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by Andy
Evangelista First
appeared 29 April 1999
"Da Mayor" is Second to "Da
Don"
 The description in the Take our Daughters to Work Day
program wasn't all that enticing - "Community and Government Relations (CGR) gives
you a tour of City Hall and the new Mission Bay research campus" - especially when
watching a real surgery, playing forensic detective and designing a website were among the
other choices. In fact, four girls who were assigned to get a glimpse of life in CGR,
didn't even bother showing up last Thursday (April 22). They probably figured that staying
in school and taking an algebra test was more fun.
But Cristina Morrison, Barbara Bagot-Lopez, Joyce Newstat and Beth Mooney of CGR and
Advancement and Planning pulled a few strings and gave a group of girls from Jefferson
Elementary a day on their town. After a walkthrough of the Mission Bay visitors' center
(the 11-year-olds actually enjoyed it and now know more about the future UCSF site than
some campus veterans), they were shown the Giants' new ball park. They next visited City
Hall, where they met with Supervisor Leslie Katz. She let them into the vacant Supervisors
chambers where they were allowed to role play and do anything except pass a meaningless
resolution.
It only got better. They toured the Mayor's office, and spotted Willie Brown talking on
the phone. The kind Mayor then took some time to chat with the girls (since they arrived
by UCSF shuttle, he probably knew that they wouldn't ask about MUNI) and pose for photos.
But all agreed that the thrill of the day for the group came when they were leaving City
Hall for the ride back to their Sunset neighborhood. They spotted some police cars,
cameras and other commotion before realizing that a scene from the TV show "Nash
Bridges" was being filmed. The girls claimed making eye contact with Don Johnson and
Cheech Marin. In their evaluation sheets, all mentioned "Nash Bridges" as the
highlight, although they certainly liked the Mayor. Beth Mooney later arranged to have
photos of Johnson sent to the girls.
The evaluation asked "Would you come back again?" One circled the
"yes" and added "dhuu." I guess that means "duh, I'd be back in a
heartbeat."
Demonstrating More Aggression
Observers of last week's animal research protest on Parnassus found that the demonstrators
were quite a bit more aggressive and confrontational. A few broke into labs -- one a cell
culture facility, which is designed to reduce the need for animal experiments, and another
where four research mice got loose. A broken door, shattered glass, an overturned
refrigerator, and a tossed centrifuge caused about $4,000 damage in the Animal Care
facility. Workers in the labs at the time felt very threatened, said Ara Tahmassian,
assistant vice chancellor for research services. It may be time for staff to be extra
cautious, such as locking doors and becoming more suspicious of strangers, he said.
On the streets, the protestors exercised an in-your-face style of making their point. The
nosy Eye, who was just trying to be a good reporter and get the facts from UCSF officials,
found himself surrounded by a group of sign-carrying and bull-horning harassers.
"You have blood on your hands," I was told. (The only mouse I ever touch is that
thing hooked up to my computer, and it's been cramping my index finger -- but no blood.)
"Do you go home and torture and kill your dog?" they demanded to know. (Actually
it did cross my mind for a split second that morning when my dog mistook the coffee table
for a fire hydrant.) "How are you able to sleep at night?" one asked.
That night, I did the following, in order: Kissed and hugged our kids, hugged the two dogs
(but no kiss), cursed that elusive gopher who's been trashing the garden, and swatted a
mosquito that took a nip at my arm. So exhausted, I did have a good night's sleep, thank
you.
Barking up the Right Tree
Several attendees of Wednesday's UCSF Earth Fair had a good conversation (via speaker
phone) with Julia "Butterfly" Hill, the environmental heroine and forest
activist who's been living atop a thousand-year-old redwood in Humboldt County for 16
months. For someone who's been 180 feet above ground for so long, she's very down to
earth.
Butterfly discussed the political complexities behind the Headwaters Bill and why it does
not do enough to protect the forests (her tree, "Luna," is not protected in the
bill); spoke a lot about oneness and the life spirit; said a paycheck won't do you any
good if the planet is dead; that a downside of her notoriety is that she has been turned
into a mythical, larger-than-life figure when in fact she is just a human being who makes
plenty of mistakes all the time; and that hikers in the forest often call out her name.
When asked if she had planned for her tree-sitting vigil to last this long, Butterfly said
that when she arrived in Humboldt County and learned of the clear-cutting problem, she
went to a meeting of different environmental groups where it was asked who would be
willing to take the lead protest role. So eager to belong, she volunteered, but because
she wasn't "known" locally, the person making the decision kept trying to get
others to volunteer. No one would, so in the end he had to pick her. She thought it would
last a few weeks, maybe a month. It now has lasted more than 500 days.
Children's Books Needed
Maria Pease, a graduate of the School of Medicine and the Langley Porter Child &
Adolescent Psychiatry training program, is traveling this summer to Fiji to work in a
small island community education program. That community desperately needs children's
books, so she and her colleagues are trying to collect as many as they can by June 1.
People at UCSF who have books that their children are no longer using can drop them off at
a collection box located in the Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Administrative Offices
at LPPI Room 140. They are looking for books on science, math, geography, animals,
culture, spelling and English and fun books of any kind that would be of interest to
elementary school children.
Hey Guys, Come Up for Some Air
From our research files: Studies have found that 15 percent of the 57 million Americans
logging onto the Internet visit sexually oriented sites and that "sex" is the
number one searched word online. A new study in the April issue of Professional
Psychology: Research and Practice, a journal published by the American Psychological
Association, sought to determine who was using the Internet for sexual pursuits, where
they were going on the Net, what they were doing there, and how it was affecting their
lives.
The survey of more than 9,000 people found -- no surprise -- that men are the largest
consumers of sexually explicit material on the Internet. Male respondents (86%)
outnumbered female respondents (14%) by a ratio of 6:1. Women, however, favor the use of
chat rooms, which offer more interaction and the development of relationships (49% females
to 23% males) to visual erotica (50% males to 23% females). Most individuals reported that
they go online for sexual pursuits from home (78.8%); 5.8 percent admitted using an office
computer; and 12.7 percent said they do both.
Honesty on the net and regarding Internet sex activities does seem to suffer. Most
respondents, 61 percent, reported occasional "pretending" about their age while
on the net. Three out of four respondents indicated keeping secret from others how much
time they spend online for sexual pursuits, although most (87%) reported that they did not
feel guilty or ashamed about the time they spent online.
The study found those who spend 11 hours or more a week online in sexual pursuits
show signs of psychological distress and admit that their behavior interferes with some
areas of their lives. No kidding.
Readers: If you have any items or suggestions for this
column, send us an email: andye@itsa.ucsf.edu. |
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