14 | Thursday, April 7, 2011

Feature

cityonahillpress.com | 15

Feature

The Maddening World of The Asylum

Production studio churns out ‘mockbusters,’ achieves popularity

Based out of Burbank, Calif., The Asylum film production and distribution company has been mastering the mockbuster for the past 14 years. David Latt is one of the three founding partners of the company. Prior to his career in Hollywood, Latt worked in the magazine publishing industry. He first met his producing colleague David Rimawi, then a Village Roadshow Pictures Executive, at a film festival in 1991.

“My colleague [Rimawi] had always wanted to produce. I had always wanted to direct,” Latt said. “What we did then is what we do today. We went out, found what stars people wanted and what genre they liked, found out [what] people would pay … and began working.”

Since its origins in 1995, the company has never lost money on a film, and is constantly grow-ing, both in output and popular-ity, despite constant criticism from film reviewers and main-stream consumers. The Asylum both recognizes and relishes its position as a niche market, and isn’t discouraged by public backlash. While not for everyone, this style of film is recognized by some within the film community as still having merit. In addition, their mockbuster films have be-

“Transmorphers.” “Almighty Thor.” “Sherlock Holmes.”These could be the titles of some of the biggest films of recent years. Then

follows a trio of more suspect titles:“Megashark vs. Giant Octopus.” “Snakes on a Train.” “Titanic II.”This is not mainstream Hollywood.

By Gareth Rees-White, Contributing WriterIllustrations By Matt Boblet

Continued on p. 20

come something of a litmus test for Hollywood worthiness.

The mockbuster is a low-budget film that uses a plot similar to that of a currently released blockbuster while exploiting its publicity campaign.

As a result, Columbia Pictures’ “Battle: Los Angeles” becomes “Battle of Los Angeles,” Marvel Studio’s “Thor” becomes “The Amazing Thor,” and Dis-ney’s “High School Musical” be-comes “Sunday School Musical.”

Hollywood has been in a downward spiral for some years, and The Asylum perpetuates this with cheap-to-make, cheap-to-buy films. The existence and success of The Asylum begs the question, “Can a company that profits at the expense of others be

truly successful?”Director and star of The

Asylum’s “Titanic II,” Shane Van Dyke, who has worked with the company for a number of years, says he has the answer.

“Sometimes people like to watch a movie where they don’t have to think too much,” Van Dyke said. “Get a six-pack of beer, sit down and enjoy a movie that more likely than not will have its fair share of fiery explo-sions, giant monsters and good-looking women.”

Since its inception, The Asylum has produced over 100 films. A new film is released every four weeks, during which time another film begins produc-tion. The studio’s average budget ranges anywhere from $250,000

to $2 million per film. By com-parison, the current average Hol-lywood blockbuster budget is in the ballpark of $60 million, while production length runs between six months to more than a year.

Latt is unapologetic about the low budget and rapid output of The Asylum.

“We run our company on cash flow,” Latt said. “If we don’t make money that week, people don’t get paid.”

But they do get paid. The Asy-lum reports an annual revenue of around $5 million. As the films are so cheap to make, and as demand is high, all films make a profit.

While The Asylum’s films are made on lower budgets than those of other companies, size of

production is growing. Latt said that while the company primarily films in Burbank, it has shot all over the world.

“South Africa, Israel, Istanbul, Iowa,” Latt said. “We’ve shot in Belize three times. If the story calls for it, we believe we should go there.”

Long an inside joke to lovers of so-bad-it’s-good cinema, The Asylum found a modicum of mainstream recognition with the European cinematic release of “Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus” in 2009. The film only grossed roughly $700 at the box office, but made back the rest of its $250,000 budget and more in DVD sales, rentals and down-loads. Netflix views were 70 percent higher for that title than others The Asylum has released.

Noteworthy scenes include whale suicide en masse, the giant octopus venting its frustrations on a Japanese oil rig, a character who changes from American to Australian and back again, and a whole lot of submarine shaking. However, the most notorious scene involves the mega shark eating a full-sized passenger plane in mid-flight. This literal example of jumping the shark has received over a million views on YouTube.

Reviews ranged from the amused to the bemused. Kim Newman of Empire Magazine, Britain’s premier film journal, referred to the film as being “daft, plain daft. With a few daft but spec-tacular stunts.”

Film website Rotten Tomatoes was even less kind, stating that “with shoddy FX, acting and directing, this isn’t so bad it’s good. It’s just so bad it’s terrible.”

UC Santa Cruz film lecturer Suzanne Scott commented on the popularity and purpose of these films in an email.

She discussed the fact that hor-ror and science fiction films generally echo the sociopolitical climate of their time. In the case of The Asylum, Scott said their films seem to be less interested in offering a so-

ciopolitical critique than they are in critiquing the overabundance of computer-generated imagery (special effects) in Hollywood. Instead, the fun of watching

these films is in reveling in low produc-tion values and campy appeal.

Scott said they “cater to ironic, postmodern modes of spectatorship, and celebrate the artifice and spectacle of Hollywood’s output.”

All the actors and producers interviewed agreed that they enjoyed making these particular films

not despite the cheesy aspect, but because of it.

“I’m a big fan of the horror genre,” Van Dyke said. “At the time I first met with The Asylum,

they were doing mostly horror films … I contacted producer David Latt, and it turned out our families had worked together in the past. My involvement with the company grew from there. At the end of the day, you’re making movies, which is what I love.”

Van Dyke had no issue work-ing within the constraints of The Asylum — meaning quick shoots at low budgets.

“Working with small budgets pushes you to get creative and learn from your experiences,” he said.

Unlike other studios, The Asylum is also notable for offer-ing rapid on-the-job promotions. Jude Gerard Prest began his career with them as a bit-part on cowboy film “Six Guns” before being promoted to a key role after “another actor didn’t turn up on set,” and is now one of the company’s producers.

Van Dyke got to direct “Ti-tanic II” simply because he asked.

Mary E. Brown, who has worked with the company on six films, has held a different posi-tion on each film. She is currently acting as line-producer.

Wes Pannell, the head of DVD

sales and acquisitions at Santa Cruz’s Streetlight Records, has past dealings with the company’s distribution branch. Pannell has a self-described aversion to the company’s films.

“[Mega Shark] is part of what’s popular right now. It’ll go away in a few months. Some other crazy animal-type movie will take its place,” Pannell said in an email. “Since we’re a small record store we’ve got to order a limited num-ber of B-movies [because] most of them do not sell well.”

Prest had a different perspec-tive.

“If you embrace the cheesiness going in, they are a lot of fun,” Prest said. “If you go in with a ‘well, that’s ridiculous’ attitude, then you’re not going to like a lot of the things they do.”

Other than low-budget monster mash-ups, most of The Asylum’s success has been through the “mockbust-er” sub-genre.

“We don’t do a lot of them any-more,” produc-ing partner Latt said. “[But] if a film is going to generate a lot of attention or interest in the public, we are interested in riding that wave.”

Latt was quick to point out that The Asylum is not copying the big studios, just trying to take advantage of current interests.

“[We make] films that are similar to others thematically and content-wise,” Latt said.

Latt has no qualms with what his studio does, saying, “It is nothing other studios don’t do. We’re just a little more audacious and obnoxious about it.”

As an example, the producer recalled the release of the film “The Da Vinci Code” five years ago.

“Every other channel was doing a documentary on the ‘real Da Vinci Code,’” Latt said. “Everyone sees a blockbuster and sees a way to take advantage. It’s no different from what we do.”

Warner Brothers released “Sherlock Holmes” in Dec. 2009. The Asylum released its “Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes” in Jan. 2010. The former had a budget of $90 million. The lat-

ter, like all Asylum films, had a budget in the region of $250,000 to $2 million.

