year, 300 age out of foster care, and1200 miss 20 days of school ormore, totaling an estimated 2000students who are in need of guidance.

“My goal is 2000 volunteers in4 years,” she said. “What I’m goingto do is talk to fraternities andsororities, particularly in the blackand Latino communities, and go toa lot of churches and work particu-larly with the (baby boomer) generation.”

Fighting crime differently

Since her first day as Mayor on

Jan 3, Quan has received criticismfrom a wide range of sources onher initial plans to not increasespending on the police force.

“If I’m going to bring downcrime in this city it’s not going tobe just with more cops,” she saidregarding her decision to lay off 80more police officers.

Her alternative plans to anincreased police force include edu-cation and crime prevention programs.

“You have to have both (policeand prevention programs) … it’sthat story about throwing the peo-ple into the river. You can pull them

out, but maybe you should go upstream and figure out who’s throw-ing them in,” Quan said.

Quan also said that balancingthe budget came before increasingthe police force, and in order to doso, police officers would had tohave put more money into theirpension funds than they were willing to.

“We voted to balance the budg-et,” she said. “What we voted wasthat we would balance the budget ifthe cops paid their share of their pension.”

Other cities have created simi-lar pension plans in order to cut

back government spending,according to Quan.

“Had they agreed to pay that9% (of their income for their pen-sion), we would not have laid offany officers, but they refused to dothat,” she said. “ArnoldSwarzenegger got the highwaypatrol to pay 9%, San Franciscopays more than 9%, San Jose paysmore than 9%, and so we were a lit-tle stunned that they wouldn’t eventake it out to a vote to their mem-bers and just decided to force us todo the layoffs.”

Jean Quan, the first femalemayor of Oakland and the firstAsian-American mayor of a majorU.S city, spoke at Mills on Jan 24in Littlefield Hall.

Her purpose: to give back tothose who helped her reach hergoal of becoming Mayor.

“There’s a saying in politicsthat ‘you dance with the ones whobrung ya,’ and I’m assuming thatmost of the girl students who votedhere (at Mills) voted for Rebeccaor me,” Quan told Campanilreporters in an interview after herspeech. “And even if they voted forRebecca first, I still got their votesas number two, for the most part.”

Quan expressed that she felt astrong connection to Mills and itscommunity because of the person-al similarities she shares with Mills women.

“We bring the same optimismand the same radical bold spirit,”she said.

Quan’s speech focused on edu-cation, jobs and community organ-izing to improve Oakland, specifi-cally how the Mills communitycould help make Oakland a saferand more tightly-knit community.

A stronger Oakland

“We had quite a few studentswork with us on this project tomake the connection between theLaurel district and the school,” shesaid. “So that students would feelsafer … and be more a part of thecommunity … it was very impor-tant to me because I want moreMills students to get involved.”

Before taking office as Mayorof Oakland, Quan resided over theLaurel district as city councilmember.

President Janet Holmgrenechoed Quan’s call for collabora-tion between Mills and the sur-rounding Oakland community.

“We are making long standingand fresh ties with the city … wehave a whole community ready …to step up,” Holmgren said.

Holmgren has recently beennamed as a member of Quan’stransition advisory board as anexpert in K-12 and higher education.

Quan’s plans to strengthenOakland’s communities alsoinclude hiring 2000 volunteers tomentor the city’s youth. She islooking for 2000 volunteers specif-ically because 500 Oakland highschool students are arrested each

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Left: Oakland mayor, Jean Quan addresses members of thecommunity on Jan 24 in Littlefield Hall at Mills College.Right: Audience members respond to a question from Quanabout visiting the Art Murmur in downtown Oakland.

LAUREN SLITER

NNiiccoollee VVeerrmmeeeerrMANAGING EDITOR

Read usWeekly!

Mayor Quan thanks Mills for support, callson college to strengthen ties with Oakland

Retail leaving the city

Oakland loses about $5 billionin revenue that would otherwise bespent within the city to other cities,according to a study Quan cited inher interview with The Campanil,equaling millions in tax dollars.

“Oakland’s leakage is muchproportionally bigger than othercities,” she said. “So I’m askingevery Oaklander to consider spend-ing just 25% more, I’m not askingfor 100%, but just 25% more in the city.”

Quan plans on bringing in some“big box” stores to Oakland inorder to provide all communitieswithin the city equal access tohealthy food.

“Some communities in this citydon’t even have a basic grocerystore and so we’ve been negotiat-ing with Kroger and a couple ofother major chains to get them togo to East Oakland, near the colise-um and West Oakland,” she said.

