FLUX 1994

Editor's Letter

Another Go It's true. We do. We talk about the meaning of life.

We don't necessarily sit around in coffee shops, wear.. ing black and smoking cigarette after cigarette, using words like "deconstruction" and "ramifications" and "inexpli.. cable." But we do wonder aloud about the intangibles love, hate, guilt, pleasure, doom. We talk about the contra.. dictions that surround us, about the ironies that abound, about this state of constant and seemingly random motion.

We try to give it a name. The Hopi call it Koyaanisqatsi life out of balance. We call it being in flux.

"We don't want much,

We don't mind going along for the ride. But we do want to know where we're going and what we're supposed to do

just to answer

when we get there. We don't want much, just to answer

the unanswerable,

the unanswerable, to make sense of the senseless. We are

to make sense

not the first to try.

Some laugh at us, saying we're pretentious to think we could figure it all out, foolish to even try. Some say we are lost. They may not be wrong.

But in this issue of Flux we have another go at it. Play with us in the wild outdoors. Listen with us to sages of our time. Look with us at differences in skin, race, heritage.

Struggle with us to understand why we see each other the way we do. Be pretentious with us, be foolish with us, be lost with us. See our stories as our way of suspending this life in flux -

to reflect, to answer, to make sense of it all.

Kathleen K. Holt

of the senseless."

WOMEN WHO LOVE MUD Too MUCH

6

Mud-slingin' women of the '90s hit the trails on their chromoly steeds.

TAKE THIS JOB AND SURVIVE

8

IT

Students head to Alaska seeking their fortune from fish.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

10

As the cost of education increases, students resort to food stamps.

,WOMEN

''The women's movement was

WHO LOVE

off to a roaring start -

MunToo

on two

wheels."

MUCH

By TAMARA JONES PHOTOS By

E.R.

BROWN

Mud..slingin'mama Tamara Jones hits the Oregon trails.

The WOMBATS' mission is to sustain a women's off-road cycling network, learn local trails, improve cycling skills, and in short change the world

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fter th'e sun has set and the Coburg Hills in Eugene, Oregon, have been blanketed in darkness, four women set out to take back the night in their own special way. They call themselves MUD (Mamas Uv Dirt), and every Thursday they dress their mountain bikes with high"pG>wered lights and head for the hills.

Their outings are not motivated to show men that women can ride in the woods at night. Rather, the idea started when one woman decided she was tired of riding with a men's group that rode at a faster pace. "I thought it would be great if we didn't have to worry about slowing the guys down," says Colleen Wolfe, a founder of MUD. MUD is just one of many women's mountain bike groups appearing nationwide. In the US there are 120 million women who own or have access to bikes. However, guys tend to ride more than gals. This is because most mountain bikes are designed for men, and magazines portray the sport as reckless and out of control. While some women may find this attractive, others are forever turned off.

Jacquie Phelan, mountain bike guru and mother of Women's Mountain Bike And Tea Society (WOMBATS), says that often a woman joins her group because she is frustrated with her boyfriend's or husband's impatience. Phelan's theory of romance and riding is that "the 'mush.. phase' is precisely the amount of time boyfriends or husbands ride your speed."

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According to her, "Guys can try to teach their girlfriends how to ride, but it accidentally comes out patronizing."

The nameWOMBATS is appropriate because, "It was a silly acronym that would convey a whimsical and earnest view of women's sports," says Phelan. She started the nationwide network in 1987, .and the seven..year..old organization is thriving. Its more than 900 members range from professionals and commuters to fun .. loving tea drinkers. The WOMBATS' mission is "to sustain a women's off..road cycling network so that

members may find a riding partner, encourage girls and women to try cycling for the fun of it, learn local trails, improve their riding skills, keep up with the latest news of interest to women who love mud too much, enhance awareness of bicycles as a mode of transport, and in short, change the world."

Phelan pedaled into Eugene last October to conduct one of her fat tire finesse clinics. More than 65 women participated, which according to Phelan made history. Never before had so many women joined tog~ther on mountain

bikes. "I can't believe how many are here," mentioned a participant when she saw riders and bikes crowd the streets of Eugene. Such comments keep Phelan busy. She tours to different states showing women that there are other females who enjoy knobby tires.

Before introducing the riders to the dirt trails of Eugene, Phelan gave a history lesson on how the bike fostered women's emancipation. "In the beginning, the wheel set us free. Back around the late 1800s, a gal could ride her bicycle, lose her chaperone, and have some fun

spinning through the city park. But her dress would always get tangled or blackened in the chain. Then came sensible riding 'bloomers,' then the hard.. won right to vote, and the women's movement was off to a roaring start on two wheels."

After the history lesson the participants were off and rolling. They were immediately greeted with a tough three..mile climb before reaching the off.. road trail. When an the women had successfully maneuvered their bikes through the trail, they were tr~ated to tea and scones in a nearby park. Sweaty from their endeavors, the riders were grinning from ear to ear. Recollections of the day's event were flying around like butterflies; some were proud of their accomplish.. ments, others were excited to join WOMBATS, and still others were amazed

to see so many women enjoying and riding 'their bicycles. "I found it empowering to be with so many women," said one rider as she held a scone in one hand and a cup of tea in the other.

Although many, participants were strangers prior to Phelan's clinic, it was apparent that any inhibitions they might have had about venturing off road soon subsided. "I was nervous when it came time to take our bikes off road," said one rider, "but when I saw other women walking their bikes, I felt like it was okay for me to do the same."

With organizations such as MUD and WOMBATS sprouting up all over the country, it won't be long before Phelan's wish for women to change the world is realized. When that happens she will finally be able to retire - or become President of the United States. B S prj n 9

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1994

7

ALASKA: TAKE THIS JOB

ANn

SURVIVE

IT

By NATE THOM PSON PHOTOS By ANDRE RANIERI

IS-hour workdays, tiny living quarters, and the continuous smell of fish

A

be Bowman hit his head on the bunk above him as he sat up in bed. The alarm across the eight.. by.. eight foot cubicle was droning, and none of his three roommates had turned it off yet. It was 6:30 in the morning, and he had half an hour to get ready for work.

He got up early because he and his roommates couldn't get dressed at the same time in the "apartment" that was barely the size of a bathroom - one of four cubicles in the mobile home that Chugach Fisheries had purchased and subdivided. He had slept little the night before because the family living next door had been fighting into the early morning.

He wondered what he was doing in Cordova, Alaska.

Abe's clothes always reeked of fish, even when freshly washed. He put them on and trudged across the fog.. shrouded parking lot to the cannery for another 16 hours of fish. Every morning, when he woke up and prepared for work, he was sure he wouldn't be able to make it through another day. Somehow, he did.

He walked into the cannery and saw his foreman, Bill, who gave him his assignment for the day: working the filet table. From 7 a.m. until 10 a.m., Abe cut the skin and bones off fish that the machines had missed. After a 15 . . minute breakfast of stale donuts and Tang, he worked until noon, when he lunched on cold cuts and Wonder Bread. Six o'clock was dinner time, a meal Abe sarcastically describes as "being so good I can't remember eating it once. Ever." If there were still enough fish to clean, Abe would work another five hours until midnight.

Every year, thousands of college students like Abe migrate to Alaska to work for the fishing industry in canneries, in processing plants, and on fishing boats.

The working conditions are crude, but the hope of coming home with good

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money draws them season after season.

In the process of working in Alaska for a few months, many of them learn something about themselves as well.

Jessica Caldwell is a 23 . . year.. old student at the University of Oregon who worked for Trident Fisheries in Naknek, Alaska, during the summer of 1991. A friend had just returned from a cannery job with tales of big bucks and lots of jobs, so she decided to' go to Alaska to make money for the following school year.

"Working in Alaska sounded like a challenge and an adventure, as well as a chance to make some decent money," she recalls.

She spent her first days in Naknek waiting for the summer run of king, red, and pink salmon. In canneries, no fish means no work, and no work means no wages. After five days the fish arrived and the work began. For the next 25 days straight Jessica worked 16 or 17 hours a day; this was called "midnight canning."

"Working in a cannery beats on you mentally," she says. "At first the long hours wear you down, but eventually you get into it. You find a pattern and stick with it."

Jessica spent many of her hours in the cannery as a "spotter." After the salmon is put into cans, the cans move down a conveyor belt. Spotters pull the cans that are either too full or not full enough, and "patchers" adjust the amount of salmon so that they match.

Spotting can be a mind . . numbing experience. "On the fourth night of midnight canning, I was spotting and I just lost it," Jessica says. "Suddenly I couldn't tell if the cans were moving or I was moving. It was like I was in a trance; I couldn't move. I stood there wondering what was happening. My supervisor came over because all these unfit cans were passing me by. When she

Top: "Dear Mom, I smell like fish and miss you terribly. " Left: A worker hoses down fish in preparation for their one ..way trip to the slime line.

Bottom: "Suddenly I couldn't tell if the cans were moving or if I was moving. I was in a trance."

saw me, she saw how lost I was. Instead of yelling at me, she just reminded me that my shift would be over soon."

Working as a spotter is a relatively dry job. Unlike most of the other workers, spotters don't have to handle any fish.

Many workers spend their shifts getting the fish into the cans that spotters check.

After the fish have been unloaded from the boats, they are run through the "slime line" in preparation for canning.

The slime line is a series of tables connected by a conveyor belt. Workers at each table perform a particular task.

At the first table they slit the fishes' throats. The slimy skin combined with the blood make the fish extremely slippery, and it often takes two or three tries to get them back onto the conveyor belt. At the next stop, they slice open the fish bellies, preparing them for the next table, where they pull out the innards. Despite wearing large rubber aprons, the workers are soon covered in . fishy slime. They then throw the fish into a large machine that first cuts off the heads and then pulls out the backbones.

From here the fish spill back out onto another table, where workers with brushes and hoses clean them and throw them back into a huge crate for the

cannery's forklift.

After sticking out her six.. week contract, Jessica returned to the lower 48 with just over $3,000. Trident Fisheries paid for her plane ticket to and from Alaska, fed her six meals a day, and housed her.

"At the end of my contract, I had gotten into working, into a pattern. But when it was over, I couldn't believe that I had actually done it," she says. "It was such hard work; having survived it made me feel tough. I could say, 'Yeah, I went to Alaska and worked in a cannery.'"

Although Jessica made only $5.75 an hour, the long hours in such a short period added up to several large pay.. checks. Students generally come home from Alaska with good money because there aren't many ways to spend it there.

"In our free time we'd usually just want to sleep," Jessica says. For excitement she once took the company pickup to the town dump and watched grizzly bears eat the cannery's fish guts.

The biggest attraction in town was a bar called The Pit. "It was basically a large plywood box that smelled like dirty socks," she says.

Spending time in the cannery housing was also less than desirable. Like

Abe, Jessica lived in a mobile home that had been converted into apartments.

There were three people per room, but unlike Abe's living arrangements there was a group shower on the premises. And to keep the overwhelming smell of fish at bay, the cannery also provided a washer and dryer.

