Illustration by Christine Hipp.

UC Santa Cruz fourth-year Wesley Goto has more on his mind than senioritis. The Porter community assistant (CA) has been hard at work designing the Asian-American cultural festival, a “dream project” for the graduating student.

The festival, which will take place in the Porter breezeway from 1–5 p.m. on April 14, will showcase a broader definition of Asian culture with the aim of dispelling stereotypes.

“The Asian Cultural Festival is a big celebration of Asian culture,” Goto said. “I’m not talking about the stereotypical Chinese, Korean, Japanese. We’re trying to pull in a little bit of everything. This is a celebration of true culture — not just [a] play on stereotypes.”

The event will consist of many booths where patrons can learn about many Asian cultures in a fun and interactive way. At Goto’s booth, for instance, he and his team will teach the history and mythology behind the nearly 400 year-old art of origami.

“The festival will host different booths at which students will make crafts while learning about Asian culture,” Goto said. “Each station will be fun, but will also carry with it a historical lesson or something to take away.”

Goto said he hopes the event has a lasting effect on the student body.

“Stereotypes don’t reveal the true fundamentals of culture,” Goto said. “The biggest thing I see with the stereotyping of individuals is that you don’t really know what’s really there,  the core fundamentals of the culture.”

Goto said education should not be  restricted to classrooms and hopes that the event’s outdoor location will draw a diverse crowd of passersby.

“Living on campus … your education is primarily in the classroom,” Goto said. “Our job is to educate beyond the classroom, in a non-traditional way.”

Fellow Porter CA Halan Guedi has invited local artists to showcase their Asian culture-inspired work in art installations, which will be located in the I-Lounge at Porter College.

Porter CA and assistant planner Victoria Anderson said the event will be a “big festival”.

“It’s a celebration of history, tradition, culture,” Anderson said. “We’re here to educate, [but also to] just have fun!”

How will the group measure the success of the event?

“Success means that they are walking away with something that they didn’t know before and they learned it in a fun way,” Goto said. “The biggest thing that I am trying to push is appreciation for things that you don’t necessarily identify with.”

After two quarters of brainstorming, negotiating and planning, the completely student-run SAM is hosting its first major event. Porter Day of the Arts will occur this Saturday. The event aims to encompass a wide range of creative activities.

“It’s not just, ‘Oh, look what we do at the art department,’” said second-year Porter art student and SAM coordinator Juliet Deamicis. “It’s, ‘Join us — let’s make something together.’”

The six-hour event will include everything from jewelry and paper-making to painting and dance.

“We wanted there to be an array of different mediums to challenge what art is,” Deamicis said. “It’s not just painting. It’s all these other things.”

Getting SAM to focus on one project hasn’t been easy, Deamicis said. With support from the faculty and other student artists, she worked to resurrect the group, which has changed its focus over the years.

One of SAM’s biggest goals, Deamicis said, is to inspire people who may not think of themselves as artists.

“We want people who are creative,” Deamicis said. “Wake up to how creative your own brain is.”

Self-described “event fairy” and third-year Porter art student Heidi Cramer said she hopes her Porter Day of the Arts workshops will stimulate hands-on community interaction.

Cramer will run an art-critiquing booth, where “everyone can come in and be the art snobs,” she said.

Allowing anyone to be the artist and the critic is a way to include a wider spectrum of participation.

“It allows for a space in which art is critiqued outside of a classroom,” Cramer said.

Fellow SAM artist and sixth-year art major Dmitri Zurita said he wants his performance to encourage innovative thought. The act of washing his “muscle car” in the middle of Porter Quad can represent anything to anyone, he said.

“By taking it outside of its context and placing it as art, it forces the viewer to … deduce meaning from it,” Zurita said.

Second-year Porter art student Josh Katz will lead juggling workshops on Saturday. He said he wants participants to connect with what he sees as the joy of art.

“We thought the whole event would be more fun if you saw kids playing with toys,” Katz said.

To its members, SAM is not only a forum for inspiration — it is also emblematic of a shift in the art world.

“It’s no longer about painters getting their framed work in a big fancy museum,” SAM organizer Deamicis said. “It’s, ‘OK, how do we make a framework for a community to get together and think creatively?’”

SAM faculty advisor and UCSC art professor Elliot Anderson said there has been a shift to looking for inspiration in other fields.

“You can go to biology and get ideas from biology, or you can go to literature or poetry — go to all these different places and build ideas,” Anderson said.

Aside from fostering artistic expression, Anderson said SAM also builds organizational skills that are necessary for survival in today’s economy.

“Students need a lot of support for their own work and they need a lot of support to deal with the challenges of trying to get educated right now,” Anderson said.

Grant writing has been one way for students to work around the monetary situation and secure funds.

Thanks to group member Josh Katz, Deamicis said SAM is financially autonomous. Before Katz secured the Porter Creative Grant, members were committed to the group but lacked real direction.

“I was doing it wrong,” Deamicis said. “You need to get the money and have a reason why people can contribute.”

Porter Day of the Arts is the first step in what Anderson hopes will be a continuation of SAM’s ability to inspire Santa Cruz locals and UCSC students.

“It can create some sort of energy, put it up on the map,” Anderson said. “It shows that it’s an exciting art department to be in and here’s the kind of art we’re doing.”

Porter Day of the Arts is May 12 from 12–6 p.m. in the Porter Quad.

Workshops will include paper-making and sewing/fabric painting, juggling, dance workshops, guided yoga, guided meditation, found object art workshop, jewelry workshop, origami, free-hand portraits, cathartic art workshop, critique booth, pet rock consolation prizes and a performance art piece.

Live music featuring Algo and the Rhythms, Siren Solstice, Super Chic and Time Machine Modulus will play from 3–6 p.m.

Admission is free.

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.

The 2011 Irwin Scholarship exhibition features artwork from 13 art students who received the award. Ranging from video installations to paintings housed in a makeshift alien spaceship, the exhibition can be viewed at the Sesnon Gallery at Porter College until June 11. Photos by Nick Paris.

