All In The Line Of Duty

By Carly Lanning

Scott Schweitzer saw a small lump in the shape of an almond on the side of his neck one morning while he was shaving.

Mike Dubron had blood in his stools which his doctors continued to brush off as hemorrhoids.

Steve Meilkus felt a pop in his neck while doing shoulder shrugs and a week later, noticed a lump in his neck which continued to grow.

All three men are local firefighters who believe there is a connection between their life's work and their illnesses.

The Firefighter’s Prayer- When I am called to duty,God, wherever flames may rage; Give me strength to save some life, whatever be its age. Help me embrace a little child before it is to late or save an older person from the horror of this fate.

A shift at the fire station starts at 7:30 am and last for 24 hours. As Scott walks into the station, turnouts in hand along with a cup of coffee, he passes by the fire engine starting up and leaving the station to go on a call. Throwing his newspaper down on the kitchen counter, he pours himself another cup, taking little notice to the fumes seeping in from the apparatus floor. The apparatus floor of the fire station is attached to most major rooms within the fire house, allowing the diesel exhaust of the truck to sift through the air of the kitchen, bathrooms, offices and bed rooms.

Steve’s first run comes in, jumping into his turnouts, he is off to a structure fire off of Burbank Boulevard. Opening the windows to let in some breeze to cool down the cab of the engine, the diesel exhaust sifts through the air, catching within the fabric of his bright yellow turnouts.

Enable me to be alert and hear the weakest shout, and quickly and efficiently to put the fire out. I want to fill my calling and to give the best in me, to guard my every neighbor and protect his property.

Reaching the building, Mikes’ is the first engine to arrive, meaning that his chief is in charge of coordinating the efforts of fighting and extinguishing this structure. He is the first one in, and by the unwritten rule within the service, he and his crew will be the last ones out. Though he will go in with his 20 pounds of turnouts and a 40 pound breathing apparatus on, the air tanks only last for 30 minutes and he does not have a back up. When the fire is out, everyone takes off their breathing apparatus, and puts on thin paper mesh respirator while they begin to clean around the burned material. These masks were made to filter out large particles but have Overturning the burned ground and looking for embers, the smoke and charred ground is saturated with carcinogens found from plastics and household products. Mike is inhaling all of this, realizing half way through that his throat is beginning to hurt, his eyes are beginning to burn. But he keeps on working because he is a firefighter, he is macho, he is invincible.

And if, according to my fate, I am to lose my life...

His fate was to be a hero. But for some men and women, often the bravest men, and the strongest women, their fate did not come in the form of being trapped in a burning building, their fate was slower, more gradual. Their fate came from the exhaust, from the chemicals, from the smoke. Their fate, like Scott and Steve and Mike, came in the form of cancer.

Scott Shweitzer had always been an athlete. Setting state records in track and cross country, Scott spent little of his 56 years sitting still. He has been a firefighter paramedic for 27 years, a husband for 34 years, a father for 30 years, and a cancer survivor for 2. Discovering that he had tongue cancer in 2008, he underwent surgery in October in which the oncologists at USC Norris center removed a 1cm tumor on the back on his throat, and a series of lymph nodes in the surrounding areas. His permanent side effects include his inability to swallow food, the restriction of how far he can open his mouth, the depletion of his salivary glands and his new addiction to avocados. “When they say you have cancer, you think you are going to be dead within a couple of days but everyone around me has been so positive and I’ve always thought of it as just a minor inconvenience,” recalls Schweitzer, as he continually sips his ice tea to moisten his mouth. A month later he began radiation, lasting from November 1st until January 11th of 2009. Though it is something Schweitzer says he can jokingly “live with,” the radiation took an incredible toll on his body, dropping him down from 170 pounds down to 120 pounds during his 10 weeks of treatment. This prompted doctors to insert of a feeding tube into his stomach to help stabilize his weight lose. With his recovery process being a grueling and exhausting journey, Scott rejoined his Burbank firefighting family after being off the force for 11 and a half months. “I was scared I wasn’t going to be able to do the job, so much of out job requires muscle and when you are down to 120, you don’t just lose the fat, you lose the muscle.” From barely being able to get up to take the trip to the bathroom, Schweitzer regained his normal pace of life, getting his weight up to 165, passing his physical reentry exam back onto the line. “So many people count on you and you hate to let anybody down, especially the chiefs and my co- workers, plus I didn’t want to drop someone down the stairs, that’s just bad form.” When asked if he believed his cancer was job related, he replied without any hesitation “Yes. In the old days we barely wore our breathing apparatus, we just dealt with it like “oh yeah, that does smell bad!” When asked if knowing what he knew now about the risks of cancer, would he still join the department, it took him less time to reply “Oh yeah! Te rewards outweigh everything. The Burbank Fire Department was my support group. During my recovery, there wasn’t a day in which I didn’t get at least a phone call from a friend or someone on the department.” Though three years short of reaching remission, Scott has tested cancer negative during his last 3 PET scans. Healthy, happy and strong, the only step left to achieving ultimate recovery is being able to again eat a pastrami sandwich.

Steve Meilkus, a firefighter for 20 years, was diagnosed with squamos cell carcinoma in November of 2001, after a lump in his neck began to develop. Three days after receiving the news that the lymph nodes in his neck were cancerous, Steve underwent surgery that removed 13 of his lymph nodes. In January of 2002 he began radiation, ending on Valentine’s Day of that same year. Due to the irritation caused by the radiation, he was unable to eat or drink because of the constriction of his throat. He lost 58 pounds during his 6 weeks of radiation, receiving no pain management advice or assistance. Despite being physically depleted during his treatment, Steve was determined not to stop doing things himself, as he continued to mow the lawn despite feeling horrible. “I think it was my positive attitude that got me through everything,” he recounts. He received much support from his family, family friends and through his religion. He believes, “There are so many contributing factors to my cancer . The type of cancer I had is known to be a cancer that is prevalent amongst oil workers, firemen and anybody around hydrocarbons a lot. It’s highly probably this is all connected because at the old stations, your bedding smelled like diesel smoke because the dorms were right off the garage. The diesel smoke would just go everywhere and stay low.” Making everyday worthwhile, Steve no longer sweats the small stuff in life. He says with a smile, “I could be gone but I’m still here so that’s a plus.”

