Illustration by Jamie Morton.

Occupy Wall Street. The action that began as a rather small gathering of activists on a street corner in two short weeks has snowballed into a movement encompassing more than 430 (and counting, according to occupytogether.org) cities nationwide. That small crowd on Wall Street in New York spread to a mass group large enough to block part of the Brooklyn Bridge and result in 700 arrests. Regardless of dissenting sentiments about the particulars of the action, it is hard to make a case that the Occupy Wall Street action and its subsequent offshoots springing up literally every day are anything but an incredibly positive and inspiring thing for the American people.

In a country that has been plagued by misguided bipartisanship, we are, and have been for many years now, in desperate need of something that surmounts party lines and quite literally brings us together. And Occupy Wall Street has done just that.

The sheer quantity of individuals in the mobilization shows the American people feel like there is something worth fighting for.

The beauty of the movement resides largely in the notion of movement itself — in part because one of the many complaints about “this generation” has been the pervasiveness of apathy — but also in the symbolic weight that the varied and vast complaints the protesters are voicing.

The quantity of issues the action is choosing to target illustrates not a lack of communication, for those on Wall Street have devised an innovative and accurate method of communication by repeating each line of a given speaker throughout the crowd; not a lack of organization, for the movement spread from coast to coast in 11 days; and not a lack of coherence, for a common language marries these actions, as each cities’ action is called Occupy [insert city here] and the common language being used to spread the movement like wildfire is online networking.

The quantity of issues illustrates the impressive nature of the actions as movements truly for the people and by the people. We as a nation are hurting, for many reasons, so why should we not call attention to this fact? It is interesting that the main fixture of the mass media outlets like The New York Times and Fox News has been to criticize the movement’s lack of coherent goals, when the same broadcasters spend their entire news segments griping about a seemingly endless inventory of flaws in our government and economy. It is a well-established fact for all people of this country that we have problems. This incredibly short-sighted view on the movements is, quite frankly, bafflingly short-sighted.

This is not a protest on a war, this is a protest calling attention to the war we are engaged in. This is not simply an ambiguous protest condemning class divisions, this is a protest against the fact that 1 percent of this nation owns all of the wealth and the middle class is dying. It is not a protest against our citizens not having enough wealth, but an action calling attention to the inequitable and corrupt distribution (so enough about the protesters’ Apple laptops). It is not a protest against the free market, but calling out the corrupt nature of how that wealth was accrued.

And though the protests are broad in their focus, at least they are focused on the economy. This was a feat our own legislature could not accomplish when they put the nearly 10 percent unemployment level and failing economy on the back burner and instead focused on issues like abortion to distract the American people and capitalize on the atmosphere of anger and fear. The issues the legislature was supposed to focus on — the housing market crisis, unemployment, Wall Street corruption, the disappearing middle class, accountability for the greed-driven market and the failure of the banks — are, ironically, the central fixtures the Occupy Wall Street and following movements are honing in on.

On the website that serves as a hub for information regarding details about the national movement, the list of goals is basically a list of what, had our legislature been doing their job, would have been the political sticking points for the past two years.

An incredibly educated, innovative populace of young people has been, year after year, released into the world with no job market to enter into and college debt so huge, money begins to mean nothing. And what does this mean? An incredibly viable and threatening force to be reckoned with. This movement has been characterized by the production of short videos and blog entries that are basically marketing a movement. That is ingenious. This is a group literate in a language of new media, and took off at lightning speed utilizing almost exclusively social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter and various online forums like Reddit and Adbusters. Mass media coverage certainly was not the source of knowledge spreading.

You have an incredibly smart generation of individuals who have been told to get an education, and they have. They have been charged exorbitant amounts of money for that education and are now paying off loans they are drowning in, all to be cast into a job market that cannot sustain them — beyond that, a market actually forcing them to foot the bill with money they don’t have.

Each of the facets of the actions can be seen in Santa Cruz County, where unemployment is slightly over 10 percent and the university has seen a $4,000 rise in tuition in less than four years. From coast to coast, the principles of the unrest remain, give or take, the same.

The movement has spread to our neighborhood. Occupy Santa Cruz’s Facebook page has nearly 2,000 likes. Considering the population of Santa Cruz is only 55,000, that figure speaks volumes. This movement, whose most popular creed is “we are the 99 percent,” represents the majority of people. This nation is something to be defended, and when the movement is brought to a town like Santa Cruz’s front door, it is safe to say that involvement is necessitated.

The movement has incredible initial momentum. Unfortunately, however, a huge detraction from the movement is the fear of being arrested. There is no more poignant gesture than being arrested for a cause, for it directly symbolizes the sentiment of one’s position. Being arrested captures the essence of a cause. It represents a microcosm of the larger movement. Civil disobedience effects change. This has been said and demonstrated in the history of revolutions, and how could this particular uprising be exempt?

San Francisco protestors gather at the Federal Reserve Building on Saturday, Oct. 1, where the Planning Action Committee discussed direction and logistics of the Occupy San Francisco Movement. The gathering followed the established protest in New York, Occupy Wall Street. The Santa Cruz offshoot, Occupy Santa Cruz, began shortly after Saturday’s meeting in San Francisco. Photo by Pierce Crosby.

Occupy San Francisco attendees protest in solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street action, which has spread to more than 430 cities across the nation. Photo by Pierce Crosby.

Photo by Pierce Crosby.

