FOOD
MOVIES
A cupcake worthy of making the Top 10 list for San Francisco? » PAGE 9
Time-traveling hit men action film is daring and measured » PAGE 10
Miette Bakery
Looper
IN THIS ISSUE
News Briefs » PAGE 3 Journal Club » PAGE 5 Puzzles » PAGE 8 Food » PAGE 9
Synapse The UCSF Student Newspaper
Thursday, October 4, 2012
synapse.ucsf.edu
TRAVEL ISSUE
W
elcome to Synapse’s annual Travel Issue. We thank all the members of the UCSF campus community who contributed to this issue. Our stories and photos span the globe, from Beijing to Jordan, from Miami to our own Bay Area. Clockwise from top: Luzern, Switzerland; June 2012 by Neelaysh Vukkadala. A view of the glowing Treasury peeking through the winding siq in Petra, Jordan by Jennifer Neglerio. A performance of the Drunken Empress performed at an opera house in Beijing by Nabeetha Nagalingam. Miami sunrise by Guillaume Desachy. The running of the bulls, Pamplona, Spain by Greg Tong.
Volume 57, Number 4
EVENTS 2 | October 4, 2012 | synapse.ucsf.edu
MISSION BAY EVENTS PARNASSUS EVENTS THE OUTDOOR MOVIE AT MISSION BAY: MARVEL’S ‘THE AVENGERS’
Thursday, Oct. 4, 6:30-9:30 p.m., Koret Quad, Mission Bay Come enjoy an outdoor screening of Marvel’s “The Avengers.” The first 100 UCSF students will receive a free blanket giveaway. Sponsors: Student Academic Affairs, Student Services at Mission Bay and Campus Life Services
MUSLIM FRIDAY PRAYER SERVICES
Friday, October 5, 1:30-2 p.m., Byers Hall, 212, Mission Bay The Muslim Community at UCSF holds regular Friday prayer services (Jum’a) for the UCSF Muslim community every week. Come join your fellow brothers and sisters for prayer, lunch and socializing. All are welcome!
STUDENTS OF COLOR: MISSION BAY
Monday, Oct. 8, noon-1 p.m., RSVP for location details SHCS’s Students of Color Discussion Group is designed for graduate and professional students of color to build community and talk about their experiences at UCSF. Topics may include issues around identity, professional relationships, community and support. Free lunch is provided with RSVP! larry.lariosa@ucsf.edu.
SELF-CARE 101
SYNAPSE NEWSPAPER AND WEBSITE
Thursday, Oct 4, noon-1 p.m., MU 123W Synapse is looking for Mission Bay and Parnassus writers, bloggers, photographers and designers. Come to the lunch meeting, share your story ideas and enjoy a free lunch.
SIMMER
Thursday, Oct. 4, 5-7 p.m., RSVP for location details Join Student Health’s dietitian, Alison Boden, in an interactive cooking class with easy and healthy recipes. Students prepare (and eat!) the dishes during class. RSVP is required, as seating is limited. nutrition@ucsf.edu
UCSF RUN CLUB
Wednesday, Oct. 10, 5:30-6:30 p.m., Millberry Union Central Desk, Parnassus Drop by and join UCSF Fit & Rec for a run. Each Wednesday night, the Run Club runs various distances (3-6 miles) at 9-11 minutes per mile.
STUDENTS OF COLOR: PARNASSUS
Wednesday, Oct. 10, noon-1 p.m., RSVP for location details SHCS’s Students of Color Discussion Group is designed for graduate and professional students of color to build community and talk about their experiences at UCSF. Topics may include issues around identity, professional relationships, community and support. Free lunch is provided with RSVP! larry.lariosa@ucsf.edu.
Monday, October 8, noon-1 p.m., Student Health, Rutter Center 3rd floor, Mission Bay Are you at the end of your rope? SHCS offers Self-Care 101, a crash course in physical and emotional wellness. This one-hour workshop incorporates cognitive behavioral techniques and educational tips you can use at home MUSLIM FRIDAY PRAYER SERVICES and at school. Free lunch with RSVP! Friday, Oct. 5, 1:30-2 p.m., S 180, Parnassus larry.lariosa@ucsf.edu. The Muslim Community at UCSF holds regular Friday prayer services GSA MEETING: GRADUATE, NURSING (Jum’a) for the UCSF Muslim & PT STUDENTS community every week. Come join Tuesday, October 9, 5:30 p.m., your fellow brothers and sisters for Genentech Hall, N 114, Mission Bay prayer, lunch and socializing. All are Meet your executive board members welcome! at the monthly GSA meeting and be a part of the discussion on topics relating PET THE PUP AT DOG DAY to graduate student priorities. Visit the GSA website for more details and to AFTERNOON Friday, October 5, noon-2:00 p.m., RSVP. http://bit.ly/gsawebsite Millberry Union West 111, Parnassus Meet this week’s visiting dog (and their 6TH ANNUAL MISSION BAY BLOCK human volunteer) from the SPCA’s PARTY Animal Assisted Therapy Program, Wednesday, October 10, noon-1:30 enjoy some tea or hot chocolate, and p.m., Gene Friend Way, Mission Bay leave your stress at the door! There Join Campus Life Services for the hottest will be a pup every Friday in October block party event of the year. Featuring so don’t miss out! Sponsor: Student live music, upgraded farmers’ market, Activity Center kid zone for all ages, free photo booth, prize wheel with 100+ prizes, free chair SELF-CARE 101 massage, 35+ vendors, and the 3rd Tuesday, October 9, noon-1 p.m., S annual chalk art contest — grand prize 180, Parnassus $500 gift card to Publico or Cafe 24! Are you at the end of your rope? SHCS offers Self-Care 101, a crash course in physical and emotional wellness.
This one-hour workshop incorporates cognitive behavioral techniques and educational tips you can use at home and at school. Free lunch with RSVP! larry.lariosa@ucsf.edu.
GOD’S HOTEL’S AUTHOR VICTORIA SWEET: PAT PATTERSON MEMORIAL LECTURE
Tuesday, October 9, noon -1 p.m., HSW 301, Parnassus How does a health care provider find a path that includes personal wellbeing, professional satisfaction and a deep sense of balance? UCSF’s Dr. Sweet has found her path and written about it in her highly acclaimed book, God’s Hotel. Bring your core beliefs to this talk and gain perspective on how to stay true to yourself and your patients as you make your way in health care.
BENT
Wednesday, October 10, noon-1 p.m., RSVP for location details Are you an LGBTQQI student? BENT is a social/discussion group for LGBTQQI students to meet others and discuss a variety of topics that impact LGBTQQI students on campus. FREE LUNCH provided with RSVP! larry. lariosa@ucsf.edu
IS THE REST OF THE WORLD “CRAZY LIKE US?”
Wednesday, October 10, noon-1 p.m., S163, Parnassus In an interview with Talk of the Nation about his book Crazy Like Us: The Globalization of the American Psyche, author Ethan Watters described how American definitions and treatments of mental illness have spread to other cultures around the world. Lunch provided. Sponsors: Mental Health Awareness Week
OFF-CAMPUS EVENTS OFF THE GRID
Thursday, Oct. 4, 5-9 p.m., Stanyan & Waller, Upper Haight Off the Grid is a roaming mobile food extravaganza that travels to different locations daily to serve delicious food, with a free side of amazing music, craft and soul. bit.ly/offthegridinfo
CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES: SHARKTOBERFEST NIGHTLIFE
Thursday, Oct. 4, 6-10 p.m., Cal Academy, Golden Gate Park Beer hall featuring local breweries. Excerpts of “Okeanos” performed by Capacitor Dance Company. Tickets: $9 online with UCSF discount. (user name= UCSF; password= alligator) bit.ly/CalAcademyEtickets
FRIDAY NIGHTS AT THE DE YOUNG
Friday, Oct. 5, 6-8:45 p.m., 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive, Golden Gate Park Friday Nights at the de Young offers a variety of free interdisciplinary arts programs, including live music, poetry, films, dance, art activities and lectures in the public spaces of the museum. Programs are free and open to the public but does not include admission to the museum’s galleries.