In 2006, the University of Cincinnati began research on the links between cancer and the insufficiency of the firefighter’s personal protective equipment(PPE), most importantly their turnouts and breathing apparatuses. Grace LeMasters, professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at UC, found that firefighters are at a significantly higher rate of developing Prostate cancer, testicular cancer, non- Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and Multiple Myeloma than the average American. Findings show the dangers of materials, such as “benzene, diesel engine exhaust, chloroform, soot, and styrene, can be inhaled or absorbed through the skin and occur both at the scene of a fire and in the firehouse, where idling diesel fire trucks produce diesel exhaust.” Establishing a direct correlation between chemical exposures in the fire department and the increase of cancer, there is a demand for an increase in the use of PPE among fire departments nationwide. Taking the first step towards ensuring the coverage of firefighter’s medical expenses should the event of cancer come upon them, the first national cancer presumptive act was passed in 1982. This act covered the medical costs of firefighters up to five years of after their retirement, assuming that any cancer developed during this time would be considered job related. Taking it down to a more local level, presumptive acts have been passed by 22 states. Currently in California, the California Professional Firefighters have introduced the William Dallas Jones Memorial Cancer Presumption Act of 2010 to further the cause of protecting their own brothers and sisters from this life altering illness. If passed the Dallas Jones Cancer Presumption Act “protects firefighters’ cancer presumption for up to 15 years after his or her retirement. This will still require employers provide appropriate disability and workers’ compensation benefits to first responders who become ill or die as a result of specified job- contracted illnesses or injuries.” Helping to build solid financial protection for its firefighters and their families, policies left open the emotional end of this illness. This is where Mike Dubron and his Cancer Support Network come in.

Mike Dubron, a firefighter for 28 years and crew chief for LA County fire helicopter services, was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in February of 2003 at the age of 39. After his first tests, he was diagnosed as stage three and given one to three years of survival. He received surgery at USC Norris in February of that year, removing a large mass and the lymph nodes in the surrounding abdominal regions. The surgery was a major success, and thus began the recovery period as Mike had to relearn how to go to the bathroom. During this same time he began to formulate ideas of how he could help others turn from cancer victims into cancer survivors. Tracing it back, Mike believes that his cancer was job related. “We are exposed to all these products of unknown combustions where they are complete and incomplete, creating tons of carcinogens.” Being in remission for 7 years, he is considered to be cured from his cancer, and now living his life in what he believes to be “bonus time.” “I always liked the line from the “Shawshank Redemption” which I think is so true in my case, they say “Get busy living or get busy dying.” I want to be busy living. I want to stay positive.” And living he did, as he thinks back to how far he has come since those dark days in February. “I remember when I was diagnosed I had ordered a new pair of boots online for my work, a particular pair that I liked. I had them ordered before I was diagnosed and they came after I was diagnosed. I remember telling my wife, “Well go ahead and ship those back because I am never going to wear them again.” And low and behold, I got to use them.” While sitting at home during his 9 months of recovery, Mike began to formulate the idea of organizing a cancer support group in which firefighters would be there to support other firefighters.

Starting locally, the Firefighter Cancer Support Network(FCSN) grew until it was officially established as a non- profit organization in 2006. This group, now a national organization with branches in 22 states, was created for two purpose: one, to build relationships in which firefighters help other firefighters deal the difficulties of cancer, and two, to educate firefighters about taking a proactive approach regarding cancer.

The Firefighter Cancer Support Network is based on the simple idea that firefighters can relate, no matter the distance, with other firefighters. As Jeff Howe, current treasurer for the Cancer Support Network, puts it, “different circus, same clowns.” When a person is diagnosed with cancer, they can either go online to the FCSN website and fill out a request form or call in to their toll free number. Then members of the organization will begin the search to pair this cancer victim with a mentor, or cancer survivor. All members of this organization are either firefighters or immediate family members. Coordinators go into the database and find another firefighter or family member that is a survivor of the same or a similar form of cancer. This begins the relationship between the survivor and victim. With this organization constantly growing, the pairing is done on the basis of similar diagnoses and treatment routes rather than geographical regions. Mentors and mentees can be as far away as California and New York, so the communication is done mostly through email or on the phone. Mike created this approach because he saw it as a “very positive way to help when people are initially diagnosed. They feel a lose of control,and this helps them regain that, get people back on the ground and get them focused and educated about their cancer.” Jeff Howe, firefighter for Burbank City for 30 years and strong advocate for cancer education, says that he has seen the changes that this program has brought to so many lives. “For me,” Jeff says, “with cancer, it is a lot less of if you are going to be exposed but when you are going to be exposed. I believe in Mike and the FCSN, we are helping our own. Some of the letters we get back make it incredibly rewarding. Some say, “I came home today and found my package from the FCSN and went through it all night and I got my life together. I am going to beat cancer.” The second part of his program, Mike takes on personally, traveling all around the country to educate fire departments about the preventative measures that need to be taken to ensure the health of their firefighters. During his presentations, he talks about the statistics surrounding firefighter cancer, his own personal story with the disease and the political propositions supporting firefighter health. “It’s a tough culture to educate,” Mike admits, “It is hard to walk in the door with an iron fist and force upon them the reasons why they should have a wellness exam and convince them to conduct their business a certain way.” Instead, Mike, along with other presenters for the FCSN, take a more positive advance and place a large emphasis on reminding the firefighters that these tests are not only to protect themselves but to protect their families. This is Mike’s best approach because, “this often leads to them taking a step back and thinking, yeah, it is important for me to see my daughter walk down the aisle and get married. If I can avoid being diagnosed with cancer by getting screened and avoiding all this tragedy, then maybe its worth it.”

And this is just what Mike Dubron has done, helped others avoid tragedy and get busy living. Though his fate may have included cancer, that was far from being his ending note.

Reporting Notes:
-1 lengthy interview with Mike Dubron, founder and president of FCSN
-1 lengthy interview with Jeff Howe, treasurer for FCSN
-1 hour interview with Scott Shweitzer, Burbank City firefighter and cancer survivor
-1 30 minute interview with Steve Meilkus
-Observation at Burbank Fire Station 13

Documentation:
-FCSN Educational slide shows
-FCSN website
-Healthnews- University of Cinncinati cancer findings
-California Professional Firefighters monthly news letter
-Various published articles features Mike Dubron

CALPIRG at UCI: Fighting for Your Interests and Your Attention

By Alex Robles

Can one signature make a difference? CALPIRG seems to think so. CALPIRG is the California Public Interest Group, which campaigns for student-oriented initiatives like cheaper textbooks and Cal Grants. They are also those people who make it difficult for you to walk on Ring Road in peace -- they’re taught to.

CALPIRG has been described by Amanda Read, the CALPIRG campus organizer at U.C. Irvine, as “a statewide student-run and student funded organization that works on the most progressive public interest issues, those that are public interest issues and issues that affect students and that students care about.”

