Rachele Kanigel, SFSU associate professor, spoke about the France study abroad program.

By Erika Maldonado

San Francisco State Journalism student

Although summer internships may be the goal for many San Francisco State University journalism students, those who attended the study abroad informational meeting Wed., Oct. 19, might consider hands-on experience overseas.

SF State’s partnership with the Institute for Education in International Media, ieiMedia, is offering trips to Istanbul, Turkey June 14 through July 15, 2012 and Perpignan, France from June 21 through July 19, 2012.  Both programs cost $4,995 as well as airfare, Venise Wagner, associate professor and journalism chairperson, said.

“All of the programs are based on learning and producing journalism in a foreign place,” said Rachele Kanigel, an associate professor in journalism.

Scholarships of $500 are available for SF State students as well as filling out Federal Student Aid, FAFSA, forms.  David Wick of the office of international programs at SFSU suggested other options to cut costs including asking family members who travel to borrow frequent flier miles.

Among the panel of speakers was Morgan Brinlee, a SF State graduate who studied abroad in Turkey and France.  Reflecting on her excursions, she said she bragged to her friends on Twitter after being tear-gassed in Turkey during a gay pride event in Turkey.  Turkey, she said, is the only Muslim country that celebrates it.

“You have to be strong,” said Brinlee of her experiences.  Brinlee has been published in several Turkish publications.

Another SFSU graduate, Mike Bebernes who spent a year in Sydney, Australia said he is a much better journalist because of the experience.

“You throw yourself in a situation and you have to come out with something of quality.  You have to develop skills immediately or else you’re going to fail,” said Bebernes.

Allen Fisk, Career Center director presents various workshops for students

By Erika Maldonado

SF State Journalism Student

The economy is nothing but doom and gloom.  The sky is falling.  Everyone is debt.  Fortunately for San Francisco State University students, career center director Allen Fisk presents several workshops to give students hope about working in the real world.

“You have to keep your job search flexible with plans A through D.  You may have to work harder to find a job and accept a position that isn’t your dream job,” said Fisk during a workshop on Tuesday, Oct. 25.

Fisk stresses the importance of networking.  80 percent of job openings, he said, are found through networking contacts.  A 30-second pitch or “elevator speech” about yourself should be organized and memorized so applicants have more to talk about than just the weather.

Nina Avila, a SF State alumni, said she attended the workshop because she has not had much success in her job search since graduating last spring.

“It has been discouraging to have a business major with this economic climate.  These workshops are encouraging and give me different angles to approach the job market,” said Avila.

Recent college hiring, according to The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) job outlook survey, increased to 13.50 percent compared with negative 6.90 percent in fall 2010.

“Getting your foot in the door and that experience for your resume is key,” said Fisk.

Taking the time to write a cover letter instead of just a resume makes the difference every time, said Fisk.  Employer information sessions, on campus interviewing and career expos are just a few resources offered by the career center for students and recent alumnus.

“People who stay with a company for 40 years is no longer a norm.  Employees today must be adept in many skills taught at SFSU.  Working well in teams, diversity, computer and organizational skills are all crucial,” said Fisk.

By Vivien Freund

San Francisco State Journalism Student

As night falls, the mood shifts ominously. A helicopter circles overhead, bearing witness to the scene that unfolds below where the crowd, propelled forward by  the beat of the drums and the rhythm of the brass band, prepares to raise the  stakes.

In  their thousands, they surround the park while police officers who line the  perimeter wait, batons  at their sides.

Undeterred, the protesters tear down fences, swarm onto the field and erect tents in an act of defiance. Across the street, loudspeakers blast hip hop into the night and a  jubilant crowd dances next to the “No Loitering” signs.

This is Occupy Oakland, a leaderless, resistance movement whose members defy categorization. Protesters cite a variety of reasons for participating, while the resonant message of the broader Occupy movement is that the 99 percent will “no longer  tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1 percent,” according to the Occupy Wall Street website.

Occupy Oakland Nov. 19

“I participate in Occupy because I am the 99  percent,” says Michelle Nicol, 28, an SF State student and a single mother who  lives on welfare. “Occupy brings attention to the horrible conditions we live  in.”

“Oakland gets no funding,” adds Nicol. “Schools have no money, streets are unsafe and there are liquor stores on every corner. There’s violence outside, domestic violence inside. How can a teacher deal with 30 students who have seen their neighbors gunned down? The idea of hope is limited.”

Some Occupy  protesters denounce the big banks whose profits have been soaring, while millions of Americans face poverty and homelessness due to bank foreclosures.

“The banking system is breaking the economy,” says protester  Ruby Smith, 59.  “Taxpayers bailed out the banks, now their profits are soaring while they suck the middle class dry like vampires.”

“Banks were bailed out but the money didn’t circulate,” says protester Rita Archibald, 63.  “Banks won’t give loans, people can’t get work. Deregulation contributed to the collapse of the economy but nobody has been prosecuted.”

Other protesters cite a variety of grievances:

“It costs so much to run for office, politicians have been bought and sold before they’ve even taken the oath,” says Jane Kennedy, 73, a retired school teacher.

“There are so many aspects,” says protester Marina Petri, 82. “They won’t raise taxes on the wealthy, people can’t get health care, college grads can’t get jobs.”

Marina Petri at Occupy Oakland

“It starts here,” says protester Mark Stanton.  “People need to voice general anger, there are so many grievances. But in phase two we need to get more directed, and we may need a leader, a Martin Luther King as a lightning rod.”

Occupy Oakland is one of the latest uprisings in a movement that is ricocheting around  the globe. Discontent that is fueling the Arab Spring, European Summer and  American Fall can be traced to a common cause, according to an article published recently by Juan Cole, history professor at the University of Michigan.

“Whether in Egypt or the United States, young rebels are reacting to a single stunning worldwide development: the extreme concentration of wealth in a few hands thanks to neoliberal policies of deregulation and union busting,” writes Cole

Egypt and Tunisia  were among countries pressured by the U.S. in the 1990s to privatize  their  public sectors, which allowed staggering levels of corruption among ruling autocrats aided by banks, while those at the bottom suffered, according to  Cole.

“It was no happenstance that the young man who immolated himself and so sparked the Tunisian rebellion was a hard-pressed vegetable peddler,” writes Cole.

