By Isaiah Kramer
The Guardsman

After eight months and 10 murals, the San Francisco Art Commission’s pilot program StreetSmARTS, is ready for its second year with triple the funding according to its affiliates.

Over the course of next fiscal year, artists will complete an additional 20 murals as part of the program.

The locations are undecided even as more property owners become willing to participate. This is partly because property owners are subject to fines for graffiti on their buildings, and responsible for the removal of said graffiti.

“The program is funded by the Department of Public Works and they were happy with the results,” SFAC representative Robynn Takayama said of the increased budget.

The SFAC contacted the DPW, which spends $22 million annually combating graffiti, and proposed StreetSmARTS with the hypothesis that more murals equals less graffiti. With an open mind to an alternative approach, the DPW agreed to fund the program.

The DPW provided contact with property owners afflicted by chronic graffiti vandalism, and the SFAC auditioned 82 muralists. Only 22 artists were chosen to paint for this first round.

The murals are spread throughout the city. Most are in the Mission, but there is one each in the Tenderloin, the Bayview, and the Outer Sunset.

“I got really tired of cleaning up graffiti,” participating property owner Leslie Hollingsworth said. There has been no vandalism to the mural side of her building, but some on the unpainted building front, she said. “I expect to have the mural extended around the whole building.”

Painter Bryana Fleming completed a mural at the corner of Third and Palou streets, though her wall wasn’t blank.

“He told me to paint whatever I wanted,” she said referring to the property owner. “I was the only person who painted over a mural, one that had been there 15 years,”

Fleming said there were objections, “but by the end people were like ‘Oh my God,’ even this guy that initially ostracized me … A lot of the neighborhood’s energy got put on that wall.”

Fleming’s mural depicts the environmental atrocities and community destruction that Bayview and Hunter’s Point neighborhoods have suffered as a result of their close proximity to the former Naval toxic-waste dump.

Initially conceived as a possible method to combat “tagging” and graffiti vandalism, the program also promotes local artists and beautifies San Francisco’s colorful neighborhoods.

By Estela Fuentes
The Guardsman

Whether you’re looking to fulfil midday munchies or in need of a substantial meal you’ll be happy to know that City College’s Ocean campus has a variety of dinning options.

The school’s culinary program runs its version of a five start restaurant, the Pierre Coste Dining Room. You can get  anything from soup, salmon or steak. It is the priciest place on campus, but if you have the money and a large appetite it is a great place for a multiple course meal.

City Cafe, located in the Student Union, is also a great option for those with a hardy appetite. They serve both breakfast and lunch at a moderate price range. They have bagels, salads, cups of noodles and sandwiches made to order.

The cafe’s hours are Monday through Thursday, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Friday from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., and best of all they take credit cards.

The school cafeteria, also run by the culinary department, is a pocket-friendly option with lots of variety. They serve pastas, sandwiches, soups, salads and much more. Everything there is under $6.00.

The cafeteria is open Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. for lunch and 5 to 6:30pm for dinner.

Located at the center of Cloud Circle, the Lunchbox is a pricey place for an OK meal. They charge you $2.00 to toast a bagel and hand you a serving of cream cheese and a plastic knife. But if you’re feeling nostalgic for Costco they have chicken bakes for $4.

The highlight and newsroom pick for a quick bite has to be the one and only Crown Catering truck. It’s the school’s own mini mart. You can get anything from a candy bar or some aspirin to a nice salad or some sushi at a pretty good price point.

Parked right in front of the Visual Arts building, it’s close to almost every building on campus. If all you have is a dollar in your pocket, this is the place to go to keep the tummy-grumbling to a minimum.

By Estela Fuentes and Alyssa Laurel

The Guardsman

City College’s World Music Club will be hosting a band competition this semester with a grand prize of $1000.

Bands of all music styles are welcome to join, but at least one member must be a current city college student. Dancers and anyone with a stage act are also welcome to participate.

The club hopes to have at least one local artist in the judging panel, the clubs’ adviser Benedict Lim said.

The first round of competition will take place the weekend of September 17. The number of contestants will determine how many preliminary rounds will be held.

The final round will consist of ten bands.  This event is tentatively scheduled for October 22 in the performance theater  of the Ocean campus’ Health and Wellness Center.

