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DON on the Street

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“The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a San Francisco activist drag troupe, are protesting against Facebook’s policy requiring that all their users must use their legal given name on their profiles. What do you think?”

JacqlineMurillo_CutoutJacqline Murillo
Junior, Philosophy Major and Pre-Med Track

“I would agree with what the Sisters are saying. I think there is a big problem in our current society in kind of understanding the balance of our legality, which is beyond our choice, especially in this situation with a given name that we might not necessarily identify with — we’re born unknowing. Facebook should not have to act as a database, because that’s not its purpose. It’s purpose is to connect people, and people are not necessarily their given and legal identities. People are the identities that they create themselves. Continue reading DON on the Street →

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Give Up Your Super Bowl, Demand a Stop to Domestic Violence

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STAFF EDITORIAL

This past weekend the San Francisco 49ers lost and fans all over the Bay Area were left dejected. The NFL, on the other hand, rounded up another week of some millions of dollars in profits. This comes a week after the scandal that surfaced with a video of Baltimore Ravens running back, Ray Rice, beating and dragging his wife out of an elevator.

As a tax-exempt, non-profit status organization , the NFL has proven time and time again that they do not fit the criteria. They seem to exist primarily to make a profit and not lose money. Scandals like Ray Rice’s risk the business of football that they are out to run.

There seems to be a pattern in NFL news. Many have attempted to justify the mild response of the NFL by retroactively looking at the precedent they have set with the rulings of Ray McDonald, Ray Lewis and Adrian Peterson. Yet just because a precedent has been set does not mean that a reformation of the NFL’s policy is not necessary.

Fans must recognize that this is not an issue that should stay in the grey area. If they defend the players’ rights to separate their personal lives from their professional lives, they are basically giving players the green light to act violently off the field with only a brief suspension as a deterrent. As a result, the NFL comes off as endorsing these abhorrent actions as something they are willing to overlook for the sake of the game. Young, impressionable fans see these men so easily let off the hook when accused of domestic violence, assault, child abuse, and murder

The fans that give NFL the ratings they need to sustain their $9 billion business have the power to demand accountability and ethical management. As long as networks like CBS are getting the continued viewership they expect and desire, they are happy and so is NFL Commissioner, Roger Goodell.

The numbers of sales, viewers, and fans continues to go up, even as a recurring pattern of violence becomes more clear. These numbers act as complicit consent from the very people that the NFL profits from. As long as football fans do not send a direct message stating that they will not stand to support an organization that does not discipline players, then this vicious cycle of evading justice will not be broken. τ

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Art Meets Science in "STEAMED" Exhibit

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“No Vacancies”, on display until March 2 in the Thacher Gallery of Gleeson Library, is a series of photographs representing numerous San Francisco neighborhoods.     One would say it’s a plain piece, but the colorful stills ingeniously disguise their political nature. In reference to an Edward Ruscha artifact, artist Sergio de la Torre exposes neighborhoods where immigration and customs enforcement raids took place. The “Google map” point of view engages the spectator as one recognizes their home, associating the political character of the piece to one’s personal life.

The purpose of STEAMED is to create an environment which promotes art as a determinant in building our world, and therefore an equal of science. Designed by USF’s art faculty, the exhibition explores the necessary, yet rarely acknowledged connection between art and the STEM disciplines: science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The gallery includes works made not just by craftspersons but also by problem solvers.

Scott Murray’s “Geometric” explores the Sierpinski triangle—a fractal, or, a mathematical set displaying similar patterns, obtained by repeatedly removing smaller triangles from the original shape. Projected on a screen, the triangle responds to our movements, bringing geometry to life, while also aestheticizing it.

Our interaction with “Geometric” becomes quite playful and you may surprisingly find yourself dancing in front of the screen for a rather long time.

Whether it is a rock climbing wall, or look-a-like Lego bricks made out of mushrooms, STEAMED urges us to look at a world where art and science are one discipline.

Photo by Katie Butler

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Men’s Tennis: Dons’ Season Starts With 4-0 Setback at UC Berkeley

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It was the first dual match of the season for the Dons on Tuesday, and one that they hope to soon erase from their memory. USF opened the year with a 4-0 loss to No. 16 University of California, Berkeley at the Channing Tennis Courts.

