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FROM THE PUBLISHER

T

Dear Reader,

he May issue of the DLM is always my favorite. It seems without fail we stumble upon these great human stories about the students on our college campuses.

If ever you worry about the future of our community or our country it sure is refreshing when you meet these future leaders.

During the interviews and photos for these stories I was able to spend a lot of time on both the UC and Merced College campuses.

Interacting with the students and professors helped me understand that it’s no fluke that we find these stories every year. We have two campuses that breed success and give students the tools to achieve great things and overcome tremendous odds.

At a time when Merced is facing so many daunting challenges it’s good to know that our college campuses are breeding future leaders who don’t shy away from a challenge.

We talked to three of them this month — a young man who left his home country to seek higher education in the states, a young single mother who was forced to move her family but continued her education and an introverted woman from a conservative Muslim household who moved to Merced and flourished into a campus leader.

During this month, myself and the Downtown Life Magazine would like to congratulate all of Merced’s graduates for making us proud.

Editor & Publisher

The Players PUBLISHER: Tom Price tom@thedlm.com ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER: Janna Rodriguez janna@thedlm.com ADVERTISING MANAGER: Samantha Yniguez samantha@thedlm.com CONTENT EDITOR: Nathan Quevedo nathan@thedlm.com WEB GURU: Kenneth Nelson kenneth@thedlm.com DISTRIBUTION: Donna Nelson donna@thedlm.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS & EDITORS: Montse Reyes, Amber Kirby, K Chico, Sam Yniguez CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS: Cindy Panyanouvong, Juno Appleseed, Dan Hong, John Tipton

The Cover COVER: The Graduates (Saema Adeeb) PHOTOGRAPHER: Tom Price

Issue #44 Volume #3

Find Us

WEBSITE: www.thedlm.com FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/thedlm TWITTER: www.twitter.com/downtownlifemag EMAIL: info@thedlm.com ADVERTISING: 209-568-6363 EDITORIAL: 209-777-6176 SNAIL MAIL: PO BOX 1604 Merced CA, 95341

CONTENTS

The Graduates 22

Meet the graduates of UC Merced and Merced College. They are leaders, rebels, risk takers and the difference makers in our community.

THE LEDE 08

Student art show at Merced College, Cap & Town returns and Merced County Fair announces lineup.

EDDIE GARCIA 32

Local Artist Eddie Garcia gives us glimpse into the method and motivation behind his unique work.

ONE ACTS 11

Playhouse Merced Presents one act plays written and performed by local talent.

UC LAB TOUR 15

K Chico takes us on a tour of the SNRI’s water research at UC Merced.

DRAMA ISLAND 20

New season of theater-challenge game kicks off with new twist — fans vs. favs.

DOWN DIRTY SHAKE 30

Merced natives return to Merced to rock out at the Partisan.

Downtown Life Magazine is a monthly publication distributed downtown and at more than 90 other locations, including: UC Merced, Merced College, Raley’s grocery store and every Starbucks Coffee Company in Merced and Atwater. 5,000 DLM magazines are distributed every month. For more information, go to www.thedlm.com

8

The Lede Events in and around Merced

Student Art

Photo by Cindy Panyanouvong Chelsea Chapman works on a replica of a historical pot during her ceramics class with Professor Susanne French at Merced College. Champan is among the dozens of Merced College art students who submitted work to the Merced College Student Art Show on exhibit through May 16 at the Merced College Art Gallery

O

nce a year the Merced College Art Gallery is filled from floor to ceiling with work produced by students in the art department.

Sculpture, ceramics, painting, digital art and photography by students of all ages and skill levels.

The show had its reception May 1 and will remain open to the public during gallery hours — 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Monday through Thursday.

Downtown Life Magazine May 2013

Among the many artists featured in student exhibit is Chelsea Chapman. She is a multi-medium artist who works in ceramics, drawings and paintings. She submitted her very first attempt at an oil painting for the show.

“It’s exciting, I’ve never shown my work before,” says Chapman, who will be attending Long Beach State next semester where she will focus on art education.

According to ceramics

professor and gallery manager Susanne French, the show has been around her entire 20 year career at Merced College and she says it’s among the most well-attended shows all season.

“The community really comes out for this one and friends and families of the students come to show support,” says French.

The show runs through May 16. For more information, contact French at 209-384-6064. www.thedlm.com

The Lede Events in and around Merced

9

Mexico’s La Valenzuela among Merced County Fair’s free live music selections Photo by John Tipton Cap & Town is Merced’s biggest block party, with live music, great food and tons of entertainment for the family.

Cap & Town returns to Downtown Merced

Cap & Town, Downtown Merced’s annual celebration of local graduates of all ages returns from 5 to 10 p.m. on May 17.

The event will feature live music, a beer garden, family entertainment, craft booths, exhibits and great food.

The event has grown to be one of Downtown Merced’s signature events, drawing thousands to Main Street between M Street and Martin Luther King Street.

Performing on the DLM Stage will be live performances by local favorites Deriva anda host of other bands from around the area.

For more information on the event, or to see how your organization can participate, call (209) 385-6970 or go to http://cityofmerced.org.

Playhouse readies for some inappropriate fun

The wildly popular Wildly Inappropriate Arts & Talent Cabaret! returns to Playhouse Merced at 9:30 p.m. on May 18. The after hours celebration of all things inappropriate will be holding its ninth installment featuring comedy, dance, poetry, songs and more.

According to their Facebook page, the performances will be “sort of raunchy, sort of weird and entirely made up of things that can never be performed anywhere else.”

You can call 209.725.8587 to reserve tickets, but no tickets will be paid for until the evening of, when you will roll the dice for your ticket price. (All reserved tickets will be re-sold if necessary 10 minutes before the performance.)

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Las Valenzuela, a trio of talented sisters from Mexico, will wrap up five nights of free headline entertainment in the Outdoor Theatre, June 16, Rancho San Miguel Markets Day, presented by O’Reilly Auto Parts, at the 2013 Merced County Fair.

The sisters’ summer tour of the U.S. will include a stop in Merced, where they will perform the music of Northern Mexico’s “Banda Sinaloense” style.

Also performing in the fairgrounds’ Outdoor Theatre are: The Rhett Walker Band, a Christian alternative/Southern rock group, Opening Day, June 12; Pablo Cruise, one of the top pop/rock bands of the 70s and 80s, June 13; Jason Michael Carroll, a rising star in country music, June 14 and Evolution: The Ultimate Tribute to Journey, will perform the music of Journey on June 15.

Each night a headline entertainment act will appear at 8:30 p.m. in the Outdoor Theatre, where all concerts are free with admission. The Outdoor Theatre Concert Series is presented by Table Mountain Casino and Budweiser.

