School and the City

Multi-Media Goodness

2009-12-05T13:49:00.000-08:00

This past semester I've been taking an exciting course in video reporting taught by Toan Lam and Vicky Nguyen, experienced television journalists and USF alumni. While I've spent most of my life considering myself a pretty respectable writer, worked at my high school newspaper and then for my college newspaper, and have formed an idea in my head that I might like to be a print journalist when I graduate, I really enjoyed working with video. It is a very different experience with a whole new set of rules and standards to follow. Just when I was starting to get the print thing down, I had to wrap my head around a new platform. Though I have a long way to go if I ever hope to pursue video reporting professionally, I have come very far in a few short months.

As an aspiring journalist in this era of renovation in the media industry, one piece of advice I hear consistently is to be flexible, learn and embrace all forms of media, and be able to utilize all the technologies and platforms available. Well, here it is folks.

Below you will find a video that I filmed and edited. I wrote the words and spoke the voiceover, I conducted the interviews, and I performed the stand-ups. I uploaded the video on to YouTube.com and embedded the video into my blog. From the same reporting I did in the video, I also wrote an article that I printed in the Foghorn, the school newspaper of which I am editor in chief. I wrote and edited the text and helped lay out the content for the print copy of the paper. The story was then posted on the Foghorn Online, where readers can read and comment. I also pasted the article into my blog. After I write this, I will post a tweet with a link to my blog entry, and the tweet will be cross-posted to my Facebook account.

So I feel like I have some tools in my toolbox (as my ever-supportive Professors Toan and Vicky told me) and now I just need to continue to sharpen them.

Thanks for reading, watching, and supporting.

Foghorn Article:
USF Neighbor Opposes Removal of Cypress Trees

Tall trees are rare in big cities like San Francisco. Three such tall trees, native species Monterey Cypresses, have stood on USF property by the corner of Golden Gate and Masonic for over 70 years, and have grown to be 80-90 feet tall. Now, USF is fighting to remove these trees. However, one concerned neighbor is organizing against this process. He believes that these trees’ lives can be saved, and is protesting at an upcoming city hearing.

Glenn Loomis, director of community relations and chair of the USF Green Team, says the trees are getting taller, are top-heavy, and are possibly diseased. These conditions increase their risk for falling over in heavy winds, which would make them a potential danger to any people or property in their path.

Loomis is pushing for the trees’ removal because he is afraid of the danger that would come from them falling. Because the trees are positioned on a slope and the winds blow in from the Pacific Ocean to the west, it is likely that trees would fall right into Masonic Avenue. Loomis said, “That’s four to five lanes of traffic depending on the time of day. It’s very heavily traveled. We’re concerned that someone will be injured, or worse.”

Normally, Loomis said, USF does not ask permission from the city when trees on university property are removed. However, when trees lie within 10 feet of city property, they must seek city approval and notify neighbors. One such neighbor took issue with these trees being removed, in his opinion without reasonable cause.

Curtis Speck, the concerned neighbor, is not just an impartial passerby. Speck has been invested in USF’s foliage for over ten years. He began a garden on a plot of USF’s land, located behind the ROTC building, in 1995. Speck has a spiritual reverence for nature and plants, and gardens at USF about four mornings a week. Speck said when he heard USF planned to remove the trees, he wanted to make sure it was really necessary.
Speck said, “If we can save these trees for just a few more years, it will be worth it.”

After investigating the trees, Speck did not believe the trees needed to be removed yet. Though he is not formally educated in arboriculture, he theorizes a series of cables to hold the trees up could prevent them from falling in heavy winds. Furthermore, he believes the majority of wind is blocked by the Hayes Healy residence hall up the hill. He said, “My thinking is, are there alternatives? Are there other possibilities that we can at least consider?”

But USF has employed a professional arborist to consult on these trees, and his diagnosis is that the trees are no longer stable. Loomis said, “These are folks who are in the business not of cutting down tress, but of saving trees.” A city arborist confirmed the findings of the USF-hired arborist.

According to Loomis, the trees have consistently been maintained throughout the years, and believes their lives have already been prolonged due to proper care. However, it is simply too risky to keep them. “It’s not a matter of if the trees fall down. It’s a matter of when. And when they do, there is no question of where they will fall.”

When USF proposed the trees’ removal, the Department of Urban Forestry approved USF’s decision. Speck appealed that decision to an administrative hearing officer, but the city stood by their original decision. Then Speck took his appeal to the Board of Appeals, a higher level appeal process. This appeal gave Speck one last chance to fight for the trees he wishes to save.

Speck will argue against Loomis and other USF representatives at an upcoming hearing. The hearing will be held Feb. 3 at City Hall. If Speck hopes to see the trees stay put, he will need the votes of four out of five council members.

Loomis said, “Our position is that we want to save these trees as well, but we also want to have a neighborhood that’s safe for the students and also for the public.”

Portrait of an SF Street Musician

2009-09-29T04:30:00.000-07:00

Rich Cianfrone is a 52-year-old New Jersey native who paints houses to get by. But on the weekends – and when business is slow – he performs on the sidewalks of the famous Haight Ashbury neighborhood to keep the San Francisco Sound alive.

I met Rich outside of the Richmond District home where he rents a room. He led me up a few flights of creaky stairs to his bedroom, the small space he shares with his pet cockatiel. “My bird will be excited to meet you,” the 52-year-old New Jersey native said in his thick accent. “We don’t get too many ladies coming around here.”

He opened the door to his bedroom, the small space he and his cockatiel, a male named Claire, call home. The scents of marijuana smoke and the small animal wafts from his room into the musty hallway.

It is a sparsely decorated bedroom. The walls are white, with a few posters of bands and concerts serving as the only decorations. A twin bed covered with a brown fleece blanket hugs one wall. On the opposite wall sits a large stereo with two giant speakers. Above it are a few shelves littered with CDs of his favorite bands and a framed picture of the late Jerry Garcia. An old television squats in the corner by the window. The last wall is occupied by a white dresser, which contains all of his clothing and possessions.

Atop the dresser, his main companion Claire was climbing around outside his cage, jumping from the edges of cups and bowls. Rich found Claire in his backyard over three years ago and regards him as a son now. The bird’s sunshine yellow face and rosy pink cheeks were one of the only elements brightening up the room. Rich has three grown children, but he is currently estranged from them. No photos or remnants even hint at their existence. His marriage to their mother ended seven years ago, at which point he moved out west.

Rich is a broad shouldered man, thick with muscle from his labor-intensive day job. That day he wore a white wife-beater, a pair of light denim jeans and faded gray tennis shoes. His long hair was pulled back in a curly grey ponytail, except on the top where his bald crown shone through. He is missing a few of his front teeth, which occasionally adds an endearing lisp to his speech.

He pulled out a thirty-year-old guitar and began to play along to some CDs. “I’m a real fan of the San Francisco sound,” he said. “You know, Quiksilver, the Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Hot Tuna, The Stones, Moby Grape.” Rich was growing up in New Jersey when the San Francisco music scene was at its peak in the 1960s and 70s. But he said a Grateful Dead concert he saw with friends back home converted him from a heavy metal devotee. Now his heart lies with the artists that infiltrated San Francisco decades ago. He strummed along to the tunes he knows so well, Claire squawking along to the music.

After warming up sufficiently, Rich decided it was time to head out to the streets where he plays. He pulled a white cap emblazoned with the logo for Kelly Moore paint over his head, and lugged his guitar out the door and on two busses to get across town to where the San Francisco Sound originated: the Haight Ashbury neighborhood.

Walking up and down Haight Street, he chose what he considered a perfect spot to perform. There are many considerations that go into choosing that perfect stretch of sidewalk. For one, the spot must not be in front of an open business, or the business owner will usually shoo the busker away. Also, if it is a particularly warm day, it should be in the shade. Lastly, it must be a suitable distance from competing performers. That day, Rich was performing in front of a closed up storefront splattered with graffiti. On the corner, a young woman with long flowing hair played the violin, and midway down the block, some male guitarists were covering Johnny Cash songs.

He opened his guitar case, knelt on the sidewalk, and began tuning as though he were in his own home. He dropped a few dollar bills and change into the open guitar case to prompt others to leave tips. He stood up and began to play. His accent was just slightly detectable in song, and he strummed the guitar gruffly. But what he lacked in talent, he made up for in spirit. His own personal hardships came through in his covers of the famous tunes. And his eagerness to entertain came through in the smile he flashed at each person who passed.

The weekends draw hoards of tourists and locals to this historic neighborhood, and this sunny Saturday drew even more than usual. The crowd was mostly young and mostly fashionably dressed. Most seemed to gaze right past Rich as he began playing the old songs that once defined this neighborhood. Now trendy boutiques and souvenir shops selling reminders from the past give this neighborhood its identity.

Rich played for about an hour, making only two dollars in that time. He grew hungry and decided to get a slice of cheese pizza and a small Coke. On the walk to the pizza parlor, he stopped to give a fellow street musician advice on how to string his guitar. The two discovered they were both from the East Coast and chatted joyfully. After lunch, Rich stepped out on a side street to take a few puffs from a small joint, which he’d been storing in his zippered coat pocket. He has a regular cigarette lit simultaneously to thwart suspicion of passersby.

As the afternoon dragged on, “Why do you perform?” became the glaringly obvious question. It clearly wasn’t for the money, which wasn’t even enough to cover the cost of lunch. It didn’t even seem to be for the attention; most people seemed to glaze their eyes right past him.

Rich said, “You know, it’s like they say, why have music if no one hears it?” He continued, “For me, it’s not about the money. It’s worth more to me if someone says ‘thanks for keeping it alive’ than if they hand me a dollar. Besides, you can’t make a living doing this.”

For Rich, times have become hard. House painting jobs are harder to come by these days, he said. He blames the influx of inexpensive migrant laborers for this difficulty. Perhaps this hobby brings fulfillment to a man who is dissatisfied with work. Perhaps it fills a void that has been empty since he lost touch with his ex-wife and three children. Perhaps it brings a lost sense of community. Perhaps it makes a man whose best friend is a bird feel appreciated. Or perhaps it is, as he says, simply about keeping the San Francisco sound alive.

Rich settled back into his spot after his break. His guitar is worn out, weathered from many-a-day spent out in the elements. He flung the purple strap over his shoulder, which is so old it requires a shoelace to keep it attached to the guitar. He started to play a different kind of tune, the old Motown hit “My Girl.”

An older man walked by. His eye sparkled and he whistled along to the familiar tune. Smiling, he dropped a dollar into Rich’s open guitar case and simply said, “Thanks.”

Decoding Twilight

2009-09-23T11:19:00.000-07:00

The young adult novel series Twilight by Stephanie Meyer has become so wildly popular among young women (and their mothers) that it is worth examining. What makes these books so appealing, and what kinds of messages are they instilling into the minds of the next generation of females?

The romance novel is about the relationship between average-girl Bella and perfect-in-every-way Edward, who is a vampire. While both characters ultimately have little personality to speak of, the few details we do have about them set up a disturbing generalization about the genders. Some of Edward's characteristics include being physically strong, extremely fast, athletically gifted, a fast driver, an expert pianist, and with model-like good looks. In contrast, some of Bella's characteristics include being frail, delicate, unable to partake in athletics, even unable to do simple physical acts such as walking or hiking.

With so little depth to their personalities, one would ask why these two fall so passionately in love. In reality their love could only be described as lust. Edward’s passion for Bella is based on the smell of her blood, which is appetizing to him. In the real world, this could be compared to a man lusting over a woman solely for the appearance of her body. In both cases, her personality has nothing to do with the attraction; it is merely a physical longing, a biological drive.

In fact, Bella has almost no distinguishing characteristics, or interests for that matter, to fall in love with. As soon as she meets Edward in the beginning of the novel, she is hopelessly devoted to him, abandoning the few interests she had in the first place. For example, it is mentioned early in the novel that she enjoys reading, but seems to forget this once she meets Edward. Also, all outside friendships and relationships are forgotten; she snubs other kids at school to spend more time with Edward, spends as little time as possible with her father, and can barely find time to email her mother.

