Incite What’s in your backyard?
Building Bike Culture - Another Mountain to Climb - ScientiFIT The Indie Generation Volume 6, Issue 1
Contents ScientiFIT
1-2
More than an Artist
3
The Indie Generation
4-6
Devil’s Mountain
7-8
Building Bike Culture
9-15
Justice for Ava O’Connor
16-18
Just Another Mountain to Climb
19-22
Taste Shock
23-24
ON THE
Cover
No matter where you are in the world, there is always something to see. Here in Southern California we take for granted our beautiful surroundings and laid back culture, believing that nothing exciting or newsworthy can happen here. In this issue, Incite challenges this perspective by offering a new lens through which we can view our “backyard.” Southern California thrives with untold stories of underground artists, bike activists, cancer survivors, and health gurus - just to name a few. Once you open your eyes, we promise you won’t be able to look away.
Incite
Volume
6, Issue 1
EDITOR IN CHIEF Courtney Hamilton InciteMagazineEIC@gmail.com ASSISTANT EDITOR Vivian Nguyen InciteAsstEditor@gmail.com SENIOR EDITOR Jennifer Calderon InciteSeniorEditor@gmail.com DIRECTOR OF FUNDRAISING AND PROMOTIONS Stephanie Youssef InciteMagazinePR@gmail.com CREATIVE DIRECTOR Katie Ludwick InciteCreativeDirector@gmail.com WRITERS Jessica Carreiro Izzy Guttierez Kelly Kimball Celine Littlejohn Katrina Yentch WEB PAGE www.incitemagazineuci.com
Our mission is to create awareness beyond our common cultural community in an effort to educate, unite, and transcend barriers. We aim to provide our readers with insight into the world they live in, with the hopes of inciting activism.
Editor’s Desk As brand new Editor in Chief, I am deeply excited that my first issue release explores Incite’s mission so fully. As part of our goal to provide insight into the world around our readers, Incite staff and writers have adeptly addressed both immediate and faraway matters in this issue. Local Southern California, our “backyard,” features prominently– from UC Irvine’s multitalented student body, to the struggle with progressive bike culture in Long Beach. In this way, we hope to serve as a bit of a viewfinder for our readers, to bring their surroundings into focus. Though this issue focuses primarily on local cultural climate, it nonetheless tackles the aspect of our mission to transcend barriers. Germany’s infamous history and its physical remnants, juxtaposed with modern street art to a unique effect, is explored in “Devil’s Mountain.” “The Indie Generation” analyzes Generation Y’s soundtrack, while demonstrating how indeed we are not society’s “Lost Generation.” Our staff is the embodiment of the conscious young adults that Incite caters to, and I am extremely honored to work alongside them. Collectively, we are appreciative of the opportunity to engage in dialogue with you, the reader. Thank you for picking up this issue and lending your attention to us and for your continued support. Sincerely, Courtney Hamilton Editor in Chief Incite Magazine
SCIENTIFIT By Courtney Hamilton
Mitra Hooshmand, Ph.D. has an impressive list of accomplishments under her belt. She has experienced firsthand what works and what does not in terms of improving health. A competitive swimmer for 14 years, she entered college to become a victim of the freshman fifteen. She began an unhealthy cycle through excessive exercise, diet and anorexia. As her education about the body furthered, Mitra underwent a lifestyle change. Ditching caloric deprivation and ignorant exercise habits, she found that science was her balance point in making decisions about her health. Mitra has cultivated in herself a comprehensive health approach that she aims to share with the public. A trained neuroscientist, founder and Editor-in-Chief of the innovative new website ScientiFIT as well as developer and teacher of CardiYoga (recently re-branded as MixxYoga), Mitra attended UCI for her undergraduate and graduate degrees and now teaches CardiYoga at the ARC twice weekly. Her depth of knowledge regarding healthy lifestyles stems from both education and personal experience. She intends to give back to the public by sharing this knowledge. ScientiFIT, launched in March 2012, is dedicated to being the communication link between science and the public when it comes to living a healthy life. With inflated hype surrounding what it means to be healthy, Mitra and her team at ScientiFIT aim to provide accurate, evidence-based information. Via thorough analyses of studies published on PubMed, the largest database for the life sciences, Mitra claims to “translate scientific jargon while holding true to the integrity of truth all in order to make accurate health information accessible.” The website features articles that promote a better understanding of health, a selection of nutritious and appetizing recipes and a section dedicated to CardiYoga. While undergoing significant training in yoga, Mitra dedicated roughly 4 years to developing CardiYoga, “a high intensity routine, founded on evidence-based principles of fitness, which combines Vinyasa Flow yoga poses with fast-pace cardio intervals and anaerobic Pilates circuits.” The routine caters to athleticism and to those who grow bored with the repetition and slower pace of traditional yoga classes. The intense but fun class is taught by Mitra at the ARC for a small fee and has been expanded to be offered at CrossFit Crown City gym in Pasadena.
For more information,visit: http://www.scientiFIT.com http://www.campusrec.uci.edu http://crossfitcrowncity.com 1
2
More Than an Artist By Kelly Kimball It’s the engineering student who plays ragtime on the weekends, the sculptor who aspires to cure cancer, or the double major in political science and dance. These are the closet artists - passionate about an expressive, eclectic and artistic medium, yet ambitious in an alternative realm of academic discipline. My experience so far at UC Irvine has shown me the endless layers of its students. Here, learning goes beyond the standard curriculum - more so than what is initially assumed. I sat in on three Open Mic nights on campus Fall quarter, where students from a variety of academic, ethnic, and social backgrounds reveled in the enchanted facets of the spoken word. It was hard not to feel gratified in the language of tragic poets, warm and lively voices, and impassioned storytellers. Every piece was a celebration of Humanity. Very rarely have I come across individuals like these who find the time to write a few words of their own as a humble pastime. But they are alive and vibrant and well, as are many other individuals in ceaseless pursuit of blossoming rare and unexpected talents. UC Irvine has been host to a grand community of artists whose academic ambitions point in a different direction. For instance, Biological Science Alumni Nazanin Boniadi is a current actress and official spokeswoman for Amnesty International. Now more than ever, social media has become a professional platform for singers, musicians, filmmakers, and teachers. Youtube is no foreign device for UCI Alums like Joseph Vincent (singer/songwriter), and Victor Kim (dancer). Victor also appeared with a group of individuals on season 3 of America’s Best Dance Crew, winning the grand prize 3
of $100,000 and the Golden ABDC Trophy. Even more painters, budding philosophers, sketch artists, actors, and others exist on campus – tucked away in coffee shop corners and stuffy dorm rooms, taking notes in lectures while doodling on page margins, and fighting for causes concerning the Environment and Law and Literature. It feels wrong to use the phrase “closet” artist to decribe the passions and hobbies of students on campus.“Closet” alludes to something secretive, private, unshared. However, it is obvious that art here is anything but “closeted”. Here, students warmly embrace their diverse interests, and hopefully it will stay that way for generations to come. There is no doubt in my mind that the emotions and intentions put behind creative work are the same important feelings and critical exercises needed to succeed and make a lasting difference in the world. Did you know that in a recent survey of graduate students at Harvard Medical School, over 25% of its newly-accepted applicants had a B.A. in a major within the Social Sciences or Humanities? A wealthy number of these were also Drama students. The results point to the obvious: it takes more than a doctor to heal things, more than an architect to build foundations, more than a story teller to weave the fine tapestry that is our Humanity. There are endless layers to an individual, and it is arguably the greatest achievement for one to turn a closet hobby into a grand exposé. Be proud of your art. Write a poem, paint a picture, dance to lyrical music - even if you’re awful at it! In the end, you have created something that is truly and wholly Yours.