Downtown Life Magazine May 2013

Taking good care of our community for over 100 years.

Taking care of businesses. Taking care of our community. We have a long history of providing peace of mind around town.

725 W. 18th Street, Merced, CA 95340 Ph (209) 722-1541 • www.FandB1912.com Agency license #0358327

Downtown Life Magazine May 2013

www.thedlm.com

Photo by Dan Hong One act writers gather at Playhouse Merced. Back row from left, John Whitaker, Matt Robinson, David Hambley and Zachary Ellis. Botton row from left, Jack Bankson, Lauren Miller and Jenell Barnes.

Merced Born and Raised One Act Plays by local writers about our community

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Words by Jim Kocher jim@showbizjobs.com

ommunications are moving faster than ever. Smartphones. Social Media.

Facebook. Twitter. Pecha Kucha (pronounced Peh-chah kuh-chah) is an up-and-coming form of presentation based out of Japan that keeps the speaker moving through 20 timed slides of 20 seconds each. 400 seconds total and it’s over. The goal? Communicate faster.

Same holds true with theater.

Where a standard play presented at Playhouse Like Us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/thedlm

Merced runs in two acts (first act is about an hour, the intermission runs 15 minutes, and then a 45-minute second act), for Playhouse Merced’s “Merced Born and Raised: One-Act Plays by Local Writers,” a series of one-act plays clock in at about 15 minutes each. With seven one-act plays, plus a pre-show one-act teaser, the plays are short, concise and contain myriad subject matters and playwrights. It’s a different art form from standard structure theater and provides an Downtown Life Magazine May 2013

12

Theater One Acts

exciting, entertaining and fast-paced evening.

A bit of background: “Merced: Born and Raised” debuted as a special event last year at Playhouse Merced and was funded in part by a grant from The James Irvine Foundation. The grant contains two provisos.

1. The plays had to be about Merced or Merced County.

2. The playwrights all had to be currently living in Merced or Merced County.

Last fall, Playhouse Merced sought play ideas from the community, and from the initial 20 proposed ideas, seven were chosen as finalists as fully produced one-act plays. An additional “short one-act” was added to round out the evening. While all the playwrights selected this year fit the criteria, they certainly run the gamut of experience and age.

Jenell Barnes returns as a playwright. Her one-act “The Window” was featured last year.

“I had so much fun being involved with the one-acts last year that it made me want to write another one,” Barnes explains. “I love hearing the words I wrote and seeing the characters and the emotion they bring to the story.” Her one-act play, “The Bus Stop” centers around a Merced bus depot and the people who interact with Rosalie, the focal character. “It’s loosely based on one of the senior ladies I used to drive around town,” says Barnes. “She used to take long walks with her walker and loved to get out.

She would tell me about her life, her husband and her son.”

Inspiration strikes different playwrights in different ways. Matt Robinson, a 25-year old Merced native, stumbled upon the Wikipedia page for a sociological disorder called the Capgras Delusion. A person suffering from this affliction believes his family members or friends have been removed and replaced by actors.

“I thought it might be interesting if a character could use the delusion as a tool to cope with undesirable changes in his loved ones,” says Robinson. “I let that concept steep for a while and it came together.” His one-act play, titled “The Worker of the Strings to Jerk the Fools at my Hellhound Jamboree” focuses on a Merced psychiatrist and his patients.

Two young people are also playwrights and provide a comedy and drama. Jack Bankson, an energetic eighth grader at OLM Jr. High School in Merced wrote a comedic tale called “The Comic Con, Adventures of John Trekson.”

Downtown Life Magazine May 2013

Centered on a young kid who thinks a big comic book convention is coming to Merced, Bankson drew from his own life. “I thought, ‘Wow, I got bullied a lot’ ” and as a fan of the whole comic book genre, he “meshed these ideas and it exploded into my play.” Twelve-year-old seventh grader Lauren Miller’s play “Out of Time” is about a young girl dealing with a dying mother, and has an autobiographical origin as well. “The pollution in the Central Valley has been a big topic here for years,” Miller says. “Also, my dad has a limited use of his arms and legs and often has trouble walking, so I understand wanting to do normal things and not being able to.”

A diary from 1914 was the inspiration for David Hambley’s play “Merced Reflections” about a young girl who finds a magic mirror in her attic, connecting her to relatives in her Merced past. Hambley is a veteran of many shows on-stage at Playhouse Merced and Merced ShakespeareFest, though has never written a play, explains, “I have a copy of my grandmother’s diary when she was 20 years old, along with pictures from that period.” Hambley says. “I was fascinated with her life in Merced www.thedlm.com

that emerged from reading it.”

Zach Ellis drives a taxi in Merced, so his play “Merced Noir: Taxi Man” was based on his very personal experience. “For me, there has always been this underlying attitude that Merced is the worst place to be,” says Ellis, “and I felt the need to confront it.” Once he started driving a taxi for Merced Yellow Cab, he knew he had found the basis for his one act.

Jonathan Whitaker was himself “born and raised” in Merced County. A reporter and photojournalist for the past 25 years, his one act play, “A Beautiful, Intelligent, Talented, Charming, Human Being” is based on his indepth coverage of a Merced homeless camp.

“While covering the homeless in Merced, and the tent city they created and later saw destroyed, I encountered some amazing characters living in a world surrounded by many strong opinions on homelessness,” Whitaker recalls. “Some of their stories didn’t make my newspaper reports but I realized they could be told through art.” Whitaker adds that his attempt for this play series was an individual, artistic endeavor, and not reflective of the editorial stance or opinions of the newspaper he works for.

“Merced Born and Raised: One Act Plays

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by Local Writers” includes local directors, local actors and the Merced County Arts Council will provide the Multicultural Arts Center as the venue. The seating will be close to the stage with a clean, economical set design, and limited props and clutter, providing a showcase for the actors and words of the playwrights.

Those playwrights seem to share a common feeling seeing their plays come to life on the stage. Says Whitaker, “I am utterly amazed to see something I write and dream about, suddenly performed on stage by actors and set designers who seriously worked on it. It’s the greatest feeling.” Young Jack Bankson states, “Seeing all the wonderful actors and their character choices come together in the eyes of the director” is what he most looks forward to.

The production contains eight different stories, and nearly 40 actors, and though audience members will not be allowed to access social media during the performances, it should provide enough stimulation for even the most communication-starved among us.

“Merced Born and Raised: One-Act Plays by Local Writers” plays May 3 – May 12, 2013 at the Merced County Arts Council. For tickets call the Playhouse Merced box office (209) 725-8587.

