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Wednesday, January 31, 2024
Volume 162 No. 3 SERVING SAN JOSÉ STATE UNIVERSITY SINCE 1934
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PHOTO COURTESY OF AKBAYANSJSU
Members of the Filipino club AKBAYANSJSU congregate at a park on Aug. 2 for one of their first events, the Fall 2023 Semester Community Kickoff.
Filipino students assemble By Alexia Frederickson NEWS EDITOR
For many Filipino students on campus, Akbayan provides a space to find community and learn about Filipino culture and heritage. AkbayanSJSU is a student-led organization that was founded to increase knowledge of the Pilipinx-American culture and share the beauty of the heritage, according to the club’s website. Akbayan means “embracing in friendship,” according to the same website. Chemical engineering junior
Sean Colina is the Community & Political Affairs Pillar of the Cabinet for AkbayanSJSU. “The Cabinet is the 13 members that are in charge of the organization overall,” Colina said. Colina said part of his duties as Community & Political Affairs is to help do outreach for the club and to coordinate with other organizations. He said he joined the club last year as a part of KAAMP, the organization’s mentorship program. KAAMP stands for kuya ate ading mentorship program,
which are the names of the ranks for the program, according to a AkbayanSJSU website. Colina said he’s made a lot of connections with people through Akbayan, even though he’s introverted. “It’s really fun to have a Filipino community, and any community overall,” he said. “I grew up in Daly City, which has a large population of Filipinos, so it’s nice that the community is so close-knit in San José.” Psychology sophomore Hallie Gwen Funcion serves as Cultural Pillar for the organization. “I’m in charge of ensuring
cultural accuracy within our events and our workshops, especially our PCN production, which we usually hold in the spring,” she said. PCN, or Pilipinx Cultural Night, is an annual event held by AkbayanSJSU showcasing a student-written play, according to the club’s website. Funcion said she helps organize concerts and other events for the organization, including a benefit concert last year. “We were able to raise about $3,000 to the Foundation of Philippine Progresses’
PHOTO COURTESY OF AKBAYANSJSU
AKBAYANSJSU's Fancy Fam welcomes new members with signs shaped like diamonds on Oct. 27 during their Fall 2023 semester.
relief fund for the Mayon volcano eruption back in the Philippines,” she said. Funcion said joining Akbayan is a great opportunity to learn about Filipino culture and connect with others in the community. She said the “Three C’s” that the club is dedicated to are connections, culture and community. “Regardless of whether you’re Filipinx or not, people are still able to come together to become one community, regardless of your background,” Funcion said. “I think that’s such a beautiful aspect within our organization.” Animation & illustration junior Riko-Ricardo Crudo said he joined as a member last semester, and he’s happy to be a part of the club. Crudo said Abkayan is a great place to make friendships that will last well beyond university. “Akbayan provides this really awesome safe space that people can really take advantage of, not just for here but also in the long run, which I really appreciate,” he said. “I’ve never had time to take advantage of (Akbayan) in previous years, so I might as well do it now before I leave and graduate with any regrets.”
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NEWS
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 31, 2024
Volunteers repair bikes for free 1
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PHOTOS BY ALINA TA | SPARTAN DAILY
Good Karma Bikes located a few minutes away from the SAP Center in downtown San José repairs bikes for free to help customers varying from different tax brackets, including low-income families and unhoused community members. The bike shop also donates free bikes to children. #1: Kabir Dey, a sophomore from Evergreen Valley High School, shows a tear he found after he just finished refilling a bicycle tire with air. #2: Kenneth Lounge, a full time mechanic for Good Karma Bikes, services and rebuilds the rear hub on a BMX bike. #3: Lounge, unscrews greasy bolts from the same bicycle wheel. #4: Jim Gardner (right), CEO of Good Karma Bikes teaches Dey how to replace a tire wheel from a children’s bike. #5: Dey uses different wrenches to remove a kickstand from the rear end of a children’s bicycle wheel. #6: Ann Ferris, a volunteer, loosens the hub of a rear bicycle wheel.
ABOUT
EDITORIAL STAFF
The Spartan Daily prides itself on being the San José State community’s top news source. New issues are published every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday throughout the academic year and online content updated daily. The Spartan Daily is written and published by San José State students as an expression of their First Amendment rights. Reader feedback may be submitted as letters to the editor or online comments.
