Jacob Lauing
jacoblauing.md@gmail.com

“I know how easy it is to die,” he said.

For Mihail Dincu, each step is a reminder.

A stroke left him a half-broken man 13 years ago, with a consequent limp that hinders Dincu’s walk to this day.

It was one the first things I noticed when we crossed paths in January.

On a Wednesday afternoon, I stood outside the Recreation Center wrestling room, approximately 15 minutes before the start of practice.

I had a notebook full of questions for Devon Lotito, the freshman wonder who stole the show during Cal Poly’s disappointing 2013 season, installing a glimmer of hope in the Cal Poly wrestling program.

I was early, so Dincu, donning a Cal Poly athletics polo, arrived before the wrestlers hit the mats.

As he limped toward me, I could tell he was older, with a head of thin, white hair and wrinkles on his face surrounding a pair of piercing green eyes.

I told him I worked for Mustang Daily and was waiting to interview Lotito.

He spoke in broken English with a foreign accent I couldn’t place, but responded with the four clearest words I’ve ever heard him say.

“You should interview me.”

After some back and forth communication, Dincu and I finally sat down for an interview in February.

It lasted exactly one hour.

I said fewer than 50 words.

What I learned in those 60 minutes was that Dincu’s life is a jigsaw puzzle.

The pieces come in thick envelopes, plastic bags, frayed photos and old newspaper articles, countless stories and moments.

To give the simplest introduction, Dincu is a Romanian massage therapist and an employee of Cal Poly athletics.

He now resides in San Luis Obispo, but Dincu has been everywhere from Eastern Europe to Southern Alabama, and everywhere in between. He’s been a personal athletic therapist to Canadian Olympic sprinter Ben Johnson and a masseur to the San Antonio Spurs.

Dincu’s past is elaborate and mysterious to say the least.

But the key to unraveling that past has been Dincu’s voicemails.

He calls on a regular basis — to let me know his schedule, to add on to his quotes from the interview, or just to check in.

He called me 11 times in the month of April alone, which led to a crowded inbox, but those voicemails say more about Dincu than anything else.

3/13/13: Voicemail seven of 11

Jacob, talk to me, brother. What’s happening? Last night, (baseball) played San Jose. I warmed them up, then I went for a kick at The Pit. Go back watch, 5-2, San Jose. I went to their dugout and started to encourage Cal Poly, we won 6-5. You ask, what’s so special with me? I remember last year, the same thing. It was 7-2, they finished 9-8. How can I explain if you don’t talk to me? Are you doing any progress on your homework, that famous paper? Bye.

Around Cal Poly, Dincu is known as “Super Mike.”

It’s a fun nickname, and a testament to Dincu’s supernatural abilities as a masseur, but the fact of the matter is: He might be a legitimate good luck charm.

In 1975, Dincu took his talents to FC Steaua București, the Romanian army soccer team.

It hadn’t won the Liga I — the top league in Romania — and the Cupa Romániei in the same season since 1953,  but with Dincu on hand, Steaua București won both in 1976.

During that first season with the club, he also met Iosif Vigu, a midfielder who rarely played because of his old age.

Dincu massaged Vigu on a regular basis, and was “giving energy to him.”

In 1977, the 34-year-old Vigu placed fifth in the Romanian Footballer of the Year rankings.

“Very rare,” Dincu said. “Probably some paranormal thing. In this society, which is so rational, it sounds superstitious. I can’t explain this.”

Dincu’s magic ways have not subsided.

In November of 2007, Dincu crossed paths with Cal Poly alumnus and renowned mixed martial arts fighter, Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell — by accident, according to Dincu.

Liddell was warming up on the exercise bike one day, when the former Cal Poly wrestler got a muscle cramp.

Naturally, Super Mike worked his magic.

“He was losing all his previous fights,” Dincu said. “(Liddell) said, ‘I want you.’”

Prior to meeting Dincu, Liddell was crowned as the UFC light heavyweight champion in 2005, and defended that title in four consecutive fights.

But The Iceman went cold in 2007, losing his title in May and failing to recapture the crown in September.

So in December, Dincu joined Liddell’s entourage and accompanied him to UFC 79, a light heavyweight matchup against Wanderlei Silva at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.

 Liddell’s crew consisted mostly of fighters, people who Dincu had no business being with.

“But (Liddell was) probably superstitious,” Dincu said. “He thought I am good for him.”

Liddell was right.

He defeated Silva by unanimous decision, and the matchup was voted 2007’s Fight of the Year at the first annual World Mixed Martial Arts Awards.

“I can feel it, something magic in me,” Dincu said. “I was blessed. It happens all the time. I can tell you any situation of that.”

2/24/13: Voicemail four of 11

I don’t know why he did not come to the changing room like I told you, because I don’t have a cellular telephone. I am busy. I am one, and they are so many. So, you got the message.

Dincu is as punctual as a man can be.

His irritated-toned voicemail came after a Cal Poly baseball game, where I arranged for a co-worker of mine to meet Dincu and pick up some old photos he had — some more pieces to the puzzle.

Obviously the connection wasn’t made, and Dincu wasn’t happy.

“I hate to wait for somebody,” he said. “I’m so precise. I told these guys, you’ve got to be five minutes early, then you are on time. If you are on fixed time, then you are late.”

The first time I met Dincu was the one and only time I arrived at a location before him. A lot of that comes from the strict, communist nature of his home country, and his four years in the army. Even when he jokes, Dincu is all about order, punctuality and discipline.

Two Cal Poly wrestlers interrupted my interview with Dincu when they knocked on the door.

“Take care of your guys, I have an interview,” Dincu said to them.

They were obviously a little intimidated, based on the tone of their voice as they said “sorry.”

Before they could finish saying it, Dincu said, “your sorry is too late … make me mad.”

He leaned to me and said, “Do you want me to beat these guys up?”

He was joking … but I’m not sure what would’ve happened if I had said yes.

“People don’t have time to know you,” Dincu said. “They judge you, they put a suit on you, they label you. Poor, rich, smart, beautiful or ugly.”

And while he is punctual, Dincu is also no stranger to hard work.

