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Pants optional

Opinion

Opinion

May 28, 2009

This weekend I told my parents I was “camping“ and got in a car then got on a boat then got on an island that essentially beat the crap out of me. It was awesome.

There was much (okay, maybe just some) concern raised last week over the issue of whether or not ASUCD should use school funds to fund Safeboats, something ultimately designed to act as a raging First Aid kit for the little drunk college coeds on Lake Shasta. I kind of doubt that anyone was actually against the idea, they just didn‘t want to support a weekend of extreme drunkenness and dangerous activity.

I argue that it‘s not what houseboats is about – hell, it is both those things, but it‘s also something of an ethnographical field study. You can actually observe things while witnessing thousands of drunks running loose on an island. I say drunks because there weren‘t just college students there. Some bachelor party dudes gave me a cigar and some 40-year-old women may or may not have roofied my friend (she‘s fine, no worries).

You‘ve all read Lord of the Flies, I‘m sure, and if you haven‘t, I can tell you that you‘re not missing out on much except for a bunch of English schoolboys being left on their own to survive in the wild. They pretty much go batshit crazy and start killing each other. It wasn‘t that brutal, but me and some peeps I know made some observations about how this trip brought out the animal in everyone.

In fact, the one notable wave of guilt I felt was when a family made the mistake of driving by the clusterfuck of college kids in the middle of the lake. I‘m sure that to them we all really did look like animals chugging beer out of Flabongos.

For one thing, you get pretty scrappy when your resources are limited. You do what you have to do. When your food starts running low, you start hoarding it in your pillowcase. When you start to run out of beer, you switch to rum. When your boat gets confiscated because people were taking an octabong on it while the EMTs came in to clean up some blood, you put all your stuff in a little knapsack and set up housing in the woods with a hammock for a bed. When you pirate another boat and yours takes off without you, you jump in the water and Michael Phelps it back where you need to go. There‘s no such thing as hesitation.

One of my friends in Davis swears by the statement that people who go to the gym everyday are either gay or sexually frustrated. Houseboats is like one humongous mating ritual. To avoid uninvited sexual assault, as opposed to invited sexual assault, I simply wrote “Stage 5 Clinger“ on my arm. You can literally get picked up just by walking down the island. But those who can‘t fork opt to fight. Hence the rock fight that I‘m very sad to have missed.

There‘s always a moment of still silence right before the sun comes up. It‘s a little after everyone passes out and right after their friends finish drawing dicks all over them with Sharpies that a slight peace drifts over the lake. This is the time when you can actually enjoy living up the great outdoors. Ish.

Despite the savageness of everything, in a strange way we were all more civil to each other in a weird kind of way. If ever there was someone whom you‘ve passed on campus everyday of your life, looked at, known who they are, but not said anything, this was the place to become their new best friend. Like that one dude who kept muttering “You‘re so cute“ while on the verge of falling into my boobs. I remedied that social disaster by yelling “Peace homes!” and booking it off the boat on a waterslide.

There‘s only one real rule on houseboats, which is simply to not die. Other than that, it‘s pretty much an “anything goes“ world, and it‘s extremely liberating. I‘m not gonna lie, the return to reality has been a bit of a drag. Sure, I got to shower the Lake Shasta sewage off me and finally put some hydrogen peroxide on my battle scars, but I‘m gonna miss not having to wear real clothes and dining with Captain Morgan for breakfast in the mornings. More than you can imagine.

MICHELLE RICK is amazingly not sick of “I‘m on a Boat.“ Share your plethora of stories at marick@ucdavis.edu.

The Defining Moments

Opinion

Opinion

May 28, 2009

America is a strange nation. She is a country that produces the very best and the very worst, whether in political, economic or cultural aspects. Everything and anything happens in America.

Take its politics. America’s politics are bitterly partisan, often divided around staunch, sometimes less-clear, battle lines. Republicans and Democrats represent the dual extremes of two highly polar positions, but swing moderates, special interests groups and think tanks also exert influence. Thus the process to win votes are frequently organized and mechanized.

Here, everyone argues about equal pay to minority representation to marriage rights to corporate reform to entitlement crises to environmental preservation. The debate is so intense and noisy that at times, America seems incapable of governing or achieving anything at all.

Yet the very fact that we hear so much about the nation’s ills and maladies and doom illustrates the very strength of its democratic vibrancy. There is a desire to constantly change, renew and elevate the nation to something grander. People vote according to their perspectives and context. Hence here dissent is the best form of acceptance.

Then there are America’s laws. The constitution, with amendments such as gun-bearing rights and the secret deliberative process of the Supreme Court, can often appear antiquated. Yet its very antiquity testifies to its endurance to its very best ideals. Individuals yield to no authority or power, but subscribe to a clear if abstract ideal of justice and independence of thought.

Corruption and authoritarianism are endemic in many nations around the world, for instance, and America is no exception. Yet here none stands above the rule of law and communal moral certitude. Eliott Spitzer and John Edwards, two former successful national politicians, floundered their careers for personal indiscretions. Bernie Madoff is facing trials while Michael Vick was just released. The system allows for self-correction, regeneration and reversals.

And this is a nation of endless products and boundless consumption, products churned constantly one after another. Brands and retailers such as Staples, Quiznos, Target, Microsoft and Ford proliferate. Companies design and cater products for every subcategory, ethnicity, preference: financial and asset management needs, insurance needs, technological efficiency needs, lifestyle home interior needs, business leverage needs. The list is so diverse and plenty that one can feel lost in a world of profuse materialism.

Yet America also delivers the very best, cutting-edge leadership. Apple has conceived some of the finest consumer electronic advancements ever known, its revolutionary designs and powerful functionalities of iPhones, iPods and iMacs spawning imitators everywhere. Barring their questionable bets in risky securities, the investment banks also apply some of the most outstanding theoretical, modern approaches to facilitating business and creating conducive operating environments.

Living in America is at once seeing the world in all its forms and quirks. One tastes Korean BBQs, experiences the Irish Catholicism, indulges in French wine, retaliates against Mexican jalapeños, enjoys Cirque du Soleil and watches taiko. Cultures and cuisines come in various forms. The celebrations are diverse as they are astounding.

