Wednesday, July 20, 2005

Go Hornets!

In (kinda) local art news, an internationally acclaimed artist who Sac's own Tippy (man I hope I'm spelling her name right) helps with his installations has been shortlisted for the Turner prize, England's most prestigious prize for up and coming artists. His name's Jim Lambie. His shit is cool, check it out here. He obviously takes a lot of his inspiration from music. I think he did a Primal Scream album cover? Is that right? I don't think Tippie reads this. Hopefully she's not bummed I wrote about it, but she should be proud. I hope this leads to bigger and better things for her.

By the way, she attended Sac State. You know, people dis on Sac State, but depending on how you work it, it's a great school. I daydream about going back for grad school all the time. I know tons of people who have attended there and gotten great jobs after. It's like with a degree from anywhere, you have to hustle and sell yourself, no one is gonna come knocking on your door to give you a job, whether your degree is from Yale or lowly old CSUS.

35 comments:

Anonymous said...

- lowly old CSUS???????
i must take exception to that!
best thing i ever did....
-jane

beckler said...

No, that's my point exactly. I don't agree with what people say, but surely you've heard people talking smack on it. And yes, I am calling you shirley.

beckler said...

That joke doesn't work as well when you write it out, does it? You know, because of the two obviously different spellings.

Anonymous said...

Yes, I know, I'm the first to want to kill many of my fellow students -- but i do get tired of the smack. Like everything else, it is how well you navigate to get what you want. But i must say that i have been able to glean much more than my money's worth... there are amazing profs and programs going on. The smaller-scale institution can be surprisingly progressive (depending on the dept) and has a lot to offer our community.
okay, i'm off my csus soap box now.

congrats tippy!

Anonymous said...

and the more I think about it, the smack is yet another manifestation of sac self-hatred, really.
shooting ourselves in our own foot. -jane

Maya said...

I like attending Sac State. My only complaint is that they got rid of the chickens.

Anonymous said...

Sac State has some great programs. In mine 98-99% of the students who graduated got jobs in the field right away. If only i hadnt ruined the 100% (not for realz)

ninja

Anonymous said...

I too loved my experience at CSUS. The Philosophy Department is rad. I would be interested to know how CSUS fairs as far as racial diversity goes. Compared to other prestigious schools, I wold bet it does well. Just a thought to all you Sac State Nay-Sayers!

Charles

leon said...

CSUS? you mean SUCS !!!

or is it

Slack State!!!

Charles went to colgee there!!!! HAHAHAH!!!

Anonymous said...

Before I went to Sac State I got degrees from UCLA and UC Davis, and Sac State was a much better experience in almost every respect. (Every single person at UCLA was better looking than every single person at Sac State, I am sorry to say, and UCLA got much better bands for their free concerts.) Professors are more accessible, classes are smaller, and I also found classes a lot more challenging and less "I have taught this shit 9,000 times and I just don't care anymore." I loved Sac State and it makes me sad to see how shitty the facilities are, and how little funding they get, compared to the UC schools. Because I think the professors work harder.

UCLA was a lot more racially diverse, though. I have nothing good to say about UC Davis.

beckler said...

Whatevs. Where did your parents pay for you to go to college, Leon? Oops, I mean, where did you go to college?

Anonymous said...

Who cares about racial diversity in college? I thought you went to school to learn, not count black people?

Anonymous said...

You don't think you can learn from black people?

Anonymous said...

You don't think you can learn from non-black people?

Anonymous said...

I'd say that there are already a lot of non-black people in our nation's universities, but you know that already.

-michele

Anonymous said...

Does it matter what color the teachers skin is as long as they know the subject and you can understand what they're saying?

beckler said...