Downtown Life Magazine May 2013

MERCED COUNTY FAIR June 12-16 Save Now with Advance Discounts

$5

General Admission

for everyone, 6 years & up (Children 5 & under FREE admission)

Admission Pre-Sale Discount:

Buy 4 – get the 5th ticket FREE! 5-pack of tickets is only $20 if purchased by June 11.

Carnival Pre-Sale Discount: Save $7.00 each

All-Day-Ride Carnival Coupon is $23 if purchased by June 11. Exchange for Unlimited Ride Wrist Wrap good any one day of the Fair (after June 11 the price is $30 each).

WHERE TO BUY:

• Purchase online at www.mercedcountyfair.com • Fairgrounds Office Mon.-Fri. 8am-5pm • Rancho San Miguel Market pre-sale ticket outlet, 1930 Yosemite Pkwy, Merced will sell Fair tickets starting May 15 from 10am-7pm

Tickets & info at www.

MercedCountyFair.com 900 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Merced, CA 95341 Phone 209-722-1507 Downtown Life Magazine May 2013

www.thedlm.com

UC Merced Lab Tour SNRI

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Contributed Photo Undergraduate students at UC Merced often participate in research. Through Sierra Nevada Research Institute, they get field experience in water sampling, wildlife inventories and much more.

UC’s Water Research

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Words by K Chico kchico@gmail.com

he newest map in the Sierra Nevada Research Institute (SNRI) is approximately four feet long, and encompasses a vast amount of the local area and Sierra Nevada mountain range.

It is a full-color, glossy and beautifully detailed. My host is enthusiastically pointing out features that she has personally visited or where interesting projects are being conducted.

One of UCM’s research partners has an artist in-residence, an asset that Erin Stacy, outreach coordinator for the Southern Sierra Critical Zone, related with all of the envious joy that is usually reserved for rock concerts. David Hosley, the Executive Director of SNRI, is just Like Us on Facebook www.facebook.com/thedlm

as geographically aware. He has an excellent handshake and a level gaze.

“We like big pictures,” he says.

And he means it. With degrees from Stanford and Columbia and years of experience with nonprofits, he leads one of the largest research collaborations on the West Coast, and he runs it with a business plan. SNRI researchers fill the last half of the hall I passed through on my way to the conference room where our interview was held. There are 31 active grants, mostly federally sourced, and encompasses $13.1 million altogether. That is about 40 percent of the research money that UC Merced has been given. They have a lot of problems to solve, and Downtown Life Magazine May 2013

16

Researchers and students affiliated with SNRI work in Yosemite National Park studying animals, plants, lakes, rivers, meadows, mountains, people and places in and around the park.

Researchers monitor soil conditions, including monitoring moisture, chemical composition and general soil health. Their work is applicable throughout California, from farms to national parks.

Professor Teamrat Ghezzehei with the School of Natural Sciences and an undergraduate student check soil conditions on the protected land adjacent to the UC Merced campus.

Downtown Life Magazine May 2013

UC Merced Lab Tour SNRI UC Merced is at the heart of the solution.

It was designed to be an interdisciplinary facility, and the many researchers, graduate students and undergraduates that make up the Institute reflect that same diversity. Sometimes it seems like Merced forgets how many of their children are here.

Often first-generation college students, their kids are the ones who work hardest at fixing the issues they grew up facing. The people here seem to believe that many of the problems they face are solvable.

Bright minds discovering where we can get water for our fields and faucets without hurting the environment, and using it effectively — keeping the air clean and the biodiversity of the national parks intact. Everyone contributes.

For example, one expert uses satellite images to mark snowpack in the mountains over the winter. Another researcher uses that data in sync with groundwater measurements, and together with others, an infinitely clearer picture of where the water has been created.

Water allocation and shortages have plagued the Central Valley, and California in general, for decades, and have been getting more desperate. Hosley doesn’t believe that it has to.

“Water does not have to be a zero-sum game,” he says.

They know where the water is, and when, where there are surpluses and what is necessary to sustain the health of the environment.

Combine that information

with the existing weather patterns and the timing of each snowmelt, suddenly it is easier to gather more water, and make more efficient use of what is already available.

SNRI works with the city of Merced, planning committees, agricultural committees, and many others, because planning ahead and making sure everyone is on the same page means that there can be better cooperation.

Seems like common sense?

You’d be surprised how fantastically common sense can work when people from all walks of life can work with driven academics. Something as simple as bad bus service can be solved with real people giving feedback, computer modeling of the most popular/ requested stops and the most efficient routes to and from.

Other issues, like air quality and groundwater pollution, cannot be so quickly patched.

Nevertheless, the SNRI director is optimistic.

“We have a strategic advantage here at SNRI...you can develop better and more solutions with faculty from all academic backgrounds,”says Hosley.

Some of those solutions come from the labs here, which to the untrained eye seem to be made up entirely of hallways with magical boxes on shelves. Stacy, the outreach coordinator, mentions smilingly that the equipment rooms are difficult to explain to the general public, since it’s hard to really demonstrate an ion chromatograph or elemental combustion system in a dramatic way.

The third laboratory I am www.thedlm.com

shown into has a fair number of people, all of whom are hunched over computers.

Within 30 seconds of being shown in, I bump into a huge piece of equipment, apologize profusely, and am met with a grin and a shrug.

The freestanding structure is one of the sensor nodes that the researchers use to track everything from snow depth, temperature and humidity, and other features, and are scattered over hundreds of square miles. Some of the nodes in the field have been up for 6 to eight years, communicate constantly via wireless feedback (in development with UC Berkeley collaboration), and can hold up to everything from high winds to heavy snowfall. I apparently could not have been clumsy near a tougher piece of science.

The scientists here come from a wide range of hometowns and areas of expertise, and all share their director’s level-eye contact. Midway through the tour, I finally realize why they look so different from the stereotypical image of scientists; they’re all suntanned.

Muddy boots are shoved under desks holding computer screens with bleeding-edge research.

Large prototypes sit next to toolboxes. Men and women with masters degrees and callused hands explain their work to me, everything from silt measurements in streams to air quality studies, to old naturalist questions about where groundwater and surfacewater meet in meadows. Whether or not there is pollution, and if so, how to treat it before it gets

into drinking water or the air we breathe. Some of the questions and research have on-point relevence to Merced and the Central Valley, and much of it has even wider ramifications.

Although experts disagree about the rate and severity of man-made climate change, the scientists here would prefer not to take chances.

California is on the leading edge in environmental reform, and it is not nearly enough.

We have to move faster than we have been.

“UCM was built with the idea that we could use the prism of the Central Valley to look at the world,” says Hosley.

Education and outreach is not neglected, amidst the hard slog of applied research.

There are of course classes at UCM (one of which, soils, is taught by Stacy herself) but also K-12 outreach, which the SNRI staff hopes to expand and reach out even more to the community.

