If you are reading this you probably know the following: the future of print is grim. But there is one field of print that is far from danger: the textbook industry.

Average tuition and fees at Ohio's public, four-year colleges rose by one percent this fall, to $8,146 a school year, according to the College Board's annual pricing report, released in late October. This means students at Ohio public colleges are paying among the lowest tuition increases in the country this school year. But according to a 2005 report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office"... textbook prices have increased 186 percent since 1986, or about six percent per year. By comparison, consumer prices rose 72 percent over that period."

Today, the higher-education publishing industry is makes $3.4 billion a year.
Schools and organizations across the country claim concern and a call to action. The College Board,a not-for-profit membership association whose mission is to connect students to college success and opportunity according to their website, recently released a statement.
“It is vital that we assure access to a high-quality college education for all students. While a college education is critical to long-term financial security, it feels out of reach to many students and families in today’s economy."

According to a Washington Post article, the publishing industry says that it must keep its material current to win schools' support and that prices are competitive in each market. Officials defend the continual new editions by major higher-education publishers Thomson Learning, Pearson Education and McGraw-Hill. In the article, they argue that texts must be "continually modernized if publishers want to keep the attention of today's college students, who are used to the graphics and interactivity of the Internet."

Marne Grinolds, librarian at Alden Library for five years, disagrees with this methodology. "We get more and more requests from students for textbooks every year," she said. "I wish they would not come out with new editions unless they are truly necessary. That is the main reason the library has stopped trying to buy them. We can't keep up [buying new editions] with the amount of money we have."

Professors may be unwittingly contributing to the rising costs of textbooks according the to the Washington Post article. Professors are asking for more content for teaching and learning. Usually the professor does not specify that those extras should be sold separately. So they are likely to be bundled with the book at a higher price. And students have no choice but to buy the entire package.

Dr. Jarrod Tanny, professor of Jewish Studies at Ohio University, said that it takes a lot of research to select the readings for a class, but that he doesn't want students to spend money unnecessarily. "I think that it's outrageous how the cost of textbooks has gone up... but any book a student will be reading more than 50 percent of is worth the purchase, unless its a book out of print," he said. "Until a few years ago [if a professor wished to assign excerpts of readings to students] you had to put together a course reader; that was a lot more expensive; Blackboard [a Web-based course-management system designed to allow students and faculty to participate in classes delivered online or use online materials and activities to complement face-to-face teaching] really solves a lot of those problems." (HEAR DR. JARROD TANNY SPEAK)

Ashlee Reynolds, 21,a senior who has worked at Specialty Bookstore on Court Street close to 1.5 years said the store receives a corporate guide every couple months that updates the acceptable price to buy back a book. "Sometimes I feel bad, especially for the freshmen that think they will be getting some money back," Reynolds said. "But you get used to the disappointed faces."

If you are selling back books, try selling them on site the Ohio Book Exchange. If you need that cash now, below are the bookstores at Ohio University that usually buy back.

View OU Spots to Sell back Textbooks in a larger map

For the future, check out some money saving ways to purchase textbooks. I recommend purchasing e-textbooks through Ohio Discount Textbooks for big savings.

Here is our small way of protesting textbook prices while remaining socially unacceptable. We asked strangers a local place of study to borrow their textbooks because we didn't buy our own.

Right now I am going to tell you that Halloween in Athens, OH is a gauche display. It is over-the-top in every way, and that is just the way we like it. This is my last year attending an Athens Halloween, and I would like to take a minute to reflect. I recently read an article/slideshow in the Huffington Post that makes jest with all the inappropriate costumes to wear. Writers Alex Leo and Katla McGlynn write "Just remember, no matter how bad you may feel about whatever you come up with, as long as you're not dressed in one of the costumes below, you're all set." The worst, truly "inappropriate" (by who's standards?) costume was probably the child dressed as a suicide bomber... but what I saw it I didn't feel offended so much as confused as to why a child would ever want to be that. Anyway, the rest of the costumes are pretty much crude penis jokes socially insensitive puns. To the Huffington Post I say: Just come to Ohio University.