Duh. Every teacher brings their sensibility and history into class with them. It just depends on the class. If it's O. Chem., everyone will teach it somewhat similarly. If it's art, literature, etc., there is more room for a professor to put there own spin on it, and their history will come more into play. The problem is, we're so used to the white (or Anglo or whatever you want to call it) sensibility that we think of it as neutral. We think of the white way as the way it is, and other ways or perspectives are some kind of spin. Coming at history or literature from a white perspective is a spin in itself, and a white professor won't necessarily know that they're doing it, it will just pour out of them with every word they speak. That's why diversity is important. To help us realize how we arrive at our particular perspective, and how others arrive at theirs. A white professor can attempt to teach you this, and can possibly even do a good job, but it's easier to just hire a diverse faculty and then the difference of perspectives will be built-in bonus.

Anonymous said...

No, but it's important to have professors from several different cultures, nationalities and ethnicities because that will influence how they present the subject at hand, how they interact with the student body, and in general will have an effect on the culture of the university.

Additionally, I'm sure I don't have to remind you that racism exists in hiring practices and a faculty without any black professors would be suspect in my mind.

I was also talking about the students, learning from your fellow students and everything I said above applies to that.

But, surely (Shirley) you can't argue that a university whose student body and faculty was entirely white would seem good to you, as long as the professors "know the subject and you can understand what they're saying." That's exactly how universities used to be when places like Yale blackballed Jewish students and faculty. The Gentile students could understand what the Gentile professors were saying, but what were all the Jewish professors and students doing?

Anyway, whoever you are, I'm on the east coast so I'm going home. I've been at work too long.

-michele

beckler said...

You're still at work? Go home and relax! I wish we could hang out and relax together. Or I could stress and you could relax.

Anonymous said...

I wish we could stress-lax together too. Talk to you tomorrow!

-michele

leon said...

I'm only kidding!!!

what a cop-out, right?

and since you brought it up:

My parents didn't put me through college.. I did...while driving a taxi, working at a coffee shop, mowing lawns and playing music an awesome bands, full time while living in Del Paso Heights! My mode of transportation at the time was light rail.

I went to ARC and finished at UCD (loans/financial aid/ fee waivers).

If I did ever decide go back to school for a Masters (which UCD permanently scarred me from even considering), I'd go to Slack State in a heartbeat.

:)

Anonymous said...

Consider the Supreme Court's take on the issue back in 1978 in U.C Regents v. Bakke:

"The atmosphere of 'speculation, experiment and creation' - so essential to the quality of higher education - is widely believed to be promoted by a diverse student body... it is not too much to say that the 'nation's future depends upon leaders trained through wide exposure' to the ideas and mores of students as diverse as this Nation of many peoples."

Brew

beckler said...

You can count on Brew to bring in the big legal guns.

Hey Leon-since you signed your name i know you didn't mean anything by it, i just hate when people call charles "colgee". that always bugged me, probably more than it bugs him. That's amazing that you worked so much and made it thru school. I was lazy and never worked during college (well, unless you count tower as work, and i don't. it was more like fun and it sure didn't pay like work), so i got thru with mondo student loans and will be in debt forever and ever or possibly longer than that.

Unknown said...

my experience at Sacramento State was nothing but awful. so much so that i will not consider going there for my graduate program.

but, my beef is more with the department than the actual college and the few courses i took outside of my field were pretty decent.

and Beckler, i have to disagree. a lot of pricier Universities offer job placement assistance that State colleges just don't have, not to mention prestige. i.e. if i get my teaching credential from Lewis and Clark, i may be paying off my student loans forever, but i will have a much easier time finding a position as well as a job at a school/in a district that i'd prefer.

but, while in school, i think this is the perfect town for those not looking for the typical college experience and Cancun gone wild kind of nights.

beckler said...

Oh but Katy, if you look at what I originally wrote, you're not disagreeing with me at all. Here it is:

It's like with a degree from anywhere, you have to hustle and sell yourself, no one is gonna come knocking on your door to give you a job, whether your degree is from Yale or lowly old CSUS.