All governments are short of money, and the city of Merced is no exception.

Sequestration has had an impact on the National Science Foundation and future grants and science funding. It’s going to be harder to find the resources for the problems Merced is facing.

“There is no more practical work than the research we’re doing,” says Hosley.

Merced has been one of the worst victims of the economic downturn, water shortages, agricultural pollutants and undereducation and unemployment. There’s nowhere to go but up.

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Downtown Life Magazine May 2013

Recurring Events

MAY EVENTS

MUSIC AT J&R TACOS

WHAT: Patty Lou and the Flower Pots entertain at J&R Tacos.

WHEN: 7:31 p.m., Every Wednesday WHERE: Playhouse Merced INFO: Facebook

COFFEE BANDITS OPEN MIC WHAT: Local talent showcasing their skills.

WHEN: 8 p.m., 1st and 3rd Wednesday of month WHERE: Coffee Bandits INFO: Facebook

PARTISAN OPEN MIC

WHAT: Local talent showcasing their skills.

WHEN: 8 p.m., Every Monday WHERE: The Partisan INFO: Facebook

BRAINGAZM

WHAT: Pub trivia game.

Groups compete in rounds of trivia and physical challenges to win prizes.

WHEN: 9 p.m.,Every Tuesday WHERE: The Partisan INFO: Facebook

POETRY JAM

WHAT: Local poets read and share their work.

WHEN: 8 p.m., 4th Wednesday WHERE: Coffee Bandits INFO: Facebook

CONJUNTOS

WHAT: An artist, poet and musician create improvised work on the spot WHEN: Last Sunday of every month.

WHERE: J&R Tacos INFO: Facebook

BAD FICTION NIGHT

We need your help, send us your event information to: tom@thedlm.com or call (209) 777-6176

WHAT: What is the worst thing you’ve ever read? Come share with the group WHEN: 2nd Wed of month WHERE: Coffee Bandits INFO: Facebook

FARMER’S MARKET

WHAT: Certified Farmer’s Market in Downtown Merced.

WHEN: 8 a.m.-Noon, every Saturday WHERE: 18th and N Street INFO: http://www.mercedcfm.com

12 Mother’s Day Choral Show

Downtown Bus Schedule

WHAT: UC Merced Choir’s Spring Concert at UC Merced —Madrigals, Medleys & More!

WHEN: 5 p.m.

WHERE: Lakireddy Auditorium (UC Merced) COST: $5 INFO : Facebook

17 Cap & Town

WHAT: Downtown’s biggest block party returns to celebrate all of Merced’s graduating students. The event will feature live music, beer garden, family entertainment, food and exhibits.

WHEN: 5-10 p.m.

WHERE: Downtown Merced COST: Free INFO : www.cityofmerced.org

18 Rio Bravo

WHAT: In Part III of the Merced Theatre’s John Ways Series, catch “Rio Bravo” on the big screen.

WHEN: 7 p.m.

WHERE: Merced Theatre (301 W. Main Street) COST: $5 INFO : Facebook

18 Valley Pet Expo

WHAT: Join Radio Merced, Animal Control of Merced County as they celebrate everything for your pet and home.

WHEN: 8 a.m.-4 p.m.

WHERE: Merced County Fairgrounds INFO : Facebook

18 Inappropriate Cabaret

WHAT: The summer installment of Playhouse Merced’s Wildly Inappropriate Arts & Talent Cabaret featuring comedy, dance, poetry and songs that are all a bit raunchy and weird.

WHEN: 10 p.m.

WHERE: Playhouse Merced (452 W. Main Street.)

COST: Roll of the Dice INFO : Facebook

18 Daniel Hart

WHAT: Talented violinist who has played with St. Vincent and in the band The Physics of Meaning will be performing solo at the The Partisan.

WHEN: 9 p.m.

WHERE: The Partisan COST: $5 INFO : Facebook

31 West Side Story

WHAT: Playhouse Merced presents West Side Story running through June 16. .

WHEN: Fridays and Saturdays at 7 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m.

WHERE: Playhouse Merced (452 W. Main Street) COST: Adults $20, Seniors $19, Students $10, Children 5-12 $8

Monday through Friday

Departure times for a few popular bus stops on the UC Merced/Downtown loop Route 22

Location

Times

Main & K Street (Hollywood Theater)

7:18, 7:48, 8:18, 8:48, 9:18, 9:58, 10:28, 10:58, 11:28, 11:58, 12:38, 1:08, 1:48, 2:18, 2:48, 3:33, 4:03, 4:33, 5:03, 5:48, 6:18

Merced College (M Street)

7:30, 8:00, 8:30, 9:10, 9:40, 10:10, 10:40, 11:10, 11:40, 12:20, 1:00, 1:30, 2:00, 2:30, 3:00, 3:45, 4:15, 4:45, 5:15, 6:00, 6:30

Paulson & Yosemite (Starbucks)

7:38, 8:08, 8:38, 9:18, 9:48, 10:18, 10:48, 11:18, 11:48, 12:28, 12:20, 1:00, 1:30, 2:00, 2:30, 3:00, 3:45, 4:15, 4:45, 5:15, 6:00, 6:30

UC Merced Kolligian Library (Arrival)

7:43, 8:13, 8:43, 9:23, 9:53, 10:23, 10:53, 11:23, 11:53, 12:33, 1:13, 1:43, 2:13, 2:43, 3:13, 3:58, 4:28, 4:58, 5:28, 6:13, 6:43

UC Merced Kolligian Library (Departure)

7:45, 8:15, 8:45, 9:25, 9:55, 10:25, 10:55, 11:25, 12:05, 12:35, 1:15, 1:45, 2:15, 3:00, 3:30, 4:00, 4:30, 5:15, 5:45

Paulson & Yosemite (Starbucks)

7:50, 8:20, 8:50, 9:30, 10:00, 10:30, 11:00, 11:30, 12:10, 12:40, 1:20, 1:50, 2:20, 3:05, 3:35, 4:05, 4:35, 5:20, 5:50

Merced College (M Street)

7:57, 8:27, 8:57, 9:37, 10:07, 10:37, 11:07, 11:37, 12:17, 12:47, 1:27, 1:57, 2:27, 3:12, 3:42, 4:42, 4:12, 4:42, 5:27, 5:57

Friday & Saturday Nights

Departure times for a few popular bus stops on the UC Merced/Downtown loop (10 p.m.-2:35 a.m.)

