Thursday, October 14, 2010

Vol. 45 Issue No. 4

Listen
Closely,
It’s the sound of the
music industry changing

by Alejandro Trejo
 Thursday, October 14, 2010
STAFF
Editors-in-Chief
Jenny Cain
Public Discourse
Arianna Puopolo
Should cigarettes be sold on campus? Why or why not?
Managing Editors
Rod Bastanmehr
Julia Reis Compiled by VERONICA GLOVER & NICK PARIS
Copy
Melinda Széll, chief
Molly Kossoff
Mimi Stroud
Grace Watson

Production
Hilli Ciavarello, design director
Rachel Adams
Emily Chisholm
Tess Goodwin

Campus News
Julie Eng, editor
Ryan Mark-Griffin, editor
Rosa Arce
James Austin
Lisa Bang “I don’t think so. Cigarettes are bad for the “I’m a smoker, but probably not. We don’t need
Dana Burd environment, and this is supposed to be a green kids to start smoking.”
Rosa Casteneda
campus.”
Kara Foran
ANDREW DEGNAN COOPER ADAMS
City News SECOND-YEAR, CROWN THIRD-YEAR, PORTER
Sarah Naugle, editor MCD BIOLOGY PHILOSOPHY
Rosie Spinks, editor
Nicole Pritchard
Patrick Rooney
Susan Sun
Mikaela Todd
Rosanna Van Straten

Sports
Joey Bien-Kahn, editor
Natalia Equihua
Asa Hess-Matsumoto

Arts and Entertainment

Alejandro Trejo, editor
Veronica Glover
Chelsea Hawkins

Politics and Culture

Blair Stenvick, editor
Stephanie Meade
Maja Vojnovic “No, because they kill people and shouldn’t be “Yes, because I’m a smoker.”
sold. Period.”
Web
Timothy Lindvall II, developer ANI MELKUMYAN
ALEX SANDS FOURTH-YEAR, COLLEGE EIGHT
Photo/Illustration FOURTH-YEAR, MERRILL CREATIVE WRITING
Rachel Edelstein, editor ART
Morgan Grana, editor
Isaac Miller, editor
Andrew Allio
Ramille Baguio
Scott Haupenthal, videographer
Louise Leong
About Us
Bela Messex City on a Hill Press is produced by and for UCSC students.
Nick Paris Our primary goal is to report and analyze issues affecting the
Molly Solomon
Rosanna Van Straten
student population and the Santa Cruz community.
Pat Yeung We also serve to watchdog the politics of the UC administra- Contact
Prescott Watson tion. While we endeavor to present multiple sides of a story, we General Editorial Business
realize our own outlooks influence the presentation of the news. (831) 459-2430 (831) 459-4350
Advertising
Ryan Ayres
The CHP collective is dedicated to covering under reported editors@cityonahillpress.com
Alex Lattin events, ideas, and voices. Our desks are devoted to certain topics: Send Letters To:
Prescott Watson campus and city news, sports, arts and entertainment and politics Advertising City on a Hill Press
and culture. CHP is a campus paper, but it also provides space for (831) 459-2444 UCSC Press Center
Business
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Brittany Thompson campus community. Ideally, CHP’s pages will serve as an arena for Santa Cruz, CA
debate, challenge and, ultimately, change. Friend us on Facebook! 95064
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quarter breaks.
The opinions expressed in this paper do not necessarily reflect
the opinions of the staff at large, or the University of California.

2 cityonahillpress.com
 Thursday, October 14, 2010

Table of Contents
4 Meet the Minds of the SUA
by JULIE ENG AND RYAN MARK-GRIFFIN

6 Blumenthal: View from the Top

by JULIE ENG

7 Event Calendar
compiled by TESS GOODWIN

8 UCSC Rally on National Day of Action

By Rosa Castaneda & Kara Foran

9 Metro Makes a Natural Transition

by MIKAELA TODD

10 From Napster to BitTorrent, Piracy Lives On

by ALEJANDRO TREJO

12 This Week in Photos

by ANDREW ALLIO

Nick Paris

15 Hardcore Parkour
by NATALIA EQUIHUA

16 Poet, Activist, Living Writer Engages and Entertains

BY CHELSEA HAWKINS

17 There’s an App for That

by STEPHANIE MEADE

18 Proposition 23
by MIKAELA TODD

19 Editorials: UCSC Students Ask for the Full Moon

& 21st Century Whales

20 Slug Comics & Who the Hell Asked You?!

Andrew Allio

Cover photo by Rosanna Van Straten

cityonahillpress.com 3
Campus Thursday, October 14, 2010

Student Government Ready Tiffany Loftin,

student body
chair
to Put Goals into Action Fourth-year
American studies and
politics double major
Oakes
Guide to this year’s officers of Student Union Assembly
Tiffany Loftin beat
out two other candi-
By Julie Eng & Ryan Mark-Griffin dates to become the
Campus Editors SUA student body
chair for the 2010
academic school year.
Natan Tietz, internal vice chair Loftin is a fourth-year
Second-year music and community studies Oakes student, and an American studies and politics double major.
Of her goals for this year, Loftin said she hopes to accomplish many
double major things, all with the backing of a united student body.
Porter College “I want to focus on one campus issue as a campus body and focus
on accomplishing it, accomplishing one thing that we’re all in agree-
While most students were moving in and attend- ment on,” Loftin said.
ing day keggers during welcome week, Natan Tietz was As student body chair she is responsible for SUA’s budget, which
recruiting students for the SUA. His mission: filling all comes to about $1.5 million, and “supporting the other officers,” she
of the SUA committee positions on campus. said.
“There are all these committees that students can Loftin and the other officers have already met with recently
serve on to create change,” Tietz said. “But they have appointed executive vice chancellor Alison Galloway, and they are
never all been filled. Often they are vacant because no excited to work with her, Loftin said.
one knows about them. I am going to work hard on this “I really like her, personally,” Loftin said. “She’s very personable,
all year so that crucial decisions that are made on this and she’s not afraid at all to talk to students. She seems to be more
campus have input from student voice.” transparent [than former EVC David Kliger] about her goals, and she
Tietz did extensive outreach to students during wel- wants what students want, not just what she thinks is best.”
come week, he said, especially to freshman and transfer
students. He hopes that by increasing awareness of the committees and their functions, he can inspire
more students to take an active role in governing the university.
The first milestone towards this goal was met recently when all the seats on the academic senate Nestor Rivera,
committees were filled. This important committee meets with faculty to discuss issues of educational organizing
direction for the university.
Tietz was attracted to this position because he saw an opportunity to make a difference. director
“I saw [this position] as a way to learn from students and administrators what the real problems are Fourth-year
on this campus,” Tietz said. “I want to use this position to try and fix the problems that I think will legal studies major
improve students’ lives the most.” Kresge College