What can CALPIRG do for you?
Its midday, sunny and hectic on Ring Road as Diego stands with his script trying to get any busy student to make a call to Senator Boxer and leave a message. Most people don’t lose a stride as they pass by the eager interns or as Amanda puts it, “put up their blinders and walk straight through”.

Diego admits that it’s hard to get people involved on campus “but they usually come around…little by little”. Diego Del Campo is a student intern for CALPIRG’s Homelessness and Hunger Campaign trained in the art of ‘tabling’, a popular technique used by CALPIRG on Ring Road to try to illicit interest and garner support for CALPIRG and involves setting up a table and being constantly active.

“People are always more likely to stop and talk to you if you have a smile on your face, if you’re making eye contact, if you’re waving, be an active tabler, don’t stand behind the table, be out in the middle of ring road talking to people”. Tabling is one of the various techniques used by CALPIRG to try to get your attention, often with tiny scripts given to passer bys on what to say when they lobby officials to help achieve CALPIRG’s, and their own, goals.

The student body and CALPIRG have a very unique relationship in which they are ultimately working for each other. The student funded part of CALPRIG comes from a voluntary $5 given by students who choose to pledge CALPIRG. If 10% of the student body doesn’t pledge then, “We don’t charge anyone that $5, we want to make sure that this an organization that a large percentage of the student body supports and wants to have around,” Amanda explains. They are good for each other, though, even if it doesn’t always appear so.

CALPIRG understands the challenges they face as Amanda continues, "There’s definitely widespread apathy in terms of political involvement, I think, personally, a lot of it has to do with thinking that it doesn’t matter, that the legislator isn’t going to listen, the phone call doesn’t make a difference, that its not going to pass legislation, no you’re individual call isn’t going to make senator Feinstein make the right decision, when you partner that with hundreds of thousands of other calls it definitely makes a huge difference.”

She doesn’t think people’s attitude towards political activism is a problem though, “It’s like anything else, you join the soccer club if you’re interested in soccer, you join the political activism group if you are really interested in political activism.” Every year CALPIRG has campaigns for the issues they want to attack, along with one lead campaign that is the same at the other 9 CALPIRG campuses. CALPIRG even has its own set of student interns who organize and run the certain campaigns.

“The campaigns we run depend on what the students decide as a whole on the statewide level but also what the students at U.C. Irvine want to run so every spring students, faculty members, anyone who is interested can write a campaign proposal and have it presented to board members.”

Chancellor Michael Drake, Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs, Manuel Gomez and Dean of Students and Assistant Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs, Rameen Talesh have all recently signed on to support no cuts to Cal Grants, part of a campaign to do just that.

This is Amanda Read’s first year at UCI but she has already seen development with her interns and volunteers, a broad smile takes over her face as she explains, “I’ve seen a lot of volunteers and interns come in and start working for CALPIRG just be planning events or planning tables and then the next quarter come back and run the whole campaign.”

The learning curve is high but the commitment is also demanding, interns participate in weekly planning meetings as well as their intern class and CALPIRG core meetings, earning 4 units of UCI credit. Amanda admits her job is difficult, working 60-80 hour weeks and often committing her weekends to CALPIRG-related activities.

The good, however, greatly outweighs the bad. “I like my job and I’ve really enjoyed my time here because of the students I work with and seeing them succeed and seeing them learn something or work on an issue they care about or get really excited about an event idea really makes it worth it.”

What’s your name again?
With administrative support, an office on campus complete with its own professional staff, at least 10% of the student body behind it and eager students ready to achieve its goals, CALPIRG appears to be a well-oiled machine of goodness. At their weekly core meetings, the bustling world of political activism I expected is absent, I had to look more into this machine. What I found was the heart of an organization happy about its place and indeed eager to achieve its goals, and talk about them as well.

In a trailer converted into a classroom , the attendance sits at the grand total of four. The weekly meeting proceeds anyway with students giving Campaign presentations and organizing times for each of them to speak in classrooms to push their issues further. One person reported that they emailed over 100 student groups to see if they will sign on support no cuts to Cal Grants yielding two replies, one yes and one “do you think this shit is actually going to work?” That struck a chord: “Who do they think they are to say that? Just tell me no. I don’t understand what is so negative about Cal Grants. There’s been vandalizing of building and properties and they think that’s the best way. If you simply go up to Chancellor Drake he will agree, he wants to work with us. The students think that violent ways are the best way to get what they want, but it’s bad. They want to know what one signature will do and think it won’t do anything but it does.”.

In traditionally conservative Irvine that is hardly known for its protests or political activism it is surprising that the U.C. Irvine CALPIRG chapter generated more petition signatures than any other PIRG chapter across the country during Earth Week, which petitioned for climate change. “People aren’t as receptive at UCI” Srishti Prasad, the Chapter Chair at U.C. Irvine proclaims then smiles as she explains the phenomenon of generating the most signatures, “Maybe they just don’t work as hard as us.”

The Chapter Chair is one of three board members elected by members of CALPIRG, the other two being Vice Chair and Social Chair. Midway through this week’s meeting, Srishti delegates roles to her other 3 companions. She stops and asks “What’s your name again?” to one of them as that detail seems to be the least of their concerns. Srishti seems to have a positive approach to the attendance problem, or lack of one.

“It trickles down, the spring quarter is the worst. We just need a few core people. In a way it has turned into a few people doing the work, there are a lot of flaky people. The way that it works, the results make you feel better about all the work.”

Unlike the sometimes contentious relationship with their fellow student, the dynamic within CALPIRG is anything but hostile. Amanda strives to make the groups members comfortable due to the group’s nature. “We like to do a really good job in welcoming people and making them feel comfortable, I know what we do is outside what other clubs are doing, there aren’t a lot of political activism clubs on campus, its not something that is standard to participate in, we want to make sure people are comfortable with the work we are doing, because people are initially stepping out of their comfort zone, but they are also comfortable in the group.”

The atmosphere in the room is casual, like a group of friends studying together for a final. They sit in their own desks covered with their own homework as well multiple binders and pamphlets for their CALPIRG campaigns. The meetings go at a slow but productive pace; groans about biology homework are quickly extinguished by politics.

The previously nameless intern shows signs of nervousness with her new routine for her campaign. “Do I just go up to the teacher and say this?” pointing to a paper with a ‘script’ on it. The members want to help and encourage her rehearse the liens in front of them. “You did really good” they reply cheerfully, “You’re a good teacher!”, and she is now ready to go. Cal Grants are back on their minds; they are focused on preventing the dissolution of a program that provides monetary aid to UC and Cal State students for college expenses like tuition and room and board. The tinge of genuine concern is hardly absent as they question it. “What about the people who don’t qualify?” one asks, “I know, my friend is like that, she is middle-class and her parents make too much to qualify, but she still doesn’t have a lot of money.”

