Photo by Prescott Watson.

Despite the steady drizzle of rain and the cool winter winds, bonfires crackled and students eagerly lined up to jump over the orange flames, their faces glowing from the fire’s light. Leaping over the burning firewood, men and women sung out in Farsi a simple phrase:  zardi-ye man az to, sorkhi-ye to az man.

Roughly translated to mean, “you take my sickness and I’ll take the good,” it was a call for a new year and new beginning.“As a kid, I always would be scared to jump over the fire,” said Payam Shaaf, second-year Cowell student. With a grin he added, “But after you do it, it feels awesome.”

As part of Chaharshanbeh Soori, the Persian celebration of the spring equinox, the Iranian Student Network (ISN) hosted a traditional celebration this past Tuesday night, March 13.

Chaharshanbeh Soori traces its roots to the Zorastrian religion, the dominant Persian religion prior to Islam.

Determined to keep the festivities ablaze and the participants undaunted by the gray Santa Cruz weather, about 30 students gathered to commemorate the Persian new year — a holiday traditionally spent with family.

Amin Ronaghi, an organizer of the night’s events, said with an undertone of humor that Chaharshanbeh Soori is never cancelled.

“I grew up in Sweden,” Ronaghi said. “It would be raining, it would be snowing, but there would still be soccer fields filled with 40-50,000 people, all jumping over fire.”

As students trickled in, escaping the rain for a brightly lit kitchen and warm company, hallways and rooms filled with laughter and happy chatter.

Bardia Keyoumarsi, a third-year student originally from Iran, said that having only lived in the United States for a few years, American celebrations at the end of December still feel foreign to him.

“In Iran, [Chaharshanbeh Soori] is everywhere. You really feel it in the air, everyone’s mood brightens up,” Keyoumarsi said. “With it comes happiness.”

Typically a two-week long celebration, the new year festivities are centered on family and community. For example, in Iran, Keyoumarsi explained, people visit the surviving family of the deceased to pay their respects and show support.

Yalda Yekta, a fourth-year and member of ISN, said she has always found ways to celebrate Chaharshanbeh Soori, even if it was only with local friends. The holiday, she said, has always been important to her and she looks forward to it every year.

“I have very distinct memories of being a kid and being together with my family. Everyone is just eating, talking, enjoying each other’s company,” Yeleta said. “It was a fun time of the year where we could celebrate and be together … it’s a time of new beginnings.”

Because Chaharshanbeh Soori typically falls near the end of the winter quarter, many Iranian students have to bypass the celebrations in order to prepare for exams. But the small celebration ISN put together was, for now, enough to quell longings for home.

Second-year Shaaf said he was initially hesitant about coming to ISN’s celebration. Originally from Iran, Shaaf said he valued the time he spends with his family on Chaharshanben Soori and wasn’t really sure what to expect from the night’s celebrations.

He conceded with a nod, however, that “it looked pretty good.”

Yeleta said she has always wanted to bring her culture and Chaharshanbeh Soori to the UCSC community — without the typical politically drenched rhetoric often trailing behind the mere utterance of the word “Iran.”

“What we’re doing here isn’t about politics or religion,” she said. “I really try to make [ISN] non-political … I want this to be a place to celebrate our culture.”

As the night began to wind down, electronic-heavy Iranian beats blasted from speakers and men and women stood up, swaying and dancing to the music.

But while the fire had died out, the smell of smoke still clung to clothes. A reminder that the new year had started.

Getting that last shot to win the game for your team is one of the many challenges a basketball player faces. Through hoops and dreams, the life of Emily Tay is no typical underdog story. She faces the challenges of her culture, living the American dream, and expressing her sexuality.

The documentary “No Look Pass,” screened on campus on Feb. 22. follows the life of Emily Tay, a first-generation Burmese immigrant and full-time psychology student at Harvard University, who strives to balance her career with college basketball.

The film shows that after graduating from Harvard, Tay’s dream of playing professional basketball in Germany came true, and unravelled a new journey as well as a relationship with a woman.

Melissa Johnson, the film’s writer, director and producer, was inspired by a previous film she was working on that payed homage to her friend and coach, Kathy Delaney-Smith.

Johnson, like Tay, was part of Harvard’s women’s basketball team. In 2008, Johnson began interviewing players for her documentary and came across Tay. She described it as a moment that changed her life.

“My camera guy asked me what kind of footage I wanted and I said, ‘Just get some of the players in the gym shooting some hoops,’” Johnson said. “At that moment he told me, ‘Well, I can tell you the camera loves that girl. She’s got something special.’”

In interviewing Tay for her documentary, Johnson instantly felt a strong connection with Tay and realized there was more to her life than met the eye. Soon after, Tay agreed to film with Johnson and “No Look Pass” began production. The project took four years to complete.

“I really wanted to move people and connect them to one another, even if you were not Burmese or an athlete,” Johnson said. “As hard as this film was, I know I was born to make something like this. If I could at least help and inspire one person, that would be great.”

“No Look Pass” tells a story that affects not just students, but individuals who have endured the internal conflicts of coming out to family and loved ones and the expectations of one’s culture.

The film was co-sponsored by the Asian American and Pacific Islander Resource Center (AAPIRC) at UC Santa Cruz. The AAPIRC aimed to promote the event as an open space for all individuals to come and receive support.

“One of our main goals in screening the film is to break stereotypes of what is ‘normal’ and raising awareness of AAPIRC. We want to create a welcoming environment,” said Theresa Tsai, program coordinator for AAPIRC. “These are the venues that support all students.”

Third-year literature major Tom Chek said experiences in “No Look Pass” are comparable to how minority students can feel excluded at UCSC.

“The film spoke to me,” Chek said. “It captured what it felt like to be the ‘other.’ I particularly admired the sacrifices Tay’s family made for her to go to school. It really impacted me. I could relate in how my family, too, has made sacrifices for me to be here at UCSC.”

Tay may have faced adversity at times, but the passions she ignites on and off the court will continue to pave the path toward self-empowerment for herself and others.

UCSC’s Mardi Gras-themed queer prom held March 2, sold out, giving all students the prom experience they might not have had in high school. Photo by Sal Ingram.

In a transformed Porter/Kresge Dining Hall, under a glittering disco ball, students gathered for the second annual Queer Prom.

Bodies swayed to the music in a sold-out room where students attending the Mardi Gras-themed event danced on the floor, main stage, and on top of chairs and tables, until 1 a.m.

Queer Prom, held March 2, was hosted by the Queer Student Union (QSU) and Delta Lambda Psi (DLP). Nestor Rivera, QSU media coordinator, helped organize the event and discussed the purpose of the QSU.

“The QSU is here to build a better union with queer students on campus,” Rivera said. “We try to bring a safe environment to educate students with and around the queer movement.”

After last year’s large turnout, Rivera had high expectations for this year’s event.

“Queer Prom is a safe zone where students can be themselves, free of judgment,” Rivera said. “It’s a way to give students the prom experience they may have wanted but couldn’t receive in high school.”

Although the administration is helpful in providing the Cantú Queer Center at Merrill College, Rivera said, they can still meet the needs of queer students in other ways. For example, the university can push for queer studies, which he said was a course of study recently added by San Diego State University.

Along with QSU, Delta Lambda Psi helped coordinate the event. Delta Lambda Psi is a unique, all-inclusive queer Greek organization founded at UC Santa Cruz in 2005. It is the first queer, gender-neutral Greek organization in the nation.

Ryan Austin, a member of both QSU and Delta Lambda Psi, said the event was “absolutely successful.”

“Events like Queer Prom increase visibility for the queer student body,” Austin said. “And I think it’s representative of a larger notion that we shouldn’t deny the personal expression of others, whatever their form may be.”

Anna Sidorchuk spoke at the event about her experiences as a bisexual student.

“Being bisexual, I think it’s important for me to attend and represent my sexuality as well as that of others,” she said. “I’ve never been in a large participative queer community like this, so it’s cool for me to get involved.”

Many ally students also came out and enjoyed the night’s festivities.

“It’s going really well. There’s a lot of people and I’m having a good time,” said Patrick Davis, a chemistry major. “I came to the event because it was something to do, and I’m glad I came. There’s a very positive vibe.”

When the clock struck 1 a.m., students of all orientations and genders exited the dining hall with their fingers intertwined, heads on one another’s shoulders, and a quiet Saturday morning awaiting them after a long night of celebration.

City on a Hill Press: How feasible do you think it is for green jobs to stay in the United States? Are green jobs enough to make up for endemic losses?

Van Jones: You won’t be able to offset all of the losses in the manufacturing sector, but you can offset some. We never propose green jobs as the answer to every economic problem in the US. We don’t think it’s enough, but we don’t think you can get there without the green manufacturing component.

CHP: Do you have suggestions or tangible ideas of how to bridge the class gap in the environmentalist movement?

Van Jones: We have to look for those environmental solutions that also address poverty. In other words, an environmental movement that can fight pollution and poverty at the same time will get a huge following. For example, community gardening and farmers markets are ways for people to get healthy food who can’t afford to go to Whole Foods and those are things we should be focused on. Maybe not everyone can afford to put a solar panel on their house, but we can fight to make sure that public school buildings, our community centers, those places in our neighbors…where we have opportunities, are being solarized. And that the jobs that are being created to solarize low income communities are going to low income people. Those kinds of fights tend to put those conversations in a different place.

CHP: Do you think it’s important that legislation is enacted to insure that those kind of programs are targeted in the right communities?

Van Jones: Yes, I think those communities that have been locked in to the pollution based economy – locked into the poison, locked into the bad health that came with the pollution based economies, we should make sure those communities are locked into the clean and green economy.

CHP: Do you see environmentalism as self-determination for communities of color?

Van Jones: I don’t think of environmentalism as a single issue that’s over there in a corner. We all have to drink water that’s clean, we all have to breath air, we all have to eat food. I see it as the basis of every other issue. What good is it to, say, have the right to education if the school was full of lead and asbestos and poisonous water? Your every other right is undermined if you don’t have your environmental rights protected. Environmental protection and environmental opportunity is the key to being able to enjoy every other right.

CHP: Because one of the problems with off-shoring work is fewer labor regulations, do you think environmentalism has to be a global tide as opposed to something that has to be targeted immediately in the US?

Van Jones: We have to start where we are. It’s very hard to get other countries to do things – it’s hard to get our own country to do things. Sometimes I think people will say, ‘If China won’t do it, we won’t do it.’ And I think that’s the wrong way to look at it because, 25 percent of the green house gases are from the US. … Some huge amount of the existing carbon in the air is just for our little 5 percent of the world. We just have to do the right thing and move in a cleaner and greener direction. The business community always screams and yells about regulation whenever America tries and makes them clean up their practices. And as soon as those laws are past, they out perform even their own expectations of meeting them. It’s because once you pass a law, regulating green house gas emissions for example, and everybody has to deal with it, they start competing – who can do it faster, who can be more efficient?

CHP: A lot of students of color are feeling disenfranchised and a lot of students are going to be leaving university and entering into the work force. What would you say to those students about how to address this changing economy?

