Mustang Daily - 5-6

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MR. PRESIDENT

Volume LXXVII, Number 102

Monday, May 6, 2013

Jason Colombini’s grandfather, John, stands third from the right, while Robert E. Kennedy stands at the far right. John attended Cal Poly from 1945 - 1949 as a crop science major, marking the start of the Colombini legacy at Cal Poly. Jason, an agribusiness junior and the newest ASI president, is the sixth member of his family to attend the school.

HOLLY DICKSON

hollydickson.md@gmail.com

A

s a kid, Jason Colombini didn’t have friends.

A mild speech impediment prevented him from pronouncing his “th”’ or “sh”’ sounds correctly in grade school. Although the speech impediment didn’t last long, his tendency to say as little as possible and stay inside, reading books and playing piano, lasted until middle school.

“I didn’t have very many friends,” he said. “I was a very quiet kid. I kept very much to myself, really didn’t go outside or hang out with people a lot. … I was just very, very, very introverted.”

Colombini, an agribusiness junior, will be the first male Associated Students, Inc. (ASI) president in five years come this fall. He won 3,720 of the 7,844 votes cast in the election — a number much larger than the total population of his hometown, Linden, Calif. — a town so small it’s technically a “census-designated place.”

He grew up on a 175-acre walnut farm near Linden that stretches along a winding river.

“You go across this bridge to get over onto our road,” said Colombini, who drives a

MAGGIE KAISERMAN/MUSTANG DAILY

Agribusiness junior Jason Colombini has years of Cal Poly history behind him as he prepares to take a new step in his journey: becoming the first male ASI president in five years. ’92 yellow Chevy pickup. “All along the road there’s these 300-year-old oak trees. … It’s just,” he pauses, “home.”

Colombini went to school in Linden and started to branch out and meet people in middle school. By high school, he was heavily involved in sports, and Future Farmers of America (FFA) and 4H — two organizations he credits with

WORD ON THE STREET What was your reaction to Jason Colombini winning?

helping him get past his fear of public speaking.

“I was deathly scared of public speaking,” Colombini said.

“I can’t describe the exact moment when I stopped being scared of public speaking, but I know my freshman year (of high school) I almost wouldn’t have run for (a position) if I had to give a speech.”

Now, Colombini said he

“He’s definitely fit for the position, and I’m excited to see what he’s going to do.”

SPORTS, pg. 8

MUSTANGDAILY.NET

Baseball sweeps UC Riverside.

“It’s been a huge journey,” Colombini said. “If I had been a second or third grader and looked at who I was senior year, I never would have guessed that was who I turned out to be.”

‘You’ve got to do what you want’ Colombini’s journey to Cal Poly after high school was a

“I think it’s great. I’m excited to see what the new president has in store.”

Tomorrow’s Weather: high sunny

Cloudy partially cloudy

66˚F

low 50˚F cloudy

see COLOMBINI, pg. 2

“I think he’ll bring change to the campus.

Hopefully he’ll make changes that help the athletes.”

• Katherine Little kinesiology junior

• Emily Spaide business administration freshman

CHECK OUT for articles, videos, photos, & more.

considers getting his point across while he’s speaking to a crowd to be one of his strong suits.

Colombini’s transformation during high school was marked by more than his newfound confidence in front of a crowd — by his senior year, Colombini was voted a prince in Linden High School’s homecoming court.

little more predictable than his childhood transformation.

As the sixth Colombini to come to Cal Poly, he never questioned he’d end up here someday.

“Probably since I even knew what college was, I knew I was going to come to Cal Poly,” he said. “I’ve got pictures of me being 4 years old wearing Cal Poly gear.”

But it’s not as if he didn’t have other options.

Ivy Leagues sent him invitations, with applications attached, to apply because of his high ACT scores, he said. But to Colombini, it didn’t matter — he applied to other schools, mostly to humor others who told him to do it and see what happened, he said.

“I even had a friend go up to me,” Colombini said, “and blatantly be like, ‘Are you an idiot? You can go to Harvard if you want to, and you want to

• Chris Fletcher kinesiology sophomore

INDEX

Opinion/Editorial...............6 News.............................1-3 Classifieds/Comics............7 Arts...............................4-5 Sports..................................8 foggy

windy

light rain

rain

thinderstorm

snow

MDnews 2

Monday, May 6, 2013

Semester protest fails to draw support ALEXANDRIA SCOTT

alexandriascott.md@gmail.com

“We want quarters, where are our supporters?” the group chanted to students lounging in the sun on Dexter Lawn.

But Pixy Stix, free hugs and the opportunity to speak on a megaphone did not excite Cal Poly students to join the protest against semesters t Thursday.

In an online poll of 7,250 students put on by Associated Students, Inc. (ASI), 89.9 percent voted to keep Cal Poly on the quarter system, but one could count the number of activists at the protest on fingers and toes.

“The reason people voted for quarters was because they thought it would effect us, and now that the changes are happening in 10 years, no one cares,” construction management junior Tyler Menard said at the protest.

Menard’s sentiments were echoed among other students who chose to sit on the grass rather than join the demonstration. The nice weather kept city and regional planning junior Andrew Levins situated on the lawn. Even though he voted in favor of quarters, the group of protestors was too small to make a difference in changing the chancellor’s decision, Levins said.

