THE BLUE AND WHITE Vol. VI, No. II November 1999 Columbia College, New York NY erraNEWKENDer Jacknevada ^bHOoK .UiOG RöCK^zstl SECRETS OF THE ROLMPHONE by Michael Schiraldi ON FLORA ON SEX by Prof. Hillary Callahan A Conversation with Judith Steinhart INTRODUCTION MORNINGSIDE FLORA FREE EATS BLUE J. ROLM SECRETS STEINHART CONVERSATION DECOROUS DECORATIONS MEASURE FOR MEASURE CURIO COLUMBIANA LECTURE NOTES LECTURE LISTINGS TOLD BETWEEN PUFFS CAMPUS GOSSIP About the Cover: At 96 years, Alma Mater is well over the legal drinking age. We raise a glass to the lady with the heart of bronze but the liver of steel. By Katerina A. Barry. THE BLUE AND WHITE VOL. VI. NEW YORK, NOVEMBER 1999 No. II 31 THE BLUE AND WHITE Vice at Columbia, we discovered all too quick- ly, happens behind closed, secretive doors, if COLUMBIA COLLECE at all. NEW YORK, NY Bestiality porn, for example, is certainly a vice. But as Jenna L. Mendelson points out in Editor-in-Chief Decorous Decoratings it's not the kind of thing NOAM M. ELCOTT, COO that's widely appreciated. No, we are not a Publisher school of wild communal drinking (no alcohol M. T. TREADWAY, COO in the common areas), spontaneous acts of Managing Editor reckless, celebratory violence (when did we MATTHEW RASCOFF, C01 last storm Baker Field?) or rampant sex (see Graphics Editor our conversation with Alice's Judith Steinhart, KATERINA A. BARRY, COO as if this claim needed corroboration). No, Online Editor here at Columbia we dress in black, read phi- MICHAEL SCHIRALDI, E'OO losophy at the Hungarian (whose storied Editors bathroom walls are transcribed in Curio NOAM COHEN, COO Columbiana) and, with the exception of shar- YAACOB H. DWECK, C"02 ing cigarettes, perform our vices by ourselves. BENJAMIN D. LETZLER, C02 But without falling from hedonism into exis- CHARLES A. LONDON, C02 tentialism we present a few facets of vice at Graphics Columbia, along with Lecture Notes and list- ALIZA L. ARENSON, B'03 ings, just in case. PATRICK W. CICCONE, C03 STEPHEN P. CRANT, C01 $ LISA F. HARMON, C01 Correspondence from Dean Brian Paquette: DAVID B. SHAPIRO, C01 Michael Treadway's article in The Blue and IfTiite (October 1999) prompts me to offer Hie Blue and White invites Columbia stu- some clarification. Students requiring emer- dents to contribute original literary work and gency room treatment for alcohol intoxication welcomes letters from all our readers. All are not subject to Deans" Discipline. While the' articles, poems, etc., represent the opinion of Office of Student Affairs does not condone their authors, not necessarily the editors of underage drinking or excessive drinking on the Blue and White. Communications should the part of any student, the primarv concern in be addressed to the Managing Editor and these situations must be the individual stu- should be accompanied bv the name of the dent's health. The Residential Programs Staff, writer. working in concert with CAVA and the hospi- Web: http://www.theblueandwhite.org tal's care providers, attempts to act on behalf Email-, [email protected] of the student through advocacy and follow ven thing von ever wanted to up. We believe to address these situations in anv other manner would be counterproduc- know about vice but were tive. afraid to ask. An inspiring vision for what this number, $ Vice at Columbia, could have This issue is bur last of the semester. Have a become. But it was not to be. splendid holiday! NOVEMBER 1999 Before Winter Sets in.- A survey of local flora by Professor Hillary Callahan his is thefirst installment of what we hope will ture, called a bract. As children, most of us T be a regular feature in the BG-W. The idea is played with helicopter-like maple seeds, called to provide a nature guide to walking the samaras. But few were taught to fly a basswood Morningside Heights neighborhood. The guide will bract. It's never too late. First find a basswood be written by Columbia scientists and published tree by looking for the heart-shaped leaves. here in seasonal installments, beginning with this Then try finding a few fruit-bearing bracts. issue's Autumn-Winter piece. Toss them back into the air, and enjoy. Prof. Hillary Callahan is a member of of Before bracts bear fruits, they bear flowers, Barnard's Dept. of Biological Sciences. of course. So, any good basswood spots found this fall are worth visiting next summer. Prolific TLLIA CORDATA nectar production by basswood flow- In rural areas, ers gives the species its countrified where basswoods name, bee tree. Euro-phile sophisti- and maples crowd cates prefer to call them lindens. The the forest canopy, species provides one of the few sweet both species notes in the city's generally sour sum - underwrite each mer odor, whatever the name. springtime's burst of greenery by GINGKO BILOBA borrowing nitro- Before winter