Illustration by Kristian Talley.

Illustration by Kristian Talley.

“I’m going to fall asleep. I’m going to fall asleep.”

After walking once around the car, after smacking myself, after singing at the top of my lungs, after silence, I wake up speeding past bands of metal and green.

I crashed into a shrub-covered fence right before reaching the E. Brokaw Rd. exit on I 880. My car was totaled. It was 2:36 a.m.

When the police came, I felt relief and panic.

“Have you been drinking tonight?” the officer asked.

I looked down at my red flower-patterned pajama bottoms and shook my head. No, I hadn’t been drinking, but I might as well have.

After only sleeping two and a half hours during a span of three and a half days, I somehow managed to make myself feel invincible.

“Normal people would have gone insane by now,” I had boasted to others.

Research papers and finals were my foremost concerns. I spent the majority of the school term having a social life, but I wasn’t going to let that stop me from getting A’s in my courses. I functioned under the “work hard — party harder” ethic, like so many of my peers.

With this ethic, I found myself bawling by the side of the road on the other side of the fence. Mascara-stained tears poured down my cheek, as the officer gave me back my driver’s license.

“Happy birthday,” he said.

I Am Not Alone

“Your experience is not unique,” said Elizabeth Hyde, nurse practitioner and patient care coordinator at the UC Santa Cruz Health Center.

She gives me an empathetic smile and continues to explain how common the issue of sleep deprivation is on campus, as well as across the entire country. Despite health repercussions ranging from altered mood and cognitive impairment to an increased likelihood of high blood pressure and diabetes, irregular sleep is becoming increasingly common in the United States, according to a poll by the National Sleep Foundation (NSF).

The poll found that people averaged 6.9 hours of sleep per night, dropping an average of two hours since the 1800s. Among those with an increased participation in this trend are young adults. In another study, NSF reported that 63 percent of college students do not sleep enough.

“The [National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has] been very alarmed by sleep deprivation,” Hyde said. “I just had somebody in the office the other day that fell asleep on their way back from Tahoe. Four kids in the car — dove into a snow bank.”

NHTSA estimates that tiredness or sleep deprivation causes 100,000 accidents, 40,000 injuries and 1,500 deaths in the United States every year. As steep car insurance prices reflect, young people under 25 are more likely to be involved in sleep-related accidents.

Drivers awake for 17 to 19 hours drive worse than drivers with a blood alcohol level of .05 percent, according to research conducted in New Zealand and Australia and published in the British journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

Cognitive impairments, often the cause of collisions, are only some of the more immediate effects of sleep deprivation. Insufficient sleep has direct connections to a person’s health in the long-term.

“The data is just really clear that somewhere around eight hours of sleep is really necessary for good health,” Hyde said, “and some people can get by on a little less, but you can’t maintain the same health benefits.”

Looking out from her busy Health Center office filled with files and paperwork, Hyde said students often frequent the center with sleep issues.

“I would say pretty much everybody here works regularly with people who are having trouble [with sleep deprivation],” Hyde said.

Though the college scene often motivates students’ decision to reduce their sleeping, the ability to sleep is often out of their control.

“Some people are choosing not to sleep, and some people can’t sleep,” Hyde said.

Photo by Kristian Talley.

I Choose Not To Sleep

Prior to my accident, I often boasted of my ability to limit my sleep “effectively” and without repercussions — or so I thought.

“People think they’re wasting time when they sleep,” Hyde said. “I think that’s a little bit of it, especially as the semester closes and you think of all the things you’d like to get done.”

Last minute frenzies to soak in the maximum amount of information, commonly known as “all-nighters,” inadvertently produce the opposite effect.

A study led by Dr. Matthew Walker of the Harvard-affiliated Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center found that memory improved by 20 to 30 percent with proper rest.

“You need to get a good night of sleep after you’ve learned something,” Walker said in HealthBeat, a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services production. “If you don’t get that good night’s sleep, if you pull the all-nighter … both of them cause catastrophic deficits in terms of memory.”

However, a lower test score is more desirable than no test score at all. In the same National Sleep Foundation study on college students, 15 percent of those polled admitted to falling asleep in class.

Hyde acknowledges that often people reduce their sleep to get their work done.

“I wish that nobody ever had to pull an all-nighter,” Hyde said. “I just don’t think you get the performance you imagine you’re going to get. People think, ‘I can be productive all night long,’ but you just really can’t.”

Though many can relate to having the occasional sleep-deprived night, others go on with little rest over long periods of time.

Carlisa Moffett is attending her last year at Cal State San Marcos. With a workload of over 60 hours a week, including 15 units of courses, ministry training, a full-time job as a McDonald’s manager and a part-time job as a stocker at the Camp Pendleton base commissary, Moffett is left with very little time to sleep on a regular basis.

“On most nights, I’m getting three or four hours [of sleep],” Moffett said with a bright smile accompanied by tired eyes. “To me, when I say, ‘Oh, I get to sleep five hours tonight,’ that’s good sleep.”

With tuition increases and credit card debt, Moffett chose to get her second job with flexible hours at the commissary to be more financially secure.

To save money on a $296 semester parking permit and gas, Moffett has stopped driving her car, for which she continues to make payments. Instead she rides the Sprinter, a North San Diego County commuter train.

“It doesn’t really help me with sleep because you have to get up earlier to catch the Sprinter, as opposed to driving,” Moffett said. “I’ll doze off in the Sprinter every now and then. I’ve been catching the Sprinter to school to save the money, because it’s only $116 for the whole semester.”

Moffett continues to sacrifice sleep, though she has felt the adverse effects. Since she is finishing her last year, Moffett’s courses have become more lecture-oriented. These lectures keep her confined to her seat for an uncomfortable amount of time.

“They’re things that I’m interested in, but I cannot sit through them,” Moffett said. “I am honestly nodding, and I can’t sit straight, and I’m fidgety. Because I know I’m so tired, it doesn’t matter what I’m doing. As soon as I sit down and my body feels like it’s resting, I start to fall asleep.”

Walking down a fluorescent hall of the Psychiatric Services wing, MaryJan Murphy, Ph.D., training director and acting co-director of counseling and psychological services at UCSC, says other students have similar issues.

“It’s more difficult to concentrate and to study,” Murphy said. “Feeling overwhelmed and tired and not having enough energy to sort of do the tasks that you would normally do — being burnt out a little bit — those [effects] are really common.”

Moffett’s head-nodding has extended from the classroom and into her social life.

“On Valentine’s Day, I went out on a date to the movies,” Moffett says with a playful laugh. “All I could tell the guy is ‘If I fall asleep, please don’t think that you’re boring, but if I sit in here, I’m going to fall asleep. It’s dark, and I’m going to get comfortable.’ I totally just fell asleep on him.”