The club was officially founded five years ago, according to Lim.  However, the idea came from the Asian Music Club, which started almost 30 years ago by City College professor Joshua Law.

The club’s mission is to setup a platform for students to learn and be exposed to cultural diversity. Every semester the club tries to organize some type of music-related event for students to participate in.

About 90 percent of the events are free and others are at very low cost for students due to fund raising by club members.

“We are very lucky because we’ve gotten grants for our events,” club member Catherine Tse said. “We also do food sales and approach businesses to sponsor events.”

Club members are not only exposed to cultural diversity, but also learn accounting, business administration and marketing skills, Lim said.

“This is not a teacher’s club, this is a student’s club,” Lim said. “Students come to me and tell me what they want to do and I advise them. They do all the work.”

By Estela Fuentes
The Guardsman

“Wuvable Oaf” is the new, San Francisco-inspired comic that many will relate to according to its creator Ed Luce.

“Bear dudes like to see someone of their body type being represented,” Luce said. “Straight guys might dig the gross-out humor and metal references. I think every woman has an oaf in her life, be it her best friend, boyfriend or brother.  And everyone is attracted to the the cute little kitties.”

Oaf was initially created for a paper doll themed art exhibit, just as he appears in the comic. He was a big hit and everyone wanted to know his story. Luce decided to put out a comic to let people into the Oaf’s world.

Oaf is a big scary-looking guy with a heart of gold and a passion for everything cat-related. The comic’s storyline revolves around his search for love.

With a love of heavy metal, Morrissey, and the 1980’s as a whole, Luce’s personal experiences made the Oaf everything he is.

“Oaf’s tastes and behaviors are all me, but I’m 5 feet, 5 inches and hover between 160 to 170 pounds,” he said. “He’s over 6 feet tall and almost 300 pounds, so in a way he’s how I imagine myself as a real big guy.”

The comic is usually broken down to a few short, fast-paced stories full of ‘80s references that will make you laugh.

All of the characters in the comic are inspired by people Luce has met throughout his life and the strong connections he has to these people who inspired his characters make the repetitive drawing a comic necessitates continue to be interesting.

“I like trying to capture on the page that certain something that makes someone sexy to me,” Luce said.

Last year Luce was invited to participate in a panel called Gays in Comics at Comic Con 2009 that discussed the use of gay characters in comics. Until recent years gay characters were invisible in mainstream comics, Luce said.

This year he served on a panel for recipients of the Prism Comics Queer Press Grant where he discussed the application process and deadlines of the grant.

The Oaf has transformed from a comic book character to a gay icon spawning fan-ware such as T-shirts and mugs and has garnered international recognition through social networking sites and conventions. Orders for Oaf products have come from Europe, Canada, Australia and Dubai, Luce said.

Luce is currently hard at work on issue three of “Wuvable Oaf,” which will debut at the Alternative Press Expo in October. Luce is also working on a fifth shirt design to be released around the same time.

For more info on the Oaf and his creator visit WuvableOaf.com

By Estella Fuentes
The Guardsman

…………San Francisco’s ninth annual Zine Fest will be held this upcoming Labor Day weekend at Golden Gate Park’s county fair building.

This year’s fest will showcase a wide range of works presented by 120 exhibitors. Organizers expect that at least 2500 people will show up and enjoy comic books, artist trading cards and much more.

“All is fair in love and creativity,” cartoonist, Josh Barone said.

Barone will be exhibiting his comic book “National Security State,” during his first appearance at Zine Fest.

Spectators can attend do-it-yourself workshops, panel discussions with special guests, an art show and a reading room featuring ‘zines by all the exhibitors. The featured workshops are bookbinding and screen printing.

“Zine Fest really has something for everyone,” event organizer, François Vigneault said. “Every subject and style is represented, from the political to the personal, from hilarious comics to deeply moving stories.”

This year’s special guests were chosen by organizers because their work has made an impact in the small-press world. Organizers only picked three to emphasize the importance of these artists’ work in the do-it-yourself community.

V. Vale has founded and published ‘zines in the Bay Area for decades. His more well-known projects include “Re/Search” and “Search and Destroy.”

Artnoose is a prominent local artist whose bimonthly ‘zine “Ker-Bloom!” has been printed by letterpress for the last 14 years.