Claudia Magaña, external vice chair
Third-year Latin American & Latino studies and
sociology double major
Oakes
Claudia Magaña was drawn to her position as external
vice chair by the opportunity to be an advocate for public
education and undocumented students. She does so by
serving as the official representative of UCSC students to
all external entities.
“Essentially, I need to be informed and engaged
with the federal, state and systemwide issues that affect
students,” she said in an e-mail. “So, with the possible fee
increase coming up at the November regents meeting, it’s
my job to let you all know, find funds for a bus to take us
to UCSF, and organize against it.”
This year, Magaña’s office will prioritize two campaigns that have been set by the University of Cali-
fornia Student Association (UCSA) and the United States Student Association (USS). They will be
working to pass the Dream Act on the federal level, implementing a regental policy that would allow
undocumented AB540 students to have access to institutional aid, and trying to secure a new revenue
source so a fee rollback can be funded.
In addition, Magaña hopes to help the SUA be at the forefront of the student movement. She hopes
student advocacy in 2010 will include more student engagement.
“The more voices that are in any organizing space, the more representative it is,” she said. “There is
a hell of a lot to be angry about right now, especially since another fee increase is on the table. I can’t
stress enough how powerful students are when we want to be. The UC was saved in the state budget
that was just passed because we demanded it.”
Nestor Rivera
doesn’t make requests.
He makes demands. As
the organizing director
for the SUA, he is com-
mitted to increasing the
power of students to
make demands through
grassroots organizing.
His current goal is to
register 4,000 students
to vote.
“Whoever gets elected into office will have a tremendous im-
pact on student’s lives,” Rivera said. “Student voter registration is a
mechanism to keep legislators accountable. It is a token of our ability
to remove them from office if they do not become champions for our
cause. Without this power, our demands become requests.”
Rivera views the physical layout of the UCSC campus as his main
obstacle with regard to organizing students.
“The fact that the university is divided into ten smaller colleges
creates less of a holistic feeling when we are trying to turn out stu-
dents to campus wide events, because people are socially segregated by
college,” Rivera said. “There is no central point on campus to organize
huge rallies like at other schools. Instead we have multiple colleges
with limited space for free speech.”
Despite these challenges, Nestor said he is committed to organiz-
ing students to fight for their interests.
Photos by Andrew Allio

4 cityonahillpress.com
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Alma De Castro, commissioner of academic
affairs
Fourth-year politics and economics double major
Oakes College
Alma De Castro wants to be a part of the big conversations.
“My position puts me in conversations about the budget,
faculty, coursework and students,” De Castro said. “It is a gateway
to change.”
De Castro takes over this fall as commissioner of academic
affairs. One of her main goals is to continue the work of her
predecessor, Matt Palm, regarding budget cuts. De Castro wants students at all UC
campuses to take the budget facts survey, created last spring quarter by the SUA. The
survey collected data on how UCSC students were impacted by budget cuts. By taking
the survey systemwide, De Castro hopes to create a greater avenue for student voice in
budgeting negotiations.
“This would put UCSC at the forefront of getting student impact data to the [Cali-
fornia] legislature and the March subcommittee hearings for higher education,” De
Castro said.
De Castro has experience working in student government. As a third-year transfer
student in the fall of 2009, she joined the SUA to expand on the work she started at
community college, where she was a member of the Academic Senate. De Castro said
her main challenge this year will be adjusting to the bureaucracy of UCSC.
“Having to work with considerably more people than I’ve worked with before is
definitely going to be difficult,” De Castro said. “But I am optimistic that I can rise to
the challenge.”
Campus
Omar Villa, commissioner of diversity
Fourth-year Latin American & Latino studies and
education minor
Merrill College
When Omar Villa first arrived at UC Santa Cruz, it
was his desire to educate himself about his culture that led
him to become an advocate for student rights at rallies and
protests, and to act officially in this capacity as the SUA’s
commissioner of diversity (COD).
“I decided to run for commissioner of diversity because I
felt I had the experience and background needed to continue
advocating for student issues, especially for those who are underrepresented and/or
marginalized,” Villa said in an e-mail.
Among Villa’s many goals and responsibilities this year will be chairing and
participating in various committees that influence policy and change on campus and
throughout the UC. As COD, Villa will sit on the UCSC Advisory Council on the
Campus Climate, Culture and Inclusion Committee, which is chaired by Chancellor
George Blumenthal and was created by UC president Mark Yudof in response to the
“hate bias” incidents that occurred at UC San Diego last year.
Villa plans to be an active participant in student action this year.
“If the students are asking for certain demands, we can definitely be the
bridge connector between students and administrators to voice the needs of the
undergraduate student body,” he said.
Photos courtesy of studentunionassembly.org
cityonahillpress.com 5
Campus
AT A MEETING for the year’s
first press conference with
student media, Chancellor
George Blumenthal (left) and
executive vice chancellor
Alison Galloway (right)
addressed student media’s
most urgent concerns. While
the discussion focused
on serious topics, the pair
managed to keep the tone
positive.
Prescott Watson
Chancellor Addresses UC’s Future with Student Media
Student media news organizations put hard-hitting questions to Chancellor George Blumenthal last Thursday. Newly appointed
executive vice chancellor Alison Galloway joined us at the chancellor’s quarterly press conference. Among other issues, the
administrators responded to queries about student activism and the future of campus programs. Log onto cityonahillpress.com for
more questions, answers and additional insight from Blumenthal and Galloway.
City on a Hill Press: What went into the
decision to appoint Alison Galloway as our
new EVC?
Blumenthal: I had four outstanding finalist candidates,
any of whom could’ve stepped into that position. But in
choosing Alison, I was motivated by the fact that she is
very committed to the campus. She understands the cam-
pus well, and she really has demonstrated her ability to
administer programs … Alison brings the whole package,
and because we worked together in a variety of different
capacities over the years I thought that we would work
well.
TWANAS: What do you want to be your
legacy at UCSC?
Blumenthal: First, I’d like people to look back and say
that during our term here, the university continued its
upward trajectory among universities in the country and
the world. I think that was true as I was coming in as
chancellor, and I’d like to continue that trend and really
move it forward in a very meaningful way. Secondly, I’d
like people to look back and realize that this was a very
difficult financial time for the university, and that we
found ways to stabilize the university during what were
very difficult times and prepare us for hopefully better
times ahead.
City on a Hill Press: The TA’s union on
6 cityonahillpress.com
By Julie Eng
Campus Co-Editor
campus has asked you to be somewhat of an
advocate for them to the UC regents in their
contract negotiations. How specifically have
you been able to do this?
Blumenthal: Collective bargaining doesn’t take place on
this campus, it’s systemwide bargaining. It isn’t really
with the regents, it’s really with the UC president. The
president has the authority to agree to a contract with
unions. We have input into it, we have representatives
on the bargaining team, those issues are discussed with
the chancellors, [and] before agreements are made we all
get to comment on them and provide input. I think our
graduate students in general, TAs in particular, are a really
key part of the campus. TAs have it tough. Not only are
they students, but they also teach. It is a job. Many of
them have families to support. It’s really important that
we make sure that they are able to survive in a reasonable
way.
TWANAS: Are you going to make an effort
this year to come to rallies and show public
support for the UAW and students in general?
Blumenthal: I will be out there, and I’m going to try to
be accessible to people. I’m more than happy to talk to
anyone as long as the conversation takes place at a reason-
able decibel level. I do keep office hours, I am available
for people to talk to. Second, there is a presumption that
chancellors are all-powerful … I think there is a power in
Thursday, October 14, 2010
the ability to be persuasive, and to persuade the appropri-
ate decision makers of the rightness of a position. Just
because you may not see me doing it doesn’t mean that
I’m not an advocate for certain positions. I would never
write an open letter to the president urging him to do
something … I think that would decrease my credibility
with the president even if it might win me some brownie
points with those who want me to be more openly an
advocate.
KZSC: What are your thoughts on the
student activism against the UC?
Blumenthal: There’s nothing wrong with activism. I was
an activist myself as a student. I encourage our students
to speak out — I think it’s great that Santa Cruz has so
many students whose voices want to be heard. There are
lines though. Sometimes, activism that exceeds what I
think are the appropriate bounds of behavior can be nega-
tive for the university. I spend a lot of my time with do-
nors and legislators, and I’d rather be talking about what
they can do to help the university really provide education
for a broader spectrum of Californians than having to de-
fend the university against accusations that our students
don’t understand the good things that they have. Activ-
ism, if it’s overboard, or it exceeds the appropriate level of
behavior of respecting other people’s rights, can actually
be a negative for the university. And it detracts from the
conversation.
Thursday, October 14, 2010