Van Jones: I think that on a shared basis, on a collective basis, one of the most important things I think needs to be done is not only that President Obama needs to be reelected, but that he gets reelected based on a mandate on your generation’s needs … I don’t think we should give up on or abandon making DC act right. Closer to home, I do think we’re going to have to become much entrepreneurial … There use to be fantasy you’d get out of school, you’d ride your credit card onto a big McMansion in the suburbs and you’d buy a big screen TV and you’d be happy forever. I think that version of the American Dream is dead. I think that we’re going to have to actually help each other – gifting, bartering, sharing as a part of the strategy to make up for the shortfall of the formal economy. We have to be a nation of neighbors … The big picture: this generation could have a huge impact on the election. If you say, ‘Look, this is ridiculous. We’re the first generation of Americans being thrown under the bus economically, and there’s still no jobs program in place for my generation, there’s still no loan forgiveness program for my generation.’ If you raise hell about that, I think the political system will start to respond.

City on a Hill Press’ coverage of Van Jones’ address at UC Santa Cruz on Feb. 21

Students attend a presentation by guest speaker James Fadiman. Fadiman discussed the safe use and history of psychedelic drugs. Photo courtesy of Aviva Wolman.

Editor’s Note: As printed on Feb. 23, Samuel Montero is quoted as saying “There’s a lot of history that cultures have used [psychedelics] recreationally, for religious purposes.” The quote should read, “There’s a lot of history that shows that cultures have used [psychedelics] not simply recreationally, but for religious purposes.” Also, the quote that reads, “The rift between the social sciences is disgusting,” should read instead “The rift between the social sciences and hard sciences is unacceptable.” This piece was updated on Feb. 28 and Oct. 16 to reflect these changes.

The fire marshal would have been angry. With over 350 people at “Shattering Certainty: The Promise and Pitfalls of Psychedelics” Feb. 15, the Humanities Lecture Hall was bursting at the seams.

“How many of you have never taken a psychedelic?” researcher, professor and author James Fadiman asked the audience. A small fraction raised their hands.

Hosted and promoted by the student-led Brain Mind and Consciousness (BMC) Society at UC Santa Cruz, the event’s Facebook page encouraged people to wear “psychedelic attire.” Artwork adorned the walls, provided by Santa Cruz-based Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), also present.

“You takers are part of a worldwide research group,” Fadiman said. “[Psychedelics] used to be central to Greek culture, Siberia, the indigenous cultures of Latin America … they’ve been illegal in the U.S. for 40 years, but that’s a tiny dot in human history — and it looks like we are rejoining that history.”

Fourth-year Samuel Montero commented on the social relevance of the presentation.

“There’s a lot of history that shows that cultures have used [psychedelics] not simply recreationally, but for religious purposes,” Montero said. “If we had a regulated area where people could use it, I think it would make things safer and more successful all around.”

In 1970, the U.S. Controlled Substances Act classified psychotropic drugs as Schedule I: “No accepted medical use and high potential for abuse.” Alcohol and tobacco are not federally classified as Schedule I.

Fadiman’s book, “The Psychedelic Explorer’s Guide: Safe, Therapeutic and Sacred Journeys,” has been reviewed by Jay Brown of MAPS as “the very best guide that exists on how to prepare for a safe and therapeutic psychedelic journey, with positive psychological transformation as one’s goal.” Copies were sold at the conference.

The presentation mirrored Fadiman’s book, with a history of different psychedelic drugs and their cultural uses, followed by a no-nonsense, straightforward guide to a good trip.

Using a PowerPoint presentation, Fadiman explained the “six critical conditions”: set (how you approach the experience), setting (where you are and what “sensory assists” you have nearby), substance (what you are ingesting and how much of it), sitter (who is with you), session (how much time you set aside for the trip), and situation (how you exit the trip and return to sobriety).

Fadiman also included a dosing guide in his presentation, listing 400 micrograms (mcg) of LSD as the dose required to elicit transcendental experiences, 50 mcg as a “disco-hit,” and 10 mcg a micro dose that “seems to enhance energy and awareness … except rocks don’t glitter and flowers don’t watch you.”

“On the scale of trips, you can have ones like ‘oh’, and you can have ones like ‘whoa!’” Fadiman said. “If you’re going to use these substances, you might as well go for the ‘whoa!’”

Additional topics included Portugal’s broad legalization of substances, potential drawbacks to approaching psychedelics use incorrectly, the American medical model, and the neuroplasticity theory, which hypothesizes that the brain continues to evolve throughout adulthood.

Founder and president of the BMC Andrew Kornfeld spoke to Fadiman at a recent MAPS conference and asked him to be a guest presenter at UCSC.

“We [at the BMC] are not just about psychotropic drugs — this is an aspect of consciousness,” Kornfeld said. “When I’m taking a psychology class, [the other students] don’t understand biology. When I’m taking a biology class, they don’t understand psychology. We’re sick of that. The rift between the social sciences and hard sciences is unacceptable.”

BMC vice president Jessica Heitel discussed the social intent of the presentation.

“We’re bringing together different kinds of people from all walks of study … everyone chipped in to this event,” Heitel said. “[We wanted] to create a community pride atmosphere instead of it being like a lecture.”

A Q&A session among the audience, Fadiman and his panel of colleagues from MAPS followed the presentation.

First-year Nic Zinter commented on the conference’s relevance in Santa Cruz.

“There’s an undeniably big drug culture at UCSC,” Zinter said, “and I think it’s really good to host forums like this to explore the potentials [of psychedelics] and prevent abuse.”

In 2011 protesters shut down Wall Street, on March 1 protesters will shut down the university, and on March 5 they will shut down the capitol. It is no surprise to the UC Santa Cruz student body that we are in a class struggle for social and economic equality.

Van Jones spoke on campus on Feb. 21 about the economic crisis and his reformation of the American dream.

Jones is a Yale Law School graduate, former advisor to the Obama administration, bestselling author of “The Green Collar Economy,” award-winning pioneer in human rights and clean energy economy, and was dubbed one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2009 by TIME magazine.

Charismatic and humorous, Jones described the center of America’s struggle as an economic and cultural task. The notion of the American Dream, he said, is a confused and misinterpreted one that should be transformed to better reflect today’s society.

“There is a thing they call the American Dream,” he said. “This is the notion that everyone in American is going to get as rich as they possibly can. This is not the American dream, but it is the American dance. This dream is a dying dream. This dream is dying, and it should be dying.”

Jones is currently working on an organization called Rebuild the Dream, which focuses on community reformation through traditional techniques, like teach-ins and rallies, as well as digital services like online petitions and viral digital projects. The plan is to reestablish the American dream as something that protects and expands jobs for the middle and lower classes.

UCSC students are part of the new generation in this plan, Jones said.

“The diversity you have in your generation is a miracle in history,” he said. “You have every class, every faith, every race, every gender, and you’re even making new genders. You have all of these things, and you get along pretty well. This diversity, through your generation’s social and political movements, can and will restore prosperity.”

First-year Leilani Salvador is a member of the Cultural Arts and Diversity Program board of directors. Salvador helped organize and sponsor the event.

“One of our goals [with bringing Jones to speak] was to get a more politically diverse community,” Salvador said. “The majority of the politically active communities on campus are ethnically white students. For us to have Jones, who is a politically prominent figure, represented by so many ethnically-based groups really encourages ethnic students to participate in the campus’ political opportunities.”

Dr. Marla Wyche-Hall, director of the African American Resource and Cultural Center, one of the event’s sponsors, said Jones spoke well about the challenges and promises facing our diverse, multicultural generation.

“I think one of the purposes of his speech was to cross boundaries,” she said. “We have to acknowledge the differences between our social and ethnic groups, but, despite this ‘rainbow generation,’ we can still come together and make change.”

Read City on a Hill Press’ exclusive Q&A with Van Jones

Standing under the spotlight, de la Riva performed her one-woman show, “One Journey,” in front of a live audience of students and staff at the Stevenson Event Center on Feb. 10. Throughout the performance, Riva spoke and sang, laughed and cried, danced and acted, and told stories of her own experiences and the experiences of others she has met along the way.

A UC Santa Cruz and Rainbow Theater alumna, de la Riva penned “One Journey” while earning her master’s degree at New York University.

The play was influenced by real-life stories de la Riva collected during interviews with people from the Juarez, Mexico and El Paso, Texas borderline region.

“I’m originally from a border town — El Paso, Texas [and] Juarez, Mexico,” she said. “I wanted to find a play that represented my community.”

Juarez, Mexico has been repeatedly included in the top 10 and top 50 lists of most dangerous cities in the world, according to the Mercer Quality of Living Survey.

In the first month of the new year, the city has already witnessed 200 deaths — about seven a day, according to a National Public Radio study conducted in 2011. Last year’s death toll surpassed 3,000.

Most of these deaths were connected to drug-related violence among opposing mafia groups.

“It was funny because in recent years El Paso, Texas, was voted one of the safest cities in the United States, while Juarez, right across the border, was voted one of the most dangerous cities in the world,” de la Riva said.

While living in El Paso, de la Riva was able to see Juarez from her high school.

“The fact is there is a war on our border,” she said. “We always think of war as overseas, like Iraq and Israel. We always imagine it as being so far away, but there’s one actually going on right on our land, on our border, with our consent, with our funds. All these people are dying, some from our own nation … [We don’t know] what will it be like in the future, how much trauma will come from 10,000 people being killed in one city alone since 2006.”

One audience member said de la Riva’s performance brought attention to kidnappings and murders of women in the borderline region.

“It’s a struggle for not only Mexicans but for all of us,” said the audience member, who wished to remain nameless. “Those women don’t get any peace, [but] what do they have to do with the drug exchange? And being El Salvadorian, non-Mexicans, we can [still] relate to the pain they feel. I think anyone can.”

The stories shared in “One Journey” reflect circumstances affecting the lives of people who may not even know they are being impacted.

“People who are so far from the border always ask, ‘What does that have to do with me?’” de la Riva said. “The thing is the border has begun this whole militarization process that can possibly expand. Juarez is a model for the future of border control, a laboratory for the future, and we can’t allow this kind of effect to happen across our borders.”

The lights dimmed, the audience applauded, and de la Riva stood before the room to deliver her closing words.

“Becoming aware is the most important way to get involved,” she said, “so people can understand the issue to be influenced by it. Everyone’s going to have a different approach — whether artistic, organizational or more political. And that’s the beauty of it. We all have our own way of expressing ourselves and the struggle we pertain to.”

Students gather in the College Nine and Ten Multipurpose room for Breaking the Silence, a community forum on hate and bias at UCSC. The event featured several keynote speakers and forums for discussion. Photos by Kyan Mahzouf

Standing before about 150 people, Cherine Badawi broke the silence by speaking sharply into her microphone: “Help with immigration — kill a Mexican.” Badawi is not promoting discrimination. She is quoting a real instance of hate crime, a message scrawled on a wall at UC Santa Cruz this past year.

Badawi was one of two guest speakers presenting at the “Breaking the Silence” forum on Feb. 6 in the College Nine and Ten Multipurpose Room. She was accompanied by her longtime friend and collaborator, Arthur Romano, an international peace advocate and professor at George Mason University.

The night’s events opened with a spoken word performance by UCSC undergrad Storm Thomas.