An average winter day for Dincu starts at 7 a.m., when he wakes up and joins the Cal Poly soccer team for its morning practice.

Following an 11:30 a.m. swim, Dincu is at Baggett Stadium by 1 p.m., helping the Cal Poly baseball team prepare for practice.

By 3:15 p.m., Dincu is at the Recreation Center for wrestling practice.

“People did not care as much I care,” he said. “Another guy told me, ‘I work 30-40 years for this school.’ Yeah, you probably eat bread from this school, but did you make the difference in the people’s life? Did you spend time with them? Did you make them to improve themselves? Did you help them heal themselves?”

At 6 p.m., Dincu makes some time for his own physical fitness.

He works out and helps other athletes at The Pit, a fitness and martial arts gym in San Luis Obispo.

On Thursdays, Dincu sells oranges at San Luis Obispo’s Farmers’ Market.

“I spend hours like nobody else,” Dincu said. “All the doors are open if you work hard. There’s no substitution for perspiration.”

4/15/13: Voicemail nine of 11

Hey Jacob, did you see what happened today in Boston? Motherfuckers! Cowards! They put bombs … Write an article about these cowards. Motherfuckers …

Dincu is anything but cowardly.

After all, he’s overcome adversity in essentially every stage of his life.

Starting from childhood, it seems like the odds have always been stacked against Dincu.

“I had a bad start in Romania,” Dincu said. “Dysfunctional family. I was in a boarding home since I was 3 until I become 14.”

And when Dincu applied for immigration to Canada in 1979, he was fluent in five languages, but still had to learn English.

“It was so hard,” Dincu said. “I was watching TV nonstop, more than 12 hours a day.”

As an immigrant, he took English classes at George Brown College in Toronto and worked at local gyms in the area, fully immersing himself in the native language.

“I was doing massage for $5 or something just to learn English,” Dincu said. “I explained myself with my hands. People looked down to me … then they realized I’m a pro.”

But Dincu’s biggest test in life came in 2000.

Twenty-six years prior, Dincu had a concussion playing a pickup game of soccer in Romania.

As a result, an artery in the back of his neck slowly closed over time, blocking off blood flow to the brain.

Dincu then suffered a stroke on Nov. 23, 2000. He happened to be visiting Romania at the time, when a strong headache escalated, and Dincu soon found himself in the hospital, paralyzed in the face and left side.

The recovery was grueling.

Dincu spent hours each day trying to regain the strength in his left side, hobbling around one crutch.

He was slow. It took Dincu 20 minutes to walk the length of a football field.

“I was crying,” Dincu said. “Tried to find a place to kill myself but I said, ‘Well, my mother won’t have money to bury me.’”

So Dincu rose to the challenge of living with a limp, the same hindered walk that I saw when Dincu first approached me on that January afternoon.

Like so many other times in his life, Dincu was tested when he had the stroke, and will continue to be tested for as long as he walks.

“I was many times in the shithouse, but I get out,” Dincu said. “Now, I’m not afraid of nothing. It’s hard to live the way you like to live. You gotta keep punching.”

Even today, after four months of interviews, more than 10 voicemails and 20 phone calls, the pieces still don’t fit together.

Dincu’s been too many places, touched too many lives and accomplished too many incredible feats to assemble it all, particularly when English is one of five other languages he speaks.

What I do know about Dincu is that during the course of our time together, the more and more he called, the less and less we spoke about the story on these pages.

His voicemails went from scheduling interviews to, “Jacob, how are you, are you in love?” and, simply, “Happy Passover. Have a good soup tonight.”

But still, all the missed calls from Dincu speak to his character, and are a constant reminder of the first time I met him.

He’s made opportunities for himself his entire life, so it’s no surprise that instead of a journalist asking him for a story, he turned the tables and made it happen himself.

He has one of the most complex life stories of any man.

And I know that if I ever have doubts, any questions, or just need some stimulating conversation, I can call him up, because he loves to talk, and he loves to share his story.

Stephan Teodosescu
steodosescu@mustangdaily.net

As junior runner Chris Frias toed the line for last weekend’s 10,000-meter run at the Big West Conference Championships in Northridge, there was one thing on his mind.

“I didn’t tell anyone, but I was feeling like dog shit,” Frias said with a smile and a laugh, remembering his thoughts. “We all kind of were, but we just didn’t want to say it.”

But for a long distance runner, that feeling is par for the course. And battling mid-80 degree temperatures for the 10 p.m. race on Friday, Frias went out and put together a stellar performance, winning the 10-kilometer race in 30 minutes, 46 seconds and capturing his first-ever Big West Conference title in track and field.

But it was Saturday’s 5,000 that Frias says he’d like to hang his hat on. He knew he had a shot at a podium finish entering the race, but another tight battle between him and fellow Cal Poly teammates ended the same way the 10,000 did: a win and another conference championship for Frias.

“I took the lead with three laps to go and I didn’t really know if I was going to regret that later on,” Frias said. “But my teammate Blake (Ahrold) passed me up with 300 meters to go, he just started taking off and I didn’t know if I was gonna be able to hang on with him. Luckily, I stuck with it and was able to out-kick him.”

Frias out-kicked everyone on the weekend — including the rest of his team, which finished right behind him in both events. The Mustangs finished first and second in the 10,000 and swept all three podium spots the next day in the 5,000 to continue their dominance in the distance events this season.

“It was very impressive for him to complete the double,” director of track and field/cross country Mark Conover said. “He really had good leg speed at the end of both races.

After this year, Frias is no stranger to conference titles. He also won the Big West crown in cross country in the fall, finishing with a time of 24:10 on the 8K championship course and helped the Cal Poly men’s team to its 12th Big West title in the past 15 years.

“He’s brought a great value to the whole team this year,” Conover said. “We took the top three spots in cross country, so all the guys are used to running with Chris in the workouts. We did the same in all of (last weekend’s) races too. It’s just like they do in training. (Running together up front) is something all the guys are familiar with.”

Like many runners, Frias found he had a knack for long distance when he joined the cross country team his freshman year at Buena High School in Ventura. Admittedly, he was just looking for a way to stay in shape for basketball season, but as his prep career rolled on, the three-sport athlete realized that at 5-foot-7, his chances of playing ball at the next level were slim to none.

