Monday, Januar y 2 5, 20 16
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Why are student-community relations so poor? What do you think the currently discussed party registration plan could do for the city and community?
What do you think is the root cause of recent tensions in the community?
Are there any public solutions that you feel could help ease the situation?
MUSTANG NEWS FILE PHOTO
Wren Fox @CPMustangNews
Relations between students and full-time residents have grown increasingly icy in recent years. The tensions, many of which were voiced in a public forum, have peaked in part as a response to the “St. Fratty’s
Day” party that caused national headlines after a roof fell in at an early morning party near Cal Poly last year. The public forum was one of the first major public events in which students and other members of the community could gather and share their opinions with each other. Jen-
nifer Lorance, a San Luis Obispo County employee who previously lived next to students, said that she thinks a lack of communication between students and the surrounding community is “a major source of the recent tension.” The divide between students and full-time residents has long
been an issue for the San Luis Obispo City Council, including Vice Mayor John Ashbaugh. Ashbaugh sat down for an interview with Mustang News to discuss the root of recent community problems and possible solutions to them. Continued on page 3
‘Transcend’ stays grounded in the best way possible
GABBY PA JO | MUSTANG NE WS
UP AND IN | Senior guard Ridge Shipley scored 12 points in the Mustangs’ 83-75 victory over Cal State Fullerton.
Men’s basketball holds off Cal State Fullerton Eric Stubben @ericstubben
Senior forward Brian Bennett became the 22nd player in program history to reach 1,000 points as the Cal Poly men’s basketball team held off Cal State Fullerton for an 83-75 victory on Saturday night. The Mustangs (8-10, 2-3 Big West Conference) played the Titans (8-10, 1-4) tight in a first half that featured six ties and held a narrow 37-35 lead at halftime. Cal Poly came out firing in the second half. After two consecutive three-pointers by sophomore guard Taylor Sutlive and junior guard Ridge Shipley, the Mustangs extended their lead to 49-41 with just under 15 minutes to go in the game.
The Mustangs shot 60 percent from the field and limited the Titans to one field goal during the first seven minutes of the half. They led 53-43 with 13 minutes remaining. However, the Titans scrapped back into the game — a theme repeated this season by the Mustangs’ opponents. Cal State Fullerton trailed by only two, 6058, with six and a half minutes remaining before a three-pointer by senior guard Reese Morgan regained momentum for the Mustangs. Cal Poly led by eight with 1:48 remaining before the Titans began fouling for the remainder of the game. Morgan paced the Mustangs with 17 points on 2-7 shooting from the field and 11-for-12 shooting from the free-throw
line. Senior guard David Nwaba and sophomore forward Luke Meikle added 13 points each and Shipley pitched in 12 points of his own. The Mustangs, who are second in the conference in three-point shooting, shot 42 percent from beyond the arc while holding the Titans to 29 percent. Both teams shot 41 percent from the field. Perhaps the Mustangs’ most impressive stat was their victory in the turnover category. The Mustangs created 13 turnovers but turned the ball over only twice, the fewest turnovers ever in head coach Joe Callero’s seven-year career at Cal Poly. The Mustangs continue Big West play this Thursday, Jan. 28 in Mott Athletics Center against UC Riverside before traveling to UC Davis on Saturday.
CHRISTA L AM | MUSTANG NE WS INVOLVED | Student dancers created choreography for the show, making the performances original and exciting.