“You tell me,” she said with raw emotion. “If a black body swings from a tree and no one is around, does it make a sound?” Thomas’ words were met with a standing ovation and thunderous applause.

“We’re here because we know hate hurts… it leads to despair, violence, self-harm and even suicide,” Badawi said. “And believe it or not, three out of four incidents of hate go unreported.”

Badawi and Romano asked students about the apathy that seems to follow issues of hate speech. One student answered, “I’m not really sure — I guess it just seems like there isn’t enough we can do.”

Badawi explained the psychological nature of human interaction, citing examples of scientific experiments where 90 percent of the time in a group setting participants would respond only if someone else responded first. She said the more people begin to stand up against hate speech, the more they will influence others and be able to collectively make a difference.

Joy L. Lei, event coordinator and assistant campus diversity officer, said the event was spurred by real hate crimes and recent instances of bias that occurred within the UCSC community.

“This past fall we received a number of reports of hate graffiti,” she said. “One of the sprays had a swastika. There were also derogatory slurs used against African Americans, Asian Americans and Muslim students, for example.”

A student community response team was organized to address these concerns, as well as a hate and bias response team made up of staff, faculty and administrators.

After about an hour the audience split into three workshops to speak in close-knit groups about the issues.

Herbie Lee, vice president of academic affairs and member of the hate and bias response team, spoke out in a workshop at one of the event’s breakout sessions. He explained how the response team addresses acts of hate on campus.

“When a report is filed,” Lee said, “an email goes out to the administration. We have to then decide which one of us will look into the issue, to meet with the student if they would like to meet with us, and see what can be done.”

The few administrators at the breakout session went on to collectively define what hate speech is and the difference between hate speech and hate crime.

“Hate speech,” they said, “is spoken, written or other forms of communication directed at a person based off a discriminative remark. Hate crime involves the same kind of discriminatory remark, but includes the commitment of a crime. Assault or graffiti would be an example.”

Regardless of the complications and differences among various types of discrimination, they said, if students feel uncomfortable with any remark that may seem discriminative, they should report it to the team.

“We hope through the educational campaign and what the forum presents, students can take away the knowledge and tools to use in their everyday lives,” Lei said. “This issue is all around us and we are far from addressing it to our potential as a community.”

Students can file reports here reporthate@ucsc.edu

Technology is continuing to change the way humans live and interact with each other on a daily basis. UC Santa Cruz alumna Rupa Dhillon has contributed to this change in a way few others have done before with a video game for both blind and sighted gamers.

Dhillon designed “Rock Vibe,” accessible both to the sighted and to the blind. Dhillon came up with the idea when she noticed a “Rock Band” controller while brainstorming for her thesis in a human-computer interactions course, part of her master’s program at UCSC.

“To play the game, you put on a wearable device that contains four or five vibrating motors,” Dhillon said. “Each motor would represent a color band you would respond to if you were playing Rock Band. So if you felt a vibration on the far left side of the device you would know that you would need to press the far left button on the guitar controller or keyboard.”

Research for the game was published by the Association for Computing and Machinery after Dhillon presented the game at their national conference.

Rock Vibe Belt Prototype

Sri Kurniawan, UCSC computer engineering professor and former instructor for Rupa’s human-computer interactions course, said “Rock Vibe” is an inclusive gaming model.

“‘Rock Vibe’ is a much bigger scheme,” Kurniawan said. “We are looking to modify mainstream games that interact with both sighted and blind people.”

Kurniawan’s research is in games for health and healthy living, including assistive technology for people with disabilities and people with low social economic and educational backgrounds.

“There are quite a number of games that can be played by people who are blind,” Kurniawan said. “However, there are fewer games that a blind person and a sighted person could play together.”

Traditional board games like chess and Battleship allow sighted and visually impaired players to interact together, she said.

While there are options, Dhillon said they are limited and not attractive to the average player.

“Most games are really simple — they don’t do much, and aren’t very fun,” Dhillon said. “There are many games available for both sighted and blind people, but again, they’re too simplistic to be taken into the mainstream.”

While the game has only been played by game testers, Dhillon is hoping to give access to the community through centers for the blind and visually impaired.

Sharon Hudson has been working as an associate director and teacher at the Vista Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired for 28 years. Hudson said current technology hasn’t been as inclusive of the blind community as it can be.

“Things like the iPhone and computers have been great in general, but they continue to make them more visual,” Hudson said. “They’re producing more devices with icons and touch screens … things that aren’t accessible to the visually impaired.

Hudson said “Rock Vibe” could be something her students will enjoy.

“I know a lot of our students are interested in music, so anything that would make them connect with others would be great,” she said.

“Rock Vibe” is hoping to receive most of its funding from the online pledge website, Kickstarter. Kickstarter opens a pledge system for projects to raise funds and sets a goal the project must reach in order to receive any of the pledge funds. Dhillon has until Feb. 25 to raise $16,500 or the project won’t receive any funds. As of Feb. 1, over $12,000 has been pledged toward the project. The Kickstarter project can be found here.

“It is possible to create games that can reach a wide range of people, regardless of their capabilities,” Dhillon said. “It is possible to bring people together, no matter their differences. And I hope that ‘Rock Vibe’ can show people that.”

Photo by Auralee Walmer.

Dr. Marla Wyche-Hall is the new director of the African-American Resource and Cultural Center (AARCC). She stepped into the position a year after the previous AARCC director and founder, Sister Paula Powell, left UC Santa Cruz after a career of over two decades. The center focuses on retention of African-American students by creating a community hub, providing students with mentors, workshops, educational programming and peer groups.

Students gather in the Redwood Lounge above Quarry Plaza during the first Pilipino Historical Dialogues class. The small, intimate course is taught by three elected student leaders from the Filipino Student Association with the sponsorship of Steve McKay, a faculty member in the sociology department. PHD is among few student-run courses at the university. Photo by Prescott Watson.

As the fight for ethnic studies slowly moves forward, students have turned to each other for an education they believe UC Santa Cruz has failed to provide.

For the last decade, the Filipino Student Association has sponsored the Pilipino Historical Dialogues course (PHD), a student-led seminar focused on Filipino history. It is one of the few options students have to enroll in an ethnic studies course and has been operating for a decade.

“Get to know yourself through a course that really isn’t in the traditional university canon,” said student leader Katrina Bitanga as she addressed the class of approximately 12 students this past Tuesday.

Led by fourth-years Charisse “Chai” Galano, Nicole Canonigo and second-year Bitanga, this year’s course will focus on the construction of Filipino-American identity in relation to Filipino history overall.

“The thing with Filipino history is that a large aspect of Filipino identity has a lot of American influence and other cultures’ histories,” Bitanga said. “It’s not a history that is exclusive to the nation itself. There have been other nations and other histories that have come and shaped who we are now.”

While the course is not well known outside of the Asian-American/Pacific Islander community, the course leaders encourage non-Filipino students to join the class.

“When it comes to courses like these that focus on a very specific history, on a very specific culture, you know a lot of people might not want to jump on the boat for that,” Bitanga said. “But I believe that, like with anything else, there’s always something that you can learn from this course. Part of learning is to be able to speak from your own history in relation to others’ histories.”

While student interest in the class remains steady, last year the course almost did not come to fruition.

Last year’s leaders, third-years Alyssa Suarez and Donna Estipona, took the position of student leaders after they realized very few students were willing to step into the role.

“I wasn’t planning on teaching it my second year because I wasn’t established as a student … but I felt like it’s a hidden history and if no one steps up to teach it, it’s just going to die,” Suarez said. “We’re fighting for ethnic studies, but if we don’t step up and teach our own histories, there’s no point in fighting for it.”

Suarez, who now studies history after her experiences in PHD, said that teaching the course demands a great deal from students and it adds an unreasonable amount of work.

“It’s hard for students to be students and teachers,” Suarez said. “It’s unfair and unpaid. We do this because we want to do it, for the sake of doing it. Students shouldn’t be responsible to teach their peers their own history. There are professors that study in this area … so why should the responsibility to let the students know about their own histories fall on other students and not them?”

Suarez said she loved taking and teaching the class, but that the student-initiated course shouldn’t be the only option students have.

PHD faculty advisor, associate sociology professor Steve McKay, serves on the action committee for ethnic studies. McKay applauds student initiative and believes participants can gain from student-led courses because within them students move away from “a passive kind of course where [they] are sponges.”

Nonetheless, he recognizes a need for further structure for such courses.

“[PHD is] reinvented every time it’s taught, but if it had a home in ethnic studies it wouldn’t have to be reimagined every time,” McKay said. “It would exist and persist, and it could gain recognition in the UCSC community.”

This is where ethnic studies — whether as a program or a department — would come into play.

“There is no other place where this kind of course could be taught,” McKay said. “We have students across all disciplines — sciences, arts and humanities — that are interested in this class, but there is nowhere to host this kind of course. These kind of courses, without an institutional home, would fall through cracks.”

Currently, the faculty action committee on ethnic studies is working in conjunction with student organizations, but McKay could not comment on details surrounding their work.

“There’s been a demand for ethnic studies in Santa Cruz as long as there has been a UC Santa Cruz,” McKay said. “But we’re closer than we’ve been before and people are excited about that.”

As it stands now, there is no substantial ethnic studies program or department — there are no “inner or trans-departmental” critical race and ethnic studies courses on the roster. Along with UC Merced, UCSC is only one of two UCs without an ethnic studies program.

There is, however, PHD and a few other student-initiated courses like it, such as the Asian-American/Pacific Islander Perspectives course (AAPIP), offered through the Asian Pacific Islander Student Alliance (APISA).

Galano and fellow course leader Canonigo said that before they enrolled in PHD their second years they knew very little about Filipino history and culture, but PHD gave them a place to learn about themselves, their histories and things that truly interested them.

“People choose to teach a class and take the time to research more and give students a chance to learn … seeing the small steps, essentially seeing a smaller branch of ethnic studies through this course really shows what students want,” Galano said.

What PHD does and what an ethnic studies program would offer is a place for students to discuss the histories that have shaped — and continue to shape — communities today.

“By implementing any ethnic studies, whether it’s on a micro level like our one class or a macro like having a department like at any other university, it shows that students of color go here and they do have a stake in their education,” Bitanga said. “It’s not every day you get to sign up and take a course on your own history or take a course on someone else’s history that isn’t in the traditional canon of American universities. You can never really learn about Filipino history … in the way you can learn about Plato.”

Angie Wootton, volunteer coordinator at the Santa Cruz AIDS Project, pins the universal red AIDS ribbon to her shirt. The Santa Cruz AIDS Project will commemorate World AIDS Day Thursday, alongside AIDS awareness groups from around the world. Photo by Prescott Watson.

It is estimated that globally 34 million people are currently living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Thursday, Dec. 1 marks the 30th anniversary of World AIDS Day, a day to commemorate those living with or who have lost their lives to HIV/AIDS. Thursday at 5:30 p.m. at the Veteran’s Memorial Plaza, the Santa Cruz AIDS Project (SCAP) invites the community to attend the World AIDS Day Remembrance Celebration to honor the millions of lives worldwide affected by the disease.

