Inquirer 9-30 Issue

New c ach

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Inspires players off the court

Sports | 4

HALO

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to celebrities?

Opinions | 5

Bungie’s final entry in the ‘Halo’ saga

Entertainment | 6

The

INQUIRER S T U D E N T V O IC E

Volume 77 No. 2

Copyright © 2010 The Inquirer - Diablo Valley College

OF

D I A B L O VA L L E Y C O L L E G E

www.TheInquirerOnline.com

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Teacher tackles censorship JONATHAN ROISMAN Editor-in-Chief

The United States’ oldest media research group has a new director. And it’s someone on this very campus.

Political science professor Mickey Huff, who has been a full-time history teacher for two years and who’s worked at DVC in some capacity for nearly a decade, was

named the director of Project Censored by the parent nonprofit group Media Freedom Foundation in March.

The media watchdog group, which was founded in 1976 and based out of Sonoma State University, researches the most underreported news stories in the U.S. mainstream media and publishes them in its annual collection “Top 25 Censored Stories.”

“We collect and look at underreported

or under-covered stories that ought to be covered in the mainstream corporate media, but usually are not for a number of reasons,” Huff said. “Some of them are economic; some of them are political or ideological. Some of them are basic time constraints.”

Project Censored has affiliates at over 30 universities across the country and in a number of foreign countries, Huff said.

There’s also an official Project Censored

club on campus with eight members that Huff advises. The club helps the organization with research and students are able to learn media literacy.

The club was formed this semester by Huff and student Brian Donovan, who said the club was academic in nature.

“This is more specific [for] writers and

HUFF, Page 2

DVC’s own little hidden bit of heaven Holmes

takes over vacant seat on ASDVC ARIEL MESSMAN-RUCKER Staff Writer

Nick Holmes sat on the executive board during the Associated Students of DVC meeting Tuesday for the first time since he was elected as the new vice president of legislative affairs the previous week.

Holmes beat out ASDVC board member Joanathan Lim in a 29-10 vote victory with 12 board members abstaining.

A third board member, Shifeng Jin, was nominated for the position, but withdrew shortly before the election.

This victory for Holmes comes after having lost for the position of vice president CARLY JONES / THE INQUIRER of executive affairs to Chang Min (Kevin) Park in last spring’s campus-wide elecDozens of sense-stimulting flowers, fruits, vegetables, and herbs are on display in tion. the DVC garden. See the full story on DVC’s secret garden in Features on page 3.

“I thought this position was crucial to take up,” Holmes said. “I thought this position needed some leadership.”

The position became vacant after Brian Donovan was forced to resign when he TALIAH MIRMALEK discovered Staff Writer his cumulative grade Instead of just complainpoint aving about budget cuts, a group erage had of students are actually doing dropped I thought something about it. below this position This semester these students ASDVC’s have started Club A3, whose minimum needed some central tenets consist of advostandard leadership. cacy, abilities and awareness of 2.0 for with the purpose of helping of all board Nick Holmes disabled students. members, Vice President of Student Michael Burnside Donovan Legislative Affiars founded the club because he said. believes DVC’s disabled stuDonovan, dents deserve to have their an Inquirer staff writer this semester, said voice heard and to receive the he will continue to advocate for DVC stuservices that the school cannot dents by participating in activism as part provide, he said. of the campus club, Students for a Demo“The biggest thing is making cratic Society and by continuing to make a difference by just doing somehis voice heard at ASDVC meetings as a thing,” Burnside said.

COURTESY OF MICHAEL BURNSIDE member of the public.

Lilian Benipez, a special edu- Liz Styles (second from left) and John Brown (third from left) hand out information about Club A3 during Club Day The vacant position was filled at an incation major who is also a mem- in the Quad on August 31, 2010. house election as per the rules set forth by ber of Club A3, said the purthe ASDVC Constitution. pose of Club A3 is to enable the tutoring, High Tech Center disabilities will get a tour of toring,” an article published In an interview with The Inquirer prior members “to have the ability to hours, testing accommoda- the school that will include the on The Inquirer’s website on to Tuesday’s ASDVC meeting, Holmes said help ourselves and each other, tions, and more, all of which best routes for getting from one March 25, reported that Patrick he was excited about taking on this new Erhard, then vice president of position and plans to do more than the to be aware of what’s around are solely dedicated to dis- point to another.