Both Jessica's and Abe's experiences are typical of what students working for the fishing industry in Alaska are likely to encounter. A season in a cannery pushes people to realize how much physical and mental exertion they can endure. Those who stick out the long

hours, the cramped living arrangements, and the less than desirable working conditions come away with more than a large paycheck. Abe went to Alaska during the summer after his freshman year of college. "I never would have thought that I could do that. If you've spent a summer in a cannery, you've realized that your body can put up with a lot," he says. "Things like homework, finals, or my job at a restaurant just can't compare. Looking back on that experience makes me realize that I can do just about anything." ED S prj n 9

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9

upfront

FOOD FOR THOUGHT By

MARK MAZURKIEWICZ

&

KIM CHALLiS-ROTH

As the cost of education increases,

more students resort to food stamps

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itting at the table in her sparsely the first of the month.' I always think to furnished apartment, Maile brushes myself, 'Don't look down on me. I'm back her long, dark hair and wraps trying to better myself.'" her arms around herself. Her relaxed Hulderman says her office doesn't manner doesn't reveal that she carries a keep track of how many college students full academic load while working two are on food stamps, but they are not jobs. But unlike many college students uncommon. In Oregon, they must be who struggle to pay for their education, between 18 and 60, have a social security she has an advantage: In addition to number, and either work a minimum of receiving student financial aid, she 20 hours a week or qualify for the federal receives food stamps. work..study program. In addition, they Maile is one of 26.6 million cannot have more than $2,000 in assets, Americans who participate in the federal and if they aren't residents, they must government's food stamps program. The prove they plan to stay in the state after thought of food stamps may evoke images graduation. of down..and.. out single parents clutching screaming children, but many recipients are students who are well on their way toward careers. Maile, who is majoring in psychology and sociology at the University of Oregon, is working to become a psychiatric counselor.

"They think that we're living on dirt row with raggedy clothes," she says. "Although that may be the situation for some, it's not true for everybody."

Betty Hulderman, a case worker at Eugene Adult and Family Services, says that because of this stigma, many people are embarrassed about applying for food stamps. "They shouldn't be," _she says. "Everyone needs a little help to get back on their feet once in a while." -Maile applied fort~rogram after hearing about it from frlends.

"I'm not ashamed of getting food stamps, because I'm going to "Everyone needs a little help to get back on their school and making something of feet once in a while." myself," she says. "I'm not living off the system. At this time in my life I need it."

Zeenab Johnson..Fowlk, a 21 .. year..old U of 0 political science major who also receives food stamps, agrees. "People shouldn't look down on students using food stamps," she says. "Sometimes at the store check..out counter, I hear smart remarks such as, 'It must be

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When Maile applied, she had to fill out a seemingly endless 10 .. page application. "It has everything bllt blood type on it," she remembers, laughing. She was told to return after her application had been processed and bring along other documentation including a rent contract and utility bills. Zeenab thinks the process should be streamlined. "It's tedious and depressing," she says. "The government should set up a special branch office on campus that deals directly with students, and the University should have a system to inform students about it."

Once Maile was accepted she began receiving $114 a month, the maximum allocation for childless students. "When you're first doing it, you say to yourself, What am I doing here?'" she says. But she isn't alone: At least 10 of her friends use the stamps each month.

She says she eats better now than she would without them. "I buy more groceries than I would if I didn't have them," she says. She strongly encourages students to apply for food stamps if they need them, but admits that the potential for abuse is there. Just last March, nine Fresno State University football players were' charged with applying for food stamps fraudulently.

Although some may see the program as a free ride, Maile sees it as an integral part of her income.

"I'm really independent," she says.

"That's why I don't consider this a handout." But she still thinks it's frustrating to have to use food stamps. She looks forward to starting a career and paying for her groceries without help from Uncle Sam. In the meantime, she will do what most students must do: get financial help wherever they can.

"Maybe tuition is too high or financial aid isn't working the way it should," she says, "because something's wrong when you have to do this to eat." En

1994

~

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We live in an age of self-proclaimed enlightenment. Today's college students have grown up learning to be tolerant, sensitive, and open-minded to other ethnicities. Our parents taught us that color is of no importance, that race is only skin deep.

But many students ~ell us that color is important, and that race is more than skin deep. Race is culture, they say, and in a multicultural society there is nothing wrong with paying tribute to your ancestry After years of trying to be colorblind, students are being asked to readjust their vision.

In this issue, Flux takes a close look at race relations on one campus, the University of Oregon. Although there are few minority students here, the campus has been exposed to the controversies that have emerged at universities throughout the nation.

• Does "self-segregation" really describe what's going on in ethnic student unions?

• Why are some non-black students seeking membership in historically black fraternities and sororities?

• To what extent do minority groups' perceptions of each other reflect those of society in general?

• What is causing the gap between Africans and African Americans on campus?

• What sort of pressures does society place on interracial couples?

OVE SEE NO COLOR: THE SLOGAN SELLS. HUNDREDS OF UNIVERSITY OF OREGON STUDENTS MILL AROUND CAMPUS WITH THE WORDS EMBLAZONED ON T ~SHIRTS, BIG BLACK LETTERS ON WHITE CLOTH: LOVE SEE NO COLOR. BUT THE WORDS DON'T IMPRESS MITCH WILKINSON. "If you don't see color, you don't see me," he says. Wilkinson, like many other minority students on campus, crosses daily between two worlds, both of them defined by color. In one world, the world of the university, "color" commonly refers to black.. and..white qualities of skin, eyes, and hair; color is an external trait. In the other world, the world of the ethnic student union, color takes on shades of language, family, and community; "color" is culture and everything known to the heart Wilkinson, co..director of the Native American Student Union (NASU), remembers the time two aboriginal Australians came to study at the U of o. Based on their skin color, university officials sent them to the Black Student Union (BSU), where Wilkinson says they felt lost. They came next door to NASU, and that is where they found a home. "The university didn't realize they were indigenous, like us,"Wilkinson says.

At the U of 0, 1 percent of the nearly 17,000 student population is Native American.

The combined total of students who identify themselves as African American, Native

'There is a difference between segregation and separation.

Segregation is forced.

We come here freely."

p H

o

B Y T oS

BET H B Y K

H M

E

GE NGu Y

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N

American, Asian/Pacific American, or Latino/Chicano is 11 percent Thus the term "minority" is an apt label for students of color here. Bryan Murray of the BSU says, "I look for black people on campus, and I think I know every single one. If you know every black person on campus, there's something wrong." African Americans make up 1.5 percent of the student body. "If this campus were representative of the real world," he says, "you would think all blacks were going to spend their lives working for white people."

Murray likes to hang out at the BSU and describes himself as a "really social person."

He supports the BSU because it gives black students a voice on campus and provides a comfortable atmosphere for students to interact. ''You can always come here and find someone to talk to," he says, "someone who knows what you mean."

The four minority student unions - NASU, BSU, Asian/Pacific American Student Union (APASU), and Movimiento Estudiantil Chicanos de Aztlan (MEChA) - nest along a corridor in the basement of the U of O's student center Erb Memorial Union.

Other students echo Murray's words when they describe their union as a safe place, a place to study, to joke, a place where they can just flop down on the couch and ... breathe. The ethnic student union, usually no more than an office with a desk, some books, and an abundance of thrift store furniture, is a place where students of color often congregate.

And when they walk in, they check their minority status at the door.

This year, US journalists and even cartoonist GaryTrudeau made an attempt to define the practice of minority students meeting in unions and houses. The term that stuck seems to be the negatively connoted "self..segregation." But to those who know the student union scene, the phrase sounds entirely wrong. "There is a difference between segregation and separation," says]an Harada of APASU. "Segregation is forced. We come here freely."

Segregation was a racist policy in which whites accorded themselves privileges over blacks. Whites excluded blacks from restaurants, buses, schools, even from restrooms and drinking fountains. Self..segregation, then, would seem to be a mere reversal of a racist system, one that is based on the idea of the inherent superiority of one group over another and in the power of the self..declared "superior" group to enforce that policy. It implies the intentional act of moving away from something - in this context, from white culture.

While spending time in the union may result in a separation from white culture, the gathering is not so much an act against white culture as it is an act for the ethnic community.

For many minority students, including urban blacks, California Chicanos and Latinos,

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and reservation Indians, the move to the university marks their first voyage away from their primary cultural community. Sometimes, they speak as though they have fallen overboard, tossed into a sea of white culture, desperately paddling toward a lifeboat. "I was raised in an Asian majority culture," says Jan Harada. "It was culture shock for me to come here."

At the BSU, one student refers to the university as the "Gang of White." His perspective - that the majority culture on campus is a "gang" - sounds typical of the poignant humor minority students share in the unions. They like to turn stereotypes upside ..down, to laugh at the culture they have to deal with every day. In NASU, a 'WANTED" poster in the tradition of the American West lists multiple heinous transgressions under a line drawing of a "famous criminal," Christopher Columbus. In MEChA, a poster of a Latino clutching immigration papers reads, "Who's the illegal alien, pilgrim?" And next to the door, a line of recycling bins are labeled "newsprint," "colored ledger," and "gringo paper."

Gringo paper - the letters are printed by hand on the side of a cardboard box with a fat magic marker. In contrast to the symmetry of laser..printed labels stuck on identical metal barrels around campus, the box seems charming, home..like. That feeling of home, that freedom to label and speak, are the hallmarks of the ethnic community.

Outside the union, many minority students say they feel isolated, especially in the classroom. Mary Owen, an Alaskan native, says professors often cater their lectures to a white audience. Her anatomy professor described a part of the skull in this manner: "When your ancestors were coming across the country on the Oregon Trail and the Indians scalped them, this is the piece they took." She looked around the room. "My ancestors?" she thought.

Jan Harada says that when professors do address minority students, it is often to validate a statement. "A professor will say something about Asians, and then turn to me and say, 'Isn't that right?'" says Harada, a Japanese

American. "Professors don't stop in the middle of their lectures and say, 'Isn't that right?' to white students if they are talking about American or European culture or history." Whether minority cultures are ignored or spotlighted, the emotional sense of alienation feels the same. The business of living as a minority can be just plain lonely.

But not in the union, where everything from newspapers to wall murals to friendly faces and warm

"It is not so much an act against white rulture as it is an act for the ethnic anrnmity" brown eyes say, "You are not alone." In the BSU, images of Martin Luther King Jr. grace the walls. Back issues of Native Peoples, rribal rribune, and Klamath News lie on tables and chairs in NASU. In MEChA, a huge mural declares Derecho de la Raza in bright green, red, black, and white colors. On another wall, the painting of an archway that leads to ~ farm field is inscribed with the words Colegio Cesar Chavez.

Nearby is another image, a photograph of Chavez holding a child in his arms.

Conversation in MEChA flows freely between English and Spanish, but one term nobody translates is la raza the race. "Everything we do is for la raza," says Liza Rodriguez of MEChA. Carol Rosas agrees. "If it weren't for MEChA, I wouldn't be in school," she says. 'We care about our people and want them to succeed."

Ten years ago, the U of 0 registrar's office began to track minority retention rates in six"year cycles. The 1983 entering class ultimately graduated 25 percent of its Native Americans (1 of 4), 56 percent of its Asian/Pacific Islanders (42 of 75), 18 percent of its African Americans (5 of 27),

and 46 percent of its Latino/Chicanos (11 of 24) by 1989.

The retention rate for all students during the same period was 47 percent or 819 of 1,733. This rate has remained close to the 50 percent mark while the minority rate has flagged between 20 percent and 40 percent. Only in the 1987 to 1993 cycle did the rate begin to show an increase.

Many minority students cite racial tensions on campus as one reason for the low retention rates. Their experiences range from subtle slurs to public humiliation. In one instance, Anna Aguilar, a Mexican American, was participating in a graduate course. The class discussion centered on women and work, and the professor told of an American woman who went to work in the border..region Maquiladoras. A student asked whether it was difficult for an American to work in the industrial, poverty..ridden setting, and the professor replied, "Well, she was Mexican American." Other Chicano students also encounter stereotyping by professors. Ramiro Flores says he is not allowed to make mistakes in Spanish class. "My Spanish teachers expect me to excel because my last name is Flores," he says.

With these frustrations, one may imagine that minority

"It was frightening to stand in 'front of 1,()()() professors and feel their hate. I saw hoods." students fantasize about becoming professors themselves to change the system. In fact, a number of minority faculty routinely participate in the activities of the student unions.

Rob Proudfoot, who is Seneca, is one such professor.

