Illustration by Rachel Edelstein

On May 23, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered the state of California to address its overcrowded prisons. Between its 33 prisons, the state has the medical and logistical capacity to house 80,000 inmates. At the time Justice Kennedy delivered the Court’s 5-4 opinion, the prison populations were at nearly double that, approximately 156,000 inmates.

But the Supreme Court’s decision serves as only a temporary reprieve for California’s overburdened prisons. It is no accident that the state finds itself in this quagmire — a long, intentional series of policy choices have structurally guided tens of thousands of lives into handcuffs and orange jumpsuits. The Supreme Court has erroneously deemed the question “How many prisoners should be in California?” more important than “How did that many prisoners get there to begin with?”

The state has had a long and troubled history with its system of incarceration.

In 1994, the state passed its contentious Three Strikes and You’re Out law, which requires those convicted of any three felonies to serve sentences of 25 years to life. Keeping in mind that the “three strikes” refer to charges, and not cases, a Californian can be (and has been) handed down such a sentence for three charges such as felony petty theft — in one case for as little as stealing a dollar’s worth of change from the coin box of a parked car.

In 1997, the state mandated every prisoner to be released be placed on parole, resulting in thousands of ex-convicts being sent back for minor violations. In some cases, the 1994 Three Strikes law meant they had just “struck out.”

In a summary conducted by the Public Policy Institute of California, the state prison population grew three times faster than the general adult population from 1990 to 2005. Presently, there are more inmates serving 25 to life sentences as a result of the Three Strikes law in the state of California than there are death-row inmates nationwide.

A plethora of other troubling factors — equally damaging by their own measures — lend themselves to the prison’s overcrowding. Poor rehabilitation programs show a 70 percent rate of recidivism, or the frequency of ex-convicts returning to prison. Other figures, like the fact that 63 percent of Latino inmates haven’t completed high school, suggest a dark school-to-prison pipeline.

And so far, every measure the state government has implemented to ease the overcrowding has failed.

In 2007, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger allocated $7.7 billion to construct and expand prison facilities, including 53,000 additional beds for prisoners, to have been completed by 2009. As of now, none of the projects have been completed, and just over 8,000 of the beds have been made. What little progress was made was largely the result of shipping inmates out of state to private prisons and transferring others to county jails.

In a time of economic hardship, the state shouldn’t expand its broken system by building bigger prisons. It should prevent people from landing there to begin with.

Photo by Morgan Grana

Making the best of what he has been given is not new to Lukas Flynn, who in high school had his pick of only two art courses. Flynn is a third-year art major who has been practicing art since childhood. Currently, Flynn is grappling with whether to continue pursuing a degree in a department that he says has had to cut back courses in his area of interest, the fine arts.

“Most of my gripe with the art department is around the fact that the department is heading in the direction of being more focused with conceptual art,” Flynn said. “As a fine arts focus, it is more difficult to get into painting and art classes.”

Flynn said the art department is shifting away from fine arts in favor of “intermedia” and conceptual art and thus “funneling students into the conceptual art arena.”

“In my opinion, conceptual art cannot really be taught,” Flynn said. “The university acts like an arena, whereas in fine art, there is a kind of a science about painting — there is a lot that can be taught.”

Flynn said the prestige of the print shop initially attracted him to UCSC, but the decreased number of courses in that area and other fine arts areas offered next year is disheartening.

“Due to budget cuts, they are having to phase out programs that I am focused in,” Flynn said. “I don’t think asking for two studios a quarter in my area of focus is asking too much. It has become a luxury and it shouldn’t be that way. It is getting to the point where I do not think that I can maintain my art degree.”

If Flynn had known of this trend prior to attending UCSC, he would not have attended.

“I would not have come to Santa Cruz if I had known that it would have been this difficult to get into classes I am interested in,” he said. “I would have looked more carefully at art schools.”

The scarcity of classes in the fine arts, Flynn said, is pushing students into facets of art that may not be in their field of interest, essentially “trying to fit a square peg in a round hole just to graduate.”

“I don’t want my education to filled with placeholders and requirements. I will be here forever if I am having to wait to take classes that are in my focus,” Flynn said. “I would love to graduate with an art degree from here, but I need to prepare for if I can’t.”

Flynn plans to continue with art and pursue postgraduate education in the field, but because of the lack of courses for his area of focus, he may drop the art major and focus on anthropology.

“At this point, my money will be better spent majoring in something else then going to art school,” Flynn said. “Naturally, I am worried I won’t get in to art schools without a degree in art.”

Flynn came to UCSC with the intent of adding a major in conjunction with his art degree, but did not foresee having his secondary major become his main option.

Considering the increasing cost in tuition, Flynn’s choice in degree is increasingly based upon “getting his money’s worth.”

“I always wanted to double-major and it is a public school, so I thought it would be affordable,” Flynn said. “Let’s just say I am glad I only have one year left.”

(from left to right)

“I heard Lady Gaga, but I doubt it. She’d probably give away some really weird stuff.”
Alex Zapalac
Third-Year, College Eight
Undeclared

“Donald Trump and he’d give away his employees’ souls.”
Krysta Posalski
First-Year, Stevenson College
Undeclared

“Conan, and he’d give away fake mustaches.”
Kira Valenta
Fourth-Year, Crown College
Environmental Studies

“Justin Bieber and he’d give away hair products to keep up that Bieber ‘do.”
Logan Dodson
Third-Year, Crown College
Economics

Click to expand.

Executive vice chancellor Alison Galloway released the projected budget cut dispersals for the upcoming year in an email on Tuesday.

The email detailed expected allocation of reductions to operating costs for various divisions at UCSC, making clear that “there is little good news to share.” The cuts that UCSC is to face starting July 1 reach up to $34 million, and Galloway’s estimated budget decisions cover Academic Units, Academic Support Units and Institutional Support Units.

“Meeting this challenge is requiring staff layoffs, elimination of unfilled faculty positions, and further reductions in instructional support, such as teaching assistants,” said Galloway in the email. “I want to acknowledge the human toll of these cuts as we say good-bye to valued colleagues and friends. And clearly, the impact of these cuts will be felt by remaining employees, who will face the dual challenge of getting the work done with fewer resources — and deciding what will no longer be done at all.”

The largest amount of the projected $34 million is slated to be absorbed by Institutional Support Units, including Chancellor’s Office, Academic Senate and Information Technology Services — with their estimated permanent reduction cuts totaling $7,897,100. The cuts will be a 13.8 percent reduction of their current total operating budgets.

The operating budget for Academic Units takes the next largest hit, with permanent reductions totaling $5,511,400 distributed among the Arts, Humanities, Physical and Biological Sciences, Social Sciences and Engineering divisions. The cuts will be a 5.9 percent reduction of their current total operating budgets.

Academic Support Units will absorb the smallest portion of the $34 million, a $2,732,600 cut, which represents a 14.6 percent reduction of their current total operating budgets.

In preparation of the cuts, Galloway offers “principles guiding the campus approach to implementing State budget cuts.” They say the cuts should not be directed at the courses students “need” in order to graduate. In course preservation, the principles warn, student interests may not be met.

Additional reporting by Laurel Fujii.

Illustration by Muriel Gordon

Thirty years ago this Sunday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported for the first time the case of five gay men in Los Angeles who contracted what was then interpreted as a rare form of pneumonia.