THE INDIE GENERATION By Celine Littlejohn The opening note of Buffalo Springfield’s classic “For gaining so much attention, artists who rely on autotune and computerized sounds to get a hit record and What It’s Worth” immediately sends chills down my athletes rocked by career damaging scandals from longspine. Images of the turbulent sixties play through my mind like a montage. I envision the Vietnam War, term steroid use, many complain that things were better “back in the day.” the Civil Rights Movement, protests, the Cold War, Second-Wave Feminism, Motown Records, The Rolling However, the last two Presidential elections had the Stones, drugs, free love, and crazy psychedelia. Certain highest amount of youth (18-29) voters ever with the symbols define a generation. The music legends of the groundbreaking election of President Barack Obama. 60s, from the British Invasion to the explosion of rock UC school protests have been successful in stopping and roll, helped create a musical style that still resonates some of the tuition fee hikes. Many of us are consciously aware of the issues our society faces and must among musicians and music lovers alike today. It was deal with, including the war on terror, abortion, gay the theme and defining sound of the times. Different events symbolically represent each decade. marriage, climate change, etc. Still, while I can go on for From political scandals and disco in the 70s to the in- hours about how even more active we need to be with these issues to help reach a solution, it’s good to know novative technology, fun teen flicks and synthesizers that we are not all just sitting back as the world passes of the 80s, there are symbols for each decade. The 90s brought us highly stylized music videos and the 2000s us by. Where else are we making a difference besides saw the boom of the Internet and cell phones. The Baby voting? Is there a musical sound that represents this? Lyrics have transformed from movement songs such Boomers were the center of the 60s revolutions, while Generation X was raised on MTV and VH1(back when as those by The Impressions, promoting peace and they played music videos). Then there’s us. Generation equality to tunes filled with sex and violence. However, contrary to popular belief, not all music is like this and Y. Spanning birth years from the early 80s to the mid there is an abundance of positivity, talent and meaning90s, we’re anywhere from in our late teens to late 20s ful messages among Generation Y performers. and early 30s. In those years, what impact have we Nothing is ever perfect. But to me, our generation is made on society? I have heard this many times. People are wondering if we are society’s lost generation. With represented by something more underground—somereality shows like “Jersey Shore” and “Teen Mom” thing known as the so-called “indie,” or independent 4
“Each decade is unique, and indie defines our sound.” " 5
movement. I began noticing it in high school and it has carried over well into my career at UC Irvine. Through the millions of auto-tuned singles a new trend in music was emerging. Not everyone was going for the traditional pop and repetitive robotic sound that we’re all too familiar with on the radio airwaves. Pure vocals and soothing sounds began popping up again thanks to the likes of such acoustic artists as Ed Sheeran, Mumford & Sons, and Foster the People. Alternative artists such as Imagine Dragons are becoming mainstays on the Top 40 charts and while we still hear the techno pop everywhere we go, these artists are thriving and are slowly but surely making their impending dominance well known. The show “MTV Unplugged” showcases some of the hottest music artists without electronic aids. Artists ranging in styles from Maroon 5,Alicia Keys, Adam Lambert and Kenny Chesney have performed stirring renditions of their most popular songs. If anyone wants to question whether or not the artists of today have talent I suggest naysayers look up some of these performances, among dozens of others on YouTube, and prepare to be amazed. While advancements in technology have made things seemingly easier for recording artists to generate the next number one single by just pushing buttons on a machine and waiting for the computer to perform all of the magic, there are a surprisingly high number of artists who are sticking to the original roots and actually creating music that’s not clouded with pounding dubstep beats. They may not be as famous as Justin Bieber or Lady Gaga (not that they are any less talented) but these “indie” rock and pop artists are refreshing. Music appeared to stray away from true, vocally gifted artists during the beginning of this millennium and the more I see such names as Two Door Cinema Club and Marina & the Diamonds gain growing fan bases, the wider I smile. Music artists have a huge influence on culture and the indie scene represents being true to yourself and not hiding behind the façade of auto-tune. With honest artists hopefully our generation can be further persuaded to head in a better direction. Let’s look at former Shocktoberfest performer Hoodie Allen. Hoodie (real name Steven Markowitz) is a University of Pennsylvania alum that decided to leave his job at Google to pursue his music career full time. With a number one debuting EP, Hoodie brings a sound that
is unique. Fusing underground artists with original lyrics and sounds, people were happy to hear something that hadn’t been done in years. We can take the best of original music and make something even more amazing out of it. Music is heading into a direction of fusing genres to create never-before-heard sounds and styles. In the world of country Carrie Underwood is on top, but unlike such predecessors as Patsy Cline, Carrie’s songs tend to have more of a pop and rock feel to them as opposed to artists of the early 60’s. Of course nothing is ever new and this style of fusing genres, a defining trait of this new indie music scene, has been around for decades. The legendary Janis Joplin had a range of tunes from the blues to soul to country in the 60s. Michael Jackson may be the King of Pop, but he could croon an R&B hit and then belt out a rock anthem like “Dirty Diana” as well. Nirvana’s mixing of hardcore punk to heavy metal helped to characterize grunge, which has influenced modern rock. In the mid and late 80s, The Beastie Boys dared to be different by sampling everything from Led Zeppelin to the Isley Brothers in their hip-hop music. Other rap groups such as Public Enemy were also famous for their innovative use of sampling combined with politically charged songs. By the 90s, The Beastie Boys began to blend sounds from their punk rock roots with funk and hard rock. Compare songs such as the funky “So What’Cha Want” to the harder rock inspired “Gratitude” from their acclaimed 1992 album “Check Your Head” and you can see just how talented they are. People can argue as long as they want that the talent has disappeared in today’s society, but with influences from such incredible artists being felt today with this rise in the fusion of genres, more and more musicians are stepping outside of the box and creating brand new sounds that will last for generations to come. Some may argue that there’s a reason why these artists aren’t as popular and that’s because they are indie. This is a different approach than past decades, but with more of these artists appearing on the top 40 charts their influence is definitely being felt. Each decade is unique, and indie defines our sound. Our generation is consciously aware of serious issues and it is good that our musical theme has a heartfelt indie base. Having been inspired by the greats before us, as time progresses we can only hope that the indie movement will become even bigger and will make Generation Y’s sound one to never forget. 6
Devil’s Mountain By Izzy Guttierez Berlin is a city unlike any other. Situated in northeastern Germany, it is the largest city in the country. The bustling metropolis is also Germany’s capital and in 2011 the Hollywood Reporter named it the “Coolest City on the Planet.” What is it thatmakes Berlin so special? It could be that Berlin boasts a large music scene, is home to an infinite number of bars and clubs, or fashions a distinct style through its people and history. The city’s style is defined by the remnants of World War II and the fresh, new artists who inhabit it - an eclectic mix of the past and present. One prime example of the city’s juxtaposition of past and present are the abandoned buildings that have been turned into centers for graffiti art. Most prominent is Teufelsberg, a large building that sits on a manmade hill overlooking the entire city. Teufelsberg, which translates to “Devil’s Mountain,” was a US Military spy base during the Cold War used to listen in on 7
the Soviets who were controlling East Germany at the time. What is even more interesting is what is buried underneath the building, a never completed Nazi technical college. After the Second World War the Allies tried destroying it with explosives but realized that simply covering the building with debris was easier. So at the end of the day you have an entire abandoned spy base to yourself; exploring is a must. After passing the forbidden entrance signs you can climb up to the highest tower, which was the main listening station that the American spies would use due to its quality reception. Climbing up the tower does have its dangers. Though the building does have functioning staircases (6 flights to the top!) there is no light making it a spooky ascension. Other hidden dangers include empty elevator shafts, doors which lead to rooms with no floors, and complete sections without walls, only support beams. With the large remaining walls and other structures,
"So at the end of the day you have an entire abandoned spy base to yourself; exploring is a must." artists have produced amazing spray paint art that can span more than 15 feet in length. Street art has had its own history in Berlin since the 1960’s, when the Berlin Wall divided the city into two sections. One side of the wall was overflowing with color and graffiti depicting the struggle for reunification of both sides, while the other side was completely bare due to Soviet occupation. Once the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, the city became a place for expression and a struggle
to reinvent itself despite its painful history. Teufelsberg is a part of this movement to redefine the city by using art. In the past there have been attempts to destroy the building in order to create hotels and shopping centers in the hopes of erasing its notorious history. However, due to radioactivity scares the projects have all been canceled. And so Teufelsberg remains erect on the highest hill in Berlin: a relic of the Second World War and the Cold War.