Both films involve Holmes attempting to prevent a terror-ist attack on London, but where Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law were chasing down dastardly criminals, The Asylum’s take included robots, dinosaurs and dragons. With release dates so close together, it might be easy to confuse the two titles. The differ-ence becomes clear when reviews for the two are compared.

William Thomas of Empire Magazine described one as “a fun, action-packed reintroduc-tion to Conan Doyle’s classic characters.” By comparison, Randy Yasenchak of Elder-Geek.

com said, “I can recommend this movie for anyone who loves watch-ing bad movies while drunk (or otherwise) with friends to laugh at.”

Despite these types of similari-ties, The Asylum rarely gets into legal difficulties concerning its films.

“At this point we are a brand, and people who release bigger films seem to know this,” Latt said. “If we don’t do a mockbuster

of their film, [the bigger studios] feel they must be doing some-thing wrong.”

Executive producer Latt shed some light on how The Asylum addresses legal issues.

“The short answer is that we always get the angry letter from the studio [that The Asylum is currently parodying], but we’re not really crossing any lines, we’re not doing anything illegal. We’re not stealing from their pot of money,” Latt said. “The studios appear to recognize this. We’ve never been through any civil ac-tion, because there simply is not anything actionable about what we do.”

In most cases this mentality holds true. In 2008, however, Fox Studios released its remake of the 1951 classic, “The Day the Earth Stood Still.” The Asylum, follow-ing its usual strategy, released “The Day the Earth Stopped” three days before the Fox release.

Fox sent The Asylum a lengthy

Mockbuster:A low-budget film that uses a plot similar to that of a currently released blockbuster while exploiting its publicity campaign.

“We’re not really crossing any lines, we’re not doing any-thing illegal. We’re not stealing from their pot of money. The studios appear to recognize this. We’ve never been through any civil action, be-cause there simply is not anything action-able about what we do.”

-David Latt, Asylum producer

20 | Thursday, April 7, 2011

Feature

World of the Asylum: CHP investigates the mockbuster

cease-and-desist letter, in addi-tion to attempting to get the low-budget rival film removed from the shelves. Fox was unsuccess-ful. The Asylum’s film can still be purchased from online retailers.

According to the official press release issued through Yahoo! News, Fox was particu-larly enraged by the fact that The Asylum took advantage of its multi-million dollar advertising campaign. Fox has also argued that as it owns the rights to the original film, The Asylum was plagiarizing.

Neither studio was available to comment on this particular issue.

Legal issues aside, the growing success of The Asylum — in the cult market, at least — does raise questions about the state of Hol-lywood.

“In some sense, [The Asylum shows] that we haven’t yet moved beyond the A/B movie paradigm of the classical Hollywood studio system,” film lecturer Scott wrote, “except in this case, instead of a

double feature … The Asylum simply creates a B-movie for television out of whatever ‘A’/big budget movie is currently in the-aters. There isn’t economic space for the production of B-films in Hollywood today. The emphasis is on tent pole films and franchises.”

Wes Pannell of Streetlight Records said in an email, “Hollywood sucks right now. They’re desperate for any cheap way to make a movie, be it through rehashing a title they already own the rights to, or making a straight-to-DVD title.”

So if it is just functioning like all other Hollywood studios, why does The Asylum not see more mainstream success? Because it does not need to, according to Asylum line producer Brown.

“The Asylum has its own market,” Brown said. “It has its audience that looks for specific

The Asylum has

its own market.We have a fan base of

the types of projects that The Asylum is about. They have a huge following, not

just nationally but

internationally.

“

“

- Mary E. Brown, Asylum line producer

Continued from p. 15

Continued on p. 23Illustration by Matt Boblet

material. We have a fan base of the types of projects that The Asylum is about. They have a huge following, not just nation-ally, but internationally.”

The ultimate test for The Asy-lum is time. Other cheaply made films have gained a strong cult following over the years. Perhaps the ultimate example is Tommy Wiseau’s “The Room.” Despite being regarded by critics as one of the worst films ever made, “The Room” still sells out in theaters across America. This happened recently when Santa Cruz’s Del Mar Theatre chose the film for its weekly midnight movie, on the weekend of Feb. 18th–19th.

A story told by actor Prest suggests that The Asylum’s move towards the cult may have already begun.

“It was the gift that kept on giving,” Prest said, discussing the 2010 film “Mega Piranha.” The monster film, which pre-miered on the SyFy Channel in April of last year, became the most viewed original movie of 2010, with ap-proximately 2.2 million viewers.

“After that, it played at mid-night at Comic-Con. There was a line around the block,” Prest said. “It’s since played at a number of other festivals and become a cult hit, both online and on the SyFy

Channel.” Perhaps one day it will be

showing alongside “The Room” at the Del Mar in downtown Santa Cruz. Asylum critics like Pannell, however, do not agree.

“Cult does not mean schlock, which is what The Asylums folks make,” Pannell said. “What makes something a cult classic?

The cult does.”Film lecturer

Scott took a similar approach to the issue.

“Can [some-thing] truly be ‘cult’ if it is self-consciously de-signed to appeal to a ‘cult’ demograph-ic … When we think of classic cult properties … there is a distinct pat-tern,” Scott wrote. “Each of the films was released to minimal (or non-existent) commer-cial success, and built up a small, devoted fan base over time. Now we have networks like SyFy that design their program-ming around ‘cult’ demographics. If anything, the success of the films being churned out by The Asylum would seem to indicate that cult is the new mass.”

Whatever the future holds for The Asylum, it can be sure that it will continue rapidly

making films. Asylum actor and director Van Dyke, for one, feels it is time they be recognized for this.

“Asylum films should be cred-ited for the work they do, on the budget they do it, and in the time they do it.”

cityonahillpress.com | 23

Slug Comic

Slug Comics By Muriel Gordon World of the Asylum

Continued from p. 20

“Cult does not mean schlock, which is what The Asylum folks make. What makes something a cult classic? The cult does.”

— Wes Pannell, head of DVD sales and acquisitions at Streetlight Records

“If you embrace the cheesiness go-ing in, they are a lot of fun. If you go in with a ‘well, that’s ridiculous’ attitude, then you’re not going to like a lot of the things they do.”

— Jude Gerard Prest, actor

Illustration by Matt Boblet

12 | Thursday, May 19, 2011

Sports

cityonahillpress.com | 13

Sports

City on a Hill Press asked UC Santa Cruz athletes from a wide variety of sport backgrounds about their eating habits, both in and out of season. The athletes offered advice and encourage-ment to aspiring athletes who want to improve their perfor-mance and to students who are seeking a healthier lifestyle.

Sandor Callahan, a senior and track and field star, has a passion for fit-ness. To perform at his peak, Calla-

han exercises his diet control as seriously as his workouts.

Callahan said he carefully monitors his diet to make sure it conforms to his work-out schedule. After a workout, Callahan immediately eats a small but nutrient-rich snack to replenish his body.

“[I’ll have] maybe a peanut butter and apple sandwich with all-natural organic peanut butter and banana on whole wheat bread,” Callahan said. “Or the Clif Bar — the all-natural, 70 percent organic Clif Bar — because that’s got the right amount of calories you need and the right amount of protein. You want 190 to 300 calories and 10 grams of protein within the hour.”

To ease into a more nutritious diet, Cal-lahan advised new athletes to try replac-ing junk food with healthier options in

gradual steps. “It’s often hard to go cold turkey —

start with substitution,” Callahan said. “Maybe start with what you normally have for dinner, but instead of white rice, have brown rice. Have healthy snacks through-out the day instead of chips. Make your own granola, your own trail mix.”

A vigorous, healthy diet must be matched by an equally hearty workout, Callahan said, and athletes should exercise frequently and eat many small meals throughout the day to maintain an active metabolism.

“When you start to cut out all your food, you take away from your muscles be-cause it slows down your metabolism and you get sluggish,” Callahan said. “You need smaller, more frequent meals throughout the day. Especially after weightlifting, it’s really important to eat within the hour.”