The fact that Edward is a vampire makes him dangerous and exciting to boring Bella. Perhaps this is why she is so willing to sacrifice everything in her own life, which prior to Edward, seemed to be spent primarily moping around the house. Edward's dangerous identity brings Bella into an exciting life, albeit one that is not her own. This seems to enforce the antiquated idea that women themselves lack identities; their identities are merely formed by the men they are associated with. Bella is a shell of a human, completely lacking personality, passions, interests, and talents. Her life seems pointless until she meets the man who defines her identity.

The dangerous secrets Edward shares with Bella about him and his family make their relationship instantaneously intimate. The quickness with which they declare their soulmate status (was it the first or second date?) is disturbing. Edward and Bella are declaring that they love each other, can't live without each other, and would die for each other at lightning speed. This is unhealthy role modeling for young women in their own relationships. Declaring a lifelong commitment in a puppy love relationship can ultimately lead to premature marriage, teenage pregnancy, and a lifetime of unhappiness.

Of course it is impossible to discuss Twilight without discussing the abstinence-only subtext. Upon meeting each other, Bella and Edward are extremely sexually attracted to each other, but this is complicated by Edward's desire to eat Bella for lunch. Thus, the couple must restrain their passions because sex is just too dangerous; Edward could lose control and kill her. Perhaps it is a positive message for young couples that sex can indeed be dangerous, and should not be rushed into. On the other hand, the abstinence-only message has long been proven ineffective. Besides, real-life sexual intimacy does not literally pose the risk of instant death, which seems to be the only thing restraining Edward and Bella. Thus, the novel provides no realistic argument against teenage sexual intimacy; if anything it merely intensifies the importance of sex, as it is always on the minds of the main characters.

Another observation I made about Bella's character is her peculiar relationship with food. In almost every scene when Bella is eating, it is forced. She usually skips her lunch at school, drinking only lemonade or picking at a small snack, which she ultimately loses interest in. She gets no enjoyment from her food. Every time she eats, it must be excused and apologized for. Bella’s diet seems to consist primarily on a quick bowl of cereal before school. On the other hand, she is vigilant about preparing intricate meals for her father. Though he never asked her, she takes it upon herself to prepare a hot meal from scratch every night. Bella however, is never shown enjoying the meal she’s prepared. This is a shockingly old fashioned view, the woman being the one responsible for preparing the meal for others, never the one to enjoy it. Perhaps if Bella ate more than a bowl of cereal a day, she wouldn’t be so helplessly frail and physically inept!

There are many disturbing messages in the Twilight series. Though I have only read the first of the novels, from outside reading it is clear that things only get worse from there. Bella marries Edward young, becomes a young mother, and literally gives up her life, becoming a vampire, to be with him. While many offer the argument that it is better for young women to be reading Twilight than nothing at all, I am not convinced. I only hope that these deeply disturbing messages are lost on the younger readers.

Cooking with Seasonal, Regional Food

2009-05-16T10:24:00.001-07:00

Have you ever cooked a meal of entirely seasonal and regional foods? Before last week, I really don't think I had.

Walking through the supermarket these days, you will see food coming from all around the world. Though it certainly convenient -- hey, it gives North Americans the ability to eat strawberries in December -- this global food market is also impacting the environment. Did you know that 90% of bananas eaten by people in the United States are grown in South America? How do these millions of bananas get to the U.S. from Brazil? And how do strawberries, seasonal only in summertime, magically appear in the produce section year-round? Let's just say some of your food may have more frequent flier miles than you do. Food is being shipped around the world for buyer convenience, but at the expense of the environment.

As if there weren't enough things to feel guilty about!

I was always overwhelmed by this fact. I felt helpless. Certainly I couldn't change the system. But I don't necessarily have to comply with it either.

When my Eating San Francisco class was assigned the final project of cooking a delicious dish of all seasonal, regional foods, I had a brief moment of panic. Cooking for me usually involves a trip to the grocery store and the use of at least SOME packaged or processed foods. I decided to check out a local farmers market and I hoped something would fall into place.

Lucky for me, my local farmers market was extremely local: USF recently started having a farmers market on weekends and, living on campus, it just doesn't get more convenient than that.

There I found an abundance of food that I would feel guilt-free about eating. Fruits and vegetables that come from local farms are not shipped halfway around the world, and the money goes directly to support small farmers and their families. And of course there are also your fresh meats, eggs, and dairy products. At a farmers market and you can assume the animals were treated way better than any you'll find at the supermarket.

At the farmers market, I met up with local food lover and recent USF alum Lulu McAllister, who secretly wishes she was in Eating San Francisco. She advised me on some ingredients to pick out, and we devised a sort of recipe for a fava bean dip with pita bread and feta cheese.

I put my recipe in a Flickr set. I think it makes more sense visually.

Look at all the delicious dishes my classmates made!!!

Thanks for the great semester ESF!

What's for dinner

2009-05-11T05:16:00.000-07:00

ESF at McDonalds on Haight St.

ESF at Zazie on Cole St.

The question of what to eat for dinner has become increasingly complicated. With new technology and more efficient farming methods, the focus of food production is all about maximum profit and with little regard to quality. Quality seems to be the lowest of all priorities in the industrial food chain, as all efforts are focused on producing massive quantities of certain foods at low costs. And consumers eat it up -- most Americans value low price above all, which is why they are willing to eat mystery meat from McDonalds, so long as it's only 99-cents.

Let's back up. In our Eating San Francisco class, we've been lucky enough to eat at some pretty cool and interesting restaurants in one of the greatest culinary cities in the world. Our plan all semester was to end class by reading Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma, and dine at none other than the McDonalds conveniently located on Haight Street.

But as we read Pollan's masterpiece, which explains just how screwed up America's food industry is, the thought of eating at this mega-chain (which is no worse than its competitors, but for better or for worse has become icon for fast food, and thus the brunt of all criticism) was no longer very appealing.

So our class decided to go to Zazie, a French Bistro in nearby Cole Valley. At around $15-20 per dinner entree, this place was clearly a cut above good old Micky-Ds. And oh, was it a noticeable difference! The quality was evident in the service and meal. It was the kind of place where the food was truly special, and the reason for being there. The waitress chatted with us about her favorite dishes and spoke enthusiastically about what drinks should accompany it. When the food was presented, each dish was a work of art.

I ordered salmon, and it was laid over a bed of couscous and sprinkled with fresh herbs, sweet cherry tomatoes, snap peas and a wedge of lemon. It was so fresh and well seasoned that each bite was exciting. Also, the food looked like what it was: the fillet of salmon clearly was fresh from the sea - no unnecessary processing or preservatives. The vegetables were fresh, not frozen, and came from local farms. Couscous is a processed wheat product but is still fairly natural, as it is an ancient dish, not a byproduct of the modern food industry.

There was something so pure and good about the meal. It's the feeling of eating "real food," not something we always get these days.

In comparison to Exhibit B: Fake Food

After dinner we headed over to McDonalds to basically fulfill our obligation of eating there. I eat at McDonalds from time to time, but it's not a decision I like to consciously think about. Having just read The Omnivore's Dilemma, and just dined on such high quality food at Zazie, the idea of McDonalds did not seem appealing.

In his book, Michael Pollan talks a lot about McDonalds. The most astounding point he makes about fast food (and all industrialized food) is that it is made up primarily of corn, due to corn farmers constantly growing a surplus and selling it for various uses (from feeding livestock to fueling cars as ethanol) on the cheap.

The French fries, for example, would seem to be a potato product, but really half of the calories come from corn, in form of the oil they're fried in. Or the McFlurry (I enjoyed an Oreo one that night) seems like an ice cream dish, but contains plenty of corn: corn syrup solids, mono and diglycerides (from corn) and milk from corn-fed cows. The chicken nuggets and hamburgers: corn. The soda: tons of corn. You'd really have to read the book to understand just how much corn goes into the food we eat. Pollan doesn't conclude that this is going to lead to mankind's extinction, but it sure doesn't seem like a good idea.

Comparing the two dining experiences, there was really no contest. Zazie was a relaxing culinary experience. We wined and dined slowly, conversed merrily, and practically licked our plates clean from the delicious entrees.

At McDonalds we were herded like cattle into a line where we ordered, waited, went up to the counter to retrieve our feed, and sat down at tables. We bussed our own trash. The employees seemed irritated that our large group had come. They told us not to take pictures. The food tasted good, but in that manufactured kind of way. The McFlurry had a fake feeling, not like real ice cream. It is cold and sweet but there is something different.

Nonetheless, there are obvious reasons we can't all eat at Zazie every night. For one thing, the price would make it impossible for many people to go. I personally could only go as a rare treat. My meal cost $16, which I would make in about two hours of working. I'd go broke in a hurry eating like that. Also there's the time factor. We spent about two hours at Zazie, whereas most days I devote about a half hour to eating dinner. If I had to eat out on a typical day, I'd have to go somewhere that could serve me quickly. And cheaply. Hence the reason why I do eat fast food occassionally.

However, reading The Ominvore's Dilemma has made me more conscious of the impact of these decisions. I do feel inspired to make an effort to eat whole, natural foods more often. There are farmers markets all over the city that put local, organic produce just a walk or busride away. While I may not be resolving to abstain from meat or fast food altogether, I am determined to make small, positive changes for the sake of the earth and my own health.

The Foghorn: A year in review

2009-05-05T04:23:00.000-07:00

It's a Monday night. Well technically it's more like Tuesday morning, but let's leave my crazy insomniac lifestyle out of this. Most Monday nights are spent entirely in the Foghorn office. The Foghorn is the University of San Francisco's student newspaper. Our small staff spends Monday nights laying out the weekly paper, usually staying up til 2, 3, or 4 in the morning. It is a labor of love. We usually crawl off to our respective apartments (or just crash on the couch in the office) late and wake up the next morning, slightly refreshed, only to return back to the office to catch the mistakes made by our tired selves the night before. Classes, homework, projects, all seem to take a backseat to this.

But tonight that is not the case. The school year is quickly wrapping up, and the paper has gone to bed for the semester, leaving me and my colleagues to run around like chickens with our heads cut off with no paper to attend to until next fall. What do normal people do Monday nights?

This time has given me a chance to reflect on the crazy, crazy year the Foghorn has had. It really was groundbreaking, and not to sound self-important, but it was perhaps one of the most significant in the paper's 106 years.

I say this almost primarily because of the new website. After several years of an unimpressive online site, the Foghorn now has a dynamic, interactive, multimedia supporting and, most importantly, fun to utilize web PRESENCE. Yes the word presence is important. Presence implies that people know we are present, which they do. By the time content is uploaded to the site, often before the PAPER paper has been distributed around campus, page views are already soaring, and comment discussions beginning to heat up. There is an online presence.

Eternal thanks go out to Michael Villasenor for this, a USF senior and web guru, who envisioned and created the site. His creative vision and technical expertise made the site all that it is today: user friendly, engaging and community oriented with minimal technical difficulty.

Having the Foghorn Online become so important has helped the Foghorn in paper as well. I know I personally have stepped up the quality of stories I am working on and am taking extra care to cover things fairly. Heaven forbid, I think, if I covered an important story unfairly, I would be attacked by the online commenters. If the press is supposed to check big business and government, then finally readers have the opportunity to check the press, beyond a letter to the editor. There is now instant feedback, completely public for the world to see. Let's just say I'm being more careful than ever. I'm also choosing to cover more stories that are of significance to the community because, from an egotistical standpoint, I want to see people reading and discussing my articles. I expect other writers feel this way as well. This concern for what the readers want is obviously what we should have always been doing, but now it is just more clear to see what readers enjoy.

This has also been a year filled with some significant news in the University community. An alleged rape case made headlines around the Bay Area when a senior in the ROTC program was accused of rape by four unique female students, and I covered this for the Foghorn. It was one of the most interesting experiences I ever had as a student journalist: real news, right on my campus. The full news story can be read here. I also covered much of the aftermath: student reactions and anti-rape events. The whole issue also sparked a series of very thoughtful opinion columns by community members; such a great dialog I will never forget.