Quan noted the importance ofhaving a balance between local andchain stores, such as Target.

“A lot of the things that they(Target) sell are not really readilyavailable yet in the neighbor-hoods,” she said.

Creating a moretransparent government

Transparency was one ofQuan’s major campaign issues andshe pointed to her public appear-ance at Mills College as an exam-ple of how she plans to create

a more transparent local government.

“I don’t turn down invitations,”she said about her relationship withthe media. “We are going to dotown hall meetings in every coun-cil district.”

Along with appealing moreopenly to the media, Quan has cho-sen to take a 25% pay cut, which isthe same percentage the rest of thestate and city government has hadto sacrifice in order to balance the budget.

Quan also said she wants tohave a booth at the Chinese LunarNew Year’s celebration in ChinaTown on Jan 29 because she feelsthe Chinese community deserves a“thank you” from her.

“We think they were a big partof our margin of victory,” she saidabout the Chinese community.“And so we are thinking of doing asort of Lucy sign. Instead of saying‘The doctor is in’ it will say ‘themayor is in.’”

Quan has also taken steps toconnect with youth culture: shetweets daily and made an attemptto do so while she was attending adinner with Chinese leader HuJintao in January.

“I tried to Twitter at the WhiteHouse, but they took away my cellphone,” she said, laughing.

Her main goal is to bringtogether all the communities with Oakland.

“When we come together,”Quan said. “It will be really hard tostop this city.”

Members of the Mills commu-nity have been reaching out tosolve the campus-wide feral catproblem for some time now. Withinthe last year, a group of Mills staffand students created The FreeRoaming Cat Coalition (FRCC),which has organized to trap, spayand neuter, and feed the feral catson Mills campus.

The program’s managers, LindaZitzner, Assistant Vice President ofCampus Planning, and IleenErickson, MBA Career ServiceDirector, have recently designedand installed six feeding stationsaround campus. The stations aredesigned to both allow for cats oncampus to have a safe eating areaand to keep unwanted wild ani-mals, such as raccoons, away fromthe cat food, according to Zitznerand Erickson.

“We strategically placed the

feeding stations,” Zitzner said. “Wewanted to move the cats away fromnatural habitats like Lake Aliso andaway from Founders.”

Originally, 10 feeding stationswere built, but Zitzner andErickson do not plan on having theremaining 4 stations installed inaddition to the 6 already in place.

“We don't want to encouragemore of a population,” Zitzner saidabout installing more feeding sta-tions, fearing that too much foodcould invite other stray cats onto campus.

The FRCC relies solely ondonations and volunteers to feed,medicate, trap and fix the cats oncampus. Erickson and Zitzner planto keep the FRCC as a volunteer-based program.

“It gives it more heart and givesit more commitment when it is on avolunteer basis,” Zitzner said.

The feeding stations are alsostill a work in progress, accordingto Zitzner.

“Raccoons are still managing to

hoist themselves up into the sta-tions,” she said, even though thestations were designed to avoid theraccoons from jumping inside.

The primary goal of the FRCCis to reduce the number of newborncats on campus, hopefully to zero,according to Erickson.

“No new babies,” she said. “Wewant to avoid kittens being bornhere. And if there are kittens beingdiscovered, we need to be calledimmediately.”

The methods the FRCC is usingat Mills, specifically the “trap,neuter, return” method, are widelyused at other colleges aroundCalifornia and the country, includ-ing Stanford University, SaintMary's University and CaliforniaPolytechnic State University, SanLuis Obispo, according to Erickson.

The “trap, neuter, return”method is lauded by Fix OurFerals, a nonprofit in Berkeley spe-cializing in controlling feral catpopulations within Alameda and

Contra Costa counties.“It’s the most efficient way to

control wild cats on campus,”Erickson said about the “trap,neuter, return” method.

The Mills FRCC has set up anintranet site in order to track cam-pus cat populations and to educatethe Mills community about them.The hope is that people on campuswill get to know which cats havebeen trapped and neutered andwhich ones haven’t so that theFRCC can be quickly notifiedabout any new feral cats on campus.

The site, which can only beaccessed by people with Millslogin names and passwords, showsa list of all the trapped cats, theirnames, genders, identifying traits,whether they are spayed orneutered and where they live on campus.

“Keep your eyes open,”Erickson said about tracking newcats on campus. “And no rogue feeding.”

