How does UC Santa Cruz prepare its students for two years of peacemaking in a foreign country?

According to UCSC Peace Corps Coordinator Lexa Dillon, it takes a certain kind of student to join the Peace Corps.

“Students here tend to think more out-of-the-box and don’t necessarily go straight into the working world,” Dillon said.

Sara Walsh, now an academic adviser for College Eight, joined the Peace Corps after she graduated from UCSC. She said it takes a strong-minded person to commit to going.

“There was a lingering blood fuse in Columbia when I was there,” Walsh said. “If my parents knew how dangerous it was, they’d probably have a heart attack. It’s easy to get caught in the wrong spot.”

UCSC ranked sixth recently for the number of graduated Peace Corps volunteers in 2008, according to the Peace Corps website’s list of the top-25 mid-sized colleges that generate volunteers. There are currently 50 alumi from UCSC serving in the Peace Corps, according to regional facts from the San Francisco Regional Office.

The application process is rigorous. Not all students who apply are accepted. Last year, approximately 40 people applied and one-third did not get in. Dillon said the organization evaluates students based on “emotional maturity,” “motivation and commitment,” and “productive competence,” to name some points.

UCSC’s sixth-place ranking does not surprise Walsh. “We have historically been a strong school to support international programs,” she said. “The university attracts curious, adventurous, and unconventional students willing to commit themselves to uncomfortable situations and to making a difference.”

Dillon graduated from UCSC in 2000 and volunteered in Guinea, Africa. She says it is an important experience to have in light of the fragile state of the world.

“I worry about America’s reputation the past couple of years,” Dillon said. “The Peace Corps gives people overseas a different idea of Americans, and [volunteers] have an opportunity to get out of consumerism and the fast-paced nature of life here.”

One bridge between UCSC students and Peace Corps volunteering is UCSC psychology lecturer Tony Hoffman, who developed a psychology course called Ayudando Niños en Costa Rico (ANECA). The course focuses on aiding at-risk children in the county, using a Peace Corps model for orientation. According to Hoffman, UCSC offers more teaching basd on social justice than many other universities.

“A lot of our majors here have preparatory social justice training and attitudes,” Hoffman said. He mentioned the community studies department — which requires students to reserve one quarter for field study — and said it is “the strongest program” at UCSC to prepare students for the Peace Corps.

Students in Hoffman’s ANECA course are also able to experience firsthand conditions in another country when they travel to Costa Rica.

Although UCSC produces a large number of volunteers, for Hoffman it just means the emphasis on international issues at other universities is lacking.

“I think it’s sad that we’re rated sixth,” he said. “It means many other universities have far fewer Peace Corps volunteers. I meet people from England, France, Germany, Italy, you name it, and I see more students involved in international aid programs there. To be sixth in the nation says something about the nation, because we’re a small university.”

UCSC, UC Davis and Humboldt State are the only Northern California colleges with Peace Corps offices on campus. Dillon holds meetings every quarter to review the application process.

The Peace Corps claims that the skills volunteers bring and develop abroad will stay with them for the rest of their lives. For Dillon and Walsh, this has proven to be true.

Both women, in their careers today, use their experiences abroad to help students on campus. Walsh said she gained an appreciation for diversity and an understanding for the adjustment into a new culture, which strengthens her academic advising sessions.

Hoffman champions student involvement in the program, but understands a need for more of it on a national level. The Peace Corps, she said, “is the best American program [students] can apply for to go overseas.”

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at The Buzz around Peacemaking

The Arts Division of UC Santa Cruz held a town hall meeting for faculty and staff last Thursday to address questions concerning the appointment of a new Dean of Arts.

The search for a dean is in its second year, following the retirement of Edward Houghton last July. Margaret Morse, a film and digital media professor, holds the position temporarily.

Norman Locks, the chair of the search committee, said that about 30 to 35 applications had been received, although David Kliger, executive vice chancellor, said that there are no official candidates

yet.

“We had a retirement from someone who’d been dean for 19 years, so that gave a chance to replace the office to find the appropriate person,” said Linda Burman-Hall, music professor and committee member. “For some reason, there was a failure to recommend candidates, and nobody was appointed, because [the committee] didn’t feel like it found the appropriate candidate yet.”

Burman-Hall continued, “Having a sense that there’s a good pilot at the head of your division is important to the faculty, the staff, and the students, whether they’re undergrads or graduates. That’s the way your resources will be allocated.”

Approximately 20 members of the faculty and staff attended the town hall meeting. While the search for the dean was the primary issue at hand, other issues surfaced, such as the future of the arts division.

Vice Chancellor Kliger spoke to the group on behalf of the committee.

He addressed the role of budget cuts in the search, saying that while the salary of the future dean would remain unaffected, other impacts will affect the division.

“I can’t make promises about which programs are going to grow,” Kliger said. “There’s already a lot of private funding that comes to the campus, [but] either we let our programs deteriorate over time or we seek private funding.”

While budgetary woes were high on the list of concerns, attendees also suggested looking for a candidate from an underrepresented group.

Many at the meeting also hoped the next dean would raise the profile of the arts division through community outreach and innovative programs.

“We want someone who will support the arts, but we also want someone who will work with the other deans and ultimately do what’s best for the campus as a whole,” Kliger said.

Kliger supports the arts department continuing to branch out, citing the collaboration between arts and engineering that created the digital arts and new media department, as well as the recently-created major in computer game design.

“We’re really encouraging the deans to work to create new programs, more interdisciplinary programs,” Kliger said. “A dean has to be a leader and encourage faculty to be the best they can be, but not say, ‘This is how you’re going to do it.’”

One faculty member recommended that the new dean have “an almost nurturing quality.”

However, according to David Jones, provost of Porter College: “You can only nurture if you have resources.”

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at UCSC’s Arts Division Searches for a New Dean

Despite wearing “100% Slug” pins on their lapels, neither student regent hails from UC Santa Cruz.

In fact, in the 33 years since the position was created, a student regent has never been appointed from UCSC. Santa Cruz and Merced are the only UC campuses never to produce a student regent.

That is one topic the student regents came to discuss last Friday at the “Meet the student regents” event on the UCSC campus. The Career Center sponsored the event in order to educate students on the student regent application process and provide a forum for students to discuss issues with the most powerful student representatives.

“There is a lot of interest in sending a slug to the regents’ table,” said Ben Allen, the current student regent.

The UC regents make all the major decisions about the fate and trajectory of the UC system, and the two student regents are the only student voices on the board. There are 18 regents appointed by the governor for 12-year terms, seven ex-officio regents such as the governor and the UC president, and two student regents.

Each student regent serves for two years, the first year as the regent-designate, participating in all the regent meetings, but not voting. The next year, the student gains the right to vote on policy and introduce measures before the board.

“You are essentially a state official,” said D’Artagnan Scorza, the regent-designate. “You are there to represent the needs of students.”

The regents were enthusiastic about the opportunity to create change through their positions, but were realistic about the limitations of their position on the board.

“You are poorer, younger, less experienced, less politically connected, less powerful than any other person sitting around the table,” said Allen, comparing himself to the other regents. “But you are the one student sitting around the table; you represent one of the most important constituencies in the university.”

Allen is a Harvard graduate with a Masters degree from Cambridge. He is currently studying law at UC Berkeley.

Scorza, a Masters student in education at UCLA, who also served in the Navy in Iraq, said that he viewed the position as a unique opportunity to generate change and advocate for students.

“I really wanted to create an impact,” he said. “It has become more and more critical for us students to take a progressive leadership role.”

Will Duggan, a first-year Stevenson student, happened upon the meeting by chance but said that he learned a lot. “I thought it was pretty great, you know. I didn’t really realize how important the student regents were until coming here, so it was definitely a great experience.”

Kyle Simerly, also a first-year, is considering applying for the position. He said that the meeting changed his opinion on the regents.

“They made me realize that they’re there and they’re listening,” he said. “They’ve got weight, especially because regents sound like they’re listening to them, which makes me feel a lot better about the situation.”

Eric Hernandez, a second-year politics major, felt that the position would be a valuable learning experience and a real opportunity to produce system-wide change.

“I think I’m going to apply. I feel like this would be a good experience outside of the classroom,” Hernandez said. “We need to come together to make something happen.”

Scorza emphasized the power and importance of the student perspective on the board.

“We live this institution every day. We breathe this. It is what we do. No one else in that room does that as much as we do. And then on top of that, we get to vote. You get to introduce policy,” Scorza said. “Beyond all measure it is important to realize you have a voice and your voice is at that table. Now, how you utilize that voice and how effective you are at utilizing that voice makes all the difference in the world in how much of a change you are going to be able to create.”

_The application to become the next student regent is available online at the Career Center website at

www2.ucsc.edu/careers/jobs/regent.html. The application is due Feb. 21._

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at The Voice of the Students in the UC System

_State Propositions_

*Proposition 91*. Transportation Funds — Sets limits on how much money for transportation funds can be used for other purposes. Prohibits certain motor vehicle fuel taxes from being retained in General Fund and delays repayment of such taxes previously retained. Changes how and when General Fund borrowing of certain transportation funds is allowed.

Pro: Helps in controlling government spending.

Con: Groups that worked to get Prop 91 on the ballots are now urging voters to say “no” because a similar measure has passed.

*Proposition 92*. Community Colleges. Funding. Governance. Fees — Prop 92 would establish separate funding and administrative systems for community colleges versus the rest of the K-12 public education system. Requires minimum funding for schools and community colleges to be calculated separately. Also sets fees at $15/unit and limits future increases.

Pro: This would give community colleges more funds to increase classes and services; also lowers fees to $15.

Con: Setting up a new administrative system would be expensive.

