El Vaquero March 16, 2011
Glendale College
Higher Education Johnathan Valenzuela is an atypical math whiz. Story on page 6. Photo by Ian Cervantes
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Wednesday, March 16, 2011
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NEWS / LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Women and Ethics Lecture El Vaquero Kicks Off History Month Glendale Community College
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By Michelle Bowles
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IN THIS ISSUE
March 16, 2011 Volume 97
News
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Michelle Bowles can be reached at Michelle_Bowles@elvaq.com
Letter to the Editor:
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arch is a time for all women to come together and unite as one. Dawn Lindsay, president and superintendent of Glendale College, gave a lecture regarding Women’s Ethics and Leadership on March 1 in celebration of Women’s History Month. Lindsay gave her lecture in Kreider hall among a room full of GCC students and faculty. Lindsay said that her lecture was designed for the success and progress of all types of women. Lindsay wanted her lecture to revolve around what a woman’s road to success is like and to provide a better understanding of how and why women are as successful as they are today. All over the world, women are flourishing in the workplace, academically and at home. “I smile as I look back 25 years and see how far we’ve come as women,” Lindsay said. In the 1970s, the celebration of Women’s history was only a week long. Today, people celebrate women’s history for the entire month of March. People take this time to commemorate the differences between men and women. Lindsay would like people to look back and take note of all the accomplishments that women all over the world have made. “Historically people look back at men’s accomplishments and stories in priority to women’s,” she said. She wants every woman to take the month of March as a time for a self evaluation. She said that March is the perfect time for the women of GCC to evaluate where their life is going. “Fall is right around the corner, and classes will be starting. Time to find out what your goals are,” Lindsay said. She said that around the age of 3 people starting becoming who they are due to their gender. At such a young age, girls are taught to play “house” and wear pink dresses. Young boys are given toy trucks to smash and blue pants to wear. The public already has a predestined plan on what people’s lives should be and what type of role they should play in their environment. “Hold yourself accountable for everything you do, be in charge,” Lindsay said. Lindsay said that these days women have the opportunities they do because of the women who worked so hard before them. Every decade women become stronger than the year before. Women are continually raising the bar for themselves. Continual
improvement is one of the most important things to Lindsay. “My life was much easier as a working woman due to the women who worked before me,” Lindsay said. “It is the responsibility of the women today to come together and secure the foundation for women of the future,” said Lindsay. This is to ensure that they have the same rights, options and choices that women have today, and even more. In order to do this Lindsay suggested some steps women can follow. Women need to surround themselves with positive people. Lindsay has learned that being around strong, successful people has led to her to be all that she can be. Lindsay wants every woman to do the same. People need to acknowledge that everyone has problems but it’s how they deal with it which makes them who they are. A big part of who women are as people is determined by who they are friends with, according to Lindsay. “When women choose a friend, she is choosing a lifelong friend,” Lindsay said. She claims that women tend to need allies. They need someone they can count on, someone to talk to and support them in their choices. “When a woman gets bad news, good news or any news at all, the first person she calls is either her best friend or her mother,” Lindsay said. Lindsay also believes that people need to start embracing the differences that men and women share. She wants people to examine these differences and learn how to make them useful and powerful to everyone involved. Someone’s weaknesses will be someone else’s strength, and that is how a team is formed. In general, men will rely more on hard justice and strict rules. Women on the other hand will analyze situations and what is going on, and foresee the long term effects of the problem. Both of these traits are needed when dealing with any situation, which is why men and women when working together form such great teams. “Men and women will always come at situations and confrontations differently,” Lindsay said. In honor of Women’s History Month Glendale College released a screening of the movie, “Iron Jawed Angels.” The film stars Hilary Swank. She plays a feminist who fights for the right of women to vote.
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Entertainment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-14 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15-18 Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Dear Derek [Stowe], Outstanding article (on the organic chemistry club), thank you so very much! My students were thrilled to see the article, to see their picture and to read their stories. In a second they became campus celebrities and they felt great! Thank you. — Asmik Oganesyan
On the Cover: Jonathan “Jony” Valenzuela is a student at GCC who has used math to change his life for the better, see story on page 6.
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NEWS
Women’s Health Lecture ‘Top Priority’ By Lillian Wu
EL VAQUERO STAFF WRITER
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ne in six women and one in 33 men will be a victim of sexual assault in their lifetime, said the chair of the Glendale Commission on the Status of Women at the “Women’s Health, Top Priority” presentation at Glendale Community College. The one-hour presentation was part of Women’s History Month and held on March 3 at Kreider Hall. “We are here to recommend programs on issues regarding the needs of women in our city,” Paula Devine, chair of the commission, said. “We work to provide outreach information which will empower women. We act as a liaison to all the organizations and support systems in this city that help women and girls.” Every month the commission addresses a different topic, such as nutrition and economic and educational empowerment, by having events and bringing speakers. This year, they are working with State Sen. Carol Liu, who represents Glendale, Pasadena and Burbank in the 21st District, on the topics. “The purpose of this Commission is to educate, elevate and empower women in Glendale,” Devine said. “That is our mission. That is my mission.” One of the commission’s focus is anti-bullying. Its program called “Hands and Words are Not for Hurting” involves kindergarten to senior high school students. This program allows students to pledge not to use their hands or their words to hurt themselves or others. All schools in the Glendale district
have joined this program since it started at the elementary school level five years ago. The commission has also worked with the Los Angeles Unified School District in creating a curriculum about teen dating violence. “College women ages 20 to 24 years old experienced the highest rate of rape and sexual assault followed by women 16 to 19 years old,” Devine said. In April, the commission will celebrate the programs that prevent sexual assault. Events during this awareness month include Take Back the Night, the Clothesline Project and Denim Day. The Take Back the Night Rally on April 28 is a march starting at the Young Women’s Christian Association in Glendale. Upon returning to the YWCA, marchers will view the Clothesline Project in which survivors of domestic violence designed T-shirts with testimonies and hopeful messages. On Denim Day, everyone is encouraged to wear denim jeans to protest the 1999 decision of the Italian Supreme Court in the rape of an 18-year-old girl. A judge overturned the rapist’s conviction after he learned that the girl’s jeans were too tight. He said the rapist could not have taken off her jeans by himself without her help. “Every year we wear denim to say that there is no excuse for rape. There is no excuse for abuse. There is no excuse for assault,” Devine said. “No matter what you wear. No matter what. When you say no, that means no.” Devine said that “we should be prepared,” so the commission is
Police Blotter
March 1: Two male students were involved in heated discussion on who would use the computer next at the library circulation desk. March 2: Student walked into the health center to complain about the non-enforcement of school’s smoking ban. It was reported that the student became irate. The student left before police arrived. March 9: Male and female students got into a very loud, verbal argument. March 10: String of burglaries target high-end SUV’s. Seven cars were broken into in Glendale, five on Brand Boulevard and two on campus on levels 4 and 5 of the parking structure. The thefts occurred in the early afternoon after the locks were punched out. Items reported missing are a cell phone and GPS units. Campus police were able to obtain fingerprints, which may lead to positive identification of the perpetrators.
“providing a self-defense class” for students at GCC. “I encourage everyone to go. It’s very effective. It was fascinating what I learned [in that class],” Marie Danielian, who does outreach to GCC students and the public, said. She also announced the new Women’s Health and Awareness Club at GCC. Danielian said the focus of the club is “to inform and educate” women and men about “social, political, psychological, health and economic issues that pertain to 21st century women.” The commission is an advisory commitee to the city council and has five members. More than 40 cities have a commission including Pasadena and Santa Monica. By assessing and evaluating the needs of women in Glendale, Devine said the commission “wants all of the women in Glendale to be successful, happy, healthy women [who are] able to take care of themselves emotionally and financially and ready for the world.” Devine said that she was
able to speak at GCC because of Danielian. “[Danielian] has many ideas and really shines at the Commission,” Devine said. “She’s very good at this. We are very proud of what she did.” Peggy Renner, professor of history, introduced the presentation and Devine with a history of women’s fight for employment and equal pay. Renner noted that people began questioning the issues at the federal and state level and asked if there were other ways to fight discrimination. “Women in Glendale decided we need to look at this issue,” Renner said. “What is the status of women in this town? What do we need to do? We want to see young women in our community effectively making contributions to the city using their energy, their knowledge, their skills.” Renner said the most rewarding part of being the women’s history month coordinator is “watching students exposed to the presentations.” “There are different groups
of students who are attracted to different events,” Renner said. “They will walk up and say, ‘Oh, that was really interesting’ and start to comment on it. And I just love that … to see that what we do here has a meaning for our students.” The next event is “Women’s Status and Global Population Growth” on Thursday at 12:30 p.m. at Kreider Hall. For a list of upcoming Women’s History Month events, please visit http://glendale. edu/Modules/ShowDocument. aspx?documentid=9859 or the GCC homepage. For more information about the Glendale Commission on the Status of Women, visit http:// www.ci.glendale.ca.us/women/ default.asp. To join the Women’s Health and Awareness Club, contact Marie at gccwomen@yahoo.com or go to the Women’s Health & Awareness page on Facebook.