The room slowly gets quieter as they seem to contemplate the reality of Cal Grant’s effects. CALPIRG members are encouraged to socialize in settings that are not political or have any mention of CALPIRG. One of their board members is indeed a Social Chair. These board members meet with other members from the other 9 CALPIRG campuses to decide and discuss different campaigns. As the meeting comes to an end, roles are delegated to interns in absentia, “Diego will take care of it”, in an assuring way.

As CALPIRG’s members await to see who their Campus Organizer will be for next year they can be comforted with the words that can be used to encompass Amanda. “Be friendly, be active, be confident”

CALPIRG hopes you will finally notice.

Reporting Notes:
-1 Lengthy Interview with CALPIRG Campus Organizer Amanda Read at the CALPIRG office on campus
-1 Interview with CALPIRG Student Intern Diego Del Campo
-1 Interview with CALPIRG Chapter Chair Srishti Prasad
-2 Hours of Observation of Weekly Core Meetings
-Observation of Campus Activities
Documentation:
-calpirgstudents.org/uci
-clubs.uci.edu/calpirg
-CALPIRG Pamphlets and Scripts

A Portrait of UCI's Photography Club--A Place to learn (and learn to love) one of the trendiest new hobbies

by Marissa Guyton

Rain water is running down the brick walls and staining the concrete floor below it. It’s dripping from the gray stair railings and the waist-high metal gate that’s blocking the path of three members and of the Photography Club at UCI. “It’s locked…” one of them sighs disappointedly. They are still panting after walking up five flights of the outside staircase of the Engineering Hall only to find another roadblock in their search for a good rooftop to take pictures from. Defeated, they start mentioning other buildings throughout the UCI campus they think they could go to.

“Why don’t we just jump it,” one of them finally suggests. After all, the gate is only waist-high. The others look around hesitantly; stand there silently. But what about the other buildings? Or could they go around some other way?

Out of nowhere, Sir Abille , a fourth year who joined the club last fall, leans up toward the gate, pushes up with his hands and jumps his legs over. In a second he is over to the other side, looking as if nothing has happened. He has set the standard. East coast transplant and physics grad student Brian Smith takes on the gate second, hoisting, sitting, then swinging his legs over the top of it. That just leaves Adib Towfiq, president of the club, who hands off some of his stuff before following them up the last flight of stairs. Restricted roof access, here they come.

On top of the roof it’s a different world. The floor of the roof and walls around it are made of an unexpectedly bright white plastic which, when compared to the neutral brick-red, cream, and gray color of most other buildings at UCI, makes the rooftop look like a sterile, alien landscape. But the view is phenomenal and worth every effort of the three members of the photography club who chose to come out on this dreary, rainy day. It is UCI as you have never seen it; a Google earth view of the campus and its surroundings up close and personal, right before your very eyes. You could see the orange-red tops of the surrounding buildings, as well as the gorgeous rooftop terrace of Donald Bren Hall, complete with wooden chairs and tables. You could see the tops of the sky-high Eucalyptus trees surrounding Aldrich Park and the golden hills in the distance, decorated with lines of housing communities streaming down the hillsides like ribbons on a Christmas tree. Without uttering a world about the great find, or taking some time to soak in the views, all of the club members cluster instinctively in one corner of the building and quietly snap shot after shot, fitting for a group whose stated purpose on the UCI website “is to take photos, nothing more nothing less.”

This is a fairly typical meeting for the Photography Club, albeit with less people. On average, about 10 to 15 people show up per meeting—a group running the gamut of Computer Science and Engineering majors to Studio Art majors, novices to hobbyists with years of experience. On a good day, there can be as many as 40 or 50 people. Although they try to meet every week on a Tuesday or Wednesday, there is no actual set meeting time. It is more relaxed than your average club on campus, and if it weren’t for the word “club” in its title, one would probably use the term ‘spontaneous gathering’ to describe them better. When an idea comes or the mood strikes, Adib will send out a Facebook message, usually a day or two in advance, announcing where and when the meeting that he has just pulled together will be. If there is any theme, such as the rooftop picture-taking theme of this latest photo walk, it will more often than not have come up once the meeting was already in session. Meetings take on the direction of whatever people feel like doing at the moment, and that’s part of the fun.

That being said, enough planning goes into the club to offer members a variety of different kinds of events. Along with photo walks, the club has put on Photoshop tutorials and critique sessions, has invited guest lecturers, and has also hired models for portrait shoots. These are the average event types that you’ll find at the photography club. Together they offer advice on the whole photography process: from shot to editing to taking your photography to the next level.

Back at the photo walk on campus, the club members are mulling around the Humanities Gateway building. To many students this may be a familiar and looked over structure, but the photographers out today see something different in it. The unique angles offer great potential. A snap of the façade of the building and out comes an intriguing abstract picture with curving lines and indiscernible shapes.

At the other side of the building, the club members encounter more photo opportunities. “This hallway is great for portraits” Adib muses enthusiastically in a columned walkway at the back of the Humanities Gateway building. “Here, I’ll show you.” He grabs Sir and pulls him in front of the camera, with one side of his face towards the open side of the walkway. “You see how the light is coming in like this from the side?” He pulls his camera up with a focused look as Sir pulls a big, cheesy smile. Click. “It makes everything look really smooth,” he says. In the picture that pops up on Adib’s display screen, Sir’s skin looks extremely smooth and even; there is even a soft glow about him. It’s as if Adib had somehow managed to find an automatic airbrushing button on his camera. It’s in moments like these that members can learn in a matter of a minute, tricks that would otherwise take hours of pouring over photography books.

Those who are experienced enough to share their tips with other club members are often self-taught. Many of the club photographers have picked up a lot of what they know from the Internet. On websites like Flickr, there are thousands of forums, ranging from topics like black & white photography to depth of field shots. Looking through these, it’s easy to pick up on hints and gather bits and pieces of information.

But generally, it comes down to a matter of practice. Adib, who has been taking photos for 6 years, learned much of what he knows from friends and the Internet, but most from just putting in the hours. He tried reading a book here and there until he decided that they were “completely useless” when it came to learning the ropes. The real teacher has always been experience.

For this reason, members of the photography club make a point of sharing their experiences—of passing down information to each new generation of novices. When Sir Abille first joined the club, he had just bought a new camera and was pretty new to taking photos. Remembering his first club meeting, he said, “The awesome thing was that there were multiple people who shared tips and tricks…it wasn't just one person running the show.”

