Revenge porn epidemic:
how the victims fight back
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letter from
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THE EDITOR
Dear reader,
am proud to present to you DAM!, the first magazine at American River College from the journalism department. I’ve considered what this magazine would be like since before the semester began. I never imagined that it would turn out to be this dark. The staff picked topics that people usually shy away from because they are not only interesting, but important. From “Kava: someone’s relaxation destination” to “Inside the mind of a serial rapist,” I am amazed at every single story that is being published in this magazine. As DAM! came to be, I grew more and more excited to see the final product. Working with a small staff proved to be both a challenge and a perk. Five people shouldered the majority of the responsibility, but because our group was small, communication was easy. The ideas we bounced off each other brought out the best in each and every one of us. I would like to give a big thanks to my designer, Sarah Scott, my photographers, Emily K. Rabasto and Zach Tierney and my copy editor, Brooke Purves. I really couldn’t have produced this magazine without all your hard work. Most of all, I’d like to thank my advisers Walter Hammerwold and Jill Wagner for helping me every step of the way. Thank you all for everything. It means a lot more than I can describe to know that we were able to create something so special. Trying to figure out how to create this monster magazine came with many hiccups, but I am proud of every single part of it because I know that every person who worked on it has done so with dedication and passion for our craft. So, reader, we present to you the first issue of DAM! with great pride.
Thank you, Cintia Lopez Editor-in-chief
DAM! STAFF
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Cintia Lopez DESIGNER Sarah Scott COPY EDITOR Brooke Purves PHOTOGRAPHERS Emily K. Rabasto Zach Tierney WRITERS Jonathan H. Ellyson Natasha Honeywood ADVISER Walter Hammerwold PHOTO ADVISER Jill Wagner
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Kava: someone’s relaxation destination
Kava is a Polynesian drink that is a mild hallucinogen.
Revenge porn
Who really wins in revenge porn? A look at the effects and counter strikes to revenge porn.
A hammer, a hatchet and a lifeless body
The effects of domestic violence that led a woman to kill.
Racism within races
What African-Americans think of those within their own race. The division between light and dark skinned individuals.
They found love in a foreign place Two ARC students, that met for the first time while in London, fell for each other during a study abroad trip.
I’m not nervous, I’m anxious
A look at the differences between a normal amount of worrying and how it can lead to different types of anxiety.
Beyond the EXP points
‘World of Warcraft’, eSports, ‘Pokemon’, ‘Yu-Gi-Oh’ and other games college students play competitively.
Inside the mind of a serial rapist What could cause a person to rape? Speculations as to why the I-80 rapist keeps striking in Sacramento.
Kava:
someone’s relaxation
destination A POLYNESIAN DRINK THAT MAKES PEOPLE FEEL A SENSE OF TRANQUILITY
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By Brooke Purves
Photos by Brooke Purves and Emily K. Rabasto Self-taught ethnobotanicalist Travis Blythe, who studies sacred plants, claims the effect of kava, a drink made from the pulp of the root of a Polynesian pepper plant, is a “complete and total relaxation of mind and body.” It is precisely the affinity for a relaxed and carefree experience in kava drinkers that has some people concerned about the emerging kava culture and the risk of addiction and abuse. “I have seen the devastating effects on the family,” said Gordon Treadway, a Church of Jesus Christ Latter-Day Saints (LDS) leader. “I have seen (kava) tear husbands and wives apart, disenfranchise husbands from wives, fathers from kids.” Some areas have seen an influx in home-based “kava parties” that have led to reported sexual indiscretions. It is popular in the Polynesian culture for men who partake of kava to go to “kava clubs,” or private parties in a warehouse, shed, or men’s club, and to spend the weekend away from the family drinking. The kava is often served by young women who, Treadway claims, are immodestly dressed. He said the mix of men, drink and provocative young women often leads to what he calls “immoral behavior.” American River College student Bill Clement is aware of the conventions of the kava party from his experiences at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. “A lot of times the guys would invite girls to get them loose,” said Clement, “to get their guard down and do whatever they want with them.” LDS church leaders have discouraged the use of kava in
The Origin of Kava
Left: Zurab Murayvev drinks kava, a polynesian drink, at The
Root of Happiness kava bar. Above: Powdered kava root is prepared by Jacob Ciongoli, a worker at The Root of Happiness kava bar in Rancho Cordova. general, but this, in part, has helped to further disintegrate the traditional knowledge of the use of the root. The seduction of the physical effects of drinking kava has spurred a growing industry in the U.S., with Kava bars popping up on the mainland over a decade ago, creating a trend in which, instead of being used for ceremonial purposes, kava is used as a mood enhancer. Blythe and business partner, Tyler Lowin, started The Root of Happiness kava bar in Rancho Cordova early last year, and have plans to open another bar in Davis. The business of kava is a party environment, with company Facebook posts promising all you can drink kava for $20 and saying “we’re serving a specialty variety of kava from the Solomon Islands tonight and it comes highly recommended by the village chiefs for melting into the couches and vegging out to deep house music.” The focus of conversations about kava has shifted from understanding the ceremonial aspects of it to prohibiting its recreational use. “We’re not here to bastardize kava,” said Lowin, addressing the concern about bringing something with ceremonial significance into the general population. “We are mindful … about educating people about kava, about cultural medicines,” Lowin said. The task of educating the consumer population about the traditional uses of kava may be difficult, considering the shift in the kava culture, even among Pacific Islanders. “I find (kava) incredibly relaxing,” said former ARC student Zurab Murayvev, who visits The Root of Happiness occasionally, “although it’s hard to say how much of it is attributable to the environment and how much to the kava itself. I have noticed I feel particularly happy and carefree when I drink it.” “It’s not part of my everyday life,” said Clement. “I think it should be part of what defines me, but I don’t know anything about it.” In fact, many other younger ARC students are not familiar with the story of kava’s origin or don’t have an understanding of the traditional kava ceremony. “Everyone in Tonga knows the story of the kava,” said Okusitino Sitake, a descendent of Tongan royalty living in North Highlands, who said the origin of the root is explained through a tale of sacrifice and honor for one’s king. But “the young kids, they don’t know about it,” Sitake said. Clement confirmed that kava has “a very deep ceremonial importance to it that a lot of kids in America don’t know about.” Michael Grofe, an anthropology professor at ARC who studied the traditions of kava under Harvard-trained anthropologist