“They took our vote and then we were told (the decision) is inevitable and they just did it,” Levins said. “The

COLOMBINI continued from page 1

go to Cal Poly?’”

But he brushed it off, saying a Harvard reputation doesn’t matter.

“You’ve got to do what you want,” he said. “I love Cal Poly, I’ve loved it since I was a little kid. Another school could have given me a full-ride and I would’ve gone to Cal Poly.”

Green and gold blood Although Cal Poly was the school Colombini wanted, his passion for the university stems from a history deeper than himself.

His great grandparents moved to the U.S. from Italy with high school educations and were big proponents of going to school all their lives, Colombini said.

So when Colombini’s grandfather, John, wanted to attend University of California, Davis, John’s parents were all for it. That is, until John’s mother found out one of her son’s cousins had gone there and gotten a girl pregnant.

“So my great grandmother found out Cal Poly was an

chancellor coming isn’t to ask us what we think, it just looks good on paper.”

Other non-protesting students said they might join if they didn’t have to deal with the academic constraints of week five. Psychology junior Carissa Lane said she might have joined if she didn’t have to go to class and take a midterm within the hour. She also mentioned that even though the vote indicated students favored quarters, all decision making was done without regard to student opinion.

“I don’t feel like I have a voice,” she said. “If I protested, it wouldn’t do anything.”

all-male school,” Colombini said, “and she says, ‘I don’t care what you say, you’re going to the all-male school.’ That’s what started (the) whole Cal Poly tradition.”

Once Colombini’s grandfather arrived in San Luis Obispo in 1945 as a crop science major, he found his niche, joining the glee club when H.P. Davidson, who the music building is named after, was the adviser.

He also worked as a resident adviser in on-campus housing — which at the time were cottages — as advertising manager of Mustang Daily, and in the campus dairy, where the Sierra Madre towers now sit.

“He was here when Mott was here, McPhee was here,” Colombini said. “So all these names that are buildings now are people he was going to school with.”

Robert E. Kennedy was his grandfather’s journalism club adviser during his years at Cal Poly.

Colombini keeps a picture of his grandfather and Kennedy, posing with other students in the journalism club, in his room.

“I love our Cal Poly stories,” Colombini said, describing the time his grandfather returned

Those who did protest repeatedly passed out flyers about their stance against quarters and asked students who walked by to join them in the demonstration. Business administration senior Alex Schafle actively approached groups of students on Dexter Lawn with a handful of Pixy Stix in efforts to increase the number of students involved in the rally.

“If they are going to ask us for our opinion, they should probably take it seriously,” she said. “Personally I don’t care ALEXANDRIA SCOTT/MUSTANG DAILY about semesters versus quarSeveral were present at Thursday’s semester protest on Dexter Lawn, but the majority of ters, but the fact they didn’t listen to us bothers me.” students spent the two hours lounging on the lawn rather than protesting.

to Cal Poly in the ’70s to take his first son to college. Kennedy was university president by then and recognized him right away.

“Kennedy turns around toward my grandfather and just says, ‘John, how’s it been? It’s been forever,’” Colombini said.

“He just knew him right away, and that stuck with me a lot — there’s just that personal level here at Cal Poly.”

Colombini’s father, Jay, and two uncles attended school here as well. And this fall, his little sister will become the seventh member of the family to go to Cal Poly.

Changing perceptions Although Colombini’s father and twin brother were in Alpha Gamma Rho at Cal Poly, when Colombini arrived as a freshman, he thought he knew at least one thing about the way he wanted the next four years to go — it would have nothing to do with greek life, he said.

“When I came to Cal Poly, I was very anti-greek,” he said.

“I did not think there was any purpose for fraternities, I didn’t want to be part of it, associated with it, or whatnot.”

Want to advertise in Go Greek? Call 805.756.1143 or e-mail advertising @mustangdaily.net @

But in his first class on the first day of freshman year, he met Paul Carmazzi.

It was Agribusiness 101, and the teacher asked everyone to pair up and introduce their partners to the class, Colombini said.

“This is Paul Carmazzi, he’s from Sacramento and his favorite ag commodity is rice,” Colombini recalls saying.

“This is Jason Colombini, he’s from Linden and his favorite commodity is walnuts,” Carmazzi said after him.

Carmazzi, now an agribusiness junior as well, and Colombini have remained friends since that day, and after Carmazzi joined Zeta Beta Tau (ZBT) winter quarter of their freshman year, Colombini began to reexamine his feelings about greek life.

“That was when I still wasn’t too happy about greeks,” Colombini said. “(Carmazzi) was really talking to me a lot about it, really drew me to it. He was one of the guys who really had a huge influence on me to join ZBT in particular.”

Although Colombini has since changed his mind about greek life — he’s currently the president of the Interfraternity Council (IFC) — greek life hasn’t changed the 20 year old’s decision to not drink until his 21st birthday.

“Probably one of the toughest things has been so many people that ask, you know, ‘Do you wanna drink?’ Or they just forget,” Colombini said. “If you can say no to that kind of pressure, you can say no to anything.”

But he’s planning to celebrate once that day rolls around in June.

‘Kindling to his fire’ Now, Colombini and Carmazzi, ZBT’s president, live across the hall from each other in the main ZBT house.

“Sometimes we’ll play a song and start dancing in the hallway and get ourselves pumped up for the day,” Colombini said.

