Thursday, May 26, 2011

Vol. 45 Issue No. 29

Hardcore Parkour
Whether in the gym or on the street, parkour thrives

UAW Elections Grow Tense p. 5 The Existential Graduate crisis p. 17 Editorial: taps steps up p. 19
Public Discourse

Public Discourse
staff About Us
Editors-in-Chief City on a Hill Press is pro-
Ryan Ayers
Julie Eng duced by and for UCSC students.
Our primary goal is to report
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Julia Reis What would be the impact of the Night Owl and analyze issues affecting the
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bus service being canceled? Cruz community.
Copy We also serve to watchdog
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Lauren Balian Compiled by Aysha Bilal & Nick Paris tration. While we endeavor to
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Alison Kern we realize our own outlooks
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“I think it’s inconvenient for people that live influence the presentation of the
on and off campus, who now have to walk at news. The City on a Hill Press
Production
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Samved Sangameswara Fourth-year, College Eight and city news, sports, arts and
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Ryan Mark-Griffin, editor and culture. CHP is a campus
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Mitchell Bates
Hanna Toda or the University of California.

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2 | Thursday, May 26, 2011

 Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Nick Paris Illustration by Muriel Gordon Toby Silverman Kyan Mahzouf

p. 9 13 Awarded Irwin p. 10 Through our p. 12 Tracing P. 15 32nd Annual

Scholarship Pens Parkour in Multicultural Festival
by Hanna Toda by Staff Santa Cruz by Michael Mott
by Emiliano
O’Flaherty-Vazquez

P. 4 A Changing UC: P. 7 This Week in News P. 17 Doom and Gloom Correction:

Plight of a Philosophy Student
by Laurel Fujii
P. 5 Division Among
UAW Ranks
by Laurel Fujii
P. 6 Events Calendar
Compiled by Tess Goodwin
by Nikki Pritchard & Mikaela Overstated for Class of 2011 In the May 19 article “Food
Systems Week at UCSC,”
Todd by Rosie Spinks
UCSC student and attendee
& P. 18 Column: Pan Am, of the Fair Trade Marketplace
This Week in Sports Playboy and the Boob Tube Elizabeth Scudero’s quote
by Asa Hess-Matsumoto by Blair Stenvick referred to fair trade, not free
trade, as was originally printed.
P. 8 Museum Exhibit P. 19 Editorials:
Cover photo-illustration by
Examines World War II Era Night Owl Buses a Necessity to Toby Silverman &
Santa Cruz Campus and Community Tess Goodwin
by Mitchell Bates &
Education’s Value Reassessed

cityonahillpress.com | 3
Campus
Stats
Name: Brittney
Bevelaqua
Major: Philosophy/
history
Predicament: The
availability of upper-
division courses she
needs for her majors is
decreasing.
Statement: “The
philosophy of a
dwindling education.”
If you or someone you know
has been affected by budget
cuts and want to share the
story, contact us at campus@
cityonahillpress.com
4 | Thursday, May 26, 2011
A Changing UC
Passion for philosophy remains strong as department dwindles
Morgan Grana
By Laurel Fujii
Campus Reporter
Third-year transfer student
Brittney Bevelaqua wants to be a
philosophy and history professor,
run for Senate and own her own
coffee shop.
However, she can’t teach
philosophy if she can’t even learn
about it herself.
As a transfer, she has scram-
bled to make contacts with
professors and get major require-
ments out of the way.
The philosophy department’s
loss of three professors at the be-
ginning of the quarter threatens
her love for the subject. Her pas-
sion for learning and broadening
her philosophical perspectives
is not limited to her own educa-
tion. She is concerned for the
education of her fellow students
and the quality of the philosophy
department.
“It complicates students’
[education] because they’re not
getting what they’re paying for,”
“It’s like pulling teeth to get an increase in units.
Maybe I’m an education masochist trying to do all
these things at once.”
— Brittney Bevelaqua, third-year philosophy and
history major
Bevelaqua said. “It complicates
professors’ [work] because they
can’t teach the youth who want to
be the future.”
Bevelaqua discussed why she
wants philosophy to be a part of
her own future.
“I want to teach philosophy
because it can explain not only
events, but inner monologues
people toil with,” Bevelaqua said.
The dwindling exposure to
different professors’ viewpoints
and interpretations leaves
Bevelaqua worried for the educa-
tional quality of the philosophy
program.
“When you’re stifling educa-
tion, you’re stifling a person’s
future and what they love,” she
said.
While her own educational
experience is threatened, she
maintains enthusiasm for the
subject. She appreciates the di-
verse responses to philosophical
questions, compared to those in
math and science.
“You can approach [phi-
losophy] with so many different
answers,” Bevelaqua said. “That’s
why I love it.”
Bevelaqua exudes adoration
for the subject as she explains
how her opinions on the English
philosopher John Locke changed
after what she was exposed to at
UCSC. It is experiences like these
that make her appreciate the
quality of education she has re-
ceived and the relationships she
has developed with professors.
Bevelaqua is taking two
upper-division classes in fall
quarter of 2011. She noticed the
upper-division classes offered in
the fall were cut in half, from six
to three, and fears the courses
offered in the following quarters
will be classes she has already
taken.
Bevelaqua says the major is
a cycle where fourth-years are
always rushing until the very end
of their academic careers to en-
roll in philosophy upper-division
courses. Younger students are
then left with a limited course
variety to choose from.
Now scarce resources also
threaten the learning experiences
of philosophy majors.
“When you only have three
professors teaching, you don’t
have a full depth of perspective,”
Bevelaqua said.
When she is unable to register
for classes through regular
enrollment, Bevelaqua said she
must utilize her personal skills to
get the courses she needs.
“I make lasting and positive
impressions so I can create some
kind of clout with them so I ...
can be granted with their grace of
letting me take the classes I love,”
she said.
She recognizes faculty mem-
bers are doing everything they
can to help their students, such as
giving out permission codes. Un-
fortunately there’s only so much
professors and lecturers can do,
Bevelaqua said.
Philosophy’s limited course of-
ferings leave Bevelaqua question-
ing her ability to double-major.
She said she wonders if she will
have to drop her history major in
order to graduate with a degree
in philosophy.
“It’s like pulling teeth to get
an increase in units,” Bevelaqua
said. “Maybe I’m an education
masochist trying to do all these
things at once.”
While Bevelaqua is doing
anything to help her cause, she
wonders if the administration is
doing the same.
“Would they add another
teacher if they could?” Bevelaqua
asked. “Or would they just take
the cut there?”