Little did anyone know that this “pneumonia” would turn into a global pandemic that would kill nearly 30 million people since its initial discovery.

We have made significant global progress since 1981 in our steps to acknowledge the existence of AIDS both culturally and medically. But today these advances are being threatened. Due to the economic recession, many states have cut funding from AIDS-related programs or tightened eligibility requirements for them, making it more difficult for AIDS patients to receive financial assistance for medication.

A record number of U.S. citizens — more than 8,300 in 13 states — are on waiting lists for antiretrovirals and other drugs used to treat HIV and AIDS, their side effects, and resulting mental health conditions.

In addition, Illinois has made it harder for its residents to qualify for a program that helps HIV patients pay for their medications. On July 1, the income limit for eligibility will go from $54,450 per person to $32,670, which could limit the accessibility of treatment for more than 100 people per year who would no longer qualify for assistance. Florida is also considering similar measures, as officials there may soon decide to cut the eligibility threshold in half to $21,780 or less in income. And Georgia has already cut $100,000 from its AIDS drug assistance program (ADAP), which serves 4,300 people.

These measures are devastating for people who have AIDS, as more and more people today are turning to ADAPs to help them pay for life-prolonging medications after the economic recession put millions of people out of work and cut their health insurance coverage. The cruel irony, however, is that because of this financial downturn, states are cutting funds from these programs, thereby significantly curtailing access to government aid.

Contrary to popular misconceptions, the number of people living with HIV is actually on the rise. While part of the reason for this is that more people are able to live longer with AIDS, the fact is that for every person who starts treatment, two others become infected. In San Francisco alone, a city of roughly 800,000 residents, there are two new HIV infections every day. More than one million people live with AIDS in the United States, and that number is 33 million worldwide as of the end of 2009.

It would be morally unjust and arguably discriminatory to continue making drastic cuts to programs that benefit AIDS patients, considering that more than 60 percent of American males living with AIDS became infected with HIV through male-to-male sexual contact and over 40 percent of those living with an AIDS diagnosis are African American, according to figures from 2008.

There are also long-term financial repercussions that could only get worse if people with AIDS don’t have access to medical resources. Yes, some states are saving money by making cuts to social welfare programs like these, but at what cost? According to a recent United Nations report, global AIDS costs could reach $35 billion by 2031, an astounding figure that U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called “wholly unsustainable.”

How much worse will that figure be if programs that help people with AIDS get psychological and physical treatment continue to get decreased funding or are axed altogether? This will only lead to more people dying because they cannot afford paying for life-prolonging medications out-of-pocket.

Yes, our economy is in a rut — that fact is inescapable, as we are privy to it any time we open a newspaper or tune into CNN. But slashing funds for AIDS patients to get already-existing medications that can help them live with the disease is like a twisted version of dangling a carrot in front of a horse’s nose. Although states’ fiscal situations may be dire, these cuts to AIDS patients could literally be a matter of life or death.

On May 24, executive vice chancellor Alison Galloway hosted a forum to bridge the gap between student and faculty discussions on the possible inclusion of an ethnic studies program.

“What is it that you want?” Galloway asked the audience of about 50 students and faculty members. “We’ve got some momentum and I don’t want to let it slip.”

The fight for ethnic studies is nothing new to the UCSC campus, as students and faculty have throughout the years been embroiled in debates over the possible addition of the program to the campus curriculum. Currently, student groups advocate for the inclusion of ethnic studies while a “faculty work force” of roughly 20 to 25 individuals has been working on creating and proposing a structured curriculum.

Currently, students are spearheading classes focused on ethnic and cultural studies despite the absence of formal curriculum on campus. Several courses are offered including Pilipino Historical Dialogue and Asian American Pacific Islander Perspectives. Both courses are taught and organized by students under a faculty sponsor.

The forum on May 24 was an informal opportunity for members of the community to meet, talk and collaborate in their efforts to bring the program to the campus. Topics discussed ranged from diversity issues on the campus to the disconnect that exists between different facets of the UCSC community overall.

Those who support the addition of an ethnic studies program say the recent controversy surrounding racially insensitive graffiti found on campus has shown the community that there needs to be constructive dialogue on race and culture.

“My involvement with ethnic studies is because I take the future of my people seriously,” said Chris Cuadrado, a student organizer involved in advocating for ethnic studies. “But coming from the diverse background that I do, I understand that there are larger structures of oppression that affect more than just my people.”

With the campus buzzing over cuts and possible suspensions of programs like community studies and protests erupting throughout the UC system, students have been advocating for an education that better addresses their wants and needs.

“Out of the deconstruction of community studies, we realize that it would be much more productive to promote the creation of ethnic studies,” said Will Duggan, a third-year community studies major from Stevenson College. “That would appeal to a broader audience and fill a void that has been here for many years and which community studies directly rose out of.”

The discussion of ethnic studies continually returned to questions over the current budgetary problems facing the UC system, but faculty members present at the forum on Tuesday said they believe UCSC has the means to create a program with associated faculty.

Bill Ladusaw, vice provost and dean of undergraduate education (VPDUE), said, “There are many courses on campus which can be viewed as ethnic studies.”

Mark Cioc, a faculty member of the history department and Interim VPDUE reiterated this view.

“There are on this campus enough courses to create a major with very little additional resources,” Cioc said. “An idea of a major would create a curriculum and a path for students to take.”

Consensus among those present at the forum was that the school, working with what is currently available — and working under the assumption that the UC system will not face another $500 million cut — can feasibly support an ethnic studies program.

Galloway addressed concerns over the budget crisis, specifically with regard to the question of ethnic studies.

“The budgetary climate is not great, but quite frankly, I don’t remember it being great in the last 20 years,” Galloway said.

Another topic on the table was the student desire for an ethnic studies department while faculty advocate for an ethnic studies program instead. While the establishment of the department demands a full-time faculty, a program would only require associated faculty members. This would mean an ethnic studies program could exist by working cooperatively with other fields in a cross-disciplinary manner.

The forum ultimately stressed communication between graduate and undergraduate students and faculty members as groups try to flesh out what ethnic studies or critical race studies would look like at UCSC.

“A key aspect in regards to ethnic studies is shared governance,” said Teq Kavinzo, a second-year feminist studies major. “By shared governance, I and other people have been working on this. We mean a horizontality betweens undergraduates, graduates, faculty, staff and administration. We don’t want it to be a bureaucratic system, we want to transform that and recognize a democratic process in which every voice is heard.”

Following the forum, the Student Union Assembly (SUA) held its weekly meeting, and on the agenda was the approval of an official resolution concerning ethnic studies. However, the meeting quickly reached a stalemate as students’ hands shot into the air and diverging ideas and opinions were presented.

By the end of the discussion, participants decided there needed to be a much larger, more in-depth conversation outside the space of the SUA meeting. A sheet of paper went around the room, students quickly jotted down their information, and that was — for the time being — the end of the conversation.

The lack of communication between SUA and student activists underscored the need for greater communication between different areas and subgroups on the campus. It was conceded that everyone had the same end goal, but there was not a singular way to that goal.

During the SUA meeting, one attendee said “10 minutes, 20 minutes, an hour won’t make a difference tonight.”

“Students should know that it will take more than a one-day action,” Cuadrado said. “It’s going to require organizing and coalition-building.”

