectly. Now, grab your elbows. Feel the difference? You’re doing yoga even more! If the person next to you has their palms flat on the ground, take a deep breathe and just do you. It doesn’t matter what they are doing. You’re both doing yoga.

Step 3. Realize what it’s all about

Yoga is not about striking a pose. That’s for models and stars on the red carpet. Pet peeve #2: Do not be afraid of a pose because some-one else can do it better. Do what you can, and return to step two and relax. Pet peeve #3: my biggest pet peeve. Yoga. Is. Not. And. Never. Will. Be. A competitive sport. At all. In no way. Yoga is a practice. Do not force yourself to do

anything. This isn’t a game you have to win. You win by being right where you need to be, on the mat, in that moment. When people dis-like yoga just because they aren’t as good as everyone else, it means they don’t understand yoga. Rise above. Yoga is a practice: a practice of movement, and self-healing, and exploration, and broadening. Ignore the angry yogis. People over-stretching on the mat, that try to be better than the rest of the class, are not doing yoga. Which leads me to pet peeve #4: do not hurt yourself. For goodness’ sake, this is supposed to be a good thing for your body. When you force yourself into a position of pain, back out of it before someone has to take you to the doctor. It’s actually amazingly easy to avoid hurting yourself. Just take it slow, and don’t push your-self out of comfort.

Step 4. Okay…

Now where to start? Like yoga, you have op-tions. Classes, of course, are available in the area and over on SU. Check out the Syracuse Recreation Services website for information, or simply ask around. But I prefer the free op-tions. Having never once paid for a yoga class in my life, I started on YouTube. Apprehensive about showing up to a gym of people in yoga pants standing on their heads, while you know your downward dog looks more like a cat-cow? Start by looking for beginner’s yoga on You-Tube. Tara Stiles (founder of Strala yoga in New York, and worldwide beloved yogi with many published books) has multiple beginners’ playlists on her channel, many of which are under ten minutes in length. Want to try some-thing more intermediate? Yoga With Adrian of-fers similar style yoga, with longer videos. Both yogis have all sorts of videos, variations in style and great attitudes toward the practice. And, remember, you are never limited here. Find your own channel, videos, make your own playlist, just simply explore and expand your practice.

Want to try yet another style? At 10 PM on Saturday evenings, head over to Archbold & Flanagan. Have them swipe your card, go up the stairs, cross over to Flanagan on the bridge, and head down the stairs. No sign-up

Yoga (Yes - there are options!)


necessary. You’ll find Linda, offering over an hour of free, relaxing yoga. Linda focuses on holding poses, a little more old school yoga, and offers loads of advice. Even if you don’t intro-duce yourself at the end, she’ll remember your face next week.

Poses, in a way, are simply recommendations of how to move, how to stretch and how to feel. It’s like a simple note-taking tip or flipping

through the pages of this issue—stop where your mind catches interest and then take time to explore and make your own. It’s not a home-work assignment or research paper that needs completing by a certain due date - you don’t even have to complete a routine (although, by the end of multiple practices, you’ll want to).

Keep your head up through the semester. Lit-erally, it’s good for your neck.

Katie Oran

Walking through the village of Auch, the capital of Les Gers region of France, you’ll see decorations resembling Santa Claus, or Père Noël, hanging from most windows. This, like many other holiday decorations in France, is limited compared to traditional American Christmas decorations. Not many residences hang lights, but each village does its own decorations in the village centre. Before my arrival, my aunt told me that the French don’t really celebrate Christmas like Americans do. I think she was right in a lot of ways, but things are changing. Each year more and more vil-lages are hanging Christmas lights, and for the first time the village of Éauze, where my aunt lives, put Christmas trees and lights up. There is also a growing feeling of commercialization in the villages; one that is unwanted by many older French citizens. The Christmas Market in the city of Bordeaux is a sight to behold, and an example of the increasing commercial aspect of Christ-mas. Hundreds of stands of handcrafted choco-late, clothing, fruit, nuts, and wine are lined in the center of the city, and thousands of people come from all over Southern France to buy their gifts. It is the last weekend before Christ-mas when most French families purchase their gifts. There are Christmas markets in many villages, but the largest in Southwestern France is in Bordeaux. I also visited a smaller Christmas market in the city of Mont de Mar-san that included an ice rink and a “snow park”

