CONNECT THE DOTS

Hello lovelies,

With the new school year starting soon, we’ll be posting much more frequently to our new website. If you haven’t already, we highly recommend you subscribe to our RSS feed using your favorite RSS reader (NetNewsWire for Mac is my personal fave). If you’re interested in joining the ‘zine, just come to our first meeting, the details of which will be posted on our new website. We’re looking forward to a year of fun and interesting content and hope you will have similar feelings of excitement/attachment/undying devotion for the ‘zine.

Respectfully yours,

Brandon Ahlstrom
Blog Co-editor 

PS—Did I mention we have a new website?

Dear lovely tumblr followers,

The online edition of Connect the Dots is now being hosted on its very own website at ctdzine.org. All the same awesome content, but in a new and improved location. Go check it out!

Much love,
CtD

by Evan Warfel

Twenty thousand years ago, in what must be the single most important natural event in the entire history of art preservation, a rock slide blocked off and completely sealed the Chavuet (rhymes with aero) cave in France. At the time, the rockslide prevented any more decay to the already ten thousand year old cave paintings inside. Fifteen years ago, three explorers found their way into the cave and found what is now known to be the oldest cave paintings on the planet and in the universe. If you want to personally see what your thirty thousand year old ancestors did in their spare time in person, you are out of luck. The cave is strictly off limits to everyone, save for a few scientists who are doing research. However, the French government recently granted Werner Herzog permission to film a documentary about the cave, called Cave of Forgotten Dreams.

Cave of Forgotten Dreams is stunning on all levels. The art is amazing, the music is haunting and the narration is great. The score to this movie is the best one I think I’ve ever heard. Seeing the cave in 3D allows one to see how the artists used the curve of the cave walls to accentuate certain parts of the animals they were depicting. In fact, this is the only film I have seen that makes sense to be in 3D. All of the other films have it as an extra affect, but Herzog uses 3D to give more meaning to the film.

Inside the cave there are splendid drawings of horses, bison, rhinos, reindeer and a few now extinct ice-age species, like the cave-lion. (Take that, people who don’t believe in evolution. We have video evidence.) What is even more interesting is that the proto-humans were painting in the cave at the same time that Neanderthals were living in the surrounding areas. The cave paintings are not your crude stick figures; instead they are works of art. They look as if they had been painted yesterday by some cave-graffiti artist.

One of my favorite parts was when one of the archeologists took out a stone flute that had been found in the cave and played it. It is a pentatonic scale that anybody can recognize it. Yes, you even if you have never sung before, you can sing and recognize a pentatonic scale. Bobby McFerrin can demonstrate this better than I can (in less than three minutes!). Because of the flute found in these caves, we know that some of our concept of tonality and music has been hardwired into our brains for more than 30,000 years.

The films is perhaps ten to fifteen minutes too long, with a bizarre epilogue that taught me that I am an albino crocodile floating through the waters of time, looking at my reflection through an imaginary mirror. Or something. And at times, the film is a little slow. But that is (a) what should be expected with any Werner Herzog movie, and (b) a tiny price to pay to see the rest of the film. The takeaway message is that we are much older than we think. Do you think that the past few hundred or thousand years have changed us much? Think again.

Walking out of the theater to a sea of bright neon lights and one particularly bad street performer was surreal. And trying to talk like Werner Herzog is really fun. If you are curious about who we are and why we are here, you should see the film. Or see it if you want to see the world’s oldest possible art museum or temple.

Cave of Forgotten Dreams is currently in Theaters.

By Katie Fleeman

It started soft and sentimental. Then the action began, friendly and nurturing at first, but quickly escalating with frenetic energy. The timbre became more and more frantic, increasing in intensity until the brink of violence, and as it neared its chilly climax, hinting at ultimate satisfaction, the play – stopped.

Disassembly, the current production at Impact Theatre, was, in essence, the theatrical equivalent of blue balls.

I went in with fairly hopeful expectations. I had enjoyed the last two productions I’d seen at Impact (one of them being Romeo and Juliet, which I covered in our February  issue “Nudity”), and I truly appreciate the company’s emphasis on fast-paced modern theatre. All of which made the subsequent disappointment all the more depressing.