sets in, consider a gen from the rich, short visit to the Museum of Nearly- dark forest soil. Extinct Trees. It's right behind Shedding leaves Barnard College at 116th and is all about retir- Claremont. Every 25 feet or so, you'll ing that year's see a genuine living fossil, a gingko. debt. In the city Superficially, gingkos look like ordi- where basswoods nary trees. Their bark is brown and are common rough. Their green leaves have turned street trees, yellow and fallen to the sidewalk. mechanical blow- Basswood or American Linden — Their twigs have formed fat brown Tilia americana ers and sweepers buds that will burst back into green make this type of leaves next spring. To understand the natural economy impossible. It's no surprise gingko's antiquity, look closely at a leaf. Their that solitary urban basswoods don't live to be fan-like shape and tight net of veins look noth- as old as their country cousins. And droughts ing like the leaves of other modern trees and don't help. everything like 150 million year old gingko Although operating on a permanent deficit, fossils. most city basswoods persevere, and many man- It's a wonderful phrase, "living fossil"—exotic, age to produce a yearly crop of seeds. As they worth preserving, a privilege to see. And it's shower the sidewalks with heart-shaped leaves, true. The gingko is extinct in the wild. Until basswoods are also dumping hundreds of about 200 years ago, it survived only as a tree small spherical fruits. Dry and inedible, clusters cultivated on the grounds of Chinese and of basswood fruits are attached by a strangely Japanese temples. Europeans and North crooked stem to a leafy, wing-shaped struc- Americans have cultivated it for a century or 42, THE BLUE AND WHITE two. It's a favorite urban tree, Knotweed isn't just able to grow in sidewalk tolerant of diverse climates cracks. It has sprouted in every single sidewalk and soils, and quite invulner- crack in the city. able to pollutants spewed by Winter will eventually curb knotweed's pro- cars. fusion of tiny, pinkish, extremely unattractive The gingko's extinction is flowers, but they are fairly invulnerable to the puzzling. Wonder about it as first few light frosts. To enjoy them, visit the you stroll through the muse- south side of 120th Street between Broadway um, but avoid stepping on and Claremont, an almost perpetually shaded gingko seeds. Each one is spot. Try picking them. I do. No one seems to wrapped in a fleshy, smelly mind. coating. Claremont Avenue Like most wildflowers and weeds, knotweed dog-walkers dutifully pick up leaves will wilt instantly, and their stems will M^emim persi- after their pooches, but so far droop soon after. By morning, the flowers will caria no one has volunteered to disintegrate into a mess of dust and hard, picks up rotting gingko flesh. A street of all- shiny, black seeds. Sweep them up and toss male gingkos, lacking fruits, could solve this them out. They'll grow. stinky problem, but might be a rather curious botanical phenomenon in the shadow of the nation's finest women's college. POLYGONUM PERSICARIA The season for wildflowers is over, unless, like me, you love knotweed. When someone writes a sequel to Betty Smith's A Tree Grous in Brooklyn, it ought to be about knotweed. Knotweed can endure any number of difficulties. It tolerates both flood- ing and drought, both shade and blazing sun. If fertilizer is applied, knotweed will suck it right up, filling space with masses of ugh joint- ed stems and multiple layers of its small, drab leaves. But knotweed needs 110 fertilizer. Knotweed flowers for months, producing and shedding millions of seeds. The seeds will sprout whenever and wherever conditions are right. Usually, that's anywhere, and even- where, and all year 'round. Just in case there's a problem, knotweed seeds live for decades. Cinkpo Blue and White Searching for a Charity < ' The B<ScW is searching for a non-profit, charitable organization to adopt. Please send us rec- ommendations for local organizations that you think would benefit from free advertisement in The BiScW. Over the next three months, the editorial board w ill accept proposals of orga- nizations that would benefit from The Blue and White's endorsement. Please outline how the organization allows Columbia students to effect meaningful change in the greater Morningside Heights and Harlem communities. Submissions, including the organization's name, address and phone number as well as the senders name, school and class, should be emailed to [email protected]. NOVEMBER 1999 31 Don Quixote de la Munchie: Food Errantry by Don Sobrepeso he poet once said, '"'Hie only food group I self-preservation would send away her mortal- Tneed is free food." With this in mind, ly bound allies? brave Paco and I set forth to test the honor of Tuesday we fared better.