She also fears becoming part of the 100,000-a-year car accident statistic.

“Now I’m scared to drive,” Moffett said. “I’m always saying, ‘Somebody drive with me. I don’t care if I have to go out of my way to come get you.’ I don’t want to drive long-distance by myself because I feel my eyes getting heavy. It’s when my body’s at rest and I want to be awake that I wish I would have been able to get more sleep.”

Despite choosing to sacrifice her sleep, Moffett does not suggest this approach for everyone. She said that she forgoes rest in hopes of making a difference in a child’s life with her career.

“If you’re going to sacrifice sleep, make sure that whatever it is that you’re doing is worth it,” Moffett said. “It’s not healthy, first of all. Don’t jeopardize your health for a pipe dream or for something you know you’re not going to complete. It’s unnecessary. I wouldn’t tell people, ‘Girl, you don’t need to sleep. Go get a job.’”

Illustration by Kristian Talley.

I Can’t Sleep

Though I’ve put my “all-nighter” days behind me, I still fail at maintaining a regular sleeping schedule. As a self-proclaimed day and night person, I sneak in an average of six to seven hours of sleep a night. On Thursday nights, when bars don’t have a cover fee, sleeping gets closer to four hours.

With the amount of sleep I’m getting, bars aren’t even necessary.

In 2003, University of Pennsylvania researchers published a study in which subjects slept under six hours a night for two weeks. At the end of the study, the volunteer’s performance was as impaired as those who were awake for 48 hours straight. This is more than double the amount of sleepless hours the New Zealand and Australian researchers found to be the equivalent of intoxication.

Apparently, I am drunk all of the time.

According to a study on 6,000 women by James McClain of the National Cancer Institute, I am at a higher risk of cancer, as are other sleep-deprived women.

And if I manage to live every day like I do Thursday nights, a study led by James E. Gangwisch, Ph.D. of Columbia University says I am more likely to die at a younger age than my non-sleep-deprived peers.

Though health is a serious concern, people having similar difficulties with sleeping don’t exactly choose to be at risk.

With experience in stress-related factors of sleep deprivation, Murphy also understands some of the reasoning behind sleep deprivation.

“People react differently to stress,” Murphy said. “I think [there’s] the anxiety about doing well in school and anxiety about, ‘Do I have enough money?’ It’s so expensive now to go to school. And [there’s] anxiety about maybe, ‘I have to help my family.’ All that can also cause some people to have sleep problems.”

Murphy also pointed to some challenges young adults face when entering college.

“I do think it’s hard as a college student,” Murphy said. “You’re in different kinds of living environment, and those living environments might not be the same that you’re used to, so there are different kinds of noises. You’re living with people who have different cycles than you. How do you adapt to that kind of thing?”

‘Growing up’ brings with it several opportunities to set off a person’s sleeping cycle. Spencer Martin, a student at American River College in Elk Grove, has struggled with sleep since his days in high school.

“There are the eight-hour days, nine-hour days, and there are the three-hour days, so probably that’s just about five [hours of sleep on average],” Martin said.

Martin would often find himself awake until 5 a.m., staring into the glare of Facebook.

“I can only fall asleep when I’m completely exhausted,” Martin said. “It’s been a long road of self-induced insomnia. I’ve purposefully gotten very little sleep, whether it be school work or just shenanigans, that now my body is in tune with my lack of sleep.”

Casey Goldman, fourth-year at UCSC, has dealt with sleeping problems since childhood. Like Martin, his body does not feel the need for sleep until dawn. Though he falls asleep at around 6 or 7 a.m. and naturally wakes up at around 2 p.m., he has given up on trying to match his own sleeping patterns to those deemed “normal” by others.

“The way I cope with sleep deprivation now is that I don’t try to force myself to go to sleep,” Goldman said. “I let it take its course, and I try as best as I can to move my schedule and my life around when my body wants to sleep.”

For those who have difficulty falling asleep, most literature on sleep health shows that it is best not to stay in bed awake for long periods of time, suggesting activities that make people feel tired instead.

For a wide spectrum of reasons, many young adults have similar difficulties with sleep.

There is a disproportionate number of adolescents and young adults (approximately 7 to 16 percent) with Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome (DSPS), according to the Stanford Center for Sleep Sciences and Medicine (SCSSM). SCSSM defines this syndrome as “a disorder in which the timing of sleep and the peak period of alertness are delayed several hours relative to societal clock.”

DSPS is caused by a shift in a person’s circadian rhythm, which leads to feeling tired at later times. Though it is a common sleeping pattern among youth, it is still not understood why this shift happens.

“We know that typically, in the teenage years, people stay up later at night and get up later in the morning,” Hyde said. “But our society isn’t set up that way. So you just stay up late and still have to get up early.”

Adhering to society’s sleep schedule can be especially difficult for those with sleep disorders. But sometimes a lack of sleep is a result of a conscious choice.

“It’s hard to tell the difference between people who can’t sleep and the people who are bored and stay up all night,” Martin said. “It might just be the same thing, but I think a lot of people our age stay up pretty late at night … because if you can keep yourself busy with pretty much anything now, there’s no point in going to sleep right when the sun goes down.”

Whether a person chooses to decrease the amount they sleep or not, reduced hours of sleep have the same effect on everyone.

“There are still times when I get three hours of sleep and feel like a zombie for the rest of the day,” Martin said.

With sleepless nights that kept Martin feeling like the living dead, he started to think of leading a different lifestyle.

“Sometimes what happens with college students is that they start worrying, ‘Oh my gosh! I’m not getting enough sleep. Oh, that’s a problem,’ and it starts to get really big,” Murphy said. “If you don’t get the sleep you need, you might be a little bit tired the next day, but you’ll still probably be able to do what you need to do, and hopefully you’ll make it up the next day. It sometimes sets its own worry off for college students.”

Though Goldman gets the full amount of suggested sleep, adjusting his schedule has been difficult.

“The rest of the world operates on a different clock,” Goldman said. “For most everybody, the day starts when I’m just getting ready to go to bed. If I wake up at 2 p.m., there are very few hours I have left to get to the bank, get to school, get through all this stuff and get to the library before it all closes down.”

Because Goldman has seen general performance improvement in using his new approach to sleep, he continues to maintain this schedule. However, Goldman does not encourage his method for those having problems sleeping.

“I’ve been able to just get by, which is good enough for me right now,” Goldman said. “For people that have issues with sleep deprivation, it makes life very difficult for them. I would hope that they would see a doctor if they can and they try whatever they can in order to get sleep.”

For those losing sleep over losing sleep, Hyde said that many of these changes are natural.