It was also the year that the 44th US President Barack Obama was elected and inaugurated into office, which I covered for the Foghorn as well. The night he was elected, sharing that moment with my campus community, and then heading into the newsroom to type up a story in time for print -- definitely something to tell the grandkids about.

I have also covered controversies involving USF faculty: a popular professor Andrej Grubacic not being rehired and faculty union negotiations (which I did a rather shoddy job at, but read anyway if you must).

After this monumental year, the Foghorn staff was surprised to have our stipends cut by the student government. Rather than sit idly by, we wrote an impassioned staff editorial. This article, within hours of being posted, received more comments than any other article ever posted to our site. Though I did not write this piece, it inspires me to see how powerful the Foghorn Online can become. The readers, the USF community, can have an extremely powerful voice. After this was printed (and we filled out a formal appeal), our stipends were almost completely reinstated. Perhaps because the student body at large was so widely in support of us. That felt good.

This year I went from co-news editor to managing editor of the Foghorn. Next year I will take over for the infamous Hunter Patterson as editor in chief. Hunter leaves large shoes to fill, not to mention he's pretty much the only EIC I've ever known here at the Foghorn. I am excited for another tumultuous year with the newspaper, hopefully with more drama and breaking news than ever.

Thanks for reading.

Dim Sum for Dim Dummies

2009-04-25T22:41:00.000-07:00

I was most hesitant about the trip to Chinatown in the semester leading up to it in my Eating San Francisco class. Whereas all the other neighborhoods we visited were home to cuisines familiar to me, such as Mexican or Italian, the plan for Chinatown was to eat a brunch of Dim Sum, which I had never done before.

I'd been to Chinatown in the past, but mainly to the main tourist drag: through the Dragon Gate leading from Union Square area to Grant Avenue, which is lined with an endless array of souvenir shops. But I knew there was much more to this historic neighborhood than just cheap Buddha statues and paper fans and dragon-motived knick knacks.

A bit of online reading gave me a good sense of the history of this neighborhood. Chinatown actually started out as a ghetto for Chinese immigrants in San Francisco, when they began arriving in the 1850s in waves to work as cheap labor on the railroads or Gold Rush miners.

Americans soon began feeling hostile toward their new neighbors because they worked so hard for so little money and were coming in such an influx that jobs were at a shortage. Government began to enforce this discrimination with legislation such as the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.

Despite these restrictions, Chinatown continued to flourish as a hub for Chinese immigrants, with schools, churches and shops owned by Chinese people.

Nowadays Chinatown is somewhat touristy and Disneyland-ified (given an exaggerated theme to draw more visitors), but it is not all a facade. Between the crowded sidewalks full of Chinese shoppers stocking up on fresh groceries and store owners tending to their small shops and markets, peppered with lively conversations in Cantonese, I actually feel like I've stepped into another country when I walk around there.

When I went with my ESF class, we stopped at the Tin How Temple, a dim sum restaurant called New Asia Chinese Restaurant, and finally to the Golden Gate Fortune Cookies factory.

The Tin How Temple is the first Chinese Temple in the United States. Walking inside, up about four flights of narrow stairs and finally into a tiny room, it was a wonder that anyone could ever find this place. The room inside was filled with the fragrant smoke of incense and stung my eyes. A group of elderly Chinese women seemed to be running everything here. One very kind woman showed our class many aspects of the temple unfamiliar to us and taught us how to ask for a fortune. Turns out you don't just crack open a cookie. I enjoyed learning about the rituals observed in the temple, which were new to me.

Next was brunch. I was starving by this point! We crawled out from the dreamlike haze of the temple into the bright daylight, ready for dim sum. We were walking through streets I had never been on before and I began to understand that Chinatown is for more than the tourist trap I previously thought it was. Many Chinese-Americans perused the streets, doing their everyday grocery shopping or meeting for a meal. Most of them seemed to be meeting at New Asia like we were -- it was absolutely packed inside. It's always a good sign to see locals dining at the establishment you choose, which seemed to be the case.

The restaurant was a huge open room full of many round tables, each surrounded by many chairs, all of which were filled with hungry patrons. Weaving between the tables were waiters wheeling carts of small dishes meant to be shared by the groups.

Finally seated, food was instantly presented to us by some rather pushy servers. They would usually hold a dish out to us, expecting an instant reply of "yes" or "no." They had little patience for questions or hesitation. We seemed to be choosing randomly. I had no knowledge of popular dim sum dishes prior to this, but it seems we tried most of the ones other tables had, and a few others.

Over all I felt pretty overwhelmed by the dim sum experience. It was a bit stressful trying to be mindful of servers shoving food at you constantly and trying to decide if you wanted it or not. Being a somewhat picky eater, a lot of the dishes looked off-putting to me. I tried most and was often pleasantly surprised that I liked them. However, others I would rather not have tried. What I did enjoy most about the dim sum meal is that it was very interactive and made us focus on our food, discussing what we liked and what we should order next as a group.

We walked off our meal as we strolled over to the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie factory. Like the temple, it was tiny, located in an alleyway with a barely noticeable storefront. Inside we got to see fortune cookies being made, from flat discs made by a small machine and then folded in half with a fortune inside by hand. This process was mesmerizing to watch.

I was happy to have spent this day with ESF in Chinatown. It gave me a fresh perspective on the neighborhood that I thought was a mere tourist trap. It also gave me my first taste of dim sum, which I think, with more knowledge and experience under my belt, I will someday enjoy very much.

By the way, in my reading I found this fascinating account from a former chief of police Jesse B. Cook (1860-1938) where he describes Chinatown's sordid beginnings, which included gambling, prostitution, opium dens and gang wars. A fun and interesting read from a white man trying to keep the "Chinamen" under control, with some great old photos.

Cooking for my family

2009-04-24T23:01:00.000-07:00

I've never been the cook in my family. Growing up, I was lucky enough to have a mother who cooked family dinners pretty regularly. I often sat on the opposite side of the kitchen counter watching her, but my older sister Lindsay was always the one to jump in and help. Lindsay developed all the essential cooking skills early on: how to best chop various vegetables, how long to cook different dishes, and what spices accompany different ingredients.

The more her skills grew, and mine remained amateurish at best, our roles became clearly defined. Lindsay and my mom would handle dinner, and I would be in charge of setting the table. Sometimes I would be trusted to prepare a salad, heat up rolls, or even make dessert, but preparing main dishes was pretty much off limits to me. *cue tear jerking music*

I've always envied Lindsay's ability to not only cook but enjoy doing so and experimenting with her dishes. She has made homemade Italian pasta, French crepes and various Thai and Indian cuisines. There is no dish that she is too intimidated to attempt. Also, she has been documenting her dishes for years, and there are probably enough photos of Lindsay's masterpieces to fill an entire album.

Last weekend I decided to follow suit and prepare dinner for my whole family: my mom, stepdad, sister, brother-in-law, and boyfriend. I chose to make enchiladas because they are tasty, and I could make them with meat or without for my vegetarian brother-in-law Phil. I documented the process to show how easy it was -- even a novice like me could whip them up easily. I didn't use a recipe, instead going by intuition. I documented the whole process.

With some pretty tasty ingredients before me, I felt excited but nervous to embark on this adventure: cooking a whole meal from scratch for my family.

I started by chopping and sauteing some fresh garlic. If there's one thing I know about cooking it's that fresh sauteed garlic can enhance almost any dish.

Next I browned the ground beef, tossing in some garlic for flavor. I also sprinkled on some cumin.

Now, time to prepare the cheesy spinachy filling. I microwaved two boxes of frozen spinach and drained the water very well.

I incorporated the spinach into a mixture of sour cream and cream cheese, sprinkling in some grated cheddar and jack cheese as well.

Now the fun begins! Assembling the enchiladas:

Step 1: Coat the baking pan with some canned enchilada sauce.

Step 2: Top a medium corn tortilla with desired fillings. In this case, spinach/cheese blend, enchilada sauce, and ground beef.

Step 3: Fold both ends of tortilla over and place in saucey baking dish.

Step 4: When dish is full'o'enchiladas, top with more sauce and sprinkle on some cheese.

Ta da! I baked for about 25 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Taking them out of the oven, they looked saucy, cheesy and gooey.

I heated up some black beans with more garlic and cumin and threw together a salad with tomato and avocado to accompany the enchiladas.

Alas! the final product:

I'm so glad to have made this delicious dish. I finally gained some confidence in my cooking skills. Sharing the meal that I prepared with my family made me feel like I was able to give back to the people I love. Also, my ability to cook a meal (main course, side dish and salad!) from start to finish was finally recognized... Victory!

What I ate today

2009-03-18T10:32:00.000-07:00

Food is such an intrinsic part of life that virtually everyone has their own set of values and factors that influence what they will eat. Some people are vegetarians or vegans and avoid any animal products in their meals. Some people worry about what impact their diet is having on the environment. Some people eat a diet based primarily on what is healthiest, focusing on eating low fat or high in fiber or vitamins and minerals. Some people simply go by what tastes best and indulge their taste buds as desired.

My personal eating philosophy is kind of non-existent, other than trying to eat moderately healthily with very little time and money to spare. Being a college student, I think I do better than some (I don't eat Top Ramen EVERY day, though I do have it on hand), but I could certainly improve the sophistication of my diet.

Here is a typical day in the life of me. I find it impossible to separate what I ate from what I did in that day. What we consume has so much to do with our circumstances -- if we're out or at home, if we're busy or if we have the day off. Just a thought.

I rolled out of bed at 11 am yesterday. I had worked from 2 to 6 am the night before and could have slept til 1 or 2 in the afternoon if my alarm hadn't interfered. I had to get up to clean my room and then go down to the DMV to register my car. I didn't think to eat breakfast in my quasi-comatose state, but did have the strength to down a quick Five Hour Energy. I love these things.

Completely shameful. I don't know what's in these things. Supposedly it's like a shot of straight vitamins and a little bit of caffeine, but somehow I don't think I'd consider it a health food.

On my walk to the DMV I had to stop at the bank and while doing so, got a drink at the grocery store next door. It was a warm day out, I was parched, and my sleep-deprived one-track mind couldn't resist another drink that promised me increased energy.

Second drink of the day and still nothing to eat.

While I continued my walk to the DMV, I enjoyed the sunny day and sipped my Vitamin Water. I arrived at the DMV and finally registered my car. It expired in November of 2008 and it only took til March 2009 to register it! Success!

No, I didn't eat the registration tag. I was just really proud of myself for finally registering my car. Though I was getting pretty hungry by that point...

Like I said, I was getting pretty hungry by that point. My boyfriend and I felt like taking advantage of the lovely weather and decided to eat lunch outside at an adorable little place on Geary called Tony's Cable Car Restaurant (click to read my Yelp review). It's simple American comfort food, close to school and home, and has a fun outdoor seating area.

Don't know who Tony is but I love his little cable car shaped restaurant just a hop skip and jump away from USF.

At Tony's I ordered the classic hamburger and french fries. It was darn good. What I couldn't finish of my fries I fed to the lingering pigeons who were salivating over my lunch.

Time to go home. I went to put my registration tag on my car and very ironically found that I had gotten a parking ticket for expired tags! Really what are the odds.. really.

Ah cruel irony of the San Francisco Deptartment of Parking and Traffic: the day I register my car is the day you choose to spite me so?

Recovering from this tragic blow, I went up to my apartment and tried to maintain a positive attitude. I had to work on a big paper due on Thursday, so that kept me occupied for a while. I think I took a nap somewhere in there. I have no classes on Tuesday so it was a low-key afternoon.

At 8:00 I had a meeting for the Residence Hall Association, for which I am in charge of producing their newsletter called The Final Flush. Our president, Hoa, made delicious chocolate covered almonds that she chose to share with us, and which I neglected to photograph. Oops! Thanks Hoa!

9:15 and time for dinner. I trekked home and pulled out of the pantry a can of tomato soup, some bread and cheese. Voila! Grilled cheese and tomato soup.