And I still stand by that. You have to hustle yourself regardless. That's different than saying a degree from an Ivy or Lewis and Clark or whatever won't help you get your foot in the door. Of course it will, and that's what people pay for.

Anonymous said...

My one semester at Sac City College (should that even be capitalized?!) was the best 4 1/2 months of my life. Fuck all other schools. And sorry Becks, but Charles earned Collgee! And it beats "Slices" - which is what he asked to be called. As we all know, you can't pick your own nickname.

miller

Anonymous said...

That's right slopdawg...Sac City Rules!!!

Brew

Anonymous said...

Dear Scott,

I don't want to be called Collgee. Is that enough reason for you (or anyone) to stop calling me that? To me it's hurtful. Take that for what it's worth. You can even snicker behind my back and call me a baby, but I am asking you not to call me this. No one who's calls me this does it out of the sense of comradely. If you think I am a fool, Then just tell me this and deal with the consequences.

Yeah, I can't write and am semi-literate. I never claimed otherwise. And despite what some have claimed, I don't think going to college makes you intelligent. In fact, I tend to find the university bureaucracy to be quite humerus and absurd. I openly mock my own degree. It's really frustrating to have such a "harmless" nick name when it represents something I don't even believe. You ever get picked on in junior high and high school? Remember when assholes would make up things about you that where true to mock you with. That somehow always made it even more hurtful. I hated that. And that's how I feel when people call me this. I feel like I am being picked on.

Sure, I can't pick my own nickname, but I can ask for what I want and I am asking for your respect.

Charles

Anonymous said...

First, you have my email. You could maybe send things like that comment to me personally. I mean, that's where most things that begin with 'Dear Scott' go. But more importantly, I don't even call you Collgee! And that 'snicker behind my back & call me a baby' shit is equally lame. I'm not doing that, but by saying that like it's a probability, you're just making me sound like some asshole. And in my eyes, that negates the otherwise sympathetic sentimenet of your comment. Then again, I thnk you enjoy calling me out in public!

miller

Anonymous said...

Its amazing how this Sac State post turned into a cauldron of controversey. Was it your intention to rile us all up, Beckler?

Brew

Anonymous said...

You should check out the Plan-It-X board some time! (mega corporate label that the Bananas & Four-Eyes are "on"). A thread will start with "Who's your favorite band of all time?" and will rapidly become a debate on sexism because not enough of the bands have girls in them or something. Or someone will post some pictures from a show & soon enough it's like, "Dave, I notice you're wearing Nikes in that picture. Do you know that they support....?" Etc, etc.

Anonymous said...

Your right Scott. Assuming you or anyone would claim I was too sensative is my fear. No matter how likely or unlikely it is, you didn't deserve for me to pass judgement and insult you when you haven't done anything wrong yet.

However, you did say I "earned" that name, which to me kind of implies that you think it's ok. While it might be oK to use heckasac's soap box as an opprotunity to inform other how I don't wish to be called "Collgee", it is not fair to imply that it's your fault. But I am sure you can undersatnd how I might be upset with you when you say I "eraned" an insulting nickname. It might even be true that the nickname is deserved, but it is still hurtful.

I appologize for implying you are jerk in this semi-public forum. And I do seem to "call you out" alot on the internet. Random? I don't know. Since it's all I know lets try a new topic for me to call you out on:

"I have let scott borrow my drums over 15 times, yet he has never once purchased me a brew?" Fact.

Charles

Anonymous said...

Little known fact: all that delicious warm Bla Gul in Sweden was actually not free. I slipped them a few hundred bucks & said "treat 'em like rockstars, Sven". And that shitty candy in our room? That was me too. So there.

miller

Anonymous said...

Bullshit! Everyone knows that was David Essex!

Charles "Fritz" Albright

Unknown said...

sorry for interjecting in the love fest...

after running from Sac State in December, i haven't hardly been near campus.

last night i drove by the old BoJangel's and saw it has re-opened. it's called Library, drinks and eats.