TA Union Remains Divided
Meeting permeated by debate over election, elected officer voted out of office
Over 100 Teaching assistants of the UAW Local 2865 union attended
the first statewide meeting under newly elected leadership.
By Laurel Fujii
Campus Reporter
Heavy applause erupted as the 10 newly
elected Executive Board members of the
teaching assistants’ union, UAW Local
2865, were introduced at the first statewide
membership meeting on Saturday.
Following a contentious election, all
10 Executive Board members come from
the Academic Workers for a Democratic
Union (AWDU) slate.
“This was probably twice as big as
any meeting we’ve had in the past,” said
Executive Board president and UC Irvine
graduate student Cheryl Deutsch. “It’s the
only venue where members get to make
decisions.”
In order to make any decisions,
meetings need to have quorum, over 100
members in attendance. Deutsch said they
have never before achieved quorum in
their local’s history.
Holding at least one statewide meet-
ing a year is mandatory, according to the
UAW bylaws. Executive Board members
want to hold them twice a year, alternating
Sal Ingram
campuses.
As excited TAs hit the tables in the UC
Berkeley Boalt Law school classroom to
cheer for their new officials, members of
the opposing party, United for Social and
Economic Justice (USEJ), did not share the
same level of enthusiasm.
UC Davis head steward and USEJ
member Xochitl Lopez said organiz-
ers gave only two weeks’ notice for the
meeting, and violated by-laws. UCB is no
longer in session, even though all campus-
es are supposed to be when the statewide
meetings are held.
“The meeting was problematic,” Lopez
said. “It was called to disenfranchise
people from our slate [USEJ] specifically.”
An estimated 130 members attended.
Around eight were USEJ members, and
the rest were from AWDU. Northern UC
campuses are known to have a higher
AWDU membership and southern cam-
puses tend to have higher USEJ member-
ships. Deutsch said members from the
north were over-represented, as the meet-
ing was held at UC Berkeley.
Soon-to-be UCLA graduate student
and USEJ member Sayil Camacho won
the most votes for the UCLA head steward
position, but was voted out of office at the
meeting because she was not an enrolled
student. Camacho was accepted by UCLA
in January and is starting class in fall 2011.
“I’m not just going to hand over my
position because ... they say I can’t partici-
pate,” Camacho said.
Camacho received emails she said were
accidentally forwarded by elections com-
mittee member and UC Santa Cruz gradu-
ate student Adam Hefty. She said elec-
tions committee members are supposed
to remain unbiased, but in the emails
Hefty discussed her elegibility to run with
AWDU members.
“It’s clear if I had been on the AWDU
slate my eligibility wouldn’t have been
questioned,” Camacho said.
UCLA AWDU members initially ap-
proached Hefty regarding Camacho’s eli-
gibility and he said he intentionally made
that information public by putting it on a
blog and on Facebook.
“I encouraged people to get back to me
Campus
with feedback and concerns,” Hefty said. “I
had easier access to AWDU perspectives,
being from UCSC.”
Hefty acknowledged his sympathies for
AWDU and said the majority of the elec-
tions committee are aligned with USEJ.
Executive Board president Cheryl
Deutsch said she told attending USEJ
members that as difficult as it may have
been, she hopes they were not intimidated
by parliamentary procedure.
The next statewide meeting will be
held at a Southern California campus and
Deutsch said she thinks attendance will
increase.
“It was a great feeling to achieve that
quorum,” said Brian Malone, UCSC
graduate student and former campus head
steward. “It’s just something that [hasn’t
happened] ... Even though statewide
meetings are required, they weren’t taken
seriously.”
Despite Camacho’s situation, she appre-
ciates the interest of union members.
“Having two slates is a good thing,”
Camacho said. “It means people are
interested.”
cityonahillpress.com | 5
Events
Event Calendar
CAMPUS
THURSDAY, MAY 26
• Art: Irwin Scholars Gal-
lery. Porter College Sesnon
Gallery. Free. Irwin Scholar
display up through 6/11.
• Performance: Chautauqua
Festival of Student Theater.
Theater Arts Second Stage.
7 to 9 p.m. Free. Event con-
tinues through Sunday. For
additional showtimes, visit
arts.ucsc.edu.
• Performance: Orestes Terror-
ist. Theater Arts Mainstage.
7 to 9 p.m. $12 students, $15
seniors & general. Event con-
tinues through Sunday. For
additional showtimes, visit
arts.ucsc.edu.
FRIDAY, MAY 27
• Workshop: Writing Effective
Resumes and Cover Letters.
Bay Tree Amah Mutsun
Room. 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Free.
• Meeting: Academic Senate.
Stevenson Event Center. 2:30
to 5 p.m. Free.
6 | Thursday, May 26, 2011
SATURDAY, MAY 28
• Film: “Paranormals,” directed
by Spencer Fortin, written
by Sam Trillo. Media Theater
M110. 5:30 p.m. Free.
• Discussion: “Music and
Greek Drama: History,
Theory, and Practice.” 8:30
a.m. to 5:45 p.m. Free.
• Benefit: Dance for Japan.
Cowell/Stevenson Dining
Hall. 9 p.m. to 12 a.m. $5.
SUNDAY, MAY 29
• Discussion: “Music and
Greek Drama: History,
Theory, and Practice.” 8:30
a.m. to 1 p.m. Free.
TUESDAY, MAY 31
• Humanities Undergraduate
Research Awards. Humani-
ties 1, Room 210. 10 a.m. to
1 p.m. Free.
CITY
THURSDAY, MAY 26
• Concert/Benefit: Brenda
Wong Aoki’s Kabuki Caba-
ret — A Japan Relief Benefit.
Kuumbwa Jazz Center. 7 p.m.
$20 in advance, $23 at door.
• Film: “Christine.” Regal Cin-
emas 9. 8 p.m. $5.
• Concert: Indian Giver, Glit-
ter Wizard, Moccretro. The
Catalyst. 8:30 p.m. $8 in
advance, $10 at door. 21 and
up.
• Concert: Blammos, The
Groggs, The Atom Age. The
Crêpe Place. 9 p.m. $8.
FRIDAY, MAY 27
• Performance: The Imagine-
a-Nation of Lalachild. Pacific
Cultural Center. 8 p.m. $12
in advance, $15 at door.
• Concert: Kraddy, Mochi-
pet, Rastatronics, Selector
Science, Drop Bear. The
Catalyst. 8:30 p.m. $20 in
advance, $25 at door.
• Concert: Lydia Loveless,
Steven Griswold. The Crêpe-
Place. 9 p.m. $8.
• Film: “Jurassic Park.”
Del Mar Theatre. 11:59
p.m. $6.50. Event repeats
Saturday.
SATURDAY, MAY 28
• Concert: Santa Cruz Blues
Festival. Aptos Village Park.
11 a.m. to 7 p.m. $65 general,
$25 children. Event repeats
Sunday.
• Performance: The Education
of Lala Girl. Pacific Cul-
tural Center. 2 p.m. $12 in
advance, $15 at door.
• Pink Prom 3-D — A Benefit
Dance for the Avon Walk for
Breast Cancer. Santa Cruz
Moose Lodge. 7 p.m. to 1
a.m. $10 in advance, $15 at
door.
• Performance: The Emancipa-
tion of Lala. Pacific Cul-
tural Center. 8 p.m. $12 in
advance, $15 at door.
• Concert: AZA. Kuumbwa
Jazz Center. 8:30 pm. $18 in
advance, $25 reserved.
SUNDAY, MAY 29
• Performance: Cabrillo Col-
lege Spring Dance Concert.
Cabrillo Crocker Theater. 3
p.m. $7–12.
MONDAY, MAY 30
• Film: “The Big Lebowski.”
The Crêpe Place. 9 p.m.
TUESDAY, MAY 31
• Concert: 7 Come 11. The
Crêpe Place. 8 p.m. Free.
Compiled by Tess Goodwin
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 1
• American Red Cross Public
Blood Drive. Capitola Com-
munity Center. 12:30 to 5:30
p.m.
• Presentation: “Eyewitness
Reports from Egypt and Pal-
estine: Peoples’ Movements
and Popular Resistance in
the Middle East.” Live Oak
Green Grange. 7 to 9 p.m.
$5–15 sliding scale.
• Concert: The Album Leaf,
Liquid Indian. The Crêpe
Place. 9 p.m. $12 advance,
$15 door.
For a complete calendar of events,
visit cityonahillpress.com. Contact
us at events@cityonahillpress.com.