Students and faculty throughout the evening agreed that it was time for UCSC to reevaluate and reexamine the current discussions surrounding ethnic studies.

UCSC has changed immensely since its inception in 1965, and Galloway commented on the way the university is continually in a state of metamorphosis — the debate for ethnic studies is proof of that.

“This is not a museum — it’s a university,” Galloway said. “It should change.”

Courtesy of Jake Brenner.

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

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

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

CHP: Why do you think the site is important?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Captain Cosmic” was a television show that ran from 1977 to 1980 on a superstation mainly targeted at the Bay Area. Robot sidekick to Captain Cosmic 2T2 has been in storage in a warehouse in the Bay Area for 31 years since the show ended in 1980. Atlantis Fantasyworld will become the first place to publicly display 2T2 in the television robot’s history.

“For anyone over 40, they’ll remember, and have a great nostalgia moment,” said Joe Ferrara, owner of Atlantis Fantasyworld. “And for the kids, it’s all about creating their own nostalgia moment even though they are too young to have watched the show.”

Ferrara said the event will be a celebration of all things science fiction for Santa Cruz residents. All proceeds made from Back to Space Con, the movie being screened at the Jewel Theatre, will go to Second Japan Harvest, a charity organization helping victims of the recent Japanese earthquake and tsunami.

In the Bay Area and elsewhere, “Captain Cosmic” has many fans who used to watch the show regularly on Saturday mornings on Channel 2.

“It’s not only people in the Bay Area who know ‘Captain Cosmic,’” Ferrara said. “I’ve recently met a person from Chicago, and it surprised me that they even knew ‘Captain Cosmic.’”

Ferrara said receiving 2T2 is a hallmark of Santa Cruz becoming more of a science fiction town worth noticing. He also said Santa Cruz’s science fiction community is very receptive to bringing back 2T2.

“It’s what makes Santa Cruz a special place for sci-fi,” Ferrara said.

According to a letter to the community from Soquel High School principal Ken Lawrence-Emanuel, a group of students at the school have identified themselves as “WP” for “white pride” or “white power.” In addition to slogans associated with white supremacist groups, swastikas have been found throughout the school — from crudely drawn on pieces of paper to carved into desks.

“When specific students were identified, we contacted the students and talked with them about the power of words and symbols and warned them this behavior would not be tolerated on our campus,” Lawrence-Emanuel’s letter said.

The issue boiled over after students wearing white shirts and bandanas stood as a group in the senior class picture — again, as a statement of “white power.”

A student-initiated rally was recently held in protest of the actions of the select students who have participated in the “white power” demonstrations.

“The students proceeded to the gym and the overall message of the student speakers was: we need to take a stand against this,” Lawrence-Emanuel’s letter said. “This is not the adults’ problem; it is our problem. We don’t want racist behavior on our campus and we all need to speak out against it.”

Many students saw the display of white pride as offensive and spoke out against it.

“The students in attendance understood this was not about freedom to wear what you want,” Lawrence-Emanuel’s letter said. “This was about having a school where everyone is protected from harassment.”

But the most key move in the playbook of athletes — coaches and managers alike — is the sidestep, the practiced move of speaking generically on critical questions from the media by providing clichéd responses straight out of the “Bull Durham” postgame interview lexicon.

The realm of professional sports has been privy to plenty of black eyes as a result of a blind eye turned away from an important situation, like concussions in football or performance-enhancing drugs in baseball. But one issue that has been swept under the rug for decades that is just now starting to see the light of day is homophobia — and homosexuality as a whole — in sports.

Illustration by Louise Leong

It has become an en-vogue topic of discussion thanks to a recent rash of high-profile cases of gay slurs by athletes, combined with historic acknowledgements of homosexuality both in sports and by those who partake in them.

The first — and arguably most talked about — incident that raised eyebrows occurred when Lakers star Kobe Bryant shouted a homophobic slur at a referee after he called him for a foul in a game last month. Bryant was fined $100,000 by the National Basketball Association (NBA) and issued an apology, saying that he called the referee a “f—ing f—–” out of frustration and that this was not meant to convey his attitude towards homosexuality.

Two weeks later, Atlanta Braves pitching coach Roger McDowell was suspended for two weeks after making lewd remarks and gestures towards fans before a San Francisco Giants game. He allegedly approached three men sitting together in the stands and asked them, “Are you guys a homo couple or a threesome?” He then followed up these comments by motioning suggestively with his hips and a bat. When another spectator sitting nearby intervened by saying that there were children nearby, McDowell responded that kids don’t belong at a ballpark, then picked up his bat and asked the fan how much his teeth were worth.

Most recently, Chicago Bulls center Joakim Noah was fined $50,000 last Monday for shouting the same slur as Bryant towards a fan who was taunting him from behind the Bulls’ bench. He acknowledged his mistake, as well and said that he was willing to “pay the price” for his actions.

But what did paying the price really mean for Noah? It meant a little bad press and a few pennies from his wallet that amounts to 1.6 percent of the roughly $3.1 million he made this season. It meant having to issue an apology and receiving the ire of gay advocacy groups for a day but then having this story get lost in the swath of other less taboo, more simplistic sports news.

This isn’t something that McDowell, Bryant or Noah could have lost their jobs over, and nor should they have. Their comments were ignorant and egregious, but it’s just another reminder that athletes aren’t heroes and shouldn’t be treated as such, even though they sometimes appear to have superhuman physical abilities compared to us ordinary 9-to-5 folk.

However, that doesn’t mean that we should excuse any kind of wrongdoing on their part with a “boys will be boys” attitude. Granted, while the commissioner’s offices of Major League Baseball and the NBA did act swiftly to condemn these derisions and punish the athletes responsible, the issue of how homosexuality is regarded in sports is something that cannot be solved with a check and a forced public apology.

The larger issue at hand comes down to the cultural identifications that exist with regard to homosexuality and its countering ideology found in the concept of machismo. The undeniable core of this problem is that homosexuality in men has been forever linked to being less of a man and thereby being feminine and weak. And there’s no place where any sign of weakness is a bigger sin than on the playing fields and locker rooms of professional sporting arenas. It’s the whole “there’s no crying in baseball” temperament that had sports fans making fun of Miami Heat superstar Chris Bosh for crying after a tough loss in March, the overall locker room mentality that breeds physical and mental toughness over the display of any emotion other than anger.

Clearly, this state of mind isn’t something that can be tackled over any short period of time, and perhaps it will never fully go away. As long as there are football dads and soccer moms that disparage their kids by calling them pansies when they cry after getting hurt, this equation of emotion = weakness = bad (meaning it makes one a “queer”) will continue to live on.

That’s where it comes back to the athletes. While they should not be wholly responsible for trying to address the matter of homophobia in society as a whole, sports is such a large part of our culture that athletes can make a dent in the problem by educating themselves and others about it.

As the old Alcoholics Anonymous adage goes, the first step in recognizing there’s a problem is admitting there is one. The commissioner’s offices of all the professional sports should determine a way in which they not merely impose a fine on their players for saying these slurs, but also — or even alternatively — encourage them to seek out knowledge on the issue of homophobia by talking to advocacy groups. This shouldn’t be handed down as a punishment like court-ordered community service but should be framed in a light that allows the athletes to see it as an opportunity for them to really learn from their mistake philosophically — not just financially.