HARDLY STRICTLY BLUEGRASS FESTIVAL
Friday, October 5-Sunday, October 7, 11 a.m.-7 p.m., Hellman’s Hollow, Golden Gate Park) San Francisco’s own Hardly Strictly Bluegrass is one of the largest (and free-est) music festivals in the country. This flurry of banjos (and many other instruments) will take place in Golden Gate Park and no tickets are required. bit.ly/SFbluegrassFest
FLEET WEEK 2012: SATURDAY AIR SHOW WITH BLUE ANGELS
Saturday, October 6, 1-4 p.m., On the Waterfront, SF Saturday is the first full day of the annual Fleet Week air show and festival.
ANNOUNCEMENTS FREE FLU SHOTS
UCSF Medical Center will provide free flu shots to all employees, students and volunteers who have UCSF identification at drop-in clinics from Monday, Oct. 1 to Wednesday, Oct. 17. Clinics will be held at locations including 2300 Harrison St., China Basin, Executive Park, Laurel Heights, Mission Bay, Mission Center Building, Mount Zion and Parnassus.
CAMPUS POETS & WRITERS
Join an ongoing informal workshop facilitated by UCSF author Dr. David Watts. Beginners welcome. Bring a poem or a short prose piece or just come to listen. Group meets Mondays 4:30-5:30 p.m., 350 Parnassus, #900. Contact hdwatts@comcast.net
ONLINE VOTER REGISTRATION FOR CALIFORNIA
Thanks to passage of Leland Yee’s legislation, you can now register to vote online if you have a current CA driver’s license or ID card. The deadline is October 22 at midnight. This is not an election to sit out so attend a debate event, check out the UC: Onward van on October 24, talk to people about the issues and vote.bit.ly/CAVoterReg
WANT TO WIN A UCSF SWEATSHIRT?
It’s easy! Just LIKE the Student Inside Guide Facebook page. On Monday, October 1 at noon we will randomly choose winners from all our fans. If you already LIKED it, you are already entered!! If not, LIKE Student Inside Guide today! Must be a UCSF student to win. on.fb.me/insideguidefacebook
VOLUNTEER WITH THE 2012 BAY AREA SCIENCE FESTIVAL
UCSF’s Science & Health Education Partnership (SEP) is excited to announce the 2012 Bay Area Science Festival from October 27 to November 3. From the science of earthquakes to the physics of lasers, the Bay Area Science Festival promises to make science accessible, interactive, and fun, highlighting the impact of science and innovation on our lives. If interested in volunteering at the finale event, Discovery Days at AT&T Park, on November 3, please fill out the sign up form! bit.ly/ BayAreaScienceFairVolunteerSignUp 2012
synapse.ucsf.edu | October 4, 2012 | 3
NEWS
Chancellor Presents 2012 State of the University Chancellor Desmond-Hellmann expresses optimism in the face of budget challenges By Yi Lu Staff Writer
“A
fter three years as chancellor, I haven’t left behind my innate optimism, ” Chancellor Susan Desmond-Hellmann told a packed Cole Hall, reflecting on her first years at the helm of UCSF during her State of the University address on Tuesday, September 25. Her optimism suffused this year’s annual presentation, which took place amidst trying times for the University of California system and the state of California as a whole. Despite the many challenges facing UCSF, Chancellor Desmond-Hellmann highlighted some of the University’s many accomplishments of the past year, including the awarding of the Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research prize to Professor Ron Vale, the implementation of the APEX electronic medical record system at the UCSF medical center, and the launching of the Multicultural Center in Millberry Union. Her acknowledgement of UCSF’s recent achievements came with a promise to step up to bat for the University to ensure more good years to come. “At the Regents’ meeting in January of 2012, I told the Regents that UCSF demanded that we keep our excellence,” she said. “That we were firmly committed, no matter what the circumstances were, that we would be great, and we would remain leaders.” Key to the Chancellor’s vision for greatness is her campus-wide strategic plan, which she laid out one year ago in order to realize the University’s mission of “Advancing Health Worldwide.” At her State of the University address, Chancellor Desmond-Hellmann updated each of the plan’s five components, inviting key administrators to come to the podium to share their achievements and goals. Highlights of these presentations included an update from Mark
Laret, CEO of the UCSF Medical Center, about the rollout of the APEX electronic health record system, a report by Jeff Bluestone, Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost, about the school’s investment in online courses (which have already attracted 48,000 registered students), and news from Joe Castro, Vice Chancellor of Student Academic Affairs, that UCSF has raised just shy of $28 million towards the Chancellor’s $100 million target for funding scholarships and fellowships. Joining the Chancellor and the UCSF community were 14 participants from EXCEL, a program that the University runs in partnership with the City and County of San Francisco and Jewish Vocational Services. EXCEL aims to train individuals for administrative and clerical positions and then place them in four-month paid internships in various UCSF departments. In addition to featuring the EXCEL program’s work in the local community, Chancellor Desmond-Hellmann also took multiple opportunities to draw attention to UCSF’s commitment to its own community. At UCSF, she was particularly excited about a pilot succession-planning program aimed at identifying and training employees who have the potential to fill more senior positions. According to the Chancellor, “One of the greatest things I ever hear from people on our campus is, ‘I want to be a leader here.’ ” Projecting a slide tiled with the smiling headshots of dozens of UCSF personnel, the Chancellor explained that it is the talent of the 23,000 people who make up the UCSF community that underlies her enduring ability to remain an optimist. “I’m optimistic because people at UCSF are the ones who make us great,” she said. Li Yu is a first-year medical student.
NEWS BRIEFS SCHOOL OF PHARMACY
UCSF Granted $3M to Lead Artificial Kidney Effort
A
$750,000 gift from the John and Marcia Goldman Foundation is spurring a UCSF-led effort to create the first implantable artificial kidney for patients with kidney failure. The new funds, which augment a $2.25 million grant for the project from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) this summer, will enable the team of bioengineers, physicians and scientists to conduct the critical research needed to bring the proposed device to clinical trials by 2017. “Kidney failure takes a terrible toll on the world, both economically and in human suffering,” said Shuvo Roy, PhD, an associate professor in the UCSF School of Pharmacy who is leading the Kidney Project through the UCSF Department of Bioengineering & Therapeutic Sciences. “These funds are a critical step in helping us move this project forward more quickly.” Working with the project’s medical director, William Fissell, MD, at Vanderbilt University, UCSF’s Roy is coordinating researchers in nine institutions nationwide to create an implantable device that aims to mimic the filtration functions of a kidney, as well as its ability to maintain water and salt balances, produce Vitamin D, and regulate blood pressure and pH.
SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
White Coat Ceremony Marks Start of Med School
T
he UC San Francisco School of Medicine’s class of 2016 participated in the annual rite of passage for physicians: donning white coats, the official start of their medical training. During the Sept. 7 White Coat Ceremony before family, friends and fellow classmates at UCSF, the first-year students took a vow to maintain professional attitudes and behaviors in work and in relationships with their peers, teachers, patients and the community. Sam Hawgood, M.B.B.S., dean of the UCSF School of Medicine and vice chancellor for medical affairs, welcomed the students. “We want you to have fun during your training,” he said. “We also expect you to work harder and smarter than you’ve perhaps ever imagined. We ask you to open your minds to everything we can teach you. “In return for all this hard work, we commit to prepare you to face the many challenges you will encounter as a physician with courage, confidence, skill and humanity.”