*Proposition 93*. Limits on Legislators’ Terms in Office — Proposition 93 reduces state legislative service from 14 years to 12 years. Those 12 years could be spent in either the Assembly or the Senate, or a combination. Currently one can serve in the Assembly for eight years and in the Senate for six.

Pro: Gives politicians, such as John Laird, more freedom in how they choose to serve.

Con: Longer periods of uninterrupted time in either Assembly or Senate.

*Propositions 94, 95, 96, 97*. Amendment to Indian Gaming Compact for the Pechanga, Morongo, Sycuan and Agua Caliente bands, respectively — Propositions would seek to ratify already existing agreements between the tribes and the state, as well as add more slot machines to casinos and bypass State Environment Regulations for special projects.

Pro: Increases tax revenue.

Con: Tax draws on low-income brackets and increases wealth only to certain tribes.

_Proposed Local Measures_

*Measure G Gann Limit Measure* — Loma Prieta Joint Union Elementary School District: If approved, the Loma Prieta Joint Union Elementary School District would continue to maintain its current spending limitation for four more years. Measure G does not authorize the district to increase the property tax rate or impose a new assessment. It would allow the district to continue to spend the taxes already approved by the voters for another four years.

*Measure O School Bond Measure* — San Lorenzo Valley Unified School District (55 percent approval required). The school district seeks to acquire, construct and improve school facilities, including rebuilding the high school library recently destroyed by fire. It would be replaced with a modern facility with improved access to technology. The performing arts theater would be improved for school and community use, additional classrooms would be constructed, along with improvements to playgrounds and security at each campus by issuing $18,900,000 in bonds at legal interest rates. It would be done with a citizens’ oversight committee, annual audits, and no money for administrator salaries.

*Measure P Continuation of an Expiring Parcel Tax* — Santa Cruz City Elementary School District (two-thirds approval required). Santa Cruz City proposes to continue its parcel tax for nine more years. The annual rate will be changed from $81 per parcel to $105 per parcel. This will be done in order to reduce class size in all elementary grades and support achievement in science, reading, writing, and the arts, fund school libraries and literacy instruction. Senior citizens (over 65 years old) will be exempt from this tax. An independent oversight committee will audit spending, with every dollar staying in this community to support local elementary schools and no funds used for administrator salaries.

_Presidential Corner_

Ryan Coonerty is the Santa Cruz Mayor. He recently announced his support of Democratic primary runner Barack Obama and was willing to meet with City on a Hill Press to share his thoughts.

CHP: Why endorse Barack Obama?

Mayor Coonerty: I honestly believe that Barack Obama is the most important candidate of my lifetime, as he seems the most likely to create and propose good policies in order to change national dialogue. I love the way he’s inspiring a new generation to engage in politics. I feel it’s been lacking for a while. Many of us are turned off by the rancor in Washington, and the idea that we can change the tone and bring new people into the conversation is inspiring.

CHP: What prompted you to make this statement of support? Why is it important to you?

Mayor Coonerty: He’s a fairly young elected official. It’s nice to have someone of a new generation leading and bringing a fresh view and perspective. It’s absolutely a change. I’m real hopeful that he can be the nominee.

CHP: What does this mean to you as mayor?

Mayor Coonerty: I’ll be campaigning until the time of the election and trying to gather support.

Think the two-party system is the only way to go? No way! This year’s presidential primary hosts candidates from the Green, Libertarian, American Independent and the Peace and Freedom Parties, in addition to Democratic and Republican parties. There are at least 41 candidates among all parties, each hoping to make it the White House.

Find out more information at smartvoter.org and don’t forget to vote on Feb. 5.

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at A Heads Up on the Coming Election

This year the Martin Luther King Jr. Convocation in Santa Cruz honored a person who dedicated his life to making sure that the struggle for civil rights is not over: Tony Hill.

A local activist and event organizer, Hill passed away in August at the age of 62. His legacy as an advocate in race relations, diversity issues and economic development continues by way of the convocation. In addition to being honored this year, Hill was the leading force behind organizing this annual event in years past.

“Tony lived to bring people together and find a common ground,” said Catherine Faris, assistant vice chancellor with the University Relations office. “He just had a way of lowering the barriers and of seeing the humanity in all of us. I saw him, in a quiet warm way, bring people with very different views together.” Faris herself has worked with the convocation for the span of its 24-year existence.

Sandy Lydon is a local historian who worked with Hill for over 25 years.

“As he constantly reminded me over the years, [the struggle] ain’t over and it will never be over,” Lydon said. “He believed that race was the elephant in every room at every moment in the United States.”

In addition to the Martin Luther King Convocation, Hill worked on numerous projects that dealt with race and diversity issues. In the 1990s Hill and Lydon worked together leading diversity workshops on affirmative action on several community college campuses. Hill also produced a number of television programs and books that dealt with diversity and race issues, notably a television piece on the history of African-Americans in the Monterey Bay region. He recently worked on a television piece focusing on the Japanese abalone divers of Monterey Bay.

In commemoration of a lifetime of work, a plan is underway to launch an honor that will be given annually to an individual in the community whose life and work closely honor the principles Hill brought into his own life and work. The honor was declared at the Martin Luther King Jr. Convocation yesterday, and the first recipient of the award will be announced next year.

“The very fact that the event is alive and healthy is a testimony to Tony’s continual assistance over the years,” Lydon said.

The Martin Luther King Jr. Convocation began under the leadership of Chancellor Robert L. Sinsheimer.

“He thought it would be a really good idea to commemorate King’s vision, and his words, and his actions, by bringing important speakers who reflect his thoughts to campus, and involving the community,” Faris said.

The event has been thoroughly supported by every chancellor following Sinsheimer. The Office of the Chancellor supplies funding for the Convocation, and costs vary from year to year depending largely upon who is speaking at the event.

“It’s one of the few events that brings a lot of different communities of people together,” Faris said. “There are moments each year where I am sitting there, listening to the speaker, thinking, ‘This is what life is about, this is what we are here for.’”

Local groups, particularly Inner Light Ministries, the City of Santa Cruz, local radio, and the Santa Cruz Sentinel offer yearly contributions to the event. Support is also provided by way of outright gifts-in-kind, like complimentary venue rental from the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium. Total costs for the event tend to run between $10,000 and $20,000.

Each year, a committee meets roughly eight to 10 times to decide upon the event’s organization and choose a speaker. This year the committee happily anticipated a visit from Julian Bond, chairman of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

“Having Chairman Bond is truly an honor and the NAACP is extremely excited about his visit,” said Paula Livers-Powell, president of the local branch of the NAACP and a convocation committee member for 19 years.

Bond gave a speech entitled “Civil Rights: Then and Now.” The message the convocation’s committee hoped to get across this year was that civil rights and the fight against racial discrimination are an ongoing process, equally valid in today’s society as during Dr. Martin Luther King’s life. Tony Hill was proof of that.

“[The fight] isn’t over and never will be,” Lydon said. “Racial discrimination continues to be one of the primary undercurrents in America today, perhaps most blatantly obvious in the anti-immigration debates. I’m hoping that, in Tony’s memory, it is even more joyous and profound than previously.”

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at Communities Keeping the Dream Alive

After county-wide flood warnings, the storm that hit Santa Cruz County last week dropped five inches of rain in Boulder Creek and over an inch in the coastal area. Gusts of wind reached 35 mph in Watsonville and one motorist on Highway 1, just north of Wilder Ranch, died due to the wet road conditions.

Brad deals with weather extremes daily, in every possible way.

“I throw on some thermal underwear and that makes me a couple of degrees warmer,” he said, rocking back and forth on his heels.

Brad, who didn’t wish to give his full name, has been homeless for the last 17 years. Although local shelters cater to some of the needs of the homeless, there are only about 160 spaces available on any given night for the estimated 1500 to 2000 homeless in Santa Cruz.

“Your only choices when it gets like this is [either] a grove of wood with a good overhang or tents and tarps to keep you dry,” Brad said. “’Because once you get wet, then you’re in trouble.”

Brad explained the rawness and the allure of living the camper lifestyle: hiding camp from police and other campers, tramping through the woods and the mud, and waking up at 5:45 a.m. to pick up garbage in order to “have good karma for pan handling.”

There are shelter options for the homeless. In winter months the Homeless Service Center (HSC) opens a winter shelter at the Santa Cruz National Guard Armory for the increased demand for beds.

Ken Cole, executive director of the HSC, said, “If the temperatures are low and we have demand above the armory capacity, we will most likely open some space at our day center to take the overflow from the armory program.”

However, not all homeless people see it as a gift from above.

“I’d rather be outside than in the armory,” Brad said. “[Outside] it’s grit, man, like warfare.”

Robert Norse, of Homeless United for Friendship and Freedom (HUFF), explained that many homeless people don’t want to go to the armory because of the poor conditions. “You can get sick, you can’t work during the day, and you can’t go there if you have a pet,” Norse said in a phone interview.

Unfortunately, the cold weather, the lack of space in the shelters and the enforcement of SCMC 6.36.010b, otherwise known as the “blanket ban,” which makes it illegal to cover oneself with a blanket on public property between 11 p.m. and 8:30 a.m., leaves homeless people no choice but to suffer the elements.

“The city is using laws to drive homeless people into the rain,” Norse said, “and there are adverse health effects when this happens.” Norse mentioned the unfairness of issuing citations, which are $97, for survival activity like sleeping, or keeping warm.

According to the annual death report by the Santa Cruz County Homeless Persons’ Health Project, 36 individuals died in 2007, many from exposure to the cold, wet winter.

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at It’s Not Just the Tree-Sitters Who Brave the Bad Weather

Democracy is a funny thing.