Over the past few weeks, a couple of steps have been taken by pro athletes that could have a positive long-term effect on addressing this subject.

Last month, Phoenix Suns president Rick Welts revealed to the media that he is gay. He is believed to be the first man in a prominent position in sports to have ever openly stated his homosexuality and said he did so to help address a topic that is “off-limits” in his industry. Subsequently, Suns star point guard Steve Nash made a video in support of New York’s marriage equality proposition.

Additionally, the San Francisco Giants organization recently released a clip for the “It Gets Better” anti-homophobic video campaign aimed at giving hope to gay, lesbian, transgender and bisexual adolescents who are bullied for their sexual orientation. They are the first professional sports franchise to jump on board with an “It Gets Better” video.

While it is laudable that these moves have been made to step up and address homophobia as a whole, professional sports as an entity should try to improve how the sports world percieves homosexuality by dealing with it from the inside out. In this day and age, they will not be alienating people by bringing a seemingly political issue into sports. Rather, they will alienate themselves from spectators more if they continue to plug their ears with their fingers and act as if they are inside a bubble.

Thursday, June 2

Concert: Hélcio Milito 80th Birthday Party: A Night of Bossa Nova. Kuumbwa Jazz Center. 7 p.m. $12 advance, $15 door.

Film: “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.” Regal Cinemas 9. 8 p.m. $5.

Concert: The Album Leaf, Gun Runner. The Crêpe Place. 9 p.m. $12 advance, $15 door.

Friday, June 3

Performance: The Education of Lala Girl. Pacific Cultural Center. 2 p.m. $12 advance/student/senior, $15 general. Event repeats 6/4.

Art: 2011 Creative Collective UCSC Student/Faculty Art Show. R. Blitzer Gallery. 6 to 8 p.m. Free.

Concert: Taj Mahal & Band. Rio Theatre. 8 p.m. $35.

Performace: Equinox Musical Play. Louden Nelson Community Center. 8 p.m. $7 student/senior, $12 general. Event repeats 6/4 with a 2 p.m. matinee performance on 6/5.

Concert: Frootie Flavors, Animal Prufrock. The Crêpe Place. 9 p.m. $10.

Concert: DJ Aspect, DJ Tone Sol, Nima Fadavi, Arctic Angel Go Go Dancers. The Catalyst. 9 p.m. $5. Ages 21+.

Film: “Mean Girls.” Del Mar Theatre. 11:59 p.m. $6.50. Event repeats 6/4.

Saturday, June 4

7th Annual Woof to Woof. Skypark Soccer Field. 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Free.

Festival: Redwood Mountain Faire. Roaring Camp Railroad. 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. $13-15 students/seniors, $18-20 adults.

Performance: Bellydance Showcase feat. Shaheen and Narantuya. The Crêpe Place. 1:30 p.m. Free.

Concert: The White Buffalo, The Juncos. The Crêpe Place. 9 p.m. $12 advance, $15 door.

Concert: Frontier Wives, Stryder Callison & the Jackwagons. The Catalyst. 9 p.m. $10. Ages 21+.

Sunday, June 5

Concert: Almost Cut My Hair (CSNY tribute). The Catalyst. 7:30 p.m. $15 advance, $20 door. Ages 21+.

Performance: The Emancipation of Lala. Pacific Cultural Center. 8 p.m. $12 advance/student/senior, $15 general.

Monday, June 6

Concert: Larry Carlton Trio. Kuumbwa Jazz Center. 7 p.m. & 9 p.m. $23-31.

Film: Hedwig & the Angry Inch. The Crêpe Place. 9 p.m. Free.

Tuesday, June 7

Concert: 7 Come 11. The Crêpe Place. 8 p.m to 12 a.m. Free.

Wednesday, June 8

Concert: Les Dudek. The Catalyst. 9 p.m. $12 advance, $16 door. Ages 21+.

CAMPUS

Thursday, June 2

Performance: Opera “Albert Herring.” Music Center Recital Hall. 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. $11 students, $21 senior, $25 general. Event repeats through 6/5. Visit arts.ucsc.edu for showtimes.

Friday, June 3

Art: Student Print Sale. Elena Baskin Visual Arts. 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Event repeats 6/4.

Art: Spring Open Studios. UCSC Art Department. 12 to 4 p.m. Free.

Sports: Bike and Seek Cyclo-Search. OPERS. 1 to 3 p.m. Free.

Awards: Undergraduate Academic Achievement and Excellence in Teaching Awards. College Nine and Ten Multi-purpose room. 3 to 5 p.m. Free.

Performance: Los Mejicas 39th Anniversary Spring Show “El Orgullo de mi Tierra.” Theater Arts Main Stage. 7 p.m. $10 UCSC students/faculty/seniors/children, $12 general. Event repeats 6/4.

Concert: UCSC Gospel Choir. 8 to 10 p.m. Porter College Dining Hall. $5.

UCSC Commencement Ceremonies

Thursday, June 9

Rainbow Graduation Ceremony. Cardiff House Women’s Center. 4 to 6:30 p.m. Free.

Friday, June 10

Economics Undergraduate Graduation Reception. College Nine and Ten Multi-purpose room. 1 to 3:30 p.m. Free.

Film and Digital Media Department Graduation Reception. Communications  courtyard. 2 to 4 p.m. Free.

African America Recognition Ceremony. Stevenson College Event Center. 5 to 8 p.m. Free.

Theater Arts Graduation Celebration. Theater Arts Main Stage. 7 to 10 p.m. Free.

Saturday, June 11

Porter College Commencement. Lower West Field. 9 to 11 a.m. Free.

Merrill College Commencement. East Field. 9:30 a.m. Free.

College Eight Commencement. Lower West Field. 1 to 2:30 p.m. Free.

Cowell College Commencement. East Field. 1:30 to 3 p.m. Free.

College Eight Commencement Reception. College Eight Plaza. 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. Free.

Oakes College Commencement. Lower West Field. 5 to 7 p.m. Free.

Kresge College Commencement. East Field. 5:30 to 7 p.m. Free.

Sunday, June 12

Crown College Commencement. East Field. 9 to 10:30 a.m. Free.

College Nine Commencement. Lower West Field. 9:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. Free.

Crown College Commencement Reception. Crown College Dining Hall. 10:30 to 11:45 a.m. Free.

Stevenson College Commencement. East Field.     1 p.m. Free.

College Ten Commencement. Lower West Field. 1:30 to 4 p.m. Free.

Chicano Latino Year End Ceremony. East Field. 4:30 to 7 p.m. Free.

Contact us at production@cityonahillpress.com.

