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volume 11 - issue 1 - tuesday, january 24, 2012 - uvm, burlington, vt uvm.edu/~watertwr - thewatertower.tumblr.com by julietcritsimilios I am a feminist. Despite what that word may bring to your mind, all that means to me is that I believe women and men should be equal. Actually, I believe that everyone should be equal regardless of their gender, their sexuality, or the sex they identify with. If UVM has taught me anything, it has been openness to new people and new things, an acceptance of difference and an embrace of uniqueness. I’ll never forget saying “that’s so gay,” and my first-year orientation leader saying to me, “No. We don’t say that here. This is UVM. You’ll learn.” I did learn. I learned that gay is not a syn- onym for stupid. I learned about women’s rights much more than I did in high school. I learned about rape culture. I learned about LGBTQ rights. UVM’s curriculum helped me do this, but I was open. I was open to learning about these issues, and I by dansuder carly macconnell let the differences of my peers change me as ast Wednesday, major websites like The answer is different for each group, providers, must then cease dealings with a student and as a human being. There are Wikipedia and Craigslist completely but it boils down to the internet as we know the site in question, and remove any links many people that will never take a Wom- shut down for 24 hours to protest two it being at risk. Try briefly to imagine life to it. The site effectively becomes inacces- en’s Studies class or a Sexuality and Gender anti-piracy bills that were making without the internet. People used to have sible for the average-Joe internet user. In Identity class even though they are some of their way through the federal legislature. phonebooks. And they had to walk to the other words, when you type “justin bieber the best and most influential on campus. In the Senate, the bill was the PROTECT library to use encyclopedias. People had wu-tang mashup with corgis,” even if it ex- The effect of this lack of diverse curriculum IP Act (which stands for Preventing Real to actually OWN corgis if they wanted to ists, you won’t be able to see any hint of it. is prevalent on UVM’s campus today. Online Threats to Economic Creativity and watch corgis do cute things, and most peo- NBCUniversal, Comcast, Viacom, News There have been many recent issues of Theft of Intellectual Property, but is conve- ple didn’t own corgis. Life was HARD. Corp., and others have lobbied heavily for sexual violence, sexual assault, and sexual niently further shortened to PIPA), and in PIPA and SOPA might actually take cute- the passage of these bills, saying that piracy harassment in and around our campus. the House it was SOPA (Stop Online Piracy corgi-watching back to those draconian hurts artists and it needs to stop. But record Whether they are publicly announced in Act). Both bills sought to eliminate copy- standards. The bills may work to end piracy company greed does more harm to artists a mass e-mail or are spoken about quietly right infringement and than piracy does. and confidentially among friends of the the theft of intellectual The huge corpo- survivor, more and more people have been property, which can be imagine life without the internet. people rations who back affected by these types of attacks. Over fi- anything from mp3s and these bills are just nals week there was severe backlash against ripped movies to coun- had to actually own corgis if they wanted to that: huge corpora- a question in a quiz written by a UVM fra- terfeit wallets and fake tions. They claim ternity member that has prompted demon- prescription drugs. watch corgis do cute things. life was HARD. to be looking out strations and petitions locally and on the The next day, the feds for their artists, but internet. The question asked, “if you could shut down Megaupload, owner of classic (which, let’s be honest, sucks for college the companies, not the artists, are the ones rape anyone, who would it be?” time-waster MegaVideo and the site where kids but is probably the right thing to do). reaping the current system’s benefits. Looking at that question, it’s easy to be you downloaded the entire Hall and Oates Unfortunately, the bills also severely inhibit Individuals like Louis CK and groups disgusted and appalled. I was. But then I discography. the free flow of information and tremen- like Radiohead have made it clear that con- thought back to my first-year self, before There’s a twist in the Megaupload case: dously increase the liability of site owners tent creators can make money and thwart I had ever