This Week in News
By Nikki Pritchard & Mikaela Todd, City Co-Editors
Arrest Made in
Bryan Stow Case
An arrest has been made this
week in the assault of Santa Cruz
resident Bryan Stow. Stow is in
critical condition after being
assaulted by two people after
a Giants-Dodgers game in Los
Angeles on March 31.
Stow is currently at San Fran-
cisco General Hospital where he
was transferred from LAC-USC
on May 17. Community support
for Stow and his family has been
strong since the assault.
Many following the case were
relieved this week to hear an
arrest has been made.
On Sunday, Los Angeles
police arrested 31-year-old
suspect Giovanni Ramirez, who
is currently booked on suspicion
of assault with a deadly weapon.
The Stow family expressed
gratitude to the LAPD for its
“hard work on this case,” on a
website devoted to supporting
Stow. The LAPD had more than
20 detectives serve over 6,000
hours on the case, considering
more than 630 leads, according
to the Los Angeles Times. The
LAPD has been publicizing a
$250,000 reward for information,
leading to the arrest of the two
men responsible for Stow’s
injuries.
However, the Stow family
showed dissatisfaction with the
This Week in Sports
By Asa Hess-Matsumoto, Sports Editor
This spring season featured
37 divisions spread across eight
sports, with over 150 teams vy-
ing to be the champions of their
domain. Now only a handful of
games remain before the season
comes to a complete close.
Friday, “B” Basketball League,
Div III
• May 27: Team Bageera (2-3)
vs. Triple-E (3-2) (East Gym
Ct1) at 4:00 p.m.
• May 27: Which Way Did They
Go? (2-3) vs. 3-Peat (5-0)
(East Gym Ct1) at 5:00 p.m.
• May 27: asdf (3-2) vs. Mon-
stars (2-3) (East Gym Ct1) at
6:00 p.m.
Friday, “B” Basketball League,
Div IV
• May 27: Pound Town (5-0)
vs. The Abusement Park (3-2)
response at Dodger Stadium
when they filed a lawsuit on
Tuesday against the Dodgers
team for negligence, premises
liability and false imprisonment,
among other things.
At least two others are
believed to have been involved
in the attack, including another
male perpetrator and female
driving the car in which they
fled.
Local Symposium
Showcases Tech
Talent
Last weekend, TechRaising
— a local group that promotes
technological collaboration and
innovation — held a three-day
symposium where community
members gathered to “share ideas
and build them,” according to
TechRaising’s website. This is the
first event the two-year-old group
has held.
On Friday night, 35 pitches
were made, which were later
narrowed down to eight demos
with multiple members, includ-
ing UCSC students. These demos
formed teams to meet their
objective: to create a portion
of a larger idea by the end of
the weekend and present it to
colleagues at the symposium on
Sunday.
“We were overwhelmed,” said
Margaret Rosas, a member of
(East Gym Ct2) at 4:00 p.m.
• May 27: The Air Ballers (1-4)
vs. Heavy Hitters (3-2) (East
Gym Ct2) at 5:00 p.m.
• May 27: Stop it! (3-2) vs. Sau-
sage Monster (1-4) (East Gym
Ct2) at 6:00 p.m.
Thursday, “COED” Softball
League, Div V
• May 26: Manitees (1-3) vs.
The Miller Lowlifes (3-1-1)
(East Field F1) at 5:00 p.m.
Thursday, “COED” Softball
League, Div VI
• May 26: The Flying J’s (1-4) vs.
Wounded Soldiers (2-3) (East
Field F1) at 6:30 p.m.
• May 26: The Bombers (2-3) vs.
The Backyard Bangers (5-0)
(East Field F2) at 6:30 p.m.
• May 26: Where my pitches at?
(4-1) vs. The D Squad (0-5)
(East Field F3) at 6:30 p.m.
cityonahillpress.com | 7
City/Sports
TechRaising’s founding group.
“[The event] exceeded our expec-
tations.”
The teams had help from ex-
pert entrepreneurs who provided
consultation on startup law, user
experience, management, public-
ity and several other subject
areas, according to the website.
Then on Sunday, all the teams
regrouped and presented their
innovations.
Rosas said she spoke with
many people at the event about
expanding further on the stu-
dent population from UCSC’s
relationship with mentors in the
Santa Cruz area.
“That’s definitely what we
want to see more of in the future,”
Rosas said. “There were students
who were able to take advantage
of our mentors and that’s the
kind of thing that we want to
promote and encourage.”
The eight pitches presented
on Sunday included a “client and
website project management
tool” called “All Together Now,”
an “augmented reality shoot-
ing game” called “blam — Boys
Like Augmented Mayhem,” and
a “clothing brand sizing app for
Facebook” called “Sizemyc.”
Rosas said she was pleasantly
surprised with the success of the
event.
“People were almost demand-
ing it,” Rosas said. “It was a really
exciting weekend.”
Friday, “COED” Softball League,
Div VII
• May 27: Big Bangers (2-3) vs.
“Winning” (3-2) (East Field
F1) at 4:00 p.m.
• May 27: Thunder Cats (2-3)
vs. Team Sausage Monster (3-
2) (East Field F2) at 4:00 p.m.
• May 27: Smang it! (1-4) vs.
The Sea Cow Annihilators (1-
4) (East Field F3) at 4:00 p.m.
Friday, “COED” Softball League,
Div VIII
• May 27: SASS (2-3) vs.
Wrecked’em (3-2) (East Field
F1) at 5:30 p.m.
• May 27: California Highway
Patrol (0-5) vs. JUICED UP
(4-1) (East Field F2) at 5:30
p.m.
• May 27: Cup Check (5-0) vs.
Thunder Threats (2-3) (East
Field F3) at 5:30 p.m.
Arts & Entertainment
Looking into the Past
Student-curated museum exhibit documents Santa Cruz during World War II
By Mitchell Bates
Arts & Entertainment
Reporter
While it may be difficult to
envision a time when the notori-
ously liberal town of Santa Cruz
actively supported a war, it is
precisely this sentiment that the
Santa Cruz Museum of Art and
History (MAH) will be remem-
bering. The MAH, along with the
McPherson Center and the UC
Santa Cruz History of Art and
Visual Culture (HAVC) depart-
ment, will be presenting “Our
Threads of Allegiance: World
War II in Santa Cruz & Abroad.”
The student-created exhibition
will run from May 28 to July
17, and First Friday on June 3
offers free admission along with
complementary live music and
refreshments.
The MAH is providing a space
for UCSC students enrolled in a
three-part Museum Exhibitions
HAVC class series to utilize the
skills they’ve developed in their
classes to create an exhibition.
“This is our chance to show
off all the hard work we have
done throughout the year, and
we would like you to enjoy it as
well!” reads the student-created
“Our Threads of Allegiance”
Facebook page.
As young Santa Cruzans en-
listed and were shipped overseas
to fight in World War II, the
families they left behind rationed
food and materials, using coupon
books displayed in the exhibit.
Different uniforms, photographs
and other World War II memora-
bilia will all be on display as “Our
Threads of Allegiance” holds trib-
ute to the war effort that brought
Santa Cruz together decades ago.
Carol Wilson, a third-year
Stevenson student, discussed the
relevance of the subject.
“What our exhibit hopes to
accomplish is showing the inter-
connection of the community,”
Wilson said. “World War II was
a time when everyone worked
as one to help the war effort —
everyone was a part of it. The
quilt and the different uniforms
are iconic.”
Students enrolled in the
Museum Exhibitions class series
investigated several prominent
8 | Thursday, May 26, 2011
local World War II families
for the exhibit. The Trenbeth
family was especially generous,
donating both the uniform
Wilson mentioned and a journal
detailing the families’ experiences
during the war. As part of the
classes’ efforts to make the
exhibit more interactive, excerpts
from the journal will also be
available as audio recordings.
“We want people to be
engaged and have things to do,”
said fourth-year Porter student
Brendan Arenas. “So some of the
pieces incorporate audio, and in
other parts people will use their
hands. We incorporated a lot
of interactive elements into the
exhibit.”
The HAVC students also
acquired a large quilt. The
multicolored quilt, composed of
embroidered squares, was a small Photo courtesy of Brendan Arenas
token of home on the battleship HAVC students prepare displays for an exhibition of Santa Cruz’s World War II
where it was eventually taken. memorabilia. The exhibition is taking place at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History, located
Rachael Torres, a fourth-year in downtown Santa Cruz.
Stevenson affiliate, found special
significance in the quilt.
“Mothers and wives embroi-
dered their names on this quilt to
send overseas,” Torres said. “The
dates really connect the exhibit
to the time period for me. When
you see 1942 on the quilt you
know you’re looking back into
history.”
The project itself is an inter-
esting glimpse into an important
part of our nation’s past, but the
HAVC students who worked on
the exhibit also gained valuable
experience.
“This is exactly what I want
to do with my life,” Wilson said.
“I want to be a registrar at a
museum.”
But Porter fourth-year Arenas
pointed out that working in
museums isn’t for everyone, and
this is why the HAVC program
provides such a meaningful
experiences.
“There are very high
requirements to become a
curator,” Arenas said. “You need
a Ph.D., and might not make
enough money to pay back the
investment. It’s not something
I’m sure I’ll be able to do, so this
might be the only time I can
reasonably curate an exhibit. I’ll
always remember it.”
 Arts & Entertainment