No I'm not five years old. If you haven't eaten this since you were a kid, you should revisit it. It's quite the culinary combo I must say.

While my dinner may have lacked sophistication, it was tasty and easy. I devoured my meal happily, continued to work on my midterm paper, and fell into bed around 2 am.

And there you have it: A day in the life -- of me and my stomach.

For kicks I decided to evaluate my daily diet on a few of the different scales that the world wide web has to offer.

First I calculated the carbon impact of my diet using a calculator at EatLowCarbon.org

It's hard to read in this screen shot, but the site said I'd used 2,756 CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent) points in my day of eating. These came almost all from the hamburger I'd had at lunch, as the production of beef is incredibly taxing to the environment. My entire day of eating contributed about 4.4 pounds of carbon into the atmosphere. Eek!

Next I decided to track the healthfulness of my diet using MyPyramid.gov. I had to sign up for an account, enter my height/weight and what I ate for a day, and then it told me how I did nutritionally.
I don't think this was entirely accurate. I'm pretty sure I consumed more than 1119 calories and from the looks of this chart I'm practically malnourished, which is hardly a reality. Still if I took the time to do this more accurately an regularly, I would probably get a good sense of my overall health.

And that's the flipside to eating... There are always repercussions to the choices we choose. Who knew that even something as simple as deciding what to have for lunch has repercussions on our body and our earth's environment?

The woes of being an extremely amateur blogger

2009-03-12T10:50:00.000-07:00

I don't know how many of you bloggers out there use StatCounter.com or a similar site, but it's really cool to check out. It's a service that shows you on a given day how many people have been on your blog, where in the world they're reading it, what page they entered on, how they found it (be it a link or google search, etc.) and even how long they stayed and what they looked at. All you have to do is sign up for a free account, embed an html code into your blog, and wait for the stats to pour in.

The stats depicted in this chart in no way reflect my own. This chart is taken from Google images from a blog or web site with over 30,000 visitors a month. I probably have around 150 visitors a month. If I'm lucky.

I have made a few interesting observations from this site, some good and some bad.
One surprising observation I made is that even when I am not blogging regularly (i.e. 99% of the time) I still get a fair amount of page views. This is pretty surprising because I really don't know who would be looking on my blog. Fortunately with StatCounter, I am able to see how and why they are finding it.

For example, one entry I wrote for my Digital Journalism class last spring is often searched on Google. It is about Makoto Hagiwara, the original landscape designer and maintainer of the Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park. Through StatCounter I learned that many people were searching Google for information about him, and found my blog entry as a result. Very cool!
Sadly, I have also learned a harsh reality that many people who find my blog soon choose to turn around and leave before they even make themselves comfortable. A whopping 61% of visitors stay on my blog for less than five seconds. LESS THAN FIVE SECONDS!?!? Is it really that bad?

Ok, ok, so I won't take it personally.

I've chosen to use the information from StatCounter as inspiration to blog more often and about a wider variety of topics. Seeing that a random topic such as the Japanese Tea Garden could generate so many page views is inspiring to write and write and write some more! Write about odd and interesting things that no one else is writing about. Then more people will randomly stumble upon my blog, and who knows... maybe if it's interesting enough, they'll want to stay for more than five seconds.

The San Francisco Burrito

2009-03-11T13:11:00.000-07:00

In food movies such as Big Night and Like Water for Chocolate, the preparation and consumption of food can symbolize everything from personal emotions to societal concerns such as class, ethnicity and gender issues. In real life, the foods consumed by a certain demographic or region can be meaningful as well. In the Mission District of San Francisco, the burrito is symbolic of the struggle of Latin American immigrants to maintain their traditional culture while fitting in to a new society and the sacrifice it takes to immigrate to a new country and work hard for a better life. Huh? Maybe a little background will help.

The San Francisco burrito is not traditional Mexican fare contrary to popular belief. Though small tortillas wrapped around meat and beans were served in Mexico as the first burrito, only in San Francisco did the burrito evolve into what most Americans recognize today. The defining features of a San Francisco burrito are an over-sized flour tortilla, stuffed with rice, beans, cheese, meat, salsa, and sometimes avocado, salsa, sour cream, onions, tomato, cilantro, etc. This basic concept has taken off in popularity and it is now standard to find a similar entree everywhere from Chipotle to Chevys.

The San Francisco burrito got its start when farmers in the Central Valley of California needed a cheap filling meal to give their immigrant workers on their lunch break. Most of these workers came from Mexico and Central America. The giant tortillas stuffed with hot, filling ingredients was just the right fuel to keep the workers going all day.

The rice and beans, are at the foundation of this. Rice and beans have long served as sustenance in the Latin American and Carribean cultures. The combination of the two are not only tasty but more importantly are incredibly dense in nutrtitional value, with fiber, vitamins, minerals, and when combined, form a perfect protein. This makes it the perfect basis for a filling and nutritious meal. When combined with meat, cheese and flavorful salsa, it is the perfect meal to fill you up and provide a tremendous amount of energy.

The burrito came to San Francisco as waves of Latin American immigrants came into the Mission District, replacing the Polish and Irish cultures that were dominant at the time with their own. The Latin American culture is still dominant today. With their taquerias and bakeries and churches and colorful murals splashed throughout the neighborhood, the Mission now has a strong Latin American influence. But stepping into the neighborhood isn't exactly like stepping off an airplane onto Mexican soil. It represents a fusion of the different cultures of Latin America all coming together in a diverse urban city. Likewise, the burrito is not a traditional dish from any one Latin American country, but it uses popular staple ingredients from the Americas, wraps them up in an all-encompassing tortilla, and serves them up to anyone and everyone.

To experience this cultural fusion, my Eating San Francisco class met in the Mission District last Wednesday at Balmy Alley, one of the premiere mural spots in the neighborhood. Murals and street art have been used in the Mission for decades to express political and social concerns of the Latin@ culture.

From there we headed to a taqueria just around the corner. I've probably been to at least 10 taquerias in the Mission, and I swear I've barely scratched the surface. This one, called Taqueria Vallarta, was new to me and I was excited!

The inside was kind of funky. There were murals all over the wall, and although done in the realistic style of Diego Rivera and other Latin American muralists, they incorporated modern imagery of local landmarks and athletes. Not exactly the kind of political message murals usually incorporate, but fun and colorful nonetheless.

The food was delicious, and they were extremely accommodating of our large group! Most of the group went with some form of burrito or chimichanga, but many also enjoyed the taco bar. I got my usual vegetarian burrito. I get this at almost every taqueria I step foot in, which may seem boring, but also gives me a standard unit of measurement for how much I enjoy each place. This one was excellent, with perfect ratios of beans, cheese and rice, all well seasoned.

After a wonderfully filling meal, the 18 of us migrated from 24th & Balmy to Mission Pie at 25th & Mission. Mission Pie is a place I had heard a lot about but never gotten around to visiting. It is a fabulous concept incorporating locally grown produce at Pie Ranch with students at Mission High who all work together to grow the food and cook the pies at Mission Pie.

Mission Pie is a cozy spot that I look forward to coming back to. Though I don't reccomend going with a group of 18 people, they managed to accomodate us and one of the Mission High students even came and told us about the ranch and the shop. Then we enjoyed our delicious pie... and mmm it was good.

All in all another successful ESF outing, full of good people, good food, and good learning.

Check out my Yelp reviews for more specific descriptions of the food and overall experience at Taqueria Vallarta and Mission Pie.

ESF does North Beach

2009-02-25T17:21:00.000-08:00

This semester I'm in an exciting special topics class in the media studies department called Eating San Francisco. ESF is a class about food, cinema and the city of San Francisco taught at the University of San Francisco by Professor David Silver. Did I mention how much I love my major?

Our first unit was on all things Italian. We watched the film Big Night, about a pair of Italian brothers who own an Italian restaurant in the United States, and learned about the history of North Beach, the Italian neighborhood in San Francisco. To encapsulate all of our new learning, we took a field trip to North Beach... check out this video of all the sights we saw and the foods we ate!

Makes you hungry, doesn't it? Check back at my blog soon for posts about Mexican food in the Mission, LGBTQ culture and dinner in the Castro, Dim Sum in Chinatown, and more!!!

new gig

2008-09-30T17:34:00.000-07:00

You're looking at the newest intern for High Speed Productions, Inc.

HSP produces three magazines: Thrasher, Juxtapoz, and Slap. Today was my first day, and I spent the entire time transcribing an artist interview that will appear in Slap. I may be developing carpal tunnel syndrom. But I couldn't be happier.

:)

With great power comes great responsibility

2008-09-28T10:23:00.000-07:00

So last week I had my first great big genuine journalistic fuck-up.

The story: the USF Faculty Association was holding "informational picketing" sessions last Monday and Wednesday to raise awareness about their ongoing contract negotiations with the administration.

I got in touch with the president of the USFFA and had a phone interview with him over the weekend. Then I figured I could get in touch with the rest of my sources on Monday as the picketing was going on.

The Foghorn does layout Monday night. I had Monday afternoon (my only free time after three classes) to gather the majority of my sources and write the entire 600+ word article. I quickly spoke to as many people as I could who were outside at the event, and then scrambled into the Foghorn office to get my words onto paper, fast.

The story was, I thought, a success. It was long. There were a lot of quotes. My grammar was superb and the story flowed quite nicely. A+ work, I thought.

Sometime around Tuesday, I got a nagging feeling in my stomach. There was something not right about my story. By Wednesday, it was quite clear: my story only presented one side of the issue. Only USFFA picketers and supportive students were quoted. There was no representation from the administration, nor any dissenting faculty or student voices. Oh. Shit.

Sure enough, Thursday morning, after the paper had been on the newsstands no more than 12 hours, Fr. Stephen Privett, USF president, sent the Foghorn an extremely angry e-mail. I'll quote for you some of Privett's more stinging insults:

"The article is a classic case of 'Fox' journalism where one and only one perspective is passed it off as 'news.'"

"How can anyone with a brain think that the University 'has run economic surpluses of $40 million a year for the last three years?'"

"Had your reporter taken the time to at least review my convocation address, she might have had a clue about the University’s overall financial situation."

"The Foghorn’s passing off such a one-sided, partisan discussion of a very complex situation as a 'new' article is inexcusable."

Etc. etc.

Ouch.

I definitely regret not spending more time gathering interviews to create a balanced article. It's true that the article was "biased." Not in the sense that I included my own opinions in the piece, but in the sense that I only interviewed people on one side of the issue. Was this based on my own feelings about the faculty contract negotiations? Hardly! It was simply a matter of a busy student journalist trying to do too much in too little time.

I realize now that when one has the great responsibility of covering a story that actually MATTERS to a lot of people, a reporter has to be extremely fair to each and every side -- and if I was too busy to cover the story responsibly, I should have held it for the next week's issue or asked for help from another reporter.

Though I think Fr. Privett's e-mail was a tad harsh, I definitely feel remorseful. Cheesy as it sounds, I learned a valuable lesson from this experience.

Please, read the story for yourself and tell me what you think. And this goes back to my last week's blog post: how do you go about defining bias? And is it always such a horrible thing? Anyway, things to ponder...

A question of objectivity

2008-09-17T06:43:00.001-07:00

When my journalism and media studies professors lecture on the idea of objectivity, neutrality, or bias in journalism, it always leaves me deep in thought. Most people go about reading their news assuming it is neutral, unless there is an overt slant. If such a slant does exist, they usually become turned off. "This is so BIASED!" like it's a dirty word.

Is bias a bad thing? Usually the conclusion we draw in my classes is that everyone is biased, everyone has their own sets of beliefs, everyone cannot help but feel the things they feel, and so -- even in journalism -- it is impossible for anyone to be entirely 100% neutral.

For many consumers of news, neutrality is considered the golden standard, but I'm not sure that is always best. Should one really be neutral about issues of genocide, racism, murder or torture? Or a harder question: should one be neutral about fighting in unjust wars or passing discriminatory propositions if doing so would contradict personal convictions?

Most importantly: is neutrality really the way to lead readers to the truth?