The Tunisian revolution  inspired uprisings in Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Syria, and Spain, according to Cole.  Activists at Adbusters  in Vancouver, B.C. were in turn inspired  by Egyptian revolutionaries when they called for a rally on Wall Street in New  York City on Sept. 17, 2011 and so started the Occupy movement, said Cole.

And as the  global movement grows, solidarity extends across borders. While facing  levels  of brutality not yet seen in the U.S., Egyptian activists wrote to Occupy  Oakland protesters:  “… Resist fiercely when you are under attack. …We are all watching one another now, and from Cairo we want to say that we are in  solidarity with you, and we love you all for what you are doing.”

Occupy Oakland Egypt Solidarity March

In the U.S., the Occupy movement has been hard for many  to pin down.

“It’s all encompassing,” says SF  State student Will Nelson. “Everyone can participate  even if all they know is  that they hate banks and their homes have been taken away.”

“But for me it’s above all an  environmental movement,” adds Nelson. “We’re destroying ecosystems for profit. We don’t even understand them yet. Every day 200 species become extinct.”

While Occupy has not yet issued specific demands, Nelson describes his long-term goals as “protection of the  environment for future generations and equity for people worldwide,”  adding “We have a racist, exploitative system that’s been perpetuated for centuries. I’m interested in revolution, in systemic change.”

While the Occupy grievances are diverse, there seems to be widespread agreement amongst supporters about the underlying cause: corporate power.

The world over, the 1 percent is “getting rid of the last constraints on corporate power,”  writes author Naomi Klein in a recently published article. “Unfettered greed has trashed the  global economy … and the natural world … The  new normal is serial disasters: economic and ecological.”

Campaign finance reform is seen by many protesters as key to reining in corporate power. “If anything is to come of this movement, we need a constitutional amendment to end private financing of campaigns,” says Stanton. “Then we’ll see a fundamental shift in the way legislation is written.”

Glenn  Fieldman, Ph.D., SF State professor, would like to see Occupy demand a constitutional amendment to declare that corporations are not people.

“We’re dealing with an entrenched system  of power,” says Fieldman. “It feels like it will be there forever. But things can change fast. Nobody imagined communism would  fall so fast. They used a general strike in Poland. It’s a powerful tool.”

While anti-globalization protests have until recently not gained much traction in the U.S., activists and indigenous leaders from developing countries have been working for years  to draw attention to their plight within the corporate global economy.

In 1999 at the World Trade Organization protests in Seattle, Owens Wiwa paid tribute to his father Ken Saro Wiwa, who was executed by the Nigerian government after protesting the environmental devastation caused by Shell in Ogoniland.

Indian activist Vandana Shiva took the stage and reported on the suicides of thousands of Indian farmers displaced by Monsanto.

Meanwhile, in wealthy countries, these atrocities generated little interest.  “We were taking on capitalism during a frenzied economic  boom,“ says Klein.  “We pointed out that the deregulation came at a price.  Corporations were becoming more powerful than governments. But while the good  times rolled … it was a tough sell.”

Today it has come full circle.

When protesters gathered Sept. 17 on Wall Street it was to commemorate the 2008 economic meltdown in which millions of Americans lost their jobs and their homes, according  to Cole.

In the  U.S., the gap between rich and poor has widened to record levels, according to  the Congressional  Budget Office.  Moreover, in 2010, 46.2 million Americans lived in poverty, according to the U.S. Census  Bureau.

Twelve years after the “Battle of Seattle”, Occupy is spreading like wildfire  across the U.S.

The Occupy movement uses “revolutionary Arab Spring tactics and encourages the use of nonviolence to maximize the safety of all participants,” according to the Occupy Wall Street website.

Decision making at Occupy Oakland is through  “direct  democracy”. Proposals are worked out in committees and brought to the general assembly for clarifications, amendments and voting.

“I love the way this movement works,” says  Nelson. “Decentralized, collective decision making, everyone has a chance to be heard. But marches alone can’t create change.  At some point we’ll need to escalate tactics and we may need more hierarchy.”

Some disagreement over tactics is maybe inevitable in a movement that embraces so many.

“If we  focus on the right to camp, we waste energy,” says Stanton. “We need to take  Occupy to city halls and Capitol Hill. Legislators should see our faces every day and answer for their actions.”

Meanwhile at the Occupy Oakland General Assembly on Nov. 9, a proposal to exercise nonviolence drew heated debate with responses ranging from “Property destruction  is not violence” to “These [Black Bloc] tactics make it unsafe for immigrants and others who can’t afford to go to jail. It’s white privilege.”

“As the movement gets bigger, it could get  messy,” says Nelson. “There‘ll be splinter groups, violence underground. We  need to be careful. If we turn on each other, we take the focus off the CEOs.”

For  businesses at “Oscar Grant Plaza,” Occupy Oakland has been a mixed blessing.

“I’m not happy with the campers,” said Moji Ghafouri, owner of Caffe Teatro.  “Regular customers don’t want to cross the  plaza. They say that protesters harass them. I used to love coming to my café,  but now every day is stressful.”

“It’s  an awesome movement as long as it stays peaceful,” said Mawiyah Hollins of Tully’s Coffee. “Business slowed for a while but since our window got broken we’ve been getting a lot of publicity. It wasn’t the protesters who broke the window.”

The movement has already been credited by some for shifting the dialogue and contributing to a rare victory for environmental activists over the Keystone XL pipeline.

In the wake of this victory, The Nation correspondent Mark Hertsgaard spoke to the power of public protest at the recent San Francisco Green Festival: “Nixon passed the strongest environmental laws in the world,” said Hertsgaard. “Why? Because of 13 million people in the streets on the first Earth Day. Occupy needs to get bigger and deeper and more diverse and when it does, it will put the fear of God into the political and economic elites.”

Segovia McGahan with her rolling reporter's kit.

By Julie Tonroy

Even though she always read the newspaper cover-to-cover, she rarely saw stories that she felt spoke to her. Yet she never saw her cultural and ethnic identity reflected in the news.

Now 43, Gabriela Segovia McGahan, a Native American/ Latina journalist, is changing all that.