According to Okusitino Sitake, a descendent of Tongan royalty living in North Highlands, this ceremony is used to celebrate the installation of royal titles or the king’s birthday, but similar familial ceremonies are performed for marriage agreements or for general celebration of life events. The story of the origin of kava and the use of the root, it is claimed by many, started on the Tongan island of Eueiki years ago, when the the King of Tonga visited the island during a great drought. The only people living on the island were Fevanga, his wife, Fefafa, and their daughter, Kava. When word reached the small family that the king had arrived, Fefafa ran to the garden to gather what she could for a food offering. But when she found the king resting under the large leaves of the only living plant from which she might prepare an offering, she was distraught. She could not ask the king to move. Fevanga and Fefafa loved and honored their king greatly, so in order to show their respect, they killed Kava, prepared her for cooking and placed her in the umu, a traditional Tongan underground oven. The king discovered what the couple had done and felt sad for the family. He boarded his large ship for home, leaving the umu as a grave for young Kava. Over time, two plants grew from the dirt that covered Kava’s grave, one at her feet and one at her head. The plant at her feet was sweet; it was a sugar cane. The plant at her head was bitter; it was called kava. The properties of the kava root were discovered when it was observed that a mouse which had nibbled on the plant appeared drunk, according to legend. The plant was brought to the king, who accepted it. Richard Katz, indicated that it is a common occurrence for people of one culture to become interested in the ritual practices of other cultures. “But when Western people adopt consciousness-altering substances from other cultures into their own, these substances often lose their traditional context,” said Grofe. “The traditional purposes for its use are often reinterpreted and new cultural practices start around them, often recreational.” “(That’s a) big part of the loss,” said Clement. “When you live in America, you start adopting the American way of things … the language, the culture.” “Where we draw the line... is not necessarily where other cultures draw these lines,” said Grofe. “Even what is considered ‘traditional’ in every culture does change over time.” Treadway thinks drinking at the kava bar is only marginally better than doing so at a private club or gathering. “(Kava bars) just make it easier to obtain … a beverage that has drug-like effects on them,” he said. “I don’t think that’s positive in our community.” “(But) I don’t think Polynesian men will leave clubs to go to a (kava bar) … This isn’t like going to get a beer. This is a cultural event. (They’re) not going to a bar to do that … You’ll mostly find ‘palangi’ at the bars,” he said, referencing the Tongan word for “white people.” Some Polynesians are upset that the bars take something sacred and use it for recreational purposes. “It’s been horribly changed from how it was used,” said Treadway. “It’s offensive to a lot of Polynesians.”
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REVENGE PORN
By Natasha Honeywood
In the privacy of her bedroom, a girl takes picture after picture of herself. It wouldn’t be a big deal, except for the photos are all risque, and months later, they surface on the internet.
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his is what happened to 24-year-old Kayla Laws. In October 2011, a picture of her left breast was spread across the internet after being posted on isanyoneup.com after her email was hacked. Revenge porn is the online distribution of sexually explicit images of a non-consenting individual with the intent to humiliate that person, according to “Criminalizing Revenge Porn: A Quick Guide.” Some people may think revenge porn only happens when an angry boyfriend with a bruised ego wants to get back at his ex-girlfriend. Except Kayla didn’t send revealing pictures to a boyfriend, she sent them to her own email. Three months after the photos had been taken, Kayla’s email was hacked, and just nine days after that, the pictures that were for her eyes only ended up on a website Hunter Moore created called isanyoneup.com. On Moore’s site, anyone can post an explicit photo of another person, as well as link the pictured person’s social media accounts and personal information. Kayla made a phone call to her mother, Charlotte Laws, saying “mom something terrible has happened,” and Charlotte jumped into action. Kayla wasn’t the only victim getting hacked. After doing research, she found out that her friend Susan was also on this site. According to Kayla, Susan only sent those pictures to her husband and that made it apparent that Susan was hacked as well. Charlotte started what she called “Operation No Moore.” She wanted to destroy the man who was responsible for destroying so many other lives. “I didn’t mean to set up the site. It was kind of just born,” said Moore in an interview with Drew Pinsky on Headline News in April 2012. “I was hurt and my friends
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Photo illustration by Sarah Scott and Zach Tierney
One photo leaked onto the internet can destroy a person’s life forever.
“I don’t know how you could point your finger at me, you took the picture … it’s 2012. What do you expect to happen?” -Hunter Moore
Photo illustrat
ion by Zach Tie
rney
were hurt so we thought to start this between us and other people got ahold of it and it took off.” Charlotte sent a letter to Moore asking him to take down the explicit photos of her daughter, but Moore refused. “My husband is a lawyer,” said Charlotte in a phone interview. “In the beginning he thought it would go away in a few days, but once he realized how serious it was he put pressure on Moore’s lawyers.” Charlotte and her family worked diligently to get the pictures down. “I received a phone call one day,” said Charlotte, “and the voice said, ‘We know where you live and we will get you.’” That was one of three threats Charlotte received. Moore allegedly hired Charles “Gary” Evans to hack emails and get explicit pictures to post on Moore’s website. Moore and Evans were arrested on Jan. 23 on charges of conspiracy and aggravated identity theft. The indictment has 15 federal counts, and if convicted, they can receive up to five years each for
conspiracy and hacking, according to cbsnews.com. Moore, who declined an interview via intermediary, Brodie Hayer, attempted to justify his website by saying, “It’s the victims fault. They took these pictures,” in a 2011 interview on the Anderson Cooper Show, even though he allegedly hired Evans to hack the emails of several people. Allyson Pereira was a victim of revenge porn at the age of 16. As stated on her website, allysonpereira.com, she sent her boyfriend naked pictures of herself and soon after they spread to elementary, middle and high schools. “I was asked onto the Dr. Drew show by Dr. Drew. I had been on a multitude of times discussing sexting and bullying,” said Pereira. “I was nervous to talk to (Moore) because I knew he could be nasty.” Pereira was given a chance to talk to Moore, and she started of by telling Moore that when she tweeted him, he retweeted her so his followers could cyberbully her. Moore replied, “I don’t know how you could point your finger at me, you took the picture … it’s 2012. What do you expect to happen?” According to Pereira via email, after the interview with Moore, he threatened to find her pictures and expose her despite it being considered child porn because she was 16 at the time. Since the incident with her daughter, Charlotte has become an advocate for victims of revenge porn and has it made her personal agenda to push for stronger laws in California. A new law was signed Oct. 1, 2013 by Governor Jerry Brown imposing a penalty of six months in jail and a fine of $1,000 on people convicted of distributing sexual images of exes. What happens if the pictures aren’t distributed by an ex-lover, but an ex-friend? Anderson Cooper tackled the revenge porn epidemic on his talk show Anderson. He had a woman named Angel on his show, and she explained why she spread inappropriate pictures of her friends.