My Creations

2008-06-30T12:33:00.000-07:00

They say creativity is something most people lose as they grow older. I know this to be true for me, as I have already seen my creativity deteriorate drastically. When I was little, my sister and I would spend hours upon hours sitting at the kitchen table with nothing but markers and a stack of blank white paper. With this we would create all kinds of art, art that told stories about completely fictitious people, places, and things. As I grew a bit older, writing became my forte. I would write all the time. Short stories flew off my fingertips magically. Characters with all sorts of complex problems and situations would suddenly exist out of nothingness, simply because I created them.

Now, these tasks seem daunting. My perfectionist instincts halt any creative urges at the door. If I were to draw something, it would have to look realistic, the shading would have to be accurate, the shadow would have to correspond to the light falling... If I were to write, there would have to be great symbolism, social commentary, wit, sophisticated diction and syntax... I forfeit before I enter the game.

I would like to keep whatever remaining creativity I have. Blogging my creative pursuits will allow me to see all that I have accomplished and might actually help strengthen the creative side of my mind.

Lately, my mom has been into beading necklaces, and has taught me a few basic tricks of the trade. I saw these small bird charms at a little store called The Bead Shoppe in Roseville, CA and became immediately inspired to make earrings out of them. Here is how they came out:

I love how simple they look. The red and gold is a very sweet color combination I think. And I love how the birds look like they are swinging from a perch. This project was very simple and fun to do!

Hopefully keeping this blog will have the twofold effect of not only allowing me to see all of my work and progress in one place, but also encouraging and inspiring me to do even more creative endeavors.

Israel

2008-06-25T11:03:00.000-07:00

Imagine growing up as an American secular Jew, but finding out that simply because of the blood that flows through my veins, Jewish blood, I am eligible for a free 10 day trip to Israel. As I applied for the trip, I felt like a fraud. (After all, I am not that Jewish. I did not have a bat mitzah, I do not fast for Yom Kippur, I have rarely set foot inside a synagogue.) And yet they accepted me and sent me my travel information. Fast forward to June 12. As my plane lands in the Ben Gurion airport and I make my first few steps in the land of Israel, I am greeted with the words "Welcome Home." What can this possibly mean? Home is in Roseville, California. Home is the United States. Home is paved roads and shopping malls. How can this strange country full of deserts, seas, rivers, foreign insects and animals, and a language I don't even speak be a home to me?

I try to search for a feeling of home throughout my 10 days in Israel. I am traveling with my sister and 38 other American Jews, mostly from the Los Angeles area. We form a fast bond, all of us coming from similar backgrounds and sharing this amazing experience together. With them I feel at home. All of us remark that we feel that we've known each other our whole lives.

But can the country itself ever feel like home? All the beautiful sites.. the stunning views of desert, sea, hills, valleys, the historic cities and towns, the ancient buildings that defined history. Do I feel at home here? I feel unworthy of this beautiful country being my home. It is so rich, textured, old, and important.

I experienced so much in those ten days, so much that to describe it all here would be futile. Do look at my Flickr set to see it all as I tried to capture as much as I could. But to float in the Dead Sea and feel the stinging of salt in your eyes, to ride on a camel's back through the Negev desert as people have done for thousands of years before you, to raft down the Jordan River, to sleep in a tent on the banks of the Sea of Galilee, to eat Falafel in downtown Tel Aviv as you stroll through an outdoor market, to pray by the Western Wall, to be stung by jellyfish in the Mediterranean... all of this cannot be captured in words or photos. As I am back home fighting jet lag from the 15 hour flight back from Tel Aviv to Los Angeles, the whole thing seems like one of those dreams that was so good that you wish you could fall back asleep and be in the dream again.

The final day of the trip, the meaning of Israel being a homeland started to make sense. After nine days of sheer pleasure, the trip took a solemn turn as we visited Yad Vashem, the holocaust memorial museum in Jerusalem. The Holocaust and the existence of the State of Israel are nearly impossible to separate. While some deny a cause/effect relationship, one can't help but acknowledge the sense of urgency with which Israel was formed shortly after the end of World War II. Being in the museum, seeing all of those people who look like you and lived a similarly carefree life, never suspecting anything like that could happen to them... and then seeing that the rest of the world could care less... that even the United States, the country that I call home, did not care if my Jewish relatives lived or died... I suddenly started to see how Israel is a sort of home. Because heaven forbid anything should ever happen, I will have a place to go and be safe. And I could go there tomorrow, ask for citizenship, and be granted it without hesitation.

But it is impossible to go through all of this without feeling torn about the conflict with the Palestinians. Is it fair that the safety and unity of the Jewish people should come at the expense of that of another group? Is it fair that my best friend, who is Palestinian and whose parents own property in a Palestinian territory, just got 40% of his land taken away by the Israeli government? How can I feel joy about this supposed homeland when it is tainted with the knowledge that another people are suffering? Is it possible to simply charge it to the game, and say life's not fair, but ultimately this is the best solution? I don't know.

I do know I had an amazing experience, and feel beyond blessed to have had it. I hope to return someday, but even more I ultimately hope for peace in the region.

Summer and the suburb

2008-05-25T18:51:00.001-07:00

I am home sweet home in Roseville, California, land of a thousand malls. Here are a few interesting anecdotes about Roseville pulled from its Wikipedia page:

Roseville has the ninth highest retail sales of all California cities; Roseville is also the smallest of the fifteen top ranked cities in retail sales.
Roseville has one of the largest Auto Malls in the country.
Roseville was ranked the skinniest city in the country, with an average body mass index of 24.5.

Other than my upcoming trip to Israel (in like three weeks!!!), my summer remains a blank slate. We shall see what develops.

I love California

2008-05-16T16:07:00.000-07:00

I love my state.

Court Affirms Marriage Equality in California

I love how the courts acknowledged that the word "marriage" was of actual importance, and no matter how similar the rights afforded in "civil unions" or "domestic partnerships" or what have you were, it was still not equal, the same way forcing African American children to attend separate schools was not actually equal.

Now can we get a democratic presidential candidate who will step up and support gay marriage?

On second thought, maybe he/she ought to wait until he/she is elected, and then hit them with the news.

Now, a funny cartoon:

We've been busy

2008-05-08T22:22:00.000-07:00

Final class of digital journalism was today. We worked on our map, ate pizza, reflected on our blogs, cried a little on the inside that the class was over... haha, only half-serious about that last part. Okay, mostly I am serious.

Well, anyway, here is all we have to show for our semester of hard work: We hit the pavement, exploring the school, the park, and the city til our feet blistered; we snapped pictures til our eyes hurt; we blogged our fingers to the bone; and finally, we sat down and mapped it all.

Click on a pin. See what happens. Explore USF, Golden Gate Park, and the city of San Francisco all from your computer screen. Enjoy!

breakfast of champions during finals after about 2.5 hours of sleep:

2008-05-07T08:17:00.000-07:00

What I've been up to...

2008-05-05T22:11:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy semester in my digital journalism class.

First we started blogging the campus of USF, and created a campus map.

Then we started blogging our nearby Golden Gate Park, and put that on a map too.

Finally we decided to jump in and start blogging the city of San Francisco.

Our final task in these last few days before summer (!) is to compile all of our blog posts and flickr sets and youtube videos into a glorious San Francisco/Golden Gate Park/USF map. Stay tuned for that...

Valentines Day Pillow Fight
http://school-and-the-city.blogspot.com/2008/02/pillowpalooza.html

Freshman Female Farmers
http://school-and-the-city.blogspot.com/2008/03/freshmen-female-farmers.html

Tai Chi in the de Young Plaza
http://school-and-the-city.blogspot.com/2008/04/have-you-ever-tried-throwing-every-bone.html

Japanese Tea Garden
http://school-and-the-city.blogspot.com/2008/04/serene-garden-with-sordid-past.html

Ocean Beach
http://school-and-the-city.blogspot.com/2008/04/mare-pacificum-peaceful-sea.html

Thrift Town
http://school-and-the-city.blogspot.com/2008/04/thrift-town.html

Heart of the City Farmers Market
http://school-and-the-city.blogspot.com/2008/04/heart-of-city.html

The San Francisco Chronicle
http://school-and-the-city.blogspot.com/2008/04/san-francisco-chronicle.html

The Rickshaw Stop
http://school-and-the-city.blogspot.com/2008/05/night-at-rickshaw-stop.html

Flickr Sets:

Knitting for Neighbors
http://flickr.com/photos/lauraplantholt/sets/72157603859577042/

The Cafeteria at USF
http://flickr.com/photos/lauraplantholt/sets/72157604105328282/

A Foghorn First

2008-05-01T20:54:00.001-07:00

Check Out My Interview Podcast With Father Privett ! ! !

Special thanks to our super web designer Jim Cortez.

A night at the Rickshaw Stop

2008-05-01T09:55:00.000-07:00

Between living on campus, going to classes, doing homework, working on the Foghorn and working at an on-campus job, I spend more time at "school" than in the "city" than my blog title would suggest. Still, I try to get off campus as much as possible. Over the weekend is always the best time.

Last weekend, three friends and I saw a show at the Rickshaw Stop on Fell and Van Ness. From campus, all we had to do was walk to Hayes and take the 21 to Van Ness.

I had never been to the Rickshaw Stop before, but I had heard it was one of the few cool 18 and over spots to hang out, and they have something going on almost every night of the week.

There was a minimal line at the door when we got there. The people there were definitely very "hip." I observed some cutting edge fashions that I had never seen before -- from a guy in (very) short shorts to a girl wearing a bikini top with a baggy, very low cut tee-shirt over it. My friends and I are stylish, but not to this extent. A lot of them looked a little silly to me.

We walked in, and the place was pretty dark. There is a bar near the door, a big dance floor, and a stage in front. A DJ was spinning tunes while the crowd warmed up and danced. Everyone was taking pictures and dancing. Upstairs, a more laid back vibe prevailed, with couches and places to talk.

The band that was performing tonight was called the Plastiscines. They were very rad.. check out the audio slideshow I put together from my pictures from the show.

I had a good night at the Rickshaw Stop, but the crowd was probably not my favorite... Everyone was a little too hip and image-concerned for my taste. I did love the music, though, so I may go back if a good band is playing; til then, I'll be on the look out for someplace better.

The San Francisco Chronicle

2008-04-28T04:45:00.000-07:00

Last Friday, the San Francisco Foghorn gang got to meet with Kay Marie Jacobson, the production and design director of The San Francisco Chronicle's online platform, SFgate.com.

In a little conference room on the fourth floor of the Chronicle building, eight of us writers from the Foghorn, our adviser, and Ms. Jacobson all sat down to talk about the online future of the Foghorn, and the Chronicle.

She informed us that SFGate is in the midst of a revamp, and that their major goals are to start incorporating more and more user generated content. She said that as the web has become more interactive, they have seen a shift in user expectations about how much they should be allowed to contribute. Rather than fear the change, Jacobson said they have embraced it. Some of their ideas have been to allow users to have their own blogs, to upload their own pictures, and personalize their own profiles. Essentially, she said, SFGate is to become like its own social networking site.

The ability for users to comment all of the articles on SFGate was another big topic Jacobson talked to us about, due to our peaked interest. The Foghorn is currently incapable of allowing user comments, but as the entire staff is pretty much on board to start allowing them, we're now focusing on practical details. Particularly, we've been worried about the prospect of "inappropriate" comments that could be offensive or damaging to one's reputation. So Jacobson gave us some very practical advice, describing SFGate's screening process, their terms of use, their list of forbidden words (how I would have loved to sit in on that meeting!), and also the overall success they've found from allowing comments.

The last word of advice she left us with was, "Experiment!" Since we're in college and are not really concerned with any of this from a business perspective, now is the time to try anything and everything we want. I couldn't agree more.

After the inspiring meeting with Ms. Jacobson, politics reporter Rachel Gordon (who was working on this story at the time) gave us a tour of the Chronicle building. What a treat!

Here are some pictures I sneakily snapped along the way.

The newsroom on a Friday afternoon. It was relatively quiet that day, Gordon told us.