13 Student Artists Receive Irwin Scholarship

Top artists awarded $2,500 prize, exhibition of winning art

right: The 2011 Irwin

Scholarship exhibition
features artwork from 13 art
students who received the
award. Ranging from video
installations to paintings
housed in a makeshift alien
spaceship, the exhibition can
be viewed at the Sesnon
Gallery at Porter College until
June 11.
Photos by Nick Paris

By Hanna Toda
Arts & Entertainment
Reporter
For Luis Flores, art is more
than just pretty pictures.
“Art has become my voice
and I don’t plan on ever silenc-
left: UCSC art student Luis Flores accepts the Irwin
ing myself,” said Flores in an
Scholarship at Porter College.
email to City on a Hill Press.
Flores is one of 13 students
recognized with the 2011 Irwin
Scholarship for their artistic
excellence.
Each student awarded
the William Hyde and Susan
Benteen Irwin Scholarship
receives a $2,500 prize. The
scholarship has been awarded to
exceptional artists to represent
UCSC’s art department since
1986. This year’s recipients’
work draws from numerous
media, including painting,
photography, printmaking,
sculpture, installation and
digital media.
“What really is special about
working with these [students] is
when they show me something
or give me a perspective that
enlightens me to a way of seeing
that I never would have expe-
rienced on my own,” said Elliot
Anderson, faculty advisor and
associate professor of electronic
media. “These are engaged,
creative and intelligent students
who have something to tell all
of us.”
Flores said the scholarship
spurred him to reexamine his
work.
“When I first found out I had
gotten the scholarship, I was
ecstatic and, more so, apprecia-
tive. It wasn’t until I started
getting my work together for the
exhibition that I started feel-
ing a bit self-conscious,” Flores
said. “But after talking with the
people closest to me, I realized
that I needed to produce work
that was important to me and
that I felt strongly about.”
Luke Wilson, who focuses
on sculpture, was also recog-
nized for the award.
“Winning the Irwin was
moving, exciting and motivat-
ing, but most of all I interpreted
it as an obligation to step up the
scale and intensity of my work,”
Wilson said. “I feel supported
and validated by the faculty and
administration, and there is a
new pride behind everything I’ve
been doing for the show.”
Each artist drew connections
to the world around them and
created their work in context to
their environment. Flores’ focus
is photography, and his artwork
touches on issues surround-
ing immigration, fear and most
recently, concealment.
“Getting the opportunity to
show my work in this exhibition
has made me really consider
how my work and art in general
affects our society,” Flores said.
“I have had to deeply question
what it is that I want my work to
say about myself and about our
society.”
Each artist drew inspira-
tion from somewhere different,
from both internal and external
factors.

Recipients Numbers “What inspires me the most

is my inability to explain myself
verbally, at least not well. I have
Kelsey Spencer
Chelsea Ware
$2,500 a lot to say and when I can’t say
it, I make it,” Flores said. “If an
Ellia Sarah Duhart Prize given to each image doesn’t evoke an emotion,
Kirsten Spooner recipient of the Irwin I start over.”
Richard Desanto Scholarship for artistic For Wilson, excitement
Luke Wilson excellence
Sakura Kelley over the honor boiled down to
Luis Flores a simple love for creating and
Olivia Healy-Mirkovich
Bela Messex
13
Recipients of the
experiencing art.
“I love making art because
Leslie Thompson there are people who love to look
Irwin Scholarship
Joseph Lai at it,” he said, “and I am one of
for artistic
Raphael Cornford those people too.”
excellence

cityonahillpress.com | 9
Photography

THROUGH Interpretations
As illustrators, we are put to work to interpret words into images. Lines, shapes and

OUR PENS
colors represent ideas, opinions and conclusions — the visual crux of a story. Though
we often yield to communicate factual information, we yearn for disruptions of
the ordinary and predictable. In this issue, our staff chooses literary quotations to
reinterpret with our own humorous twists. Hunker down with the non sequiturs and
explore the curious nature of an illustrator's mind.
Words & Illustrations by Staff

