Spring Issue 7 2017 (Special Edition)

University of California, Santa Barbara || Volume XI, Issue XXV || May 24, 2017 || BottomLineUCSB.com

Community Gathers for Third Anniversary of Tragedy Jack Alegre STAFF WRITER As day gave way to dusk, students gathered around Anisq’oyo Park to commemorate a series of tragic events three years ago. On May 23, 2014, a troubled young man named Elliot Rodgers took the lives of six University of California, Santa Barbara students — George Chen, Cheng Yuan “James” Hong, Weihan “David” Wang, Katherine Cooper, Christopher MichaelsMartinez, and Veronika Weiss — and then himself. Fourteen other people were wounded. Three years from that day, the tragedy draws people to the streets of Isla Vista once more.

It was a traumatic and horrifying experience and, even three years later, the wounds still feel fresh. However, the crowd was not here tonight to remember old pains but to come together and heal. The memorial vigil was a celebration of life as much as death.

Perhaps the most touching part,

though, was when the family of the deceased came forward to speak.

George’s mother Kelly spoke about how she had decided to honor her son: “I heard a soft little voice that came from my own heart. The little voice spoke to me: ‘Go out. Love others.

Spread kindness.’” Chris’s father talked about his son’s thirst for life. When Chris was younger, he had asked to go skydiving, which his father had forbade him from doing.

After his death, Chris’s father found a video of him skydiving without his knowledge. “He jumps out the plane and he starts to smile. And he was really loving it … this was two months before he was shot and killed.

I had seen him and talked to him and he never told us he was going skydiving … that video is the last thing I have that shows him alive, and we’re very grateful for it.” Veronika’s mother spoke of the joy her daughter felt at being on campus and how that joy was now hers. “She loved everything

about UCSB … there hasn’t been a single day since I haven’t loved this place too.”

All of the parents present were touched at how much UCSB had contributed both to their children’s lives and their own. The greatest legacy for them was how the community had not only used the tragedy as a point of mourning, but also one of change.

Also speaking were Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Margaret Klawunn, Chancellor Henry Yang, and Dr. Jeanne Stanford of Counseling and Psychological Services. Present throughout the audience were CAPS counselors for those who needed them.

Assemblyman and Isla Vista resident Das Williams spoke of the legislative reforms that had taken place as a result of the tragedy. Such reforms included the rerouting of Storke Tower’s 911 calls to local first responders instead of those in Ventura, the creation of gun violence restraining orders to

protect citizens, and the formation of a local government in Isla Vista after forty years of effort. “That is what happens from remembering, and that is what happens from standing up and making sure other people remember.”

The mic was also opened for the general audience to speak. Throughout the vigil, students from Blunite, an organization dedicated to memorializing the tragedy through art, took the time to distribute LED candles to those present to leave at the memorial garden. By doing so, they provided a lantern against the darkness, both literally and metaphorically.

Throughout the crowd, sobs, both stifled and open, could be heard. The occasion was so momentous that any speakers still seemed to. Nevertheless, there was something comforting in their inability to speak. They knew and the audience knew that some feelings transcend words and that all that mattered was that they were there, honoring those who had passed.

Unsung Heroes: First Responders and Historians Madeleine Lee CAMPUS BEAT REPORTER In Atlanta, Chicago, and Los Angeles, trauma victims are hustled into emergency rooms at a pace as steady and unsurprising as the siren wails that echo off city buildings and urban sprawl.

Dr. Jason Prystowsky, who has worked as a member of ER staff in all three of those cities, is no stranger to the tragic routine of urban trauma centers. But in the city of Santa Barbara, where Prystowsky works at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, he has, for several years, settled into a less turbulent regimen including families, a sizable senior population, and college students filing in at late-night hours, with the latter’s familiar pale hue a product of one too many pitchers.

On May 23, 2014, in the span of an hour, seven victims, several of them with gunshot wounds, were admitted to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital minutes after Prystowsky and hospital staff received news of an active shooter.

All seven of the victims admitted to the hospital lived, as did the other four victims treated at Goleta Valley Cottage

Hospital. Six victims — George Chen, Katherine Cooper, James Hong, Christopher Michaels-Martinez, Weihan ‘David’ Wang, and Veronika Weiss — all of them University of California, Santa Barbara students, died on scene that night.

Three years later, the brave work and ongoing grief carried by first responders like Prystowsky are the stories that didn’t make national headlines, but remain an important part of Isla Vista’s living history and continuing healing process.

“I have had my share of really horrible nights at work, but this unique night, everyone in the world seemed to know that I had a tough night in the ER,” said Prystowsky in reference to the event’s traction with national news. “We all had a rough night that night.”

UCSB staff member Jim Caesar was, like many first responders, a behindthe-scenes orchestrator of strength and readiness on May 23. As campus emergency manager, Caesar’s job is a little unusual; each week, Caesar, who has been with the university since 2009, sits in a bunker-like building off campus and

prepares for the worst. From tsunami evacuation plans to accommodations for campus residents in the case of a flood, the emergency response team is the community’s living survival guide. On the night of May 23, Caesar watched the news unfold and quickly got to work.

“It’s easy to make black and white decisions when the reality of the situation isn’t there,” said Caesar. “This was unfortunately the type of situation that really tests everyone emotionally.”

With a team that included Chancellor Henry T. Yang and fellow executive administrators, Caesar and student affairs staff opened up a call center that night for worried parents and concerned students, some of which were given campus housing to escape the chaos of I.V. that night. Taking cues from the aftermath of the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting, the team reached out to A.S. President Ali Guthy, who had only been sworn in two days prior to the shooting, to plan the memorial held on Wednesday.

Caesar said that Guthy handled the following weeks with “amazing confidence and grace.” Collectively, Caesar

and administrators called to cancel class in the days following to ensure that students had the space and time they needed to heal.

Three days prior to the tragedy, Caesar’s team, along with the Santa Barbara County Fire Department, gave a disaster preparedness seminar to members of Alpha Phi, whose lawn would later be adorned with flowers and candles from the community. Caesar still uses the photo they took from that day, the sorority sisters and firemen framed by lifesize Greek letters, in his presentations to fellow emergency response teams at other universities.

At 2 a.m. on the morning following the tragedy, hours after Caesar and his team began their response efforts, Dr. Peter Claydon received a call from a colleague asking for aid at the scene. By 3:30 a.m., Claydon was helping police debrief their experience of the night’s events. Later, Claydon sat down with Alpha Phi and Delta Delta Delta sorority sisters, who together had witnessed the shooting of two Tri Delta sorority For more, see Heroes page 2

Dispelling the Darkness: A Brighter Path Forward

Jack Alegre STAFF WRITER

Like many students here at the University of California, Santa Barbara, you’ve probably wondered what all the lights set up in Pardall Tunnel are for. The thought is banished from your head, however, as you swerve to avoid incoming traffic.

The lights that line Pardall Tunnel are far more important to UCSB for more than just illumination. They are a way of memorializing a terrible tragedy that shook our campus, and how we would not succumb to the resulting despair.

Built by professors Kim Yasuda and Marcos Novak in May 2015, the light passages are a response to the 2014 Isla Vista tragedy. Consisting of both the tunnel connecting the main campus to Isla Vista as well as the trees and grass, lights are bedecked in solar powered LED lights acting as safeguards against the call of the dark.

Maddie Berger, the student lead for the organization Blunite, described working with Yasuda as a privilege.

“She is an incredible powerhouse who is extremely devoted to the students and community of Isla Vista,” said Berger. Berger’s appraisal comes from the fact that, “Kim [Yasuda] is a pioneer in getting students excited, involving and implementing real change into the community.”

Berger’s own group, Blunite, is intent on acting as an extension and application of that. Formed in response to the tragedy of the killings, Blunite is a student group promoting healing and reconciliation by constructing art installations around Isla Vista. The decision to make Blunite focused on art was an easy one for Berger.

“Art has the ability to affect each viewer in different ways,” said the fourth year art and theater double major. “It can be a vehicle for change, hope, and unity within the community. I think art has the ability to transcend time, and the act of creation can be incredibly healing for the artist.”

Their works revolve around their central symbol — the blue light.

“Light is a universal symbol of hope and goodness,” Berger said.