8
BUILDING BIKE CULTURE
By Jessica Carriero
In 2009, the Long Beach City Council put up a largescale metal bike statue to hang outside Long Beach City Hall proclaiming: “Long Beach, the most bike friendly city in America.” There was only one problem: it wasn’t. The Californian beach town was understood [by who?] as having nice coastal bike lanes, but as far as the entire city went, there was nothing particularly “bike friendly” about it. In order to see where the city got the idea for its new, and slightly delusional label, you’d have to take a look at the “Master Plan.” Developed in 2001, the city’s so-called “Master Plan” outlined all the road changes that needed to be made in order to transform the city into a bike sanctuary for recreational and commuter cyclists. About $20 million in federal and state grants were drafted toward the project. However, almost a decade later, the only noticeable change was the city’s misleading claim to fame. Critics of the plan demanded the city either earn the title it had already given itself, or rescind it. City officials took on the challenge. Looking at the city now, it might surprise you to know how much of the bike friendly infrastructure came just in the past few years. There are banners on light posts which remind drivers to “share the road,” bike boulevards stretching over a mile to provide safe 9
alternatives to busy streets, barricaded bike lanes to ensure protection from cars, and even scenic bike routes to give locals and tourists a new perspective of the city. It seemed the city’s crusade to make the city safer for bikes and become a place where cyclists from all over the country would come to ride, had paid off. But not all Long Beach residents shared the city’s enthusiasm about encouraging the rise of bike culture. For Allan Crawford and Steve Tweed, the Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak of Long Beach bike infrastructure, developing a positive image of bike culture in Long Beach was just as important as the creation of the culture itself. Tweed, a transportation designer in the Engineering Bureau of Long Beach, is responsible for many of the city’s bike design concepts. Crawford, a bike advocate, is responsible for selling them. The two teamed up at a recent bike informational meeting in downtown Long Beach. Crawford wore a blue Bike Nation hat to promote the city’s partnership with Bike Nation - a program that provides temporary use of bikes for a small fee in urban landscapes. Crawford’s job was to engage the audience. “What is the number one cause of bike accidents in Long Beach?” Crawford asks. The audience sits there until a man in back breaks the silence, “Bikes!” The audience laughs. “Bikes!” Crawford
says, “That’s right.” Crawford acknowledges the biggest obstruction to cyclists achieving a positive reputation in the city, are the cyclists. Darting between lanes, riding on the sidewalk, blowing red lights, and riding against traffic are all ways that urban bikers look more like pests, than the health conscious, environmentally friendly citizens many of them are. His suggestion: help me help you. That’s where Tweed comes in. The infrastructure Tweed has designed provides bikers with safe routes by which to travel. Choosing not to use that infrastructure, or use it incorrectly, will land you a hefty fine. Among such infrastructure are the “green sharrows.” These car lanes, painted green with white bike stencils, allow bikers equal rights to use the full lane. According to Crawford, the two main causes of injuries for bikers are being hit by opening car doors or being broadsided by cars pulling out of parking spots. Put in high traffic areas, these sharrows reduce the risk for cyclists by allowing them to bike in the center of the lane, rather than on the side of it. The most widely contested bike infrastructure came in 2011. Labeled a “cycle track,” bike lanes were separated from cars by barriers that were implemented. What used to be three lanes for cars, were turned into one parking lane, one separated bike lane, and two lanes for cars. Crawford and Tweed commissioned local artists to spruce up the barriers with decorative vases. These large painted vases, some potted and some not, featured a variety of designs composed of tiny mirror tiles. The separated bike lanes, a first in southern Califor-
nia, got as much praise as they did criticism. Bike blogs and websites cheered on Long Beach for their brave installments. Joe Linton, of the L.A. Streets Blog, wrote an article hailing, “Another wonderful Long Beach first: protected bike lanes.” The reaction on mainstream media sites was more mixed. A local outlet of ABC News did a story on the construction of these bike lanes. Comments in the comment section of the piece ranged from, “Good! We need more dedicated bike lanes,” to “Is this all Long Beach can find to spend money on? ‘Special’ bike lanes?” In the comment section of an article written in the Long Beach Gazette, one user complained of the extra time the loss of a car lane added to his daily commute through downtown. He spoke for many when he wrote, “Give me my good commute back.” Not everyone can appreciate the city’s bike friendly efforts like 26-year-old amateur bike racer, Bud Abille. The way Abille slowly positions himself toward the front of a peloton - a pack of racing cyclists - with the attention, care, and maturity of a much older rider, you can tell that he’s been racing bikes since childhood. Abille grew up in Long Beach. His father, a lifetime rider himself, began signing him up for mountain bike races in Big Bear, a nearby mountain town, as a little kid. “I remember falling a lot and crying a lot,” Abille laughs, “But I did all right. I would always finish. It was fun.” He took a break from biking for a while, went to college, got a degree in Studio Arts, but got back into it after seeing a local group ride called the Polar Rollers. 10
Abille asked his dad to build him a road bike so he could go on the ride. His dad, who was really into bike touring and had a few road bikes of his own, knew just what he needed. Abille took the bike his dad made him, and while on the ride, saw his first fixed gear bikes. “They were doing wheelies and backwards circles and skidding,” Abille recalls, “I was like, ‘What is this? What’s this weird bike they’re riding?’” Caught up in the weirdness, Abille immersed himself in the growing Long Beach fixie scene. No bike has the reputation of counterculture quite like the fixed gear, or fixie. Fixed gear bikes are essentially the simplest form of bike, with only one gear. These single-speed bikes only move so long as you are pedaling them. Meaning, you can’t stop pedaling and just cruise. This gives them the distinction of being easier to manipulate going forwards and backwards. They also have the distinction of mainly being ridden without brakes. So, if you’re going down a hill on a fixie, and you need to stop, you’ll have to apply pressure on the pedals to keep them from going forward, and fishtail the back wheel side to side to maintain control. Fixed gear bikes were originally made to be ridden on tracks or velodromes during training for cyclists. However, now a popular city bike, its lack of brakes proposes some problems, to put it mildly. Though they can be rigged to include brakes, it’s seen as being less cool. Riders can skid to slow down, but there’s really no easy way to come to a complete stop. In 2010, a large group of fixie riders in Long Beach went out on a group ride called Critical Mass. The monthly ride is completed by urban fixed cyclists all over the country. Just twenty minutes into the ride, the group of about 85 cyclists came upon police officers waiting for them at the intersection of Anaheim Road and Palo Verde Avenue. The Los Angeles Times reported, “Riders thought police were there to help move traffic along, but instead cyclists were cited and their bicycles impounded. About 60 citations were handed out to riders without proper night lighting, for running stop signs or riding unlicensed bicycles, among other violations.” The riders felt targeted. And they were. In an article titled, “Critical Mess: The City Versus Your Civil Liberties,” the Long Beach Post addressed the issue. According to the article, several local riders had reached out to the City more than a month before, asking for officers to block traffic as 11