Illustration by Louise Leong Illustration by Louise Leong

Illustration by Bela Messex

10 | Thursday, May 26, 2011

 Photography

Illustration by Matt Boblet

Illustration by Muriel Gordon Illustration by Rachel Edelstein

cityonahillpress.com | 11
Feature
A sport traditionally viewed as ‘urban’ gains recognition as an organized practice
“I’m probably going to roll
my ankle today,” laughs a man
wearing sweatpants and a track
jacket. He is obviously enthused
about the prospect, and so is
everyone around him.
The crowd is mixed — teen-
agers who look like they’ll be
back in their high school classes
the next day stretch alongside
men with stubble and women in
North Face jackets. Beginners
warm up next to seasoned vet-
erans. Everyone is jubilant, and
they show their enthusiasm by
leaping from parking bulkhead
to parking bulkhead.
After a few minutes of cre-
atively using small concrete bar-
riers to stretch and get ready, the
crowd — hailing from Berkeley,
Oakland, San Francisco, Sacra-
mento and of course Santa Cruz
— looks around for a leader
to show them what to do next.
Calls of “Where’s Nico?” begin
to replace the staccato rapport of
sneakers on pavement.
12 | Thursday, May 26, 2011
Nico Moe, a recent UC Santa Cruz
graduate, doesn’t disappoint, bounding
down the Oakes steps only seconds after
his name is called. Laughing and wearing
a lemon-yellow T-shirt that reads “parkour
connections,” Nico shepherds the crowd
through Oakes and up the string of stairs
that lead to the College Eight plaza.
Although most students complain their
way up these steps, these people are dif-
ferent — they run up the concrete stairs
on their hands and knees or vault over
the handrails just for the challenge. These
people are parkour artists, or traceurs, and
they see the structure of the UCSC campus
differently.
Parkour, simply put, is the physical
discipline of moving from one point to
another with the most efficient movements
possible. The challenge is that things tend
to be in the way. Though it’s difficult to pin
down when parkour started, most agree
that it was popularized immensely in the
‘80s and ‘90s by David Belle in France.
The institutionalization of parkour is on
the rise, with gyms popping up around
the state and organized groups gaining
prominence. Some practitioners think
that swapping out concrete walls and rusty
handrails for trampolines and gym mats
can only help the sport, while others swear
by the sport’s urban roots.
These meet-ups, known as parkour
“jams,” take place once a month at vary-
ing locales and draw parkour clubs from
around the Bay Area and Central Coast.
Leaping
into the
Mainstream
By Emiliano O’Flaherty-Vazquez
Campus Reporter
Photos by Toby Silverman
Events like these are representative of the rules are fairly loose: More experienced
explosive growth of organized parkour, parkour artists attempt difficult moves,
and parkour websites like Worldwide Jam and others take the initiative to try to copy
and Planet Parkour act as congregating them. It’s a little bit like the basketball
points for a sport that is truly global in its game Horse, but with no penalties.
appeal. Parkour Planet, for example, uses Though gyms may be useful for
Google Maps to help isolated parkour art- beginner parkour artists, perhaps part
ists find one another and practice together. of the appeal of parkour lies in its
Michelle Huffman, a representative for “everyman” aesthetic — there’s no special
the Santa Cruz Sports Central Gymnastics gear required, and you don’t have to be a
Learning Center, thinks parkour is on its member of any special club to participate.
way to becoming a more recognized sport Few things are easier on the wallet than a
and acknowledges the usefulness of park- concrete wall and some enthusiasm.
our gyms in that process. “There’s no specific clothing. It’s all up
“They [parkour artists] must develop a to you,” said fourth-year Reno Nims, one
system of rules and skills that can be used of the founding members of the Santa
internationally — their own language, if Cruz Parkour Team.
you will, just like any sport,” she said. “It Nims, who started the team about two
has been a while since we have been able years ago with UCSC graduate Moe, said
to watch a fledgling sport emerge, like the there’s something about parkour that ap-
amazing rise of snowboarding. I’m really peals to a wide variety of people.
enjoying watching the process.” “A lot of the time, it’s people who have
As far as the Santa Cruz “jam” goes, the this childish ambition to just play,” Nims
“It’s about encountering challenges, obstacles and fears, and then
being strong in yourself so that you can work through and con-
quer these things ... this philosophy can be applied to every other
aspect of life”
— Jacob Pernell, Santa Cruz Parkour team member and
fourth-year