Distance running, though, was a different story.

With personal records of 4:17 in the 1,600 and 9:13 in the 3200 by the end of his senior year, Frias said he knew running at a higher level could be an option for him. The only question was: What level could he reach?

For his former coach at Buena and closest mentor Wendy Dowler, it was obvious he could succeed at a West Coast distance powerhouse such as Cal Poly.

“Some people love to run, some love to race, but Chris really studied his sport,” Dowler said. “That was a little bit of a difference between him and other people.”

Another difference? Not many people have an award named after them either.

The cross country team coaching staff at Buena instituted the perpetual Chris Frias Award after he pieced together one of the greatest senior seasons Dowler has ever seen. Frias finished his final stint at Buena by securing a spot in the record books as a member of the all-time top 10 list in the 800, 1,600 and 3,200 at his school — a feat that is rarely achieved.

Because of that, his award is one of the most prestigious to earn at Buena, Dowler said. It isn’t handed out every year because it requires recipients to break school records just like Frias did in his time there.

“By that time, I had been coaching for 12 years and it was one of my favorite seasons ever,” Dowler said. “It was a joy to work with him all four years, but that year was particularly fun.”

Frias’ decision to attend Cal Poly had as much to do with the perennial championship nature of the cross country and the track and field teams as it did with Dowler’s influence on his mindset. He didn’t have an athletic scholarship entering his freshman year at Cal Poly, but, after talking to Conover, Frias realized the potential to be a top runner was there.

“Our class was so deep, and coach Conover had already recruited so many top guys in the state,” Frias said. “I contacted him and he said he was interested and that, ‘If you progress and hit certain times, you’re going to get more and more scholarship money every year.’”

Frias was lightly recruited throughout California and was even offered money to go to other schools, such as UC Santa Barbara, but ultimately chose the Mustangs.

And now, after a breakout season in his redshirt junior campaign, Frias has firmly proved that he belongs on the trails and the track at Cal Poly along with his now-partial scholarship.

Coming off back-to-back championship runs and qualifying with a time of 29:33 in the 10,000 at the Stanford Invitational on March 29, Frias will take to the track again Thursday in the NCAA West Preliminary Round in Austin, Texas. A top-12 finish gives him a spot in the NCAA Division I Men’s Outdoor Track and Field Championships held June 5-8 in Eugene, Ore.

Fellow junior distance runner Sean Davidson, along with six other athletes from the men’s track squad and Laura Hollander on the women’s side, will join Frias in Texas.

“I told him and the rest of the guys that there’s no pressure on him,” Conover said. “Just go out and compete, have fun with it and see what happens. The expectations are really on some other people to get the top spots, so go out do your best to see how high you can finish.”

Alexandria Scott
alexandriascott.md@gmail.com

When students complain about Robert E. Kennedy Library, the staff listens and responds.

This spring and summer, the library will undergo some smaller and larger projects in efforts to not only be the best library in the California State University system, but in the nation, university librarian Anna Gold said.

“We are looking at how we use the whole building to achieve goals for students and faculty,” Gold said. “We really feel we can redefine what a college library is and how it works in an academic community.”

Kennedy’s new definition of a college library is to provide a place where Cal Poly students can implement “Learn by Doing” with adequate technological support, director of library information technology Dale Kohler said.

“Yes, we still have books, and love books, and the books aren’t going away,” he said. “We are just adding digital resources. We’re really focused on students and student needs. Our motto is ‘You asked, and we listened.’ We are being responsive to what students are asking for.”

Funding from the California State Lottery Act and one-time money from salary savings of library employees have generated funds for the projects, which are all based on student and faculty requests. The most demanded addition is electrical outlets, Kohler said. During the past three years, Kennedy has lined its windows with another 1,675 electrical outlets, costing approximately $8,000.

“We’ve been rimming windows with an outlet every foot,” he said. “It’s getting harder and harder to do because fewer and fewer spaces are available to cheaply add outlets.”

Other electronic accommodations are a mobile charging station that allows users to secure cell phones in lockers while juicing up, rather than sitting out in the open, Kohler said. Also, the second-floor computer lab (216B) will transform into an active learning classroom/lab over the summer.

“It will be a really cool multimedia room devoted to flipped instruction model,” he said. “Faculty members doing cutting-edge teaching will like that space.”

Non-digital renovations are to remove the clear, glass half-wall at the entrance and add more space for students to enter the library. Students have also complained about not having enough space in the library, especially during finals week, and this is an ongoing problem the library seeks to solve, Kohler said. The Center for Teaching, Learning and Technology on the third floor will be expanded as well.

What some students might not know is that the library already offers a mobile website that allows users to find open computers on any floor in the library, reserve “fish bowl” rooms on the second floor through a few easy clicks and view PolyConnect Lab equipment availability, such as iPads, projectors, Kindles and video cameras, Kohler said.

Agribusiness senior Kayla Hayden studies in the library multiple times a week and hates walking from computer lab to computer lab looking for an open computer, she said. She was not aware of the mobile site and will start to use it on her iPhone, she said.

“I didn’t know they were that high tech,” she said. “Hell yeah, I’ll check it, definitely.”

What is unique to the library is its Student Library Advisory Council (SLAC), a student group of representatives from each college and large groups on campus, such as Associated Students, Inc., Interfraternity Council and University Housing, SLAC chair and political science senior Tucker Brofft said.

“We try to bring in a lot of different ideas for the group that will help library,” he said. “The library also brings us things they are working on and asks SLAC to put perspective in and ask students if these are issues students want the library to work on.”

SLAC obtains library suggestions through casual discussions with students and an online survey emailed out to 10 percent of the student body, or 3,000 students. The turnout is always huge, Brofft said, with 1,000 students replying.

“All the responses mean that these are the issues that students want taken care of,” he said. “The library really cares about what we think and has put in high level people who know things about the library and can give us the results we need.”

Students with concerns involving the library are also welcome to attend the weekly SLAC meetings, or can email a SLAC representative at any time, Brofft said.

SLAC is actually a group co-created by university librarian Anna Gold and associate university librarian Sarah Cohen as a way to get more student involvement in decision making, Brofft said.