“The inspiration for Blunite’s using light came from Professor [Shuji] Nakamura’s invention of the blue LED. It thus felt very fitting for the UCSB community as a literal way to illuminate the metaphorical ‘darkness’ from the tragedy.”

Blunite, in conjunction with Tuesday’s memorial vigil, continues its mission by distributing LED candles to those present in order to form a lantern to ward off the encroaching darkness. Three years after the incident, the lights still remain dedicated to their fellow Gauchos, and will be a welcome glow as the night descends.

A bittersweet truth about this year’s vigil is that among those attending are the last group of students who were there at the time of the tragedy. This year’s graduating class of 2017 may have been just freshmen at the time, but that doesn’t mean they haven’t taken the lessons of the event to heart.

“We all look at the world differently — we hear about acts of violence within communities all the time, but it is always someone else’s community,” Berger explained. “Then when it becomes your own, it is incredibly personal. I think it shifted how I react when I hear about other acts of violence in other communities. The incident gave me a newfound empathy that, unfortunately, cannot be gained any other way.”

Blunite, among the many student groups on campus, is a way for peers to reach out to and connect with each other. Even in the face of tragedy, the campus has proven itself able to not just dwell on the bad in life but to focus on the good.

“May will always be a hard month of the community,” Berger said, “but by bringing in events like the carnival [Lite the Nite], we can shift the conversation onto how we have healed, how we have moved forward, and how we can interact all together in a loving and universally fun way.”

TBL | May 24, 2017

2 | SPECIAL EDITION

Editor’s Note Three years ago.

The graduating class of 2017 will be the last class to have experienced the swell of community support firsthand in the immediate aftermath of the May 23, 2014 Isla Vista tragedy; six lives were taken that day. It is a memory and a loss appended to the social media posts of many this week — one that lingers in the hearts and minds of so many more.

With this issue, we hope not to sensationalize a tragic event for thousands of University of California, Santa Barbara students, but to bring to light the many people who worked tirelessly that day, and in the days following, to rebuild this community. Their friends and families, and this community, have moved mountains to make sure that the victims of the tragedy will never be forgotten, and we recognize that there are many parts of their stories that are still untold.

The growth of this community through grassroots healing movements

HEROES

has been unparalleled. From a movement to destigmatize mental illness to the creation of community-building events, it is through this slow and often painful journey that UCSB and Isla Vista have come to be what they are today.

Our editors, writers, and photographers have put together this issue in hope that this will be a space for our readers to reflect on the events that transpired that night and the aftermath.

We hope that you, or someone you know, will find this to be an opportunity for reflection and healing.

In memory of George Chen, Katherine Cooper, Cheng Yuan “James” Hong, Christopher Michaels-Martinez, Weihan “David” Wang, and Veronika Weiss. In remembrance. In solidarity.

Gwendolyn Wu The Bottom Line, Executive Content Editor 2016-2017

sisters, Katherine Cooper and Veronika Weiss, and one survivor. By the time Isla Vista residents woke up that morning, Claydon returned home while CAPS counselors took over.

“Yes, I would say it was difficult to process. This is a home that I’ve shared with so many of these students,” said Claydon, who lived on Sabado Tarde during his time as an undergrad at UCSB. Claydon, who worked with Student Health’s Drug and Alcohol Program for ten years before moving on to the Santa Barbara Youth Project, applauded the work of UCSB staff, police, and counselors who responded that night and in the weeks following.

“I was so impressed with the response of the therapeutic community,” said Claydon. “It was a silver lining to a horrible cloud that people can come together and bring out the best in each other.”

When asked if he had attended the memorial event the Wednesday follow-

ing the tragedy, Claydon said simply, “I wasn’t ready,” expressing his grief and condolences instead in a letter to the Alpha Phi sisters he had met that night.

Like so many first responders, this was, unfortunately, not Claydon’s first mass casualty incident. Claydon had offered his support services to the families and witnesses of the 2006 Goleta Post Office Shooting that left seven dead.

Director of Counseling and Psychological Services Jeanne Stanford, who rallied together counselors from multiple campus departments the following morning, was unfortunately acquainted with campus tragedy herself, having been present for the 2001 incident in which a suspect killed four people and injured one with his car on the 65 block of Sabado Tarde.

“We all just came together,” said Stanford, regarding the method by which counselors balanced their own grief. “We met about an hour before students came in, and we just talked

about our own responses to what people were thinking about their own children, their own families.”

“We’re human beings,” Stanford later said. “We just felt our feelings first and then we went ahead and started meeting with the students.”

UCSB alumna and Tri Delta sister Lauren Trujillo was one of the many that benefited from CAPS services following the tragedy. Though not a first responder, her work, as she waded through her own grief of the loss of her two sorority sisters, is heroic in itself.

At a panel commemorating the three year anniversary of the healing spaces that evolved out of the tragedy, Trujillo presented her archive work of the “We Remember Them” exhibit, an archive that preserved hundreds of items left by community members in the wake of the tragedy. In the summer of 2015, the items, curated by Melissa Barthelemy and Rebecca Metzger, were displayed in the Red Barn museum space on campus

and attracted over 1,800 visitors.

“I know every victim has people like me who love them dearly and continue to miss them every day,” said Trujillo through tears. Behind her were images of a water polo ball and ballet shoes representing the passions of Tri Delta sisters and victims, Katherine Cooper and Veronika Weiss.

Trujillo spoke of the swell of community support in the aftermath. The Greek community gathered at her sorority house door to walk the girls to the memorial service held Wednesday. Her legacy, and the legacy of the victims, are now a permanent collection in UCSB Davidson Library’s Special Collection.

“I think what really struck a chord was how close this was to so many of us,” said Prystowsky. “We were all only one or two people removed from victims, perpetrator, witnesses, first responders, and some combination of the above. This made it different. Closer.

More raw.”

CAPS and Local Law Out of Senseless Tragedy Came Personal Growth and the True Face of a Community Enforcement’s Changes “We didn’t just fold up, we didn’t just go away and hide, we didn’t just all become depressed; the community really came forward.”

Jeremy Levine COPY EDITOR

Lorenzo Basillo | The Bottom Line File Photo You never quite see it, but you frequently hear it: the crack of a firework going off in Isla Vista.

It sounds like a pyrotechnic device, a car backfiring, or a gun going off. That was what I heard stacking chairs and tables on the open-air patio of South Coast Deli after we had closed for the night. But there were many more bangs than what I was used to hearing when someone lit off a firework. They were faster in succession, and, disconcertingly, it sounded like the source was moving. That seemed more in line with someone pulling back a trigger and not releasing it. But come on — something like that in I.V.? I heard no other commotion.

My co-worker and I locked up and left soon after, but law enforcement shooed us away from the Pardall Road–Embarcadero del Norte intersection. People still milled about.

My co-worker received a text from another co-worker saying there had been a shooting at The Habit, but we were standing right there in front of it, and the burger joint looked fine. I biked home the long way, sirens hitting the air, and my roommates and I turned on the television, figuring by now something serious had happened.

Social media announced the tragedy first, then local news, and then national news. And then it became a bit disorienting: Isla Vista was featured on the homepages of prominent news websites based outside the United States. I was reading about how I.V. had joined the ranks of

Sandy Hook, Aurora, Virginia Tech, the Washington Navy Yard. People around the world were reading about how a disturbed and misogynistic 22-year-old had slain six of my colleagues — a man roughly my age who was could have been anyone’s roommate, and actually was the roommate of two fellow Gauchos.

Like many, I admit to having a contradictory emotional connection to mass shootings in the news: I certainly feel the sadness and bitter frustration over what happened and why — but the frequency with which such senseless tragedies occur has desensitized me to a degree. But seeing my home plastered all over the news for the worst reasons — hate and carnage and tragedy — was disorienting and a bit sickening. I was half a block from I.V. Deli Mart when Christopher Michaels-Martinez was gunned down. I was two blocks from Alpha Phi when Veronika Weiss and Katherine Cooper lost their lives. I biked down the 6500 block of Seville Road, where David Wang, James Hong and George Chen spent their last moments. Even today, seeing the assailant’s face, hearing his name, and hearing the words of his deranged manifesto read over the news leaves an awful taste in my mouth. I left the room last year in the middle of a local station’s second-anniversary coverage.