News22 FF ee bb .. 11 ,, 22 00 11 11

Bianca Butler and Lauren Slitercontributed to this report.

Quan from page 1

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Pitch, one of the college’s resident cats, perches in one ofthe new feeding stations.

NICOLE VERMEER

The Campanil welcomes public commentary on subjects of interestto the campus community, as well as feedback on the paper itself.Submissions for Open Forum should be no more than 400 words.Letters to the editor should be no more than 150 words. Submissionsmay be edited for length and clarity.

All submissions must include the author’s name and contact infor-mation and may be submitted via e-mail or in typewritten form, accom-panied by a CD. No anonymous submissions will be accepted.Submissions must be received one week before publication date toappear in the next issue.

The Campanil reserves the right to upload all content published inprint, in addition to original content, on our websitewww.thecampanil.com.

The Campanil is published every other Monday. The first copy ofThe Campanil is free. Additional copies are 50 cents. Students inter-ested in joining should contact the editor in chief.

Tara NelsonEditor in Chief

eic@thecampanil.com

Managing Editor Nicole Vermeer

Sports and Health Editor Bonnie Horgos

Opinions Editor Lauren Soldano

Features Editor Stephanie Scerra

Online Editor Melodie Miu

CAMPANILTHEChief News Editor Lauren Sliter

Asst. Online Editor Tymeesa Rutledge

5000 MacArthur Blvd.Oakland, CA 94613510.430.2246 phone

510.430.3176 fax

Photo Editor Anna Corson

Staff Writer Loren Sanchez

Multimedia Staff Bianca Butler

LLaauurreenn--MMaarriiee SSlliitteerrCHIEF NEWS EDITOR

Design Editor Joann Pak

Campus cat coalition installs feeding stations for feral cats

ALL PHOTOS BY LAUREN SLITER

Right: Oakland mayor JeanQuan addresses an audienceof Mills students, faculty, staffand Oakland residents inLittlefield Hall on Jan 24. Herspeech focused on education,business revenue and buildinga strong Oakland community.

Left: Quan and President JanetHolmgren share a momentafter Quan’s speech. Quanclutches a bouquet given toher by Isabel Cortes, presidentof the Fem Dems at MillsCollege.

Right: Quan chats with stu-dents after her speech at MillsCollege in the lobby ofLittlefield Hall. Quan mingledwith the community for approximately 30 minutes afterher speech.

Asst. News Editor Diana Arbas

Events & Information 33FF ee bb.. 11 ,, 22 0011 11

Find more stories, photos, videos and live updates at www.thecampanil.com.

FEBRUARY 1- FEBRUARY 82Wednesday

4Fr iday

1Tuesday

Art Sucks, I QuitWhat:Mixed Media assem-blage & sculpture by LilyBlack w/ Art Murmur recep-tion.When: 6 p.m. - 9 p.m. Where: Kuhl Frames + Art,412 22nd St., Oakland

Oakland Museum of CAWhat: Free Admissionevery first Sunday of everymonth. When: 11 a.m. - 5 p.m.Where: 1000 Oak Street,Oakland

For more events, check out

www.thecampanil.comIf you have events for the calendar,

e-mail Nicole Vermeer atvermeer@thecampanil.com

Last day to add a classLast day to increase creditfor a variable-credit courseor undergrad 1-credit courseIf you have any questionscontact: 510.430.2000

6Sunday

7MondayThe Agony andEcstasy of Streve JobsWhat: The storytellerMike Daisey’s monologue When: Showing throughFeb. 27 Where: BerkeleyRepertory Theatre, 2025

Works in ProgressWhat: Put on by The Placefor Writers, featuring faculty& student readers When: 5:30 p.m.Where: The Mills BenderRoom

Patrick Wolff Trio andSextetWhat: Show with manyother musical actsWhen: Where: Jazzschool, 2087Addison St., BerkeleyCost: All Ages, $12

3Thursday

5Saturday

Opening Night ofINDIEFEST What: SF Independent FilmFestivalWhen:7:00 p.m -9:00 p.m.Feb. 3- 17Where: Individual tickets toscreenings vary.

Com

ic: B

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A crowd of Millsies and visi-tors, a table full of refreshmentsand cookies, and a classic panelsetup - it seemed like pretty typicalMills event - except for the giantvagina poster outside and someguests speakers who more than justa little bit “gay famous.” The roomwas packed with about one hun-dred attendees, all eager to learnhow to be “sex positive.” Studentsand visitors gathered in the FineArts Annex last Friday the 21st fora Sex Positivity Panel, hosted bythe Women’s Health ResourceCollective (WHRC).