The fight against revenge porn It has been a challenge to regulate laws on revenge porn, which is apparent in the Ian Barber case. According to huffingtonpost. com Ian Barber was accused of posting his ex-girlfriend’s nude photos to Twitter and sending them to her employer and sister. The situation then gets a little sticky, here’s why. Barber claims he got her permission to post the pictures but she claims that isn’t the case. Barber was charged with aggravated harassment, dissemination of unlawful surveillance and public display of sexual material, but the case was thrown out. “The Court concludes that the defendant’s conduct, while reprehensible, does not violate any of the criminal statutes under which he is charged,” Criminal Court Judge Steven Statsinger wrote in the decision. “They sent their pictures out to many men,” claimed Angel. “So why not put it on a website? All these guys already saw it.” The aftermath of revenge porn, like cyber bullying, has led some to suicide. “There have been two suicides because of revenge porn,” said Charlotte. “The whole school knows … my life is ruined now,” posted Audrie Pott, 15, on Facebook before committing suicide. She committed suicide after photos of her being sexually assaulted circulated around her high school. According to nbclosangeles.com, Pott was at an unsupervised party where she was inebriated. A group of boys did “unimaginable things,” to her said the family attorney, Robert Allard, in an interview with Bay Area News Group. Revenge porn affects everyone in different ways. In the case of Kayla and her mother, Charlotte used the experience to fight for all women in the world. But others who have to deal with the taunts, name calling, and looks of disgust, just can’t take it anymore.
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A hammer, a hatchet, and a li 7 DAM!
THE EFFECTS OF DOMESTIC ABUSE THAT LED A WOMAN TO KILL HER HUSBAND By Natasha Honeywood
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lood drips everywhere. Screams and sirens can be heard in the background. That describes the night Aaron Maldonado was bludgeoned to death by his wife, Wendy, and son Randy.
Rewind 20 years and the history of the Maldonado family will show why Wendy made the choice to kill her husband. Aaron and Wendy Maldonado met in their teenage years in Grants Pass, Ore., and married soon after. They had four sons: Randy, twins Marshall and Joshua, and the youngest, Tyler. On a daily basis, Aaron would smash Wendy’s head into walls and punch her in the face, injuries that caused her to lose her teeth and require dentures. He locked her outside in the snow naked, threatening to kill her family members one by one if she ever left him. Wendy’s sons were also victims of child abuse by Aaron.
feless body
Photo illustration by Zach Tierney
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Photo courtesy of Grant Pass (Ore.) Daily Courier
Randy Maldonado, defense attorney Pete Smith and Wendy Maldonado in court in 2006.
Child abuse happens when a parent or other adult causes serious physical or emotional harm to a child. Being constantly sad or angry, relationship problems, and acting out are all signs that a child is suffering from abuse. Wendy’s children lived in constant fear that something small, like leaving the milk out, would set Aaron off into a rage. “I remember when I was in preschool, I told my preschool teacher, ‘When I get older I am going to kill my dad,’” said Tyler Maldonado, the youngest of the four boys in the documentary “Every Fuckin’ Day of My Life.” In the documentary, Tyler recalls an incident of abuse at the hands of Aaron. “When I was eight, I went to my grandma’s house and me and some girl named Misty were throwing a snow globe back and forth and it hit the coffee table and it broke,” he said. “My dad took me outside with the snow globe and then he sat me in the yard and started yelling. Then a minute later he took the snow globe and threw it at me and hit me in the head. So I went inside a minute later and I noticed blood running down my head. Then I asked if I should cry.” Tyler also recalls times Aaron would hit his eldest brother. “It was scary to see Aaron hit Randy because he was the biggest out of all of us,
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and I knew if he could hurt him then he could kill all of us,” said Tyler. The neighbors heard the abuse Wendy and her children went through, and even called the police, but Wendy didn’t want to press charges. “I would have to think ‘if they take him to jail he will only be in there for 2 weeks max.’ And when he gets out he would be even more upset,” Wendy said in a phone interview from the Coffee Creek Correctional Facility.
bedroom where an unsuspecting Aaron lay asleep. With each one standing on either side of Aaron, Randy asked his mother once more, “Are you sure?” “Yes,” she mouthed back to him. Quickly after that, Wendy took the first swing. Randy followed suit. They hit Aaron in the head repeatedly until Wendy yelled, “Stop!” Moments later she ran out of the room to inform the authorities of the crime she had just committed. Wendy was arrested that night, Randy was arrested 12 days later. They were both charged with first degree murder for the death of Aaron Maldonado. “I was 12 when it happened,” said Tyler “and I don’t think I would have made it to see 14.” Wendy pleaded guilty to first degree manslaughter and was sentenced to 120 months (10 years) in prison, Randy pleaded guilty to second degree manslaughter and was sentenced to 75 months (six years and three months), which was reduced to 65 months (five years and five months) because he already served time. “Everyone told me ‘there is no way a jury will convict you,’” said Wendy. “I appreciated everyone’s kindness, but I couldn’t take a chance in my son getting 25 to life” The brothers were relived after Aaron’s death. “I remember my brother Randy would always sleep on top of the blanket with his shoes on,” said Tyler. “The day after the (incident) was my first time seeing him in the bed taking a nap.” Randy was released from prison Aug. 8, 2011. Wendy is scheduled to be released March 7, 2016.