DEPARTMENTS OF PATHOLOGY AND LABORATORY MEDICINE
Genetic Sleuthing Uncovers Deadly New Virus
A
n isolated outbreak of a deadly disease known as acute hemorrhagic fever, which killed two people and left one gravely ill in the Democratic Republic of Congo in the summer of 2009, was probably caused by a novel virus scientists have never seen before. Described this week in the open-access journal PLoS Pathogens, the new microbe has been named Bas-Congo virus (BASV) after the province in the southwest corner of the Congo where the three people lived. It was discovered by an international research consortium that included the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and University of California, Davis. “Known viruses, such as Ebola, HIV and influenza, represent just the tip of the microbial iceberg,” said Joseph Fair, PhD, a co-author and vice president of Metabiota. “Identifying deadly unknown viruses, such as Bas-Congo virus, gives us a leg up in controlling future outbreaks.” “These are the only three cases known to have occurred, although there could be additional outbreaks from this virus in the future,” said Charles Chiu, MD, PhD, an assistant professor of laboratory medicine at UCSF and director of the UCSF-Abbott Viral Diagnostics and Discovery Center, who spearheaded the UCSF effort to identify the virus.
CENTER FOR TOBACCO CONTROL RESEARCH AND EDUCATION
Smoking in Movies Increases in 2011, Reverses Five Years of Progress
Get a gourmet taste of Italy. panini, insalate, zuppa, hot pasta, gelato, dolci
T
We offer student discounts. Millberry Union, Plaza Level 415.681.9925
Mon-Thu, 6:30 am-6:00 pm Fri, 6:30 am-4:00 pm Closed Sat & Sun
You’re Funding Fun! A portion of every dollar you spend at campus retail vendors helps support Arts & Events at UCSF
op box office films last year showed more onscreen smoking than the prior year, reversing five years of steady progress in reducing tobacco imagery in movies, according to a new UCSF study. Moreover, many of the top-grossing films of 2011 with significant amounts of smoking targeted a young audience, among them the PG-rated cartoon Rango and X-Men: First Class. The more smoking young people see in movies, the more likely they are to start smoking, the US Surgeon General has reported. “Hollywood has still not fixed this problem,” said lead author Stanton A. Glantz, PhD, a professor of medicine at UCSF and director of the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education. “The result of the increase in onscreen smoking in youth-rated films will be more kids starting to smoke and developing tobacco-induced disease.”
4 | October 4, 2012 | synapse.ucsf.edu
NEWS
October is Diversity Month at UCSF National Coming Out Day will be observed on October 11 in Saunders Court
By Christopher A. Waddling, PhD Chancellor’s GLBT Advisory Committee
C
hancellor Susan Desmond-Hellmann has designated the month of October “Diversity Month” at UCSF, with this year’s theme being “Building Community at UCSF.” Our large LGBT community – estimated to be nearly 10% of UCSF’s total student, staff, trainee and faculty population – contributes greatly to the diversity that makes UCSF great. On Thursday, October 11, that community will pause and come together, beginning at noon in Saunders Court and moving on to N217 in the Nursing building to celebrate the 25th annual National Coming Out Day. The day marks the anniversary of the 1987 National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights and is observed globally to celebrate the powerful act of coming out with regard to one’s sexual orientation or gender identity and to raise awareness of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community and its progress towards recognition of our civil rights and equality. Members of the LGBT community are such an integrated part of everyone’s workday at UCSF that people often don’t stop to consider that there may still be many among us who are struggling with their own identities and the act of coming out. The purpose of National Coming Out Day is to help those who may be concerned about the reactions of their peers, mentors and professional colleagues to see that being out is actually in their best interest, both personally and professionally, and gives them one less burden to worry about as they seek to fulfill their career goals at UCSF.
SPORTS
Major League Baseball Playoff Preview: A New Wild Card Race Top two teams in each league’s Wild Card race face off in single game playoff By Akshay Govind Staff Writer
L
et me begin with a quick break down of the organizational structure of the baseball playoffs. Major League Baseball consists of two leagues: the National League and the American League. The champions from each league face one another in the World Series to play a best of seven game series for the coveted Commissioner’s Trophy. In the distant past, each league champion was determined solely from regular season win-loss records. In 1969, each league was split into eastern and western divisions, and the winners from each division would play league championship series to determine who would go on to the World Series. In 1994, each league was further divided into three divisions (east, west, and central), and another round was added to the baseball playoffs. At this time, in addition to the division leaders, an extra playoff slot known as the Wild Card was granted to the remaining team in each league with the best record. The original Wild Card setup has sometimes been criticized because the weeks leading up to the playoffs can be quite dull, as the Wild Card favorite has little incentive to fight to win its division. This year, Major League Baseball is trying a new scheme, where the top two teams in each league’s Wild
Card race will play one another in a single game playoff to decide who goes on to the division series. At the time of writing this article, the National League Wild Card playoff will likely involve the Atlanta Braves and the St. Louis Cardinals in the Wild Card slot, and the winner will go on to face the first place team, likely the Washington Nationals. The San Francisco Giants will likely be playing the Cincinnati Reds. In the American League, however, the only team whose slot is certain is the team with the worst record among Playoff bound teams – the Detroit Tigers. The remaining four teams – the Texas Rangers, New York Yankees, Baltimore Orioles, and Oakland Athletics, all have records within 1.5 games of one another, and it promises to be a tight race to the finish. Take a break from whatever you’re doing this Friday and tune in to watch a bit of the games to decide the Wild Card race on October 5. While baseball is historically slow paced, leaving ample time for blowing of bubbles, spitting of seeds, and scratching of unmentionables, Friday promises to bring a new and exciting intensity to the beginning of the playoffs. All four teams involved are sure to bring their best — whoever they may be. Akshay Govind is a first-year medical student.
The UCSF Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Issues, the LGBTQ Student Association and the UCSF Gay/Straight Dental Alliance will co-host this year’s National Coming Out Day celebration. The event, from noon-1:30 p.m., will include: •• music; •• speakers representing all facets of the LGBT coming out experience; •• UCSF and SFGH’s “It Gets Better” videos; •• a raffle; •• reboot of the UCSF Visibility Project, picture-taking by SF Camerawork; •• our famous rainbow cupcakes!
Who: CACGLBTI, LGBTQISA, GSDA What: National Coming Out Day Celebration Where: Saunders Court and N217 When: October 11, noon–1:30 p.m. More information at bit.ly/UCSF-NCOD
Vision Optical Look sharper. See better. Find us easier, too. Contemporary prescription glasses, sunglasses, and contact lens fitting Millberry Union, B1 For appointment & information 415.476.3100 Hours: M-F 8:30 am-5:00 pm
look sharper Vision Optical
You’re Funding Fun! A portion of every dollar you spend at campus retail vendors helps support Arts & Events at UCSF
synapse.ucsf.edu | October 4, 2012 | 5
OPINION
Critical Mass Turns 20
A bicycle movement born in San Francisco has become an international phenomenon
Photo by Mason Tran
On Friday, many thousands of bicycles stretched from the Embarcadero nearly to the Civic Center, a festive parade of lights, costumes, sound systems and lots of joyful cheers.