for children to sled and make snowmen. The French typically view Christmas as a time for family, celebration, and generosity. Children leave their shoes out the night before Christmas to be filled by Père Noël, who comes and fills them with gifts while they sleep. Fruit and small gifts will also be hung on the tree overnight. On Christmas day there will be a large feast with all of the extended family. I was fortunate enough to be invited to celebrate with a French family in the city of Biscarrosse. Each course of the meal featured a dish that is common to the area: the meal included fois-gras, or duck liver, and a fish stew. Each course is served with bread, and a different selection of wine that suits the meal. In some parts of France, the most im-portant Christmas celebration happens on the first Sunday of each new year. La fête des Rois, or “Celebration of the Three Kings”, involves a cake called the galette des Rois. A small object (féve) is baked into the cake and then the cake is sliced and served. Whoever gets the féve is labeled as the king or queen for the day. Tra-ditionally the youngest person celebrating is tasked with serving the cake so that the baker of the cake does not serve themselves the féve. I was crowned Queen during my fête des Rois celebration. New Years, Réveillion, is also a very important holiday to the French. Both private, and large public firework displays are common on New Year’s Eve, and hundreds of cars are set on fire across the country each year, mostly in the larger cities.

French Holiday Traditions


Thunder Boy Isabella Kaplan

“This legend happened a long time ago on an island in St. Lawrence River…

The story happened many summers

in the past.

Glancing up at the dark clouds,

Long ago, a man, his wife, and his daughter lived

alone on this island.

They had a garden where they raised corn, beans, and squashes. One day, as the three were working in the garden,

the sky became very dark.

… the father said that they better run

quickly …

… to their house or they would be caught in the

rain.

The mother shouted to her daughter, who was working at the other end of the field, telling her to cease her work

and run for the house.

Inside the house, the man and his wife waited for

their daughter… in vain.

After the storm, the par-ents returned to the field. They searched the island,

but they could find no trace of the daughter.

Sadly, they returned to their house. “The Thunder People have taken her away,” said the mother, and she wept

bitter tears.

The young daughter had been busy working in the

garden when the storm was approaching

When she saw the fast-thickening clouds and heard her parents call-ing her to the cabin, she

had dropped her hoe and started to follow them.

Suddenly, she was entirely surrounded by what seemed to be heavy mist. In a dazed condition, she was carried

swiftly across the earth.

After a while, the girl found herself in a strange land… He who carried her

was a little man.

He led her through this country until they came to

a long council house.

Upon entering this house, the girl saw many other strange little men, all of whom stared at her...

The little chief seemed very angry when he saw the girl and her escort. “My son,” said he, “why did you bring this earth person to our country?”

…”I saw her… and fell in love with

her”…

For hundreds of years, stories have delighted the imaginations of people; however, stories weren’t al-ways told through the medium of words. In North America, the Iroquois traditions are rich with tales of adventure, respect, and the power of nature. Yet these stories are told through pictures. THUN-DER BOY is one of these, and is a tale to explain the relationship between humans and storms.


One day, the Chief said, “you are about to have a son, but you must return to your home to give birth. Beware if any one strikes him or you will lose him forever.”

Suddenly she was engulfed

in heavy mist…

She opened her eyes and she was back at her mother’s cabin …

…Her parents were happy to see her … and the girl told her strange story and son.

The chief said, “ You should have left her upon the earth. Her ways are not our ways. She cannot eat snail, bugs, and worms, which is the kind of food that we live on…

“If you insist upon keeping her here, you yourself must return to earth and secure

earth food for her…”

The son agreed to do this…

For one year, this earth girl lived in the country of the Thunder

people… she was very happy… she did not become lonesome.

A little son was born just as the thunder chief had

said.

The boy was smaller than the others, and his habits dif-fered from the ordinary.

Thunderstorms excited the boy. He would run out into the storm to

laugh and play about.

The sounder would roar louder and great flashes

of lightning would light up the sky.

The old grandmother did not like this.

She would try to shut him up inside the cabin, but he

would always escape.One stormy day, as

usual, the grandmother locked the boy in the

cabin.

After she scolded and for-bade him to go outside, the boy became very angry and ran about the cabin, throw-

ing to floor everything he could get his hands on.

The grandmother told him to cease his mischief, but he only stamped around more.

The angrier the boy got, the louder the thunder and the

crazier the storm.

The old women lost her temper and gave the boy a sharp blow across his leg with a stick.


Qurks &

Justin Coleman

Winter is coming! And not just in the realm of the mighty Game of Thrones. For better or worse, it has finally arrived in Syracuse and is here to stay. Someone once told me that there are two seasons here in Syracuse: winter and snow. While not everyone has grown up around Syracuse or New England, where I am from, it isn’t hard to soon realize that there are many exciting things to do in the winter beyond being stuck in the house all day. Many of these things have to do with ice and snow. There is ice skating, fishing, and climbing, which don’t require snow at all. There are also many snow activi-ties: snowshoeing, snowboarding, snow forts, snowball fights, snow angels, sledding, skiing, dog sledding, snow moun-taineering, snow shoveling, snowplowing… alright, the last two may actually be chores. But at least you can get your workout when you are shoveling snow. I personally love winter because there are so many fun

things to do. Perhaps it is the ruggedness of the cold that allures me and so many others to the outdoors.