“Strength of conviction has never been a problem for Santa Cruz,” former Mayor Scott Kennedy said at the kick-off of the Occupy Santa Cruz action, an offshoot of the Occupy Wall Street movement happening on the opposite coast. According to occupytogether.org, more than 430 similar occupations have sprung up in cities and towns across the nation as of press time.

Kennedy, seated on a park bench after dusk, engaged in political banter with Robert Norse, a well-known local activist who works with Free Radio Santa Cruz. The two, who do not always see eye-to-eye (especially considering the lawsuit hanging between them), sparred, speaking to past, present and future local and national issues.

Such conversation characterized the general atmosphere of the evening. Springing up via word of mouth, Twitter, Facebook and other various forms of online communication, and inspired by Occupy Wall Street, a leaderless group that began meeting in New York City’s Liberty Square on Sept. 17, Occupy Santa Cruz is modeled on the same principles of open, participatory and horizontal organization between attendees.

After three weeks of camping and occupying the New York City square, the movement has spread across the nation to other major cities, including Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Atlanta, Seattle, District of Columbia, Raleigh-Durham and now Santa Cruz.

In San Francisco, the movement began with rallies held in front of Chase Bank, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and the Federal Reserve. The federal reserve in Union Square has become the headquarters for protesters and the movement’s “camp.”

Protests have continued systematically, using the medium of social media to bring attention to their cause. Events are planned and discussed on online forums such as occupysf.com.

On Oct. 1, Occupy SF took to the streets to raise awareness to passersby and discuss the best way to utilize attendees.

The occupation continues at 101 Market St.

“There is a lot of work to be done, the first stage is definitely getting more people here to help us fight this battle,” college graduate Adrian Martinez said while participating in one of the divided groups gathered on the front lawns of Union Square.

Although the Bay Area protest consistently remains non-violent, on Thursday, Sept. 29, six protesters were arrested for the charge of occupying the private space of a Chase bank.

In Santa Cruz, demonstration began shortly after the San Francisco actions.

On Oct. 4, a closely huddled crowd of approximately 300 people held ad hoc demonstration signs high above the crowd. Some of the slogans read “End imperialist war and capital exploitation” and “Rage against the machine.”

When the general assembly began at approximately 5 p.m., the crowd simultaneously vocalized their concerns, opinions and demands. After a slight, confident young woman ordered people to speak one at a time, the discussion became more orderly. The assemblage discussed spaces for a more permanent occupations, such as the Santa Cruz Courthouse and the empty building on Pacific Avenue that previously housed Borders bookstore.

By a show of hands, a consensus was reached. The occupation will be in San Lorenzo Park beginning today, Oct. 6. Along with the planned march to banks such as Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo, reports of demonstrating at the county courthouse were heard as well.

Some of the primary aims of the Occupy Wall Street movement are to take back the United States government, which demonstrators say has been hijacked by banks and corporations. In Santa Cruz, as in New York, the people who form the movement are saying the same thing: the corporate profiteers, corrupt politics, and the “too big to fail” banks need to come to an end.

How they were going to take action against the banks, corporations and government was not exactly clear at first, but by the end of the assembly they had agreed that, along with establishing a strong foothold at the San Lorenzo Park, they will meet under the clock tower downtown to march to each local branch of the Wall Street banks.

This first march will be to the “too big to fail” banks, to withdraw money, then march to one or more local community banks to redeposit their money. If all goes as planned, thousands of dollars, if not more, in people’s checking and savings accounts will have been effectively removed from the investment powers of the big banks and into Santa Cruz’s local economy.

Kyle Thiermann, local activist and founder of Surfing for Change, weighed in on Occupy Santa Cruz’s plan to move money from the major banks and into the community banks.

“People are waking up to understanding their power,” Thiermann said. “It’s so cool that Santa Cruz is making that happen.”

Thiermann is well known in the surfing community as a great surfer and passionate activist. His work is aimed at the average person and encourages them to move their money out of large banks, namely Bank of America, and into smaller community banks and credit unions.

Thiermann said his work has caused around $300 million to be moved from Bank of America to community banks.

“When you put $1 into the bank, the bank has the power to turn that $1 into $10” using “fractional reserve banking,” which, Thiermann said gives large banks more leverage in the global economy because they turn around and invest it elsewhere in the world. Therefore, Thiermann insists, it is more beneficial to a community if people bank locally, because that community is replenished with their money.

By 8 p.m., the large group of 300 had split into several factions, each containing approximately 20 individuals. There was a group for philosophy, one for food, and another for legal matters, among others.

“It went very well … everybody got a chance to voice their opinions,” said Hugo Arana, a local carpenter who “for many years has been disappointed by the economic system that we have that puts profits before community.”

Similar tactics for discussion have been used in San Francisco and at the movement’s U.S. origin on Wall Street.

“So far we’ve all been basically working towards planning dates and networking with the people, but it’s a challenge because you don’t want to make a hierarchy. This is an equal movement, we’re all Americans, and we want an equal system,” said an Occupy San Francisco protestor who wished to remain anonymous because of his job.

David Addison, a Santa Cruz library employee at the local gathering, said he was glad to see the solidarity at the event. Addison, who brought his wife, child and mother in-law to the general assembly, said it is “the beginning of something” because the middle-class is not “represented anymore in this country — we are the 99 percent.”