Jesse Reklaw is a local cartoonist and creator of “Slow Waves,” which is printed in six alternative news weeklies. He recently self-published the 384-page diary comic “Ten Thousand Things to Do” and designed this year’s Zine Fest flyer.

To fund the fest, organizers will host events around town prior to Zine Fest weekend. The second annual Zine Fest Benefit Show will be on August 26 at 10 p.m. at Amnesia, 853 Valencia St.

They will also host a “comics reading” at the Cartoon Art Museum, 655 Mission St. The reading will include John Porcellino, Ed Luce, Jamaica Dyer and Jesse Reklaw.

Zine fest started in 2002 as a do-it-yourself event where local Bay Area artists could share their work with mainstream culture. It was also used as an opportunity to expose the general public to new creative ideas of self-expression.

Zine fest will be Sept. 4-5 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Admission is free. For more information visit Blog.sfzinefest.com

By Kwame Opoku-Duku III
Contributing Writer

Former City College student April Martin Chartrand decided she needed to leave a legacy in April 2009.

She had been sharing her poetry among friends and co-workers and getting positive responses, a feat that surprised her considering she’d never taken an English class beyond what was required for the B.A. she received in Creative Arts from San Francisco State University. Her dyslexia adds to her challenges with writing.

A self-described “perfectionist to a fault,” she decided to use all of her talents to complete a project that was 20 years in the making. She used over 70 poems she had written over the years as well as her own illustrations. The finished product is “Angel’s Destiny,” a book of poems written in the style of a novel with the end of each chapter leading to a new step in a spiritual journey.

The four chapters of poetry — Illusions, Anger, Awareness, and Love — press forward to an eventual state of healing, a state Chartrand hopes each reader will find within themselves.

The subject matter was born from an abusive marriage that Chartrand left in 1993. The poems she wrote helped her own healing process.

Her poetry is influenced by Eastern philosophies as well as the violence she experienced in her life and the lives of those she has helped along the way.

“Of course it was cathartic,” Chartrand said. “And of course it was painful. When you’re writing about your life and illusions and anger, you think about it a lot.”

When it came time to publish her finished work Chartrand took conventional steps, sending out queries and manuscripts, but in her mind she knew she was going to self-publish so she could maintain  artistic control.

“Poetry is the step-child of the publishing world and does not sell well unless you are a big name like Alice Walker or a newly selected poet laureate,” she said.

Also, a writer who includes their own original illustrations can often hurt marketing a new author.

In the end, she chose to self-publish her book through the website CreateSpace; a decision she has not regretted.

“I basically am a quick learner,” Chartrand said. “I did all the formatting, designed the cover, everything.”

Chartrand relished the underdog role. It gave her a chance to learn for herself. She took classes on web design and even “dated some ‘techie’ guys” to help her out. She put on her own book reading at the San Francisco Main Library in April and sent out over 100 press releases. Her goals are to be a guest on a few shows and hopefully get some good reviews.

She took a chance  publishing her own work, “to bypass the gatekeepers,” she said. Although she has many influences, her real inspiration comes from within.

“I want to be what my experience has taught me,” she said. “I want to explore who I am, where I come from. New stories need to be told. People need to be able to tell them.”

By Angela Penny
The Guardsman

Second Life resident Caitsu Manga flies a kite in th fields outside of Zero Style Hair. Second Life is a virtual world where users can create a persona all their own while interacting with other players. JESSICA LUTHI / THE GUARDSMAN

Watching Life 2.0, a documentary about the virtual reality sensation Second Life, was an entertaining thrill, emotionally insightful and satisfyingly voyeuristic.

The juxtaposition of the real and “imaginary” lives of four heavy Second Life users was fascinating. Watching the film was like taking an imaginary vacation to some other planet, with a complete society including beaches and dance clubs, fashion and real estate, friends and strangers. The graphics were very utopian, with clean lines and computer generated images. It was basically a binge of collective imaginations.

Life is much easier in Second Life than it is in the physical world. For instance, while dating in Second Life, a woman gets upset because the private beach won’t allow them to fly.