For Luis Flores, art is more than just pretty pictures.

“Art has become my voice and I don’t plan on ever silencing myself,” said Flores in an email to City on a Hill Press.

Flores is one of 13 students recognized with the 2011 Irwin Scholarship for their artistic excellence.

Each student awarded the William Hyde and Susan Benteen Irwin Scholarship receives a $2,500 prize. The scholarship has been awarded to exceptional artists to represent UCSC’s art department since 1986. This year’s recipients’ work draws from numerous media, including painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture, installation and digital media.

“What really is special about working with these [students] is when they show me something or give me a perspective that enlightens me to a way of seeing that I never would have experienced on my own,” said Elliot Anderson, faculty advisor and associate professor of electronic media. “These are engaged, creative and intelligent students who have something to tell all of us.”

UCSC art student Luis Flores accepts the Irwin Scholarship at Porter College.

Flores said the scholarship spurred him to reexamine his work.

“When I first found out I had gotten the scholarship, I was ecstatic and, more so, appreciative. It wasn’t until I started getting my work together for the exhibition that I started feeling a bit self-conscious,” Flores said. “But after talking with the people closest to me, I realized that I needed to produce work that was important to me and that I felt strongly about.”

Luke Wilson, who focuses on sculpture, was also recognized for the award.

“Winning the Irwin was moving, exciting and motivating, but most of all I interpreted it as an obligation to step up the scale and intensity of my work,” Wilson said. “I feel supported and validated by the faculty and administration, and there is a new pride behind everything I’ve been doing for the show.”

Each artist drew connections to the world around them and created their work in context to their environment. Flores’ focus is photography, and his artwork touches on issues surrounding immigration, fear and most recently, concealment.

“Getting the opportunity to show my work in this exhibition has made me really consider how my work and art in general affects our society,” Flores said. “I have had to deeply question what it is that I want my work to say about myself and about our society.”

Each artist drew inspiration from somewhere different, from both internal and external factors.

“What inspires me the most is my inability to explain myself verbally, at least not well. I have a lot to say and when I can’t say it, I make it,” Flores said. “If an image doesn’t evoke an emotion, I start over.”

For Wilson, excitement over the honor boiled down to a simple love for creating and experiencing art.

“I love making art because there are people who love to look at it,” he said, “and I am one of those people too.”

Photo by Emiliano O’Flaherty-Vazquez.

Photo by Emiliano O’Flaherty-Vazquez.

Last September, three individuals were arrested while participating in a dance protest on campus. A settlement was reached at the end of April, and all three of the arrestees avoided jail time. The dance party, consisting of approximately 125 people, occurred at around 9:30 p.m. in the Porter Quad. It was one in a series of dance protests that were held in response to fee increases and budget hikes.

The three individuals arrested were Emma Curtis, Kaci Cole and Eric Cuffney, none of whom were UC students. Cuffney and Curtis were in and out of court over 10 times over the last six months, and Cuffney was given a monetary punishment and probation.

“What it really comes down to is money,” Cuffney said. “I had to pay $560, and I’m on probation for two years.”

Cuffney was arrested and charged with carrying a weapon, a blunt shaving razor. This charge was later dropped. He was also charged with assaulting an officer and resisting arrest. Cuffney said he was not given any warning before he was grabbed.

“I was just standing there, and all of a sudden somebody’s grabbing me and trying to throw me to the ground. They didn’t identify themselves. It could have been anybody,” Cuffney said. During this exchange, Cuffney was temporarily knocked unconscious. “I woke up with her [the officer] binding my arms behind my back. At that point, yes, I did realize it was a cop.”

Curtis was charged with “lynching” — trying to free someone who’s been arrested — and resisting arrest.

“I got down on my knees, asking him if he was okay,” Curtis said. “I tried to pull his shoulders up from the ground, and then they arrested me.”

Anthony Robinson, Cuffney’s attorney, said the trial worked out as well as could be expected for Cuffney, and emphasized the importance of witnesses to Cuffney’s case.

“There were a number of student witnesses who had seen the event and recounted it in a very different way than the police had,” Robinson said. “Once the DA reviewed their statements, they realized they weren’t going to be able to prove resisting arrest. The problem with the resisting-an-officer charge was that you’d really need to know they were officers.”

Queer Fashion Show, hosted at Porter/Kresge Dining Hall, will feature several fashion lines and performances created by students. Photos by Molly Solomon.

One of UC Santa Cruz’s premier events has returned for another year. The Queer Fashion Show will be presenting “The Media in Rainbow Vision” at Porter College this Friday and Saturday. Not only does the event promise to be some of the most ambitious student theater on campus, but the sexy charity show will also donate all proceeds to the Walnut Avenue Women’s Center, Planned Parenthood and the Diversity Center.

Fourth-years Zackary Forcum of Oakes College and Jasmine Fernandez of Porter College will be directing this year’s Queer Fashion Show. The two former dancers have each been involved in the show’s last three performances, and share a passion for the causes advanced by the queer community.

“I love that there’s a night to celebrate queerness in performance,” Forcum said. “[During] my freshman year I saw the show, and it looked like so much fun. I immediately wanted to get involved.”

Queer Fashion Show has long been a part of UCSC culture. Forcum discussed some of the history behind the event.

“No one knows for sure when it began,” Forcum said. “The Queer Fashion Show started with queer individuals emptying out their closets and parading around the Porter quad.”

The UCSC university library documentary project “Out in the Redwoods” puts the origin of the show in the late 1980s, when it was known as the Alternative Fashion Show.

Since then, the show has become a mainstay at UCSC, and is emblematic of the school’s identity as a queer-friendly campus.

“We’ve come a long way in the last few years for queer representation,” Forcum said. “UCSC is one of the most openly queer schools in the U.S.”