Event Calendar

Event Calendar
CITY Wednesday, Oct. 20
ƒƒ Class: Music with Renata Bratt.
Kuumbwa Jazz Center. 7 p.m. Free. All
Thursday, Oct. 14
instruments welcome.
ƒƒ Film: Reel Rock Film Tour. Rio
ƒƒ Film: Pacific Rim Film Festival Benefit
Theatre. Tickets available at (831) 454-
Finale. Rio Theatre. 7 p.m. $15.
9254. 7 p.m.
ƒƒ Concert: Wiz Khalifa plus Yelawolf.
ƒƒ Concert: Punch Brothers featuring
The Catalyst. Doors at 7 p.m., music at 8
Chris Thile. Kuumbwa Jazz Center. 7 & 9
p.m. $18 in advance, $22 at door.
p.m. $22 in advance, $25 at door.
ƒƒ Concert: Jay Lingo, Sharon Allen. The
Crêpe Place. Doors at 8 p.m., music at 9 CAMPUS
p.m. $6.
ƒƒ
Thursday, Oct. 14
Friday, Oct. 15
ƒƒ Informational: Student Volunteer Fair.
ƒƒ Performance: “High School (Non)
Quarry Plaza. 12 to 4 p.m.
Musical.” Santa Cruz High School. 7:30
ƒƒ Tour: Marine Mammal Research.
p.m. $8-10.
Seymour Center Discovery Center. 2 to
ƒƒ Concert: RJD2 and others. The Cata-
3:30 p.m. $4-6.
lyst. $22 in advance, $25 at door. 8 p.m.
ƒƒ Exhibit: “Cultivating a Movement.”
ƒƒ Concert: The Morning Benders. Rio
Science & Engineering Library Current
Theatre. $12 in advance, $15 at door.
Periodicals Room. 4 to 6 p.m.
8 p.m.
ƒƒ Film: Secret movie showing. Del Mar
Friday, Oct. 15
Theatre. $6.50. 11:59 p.m. Event repeats
ƒƒ Tony Fink Memorial Lecture: “In-
Oct. 16.
creasing Evidence that Prions Cause Most
Neurodegenerative Diseases.” Baskin
Saturday, Oct. 16
Auditorium 101. 5 p.m.
ƒƒ Lecture: Bigfoot Discovery Day.
ƒƒ El Centro’s New Student Welcome
Louden Nelson Community Center.
Carnival. College 9/10 Multi-purpose
$8-10. 6 p.m.
Room. 6 to 9 p.m.
ƒƒ Celebration: Downtown Association
ƒƒ Dance: Neon Night. College Eight
50th Anniversary Gala featuring Lavay
Red Room. 9 p.m. to 12 a.m.
Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers.
Top of the Ritt, Pacific Avenue & Church
Sunday, Oct. 17
Street. 6:30 p.m. $35.
ƒƒ Performance: Spirituality and Faith
ƒƒ Performance: Sparring with Beatnik
Art and Music Festival. Cowell College
Ghosts. Felix Kupla Gallery. 7 p.m.
Courtyard. 1 to 5 p.m.
ƒƒ Concert: Ozomatli. The Catalyst.
ƒƒ Tour: Younger Lagoon Reserve. Sey-
Doors at 8 p.m., music at 9. $24 in ad-
mour Marine Discovery Center. 2 to 3:30
vance, $28 at door. Ages 21 and up.
p.m. $4-6.
ƒƒ Sidhartha Maitra Memorial Lecture:
“Why should we be good? What exactly
Sunday, Oct. 17
is dharma?” Music Center Recital Hall. 3
ƒƒ Workshop: Slow Food Santa Cruz Dia
to 4 p.m.
de los Muertos. Caffe Tazzina. 1 p.m. $12.
ƒƒ Concert: Blazing Steels: featuring Patti
Tuesday, Oct. 19
Maxine & The Saddle Pals, and Amee
ƒƒ Symposium: SRL/ISSDM Research.
Chapman & The Velvet Tumbleweeds.
Baskin Engineering Simularium room
The Crêpe Place. 7 to 10 p.m. Free.
180. 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., barbecue from 5:30
to 8 p.m. in E2 courtyard.
Monday, Oct. 18
ƒƒ Informational: Graduate & Profession-
ƒƒ Performance: Kathy Griffin. Santa
al School Fair. Stevenson Event Center.
Cruz Civic Auditorium. 7 p.m. $35 in
11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
advance, $38 at door.
ƒƒ Art: Human Conditions. Porter Col-
ƒƒ Concert: Ricardo Lemvo & Makina
lege Sesnon Gallery. 5 to 7 p.m.
Loca. Kuumbwa Jazz Center. 7 p.m. $20
in advance, $23 at door.
Wednesday, Oct. 20
ƒƒ Concert: Telekinesis, Cory Chisel and
ƒƒ Symposium: SRL/ISSDM Research.
the Wandering Sons. The Crêpe Place. 9
Baskin Engineering Simularium room
p.m. $8 in advance, $10 at door.
180. 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
ƒƒ Sports: Drop-In Slacklining and Rock-
Tuesday, 10/19
wall. East Field Center. 2:30 to 4:30 p.m.
ƒƒ Film: Pacific Rim Film Festival. Rio
ƒƒ Concert: Open Stage. Porter College
Theatre. Films begin at 3 p.m. Free.
Dining Hall. 8:30 to 10:30 p.m. Free.
ƒƒ Concert: 7 Come 11. The Crêpe Place.
UCSC students only.
8 p.m. to 12 a.m. Free.