Working for AOL’s Patch.com, a newly sprouted national network of hyper-local news forums in 800 American communities, she is making sure that the diversity in her local community of Pacifica, Calif.  by focusing many of her stories on people of color. She writes two regular columns for AOL’s Patch.com, a weekly “Coastside Pride” article covering issues of color for Pacificans and a monthly column called “Notions by the Ocean,” covering local Pacifican crafts.

When she is not writing and creating multimedia packages for Patch.com, Segovia McGahan works as a department coordinator for San Francisco State’s American Indian Studies Department. She is also a wife and mom. Life can get hectic, she admits. Even so, Segovia McGahan never leaves home without her reporting gear, because “you never know when the news is going to happen.”

A national grant maker in New York and a former congressman from Pennsylvania came to San Francisco on Feb. 25 to explain how Americans can help “end the war” in Vietnam.

“War doesn’t end when the last soldier leaves,” said Bob Edgar, a former politician turned president and CEO of a citizen lobbying group called Common Cause. It’s time, he added, to move past the “blame game” and take part in a humanitarian effort to help the people still suffering in Vietnam.

Edgar made his comments at the Commonwealth Club, which hosted an hour-long discussion titled, “Addressing the Legacy of Agent Orange in Vietnam.” He was joined on stage by Charles Bailey, a Ford Foundation director who helped to establish Ford’s Special Initiative on Agent Orange/Dioxin.

The event was moderated by San Francisco State University Journalism Professor Jon Funabiki, a former Ford Foundation grant maker who now runs the Vietnam Reporting Project.

Bailey, who spent a decade in Vietnam for Ford, spoke passionately about the need for philanthropists, politicians, community leaders and other concerned citizens to help Vietnam recover from the devastating effects of Agent Orange.

“There is this lingering legacy of the past,” Bailey said, adding that the spraying and storage of Agent Orange during the war and after has adversely affected millions of people. “The bottom line,” he added, is that people who enduring the spraying or live around “hot spots” need help.

“Agent Orange and some of the other herbicides (used during the war) were contaminated with dioxin, a highly toxic and persistent organic pollutant,” according to a declaration put forth by the U.S.-Vietnam Dialogue Group on Agent Orange/Dioxin. “Dioxin (2,3,7, 8-tetrachlorop-dibenzo-dioxin, or TCDD) has been linked by the U.S. Institutes of Medicine to cancers, diabetes, and nerve and heart disease among people directly and indirectly exposed, and to spina bifida among their offspring.”

The U.S. Veterans Administration recognizes a total of 15 diseases and one birth defect related to exposure to Agent Orange, the report said.

Last year, U.S. veterans of Vietnam received nearly $2 billion in disability payments related to Agent Orange, according to a November California Report story by K. Oanh Ha. The same cannot be said for any of the people in Vietnam.

As many as three million Vietnamese adults and children have suffered “adverse health effects, congenital and development defects,” the U.S.-Vietnam Dialogue Group noted in their declaration.

The U.S. Vietnam Dialogue Group on Agent Orange/Dioxin has recommended a Plan of Action to help address the legacy of Agent Orange in Vietnam. The plan would cost approximately $300 million and be implemented over 10 years. “The U.S. government should play a key role in meeting these costs,” according to the declaration.

Edgar, who went to Vietnam as part of a humanitarian effort last year, said he will be going again in March.

The reason to keep going back to Vietnam, Edgar explained, is for people to see firsthand the beauty of a people and land struggling to recover from the devastation of war — and perhaps take some action. He told the crowd several times: “We are the leaders we have been waiting for.”

Yumi Wilson went to Vietnam last summer as part of the Vietnam Reporting Project, an initiative led by Professor Funabiki and funded by the Ford Foundation.The VRP’s fellows have won numerous awards and praise for their stories in Vietnam.

To see story with links, go to: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/wilson/detail?entry_id=83884#ixzz1F8kliDkw

Matt Thomas was a top finisher this weekend at the NCAA Division II Super Regional Wrestling Championship held at San Francisco State University

By Samantha Battles

Matt Thomas and his fellow teammates demonstrated to the San Francisco State University student body what the wrestling world has known for quite some time: The Gators mean business.

One of the most successful yet underrated sporting programs at San Francisco State showcased their talents at the NCAA Division II Super Regional Wrestling Championships this past weekend. Once a year, 11 collegiate teams from around the country come together to find out who the top wrestlers are in the nation.

Thomas, 21, who is currently ranked 4^th in the nation in the 149 pound weight class had high expectations for himself and his team — and he met most of them.

The junior finished 4^th overall in his weight class, qualifying for the Division II National Championships. Thomas said he owes a part of his success to having a “home-court” advantage.

“It definitely helped wrestling at home and having our fans there, supporting us,” Thomas said. “I felt that we really fed off of it as a team.”

Head Coach Lars Jensen, who has been with the Gators for the last 28 seasons, said he believed that having the Super Regional at San Francisco State benefited the team in more ways than one. Besides being able to sleep in their own beds and wrestle on their home mat, Jensen saw the crowd as a huge contributing factor to the Gator’s success.

The gator’s head coach hoped that having the tournament at San Francisco State would boost popularity for one of the school’s most underrated sports.

Jensen was quick to respond when asked why wrestling wasn’t well recognized on campus. “People don’t understand the sport,” he said. “It’s a controlled fight, as I like to call it.”

William Nepfel, San Francisco State’s Associate Director of Athletics, had his own theory on why wrestling isn’t as popular. “Other sports have 14 or 15 home matches, wrestling only has two or three. One of them is during intercession. So it’s not like we have a lot of matches that they [the student body] can attend.”

While Coach Jensen would love to have his program recognized in the media more, he tries not to let the lack of press get to him or his wrestlers.

“I know we’re very successful as a program, we have All-Americans, and the only National Champion,” said Jensen. “So when they write the record books they know that wrestling here is one of the most successful programs. And that’s the key.”

The Gators ended the weekend on a high note, placing fourth as a team and qualifying six wrestlers for the National Championships in Kearney, Nebraska later this month.

The 2011 NCAA Division II Super Regional Championships was located in SFSU’s main gymnasium on February 26^thand 27^th. A full list of the top finishers and overall team placements for the event are available at the San Francisco State Wrestling webpage.

by Lina Abascal

By Lina Abascal

From the looks of it, San Francisco City Hall’s community safety meeting on Wednesday evening could have easily been confused with a high school assembly.

