CITY IMPLEMENTS NEW HEALTH CARE PROGRAM FOR UNINSURED

BY MICHELLE BAGUIO
EDITOR

San Francisco is implementing a universal health care program called Healthy San Francisco. The program aims to provide access to health care for uninsured city residents, including college students.

Although Healthy San Francisco is not considered insurance, the program will provide primary care services like specialty care, mental health care, urgent care and emergency care.

It will cost $200 million annually and will be financed through a combination of sources, including businesses, subscribers, the city and other public sources,

In order to qualify, applicants must be without insurance for at least 90 days, show proof of San Francisco residency and be ineligible for publicly subsidized benefits, like Medi-Cal. Children are not eligible, since they are already covered under another city health program.

Healthy San Francisco has chosen the city’s health department and San Francisco General Hospital as its primary providers. The program began enrolling people in July at two Chinatown clinics. More providers will follow suit.

City College sophomore Terrance Turner, who is insured under Medi-Cal, said students should take advantage of the program.

“I’m not really concerned about it, but City College students should apply for it because the majority of them are uninsured and low incomes,” said Turner.

Like many uninsured college students, Ken Okochi is glad to have this affordable option for health care.

“I would like to apply for it,” Okochi said. “It’s great for low-income (students) since health is very important.”

Jun Ming Yao, who is insured, agreed that the program would benefit City College students.

“If it’s affordable, then of course people should take advantage of it,” Yao said, adding that low-income students faced with health problems and high insurance costs could be more likely to drop out.

For more info on Healthy San Francisco, please visit www.sfhp.org/HealthySanFrancisco or call their hotline at (415) 615-4500.

From an August 2007 study, “Rite of Passage? Why Young Adults Become Uninsured and How New Policies Can Help.”

• The majority of college students are uninsured.
• Young adults ages 19 to 29 are one of the largest (and fastest-growing) segments of the U.S. population without health insurance: 13.3 million lacked coverage in 2005.
• Of the 13.3 million uninsured young adults, 41 percent live in households with incomes below poverty level.
• This happens because when high school graduates leave home for college; they are left to find insurance on their own.
• Typically, college students get part-time jobs that don’t offer health care benefits.

Nearly two out of every five college graduates and one half of high school graduates who do not enroll in college will be uninsured during their first year after graduation.

For more information, visit http://commonwealthfund.org/publications/ and click on Health Insurance.

e-mail: onlineeditor@theguardsman.com

BY BENJAMIN TAYLOR
STAFF WRITER

Brownsey hopes the class will encourage students' creativitty without fear of judgment and give them insight into the effects of discrimination on queer creative output.

“I just want to see the world be a little more fair,” said Brownsey, a red-headed and self-described “gay girl,” who has been teaching in the LGBT studies and film studies departments for 10 years.

By the end of the course, each student will have one piece of art that explores gender identity in the medium of their choice; some works emphasisize on stand-up comedy, film/video, fiction/non-fiction writing and writing for performance.

In terms of her own creative output, Brownsey has authored “Is It a Date or Just Coffee?,” a dating guide for the gay girl. She has also been an advice columnist for Match.com and has a master’s degree in film production.           

Brownsey's easy-going nature and a charisma seemed to put her students at ease in the classroom. The atmosphere at the Thursday night class, smaller and more intimate than expected,  is one of acceptance and humor.

“I put humor into everything,” Brownsey said, as she sipped her iced coffee at a crowded café on Ocean Avenue. “If you can get people to laugh, you get them to think.”

During the first class, students were split into small groups, given newspaper sections and asked to pick one article to use as the impetus for a short presentation. Most students leaned toward sarcasm and parody when it came their time to share.

“This is my third class with Mo,” said student Ben Schaeffer, who is taking the class to help develop his screenplay. “She’s such a creative teacher and she gets students to participate.”

e-mail: btaylor@theguardsman.com

FORMER STUDENT KILLED IN TRAGIC ACCIDENT

BY JIM PATTERSON
STAFF WRITER

Former City College student and rookie police officer James Gustafson, Jr. died on Aug. 11 when he accidentally shot himself with his semi-automatic service weapon, a SIG Sauer .40 caliber.

Gustafson, 23, was at his San Mateo apartment with friends when the incident occurred at 1:41 a.m. The City College graduate was demonstrating to friends how to unarm an assailant and safeguard his weapon.

Gustafson had removed the gun’s ammo clip when he put it to his neck and fired. The weapon had a single bullet in its chamber.

San Mateo police responded to the shooting and Gustafson was transported to Stanford Hospital where he died hours later. According to the toxicology report released Aug. 30, he had a blood alcohol level of 0.09 percent, making him legally intoxicated at the time of the accident.

Lt. Mike Brunicardi, of the San Mateo Police Department, waited for the results of the toxicologist before finalizing the investigation into Gustafson’s death. San Mateo County Coroner Robert Foucrault ruled the case an accident.

Gustafson graduated from the San Francisco Police Department academy in January 2007. He served a six-month training period at the Mission district station on 17th and Valencia streets, but according to Mission Police Officer L. Frazer, no one there knew him.

Mission district Police Sergeant Nagle declined to comment on Gustafson. “He worked at Central district. Go there,” Frazer said.  Gustafson had been at Central for about four weeks. Officials there also declined to comment.