I didn’t know anyone physically hurt or killed on May 23, 2014. I knew people who did, or people who knew people who did, but even in the close-knit UCSB community, that degree of separation was enough to

shield me from the level of trauma that that night inflicted on so many of my peers. It was a less poignant and more detached grief, anger, and shock than I thought I should have felt. What tugged at my heart more deeply was the immediate coming together of the UCSB and I.V. community.

Nearly 24 hours after the deadliest day in I.V.’s tumultuous history, I was back at South Coast Deli. We were still open, but devoid of customers; everyone was at Storke Plaza for a candlelight vigil. Imprinted on my memory as deeply as any other I.V. memory was watching from that patio with another co-worker the stream of students walking solemnly from Pardall Tunnel toward the intersection I couldn’t cross the night before. The procession filled the width of the street and wouldn’t seem to end. We stood there, and simply marveled solemnly at the turnout.

Were there even that many students at UCSB? The sight reaffirmed the magnitude of what my community had just suffered, yet displayed an incredible and heart-warming solidarity that made me proud to be part of that community. I didn’t get to join in on that evening’s acts of memorium, but was in the bleachers at the following Tuesday’s memorial at Harder Stadium, which was better attended than any Cal Poly or UCLA soccer game.

A third year and The Bottom Line staff writer at the time, the May 2014 tragedy helped shape my perspective on covering such events. Yes, eyewitness accounts are an important in-

gredient in a well-reported story, but that doesn’t excuse any reporter from throwing sensitivity and thoughtfulness out the window. My predecessor as The Bottom Line’s opinions editor recalled consoling and grieving with friends as a local reporter shoved a microphone in their faces, seeking the teary quotes central to so many news organizations’ soundbite-oriented coverage of tragedies. Hearing these stories from people I care about also hit home how shallow and substanceless the usual questions like “Tell me how you felt?” really are.

The days following the massacre — beginning as soon as the gunfire started — also slammed The Bottom Line with difficult questions that strike at the heart of what it means to be a journalistic organization. Where — and should — you draw the line between thoroughly informing your audience of what’s going down and limiting coverage that would further traumatize a freshly devastated readership? How does the emotional closeness of the writers, editors, and photographers to the event influence where that line gets drawn?

Every UCSB student and I.V. resident was affected and shaped in some way by the events of May 23. While we’d all give anything to go back and avert that dark chapter of our history, it still demonstrates, three years later, how extraordinary this community — our community — really is.

Sam Goldman The Bottom Line, Opinions Editor 2014-2015

The Isla Vista shooting did not only change the lives of the victims, witnesses, friends, family members, and average students; local law enforcement and campus psychological counseling services both made significant changes to their programs in the tragedy’s aftermath.

Santa Barbara’s Sheriff’s Department has improved its training regime and raised its general awareness from where it was before the tragedy occurred.

“The sheriff’s office [was] trained for active shooters, and how to respond to an emergency such as that one,” according to Kelly Hoover, spokeswoman for the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s office.

However, Hoover continued, “no one expected anything like that to occur … This is an individual who had displayed signs of mental health issues throughout his life, but I don’t think anyone could have predicted that something like that was going to happen.”

“What that incident did was really raise awareness for everyone just that this could happen,” she said.

Riding this wave of awareness, a suite of new laws empowering law enforcement entered the California legislature, such as AB 1014, which allows family members or law enforcement officers to petition a court for a Gun Violence Restraining Order temporarily prohibiting an individual from purchasing or possessing firearms, and AB 1135, which refines the definition of an “assault weapon” so as to make gun registration more all-encompassing.

Beyond legal changes, Hoover mentioned that one of the programs that the office started was a crisis intervention training. It connects law enforcement agents with the resources and training they need to interact with people in crisis and get them the help they need. That help takes the form of qualified mental health professionals, who are put into contact with those who are struggling with mental health issues by the sheriff’s office.

On campus, the University of California, Santa Barbara has residential mental health professionals trained to help students in the university’s Counseling and Psychological Services.

“Before the Isla Vista tragedy happened, we had our regular counseling services,” said Jeanne Stanford, the director of CAPS. “So we had individual therapy, we had group therapy, we had consultation services, we talk-

ed with parents, students, professors — anybody who was in distress, and we provided comprehensive counseling services to the campus community to help with their mental health and to help us have the healthiest campus we could.”

Although CAPS focused on delivering the standard counselling services offered by many universities before the Isla Vista tragedy, Stanford described that for training, CAPS employees undergo “active shooter trainings. Ever since after Virginia Tech and after all the other things that have happened across the country, most college campuses are prepared and do trainings in advance of these types of things.”

The CAPS professionals thus knew the proper protocol for rapid response.

“In the immediate aftermath of something like this, we’re not doing psychotherapy,” Stanford said. “We’re doing something called psychological first-aid, where you’re really just checking in with people — seeing are they ok, are they eating, are they sleeping, do they have a place to go … we just wanted to make sure immediately that everyone was ok. And then later, if they’re having more responses or if they’re triggered by this then they can come into counselling if they wanted to.”

In its long-run response to the tragedy, CAPS not only introduced non-traditional counselling techniques such as yoga and drumming and expanded existing programs focused on domestic violence, but also received a grant from the Department of Education that CAPS used to fund the Gaucho Support Center, which contains a suite of four offices for CAPS counselors, Student Mental Health Coordination, Social Work Services, and Campus Advocacy Resources and Education. Because of the Gaucho Support Center’s focus on interpersonal violence, Stanford explained that the CAPS administration thought “it would be nice to be in Isla Vista to deliver mental health services.”

CAPS psychologists find it much easier to reach out to Isla Vista residents because of their proximity to the community.

“What I do want to emphasize is the resilience of our community,” Stanford said. “We didn’t just fold up, we didn’t just go away and hide, we didn’t just all become depressed; the community really came forward — not just our community, but outside people ... People really came forward from Santa Barbara but also from all over the world.”

TBL 2016-2017 STAFF Executive Managing Editor | Shomik Mukherjee Executive Content Editor | Gwendolyn Wu Copy Editor | Jeremy Levine Copy Editor | Kamran Yunus Photo Editor | Veronica Arvizo Marketing Director | Frances Castellón

Arts & Entertainment Editor | Kyle Roe Science & Tech Editor | Quincy Lee Opinions Editor | Dhiraj Nallapaneni Campus Beat Reporter | Madeleine Lee National Beat Reporter | Chelsea Viola Video Editor | Julia Nguyen

Senior Layout Editor | Thea Cabrera Montejo Layout Editor | Cindy Chang Layout Editor | Tyler Rogers Layout Editor | Darya Behroozi Web Director | Joanne Rhee Web Editor | Conor O’Brien

Opinions expressed in TBL do not necessarily represent those of the staff or UCSB. All submissions, questions or comments may be directed to managing@bottomlineucsb.com or content@bottomlineucsb.com.

If you or anyone you know is distressed by the memories of the 2014 Isla Vista tragedy, Counseling and Psychological Services is available 24 hours, seven days a week at (805) 893-4411.

3 | SPECIAL EDITION

TBL | May 24, 2017

Parents of Victims Reflect, Three Years Later Shomik Mukherjee EXECUTIVE MANAGING EDITOR Three years after a dozen parents lost children to the Isla Vista tragedy, a handful of them gathered Tuesday afternoon at the I.V. Love & Remembrance Garden at People’s Park. May 23, 2014 bound them together in the worst of ways. But standing in the sunlight, amid plants and flowers dedicated to their children, the parents had nothing but warm smiles and handshakes to share.

“I saw you on the news,” Junan Chen, one father, told Richard Martinez, another. Chen’s son, George, was one of the first two to pass away on the tragic night.

Indeed, Martinez had been featured prominently on CNN in 2014, days after his son, Christopher, passed away on the floor of I.V. Deli Mart. Overcome with emotion, Martinez had spoken angrily about a lack of progress in gun reform, a video segment that was shared widely in the days following.

Three years later, Martinez is much more than a grieving parent on the news; he’s a full-fledged activist, holding a staff position with Everytown for Gun Safety, a nonprofit advocacy organization that campaigns against gun violence. He arranges for postcards to be distributed with the phrase, “Not One More,” which he also popularized as a hashtag on his Twitter account.

In the aftermath of his son’s death, 2.4 million postcards were written and addressed to congressmen and governors in response to Martinez’s national call for change — 60,000 of which were from Florida. Martinez distributed the letters himself to Fla. Gov. Rick Scott.