said. “People are walking to classes, going
to work. They don’t see the world around
them as this place to play — they’ve grown
up. The world around me is a playground.
Santa Cruz is really good for that. There
are a lot of people who are children at
heart, and it’s really good for them [to do
parkour].”
Though onlookers might be confused
as they watch parkour artists haphazardly
navigate urban landscapes, practitioners
say there is a great deal of skill and train-
ing involved.
“Parkour is very much like a martial
art — it's about 30 percent physical and 70
percent mental. Parkour isn't just about
being able to do cool moves and jump over
stuff. It's about the mindset you have when
doing it, about keeping the flow and mov-
ing efficiently with as little wasted energy
as possible,” said Jacob Pernell, fourth-year
student and Santa Cruz Parkour Team
member.
Pernell said parkour is as much a state
of mind as a sport.
“It's about encountering challenges, ob-
stacles and fears, and then being strong in
yourself so that you can work through and
conquer these things,” he said. “There's
definitely a huge philosophy behind the
art of parkour, and this philosophy can be
applied to every other aspect of life.”
Parkour is not a simple sport — there
are multiple sub-categories within the
sport, with parkour and “free-running” of-
ten being mistaken for the same thing. The
nebulous history of how exactly parkour
originated doesn’t help, either. However,
some practitioners say the distinction
between the two is unnecessary.
“There’s the internet definition that
parkour is efficiency, and free-running is
‘tricking’ (showing off elaborate acrobatic
moves), but I like the definition that the
founders have gone out with recently —
that there is no difference,” Nims said. “In
each of them, the goal is to have complete
mastery over your body’s motion. We’re all
trying to do the same thing. We’re all after
the same goal.”
Though a YouTube search for parkour
tends to bring up images of European
teenagers navigating the burned-out
husks of Soviet bloc apartments with wild
abandon, the sport is definitely evolving to
fit more regimented practices. The UCSC
campus is perfectly suited for cooperative
creative movement and the members of
the Santa Cruz Parkour Team know it.
Artem Chelovechkov, a member of the
Santa Cruz Parkour Team, said there are
definite benefits to training with others.
“The main reason to train with others
is the creativity that comes out of it and
you can help motivate each other,” he said.
“Parkour is about self-improvement and
growth, and working with others makes it
an efficient and fun kind of self-discovery.
Working in a group can help you measure
your own improvement and learn from
others, see the grey walls, rails, trees and
stairs in a new way.”
Feature
Though there may be more structure
to the group today, with organized groups
coming from miles away to participate in
monthly “jams,” Nims’ experience with
parkour was less regimented.
“Most of my friends had done [par-
kour] for a while — they also loved this
[video] game, Mirror’s Edge,” Nims said.
“I got sick one day and decided to play it.
I got this sense of freedom from it, and I
thought, ‘My friends do this. I want to do
this in real life.’”
The representation of parkour-like ac-
tivities in popular media is on the rise. In
Electronic Arts’ Mirror’s Edge (released in
late 2008), players control a character who
is forced to navigate a dystopian urban
landscape using only her acrobatic skills
while evading police state forces. Reality
shows like G4’s American Ninja Warrior,
which is currently filming in Los Angeles,
also bring this once-obscure sport to the
forefront in popular youth culture.
This increased visibility may also have
something to do with the growth of gyms
that offer parkour classes and clubs that
meet regularly to train, like the Santa Cruz
Parkour Team. Vargas Academy in Scotts
Valley now offers parkour classes for all
ages, with videos on their site showing
children ricocheting off foam-padded par-
kour bulkheads. Gone are the days when
a search for “parkour” on YouTube only
brought up grainy handheld-camera shots
of urban decay and European teenagers.
Tempest Freerunning Academy,
another parkour gym in Los Angeles,
released a video of its Mario-themed
practice area — complete with ball pit and
brick-patterned foam blocks — set to a
dubstep soundtrack, snagging almost 3
million views on YouTube from the time
of publication.
In Santa Cruz, parkour has become
much more organized than when Nims
and Moe founded the team two years ago.
“I’ve actually started teaching a gym
class in Santa Cruz,” Nims said. “I don’t
want to be elitist, but I think the best way
to learn is to be outside. Training solely
in the gym, you get this sense of comfort,
that you’re indestructible. Training in the
gym and outside, you’ll see progress.”
Nims’ opinion of gym training is
mixed.
“Out here, you can’t change anything.
Out here, you need to adapt to the envi-
ronment. In a gym, you’re creating your
own challenges and moving stuff around,”
he said. “It’s not a worse way to train, but
it’s a different reality. If you want to use
parkour usefully in a world where you
can’t change the facts, you need to adapt to
Top: Artem Chelovechkov
vaults over a wall, preparing
himself for impact.
Bottom: Tiphanie Gardner,
Seemingly frozen in time, leaps
across two metal railings.
cityonahillpress.com | 13
Feature
Leaping into the Mainstream
Continued from p. 13
the reality of, ‘I can’t move that wall.’”
Despite the growth of organized
parkour facilities, Nims said the future
of parkour lies in a personalized blend of
organized group training and solo experi-
mentation.
“It’s all very individual,” he said. “Peo-
ple I teach can do moves that took a year
to learn in just a lesson or two. I would
suggest that people find a community that
they can train with, but match that with
their personal training. You want to learn
your own style and what your body is
capable of.”
Michelle Huffman of Santa Cruz Sports
Central Gymnastics Learning Center said
she looks forward to watching parkour
grow as a sport, but people engaging in
parkour aren’t necessarily competitive.
“I look at their practice the same way
anyone would ‘practice’ the things they
love to do,” Huffman said. “People ‘prac-
tice’ chess, poker, weight lifting, reading,
riding bicycles, et cetera, for the pure
enjoyment of the activity. Others train to
compete.”
The Santa Cruz Sports Central Gym-
nastics Learning Center is where Nims
currently teaches parkour, and is also
14 | Thursday, May 26, 2011
where the UCSC gymnastics team trains.
Huffman thinks training in a group envi-
ronment is helpful for developing parkour
skills.
“There is support and usually a ground-
ing energy when engaging in an activity
with a group as opposed to simply being
‘on your own,’” Huffman said. “As with any
physical activity, there has to be a respect
for the danger involved. Practice allows
for the body and mind to develop that
understanding of movement and its limits.
When you practice with others — espe-
cially regularly — the collective reasoning
power brings in new ideas for ‘old’ prob-
lems and can offer the ‘voice of reason’ if
someone is not quite ready for a new skill.”
In the College Eight plaza, Moe tries to Morgan Grana
be that voice of reason, jokingly admon- Parkour group Members from San Francisco, Berkeley and Santa Cruz
ishing the gathered crowd for not warm- gather at College Eight to wander around campus and practice parkour moves.
ing up properly.
“I know no one likes to run, so we’ll teams do jumping push-ups down the James replies.
do some non-running warm-ups,” Moe College Eight steps and ramps, an older People passing by seem to agree.
shouts from a crab-walking position. parkour artist who introduced himself “Everyone who sees you is jealous of
Laughter rises from the crowd. They had briefly as James coaches a younger boy in you,” yells a bearded passerby.
already been running and vaulting for proper warm-up form. After a few minutes The parkour team laughs, shrugs and
close to 20 minutes, and Moe’s call to of this, the boy gets distracted and asks if nods — none of them seem inclined to
stretch comes off as a little after-the-fact. he can look at James’ iPhone. disagree.
As members of the collected parkour “We’re watching reality — it’s cooler,”
 Community & Culture

A Multicultural Mecca
At 32nd annual event held on campus, students promote cultural awareness through food and the arts

Photos by Kyan Mahzouf

Students gathered at the 2011 Multicultural Festival on Saturday, May 21. The festival featured performances from groups throughout campus.

ways possible: food, music and danced hip-hop under the group
By Michael Mott dance. name “No Access Allowed.” Per-
Community & Culture Members of one of the largest former and third-year psychol-
Editor student ethnic organizations ogy major Kelvin Chu explained
on campus, the Indian Student they were so named because with
Organization (ISO), danced in all the dance groups, it was often
At any given moment last
Bollywood, East Indian hip-hop hard to find a place to practice.
Saturday, Oakes Lower Lawn
and Bhangrā styles. “We practice anywhere we
was packed. Sixteen fraternities
Harbir Mahal, a second-year can,” he said. “It’s fun and it’s a
and campus organizations were
proposed sociology and global good way to relieve stress. When-
serving up lunch to attendees
economics major and ISO mem- ever you’re on stage, all your
from 12 to 6 p.m., and nine dif-
ber, danced Bhangrā, a tradition- problems just melt away.”
ferent dance troupes performed
al folk dance from Punjab, India. Anyone can participate in
on stage. Members of the campus
Mahal said that dancing in the their group, he said.
community all came together
style of Bhangrā helps her hold “It’s mainly Chinese students,
to celebrate diversity within UC
on to her culture. but it’s open for anyone,” he said.
Santa Cruz.
“It helps me with connecting “We just want to promote Chi-
This year’s Multicultural
to my roots,” she said. “It keeps nese culture around campus.”
Festival, “Rhymes, Rhythms
my culture going. When I hear Los Mejicas performed Mexi-
and Roots: Solidarity Through
the music, I can’t help but move.” can folk dance, with the female
Action,” was the 32nd annual
Students walked across the performers dressed in traditional
event, and according the UCSC
field, some tasting and trying nayarit costas, large flowing
Campus Events Calendar, 1500
out different dishes while others multi-colored dresses. Members
were estimated to attend.
sat in front of the trussed-up of Sabrosura danced to salsa,
Event organizer Diana Gamez,
stage and watched the myriad of bachata, merengue and modern
a first-year psychology and Latin
dances presented throughout the American rap and pop, and those
American and Latino studies
day. in traditional Chinese dance
major, said she was happy with
Third-year sociology major wore cheongsams, one-piece
the way the event turned out.
Nancy Chai said the audi- dresses that fused Chinese styles
“We had a very good turnout
ence this year was much more and modern influences.
this year,” she said. “I had no idea
pumped to be there. The event ended with a
what to expect. It was definitely a
“All the food to share and performance by Carne Cruda, a
learning experience.”
experiences to learn about,” she post-Latin rock and reggae band
Coordinated by Student Orga-
said, “I like them all. It’s sad that featuring Damdara, a singer tour-
nization Advising and Resources,
its only a one day cultural ex- ing from Brazil. By the end of the
the festival sought to bring
perience when it should be year concert, the crowd of students
together and promote awareness
‘round.” had made a conga line, danced
among all different races, ethnici-
Some members of the Chinese on stage and raucously sang
ties and cultures through the best
Student Association (CSA) about bananas.