Compiled by Tess Goodwin

cityonahillpress.com 7
Campus
Demonstrators Unite on National Day of Action
Rally in Quarry Plaza raises awareness of UC budget crisis
By Rosa Castaneda & Kara Foran
Campus Reporters
Demonstrators dressed as zombies gathered on
Oct. 7 to raise awareness about the ongoing Uni-
versity of California budget crisis. The year’s first
rally last Thursday took a creative approach, featur-
ing zombies shuffling around campus and moaning
messages at students gathered at bus stops. The
zombies then interrupted classrooms by limping
through lecture halls, using the spectacle to round
up people for the noon rally at Quarry Plaza, where
an estimated 200 demonstrators gathered.
“Fee hikes have us turning over in our graves”
and “I lyk my branes fully devellupped” were two of
the poster slogans carried by the zombies.
According to fliers handed out at the rally, the
UC regents are considering a proposal that calls for
an additional 5 to 15 percent increase in annual fees
for the next five to seven years. The next regents
meetings are from Nov. 16 through 18 at UCSF
Mission Bay.
“The university is becoming a natural disaster,”
moaned one of the zombies as he passed through a
classroom.
The theatrics continued at the noon rally with a
mock pie-eating contest. Faculty and staff por-
traying student grievances like “Yudof ’s housing
budget” ate pie labeled “UC budget money.” Faculty
and staff portraying “UC educational quality” were
given none of the pie, in an dramatization of what
protestors consider the unfair allocation university
funds.
The rally focused on uniting various affected
groups. The speakers of the day consisted of
students, faculty, staff and representatives from
the Coalition of University Employees, University
Professional and Technical Employees, United
Auto Workers (UAW) and American Federation of
State, County and Municipal Employees (AF-
SCME).
8 cityonahillpress.com
Thursday, October 14, 2010
“[University affiliates] have not shared the bur-
den equitably,” said Brian Malone, graduate student
in literature and campus chair for the teaching as-
sistant union, which is represented by the UAW.
The UAW was negotiating a new TA contract
with the university.
“Last week on the day our contract expired, UC Photos by Nick Paris
walked away from the bargaining table, refusing to TO RAISE AWARENESS about the university budget crisis, dem-
continue to bargain,” Malone said. onstrators dressed like zombies communicated their messages to
A UCSC worker later spoke at the rally to share students at bus stops.
his experience.
“We as workers are being asked to do too much
work for less pay,” said Nicholas Gutierrez, UCSC
worker and AFSCME member. “[Some] workers
on campus make $25,000 to 33,000 per year.”
A UCSC alumnus from the class of ’73 and
father of UCSC student expressed his views on the
university’s priorities.
“My son tells me he’s a biology major and he
can’t get classes — so then what they did is reduce
the requirements for the major,” he said.
The alumnus’ son is part of a large group of
students that often struggle to sign up for necessary
classes. A poster held up at the rally read that in
spring 2010, 61 percent of students didn’t get into
the classes they wanted or needed.
Protest actions have included strikes, sit-ins and
campus shutdowns to gain the attention of the top
administration. This year’s demonstration had a
different goal.
“Last year we were very militant and it was an
actual strike,” said Edgar Ontiveros, fourth-year
anthropology and Latin America and Latino stud-
ies major. “I feel that what they’re doing right now
is going to build up for further events during the
year. It’s more like education and awareness … A
lot of people don’t really know about the 33 percent
increase, budget cuts [and] furloughs.”
“As long as we’re united, we’ll fucking win this
fight,” Gutierrez shouted as students gathered with
fists up, yelling, “¡Sí, se puede!”
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Metro Makes a Natural Transition
Government grant gives nearly $5 million to convert
city buses still on diesel to natural gas
The Federal Transit Administration
granted Santa Cruz Metro $4,830,600
last week for the conversion of 12 diesel-
fueled buses to natural gas buses by 2011.
Santa Cruz Metro received notifica-
tion of the grant, which is part of FTA’s
program, “State of Good Repair,” on Oct.
4. Secretary of Transportation Ray La-
Hood made the announcement.
“Our goal is to have 100 percent of
our natural gas buses on the street at all
times, because that will end up saving
12,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas
emissions over the lifetime of a single
bus,” said Tove Beatty, legislative analyst
for the Metro, who wrote and submitted
the grant last June.
Beatty said that the conversion would
help save the Metro money because
natural gas is at least half the price per
gallon compared to diesel. Furthermore,
the change will decrease Santa Cruz’s
greenhouse gas emissions.
Of the 93 buses in the Santa Cruz
Metro fleet, 63 are fueled by natural gas,
and the rest run on diesel.
Illustration by Bela Messex
By Mikaela Todd
City Reporter
Mike Rotkin, who serves on the Santa
Cruz Metropolitan Transit Board, said
that by law the buses need to be replaced
anyway, but instead of switching to “clean
diesel,” like most cities in California are,
Santa Cruz Metro wanted to take the
extra step by converting to CNG, or
compressed natural gas.
“We’ve converted most of our fleet,
but we don’t have the money right now to
convert the rest,” Rotkin said.
The grant will pay for what the city of
Santa Cruz cannot, and by 2011, 12 new
buses will be added to the fleet, replac-
ing ones that are about 25 years old. The
new ones could easily last 20 years, if not
more, said Ellen Pirie, chair of the Met-
ropolitan Transit District Board.
“If for no other reason than the cost
of maintenance and repairs, this is a good
thing to be doing,” Pirie said. “It’s also
important that we use as little oil and
gasoline as possible. This allows us to
use the alternative of CNG, and it burns
cleaner and has a domestic supply.”
Pirie expects that this move will be
City
particularly important to Santa Cruz.
“It’s a community that cares very much
about climate change and global warm-
ing and energy independence, and this
is something that is a positive step on all
those issues,” Pirie said.
One thing the grant does not solve,
however, is the current fiscal crisis the
Metro is suffering due to lack of funding.
“We’re not in any better shape when
it comes to operational funding,” Beatty
said. “That’s a different ballgame.”
The grant does nothing to pay for
more Metro jobs. Rotkin said that even
so, any money that can be provided is
important because of the switch from
diesel to CNG.
“For a lot of years we were telling peo-
ple, ‘Get out of your cars, use the buses,’”
Rotkin said. “Now what’s happened is we
actually have more demand than we can
provide for with our resources. We want
to be able to provide more. Anything we
can save by ways of fuel is helping with
that process.”
cityonahillpress.com 9
 Free Music:
Feature
At What Cost?
Piracy still plagues entertainment industry
4
By Alejandro Trejo
Arts & Entertainment Editor
Illustrations by
Ramille Baguio
UC Santa Cruz graduate Rula Al-Nasrawi
illegally downloaded 1,500 songs from the
time she was in high school to the end of her sophomore year
in college. By then, the Recording Industry Association of
America (RIAA) gave her a choice — pay a $3,000 settlement,
or go to court, hire a lawyer and potentially pay upwards of
$1 million.
Al-Nasrawi is just one of 3,000 UCSC Internet at her fingertips.
students since 2001 who received notices As much as Al-Nasrawi felt the finan-
from various entertainment companies al- cial repercussions of her actions, the music
leging copyright infringement for down- industry as a whole has had to deal with
loading media illegally using the Internet significant economic loss as a result of
provided by the university. piracy. Global music piracy costs the music
She is also industry $12.5 billion every year, accord-
one of ing to a recent analysis by the Institute for
many Policy Innovation.
col- Paddy Spinks, vice president of inter-
lege students national sales and marketing for Concord
who grew up Records, has witnessed firsthand the shifts
͈
having the within the industry.
“The music industry is currently in a
state of transition, or reinventing itself,
basically, and this has been going on for
several years now, and will continue for
several years more,” Spinks said. “Big
corporations change slowly.”
REAP WHAT
YOU SOW
The Internet has caused many prob-
lems for the entertainment industry,
which has had to fight against the illegal
10 cityonahillpress.com
distribution of copyrighted material since
the dawn of Napster in the late ’90s.
Since those days, corporations such as
Electric & Musical Industries (EMI) and
Sony Music Entertainment have done
what they can to fight back against the
rising tide of illegal downloading. In 2000,
the music industry took on the legendary
Napster, which at the time was the leading
source for digitally downloadable content.
In A&M Records Inc vs. Napster, Napster
was found to be in severe violation of
copyright laws, forcing the shutdown of its
website and leading it to file for bank-
ruptcy two years later.
Illegally downloadable music is still
easy to get a hold of. Although Napster
is now dead, from its carcass peer-to-peer
clients such as eDonkey and BitTorrent
have risen to power.
BitTorrent is a form of peer-to-peer
file sharing that allows large amounts of
data to be transferred between Internet
users without exceedingly high band-
widths. Users of BitTorrent are separated
into seeders and leechers. A seeder is
someone who has a copy of a torrent and
Thursday, October 14, 2010
offers it up to leechers, who are looking to
obtain the file. The more seeders there are,
the better the download speed the leech-
ers will experience. When a leecher has
fully obtained the torrent file, the leecher
becomes a seeder, and the cycle continues.
eDonkey, though, is based upon a network
system that a user connects to in order to
search and find the specific files he or she
is looking for.
BitTorrent and eDonkey make up 90
percent of copyright infringements on the
Internet, according to a one-year study
in 2008 by BayTSP, a firm that special-
izes in tracking piracy and where copy-
righted content appears. Overall, it found
306,227,001 cases of copyright infringe-
ment, and those are the numbers for just
their clients.
First-year Kresge student Andy Stine
is one of the many individuals who choose
to download music through peer-to-peer
file sharing. Despite the potential financial
risk that accompanies this decision, Stine
believes the convenience outweighs the
cost.
“Well, when you compare the
Thursday, October 14, 2010