the group passed through intersections,” but received no response. David Ashman, Manager of the Special Events Bureau, told the Post that riders were cited because city code dictates that any group of more than 75 must receive a permit before gathering. However, the Post discovered that the section of municipal code that Ashman cited had been suspended since 2004, when it found to be unconstitutional. “Why, then,” the Post wondered, “was Ashman using 5.6 (clarify) as a guide to determine what events did and did not require a permit? When asked, neither Ashman, Anderson, nor City Manager Pat West had an answer.” Some of those cited ended up with tickets reportedly costing more than $600. That was a steep price to pay for a bike ride, but to Chief McDonnell, fixies aren’t just bikes. In a press conference, McDonnell compared allowing people to ride bikes without brakes, to permitting drunk drivers to take to the road. It may seem like an exaggeration, but there have been several deaths and serious injuries, of both riders and pedestrians, related to fixed gear bikes. In his book on urban bicycle trends, Pedaling Revolution, Jeff Mapes notes that Critical Mass rides in San Francisco, Marin County, and New York, have backfired. Rather than gaining public support of urban cycling, they have caused problems, including injuries, for nonbiking residents, and made cycling seem threatening, rather than recreational. A recent incident at the Los Angeles Critical Mass shows just how fatal these rides can be. Last summer, Jerico Culata, an 18-yearold high school graduate and bike enthusiast, died going down a steep hill that had been added to the city’s Critical Mass bike route, according to Balitang America. One of the boy’s friends, Kirk Orellana, told the news, “any ride, they don’t want to take people down hills, because we have little kids that are 14, they just ride. They don’t want to see people get injured. I don’t know why they changed that route.” Though Abille’s motto has always been that everyone should get out and ride, even an experienced rider like himself recognizes the need for fixed gear bicyclists to practice on fixed gears before going out on rides with them.“You’ve got to know your own ability, if you’re going to ride brakeless on the street,” Abille says. “I heard of an incident in LA where a guy was on a group ride, and he actually had brakes, but I guess he was further back in the group. So, when the group blew through the red, the guy who was further
back was trying to catch up, and he hit a pedestrian in the crosswalk.” Abille shakes his head, “Stuff like that, just--it makes me frustrated. They ride recklessly, and they don’t know how to control themselves doing it.” Abille might just be the kind of rider fixed gear bikes need to redeem their reputation as being dangerous in society. Sponsored by the Los Angeles bike shop, Engine No. 11, a little over a year ago, Abille quickly gained ranks in the amateur racing circuit. There are five categories in these circuits. To move up categories, you need to get results. Either ten, top ten finishes with 50 or more people, or 20 upgrade points. You get points by placing top five or six. Six points for first place, four points for second place, three for third, two for fourth, and one for fifth. Abille upgraded through points. He’s a category three, working on his category two. Category one is the highest. Once you make category one, if you get a contract, then you’re professional. “That’s the ultimate goal,” said Abille. For now, he’s satisfied working part-time at SWRVE. A shop in downtown LA, SWRVE sells urban cycling apparel for, as their website states, those who “are passionate about bikes,” but “don’t look so good in spandex.” Ironically, Abille only works there part-time so he can afford to spend more time in spandex, racing. It was hard to find the start line of Abille’s road bike race. Tucked away in an industrial park in Compton, the boisterous crowd of racers gathered for their Sunday morning races. They provided a dramatic contrast to the bland white walls of the industrial park. Along the rows of cars that led to the track, cyclists balanced themselves on the back bumpers of their cars. In their skin-tight spandex suits, some of them were putting on
their gear, prepping for their heat; and some of them were taking off their gear, done for the day. The track was a designated set of streets within the industrial park. It was barricaded from traffic, not that there was any. In Abille’s category three race, he would ride around the track for an hour. At the edge of the track, passing by the registration table, a racer was being escorted by two of his friends back to his car, clutching his bleeding arm. The entire backside of his suit had been shredded from the asphalt. The number 588, which had been safety pinned to his back, dangled from his ripped shirt and flapped in the wind. Abille told me later that the man had fallen face first over his handle bars and broken his collar bone. “It’s a pretty common occurrence,” Abille said. “If you fall on your shoulder, right here, it just snaps.” Abille’s heat was next. All the cyclists crowded behind the starting line, just in front of the Samsung Electronics building. The sound of music blasting out of the speakers cued the start of the race. The race commentator cheered the pack on over the sound system. “Come on, cupcakes!” Every so often, he’d motivate them with free treats. “Free bottle of wine to the first alcoholic to win the next lap. Red wine, pinot noir. Winner of the next lap. Come on, cupcakes! Who’s taking my wine? It’s messed up, I don’t even get to drink it.” As the 60 minutes counted down, the sparse crowd of spectators applauded the passing peloton of cyclists. The group of riders, helmets glistening in the sun as they sped around the corner, were like a modern day cavalry--the bare industrial park their deserted landscape, and the specialized carbon-fiber frames,
“The group of riders, helmets glistening in the sun as they sped around the corner, were like a modern day cavalry — the bare industrial park, their deserted landscape, and the specialized carbonfiber frames, their loyal steeds.”