After this couple failed to make a real-life relationship work, the man speculated that if they hadn’t ventured out of Second Life, they would “have a nice house in Second Life somewhere with lots of friends,” and would probably be still together, emotionally if not physically.

One of the subjects in the film is the fashionable avatar, Asri Falcone, who designs high-end skin, fashion, and housing products for Second Life denizens.

In stark contrast to her avatar, the camera pulls back to reveal the real-life Falcone, snoring in her unkempt bed before her alarm goes off at 6 p.m. All of the subjects in the documentary seem to spend most of their nights staring into a computer.

Living your life as an avatar is like the ultimate in plastic surgery.

In reality Asri Falcone is pretty, but she’s overweight, lives in her pajamas and chain-smokes. She also lives in her parents’ Detroit basement.

Falcone says she earns well into “six figures” by selling her products, but I wonder if that includes decimal points or is in game dollars, since about 250 Second Life dollars is equal to one US dollar. She lives with her parents because they’ve all had some health problems and her mother is an excellent cook specializing in soul food and fried chicken.

Filmmaker Jason Spingarn-Koff also follows a young man strangely obsessed with building a Second Life persona of an 11-year-old girl. At one point this avatar spends time as a suicide bomber and eventually plans her own death.

The documentary doesn’t judge whether ultimately Second Life, is healthy or non-healthy but it definitely has the power to take over people’s lives. For all of the individuals profiled, their Second Life experience was almost more important and more “real” than their physical surroundings.

One of the founders of Linden Labs, the San Francisco-based company that created Second Life, said one of the biggest differences between the virtual world and first life is that you can’t physically hurt someone or be hurt.

The film is not an encyclopedic expose of how to use the tools in Second Life. For me, the virtual experience of the movie was enough to know about what goes on in this “new reality.” And I’m satisfied that I’m not missing out on anything.

By Greg Zeman
The Guardsman

As both a news editor and a columnist, I haven’t always lived up to my admittedly lofty aspirations.

In the words of Benjamin Franklin, “I didn’t fail the test, I just found 100 ways to do it wrong.”

In defense of my column and section: You can pull images and text from both of them quite easily, using silly putty. And with a little effort and patience, they can also be folded into a hat or a sailboat.

Oh, by the way…

Maybe it’s because I always write this column in the wee hours of the morning — after drinking hard liquor all night — but I almost forgot to mention that you’ll never see me again, at least not round these parts.

Don’t get me wrong, you’ll still see me at City College. In fact, thanks to all the time I dedicated to The Guardsman, instead of transferable credit class work, I’ll probably get to stay here even longer than I had planned.

Vesuvio

North Beach gets a bad rap, and it totally deserves it.

The “best” bar there is Vesuvio, a crumbling, tourist-infested monument to its own bygone social relevance.

This place shamelessly exploits the reputation of its long-departed “regulars” and its incidental proximity to City Lights bookstore in a desperate attempt to up the “cool” factor by making it look less like what it is  — a watering hole for Midwestern families lost on their way to Joe’s Crabshack.

The fact that Ken Kesey dropped acid there on occasion is pretty unremarkable — is there anywhere in the Bay Area that he didn’t?

And yes, Jack Kerouac and other beat generation luminaries drank here once upon a time, but I’m pretty certain they’d promptly vomit if they saw who drinks there now.

I considered channeling William Burroughs, typing a bunch of hyphenated obscenities on a typewriter, cutting them out individually by hand with a straight razor and using rubber cement to reorganize the pieces into a monolithic vulgarity to describe this place.

But then I ran out of Benzedrine and bug powder, so I decided to just say Vesuvio sucks.
So now we’re going back to the Lower Haight to drink beer!

Toronado

The Toronado is named after a car you are definitely not cool enough to even imagine yourself driving, so don’t feel bad if this bar intimidates you when you first walk in.

First things first, there is no liquor there. That isn’t a typo or a drunken hallucination on my part, they seriously do not have any hooch.

That said, whereas most bars have 10 or 15 beers and get away with boasting a “wide variety,” this place does like I did when I turned 21, and buys gallons of every kind of beer imaginable.

On an average day, they have about 200 kinds of beer available, with roughly 20 on tap.

Don’t go there and ask for PBR; they will seriously yell at you. In fact, don’t go there for anything you’ve already had. Just think of this as the Ocean Avenue Books of beer and get lost in the pursuit of unexplored brews.