NiteCat Line Location

Times

UC Merced Kolligian Library (Arrival)

10:04, 11:14, 12:24, 1:34

Merced Mall Theatre

10:28, 11:38, 12:48, 1:58

Main & M Street (Hollywood Theater)

10:46, 11:56, 1:06, 2:16

Scholars Lane

11:05, 12:15, 1:25, 2:35

Morning

Afternoon & Evening

For complete schedule go to www.cattracks.org

20

Theater Drama Island

Photo by Tom Price

So Much Drama

Rob Hypes, left, and RC Essig, right, will be competing in the new season of Drama Island.

New season of Drama Island promises be wildest yet

B

Words by Tom Price tom@thedlm.com

ack in February Joe Hypes came to me with a offer. He asked me to participate in Drama Island — Playhouse Merced’s 6-week drama based challenge game.

The theme of this season’s game would be a fans versus favorites, pitting Drama Island veterans against folks who have never participated. I was to be part of that uninitiated group.

Being a big fan of the game and of Joe’s I initially agreed to participate. But as the weeks passed I began to take stock of the situation I had put myself in. I am a painfully shy publisher Downtown Life Magazine May 2013

who cannot sing or dance and has a terrible fear of being on stage.

What the hell was I thinking?

When it crystallized that I was about to flame out like Carl Lewis singing the National Anthem, I politely bowed out.

Still standing was Partisan owner RC Essig to represent the eight rookies who will be performing and the incredibly confident Rob Hypes to represent the eight veterans.

I sat down and talked to these two about the season and the growing animosity between the two of them that will no doubt boil over during Drama Island. www.thedlm.com

DLM: Why are you looking forward to facing off with RC. Didn’t you work well together when you directed him in Jesus Christ Superstar?

Rob Hypes: A lot of it is I just don’t like RC. I asked him all during JC superstar to shave his beard. He never did. Now I’m going to take him out the best way I know how — theatre games.

DLM: Do you have a rebuttal RC? RC Essig: He told me to pave my weird. So I tried to act weirder and weirder and he kept getting madder and madder.

DLM: Rob, you are veteran of this game how confident are you going in this season?

RH: This is the fourth time I’ve competed.

The first time I finished first, the second time I finished fifth, and last time I finished fifth. So, I’m thinking 1-5-5 ... and then I’m going to win.

DLM: With so little experience, how do you plan to compete RC? RC: The games that are played within the game and the alliances are something that I in general stay away from. It will be interesting to be a part of something where alliances are a necessity.

(His alliance) will have to be people that are better than me and who like to drink so that I can give them free beer so they won’t vote me off.

DLM: What about RC strikes fear in you?

RH: I hear he has a temper, especially when he is participating in drama-based challenges.

And I just don’t know if he will lash out at me.

RC: I’m excited to bring out my innerfrurious.

DLM: Any final words?

RH: I’m not scared of anyone else in this competition. I’m the greatest competitor in the history of this game.

I have early money that Rob is the first to be voted off.

Drama Island will begin at 7 p.m. May 12 and run for six straight Sundays at Playhouse Merced. Season passes are $15 and can be purchased from any contestant, see Facebook Page for updates. All money raised will go toward purchasing Playhouse Merced a new sound system.

GRA DU A TES UC Merced and Merced College students prove to be leaders, rebels and game changers for our community

23

Graduates UC Merced

Photo by Tom Price UC Merced senior Noel Gomez is leaving his mark on Merced with the foundation of Merced County Project 10% — which focuses on increasing high school graduation rates to reduce violent crimes.

Noel Gomez

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Words by Sam Yniguez sam@thedlm.com

oel Gomez has been defying the odds for a long time. You could even say that being born was his first act of defiance.

“I was a surprise baby for sure,” says the UC Merced senior. “My mom was told by the doctor that she couldn’t have any more children after my sister, but 14 years later, out I came!”

Noel’s sister would end up playing a pivotal role in the journey that would bring the Central America native to the U.S., and eventually, the Central Valley. The journey starts in Teakettle Village, a small community in Belize where not much of an emphasis is placed on education.

“Basically, you can do one of two things after high school,” Noel says. “Either you learn a trade such as farming or construction, or you can join a gang.”

Despite these limitations, he wouldn’t trade his childhood for anything. The sights and sounds of Like Us on Facebook www.facebook.com/thedlm

nature were everywhere, including his backyard.

“I love animals and I had a lot of them.

Chickens, rabbits, sheep ... I had a lot of sheep.

I raised them and bred them myself. And then I’d sell them and put the money in my savings.”

One thing Noel particularly enjoyed doing earned him a nickname.

“I would ride my bike every weekend selling bananas. Everyone eventually started calling me Banana Boy.” Though both of his parents worked hard, neither of them went to high school, which Noel says is not uncommon where he’s from.

“Going to high school in Belize is like going to college here,” says Noel. “It’s not publicly funded, so you have to pay tuition and for your books.”

The money he earned came in quite handy. He was able to help pay for his schooling and was a high school graduate by the age of 15.

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Graduates UC Merced

After graduation, Noel didn’t know what to do.

He began working in construction with his father and figured he would spend the rest of his life doing that.

“Nobody is told they can further their education elsewhere,” he says. “The thought of leaving is just so daunting.”

However, Noel had left before.

When he was still in school, he came to the United States to visit his sister who had married when he was four-years-old and moved to Las Vegas. Years later, she would make her brother an offer he couldn’t refuse.

She had since divorced and invited Noel to come live with her to help take care of her child.

In exchange, she would pay for him to go to college. He accepted and began taking classes at a community college immediately.

been tutoring ever since. After switching majors to political science, he founded the school’s olySci club. Everything began to snowball. One door invariably lead to another.

His director recommended him for the Harvard Latino Leadership Initiative, which involved a very inspirational field trip.

“When I got back from Harvard, I was anxious to get something going. I didn’t know what, but I felt empowered,” says Noel.

It wasn’t until Merced County District Attorney Larry Morse’s keynote speech at his club’s inaugural event, that it hit him. The DA charged the group in attendance to come up with a way to lower the crime rate in the community. Noel took that challenge head on.

“Me and my partner, Patricia Paredes, did some research and learned that there is a

“I had no prior knowledge of Merced or the Central Valley for that matter. But I fell in love with the campus as soon as I got here.”

— Noel Gomez

Graduation came and went again and, just like before, Noel didn’t know what to do next so he got a job. One of his mentors noticed that he hadn’t applied to any four-year universities and asked him about it. Noel’s response was the same thing he hears today from student after student: He didn’t think he would get in.

After a little coaxing, Noel began researching and applying at various universities, although, not to any of the UC campuses.

“Quite honestly, I hadn’t heard of them,” says Noel. “And after I looked at what the schools were doing, again, I didn’t think there was any way I would get into a UC.” However, his mentor had faith in him, and even though it was the middle of the summer by the time he applied, UC Merced accepted him as a transfer student.