By Booth Haley Synapse Editor
L
ove it or hate it, Critical Mass has become a San Francisco institution and has forever changed the role of the bicycle in cities. What started with a small group anarchistic pioneers 20 years ago, right here (where else!) in San Francisco, has now become an international phenomenon, with Critical Mass rides occurring in cities from South America to Europe. Last Friday was the 20th anniversary ride and saw a huge turnout of a diverse group of people, many traveling from distant countries to join. Leaving from the Ferry Building at 6 p.m., as they do every last Friday of the month, the many thousands of bicycles stretched from the Embarcadero nearly to the Civic Center, a festive parade of lights, costumes, sound systems and lots of joyful cheers. No longer a fringe movement, Critical Mass now has parents pulling kids, old people, young people, business people, artists, crazily dressed people, well-dressed people – anyone, in fact, who supports urban biking. The Critical Mass tactic does, of course, annoy many motorists, whose journeys are delayed for the 10 or 20 minutes that the bike parade blocks the street. This confrontational stance is a form of civil disobedience, which, like most protests, has specific political goals: the riders seek to challenge the dominance of cars in our urban spaces and to demand more room for bikes and pedestrians. In the last 20 years, there have been momentous changes in this regard that can be attributed to the trail-blazing of the Critical Mass rides. Following in their steps, another group, the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, now with 12,000 members, has in the last few decades evolved into a powerful advocate for bicycling. It has the same goals as Critical Mass but seeks to reach them through dialogue and lobbying instead. The tolerance for bikes in San Francisco and the number of dedicated bike lanes have both grown in
proportion to the growing number of people who are riding bicycles to work and school in the city. Still, the space for bikes is insufficient to meet current needs, and certainly must be expanded before bikers of all ages feel safe riding on our roads. The automobile is a noisy, dangerous and dirty machine that takes up a lot of space on the streets and makes the urban experience considerably less pleasant for pedestrians — while alienating drivers from each other by separating them with walls of glass and steel. The bike meanwhile is a quiet, (relatively) safe and clean machine that takes up very little space on the streets and encourages people to get exercise while allowing them to interact faceto-face. For these compelling reasons, more and more people are riding bikes, and someday we will have roads that are safe enough for everyone to feel comfortable joining the biking/walking movement. The City government, recognizing both the advantages of bicycles as transport tools and the wishes of a growing segment of the population, has in recent years finally started to invest in bike infrastructure. Last week, it was announced that Masonic Street from Fell to Geary will be rebuilt as a bicycle boulevard, with a row of trees in the middle and separated elevated bike lanes on the sides. Earlier this year, JFK Drive, through the eastern part of Golden Gate Park, was repainted to create separate bike lanes. The status quo is something that we as a society created and can choose to change if we have the vision. This is happening now for urban transit, and we have the original bikers of Critical Mass to thank for the bold vision they proposed with their quirky mobile gatherings 20 years ago. Booth Haley is a second-year dental student.
UCSF JOURNAL CLUB
Recent research by UCSF scientists By Alexandra Greer
DENTISTRY: Effects of xylitol wipes on cariogenic bacteria and caries in young children. Zhan, L. et al. (Featherstone). Journal of Dental Research 91:85S-90S. Xylitol is a natural sugar substitute that has about the same sweetness as sucrose and is often added to sugar free gum, toothpaste and some pharmaceuticals as a sweetener. Multiple studies have suggested that xylitol may inhibit the harmful bacterial growth that causes dental caries (cavities) and may also promote remineralization of teeth before cavities form. Tooth brushing and flossing remain more effective ways to combat cavity formation, but adding xylitol to things like chewing gum appears to help prevent dental caries. The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry recommends that infants and toddlers use dental wipes as opposed to tooth brushing (as infants do not yet have teeth) and the researchers here wanted to determine whether adding xylitol to these wipes could help prevent cavity formation by inhibiting bacterial growth. Interestingly, they found that while infants and toddlers who used xylitol wipes had significantly fewer dental caries compared to those using wipes without xylitol, there was no difference in the bacterial content of the mouth – indicating that xylitol was effective, but not due to an inhibition of bacterial growth. BIOCHEMISTRY: Engineering a model protein cavity to catalyze the Kemp elimination. Merski, M., Shoichet, B.K. Proceeds of the National Academy of Science, Sept. 17. [Epub ahead of print] Engineering proteins from scratch to catalyze specific chemical reactions is hard work. How do you design a protein from a set of 20 amino acids, each with unique chemical properties, into a third structure that can interact with – and alter – another molecule? Enzyme engineering has huge potential in a wide range of chemistry applications. Most studies that attempt to generate novel enzymatic properties of a molecule utilize intense computational chemistry or are limited by attempting to mimic enzymes already found in nature, and often result in equally complicated enzyme products where it is difficult to identify where and how structure influences function. To generate a simplified, novel enzyme to catalyze the “Kemp elimination,” researchers first identified what simple type of environment was most helpful for the Kemp reaction to occur: polar and aprotic. Then they identified an existing enzyme with a polar and aprotic active site: a slightly mutated T4 lysozyme. Using their extensive experience in biochemistry, the researchers made slight mutations to the lysozyme that enhanced both its stability and its ability to catalyze the Kemp elimination, resulting in a simplified protein structure that has significant enzymatic activity. CANCER BIOLOGY: Characterization of a diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma cell line: implications for future investigations and treatment. Hashizume, R. et al. (Gupta). Journal of Neurooncology, Sept. 17. [Epub ahead of print] Diffuse intrinsic pontine gliomas are a class of brain tumor that grow within networks of neurons (“diffuse,” as opposed to a solid tumor) of the pons in the brainstem (hence “pontine”) and contain glial cells, which support and protect neurons in the brain. This type of glioma typically arises in children and has a poor prognosis because of the location of the tumor (it cannot be surgically removed) and its ultimate resistance to treatment with chemotherapy and radiation. Very little is known about the genetic mutations underlying this type of glioma because few biopsy and autopsy specimens are available. Knowing the genetic mutations found in these gliomas may lead to new treatments, some of which may already be in use for other forms of cancer. Therefore, there is much interest in developing a model of this cancer that can be examined in the lab. Here, researchers describe a cell line generated from a patient’s diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma that is capable of creating similar tumors in mice without immune systems (because the human cells would otherwise be rejected). This represents the first model of this type of glioma that can now be studied extensively in the lab. NEUROSCIENCE: Activation of neuronal NMDA receptors induces superoxide-mediated oxidative stress in neighboring neurons and astrocytes. Reyes, R.C.; Brennan, A.M.; Shen, Y.; Baldwin, Y.; Swanson, R.A. Journal of Neuroscience, 32(37):12973-8. Too much excitation of neurons can be lethal – excessive signaling in a neuron via neurotransmitters initiates signaling cascades that allow harmful levels of calcium to enter the cell and causes the production of harmful superoxides, both of which contribute to initiate apoptosis. One oversimplified example of this “excitotoxicity” is hearing loss following exposure to loud music – the loud music causes huge levels of neurotransmitters to be released to auditory nerve cells, resulting in some cell death and some hearing loss. One question remaining has been whether all of the dying cells directly received a toxic dose of neurotransmitters, or whether some of the cells die due to the release of harmful superoxides from nearby dying cells. To test this, researchers made a mixture of cells that could generate superoxides in response to overstimulation with cells that could not and looked at which cells died in response to overstimulation. They found that all of the responder cells died with overstimulation, and non-responder cells sitting next to responder cells also died. These results indicate that excitotoxicity includes cell death directly caused by overexcitation from neurotransmitters and cell death caused by the release of superoxides by nearby dying cells. Alexandra Greer is a fifth-year Biomedical Sciences student. For comments or research paper suggestions, email Alexandra at Alexandra.Greer@ucsf.edu.