EXECUTIVE EDITOR ALINA TA MANAGING EDITOR MELANY GUTIERREZ PRODUCTION EDITOR JULIA CHIE NEWS EDITOR ALEXIA FREDERICKSON A&E EDITOR AALIYAH ROMAN SPORTS EDITOR NAVIN KRISHNAN SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR MAT BEJARANO
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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 31, 2024
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Sax, drums and bass jazz away By Alina Ta
EXECUTIVE EDITOR
A saxophone player and her three bandmates made me nostalgic from when I used to play the double bass string in high school. Lakecia Benjamin, an alto saxophonist from New York, walked into the center stage light in front of a crowd of mellow audience members. Benjamin performed a range of jazz pieces with her three bandmates at the Hammer Theatre on Friday evening. Against the purple lights, Benjamin stood out in her top-to-bottom metallic gold outfit as her bandmates continued to play music in the background. Born and raised in Dominican Washington Heights, New York, Benjamin first started playing music on the recorder in grade school, according to her website. After years of practice, Benjamin is currently a three-time nominated saxophonist, arranger, composer and educator, according to the same webpage. On Sunday, she debuted her album “Phoenix” on Whirlwind recordings, according to the same bio. “We released an album titled, ‘Phoenix’ that features some of my heroes,” Benjamin said. “ ‘Sheroes’ we call them sometimes.” The album contains many women well-known in the jazz industry including Diana Reeves, Patrice Rushen and
ALINA TA | SPARTAN DAILY
Lakecia Benjamin, an alto saxophonist born and raised in Dominican Washington Heights, New York, performs in a top-to-bottom gold metallic outfit in front of audience members at San José State’s Hammer Theatre.
more..The first song she and her band performed was “Amerikkan Skin” featuring words written by Angela Davis. Davis was a Black American and lesbian political activist and author during the 1940s, and was an active member of the Black Panther Party, according to a webpage from the National Museum of African American History and Culture. “I dream of a world where peace is possible, for every man, for every nation, for every creed,” Benjamin said at the beginning of the song. “When the sun shines
down and we truly know what it means to live, love, learn and be free together. Tonight San José, we are celebrating power and joy and peace and unity and liberty and justice and revolution for everyone all over the planet.” Throughout the rest of her song, she performed through her saxophone dreamy melody that was comparable to “Tales of 1001 Nights” by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, a classical composer from St. Petersburg, according to a webpage from San Francisco Classical Voices. The musical themes throughout the rest of
her band’s performance bounced back and forth between energetic and extroverted top notes to smooth trills into more soothing notes. Benjamin’s bandmate and pianist, Zaccai Curtis, used his fingers to fly across the piano, melting light and midtone notes to balance out the brassy and bold notes from the saxophone E.J. Strickland, the band’s drummer, managed to keep the melodic environment upbeat with the sounds of his drums and symbols. Finally double bass player, Elias Bailey, kept
the foundation of the performance grounded letting his strings and his notes rumble. I happen to be biased towards his performance because the double bass string, a large wooden instrument that produces low notes, has a special place in my heart thanks to middle school and high school orchestra classes. Watching him play in contrast to Benjamin’s high notes made me long for the feel of the wood of my old instrument rumble against my belly. That’s when I started to wish that I had gotten the opportunity to play
jazz pieces written and performed by a mix of black, brown and white people back in my earlyTThe school days. My orchestra would have felt way more exciting instead of just playing classical pieces written and performed by white men on a stage.