A man who has earned two PhDs and has taught for 25 years, he is just as likely to be found at the Native American Longhouse mopping the floor as in his office reading papers.Yet when Proudfoot spoke at a faculty meeting about

the multicultural curriculum last spring, he didn't receive the same respect he holds in his cultural community. He approached the podium holding an eagle feather, then introduced himself in his native language.

Ripples of laughter. An interruption from the chair: "State your name!"

"It was frightening to stand in front of 1,000 professors and feel their hate. It was tangible," Proudfoot says. "I saw hoods."

Sandra Morgen, a sociology professor, interpreted the laughter as fear. "They don't want to deal with Rob's cultural identity," she says. "When Rob got up and dared to speak in his own language and show the primacy of his identity outside of his professorial role, it was threatening to them.

Their reaction showed that he doesn't get to be himself.

He can be a Native American professor, as long as the emphasis is on professor."

At the U of 0, the number of professors who identify themselves as Native American, African American, Asian/ Pacific American, or Latino/Chicano is 10 percent. They, too, are minorities, and experience isolation on campus.

"You could go through your entire career without another ethnic person in your department," says Mary Romero, a sociologist. "I get tired of dealing with it "White faculty who consider themselves progressive like people of color around them to prove their liberalism," she says. "They like us as their house pets, not their peers."

Professors, unlike students, don't have their own ethnic union to retreat to. No place to unwind. No couch. No place to laugh or swear or cry, no place to just be with la raza.

Minority students witness first..hand the treatment of minority faculty by their colleagues and by the administration. They see the difficulty professors face when they choose to be culturally identified, when they "show color" in a world that doesn't want to see it. In the sociology department, for example, Romero teaches a number of courses on race. "Some people have called into question why the university would hire a Mexican American to teach

race issues," she says. 'They ask how I could be objective.

To the university, 'objective' means 'white.'"

In the student union, the notions of "objective" and "white" are standards to escape from, because they imply a sense of equality among races. "We have suffered oppression historically, and we still encounter racism," says Jan Harada.

"When white people try to equate themselves with our situation, it belittles our experience."

Earlier this year, Harada and others discovered swastikas burned into the wall of APASU. The phone rings daily with crank phone calls. Asian students - and Asian..

American students - are targets of verbal abuse. They are told to "go back home," even if home happens to be Salt Lake City, or Portland, or LA. Ironically, the desire to go back home is one of the unions' strongest attractions for students. According to Mary Romero, "In MEChA, students take on the roles of elders in the community. They sanction each other by pointing out when someone is 'acting white.' They know that when they finish school, they have to have the ability to go back home again."

The student unions provide cohesion for day..to ..day cultural ways .of being and also sponsor major events in a yearlong calendar of celebrations and remembrances. Active union members say they dedic~te between five and 30 hours a week working at the student unions, preparing for cultural events. Both the BSU and APASU host month.. long heritage activities, and all the unions sponsor campus..wide forums, films, and speakers from time to time. NASU members spend months in preparation for the annual spring pow..wow, making arrangements for drums, vendors, concessions, and raffles, and inviting and hosting native people from throughout the Northwest. In the NASU budget, there is no line item for honorariums - listed instead is the cost of Pendleton blankets, which serve as "currency" for native people.

Jose Balderas says the Cinco de Mayo, Dia de los Muertos, and other cultural events sponsored by MEChA are a lifeline to him. "To me, it is natural," he says. "I was born and raised in Mexico and I don't want to lose my traditions." And for some Mexican Americans, the MEChA activities provide their first chance to discover cultural traditions.

This year, however, MEChA faced a tough battle for funding its student union. At the U of 0, the minority

"Why are they crying?

It didn't happen to them. It happened to us. We're the ones who should be crying." student unions, like other organizations, must present a budget to the student..run allocation committee. MEChA members appeared en masse at the budget hearing, as strong and colorful as if they had peeled the Derecho de la Raza mural off the wall and worn it to the meeting. A loud debate between MEChA, which defended its budget for cultural activities, and the committee erupted. In the end, the committee granted the Chicano/Latino group full funding.

But almost immediately the vote was recalled by the committee on the basis that MEChA had "intimidated" them. "We were accused of being bullies," says MEChA member Ramiro Flores. "What was intimidating to the committee was facing a room full of intelligent Latinos.

They didn't know how to handle it."

MEChA returned to the committee and again was granted funding, but the story illustrates some of the difficulties minorities face when they take their majority status beyond the walls of the student union. The allocation committee complained that they lost control of the budget hearing; one member said, "I couldn't breathe, I just wanted those people to leave."

Owen Brennan Rounds, the publisher of a conservative campus magazine that devoted two issues to the budget debate, says MEChA was "playing the race card. When they weren't getting what they wanted, they cried racism. They beat that message into the committee members' heads until they got their budget."

Rounds, who jokes that his paper is a "white student union," also says it is "not a great idea" for ethnic student

unions to act politically. "It only perpetuates stereotypes, and implies that everyone thinks the same way." He says student unions should be "support groups for individuals of the same skin color." Carol Rosas of MEChA disagrees.

"It is beyond skin color. It is culture," she says. "This society is more individualistic than the cultures we come from. We have a sense of group identity."

Liza Rodriquez laughs at the idea that the student unions could abandon political causes. "MEChA was founded as a political organization," she says. "There is no separation between the political and cultural issues for our people today."

Other unions are also active in political causes because beyond the walls of the university, la raza is still there.

NASU, for instance, posts petitions on behalf of imprisoned Native American activist Leonard Peltier, continues a long.. standing battle with the university's natural history museum over the repatriation of Indian remains, and regularly displays news articles concerning national native issues.

This year, the BSU held a press conference and denounced the campus newspaper as racist. Their arguments drew

national attention.

Student unions serve political and cultural purposes, but minority students by no means spend all their time in the union plotting the overthrow of the dominant society. Many times, the union simply serves as a place to throw down books, quaff a soda, and talk about . things that concern every university student like dates, romance, midterms, and spring break.

To an outsider, this function may not be immediately apparent. One day, for instance, a student approached NASU and found a group of students lounging and talking. He walked in, introduced himself as a non..native, and stood in the middle of the room. "I'm interested in what you are interested in," he said. The native students looked puzzled. They were talking about lunch, not politics.

NASU members interpreted the act as a well..meaning but symbolic representation of what they experience so often in the other world, the university world. They are placed on the edge of the circle, and the non..native is in the center.

Even when minority students raise racial issues in the classroom or informal discussions, their ideas often get sidelined as defensive students try to absolve themselves of any role in race problems. Jan Harada says, "The discussion is never about what we say. It is about their reaction to what we say." Trevor Monteith, a political science major and member of the Klamath nation, says, "I get tired of my classes turning into therapy sessions for whites." As an example, he recounts the time his indigenous human rights class met to discuss the book The Dispossessed. "This girl started crying and saying how hard it was for her to read the book, that she never knew about the oppression of native peoples, and it wasn't her fault that she was raised white and middle.. class, and she didn't feel responsible for what happened anyway. I heard so many white people say they couldn't go to class because it was too intense. Well, my question is, why are they crying? It didn't happen to them. It happened to us. We're the ones. who should be crying."

Some minority students suggest that what might increase racial harmony on campus is for white students to experience a Copernican revolution and recognize their culture as one of many in society, instead of the central culture. This may help alleviate the black..and .. white definitions of race that so many minorities find themselves trapped in.

"If white people feel secure in their cultures, they won't have to fear ours," says Mitch Wilkinson. And Bryan Murray says, "You should love everybody. People have fear because of stereotypes, but I think they also fear the good things they will find. We can all learn from cultural differences."

"Love see no color? I don't agree with that," he says. "If I don't see your color, I don't love you for who you are." Ell

OF

SURVEY: STUDENTS OF COLOR REVEAL THEIR PERCEPTIONS OF EACH OTHER

BY MARIUS MELAND When Nichole Muhammad came home to Portland after the LA riots in 1992, her mother told her not to shop in the Asian store where the family usually bought their groceries. Muhammad's family, like many African.. American families in Portland, had decided to shun all Asian..owned businesses and patronize only the few stores owned by members of their own community. The boycott had nothing to do with racism, her mother assured her: African Americans only wanted to back up their own business people, who had suffered so many setbacks the last couple of decades.

Muhammad, who is the director of the Black Student Union at the University of Oregon, was perplexed. She remembers when she was seven years old and her neighborhood was full of black..owned businesses. But when they failed, Asian Americans entered the area and bought the empty stores and warehouses. They filled the shelves with cheaper food and continued to supply specialty goods such as black hair care products. "They got loans and set up businesses that were very successful," she says. "The Asian Americans became the entrepreneurs, and the African Americans became their customers. My father, who was rejected every time he applied for a business loan, grew very resentful. He was not alone."

By the time the LA riots exploded on television screens everywhere, most of the black..owned businesses in Portland had disappeared.To Muhammad, her mother's attempt to boycott Asian.. American businesses seemed well.. intended but misguided. "I liked the idea of supporting our own community," she says. "What I didn't like was excluding some businesses just because they were owned by people from a certain ethnic group. It just didn't feel right."

Racism is undiscriminating. It invades every community, including those

D E.R. BROWN

that have traditionally been viewed as its victims.

Throughout history the European.. American majority has discriminated against every minority group, but these groups have also discriminated against each other. Sometimes this hostility has erupted into visible conflicts, as was the case of the LA riots and the gang wars in inner cities. But more often, the conflict is a silent one, quietly understood by each ethnic community but not addressed by anti.. racism groups or the media.

A Flux survey conducted among 551 U of 0 students revealed that stereotypical attitudes prevail among minority students as well as European Americans. According to the survey, students of color believe the so..called positive stereotypes of Asian Americans and the negative stereotypes of other ethnic groups. Th路e survey also found remarkably consistent patterns of hostility between some minority groups. African Americans and Asian Americans, for instance, rarely interact socially, and they are very unlikely to become romantically involved with one another. Both groups cited each other as the ethnicity they feel the least close to.

There is no simple answer as to why such tensions arise, but Muhammad suggests that one reason may be people harboring different stereotypes about African Americans and Asian Americans.

According to the survey, most people think that Asian Americans are likely to succeed in school and keep a clean criminal record, and that African Americans are more likely to get poor grades and

wind up in prison. The minority groups themselves often hold these perceptions: African Americans believe they get the lowest grades, whereas Asian Americans are firmly convinced they are the top achievers in school. "I wouldn't say that African Americans suffer from an inferiority complex," Muhammad says. "But there's definitely a lot of resentment against Asians because they're being perceived as successful, whereas African Americans often are being seen as a burden on society."

Similarly, Latinos often feel alienated by Asian Americans, who are commonly associated with positive stereotypes. In glaring contrast is the stereotype of the "lazy Mexican" resting against a cactus with a sombrero covering his face. In the survey, four out of 10 students singled out Latinos as the ethnic group they thought received the lowest grades in college. 'We can relate to African Americans and Native Americans because we feel that we shar a history of oppression with them," says Adele Rios, a U of 0 student whose parents migrated from Mexico to Oregon. "Just like the African..

American slaves of the past, many of today's Latino migrant workers are practically modern..day slaves, living on low wages and being treated poorly by their employers. And like many Native Americans, Latinos are often unemployed and underprivileged. But when we think of an Asian American, we visualize an accountant. We just can't relate to that."

Professor Clarence Spigner, who teaches anthropology and ethnic studies at the U of 0, says that there is no such thing as a "positive" stereotype. "So..called positive stereotypes might just as well work against you," he says. "People think you have no problems.

And sometimes it's just as hard to live up to a high expectation as it is to prove that you're better ,than what people expect. So..called positive stereotypes also tend to contribute to a general simplification of the perception of what an ethnicity is like."