Dozens of San Francisco teens and preteens lined the seats among adults, police and committee members, waiting to share their feelings about community policing and safety.

Lead by District Five Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, members of the community safety committee discussed on Wednesday (March 9) the San Francisco Police Department’s progress toward looking for a new police chief, without divulging any possible candidates.

“We don’t want a cop’s cop,” said Thomas Mazzucco, president of the Police Commission. “It’s so tough to pick who to interview, we have such a talented policed department, I compare our workers to federal agents all of the time, everyone is so capable.”

Not everyone agreed.  Dozens of people voiced their complaints about the police force and the changes they hope to see in a new chief.

Buck Bagot, of the Bernal Heights Neighborhood Center, offered attendees a makeshift poster to hold during the event, each saying “we need a community policing police chief.” Bagot, along with other volunteers at the center, chaperoned nearly a dozen youth members to allow them to voice their opinions about the upcoming choice for a new police chief.

“These are my kids, this is my community. Bernal Heights, San Francisco in general. The next guy they put out there in charge needs to have the same priorities as us,” said Bagot, a strong advocate for community policing.

Alongside the Bernal Heights Community Center was center for troubled girls, Mission Girls/ Young Queens. Ana Maria Corral, the director of Mission Girls, urged police and the future chief to keep girls out of juvenile hall, and instead send them to programs such as Mission Girls or Young Queens so they can learn from their behavior rather than become a part of the repetitive judicial cycle.

“We need the police, but the police also need us,” said Aylia, of the Bernal Heights Community Center’s after school program for children.

Aylia listed several qualities she was looking for her in ideal police chief including a proactive approach emphasis on serving rather than fighting, and specific training in neighborhood problem solving with a focus on various races and demographics.

“It is essential that any elected official is to provide some level of expectation and accountability of community policing… it is important that we find a way for citizens to know what community policing is,” said Mirkarimi. The 50 plus attendees of the meeting all seemed to be aware of what the term meant and had developed their own examples of it, showing Mirkarimi and other officials that community policing is more of a household name than they might think.

A few San Franciscans were so passionate about explaining their definition and needs for community policing that they were actually forced to stop talking and had the microphone turned off during their speech to make time for other speakers. Leah White, a volunteer from Lowell High struck a chord, resulting in audience applause when she mentioned the stigma around police officers.

“There is a stigma around police officers imposing fear, to break that stigma we need more interaction between the officers and civilians, especially kids. The stigma begins to set in children’s brains, where they see the police as being against them,” said White.

As more and more audience members volunteered their input at the podium, Mazzucco invited the youth participants to sign up for a program specifically geared at students to help them become more involved and acquainted with the police. No comments were made by the committee after each volunteer made a speech, with the exception of a few thank yous.

The search for San Francisco’s new police chief continues with a promised emphasis on a passion for community policing, something both officials and citizens agree on.

By Julie Tonroy

An unanticipated series of power disruptions on Tuesday (September 27) affected thousands of PG&E customers, including the entire SF State campus.

The first outage, affecting 22,000 customers in both San Francisco and San Mateo counties, began at 11:14 a.m., according to Brandi Ehlers, a PG&E spokeswoman. The outage left students in the dark and many SF State businesses scrambling.

Though power was restored quickly, the second power interruption included surges that created economic effects for several SF State businesses.

According to SF State Academic Technology Central’s website, the first power interruption was restored by 11:45 a.m., but “flicked off again” at 1:45 p.m. and knocked the data center offline. The second power interruption delivered what appeared to be surges that crippled the computerized cash-register systems of many of SF State’s small businesses.

A day later (on Wednesday, Sept. 28), the SF State bookstore was still experiencing problems from the afternoon outage, according to Husam Erciyes, the bookstore’s director of marketing.

Erciyes said that the power interruption damaged hardware in their point of sale (POS) system. As a result, the SFSU Bookstore, as well as the Lobby Shop, and Healthy U., which Erciyes explained, “are run on the same POS,” were closed Wednesday as they awaited delivery of a part to repair their in-house system.

Taqueria Girasol’s owner, Marco Ballesteros, claims that everything was “fine and dandy” after the initial power outage on Tuesday, but the afternoon surge damaged his POS system.

Ballesteros, who had both surge protection and battery backup on his POS, said that the in the afternoon even, “there was a surge, on and off”  two or three times with the “lights flickering” and then his POS computer locked up.

Ballesteros claims that he will have to pay $1,000 in insurance deductible for the POS  system as well as absorb losses associated with the business disruptions.

Campus Closures
Bookstore Closure
Campus Restaurant POS Systems Taken Down

Drummer Chris Kelley

By Andrew Preimesberger

A band comprised of San Francisco State alumni performed its first concert at the Cesar Chavez Student Center Thursday.

Jesus and the Rabbis performed before an audience of about 50 at the student center during the noon hour to promote both themselves and student activities at the school.

Drummer Chris Kelley, 24, said that it was his first time playing at the student center.

“My friend’s band performed up here,” Kelley said. “I’ve wanted to perform here ever since I was going to school here. And now that I’m not going here anymore I’m finally up here.”

In attendance at the show were members of the Phi Sigma Sigma sorority, who came to show their support for the band and to raise funds for the awareness of kidney disease by selling baked goods.

Sophomore Adaeze Iroka, 20, activities chairman for Phi Sigma Sigma, worked at a table set up in front of the band.

“We’re actually raising money for the Phi Sigma Sigma foundation which supports the National Kidney Foundation,” Iroka said. “Some of the money we earn will go to the National Kidney Foundation, and they’ll use it as funding for kidney diseases.”

Jesus and the Rabbis at the Cesar Chavez Student Center

Most of the band’s songs were consistently upbeat funk-rock songs. They mixed in a double bass for a softer sound in some numbers. Overall, the pop rock band put on a show that didn’t disappoint.

Leslie Greene, 19, of San Francisco, was in the crowd and enjoyed the band’s unique sound.

“Honestly, in the beginning I wasn’t sure about them,” Greene said. “But after listening to them and just seeing the passion they have for it, definitely. It’s just kind of like a nice funk, kind of Red Hot Chili Peppers-esque. I really like it.”