“Developmentally, it’s normal to stay up late,” Hyde said. “I don’t know that it’s necessarily college life. I think it’s part of coming of age, figuring out ‘Am I a day person? Am I a night person? Do I need seven hours? Do I need nine hours? Am I terribly susceptible to noise? Can I sleep anywhere?’ [It’s about] just discovering yourself.”

How to Avoid Sleep Deprivation - Click to Open

I Will Sleep

Though the “dangers” of sleep deprivation may be overwhelming, there isn’t much of a reason to worry. Before developing into anything serious, most negative effects can be reversed with a solution that is not very surprising — more sleep.

Determined to change my sleeping habits, I picked up a few tips from Martin, Goldman and a couple of handouts that Murphy and Hyde printed out for me.

Though Goldman’s hours are far from the average person’s sleeping period, he said he has been able to regulate his sleep with a suggestion his Los Angeles doctor gave him.

“The best piece of advice, though, is staying out in the sun for about an hour during the middle of the day, if possible,” Goldman said. “[My doctor] says the time-frame is really good to help your body start to regulate, to understand that it is noon when it is noon. I fall asleep right around 6 a.m.-ish. That certainly isn’t a usual time for someone to fall asleep, but it is pretty much constant, and it’s much better than it being so erratic.”

With the winter rain clouds parting from Santa Cruz, this technique should be useful to me.

Since beginning his change in lifestyle, Martin has noticed improvement, as well.

“Recently, I’ve just been sick of being tired all the time,” Martin said. “I’m a lot more active now and getting better sleep, so I guess the cure to my situation, at least, was just doing more stuff during the day, exercise more, eat healthier. It’s happened slowly, but I feel a lot better now than I did when I drank a bunch of caffeine during the day and stayed up all night and got very little sleep.”

The ordinance, supported by a 4-1 vote on March 22, includes a fee of $318 per year. The funds will be used to support tobacco education and enforcement programming.

While it was a preliminary vote, the decision is a major step toward addressing underage access to tobacco. The final vote will be on April 5, and the proposal is expected to pass.

The county plans to run at least one compliance check on vendors per year. First-time violators will face a 60-day suspension of tobacco sales. Businesses found in violation four times in the span of five years can lose their tobacco licenses.

A recent study conducted by the Santa Cruz County Tobacco Education Coalition indicates local vendors have been in poor compliance with the 18 years or older requirement.

In Santa Cruz County, 27 percent of vendors sold to underage youth during the survey conducted in August 2010.

Compared to the state average of 8.5 percent, this number is alarming to local representatives and community members.

The survey indicated that each area of the county performed differently. District 1 Supervisor John Leopold said in Soquel 67 percent of stores sold to underage smokers, and so did 47 percent of vendors in Live Oak.

Leopold said 42 percent of retailers sold to minors in unincorporated parts of the county overall. He said it is the county’s responsibility to address this disparity.

“I consider that an epidemic,” Leopold said. “We’re clearly not doing what we can to prevent the sale of cigarettes to minors, and we need to step up our efforts.”

Since the study, local representatives have been grappling with how to tackle the problem. The retail license and accompanying programs have gained broad community support.

Many local organizations support the ordinance, including the Dominican Hospital Respiratory Care Services and the American Cancer Society.

While unincorporated areas of the county had the highest percentage of sales, the city of Santa Cruz didn’t fair well either. With 26 percent of vendors selling to minors, the city is on board to reduce sales to minors.

Mayor Ryan Coonerty said he supports the new tobacco retail license.

“This is one more step we can make to make sure we have a healthy community,” he said. “I think the tobacco license [fee] gives us the tools to make sure tobacco doesn’t get into the hands of minors.”

District 5 Supervisor Mark Stone was the sole opposition among the Board. He argued that businesses had not been given the chance to makes changes before imposing a fee.

“The issue that I have with the proposed ordinance is not the need to combat teen smoking, but rather the process that will best accomplish our goals,” according to the Board of Supervisors’ minutes. “Imposing a fee on vendors during these economic times should be a last resort and not an initial proposal.”

Stone said he wanted to propose an amendment that included business owners in the regulation conversation.

“I think any time we regulate people without involving them in the discussion, we are not having good government practices,” he said. “I was trying to come up with a better community situation for people in the Valley who would be subsidizing the program elsewhere in the county.”

Under the circumstances, Stone said he will be voting in favor of the ordinance on April 5.

A local 7-11 owner, who wishes to remain anonymous, said the new license is not likely to affect business at the store.

“Nobody ever stops smoking,” the owner said. “They can gripe about it all they want, but it’s not going to change.”

The county has taken on the responsibility of reducing underage access to tobacco in spite of the often discouraging nature of the issue.

Supervisor Leopold said he is looking forward to the impact of the tobacco retail license on the Santa Cruz community.

“Hopefully,” he said, “Clerks at stores that sell cigarettes will be better trained not to sell to minors.”

Illustration by Rachel Edelstein

Santa Cruz has sent $5,250 in support to its sister city Shingu, Japan, after a recent earthquake left more than 11,000 people in the country dead.

Earlier this month, it was reported that Santa Cruz sent $3,000 in donations to Shingu. As of March 28, the number had increased to over $5,000.

Shingu is one of Santa Cruz’s five sister cities, or officially recognized partner communities across the globe. These relationships are intended to promote understanding and strengthen international ties.

The southern Japanese city has not been immediately affected by the recent tsunami and earthquakes in the northern part of the country, but Shingu’s domestic sister city Natori has been ravaged by the natural disasters.

Santa Cruz is indirectly helping Shingu send support to Natori through donations. Once they reach Shingu, monetary donations are used to buy food, water and petrol as well as funding emergency teams made up of firefighters, volunteers, and anyone willing to lend a helping hand in a time of crisis.

For Santa Cruz’s main sister city contact, Iwasawa-San, donations could not have come soon enough. He is thankful for the city’s concern and help.

“Recovery seems to be taking a very long time,” Iwasawa-San said in a thank-you letter to the city of Santa Cruz. He said that the donations have helped everything “from searching for victims to supplying various needs for survival and daily living.”

In a letter to former mayor Cynthia Mathews received earlier this month, Iwasawa-San said, “I heard that more than 60 countries set up humanitarian rescue teams to this area.”

The support is not one-sided. Japan’s consul general in San Francisco, Hiroshi Inomata, wrote Mayor Ryan Coonerty on March 14 to express his concern about Santa Cruz’s tsunami devastation, wishing the city swift recovery of its harbor and boats.

Current Santa Cruz city council member Katherine Beiers said that delegations are sent to Japan every year, and just as often, student delegations or the mayor of Shingu visit Santa Cruz.

“We have a really great relationship with our sister city,” Beiers said.