The members of this club are the Inter Club Council, pre- board members who held the position in us, to know how we can utilize abled students.

However, due to budget also volunteering their time sented a proposal to the Associ- the past. resources to help ourselves and each other, and take the ‘dis’ out cuts, many of these services towards note-taking, tutoring, ated Students of DVC for fund“I want [a] committee with action, [a] have been cut. and peer mentoring for the dis- ing, saying more than 100 DSS committee that has action oriented soluof ‘disabilities.’”

But Burnside said he has abled students without accept- students were being affected tions that can put some teeth on this orgaDisability Support Services, plans to start a program ing any payment in return. located in the Student Service “ASDVC bails out DSS tuCenter, provides note-taking, where new students with CLUB A3, Page 2 GOVERNMENT, Page 2

Club attempts to fill in the gaps in the face of diminishing services at DVC

“

”

• News: 1, 2

• Entertainment: 6

• Sports: 4

• Opinions: 5

• Editorial: 5

• Campus Buzz: 5

• Calendar: 2

• Features: 3

2

News

CALENDAR

The Inquirer - Diablo Valley College

H

Film- Hamlet Free in the Forum 7 p.m.

Tuesday, October 5 Employer Visit Quad Mary Kay: 11 a.m. – 2 p.m.

Vector Marketing: 10 p.m. - 2p.m.

University of Nevada, Las Vegas Transfer Center 10 a.m.

Ruth Bancroft Garden Tour and Luncheon (Emeritus College) Bancroft Garden Walnut 10:45 a.m.

Wednesday, October 6 College Success Workshop San Ramon Campus 2:00p.m. - 3:15 p.m.

E174 Film- My Life in Pink Free in the Forum 2p.m Florence Program Study Abroad Informational Meeting in H109 2p.m

Students at San Ramon campus urged to take part in ASDVC

UFF from Pg. 1

journalists actually reportThursday, September 30 ing on the news in an accurate way,” Donovan said.

St. Mary’s College Rep. “Project Censored advocates the right for free press and Transfer Center free speech.”

10 a.m. – 12 p.m. : Huff is also one of four adby appointment 12 p.m. – 1 p.m. : drop in visers for the Students for a Democratic Society club.

As director of Project CenFriday, October 1 sored, Huff collects materials and information and edA.A/A.S Degree or its for the “Top 25 Censored certificate filing period Stories” and assigns people continues Admissions/ registration to write chapters for the book. He also writes a numdepartment ber of pieces himself.

9/2/10 - 12/1/10 Huff said Project Censored gets people to quesFilm- Foxy Brown tion what they see in the Free in the Forum news and helps them to be7 p.m. come more active in political debate.

Symphonic Band and John Kropf, a DVC politiWind Ensemble cal science professor, said Concert Project Censored is a good Performing Arts Center tool that sheds light on sto8 p.m. ries that are too hot for the mainstream press.

Saturday, October 2 “We have unofficial censorship from all different Philharmonic corners,” he said.

Orchestra Kropf said Huff is a perPerforming Arts Center fect fit as director of Proj8 p.m. ect Censored because he’s devoted to uncovering the Monday, October 4 truth.

“You really have to be Transfer Day someone who is willing Quad to go wherever the [story] 11:30 a.m. takes you, and often times it takes you to some dirty, UCLA Transfer uncomfortable places,” he Workshop said.

Transfer Center 1:15 p.m.

San Francisco State University Campus Rep. Transfer Center 2 p.m.

Thursday, September 30, 2010

CHRIS CORBIN / THE INQUIRER

Professor Mickey Huff, director of Project Censored, stands in front of his office in the faculity offices building at Diablo Valley College.

Huff replaces Peter Phillips, who had been director of Project Censored since 1996.

Phillips is still president of the Media Freedom Foundation.

There were 334 stories that were nominated and factually verified by the Media Freedom Foundation for the latest edition of the book which was released in September, Huff said.