The student group is a part of “Learn by Doing” and working together to solve problems, Gold said. The library wants to be a place that students and faculty have a stake in, she said.

“Fundamentally, libraries are about empowering people,” she said. “We want students to walk in and feel they can do cool things. We want to be as good as a library as Cal Poly is as a university.”

Cal Poly students of various majors, backgrounds and skill levels will take center stage this Thursday and Friday at Alex and Faye Spanos Theatre for “Titanium,” the student-directed, student-choreographed and student-performed spring dance concert.

“I see it as giving everyone an equal opportunity to dance,” co-assistant director and business administration junior Gabriella Petrone said. “The goal is to let everyone at Cal Poly who likes to dance be able to be in a real production. There’s everything — hip-hop, jazz, tap-dancers, ballet, contemporary and a swing dance piece too.”

This year’s version of the annual show will feature 21 different pieces, including its first-ever Pacific Islander-style dance.

“This is the first year we’ve had something like this because our choreographer for that dance spent a couple months living in Tahiti and another island and took dance classes while she was there,” director and kinesiology senior Tyler Ratcliff said. “She taught some of those dances to our dancers.”

Because many choreographers graduated last year, this year’s spring show will see fresh talent.

The dance concert will feature a new “cycle” of choreographers, Petrone said.

Choreographer and modern languages and literature junior Noe Klein said her best friend inspired her pointe ballet piece.

“It is about the relationships we have with people in the journey of life,” Klein said.

“It’s especially cool for choreographers because you’re able to create a piece of art with a bunch of other people, and you get to decide the tech side of it too,” Klein said. “It’s definitely a ‘Learn By Doing’ experience.”

With just fewer than 200 dancers, three crewmembers and two faculty members overseeing, the show is truly a group effort. And despite the large number of student participants, the show is right on track, Ratcliff said.

“There’s a lot of dancers, and a lot of little pieces that need to come together,” Ratcliff said. “It’s a huge undertaking, but within the past few weeks, it’s come together really easily.

“Everything we’re producing is from students’ peers. A lot of people that they go to class with, or see on campus, are super creative people and producing great things.”

Both performances sold out this past week, Petrone said.

“The tickets went so fast, and it’s so nice that everyone’s going to have a full house to perform to,” Petrone said.

The shows are scheduled for 8 p.m.

The soft glow of the moon and a porch light illuminated Madeleine Mori’s fingers as they tap-danced over the worn keys of her mother’s vintage typewriter.

For two hours on a warm, breezy November night, Mori remained seated at her boyfriend’s oval, wooden outdoor desk, sipping Earl Grey tea and speed-writing the poem that would go on to win the 2013 Academy of American Poets contest.

“There’s something about a typewriter that’s very static and momentaneous,” said Mori, who began the poem on the typewriter and switched to her laptop to finish it off. “I had this obsessive image of the vision I wanted to convey and, at that point, it was about finding the words to express it.”

Mori’s award-winning poem, “Ten Cents,” is a tribute to American folk singer Karen Dalton.

Out of more than 204 pages of poetry submitted, Los Angeles-based poet and contest judge Suzanne Lummis chose “Ten Cents” as the winning poem, earning Mori $100.

“Ten Cents” portrays the difficult choice an artist must make to sever ties with a traditional lifestyle in order to pursue his or her passion.

“It’s about being young and having these inclinations and simultaneous directions you’re being pulled in,” Mori said.

Mori, a junior, understands being pulled in different directions. Her major, wine and viticulture, was chosen “on a whim.” Mori really wants to pursue poetry — not just as an outlet but as an occupation.

Mori also feels a pull between cultures.

“A lot of my poetry is about deep-rooted American nostalgia, but I’m half Japanese, and so I’ve always had that pull,” she said.

Contest director and English professor Kevin Clark calls Mori’s award-winning poem “well-polished, highly imagined and subtle.”

“Her poems are anchored in the real world, but there are two real worlds: the outer real world and the inner,” Clark said. “And the inner real world, the kind of psychological dream state that we often inhabit, is a place that she feels comfortable exploring in her work.”

Mori says this way of writing is practically innate and natural for her.

“I’ve always been very obsessed with dream analogies and symbolism, and I get a lot of inspirations from my dreams, which are often very vivid,” she said. “I don’t try to write that way, but I’m sure that floats into my consciousness.”

Mori almost lost consciousness, though, when she found out she won the Academy of American Poets contest.

“I was stunned,” she said. “I got an email from (Clark) with no punctuation, something like ‘Can you please come to my office I have something that might be interesting to you.’”

Once she arrived at his office, Clark presented her with the good news, stuck out his hand for a shake. Mori stood aghast, almost forgetting to shake his outstretched hand.

“Both Cate (Harkins) and Eli (Williams) were in my class, and I know the level of poets they are, so I was very astonished that I beat them out somehow,” Mori said, referring to the students who received honorable mentions.

“Cate has the ability to create these dark, otherworldly textures, and Eli is such a master of wit and turning normal situations into profound moments,” Mori said.

English senior Harkins’ honorable mention poem “Dirty Laundry” delves into the mind of a woman who is so poor that she only has enough money for one load of laundry.

“Now Cate … Cate is a writer who knows how to create atmosphere,” Clark said. “And she renders that atmosphere through a kind of filigree of words, so that she tells these small stories with deeply resonate implications in them, and they’re fascinating.”

Williams, an English junior, received the other honorable mention for “Cut & Dry,” a poem ripe with sexual tension. “Cut & Dry” details one man’s temptation for adultery while getting his hair cut by a seductive stylist.

Williams described the inspiration for the poem: “One day, I went to get a haircut and the woman cutting my hair finished and asked, ‘Is there anything else I can do for you?’”

“The poem is definitely very psychological and sexual in nature,” he said. “I tried to use the language of sex to portray the scene, so it’s chalk full of innuendo that I thought would be funny and relatable to an audience of my peers while still making them think.”

Clark says Williams is able to balance social observation and comedy while revealing facets of human nature.

“What’s so interesting about him — this is not easy to do — he can write poems that on the surface are comically entertaining but, beneath the surface, have serious application to our lives,” Clark said.