EATWHAT THEATHLETES

By Eli Wolfe and Samved Sangameswara, Sports Reporters

Sandor CallahanTrack and Field If you want to eat anything you want and not

have to worry too much about the consequenc-es, sophomore Austin Brown has a solution for

you: join the rugby team.“The rugby diet is not a very strict one,” Brown

said. “Probably no food is off-limits during the season.”

That sort of freedom doesn’t come without a cost, though. Brown says the heavy consumption of food is only possible because the rugby workouts are so demanding.

In particular, rugby players tend to load up on protein, as building muscle is essential to their sport. In addition to meat-heavy meals, Brown said, protein shakes are certainly a viable option for someone who is looking to get into rugby shape.

“I personally don’t [use protein shakes],” Brown said. “But there are a lot of guys that do because it’s cheaper than normal food. A protein shake is cheaper than a steak.”

However, Brown said, a bulky diet alone will not make a rugby player.

“Rugby isn’t a sport just about being strong and fit,” he said. “It comes to a lot of different athletic [body] types, so practice CrossFit stuff as well.”

As a junior and a captain on the women’s water polo team, Chelsea Henry said expe-rience has taught her to maintain a rigorous

eating regimen in the off-season to keep her body prepared for the next season’s challenges.

“I cut back — I definitely don’t eat as much in the off-season, and I shouldn’t, because I’m not burning as many calories a day,” Henry said. “I work on portion control — I’ll eat a tiny little bit of something, then think, ‘I shouldn’t eat the rest of it, because I’m not about to swim ten thousand yards.’”

Henry said that during the season, water polo players have to adopt an unusual eating pattern to accommodate their practice schedule.

“Because of practice time, I eat at a different hours than most people would,” Henry said. “Our afternoon practice is 2 to 4 [p.m.], so during season I always have to eat an early dinner. Then I’m good for the rest of the evening, so I can’t really eat late at night.”

Henry said sticking to a healthy diet can be a challenge, even for an experienced athlete. When self-control fails for her, she uses physical exercise to make up for it.

“That’s why I exercise — I have a huge sweet tooth,” Henry said. “That’s why I force myself to work out almost every day, even in the off-season, because I’m really weak when it comes to having self-control with some food.”

Chelsea HenryWater Polo

Austin BrownRugby

Erica Wheeler-DubinSoccer

Soccer players need energy. With a solid 90 minutes of cardio on game days, it is impera-tive players structure their diets in a way that

provides them with the fuel to keep going for the duration of the game. That’s why senior Erica Wheeler-Dubin makes sure she stays hydrated and stores up carbohydrates in the days before games.

“Usually before games we try to have pasta nights as a team,” Wheeler-Dubin said. “We meet together at a player’s house and have pasta, some salad, and a dessert like cookies.”

And when it comes to the morning of the game, Wheeler-Dubin chooses to pack light. She stays away from heavier foods, insisting it is easier for her to go on a relatively empty stomach with only lighter foods that pack high energy, like fruits.

“I don’t like a heavy meal in any way,” Wheeler-Dubin said. “Maybe an egg or two, or oranges, but really nothing heavy.”

But aside from game days, Wheeler-Dubin said, almost anything goes.

“During the season I kind of allow myself to eat whatever I want because of how hard I’m working,” Wheeler-Dubin said. “I know that if it’s not that great for me, I’m going to work it off.”

For sophomore Jessica Meyer, run-ning is all about balance: not just in the sport, but in her diet, too.

The most important part of her diet, she said, is the fact that she strives to eat diverse meals that satisfy all of her body’s needs.

“My diet is about balance,” Meyer said. “It’s about getting in the nutrients that the body needs.”

Specifically, she cites protein and vegetables as necessities in every meal, while gluten and dairy products should be avoided. In the days before meets, she de-faults to gluten-free pasta with fresh veg-gies and chicken. It’s a meal that covers all her bases, allowing her to get lean protein,

greens and carbohydrates all at once.On the morning of a meet, she chooses

to go with simpler foods. Less heavy foods like fruit don’t weigh her down, instead giving her body the energy it needs to go out and run.

While the cross country team is only in season for less than half of the year, Meyer made the point that runners really cannot take a break. Since off-season training doesn’t differ too much from the type of workout runners use while in-season, the diet of a runner doesn’t get much of a break, either.

Jessica MeyerCross Country

“I really push for fruits and vegetables. Nuts are really big: seeds, peanuts, cashews, almonds [and] sunflower seeds are all really big foods for an active person, and a good athlete needs to be able to use them as fuel.”

Todd HollenbeckMen’s and Women’s Volleyball

On what foods he encourages his athletes to eat:

Illustration by Rachel Edelstein

COACH’S ADVICE

Morgan Grana

Sal Ingram

Prescott WatsonMolly Solomon

Photo Courtesy of Jessica Meyer

Photo Courtesy of Chelsea Henry

14 | Thursday, June 2, 2011

Feature

cityonahillpress.com | 15

Feature

A Friendly Game of FightingCapoeira finds a home at

UC Santa Cruz

Mac Layne’s day isn’t complete without a roundhouse kick in his face.

“One of the main reasons I do it is that it makes me feel more alive every time I do,” Layne says. Grappling the nerves with determination, the UCSC fourth-year awaits the moment to demonstrate his ability.

“Add that to the fact that I feel so ener-gized – it’s like a drug,” he says.

In Santa Cruz lies a haven for those like Layne who can’t live without the addictive thrill of narrowly avoiding a foot smashed in their face. While it’s not an under-ground fight-club-turned-crime-syndicate led by a charismatic schizophrenic, the rapid pace of the sport of Capoeira pro-vides a support system to help Mac and like-minded individuals continue to do what they love, on and off campus.

“Everything you learn you apply it to certain parts of your life. In the Roda [circle in which Capoeira is played], you have to be smooth, but you also have to be objective. That’s something I’ve thought about a lot, definitely something I’m expecting to apply soon,” Layne said, referring to his upcoming graduation from UCSC and his hopes in applying this phi-losophy to his post-graduation life.

The Santa Cruz chapter of Raizes do Brasil, an international organization founded in New York City that has worked to help spread Capoeira around the world, held their 17th annual Batizado in Santa Cruz on May 14th. Directly translating into “baptism,” a Batizado is an event held for all the members of a Capoeira com-munity to celebrate the arrival of new

members and the graduation of deserving ones.

Sitting on the floor in line with five oth-ers of his experience level — all relatively new members — Layne maneuvers his way towards the inner circle, awaiting his turn in the Roda, which is surrounded by Capoeiristas and musicians. A woman sings in Portuguese behind him. Her long, brown hair and the large Brazilian flag behind her complement the wooden floor, striking shades of earthy brown, green and gray to the plainly walled room. Musicians clump together on one side, hitting berim-baus and other percussion instruments with fervor while singing in Portuguese. Capoeiristas rotate between playing music, sparring and simply being an energetic part of the Roda. They all sing.

At the center, two players spin and kick circles in the air, each one narrowly dodging the other’s line of fire. Driven by the mounting music, the kicks become faster, making each dodge narrower and narrower. Even the audience is sucked into the powerful energy, or Axe as the Por-tuguese say; clap clap clap, clap clap clap, clapping their hands in rhythm with the music. Beats in groups of three resound throughout the community room in Santa Cruz’s Louden Nelson community center. Amid all the energy, Layne hopes to prove himself in the Roda against a master of the art — no easy task — and earn a higher place in the Capoeira order.

From the edge of the Roda, Layne rises and walks slowly towards the center to face his opponent. Crouching together to prepare their minds for the acuteness they will need, they shake hands respectfully,

waiting for the musicians to signal them in. Five quick snaps of the berimbau — Layne dives sideways and kicks out with his right leg, missing his target by an inch. The crowd claps gleefully around them, celebrating the kind of physical freedom that Capoeira brings.