Gustafson, born in Oakland, attended City College after graduating from Mills High School in Millbrae. He was an avowed sportsman.  According to a recent San Francisco Chronicle article, his family said he loved fishing, swimming and the mountains of California. The family also stated that Gustafson was doing the work he loved with other officers he admired and respected.

SFPD Public Affairs Officer Sergeant Steve Mannina e-mailed a short statement regarding Gustafson’s death.

The document said: “The San Francisco Police Department mourns the loss of Officer James Gustafson. A tragic accident took the life of this young man, who was part of our police family for only a little more than a year. Our deepest sympathy is with Officer Gustafson’s family and friends at this most difficult of times.”

A memorial service was held Aug. 20 at Duggan’s Serra Mortuary in Daly City. Donations can be made to the Widows and Orphans Aid Association in memory of James Gustafson, P.O. Box 880034, San Francisco, CA 94188.             

e-mail: jpatterson@theguardsman.com

LOCAL, NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS INFORM AND MOBILIZE COLLEGE-AGE VOTERS

BY DAVID CARINI
EDITOR

With many social and political issues directly affecting young people, the upcoming primary elections will hopefully encourage many of them to step into voting booths.

A June 2007 poll commissioned by the New York Times, CBS News and MTV found young people are more likely to embrace a universal health care system, gay marriage, and a lenient immigration policy. The direction of the Iraq War is also a major concern: 47 percent believe there will be a military draft in the next few years.

“I’m skeptical about the next election.  I really felt that things were going to change in 2004, but they didn’t,” said Sheena McNeal, a graphic communications student.

In an effort dedicated to empower the youth, Bay Area organization Mobilize.org started Democracy 2.0.  At various events throughout the country, Democracy 2.0 points out current social problems and solicits reactions from young people.  They have created a weekly blog that asks different questions regarding candidates and issues.  From these responses, Mobilize.org will compile a report of the most significant and recurring concerns to present at the Democracy 2.0 summit in October.  The summit will honor young activists from each congressional district in the nation and begin to discuss the issues in the report.

“If politicians want people to vote, I think they should come to community colleges and urban areas. It seems they only go to big universities or places where people already vote,” said City College student Jules Posner, 20.

Only 22 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds voted in 2002 compared to 52 percent of those 30 and older, according to the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning & Engagement.  Presidential elections generally have higher voter turnout rates, thus CIRCLE believes midterm elections are a more appropriate comparison.  The number of young voters has decreased from 33 percent in 1982 to 22 percent in 2002.  Young people tend to be Democrats or independents, and more young women voted compared to young men, according to CIRCLE.

Some hope to increase those numbers. David Burnstein, 18, produced the film “I’m 18 in ‘08” to raise young people’s awareness and voter turnout. Burnstein interviewed a dozen senators, congressmen and media figures and asked them a set of standardized questions.

Mobilize.org has many street teams that work with local communities to involve young people in politics.  To volunteer, you may contact Mobilize.org’s Berkeley office at 510-757-3022.

e-mail:newseditor@theguardsman.com

WHAT'S UP?

BY CITY COLLEGE ASTRONOMY CLUB

The planet Venus hascome into view in the eastern morning sky during the past couple of weeks.

When September opened, this brilliant “Morning Star” was rising just after dawn's first glow at around 5 a.m. local daylight time. But with each passing morning, Venus has been rising ever higher and has been getting even brighter.

It will attain its greatest brilliance on Sept. 23, appearing at an eye-popping magnitude of -4.6. This is 19 times as bright as the brightest star in the sky, Sirius (in Canis Major, the Big Dog), and 10 times as bright as the next-brightest planet, Jupiter. (On this astronomers' scale, smaller numbers represent brighter objects, with negative numbers reserved for the brightest of all.)

Closer to home, the Moon Phase for Wednesday, September 19th – Just past 1st Quarter.

e-mail:ccsfastrononerds@gmail.com

ONLINE DATABASE TRACKS MODIFICATIONS OF WIKIPEDIA CORPORATE CONTENT

BY DAVID CARINI
EDITOR

A new tool developed by a student improves the reliability of Wikipedia’s content by tracking users who tamper entries for their own purposes.

Virgil Griffith, a graduate student at the California Institute of Technology, created WikiScanner, a searchable public database, to trace the I.P. addresses of users who modify content.

For example, if the City College entry is modified, WikiScanner would identify the time and location the modification happened.

Diebold Inc., manufacturer of e-voting machines, deleted paragraphs from the entry on its fund-raising efforts for President Bush and on the consistency of their e-voting machines.

The tool also caught the CIA editing a page on the Iraq War to emphasize that the number of Iraqi civilian casualties was speculative, and a user at the Democratic Party headquarters added to Rush Limbaugh’s entry that he was a racist and bigot.

“I heard that the word ‘Jesus’ gets updated constantly,” culinary student John Waller said. He thinks Wikipedia is not reliable and does not take its information as fact.

Griffith was inspired in early 2006 after learning that members of Congress deleted unflattering information from their entries.

“I think it’s fine for basic information, but students should always double check the facts somewhere else,” English instructor Louise Nayer said. “I’m considering not allowing it as a source for my students.”

e-mail: newseditor@theguardsman.com