Here we fly our crude costume flags proudly. It is the one time of the year our strait-laced Judeo-Christian society lets go of the politically correct and socially acceptable for a night. Men go out proudly dressed as women without fear of reprimand; college students proudly show off their sexuality, Any other day of the year a skirt so short would only gain looks of scorn, tonight girls will compliment each other on how cute they look as a school-teacher-by-day-hooker-by-night.

And so, I plan to revel in our most celebrated day of social aberration. But before I do, I would like to curse those that can't handle this amount of freedom from the norm, even for a night. For tips about how to stay safe this weekend, check out Amanda King's article. To her advice, I would add: Stay away from the horses. If you mess with them you can be charged with assaulting an officer. If you are wearing heels, bring flats. Who knows if you will be doing a lot of walking or if you get too drunk to walk in heels. Police will look for people that stand out from the crowd. If you are the person tripping a lot, odds are in your favor you may recieve more attention than you want.

Ah, the smell of fall. Halloween is days away and I am thinking what everyone else must be thinking... weddings. Here is my thought process: Halloween, costumes. Costumes, wedding dresses. Wedding dresses, weddings all over the world.

I have already been exposed to some interesting wedding traditions in the past. For instance, at Jewish weddings I have been witness to the groom smashing a glass at the end of the ceremony. But I really do not know much about universal wedding norms. I would think it would not be okay to kiss the bride if you are not the groom, but even this has been tradition in different cultures. Maybe it's just me, but I would think you should take off your wedding veil before you do a keg stand.

It isn't tradition to wear white all over the world, even red and black are popular in some countries. In the U.S.A I am consistently disappointed by our cultural windfall. But we also borrow many really interesting traditions from other cultures to dress up our own tired white gown, best man, ring bearer, Wagner's Bridal Chorus shtick.

Below you can check out some of interesting wedding norms (and trends) that exist across the world. If you are interested in further knowledge (of which there is a ton) check out this interesting site.


View Wedding Norms Worldwide in a larger map

Here is a lower quality version of the post with AUDIO this time!! I really am not sure why youtube stripped the video of music. It said it was unapproved, but I didn't receive any flags.

Eating from Jess Tyroler on Vimeo.

One of the things I love most in the world is food. I admit this; cooking it, sharing it, making an event of it is one of the best ways to have fun with anyone. As the adage goes, food brings people together. But what about when you ask a friend for some of her food? A few of my friends (including myself) basically growl at each other and then grudgingly allow the friend to take an it-better-be-small bite.

And when you ask people you have never seen before for a bite of their foodstuffs? You don't. It is not socially acceptable at all. It probably has a lot to do with sanitation reasons. That I didn't think about until after the taping of the clip below. If I die of some strange illness in the next week, you will know it was a result of the following clip. This is was just a tiny sample of the student population, a few of the people I asked were foreign-exchange students who all shared their food with me. Junior Katie Fritz from Australia said it didn't bother her at all when I asked for a fry because "everyone shares everything in Australia."
So perhaps this is partially an American phenomenon. The New America Foundation published a great article about American eating.

No matter, the clip I made this week takes place in fast-foodish restaurants and shows me asking strangers for food. Some of the people took a bit of convincing. While I think the video may not be as fun to watch as some of the others, it was the scariest to perform and in the end I was the most pleased with the results. I had never seen so many outwardly uncomfortable, sad people conceding to an individual's wishes. On a side note, I will probably die from this fast-food consumption if the disease doesn't kill me, the restaurant will.

Sidewalks are pretty narrow places that smash together people from all walks of life. In Athens, where driving is more of a luxury than a necessity, students tread the sidewalks hurriedly between classes. The sidewalk forces people together with a bump or a brush, and is the location of many a scuffle. Sometimes, like when the weather is rainy, the sidewalk width is just too small to accommodate everyone.

