By Teri Bachman

A pearl after swine

The campus can no longer boast the singular distinction of having a hog barn next to a cyclotron. The Hog Barn—which had been used for its original purpose longer than any other campus building—has moved. Vacating its original spot near the Crocker Nuclear Lab on California Avenue to make way for a new math sciences building, the 90-year-old barn has a new home near buildings of its own kind. It was placed just south of the Silo complex, which shares its Craftsman shingle-style construction.

Though it was a beloved reminder of the campus’s University Farm days, its neighbors were relieved when its odiferous occupants were relocated in 2000 to a new $2.4 million facility near the campus airport. The campus briefly considered tearing down the structure but decided to renovate it instead for use as a training facility for staff. And while the new occupants might look askance at being housed in a hog barn, Toni Nicholson with the staff development office told faculty and staff newspaper Dateline, “We feel quite honored and fortunate that we’ll be moving in.” And indeed, a $1.5 million remodel will transform pigpens into offices, library, conference and training rooms.

Egg-stravaganza

Artist Pat Oleszko and her students put on quite an eggs-hibition in January—a combination of wearable art and performance art that payed homage to Robert Arneson and his campus Eggheads while engaging people across the campus in an interactive egg-sperience. The project was the culmination of a week-long interdisciplinary workshop with students from art, design, theatre and dance who constructed their own versions of an Egghead and then marched through campus periodically performing simple maneuvers at the blow of a whistle. “I could watch them for hours,” said one viewer as they marched in a circle. The goal, said Oleszko: “Egg-cellence in art.”

And in further egg-sposure for Arneson’s creations, a reproduction of his Yin and Yang Eggheads situated on campus between the music and art buildings has been installed in San Francisco, along the Embarcadero across from the Ferry Building. Cast from Arneson’s original molds, the reproductions were overseen by Arneson’s estate and positioned to match the originals.

Reduce, reuse, recycle, resell!

One person’s trash became another person’s treasure this January when the Memorial Union patio was transformed into a giant rummage sale. The items—1,345 pounds of clothing, 451 pounds of shoes and numerous items ranging from microwaves and lamps to kitchenware and crutches—were collected by the campus’s recycling unit last June from students moving out of the dorms. The sale netted about $400 for R4 Recycling and for the 2004 Whole Earth Festival, a co-sponsor of the sale.

Items priced as low as 25 cents drew a crowd of students and staff alike. “I can’t believe this!” squealed one bargain shopper holding up three sweaters—including one still sporting a price tag.

Nature of attack: terrifying

From a questionnaire for a study into ways that people can protect themselves from cougars sent by Wildlife Management Specialist Lee Fitzhugh and his colleagues to a hunter who had been attacked by a cougar (the hunter fired his gun at the cougar as the cat charged, killing him with the second shot):

Condition of teeth: Perfect teeth, no fillings.
Condition of claws: Damned sharp.
Victim behavior just after first sighting? Putting rifle to shoulder and firing.
Were there signs of aggression by puma? The cougar was charging me, full speed ahead, which seemed pretty aggressive to me at the time.
Did victim fight back? Yes.
Puma response: Puma rolled and died.
Was puma injured by victim? Yes, severely.