accessibility of torrenting and online individuals. her $3,000 copyright infringement fine,
downloading, buying music on iTunes is First-time offenders are notified by the RIAA has spent less energy prosecut-
just sort of obnoxious,” Stine said. the university that their Internet access ing individuals who have illegally down-
Stine wrestles with his justification of has been blocked for a two-week period loaded copyrighted material. Instead it
such acts, though. and will remain so until completion of a has switched its focus to people sharing
“The way I tackle that issue is that by copyright education quiz. On the second copyrighted material. This has allowed the
RIAA to hone in on peer-to-peer sites
that host and share the content through-
out the Internet.
“The transition to digital music could have been handled The music industry could very well
win, thanks to a group of bipartisan sena-
a little bit better. It’s really unfair — the people who get tors that wrote up S.3804, also known as
prosecuted and get their asses handed to them in law- the Combating Online Infringement and
Counterfeits Act. The bill was proposed
suits for downloading a few songs. That’s honestly why I Sept. 20, and it is currently in the process
don’t download all that often.” of being referred to the Senate judiciary
committee.
In layman’s terms, the bill gives specific
— Hannah Kreiger, powers to the U.S. attorney general that
third-year would allow the attorney general to go
after websites that are “dedicated to in-
fringing activities,” such as copyright and
trademark infringement. The bill also al-
Feature
said. “This is an idea that already has some
traction in other parts of the world.”
The industry is trying to adapt to these
changes in two ways, Spinks said. First, at
the top end of the business, the four major
corporations, EMI, Sony Music Enter-
tainment, Universal Music Group and
Warner Music Group, are all becoming
smaller companies, and are dealing with
a narrower group of artists. At the same
time, they all maintain a back catalogue
that keeps them alive.
Second, there has been an uprising of
“middle-class musicians, who are basi-
cally doing it all for themselves, or doing
it all on a much smaller level,” Spinks said,
“whereby touring becomes very important,
whereby they are in business with them-
selves, and they are building their own
databases through the use of new media
like Facebook or Myspace.”
Some artists have already tried to adapt
to these new ways. In October 2007,

͈
considering whom it is exactly I’m stealing
from. For me it doesn’t really strike me as
an issue when I’m illegally downloading
music from large artists, because they are
backed by huge labels, and I don’t really
care much for huge record labels,” Stine
said. “But it’s when I’m downloading a
local or underground artist that I start,
morally, feeling in the red.”
THE PRICE YOU
PAY
The UC system is known for cat-
egorically following federal law. This is no
different in the case of copyright infringe-
ment. A hard-nosed approach to the situ-
ation is to be expected.
“We don’t monitor the networks for
the purpose of finding illegal activity, so
what I know about the status of copyright
infringement is based on the number of
notices we get from copyright holders,”
said Janine Roeth, director of client servic-
es and security for Information Technol-
ogy Services at UCSC.
Starting this coming July, UCSC will
be required by the Higher Education
Opportunity Act (HEOA) to enact a plan
that will further crack down on students
who pirate copyrighted material, Roeth
said. ResNet currently allows a maximum
offense, the same process happens, but lows for the attorney general to create two Radiohead released its critically acclaimed
the student is also required to meet with lists: “required to block” and “suggested to seventh album, “In Rainbows,” as a free
the student judicial officer, and access block.” Sites that appear on the list would digital download. The band allowed its
is restored after a four-week period and be blocked from viewing. fans to decide what would be a fair price
completion of the meeting and the same Spinks said that this bill is a common for the recording, and while it was not
quiz. For third-time offenders, all of one in a world of technological expansion available for free from, fans could pay as
the above occurs, but Internet access is and free distribution. little as 45 pence, equivalent to 45 cents.
blocked off for the remainder of the year. “Bills just like this proposed one have
UCSC graduate Rula Al-Nasrawi was
taken aback when she received a letter
already been passed in France,” Spinks Continued on p. 14 8
from the university courtesy of the RIAA
regarding her infraction.
“It’s kind of ridiculous because pretty
much everyone I know downloads music,
or has downloaded music, or doesn’t even
buy music at all, not a single song,” Al-
Nasrawi said.
Al-Nasrawi received one of the 514
notices from UCSC that were sent out
during the 2007-08 academic year. The
previous year, 895 letters were sent out
to students, which was the peak number
from the period of 2001 through the start
of this year.
“The RIAA had a well-publicized cam-
paign throughout 2006-07 and 2007-08,
which contributed to our higher numbers
in those years,” Roeth said. “They are also
responsible for a large number of the no-
tices we received thus far this year.”
Third-year Stevenson student Hannah
Kreiger disagrees with the tactics of the
music industry. She often uses a website
that that makes music videos on YouTube

download of two gigabytes in a 24-hour
period.
“Although using P2P file-sharing tech-
nology is not in itself illegal, if you share
copyrighted material without permission
— even unwittingly — you are breaking
both the law and UC policy and could be
subject to university, civil and/or crimi-
nal sanctions,” according to the ResNet
website.
Roethe said that although ITS does
not monitor the networks “for the purpose
of finding illegal activity,” once a student
receives notice of a copyright infringe-
ment, ResNet staff begins tracking those
͈
accessible to rip as MP3 files.
“I just feel like the transition to digital
music could have been handled a little bit
better,” Kreiger said. “It’s really unfair to
the people who get prosecuted and get
their asses handed to them in lawsuits for
downloading a few songs. That’s honestly
why I don’t download all that often.”
CHANGE ON
THE HORIZON
In the two years since Al-Nasrawi paid

cityonahillpress.com 11
Photography Thursday, October 14, 2010

THROUGH
OUR LENS
“Put the Keys Down”

Photographs & Words by

Andrew Allio

“Are you Danish?” a tall blond man

who could be drunk asked me. Throw-
ing my hands up and moving them
like invisible headlights, I gestured no.
At the end of the 25-minute bus ride,
the conversation ended with a hand-
shake, and I knew I would probably
never meet Mat “with one ‘T’” again.
There were no obligations in that
moving lounge on wheels — it was a
casual experience.
While riding the bus in Copen-
hagen, I saw similarities to getting
around by bus in Santa Cruz. At
7:30 a.m. on the Route 20 I would
talk about the Giants with another
20-something in flannel. I would walk
to class getting to know a girl in my 8
a.m. lecture. With so many people on
the bus, there are many connections to
make.

