January 2018

Sticky Fingers by Joe Hagan is a wonderfully written and thoroughly researched book on the life of Jann Wenner, Rolling Stone Magazine’s co-founder and editor-in-chief. Hagan tells the story of Wenner’s beginnings as a precocious child and student to a fame-hungry journalist and founder. Readers are granted an inside look into the zeitgeist of times and the last fifty years of the “counterculture bible” that is Rolling Stone. Hagan unapologetically explores the world of sex, drugs, and rock and roll in journalism and how that formula birthed Rolling Stone and made Wenner a household name. The uncensored biography is both inspiring and infuriating, objective and subjective, poetic and simple. It immerses the reader into a life that should be both admired and critiqued. Sticky Fingers is must-read for journalism students because of Wenner’s impact on journalism and his mixing of pop culture and journalism. Rolling Stone Magazine fans and biography enthusiasts will also enjoy Wenner’s life story and the frenzy that is Rolling Stone and its history.

Students at the University of Nevada, Reno focus on looking for classes to fulfill their core requirements when enrolling each semester. However, if students looked deeper into the class catalog, they would discover that UNR offers some unusual and unique classes.

Anthropology 420/620

The study of magic, witchcraft, and religion is one of the options that seems to go unnoticed when students sign up for classes. According to its syllabus, the course “is an overview of anthropological interpretations of and approaches to religion, magic, and witchcraft.” However, this does not include casting spells or creating potions.

The anthropology of religion is characterized primarily by looking at religion in practice. Students will study forms and meanings of religious practice using examples from many different cultural contexts. This includes (but is not limited to) a look at worldview, myth, ritual, spirit possession, religious practitioners and authority, gender, magic, witchcraft, and sorcery. Toward the end of the semester, students focus specifically on religion in the modern, global world.

Erin Stiles, professor for ANTH 420/620, has been teaching the course every spring semester since 2008. Originally from Utah, Stiles developed a passion for religion through her personal experiences.

“Growing up as a non-Mormon in a heavily LDS part of Utah, I was always interested in religion, and the intersections of religion and culture,” Stiles said, “So, I decided to focus on religion in anthropology.”

Although the name of the class sums up its focus, Stiles explains how the teachings have a deeper meaning to them.

“In ANTH 420, we use a variety of ethnographic case studies to explore the lived experience of religion among people around the world,” Stiles said, “I think my favorite part of ANTH 420 is teaching these case studies, and encouraging students to try to see the world from another’s point of view.”

Students may question how taking a class that revolves around magic, witchcraft, and religion will benefit them in the future. Stiles states that the course will expand students’ understandings of the diversity in the world.

“By exploring human cultural diversity through religion, I think students will be better able to understand and thrive in our increasingly diverse cultural environment,” Stiles says.

Students should take ANTH 420 if they are interested in studying religion as something that people do and experience.

CHS 605

Spirituality and Health: A student who is passionate about health and religion would enjoy this capstone course. Offered every fall, CHS 605 focuses on how spirituality (creating meaning of one’s life) can prevent or heal disease. Professor Mel Minarik states in the syllabus that the class “examines the issues, research, and personal experiences relating to health and spirituality from the preventive aspect of spiritual practices and to the healing aspects of spiritual practices.” Similarly to ANTH 420/620, students will look over a variety of religions and how their practices can lead to healing. Through this compelling course, students will benefit from learning how the connection between the mind and body can potentially heal one’s soul.

ECON 411

Economic and Social Aspects of Gambling: The City of Reno relies heavily on casinos to help boost its economy. In 1989, the University of Nevada, Reno established an institute for the Study of Gambling and Commercial Gaming. According to its website, the institute’s classes “aim to encourage and promote research and learning so that the multifaceted issues surrounding gambling and commercial gaming and the ways in which individuals and society-at-large are affected might be addressed.” In ECON 411, students will analyze topics related to gambling, such as game strategies, odds making, gambling behavior, economics of the gaming industry, and compulsive gambling.

In the aftermath of a groundbreaking New York Fashion Week, American style has witnessed a surfeit of artists to gain inspiration from–Marchesa’s watercolor visions to Siriano’s dreamy variations of a classic striped pant. However, on a college campus, young adults often find themselves wearing what is most affordable, comfortable, or even accessible, creating a hierarchy of yoga-pants, Patagonia jackets, the occasional dress, and traditional college sweatshirts. Yet, what happens when a student stands as a departure from the sea of others, draped in a designer coat or even an out-of-the-box thrift store piece? From the stereotyping of a straight man as gay to the stigmatizing of a woman’s confidence as immodesty, the assumptions made about an individual from their clothing is limitless. Here are the experiences of four fashion conscious individuals.

Madison Johnson is a 19-year-old political science and philosophy student at the University of Nevada, Reno. Between enjoying a good Mark Twain novel or planning her potential future as a lawyer, Johnson can be found balancing yoga, fitness, classes, and the occasional alternative concert with her busy schedule. However, despite her many obligations, Johnson is always serving a look, whether it be drawn from personal inspiration or from the likes of Balenciaga, Karl Lagerfeld, Alexa Chung, or Alexander McQueen. Yet, even the most successful individuals are stereotyped due to the way they dress.