Lisa McGinnis, a member of the Santa Cruz Sister Cities Committee, said she was “extremely heartened by the overwhelming response,” with regard to Santa Cruzans’ support of Japan.

“Shingu’s relationship with Santa Cruz is one of the longest and strongest relationships of all Santa Cruz’s sister cities,” McGinnis said. “We are heartened by the generosity Santa Cruzans are showing their friends in Shingu and Natori.”

Overall, Santa Cruz has five sister cities across the world, and has been connected to Shingu for 37 years.  The relationship agreement was signed in 1974.

“The Sister Cities Committee was formed on the basis that peace can be achieved through person-to-person contact,” McGinnis said. “When you visit, for example, you stay in their homes, and they stay in our homes when they visit.”

These strong ties have made it especially hard for Santa Cruzans to see Japan in distress.

“They are all wonderful people and it’s sad that the people of Japan are experiencing this,” McGinnis said. “We’re all hoping for the best.”

Former mayor Mathews has been on several sister city delegation trips as city council member and as mayor. She has been in contact with multiple people, including her own host mother in Japan, since the disasters hit.

Yoshiko Umibe, Mathews’ host mother, wrote to Matthews on March 11, “It’s horrible. I can’t imagine that this is real. There is still no reply from one of my friends, so I can’t help feeling worried about her.”

Umibe thanked Matthews for her concern and assured her that everything in Shingu was untouched by the tsunami and earthquakes.

“Nobody plans for something like this,” Mathews said.

Mathews said she saw coverage on CNN of “a big black wave sweeping over fields.” She learned that this was in Natori. “[Santa Cruz] responded within a few days.”

Although nuclear radiation from the power plant explosion north of Tokyo has not presented a problem for Shingu as of yet, Matthews said, the people of Shingu are still concerned about this third blow to their country.

Wayne Nash, a Sister Cities Committee staff member, wrote in a letter to Cynthia Mathews on March 14, “So far everyone in Shingu is doing fine. However, we are a little frantic here at city hall as we get more news reports of nuclear fallout.”

With this looming threat and the rest of the country in shambles, Shingu citizens continue to send help and donations to their friends in Natori, and hope that any friends and family members who are still missing find their way home.

In a letter to Cynthia Mathews dated March 14, Iwasawa-San shared an old Japanese proverb to illustrate his feelings about the natural disasters and the large number of responses.

“Rain makes the ground firm, meaning some immense happening may give a good turning point for the future,” he wrote. “Sharing the experience of this disaster with sympathy can lead us to reconsider issues of life and death and each view of life.”

Ilustration by Bela Messex

The teaching assistants at UC Santa Cruz usually grade your essays and finals, lead discussion sections, provide a connection to the professor, and help establish the curriculum and teaching style of the class.  Let’s take a moment to realize just how important TAs are to the University of California, though they deserve much more than just a moment.

Granted, there is some overlap in workload with the professors, but they need TAs just as much as we, the students, do.  How else would a class of 200 students receive their essays or tests back in a timely fashion?

However, the TA is a dying breed, due greatly to constant budget issues that have plagued our university system for years. And now, we face the possibility of losing an additional 120 TAs.

We need our TAs now more than ever, and making cuts to that sector of our university would be doing a huge disservice to the students who essentially fund every aspect of our university at this point.

It’s our money, so we should be able to say what we want to keep — and what we want to keep is our TAs.

Hang with us here, because as crazy as this may sound, the TAs are integral to our learning environment.  If we take them out of the system, we’re going to be the ones facing the repercussions.

Let’s build up some of this nightmare.

Cutting TAs would mean: less student-instructor interaction in larger classes, more difficulty enrolling in smaller courses (since the number of TAs usually dictates the class size), and even fewer places to engage in open discussion and refine our perspectives.

And that’s just what we’re able to perceive. Who knows what else would follow in the aftermath of more cuts? It’s probably safe to say there would be more protests, and deservedly so.

Our university is hemorrhaging.  It’s an issue that California is dealing with, from state jobs to the housing market and even NBA basketball teams (farewell, Sacramento Kings). The issue is universal.

We just want to know that the university is truly looking into all aspects of their spending, and that they aren’t just figuring that these graduate students — who give up their time, blood, sweat and tears — are not just a dime a dozen. Individual TAs can’t be easily replaced, especially while they’re getting screwed over as a whole.

City on a Hill Press has always suggested looking at cutting from the top, because top UC administrators’ salaries could easily pay for many TAs.

Another possible solution is offering class credit to TAs instead of paying them. This is something that is already done in some departments, such as psychology and economics, and college core courses.

These are hard times for everyone in California, especially within the UC system — with an additional $500 million in cuts on the way, and the possibility of even more.  However, making cuts to the TAs, the very people who arguably have the largest connection with students and the way that they learn, is not the right move for the UC system.

As rain storms assaulted the Santa Cruz County area this past Thursday, Capitola Avenue was flooded and many residents were left without power. Derek Johnson, community development director, said the floods were a result of a pipe break in Noble Gulch, and a 100-ft-by-100 ft pond developed. The storms lasted until Saturday, and Capitola was hit with flash floods throughout the weekend.

Johnson said the city of Capitola is currently working on a “multi-prong attack” to deal with the aftermath of the floods, and there is about $10 million worth of damage reported. Clean up will take tentatively several weeks, and it may take several months to return the area to as it was, Johnson said.

Phoebe Evans, owner of Phoebe’s on Capitola Ave in Capitola Village, said that she was “very lucky” her store did not suffer damage because it sits on slightly higher ground, but unfortunately the neighboring business was flooded. Evans explained the situation Saturday morning, and said she had “waded in and got wet to the knees” in order to check her store and assess damage.

“[Businesses are] just determined to get going,” Evans said. “It’s been a hard three years…[but] we’re troopers, we’re here.”

Thursday, March 31

Life Lab Workshop: The Growing Classroom. Introduction to Garden-Based Learning. UCSC Farm, Life Lab’s Garden Classroom. 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Two-day event repeats on Friday. Pre-registration required. $300.
UCSC Men’s Tennis vs. Williams College. East Field Tennis Courts. 2 to 4 p.m.
Drop-in bicycle maintenance. Next to the outdoor basketball courts at the East Field House. 2 to 5 p.m. Free.
Familia X. A space for queer/two-spirit, Chican@ and Latin@ students. Kresge Lounge. 8 p.m. For information, contact ucsc.lafamilia@gmail.com.

