It's hard to believe, but another semester of our graduate careers is barreling toward a close. As we scramble to complete assignments, study for exams, and pretend there's a vacation to look forward to, the last thing on many of our minds is reflecting upon where the last four months have gone. Let this issue serve as a bit of a recap: The semester began with applications, continued with interviews, and culminated in either relief or frustration for many of us; February brought an insightful and lively celebration in honor of Black History Month; March concluded with the future of mental health in the hands of our state legislators; and here we find ourselves in May, which happens to be Mental Health Awareness Month. Although self-care is a term usually bandied about more often than it is implemented, the editors urge you to take some time this month to be good to yourself. Once you have a moment to realize all you've accomplished, you'll agree that you deserve to invest in your own mental health as well. Bring on the summer!
The end of the semester also brings the end of our reign as editors; we will be hanging up our eye glasses and turning off our Track Changes once this issue goes to press. We would like to thank you sincerely for your readership over this past year and encourage you to consider helping to keep The Voice heard. Please email the editors, flag down a member of the Student Government Association, or keep your eyes peeled for information on how to join SGA in the fall if you are interested in helming The Voice.
And with that, one final "Cheers!" to you all,
-- Kristen Giamona and Julia Rosholt
P.S. As always, check out thevoiceofalliant.com for exclusive online articles and archives!
J: Hey, Kristen. What happened to the rest of this issue of The Voice?
K: Whatever do you mean, Julia?
J: Well, you do see that this is, in effect, only a folded piece of paper..?
K: Yes, I am blaming technology for the death of print media. The dearth of writers for this issue has confirmed my fears: the printed word is on the way out.
J: Say it isn't so! There must be some other reason we didn't get very many articles.
K: .....
J: I blame Spring Fever.
K: But it's winter, Jules.
J: Just hear me out...
Spring (and Burnout) Has Arrived!
The last month has been unseasonably warm and sunny for our beloved Bay Area. While it may have been the cause for lackluster sales at Tahoe resorts, it was a very nice surprise for others.
For Alliant students, the warm temperatures and luminous skies served as a reminder that summer is just around the corner, which in turn means a nice extended break from studies. Instead of making some redundant statement about self-care and preservation, it seems equally if not more important to recognize that we are coming upon the close of another (or perhaps the first) year of our graduate school careers. Regardless of how arduous the journey has been, and will continue to be, we are moving forward and one step closer to our respective commencement ceremonies. And we say cheers to that. Many many cheers.
With that said, let's not ignore the anxiety provoking initials that also coincide with this time of year: BAPIC, CAPIC, AAPIC, and the granddaddy of them all, APA. Whatever set of letters best describes your scenario, the editors want to recognize that this can be a harrowing experience and wish everyone luck in the matching process. And if you happen to be in a program that allows those acronyms to mean nothing to you, we say cheers to that as well.
P.S. Check out TheVoiceofAlliant.com to read Elementary!, an intriguing article by CSPP student Lorenzo Ramos, and to access the entire archive of past articles.
-- Kristen Giamona and Julia Rosholt
In this, the last issue of The Voice for 2011, we are pleased to present a variety of topics as opposed to an overarching single theme. From money saving tips and lifestyle quandaries to the challenges we face as professional school students, there is something for everyone to enjoy while taking a quick break from studying during finals week. It's kind of like a buffet of topics if you will; take what you want and leave behind what you don't.
Themes that clearly emerged in the offices of The Voice, however, were saving money and self-care. It is safe to say that we are nearly all on a budget of some sort. Certain among us may be more liberal than others, but nonetheless, money does not appear magically with no strings attached; cost cutting efforts are always appreciated. As these articles were being reviewed, an interesting observation and potential dissertation question came up: As the semester draws to an end, do graduate students justify more frivolous spending in the name of self-care? Certainly, there is the legitimate caring-of-self that revitalizes and rejuvenates the soul; and then there are the expenditures that hide under its guise. But how to tell the difference?
Let us give you a completely hypothetical example: Is one able to purchase a case of high-end wine with greater ease if at the same time she--or he!--is thinking, I really need this; I need to take care of my mental health with finals coming up. No really, I deserve this. $400 for fermented grapes is totally acceptable. My self-care is priceless, dammit. I am totally worth it..? You be the judge. Just don't judge us.
