Performers YaliniDream (left) and Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai (right) act out a scene in which their characters pray to Mary Magdalene, portrayed by Adeeba Rana (center) during the “Say You Heard My Echo” event. Photo-illustration by Daniel Green.

Picture Ground Zero. A chain link fence strewn with teddy-bears, cards, flowers and records contrasts the dark blockade of a construction site, with soft whites and bright reds attempting to bandage the damaged scenery. A buzz of impatient commuters and diligent workers fills the scene until an interruption by three enchanting voices. Together, they say:

“In the city that never sleeps, we’ve got no time for memorial poems.”

One of these voices belongs to Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai, a Chinese-Taiwanese American writer and artist from New York. Alongside her are performing partners Adeeba Rana and YaliniDream.

Tsai presented her three-act play “Say You Heard My Echo” at the Stevenson Event Center on April 13 through the Cultural Arts and Diversity Resource Center, Student Union Assembly and Rainbow Theater. The show was produced by Tsai’s associates from Moving Earth Productions, the Asian-American Arts Alliance and director Jesse Jou.

The show explores the impacts of 9/11 on three fictional Asian-American women living in New York City a decade later. Their struggles with survivorship and faith prompt them to call upon three female religious icons: Mary Magdalene, Guan Yin and Aisha. The women undergo separate transformations as the years following 9/11 prompt change in their political, social and personal lives. The ever-present female religious figures act as mirror representations of the characters and help facilitate their fulfillment, guidance and enlightenment.

Tsai, who grew up in the culture of poetry slams in Chicago, has been able to take her love for spoken word around the world to places including Trinidad and China.

“Spoken word poetry at its very best allows people’s authentic stories, relationships to language and rhythms to shine through [in] a unique, culturally specific way,” Tsai said.

Act One illustrates the damaging effect of monotony and silence — a Catholic burlesque dancer’s survival mutes her expressiveness until she becomes immersed in the anti-war movement. The second act chronicles the unsettling downward spiral of a Buddhist Iraq War veteran and hip-hop emcee who suffers from post traumatic stress disorder upon her return home. The final act addresses the issue of families burdened by detention and interrogation as a Muslim librarian struggles to stay connected to her grandfather. Themes such as the fight for cultural pride and struggle for survival occur throughout the play and serve as a primary focus to connect these three female characters to their respective religious icons.

“I was playing guitar … and heard the words ‘say you heard my echo,’ then I saw an image of a woman being pursued by Mary Magdalene in New York City,” Tsai said.

Tsai’s goal is to show the depth of the experiences that marginalized groups undergo, with special investment in the personal aspects of her identity as a woman who is Asian-American.

“‘Say You Heard My Echo’ shows the breadth and depth of my own humanity through the work that I do … The honesty resonates with people far beyond myself,” Tsai said.

After the third act, the women came together just as they did in the introduction. Their presence together was representative of the power in diversity among different cultures as they brought restoration and healing and beckoned for action in unison, “Silence is never silent. All we have is time for renewal. Say you heard my echo. Say you heard my call.”

After the show, Don Williams, the director of Cultural Arts and Diversity at UCSC addressed the audience about the significance of a valued community through performing arts.

“Our goal is to receive a variety of scripts that deal with many cultures and there’s a lot of cultures that are never written about,” Williams said.

Williams is engaged in the ongoing production process of performances that celebrate diverse cultures.

“We here at the UC, especially Rainbow Theater, are always looking to seek Asian-American one-act plays,” Williams said.

“Rainbow! Rainbow!” echoed supporters in the crowd.

The previously barren stage found its emptiness overwhelmed by the powerful presence of everyone involved as a unified body. The performers of “Say You Heard My Echo” were surrounded by the embrace of laughter and liveliness by the student communities of Don Williams and the students of Cultural Arts and Diversity Resource Center, Student Union Assembly affiliates, and performers from Rainbow Theater.

“No matter how we feel on a given day, we’re never as spiritually or emotionally alone as we may feel,” Tsai said.

To follow Kelly Tsai’s performances and material visit yellowgurl.com.

Photo by Morgan Grana.