Addison acknowledges the differences between Santa Cruz and New York, namely the lack of a financial district, but maintains that community mobilization is nevertheless vital.

“I want to see the average person in this country be represented,” said Addison, before following his daughter toward the park swing set.

Additional reporting by Pierce Crosby.

Photo by Kyan Mahzouf.

On Oct. 9 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at L’Atelier Salon, stylists will volunteer their time offering haircuts and selling raffle tickets to benefit cancer and HIV/AIDS research and treatment programs at City of Hope, a clinical research center located in Southern California.

This annual nationwide campaign is in its fourth year at L’Atelier Salon. Salon manager Erica Penney said one employee, Nick Saporito, was integral in bringing the fundraiser to Santa Cruz.

“One of our stylists, Nick, brought this idea to us because it was very close to home for him,” Penney said.

Saporito spent a significant amount of time visiting Duarte, Calif. from 2005 to 2007 when his father was being treated for cancer.

“My dad was at City of Hope getting treated for his lymphoma,” Saporito said. “I learned about this nationwide campaign while I was there.”

The American Cancer Society estimates 11,714,000 people in the United States had cancer in 2007, according to their website. It is estimated that over 1 million people are living with HIV in the United States. When these serious diseases strike, resources run thin: patients often lose the ability to work, and medications are exorbitantly expensive.

Fundraisers and private donations are pivotal for City of Hope’s livelihood.

There will be a $40 minimum donation to receive a haircut during the fundraiser. Usually the salon staff performs about 70 haircuts throughout the day and raises roughly $4,000.

“It’s a cut-a-thon,” Saporito said. “We do haircuts for anybody at a flat rate. We also hold a raffle with great prizes. Most of the prizes are gift certificates or baskets from downtown businesses. We’ve got a little bit of everything.”

On the East Coast, hundreds of businesses participate in the City of Hope fundraiser. Salon manager Penney said L’Atelier is one of few on the West Coast to participate.

“Until this year, we were the only West Coast salon to participate,” Penney said. “Now there is one other in California doing it. I love participating in this fundraiser because City of Hope is such a great organization.”

The College Eight environmental studies major lived in Stevenson College last spring quarter, and was from San Diego County. According to an email from UCSC Public Affairs, the cause of death is under investigation.

A memorial candlelit service will be held in front of the Cowell/Stevenson Dining Hall tonight, Oct. 6 from 8 to 11 p.m. A Facebook event for the service was made and can be found as “Candle Lighting Memorial for Camila Lee.”

“Every agency takes on a Tuesday, so it moves around the area,” Friend said.

A Santa Cruz Police Department officer pulled over and ticketed fifth-year Lucas Healy on Tuesday morning as he rode on his bike down Hagar Drive by the Bay Tree Bookstore and turned left by the Cowell Computer Lab without stopping at the stop sign.

“I stop there when I have to,” Healy said. “It sucks when you’re on a bike. If there’s no traffic or pedestrians, I don’t see the point in stopping.”

The police coverage caught students, including Healy, off-guard.

“It’s bullshit,” Healy said. “I saw [SCPD officers] all the way up High Street today too, waiting at every stop. I can’t believe my first ticket was on a bike.”

Aaron White, a UCSC student, has worked with alumnus Elias Martinez to create SPACES. The organization, Sex Positive Autonomous Coalition for Environmental Sustainability, promotes sex positivity through environmentally sustainable initiatives like up-cycled sex toys. Photo by Prescott Watson.

SPACES: Sex Positive Autonomous Coalition for Environmental Sustainability. The wordy acronym may not roll off the tongue, but with this project, former Slug Elias Martinez and current UCSC student Aaron White hope to create a buzz and get people talking.

The work-in-progress is a multipronged project focused on promoting not only sex positivity but practices that are environmentally sustainable. For example, by making — and teaching how to make — vegan, “upcycled” (a term meaning repurposed from other objects) sex toys, SPACES is showing support for sexual freedom and eco-friendly practices with leather-free products.

“We decided to create an organization that addressed more of the needs and issues that we saw needed [to be] addressed,” White said. “When you have sex positivity, you are more open to the idea of sex. It doesn’t necessarily mean you engage in it, but you support people who are having it.”

Martinez and White make their products, including floggers, whips and harnesses, from extensively sterilized used bike parts, like inner tubes.

“It’s something that I’m really good at, and I really like making vegan alternatives,” Martinez said. “Our products are as good or better than the leather products in the market now.”

White said their products are user-tested and improvements are made based on feedback. They are not currently making products for penetration and have no plans to begin making them.

In the past Martinez and White have worked both independently and collaboratively on various workshops on topics such as queer anarchy and BDSM (bondage, discipline, sadism and masochism). White said he’d like to see these workshops continued.

Both Martinez and White said they hope to see several large-scale projects come to fruition, including a database identifying what businesses are queer-friendly “safe spaces.” White said while there are regional networks of queer-friendly businesses, there is nothing on the national level.

“Creating a national registry insures businesses are staying true to their word and remaining queer-friendly,” White said.

SPACES is also planning on working with World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF) to create an index of queer-friendly farms.

When looking at the overarching goals of SPACES, the one continuous thread is the call for sex positivity and further restructuring of ingrained ideas of sexuality in American culture.

“Sex positivity for us means giving consenting adults autonomy over their own bodies,” Martinez said. “The media and other institutions perpetuate ‘vanilla sex’ as being the standard, the expectation of our sexual desires.”