their loyal steeds. About 40 minutes in, Abille took the lead. With so much time left, and no teammates in his category level to help him extend the space between himself and the pack, he decided to drop back. In near last place, with just a few more laps to squeeze into the race, Abille made another play toward the front. His friends in the sparse crowd of spectators cheered, “Go, Bud!” Finding his moments, he again got to the front of the pack before getting muscled back in the last minutes. While other racers were still chatting about the race with their friends, Abille had already changed out of his gear and back into his jeans and T-shirt. Watching him joke with his friends, you would never know he just spent the past hour elbow-to-elbow in a heat of speeding racers. He said goodbye to his friends, and went to help take down the equipment. Abille volunteers to help race officials with the equipment after races so he doesn’t have to pay the $30 registration fee. Abille is the ideal team captain for Engine No. 11. Not just because he takes time to encourage his teammates, but because biking is his life. Abille wants to make category one in the next few years. He trains every day. He and his teammates go on group rides through Long Beach, like the G-Funk ride. They meet at an In-n-Out parking lot, and go for casual rides of 30 or 40 or 50 miles. “It’s as much a training ride as it is a social thing,” 13
Abille says. Afterwards, the guys go out for food and beer. “As long as you can ride hard and not give up, everyone is welcome,” he says. Abille rides and races a variety of bikes, from cyclocross to BMX to fixie to road. He’s got to find ways to keep biking fresh. He knows the rewards of cycling. Though bike racing hasn’t paid off for him in cash yet, last month his sponsor sent him to Korea. He won both of the two fixed gear events he raced there. When Long Beach began its campaign to endorse more cycling in the city, inspiring bikers like Bud Abille was what they had in mind. However, bikers are not the only ones benefiting from the city’s blossoming bike culture. Tweed’s infrastructure prompted local business owners to take advantage of the cycling phenomenon by exploring a new customer base. The neighborhoods of shops that participate in the city’s Bike Saturday deals, span across the city. From Alamitos Beach to Bixby Knolls to Cambodia Town to the 7th St. Corridor to Los Altos to Retro Row to Downtown to Belmont Heights to Belmont Shore to Naples to the Marina and to East Village. All over the city, once a week these businesses welcome cyclists with special deals for arriving by bike. The infrastructure around these neighborhoods has made access to shops safe and easy. One of the first neighborhoods to become businessbike friendly was Retro Row. Named for its vintage facades and antique stores, Retro Row
is one of the city’s most popular cultural hot spots. For several years, bikers have claimed the space. According to BikeLongBeach.org, “Coffee shops such as Portfolio, owned by Kerstin Kansteiner, has for years been a mecca for bicyclists looking for a great place to hang out. And it is now the place were the monthly Cyclone Coasters ride begins, a ride that attracts over 100 bicyclists each month for a leisurely ride through Long Beach on vintage bikes.” The positive exchange between bikes and businesses doesn’t end there; the city’s growing bike taxi community proves beneficial for everyone. In Pedaling Revolution, Jeff Mapes discusses the need for cities to have “sexy” transportation alternatives. Adopting the logic of Susan Zielinski, “who runs a transportation think tank at the University of Michigan,” Mapes argues that if people see alternative forms of transportation like cycling as chic and progressive, they’re more likely to use them. Nothing fits that description like pedicabs. If you don’t know what pedicabs are, they’re essentially rickshaws, but instead of being pulled by horses or cattle, they’re most often pulled by fit grad students trying to make some extra cash. The three-wheeled contraption is like some creature out of Greek mythology: part bike, part couch. The front looks just like a normal bike, but in back there is a leather padded bench seat bound on each side by two large wheels. The seat is long enough to fit two people comfortably, or three people so long as they don’t have a propensity toward deep breathing. Andrea Johnson, a grad student at CSULB, has been bike taxiing for the Pedaler’s Society pedicab service since June. “June - when it was hot and the money was good!” recalls Johnson. On any given night, Johnson can make anywhere from $2 to $200. “It’s completely unpredictable,” says Johnson. “We usually follow events. Where there are events, there are people expecting to spend money--so their pockets are a little more open.” The drivers park their pedicabs on the street and stand in front of Legends, a sports bar on 2nd Street - a popular strip of shops, bars, and restaurants. The owner of Legends also owns a portion of Pedaler’s Society. So, when customers leave the bar, they are encouraged to get one of the bike taxis to take them to their car or home. The green sharrows on the street are perfect for pedicabs. Since the drivers don’t have to worry as much about car traffic, they can focus on giving their clients a better experience. According to the drivers, their two main clientele bases are the drunks and the romantics --and they’re not always mutually exclusive. “We get 14
hop-ons, we get drunk people doing crazy things, we get people demanding that we take jello shots before we drive them around,” says Johnson, “It’s really fun to be on the outside of trouble, watching people on the inside.” For Johnson, the job can be as much about trying not to get picked up herself as it is about trying to pick people up. “I get people with horrible pick-up lines,” Johnson laughs. “It’s kind of funny. They think when they rent the taxi, they’re renting you. So, now you are their monkey. ‘Oh, sing a song while you’re riding. Oh, I’m going to grab your butt while you’re riding.’” Fellow pedicab driver, Dusty Tailor, remembers the farthest he ever had to take someone. He was working a downtown musical festival, Funk Fest, when to two drunk men got in the back of his pedicab. “One of them was so drunk, I don’t even know how he got in the seat,” said Tailor. Tailor asked where they were headed, and they gave him general directions. He ended up biking these two “full statured” men, in 96 degree heat, over the LA river to Wilmington. “I learned my lesson with that one,” Tailor laughed. “I’d never ride someone that far again. It wasn’t worth it. I still had to ride all the way back!” Johnson is a serious biker who has fun with her bike taxi, but has bigger things on her agenda. In an event she created and titled, Mexico-or-Bust, Johnson plans to cycle 120 miles to the Mexican border to fundraise money for Pathways to Independence. The money is to be used to support women who have been involved in abusive relationships or homes. “I was involved in an abusive relationship,” said Johnson. “So it’s worth the cause,” Johnson doesn’t need to train for the event. Her bike has been her sole means of transportation since high school. “I’ve never owned a car,” said Johnson. “I’m so grateful that it’s cool to bike in Long Beach, now. I get hit by cars a lot less often and people yell at me way less often. I used to get cursed at all the time, fingers, people blowing their horns. Now it’s like, ‘I like your bike!’” Johnson said, “I remember about four years ago it started to be cool to ride your bike. It was the weirdest thing. Suddenly it changed from me having to hide my bike when I went to work, to my co-workers telling me they like my bike.” Johnson credits this shift in popular opinion to the green movement. “I think it has a lot to do with environmental changes,” she said. “It’s cool to be environmentally conscious. Green is friendly.” Crawford and Tweed hope stories like Johnson’s will serve as an example: help the biker, and the biker
helps the community. The city still has a long way to go before it is “the most bike friendly city in America.” Closer to that title would be cities like Portland, Chicago, Seattle, or San Francisco, but you can’t downplay Long Beach’s massive effort to prove itself. By 2020, the city hopes to increase bike presence by five percent. On their website, the city boasts that they’ve only spent about one-fourth of their grant money to date. The objective is to take the momentum they have gained from public support of projects downtown, and use it to endorse new projects in residential, and often neglected, parts of the city. In a project called FromDaisy-to-Myrtle, after streets in the city, one of these “under-served” areas will be getting the bike boule-
vards, roundabouts, and sharrows that are currently enjoyed in more affluent parts of town. Still in the design stage of the project, Crawford and Tweed have held many public meetings to inform and take suggestions about possible bike infrastructure. They say it will take about a year to complete the design, and another year to complete construction. According to Crawford, improvements in infrastructure can be measured by the use of cycling among youths. “What we’re seeing is that less and less 17-18 year olds are getting [drivers] licenses,” Crawford explains at one of these public meetings. “Biking is becoming more common among kids. It’s the cool way to get around.”