“I’d say it’s there, but especially with something like football and basketball, it might be difficult because people are in such a spotlight. It could be very good for the gay community because it shows that, if someone like that has that kind of attention then maybe they could make some positive changes. Overall, it would be a good thing, if someone was more open about it.”
Jared Drechsler
Third-Year, College Nine
Business Management Economics

“If they are willing to come out as an athlete, especially if they’re a man, then it would be an inspiration for other athletes. I think we’re pretty close. Even though there’s still a lot of prejudice in the U.S. against gays, I feel like at least us Californians are really close to being able to accept that completely.”
Lauren Wurst
First-Year, Merrill
Psychology

“I’d love to be optimistic and say we are close, but realistically you have to look at the areas where these sports are so popular. A lot of them are communities where they don’t share Santa Cruz ideals.”
Chelsea Henry
Third-Year, Stevenson
Sociology

“I think we’re getting closer and closer. In the media you see all these things about pride and coming out and being ‘gay and OK.’ I think that’d be good. It would help push other athletes who are probably in the closet because I guess it’s very masculine. To come out, it would probably be good for the community as a whole.”
Parnian Changizzadeh
Fourth-Year, College Nine
MCD Biology

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

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

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

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

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

Photo Courtesy of Sayo Fujioka

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Illustration by Matt Boblet

Jack is back. The fourth installment of the swashbuckling “Pirates of the Caribbean” series, “On Stranger Tides” is, as predicted, a definite sinker. In search for the fountain of youth, unexpected teams join forces to obtain the coveted treasure. Jack and his crew must race to the fountain before the Spaniards and the British. Through a thrilling chase, friendships are formed and bitter rivals challenged. However, the obvious yet unexplained disappearance of key actors and the introduction of a new director made “Stranger Tides” a definite stranger compared to the rest of the series, as the romance of Will and Elizabeth was surely missed. The result was a completely different movie that did not deserve to be considered a “Pirates” film.

Director Rob Marshall, who directed successful musicals such as “Nine” and “Chicago,” did what he does best — entertained — but lacked the effect of the pirate movies that inspired the world to once again see the haunting mystery of the seven seas. The direction just didn’t fit the genre — for a split second, I was sure that Marshall would have Jack Sparrow tap-dancing to keep viewers in their seats.

Desperation was the word as the movie clung on for dear life, hoping that Captain Jack Sparrow, regurgitating old jokes and phrases, would save the film. Throughout the film, it could almost be seen in Johnny Depp’s heavily-lined eyes that he really was tired of swaggering and parroting “matey” every other second. Jack’s usual bored, nonchalant tone of voice was unmistakenly genuine. Unlike the previous movies, Jack did not have any tricks up his sleeves or any ulterior motive, making him almost trustworthy and definitely boring.

In keeping a few key characters and the same closet of pirate costumes and adding a few exciting “fish tales” such as mermaids and Blackbeard, it was clear that Marshall had hoped he could reel in loyal pirate fans. While there was plenty of thrilling sword-fighting, with the absence of the previous cast, the scenes often lacked character. Without the key characters, there were just too many unrecognizable pirates to have to care about. Although the beautiful and terrifying mermaids were a cinematic treat, without the romance of Will and Elizabeth, there was too much new and not enough old. These new elements of the film were cliché and uncreative, as if Marshall extracted his inspiration from cheap decorations found at any seafood restaurant. There was plenty of kitsch, but no mystery.

To replace Keira Knightley, the all-male cast was joined by feisty Spaniard Penelope Cruz, who tries to resuscitate the dying film with her irresistible Spanish accent and almond-brown eyes. The cliché “tough on the outside, sensitive in the inside” was used as Cruz threw feminism a bone every now and then, occasionally ranting about respect for women.

While a viewer can leave the theater content to be able to say he had watched the entire “Pirates” series, it was deeply disappointing just how far the mighty franchise had fallen. Despite some thrilling scenes of haunting mermaids and sword-fighting, in the end, the film failed to capture the audience and appeared for what it really was: a bunch of boys playing make-believe, wearing unexplained eye patches and tattered pirate costumes.

Illustration by Rachel Edelstein.

In an attempt to foster dialogue between the university administration and student activists, executive vice chancellor Alison Galloway and other members of the UC Santa Cruz Demonstration Advisory Group (DAG) will be hosting a forum in the Porter Fireside Lounge on June 3. The forum is designed to provide a venue for students to share their experiences in past protests.

The function of the DAG, headed by Galloway and College Nine and Ten provost Helen Shapiro, was detailed in an email sent to the student body in April of 2011. The group is staffed by a mixture of administration, faculty and students on an entirely volunteer basis.

Though partially a response to last year’s Kerr Hall occupation, Shapiro said that the group has been in the wings for a few years.

“The former EVC was interested in starting this, but it’s been a combination of a new EVC, a push from students and faculty, and general dissatisfaction about what happened last year with Kerr Hall,” Shapiro said.

Galloway’s intent is to allow students to openly communicate with the administration about protest management and policy.

“[The DAG] is here to look at the policies we have in place to interact with demonstrations, how they’re regulated, how they’re surveilled, what sort of limits are set, how the police are involved,” Galloway said in an interview during the early stages of the group’s formation. “Essentially, we’re asking, ‘How do we help the people who are forming the demonstration and help them get their message to the people who need to hear it?’ If the message does not get through, then everyone’s time has been wasted.”

As the year draws to a close, the DAG stated in an email that the group will be hosting the June 3 forum to gather student input as it reviews university policies with regard to demonstrations and protests.

According to the email, “[the] DAG would like to have this information because we’re reviewing campus policies and procedures, in part because we see problems with them. We want to be sure we hear from students about their concerns and receive their recommendations for how to revise current practices.”

In an earlier interview, Shapiro expressed her wishes for the decision-making process involving protest regulation to be more transparent and inclusive.

“The hope is to not simply react. We want to have people who are concerned about the campus sitting down and working towards a better community,” she said. “That does not mean there won’t be differences, but our goal is to have a clear, fair procedure.”

Some have expressed their concern with the methods adopted by the DAG. Noah Miska, a College Nine second-year and member of the DAG, feels that the DAG fails to address the underlying problems inherent in student protest.

“The group’s focus is on how to address demonstrations, rather than how to address the structural issues that motivate students to organize those demonstrations,” Miska said.

A May 27 email to the campus community informed students of the June 3 forum and said that those who share and participate can choose to be anonymous.

“Neither any information you give at the meeting, nor your presence at it, will be given by any member of [the] DAG to anyone in Student Affairs or the campus police, nor would it ever be allowable in any judicial affairs procedure,” Galloway said in the email.

Scheduled for the last weekend before finals, the timing may be less than optimal, but the email explained that there are many more meetings to come.

“We realize that the timing is not ideal by any means,” the e-mail said. “This forum will not be the last formal opportunity that students have to give input to DAG, but it will be the only formal opportunity this school year.”

Mac Layne’s day isn’t complete without a roundhouse kick in his face.

“One of the main reasons I do it is that it makes me feel more alive every time I do,” Layne says. Grappling the nerves with determination, the UCSC fourth-year awaits the moment to demonstrate his ability.

“Add that to the fact that I feel so energized – it’s like a drug,” he says.

In Santa Cruz lies a haven for those like Layne who can’t live without the addictive thrill of narrowly avoiding a foot smashed in their face. While it’s not an underground fight-club-turned-crime-syndicate led by a charismatic schizophrenic, the rapid pace of the sport of Capoeira provides a support system to help Mac and like-minded individuals continue to do what they love, on and off campus.

“Everything you learn you apply it to certain parts of your life. In the Roda [circle in which Capoeira is played], you have to be smooth, but you also have to be objective. That’s something I’ve thought about a lot, definitely something I’m expecting to apply soon,” Layne said, referring to his upcoming graduation from UCSC and his hopes in applying this philosophy to his post-graduation life.

A group of Capoeira students in Mestre Papiba’s class display their hard-earned cords.