Martinez explained that what he defines as “vanilla sex” is “normative sex acts that are non-kinky and generally accepted as being standard.”

Tam Welch, program coordinator for the UCSC Lionel Cantù GLBTI, said sex positivity exists in varying degrees in different communities, but overall it is important to further push cultural discussions of sex in order to remove shame that may be socially applied to non-normative sex acts.

“Sex positivity in itself celebrates [sex and] flips the sense of shame,” Welch said. “It brings the conversation to an edge that a lot of people potentially blush at, and I think that the more we can bring it to the center — meaning the mainstream — then sex positivity will create healthier and safer behaviors.”

Not talking about sex — whether it is heteronormative or otherwise — does not erase the existence of the act itself, Welch said.

“People don’t talk about sex. There’s … a shame in enjoying your body,” she said. “There’s a lot of taboo-ness that happens around sex. You don’t have to talk about sex, but it happens … You don’t have to talk about this, that or the other, but it happens.”

The main goal of SPACES is to promote three things: sex positivity, queer justice and environmental sustainability. It’s a project fueled by a passion for social justice and community empowerment.

“Our focus is going to be making people more comfortable with their bodies. That’s the most simple way to put it,” White said. “We want to let people know that you can have fun with who they are. And you don’t necessarily need to have sex to have fun.”

SPACES plans on launching their official website on Oct. 24. They will be tabling at Practical Activism Conference on Oct. 22, at the Colleges Nine and Ten Multipurpose Room. 

Illustration by Louise Leong

In the present-day media and political climate, there are moments when it’s hard not to feel like the entire world is in on some elaborate joke that you just don’t get. It doesn’t make sense anymore, and you’re left wondering where and when exactly everything stopped adding up.

That happened for me last week when I read People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is planning on launching a porn site. I know what images that might conjure in your mind, so I’ll clarify — the pornography will feature humans exclusively (no animals), but the site will be used as a tool to draw people in and then inform them about PETA’s message: animal rights and a vegan diet.

PETA has a history of favoring the “shock factor” technique in its advertising — the organization has equated factory farming to the Holocaust, used porn stars as spokesmodels, and is perhaps most notorious for using bloody imagery to drive home their point, that “Meat is Murder!”

There are some who might not see a problem with PETA’s newest publicity tactic. As one friend succinctly said to me when I brought up the subject, “I mean, why not do this?” After all, if people are going to look at porn anyway, why not try to educate them about animal rights in the process?

And I’ll concede that pornography is not inherently unethical — it’s just the way it’s produced by for-profit American companies, with the exception of a few groups of people specifically dedicated to reclaiming porn for all types and portraying more realistic and respectable sexual situations, is often degrading and belittling to all sorts of people. The porn stars PETA has employed in the past have been plastic, mainstream figures of the adult film industry, so with only that history to go on, it’s likely their new site won’t challenge the norm.

It’s probably crossed your mind by this point that this is the ultimate irony — compromising the integrity of human beings to prove a point about the integrity of animals. Keeping all that in mind, it’s tempting to lambast the organization for a lack of ethics or common sense.

But this publicity stunt didn’t come out of thin air. PETA’s defense of its more drastic measures has always been that it’s the only way to catch people’s attention. And that’s understandable, because nobody gets in the news for being agreeable anymore. If PETA were just launching a new, standard, informative website, then I probably wouldn’t be writing this piece right now. And what that means is PETA’s decisions don’t just reflect their own organization, but also the culture at large.

It’s true PETA is an extreme group, and its bids for attention aren’t part of the norm. But what is most unusual about PETA’s overt use of pornography for gain is just that — it’s overt. Look at any commercial or magazine cover, and the odds are good it manipulates sexual desire and some form of the “ideal” body to sell products or copies. City on a Hill Press’s own beginning-of-the-year welcome guide, Primer, featured the outline of a woman on its cover this year, and while it was not the driving motivation for the concept, the sex-appeal factor was not ignored. That’s just one closer-to-home example of the nearly ancient and universal advertising mantra: “sex sells.” Other famous examples include recent Axe body spray ads and Calvin Klein ads in the ‘90s. In some twisted sense, you have to hand it to PETA: at least they’re cutting through the bullshit and telling it like it is.

Fringe groups like PETA often are the first to pioneer an attitude or ideal that later becomes the moderate norm — this is how change happens in America. Could this mean that someday straightforward porn websites — rather than advertisements that resemble porn — could be the standard means of selling products or ideas?

It’s honestly not something that would surprise me. In fact, I’d be hard-pressed to think of an advertising strategy that would surprise me at this point. It’s a strange time for advertising in general, as the Internet is superseding television as the dominant medium, and Internet users are masters at avoiding ads. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

But desperate and lazy aren’t the same thing, and ultimately, that’s what selling sex is: lazy. PETA porn is clever in a cringe-worthy way, but it’s also way too easy. It’s the equivalent of a sitcom with a laugh track — relying on artificial measures to trick people into thinking they’re being entertained. Ha, ha, ha. Sex sells.

And that matters to me because advertising isn’t just a reflection of or an influence on culture — it is culture. I’m as likely to bring up a commercial in conversation as I am a television show. Some people would say that’s sad, but I’m aware enough to know that there’s no escaping consumer culture, so the most we can do is demand the very best entertainment we can where we can get it, whether it’s hamsters driving cars and listening to hip hop or Envious Nomads who love Emerald Nuts.