Brendan Abrams @brenabrams
Orchesis Dance Company, Cal Poly’s oldest concert dance organization, performed the final dress rehearsal for its major annual show Thursday night. While the audience may not yet have been present, it was, without a doubt, something to write home (or in one’s local student
newspaper) about. Let’s get all the criticism out of the way first. “Transcend” is not an ideal title for this production. The word conjures mental images of supernatural events and mystical powers, but the performance itself is firmly planted here on Earth. Like a lot of great art, this particular show derives its beauty and success from nature, through imitation
News... 1-3 | Arts... 4-5 | Opinion... 6 | Classifieds... 7 | Sports... 8
and interpretation, and not so much from magical abstraction. In the spirit of the natural world, “Transcend” speaks wordless volumes with bursts of energy and seamless physical transitions. Every dancer captures what must be a choreographer’s greatest wish: effortless, organic precision. Continued on page 5
Monday, January 25, 2016
NEWS | 2
Cross Cultural Centers expands its programs Carly Quinn @Carlyaquinn
The Cross Cultural Centers have reached out to more students than ever due to an expansion and new programs. Each center puts on a variety of events throughout the year; some are each week, such as the Pride Center’s Pride Study every Wednesday night or the Gender Equity Center’s Womenkind Empowerment and Creativity workshops every Tuesday evening. Other events, such as Pride Prom during Pride Month in April or the Vagina Monologues in May, occur once a year. After 12 years of putting on the original Vagina Monologues, the Cross Cultural Centers want to focus on women’s whole life experiences as opposed to focusing on sex. This year, the Cross Cultural Centers are changing the original script by taking script submissions from students as well as the Gender Equity Center’s student and staff writing team, with performance auditions in the first week of March. This new show is titled “Cal Poly’s OWN (Original Women’s Narratives): PowHerful Voices of Storytelling.” In addition to the individu-
al centers putting on events, all three team up to present Cal Poly with educational and awareness opportunities. “We collaborate a lot,” Cross Cultural Centers coordinator and Pride Center adviser Appy Frykenberg said. “By helping and adding perspectives from our respective departments, but also by trying to get together for signature events or things that come together in an intersectional way.”’ Frykenberg took over Adam Serafin’s position as the Pride Center’s adviser this year. Serafin now covers the marketing and communications side of the Cross Cultural Centers, as well as assisting with the Gender Equity Center’s masculinity portion. Because of these changes, the Cross Cultural Centers are able to expand more by having different perspectives involved. Another way the Cross Cultural Centers are reaching out to students is by holding a new Culture 101 series of workshops that are soon to be developed. This gives the entire campus an opportunity to get a basic understanding of different cultures and walks of life they may not have been exposed to beforehand, such as Queer
101 or Muslim Religion and Culture 101. The Cross Cultural Faculty Symposium is a collaborative project put together by the Cross Cultural Centers. “(This is) an effort to collaborate with faculty who may have an area of passion or research that they don’t necessarily get to talk about in the classroom,” Velasquez said. The first speaker on Wednesday night, Steven Ruszczycky, is an English and Interdisciplinary Studies in Liberal Arts lecturer. He spoke upon the topic of pornography and AIDS in the gay community in the past decades. “It’s okay to talk about topics at the university that seem out there or improper,” Ruszczycky said. “It’s a major benefit for students to be exposed to all the different kinds of work that’s happening at Cal Poly.” The umbrella term “Cross Cultural Centers” includes the Multicultural Center, the Pride Center and the Gender Equity Center. These organizations combined into the Cross Cultural Centers after two and a half years of collaboration. “It was a historical conversation that we had to have,” Cross Cul-
HANNA CROWLEY | MUSTANG NE WS DIVERSITY | The Cross Cultural Centers are now offering different Culture 101 classes for students.
tural Centers’ coordinator Tammie Velasquez said. “Decades ago, centers were built in order to retain and provide community and support for underrepresented populations.” Located in the Julian A. McPhee
University Union (UU), the Cross Cultural Centers strive to foster an environment of acceptance and community for underrepresented members of the Cal Poly population. Students can gather in each of the respective cen-
ters to seek help, ask questions or socialize. The Cross Cultural Centers’ events and times are all available on their website, along with contact information for each respective center.
New sorority Alpha Gamma Delta on campus Gina Randazzo @Gina_Randazzo1
Cal Poly’s new sorority Alpha Gamma Delta (AGD) has been holding an informal recruitment to encourage Cal Poly women to learn about their philanthropy, leadership and social opportunities. AGD’s philanthropy is about diabetes awareness and education.