The Santa Cruz chapter of Raizes do Brasil, an international organization founded in New York City that has worked to help spread Capoeira around the world, held their 17th annual Batizado in Santa Cruz on May 14th. Directly translating into “baptism,” a Batizado is an event held for all the members of a Capoeira community to celebrate the arrival of new members and the graduation of deserving ones.

Sitting on the floor in line with five others of his experience level — all relatively new members — Layne maneuvers his way towards the inner circle, awaiting his turn in the Roda, which is surrounded by Capoeiristas and musicians. A woman sings in Portuguese behind him. Her long, brown hair and the large Brazilian flag behind her complement the wooden floor, striking shades of earthy brown, green and gray to the plainly walled room. Musicians clump together on one side, hitting berimbaus and other percussion instruments with fervor while singing in Portuguese. Capoeiristas rotate between playing music, sparring and simply being an energetic part of the Roda. They all sing.

At the center, two players spin and kick circles in the air, each one narrowly dodging the other’s line of fire. Driven by the mounting music, the kicks become faster, making each dodge narrower and narrower. Even the audience is sucked into the powerful energy, or Axe as the Portuguese say; clap clap clap, clap clap clap, clapping their hands in rhythm with the music. Beats in groups of three resound throughout the community room in Santa Cruz’s Louden Nelson community center. Amid all the energy, Layne hopes to prove himself in the Roda against a master of the art — no easy task — and earn a higher place in the Capoeira order.

From the edge of the Roda, Layne rises and walks slowly towards the center to face his opponent. Crouching together to prepare their minds for the acuteness they will need, they shake hands respectfully, waiting for the musicians to signal them in. Five quick snaps of the berimbau — Layne dives sideways and kicks out with his right leg, missing his target by an inch. The crowd claps gleefully around them, celebrating the kind of physical freedom that Capoeira brings.

So what is Capoeira?

“Capoeira is a game — part of the art is to be able to show the movement,” said Capoeira instructor Colin Maher. “We don’t have to shove [the opponent’s] head or get your dirty feet all over his clothes to show that you got him — he knows.”

Maher teaches Capoeira at UCSC on Saturdays and Mondays, and one of the things he emphasizes about the sport is its playful and celebratory nature.

Though never quite at center stage in western pop culture, Capoeira has found a home in California in the last few decades, planting roots in cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco and Santa Cruz. While Capoeira is traditionally taught as a viable option for self-defense, some of the new lure of Capoeira stems from the sport’s spirituality, both musically and communally.

Video games and movies have provided some limited yet visible examples of the martial art as a combat technique, steering the focus away from spirituality and more towards the fluid fighting style itself. Martial arts movies like “Only the Strong” (1993) and “The Protector” (2006) brought Capoeira’s viability as a fighting technique to Hollywood.

Perhaps most dear to fans of the video game Tekken, playable character Eddie Gordo specializes in Capoeira, challenging some of the most daring gamers to master his slippery style.

In addition, Capoeira has found its way into the Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) arena. Andre Gusmao used elements of Capoeira to win many high-stakes fights in his professional career as a UFC fighter. While they bring media attention, these kinds of representations are often criticized for characterizing Capoeira as an aggression-sport and missing the deeper philosophy behind it.

Head of the Santa Cruz chapter of Raizes do Brasil, lead instructor Mestre Papiba noted that while Capoeira remains somewhat under the radar of the public, it has become increasingly popular with college. UCSC is a large contributor to the Santa Cruz community, and to his student base.

“The media promotes so many options to kids that endorse American culture at a young age,” he said. “Teenagers tend to endorse pop culture, and Capoeira is definitely not part of that pop culture. When people go to college they’re not really happy with what pop culture offers. Capoeira is complete, [it has] dance, music, action, [and] fun. It’s very fulfilling.”

“I think fundamentally this kind of culture is African,” Maher said.

Though known to have originated in Brazil, Capoeira is widely accepted as having its roots in Afro-Brazilian slave culture, particularly of the Yoruba tribe. As a way of resisting capture and containment, slaves and ex-slaves adopted a martial art that could be disguised as a dance and encouraged avoidance over offensive resistance.

Capoeira has since evolved from the days of the early freedom fighters, and today it is a widely practiced martial art.

“There’s Capoeira everywhere nowadays,” said Brian Cavalo de Faria of the Miami Capoeira Project in a promotional video addressing the popularity of Capoeira. “I know of at least one Capoeira group in every country — it’s something of a phenomenon … a few decades [ago] that was unheard of.”

Many still take up the sport as a form of self-defense, but some begin their training to access the spirituality and community that Capoeira can bring, especially in the United States.

“The reason I believe that Capoeira is getting really popular in the U.S. is the culture,” de Faria said. “The [Brazilian] culture is something that Americans love and is something that really draws a lot of non-Brazilians to the art.”

Like many activities with African roots, Capoeira utilizes percussion instruments to energize participants. Aside from momentous chants and energetic phrases in Portuguese, Brazilian drums, Berimbaus and bells are the mechanisms that fuel the Roda.

“The music drives the game,” said Maher of the indispensability of music to a game of Capoeira. “Not only does it give it the energy and the style, it drives it on and controls it. A Capoeirista has to be able to play music as well as dance. They have to do it all.”

Tagged out of the center of the Roda by another eager to play, Layne takes up a drum and begins to hit it to the beat of the music, demonstrating the need for this kind of fluency in different aspects of Capoeira. During the Batizado, students are tested on their ability to perform in all aspects of Capoeira in order to receive a promotion in rank, not just combat ability like many other forms of self-defense.

“I was baptized today,” said UCSC second-year Nick Larry, walking out of the Roda after sparring with one of his teachers. Larry started training Capoeira at the beginning of the year and is planning to continue as long as he attends UCSC.

“I was excited, and once I got out I was just happy,” Larry said. “I felt inducted in a sense, like it was my rite of passage.” As this is his first Batizado, Larry has just been promoted to the level of student, becoming one of the few to tackle the challenge of understanding the multi-faceted game of Capoeira and receiving a new cord to symbolize his growth in the sport. There are five ranks in total, symbolized by the many different schools in terms of belt color — student, graduate, formed, professor, and master. One is promoted based on his or her talent, but also by the level of dedication shown to the community through teaching and building a student base of one’s own.

UCSC sophomore Nick Larry proudly displays his new cord, signaling a promotion in the ranking system used by Capoeiristas. The cord reflects the growth in the sport he has shown during the Batizado, or Baptism, at the Louden Nelson Community Center in Santa Cruz, on May 14.

“A lot of students expect the [promotion] to happen,” Papiba said. Papiba has been training in Capoeira for 25 years and teaching at the Santa Cruz chapter of Raizes do Brasil for 17 of them. The Batizado means something a little different for him.

“For me it’s the moment that we all get to come together and really be a family,” he said. “We talk a lot about philosophy — it’s a week of learning.”

Papiba has been teaching classes every day for the past week to help his students prepare for the event. With more than 10 schools coming together to participate in the annual Batizado, the days leading up to it are spent in training and preparation, fundraisers and workshops to enhance the experience.

“Some say it looks like dance-fighting, [but] its actually pretty dangerous,” said Amber Michaelson of the Capoeira club on campus. The club has shrunk considerably since its beginnings a few years back. Originally focused solely on the physical practice of Capoeira, it has since expanded to include a class on the fundamentals of Capoeira music. Michaelson is a current UCSC fourth-year and has been training Capoeira for four years, including a brief stint in Chile, which she now describes as her life.