Lillian Wu can be reached at Lillian_Wu@elvaq.com
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Wednesday, March 16, 2011
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NEWS
Student Workers Have Hours Reduced By Adriana Orellana EL VAQUERO STAFF WRITER
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any Glendale Community College workers from multiple departments have been affected by the recent cut back on their hours, some as many as by 10 hours, as well as the Student Employment Department implementing a hiring freeze. “We haven’t had a budget reduction, but we are taking these measures to stay within the budget, so that certain departments do not go over their allocated hours,” said Andra Verstraete, student employment director. Every department has a certain amount of hours allocated for student workers, and the department managers distribute them. One of the problems that Verstraete said was a cause for the hours reduction and hiring freeze was the over-hiring done and the extra amount of hours given to students that occurred. “The cut in hours has affected everything in my life,” said Ivette Khanlarian, cafeteria student worker. “I depend on this income to help my family and now I had
my 20 hours cut down to 10, and I need to re-budget.” During previous years, the departments relied on the Oracle computer program to keep track and print out a report of the student workers and the hours that each one of them worked. Now, they are relying on the Online Time and Labor program, which is fairly new to the departments and it is harder to keep track of student workers’ hours because it is inputted by hand. Student Employment services is working with the IT in the development of programs. Another problem is that certain departments have overrun their budgets by allowing students to work more hours, which will result in less hours for or the firing of student workers. “As of right now, we have implemented the reduction of all the students’ hours to 10 hours per week. After we get all of this sorted out we might have to fire some students, and we will give priority to those student workers who work in departments where they are serving students rather than staff, such as in the Transfer Center, Cafeteria, Admissions and Records, and Financial Aid,
Photo by Ian Cervantes
OFF THE CLOCK: Andra Verstraete, Director of Student Employment, answering a phone call amid taking questions about the recent hour reductions among student workers at Glendale Community College.
amongst others,” said Verstraete. Verstraete said that student workers should not be working more than 15 hours, and those who work up to 20 hours must do so with permission. Student workers are eligible to work if
they have a minimum of six units. For students who have nine to 12 units, GCC is more lenient on them being fulltime workers. “I had my hours cut down to 10 per week although I had received permission for 20 hours and I need to create a better budget,” said Ging Want, an international student from China who works in the cafeteria. “The worst part is that I cannot get a job outside of GCC because my student visa does not allow it.” Although there have not been any budget reductions for the current school year, there have been reductions in previous years from where students get paid. Students get paid through College CEP, Federal Work Study, and Cal Works Work Study. Some of the funding got cut by more than half. Student workers get hired through the Job Placement Center. They do not have to be eligible for financial aid, but those who fill out the FAFSA application may indicate if they are interested in
becoming student workers at the school they attend. It is important to note that being a student worker is a temporary job, which is from semester to semester. This is fair for every student, because even newer student workers get the opportunity to work. “Our main goals with the student worker program is to have students stay in school, obtain work experience, have an income supplement, and assist other students and departments,” said Verstraete. In 2003, GCC had about 1,000 student workers, due to the high number of allocated hours. During the spring 2011 semester there are 519 student workers in about 65 departments. Students may work up to 500 hours per year for a $4,000 student worker award payment. “The student worker program will stay intact, and it will not decimate,” said Verstraete. Adriana Orellana can be reached at adriana_orellana@elvaq.com
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NEWS
$3.5 Million Computer System Causes Concern By Lillian Wu
EL VAQUERO STAFF WRITER
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eopleSoft Campus Solutions, the online system implemented by Glendale Community College to help students enroll in courses, pay tuition and view financial aid, has faced complaints from students, faculty and staff about enrollment and usability issues. Superintendent/President of GCC Dawn Lindsay said, “I don’t know how long it’s going to take [to fix it] because I don’t know what other bugs and issues are going to be found. This was designed to help us to streamline our work and there have been some complications that have come out of it that have made it difficult to work with.” The current situation with PeopleSoft has left students worrying about registration. “It’s my second time registering online,” nursing student Shirley Mathew said. “The good thing is that you don’t have to come here to [register in person]. The only problem is when you run into problems getting into classes: you have to come here to clear it. “For my chemistry class, I already took the pre-requisites, but I had to see a counselor to clear it up. Fortunately, my class was still open by the time I officially registered. I’m pretty sure, though, that if I had gone the next day, I would have been on the waitlist.” Sun Mi Kim, an English major and international student, said she had problems registering for spring semester. “I went to Korea in the winter, so I missed my registration period,” Kim said. “I was on the waitlist for 12 units. I had to go to the classes and get a code from the teachers. “I didn’t just go one time. I kept asking, and they gave me the permission number, so I can add to the class. I was very nervous, and it was difficult.” Some GCC faculty and staff members have also been affected by PeopleSoft and have mixed feelings about it. Instructor of anthropology Wendy Fonarow said, “There have been pros and cons. There’s an issue now with the waitlist. The problem is people who are on the waitlist are added into the class even though there is a cap. Everyone on a waitlist thinks they are in the class.
“In the abstract, it’s a really good system. [Admissions and Records] and students need to get on the same system together. [But] it was a hard time to roll out [PeopleSoft] especially during the enrollment crunch.” Instructor of information systems Frank Moss said that he was “not a big fan of PeopleSoft.” While at Oracle, Moss had worked with PeopleSoft in some instances in 1992 and later throughout the years. “It has not changed a lot especially since 2005,” Moss said. “They have that layer underneath the user interface that scripting language that slows things down. I never liked that. “I can’t use the PeopleSoft menus on my iPad or on my mobile device because it won’t run. That’s something else that needs to be fixed. That was also a leftover from the PeopleSoft [team].” Because of the problems, Moss keeps all the grades on his own Excel spreadsheets, “I create my own spreadsheets and just download the data. The only other thing I could do is put in final grades and drop students from the class.” Dana Nartea, student services program coordinator at GCC, said, “This is quite a complex system, and I am still trying to understand its multiple functionalities. We’re just in the middle of implementing a very important system component, the student degree audit, which enables the student and their counselor to monitor the student’s academic progress.” Reed Anderson, the director of development and implementation of administrative information services, said that the completion of PeopleSoft took awhile, because it was a completely new system. “We work on any problems received as they happen. It’s a big system and there are a lot of pieces to it,” said Anderson. GCC previously had an inhouse system developed by the information technology department. The system, which lasted for approximately 20 years, included the registration process, student fee payments and counseling. In 2003, GCC decided to install Oracle, which is the system used for finance and accounting records. Oracle also attempted to create a new student system, but
it failed in development. Oracle bought PeopleSoft, a competitor that had its own enterprise software, and told GCC it could provide PeopleSoft as an alternative. In November 2007 GCC decided to use PeopleSoft. The implementation for version 9.0 started in spring 2009. Since its completion, GCC started using the system for summer 2010 registration. Executive Vice President of Administrative Services Ron Nakasone said, “We had never gone through this process with an enterprise system.” GCC selected Ciber, a consultant firm, because they had the most experience in implementing PeopleSoft. “For the PeopleSoft itself, we got it free because we had purchased Oracle,” Nakasone said. “What we paid for Oracle, I don’t remember. I could tell you that we spent about $3.5 million on the implementation for the student system. “We’ve had a Title V grant that helped, we’ve had financial aid money that has helped, and we’ve had some college money. But 90 plus percent has been Measure G.” Title V is a grant that helps with the overall campus. Measure G allowed improvements to college facilities and information technologies. The funds were spent on servers, hardware, Ciber consultants and personnel to install them. Board of Trustees President Anthony Tartaglia said, “We have spent a lot of money on this program. These systems are not inexpensive.” GCC completed many of its goals when they implemented PeopleSoft. The first goal was selecting an enterprise system, which meant a fully integrated system that would share databases. With the older GCC system, a student had to inform multiple offices about a new address. But with PeopleSoft, a student could type their address online and the modules would be able to access it at once. Another goal was to upgrade the existing student service system. This meant giving students more information online about admission and records, financial aid and student fees. The final goal was adding a system to the Garfield campus. “Our old system didn’t have all the functionality that Garfield
needed,” Nakasone said. Nakasone gave a few examples of “the bells and whistles” that GCC still has “to get right.” GCC is trying to improve the student education plan for counseling and the Board of Governors fee waiver application for financial aid. Currently, students who pay with a credit card and want a refund will receive it by check. GCC would like the refund to go directly to the credit card. The “functionality is there,” but they “haven’t got it to work and fully test it yet.” Additional improvements include student notifications for billing, warnings about failing classes and informing waitlisted students that they are in a class. Lindsay stressed how important it was for PeopleSoft to work. “We need to make sure that we can get the reports out of it, because a lot of the decisions the college makes is based on the data that comes out of the PeopleSoft information. We have a tremendous need to make sure that we get this thing right.” Tartaglia said, “As a campus, we have seen integration problems with PeopleSoft. The board of trustees wants to make sure the system works appropriately for the campus, and we are doing everything to ensure that the dollars are spent properly.” In the areas that worked, Lindsay said that PeopleSoft has “done a good job of facilitating the needs of the various user groups.” “The students or the faculty or staff are utilizing the sections that are working really well,” she said. Fonarow said, “It’s good to implement a new system and technology. One of the best potential aspects is the Glendale account where we could have direct contact with the students. It provides an official way for students and teachers to reach out to each other.” Many students also saw the benefits of using the system. Kim said, “I could see my classes in the shopping cart. [Going] online is easy to register for classes.” For Mathew, “not waiting in line” was the best part. “I took classes here in high school and in order to register for classes, I had to come here and show them my counselor’s signature. It was a very long process, so I think online registration is much faster and in some cases easier.”
Students and faculty have suggestions for improving PeopleSoft. An easy to view format with information such as registration dates is one of the requests from Mathew. “For some reason, the format confuses me,” Mathew said. “The important stuff is on the side and sometimes I don’t read the sides. It should be in the middle when you first log on.” Before, students were unable to look at their unofficial transcripts online. Mathew is “glad” that the option is available now. “It’s hard for me to look it up because I have to go to academic [and other tabs]. Put it in a different format. I always want to look at my transcript and what I need to do now, because college is all about planning for the future. I want to have easy access to that and how much I owe.” Moss said, “It would be nice if they could implement a grade book and attendance records. But integrating it with the rest of the database might be a challenge. “It would be interesting if we could perhaps get a student project together and make changes to the database and application.” Moss suggested giving the students a chance to work on the issues by providing them with class credit or a wage. Students can gain work experience and learn how to solve current problems. “I know for a fact that we have very talented students who could help out with the program,” Moss said. “My goal has always been to apply real world problems to the class.” Lindsay would like the campus “to continue keeping us aware of what the frustrations and the issues are.” “Our assurance to the students is that as we continue to have problems with the software that make it not user friendly as it should be, then we need to fix it,” Lindsay said.
Lillian Wu can be reached at Lillian_Wu@elvaq.com
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NEWS
Jony Valenzuela Thinks Over the Topology By Nik Brkic
EL VAQUERO STAFF WRITER
Cover Story
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Photo by Ian Cervantes
LET X = AN UNKNOWN QUANTITY: Jony Valenzuela is thinking all the time — frequently about the relationships of shapes and numerical sequences.
o not stereotype Jony Valenzuela as a math nerd. He does not have a pocket protector, but this GCC student can crunch some serious numbers. Valenzuela has used math to overcome adversity and succeed in school. Valenzuela grew up in an environment that did not help cultivate his thinking skills. “Growing up in Van Nuys, you would see gang members like the Bloods around all the time. It was the social norm to be a gang member.” Another example of his social setting having an effect on his education was when he was offered entry into the Gifted and Talented Education program in elementary school. He decided against it because at that time he would rather “be with the homies.”