Although only 25 stories are picked by judges on a committee, it doesn’t mean the stories that aren’t picked are any less relevant,

he said.

Huff said being the director of Project Censored doesn’t take time away from his job as a professor at DVC. In fact, he sees it as another component of it.

“Being a professor is a privilege in our society,” Huff said “You’re geared toward building community and building a more educated society to practice more democratic values and virtues with more efficacy.”

COURTESY OF MICKEY HUFF

jroisman @TheInquirerOnline.com

G

“Censored 2011” cover by the Media Freedom Foundation.

OVERNMENT

Police Beat September 22, 2010

Policy Services Lobby: Student workers were approached off campus by another student.

Lot 7: A student reported that her vehicle was stolen while it was parked unattended in the lot. There were no witnesses.

ATC 114: A student was contacted due to a report that he wanted to do harm to himself. After further evaluation, the student was allowed to return to class.

A copy of the report will be forwarded to the Dean of Student Services.

September 21, 2010 LA 218: A student that was feeling ill fainted while walking from class. CON Fire and AMR responded, transported the victim to Kaiser Walnut Creek.

September 17, 2010 Library Area: A student reported that his bicycle was stolen while it was locked unattended over night in the bike rack near the library.

September 16, 2010 Lot 1: A suspicious subject was contacted in lot 1. The subject was released when it was determined that no crime had occurred.

September 15, 2010 Music Building M 118: Music instructor reported that his laptop was stolen from the music building.

of representation,” Canada said.

Holmes said that although nization,” Holmes said.

The vice president of leg- he has big goals for the comislative affairs’ position was ing school year, he plans to only created a few years start small by energizing ago so ASDVC would have the ASDVC board.

“I want ASDVC to be a board member who was dedicated to representing known as a force that makes and advocating for DVC stu- students voices heard,” he dents at the local and state- said. wide levels.

“It was really clear that we need to have a student amessmanrucker who was focused on issues @TheInquirerOnline.com

C

from Pg. 1

LUB A3 from Pg. 1

are giving back to the community,” Benipez said. “It is by the budget problems for a sign of unity.” tutoring.

Burnside also wants to inIn addition to helping dis- clude several other on-camabled students, Burnside pus clubs in planning the wants to reach out to all the event and hopes that it will clubs on campus and the “set in motion a semester of community at large. giving to others in need.”

He is currently planning “It is true you will get out “Give a Can Day,” a food of life what you put into it,” drive on campus, on Oct. Burnside said. “Believe we 18 and 19 that will include can and we will change the games for students. world.”

Participants can then play Club A3 meets Tuesdays board games and whoever at 3 p.m. in SSC 218. wins will get a prize.

“This way, we are giving tmirmalek @TheInquirerOnline.com back to [students] and they

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Students from DVC’s San Ramon campus have been taking a stronger role in the student government at the encouragement of the office of student services.

William Oye, dean of student life, stated that strong representation within ASDVC should be the short-term goal for SRC students, but he also indicated that a separate student association for the San Ramon campus may be a future goal.

Oye said the California Education Code states that it is legal for a separate campus to form its own student government.

In the meantime, Yvonne Canada, Senior Academic and Student Services Manager, is helping SRC students get involved in the Associated Students of DVC. “My interest,” Canada said, “and what I’ve been working on for the past several semesters, is in getting some San Ramon students to serve on ASDVC so that their different needs and concerns and experience can also be part of the conversation.”

Currently there are six students from the San Ramon campus serving on ASDVC. Some steps have been put in place to make it easier for San Ramon students to be involved, including setting up a webcam between the San Ramon campus and the Pleasant Hill campus during ASDVC meetings, and an ad hoc advisory group.

The advisory group brings San Ramon students together with their ASDVC representatives and lets them discuss the issues that they want those representatives to bring to the Associated Students.

“They’ll have a chance to look at the ASDVC agenda, and they can give their input into the topics on the ASDVC agenda,” Canada said.

“They can also share their input with the representatives in terms of anything the college committees are addressing. It’s just a forum for them to speak their piece, and if they have an issue that they want to raise then they can raise it there as well.”

