SF State Has NBA Fever

In the early stages of the NFL season and almost 24 hours before Game 1 of the World Series with the Philadelphia Phillies and New York Yankees, students on campus SF state were excited about another kick off in the sports world; the NBA season.

A number of students on campus were Lakers fans and predicted another championship for Kobe and Company. As the season starts tonight for the Lakers with an opener against hometown rival Clippers, fans came to school, including Roxy Romero, 19, proudly wearing her home game Kobe Bryant jersey and expected that off seasons acquisitions of Ron Artest will help the boys in purple and gold.

“They’re going to win another championship,” said Romero. “Artest is going to help them defensively.”

Other Laker fans like Ivan Lok, 25, didn’t have the same level of certainty, but expressed some level of confidence.

“I think it’s possible,” confessed Lok. “I think they’ll win.”

But it wasn’t only Laker fever that was spreading amongst the student body. The newly improved Detroit Pistons and Cleveland Cavaliers with the addition of the Big Diesel, Shaquille O’Neal also had students talking about the possibility of Lebron Jame’s first ring.

“Detroit has a lot of good players like Hamilton,” said another 19-year-old student. “I think the Cavaliers will be the hardest team.”

The reaction to stick with and put your money on the defending champs isn’t all that surprising, but as the Celtics learned last year and the Spurs a year before that, defending your precious crown is no easy feat. The Lakers definitely have their work cut out for them, but when you have number 24 and the Zen Master, Phil Jackson, himself getting in touch with his spiritual side and 10 championship rings, your chances always look pretty good.

Reporting contributed by Media Academy students Sergio Alvaredo, Roberto Ramirez, and Zaid Mohamed.

Ramparts Gallantly Streaming

Ramparts Magazine shouldn't get any other reputation, other than the consensus that it was a serious magazine that wrote serious stories. In its 13 year lifespan, Ramparts caused a fair amount of controversy and managed to raise more than a few eyebrows, but it wasn't purely about creating a buzz. It was born in the Bay Area and was originally created as a Catholic literary quarterly, but blatantly pushed the New Left agenda at the time of strong, clear opposition of the Vietnam war and arguably failing, religiously oriented Right Wing ideologies. And it looked good too.

In his recent New York Times book review, writer Dwight Garner mentions that Ramparts "was printed on glossy stock and, rare for an alternative magazine, had national distribution."

But then points out "Ramparts’ politics were grainy, shifty, hard to define. The magazine spent so much time savaging the liberal consensus in its editorials, Mr. Richardson suggests, that it afflicted conservatism less than it should have."

Peter Richardson, author of A Bomb In Every Issue, a new concise overview of Ramparts history and purpose, says that the magazine "had this Bay Area irreverence." And contrary to what some writers are saying about Ramparts being in the same conversation as other underground publications of the same time such as The Berkeley Burb, "it was not an underground publication. In fact it was quite the opposite," says Richardson. "It was off the ground."

Ramparts was founded by Edward M. Keating and over the years, had a great number of well known contributors including Angela Davis, Noam Chomsky, and Cesar Chavez.

And as far as Garner's argument that Richardson's book had very little on the "history of America’s alternative, rabble-rousing press, from Tom Paine’s days through our own," Ramparts was prominent, influential, and a publication part of an entirely different era. How could it possibly be compared to the writing of Paine's days?

"Tom paine? That's from the colonial era!," says Richardson. "I can't join him on that one." Neither can I.

Today, I wish we could watch more Ramparts that are so gallantly streaming... right now in the media and on the news stands.

Help Me! I Can't Breathe

This isn't strictly inspired from the fraudulent fat free Dunkin donut example that was demonstrated in class as a prime starting place for blogging, but rather an appropriate opportunity to voice a concern I've had for quite some time about my own health. My concern is literally a nightmare every night not for me and sometimes for others as well.

I snore. On the surface it doesn't seen too out of the ordinary or that big of a deal for that matter, but I'm a dreadful snorer and I'm afraid it's taking a toll on my life. My loud, obnoxious snoring might very well be sleep apnea, but unless I spend a night in the ER anytime soon, I'll never know. I should have known things would get worse when my own mother and brother would have to constantly hit, smack, and roughly nudge me even when I was a small child sleeping soundly, well not soundly, but loudly unconsciously next to them during Saturday Night Live. Then as I got older, even my own friends would throw objects and physically abuse me during sleep overs like i was Gomer Pyle from Full Metal Jacket. It's almost as if it's virtually impossible to become a morning person living with me.The worst part is, I can't help it! It's not like I had control over this obvious day in and day out situation. I'm convinced it's been a plague from birth. Damn genetics and the hereditary curse that has been bestowed upon me! The blame doesn't even way heavier on one side of my family more than the other as both my father and mother are prominent snorers, but my dad doesn't just take the cake, he takes the whole bakery. Like father like son, I guess.