Out of high school, he did not know what his plans were. “I’ve pretty much always liked math. I just liked the reasoning behind it,” Valenzuela said. “I started to study math on my own right after high school, and that’s when I decided that I should major in it.” Valenzuela has always thought on a deep level, but did not have a subject to critically think about. “The only thing that I feel that I couldn’t have done without college is study Topology, and that’s because it might have not caught my attention and I wouldn’t have had Dr. (Thomas) Voden’s help.” He likes the abstractness of Topology. “You can’t really hold many of the ideas at a tangible level,” Valenzuela said. Voden shed light on both the subject of Topology and Valenzuela as a student: “Jony took an independent study course where we studied Topology. This was upper division work... junior or senior level work for a
math major.” Voden described Topology as “rubber space mathematics. That type of math attempts to show that two objects are the same if morphed. An example is that a square and sphere are the same. If you could push the ends of the square, it could become a sphere.” Voden’s assessment of Valenzuela was glowing: “Jony is intensely curious about math. When he gives answers they are not the standard answers. They are indicative of a deeper level of thinking.” Valenzuela says he plans to transfer to UC Santa Barbara or UC San Diego next semester. Jony is a great success story. He shows that one can achieve success by focusing and putting significant effort into life. In Jony’s words: “Mine is a story of adversity, not genius.”
Nik Brkic can be reached at nik_brkic@elvaq.com
Health Center has Plenty to Offer By Erica White
EL VAQUERO STAFF WRITER
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Photo by Mario Camino
IT’S A MONEY THING: California’s budget deficit and the drastic shortfalls expected next year are reaching a boiling point, with several members of the student body and faculty marching in Sacramento this week. As a result of this shortfall, cancellation of the summer and winter intersessions is likely, and further cuts, including fine arts and athletics, are being discussed. Shown above: Tayra Quinones, ASGCC Senator of Relations holds a sign at a rally in Plaza Vaquero to protest tuition being raised from $26 per unit to $66 per unit.
he had them start the session with their eyes closed and mini self-evaluations of which body part was relaxed. Room 243 in the Administration building is quiet and cool. The lights are off and the blinds are open, letting in the natural light of a typical sunny California winter day. Movement is allowed, but it should be slow, mindful. Scratching must be deliberate, thoughtful and considerate of others, so as not to disrupt anyone else’s groove. “Whatever experience you have, it’s the right one for you,” Jeanne Townsend, the meditation facilitator, said. It is the second meeting of the six-week Learn to Meditate lecture series sponsored by the Health Center and Staff Development. For six consecutive Wednesdays from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m., Townsend will come to campus and teach faculty, staff and students techniques from her meditation toolbox. “With meditation, we are doing three things: building concentration, sensory clarity,
and equanimity,” she said. The group consists mostly of faculty and staff with a few students sprinkled among them. Staff development personnel Bill Shamhart has been practicing meditation since he was a young adult. “[I’m] interested in personal growth and different styles of meditation,” Shamhart said. He is a rarity among the group as most are new to the practice. Townsend eases everyone’s concerns about “doing it right.” “You’re on a journey of discovery,” Townsend said. All she asks of her participants is that they be kind to themselves and have a gentle curiosity. Curiosity is not only needed to find inner peace on the GCC campus. It’s also, and encouraged, to find out what’s going on at the Health Center. Adjacent and to the right of the Administration building, past the coffee kiosk near the first floor of the San Rafael building is the Health Center. A GCC student ID number is all that is required for the primarily walk-in services provided. The Health Center is solely supported on the mandatory
$15 health fee added to GCC’s registration fees, Joy Cook associated dean of disabled students program and services said Dietician Intern Lauren Medeiros is one of 12 Cal Poly Pomona graduate students on rotation at the Health Center. She and others address student nutrition concerns. Medeiros provides in-depth nutritional advice and helps students figure out often confusing body mass index calculations and realistic health weight goals. “Don’t limit yourself,” Medeiros said. “If you want a cookie go ahead and have a cookie. It’s all about moderation. You’re never going to stick to a diet unless you’re able to have what you want.” Medeiros also shows students a free website called Spark people (www.sparkpeople.com) that has weight, goals and calorie trackers. Before goals are set and weight loss or maintenance can commence, Medeiros suggests that a person’s Basil Metabolic Rate (how many calories the body burns at rest) is calculated. [See Health Center, page 7]
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FEATURES
Health Center Offers a Variety of Services [Health from page 6] This also helps determine how many calories a person should consume to maintain weight or to lose it. “You have to take it all into consideration with your lifestyle, to set healthy weight loss goals,” Medeiros said. Medeiros is thorough and genuinely concerned. She is open and often asks if there are any questions. She notes that the service is invaluable. “[The school] saw the benefit of having other students come in and teach students about nutrition. If you go to an outpatient dietician its $500 an hour or more. We can help people who need help. Most people can’t afford that,” Medeiros said. Help and education is the foundation of the Health Center. “The mission of the Health Center is to serve students and meet student needs. And to educate students so that they are able to make their own health decisions,” Cook said. The Health Center staff is warm. The atmosphere is
reminiscent of the theme song to the TV show “Cheers,” where everybody knows your name, and they’re always glad you came. Registered nurse Sharon Horejsi beams. She is one of two RN’s working at the Health Center. Any student wishing to see a dietician or a mental health counselor must pass through Horejsi first. The procedure is simple. A brief introduction, an explanation of the reason for the visit, and then an appointment time is given. Horejsi talks freely and eagerly about the services rendered. It is clear she enjoys what she does. “Most people think ‘school nurse, what do they know,’ but we have a few nurses here that work in the intensive care unit,” Horejsi said. “We all have very diverse background.” Horejsi herself has 20 years of extensive training as a registered nurse. “We usually deal with a lot of injuries. Broken arms and ankles. Once, we had a student come in that got into a motorcycle
accident. He was so pumped from adrenaline that he hadn’t realized he was hurt until he came to school,” Horejsi said. “At times we go out on runs. During those times we take the emergency bag,” Horejsi said, pointing at a carry-on sized rolling suitcase. “You never know what’s going to come through that door.” All services at the Health Center are free, as long as it is acute and not a chronic condition although there are some exceptions. A nurse practitioner comes in once a month for women’s health appointments. For $28 women can get a pap smear. The nurse practitioner also does tests for sexually transmitted diseases. Doctors from Glendale Adventist Hospital rotate and come in once a month as well. Pregnancy tests are available for $5, and tuberculosis skin tests are free. Over the counter medicines such as aspirin and cough syrup are provided free to credited GCC students once they have signed out for them. The Health
Center also has a cot room allowing students to rest for up to an hour. Calling 911 is always a backup for more serious conditions such as trouble breathing or chest pains, but the Health Center is more than able to accommodate until emergency services arrive. All students will benefit from a 45 to 50 minute session with mental health counselor Crescent Orpelli. It can be intimidating speaking candidly about fears and concerns with an attentive listener present. Especially when the communication of today is done so remotely through Facebook, texting and telephones. But Orpelli is so welcoming and sincere that information will flow freely. “It’s a great way to have a confidential conversation with no agenda other than the agenda you want for yourself,” Orpelli said. Mental health counselors deal with a range of issues. Students can come and talk freely about sexual identity, academic stress, grief, loss and relationships. “It’s a really powerful service
and it’s free to the students,” Orpelli said. At different times during the year men and women support groups are offered that correlate with student issues along with individual sessions. “That’s the beauty of counseling, it matches your needs,” Orpelli said. Orpelli also brings speakers to campus to talk about wellness. On March 22 Orpelli will have a speaker lecture on non-violent communication/compassionate communication. The lecture promises to teach a way to communicate with others in a way that inspires authenticity, openness and compassion. More details to be announced as the date approaches. The Health Center is open Monday through Thursday 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Friday 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Appointments can be made by calling (818) 551-5189. TB skin tests are done Monday, Tuesday and Friday. All students are welcome. Erica White can be reached at Erica_White@elvaq.com
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OPINION
Immigration Initiative Unlikely to Work By Vanessa Duffy
EL VAQUERO STAFF WRITER
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he dreamed of being a nurse. She worked hard through high school, has glowing recommendations from her college professors and volunteered hundreds of hours at hospitals. Employers were offering her immediate positions when she graduated. So why isn’t she carrying out her dream? She can’t get through the application process because she doesn’t have a Social Security number. Gregory Perkins, counselor for the Extended Opportunity Programs and Services (EOPS) at Glendale, was somber when telling the story of this anonymous student. “We’re losing a lot of talent because our system is broken,”
said Perkins. Immigrants come to the U.S. to fulfill the American dream, but there is a short ceiling to what they can accomplish. Those who pursue an education basically have a meaningless degree until there is immigration reform. Unless an employer sponsors them with a work visa. There is a new immigration initiative that might be on the ballot in 2012. If it gets 433,000 signatures, it may annihilate any hope illegal students have of having a career. Initiative proponent Michael Erickson is the writer and sponsor for the Arizona-like initiative. It’s still essentially racial profiling, but apparently not “as” discriminatory as Arizona’s AB1070. The difference between the proposed initiative and the Arizona law is that police can only question your legal status
if you are already in violation of law. For example, on the California initiative, if a person is pulled over for speeding, and the police officer has reason to suspect that the person is illegal, that officer will contact a federal immigration authority, like border patrol, to check the person’s immigration status. But if those agencies can’t get the answer in short order they have to let the person go. With the Arizona law, a person can get pulled over for just looking “illegal.” According to section 4B of the initiative, police may claim “suspicion” if someone does not have one of the following forms of identification: 1. A valid California driver’s license 2. A valid California identification card
3. A valid tribal enrollment card or other form of tribal identification 4. A valid passport
United
States
5. A valid passport issued by another country containing a valid visa document issued by the United States 6. Any valid United States federal, state or local government issued identification. Arizona is having a lot of backlash from its AB1070 immigration law. So why should California pass a law that is already being proved a failure? “The thinking is, if the court rules in favor of the Arizona law, the illegals would flee Arizona and flood into California,” said Trace Gallagher, news anchor for Fox News. “[Erickson and supporters] want to get a strict law in the books for California quickly.” The initiative will hit hard on businesses with illegal employees. The crime for employers who hire illegal immigrants either knowingly or unknowingly will be punishable by a large fine and possible incarceration. Violation of this law will be a prosecutable offense brought against the employer by the county district attorney who will determine whether or not to pursue a federal criminal prosecution. The employer will be required to terminate the employment of all unauthorized aliens and sign a sworn affidavit that they have done so. The business will then be subject to a three-year probationary period during which the employer will file quarterly reports on all new employees. They will have to register and use the e-verify program for employment eligibility. The court may also order the appropriate agencies to suspend all licenses for a minimum of 10 business days. The court may impose fines between $5,000 and $10,000 for a second violation. “This is a time [when] we should be pulling together,” said Perkins. “The state economy would be in trouble if this passed. [The illegal immigrants] play a role that keeps down the daily cost of living.”
