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Since 1960 Volume 83, Issue 35
Going the Distance
Sexual Fetishes
Freshman Cross Country runner determined to go far SPORTS, p. 8
Bondage, leather, rubber ... mummification? STUDENT BODY, p. 4
Daily Titan
Wednesday November 1, 2006
The Student Voice of California State University, Fullerton
Fixing Katrina’s Schools
Students Dress Up and Show Off
By Carol Rojas
Daily Titan Staff Writer news@dailytitan.com
Like millions of Americans, many Cal State Fullerton Reading Department faculty members watched in horror as thousands of people were left homeless and virtually hopeless when Hurricane Katrina destroyed the Gulf Coast last year. As distress and chaos unfolded on their TV screens, they were inspired to do something to help the victims of the tragedy rather than just sit by and watch. The department formed Literacy Project Katrina, a fundraising and book-donating campaign determined to promote literacy and bring hope to the children most affected by the destruction in New Orleans. Faculty members found the task of connecting with a school in the devastated area to be far from simple. Frequent attempts to make phone calls or e-mails to people admist the chaos of a destroyed city proved to be a daunting and complicated task. “After the Hurricane there was no communication,” said JoAnn CarterWells, professor of reading and the project’s coordinator. “Everything was utter chaos. We were naive to think that it would be easy to find a way to help when it was impossible to know what was really going on in New Orleans.” In April, the department found Lake Forest Charter Elementary School. When Katrina hit, the elementary school was completely destroyed. The portable classrooms that made up the school site were unable to withstand the force of the hurricane. All that was left of the school were scraps of classroom buildings drifting in the flooded city. “We lost everything,” said Mardele S. Early, the school’s principal in an interview with the CSUF Office of Public Affairs. “The whole area was devastated. I lost my home and all the teachers lost their homes, but we got together over the summer and opened the school this fall.” Prior to Katrina, Lake Forest had been a charter school and Montessori magnet. Montessori schools follow a method established by Maria Montessori. In that system, children are taught through activity rather than straight lecture. Like many other former public and Montessori schools, Lake Forest faculty members embraced the charter school system after the hurricane in hopes that New Orleans education could be improved. Prior to Katrina, the city had relatively low educational standards in place. Charter schools do not adhere to public school standards and have a different accreditation process. “The emergence of charter schools in post-Katrina is one of the brighter spots in the New Orleans recovery process,” said John Alford, consultant for the New Schools for New Orleans program in an interview for the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. “Schools were notoriously neglected in the past and there is a lot of hope that these entrepreneurial organizations will be able to deliver a better education to the students in New Orleans.” SEE KATRINA - PAGE 3
By SONGHA LEE/Daily Titan Photo Editor
Far LEft - In his penis-suit on Halloween, Mathew Hart, junior international business major, hugs Andrew Le, sophomore business major, who has been advertising free hugs around campus for at least a week. Above - Dan Greenwald, a senior biology major, tries to use a cell phone with his gorilla costume hands in the Quad on Tuesday. Left - Enrique Rodriguez, an undeclared sophomore, dresses up as “El Chapulia Colorado” as he saunters into the Quad on Halloween. By DAVID OSBORNE/Daily Titan
By DAVID OSBORNE/Daily Titan
Day of the Dead a Lively Celebration at CSUF By Vivian Valadez
For the Daily Titan
news@dailytitan.com
MEChA will be celebrating “Dia de los Muertos” on campus Thursday. The holiday, which translates to “The Day of the Dead,” is will be celebrated on the Titan Walk from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Altars and spiritual shrines will be crafted and created by family members or volunteers to honor the deceased. The first altar will be set up today in McCarthy Hall outside the MEChA office. This year the Titan Walk will host altars dedicated to Chicano political and civil rights activist Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzales and Anthony Soltero, the 14-year-old who committed suicide on March 30, 2006, after the HR4437 immigration protests, among others. Soltero’s altar will have photographs of the May 1 demonstrations and protests that took place throughout the nation. The altars will contain pictures and things the honored dead liked, said Johnny Aguirre, vice chair of MEChA. “I think it’s a wonderful way to reinforce a culture’s celebration and a way for others to be exposed to our rich culture,” said Latin American studies minor Cecilia Chavez about the celebration on campus. MEChA Chair Armando Urquiza hopes students will take time to visit the altars and read the biographies. “We will be giving out pan dulce and champurrado for people to come and see,” he said. Yoga student Angelica Torres said she will be stopping by the Titan
Walk to enjoy the treats. “Champurrado is good, it is like a thick doughy hot chocolate with cinnamon,” explained Torres. Like Torres, many students around campus expressed interest towards this celebration. English major Jose Coria said he appreciates this holiday. “I will stop to look at the altars because a lot of time and effort is put into them. It shows you a facet of life that we often think is negative and scary. Death is everywhere and this day is here to remind us that we should embrace the inevitable,” he said. “This holiday goes back to our indigenous ancestry, which is a combination of Catholicism and indigenous traditional beliefs,” Aguirre said. The historical roots of this celebration date back to the pre-Hispanic cultures of the indigenous people of Meso-America. The Day of the Dead is a celebration that encompasses the Mexican Culture in Mexico and Latin American countries. Walter Santizo, chair of the History and Culture Tlatoani Committee, described four essential elements to draw the dead back on this day: “earth, wind, fire and copal.” Earth is presented through the crop. Supplying a favorite dish gives nourishment to the souls of the dead. Papier-mache is used to symbolize wind, candles represent fire and copal or incense is burned to commemorate pre-Columbian history. Santizo said this celebration begins Nov. 1 to honor the “angelitos,” or young angels. “It is like two days, on the first day is remembering the kids that
By CARLOS DELGADO/For the Daily Titan
DANCE - Performers in Long Beach take part in the “Baile de los Viejitos,” Dance of the Senior Citizens, during the Day of the Dead Festival Sunday at the Museum of Latin American Art. The Day of the Dead will be celebrated on campus by CSUF’s MEChA and the History and Culture Tlatoani Commitee. An altar will be set up outside McCarthy Hall on Wednesday and the celebration will occur Thursday at Titan Walk from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. died and the second day is for the adults,” he said. This year, the celebrations will take place in the Titan Walk as opposed to the Quad. Santizo said that because ASI elections fall on the same day, MEChA wanted the celebration to be in a place of its own so it was moved from its usual location. Tradition holds that the dead will
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return to these celebrations and feed from their favorite exquisite dishes and enjoy the papeir-mache designs, sugar skulls, music and other important items on their altars. “We might be doing face painting,” said Urquiza. People’s faces might be painted like skulls because the skull is glorified on this day and it is not some-
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thing to be afraid of. “El Dia de Los Muertos is not like Halloween, it is a celebration of the dead, it is not a day of mourning and sadness,” Urquizza said. Celebrations will continue on campus on Nov.11 with A Day of the Dead Art Exhibit. The exhibit is scheduled to take place in the Visual Arts Center, room 125.
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