12 cityonahillpress.com
Thursday, October 14, 2010

Photography

cityonahillpress.com 13
 Thursday, October 14, 2010

Free Music: At What Cost?

Feature

7Continued from p. 11
Literature graduate student the law. really,” Spinks said. “And you are
Trevor Schack wishes the music “At the end of the day, if you’re stealing something if you go to Bit-
industry could look at bands like stealing something, you should Torrent, or wherever, and download
Radiohead and licensing distribu- be stopped. It’s as simple as that, some music for free.”
tors like Netflix and Art Store for
guidance.
“I really think that there’s going
to be a reliable online licensing
network for probably everything,”
Schack said. “We’re going to see a
good one come out for music — I
mean, you could almost say that
Pandora is it right now. But at
some point, for a nominal monthly
fee you’re going to be able to access
all the music you could want.”
Hannah Kreiger said that ev-
eryone should be afforded the right
of institutionalized protection of
unlimited Internet access.
“You should be able to look
at whatever the hell you want,”
Kreiger said. “I don’t think that it’s
necessarily right to say, ‘You can’t
look at this, whatsoever.’ You should
have the freedom to look at what-
ever you want.”
On the other hand, Spinks has
no sympathy for those who break
Ramille Baguio

14 cityonahillpress.com
Sports
WHEN OBSTACLES ARE NO LONGER OBSTACLES
Student members of parkour club develop their interest on campus
Next to the sea lion statue on Science Hill, there is a
pair of staircases — but for Artem Chelovechkov, they
are more than just steps. Flying across them at a height
of about 10 feet, he will prove to himself that obstacles
can be overcome. A few spectators stop by to see what,
to them, might seem physically impossible.
“Parkour is my way to be free,” said second-year
Merrill student Chelovechkov. “I enjoy the moments
when you reach a gap. It’s a way to get away from every-
thing.”
Movement is the word that best describes parkour, a
sport created in France in the 1980s. It is not only about
jumping up walls and climbing back down them — it
requires a lot of strength, versatility and guts.
UCSC’s parkour club originally started four years
ago when a group of friends decided to start climbing
walls and doing jumps. It wasn’t easy at first, but gradu-
ally the group started successfully surmounting more
and more of the obstacles.
“We watched some videos on YouTube and then
decided to go out and try some jumps,” said Crown
fourth-year J.D. Stockford. “If we failed, then we would
go back and see the video and try again.”
Over the last few years, the club has become bigger
Photos by Andrew Allio
By Natalia Equihua
Sports Reporter
and better. What started as just a way to imitate difficult
jumps transformed into a club interested in building
up strength and ability to do new tricks. Right now, the
club has around 20 members, or traceurs, as they call
themselves.
Ryan Murphy, first-year Cowell student, is a new
member of the club. However, he has been practicing
“We watched some videos on YouTube and then
decided to go out and try some jumps. If we failed,
then we would go back and see the video and
try again.”
— J.D. Stockford, fourth-year, like baseball or football, parkour does not demand a
member of parkour club specific training site. Instead, any place can become
parkour since his second year of high school. To him,
the sport is a guide for facing everyday challenges.
“The physical obstacles that you overcome in practice Reno Nims said.
and training will manifest themselves as obstacles that
occur in your life and that you get over in your life,”
Murphy said.
Unlike many other sports, parkour is not a competi-
Thursday, October 14, 2010
tion but a discipline, and as such, the the only competi-
tor is oneself. Parkour has no definite rules.
“It is open to interpretation,” Murphy said. “You can
interpret obstacles however you like and interact with
them in your own way.”
UCSC’s parkour club is part of a bigger community:
San Francisco Parkour, a fellowship that holds gather-
ings for parkour clubs all around the Bay Area. Once
a month, the organization holds a meeting at which
all the clubs can come together to learn more about
the sport. UCSC has hosted one such event.
Because of its newcomer status, parkour lends
itself to the close-knit community, but also to an
openness for any and everyone to participate. Un-
an obstacle or practice area.
The idea is that “any obstacle is not an obstacle. You
can go over it and under it and through it,” fourth-year
Parkour club members keep discovering interesting
places on campus where they can develop their moves.
And, Murphy said, traceurs have a saying: “The world
is our playground.”
A STUDENT (LEFT) who
walked out of his class was
interested in the group, and
decided to make the “long-
short jump” after practicing
with others. “Please don’t die,”
Reno Nims pleads.
RYAN MURPHEY (FAR LEFT)
scales the sheer cement wall
next to Thimann Labs. In a
few short seconds, he’s up and
over the wall, making it look
effortless.
cityonahillpress.com 15

‘Type O’ Author
Unites Art,
Activism
Creative writing department hosts
Joël Barraquiel Tan as part of
Living Writers series
By Chelsea Hawkins
Arts & Entertainment Reporter
Sitting in the Cantú GLBTI Re-
source Center, Joël Barraquiel Tan
gesticulates as he tells students the cur-
rent happenings of San Francisco’s queer
community. Later that evening, he shares
his poetry to a much larger crowd at the
Living Writers series on campus, but at
the moment, he tells his personal stories
in a more intimate setting with a much
smaller group. The conversation jumps
from politics and writing to Filipino and
Filipino-American culture.
Tan, who was born in Manila, is an
openly queer Filipino-American and
has actively participated in the queer
community. Deeply rooted in activism,
Tan worked for years to develop HIV/
AIDS prevention programs such as the
Asian Pacific AIDS Intervention Team,
before retiring from AIDS work in 2004.
Currently, Tan works as the director of
community engagement at the Yerba
Buena Center for the Arts, where he
does community outreach through art.
Tan does not see his role in the
community, his work as an activist, and
his work as a writer as unrelated to one
another.
“I don’t think of activism as a separate
thing — [it’s] more of an impulse,” Tan
said. “Whatever it is that’s driving me
towards something, it is just to create
more avenues of joy, hopefully.”
Tan said that he doesn’t see himself
as “dystopian” and that instead he is
ultimately interested in being a positive
force looking forward, or a “futurist.”
Tan doesn’t want to look back to define
identity, but is interested in those “who
will speculate on who we’re going be.”
Tan also sets his sights on the future
as a writer and an academic. When
discussing identity issues, gender studies
and critical thinking, he explains that
he wants to hear something new from
academics.
“We’re in the middle of this incred-
ible [cultural] shift and we’re still saying
the same thing,” Tan said. “It’s wasted
paper, it’s wasted language, it’s wasted
scholarship.”
16 cityonahillpress.com
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Arts & Entertainment
Tan’s energy extended Molly Solomon
to his reading later that AUTHOR JOËL BARRAQUIEL TAN recites a selection of poems from his latest book, “Type O
night as the audience Negative.” Tan, a visiting writer for UCSC’s Living Writers series, reads aloud to a crowded
interacted with him, asking lecture hall.
questions and laughing at
his quick responses. At one and follow-up discussion. Tan is not the only writer who will be
point, when discussing his writing, Tan “It was hilarious that [Tan] didn’t visiting this quarter. Every Thursday of
joked that he has “an ongoing battle with answer all the [student] questions but the quarter through Dec. 2, the Living
the mango,” referring to his fight against left it up to the reader,” Karmazin said. Writers series will host an author read-
Asian stereotypes and the stock images “He gave it some mystery.” ing. Upcoming visiting writers include
of the exotic islander. Despite the heavy topics Tan tackles Linh Dinh, James Maughn and Earll
Throughout the evening, Tan read in his writing — sexuality, abuse, family Kingston. The last event this quarter will
from his book of poetry, “Type O Nega- turmoil, AIDS and death — his reading be a reading of student work from the
tive,” a fictional autobiography that he was engaging and interactive. creative writing department.
describes as “operatic” and
a “composite fictional his-
tory.” The book is heavily
influenced by his father.
“My dad wrote it,” Tan
said. “After he died…he
came to me in dreams.
We had a really fucked-up
relationship.”
Overall, Tan’s work was
well received by students
and faculty alike. Lit-
erature professor Karen
Yamashita, who described
Tan as “provocative,” said
that his book of poetry
“deserved a wider reader-
ship.”
Yamashita hoped that
Tan, as a queer Filipino
who is “relaxed and very
open” about who he is,
would “open doors for
students that are trying to
work out their own issues
on identity and gender,”
she said.
Weston Tate, a fourth-
year literature major, said
he “enjoyed how [Tan]
doesn’t hold to standards”
and “mixed [Tagalog and
English] languages.”
Desirae Karmazin,
a fellow fourth-year lit-
erature major, enjoyed the
ambiguity in Tan’s work
Politics & Culture Thursday, October 14, 2010