“If a strict immigration law passes in California, it would amount to a decrease in California’s labor force,” said Rose-Marie Payan, economics instructor at Glendale. She said the supply of unskilled labor will decrease. Employers would be forced to raise market wages to attract workers into many of the manual labor-type positions. “Initially, this may seem attractive to a state that is facing over 12 percent unemployment. However, there are real costs associated with the potential new law,” said Payan. “For one, food prices will rise along with the prices for many services. Also, voters would have to consider the fact that there would be substantial costs of policing and enforcing the new immigration policy.” For illegal immigrant students, this will make the ability to fund their education extremely challenging since they do not qualify for financial aid, grants, scholarships or other waivers. “I came here to get an education so I can have a good career and provide a better life for my sons,” said EOPS student Karina, who is here illegally. “[America] has a good society and I want to be able to keep my family safe.” Relief for these students has been proposed by the Dream Act, which stands for Development, Relief and Education of Alien Minors Act. It helps individuals who meet certain requirements have an opportunity to enlist in the military or go to college and have a path to citizenship that they otherwise would not have without this legislation. The U.S. House of Representatives passed the bill on Dec. 8, 2010 by a vote of 216 to 198 but fell short by five votes in the Senate and failed 55 to 41. Those who voted against the bill said that the issue of immigration has to be “priority.” President Obama commented on the failure and said that his administration will not give up on the Dream Act or fixing the immigration system. For more information about Erickson’s immigration initiative, visit supportimmigration.org. Vanessa Duffy can be reached at vanessa_duffy@elvaq.com
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Wednesday, March 16, 2011
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OPINION
Pence Amendment Strips Planned Parenthood By Christine Gillette EL VAQUERO STAFF WRITER
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n Feb. 18, the House of Representatives voted and passed the Pence Amendment proposed by Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.), which would federally defund Planned Parenthood. One might ask, what is Planned Parenthood? Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. is the largest family planning provider in the U.S. that offers contraceptives, contraceptive counseling, cancer screenings, testing and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases, menopause treatments, and other services primarily for low-income families. Why should this matter to students? If Planned Parenthood is stripped of its funds, more people will go untreated for sexually transmitted diseases, there will be more undetected cancers, and there will be more unwanted pregnancies.
According to Planned Parenthood’s statement to CNN, the Pence Amendment will strip the organization, along with 102 other affiliated groups, of federal funding, which is estimated to cut off 48 percent of their patients. For approximately 1.4 million of those patients, this is their only source of health care. The next question is why would someone want to stop funding this organization? Mike Pence believes that this amendment is a stand for Americans who believe that their tax dollars shouldn’t be used to financially support the largest abortion provider in America. “Nobody is saying Planned Parenthood can’t be the leading advocate of abortion on demand, but why do I have to pay for it?” Pence said when the amendment passed. This is where the misconception lies. Planned Parenthood receives most of its funding from Title X, a U.S. government program that was signed into law to provide family
planning services. According to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, under Title X’s statute and regulations, the federal funding the organization receives cannot be used for abortion services. Although Planned Parenthood provides these services, they are all privately funded. Also, the Hyde Amendment that passed in congress in 1976 prohibits the use of federal funding on abortions. So, is this an attack on abortion or women’s health care? In the beginning of this year, a Los Angeles based anti-abortion group called “Live Action” went around visiting different clinics posing as pimps and prostitutes who sought out health services for underage sex workers while videotaping these staged events. One video was released to the media of a New Jersey Planned Parenthood clinic manager who offered some advice to the imposters. The organization had already suspected that the visits were staged and reported the
incidents to the FBI before the videos were released to the media. The manager was still fired but pressure on Planned Parenthood remained because in February the Pence Amendment was proposed. This was a good platform for the proponents of the amendment. Even though the country may be suffering economic turmoil, the federal government should not cut off Planned Parenthood under these accusations, especially if there are some people that will have no source of health care if it is defunded. How do students feel about the proposal of defunding Planned Parenthood? “Maybe not cut it off completely, just states that may use the services less or are less populated,” freshman Natalie Pembedjian said. “I still want what’s best for everybody though.” Caroon Al-Reyes, a freshman, thinks that the amendment would not be fair to everyone. “It’s just not fair because some people don’t have any other health
insurance or any other choice and they need Planned Parenthood’s services,” Al-Reyes said. Women are not the only ones who would be affected. Children and men will be affected too as this organization is for all that are in need of its services. Many young men who are not too aware of what Planned Parenthood is or the services that they can provide. “I’m not too informed about it, but what I know about it I think there are people out there who could really benefit from it,” Jisun Lee, a film and photography major, said. Whether one agrees with abortion or not should not be the issue right now. What matters is that there are people in America who depend on Planned Parenthood as their source of health care and these people should not be denied of their right to have it. This should be a fight for health care, not abortion. Christine Gillette can be reached at Christine_Gillette@elvaq.com
Texting and Driving Can Lead to Fatal Accidents By Toni Davis
EL VAQUERO STAFF WRITER
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tudies show that each year, 21 percent of fatal car accidents involving 16- to 19-year-olds were the result of cell phone distraction. More than 60 percent of teen drivers admit to risky driving and almost half of those teens admit to texting and driving. On Tuesday, Jorge Acevedo, Glendale Police Volunteer, brought a damaged truck to the Glendale Community College Campus for students to see how dangerous texting a driving is. “Technology is advancing, but at the same time people are getting to comfortable and not aware of their surroundings…everyone need to pay attention and stay alert on the road,” said Acevedo. According to Harvard University study, cell phones cause more than 200 deaths and half a million injuries a year. Most young drivers ignore the cell phone use restrictions, almost 50 percent of drivers ages 18 to 24, text or answer phone calls while driving. Cell phones draw a driver’s attention away from the road, whether it be a text message,
phone call, or uploading a quick Facebook status. Drivers using a cell phone are four times more likely to get into an accident than a driver who is undistracted. 80 percent of accidents are caused by driver distractions nationally, while only 33 percent are caused by drunk driving. Carissa Porter, a sophomore, walked past the damaged truck with her jaw dropped. “Wow,” Porter was speechless and looked at the truck once more, “All of my friends text and drive. I don’t because I know anything can happen while you’re driving and it’s not worth your life or anyone else’s,” she says. “But I hope students really look at this truck, I mean I even see people texting while they find a parking space, technology is truly taking over.” Students continued to look at the truck, some closer than others, some even took pictures for themselves. When students were told that this truck was involved in a texting and driving accident, people were shocked. Jonathan Moran, walked by with a few friends and stopped to look. “It’s crazy this happen from a texting and driving accident,”
he said, “to be honest with you I text and drive quite a lot, but now seeing this I will stick to using Bluetooth and wait ‘til I get to my destination to text.”
“I want to save a life. Life is precious,” said Acevedo, “everyone has a choice. Life is about choices. If you love life as I do, do not text or talk on the phone
while driving or as a pedestrian anywhere, anytime.” Toni Davis can be reached at Toni_Davis@elvaq.com
Photo by Mike Girod
GETTING SMASHED: Text driving may be as dangerous as drunk driving as this fatality wreck demonstrates.
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ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT
Culinary Arts Students
Host Wednesday Lunch W Photo by Richard Kontas
LET THEM EAT CAKE: Assistant chef instructor Andrew Ayers, above, oversees the banquet table; Chef instructor Andrew Feldman, top center photo, right, consults with culinary arts student Robert Sencion; hospitality management major Yana Johnson helps serve food, upper right.
ednesday Meals provides a full and complete meal at a great price for Glendale Community College students and staff, put together by the Culinary Arts department and the Hospitality and Management Tourism Department. “We are a close knit family when we put ‘Wednesday Meals’ together because we all know each other and we work together as a team, without any competitiveness between us,” said Erika Ponte, a hospitality and tourism management student. The set up and service throughout the meal is impeccable and patrons feel well taken care of, whether they are sitting inside the dining room or the wonderfully set up outside eating area. “The set up is done by the hospitality and tourism management students, who also serve the food,” said Susie Keyvanian, hospitality and tourism management program assistant. The meals are made by culinary arts students, under the supervision and instruction of Chef Andrew Ayers and Chef Andrew Feldman. The meal served on March 9 was a buffet themed “Soul Food,” which student Yana Johnson said included double eggs with crab, tomato and cucumber salad, black-eyed peas, hush puppies (corn meal based), collard greens, macaroni and cheese, pork chops, Catfish, sweet potato biscuits, corn bread, banana pudding, and iced tea. “Students will start with the Culinary Arts 111 class, which is the basic class on food preparation and then onto the 112 class, which is on advanced food
Story by Adriana Orellana
preparation, but we have students from both of those classes helping out,” said Ayers. A lot of students put their dedication and hard work into the meals that they make throughout the program. “I want to get an associate’s degree in culinary arts, and I plan to move to New York and attend a culinary arts school,” said Robert Sencion, a culinary arts student who is in his second semester. There are three areas that the culinary arts department offers specialization in: culinary, dietary, and hospitality. “The students put in nine hours per week, meeting twice a week, and I try to enforce the 10,000 hours theory, which focuses on practice makes perfect,” said Feldman. The students who participate and put together the Wednesday restaurant schedule are put into teams every time they have to work together, but are rotated so that they can obtain different experiences from the different areas they work in. “This is a great experience for these students because they learn many things such as soft skills like greeting, communication skills, teamwork, awareness of surroundings, achievement of guest satisfaction, and the rotation or different tasks through work experience and although they make mistakes, they will learn and manage, ” said Dennis Ma, program outreach manager of hospitality and tourism management. Ma, who attended GCC, hopes to improve the program and hopes the
Photos by Ian Cervantes
students will help as well in moving it forward. “We learn things here that will help us on the outside world and we realize why those things work and why they must be done,” said Ponte, who has worked at Red Robin for five years. Students who obtain an associate’s degree in hospitality and tourism management may continue to work on in areas like hotels and management, and must take a banquet and catering course and a dining room course to obtain their certificate. Michael Lao, hospitality and tourism management program director, also wishes to expand the teaching of hospitality and tourism to other areas, and he is currently working with Homeboy Industries, a program which offers counseling, tutoring, and employment for at-risk youth and gang members, in teaching the Homegirls how to get into hospitality. Upcoming themes include: Hawaiian on March 16, Bayou Blast on March 30, Mediterranean on April 20, and Tex-Mex on May 4. The last “Wednesday” meal of the semester will be on May 18 and will be themed Titanic, inspired by the last meal the passengers ate on the ill-fated trip. “For our Titanic Hall of Fame dinner, we usually expect about 160 people,” said Lao. “Communication is very important here, and we don’t order the students and have the students organize themselves,” said Ma. “This is where everything comes into play, and it is stressful to do this, but you learn to let go, and no two days are the same.”