taken a Women’s Studies class, rapper and producer Swizz Beats is (proba- toward the material their users upload. piracy with innovative web strategies. Lou- before I had read literature and worked bly) the company’s CEO, but was definitely Under both laws, copyright holders are is CK more or less told his fans that piracy with professors who explained how many involved, with Kanye West and will.i.am, able to sue any organization that hosts, sells, was shitty, and put his latest comedy rou- dimensions of offensiveness the question among others, in a pro-Megaupload video or allows access to infringing material. The tine online with no digital rights manage- covers. I would have been upset, but would posted last December to YouTube. Why are copyright holders can then also give a court ment for 5 dollars. And he made over a mil- I have done anything without those class- these musicians supporting alleged piracy? order to any company that does business lion bucks. Radiohead left their label and es? Would I have reacted as passionately Why were massive companies like Craig- with an offending site. These companies, asked their fans to pay what they wanted against this if I were in a major or minor slist, Wikipedia, eBay, and Google all fight- such as advertisers, payment services like for their album In Rainbows, which was a that had never exposed me to writers that ing SOPA and PIPA? PayPal, search engines, and internet service great success. talked about rape culture? Maybe I would ... read the rest on page 3 ... read the rest on page 5 uvm twitter feed odd talents of our secret gems of netflix 2012 fashion trends by gregfrancese generation by phoebefooks by colbynixon by robintucker by sarahperda A cruise ship captain is being investi- ize breastfeeding in our community, espe- with patrickleene gated for manslaughter for captaining the cially with our children, we can help raise Titanic of modern times, fungicide-ridden a generation of breastfeeders which will orange juice from Brazil is being pulled support our economy, make for healthier from the shelves, and an entirely drug re- children and lessen the risk of breast cancer Dear wt readers, sistant TB strain has emerged in India. for many nursing mamas!” Oh, that’s right, Welcome to Volume 11! This semester, we’ve got some great things Let’s face it: the copiously publicized news the tanking economy is going to be saved in store. There’s a new section, “around town”, featuring articles spe- with emilyhoogesteger and julietcritsimilios is just depressing and stressful more often by small children watching strangers nurse than not. If you’re not into the heavy stuff, their infants…how has no one thought of cifically about UVM and Burlington - check it out on pages 4 and 5. Syllabus Week: Depending on the class, the first week of semester causes one of two reactions - Don’t worry, your beloved reflections section is still here. We’ve also got here’s some news that somehow managed this strategy before? Do I smell a Nobel either we’re ballooned on false confidence and we breeze towards the first weekend with no home- to escape national headlines: prize? some new blood on the editorial staff (say hello to James and Malcolm), work and hours of free time, or we’re prepared for our own premature deaths after the first five and we’re all suuuuuuuper pumped about the semester! Suuuuuuper Criminal Cupcakes Cereal Killer minutes of lecture contain a blackboard covered in gibberish and 200 pages of reading homework. A Massachusetts woman was not allowed pumped. It’s gonna be suuuuuuuper awesome. Suuuuuuuper. Professors, take your pick - we’re doomed either way. In California, a man named Fernando Anyway, read on! If you’ve got anything to say about the paper, email to pass through security in a Las Vegas air- Porras attempted to murder his wife by port because the frosting on the two cup- us. If you’ve always wanted to be a wt writer/artist/grammar freak/mas- Blue Ivy Carter: For being born and already being richer than I’ll ever be. dumping Goof Off, a household cleaner, cot, come find us (check out those details at the bottom of this page). cakes in her carry-on was considered “gel- into her Rice Krispies. Has he ever had Keep submitting those hilarious overheard tidbits and confessing your like enough to constitute a security risk.” Rice Krispies? Until you load them with Gayane Zokhrabov: In 2008, Hiroyuki Joho was killed when he was hit by a train going at more The TSA then confiscated the cupcakes secret love! Keep checkin’ the tumblr and the twitter (or start checkin’ than 70 miles per hour.

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