As my final farewell to you, let me leave you with these words from Winston Churchill, a famous drunkard and British person who looked like a silly little bulldog.

“I have taken more out of alcohol than alcohol has taken out of me.”

At least that’s what I tell myself.

By the way…

If for some reason you don’t drink alcohol (and I highly recommend you start soon, because things are only getting worse) there’s something special and free for you on the corner of Scott and Waller, not far from the Toronado:  a labyrinth.

Now I know what you’re thinking, and I’m sorry for putting the image of David Bowie wearing impossibly tight, shiny pants in your head, but this isn’t a gigantic maze with an inappropriately attired Muppet fairy king or an axe-wielding novelist with cabin fever in it — it isn’t a maze at all.

You can get lost in a maze, and I wouldn’t do that to you. A labyrinth is an open “path” on the floor that has lots of twists and turns. But there are no wrong turns — it all leads to the same place in the center. I guess that’s a little fatalistic if you take it too seriously, but it’s a fun way to meditate and kill a few hours.

And if you have been drinking, you can still walk it, provided you can still walk.

Speaking of which, there’s another one a block up California from the Tonga Room at Grace Cathedral — actually, there’s two; one inside the church and one out front. So if you’ve been enjoying the tropical scenery down the block and decide that it’s sacrilege to stagger into a cathedral to get your kicks, there’s option B.

Then again, if you decide that option A is more your speed, you have my unequivocal, non-denominational blessing.

In the words of Father Sinatra, “Alcohol may be man’s worst enemy, but the bible says love your enemy.”

Amen Frank, Amen.

Brass Tacks:

Vesuvio 2/5

I mean, you can purchase liquor here, and there’s a place to anonymously yell at people, so two points, but just barely.

Toronado 4.5/5

Half a point off for lack of booze, which incidentally can be procured a stone’s throw away … but I don’t want to give away the precise location of my 12/5 star, top secret hideout in the Lower Haight, so I aint’ naming no names.

By Hannah Weiner
The Guardsman

Chuck Palahniuk’s latest novel, “Tell-All”, is about a washed-up actress named Katherine “Miss Kathie” Kenton and her confidant, Hazie Coogan, who is not only her maid but also the force behind Katherine’s glamorous facade.

Palahniuk always seems to find new ways to tell his stories. Possibly his most famous work “Fight Club,” which was published in 1996 and made into a movie in 1999, was told by an unnamed narrator with two personalities.

“Tell-All” reads like a screenplay, which is quite clever of the author. Each chapter — or act — opens with a different camera angle. With the exception of voice-overs, the story is told by Hazie.

It is Hazie’s responsibility to hold Katherine’s life together because the actress is often too sedated and emotional to do much for herself.

When the often-married and divorced actress meets potential suitor Webster Carlton Westward III, Hazie steps in to prevent catastrophe. Katherine has encountered such men before who simply use her and leave her heartbroken. Hazie does her best to thwart Webster’s efforts by rescheduling dates and not giving Katherine her messages from Webster.

It’s vintage Palahniuk: dark, creative, vulgar and hilarious, and littered with little buzz words and coined phrases like “was-bands,” in reference to her ex-husbands; “projectile praise,” the overabundant compliments Katherine receives; and “funeral flirtation,” which is pretty self-explanatory.

Palahniuk name drops incessantly. Classic actors like Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn and Bette Davis are printed in boldface for the reader’s viewing pleasure. This book could very likely inspire a night of renting old classic movies — especially if you don’t know who any of these people are.

He’s making some underlying commentary about Hollywood starlets as well. At one point in the novel, Katherine Kenton holds auditions for a baby she can adopt. However, the infants either don’t match her home decor or just simply cry too much and so her efforts to become a diva-mother are in vain. It’s hard to ignore the parallel with current celebrities who adopt children like it’s the greatest fad since skinny jeans.

My only qualm with the book is how difficult it is to relate to the characters. Their dialogue exchanges are hilarious and their quirky personalities entertaining, but I didn’t really connect with any of them; they’re just too extreme to be real people.
I think any member of the Chuck Palahniuk cult will love “Tell-All” just as much as his previous 12 novels.