About 100 people filled the seats of the Stevenson College Event Center to hear a lecture given by nuclear policy expert Daniel Hirsch on the Fukushima nuclear disaster and its implications for the United States.

Hirsch began his talk with the message that what happened at the Fukushima plant is not an isolated incident.

“In one sense we all live in Fukushima,” said Hirsch. “What happens in one part of the world affects us all.”

The lecture stressed the importance of constantly cooling both the reactor and spent fuel rods, and explained how cooling systems at the Fukushima plant failed after backup power sources were damaged or depleted.

“A nuclear reactor is an absolutely extraordinary machine that actually can’t be turned off,” he said. “If you lose cooling, there’s no way to extract the heat, and radioactivity is released. As long as the reactor is cool and the fuel stays solid, things are relatively safe.”

Hirsch also chronicled the events that led to the Fukushima disaster. The plant’s primary electricity system was disabled by the 8.9-magnitude earthquake that erupted off the coast of Japan, and back-up generators were destroyed by the tsunami that soon followed. Batteries used as a last resort to keep the cooling system running died after eight hours. Footage of the explosions that followed now serve as an iconic image of the Fukushima disaster.

“Dante could never have imagined such an inferno,” Hirsch said, referring to the explosions that destroyed three of Fukusima’s reactors and four of its spent fuel pools.

Debra Ellis, coordinator for residential education at Cowell College, organized the lecture.

Ellis planned the event to provide the campus and greater Santa Cruz community with accurate information regarding the disaster and said she was thrilled with the engagement of the audience.

“It is the responsibility of those of us fortunate enough to be a part of this university to educate ourselves and others about the implications of this event in history,” Ellis said.

Cowell College provost Faye Crosby opened the event by recounting the phone call from her son, a Tokyo lawyer, that awoke her on March 11 to inform her of the disaster. Despite the danger posed to her immediate family, Crosby echoed Hirsch’s words of existing in one world and said this is a personal tragedy for us all.

Hirsch closed by saying that he hopes this disaster will mark the end of the nuclear era:

“It began with Hiroshima and ends with Fukushima.”

The core planning team in the campaign for Measure 49 meets to map out the next steps in garnering publicity and support for the measure. Photo by Toby Silverman.

UC Santa Cruz’s Cultural Arts and Diversity (CAD) Center is seeking SUA sponsorship for a referendum that would charge incoming students a $5.25 fee on their tuition every quarter to support CAD and the campus programs it houses.

The measure is a response to recent budget cuts impacting campus programs. This fee would provide a lifeline to save CAD and its programs, which promote a fusion of art and culture.

Last Friday, the Student Union Assembly agreed to consider sponsorship of the referendum. Three days later, the CAD campaign committee began generating support for Measure 49: Cultural Arts and Diversity Fee, set to continue all the way through the elections period.

The referendum proposes applying this fee to pay for the central program’s functional costs, expected to increase as CAD implements its other goal of organizing many smaller organizations, like Rainbow Theater and the African American Theater Arts Troupe (AATAT), under one roof. As CAD absorbs these programs, funding will be needed to ensure that CAD is able to maintain itself while keeping the groups from being completely cut from the budget.

“We know the first things to get cut are always the arts and programs that serve students of color,” said Sarah Fishleder, CAD alumnus and one of the main leaders of the program. “We want to expand to include other cultural organizations on campus that have performance aspects and ensure that these vital programs are not slashed due to budget cuts. These may include the Filipino Cultural Celebration, the Indian Student Organization’s Cultural Show, and the annual dance show put on by Los Mexicas.”

Based in Stevenson College, CAD currently houses Rainbow Theater and AATAT. Established in 1991 under director Don Williams, AATAT works to create a stronger sense of identity and understanding of African American culture at UCSC.

Three years later, Rainbow Theater was formed with the same goal in mind, breaking down walls that separate cultures and uniting them under a common mission of creative expression. Since their founding, Rainbow Theater and AATAT have performed for continuously packed crowds.

“When I come in and work, I really put in my heart and soul to help these kids share their gifts,” Williams said. “I can only teach them some basic direction and leadership skills, but they’re the ones directing and making these plays happen.”