“Sex positivity is the ideologythat all consensual and legal sex isgood sex,” said co-coordinator

Colleen Kimsey, a junior at Mills.“Whether it’s a couple who’s beenmarried for two years having inter-course—gentle and loving—orwhether it’s two strangers havingconsensual needle play (the prac-tice of piercing a partner with nee-dles, not to harm or decorate them,but to pleasure them). As long aseveryone is safe and happy, it’sall good.”

Panelists came from a varietyof backgrounds and experience -even from the College itself - todiscuss the sex positivity move-ment, which extends beyond Mills.More widely known as theKentucky Fried Woman, formerMills employee Krista Smith leadsa plus-sized performance troupecalled Flabulous and also regularlyteaches a workshop for other

queers called “How Fat is YourGender?” She began her talk bybluntly asking the audience to raisetheir hands if they had ever sleptwith a fat person, which elicitedresponses like, “Well I'm just notreally attracted to fat people.”

According to Smith, fighting toensure society treats all bodies -including “fat” ones - with thesame respect is one of the thingssex positivity is all about.

“They answer as if the questiontook place in a vacuum, as if wedidn't live in a society where fatpeople were shamed and presentedas being ugly,” Smith said.

The panel consisted of a Q&Asession featuring student questionsasked on the event’s Facebookpage, questions on topics likepolyamory - having more than one

intimate relationship at a time withthe consent of all involved - and therelationship between feminism andsex positivity.

“Everybody thinks they have aright to have an opinion about‘alternative lifestyles’ whether theyhave any information or not,” saidDossi Easton, panelist and authorof the book The Ethical Slut.

Easton argued that people havemany misconceptions about sexualpractices outside of the culturalnorms. Easton, as well as otherspeakers at the Fair, hope to pro-mote sex positivity by educatingpeople on such alternatives tomainstream sex practices.

Attendee and senior VeronicaBeatty found the panel informative.

“I learned that porn is a sextoy,” Beatty said, “and that I

should interrogate my desires.”While she found the panel

equally enlightening, freshwomanShanay Salais was disappointed bythe lack of diversity between the panelists.

“I thought it was a fantasticintroduction to the world of sexpositivity,” Salais said. “However,I’m bummed out that the panel wasdominated by white folks. If I wasnot already comfortable in a sexpositive world, I would have feltalienated as a queer femme of color.”

Nevertheless, Kimsey and otherWHRC members were pleasedwith the turnout and hope that thePanel will be an annual tradition to help promote the WHRC’s other efforts to support the Mills community.

Panelists from a variety of experience and backgrounds gathered to educate and discuss an ideology called sex positivity with Mills College students and guests.

LLaauurreenn SSoollddaannooOPINIONS EDITOR

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Arts & FeaturesFF eebb .. 11 ,, 22 00 11 1144

LAUREN SOLDANO

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Arts & Features 55FF ee bb .. 11 ,, 22 00 11 11

JJooaannnn PPaakk DESIGN EDITOR

In the darkly-lit room, there are arbitrarysounds bouncing off the walls. Other thanthose sounds, there is stillness. Quiet. It’shard to recognize that this enchantinglypeaceful space is the Mills College ArtMuseum. Yet its newly-arranged, gray wallsand feel are vital components of theMuseum’s current exhibition FloatingFemale, a collection of video installments byDanish artist Laerke Lauta.

For Dr. Stephanie Hanor, Director of theMills Art Museum, showcasing Lauta'spieces was in response to the strong studentinterest on campus in video, as exhibited bythe Video I and II classes offered at the College.

“In terms of artistic practice, (Lauta'sinstallment) was a great opportunity to showa large-scale video installation in our space,”Hanor said.

Commissioned directly by the Museumof Contemporary Art San Diego, Floating

Female broadcasts five channels of video,each of which is projected on its own wallwith its own sound. Each video - which isaccompanied by individual sounds like theflow of water in a lake and the beat of musicin a nightclub, depending on which channelyou are watching - portrays people andnature in a dreamlike fashion. In one videochannel, a girl covered in white feathers rem-iniscent of wings hangs upside down from atree. In another, a girl in a red dress dances ina nightclub as a man drinks beer in the back-ground. Though the channels are separatevideos on separate walls, Lauta’s collectionfeels like a continuing movie sequence thatdelves deeply into the internal and external.

Students who have seen Lauta’s videoinstallation said they were impressed by her work.

