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Rebeca Martinez

This Issue 10/23/2008

• Not The Change We Need
• St. A’s Rocktoberfest
• Down-home, Downtown
• Life Isn't Beautiful

Street: What's the soundtrack to your life?
Benjamin Alisuag: The soundtrack to my life is In Search Of… by N.E.R.D. for multiple reasons. I can definitely appreciate the artistry that the group puts into their work, from the production to the music to the lyrics. And Chad Hugo is Filipino!

Street: There are 2 types of people at Penn…
BA: Those who dress fly and those who wear Penn hoodies every day. No sweatpants in public.

Street: Who's the coolest person you've ever met?
BA: My mother, hands down. In high school, my friends always told me I had the cool mom. And just to give you a sample of her coolness, some of her interests include John Legend, hip hop and teaching me how to make the perfect margarita.

Street: What's your guilty pleasure?
BA: Danity Kane, 3 Musketeers bars, text messages and peach-mango VitaminWater.

Street: There is a Facebook group entitled "Ben Alisuag is the Truth." How did this come about, and how do you feel about being "the truth"?
BA: My friends created that group freshman year. In my first Excelano show, I did a poem called "I Spit" and I spoke about the socioeconomic and racial inequalities I experienced growing up. After the show, people kept coming up to me and calling me "the truth." For the record, according to urbandictionary.com, "the truth" is defined as a superlative; the greatest or most positive form it is possible for a person or thing to be. See also: "the shit."

Street: You were one of the founders of Pennoys. Why the unusual spelling?
BA: Pennoys is a Filipino a cappella group. It's a play on words… a "Pinoy" is another term for Filipino.

Street: Are there any other words you enjoy misspelling?
BA: As a proud English major, I try not to misspell any words. Although sometimes I spell swagger as "suagger."

Street: You're obviously quite busy around campus. What do you do to unwind after a long day of running campus organizations?
BA: True, you'll most often see me unwinding at Mad4's happy hour. But the true remedy for a long day is reading a book of Pablo Neruda's poetry or spending a Friday night indoors with food and good company.

Street: What's the best part of being in Sphinx?
BA: Besides our dope hoodies… the fact that 1/5 of us are also part of the Oracle Senior Honor Society.

Street: How do you rep the Bay in your daily life?
BA: First off, I've permanently included "hella" into my daily vocabulary. I also wear my sunglasses at night, keep the line-up fresh and listen to 2pac religiously. I'm thinking about getting "thug life" tattooed on my stomach.