So what is Capoeira?“Capoeira is a game — part of the art

is to be able to show the movement,” said Capoeira instructor Colin Maher. “We don’t have to shove [the opponent’s] head or get your dirty feet all over his clothes to show that you got him — he knows.”

Maher teaches Capoeira at UCSC on Saturdays and Mondays, and one of the things he emphasizes about the sport is its playful and celebratory nature.

Though never quite at center stage in western pop culture, Capoeira has found a home in California in the last few decades, planting roots in cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco and Santa Cruz. While Capoeira is traditionally taught as a viable option for self-defense, some of the new lure of Capoeira stems from the sport’s spirituality, both musically and commu-nally.

Video games and movies have provided some limited yet visible examples of the martial art as a combat technique, steer-ing the focus away from spirituality and more towards the fluid fighting style itself. Martial arts movies like “Only the Strong” (1993) and “The Protector” (2006) brought Capoeira’s viability as a fighting technique to Hollywood.

Perhaps most dear to fans of the video game Tekken, playable character Eddie Gordo specializes in Capoeira, challenging

some of the most daring gamers to master his slippery style.

In addition, Capoeira has found its way into the Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) arena. Andre Gusmao used elements of Capoeira to win many high-stakes fights in his professional career as a UFC fighter. While they bring media attention, these kinds of representations are often criticized for characterizing Capoeira as an aggression-sport and missing the deeper philosophy behind it.

Head of the Santa Cruz chapter of Raizes do Brasil, lead instructor Mestre Papiba noted that while Capoeira remains somewhat under the radar of the public, it has become increasingly popular with college. UCSC is a large contributor to the Santa Cruz community, and to his student base.

“The media promotes so many options to kids that endorse American culture at a young age,” he said. “Teenagers tend to endorse pop culture, and Capoeira is defi-nitely not part of that pop culture. When people go to college they’re not really hap-py with what pop culture offers. Capoeira is complete, [it has] dance, music, action, [and] fun. It’s very fulfilling.”

“I think fundamentally this kind of culture is African,” Maher said.

Though known to have originated in Brazil, Capoeira is widely accepted as having its roots in Afro-Brazilian slave culture, particularly of the Yoruba tribe. As a way of resisting capture and contain-ment, slaves and ex-slaves adopted a mar-tial art that could be disguised as a dance and encouraged avoidance over offensive resistance.

Capoeira has since evolved from the days of the early freedom fighters, and today it is a widely practiced martial art.

“There’s Capoeira everywhere nowa-days,” said Brian Cavalo de Faria of the Miami Capoeira Project in a promo-tional video addressing the popularity of Capoeira. “I know of at least one Capoeira group in every country — it’s something of a phenomenon ... a few decades [ago] that was unheard of.”

Many still take up the sport as a form of self-defense, but some begin their train-ing to access the spirituality and commu-nity that Capoeira can bring, especially in the United States.

“The reason I believe that Capoeira is getting really popular in the U.S. is the culture,” de Faria said. “The [Brazilian] culture is something that Americans love and is something that really draws a lot of non-Brazilians to the art.”

Like many activities with African roots, Capoeira utilizes percussion instruments to energize participants. Aside from mo-mentous chants and energetic phrases in Portuguese, Brazilian drums, Berimbaus and bells are the mechanisms that fuel the Roda.

“The music drives the game,” said Maher of the indispensability of music to a game of Capoeira. “Not only does it give it the energy and the style, it drives it on and controls it. A Capoeirista has to be able to play music as well as dance. They have to do it all.”

Tagged out of the center of the Roda by another eager to play, Layne takes up a drum and begins to hit it to the beat of

the music, demonstrating the need for this kind of fluency in different aspects of Capoeira. During the Batizado, students are tested on their ability to perform in all aspects of Capoeira in order to receive a promotion in rank, not just combat ability like many other forms of self-defense.

“I was baptized today,” said UCSC second-year Nick Larry, walking out of the Roda after sparring with one of his teach-ers. Larry started training Capoeira at the beginning of the year and is planning to continue as long as he attends UCSC.

“I was excited, and once I got out I was just happy,” Larry said. “I felt inducted in a sense, like it was my rite of passage.” As this is his first Batizado, Larry has just been promoted to the level of student, becoming one of the few to tackle the challenge of understanding the multi-fac-eted game of Capoeira and receiving a new cord to symbolize his growth in the sport. There are five ranks in total, symbolized by the many different schools in terms of belt color — student, graduate, formed, profes-sor, and master. One is promoted based on his or her talent, but also by the level of dedication shown to the community through teaching and building a student base of one’s own.

“A lot of students expect the [promo-tion] to happen,” Papiba said. Papiba has been training in Capoeira for 25 years and teaching at the Santa Cruz chapter of Raizes do Brasil for 17 of them. The Batizado means something a little different for him.

“For me it’s the moment that we all get

Continued on p. 19

LexiconBerimbau: A percussion instrument that rings a note when hit along the thin string stretched along the wooden bow. The string makes a different note depending on where along the bow it is hit — a strike further away from the middle makes a high note.

Batizado: A Batizado — Portuguese for baptism — is a ceremony that takes place in which one or more members of a school are inducted into, promoted within, or graduated from their respective ranks within the hierarchy of that school. A Batizado is a moment to celebrate the arrival of new members and honor the grace and wisdom of the mestres (masters).

Axé: Portuguese for energy: a term used to describe the kind of feeling experienced when playing Capoeira. Good Axé implies a high level of energy and connection in the game.

Roda: Circle where Capoeiristas gather to play Capoeira.

Yoruba: Tribe thought to have begun the practice of Capoeira in Brazilian slave culture.

ABOVE: CApOEiristAs gAthEr in a Roda, or circle where they get together to make music and play Capoeira. right: UCsC sOphOmOrE NiCk LArry prOUdLy dispLAys his new cord, signaling a promotion in the ranking system used by Capoeiristas. The cord reflects the growth in the sport he has shown during the Batizado, or Baptism, at the Louden Nelson Community Center in Santa Cruz, on May 14.

Illustration by Louise Leong

By Tyler maldonadoCommunity & Culture Reporter

Photos by Toby silverman

Illustrations by Bela messex

What Could Be

The Logistics of Water Shortage

Mandatory 40 percent water rationing. Hotel closures. Water lines

shut off when consumption ex-ceeds the limit. Businesses reliant on tourism struggling to make it through the summer months — their most lucrative time.

The City of Santa Cruz Water Department (SCWD) foresees this future if no alternative water source is integrated to forestall what it characterizes as “catas-rophic” potential impacts of com-pounded drought years.

“The consequences of doing nothing are dire. I don’t think people understand how bad it could be,” said SCWD water director Bill Kocher.

The SCWD has spent two decades examining how to miti-gate the impact of compounded drought years. After determin-ing roughly 30 various projects to be insufficient or nonviable, SCWD concluded that bringing a desalination plant to Santa Cruz to cover the gap during drought years was the only way to prevent dramatic consequences of critical droughts.

“Desalination is the best alternative,” said public outreach coordinator Melanie Schum-acher. “We have been looking at alternatives, but they have to meet the water needs of the com-munity.”

Four-minute showers. City government invests in provid-ing lawn replacement for Santa Cruz homes and equipping them

with rain catchment devices. Instruments to support greywa-ter reclamation — the process of recycling wastewater gener-ated from laundry, dishwashing and bathing for landscaping and irrigation usage — become a popular feature in Santa Cruz homes.

Proponents of desalination al-ternatives envision this future for Santa Cruz — a future where no new water source is needed, due to a capitalization on further conservation measures. 

“Money is just a tool, and we could use this tool to conserve and live within our means rather than bringing in the desalination plant,” said Ellen Murtha, co-chair of the Santa Cruz branch of the Women’s Interna-tional League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), which is pro-conservation.