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Visitors uncover hidden art in MLK By Julia Chie
PRODUCTION EDITOR
Placed along the walls and crevices of San José State’s Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library, visitors can find various art pieces on each of its eight floors. “Recolecciones” is the library’s public art collection and was established when the library opened its doors over 20 years ago. The collection’s lead artist, Mel Chin, produces art that combines culture and complex ideas, and addresses political and ecological issues, according to the library’s website. Haun Saussy, University Professor at the University of Chicago, also collaborated in the collaboration along with Robert K. Batchelor, Director of Digital Humanities at Georgia Southern University. Saussy said he as an 11-year-old boy in 1971 when Chin was in college. Chin was invited by the San José Public Art Program to submit a project for the library’s 2003 opening. “I think we spent three or four days without sleeping – just sketching and outlining and laughing with our friends,” Saussy said in an email. Saussy said the collection as a whole and its individual pieces are related to the library and the city that sponsors it. “Recolecciones” means both recollections, like memories, and “harvests” in Spanish. “We envisaged the whole library as a kind of initiatory path through San Jose’s history . . . using the library collections to stimulate the
invention of objects that would be in dialogue with the space and its users,” Saussy said. Saussy said Chin’s intended purpose was to create “a community of the curious” and to speak to that kid who wonders why things are the way they are. “To put labels on the artworks would have taken away the element of surprise so we hid them all over the library and there are a few that aren’t on the official leaflet,” Saussy said. “What they have in common is left up to the imagination.” Dylan Mueller, who uses they/them pronouns, is a SJSU english senior and a library front desk attendant, said their favorite piece in the collection is the “Owl of Minerva” on the seventh floor. “It's hidden in the little alcove in the wall,” Mueller said. “Most of the time you'll miss it, but I see it a lot while actually just sorting the books.” Mueller said the library’s rotating display on the second floor changes a few times a year and the fifth floor often has cultural art displays. They said they love to see creative aspects added to the library as a writer. “While I don't necessarily do the sort of art that you would see in a gallery or murals on walls and stuff, it feels human,” Mueller said. “It gives us something to connect to a place.” Robert Batchelor said Saussy introduced him to meet Chin at University of California, Los Angeles. Batchelor said he has experience creating
experimental documentaries and installations with his wife, Sari Gilbert. The “Recolecciones” team collaborated with Stanford University's Humanities Lab and Xerox PARC. PARC, formerly known as Xerox PARC, stands for Palo Alto Research Center according to their website. “The lab mostly worked with us on the Rosetta Stone piece at the top of the escalator,” Batchelor said in an email. “ (They) inspired me to build my own humanities computing lab in Georgia . . . so they were really influential experiences and defined how I came to think about the digital humanities.” Mary Rubin and artist James Millar also worked with the team. Batchelor said Chin liked to have art collaborations, but most of the fabrication was done by Chin or people from his workshop, like Barron Brown who drove the pieces across the U.S. Batchelor said Chin’s studio was a beautiful old monastery with a massive stone barn in the hills near Asheville, North Carolina, a great place for fabricating big pieces. He also had access to mills to work on pieces like “Babel”. Inspired by Pieter Bruegel’s “Tower of Babel”, two parallel walls are covered by elaborate frames inset with mirrors on the lower level of the library, making “Babel”. Saussy said researchers on the project went to the city archives and dug up information about riots, parades, ethnic conflict, parasites endangering the vineyards, reports of the
PRATHAM GILL | SPARTAN DAILY
The “Skeptacle,” a piece from “Recolecciones,” being displayed carrying numerous books in San José State University’s Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library.
coming of electricity to the city and issues over land and water. “I love to think that nothing is truly forgotten and spending time in the archives looking for stories and images confirms that idea,” Saussy said. Batchelor said when they were designing the pieces, they kept in mind the library is meant to last at least 50 years and probably many more. To account for the changing audience, they did a few digital pieces but mostly analog durability. He also said he probably learned the most about John Steinbeck, an American novelist, best known for The Grapes of Wrath (1939) according to Brittanica, through his research. “For Steinbeck's fissure, I actually took a film and sound crew and traveled the route of the Joad's backwards to
Oklahoma (where Batchelor was born), collecting soil samples, artifacts and interviews along the way,” Batchelor said. He said “The Lowrider Table” was the most controversial because the groups they worked with, which were publishers of lowrider magazines in San José and members of Chicano Studies on the faculty, did not see eye-to-eye at the time about how to portray the Latinx population of San José. “ ‘True and Through’ is made of wood from a dawn redwood tree that had to be cut down from where the pillar stands now so it is a memory of the building,” said. “We went through the old MLK library and tried to save aspects of it.”. Saussy said there were so many pieces the team designed but didn’t end up making, and would be up
for round two if funding and inspiration comes along. He said on the lowest floor is a stuffed bird chair that represents a canary in the “coal mine” of the stacks. In states where politicians ban books that contain challenging content, he said we’re all in trouble. “Libraries are the canary in the coal mine,” Saussy said. I hope the San Jose library lasts a long time as an icon of community and discovery, like the canary that, as long as it sings, tells the miners the air is good to breathe.”