6 | October 4, 2012 | synapse.ucsf.edu
Photo by Ernesto Diaz-Flores
My Hometown of Aranjuez, Spain By Ernesto Diaz-Flores Contributing Writer
T
his summer I went back to my hometown, Aranjuez, a beautiful royal town 30 minutes south of Madrid, to visit my family in Spain and soak myself in sun and warmth — yes, the warmth that we are deprived of if we live in San Francisco. Being at home means relaxing! I don’t need to set an alarm to wake up, and I don’t think at all about work. Life in Spain is based around family and friends. That’s what’s most important for us. The rest always comes second. I love having a long lunch with my parents and sisters, sharing stories of things that happened to us during the rest of the year. I also treasure the time I spend with the little ones, my three charming nephews. I enjoy playing whatever they want or teaching them whatever I want, like tennis or swimming. It’s a time to be a kid again. Early evening is when we go out and meet friends in one of the many bars with outdoor seating. Some of these friends I’ve known since childhood, so we always have a lot to catch up on while we share tapas and refreshing claras (beer with lemonade) or tinto de verano (wine with soda). That’s the taste of summer, that’s the taste of vacation in my hometown. And this year, because I am passionate about photography, I also decided to portray my beautiful town, Aranjuez, through the lens of my camera. If you had been here with me, you would have seen the formidable Royal Palace of the mid-18th century and the beautiful royal gardens surrounding it. There are peacocks, pheasants and swans along the paths surrounded by ancient trees and mythological fountains. The river Tajo, the longest river in Spain, runs alongside the town. Back on the streets, the old but well-preserved churches and some of the houses still keep the look of the 18th century, making the town seem even more appealing. Even during the warmest time of the day, you can be outside, as all the sidewalks have lush, tall trees that provide plenty of shade. Ernesto Diaz-Flores is a postdoctoral fellow in Pediatrics/Oncology.
Malapascua, Philippines
Pho
By Erin Oswald Contributing Writer
T
his summer I sought to combine my love for scuba diving with my interest in volunteering. The result led me to a small island called Malapascua in the Philippines where I assisted the Thresher Shark Research and Conservation Project (TSCRP). The goal of TSCRP is to document the behavior of thresher sharks at cleaning stations and to determine how bad scuba diving practices are impacting shark behavior. The information they gather is then used to advise scuba divers on good diving behavior that won’t be harmful to the environment. As a volunteer I spent five days a week taking surveys of the cleaning station and teaching biology at the local high school. My most memorable moments were the time I spent exploring the islands and getting to know the locals. One of my favorite nights was going to the disco where toddlers to grandparents were dancing together on a basketball court until three in the morning. I feel privileged to have volunteered for such an interesting project that is making a positive impact in a vibrant community.
I feel privileged to “have volunteered for such an interesting project that is making a positive impact in a vibrant community. ”
Erin Oswald is a BMS graduate student.
Wandering Mzungu in Kenya By Michelle Meyer Contributing Writer
“M
zungu! How are you? We are fine!” If I had a dollar for the number of times I heard that phrase this summer, it would have paid for my round-trip ticket to Kenya. Just as the sun was rising, I would head out on my early morning running route through the dirt roads of Kisumu, dodging piki pikis (motorcycles), cows, goats, tuk tuks (taxis), chickens, matatus (buses) and screaming schoolchildren. These children, who giggled uncontrollably at the sight of this crazy mzungu (a “foreign, white wanderer,” aka me) running through their villages, would also run with me for a quarter mile or so while chanting that same phrase over and over. “Mzungu! Mzungu! How are you?” After giving them high fives and responding with my obligatory phrase, “I’m fine – how are you?” our conversation would come to an abrupt end, since their knowledge of English consisted of that one particular phrase, and my Swahili knowledge was even more limited. The children would slow to a walk, overcome by their giggles, and I would continue on my run. Next morning: repeat same scenario. After receiving summer funding from UCSF to conduct a clinical research project with Family AIDS Care and Education Services, I spent an incredible six weeks in Kenya interviewing HIV-positive patients in five different clinics in the Nyanza province to evaluate the effectiveness of the family information table, a tool used to identify HIV-positive family members of HIV-positive patients and to enroll these members into care. While our project was ultimately successful from a research standpoint, perhaps some of the most valuable information I gathered this summer was simply through experiencing life in Kenya. Michelle Meyer is a second-year medical student.
By the end of the summer, Michelle was able to have an incredibly brief conversati short list of questions, such as, “Habari yako?” “Unatoka wapi?” “Una watoto?” “Tum from?” “Do you have children?” “Do you use condoms?”)
synapse.ucsf.edu | October 4, 2012 | 7
Munich: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Lager By Eric M. Pietras Contributing Writer
L
agered beer often gets a bum rap because of its association with thin, flavorless beer made by mega-breweries. In reality, lagering is just a brewing technique where the malt is fermented at lower temperatures, and has nothing to do with thin or flavorless beer. Despite this, I admit that lagers just weren’t on my radar. Fortunately, I had the opportunity to rediscover this underappreciated family of beers last March in Munich, Germany. Munich is an ideal place to learn about lagers. Amidst the pastoral landscapes of Bavaria, Munich’s brewers have been making lager (literally, “storage”) beer since the 14th century. The emphasis has always been on purity, enshrined in the Reinheitsgebot, or “purity order” of 1516, decreeing that beer could contain only barley, hops, and water (yeast hadn’t been discovered). Bavarian law became German law, and today most German breweries still abide by it. Once in Munich, I headed downtown to Altes Hackerhaus, owned by the sixcentury-old Hacker-Pschorr brewery. Alongside Daniel, Dirk and Heide – three local colleagues who doubled willingly as my guides/drinking buddies, I began my education. We started with a traditional Munich Dunkelbier (dark lager), a rich, copper-hued beer with a malty aroma. The flavor was clean and bready, just a hint of hop bitterness and a note of currant. This was no Miller Lite. This was
oto by Steve De Neef
LAGER » PAGE 8
Photo by Heide Oller
A waitress hoists mugs full of doppelbock for thirsty revelers at Munich’s annual Starkbierzeit festival.
Jamaican Me Smile By Jennifer Neglerio Contributing Writer
I
to serve underprivileged communities with almost no access to dental care. In the communities the project reaches out to, there is only one public dentist for every 100,000 Jamaicans! Trips to local elementary schools to educate residents about oral health is also an integral goal of the mission. We visited three different communities with our six volunteer dentists, who were either UCSF alumni or faculty. Thanks to the donations of dentists worldwide, including our own Dr. Newton Gordon and UCSF alumni, the clinics were supplied with new A-dec dental units to help us deliver treatment ranging from cleanings and restorative work to extractions. The communities of Eltham, Huddersfield and Steer Town each had a personality of its own, and our students easily took on the spirit of each. With never-ending lines of patients waiting countless hours in the scorching heat and 80 percent humidity, many students unselfishly shortened their lunch breaks to 10 minutes or skipped lunch completely to keep the line moving. Despite the lack of air conditioning in the poorly ventilated buildings, the heartwarming reactions of our patients after each procedure were so rewarding we saw no reason to stop. By the end of the week, we had collectively treated more than 800 patients, and in return, the communities threw small fiestas with local Jamaican food to show their appreciation. Tears were shed, hugs were exchanged, and blessings were given. The anterior teeth of one patient who goes by the name of Buda had been reconstructed and he could finally smile once again. He was so thankful for the services we provided that on the morning of our departure, he stood outside the gates of our hotel for hours, just so that he could stop our airport-bound bus to give us a handcarved wooden shield engraved with the names of the students and dentists who volunteered at his local clinic.