O A n May 1, 2005, Wendy decided she couldn’t take it anymore. Wendy told her oldest son Randy, “I’m going to do it” – kill Aaron – but didn’t want Randy to go with her into the bedroom where Aaron slept. Randy replied, “I can’t let you go in there. If something happened, I would feel like shit.” Randy and his mother went in the kitchen by the table and began to pray. Randy then went to his brothers’ room and watched them sleep. Afterwards, armed with a hammer and hatchet, mother and son set out for the
ccording to domesticviolencestatistics.org, up to 10 million children witness some form of domestic violence every year. Dr. Frank Stass, psychiatrist at Heritage Oaks Hospital in Sacramento, Calif., gave insight to what “red flags” to look for and the reasons women may stay in an abusive relationship. “If your self-esteem is low and you feel like you’re lucky if you get anybody to be interested in you, then you lower the bar, and more importantly, you’re not hearing the things that are being said,” said Stass. Abusers can prey on women who think
they are unattractive and will be happy with any attention at all. Not all women that get abused are housewives or women who can’t provide for themselves. According to Dr. Stass, financial stability and the way men apologize can affect a women’s decision to stay in an abusive relationship. Stass recalled a woman that lived in San Jose. She was stable in all aspects (financially, mentally, living conditions), but she still stayed with her abuser. Many women stay in relationships because they fear their children will resent them for leaving their father. However, there are many effects children can have after seeing abuse in the home.
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ost Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) can cause flashbacks of the events, and getting the chronology of the event in the wrong order on children. Children ages 12-18 can show impulsive and aggressive behavior, which can be a direct effect from the trauma. In some instances, the symptoms go away after a few months, but some children show lifelong effects. Possible treatment for PTSD includes Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, Psychological first aid/crisis management, eye movement desensitization and reprocessing and play therapy. Domestic violence isn’t just one person hitting another. According to courts.ca.gov, it can be sexual assault, making someone afraid that they will be seriously hurt, threats to harm someone, harassment, stalking, disturbing one’s peace or destroying one’s personal property. One place that offers help in the Sacramento area is Women Escaping a Violent Environment (WEAVE), which is the primary provider of crisis intervention services for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault in Sacramento County. The WEAVE program has helped many victims leave their abusers and given them hope for change. Julie Obheart, director of development and community relations of WEAVE, explains the importance of the WEAVE center and the services they offer. “It has been around for 36 years, we are the only rape and sexual assault crisis center (in Sacramento),” she said. The safe houses at the WEAVE program
THE CALL
Photo courtesy of Donna Nelson
Wendy Maldonado at the Coffee Creek Correctional Facility.
have 91 beds across 18 suits for families. “The goal is to never have the families share a room versus the 12 families in (the) one room that we used to have,” said Obheart. “We also have group counseling and children counseling held at the safe house.”
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here is a charter school on the grounds that is taught by a certified teacher. “We found that typically the abusers will go anywhere that is predictable. Doctor’s appointments, etc. ... the most common place is the school. Abusers would try to go and take the children,” said Obheart. According to Obheart, young boys are often turned away from shelters, but at the WEAVE center, boys up to age 18 can come with their parent to these shelters. “A lot of the time these boys will have a shameful guilt because they didn’t protect their mothers,” said Obheart. Obheart explains why some children may get into an abuse relationship and not realize it. “If they haven’t seen a healthy relationship, they don’t know what one looks like and there is no point of reference.” According to ncdav.org, an estimated 1.3 million women are victims of physical assault by an intimate partner each year. Boys who witness domestic violence are twice as likely to abuse their own partners and children when they become adults.
Dispatcher: 911 emergency. Wendy: I need help. Dispatcher: OK, what kind of help? Wendy: I just killed my husband. Dispatcher: You what? Wendy: I fucking hit him in the head with a hammer. Dispatcher: OK where’re you at? Wendy: I’m at ... Lane. Get here, he’s still fucking – I don’t know Dispatcher: OK. I need you to calm down so I can help you, OK? You hit him over the head? Wendy: Yes! Dispatcher: Is he conscious? Wendy: He’s breathing hard. Dispatcher: Is he conscious, are his eyes awake? Wendy: No! Dispatcher: OK. Don’t yell at me, OK? What’s your name? Wendy: Wendy Maldonado Dispatcher: OK Wendy – Wendy? Wendy: Oh My God! Dispatcher: Where is your hammer right now, sweetie? Wendy: In my hand. Dispatcher: OK. Wendy: I just want my kids to be safe (crying). I want my kids to be safe. Dispatcher: Wendy take a breath, OK? Just take a breath and stay with me. We’re gonna work through this and get you help, OK? Are your sons OK? You have four sons, did you say? Wendy: Yes Dispatcher: OK. Good. Wendy? Is he bleeding from the head? Wendy: Yes! His head is caved in. Dispatcher: OK, you caved it in. OK. Alright. What’s his name? I haven’t even asked you. What’s your husband’s name? Wendy: Aaron. Dispatcher: OK. What happened? Did he try to hurt you or anything? Wendy: Every fucking day of my life. Dispatcher: OK.