From the early days of the Roman Senate to the modern days of Capitol Hill, there has always been a constant battle between the idealism and cynicism that people associate with the political process.

Early 20th-century essayist Agnes Repplier said it best: “Democracy forever teases us with the contrast between its ideals and its realities, between its heroic possibilities and its sorry achievements.”

Still, despite the quandary of our government, now is not the time to retire to the hills in obscurity, cut all ties to the modern world, or, the oft-quoted plan B, “Move to Canada.”

The political process has simultaneously become so vilified and caricaturized that for the modern citizen, it’s easier to mock and resent the system than to become involved and change it. It’s easy, at times, to think of the government as an all-powerful, tyrannical force. And yet, throughout world history, the people have overcome these dictatorships, and the dictators find themselves facing the business end of a guillotine’s blade. When the people want something, they get it, and the upcoming election is the perfect way to demonstrate what you want.

No matter who survives the primary battle royale on Super Tuesday, I assume that I will be voting Democrat in November, not because I agree with every campaign promise, but because I am honestly scared of the entire Republican corner. While the November election has the tendency to polarize the nation between the blue and the red, the primary process has the power to give voters a better choice.

Primaries are your chance for idealism, before the heroic possibilities fade into November pragmatism and another boxing match between the ass and the elephant. Go out, vote your mind and your heart and take a stand for the candidates who have not been embraced by the mainstream media.

The media also has a tendency to boil things down to such a level that most people only know their candidates by stereotypes and sound bites. How did Barack Obama become the “candidate of change,” while Hillary Clinton remains associated with the “failed” policies, the sorry achievements, of the last 232 years of American government? How much does the average voter really know about the Clinton health care plan, or the Obama energy plan, or the Kucinich “Department of Peace”?

Idealism does not need to end, and we do not need to settle for the lesser of two evils.

Write to your candidates, call your Congress members and tell them who you want, what you want, and why. In the end, your vote put them there, and your vote can kick them out. Demand something from Column A and from Column B. If our candidates are too proud to admit that their rivals have something correct, then they are not the candidates for us.

We are on the cusp of a mighty power and a mighty decision. For many of us, it is our first chance to vote in a presidential election, and it is a power that we have fought bitterly for. As our parents begin to collect Social Security and we take over as the leaders of this potentially great nation, it is our job to do our research, know the issues, and vote with our hearts.

There is no such thing as a “candidate of change.” It is the responsibility of the candidates to represent us, and it is our responsibility to make them.

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at Democracy: ‘Heroic Possibilities and its Sorry Achievements’

The battle for the Philippines rages on as negotiations between the Philippine government and Islamic fundamentalist forces have faltered in past weeks.

Since it received independence from the United States in 1946, the Philippines has been a divided nation. Communist insurgents have been ruling the north, the middle of the country by the central government in Luzon, and the south by the Muslim separatist movement. Both northern and southern factions have been in constant conflict with the authorized Philippine government.

“Both of these insurgencies are decades in the making,” said Kent Eaton, a UCSC professor of politics who specializes in international relations and the Philippines. “With the decentralization of [the government’s] power, a lot of local governments have come under insurgent’s power. There’s a lot of speculation on whether [the new] government will survive.”

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has sought an independent Islamic state since the 1970s. However, it has only recently become radicalized. In 2000 and 2001 the MILF broadened its military tactics with increased kidnapping and murders.

John Ciorciari of the H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center at Stanford University commented on the Philippines government’s approach to dealing with the growing Muslim insurrection.

“They’ve tried to pick the most radical elements and fight them with guerilla warfare,” Ciorciari said. “After 9/11 the Philippine government invited [the United States] back in smaller numbers. They are trying to kill off or capture these small numbers [of extremists]. On the other hand, they have also been trying to identify with more moderate elements that can be negotiated with. The aftermath of 9/11 gave the government a much stronger mandate publicly to do what was needed, and with the complete support of U.S. the threat of force is always on the table.”

Kent Eaton also spoke about the need for economic reform in the country.

“Arroyo [current president of the Philippines] is a member of the huge land holding class, who do not redistribute economic wealth. It’s upsetting that the president is part of this regime. Corazon Aquino is really admirable, but she’s also a member of this elite who is against economic reform.”

Corazon Aquino is Undersecretary of the Department of Trade and Industry. A former president, Aquino has been instrumental in the economic reformation of the Philippines, but the wealth has not been distributed throughout the country, most of it remaining in the hands of the wealthy. Politically, this has further alienated the desperate factions.

Evantoniette Mayol grew up in the Southern province of Mindanao. Mayol moved to the U.S. in 2001 and is now a full time nursing student.

“You can’t make enough money there,” Mayol said. “It’s hard to trust the government with so much corruption. The government and politicians need to change — the corruption is rampant. There has to be some honesty.”

With no end of the conflict in sight, it remains to be seen if peace is a viable option.

“The MILF had everybody’s attention,” Ciorciari said. “The perverse effect of terrorism is that it provided a spotlight for the terrorist groups.”

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at Peace Negotiations Sour in the Philippines

*Primary*: Heading into Super Tuesday, the Democratic primary is still anyone’s game, with only Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and Mike Gravel still in the race.

Obama received some key endorsements from Sens. Teddy Kennedy and John Kerry, and the New York Times endorsed Clinton and John McCain.

On the GOP side, the Arizona senator’s recent surge of success has him on top of Govs. Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney, who have had less success in the more recent primaries.

Still, with the unusually large voting group Feb. 5, which comprises more than half of all delegates, the race is far from won on either side.

*The Economy*:

Subprime mortgage rates continue to plague the U.S. economy, causing a major drop in the stock market and the slowest periods of economic growth since 2002. The Federal Reserve is taking aggressive action to stimulate growth, including massive cuts to interest rates. The president and Congress also passed a $146 billion stimulus package to help supplement the push.

The FBI has announced inquiries into 14 lending companies that may have contributed to the current housing value crisis, possibly leading to fraud and insider trading charges.

*Egypt/Gaza*: Hamas, the militant anti-Israel group in Gaza that was elected to power in 2006, blew a hole in the wall between Gaza and Egypt last week. The tens of thousands of Palestinians who poured in to buy supplies were reportedly accepted and welcomed by the Northern Egyptian residents.

Now, Fatah and Hamas, the two rival Palestinian groups are in Cairo to negotiate an amicable end to what is now viewed as a border crisis between Egypt and Gaza. Egyptian officials are pressing Fatah and Hamas to group together, though the two groups continue to fight and are far from cooperating. Meanwhile, both Fatah and Egyptian forces say they will take control of and seal the border.

*United Nations/Iran*: After two rounds of U.N. sanctions against Iran, in punishment for continuing is nuclear program, there has been an observable effect on the Iranian economy, according to the British ambassador.

Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claims that the Iranian economy is unaffected, and promised to push forward with the Iranian nuclear program, which is only intended to produce electricity, he said.

Though there is disagreement between members of the U.N. Security Council on the legitimacy of the Iranian program, U.N. diplomats say a third round of sanctions is on the way in the following weeks and threaten “further appropriate measures” should the nuclear program continue.

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at The World in Brief

*Mike Huckabee*

Gay Rights: Huckabee opposes same-sex marriage and advocates federal legislation to make marriage allowed between one man and one woman only. Huckabee opposes civil unions, same-sex adoptions, and the reappeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Huckabee does not advocate increased AIDS/HIV funding, proposing that those with AIDS should be “isolated” from society.

Gender Equality: Huckabee opposes (ENDA). He supports the Equal Rights Amendment intended to guarantee equal rights under the law for Americans regardless of gender.

Abortion: Huckabee led Arkansas to pass the Human Life Amendment in the state’s constitution that would have the effect of overturning Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that denied states the authority to prohibit abortion. He supports overturning Roe v. Wade and would not give tax funding to pro-choice organizations. Huckabee does not condone comprehensive sex education within public school systems.

*Ron Paul*

Gay Rights: Paul opposes same-sex marriage, but does not support a federal amendment to define marriage as only between a man and a woman. Paul voted to support a ban of gay adoptions in Washington, DC in 1999 and currently supports “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

Gender Equality: Paul is opposed to ENDA.

Abortion: In September of 2007, Paul supported the Sanctity of Life Act, which would remove the jurisdiction from the federal courts and allow the states to pass their own pro- or anti-abortion legislations. Paul believes that life begins at conception and would deny tax funding for pro-choice organizations. Paul pushes to ban partial-birth abortions unless the pregnancy proves to be detrimental to the mother’s health.

*Mitt Romney*

Gay Rights: Romney has recently made it clear that he opposes gay marriage and in trying to position himself as the most conservative presidential candidate, he opposes most rights for homosexuals. He currently supports “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” and is opposed to civil unions. In 2004, Romney wrote an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal entitled “One Man, One Woman: A Citizen’s Guide to Protecting Marriage.”

Gender Equality: In 2007, Romney said that he supports ENDA.

Abortion: As of 2007, Romney has taken the pro-life stance and would support the over-turning of Roe v. Wade by “changing hearts and minds.”

*Hillary Clinton*

Gay Rights: Clinton voted against the Federal Marriage Amendment that would have defined marriage as between a man and a woman. She does not support same-sex marriage, though advocate for civil unions. Clinton supports giving the entire queer community equal rights in adopting children. Clinton supports the UAFA and also supports increasing funding for HIV/AIDS.

Gender Equality: Clinton said she would work to pass ENDA and propose another measure extending benefits to the partners of federal employees in March 2007.

Abortion: Clinton is pro-choice and seeks to uphold Roe v. Wade. She also supports the passage of REALA

*Barack Obama*

Gay Rights: Obama believes in same-sex adoptions, supports the UAFA, supports increased HIV/AIDS funding, and is for the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Although he has said that he supports civil unions, he is against gay marriage.