He has traveled the country, visiting gubernatorial staffs and speaking to congressional representatives, pushing the “Not One More” message wher-

Photo by Alex Yam | Staff Photographer Kelly Wang, the mother of George Chen, comes to the Remembrance Garden to commemorate the anniversary of the tragedy.

ever he goes. Most often, he meets with survivors who also want to advocate for gun reform. Martinez proudly champions the cause on his wrist, which is wrapped in more than a dozen bands — bittersweet markers given to him by

families who have lost loved ones to gun violence.

Standing at the park Tuesday, Martinez remembered his son.

“My son loved this school,” he said.

“Every time I come back, I remember

when we brought him here to move into the dorms.”

Kelly Wang, mother of George Chen, spoke on behalf of her husband, as well as the parents of Weihan “David” Wang. She was eager to speak to the others there, including a student who had been a friend of George’s.

“That’s the purpose of why we are here,” she said. “To speak with people.”

She also reflected on the friend who had stopped by.

“Five years ago when we met him, he was just a teenager,” Wang said. “Now he’s ready to join the workforce. It’s bittersweet for us. It makes me glad I’m here.”

Wang and her husband are both engineers, an interest that George also shared. In the confusion of the weeks after the tragedy, Wang’s engineering instincts kicked in.

“It usually happens that one program goes wrong — out of service — then all the engineers go there to debug the program,” Wang said of the mental illness of the perpetrator. “I put a lot of thought and tried to figure out what mostly went wrong. It’s that there are a lot of people struggling with mental health.”

“Just keep them with you,” she said to families whose loved ones have struggled with mental illness. “Even Elliot Rodger. If the family is reaching out, then he deserves a life as well.”

The last class of UCSB students present then will graduate at the end of this spring. Wang said it hurts her deeply that these students were still just teenagers when they had to cope with this.

She went on to say she wants to help the community heal and remind the students that they can move on.

“George was sweet and helpful,” Wang said. “I’ve never seen George be stubborn or with an ego. He has the opposite personality of the killer. George was a respectful man.”

The Ocean Circle: Paddle-Out Ceremonies

Lorenzo Basillo | The Bottom Line File Photo Quincy Lee SCIENCE & TECH EDITOR To commemorate the lives lost in the 2014 Isla Vista tragedy, thousands of students banded together in the ocean off of Campus Point. They formed a circle of solidarity, joining hands in a sacred memorial ceremony commonly known as a “paddle-out.”

A paddle-out is a time-honored tradition by those with an ocean-centered lifestyle, dating back to Hawaiian burial rituals. Participants enter the water together and float on the surface, hands linked one by one to form a circle.

This circle represents the way in which the ocean brings people together.

Going into the water is a coping mechanism for religious and secular people alike, and a ceremony that brings people into this water is helpful for each in a different way.

“The paddle out symbolizes for me that, although I internalized and coped with the tragedy in my own way, I knew I was never alone in the process,” said Nolan Stephens, a fourth year environmental studies major.

Hundreds of students can be seen surfing, searching for seashells, or loung-

ing in the sand on any given day in Isla Vista. Whether it’s for keeping their mind off stressful lab assignments, essays, and examinations, or for creating a way to blow off some steam, interacting with the ocean is important for these beachgoers.

In addition, these students coming together in one paddle-out ceremony show the compassion that this community contains and the camaraderie that is based around having the sea at our doorstep.

Duke Kahanamoku, a native Hawaiian and five-time Olympic medalist in swimming, spread the sport of surfing around the world, and with it came this culture of appreciation for the ocean.

Veteran watermen and lifeguards will help the less-experienced swimmers make their way into the paddle-out circle, so that each has a chance to participate in the mourning.

Once together in this circle, the gathered community will speak about those that have passed and share how their legacy still remains within the lives of those that are able to continue back onshore. Each speech given in a paddleout ceremony is followed by cheers from the accompanying circle to celebrate the

memory and lasting impact the deceased left on the community.

And to further honor this legacy, some paddle-outs are held annually in memorial. The life of Eddie Aikau, a talented waterman and pioneer of lifeguarding who saved the lives of thousands of endangered swimmers on Oahu’s north shore, is celebrated by a paddle-out ceremony every spring.

Aikau lost his life while rescuing a sailboat stuck in 20-foot seas, and his ceremony represents all those who have lost their lives while in the water.

“God gave them to us as a gift from the sea, and now we give them back from whence they came,” said Reverend Akaka about honoring their legacy.

This annual memory honors all those who are no longer with us, and how the sea contains them all. It is a traditional Hawaiian thought that, just as every raindrop that falls on land eventually makes it back to the ocean, every person that walks on land eventually goes back into the sea.

To commence a paddle-out circle, participants splash water high into the air and disperse flowers. They continue back to shore, catching a wave or two together for all the souls that are no longer

a part of the community.

The community of the University of California, Santa Barbara, united by the ocean at our fingertips, came together in 2014 to pay respects to lost loved ones.

On all kinds of water crafts — surfboards, kayaks, paddleboards, canoes, pool noodles, and boogie boards —students affected by the tragedy mourned as one.

“This ceremony was a beautiful example of how a community can come together in a dark time, healing as one,” said Stephanie Schechter, a fourth year communication student on the UCSB Surf Team.

In a similar fashion to Eddie Aikau’s community, Schechter and the UCSB Surf Team have organized annual paddle-out ceremonies to continue to honor the students no longer with us.

The fourth annual Isla Vista memorial paddle-out ceremony will be held this evening at 6 p.m., May 24, just off of Campus Point.

This year marks the last year that students attending UCSB were present for the tragedy. But through this ceremony, they hope that the tradition of the paddle-out will continue to be a part of the UCSB legacy every year.

Remembrance

Photo by Juan Gonzalez | Staff Photographer 1000 paper cranes rest above students to commemorate UCSB’s sense of community and hope.

Linus Li STAFF WRITER

No one saw it coming, no one wanted it to come, and no one ever expected it to be a part of their college experience.

And yet, it came, it happened; it took away the lives of six Gauchos.

On May 23, 2014, The Isla Vista tragedy forever altered the lives of not only the families of those whose lives were cut short, but also each and every soul at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He could have been one of the many students racing down Pardall Tunnel on their bikes every morning; she could have been the one holding onto her sorority sisters’ hands every evening. But they are not, and they will never be again.

When the tragedy happened, most of the graduating class of 2017 were nearing the end of their freshman year, still searching for a place where they belonged and getting accustomed to living on their own. Today, they are preparing to mark the end of their stories at UCSB. He could have been the one slowly walking out the tunnel, looking back, and smiling; she could have been the one posing for the last pictures with her sorority sisters. But these events will never happen.

To remember the lives lost on the day the shooting happened, a series of events were held to commemorate the third anniversary of the tragedy.

Over the weekend, “The Second Annual Isla Vista Conference: The Beloved Community” took place across Isla Vista, attracting local residents as well as students, staff, and faculty members from UCSB. Attendees engaged in a variety of activities designed to “work toward [a] collective understanding of Isla Vista and commitment to [the] beloved community,” according to the Conference Statement.

As one of the co-chairs of the Isla Vista Conference Coordinating Committee, fourth year history of public policy major Paola Dela Cruz believes that “community engagement is the soul of Isla Vista.”

Throughout the weekend, participants were introduced to Dr. Martin Luther King’s vision of a Beloved Community. Attendees engaged in conversation about what, “Beloved Community looks like in Isla Vista,” said Cruz. “Participants walked away with a written manifestation of what they committed to do over the next year to engage in Isla Vista through principles of equity, inclusion, and activism.”

Speaking of the aftermath of the May tragedy, Cruz thinks it is important that Isla Vista residents “remember the six lives we lost and … honor the various ways in which our community rose and united.”

At the “Folding Cranes for Peace and Unity: We Remember” project organized by the Nikkei Student Union, over 1,000 cranes were folded and are currently on display in the Student Resource Building hanging from the second story bridge.

As second year biopsychology major Laura Yoshihara put it, “it was just a way for the Gaucho community to remember the lives that were lost in the 2014 Isla Vista Tragedy.”

“The crane symbolizes peace and unity in the Japanese culture,” said Yoshihara. “I was hoping to bring these into the Gaucho community.” Yoshihara was in charge of setting up the display.