The chapter held a fundraising event from Jan. 11-13 to raise money for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) Central Coast Chapter. “The JDRF walk was pretty nice because I love supporting and giving back to my community,” animal science sophomore and potential new member Josie Li said. “It was
nice to see them raise funds for a philanthropic event.” AGD has been holding several social events allowing potential new members to socialize with each other. AGD’s bid day was scheduled Saturday. The chapter’s goal was to give out 270 bids, according to AGD’s extension specialist Jennifer Drum. AGD international members came to Cal Poly to tell students what the sorority stands for. Drum is a representative from AGD’s international headquarters and has been organizing its recruitment. “I’m really excited for them to come to campus, because of how welcoming everybody has been,” Drum said. “The women coming out are involved in a lot of different things and it compliments the community well.” After bid day, members that accept their bids will become initiated into AGD and learn about the sorority’s customs, rituals and values. They will then vote on officers for an executive board. AGD will then shift its focus to planning its signature philanthropy event. Drum said new members will get to create their
UNMET TRANSIT NEEDS REQUESTS WANTED Help improve local and regional transit services in San Luis Obispo County.
Tell us your concerns.
TAKE PART... GET INVOLVED PUBLIC HEARING
Wednesday, Feb. 3rd, 2016 SLO County Board of Supervisors’ Chambers 1055 Monterey Street, SLO All requests must be submitted by Wednesday, Feb. 10th, 2016 San Luis Obispo Council of Governments Attn: Tim Gillham 1114 Marsh Street SLO, CA 93401
Unmet_needs@slocog.org Phone: 805.597.8025 Fax: 805.781.5703
GINA R ANDAZZO | MUSTANG NE WS EXPANDING GREEK LIFE | AGD has been holding several social events to meet potential new members.
own event rather than having AGD’s headquarters telling them what to do. AGD members put deep thought in strategies to have girls join the Cal Poly chapter. “I think what (AGD) has to offer is a new experience for
women starting a new chapter. They get to take leadership roles early on and I think that will be very cohesive with the Panhellenic community,” Drum said. Psychology junior and Panhellenic President Michelle Georgette said she was excited to see what
AGD would bring to Cal Poly. “We have such a variety of chapters, so I think they’ll fit in great with the Cal Poly greek community,” Georgette said. “They seem like an awesome group of people and we’re really excited to have them.”
Monday, January 25, 2016
NEWS | 3
Karr not allowed to return to campus Connor McCarthy @Conr_mccarthy
Marcus Karr, a 33-year-old computer science student, has been temporarily suspended from Cal Poly after being arrested in connection with a bomb threat made on a San Luis Obispo Transit bus on Jan. 6. SLO Transit had to shut down bus services for the majority of the day. Cal Poly also sent out an email to faculty, staff and
Continued from page 1
Mustang News: What do you think is the root cause of recent tensions in the community? Ashbaugh: “When it comes down to it, one of the main ones is a biological difference. College-aged young people, in general, like to stay up later, while a majority of homeowners and other community members do not. “The needs of the two groups are fundamentally different, especially when it comes to socializing. Noise, traffic and partying may not seem like that big of a deal to someone in college, but older community members generally notice it more. But I think a lot of people don’t remember what life was like when they were 19, and that many of them were in the same position as the students once.” MN: Are there any public solutions that you feel could help ease the situation? Ashbaugh: “There is a major lack of representation of student interests in the government here. The more students register to vote and get active in the community, the more at home they will feel I think. “A solution I see would be the annexation of the university itself. That would mean that students living on campus would be able to vote and considered part of the community. The city would then also be able to benefit by collecting small amounts of sales tax on campus. It would definitely require a study to accomplish, but I think it would be a great addition and extension to the 28 different partnerships that the city already has with the university.” Ashbaugh shared that the ratio of permanent residents to students (Cal Poly and Cuesta College combined) is around 1.6 to 1. Despite the high numbers of students in that ratio, there is no active representation of the student demographic on the San Luis Obispo City Council. “As a community member I would love to see, from the city’s side, a good representation of the student population put into place,” Lorance said. “I think making students part of the decision-making process would really help create a meaningful partnership and relationship between
students about the bomb threat on campus. Karr’s monologue was caught on video and led to his arrest the same day. Electrical engineering sophomore Karl Kohlsaat was on the bus when Karr began speaking. “The first thing I thought was that this was a teaser because he started off talking about how Shia Labeouf was sometimes an actor,” Kohlsaat said. “He then began saying he had reason to
believe that there would be a bomb on one of the buses that would go off at the highest chance of destruction, which would be around the transit center most likely.” Karr was seen getting off the bus in front of the Performing Arts Center. He wasn’t seen for the majority of the day as police investigated the threat. But Karr resurfaced in the afternoon and spoke to KSBY reporter Charlie Misra about the bomb threat.
