Welcome to the wonderful world of arts and entertainment at
UCLA. And when I say wonderful, you can be sure I’m not
traipsing carelessly into the sinister realm of hyperbole. The
amazing truth is that as students attending this gargantuan
university, we all have an incredible opportunity to be exposed to
some of the most cutting edge artistic endeavors in the world,
right here on our everyday stomping grounds.
With unique programs like UCLA Live (see pg. 23), Filmmakers @
the Archive, which brings acclaimed directors and actors to the
James Bridges Theater to discuss their work, and world class venues
like Royce Hall, Freud Playhouse, Geffen Playhouse, the Fowler and
Hammer Museums, and Schoenberg Hall all packed together like
sardines within walking distance of your dorm room or apartment,
there’s virtually no excuse not to jump up and down on your
bed tonight and thank your lucky stars that you’ll never,
ever be able to respond to the question, “What should we do
tonight?” with, “I dunno. There’s nothing going
on.”
OK, so maybe I’ve overstated it a little. College students
have never been known for their endless amounts of extra cash, and
the limited amount of student tickets available for some of the
best on-campus events this year have increased from $15 to $20 (see
pg. 24), which is certainly nothing to shout about.
And despite our genuine desire here at dB Magazine to focus our
coverage on stories and events that are the most relevant to the
UCLA community, we also have to stress that every once in a while,
you’ve just got to get the heck out of here. Far too often,
we editors have discovered that UCLA students don’t bother to
venture out into the great city of Los Angeles, which, despite the
traffic, smog and image conscious populace that outsiders tend to
bemoan it for, has an awful lot to offer.
It is this fine line between embracing our privileged position
of being spoon fed cutting-edge cultural programming and
occasionally venturing out to uncover the hidden paths all around
the sprawling L.A. landscape that dB Magazine hopes to walk this
year.
And now that we have our very own magazine (for those of you who
slept through most of spring quarter last year, you may still be
shocked not to find the good ol”˜ A&E page in the regular
paper ““ don’t worry, you’ll catch up), outside
the structured spaces of the Daily Bruin, there’s really just
no excuse for us not to succeed.
This, of course, is where you come in. We need your eyes and
ears (not literally, mind you … no one here wants to receive any
mysterious, soggy packages) to find out about the best stories this
university, and this city, have to tell. Even if you have no
interest in working directly for dB (which you should), we
can’t tell you how much we love it when students e-mail us to
let us know about the great indie film they saw last night, or that
their roommates are putting on a free play in Veteran Park, or that
the ghost of Elvis Presley is haunting their apartment complex.
So as dB Magazine continues on during the year, be sure to read
it when you can. But more importantly, be sure to tell us your
stories. These pages are for you.
Mathis is the dB Magazine editor. E-mail her at
smathis@media.ucla.edu.