A silly desktop decoration. I guess anyone in this industry would have to have a sense of humor.

I was glad to see desk organization was not a job requirement -- I'd be in serious trouble if that were the case.

The Foghorn gang speaking with two of SFGate's primary multi-media guys. They showed us some of their favorite projects, from their first podcast (which was simply an article read aloud) to their more recent, and more sophisticated, interactive Olympic Torch Route Map.

The Chronicle building at 901 Mission Street. I highly recommend checking it out if you ever get the chance.

Heart of the City

2008-04-23T22:46:00.000-07:00

The outside market that takes place in the U.N. Plaza every Wednesday and Sunday is called the Heart of the City Farmers Market. I couldn't think of a better name for it if I tried, for it truly is a place where the heart and soul of San Francisco shines.

The farmers market seems to be a place for everyone in the city to come together. Whether we're rich or poor, white, black, Latino, Asian, old, young, all or none of the above, we all have to eat.

What we choose to eat has become a very complicated issue in this day and age.

Locally grown? Organic? Fair trade? Genetically engineered? Pesticide free? Cage free? Steroid free? Hormone free?

It's enough to make one's head spin.

To further complicate things, the world has gone into a Global Food Crisis.

The price of staple foods such as corn, soybeans, rice, and bread have become so unmanageably high that thousands of people around the world are starving. Such a tragedy that is leading to much suffering and political unrest. Just awful.

* * *

Needless to say, I feel blessed to be able to enjoy whatever foods I want, whenever I want.

Not only is a plethora of food available to me at farmers markets, grocery stores, restaurants, vending machines, and the USF cafeteria, but also the affordability of said foods has never been an issue for me.

While this is without doubt a blessing, there seems to be something almost unnatural about not having to struggle for food.
I have never once had to worry about where my next meal was coming from.
It's just something to think about.

* * *

After spending a day perusing through the Heart of the City Farmers Market, soaking up the sun, examining all the fresh produce, watching people scrutinize long, slender carrots and bunches of leafy kale, I settled by the fountain to enjoy a hot black bean tamale and a plump pink lady apple.

Food is a surprisingly complicated issue, but one thing I know is that food should be enjoyed and appreciated.

Thrift Town

2008-04-22T09:50:00.000-07:00

This weekend, I spent a sunny (yet windy) day in the warmest part of town: the Mission district. I always enjoy spending time there due to the variety of fun shops, interesting people, taquerias, and cool street art. But one of my favorite things to do in the Mission is shop at the thrift stores.

Thrift Town on 17th and Mission has to be one of the best thrift stores not only in the Mission but in all of San Francisco.

Photo Courtesy of dsguestblog.blogspot.com

Thrift Town is very large and very well organized, making it very easy to navigate and find whatever you are looking for. While many thrift stores have crammed racks of clothing that is organized in no particular fashion, Thrift Town organizes its goods by category, size, color, etc.

It is not so organized that it lacks character, though. There is always a lot of variety and plenty of surprises. You can find golf clubs, old electronics, books, toys, clothes, shoes, lamps, dishes, housewares, and more. Really more. There's all kinds of random surprises to be found.

The prices are very reasonable, too. While some urban thrift stores mark up their wares due to their popular locations and the newfound chicness of vintage clothing, Thrift Town is indeed a place to wear thrift is still part of the equation.

During my visit, I acquired two books, a pair of shoes, a floral scarf, and a skirt for about $20.

After a visit to Thrift Town, I recommend checking out one of the amazing taquerias the Mission has to boast for a thrifty yet satisfying meal.

Curses, www.yourgmap.com

2008-04-16T23:39:00.000-07:00

Digital Journalism goes to the Park

After spending several hours tinkering with my map of Golden Gate Park, instructing readers to click the above link is as close as I can get to embedding the map onto my blog. Apparently, the folks over at Yourgmap.com don't see the value of enabling the embed feature, so they instead offer an option of linking to the map. Grrrr.

Technology can be frustrating.

On the plus side, I think the map looks awesome, thanks to everyone in digital journalism for all their excellent blogging, flickring, and youtubing. I really do reccomend that you follow the link to my Park Map; we have a ton of great content up there. Very exciting.

Mare pacificum: the Peaceful Sea

2008-04-14T02:22:00.000-07:00

The largest body of water in Golden Gate Park also happens to be the largest body of water in the world. Spanning from the north to the south pole, washing onto the Eastern shores of Asia and Australia and the western shores of the Americas, the Pacific Ocean covers about 32% of the Earth's total surface area.

San Francisco is so infrequently thought of as a "beach town" -- it is much more often associated with its famous Bay -- and yet, on a sunny day, Ocean Beach is absolutely, positively the place to be. I enjoyed the 80 degree temperatures here on Saturday, bicycling through the park to get here. I seldom appreciate that I live only three miles from the beach.

At Ocean Beach, you can see surfers, sailors, kite fliers, dog walkers, sand castlers and sea shell collectors. It is a place where it would be difficult to feel unhappy.

Ocean Beach is the frosting on the cake of Golden Gate Park.

Serene garden with a sordid past

2008-04-10T09:07:00.000-07:00

A serene space, a taste of Japan, a moment of calmness and clarity -- it is hard to believe that the Japanese Tea Garden is located in one of the most densely populated cities in America.

The history of the Japanese Tea Garden, the first public Japanese garden in the United States nestled comfortably in Golden Gate Park, started out innocently enough. The garden was constructed for the 1894 Midwinter International Exposition, conceptualized by landscape designer Makoto Hagiwara. It was originally built as a "Japanese Village," meant to give Americans a taste of Japanese culture. In this time, the Japanese were a very small minority in this country, their culture largely unknown. The garden was an honor to their country.

The Japanese Village in 1894

After the fair passed, in was renovated as a garden, which was occupied and maintained by the Hagiwara family. They lived in a small house within the garden's property for many years.

Mr. Hagiwara and his daughter in their home, 1924

In 1942, all that changed.

America was in the midst of World War II, and Japanese Americans were under federal order to be evicted from their homes and sent to internment camps, often separated from their families. This ugly chapter in America's history did not fail to impact the Hagiwara family, despite their public service to the San Francisco community and an agreement with John McClaren that the family would tend to the garden for a century.

The family was sent to internment camps. Rubbing salt in the wound, the garden was renamed the Oriental Tea Garden, and Chinese women in Chinese costumes replaced the Japanese ones who served tea in the garden. The garden is said to have fallen into disrepair without the intricate care Mr. Hagiwara provided.

By 1952, the war had ended, and the garden was once again named the Japanese Tea Garden. The family home was destroyed during their years of absence, and the city of San Francisco refused to allow the family to return, despite McClaren's promise.

It is said that since the Hagiwara family left, the garden has never been the same, though it has improved in recent years, more rare plants being replanted each year. It is now a favorite spot for tourists in the park, the bridge a delight for children to climb, and the large, 3,000 pound Buddha statue an impressive, spiritual addition.

Erik Sumiharu Hagiwara-Nagata, Makoto Hagiwara's great-great-grandson, continues the family tradition of gardening, running his well respected plant nursery in Penngrove, California.

Talking Politics with Speaker Pelosi

2008-04-09T10:18:00.000-07:00

Oh boy, have you ever had something so amazing happen that you just can't find the words to do it justice? Because that is exactly how I feel about the last few days I spent in DC for the filming of an interview with Nancy Pelosi for mtvU's Editorial Board.

I've only been gone for three days, but it feels like a lifetime of experiences have occurred. First of all, it was my first time in the nation's capital, and that was just huge for me. When I arrived Sunday night, I called up my friend Josh and he took me for a two hour walking tour of all the monuments and statues and important buildings.

Good thing we did that, because starting Monday morning, I didn't have any time to sight-see at all.

Of course the actual experience of taking part in a professional TV news show and meeting one of the most important women in the world was the most impressive of all.

So here's what happened in a nutshell.

All day Monday was spent figuring out what questions we would ask, how we would ask them, and how we would follow up if she tried to give us a "smooth" or "politician" response. We met with Charlie Mahtesian, national politics editor of Politico.com, to help us ask the tough questions the right way. As a journalist, I have never had to think so hard about my questions. I definitely learned a lot.

I was working with three amazing college students from around the country: Lily Lamboy from Smith College, Micheal O'Brien from U of Michigan, and Jake Sherman from George Washington. These three are really brilliant and I felt honored to be working with them. I was also working with mtvU people, who were all really cool, and I got to meet some folks who are pretty high up in the chain of command. I even met some Viacom people, as Viacom owns MTV. It was really exciting meeting all these important people, and they seemed excited to meet us as this is only the second episode of Editorial Board, and it is still an exciting and unpredictable project for them.

Tuesday was the big day. We woke up super early, grabbed breakfast, and met in the GW Gelman Library where we were shooting. We rehearsed our questions again, discussed follow-ups, got make-up touched up, and joked nervously to calm ourselves. The room was chaotic with lots of cameras, bright lights, tons of people from mtvU, Viacom, politco.com, even the AP.

Suddenly, as though it were the most natural thing in the world, Speaker Pelosi entered the room. She greeted us warmly, we shook hands, and sat down. Lily asked her about a small pin she was wearing, which she said was from Tibet. No more than a minute or so after she sat down, it was time for the interview to commence.

All in all it went smoothly. We got into some interesting conversations about China and Tibet, the war in Iraq, and the Democratic primaries. She was pretty smooth, and didn't say anything that would get her into trouble, but it was still interesting conversation. Sadly, we ran out of time way before we ran out of questions, but that's journalism.

Look at us! We even made the news!
Washington Post - Pelosi: Reduce number of superdelegates
Politico - Pelosi at odds with Petraeus at mtvU forum
Politic0 - Pelosi: Petraeus kicking the can

Blogs from my fellow panelists:
GW Hatchet Blog - MTV, The Hatchet and Nancy Pelosi
Christian Science Monitor - Speaking with Speaker Pelosi

Arriving home last night was odd. There is still so much on my mind from the whole experience; I am kind of overwhelmed by it all. This was something I will always remember, and will probably have to look at the pictures and video clips to make sure I didn't imagine it all.

Going to D.C.!

2008-04-03T23:14:00.000-07:00

So it is official: I am going to Washington D.C. on Sunday to participate in an mtvU program called Editorial Board. The premise of the show is for four college journalists to interview a political figure to get him or her to answer to the issues that are important to young people. There has only been one episode so far, in which the students interviewed Bill Clinton. You can watch it on the Editorial Board web site.

I am one of the lucky four who gets to interview Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi for the show's second episode.

I fly out to D.C. on Sunday, rehearse Monday, and the interview takes place Tuesday. I fly back to San Francisco Tuesday night. Somewhere between all that I hope to see some of the sights our nation's capital has to offer -- I've never been! -- but I won't be heartbroken if that doesn't happen.

All in all, free trip to D.C., opportunity to meet one of my political heroines, invaluable journalistic experience -- not a bad deal.

Have you ever tried throwing every bone and muscle of the body wide open?

2008-04-01T09:16:00.000-07:00

Amidst the trees, in the plaza in front of the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park, dozens of San Franciscans rise early each morning to practice the 300-year-old form of martial arts called Tai-Chi Chuan. This practice strikes the ignorant eye as a strange and futile form of exercise. The motions appear so slow that it would almost seem that they are not exercising at all. However, after doing a bit of research in University of San Francisco's Gleeson Library, it is clear that these deliberate motions require all kinds of inner strength -- physical, mental, and spiritual.

In Kuo Kien-Ying's book Tai-Chi Chuan in Theory and Practice, he writes, "In any given movement of any sort, the whole body must move lightly, nimbly, and in coordination. The chi should be active as the propellant power behind all the movements and the spirit should be gathered internally so there will be no defects, nor uneven distribution, nor discontinuity anywhere." My research right away led me to understand the complexity of this art form. For how exactly does one go about activating their chi, or gathering their spirit?