Numerous indi-viduals in the Santa Cruz community are mobilizing against the potential intro-duction of the plant, saying that such a drastic step to ensure water provision is unnecessary, because conservation and curtailment efforts could be expanded, and the potential un-

known ramifications of bringing in such a facility.

“There are some major envi-ronmental impacts,” said Rick Longinotti, cofounder of Desali-nation Alternatives. “It uses a lot of energy … it is a guess as to the impact on the ocean, it is just not clear how much of an impact it will have.”

This has been the bone of con-tention between the two fronts,

as proponents argue that desali-nation is the only alternative and it is environmentally sound, and opponents argue that conserva-tion efforts have not been capi-talized on and the plant would bring negative environmental implications.

This contentious engagement was typified at last week’s debate forum, hosted by the League of Women Voters at the First Congregational Church on April

14, where the opponents and proponents of the desali-

nation plant were able to engage in direct dialogue in front of the people of Santa Cruz for the first time.

The debate forum included two individuals each from the Santa Cruz and Soquel Creek Water District and Santa Cruz Desal Alternatives, repre-senting the oppo-nent and proponent sides to the issue, respectively.

Longinotti, co-founder of Desal Alternatives, and James Bentley, retired city water production man-ager, represented

the opposing side. Mike Rotkin, former

mayor and city council member, and Toby Goddard, SCWD water conservation manager, represent-ed the proponents of desalina-tion. More than 100 members of the community attended last Thursday’s meeting to express their investment in the future of Santa Cruz’s water supply.

“It is important for the com-munity to understand the need for desalination,” Schumacher said. “It creates a level of trans-parency. I think that the agencies are being responsible in the way that they are pursuing the desali-nation plant and I hope that we are presenting that to the public — that this is not a silver bullet solution [and] we are continuing to evaluate and address concerns about the short and long term water supply.”

SCWD serves a population of 98,000 people. The city’s source of water consists mainly of the San Lorenzo River, various North Coast diversions, a few wells and Loch Lomond Reservoir. Cur-rently, Santa Cruz’s water supply consists of 95 percent surface water and only 5 percent ground-water, making Santa Cruz par-ticularly susceptible to periods of drought.

Due to low annual runoff, during periods of drought Loch Lomond Lake Reservoir becomes Santa Cruz’s only source of fresh

supplies. The second part of the project would therefore involve the wells and associated facilities necessary to extract this ground-water.

This alternative also faced ob-stacles. In a 2009 letter to SCWD water director Kocher that was cited in the IWP, Jonathan Stein-berg of Route 1 Farms said using reclaimed water and turning over his well were not an option.

“Our customers expect the very best, very purest produce — I cannot in good faith give them produce grown in wastewater,” Steinberg wrote. “I also have concerns regarding giving up the autonomy of my water supply … I am in no way shape or form, interested in reclaimed waste-water being used in my farming operation nor am I interested in signing over my well to the city.”

Larry Jacobs, CEO of Jacobs Farm, echoed similar sentiments in a 2002 letter to Kocher, also cited in the IWP. Jacobs said he supports using reclaimed water, just not its use in growing food.

“We are in favor of recycling reclaimed water on golf courses, car washing, commercial land-scaping, and home landscaping,” Jacobs said, “but not on plants grown for food, and especially [not] on plants that are eaten uncooked.”

According to the evalua-tions of water demand in Santa Cruz listed in the IWP, SCWD said that Santa Cruz’s current demand for water “exceeds the estimated available yield from its existing sources during drought conditions, even with mandatory curtailment requirements.”

The city conducted the Water Curtailment Study (WCS) in 2001, which is cited in the IWP, to better understand how customers would reach usage restrictions and how such actions would impact agriculture, busi-ness and resident customers.

The WCS analyzed six levels of water shortage severity, rang-ing from 10 to 60 percent short-ages, and assessed the impacts of necessary curtailment on the three prioritized types of usage, health and safety, business and

irrigation.According to the results of

the study, households issued a 40 percent system shortage would have “serious” implica-tions “with important lifestyle changes.” Catastrophic short-ages, however, where households would be issued 50 to 60 percent system shortages, would result in residents’ concern for daily water usage reaching “an unparalleled level.” The IWP stated that this level of shortage “would also impose major and burdensome lifestyle changes, some of which could well affect basic health and safety.”

A 50 percent systemwide shortage would result in 30 per-cent annual revenue shortages, which would be “catastrophic,” with hotel and motel closures. In the business sector during an extreme drought where residents would have to cut water usage by 42 percent, businesses would have to cut usage by 50 percent and irrigation would be elimi-nated.

“The economy in Santa Cruz that depends on water would shut down, and the tourist industry would all be out of busi-ness,” said SCWD water director Kocher.

Chirag Mehda, general manager of the Comfort Inn on Plymouth Street, corroborated the conclusions in the IWP, say-ing that for his inn, 40 percent rationing would impede busi-ness.

“It definitely would affect the business, because customers need to shower and use the pool and spa. They might not stay,” Mehda said. “I would fear that I would go out of business. The economy is already not good, [so] if that happened it would make it worse.”

In both operating and con-structing the desalination plant, the SCWD has proposed and moved forward with partnering with Soquel Creek Water District (SqCWD). The city will be part-nering with Soquel to lessen the

ConservationUSELESS

WORKSSOLUTION

EXHAUSTED ALL OPTIONS

Conservation efforts have not been capitalized

REQUIRES TWICE THE ENERGY

MILLIONS OF DOLLARS FOR THIS PLANT IS TOO MUCH

SANTA CRUZ DOES NOT HAVE ENOUGH WATER

12 | Thursday, April 21, 2011

Feature

CRITICAL TIME FOR WATER

cityonahillpress.com | 13

Feature

By Sarah NaugleCampus Co-Editor

Illustrations By Louise Leong

Continued on p. 14

Timeline

DESALINATION CONSERVATION

CONSERVATIONALONEISNOTA

drinking water, which poses a problem — it isn’t enough.

“We can’t bring water from anywhere else,” Kocher said. “When we run out, we run out.”

The city has been grappling with this looming threat for two decades. The Santa Cruz City Council began evaluating alternative new water source op-tions specifically for provision in periods of drought back in 1997.

In order to ensure that Santa Cruz will have the infrastructure to withstand compounded years of drought, SCWD has under-taken the more than two decade-long project of identifying pos-sible new sources of water. After determining new source after new source nonviable, desalina-tion eventually became the only remaining possible new source for water left on the district’s drawing board.

“I’m convinced that we need some kind of additional supply, and as one project after another

fell by the wayside, this is what we have left,” said Terry McKin-ney, SCWD superintendent of water production.

The desalination process involves converting seawater to potable water, or drinking water. Sodium is removed through a process of reverse osmosis, whereby the water is separated into two parts: the freshwater and the high-sodium concen-trate, brine.

WILPF co-chair Murtha said that this two-decade-long invest-ment by the city may be more of a motivation for the SCWD pushing forward with the de-salination plant than the plant’s necessity.

“A lot of it is this investment they have — it is very hard to slow that down,” Murtha said. “There must be something very exciting about making a plant.”

In 2005, the city of Santa Cruz Integrated Water Plan (IWP) was developed and utilized. The IWP

took into account background evaluations on water demand, conservation, curtailment and alternative water supplies, as-sessed from 1997 up to the plan’s inception. The plan included a background on the status of water demand, consumption and provision, and looked toward new sources of water supply. The IWP recorded the two decade-long process of examining the viability of various potential resources.

“The IWP first of all looked at conservation, then looked at how much more could be curtailed, then came up with supply plans that could make up the differ-ence,” Kocher said.