“The way Abille slowly positions himself toward the front of a peloton — a pack of racing cyclists — with the attention, care, and maturity of a much older rider, you can tell that he’s been racing bikes since childhood.”
Justice for Ava O’Connor By Jennifer Calderon On the second floor of the Orange County Superior Courthouse, the O’Connor family wait patiently outside of courtroom C05 in late February. It’s almost 1:30 p.m. and Robert O’Connor is standing and leaning on his side against the wall as he quietly converses with his wife Erica and their close friends Annette and Donald Argo along with their 10-year-old son Gaven. In midconversation, Robert O’Connor lifts himself from the wall and slowly paces in front of his wife. O’Connor, who roughly stands over six-feet tall, has a composed posture. He doesn’t smile, but appears to be relaxed. O’Connor is nicely dressed in a long-sleeved, baby blue button up shirt with thin dark blue stripes, which is tucked into his khaki pants. His wife is wearing a black silk blouse with white flowers and black slacks. Her full lips are covered in red lipstick and the heavy laugh lines around the corners of her mouth make her look like she is frowning. She doesn’t smile either: she just sits there and waits. News cameramen stand directly in front of the closed doors and briefly discuss the suspect’s fifth pretrial hearing. This is a high-profile case and nobody knows what to expect. “I don’t even know what the suspect looks like,” laughed long-time OC Register photographer Bruce Chambers, “I’m having someone wave me down once they see her so that I can snap a photo. My buddy knows what she looks like.” At 1:30 p.m., the courtroom doors open to the public. The O’Connors and the Argo family sit together in the back of the courtroom. Minutes later, a sus-
piciously conspicuous woman quietly arrives in the courtroom with two young men. They sit in the back of the courtroom as well, closest to the exit and near the O’Connors. Nobody notices her yet. She is shielding her face with a wrinkled tissue paper and wearing a faded black sweater with the hood placed over her head. She folds her arms, sinks into her seat and keeps her head down. She is the suspect everyone has been waiting for. Moments later, she rises and walks up to the lectern for her hearing. She stands next to defense attorney Vincent LaBarbera Jr., who is primly dressed in a black suit and sports a pink tie and an eye-patch over his left eye. They both stand before Judge Gregg L. Prickett and wait. Reporters and cameramen clutter together in their designated area on the left side of the courtroom behind a miniature doorway. They aim their cameras directly at the suspect, including Chambers who already has his right index finger placed on the shutter button. They anxiously wait for Judge Prickett’s media request approval that would allow them to take photos of her. They wait for her to move her head so that they can snap a clear profile shot of her face. This woman guards her face so well, that a photographer stuck in the clutter sarcastically says that she was coached well by her attorney. She pushes back the hood of her sweater, which exposes her black hair that is wrapped loosely in a low bun. Judge Prickett approves the requests. Fingers rapidly click on the shutter buttons of the cameras to obtain the best photo. Click, click, click. Snap, snap, snap. 16
Robert O’Connor frowns and his eyes moisten. His eyes turn red. Erica O’Connor glares at this woman. She is 43-year-old Sarwat Yasmine Syed of Ladera Ranch, California. Syed is the mother of the deceased 20-year-old Ali Syed, who the media knows as “The OC Rampage Shooter” that committed suicide after he killed three people and wounded three in Orange County on Feb. 19, however, Sarwat Syed appears before the judge for unrelated charges. She is allegedly responsible for critically injuring Robert and Erica O’Connor’s daughter, Ava, during a devastating hit-and-run crash that happened on the northbound I-405 almost two years ago. On Monday June 20, 2011, the OC Register reported that four-year-old Ava O’Connor spent the afternoon at Pretend City, a children’s museum in Irvine, with Annette Argo and her eight year old son Gaven while Robert and Erica O’Connor were at work. On the way home, Annette, Gaven, and Ava were hit by a car and they drove off the I-405 and into a ditch. Witnesses reportedly saw a black GMC Suburban with the partial license plate number 6NPV drive away from the scene. On July 6, the OC Register published an article which said that the O’Connors were offering a $10,000 reward for anyone who had information leading to an arrest of the person responsible for the crash that put their daughter in intensive care. On Monday, Aug. 1, the car was identified as Syed’s Yukon Denali and she was arrested later that evening and posted $50,000 bail a few days later through a bail bonds professional. According to the prosecutor’s complaint, Syed was the driver responsible for this accident and she “knowingly, willfully, and unlawfully” failed to immediately stop the vehicle, failed to provide vehicle documentation and a driver’s license. She also did not “render reasonable assistance” to the injured person(s) at the scene. Syed pleaded not guilty during her arraignment on Aug. 30, to one count of felony hit-and-run and another count of inflicting great bodily harm. If convicted of both charges, the OC Register wrote that she faces up to seven years in prison. During our interview, Annette Argo and her son Gaven said they sustained serious injuries as a result of the crash. Gaven spent five days in the hospital with a broken clavicle and a severe seatbelt burn. Annette also spent time in the hospital and even though they are doing much better, her son is traumatized and she is still
experiencing physical pain from the crash. “I have long term effects from the crash,” she said, extending her right leg in front of her, which exposed several surgical and non-surgical scars. “I have a hard time walking still. My right leg was completely shattered.” Even though Argo and her son were injured, Argo said during our interview that Ava’s injuries were a lot worse. After the crash, Robert O’Connor told the OC Register during an interview in 2011 that Ava spent more than a week in intensive care and underwent a ninehour operation to fix her jaw, eye sockets, and nose. O’Connor also said that Ava couldn’t chew her food, couldn’t yell and that her jaw was temporarily wired shut. Syed’s hearing lasts less than fifteen minutes. Judge Prickett grants LaBarbera’s request to reschedule their pretrial for April 15 back in courtroom C05. Syed puts her hood back on, raises the tissue paper up to her nose and quickly walks toward the two young men she came with and exits. Cameramen from the OC Register chase her out of the courtroom, through the courthouse exit, and into the parking lot until she finally drives away. LaBarbera completely disagrees with the prosecution’s complaint. During a press conference outside of the courtroom, LaBarbera speaks into the microphones placed near his lips and assertively says that the Syed family are victims in this situation. When I ask him about the details of what happened after the crash, LaBarbera responds: “We believe that Mrs. Syed is completely innocent of these charges,” LaBarbera says. “The witness that testified during the preliminary hearings said that she [Syed] in fact pulled over. She immediately contacted her insurance company within minutes of the accident.” The O’Connors and the Argos are the last to leave. They sit at the same bench area outside of the courtroom where they waited minutes before the hearing. It’s quiet. Gaven plays with his Nintendo DS game system while Deputy District Attorney Patrick Moss approaches the adults and greets them. According to Robert O’Connor, Ava is six years old now and is still recovering. She started the first grade last September and she has picked up a fun activity. “She loves to dance,” O’Connor nods, his eyes still red. “She’s healing considerably, but there’s still a way to go. I just want justice to be done.”