At the time of the tragedy, Yoshihara was still a high school student who did not know where she was going to end up three years later. She described her involvement with the project as “unforced

and … unplanned.”

In fact, it was during Yoshihara’s first year as a UCSB student when teaching assistant Melissa Barthelemy came into one of her writing classes as a guest speaker. Barthelemy talked about the spontaneous memorial sites around Isla Vista immediately following the tragedy and her personal connections with the victims’ families.

“I told Melissa I wanted to get involved and it just kind of took off from there,” Yoshihara said.

Today, Barthelemy is a doctoral candidate in public history and part of the planning committee for the “We Remember Them” memorial anniversary week events. She found the memorial to be a “deeply meaningful” time for herself and was “amazed” by the amount of students engaged in the activities each year.

“Time is one of the most precious gifts you can ever give another person,” Barthelemy said, praising the Gaucho community and the Nikkei Student Union in particular for their time and effort in folding over 1,000 cranes, and for showing the “depth of compassion of [the UCSB and Isla Vista] community.”

“Each one of those cranes represents an act of love and compassion,” Barthelemy added. “Origami cranes are also very important to the families of the victims because they are beautiful artistic pieces and they represent so much tender love and care.”

On Monday evening, a panel of speakers from the May 23, 2014 Isla Vista Memorial Archive Project came together with approximately 40 other participants at the UCSB MultiCultural Center Theater. Photographs taken at the spontaneous memorial sites following the tragedy, as well as other sites on campus dedicated to the victims of the tragedy, were showcased.

Barthelemy said during the conference that “sometimes we don’t realize how huge of an impact [we have] as an individual or even as a small group,” in reference to establishing a movement aimed at preserving the items from the memorial sites spread across Isla Vista.

The items found at the memorial sites are currently located at the Davidson Library Special Research Collections.

Lauren Trujillo was the lead intern in Barthelemy’s project, and was close friends with victims Veronika Weiss and Katie Cooper.

“I never knew how it felt to be in unity,” Trujillo, now a UCSB alumna, recalled the aftermath of the shooting as Greek Life came together to support one another.

Barthelemy told The Bottom Line that, “It really means a lot to the families to know that people still care” about building a community in Isla Vista that is diverse yet also inclusive, and that parents of the fallen Gauchos “still want to honor the memories of their children.”

By providing a platform for the community to mourn collectively, Barthelemy said, “It reminds us that we are not alone. And that this pain we feel is shared by others. In some way that lightens the burden we each bear.”

“Healing is a process that takes time,” Cruz added. “It is important for us to continue holding spaces and conversations that support our individual and collective healing.”

He never turned around at the end of the tunnel; she never knew that picture in her photo album was her last picture with all the sorority sisters. But the Gaucho community will continue to honor the lives of the six warriors while peace, love, and solidarity continue to grow in Isla Vista and among the souls of Gauchos.

4 | SPECIAL EDITION

2014

2015

TBL | May 24, 2017

Memoriam Through the Years 2016

Photos by Mark Brocher, Lorenzo Basillo, Kelly Xin, Leah Armer, Mathew Burciaga, Veronica Arvizo, Alex Yam, and Juan Gonzalez

2017

5 | NEWS

TBL | May 24, 2017

Law Enforcement Releases Memo on Sexual Assault, Violent Crime Policy

Photo by Alex Yam | Staff Photographer Students gather to hear about the changes made in order to create a better support system for survivors.

Madeleine Lee CAMPUS BEAT REPORTER

The University of California, Santa Barbara Police Department and the County of Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Office have released an official Memorandum

of Understanding between the two law enforcement bodies, marking a significant step in the ongoing conversation of the handling of sexual assault cases for UCSB students living in Isla Vista.

The boundaries of law enforcement jurisdiction themselves are straight-

forward: SBSO presides over the two square-mile area of Isla Vista, while UCPD presides on all sides around it, including the main campus to the right of I.V., Storke Campus directly north, and North and West Campus to the left.

Fourth year Ro’shawndra Earvin,

who led the twelve-hour sexual assault policy sit-in on the fifth floor of Cheadle Hall in early May, is unfortunately wellacquainted with the jurisdiction map.

While occupying Cheadle Hall, Earvin presented administrators with a list of demands that day to address what she

felt was a mishandling of her case by the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Office.

Earvin said, both in the meeting and in written documents in the weeks following, that the SBSO officer handling her case had done so with “unprofessionalism,” profiling the act of having to walk evidence to the IVFP office, an invitation to meet with the officer in his car after midnight to discuss the case, and what she perceived as an overall lack of sensitivity.

Earvin believes these missteps may not have occurred if the jurisdiction boundaries, or at least the communication boundaries between SBSO and UCPD, were altered.

The memorandum does in part provide an answer to one of Earvin’s demands by providing a clear and enumerated list of expectations ranging from jurisdiction to communication between law enforcement bodies and victims by which SBSO and UCPD are expected to abide by.

At a follow-up meeting on Wednesday, May 17, SBSO Undersheriff Bernard Melekian and UCPD Assistant Chief Cathy Farley presented the memorandum. Signed into being in midFebruary of this year, the memorandum states its purpose as the promotion of “collaboration between the Parties to enhance the reporting, investigation, and appropriate response to sexual assault and other covered crimes,” as well as a commitment to comply with California Education Code, Clery Act, and Title IX policies. It also outlines proper procedure for handling the direct reporting procedure for sexual assault, how to di-

rect victims to services, and a commitment to provide mandatory sexual assault prevention and training.

When asked to elaborate on training, Melekian said that officers handling assault cases go through an initial 80 hours of dedicated training, with follow-up trainings of four hours every other year.

“It’s one thing to have all this on paper,” said Earvin, who like many students in the room was still unhappy with SBSO’s response, “but it’s a whole ‘nother thing to have officers actually follow through with it and treat us with the respect that we, as human beings, deserve.”

Melekian apologized to Earvin, saying that he “felt badly because we haven’t delivered the product we were supposed to.”

“What I think would probably be helpful maybe at a future meeting is to try to drill into some of the specific concerns into how investigations are handled and see if we can learn from that and go forward,” said Melekian. “My own experience is that training is a good thing, but figuring out how people’s life experience plays out with it is probably more important and we’d be glad to participate in that.”

In addition to cases of sexual assault, the memorandum addresses hate crimes, violent crimes, and includes the expectation that officers respect the unique needs of undocumented individuals.

The memorandum is available on The Bottom Line’s website, and on UCPD’s website.

Student-Run Initiative Rolls Out Post-Elections Town Hall Free MDMA Test Kits Brings to Light Student

Concerns

Photo by Juan Gonzalez | Staff Photographer Student Advocate General-elect Jack Tannenbaum, who ran an independent campaign addresses his concerns towards the A.S. Election Board.

Jack Alegre STAFF WRITER

Illustration by Allie Sullberg | Staff Illustrator Andrew Delvasto STAFF WRITER Ecstasy, molly, MDMA — all names for a drug present at many parties or raves. It goes without saying that these drugs are illegal, although their use is still rampant. Associated Students OffCampus Senator Patrick Dohoney has started a program to give out free test kits to students in the University of California, Santa Barbara community. Test kits allow users to see what’s in the drugs they’ve obtained before they use them.

Dohoney, a second year psychology major, acknowledged the common use of MDMA among students and said he hopes to increase drug safety through their kits. He pushed to create the test kits program with the help of UCSB’s chapter of Students for Sensible Drug Policy.

“Me and a group of students, who are a part of SSDP, wanted to find a way to reduce the amount of drugrelated emergencies,” Dohoney said.

“When people intend to take molly, it is often cut with other drugs, like amphetamines or bath salts. We wanted to make sure that if students decided to use drugs, the could do it in the safest, most responsible way possible.”

The program works like this: there are approximately 30 test kits available

on a loan basis. Anyone who is interested is asked to send an email ivtestkits@ gmail.com to set up an appointment.

The person will then be given a location and a time to pick up the test kit. Students need to exchange their access card for the kit to ensure that the kit is later returned. They may then take it back to their residence and test there. The service is confidential.

SSDP is actively working to bring attention to the kits, said Julan Prasad, a second year physics major who is helping to lead UCSB’s SSDP chapter.