Brandon Sugiyama, an Asian..American student, says that it is exactly this notion that creates tension between Asian Americans and other minority students. "Every time I speak on Asian..American issues, I feel as though I have to prove myself to other minority students. To them, it's often surprising to learn that Asian Americans have been oppressed as well," he says. "My mother 'was born in a camp for Japanese descendants during World War II, and my uncle was killed by European..American racists on his first day of school.

Even today, many Asian.immigrants to the United States are suffering as underpaid workers living under insufferable conditions."

Marc Kan is another Asian..American student who had to get used to racial slurs, sometimes from European Americans. "But more often these slurs would come from people from other minority groups," he says. "I don't know why those people, who surely must have experienced racism themselves, wanted to put me down. Perhaps it made them feel better about themselves that they had somebody to vent their anger on."

Kan thinks that another reason why some people of color resent Asian Americans is the fact that they are seen as compliant. "African Americans are seen as the dynamic force behind the civil rights movement. Asian Americans, on the

other hand, are stereotypically perceived as too polite and too subservient to protest against racism and discrimination. Many people of color regard Asian Americans as freeloaders because they think they've reaped the benefits of other people's work."

The stereotypes that minority students hold sometimes reflect the stereotypes that exist in society at large. Minority students, like everyone else, are exposed to a culture that historically has linked certain imagery with certain ethnicities.

"Our stereotypes stem from mass culture, not from our ethnic groups," Muhammad says. "As long as the mass culture holds stereotypes against certain people, so will we."

Dave McCanna, an Alaskan..born native who attends the U of 0, thinks that as a result of this mass cultural stereotyping, there is a hierarchy of ethnicities. "And there's no doubt Indians are at the bottom of that hierarchy, even below blacks and Latinos," he says. "I sometimes have a feeling that blacks and Latinos, who themselves experience a lot of racism, think that at least they can look down on the Indians. I get that feeling when blacks and Latinos talk to me. We're a small group of people, and we have no political clout. We've been abused by everybody. Even the Latinos used us as slaves at one time."

The idea of an ethnic hierarchy is not a new one. In some nations, such as South Africa as it existed under apartheid, this hierarchy is institutionalized by giving citizens of various ethnic backgrounds different rights and privileges. In our own culture, the hierarchy that was so obvious in the age of slavery has been replaced with a subtler system of differentiation. Eric Ward, a former U of 0 student who now works as the associate director of Seattle's Northwest Coalition Against Malicious Harassment, thinks the ethnic hierarchy is perpetuated by the capitalist economic system. "Capitalism works by competition," he says. "There's a concept of a finite pie that everyone has to share from. We think we have to fight with everyone else to get our share. We think we have to attack the racial populations that we believe threaten our piece of the pie."

This hierarchy may lead to the traditional segregation between ethnic groups, which Muhammad believes has caused minorities to form racist attitudes against each other. "Blacks lived in one part of town, Latinos in another," she says. ''You didn't deal with the people who lived on the other side of the

railroad track. At a college like the U of 0 where there are so few ethnic students, they ~end to stick to their own communities for support and a social network. And people often fear what they don't know."

Often the ideals of community support are passed on from one generation to another.

'We were taught to love our brothers, to go out with our brothers," Muhammad says. "My father, for one, warned me never to take home any 'half.. breed' children. I didn't think much about whether that was racist at that time because it seemed so natural to me."

Sometimes the line between ethnic pride and outright segregation is very fine. Rios recalls one time when a group of women from the BSU came into the office of the Movimiento Estudiantil Chicanos de Aztlan (MEChA), the Latino student union. They were angry with the Latinas because they thought they were "stealing" too many African..American ·men.

"I was quite amused," Rios says. "It was strange to see how possessive they were about their men. They seemed to think that just because they were black, they owned every black man on campus. I don't know if it could be called racism, but it was certainly a racial conflict."

The media may reinforce these stereotypes. Kaly Soto, the first 'woman of color to be appointed editor of the Oregon Daily Emerald, thinks much of the prejudice that minority groups harbor may be alleviated by reestablishing a good relationship between the media and ethnic groups. Last year, the BSU and other ethnic student unions accused the campus daily of being racist after it published mug shots of African..American athletes charged with sexual harassment. Soto thinks the Emerald's treatment of the black students reflects the way most papers cover minority conflicts. As an example, she refers to the 1991 shooting of an African..American girl by a Korean shopkeeper in LA. "That wasn't typical at all," Soto says. "But the media kept harping on it all the time, until people eventually began to think that it reflected a common trend. It fits every stereotype: the Asian American as a greedy entrepreneur, and the African American as a criminal and a parasite on society.

The media has a lot of responsibility in deciding what kinds of ster'eotypes people form."

Soto says that minority youths don't find any realistic role models in the media. "If they read the papers and watch television, they'll think they have a choice of becoming either an athlete, singer, drug dealer, or police officer. And I, as a Latina in the newspaper business, find it hard to visualize myself in an editorial position, simply because I never see or hear anything about Latinos who have succeeded in their fields."

Professor Spigner thinks that education is the only antidote to racial prejudice.

"Stereotypes originate in ignorance. And to fight . , Ignorance, we ve got to improve education," he says.

Tired of the lack of response to his ideas about teaching multiculturalism, Spigner is taking a leave of absence from the U of 0 to teach at the University of Washington in Seattle this fall. "Our whole educational system should reflect a willingness to change people's attitudes. The topic of race, however ambiguous that term may be, should be incorporated in every relevant class in college: biology, history, and political science.

The fundamental changes needed to change people's stereotypes aren't going to take place in one single class, but in the whole university experience.

Breaking down stereotypes is a long process where a perspective of history is necessary to appreci':lte every little accomplishment on the way to a less prejudiced society." B "

·· . · My .

Brothr' Keeper~ , . b~ James Walugembe

Glen Lekalakala i.s a 34-year~0Id math major. who grew up experienGing racism as a black South African. By:age seven lie had already heard of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and many otHer African Americans at the forefront of the civil rights movement.

Lekalakala wanted to meet the. African Americans who were , facing similar oppression discrim"ination. To Him, tkey were his brothers and sisters.

James Harris, an ¥rican-Americanjoumalism major, knew les~~flboutb\fric~ in his youth than::tek~akali:did ut America.

His preconceptions about Africawere b~ed largely on itsnegattVe portrayal in the western media. Harris remembers seeingcartoons ~. portraying Africans as. animals. These images remained until dev~~oped;a fri€pdship witfi an ~ricm;co ..workerFL"He;was j ,;ot another human being," says Harris.

Today, both Harris and Lekalakalaattend the University of Oreg~n. While Mrican and Mric~;U.caq:stu ts ID:~Y haie many dUngs in"common, tile two"gro s do'"'not seem t6';have'a close relationship. Despite shared skin color and ancestry, their historical and cultural experiences are quite different.

Danien~ McGonaga, a 2j~yea£~old gricari~Ani c ud at the U of 0, 'says, "I thought they were more studious arid considered us stupid. I thought Africans viewed us as too into ~: white culJ~re because we do t . gs like s 'ght,@R OUli Ita '~:" '~i; Yosief Em6aye, aU of 0 Mrican sm ent,says, SutlM, tItey us we shouldn't hang ou~ with black Americans because they're dangerous. There wer~ even classes offered to prepa~e us to come ,o,here." ,~ Stereotypes like this persist. After more than three years in Oregon, Lekalakala feels disappointed because he Has not conn,ected withAfrica~-AmericaIl,stud~nts. '~Altho~gh rye been very"open, eve(Yone I have met could 'not go 6eyori8 saying 'Hey you,'" he says. He remembers the reception he received upon greeting fellow blacks in South Mrica. "Even strangers on the streets were very receptive. There was a sens~ of o~eness."

Cultural differences aside, both groups sawthe need to address the gap between them. Last February the Black Student Union's African-American Male Support Group sponsored a f(}fum t~ address differences between African and "Mrican-Anieri students as well as prevailing stereotypes. The groups met and agreed that it is important for all students of African descent to form a close campus commnnity.rhey realized that any gap was a result of misunderstanding rather than ill Will, and agreed to continue these types of forums in an effort to increase mutual understanding. laVon Pierce, a 22-year-old African-American student, agrees.

"I always thought, 'We're in the same boat'; they're around whites trying to make it just like we are." And Lekalakala hopes they can bridge the gap. "We both have to acknowledge that despite the difference in our experiences, we are Africans -" thus brothers and sisters." En

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itity, this figure is surprising.

While society claims that racial and cultural differences are too hard to bridge, the five students who spoke with Flux rarely see their diversity as an obstacle.

Rather, their ethnicities only become relevant when society reminds them of their differences. In many cases, these differences actually enrich the experience.

by Calley Anderson & Kathleen Holt Photos by Kim Nguyen 1

Shannon: My family wants to see me with a black woman because of the struggles that blacks have gone through. But they also want me to be happy. When I showed them pictures of Tara and I together, the first thing they asked was, "Is she white?" And I said, "No, she's half,black, half-white. I got the best of both worlds."

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Tara: I consider myself in the middle; I'm half,and..half and there's no way I can break it down. I can't make myself be one thing or the other.

There's a bond in this town and in other areas where black people are the real minority. You always say hi. That bond isn't there for me because no one can tell what ethnicity I am. I usually get ignored, and when we're together, sometimes Shannon gets ignored too.

Yin and Mike (Left) Yin: We're hoping to get married in Singapore, but I haven't told my family about Mike yet. I guess my mom's a little bit old.. fashioned. The first time I dated somebody of a different race, she was just so mad at me.

It was awful living in her house because she wouldn't speak to me for two months.

Mike: I called once and her mother answered. I got all nervous and hung up. Then I called again and her mother answered again. I said, "This is Michael Wilczek from the Associated Press. We've got some possibilities for your daughter. Just pass on the message; she knows how to get ahold of me." Yin got the message.

Douffy and Rachel (Below) Douffy: If you are in an interracial or intercultural relationship, sometimes instead of trying to find a solution you blame it on the culture or blame it on the difference of culture, instead of talking about the . difference of character. The problems are really your problems.

Rachel: I value Douffy's culture and that doesn't have to do with his race - it has to do with who he is. I don't want to say that I'm totally colorblind. I under.. stand that he has different pressures and expectations on him than I do, and I try to bring that understanding into the relationship. Race doesn't matter, but the culture does, tpe person does.

Stacey and Ted (Above) Stacey: My father was black, my mother is white. So I've pretty much been raised in multicultural relation.. ships. I don't have a problem with it. We're not like, "Oh my God. We're multicultural."

Ted: Say it isn't so!

Stacey: I don't know, it's not a big issue for us.

Ted: I think we knew each other a year before she asked me what I thought she was. I just kind of looked at her and said, "Pale black." And she gave me this really funny look, and we just kind of went about our business.

Mitch and Susanne (~ight) Mitch: None of her friends were surprised when we started dating. My friends were. They asked the same old question: "Is this still going on?" You can tell that they can't see any future in this relationship. It wasn't until we decided to move in together that they acknowleged it was serious and they accepted it.

Susanne: I've learned so much from this relationship.

Living together can be like living with another culture. If I were with someone who I grew up with, who I went to high school with, there wouldn't be that challenge. I think that makes the relationship much more interesting.

It is a woman's right to refuse sex when she doesn't want it.

Sex is only legal when both parties agree to it. Otherwise it's rape.

D ATE

RAP E

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( RIM E

Vernon Reid, guitarist for the ground..breaking black rock band Living Colour, has been immersed in the world of music for more than 20 years. His musical interests and expertise range from rhythm and blues to funk to hard rock to jazz.

Reid, who was born in London in 1958 to West Indian parents, grew up in culturally rich Brooklyn, New York. In the early 1980s, he played guitar for jazz drummer Ronald Shannon Jackson's Decoding Society. Reid founded Living Colour as a trio in 1984. Shortly after, he and Village Voice writer Greg Tate founded the Black Rock Coalition, dedicated to dismantling rock and roll's racial barriers and expressing the views of b lack musicians. Reid has also written for Village Voice as well as composed a large..scale multimedia theater piece.