But the diversity also sometimes creates problems. In studies on race, though narrowing, examination scores still show marked differences. Stereotypes permeate. Urban slums are the consequence of income disparity and class groupings. A class of the very rich versus the stagnant middle class craters from the unequal distribution and remuneration of equity. The juxtaposed show the very best and very worst.

America is a restless soul tempered by a resilient dedication. She exhibits very divergent behaviors and attitudes, demonstrating exceptionalism while desiring a national collectivity. The battle for the heart of America is often fierce, cunning, voracious and incomprehensible. And this weird character is what gives America her defining, unique identity.

ZACH HAN thanks all the diverse people who traversed into his life from zklhan@ucdavis.edu!

Obama administration plans to improve automobile energy efficiency Layercake: President’s plan would increase average miles per gallon to 35

City News

City Editor

May 28, 2009

President Barack Obama announced an energy efficiency plan on May 19 that would require cars and trucks to average 35.5 miles per gallon by 2016. The plan would increase the standard and accelerate the requirement from 35 mpg in 2020 set by the 2007 Energy Act.

Concern over fuel efficiency standards in America has taken the spotlight in the media in recent years. With the U.S. consuming a quarter of the world’s oil and only 5 percent of the world’s population, the Obama administration felt it was time to take action.

The plan requires improvements in fuel economy for all cars and light trucks, based on their size. By 2016, cars would have to average 39 miles per gallon and trucks, 30 mpg.

“The status quo is no longer acceptable,” Obama said. “We have done little to increase fuel efficiency of America’s cars and trucks for decades.”

It also is expected to boost the average price of a new vehicle $600 on top of the $700 price boost already envisioned in the 2007 law, for a total of $1,300.

Not all cars will be more expensive because of the change, because many smaller cars already meet the requirements, said Dahlia Garas, program manager for the PHEV Research Center at the UC Davis Institute of Transportation Studies, in an e-mail. Major improvements will be necessary in larger vehicles, however.

“For the past 30 plus years, we have prioritized improving performance (max speed and rate of acceleration) and making and buying bigger vehicles,” Garas said. “We have maintained our fuel economy averages for that time, and put any efficiency improvements into improving performance rather than improving fuel economy.”

Now is the time to focus on improving fuel economy rather than performance, she said.

Obama agreed that “it costs money to build these vehicles.” But he also stressed that “the cost of driving these vehicles will go down as drivers save money at the pump.”

Over the life of the program, the U.S. would save an estimated 1.8 billion barrels of oil.

California has agreed to follow the new federal standards, instead of imposing its own, at least until 2016. California, plus 13 other states and the District of Columbia, previously asked for a waiver allowing them to impose stricter greenhouse gas standards than the federal ones.

To streamline the rulemaking process, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Transportation, would work jointly, something almost unheard of.

“The President brought all stakeholders to the table and came up with a plan to help the auto industry, safeguard consumers, and protect human health and the environment for all Americans,” said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson in an EPA press release. “A supposedly ‘unsolvable’ problem was solved by unprecedented partnerships. As a result, we will keep Americans healthier, cut tons of pollution from the air we breathe and make a lasting down payment on cutting our greenhouse gas emissions.”

Department of Transportation officials agreed with the EPA. “President Obama is uniting federal and state governments, the auto industry, labor unions and the environmental community behind a program that will provide for the biggest leap in history to make automobiles more fuel efficient,” said Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood in the EPA press release. “This program lessens our dependence on oil and is good for America and the planet.”

Garas, the UC Davis researcher, said there are other ways to reduce oil consumption in the U.S. as well.

“Ideally, we would have a lot more affordable public transportation, so that we could reduce the number of miles driven in personal vehicles,” Garas said. “We would also improve the availability of alternative fuel sources, such as natural gas, hydrogen, electricity charging and biofuels, so that we could increase the rate of adoption of these alternative fuel vehicles.”

Garas also revealed new technology that would help improve gas mileage in automobiles.

“We can start with improved aerodynamics and reduced weight (while maintaining safety),” Garas said. “We could improve engine efficiency, through both new techniques, and existing technologies, such as turbocharging. We can hybridize (even cheap, mild hybrids can improve fuel economy by 10-25 percent), start manufacturing plug-in hybrid vehicles, which would allow people to drive on electric power (stored in batteries, charged from the grid) for short distances and only use the engine and gasoline for longer trips … I personally don’t think biofuels are ready to displace very much of our gasoline use right now, but hopefully scientific breakthroughs will lead us to that point soon.”

Garas pointed to long term goals such as using electric vehicles or hydrogen powered fuel cell vehicles that can be fueled from more renewable energy sources.

ANGELA SWARTZ can be reached city@theaggie.org.

Businesses open doors and relocate in Davis

City News

City Editor

May 28, 2009

In business news this week, Outdoor Davis moves to a bigger downtown location, Black Bear Diner takes over the old location of Baker’s Square, and Verizon Wireless opens new retail locations.

Black Bear Diner

255 2nd St.

Davis welcomes Black Bear Diner and its lodge-themed atmosphere as it replaces Baker’s Square on Second Street.

Baker’s Square recently shut down all of its restaurants. As soon as Baker’s Square announced on Mar. 26 that its Davis building would have a vacancy, the owners of Black Bear Diner submitted their offer.

After a little more than a month’s preparation, the diner opened its doors last Friday.

“We have been really busy over Memorial Day weekend,” said Valerie Coffey, store manager.

The diner menu features a variety of old-fashioned comfort foods, meats, pasta, sandwiches, soups, salads and breakfast foods.

Coffey also said that the diner offers a very warm, family-oriented atmosphere. The meals are homemade and the service is friendly. Coffey encourages students to eat there and contribute to the atmosphere.

“I am really happy to work here and to serve all of the lovely people here,” Coffey said. “This opening is very special for Davis and special for us.”