Gender Equality: Obama supports ENDA and believes that it should be expanded to include discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Abortion: Obama is pro-choice, supports Roe v. Wade, and believes that it is a “woman’s right to choose” whether or not to have an abortion. He also supports the REALA.

*Term You Should Know*

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell: The act prohibits any homosexual or bisexual person from disclosing his or her sexual orientation, or from mentioning any homosexual relationships while serving in the United States armed forces. As long as queer men and women in the military hide their sexual orientation, commanders are not allowed to investigate their sexuality.

ENDA: Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which prohibits job discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

UAFA: Uniting American Families Act, which would allow American citizens to petition for immigration sponsorship for same-sex partners.

REALA: Responsible Education about Life Act, which would create a federal grant program to channel money to states that choose to teach comprehensive and age-appropriate sex education for students.

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at The Presidential Candidate Rundown

Crack! cries the firewhip as it unleashes a massive plume of fire and smoke into the air. The crowd goes wild. Crack! Another fiery plume rises into the air, leaving a smoky trail lingering in its wake.

For many, fire dancing is a novel party trick that appears at a range of gatherings from luaus in Hawaii to house parties around the world. Acting as a source of light, warmth, and entertainment for millions of years, fire transforms everything it touches for better or worse. While it clearly takes a level of self-confidence and bravery to study this art form, the culture, communities, gatherings and endless practice sessions that create these performances are largely unknown to the general public.

“Fire is such a mysterious element,” said Anthony Rutland, a Santa Cruz performer. Fire dancing gives Rutland a personalized form of expression on par with meditation. “It’s nothing that we have a whole lot of control over, and when you’re spinning fire, you kind of have control. Sometimes it can be spiritual as well. When I’m spinning fire, I forget about everything except what I’m doing then and there. It’s definitely an expression of yourself: Everything inside of you wants to come out, and you can just let go as you dance with the fire.”

While there is no absolute definition for fire dancing, it typically consists of an extensive number of toys and tricks, from fire breathing and eating to spinning swords and staves around one’s body in an effort to impress the crowd. Much of the art began with coastal tribes from the Polynesian Islands who used it for entertainment and ritualistic purposes.

Poi, a commonly seen fire prop, consists of a pair of chain and Kevlar wicks that are spun around in various patterns.

Its origin is the Maori people in New Zealand, who used balls on ropes made from whatever could be found within nature.

It was not used with fire but rather was used as a means to increase strength and flexibility, and doubled as percussion instruments when hitting against various parts of one’s body.

Today, the use of poi and other performance props has drastically evolved.

The Internet has played a large role in this, as many people from around the world have been able to share ideas about how to perform certain moves — like swinging the poi over your head — or find inspiration for choreographed performances.

“I watch a lot of performances and lessons over the Internet,” Local fire performer Dyami Kaplan said. “It gives you access to a lot of expertise for learning specific moves that may not be available from other local performers.”

By contrast, some performers do not like to name or categorize their movements.

“I hate it when people learn fire moves,” said Ayala Kalisher, another local performer. “People ask, ‘Can you do this and that?’ For me, it’s less about the moves and more about the movement.”

Susan Hillhouse, curator for the Museum of Art and History in Santa Cruz, cited Burning Man as an instrumental event in the evolution of fire arts in general.

“You don’t have the kinds of spaces to play with fire in Santa Cruz like you do at Burning Man, and there isn’t much to burn out in the desert,” Hillhouse said. “As a result, it has significantly influenced the technology and techniques used in the fire arts.”

Some of the people influenced by Burning Man have created their own similar festivals around the world, further spreading awareness of fire art.

But what inspires people to spin fire in the first place?

“I saw it at a festival, and everyone out there just looked so cool, and I wanted to be able to do that,” Kalisher said. “They all looked like they should’ve been superheroes out of a comic book manipulating that fire.”

Along with the fact that fire performance is much appreciated by both sexes, Kalisher’s desire to spin fire “like a rock star” is a common motivation for fire dancing.

With a number of fire troupes based out of Santa Cruz, the area claims a mixture of professionals and hobbyists who freely collaborate and share ideas to progress their work.

One recently formed fire-dancing group, Fire University Santa Cruz, was created by Kalisher to try and get local fire spinners of all skill levels to gather weekly.

“I was inspired by the Fire University in Davis to try and build a fire community here,” she said. “When I moved back to Santa Cruz recently, a lot of local performers that spin fire in Santa Cruz told me that the public gatherings had disappeared and no one had any motivation to recreate them, so I brought Fire University here.”

The group has weekly spin jams on Sunday nights at the Westcliff lighthouse, which have gone over well with local residents.

“Everyone is welcome, regardless of skill,” Kalisher said. “We put a show on for the community and try to build a more unified fire community. You’ll see families with their kids enjoying the performance.”

Fire University has seen a recent surge in activity, as about twenty people came to watch on Jan. 20.

Nick Pacé, a local Santa Cruz resident, heard about the gatherings from a friend and said he was rather impressed by the show.

“I think it’s a beautiful sight to see these fire performances in the middle of winter under the moonlight,” Pacé said. “It’s like taking the kids out to the beach for a picnic, but better.”

The Santa Cruz community seems largely supportive of the gatherings as a fun outing on the weekends, and thus far there have been no complaints from nearby residents.

While the fire arts are accepted in Santa Cruz, the Santa Cruz Fire Department takes a preventative stance on fire dancing.

“Generally, we ask the performers to stop performing and explain that they need a permit to be able to perform in public,” said fire investigator Mark Ramos. “Most of the time, the performers willingly comply and proceed to obtain a permit. So long as they are safe about it and know what they’re doing, I think it has a positive impact on the community. But for those who aren’t, they ruin it for the rest of the performers and have a negative impact on the community.”

For most experienced performers, personal fire safety is rarely a problem. But in some cases, some of the safety guidelines like keeping people far enough from the performer can be useful for repelling drunken onlookers from certain peril.

“At a performance at Burning Man, I was about to perform and I had my wicks soaked with fuel, and then this woman came up to me and said she wanted to spin,” Kaplan said. “I thought it’d be OK since she looked like she knew what she was doing. But when she lit them up, she was getting into everyone’s space and even threw one of my poi into the audience. The fire safety crew was pretty pissed off about it.”

For the most part, the fire community in Santa Cruz appears very welcoming and friendly, but there are some cases where elitism negatively affects new students.

“When people light up at a party or a park, I can usually join in, but there are some uppity people that I think of as the ‘fire mafia,’” said Melissa Goray, a Santa Cruz fire hoop dancer of four months. “They are rather condescending when it comes to getting help.”

Considering the difficulty of achieving a skill level in the fire arts and the meager salary professional performers make from a scarce number of paid gigs, it’s no surprise that some people would rather keep their trade secrets to themselves. Fortunately, this does not appear to be the general mentality of fire performers and most are more than happy to share their discoveries with whomever wants to learn.

As for future events, Fire University will continue to host weekly spin jams and is planning a fire props workshop for anyone who wishes to get help making fire toys.

“I like to make my own tools, and believe that if you’re going to spin fire, you should know how to make and fix your own tools,” Kalisher said. “A bunch of us who know how to make different props are going to get together, order Kevlar and materials in bulk and charge the material cost. We just want to get more people involved in the fire arts.”

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at Playing With Fire

It included an evening-gown competition, a question and answer panel about ancient traditions, a talent contest and … sheep butchering?

All are part of the annual Miss Navajo competition held in the Navajo Nation, which is located in the four corners region of the American Southwest. The event combines aspects of mainstream American beauty pageants with an emphasis on Navajo culture and language. Winners must be fluent in both English and Navajo and are seen as ambassadors for the Navajo Nation.

The film “Miss Navajo” brings attention to this largely unknown competition and aspects of the Navajo culture. It was screened at the UC Santa Cruz Women’s Center last Thursday as part of the film series “Reel Women/Real Change’.”

Roberta Valdez, the director of the UCSC Women’s Center, said that the rest of the film series will include documentaries like “Miss Navajo” that depict relatively unfamiliar aspects of women’s lives.

“This is the second quarter that I’ve done this series,” Valdez said, “and I hope to bring to light some of the movements that women have been involved in that are not necessarily well known.”

Valdez chose films that “focus on how women have changed history or changed their communities in different ways,” she said.

Samantha Folb, a fourth-year Cowell student and UCSC Women’s Center intern, said that these films “touch on all aspects of positive change, both political and social.”

Although the UCSC film screening has passed, “Miss Navajo” is available for purchase at cinemaguild.com. Valdez will be donating her copy to the McHenry Library by the end of winter quarter. A home DVD will also be available for purchase in 2009 and will include additional footage.

“Miss Navajo” director and producer Billy Luther spoke to City on a Hill Press about why he chose to make a film about the pageant. He said that “Miss Navajo” brings attention to a competition that blurs modernity with tradition and works to destabilize mainstream conceptions of beauty.

“The pageant, over fifty years ago, started just like a typical westernized pageant,” Luther said. “It wasn’t until a few years later that the Navajo people really realized that this was something that they could use more to showcase Navajo tradition and culture.”

The film follows the 2005 Miss Navajo pageant contestants, and focuses on the shy, young Navajo Nation resident Crystal Frazier. Luther also has a personal connection to the competition — his mother was crowned Miss Navajo in 1966. The film features interviews with Luther’s mother and other former winners to gauge how the competition has affected their lives.

“I knew that I had something very special here and something that was really unique,” Luther said. “I wanted to explore not just the pageant but the role of women in her culture, and I thought I could do that through the humor, through this story of Crystal, the contemporary story of a young Navajo woman, and also what this pageant has meant to these women.”