Before the 1990s, SCWD knew surface water was always going to be the district’s primary source of water. In 1989, Luhdorff & Scalmanini, an environmental consulting firm employed by SCWD, concluded that ground-water sources were scant at best. The firm investigated potential groundwater sources, including wells at both Harvey West Park and Thurber Lane, and assessed that they could yield only 550 acre-feet of water annually, an inadequate amount considering SCWD annual water production hovers around four billion gal-lons a year.

In the early 1990s, the Brack-ish Groundwater Wells Project was considered the most viable groundwater option, but resi-dents in the site area were con-cerned that the pumping could eventually negatively impact their wells. As a result, the city aban-doned the project.

Waterman Gap Reservoir, Kings Creek Reservoir, Yellow Bank Creek Reservoir and Loch Lomond enlargement were four surface storage projects on the table, but the city determined these alternatives were not viable due to the fact that an immedi-ate source of water is needed and such projects would be too lengthy an undertaking.

By 1997, only two projects remained on the drawing board: Reclamation/Coast Groundwater Exchange and Desalination.

Reclamation/Coast Ground-water Exchange would have been a two-part construction under-taking. One part of the project would have been a four-to-five million gallon per day wastewater treatment plant, located either on the existing wastewater treatment plant site or another location. Treated water would be delivered to area farmers for irrigation, and the city would have access to farmers’ current groundwater

Without desalination, residents would be dramatically impacted in a drought

Tentative timeline for the construction of the desalination plant as drafted by the Santa Cruz Water District

2008 - 2009

2016

• Pilot desalination plant testing at

Seymour Center

• Community information

meetings

2010• Preparation of the desalination facility

environmental impact report.

Desalination facility design begins

•Release of the Notice of

Preparation/Initial Study

2011• Evaluate Environmental Impact Report

2012• Respond to EIR

•Proposed start date for

construction of the plant

•Proposed finish date

for the plant

“We can’t bring water from anywhere else. When we run out, we run out.”

— Bill Kocher, water director for SCWD

Desalination

Debate rages over proposed desalination plant

cityonahillpress.com | 19

Arts & Entertainment

Foodtography Inspires CreativityFood blogs bring wildest culinary dreams to lifeBy Hanna TodaArts & Entertainment Reporter

It’s lustful, it’s sinful, it’s absolutely and atrociously … American. Bacon, cheese, chocolate, but-ter and doughnuts have seemingly been featured in more Internet photos than supermodel Gisele Bündchen at her finest. Food blogging has reached a new height in the past few years, thanks to the

sharp rise in social networking, and has captured gluttonous appetites across the nation. A quarter of all photos shared on social media sites are food-related, according to the research of

digital agency 360i, but people are almost never in the pictures. Only 10 percent of hundreds of photos observed in a 360i focus group included human beings. In combination with the Internet photography frenzy, “foodtography” has made a mark on blogs to a point where numerous blogs dedicated purely to showcasing food have been created and have gained enormous popularity.

We proudly present: a guide to the food website movement that will either leave you ravenous or nauseous.

Similar to Yelp.com, this website allows people to search for yummy foods by location. On top of allowing you to look at delicious food

photos, the website provides the location and restaurant, including the name of the dish. Flag-ging tools such as “nom it” and “want it” allow people to rate the dishes. This website is not only appealing to look at, but also efficient, as it allows a much more in-depth review of a restaurant by specifically rating individual dishes. The usual

snarky pretentiousness found in restaurant reviews is thankfully nonexistent in this site, because the bloggers who upload their yummy findings aren’t doing it to show off their gastronomic intelligence or their fine taste buds. These folks simply love food and just want to share it with the world. Per-fect for anyone with a specific craving, this website is a foolproof tool that allows people to go to a restaurant knowing exactly what they want before even looking at the menu.

This website is for serious, hardcore “food-ies.” Anyone who uses this website is simply doing it to look at food. There are no in-

structions as to how to obtain these dishes, as most of the photos are snapshots of homemade foods. There are no recipes, no rating system, and cer-tainly no directions on how to gain access to these heavenly bites. While it is frustrating to the hungry person who can do nothing but simply stare at these foods, there is a down-to-earth warmth about the collection of photos as it reminds you of flipping through your old photos of past birthdays,

featuring half-eaten slices of your mom’s laven-der honey Earl Grey tea cake with buttercream frosting. There is a connection that you feel when looking at these homemade dishes — you imagine a busy mom taking all day to create her daugh-ter’s favorite German chocolate cake for her 10th birthday, or a proud husband spending all day slaving away to make his wife’s favorite soup for an anniversary. The pride and admiration of each dish jumps off the page and inspires the viewer to take the next big step of experimenting in the kitchen to create something just as unique.

This blog was created by two people who de-cided to post photos of the most gluttonous, fattening, heart-stopping food creations

imaginable. The blog has gained extreme popular-ity in the past few years — countless people have contributed to the site and posted their own gro-tesque cholesterol masterpieces for people of the world to feast their eyes on. The blog consists of

such culinary monsters as a KFC pie, a pulled pork and mashed potato parfait, a Twinkie casserole encased in strawberry Jell-O, a bacon bouquet, a bourbon bacon pecan pie, a bacon mug brimming with cheddar cheese, fried cookie dough and literal butter-beer. The blog displays enough oil-dripping bacon dishes to make even Paula Deen shake her head in disapproval.

Foodspotting.comA guide to foods in your area

ThisIsWhyYoureFat.tumblr.comAn array of the most gluttonous foods imaginable

Photograzing.comA gallery featuring artistic shots of delicious foods

Second ServingsIllustration by Matt Boblet

• SeriousEats.comOnline blog that combines recipes, restaurant reviews, food rankings and more

• Epic Meal TimeCooking show on Youtube, featuring indulgent meals that usually contain copious amounts of meat, cheese and Jack Daniel’s whiskey

• Jatbar.comReview site run by two engineers that exclusively reviews independent Bay Area eateries

More food-related websites and blogs

cityonahillpress.com | 9

Arts & Entertainment

13 Student Artists Receive Irwin ScholarshipTop artists awarded $2,500 prize, exhibition of winning art

right: The 2011 Irwin Scholarship exhibition features artwork from 13 art students who received the award. Ranging from video installations to paintings housed in a makeshift alien spaceship, the exhibition can be viewed at the Sesnon Gallery at Porter College until June 11.

By Hanna todaArts & Entertainment

Reporter

RecipientsKelsey SpencerChelsea WareEllia Sarah DuhartKirsten SpoonerRichard DesantoLuke WilsonSakura KelleyLuis FloresOlivia Healy-MirkovichBela MessexLeslie ThompsonJoseph LaiRaphael Cornford

Numbers

For Luis Flores, art is more than just pretty pictures.

“Art has become my voice and I don’t plan on ever silenc-ing myself,” said Flores in an email to City on a Hill Press.

Flores is one of 13 students recognized with the 2011 Irwin Scholarship for their artistic excellence.

Each student awarded the William Hyde and Susan Benteen Irwin Scholarship receives a $2,500 prize. The scholarship has been awarded to exceptional artists to represent UCSC’s art department since 1986. This year’s recipients’ work draws from numerous media, including painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture, installation and digital media.

“What really is special about working with these [students] is

when they show me something or give me a perspective that enlightens me to a way of seeing that I never would have expe-rienced on my own,” said Elliot Anderson, faculty advisor and associate professor of electronic media. “These are engaged, creative and intelligent students who have something to tell all of us.”

Flores said the scholarship spurred him to reexamine his work.

“When I first found out I had gotten the scholarship, I was ecstatic and, more so, apprecia-tive. It wasn’t until I started getting my work together for the exhibition that I started feel-ing a bit self-conscious,” Flores said. “But after talking with the people closest to me, I realized that I needed to produce work that was important to me and that I felt strongly about.”

Luke Wilson, who focuses on sculpture, was also recog-nized for the award.

“Winning the Irwin was moving, exciting and motivat-ing, but most of all I interpreted it as an obligation to step up the scale and intensity of my work,” Wilson said. “I feel supported and validated by the faculty and administration, and there is a new pride behind everything I’ve been doing for the show.”