the students, the city and older community members.” Over the summer, the city council approved a new set of ordinances addressed mainly toward student gatherings. At the time, council member Dan Rivoire said, “We may be taking steps backwards to build mutual respect in the community.” Rivoire’s thoughts on the ordinances were similar to the opinions of some students who felt that the ordinances were unfairly created without the input of everyone they would affect. Many residents, including Lorance, do not think the issue is one-sided. Lorance also said students need to be more active in the community. “To get their faces out there more would be good. Extra volunteering would be so nice,” Lorance, a program coordinator in the county’s Department of Homeless Services, said. “It is really important for students to be more visual in the community. Folks out there would be a lot more receptive to student input if they saw students actively taking steps to play a bigger positive role in the community that they live in.” Cal Poly administrators and Associated Students, Inc. (ASI) leaders, along with a variety of city employees, full-time residents and Cuesta College representatives, make up the Neighborhood Wellness/Community Civility Group. The group released a report at the beginning of the year with a number of loose plans to improve relationships, including ASI-funded gift baskets to be given to older neighbors and block parties. Ashbaugh’s idea of annexing Cal Poly sat well with Lorance. “I think annexation is a great idea. A lot of people forget that students call this place home too and I feel like they should be able to vote even if they live on campus,” Lorance said. One issue that Ashbaugh and Lorance both touched on was partying. Ashbaugh gave his thoughts on a possible citywide party registration system that would allow people to register parties in exchange for having some details of the city’s ordinances eased.
students, as well as everybody else, show the city that they have no opposition from their neighbors when having an event. I feel like this is a really important conversation to have happen onand-off campus since people will have parties no matter what. The greek community already has to register their parties, so it would be easy to get that information from the school. We would definitely have to look at the incentives and the negatives of the program, but overall it might allow the city to use less emergency services, such as police, for noise calls, and it would create a better relationship between the students and the city. The new police chief (Deanna Cantrell) is out there meeting members of the community and I think that will help with conversations like these as well.”
MN: What do you think the currently discussed party registration plan could do for the city and community? Ashbaugh: “A party registration program would require that
Mechanical engineering junior Eric Johnson said the communication and possible party registration process that Ashbaugh spoke about could be beneficial to students like him. “I have gotten the police called on my house a few times,” he said. “But it’s a pretty weird situation in my neighborhood. Half the people who live there have lived there for 30 years, and the other half are students who like to party sometimes. It really isn’t a good combination.” Lorance said she viewed communication as a key factor in easing the tension between students and more permanent neighbors. “We’ve had some amazing student neighbors and some bad student neighbors,” she said. “But when a group comes up to our house and asks to exchange phone numbers, it means a lot and will definitely get you major points with any families that might live near or around you.” Ultimately, Ashbaugh stressed that a collaborative effort, among other things, is necessary in order to move forward. “The university and the students are some of the biggest economic impacters that this county has, so we should work more with the students if they play such an important role,” he said. “We need to be together if we want to accomplish anything. So by working together, we can make major progress in the future that benefits all groups that reside in San Luis Obispo.”
“I was taken aback. I didn’t recognize him at first,” Misra said. “But when he told me he was the person who made the statements on the bus, I remembered the cellphone video taken by a bus rider that I watched earlier that morning.” Misra notified police shortly after the confrontation. Karr was arrested in the Julian A. McPhee University Union and taken in for questioning. However, he was released later that
evening with no charges. Cal Poly’s administration proceeded with disciplinary action, according to university spokesperson Matt Lazier. “Marcus Karr remains on interim suspension pending the university’s student conduct investigation,” Lazier said. “He has been issued a stay-away order that bars him from coming to campus.” The incident has rattled some nerves amongst bus riders.