Friday, April 1

UCSC Men’s Tennis vs. Sonoma State University. East Field Tennis Courts. 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Java with Jesus. Discuss issues of faith with other members of the community. Cantú Queer Center. 8:30 to 10 p.m.
Blender. A safer space for gender deviants, transgender people, transsexual, genderqueer, androgynous, trannyfag, soffas, third gendered, two-spirit, gender non-conforming, non-identified, intersex individuals and allies. Cantú Queer Center. 6 to 8 p.m.

Saturday, April 2

Seed Starting Workshop. Led by gardening instructor Trish Hildinger. UCSC Farm, Louise Cain Gatehouse. 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. $15 for Friends of the Farm and Garden, $20 for general public, $5 for UCSC students with I.D.
UCSC Men’s Tennis vs. Sonoma State University. East Field Tennis Courts. 12 to 2 p.m.
UCSC Men’s Lacrosse vs. Saint Mary’s College. Upper East Field. 1 to 3 p.m.
UCSC Men’s Rugby vs. Fresno State University. Lower East Field. 1 to 5 p.m.

Sunday, April 3

UCSC Men’s Lacrosse vs. Humboldt State University. Upper East Field. 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Feasting with Feast. Meet other students living out their faith and members of the local faith community. First Congregational Church. 5 to 7 p.m. 900 High St.

Tuesday, April 5

Time Lapse: Four Decades of Art. Opening reception at the Sesnon Gallery celebrating the gallery’s 40th anniversary. Curated by Shelby Graham and UCSC students. Porter College, Sesnon Gallery. 6 to 8 p.m. Exhibition runs through May 7. Free.

Wednesday, April 6

Sustainability Breakout: Transportation, Purchasing, & Land, Habitat, and Watershed. Education on current student, staff, and faculty efforts in those areas. College Eight, room 201. 5 to 7:30 p.m. Free.
Concert: Los Angeles Percussion Quartet. Music Center Recital Hall. 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. Free.

City

Thursday, March 31

Sand Drawings Photo Exhibit by P-sign Paul. The Windmill Café. 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.
8th Annual UCSC Slug Golf Scramble. Fundraiser for UCSC Women’s Athletics. Pasatiempo Golf Course. 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Registration is $200. 20 Clubhouse Road.
GF Presents: David Hillyard & the Rocksteady 7, Monkey, Good Hustle. The Crêpe Place. 9 p.m. $10.
Robben Ford and Jonathan McEuen Acoustic Duo. Kuumbwa Jazz Center. 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. $23 in advance, $26 at door.
My Run Film Premiere Event. Watch the premiere of the documentary followed by a Q&A with the film’s star Terry Hitchcock. Regal Cinemas Santa Cruz 9. 7 p.m.
The B Foundation with Katastro and Arden Park Roots. The Catalyst. $10 in advanced, $12 at door. Ages 16+.
For Your Own Good: SM Relationships workshop. Pure Pleasure 7:30 to 9:30 p.m.  $20 advance, $25 at door. 900 High St.
Salsa Dancing for Women. Dance Synergy. 7:45 to 8:45 p.m. $15. 9055 Soquel Ave.
Concert: Indian Giver, Sugar Sugar Sugar, Cactus Pricks, The Terrible. $5. 105 Pioneer St.
SubRosa Weekly Open Mic. Sign-ups at 7:30 p.m. $3–7 at the door. No one turned away for lack of funds. SubRosa Café. 8 to 10 p.m.

Friday, April 1

First Free Friday at the Museum of Art and History. McPherson Center. 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Free admission.
First Friday Art Exhibit at Pure Pleasure. 10 percent of art sales to Red Cross/Japan Relief Fund.
First Friday Art Opening Reception. SubRosa Cafe. 6 to 10 p.m. 703 Pacific Avenue.
Dan Bern & Common Rotation. The Crêpe Place. 9 p.m. $12 in advance, $15 at door.
Antsy McClain & The Trailer Park Troubadours. Kuumbwa Jazz Center 8 p.m. $20 in advance, $24 day of show. Purchase tickets: brownpapertickets.com
The Dream Box. Aerial Circus Show. The Cypress Lounge. 7 p.m. Event repeats April 2, 3, 8 and 10. $28 in advance, $30 at door. $20 for kids 16 and under.
J-Stalin with Mistah Fab and Kreyashawn. The Catalyst. 8 p.m. $15 in advance, $20 at door.

Saturday, April 2

The Rolling Stones Concert Experience. Live rock tribute performance by URS: The Unauthorized Rolling Stones. Rio Theatre. 7:30 p.m. $28 in advance, $33 at door.
Bellydance Community Showcase. Hosted by Helene: Nadika, Janelle & The Dreamettes. The Crêpe Place. 1:30 p.m. Free.
Wallace Baine & Shmuel Thayer. Kuumbwa Jazz Center. 7:30 p.m. $21 in advance, $25 at door. Purchase tickets: SnazzyProductions.com
Kuumbwa Jazz Center Honor Band. Gilbert’s on the Wharf, Monterey 1:30 p.m. Free.
Santa Cruz Aids Walk. Starts at Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf. 9:30 a.m.
5th Annual Walk to Stop the Silence. Walk for child abuse awareness. Starts at Watsonville Plaza. 11 a.m.

Sunday, April 3

Barbara Lopez Group. The Crêpe Place. 6 p.m. Free.
Introduction to Nonviolent Communication. Learn how to resolve issues in a non-violent way. NVC Santa Cruz’s Center for Compassion. 6:30 to 9:30 p.m.
Ensemble Monterey Chamber Orchestra presents: Five’s a Crowd. First Congregational Church of Santa Cruz. 7 p.m.
Chris Robinson Brotherhood Tour. Moe’s Alley. 8 p.m. Ages 21+.

Monday, April 4

Concert: Ani DiFranco. Rio Theatre. 8 p.m. $39.50.
Movie Nite: “Forgetting Sarah Marshall”. The Crêpe Place. 9 p.m.
Stanley Clarke Band. Stanley Clarke, 2011 Grammy Award Winner for Best Contemporary Jazz Album, performs. 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. $28 in advance, $31 at door.
The Writer’s Journey with Laura Davis. Bookshop Santa Cruz. 7:30 p.m.

Tuesday, April 5

Crosby and Nash. Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium. 7 p.m. Prices vary. Purchase tickets at the Civic Auditorium box office or SantaCruzTickets.com.
You’re Not Losing Your Mind; You May Be Losing Your Hormones! Learn how to handle your hormones and take control of your life naturally. McCollum Wellness Center. 12:30 to 1:30 p.m.
Strap-On 101. Pure Pleasure 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. $25 in advance, $30 at door.
Diversity Center Dine-out Fundraiser at Shadowbrook.  5 to 9 p.m. 30 Percent of proceeds will go to center, 1750 Wharf Road.
Susie Bright, Big Sex Little Death. Book signing. Bookshop Santa Cruz 7:30 p.m.