The program will consist of musical performances, lighting of remembrance candles, words of compassion and the reading of names of those in Santa Cruz County who have lost their lives to AIDS/HIV. The ceremony will conclude with the opportunity for the audience to share the names of family and friends who have passed, followed by a reception.

“HIV affects some of the most vulnerable people that don’t necessarily have any sort of visible presence that people see,” said Angie Wootton, SCAP volunteer coordinator and a former UCSC student. “Because they don’t have that [visibility], there’s a stigma. It keeps people from speaking up for themselves. That’s why it is important to have these events where the community gets together.”

In light of federal budget cuts, in 2008 SCAP terminated their education prevention program. Since then, SCAP has had volunteers reach out to the community as best as they can.

Wootton said approximately 25 of 38 volunteers are UCSC students.

UCSC student Rachel Hastert explained why she chose to volunteer for SCAP.

“It’s an important issue, and [it] affects so many people,” Hastert said. “I wanted to do something in the community and I like working with people.”

Volunteers is vital to continuing SCAP’s work.

“There’s been funding cuts, so we have a harder time going out to spread our message about HIV testing, spreading free condoms and our information about services,” Wootton said. “This is one of those ways we can create more community recognition about SCAP and let people know that we exist and that we have services.”

Patricia Castagnola, SCAP director of client services, addressed the lack of proper education about AIDS/HIV.

“They talk briefly about it in school,” she said. “Maybe for sex education, like a sentence.”

Due to the lack of funding for outreach, SCAP representatives say there is little education on how a person can contract AIDS/HIV.

“There’s a stigma since it’s less public and people are talking about it less,” Wootton said. “[People think] if you got it, it was completely your fault. There’s a lot of blaming for people who are positive, for their choices or their lifestyles or for something about them that people think inherently makes them not worthy of making good decisions.”

SCAP members stress the importance of being informed about AIDS, and remind the public of its existence.

“I think our younger generation feels that ‘people aren’t dying as they did in the 80s,’ and maybe they feel that they can’t get it,” Castagnola said. “That issue is still out there and people aren’t having safe sex and they’re sharing needles and doing things that they aren’t being careful of.”

Due to the lack of education, public awareness and resulting stigmas, many SCAP clients do not attend the annual event. While a current SCAP client will speak at the ceremony, Wootton said many are still too uncomfortable to attend.

“Even on the one day of the year dedicated to remembering those who have passed from HIV and honoring those who are currently living with HIV, there’s still so much stigma … We can’t expect our clients to come out for themselves,” she said.

SCAP encourages individuals to get involved outside of World AIDS Day and provides various opportunities for people to contribute to the effort to fight AIDS.

“We’re always looking for volunteers and we take donations,” Castagnola said. “We have a food pantry here and different groups here do food drives for us. We had a church … that instead of going trick-or-treating, they went trick-or-treating for canned foods for us. They do that every year and it’s a great way of helping our clients.”

SCAP encourages supporters to wear the red ribbon, the international symbol of AIDS, in honor and remembrance of this day. They will be handed out during event.

“The whole point is to have a visible symbol,” Wootton said. “When you walk around, people ask you what it is or if they know it, they’re reminded of it.”

A close up of the traditional Mayan art now be shown at the Felix Kulpa Gallery in downtown Santa Cruz. Photos by Toby Silverman.

Tucked away in the highlands of Guatemala, rural San Pedro La Laguna is severely impacted by poverty. But students like Elizabeth Herrera will now have the chance to make a positive difference within the community through an internship with“Ayudame A Pintar Mi Futuro” (APMF), which means “Help Me Paint My Future.”

Herrera, a UCSC student majoring in community studies and legal studies, interned abroad in San Pedro and worked with APMF, a nonprofit organization that provides free art classes to impoverished children.

Through her field study, Herrera advocated for increased student involvement.

“My cause is education,” she said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s here in Santa Cruz or abroad. It’s about you wanting to make a change.”

Miranda Pope, a sponsor of APMF, said that although interning with the project is fairly new, APMF is seeking to inspire a range of students through quarter-long internships or volunteering opportunities.

Interns would be tutoring children in their English classes, helping with arts and crafts, and more. There is also the possibility for UCSC students to have a home stay, where they can live with the children’s families and assist them with local activities.

At the moment, there is no program or class at UCSC that is affiliated with APMF, but students can become involved by doing an independent study for credit with their department’s approval.

During a recent visit to UCSC, APMF cofounder Jose Mendez showed slides of children interacting with art and explained how APMF has been able to alleviate poverty in his community.

“The problem with [Guatemalans] is we do not have a voice in the government or a voice of the children. Who will listen?” Mendez, who only spoke Spanish, said. “The one thing we can do now is do what we are doing here today [raise awareness].”

Not only does APMF teach children to draw and paint, it teaches their families to learn along with them. Many mothers of participating children are illiterate and only speak the native Mayan language, Tz’utujil. However, through working with APMF, families can increase their knowledge of spoken Spanish.

Mendez began APMF with his brother, Henry Mendez, by opening a small art gallery in 2008. When two curious children came into the gallery, Mendez asked the boys if they would like to paint. The oldest showed an interest in painting, but could not afford supplies. 

Eventually more children with similar stories began to show an interest in APMF. Mendez felt compelled to do something.

“Little by little I realized that when someone is interested in their community or in the problems of a village or nation, you come to terms with the necessities of people,” Mendez said.

Mendez said that the Guatemalan government has not taken initiative to make a difference or educate the nation’s youth, which is a grave problem in Guatemala. It brings into light a much larger issue into context that affects the lives of not just Guatemalans, but addresses poverty and its causes.

APMF also provides monthly rations of food to their students’ families.

“It is a real honor to have a teacher and artist, who is able to highlight the issues of his country,” said UCSC student and Chicano Latino Resource Center intern Gemma Givens.

The Felix Kulpa Gallery downtown hosted an art exhibit following Mendez’s presentation at UCSC.

Mendez left Santa Cruz elated — even though many of his paintings were not sold, he was extremely happy with the community response.

As the author of “Yellow: Race in America Beyond Black and White,” Frank Wu offers a unique perspective on racial identity.

“It’s a prank. It’s trivial to him. He doesn’t know how traumatic it was for me when I was a little kid,” Wu said. “It’s not just that I was offended as an Asian-American. I’m offended as someone with a sense of humor. This thing has been done before so many times, and it’s been done better. There needs to be new material.”

On November 17 Wu discussed race and the subtle forms of racial discrimination, inviting people of all backgrounds to see what is between black and white. He acknowledges that race is a widely talked about subject, but he will offer a new paradigm of thought about race.

“We talk as if everything is about villains and victims when it’s not,” Wu said. “I’d like to expose the shades of grey in the way in which races are subtle and complicated.”

Joy Lei, the coordinator of the YELLOW event, explains the significance of Wu’s ideas for the UCSC campus.

“Dean Wu will guide us through an examination of race in the U.S. that complicates the traditional ways race has been understood in our society,” Joy Lei, coordinator of the YELLOW event said in an e-mail.

Looking back on his encounter in San Francisco and experiences growing up in Detroit, Michigan as the only Asian-American, Wu discussed bullying and its detrimental effects on those subjected to it.

“What’s striking is that Asian Americans face that issue in being bullied more than anyone else. Even though that kid doing the karate moves isn’t really doing anything, it is because sometimes it leads to bullying in a way that is really horrific and causes permanent psychological damage,” Wu said. “It starts with a little thing. What does it mean when you’re a kid and you face this every day? It sends you a signal that you don’t belong.”

For the recent event, Wu hoped to have engaged in dialogue rather than lecture, explaining that democracy is based in dialogue and on the ability to give and take.  As an individual with a career in education, Wu stresses the importance of the participation of youth and describes its power to create change.

“Young people are the greatest force of change possible. Young people can interact in a form that can transform our understanding of race on a daily basis” Wu said. “It’s not enough to say that racism is bad. It’s important for us to see that it is not enough to just acknowledge. There’s a problem and there is so much more to do and young people have the right and responsibility to play a central role.”

Specifically on youth in education, Wu sees a college campus as a positive circumstance in terms of student diversity.

“It’s crucial because that interaction as equals, as friends in a place where you’ve come to learn, you don’t find that anywhere else,” Wu said. “This is what ultimately brings about change.”
Wu stresses that his proposal of a new paradigm is not centered on blame or negative feelings.

Frederick Chung, a fourth year student, attended the event and describes it as a positive experience.

“It was inspiring and reassuring in that diversity is still happening and that there’s no real end to it,” Chung said.

In light of diversity issues afflicting the campus over the last year, Wu’s discussion was a gateway to a bigger campus conversation.

“This is important to the UCSC community because we need an open and on-going dialogue about race and the various ways it affects the campus climate and students’ experiences,” Lei said. “A more complicated and better understanding of race will inform such a dialogue.”

Wu deviates from the blame and resentment often seen in most attitudes on race.

Café Gratitude, a well-known San Francisco restaurant, opened a location in Santa Cruz this past spring with the mission of making vegan, organic food accessible to everyone. One of their signature dishes, the Grateful Bowl, is available per donation. Photo by Prescott Watson.

The biggest concept that stumped and shocked many business people about Café Gratitude is the free food. Created in the midst of the recession in the mid-2000s, the café’s “Grateful Bowl” is a donation-based program that offers a bowl of brown rice, black beans and kale with tahini garlic dressing to everyone, from the homeless to lower-middle class to students and anyone else who might be under financial strain.

The café offers an option to pay anywhere from a penny to the $7 cost of production, or even above. The money goes to fund the Grateful Bowl program and feed another person.

While the average price for customers is $3, there have been donations that exceed the production cost. Café Gratitude has received donations as high as a $1,000.

“It’s being able to provide the community a chance to let them provide for their own community, too. We wanted to create this so that people can actually see the difference,” Manzo said. “We’re not in the business of making anyone wrong or right. We’re willing to make less money to provide this for the community and in turn, what we’re providing for our customers, we’re providing for the local farmers and the vendors that we’re buying from.”

While the program may seem susceptible to being taken advantage of, Manzo explains Café Gratitude is a “school of transformation,” where customers can change and transcend as individuals. Manzo recalls a regular customer that embodies his idea of transformation.

“We have one homeless guy who comes in almost every day and he might spend a penny on a Grateful Bowl one day, but then he’ll come in the next day and spend $30 on it,” Manzo said. “That’s the transformation we’re looking for.”

When Manzo first proposed starting a restaurant that was 100 percent organic and vegan, focused on making healthy options accessible to customers, people had doubts about its potential to succeed. However, since its original San Francisco opening in 2004, a handful of locations have opened, including a recent addition in downtown Santa Cruz on Aug. 15.

“The more we think about what we’re grateful for, the easier it is to feel the abundance out there. The earth provides everything that we need,” Manzo said. “This kind of food actually fuels this way of being. For asking people to be more healthy and positive, we can feed them food that helps fuel them. If we told you to come in and be happier, be healthier and go out into the world with a positive energy, but we’re feeding you 99-cent cheeseburgers, Coca-Cola and Cheetos, your body would be holding you back.”

Manzo created the café with “old-school” restaurant business in mind, where the focus is not on profits. The restaurant’s sole interest is the community: the café uses only produce from local farms and vendors and prioritizes providing for the community over profits.