“What motivated us to do it was that last year at Extravaganza, and just throughout my time at Isla Vista, I found out that we have a really big problem with dirty molly,” Prasad said. He said the issue has not been addressed. “You have people having to deal with sketchy people, with cartels and drug dealers in order to have a good time. We are trying to stay safe about it,” Prasad said.

Dohoney and SSDP hope to make the program more accessible, with the aim of eventually offering the test kits at the Pardall Center. They said they hope to work with Gaucho FYI and the Alcohol and Drug Program to make its existence better known around the community.

One anonymous user of MDMA

supported the decision to offer free test kits.

“In my opinion, offering students drug MDMA testing kits is a great idea,” the user said. “It’s important to acknowledge that drug use is always present and that the safety of students should be the number one priority.

Drug test kits allow for students to drastically reduce their odds of overdosing due to an unknown substance being in the drug.”

The legality of test kits has been a subject of discussion, making programs like these controversial. Dohoney and Prasad share a different opinion.

“It is the best way to reduce harm when students use drugs,” Dohoney said. It is very naive to deny the fact that there are students on this campus that are doing hard drugs.”

“Our having test kids isn’t making anyone do more drugs,” Prasad agreed.

“It is just making them feel safer about it, and hopefully be safer.”

Dohoney said he hoped people would take advantage of the program.

“I want to let everyone know that if you do use these drugs, please use this service,” he said. “You are always taking a risk when you take substances.

This is a free and confidential program that ensures you know what you are consuming.”

Students held a town hall on May 19 to reflect on the 2017 Associated Students elections. Participants discussed the election experience and engaged in conversation about what they felt could stand to change regarding elections.

Discussion topics included revisions to the rules for how campaigns start, protocol for how independent candidates should proceed with campaigns of their own, and whether party boards should be phased out. A point of contention was over how the elections process could best serve the needs of transgender students. Students also addressed the supposed “dirty campaigning” during election season, which allegedly included personal attacks against candidates from both parties and unwarranted aggression.

The students present at the meeting sought to address the issues surrounding the campaigning process. Due to rules for when campaigning could actually begin this year — such as limits on when an individual candidate could actually announce their bid for office — candidates present said they found it difficult to adequately get their own campaign messages across.

Participants also raised concerns over the boards used by candidates for their campaigns. Many candidates said setting up boards is a strenuous process, calling the system a “first-come, first-served” mentality. Therefore, many candidates wanted to either redefine how people select the spaces where they are allowed to set up their boards (the current system is determined by order of sign-up) or even

eliminate boards entirely.

Outgoing A.S. senator Charles Neumann proposed that an alternative to the physical boards on campus could be an electronic system of advertisement.

However, he said it would be better to host such ads on Gauchospace instead of GOLD, as many people found the latter relatively unforgiving in providing adequate election information. The idea of livestreaming the campaign debates was also put forward, in order to increase accessibility.

Recently-elected Student Advocate General Jack Tannenbaum also spoke at length about the limits placed on independent candidates such as himself. According to Tannenbaum and the A.S. Elections Code, parties are allowed a $6,000 budget for their campaign, while independent candidates are only allowed $600.

“Independent candidates are at an inherent disadvantage against partisan groups,” said Tannenbaum, a third year economics major.

“You cannot recruit a team until declaration of candidacy, whereas parties are able to recruit a team all through recruitment,” he said. He noted that independent candidates seeking positions that are also open to the partisans are “at a four week disadvantage in recruitment.”

“Students who might be interested in being politically active are going to be, for lack of a better word, poached by the other parties,” said Tannenbaum.

Transgender issues were also on the agenda. Isla Vista Party member Naia Al-Anbar posited an amendment to Elections Code so that candidates would no longer have to run under their legal

name. This would spare them the experience of being “outed” as trans or otherwise, she said. Additionally, al-Anbar also suggested that the Elections Board rewrite some terms to be more genderneutral, citing discrepancies in word choice in certain election documents.

To conclude the town hall, attendees of the meeting turned their attention to the so-called “dirty campaigning” of the election. Little mention was made about any specific incidents, although the point was brought up that much of the bad blood could not necessarily be traced back directly to members from the respective parties.

A party is not forced to register persons volunteering on its behalf, so individual party members launching attacks against opponents receive a shield of plausible deniability. To preclude similar controversy in the future, students proposed an amendment to the election process which would have parties register volunteers for their campaigns.

Ultimately, the town hall focused on streamlining the campaign process.

Those attending said they wanted to make it easier for candidates to begin their own bids by moving up the time for active campaigning to begin. They also wanted to make sure elections conclude no later than the third week of spring quarter, so regular students feel less overwhelmed.

Carlos Castillo, a member of Elections Board, said town halls like these are “very great.”

“They are an opportunity to connect with students,” he said. “We want to strengthen our relationship with the students.”

6 | FEATURES + ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

TBL | May 24, 2017

Lynsey Addario: A Photographer’s Life of Love and War Yao Yang STAFF WRITER Pulitzer Prize winning photographer Lynsey Addario came to Santa Barbara last Saturday, conducting the crowd through her life stories in her book “It’s What I Do: A Photographer’s Life of Love and War.” Her career, travels, and heart-thrilling experiences inspired her performance, hosted by UCSB Arts & Lectures.

She started off her speech by explaining why she decided to cover wars. “I [think] it [started] from my childhood. I grew up in Westport, Connecticut. I was the youngest of four sisters, so that probably was the best war-training ever.” Pausing from a roar of laughter, she continued.

“Because I got beaten up basically on a daily basis, this is a very seventiesstyle self-portrait.”

Then she mentioned her experience in Argentina at the Buenos Aires Herald and later at the Associated Press after coming back to the U.S. Beyong freelancing for the AP for three years, her curiosity and care for women-related issues led her to be a photographer for Time magazine and travel to take photos in regions of Afghanistan under Taliban control.

“When I got there, I realized that my gender can really open doors,” said Addario. “It was the first time that I’ve been to a country where men and women are separated by gender.” She sneaked around to take pictures of women on the street,

who are not able to be in labor under the Taliban, and she shot pictures of secret schools for girls, who are not allowed to be educated under similar circumstances.

In addition to covering women’s education issues during the war of Afghanistan, she approached other stories from a feminine and humane angle. She reflected on conditions of women as well as major events in conflict-ridden areas throughout the Middle East and Africa.

Addario traveled to Istanbul, northern and central Iraq, and Darfur to cover conflicts. She documented internally-displaced people and rebel groups around refugee camps and abandoned villages. In 2004, she also extended her coverage of the

Middle East to women’s issues in Saudi Arabia while shooting other features in Turkey, Libya, South Africa, and Lebanon.

Similar to the risks of any other war correspondents, dangers and risks are like shadows following her.

On May 9, 2009, in Pakistan, Addario was involved in an automobile accident while returning to Islamabad from an assignment at a refugee camp. Her collar bone (clavicle) was broken, another journalist was injured, and the driver was killed.

In a later incident a few years later, Addario was reported missing along with three other journalists in Libya from March 16-21 in 2011.

Commenting on the disappearance, she said that, “It was the first

MFA Graduate Reception Showcases the Class of 2017

time that I realized it was as bad as it seemed … For the first three days, we were repeatedly beaten, punched in faces and sexually assaulted … On the third day, when we had been put into prison, they threw us into the back of a pickup truck like sardines and they paraded us for six hours under the hot sun. And every forty-five minutes they would slow the truck down enough so that we could get beaten by angry mobs.”

After that she started to cover refugee crises instead of frontline war stories. “For the last five years, I have been covering the Syrian refuges and all the neighboring countries, from Iraq to Jordan and Lebanon,” said Addario. She recently completed a series on infant mortality, juvenile

justice, sexual assault of minors, malnutrition, and education in countries across Africa for the New York Times.

Though experiencing all these extreme conditions, she persists in her career. In her self-statement, women are facing the same degrees of danger as men are during wartime. There is no difference between genders in front of violence. More importantly, she believes that women can provide various opinions and horizons on war, as they can calm people ready to do battle.

It is the ability and duty for female war correspondents to seek a “relationship” in photo journalism. “I still believe in the power of photography,” said Addario.

Negative Gemini and George Clanton Bring Fiery Electronic Music to KCSB Courtyard

Photo by Juan Gonzalez | Staff Photographer Headliner George Clanton delivers an intense and energetic performance at Storke Plaza.