Wednesday, April 6

Swing Dance Lessons and Dance Party. Palomar Ballroom. 7:30 p.m.

Contact us at events@cityonahillpress.com

Chancellors from three campuses present the difficulties of absorbing past cuts. Chancellor Blumenthal of UCSC presented grave expectations for our campus’ future. “We will not be able to make these cuts strategically … These reductions will cut right to the heart of our instruction and research missions,” Blumenthal said. Photo by Prescott Watson.

The UC Board of Regents convened on March 16 in San Francisco to discuss how the University of California will address a $500 million drop in state funding from Governor Jerry Brown’s proposed budget. On March 24 Gov. Brown signed the bill that would slash this funding, and on Tuesday he announced that negotiations to extend taxes through a special June election ballot have failed.

UC vice president for budget Patrick Lenz said campuses could face more severe reductions if Gov. Brown’s proposed tax extensions aren’t enacted. If the proposed tax extensions fail, the state will need to find other areas to reduce spending. UC officials expect that the UC system will see a $1 billion cut to state funding.

Three UC campus chancellors from Berkeley, Irvine and Santa Cruz spoke at the meeting and addressed how additional cuts would have drastic impacts on their campuses.

“We have no model to accommodate that $1 billion,” said UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau. “It would devastate our staff and faculty.”

UC Santa Cruz Chancellor George Blumenthal presented direct effects from previous cuts. Like Birgeneau, Blumenthal said he does not have a plan to accommodate further cuts.

“I’m not sure what we’ll have to do if the tax extensions don’t go through,” Blumenthal said. “It’s going to be a much more noticeable change.”

Blumenthal said the cuts made UCSC vulnerable in many ways, and the campus “can’t even exempt public safety operations — fire, police, and environmental health and safety.”

Regarding future budgetary concerns, Blumenthal asked the regents to consider changing how the reduced budget is spent on individual campuses. Currently, all campuses generate funds and send them to UCOP to redistribute, which results in some campuses receiving more than they generated, and vice versa. UCSC had historically received less than 100 percent of the funding generated by its own campus community. A restructuring of the funding structure proposed by Yudof would change all of this.

“We’ve never had a coherent philosophy and we need one,” UC president Mark Yudof said regarding funding distribution across the UC campuses.

The proposal would ensure that each campus keeps the funding it generates, with UCOP assessing a tax and thus leaving the president with much less influence in funding matters.

Not all campuses are enthusiastic about this restructuring. Large campuses with medical facilities will receive less money than usual under the new plan, as they will then be limited by what their campus communities can generate.

“The smaller campuses will benefit from this,” said Nathan Brostrom, executive vice president for business operations for the UC. “The major opposition to this was from medical centers, [which] may be taxed more than they have been. [The proposal] is designed to be revenue neutral, not biased towards or against any campus.”

Brostrom said this restructured funding model would allow administrators to reduce UCOP’s budget by $50 million.

Protesters outside the meeting held signs calling for the resignation of UC student regent Jesse Cheng. Cheng was not present at the meeting, and was quoted saying he would not attend in hopes of preventing such protests. The UCI undergraduate was found guilty of sexual battery against an ex-girlfriend by the UC Irvine Office of Student Conduct.

Additional reporting by Arianna Puopolo

Photo by Sal Ingram

Recent Results

Men’s lacrosse

March 25: UCSC vs. UC San Diego (away) 5-3 (win)

Women’s tennis

March 26: UCSC vs. UT Dallas (away) 9-0 (win)

Men’s tennis

March 27: UCSC vs. Trinity University (away) 5-4 (win)

Upcoming Athletics

Men’s tennis

April 2: UCSC vs. Sonoma State University (home) at 10 a.m.

April 2: UCSC vs. Fresno CC (home) at 3 p.m.

Men’s volleyball

April 1: UCSC vs. Holy Names (away) in Oakland, CA at 7 p.m.

Photo by Molly Solomon

Members of the Library Joint Powers Board (LJPB) held meetings in Aptos, Santa Cruz and Felton March 26 to hear from the community about the newly proposed public library model. The members will vote on the proposal April 4.

By July 2012, the proposed plan would increase library hours by 53 percent. It would also slowly reduce the amount of paid library staff. This model received mixed support in the Santa Cruz meeting. The LJPB plans to continue a dialogue with the community throughout the process.

The proposed plans would be an alternative to closing branches in the face of budget cuts.

The Aptos and Felton meetings had about three dozen attendees each, and a smaller crowd appeared at the Santa Cruz meeting. Ellen Pirie, a county supervisor and library board member, took note of the turnout at these meetings.

“I support this compromise,” Pirie said. “I think it’s great that people turned out, especially given the weather. We had a great turnout at Aptos, and I think that it’s because people care. They want to be sure that our library continues to be relevant.”

The new proposal would raise revenue and keep all 10 branches open. Local library patrons, like Peter Pethoe, are pleased to find that the new model wouldn’t close smaller branches.

“I think all of these problems are solvable,” Pethoe said. “It seems to me that, as long as we have the 10 branches in the neighborhood, that’s the most important thing.”

The new plan would seek volunteers to replace some paid page staff, those who shelve and sort library materials. Some see this as an opportunity to reach out to schools. The plan would call for a full-time volunteer management staff.

Barbara Gorson, chair of the library board, said that these changes are needed for the development of the library system.

“It’s a model that, since it does keep all the branches open, is flexible,” Gorson said. “Libraries everywhere are changing rapidly. This model will allow us to change direction. It’s a big change for staff.”

If the model is implemented, LJPB will seek continual feedback with surveys. David Terrazas, Santa Cruz council member and library board member, said he would like to hear from UCSC students.

“I think sometimes there’s a disconnect between what happens in the city [and at UCSC],” Terrazas said. “It’s important that UCSC students who use the library also comment on the types of programs they’d like to see, how they can get more involved —  either volunteer opportunities or how to make contributions to the success of that system.”

Although many are relieved to see no library closures, others are worried about what reduced staffing would mean. Carol Long, a meeting attendee, said that she is concerned about losing personal interaction.

“I really think that people don’t understand what’s at stake here, in terms of the professional reference services,” Long said. “I believe that’s what’s being cut back in order to invite more hours.”

Reference services will be available on-site during peak hours at some branches, over the phone, on the website, and through a 24/7 online chat service. Some worry that finding reference information would be difficult for people who are unfamiliar with computers. The LJPB is continuing to work on the details of this structure.

Gorson said that the compromise is the most promising.

“I’m really happy that we are able to come up with something that seems to meet most of our needs,” Gorson said. “And nothing would ever meet all of everybody’s needs.”