When I was younger, I didn't think of the long term effects or the negative impact it may have on health later in life, but college lifestyle certainly hasn't helped me become a more silent sleeper. I drink, I smoke, and will indulge in some very late night snacking. This is all textbook things of what not to do to, according public college enemy #1 Web MD, but isn't this what a lot of young adults do? Sure, but they're obviously not bringing down the house with James Gandolfini type breathing like I do.

• Lose weight and improve your eating habits.
• Avoid tranquilizers, sleeping pills, and antihistamines before you go to bed.
• Avoid alcohol, heavy meals, or snacks at least four hours before you sleep.
• Establish regular sleeping patterns. For example, try to go to bed at the same time every night.
• Sleep on your side rather than on your back."

Regular sleeping patterns? That's practically foreign language to an American college student in their early 20's. Avoid alcohol and heavy meals? Sure, take away all life's pleasures. As I edge closer to graduation, I'm only starting to realize what feeling normal (sober) is like again. But I do know, if I don't change or find help in some way, it's only going to get worse and who knows what consequences it'll bring. I sure as hell don't want it ruining any future love lives. What's more important is my own life.

"Severe nightly episodes of interrupted breathing during sleep - commonly known as sleep apnea - double the risk of death for middle-age men, according to a new study being called the largest ever conducted on the disorder,' said Stephanie Desmon. (http://www.baltimoresun.com/health/sns-health-snoring-health-risk,0,2027434.story)

This was recently printed in an article by The Baltimore Sun and the article only gets more bleak...

There's still that issue of relationships and the news isn't good. In a recent articled published by the Associated Press, they pointed out snoring's effect in the bedroom.

"Snoring is a “big relationship divider,” said Dr. Laura Berman, a relationship and sex therapist in Chicago. She said snoring creates frustration and resentment on both sides: the snorers, who can’t help it, and those suffering next to them." (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16545178/)

Either I must sleep on my stomach for the rest of my life or simply marry someone with terrible hearing. This is worrying me all too much. To think I'm potentially killing myself every night and maybe ruining any chances of a healthy relationship... I can't take it anymore, I'll just sleep on it... Well, maybe that's exactly what I shouldn't do.

Pardon My Polish-French

Sorry American Government, but pardon my Polish-French: Spare us the brutal agony of yet another ongoing, absurdly drawn out celebrity scandal in which a single crime is turned into an unnecessary Hollywood bloodbath right out of a Quentin Tarantino script. Let us not go through another George Michael, Michael Jackson or Kobe Bryant. Let the man walk. Don't you have real bad guys you should be targeting? Because even the victim this time doesn't even want to go through it.

After a collaborative 31-year-long witch hunt by U.S. authorities for having sex with then 13-year-old Samantha Gailey, Academy Awarding winning director Roman Polanski was unnecessarily captured and arrested by Swiss authorities ironically on his way to the Zurich Film Festival to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award. Obviously, he never had his moment and now maybe will be reveling in any creative and artistic achievement behind bars undeservedley. Authorities couldn't have committed a bigger party foul. Seriously, talk about a buzz kill.

On two different occasions Samantha Geimer has made clear that there's no need to waste any more time and energy on Polanski's mistake.

In 2003, Geimer said, "Straight up, what he did to me was wrong. But I wish he would return to America so the whole ordeal can be put to rest for both of us."

Then very recently in 2008 she even asked for forgiveness.

"I think he's sorry, I think he knows it was wrong. I don't think he's a danger to society. I don't think he needs to be locked up forever and no one has ever come out ever - besides me - and accused him of anything. It was 30 years ago now. It's an unpleasant memory ... (but) I can live with it."

Are you listening you big bad power tripping people with badges? You've taken your eye off the ball. Maybe you're just mad he got away and that Martin Scorsese didn't want the award for Best Director in 2002.

"In the same way that there is a generous America that we like, there is also a scary America that has just shown its face," rightfully said French Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand. Yes, and that face is foaming at the mouth for the big bad director once and for all.

Don't get me wrong: no one is above the law but it's not as if Polanski has never been through his fair share of punishment. He's been fugitive for years and fleeing for his life sure as hell isn't something new to him. He escaped the Nazi persecution, but others in his family weren't as lucky. In 1942, his mother was killed in Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. In 1969, Charlie Manson and his deranged followers brutally took his wife Sharon Tate and soon to be child and in 1978, Polanski actually spent 42 days in prison during this crime. He made the daring flee into France in a small window of opportunity while the judge at the time was considering sentencing him to more time. Since then, he has been exiled from the United States and hasn't been truly allowed to film movies on American soil or accept his deserved Oscars. Remember the victim here America. It's seriously time to bury the hatchet.