Carmazzi said the music selection for the morning pumpup songs usually comes from one of three musicals: “The Wizard of Oz,” “The Sound of Music” or “Singin’ in the Rain.”

Their routine got started

He works for the people who put him in the position (of ASI president). They are the kindling to his fire.

PAUL CARMAZZI AGRIBUSINESS JUNIOR

when they were cleaning up after a fraternity retreat, Carmazzi said.

“Jason and I started blasting ‘Good Morning’ from ‘Singin’ in the Rain,’” Carmazzi said.

“We were just on top of tables and we started tap dancing …

I knew way before then that he was going to be a best friend, but after that I was just like, ‘This guy is out of this world.’”

Carmazzi, who has also shared more serious roles with Colombini, such as working on his campaign for ASI president, said Colombini is one of the most fun and selfless people he knows.

“There are so few people that care about others more than himself,” Carmazzi said. “He works for the people who put him in the position (of ASI president). They are the kindling to his fire.”

Current ASI president Katie Morrow said conversations with Colombini are memorable and make it apparent how driven he is.

“He’s a very unique guy,” Morrow said. “Anyone who meets Jason (is) not going to forget what their interaction was like. He’s so enthusiastic and just takes advantage of every opportunity.”

A regular guy Although Colombini quips that he’s forgotten what free time is like, even the most driven people have to take a break sometime.

When he has time during lunch, he likes to catch an episode of “South Park” — a show he hadn’t seen until this past school year, but has already watched all 16 seasons.

But besides “South Park,” “Parks and Recreation” — his favorite TV show because of the “hilarious” Ron Swanson — and playing Super Smash

Bros. with his fraternity brothers, Colombini said he misses spending time outside.

He’ll be staying in San Luis Obispo to officially take office in June, but said he’d like to find time to “get a little more tan along the way.”

“Go hang out by the Rec Center pool, take a half-day and drive to the beach … Or, heck, even hike Bishop,” he said. “I’d like to do that again.”

The campaign Colombini certainly didn’t find free time during spring break.

Instead, he woke up early every day to plan his campaign in the first half of spring quarter.

Along the way he met Daniel Wasta, one of the three candidates who ran against him.

Wasta said Colombini’s hardworking attitude was something he could identify with, and although both said conversations about the idea had been casual so far, Wasta said he would like to work with Colombini as part of his cabinet.

“The day we found out he won, I went up to him and congratulated him,” Wasta said. “The next thing I said is, ‘How can I help?’”

Colombini’s dedication was apparent during his campaign.

When the Wednesday night voting was open, he was at VG Cafe until 2 a.m., talking to students and getting votes, he said.

“And then I woke up early and went to the Rec Center until voting closed (at 7 a.m.),” he said. “You can’t take anything for granted.”

Colombini, whose hard work paid off when the winner was announced during UU hour on April 25, said he feels like he’s meant to be at Cal Poly.

“I love this school and now I get to serve it in the ultimate position,” he said. “You can imagine, I’m on top of the world.”

MDnews 3

Monday, May 6, 2013

Southern California burns

MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE

CHRISTINE MAI-DUC MATT STEVENS CATHERINE SAILLANT Los Angeles Times

Searing temperatures and unseasonably strong Santa Ana winds confronted firefighters for the second day Friday as they battled blazes that threatened homes in Ventura County, Glendale and Walnut, but the day ended with hope that cooling conditions would ease the siege.

The day was filled with tense moments as the Springs fire lurched closer to homes near Thousand Oaks and a fastmoving blaze in Glendale prompted evacuations and temporarily shut down parts of a busy freeway interchange.

Although the amount of burned acreage increased significantly Friday, the fires did not cause major damage to structures.

In Ventura County, authorities said that more than 1,000 firefighters were at work on the Springs fire, which began Thursday near Camarillo. The fire has burned more than 28,000 acres as it ran up canyons and crept within 100 feet of homes in the affluent area of Hidden Valley. The fire was only 20 percent contained as of Friday evening.

The fire made a harrowing

reversal Friday, buffeted by stronger onshore winds than officials expected, endangering areas that had previously escaped the first wave of flames. Officials, who had estimated the fire would be under control by May 13, said they might have to revise those expectations because of Friday’s conditions.

Those on the front lines were hopeful that Saturday’s forecasts of a 20-degree temperature drop, higher humidity and light rain would hold true.

“Any time we can take advantage of the situation, we’re going to get in there and do it,” Ventura County Fire spokesman Tom Kruschke said. “If we get the advantage to move in and get aggressive on this fire and do that safely, absolutely, we’re going to do that.”

National Weather Service forecasters said that the temperatures — which had soared into the 90s on Friday in Ventura County, including a blistering record high of 96 degrees in Camarillo — should fall to the 60s and low 70s.

Bonnie Bartling of the weather service said there was a 10 percent possibility of rain Saturday evening, with an increased chance of 50 percent for Sunday evening into Monday. She added that a cloudy

marine layer was settling over much of Southern California.

Elsewhere in the region, firefighters quickly knocked down brush fires that threatened homes in Glendale and the San Gabriel Valley suburb of Walnut.

Glendale officials credited the clearing of flammable brush and a decisive air attack as being critical in gaining the upper hand on that 75-acre blaze, which scorched the Chevy Chase Canyon area north of the 134 Freeway.

“We hit it quickly,” Glendale spokesman Tom Lorenz said.