Emmanuel Alcantar STAFF WRITER

Photos by Stephanie Torres | The Bottom Line TOP: A colorful piece includes various symbolic elements, such as women, politics, and fire.

BOTTOM: An audience is intrigued as they watch Scotty Wagner’s film project.

Rebecca Lauffenburger STAFF WRITER

Last Friday, the Art, Design & Architecture Museum (AD&A) was unusually animated, as students and visitors to the University of California, Santa Barbara campus gathered for a reception honoring the graduates of UCSB’s Master of Fine Arts program.

The event showcased the work of this year’s graduates: Rose Briccetti, Marcos Christodoulou, Yumiko Glover, Sunny Samuel, Scotty Wagner, and Peter Sowinski.

Each artist used their allotted space to create an entirely unique display showcasing their labors over the twoyear program. A diverse variety of sculptures, murals, and digital media within the bustling museum space made for an eclectic, maze-like atmosphere. As they weaved their way through each part of the exhibition, visitors had a chance to admire the diverse collection, as well as speak with the artists themselves.

The museum’s entrance was occupied by the work of Peter Sowinski, whose artfully crafted sculptures and installation pieces drew a considerable crowd. His and skill eye for detail, was apparent in the wooden sculp-

tures hung around the space, which played with symmetry and form. The far corner of the room was occupied by an elaborate piece which utilized wooden blocks arranged in ladder-like structures and stacked haphazardly on top of each other to evoke what looked to be a floor-to-ceiling game of pick-up sticks.

The large open space in the next room housed works by Christodoulou, Glover, and Samuel. Christodoulou employed oil and mixed media to create surreal paintings that, according to him, comment on “contemporary politics and culture,” and “try to make sense of its contradictions.”

Across the room hung some of Glover’s paintings, which play with clean lines and blocks of solid color in order to create dynamic, larger-thanlife scenes. Her pieces, which range from simple geometric figures on small canvases to elaborate and sizable murals, are created using a distinct color palette composed of romantic pastels.

Glover draws inspiration from her experiences growing up in Hiroshima, Japan, and her work addresses issues within Japanese culture with a particular emphasis on the devastation of war.

Samuel takes a more unconven-

tional approach with his work, which explores symmetry within abstraction.

Acrylic paint is poured over plexiglass to create unique patterns reminiscent of specimens on microscope slides.

Slightly tinted translucent blocks of glass were arranged on a shelf in order to evoke a disjointed, yet cohesive, landscape of sorts.

Briccetti chose to create a cozy atmosphere by decking out a corner of her exhibition space with furniture, rugs, and a lamp. The centerpiece of her homey space was a large mural examining “feminine and personal identity” through natural themes of fertility and labor. Her interest in taxonomy, collage, and the art of curation are reflected in overlaid illustrations arranged in surreal and aesthetically pleasing ways.

As I moved through the gallery, I noticed a small crowd lingering around one of the more entertaining pieces on display, a multimedia project by Wagner. As visitors stepped into his exhibition, they left the museum setting and crossed into a reality entirely of Wagner’s creation. The central piece of his project was a roughly 8-by-15 inch set piece constructed of wooden boards painted green, orange, blue, and

purple. The room itself was furnished with surreal imagery, such as an oversized television remote and martini glass. Visitors were encouraged to sit on the set furniture and watch the bizarre scenes (most of which were filmed on the set) playing out on a television screen mounted on the wall. Wagner, who wrote the script as well as directed the film, played both artist and actor.

Inhabiting the room in which Wagner’s narratives took place was somewhat similar to stepping into a shoebox diorama. Behind this miniature universe was a physical “backstage” area creatively set up to display props, costumes, and prosthetics used in the creation of the film. The overall effect of Wagner’s creativity was an interactive and immersive experience that definitely left a mark on viewers. While people streamed past, Wagner stood in front of his set, chatting with visitors who laughed and praised him for his comedic antics on-screen.

This year’s MFA graduate exhibition features a diverse group of artists, each with a unique vision and means of expressing their perspective, culminating in a varied, thoughtful, and utterly beautiful body of work. The exhibition will be on display until June 4.

Brooklyn-based electronic artists George Clanton and Negative Gemini came to the KCSB Courtyard last Wednesday to perform music from their latest album releases.

The setting was intimate, as many attendees rubbed shoulders and gathered close to the stage to get a closer look at the performers. The space was relatively sparsely decorated, with an exception to the stage and a single desk set to the side holding many small trinkets available to concert goers, courtesy of KCSB. Lyndsey French, who performs under the stage name Negative Gemini, opened for George Clanton. A Virginia native, Negative Gemini made her first splash in the electronic music scene with the release of her 2015 EP Real Virtual Unison. She was in a “vaporwave-minded” rap group with a couple of friends before taking on her current moniker in 2011.

If there’s one word to describe her music, it’s otherworldly. Her first song of the night was “Rollercoaster.” Her ethereal vocals disappeared into the instrumentation, which pulsed with energy and immediately invigorated the crowd. The repetition of the word “ok” in the pre-recorded backup vocals added to the kind of ominous atmosphere French creates in her music.

Another standout was the title song on her newest album, Body Work. The disjointed nature of the song was impressive, given the many subgenres of electronic music it expertly maneuvers through, such as ambient and techno.

A personal favorite of the night was her performance of “You Never Knew.”

Her dynamic vocals were at one moment menacing, when she sings, “I was chasing you,” and child-like and vulnerable at another, when she’s holding her breath and “going under.”

There’s something both primal and

ghostly about Negative Gemini that makes her stage presence and work enthralling. Perhaps it was the way she captivated the crowd, especially during the song “Body Work,” during which the audience transitioned from casually swaying their heads to full-on dancing.

George Clanton, her boyfriend, performed after French. Clanton began his music career by developing a loyal fanbase on the Internet. Last year, he released his newest album 100% Electronica, which borrows from the best of ‘80s and ‘90s electronic music. Clanton showcased his vulnerability with startling candor on the song “Bleed,” during which he moans after saying “someone else can give you what you need.”

The next song he performed, “Warmspot,” showed how much of a visual experience Clanton’s performance was, as well as auditory. Several different images of important pop culture symbols were shown throughout, such as the Apple and McDonald’s logo.

“Kill You in Bed,” the last song of the night, worked on two different levels. The lyrics show Clanton expressing his intense love not only for a significant other by saying he wants to “kiss you to death,” but for the audience as well.

Clanton interacted often with the crowd, walking up to several attendees while he performed, almost pressing his face to the phones with which people were recording the concert.

Clanton’s intensity as a performer was in stark contrast to Negative Gemini, as he elicited an animalistic energy from the crowd whereas Negative Gemini preferred to fade in to her music.

He very much worked to emphasize his presence.

Both Clanton and French were inspired, passionate, and original, and they proved to be stellar performers.

Walking back after the concert, it felt strange to be back in reality after spending a long time in such a rich and immersive experience.

TBL | May 24, 2017

7 | OPINIONS

Former Presidents Dogs: More Than Simply Man’s Best Friend Should be Wary of Paid Speeches

Illustration by Sabrina Lim | Staff Illustrator Jackie Caldwell

Illustration by Sabrina Lim | Staff Illustrator

“Former presidents accepting speaking fees, though at first appearing harmless, does damage the credibility of the office of the presidency.”

Arturo Samaniego STAFF WRITER President Barack Obama was recently paid a lavish sum of money to speak to a Wall Street firm. Obama, like many former presidents, can do as he pleases in regard to speaking to wealthy elites in exchange for large amounts of money, but it should be noted these speeches come at the cost of the integrity of the office he once held, and his own credibility.

As reported by The Guardian, Obama was paid $400,000 in speaking fees from a Wall Street bond firm that engages in credit default swaps, which were “the fancy financial instruments that helped trigger the 2008 financial meltdown.” Obama has rallied against financial inequality painting himself as a defender of the common man, stating in a speech reported by Politico that he’s “making sure our economy works for every working American. It’s why I ran for President,” yet here he is taking a paycheck from an institution that is part of the larger system that has come to represent excess and greed. Can Obama continue to advocate for the needs of the 99 percent while accepting large checks from the one percent?

As reported by The New York Times Obama is starting a foundation aimed at “training and elevating a new generation of political leaders in America,” but what message is Obama sending to the next generation through this extravagant speech?