Each artist drew connections to the world around them and created their work in context to their environment. Flores’ focus is photography, and his artwork touches on issues surround-ing immigration, fear and most recently, concealment.

“Getting the opportunity to show my work in this exhibition has made me really consider how my work and art in general affects our society,” Flores said. “I have had to deeply question what it is that I want my work to say about myself and about our society.”

Each artist drew inspira-tion from somewhere different, from both internal and external factors.

“What inspires me the most is my inability to explain myself verbally, at least not well. I have a lot to say and when I can’t say it, I make it,” Flores said. “If an image doesn’t evoke an emotion, I start over.”

For Wilson, excitement over the honor boiled down to a simple love for creating and experiencing art.

“I love making art because there are people who love to look at it,” he said, “and I am one of those people too.”

$2,500

13

Prize given to each recipient of the Irwin Scholarship for artistic excellence

Recipients of the Irwin Scholarship for artistic excellence

left: UCSC art student Luis Flores accepts the Irwin Scholarship at Porter College.

Photos by Nick Paris

18 | Thursday, June 2, 2011

Community & Culture

In this past week, City on a Hill Press held an email interview with Jake Brenner, a graduate of California Polytechnic State University and founder of House-Biscuits.com, a website resource for students at UCSC and across the country who are in search of reviews for houses in their col-lege towns.

City on a Hill Press: How did you get involved with designing this website?Brenner: The idea for the site came to me during my junior year of college. I lived in a house with four other people that was right across the street from the campus. The house itself was ... literally falling apart as we lived in it. Only one of us had ever met the landlord, and he wouldn’t talk to anyone else besides that one person. So if something broke in the house we had to get that roommate to call the landlord, who rarely answered his phone. Long story short, it was a year in a broken house with no sign of change. So I thought, “What if we had a way of talking to the previ-ous tenants or reading a review of the house? Then we would have known how shady this guy actually was before we signed the

year-long lease.” So the second I graduated, I began working on getting the site together, and here we are.

CHP: Why do you think the site is important?Brenner: Any college student [who] rents a house or lives in the dorms understands the pain of paying way too much rent for the standard of living they get. As student renters we are stuck in a horrible position. If you don’t rent this house then someone else will, guaranteed. The landlords know there will always be a de-mand for the house or apartment since it’s next to a school, [and] they take advantage of this way too much. We are here to change that by allowing renters to speak their mind and for once provide feedback about their experience.

CHP: What were the challenges of getting the site up and run-ning?Brenner: The biggest challenge hands down is getting the word out there about the site. It’s a great resource for any renter, but especially students, since you can rate your dorm as well. I am starting the site without any large amounts of money back-ing me so I don’t have the funds for a huge ad campaign. Right now, the site has just been word of mouth over Facebook (www.facebook.com/housebiscuits) and

Twitter (@housebiscuits). I hope to get the word out there to help students share their experience and educate future renters before they sign a lease.

CHP: How do you feel about the site’s success?Brenner: So far I am pretty happy with its success, but I know that there is so much more to be had. Currently, we have just over 550 dorms/apartments/houses listed at over 750 schools across the country. However, it’s up to the students to get out there and share their experience about these places and add ones. I know it sounds tacky to say, but it really is all about the users. Without them, there literally is no site.

CHP: Do you hope to influence student lives outside of this website? Brenner: Of course. I want them to have a better college housing experience. [If] you pay rent, then you deserve the same rental experience as the family next door. Sadly, this isn’t the reality, though. By connecting potential renters with ones who already lived there, we can change this and create awareness. Many times landlords request letters of recommendation or rental history from a prospective renter — why can’t we ask the same of them?

Q & A: Jake BrennerCreator of HouseBiscuits.com discusses his website

By Aysha BilalCommunity & Culture

Reporter

HouseBiscuits.com• Website that hosts reviews of houses for rent in college towns across the country. Founded by California Polytechnic State University graduate Jake Brenner.

• Rating system of one to five biscuits, with one being the worst and five being the best, for both landlords and property.

• Currently 21 listings on the UC Santa Cruz page.

Photo Courtesy of Jake Brenner

14 | Thursday, March 31, 2011

Feature

After walking once around the car, after smacking myself, after singing at the top of my lungs, after silence, I wake up speeding past bands of metal and green.

I crashed into a shrub-covered fence right before reaching the E. Brokaw Rd. exit on I 880. My car was totaled. It was 2:36 a.m.

When the police came, I felt relief and panic.

“Have you been drinking tonight?” the officer asked.

I looked down at my red flower-patterned pajama bottoms and shook my head. No, I hadn’t been drinking, but I might as well have.

After only sleeping two and a half hours during a span of three and a half days, I somehow managed to make myself feel invincible.

“Normal people would have gone insane by now,” I had boasted to others.

Research papers and finals were my foremost concerns. I spent the majority of the school term having a social life, but I wasn’t going to let that stop me from getting A’s in my courses. I functioned under the “work hard — party harder” ethic, like so many of my peers.

With this ethic, I found myself bawling by the side of the road on the other side of the fence. Mascara-stained tears poured down my cheek, as the officer gave me back my driver’s license.

“Happy birthday,” he said.

“Your experience is not unique,” said Elizabeth Hyde, nurse practitioner and patient care coordinator at the UC Santa Cruz Health Center.

She gives me an empathetic smile and continues to explain how common the issue of sleep depriva-tion is on campus, as well as across the entire country. De-spite health repercussions ranging from altered mood and cogni-tive impair-ment to an increased likelihood of high blood pressure and diabetes, irregular sleep is becoming increasingly common in the United States, ac-cording to a poll by the National Sleep Foundation (NSF).

The poll found that people averaged 6.9 hours of sleep per night, dropping an average of two hours since the 1800s. Among those with an increased partici-pation in this trend are young

Losing Sleep over

Losing Sleep

An increasing struggle to get proper rest

By Rosela Arce, City ReporterIllustrations By Kristian Talley

“I’m going to fall asleep. I’m going to fall asleep.”

adults. In another study, NSF re-ported that 63 percent of college students do not sleep enough.

“The [National Highway Traf-fic Safety Administration (NHT-SA) has] been very alarmed by sleep deprivation,” Hyde said. “I just had somebody in the office the other day that fell asleep on their way back from Tahoe. Four kids in the car — dove into a snow bank.”

NHTSA estimates that tiredness or sleep depriva-tion causes 100,000 accidents, 40,000 injuries and 1,500 deaths in the United States every year. As steep car insurance prices re-flect, young people under 25 are more likely to be

involved in sleep-related acci-dents.

Drivers awake for 17 to 19 hours drive worse than drivers with a blood alcohol level of .05 percent, according to research conducted in New Zealand and Australia and published in the British journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

Cognitive impairments, often the cause of collisions, are only some of the more immediate effects of sleep deprivation. Insuf-ficient sleep has direct connec-tions to a person’s health in the long-term.

“The data is just really clear that somewhere around eight hours of sleep is really necessary for good health,” Hyde said, “and some people can get by on a little less, but you can’t maintain the same health benefits.”

Looking out from her busy Health Center office filled with files and paperwork, Hyde said students often frequent the center with sleep issues.

“I would say pretty much everybody here works regu-larly with people who are having trouble [with sleep deprivation],” Hyde said.

Though the college scene often motivates students’ decision to reduce their sleeping, the abil-ity to sleep is often out of their control.

“Some people are choosing not to sleep, and some people can’t sleep,” Hyde said.

I Choose Not To Sleep

Prior to my accident, I often boasted of my ability to limit my sleep “effectively” and without repercussions — or so I thought.