The show has since grown from its humble beginnings. This year, in addition to the usual festivities, there will be a gallery showing before the performance. The show’s directors provided a few other glimpses of what to expect.

“You’re going to see four different fashion lines, each student-designed and all of them very different,” Forcum said. “We will be having spoken word, dance and comedic skits, all performed by a cast of more than 60 people, and it will be very, very sexy at times.”

The show’s reputation for being provocative is aided by the work of its designers. College Ten fourth-year and student designer Juliana Findlay discussed the inspiration for her fashion collection.

“My line focuses on a stripped-down version of the tuxedo,” Findlay said. “I took it apart, made it sexier, and did it in the vein of Michael Jackson’s ‘Bad’ and ‘Smooth Criminal’ music videos.”

The entire production is student-run, from the creation of advertising campaigns to the choreographing of dance routines, and students participate on a volunteer basis.

“Our actors don’t get material things or any sort of monetary value from the Queer Fashion Show,” Forcum said. “They only get a great experience. When you think about how busy life has gotten, it’s really beautiful that people commit so much time to put on a show for charity. The students get involved in this event because they care and because they love it.”

But supporting charity isn’t the only goal the Queer Fashion Show plans to accomplish. The directors also hope to help advance the queer community.

“The show is ‘Media in Rainbow Vision,’ and we’re basing it on the media’s portrayal of the queer community,” Fernandez said. “We want to break their perceptions. Instead of putting people in little boxes, we want to celebrate queerness and diversity. This is an opportunity to learn more about the queer community here at Santa Cruz and the student body as a whole. Hopefully we’ll open some minds.”

Curator Shelby Graham watches as gallery manager Leah Hanson prepares to arrange a Picasso illustration on mat board. Volunteer Carly McGaugh said, “I never really thought about how things are packaged and transported.” The careful creation of an exhibit is itself a learning experience for students. Photo by Prescott Watson.

Four decades, endless boundaries of creative expression. The Sesnon Gallery at UC Santa Cruz celebrates its 40th anniversary this month with an art exhibition, Time Lapse. To commemorate the event, the gallery will exhibit its vast collection of art pieces to the students of UCSC. The show began April 5 and runs through May 7, showcasing a range of artists from Ansel Adams to Jack Zajac. Decades of art are celebrated as the gallery takes its viewers through years of its selection.

The operation of Porter College’s Sesnon Gallery is a joint effort between volunteer students and Shelby Graham, the curator and director of the gallery. Because it is an anniversary show, the selection for this exhibition is compiled from a list of artists who are familiar to the gallery, and the pieces are never-before-seen.

Graham spoke about the careful selection and curation process.

“I like it when artworks have a dialogue with each work, and it’s because they are curated together. Together they tell a story,” she said. “Anytime you curate a show, it’s a new composition. Works have a dialogue with each other when they’re in a gallery. And that’s the beauty of a curated exhibition.”

Designed in chronological order, the pieces range from the 1970s curated works of the gallery’s first director, Philip Brookman, to the present. With the rapid advancement of technology in the past four decades, the Sesnon has evolved as well.

“The biggest changes have been theoretical, with the spark of postmodern thinking blowing apart the tenets of modernism that we were taught to embrace in the early 1970s,” Brookman said in an email. “And the shifting importance of the photographic, technological image — along with the exponential growth of digital media — has introduced entirely new definitions of art.”

While art majors are more familiar with the Sesnon Gallery and its exhibitions than other students are, Graham emphasized that the gallery invites students of all majors to stop and reflect for a minute.

“A goal of any art gallery or museum is to interrupt your day and remind you to either reflect, take a break, analyze or shift your thinking, because art can do that for you,” Graham said. “It might make you appreciate something, to understand something to a different level, or just reflect on who you are.”

The gallery challenges definitions and meanings of art as it displays a range of pieces, from conceptual work all the way to paintings done by elephants.

“We can learn from history. Just because there’s new technology out there doesn’t mean it’s the end of the road,” Graham said. “Art can really push your boundaries and make you figure out what your stereotypes are, or your judgment when you define ‘What is art?’”

Like many campus resources, the gallery has not been immune to UC budget cuts. Losing internship and work-study programs posed a challenge in curating the event.

“Budget cuts happened, and then I made it as best as I could,” Graham said. “So that’s where I felt like I could have done a lot more, but I did the perfect amount considering the space and time and budget that we had.”

While the curation of the gallery now depends on student volunteers due to budget cuts, Graham has used the situation as a learning experience for students interested in curation.

“I never really thought about how things are packaged and transported. There’s a lot of bubble wrap, lots of tape,” said fourth-year volunteer Carly McGaugh. “I think [the gallery] helps students to be more aware of art.”

Brookman stressed the importance of the Sesnon Gallery in the Santa Cruz community.

“It’s so connected to the fabric of the university, and the Sesnon Gallery is one of the only places in Santa Cruz that students can have a firsthand experience with exceptional works of art,” said Brookman, who is not only the first director of the gallery but also a UCSC alumnus. “That’s so important in learning about how to experience art and art history.”

The exhibit will be on display until Saturday, May 7. Directions to Sesnon Gallery are posted on UCSC’s online campus map.

Illustration by Rachel Edelstein.

The Porter College Fall Brawl is a video game tournament being held at the Porter Dining Hall on Saturday Nov. 20. All the proceeds will go to Child’s Play, a charity that donates DVDs, video games and toys to hospitalized children during the holidays.

For just $5, participants can end up spending up to 12 hours playing either Super Smash Bros: Brawl or Super Street Fighter IV. The organizers of this event have found a way to make donating time and money easy, rewarding and fun.

This is a superbly innovative and positive way to give back to the community.

The “gamer” community has various negative stereotypes, such as being antisocial or lacking a sense of reality — but these thoughts are untrue and this event proves it. It’s bringing together a gaming community that realizes that there’s more to the world than high scores and bonus levels. Video games have always been considered communal. Their origins are firmly entrenched in the arcades of yesteryear, and, though it was once seen as a only hobby for children and men, it is now becoming fully realized that everyone plays video games.