A lot can be told about the ruggedness of winter based on the animals that survive in the winter. There are the hooved ungulates, such as elk, deer, bison, and

moose that must stay warm enough to not freeze and, on top of that, find high-energy food in a wintery landscape devoid of vegetation. Then, there are the hardy predators such as the snow leopard that traverses the mighty Himalayas to survive, and the grey wolf who braves icy cold win-ters through thick heavy snow. However, if I could choose to be any animal, I would be a bear; why brave the cold when you can

sleep through it? The winter may mean different things to many different people but the winter has long been, and always will be, the season for me. With a hardy attitude, a flannel shirt or two, and a trusty Carhartt jacket, you will come to love the winter as much as I.

Since the thunder boy is half-Indian, the thunder peo-ple do not bother the Indians. In early spring, right before the first thunder, it is said to please the thunder people by placing tobacco on a fire.

The boy’s mother returned and said “you have struck my son. He has been taken by his father to the land of the

thunder people, and we will never see him again.”

A rumble thunder sounded fainter and fainter in the distance.

Instantly, there was a blinding flash of lighting, a loud roar of thunder, and the room filled with heavy mist.

The old woman huddled in the corner of the cabin, fearful. Once the mist cleared, the boy had vanished.

Finding your self in Winter

Image Credit: www.2.bp.blogspot.com


Curiosity Stephen Scadato

In this edition of Weird Creature Spotlight, we meet the Slow Loris, a native of South and Southeastern Asia. While the Slow Loris may appear more adorable than weird (it’s certainly more attractive than the Blobfish), it is actu-ally a rather odd little critter. Despite its fuzzy appearance, the Slow Loris is actually quite deadly. The Slow Loris is one of the few ven-omous mammals with venom powerful enough to kill, and there is no known cure for its toxic bite. Befitting of a strange animal, the Slow Loris has a strange way of producing its ven-omous bite. Instead of producing venom near its jaws like a normal person, the Slow Loris produces venom on its inner elbow, which it then sucks in, to make its bite poisonous. Stud-ies have confirmed that this is the most hilari-ous toxic defense mechanism in the animal kingdom. On an unrelated note, the Slow Loris also has the longest tongue of all primates. Nowadays, it seems like any animal that is even remotely cool is either endangered or

threatened. The Slow Loris is no exception. Thanks to habitat destruction and poaching, the Slow Loris is listed as critically endan-gered. Sadly, it is now one of the rarest pri-mates in the world.

Weird creature Spotlight

Image Credit: www.2.bp.blogspot.com

Dear Nut, I am a sophomore Landscape Architecture major, and my life is a living hell. I was recently stuck from 8:00 AM Sunday until 4:00 AM Monday morning working on my final project. I think this major is going to kill me. How am I supposed to get my degree while still managing to get even a little bit of sleep?

Sincerely, This workload Is Really Excessive and Demanding

Dear TIRED, My first advice to you would be to switch majors. There are many departments with a lighter workload than LA, such as: Biology, Chemistry, Environmental Science, Engineering, Environmental Studies, Construction Management, Paper Science, or any major at SU. If switching majors isn’t an option, then make caffeine your best friend. Learn to shower in tea. Inject coffee into your body through an IV. Keep emergency packets of sugar in your pockets at all times. As far as sleep is concerned, you’re probably not going to get a lot of time to actually lie down for a nap, so you’re going to have to get creative. Learn the route to your classes by heart so that you can literally walk to class in your sleep. Sleep during meals so that you can make your life as efficient as possible. If you need maximum comfort in order to sleep, tape a pillow to the back of your head and a wear a blanket at all times. Finally, bribing your professors is a perfect way to get your degree. Bribery has literally never failed before. Hope this helped and good luck: you’re gonna need it.

Ask a Nut


Imposition by Emma Aversa

Image Credit: Emma Aversa

knothole staff

Co-Managing Editors

Jennifer LouieGrace Belisle

Layout & DesignTerrance Caviness

Liam DonaherIsabella Kaplan

Mark Tepper

TreasurerTerrance Caviness

Editorial StaffGrace AndersonEleanor Clark

Katie Oran

AdvisorKaren Moore

Writers

Emma AversaGrace Belisle

Justin ColemanZach Corey

Liam DonaherIsabella Kaplan

Colette McDonaldKatie Oran

Stephen Scaduto

Artists

Joseph O’ReillyMark Tepper

The Knothole Mission Statement: Who we are

The Knothole is a monthly SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry publication composed by the student body. It is rooted in the spirit of ESF, and branches out into the broader community to inform and inspire. We hope to provide an eclectic mix of art and articles which

spark discussion, inspire creativity, and increase awareness.

Date post:	08-Apr-2016
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Volume 70 Issue 3

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