Speaking of which, there will be an excellent self-care opportunity on Friday, December 9th at the SGA sponsored Winter Event. It will be located at 330 Ritch in the SOMA district and runs from 7pm – 10pm. Food, drinks, music, and friends will be provided.
As you run off to enjoy your winter "break," consider dropping your editors a line. Have a recommendation? We're all ears. Want to submit a piece? We think you're awesome. Got a complaint? Get it off your chest either before or after the holidays--just please, not during. You can find handy contact addresses just to the left of this paragraph. And if you find yourself somewhere and your copy of The Voice is far, far away, don't be sad: you can jump online and access the entire archive of past articles. Happy holidays to you.
Cheers,
Somewhere between preparing case presentations, doing assessments, and downing coffee between stacks of Medi-Cal paperwork for our practicum, the editors of The Voice looked up and noticed that it is November. November?! The initial excitement we felt over the semester quickly coming to a close was soon replaced by the realization that we still have a ton of work to do--and that we haven't been able to get the fall issue out until now. Extending the deadline in order to give the many schools on campus the opportunity to get involved pushed back our publication date, but we truly want The Voice to be reflective of all Alliant students, just as the Student Government Association strives to include representatives from all schools under the Alliant umbrella. We truly appreciate those of you who submitted articles for the first time, and encourage you all to contribute in the future.
Speaking of SGA, the start of the school year ushered in enthusiastic new members and a restructuring of the organization. This issue introduced you to your executive committee, consisting of the co-chairs, the treasurer, and the communications coordinator. Additionally, I have taken over as Senior Editor and brought onboard the sharp eye of my dear friend, Julia Rosholt, as co-editor. So although the semester itself may no longer be new, a host of changes have been taking place behind the scenes. We thank you for your patience while we all got acclimated to our new roles.
As always, we would love to hear your story ideas, any issues you would like addressed, and general feedback. We have gotten some flak lately for not being inflammatory or political enough, but we count on our readers to contribute their opinions. Feel free to use your voice either in person or in an email to sgaeditor@gmail.com. We can't make this the paper you want without your input.
Happy November!
-- Kristen Giamona and Julia Rosholt
The editors of The Voice often try to find a common theme among articles submitted that tie the edition together, sort of like the carpet does for Jeff Lebowski's apartment before it is stolen. Finding some unifying element in the articles submitted for this edition of the newsletter provided more of a challenge than usual.
In these pages, you will find articles about normative masculinity, psychological theory, ethics, and the outdoors. This may seem like a hodgepodge of information, and perhaps it is, but these are the things on the minds of students.
So to stay in check with the “theme” of the issue, I'm going to write about something that may seem completely irrelevant: the Roman god of war, Mars. The month of March was named after this blood-thirsty deity. And, in fact, March was the first month of the year before Augustus Caesar swooped in and messed up the calendar by fabricating two new months and naming them after he and his uncle, Julius. I think March would be a great way to “march” in the new year. But no, it's January. That makes no sense.
And even worse than relegating March to the three spot in terms of months, this Augustus fellow made a complete mockery out of other months. How is December supposed to hold its head up with dignity when it sits in spot 12 in the order months, yet has a prefix that means 10? And don't get me started on October. Nevertheless, this is the world in which we live.
– Peter Clark, Kristen Giamona, and John Peachey
Got something random to say? Express your voice and email us with letters to the editors, story ideas, issues you’d like addressed, lists of resolutions, general feedback, or article submissions. Accepted article submissions will receive a $10 gift card to Boudin’s (on Pier 39).
As always, we also encourage you to explore the website, where you will find extended articles, archived content from past issues, and many exclusive articles available only online. Additionally, our website includes a comprehensive calendar of all things Alliant, feedback forms to contact the editors, webmaster, or your SGA representative, outside links, and much more. It’s everything you love about The Voice, but available on your smart phone.
And one last thing while we've still got your attention: We are looking for a new co-editor to help keep The Voice strong next year. It this sounds like the opportunity you've been waiting for, we would love to hear from you. Please contact one of us for more details. You, too, could be a fountain of knowledge (relevant or otherwise) for the thirsty masses.