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WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 31, 2024
MOVIE REVIEW
‘Mean girls’ was a huge disappointment By Aaliyah Roman A&E EDITOR
As a young adult, there are many movies that I wish I could watch for the first time again and experience every emotion I felt watching it. Seeing the new version of the “Mean Girls” movie in theaters around a week ago did absolutely that for me. The movie was released in theaters on Jan. 12 and it is based on a Broadway musical version of the original “Mean Girls” movie, according to an article by The New York Times. Prior to watching the movie, I didn’t do any research and had no idea the movie was going to be a musical. Whenever I hear about an original movie being reimagined, I immediately cringe at the idea because I don’t think anything is better than the original. With that being said, I already had a bad taste in my mouth before I even watched the movie because I had high expectations. If any producer takes on “Mean Girls” in this day and age, they better do a good job in doing so. The movie confused me. There were countless moments where I would get invested into the plot and then the characters would break out and start singing and I would just immediately lose interest. With that being said, the movie title was super
GRAPHIC BY MELANY GUTIERREZ
misleading because it’s titled “Mean Girls,” not Mean Girls: the Musical. If I wanted to watch a musical, I’d watch “High School Musical.” I thought some of the songs were catchy, like “Stupid with Love” and “Someone Gets Hurt,” because the delivery was just so good in their musical performances. However, the movie itself would’ve been just fine without all the singing because the musicals made it repetitive and annoying. The movie immediately starts with Cady Heron, played by Angourie Rice, one of the main characters, in Kenya and singing as
she packs her bags to move to the United States and be a “normal girl” who goes to high school. All hating aside, I have to applaud the movie’s producers for recreating one of my childhood classics and turning it into something appealing to both the younger and older audiences. The clever jokes and play on today’s trends had me watching it as if I hadn’t seen the original and rewatched it a dozen times. I also thought certain revamps in the movie were clever, such as incorporating TikTok as a means of communication
CLASSIFIEDS CROSSWORD PUZZLE
other than texting alone, Gretchen, played by Bebe Wood, making Cady a Spotify playlist to make her more “cultured” and using modern slang, such as saying “for sure” or “thank you, next.” I especially liked how there were more people of color playing in the movie. All the actors in the original were majority white so it was nice to see an AfricanAmerican Damien, played by Jaquel Spivey, and Indian Karen, played by Avantika Vandanapu, in the 2024 revival. Speaking of actors, I still can’t get over how “The Summer I Turned Pretty’s” Conrad Fisher, played
by Christopher Briney, portrayed Aaron Samuels. When I tell you my jaw dropped when he first appeared — I’m serious. I was crushing on him throughout the whole movie. They def initely upgraded on the Aaron Samuels casting of the movie, although from a plot perspective it didn’t make sense when Regina and Aaron kissed at the party. In the previous movie, they kissed as a means to get Cady to leave Aaron alone because Regina didn’t want Cady and Aaron to end up in a relationship together.
SUDOKU PUZZLE Complete the grid so that every row, column and 3x3 box contains every digit from 1 to 9 inclusively.
In the movie I saw last Monday, Regina started singing “Someone Gets Hurt” and boom, they kissed. The plot was lacking there. I wasn’t a big fan either of the actress they used to replace Rachel McAdams, the original Regina George. Rachel McAdams is a legend because of her range from being the ultimate mean girl to turning into a completely different persona as a lover girl in “The Notebook”. I didn’t think Rapp was able to do Regina George justice, but hey, the outfits were cute. Looking back, I think the producers did a good job of not turning the original version into something completely different. They still kept the original “Mean Girls” alive. Mostly ever yone knows the saying: “On Wednesdays, we wear pink” and that alone shows how much of a chokehold the original movie had on people when it was released. After watching the movie, I was glad they revamped it because now younger generations can get cultured. Now, if I talk to any teenager about “Mean Girls” they better know what I’m talking about.
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JOKIN’ AROUND What do you call a fake noodle?
An impasta!