Kohlsaat said he’s been more aware of his surroundings while riding the bus. But he said the incident on the bus will not significantly affect his daily life. “I think the people in (San Luis Obispo) are generally level-headed, but anything is possible,” Kohlsaat said. “Terrorism is everywhere and it could happen at any moment, but living in fear isn’t something I try to do. I feel safe in (San Luis Obispo).”
Folks out there would be a lot more receptive to student input if they saw students actively taking steps to play a bigger positive role in the community that they live in. JENNIFER LORANCE
FILE PHOTO | MUSTANG NE WS ANNEX
| Ashbaugh is interested in annexing Cal Poly, which would allow students to vote in local elections.
Monday, January 25, 2016
ARTS | 4
LISA WOSKE | COURTESY PHOTOS A PLAYFUL PARTNERSHIP | Los Lobos worked in tandem with the Ballet Folklorico Mexicana dancers, who performed periodically (in dazzling costumes) throughout the band’s set.
Audience dances their way into the aisles in Los Lobos concert
Annie Vainshtein @annievan
On Friday night, the Grammy Award-winning Mexican-American band Los Lobos graced the Performing Arts Center (PAC) stage, alongside the animated dance troupe Ballet Folklorico Mexicano. Excited parents shuffled to and from the bar, yawning kids in one hand, cups of Corona in the other. People had been waiting for this, and for good reason. The curtains were drawn and at once, air that felt stiff suddenly moisturized — Los Lobos carried the crowd at ease as the longtime friends started their set off to the side, lit by changing green screen backdrops.
Formed in 1973, the band sprouted from a few borrowed recorders and after-school free-form jazz sessions at vocalist David Hidalgo’s house. They were in high school in East Los Angeles at the time. As the band began to expand and become what it is today, they started to experiment with genres, dipping into the roots of its traditional Mexican heritages, as well as the influence from norteño bands and other Tex-Mex sounds. Now upwards of 60 years old, it’s clear the men have known each other for years — they were calm and modest in their performance, despite the booming riffs of flamenco-influenced guitar and thunderous applause.
The audience was appreciative and active, especially in watching the Ballet Folklorico Mexicano dancers, who performed intermittently throughout Los Lobos’ set. In chromatically dazzling costumes, the performers certainly colored the night — the dancing not only followed the music but seemed to take the place of a narrative. The dancing was coy and romantic, and Los Lobos’ performance was just as sincere. Though the stage was massive, the band made it feel smaller. Even before the sea of audience members, Los Lobos’ presence felt more like a few dudes joshing around, tipsy on friendship and the simplicity of it all. Tonally, Los Lobos sounded
very much in tandem; they rose and fell together, a unified front of beefy, head-bobbing men. And in the spirit of unification, the performances also focused a great deal on partnership. The dancers articulated expressions of adornment and passion, romantic pursuit and mirth. The performances also seemed to express a few surprising representations of femininity, gender roles and power. Unlike many other traditional roots of dance, the women seem to lead — so much so, actually, that their male partners would more often be on the floor, 360 degree jump-squatting in perplexing fashions, sometimes even following their
female partners around like puppies, teeth glued to their decorated handkerchiefs. The order of songs oscillated between quick-paced, almost jesting tunes and loving ballads of affection for the “lovely ladies in the audience.” They also played a few songs from their first album. Vocalist and guitarist Cesar Rosas seemed to lead the show in terms of commentary — Los Lobos very much communicated with the audience, making jokes, diffusing technical difficulties and unintentional silences. The latter half of the show more so illuminated the performances; the vignette-like performances grew in intrica-
cy as the night went on. By the end, the backdrops mimicked the grandiose empires of ancient Native villages and the costumes, more and more clad, followed suit. Some of the scenes were so authentic, they felt like an almost-true-to-life return to primal instinct. By the final few songs, exuberant couples got up from their seats and shimmied over to the spacious margins of the PAC, their arms and legs snaking around each other, becoming wavy figures in the dimmed light. The crowd stayed put in their applause as the night set and that of Los Lobos’ came to an end.