In an early..morning interview from his home in New York City, Vernon Reid expresses his thoughts about race and music.

Have you run into preconceived notions of what Living Colour is about?

There's stereotypes about what rock and roll is, what black men do, and how we are. Who defines what's black? That's the question. That's been a main question throughout my whole life and will continue to be a factor in the work that I do. Who defines what blackness is, and who even has the right to do it? Even defining Africa is some kind of catch..all because people talk about being Afrocentric. To be African in East Africa is very different from what it is to be African in West Africa.

That makes sense because to be

considered black in LA would mean something totally different to someone from New York. What does it mean for you when people say, "This is black music"?

[Sighs.] Well, on the first hand, there's a certain rhythm, a certain sense of space and time and of melody and harmony that is a cultural mainstay.

There is the aspect of call and response, the aspect of syncopation, certainly the aspect of vamping, what it is to groove, what it is to swing, to wail, to cry, what

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1994

it is to show and prove. All of these things are aspects of black music. But at the same time there are cultural imperatives and these cultural imperatives are not racial imperatives.

Any examples?

I just did a tribute to Curtis Mayfield at the 1994 Grammy Awards.

The guitarists were Bruce Springsteen, myself, Bonnie Raitt, B.B. King, and Steve Cropper. Now, Bonnie Raitt and Steve Cropper, and to a degree Bruce Springsteen, have immersed themselves in cultural aspects of black music. Steve Cropper played guitar on all of Otis Redding's songs. That music is culturally identifiable as black music, but" racially, Booker T. & the MGs were a mixed band with Donald "Duck" Dunn and Steve Cropper being white members.

You really like to get away from

the notion that skin color equals your music style.

It's a very funny thing. There are certain African cultures where a white person could be considered a member of the tribe if they perform certain duties to certain deities and do a certain amount of service to the tribe. Once these things are done, you are considered a member. It doesn't deal really with race.

What are your feelings about rap music and young rappers such as Snoop Doggy Dogg and Tupac Shakur?

There's a saying, "Freedom is a path seldom traveled by the multitude."

There is a real unwillingness for artists such as Tupac Shakur to really work . independently of the posse. You know what I mean?

Yeah, like Arrested Development.

Yeah. In a way, this is something I can't feel because I have never had a conflict with who I am as a black person or an African American and what it means, because I've always been so strange and so out there.

So they don't want to mess with

you?

No. It's always been like me and my strange friends and we kinda formed an outside posse. You dig what I'm saying?

I do.

Part of what's going on is an incredible amount of negative peer

pressure. The very idea of what it is and . what it means to be a brother is at the center of the controversy. It's almost to the point where if a cat actually stays with his woman and raises a child he can't really be down. So many have stepped off. In fact, it has become the thing to do, which is not cool at all.

And then they brag about it on

their record.

Yeah. There's one rap video that really is kind of foul [H..Town's "Knockin' da Boots"]. He was talking all this stuff about how he was romancing this girl. His last line is, "Oh, and by the way, I was taping it."

The whole video shows his boys in the living room looking at the TV. Looking at the screen, you don't realize that he's basically mugging for a video he's going to show back to his boys. This is the level of real antipathy and disrespect that exists between young black men and women. And it didn't suddenly happen. It's been cooking for years.

When me and my friends saw that video we were like, "This is

ridiculous."

[Laughing.] A lot of it is not real but what cats wish they could do. You know, I think in order for there to be a tomorrow, there has to exist better and more vulnerable communication between the sexes. At the same time, women are talking about coming back strapped [armed], saying, "You didn't have to diss me - I'm going to get a TEC..9 and take you all out and let the innocent hang with the guilty." That's a delightful fantasy when someone pisses you off, but in reality that's no solution at all. Everybody laughed at Rodney King for showing compassion. All the stand.. up comedians talk about "Can we get along?" He was told he was weak or whatever, but I mean, he literally saw, from the injustice done to him, 60 lives taken.

A very big mix of

people - not all black, not all white.

Oh, absolutely. That's the thing. I'm a sci..fi fan and time travel is an interesting thing to me. We kind of fantasize about going back and what happens if maybe you could stop your pops from beating your mom. Well, in reality, every time a young person is taken out, the future is altered.

What about gangster rap?

The gangster thing is, for me, really played. But the problem is, rage is a commodity. It's like, no one's really angry, or they're angry, but they're angry in quotations, you know, because their anger is what gets them plenty of fansplenty of white fans. Their rage, their anger, is something that's used to sell things. Their records go up the charts and it's nothing personal, it's strictly business and that's the problem - black music is becoming very, very impersonal. It's also because of capitalism and the idea that selling it equals quality and that's not true. That was never the case before. Something can be great and not sell but it would still be recognized as being great. A lot of pop singers sound like Stevie Wonder or Donny Hathaway, but they don't have any of the real - they're not risking anything. Donny Hathaway, who committed suicide, in every note of his singing, there's emotional pain and risk.

I don't hear that in Jodeci - there's no emotion at all. There's a lot of groups that sing very well and sound very good, but put on their records and then put on Otis Redding's Greatest Hits and you'll see the difference. You'll see what's left black music. There was a song Public Enemy did called "Who Stole the Soul?" Soul is really about a sense of communal belonging, you know, like that song "I Know You Got Soul" by Bobby Byrd. "I know you got soul else you wouldn't even be here." I know you got soul, that soulfulness, that, "You are my brother," you know what I mean?

And it's not even just a black thing. If white folks come in here and not act like fools, well, cool.

So again, it's not

skin equals music style.

It's not, that's the thing. On one level, music is supposed to have this redemptive quality. That's what the blues is all about, and the blues is dying in black music. It doesn't have to be the blues, per se, by the form of it, but the feeling of the blues, of, "This is my life and don't you understand it?"

When I say this, everybody's gonna go, "mm hmm," you know what I mean?

The "mm hmm" is not there anymore.

You can't blame it on crossover. You

Spring

FLt,X

1994

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can't blame it on anything but decisions we are making.

And the "we" being?

"We" being black people who are creating. The whole idea of revealing oneself is something that is missing in hip..hop. The, "You know what? I am in pain." Not, "I'm the baddest motherfucker on the block and I am going to get a TEC..9, or whatever is the gun of the week, and start shooting people to prove my manhood." Part of it is saying, "You know what? I am hurting.

You left me and that hurts." Not saying, "Bitch this" and "Bitch that," but saying, "This is hurting."

How they sing it in the blues.

Men in the blues are cats who have worked hard every day. Young black men now act like they're the only men that ever suffered in this country, and really, they don't got the right, you know what I'm saying? Compared to what brothers were going through in 1930, they don't have the right.

In what direction do you think rap is going? ,It's almost like tribal music. Rappers group themselves according to their geographical location; within geographical locations, there'll be subdivisions. In New York City, rappers delineate themselves by whether they're from Queens, or Brooklyn, or Staten Island, or the Bronx. N ow if you pull back, then all of these groups in the major cities like Philadelphia or whatever become part of a larger group called the East Coast rappers. Tension exists between the East Coast rappers and the West Coast rappers - rappers from the Bay Area, Seattle, and Los Angeles. I think hip..hop is one of the most volatile genres because its history is so tied to technology and so tied to the music of the past through samples and recordings. Hip..hop is very trend.. conscious music. It is very conscious of itself and its effect, and that's because of the media. There is no underground because you can hear roughneck beats on Gap commercials. Hip..hop is a culture. I mean, the dance thing, the artwork, and the music exist primarily to say, "I am. I exist., I am here. I live. I am a human being." This is something that's really misunderstood such as in vandalism - outlaw art because it's defacing public property. If someone's just working their style out, they're not going to be putting pretty pictures on the wall. And, of course, a lot of people just pick up a spray can with no artistic ability at all. People moan about it and

say they should do this through acceptable channels, but acceptable channels don't exist to tell the black and Latino child that they're worth anything. Academic channels exist so you can prove yourself a credit to your race, but there isn't anything that's going to tell you that you, as you are, as you live right now, are worth something.

What was your role in forming the Black Rock Coalition?

I was the person who called everybody. I was the one that said, "Is it me, or is this some really small shit happening?" And quite possibly everyone could have turned around and said, "It's you!" I would have said OK and turned in my application at the post office. I'm not involved in the everyday funning of it. I am more in an advisory role, but the organization is still going strong and it's finally, after many years, put out a record. It's called "Blacker Than That."

What would you say the coalition has been the most effective at?

Bringing awareness, I think.

What do you mean by that?

It made people aware that there was a problem with racial identification in music. If a man decides to be a sculptor, well, being a sculptor is not a common thing in the black community, but people won't question his blackness if he's a sculptor.

They'll just say, "Oh, this is what he does." Whereas because music is so identified with the community, and the church, and social gatherings such as dancing, the kind of music a black person plays is bound up with their identity.

If a rap group approached the BRC and wanted to be a part of it,

how would you respond?

Oh, most definitely, I'd be with it.

In fact, the Black Rock Coalition should have made more contact with people in hip..hop years ago. Rap music, at one point, was people doing it for the love of it - a lot of people were exploited because they were not doing it to make money.

What do you think about white rap artists?

It's inevitable. I know M.C. Serch and he is bonafide. He's got skills and he's clever. I was really shocked when I turned on the TV and saw Vanilla Ice with dreadlocks and a joint, basically, you know, running this whole thing that he's a roughneck hoodie and the "Ice, Ice, Baby" was not really him, but

this is who he really is. It's obviously a construct that wouldn't exist without the popularity of reggae, the popularity of Cypress Hill, and the resurgence of marijuana, which I'm actually quite grateful for. Even though marijuana' makes you sit around and eat Twinkies all day, if they could move away from heroin and this crack cocaine thing I'd be more than happy to see that.

Who do you listen to when you're just chillin'?

A lot of things. In a day's listening: Soundgarden, Gang Starr, Sonny Boy Williamson, and Erik Satie. I have more of an eclectic taste than most.

Were you influenced by Jimi Hendrix?

Absolutely. Jimi was a complete original. His influence on me was to be original and not to be afraid to be weird and out there. Hendrix is someone we still deal with and talk about and look at. People speculate endlessly about what he would have done. I saw something in Spy called "What if they had lived?" It was this fake ad about musicians lending their music to advertisers. They'd put together this thing called Foxy Lady Wine Cooler, Jimi Hendrix in this suit doing an ad.

The most unfortunate and not funny thing about it is, even though it's a parody, it's absolutely plausible considering the kind of model his business was in. He might have actually gotten to the point where he was in debt and would have to do it. It's speculation that's not pretty. I want to think about him doing things with Miles Davis, and I know he would've.

Jimi's like Kurt Cobain. Death sort of defines the parameters of a man's life and a man's art. I'm sure they'll find bits and pieces of Nirvana, demos and all kinds of things, but it essentially ended on that day, so whatever they find ...

They can only piece it together.

They can only piece it together.

Kurt Coba'in had become an artifact.

What's your opinion about his suicide?

Well, I think on the one hand it was a real howl of pain. It was like, "You're not going to get me, you're not going to get me." I think on one level, I'd have to say it was kind of a coward's way out. I think on another level, he was sending some very, very ,clear and definite messages to his wife. Everyone talks of her strength - I'm sure now the feminist posse is going to circle the wagons around, although I'm not negative about that. From all accounts, Spring

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she was a really troubled person and she could be really hateful to him, but at the same time, she did a lot of things to try and save him. I feel really, really bad for his daughter.

Do you think music is becoming more diverse? In 1991 Living Colour was involved with the Lollapalooza tour.

Lollapalooza was great, something new that joins a lot of different races, styles of music, and people all in one tour.

If you were in charge of getting the bands together, what would you include?