“Wednesday Meals” are served in the Los Robles dining room from noon to 1 p.m. The cost is $6.95 for students with ID and
$8.95 for regular admission. For the May 18 “Wednesday Meal” the cost will be $8 for students with ID and $10 for regular admission. For reservations call Vera Paragouteva at (818) 240-1000 ext. 3210 or email verap@glendale.edu
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ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT
‘Dance for Equality’ a Raving Success By Jane Pojawa
EL VAQUERO EDITOR IN CHIEF
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n 2008 the California Marriage Protection Act, also known as Proposition 8, took away the right of same-sex couples to marry in the state of California. The Courage Campaign has been working for its repeal ever since, and a March 2 event, “Dance for Equality” raised more than $20,000 towards that goal. It was a great week for street art. English “Exit Through the Gift Shop” director Bank$y was in Los Angeles for the Academy Awards and celebrated his nomination for best documentary by exuberantly tagging South Central with his signature thought-provoking stencils. A few days later, his Los Angeles-based counterpart Shepard Fairey, known also as “the Obey guy” and the artist who designed Barrack Obama’s Hope campaign poster, was spinning records at the Courage Campaign’s “Dance for Equality” fundraiser. The event featured celebrity DJ sets by Fairey, The Crystal Method and Moby at the Avalon in Hollywood to raise money for legal efforts defending marriage equality and the defeat of Proposition 8. About 1,200 people attended, largely drawn from the Courage Campaign’s collaboration with MoveOn, a grassroots political group with about five million members nationwide. MoveOn is strongly in favor of minority rights and the repeal of Proposition 8, so the event was a natural fit for the two organizations. Rick Jacobs, the Courage Campaign’s Chairman and Founder, gives credit to Laura Dawn, MoveOn’s cultural director for putting the event together. “We really owe the success of this event to Laura,” he said. Jacobs is optimistic that Prop. 8 will be overturned and soon; as early as this year, possibly into 2013 at the latest. “The crime is that every single day that people can’t get married, lives are being changed and in some cases lost,” he said adding that marriage equality is an issue that people who are not denied the opportunity tend to take for granted. When asked if Bank$y was in attendance, Jacobs laughed.
“Well, he didn’t make himself known, but if he was, I hope he had a good time.” Bank$y has never been publically identified. It is almost impossible to go anywhere in urban Los Angeles and not see evidence of Fairey’s Obey campaign featuring the iconic image of wrestler Andre the Giant. Fairey, who is married and a father of two, is a strong proponent of social causes including economic justice, advocacy for the disabled and marriage equality. His work as a DJ is less well-known, but certainly appreciated, by those who have heard him spin house music under the names DJ Diabetic and Emcee Insulin, a reference to his diabetes. His set on this particular rainy evening included a lot of old school classics including Marvin Gaye’s “Sexual Healing,” Stereo MCs’ “Connected,” “Genius of Love,” by the Tom Tom Club, and a cover of Indeep’s “Last Night a DJ Saved My Life.” Fairey’s style is decidedly non-flashy, but the mix of the new and the familiar quickly filled the dance floor. Electronic music superstars The Crystal Method, composed of Ken Jordan and Scott Kirkland, are best known for the driving dance beats featured in songs like “Name of the Game” and “Trip Like I Do.” In this dynamic set, the duo took turns dancing and playing music. Crystal Method originals were interspersed with some remixes, notably Depeche Mode’s hit “Personal Jesus.” Kirkland took an active political stance exhorting the audience to see “Milk,” a movie depicting the political rise and assassination of openly gay politician Harvey Milk, and “8: The Mormon Proposition,” a documentary about how the Mormon church, through its front group The National Organization For Marriage, bankrolled Proposition 8 in California. Proposition 8 denies samesex couples the right to marry and consequently deprives them of around 200 legal rights that heterosexual couples enjoy. The message was enthusiastically received by the predominantly heterosexual 30-something audience, who seemed to be attending more for the extraordinary DJs than the political message.
Photo by Drew Ressler
AMBIENT BUT NOT AMBIVALENT: Electronica superstar Moby plays to a capacity crowd for the Courage
Campaign’s marriage equality fundraiser.
At $25 to $35 a ticket, $100 for VIP seating, “Dance for Equality” was one of the best concert values of the week as well. The event raised more than $20,000 for the Courage Campaign, which is now 750,000 members strong. “When people know each other, barriers break down,” said Jacobs. “And [love] makes the country stronger. The fight for marriage equality is being fought on two fronts: legal action and public awareness. He encourages college students to visit the website http://testimony. couragecampaign.org/ to see how the denial of equal rights to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people directly affects them and add their own story as well. Moby’s pioneering loops and
melodic style showcased in songs like “Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?” have made him arguably the most successful artist in the ambient electronica genre, with his album “Play” selling 10 million copies worldwide. He’s a dynamic performer as well, and the already-packed dance floor undulated with united movement. Moby, who is openly bisexual and not married, considers himself a Christian, is a vegan, supports numerous social causes and has a laissez-faire approach to the role of the government in the lives of its citizens. Preventing marriage between two consenting adults would constitute a violation of their civil rights as far as he is concerned. And yet Moby did not talk about politics or human rights.
He played music and danced. And everyone – men and women, gay and straight, younger and older, VIP and general admission, bartenders, activists, waitresses and security guards – danced with him, and the energy of him dancing with 1,200 people sent a clear message: Californians support love. Street art and house music started as small gestures that grew into movements, and the National Organization for Marriage may find that marriage equality can’t be denied either. The final decision rests with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and the California Supreme Court.
Jane Pojawa can be reached at Jane_Pojawa@elvaq.com
Friday Flix Schedule for Spring Earn flex credit and watch classic movies on Blu-Ray in the GCCTV studios, SG 334, free every Friday at 12:30 p.m. through the spring semester.
March 18 — Waking Ned Devine 25 — Repulsion
April 1— It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World 8 — Some Like it Hot 15 — SPRING BREAK — NO FILM 22 — The Adventures of Robin Hood 29 — A.I. Artificial Intelligence
May 6 — The Princess Bride 13 — The Bridge on the River Kwai 20 — Titanic (pt. 1) 27 — Titanic (pt.2)
June 3 — The Graduate
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Wednesday, March 16, 2011
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ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT / REVIEWS
‘Killzone 3’ Can’t Compete with ‘Call of Duty’ By Marlon Miranda EL VAQUERO STAFF WRITER
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uerrilla Games started as Lost Boys games, they had middle school hits like “SpongeBob SquarePants,” “Tiny Toon Adventures” and the sixth grade classic “Rhino Rumble.” When they moved to a more teen demographic, they failed to abandon their elementary beginnings. From Shellshock to the Killzone series, there has been one common theme in all the games Guerrilla releases, the games have graphics to drool for but gameplay that fails to fill the pallet. The Killzone franchise since its inception was labeled the “Halo Killer,” the game that would help Sony dethrone the mighty green empire that is Microsoft. Sadly, through three installments, Killzone has never been able to live up to the hype. Killzone 3 failed to deliver anything other than disappointment and regret. How can a game have more than 70 minutes of cutscenes and not have anything that resembles aplot? The story is so horrible, gamers will think it was written by M. Night Shyamalan. The story begins right after the events of Killzone 2. Before a gamer can shoot a round, gamers will come across multiple cutscenes that give an “Inception” type of feeling. Tomas Sevchenko and Rico Velasquez are the heroes of the game and both tout a poor mans Marcus Fenix feel. The villian is Jorhan Stahl a chairman
with ambitions to destroy earth. Gears of War much? This might be Killzone 3 but the story has been told a million times before. Campaign mode is boring, with cutscenes that add no emotion to the gameplay. There are a few bright spots here and there, but not enough to keep gamers awake the six hours it will take to pass the game. Everyone would agree that by far the third installment is the best of the series, but that really isn’t saying much. Sony tried to do everything possible to get gamers into Killzone 3. They made the game more compatible, which is cool, but otherwise it fails miserably. Moving your character side to side and aiming becomes a hassle instead of a joy. Sony even included a free copy of Killzone 3 with a purchase of a new Playstation 3 console. According to Marc Saltzman, a staff writer for USA Today, Killzone 3 is so packed with features that it barely fits on a Blu-ray disc. Of the 50 GB of space, there is only 10 percent available. Without Blu-ray, the game would fill nine DVDs. Where are all the features? Where did all the space go? Graphics and immense levels are not enough to justify 40 GB. The multiplayer mode is simple. Gamers get to choose from basic classes that carry basic guns. One would interpret the feeling of nostalgia playing this type of basic game, the nostalgia is from the feeling that this type of multiplayer experience belongs
KILLZONE 3: Who knew that blowing things up could be so boring? in a Nintendo 64 not a PS3. The few guns in the game are only worsened by the fact that all the guns are similar. Gamers will find themselves frustrated by the lack of weapons and lack of modes in multiplayer mode. It is the generic version of Halo with not one ounce of tactic involved in gameplay. The fun of blowing everything up and the awe factor of watching everything blow up in cutscenes after the first three minutes. There is no strategy in holding the trigger button until
everything in the screen blows up. The developers of Killzone 3, Guerilla, must have put most of their efforts on visual effects, that is the only part of the game worth a nickel. Style over substance won’t cut it in today’s first-person shooter market. It might be a thrill for toddlers, but post adolescence gamers will find this game boring and a waste of time. The one cool thing about Killzone is that you can play it from a 3-D TV. Sadly this feature is useless to most gamers.