Melissa Mango, a waitress at Café Gratitude, said this unusual focus has made working at the restaurant a unique experience.

“It supplies a sense of supporting one’s spirit,” she said. “It’s not just a job where you clock in and clock out. I’ve never worked at a place that is so high in integrity and trust.”

For Manzo, the Grateful Bowl reflects one of the restaurant’s very basic philosophies, rooted in the café’s origins.

“We weren’t interested in just opening up another restaurant,” Manzo said. “In the ‘80s when money started to become a conversation, we watched restaurants get away from what they’re providing for the community to how they can make the most money possible. So for my family, the old-school version for a restaurant is providing.”

Photo by Prescott Watson.

Story updated 11/3/2011 at 6:15pm

Wooksik Cheong, a representative of the South Korean NGO Peace Network, recently visited UC Santa Cruz to discuss the disputed construction of a South Korean naval base on Jeju Island, a South Korean island off the southernmost tip of the mainland.

Jeju Island, much like Okinawa to Japan, maintains a unique dialect and culture separate from mainland Koreans, resulting in a sometimes volatile relationship between the island and the peninsula.

In 2007, the South Korean government decided to build a naval base in Gangjeong Province in Jeju Island and since then villagers and activists have banded together to protest the construction of the base.

Peace Network, established in 1999, focuses on promoting peace within the Korean peninsula through cooperation, delegation, discussion and the demilitarization of the area.

Literature professor Christine Hong sat in on the interview to assist with translation. Hong has visited Jeju Island and is familiar with the controversy surrounding the naval base construction.

City on a Hill Press: Can you explain the history behind this contested military base? Is this resistance movement part of a much bigger issue?

Wooksik Cheong: Jeju has a very indigenous culture; South Korean mainland persons cannot understand their dialect, so for a long time the people of Jeju have maintained an independent and special culture. However, [historically] the Japanese army used Jeju Island as a platform for an attack on China, so there was an airbase for the Japanese military. After that, the United States controlled Jeju to attack Japan, but the United States changed their mind and sought Okinawa … With the construction of this naval base, the message that the South Korean government and Navy is sending is very similar to the ways the South Korean government and United States used [Jeju Island] 60 years ago. In order to isolate Gangjeong Village from the mainland, the South Korean government, or ruling party or conservative media, has labeled the residents and volunteers as pro-North Korean or Kim Jong-Il puppets.

Christine Hong: But the people who have been protesting have been jailed and they’ve been beaten. As Wooksik was saying, recently even, the mainland government sent over a thousand riot police to quell the protest, so it’s very reminiscent of the past.

WC: The central government does not believe in the local police, so they send riot police to directly control the operation.

CH: When I was in Gangjeong, there were police at every single entrance to the village.

CHP: The Defense Ministry has expressed determination to finish the military base, and has characterized protesters as more of a nuisance, spreading false information. How do you respond to that?

WC: South Korea is a democratic country and the opinions on the naval base are from a variety of spectrums. However, the South Korean government and media are hesitant to [have a] dialogue with villagers. The biggest frustration of Gangjeong villagers is, ‘Why has the government not talked to me about this?’ They’ve just talked to the press and the [police] force. But the idea is this is an issue of … national security … [and] if you express a different opinion, you’re a pro-North Korean, you’re a Kim Jong-Il puppet. Is this a democratic country, then? It’s very shameful. The first thing the villagers wanted [to say] is, “Let’s talk: Why does the government want to build a Jeju naval base?” … If even one more person supported the Jeju Naval base, we could quit the protest.

CH: The government claims that this decision came about democratically, but actually the standard proceedings for any kind of vote within the village were not observed. And I think that it’s very revealing the head of the village is in prison right now. What the government keeps saying is the people protesting the construction of the naval base are obstructing business, so the government is revealing what its notion of democracy is — it’s placing the obstruction of business … above the rights of citizens to determine what they want in the area they live [in], and it has made a mockery of any democratic process.

CHP: Can you tell me a little about “Pacific Freeze”? How do military spending, armed conflicts, and continued military expansion relate to the health and well-being of the environment?

WC: I think the biggest enemy to humanity is climate change. … Unfortunately, the U.S. military budget is up to about 50 percent in the world military expenditure. Think about that: Why does the United States spend so much on the military? Do American people feel safe? I don’t think so. American people are afraid of many kinds of threats. In order for the United States to play a leading role in dealing with global problems, I think they need to [funnel] their military sources into other things, for example the green economy. … [Furthermore,] why is the South Korean government and Navy destroying this natural and beautiful environment? It’s a gift from god, from the heavens. A few years ago, the South Korean government pointed out Gangjeong Province as an absolute preservation area. In order to build the naval base, the South Korean government cancelled the absolute preservation. That means the South Korea government is talking about green economy and green growth. However, the South Korea government is destroying the environment for a risky naval base.

CH: They have lied and said they have done environmental impact surveys, but they have not done any significant environmental impact surveys. And they say their spokesperson in the United States, one of the cultural ministers, Nam Jin Soo, said it would have minimum impact on the environment. The fact of the matter is, one, I’ve called him on the phone and … he’s never been to Gangjeong province. He hasn’t spoken to anyone and … the thing that’s interesting, too, is even when you talk to the women in the neighboring village, they say that the ocean is no one’s to own. It’s clear they are destroying the environment. And when you see the way the protesters were living on the environment, it’s unlike any other kind of sustained reoccupation … and the way that they were living was so in tune with the land …There’s something really profound about the way the protesters were coexisting with the land.

CHP: Looking forward, the latter half of South Korean history is hugely influenced by U.S. involvement — do you foresee a way for South Korea to effectively separate itself from the U.S. military?

WC: For a long time, especially since the Korean War, South Korea has been under the U.S. security umbrella. There are different ways of thinking on this relationship. For example, the past South Korean government hoped that South Korea could be more independent and self-reliant. … The current government thinks the … way to keep security and peace is to strengthen the alliance with the United States — that’s the fundamental thinking of the South Korean government. … Some people want to keep the alliance [with the U.S.], some people think we don’t need the alliance anymore and [the U.S.] cause many problems and should withdraw. Many people think, “Why are we maintaining the alliance? We need to improve our relations with the North.”

CHP: Do you hope to see a unified Korea? Is that end goal of Peace Network’s work?

WC: What is important is not reunification itself but how to reunify. Firstly, we put more value on peace rather than reunification. I think reunification should be realized step by step, gradually through cooperation.  However, the South Korean government wants to unify with North Korea through absorption, but that’s not the right way. I think peace is the best way to realize reunification and peace should be the goal of reunification.

CH: Many people describe peace in military terms and they say peace in Korea depends upon a strong U.S. military presence and a strong South Korean military. [To WC:] What is Peace Network’s understanding of peace?

WC: Peace should be based on demilitarization. … Real peace can be realized … through dialogue, cooperation, trust building [and] respecting each other. For a long time, South Korea tried to enhance its security by enhancing its military power or strengthening its alliance with the United States, [but] many South Koreans don’t feel safe. Even though South Korea spends about 10 times more than North Korea in its military budget and makes pains to align with the U.S. …many people are asking, why are we not secure? Why are we not stable?

Photo by Nick Paris.

Until his first year at UCSC, Eugene Negrete did not talk about his identity as a queer Chicano.

At his generally heteronormative high school, the queer community was underrepresented and a sense of homophobia lingered, keeping Negrete from fully expressing himself.

“During high school I was held back from even thinking of the possibility of an alternative to life or gender expression,” he said. “We’re taught through institutions such as the school system, our parents, culture, and in the case of Latino/Chicano culture, the Catholic religion.”

Raised in a Catholic home, Negrete said his Mexican-American culture hindered him from accepting his queer identity.

“In high school I was very internally against, and I tried not to think about it. I tried to occupy my mind through extracurriculars, academics and plans to go on to higher education,” Negrete said. “I looked at [other activities] as an escape from thinking about it.”

While Negrete assumes his parents will accept his queer identity on some level, he is still hesitant to fully discuss it.

“In high school I was very concerned about my family, in terms of my family not accepting it and me thinking it was wrong and disgraceful,” he said.

Negrete still has not directly told his family, but assumes they know because of his increased confidence in college.

“Till today, it’s still an issue. It hasn’t been directly stated yet — it’s kind of invisible. I go back home after all these years and I’m sure they sense that I have this new confidence and a new perspective of life,” Negrete said. “I think yes, [my parents would accept me] because of the sense of love. But I also think it will take time and, internally they’re still not used to challenging they way they’re brought up.”

However, his father’s background as a migrant from Mexico and separation from his family leads Negrete to assume that his father will most likely be more understanding.

“He’s gone through the struggles of feeling singled out and being isolated,” he said.

From a queer Chicano perspective, Negrete discusses the “two pillars of oppression.”

“Being Chicano, you’re often singled out because of being a minority in the United States,” Negrete said. “And by being Chicano queer, you’re singled out by your own Chicano community and family. I don’t belong here, and I don’t belong there.”

In his transition from his first to his second year, Negrete made his queer identity public in a gradual process as a result of his classes, Rainbow Theater, involvement with Familia Equis, a group dedicated to creating a space of healing for students with queer and Latino/Chicano identities, and allies at the Cantu Center.

For queer individuals who have not come out, Negrete advises they take all the time they need.

“It’s a process of coming out to yourself first — coming out to yourself and coming to terms with the way you felt growing up, your attractions, and just being honest to yourself,” he said. “There’s no need to actually make it public and think about what the world is going to say. It’s not like when you meet someone you ask, ‘Are you straight?’ It really shouldn’t really matter.”

About the Series: Coming Out

October is LGBT History Month. In honor of the month, City on a Hill Press sat down with members of the LGBT community to hear their coming-out stories and insights into what it means to be queer and questioning in 2011.

Photo courtesy of Michael Loik.

In this week’s Community Chest, City on a Hill Press spoke with environmental science professor and researcher Michael Loik. Loik explained his passion for natural values and his genuine concern for the health of our planet.

CHP: What is it like to be teaching environmental science at this very crucial time in terms of global warming?

Loik: Like you said, it’s crucial. I don’t think there is anything more important than understanding the complex interactions between population growth, global politics, environmental issues, economics and everything we hear on the news. All of these things are intertwined, and all of the impacts are coming down on our forest, grassland and agricultural land resources. Even if there wasn’t climate change occurring, those issues would be causing devastating impacts on our planet’s biodiversity. Multiplied on top of all of that is that we’re altering the characteristics of the atmosphere.

CHP: What is your best moment as an environmental educator so far in your career?

Loik: It’s hard to pin down the one “best moment.” When I was a grad student at UCLA, I moved from LA to rural Colorado — that was a monumental shift in the scientific approach for me. When I was at UCLA I was working on very small-scale, molecular cellular biology questions, and when I went to Colorado, my focus shifted to broader scales associated with global climate change. I was living in a highly urbanized environment and then I found myself in a research position at an incredibly beautiful location at 10,000 feet elevation … It broadened my horizons in many ways.

One of the outcomes of that transition is that now I am really excited year in and year out to teach … There have been so many wonderful students to work with. My former students are now teachers, farmers, activists and scientists. Each of them is doing their part to make sure we can move into a sustainable future. My goal is to inspire people to find the niche where they want to make a difference, and then help them to go and make their difference in that particular corner of the world.

