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Daily Titan
Tuesday April 10, 2007
The Student Voice of California State University, Fullerton
Student organization co-hosts event to raise community awareness BY Colleen BArreTT
Daily Titan Staff Writer news@dailytitan.com
The Titan Student Union was filled with singing, drumming and dancing over the weekend as the Inter-Tribal Student Council, an American Indian club at Cal State Fullerton, hosted their annual spring powwow Friday and Saturday. The Association for Inter-Cultural Awareness co-sponsored the event, which was open to the public free-of-charge. “It’s for the native community, the Cal State Fullerton community and for awareness,” council President Ryan Ussery said. “It’s a gathering. It’s an opportunity for the community to gather.” The powwow kicked off Friday at 6 p.m. with a traditional Gourd Dance and Grand Entry. The Grand Entry is a parade that signals the start of each session of the powwow. The parade allows the dancers to show off their colorful regalia while announcing that they are ready to dance. Following the Grand Entry was the posting of flags. The Flag Song is the American Indian national anthem and is dedicated to American Indian war veterans. Most of the tribes represented at the powwow were from northern and southern California, but tribes from nevada, Arizona and new Mexico attended as well, council Public Relations Officer Mariana
Majana said. She added that some come from as far as Ohio. Dancing and drumming contests were held throughout the powwow. The dancers were separated by age, with competitions for tinytots, teens and adults. Dance contest winners took home $500 cash prizes. The powwow featured a variety of American Indian dance styles. Among the styles were the “Men’s northern Traditional,” the oldest form of American Indian dancing; and the “Men’s Fancy,” which features colorful outfits, young dancers and is the most athletic of the powwow dances. The “Women’s Traditional Dance” is a proud and dignified dance with simple movements. The “Fancy Shawl,” one of the newest dances, symbolizes the life of a butterfly as the women swirl their shawls around the arena. Council Vice President Leya Hale has helped host the powwow for the past five years, and held a special women’s northern traditional dance contest. Hale’s father, Benjamin, served as emcee at the powwow and spoke of his daughter’s interest in her American Indian roots. “In order to have a good life in this society you must have an education. Those degrees open many doors,” Benjamin Hale said. “But knowledge of your people, your culture and your traditions will give you that little edge that will put you one step ahead.” During inter-tribal dancing sessions, when the dance arena was open for audience participation, drummers competed for $300 cash prizes. The competitors represented see Powwow - PAge 2
musical metaphors
BY JoHn sAKATA
news@dailytitan.com
BY reBeCCA HArTness/Daily Titan staff Photographer BIDDING ADIEU - Nathan (Ryan Nearhoff, 23) and Lynn (Ashley Kane, 21) share one of many emotional moments at the piano as their characters journey through their rollercoaster relationship during, Al Fine, which runs Friday through Sunday.
Plays showcase student Talent One act shows stretch actors’ creativity at Grand Central Theater BY CAiTlYn Collins
Daily Titan Staff Writer
BY BeTH sTirnAmAn/For the Daily Titan STANDING PROUD - Dennison Brown stands proud at the Inter-Tribal Council Powwow in the Titan Student Union Friday.
In a less-known, off-campus theater, two student-written plays “Al Fine” and “Fireworks & Duraflame” opened on Friday, April 6. The small Grand Central Theater can be found in the Santa Ana Artists’ District and was almost full for the debut of the two single-act plays. “Al Fine” by Caitlin neiman, chronicles the love relationship between an American piano student and an international student through classical musical
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The beauty of this little theater is that ... it forces a focus on the acting. You learn how to make less work better.
– Rita Renee Director
themes. They both share a passion for music. Most of the scenes center around the piano as the young woman, Lynn, tries to remember a semester-long love affair. “[The show is] right out of my journal,” said Ashley Kane, 21, a musical theater major who plays Lynn. “He’s helping me remember like an angel and devil on my shoulders.”
