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Since 1960 Volume 83, Issue 50
Dressing Men
Not Funny
Article explores how men’s fashion has changed over the years THE HUB, p. 7
Student explains why some pranks should simply not be tolerated OPINION, p. 8
Daily Titan
Tuesday December 5, 2006
The Student Voice of California State University, Fullerton Lost in Translation Part One of Three
The EWP, Race and the Language Gap CSUF provides services to help disabled and non-native students By Rachel Douglass
Daily Titan Staff Writer news@dailytitan.com
It’s been nearly 27 years since the Examination in Writing Proficiency became a standard requirement for
graduation from the California State University system. The decision to develop a way to gauge students’ understanding of written English came from the California State University Board of Trustees and was individually determined at each CSU. In response to this decision, Cal State Fullerton English Professor John White designed and developed what is known today as the EWP. The EWP does not focus on race,
but on the ability to respond in writing to a general question, White said. However, exam scorers and the coordinator of testing services said that the exam has proved more difficult for non-native speakers. Certain ethnicities aren’t doing well, said English professor and EWP scorer Mari-Lynn Reid. Although many of the students taking the test are “brilliant” biology majors, computer science majors or business majors, they have a difficult
time in writing, Reid said. Coordinator of Testing Services Lorrie Harnach said that the EWP is one part of a double requirement in English comprehension. The English requirement includes not only the exam but also an upper-division writing course fitted to each major. No students, including non-native speakers, are exempt from the exam. “The test evolved because students
Titans Rebound from Loss
were graduating and found that they didn’t have basic writing skills,” Harnach said. “If you’re a native speaker … it’s easy.” Reid said that the purpose of the test is to show that students have the basic ability to write. The test questions are basic and deal with academic life. “I feel that the standards are not rigorous but are more difficult for foreign students,” she said. At CSUF there is writing standard
for almost every class from weight training to quantum mechanics. Students can’t escape it – writing is an essential part of daily life. “I wonder with the basic writing components how they pass their other classes,” she said. In terms of ethnicity the EWP is fairly anonymous, Reid said. The scorers do not know if the student is SEE EWP - PAGE 5
‘Bomb’ Drops on Campus Film Festival Every year animators work for three days to make a short film
CSUF Alumnus Knows the Real Disneyland Former Titan journalism student is an expert on everything Mickey By Laura Lujan
Daily Titan Staff Writer news@dailytitan.com
While many must choose between pursuing a career in what they love and a career that will pay the bills, few end up with the best of both worlds. Cal State Fullerton alumnus David Koenig is among those few – one path started with a natural talent for writing, and the other started with a mouse. As senior editor of an 85-year-old trade magazine, author of three behind-the-scenes Disneyland books and staff writer of an online Disneyland news publication, the 44-yearold balances work with play. Originally from Chicago, Koenig grew up in a nonwealthy family. The highlight of his childhood years, he said, had always been his family’s trips to Disneyland, which happened once every other year.
“My first trip to Disneyland was in the summer of 1969,” Koenig said. “All I remember was the feeling of ‘wow.’ My life just Koenig seemed so black and white before stepping through the gates.” Aware of his knack for writing, Koenig entered CSUF in the fall of 1980 to pursue a degree in journalism. Writing for the Daily Titan reaffirmed his desire to become a reporter for a print publication, and his friends, several of whom worked at Disneyland, ignited a new one. “They were always more interested in the backside of Disneyland and not so much the company-approved side that they show to everyone,” Koenig said. “It always struck me as interesting.” His last year at CSUF was particularly significant in fueling his interest in what goes on behind the scenes at
the park. All of his Disneyland employee friends went on strike. “I thought it was so interesting how they were working at the happiest place on earth,” Koenig said, “but they were out telling people to stay away, picketing on TV with signs and drawings of Mickey Mouse crying.” From this incident, the idea for Koenig’s first book was born. In 1987, while working as an associate editor at Cutler Publishing in Newport Beach, Koenig began conducting research and formal interviews with Disneyland employees for the book. He interviewed over 200 people in a span of seven years. While compiling the book, Koenig was threatened with legal action by Disney management, who claimed it was illegal to write about company secrets. “That was all bologna,” Koenig said. “As long as it’s true, accurate and fair, it’s OK.” In 1994, “Mouse Tales: A BehindThe-Ears Look at Disneyland” was published. “To my shock, it was a complete success,” Koenig said. “There had never been anything out there like
that before.” Koenig thought that this book would be the only Disney book he would write, but the success of “Mouse Tales” and demand for more books lead him to write a second book called “Mouse Under Glass: Secrets of Disney Animation and Theme Parks.” The book, which focused on Disney movies rather than parks, was successful, but nowhere near as well received as his first. “I realized that while people may have a fondness for Disney movies, they can’t live inside a movie,” Koenig said. “With Disneyland, you can smell it, taste it and touch it too.” His next book was a sequel to his first, but went into more detail about problems within the park which Disney management was at fault for. While the book was once again well received, Koenig came under fire for his criticisms. “The reaction by a few folks was very interesting, where they tried to claim the stories were embellished, made up,” said David Michael, a
Tomorrow The Student Body
ONLINE www.dailytitan.com
A Sexy Holiday
TITAN LIVE
Article looks at the most popular sex toys for the holiday season.