Video games are one of the fastest rising of art and entertainment mediums, rivaled closely by comic books. It’s smart and modern to take this pastime and find ways to utilize its entertainment factor to contribute to a good cause.

Maybe you have no interest in playing video games, or maybe you have homework, like the majority of the student body. That’s understandable. But if you’re interested in the cause, you can donate on the Fall Brawl website: www.portervgf.org/fallbrawl.

Follow the links, go to the event and feel good about yourself.

Shelby Graham, the woman behind “Human Conditions,” discusses the art pieces with interested visitors. The exhibit combines different techniques and media, ranging from massive prints to a photograph wrapped around a coffee can. Photo by Nick Paris.

A combination of prints, pictures and paintings from the private collection of UC Santa Cruz’s Dean of Arts David Yager awaits art enthusiasts at the Mary Porter Sesnon Art Gallery. The gallery’s current show, entitled “Human Conditions,” features a variety of artists — among them Ansel Adams, Diane Arbus and Robert Mapplethorpe — and showcases different portrayals of human experiences.

Among the works on display are humorous Reagan-era references, eye-catching experimental pieces and a portrait drawn entirely with an artist’s thumbprints. Each work of art is also accompanied by a summary written by a member of the UCSC art department.

Yager accumulated his vast collection of artwork during his time working at the University of South Florida and at the University of Maryland.

Angelica Alamo, a Sesnon Gallery employee, said that the exhibit has received plenty of supportive feedback.

“A lot of people have had a positive response to the show,” Alamo said. “There are a wide variety of themes present in all of the pieces. My favorites are the photographs by Diane Arbus.”

Fourth-year art major Amanda Nazzal described the show as random.

“But that’s what the human condition is,” she said. “It’s random.”

Gallery curator Shelby Graham spoke enthusiastically about Yager’s accumulation of such a vast and diverse collection of artwork.

“This is really an incredible collection,” she said, pointing out images in which cadavers were used as models, and a pop-up book done entirely in silhouettes.

Graham discussed the wide selection of mixed media pieces represented in the art show, including etchings, photographs and lithographs.

“This is an opportunity for people to see a variety of examples of mixed media, and this collection is truly impressive,” Graham said.

The Sesnon Gallery also hosts panel discussions to encourage community involvement in events and to draw attention to the importance of the arts in the UCSC community. One discussion was held on Oct. 19 on the topic of art collecting. The next will focus on master print-makers and will be held Nov. 10.

The discussion panels facilitate knowledge of the arts, and the gallery employees hope to shed light on the printmaking process and what it entails.

“An exciting aspect of this exhibition involves the artistic process of image making and collaborations with limited edition prints,” Graham said.

Taking into account the overall positive response of gallery visitors, Sesnon employee Alamo said that “Human Conditions” may have set a new campus standard.

“People have commented on how this is one of the best exhibits they’ve seen at UCSC,” she said.

Human Conditions will be on display at the Sesnon Gallery through Nov. 20.

Porter College has changed considerably due to the addition of 479 transfer students. Photo by Molly Solomon.

After years of debating the idea, administrators finally decided to house transfer students in one location.

Transfer students expressed enthusiasm about residing in a community with fellow students new to UCSC.

“[As a transfer] you’re around the same maturity level … you all went through the same things so you’re already in the same wavelength,” said Cheska Bacaltos, third-year Porter transfer.

A common remark among transfers was that instead of coming to UC Santa Cruz undecided about a major, they are already thinking ahead to graduate school and career options as they seek an academic network.

Out of the total 1,369 transfer students admitted to UCSC this fall, 42 percent live in university-sponsored housing, which includes Porter College, University Inn and University Town Center. Porter A houses 393 transfer students, and 86 live in Porter B.

“We had such a strong response for people wanting to be at Porter College,” said Michael Yamauchi-Gleason, college administrative officer (CAO) for Kresge and Porter colleges. “We actually have some transfer students at the other colleges too because we just couldn’t fit them in.”

Transfer students have been designated to live at Porter as opposed to their college of affiliation, as was done in previous years.

“It’s hard to say that [transfers] are actually affiliated with their home college [when] they just go to their advising,” said Alexis Grove, second-year Oakes student and Porter community assistant (CA).

Transfer students get much of their advising from their department because by the time they transfer they are already established in their major and well on their way to graduate, Yamauchi-Gleason said.

This year’s transfers are required to live in the dorms for at least one quarter. After that, upon request and depending on space availability, they may move to any other university-sponsored housing.

“It’s kind of weird,” said fourth-year Michael Giglio, Porter CA and Kresge student living in the dorms for the first time. “It’s like they really want them to have the dorm experience. However, I feel that it makes the transfer community an actual community for once. [It] gives them more of an identity.”

For some transfers, community building outweighs resource access. Their own peers have become their strongest resource while sharing new experiences.

“We have singing shower parties listening to Pandora Radio,” said third-year Bianca Bracamonte, Merrill transfer.

In the larger perspective, “it brings a more age-friendliness … in showing that since we have a transfer community, on-campus living isn’t all just about freshmen, 18 years old, fresh out of high school,” said third-year Porter CA Marc Atkinson.

The transfer community helps ease students’ transition to UCSC.

“They have made it so easy for us to see the opportunities available,” Bracamonte said.

In effect, the Services for Transfer and Re-entry Students has become more accessible. STARS now has a lounge area at Porter opened Monday through Friday from 3 to 5 p.m. and also offers workshops at Porter. Another resource is the College Academic Support Team (CAST) located at Kerr Hall. Yamauchi-Gleason said that administration will work with services by “doing ongoing surveys and focus groups.”

Structurally, everything is geared for transfer students to make the most out of their education at UCSC.

Captain Spanky-pants directs a confused traveler during a QFS skit. Photo by Nita-Rose Evans.

Photo by Nita-Rose Evans.