Teaching is a main feature at every meeting. At the Photoshop tutorial sessions, the club will reserve a room with a projector and connect to Photoshop. Members come in with whatever questions they have, and whoever can chip in an answer will answer. At the photo critique sessions, members can get advice on how to improve a particular photo. Club president Adib will usually ask anyone who wants to participate to send their photos in to him before hand, so that when the group meets up, everyone’s work is anonymous. They will go through each photo one at a time and discuss what they think could take it to the next level. Professors in the Art Department at UCI have been known to make an occasional appearance at these sessions. Rudy Vega, who teaches Digital Photography during the summer sessions and runs the photo lab on campus the rest of the year, has come a couple of times to offer his advice and give amateur photographers the rare opportunity to “get someone to critique their photos actually” as Adib says. There were also two guest speakers in the last school year, who came to talk about photography on the professional level. Erich Chen, a 25-year-old wedding photographer who has also shot for, among other things, AVEDA and URB Magazine, came to give a talk last February. And in December of 2009, Nick Merrick, a senior photographer and President of the Hedrich Blessing firm, gave a presentation on architecture photography.

At the model shoots, Adib and the other more savvy people in the club will set up the lighting in advance so that members can take advantage of their know-how first hand. By the time they are done putting everything together, the set will be completely camera-ready. Even if a photographer has almost no experience, “it’s kind of hard to take a really bad picture,” Adib says. “When they get the results they’re like…whoa this is like a professional portrait I just took! That’s awesome!” He helps out even further by covering a good amount of the finances to pay for the rented lights and professional models, who often cost $100 per hour.

Even the photo walks themselves, which are the most common event, are educational. “Usually I give some sort of assistance,” Adib says. “You know, like you wanna have your setting around here, you wanna shoot this or keep this in mind. It’s kind of like a tutorial session.” Others help out too. During a recent photo walk at Crystal Cove State Park, Sir Abille spontaneously took the lead and taught some novice photographers “some techniques, like how to shoot a panorama, how to get the right exposure…” Brian Smith also helped some amateur photographers out with “a bit of a casual crash course in manual camera operation,” where he taught “things like how aperture works and what kind of shutter speeds they might want use.”

Though there can be a lot of technical talk—conversations start with lines like, “That’s some good macro focus you’ve got on your camera” and are sprinkled with debates over the merits of Canon versus Nikon cameras and the highest temperature a digital camera can stand (104 degrees)—but the club is open to people of all levels of photography. There are some who come with “point-and shoots", your basic, compact camera that is usually is geared toward auto-focus use, and while they may feel a little out of place, and out of the loop during some conversations, the other club members will be more than willing to get them up to speed.

With such ready help available, it’s easy to develop your photography skills pretty quickly. Some of the more confident club members have gone on to do freelancing work, doing things like taking personal portraits, business portraits, and nightlife photos at local clubs. Even “small time” gigs, such as taking pictures at UCI fraternity and sorority events, can get you 100 to 150 dollars a night. Other club members have gotten internships with professional photographers as well.

In terms of showing their work, the club has never put on any exhibitions. But as they continue to work with Rudy Vega, they may end up showing some prints on campus in the future. For now, the group’s Facebook page acts as their own personal gallery. Anyone who is a member is free to post pictures the wall, whether the photos were taken during a club meeting or not. Other members post approving comments and give advice, making their Facebook page something like a virtual exhibit.

Back on campus, the drizzling rain is starting to pick up into a mild pour as the photography troupe heads down ring road. No one has brought an umbrella. But both Brian and Sir have carefully tied plastic grocery bags or Ziploc bags around their lenses in an effort to keep the water out. The water dripping down their faces and soaking their clothes does not seem to bother them; their eyes are too busy looking for that perfect shot.

Sir Abille is especially involved in these photo walks. He constantly trails off from the rest of the group, to be found 50 feet away, crouching over with his camera thrust inches away from the face of some beautiful flower. He’s in a world of his own. “You worry about nothing else,” he says, explaining why he loves these events. “You just take pictures.”

As fanatical and nerdy as the meetings can get, the Photography club members know how to have fun too. Sometimes meetings cross the border into just plain hangouts. Model shoots turn into parties, photo walks turn into dinner gatherings. For the latest event, Adib said he would be, “buying some good Mexican food catering so we can make this whole meeting into the best meeting EVER!!!” They know how to balance out the intensity of their borderline addiction to photography with a fun-loving, welcoming, laid back attitude. “People are friendly,” Brian says, “they’re enthusiastic about photography without being elitist.”

Reporting Notes:

One hour long interview and one 30 minute interview with Adib Towfiq

A lengthy interview with Sir Abille

A lengthy interview with Brian Smith

Two and half hours of observation

Documentation-

The Photography Club at UCI website

The UCI web page on campus organizations

Facebook messages from the Photography Club

Photographs from Adib, Brian, and Sir

Dodgeball is Not for Girls: Sorority Dodgeball

Dodge

The volleyball courts of UC Irvine’s Anteater Recreational Center are unusually crowded for this late Tuesday evening. Buzzing college students gather in clumps, filling the spaces around the court sidelines. Every student in this noisy crowd seems to be wearing some combination of embroidered Greek letters. The echo of chatter and excitement reverberates through the gym as sorority girls warm up and the crowd of frat boys and supportive sisters impatiently wait for the sound of the first whistle.

Tonight, May 10^th, is the Annual Panhellenic UCI Sorority Dodgeball Tournament, usually bringing out at least 9 of the 10 sororities to play, drawing out 54 players in all.

The ARC’s three volleyball courts, set up next to each other in rows, have been turned into makeshift dodgeball grounds for the night. A set of five red rubber balls are set across the court’s center line, dividing two teams of ten girls down each court. The gym is scattered with a colorful collection of matching v-necks, jerseys, and spandex, all with sorority Greek letters printed across it (some team uniforms even sporting aggressive phrases like, “DG Domination,” or “Delta TRI till I DIE”).

While teams of girls stretch out their legs, other teams run through drills, bouncing balls back and forth to each other. Some teams gather around a fraternity member, strategizing before the game; and others teams simply group together laughing and cheering, and having a great time.

After the first whistle blows, six teams begin lining up at either ends of the dodgeball courts, while the other three wait on the sidelines for their round to play. The crowd lowers to a hush and each player’s stance becomes increasingly serious.

A blonde pony tail whips along as a player shifts her weight from right to left- knees down, palms open, and heart pumping. To her, the only sounds in the gym now is the heavy breathing of her barely whispered contemplation,

“Dodge…duck… dip…dive… dodge.”

Duck

Dodge, duck, dip, dive, and dodge- these words come together to form dodge ball’s most valued set of advice.