Lena Dolgikh is a postdoctoral student.
Jennifer Neglerio is a third-year dental student.
D
Photo provided by Jennifer Neglerio
The Xi Psi Phi dental fraternity paired up with the nonprofit organization, Great Shape! to take on a 1000 Smiles project, which provided dental care to underprivileged communities in Jamaica facing an extreme shortage of dental care.
uring the School of Dentistry’s recent one-and-a-half-week summer break for the thirdand fourth-year students, 23 dental students including myself took a journey of over 3,000 miles away to Ocho Rios in the St. Ann Parish of Jamaica. On our drive to Ocho Rios from the airport, we passed stunning green landscapes, the high school that the sprinter Usain Bolt attended and a site where Columbus first landed in Jamaica. We were all excited to see what was to come and could not anticipate the degree of kindness, love and gratitude we were to encounter. The Xi Psi Phi dental fraternity paired up with a nonprofit organization called Great Shape! to take on a 1000 Smiles project. This project’s goal was
Photo by Lena Dolgikh
Muir Woods National Monument
By Lena Dolgikh Staff Writer
Photo provided by Michele Meyer
ion in Swahili with patients, consisting of a very mia condoms?” (“How are you?” “Where are you
visited Muir Woods National Monument this summer. The main entrance to the park was the spectacular — opening into a decked walkway enclosed on both sides by hundred-feet tall redwood trees. Red indeed, and massive, with trunks dwarfing everything around them on their way into the sky, they reminded me of childhood fairy tales about enchanted forests full of magic.
8 | October 4, 2012 | synapse.ucsf.edu
PUZZLES
Lager
» FROM PAGE 7
The Weekly Crossword
ACROSS 1 Scorch slightly 6 Boo-Boo, for one 10 Untidy one 14 Wear black, perhaps 15 Suggest strongly 16 Booze it up 17 Riverbank romper 18 Fiddlesticks! 19 Very long time 20 Neither solid nor liquid 22 Deluge 24 Dull color 25 Scholarship basis 26 Recess, perhaps 30 Boot tip 34 Fond du ___, Wisc. 35 Piano exercise 37 Part of NAFTA 38 Feed the kitty 40 Skip a syllable 42 Cowboy boot part 43 Reprimand 45 Boy Scout rank 47 Antlered animal 48 Concerning this, in legalese 50 Noted Boston protest 52 Song section 54 Muscle spasm 55 Liza Minnelli film 58 Annihilate 62 Group of troops 63 Moniker
1
2
3
4
by Margie E. Burke
5
6
7
8
9
10
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
24 26
27
29
39
43
36 40
44
48
41
49
56
31
32
33
60
61
37
45
52 55
13
23
30
35
38
12
25
28
34
11
42 46
50
47 51
53
54
57
58
59
62
63
66
67
68
69
70
71
64
65
Copyright 2012 by The Puzzle Syndicate
65 66 67 68 69 70
10 First-stringers 11 Pricey theater section 12 Diner sign 13 Part of BFF 21 Join together 23 Unruly outbreak 25 Help settle a dispute 26 Spatter DOWN 27 Jousting Week of 10/1/12 - 10/7/12 weapon 1 Urban haze 2 Tiny bit 28 Thespian 3 Party snacks 29 Pack animal 4 Covetous 31 Bank heist, e.g. 5 On the way 32 Full-price payer 6 Future flowers 33 Vivacious 7 Goof up 36 Upper hand 8 Striped quartz 39 Skyscraper 9 Witty comeback transport Pageant crown Give a facelift to Study all night Antisocial one Fancy pitcher Type of sandwich 71 _____ a high note
41 Fill with joy 44 Go-getter 46 New Testament writing 49 Like some braids or doors 51 Director's cry 53 It may be fixed 55 Medical breakthrough 56 Once again 57 ____ one's time 58 Floor model 59 Big name in mapmaking 60 Sandwich cookie 61 Knitter's need 64 Spring mo.
Edited by Margie E. Burke
Difficulty : Easy
Copyright 2012 by The Puzzle Syndicate
Solution to Sudoku
Technically excellent beers, but nothing surprising or new going on. It makes sense, though: Why fix what isn’t broken? Innovation aside, Munich’s breweries are also known for their festival beers. I was on the wrong side of the year for Oktoberfest, but March is Starkbierzeit (“strong beer time”). This festival showcases the doppelbock (“double bock”), a strong (ABV 7.5% or above) lager originally brewed by monks for sustenance during Lenten fasting. Modern Starkbierzeit festivals are anything but fasting rituals. Noisy revelers, dressed in traditional clothing and seated at long tables, consume mugs full of doppelbock beneath the budding chestnut trees. It’s just midMarch in Munich, business as usual. For me, however, it was a master class in the virtues of the lager. Eric Pietras is a postdoc who studies hematopoietic stem cell biology and beer, but not at the same time.
THE ART OF LIVING PRESENTS
AN ECSTATIC EVENING OF YOGA + MUSIC DANCE + MEDITATION ALL AGES SHOW SUBSTANCE FREE TICKETS $20 – $30 At The Divine Play AcroYoga Festival ALL THE
centuries of brewing tradition on tap, and it was very good. We followed up with a glass of Münchner Helles, a pale lager developed by mixing English pale ale ingredients with German lagering. Similar in color and appearance to a Czech Pilsner, the helles (light-colored) had a refreshing malty front with a touch of hops. Both beers are meant for consumption by the liter, with relatively low alcohol (ABV 4.5-5.5%). After trips to a number of other breweries, I was firmly impressed with the lagers of Munich. They are cheap, made in large batches, but still adhere to the centuries-old emphasis on quality. Tradition does have a downside: no innovation. Even the Forschungsbrauerei (experimental brewery) in southern Munich doesn’t venture far from the ranch. We sampled its signature Blonder Bock, a pale bock beer with a touch of caramel character to the aroma and a full, malty flavor, and the Pilsissimus, a hoppier interpretation of the traditional helles.
W AY F R
OM
ARGENTIN
A!
FRIDAY OCT 12TH 7 PM – MIDNIGHT | HERBST PAVILION @ FORT MASON CENTER
FEAT. THE SO WHAT PROJECT! W/ DJ DRAGONFLY
HOW TO SOLVE: (Answer appears elsewhere in this issue)
FOOD
synapse.ucsf.edu | October 4, 2012 | 9
REVIEW
Miette Bakery: A Piece of Cake By Dawn Maxey Food Editor
C
ondé Nast, a company that publishes the likes of The New Yorker and Vanity Fair, recently rated San Francisco’s Miette one of the top 10 pastry shops in the world. After a long and grueling exam, a classmate and I decided to drown our academic sorrows in calories. What better place to do so than Miette? When we arrived at the Ferry Building, where Miette’s main shop is, there was a small line of people ogling the wares for display inside gleaming glass cases. On one side lay large cakes labeled with names such as Carrot, Lemon Debutante, Gingerbread and Raspberry Tomboy. On the other side lay an inviting range of individual-portioned desserts. I made a bee-line for this display case and saw a range of sweets including cupcakes, chocolate pots de crème, macaroons and panna cotta topped with fresh strawberries. After several minutes of agonizing contemplation, my classmate and I decided on a classic cupcake (chocolate with vanilla frosting) ($3.50), a gingerbread cupcake with cream cheese frosting ($3.50), a mini Scharffen Berger domed cake ($6.50) and a pot de crème ($4). As a spoiler, yes, we did feel extremely sick after eating all of our plunder – but it was definitely worth it. We gathered up our purchases and went outside to enjoy our sugar high in the sunshine, complete with a clear view of the bay. First up: the chocolate pot de crème. It came in a small glass container (returnable for $1). The chocolate custard had a deliciously soft texture and was topped with a pillow of freshly whipped cream. The base also had an intriguing and coffee aftertaste. Both of us gave this dessert top marks – our only complaint was that there wasn’t more to go around. Second: the mini Scharffen Berger domed cake. This treat was certainly a looker – a beautiful dome of chocolate cake glazed with
doubt if these cakes “ Ideserved to be on any
top 10 world list, but I’d feel pretty good about including them in a list of top 10 cupcakes of San Francisco.”