Photo by Nita-Rose Evans.

The closest thing to a UCSC fashion week is here and as fabulous as ever. The Queer Fashion Show (QFS) is hitting the runway.

Opening on April 30, QFS has been around since the 80’s. Fused with singing, dancing, and spoken word performances, this year’s theme plays with the idea of fairy tales, as suggested in the show’s title, “Once Upon a Queer.”

“There are actually more fashion designers this year than ever before,” said fourth-year Porter student Julie Roth, who is both designing a line based on the play “Medea,” and modeling in a friend’s performance.

The art department does not currently offer fashion design classes, and the only garment construction training is through theater costuming. Designers Emma Trollman and Amy Bobeda gained their sewing experience working with Shakespeare Santa Cruz. The two co-designed a line based on the fantasy of the circus.

“It’s really bright and exciting and ridiculous,” Trollman said. “It’s about how people with really weird abnormalities who had no way of supporting themselves … could still have a job through the circus. Even though they had weird lifestyles and were not accepted by most people, in the circus they were kind of celebrities.”

A bearded lady, conjoined twins, a strong man, and other circus performers will don this wild and colorful line on the runway.

In an effort to get away from mainstream love stories about princesses and fairies, literature major Olivia Warner chose to portray the darker side of traditional fairytales. She is depicting “The Little Mermaid,” putting together a performance loaded with symbolism and references to the dangerous side of being queer.

“The thing about fairy tales is that they’re really violent,” Warner said. “Like, in Grimm’s fairytales people are burning and bleeding, and those are the textual fairy tales, and that kind of stuff has kind of been edited out of them.”

Warner’s presentation is a fairy tale gone wrong. In the end, a mermaid giving up her voice in order to spread her legs for a prince turns out to be a raw deal.

“The tail that I have her wear is a full-length corset,” Warner said. “She has to be carried around, and onstage she’s cut open and out of it … she’ll be wearing blood-streaked tights, and have blood in her mouth.”

The original creation of the QFS was an attempt to open up the stage to people who have felt unwelcome and have something to say. Breezy Colomb, co-director of the show and a fourth-year from Porter College, describes this year as an attempt to be realistic about diversity, showing people of all colors and sizes.

“People were tired of seeing skinny white girls on stage in fashion shows,” Colomb said.

The final dress rehearsal found the Porter Dining Hall hectic, full of performers and designers scrambling to finish garments and work out sound system glitches. In the corner of the room, second-year literature major Aaron Juni fought to buckle his model into a butter yellow corset, part of his science-fiction inspired line.

“I’m bunching the fabric up on this side,” Irene O’Connell, the model said to Juni, as they wrestled with the vinyl, wrenching the belt together.