“People think they’re wast-ing time when they sleep,” Hyde said. “I think that’s a little bit of it, especially as the semester closes and you think of all the things

you’d like to get done.”Last minute frenzies to soak

in the maximum amount of information, commonly known as “all-nighters,” inadvertently produce the opposite effect.

A study led by Dr. Matthew Walker of the Harvard-affiliated Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center found that memory im-proved by 20 to 30 percent with proper rest.

“You need to get a good night of sleep after you’ve learned something,” Walker said in HealthBeat, a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services production. “If you don’t get that good night’s sleep, if you pull the all-nighter ... both of them cause catastrophic deficits in terms of memory.”

However, a lower test score is more desirable than no test score at all. In the same National Sleep Foundation study on college stu-dents, 15 percent of those polled admitted to falling asleep in class.

Hyde acknowledges that often people reduce their sleep to get their work done.

“I wish that nobody ever had to pull an all-nighter,” Hyde said. “I just don’t think you get the performance you imagine you’re going to get. People think, ‘I can be productive all night long,’ but you just really can’t.”

Though many can relate to having the occasional sleep-deprived night, others go on with little rest over long periods of time.

Carlisa Moffett is attending her last year at Cal State San Mar-cos. With a workload of over 60

ACCIDENTS

INJURIES

100,000

40,000

1,500DEATHS

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that every year sleep-deprived drivers cause:

I Am Not Alone

choosing to sacrifice her sleep, Moffett does not suggest this approach for everyone. She said that she forgoes rest in hopes of making a difference in a child’s life with her career.

“If you’re going to sacrifice sleep, make sure that whatever it is that you’re doing is worth it,” Moffett said. “It’s not healthy, first of all. Don’t jeopardize your health for a pipe dream or for something you know you’re not going to complete. It’s unneces-sary. I wouldn’t tell people, ‘Girl, you don’t need to sleep. Go get a job.’”

Though I’ve put my “all-night-er” days behind me, I still fail at maintaining a regular sleeping schedule. As a self-proclaimed day and night person, I sneak in an average of six to seven hours of sleep a night. On Thursday nights, when bars don’t have a cover fee, sleeping gets closer to four hours.

With the amount of sleep I’m getting, bars aren’t even neces-sary.

In 2003, University of Pennsylvania researchers

published a study in which subjects slept under six hours a

night for two weeks. At the end of the study, the

volunteer’s performance was as impaired as

those who were awake for 48 hours straight.

This is more than double the amount

of sleepless hours the New Zealand

hours a week, including 15 units of courses, ministry training, a full-time job as a McDonald’s manager and a part-time job as a stocker at the Camp Pendleton base commissary, Moffett is left with very little time to sleep on a regular basis.

“On most nights, I’m getting three or four hours [of sleep],” Moffett said with a bright smile accompanied by tired eyes. “To me, when I say, ‘Oh, I get to sleep five hours tonight,’ that’s good sleep.”

With tuition increases and credit card debt, Moffett chose to get her second job with flexible hours at the commissary to be more financially secure.

To save money on a $296 semester parking permit and gas, Moffett has stopped driving her car, for which she continues to make payments. Instead she rides the Sprinter, a North San Diego County commuter train.

“It doesn’t really help me with sleep because you have to get up earlier to catch the Sprinter, as opposed to driving,” Moffett said. “I’ll doze off in the Sprinter every now and then. I’ve been catching the Sprinter to school to save the money, because it’s only $116 for the whole semester.”

Moffett continues to sacrifice sleep, though she has felt the adverse effects. Since she is finishing her last year, Moffett’s courses have become more lecture-oriented. These lectures keep her confined to her seat for an uncomfortable amount of time.

“They’re things that I’m inter-ested in, but I cannot sit through

them,”

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Feature

Moffett said. “I am honestly nod-ding, and I can’t sit straight, and I’m fidgety. Because I know I’m so tired, it doesn’t matter what I’m doing. As soon as I sit down and my body feels like it’s resting, I start to fall asleep.”

Walking down a fluorescent hall of the Psychiatric Services wing, MaryJan Murphy, Ph.D., training director and acting co-director of counseling and psychological services at UCSC, says other students have similar issues.

“It’s more difficult to concen-trate and to study,” Murphy said. “Feeling overwhelmed and tired and not having enough energy to sort of do the tasks that you would normally do — being burnt out a little bit — those [ef-fects] are really common.”

Moffett’s head-nodding has extended from the classroom and

into her social life.“On Valentine’s Day, I went

out on a date to the movies,” Moffett says with a playful laugh. “All I could tell the guy is ‘If I fall asleep, please don’t think that you’re boring, but if I sit in here, I’m going to fall asleep. It’s dark, and I’m going to get comfortable.’ I totally just fell asleep on him.”

She also fears becoming part of the 100,000-a-year car ac-cident statistic.

“Now I’m scared to drive,” Moffett said. “I’m always saying, ‘Somebody drive with me. I don’t care if I have to go out of my way to come get you.’ I don’t want to drive long-distance by myself because I feel my eyes getting heavy. It’s when my body’s at rest and I want to be awake that I wish I would have been able to get more sleep.”

Despite

How To Avoid Sleep DeprivationTips on how to get more sleep from acting co-director of counseling and psychological services, Mary Jan Murphy, Ph.D. and UCSC Health Center nurse practitioner and patient care coordinator Elizabeth Hyde.

Continued on p. 18

Never oversleep — some need more sleep than others, but half a day is pushing it

Set your body clock (like Goldman’s strategy)

Exercise

Don’t nap

Set a bedtime schedule — try to go to sleep around the same time every night

Go to sleep later, until you’re tired, and set that time back 15–30 minutes a night for about a week

Don’t make yourself go to sleep

Avoid heavy meals before bedtime

Avoid alcohol consumption or other substances in the evening

Reduce caffeine and nicotine consumption as much as possible

Develop a “sleep ritual” — this can be something as simple as brushing your teeth

Eliminate non-sleep activities in bed – you bed is your bed and your desk is your desk

Reduce noise, if needed

Keep your room temperature between 60 and 70 degrees

Do a relaxing activity before sleeping — reading, music, or a hot bath

and Australian researchers found to be the equivalent of intoxica-tion.

Apparently, I am drunk all of the time.

According to a study on 6,000 women by James McClain of the National Cancer Institute, I am at a higher risk of cancer, as are other sleep-deprived women.

And if I manage to live every day like I do Thursday nights, a study led by James E. Gangwisch, Ph.D. of Columbia University says I am more likely to die at a younger age than my non-sleep-deprived peers.

Though health is a serious concern, people having similar difficulties with sleeping don’t exactly choose to be at risk.

With experience in stress-related factors of sleep deprivation, Murphy also understands some of the reasoning behind sleep deprivation.

“People react differently to stress,” Murphy said. “I think [there’s] the anxiety about doing well in school and anxiety about, ‘Do I have enough money?’ It’s so expensive now to go to school. And [there’s] anxiety about may-be, ‘I have to help my family.’ All that can also cause some people to have sleep problems.”

Murphy also pointed to some challenges young adults face when entering college.

“I do think it’s hard as a college student,” Murphy said. “You’re in different kinds of living environment, and those living environments might not be the same that you’re used to, so there are different kinds of noises. You’re living with people who have different cycles than you. How do you adapt to that kind of thing?”

‘Growing up’ brings with it several opportunities to set off a person’s sleeping cycle. Spencer Martin, a student at American River College in Elk Grove, has struggled with sleep since his days in high school.

“There are the eight-hour days, nine-hour days, and there are the three-hour days, so prob-ably that’s just about five [hours of sleep on average],” Martin said.

Martin would often find him-self awake until 5 a.m., staring into the glare of Facebook.

“I can only fall asleep when I’m completely exhausted,” Mar-tin said. “It’s been a long road of self-induced insomnia. I’ve pur-posefully gotten very little sleep, whether it be school work or just shenanigans, that now my body is in tune with my lack of sleep.”

I Can’t Sleep