SEE KOENIG - PAGE 5
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By Karl Thunman/Daily Titan
Watch the Ball - Titan Justin Burns watches for the rebound with Texas Keith Spencer and Isaiah Allen during Saturday nights victory for the Titans in Titan Gym. For more on Saturday’s game go to Sports on page 12.
time animators. Sarah Banning, a freshman and art major, had never created a cartoon before. “I do a lot of comics,” she said. The only kind of storytelling she had previously done was in storyboards, so animating was a new exBy Joe Simmons Daily Titan Copy Chief perience for her. On the evening of jsimmons@dailytitan.com day two, she had 34 frames of her animation completed, which she esEvery year since 2001, the Pencil timated to be about halfway done. Mileage Club has hosted a small film She finished on the third day. She festival appropriately called the Ful- wasn’t sure how long it took her, but lerton Film Festival. guessed that the hand-drawn nineIt’s become a tradition that the second clip took about 18 hours to club’s animation students – and any- complete. one else who wants to help – create a “It was really strange how time linked series of shorts. Each clip fea- passed ... If you just eternally think tures an ACME-style bomb, like the it’s 9 o’clock at night, time doesn’t ones used in Warner Bros. cartoons, pass,” she said. as the festival’s opener. Banning said the experience The resulting film and the three- helped her understand how a body day animation frenzy to create it are exists in space and how items get called “The Bomb.” from one point to another. Each clip in the film is the work “It gives you more insight to of an individual student. The nine- where things actually go. When to 15-second clips are animated by you’re doing comics, you can hand, digitally captured then strung easily get around things like that,” together using animation software. she said. “The main goal is for students to The participants seemed to be keep animating,” Megumi Tsuji, the evenly split between new and reevent coordinator, turning animators, said. Tsuji said. Tsuji is the club’s “I’m so glad that historian. She and It gives you more new animators are other club officers insight to where willing to do this host and organize thing,” she said. the event, includ- things actually go. Banning’s piece, ing piecing each When you’re doing in which the bomb of the submissions comics, you can easily drops into the outtogether so that stretched hand of a the bomb moves get around things like decaying Edgar Alin a coherent fash- that. lan Poe, was one of ion from clip to – Sarah Banning the few pieces that clip. Art Major were finished in the When animators three days. submit their piece, “So far I’ve got they must show four or five,” Tsuji which side the bomb is entering and said. In a typical year, the club colwhich side it will exit from. Later, lects 10 or 11 animations. club officers will fill in gaps where Charles Ngo, an animation stuthe bomb doesn’t smoothly move dent, was one of the returning from one piece to the next with participants. In his piece, a chef ’s short clips, Tsuji said. knife causes mayhem when the The Bomb took place last month bomb hits the cook in the back of in a room in the visual arts building. the head. The room was kept open constantly “I don’t know one bomb where it’s throughout the three-day event. not cruel,” he said. Though the event has a “demoOn the second night of the event, cratic, open-door policy” regarding he was trying to decide whether his participants who are not entertain- chef was going to be a fat chef – a ment arts majors, Dana Lamb, the typical slapstick convention – or a club’s adviser and an art professor, skinnier one. He was leaning toward said he thinks that all the attendees the skinny chef, because he wanted were from the art department. Many of the attendees were firstSEE ANIMATION - PAGE 5
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