_Upcoming “Reel Women/Real Change” films include “Chisholm ’72: Unbought and Unbossed” Feb. 7, “Don’t Need You” Feb. 21, and “Sisters in Law” March 6. These films will all be shown on Thursdays, starting at 6:30 p.m. at the UCSC Women’s Center. Screenings are free for students and snacks are provided. For more information e-mail women@ucsc.edu or call (831) 459-2072._

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at Navajo Pageant Film Shown at Women’s Center Film Series

Any girl who has walked down Pacific Ave. on a Friday night knows something about catcalls. Chances are she also knows a thing or two about how to ignore them. What isn’t so easy to ignore, however, is the brutal response from a neglected cat-caller.

Take, for example, a scene I witnessed this past weekend: Strolling home from the bars, three girls passed a handful of young, exuberant guys who yelled, “Hey layyydies,” “Where’re you goin’?” among other generically sleazy statements. When the girl closest to them responded by giving a smug smile and a “No thanks,” the scrawniest of the bunch shouted after her, “Whatever, you water buffalo dyke!”

Water buffalo dyke? Points for creativity, but please. Aside from the resourceful use of adjective and imagery, this insult is the most hilariously pathetic stinger I’ve ever heard.

First off, if you give someone an insult at least make sure it’s true. Secondly, this didn’t help the young man save face, restore his pride or reassert his manhood, like he surely intended it to. Thirdly, he sounded foolish — chances are, if he was hitting on her a moment ago, he didn’t think she looked too much like a water buffalo then.

While this variation of retort was a first for my ears, it is not at all uncommon for guys to brashly bleat some form of “lesbian” in response to rejection. A bit of clarification for all like-minded alpha males out there: Just because she isn’t into you doesn’t mean she’s a lesbian. And so what if she is? What kind of insult is that? A bigoted and homophobic excuse for an insult, that’s what.

Furthermore, any of the other snarling words that you may pull out of your skeaze-bag hat (skank, ho, slut, bitch, etc.) are also irrelevant and childish ways of expressing yourself. We all know that what you actually meant was, “Ouch! Your rejection sure has wounded my manliness!”

Has it become a matter of safety that we women are often too nice, give fake numbers, forcefully smile and enlist our friends to save us from testosterone-driven predators? Wouldn’t it make things easier for everyone if these sexual marauders could just handle the truth?

Because in reality there are a thousand possible reasons she could have snubbed your advances. Perhaps she has a boyfriend. Perhaps she is in fact a lesbian. Maybe it was your slurring and swaying that deterred her attention. Or was it your inappropriate approach? (Note to “waterbuffalo dyke” fellow: Hollering at a girl when she walks down the street IS NOT a good way to meet her.)

Prowlers, you are well overdue for an upgrade in manners. The next time your pick-up line crashes and burns or your curbside shout doesn’t get the attention you had hoped for, swallow that overflowing heap of pride enough to say something nice — or don’t say anything at all.

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at Can’t Buy Me Love

Founded in 2006, QQPoC is a crossroads of people with diverse cultures and genders that connect to offer support, open dialogues and take action. Unlike registered UCSC student organizations, the QQPoC is a workgroup composed of students, staff and faculty and is made possible through the collaborative efforts of four UCSC Ethnic Resource Centers, the GLBTI Resource Center and the Women’s Center.

City on a Hill Press (CHP) sat down with three members of QQPoC, returning members Tommy Le and Solymar Sola-Negron and first-time attendee Louis Ortega, to discuss what function the group serves on campus.

_What about the group’s structure makes it different from typical student orgs?_

Sola-Negron: Something that is important to note is that it’s not a student organization. It’s a workgroup, inclusive of students, staff and faculty. It is not specific to students or to staff — it’s a collaborative effort between all of the constituencies on campus.

_What space do you feel this group creates on campus? One which perhaps it was previously lacking?_

Ortega: I think it is a QQPoC collective effort to involve not just MEChA or ABSA or any other individual ethnic organization. It offers an opportunity where we can all come together as a community to create events that support the entire QQPoC community beyond just being an individual ethnic effort. It’s a collective.

_What issues are on the table when you get together? What kind of things are you trying to work on or support each other through?_

Sola-Negron: Something that is unique to the QQPoC community is that there are a lot of different identities. Not only are QQPoC members people of color, which is already a marginalized community on campus and socially marginalized everywhere else, but it is also a queer community that has a lot of identities within itself. So there are a lot of issues that we could be talking about — access to higher education at the same time as your coming-out stories [for example]. It’s very fluid what we can and will discuss.

_Does the QQPoC have any goals for the new year?_

Le: One of the goals for this group is putting ourselves out there so that other persons of color on this campus see that there is a space for them. There isn’t any other space for queer people of color on this campus. If there is, it is ethnic-specific. So it’s just [about] putting ourselves out there and showing queer students of color that we are here for them—creating visibility.

_Louis, as a new member, what attracted you to the group and what are you hoping to get out of it?_

Ortega: I’m hoping to get a more solid sense of community on this campus. A lot of queer people on campus aren’t only queer—possibly they come from a low-income family or are a person of color. All of these marginalizing things that come together to isolate us from one another. I hope this group will become a safe space for all people of color and all queers.

I really hope that we throw more events and branch out to the isolated members of the queer community who really don’t have any sense of community and are out there by themselves.

_The QQPoC is hosting its Winter Reception tonight from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Student Union. The event will include guest speakers and food will be provided._

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at Meet Your Student Org!

The Kinetics Poetics Project, an annual spoken word festival at UC Santa Cruz, will take place Feb. 3 through 7 in the Porter dining hall. There will be six featured artists performing at the festival this year, as well as a workshop and open mic on the last day.

Jack Rusk, co-producer of Kinetics Poetics, anticipates that the event will serve as a platform for previously uninvolved people to become inspired to write or participate in spoken word.

“We’re having an open mic, which is our way of turning the tables and asking people, ‘We brought this to you—now what do you have to say?’” he said.

One-on-one workshops with featured artists will be held on the last day of the festival.

Rusk, who will be coordinating the workshops, hopes that they will help to spread his love for spoken word to the UCSC community, especially the students.

“It’s something that’s really important to people, especially those in college, who are usually in anonymous, 350-persons classrooms,” Rusk said. “People listen to you [here]. It is a powerful experience that’s available to people here [at UCSC].”

Sarah Yolon, resident graphic designer for Kinetics Poetics, also wants the event to give hushed voices in the UCSC community a chance to be heard via slam poetry.

She hopes that the impressive line-up of guest artists, including Anis Mojgani, Mike McGee, Ammo, Katie Wirsing, Andrea Gibson and Saul Williams, will

attract and inspire more students this year.

“Saul Williams recently put out an album with Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, so we expect to bring a bigger audience,” Yolon said. “He also has a very unique voice. He’s someone who’s not just known in the slam poetry scene but is also known in the hip-hop scene.”

Mike McGee, poet-performer among the festival’s featured artists, said that in the past students have always been able to take something away from his art.

“A lot of [my poems] come from a place of youth and growing out of that youth,” McGee said. “I think they end up connecting with me like they know me, which has always been my goal.”

In hopes of reaching a more diverse group of people in the UCSC and Bay Area communities, the Kinetics team made efforts this year to bring in more female artists.

“Hearing other people tell your story, or things that people can relate to, is a really powerful experience,” Rusk said. “You can relate to [female artists] in different ways.”

While Yolon agreed that slam poetry is partially about relating to others, she stressed that the art is largely about individual—albeit collectively supported—expression.

“A lot people say, ‘Slam poetry saved my life,’” Yolon said. “It’s an opportunity to exist and to express yourself as a survivor. It’s an opportunity to express yourself as an individual in a world where you might feel overwhelmed sometimes.”

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at Kinetics Poetics Project at UCSC

As the lights dim, and audience members settle into their seats Feb. 1 and 2, attendees of Acquire’s “Disneymania” may find themselves overcome by a range of emotions. There is sure to be the obligatory shock and awe at the sheer magnitude of the voices coming from onstage. It’s almost certain that there will be chills as notes beyond average control are hit. But what the 20-plus members of the UC Santa Cruz-based a cappella group are hoping for is something entirely different: nostalgia.

“There’s going to be a lot of ‘aaaaw’-ing’ when audience members recognize their favorite Disney song,” said Leesa Durst, a UCSC first-year and member of Acquire. “These are the songs so many of us grew up with and know all the lyrics to simply because we’ve watched those Disney movies so many times.”

The familiar Congo drum-line and African calls that lead to The Lion King’s “Circle of Life” — the first song of the night — tend to induce a vast feeling of nostalgia. And as the gospel hum of Hercules draws near, memories of our generation will find a way to make us remember a simpler time, when things were much less complicated.

“For me to be able to take a night and just relive these songs I used to sing with friends will be like a break from reality,” said Diane Kronska, a first-year communications major. “[Things] can get so complicated in college, and there is something about Disney that just takes me back to times when things were — for lack of a better term — better.”

For Acquire, memories of yesteryear will play a pivotal role in their performance, but there is more to their act than simply unearthing childhood memories. The group’s practice regimen is no child’s play: Getting together more than twice a week to learn, arrange, and perform music often leads to rather daunting pressure. But as Durst, who serves as one of the group’s altos, puts it, being surrounded by passionate musical talent is worth the workload.

“I love how everyone in the group is ridiculously obsessed with music. So when you put us all together, it’s like all our dorky music dreams come true,” she said, citing an example from a recent afterparty. “After a performance earlier this year, we had a little dance party that ended up with everybody singing different harmonies and beats to ‘Bohemian Rhapsody.’ If I were to do that at any other college party, it just wouldn’t be as fun.”