cityonahillpress.com | 15

She’s Moving
Home After
Living Alone
Why the class of 2011 shouldn’t be depressed
By Rosie Spinks
Guest Columnist
A
s I write this, I’m just three weeks shy of my
college graduation. My inevitable existential crisis,
having started sometime in April, has been in
a state of flux for weeks now — am I excited, nervous,
nostalgic or just over it? One thing, though, is certain.
For the remaining days of my collegiate career (and for as
long as I can hold on thereafter), I am putting up a mental
blockade.
I have erected these walls to keep out a specific, but
very insidious, enemy: the onslaught of New York Times
op-eds, Huffington Post blogs and USA Today or CNN
polls saying that I, a soon-to-be college graduate, am
doomed. Doomed to a new life of mediocre Craigslist job
postings, minimum wage work and a humiliating drive
home from college with a Volvo full of the same stuff I
drove north with four years ago.
According to a source that I am not particularly fond
of right now — a consulting firm called Twentysomething
Inc. — 85 percent of this year’s college graduates will
move back in with their parents due to a sub-par job mar-
ket. By this measure, it seems like I should forget about
hearing the traditional “Pomp and Circumstance” tune on
graduation weekend and expect something a little more
depressing as I walk down the aisle. Perhaps Radiohead
or Jeff Buckley would be more appropriate. At least that’s
what I feel I’m supposed to believe.
My purposeful rejection of this media-induced
malaise isn’t a state of denial, but rather a declaration of
independence. I’m distancing myself from the idea that I
am a member of this supposed “lost generation.” The one
who checked all the boxes to get into college (SAT tutor-
ing, athletics, volunteering), fulfilled all the requirements
once they arrived (general ed, choosing a minor, writing
a thesis), and yet has emerged on the other side empty-
handed.
The problem, to me, is that this view of college as
an assembly line — where you take classes, build your
resume and reach June with a job offer and an engraved
invitation to middle-
class life — is entirely
outdated. What about
the part where you
find out what you’re
passionate about do-
ing? Where you decide
not just what you want
to see change in the
world, but also figure out a way to make it happen. That
kind of thing, it would seem, is limited to freshman year
idealism.
In my time at UC Santa Cruz, I have met countless
individuals who are indeed qualified enough to be hired
by any number of companies, agencies or firms. But more
importantly, I have met people whose ingenuity, passions,
unique talents and problem-solving skills make them
The problem is that this idea of college
as an assembly line — where you take
classes, build your resume, and reach
June with a job offer and an engraved
invitation to middle-class life — is
entirely outdated.
qualified for a number of jobs that don’t exist right now,
because the class of 2011 has yet to create them.
Now, I am fully aware that in six months to a year, I
may be proved utterly wrong with a healthy serving of
humble pie. It’s exceedingly obvious that things out there
are tough. I have spent the past five months interning
alongside college graduates who, let’s face it, are ready to
move from the intern cubicle to the payroll. But those
same people are also building a skill set and developing a
passion for something that is more than just a paycheck.
It may take us all a while to get to where we’re going, but
when we do, I’m confident what we will find will be less of
a career and more of a calling.
Column
Illustration by Louise Leong
In addition, moving in with one’s parents, while not
ideal, is also not the end of the world. It may mean you’re
not making enough money to rent an apartment, but it
doesn’t mean you’re an utter failure. Did you miss that
minor event in 2008 when all those wealthy investment
bankers and Wall Street executives — who no doubt had
a great job the day they graduated from their Ivy League
establishment — crashed and burned and took the whole
world down with them? The whole idea of an income
bracket as the ultimate barometer of success is on shaky
ground these days.
While money is certainly not insignificant when it
comes to our post-collegiate success, it’s just not the bot-
tom line. Irritatingly, the aforementioned New York Times
and Huffington Post articles’ familiar story of graduates
being forced to move home seems to end there. Nowhere
does it say what these individuals are doing. Public service
and non-profit jobs are on the rise, applications for pro-
grams like Americorps and Peace Corps have increased,
and laptop-fueled entrepreneurship can be observed in
many a coffee shop. I’ll give you one guess as to who is
doing that meaningful, albeit less lucrative, work. And it’s
not those investment bankers.
So while my pre-graduation status may mean I’m
not be entirely qualified to give it, here is my advice to
the class of 2011: Boeing, Goldman Sachs and Aetna are
probably not going to call you, but that’s not necessarily
a setback. If there’s one thing we’ve all learned in college,
it’s that this world has plenty of problems, many of which
were caused by the former generation. Don’t let the fact
that you might have to live with your parents take away
your resolve to fix those things, to pursue your passion
and to stake out a meaningful life that resembles the one
you’ve always wanted.
cityonahillpress.com | 17
Column
Women on TV Get ‘Mad’
On feminism and the new fall lineup
By Blair Stenvick
Opinions Editor
T
he Playboy Club and Pan Am airplanes. These are
the habitats women will soon occupy on television.
The new shows start this fall, but they’re both set
in the 1960s.
Hollywood knows how to work a decade. Just look
at “Mad Men,” AMC’s award-winning drama about the
Madison Avenue advertising culture.
The show’s set and costumes are meticulous — most
of the props actually come from the time period they are
meant to recreate, and the dress is impeccable, from men’s
skinny ties to women’s corsets.
Women made up only 17 percent of all
writers in the entertainment industry
in 2009, according to the Writers Guild
of America.
And the attitudes towards gender match the scen-
ery. The men on the show have the upper hand in every
regard. They can sleep with whomever they want, strive
for any job they want and generally treat women however
they want, just so long as they keep up a certain appear-
ance. The show’s women, on the other hand, face many
more obstacles and find struggles even in their victories,
such as when “Mad Men” character Peggy — advertising
firm Sterling Cooper’s first female copy writer — faces
unabashed sexism while trying to do her hard-won job.
But that’s not to say “Mad Men” leaves its female char-
acters out in the cold. In fact, many fans and critics alike
agree that the women’s stories are what make the show.
They’re all vastly different, compelling, dynamic charac-
ters whose plot lines show the difficulties women faced in
the 1960s and still face today. The show is a testimonial
to a history too often overlooked. The world “Mad Men”
depicts is horribly sexist, but the show itself is remarkably
18 | Thursday, May 26, 2011
equal and possibly
even feminist.
And unfortunately,
that’s still something
worth noting. Because
while not many shows are
overtly sexist, true female
perspective and character
development are hard to
find on primetime television.
For every “Mad Men,” there
are shows like “House,” which
focuses on a primarily male
cast and viewpoint. For every
“30 Rock,” there is a “Two and a
Half Men.” Yes, both of the latter
shows feature women in the cast,
but they fail to delve into what those
women go through in their lives.
They serve as romantic interests
for the men, and not much else.
And a lot of the shows that
do attempt or claim to represent
women don’t do much better.
What does it say that the program
with the highest number of female
characters on television right now is the “Real House-
wives” franchise?
There are some shows with great roles for women —
“The Good Wife” and “Bones” come to mind, among a
few others — but they’re still few and far between.
This lack of representation is no surprise, given the
statistics. Women made up only 17 percent of all writers
in the entertainment industry in 2009, according to the
Writers Guild of America. It’s futile to expect a team of
mostly male writers to be especially competent at coming
up with complex female characters. To the credit of “Mad
Men,” a number of women have won Emmys for their
work writing on the show.
Hollywood has taken note of this success. The major
networks announced their new pilots for the fall season a
Illustr
ation
by Ra
chel
Edel
stein
couple of weeks ago, and a few shows stood out as trying
to cash in on Mad Men’s nostalgia-fueled hype. NBC’s
“Playboy Club” and ABC’s “Pan Am” focus on the lives of
Playboy bunnies and flight attendants in the 1960s.
One cannot judge a book by its cover or
a TV show by its promotional poster. That
being said, it’s worth noting that still shots
from “Playboy Club” focus pretty heavily
on particular female anatomical parts. The
bunnies’ faces — when they’re shown at
all — reveal no emotion more complex than
sexual desire and a willingness to serve men.
The flight attendants of “Pan Am” are more
conservatively dressed, but the portrayed
power structure remains the same, with the
women literally standing a few feet behind
the male pilots.
Still, it remains to be seen whether
the writers for these shows
intend to only rip off the
“Mad Men” aesthetic or if
they’re looking to go deeper
than that. It’s easy to recre-
ate a ’60s-themed world of sexism
and inequality, but people who actually watch
“Mad Men” know loving the show means
loving (and loving to hate) the characters,
and seeing what they go through.
Yes, “Mad Men” star Christina
Hendricks is nice to look at. But seeing
her character, secretary-of-steel Joan,
dealing with an incredibly sexist
cartoon of her posted in the of-
fice by male coworkers is what
makes her — and the show —
nice to watch.
So let’s hope Hollywood
doesn’t simply recreate “Mad Men”
in the visual sense. Here’s hoping that
Playboy’s bunnies and Pan Am’s attendants can
join the ranks of Sterling Cooper’s secretaries.