The city’s firefighters, Lorenz said, had been preparing and planning for brush fires due to the recent high winds.

Los Angeles County firefighters took an hour to knock down a five-acre fire that threatened homes in the 600 block of North Silver Valley Trail in Walnut, a suburb of 30,000 near Diamond Bar. Fire Inspector Quvondo Johnson said about 200 firefighters attacked the blaze on the ground and by air.

“We didn’t play,” he said.

In the Springs fire, about 4,000 homes and 300 commercial properties have been threatened, according to a recent tally from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, with 15 residences,

15 outbuildings and five commercial properties damaged.

Nick Schuler, a battalion chief with Cal Fire’s San Diego division, said the homes most susceptible are those where brush hasn’t been regularly cleared away from structures as firefighters suggest.

On the flank of the fire in a Newbury Park neighborhood, where five cul-de-sacs reach into the foothills, Jonathan Neira stood on one of them that was nearly empty and silent except for the hum of a helicopter in the distance.

Ash had descended from the smoke-filled sky, layering lawns with a gray down.

“It was frightening,” said Neira, a California, State Channel Islands graduate student. “You could see the whole ridge on fire.”

More residents — in Hidden Valley and off Potrero Road, in particular — were ordered to leave Friday as evacuations in Sycamore Canyon, Deer Canyon and Yerba Buena remained in effect, said Bill Nash, a Ventura County fire spokesman. Residents have been allowed to return to the Dos Vientos area and Cal State Channel Islands.

Throughout Friday afternoon, residents in the evacuated areas scrambled to pack their cars and load horses into trailers.

Boy Scouts sued for child abuse KIM CHRISTENSEN Los Angeles Times

A Pennsylvania man sued the Boy Scouts of America on Friday, alleging that the youth organization failed to protect him from sexual abuse by a Scoutmaster nearly 37 ago and then covered it up.

Carl Maxwell Jr. was one of five boys, ages 13 and 14, who came forward in July 1976 to accuse Rodger L. Beatty of repeatedly molesting them at the man’s home and on camping trips, according to records in the Scouts’ confidential files on alleged sexual abuse.

Despite the boys’ detailed, handwritten statements to Scouting officials in Newport, Pa., they allowed Beatty to resign and quietly leave town without reporting him to the police, the Los Angeles Times reported in October. The Times’ account was based on the Scouting records and interviews with Maxwell and others who

corroborated his story.

“All of us boys — two of them’s dead now — but all of us were scarred, and scarred for life by that,” Maxwell said last fall, referring to Beatty’s alleged abuse. “And he got away with that.”

In his lawsuit, filed in Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas, Maxwell alleged that local Scouting officials in the summer of 1976 assured him and his parents that the matter was “in the right hands” and that they would pursue legal action against Beatty.

Instead, the officials did nothing, the complaint alleges, “because they did not want to discuss Beatty’s sexual abuse publicly and wanted to conceal to the public and all legal and law enforcement authorities that Beatty’s acts of sexual abuse ... were permitted to occur.”

Officials also misled Maxwell into believing that he had “no other legal course of action” against Beatty, the complaint states. In part be-

All of us boys — two of them’s dead now — but all of us were scarred, and scarred for life ...

And he got away with that.

CARL MAXWELL JR. PLAINTIFF

cause of the Scouts’ “fraudulent concealment,” Pennsylvania’s statute of limitations does not bar Maxwell’s lawsuit, said his attorney, Alexander Palamarchuk.

Beatty went on to become a University of Pittsburgh social worker, educator and AIDS researcher. He died in November at the age of 66 after suffering a massive stroke in September. The Los Angeles Times had tried to contact him weeks before he fell ill, but he did not respond to messages.

Scouts spokesman Deron Smith said Friday that officials had not seen Maxwell’s complaint and could not

comment on it.

Maxwell, 50, is seeking unspecified damages.

The Scouts’ confidential files have been used for nearly a century to keep suspected molesters out of its ranks.

Beatty’s records are among nearly 1,900 such files The Times has reviewed in the last year. The files show that hundreds of suspected molesters, many of them respected members of their communities, were never reported to authorities.

Courts in California and Texas have ordered more recent files turned over to attorneys in civil lawsuits, but not made public.

In the Rancho Sierra Vista area, helicopters hurried to drop water on a burning ridge as neighbors in the nearby Banyan neighborhood readied to leave.

Laurie Deremer, 58, watched the flames and smoke peek over the ridge. “Well, this looks a little ominous,” she said.

Near Hidden Valley Road, firefighters quickly extinguished a small spot fire on a flat patch of land. But on Friday afternoon, a wall of flames began to crest the hills, sending teams from three fire engines into action.

By Friday evening on Hidden Valley Road, some residents were still trickling from their homes as trees burned and others smoldered off the main road.

Sue Martin and Coleman Trainor thought the danger had passed Shelburne Farms on Potrero Road, but then they noticed the winds change.

They decided to start moving out the 20 horses stabled on their property on Friday afternoon after the neighboring ranch began carting away their animals.

They were worried about how they would be able to get so many animals out. But trailers started rolling in.

Complete strangers showed up, offering to help.

“This is our third load,” said Lisa Riley, who helped take the horses to a Moorpark equestrian center. “We do this for them because they need the help, and I’m sure they’d do it for us.”

Trainor, who is from Virginia, had never seen a wildfire before. And the assistance brought him relief.