Go to UCSC? There’s an App for That

New iPhone application aims to make campus life easier
By Stephanie Meade studying together. back and says, ‘I thought about exactly how to approach it.” “I primarily use the map
Politics & Culture Reporter “We had a midterm that day,”the idea. It’s great. Let’s do it.’” “It was such a new idea feature. It helps me from getting
Kasraie said. “I was sitting in Thus, the UCSC iPhone app on campus, they didn’t have a lost all the time,” Knoble said.
In their T-shirts and jeans,
the library and Jamieson walks was born — well, at least the precedent for who should be in “The only thing that I think
Kushyar Kasraie, 24, and Jamie-
in. That’s when I brought up idea. charge,” Johnson said about the could improve it is if they could
son Johnson, 22, certainly don’t
the idea of creating a UC Santa “We had a prototype running 16-month process. “We went add a compass feature. I have it
look like CEOs of their own
Cruz app. Jamieson goes home, within the first four months,” to IT, and they told us to go to on my iPhone 4 map, and it’s
company. Kasraie, who graduat-
and that evening he e-mails me Kasraie said, “and we started public affairs. Then public affairs great.”
ed from UC Santa Cruz with a
engaging the school sometime told us to go to the registrar, The app will not permanently
degree in business management
in February 2009.” then we were told to go to mar- stay in its current form, how-
and economics in spring 2009,
The process, however, was keting, then back to IT. It took a ever. Kasraie and Johnson are
and Johnson, who is currently
not simple. In fact, UCSC was while to get the right people in already in the planning stages
a part-time senior also major-
reluctant to approve the idea one room to even advance it to a for its further development and
ing in business management,
at first. Also, in addition to the real stage.” improvement. The more feed-
are the co-creators of UCSC’s
valuable amount of time and The app itself has a simple back flows in, the more ideas the
own iPhone application. Their
hard work they put in, Kasraie and easy-to-use design. As it pair gets. Some of these ideas
company, aptly called EZ Axess,
and Johnson had to contrib- starts, a smiling, bespectacled include the ability to search for
is aimed at creating iPhone apps
ute a fair amount of money banana slug welcomes app us- classes, as well as an advanced
for colleges in order to make
to buy tools and equipment, ers. The main menu — with a map that has a feature allowing
campus life a little easier for
incorporate the company, make background of a photograph of students to look up a campus
students and also to keep alumni
contracts and pay legal fees. It the Porter Squiggle at sun- location by its student-known
and parents up to date on school
took a sum total of 16 months set — features news, a campus name, and not just the school-
news. The app was officially re-
for the app to go from concept map that marks the user’s exact given name.
leased by the iTunes App Store
to reality. location, photos of the campus, “We’re already doing a lot of
Sept. 21.
“When we first went to the a link to the UCSC YouTube new stuff,” Johnson said. “We’ve
Kasraie and Johnson met in
administration, there were only page, upcoming events and an had a lot of feedback so far, from
an economics class they shared
two schools that actually had emergency RSS feed. both students and alumni. It’s
together. It was Kasraie who
Prescott Watson apps,” Kasraie said. “The idea Avid iPhone user first-year awesome, because then we get
first brought up the idea of a
was really new to them, and Gerald Knoble is a fan of the an idea of what people want. We
UCSC iPhone app to Johnson AN IPHONE 4 displays the new
they hadn’t done anything like app. He said he uses it often in want as much feedback as we
as the two were in the library UCSC iPhone application.
that before, so they didn’t know his day-to-day campus life. can get.”

cityonahillpress.com 17

Locals Rally to Reject Proposition 23
Politics & Culture
Students and organizations march for future of the environment
By Mikaela Todd
City Reporter
Opponents of Proposition 23 gathered
at the Valero gas station on Mission Street
near downtown last Sunday to protest
the California initiative funded by major
Texas oil companies Valero and Tesoro.
The initiative would repeal AB32 of 2006:
the California Global Warming Solutions
Act.
More than a hundred people gathered
at 12 p.m. and marched downtown, end-
ing at the Bike Church for a festival with
music, art and food, including bicycle-
powered smoothies. UCSC Calpirg and
Cabrillo Calpirg were the main organiz-
ers of the event. People Power and other
groups also participated.
People Power director Mike Posner
said he participated because preventing
the passage of Prop 23 would improve the
conditions of society as well as those of
the earth’s climate.
“If Prop 23 passes, it will potentially
help to wreck the world’s climate as well
as roll back people’s right and privilege to
have a more civil society and more public
space,” Posner said. “It’s no coincidence
that the prop was written by large corpo-
rations in Texas that care about neither
humanity nor the environment.”
Posner hoped that the demonstration
would show how California could stand
up to outside corporate interests.
ABOVE: Activists with signs line the sidewalk outside of Valero on Mission St. and display their
messages to passing motorists. TOP LEFT: Protestors of all ages showed up to show their opposition
to Prop 23. TOP RIGHT: Bike powered blenders were used to make smoothies for protest attendees
on the warm October day.
18 cityonahillpress.com
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Cabrillo Calpirg intern
Anoosh Yaraghchian said that
out-of-state interests should
have no part in California’s
politics.
“Texas companies are try-
ing to come over here to tell
us what to do, dirty up our
energy,” he said. “Who are you
to do that?”
The main objective for
Yaraghchian and other
students with Calpirg is to
educate people, especially stu-
dents, about the proposition.
Yaraghchian said he tables
every week, reminds people to
vote “no,” and wears a gorilla
suit around campus to get
people’s attention.
“Proposition 23 is a no-
brainer,” Yaraghchian said.
“It’s an obvious ‘no,’ and more
and more people are under- Photos by Isaac Miller
standing what the prop is.” organizer who also oversees the organizer by Calpirg to vote. Roper expects that
Taylor Cross, a Calpirg campaign at UCSC Calpirg, this is the most harmful students will help defeat the proposition.
coordinator for opposition to Proposition aspect of the proposition. “What has made California so success-
23 and participant in the rally on Sunday, “The way that it is worded, people ful and a world leader on environmental
said that not many people knew about the who think they are for climate change issues is that when our national leaders
proposition. think they should vote for it, which they failed to act on global warming issues,
“Our main campaign is to educate shouldn’t,” Roper said. California was able to pass AB32 and
people on what Proposition 23 is because One of Roper’s responsibilities with similar things,” Roper said.
a lot of people haven’t been informed yet,” Calpirg is calling a list of student voters Roper has hope for the future, he said,
he said. before the Nov. 2 elections. The list is of and he expects that Californians will pull
For Katie Roper, the Cabrillo Calpirg students who signed up to be reminded through to defeat this proposition.
Thursday, October 14, 2010