With the end of the year fast approaching, it seems appropriate that this issue of The Voice focuses on identity. For many of us, New Year’s Eve represents a fresh start, an opportunity to improve some aspect of our lives, usually ourselves. Resolutions may be small changes (“I will get to every class on time”) or daunting tasks (“I will finish my dissertation”), but either way they usually involve altering parts of ourselves with which we have grown comfortable, yet we can see as disadvantageous. And this is precisely what makes them so difficult to keep. Can a lifelong procrastinator truly transform into a diligent worker? If so, will this change last beyond the second week of January?
As we learn and evolve, our sense of self is ever-changing, but our core identity is quite difficult to dismiss. The people featured in this issue have shown that the focus should not be on changing oneself completely, but on assimilating new aspects of the self into the greater existent identity. The trick is to accept ourselves for who we are, and to somehow make it work. So as you contemplate and catalogue your resolutions in the coming weeks, keep in mind that baby steps are probably more attainable than a total personality overhaul. And if you happen to be a procrastinator at heart, when you wake up on New Year’s Day and realize that you have forgotten to make a list all together, it may be time to accept that some things just aren’t worth fighting.
Speaking of change, we are working to reinvent our layout for The Voice in the coming months. But while our guise may be evolving, our core identity remains the same. We will continue to be the source of news and information you have come to expect. So, let us know what you think.
As always, we also encourage you to explore the website, where you will find extended articles, archived content from past issues, and many exclusive articles available only online. Additionally, our website includes student discussion forums, a comprehensive calandar of all things Alliant, feedback forms to contact the editors, webmaster, or your SGA representative, outside links, and much more. It’s everything you love about The Voice, but available on your smart phone.
– Peter Clark, Kristen Giamona, and John Peachey
As always, no matter where you find yourself on the path to self-discovery, we would love to hear from you. Express your voice and email us with letters to the editors, story ideas, issues you’d like addressed, lists of resolutions, general feedback, or article submissions. Accepted article submissions will receive a $10 gift card to Boudin’s (on Pier 39).
The upcoming elections have received a lot of attention in California largely due to Proposition 19, which aims at regulating, controlling, and taxing cannabis. Although people think very differently about cannabis, no matter what side of the issue you happen to fall, it is important to listen to critics from the other side and try to understand their reasoning to facilitate commination and respectful debate. Therefore, whether in teaching, business, psychology, or law, all members of the Alliant community will be affected by the outcome of the November 2 election, because it will affect our clients, students, institutions, families, and community.
As the above should demonstrate, we envision The Voice as an outlet for thought provoking articles, unique and lively debates, and giving voice to all who make up our diverse Alliant community. During our work preparing for the “drug issue” of The Voice, we attempted to hit on and blunt the chronic disinformation that has been said about drugs, as well as weed out the misleading claims coming down the pipe for twenty plus years. Sharing this joint responsibility amongst the editors to collectively stir the pot of Alliant by touching on drug themes has been a challenge to hash out comprehensively, but we hope you enjoy our product.
As always, we also encourage you to visit our website where you will find extended articles, archived content from past issues, and many exclusive articles available only online. Additionally, our website includes student discussion forums, a comprehensive calandar of all things Alliant, feedback forms to contact the editors, webmaster, or your SGA representative, outside links, and much more. It’s everything you love about The Voice, without the ink residue.
Lastly, we would like to welcome and introduce our readers to the newest member to our editorial team, Kristen Giamona. We know she will make a wonderful addition to our crew and we hope you all feel welcome to speak with her about The Voice…especially if you have any complaints.
– Peter Clark, Kristen Giamona, and John Peachey
Express your voice and email us at sgaeditor@gmail.com with letters to the editors, story ideas, issues you’d like addressed, compliments, general feedback, or article submissions. Accepted article submissions will receive a $10 gift card to Biscoff’s Coffee (on Pier 39).
A certain amount of truth can be found in the quote apocryphally attributed to Mark Twain, “The coldest winter I’ve ever spend was a summer in San Francisco.” However, despite the fact that summer weather in the City doesn’t quite display an affect congruent with the “season of the sun,” students of Alliant are still faced with a universal question regardless of geographic location—what to do with time off?
While your summer may be full of more classes, practicum work, internship applications, dissertation drafts, or the endless onslaught of graduate work, we encourage you to make time for that which is most important – yourself. Perhaps in some display of the Collective Unconscious, we’ve noticed that many writers in this issue grapple with the question, “How to best take care of one’s self?” And what better time to mull over this quandary than during the weeks before a scheduled break from the rigorous academic routine that seems to keep students clipping along like a treadmill with no Stop button?