“It’s been really exciting to see the collaboration and assistance from people we don’t even know,” he said. “All of that has helped contribute to a successful evacuation. And now we’ve gotta go.”

Marie Knowles, an owner of Spirit Equestrian, described Hidden Valley as a place with “beautiful ranches, with jumpers and dressage horses in competition.” Knowles, who opened spaces for ranches in need, said that 35 horses had been taken in by 4 p.m. Friday and the facility had room for about 30 more.

“Everyone who owns a horse or runs a facility plans for this kind of emergency,” she said, recalling when she went through an evacuation about two years ago. Others in the equestrian community reached out to her with aid, just as she and others had on Friday.

“We all just pull together,” she said.

MDarts 4

Monday, May 6, 2013

‘On a different level’ COURTESY PHOTOS

Slam poets Rudy Francisco (left), Kat “Simply Kat” Magill (center) and Adriel Luis (right) will compete — among others — at Cal Poly’s annual poetry slam, The Anthem, on Wednesday.

The Anthem aims to bring diverse, unfamiliar topics to Cal Poly BRIAN DE LOS SANTOS

bdelossantos@mustangdaily.net

Portland-based slam poet Brian Ellis is a fan of performing to unfamiliar faces.

He’s never been to San Luis Obispo, so he knows that when he takes the stage this week for The Anthem, the annual slam poetry competition at Cal Poly, he’ll know no one in the stands.

Quite frankly, they might not know him either.

It’s OK, he says, because as he grabs the mic on Wednesday in Chumash Auditorium, he’ll be doing just what he does best: engaging the unfamiliar, familiarly.

“I’ve always been particularly invested in people that have never seen my work,” Ellis said. “The best way to get your work out there is to perform.”

That sentiment echoes the

theme of The Anthem poetry slam this year. While the event will bring back big names such as San Diego-bred Rudy Francisco, who won the event last year, or Bay Area-based slam poet Prentice Powell, the committee is aiming to bring a diverse crop of poets to cover a broad spectrum of topics for three hours of non-stop poetry to Cal Poly.

Or, put simply, an unfamiliar perspective.

“We try to get poets from all different types of backgrounds,” committee member and English senior Cate Harkins said. “Sometimes in this area you don’t see that as much, so we try to get different poets who promote diversity at Cal Poly.”

But this isn’t the first time Ellis, or most of his fellow performers, will deliver poems to

academia. Ellis has performed at end-of-the year poetry slams at colleges on both the west and east coasts. The collegiate atmosphere is unlike any other venue Ellis has performed in front of, he said.

In a good way.

“Performing in a dirty dive bar in a basement with four guys who don’t actually want you talking is completely different,” Ellis said. “People in college are so open. It’s an audience of people who want to absorb whatever it is that you are presenting.”

The poets who have been to the event say the same thing. This year’s lineup includes returners Francisco, who earned 2009 National Underground Poetry Slam Champion honors along with many other poetry accolades, and Kat “Simply

Kat” Magill, who performed at The Anthem in 2011.

Ellis and fellow first-time participants Adriel Luis and Danee “Queen D” Black will round out the group of poets.

Powell, the 2007 Spoken Word Artist of the Year at the Bay Area Black Music Awards, will serve as the competition’s master of ceremonies.

Most have received awards or high praise in different slam competitions across the country. That’s usually the case for the lineup each year. Software engineering senior and committee member Mark Lerner said there’s an appeal of the event that has established credibility within the slam poetry landscape in California.

“We’ve been really lucky to have a name for ourselves,” Lerner said. “Anthem is known among poets — and Cal Poly, in general — as a place where spoken words poets are accepted. There is a very good crowd here.”

That stems from a passion for poetry, at least that’s the case for Lerner. He first got involved in spoken word poetry in high school and has been addicted to its rapid-fire metaphors since.

“Spoken word poetry is so high energy, and so fulfilling, and poets talk about such a wide range of things,” Lerner said. “The use of metaphors and imagery is so heavy, and I think the ability to be swept up in it is wonderful.”

So for him, being such an avid poetry fan, The Anthem is something he looks forward to when it rolls around every year during spring.

“Being able to listen to spoken word poets on YouTube is one thing,” Lerner said. “Being able to see them perform live, speak with them before and after, ask them questions and interact with them, is really something else on a different level.

“Being at a show is just thrill-

ing. You get goose bumps.”

For the poets on stage, they’re looking to put on a good show and introduce the audience to topics and poems they haven’t been exposed to before. Ellis, in particular, wants to be able to have audience members walk away with a few things, above all else.

“Permission to be an authority on poetry,” Ellis said. “Or to inspire them to write poetry themselves, or permission to write poems that are better than mine, because there are probably people in the audience that can.”

He didn’t start writing poetry until he was in his 20s. What he needed, he said, was to see a poet live on stage to truly be inspired — in his words, a poet who was free. He’s hoping he can do that for a few audience members on Wednesday, but only a few, he emphasized.

“Just one or two,” Ellis said.

“I try to keep my expectations low.”

5.6.13 to

5.9.13 PHOTOS BY MAGGIE KAISERMAN MUSTANG DAILY

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MDarts 5

Monday, May 6, 2013

Underground scene’s new odd couple drops uneven debut g cin u d ro Int

polyPHONIC Editor’s note: Parker Evans is an economics senior. This is his Mustang Daily music columnist debut.