“Oh fashion,” Juni said with a sigh, giving up and setting his model free. “Gotta love it.”

~~~~~~

Where to buy QFS Tickets: Quarry Plaza 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Porter Dining hall 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. and 5-7 p.m.

Performance Times:
April 30, 8 p.m., $6
May 1, 8 p.m. $6*

*There is a scheduled protest on May 1, so in the event that QFS may have to be cancelled on the night of May 1, there will be a show on Sunday, May 2, at 3 p.m.

Towering like a concrete jungle, ongoing construction at Porter College’s A-building, which was scheduled to be completed by that start of fall quarter, is instead impeding on the lives of many residents. Photo by Rosario Serna.

Photo by Rosario Serna.

The Porter quad, once grassy and scattered with groups of students socializing and playing music, is now replaced with concrete and chain-link fences. A large plastic sheet veils the unfinished face of the empty A-building, while B-building is immersed in a layer of scaffolding composed of poles and ladders crawling with construction workers. The jarring cacophony of jackhammers and electric saws accompany the noises of the trucks rolling through the quad.

It’s a completely different atmosphere from the relaxed, free-spirited Porter that residents of previous years have known. The estimated $80 million project is intended to upgrade the dorms to withstand earthquakes as well as house more students.

“The buildings were old,” said Michael Yamauchi-Gleason, the Porter College administrative officer (CAO). “There was a need to provide more bed space without creating a new building.”

This has not gone as smoothly as predicted, however.

Over the course of last week’s rainstorms, water leaked into areas where B-building was uncovered. The resulting water damage necessitated the need for carpeting and drywall to be redone. A total of 13 rooms were damaged in the corners of the building and 19 students had to switch to empty rooms on their floor at Porter’s B-building.

For Stephanie Logan, a Porter fourth-year residential advisor living on the sixth floor, this was her second time having to move in one month.

“It’s unsettling to have your stuff in boxes,” Logan said. “It doesn’t really feel like I’m at home. It’s hard because I realize there’s human error and problems arise, but it’s frustrating to be told to wait and wait and wait. I’m pleased with how the building turned out, but at the same time, I don’t know.”

The repairs are estimated to take about two weeks, according to Yamauchi-Gleason. Students displaced by this incident have the option of permanently staying in the room they have been moved to or moving back when the repairs are finished. Logan plans on staying in her new room for the rest of the school year.

Deadlines have also been an issue throughout construction.

In the contract the construction of B-building, which began this past April, was supposed to have been finished by the beginning of fall quarter.

It is now predicted that B-building will be finished the first week of November. However, according to Project Superintendent Bob Colhour, the entire worksite surrounding B-building will not be complete until next summer, including the outdoor stage and landscaping.

Located adjacent to the Porter mailroom, the B-building dorm received an additional floor. However, measurements were miscalculated, which resulted in the sixth floor having to be re-done.

Due to the delay in the construction, residents of the sixth floor were not able to move in to their assigned rooms during the first week of school and were notified only a week in advance that their rooms were not ready. Eighty-six students were relocated to empty rooms on the first floor of the Porter B-building and 38 students to College Eight.

Although it’s now five weeks into the quarter, the B-building still smells of paint and dust and so far lacks proper covering in the corners of each hall to keep drafts from entering the building.

One student who saw residents entering and exiting B- building while passing through the quad, whispered to a friend, “Whoa, people actually live in there? That’s crazy.”

Clark Steward, a first-year Porter student who resides in one of the unfinished dorms, commented on the nature of living in a construction zone.

“I’m being woken up by nail guns at 7 a.m.,” Steward said. “At least they stopped jackhammering on the sixth floor.”

His solution: ear plugs.

“You just get used to it,” Steward said. “I don’t spend much time here, to be honest.”

The A-building dorms, which received two additional floors and are located on the opposite side of the quad across from B-building, are scheduled to be able to house students by fall 2010, though cosmetic updates will likely still be going on by then.

The Porter-Kresge dining hall, Hungry Slug Cafe and the art galleries that make up Building-C are scheduled to open Jan. 23, 2010 and are so far on track. Right now, it gives off the semblance of a barn lacking a floor and an interior, a mere shell of a building with its insides open to the outside elements.

Part of the delay was due to buildings not being fully designed and the unavailability of window shades and other construction materials.

“We are pretty pleased that we could deliver as much as we have,” Yamauchi-Gleason said. “On the whole, we’ve received very few complaints from both students and parents.”

Chelsea Holman, a Porter residential adviser and third-year student, feels like the Porter community has changed due to the construction.

“That’s what Porter was about: the quad,” Holman said.

She notes that community events have been moved to the alley and I-lounge, areas near the Porter apartments.

Generally, amidst all of the complications that the construction has posed, the students inhabiting this concrete jungle seem to have come to terms with the living conditions.

“It’s frustrating, but I like to believe that they did the best they could,” Logan said. “I love Porter. I can’t imagine living anywhere else.”

The full Disclosure exhibit includes a variety of interactive pieces that bridge the arts and sciences and rouse questions in viewers. Photo by Nita Evans.

New exhibit at Mary Porter Sesnon Gallery explores themes of failure and experimentation

Melissa Gwyn was an art professor creating molecular structures using fruits.

Scott Lokey was a chemistry professor.

When the two met, a labor of love commenced between the arts and sciences that would ultimately give way to the most recent exhibit at Porter College’s Sesnon Gallery.

“Full Disclosure,” which opened at the Sesnon Oct. 7, features a collaboration between UC Santa Cruz art professors and science professors. It explores the common themes of failure and experimentation in both disciplines.

“This exhibit shows interesting parallels between the process of an artist and a scientist,” said Lokey, an Assistant Professor of chemistry at UCSC and one of the organizers and curators of the show.

The idea first came about in 2002, when Gwyn — an Assistant Professor of art at UCSC and the co-curator of the exhibit — met Lokey at a new faculty dinner.

“We started to think, ‘wouldn’t it be interesting to combine science and the arts?’ and the idea started to percolate,” Lokey said of the initial concept.

Lokey and Gwyn’s primary motivation was to bring together people from different disciplines and observe what they would create. They contacted artists, chemists, mathematicians, biologists and more.

The artists wrote in-depth proposals for their project ideas. Lokey then reviewed and assessed the proposals. He suggested particular scientists that would be relevant and helpful to each artist’s proposal.

One of the artists participating in the exhibit, art professor Elliot Anderson, proposed a project that looked at landscapes and industrial sights. Lokey put Anderson in contact with Rus Flegal, a professor of environmental toxicology.

“We saw that [Anderson and Flegal] seemed to speak different dialects of the same language,” Lokey said.

After their first meeting, Anderson and Flegal were both eager to see what would eventually come out of the collaboration.

As various other faculty collaborations fell into place, both Lokey and Gwyn began to see a theme emerge: the ideas of failure and experimentation that are ever-present in both disciplines.

“Failure in science — and art—is an unfortunate component necessary for progress, [and] it is unavoidable when experimenting,” Lokey said.