RECIPE
Coconut Curry Tomato Soup By Matthew Nordstrom Staff Writer
A
s the school year begins and I watch with horror as my schedule swells with obligations, I’m noticing that one of my favorite times of the day, cooking and eating a delicious meal, is being squeezed into oblivion. In an attempt to savor those moments, while saving money and eating healthily, my girlfriend and I have come up the idea of choosing a theme for each week’s meals. This week is Soups, Salads and Smoothies. To make this happen, we focused our grocery run on items that could be used in at least two out of those three dishes. Below is a recipe that combines the soup and salad items by including grains, nuts, lemon and an egg, toppings that can transform a soup or a salad into a complete meal.`
COCONUT CURRY TOMATO SOUP
Adapted from 101 Cookbooks (www.101cookbooks.com) •• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, olive oil or coconut oil •• 2 medium yellow onions, thinly sliced •• 1 teaspoon fine grain sea salt, plus more to taste •• 3 teaspoons curry powder •• 1 teaspoon ground coriander •• 1 teaspoon ground cumin •• 1/2 teaspoon chile flakes •• 2 28-ounce cans whole tomatoes (preferably San Marzanos) •• 1 14-ounce can coconut milk
Photo by Dawn Maxey
Mini Scharffen-Berger domed cake — chocolate cake covered in a silky chocolate ganache.
a thick layer of glistening chocolate ganache and topped with a flower made of sugar. When we sampled a forkful however, we were sorely disappointed. The cake was dry and completely tasteless. Where was the delicious chocolate-y cakeiness we were promised? Did the people at Condé Nast actually taste this thing? I would have put it on my list of top ten worst cakes I’ve ever had. After the first bite, both of us sat on our bench listlessly picking the ganache off the top of the dome and poking at the dry body. I attempted to return the disappointing item to the bakery but the salesgirl merely looked at me and shrugged her shoulders. Oh well. There was redemption to be had, however. Both the chocolate and gingerbread cupcake were moist and Miette Bakery flavorful. We praised the spices in Ferry Building Marketplace, Shop 10 the gingerbread cake, set off nicely San Francisco by the tangy cream cheese frosting. www.miette.com
The vanilla frosting on the chocolate Recommended: Gingerbread cupcake, cupcake had a luxuriously silky texture chocolate pot de crème and felt as if it was melting in our Price range: $3.50 and up mouths. Both cupcakes were especially Hours: Mon.-Fri. 9 a.m.-7 p.m., Sat. 8 a.m.good when we removed the bottom of 7 p.m., Sun. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. the cupcake and squashed it on top of Payment: Cash, credit cards for orders the frosting, creating in essence a sort over $5 of cake sandwich. I doubt if these cakes deserved to be on any top 10 world list, but I’d feel pretty good about including them in a list of top 10 cupcakes of San Francisco. Miette was started in 2001, uses local ingredients and boasts two locations in San Francisco. Its Hayes Valley store also sells old-fashioned candy and canisters of cookies. Incidentally, Miette’s gingersnap cookie is on 7x7 magazine’s list of top 100 foods in San Francisco to try. At $8 a canister however, I couldn’t bring myself to spend the money, no matter how good the cookie. I’d stick with the cupcakes and custard-based desserts — worth a taste and for treating out-of-towners at the Ferry Building. Dawn Maxey is a second-year medical student. Note that this dish calls for a blender or hand blender. If you do not have one, I would swap out the whole tomatoes for 1 can of tomato puree and 1 can of diced tomatoes. Also, I swapped out the brown rice for some farro and the toasted almond slices for toasted pine nuts. So feel free to let your creative juices flow, and I hope you love it as much as I did. To serve, add any of the following that sound good to you: cooked brown rice, lemon wedges, toasted almond slices, pan-fried paneer, fresh thyme or oregano, or a poached egg. In a large pot over medium heat melt the butter. Add the onions and salt, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions really soften up —10 minutes or so. Not so much that they brown, just until they’re completely tender and unstructured. Stir in the curry powder, coriander, cumin and chile flakes, and cook just until the spices are fragrant and toasty, stirring constantly at this point for just 30 seconds or so. Stir in the tomatoes, the juices from the cans and 6 cups/1.5 liters of water. Simmer for 15 minutes or so, then puree with a hand blender
until smooth. Here you can decide if you’d like your soup a bit thinner, in which case you can thin it with more water, or, if you like it thicker, continue to let it simmer, stirring occasionally. Taste and adjust with more salt if necessary. At this point, the soup base is ready and the world becomes your oyster. I highly recommend adding a dollop of the cream from the top of a can of coconut milk, a scoop of brown rice with a squeeze of lemon, some toasted almonds, and a jolt of fresh herbs. If you’re a purist, the soup is great served simply with a dollop of the coconut cream and a slice of warm bread. Matthew Nordstrom is a first-year medical student.
GOT A KILLER RECIPE? SHARE IT WITH Synapse synapse@ucsf.edu
ARTS&CULTURE 10 | October 4, 2012 | synapse.ucsf.edu
REVIEW
Looper: Time-traveling Hit Men
By Eric Van Uffelen Contributing Critic
W
riter-director Rian Johnson’s Looper is one of the most entertaining films I’ve seen in recent memory, and more than delivered upon both its genre premise and what I hoped would be its thematic approach. It’s daring and measured, both playing to and subverting the expectations of its audience. I avoided every piece of marketing for the film before seeing it: I knew it concerned time-traveling hit men, and that its two leads, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis, played the same character, but that was it. The news that Johnson was directing this type of picture was enough of a draw for me. His feature films, the whip-smart neo-noir high school drama Brick (also starring Gordon-Levitt), and the clever and moving The Brothers Bloom, as well as some excellent work for episodes of Terriers and Breaking Bad, had established a sense of trust that he would deliver the goods. This preface full of statements about my own response to the film is a disclaimer to say one thing: Looper is excellent, and there is no real way for me to write on it substantially without ruining its surprises, so it might be best if you went to see it, then came back and read this. So now then. (If you are in fact reading this before seeing the film, I’ll try to keep spoilers vague.) In the year 2044, somewhere in Kansas, Joe (Gordon-Levitt) cycles through his routines, reliving the same damaging and unfulfilling experiences. He commutes between the dystopian big city, where he lives what there is of the high life, and the stretch of country where he goes after work to take his mind off things by practicing his French with a diner waitress. His work is in a small patch of land in a field, exterminating people who appear at a designated time, sent back from 30 years in the future: a method of time travel exists in the future, but is solely controlled by the mob, who use it to dispatch people without a trace. The voiceover from Joe in these introductory sequences felt unnecessary (but not distracting), as the scenes basically explain everything, and there is little narration
Looper
Director: Rian Johnson Genre: Action, Sci-Fi Running Time: 118 minutes Rated R for strong violence, sexual content, graphic nudity and language, drug use
Synapse
500 Parnassus Avenue Millberry Union 108W San Francisco, CA 94143 tel: 476-2211 | fax: 502-4537 synapse@ucsf.edu
The UCSF Student Newspaper synapse.ucsf.edu STAFF
Booth Haley | EDITOR Theresa Poulos | EXECUTIVE EDITOR Dawn Maxey | ASSOCIATE EDITOR Oliver Ubeda | ASSOCIATE EDITOR Alexandra Greer | SCIENCE EDITOR Mason Tran | PHOTO EDITOR Jerome Atputhasingam | EDITOR AT LARGE Hujatullah Bayat | EDITOR AT LARGE Erin Currie | EDITOR AT LARGE Steven Chin | MANAGING EDITOR
About
Synapse is the UCSF student-run weekly newspaper which runs on Thursdays during the academic year and monthly during the summer. Synapse seeks to serve as a forum for the campus community. Articles and columns represent the views of the authors and not necessarily those of the Board of Publications or the University of California.