Yes, sex is great, but capitalizing on that idea isn’t exactly creative. I’m all for advocating for animals, but it’s also important to advocate for standards.

(from left to right)

“I may look like a leopard, but have you ever heard of a cougar?”
Rachel Schneider
Fourth-year, Porter
Literature

“Tame the beast, but don’t hurt it.”
Edison Mellor-Goldman
Second-year, Porter
Environmental studies/Economics

“Do you have any bananas?”
Waseem Lutfi
Fourth-year, College Eight
Math/Biochemistry

Hiss Kurmiņa (left) and Kristen Swig (right) argue with a Sanctity of Human Life member who was protesting abortion in Quarry Plaza on Tuesday. Photo by Nick Paris.

“We’re bringing the truth about abortion and how it not only kills an innocent human being but hurts women,” said SOHL leader Bud, who does not release his last name out of concern for his privacy.

SOHL is in its third year of Northern California college campus tours, and visited UC Santa Cruz this week.

While SOHL said their goal is to educate students on how they view abortions, some students expressed differing opinions.

“They’re throwing the Bible at us,” fourth-year Tracy Garcia said. “What are they trying to prove, bringing these pictures here?”

Bud was not surprised at students’ reactions, and wanted the engaged debates to occur.

“Images tell stories,” Bud said. “This gets their attention…professors aren’t addressing this issue, or if they do, they say the woman should have the right to choose. Right now, women have the right to choose — it’s the law of the land. Just like in slavery, people had the right to have slaves. But it’s an injustice.”

Third-year Stephanie Calderon spoke to a SOHL member, whom she said was nice, but noted the demographics of the SOHL volunteers.

“An older, white man can’t feel what it’s like to have a baby,” Calderon said.

Fourth-year Tessa Mizokami designed her own sign that read, “Your body, your right” to silently protest the anti-abortion group. Another sign made by students addressed the religious aspect of SOHL’s argument and read, “I believe in God and choice.”

The UCSC Women’s Center notified students via email of SOHL’s presence on the morning of Oct. 4.

“We are merely concerned that the group’s methods of exposure to violent imagery and use of inflammatory language may upset or disturb some folks on campus, especially those who are survivors of violence themselves,” the email read.

Women’s Center director Stephanie Milton said she heard about students’ interactions with SOHL at other schools through her network of Women’s Center staff throughout the state.

“This method of subscribing to Christianity is harming to UCSC’s principles of community,” Milton said.

Like the students, Milton experienced mixed encounters with SOHL members. One approached her cordially, but another loudly commented about something Milton said to someone else.

“I found him sarcastic and I don’t hold that in good faith,” she said.

The Women’s Center and several student organizations tabled in Quarry Plaza around SOHL, and the Women’s Center is inviting a reproductive justice organization to table this quarter to expand this discussion of reproduction, Milton said.

“They believe in what they’re doing and we believe in what we’re doing,” she said. “As a woman, I’d say it hurts me. I have a problem when people try to subscribe morality to my body.”

Additional reporting by Chelsea Hawkins

Co-Captain Katherine Grow leaps to spike the ball across the court toward players from Holy Names University. Photo by Toby Silverman

By the fifth set, everyone in the West Field House was standing, tightly crossing their fingers and holding their breath as UC Santa Cruz women’s volleyball co-captain Katherine Grow served the ball. The fact that the Banana Slugs were down and nearly out in the final set didn’t even register with Grow.

“I didn’t think we were going to lose,” said Grow, a junior and a College Eight history major. “I have always had faith in my team.”

UCSC’s women’s volleyball win over Holy Names University on Friday night was climactic. With both sides splitting the first four sets, a UCSC victory was hardly assured.

The game featured numerous heated rallies exchanged by both sides. In the fourth set, UCSC took a seven-point lead, which Holy Names nearly overcame twice, only to be shut out by the rallying Slugs.

By the fifth and final set, Holy Names had an 8-4 lead before UCSC fired back six unanswered points thanks to some nasty spikes from junior middle blocker Ginger Berryman and outside hitter Grow. Finally, the Slugs had the momentum they needed to put away Holy Names. Game over. Holy Names had no answer for the Slugs’ onslaught.

“When you lose rallies, it’s important to keep your head up,” Grow said.

Before the comeback rally, UCSC huddled up to find their resolve. College Eight sophomore setter Jessica Peng, starting for the first time this season and the smallest starter on the team, had big words for her teammates.

“I said ‘infiltrate, destruct and destroy,’ in the huddle,” Peng said. “It completely worked.”

The set scores of 17-25, 25-17, 22-25, 25-22 and 15-13 show it was anyone’s game right until the end.

Holy Names furiously returned UCSC’s spikes throughout the fifth set, yet UCSC blocked their shots and continued putting points on Holy Names. UCSC’s blocking at the net was no surprise to Berryman.

“Blocking is one of our greatest strengths,” said Berryman, a College Eight student. “We had nine blocks, which is a big number.”

UCSC’s win over Holy Names was a “revenge game,” according to the team’s Facebook page. In an away game earlier in the year, the Banana Slugs suffered a heartbreaking loss in five sets to Holy Names in Oakland. It was their first loss to Holy Names University in four years.

“Every time we play Holy Names University, I expect to have a battle,” said UCSC women’s volleyball coach Todd Hollenbeck. “Holy Names is playing better than I’ve ever seen them play before.”