Overall, the caliber of poetry-writing students was nearly unparalleled this year, Clark said.

“This is by far the most poetry we’ve had submitted,” Clark said. “I got to say, I think we’re in a cycle of good Cal Poly poets at the moment, and I don’t think there’s any particular reason why that happened, but it just kind of took off. There is an unusually high number of students who are very, very fine poets at Cal Poly right now.”

“Ten Cents”
by Madeleine Mori

for Karen Dalton

Some never left
the dry creek town, old, proud
limbs waving back and forth,
their porches leaning downhill,
rocking back and forth ceaselessly,
               into the open earth.

The iron rich red of the soil
could cake bare feet like butter,
fallen tree limbs could grope,
snake holes could trip
like the telephone lines
               if you didn’t know how to step.

In a bag, she brought a mason jar
of mixed wine, a loose lick of tire
swing rope she’d been working to unravel,
the graying map of Tennessee.
This time I’ll go to Nashville,
               wrestle off this ten cent life.

She strained her toes under the spyglass film
of the muddied water
and thought herself one lone cattail,
a wild mess of golden seed
raging through towns,
               projecting free prayers.

But how far would her highway stretch
when a neighbor emptied water
from his buckshot brass gutters
and the bed grasses lunged
with the mounting river to coil
               and pull at her ankle?

Holly Dickson
hollydickson.md@gmail.com

Students have a chance to talk with two of the candidates vying for a seat on the San Luis Obispo City Council on campus Thursday.

Paul Brown and Carlyn Christianson, two of five candidates, will be in the San Luis Lounge in the Julian A. McPhee University Union from noon to 1 p.m. to talk to students.

The event, coordinated by the Associated Students, Inc. (ASI) Student Government Advocacy Committee, is meant to serve as an opportunity for collaboration between students and the city, ASI secretary of community relations Joi Sullivan said.

“The whole purpose of the event is to start a relationship with whoever wins the election,” Sullivan said, “and to increase collaboration between students and the city.”

The event will begin with time for one-on-one conversations with the candidates before Brown and Christianson take a few minutes to introduce themselves. The hour will finish up with approximately 20 minutes dedicated to an open Q&A session, Sullivan said.

ASI will provide handouts that summarize the background of student issues with the city, such as neighborhood relationships between students and long-time residents.

Sullivan said the Q&A time is open to any questions, and they hope to hear from the candidates about issues students might not be aware of yet — such as how the city will react to the proposed additional freshman housing project on campus.

Brown, who graduated from Cal Poly with a degree in agricultural science, said his experience as a former student, a local business owner and now a longtime resident will help him bridge the gap between more permanent residents and students.

“There’s always a divide between the student population in SLO and the more permanent residents,” Brown said. “I can see things from both sides, and I can meet with both sides and find middle ground.”

Brown moved out of town for a few years after graduation, but returned not long after to open his own business — Mo|Tav — which he owned for 15 years before selling it in 2009.

Brown also previously served on the city council from 2004 to 2008.

Christianson has prior experience with the city as well. She has served as the planning commissioner for both the city of San Luis Obispo for the past six years and for the county for five.

She moved to San Luis Obispo with her family in 1989 in part because of the “energy” that Cal Poly brings to the community.

Christianson said she hoped to spend time Thursday talking about housing options for students as well as neighborhood wellness issues.

“I hope that I can get a chance to not only meet the student leaders and find out what their concerns are, but begin a working relationship,” Christianson said.

Brown and Christianson are two of five candidates running in the special election for the city council seat vacated by Andrew Carter.

After Carter stepped down in February to take a different job, the council voted unanimously to hold a special vote-by-mail election, rather than appointing someone to take Carter’s seat for the remaining two years.

Ballots were sent out on May 20 and voters must return them to the City Clerk’s Office on Palm Street by June 18.

The cars halt at the stop sign between Grand Avenue and Perimeter Road, idling as clumps of students pass by on the way to class. Shoes hit the pavement as the students cross, soles hitting the alternating white stripes. Converse. Vans. Combat boots. Rainbows. Moccasins.

And something else. Something unconventional. Red cowboy boots with teal stitching, fringe hanging off the sides. Adorned with yellow flowers, and bejeweled with multicolor rhinestones. Not your typical, everyday footwear — even for an agriculture student.

These boots could only belong to agricultural communication senior Quincy Freeman. In fact, they are part of her upcoming fall line, which has yet to hit stores.

Freeman has married her love of rodeo and passion for fashion by designing her own brand of cowboy boots and apparel.

Cal Poly student. Fashion designer. Rodeo team captain. Business woman. Freeman wears many different hats, but her favorite is a custom cowgirl hat, complete with her signature red rose.

Quincy’s cowgirl background

A self-proclaimed authentic cowgirl, Freeman is no stranger to the ranching and rodeo world. Her mom is from one of the first ranching families in Nevada, and her dad is from a ranching family in Oregon.

Freeman started rodeo in high school and fell in love with the sport. In fact, one of the reasons she came to Cal Poly was for the rodeo team. Her dad and uncles all attended Cal Poly and were on the team, so it has become a tradition, she said.

“She takes her family’s roots in the rodeo and cattle communities very seriously, and she makes a point to carry on her family’s heritage through her designs,” agricultural communication senior and Freeman’s friend Malorie Bankhead said.

Freeman has been team captain of the women’s rodeo team for two years and has qualified for the College National Finals for Rodeo. With the sport running through her veins, it’s no surprise Freeman views the people in rodeo like family.

“It is a small world, really, and wherever you go, you can make ties with people you know in common,” Freeman said.

Freeman met some of her closest friends competing because they shared her love of the sport and the animals involved.

“They are some of the most kind people and selfless people,” she said. “Always putting their animals before themselves.”

But this cowgirl isn’t afraid to ride in style — a quality she attributes to strong female figures in her life.

“I always loved clothes and dressing up,” she said. “I kind of get that from my nona and mom. They were always kind of fashion icons growing up for me.”

Not only did they inspire her fashion sense, but were also role models who lived the Western lifestyle.

“Growing up, I always looked to my nona and mom because they were a perfect example of what a cowgirl is,” Freeman said.