Submissions
Announcements and letters should be submitted six days before publication. All submissions can be either emailed or mailed. All material is subject to editing. Letters to the Editor must be signed by the author.
Subscriptions Subscriptions cost $20/year ($40/outside US).
Advertising
Paid advertisements do not necessarily reflect the views of Synapse. Synapse and its editorial board reserve the right to decline advertisements promoting false or misleading claims, known health risks, or content deemed by the editors to be antithetical to the interests of UCSF students or the UCSF community. Synapse does not accept advertisements from tobacco or alcohol manufacturers, or sexually oriented personal ads. Synapse reserves the right to run any ad with a disclaimer.
Photo by Looper, LLC
Bruce Willis and Joseph Gordon-Levitt as “Joe” in the action thriller Looper.
in the rest of the film, but it does lend a noir aspect to the storyline, and arguably it shows how self-involved Joe is. There’s a catch to all this, of course, aside from the immorality and illegality of it all. Joe’s colleagues, fellow “loopers,” are frequently asked to take out their future selves, so much so that this is known as “closing the loop.” There’s a big payday involved and a release from their contract, but then there’s potentially 30 years they have still to live knowing that they have signed their own death warrant. This doesn’t always work as planned. When Joe confronts his older self (Willis), it’s not that “things go wrong,” it’s that things have been wrong and that this is a natural culmination of those choices. As entertaining and interesting as Looper is in the set-up, it really comes into its own when “Old Joe” shows up, and the story is taken somewhere completely unexpected. (From here on I’ll use the actors’ names to avoid more confusion.) There’s a Kafkaesque fatalism to the character that Gordon-Levitt and Willis each try to overcome, exploiting their respective resources and knowledge. As Gordon-Levitt knows all too well, his 2044 local mob boss Abe (a weary but frightening Jeff Daniels) keeps his men in line, or brutally takes care of them in the here-and-now. After Willis briefly escapes his fate — setting up some great action sequences for both iterations of the character — Gordon-Levitt has reason to run, but he inevitably has to meet Willis again, and here Willis warns him of his future, and explains that he plans to protect it by any means necessary. Johnson’s decision to keep the specifics of the narrative ambiguous is smart, and this deliberate choice — borne out in visual motifs beyond dialogue from Willis and Daniels, such as cigarette smoke and the cream-filled coffee that Gordon-Levitt regularly drinks — evokes not only the diegetic nature of the time travel conceit, but of the characters’ mindsets and moralities. The rest of the review is more spoiler-specific, but doesn’t ruin some of the bigger surprises – nothing that wasn’t in the official trailer. Looper branches off into a new storyline, into what is actually its main plot: Willis attempts to hunt down the person responsible for sending all the loopers back from 2074, while Gordon-Levitt tries to simultaneously hide out — he’s still indebted to Abe – and stake out one of three possible destinations for Willis, a remote farmhouse owned by a tenacious single mother, Sara (Emily Blunt). Blunt gives one of the best supporting performances of the year, as does young Pierce Gagnon as her son, Cid. This latter half of the film is Johnson’s biggest gamble, as it not only uproots the audience from the action-oriented futuristic settings and ask us to trust in a tenuous relationship between Gordon-Levitt and Blunt, something nearly out of a period romance, but it subverts the anticipated showcase for Willis by having him pursue truly shocking means. These chances and mash-ups of genres worked for me, because Johnson demonstrates clear control in how he establishes characters and their motivations, as well as determining the look of the film. The practical and computer effects appear seamless, and the production design (by Ed Verreaux) portrays an imaginative and realistic 2044. In addition, the ways Johnson uses subdued space and lighting (with director of photography Steve Yedlin) amidst flashier action sequences, and the way he controls pacing and juxtapositions in a tricky narrative (with editor Bob Duscay), reveal that he has grown as a filmmaker. Johnson has made both a Trojan horse and gear-shift of a movie: a sciencefiction action thriller that is really a character study and a thematically rich treatise on certain tendencies in man. Ultimately, Looper is not only about the matters immediately pertinent to the Joe character(s) — mistakes, regrets, character traits/flaws, etc. — but about determinism, the shackles of socioeconomic circumstances and, most poignantly, patterns of aggression. It suggests how those without guidance can stray so far, but that those who pay attention to structure and care can succeed in changing their fate.
synapse.ucsf.edu | October 4, 2012 | 11
Solutions
Solution to Sudoku
Write for Synapse synapse@ucsf.edu The RAMP
Serving fine yet affordable, diverse and sustainable food and beverage items in a quiet and cozy garden setting. Provide catering services and an official California Lottery vendor on the Parnassus campus. We accept recharges for catering
UCSF Staff and Students Please bring this in for a 15% discount on food Monday-Friday at The RAMP restaurant! (excluding special offers) Join us for our Happy Hour Monday-Friday 5-7pm -Drink & Appetizer Specials Monday-Friday, 7:00 am-5:00 pm In the Nursing Building, by Saunders Court 415.502.5888
You’re Funding Fun: Partial proceeds of this Campus Life Services retail partner fund concerts, outings, and other campus enrichment activities.
Open at Parnassus & Mission Bay Campuses
for your convenience we accept: All major Credit Cards • Recharge for catering Bear Hugs • UCSF Resident Meal Card
breakfast, lunch, or dinner…
Parnassus: Millberry Union I Level, Parnassus, 415.661.0199 Open Daily 7:00 am-10:00 pm Mission Bay: 550-B Gene Friend Way, Mission Bay, 415.865.0423 Mon-Fri 7:00 am-9:30 pm / Sat-Sun 8:00 am-9:00 pm
You’re Funding Fun! A portion of every dollar you spend at campus retail vendors helps support Arts & Events at UCSF
Avoid the line at Moffit Café. Use your mobile phone and order food using
Download the free GOPAGO app on your smart phone, order and pay for food through your phone and pick it up. GoPaGo is available for use during these hours: Moffitt Café Express from 10am- 11pm the Moffitt Café from 11am – 6:30pm To learn more, go to: www.gopago.com
Weekend Brunch 9:30-4:30 Live Salsa/Brazilian on Saturday/Sunday The Sun, The Water, The Ramp! The RAMP
855 Terry Francois St Where Mariposa St intersects with Illinois St (415) 621-2378 www.theramprestaurant.com www.facebook.com/TheRampSF
12 | October 4, 2012 | synapse.ucsf.edu
Clockwise from top left: In front of the massive Monastery carved out of rocks in Petra, Jordan, provided by Jennifer Neglerio. Summer trip on the Mohave River in Laughlin, Nevada, provided by Mason Tran. Entrance to the Louvre Museum in Paris, France, by Neelaysh Vukkadala. Olympic National Park by Matthew Nordstrom. Curacao sunset by Guillaume Desachy. View from a bridge crossing the Ganga River in Rishikesh, India, by Neelaysh Vukkadala. Curacao market by Guillaume Desachy.