By Tony Cella

As a new student at Purchase College, it’s easy to become pre-occupied with partying, making new friends and learning to live in the same room with two other people. However, alumni Dave Haack and Adam Tyrrell both advise new students to get involved and, as senior history major Drew Mollo said, look for a focus.

With a worn out grey shirt, jeans, chest-length brown dreadlocks tied back and duct-taped shoes, “G.I.” Dave Haack and I walked from the parking lot towards Campus Center North. Last year Haack graduated from Purchase with a bachelor’s in history. Now he lives at home with his parents while he tries to pay off his credit card debt from last summer’s Genuine Imitations’ tour. Haack delivers Chinese food but plans to get a job delivering pizza.

“There’s more money in pizza,” he said.

During his time at Purchase, Haack and his punk-funk band, The Genuine Imitations, played various open mics and competed unsuccessfully to open at Culture Shock, the annual spring music festival. He also wrote absurdist comics for The Independent. These comics were known for their tendency to feature talking penises.

While he talked at a stone table outside the Hub, Haack slapped the table and laughed.

A Westchester native, Haack, 26, estimated he’s hung around Purchase for six years. He said that one of his first memories of Purchase was at Culture Shock when he was 17. He remembers going to a party in the Olde and groups of students had lined up on each side of the street. one side, he said, was jokingly chanting, “Nerds! Nerds! Nerds!” and the other side joking back. “Jocks! Jocks! Jocks!” He said it made an impression on him.

To Read Download this Weeks Issue