Jesus and the Rabbis is expected to perform again in the Cesar Chavez Student Center. They play frequently at the Blackthorn Tavern in the Sunset District.

Construction continues at the future home of the SFJazz center as city officials and sponsors of the project negotiate the community benefit agreement. Photo by Kale Williams.

By Kale Williams 

SAN FRANCISCO- Supervisors pressed representatives of the SFJazz Center to enhance the  community benefit agreement that one supervisor called “underwhelming,” at the Budget and Finance Committee meeting  Sept. 28.

Despite offering eight free concerts for low-income San Franciscans, 95 full-time construction jobs and a host of other potential benefits, supervisors remained unimpressed by the proposed agreement, saying it needed to reflect more collaboration with the historic jazz corridor in the Fillmore.

“Considering the amount of money we’re putting out on this, I’m concerned that there will be a level of competition with a struggling area in the Fillmore corridor,” said Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, who represents the fifth district that encompasses the Fillmore.

The community benefit agreement, part of a larger indemnification agreement, would make the SFJazz center eligible for $15 million in tax credits, if approved by the board of supervisors.

Supervisors moved the agenda item through the committee to the full board, though they did so without recommendation, pending the release of a budget analyst’s report.

Felice Swapp, executive director of SFJazz, was more optimistic, noting a roundtable discussion held earlier this year that brought together community organizations, including the Fillmore Heritage Jazz Center and SFJazz.

“They thought it was a good first step toward building a bridge across all the communities involved,” she said.

The $55 million project is under construction at 205 Franklin St. in Hayes Valley, and will provide a permanent home to SFJazz, which has been a nomadic organization up to this point, hosting events at the Herbst Theater, Davies Symphony Hall and a number of smaller venues.

“The goal of this project is to give SFJazz the home they’ve never had before,” said Stephen Maduli-Williams, chief operating officer for the San Francisco Community Investment Fund, which is sponsoring the project.

“We will continue working to get the best possible package of community benefits and we’ll try and address the issues you have raised today,” Maduli-Williams said.

Update: After developers made what Mirkarimi called “significant improvements” to the agreement, the full Board of Supervisors passed the item with no objections on Oct. 4.

By Bryan Banducci

San Francisco punk band Koalacaust, which recently announced their impending breakup, played one of its last shows ever at San Francisco State’s music venue The Depot on Thursday evening with Big Kids (Oakland) and No Static (SF).

The show was quick, loud, and sweaty. Punk kids with mohawks and patches on their tight black jeans pushed and jumped on top of each other during the set. Friends of Koalacaust sang along to every song with the singer who stumbled across the stage and into the crowd, drunkenly swaying and screaming into the microphone.

Tyler Curtis, a SF State senior who plays bass in Koalacaust, said he was sad to see the band parting ways. “We’ve all been friends for so long. It’s going to be weird not playing music together and touring in the summer. We’re going to release some of our final recordings soon and continue to make music in various other projects.”

Originally formed in Santa Monica as a folk-punk band in 2008, Koalacaust relocated to the Bay Area as its members moved north after high school to attend college at schools in San Francisco and Santa Cruz. The band soon signed with Mountain Man records and began playing more folk based pop-punk riffs.

Scott Sanders, founder of Spirit Animal Productions and longtime friend of the members of Koalacaust, helped organize the band’s last appearance at The Depot. “These guys rule. I can’t believe this is their last show here. They’ve had a great run. Koalacaust shows at The Depot are some of my fondest memories of my time as a student here.”

Koalacaust has toured the entire West Coast, but has always made time for shows at SF State.

Franko Ali, vice president of University Affairs, says that shows at The Depot with bands like Koalacaust are one of the reasons why he wanted to get involved with student life on campus. “The Depot and The Pub are great. I’ve met a lot of my closest friends here in the Cesar Chavez Student Center. The shows are always free and open to all students, and the beer is cheap. What more could you ask for? I wish Koalacaust the best of luck with their future endeavors.”

Koalacaust will play their last show ever on Tuesday October 11th at Submission Art Space in San Francisco.

The new Sf Jazz Building site at 205 Franklin St. as of Sept. 30, 2011. Photo credits to Kale Williams.

By Heather Ito

Representatives of the new SF Jazz Building hit a road block as supervisors at the Sept. 28 Budget and Finance meeting challenged what they believe is not a strong enough agreement for a new jazz center.

Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi expressed his want for a community benefits agreement that “reflects a more entwined relationship” between SF Jazz and the Jazz Heritage Center, the main jazz-affiliated organization in the neighboring district of Fillmore.

“It’s important to me that upfront that we have I think the full menu of what is possible between [the] relationship [of SF Jazz and the Jazz Heritage Center],” Mirkarimi said.

Stephen Maduli-Williams, chief operating officer of the SF Community Investment Fund, says the SF Jazz Building is roughly a $55 million project sponsored by the San Francisco Jazz Center that intends to concentrate on the growth and application of jazz with the surrounding community.

“The goal of this project is to really give SF Jazz a home that they’ve never had before, particularly a home in San Francisco,” Maduli-Williams said.

However, Mirkarimi fears its presence will compete with the Jazz Heritage Center and hopes the community benefits agreement will set more benefits between the two jazz organizations.

“When I see 10 percent of low-income that is being sort-of afforded to the people in a given community, that doesn’t speak well to me,” Mirkarimi said.

Two advocates for this project sought approval from the supervisors to approve an indemnification agreement for the project, which is essentially a security blanket for investors in the project.

But because of strong disagreements regarding the community benefits agreement, all three supervisors on the committee sent it to the Board of Supervisors without their recommendation. At the Board meeting held on Oct. 4, the supervisors addressed the improvements made to the benefits agreement and was able to approve the resolution for the indemnification agreement.

“I think that the way this is right now, the impact may be too disparate throughout the city,” said Supervisor Jane Kim, who was also on the committee for this meeting.

Felice Swapp, the executive operating director of SF Jazz, said at the meeting that she and her staff have already begun “bridging the connection” between SF Jazz and Jazz Heritage Center by holding a Discover Jazz series on woman this spring hosted by both organizations.

“[These collaborations are] becoming more and more a part of what we’re doing as an organization in terms of our core DNA,” Swapp said.