Many of the elements in Disassembly should have helped create a wonderfully wacky experience. First and foremost, I must commend Impact on their fabulous use of the space. Despite its unconventional location in LaVal’s basement, the company always assembles aesthetically pleasing productions. Special kudos to the makeup designer, who created a gruesome landscape of scarred tissue on the protagonist’s skin. Save for the faint smell of pepperoni and the occasional jostling of tables on the ceiling, it was easy to forget we sat in the basement of a pizzeria.

Very much an ensemble piece, the play featured a number of interesting, eccentric characters. Watching the actors pull back every layer, revealing deeper and darker intricacies, contributed to a delightful theatre-going experience. But delight in its deliciously dark humor could not save Disassembly from greater structural flaws.

Despite the appeal of the characters, their overall construction cultivated numerous defects. One character – the female protagonist’s on-and-off boyfriend – should have been eliminated altogether, as he served no purpose beyond a couple chuckles. Many others transitioned sloppily between emotional states. Sharp, crisp transitions read fairly well, as they clearly served specific dramatic purposes. Subtle transitions, however, were not executed nearly as cleanly. As a result, several characters – most notably the male protagonist’s girlfriend Diane – came across as irritatingly passive-aggressive. Then, for the majority of the play the actors remained in a loud, calamitous state, which caused my companion to remark, “All that play was was people yelling at each other.”

But the central failing of Disassembly lay in its lack of purpose. The structure and tone of the play implied the presence of a moral – the action suddenly slowed in tempo, the tone turned to a sinister calm, and the epilogue evoked a pithy metaphor – but in the end, it lacked a clear or enlightening message. Hell, it didn’t even offer a mixed or ambiguous lesson to inspire debate: it just sort of ended in an anticlimax,  void of justification. And it wasn’t even chaos for the sake of chaos, it was a clusterfuck convinced it had a purpose.  The play squandered a legitimate opportunity to comment on any number of psychological, sociological or moral issues. Disassembly was nothing but a disappointing disarray. 

by Becky Strohl

Berkeley is renowned as a bastion of liberal thought and cultural tolerance, and when social injustice rears its ugly head in a distant country, you can rely on Cal students to quickly organize a protest and start sporting hipster t-shirts. While feverishly organizing though, many forget that the cause of many of these crises—racial and sexual discrimination—is not a geographically-specific phenomenon. Every society harbors cultural tension and California’s diverse population is a testament to its own need for unity and increased social exchange.

On March 31st, UC Berkeley groups XINAXTLI, MEChxA, YQUE!, and RISE combined forces for the second year in a row to put on “Decolonizing the University: Resisting, Uniting, and Liberating”,  a conference celebrating the need for empowerment and understanding both within ethnic groups and across greater cultural divides. Though the conference was led by primarily Chicano students and their respective Berkeley groups, “Decolonizing the University” was meant as a bridge between all oppressed people, including the gay and African-American communities.  

The conference included workshops, an open mic, and group discussions, all centered on the main theme: decolonization and liberation from oppression in a university environment, specifically from the Anglo-centric society in which we live, and from discrimination within the Chicano and African-American communities themselves. The panelist section of the conference started off on a spiritual note, as the panelists lit a candle and passed around burning incense to commemorate Cesar Chavez’s birthday, the inspiration for the conference.  This opening provided the cultural basis for a powerful conversation that delved deep into the roles of tradition, unity, and empowerment in minority groups.

This conference served as a base for liberation by providing a safe space in which the individuals felt free to express themselves and come together—a goal that isn’t always easy to achieve. Even within tight-knit groups like Berkeley’s Latino community, for example, sexual and class prejudices ingrained in tradition can preclude cooperation with more progressive groups like YQUE! (Young Queers United for Empowerment). Regardless of an individual’s liberal politics, sexual orientation, or ethnic background, everyone still has prejudices that need re-evaluation before solidarity can happen.  This depends on the ability to connect to others with similar goals. In order to change the world and “decolonize” our society and our university, unity and safety within social groups is paramount. 

The second part of decolonization requires more direct action. The second panelist stressed the importance of extending this concept to the local community, pointing out that it’s because of the hard work of others that any one of us has made it to this prestigious university, and it should be because of us that someone else in turn gets this far. Tutoring or mentoring underprivileged youth is a prime example of this, and is especially important for youth of color or queer youth. Getting outside our comfort zones and reaching out might just provide the support that one student needs to finish school or decide to go to college—not only improving his or her own life drastically, but changing social norms as well.  