In many ways, the imminent yet elusive ‘summer break’ is a time of reflection on the year past, the happy memories and not easily forgotten painful recollections, the proud accomplishments and abysmal failures, the growth and rapid change. But summer also symbolizes a time of renewal and a view toward the future. With all this in mind, we hope this issue offers some ideas about how to take care of yourself, your appetite, and your sense of fun, and helps prepare you for the next great chapter of life.
– Peter Clark & John Peachey
We continue to encourage you to check out the website. You’ll find extended, archived, and online exclusive articles, student discussion forums, a comprehensive calendar of all things Alliant, feedback forms to contact the editors, webmaster, or your SGA representative, outside links, and much more. It’s like The Voice, but more accessible.
Express your voice and email us at sgaeditor@gmail.com with letters to the editors, story ideas, issues you’d like addressed, complaints, general feedback, or article submissions. Accepted article submissions will receive a $10 gift card to the San Francisco Coffee Roasting Company (on Pier 39).
PC: hey john
JP: sup pete?
PC: what R we gonna say in the letter from the editors? Its due 2moro! :o
JP: DK, gotta do sumthing ASAP. I M thinkin bout the overarching theme of the issue
PC: k…& that is???
JP: Well, we have a lot of dialogues, lists, and bullet points - kinda redundant :(
PC: yeah, ppl shud write full sentences/articles
JP: u shud talk! ;) J/K
PC: We cud talk bout thevoiceofalliant.com so ppl look @ it
JP: BTW have u heard the voice of alliant?
PC: Sure, it sounds like a broke & burned out grad student
JP: ROTFLMAO
PC: Or, theres lots of stuff on tech in this issue 2
JP: Arg! I h8 last sec work. OMG What R we gonna do?
PC: IMHO we should just publish this chat.
JP: LOL, yeah right! Its not like anyone reads the letr from the ed anyway…
We encourage you to check out the new website. You’ll find extended, archived, and exclusive articles, student discussion forums, a comprehensive calendar of all things Alliant, feedback forms to contact the editors, webmaster, or your SGA representative, outside links, and much more. It’s like The Voice, but more accessible.
We want to hear the voice of Alliant, and are even willing to bribe you for it! Express your voice and email us at sgaeditor@gmail.com with letters to the editors, story ideas, pro/con questions you’d like to see debated, complaints, general feedback, or article submissions. Accepted article submissions will receive a $10 gift card to the San Francisco Coffee Roasting Company (on Pier 39).
– Peter Clark & John Peachey
Feminist thinker Adrian Rich argued in a speech to students at Douglass College that to succeed in college, one must learn to abandon the grade school system of passively receiving information—being filled with knowledge by the almighty instructor, only to regurgitate it back for weekly exams. Rather, successful students look to their instructors as resources to be used to pursue their own learning interests. We believe in this pro-active philosophy of learning and this sentiment is echoed in many articles in this issue of The Voice.
In their response to the letter submitted by gender emphasis students, the PsyD and PhD program heads challenge students to take charge of their education and incorporate subjects integral to their worldview into their curricula. Articles about online learning and Moodle posit that students can only be successful when they become active participants in their academic growth. And our front page article on course reviews features thoughts from faculty members who remind us that as students we shouldn’t expect the act of bubbling in a Scantron form to magically solve our problems with a class or professor, but rather we ought to be bring concerns directly to the source and to address the problem as it is occurring.
We hope students at Alliant can claim their education by voicing concerns, interjecting personal interests into their courses, and advocating for the education they deserve.
-Peter Clark & John Peachey (Co-editors)
P.S. We encourage you to express your voice and email us at sgaeditor@gmail.com with letters to the editors, story ideas, pro/con questions you’d like to see debated, complaints, additions to the Alliant group list, general feedback, or article submissions. Published article submissions will receive a free gift certificate to the San Francisco Coffee Roasting Company (on Pier 39).
