The final days of the semester included a night of performances of original theater compositions by students, a collaboratively written book about meeting human needs, and a lengthy discussion of “what’s nextest”.
Exerpt from Alternative Necessities:
Alternative necessities… why? The authors are unaware of any prior attempts to compile the various means by which all of the basic biological human needs can be met. Further, we propose that the following are important reasons to seriously consider alternative necessities: 1. many people are constrained from meeting their needs in ways that economically affluent people may take for granted; 2. a person or society might find it desirable to perceive an abundance of alternatives; and 3. a sustainable, progressive shift of power away from capitalist entities may require that people collectively re-empower the meeting of their needs by means alternative to those presented by the dominant economic systems.
We offer this short list of physical human needs:
1. fresh clean air
2. sunlight
3. rest
4. nourishment
5. hydration
6. protection from the elements
a. shelter b. clothing
7. (health) care
These seven needs are the subjects of the seven chapters of the book, and each chapter contains a range of means to satisfy these human needs…
Full text of Alternative Necessities:
…you can download Alternative Necessities here as a 10 MB pdf file. The pdf is paginated so that the pages may be printed double-sided, folded in half, and read as a 36-page book. Therefore the pdf begins with pages 36 and 1, and on the backside pages 2 and 35, followed by pages 34 and 3, with the backside 4 and 33, and so on… When you print all the pages including the cover page and fold the stack in half it will become a book with the cover, page 1, page 2, page 3, and so on.
December 3, 2006 – Final Performance
“Preparing Routine” by Anna Hochhalter
Video -WMV | 
Video -QTPreparing Routine
I notice my surrounding culture puts great effort into keeping social interactions calm or predictable–often times at the expense of our thoughts, observations, and feelings. I hope this piece will provoke reflection on how our mundane interactions could express significant meaning to enrich our lives.
*note: There is reference to an event in which University police tazed a student repeatedly in California for not showing an ID card. This event happened in Nov. 2006. Events similar to this have happened prior to this and sadly are currently happening, possibly in your home town.
-Anna Hochhalter