Aesop Rock and Kimya Dawson aren’t likely to show up on the same Pandora station.

Aesop’s been hovering around the underground rap scene for over a decade now, and Dawson’s made a career out of quirky anti-folk. It’s an intriguing pairing made up of two gifted songwriters, but the debut of The Uncluded just isn’t as great as the sum of its parts.

Strange as it may seem, it’s not a completely unprecedented match. Dawson was just about the only person Aesop trusted enough to collaborate with on last year’s criminally underrated “Skelethon.” On those songs, Dawson was in his world, but here they share the stage evenly.

The album “Hokey Fright” isn’t far from a 50/50 split for airtime, but curiously, neither party does much to accommodate the other.

Instead of blending together to form a potent secret sauce, “Hokey Fright” is mostly oil and vinegar. Aesop’s beats have historically sounded like they were formed in some kind of dark industrial dungeon, but here he mostly raps over camp-

fire acoustic guitar strums. He and Dawson trade verses and hooks in a cadence that sounds unnatural, even after a handful of listens.

Both artists are versatile.

Dawson has an uncanny ability to find depth in the simplest of phrases, and even for all the occasional morbid subject matter, Aesop has always been overlooked as a genuinely funny rapper.

Too often, though, “Hokey Fright” seems more like an exercise in atmospheric dissonance than a proper album.

One song is a PSA about organ donation, featuring a classic Aesop dissertation on his favorite subject: cutting up bodies (never violent, only curiously medical).

From there, we cut to “Superheroes,” a 38-second track, the lyrics of which consist entirely of Aesop and Dawson literally listing different types of sandwiches.

One of the album’s most affecting tracks, “Bats,” deals with Aesop’s grief over the death of a friend. But this is also the album that contains “WYHUOM,” in which they each call each other and ask, “Why’d you hang up on me?” over and over for three minutes. It’s worse than frustrating — it’s insulting. Intentional

SOUNDS LIKE: If David Fincher made a movie with Diablo Cody BEST TRACKS: “Teleprompters,” “Jambi Café” dissonance is a major theme of The Uncluded, but the album’s perpetual smirk leaves us thinking that the joke’s on us. Rather than feeling challenging, “Hokey Fright” can be outright anti-listener.

That’s not to say it’s irredeemable.

These two are both talented artists capable of producing some brilliant musical moments. Aesop’s wordy, hyperliterate flow will still send

you gleefully to RapGenius, Wikipedia and your dictionary, and he can still leave you holding your head with twisting, enigmatic lines like, “Outside the influential arms of your idolatries/The object will be turning goodbyes into good biology.”

Moldy Peaches fans, too, will find something to love, as Dawson’s introspective verses on “Delicate Cycles” are particularly strong. The closest “Hokey

Fright” comes to putting all the pieces together is on “Teleprompters” and its powerful refrain urging Aesop he needs to get out more. It’s both artists’ best work on the album, and it provides a tantalizing glimpse into what could have been if they could have tapped into a whole record’s worth of whatever magic they found on that track.

It’s clear that Aesop and Dawson enjoy each other’s company, but good chemis-

Rating 5.0/10 try doesn’t always make for a good album. By the time album closer “Tits Up” rolls around, the listener is fed up with both fun Aesop and dark Aesop, and they certainly don’t want to hear Dawson’s attempt at a rap that sounds ripped straight out of her “Juno” soundtrack. “Hokey Fright” has more than a handful of shining moments, but it feels more like a test of patience than a good listen.

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U.S., Mexico presidents must focus on border violence JAVIER SICILIA

Los Angeles Times

President Obama has much to discuss with Mexico’s new president, Enrique Pena Nieto, when they meet in Mexico City. No issue, however, is more urgent than the search for peace, justice and dignity for and between our peoples.

For seven years, Mexico has been living a nightmare. More than 70,000 people, by some estimates, have been killed and thousands more have disappeared in the wave of criminal and institutional violence of Mexico’s war on drug cartels. The collateral damage is a humanitarian tragedy that requires our leaders to have deep and frank discussions about how to transform the failed policies exacerbating the violence.

Our countries need to work together in prioritizing public health and regulation over a strategy that makes suspected drug offenders into military objectives. The effect of four decades of Mexico’s drug war has been, ironically, to strengthen and enrich the very criminals we oppose. We also need urgent common action to shut down the torrent of guns being smuggled from the United States into Mexico, and into the hands of criminals, at a rate of more than 200,000 a year.

For me these issues are personal and transcend ideology, politics and even nationality. One of the victims of the violence was my 24-year-old son, Juan Francisco. He was an athletic, studious young man with no connections to the criminal world. In March

SPECIAL SECTIONS COORDINATOR Jennifer Young

BASEBALL

FACULTY ADVISER Brady Teufel

continued from page 8

GENERAL MANAGER Paul Bittick

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Monday, May 6, 2013

hits. Ellis and David Armenderiz both extended hitting streaks in their first at bats, to 13 and 10 games, respectively.

Despite the early offense, the Mustangs stranded men in key situations. The team left four runners on base in the first two innings, including three in scoring position.

In the third inning, shortstop Peter Van Gansen made a sliding backhanded stop, popped up and fired across his body in time to nail the runner.

Van Gansen’s gem was much needed, as the Highland-

2011, he was murdered with six friends by cartel hit men.