By Alvaro Alfaro 

San Francisco Supervisor Eric Mar introduced an ordinance on Tuesday, Sept. 27 to prohibit the sale of alcohol at self-checkout stands in an effort to stop minors and intoxicated people from getting alcohol.

Courtesy of Creative Commons

Self-checkout registers, which can be found in just about every major supermarket chain, have made things convenient for shoppers, but some teenagers are using the self-checkouts to buy alcohol without being 21. A recent study by UCLA showed that self-checkout machines make it significantly easier for minors to get alcohol

“The UCLA study showed that machines that are currently used in different stores that have self-checkout fail to adequately freeze or stop one transaction in every five,” said Mar.

There are several methods to get the alcohol passed the self-checkout registers and Mar believes that it has become too easy to fool the machines. “One cashier can be forced to monitor up to a dozen machines at a time allowing machines to be easily beaten when the worker isn’t looking. I know sometimes people will cover the bar codes or replace it with something else as well,” Mar said

Mar is not the first person to bring this issue up and try to resolve it. Assemblywoman Fiona Ma had proposed a similar bill in June 2011 in an effort to stop underage youths from buying alcohol from the self-checkout registers.

People are getting more concerned about minors getting their hands on alcohol. “It’s frightening to say the least. I have heard of some liquor stores that don’t I.D. teens, but big grocery chains? This is just ridiculous,” said local mother of two teenagers, Ana Garcia.

Stores are aware of this problem, which is why when alcohol is scanned an alert goes off to notify the employees. “Whenever the red light flashes we respond quickly to see what the problem is but when we get really busy we can be a little slower to get to the register,” said Safeway employee Francis Echavez.

Self-checkout registers at Safeway

Mar’s ordinance was assigned under the 30-day rule and will be up for review by the Land Use and Economic Committee in the near future.

By Vivien Freund

As thousands of inmates in the California prison system resumed their hunger strike, Bay Area journalists gathered Wednesday evening (Oct. 5, 2011) to discuss mainstream media coverage of the California prison crisis and the role of new media in getting prisoners’ stories out.

Courtesy of Creative Commons

The forum was hosted by San Francisco Bay Area Journalists (SFBAJ) and it brought together a panel of key players in a debate moderated by Tom Murphy, SFBAJ organizer. While Murphy tried to steer the debate towards the role of the media, more animated discussion centered on the hunger strike and conditions in the California prison system. An audience of 30 journalists and journalism students contributed questions and comments.

“Twenty years ago thousands of prisoners on hunger strike would have been front page news. Today two thirds of those reporters and many of the papers are gone,” said Murphy in his opening statement. “At the same time there has been an explosion in social media …. News is now coming from the ground up.”

Jonathan Simon, professor at the Boalt Hall law school, criticized the lack of mainstream media coverage of the Brown v. Plata case, a Supreme Court ruling he described as “the most radical injunction in our nation’s history … a case which puts mass incarceration itself on trial.”

California prisons had been built with inadequate medical facilities as if inmates were “monsters … who don’t suffer from the normal frailties of life,” according to Simon. A hearing to investigate prison conditions led to a 2009 court order that California prisons reduce their population by 40,000, a ruling which was upheld by the Supreme Court in May.

Isaac Ontiveros, communications director for Critical Resistance, discussed the inmates’ reasons for resuming their hunger strike, citing retaliation by the prison system against participants and the fact that demands that inmates had made when they suspended their strike in July had not been met.

Ontiveros was concerned that some hunger strikers had been in the special housing units for over 20 years.

Oscar Hidalgo, assistant secretary of communications for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, defended the department saying that they were dealing with complex issues. He suggested that the prison system may be more a reflection of how society wants to treat inmates and that they in the department are merely the custodians.

An audience member expressed concern that inmates in the special housing units are subject to 22 hours and 30 minutes per day of solitary confinement and suggested that the department could choose not to enforce such conditions.

Hidalgo responded that it was difficult because some inmates were “absolutely committed to their criminal behavior,” but conceded that some of the inmates in the special housing units should not be there. He said that the department was examining its policy, had already made dramatic improvements in health care and openness and that his goal was to increase media access. He invited audience members to visit prisons and talk to inmates.

By Heather Ito

San Francisco State Journalism Student

The California State University Special Projects staff presented its first showing of “The California State University: Sharing and Celebrating Stories from Nisei Honorary Degree Recipients” video on Oct. 25 at the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California.

About 30 people attended the first of four consecutive video screenings in the Bay Area. Among them was Frank Suzuki, one of the Nisei Honorary Degree Recipients featured in the video.

‎”It was quite an honor,” Suzuki said at the event. “I know myself, I was the only one in the family that didn’t have a degree and I finally got one.”

The video, funded by a $23,000 grant from the California State Library through the California Civil Liberties Public Education Program, shares the stories of 12 Nisei Honorary Degree Recipients and represents all of the CSU campuses, according to Director of Special Projects Colleen Bentley.

“I actually know several of those people but I didn’t know this part of their story so really it was very moving,” said Roger Morimoto, a pastor from Palo Alto who attended the event.

Bentley said that she realized the special aspect of the project soon after she began working on it.

“The more you got into the project, the more you realize how heartwarming it was and meaningful to a lot of people,” Bentley said at the event.

According to Bentley, she and Kim Shibata, assistant to the director of Special Projects, worked with CSU campuses to track down about 125 of the 250 nisei who had to leave their schools because of Executive Order 9066. Those 125 nisei were honored and awarded honorary degrees at the commencement ceremonies from their respective campuses.

Teresa Ono, San Francisco State University Coordinator for the program, said at the event that SFSU had already honored the 19 nisei from its campus as Honorary Alumni at its 1998 Commencement Ceremony.

Tent sign on Market St. in front of Federal Reserve Bank

BY BRYAN BANDUCCI

Occupy Wall Street is dominating the mainstream news media airwaves these days, with movements flourishing and having a presence in major cities across the nation, and the world.

In the past few weeks, Oakland, and now more recently Berkeley have been garnering the largest amount of media attention, with massive demonstrations and well-documented police-versus-protester clashing.

But things seem to have died down slightly on the other side of the bridge over at Occupy SF.

The tents are still there, in front of the Federal Reserve Bank on Market Street, where the protesters have created signs next to their camp encouraging passerby to “Make Banks Pay” and “Stop Corporate Greed”.