17
“Ava spent more than a week in intensive care and underwent a nine-hour operation to fix her jaw, eye sockets, and nose.�
Just Another Mountain to Climb By Katie Ludwick Breathless and feeble, 18 year old Dana Kriskovic could feel her body giving out after climbing the 14,505 ft. of Mt. Whitney. She made the nine day excursion with her uncle during her senior year of high school. While the first few days were spent getting acclimated to the high altitude, Dana and her uncle climbed the mountain and came back down all within the same day. Dana looks back on her experience and recalls that something just did not feel right. At the time she disregarded this initial instinct, attributing her source of discomfort to the mountainous conditions. In retrospect she now knows the real reason why her body began to surrender - she had stage 4 Hodgkin’s Disease. Over 30 years later, the only time Dana feels out of breath now is when she is busy chasing after her 7 year old nephew, Richard. Like today, for example, she has spent the entire morning riding bikes with him. However, before the fun could even begin, Dana had to take Richard to get a properly fitting helmet. His was much
too big and there was no way that she would let him get near a bike without the proper gear. After all, Richard has a lot of brains to protect. Though she has no children of her own, Dana adapts flawlessly to the role of mother, treating Richard as if he were her own. Richard’s little sister, Andy, was unable to stay with Auntie Dana this weekend because of her lingering cough. Everyone agrees it is better not to take any chances. Dana has always led a very active lifestyle and copes well with a full workload. Growing up she was involved in a variety of activities, ranging from participation in 2 high school sports to becoming a First Class Girl Scout. Her college years were no exception, with Dana often putting in long days and nights to honor all of her many commitments. After graduation from high school in ‘76, Dana had plans to go to Cerritos College to become a dental assistant. Dental assisting became her dream career during the time that she had braces. “The girl would always ask me the same thing: 19
‘is anything loose, lost, or broken?’ I knew I could do better than that and decided to go into the dental field.” Things were going great for Dana in college. She was a better student than she was in high school, she played on the women’s basketball team, was an officer in Tera Beta, a dental assisting sorority, and had internships at both UCLA and USC. Even though she felt her energy levels draining, Dana kept pushing herself further and further. “I remember I was at my internship with Dr. Fastnaught at USC and I could just feel myself falling asleep. I didn’t know why, I just had no strength,” she recollects. Around Halloween of ‘81 Dana began to realize that maybe the symptoms she was feeling were abnormal. She remembers being so tired that she could barely function. Her fears heightened when she developed a fever of 106 degrees overnight. Dana decided it would be best to seek medical attention and made herself an appointment at the the doctor across the street from her internship. She did not have a regular doctor because she had always been in good health. Alarmed by her dangerously high fever, the doctor started her on an antibiotics regime. After several days her fever still persisted. Meanwhile, she was still fighting her hardest to push through her daily life. On November 17th she went back to the doctor. Finally the decision was made to admit her to Long Beach Community Hospital for observation until they could figure out what was causing her high fever and constant fatigue. Searching for answers, they questioned her about her recent activity. “I told them I had climbed Mt. Whitney and they gasped ‘maybe it’s Rocky Mountain Fever!’ They really had no idea.” Friends frequently stopped by to keep her spirits high by bringing pizza and beer, making the sterile hospital environment seem a little more like home. After over 17 long days of deliberation, the doctors finally came to a conclusion about the source of Dana’s mystery illness. It was stage 4 Hodgkin’s Disease, a type of cancer prevalent in young individuals that attacks the lymphocytes. The cancer had already spread to several locations in her body, causing swelling in her neck, underarms, and groin. Due to the severity of her condition, they believed that she had probably been sick since high school, explaining her post-climb fatigue several years ago. She recalls her reaction upon hearing this life changing news, “At age 23, I didn’t even know what cancer was. When you are that young you don’t have a care in the world. You think you are going to live forever.” Since Dana was out of college and currently working full-time at a new practice where she 20
was the only employee, she was offered no benefits, like medical insurance. With only one income coming into the Kriskovic household, her family would lose everything if they helped her. In consequence, Dana was forced to turn to government sponsored health programs like Medicaid to help finance her treatment. All the money she had been putting aside for a new condo in Huntington Beach now had to be used to pay her medical bills. In 1981 cancer treatment was nowhere near as developed as it is today. Dana was given a few choices. Since it was stage 4, she was presented with the option to undergo experimental treatments. She was told that she could go to institutions like Stanford or The Mayo Clinic to receive the best care. Dana chose to stay in California near her family. “All I could think about is how I wanted to live to see my 11 year old sister graduate high school and get married someday. There was no way that I would miss that.” Since she was staying here, the hospital referred her to an oncologist. “What’s an oncologist?!” she exclaimed. She had never heard any of these terms in her life. Dana began an experimental four-drug chemotherapy regimen known as ABVD on Thanksgiving Day in 1981, her first Thanksgiving away from her family. This combination therapy treated advanced-stage Hodgkin’s Disease better than singleagent chemotherapy could. “I remember somebody telling me that Uncle John had said a prayer about me at the dinner table that night. They said that meant I was going to make it.” She reflects on the importance of this holiday. “I guess that is why Thanksgiving means so much to me today...I am essentially a walking miracle. I have so much to be thankful for,” she says. The morning after her first chemo session she was awoken by Dr. Fastnaught, the dentist she had her internship with at USC. “I was laying in the hospital bed and I remember seeing him and thinking ‘oh my God, my hair!’ It was a mess and he was really good looking. He assured me that it was okay, but still.” Dr. Fastnaught was not the only visitor. Somebody was always there watching over Dana and keeping her spirits high. She still remembers vividly the hospital room she had that overlooked the Long Beach traffic circle. “To watch those cars go around was the most hilarious thing ever.” Dana focused on simple pleasures like this to get her through the day. The nurses would joke that her room looked like a mortuary with all of the flowers. They would even ask if they could eat their lunch in her room so that they could stare at the poster of a halfnaked Jim Palmer that a friend had so kindly hung on
the door to lighten the mood. If there is one thing for sure, it is that Dana was never alone. She credits this as the main reason why she is still alive today. However, no matter how much love and support she received from family and friends, Chemotherapy was rough on Dana. Before she got her broviac catheter installed, her treatment was injected into her arms, often leaving them severely bruised black and blue. “I couldn’t wear short sleeves. I looked like a drug addict,” she says. The broviac catheter solved this problem by serving as a gateway between the drugs and her body. Getting it removed was also tricky, with remnants such as the small metal cuff to hold the catheter in place still left under her skin to this day as a constant reminder of the past. The nausea was also hard to handle. “I remember being sent home from the hospital with a bucket for me to vomit in. They didn’t have the same kinds of drugs back then that they have today.” Even though she had the opportunity to remedy her nausea with marijuana, she never did. “I was too scared. I mean, that’s illegal!” she says. In the early 80s, marijuana as a potential treatment was kind of underground. With a very traditional family, Dana decided it would be best to just grin and bear it. To keep from going crazy, Dana focused on things she enjoyed to make the long days a little more manageable. “You kind of get down sometimes when you think about all your friends out there having fun. It is hard to occupy your time. When I was able to, I would go on walks to get my body moving. However, somedays I didn’t even have the strength to get out of bed.” She also became interested in Angel baseball. When it was not on TV, it was on the radio. “I’d always ask my mom who they were playing that day or if they had won. It was something to look forward to.” Additionally, Dana began to remember important dates vividly. Between November of ‘81 and January of ‘83 she could tell you the exact dates her friends and family got married. “I guess I was so sick that I had nothing better to do. Now these dates are permanently in my head,” she says. One of the most important aspects in Dana’s recovery was the support she received from her doctors. She felt really comfortable with them as they outlined each and every step of treatment, restoring her hope for a healthy future. One nurse in particular had a special impact on Dana. As a survivor of Hodgkin’s Disease herself, she told Dana exactly what to expect without sugarcoating the truth. “She was talking about losing her hair and pulled her wig off right in front of me. I just flipped. I imagined myself looking the same way shortly.”