Durst brings up the very point that gives Acquire its planned Disney-themed performance weight. At an age when the awkward limbo between adulthood and childishness has been reached, when exactly do we get a break from the daunting reality of the “real world?” Second-year Steffany Rodas believes that Acquire’s songs serve as time capsules suspended in childhood, and offer college students a little reprieve.

“We are at such a strange place in our lives. We have the stress of having to figure our [life] out, but we have to balance it with living up the present,” she said. “To have music and the arts remind us to slow down and not take things so seriously is nice — it makes you really check yourself in the bigger scheme of things.”

The true test of Acquire’s ability to guide us down familiar paths long since visited will be put to the test Feb. 1 through 2 at the Cowell dining hall. According to Durst, one overarching theme should be expected: “Basically Acquire has the theme of awesome.”

Wise words — evocative of a time where the term awesome was more than descriptive enough.

_For more information about Acquire and future shows, visit acquiremusic.org._

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at Relive Your Childhood With This Concert

Hollywood, it seems, has been turned on its head.

Ever since the Writers Guild of America (WGA) went on strike, both the town and its television and film industries have hardly resembled their usual selves. The studios’ normally bustling, chaotic sets became eerily calm and quiet when the strike halted production on new shows and movies Nov. 4. For the past three months, the strange new silence hanging over the sets has mingled with the clamor of rowdy WGA picketers, who crowd normally-empty L.A. sidewalks outside studio gates to march, yell, and demand a bigger slice of the industry’s digital-age pie.

The WGA strike began when the union’s 12,000 members confronted major studios, demanding that writers receive payment for TV shows and movies that are now being released on the Internet.

The issue of financial compensation for original material delivered over the Internet has become particularly contentious over the past year. Rapidly evolving media technology and the Internet-heavy activity from young consumers continue to deliver increasingly popular entertainment options as alternatives to traditional broadcast television, furthering the growth of an entirely different approach to media consumption.

“Your generation is used to getting entertainment on demand in one form or another,” said Jeffrey Melvoin, a longtime WGA member and former “Seinfeld” writer. “Its habits are moving toward ‘I want it when I want it, how I want it, and where I want it.’”

The new viewing patterns of young people have been encouraged by the emergence of a slew of new media and Internet technologies over the past several years. The rise of TiVo and On-Demand cable have allowed viewers to watch television shows at when they want and entirely without commercials. The explosion of YouTube and social networking sites has also provided media consumers with new, more interactive ways to spend their leisure time and view video footage.

According to a Pew Research Center survey published Jan. 9, the daily traffic to video sharing sites such as YouTube doubled in the last year.

“Consumers consume content in so many different ways now—on different platforms and in non-scheduled times. They are completely in control,” said Vivi Zeigler, executive vice president of digital entertainment at NBC. “One year ago, I could not have predicted the use patterns we see today.”

As the television industry watches much of its young audience exhibit new consumption habits and slowly drift toward alternate forms of media, it is adapting quickly by increasing its web presence. Networks now offer a much wider variety of entertainment options on their official websites, including full-length streaming episodes available after their broadcast airing, online-only digital extras, and interactive production blogs that explore how shows are made. Zeigler summarized her network’s new approach.

“As we develop shows for NBC air, the NBC.com team works side-by-side with the shows to create assets online,” she said. “NBC.com’s mission is to provide an experience that continues beyond the 30 or 60 minutes that their favorite show is on television.”

Networks have even gone so far as developing free websites that allow viewers to watch entire network shows streamed online, as is the case with Hulu.com, an advertisement-supported site being developed by the FOX and NBC networks that will be open to the public soon.

The crossover of television programming onto the Internet has become a new norm at local stations as well, including UC Santa Cruz’s own SCTV, the student-run local television station that began streaming its content online two years ago.

“There has been a general movement within SCTV to move towards on-demand entertainment,” said Jeremy Karafin, the assistant director of student media at UCSC. “If it’s not online, it doesn’t exist.”

Since early November, striking WGA writers have argued that under the current industry agreement they will be excluded from an equitable portion of the digital era’s entertainment profits, while major studios contend that the economics of the Internet are still too unpredictable to come to a new labor agreement that considers web revenue.

As negotiations between the WGA and major studios reached an impasse in mid-December, many writers who were frustrated with the halted negotiations began searching for innovative ways to reach audiences and sell their work without studio involvement. Aaron Mendelsohn, who wrote the screenplay for Disney flick “Air Bud” and is a member of the WGA negotiating committee, has become a recognized leader of this forward-looking group of prominent industry professionals who have rallied around the writer-owned Internet production company he recently founded.

“Vitual Artists Inc. was born out of the strike, as the studios’ negotiating committee went down the rabbit hole,” Mendelsohn said. “As we waited for the latest ridiculous offer to come in, we realized that we could deliver our content directly to the masses through the Internet.”

Virtual Artists Inc. is the collaborative brainchild of a pool of Hollywood’s most prominent writers and several leading software designers, and it is being seen by many as a potentially revolutionary force in the entertainment industry. The independent venture is composed entirely of WGA writers and industry professionals and is hoping to receive over $30 million from investors in order to begin developing films and television shows to release on its website, virtualartists.tv.

The company’s stated purpose is to direct the future of film and television entertainment towards a new paradigm, one Mendelsohn referred to as “Hollywood 2.0”, where professional-grade content would be delivered to viewers online without what it sees as the restrictive influence of major studios.

Mendelsohn views this approach as an evolutionary outgrowth of the YouTube phenomenon, and one that is perfectly in line with the history of entertainment.

“Whenever there’s some new form of storytelling technology, it always begins with a mirror and bit of novelty,” Mendelsohn said.

He explained that YouTube and all amateur content posted on the Internet are essentially digital-age incarnations of the basic, rudimentary self-portraits first seen in the earliest still and moving pictures. With time, he explained, these humble images always blossom into highly sophisticated art forms and profitable entertainment when skilled professionals become acquainted with the new mediums.

Extending this metaphor to YouTube, he said, “Now the mirror image has solidified, and it is time for the professional storytellers to come in.”

Mendelsohn’s vision of the role his company will play within entertainment history may appear grandiose at first, but the central concept of Virtual Artists Inc. has been gaining ground in Hollywood largely because the economics of Internet entertainment—still largely a mystery to all interested parties—may actually enable such an idea to come to fruition.

“This is groundbreaking,” said Michael Tabb, WGA member and producer of Strike TV, a new membership-only WGA website that allows striking writers to post their original content and collaborate with one another on new projects. “The great thing about the Internet is that while the mediums of TV and feature films require exceedingly large amounts of advertising money and large audiences, Internet movies don’t have to cater to those needs, which opens the doors of creative expression.”

Tabb’s opinion echoes the hopes of many striking writers, who equate independence from major studios with greater creative freedom, and ultimately with a more democratic and dynamic form of entertainment. The proponents of “Hollywood 2.0” hope that their proposed medium’s smaller production budgets and entirely different distribution style would enable their work to thrive from the support of smaller niche audiences that would reward more diverse approaches to writing and producing TV shows and films.

“Instead of distributing content to them, they discover content from us and distribute it to friends,” Mendelsohn said. “This is totally democratizing in the spirit of the Internet — it’s a decentralized, egalitarian, and largely free system.”

Though the Internet may now appear to be the all-powerful, unpredictable medium upon which writers and studio executives place all of their greatest hopes and fears, this does not necessarily mean the end is near for broadcast television.

“The history of television is a history of changing technology and changing viewing practices,” said L.S. Kim, an assistant professor of film and digital media at UCSC. “The idea that television is facing a crisis is not new.”

Kim noted that about once every decade, television and its major networks are threatened by apparently menacing technologies like the VCR or digital recording, but the medium always endures. She attributes television’s staying power in America partially to a force new Internet-based media formats may have trouble fighting.

“There is a communal cultural television experience that is not going away any time soon,” Kim said.

In order for the alternative vision of “Hollywood 2.0” to catch on, it must also battle the skepticism of advertisers, many who are still hesitant to shift their focus to online entertainment.

“It could take a few years to become a profitable business model,” Mendelsohn said. “Advertisers are reluctant to get into bed with this model, but as the quality of content moves to the net, advertisers are getting more excited.”

On the topic of advertising and new media, former Seinfeld writer Jeffrey Melvoin said, “At the point when advertisers decide a better placement to put their money, that’s where the content will follow.” Melvoin emphasized that advertisers will inevitably go where they see the best return for their investments and base their decisions on the viewing habits of their audience.

Jeremy Fong, a young designer for Hulu.com, believes that the tastes of young consumers will ultimately decide whether or not a new internet-based model will come to replace the broadcast television medium that has brought us our entertainment for the last half of a century.

“Ultimately, our generation of consumers will decide how all of this plays out,” Fong said.

Most of the striking writers, industry professionals, and software designers engaged in efforts to revolutionize film and television are in agreement that regardless of when the WGA strike ends and whether or not their new ventures find immediate success, this moment in the history of entertainment is one of momentous transition, and one they are trying to mold into a shape of their own choosing.

“Studios and networks have been telling our stories for 100 years, but we’ve been telling them for 100,000 years,” said Aaron Mendelsohn. “Technology evolves, but what doesn’t change is that people always want great stories.”

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at Hollywood 2.0—Is TV Dying?

What do a flamethrower, glow-in-the-dark sneakers and a giant labyrinth have in common?

They are all housed at the Museum of Art and History on Front Street as part of the exhibit “Close to the Flame: In the Spirit of Burning Man.”

The exhibit, which runs through Feb. 3 at the Solari gallery, gives visitors a glimpse into the philosophy and art that keeps participants of the notorious desert festival returning year after year.