A few enthusiastic organizer types are on the sidewalks and in the streets, handing out fliers and urging people to get their money out of large banks and into smaller local credit unions.

But the large majority of the tents and their occupants now reside along the Embarcadero in Justin Herman Plaza, just in front of the Ferry Building.

Encampment at Justin Herman Plaza

Cars passing by honk and yell words of encouragement to the massive sea of tents, bodies, dogs and hand painted signs, but are these words falling upon deaf, or even worse, uncaring ears?

The majority of the campers occupying the plaza do not seem to be there to protest economic inequality ; instead, they use the encampment as a place to party, drink, do drugs, litter, and generally cause havoc to those around them.

The area around the camp is filthy, and the air reeks of cigarettes, marijuana, stale beer, body odor and fecal matter. Disease is already a common occurrence, quickly spreading between the camper’s animals and among the occupants themselves.

According to an Occupy spokesperson who chose to remain anonymous, Mayor Ed Lee had visited the encampment that morning and was planning to meet with Occupy representatives the following day to discuss the future of the camp’s existence in the plaza and possible relocation.

The Occupy SF encampment is no longer in tune with the goals and ideals with the movement at large, and it is now a place for the homeless and crust-punk youth to squat, fight and heckle the ever-present police and city pedestrians and tourists.

The Occupy movement still flourishes in many other cities across the nation, and if something does not change soon Occupy SF might not exist for much longer.

Opinions

Protestors prepare to march the streets of San Francisco.

Police on motorcycles sit idle with stone set faces, each carved with a unique pattern of mean. One officer’s face cracks with a crooked smirk when a protester gives him a long-winded “boo” and shows the officer how both his thumbs look when they’re upside down.

SEE VIDEO: Protestors March in Front of Civic Center

Suddenly the officer’s head snaps forward like a loyal dog surprised to hear its owner calling its name. The officer gets the cue from the front of the line, and with rehearsed precision, the gang of motorcycle cops twist their throttles making their motorcycles roar, sending unpleasant vibrations throughout the street and a cloud of exhaust to the sky, where helicopters hover from above.

The motorcycles tail hundreds of protesters chanting, “Join us!” to spectators on both sides of the street as they move towards City Hall. The onlookers mostly consist of locals doing their weekday shopping, tourists on vacation, and workers on their smoke breaks. Many of them smile ambiguously as they stand behind their phones recording the spectacle.

The protesters on the street are causing traffic, as cars wait for them to clear the road, some honk at the protesters as they pass by. They are not honking at them but with them, to the rhythm of their chant: “We are the 99 percent. We are the 99 percent.”

By Lindsay Oda

It’s Friday afternoon and practice has started. Teenage boys run up and down the court dribbling, passing, shooting. Squeaky sounds from shoes emblazoned with Nike’s trademark, the signature swoosh, follow their every movement. A school bell rings and everyone stops. This is a boys varsity basketball team.

The practice at Galileo High School for the boys varsity basketball team looks like a live Nike ad. Between the 11 players and the two coaches, there are at least 40 swooshes on the court. For a basketball player, shoes can’t be taken lightly.

“If you look good, you play good,” said Maximilian Petokowski, 17, explaining why his Nike Lebron’s make a difference while he plays, also assuring he would never “rock” a pair of Reeboks.

All the players at the practice wore Nike basketball shoes, most of them also sporting Nike socks. The shoes ranged in prices, the highest being $125. Their shoes were often named Kobe or Lebron after the NBA players whom endorse them.

“I can see why they identify with their shoes. They think if I wear Kobes, I feel like Kobe,” said assistant coach Toni Chiu.

The players, huddled in a circle already to hear the head coach’s last announcements, all engaged in conversation about their shoes each having something to say.

“If you see a player on the bench with some ugly shoes, [...] you think, ‘That guy sucks [at basketball].’ Is that not the truth?” asked Nicholas Toy, 16, to the rest of his team who laughed in agreement.

By Jamie Balaoro

San Francisco’s Justin Herman Plaza in the Embarcadero area has been the center of the Occupy SF movement over the last couple of weeks, gaining attention near and far to their growing tent city. But with Thanksgiving a week away and Christmas quickly approaching, the plaza transformed into the center for holiday events.

Hundreds of people gathered around to watch the ice show during the 25th annual winter carnival and lighting ceremony at Justin Herman Plaza in the Embarcadero area of San Francisco.

The 25th Annual winter carnival & lighting ceremony at the Embarcadero marked the beginning of all holiday festivities that would be continue on until the end of December.

Hundreds of people gathered around the outdoor ice rink to watch performances by the San Francisco synchronized skating troupe, the Tremors, as well as a special preview of “Disney on Ice presents Disney Pixar’s Toy Story 3.”

Despite the chance of heavy rains and frigid weather, families stuck it out with their small children on their shoulders to watch the holiday figure skating show.

The Embarcadero Center buildings lit up for the 25th annual winter carnival and lighting ceremony, marking the beginning of the holiday season in San Francisco.

After the show, it was time for the main event of the evening. Spectators turned their attention to the Embarcadero buildings lined with Christmas lights as the announcers led the crowd in the countdown for the lighting ceremony. Just like the countdown on New Years Eve, the crowd cheered in awe as soon as they reached the last second and the Embarcadero buildings were illuminated. Immediately after, fireworks filled the sky for the big finale, bringing the event to a close.

“The holidays are here, folks,” said the announcer, as families and the rest of the crowd clapped and cheered, leaving the plaza happy and full of holiday spirit.

BY BRYAN BANDUCCI

The Duboce Bikeway - the Gateway to the Western Half of the City

In his effort to go green and get gehalthy, Seth Callahan has been commuting solely via bicycle for seven years.

“I could not justify driving two miles to work and I’d rather walk than take the MUNI. I had been drinking heavily for a long time and it was starting to catch up with me. The fact that you suck on a bike when you are hungover made me want to stay sober so I could kick ass on my bike the next day.”

Callahan, 31, an auto mechanic at Mercedes Benz, commutes two miles daily from NOPA (North of the Panhandle)to SOMA (South of Market), and believes that the heightened awareness needed when he used to ride motorcycles greatly aided his transition to city bike riding.