SOLUTIONS
ACROSS 1. Chaplin persona 6. Emulates a harpy 10. Hoity-toity type 14. Lover's antithesis 15. English river 16. It springs eternal 17. Persian's descendant 18. He lived in Bedrock 19. Uniform 20. SIREN 23. Slip up 24. Gladys Knight backup singer 25. Like some beach attire 29. Coward of the stage 31. Santa's little helper 34. Land divided at the 38th parallel 35. Yemen's capital 36. Two-dimensional extent 37. SIREN 40. "___ expert, but . . ." 41. Noted critic of capitalism 42. Features of narwhals 43. First name among legendary crooners 44. Latest thing 45. African fly 46. Anatomical pouch 47. Vamp's accessory
48. SIREN 56. "The Time Machine" people 57. Crafts' partner 58. Bridge declaration 59. Mukluk or Wellington, e.g. 60. "Little Man ___" (Jodie Foster movie) 61. Change to 000 62. Luxury car name 63. 1961 space chimp 64. Edward and Norman DOWN 1. "Now hear ___!" 2. Like an 1864 two cent piece 3. Slightly 4. It may be just desserts? 5. Sleeve attachment, perhaps 6. Lowest point 7. Tel ___ 8. Auctioneer's call 9. Chinese restaurant vegetables 10. Curly's predecessor and successor 11. ___ Scotia 12. Come-one, come-all competition 13. A name on an ice cream container
21. "___ a Little Tenderness" (Otis Redding hit) 22. Texas tea 25. Yarn unit 26. Mark of separation 27. Isn't for you? 28. Emperor in "Quo Vadis?" 29. Mother-of-pearl 30. Cameo stone 31. Dadaist Max 32. Security breaches 33. Type of start 35. Planner's problem 36. Feverish chill 38. Put on a starvation diet 39. Delivery notice? 44. "Go, team!" 45. Proverbial brick load 46. 1972 summer games gold medalist 47. They may be loaded 48. Hand lotion ingredient, perhaps 49. Io, to Jupiter 50. Fiber source 51. "Tell ___ the judge" 52. Dueling sword 53. Canaveral letters 54. Mouse manipulator 55. Grounded planes, briefly 56. Flow back
JANUARY 30
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OPINION
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 31, 2024
5
Dogs are more than just pets Maya Benmokhtar OPINION EDITOR
Dogs are family members and lifelong companions. When I first moved to America, my parents surprised my sister and I with a 2-month-old Golden Retriever puppy. I vividly remember her fluffy hair with pink gingham bow clips and I will never forget that puppy smell. My sister and I decided to name her Daisy, after the Golden Retriever I had on my Nintendo DS pet game. My parents told us that we could only talk to Daisy in English, so my sister and I could start learning and practicing the language, as we only spoke French then. Being in a foreign country and leaving all my friends behind was hard, but thankfully I had Daisy. Every wag of her tail and every bark that filled the house echoed the joy she brought into my life. Within a short amount of time, Daisy became my best friend. She taught me just as much as I taught her, and
GRAPHIC BY MAYA BENMOKHTAR
we became inseparable. Daisy was there for our family’s move from North Carolina to San Francisco, which again was challenging after leaving all my friends behind and having to adapt to a new environment, but who was there? Daisy was. Daisy witnessed practically my entire life. She watched me grow into who I am today. Dogs possess an innate ability to sense and respond to human emotions, offering comfort during challenging times and celebrating happy moments, according to an article by Our World Of Dogs. I wish dogs could live
as long as humans, but maybe that’s what makes them all the more special. Their time on earth is short but damn do they do a good job at making an impact in your life. Their loyalty is unmatched, fostering a profound and unconditional bond with their owner and members of their family. My eyes water thinking about her last breaths. Losing a beloved dog is an incredibly emotional and challenging experience. I felt Daisy’s heart stop beating as she left this world. The absence of her furry presence leaves an
indescribable void, and the memories we shared together become cherished treasures. The house is now quieter, and routines feel incomplete without her. A dog is not just a pet. A dog devotes its whole life to being your companion, loves you unconditionally and never betrays you. That is far more than just a pet. I will miss the way Daisy’s paws danced on the floor, the warmth of her presence beside me and the constant love in her eyes. I love dogs for the unparalleled joy they bring into my life. Each dog carries a
different personality, and unlike humans, I have never met one I didn't adore. Their boundless enthusiasm, unwavering loyalty and genuine love create a unique connection that goes beyond mere companionship. The joy they express, whether through a wagging tail or joyful barks, is infectious and serves as a constant reminder of the simple pleasures in life. Daisy taught me about empathy, patience and the beauty of living in the present moment. Her presence was a source of comfort, laughter and genuine love, making
her far more than a pet – she was a cherished member of the family. I am incredibly and utterly thankful for having her in my life for all 15 years of hers. The loss is profound, but the love and memories we shared will forever hold a special place in my heart. Rest in peace, dear Daisy.