Ultimately, Canada argued that these efforts are meant to bring the two campuses closer together. “ASDVC represents all students at the college, regardless of location,” Canada said.

However, at the time of this writing, ASDVC President Katerina Schreck was unaware of the ad hoc committee.

“Eventually,” Oye said, “when the SRC population grows to a critical mass, they may want to have their own student association.”

“It’s not at this time,” Oye added, “but at some point, that may make more sense, especially if the SRC and the south county area restarts the growth that they were undergoing before the economic difficulties.” sbaba @TheInquirerOnline.com

Features

Thursday, September 30, 2010

The Inquirer - Diablo Valley College

A candy cane zinia opens to catch the sun.

3

JUST THIS SIDE OF

PARADISE

A wide variety of flowers can be found throughout DVC’s garden.

Throughout the garden, plants bloom with astounding beauty.

PHOTOS BY CARLY JONES

CARLY JONES Staff Writer

Unbeknownst to most of the campus, there is a little patch of green down by the tennis courts, hidden among the subdued hues of the concrete and cars.

Karen Talbot tends to the garden, and has nurtured it into what it is today. The first class she taught here was in 1999, and since then, she says, more people have continued to get involved.

When Talbot first started working here, there wasn’t much of a garden to begin with.

“There was barely more than soil,” she said. Now there are

fruits, vegetables, herbs, and flowers flourishing throughout the garden. Talbot believes most of the plants’ success has to do with the quality of the California soil.

“The soil is great,” Talbot said, “and the plants get a lot of sun here. It gets really sunny and hot. ” With the help of the horticulture program, and other volunteers, students, and staff members, the garden gets plenty of love.

Flowers are sent weekly to the Norseman Café, DVC’s oncampus restaurant. Herbs, fruit, and vegetables are all delivered to the Norseman, the Monument

Crisis Center, day programs, and other individuals.

Occasionally, Talbot e-mails the staff members of DVC, and lets them know that they can come in and pick flowers, collect fruits and vegetables, or just hang out in the garden for a while.

There’s no restriction on who can visit the garden, and visitors range from pre-school and day care centers to the residents of assisted living facilities. Talbot encourages DVC students to visit.

Organized by plant type, the garden offers flowers, fruits, vegetables and herbs, many of which are edible.

Advertisement

Along the wheelchair- accessible paths within the garden, exotic plants such as kiwis, candycane zinnias, bright-light Swiss chard, tall sunflowers, and lemon verbena. The grainy-textured leaves of the verbena, a native of South America, actually smell like lemons and can be used in tea and perfume.

And for those who enjoy drying flowers, there are the achillea. These come in several colors that don’t fade when dried.

In the DVC garden, there are orange, white, pink and purple versions.

So why not have lunch among flowers, berries and butterflies, between calculus and English,

or spend a moment finding inspiration for your art class?

The garden’s additional Open Garden Days will be Friday, Oct. 22, and Friday, Oct. 29, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. and Saturday, Oct. 30 from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. On those days, there will be bags, shears, and scissors available so you can enjoy the bounty of the garden, gather some Halloween squash or flowers for drying.

This fall, there will be a bulb sale fundraiser featuring daffodils, tulips, irises and more.

cjones @TheInquirerOnline.com

Sports

4New coach inspires DVC team The Inquirer - Diablo Valley College

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Former IBL athlete coaches women’s basketball at DVC

Sports Schedule

JASMINE BURCH Staff Writer

“He is a hard worker, and loves to make players better than what they used to be,” Gravely said. “I loved how he The DVC women’s basketalways looked out for my best ball team has a new head interest and treated all of us coach this year and he’s not as if we were his daughters.” your ordinary go-big-or-goOlivia Humphrey, a memhome type of man. ber of the DVC women’s bas His name is Ramaundo ketball team, also stressed Vaughn. At age 42, the forVaughn’s commitment to each mer Hawaii Pacific University player as an individual. coach has a long history with “Coach Vaughn has helped the game of basketball. me so much already in such This retired IBL athlete has a short time,” she said. “I traveled across the countrylove that he playing pushes us with nuWinning is a word you and never merous us teams, inwill not hear me say of- allows to be mecluding the ten, it’s about building diocre. He Sunshine wants us to Coast Easuccess from the always give gles, the ground up and working 100 percent Smith and give our Saints, as a team. all.” and even Vaughn a Division made it II team in Ramaundo Vaughn very clear Australia.