Hollenbeck placed Peng as setter for the first time this season. Peng delivered, recording 59 set assists out of 60, finding Berryman, Grow and freshman outside hitter Kim Rabii for some thunderous kills. Her total was the most in the game, and the most of any Slug this season. Peng was unaware of the statistic.

“It’s all about playing for your team,” Peng said. “Not just for yourself.”

Berryman was happy to get revenge.

“I absolutely thought we got revenge,” Berryman said. “Once we started our passing game, we just crushed them.”

Despite the Banana Slugs beginning this season with a 1-4 win-loss record, Hollenbeck has big plans for his upstart program. He wants to take the team to the NCAA tournament, where he thinks their style of play can upset a few of the tournament’s big names.

“Our game is more about defense than offense,” Hollenbeck said. “We’re fast and scrappy and we can handle multiple swings easily.”

Hollenbeck noted that the women’s volleyball team’s record has improved dramatically in the last few weeks. Indeed, since then the Banana Slugs have been on a 4-1 tear. Their record is a solid but not too showy 6-5.

“If you look at all those losses [during the 1-4 stretch], we lost to some of the top-rated Division III programs in the country,” Hollenbeck said. “We stood toe-to-toe with the No. 11 program [Cal Lutheran] in the nation and barely lost.”

The Banana Slugs face a slew of tough challenges with a game at Dominican University on Sunday, before entering the La Verne and Colorado Classic tournaments in the coming weeks. Hollenbeck said he expects big things from his Slugs when they return home to play Mills College on Oct. 18.

“I fully expect us to be 9-5 after the [La Verne] tournament.”

Photo by Sal Ingram.

In this week’s Community Chest, City on a Hill Press spoke with Carolyn Rodriguez and Michelle Neumann, the organizers for the upcoming American Indian Resource Center’s “Green Team” event, Heal the Earth. Heal the Earth looks at sustainability with an indigenous perspective. Rodriguez is affiliated with the Amah Mutsun tribe, local to Santa Cruz and the central coast, and Neumann is Lucieño of the Pala Reservation.

CHP: What is the Heal the Earth Event?

Carolyn: It’s all about sustainability through Native American traditions. We want everyone to come, not just Native Americans. We have a keynote speaker, Chris Peters, and he’s going to come do a presentation about his work with the Seventh Generation Fund — he’s the CEO. We’re going have workshops from an organization, Sustainable Works, [and] two representatives plan to hold workshop sessions. They’re going to teach everyone how to make zero-waste lunch and biodegradable cleaning products. After that, we plan on having a discussion panel so the students can talk about sustainability.

CHP: What is it like to look at sustainability through an indigenous lens?

Carolyn: I think one of our ideas at the beginning was that we wanted to show that we, Native Americans, are here on campus. And originally we lived sustainably, that’s how our culture was. Of course as time went on, we kind of lost that. So even us, the members of the green team, we’re just trying to find our culture. It’s something we’re learning about: Native Americans and how they keep sustainablity, and we’re taking that and putting it to today’s perspective.

CHP: What do you hope students take out of this event?

Michelle: I just want people to be more environmentally aware. We’re trying to revive traditional values within the indigenous communities.

CHP: What is the most important thing about sustainability?

Carolyn: I think that the most important thing is water and and zero waste, specifically water contamination and pollution.

Michelle: Especially within reservations, because a lot of indigenous people fish and they can’t the eat the fish [they catch] because it’s contaminated. That affects a lot of indigenous communities.

CHP: What does it mean to be indigenous today?

Michelle: I feel like I still need to discover who I am and what comes with my background, like traditions. Being Native American and being on campus, where I’m just crowded with different people of different ethnicities and backgrounds, you kind of feel like you’re this little voice. Especially with the small indigenous community on campus compared to the other [communities].

Carolyn: I know our community is small, but because I feel like I am who I am, my voice, a Native American voice, an indigenous voice, should be heard just because I’m like everyone else. And just like anyone we shouldn’t be ignored or hushed, especially about our whole history. We’re still here, we still have a voice and we should be heard.

(from left to right)

“I think Wall Street is evil. Occupy Wall Street coming to Santa Cruz is great. We’re a lefty campus, and we’re against the norm here.”
Gita Mehra
Third-year, Cowell
Psychology

“As a whole, i think that the movement represents an uprising of the lower-middle class, and this is totally warranted. But they really need a mission statement for people to relate to.”
Jake Rappoport
Fourth-year, College Nine
Economics/Environmental studies

“I feel what makes America great is if one part of the parts gets too powerful, we always have the ability to level it back to normal. This is not a waste of time at all for the protesters.”
Keanu Erguiza
First-year, Crown
Psychology/Literature

“I wish I were there instead of in Santa Cruz. This financial issue is based around a system which exploits people. Only our people can get together to change things.”
Sharif Zakout
Fourth-year, Kresge
Legal studies

Musicians gather at The Catalyst on Monday night to perform in the Jazz Jam. Billed performers and audience members collaborated and jammed together. Photo by Kyan Mahzouf

Members of the service industry crowd the bar, and a small group of metalheads shoot pool quietly in the game room. On the other side of the bar, chaos reigns supreme, as jazz musicians, both young and old, take part in the creation of what the players call “truly American music.”