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Racism wi THE DIVISION BETWEEN LIGHT SKINNED
By Natasha Honeywood Photos by Emily K. Rabasto Racism is still alive, specifically in the African-American community, but it’s not coming from outside races, it is spilling inside with a division between light-skinned and dark-skinned people. The paper bag test was used in the 1900s by black fraternities to separate light and dark skinned African-Americans. The hue of the paper bag was used as a point of reference: if the man’s skin matched the paper bag or was lighter in color, he could be accepted into that fraternity. Barry Frazier, 19, a communications major at American River College, has heard of the paper bag test. “From what my mom told me, if you pass it it’s more likely that you will get a job or something like that,” said Frazier. “I don’t really remember all of it because she told me at a young age.” When Frazier was presented with a paper bag and asked to take this test, he joked by saying “Do you want to use my tan or my real skin color?” The skin on his arm is lighter than the paper bag, which means he would have been accepted into the fraternities. When he realizes that he is lighter than the bag, he jokingly
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denies it and wants to do the test again. Once again, he is lighter than the paper bag. “You know I didn’t ask for this,” said Frazier, referring to his skin tone. Frazier thinks that because he is lighter, he does get treated differently. “I feel people look at me different, but I think it’s my demeanor and the way I carry myself. I carry myself with confidence all the time,” said Frazier. “People are so judgmental. We don’t take the time to get to know one another.” Rudy Pearson (African-American), African-American History professor at ARC, describes the separation between people with lighter skin and those with darker skin in the 1800s. “(We do see the separation) primarily with the onset of the class we call ‘mulatto,’” he said. Mulattoes were the first generation offspring of a black person and a white person. Pearson explained that if someone was mulatto, “they were considered to be much smarter” than those who weren’t. “Most West Africans are darker-skinned because it’s closer to the equator,” said Pearson. When it came to the housework of slaves, the assignments
ithin races AND DARK SKINNED AFRICAN AMERICANS were split up amongst skin tones. “People would begin to identify areas of responsibility for lighter-skinned people,” Pearson said. “If it’s physical work, the blacker the better because you are just muscles.” There are ways African-Americans can try to change the racism that’s within their community. Pearson believes that one of the first steps in overcoming this type of racism is by realizing that it is in fact an issue. Pearson doesn’t condone the use of the N-word, but feels if it is used, then the people using it should be aware of their surroundings, and if they see an older person in the room, to check themselves. Pearson discusses a time he encountered a form of racism. “I was in the Bay Area meeting a friend at a hotel and I was dressed down for the most part,” Pearson said. “I was in jeans and a sweat jacket. This white guy walks in, sees me standing there and tosses me his keys. He thought I was the valet driver. I could have been rude thrown the keys back at him, but I didn’t. I didn’t automatically play the race card. But it would have been easy to do so.” Administration of justice major, Nisha Dutwe, feels strongly about her heritage. “Black is beautiful,” said Dutwe. “If you are dark-skinned you
don’t have to worry about wearing makeup because your skin is naturally beautiful.” Elois Oliver, culinary arts major, 66, recalls the day her father met her soon-to-be husband. “My dad almost fell out and had a heartache when he saw (my fiance),” she said. “He said, ‘Why would you want someone that black?’” Oliver has two sons, both of whom are dark-skinned. “My sons are very handsome,” she said. “And here is the twist: they both married white women.” Oliver has five grandchildren. “I tell my grandchildren ‘don’t think you are better than others because of your skin tone,’” she said. The hair of African-Americans has always been a hot topic. Chris Rock made a movie called “Good Hair,” in which he went out interviewing celebrities and hair shop owners to discover what they think “good” hair means. “I think we (African-Americans) should get past the wigs and weaves that we put in our hair,” said Oliver. When it comes to how the generation is today, Oliver says, “I think that it’s sad we haven’t grown past that. If you are trying to go from darker to lighter, then you don’t like your dark skin.”
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They found love in a foreign place Photos courtesy of Mark Stewart
Above: The Royal Air Force flies over Buckingham Palace during the traditional Trooping of the Colour. Right: Cierra Barnes and Austin Ice together at a theater. Above right: The London Eye, where Barnes and Ice shared their first kiss, is lit up at night.
STUDENTS ON STUDY ABROAD TRIP LEARN TO LIVE AND LOVE ON THEIR OWN WHILE IMMERSED IN ANOTHER CULTURE By Cintia Lopez 13 DAM!
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t’s probably the sweetest and most cliched romance that a couple could have experienced. Two American River College students, Cierra Barnes, 20, and Austin Ice, 21 found love while on a study abroad trip in London, England. Studying abroad is, “an opportunity to take classes that you would take here,” said Mark Stewart, the professor that is in charge of the psychology class that goes on the summer London trip. “Typically they fulfill general education requirements.” “There are no curfews,” said Stewart. “There’s no requirement that you have to stick around London.” “Classes are front loaded at the beginning of the program because students need more structure being 6,000 miles away from home in a foreign country,” said Bill Wrightson, the professor that created the summer program in Florence, Italy. “So there’s a lot more classes early on when students need, kind of structure and kind of contact and guidance.” “We got there right when the Diamond Jubilee started,” said English major Ice. “So getting off the plane we were greeted immediately by red, white and blue stuff celebrating the queen’s 60th anniversary.” “It’s like coming to America on the Fourth of July,” said psychology major Barnes. “It’s just, all of a sudden everybody’s so much (more) interested than they usually are (in their country).” Oblivious to the fact that they both liked each other, their travel mates spent part of their time getting the couple together. “There were just these weird coincidences where, I wanted to go off and do some exploring in one area and she didn’t really want to go with her roommate home, so she came with me,” said Ice. The beginings of their relationship started with a Harry Potter tour trip that Barnes had been planning since before the group left for the trip. “I knew I wanted to go (to the Harry Potter tour), but I was too lazy to really do anything about it,” said Ice. “There were a bunch of emails going back and forth that I had access to, but I didn’t take advantage of that.” Ice didn’t get into contact with Barnes about the Harry Potter tour until a few days, or the night before. They both disagree on the day it happened. Ice called Barnes to ask if he could still go. Since the group ticket didn’t work, he was able to add to the group. Once at the gift shop at the end of the Harry Potter tour, Ice
ended up buying Barnes a Marauder’s Map, an item she had wanted to get herself, but had decided was too expensive. “She asked what I got because all I had was a chocolate frog and this giant bag,” said Ice. “I told her I got the chocolate frog ‘and I also got this for you, because I know you wanted it.’” “After that it was obvious,” said Barnes. Barnes ended up sitting closer to Ice and hugging him more often on the trip back to their homestays. “So of course, me being the oblivious guy, we get off the bus and I say ‘see you,’ and I go home,” said Ice. Three days later, the couple got together. On the London trip, the students go on various trips with Stewart to museums. “We had a museum day. That was one of my favorite days,” said Barnes. The class went to three different museums. The natural history museum, the science museum and the Victorian Albert museum. “We went to the British museum twice,” said Barnes. “Once with the tour and once outside of it.” When the two went on trips with a group, they would be put together for a lot of photos. “We would take, four or five pictures of (the other two girls together) in a scene,” said Ice. “Then they would want to get four or five or six of us.” After that point, Ice began to figure out that he was developing feelings for Barnes. “I didn’t say anything because I have a habit of coming on too strong with people and I didn’t want to do that with this,” Ice said. “Especially considering a week before I left for the trip I decided, ‘you know what, I’m done worrying about having a girlfriend.’ I hadn’t had one yet.” Ice was walking Barnes to her homestay and Barnes mentioned that her friend had asked her to bring home a red-head. Ice, being ginger-haired, began to connect the dots. He mentioned that he thought Barnes might have a thing for him, to which she replied, “maybe I do.” “So, awkward silence,” said Barnes. “For, like five minutes,” said Ice. “It was hilarious.” One week later, the couple shared their first kiss at the very top of the London Eye.