Why were they killed? Because two of the boys tried to get back some tools stolen from the parking lot of a local gang-run nightclub. My son was enlisted by his friends to help. They were kidnapped, beaten, stripped, spit on, tortured and slowly asphyxiated.

We are certain Obama understands how insidious and dangerous this indiscriminate violence is, and the way American drug laws and gun laws empower it.

When it comes to guns, the consensus in Mexico is broad: Students, workers, elected officials and especially police and soldiers all know they would be safer if the United States effectively cracked down on gun traffickers, instituted background checks for all gun buyers and ended sales of military-style assault weapons.

The hard truth is that weak U.S. gun laws allow for conversion of drug trade profits into contraband weaponry in the hands of the very criminal organizations terrorizing Mexico. Most of these weapons can be legally purchased at any of 8,834 U.S. federally licensed firearms dealers in your border states, as counted by Mayors Against Illegal Guns, and then resold at a profit to a smuggler.

Obama’s initiatives would have made this massive and continuous arming of Mexico’s criminal organizations significantly more difficult. In Mexico, we were deeply disappointed when the U.S. Senate rejected popular, modest and eminently sensible measures to make it slightly harder for criminals, smugglers, the ers loaded the bases against Granger but were unable to push a run across.

Catcher Elliot Stewart had a highlight reel play as well, gunning a throw down to second in time to nab a potential base stealer in the eighth.

Every game remaining is a must-win, Ellis said. The Mustangs want to leave no doubt that they are worthy of the postseason this year.

“Last year, we thought we had a good shot at making regionals. We were 36-20, good record, but they didn’t select us,” Ellis said. “Hopefully we can hit that 40 (win) mark, and then I don’t see how they couldn’t select us.”

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mentally ill and the cartels to get their hands on powerful weapons.

We urge Obama and Pena Nieto to use all their available executive powers to stem the tide of smuggled weapons and to support legislative and electoral efforts to overcome political inertia and roll back the power of the light arms industry and their political front groups like the National Rifle Association.

But let’s be clear. Presidents are not all-seeing and omnipotent. They need to be supported, nudged, cajoled, convinced, assisted and otherwise pressured to work on the right causes and make good decisions.

It is the role of an engaged citizenry to make that happen.

After my son’s death, our Movement for P e a c e with Justice and Dignity arose. We pushed

Mexico’s former president, Felipe Calderon, into a series of public dialogues and directly challenged his militarized approach to fighting the gangs.

We mobilized enormous caravans of consolation and hope led by victims of violence. Dozens of buses rolled through Mexico’s worst conflict zones. Yet we knew that to end the killing, drug policy had to evolve. That meant crossing the border.

In August, I embarked on a 35-day, 125-person caravan across the United States.

More than 200 U.S. organiza-

tions helped us with events in 27 cities focused on guns, money laundering and immigration justice. We underlined the need for the Obama administration to walk its talk of an evidence-based, public health model for drug policy.

Yes, work to cut U.S. demand for drugs by devoting more resources to help addicts to recover and young people to make healthy choices. But to effectively shrink the profits of the illegal market, we must also consider regulating widely used recreational drugs.

In November, the citizens of Washington state and Colorado voted to start draining the coffers of criminal drug traffickers by establishing sensible state regulation of marijuana. We hope our leaders are listening.

As our presidents meet, let us wish them clarity and strong heart. We, the people on both sides of the border, will be very attentive.

NEWSART

FOOTBALL continued from page 8

from the others on Saturday, he anticipates that the field will narrow when summer training camp begins. He hopes to arrive at a threeman pecking order by midAugust, two weeks before Cal Poly’s first game against San Diego at home. However, the quarterbacks who miss the cut may find another spot on the field given their athletic ability.

“We have four really good athletes and three of them are going to be standing next to me (on the sideline),” Walsh said. “(Moving them to another position is) something that would be talked about … but none of them would be happy if we told them that they have to go play (run-

ning back). They’d do it, but they all believe they’re the best quarterback.”

Moraga had the best day passing, completing 6 of 8 attempts for 60 yards. His experience in Walsh’s system showed. Having sat behind former quarterback Andre Broadous, Moraga deftly distributed the ball in the Mustangs’ misdirectionfueled offense.

“I’m really comfortable with our offense as a whole,” Moraga said. “I know what we’re trying to do when we’re out there on the field. I’m really poised and there’s nothing that I’m going to see that I don’t know when it comes to defenses. I feel like that’s my upside” Trosin, who Walsh said showed improvement on Saturday, hit 3 of 4 passes for 43 yards, but he also racked up 31 rushing yards on 10 carries.

Graves, a transfer from Air Force, was 2 of 8 passing and

had 45 yards on the ground.

Trosin and Graves attended Folsom High School together, where Graves won a CIF Division II title with the Bulldogs, and Trosin racked up a state-record 6,346 total yards through the air and on the ground during his one season at quarterback.

“I’ve known (Graves) for a long time,” Trosin said. “It’s good to see him and I getting after it. It’s a competition, and we like competition, especially with each other. We’re comfortable with each other, so it’s not as big of a deal.”

The Mustangs return to training camp in early August before their game against San Diego at home to start the season. The team will then go on the road for two consecutive games against Football Bowl Subdivision opponents Fresno State and Colorado State on Sept. 7 and 14, respectively.

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Monday, May 6, 2013 Volume LXXVII, Number 102 ©2013 Mustang Daily “Uh oh...”