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Stop making New Year’s resolutions Melany Gutierrez MANAGING EDITOR
Let me set the scene – it’s the night of Jan. 31, people rejoice around food, drinks and grapes, stealthy wearing their different colored underwear as part of the superstitious New Year’s tradition and getting their countdown voices ready. The clock strikes 12:00 a.m. and the everyday human being, the average Joe, wrinkles up their skin and sheds it like a snake. Revealing a brand new, determined, confident, emotionally and physically glowed up functional human being. Ready to take on the world as they shout out their cliché, outdated, used-every-year Instagram caption “New Year, New me!” Give me a fucking break. If the ability to shed your old skin and become a new person every new year was possible, I would be rich. I would be traveling every other month and I would have straight A’s and no stress or time management issues. The solutions to all your problems, the determination and courage you seek to start
off a new year is not at the bottom of that champagne glass you cheered with. How has this been deemed a worthwhile ritual? New Year’s resolutions are pointless. Setting up these scary expectations to live up to for a whole upcoming year, the point of a new year is that it’s unpredictable. According to an article by Time Magazine, 80% of people fail to keep up with their New Year’s Resolutions by February and only 8% of people actually stick to them the entire year. People shouldn’t need the excuse of a new year to change or reinvent themselves Why not start working towards achieving your goals in mid-July? New Year’s is made out to be so whimsical and it’s based on this naive assumption that everything in your life will change when the New Year’s Eve ball drops. New love, new adventures, new money, let’s be honest, honey – your Tinder swipes are going to be the same. Sure, I can’t deny that I’ve fallen victim to the soft-seduction of the promise of a new year. But it’s always ended in disappointment, nothing has ever felt different
GRAPHIC BY MELANY GUTIERREZ
when midnight comes around. There have been times when my sadness still sticks around, when things don’t go my way or when temporary feelings seem never ending, or times when I’ve felt absolutely nothing. You never really know what’s going to happen, how can you believe in a resolution without a guarantee? I’m happy being free of that pressure to make a resolution or claim a new me. I’m happy knowing that I don't have to immediately lose that weight or immediately try to gain a bunch of wealth and burn out. I’m happy with being messy past midnight. I’m not the only person
that feels this kind of pressure. According to an article by Forbes Health, 62% of people say they feel pressured to make a New Year’s resolution. All the goals people usually use as resolutions are essentially just the things they wanted throughout the whole year prior. Still, somehow people think that because we turn the page into a new chapter, everything will be different. To lay it out for you plain and simple: You’re not going to do those things! Yes, some New Year’s goals are achievable – you’re going to graduate, maybe get a promotion and maybe you will find love or make some big money – but it’s sure as
hell not going to happen through any New Year’s wish or resolution. Sometimes the resolutions are things that people do have complete control over, but it requires selfaccountability. If you say “I’m gonna go to the gym” just go to the gym, and hold yourself accountable. If these resolutions really matter to you, and you’re really hoping for change, then enforce discipline on yourself and show strength. My philosophy for setting and accomplishing goals is this: if I really want it, I'll do it, I'll go after it or work towards it until I get it. Ultimately, I’m not going to do it (better myself or
accomplish goals) so that I can post Instagram pictures and rub it in people’s faces. I’m going to do it so that I can look back at my own growth with pride. Unless I really want it, I won’t go after it and I’ll stay that way until my passion for the goal grows. I don’t need to reinvent myself this 2024 – I work and grow at my own pace, I won’t get stuck in the Venus flytrap that is New Year’s resolutions. My new Instagram caption is: “New Year… tbd.”
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