CITY COLLEGE ALUM PLANTS JUNK MAIL TREE AT FORT MASON CAMPUS
BY NICOLE CRNJANSKI
CONTRIBUTING WRITER

PHILLIP MAISEL / GUARDSMAN, PHOTOILLUSTRATION BY ALEX AND JESSICA LUTHI / GUARDSMAN

Garbage. We know it, produce it and are repelled by it. But Hector Dio Mendoza, who simply goes by “Dio,” enriches it, creating devastatingly beautiful art like the 15-foot statue that stands in Building B of the Fort Mason campus: a work that is, by Dio’s own admission, garbage.

After five of his friends collected 50 pounds of junk mail in one week, Dio made a paper tree. Then he picked up some Styrofoam and turned that into a tree. He did not paint it or give it leaves but instead produced a 15-foot statue that is stark and majestic.

“I am baffled by the thought that people have a need to shop and consume,” Dio said. “Buying objects cheaply, that are meant to break down, contributes to the purchase and to the waste.”

Dio is currently a student at Yale University. His art has been showcased throughout Europe, Asia and Central America. While he wants his work to be seen by the public, he said that street access is more important to him than the honor of galleries and museums.

Born in the Mexican community of Uruapan, Michoacan, the young Dio sold Chiclets in a plaza among the musicians, fortune tellers and beggars. His artistic life began when he was a “paletero,” selling popsicles from a cart similar to those that ring out over the streets of the Mission District. His first piece was a mural on the side of a cart that he made with oil paint given to him by a neighboring artist.

Ron Tierney, the Fort Mason campus communications director, is thrilled to have art that focuses on the environment.

“It is paramount to display art that awakens the necessity to look forward,” Tierney said.

More than 100 million trees are cut down in the name of junk mail. Styrofoam is not recyclable and takes about 500 years to decompose. Americans throw away 25 trillion Styrofoam cups each year, according to the Bay Area Recycling Outreach Coalition.

Grace Pearson from Palo Alto has been making models out of Styrofoam since she was six years old. Now eight, Pearson has seen Dio’s work and has been inspired to make more art out of garbage --“The smaller stuff … little houses, apartments and people.”

“All the animals are driven away from their homes so that we can bury all the nonbiodegradable stuff we don’t need,” Pearson said. "How would you feel if your place was destroyed because of someone else’s garbage?”

The two artists have 30 years of garbage between them. Dio is not only an inspiration to Pearson, but to anyone in awe of the mountains of garbage we produce everyday that do not just crumble and dissolve.

Working on a project he calls “Cultural Citizenship” allows him to go downtown and have dialogues with people who don’t have a voice and who are not represented. He does not believe that people need papers to be part of the community. 

Trash is an enormous problem and Dio wants us to look, think and act. His tree represents the root of a problem that humans have created: We are trying to make our lives easier, but have forced Pearson’s furry friends to relocate in the process.

Asked what he likes about his tree, Dio replied, “It’s unique, detailed and difficult to make.”

e-mail: a_e@theguardsman.com

ENTERTAINMENT

STATE YOUR FASHION CITY COLLEGE
BY JESSICA LUTHI
EDITOR

This royal's closet is packed with the finest things. ANNABELLE DAY / GUARDSMAN

Daniel was outside of Rosenberg Library rocking a brown on black graphic T-shirt on top of a pair of blue straight legged jeans with black sneakers.

"I like to be unique," Daniel said. "I like to wear things that not everyone is wearing." This fashion guru says that department stores are where he gets all of his must-have fashion items. "I spend about $200 to $300 on average when I go out shopping. I like T-shirts!"

Daniel describes his style as a hip-hop and rock fusion. He loves Linkin Park and said the band has had a major influence on his look.

"I enjoy listening to Linkin Pa rk. The same way they collaborate their music, is the same way with my style. I just put it together."

GREETINGS FROM SAN FRANCSCICO by Michael Morgan

REVIEWS

Music:

So the big debate over who is the better rapper has been decided and Kanye came out on top over 50 Cent. With his massive crossover appeal it's no wonder Kanye won, but is the album really worth all the hype? Not really.

The music itself is great. Each song has its own distinct flavorand Kanye shows again that he can find a good sample, hook and beat and make something that sounds great. It's his lyrics that fall way short. He uses his songs to complain about he deserves to be recognized as a true musical genius. And everyone knows, that those who scream "I'm a genius," generally are not.

- Desmond Miller

Book:

In 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had seen passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights act of 1965.

Dr. King was passionate about economic justice for the poor, especially blacks who worked for poverty wages. He planned a Poor People's March in Memphis to call attention to their plight. King's radicalism stemmed from his understanding of Christianity as a moral belief system, author Michael K. Honey writes.

On April 3, King arrived in Memphis and gave his famous Mountaintop speech to thousands of eager marchers. Twenty-four hours later he was assassinated.

Honey successfully captures the spirit of the era and the labor and race struggle in Memphis.

- Jim Patterson

e-mail: a_e@theguardsman.com