CHP: If there was one thing you could reverse and undo for planet Earth, what would it be? 

Loik: I hate to say this, but it would have to be human population growth and industrialization. There are so many things that we all enjoy these days, but when we sum them all up and think about what it means for all the other species in the biodiversity crisis and the impact we have put on the atmosphere, we have a moral imperative to reverse these impacts. I don’t think there is a species that has affected the biosphere and atmosphere as much as we have. CO2 has gone up and down and temperatures have changed,  but never at the current rate compared to geologic time. “Business as usual” economic practices mean that billions of people are going to suffer remarkably in the near future.

Photo by Prescott Watson.

Morgan Mathias is alert, easygoing, and out. In a light blue scoop neck, an ivory spiral-shaped necklace and silver nail polish, she discloses everything — or more precisely, everything she knows thus far.

“You never really stop coming out. The first couple of times, you grit your teeth and do it. But it never really stops. There’s always new people in your life and new assumptions,” she says, “and your identity also develops over time … there’s too many flavors of it for words.”

Raised in Thousand Oaks, Los Angeles, Mathias was deeply closeted prior to college. She initially dated women, and began to identify as bisexual in her senior year.

“High school was really the process of coming out to myself,” she remembers.

In community college, Mathias came out to her close friends as gay. She joined the gay-straight alliance there, though she rarely bothered to specify whether she was a queer ally or a straight ally.

“If people asked me, I wasn’t going to beat around the bush,” she said, “but maybe half of the people just thought I was [a straight] ally.”

Moving into the dorms changed things for Mathias. Normal, everyday aspects of her life were much more public domain than before, and she didn’t see the point in hiding anymore.

“Day one, I was out as queer, and I spent that year immersed in the queer culture up here,” she said.

She found the Cantù Queer Center and pledged Delta Lambda Psi, a Greek frarority founded at UC Santa Cruz.

She also came out to her parents last year.

First her mom, while they were in the middle of an argument. She had commented on the transformations she perceived in her daughter, and alluded to a suspicion of heavy drug use. That was too much for Mathias.

“I was like Mom, I’m not on drugs — I’m gay,” she laughs, “and later that day I came out to my dad.”

Despite how it came up, Mathias remembers that coming out to her parents went smoothly. She’s been fortunate enough to have her orientation received positively elsewhere as well.

Mathias attributes the success of her experience at Santa Cruz to the combination of many elements here, and hopes to live in similarly queer-friendly communities upon graduating.

“For the queer students,” she advises, “if you haven’t realized what an incredible, safe, and encouraging space Santa Cruz on the whole is, realize it, and take advantage of it while you’re here. You would be hard-pressed to find as safe a space for any kind of queer people.”

At UCSC, Mathias believes that she is still coming into her self as queer, and her identity will likely evolve further.

“Gay people have identities and straight people have identities, which are way more than just ‘I’m straight’,” she points out. “Nobody can be reduced to just one facet of their personality.”

About the Series: Coming Out

October is LGBT History Month. In honor of the month, City on a Hill Press sat down with members of the LGBT community to hear their coming-out stories and insights into what it means to be queer and questioning in 2011.

Photo by Nick Paris.

Uyenmy Yamamoto dreams of good conversations.

As Yamamoto speaks, using words like “male-bodied” and “female-bodied,” it is clear she simply likes people and sees them precisely as just that. In a world of definitions that can both include and exclude people, Yamamoto is open to all exterior genders and defines herself as a “queer womyn of color.”

Yamamoto is a fourth-year Vietnamese Kresge student from Sacramento majoring in psychology and history of art and visual culture. Yamamoto laughs as she explains that even before she realized her queer identity, she had always been interested.

“I always wanted to be queer,” Yamamoto said. “I was really open to it in the first place, but I just hadn’t met anyone that proved it true to me. … I wanted to be able to fight for that equality and that consciousness.”

Yamamoto has dated males, but has felt the most connection to females. She discovered her queer identity during her junior year of high school, when she met the person who changed her perspective.

“It was the most natural thing for me, because I just met someone and it just clicked for me,” Yamamoto said. “I’ve never really felt magnetized to anyone before. I kind of just dated guys and it was whatever until I met someone and they just opened a whole new world of emotions for me. There were times when I just let myself question it, but I’ve just never felt as strong of a human connection as I did. It was the most natural thing ever. It felt real. We never went out, we just remained friends, but it was just the first time I felt that way.”

Yamamoto came out to her parents and received surprising support before leaving for college.

“I was pretty open about it in high school but totally hid it from them for the longest time,” Yamamoto said. “They also actually came out for me because with the people that I was bringing home to hang out with, the way they appeared was a lot more stereotypically queer. Their presence was different and my parents noticed that and kind of figured it out.”

However supportive, Yamamoto still feels doubt from her family.

“My mom secretly thinks that it’s a phase and that I’m just young,” Yamamoto said. “When I talk to her about relationship problems, I feel like she’s open to talking about how to help me without being biased, but sometimes at the end she’ll say little comments and I can tell that she thinks that it’s just a phase.”

While Yamamoto has found people to be very accepting on campus, she still faces some adversity.

“Little comments hurt me. I feel like when people find out that I’m feminine and queer, they try to ask about my sexual life and sometimes I feel like for people, it becomes a game,” Yamamoto said. “They’ll say, ‘It’s because you haven’t met a real man yet.’ They’ll try to get at me in both sexual and emotional ways and they’ll try to psychoanalyze me. It’s disgusting. I know it’s because I’m feminine — if I were more masculine, I know I would get a completely different reaction from guys.”

Yamomoto is currently single and is open to dating people of any label. Even though she has found female connections to be much deeper, Yamamoto does not necessarily reject any male-bodied individuals just because they are not female.

“I don’t want to be discriminatory toward people — whoever it is that I meet and make connections with and fall in love with,” she said. “When I would imagine people in my head, I wouldn’t think about their biological sex, I would just imagine their personality to be amazing. I would take snippets of what I liked about people and I would just imagine them in my head.”

Yamamoto’s philosophy on love regardless of label does, however, invite conflict even within the LGBTI community.

“Even people within the queer community sometimes don’t understand people who identify as being bisexual. There’s a stigma to it that you’re always confused,” Yamamoto said. “It’s hard for me to talk about it because a lot of people don’t understand. For people who I came out as queer to, my fear is that they won’t understand what it’s like to just like … people. People are so stuck on identity. Are you lesbian or gay? Are you trans? Are you bisexual? What is it? Love is complicated.”

Yamamoto ends the conversation with a smile.

“I think my best falling in love moments have happened when it was just friends first.”

About the Series: Coming Out

October is LGBT History Month. In honor of the month, City on a Hill Press sat down with members of the LGBT community to hear their coming-out stories and insights into what it means to be queer and questioning in 2011.

Photo by Morgan Grana.

During last year’s Thanksgiving break, a four-word question turned a mother-daughter novella viewing session into a much more significant experience for Helen Aldana.

“She just asked me, ‘Do you like girls?’ and I replied, ‘Yeah, I like them a lot,’” Aldana said.

Aldana, who now identifies as a lesbian, came out to her mother as bisexual, and at first, her mother dismissed her coming out as confusion.

“It didn’t feel real to me because she thought I was confused,” Aldana said. “Instead of ‘I know you’re a lesbian,’ or ‘I accept that you’re a lesbian,’ it was ‘I accept that you have this phase going on.’”

This past September, Aldana finally felt her mother acknowledged her identity as a lesbian by recognizing the connection Aldana had to another girl and not regarding it as confusion.

“I felt like I was coming out to her again. She took it seriously, and it was like, ‘Wow, she acknowledges my queerness,’” Aldana said.

Her mother, Aldana said, was not the only one confused about her sexual identity.

“I was confused all of high school because being straight is so convenient. It made my parents really happy, yet sad,” Aldana said. “If a guy broke up with me they would ask, ‘Are you sad?’ and I would say, ‘It’s cool.’ I don’t get why they didn’t see that, me being careless about getting dumped by a guy.”

When Aldana told her older sister she was a lesbian, her sister simply denied it, and Aldana agreed.

After coming to UC Santa Cruz, Aldana was still trying to figure out her identity. She started working at the Lionel Cantú Queer Center and tabled for National Coming Out Day. This experience was the first time Aldana stated she was a lesbian.

“Coming out to my friends was a little frustrating. There was a part of me that wanted to get it off my chest, but they still didn’t take it seriously. I really wish they had,” Aldana said.

Some of her friends at that time just assumed Aldana liked men. She did not feel involved in many of the conversations they had, and hoped that her friends would notice her discomfort and make their conversations more general.

Now that she works at the Lionel Cantú Queer Center, Aldana has made more friends within the queer community and no longer feels left out of conversations.

Even though Aldana has come out to her mother, she still has some hesitations about coming out to her father and much of their extended family. She has discussed coming out to her father with her mother and knows he will love her no matter what. Aldana predicts her father’s biggest concern will be her safety, emotionally and physically, from gay-bashing. Aldana has never experienced gay-bashing firsthand.

“I hope I never have to go through it,” she said.

Aldana is concerned that her extended family will not understand her sexual identity because of their religious views.

“I always tell them, ‘Well if God is so awesome, he would love a homosexual.’ And they say ‘Yes, he will forgive a homosexual,’” Aldana said. “I respond, ‘No, but there is nothing to be forgiven … There’s nothing wrong with being gay.’”

About the Series: Coming Out

October is LGBT History Month. In honor of the month, City on a Hill Press sat down with members of the LGBT community to hear their coming-out stories and insights into what it means to be queer and questioning in 2011.

Kyle Lakatos sells sweets at the “Periodic Table of Cookies” event at Kresge Pride. Photo by Pierce Crosby.

Max Aung and Kyle Lakatos are distinctly different: one suave and with a quick tongue, and the other reserved and methodological. But both have experienced similar challenges in finding a sense of belonging at a school that tends to separate identity from profession.

Lakatos was raised in the Bay Area for most of his life, whereas Aung emigrated with his family from Burma at the age of five. They are both first-generation college students who have excelled in professional degrees within the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) departments, but with very different focuses: Aung is a fourth-year in molecular cell and developmental biology and Lakatos is a fourth-year in biochemistry.

Interest in the sciences has brought them and many fellow peers together for healthy discussion, but they have found they are often more commonly united by a different identity: Lakatos and Aung are queer students.

“With STEM … when you come to the front door, you leave other things at the front door, and then you come inside with that identity,” Aung said. “When I go to resources for STEM, I kind of have to put my being gay behind, so its nice to have such an open, safe place to identify with both — that’s what The Element Lounge offers.”

The association of the dual identities may seem insignificant to some, but for those who have them in common, the particular combination can be rather challenging. Because of this divide between the sciences and their queer identity, Aung and Lakatos, along with Chris Britton and Mark Corre, collaborated to engineer The Element Lounge (TEL).

