City College of San Francisco | since 1935 | TheGuardsman.com | @SfBreakingNews | Free
Vol. 155, Issue 7, April 24-May 7, 2013
Labor
Chairs agree to pay cuts
Theater Review
Jesus Christ Superstar:
Tentative agreement saves jobs
Inspired retelling pops on stage
By Lavinia Pisani
The Guardsman/ lpisani@theGuardsman.com/ @laviniapisani
business venture, she has been able to reduce her hours at work to 18 hours a week. “I think it’s great that they’re
As City College waits for the accrediting commission to render a decision about the school’s future, the Department Chair Council is negotiating with the Board of Trustees to save its members’ jobs and the programs that they oversee. The council and the Board of Trustees have agreed to a tentative agreement that would save the school around $1 million annually and save all 61 chair positions, according to the SF Examiner. “It shows how committed they are to students and the broader college community,” Darlene Alioto, president of the council, told the Examiner. “I’m so proud that the membership would accept these substantial cuts in compensation but maintain their role as chair.” Previously, the administration proposed cutting many department chairs and transferring their responsibilities to a much smaller number of deans, as part of a restructuring program intended to cut costs in the name of saving the school’s accreditation. Many of the smaller departments, known as the Diversity Collaborative, feared that without a dedicated chair their programs would be at risk of being targeted by cuts in the future. The Diversity Collaborative expressed their concerns at a media briefing on April 9 at Mission campus, several days before the tentative agreement was announced in the Examiner. “The current interim CCSF administration and Board of Trustees is trying to dismantle the successful department chair structure at the college,” the collaborative said in a prepared statement,
Market: page 2
Chairs: page 2
Zachary Bukarev-Padlo portrays Jesus Christ in the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar presented by the Theatre Arts and Music Department at the Diego Rivera Theatre on April 19, 2013 . Photo by Santiago Mejia/The Guardsman
By Alex Reyes
The Guardsman/ areyes@theGuardsman.com/ @reyesanfrancis
The revolutionary spirit of the musical “Jesus Christ Superstar” was on full and glorious display on Opening Night April 19 at Diego Rivera Theatre on Ocean campus. The Theatre Arts and Music Departments’ ambitious production features an energetic performing cast of 33, a 12-piece
orchestra and a strong production staff which includes six insanely inspired costume crew members. From the time it first appeared as an album in 1970, and then again a year later as a Broadway musical, “Jesus Christ Superstar’s” version of the final days of the “Son of God” has offered audiences a radical reintroduction to how such an uncommon man might have led his very human life in the midst of great social oppression. This production dazzles the senses as the audience witnesses
a society dominated by a fascistic Rome ruled by decadent and decayed emperors and their devilish black-cloaked high priest supporters, a weary Jesus comforted by a prostitute named Mary Magdalene and a healer so overwhelmed by the appeals of lepers in straitjackets that he challenges them to “heal [themselves].” Set Designer Patrick Toebe’s land of Galilee has a heavy industrial feel, evoking a Benito Mussolini-led Rome as much as its millennia-earlier imperial rule.
A nearly stage-wide, fourstep, steel colored platform is at the center of the stage. Square “go go” dance platforms are set on either side of the stage in line with the stairs. The platforms lead to a high walkway that lines the rear of the stage. A diaphanous crepe curtain covers the far rear of the stage, partially concealing a 12-piece orchestra. Smoke wisps across the stage Theater: page 8
Business
Entrepreneurs show off their goods
Café hosts DIY market on campus By Jackson Ly
The Guardsman/ jly@theGuardsman.com/ @lyjacks
Chasing Lions Café has gained a reputation as a great a place to grab food on Ocean campus since it opened in Spring 2012, but it has also become a place where students can get real-life business experience. The café’s owner, Keba A. Konte, chose the lion symbol because it represents something larger than himself. “To me, it means chasing after success, taking a risk and pursuing your dreams,” Konte said. Wanting to extend this metaphor into something real, he hosted a Student Made Market
3
at the café on March 20 to give City College students a chance to exhibit their own products. “They need an avenue to make money all year long,” Konte said. Christine Maalouf, a secondyear business student, has sold Grandma’s Homemade, her family’s homemade jams, at farmer’s markets before, but she says her customers there are usually 40-50 years old. “When I heard about the market, I’m like ‘oh my god, I need to do this,’” Maalouf said. Using the Student Made Market as an opportunity to market to a younger generation, Maalouf invites students who enter the café to try out her jams before buying them. She handed out free samples of her jams, which include Black Mission Figs, Calimyrna Figs with Walnuts, Quince Jam, Pumpkin
News: DJ spins beats on solar powered turntable for Earth Day
Preserves and Chia-Apricot. All of Maalouf ’s ingredients come from a 50-mile radius: strawberries from Watsonville, apricots from Modesto, figs from Fresno, quinine from Nevada City and pumpkins from Half Moon Bay. “I love meeting the people and making connections. That’s why I do farmers markets,” Maalouf said. Second-year criminal justice student Shanalee Gallagher also had a table at the market, selling alternative medicinal products and supplements for people seeking holistic solutions. Enrolled in 18 units each semester, Gallagher used to juggle school and working 35 to 40 hours each week. “My GPA went from a 3.90 to a 3.40,” Gallagher said. Since she started her small
5
Christine Maalouf sells homemade jams at the Student Made Market, hosted by Chasing Lions Café on Ocean campus. Photo Courtesy of Susan Berston.
Q&a: SF Chronicle reporter Nanette Asimov talks about accreditation
9
opinion: Social media has two sides