According to the instructional manual Tai Chi: Ten Minutes to Health by Chia Siew Pang and Goh Ewe Hock, essential techniques to keep in mind while practicing tai chi include slowness, continuity, precision, relaxation, weight distribution, breathing, practice, and posture. With all these practices in mind, it seems that the essence of tai chi cannot be put into words, or at least not into Enlgish words.

"How should a novice begin t'ai-chi?" ask Cheg Man-ch'ing and Robert W. Smith in their book T'ai-Chi: The "Supreme Ultimate" Exercise for Health, Sport, and Self-Defense, "He should relax completely. The aim is to throw every bone and muscle of the body wide open, so that the ch'i may travel unobstructed. Once this is done, the chest must be further relaxed and the chi made to sink to the navel."

Can you see their chi sinking to their navels?

Tai Chi is clearly more complicated than I had ever understood. More than just a series of slow motions done for physical exercise, it is also an exercise in control, in self-awareness, in spiritual awakening.

Tai Chi is just one of the many mysteries that exist in Golden Gate Park.

Beating addiction

2008-03-31T05:35:00.000-07:00

About a month ago, I quit my one big vice: Diet Coke. So far, I haven't looked back.

My Diet Coke habit started out innocently enough. I would usually just order it at restaurants as a special treat. We didn't keep it in the house very much when I was growing up. When we did, I always drank it in moderation.

All that changed when I got to college. The freedom of being able to drink as much as I wanted without anyone watching my intake was too much for me, and my meal plan card allowed me free access to as much as I wanted. I started drinking it with dinner regularly; then I started craving it with my lunch as well. Soon I started consuming it to keep me focused when I studied late at night. It started getting serious when I would crave it with breakfast. Something about oatmeal and Diet Coke says "you have a problem."

One day, for a lot of reasons that are surprisingly personal, I decided to quit. So I did, cold turkey. I did cheat once, but I felt so guilty that it just wasn't worth it. So now it has been almost one month with no Diet Coke (or any diet soda) and I feel really proud of myself.

My next venture is going meat free. Again, for a lot of reasons. I have been a vegetarian on and off throughout my life, and I feel like I can do it, so why not?

New toy

2008-03-25T17:45:00.000-07:00

My new toy: A shiny red bicycle with a basket (I love the basket!).

I bought this bike via an ad on Craigslist the day before I left for my NYC trip. Since I've returned, I have been riding every day.

I've always enjoyed bicycling somewhat, but was intimidated by the idea of riding in this busy city. I brought my old bike to school my freshman year, but I never rode it much, and then it was stolen. Not having a bike pushed the idea of biking out of my mind for obvious reasons.

A few weeks ago, my good friend Chelsea bought a bike, also through Craigslist, which inspired me to follow suit. I am so glad I did! So far, I have stuck to somewhat quiet streets, but I've found that negotiating the road with car traffic is not difficult. Perhaps because bicycles are so prevalent in this city, and thanks to the activism of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, cars are understanding and sometimes even courteous to the needs of cyclists.

Last night, Chelsea and I rode from USF to Ocean Beach and back. Gliding down a city street against the wind with the expansive Pacific Ocean visible at the end of the long road feels so exhilarating. And reaching the beach is just such a sweet reward for the hard work of climbing those San Francisco hills.

I can't wait to check out new areas of the city with this new mode of transportation.

New York, New York

2008-03-24T11:19:00.001-07:00

Over Spring Break I was given the invaluable opportunity to attend a three-day journalism conference in New York City with three other editors of The Foghorn. We were in conferences from about 8 am to 3 pm, and then the afternoons and evenings were free for exploring. Needless to say, I had the time of my life.

The conferences were incredibly fascinating. It came to little surprise to me that many of the speakers emphasized the importance of new media for college newspapers, and newspapers in general.

Blogs. Podcasts. Videos. Comments. Sound familiar, digital journalism classmates?

I am really excited to start incorporating these story-telling technologies into the Foghorn's online platform, which is embarrassingly behind the times. Some of my co-editors seem hesitant to incorporate these changes, in part because they don't know how and in part because they don't know why it is important. Hopefully I can start changing that soon -- I know this conference definitely got me pumped to start taking some action.

I really enjoyed hearing from the professional journalists as well. A lot of them talked about how to get a job and what to expect when you do get one. It's funny how in all of my media studies classes, we rarely get any information about what an actual job in the media industry entails.

* * * * *

As much as I learned inside the conference rooms, I learned almost as much by exploring the great city of New York. What an experience.

First of all, the food! Oh goodness, I have never eaten so well (or so poorly, from a nutritional standpoint). In my few days in the city, I enjoyed a cheesy roast beef sandwich from Connolly's Pub, a thick slab of chocolate cake from Junior's, and delicious Latin American cuisine from Boca Chica.

And I may have indulged in more pizza than one should in a three-day span. Oops.

* * * * *

Our hotel was in Times Square (check out the view from on of the conference rooms!)

But, just as Union Square does not give one an authentic taste of San Francisco, I am sure Times Square does not give much of an accurate portrayal of NYC, so my fellow travelers and I tried to branch out as much as we could in our short stay.

We went to the Laugh Lounge comedy club in the Lower East Side to see some local comedians.

On St. Patty's Day we hit up some Irish Pubs (and I'm pretty sure we saw a real life leprechaun, or else just a very short, red-haired, and intoxicated Irish man).

We checked out Ground Zero. That was humbling.

From there we walked through the Wall Street area to Battery Park, where I got to see the Statue of Liberty.

And we took a super touristy double decker bus ride that actually ended up giving me a good grasp of the city.

I took loads of pictures, so to see the madness firsthand, check out my Flickr set.

* * * * *

Incidentally, I was in the city in the midst of some pretty major breaking news: the embarassing Eliot Spitzer prostitution scandal and the tragic construction mishap that left seven dead. It was interesting to hear all the buzz amongst locals about these major incidents. And there is something really cool about reading the New York Times when you're actually in New York City, a block or so away from its headquarters.

Freshmen Female Farmers

2008-03-10T21:03:00.000-07:00

This year, 11 first year students embarked on a project never before undertaken at the University of San Francisco. Putting aside pencils and papers, stepping out of the confines of the classrooms, 11 young women are getting back in touch with simple pleasures of soil and seeds, giving life to USF’s first on-campus organic garden.

The garden is a small plot of land behind the Education Building. Though it was just a mess of weeds and dirt as recently as last summer, two visionary professors saw the land’s potential, and worked together to plan a new living-learning community they named the Garden Project. 11 students were selected to live together, study together, and garden together.

I had the pleasure of interviewing three of these gardeners this weekend. On a personal note, these young women are very delightful company: I have never before been in an interview situation with so much giggling – it was almost slumber party-esque.

From left to right: freshmen farmers Gopika Misri, Valeria Vital, and Nalini Bholonauth.

The three I spoke to all had little experience gardening before coming to USF. “Uh, I used to watch my grandma water her garden,” Bholonauth described as the extent of her prior knowledge. Nevertheless the idea of the living-learning community appealed to them because it seemed like a good way to connect with people at their new school.

Fortunately for them, community is one thing they got plenty of from this experience. When I asked them what they had learned that would stick with them the most, expecting to hear them gush about the importance of locally grown, organic, pesticide-free, non-genetically enhanced produce, I was surprised to hear them all agree that it was learning to work as a group, and learning to reach out to the larger university population to encourage their involvement that they would take away.

They have learned about all that other stuff too though, don’t get me wrong. Coming from a state of more or less complete ignorance on the subject (“I used to think organic just meant more expensive,” Misri said), the women are now experts on contemporary gardening issues.

Aside from the actual gardening, the women have been taking classes, doing extensive reading, and even taking field trips to other gardens in the Bay Area and beyond. Read about their field trips in their class blog.

Their newfound knowledge seems to be paying off. The garden is slowly but surely reaching maturity. It would seem the main crop they’ve harvested thus far has been broccoli.

Now to the tough questions: “How was it?” I asked. “Was it really different than what you’d find at a grocery store?” (No more softball reporting from me!)

Vital contemplated for a moment. “It just tasted fresher,” she said. “Well, I don’t know if I was just imagining that…No, it was definitely fresher.”

Campus Map

2008-03-05T20:24:00.001-08:00

Testing, 1, 2, 3...

Outside Lands Festival

2008-02-28T14:20:00.000-08:00

The Outside Lands Festival that is rumored to take place in Golden Gate Park this August might just be one of the worst concert ideas I've ever heard of.

Radiohead.

Jack Johnson.

Tom Petty.

Three HUGE headliners. Each with its own die-hard fan base, I'm sure. And yet, I don't see a whole lot of overlap amongst these fans... That is, not a lot of people who are Radiohead fanatics are equally excited about oh-so-dreamy surfer boy Jack Johnson.

Maybe I'm all wrong here, but if I want to see Radiohead, which I do, I know it's going to be crowded and expensive and tickets are going to be damn near impossible to score. So why would I also want to see Jack Johnson and Tom Petty, who come with their own fans, to compete for tickets and standing room and to wait in line for the port-a-potties with.

Then again, it might just be the most epic concert of a lifetime.

One thing I don't get

2008-02-27T23:38:00.000-08:00

In this week's Foghorn I wrote an opinion piece about USF's proposed on-campus smoking ban.

Then I came across this blog post in SFist about the smoking ban in bars and restaurants. The post sparked a pretty heated debate between smoking and non-smoking commenters.

The issue seems to be a question of rights: smokers should have the right to smoke, non-smokers should have the right to breathe clean, odorless air.

Personally I can't see the point of smoking. It's that simple -- I just don't get it. Having seen my dad, my mom, and my step dad struggle with quitting time and time again, it just seems absurd.

I guess what I'm saying is that the idea of smokers having "rights" seems beside the point. The real question to me is why are they smoking in the first place? The slow and steady poisoning leading to shortened lifespan and the hundreds of thousands of dollars tossed to evil tobacco companies just doesn't do it for me.

But I know there's more than one side of the story, and I'm sure I just can't see it. What are your thoughts?

The only thing better than travel...

2008-02-27T22:31:00.000-08:00

The only thing better than traveling is doing so on someone else's dime.

I have not one but two all-expense paid trips coming up. To answer your question, yes I do pinch myself to make sure I'm not dreaming. Trust me, it's true.

The first trip is from San Francisco to New York City over spring break.

View Larger Map

I am going on this trip with three other editors from the Foghorn for a college journalism conference. During the days we'll get to learn all of the latest innovations in student journalism, and at night we'll peruse one of the few cities I would consider as cool as San Francisco.

The second free trip is to Israel over summer vacation.

View Larger Map

This trip is through the Birthright Israel program, which provides free trips to Israel for any young adult of Jewish descent to expose them to Israeli culture (and, I suspect, to try to convince them to move there). I have no idea what to expect -- the only place I've been outside of North America is Holland, where my brother-in-law is from -- and have a feeling that Israel will be quite a culture shock. I am really excited to be exposed to such a different way of life.

The joys of Amtrak

2008-02-25T16:10:00.000-08:00

Riding Amtrak is something I have become quite familiar with since I moved from Sacramento to San Francisco in fall of 2006. It occurs to me that trains have become somewhat of an antiquated mode of transportation -- often when I tell people that I am taking the train home, they seem to be very intrigued -- so I decided to blog my Amtrak experience.

First, you must decide if you want to travel alone or with a companion.
The upside of traveling with a companion is, well, the companionship. The downside is when you are waiting for her to finish packing, which causes you to miss your bus to the Ferry Building, causing you to miss your bus to the train station in Emeryville, and of course, missing the train from Emeryville to Roseville.

It's okay; we caught the next one. Besides, the Ferry Building is not the worst place to wait for an hour.

We eventually made it to Emeryville. Seeing the train pull up after all that waiting is a sight for sore eyes.

But nothing is more beautiful than some of those views from the train window... The region between the Richmond and Martinez stations is particularly breathtaking.

The train stops in Sacramento. Alas, only one more leg of the journey: the bus from Sacramento to Roseville.

Roseville Train Station -- it may look insignificant, but fun fact! Did you know that in the first half of the twentieth century, Roseville was home of the largest freight marshaling yards west of the Mississippi River? Now you do!