Co-owner Bruce Dean said he was very excited to claim this spot in Davis because he has a long history with the city. Dean said this building in particular is very meaningful to him because he attended UC Davis when he was an undergraduate while working in the city. His daughter also followed his footsteps by attending UC Davis as well as waitressing at Baker’s Square.

Outdoor Davis

623 2nd St.

Outdoor Davis made a very quick transition from its old location to a bigger, more visible one.

The outdoor sports shop, which sells clothing and gear for outdoor activities for all seasons, moved into the former location of Samira’s, a women’s clothing store on the corner of Second and F Streets.

Samira’s owners retired in February, leaving the building empty. After waiting a while for the building to undergo several renovations, the store finally moved in.

“We planned on moving last fall,” said Leia Matern, store manager. “Once we got the logistics, we just waited for renovations to be done.”

The move was challenging on workers because they had to transfer everything from their old store to their new store overnight. Outdoor Davis opened its new doors the following morning.

Outdoor Davis’ old location at 232 E St. was also downtown, but not in the management’s ideal place.

“We were tucked in a corner that didn’t have a lot of walking traffic,” Matern said. “We are now very visible and on a corner.”

The city of Davis decided to install paid parking at the old building, which really hurt business, Matern said.

Another big reason for the move was to increase the size of the store.

The new store will offer a larger inventory and broader range of vendors. The store is even taking requests from customers on certain items to supply to fill up their extra space.

Outdoor Davis has not fully settled into the new location yet, Matern said. Though they are still bringing in more products, organizing the store’s display and putting more products onto their walls, the store is open to the public.

Verizon Wireless

1520 Covell Blvd.

Premium Retailers just moved to Davis and opened up a Verizon Wireless store in Oak Tree Plaza. The store has been open for about a month now, opening on Apr. 22.

The store filled the spot left by Curves.

There is one other store located in Davis that also sells Verizon phones and service. However, the two businesses are owned by different companies.

Premium Retailers owns up to 20 different locations in Northern California.

The company offers Verizon phones and services, but does not offer a warranty department.

This store is perfectly placed right by Nugget Market and has plenty of traffic, said Amanda Snider, sales lead. Nugget attracts a lot of people who will walk in the plaza and then into the store.

“At first it was slow, but we’re picking up a lot now that people know we are here,” Snider said. “Every day just gets a little better.”

Verizon has fully settled in and has all of their merchandise up and running.

ERIC SCHMIDT can be reached at city@theaggie.org.

Zipcar to come to UC Davis in fall 2009

Campus News

Campus Editor

May 28, 2009

Until now, UC Davis students without cars have had to get around by bike, bus or the occasional pity ride from their more fortunate friends. This may soon change.

Transportation and Parking Services (TAPS) is currently working on a contract to bring Zipcar to UC Davis before fall quarter, said TAPS Director Clifford Contreras.

Zipcar is the world’s largest membership-based car-sharing and automobile renting service, according to the company’s website. The service allows members or “zipsters” to view vehicle availability and reserve a self-service car via the Internet or by telephone, in increments as short as one hour. In addition, the minimum user age is only 21 as opposed to other car rental companies that require users to be 25 years or older.

“Zipcar is basically ‘wheels when you want them’,” Contreras said. “The cars will be available for students, staff and faculty to use for around $8 an hour including insurance and gas.”

Zipcar provides a viable alternative to owning a car because of its accessibility and cost efficiency, Contreras said.

“The average Zipcar user can potentially save around $50 a month in comparison to a person driving their own car,” he said. “It’s a wallet saver and environmentally friendly … it may have many undergrads rethinking whether they need a car at school.”

In conjunction with Zipcar services, TAPS is also looking at bringing Zimride to the university. Zimride is an online social rideshare and carpool matching system which serves primarily college campuses, said COO and co-founder John Zimmer.

“The idea for Zimride first came about after Logan [Green] and I saw how inefficient the transportation infrastructure on college campuses was,” he said. “We saw lots of people travelling around in cars by themselves and with rising gas prices and environmental concerns, it just seemed like there could be a better way to do it.”

Zimride currently serves over 30 college campuses across the country and operates largely through Facebook, Zimmer said.

“Facebook works great with this system because people can post rideshares on their newsfeeds … it’s a great way of getting more people to use the service,” he said.

Zimride also allows users to become more familiar with the people they ride with, Zimmer said.

“Many students are more comfortable riding with other students within their university,” he said. “Zimride at UC Davis would require all users to have a UC Davis e-mail address. Facebook also helps because users can look up people that they are sharing rides with and find out if they have mutual friends…they can learn more about them.”

ASUCD Senator Trevor Taylor said he believes an online ride-sharing system would be very successful on campus.

“When I was running for senate, one of my platform goals was to establish an online carpool system,” he said. “So many of the students are from out of town and flying back and forth can get really expensive. Students constantly have to search around for rides back home and a carpool system seemed like a really good way of organizing this better.”

Unitrans general manager Geoff Straw said Zipcar could be a really useful resource for students, especially at a campus like Davis where first-years are not allowed to bring cars to school.

“It can be really tough for incoming freshmen to go from having a car to not,” he said. “Having a car rental service like Zipcar would be one more resource that we could offer potential students as an alternative to owning their own vehicle,” he said.

Straw said that the service could also provide alternative transportation to students who commute from Woodland or Sacramento.

“It is important to remember that many students do not live in Davis,” he said. “For them this could be a really useful tool. All in all, it is just another feather in UCD’s cap – just another service we can provide in addition to our great public transportation system.”

ERICA LEE can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.

Energy Efficiency Center helps birth emerging technologies

Campus News

Campus Editor

May 28, 2009

090528_ca_sexefficiency.c

Headline: Energy Efficiency Center helps birth emerging technologies

Layercake: Encourages focus on efficiency rather than simply increasing supply

By: Mike Dorsey

Aggie News Writer

There’s nothing exciting about an air conditioner or an unlit room.

Practical energy saving methods like pre-filtering air and switching off the lights don’t provide the physical image and awe that comes from a row of solar panels or a field of wind turbines – and that’s the challenge that energy efficiency faces.