“So much of what we do at the museum has to do with preserving a tangible exhibit, but this exhibit has more to do with preserving an idea,” museum curator Susan Hillhouse said.

For Hillhouse, Burning Man is more than a just a hedonistic arts festival.

“People have their pre-conceived notions of who goes to Burning Man, and I think that finding that this was not the case was one of my favorite things about the festival,” she said. “I also really liked all the sharing. People would ask to show you something and then say that they made something just for you.”

Objects at the exhibit range from bracelets and necklaces to absurd art installations and intense fire shows. “Bonefire Bob” Hoffman, a Soquel resident and Burning Man artist, donated an assortment of “Bonefire” flamethrowers to the exhibit.

“In 2001, I brought my portable flamethrower to Burning Man that weighed 50 pounds, which was not fun,” he said. “After coming back, I thought that this is good. Michael Leeds, a friend of mine in Santa Cruz, gave me a smaller valve that was like a steel whistle valve and used it to make a smaller flamethrower that came to eventually become the bonfire flamethrower.”

At six pounds and capable of shooting a 15-foot flame of propane, the gift is much appreciated by fellow Burning Man participants.

“Seeing other people playing with fire was one reason I went to Burning Man,” Hoffman said. “I also grew up playing with matches and lighters, so it was a natural progression. I think we all have this place inside of us that likes to watch the fire. I call it ‘primal TV.’”

Another artist, Lucy Hosking, was also inspired by Burning Man to make art with fire.

“Seriously, when I got there, 20 minutes into my first walk, something planted the idea of Satan’s Caliope,” she said. “By the time I got back to camp, I had three-quarters of the design done in my head and spent the next two years working on it.”

Satan’s Caliope looks like a pretty metal sculpture, but functions as a unique instrument that consists of 17 pulse jets that play like an organ from a connected midi keyboard.

“We got a bunch of Harley mufflers pipes and the expansion chamber out of some old dirt bike parts to make a pulse jet just to delight people,” she said. “It’s this nasty, dangerous, obnoxious thing that turns red when you run it, makes a horrible noise. When you play it, it sounds like a truck wreck on Route 17 with a box of puppies on fire.”

Overall, Hosking seems happy with her calling as a fire aficionado.

“It seems that I’ve found my medium in fire. I’m getting rockstar credit for things I would’ve been spanked for as a kid.”

For many artists like Hoffman and Hosking, most of their art may not have been possible without the open community and environment that Burning Man provides.

“You can’t put art in a box and contain it to that definition,” Hillhouse said. “I think the Burning Man community opens up the definition of what art is and what it means to society. They help expand the definition of art, and is one of the best things about it.”

_Visit santacruzmah.org for more information._

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at Downtown Santa Cruz Closer to Burning Man

They stand on the court, ready, like warriors prepared for battle, on edge, balanced on the balls of their feet. They wield a racquet in one hand and the other is held up, palm facing the opponent, a stance that keeps them ready for anything that comes their way.

For a sport that often makes its appearance in grandma’s backyard, these athletes call upon all their reflexes and agility to swat down a speeding birdie without mercy.

This is badminton.

The badminton team is one of a few sports on the UC Santa Cruz campus that does not have NCAA recognition, despite its status as an Olympic sport.

NCAA or not, this strong and dedicated Tier 1 team means business, and has an experienced adviser who’s on the same page.

Jim Bosco, who recently turned 80 and still competes in badminton tournaments, is there for the players when they need direction, but he avoids falling into the role of bossy coach.

“A coach tells you what to do, and you don’t play if you don’t do what he tells you to do,” Bosco said. “An adviser is here to help and instruct, but you have to ask.”

Bosco, a World Masters Champion in badminton, volunteers his time to advise the club.

“They are doing it on their own,” Bosco said. “I just help.”

The team has played in two matches so far this season against UC Berkeley in October and UC Davis in November.

Despite defeats in both matches, the team had pride coming off the court having given the competition a good fight.

With two matches under its belt, the team is nearing the midpoint of its season. The next match is scheduled for Feb. 2 and will be held at Stanford.

“I feel confident about taking the win,” said club president sophomore Renald Tamsey. “We can really use our talent [as] a Tier 1 team.”

Club vice president George Zhong added that the match “should be competitive,” but nothing should be taken for granted.

As a club, badminton is thriving with 40 or so members, 15 of whom travel to the competitions and represent the team. Matches consist of singles, doubles, and mixed doubles.

“In here the women are strong and keep [pace with the men], which makes for a more exciting match,” Tamsey said. “When the males and females can perform at the same level, it makes for unlimited possibilities.”

Upon the completion of the West Field House renovations, the badminton club will be hosting a tournament open to all interested players, which will include matches, instruction, and prizes for participants.

The team hopes to hold the tournament in the spring, should the West Field House be completed. Until then, the team keeps moving forward, hoping to improve its record with a couple big wins in upcoming tournaments.

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at Badminton Looks For Late Season Wins

Just as the UC Santa Cruz Cycling Club gets ready for another season, the rain puts a damper on high early season spirits. Despite the fact that the races continue on, rain or shine, the Slugs are finding it difficult to ride in the face of the storm.

“It’s not a lot of fun to ride in the rain,” junior Ryland Wolff Baker said. “A lot of people do not ride when it’s raining, so it hurts our ability to train.”

Even with all the trouble the team has had with the storms, that hurdle may be the least of their worries. The club is focusing on getting through other obstacles, such as fielding enough cyclists for the team, finding transportation to events and garnering support from local shops.

“The participation from the team is there, it is just hard to come by sometimes,” senior Adam Lucero said. “Sometimes with funding and paying dues, it really depends on if they have the money.”

The team also has to find new ways of getting to and from the competitions, which often results in the team having to incorporate carpooling systems for themselves and their bikes.

When it comes down to the competition, it is a completely different story, as the struggles and worries escape riders as they prepare for their races.

“Just going to races and having fun is enough for us,” Baker said. “I don’t really think there is a point in racing unless you are going to have fun doing it.”

The club does not show any resentment toward their place in the cycling ranks. Instead, the team is looking on the bright side.

“Last season, we didn’t get first place as a team, and I don’t think anyone on our team got first place,” Baker said. “But in terms of fun we won every race.”

Kevin “Skippy” Givens, the club sports director, is one of the club’s biggest supporters.

“My history with the team goes back to when I first worked with the sports clubs around the year 2000,” Givens said. “There was not really a team back then and one of my main objectives was to establish and maintain the cycling team and [keep it] functioning.”

The cycling club may seem more relaxed than other clubs, since many cyclists on the team would rather enjoy riding around the many idealistic landscapes in Santa Cruz than focus on competing for the top spot.

“Santa Cruz is a fantastic place for cycling,” Givens said. “It’s like a cycling Mecca.”

As for the future of the team, they are determined to make this club one of the most popular and inclusive clubs on campus. The club has a notably strong alumni base and their strength in membership and diversity appeals to a wide range of potential riders.

“The club is valuable in that it challenges [team members] to look to the future,” Givens said. “Leaving behind their legacy and their mark with this program.”

The Slugs will officially start their season in a two-day event in San Diego this weekend, Feb. 2-3, hosted by UC San Diego and San Diego State University.

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at Cycling Team Starts Off With a Nice Pace

Some people are lucky if they ever get to live out their dreams. Adam Smarte gets to do it at the ripe young age of 21.

Last week, Smarte, who graduated from UCSC in the fall after his final season of collegiate soccer, got a phone call from the San Jose Earthquakes telling him that he was the team’s first pick in Major League Soccer’s supplemental draft.

“I was just really excited,” Smarte said. “And I haven’t stopped smiling since.”

Teammates from the UCSC men’s soccer team were there to celebrate the news with Smarte.

“I think I might have been more excited than he was actually,” Senior and captain Jeremy Abrams said. “I kept updating the website to see when the picks for the supplemental draft were out.”

The supplemental draft is a free-agent draft of players that are not taken in the MLS SuperDraft, which indicates Smarte made quite an impression at team tryouts, which took place from Dec.18-21.

“I heard that he had impressed at the combine, so I figured he had a really good shot of getting a roster spot or getting invited to their training camp,” UCSC men’s soccer coach Dan Chamberlain said. “But to be quite honest, I was pretty taken back by the No.1 overall pick in the supplemental draft. It still kind of blows my mind that he got picked over some Division I All Americans and a lot of very good soccer players in DI soccer.”

No. 1 pick or not, Smarte is just happy to have been chosen.

“I’m not really worried about when I was picked because I still have to go out and show my stuff and prove myself out there,” Smarte said. “So being No.1, being No. 4, whatever, I just have to go out there and impress the coaches now and get my spot, because nothing’s guaranteed.”

Smarte still has to earn a spot on the Quakes’ roster, which will be determined after the team’s training camp, beginning on Feb.1. But there is little doubt that Smarte will have any trouble in training camp.

“He’s an absolute physical specimen,” Chamberlain said. “I would be surprised if there’s a guy even in the MLS that’s going to be able to run past him. He can pretty much do it all.”

Abrams agreed.

“He’s a dangerous and dynamic player,” Abrams said. “And when you have speed like that, I mean, you can’t teach speed, so he’s hard to miss on the field.”

If Smarte makes it onto the Quakes’ roster, he will become the fourth soccer player in four years from UCSC to play professionally.

“We’re an underrated program, so it’s nice to get recognition for guys showing such talent from schools like ours,” Abrams said. “We have a guy who’s the No. 1 pick from Santa Cruz and people are like, wait, do they even have a soccer team?”

Now friends, family and fans are just waiting to see what Smarte can do in the big leagues.

“I think he has the capability of doing anything he wants,” Chamberlain said. “If [how he is] now is any indicator of what he’s going to be in the future, then I think there’s great things in store for him.”