Every Monday night through Oct. 17, The Catalyst is hosting Monday Night Jazz Jam, an old-school, open-mic style jazz odyssey in which audience members — whether they be vocalists, keyboardists, or horn players — sign up to play alongside the band. The results please the ear and embody the philosophy behind jazz.

Esoteric Collective, the quartet foundation upon which audience members construct their jazzy musings, kicks off with variations of works by some of America’s greatest jazz musicians. They cover everything from Miles Davis to Cole Porter.

“Jazz is America’s classical music,” said Esoteric Collective bassist Jamie Brudnick. “Each song exists as a template upon which we impose our improvisational skills.”

The knowing grin drawn across Brudnick’s face suggests the entire number is rehearsed — scripted — but he insists upon its spontaneity.

“We don’t use papers,” Brudnick said. “And we never play a song the same way twice. Hopefully we inspire other musicians to expand upon what they hear here tonight.”

Indeed, Brudnick makes it look easy, closing his eyes and plucking along in violent accord with a rapidly evolving rendition of George Gershwin’s “I Got Rhythm.” Such is the nature of Monday Night Jazz Jam. There are no auditions, no agendas, and no “papers.” The experience is entirely organic, with the musicians playing off each other, each sound expounding upon the last. One can’t help but feel that every aspect of the event is in perfect harmony with the impromptu, frenetic nature of jazz.

After a 30-minute set, Esoteric Collective opens up the stage to the audience for collaboration. A group of horn players joins the band, as well as a keyboardist, who relieves Esoteric Collective’s own Jon Dryden. Then, as if they had been playing together for months, the newly formed ensemble launches into a smooth, yet appropriately chaotic jam. Singers soon emerge from the audience, offering their vocal variations on the classics.

“It was like time travel,” vocalist Joy Rush said after her performance, “a real old-school jam session.” This sentiment was undoubtedly shared by the audience, which was warm and attentive throughout of the event, applauding each musician after their respective solos.

“This is the hottest thing going on,” said trumpet player Robert Reisman. “I’m coming back every chance I get.”

The event is limited to people ages 21 and up, but if you’re of age and looking for an inexpensive ($5 to $10 donation), intimate setting to listen or contribute to the sounds of a group of jazz sages paying homage to the chaos that surrounds them, then Monday Night Jazz Jam might just be your thing.

Photo by Morgan Grana.

Introduction to the Sikhs is the first course of one of UC Santa Cruz’s newest programs, Sikh and Punjabi studies. The two-unit course is a broad overview of Sikhism and the Punjab region and is taught by economics professor Nirvikar Singh on top of his full workload.

In 2007, UCSC received $367,000 through the Sikh Foundation — a gift from Hardit and Harbhajan K. Singh in memory of their son, the funding was used to create the Sarbjit Singh Aurora Endowed Chair. Professor Singh was appointed to the chair last December.

Second-year Damanjit Gill, who is working to create a Sikh Student Association, wants Sikh and Punjabi culture to have a more active role in academia and the community.

“Punjab is a very important state in India, economically and especially agriculturally,” Gill said. “It’s also the sixth largest religion in the world — but with it being a minority in the U.S., there are a lot of misconceptions.”

Culturally, Sikh and Punjabi studies resonates for students of both Sikh and non-Sikh heritage.

“The issue of mistaken identity has been a very significant one,” Singh said. “I think there’s an urgency for programs like this.”

Following 9/11 and the xenophobia it precipitated,  many Sikhs were assumed to be jihad Muslim terrorists. In several cases, this proved fatal.

“I think that for the first couple of years after 9/11, when the paranoia was really bad, the Sikh community was very defensive — passing out fliers at parades that we’re not Muslim and all sorts of things to get into the media to let people know who we are,” Gill said.

Third-year Harbir Mahal looked on as her father’s identity was repeatedly mistaken and insulted. Though hurtful, she did not feel the confusion between Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs was offensive in and of itself.

“I don’t think just learning about Sikh culture can really solve issues of profiling in America,” Mahal said. “Even if somebody was able to recognize the difference between a Sikh and a Muslim around 9/11, that wouldn’t have made it any better for Muslim people.”

Singh, however, values strong cross-cultural education.

“Once you start understanding another community, it sets you on a particular path,” Singh said. “It changes your mindset.”

Gill feels it is a key time to plant more seeds.

“Now that the pressure has lessened a little bit, Sikh studies can spread beyond just raising awareness,” Gill said.

Additionally, Singh sees relevance between the program and the larger UC system.

“Looking at the United States today, I think one of the major things we have to come to terms with is the impact of globalization,” Singh said.

Having been at UCSC since 1982, Singh witnessed the advancement of information technology and the globalization it enabled.

“Sometimes I think the people in Santa Cruz don’t fully appreciate just how fast the world is changing,” Singh said. “I would like to see some initiative regarding what kind of student we want to produce for a world that is much more trans-national.”

When he began outlining the curriculum, Singh immediately reached out to several interested students and asked them what they wanted. As with the class, Singh feels students are the best resource for ideas.

“We need to start a conversation that involves the student,” Singh said. “They have a much better sense of where the world is going.”

In terms of funding, however, Singh is straightforward about where to look — private donors.

He praises the success of Jewish studies and Latin American and Latino studies as exemplars of what can be created by the joint action of spirited student interest and a supportive community. Many students hope that Sikh and Punjabi studies will someday be a publicly funded major.