Definitely more blues and jazz. This is something Bill Graham used to do years ago in the old Fillmore Ballroom in San Francisco. He would have a blues

keep coming in, which I think is real dangerous. It's hard to say if it can stay independent.

Do you see yourself as a leader?

That's a good question. I am not completely comfortable with saying yes or no. I think my roles change. I have led, because somebody had to make the phone calls. I think I've been really privileged, but that will come by an aspect of hard work as well. I've certainly seen musicians that I respect pass on unrecognized. I've seen that a lot. Part of it is about giving back, and part of it is about my own feelings. Not because I feel oblig~ted or guilty or weird, but because I really want to.

When someone reaches a certain status, some people say you have to give something back.

you're not going to have the cultural preparation or spiritual preparation. It's all interconnected.

Interracial relationships deal with interconnectedness. What's your take on interracial dating?

There are problems with men and women communicating. A person could be from your tribe, your clan, your whatever and you're still going to have a problem because men and women communicate differently. You're also going to have to realize while you're in the idyllic state of euphoria that is the drug of love, there is reality. Because love is about disrupting things. It is life in its essence. While you and the other person may communicate on a deep level, all your people around you aren't going to communicate on that same

group or whatever opening for a rock artist because tastes were not so regimented then. In the '70s things became very regimented. I think right now, and for a long time, people have just been very narrow.

Does mainstream radio help restrict listeners' selections?

I hate to say this, but part of the problem is that a lot of the same people that have been programming are still programming. People don't give their gigs up because the music changes.

What do you think of campus radio stations?

I think the fact that you can hear songs you don't necessarily get a chance to hear is a good thing. Soundgarden could only get played on college radio at one point. I think the mainstream, in terms of what people are buying, is changing. Now there's also a lot of pressure for college radio to become real formatted and uptight for the money to

I think it's important. I have a friend, a musician, that teaches at a public school. I've been talking to him about coming in and talking to the students just to say, "You have lives that are important and you're not just expendable ragamuffins." That's something kids need to hear and not just from their parents - hopefully their parents are even telling them that.

People have children for any number of reasons; at a certain age, the implications can't be completely thought out. I don't care how grown a 16.. year.. old girl thinks she is, she is not ready. Maybe in another culture, an agrarian culture where there's an extended family and they marry young and all that, there's a very clear sense of why a 15 . . year.. old would have a child: so that by the time she's 30, she'll have a 15 . . year.. old helper. But unless you have those cultural safety valves, like grandparents and great.. grandparents,

level. I had a friend years ago, a brother that went out with a white woman. Her family actually had her kidnapped.

Personally, I would like for there to be better relationships between black men and black women. For many years, I've been pretty adamant about only going out with black women. I still think that's who I'm mainly attracted to, but I certainly would not advocate the exclusion of connecting with people of other races. If it's genuine.

If it's genuine and there's real emotion ••• No one can say you're wrong.

If you had a child, what would you want him or her to hear and pick up from your music, say, 20 years from now?

Well, at least, that here was someone that, rightly or wrongly, enjoyed their life, enjoyed what it was to be alive. And tried to say something, or said something.

That's the best way I can put it. Ej]

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10. Discovering that the party you and your friend Todd were trying to crash is definitely not the Phi Gamma Delta's.

9.Major problems with

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the gravity thing.

S. Getting a visa bil1il. larg·er than the gross 7.

Waking up wit h

national product of Liechtenstein.

someone who looks remarkably like your uncle Bob.

6. Ramming your boyfriend Nigel's new 911 Porche into Officer Otis's 9-1-1 Ford squad car.

5. Leaving your patented "1-900" phone message for Trixie on Elizabeth's answering mach ine.

4. A compulsion toeat bar appetizers with names like "Buffalo Chips" and "Mystery Nuggets."

3, Cashing in on "Special No Refund" deal for a 7-volume set of Acme Encyclopedias that guy with pencil mustache and checkered coat sold you at Ernie's 2•

Funny lingering odors from t he

eleven pickled eggs you ate last night.

1. On a recent trip to Reno, Elvis asks you to dance ••• and then later to have his baby. But.__ the next morning you wake up and realize, "Bey, that wa snit really Elvis at all ••• "

ENJOY YOURSELF, BUT PLEASE DRINK RESPONSIBLY. Anheuser • Busch

IF YOU VVANT TO They met at a stop sign.

"Wheels of Fortune" and "Weaving the Web" promote artistic Emery Blackwell sat patiently on his bicycle expression, unity, and mutuality. at a Eugene, Oregon, intersection in 1988, minding his own And also understanding. "We decided one of the things we business, when a cheerful man approached and handed him a flier. wanted to do was change the way people saw wheelchairs and The man was chattering about a Danceability workshop where those in wheelchairs," Alessi says. "A lot of people want to look disabled andable..bodied people dance together, and encouraging but they don't. We want to give permission to look and possibly to Blackwell, who has cerebral palsy, to come and check it out. "You'll learn how to look differently. Our intention is to show you love it," the smiling man assured him. something you've never seen before and to give you a different "At first I thought he was crazy," Blackwell recalls. He way of looking at something you've been afraid of." accepted the flier from the friendly stranger, then pedaled off. He "The 'Wheels of Fortune' piece is about how people perceive dismissed the incident. wheelchairs or how people perceive disability or support," Alessi But later, a friend of Blackwell's asked him to attend a explains. "So we made this performance where we say, 'Here's something to look at - why don't you look at this?'" contact improvisation workshop with him. There he met Alito Alessi, the smiling stranger from the stop sign. And he discovered Alessi and Blackwell use dance and contact improvisation as dance: He discovered contact improvisation. a means of expression and communication. Blackwell, who spent Contact improvisation, a dance form conceived by performing years lobbying for the rights of the disabled, says dance is often artist Steve Paxton in 1972, is a form of non..verbal communication more powerful than talk. "Dance has helped me reach more people based primarily on the sense of touch. than my years lobbying the legislature Disabled and able..bodied dancers find apoint have," he explains. "I have spent hours of contact, then experiment with that point, intellectually talking about equality, using balance, counter..balance, support, equal access, how we are people too, just momentum, and even the force of gravity. like everybody else. I'd talk and talk and At first, Blackwell was suspicious of make small progress. But one dance and Alessi and the workshop. He figured it people just get it. I figured out I could was some sort of physical therapy. He'd communicate easier without talking." be expected to move his body in ways Blackwell and Alessi and other which were awkward and uncomfortable dancers - both disabled and able .. for him while able..bodied therapists bodied - tour worldwide and perform, watched impatiently. But he soon spreading word ofcontact improvisation. recognized there was something different They orchestrate Danceability work.. about this workshop - about this shops to teach others the dance form. contact improvisation. It worked with his Above and right: Emery Blackwell, who has cerebral palsy, Alessi says public response has been body and with his natural range of mo.. performs with Alito Alessi using contact improvisation. overwhelming. "Everywhere we go, tions; it didn't oppress or try to distort people say, 'You can't do this,' but his movements. Disabled and able..bodied people were dancing everywhere we go we have workshops with 80, 90, a hundred together, moving together in ways which were natural and relaxed. people," he says. "Sometimes we get a little resistance and fear in Able ..bodied dancer Alessi, co..founder of Danceability, the beginning. But as soon as we start working and we develop explains further: "When you put two bodies together and they begin an atmosphere of trust and exploration that's open and non.. moving with a sense of receptivity and openness, and not resisting judgmental, people tend to open up." each other, then there's a kind of natural flow and movement," says The Danceability Project excludes no one. Utilizing the Alessi, who's been working with contact improvisation since 1973. techniques of contact improvisation, dance really is possible for "We're not playing therapists. We're not doing therapy. We're artists. everyone. Says Alessi: "We just worked on a piece that had three We're dancers. We're dancing. We're making art. That's our focus: ere.. people who couldn't walk, one person who couldn't talk, one per.. ative expression. We don't have a desire to change anybody; people son who couldn't see, a woman with severe arthritis, another guy come as they are, move as they want." who was a paraplegic, a woman with a head injury, and Emery."

Once he realized what it was all about, Emery Blackwell got "Dance is a form of communicating, and everybody can hooked on contact improvisation, and he and Alessi became communicate. You just need to figure out what mode of friends. They began dancing together in 1990 and have collabo.. communication you can use to be creative together - you find rated on half a dozen routines since then. Their pieces, which the common ground," says Alessi. "If somebody in the group range in length from seven to 30 minutes, are sometimes can only move their eyes, then we'll devise systems of dancing shocking - with dramatic music and unusual use of wheelchairs with our eyes. Whatever it takes to get everybody working and crutches as props - and always thoughtful. Pieces such as equally." EIl

By Danielle Birkin photos By Michael Shindler

Disabled and able-bodied artists communicate through movement

In the photo on this and the following pages, young prostitutes in Bombay's Falkland Road red-light district wait for customers and transact their business.

The Nepalese children who are forced or tricked into prostitution often end up here or in similar brothels in Calcutta.

As prostitutes return home, AIDS is returning with them all happened so suddenly. While working with her mother in the fields, a man had come to talk with her father. They talked for a long time, watching her every move. Later she was told to pack her bags. Her fears were realized. She was going to work in India. Before she could say goodbye, the man had returned to take her away from her village of Melamchi. In an initial transaction of several thousand rupees, Geeta's life was changed forever.

Geeta is only one of hundreds of thousands of girls who have been drawn into the illegal sex trade among various South Asian countries. "Girl trafficking" is an international crime in which young women, usually between the ages of 10 and 23, are sold, kidnapped, or tricked into forced prostitution. In Nepal, sex..trade issues have recently been addressed as a direct result of returning prostitutes, such as Geeta, finally speaking out. Only in these last few years have the horrors of their exploitation become public knowledge. Yet today the public has more to con.. front than the social and legal issues involved, for as prostitutes return home, AIDS is returning with them. .

Many social, religious, and cultural conditions contribute to girl trafficking in Nepal, including the status of women, the history of prostitution, the lack of education, and naivete.

However, the fundamental reason is widespread poverty. As Gauri Pradhan, founder of Child Workers in Nepal (CWIN), says, "Poor people are being forced to sell everything, including their women." An estimated 200,000 Nepalese girls are working the sex markets in India today,

Photos By Pamela Singh

By Liesl Messerschmidt -I

II .

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Indian men and boys. They are also consid.. ered less reserved than Indian prostitutes and more likely to perform naked than partially clothed.

Geeta and others serviced up to 30 eli.. ents in a single day, from young school boys, to soldiers, to drunk and violent men who bashed and bruised their bodies. They tell stories of sharing rooms with three to four other women, separated only by a cloth parti.. tion and with an open, smelly latrine outside the door. They tell stories of being beaten for spending more than 10 minutes with a single client, of receiving only a single meal a day, and of not being allowed to leave the brothel.

And now, they tell the story of AIDS.

according to ABC/Nepal, a local non..profit organization. With about 5,000 more girls arriving annually, it is a trade that has proved highly profitable. ocated in the Himalayas, Nepal is a small country renowned for its di.. verse cultures and magnificent mountains. These steep and abrupt landscapes, however, make farm.. ing and other subsistence activities difficult in many regions. Although villagers work hard, it is still a struggle to make ends meet, especially during the "hungry" months before the harvest. Unemployment and poverty are widespread.

Nepal is one of three countries in the world where women have a lower life expect.. ancy than men (the other two are Bangladesh and Bhutan). Reflecting their socio..economic inferiority and lower access to resources, women tend to live an average of 52.3 years compared to 55.4 years for men, according to UNICEF. Whereas male children are needed for religious functions and to carryon the patrilineal traditions, girls are often consid.. ered economic strains to be quickly married or forced into wage..labor.