“It’s a family — it’s exercise, there’s a lifestyle and a community when you do it,” she said.

Perhaps none would understand that better than Papiba himself — and after 25 years of practice, he seems to have settled into life inside the Roda as well as he has life outside of it.

“I feel a little more relaxed,” he said. “It becomes more of a spiritual experience now — I let the flow of Capoeira guide me. A lot of Capoeira is instincts. Naturally it becomes a lifestyle.”

Capoeiristas gather in a Roda, or circle where they get together to make music and play Capoeira.

In the 17 years he has taught at his school, Papiba has noticed the rising maturity of his students. Though the community has remained relatively the same size in number since the foundation of the school 17 years ago, he sees a noticeable growth in the core strength of the Santa Cruz community.

“You learn to let the rhythm come in and guide you,” said Trigo, who prefers to be called by her Brazilian name, and is Papiba’s first student. “You begin to think as you grow older that you have to learn to use your mind as well as your body — [it] really is a way of life.” Trigo has been to every Batizado in the last 17 years, and in that time she has seen herself grow in many ways through her training in Capoeira.

“I’m a coach for competitive soccer and also teach Capoeira to kids,” she said. “All of that comes from the confidence I get doing Capoeira.”

Throughout the day, many were promoted, some graduated, and a few received a dry baptism, the only moisture to touch their bodies being the few drops of sweat still clinging to their skin from the exertion. Near the back wall of the room, UCSC fourth-year Layne exits the Roda, walking forward with a new cord wrapped around his waist despite suffering a swift take-down from one of the masters present.

“Oh, you saw that, huh?” asks Layne, his laughing eyes showing no disappointment, only satisfaction. “It was fine — you just have to get back up and smile. You have to have a good attitude — you gotta have that playfulness. Just get back in there.”

Between two pairs of flying feet, two spinning forces of furious Axé, Layne dives back into the fray, just as he and his fellow Capoeiristas have plenty of times before, and will many times again.

Students and the Watsonville Brown Berets want Santa Cruz mayor and UCSC lecturer Ryan Coonerty to support AB 1081, the Trust Act. They staged their protest unannounced in Coonerty’s Law and Democracy class on May 25. Photos by Sal Ingram.

It was a normal Wednesday lecture in Engineering 2 last week. Students discussed their upcoming final with Santa Cruz mayor and lecturer Ryan Coonerty.

Then, around 40 UC Santa Cruz students and Watsonville Brown Beret members unexpectedly entered the classroom. As they circled the room holding signs that read “Shame on you Ryan Coonerty” and “Si con AB 1081,” they addressed Coonerty, then ceded the floor for his response.

On their website, the Watsonville Brown Berets describe themselves as a community force organized to defend and liberate their barrios. Brown Beret members were joined by sympathetic UCSC students as they appealed to Coonerty to support a resolution on AB 1081.

“We feel you acted cowardly,” said Sandino Gomez, a Brown Beret, in a statement addressed to the mayor. “Why did you stand against the resolution?”

AB 1081, known as the Trust Act, focuses on illegal immigration and deportation issues. Under AB 1081, a county can maintain the right to refuse to send fingerprints of all arrested individuals to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Currently, counties are required to send this information to ICE as part of a program known as Secure Communities.

Secure Communities, in correlation with Homeland Security and the Department of Justice, works to identify and deport illegal immigrants. Demonstrators say that according to the policies of Secure Communities, non-criminals are being deported.

“Because of Secure Communities, families are being destroyed,” Gomez said. “Employers are losing employees, partners are losing partners.”

AB 1081 would counteract Secure Communities. A resolution supporting AB 1081 would solidify Coonerty’s support for the bill, but would not make any legislative change.

Coonerty has thus far not decided to voice support for AB 1081.

He told demonstrators his position on the Trust Act is directly related to his belief that it is not a policy the county should be focusing its energy on. Instead, he suggested that the demonstrators engage in a dialogue with government officials at the state and federal level where change would be more effective.

“You can engage in all this rhetoric that is empty, or you can go out and try to change something,” Coonerty said to the demonstrators.

Nonetheless, the demonstrators maintain that what they want from Coonerty is open support of the Trust Act through a resolution — and they want to know why he is choosing not to.

“It’s not enough to say, ‘It’s not my responsibility, not my issue,’” Gomez said. “We’re looking for him to take a symbolic stand. We’re quite aware the resolution is not going to change policy.”

The atmosphere quickly changed when one demonstrator spoke out, cutting off Coonerty.

In response, members of the class began to speak up, reminding the demonstrators that Coonerty had allowed them their chance to speak. Although the demonstrators only remained in the room for approximately 10 minutes, the tension was palpable.

“We came to hold him accountable,” Tomas Alejo, one of the demonstrators, said. “For him not to support our resolution when he had a majority of the community in favor of it is him not paying attention to the values that he preaches.”

Coonerty said for as long as he’s been with the university, he has not seen a protest carried out this way. The protest left Coonerty’s class with mixed feelings.

“A lot of students were aggravated because [Coonerty] was talking about the final,” third-year Maria Isabel Capacete said.

Others were sympathetic to the demonstrators’ cause, but still disagreed with their methods.

“I think the cause they’ve chosen to undertake is an important one,” third-year Guy Herschmann said. “But I think the way they handled it was inappropriate.”

The demonstrators said they were not looking to upset students.

“We don’t want to impact their education in a negative way,” Gomez said. “If anything, our goal was that students would learn something and would perhaps think about the issue in a different light.”

Coonerty explained Santa Cruz has worked on creating and implementing a helpline for immigrant workers, and Santa Cruz is known as a sanctuary city for non-citizens.

“[The Brown Berets and I] have been on the same side on a lot of issues and on different sides on a lot of other issues,” Coonerty said. “Like everything in politics, we don’t always see eye to eye. I respect their passion and I respect the concerns they raise. They are really vital concerns.”

Senior cross country runner Malia Nanbara’s asthma poses a constant challenge in her athletic endeavors. She compares having an asthma attack to “breathing through a straw.” Photo by Sal Ingram.

It feels like you are slowly suffocating.

If you want to know what an asthma attack feels like, Malia Nanbara continues, try breathing through a straw. Air comes in, but it doesn’t seem to fill your lungs.

“It’s the typical feeling you’ll have at the end of a race when you’re exhausted, but on top of that you’re having trouble breathing,” said senior cross-country runner Nanbara. “It’s a tightness in the chest and you can take in air, but it doesn’t come out.”

No one with asthma wants to experience an attack. But for UC Santa Cruz athletes like Nanbara who have asthma, frequent training and physical exertion virtually guarantee at least a few asthma attacks during competitive season.

A 2011 study by the American Lung Association said Santa Cruz County has grade “A” air, in contrast to Santa Clara, which received an “F” for its high ozone and particle pollution. But UCSC athletes with asthma still have to contend with pollen from Santa Cruz plants and trees — like redwoods — that trigger allergy-induced asthma attacks.

Nanbara did not anticipate this problem when she moved from Long Beach to Santa Cruz, where she expected to breathe easier in the cleaner air.