What exactly is Freeman’s definition of a cowgirl?

“A cowgirl is someone who is tough, as strong as any cowboy,” she said. “She can rope and ride like a man, but is also feminine and isn’t afraid to wear lipstick and rope a steer.”

Freeman embraces both sides of the cowgirl attitude through competing in rodeo competions and designing. Ever since she started painting her own belts and horse tacks for competitions in high school, she’s been all about designing rodeo apparel and supplies.

“I sort of combined my two passions,” Freeman said. “I wasn’t really thinking about a design career or future, I was thinking about what girls in high school think about.”

Her journey with Ariat

Freeman’s design ability was discovered by an Ariat representative who was doing trend research at the national high school rodeo finals in Farmington, N.M. Ariat is an American manufacturer that specializes in boots and equestrian supplies. Founded in 1993, Ariat has now expanded to an international market and is a favorite with country music stars, including Josh Turner and Blake Shelton.

With Freeman’s signature black cowgirl hat adorned with a fresh red rose, lipstick, jewelry and a custom, hand-painted belt, she stood out from the other competitors in their nondescript leather.

Freeman’s roommate and friend since high school, animal science senior Alanna Sing, will testify to Freeman’s innate fashion sense.

“She is the sweetest person I know, who has an eye for fashion and loves to stand out from the crowd,” Sing said. “She is a trendsetter, not only in fashion, but also in her character and how she lives her life.”

After sending Ariat some sample belt designs, the company flew her up to Union City for a meeting about her potential as a designer.

“I didn’t know really what they were thinking, so I took my little handmade portfolio I slapped together — I didn’t even know how to make one on the computer yet,” Freeman said.

Ariat offered her a contract at the head of her freshman year. Now, Freeman is at work on her fifth line of boots and rodeo apparel. Freeman’s talent lies in her ability to mix fashion and function together.

“Girls before didn’t have competition cowboy boots that had roses or spearhead on the toe,” she said.

Freeman’s designs are now in Western wear apparel stores and high-end fashion stores around the country.

Her design process

While her purpose in creating fashionable rodeo clothing has not changed, the ways in which she designs have developed in these past four years.

She started out by hand drawing everything with paint on leather and paper samples. The company would then vectorize the images on a computer so the designs could be translated into something Ariat could mass produce.

Now, Freeman has learned to use Adobe Illustrator, InDesign and Photoshop to transpose her ideas and inspirations from her head to the computer screen.

“What is so crazy about Ariat is that they have the resources to do anything I imagine,” she said. “I have been given a really great opportunity.”

The process to go from screen to market is a long one. Ariat works on an 18-month timeline, from initial concept and design to lining store shelves.

“In the fashion industry, it is kind of hard because you have to know what is going to be ‘in’ 18 months from now, so that is a challenge,” she said.

Freeman begins by designing at Cal Poly. She sends the InDesign files to Ariat for tweaking, sometimes modifying the colors she uses so that they are easier to replicate. Then Freeman sees and accepts the first mock-up of her work. Freeman also attends the product launch and marketplace where vendors and wholesalers can buy her boots for their stores.

“You know, I am sitting in school in San Luis, drawing up my sketches in InDesign, and it doesn’t really hit me until 18 months later when I am in the showroom and there’s my boot with the ‘Q’ on it,” she said.

The Quincy Freeman brand logo, a simple “Q,” is located on all the boots she has designed. It is the same brand she uses for her cattle and horses.

“There are people that have been working in the industry for 50 years and they don’t get their name on anything — they are silent designers,” she said. “It’s cool that I get to have my name and my logo on all my boots.”

Four years, four lines

Through the four different lines she has created so far, Freeman’s design aesthetic has continued to develop.

“I sort of reinvent myself a little bit each time,” Freeman said.

Her first line was reminiscent of the tattoo-inspired Ed Hardy look. It had a more young and youthful vibe to it, she said. The second line was all about strong women, with designs including a Spanish señorita, a Native American woman and an all-American cowgirl.

“It was my tribute to the women of the West,” Freeman said. “I think a lot of times the cowboys and men are often looked up to and glorified. I think the women are most often overlooked.”

There has been one constant, however, in every line Freeman has designed: bright and vibrant colors.

“She comes up with an idea that will stand out and that people will love, then combines various ideas to create a unique design,” Sing said. “For instance, she has combined her Spanish heritage in the form of sarape pattern with bright red roses and crystals to add sparkle.”

Freeman sees her boots around school and during rodeo competitions. Some of these are friends, but others are complete strangers. Freeman attended a Cuesta College class this past fall and ran into her design in an unexpected place.

“I went to the bathroom and in the stall right next to me there was a girl wearing my boots. I got out before she did and was washing my hands waiting for her to get out because I wanted to see who she was,” Freeman said with a laugh.

And when Freeman’s friends see her boots at a rodeo competition, they make sure to tell Freeman about it and maybe even send her a picture of them.

“I don’t own any of her pieces yet, but when I travel and see someone wearing something that Quincy designed, I always stop them to tell them that Quincy is a friend of mine and that her design looks great on them,” Bankhead said.

Her fun patterns and colors appeal to a wide range of girls, even rodeo celebrities. Trevor Brazile’s wife, Shana, will be a spokesperson for Freeman’s boots as she is starting to get more involved with the sport of rodeo. Brazile is known as the richest cowboy in the sport of rodeo with nine all-around world titles under his belt.

“I always looked up to the rodeo stars and now I know the majority of them and a few of them even wear my boots,” Freeman said.

School vs. design

With business responsibilities, school work, designing and rodeo, some students might not believe she has the time to do everything. Freeman says it’s all because of time management planning and through the patient understanding of her professors.

Freeman takes mostly 12-unit quarters because of her hectic schedule, which includes designing, traveling to promote her boots and competing on the rodeo team.

“Just last week, I was at a fashion show in Texas to promote my boots, and I had to reschedule a test so that I could attend,” Freeman said.

Originally, Freeman wanted to major in art and design, but her parents encouraged her to major in something they believed was more business oriented. Agricultural communication gave her the background to balance her designing with the business tasks expected of her, agricultural communication professor and Freeman’s academic adviser Scott Vernon said.