Waiting for our friend to pick us up, we couldn't help but notice this fellow waiting with us.

The funny thing is, he didn't belong to anyone. He was just chilling there.

Finally:
the Roseville skyline... one to rival San Francisco's? Maybe not.

So, to recap: Took the 31 bus to the Ferry Building, took an Amtrak bus to the Emeryville Train Station, took an Amtrak train to the Sacramento Train Station, took an Amtrak bus to the Roseville Train Station, got a ride home from a friend. Though it would be nice for the trip to be a bit more streamlined, I can't complain. It's always a bit of an adventure.

f* this s*

2008-02-17T17:12:00.001-08:00

As an editor for a Catholic university-funded newspaper, there are certain things we must be careful about. We get a lot of freedom from the administration, don't get me wrong, but there are certain subject matters that we are forced to be extremely sensitive about... abortion, birth control, alcohol and illegal substance use, etc.

Okay, so no frivolous pieces on the virtues of abortion. Duh.. no responsible journalist would do that anyway.

But one thing that was news to me was that the university has declared war on "naughty words." Two weeks ago, in an interview with Curb Your Enthusiasm's Susie Essman, staff writer Jim Taugher asked Essman for her thoughts on a comment posted on a fan message board that said "I would like to f*** the s*** out of her."

Turns out, this question, which was part of a really interesting interview full of good questions and colorful insights, was viewed by the university as being vulgar and offensive. The Foghorn immediately received e-mails from a prominent university official asking for an explanation and an apology.

Left with few options, we ran an apology the following week, and met with said official to grovel and gain back some of her affection. Shameless, I know.

The point is... what is the point? Oh yeah.. Profanity. The words used in the article were profane, especially in that context -- but that was the point. Besides, they really were implemented tastefully, as Taugher was using the quote to get at an interesting point: how can a strong woman in Hollywood, who doesn't portray herself as a sex toy by any means, deal with that kind of objectification? All in all, a really decent, smart question.

Moreover, these words were used in a direct quote, and they were asterisked out, all which is in line with the AP Style Guide.

Then...

On February 14, Jane Fonda appeared on the Today Show to talk about her involvement with the play The Vagina Monologues, and, low and behold, she used the "C-word." And America freaked. And NBC apologized profusely for her "slip-up." And people worried about the poor children who were exposed to this dirty, vulgar, disgusting word over their Cheerios.

The thing is, like The Foghorn incident (am I really comparing The Foghorn with The Today Show? meh...), it really wasn't a slip-up. At least I don't think it was. The word was used in the context of a famous feminist play, so it was obviously not being disrespectful toward women. In fact, one of the whole points of Monologues is to "reclaim" the word cunt from being what the Parents Television Council called "one of the most patently offensive words in the English language."

Bad words... isn't this all very juvenile? The very idea of certain words being "bad" reminds me of junior high school. I thought the stigma associated with these words would disintegrate after eighth grade.

It's things like this that make me want to move to Canada.

Pillowpalooza

2008-02-15T18:22:00.000-08:00

Sometimes people I know from home ask me what it's like living in San Francisco. I always end up smiling, thinking really hard, and coming up with a terribly inadequate answer. The truth is, it is the kind of thing that cannot be explained.

Last night was Valentines Day, and while I imagine the single citizens of most cities moped around their apartments in their p.j.s and ordered pizza, that kind of thing just wouldn't fly here.

City-wide Valentines Day Pillow fight. That is just one of the reasons I love San Francisco.

"Rabbi -- you'd make a good pastor"

2008-02-13T22:54:00.001-08:00

For my Intro to Judaism class, I went on a field trip to see Rabbi Bradley Hirschfield speak at the Jewish Community Center.

The rabbi claimed that we are living in "the most polarized time in 2000 years."

All the world's religions are seemingly at odds. Even within these religions, there are factions at odds with one another. And within our own personal lives, we find conflict with our friends and family members that can lead to lifelong estrangement.

Hirschfield's answer to this was, "You don't have to be wrong for me to be right." Such is the title of his book. And basically all it means is that two people can have different beliefs, and they can both be right, as long as it works for them. (Okay, frankly, I can't quite see how he filled 288 pages with these ideas. Of course, being that I am already of the same school of thought, it sounds like a big fat DUH to me... but I digress).

This evening, he used an extended metaphor people sitting at a table to show how it is possible for people of different beliefs to get along. "We don't all have to sit at the same end of the table, but at least make sure the table is big enough for everyone," he said. He then went on to say that if you aren't comfortable with the beliefs of someone at the opposite end of the table, you can at least be comfortable with the people next to you, and if they are comfortable with the people next to them, and so on and so on, eventually everyone can reach a mutual understanding.

Too bad the table was only metaphorical. Then again, if such a real table were to exist, I could see some kind of massive food fight breaking out.

The lecture did have some interesting points to it though. Rabbi Hirschfield has lived a colorful life, and he shared a lot of really interesting stories about his travels throughout the Middle East and his theological conversation with a born-again Christian cab driver (who, at the end of their drive, told him with utmost sincerity that he would make a good pastor. Rabbi Hirschfield was surprisingly touched.)

And at the end, the JCC provided some pretty tasty cookies. All in all, a good night.

Viva Allende!

2007-11-09T11:52:00.000-08:00

Long time dream realized: I got to meet one of my all-time favorite authors last night. That's right, the goddess herself Isabel Allende. I read The House of the Spirits my senior year of high school and seriously felt like it was a life-changing experience. I never knew before that literature could be such a magical and intimate experience. It evoked so much emotion and passion in me. Come to think of it, since reading that book, I don't think any other piece of literature has been able to get me that same high.

The lovely Ms. Allende came to USF last night for an interview and book signing. She seemed to be an absolutely delightful person. Granted, the interviewer, a literature professor who seemed to be about 100 years old, didn't facilitate the conversation well at all. His dry, outdated sense of humor did not mesh well with Allende's vibrant personality, but she managed to shine through in spite of his attempts at domineering the conversation.

Hearing her speak about writing The House of the Spirits was probably the best part of the evening. She analogized that the book grew inside of her like a baby, and that it was maturing for years until she finally "gave birth" to it. She said it was the easiest book she ever wrote because it involved no research at all; it was all from inside of her. In contrast, she said her other books involved much more research. It's funny because I feel like I picked up on Spirits being much more organic that any of her other literature. Granted, I have not yet read her non-fiction work Paula, which I believe is a memoir about her life and the death of her daughter, so I hope to read that soon to compare. When she spoke about Paula her eyes definitely grew misty, and consequently so did mine. I have a feeling reading that one will make me cry my eyes out -- in an oh-so-good way.

I was interested to hear what she said about the magical realism genre that her work has been placed in. She tends to dislike the label because she said the literary technique of incorporating magical elements with an otherwise realistic story has been misused by many. She said magical realism cannot just be sprinkled in everywhere, as some authors have done, but should only be done when and where the story calls for it. She also gave a really lovely explanation of it, I thought. She said it is used in cultures where people do not understand everything in a purely logical and scientific way, so they rely on elements of magic to explain that which mystifies them. It is a way of bridging the factual with the incredible-- it is magical, but in a realistic way. So she noted that not all of her books employ magical realism because not all of the stories call for it.

As I said, Allende seemed to be a very vibrant and interesting woman. When asked what she did when she wasn't writing, she said "Eat, walk the dog, make love, really not much else." A woman after my own heart, I think. She also said when she was done writing (for good) she hoped to be dead.

Her husband Willie Gordon was there, and he seemed like a sweet man. He was quiet, of course, as to not take the spotlight from his wife, but even when she began to speak about him, he was hesitant to stand up. Supposedly, in addition to being a lawyer, he has written several mystery novels. I would be interested in checking those out, although mysteries are not typically my cup of tea.

I picked up her latest English language book, Ines of my Soul, and after the interview she signed it. She asked me, "Que es su nombre?" I got nervous and tongue-tied, but managed to spit out in mangled Spanish, "My llamo... Laura." I believe I tried to tell her what an honor it was to meet her -- although I don't remember if I spoke in English or Spanish; I was really quite nervous -- but I felt like nothing I could say would mean anything to her anyway.

Well at least I have an autographed copy of this sucker now. I haven't started it yet, but I have to say it looks really really really good. Maybe next time I see her, I'll work up the courage to eloquently tell her what I thought of it.

Second life? I'm still trying to get a first life..

2007-11-07T20:08:00.000-08:00

Today my media audience and research class was out of this world -- rather, it was in the world of Second Life. To say that Second Life has always weirded me out is an understatement, but I couldn't help but find it an intriguing concept, so I was somewhat pleased to find out that my professor wanted us to learn about it by experiencing it. Instead of meeting in our traditional classroom that exists in the physical world (sooo last year), we met at the virtual University of Idaho campus.

That's me in the middle, with my hands on my head (don't ask why -- I couldn't tell you). My professor is standing in the front and the rest of us are attempting to take a seat... some of the class had not yet figured our how to sit. Like the fox-person on the left, for example.

So after our initial meeting, we divided ourselves into groups (quite a task when you're dealing with pixels, not people) and decided to "teleport" into different areas. The purpose of this from an educational standpoint was to perform ethnographic research about the users of Second Life.

My group made its first stop at the so-called flea market mall and yard sale. We arrived to what looked like a deserted shopping mall. The only two people I saw were on their knees scrubbing the floor to earn Linden dollars. Wait, what? People actually choose to spend their free time going online to scrub a virtual floor to earn virtual dollars? This was a surprise to me. One nice floor-scrubber -- who somehow managed to alter his appearance to look like Snoopy (wtf?) -- tipped us off to a cool location. He gave us a link that teleported us, but this one was no more entertaining than the first. Plus, somehow in the process of teleporting, I lost touch with my group. The last place I went, sans group, was some kind of Japanese dance club. People were standing on colorful pads and dancing. Upon further inspection I learned that they earned money as they danced. No one was even chatting; they all just stood on their pads dancing robotically.

Now that I have dipped my toe into the Second Life pond, I have to say it no longer creeps me out as much. Instead it just makes me somewhat sad. Why are hundreds of thousands of people exerting so much effort in this digitalized world that is like real life, but more boring? Communication is difficult and tedious because the flow of chat was often slowed when a lot was going on, and images often took a long time to load, so it doesn't serve well as a chat room when compared to traditional text-only chat rooms. Overall it was difficult to establish and maintain contact with people, even the two people in my group who I specifically set out to remain in contact with. Almost all of the people I came across were just trying to make a Linden buck.

Honestly, it seemed as though people were most concerned with making money to buy virtual land and new outfits than to make meaningful online friendships. Kind of reminds me of real life, come to think of it.

Oh, one redeeming quality I did forget to mention: in Second Life, you can fly. That's pretty sweet.

School and the City

Multi-Media Goodness

Portrait of an SF Street Musician

Decoding Twilight

Cooking with Seasonal, Regional Food

What's for dinner

The Foghorn: A year in review

Dim Sum for Dim Dummies

Cooking for my family

What I ate today

The woes of being an extremely amateur blogger

The San Francisco Burrito

ESF does North Beach

new gig

With great power comes great responsibility

A question of objectivity

My Creations

Israel

Summer and the suburb

I love California

We've been busy

breakfast of champions during finals after about 2.5 hours of sleep:

What I've been up to...

A Foghorn First

A night at the Rickshaw Stop

The San Francisco Chronicle

Heart of the City

Thrift Town

Curses, www.yourgmap.com

Mare pacificum: the Peaceful Sea

Serene garden with a sordid past

Talking Politics with Speaker Pelosi

Going to D.C.!

Have you ever tried throwing every bone and muscle of the body wide open?

Beating addiction

New toy

New York, New York

Freshmen Female Farmers

Campus Map

Outside Lands Festival

One thing I don't get

The only thing better than travel...

The joys of Amtrak

f*** this s***

Pillowpalooza

"Rabbi -- you'd make a good pastor"

Viva Allende!

Second life? I'm still trying to get a first life..

f* this s*