Because of its lack of a true written historical account, the origins of dodgeball are somewhat uncertain, giving internet-users the freedom to make up their own humorous accounts. The University of Victoria’s Engineering Journal, Tubes and Wires, ties multiple made-up stories together into one humorous article, linking dodgeball from cavemen throwing rocks all the way to opium-addicted Chinamen throwing severed heads.

The rules of dodgeball are fundamentally simple, hit the other team with the ball and in turn, don’t get hit. Infamously associated with the awkward phase of middle school gym class, the game of dodge ball has become one of America’s either most loved or hated childhood pastimes.

UC Irvine’s Panhellenic community lists dodge ball as an optional sport on their spring quarter roster. Every year, UCI’s sororities face off for one night of one round elimination dodge ball. The rules of the Panhellenic tournament are similar to the original. Two teams of six players, split up on two sides of a court. The winning team will have eliminated as many players as possible from the opposite side by knocking players out with a rubber ball. The ball must be thrown over the court’s center line, which no one is allowed to cross. If a team member is hit by a ball or if someone throws a ball and an opposing player catches it, the thrower is automatically out.

In tonight’s tournament, nine sororities come out to play and support their teams: Alpha Chi Omega, Alpha Phi, Tri Delta, Delta Gamma, Gamma Phi Beta, Kappa Alpha Theta, Kappa Kappa Gamma, Pi Beta Phi, and Sigma Kappa. Each sorority forms a team of ten members, with the option of appointing a fraternity member to act as their “coach."

Compared to the intensity of Panhellenic’s soccer or basketball season (where sororities hold weekly or biweekly practices for the five week span of multiple scheduled games), the optional dodgeball tournament adds a more upbeat and just-for-fun flavor to the sorority sports roster. But the one-night-only tournament does not take away any ounce of a sorority girl’s intense competitiveness; striving to win to prove themselves as Top House.

Colleen Lopez, a member of Tri Delta’s dodgeball team, shares in this intensity,

“Fun is always important, but who are we kidding? We want to win!!!”

(Colleen and her teammates)

Dip

At 9:30, the second whistle blows and a cloud of rubber screeches and cheering students echoes through the ARC. Girls make a dash towards the center line, trying to be the first to grab a ball, and the game begins.

Colors of pink and white jerseys blur around the court as sorority girls shuffle and swoop, just inches away from fast moving balls. High pitched grunts are heard as girls hurl rubber balls over their heads aiming for their opponents. Some girls jump, as balls shoot for the floor, while others dive left or right as balls are hurled straight towards them.

Colleen jumps high and keeps her eyes open for catchable balls. As one ball is chucked straight to her stomach, she clutches it, and then moves quickly to scan the court for moving targets.

Colleen attributes her swiftness to her participation during Panhellenic’s soccer season, but admits that without the drills she’s learned during practice, she wouldn’t be able to think as fast.

Over their years of participation in the dodgeball tournament, Colleen’s sorority has made up a few drills to bring to practice. They run drills such as the ‘Mad Dash,’ where they reenact the beginning part of the game when players sprint to center court to try and retrieve a ball, or ‘Rallies’, a mini-game the girls play where two girls stand on the inside of a circle, and the remaining players stand outside to try and hit them with the ball (once a girl is hit, she trades spots with the person who hit her).

For some dodgeball inspiration, Colleen and the other girls on her team head back to their sorority house after practice to watch “Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story”. The movie features Vince Vaughn opposite Ben Stiller mocking the world of professional dodge ball. Ben Stiller plays Globo-Gym owner White Goodman and captain of his uber-professional dodgeball team, the Purple Cobras; complete with their own outrageous display of uniforms- full bodied, leather S&M style, purple and black spandex suits.

(Photo credits: http://www.screenrush.co.uk)

The movie offers the girls some unrealistic advice to channel their own inner champion-dodgeball player: practice by playing the game with wrenches (“If you can dodge a wrench, then you can dodge a ball”), or by thrusting yourself onto the freeway, (“If you can dodge traffic, you can dodge a ball.”). As the girls watch two hours of satirical determination, over the top moves, and a mullet-clad Ben Stiller, they are unaware of the real world of professional dodgeball that the movie mocks.

Dive

According to USA Today, the revival of dodgeball began building momentum in Schaumburg, Illinois. In 1999, Bill DePue and the Schaumburg parks and recreational department began looking for a game to draw in family and residents to an outdoor city fair. Not too long after, the chosen game of dodgeball bore the start of the National Amateur Dodgeball Asociation- DePue as Vice President.

Today, there are a multitude of dodgeball leagues worldwide. Since 1999, more organizations have been started, such as The National Dodgeball Association, The International Dodgeball Federation, and The National Dodgeball League; allowing people of all ages to form teams and compete in this familiar, hit-or-be-hit game.

The National Dodgeball League has twelve official teams, holding aggressive names such as Los Angeles Chaos and the Houston Bounty Hunters. The basic rules of gym class dodge ball are complicated and broken down in the National Dodgeball League’s Official Rule Book.

The competitiveness of the NDL is as serious as their courtside regulations. Official rules calling for a 30’ x 30’ court is as far-from-familiar as professional P.E regulations go. They require a 4’ x 30’ neutral zone set in the center of the court where players are allowed to cross over and pick up stray balls. A 10’ attack line is also a requirement, set up parallel to the center line marking the end of the team’s territory. Neutral zones are also marked: the area of the court which is neither team’s territory but where players are allowed to cross into, throwing the ball at their opponents.

(A player in the neutral zone. Photo credit: TheNDL.com)

The professional feel of the courtside measurements are reiterated through the seriousness of the NDL’s uniform regulations. The rule book offers suggestions and a PDF file of uniform guidelines that each team is required to adhere to.

The NDL even boasts official names for all kinds of moves, tactics, and plays- all listed in their official rule book. “The Rush” takes place in the beginning of the game when the blow of a whistle signals players to rush to center court and try to retrieve as many balls as possible. They list terms such as “Head shot,” which prohibits players from throwing a ball at any players head (deeming the throwing player automatically out) and the complicated “Airborne Attack,” (the only time a player is permitted to touch the opposite side of the court) which allows airborne players to throw the ball while diving over the neutral zone and legally crossing the attack line, requiring that the ball “must leave the attacker’s hand before any part of the attacker’s body touches the opponent’s territory.”

(Photo credits: TheNDL.com)

The NDL’s sports an all-balls-out attitude, pushing an aggressive and full force demeanor that even restricts player substitutions at any point during a game. Calling for dedicated and determined players to this rubber ball war zone, the NDL seems to contain nothing but heavy enduring individuals. But for good reason, the official rule book does not show sympathy for tired players. Under the ruling for “Time Outs”, states one sentence: There are no team time outs.