Women’s basketball coach he’s not into The “winning,” question but the sucis: what cess that comes after it. He is he doing here in Pleassees sports as a venue that ant Hill? provides athletes with opporVaughn explained that he tunities, whether that oppormade the move for his son. “I tunity is a full-ride scholargrew up in the Bay Area, and I ship to a 4-year university or saw Concord as a safe and a shot in the W.N.B.A. bright community where my “Sports keep our youth on son could begin his freshman the right track,” Vaughn said. year at.”

He also said that he is trying Vaughn’s players look to him to prepare all the women for not only as a coach, but also as their futures on and off the a father-figure. Paris Gravely, court. a student in her third year at He believes that those he Hawaii Pacific, explained that coaches are students first and Vaughn put in a lot of effort athletes second, and therefore and was strongly committed strongly encourages them to to his former team.

Friday, October 1 Football vs. Santa Rosa Jr. College 7:00pm

Friday, October 1

“

Women’s Soccer vs. Modesto Junior College 2:00pm

Wednesday, October 6

”

Women’s Volleyball vs.

Sacramento City College 6:30 pm CARLY JONES / THE INQUIRER

Womens basketball Coach Ramaundo Vaughn observes his team during practice on September 24, 2010.

be academically excellent. All the women are expected to maintain a GPA of 3.0 or higher, sit in the first two rows of the classroom and give back to the community.

“Homeless shelters, fundraisers, you name it, the DVC women’s basketball team will be there,” Vaughn said. “First by giving a helping hand to others, then help ourselves.”

When asked if the team will

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take the state championship this year, Vaughn expressed his desire for something greater.

“Winning is a word you will not hear me say often. It’s about building success from the ground up and working as a team.” jburch @TheInquirerOnline.com

Tuesday, October 12 Women’s Soccer vs. American River College 3:30 pm

Wednesday, October 13 Women’s Soccer vs. Modesto Junior College 6:30 pm

Opinions Editorial

The

Buzz Is celebrity news relevant news to you?

Lindsay Inkster, 19 Undecided

“I don’t really care, it doesn’t have any effect on me. It can be entertaining at times, but overall it’s pointless.”

5

The Inquirer - Diablo Valley College

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Mission statement impossible Every college has a mission statement, a summary of the college’s goals for its students, but lately DVC has not been living up to the objectives it outlined in its own mission statement.

It states, “DVC is passionately committed to student learning through the intellectual, scientific, artistic, psychological and ethical development of its diverse student body.”

But statewide budget problems have lead DVC to cut classes and student services as well as lay off staff and student workers.

DVC offers many courses covering a range of diverse subjects, however, when classes are so full that students can’t even get the basic courses they need to transfer, the college is no longer achieving the goals set forth in its mission statement.

Last year DVC revised the mission statement af-

ter the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges visited the college two years ago and reported that DVC needed to include language about “student learning” in its mission statement.

The mission statement was reworked on April 29, 2009 and many other changes were made campus-wide resulting in DVC being praised by the commission and having its perilous accreditation status improved.

The new mission statement goes on to say that the college “prepares students for transfer to four-year universities; provides career/technical education; supports the economic development of the region; offers precollegiate programs; and promotes personal growth and lifelong learning.”

Additionally, the mission statement says that DVC promotes “lifelong

SCOTT BABA / THE INQUIRER

learning.” However, due to statewide budget problems, DVC has cut many “stand alone,” courses which do not lead to a degree.

Because of this, many classes from the Applied and Fine Arts Division were cut beginning in the

Fall 2009 semester, which is truly unfortunate as many college graduates and retirees take these courses to enrich their lives – something DVC’s mission statement espouses.

If stand alone courses must be cut, then DVC can-

not promote or provide “lifelong learning.”

It’s time to get realistic. If DVC can’t meet the goals of its mission statement then maybe the administration needs to go back to the drawing board and revise it – again.

