WORD: Isla Vista Arts and Culture Magazine is a product of the UCSB course INT 185ST. The seminar is responsible for publishing a free quarterly magazine that is designed, compiled, researched, written, edited, and distributed by students. It explores the burgeoning artistic endeavors in Isla Vista and highlights topical issues uncovered by student editors.
Geography Professor Dan Montello was one of three UCSB faculty recently interviewed by student editor Lara Vaughan for a Word article titled “PRE-FESSORS: UCSB Faculty Recall Their College Glory Days.” Excerpts:
Geography Professor Dan Montello…now admits to wishing that he had attended more of his classes while still in school. As an undergrad at Johns Hopkins University, Montello lived the college experience that is mostly seen on the screen, from playing lacrosse and Frisbee to drinking beer and smoking weed. Montello thought he had found the perfect balance between work and play, but in hindsight, he realized that he was not doing himself any favors.
“I kind of had an attitude that if I could get by without going to class, that was a good idea. But that was a bad idea,” he confesses.
Being a full-time student with a part-time job is a reality for many students – and Professor Montello was no exception. He worked on a scaffold building crew half the time while he was in school. One of the fondest memories of his undergrad years was made with his coworkers.
“On Friday afternoon, we got paid,” Montello recalls. “So we ran around the corner, cashed our checks, and bought a bottle of whiskey. I basically partied with these dudes on the scaffolding crew in the neighborhoods in Eastern Baltimore. We played craps in the alley and danced to rhythm and blues.”
Although he worked part-time like many of us do, the professor notes that nowadays, there is more of an emphasis on students to be making money on their own because of the hike in tuition prices over the years. “The tuition at UCSB is pretty much out of reach for a middle class family, and that is a really, really terrible thing that has happened in this country,” he says. “Sometimes people really crash and burn over the stress of using too much money. It’s really dangerous for their mental health.”