“Never quite seen anything like it,” saidElena Silva, a freshmen who works at theinstallation.

To see more by Laerke Lauta please visithttp://www.lauta.dk/video.html. FloatingFemale will be showing until March 13.

AArrtt ooff tthhee 2211sstt cceennttuurryy::Dreamlike video installations showwomen in modern way

ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF DR. STEPHANIE HANOR

Find more stories, photos, videos and live updates at www.thecampanil.com

Top: Floating Female is a collection of video installations by Danish artist LaerkeLauta. The following are stills. Middle: A woman with white feathers reminiscent ofwings hangs from a tree. Bottom left: Lauta’s installments have a lot of emphasisin nature. Bottom right: The girl in the red dress is one of Lauta’s trademarks.

Rose SuttonCONTRIBUTING WRITER

Americans lovetheir guns. So muchso that the gun hasbecome the quintes-sential symbol ofAmerican patriot-ism. The origin ofthe constitutionalright to bear arms has been rootedin our history from the beginning.Though the politics of gun controlis as timeless a debate as ever,things have changed since the sec-ond amendment’s adoption in1791. It is precisely these progres-sions that should cause us toreassess the validity and costs asso-ciated with allowing Americans topossess firearms. Citizens mustcome to apprehend the soberingreality that guns have no place inthe twenty-first century.

Unlike Americans today, earlyAmerican settlers legitimatelyneeded their right to possessfirearms for purposes of actuallyorganizing militias, defendingagainst real threats of foreign inva-sion (and for forcibly acquiringland from Native Americans), forenforcing martial law, and huntingfor the necessity of human survival.The justifications made a lot ofsense, at the time. But can we saythe same for modern day gunrights? In 1791 the gun was a toolto be used when needed for thesake of life and something called“liberty”; it meant much more thana recreational toy to be shot off foramusement.

The kinds of guns the framershad in mind when drafting the sec-ond amendment are pathetic incomparison to the monstrositiesthat are currently being purchased;

semi-automatic shotguns andassault rifles capable of pumpingout a hailstorm of bullets and tear-ing through flesh and bone like but-ter. At the time however they wererudimentary and firearms like themusket, blunderbuss, and small-lever action pistol were sometimesless than reliable. With parts madefrom gunsmiths these single shotweapons were filled with gunpow-der, loaded through the muzzle, andactivated by use of the flintlock.Americans must come to realizethis very grotesque contrast; withthe only remaining commonalitybeing their ability to still kill.

It seems the defense of usingfirearms for self-defense hasempirically been a myth. In arecent TIME article author MichaelGrunwald cites “Nationally, lessthan 1% of all gun deaths involveself-defense; the rest are homi-cides, suicides and accidents.” Thetruth is you probably can’t think ofsomeone you know who has used afirearm in self-defense.

American gun culture warrantsa second look. In the wake of theTucson shooting it’s hard to ration-alize the acceptance of somethingas dangerous and passé as the gun.Buy a bow and arrow if you’re soinclined to harm something orsomeone, at least your victim willhave a better chance of survival.

American patriotism isn’t aboutour ability to bear arms, but ourability to know the worth of givingup something that has long broughtus strife. I want you to simply thinkfor yourself; consider the role ofguns in the America you live intoday. In an America where wecensor people’s first amendmentrights in rap lyrics for being seem-ingly “too violent”, but not peo-ple’s second amendment rights for legitimately committing violent acts.

President Obama covered awide range of topics in his State ofthe Union address last week—America’s economy and job mar-ket, the health care reform bill, taxcuts. As always, his words wereeloquent and moving. However,members of our staff had mixedfeelings about some remarks thePresident made—or failed tomake—in regards to education(particularly higher education).

Don’t get us wrong, Obama didmake some points about educationthat made us feel like cheering.For example, during his call to stopthe deportation of undocumentedcollege and university students ourhearts thumped in agreement.

Dealing with the pressures of full-time school as well as the fear ofbeing deported is a sad reality formany of our colleagues across thenation, and we wish that Obama’swords could have ensured asmuch—unfortunately, they are nota guarantee for these students.

Many of us were also relievedby the announcement of thereplacement of No Child LeftBehind (NCLB) by the new pro-gram, Race to the Top. It remainsto be seen if this program will trulydeliver the transformative resultsObama described—in other words,whether it will be an extremeenough reform—but it is certainlyhigh time for the largely unsuc-

cessful and certainly misnamedNCLB program to come to an end.