Dodge

Back at the ARC, the same kill-or-be-killed attitude can be felt throughout the courts. One by one, girls are struck by the thud of a rubber ball. As eliminations grow bigger, teams become smaller and smaller, until a blast of cheers erupts from one side of the court and just a few minutes later the next round of games can begin.

On the sidelines, sorority members hold glittery posters in support of their own team. Colorful signs with, “Dodge that ball!” or “Let’s get ‘em girls!” are bent and creased as girls jump and scream with the energy of the game.

Frat boys cheer too, as a rowdy group of them jump around, rooting for the girls. Some boys admit that they don’t come to support a specific team. One fraternity member, who also acts as one of the sorority’s coach, says, “It’s girls getting hit, so it’s got to be funny. But seriously, all the girls that come out are good sports.”

After four rounds and ten games of rubber-bounce revenge, two sororities, Kappa Alpha Theta and Gamma Phi Beta, are left to duke it out in the center court. The whistle blows and the game begins, without missing any beat of intensity. Balls are thrown faster, jumps are pushed higher, and diving bodies hit the floor even harder. The court’s population lessens one, sometimes two, girls at a time. Pony tails swing while girls dive and duck, catch and throw, *thump* and “YOU’RE OUT!”

The players shuffle around while the crowd’s yells grow louder and eliminations drop girls one by one. Finally, the blow of the last whistle signals the end of the final round. Kappa Alpha Theta wins first place, while Gamma Phi Beta places second and Alpha Chi Omega takes third.

As the ARC empties and the Greek students take their excitement outside, Colleen Lopez reconnects with her sorority and receives the warmth of encouragement. Although her sorority didn’t place Colleen laughs with her teammate, Danielle Page, while they walk back down to their sorority house.

“It’s dodgeball, so it’s competitive,” Danielle snickers, “but it’s with sororities, so it’s also a joke.”

(Sorority members hold signs as they wait outside the ARC for their team)

Reporting Log

-Two hour observation of Panhellenic Dodgeball tournament
-5 minute interviews with members who came to watch
-Two hour observation of sorority dodgeball practice and after events
-Movie: Dodgeball: The True Underdog Story
- http://www.dodgeballusa.com
-http://www.internationaldodgeballfederation.com
-http://www.thendl.com
-The National Dodgeball League’s Official Rule Book
-Interviews with Colleen Lopez of the Tri Delta dodgeball team
-Interview with Kamrin Klauchie, UC Irvine’s Panhellenic Athletic Officer
-http://www.engr.uvic.ca/~tubewire/archive/2007s/2007-03-05.pdf
-http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/news/2004-06-09-dodgeball-main_x.htm

La Familia de Ballet Folklorico de UCI: The Dancing Family of UCI

By Chelsea Hegge

The sun shone brightly high above the flagpoles next the administration building at the University of California, Irvine. Down below approximately 50 spectators enjoyed the Cinco de Mayo festivities hosted by the MECHA (Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztla) group of UCI, which at the moment, consists of a Mariachi band. The group waves in time to the music and enjoys the food provided by Mecha nearby. There is a sense of anticipation in the crowd, the Mariachi band seems to have gone over their own time slot and to be now playing to fill in the time gap until the next round of entertainment has arrived. But the crowd continues to wait patiently. Many have come just to see the next performers, something that is revealed by their restless behavior of constantly adjusting themselves and checking their watches. Then all of the sudden a wave of red can be seen marching as a unit down ring road from past Social Sciences buildings towards the cultural celebration. As the group approaches, it is clear they would stand out on campus any other day than today. Their outfits are classic ballet folklorico costumes, representations of the cultural inheritance of Mexico.

Once in view, the dancers now quickly approach the performance area by the flagpoles. Now close up the details of their costumes can be seen. What seemed earlier to be a mass of red is revealed actually to be an array of various shades of red and pink with hints of blue, yellow and green throughout the mass of ruffles on both the men and the women who are both covered head to toe with pants or skirts and long sleeves. Many of the girls wear false hair to fill out their thick buns and layers of colorful heavy eye makeup accompanied by bright red lipstick. The men wear tight black jeans, white collared shirts, cowboy boots and sombreros to complete the look. Their appearance is more suited to a heavily lighted theater stage than a bright afternoon on campus. The brightly outfitted men and women arrange themselves to prepare to quickly start their first routine while their choreographer sets up the music from her ipod with the speakers. The other dancers wait anxiously to begin by reviewing steps, laughing, joking and the girls occasionally swishing their skirts playfully. The music seems to be sorted out quickly and one of the girls steps forward to announce not only the beginning of this performance but their upcoming performance later this month as well. Todays performance will include dances from the styles of Nayarit Costa, Guerrero, and Jalisco. They all then take their places to begin their performance as the first notes of the music waft over the audience.

Ballet folklorico (ballet referring the spanish word for dance in general not classical ballet) is a form of dance created by Amalia Hernandez in 1952 when she created her dance company the Ballet Folklorico de Mexico-originally named the Ballet Moderno de Mexico. The style is based on Hernandez’ study of the folk dances from across Mexico and the melding of them into a more theatrical form. Since the creation and immense popularity of Hernandez’s group, ballet folklorico groups have sprung up across Mexico and the US, just like the club here at UCI. The Ballet Folklorico de UCI has routines that focus on dances from various states of Mexico like many other dance groups. According to the former president of three years, Vanessa Corrales, the dance group has the costumes appropriate to dances from approximately 8 regions of Mexico.

The group has amassed their costumes over the 30 years of its existence, which until recently has been relatively unknown to the rest of the campus. Vanessa, a 4th year biomedical engineering major, recalls how the club was when she joined only three years ago, “It wasn't cohesive. They were just dancing and doing the bit they knew… There was one boy. He wasn't a student. There were a couple also that were just dancers we knew and I think there were maybe 6-8 girls… And we would all kind meet at practice and talk about what kind of things needed to get done but it wasn't like centralized or anything.” However, she and the other three remaining members did not want it to stay this way. Left with the club in their hands, Vanessa, the newly appointed president, and the other members set out about gaining more publicity on campus and involvement with ASUCI. Vanessa said of her goals for the group, “I just wanted to get in and up and running, get as many dancers as possible. I think that was pretty much it. I think performing is the biggest part of our group. I also wanted to start creating a little family of us. To start hanging out more and really be there for each other.” Now the group has grown to have 15 people, 10 girls and 5 boys. They range from first to fourth years and majors as diverse as Chicano/Latino Studies, Biomedical engineerings and studio art. Despite this diversity, they seem to have succeeded in creating this camaraderie. Whether it’s in practice or performance, the members have a comfortable relationship with each other full of support as they try to improve and learn new moves or joking around on breaks. There is a constant witty banter among the most regular members, which elicits laughter even from the shyer members. The choreographer, Daniela Castro, a fourth year Spanish major, agrees that the group has become closer as well. “Now we are all contributing to the strength of the group, its not just two people who are trying to make things work it’s the actual group itself that’s trying to make it work.”