“While efficiency is a far cheaper and cleaner alternative ‘source’ of energy, it often gets neglected because it is less sexy,” said Andy Hargadon, associate director of commercialization at UCD’s Energy Efficiency Center.

The fundamental challenge, Hargadon said, is to make energy efficiency sexy.

“It’s about education and options, and about equating efficiency with intelligence and attitude,” he said. “When you can see it, over-consumption is not sexy.”

The UC Davis Energy Efficiency center was originally funded with a grant from the California Clean Energy Fund, which issued a challenge to Stanford, UC Berkeley and UC Davis looking for an establishment of a center dedicated to energy efficiency, and particularly toward commercializing energy research.

“I think the major thing that we did was focus the plan of the center around commercialization – specifically supporting researchers doing clean energy research in their efforts to commercialize their work,” Hargadon said.

The Center’s funding now comes from the utilities in the state that see it as an opportunity to gain access to new technologies and well-educated labor. This includes companies like WalMart and Chevron Energy Solutions. Both have been hiring UC Davis students as interns and project managers, Hargadon said.

Hargadon’s commercialization division works in coordination with entrepreneurs to help them make business sense of their technology get them on their feet.

One technology that blossomed with the help of the EEC is WicKool – an evaporative cooling technology that helps improve the efficiency of rooftop air conditioning units by basically “pre-cooling the air.”

WicKool is a tray that sits beneath a rooftop air conditioning unit and collects the liquids that condense.

“So the water comes down in to the tray from the appliance though gravity, and then the wicking media puts the water up in the air stream, and that increases the efficiency by cooling the air that is going in to the condenser coils,” said Siva Gunda, an EEC fellow and a Ph.D candidate in mechanical engineering at Davis.

Gunda said that WicKool is capable of saving in the range of 4 to 9 percent of energy costs, depending on the climate where the unit is.

“In drier climates you have less condensate coming out, where as in more humid places there is more condensate – and the more you have then it can pre-cool that much more air going in to the air conditioning unit,” he said.

Another retrofit technology that has passed through the EEC is CEDR, or cost-effective-demand- response lighting. CEDR gives the utilities of participating companies control to switch off half of their lights during the day.

“Our research shows that more than 70 percent of people don’t take advantage of the switch on their wall,” Gunda said. “This is especially wasteful in the middle of the day – when energy use is at its highest – and rolling blackouts occur as a result of available power supply being less than demand.”

Alan Meier, associate director of education at the EEC, tackles the human side of efficiency.

Meier teaches a senior-level undergraduate class on energy efficiency – PTP 289 – that examines the “other side of the meter,” how energy is used and how it might be saved.

“Most of the time when people talk about energy problems, they come up with solutions that involve with increasing supply,” Meier said. “My course deals with the other side of that, the less-mentioned idea of decreasing demand.”

While conserving energy can be as simple as turning off the light when you leave the room, Meier strives to show that it can be more sophisticated than that, and through some projects more fun. One calculation he offers to his students is to find out how much energy is consumed by the five million people on Earth playing World of Warcraft at the moment – “A whole lot,” Meier said.

Meier also stresses that one’s awareness to conserve energy is a product of economics and sociology – that lifestyle and class status are closely related to energy consumption. Students who leave appliances on standby are a prime example of this.

“In the typical student’s home, 20 percent or more of the electricity consumption is caused by appliances that are off, or maybe not doing their primary purpose,” he said.

While this can be mitigated by a power strip, some appliances are advised to remain plugged in even while not in use, like cable boxes, which take a while to reboot.

“They’re not doing anything while we’re away, but they filter a lot of power,” Meier said. “It’s possible that a cable box with a DVR consumes as much electricity as a refrigerator.”

Hargadon expressed optimism that America’s attitude toward energy has been in flux, and that the plug may soon be pulled on people’s apathy toward energy efficiency.

“These days, thanks to the new administration and its efforts, people are starting to learn about the benefits of focusing only on efficiency – in the cars they buy and drive, the lights and appliances they use and how they use them,” he said.

More information about the Energy Efficiency Center can be found at eec.ucdavis.edu.

MIKE DORSEY can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.

Campus Judicial Report

Campus News

Campus Editor

May 28, 2009

Access Denied

A student of senior standing was referred to SJA for the second time for downloading copyrighted music without the permission of the copyright holder through a campus network connection. After the student’s first music download, the Campus Digital Millennium Copyright Act notified him that a second incident would result in termination of his campus network privileges. After the second violation, he was not able to connect to a computer device registered in his name through a campus wireless network. As a result, the student has lost campus network privileges for the duration of his university career.

Providing False Information

A first-year student was referred to SJA for providing false information to fulfill a community service requirement. She was referred for forging her community service hours for Human Corps. The student was eventually caught because she failed to complete any of her required community service hours. Additionally, the student was already on Disciplinary Probation with SJA for lighting a garbage can on fire outside of a fraternity house. The student agreed to Deferred Separation through graduation and to complete a writing assignment, counseling and academic advising through the dean’s office.

Quiz Alteration

A sophomore was referred to SJA for altering a quiz and resubmitting it for more credit. The student claimed to have made the changes on the quiz without attaching the request for the re-grade, and thereby unintentionally committed academic dishonesty. However, the professor contended that since the student re-submitted the material, he made the conscious decision to alter the quiz. The student later acknowledged his mistake and agreed to Deferred Separation through graduation and 20 hours of community service.

The Campus Judicial Report is compiled by student members of the Campus Judicial Board. Additional information about SJA and the Campus Judicial Board may be found at sja.ucdavis.edu.

ASUCD, Student Affairs find compromise to fill budget gap

Campus News

Campus Editor

May 28, 2009

As the Office of Student Affairs looks to bridge its budget deficit, ASUCD is searching for reassurance that money won’t be taken from student-voted campus-based fees.

Following several weeks of meetings between ASUCD and the Student Affairs administration, Associate Vice Chancellor Janet Gong announced last week that the additional $1.34 to $1.64 million budget shortfall for next year will not be met by assessing, or taking from, campus-based fees themselves. Instead, the money will be pulled from a surplus in building reserves, which are still part of the campus-based fee’s budget but are set aside for maintenance and repairs.