Ultimately, decolonization happens by taking a stand. Involve yourself in your community, create a safe space for your own healing, and then climb out of your comfort zone to help others. As one panelist said, “add color to the space, challenge hetero-normative ideals, and feminize it”. Mentor a student, speak up in class on topics of social change, join a political campaign, or just become involved in the world around you. Without personal action, social change stays just as static as a t-shirt slogan.

About one month ago, UC Berkeley’s Zellerbach Hall was graced with the presence of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, one of the best orchestras in the world. Connect the Dots writer Evan Warfel attended one of their concerts and wrote about the sublime sounds of the Vienna Phil for his personal blog.

Butyraceous. As in “Butter-like”. That is how the Vienna Philharmonic sounded.  Although I have never been particularly big on food to music analogies, I believe that using a word that this one is particularly appropriate. It is worth repeating. The Vienna Phil sounded like smooth butter.

…

I went with a few friends to see the Vienna Philharmonic last night. Everybody was excited. How often do you get to see one of the best symphonies in the world? As we were waiting for the house lights to dim, the excitement was palpable. The orchestra filtered out from both sides, which is different from the way American symphony orchestras start a symphony (usually, they start out onstage). The conductor, Semyon Bychkov, walked out through the orchestra, instead of out in front. And then, they started to play.

The first piece they played was Schubert’s Second Symphony. The symphony started off with an exciting and very quick 16^th-note violin theme which was then traded around the orchestra. I really liked how the winds would echo the string theme, but only for a bar or two. It was an interesting effect. The other movements unfolded as variation, and though I cared for the third movement least, I liked the work. This piece is often overlooked, as most people focus on Schubert’s unfinished eighth symphony. But no one was enthralled by Schubert’s work as they were by the sound of the Vienna Philharmonic. It sounded like no symphony orchestra I have ever heard. Don’t even think of youtubing them- the sound quality of any recording cannot capture what I heard last night. Even though I was sitting in the back most section, they sounded like they were directly in front of me. Although there are technically five strings sections in any orchestra, or perhaps only in “lesser orchestras” (I’m supposed to be pretentious as a music critic, right?), there was really only one section playing last night. The blend between the first and second violins, and the violas was astounding. They sounded so rich and dense, like a thick fog. I felt like I could reach out and touch the sound. It was incredible. Although the audience clapped in between the first and second movements, this was really the only audience issue. The audience was, from what I saw, made up of experienced symphony goers who know better than to clap between movements, but I like to think that they could not restrain from making noise. My only complaint was that there were portions of the piece that seemed a little old and harmonically outdated. Not that this mattered, because the Vienna Phil made it sound interesting. But I am not sure that very many other orchestras could have done the same.

To read the rest of Evan’s post, click here.

This April Fool’s Day, spend your lunch hour with some classical chamber music – with a slight twist – as the Berkeley Brass Quintet plays their first noon concert.

“It’s not every day that you get to hear a brass chamber group play,” says Austin McGee, one of the two trumpet players. “It’s a very different sound than the typical string quartets that predominate that realm.”

The five musicians who make up BBQ all come from the UC Symphony Orchestra, a highly selective and talented campus group. They will play a variety of pieces, some very different from typical classical concerts. One such piece is “Escape,” a master’s thesis piece written by Kevin McKee.

“It’s supposed to depict someone escaping from a volcano,” explains McGee. “Some of the tempo markings have to do with that theme. For example, there is a section that is supposed to be played with ‘Vesuvian ferocity.’”

For those unaccustomed to chamber music, there is no need to fear.

“Brass chamber music tends to be a little more fun,” McGee says. “And a little more appealing to a wider audience than the very strict classical string groups.”

The concert will take place in Hertz Hall Friday, April 1 at noon, and is absolutely free. For more information, click here to go to their website.

by Katie Fleeman

For some, Egypt seems far away. Besides the physical distance, the protests seem like another world. But many Bay Area students have brought the fight for freedom home through their participation in Amnesty International.

Amnesty International is an international nongovernmental organization that was founded in 1961 when lawyer Peter Benenson learned about two students arrested for drinking a toast to freedom. Since then, the organization has grown to encompass several continents, focusing on political prisoners and human rights advocacy. Amnesty International encourages high school and university campuses to host their own chapters—and UC Berkeley is proud to host their own.