Both Gwyn and Lokey noted that artists and scientists alike must continue in spite of failure, which often leads to an end result that is greater than anyone could have originally anticipated.

“Failure is a starting point, a place of entry, not a final summation,” Gwyn said.

Shelby Graham, the director of the Sesnon Gallery, said that she hopes the exhibit will allow people to see the not-so-subtle connections between the two disciplines and create a conversation surrounding them.

“Artists use the word intention, but sometimes when you don’t get to the first intention, you must be open to what it’s leading to,” Graham said of the pieces in the exhibit. “We want to raise more questions than answers, to spark curiosity and critical thought in the viewer. And we hope the dialogue continues outside of the gallery.”

Photo by Phil Carter.

Photo by Alex Zamora.

Down the hill from the Porter Meadow in the shadow of Empire Grade’s steady traffic, a quintessential UC Santa Cruz landmark lies hidden but not forgotten.

Part of the Cave Gulch system, it is the Empire Cave, more commonly known as the “Porter Caves.”

The Cave Gulch cavern system also includes the “Hell Hole Cave,” part of Wilder Ranch State Park, located just off campus. The exterior walls of these caverns differ only marginally from the surrounding surface level ecosystems except for their graffiti-covered walls and the orphaned beer bottles and abandoned aerosol cans resting on the ground. Inside the caves, however, are animal habitats not found anywhere else in the world.

Spelunker Jay Severson was climbing through Hell Hole one day when he had an encounter with one such unusual animal.

“I remember coming out of the cave, and at one point I looked up and there was this spider not five inches from my face,” Severson said. “It was pretty scary looking and I’m not a big spider guy, so I almost killed it.”

Severson later met a park ranger and learned that spider, called a Meta Dolloff, is on the California Department of Fish and Game’s list of threatened species and is not found anywhere else in the world. Severson, like most people who enter the caves, had been completely unaware.

“After I found out about that, I felt really bad,” Severson said. “I had no idea that that there was a species of spider [in the cave] that was in danger of going extinct.”

The Meta Dolloff or Empire Cave Spider has long, black legs, dark bodies and yellow or orange splotching on their abdomen. The spider, which resembles an enormous black widow, is one of many species unique to UCSC’s cave environment. The caves are home to a total of 70 species, six of which are particular to the local caverns.

The Cave Gulch Pseudoscorpion is listed by Fish and Game as a species of special concern. This red and white creature is smaller than a human thumbnail and releases venom out of its long pincers.

Gage Dayton serves as Administrative Director of the UCSC Natural Reserve, which includes the Porter Caves, and says that it is important that the habitats of the caves be well-maintained and preserved for the sake of the species living in them.

“There is a big danger because these animals do not live in very many places,” Dayton said. “Damage to one small area or population can have a tremendous impact on the species as a whole.”

Some damage has already been caused to the Porter Caves at the hands of the UCSC student body. The San Francisco Bay Chapter of the Empire Cave Cleanup organization runs cave cleanup trips at the Porter Caves multiple times a year. Information and observations collected on these trips, which can be found on the group’s website, report finding habitat-harming things like fast food containers, broken beer bottles, vandalism and bonfire remnants strewn throughout the caves, particularly around Halloween.

As a result of use by students and other cave visitors, uncontrolled access is considered the single biggest threat to species in the Porter Caves. Although Empire Cave was at one point gated, cave enthusiasts blasted off the barriers to gain cave access. Since then, the university installed a ladder making for easier access to the caves.

Dayton said that if the area is not better protected, staff and volunteers from the UCSC Natural Reserve might once again close the caves to the public.

Retired Earth Science Professor Gerald Webber notes that after years of mistreatment, however, true restoration of the caves would be no easy fix and would likely have to involve better educating the public about the caves and the unique life thriving within them.

“The caves can still produce an interesting habitat for animals that are unique. And as far as cave systems go, if you keep people out of them, it’s better for the [habitat]. But if people go in, [we must] make sure they know what they’re doing,” Weber said.

Many students, however, are completely unaware of the harm being done—and what’s at stake.

A second year Stevenson literature student who didn’t want to share her name admitted that she had gone into the Empire Cave drunk with her friends and a boom box. She went on to say that she had no regrets about going there and that she might return again despite the risk of disrupting or even eliminating a threatened species.

“I don’t think spiders are very high on anyone’s list of priorities,” she said.

Second year Porter psychology student Kim Brauninger was a first hand witness to similar unawareness on the part of students when she attended a party in Empire Cave.

“It’s a thing of nature,” Brauninger said. “Why do people have to bring fucking beer bottles in [the caves]? Why do they have to desecrate it? It’s really immature to me.”

Brauninger admitted that she, like many students, was initially unaware that the Empire Cave and surrounding caverns housed unique, threatened species.

Fifth year marine biology and environmental studies student Lauren Fieberg ventured to the caves for the first time her freshman year and had no idea that threatened species lived in them. She believes that if students at UCSC were better educated about the fragility of Porter Cave ecosystem, they would respond positively.

“There have been a lot of restoration projects on campus, and I think a lot of students are environmentally conscious,” Fieberg said. “[With increased education] students would be more conscious of their habits in the cave, especially involving species that are endemic to that cave.”

After visiting the Cave Gulch caverns a few times, spelunker Severson believes that they may be beyond restoration or repair — at least in terms of geological structures — comparing them to the better-preserved California Caverns cave systems located in central California, about two hours southeast of Sacramento.

“I’ve been to the California Caverns, and those have been very well protected,” Severson said. “You can’t just go in there and freestyle your way around. You have to be with a guide, and they are very protective a lot of the cave formations that are in there.”

Severson and geologist Gerald Weber both emphasized that all of the Porter Caves, especially Empire Cave, have suffered enormous stress through the years and no longer contain any stalagmites or stalagtites, mineral deposit formations formed over long periods of time that can be found on the floors and ceilings of well- preserved caves. Many people believe that if easy access to the caves remains, these unique formations will never return.

“The [caves] that are readily open to the public—I think they’re pretty useless,” Weber said. “The stalactites and stalagmites are not going to grow back.”

Many of the individuals trying to better protect the caves say they are motivated by the extensive amount of information and unique learning opportunities created by studying cave species and habitats.

“We need more work done on the basic science of these animals,” Dayton explained. “There has been a lot of science done on the cave. We need to build on that and use that information to better educate people about the caves and make better informed cave management decisions. The caves need more protection.”

With the caves still open to the public, many preservationists and other concerned individuals have suggested that an informational sign be placed outside of the cave entrances asking visitors to be respectful and mindful of the habitats and species within.