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I’m not nervous, I’m
anxious THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ANXIETY AND NERVOUSNESS
By Cintia Lopez Photo illustration by Zach Tierney Heart races, breathing becomes uneven and palms are sweaty. It’s not just nerves. A rush of emotions and memories surge through, and then everything becomes numb. There’s no movement, just hyperventilation. Some time later there’s crying, and then the tears are wiped away as the experience is slowly pushed out of mind. 15 DAM!
Anxiety attacks, or panic attacks, differ from person to person, as well as the methods used to help manage anxiety. “Anxiety causes people to avoid things that are important to them (especially social anxiety),” said Dr. Robin Kirk, owner and director of Sage Psychotherapy Associates, where they specialize in mindfulness and acceptance therapy for those who have anxiety. Kirk explained that aspects of social anxiety can affect people’s friendships, saying, “They can go to a party and decide to leave because they feel uncomfortable in the situation. It narrows their choices,” when it comes to social outings. Jon James, coordinator and counselor at Disabled Student Programs and Services (DSPS) at American River College gave his insight on anxiety. “Anxiety is not a disability. Anxiety is a symptom of an underlying cause,” said James. “Anxiety is a natural phenomena and anxiety is a great thing in life because without anxiety you would never get anything done.” Although in most cases, a normal amount of anxiety isn’t enough to cause anxiety attacks. “Anxiety is another word for motivation. A certain amount of anxiety is extremely beneficial because it puts your body on high alert,” said James. “However, if anxiety becomes excessive, like anything, it becomes a bad thing. It could become a blocking thing.” Which is when anxiety attacks occur. An anxiety attack can last anywhere between a few minutes to a few hours. Kirk also explained that when a person experiences an anxiety attack, they could feel as if they are having a heart attack. That’s where the breathing plays a big role. During an anxiety attack, hyperventilation will most likely occur, which in turn causes one’s heart rate to go up. In everyday lives, when anxiety becomes too much, a person has to stop whatever it is they are doing in order to get themselves back on track. It may take hours or a few minutes, but that time is necessary in order to regroup. Anxiety and nerves are often seen as the same thing, but there is a clear distinction between someone who has anxiety and someone who is just nervous. “Part of it is chronic versus situational (anxiety),” said Jane Adams, a counselor and professor who taught the health education stress and management class at ARC. “It’s perfectly normal and reasonable to
“Anxiety causes people to avoid things that are important to them (especially social anxiety).” - Dr. Robin Kirk be stressed out over a midterm,” Adams continued. “But when that goes on after the test is over and when it’s constantly on your mind, and when it becomes more of a chronic thing that you’re thinking about all the time, every day, then I think that may separate the true state of chronic anxiety versus just something that’s normal. It’s situationally normal to be stressed out or anxious about a test.” James talked about some of the sensations a person can feel when experiencing an anxiety attack. “It can block cognition, where a student can’t think. It can block respiration, a student can’t breathe. It can cause other kinds of symptoms, such as nausea, sweating and all kinds of different things can happen as a result of anxiety.” That’s when things can become blurry. The world becomes blank, things are out of focus, and the voices that continue talking get washed out. “Then we can talk about what’s causing the anxiety,” said James. “Because again, anxiety in and of itself is not a disability. Now, it is a handicap, when you start to talk about if it’s something that influences or bothers or hurts people, disrupts a person, yes, it sure does.” In students, Kirk said that they often can have difficult times when taking tests. They tend to do less well than others, and they forget the things that they have already learned and know. Kirk also explained that anxiety could lead to perfectionism and even OCD. “It could be hard to start a project or finish it, which can lead to late assignments and poor performance on exams,” she said. “Anxiety disorder forms mostly an impact on life that is pervasive,” said Kirk. “Worry causes distress in their life on a fairly significant level.” It isn’t just worrying about having enough free time. Clinical anxiety can cause a person to worry about every aspect of his or her life, which includes things that he or she may already know are not problems. “People with anxiety tend to find ways
to self medicate in order to try and alleviate the excessive stress they could be having,” Kirk said. Adams talked about mindfulness as a way to help cope with anxiety. “If you stay in the present moment, you don’t have thoughts of the past and you don’t have worries about the future. You try to focus on what’s going on right now.” Another example of something that can cause anxiety is registering for classes. “Sometimes students become very anxious about their class schedules,” said James. “But every student feels it. You plan your schedule, and you go in to enter it and you think ‘Please. I don’t want to be on the waiting list,’ So when we (DSPS) offer priority registration, we take away that factor.” Students then know exactly what classes they are going to get, and it takes away the element of the unknown that can cause major anxiety. In another situation, a person could have anxiety when it comes time to go to work. A person could be afraid of the unknown, and it can eventually cause them to have problems in their workplace because of their anxiety. “A person who lives with anxiety understands how to negotiate, navigate and manage their anxiety in the world, but they may not know how to do it in a college environment,” said James. The main part of being able to better manage anxiety in a college environment, or any environment, is to communicate with people about one’s anxiety. “It’s this more nagging, chronic piece that is there,” said Adams. “I think anxiety shows up in things you can’t control. So, worrying about things that maybe haven’t even happened yet. Worrying about, ‘Will I ever transfer?’ all these things that keep a person up at night. Those are more the chronic issues we see.” The main difference between anxiety and nerves is that when a person is nervous, it is usually about one particular event that is going to happen. Anxiety can keep a person worrying over everything, and the worrying eventually takes control of their life.
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Josep Scalice, left, and Phillip Wingett play ‘Weiss Schwarz,’ a Japanese card game which has become increasingly popular in the United States.
Beyond the EXP points
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By Jonathan H. Ellyson
dozen or so people are gathered in a room watching a livestream. Something big happens on screen, and everyone shouts with either excitement or despair. This is the type of reaction you see at a sports bar when a home run or a goal is scored. However, at this venue everyone is watching competitive multiplayer gaming, also known as eSports. Riot’s “League of Legends” is the most widely broadcast game, with 27 million players daily and an average of 80,000 viewers on Twitch.tv, the most prominent video game streaming site.