Alliant has earned the right to be proud of its emphasis on multicultural issues and diversity training. Its homepage boasts that Alliant was recognized by the Hispanic Outlook on Higher Education journal as “being one of the top universities awarding doctoral degrees to Hispanics.” While such factors are certainly worthy, these ambitions carry a high likelihood that debates will frequently erupt within the institution as to how to best meet the needs of individuals from underserved and underprivileged populations. Therefore, while this issue of The Voice focuses closely on the topic of gender, we hope that all members of the Alliant community feel welcome to use this forum as a soapbox to have their voices be heard. However, because we are The Voice of Alliant, and aim to provide a public forum for healthy debate, we also hope administrators, professors, staff, alumni, and students feel welcome to respond to anything printed in this newsletter or introduce new topics.
If nothing else, we hope the content in this issue of The Voice exhibits our focus on providing students, faculty, and staff a source of sophisticated and engaging content, campus news and information, and serves as a way of improving communication among the entire Alliant community.
The editors are proud of creating a publication that is no longer a mere a “diversion,” but one that hopefully represents the voice of members of the Alliant community. We thank the Student Government Association for their continued support and encouragement in this endeavor.
We encourage you to email us at sgaeditor@gmail.com with your letters, article submissions, questions, complaints, pictures of stuff on your cat, or whatever is on your mind. If we publish what you have to say, be sure to include your name so we can send you a gift as a gesture of appreciation. We would love to hear from you and hope to become your preferred source of campus news.
-Peter Clark & John Peachey (Co-editors)
As Yasi’s article demonstrates so clearly and painfully, students on campus in the Fall of this past year did not look to The Diversion as a preferred source of information. Since then, we have worked hard to overcome this stigma by improving both the content of our newsletter, as well as the ways in which you can access it.
One major change for this Summer Edition was the unveiling of a brand new (and, hopefully, permanent) newsletter website, which is now affiliated with Alliant’s social networking site, Alliant Connect. A special thank you must go out to Nicolette Toussaint and Libby Peachey, without whose hard work and creativity we would not be able to bring you such great online content like exclusive web-only articles, video and media, extended articles, and tons of extra content that couldn’t fit on these pages.
In addition, we are proud that the writers featured in this issue of The Diversion tackle subjects that have a direct effect on the student body. For example, to kick off what will hopefully become a regular feature, we have Eddie Fernandez and Dr. Tori argue different sides of the tuition increase. Also, make sure to check out Dr. Hare’s incendiary indictment of CSPP circa 1977 on our new website. Is his criticism still valid? We’d love to hear your two cents on these and any other issues on your mind.
Again, we encourage you to check out our new website on Alliant Connect and leave us a comment in the “Letters to the Editors” section or email us at sgaeditor@gmail.com. Either way, we would love to hear from you and hope to become your preferred source of campus news. Have a great summer.
-John & Peter (Co-editors)
Welcome to the first official SGA newsletter of the spring term. Not only have we created a new format for the newsletter, including the addition of a new online version, but we have also found a new co-editor. Peter Clark is a PsyD G1, who has worked in journalism in the past, and his enthusiasm and experience should lead to many great changes in our newsletter. However, if you don’t like the changes we have made thus far, let’s just blame it on the new guy, shall we?
We hope you find the SGA newsletter informative, professional and enjoyable, but never just a diversion. In the near future, we hope to rename this publication with your help. So please send us your renaming ideas. The top entries will be printed in an upcoming issue, and fabulous prizes will be awarded if your idea is published. Send your ideas to: sgaeditor@gmail.com.
In addition, send us your questions, comments, concerns, article submissions, article rebuttals, funny quips, death threats, etc. etc., and check out our current website at http://sganewsletter.weebly.com/, where you can leave a message in the “Letters to the Editors” section. Either way, we would love to hear from you.
-John & Peter (Co-Editors)
Welcome to 2009! To celebrate the New Year, the SGA has decided to make some big changes to the newsletter in an effort to “go green” - printing far fewer copies than in recent years, creating a webpage and online version of the newsletter, and encouraging recycling of printed versions. Along with these changes, you will find more diverse content, a brand new layout, more pictures, faculty and (non-SGA) student submissions, and so on. We hope you find our NEWsletter to be enjoyable, informative and a valued voice of our community at Alliant!
In addition, we have decided to add a “Letters to the Editors” section in order to give our readers the chance to be heard. Disagree with an article? Want to voice a concern or bring up a new topic? Maybe you just have a funny thought. Questions, comments, article submissions, quips, whatever! Send your letters to sgaeditor@gmail.com* or check out our website and leave a message on the comment section. Either way, we would love to hear from you!
- John (Editor)