Want to Ride the Bus at Night?
While possible cuts to nighttime Metro service endanger students, TAPs steps up
Do you ever head downtown on Friday nights? Work
late? These options began to look dim for UC Santa Cruz
students living on campus when cuts to the Night Owl
service were decided on by city bus service Santa Cruz
Metro, effectively ending all public transportation after
midnight. But with a recent pledge from TAPS, the Night
Owl services might still have a chance.
In September, the Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit
District (SCMTD) board of directors decided that altering
and eliminating several bus routes was necessary to coun-
ter the Metro’s growing deficit, which currently numbers
over $3.8 million. Such cuts include reducing trips on
routes 3 and 4, as well as terminating route 13 entirely.
The Night Owl service, buses 16N and 19N, which stop
on the UCSC campus, have received cuts as well.
The Metro’s financial situation is no joke. From 2007
to 2010, the Metro has lost over $4 million in operating
revenue, and by 2012 it anticipates a service reduction of
12 percent through these cuts.
While the campus community certainly understands
feeling the strain of the poor economy, eliminating public
transportation past midnight in a college town like Santa
Cruz would have a different kind of cost. The Night Owl
Service is used by many students and residents of the city
alike, who need to get home safely. Without a safe, sober
ride home, travelers in the city will be put in dangerous
and potentially life-threatening situations. The Night Owl
Education Versus Degree
College system now pits students against their best interests
W
hat does it mean for a society to be unable to
read and write effectively? Theoretically, all
development and intellectual advancement
would be incommunicable, and our society would face a
bleak future.
That is precisely the situation the United States may
face if current trends and statistics continue to show fewer
and fewer college students have the ability to read and
write effectively by the time they graduate.
The New York Times recently reported that in one
semester, 32 percent of students selected for a study did
not take classes that required more than 40 pages of read-
ing per week, and 50 percent of them did not take classes
that required 20 pages of writing over the entire semester.
They also reported that the students they followed studied
less than half the amount of time full-time students in the
1960s spent studying.
It has become apparent that secondary institutions are
less rigorous — but why? Secondary institutions have be-
come the new high school equivalent. Many students can-
not get a good job straight out of high school anymore.
This means there is more of an emphasis on students
getting through college solely to earn a degree instead of
on the educational opportunity college can provide.
Even students who are interested in coming to college
to get a stellar education are implicitly encouraged to get
through college as quickly as possible, as fees and tuition
continue to rise. It has become harder for the average
family to afford to send their aspiring student to college,
at a time when it is absolutely necessary to get a college
education to be competitive in the job market.
This leads to increased class sizes and even less empha-
sis on each student’s learning experience. Teachers aren’t
Editorials
Service is currently the only form of public transportation not to go downtown, which would also reduce much
available past midnight in Santa Cruz, and if the Metro revenue for Pacific Avenue businesses.
discontinues service to those who need it, riders will have To not have a fully operational bus service after dark
to find other ways home — either calling a cab, walking in a college town is absurd. Of students’ fees, $334.98 goes
home or driving drunk. toward city bus transportation. Hopefully, with TAPS’
An unexpected savior has been revealed in the last help, this important service will be maintained.
few days, however. Larry Pageler of UCSC’s Transporta- TAPS will hold its last meeting about the cuts
tion and Parking Services (TAPS) has put out a statement on June 8 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.
pledging TAPS’ commitment to take over
the Night Owl Service.
Only students would be allowed to
ride, and TAPS would have to cut the
majority of their Day Core routes for the
program to work. However, this plan
should be fully supported. Both the 16
and 19 cater primarily to students anyway,
and this would be a great step forward in
keeping students safe.
If students are forced to walk home
past midnight, these risks are likely to in-
crease. According to the Santa Cruz Police
Department website, which partnered
with CrimeMapping.com, there were 272
cases of assault in the last six months —
assaults in and around Laurel Street, a
street on several bus routes, numbered
over 13. Without a bus, many will choose
Illustration by Louise Leong
capable of teaching such large classes effectively, and
some have switched from papers to multiple-choice tests
to maintain their workload. This doesn’t only mean
overwhelming work for the teachers. It also means
that students get less out of their education today
than they did 50 years ago.
We should commend the UC Santa Cruz administra-
tion, however, for changing the school’s GE system to
make sure every discipline includes a writing-intensive
requirement. This will ensure that students graduate with
the skills they need to be confident in the job market.
However, this change comes in the wake of the demise of
narrative evaluations, an element of a UCSC education
that has set the school apart since its founding. No longer
do students receive direct feedback and explanation to
supplement the grades they’ve earned, further shifting
priority from the learning experience to a grade and GPA.
At commencement, it would be deplorable to see
students who look back on their years at college
and say, “That flew by too quickly,” or “What did
I learn while I was here?” Instead of regretting
their choice to attend college, students should
look back on their experience and know they
learned everything they imagined they wanted to
when they started college, and the system they
paid into was worth the money they spent.
Emphasis on education at secondary institu-
tions should be the highest priority, instead of the
degree students are awarded at the end of their
decreasingly rigorous years at college. Students will
come to college and know they will attend, learn
and eventually graduate with something more valu-
able than a piece of paper: an education. Illustration by Matt Boblet
cityonahillpress.com | 19