Education is hard to come by in the rural mountain villages, and for girls schooling is either limited or unavailable. "Access to edu.. cation reflects and sustains women's status in society," says Neelam Basnet of Nepal's Min.. istry of Education and Culture. Geeta and all her seven sisters were prohibited from attend.. ing school. Both of her brothers, however, completed the tenth grade.

A signatory of the UN Convention, Nepal is directed by Article 34 to protect children from all forms ofsexual exploitation.

Several Acts within the Constitution ofNepal are meant to protect women against traffick.. ing as well, but they are ambiguous. The penalties that do exist are likewise vague and rarely enforced. Many politicians, police, and government officials have often found it lu.. crative to tum their backs on trafficking ac.. tivities in exchange for a percentage of the profits, an amount that far exceeds their sala.. ries.

The man had given Geeta something to eat on the bus. It had tasted bitter, and she found it impossible to resist falling asleep.

Sometime deep in the night she was dragged off

the bus and abandoned by her recruiter at a brothel. Drugged and delirious, she did not at first realize what was happening to her, but came to understand that an Indian "client" had paid lots of money to take her virginity. When she protested, she was punished.

There is a long history of prostitution in Nepal. The first known traditions were those of the Deuki. For centuries the Deuki women

40

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ith the increase in sexually transmitted diseases, espe.. cially the AIDS virus, pros.. titutes like Geeta are at a much greater risk than any other segment of the population. Random HIV tests conducted in Bombay between 1986 and 1990 showed an increase in the percentage ofprostitutes testing HIV positive from next to zero to more than 25 percent, according to Shanta Basnet Dixit, an inde.. pendent social worker and AIDS expert.

They said she was an economic burden, that she had AIDS, a strange sickness from the devil. She had been bleeding for weeks, and couldn't keep food down. Feverish and sore, she was unable to serve any clients. So they gave her a few hundred rupees and her clothes, and took her to the bus station. They sent her home, but she had no home to return to.

played an important role in religious rituals by providing sexual services in the temples. It was considered good luck and even rejuve.. nating to have sexual relations with them, and their nighttime activities were therefore accepted.

The area most associated with girl traf.. ficking in Nepal today is Sindupalchok, where Geeta grew up. The practice here also has historical roots, dating back to 1850 when a ruling family called the Ranas seized dictato.. rial control of the entire country. They de.. manded a regular supply ofyoung girls to work in their elaborate palaces as wet nurses, enter.. tainers, and maids. However, the girls discov.. ered after reaching the palaces that being a "maid" meant they were expected to perform sexually for their masters. When the Ranas lost their control in 1950, many of these girls were sent to India to work in the brothels.

One of the main reasons trafficking re.. mains tolerated is widespread ignorance of the problem. Most Nepalese don't know what horrors the girls and women experience, or

what the direct results of their labor will be.

The effects of the drug blurred her first encounter with a client, but this soon wore off. Refusing to comply with the madam's orders, she was secluded in a dark room and subjected to repeated rapes, sometimes by several men at once. She was denied food, burned with cigarettes, whipped and beaten with iron bars. Step by step her will was broken and her hopes were dashed. Step by step she grew weaker, less able to fight her situation, until she finally gave in. While girls in other parts of the world were experiencing their first kisses, Geeta was learning how to survive servicing 20 to 30 clients a day.

There are several ways by which young N ep8.lese girls are taken to India. The most blatant is kidnapping, often by a trusted rela.. tive or family friend who sedates them with drugs. Often a girl's parents sell her to an agent, believing they are sending her off to a better life, completely ignorant of what their

daughter will be forced to do. Geeta doesn't know if her father knew she was to become a prostitute, although she suspects he did.

Another common method of obtaining young girls is what might be termed a false marriage. A distant relative travels to the village of a potential victim, "falls in love," and then asks her father for permission to marry. Soon after the wedding, hetakes her to India for what is supposed to be a "better life," turns her over to a brothel owner, and disap.. pears.

Today it is becoming more common for girls to be taken directly out of the factories in Nepal. With the growing industrial activities ofthe country, many children are finding jobs in the cities and towns, particularly in the carpet and brick factories. Faced with difficult jobs in strange environments, these wide.. eyed girls are easy targets for recruiters from the Indian sex markets. The glamour of Bombay and Calcutta, as shown in the popu.. lar Hindu movies, only adds to the naivete of people who believe these distant and magical

The only reason Geeta stopped working at the age of 24 was that she became too sick cities will bring them wealth and an easy with AIDS. Many women who contract this lifestyle. They are quickly disillusioned. fatal disease are subsequently kicked out of the brothels to die or return home. One would One day a man came and took Geeta think that escaping from the horrors of an away from the brothel. He took her by bus and Indian brothel would be something to look train to Bombay, where he said she would be forward to, but sadly it is not. Uneducated and happier. Walking through the colorful and busy unable to marry, returning prostitutes are streets, she almost believed him. Knocking on ostracized by their communities and families. the door of a large house, she was taken in by a Many are forced to return to selling their fat Nepalese woman and several other bodies, for they know of no other way of surviving.

Nepalese girls her age. The man took his pay and left. This new brothel was to be her prison Geeta's treatment from society upon her for the next eleven years. return in 1991 is typical of the plight of many prostitutes. She weighed only 64 pounds when Geeta's experience at the first brothel . medical personnel found her at a tempIe where was her "breaking in" period. Her ultimate she had been begging for food. They secluded destination was a brothel in Bombay in the her in a broom closet in a Katmandu city famous Falkland Road district. With more hospital for fear of placing her anywhere else. than 200,000 prostitutes, this is the largest Because the doctors refused to attend to her, red..light area in all of South Asia. Nepalese all her basic necessities had to be provided by women are "foreign," with more Mongolian private donations. She was not expected to features and lighter skin. These characteris.. live. tics are traditionally favored in Indian soci..

Geeta's AIDS condition was exploited ety, making these women popular among by the Nepalese media when they took her

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41

photograph, while she was sleeping, and pub, lished it along with their misinformed opin, ions on the state ofher "sinful" disease. By the time she was released from the hospital, the whole country knew who she was and had come to fear her. She was the first publicly acknowledged prostitute with AIDS to return home to Nepal.

When she finally returned to Melamchi, the village where she was born, she was iso, lated from all human contact and restricted from leaving her parents' house. The villagers threatened Geeta and her family, blaming her for having brought AIDS to their commu, nity. Since the villagers' only information about AIDS was based on fear and myths, they believed that if they walked on the same trails as Geeta, got water from the same tap, ate from the same pots, used the same hair, brush, or even touched her, they would con, tract the disease.

Geeta was accepted back into her com, munity, at least superficially, with the help of the ]hankri, or spiritual leader, whose daugh, ter also worked as a prostitute in India. This turn of events came after he explained to the villagers that Geeta wanted to commit sui, cide, and that if she did she would come back to haunt them for their responsibility in her death.

42

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A year after her return, in a display of strength and determination, Geeta marched into the office of ABC/Nepal and informed them that they were going to help her tell her story. They did. They offered Geeta her first chance to speak out in a widely circulated video, in which she warns other Nepalese women about prostitution and AIDS. "Society has put me where I am today," she said, "and as a result I have nothing to hide anymore, so why shouldn't I tell it right? It isn't embarrassing to me to talk about what I have been through."

Within the first two years since her re, tum to Nepal, Geeta became a leading spokes, woman on girl trafficking and AIDS issues.

Her message was broadcast on both radio and TV. Although she received several death threats, she was nevertheless determined to fight ignorance and tradition by spreading her message and helping potential victims avoid the horrors she experienced.

Since her initial publicity, many other prostitutes have come forward to tell their stories as well. Girl trafficking, especially in light of AIDS, has suddenly been recognized as a crucial problem facing Nepalese society.

Dr. Gurubacharya, Chief of the Nepali Gov, ernment AIDS Prevention and Control

Project, says, "Poor economies, fragmented health services, ignorance, and minimal me' dia coverage in most developing countries present a gloomy picture in the fight against AIDS. Developing and poor countries will pay a heavy price for the AIDS pandemic, since they are not prepared to cope with the social and economic implications."

Because of Geeta's efforts, Nepal has finally confronted girl trafficking and AIDS issues. Many non,profit organizations dedi, cated to fighting girl trafficking and dealing with the spread of AIDS have emerged to place these issues on the national agenda.

Most have adopted Geeta's belief that educa, tion is the basis for reaching any kind of solution. Although it is sad that it has taken AIDS to bring attention to the issues sur, rounding girl trafficking, the long,term im, plications of this modern disease are finally breaking down ignorance and age,old taboos.

It took AIDS to get girl trafficking recognized as the atrocity that it is.

In the spring of 1993 Geeta disappeared from the public eye. The press announced that she had died, but the claim was later proved to be false, merely an attempt to shut her up.

When concerned individuals traveled to Melamchi, they found her extremely sick. It is not known if she has died since then. EIl

afting down a white . . water . river is a lot like being lost in a . storm. The thunderous sound and crashing force of the waves toy with the rafters, and the boulders wait for boats to flip over. Joy Murphy, a University of Oregon student, was ta~~ng~her chqllces.

The North 路t:irtipqua was running

WHEN YOU DROP OUT OF LIFE FOR EIGHTEEN DAYS RAFTING THE GRAND

fast and Joy was breathing heavy. This was her first time in an inflatable kayak, and she was paddling hard to stay away from boulders that seemed to jump out at her around every bend. She was having the time of her life.

Murphy was just one of 11 students who were on a trip down the North Umpqua through the Uni-versity of Oregon Outdoor Program (UOOP). The stu-- Becca English hikes through dents themselves came up the Grand Canyon's with the idea. All they did Surprise Valley. was sign their name on a list, pack, and show up with the right attitude. No leaders followed them down the rapids, and the equipment and transportation were arranged through the program. The cost for each stu-dent was about $20.

Bruce Mason, who has been the UooP coordinator for 20 years, works with a staff of 14 - two professionals and 12 students.

"Think of us as a wilderness travel agency," he says, although he and his staff don't plan everything for the participants. The program is unique in that the students are the leaders, initiating the trips, shouldering costs and respon-sibilities, and deciding the where, when, and what they're going to do..

The University founded UOOP 25 years ago as an alternative to formal clubs. "That was the first time a cooperative approach to outdoor recreation was ever taken that we're aware of," says Mason. "And it results in maxi-mizing activities and minimizing bureaucratic overhead, so that the trips are uniquely inexpensive, and it leaves the students free to organize and pursue any kind of trip they want."

Previous page: Experienced kayaker Suzanne Pepin masters Redsides Rapids on Oregon's McKenzie River. Left: Rappelling down a cliff face in Cataract Canyon, Utah.

44

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CANYON, YOUR PERCEPTION OF WHAT'S IMPORTANT DRAMATICALLY CHANGES.

Braving Clover Rapids on the McKenzie.

At the UooP there are few limits - anywhere on the planet is fair game.

Many world--class expeditions have been arranged through the program, includ-ing six to the Himalayas. The program has helped students bicycle through Tibet, be the first to raft down white--water rivers in Nepal, and go sea--kayaking in Thailand.

The program has planned another major trip this summer: Thrill--seekers will brave the rapids in the Grand Canyon. Less ad-venturous students can also arrange hiking trips suited to their desires and abilities. Most of

these are quick weekend get--aways for those who need to escape their studies.

Dan Geiger, assistant director at the UOOP, says that this program affects peoples' lives more than any classroom.

"When you drop out of life for 18 days raft--

ing the Grand Canyon, your perception of what's important dramatically changes," he says. He should know: Geiger turned his life away from teaching English and towards the outdoors after a trip with UOOP. Because nature is the playground for all UOOP outings, members insist on

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Left: Admiring a view in the North Cascades National Park, Washington. Below: Suzi Phillips treks through Kongma La Pass, Nepal.

keeping the environment clean. The program's "minimum use guidelines," created in the early '70s, were groundbreaking. " 'Minimum use' means you go out and use ,an area without leaving any sign you were there," says Mason. "We have always led the way with trying to do activities in an environmentally friendly way."