“She is able to understand her communication channels — how she is able to promote and market her line, her brand,” Vernon said. “She has developed her own brand in the marketplace and that takes talent and technical skills as well.”

Vernon’s thoughts on Quincy’s future are bright.

“I think you will continue to hear from Quincy even after she graduates,” Vernon said. “She is a genuine and sincere young lady. There is no ego involved, she is just enjoying what she is doing and that really resonates with her market.”

While Quincy is finishing up her fifth line and concentrating on graduating in winter quarter next year, she is not quite sure what the future holds for her. Some possibilities include continuing to design through Ariat, product management, marketing or even starting her own business.

One thing is for certain, she wants to stay in the Western fashion industry.

“I just never thought you could make a career out of something you loved so much,” Freeman said.

Mustang Daily Staff Report
arts@mustangdaily.net

The Alex Madonna Expo Center is changing its taste in music.

Banquet and special events manager Kristen Trevino said that after a series of techno DJs and reggae groups performed in the 2,000-person hillside venue, management has decided those genres “just don’t represent the Madonna Inn as well as we wanted,” and will no longer offer shows of that variety at the Expo Center.

In the future, the Expo Center shows will be tailored to fit Madonna’s image, Trevino said, meaning the venue will be hosting more country artists and ’80s-themed concerts.

While the decision to halt DJ/electronic music had already been made, the tipping point to end reggae concerts was made after the J Boog and Rebelution concert in March. The full-house younger crowd and reggae music prompted “a lot of pot smoking inside and outside the building,” Trevino said.

“With reggae, there was a lot of drug use, which is not what we want to have reflect on the Madonna image,” Trevino said. “It was not as responsible. People were getting rowdy before even entering the facility and doing drugs in the bathroom.”

But the biggest problem for this concert was sound control.

“We had complaints from people miles away,” Trevino said. “And when we looked into it, we found that a lot of the people complaining about the noise were people that had been in this city for a long time.”

But not all of the Expo Center’s recent concerts caused conflict.

Trevino said the Expendables (another reggae group from Santa Cruz) concert was easier to manage based on the smaller turnout, and soft-rock groups were a hit.

“Both the Postal Service and Modest Mouse concerts were fantastic,” Trevino said. “They had great turnout and no issues. It had a lot to do with the crowd … the average age was 27 to 30, maybe even older, and people had fun but didn’t get out of hand.”

Child development senior Stacy de Robertis-Theye, who attended the Postal Service concert, found it to be energetic, but not overly rowdy — even though it was a sold-out show.

“It was mostly just loyal fans who were excited to see a band whose songs they had memorized for years,” she said. “I don’t think it was any worse than a typical concert. I mean, it was loud, but not especially loud compared to any other act I’ve ever seen.”

De Robertis-Theye said she saw lots of people smoking cigarettes, but as for marijuana and other drugs, she saw none — which Trevino said was a case in the music genre and average age of attendees.

The themes of “responsibility” and “community” were stressed in properly representing the Madonna Inn.

“We want to be bringing acts that encompass the ideals of Mr. Madonna,” Trevino said. “And his construction, building a lot of highways in California, and building a lot of San Luis Obispo.”

Overall, Trevino said the decision to shift performance genres was based on wanting “to abide by permits and keep everybody happy while still offering concerts.”

Allison Montroy contributed to this staff report.

Kassi Luja
kassiluja.md@gmail.com

When Jerry Douglas Smith was in high school, he hated poetry. He thought all poetry dealt with the teacher’s idea of the poem’s meaning, he said.

It wasn’t until approximately 25 years ago that he found his niche. When his mother passed away, Smith wrote a brief part of a poem for the memorial and was told his writing was “poetic.” It’s been approximately 22 years since he “started writing poetry knowingly,” he said.

Now the 70-year-old is the 2013-14 San Luis Obispo poet laureate.

Kevin Patrick Sullivan was the 2003 poet laureate and San Luis Obispo Poetry Festival co-founder.

“The poet laureate program is a great thing and we’re grateful to the city that they support the poets this way,” Sullivan said. “It’s a special deal and all of the poet laureates have had a marvelous ride.”

A poet laureate is chosen by the festival board, he said, which currently consists of four people.

“We put out a call to the public at large and the poetry readings — all the local poetry readings,” Sullivan said of seeking poet laureate nominations.

Nominees don’t have to be San Luis Obispo residents, but they do have to be from the county. Smith was nominated by two people, Evelyn Cole and 2011-12 poet laureate Bonnie Young, Sullivan said.

“Not only is he a very interesting poet, (but) he gives his poetry and his enthusiasm for it throughout the community,” Cole said about Smith.

Cole describes Smith’s poetry as “alive” and, at times, humorous.

“Every time he goes somewhere, he writes wonderful stuff about it,” Cole said.

After nominations have been made, the festival board chooses a poet laureate based on various criteria including their written work, their work in the community and capability of representing the city, Sullivan said.

Smith’s community work comes in part by way of his hosting the monthly poetry reading “Second Sunday at Seven” in Morro Bay, he said.

But before being involved in the San Luis Obispo County community, Smith grew up as an only child in Salida, Colo., 7,000 feet above sea level in the Rocky Mountains.

“Salida was a great place,” Smith said. “There were two rivers that ran through town.”

Smith enjoyed outdoor activities as a kid, including hunting arrowheads on the weekends for recreation, he said.

Once he turned 21, he relocated in order to attend Cal Poly, where he studied wildlife biology, though he didn’t graduate.

His love for the outdoors is still evident through the continuous enjoyment he finds fly fishing and playing golf on occasion. Smith also said he has a “pretty extensive garden.”

“Anything outdoors, that’s what I enjoy doing,” he said.

His appreciation for nature is just part of what has helped bring life to his work.

“Most of it comes from my experience outdoors, I guess,” Smith said. “You never know what’s going to spark a good poem — a story you hear, something you read about — you just never know.”

Smith has notebooks filled with ideas, one of which he carries in his fishing vest.

“I always carry something because you never know what you’re going to see or what two ideas might get juxtaposed,” he said.

Smith said many times when he compares two things that aren’t normally associated, he comes up with interesting perspectives.