Nielsen’s State of the Media survey showed that only 2 percent of Americans own a 3-D TV. In the end, shiny graphics and gimmicks couldn’t save this boring action game. Killzone should change its name to “Waste of Money Zone” or maybe “Blatant Rip-off Zone” or “Snooze Zone”. Killzone receives 1 out of 5 stars.
Marlon Miranda can be reached at Marlon_Miranda@elvaq.com
‘Bhopali’: the Union Carbide Disaster Revisited By Christine Gillette EL VAQUERO STAFF WRITER
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ore than 10,000 dead in 72 hours and 26 years later hundreds of thousands have since been affected in Bhopal, India. This was the result of one of the world’s worst industrial disasters, and with so many injuries and fatalities, why is it that not many students have heard of it? Max Carlson takes it upon himself as a young filmmaker to tell the story of the victims of the Bhopal industrial disaster that occurred on Dec. 3, 1984 in his feature documentary “Bhopali.”
Now onto what happened. In the 1970s a company called Union Carbide, an American corporation that has since been purchased by Dow Chemical Company, built a pesticide factory in a rural area of the city of Bhopal that had a population of about 800,000 at the time. Union Carbide produced carbaryl and used a dangerous chemical called methyl isocyanate (MIC) as an intermediate at this factory. Although Union Carbide was an American corporation, everything about this factory was wrong. During the 1980s, Union
Carbide wanted to cut down on costs and one result was that the safety regulations at the factory became more lax which resulted in most of the safety systems to not function properly. Union Carbide cut the costs of the refrigeration unit that held the MIC, a chemical that should remain at 4.5 degrees Celsius. Most of the valves and pipelines were also in poor condition. These two factors caused the disaster. Workers at the factory had to water wash the pipelines, but the pipelines were progressively becoming obstructed and solid deposits weren’t dissolving. This
caused a back up of water, and on that December night the water flowed to the MIC storage tank and caused a heated chemical reaction, raising the temperature of the MIC to more than 400 degrees Celsius. This immediately released a high volume of toxic gases that flowed into the air of the rural area of Bhopal in the middle of the night, a time when families were at home sleeping. Union Carbide abandoned the factory after the disaster and left all the chemicals there. For the past 26 years those chemicals have been seeping into the
ground water, contaminating the Bhopal’s citizens drinking water. Now, babies are being born with birth defects, cerebral palsy, malformed limbs, and mental disabilities; women are suffering early menopause at the age of 30,;and the list goes on. “I found out about the disaster and about a month later I decided I wanted to go to Bhopal and make a documentary,” Carlson said. “I thought this would be a powerful documentary on a
[See Bhopali, page 13]
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F i l m reviews ‘Adjustment Bureau’ Keeps Date with Destiny
By Shearson Unda
EL VAQUERO STAFF WRITER
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ave you ever been the victim of someone telling you that you must live your life a certain way, even though you felt that fate and persistence allowed you to go on living life the way you wanted? “The Adjustment Bureau,” does just that, using creative elements of science fiction with
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the added romantic idea, “love at first sight.” George Nolfi, who wrote “Ocean’s Twelve,” produced and directed “The Adjustment Bureau,” a film that displays a conflict of an individual’s fate with his personal values. The movie begins with David Norris, played by Matt Damon (“The Bourne Ultimatum,” 2007), a very young politician running for the New York State
Union Carbide Disaster [“Bhopali,” from page 13]
disaster that people should really know about.” In 1989, Union Carbide reached a settlement and agreed to pay $470 million to the government of India for the disaster. This gave each family of the tragedy about $2,000 for a lifetime of pain and loss. The people of Bhopal don’t want money: they want proper detoxification or neutralization treatment of the soil and removal of the abandoned factory. Carlson follows survivors and families of the disaster. He mainly focuses on the children at The Chingari Trust, which is a rehabilitation center in Bhopal that was formed for children born with physical and mental disabilities caused by the Union Carbide disaster. It is these heart-warming stories of the children that really draw in the audience, to see their struggle with the effects of the disaster yet still have hope for a better future. “It really got to me when I saw how helpless the parents looked when they would take their children to all of those hospital visits,” GCC photography major Katie Ferguson said. Carlson said that anyone who watches the film can help and it can be as simple as just spreading the word of this disaster since there are so many people that have never heard of it. “It’s sad that I’m more
informed of what’s going on in American Idol than I am informed about the world and horrible things such as this,” GCC photography major Ismael Perez said. After audiences watch the documentary, he hopes that stories of the gas-victim survivors’ and the compassion that they have for each other and their community motivate viewers to try and reach out and help the cause. “I hope the film had some influence of hope in it as well, and I think it does. I think the people there are fighting 26 years later and are all fighting with hope,” Carlson said. More information and ways of helping out the victims of Bhopal can be found on the film’s website, w w w. b h o p a l i t h e m o v i e . com, and the Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/ BhopaliTheMovie. There is also a petition that can be signed to try and get the U.S. to come in and help clean up the mess at http://www. change.org/petitions/petitionpresident-obama-unioncarbide-dow-must-clean-uptheir-mess-in-bhopal-india. A free screening of “Bhopali” will be held at The Ray Stark Family Theatre George Lucas Building, SCA 108 at USC on April 6 at 7 p.m. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Carlson.
Christine Gillette can be reached at Christine_Gillette@elvaq.com
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Senate. Damon was an excellent choice for this role, as he suited Norris’ character, a man in his mid-20s. After realizing he is not going to win the senate race, Norris, on the verge of preparing a concession speech, awkwardly meets a female eavesdropping in the bathroom stall. An upcoming ballet dancer, Elise Sellas, played by the beautiful young British actress Emily Blunt (“The Jane Austen Book Club,” 2007), stumbles ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT: Matt Damon and Emily Blunt play a couple who were upon Norris in the destined to never meet in this existential date night comedy. men’s restroom of the Although not directly hotel the night of his speech. This job using the sites and views of story. stated, the job of the bureau was the current New York City. The encounter marks the beginning of to make small adjustments in the ability to transport from area to the story of one man’s pursuit of characters’ lives, without their area in an urban setting will leave happiness. knowledge in order to continue moviegoers feeling that events A group of well-dressed their life’s path correctly. men in slacks, buttoned-up like this could actually happen This romantic, sci-fi action shirts and mysterious fedoras in New York. The setting was flick is one for the date night. The appear later. They are known wonderfully selected because of main actress, Sellas, selects a man as the “adjustment bureau.” the endless amount of wonder she barely knows the one she was The purpose of the group is to behind the doors of New York both engaged to and in love with. track down individuals who are City. Every door the bureau It exemplifies the determination not following the path of their opens gives viewers a glimpse of of one man’s heart, that man predetermined destiny. The the variety of beautiful sights the being Matt Damon. The film bureau refers to a higher power, city had to offer. lets the mind wander and gives The setting of the film also known as “the chairman, ”who light to those hopeless romantics, never makes an appearance in allows the mind to wander to the movie. He is the one who the possible settings that can lay allowing one to feel that no matter what obstacles are put in the way, ultimately decides on the paths of behind closed doors. The film has a well-written there will always be an open door the lives of and sends his bureau out to oversee that individuals story line and will leave the that leads to another place. The film is well-written from follow their paths and correct any audience wondering who this the beginning to right before the errors that individuals encounter. group is and why they were end. The effects of walking into The unique power the adjustment selected to make such decisions. a door in city and ending up in bureau possesses is the ability Two of the elder bureau members, another lovely area in a different to transport from different areas Richardson and Thompson, part of the city are enjoyable. throughout the greater New York played by John Slattery (“Flags It quickly turned into a very via doorways just as long as they of Our Fathers,” 2006) and romantic story with a twist of Terence Stamp (“Valkyrie,” are wearing their fedoras. mild action toward the end. The The path Norris is destined 2008), respectively, added a ending could have been a little to follow is altered while he is mafia-like style to their roles. craftier and not as easy it was. taking a bus ride to work and Both gentlemen played highNolfi selected a wonderful cast encounters Sellas. According ranking members of the bureau. that viewers will find themselves to the adjustment bureau, the Because of the age of the actors meeting between the two was there is a more authentic feel of able to connect with. Overall: 4 out of 5 stars. never supposed to have taken the importance of the adjustment place. The adjustment group bureau. The reference to “the alters the path of Norris’ life by gives viewers kidnapping and ordering him to chairman” never speak to Sellas again. They something to think about. The vow that if he reveals the secret two references of the angel-like of the bureau, his memory will be bureau and higher power seem permanently erased. to imply that there is a possible Shearson Unda can be reached at George Nolfi did an amazing religious meaning behind this Shearson_Unda@elvaq.com
www.elvaq.com
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
15
SPORTS
Men’s Golf Gears up for Team Championship By Derek Stowe
EL VAQUERO STAFF WRITER
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he fourth season of the men’s golf program, which began in January, has given its one returning sophomore and seven freshmen something big to strive for — seizing Glendale’s first golf team championship. Golf Coach Greg Osbourne said this hand-picked group of Vaqueros may be good enough to be the first to make it to the regionals as a team — and who knows? Even the state finals are not out of the question for this talented young team. “This team is much, much better than last year because every year we get better recruits and better players,” said Osbourne. Last year’s team ended up fourth in the league and had two players go to all-conference. All-conference or All-Western State Conference refers to the 14 LA-area schools that are members of the California Community College Athletic Association. This year’s team was recently tied for second in the league and is predicted to have at least three players go to all-conference. The 2011 Vaquero team is led by sophomore Brennan Amirkhizi from Taft High School in Woodland Hills. He made
all-conference and went to the regionals last year. The rest of the team consists of the top-ranked golfers: Chris Ramirez and twins Aaron and Danny Fernandez from Cleveland High in Reseda, Gin Park from Burbank High, Michael Timpson from Crescenta Valley High, Vincent Lamb from Temple City High, and Phillip Gonzalez from Verdugo Hills High in Tujunga. Because Glendale is now the only community college with a golf team in the greater L.A. area, it represents a huge demographic. “The best players in the area are now coming to Glendale because our program is so good,” said Osbourne. “We have a great program because of where we get to play and who we get to play against.” GCC has privileged access to two private country clubs thanks to Osbourne’s connections there. He has close ties to Oakmont Country Club management and is now the head golf professional at Chevy Chase Country Club. On March 7, the Vaqueros got to compete with seven other teams in a Western State Conference tournament at Santa Maria Country Club. The Vaqs finished just 13 strokes behind the winning team, College of the Canyons (380).