“There isn’t really an inclusion of all disciplinary discussions,” Aung said. “[In the sciences] its not that being LGBT is less accepted, it’s just that sciences have a certain stoic-ness to it, where you don’t really bring in those outside ideas — and you enjoy the beauty of that stoic-ness, but it’s lacking in that you don’t really bring culture to science that often. That’s why we need diversity programs … to have these conversations.”

Herbert Lee, mathematics department faculty member, vice provost of student affairs and TEL’s faculty sponsor, said TEL offers a valuable support system.

“There is a need for an organization like TEL, which helps form this community for students who might otherwise have difficulty in connecting with each other,” Lee said. “Communities like this generally increase the success rate of students in them.”

The group was founded in late spring, quickly attracting members from diverse areas of STEM.

“There was never open communication about it,” Lakatos said. “There was never really a bridge between grouping the queer identity with the scientific identity, it was always two separate things, so we really wanted to bring those together.”

The Element Lounge (TEL) has become part of a “trifecta” of three identity-oriented groups associated with making the bridge between science and community. Together with the Academic Excellence Program’s Pre-Health Community (PHC) and Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS), TEL generates awareness of student diversity within the science community.

While it’s not the only organization that provides support and awareness for queer students — or for science students — TEL is the only organization that provides this community simultaneously.

More than providing academic support, TEL aims to create a community of trust.

“I think the most hard-hitting thing that has happened, for me, is the idea that there are other people who are going through the same or similar struggle,” Lakatos said. “That is what was most rewarding about this group.”

Photo courtesy of Chris Silva

In this week’s Community Chest, City on a Hill Press sat down with Chris Silva, a third-year biology student at UCSC and the director of the Student Volunteer Center. Among his many past volunteer positions, Silva has worked for his hometown’s recreation department, Democratic club and high school rotary club. He has also worked with a non-profit organization in downtown Santa Cruz that provides free medical and legal services to low-income families around the area, as well as Global Medical Brigades, which provides free medical and dental services abroad to underprivileged people in Latin American countries.

CHP: When did you first start volunteering?

Silva: Back in high school, my dad
encouraged me to check it out. I used to work for my city as a day camp counselor and then I got involved with the Democratic club and the rotary club, so it’s kind of where I got my start. Originally he wanted me to get involved to diversify myself for college, but then it [turned] into, “Hey, I kind of like doing this.” … I think meeting different people and being able to communicate and have interesting conversations with people is crucial.

CHP: What was the most rewarding experience you’ve had?

Silva: I go to Central America every year through Global Medical Brigade — we do medical and dental volunteering. My dad is a dentist at UCSF and we go to a remote visit and set up shop at different stations where people can be checked out. There’s intake, a waiting room for small children, OBGYN and patient-doctor consultation. There’s also another station for dental cleaning and a pharmacy. We fundraise during the year through various fundraisers like Nite Owl [Cookies] or See’s Candies. I liked my second year [in Honduras] because I knew how the protocols went, so I was able to help other people with their tasks. It’s kind of scary being thrown in a station, especially if you don’t speak Spanish.

CHP: Why do you think volunteering is important?

Silva: I think most people aren’t fortunate [enough] to have an able body, whether they’re sick or they’re incapable of taking care of themselves. The fact that I’m able to do this — I think I should give back. It makes me feel really good, really productive. It’s a great outlet for when you’re studying and you’re stressed out. It just makes you feel good.

CHP: Is there a difference between volunteering and a job?

Silva: Volunteering is a job. And a job, to me, is to have responsibilities: You’re held accountable for completing certain tasks on time and conducting yourself in a certain professional manner. I guess the distinction is that with a job, you’re doing it because you want to get paid and you’re told to do so. Volunteerism, to me, is an outlet, like playing baseball or playing guitar. You do it because you like to.

CHP: What do you get out of volunteering?

Silva: Just knowing that I can put a smile on somebody’s face because I can. I think every time that I’m able to help somebody or they acknowledge that I will be able to help them in some way, it kind of reminds me of my mom. I remember the team of doctors that were responsible for performing the procedures on her and just how grateful I was to them, because they’re able-bodied surgeons. They’re professionals, they know what to do, and I was just extremely grateful for that. It just seems like they never ask for anything in return. The fact that they saved my mom, that was huge to me.

Aaron White, a UCSC student, has worked with alumnus Elias Martinez to create SPACES. The organization, Sex Positive Autonomous Coalition for Environmental Sustainability, promotes sex positivity through environmentally sustainable initiatives like up-cycled sex toys. Photo by Prescott Watson.

SPACES: Sex Positive Autonomous Coalition for Environmental Sustainability. The wordy acronym may not roll off the tongue, but with this project, former Slug Elias Martinez and current UCSC student Aaron White hope to create a buzz and get people talking.

The work-in-progress is a multipronged project focused on promoting not only sex positivity but practices that are environmentally sustainable. For example, by making — and teaching how to make — vegan, “upcycled” (a term meaning repurposed from other objects) sex toys, SPACES is showing support for sexual freedom and eco-friendly practices with leather-free products.

“We decided to create an organization that addressed more of the needs and issues that we saw needed [to be] addressed,” White said. “When you have sex positivity, you are more open to the idea of sex. It doesn’t necessarily mean you engage in it, but you support people who are having it.”

Martinez and White make their products, including floggers, whips and harnesses, from extensively sterilized used bike parts, like inner tubes.

“It’s something that I’m really good at, and I really like making vegan alternatives,” Martinez said. “Our products are as good or better than the leather products in the market now.”

White said their products are user-tested and improvements are made based on feedback. They are not currently making products for penetration and have no plans to begin making them.

In the past Martinez and White have worked both independently and collaboratively on various workshops on topics such as queer anarchy and BDSM (bondage, discipline, sadism and masochism). White said he’d like to see these workshops continued.

Both Martinez and White said they hope to see several large-scale projects come to fruition, including a database identifying what businesses are queer-friendly “safe spaces.” White said while there are regional networks of queer-friendly businesses, there is nothing on the national level.

“Creating a national registry insures businesses are staying true to their word and remaining queer-friendly,” White said.

SPACES is also planning on working with World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF) to create an index of queer-friendly farms.

When looking at the overarching goals of SPACES, the one continuous thread is the call for sex positivity and further restructuring of ingrained ideas of sexuality in American culture.

“Sex positivity for us means giving consenting adults autonomy over their own bodies,” Martinez said. “The media and other institutions perpetuate ‘vanilla sex’ as being the standard, the expectation of our sexual desires.”

Martinez explained that what he defines as “vanilla sex” is “normative sex acts that are non-kinky and generally accepted as being standard.”

Tam Welch, program coordinator for the UCSC Lionel Cantù GLBTI, said sex positivity exists in varying degrees in different communities, but overall it is important to further push cultural discussions of sex in order to remove shame that may be socially applied to non-normative sex acts.

“Sex positivity in itself celebrates [sex and] flips the sense of shame,” Welch said. “It brings the conversation to an edge that a lot of people potentially blush at, and I think that the more we can bring it to the center — meaning the mainstream — then sex positivity will create healthier and safer behaviors.”

Not talking about sex — whether it is heteronormative or otherwise — does not erase the existence of the act itself, Welch said.

“People don’t talk about sex. There’s … a shame in enjoying your body,” she said. “There’s a lot of taboo-ness that happens around sex. You don’t have to talk about sex, but it happens … You don’t have to talk about this, that or the other, but it happens.”

The main goal of SPACES is to promote three things: sex positivity, queer justice and environmental sustainability. It’s a project fueled by a passion for social justice and community empowerment.

“Our focus is going to be making people more comfortable with their bodies. That’s the most simple way to put it,” White said. “We want to let people know that you can have fun with who they are. And you don’t necessarily need to have sex to have fun.”

SPACES plans on launching their official website on Oct. 24. They will be tabling at Practical Activism Conference on Oct. 22, at the Colleges Nine and Ten Multipurpose Room. 

Photo by Sal Ingram.

In this week’s Community Chest, City on a Hill Press spoke with Carolyn Rodriguez and Michelle Neumann, the organizers for the upcoming American Indian Resource Center’s “Green Team” event, Heal the Earth. Heal the Earth looks at sustainability with an indigenous perspective. Rodriguez is affiliated with the Amah Mutsun tribe, local to Santa Cruz and the central coast, and Neumann is Lucieño of the Pala Reservation.

CHP: What is the Heal the Earth Event?

Carolyn: It’s all about sustainability through Native American traditions. We want everyone to come, not just Native Americans. We have a keynote speaker, Chris Peters, and he’s going to come do a presentation about his work with the Seventh Generation Fund — he’s the CEO. We’re going have workshops from an organization, Sustainable Works, [and] two representatives plan to hold workshop sessions. They’re going to teach everyone how to make zero-waste lunch and biodegradable cleaning products. After that, we plan on having a discussion panel so the students can talk about sustainability.

CHP: What is it like to look at sustainability through an indigenous lens?

Carolyn: I think one of our ideas at the beginning was that we wanted to show that we, Native Americans, are here on campus. And originally we lived sustainably, that’s how our culture was. Of course as time went on, we kind of lost that. So even us, the members of the green team, we’re just trying to find our culture. It’s something we’re learning about: Native Americans and how they keep sustainablity, and we’re taking that and putting it to today’s perspective.

CHP: What do you hope students take out of this event?

Michelle: I just want people to be more environmentally aware. We’re trying to revive traditional values within the indigenous communities.

CHP: What is the most important thing about sustainability?

Carolyn: I think that the most important thing is water and and zero waste, specifically water contamination and pollution.

Michelle: Especially within reservations, because a lot of indigenous people fish and they can’t the eat the fish [they catch] because it’s contaminated. That affects a lot of indigenous communities.

CHP: What does it mean to be indigenous today?

Michelle: I feel like I still need to discover who I am and what comes with my background, like traditions. Being Native American and being on campus, where I’m just crowded with different people of different ethnicities and backgrounds, you kind of feel like you’re this little voice. Especially with the small indigenous community on campus compared to the other [communities].

Carolyn: I know our community is small, but because I feel like I am who I am, my voice, a Native American voice, an indigenous voice, should be heard just because I’m like everyone else. And just like anyone we shouldn’t be ignored or hushed, especially about our whole history. We’re still here, we still have a voice and we should be heard.

Illustration by Louise Leong

This past week, City on a Hill Press held an interview with DT Amajoyi, commissioner of diversity for the Student Union Assembly (SUA) and College Nine third-year psychology and literature major.  

CHP: What exactly is the Student Union Assembly and what does it do for the students at UC Santa Cruz?

Amajoyi: The Student Union Assembly (SUA) is an organization that advocates for students on campus about issues that affect the students in the UCSC community, such as the budget, fee increases and student affairs. SUA deals with both external and internal issues, including diversity, which falls under my purview.

CHP: How long have you been involved with SUA?

Amajoyi: This is my first year as an officer, but I have been involved in SUA since my freshman year. During my freshman year, I interned under the internal vice chair. My second year, I was a volunteer helping with voter registration and outreach to the students. I was also the African/Black Student Alliance representative.

CHP: What is your position in SUA and what does this position entail?

Amajoyi: As the commissioner of diversity, most of my work falls with identity-based organizations and resource centers, such as the Ethnic Resource Centers, EOP and the Women’s Center.

CHP: Why did you choose to run for this position?