“Things will take time,” Singh said. “I feel the state budget might only get worse, but to the extent that we can create a vision that is meaningful to the wider public … Once we’ve demonstrated our commitment and our ability to deliver a quality program, it will elicit additional support from the community.”

The next step for those on all sides of the program is a Punjabi language class.

“With the Hindi and Urdu class being cut, and Punjabi being even more of a minority, we’ll have to probably raise our own funds,” Gill predicts. “I could see that happening, though — that’s doable.”

Illustration by Jamie Morton.

Any kind of life-threatening disease is difficult to cope with — that is a given. We have all seen dramas about people overcoming or succumbing to serious illnesses. What separates director Jonathan Levine’s new comedy “50/50” from these movies is its honest and real, yet slightly humorous portrayal of a young man fighting cancer.

The physical changes, doctor appointments and chemotherapy play an important part in the film, but the most crucial aspect is the way Levine captures the impact of cancer on Adam, played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and his relationships. Day by day, viewers catch a glimpse of how destructive a disease can be on someone’s personal life.

Though the concept of a comedy about cancer seems difficult to grasp, Levine pulls together a funny, touching story about a 27-year-old battling the disease. What is especially interesting about the film is it is based on Levine’s real-life struggle with cancer. Levine achieves an astounding level of authenticity and touches on a difficult subject with just the right amount of laughs and tears.

Adam is a young journalist who lives with his girlfriend, played by Bryce Dallas Howard. After going to the doctor for what seems to be a minor backache, he learns that he has a rare form of spinal cancer with only a 50 percent chance of survival.

“That doesn’t make any sense, though,” Adam says, baffled. “I mean, I don’t smoke, I don’t drink … I recycle.”

As a young, seemingly healthy man until his diagnosis, Adam portrays the frustration and feeling of unfairness that comes with having cancer at such a young age. As the film continues, we watch Adam fight for his life and cope with the ripple effects his illness has on those he loves.

Writer Will Reiser brings dark humor to the film, especially through Adam’s sex-crazed best friend Kyle, played by funnyman Seth Rogen. His optimism and humor provide lots of laughs for the audience, even in some of the most serious scenes. After Adam tells Kyle about his chance of survival, Kyle replies, “50/50 — if you were a casino game, you would have the best odds.”

This balances out the heavier aspects of the film, bringing just the right amount of unexpected comedy and wit to the movie.

Another reason “50/50” deserves applause is it presents such a painful issue to the audience gently and compassionately, without any overly heavy or melodramatic moments. Reiser keeps the cancer storyline straightforward, and although you may shed a few tears, you certainly won’t be bawling through the whole movie.

In other words, “50/50” is not another difficult, overbearing film that leaves you feeling depressed. Instead, it simply focuses on a tough subject in a humorous manner, with endearing characters.

Heartwarming and sincere, there is more than a 50/50 chance that you will enjoy the film.

Photographer Robert Doisneau once said, “A hundredth of a second here, a hundredth of a second there — even if you put them end to end, they still only add up to one, two, perhaps three seconds, snatched from eternity.” Capturing only glimpses of my journey into the heart of America, this was my roadtrip — a moment of the eroding arches, a moment of Detroit, overgrown and still crumbling, a moment of the New Mexican landscape out the window, rushing by at 80 miles an hour.

Illustration by Matt Boblet.

UC Santa Cruz’s mascot Sammy the Slug is 25 years old. In honor of the slug’s birthday, at the beginning of the regularly scheduled city council meeting, Mayor Ryan Coonerty proclaimed Sept. 27, 2011 the official day of the UCSC mascot.

The mascot made a special surprise appearance at the meeting. While waiting for the mayor to introduce him, Sammy waited in the aisle against the wall, as there were no seats left in the packed council chambers.

The mayor welcomed Sammy to come forward to the cheers of the crowd.

Fourth-year math major Leila Etemadieh didn’t know there had been a mascot before the slug.

“I just know a slug’s our mascot, but I don’t know how long he’s been the official mascot,” Etemadieh said.

It all began in 1981, when then-chancellor Robert Sinsheimer, with the support of some student athletes, decided on the sea lion for the university’s official mascot. The sea lion was chosen to make the university’s sports clubs meet National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) standards, which required teams to have an official mascot.

Many students were reluctant to relinquish their hold on the beloved former unofficial mascot. An underground movement of Banana Slug supporters emerged after the change was made, and when the first Student Union Assembly met in 1986, they wanted to settle the sea lion versus banana slug issue. Their solution: a campus-wide vote. The rest is history.

“As many of you know, 25 years ago, the students rose up at UCSC and decided to change their mascot from a sea lion to a slug,” Coonerty said. “They worked many, many hours, and now our slug is a national mascot and a national symbol for UCSC … I encourage all of my fellow residents to share their appreciation for the timeless Banana Slug.”

Since its adoption as the official mascot of the university, the banana slug has garnered national attention for the school. “Pulp Fiction” fans will remember John Travolta donning the Fiat Slug T-shirt in the film, and the mascot has been recognized by ESPN, Sports Illustrated and People Magazine, among other publications.

Mayor Coonerty’s announcement was met with cheers of approval from the audience. The mayor thanked Sammy for coming to the council meeting, then proceeded to hand him an award while a few people snapped photos.

Mike Hopek, a fourth-year literature major, feels passionately about Sammy the Slug.

“Our mascot is different than a lot of other mascots,” he said. “It’s modest and doesn’t try to be any type of heroic figure.”