And Smarte can be sure that UCSC teammates will be there to support him in this big transition.

“There’s no doubt that if he’s suiting up,” Abrams said. “I’ll be there every game.”

Even though there is still a long way to go and a lot of hard work to do before Smarte can even begin to think about suiting up for the Quakes, the smile on his face remains just knowing that he has the chance to live out his dream of playing professional soccer.

“I mean, [this] is your dream from when you [first] start playing soccer,” Smarte said. “I guess I never really thought it would happen, but I’m just happy it did.”

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at Slug Soccer Star Gets Drafted to the Quakes

Walk down a set of stairs into a narrow corridor with red metal lockers to the left and miniature doors to the right. Step through one of the Alice in Wonderland-like doors into a confined concrete arena. This unusual underground turf is the home to the newest UC Santa Cruz club team: racquetball.

With two “unofficial” seasons under its belt, the racquetball team is enjoying a powerful and productive start to its first season as a recognized club team.

Now that the club is official, it is fielding more skilled players and the level of play has started to increase within the team, and is now experiencing productive competition within the ranks.

“Our team has improved greatly since last year,” co-captain Adrian Villalba said. “Our team [members are] fighting for the top spots.”

Just as important, the team has increased in numbers as well. To become a club team, one of the requirements is to have a roster of at least 10 players. Now, with a roster of 12 this season, five of whom are returning, the club is able to enter tournaments as a UCSC team. In previous years, their low numbers had kept them from competing for a spot on the podium as players were only able to compete in individual tournaments until its recent official club status.

A few weeks ago the team placed third overall with strong performances by all at a tournament held at UC Berkeley. Fourth-year Danielle Evans gave an especially outstanding performance, which earned her a first place finish in her division.

But it was only a couple of years ago that the racquetball club was no more than a group of students whose passion for the sport brought them together simply for recreation’s sake. It didn’t take them long to realize that tournament play was what they actually craved.

In the process of getting the club on its feet, co-captain Reid Parsons contacted John Bardos, a racquetball instructor on campus, to coach and mentor the club.

“I want to give John a lot of credit,” Parsons said. “He spearheaded it all. He’s the guy I [approached] to get it all started.”

While some may see the sport as obscure, members of the club see it as a very accessible sport.

“As a sport, it is very easy to pick up and play,” Bardos said. “It can take years of practice, but there is no limit to how good you can get.”

To jumpstart the club and get potential members inspired, Bardos invited an athletic prodigy, Aubrey O’Brian, well known within the racquetball community, to demonstrate the potential level of play that can be attained. At only five foot six inches tall and 16 years of age, she hits the ball over 130 miles per hour, a speed on par and even above many college male players.

Even with the extremely quick pace of play, Villalba reminds everyone that “[it’s] less dangerous than driving a car.”

With an approaching tournament to be held on Feb. 2 at UC Davis, the team is very excited to showcase its talent again.

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at UCSC Racquetball Club Sees its First Official Season

Americans trust their news sources to deliver the news without coloring stories with personal opinions or biases. When we read the paper, we expect reporters to make an effort to address all sides of an issue with no less than a heap of fairness.

As the primaries approach, emotions run high and debates run rampant as citizens declare their preference for one candidate over another, based on theoretically objective news. What happens if a well-known news source endorses a candidate?

The New York Times, on Jan. 25, endorsed not one, but two candidates: Hillary Clinton and John McCain.

At least they addressed both the Democratic and Republican parties.

“The potential upside of a great Obama presidency is enticing, but this country faces huge problems, and will no doubt be facing more that we can’t foresee. The next president needs to start immediately on challenges that will require concrete solutions, resolve, and the ability to make government work. Mrs. Clinton is more qualified, right now, to be president,” stated the editorial supporting Clinton’s bid for the presidency.

Regarding McCain, the newspaper wrote, “Mr. McCain was one of the first prominent Republicans to point out how badly the war in Iraq was being managed. We wish he could now see as clearly past the temporary victories produced by Mr. Bush’s unsustainable escalation, which have not led to any change in Iraq’s murderous political calculus. At the least, he owes Americans a real idea of how he would win this war, which he says he can do. We disagree on issues like reproductive rights and gay marriage.”

However, a newspaper has no business endorsing a candidate; at least not this early in the game. It’s no small thing for an influential organization such as the Times to venture boldly into a heated debate and spout strong convictions. There’s a lot at stake.

Given its now very obvious biases toward Clinton and McCain, it will be hardly appropriate to assume that the paper’s upcoming political articles about either candidate will be fair or unbiased. We, as readers, will no longer be able to read the New York Times without being wary of the paper’s evident favoritism.

And yet bias shouldn’t stay on the cutting-room floor forever. There are times when taking a stance is necessary and important for fostering change. But when a relatively liberal paper endorses a democratic frontrunner, the strength of the decision to take a stance diminishes.

For an instrument that’s neutral by nature, it should take a little more than primary party politics to provoke a hard-hitting stance.

The issue at hand is not who the New York Times endorsed, because by endorsing any candidate at all, the New York Times has opened itself up to the manipulative antics of the political sphere. Candidate committees and parties will use these editorials as weapons to undermine the reliability of the news that the New York Times reports.

So next time you open up your copy of the Times, remember to consider the biases of its editors; remember that the news doesn’t always run alongside objectivity.

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at New York Times Endorses Clinton, McCain

In October 2005, Ali Mohaqiq Nasab, an editor of an Afghanistan monthly magazine called Women’s Rights, was sentenced to two years in prison by Kabul’s primary court under the country’s blasphemy laws. The prosecutor called for the death penalty.

In April of last year the lifeless body of slain Afghan journalist Ajmal Naqshandi was delivered to a Kandahar hospital by his magnanimous Taliban murderers.

In June of last year Zakia Zaki, owner and director of Peace Radio Afghanistan, was shot dead in her home. At news of her death, head of the Independent Association of Afghan Journalists Rahimullah Samander said, “She believed in freedom of expression, that’s why she was killed.”

This isn’t a laundry list of a journalist’s reoccurring worst nightmares, it’s a lesson in nothing less than an assault on freedom of press and freedom of speech. Afghanistan, which has become a mismanaged afterthought in the “war on terror,” has seen a welcome growth in media outlets since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 (in 2005, 300 print publications were registered with the ministry of culture). But the fledgling state’s burgeoning news industry has been met with uncompromising violence and conservative backlash.

Last week, a three-judge panel in northern Afghanistan sentenced 23-year-old Sayed Perwiz Kaambaksh, a student journalist at Balkh University in Mazar-e-Sharif, to death for distributing a paper he had printed off the Internet that allegedly blasphemed Islam.

There could be lessons drawn here about the failure of the U.S.-led invasion to spread political liberties outside the fragile and waning stability of Kabul. Or perhaps, to paint on a broader canvas, about the vast and underestimated culture clash that has dogged Bush’s global war and its inherent hubris. Those will come in due time and in their proper place. But for student journalists, Perwiz’s draconian punishment is about fundamental press freedoms. And regardless of his pamphlet’s contents (because their nature is utterly unimportant) there is little to say about his persecution except that it is devastating and wrong.

Perwiz’s case is different from Nasab’s, Naqshandi’s, and Zaki’s: he is a student, and his journalism career has been nipped in the bud. What’s more, there has been speculation that Perwiz’s arrest was a retaliatory warning against his brother, Sayed Yaqub Ibrahimi, a prominent journalist whose stories chronicled his local government’s human rights abuses and unchecked hypocrisy. By condemning Perwiz to death, then, the Afghan court has killed two liberal birds with one stone: both the dangerous unruly journalist and his blood relation and protégé.

The Afghan government’s response to Perwiz’s death sentence has been disheartening. Balkh provincial state prosecutor Hafizullah Khaliqyar blithely dismissed the charges that the court violated human rights and press freedom, insisting that the verdict was given “in accordance with Islam’s values.” The culture and information ministry has said it has no authority over the case because, according to an absurd logic, “neither Kambakhsh’s arrest or conviction was linked to his journalistic activities” and therefore did not violate press freedoms.

So the Afghan court has delivered a fatal blow to a future journalist, and figuratively speaking, to the future of a free media in its country. In a brutal perversion of his journalistic education, Perwiz has been taught to remain silent, and the haughty yardstick of punishment has forfeited his life. As students ourselves, we should be outraged.

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at Free Afghan Media has Suffered a Figurative Death

“The Religious Society of Friends, also known as Quakers, has historically been concerned with controversial human rights issues such as abolition, women’s suffrage, and rights for the mentally ill.”

First, of course, “the” mentally ill is a blatant stereotype and offensive. Second, it was the Unitarians and Quakers who in the early 1800s founded America’s mental institutions where rights were routinely violated. Their idea that people in a bucolic rural setting could recover might have been benevolent, but the result was not.

*Harold A. Maio*

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at From Harold A. Maio

The article “Casual Sex: Enjoy It While You Can” was one of the most absurd “articles” I’ve ever read. It’s really just someone taking one personal experience and applying it to everyone else. Reaching some kind of sexual epiphany about one’s sex life does not mean that wisdom must be disseminated to the promiscuous masses; it just means that the person who wrote this article is probably going to be getting a lot less action now that he or she will only have sex in a committed relationship.

The writer tries to come off as a “realist” but just ends up sounding snobby. I’m not ashamed of my “magic number,” which to me is nothing magical or extraordinary or scandalous, it’s just the number of people who I’ve had sex with. And I don’t experience awkwardness the next day, because I don’t try to make something out of it that it’s not. To me, that’s realism.

*Abby Goodman*

---- (C) 2011 City on a Hill Press. All Rights Reserved. View online at From Abby Goodman