“Ideally, I don’t want to see any campus based fees being used to meet this budget deficit because I believe that campus based fees should only be used for what the student body voted on, not for future demands – such as the current budget crises,” said Joe Chatham, ASUCD president in an e-mail interview.

Chatham said the Student Affairs administration was receptive to his concerns and included a set of principles to limit a campus based fee assessment and define the circumstances when it would be appropriate.

“It was a compromise and both parties had to give some ground, but overall I think we negotiated an acceptable solution which gives consideration to student rights and concerns,” Chatham said.

All campus-based fees are voted on by students and supervised by ASUCD. They can range in amount depending on what the fee is designated to fund. Prior well-known fees have included the FACE initiative passed in 1999, which built the ARC and Aggie Stadium, and the UNITRANS fee, which helps fund student transportation.

Negotiations between ASUCD and Student Affairs began early spring quarter, after the announcement of a $1.34 to $1.64 million additional cut to Student Affairs’ budget for 2009-2010. After discussing several options to negotiate the cuts, ASUCD passed an emergency senate resolution on May 7, requesting that the budget proposal include language that specifically defines the “extraordinary campus budget circumstances” the university faces, and limits the degree to which the university has the authority to assess money from campus based fees, now and in the future.

“One such proposal [to bridge to the budget gap] was the idea to place an assessment on campus-based fees,” said Eli Yani, ASUCD Controller in an e-mail interview.” ASUCD has come out against this on the grounds of what campus-based fees are. When we as students vote on these fee initiatives, it is as if we are signing a contract that we would like to conditionally raise our fees so long as the raise goes toward whatever the ballot calls for. By assessing these fees, Student Affairs is essentially violating these contracts and appropriating money to where it wasn’t intended to go.”

In response to these concerns, Vice Chancellor Janet Gong and the Student Affairs administration agreed to only use a “small amount of campus based fees, in a highly principled way” Gong said, and in a manner that is in cooperation with student leadership and is not precedent-setting for the future.

“The word assessment implies precedent, that we would take money each and every year from now on, and this is not what we have in mind – what we have in mind is a one time, temporary use, under extraordinary times that we have defined” Gong said.

“We will take one-time money from these reserves to apply to the budget reductions that we have so that all student services are treated equally – there will not be a disproportionate reduction,” Gong said. “The funds will be taken only from reserves, and only the reserves related to maintenance – so the net impact of this would be hoping to defer maintenance on buildings, in order to protect an equal and fair treatment of student services.”

Gong said Student Affairs submitted a budget proposal to the provost last week, which included a defined set of principles to ensure the specific use of the fees, the importance of student oversight and involvement and a specific definition of the extraordinary budget circumstances which the university currently faces.

MICHELLE IMMEL can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.

Student-run design company branches out

Arts & Culture

Arts Editor

May 28, 2009

The Imaginary Zebra (TIZ) was born out of a mixture of graffiti and modern art, freedom of expression and imagination.

Founded in 2006 by junior managerial economics major Benson Chou, TIZ specializes in custom designed clothing – currently, T-shirts with an aim to expand – and creative performances at events.

TIZ began as Chou’s graffiti crew in high school. Upon graduation, he transformed the crew into the professional company that it is today.

“Zebras have the perfect characteristics of what I plan on bringing to the clothing line and ‘imaginary’ zebra [makes it so] the brand doesn’t have to be fixated with just monochromatic colors. It gives people the freedom to use their imagination,” Chou said.

Chou said that he wants to emphasize the fluidity of the image of TIZ, experimenting with basic typography, cartoon graphics and other playful ideas.

The designs take the company’s main image of a zebra head and incorporate it into colorful, diverse situations on the fronts of the T-shirts.

“One of the things that’s always satisfying is the product, the whole presentation,” said Kevin Han-Chia Chen, a junior design and East Asian studies double major who has been assisting with TIZ in various ways for the past three years. “With helping out you get a feeling that you’re doing something that makes a difference.”

TIZ did not start out as being a performance group but when they were invited to participate in a fashion show last March they accepted.

“I always wanted to give the audience a little more than just the fashion show, because I appreciate the traditional show where models walk with flamboyant outfits on the catwalk but sometimes I find it a bit boring,” Chou said.

He explained how he decided to add breakdancers, modern dancing, instrumental performances and an emcee to allow the models to make the show more interesting with different poses and a rapping element.

Since then, TIZ has participated in numerous other events, including Expression Redefined, an artistic showcase hosted by student literary group Nameless Magazine, and have added film as a performance medium in addition to beatboxers and spoken word.

“For one of the showcases we filmed haikus from various individuals on campus. We spliced the haikus and mixed a few together into their own stanzas,” junior managerial economics and international relations double major Rasikh Jawaid said in an e-mail. Jawaid assists TIZ with event and film production.

TIZ does not currently have any upcoming events but Chou said they are always willing to go out and do a performance.

“Albert Einstein said ‘imagination is more important than knowledge,’ and that’s the motto that I run by when I run this company,” he said. “There’s nothing in particular that we’re focusing on. I want it so that TIZ is open to interpretation and to promote the use of imagination.”

For more information or to peruse the online store visit theimaginaryzebra.com.

ELENA BUCKLEY can be reached at arts@theaggie.org.

Variations on a Theme

Arts & Culture

Arts Editor

May 28, 2009

I’ve been writing for The Aggie for a little over two years now, and I have a confession to make: I’ve always wanted to be the weather(wo)man.

Really, though, Aggie weatherman Jon Gold’s got a pretty sweet deal. He gets his own space every Monday through Thursday to comment on anything he wants – and on the front page, to boot!

Having my own column, I suppose I get the same perks. But they say that brevity is the soul of wit, so 20 column inches of “well-focused” text sometimes makes writing feel like a burden more than a blessing.

And over the past couple of months writing “Variations on a Theme,” I’ve accumulated a lot of half-baked column ideas – things unsuitable for a full-fledged column but still worthy of print.