“I went and had an allergy test and found out I’m pretty much allergic to every pollen and imaginable plant that’s up here,” Nanbara said. “And I think that’s why I probably had some difficulty while I was up here that I didn’t really experience too much when I was down south, despite the poor air quality.”

Clayton Sorensen, a senior “winger” for the UCSC men’s soccer team, said when he moved from San Rafael to Santa Cruz, he suffered sudden attacks in the spring because of the proximity of the soccer field to pollinating grass.

“We’re mostly indoors in the winter, and then we head outdoors all of a sudden,” Sorensen said. “Being around a bunch of grass and breathing it in, it’s pretty tough.”

For athletes like Sorensen and Nanbara, practical and personal techniques have helped them to overcome asthma.

Sorensen — who has been playing soccer since he was six, and next year plans to play club soccer in Holland — said after he was diagnosed with asthma in the seventh grade, he began to treat asthma less as a disease and more as a personal shortcoming to be conquered through discipline.

“At some points in my life I viewed it as a weakness, so I tried to overcome it,” Sorensen said. “Sometimes I have to view it like I can’t really control it, but I’m the type of person where if I can’t do something to my full potential, it just means I’m not working hard enough.”

Because they are motivated to perform at the same level as their other teammates, UCSC athletes with asthma need to be especially aware of the limits of their triggers and know what to do in the event of an attack.

“The main reason so many people [who] first experience an asthma attack have a really strong reaction to it is that it scares them because they can’t breathe,” Nanbara said. “Over the years I’ve learned to feel when it’s coming on and then I either stop running or try to slow down, breathe in through the nose out through the mouth, hands on the head.”

Jeffrey Arnett, a coach for both the UCSC cross-country and track and field teams, said in his experience, most UCSC athletes with asthma require little assistance in managing their attacks.

“I think by the time they reach college, [their asthma] has been diagnosed earlier on and the athlete has figured out what to do and when to do it,” Arnett said.

Arnett said asthma is tricky because its severity varies from individual to individual and depends on the environment. This can be especially difficult for young athletes who want to push their potential, but sometimes do so at the expense of their personal health.

“For an asthmatic, [an attack] isn’t always a situation you can predict,” Arnett said. “You don’t know what might set it off, and if they do know their limits, you hope they’ll stay beneath it.”

For individuals like Nanbara and Sorensen who have been afflicted with asthma most of their lives, handling the disease is an unpleasant but manageable part of their day-to-day life. Both Nanbara and Sorensen rely on their inhalers, but if an attack catches them without one, they can rely on breathing exercises to open up their airways.

“Stop, breathe in through your nose, out through your mouth,” Nanbara said. “Most of it is about not getting freaked out by the fact that you can’t breathe, but slowing down your breathing. And usually a lot of people will want to bend over, but it’s better to put your hands on your head, open up your airways and stand straight.”

These may sound simple, but sometimes the best techniques are. For Nanbara and Sorensen, knowing how to breathe correctly is often all it takes to overcome an asthma attack.

It all started in eighth grade. I owe a lot to my middle school English teacher. She made us all participate in our own Toastmasters, meaning we each had to give five-minute speeches about any topic of our choosing. The point was to become competent at organizing and delivering speeches and explaining things clearly.

I was nervous but also excited by the opportunity to educate my sometimes less-than-enthralling peers about anything I wanted. But as often happens when presented with limitless choices, I was paralyzed by the possibilities. I kept a running list of potential topics, but not one idea outshone the rest.

As had often happened before and has often happened since, television gave me the answer — more specifically, the E! Entertainment channel gave me the answer. One night when I no doubt should have been doing math homework, the “E! True Hollywood Story” of Oprah Winfrey came on TV.

Illustration by Bela Messex

I’d been a casual fan of Oprah for a couple years. I was at the awkward age in my life when neither playing with toys nor going out with friends was a common after-school occurrence (it’s called middle school), and that meant that I had a lot more time to watch TV.

But that E! True Hollywood Story converted me into a hardcore fan. After seeing Oprah’s story — the story of an impoverished childhood as a rape survivor, and the story of fighting for a job at a local TV station and using it to eventually propel herself to national syndication, against all odds — I became mildly obsessed.

Because — no apologies to the naysayers — Oprah is awesome. And I honestly can’t think of a better mainstream famous female role model than Ms. Winfrey.

Women in the media often exist to be looked at. They succeed on the merits of their looks and sexuality, or their relationships, or their ability to perform in the role that is manufactured for them. But Oprah succeeded because of her ability to talk, and most importantly, her ability to ask questions.

Much has been said about Oprah’s ego, and I can understand how some would find her overbearing and ridiculous. But she didn’t get to the top by being obsessed with herself — in fact, it’s just the opposite. Oprah originally gained popularity by shedding light and peering into all sorts of topics, often ones that were overlooked or mistreated by the traditional media.

Through different interviews and shows, she put a human face on issues, one of the most notable issues being AIDS. Major TV news shows can conflate this epidemic into being all fear and no content, and that was especially true in the ’80s. But by having a talk show — a program whose very title implied that its purpose was to let people talk — Oprah could allow stories to be told.

In 1987, the same year that Ronald Reagan finally publicly acknowledged the existence of AIDS, Oprah, who had only been on air a few years, did a show about the town of Williamsburg, West Virginia, which had recently been rocked by a controversy revolving around an out gay man who was HIV-positive, a public swimming pool and a lot of ignorance. She traveled to the town, and the citizens were both her audience and her interviewees.

The episode showed a public dialogue that, while being very hateful and prejudiced, also served as an important narrative for the country to see. The rest of the media had covered the issue, and people had judged what they thought about it. But Oprah putting the story, the issue, the man and the entire town on television for an hour was huge because it existed as a record of what was really going on at this point in history. It wasn’t hyped up with the language of fear that many media outlets used when covering AIDS, and it wasn’t downplayed into almost nonexistence the way Reagan wished it to be. It simply was: Oprah asked the people questions, and they answered.

It was definitely a risk to do that show, as many of her viewers at the time probably still harbored deep resentment towards homosexual people and an intense fear of AIDS. But she did it anyway — why? For ratings? That probably had something to do with it. But still, she went far outside the safety net of what talk shows were supposed to be about at the time, and she continued to do so, covering things like sexual abuse, meat contamination, drug addiction, obesity and much more.

And when Oprah revisited the town 23 years later, we could see how much had changed since 1987 — and how much remained the same.

So naturally, 13-year-old me gave a speech about her. I don’t remember much about it, beyond yelling at my fellow students that they’d all won free cars. But I hope I stressed the importance of asking questions.

Because over the years, Oprah has asked a whole lot of people questions. Her style has changed, her subjects have changed, and some would say she’s grown less relevant, and worships far too frequently at the altar of consumption.

But the fact that being a dirt-poor, sexually abused African American girl who grew up to be one of the most influential people on the planet, is owed mostly to her ability to ask questions — and her persistence at doing so — remains remarkable. It attests to the power of human connection, to the importance of dialogue, and to the unstoppable force that is curiosity and the equally impressive need to be heard.

And as her talk show comes to an end, the power of conversation is more important than ever. Nobody will ever replace Oprah Winfrey, but hopefully everyone can keep in mind what she said during her final episode.

“Wherever you are, that is your platform, your stage, your circle of influence,” Winfrey said. “That is your talk show, and that is where your power lies.”