When Dana’s hair did begin to fall out, she decided to cut it short and wear a wig that looked similar to her natural hair. She recalls the time she went to Knott’s for a mother-daughter dinner event. Unaware that she was currently undergoing cancer treatment, the organizers of the event persistently pressured her to get a haircut on stage. “I froze and just imagined them pulling my wig off with a stroke of the brush. How embarrassing would that have been?” Luckily for Dana, her mother stepped in and saved her from a potentially traumatizing situation despite her already scarlet cheeks. At first Dana was hesitant about telling others she was sick for fear that she would be treated differently. “I didn’t know much about cancer, I didn’t want people to think I was contagious!” While the majority of her friends and family stuck by her side, some decided that they would rather not wait it out. Three girls from high school even went so far as to say they did not want to be her friend anymore because they did not want to see her die. “I thought to myself, whoa! I’m not going to die!” Looking back, Dana is thankful she let people in. “Being closed and not wanting to tell anyone anything is not good. The more open you are, the more people can help you to get better. Without that support your chances are slim. Cancer is not something you want to battle alone.” In January of ‘83 Dana was declared to be in full remission and she stopped receiving treatment. The doctors told her that they would still need to see her every couple months just to make sure the cancer was completely gone. To this very day she still goes to the oncologist every year for blood work. She does not consider this a nuisance, as she is grateful for her health and more than willing to take any preventative measures she can. According to the National Cancer Institute, studies of adult survivors have found that, 30 years after treatment, patients with Hodgkin’s disease have among the highest risk of developing serious health problems. Within that demographic, female survivors have a significantly higher chance than men. Since Hodgkin’s targets mostly young adults between the ages of 15 and 35, it is almost certain that Dana will not relapse, but this does not rule out the possibility that she could contract a different type of cancer at any time. Even though she was now in full remission, Dana could not return to her job at the dentist’s office for several months because her body was much too weak from all the chemicals. Although, when she did return, she found herself in a predicament as Dr. Fastnaught had 21
replaced her with two new assistants. Dana was unable to work in the back of the office because as a recovering cancer patient, her weakened immune system could not afford to be around the saliva of others. Her doctors warned her there was a slight chance that she could contract bacterial infections if exposed. Dana decided this was her cue to leave and found a job at a dental insurance company where her boss, Charlie, hired an broker to help her get medical insurance. Even after 30 years, it is still very hard for Dana to get insurance today because no company wants to cover somebody with her particular medical history. However, with Obama’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, companies are now required to issue policies regardless of any medical condition. This may be good news for Dana. Today, Dana is happy with her career in customer service and sales at a prosthetics company. While she does miss the dental field, she is satisfied with where she is now. She admits that if she had not gotten sick, she would probably still be in dental assisting and maybe would have trained the extra 2 years to become a hygienist. But looking back is not something that Dana does often. “I’ve found that you can’t reflect on your past say ‘what if?’ If I would have done that I would have probably gone crazy. I prefer to look towards the future.” One of the hardest parts for Dana was losing
her ability to have children. She chose not to freeze her eggs when she was undergoing treatment. “Yeah, I would have liked to have 2 kids with a cute 6’5 guy, but hey, I could never find the right one anyway! Plus I have my niece and my nephew to play with. What more could I ask for?” Dana is not married and enjoys the independent lifestyle she leads. After battling cancer she learned that can take better care of herself than anyone else can. Her condo in Rancho Santa Margarita is now paid off and she delights in spending her free time as she pleases. She still enjoys living an active lifestyle and notes hiking, mountain biking, cooking, and reading as some of her favorite hobbies. She is also a huge UCLA fan and is still boasting about their recent win. As a survivor, she is actively involved in the American Cancer Society and is always willing to lend a helping hand or ear to those in need of support. A few years back she served as a mentor to a student at her local high school who was battling stage 4 Hodgkin’s with no insurance just like she had in her youth. This young man had relapsed and was losing faith. “One thing I learned was that you have to have a positive attitude. You can’t just give up. Boys seem to have a harder time with that than us women,” she chuckles. For Dana, cancer was just another mountain to climb and she is now relishing the view from the top.
22
Taste Shock By Katrina Yentch My first sip of Intelligentsia Coffee in months sends my taste buds exploding. Everything on my mind suddenly disappears, replaced with new thoughts, “Holy mother of God, this coffee is amazing.” I am so glad I trudged through the crowded parking lot in the uncharacteristically hot November heat and waited and crossed three different intersections to sip this. I don’t care about the awful old-school 90s rap drizzling down from the speakers overhead, something they claim as trendy and catchy. The music only seemed to increase the anxiety I had in waiting to place my order as I stood eighth in a line of 15 customers at the time. The baristas that are dressed in a combination of formal meets pioneer, an attempt at a new wave brand of hipster attire, do not phase me. I am aware that aesthetics are a key to a coffee shop’s success, and that Intelligentsia may be trying just a little too hard. The building is drenched in decorative lights above me; some are even encased by clear, glass mason jars. Portraits of dead poets line the rusted red brick wall in front of me; underneath them nestle church pew-esque benches for guests to consume their caffeine and urge the guests’ prolonged stay here. It all confuses me; my mind is cluttered, my eyes opened wider than usual, still trying to process this mess that is their décor. However, it is that double shot iced mocha that sets me straight, the perfect concoction of espresso and chocolate parading together to melt in my mouth. The milk and ice them, making the mix palatable enough so as to not overwhelm me. It is practically aware of my reaction, easing into a stronger flavor and becoming more enticing with every sip I carefully gulp down, the cold liquid swimming its way down my throat. It is this drink that allows me to endure the hideously hip-to-the-point-where-it-is-obnoxious atmosphere of Intelligentsia. The beverage demands me to admit that despite my distasteful surrounding; this is one damn good cup of coffee.
Intelligentsia Coffee http://www.intelligentsiacoffee.com/ Silver Lake 3922 West Sunset Blvd. Los Angeles, California 90029 Venice 1331 Abbot Kinney Blvd. Venice, California 90291 Pasadena 55 East Colorado Blvd. Pasadena, California 91105
23
Alternative Media
Dean of Students
Westminister Press
UCI Scheduling & Conferences
KUCI
Anthill Pub & Grille
Gina’s Pizza & Pastaria
UCI Classroom Technology Support