After UC Berkeley’s Ben McLachlan opened singles play with a 6-0, 6-1 victory over the Dons junior Bernard Saraiva, things slowly crumbled afterwards. UC Berkeley’s Filip Bergevi beat freshman Christian Brockstedt 6-1, 6-2 on court thre, while junior Rich Van Hout lost 6-3, 6-0 to Andre Goransson, the No. 85 player in the country, on court four. Goransson’s win clinched the singles victory for the Bears, and the matches on courts two, five, and six were abandoned.

Going into doubles play, there seemed to be no change of pace as the duo of Goransson and Bergevi won the first match against Germain Bahn and Thomas Takemoto 6-1. UC Berkeley’s Gregory Bayane and Chase Melton closed the door with a 6-2 victory over Brockstedt and freshman Timothy Tan. 

While the match itself saw little parity over the course of the day, there were several out of ordinary events that could have at least entertained the spectators. The teams changed the scoring format in the doubles portion of the match, shortening the game to six instead of the traditional eight points. Also, the players did not take time to warm up before their games, which made the match a much quicker affair.

Even though it was not a successful outing for the Dons, there were some promising signs. Sophomore Nils Skajaa had took an early lead in his singles match against UC Berkeley’s Campbell Johnson, which head coach Pablo Pires de Almeida saw as a positives aspect of the contest.

“We lost 4-0, but I thought the guys really fought hard and had opportunities to win many sets,” Pires de Almeida said. “In singles, Nils Skajaa was up in the second set ready to win the match when it was clinched and matches were suspended.”

With Skajaa’s strong play and other building elements that were demonstrated at various times of the match, the Dons will hopefully be able to execute a better strategy next time when they travel to
UC Davis to take on the Aggies on Feb. 1.

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The Real Fútbol Has Arrived

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As Brazil prepares to host the 2014 FIFA World Cup, it has come to my attention that, for the first time in history, Americans are actually showing genuine interest in soccer. But what is it that has sparked an interest in the beautiful game? Countless factors have played a role in developing soccer in the United States for decades. Soccer’s first major step toward popularity in the U.S. took place in 1993, when Major League Soccer (MLS) was founded as a part of the United States’ bid to host the 1994 FIFA World Cup.

While the 1994 World Cup was a great success, the sport was nearly forgotten following the completion of the tournament. However, in 2002, the U.S. Men’s National team made a surprising run to the quarterfinals of the World Cup, which instilled a sort of respect for the squad here in the States. In 2006, another notable year for the development of soccer, a series of transfers saw top American players — namely Tim Howard and Landon Donovan — sign contracts with notable European teams like England’s Manchester United and Germany’s Bayer Leverkusen.
 As a baby chick pecks at the shell that keeps it from being exposed to the outside world, soccer fights the same battle to break
 into American society.
The 2010 FIFA World
Cup, which was hosted
on African soil for the
first time in history,
seemed to mark the
biggest year for soc
cer in American culture. After two games 
of group play resulted in a disappointed team, USA packed its bags to head back home for an early exit. Then, the unthinkable happened. In the last match of the group stages, American star Landon Donovan scored a goal in the final seconds against Algeria — winning the game and sending the U.S. team into the elimination round of the World Cup.

The past five years in particular have been great for marketing soccer to the American public. From 2008 to 2013, soccer’s popularity has increased drastically. The first sign was when world-renowned celebrity and soccer great David Beckham signed with the Los Angeles Galaxy to help promote the sport in the United States. As a result, eyes around the world turned to the MLS to analyze the quality of American players. They put their skills to the test in order to confirm that soccer was no longer just a hobby in the United States.

The progression of soccer over the past 20 years has led us to the present day. But what does that really mean? As technology has improved, the world essentially has become a more global village. So, when Drake — yes, Drake — signed on to be an ambassador for FIFA 14, the famous soccer videogame, his worldwide fan base became exposed to the game. This reality helps illustrate that in a world where someone in the United States can communicate instantaneously with a friend in China via social media, it is ultimately inevitable that the game of soccer, a sport that is played in every part of the world, would eventually blossom in the United States. I am just glad that it gives us Americans enough time to learn about soccer so that we may show some national pride in the 2014 FIFA World Cup this coming June.