Amajoyi: My inspiration came from my work as a coordinator for Student Initiated Outreach, which provides outreach to students with different identities from disadvantaged communities.  I was on the board of directors for Destination Higher Education (DHE), which worked with students with African, Black, African-American and Caribbean identities. A Step Forward (ASF) worked with Asian and Pacific Islander identities and Oportunidades Rumbo A La Educacion (ORALE) worked with students with Latino identities. Some social stigmas from these communities may discourage the students to aspire for higher education. Through that program we show the students what higher education could be like. That was beautiful to me. I cannot speak for the other organizations, but during this weekend-long event, DHE doubled the student Intent to Register rate. I began to think this doesn’t just have to be a weekend-long thing. How cool would it be if this was a year-long thing?

Students gather in the Quarry Plaza on the evening of Sept. 21 for a vigil in honor of executed inmate Troy Davis. Davis was convicted of murdering an off-duty police officer in 1989, and sentenced to death two years later. Photo by Morgan Grana.

Despite the evening cold and fog, students gathered in Quarry Plaza last Wednesday to remember Troy Davis, pending his execution. Tealights were arranged to spell out “justice” on the pavement, the low light bouncing off a mix of curious and somber faces.

Davis, a Georgia death row inmate, was executed that evening amid public outcry. The NAACP, Amnesty International USA and prominent public figures rallied around Davis.

Davis was convicted of murdering an off-duty police officer in Savannah, Ga. in 1989, and in August of 1991, he was sentenced to death. Doubts surrounding Davis’ guilt were raised, and in June of 2010, several eyewitnesses recanted their testimonies. His appeal to the Supreme Court was rejected in early 2011.

Led by SUA commissioner of diversity and UC Santa Cruz third-year DT Amajoyi and fourth-year Crown student Iman Barre, about 35 students discussed the implications of Davis’ execution, institutionalized racism and the role education can play in addressing injustice.

“[It’s important] that you’re all cognizant about what’s going on in the world,” Amajoyi told the crowd. “It’s very important to be tuned in … because these things affect you.”

Amajoyi stressed throughout the evening that Davis’ case is “not an isolated incident” and noted the now infamous Oscar Grant case as an example of continued injustice and race politics.

“This can’t be something we just keep in our community. It’s a huge opportunity not just to educate student-of-color communities, but allies as well,” she said. “It’s an issue of raising consciousness. It’s happening all the way in Georgia, but it’s important we know.”

Sharing their personal experiences in the workplace, their hometowns and within the context of the UC, students expressed concern over climate and diversity issues that currently plague UCSC.

“I’ve learned more in college discussing topics such as these with my fellow students than in the classroom,” Barre said. “Especially last year, there were a lot of incidents of racial tension on campus — around Cinco de Mayo, around Black History Month — there is a lot of racial tension on this campus I think is covered up by the administration.”

Conversations spiraled out from firsthand accounts of racism, to the push for critical race and ethnic studies at UCSC, to national legislation that may remove polling places from college campuses. The resounding message was the need for young adults to make their voices heard.

“It didn’t seem like anyone was talking about [the Davis case],” said fourth-year Dominic Calhoun, who attended the vigil. “Injustice is unacceptable and intolerable.”

One student quoted Cornell West: “Are we so well-adjusted to injustice?”

The vigil was the beginning of a much larger dialogue that has been rumbling on the campus for some time. Barre said she hopes students who attended the vigil say to themselves afterward, “This is my campus — what can I do to impact it?”

“Realize that issues are not tied directly only to one race or one community, but that it’s a human problem,” Barre said. “It’s a human issue and we should all rally against issues such as these.”

Shortly after the vigil ended, Davis was executed in Georgia at about 11 p.m.

Courtesy of Jake Brenner.

In this past week, City on a Hill Press held an email interview with Jake Brenner, a graduate of California Polytechnic State University and founder of HouseBiscuits.com, a website resource for students at UCSC and across the country who are in search of reviews for houses in their college towns.

City on a Hill Press: How did you get involved with designing this website?

Brenner: The idea for the site came to me during my junior year of college. I lived in a house with four other people that was right across the street from the campus. The house itself was … literally falling apart as we lived in it. Only one of us had ever met the landlord, and he wouldn’t talk to anyone else besides that one person. So if something broke in the house we had to get that roommate to call the landlord, who rarely answered his phone. Long story short, it was a year in a broken house with no sign of change. So I thought, “What if we had a way of talking to the previous tenants or reading a review of the house? Then we would have known how shady this guy actually was before we signed the year-long lease.” So the second I graduated, I began working on getting the site together, and here we are.

CHP: Why do you think the site is important?

Brenner: Any college student [who] rents a house or lives in the dorms understands the pain of paying way too much rent for the standard of living they get. As student renters we are stuck in a horrible position. If you don’t rent this house then someone else will, guaranteed. The landlords know there will always be a demand for the house or apartment since it’s next to a school, [and] they take advantage of this way too much. We are here to change that by allowing renters to speak their mind and for once provide feedback about their experience.

CHP: What were the challenges of getting the site up and running?

Brenner: The biggest challenge hands down is getting the word out there about the site. It’s a great resource for any renter, but especially students, since you can rate your dorm as well. I am starting the site without any large amounts of money backing me so I don’t have the funds for a huge ad campaign. Right now, the site has just been word of mouth over Facebook (www.facebook.com/housebiscuits) and Twitter (@housebiscuits). I hope to get the word out there to help students share their experience and educate future renters before they sign a lease.

CHP: How do you feel about the site’s success?

Brenner: So far I am pretty happy with its success, but I know that there is so much more to be had. Currently, we have just over 550 dorms/apartments/houses listed at over 750 schools across the country. However, it’s up to the students to get out there and share their experience about these places and add ones. I know it sounds tacky to say, but it really is all about the users. Without them, there literally is no site.

CHP: Do you hope to influence student lives outside of this website?

Brenner: Of course. I want them to have a better college housing experience. [If] you pay rent, then you deserve the same rental experience as the family next door. Sadly, this isn’t the reality, though. By connecting potential renters with ones who already lived there, we can change this and create awareness. Many times landlords request letters of recommendation or rental history from a prospective renter — why can’t we ask the same of them?

CHP: So how did you get involved with SOAR? What’s it like?

Fujioka: I got involved in the work of student organizations first at UCSC and then at San Francisco State University. Being active in student organizations changed my life and gave me the motivation and ability to excel academically. I feel very fortunate to work with new generations of students as they engage in the opportunities offered by student organizations.

CHP: How has the year been for those organizations and SOAR?

Fujioka: SOAR supports the projects of organizations that produce over 200 campus-wide events each year, an average of 6,800 free publications each week and countless radio and television productions. Student groups and leaders had many successes this year, including the hosting of Dr. Cornel West, raising over $20,000 for cancer research and KZSC being named one of the top college radio stations in the country.

CHP: What was it like bringing Cornel West to UCSC?

Photo Courtesy of Sayo Fujioka

Fujioka: It was so inspiring to have Dr. West speak at UCSC — such an honor. The SUA and e2 [Engaging Education]students who organized the event worked hard to give the student body the experience of hearing Dr. West in person. He is indeed an icon, yet he was down-to-earth and connected with students by speaking to their experiences. I hope there will be more programs like this.

CHP: So, you’re essentially the head of a lot of student organizations and groups that all work extremely hard. Does it ever get stressful?

Fujioka: It is stressful, with the budget crisis looming over all of

us. But I love my job. UCSC student organizations are inspiring. Their leaders and members work hard to make a difference, whether through producing events, lobbying in Sacramento, or producing journals, newspapers or shows. These students gain and share an incredible spirit of generosity and love of learning. Working with them and seeing them continue on as alumni gives me hope for the future.

CHP: Where do you see the future of SOAR going?  Is there a lot of cooperation among the various student organizations, from what you’ve seen?

Fujioka: This is a very exciting time. UCSC’s student organizations are growing organizationally and developing more and more sophisticated programs — they are becoming crucibles of learning where students learn to work in teams, to listen to new perspectives, to collaborate effectively and be more self-directed and successful. And, yes, there is more cooperation between groups, which only adds to the breadth of experience available to those involved.

CHP: And do you have any advice for graduating students who aren’t quite sure where to go next?

Fujioka: Uncertainty can be uncomfortable, but give yourself time to explore. Talk with your faculty, staff, family and community mentors. Try things out and find what truly motivates you.

Students gathered at the 2011 Multicultural Festival on Saturday, May 21. The festival featured performances from groups throughout campus.

At any given moment last Saturday, Oakes Lower Lawn was packed. Sixteen fraternities and campus organizations were serving up lunch to attendees from 12 to 6 p.m., and nine different dance troupes performed on stage. Members of the campus community all came together to celebrate diversity within UC Santa Cruz.

This year’s Multicultural Festival, “Rhymes, Rhythms and Roots: Solidarity Through Action,” was the 32nd annual event, and according the UCSC Campus Events Calendar, 1500 were estimated to attend.

Event organizer Diana Gamez, a first-year psychology and Latin American and Latino studies major, said she was happy with the way the event turned out.

“We had a very good turnout this year,” she said. “I had no idea what to expect. It was definitely a learning experience.”

Coordinated by Student Organization Advising and Resources, the festival sought to bring together and promote awareness among all different races, ethnicities and cultures through the best ways possible: food, music and dance.

Members of one of the largest student ethnic organizations on campus, the Indian Student Organization (ISO), danced in Bollywood, East Indian hip-hop and Bhangrā styles.

Harbir Mahal, a second-year proposed sociology and global economics major and ISO member, danced Bhangrā, a traditional folk dance from Punjab, India.

Mahal said that dancing in the style of Bhangrā helps her hold on to her culture.

“It helps me with connecting to my roots,” she said. “It keeps my culture going. When I hear the music, I can’t help but move.”

Students walked across the field, some tasting and trying out different dishes while others sat in front of the trussed-up stage and watched the myriad of dances presented throughout the day.

Third-year sociology major Nancy Chai said the audience this year was much more pumped to be there.

“All the food to share and experiences to learn about,” she said, “I like them all. It’s sad that its only a one day cultural experience when it should be year ‘round.”

Some members of the Chinese Student Association (CSA) danced hip-hop under the group name “No Access Allowed.” Performer and third-year psychology major Kelvin Chu explained they were so named because with all the dance groups, it was often hard to find a place to practice.

“We practice anywhere we can,” he said. “It’s fun and it’s a good way to relieve stress. Whenever you’re on stage, all your problems just melt away.”

Anyone can participate in their group, he said.

“It’s mainly Chinese students, but it’s open for anyone,” he said. “We just want to promote Chinese culture around campus.”

Los Mejicas performed Mexican folk dance, with the female performers dressed in traditional nayarit costas, large flowing multi-colored dresses. Members of Sabrosura danced to salsa, bachata, merengue and modern American rap and pop, and those in traditional Chinese dance wore cheongsams, one-piece dresses that fused Chinese styles and modern influences.

The event ended with a performance by Carne Cruda, a post-Latin rock and reggae band featuring Damdara, a singer touring from Brazil. By the end of the concert, the crowd of students had made a conga line, danced on stage and raucously sang about bananas.