“People would never tell my friends and I that we dressed bad. In fact, I would get compliments often but they would always come with a ‘you’re so hipster’ or a ‘why are you dressed so nice for school?’ kind of comment after.”

In addition to being labeled over-the-top or ‘hipster,’ (one of Johnson’s least favorite words) one large stereotype stems from the belief a woman is immodest if her clothes seem revealing to the beholder.

“There is definitely an issue with femininity and sexuality,” Johnson said, “So, if anyone ever says anything of a slut-shaming nature to me in regards to my clothing I just tell them to not look, or that I’m dressed for myself and not them.”

21-year-old Chloe Breckenridge is currently studying human development and family studies as well as community health science at the University of Nevada, Reno. From traveling to the nearest Urban Outfitters to volunteering for the pediatrics unit at Renown Regional Medical Center, Breckenridge can be found hiking in Lake Tahoe or dancing at a music festival. With a closet filled with inspiration from Coco Chanel, Tommy Hilfiger, and Mary Quant, Breckenridge is never far away from a contemporary pair of mom jeans, a faux fur coat, and a vintage jean jacket.

Yet, even the most developed style can be subject to criticism.

“Many people tend to stereotype my friends and I by the way that we dress when going out as ‘sorority girls’,” Breckenridge said, “Yes we are in a sorority, but we aren’t all the same and we do not all dress the same. You weren’t born to be like everyone else, you were born to be like you.”

“Whatever people assume about me because of my clothes isn’t my problem,” said Grant Uba, a UNR political science and English literature double major. Uba, 20, originally hails from Jos, Nigeria, and has aspirations to become a lawyer focused on helping people through civil rights advocacy.

Uba often can be found watching a nature documentary, deep within a Vonnegut novel, or studying at a local coffee shop. His vast closet is influenced by figures such as Solange and Zoe Kravitz, leaving the public to often speculate about his fashion choices.

“Being black and gay, people expect you dress a certain way,” Uba said. “Once someone was having an argument about racial profiling, saying they doubted I would be profiled because of the way I dress. An odd comment.”

“At New York Fashion Week, it was life-changing. Everyone dressed for themselves. Honestly, it’s 2017, you should stop adhering to gender norms and dress for yourself,” said Uba.

Gianni Pinneri, a 20-year-old computer science and engineering major, balances classes, cooking, programming, a rigorous gym schedule, and what he delineates as “white bullshit.” With an expansive wardrobe, Pinneri is influenced by all sorts of entities: fashion blogs, The Migos, friends, and his pug, Susie. Pinneri is avid fan of turtlenecks and raw denim, as well as cropped clothing–cropped jackets, pants, and even tops. However, as the male fashion world is always subject to judgement, Pinneri’s wardrobe is no exception.

“People assume I’m gay, I’m an arm wrestler, I don’t like women, I’m spoiled, or unapproachable,” Pinneri said, “Those are short shorts, or that’s a weird trench coat, most guys don’t dress like that.”

“None of the shit people say matters. Identify as whatever you want. I just identify as Gianni.”

The 2016 presidential election is likely the last thing the majority of Americans would like to relive anytime soon, but for those still searching for answers about how Donald Trump ultimately became president, Katy Tur’s Unbelievable: My Front-Row Seat to the Craziest Campaign in American History offers a unique perspective on the daily life of a Trump campaign reporter. Tur, a former London-based NBC News Foreign Correspondent, was NBC’s first reporter sent to cover Donald Trump’s campaign when he first announced his candidacy in June 2015. In Unbelievable, Tur relives her days on the trail where she recalls her encounters with Trump throughout the campaign, and what it was like to be a target of Trump’s attacks via Twitter and during his rallies. Throughout reading Tur’s accounts of the most memorable moments of the campaign, it brought me back to where I was during those moments in 2016, and how truly “unbelievable” it was in the end that after so many hiccups in his campaign, Trump defied all odds. I recommend Tur’s memoir to anyone concerned with the future of journalism because it provides great insight on the life of campaign and political reporters in an era they’re attacked regularly for their work, and how bringing back trust in the media may lie in better teaching the public what journalists actually do as the fourth estate.

Now let’s go ahead and get this out of the way, Kylo Ren’s chesticles are like no other man or Jedi’s pecks, in this or the next galaxy. That being said, Rey, a promising young woman with the force behind her, has an almost telepathic relationship with the antagonist furthering the film into an ending satiating the audience’s hunger for action, lightsabers, and most of all, a painful demise of Supreme Leader Snoke. By the last scene of J.J. Abram’s latest release, moviegoers could find themselves forming an attachment to Kylo Ren, despite his poor choice to walk among the dark side. Though his experience fighting opposite the resistance for so long, Kylo Ren finds himself relating to his human side, at the fault of Daisy Ridley’s character Rey, intermittently disputing her thoughts on his past actions with the legend known as Luke Skywalker.