They certainly make the performance work today. As the music plays the dancers move around the makeshift dance floor of the cement ground around the flagpoles. To the unexperienced eye, the moves appear deceptively easy, mere stepping around and swishing. It lacks the apparent difficulty of more acrobatic dances such as swing or break dancing. But the dancing, for the most part hidden under the depths of the female performers skirts, (the male performers have no such luck) is comprised of complicated foot movements and patterns that guide the dancers through the routine. While the women may be able to occasionally hide a misstep under their skirts, they have the additional difficulty of constantly moving their skirts around and having to pay constant attention to the movements of both their arms and legs and making sure they are on time. The skirt, while a blessing in hiding wrong footsteps, is almost a literal red flag indicating mistaken arm movement. The movements are also much more difficult on the body The crowd cheers joyfully as the group moves between the different routines in a smooth transition as if they were all a part of one large piece.

Soon the final piece draws to a close and the dancer take a bow. But they are not done. Many of the spectators were there just to watch them and now want to congratulate the performers on the success of their show. Their fans young and old flock around them giving out hugs and kissesand snapping pictures from this way and that. But soon they must say good-bye, in about 20 minutes they have another performance back in Middle Earth dorms. So with quick good byes the dancers begin the march back up the hill to the next show. The fatigue begins to show. It was almost a non-stop 15-20 minutes performance and they had to rush there to make just as they had to rush away. But they do not let their exhaustion get in the way of their fun. Their biggest concern about the next performance is whether or not they get a free lunch after (it takes place during Middle Earth’s Pippin Cafeteria’s Cinco de Mayo lunch celebration). They soon arrive at the back lunch room that has been reserved for them to use as a dressing room of sorts. It is slightly chaotic with ruffled skirts, tops and under clothing scattered around and falling out of their bins and spotted here and there with shoes and hats.

The group hasn’t had much time to prepare for this performance. May is their busiest month performance wise with Cinco de Mayo (May 5th), a popular holiday in the US that celebrates a victory of the Mexican army over the French in 1862 which is often confused with the Mexican Independence Day which is September 16. The dancers also have their own end of the year performance later in the month which will take place on May 29. Daniela describes some of the challenges for her working with an amateur group and getting them ready to perform, “It gets stressful and my work depends on everyone else’s. So it’s the effort they put that I have to base my work or like the people, if its new dancers and then we have all those dancers that have danced before I have to find a balance. And then since everyone’s a student they have other priorities so we are kinda like the hobby part so I always have to be fixing everything to them.” This isn’t just hard on her as a choreographer but as a person as well because ballet folklorico plays a very important role in her life. “What you see is the performance, that the part of ballet folklorico everyone’s sees so you see me and my work so I take it seriously. It is personal, sometimes I try to not put my whole heart into it because not everyone can commit to it 100% because of school and other priorities.”

With practiced skill the dancers swiftly change from their previous costumes to the next and are ready with even a few minutes to spare. The lineup will be mostly the same with a few exceptions. This round Daniela will be sitting out. Instead she again coordinates the music and watches everyone else perform with an intent eye, carefully cataloguing everything she sees to make notes for later. This performance stands out drastically from the one only shortly before at the flagpoles. There the dancers had everyone’s attention. Here, because of the additional chaos of people receiving and eating their lunches, people’s attention is divided at best. The ballet folklorico dancers in their costumes stand out in the sea of people of international ethnicities as decidedly Mexican. Just being Hispanic is enough to make someone stand out at UCI as only approximately 13% of undergraduates as of 2009 are Hispanic according to UCI Office of Institutional Research. This number is even lower in the surrounding community of the city of Irvine where only 7.4% of the population is Hispanic. This number compares with a whopping 32.4% of the California population that is identified as Hispanic shows the drastic difference from the rest of the state. The difference becomes even more dramatic when only across town in Santa Ana the number spikes to 76.1% of the population. So at this campus the students in this group do stand out. Not having to stand out from the crowd inside the dance group is one of the things Vanessa loves about the group. “I wanted it to be a safe haven for Latinos. I mean no one really understands unless you are a minority on campus exactly how hard it is to deal with cultural issues, especially when you are dealing with people who are completely different culturally. There's things being in this type of group where you don't have to explain the little things so its nice.” Chantal Rivas, a first year undecided major, also feels that the group has helped give her support at UCI. “Ballet Folklorico helped me incorporate into the UCI campus a little bit better. I came to find a bond with the students involved in the organization. Because most of them know how to speak Spanish, I became more at ease there were more students like me (who had some relevance to Mexico). I like dancing folklorico because I feel like there are many misconceptions about the Mexican Culture, and through dance and music, the culture seems a lot brighter.” Though their culture is a common bond among most of the members, there is one non-Hispanic member, they are all really there because of the dancing. At the end of the day, it is as Vanessa said a performance group. Daniela notes, “For me it is more meaningful in the artistic sense. In the cultural sense, I feel more comfortable in this group than others because we don't deal with politics, or ambiguous issues.”

The performers keep their heads up high. This performance continues fairly smoothly, only a few mishaps (The elastic on Vanessa’s top breaks so it falls down while she is dancing revealing her unclothes for a majority of the routine). Eventually it draws to a close. The dancers take their bows, thank the crowd, then march back to their dressing room once again. Finally, done for the afternoon but not for the day as there is yet another performance that evening, the dancers change back into their considerably lighter street clothes and commence with packing up their belongings. They do, indeed, get a free lunch and slip into the line with the other students to grab their food. After searching out their favorite treats, everyone gathers at one of the many plastic tables dotting the lawn outside of Pippin, Daniela, Vanessa and Chantal scattered among the group. The stress of the performance is gone, everyone seems to have a slight weight of relief off of them now. They are visibly more relaxed with the stress of the three performances removed and hours until the next. As the sun continues to beam down high overhead the dancers don’t look as if they are alone. They have each other.

Reporting Log:
4 hours of observation of practice
3 hours of observation of Cinco de Mayo performances
1 hour interview with Vanessa
30 minutes interview with Daniela in person and email
email correspondance with Chantal
research from Census Bureau
research from Office of Institutional Research of UCI