“When most human beings see a spider, they think ‘Oh, I’m going to kill that thing.’” Severson said. “So it might be worth posting some sort of placard outside the cave to educate the general public before they go in.”

Dayton says that the UCSC Natural Reserve staff has been working this summer to create an informational sign in the hopes that it will help curtail destruction and disruption within the caves.

Barry Sinervo, one of Dayton’s colleagues, has been involved in molecular research focused on a specific type of salamander found in the Porter Caves. Sinervo hopes his research will reveal whether the cave salamander represents a different species or a sub-species of the Pacific Giant Salamander found elsewhere in the Santa Cruz region.

In an email from France, where he is currently studying lizards, Sinervo said that he would like students to respect the caves so that biologists like him can continue their research. He offered some cautionary advice to those students who plan on venturing into the caves – or want them to continue to be open to the public.

“Keep the caves clean, leave as little a footprint as possible, respect life in all forms,” Sinervo said. “Do not harass the insect and invertebrate life or the cave will end up being closed to everyone except researchers.”

Porter students Carly Frusciante and Louise Leong formed the band Teenage Galaxy together. The bandmates sport their signature tinfoil headbands. Photo by Alex Zamora.

With open mic nights any given day of the week, rock festivals such as Porterpalooza and Rock ’n’ Roll on the Knoll gracing the events calendar, and innumerable outlets to showcase musical abilities, it is no surprise that some talented bands have found their place at UC Santa Cruz.

Two such groups have already started to make their mark on the Santa Cruz music scene, gaining popularity among UCSC students and working their way through Internet fandom. For bands Teenage Galaxy and Animal Spirit, it is about making music and taking names. 

Animal Spirit

Composed of Porter first-year Devin McGuire and his girlfriend Coco Deza, a first-year  at San Francisco State, Animal Spirit is an indie-rock duo with soulful melodies and acoustic riffs. Both McGuire and Deza play guitar and share vocal duties in the six or so songs they have released to the public. 

“Animal Spirit was formed when I realized Coco could sing and write harmonies really well,” McGuire said. “She definitely has inspiration with amazing female singers like Kimya Dawson, Feist, Jenny Lewis and Broken Social Scene.”

McGuire gets his inspiration from a variety of sources, but most specifically cites his bandmate.

“[My inspiration] is a little confused right now, but I would have to say a big part of it is my love for Coco,” McGuire said. 

Animal Spirit is quick to shy away from any labels, describing their style as anything that sounds good to them. A favorite among Porter College residents, Animal Spirit gathered a fan base under the name Corduroy Clouds, but recently changed to their current name to reflect the changes and new direction the band has undergone since forming. 

Favorites among Animal Spirit songs include “Lull a Bye” and “Say Hi to Earth For Me.” 

“We can’t say for sure, but we might be adding drums and dropping the acoustic aspect, and just running with being a catchy, fun indie band,” McGuire said. “I love [our song] ‘In the Grass.’ Coco and I wrote it together, and it means a lot to us. It’s fun to play.”

The future looks bright for Animal Spirit, with a move back to San Diego (McGuire and Deza’s hometown) at the end of the school year to start their music careers. While they may no longer call Santa Cruz their home, the Spirit will live on. 

Teenage Galaxy

Take two Porter students, add a tambourine and a guitar and place a tinfoil headband on top, and you’ve formed Teenage Galaxy. 

Started by Louise Leong and Carly Frusciante, Teenage Galaxy came into being during a sweeps week episode of “All My Children.” 

“I wanted to watch ‘All My Children’ on Carly’s TV,” Leong said. “Our first song, ‘Erica Kane,’ was written in honor of the leading woman and fashion mogul of AMC’s fictional Pine Valley, Pennsylvania. It was truly the upstart of Teenage Galaxy.” 

Soap operas may have helped form the band, but it’s everyday life that keeps Teenage Galaxy — or TGax — fresh and full of new ideas. From dining hall food, to Harry Potter and a serious dislike for dementors, to funny stories and a love for love, anything is game for a Teenage Galaxy song.

“Everywhere and everything is a song, it’s the things we love and the things we do,” Leong said. “Carly will say something funny and I will say that it sounds like a song waiting to happen.”

Teenage Galaxy has amassed a following, signifying their fans’ support by making tinfoil headbands for audience members to wear at performances. Leong and Frusciante sell buttons displaying artwork and song lyrics, and hold impromptu shows on campus for the fun of it. 

“Hopefully we’ll just keep playing for fun whenever we can,” Leong said, “and continue to live long and prosper in the Teenage Galaxy.”

Despite the rain, Kresge first-year Vinnie Bryne was able to rock out at Porterpalooza ‘09. The annual event took place last Saturday outside the Porter I-Lounge. Photo by Olivia Irvin.

As the strains of an electric guitar rose through the air, a growing crowd staggered down the Porter apartment infill through the rising fog. The students came to watch their friends and hallmates jam for one infamous day known as Porterpalooza. 

“Porterpalooza is an annual event put on by Residential Life here at Porter College,” said Derek Denny, a Porter resident assistant and Porterpalooza event organizer. “It’s a chance to showcase all of the talent concentrated at Porter, across UCSC and just around Santa Cruz too.”

Porterpalooza ’09 hosted innumerable bands and performers from across the UC Santa Cruz campus, all of whom came out in the cold to play at Porter College. Ranging from acoustic indie songwriters to hip-hop ensembles to screaming rock balladeers and everything in between, it was evident that the people of Porter know how to have a good time. 

Denny, a second-year, wanted to model this year’s event after popular music festivals such as Coachella and the Porterpalooza namesake, Lollapalooza, by providing a more inviting environment for concertgoers. 

“I wanted to add more things to do throughout the day so kids would stick around,” Denny said. “We provided free popcorn and cotton candy, body painting and sidewalk chalk to keep the crowd entertained while the concert went on.”

While the free food and entertainment appeased the crowds, the prospect of quality, student-performed music kept most out of their pajamas for the day. James Forrest, a Porter first-year and drummer for Parliament Grass, was the first act of the day. 

“Porterpalooza is just great,” Forrest said. “Currently at Porter we don’t have a place to practice our music besides our rooms, and it’s awesome to see that everyone can still get together and pull off this show.”

Without facilities in which to practice, bands and soloists have gathered in their rooms to practice every night until quiet hours force the jamming to stop. Because the ongoing construction of the Porter B and C buildings blocks access to the Fireside Lounge, Porter musicians have to utilize creativity to keep their craft alive. 

Despite the setback in practice time, Porterpalooza performers managed to each play 20-minute sets, totaling about nine hours of music. Some played covers, while others showcased their own material. Many signed up to play for fun, but others, such as Porter first-year Lonny Jones, used the festival to gain experience for later gigs. 

“I’ve made it to the semifinals in a songwriter’s contest at Mars Studios in Aptos,” said Jones, a soulful singer-songwriter. “Playing the fest is good practice for what I’ll have to do soon.” 

Performers also used the event to promote themselves and sell merchandise. The duo Teenage Galaxy sold buttons emblazoned with their pictures and lyrics for a dollar. They also fashioned tinfoil headbands for followers to show their support of the band. No Jet Left gave away demo CDs, but assured audience members that they could “pay for them if they really wanted to.”

 “Porter attracts a wide range of people and music and talents,” Jones said. “But I think that can be expected, don’t you?”