Whales Fall Victim to Human Activity

Opinion/Editorial
As shipping accidents increase, people need to accept responsibility

T
he whales are dying.
The number killed along the coast has spiked in
recent months. Whales — an already endangered
species — follow krill, their primary source of food, into
shipping traffic. The ships then slam into the whales,
damaging them fatally.
three months. Some of the whale carcasses have washed whales of a ship’s
onto shore, which has raised awareness of the issue. approach. There
It shouldn’t take a rotting carcass on the beach to is no reason
realize that human activity has been destroying the shipping compa-
whale population, but it’s a good reminder. Every year, nies shouldn’t be
2,800 blue whales, 2,600 fin whales and 1,400 humpback using all possible

Illustration by Louise Leong

Reports by the San Francisco Chronicle and Associ-
ated Press have falsely blamed the whales’ food, krill,
for the rise in whale deaths. It’s not an increase in krill
that causes whales to die, nor is it the fault of whales for
following their food. The real culprit is human shipping.
Huge metal cargo ships, with dangerous propellors, can
easily kill a whale.
It’s people who send ships into whales’ ecosystem, the
bays and surrounding ocean, where they collide with the
whales. It’s people who set up a transport system that
only takes whales into consideration when the animals
obstruct shipping traffic.
At least five whales have been killed since late July,
according to the San Francisco Chronicle. That’s not even
whales — all endangered species — swim along the coast methods, all the
of California, Oregon and Washington. Before the 20th time.
century, whales were abundant. Since then, humans have But while
decimated the population through hunting and shipping. technological
We need to take responsibility for human actions. fixes can mitigate
Shipping companies cannot treat the bays and oceans damage, they will
as empty shipping lanes. These waters are the homes of not resolve the
whales and their fellow sea creatures, and anyone tres- issue at the core
passing in someone else’s home, at the very least, needs to of whale deaths.
avoid incurring death and destruction. Ships are not
There are technological tools that the shipping indus- an essential part
try can use to prevent running into whales, such as using of the ocean.
monitors to watch out for whales in areas with heavy Whales are.
shipping traffic, and applying sound systems to warn It’s imperative that we get our priorities straight.

Time for a New Moon

City council candidate should not stigmatize university

Y
ou may have spotted his crescent-adorned
yard sign sticking out of the dirt in the empty
lot on the corner of Water and Ocean, or
caught his commercial as you channel-surfed from your
By insinuating that the relationship between all cur- These council
rent city council members and the university should be members show that
looked down upon, Moon is falsely suggesting that city having local politicians
council members who have ties to UCSC are unqualified who are wholly famil-

Illustration by Patrick Yeung

couch on a quiet Tuesday night.
Amid the advertisement blitz that accompanies every
election period, Santa Cruz city council candidate Kevin
Moon stands out, but for the wrong reason: his antago-
nization of the UC Santa Cruz population.
In his recently released commercial, Moon — who
was born and raised in Santa Cruz and now works as an
insurance executive — stands in front of a whiteboard
wearing a collared shirt and a smile as he introduces you
to the current city council board.
“There are seven council members,” Moon begins.
“Seven have UCSC connections. Six are government or
nonprofit employees. One is a lifetime resident, and none
are from the east side of Santa Cruz.”
Moon goes on to highlight his attributes as a family
man and local business owner and closes the 30-second
spot by promising that he will change the status quo in
Santa Cruz — without further elaborating on what he
means.
However, what Moon may or may not realize is that
this ad does little more than perpetuate the status quo
that he claims to be against: us and them — the idea that
UC Santa Cruz students and local residents are dia-
metrically opposed groups.
or untrustworthy.
If you look up the backgrounds of each of the current
council members on the website of the city of Santa
Cruz, you will find that many of them have been impor-
tant, positive figureheads within the UCSC population.
Two of the most notable members, Mayor Mike
Rotkin and Vice Mayor Ryan Coonerty, both teach at
UCSC: Rotkin as a community studies professor and
Coonerty as a politics lecturer. Besides serving as mayor
of Santa Cruz, Rotkin also coordinates the community
studies field study and serves as a primary representative
of the UC-AFT union for lecturers.
Coonerty, meanwhile, worked to authorize an ordi-
nance that allowed for affordable local housing for teach-
ers and negotiated a settlement with UCSC to protect
Santa Cruz’s housing and water supplies and promote
alternative forms of transportation within the city.
In addition, council members Don Lane and Lynn
Robinson are alumni of UCSC. Lane, who studied poli-
tics and history at UCSC in the 1970s, served as mayor
for one term and is associate director of the Homeless
Services Center. Robinson, who graduated in 1982 with
a studio arts degree, went on to co-found local commu-
nity activism organization Santa Cruz Neighbors.
iar with UCSC and
who may even moon-
light as professors
or representatives is
beneficial to students
and the community as
a whole, because they
can better understand
issues and concerns
within the university and start a dialogue between the
university and the city. These politicians can serve as
middlemen to connect students and faculty with non-
UCSC residents who also call Santa Cruz their home in
order to encourage a more positive, peaceful coexistence.
Moon “wants to provide new ideas to move Santa
Cruz forward,” according to his website. But through his
negative reference to UCSC in his campaign commer-
cial, Moon is simply relying on the “us-versus-them” di-
chotomy that has thrived for far too long in this college
town. He’s also alienating thousands of students who are
registered to vote in Santa Cruz County.
To make amends with his constituents, Moon might
want to reevaluate his anti-UCSC sentiments with a
clean whiteboard and a drive up the hill.

Letter to the Editor

It’s encouraging to read that laws and attitudes toward cannabis (marijuana) are changing (“County Starts Regulating Medical Marijuana Dispensaries,” Oct. 7). California was
the first state to prohibit the relatively safe, God-given plant cannabis, the first to legalize it for sick citizens and now may become the first to re-legalize it completely by voting
“YES” on Proposition 19. A sane or moral reason to cage responsible adults for using the plant doesn’t exist.
Ending cannabis prohibition and extermination in North America is one of the most important issues of our time.

Stan White, online reader

Dillon, Colo.

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