That being said, I give to you my baby columns turned wannabe weathers.

During a recent car ride to Arden Fair mall and back, I heard “Just Dance” by Lady GaGa three times, “Halo” by Beyonce five times and both “Kiss Me Thru the Phone” by Soulja Boy and “Blame It On the Alcohol” six times each – all from three different radio stations. Thank God for KDVS. And mixtapes.

One exception to my current radio rap exhaustion? “Birthday Sex” by Jeremih. It’s too damn catchy not to like.

The most inspirational thing I’ve encountered recently: “Learning to Love You More” by Harrell Fletcher and Miranda July. The creators created simple assignments and gathered individual submissions online to prove that originality exists even in instruction. My favorite assignments: Number 60: Write a press release about an everyday event, number 14: write your life story in less than a day and number 55: photograph a significant outfit.

Speaking of inspiration, a majority of my column writing is spent on my bed in my pajamas.

Journalism is not a field for people pleasers. As a reporter, it’s hard to keep an objective voice when you know people are going to take articles you do on them personally. It’s even harder when articles result in people sending you admittedly drunken Facebook messages.

For album reviews: AV Club > Pitchfork, any day.

After a visit to the optometrist revealed that my red, perpetually teary and pained right eye was due to a corneal ulcer and not simple allergies, I was condemned to a straight week of glasses wearing. I’ve always been the black sheep of my bespectacled family, opting for contact lenses over frames. I have a very impractical approach to wearing glasses: times when I feel the need to disguise myself, as an accessory when I felt the need to spice up my outfit or times when I felt like it could help me be more productive. (It didn’t.)

While I’m on the topic of glasses: For the near-sighted, try walking around campus for a day without the assistance of corrected lenses. It’s disorienting yet strangely liberating. Plus, it effectively solves the problem of having to awkwardly acknowledge people you’d rather not make small talk with.

Thinking about getting a tattoo? Check out loltatz.com. Then think about it some more.

True story: A friend and I were in line at a bar on a Saturday night when a guy sidled up behind her, got close and whispered in her ear. She turned around, he “realized” that he didn’t know her and claimed that he thought she was his friend Sheila. Then he asked if she wanted to add a Miller Lite to her tab. Elaborate move or legitimate, albeit convenient, mistake?

RACHEL FILIPINAS will leave the weather writings to her colleague for one more week, but if you’d like to hear more from her, send a little sum-sumthing to rmfilipinas@ucdavis.edu.

A collaborative effort

Arts & Culture

Arts Editor

May 28, 2009

If you’ve got that urge to create, you have more options for expression than those art studio classes that you can’t really fit in your schedule.

Co/Lab is a loosely organized club made up of mostly UC Davis students whose mission is simple: to create art in a fun, collaborative way.

Works from the Co/Lab will be on display today through June 12 in the Art Lounge, located on the second floor of the Memorial Union. A reception will be held today at 5 p.m. in the Art Lounge.

The exhibit will cover a broad range of topics and media, inspired by collaborative ideas from Co/Lab members.

“The whole idea behind it was to get art students and design students together,” said senior design major and club organizer Devin Croda.

He added that Co/Lab is designed to bridge two similar departments that often operate separately, though students from all majors and disciplines are welcome to contribute.

The organization began two years ago by UC Davis alumna Milan Phan, a design student who graduated in 2007. Tired of design projects restricted to individual work, Phan collected a group of friends in November 2006 and brainstormed the concept of Co/Lab into existence.

“It’s interesting to see people take the initiative and get together with their own peers,” said Phan, who was inspired by many peer-driven art shows in the area.

Co/Lab, which is short for collective laboratory, keeps one rule sacred: members can create whatever they want, as long as they create with another person. The group’s intention is summed up by their motto “two heads are better than one.”

Though Phan has graduated, undergraduates have stepped up each year to sustain the organization.

“The focus [is] on collaborating with all different types of people from different backgrounds and what comes out of that,” Croda said.

“It’s basically just a group of people getting together to do art – and it can be anyone,” said Kyle Scollin, a senior graphic design major and organizer for Co/Lab.

Scollin added that Co/Lab is a non-judgmental space to explore creativity.

“As long as people are excited about [their art], I’m excited about it,” he said.

Scollin and Croda organized the show in the Art Lounge, but they allowed each Co/Lab member to create and contribute their work on their own. In fact, setting up for the show was the first time the two had seen some of the artwork.

Some Co/Lab members created a miniature cardboard city, said to “come alive” with the help of a projector, Scollin said. Other members created pieces of trash art.

Also featured in the exhibit will be a photo project in which participating members took a picture every hour and documented the progression of their day.

Phan pointed out one of the most useful and unique aspects of Co/Lab. By standing next to another talented individual, you discover your own strengths and weaknesses and learn how to work with both, she said.

“You recognize your own potential when you work with other people,” Phan said.

Co/Lab holds workshops on most Thursdays at Scollin’s house. For information on how to get involved, contact Scollin at kscollin@gmail.com.

LAURA KROEGER can be reached at arts@theaggie.org.

Music Review

Arts & Culture

Arts Editor

May 28, 2009

Shayna and the Bulldog

States

Independent release

Rating: 5

If a band could personify a season, Shayna and the Bulldog would be summer. This four-member Davis band is bluegrass meets rock n’ roll, bringing the kind of energy and catchy lyrics to their songs that make you want to get out and enjoy the sunny weather.

They will be performing this Friday at Sophia’s Thai Kitchen at 10 p.m. The bar area is open only to the 21-and-over crowd, but underage visitors can attend the show for free on Balcony B across from the restaurant’s patio.

Their album States has a unique range of sounds from country to blues that makes this a fun listen.

“So Fully” is one of their most upbeat and romantic songs, featuring electric guitar and harmonica that are perfect to rock out to. Songs like “Country Music” and “Broadway & Demonbreun” have a softer sound, with sweet, sad lyrics that reflect on heartache and lost love. “Trinkets” is a whimsical song that opens with the lines “I don’t remember where I bought the shoes that came in that box/Couldn’t tell ya how we made it long enough to fill it up” and muses about possessions and how materials just don’t seem to bring happiness.