Illustraton by Muriel Gordon

“Sucker Punch”
Review by Blair Stenvick

One good thing about “Sucker Punch” — it’ll be easy to review. That’s because it was awful.

And the worst part of it is, it had the potential to be great. From the creators of “Watchmen,” “Sucker Punch” is a story within a story within a story — a teenage girl, nicknamed Baby Doll, is sent to an insane asylum in the 1950s, where she overhears that she will be lobotomized in five days. From that point on, Baby Doll and the audience enter the fantasy world she creates to cope with her harsh reality.

In that fantasy world, Baby Doll is in a glamorous brothel (strange that she would choose to be in a brothel in her daydreams, but then again, she is insane). Baby Doll soon teams up with four friends (including a fantastically dim Vanessa Hudgens) to try to escape, and the majority of their plan involves stealing items like knives and lighters. The five girls realize that whenever Baby Doll dances for the men in the club, the men are all distracted enough to be easily stolen from.

This is where the third story comes in. While she dances (the audience never actually gets to see what’s so great about her dancing, by the way), Baby Doll’s mind is transported into yet another world, where she and her friends enter a video-game like fantasy realm and fight crime, usually something that parallels whatever task they are trying to complete in the brothel.

This might sound cool to you — I know it looked interesting to me. I thought it might possibly have the complexity of “Inception,” the artful insanity of “Black Swan,” and a commentary on how video games blur the line between reality and fantasy.

Instead, it had a weak plot line, overwhelming visuals and audio, an annoying soundtrack and some disturbing over-sexualizing of teenage girls.

“Sucker Punch” seems to be grasping at some sort of message about the power of the self, but that’s only apparent in the opening and closing voiceover, and if you have to overtly tell people the message, it’s not all that powerful.

“The Adjustment Bureau”
Review by Hannah Toda

Matt Damon is confused. Again. In his latest film, “The Adjustment Bureau,” the existence of free will is questioned as fate takes the form of a group of suited, stoic men wearing debonair fedora hats. The film has both a romance and sci-fi tone as it tells a love story in a fictional world where everything in life is predetermined by a book. As in the “Bourne” trilogy, Damon is the only man who knows the secret of the bureau’s existence and is unsure of how to navigate it. Way to go, Matt Damon.

The first half of the film follows the same cookie-cutter plot as any romance movie. Boy meets girl. They fall in love. Something happens, and now they must do something slightly off-course to get back to that happy place. British actress Emily Blunt is a perfect fit for the role of Damon’s love interest, Elise, as her subtle accent adds to her mystique. The chemistry between Damon and Blunt makes an appealing love story that keeps the audience intrigued. The second half of the film shows the aftermath of Damon finding out that Blunt was never meant to be with him.

As the bureau haunts and chases the couple throughout the film, poor and hasty plot choices are made that left me wondering, “Is this it?” While the overall combination of a world without free will and a pretty couple doesn’t make for the best film, the concept of the fictional world alone is interesting enough to watch, and an adequate reason to get to the theater.

“Lincoln Lawyer”
Review by Blair Stenvick

This movie might be off-putting to a lot of people. After all, Matthew McConaughey’s over-relaxed acting style and good-ol’-boy Southern drawl can be irritating, and the title sounded more like a “Saturday Night Live” sketch than a legitimate film.

But I got talked into seeing it anyway, and it turned out to be a fairly entertaining two hours. Because he isn’t trying too hard to be funny or charming, McConaughey works as a street-smart, self-indulgent criminal defense lawyer whose morals and worldview are tested when his own client turns on him. Ryan Phillippe plays the defendant, a wealthy young man accused of assaulting a prostitute. His blank stares and even tone of voice help to create the scariest kind of criminal: the one you would never expect.

You find out soon in the film that Phillippe’s character is guilty of assault and much more, and the next hour and a half focuses on what lengths he’ll go to so he can stay out of jail. Meanwhile, McConaughey struggles with making sure justice is served without putting his family in danger or breaking lawyer-client confidentiality. There are a number of twists and turns, and while the plot can sometimes fray into Lifetime Original Movie territory, the solid acting keeps it alive.

The film is based on a novel by Michael Connelly, and the source material translates to the screen well. Every scene reflects the Los Angeles setting well without being too picturesque, and the cinematography and editing keep the story from dragging as it unfolds. Overall, I enjoyed “Lincoln Lawyer,” but I could’ve just watched a couple reruns of “Law and Order” for the same type of stuff — and that wouldn’t have cost me $10.

(from left to right)

“No, because he’s expired.”
Danielle Lavy
Second-year, Kresge
Psychology

“Yes, I’d make him into tea and drink him.”
Adonis Marcus
Fourth-year, Crown
Marine biology

“Yes, because he’d melt my face off.”
Valerie Lee
First-year, Merrill
Sociology

“No, because he’s a hot mess.”
Erin Caldwell
Third-year, Cowell
Mathematics

Illustration by Louise Leong

When it comes to the UC system’s budgetary crisis, any news is typically bad news. Consider the $620.8 million fee hikes imposed on students in 2009 and 2010, the $28 million one-time cuts dealt to UC Santa Cruz staff and faculty, and the rapid extinction of “non-standard” programs such as UCSC’s American studies major.

The UC regents have come to view the budgetary crisis as gangrenous, hacking away at the UC system until either it dies or the crisis ends, whichever comes first.

But our financial woes as UC students are closely tied to, if not exacerbated by, the state’s ongoing budget crisis. Yet the give-and-take relationship between the UC and the state bears more resemblance to Adrian Lyne’s “Fatal Attraction” than Rob Reiner’s “When Harry Met Sally.”

In a plan to close the state’s budget deficit, the $305 million that former Gov. Schwarzenegger restored to the UC system in 2010 was trumped by the $500 million cut made by Gov. Jerry Brown. Brown’s self-described “tough budget for tough times” additionally included a $400 million slash from the California Community Colleges system and $500 million from the California State University system, all part of $8.2 billion worth of cuts made in total.

And that’s only half of the bill the state owes.

Brown’s plan to close the budget gap also included extending taxes that were set to expire in June. The extensions, which included a 0.25 percent increase on personal income tax rates, a 1 percent boost in the retail-sales levy, and a reduction in the state’s annual child tax credit from $309 to $99, would have helped close the state’s budget deficit by roughly $12 billion.

Barring the approval of the tax extensions, the burden to make up the $12 billion would rest on a second swing of the axe — further cuts to health, education, and other public services. For the UC system, this could potentially make our $500 million cut into a hefty $1 billion.

In the last meeting of the UC regents, UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau stressed that further cuts to the UC budget would all but capsize the higher education system.

“We have no model to accommodate that $1 billion,” Birgeneau said. “It would devastate our staff and faculty.”