The UooP also takes an active approach in cleaning up after less conscientious outdoor enthusiasts. In April, students scoured a 20..mile stretch of riverbanks along the Rogue in southern Oregon for the fourth year in a row. David Smith, a junior in history and environmental studies, has initiated the clean..up three times. "The river is one of the most popular in Oregon," he says. "Thousands of visitors use this re.. source every year, and it shows. We float down the river and pick up everything from tires, beer cans, and 55..gallon steel drums to thick rusted cables and destroyed rafts. It has to be done and this is our con.. tribution."

The adven.. ture trips, however, are the most popular.

After putting their boats into the North Umpqua's roaring

white water, the rafters discovered how to play chicken with the boulders. There were sev.. eral times when Laura Dale, who rowed one ofthe boats, seemed to think the rocks would flinch first. The result was exhilarating, but it probably wasn't all that dangerous. Like the rest of the group, Dale had the right equipment, experience, and attitude. After thousands of trips (from 220 to 270 each year), the UOOP has yet to report an ac.. cident. 'We aren't highly goal..oriented," says Mason. "It's not: Make the peak or die! It's: Make the peak or have lunch. The wrong attitude can definitely kill."

"Wow, the river just kind of drops down over there," one rafter yelled to Laura halfway through the ride. "Yeah," she replied, "do you want to take the oars now? You can handle it." And everybody cheered as the boat shot through the rapid unscathed. The other beginners were al.. lowed to handle the boats too, but only when conditions were right. Murphy, who braved the rapids for the first time in a kayak, enjoyed the adventure as well, even though she fell into the river just before a fairly big rapid. "I was a little scared," she said after being picked up, "especially when I got the kayak over my head, but otherwise it was fun." As Geiger, the trip initiator, put it at the pre..trip meeting: "We are a bunch of friends who just haven't met yet, and we're going out to boat together." EJl

IT'S NOT, MAKE THE PEAK OR DI E! IT'S, MAKE THE PEAK OR HAVE

LUNCH.

He drops the hood and replaces the cap to the jug of antifreeze. After tugging the door shut after him, he gives the engine a go. The motor reluctantly co~cedes to his gentle coaxing and finally turns over. Artis, only temporarily comforted by cooperation of motor and key, hopes his 75 Volvo survives the four-hour trip back to Seattle after the evening's performance. He needs to catch a flight for a gig in Denver in the morning.

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"I feel that irs OK to be . aggressive with spoons in the theatrical sense."

Behind the driver's seat, a bottle of magnesium pills is nestled be.. neath a beaten patchwork duffel and worn leather briefcase. The seat is covered with crumpled clothes, dusty couch pillows, a bag of blue corn tortilla chips, and a tub of tofu pate. Bells dangling from the roof clank against the side rear window as the car putters around a corner en route to another mid..morning breakfast at another hole.. in..the..wall cafe.

Artis the Spoonman, the itinerant, utensil..slapping guru, has made his living playing spoons for more than 20 years. Those years have found him weaving in and out of the limelight, appearing on Letterman, re.. cording with Frank Zappa, and performing with the Seattle Philharmonic Orchestra.

But with the recent release of Soundgarden's hit single "Spoonman" and the MTV video that features the spoon master himself, he's hitched a ride to number one on the top ten charts. He rarely goes anywhere anymore without somebody saying, "Hey, aren't you the guy I saw on TV?" He pulls into a cramped parking space, kills the engine, and jumps out, slamming the door. Fumbling in his pockets for loose change, he fills the meter and makes a quick stop at the pay phone. "I check my voice mail every couple of hours," says Artis, eas'ing his way into a corner booth.

"In a sense, it's a way of surrounding myself with my friends."

Spoons, as he's called by some, has been rattling his wares on both sides of the Continental Divide and on either side of the equator. He's attracted fans across the globe, appearing on Japan's Fuji TV and the United Kingdom's BBC. Soundgarden recently invited him to perform with their show in London.

In the "Spoonman" video he wears a shirt reading "SAVE YOUR..

SELF," because the song's lyrics hint to a growing cult..like following: Spoonman Come together with your hands Save me I'm together with your plan "Idolizing people ... it's the nature of the culture, I guess," he contemplates. "But you can only save yourself."

His breakfast burrito arrives, and he reaches into his breast pocket for his wooden spoon. "I only eat with my own uten.. sils," he says, while dabbing some extra..spicy sauce onto the whole..wheat tortilla. When asked if he ever eats with his playing spoons, he laughs. "Oh, God no! I'd get teta.. nus!" He eats in silence. When done, he wipes his outh and his spoon, and tucks it back into his vest pocket.

Artis actually does very little with spoons when performing alone. He recites poetry and performs his own duets while blowing two recorders ... one from his mouth and the other from his nose. "I long to play music, not stand up there alone and be the center of focus, although that's very attractive," he says. "I cer.. tainly do feed on it and appre.. ciate it, but that's not as satis.. fying as playing with a group."

Artis spends many week.. ends playing on the sidewalks of Seattle's Pike Place Market with acoustic guitarist Jim Page. lays his tightly bound quilted pouch on the ground be.. him. He opens it and sorts spoons from wooden ones tuning forks from pie servers.

"When I'm playing spoons, I'm ,路t-h1~Lr1r\rt primarily of impressing

you," he says. "Sometimes I'm thinking privately. I may be playing for a per.. son or I may be flirting with someone. It's all very private. I keep my eyes closed most of the time."

He is the syncopated visual interpreter of music, giving spoons new mean.. ing as he pounds them off of thigh, forearm, fingers, and face, sometimes draw.. ing blood when the metal finally breaks in two.

One almost expects him to lift off the ground as his arms whirl in a wind.. mill of sound. Each click of the spoons is tightly con.. trolled yet explosive. With each 1/64th of a beat the rhythmic maestro can in.. furiate an individual, stop a handful of passersby, or spellbind an audience of hundreds.

At first, onlookers are skeptical of the tie ..dyed pants, patchwork vest, bare feet, and mohawk.

But inevitably, they come to love the colorful 45 .. year..youth of a man who plays to provoke responses.

He likes attention. He thrives on it. Sometimes he demands it.

Aq.d Artis the Spoonman does nothing short of beating himself to get the revved..up roars of approval from the crowd. "I feel that it's OK to be aggressive with spoons in the theatrical sense," he says. "There is aggression in our lives that is not to be denied. As long as I'm not in someone's face and saying, 'Damn you, pay attention to me,' I can say it with spoons and be acceptable."

With tendinitis in both elbows and carpal tunnel syndrome in his right arm, Artis is putting on the brakes a bit. His body can't take the same beating it could a few years ago. "I don't expect spoons to be my vehicle forever. Only a few more years," he says. "I aspire to be a sage ... to be yogic and chilled."

Artis of spoons - he's a master, a jester, a fool. He's the man who's trapped the hearts of his fans with his quirky craft, turning spoons into music, rhythm into magic.

Upon finishing yet another meal in yet another roadside cafe, he says "so long" to the hired help and folds a dollar bill into the shape of an origami boat, tucking it into the tip jar. He stops at the pay phone outside one last time before starting up his car. He is relieved to hear the engine turn over.

He glances down at the three Pennzoil containers that were emptied for the jaunt to Eugene. They clutter the floor of the passenger seat, next to a grocery sack bulging with sticky muffin wrappers, tea bags, and paper plates. Beads hang from the rearview mirror. Two beaten hawk feathers poke out of the ashtray, half..covering the photo of his seven..year..old granddaughter, which sticks to the dash. The bells in back clank as he pulls away from the curb.

"I love this car." B

"I aspire to be a sage. to be yogic and chilled."

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Nann Alleman is an Oregonian who tends to move around a lot. She likes to kayak, sing, and take i~ stray animals. She designed Spoonman and the nameplate, and co..designed the table of contents. "Does anybody want a dog?"

Calley Anderson is from Boise and enjoys traveling, camping, and downhill skiing. Her goal is a career that will pay the rent.

Steve Asbury of Eugene, Oregon, designed "Girl Trafficking in Nepal."

"I have twice as many things to do in the spare time I don't have."

Danielle Birkin of Las Vegas edited Vernon Reid, the staff page, and masthead. She hopes to be an editor and writer. Meanwhile, she hopes to playa decent barre chord.

Simona Bortis, who designed and shot the cover, moved to the US from Romania 13 years ago. She likes to paint and write. , E.R. Brown of Great Falls, Mon.. tana, shot WOMBATS and the table of contents. "Cool stuff, man."

Kim Challis.. Roth's favorite quote: "The beauty of the world has two edges, one of laughter, one of anguish, cutting the heart asunder" (Virginia Woolf).

Dylan Coulter. Art director: Nike ad. 503.284.4390.

Greg Desmond is from Portland, Oregon. He helped with the art direction on the NASA ad. "I want to work in New York in advertising.

I want Ed McMahon to send the money he's been promising."

Adele Drolshagen created the Men and Women Against Rape ad. "My work is strongest when it reflects what I believe in."

Stephen Ewens designed "upfront," . the table of contents, the cover and nameplate. "There's too much crap on my pasteboard!"

Egil G. GI~ersen designed the editor's letter, contributor's pagel . masthead, and staff page. "In a masochistic way, this is fun, but money talks."

Beth Hege, of the Eagle family, loves to hear and tell stories, drink coffee, travel, bake bread, garden, write, tap dance, and hang out with The People at NASU.

Tonya Menefee edited Food Stamps, "Patterns of Prejudice," and "My Brother's Keeper?" "I was excited about interviewing Vernon Reid, yet intimidated. Now, I feel like he's a long..distance brother."

Liesl Messerschmidt lived in Nepal and worked on AIDS"related and girl..trafficking issues: Kim Nguyen shot "Come Together" and "Skin Deep." "Ten minutes? Ten prints? No problem."

Kathleen Holt, from Hilo, Hawaii: "And even if only by a note like this, we answer" (William Stafford).

Anders <l>vreberg edited WOMBATS and "Girl Trafficking."

"When I return to Norway, I hope my diploma means something. If not, I'll live on welfare and my mother's cooking."

Tamara Jones spearheaded the local chapter of WOMBATS and was a founder of MUD. Her favorite pastime is getting muddy.

Shanti Renee Harmony Sosienski designed the Outdoor Program piece, page folios, and the story bug.

"What can I say? I survived the war."

Stephanie Knifong is from southern Oregon. She designed Vernon Reid.

"Body piercing is a good thing."

Bruce Strong created the Anheuser..

Busch ad. "My career goal is to create advertising that incites shoppers to riot."

Layne Lakefish grew up in ' Medford, Oregon, where she learned the art of mogul maneuver.. ing, the command of the backhand ,slice, and the power of the pen.

"Flux is what it's all about."

Matt Lowery, from Tigard, Oregon, designed the race section. "Good song!"

Mark Mazurkiewicz edited Out.. door Program, Alaska, and "Come Together." He is often seen biking on country roads with a flyrod and reel.

"Leaving UO will fill me with mixed sensations," says Marius Meland, from Oslo, Norway. "I have learned much here, but I like moving on."

Nate Thompson will soon travel to Alaska and Africa. He hopes to find a job writing about environmental issues or raising cheetah cubs.

Creighton Vero: "Whoa!! Seventy pages for J202, 100 haiku from Basho, and yes, Bill, I'll get that NASA ad done by 5:00 p.m. N@ proB* lem MaN! Oh, and Sean, those WHIGS need a haircut!"

Former president of the African Students Association James Walugembe is a Ugandan journalist enrolled in graduate school.

Barbara Zerbe designed "Dance If You Want To" and co..designed the table of contents. "I have been corrupted."