This week I thought it might be fun to be behind the camera for a change. I enlisted the help of my friend Liz Westendorf to attempt to hold an umbrella over strangers on two occasions. The first day we went out it was raining and even hailing for a brief period. The second day was cloudy, but no rain. Not surprisingly, and comically, people found it much more normal for someone to try to share an umbrella on a rainy day than on a clear day.

Liz went through the same difficulties with nerves I did, but I think she is so hilarious on a day-to-day basis that the whole task was more enjoyable. Once again, while we both set out with the fear of being yelled at or ostracized, we were pleasantly surprised by the reaction of people on the street. In this experiment, it seemed that children were far more disturbed at the idea of walking under Liz's umbrella than adults. I figure this has to do with the "stranger danger" mindset of all kids these days. Regardless, it was a lot of fun. Below is a clip of our umbrella endeavors.

In an attempt to put into context the wild photos of people who pushed their physical other-ness to the very max, I think I failed to recognize the fabric of every community that pushes the norm just enough, those people that are putting themselves completely "out there" without trying to change their species.

So today I recognize those fellows who help us to create our sense of individuality, the tattoo artists and pierce artists of Athens.

Alex Andrews, 22, is a graphic artist who tattoos at Art Apocalypse on Union Street. He said he feels stigmatized when he comes into contact with people who would never choose to be tattooed, and find tattooing more of a masochistic hobby than an artistic one.

"Every individual is made with the same very limited amount of differences," Andrews said. "We can all grow our hair out and buy the same clothes at the same stores, but a tattoo or piercing is something you can put on you to represent a certain style or aspect of yourself that no one else has."

Craig Jacobson, 24, said he fell in love with piercing three years ago. Today he works as a piercer at Art Apocalypse with Andrews. While Jacobson conveyed how it is true those who are also pierced and tatted probably have more in common with him than others, he explained the catch-22.

"We do these things knowing that it keeps us from being part of the norm but then it becomes the norm," Jacobson said. "It's really weird how it all works out."

Taking a left on Union to Court Street will eventually lead you to Decorative Injections and its owner, Jimmy Kisor. Kisor grew up in Athens and has owned the tattoo and piercing shop with his wife for seven years. He has seen the way the tattoo market is becoming more mainstream, and is thankful.

"Reality television showed educated, nice people with tattoos," Kisor said. "Thirty years ago it would have been different. I've tatted a 70-year-old woman! Who knows where we will be in another thirty years, maybe [it will be illegal and] I'll have to go underground. That's how fast it changes."

Both stores will be celebrating in a special way during the Athens Halloween Block Party. Art Apocalypse will be doing a suspension for four or five people at the shop and Kisor will be performing "Rock Opera Act Three" with his band The Goodbye Goats Oct. 23rd at the Union Bar. Check out the slideshow below for more info on the artists and their art.

Clearly what is “acceptable” in physical appearance varies from culture to culture. Americans push the envelope every year when it comes to what is the physical norm. We are overweight. We are covering our arms and legs with sleeves of tattoos; remember when a single barbed-wire tattoo laced around the bicep was bad-ass? We are getting “work” done to “improve” our physical appearance.

And yet, most of us try best we can to adhere to the norm. We want to get plastic surgery, but not so a stranger could tell. We want our tattoos to be located in a place that won’t affect our ability to get a job. If we are overweight, we try to dress so as to cover those “trouble” spots.

Most interesting are the people that aren’t confined by these social norms. Below is a slide-show filled with famous people such as Valentino Garavani and everyday individuals who simply choose not to adhere to what is deemed acceptable. There is also a photo of a Fat Bottom Burlesque show, which glamorizes the bodies of plus-sized women.

I refuse to believe that the people in these photos drastically alter themselves for the sole purpose of attention. In the past, I would have considered them all with scorn. Now I am truly curious about how they live life daily under such scrutiny. Never would I want to alter myself in such a manner, but I suppose I have a grudging respect for their ability to stand strong against mass opinion.