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Photos by Emily K. Rabasto
“League of Legend’s” popularity is, in its simplicity, being a subgenre of the real time strategy (RTS) game format known as multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA). Matches are played five on five with simple objectives, and, on average, last 30 minutes. “League of Legends” makes a more entertaining game to watch competitively than other popular RTS games like Blizzard Entertainment’s “Starcraft.” “Starcraft” matches can be slow, and some don’t get exciting until a turning point, while League matches are full of constant exchanges between players.
Tournaments from all over the world are broadcasted to computers everywhere, and much like gathering to watch football or baseball, gamers will gather to watch the League Championship Series (LCS), the North American Challenge League (NACL) and many other professional tournament series’. American River College student and world class “World of Warcraft” player, Patric Garcia, watches eSports streams multiple times per week. In competition, he has also played “Pokemon” and “Super Smash Brothers.” The recreational playing of eSports is
Twitch Plays Pokemon
only one small facet of a phenomenon some call gaming culture. Twenty years ago, the term “gaming” would refer to gambling and other casino activities, or, in some circumstances, hunting. Now, gaming refers to a culture emerging on the global stage. Gamer culture has evolved as a facet of geek culture. The term geek is broad and can be applied to anyone who enjoys an activity obsessively, whether it is politics or fashion. The gamer sub culture is composed of people who obsessively enjoy playing and mastering video games. Many of them also get really into anime, card games, table top games, movies and television shows. When it comes to popular card games like “Yu-Gi-Oh!” and “Pokemon,” some criticism might be made about these games being based on cartoons for children. Sacramento City College English major Wilson Leung explained that in Japan, “most anime are put out as evening shows, airing at 6 p.m. and some of the raunchier come out at 1 or 2 a.m.” When anime shows do come to North America and are marketed as kid’s shows, “there’s heavy censorship and they change all the cultural things.” This is called localization and can be anything from translated slang to differences in cuisine (replacing rice balls with sandwiches or donuts). Sigurd Raudes, a biology major at Sacramento State, is very active in card
games, including games like “Pokemon” and “Yu-Gi-Oh!” which are both based off localized anime. “I was 13 or so when those games were coming out and now I’m 25 and playing card games as a hobby,” said Raudes. “I mean everyone has a hobby, some people dance and some people play card games.” In fact many card games played at tournament level are played by adults, like “Magic: The Gathering” and “Weiss Schwarz.” Abdul Majid, the owner of comic shop Mage’s Realm estimates roughly 70 percent of players in his store are adults, while Adventures in Comics and Games in Carmichael and Metropolis Comix in Elk Grove both have an average of 75 percent adult tournament players. At A-1 Comics in Sacramento the range is the same. These numbers are skewed per card game however, “Weiss Schwarz” and “Magic: The Gathering” players tend to be adults, whereas “YuGi-Oh!” and “Pokemon” players can have a ratio of 50 to 75 percent adult players. According to these local shops the oldest players come in for “Magic: The Gathering,” (age 16-60) while the youngest come in for “Pokemon” (age 8-25). Majid also expressed that the gaming community at large is very open and friendly. Newcomers could walk into the shop and would be welcomed easily, and experienced players will often invite new players to events.
The gaming community at large became enthralled by nothing more than a Gameboy emulator and several lines of code. On Feb. 12, an Australian programmer created a channel on twitch.tv, the most prominent video game streaming site. The channel displayed a simple computer program for playing non-PC games on a computer. The game was Game Freak and Nintendo’s “Pokemon Red Version,” first released in 1996. Another element added for viewers was a display of the twitch channel’s chat, where viewers could input commands to play the game by typing, “up, down, left, right, a, b, start or select.” The code took the chat from twitch.tv and used it to input commands into the emulator, which allowed multiple viewers to control the game. Within hours the channel exploded in popularity, and after a couple days the channel, which streamed 24/7, had gained notoriety worldwide. The record speedrun for the first generation Pokemon game is clocked at one hour and 58 minutes. The twitch run ended after just over 16 days. At its peak the channel had over 120,000 concurrent viewers, with over 35 million users viewing the channel page over the course of the play through. During the run, the programmer added some features and adjusted the way certain aspects of the game mechanics worked. However, it remained automated and controlled by the players. The most compelling development from this gaming phenomenon is the mythology and content generated by the viewers. The bulk of it can be found within the thousands of posts from the sub-reddit titled “Twitchplayspokemon,” whether it is original art based on the specific events during the play through, or viewers watching the stream in college dormrooms or lecture halls, or even protest posters displaying the “Helix Fossil,” an in-game item that had some significance to players. The impact Twitch Plays Pokemon had on the world and gaming community is impressive, after completing “Pokemon Red Version,” the same channel started a play through of “Pokemon Crystal Version.” All of this sprung from a few lines of code and a simple emulator set in motion by a programmer who remains anonymous.
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inside the mind of a
SERIAL RAPIST A STRING OF THREE RAPES WITHIN THE SPAN OF FOUR MONTHS LEAVES MANY SPECULATING Story by Cintia Lopez Photos by Brooke Purves and Emily K. Rabasto
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woman walks down the street at 4 a.m. There are few streetlights that give a dim light which creates shadows. A man walks down the same street, following her to keep a watchful eye. After 20 minutes of stalking the woman, he decides he’s finally ready to attack. At approximately 4:20 a.m. she is blitz-attacked. She fights back, but isn’t strong enough to deter the man. She is then taken down an embankment off Interstate 80 and Watt Avenue, where she is physically and sexually assaulted.