2016
Congressional Debate
HAVE YOUR VOICE HEARD THURSDAY Feb. 4
6p–8p Spanos Theatre
CAL POLY
Co-Sponsored by Mustang News and Cal Poly, ASI, College of Liberal Arts, KCBX, The Tribune
Free and open to the public; registration is required at www.24congressionaldebate.eventbrite.com parking included with registration
Monday, January 25, 2016
ARTS | 5
Glow Bowl lights up students’ Friday night Madi Salvati @MadiSalvati
Associated Students, Inc. (ASI) hosted the annual Glow Bowl at Mustang Lanes on Friday, giving students the chance to show off their bowling prowess and eat free pizza. Berlin’s “The Danger Zone” blasted from the sound system overhead and the colliding of pins with bowling balls could be heard outside the Julian A. McPhee University Union (UU).Architecture graduate student Angelo Freeman laughed after he was asked if he was any good at bowling. “I’m all right,” he said. “I’ve been pretty consistent tonight.” Though bowling might not have been his calling, Freeman was stoked to be there hanging out with his friends. “My friends usually keep me updated on what’s going on,” Freeman said. “I can’t believe we can come here, bowl and eat free pizza.” The pizza smell was slightly overpowering, and it would have been a feat of stellar willpower to not have enjoyed a piece or two. Most students seemed to have attended Glow Bowl because it was
Continued from page 4
This is no surprise to the Orchesis Company, now in its 46th year. Dancers were involved in developing the choreography for four of the 10 pieces, which gives the show an almost wild feel. Every piece has moves that are unpredictable and exciting, and occasionally even comical. “Transcend” is invigorated by sequences that exude creativity in ways only inexperienced (but quite talented)
free with a PolyCard. However, after asking around, there was a group celebrating more than just free stuff. Graphic communication freshman Naomi Fuad, who wore a rainbow glow stick around her head, explained her group’s cause for celebration. “It’s one of my friend’s last days here,” Fuad said. “So we thought this would be great to celebrate her and be all together.” Bringing people together seemed to be a reoccurring theme at Glow Bowl, as groups of students huddled together at their lane assignments with pizza and soda in hand. It felt like every killer birthday party we went to at the age of five, except back then we bowled with those handy bumpers and could hardly pick up a bowling ball. Civil engineering sophomore Darya Shtykalo appreciated that Glow Bowl was held on campus. “It’s a really cool event and a great opportunity to explore what’s on campus,” she said. Multicolored lights flashed across the whole bowling alley and every student received a glow stick upon entry. “ASI should definitely keep doing
this,” Freeman said. Glow Bowl has been a classic event hosted by ASI and has proven extremely successful in the past due to the free pizza and bowling. “This is great,” Fuad said. “I am for sure coming next year.” As the night wore on, nothing but every ’80s song imaginable played throughout Mustang Lanes. It was nostalgic, really — an event that seemed to capture the essence of what Friday nights
might have looked liked years ago when leg warmers and shoulder pads were a thing. Fuad and her friends were ecstatic to spend their last night with their friend bumping to Duran Duran and not caring about how bad everyone was at bowling. “What a way to create our last memories with her,” Fuad said. Without bumpers on the lanes to keep the bowling balls from shifting horribly to the gutters,
the competition between players was far from stiff. Watching one bowler in particular, neither of his attempts at knocking the pins to the ground was successful, but that didn’t seem to bother him as he pumped his fist into the air and high-fived his bowling mates. Every hour, a new wave of happy bowling-goers filtered into Mustang Lanes and new games began: Purple, blue and
green bowling balls lined every ball-return station. “I call this one ‘The Grandma!’” an enthusiastic student yelled from across the bowling alley lining up his bowling ball and using both hands to toss it down the lane. Glow Bowl scored a whole gathering of students enjoying each others’ company the old-fashioned way, with a Coke in one hand and a bowling ball in the other.