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Hancock (382) took second, Bakersfield (383) third, Ventura (389) fourth, Glendale (393) fifth, Citrus (416) sixth, and Santa Barbara (417) last. According to Osbourne, windy conditions and the fact that the Vaqs were less familiar with the Santa Maria course led to Glendale’s fifth place finish. Glendale is now tied for third in the league with Ventura College but should be surpassing second place Hancock and closing in on first place College of the Canyons soon because of the young Vaqueros’ perseverance and enthusiasm, said Osbourne. No. 1 player Amirkhizi, standing 6 foot 2 inches, scored a 74, which put him in third place overall. His best score ever of a 63 tied him with the Encino Golf Course 2009 record. “Golf is pretty much my number one priority in life besides school and family,” said a determined Amirkhizi. “I think, sleep and eat golf.” Osbourne said, “Amirkhizi’s
short game is phenomenal. He’s one of the best I’ve seen putting, and if he can keep his cool, and not get too aggressive with his long game, he could go all the way [to the state championships].” The next best Vaquero scorers included Danny Fernandez who shot a 79, and Michael Timpson, Jin Park and Chris Ramirez who all shot 80s. Fernandez said he has learned from Osbourne to keep his chin up no matter what because golf can change in an instant. “Our coach does a really good job of instilling a family-like mentality. Everyone on the team is like a brother to me,” he said. Timpson, whose father played with Osbourne in college said, “Coach’s best advice is to master your pre-shot routine and to dig down deep and finish strong.” A golfer’s pre-shot routine is the ritual of calculations and body positioning he takes before making each shot. It varies depending on the terrain and the golf ball’s location.
By practicing one’s pre-shot routine over and over, day-in dayout, a golfer’s body remembers what to do even if his mind is distracted by life situations or the pressures of competition. Timpson, who once shot a 66 at Angeles National Golf Club, said he loves “being in pressure situations where it all comes down to the last couple of holes or even a shot.” All in all, the outlook for this year’s team is exceptionally good, said Osbourne. To make it to the state championships, the team must come in first or second in the league and then place first or second at the regionals. The Vaqueros host the GCC invitational at Alhambra Golf Course today at noon. Glendale’s next conference match will be at San Dimas Golf Course on March 28.
Derek Stowe can be reached at derek_stowe@elvaq.com
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SPORTS
Cheerleading Looks Back on Exciting Year By Derek Stowe
EL VAQUERO STAFF WRITER
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heerleading for Glendale College football and men’s basketball was just part of the excitement for this year’s Vaquero cheerleading team. Two other highlights were a commercial for ESPN’s post season football bowl games and the 2011 UCA National Championships. UCA stands for the Universal Cheerleaders Association, which put on the College Cheerleading and Dance Team Nationals in January. To compete for the national title against Division II colleges and universities, the Glendale cheerleading team sent 16 members to Orlando, Fla. Glendale placed eighth in the nation. Head coach Jessie Moorehead said, “Coming in eighth (out of 16 teams) was the lowest place we’ve ever received, but [this was] one of the best groups of kids I’ve had the opportunity to take to the national championships. The discipline of cheerleading has
really improved their lives.” In December, the 2010-2011 Glendale cheerleaders performed in a dance and cheer commercial. The taping of the ESPN/ BCS commercial for the College Bowl Championship Series took place on GCC’s Sartoris field with rap star B.o.B. and the USC Drumline. Without the ESPN opportunity and the financial support of family, friends and sponsors, the coed Vaqueros would have been hard-pressed to afford the oneweek trip to the Sunshine State to compete in the UCA nationals — the most recognized stage of all college cheerleading events. Teams across the nation submitted “bid” tapes of their skills, crowd-leading techniques and game-time situations to qualify for the 2011 nationals. Of those good enough, some received money to compete; others just received an invitation. Glendale submitted two bids — one for “Large Coed Jr College” and one for “All-girl Div II” — and received a partially paid bid for both teams.
To save money, the Vaqs combined the coed and all-girl teams and sent their eight best coed and their eight best all-girl members to Florida. “We’re going to work even harder next time so the UCA can assist us in [all of] our travel costs,” said Moorehead. Before a recent practice in Room 104 of the Sierra Nevada building, cheerleader and English major Kaci Campbell said she really enjoyed the season and is planning to try out this summer to become a Laker or a Clipper Girl. “Not many junior colleges compete in Florida, let alone make it to finals,” she said. “I was really nervous and so excited at the same time. [But] once I was on the competition floor, I wasn’t [that] nervous anymore.” Before stretching out on the mats, Victoria Moreno, who is hoping to get a cheer scholarship from the University of Oregon and cheer for the Ducks, said she was proud of every single member of her team. “Cheer has changed my life completely and has kept
me focused in school. I couldn’t have come this far if not for the advantages this sport and this team have given me,” she said. The UCA experience made a lasting impression on her, too. “I got to see and meet cheer teams from all over the country,” Moreno said. “The butterflies didn’t hit me until I saw that Disney background at the competition itself.” Just before the groove music came on, second-year team member and physical therapy major Robyn Weissman, who is planning to go to Cal State Northridge, said, “Competing for a national championship was an amazing feeling.” Third-year team member and kinesiology major KevinAnthony Zelaya said he is applying to the University of Alabama, the college that placed first in the nation at this year’s UCA nationals. “Every team was great,” Zelaya said. It was a win for our program, gave Glendale College the recognition we like to get, and really brought our team together.” Another way the team has raised funds for competitions like the UCA opportunity was by appearing in the “Bring it On” movies and “Fired Up” (2009). TV tapings featuring Vaquero cheerleaders have included “Let’s Make A Deal,” “So You Think You Can Dance,” “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader” and “Family Feud.” Reminiscing about the ESPN/ BCS commercial, Moreno said, “We filmed from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. I was so honored to have the opportunity to fly (through the air) in this commercial.” Zelaya said he got to meet one of his favorite musicians and actually threw B.o.B. a touchdown pass in a game of flag football during the video shoot’s dinner break. “It was totally the coldest day that I can remember, but the filming was a lot of fun,” Zelaya said. “It was a lot of hard work though. It was really demanding on the body because every time you got warmed up, the cold would come in and take it all away from you.” The actual commercial featuring the song “I am the Champion” is titled, “ESPN BCS B.o.B Commercial Video w Glendale College Cheerleading.” Another clip with Vaqs
performing is titled, “Glendale College Cheerleading at ESPN/ BCS Bowl Commercial,” and both can be seen on YouTube. They can also be accessed through the cheerleading link on the GCC website’s athletics page. Moorehead said ESPN broadcast this commercial and clips of Vaqs performing before and during all the post-season college football games such as the Rose Bowl, the Peach Bowl and the Orange Bowl. Getting media exposure is the most effective way to inform the public and possible future cheerleaders about the benefits and rewards of joining the Glendale cheerleading program. “Cheerleading is more than just a sport, it can change your life,” said Campbell. “It promotes a healthy lifestyle in a world where obesity is becoming a problem. It gives girls and guys confidence in themselves, and it teaches you how to work with different types of people and how to work in a team.” The 2010-2011 team is gearing up for recruiting new members for the 2011-2012 team. Moreno insisted that the hard work and friendly atmosphere is truly worth joining the team for and can be a life-changing experience. Cheerleading is an excellent way to go if a student wants to improve his or her self-image, Moreno said. “Cheerleading is not just about the competitions and trying to look pretty in the air — it’s about feeling good about yourself and shaping the person that you want to be.” Glendale College Cheerleading will be holding tryouts on April 16 at 1 p.m. in the basketball gym. There are also stunt clinics on April 11 and 13 from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. for those who want to prepare for the Saturday tryouts. For further information about tryouts, interested parties can go to the website www. glendalecollegespirit.com and click on “Try-Out Info.” Sponsors including Montrose Travel and the Rocky Cola Café donated between $50 and $500 to the Vaquero cheerleaders. To see the names of all the team’s sponsors, readers can go to the above website and click on “Sponsors.”
Derek Stowe can be reached at derek_stowe@elvaq.com
www.elvaq.com
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
17
SPORTS
Athletic Hall of Fame Celebrates 10 Years By Shearson Unda
EL VAQUERO STAFF WRITER
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t was a very special evening Saturday, March 12 as The Glendale College Athletic Hall of Fame hosted its 10th Annual Induction ceremony inside the J. Walter Smith Student Center. It was a night filled with laughs, cheers and rounds of applause to honor and welcome the newest inductees with this very prestigious award. This year’s ceremony included a talented cast of former Vaquero athletes, which received awards in the following categories: Outstanding Team, Outstanding Athletic Achievement, Pillar of Achievement and Meritorious Service. The first to be inducted into this year’s annual class was 1972 coed volleyball for Outstanding Team. Several members of the team accepted the award on behalf of the group. Roy Nichols accepted the award on behalf of the squad and gave a small thank you speech for the induction. “The difference in a championship team in the coed arena really fell to the girls,” said Nichols, as he acknowledged the effort they put into the group. This team won the Southern California Championship under head coach Blanche Donovan, a 2006 Hall of Fame inductee. Angela Brinton Collins was the next inductee. She was recognized for Outstanding Athletic Achievement. Collins was an allconference volleyball player for the Lady Vaqueros in 1983. Collins said that athletics has shaped and changed her life, “Although I’ve been out of the competitive realm for many years, the tools I learned from those years of competition that have stayed with me and formed the person that I am today.” Sports information director Alex Leon introduced the next outstanding athletic achievement award to Steve La Rusch, a two -time state champion in the high jump for the Vaqueros in the 1975-76 season. La Rusch is the only back-to-back state champ in school history. On Feb. 26, 1976, La Rusch set the high-jump record as a Vaquero athlete by jumping seven feet during a practice nearly 35 years ago to the day of his induction into the Glendale College Hall of Fame. The Pillar of Achievement goes to the athlete who exempli-
fies triumph on and off the court, contributes to the lives of others and is a winner inside and outside the sports world. One of the greatest players to ever suit up for the Glendale Vaquero basketball team is John Block. He was a member for the Vaqs for the 1962-63 season. He then furthered his education at the USC where he set a single season scoring record in the PAC8 Conference with an average of 27.7 points per game, only to be broken by Reggie Miller who became an NBA great. Block went on to play in the NBA for 11 years on several teams including the Los Angeles Lakers. “You cannot have a great achievement, you cannot have any achievement without at least three things: ability, community and circumstance… All three of these things affected me in my time here at Glendale College,” said Block. Block continued to explain that during the summer before his senior year at USC he joined up with a church group to live in Harlem, N.Y., where he was the only “white guy.” The experience toughened him as a player because fouls were not called while playing there so they had to learn how to score and win under, however, brutal the given circumstance. “I just want to encourage, even to the young… to recognize that it is not you that gets this thing done. It has to do with friends, family and coaches,” added Block, as the 175 plus in attendance reacted with a standing ovation. Former Vaquero football coach and current Men’s Athletic Director John Cicuto introduced the Outstanding Athletic Achievement inductee Chris Hale. Hale was an All-American defensive back for the Vaqs in 1986. He later went on to play in two Rose Bowls for USC in 1988 and 1989. Hale continued his success as he appeared in three Super Bowls for the Buffalo Bills from 1991 to 1993. “That extra step of you not quitting and not giving up on everything means so comma so much and Coach Sartoris and Coach Cicuto were so good to me. They give you a different perspective. They are not just coaches; they are guys that are your brothers, your fathers. They are guys that care about what is going on,” said Hale about his experience at GCC.