“I had no prior knowledge of Merced or the Central Valley for that matter,” Noel says. “But I fell in love with the campus as soon as I got here.

It was small but so welcoming. I just wanted to get involved.”

Noel immersed himself at his new school. He got a job as a writing tutor the first day and has Downtown Life Magazine May 2013

correlation between high school drop out rates and the crime rate,” says Noel. “Our idea was for a group of UC Merced students to go to the middle schools and talk to the students about the importance of staying in school.”

This program was named Merced County Project 10% after a statistic Noel came across that states if the high school graduation rate was increased by 10 percent during the next five years, there would be 500 fewer homicides and 20,000 fewer aggravated assaults.

After a series of meetings with the county and city school district superintendents, Project 10% was given a chance. And if Noel has proven anything, it’s that a chance is all it takes.

“All a student needs to be told is that they have potential,” says Noel. “I was lucky to have family and mentors who invested in me. And now I get to be that person for others.”

After graduation, Noel intends to take a welldeserved year off before graduate school. He plans to continue working with and expanding Project 10%, helping students realize their potential and, just like him, defy the odds. www.thedlm.com

First Person UC Merced

A bridge to UCM

S

tanding on UC Merced’s campus only heard offered in the private sphere. and looking through the massive Merced pushes undergraduates to metal gap that my fellow participate in research projects. I was graduates and I shall personally involved in three, pass through as we enter into two of which were independent the metaphorical future, I can’t studies between a professor help but think of a dusty jeep and I. That kind of one-on-one ride nearly 23 years ago. Long faculty attention is unusual for before the Meyers donated their an undergrad. The research chunk of land to the University class I participated in was Gregg of California, the long golden Camfield’s, Mark Twain Project. grass that backed up to Lake We examined and analyzed Amber Kirby several works by Twain and then Yosemite, where the jack rabbits UC Merced and ground squirrels burrow, was created text displays for the Graduate just another small corner of their Angels Camp Museum based on 22,000 acre ranch, The Flying M. our research of Twain’s effect on My uncle, Wild Bill Emerich, used Calaveras County and the culture to be a caretaker for the M and on occasion of the county’s effect on Twain’s writing. would drive my mother and I across the Nicolas Valdez, Professor in the Merritt vast sprawl from Bonner Road to the legal Writing Program, and I conducted the first easement that connects to the lake. There, Writing 195 upper division undergraduate swimming in the chilled lake, looking across research class at UCM. Our project, the shimmering foothills, I could never have “Research in Visual Culture and the imagined the intellectual epicenter that has Graphic Novel,” investigated seminal ideas grown up today. Nor did I have any idea about visual cultures and how language that I would attend when they announced, and images are represented to influence to my fifth grade class, that the UC system the reader’s perspective, especially with had picked Merced for construction. regard to the traditional understanding of My experience at the University was storytelling. unusually long for a transfer student.

The School of Social Sciences, My third semester in I found out — in Humanities and Arts is full of excellence. I the student health clinic in fact — I was wrote a 32-page film script with Christopher going to be a mother. I now have a 3 Ramirez and a one-act play for Michael year old. It hasn’t been easy being a Winder that was produced by playhouse working mother in the university system.

Merced. I wrote my finest ode for Susan Night classes, affordable childcare and Varnot and the beginnings of a memoir for other accommodations found at state Dawn Trook. But writing my 30 page senior and community colleges are not readily thesis for Camfield on the Bilsdungroman available here. It shouldn’t go without was the highlight. If my education enforced saying that at times, I found myself met anything, it is that our deepest and essential with outright hostility when I looked for needs are thematically the same and that those accommodations. Yet still, the youth these invisible boxes we put ourselves in — of the campus and flexibility of many of the those of class, gender, race, etc — can all professors opened opportunities that I’ve be bridged through art.

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Downtown Life Magazine May 2013

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Graduates UC Merced

Photo by Tom Price Saema Adeep broke down barriers in her family and in her community to come to Merced to pursue her degree in Biological Sciences.

Saema Adeeb

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Words by Tom Price tom@thedlm.com

aema Adeeb — the first born of a first-generation immigrant family from India — stepped onto the UC Merced campus four years ago as an introverted teenager with little perspective beyond what she learned in her Bay Area neighborhood growing up.

She had few ambitions other than breaking free from her conservative household and she says she knew Merced was the perfect place for her to spread her wings.

“Where I’m from, it’s not traditional to let girls move far away from home,” says Adeeb. “It was a big deal for me to move away. It was the perfect distance ... two and a half hours away so my parents could come visit if they wanted Downtown Life Magazine May 2013

to. But it was also enough distance for me to get my freedom.”

She says her parents were hesitant about the move but reluctantly let her go.

A biological sciences major with a focus on microbiology and immunology, Adeeb says she wasted little time in testing herself. It was an experiment for her — can I become a member of this campus community? Can I be a leader?

Within weeks of her arrival she began working in student government at the External Office, which focuses on higher education issues at state and federal level.

By the end of her freshman year, she was running for vice president of the External Office. www.thedlm.com

“I needed to get out of my comfort zone,” says Adeeb, who grew up in a sheltered neighborhood surrounded by mostly Indian and Asian communities. “I pushed my boundaries. I was shy and close minded, but the more I interacted with the students on campus and got to experience all the diversity, I learned a lot about myself.”

She won the election and would serve has vice president her sophomore year, working closely with campus administrators.

She traveled up and down the state, meeting with student groups and legislators, lobbying for higher education to have greater importance in the state budget.

“During this process I discovered what I am passionate about,” says Adeeb. “I care very much about higher education issues. We have a lot of students at UC Merced that come from disadvantaged backgrounds and we need to make sure we are doing everything we can to even that playing field.”

During her junior year she discovered Dr. Paul Brown’s research on campus. Brown was studying the barriers to HIV testing in the Central Valley. She immediately got involved, and she says suddenly her educational objectives had expanded into public health.

While working with Brown she also collaborated with current and former students who had an interest in starting a student-run health clinic.

“This was a real chance to give back to the community,” says Adeeb. There is a huge undeserved community and

a shortage of physicians and this is one of those things that we can do to give back.”

She says the clinic idea has stalled with legal issues, but in the interim, she has helped organize internship opportunities for students at local organizations like Golden Valley Health Centers and Building Healthy Communities.

Between what she called a rigourous academic schedule and her involvement in student government, Adeeb says she found time to focus on other things that are important to her as well.

She joined and helped build the Muslim Student Association, which she now serves as president.

“I was part of really setting a foundation for the organization. We wanted to give students from all different walks of life the opportunity to really see what Islam and being Muslim is all about,” says Adeeb. “There are so many stereotypes and we break those down so students can really understand that it isn’t a religion of hatred, it’s a religion of peace.”

