World Series

Yankees are hard pressed for fans
at Sac State.


Hatred for the New York Yankees and the fact that no team from the West coast is in Major League Baseball's World Series are the two common themes from the perspective of Sacramento State students.

Finding people who follow baseball is a difficult task, but those who do follow it are extremely vested and passionate about it.

West Coast Pride

Dale Foster, an environmental studies major, does not hate the Yankees, and is not a fan of any teams on the West coast (he is a Cleveland Indians fan), but living on the West coast would like to have seen one in the World Series.

Foster, 54, has noticed baseball fall from its reign as America's past time because of recent scandals, which tend to be what the local media covers when a nearby team is not playing in the end.

"I think it's disappointing there isn't a West coast team playing in the Series because the local news would pay more attention to it," Foster said.

Yankee Hate & West Coast Pride

Hatred for the Yankees seems to be common. People either love or hate them.

The reasons range from spending too much to get the best players, to something as simple as pride in being from the West coast and hating any team from the East.

Chris Lopez, a 22-year-old student at Sac State, hates the Yankees for both of these reasons.

Lopez has strong feelings about the Yankees' high profile players, high powered offense and certain player controversy.

"They have a stacked team, [Alex] Rodriguez does steroids and I just don't like them," Lopez said, "I'm from the West coast."

Yankee Hate

There are those who do not care too much about coastal pride, but do hate the Yankees because of their history and roster.

Stacey Webb, a 24-year-old liberal studies major, wants the Philadelphia Phillies to win, not because she is a Phillies fan, but because, take a guess, she hates the Yankees.

Though the Yankees have not won the American League pennant since 2003, Webb does not want the Yankees to win because they have won so many times.

"I don't like the Yankees and don't want them to win because they seem like they always win," Webb said.

Furlough Reaction

Campus grounds scarce with students because of the furlough.


For most students, finding out a class is canceled is a welcomed surprise, but having classes canceled because of the state wide furlough has some students at Sacramento State University feeling mixed.

As with anything, the furlough days have affected each student differently. Some like the days off but have had consequences, some feel it is a waste of their money and others have not been affected.

Bittersweet

Since the furlough days are mandatory days off teachers must take, most have had to adjust their lesson plans, and, maybe do things they would not ordinarily do.

Terry Lee, a 61-year-old student, really enjoys the furlough days; however, he has noticed professors he has had in previous semesters running their classes a little differently since the furlough days were issued.

“They’re fabulous,” Lee said, “ but I have been assigned additional work for the furlough days in a couple classes.”

Lee has a different outlook on the furlough situation because he is an older student and only pays three dollars a semester.

“I would feel differently if I had to pay the full fair because raising tuition and reducing services just isn’t logical,” Lee said.

Bitter

As odd as it may sound, and, as rare as they may be, there are students who enjoy learning and going to class.

Plus, with the increase in tuition, students want to get as much out of each class as they can.

Luiza Ursulescu, a 27-year-old art history major as Sac State, is passionate about her area of study and finds the furlough days cut into her learning.

“It’s nice to have a day off, but I like lectures,” Ursulescu said, “it is where I learn the most.”

Bland

Somehow, there are students who have not been affected by the furlough days.

Whether they simply have not been affected yet, or their teachers have figured a way around it, they have remained relatively unaffected.

Carina Conerly, 22, and a studio art major, has only had one run in with the new furlough days, but does not know why.

“I don’t know I haven’t been affected, I’ve only had one,” Conerly said.

Students and teachers. You cannot really have one without the other. If there were no students, who would the teachers teach, and if there were no teachers, who would teach the students. Angela Stassi is an interesting case because she is both, an undergraduate at Sacramento State and teaching two college courses there.

How can this be? Aren’t graduate students usually the only “student-teachers”?

The Student and the Teacher

Stassi is a mathematics major at Sac State in her fourth year of undergraduate studies. She is also in the Blended Program, which helps students to get their teaching credential while they are getting their degree; however, it is not the Blended Program that has Stassi teaching these classes, it is the The Learning Skills Center

Stassi wants to teach high school level math when it is all said and done, and the classes she is teaching at Sac State are basically the same level of math she wants to teach. Plus, she gets quality first hand experience and a paycheck, so it is a no lose situation for her.

Some people might think undergraduate students are not qualified enough to teach college level classes, and there are cases where that is true, but Stassi, being in the teaching credential program, gives her plenty of qualifications.

Her title is an Instructional Student Assistant (ISA) in which she starts off as a teacher's assitant before she teaches a class by herself. This is separate from the Blended Program. Stassi being in the Blended Program did not determine whether she was qualified.

The Learning Skills Center

The Learning Skills Center at Sac State provides help in the subjects of mathematics and English.

It is located in Lassen Hall and there are a number of options for students who both need help academically, and students who want to tutor or teach.

Any student who is majoring in either of those two areas of study is eligible to teach classes in his or her field of study.

The classes are usually remedial classes for incoming freshman who did poorly in high school or did poorly on their assessment test.

Stassi wanted to get experience teaching a class and this was the perfect opportunity.

"This is like an internship for me, but I get paid and I get to learn, pretty much on my own what my teaching style will be like," Stassi said.

The Classes

Stassi teaches a class that helps incoming freshman, who did poorly on their placement test, with geometry.

Stassi did not get the job right away, she spent a couple semesters as a teacher’s assistant before she was given the reigns.

Stassi feels like she is thoroughly qualified to teach remedial geometry because of her extensive studies in the field of mathematics.

“I have been taking college level math classes since high school and have taken classes here at Sac State that help my teaching skills,” Stassi said.

Stassi said geometry is also a fairly basic and foundation building subject that Stassi has always really enjoyed studying.

Jeff Musser "Messages in Flesh" Exhibition

Tattoos are an art form though some may think otherwise, but Jeff Musser, who is showcasing his artwork at Sacramento State University's Union Gallery from August 31st though October 1st, has a unique perspective of the art that is tattoos.

Musser's exhibition is titled "Messages in Flesh", which are a series of paintings and portraits of tattoos and people's tattoos.

The gallery hours are from 10:30 to 3:30 pm Monday through Friday, with special evening hours on Wednesdays and Thursdays from 5:00 to 8:00 pm.

Naomi Dean, 22, is the secretary in the University Union Gallery noticed Musser's exhibition has attracted a lot more people to come to the gallery.

Dean, a Spanish major at Sac State, likes Musser's series, not only because the artwork is interesting to he, but because it is not the ordinary.

"I enjoyed the exhibit because it's different from what we've normally had," Dean said.

Not only those working for the University Union Gallery enjoy the Musser's artwork, but Art majors as well.

Yasmin De Anda, a 20 year old Art major at Sac State, said everyone she has talked to really liked the exhibition and she did as well.

De Anda has heard of Musser before because of a coincidental connection with the artist himself.

"One of my friend's friend's arms is in the series," De Anda said.

The University Union Gallery is not the most well known place on campus; in fact, some people have never even heard of it.

Shane Mahorney, a government major at Sac State, has never heard of the University Union Gallery.

Mahorney, 18, said he would be interested in viewing the exhibition, he simply did not know about it and is a busy guy.

"I would definitely go, if I had time," Mahorney said.