choreographers can. “(The student choreographers) could just run free and do whatever they wanted,” said wine and viticulture sophomore Patricia Bucolo, a dancer and intern with Orchesis Company. “I love that it’s diverse.” Diversity of style truly is a central component. Jazz, contemporary, ballet, West African rhythm and other genres incomprehensible to this novice of the world of dance all spend some time at center stage, and everywhere else on stage for that mat-
ter. Obviously, putting together a production with this amount of complexity is no cakewalk for the performers. In the words of Orchesis Director Christy Chand, “The dancers have to be able to do all those different styles of dance, and the performance of each piece is different (in terms of) the intent and emotional capacity. It’s not only a technical skillset but also an emotive one.” The dancers’ emotional range becomes apparent immediately. One number might feel like a
bloody military campaign, but then the next routine will come across like a whimsical love story. None of the themes are set in stone, however. When it comes to dance, an infinite number of audience interpretations are possible. This is intimidating to some. “A lot of people get nervous that they don’t understand (a dance),” Chand said. “You should just watch the piece and see what you get out of it.” “Transcend” certainly leaves plenty of room for the imagi-
nation within its supposed constraints of the natural world. One piece at first evokes an impression of possessed, prancing antelope, but it could easily be construed as a story about hardworking forest nymphs. Another piece might appear to show a school of minnows darting about, but a different viewer could be more inclined to picture the inner workings of an ant farm. The dancers provide gentle suggestions, but they are essentially a blank canvas for the
audience to paint on. The interpretations in themselves are not as important as the fact that they are being generated. Maybe the name “Transcend” doesn’t refer to the inspiration for the choreography as much as it refers to the production’s conveyance of ideas. While the dancers stay firmly planted in reality, the potential for the viewer’s imagination is endless. It’s not so bad of a title after all. “Transcend” will continue to play at Alex and Faye Spanos Theatre Jan. 28-30 at 8 p.m.
JASON HUNG| MUSTANG NE WS BLAST FROM THE PAST | With ’80s music and a vibrant color scheme, the event seemed reminiscent of an average Friday night from years ago.
Monday, January 25, 2016
OPINION | 6
Is humanized technology possible?
MUSTANG NEWS
Emilio Horner @CPMustangNews
Graphic Arts Building Building 26, Suite 226 California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo, CA 93407
Emilio Horner is a political science senior and the Mustang News liberal columnist. These views do not necessarily reflect those of Mustang News editorial. Though I am largely convinced that our president, blunt in mouth and afro grown out, should have used his final State of the Union Address to declare himself a secret Kenyan-born Muslim-socialist while flipping off the Republican congressional members, I suppose I’m glad Barack Obama has a little more class than I do. Instead, he laid out his long-term goals including the question: How do we make technology work for us, and not against us? There is this common assumption within Western society about the liberating and universal ability of science and technology to usher in a cosmopolitan future. Though I do firmly believe that technology has done a lot of good with regards to modern medicine, technologies of dissent and overall quality of life, I worry that rapid change, mixed with technological optimism, will lead to dehumanization, specifically in regard to overly mediated interpersonal communication and notions of the body. During the Industrial Revolution, society replaced live energy with mechanical energy. Steam, oil, electricity and the atom created new industries for bosses to exploit workers. More dangerously, post-Industrial Revolution, we have seen technological advancements replace human thought with automation. The future may very well be an era where man’s struggle for freedom and happiness cease and dehumanized individuals become unthinking and unfeeling
machines. This loss of expression and humanity within the era of the machine is compounded by the fear of living within a potential nuclear holocaust; a possibility that’s a lot more real than anyone wants to admit. We operate on the principle that something ought to be done because it is technologically possible. Just because we have the capability, does not mean that the outcome is beneficial for mankind. Reasons for innovation should matter. Additionally, technological advancement operates on the principle of maximum efficiency. This is incredibly dehumanizing because it cuts individuals down to purely quantifiable units and discourages creativity. That being said, I’ve too commonly encountered the pseudo-intellectual, sensitive guy stereotype romanticizing the past with desires to have “real conversations” with people before our overly mediated reality ruined authentic human connection. Though this demographic is almost always using this conversation as a way to hit on women, there’s actually a large amount of truth in the argument. It is hard to interpret text or social media messages when they are largely disjointed thoughts, lacking non-verbal cues, and missing overall context. In addition to interpersonal implications, there are larger questions of how the medium impacts the message. Technological social media has not reinvigorated the public sphere or spread knowledge so much as it has acted as a modern Huxley-esque “soma” in which the citizens’ rights are exchanged for consumer entertainment. Politics, religion and education on things like Facebook and Twitter become a packaged commodity. The medium decreases the quality in order to entertain the masses. Neil Postman’s book