UCSC Chancellor George Blumenthal supported Birgeneau’s sentiments.

“There is no way we cannot cut academic enterprises at this point,” Blumenthal said. “The amount of our campus’s cut is equal to the funding of our largest department.”

Throwing their support behind allowing voters to vote on the tax extensions are over 250 local school boards, the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, and the Bay Area Council, which represents many of the biggest and well-known businesses in northern California.

Barring the ballot initiative, however, are four votes from Republicans — two in the House, two in the Senate — in the state legislature. Republicans presented the governor with a list of 53 demands, which included additional budgetary cuts, the elimination of redevelopment agencies, and limiting legal damages that can be sought in environmental lawsuits filed against businesses, among other things.

With the Republicans unwilling to budge on their list of demands, the hammer dropped. Negotiations to put the tax extensions on the ballot have crumbled and with it, my faith in the California state legislature. The legislature has chosen not to let its citizenry decide whether our colleges are worth keeping.

In his Tuesday announcement, Brown said he was committed to “coming up with honest and real solutions to our budget crisis.” But what’s left are legally questionable maneuvers to force the extensions on the ballot or an all-cut budget with virtually no chance of passing the legislature.

In retrospect, I’m reminded of the character Corey Giles from “The Crucible,” having stone upon stone piled atop his chest in a peine forte et dure (hard and forceful punishment). Unable to move, unable to breathe, Giles had no choice but to staunchly bear the pain from being increasingly crushed. In a morbidly appropriate context, his last words — perhaps ours as well — before his chest caved in were grim.

“More weight.”

Illustration by Matt Boblet

As I write this, a few weeks before my deadline, Lent is about to start. Though I don’t consider myself a practicing Catholic, the lingering effects of a K-12 religious education have me convinced that the act of giving something up is beneficial to one’s character. So come Ash Wednesday, I’ll be committing the most controversial act a member of my generation is capable of — I’m going to deactivate my Facebook account for 40 days and 40 nights.

Don’t think this decision comes easily to me. While I’m not someone who posts multiple status updates about eating a sandwich (unless it’s just a really phenomenal sandwich), I do take advantage of all Facebooking has to offer.

I know I’m going to miss the little thrill that comes when someone unexpectedly “likes” my new profile picture. It’ll be weird not being able to leave random comments on my best friend’s page referencing inside jokes. I’m not sure what I’m going to look at in line at CVS now that I can’t turn to the news feed on my iPhone.

But I’m anticipating that after a week or two of withdrawals, I’ll get over missing the supposedly social interactions that Facebook offers. After all, I’ll still have texting, phone calls and email, as well as the option of occasionally venturing outside my room for some person-to-person conversations.

What I’m really afraid of is that in losing my Facebook, I’ll somehow lose myself.

Yes, I write statuses so that other people will “like” and comment on them. But another reason I post them is that doing so offers some concrete evidence of who I am. Posting links and commenting on pictures is a way of defining myself.

I can’t always say the perfect thing in real life, and my self-esteem walks a curious tightrope between irritating ego and crushing self-doubt. But by constantly adding and subtracting quotes and favorite movies on my profile, and posting links and tagging photos that best exemplify the person I think I want to be, I’m able to create a public, virtual version of myself that is easy to like. In the aftermath of rejection or frustration, Real-Life-Blair creeps on Facebook-Blair, and it’s cathartic. She feels better about life.

What does it mean that I need that kind of masturbatory verification that I am indeed a worthwhile person? I’m not sure, but from the looks of pop culture these days, I’m not the only one.

It’s no ground-breaking stretch to connect reality shows to social media. They’re the community colleges of stardom — nobody’s first choice as a means to become a celebrity, but these days there’s little stigma attached to them, and they can lead to much bigger things. Heidi from “The Hills” and Snooki from “Jersey Shore” don’t have any marketable skills — they’re famous for being famous — so they’d better make themselves entertaining to observe. Reality shows are all about deciding who one wants to be and then synthesizing that image, so it’s no surprise that their heyday coincides with the age of Facebook and blogs.

But it goes deeper than that. Focus on the self has permeated American popular culture. David Sedaris’ comical stories about his daily life always top bestseller lists. With the success of books like “Eat Pray Love” and “Running With Scissors,” the memoir has caught up with the novel as being a standard leisure read.

Even scripted television series are all about their stars. Tina Fey plays Liz Lemon on “30 Rock,” a thinly veiled account of Fey’s own experiences working on “Saturday Night Live.”

In a similar vein, Larry David and Louis CK both play pseudo-fictionalized versions of themselves in their TV shows. The personalities are the same as those of their characters, though. It’s only the plot lines surrounding them that are false. The comedians aren’t acting — they’re just being themselves in an alternate, filmed universe.

Marshall McLuhan famously declared that “the medium is the message,” and the self is increasingly becoming a legitimate medium. So what’s the message?

People can’t shut up about themselves, and I’ll confess that I can relate. And the thing is, most of the works I’ve mentioned (with the exception of “Eat Pray Love”) are really, really good, probably because people are writing about what they know best — their own lives.

But still, I wonder if the focus on the self can produce any work of lasting merit. One hundred years from now, will people want to read David Sedaris’ account of his experiences cleaning rich people’s houses?

Sedaris has been called a modern-day Mark Twain, but Twain wrote fictional stories with characters very different from himself. What’s a more insightful representation of culture: the diary-esque but true observations from one man, or the made-up tales that are meant to imply something much deeper about society?

I don’t have an answer to this, except to say that there’s probably room for both, especially given the extremely fragmented nature of popular culture today. Good entertainment is good entertainment, and how it’s made matters more than what it’s about.

That being said, it’s worth noting that Mark Twain’s autobiography was released last year. Per the author’s orders, it was not released until 100 years after his death, and was met with much praise. Imagine if every Facebook post took 100 years to process before it appeared. Somehow, I’m not sure that future generations would care much about my awesome sandwich.

(from left to right)

“I only have trouble sleeping if I have something really important early the next morning, like an 8 a.m. final. Then I get anxious and can’t function.”
Lily Stoicheff
Fourth-year, Stevenson
History

“Yes, and I catch up on weekends by sleeping in until 1 [p.m.].”
Tony Albert
Fourth-year, Cowell
Environmental studies

“I take losing sleep very seriously because of school and my mental and spiritual health. I usually get enough sleep, though sometimes I have trouble telling myself to go to sleep because I’ll get into a creative burst.”
David Shugar
Second-year, Cowell
Physics

“I try to go to bed early, but as the night goes on it matters less and less. I will skip class if I need more sleep.”
Kellyann Kelso
First-year, Cowell
Film & digital media/literature