Students prep for annual formal fashion show

By Estela Fuentes
The Guardsman

City College fashion students are getting ready to present their end of the year fashion show “Belle Epoque,” meaning beautiful era, on May 25 which will have a theme of 1920s underground Paris.

After deciding on a theme, the class was broken up into four different groups: production, sponsorship, fashion house and marketing.

For production, design students were assigned to one of five design categories — La Femme, The Shining, Out Of Africa, In Black and White and Tribal. Each student made a series of designs and the fashion department determined which would fit best into each category of the show.

Students in the sponsorship group have been working hard to get funding from businesses in San Francisco.

“The hardest thing I found was going up to a complete stranger, asking them for money and to take interest in your work and to sponsor you,” fashion student Brittaney McCreavy said. “With the help of our professors, we learned how to network within the city and find people.”

The fashion house group, in charge of choosing models, held an open casting session on April 20. With the help of fashion instructor Natalie Smith, students in the marketing group reached out to modeling agencies throughout the Bay Area, as well as advertised the audition to City College students.

“I have relationships with a lot of modeling agencies in the city, so I personally contacted them to let them know I was teaching this class,” Smith said. “I encouraged them to send their new faces, so their models can gain experience on the runway.”

Models were asked to submit a head shot, but were also required to present two different walks. Judged on a scale of one to four, all auditioning models were assessed based on appearance, how they walked and the energy they could bring to the runway.

The marketing group has also been spreading the word through social media, online and in print.

“This is a really passionate group of students,” Smith said. “They are really eager to get a good basic foundation on what it takes to produce a fashion show.”

Belle Epoque will be held May 25 at 8 p.m. at the Wellness Center, with a pre-show reception from 7 – 8 p.m.

Tickets are $10 for students and $15 for the general public. They can be purchased at the Ocean campus bookstore annex, the fashion department in Batmale Hall room 210, the Downtown campus bookstore or the Mission campus bookstore.

—

City College off-campus runway shows begin

By Jen Houghton
The Guardsman

Among glowing blue lights and a photographer’s flash, models strutted an L-shaped runway to a mix of live rock and electronic music, drawing attention from pedestrians outside the large windows at Sugar Cafe on April 19.

“From Dusk Till Dawn” was organized and executed by a team of students in the fashion coordination evening class. It was the first of many student-organized, off-campus fashion shows coming up in the following months.

“We’re one of the only schools in the state that produce our own fashion shows,” fashion department chair Diane Green said.

The teams work throughout the semester on the production. They secure a venue, clothing, models, a DJ, hair and makeup artists, as well as a videographer and photographer. All services are donated to the department.

“We were the first group, so we had the shortest amount of time,” said group leader Syeda Lee, who booked the venue and solely drafted the proposal to get materials and volunteers.

Mercedes Briancesco secured a photographer and, in cooperation with Ariana Casanovas, found volunteer models. Alexandra Cazares landed hair and makeup artists as well as a videographer to capture the event. Ibrahim Brahama was in charge of queuing, making sure the models’ timing to enter and leave the runway was perfect. Danielle Bilanko, Ashlyn Jones and Briancesco obtained clothing and accessories from friends and local stores including Dema, Sway, House of Hengst, Wasteland and Goodwill.

Many of the fashions included dark fabrics, metallic accessories, short hemlines and tall heels.

“For this show we were thinking, good girl gone bad,” Lee said.

The models, all volunteer, ranged from amateur to experienced.

Alexis Gibney was visiting from San Diego and hadn’t planned to be modeling.

“I’m not much of a fashionista,” she said. “Four girls pulled out at the last minute. I’d do it again to help a friend out.”

Others, like Leanna Chavez, have walked in City College fashion shows before.

“It’s an adrenaline thing,” she said. “When you’re on the runway, you can feel it go through you.”

The show was fast-paced behind the scenes but ran smoothly in front of the audience.

“It’s definitely intense,” model Chane Rodgers said.

To close the show, the team stepped onto the runway to accept applause. Afterward, models posed for photographs and Sugar Cafe began bustling with attendees and participants, all excited and some relieved, many already talking of future endeavors.

“This summer is when I want to make stuff happen. I really just want to gain more experience,” Lee said. “Seeing it all come together was the best part.”