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Left fielder David Armendariz extended his hitting streak to 10 games with a single in his first at-bat on Sunday.

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Redshirt freshman running back Kori Garcia led all rushers with 56 yards on nine carries during Saturday’s Spring Game. He is expected to backup Kristaan Ivory and Cole Stanford.

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SUDOKU

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MDsports 8

Monday, May 6, 2013

WALK-OFF WINNERS

IAN BILLINGS/MUSTANG DAILY

BENJY EGEL

benjyegel.md@gmail.com

Just when the baseball team needed it most, true freshman Brian Mundell came through again on Sunday afternoon.

The designated hitter hit his second walk-off hit of the season and led Cal Poly to 4-3 win over visiting UC Riverside (18-25, 7-11 Big West) for the series sweep.

“It was a slider, or a slurve, or whatever he has, some type of spinning pitch,” Mundell said. “I recognized it early, and I was able to adjust my swing enough to put it through the infield.”

The weekend victories ended

a 2-5 skid that saw the Mustangs drop series to conference foes Cal State Fullerton and Long Beach State.

The No. 24 Mustangs (3114, 11-7) trailed by one run with two outs in the ninth when second baseman Denver Chavez drew a 3-2 walk.

Mundell tipped the next batter, center fielder Jordan Ellis, that he would get a first-pitch fastball. Ellis blasted the heater deep to center, where it got caught in the billowing wind and fell in front of a lunging outfielder.

“With this wind out here today, everything’s dying,” Ellis said. “The wind plays a huge factor. You’d be surprised at

how much it really affects the ball. Everything is just hitting a wall in the sky and just drops.”

Ellis’ hit, a triple, tied the game, and Mundell followed with a chopper to the left of the shortstop. He beat the throw for an infield single, and the rest of the players poured out of the dugout to celebrate.

“The most important thing for me is that we won the game, and that we were able to come back and put a W in the win column,” Mundell said. “It just shows the heart and courage that our team has.”

First baseman Tommy Pluschkell knocked in both of the Mustangs’ first two runs despite going hitless in three

plate appearances.

Pluschkell grounded into a fielder’s choice to score David Armendariz in the second. After consecutive UC Riverside errors in the fourth, Pluschkell moved a run home on a sacrifice bunt.

“It wasn’t a squeeze bunt, it was a safety push bunt, with the runner on third not going unless it’s down and away from the pitcher,” Lee said. “It’s just part of our game, and it keeps you from hitting into an inning-ending double play.”

Starting pitcher Bryan Granger was pulled after beginning the fifth inning with back-to-back doubles. This season, Granger has seen quality starts turn into night-

mares, and Lee was quick with the hook.

“When you get this far in the season, there’s a history,” Lee said. “You watch how your pitchers are at a certain pitch count or in certain situations, and you make your decisions and determine on that.”

Reliever Michael Dingilian let one of Granger’s base runners score, and UC Riverside tacked on another run.

Michael Holback kept Cal Poly in the game with four shutout innings, yielding three hits with no walks and four strikeouts.

“Pitching is the biggest percentage, by far, of baseball,” Lee said. “When you pitch,

you can be in every ball game, and then you find ways — like today — to win.”

Mundell and Ellis provided offensive support throughout the game, combining for five see BASEBALL, pg. 6

SUDOKU ANSWERS

Quarterbacks battle in Spring Game J.J. JENKINS

sports@mustangdaily.net

The thing about quarterbacks, according to Cal Poly football head coach Tim Walsh, is that they all think they’re the best.

And during Saturday’s Spring Game, four of the Mustangs’ five options at the all-important position got to show why they deserve to lead the Cal Poly football team onto the field in the fall.

Senior Vince Moraga, redshirt freshman Tanner Trosin, sophomore Dano Graves and senior Kenny Johnston took snaps behind center and mixed the Mustangs’ traditional up tempo, triple-option attack with a few passes downfield.

Chris Brown, another option at quarterback, sat out the

game with a bruised wrist. The four quarterbacks combined to take 105 snaps, 83 rushing attempts and 23 passes, and totaled 467 yards of offense.

Though a different scoring system rewarded first downs and long plays and gave the offensive side a 51-27 victory, it was the defense that held its own against the rotation of quarterbacks. The Mustangs were able to get into the end zone just twice with a field goal, as the defensive side halted multiple drives in the red zone.

Trosin led the first Cal Poly scoring drive that ended with an 18-yard pass to Sam Holguin while, in the second half of play, Moraga threw a 16yard lob to Carson McMurtrey in the end zone for Cal

Poly’s final touchdown.

Despite the Mustangs’ battered offensive line, presumed backup running back Kori Garcia managed to dash for multiple carries of 10 yards or more, and Kristaan Ivory powered through defenders while swinging outside the tackles to give his quarterback another throwing option. Garcia finished the game as the leading rusher, racking up 56 yards on nine carries. “(Garcia’s) not as fast as everybody wants, but he’s very smooth and he can make good cuts,” Walsh said. “And he’s probably a bit more physical than I thought.”

Walsh said that while no quarterback distanced himself see FOOTBALL, pg. 6

NHA HA/MUSTANG DAILY

Redshirt freshman Tanner Trosin (left) was one of four quarterbacks to take snaps during Saturday’s Spring Game. He was 3 of 4 passing for 43 yards.