My favorite song on this album is “Patricia,” which mixes a catchy chorus with blues inspired electric guitar that never seems to get old.

States is a through and through fun album that is the perfect soundtrack for summer love and romance.

Give these tracks a listen: “So Fully,” “Patricia,” “Trinkets”

For fans of: An Angle

– Julia McCandless

Physics, art and the world of tomorrow

Arts & Culture

Arts Editor

May 28, 2009

Although he graduated from UC Davis in 1983 with a degree in physics, award-winning writer and cartoonist Brian Fies has found himself using his knowledge of science to make art.

Fies’ second graphic novel, Whatever Happened to the World of Tomorrow?, will be released in mid-June. Examining the 20th century, the novel explores the bygone golden age of technology and puzzles over its disappearance.

“WHTTWOT? is about the era of technological utopia when people thought science and technology would make everything better instead of worse. There was time when scientists, politicians and captains of industry were good guys,” Fies said. “I grew up in part of that time and I wanted to capture what it was like and what happened to it.”

Fies points to his undergraduate work at UC Davis – where he studied physics, minored in English and worked as a cartoonist and columnist for The California Aggie – as an important part of his development as a graphic novelist.

“Physics and science can do things for you that you wouldn’t normally imagine in terms of a career. Among other things, my new book is about the space race and the evolution of electronics, from vacuum tubes to resistors to microelectronics,” he said. “All the things that I talk about in this new book are informed by my background in science. I’ve been able to combine science with my interest in other things like writing, art and cartooning, and it’s enriched everything I’ve done.”

Fies’ first graphic novel, Mom’s Cancer, came as a result of his own mother being diagnosed with cancer in 2004. Unsure of what to do with the comic, Fies posted the first third of the novel online and told a few friends. He soon had thousands of visitors reading the comic online, brought by positive word of mouth.

“The fact that I had so many thousands of visitors and the attention I got allowed me to sell the book to publishers,” he said. “Without the web comic, Mom’s Cancer probably wouldn’t have been published.”

Much as Fies’ publishing success is a story drawn from the new digital age of blogs and online popularity, the graphic novel continues to be a medium that is just beginning to be properly explored.

“I don’t see graphic novels as a substitute for prose literature,” he said. “Graphic novels are about telling stories that are best told through the combination of words and pictures together. It’s a unique medium with a lot of untapped potential.”

Fies sees creative success as the ability to combine different areas of expertise into a unique work.

“Learn as much as you can about things other than what you’re interested in. There will always be people who can write and draw better than you. You have to offer that special education, experience or interest that only you have – that’s what makes your work interesting to someone else.”

For more information on Fies, check out his blog at brianfies.blogspot.com.

ZACK FREDERICK can be reached at arts@theaggie.org.

Arts Week

Arts & Culture

Arts Editor

May 28, 2009

MUSIC

Relient K, Owl City, Runner Runner

Today, 8 p.m., $18 in advance, $20 day of show

The Boardwalk in Orangevale

I was born secular, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t appreciate the agreeable, if not catchy, pop punk of Ohio group Relient K, even if they make the occasional illusion to the man upstairs. They certainly are sneaky about it, those ones.

UNITY

Today, 8 p.m., $10 in advance

Freeborn Hall

Other than the Wellman Pit during Whole Earth Festival, I don’t see electronic music getting its fair share of attention on campus. This scarcity changes with UNITY, a rave presented by newly formed student group Electronic Music for Change. All proceeds go to the UC Davis Children’s Hospital. Any UC Davis ticketholder can bring one guest; tickets will not be sold at the door.

Weinland, Shelley Short, Kevin Lee

Today, 10 p.m., $3, 21

Sophia’s Thai Kitchen

Get ready for a night of raging out on the town – and by raging, I mean a night of quiet folk on Sophia’s red tinted porch. Fans of Loch Lomond and Horse Feathers should easily find a friend in the stripped down sounds of Weinland. Meanwhile, Portland native Shelley Short specializes in country-twanged folk lullabies.

Order of the Golden Mirror, Lynus, David Houston

Friday, 8 p.m., $5

Luigi’s Fun Garden in Sacramento

What? You didn’t see Order of the Golden Mirror when they had a set at the Coho earlier this month? The group has onstage presence, to say the least; don’t miss out on their glam-rock antics as the eight-piece group dominates the stage at everyone’s favorite pizza place-turned-music venue.

Shayna and the Bulldog, Buxter Hoot’n

Friday, 10 p.m., $3, 21

Sophia’s Thai Kitchen

Davis band Shayna and the Bulldog earned themselves the rare – but not impossible – rating of 5 by an Aggie arts reviewer. Check out page 4 for the reasoning.

Lydia, Play Radio Play, Eye Alaska, Brave Citizen

Saturday, 8 p.m., $5

Luigi’s Fun Garden in Sacramento

Lydia reminds me of the kind of music I would listen to in high school, a place I reached long after my boy band phase and shortly after rejecting the emo scene. The band balances the whimsy emotion of the Decemberists with the catchiness of Copeland for a mature mix suitable for anyone in grade 10.

Tyler Hilton, Keaton Simons, Liz Hackett

Saturday, 8 p.m., $13 in advance, $15 day of show

The Boardwalk in Orangevale

Tyler Hilton started out as an actor playing music stars – notably, that one singing dude in teen drama “One Tree Hill” and as a young Elvis Presley in Walk the Line. In other words, pretty boy pop rock at its prettiest.

Burglars, Brother Time, Jon Bafus

Saturday, 10 p.m., free

Technocultural Studies Building (formerly Art Annex)

The kids of KDVS are plenty knowledgeable it comes to music, so when some basement insiders make their own stuff, I trust that it should be good.

The California Honeydrops

Saturday, 10 p.m., $3, 21

Sophia’s Thai Kitchen

Besides being appreciative of their rootin’ tootin’ all around good timey blues music, I’m especially grateful that the Oakland group is nothing like the California Raisins. That would just be creepy.