Adeeb immediately gets emotional when she thinks back at her time on campus.

She says she’s not ready to leave and that she plans to return after completing medical school.

“I have a Bobcat family here,” she says. “I feel like Merced and the Central Valley has given me so much that the least I can do is come back and give back to the community here.

There is so much diversity on our campus and being exposed to that has given me a new perspective on life.”

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Downtown Life Magazine May 2013

28

Graduates Merced College

Photo by Cindy Panyanouvong Corina Tran has turned a childhood love of art into more than a hobby. The 24 year old has completed her A.A. degree at Merced College in visual arts.

Corina Teran

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Words by Montse Reyes montse@thedlm.com

omeone once told 24-year-old Corina Teran that she had set out on her educational path backwards.

After high school, Teran followed a fairly traditional route, attending California State University, Stanislaus, to pursue a major in criminal justice. She started her new life, moving up to Modesto and setting the wheels in motion to follow her plan of becoming a probation officer. However, little by little, Teran began to feel that a career in the criminal justice system wasn’t what she wanted. Perhaps she needed something else.

So after a series of unforeseen circumstances, Teran made the decision to move back to Merced and enroll at Merced College. Following some debate about what to major in at her new school, she recalled one of her first loves — art.

Teran began hand drawing as a child with her father.

“I guess it just stuck with me,” she Downtown Life Magazine May 2013

says.

She inherited her fondness for art from her father, whom she considers to be a source of inspiration for her work.

“If I were to show you some of the stuff he could draw…it’s just amazing,” Teran gushes. As a child, the two developed a special connection bonding over art. Teran recalls that they would sit down and draw together as he shared tips about technique with her.

But it was not until she began to entertain the idea of art as a career that she made the transition from hand drawing to painting. Her oil painting class with Merced College instructor Louisa Benhissen allowed her to explore her own place in the art world and develop a love for painting. “When you really get into painting, it seems like you lose track of time,” she says.

Benhissen taught her a valuable lesson — that her art didn’t have to live up to anyones’ expectations. Teran could make her own artwork, www.thedlm.com

exploring her personal style of painting with subjects she found interesting.

Teran prefers to paint natural landscapes, finding a particular sense of beauty in the tonal variations of colors.

“Like the green in the trees for example.

There are so many different varieties of green in there and even yellow,” she says. “Or, even with shading. You may think it’s just black and gray, but there are even hints of blue and purple.”

Yet Teran’s pursuit for education was not nearly as serene and organic as her painting.

“I had a lot of things interfere with my education” she says.

Situations that, as she explained, demanded her undivided attention and made it difficult to keep her education as her number one priority.

At the age of 20 her child, Ariana, was born.

“She’s my princess,” she said quietly, eyes glistening. “She’s 4 and she is just her own little person.”

Shortly after she was born Teran found out her daughter had cerebral palsy, a group of disorders involving the brain and nervous system that consequently impair control of movement in individuals “She’s like my little half…always off in her own little world,” Teran said with a smile. “Even with her disability, she never lets it get to her.

It’s like she doesn’t even care.”

As things started to advance in respect to her daughter’s health, Teran weighed her options and ultimately made the move to Merced to be closer to her family. She knew that staying at CSU Stanislaus would mean she would have to spend plenty of time commuting— and would have less to spend with her daughter.

“So I transferred here [Merced College].

I’m really glad I did, it was just a lot easier.

I didn’t want to keep having to go back and forth,” She says. “My whole family would help me watch her if I had to go to school.”

Now, on the brink of completing her A.A in visual arts, Teran admits it wouldn’t have been possible without her family, who has showed unwavering support.

When Teran’s daughter was four months old, her husband was incarcerated for four years, only recently returning after the child turned four.

“My family was there for everything. Hospital visits, babysitting… everything,” she says.

Teran will be the first of her siblings to graduate from college, but what will follow she’s not quite sure.

“Family is my first priority,” She states.

“I’m still debating what I want to do with my A.A. I know that I will still keep painting at home, but who knows where that may lead to.”

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Downtown Life Magazine May 2013

30

Music Down Dirty Shake

Contributed Photo Merced natives Down Dirty Shake will be performing on May 11 at the Partisan in Merced.

DOWN DIRTY SHAKE

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Interview by Nathan Quevedo nathan@thedlm.com

erced natives and psychedelic rockers Down Dirty Shake have come a long way from covering The Strokes songs in a garage in high school. Last year, the band, who’s members now live in the Bay Area, played 21 shows and are on track for 50 this year. The new album is scheduled for a summer release and DDS will play in Merced this month. The DLM had a chance to catch up with the band and talk about the many shows they’ve played, some of the best and worst show experiences and what it’s like to work with the bass player for Quicksilver Messenger Service.

DDS: We’ve all been extremely busy, managing full-time jobs and playing about four shows a month. Circuiting the Bay Area, Sonoma County and the Central Valley. Since last time we’ve spoke, we lost our old bass player and picked up a new one, Mr. Cory Routh, who fits perfectly with the sound and vibe of the Shake. We also self-produced a live album called “Sex and Magic Live at the Hopmunk” recorded at the Hopmunk Tavern in Sebastopol. We played the 2nd annual San Frandelic Fest in SF with the best of the SF psychedelic bands. We’re definitely truckin’ along, hustlin’ hard and trying to spread the word of the Down and Dirty.

DLM: It’s been a while since the DLM last DLM: It looks like you’ve been playing in spoke with you guys — about a year and a half — what have you guys individually and places throughout the Bay Area and in San Francisco, what are some of the lessons Down Dirty Shake been up to since then?

Downtown Life Magazine May 2013

www.thedlm.com

you’ve learned as a young band in a tough market?

DDS: We’re like sponges, constantly soaking up knowledge (and booze/boob sweat). We’ve learned how to play around with different scenes. Luckily, the Shake can fit in with different genres from the psychedelic bands, to blues bands, to the most garagiest rock ‘n’ roll bands, even to alt rock/pop/indie bands. We’ve also learned to completely let go on stage, baring nothing but our souls. In the past we were a little timid and nervous, but these days it has become a séance of sorts — a release.

Of course, nothing goes as planned.

DLM: What are some of your best and worst show experiences?

DDS: We’ve all agreed that The Partisan shows are always the most fun, in particular the last Partisan show. People were going nuts, giving so much love.

It was quite the confidence booster — nothing beets coming home. A close second would be our Hopmunk show in 2012. You can hear the good vibes and energy of that show on the live album.

We’ve definitely had our fair share of unfortunate show experiences. Recently, James’ brand new amp crapped out on stage at a rather big show for us. We were playing the Rickshaw Stop in S.F. with some well-known bands and mid-song (Stoned Love) it just cut out and never came back on. We handled it well though, James grabbed another band’s amp and ripped it a new one. We ended up getting a lot of good feedback from that show.