Opinions

Americans are addicted to celebrities Brandon Fuller, 18 Undecided

“No, but it’s very comical. It’s a way out of the normal news that can be quite depressing.”

Turn on the television, listen to adults want to dress like them, the radio, and look at the cover of talk like them and be like them.

And although celebrities like a magazine; they’re everywhere.

We invite them into our homes Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan every evening, celebrate their make headlines on a regular bababies’ births and are even on a sis for less than flattering reasons first name basis such as drug arrests with them.

“Let’s be obsessed and sex tapes, teens They are cestill want to emulate lebrities and al- with inner beauty.” them.

People are so inthough we will probably never fatuated with celebmeet them, we tend to obsessively rities, who live such over the top lives, that fantasizing about their fixate on them.

In America, celebrities are like favorite celeb’s extraordinary life royalty that we put up on pedes- becomes a way to escape reality for some. tals.

People are not content with Celebrities are movie stars, actors and actresses on our favorite what they have – we always want TV shows, reality stars and sports more. figures. Teenagers and young The celebrity business is a

Soledad Lopez Staff writer multibillion-dollar industry with people just waiting to cash in.

They are selling people an image, a style and a way of life your average person can never attain.

Now we get bombarded with celebrity updates and news 24/7.

MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have given the industry more ways of feeding us our daily intake of celebrity news.

Instead of being obsessed with outer beauty, let’s be obsessed with inner beauty. Let’s idolize and admire people for their struggles, accomplishments and positive influence on society.

Be the change. Instead of following celebrity trends start your own that empower and encourage others to do the same. slopez @TheInquirerOnline.com

International students struggle in college

Trevor Moppin, 22 Theater “No, they are normal people and what they do seems to be elevated, and what they do with their lives isn’t relevant to me.”

According to the International Institute of Education, the number of international students at colleges and universities in the United States increased by 8% to an all-time high of 671,616 in the 2008/2009 academic year. Many colleges recruit foreign students to increase diversity, foster cultural understanding, international relations and help the economy. International students contribute $17.8 billion to the U.S. economy.

Studying in the U.S is a great opportunity for international students; but it is a big challenge.

Many international students have left home for the first time, and they must learn how to take care of themselves: cooking, doing laundry, and dealing with roommates. Some international students eat bread everyday during the first month they are in Ameri-

Emma Li Staff writer stay in their own boxes, living and hanging out with people from their country. Sometimes their laptops are their only true friends.

Many international students are trying to make a positive change.

They are making new friends, practicing English, and building leadership skills.

To my international student friends: ask if you need help. There are people and organizations to help you, such as the international students’ office, the English tutoring lab, the counseling center, and cultural clubs, like Indo DVC and Latino Students Alliance. There are outside school groups too: the International Christian Fellowship offers free dinner and organizes games and activities every Friday night.

To my American friends: now that you know the difficulties that international students face, when an international student speaks with strong accent, asks to borrow your notes or asks you how to spell a word, please be nice. Start a conversation with them. They need help and they need friends. emmali @TheInquirerOnline.com

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Clarissa Forney, 18 Theater

“It has absolutely nothing to do with my life, but it’s way more entertaining than regular news.”

ca, because they have no idea how to cook.

In addition to adapting to a new home, international students face language challenges, school-related stress, and pressure from their families. Nearly $200 a unit can be a big investment for families.

They simply cannot fail the class, because of this sacrifice. For many of these students, it is a case of “to pass or to die.”

Another difficulty for international students is adjusting to American culture. One time I went to a party, and all my Chinese friends came on time, but left an hour later, because they thought no one else was coming. All of my American friends began to arrive after an hour. A good lesson for my Chinese friends: never go to a party on time.

International students often

Why ‘paying to work’ doesn’t work I don’t think it’s fair that some part-time and student employees of DVC should have to pay for parking during their work shifts.

The mentality of, “well they’re a student also, so why should they get a staff permit,” is alarming. It serves to separate drastically the students from the staff and also

establishes a barrier that makes it seem you have to be “all-ornothing” if you want to be part of the staff.

Well, for some staff, this is their second or third job. Should they get a fourth to pay for their parking?