AT THE MOVIES

Tournées Festival of French and Francophone Films

Friday to Sunday, 7 p.m., free

Technocultural Studies Building

Sure, you can watch any ol’ Ron Howard summer blockbuster, but where’s the fun in that? Plus, this is free! Presented by the film studies program, this year’s festival kicks off with Elle S’Appelle Sabine (Her Name is Sabine).

ART / GALLERY

2009 MFA Exhibition

Opens tomorrow at the Nelson Gallery

Five graduating students in the MFA program will present their work – Julia Elsas, Crystal Hauter, Cynthia Horn, Evie Leder, Josh Short. An opening reception will take place Friday at 6 p.m.

Co/Lab Exhibit Reception

Today, 5 p.m., free

The Art Lounge (Memorial Union second floor)

The art and design collective of Co/Lab was founded back in 2006, and the artistic kiddies today continue to work together.

THEATER / MONDAVI

Private Eyes

Today through Saturday, 8 p.m. and Sunday, 2 p.m., $14 general admission, $12 with a student ID

Wyatt Pavilion Theatre

A comedy of suspicion featuring layers of deception and lustful affairs? I’m intrigued, to say the least. MFA candidate Candice Andrews directs. Tickets can be purchased online at theatredance.ucdavis.edu.

COMEDY

Birdstrike Theatre XII: Freedom Fighters

Friday, 7:30 p.m., $2 in advance, $3 at the door

123 Science Lecture Hall

Can giggles help win the fight for freedom? Student improv group Birdstrike Theatre has the answers. Purchase tickets in advance at the Freeborn Box Office.

RACHEL FILIPINAS can be reached at arts@theaggie.org.

Direction in the art world

Arts & Culture

Arts Editor

May 28, 2009

In today’s world, career advice for anyone interested in the arts is usually less than optimistic – simply glancing at any front page of the New York Times will likely offer such conclusions.

MUSE interviewed three representatives in the three broad fields of visual arts, film and creative writing to lay down the basics of preparing for an art career in and after college.

Visual Art

Visual art is subjective to the thousands. But to Renny Pritikin, director and curator of the Nelson Gallery and Fine Art Collection, located in the art building, it’s much more than a matter of taste.

“It’s a practice, a lifetime’s worth of looking,” Pritikin said. “It’s also like any other profession; you immerse yourself completely in it. I read every art magazine, go to every exhibition in the Bay Area, I have a network of colleagues that I talk to, I do studio visits [and] I travel. It becomes part of the air you breathe in thinking about it.”

To Pritikin, preparing for a career in the fine arts follows a somewhat similar process – a refined experience through graduate school and beyond. Pritikin said that while a master in fine arts is not necessarily required for a successful visual arts career, such a degree puts students at a significant advantage over those solely with a Bachelor’s degree.

“Use your undergraduate years to get your chops – to learn how to use a computer or a paintbrush or any other tool,” Pritikin said. “Then go to grad school and expose yourself to other artists, really fine tune [yourself] and make connections.”

Pritikin stressed the importance of a business edge to complement an art degree, since many artists fail to effectively sell themselves after graduating.

“The reality is that for the one in a thousand that really makes it big, the rewards are really big,” Pritikin said. “You have to accept that you’re not going to be rich, unless you’re really lucky. The flip side is that you will have a much more interesting life than most people who become accountants.”

As for life after graduate school, Pritikin said networking and exposing one’s own work to other artists is a necessary and essential process.

“In my own case, I’ve been a curator for 30 years and I have traveled everywhere, I’ve met most or many of the most interesting people of my generation,” Pritikin said. “I don’t regret a minute of it. What do you want out of life? Do you want the bucks, or do you want to have fun?”

Film studies and production

Senior film studies and English double major Joy Li is the peer advisor for the film studies department. As a student experienced with seasoned film studies majors and students simply interested in the field, Li offered her insight on a UC Davis student’s place in the film world.

“If [you’re] going into grad school, half [of them] will want you to have experience already, half won’t,” Li said. “If [you’re] looking for a job at an already established video company, they’ll need a stronger portfolio.”

Li said that because the film studies department takes a historical and analytical approach to the field. Actual production is generally left for the student’s own time.

“Our program is stronger in cinematic movements as opposed to performance,” Li said. “They’d have to do more of their own portfolio work. For those who are interested in pure production, there’s technocultural studies.”

Location is also an essential factor when considering a future career, Li said. Larger and more established cities like Los Angeles and New York offer relatively more opportunities than cities like San Francisco.

Other possible career paths range anywhere from work with news stations and promotions to archival work with old footage.

“I think just looking at [it] now, when I’m about to graduate, I think it would help to have internships in film and TV,” Li said. “That would help me find a job.”

Creative writing

Like the path of visual art, graduate school is often tied to a successful career in creative writing. David Masiel, a lecturer in the University Writing Program, a contributor for Washington Post and New York Times Magazine and author of two novels, said the importance of a graduate education is a useful path for students interested in creative writing.

“It’s a good way to give yourself a couple of years of support and feedback, as well as course study that can be useful,” Masiel said.

While graduate school is a common path for most students interested in creative writing, significant debate surrounds the degree to which a masters program can positively or negatively affect a writer.

“Some critics have complained that the explosion of creative writing programs has influenced American letters in a negative way by creating cookie cutter methods to fiction,” Masiel said. “I don’t necessarily think that means it’s a bad thing to do for an individual. [Masters programs] give a student the opportunity to work with professionals, as long as they can keep their head and keep what’s original about them.”

As with any other artistic craft, new forms of writing, reading and distribution challenge the older methods. Devices such as Amazon’s Kindle grow increasingly prevalent in the written world, creating what Masiel says could be a more “democratic” medium for writers as publishers become increasingly obsolete.

“It’s a question of whether or not you embrace it,” Masiel said. “You have to be your own marketer, if you’re talking about succeeding in that totally free enterprise market.”

JUSTIN T. HO can be reached at arts@theaggie.org.

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