The Guardian was correct in pointing out that Democrats “kowtowing” to wealthy elites left them “morally bankrupt,” citing Hillary Clinton as an example of a public figure damaged by giving expensive speeches. It can be argued that Clinton’s Wall Street speeches contributed to her loss in the election as it painted her as being aligned with elites and not the people. Obama, in giving this speech, risks being seen like Clinton and other democrats, as out of touch with the common man.

Former president Harry Truman put it best when it came to accepting lucrative financial offers once no longer president by saying that “any transaction, however respectable … would commercialize on the prestige and dignity of the office of the presidency.”

This is not to say that presidents

should completely refrain from all financial transactions once out of office. Truman himself sold his memoirs for a large amount of money, though a line should be drawn when it comes to blatantly using one’s status as former president to accumulate large amounts of wealth.

Obama is not the first former president to cash in on the presidency. Bill Clinton has accumulated up to $40 million in speaking fees, Ronald Reagan gathered $2 million from delivering two speeches in Japan, and George H.W. Bush also earned millions from his public speaking.

Each of these instances, no matter the circumstances, commercialize the prestige and dignity of the presidency.

This overall damages the office, making a once honored position just another path to a quick paycheck.

Former presidents accepting speaking fees, though at first appearing harmless, does damage the credibility of the office of the presidency. What is an individual supposed to make of a president who says one thing while in office, but suddenly appears to align himself with interest he rallied against once he is out of office? Additionally, dignity is a trait most believe presidents should maintain throughout their life, but how can the public respect the office of the president when its former occupants appear to be using it to make a quick buck?

Some say that presidents have no other choice but to engage in these transactions. After all, what are they supposed to do when they are out of office? This is a fair concern, but one must remember, as cited in The New York Times, presidents now “receive a lavish pension — $186,000, increased yearly — payable as soon as they depart the White House, regardless of their age.” In addition, presidents are also given financial assistance when it comes to staff, offices, and travel.

Former presidents are in their full legal rights to engage in whatever transactions they desire since they are no longer in public office. Still, just because one can do something does not mean one should. Former presidents should show greater respect for the office they once held, and Obama should keep his credibility in mind when it comes to pricey speeches.

In November of 2015, Rema Rainsford-Hunt was mauled by three pit bulls that she was taking care of for a friend. Recently, Rainsford-Hunt announced that she is launching an education effort that will teach people how to properly select and train dogs.

It’s great that Rainsford-Hunt is trying to help others so that what happened to her doesn’t happen to anyone else, but some people have expressed concern that if too many stipulations are placed on the adoption process through her program, it may decrease the number of dogs who find homes. While many people may see this as an acceptable sacrifice in that it may prevent humans from being injured by aggressive dogs, many dogs that are not adopted are

euthanized. It’s important to look out for other human beings, but we should strive to ensure the well-being of other creatures too.

Humans have bred dogs to be ideal human companions, but this has come at a cost. Most dogs are incapable of living without humans. There’s a reason you don’t hear about wild Chihuahuas or a forest being overrun by pit bulls. Because humans have made it so most dogs are incapable of surviving on their own, we have a responsibility to take care of them — even the dogs who seem aggressive or ill-tempered.

It’s true that some owners are better-suited to taking care of certain dogs than other people are, and it may be important to inform an owner about a dog’s temperament for that reason, but we all have a responsibil-

ity to try to help dogs simply because they are living creatures, and they are largely dependent on us.

Most people see cats and dogs as creatures that exist mainly to provide us with joy and companionship.

While most of us do have positive mutual relationship with our pets in that we feed and play with them, we do not see ourselves as existing to please them. We often hold the view that pets exist to please us. This is an unhealthy mentality in that it teaches us to view the lives of other living creatures as having less value than our own. While such a mindset may seem harmless when it’s directed towards animals, if it is not unchecked, it may serve as justification for mistreating other humans.

According to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Ani-

mals, approximately 1.5 million shelter animals are euthanized. Why is it that the lives of these animals (which include 670,000 dogs) have so little importance to us? Is it because they are less intelligent than we are? Because they don’t look like us? Because they are incapable of speaking out in their defense?

Saying it’s simply because they aren’t human isn’t a good enough reason for me. It is important to work at establishing more dog training faculties, something that RainsfordHunt seems to be trying to do, but we should also try to ensure that dogs who cannot find homes are taken care of in some other way, increasing our efforts to make sure that all dogs are given the opportunity to live happy lives alongside human beings.

Why China Should Be a Reminder About U.S. Hegemony

Illustration by Kamran Yunus | Copy Editor Jack Alegre STAFF WRITER Murmurs are rising with the United States sending a delegate to attend a conference for China’s ambitious “One Belt, One Road” program: An advanced infrastructure venture aiming to construct overland roads connecting China to Europe in the vein of the Silk Road. The project is awakening old whispers that have been forgotten for the majority of the Trump presidency.

More than anything, “One Belt, One Road” symbolizes the end of the United States’ tenure as sole world superpower.

However, there are signs pointing to this transition as already manifest. Ac-

cording to Mellichamp Professor of Global Studies Jan Nederveen-Pieterse, “China already has ‘economic hegemony’ in that it is the leading trade partner of nearly every country.” While the World Economic Forum says that the United States may, as of 2017, still possess 24.3% of the world economy, that number is in danger of being eclipsed

by China (14.8%). Furthermore, the fact that China has real and tangible plans for undertaking OBOR points to an advanced and adaptable government that knows best how to navigate the political mire of today.

This goes just beyond a fear of economic power: It is a fear of loss of hegemony as well. Hegemony is domi-

nation, pure and simple. A hegemon wields uncontested influence over various realms: politics, culture, economics.

All are measured against the hegemon, whom they regard as the main locus point if power. The United States, with its vast military and economic capabilities, has enjoyed such a position. It has guided the direction of world affairs for the last twenty years.

Historically speaking, hegemony is nothing new. There always has been a center from which the flow of trade and culture have been directed. The decline in American soft power, however, represents the first time in over two hundred years that a “Western” nation will not be under control. It is thanks to that

same historical view of hegemony that we come to understand that, in the past, world affairs were dominated by the desire to do business with the Orient.

For example: the old Silk Road and the travels of Marco Polo. The voyages of Columbus and Magellan. All were taken to penetrate the veil separating the riches of Asia from old Europe.

Asia was a land of fabulous wealth and untapped knowledge, and it was the focal point for global affairs. Of course the emperors of China and Japan were aware of this, selectively allowing only a small few the chance to trade with them. That is hegemony, that is power: having the ability to not only choose who you will trade with, buy to drive everyone to want to trade with you in the first place.

In the past 20 years that the United States has held uncontested power over the world, financial policy has been built around the so-called Washington Consensus, where nations must come to favor the growth of the private sector over their own government. The United States, as defender of free-for-all capitalism and free trade has bequeathed a legacy of economic insecurity.

China’s new economic policy, ironically enough, is an echo of America’s past exaltation of free trade. However, it should not be mistaken for quite the same model. Instead of finance, China prefers large global infrastructure projects as the Belt and Road Initiative shows. Rather than link the world through a common ideology of trade and exchange, China seeks to physically link the world. Their promise is that the project will invite peoples of the world to partake into a new age of economic growth, and that the countries through whom the Road winds through will be the recipients of new opportunities and riches.

Skepticism is understandable. After all, did the United States not promise the same thing with free trade? They did, and for many Americans, it’s better to go with the devil they know than the devil they don’t. For the rest of the world however, history is not easily forgotten, especially when they remember how American neoliberalism often hindered their own development.

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TBL | May 24, 2017

(extra)vaganza

Tinashe mesmerizes with her beautiful voice and choreography.

Photos by Juan Gonzalez | Staff Photographer

This year on Sunday, May 21, A.S. Program Board put on an incredible Extravaganza for UCSB students. Great performances by Twin Peaks, Thundercat, Tinashe, Griz, and Schoolboy Q pumped up the massive wave of students that flowed into Harder Stadium. The largest music festival of the year lived up to its name by showcasing awesome artists and local business vendors.

A student radiates with joy as he enjoys the musical bliss of Extravaganza.

An elated student hangs out with the Vineyard Vines mascot.

GRiZ hops into the crowd to hype them up with his saxophone.

The long awaited arrival of Schoolboy Q fills Harder Stadium with energy and excitement.

Thundercat grooves with his drummer and DJ.