And for some students, this is

Editorial Board

Staff

EDITORS IN CHIEF Jonathan Roisman Annie Sciacca

BUSINESS MANAGER Ryan Beck PHOTO CHIEF Travis Jenkins STAFF WRITERS Michael Chase, Brian Donovan, Lisa Marie Garcia, Kevin Hayes, Parjanya Holtz, Carly Jones, Emma Li, Soledad Lopez, Jacob Park, Michael Robinson PHOTOGRAPHERS Carly Jones, Ryan Beck

NEWS EDITOR Julius Rea FEAUTRES EDITOR Scott Baba OPINIONS EDITOR Taliah Mirmalek ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR Troy Patton SPORTS EDITOR Gerardo Recinos ONLINE EDITORS Jasmine Burch Christian Magdaleno VISUAL EDITOR Christopher Corbin COPY EDITOR Ariel Messman-Rucker

INSTR. LAB COORDINATOR Ann Stenmark ADVISER Samanda Dorger

not their primary school either.

You buy multiple parking permits and then you have to pay to get paid at work.

I can perfectly understand not wanting to abuse staff parking privileges when roles are shifted to that of student, but if you work four days for the school, pay for

parking and take advantage of its educational services for only one; it becomes the employee who is now abused.

Christopher C. Long Student

THE INQUIRER Diablo Valley College 321 Golf Club Road, H-102 Pleasant Hill, CA 94523 The Inquirer is published Thursday mornings during the school year by the journalism students of Diablo Valley College. All unsigned articles appearing on the opinions page are editorials and relfect a two-thirds majority opinion of the editorial staff. All signed columns and cartoons are the opinions of the writer or artists and not necessarily those of The Inquirer, Diablo Valley College or Contra Costa Community College Disctrict.

Winner: Journalism Association of Community Colleges 2009 Online General Excellence

• Phone: 925.685.1230 ext. 2313 • Fax: 925.681.3045 • Email: inquirer@dvc.edu • Website: www.TheInquirerOnline.com • Printed Every Two Weeks •

6

Entertainment The Inquirer - Diablo Valley College

HALO REACH

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Bungie bids farewell where it all began

Campaign PARJANYA C. HOLTZ Staff Writer

of fighting a war over a planet that, as most “Halo” fans know, has already been eradicated from existence shortly

nario that allows Bungie to tell a much more dramatic, impacting story that revolves around a group of highly trained elite soldiers who have a much more vulnerable, human side to them than what we’ve come to expect from a Spartan in the “Halo” universe.

Seeing Catherine Halsey interact with “her” Spartans, or having to endure one of them fall in combat only deepens the sense of humanity that I felt somehow never came across in the original trilogy.

It helps that the cutscenes have improved dramatically in style and direction, adding some of the coolest moments to the game, like when I suddenly found myself punching an Elite’s face in first person mode during one of the cutscenes.

I don’t remember ever having had such an intense, close encounter with any of the enemies in the previous games.

But like I said, “Reach” is not perfect. Some of the environments still feel recycled,

( Everything from the presentation to the gameplay has been reassessed and redesigned.

(

While most people enjoy the “Halo” series for what it is - shallow, overly sweet and, mostly unhealthy video game sci-fi fast food - I’ve always had trouble warming up to Master Chief and Cortana.

It’s all the more surprising that “Halo: Reach,” Bungie’s fifth and final game in the immensely successful Xbox-exclusive video game franchise, has turned out to be one of the year’s most interesting, engaging and fun titles.

By no means does “Reach” reinvent the genre - nor has it turned out as an entirely faultless title - but what game ever has?

It’s more like Bungie looked at its past nine years of developing “Halo” titles and decided that it was time to not only rethink some of the basic “Halo” gameplay without deviating too far off the known path, but also to modernize it – something I feel was ne-

glected for far too long.

Everything from the presentation to the gameplay has been reassessed and redesigned, resulting in a campaign that will not only satisfy the hordes of fans mourning over the passing of the series, but also proving that as cartoony and cliché-laden as the universe might seem, it does have some remarkable depth to it.

Playing “Reach” feels fresh despite Bungie’s decision to rely on the tried and true “Halo” formula, and it works in this case.