The UC Berkeley chapter of Amnesty International has helped sponsor many events in support of the protests in Egypt, including demonstrations, a teach-in and a candlelight vigil. These demonstrations also allowed for collaboration with other clubs on campus.

“This has really been an opportunity for us to team up with other student groups,” says Elana Eden, co-director of Advocacy for the UC Berkeley chapter, ”which is really nice—nice to see everyone get really active about something.”

Amnesty West—the general chapter for the west coast—also co-sponsored a demonstration in San Francisco on February 12, the International Day of Solidarity with Egypt. Held in front of the Civic Center, this event attracted students from many universities. 

“It shows them that we want to help you, that we’re supporting your cause of promoting democracy,” says Leila Ghaffari, a freshman at San Francisco State, which is restarting their Amnesty chapter. “I think that the more support they have, the more it boosts their morale.”

“I actually know that people in Tahrir Square were very energized when they saw evidence of international support,” agrees Eden. “And it also really helped just to give a better image of Americans in a way, because [Egyptians] were really disheartened by Obama’s reaction.”

Besides support, these students hope that their actions here will influence the United States government to help the cause of democracy in Egypt. “We can show the United States government that we do care about this, and we do want the rights of the Egyptian people to be respected,” says Anabel Cassady, a University of San Francisco student and intern at Amnesty West. “It’s so important for us to mobilize and put pressure on governments to create change.”

Despite recent successes, the UC Berkeley chapter has no Egypt-related events currently planned, though this does not mean they are going inactive. “We are still keeping an eye on it because it’s such a delicate situation,” says Eden.

Besides the demonstrations in support of Egypt, the UC Berkeley Amnesty chapter holds several events a year to advocate human rights and raise awareness about violations. This has included a panel featuring a former Guantanamo prisoner, and on March 11, there will be a Human Rights and Poetry Slam[nesty] showcase.

“I could give a really touchy speech about how injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere but I think that people honestly do realize that,” Eden says. “I don’t think most people are saying I don’t care; they think they don’t have time, or it won’t make a difference. I think it’s important to realize that it does make a difference.”

To get involved with UC Berkeley’s Amnesty chapter, attend a general meeting Wednesday 7-8 in 189 Dwinelle.

by Sierra Senzaki

This week, the Nikkei Student Union presents its annual Day of Remembrance event. We asked NSU Issues Chair Leslie Hamachi to explain the aim of the event and its significance for Berkeley students.

CtD: What is the “Day of Remembrance” event and what is its aim?

LH: Day of Remembrance is an annual event hosted by the Nikkei Student Union during the Spring Semester. It is an educational program that remembers and honors the incarceration of 120,000 Japanese Americans during World War II, as well as the struggles of those who fought for the civil rights of the Japanese. The event educates the public on what happened to the Japanese-Americans during World War II, and stresses the importance of unity and solidarity among minority groups so that such injustices cannot happen again. Days of Remembrance are traditionally held on February 19th to mark the signing of Executive Order 9066 in 1942, which allowed for the incarceration of the Japanese-Americans. 

This year marks the 69th anniversary of the signing of Executive Order 9066. It is also the 3rd annual collaboration between the UC Berkeley Nikkei Student Union and the Muslim Student Association.

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by Adam Carlson

Two weeks ago, nearly a month of bustlingly hilarious and audaciously crude shows and skits from San Francisco’s annual comedy festival “Sketchfest” was concluded. Performers and audiences anticipated that the last show in a series would be the best, the most energetic and outgoing, and I was confident, taking to others’ testimonies, that on Saturday night I was to expect the very funniest comics and improvisation masters onstage.

“Prison Freaks”: A One-Woman Comedy Blitzkrieg

An unsettling ensemble of prison inmates performs for an apprehensive bunch of talent show spectators. Each stars’ act was the product of the manic schizophrenia of one woman, Shannon O’Neill; a faux disorder just eccentric enough to fool the audience that each persona had a different actor running the show. The outcasts showcased the grudging songs of a mustache-fetish piano montage from a serial rapist, a dance routine from a twenty-three eyed misfit, and angry poems from a Cycloptic psychopath.  And if you were inattentive enough to take a front-row seat, you had your entire visual and auditory experience hijacked with inmates’ excuses regarding their sentences (controversial in the sense that each was under the impression that their heinous deeds were undertaken with the best of intentions). A necessary sacrifice, and a worthwhile one, since the stage, and the act, could be commandeered by one actress.

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