Ryan nearhoff, 23, a musical theater major, as nathan, plays two parts: nathan in reality and Lynn’s subconscious projection of nathan. nearhoff also plays Thoms, the male role in “Fireworks & Duraflame,” acting as three different characters in one night. “The first show is a more ‘me’ than the second one. My biggest struggle is to define the differences in both characters so that people aren’t watching the same guy twice,” nearhoff said. nearhoff identified his favorite part of the shows as “originating a part that’s never been played before.” “I was very impressed with Ryan nearhoff’s ability to play see PlAY - PAge 2
Handmade Puppets on Display in Art Center Daughter of legendary puppeteer pulls strings at first-ever exhibition BY CArlA BouBes
Daily Titan Staff Writer news@dailytitan.com
Cal State Fullerton’s Grand Central Art Center hosted the first-ever Handmade Puppet Dreams exhibition. Organized by Heather Henson, daughter of legendary puppeteer and creator of The Muppets, Jim Henson, the show features a collection of short films from over 20 talented filmmakers and will run until May 20. “It’s our first one,” Henson said at the opening reception. “That’s why
it’s so exciting!” Henson, a puppeteer herself, does not show her work in the Handmade Puppet Dreams, but said her goal is to promote the handful of artists involved in the exhibit. Henson uses Web sites such as YouTube and the search engine Google to discover new talent and people also send her links to videos of independent puppet films. “The puppet community is small,” Henson said. “We pretty much all know each other.” Fellow puppeteer Laura Heit, whose work was featured at the exhibit, said she met Henson eight years ago at a puppet festival in Chicago. The two have been working together ever since. The colorful finger puppets from Heit’s short film “Finger Puppets
Everywhere” were mounted on the gallery’s wall. “Finger Puppets Everywhere” consists of live action spots featuring Heit’s handmade finger puppets throughout the 10second film. The exhibition drew quite a crowd. People would slowly walk through, fascinated by the spectacle. “It’s really interesting,” said artgoer Lauren Isaac. “It takes a lot of imagination and creativity to be able to do something like this.” Many gathered around to watch filmmaker Simon Brown’s “Project Huxley,” a film about a lab monkey named Huxley who is forced to take part in a “Monkey Typing Shakespeare” experiment. The films featured were a far cry from the Henson’s Muppets.
Most of the films contained mature subject matter. Puppets were caught in adult situations involving sex and violence. The film “Project Huxley” ended with the monkey digging a scalpel into the lab assistant’s foot. Since the puppet community is so small the films are easily overlooked according to Henson. The films are not eligible for animation film festivals and are rarely screened at other festivals. “I love puppets and I know they’re not getting exposure,” Henson said. “These films are falling through the cracks.” However, later this month Handmade Puppet Dreams will participate at the newport Beach Film Festival and the Atlanta Film Festival.
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The Henson International Festival of Puppet Theater was the largest event for puppeteers, Heit said. Founded by the Jim Henson Foundation in 1992, the festival was held in new York City every two years and ran until 2000. Following in her father’s footsteps, Henson organized the Orlando Puppet Festival in 2005. The festival is held every fall for a week. Originally the festival was for adults interested in puppetry. The Orlando Puppet Festival Web site announced the next festival will be geared more towards families as it begins to grow. Henson said she hopes with the Orlando Puppet Festival and the Handmade Puppet Dreams exhibition, artists will finally receive the attention they deserve.
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In a war of bitter words and accusations, Mihaylo Hall has emerged as the latest arena pitting the ongoing feud between the Sprinkler Fitters 709 union, and Simplex Grinnell, a non-union fire sprinkler installation company. At center stage is the installation of the College of Business and Economic building’s fire sprinkler system. Sprinkler Fitters has accused Simplex Grinnell of unlawful practices that include paying its employees below prevailing wage and a history of sub-quality service and mismanagement by directors. “I believe they deliver a sub-quality job and Simplex Grinnell is an immoral company,” said Chris Hannan, vice president for Sprinkler Fitters 709. Michael Smith, director of the Office of Design and Construction, denied these allegations. After meeting with Hannan, Smith said he spoke with Turner Construction, the group that subcontracted the job to Simplex Grinnell, and was assured Simplex Grinnell employees were getting the state-required wages and performing its work serviceably. “They can certainly give their opinion and they have the right to bring attention to their union cause but I don’t think they do anybody a favor by giving out misinformation,” Smith said. Tom Reser, supervisor of the fire sprinkler installation, said the charges made by Sprinkler Fitters were erroneous. “I totally disagree with their accusations and I think some of the things that they say are outright slanderous,” Reser said. Smith said Simplex Grinnell was not hired by CSUF, but subcontracted by Turner Construction. The university did not hire the non-union Simplex Grinnell. Companies submit blind bids for construction services and the lowest bid is accepted. “We hire general contractors, we don’t hire subcontractors,” Smith said. “The contractors we hire typically have union and non-union subcontractors, even on the same job. We don’t have a law that says we have to hire union. We don’t have a law that says we have to hire nonunion. We hire qualified subcontractors that want to do the work.” Smith said if a company had been paying employees below prevailing wages, the university would step in and release the contract. Simplex Grinnell is owned by Tyco, an expatriate company positioned in the Bahamas. Companies move to offshore islands to avoid paying heftier taxes. Hannan believes that it is unfair to award a government contract to a company that has moved overseas to avoid paying same taxes as other companies. “There is state money going into school building projects and it’s not ethical for them to spend state money to a company not paying the same taxes everybody else is,” Hannan said. In addition to talking to the general contractor, he said there are inspectors with the university overlooking the construction of Mihaylo Hall. So far, Smith said he has not heard anything negative in regards to the work being done.
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