“It’s interesting how it is taking place out in public,” said Sue Escobar, a criminology professor at Sacramento State University. “Granted it’s at times very early in the morning, so there’s not a lot of people that are out, but 9 o’clock at night near I-80, that’s still pretty busy.” Watt Avenue, Madison Avenue and Auburn Boulevard are three of the many streets in Sacramento that are poorly lit, and usually are avoided by pedestrians after dark. Authorities believe one man, coined “the I-80 rapist,” is responsible for the sexual assaults of three women, each of whom was taken from one of these streets. The rapes occurred on Sept. 19 at 4:20 a.m., Dec. 10 at 9:15 p.m., and Jan. 8 at 4:30 a.m., according to the Sacramento Sheriff’s Department’s website. “In general, there isn’t one specific causal factor for any kind of crime. There are a lot of different theories. Some have theorized that it has to do in the developmental process, like somehow an individual’s development was stunted in a way,” said Escobar. “None of these women know each other,” said Sergeant Lisa Bowman of the Sacramento Sheriff’s Department. “These are all independent cases. From the descriptions they were able to give to our forensic artist, looking at the sketches, you can see that they are all very similar.” “They are taking risks,” said Escobar. “So it’s somebody who maybe you could argue is possibly planning it, because it may be easier to get victims if they’re out in public, but they still are taking risks because they’re doing out in the open.”
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t’s 9:00 p.m. and a woman gets off the bus at a stop on Madison Avenue. The I-80 rapist is there, and begins to follow her. The I-80 rapist attacks this woman from behind, as he did the first, and drags her down the embankment to physically and sexually assault her. While the second rape is being committed, there is more traffic. The woman can hear the passing cars, but she knows that no one will glance toward the embankment. Even if someone did, it’s too dark to see anything. She hears the world continue to move on around her. “They often use pornography because imagery is something that triggers their thoughts,” said Escobar. “They have this
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The embankment on the Interstate 80 west on-ramp, presumably where one of the rapes occured.
whole fantasy in their head and what they’re trying to do is relive that fantasy.” With different fantasies come different types of rape. “There are many types of rape, and not knowing anything about who this person is, I wouldn’t even want to guess what the motivation is,” said Tori Bovard, a human sexuality professor at American River College. “But pretty universally, it’s an act of power where sex is the weapon.” In some cases, however, sex isn’t the only weapon a sexual predator will use in order to dominate a victim.
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t around 4 a.m., another woman walks down the dimly lit Auburn Boulevard. She’s a few miles away from where the first two rapes took place. There is a car that follows her. The I-80 rapist parks his car and begins to stalk her on foot. At 4:30 a.m. the I-80 rapist pulls the woman off the street. “There are different types of rapists,”
said Bovard. “Some are more sadistic types of rapists than others.” The woman fights back in an attempt to get away. The I-80 rapist cuts her, possibly with a box cutter, as he begins to drag her back to his car. The I-80 rapist drives back to the same general area off Madison Avenue from before, and he physically and sexually assaults the third woman in the span of four months. “The first (rape) was violent in and of itself,” said Bowman. “He’s becoming increasingly violent and there seems to be no stopping him from doing this. He’s relying on other means of assaulting the victims.” A serial rapist feels powerful knowing that he can get away with the acts he’s committed. Escobar mentioned a few of the many different types of profiles for a sexual predator. “There are, actually, FBI profilers and others that have come up with different categories of types of sexual serial killers. One category at one time was organized and disorganized. It’s also evolved into
RAPE CULTURE AND THE MYTHS
Low bushes and trees keep most of the area out of view from passing cars.
ritualistic and impulsive.” Escobar explained that the names of categories speak for themselves by giving an example. “Someone who’s ritualistic has a whole plan as far as what they’re going to do,” she said. “It would not be appropriate for us to comment or infer as to what the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department may be doing to investigate the matter or what tools they may be using to solve the case or cases,” said Gina Swankie, FBI public affairs specialist, via email when trying to contact the FBI to speak with a profiler. Bowman described why it is important to have the sketches of the I-80 rapist out for everyone to see. “There is always a risk of the person moving away,” said Bowman. “But with crimes like this, it’s about the power they feel and their ego. If they move away it shows that they are cowardly. Safety is the most important part,” of why it’s important to let people know that there is a serial rapist out there. Females need to know about this. “I think that,” said Escobar, “I’m not
really sure (about the motive) because we haven’t gotten a lot of information other than what we know about the sketches and when they occurred, and it looks to be like it’s the same person.” “That person could have had some trauma early on in their life,” continued Escobar. “And most of the time if you look into the histories of individuals who have raped, this isn’t everybody, but many of them do have sexual abuse in their history. That is not to say that everybody who was abused as a child will go on to repeat that. In fact, by in large, most don’t.” “There’s a sense of entitlement that can go in with that (rape culture),” said Bovard. “Basically, there are a lot of these myths. You see it in things from television programs, movies, music videos. Even in lyrics to different songs.” “With sexual assault criminals it’s about their ego and empowerment,” said Bowman. “It’s a deep-rooted part of their criminal profile. Serial killers have the same sort of ego. (With rapists) it’s not about the sex, it’s about the empowerment.”
“There are a lot of problems with rape, and there are a lot of rape myths,” said Tori Bovard, a human sexuality professor at ARC. “(The myths) create a climate that makes some people think that rape is OK.” The “climate” created is rape culture, where people believe that rape is OK, or a normal part of reality. This stems from commercials, movies, songs, books, magazines and other types of media that over-sexualize women. Bovard explains that the myths make it so a person sees what is in the media percieves it as reality. “Part of the problem with the rape myths is that those myths themselves affect the victims,” said Bovard. “Because we live in a culture where it is believed that women can deserve it.” After the rape occurs, a women feels like she should just forget it happened, but a traumatic experience like that is not easily pushed out of mind. When people, especially women, start to believe that they deserved to be raped, it becomes a problem. This is where a lot of rape culture comes into play. There is victim-blaming that can cause a man or woman to be afraid to come out and tell the authorities that he or she has been sexually assaulted. For women espeicailly, they feel that because of what they were wearing, they were drunk, or they didn’t have the capacity to say no, they desereved to be raped. “There are certain myths that are perpetuated,” said Bovard. There are scenarios where “women want it. Women like it, women like force, that no is actually yes, and a lot of things like that.” These come into play when cases of rape arise, especially ones in which the victim knew the assailant. Because of the myth that only strangers will rape people, men and women tend to feel guilty for reporting being raped if they knew the rapist. There are also myths that men cannot be raped. When a man is raped, it is less likely to be reported. With the myth that a husband can’t rape his wife and vice versa, many states have laws against rape within marriage. Bovard said these myths are based on gender, and that men are more likely to believe these sorts of myths about women.
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!MAD AN AMERICAN RIVER COLLEGE STUDENT MAGAZINE PRODUCED BY JOURNALISM 410-413