According to Clinton R. Sanders, Customizing the Body (2008): The Art and Culture of Tattooing:
How closely one meets the cultural criteria for beauty is of key social and personal import. The extensive research on attractiveness indicates that there is consensus about tthe physical factors that characterize beauty. When presented with series of photographs, experimental subjects are able to identify quickly and reliably those that show beautiful people and those that show ugly people…

Attractivenss has considerable impact on our social relationships. We think about attractive people more often, define them as being more healthy, express greater appreciation for their work… their chance of economic success is greater…. (p. 1)

One of the highlighted locations perspective students tour while visiting Ohio University is the Ping Student Center, the gym that acts as a hub for student recreation. Students and community members go there daily, work up a sweat and leave happy. Most of the time, they get by with their iPods lodged firmly in their ears and without having to interact with strangers.

I high-tailed it to Ping to not only speak with strangers, but to try to physically interact with them by asking them to stretch out with me. With shame I admit that much of the time, it was I who was super uncomfortable while interacting. My favorite interaction can be seen in the clip below.

Leah Crone-Magyroy, a senior green-design major, is highlighted in the clip below. She was friendly throughout the whole strange ordeal, agreeing immediately to help me by pulling on my arms, pushing on my calves, and allowing me to wrap my arms around her to try to crack her back.

"It was awfully random," Crone-Magyroy said. "No one had ever asked me [to help her stretch] before, but I wasn't weirded out."

Jesse Midwood,25, is the helpful stranger that responded to my shouts for assistance in cracking my back. He said he visits Ping once a week and though he was shocked I asked a stranger for help with my back, he was happy to lend his expertise.

Truthfully, the response of the Ping-ers went completely against that of my hypothesis. It didn't seem to matter what I asked, as long as I had a big smile on my face and tried to be nice, I was treated well in return.

After my first foray into the world that is Garfinkling, I realized something. I don't have as much chutzpah as I need to work on this blog. In my interaction at the supermarket (below), I felt pretty comfortable taking things out of the carts of people my own age, but when it came to those older than I, the churning in my stomach increased and my heart sped up. The man I spoke with scared me into putting the pumpkin back in his cart and then continued to direct me to the physical location of the pumpkins via hand-signals.

Ohio University student Colin King, 21, was the first victim in the video. He said that at first he was a little surprised by the encounter.

"At first I thought that you thought this was one of those multi-convenience carts in the middle of the aisle," King said. "I had to go back [to the aisle the food that you took was in] anyway, so I just didn't say anything."

Ashley Mick, a senior at Ohio University, said she had no idea how to react to the situation.

"I was about to say something, but I don't know. I wasn't going to."

From this first hilarious and hard-earned lesson I learned a few things. The first: to try to prevent my own ingrained sense of social norms from performing what I need to do. Clearly these norms include an absolute respect toward those older than myself. The second: to build up my own chutzpah, I will be taping some interactions that include multiple people. Plus, it will be plain fun. The third is that younger people may feel less entitled/sure of themselves when it comes to confrontation in general over what is and isn't inappropriate. Check out the professionals (Chelsea Handler and company) on the television show Girls Behaving Badly for a breaching of social norms in food service.Thanks to Kristin for referring me to the site. Below is a compilation of user-created image macros depicting common awkward situations. Create your own awkward penguin.

I argue Athens, OH is a true cross-sample of the USA. It is a college town filled with a citizenry devoted to NASCAR, dirt-biking, and beer. Ohio University is plopped right in the middle of it and the majority of its students hail from within the state. This is the backdrop for Gauche Display.

This blog acknowledges that almost everything in our lives is dictated by a seemingly arbitrary, invisible set of laws known as social norms. Adults usually instill these norms into children; these laws cover minutiae like "Don't yell at people across the room" and weightier subjects like "Don't kill/steal/etc."

An easy way to test the degree to which people are dictated by norms is to test them by breaking them. This methodology was developed by Harold Garfinkle in the '70s. Here, in good 'ole Athens, OH, I will interact with students and community members in such a way as to test their boundaries. This is by no means a scientific blog; I hope to breach social boundaries to see what norms may have changed since they were first performed and which should be different as time changes yet have remained the same.