It seems that the most attention has been paid to little details in the formula, and all the tweaking and refining pays off in things like the new control scheme that’s designed around the title’s pick-up ability perks (sprinting, jet-packing, etc.) or the new stealth assassinations that add up to a much more stellar core gameplay.

The melancholy story is also aided by a fascinating vibe that radiates from the feeling

before the events in “Halo: Combat Evolved.” Reach is lost, and so are all the Spartans on it desperately fighting for the planet’s survival. The player slips into the role of Noble Six, the newest member to Noble Team, a group of the Alliance’s best Spartans, to relive those last few weeks of Reach’s lifespan.

It’s that unique Titanic sce-

both architecturally and visually, which often made me wonder if Bungie ran out of time, ideas, or whether I just failed to realize that the plot made me return to a previously visited location because of logical reasons. It’s still a typical “Halo” annoyance.

That, as well as a bunch of AI bugs where the friendly NPCs decide to concede the fight, and a shallow stealth mechanic besmirch the experience without ruining it.

In the end, Bungie’s final “Halo” turned out to be one of this hardware generation’s best first-person shooters, and one that deserves attention by any and every first-person shooter enthusiast out there.

Few games this year hooked me the way “Reach” did, and no game was as emotionally engaging as it was satisfying to play. pholtz @TheInquirerOnline.com

Noble Team

Multiplayer TROY PATTON Entertainment Editor

“Blood Gulch.”

“Hang ‘Em High.” “Sidewinder.”

To many people, these words are just that, simply words. But to others, they are a nostalgic force of nature.

These words are like a time machine transporting them back to a simpler time when having your friends over to play Halo was the social gala of the week.

Soda flowed freely, potato chips were plentiful, and sleep was deprived.

Did kids worry about the possible ramifications of an activity that might have such a negative impact on their health? Of course not, this is Halo we’re talking about people. Who gives a crap about health when the blue team is about the get the final capture needed to win a four hour marathon capture the flag match?

Nine years later, Bungie has given us the magnum opus of the “Halo” series

IMAGES COURTESY OF MICROSOFT

with “Halo: Reach.”

While some fans will be disappointed to hear that this will be the last “Halo” game developed by Bungie, they’ll be happy to know they have left us, quite possibly, the largest and most robust multiplayer suite ever packed onto one disc.

Not only does it include the standard “Halo” matchmaking multiplayer, but it also includes the firefight mode from “Halo: ODST,” with brand new features, maps, game types, and most importantly, the ability to match up with random strangers so you’ll always have three other people to play with instead of being forced to draw your group from the folks on your Xbox Live friends list.

The most entertaining of these new modes is called “Gruntpocalypse.”

The premise behind this firefight mode is to take an army of grunts (essentially what you would get if Ewoks were evil and were bludgeoned with an ugly stick),

and use your paintbrush/rifle to paint your battlefield/ canvas with their neon blue blood. The description of this mode says “aim for the face.” Enough said.

Firefight is awesome, but

old racist homophobes.

But there have been some changes which, for the most part are relatively tiny.

For instance, a person can now set certain parameters to narrow their match

competitive multiplayer is always where the action has been in the “Halo” series, and knowing that, Bungie hasn’t tampered with that formula all that much.

You still pick from a set of playlists and you still get matched up with 12-year-

search so they will have a higher chance of being grouped with folks that will make their experience a bit smoother.

While most changes seem to target the streamlining of the peripheral functions of “Reach,” there

are also a few changes that look to shake up the “Halo” formula.

The most noticeable of these changes is the addition of “armor abilities.”

These include things like a jet pack, a sprint similar to “Call of Duty” and the ability to drop a bubble shield.

Even though you won’t be able to pick every ability in every map and game mode, they still play an integral part in your strategy, and your choice of “armor ability” will set the role you will play in any given match.

Want to be the man running the flag in capture the flag? You might want to choose sprint.

Altogether, the sheer size of the “Halo: Reach” multiplayer package is hard to resist, but let’s face it, if you wanted this game, you’ve already bought it, but if you were on the fence, it is well worth the $60 price tag. tpatton @TheInquirerOnline.com