“Amusing Ourselves to Death” argues that television news is simply a form of entertainment programming with theme music, commercials and talking heads. Mass media devalues actual news in exchange for entertainment spectacle to get viewers. The disjoined “and now this” format of news media reinforces notions that stories are not linked, but instead stand alone. This helps lead to people within society not thinking in a linear way. This means that people are not connecting the dots and realizing the intersectionality between structures and institutions within our society. This is the classic millennial curse. Everyone can tell you a couple facts they learned on Wikipedia, but it’s much rarer for someone to relate those facts to an overarching set of interrelated causal factors. This is because the way we process information has been changed by the way we consume that information. Because media literacy is so important for maintaining agency within a democratic society, one ultimately contributes to their own dehumanization by being unable to check back on mass media narratives. In addition to modern media technologies, even medical advancements can dehumanize the body. Often well-meaning engineers, with research commonly coming from military funding, attempt to create prosthetics or other technologies for disabled people. The problem becomes that the rhetoric used often portrays disabled people as objects that need to be fixed, as opposed to people who society should not view as broken just because they do not conform to notions of what a body should look like. In fact, commonly, people missing limbs do not want a prosthetic, and are using them for cosmetic reasons. The question then becomes: Is it
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The new left possible to help people who are disabled without dehumanizing them through declaring their body as abnormal? There is a way to do both, but it requires a respect for disabled people as well as looking at prosthetics as tools to be used as opposed to making somebody whole again. Often people on the left look at the morality of technology as split between military technology and technology that seeks to benefit the lives of the people. The line between problematic and non-problematic uses of technology is way more blurred and complicated. It’s not as simple as nuclear power, which
is probably a good thing; nuclear weapons are probably a bad thing. WikiLeaks is probably good, the NSA’s probably bad. A good starting question is: Does this technological change allow me to preserve my humanity, and allow me to further perform the aspects of my identity that give me meaning? Or does this change further my dehumanization into a slave of an overly mediated and technological wasteland? The answer, frustratingly, is that it often does both at different times.
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Monday, January 25, 2016
SPORTS | 8
Women’s basketball taken down by UC Davis
Amelia Parreira @AmeliaParreira The Cal Poly women’s basketball team (10-8, 3-2 Big West) saw its six-game home winning streak come to an end with a 75-57 loss to UC Davis (11-7, 4-1) on Saturday night. Tying the game three times in the first period alone, the Mustangs fell behind in the second quarter, ending the half trailing 34-26. The Mustangs only made 29.6 percent of their field goals in the first half compared to the Aggies’ 40 percent. “We have to have more balance in our scoring,” head coach Faith Mimnaugh said. “Our ability to score is a concern.”
Cal Poly also had a three-point percentage of 12.5 percent in the first half, while UC Davis ended the half making 33.3 percent of its three-pointers. The Mustangs had more difficulty in the third quarter and trailed 55-40 at the end of the period. Cal Poly tried to pick up pace toward the end of the game, but Davis didn’t let its guard down. “Our kids still fought to the end,” Mimnaugh said. “They didn’t always have the best efficiency on the court, but the effort was not questioned.” Junior forwards Amanda Lovely and Hannah Gilbert led the Mustangs in rebounds, with Lovely pulling down 10 and Gilbert hauling in eight. The game ended with the Mus-
tangs shooting less than 34 percent from the field and the Aggies shooting almost 44 percent. The Aggies were on fire from three-point range in the second half, hitting eight of 14 treys. On the contrary, the Mustangs made only four of their 17 attempted three-pointers in the game, all made by senior guard Beth Balbierz. Balbierz led the Mustangs in scoring with 21 points on 6-18 shooting. Gilbert added 12 points and sophomore guard Dynn Leaupepe pitched in 10 points of her own. The Mustangs will leave to take on UC Riverside at 7 p.m. on Jan. 28. The Mustangs will leave to take on UC Riverside at 7 p.m. on Jan. 28.
CHRISTA L AM | MUSTANG NE WS TOUGH LOS S
| Sophomore guard Lynn Leaupepe drives to the hole during the Mustangs’ 75-57 loss at UC Davis on Saturday night. Leaupepe added four points for the Mustangs in the loss.