The measure includes three main aspects that the funding would be directed towards, programming, equipment and staffing. The production of various cultural performances would take place in the Stevenson Event Center, as well as provide smaller organizations with rehearsal time and increase exposure of the many diverse groups in the CAD program.

Fundamental factors of a performance like lights, lifts, space, training, tech assistants and staffing costs would also be partially paid for with funds from the referendum.

So far, opposition to the bill seems relatively low. Camella Cooper, campaign committee member and a member of both Rainbow Theater and AATAT, discussed the responses to the bill.

“I [personally] haven’t experienced any opposition,” Cooper said. “I did hear that there was some from people that just don’t support culture and diversity programs on campus, but I haven’t heard of any big or grouped opposition.”

In the event that the bill passes, Cooper hopes that these cultural and diversity programs will thrive on campus.

“Rainbow and AATAT showed me that through differences you can be a community, not through similarities,” Cooper said. “The sense of community [is] there. That’s really important when it comes to budget cuts.”

Illustration by Justin Martinez.

Slugs, food and rock ‘n’ roll.

These three words define UC Santa Cruz’s second annual day-long concert and fundraiser event, Rock ‘n’ Roll on the Knoll.

The knoll of choice, a typically serene, grassy hill located behind Stevenson College, will house a mini music festival this Sunday from noon to 8 p.m., complete with about 10 local performers, pizza, DJ sets and face-painting.

Organized by students, with partial funding from Stevenson Housing, the event aims to bring UCSC students from all ends of campus together to celebrate a common interest in music in the spirit of rock ‘n’ roll.

Second-year Ira Goldenring was one of the main coordinators of this year’s event.

“A bunch of us organized ourselves into a group to put together the show,” Goldenring said. “Personally, I dealt with booking bands, organizing set times, hanging posters up all around school, that sort of stuff.”

Although Goldenring did not organize the event last year, he and many others wish to recreate the benefit, making it bigger and better.

“It began in the spirit of charity,” Goldenring said. “Students wanted to give back to the community while organizing something that would be fun, free and local for the whole university.”

Second-year Paulie Dellamano helped Goldenring organize the event this year.

“It’s mainly supposed to be a local thing,” Dellamano said.

Last year’s event had a good turnout, with about 300 people attending over the course of the entire day.

“It was very impressive for a first run,” Goldenring said, “but we are trying to get two or three times the outcome of last year to come on Sunday.”

Dellamano discussed new plans to prepare for this year’s event.

“Last year was really last-minute, but this year has been planned out for a while,” Dellamano said.

Dellamano said  that although last year’s turnout was not as large as expected, and there could have been more donations, Stevenson Housing agreed to match the amount of money made.

Organizers expect a significant difference in the number of attendees this year, as a result of their increase in advertising and upgrade in entertainment.

Dellamano discussed the new additions to Rock ‘n’ Roll on the Knoll for this year.

“[Stevenson Housing] paid for our whole sound system, which is gonna be legit, and money for food that we won’t be selling, but asking for donations [for].” Dellamano said.

Proceeds from these donations will go to the Santa Cruz Homeless Shelter.

“The concert is free but we are asking for a suggested donation of $5 to $10, which will help to feed and house dozens of people who really need it,” Goldenring said. “Just one dollar can give 30 people a hot meal.”

Dellamano also discussed the process of informing UCSC administration prior to the event.

“We had to notify the police department and CSOs because it’s going into the evening,” Dellamano said. “There’ll be pizza, drinks and probably some other activities going on as well.”
Goldenring also commented on the notification process.

“There’s a lot of paperwork,” Goldenring said. “You have to follow guidelines in a major events policy handbook.”

While following these guidelines, as well as keeping the event drug and alcohol-free, Goldenring expects things will run smoothly.

Regardless of the turnout or amount of money made, Goldenring’s goal is to promote community and cooperation.

“I think it is really cool that Rock ‘n’ Roll on the Knoll is student-run and student-imagined,” Goldenring said. “Students had the idea, and students made it into a reality.”