This juxtaposition can be seen in his poems “Wind-Drinkers” and “The Maya.”

“My daughter and I visited the Mayan ruins, and we were the only people there except for the guide,” Smith said. “It was a different experience because there used to be 20,000 people sitting around this square and we were the only ones there. There’s hardly anybody that lives in this valley anymore.”

Smith said his poem “The Maya” juxtaposes the demise of the Mayan culture with the feeling he felt sitting there with his daughter and a local guide.

“Rains cease./The Maya eat their seed corn./Reigns of divine kings devolve/into obsidian depths,” the poem reads.

Most of Smith’s writing is done in his San Luis Obispo home, approximately 20 yards away from Prefumo Creek, he said.

Since the start of his poetic career, Smith has written approximately 400 to 500 poems and has won “50 to 70 contests,” he said.

This experience surely helped his odds of attaining his two-year poet laureate title. Smith is now the 13th San Luis Obispo poet laureate.

“I’d known most of the poet laureates in the past and I was honored to be in that group,” Smith said.

English lecturer and 2009-10 poet laureate James Cushing said the honor places recognition on one’s work in the field of poetry.

“There’s no money involved,” Cushing said. “I figured that my role was to continue to write and send out my poems and to be available for readings.”

Though Cushing didn’t get asked to do any more readings than before he took on the title, he was asked to judge a couple of contests.

Smith has also judged a lot of contests as poet laureate.

“I was one of the judges in what’s called (the) Poetry Out Loud contest, which is (when) high school students compete to go to the state contest and the state contest competes to go to the national contest of Poetry Out Loud,” Smith said.

Poet laureates have also been working with The Tribune during National Poetry Month — a relationship taking root more than a decade ago.

Since 2002, the poet laureate has chosen the poems that run every Sunday in The Tribune each week for that month, Sullivan said.

This is something Smith continues in his role as the San Luis Obispo poet laureate.

“Jerry is doing a great job,” Sullivan said of the man he describes as compassionate and strong. “He’s definitely somebody most people would like to know.”

Smith has no current readings planned other than the San Luis Obispo Poetry Festival this November.

Sean McMinn
smcminn@mustangdaily.net

With millions of dollars from this year’s Student Success Fee invested in access to classes, at least one indicator is showing positive signs for students unhappy with current offerings.

Students’ enrollment averaged 14.71 units during Winter 2012, said associate vice provost Kimi Ikeda, who plans to release a more detailed report of how the Student Success Fee is opening classes in June. It’s the highest mean number of units for winter since as recent as 2006, according to Cal Poly census reports available from the Office of Institutional Research.

The average unit increase from 2011 is also the second largest yearly increase since 2006.

“It’s not an easy solution or answer,” Ikeda said of Student Success Fee spending. “I’m hoping the students will see more access to classes.”

In a poll of 41 students Tuesday afternoon, only nine said it was easier to enroll in classes this year compared to the 2011-12 academic year. Fifteen said it’s been harder, and 17 said they haven’t noticed a change.

The Student Success Fee Allocation Advisory Committee recommended the majority of money from this year’s fee, approximately $5.8 million of $8.6 million, be spent on access to additional classes. But even with the funding, Ikeda said it was difficult to add professors this year because the Student Success Fee budget was not approved until spring. It didn’t leave enough time to search and hire new faculty for fall, she said.

“We couldn’t easily hire permanent faculty,” she said. “We could try and hire lecturers who were local or able to take on one or two classes without a full load.”

Where Cal Poly saw the biggest change was in lower division and general education courses, said University Registrar Cem Sunata. The Student Success Fee helped to alleviate “congestion” in those classes, he said.

Next year, however, administrators will have nearly seven months from when University President Jeffrey Armstrong approved the Student Success Fee budget in February until newly hired faculty begin this September. Because of this, Ikeda said, it will be easier for departments to hire new professors and, in turn, help students find room in classes they need to graduate.

There are no statistics to show how many professors Cal Poly will hire using Student Success Fee money, Ikeda said, because their salaries are a combination of regular university money and the fee. There are, however, numbers that show an increase in classroom seats available in Fall 2012.

According to an Academic Affairs quarterly report, Cal Poly added 10,338 total seats in classes during fall. The majority came in the College of Liberal Arts and College of Science and Mathematics, together totaling 7,200 new seats. The College of Engineering gained 1,445 seats, while the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences and College of Architecture and Environmental Design opened 840 and 724 spots, respectively. The Orfalea College of Business opened just 65 seats.

The disparity in increases is mainly because of the number of general education courses each college offers, Sunata said.

“A very large majority of general education courses are offered through the College of Liberal Arts, so every student, in a way, is a College of Liberal Arts student at least in their general education need,” he said. “And (College of Science and Mathematics Dean) Phil Bailey would say every student who needs general education courses in math and science are their students. So those two colleges support the university in general.”

Cal Poly used a combination of moving classroom locations, changing times of classes and increasing faculty funding to increase the available seats, Ikeda said.

In addition to changes from the university, Ikeda hopes students will make sacrifices to make it easier for them to find class times that work with both their schedules and the college’s.

“We’re doing what we can to increase access to classes, but students are part of the equation as well,” she said. “That means taking them at times that aren’t at a desired time and taking classes with faculty members who aren’t their preferred faculty.”

With a larger budget next year — the fee increases annually until Fall 2014, when it will cap at $260 per quarter — approximately $7.2 million will be spent on classes. Though it represents a 24 percent increase in dollars, it is a 3 percent decrease in the amount of the Student Success Fee overall budget aimed at opening classes.

Earlier this month, Associated Students, Inc. (ASI) President Katie Morrow said lowering the percentage was because of physical space on campus needed to hold additional classes.

Cal Poly implemented the Student Success Fee after a 2012 campus debate that led to a student vote in which 57 percent supported the fee. It began this past fall at $160 per quarter and will increase to $210 next fall before capping at $260 in Fall 2014.

Each year, a student majority committee makes a recommendation to Armstrong on how to spend the fee. The group, officially named the Student Success Fee Allocation Advisory Committee, is chaired by the ASI president and Cal Poly vice president of administration and finance.