We were also all pleased tohear the President ask for a$10,000 tuition tax credit for thosewho complete four years of col-lege—but unfortunately, this willnot benefit all students—studentsat two year colleges and vocation-al schools, as well as those who areunable to complete their degreesbut still owe mountains of debt.Furthermore, that promise does notalleviate the horror of trying toenter the recession-impacted jobmarket armed with only what maybe a useless degree.

Obama’s endorsement of high-er learning pursuits was certainly

present—indeed, he clearly insist-ed on making those pursuits possi-ble for all Americans However,some staff members were con-cerned that he seemed to be main-ly calling for the bettering of“innovative” areas of higher edu-cation such as maths and sciences,with no attention to humanitiesdepartments. Humanities depart-ments are already losing fundingand merit throughout the nation,and will continue to do so if they,too, are not recognized as intellec-tually valuable.

Finally, some staff memberswere appalled by Obama’s openinvitation for military recruiters toset up at colleges and universities.

Supposedly the invitation wasextended to put into practice the“fairness” gained by the passing ofDon’t Ask Don’t Tell, but some ofus remain skeptical that participa-tion in the military necessarilymeans that we are all “equal.” Infact, some of us believe thatschools, colleges and universitiesmay be one of the most importantplaces to start building a counter-recruiting movement and begin tounlearn the need for a military asan undisputable fact. To endwars—to put an end to war profi-teering as a profitable business (theend of Blackwater, the end ofHaliburton)—would truly be “win-ning the future.”

Opinions & Editorial66 FF ee bb .. 11 ,, 22 00 11 11

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STAFFSTAFF EDITORIALEDITORIAL

Letter from abroad

If You Don’t Have Your Health

Today I finallywent to the postoffice and figuredout how to send let-ters to the U.S., tookmy first salsa lessonat El Bar, had myfirst session ofReading and Writing theRevolution, and got my hair cut.Or, at least, that’s what would havehappened if I weren’t stuck in bedwith a sore throat. There is nothingworse than being sick in a foreigncountry, and this is my second time.

The first time was a stomachinfection. Despite acting like aparanoid tourist—brushing myteeth with bottled water and avoid-ing all street food and tacos—Ithrew up seven times in elevenhours less than a week after arriv-ing here. Oh, those were somegood times—going to the hospital,getting an IV for the first time inmy life while squeezing the direc-tor of my program’s hand in a deathgrip, wearing a lavender hospital

gown, getting X-rayed, peeing intoa cup. But at least I had a comfyhospital bed, the kind that you canadjust with a button, and lots ofFriends reruns with Spanish subti-tles to keep me company.

Being sick yet again has mademe think about taking better care ofmyself and, concomitantly, what Iwant to do with my time inGuanajuato, México. Nothing isstopping me from going out everynight—not my host family, not theprogram, not my age, and not myclass schedule, for the most part. Itwas great to let loose that last weekand bond with my new friends, butI don’t want to treat being here likeone big semester-long vacation. Icame here to learn, I came here toreflect, and I came here to makemeaningful connections with otherpeople (which, I suppose, couldhappen between the hours of 10 pmand 2 am on occasion).

There is so much to do and seehere. As one very wise friendreminded me recently, “Terra,you’re in MEXICO!” She’s right.And I can’t live out that fact from abed, rewatching Doctor Who anddrinking chamomile tea. Well ...maybe for just a little longer.

Have something to say?

e-mail soldano@thecampanil.com

LET US KNOW.

Terra MikalsonCONTRIBUTING WRITER

What it would really mean to “win thefuture” in Obama’s new-era America

OPENFORUM

Real American PatriotismTo The Campanil:

I am happy to add my enthusi-astic words of welcome to AleciaDeCoudreaux, who will succeedme as the 13th President of MillsCollege in July. I am truly pleasedwith her selection by the Board ofTrustees and look forward to work-ing with her during the time ofpresidential transition. I very muchenjoyed the opportunity that I hadlast week when she was on campusto meet with her and to introduceher to our College Officers.

Mills is fortunate, indeed, tohave identified as its next leadersuch an impressive and dedicatedwoman. Her commitment to excel-lence in women’s education and theadvancement of women’s leader-ship will be very strong assets inher work on behalf of Mills as itsnext President.

I would also like to acknowl-edge the hard work and dedicationof the trustees, faculty, staff, andstudents who served on thePresidential Search Committee.