DLM: How is the new album coming along and how will this differ from some of the previous work you’ve done?

DDS: The new album is coming along wonderfully.

We couldn’t be happier with where it’s at as of now. We are not recording it by ourselves this time, as we did on the previous two. We’re working with Mr. Paul Lamb (bassist for Quicksilver Messenger Service). Paul really gets the sound and naturally knows the vibe we’re going for. We often think of him as the sixth member of the Shake. If I could describe the album in five words I’d say “sexy spooky Spanish psychedelic soul.”

This is definitely by far the best stuff we’ve done.

DLM: What are some of the band’s future plans and goals?

DDS: The future is looking bright for the Shake, as we say, “I can feel it growing”.

We’re excited to come home to The Partisan on May 11 with our brother band all the way from S.F., The Love Dimension. They’re going to blow minds/blow up. People of Merced have to check them out. We’re also working on a So Cal tour in late May, and a residency (showcase every Wednesday) at the Milk Bar in S.F. in July. To promote the new album, we’ll be coming out with a music video around the same time of the album drop in the summer. Our goal is to quit the 9-5, and stop being only weekend warriors.

We want to be warriors.

If we didn’t have to worry about a full time job, we could concentrate fully on the music.

We could only get better and grow as a band.

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ALBUM REVIEW The Panduhs Panda Party!

Modesto, California natives, The Panduhs, recently released their EP titled Panduh Party!—a saccharinely sweet, four song collection of musings on life, love and growing up to be a man.

The Panduhs take a cue from twee pop — a subset of the indiepop genre known for simple, upbeat melodies and high-pitched, borderline shrill vocals. Twee pop, originated in England in the late 1980’s with the term “twee” itself being British slang for something that is so sweet, it is almost sickening.

From the get-go, the album coasts on a super sunny, surf-rock vibe. The songs are infectious, youthful and bouncy--essentially a sonic encapsulation of a summer in a west coast beach town.

It’d be a whole lot easier to write off this Central Valley group if they weren’t so self-aware. In “When I Grow Up”, they anticipate any criticism that their simplistic approach to music may be in fact, too simple, with the line “everyone’s so mean to me/ cause I don’t use big words like a have a degree/when I’m a man I’ll tell them so.”

See full review at www.thedlm.com Downtown Life Magazine May 2013

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Artist Profile Eddie Garcia

MEET THE ARTIST

Eddie Garcia is a tattoo artist, printmaker, muralist, painter and graffitii artist who has been making art in Merced for two decades.

WHERE TO FIND HIS WORK: Instagram @EdRux_ FOR SALE: Etsy at Loverainn TATTOOS: By appointment at Main Street Tattoo

Photo by Juno Appleseed Eddie Garcia stands in front of Main St. Tattoo, where he works as a tatoo artist. He is also a painter and muralist.

Eddie Garcia Words by Amber Kirby amber@thedlm.com Eddie Garcia was in the back of Main Street Tattoo when I finally found him for the interview. I handed him a generic watercolor brush from my stash, “It’s too soft I think.”

He is smearing purple acrylics into whites, evolving the hues into the contours of an umbrella and not on a canvas, but on a decrepit wooden door he had salvaged in the alley.

This is his newest piece: a three-eyed umbrella on a candy cane handle that will stab through a green, rotting sweet tooth — tarantula legs spread behind as if the molar is the arachnid’s body.

Downtown Life Magazine May 2013

Garcia often uses teeth in his work and he says it has multiple meanings to him from wisdom to decay.

“You know, like the Grandaddy song, ‘O.K. With My Decay.’ It’s the symbolism of wisdom.

The piece is just an experiment in composing certain images,” he says. “There’s an incredible amount of wisdom in aged and rotting objects.

In Japanese culture, artists will see a crack and coat it in gold and that’s the emphasis of the piece, the crack. Wood, eaten away by termites, that has aged, that’s beauty right there.” www.thedlm.com

Garcia is describing the Japanese aesthetic called wabi-sabi, often translated as, “wisdom in natural simplicity” and “flawed beauty.”

It centers on the ideas of imperfection and impermanence. The pockmarked wood or a tattoo on the skin (etched into myriad histories a person has lived through), exemplify this aesthetic. And Garcia’s talent lies in pulling the beauty forward from what already exists, exalting their inevitable conclusion.

Salvaging discarded window panes from abandoned houses, doors from dumpsters, metal sheeting from alleyways and flats from abandoned lots, he utilizes the decomposition to produce an organically savage, yet clean look.

“If you have to go to Michaels or Hobby Lobby to get your art supplies then your art is going to be manufactured art. You have to just go out, go out and walk the railroad tracks and find your canvas there, look for the colors in the landscape. Some colors don’t really come out of a tube.

The process is shamanistic for Garcia — it takes him out of his body, where he approaches his work as conductor of a universal current.

“Especially with found objects, you try to just go off the energy that the object has.

There are all these different objects that want to assemble and you know that the universe is trying to help you out, so you just gotta start having a conversation. I have a dialogue with my work.”

Print maker, painter, mural designer, graffiti artist, tattoo artist and father, there is almost no medium Garcia hasn’t played with. He began his career in 1994, airbrushing in his garage. A crew took notice and begged him to tag their name, which is how he ended up designing his first mural, a result of Like Us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/thedlm

community service. Though Garcia has long since given up tagging, he still attributes it to some of his fondest memories.

“I used to love painting freights, it’s so free flowing and wide. Oil against the rust looks really great. You can really express yourself with bold lines. I’d draw clowns holding umbrellas and running with balloons.”

Many of his pieces from that time have become iconic images. He repeats many characters that have grown to symbolize his work and are immediately recognizable.

“I was in Mexico and I picked up these Mexican lottery cards, one was a bird and I started drawing it.

Then I kept breaking it down ’til it was just one line. That’s the main thing, I always break images down and make them minimal, simple — strip away all the detail,” says Garcia.

“No unnecessary lines. I want to make it bold. Especially with tattooing, it’s easy to read on the skin this way. Just like graffiti, you want to be able to read it across the street”.

Garcia, now a family man with children, says he’s evolved as he’s aged.

“Before I had a family I had this edge to me, but when your kids are born, you give them your edge,” he says.

The trade, he says, is a wealth of wisdom that otherwise would be absent in his now more prolific art. He draws with his children.

“I teach them and they teach me. A good teacher is a good student and a good student is a good teacher, so we just bounce off each other”.

When he’s teaching, his message is simple.

“Don’t worry if you think its good or bad, or if others think its good or bad, just finish what you start.”

Downtown Life Magazine May 2013

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