Monday, 8/4/97 The real world MEDIA: Want to replicate MTV’s
experiment in group dynamics? UCLA’s newsmagazine editors already
have.
By Cindy Choi Daily Bruin Contributor What do you get when you
round up a Muslim, a feminist, a Latina, a Jew, an African
American, an Asian American, an "out" gay man, a photographer and
three Russians into a windowless office for four weeks? The summer
training program for UCLA’s yearbook and newsmagazine editors. The
bi-quarterly newsmagazines, composing one branch of ASUCLA Student
Media, attempt to represent UCLA’s diverse student population. The
recently-appointed newsmagazine editors have spent the last month
learning the ins and outs of journalism in an intense atmosphere
aimed toward preparing them for the coming year. "We’re interested
in giving everybody a foundation of knowledge as they begin the
year," said Media Director Arvli Ward, who trains the editors of
Al-Talib, FEM, La Gente, Ha’Am, Nommo, Pacific-Ties, TenPercent and
the UCLA yearbook, Bruin Life. Three students from the University
of St. Petersburg in Russia are also participating through an
exchange program. Last Friday was the final day of training, and
early in the morning FEM editor Derry Hall was trying to find a
male stripper. Planning to surprise TenPercent editor David Bain –
conveniently out of the office at the time – she called stripper
booking agencies, but no dice. They cost about $100 per "visit."
Bain was quite relieved that Hall failed. But it was only the start
of a very long day. "It’s a good thing we don’t have any windows. I
feel like jumping out of one," commented Page Kishiyama of Bruin
Life, feeling the final frenzy as all the editors tried to finish
the editing and production of Con Safos. The journal, a cooperative
effort of the eight publications, will finish their training. In
the timeless zone of Kerckhoff Hall, the air stagnates and the
people become sleep-deprived zombies. In the late hours, "that’s
when we start acting weird," smirked Sandra Cano of La Gente. Since
the first introductions, the group has become inseparable. Richard
Wang of Pacific-Ties remembered that at the start a month ago, "no
one knew what to talk about or where anyone was coming from." That
situation soon changed. "We’re the only people we see. It’s a
little strange. We don’t know what we are going to do when we go
back to our normal existence," said Becky Blustein, of Ha’Am. The
trainees’ professional and personal lives have melded into one.
Occupying a corridor of the Sproul Hall south wing, they live, eat
and work together. "We’re living the same life. What can we do but
become close?" Blustein continued. They have also chosen to spend
the little social time that they have with each other, dining at
restaurants and attending a Dodgers game. Magazine Advisor Jaime
Maldonado said that housing the trainees in the dorms has built
relationships. Throughout the year, the editors will work on their
respective publications, but often with mutual support. "During the
year it is very important to have good relations between the
newsmagazines so we can work together next year, and (the summer
training program) has accomplished that," Blustein said. Some feel
that diversity has played a minor role. Anika Johnson of Nommo
expressed surprise that the group has continued to interact freely.
Even though political, religious and ethnic differences could have
dominated the relations, she said that they have focused on
similarities and tried to communicate openly. This kind of
diversity, although "ultimately artificial," is valuable in and of
itself, according to Blustein, because different groups tend to
stay to themselves at UCLA. And a group as diverse as language and
national heritage, in the case of the exchange journalists from
Russia, who are still learning their English grammar. "The American
students should have a lot of fun, because they have to edit my
articles," said Katya Koulinenko, one of the visiting students. The
fact that the Russian interns are foreign students doesn’t matter,
said photographer Jeremy Afuso. "We don’t really worry about
offending them or them offending us … We don’t refer to them as
the Russian students." For the sake of cultural exchange, both
sides have amused themselves by learning each others’ linguistic
profanities. So far, the most bitter political conflict is
objection to the staunch Republican conservatism of Kishiyama, whom
the other editors tease at every opportunity. "People have slammed
on me for being a conservative in the group. Politically we may
clash, but as people we get along," Kishiyama says. Kishiyama
admits that he’s even had his opinions changed, during one very
well-behaved debate on affirmative action. Afuso reiterates the
consensus of the group. "It is like an episode of ‘Real World.’ You
get a group of different people together, lock them in a room, and
see what happens." (above) (r-l) Richard Wang, Katya Koulinenko,
David Bain and Page Kishiyama attend the equivalent of boot camp
for editors. Related Link alt.culture