The number of people making the switch to bicycles as their primary mode of transportation is a nationwide “going green” trend, and San Franciscans have urged the city to make monumental changes to make cycling here easier, safer, faster and more widely accepted.

Cyclists riding the Wiggle, one of San Francisco's most utilized bicyle routes

“I think the key to riding in the city is not only knowing your rights and responsibilities, but knowing the rights and responsibilities of others on the road. Driving a car once in a while would help a cyclist be a better cyclist just like riding a bike once in a while would help a driver become a better driver. If people could see things from both sides of the road, they might work together a little better,” said Callahan.

The people primarily responsible for helping create a more bike-friendly city are the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, the largest city based bike advocacy group in the nation. Founded in 1971, the group’s membership has skyrocketed in the past decade, going from a core of 600 members in 1997 to over 12,000 in 2011. It is difficult to see a bike locked up in the city that doesn’t have a Bike Coalition member sticker on it.

The City Planning Department and Board of Supervisors take the advice and suggestions of the Bicycle Coalition seriously – allowing for the approval of projects such as major street repaving along popular bike routes through Golden Gate Park and along Polk and Valencia, and also the creation of Parklets – part of San Francisco’s Pavement To Parks project, which replaces a city parking spot with seating areas for businesses and bicycle parking.

Parklet on Valencia

According to a Bike Coalition news release, San Francisco currently has 64 miles of bike lanes –of which 34 miles were paved this year, and the Board of Supervisors has  “set a goal of 20 percent of all trips being made by bicycle by 2020.”

“According to our polls, 7 in 10 San Francisco residents rode bikes in 2011. We think that’s quite the accomplishment,” said SF Bike Coalition communications director Kristin Smith.

While there are more people out on the road commuting via bicycles, but not all cyclists see this as a particularly positive trend. Clayton Scott commutes 15 miles round trip daily and holds neutral view on the subject.

“Yes, it is increasing. There are pros and cons to it,” said Scott, a media director for a San Francisco advertising agency. “Overall I am fine with it, but riding in the city was a more fun in 2002 than it is now. Cyclists were fewer and the ones that were there knew what they were doing. It was a lot more low profile. Riders seemed more common sense kind of people and less sheep-like.  I might just be getting old though.”

Scott, 35, has been riding a bicycle as a means of transportation since kindergarten, and in those years, he has observed the trend of increased interest in cycling in the city as it developed and seen the changes being made to accommodate for cyclists here as well, though he feels strongly about these as well.

“I feel wonderfully safe about riding here and happy with it except for all the bike lanes and improvements being built. They marginalize cyclists and enforced the belief that cyclists don’t belong on “normal” streets,” said Scott.

A commuter takes advantage of the new protected bike lane on Market Street.

It could be argued that the increased amount of bike lanes being built in the city is the reason why more people that are new to cycling are starting to use bicycles for their morning commute downtown and to take their children to school – more designated bike lanes along accessible routes make people feel safer and secure about getting out on the road.

 According to the League of American Bicyclists , there was a 75 percent increase in the number of cyclists in San Francisco from 2000 to 2010, and a 17 percent increase just from 2009 to 2010. San Francisco is also currently ranked third of 70 for best U.S. cities for cycling.

One thing San Francisco is not well known for is public transportation – buses and trains here are always slow and constantly delayed due to heavily trafficked routes and equipment malfunctions, and are difficult and unhelpful for cyclists in need.

“I wish the transit systems and BART made it more accommodating for riders in the area, and fix the damn roads!” said Ian Bryant, 21, a sales associate and mechanic at San Francisco Bike Rentals at Fisherman’s Wharf.

Dale Watson, assistant store team leader at Whole Foods Market, rides his bicycle to work from the Mission to Haight Street every day, and considers the $500 he spent on his bike a worthy investment in comparison to paying bus fare.

“Bicycles are the fastest way to get around,” Watson said. “And even though I could take the bus that stops directly in front of my house, it takes too long. I get exercise, it takes less time, and most important, I don’t have to wait for the bus!”

Safer Designated Bike Crossing Along the Panhandle on Fell Street

Besides the obvious health benefits of riding a bike from point A to point B every day, there are even city and government incentives to get people riding to work. According to the San Francisco Environment Department , as of 2009, tax cuts of up to $20 per month were made available to everyday commuters. The Environment Department also runs and maintains the City Bicycle Fleet Program, which provides free bicycles, locks and helmets for city employees to use for commuting to and from work.

What makes most people uneasy about cycling in the city is safety. Increased numbers of cyclists on the road means more possibilities for accidents. In the dense streets of San Francisco, it is easy to have close calls with cars and pedestrians while just traveling a few blocks on a main road.

“I feel safe not because of anyone else, but because I ride my bike like an adult, and I know people are bad drivers,” Watson said. “I ride like I know those people are out on the road. I ride very defensively. So yes, I feel safe. And I don’t wear a helmet. Hyper-aggressive riders color people’s perceptions of bicycles.”

Among the most hyper-aggressive riders in the city are those who ride track bikes – fixed gear single speed bicycles that have seen an enormous growth in popularity among hipster youths in urban cities across the globe. A core of San Francisco’s younger riders chose these brakeless bikes as their mode of transportation, and the fashionable appeal of the bikes has attracted many more to start riding.

“I definitely feel there is a fashionable wave about the fixie scene… Lots of people love the thrill of it, getting up a hill in one gear rather than switching through many,” said Bryant, 21.

Box Dog Bikes is a worker owned co-op that caters to every kind of San Francisco cyclist.

Like all hobbies and sports, there is a community behind it all that organizes events and brings people together, and cycling is no different. Many people start biking just to commute easier or shed a few pounds, only to find it quickly takes over their daily life. San Francisco and the area surrounding it is a playground for cyclists of all ages and experience levels.

“Not only has cycling gotten me to work in a more efficient way and cleaned up my lifestyle, it had connected me with the excellent cycling community here in the Bay Area,” said Callahan.

Whether you are a commuter in a suit on a hybrid bike or a hardcore road racer in a full shop kit, San Francisco politicians are listening to the community’s demands prioritizing making changes to make cycling here something that every citizen can experience and enjoy, efficiently and safely.

 - Video Interview with Max Shapiro, full time student and grocery store employee who rides every day, rain or shine -