Sincerely,

Janet L. Holmgren

Message fromMessage fromthe Presidentthe President

I’m a fewweeks intobeing apart of theM i l l sC o l l e g eswim team,and so far Ihave man-aged to

survive practices six days per week.However, survival may soon get

a bit hairier.We’ve been practicing for our

swim meet in Los Angeles on Jan.28 and 29. As the days get closerand closer, the tension continues to build.

So what does it take to preparefor a college swim meet?

Happiness is being decked outin head to toe Mills College swimteam gear.

I've never been a jock, but I'vealways been envious of athletesrepresenting their team in polyester suits.

And now I'm one of those peo-ple; I get to swagger around cam-pus in a navy blue track suit with amatching backpack, both display-ing "Mills College Swim Team" inwhite thread. You might even catchme wearing my thick over-sizedparka as well.

I've been doing more than justchecking myself out in the mirrorin my TYR tracksuit, though.

I've spent hours in the poolrefining my flip turns and strokes,getting ready for our swim meet inLos Angeles against other collegesincluding Cal Tech, Whittier,Occidental, Chapman, Vanguardand Biola.

Plus, I feel like I have a purpose,a goal now. Why? I have a specificevent to work towards for our swimmeet: the 500 and 1000 freestyleevents, along with shorter distancesin freestyle and breaststroke.

Frankly, I'm pretty excitedabout the distance events. Whilemost events consist of 50 to 100

yards, the 500 free is 20 lengths ofthe pool, the 1000 free is 40lengths. It's a mental test, a balanceof sprinting and endurance. Nowwhy would I want to subject myselfto such brutal agony?

First thing's first. I know mystroke is funky; my stroke, flipturns and kicks aren't the sharpestthey can be. And sprinting is allabout finesse after all. The 50 freeis an event done in less than thirtyseconds, so everything has to beperfect. There's no room for errorwhen you're in and out in less thana minute.

With the 500 and 1000 free, Ihave room for error.

I'm also used to distance. I dida couple mile races with my par-ents growing up, swimming myfirst when I was 10. We swamaround the Santa Cruz Wharf; I wasthe youngest person there and I

won a medal (mind you, I was theonly one in my age group.) Still, amile was no big deal. It was kind of fun.

And even though there's morepressure at a swim meet, I know Ihave endurance at least. If I raced amile when I was 10, I sure hope Ican swim around a third of a mile now.

Most of all, though, I enjoy theinternal journey of swimming dis-tance. I often create songs in myhead when I swim, a sort of fugalmodulation I'll repeat to myselfover and over again. When I swimdistance, I'm reminded why I'm inthe pool in the first place: because Ilike to swim.

Preparing for these long coursesis a complex system. It consists ofrefining my technique as much aspossible with drills, getting fasterwith sprinting on specific intervals

and lifting weights to build some muscle.

It also means actually learninghow to dive off the starting block,the white stand mounted at the endof the pool used to start races.

We had to dive off the blocksabout a week into practice. I was soafraid of diving into the pool headfirst that I'd repeatedly belly flopinto the water, my stomach redwith pain.

Our assistant coach MerrittLander pulled me aside one dayand had me repeatedly dive into thepool just from the side, letting mybody naturally fall after my head. Ieventually began gliding in, theimpact of belly flopping recedinginto the distance.

I got onto the block and doveright in. I gently streamed throughthe water, preparing to take myfirst stroke.

I bobbed up in the middle of thepool and turned back.

"I did it!" I said, an enormoussmile on my face.

I was just happy I probablywouldn't look like the ridiculousnewbie drowning first thing at theswim meet in Los Angeles.

But if I do drown, at least I hadthe chance to wear head to toeMills gear, swaggering on the pooldeck like the hippest jock on the block.

Sports & Health 77FF ee bb .. 11 ,, 22 00 11 11

Find more stories, photos, videos and live updates at www.thecampanil.com

Bonnie HorgosSPORTS & HEALTH EDITOR

Swimming against the currentGetting down to business and gearing up for swim meets

Coming up next week

I’ll report back after theMills College swim team’smeet in Los Angeles.

How will I fare at my firstswim meet since I was nineyears old?

Spring semester pool hours

KURT LOEFFLER

Preparing for a coilege swim meet consists of sprint swimming, refining stroke technique and lifting weights for overall strength.

Mills community onlyFridays 11 – 12 p.m.Saturdays 10 – 11 a.m.

Monday, WednesdayLap Swim: 7 – 8:45 a.m.12 – 2 p.m.5:30 – 7:30 p.m.Recreational Swim:5:30 – 7:30 p.m.

Tuesday, ThursdayLap Swim:

12 – 2 p.m.5 :30– 7:30 p.m. (Rec. andLap)

FridayLap Swim:7 – 8:45 a.m.12 – 2:45 p.m.

Saturday, SundayLap Swim:12 – 2:45 p.m.Recreational Swim:12 – 2:45 p.m.

Upcoming Cyclone home gamesSwimmingDate: Feb. 11, 12 p.m.Opponents: Laney, Chabot, City Collegeof SF

Date: Feb. 12, 12 p.m.Opponent: California Institute ofTechnology

TennisDate: Feb. 4, 1 p.m.Opponent: Foothill College

Date: Feb. 11, 11 a.m.

Oppenent: Notre Dame de Namur

Date: Feb. 20, 10 a.m.Opponent: California Institute ofTechnology

Date: Mar. 4, 2 p.m.Opponent: University of LaVerne

Date: Mar. 5, 1:30 p.m.Opponent: Dominican University

Date: Mar. 15, 2 p.m.Opponent: Dixie State

Yoga is supposed to be relaxing.While students pose in a yogaclass, the teacher may tell the classto stop thinking. She may tell themto let the pressure of life dropaway; stop worrying about school,work and money.

Money? That may be a harderworry to stop thinking about.

Teachers regularly repeat andregurgitate the yogi philosophy andlifestyle as people perform poseafter pose in hardwood floored,candle-lit, Nag Champa incensefilled studios.

And while yogis may appreci-ate much of this spiritual lifestyle,it can be hard to let go of financeinduced stress when just one classcan often run nearly $20.

So how can Mills students getthe best yoga offered while payingfair but not obscene amounts ofmoney for it?

Yoga studios all over the EastBay have stumbled upon a newway of getting more students intotheir studios: new member spe-cials. These introductory offersallow people to take yoga classesfor as little as one dollar per day forunlimited classes.

Plus, yoga studios all over offerdeals to members where regularscan get discounted classes.

Loka Yoga in Oakland offers afree introductory class for new-comers. After, the studio's rates arefive classes for $70.00, 10 classesfor $120 or 20 classes for $220.

Loka Yoga instructor AliceJoanou said not only does the com-plimentary class allow people toget a feel for the studio, it maydraw in more prospective clients as well.

"You just walk in and it's a niceway to get introduced," Joanousaid. "It works out. With that kindof feeling of good will, I think wehave more people interested."

Creative writing major Veronica

Phillipsborn tested out Loka Yogain Oakland a while back when thestudio was offering an introductoryrate of three classes for $15. Thesenior said despite the low cost, theclasses are high in quality.

“The teacher is super nice andaccommodating," Phillipsbornsaid. "And even with a new class,she called everyone by name andtook the time to correct newcomersas well.”

For students who want to breaka sweat without breaking the bank,Yoga College of India Oaklandoffers newcomers 10 days ofunlimited Bikram yoga for $10.After the introductory first tendays, their normal drop-in rate is$15, a 10 class card for $100 and avariety of other offers.

Bikram yoga is a series of 26postures performed in a room heat-ed to an average of around 105degrees Fahrenheit. Yoga Collegeof India Oakland's 3000 squarefoot studio can hold up to 35sweaty stretchers at a time.

Yoga College of India Oaklan'dsdirector Tony Carr said he startedoffering the introductory rate tokeep up with local yoga businesses.

"I started that in 2002," Carrsaid. "I started it because the com-petition was doing it."

Not into all of that sweat?Monkey Yoga Shala in LakeMerritt offers a variety of yogapractices including Vinyasa andpostnatal yoga at $20 for two trialsweeks. After the two week trial,their drop-in rate is $15, or fourclasses for $48 or twelve classesfor $120.

Monkey Yoga Shala instructorTim Thompson said he found thatthe discounted entry rate helps peo-ple decide if the 1200 square footyoga studio is a good fit or not.

"How long does it really take toknow if you really like some-thing?" Thompson said. "Fivetimes? 1o times? I think it onlytakes five times."

And with so many offers fornewcomers, it's easy to test thewaters and see which yoga studiofits best.

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PHOTO AND SPORTS & HEALTHEDITORS

EMILY SONGSTER/TIM THOMPSON

Tim Thompson, director of Monkey Yoga Shala in Oakland, strikes a pose. The local studio offersan introductory rate of $20 for 14 days of unlimited classes in its 1200 square foot yoga space.

Find more stories, photos, videos and live updates at www.thecampanil.com

Yoga deals and steals in the East Bay

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