Photo by Greg Parks
ONCE A VAQ, ALWAYS A VAQ: Hall of Fame inductees, from left, John Block, Chris Hale, Roy Nichols, Mike Cram, Angela Brinton Collins, Judy Thomsen, Jimmy Evangelatos and Steve La Rusch.
Hale livened up the evening by explaining, what was it was that was so special about Glendale and why he wanted to come, “I found out… they’ve got ‘Tiger Blood!” said Hale, which immediately sparked audience laughter. The final inductee of the evening was awarded the Meritorious Service induction. It went to alumni Jimmy Evangelatos. A former athlete himself and member of the 1976-77 Vaquero football team, Evangelatos was recognized for his tremendous
support of the college and its athletic program. Evangelatos, much like Hale, entertained those in attendance with a comical induction speech. The Glendale College Athletic Hall of Fame is an annual tradition that entered its 10th year. With its inaugural induction ceremony beginning in 2002 and with the aid of J. Walter Smith, the hall of fame will continue to honor former Vaquero athletes and teams who have achieved excellence while being a mem-
ber of the Glendale College family. As it reads on the J. Walter Smith Student Center’s Hall of Fame wall, “Once a Vaq, always a Vaq.” For further information on the GCC Athletic Hall of Fame go to: http://www.glendale.cc.ca.us/index.aspx?page=320
Shearson Unda can be reached at Shearson_Unda@elvaq.com
March Madness Strikes Basketball Fans By Alex Campos
EL VAQUERO STAFF WRITER
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ith the NCAA basketball tournament underway, sports fans are filling out their brackets and placing not only money, but also bragging rights on one college basketball team. The average person that doesn’t follow sports might not know what March Madness is. March Madness is the nickname for the NCAA basketball tournament held in March every year. In the past, 65 teams were chosen based on many factors, including record, strength of schedule, good wins and bad losses in the regular season, and outcomes in the conference tournaments. The last two teams chosen played a single elimination game against each other- the winner advances into the big tournament, the loser goes home. This year, two more teams
were added into this play-in round, giving a total of 68 teams the chance to be in the tournament. The teams are divided into four 16-team regions. The top four teams in the country all receive No.1 seeds, and are basically the leaders of their respective regions. The rest of the teams are ranked anywhere from two to 16 based on the NCAA selection show, which happens about a week before the tournament. This is also based on team records, strength of schedule and good wins or bad losses during the regular season. The tournament begins and teams play each other based on their seed. The one seed plays against the 16 seed, two seed against the 15 seed and so on. The tournament is sudden death format where the losing team is eliminated. This eliminates team after team until there is one representative from each region. The semi-final round
or the “final four” decides the two participants in the championship game. The winner of this championship game is crowned the NCAA basketball champion. The appeal of this tournament comes in many different fashions. Filling out a college basketball bracket is a tradition in many houses, groups of friends and businesses. The participant chooses winners in every single game in the tournament, relying on their picks and eventually picking a champion. There are infinitely many different ways to fill out a bracket, so the chances of a bracket being 100 percent correct are less than slim. In most cases, simply picking the winner of the tournament can get the participant enough points to win their bracket pool. Many [See March, page 18]
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Wednesday, March 16, 2011
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SPORTS
Nick Woodward Pitches Shutout for Win By Alex Campos
EL VAQUERO STAFF WRITER
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he crowd at Stengel Field watched in awe as GCC pitcher Nick Woodward threw a complete game shutout, only surrendering three hits in a 2-0 win against COC on Saturday. “I’ve had a couple bad outings lately, so I came out here today with the mindset that I could not be beat,” said Woodward after the game. All the run support Woodward needed came in the third inning, when infielder Sean Spear drove in outfielder Chris Stroh on a line drive up the middle. “Their pitcher probably had the best off-speed pitch we’ve seen all season. With a 3-1 count, I knew he was going to throw me
a fastball. I got one waist high and just hit it right back at him,” said Spear. Head coach Chris Cicuto was pleased with his team’s performance, and stressed doing the little things right. “Woodward came out here today and dominated. He established his strike zone early and really trusted his pitches. Most pitchers would get shaken up after three errors, but Nick didn’t today,” said Cicuto. Cicuto said that the turning point in the game came with their third batter. “(Catcher) Erik Suarez’s first at bat really set the tone. Even though he got out, he saw about 10 pitches. To battle a pitcher like that and to see that many pitches, he really let the pitcher
know we weren’t going to be overmatched,” Cicuto said. Nothing should be taken away from COC’s pitcher, Cory Jones, who threw eight very strong innings, but he was just outmatched by Woodward. “Woodward pitched a great game today. He pounded the zone and I don’t think he walked anyone,” said COC coach Chris Cota. Woodward did hit two batters, but maintained his confidence and got the win. “Woodward pitched a hell of a game,” said Spear. “I really tip my hat to him for this one.”
The Vaqueros added a second run in the sixth inning when Ellis Whitman hit a double that bounced off third baseman Robbie Mousselli’s glove. This run was set up by a single by Suarez, who advanced to third on two wild pitches. The Cougars almost broke the shutout in the fifth inning. COC catcher Michael Browne reached base on an error, and was eventually thrown out trying to score by Scott Hong from right field. GCC had some trouble in the field, where they committed three errors. That didn’t faze
students at GCC participate in filling out brackets. “Every year, it’s one of the largest events and it’s always very exciting” said GCC basketball player Narbeh Ebrahimian. “I always fill out my brackets and try to predict the outcome of the games.” Ebrahimian’s teammate, Demitrius Perkins, also participates in filling out the brackets. “It’s exciting to watch. One night you can have a very low seed beat a top seed. You never know what can happen on any single night. Plus the talent that is shown every single night makes it fun to watch.” Student Brandt Bowers said “I’ve never entered a pool or anything, but I usually fill out a bracket for myself just for fun. It just makes it fun to see my predictions and what actually happens.” Filling out a bracket would seem easy, except for the most exciting part of this tournament: the upsets. There is a reason they play the games. Any team can win or lose on any given day. Upsets are a huge part of sports, particularly this tournament. In the 64 team format, which was adopted in 1985, all four No.1 seeds never made the final four. At least one of them was upset before the final four in all 25 years. However in 13 of those 25 years, a No.1 seed has won the championship. Being the best
team isn’t really important in this tournament. A team just has to win six games to be the champion. The play-in games this year were on Tuesday and Wednesday, and the actual tournament begins Thursday. The championship game will be on April 4 in Houston, Texas. Favorites to make it to the championship game this year include Duke, Kansas, North Carolina, and Pittsburgh, according to betvega.com Beware when it comes to gambling. If money changes hands, casual speculation on the outcome of a game becomes a criminal offense. According to legalzoom.com, actual wagering on this tournament is illegal everywhere except Nevada, which is the only state that permits gambling on college sports. While the likelihood of being prosecuted for participating in an office betting pool is very low, it is still a misdemeanor and punishable by a year in prison. Other than the Super Bowl, March Madness is arguably the most popular sporting event in the United States. This year’s tournament should provide all the drama, Cinderella stories, and emotional rollercoasters of years past. So sit back and watch a great couple weeks of college basketball.
Alex Campos can be reached at Alex_Campos@elvaq.com
Alex Campos can be reached at Alex_Campos@elvaq.com
Vaquero Sports Summaries
Basketball Brackets [March, from page 17]
Woodward at all. “Yeah they had a couple errors but this team picks each other up. If they have errors, we want to pitch better and hit better to make those errors meaningless,” Woodard said. This win improves GCC’s overall record to 11-6, and 2-2 in WSC play. COC drops to 9-8 overall, and 1-3 in WSC. The Vaqueros next home game is Thursday against LA Pierce College at 2 p.m.
Scores Women’s Tennis: March 3 — lost to Santa Monica 7-2 March 8 — lost to Ventura 7-2 Thursday — beat Allan Hancock 7-2 Men’s Golf: March 7 — Finished 5th at the Allan Hancock tournament Monday — Finished 4th at the Southern California Invitational
Baseball: March 10— beat Valley 3-0 Saturday — beat College of the Canyons 2-0 Men’s Tennis: March 1 — beat Bakersfield 5-4 March 3 — beat Pierce 5-4 March 8 — lost to Ventura 6-3 Softball: Saturday — lost to Cypress 12-2, 3-0
Upcoming Events Women’s Tennis: Thursday at Rio Hondo 2 p.m. Tuesday at Santa Barbara 2 p.m. Baseball: Thursday vs L.A. Pierce 1 p.m. Saturday at Bakersfield 2 p.m. Tuesday vs. Mission 2 p.m. Men’s Golf: Today — GCC Invitational at Alhambra Golf Club noon March 28 — at Citrus Colleege 10 a.m.
Men’s Tennis: Tuesday vs. Santa Barbera 2 p.m. March 24 vs. Bakersfield College 2 p.m. March 26 vs. Middlebury 2 p.m. Softball: Tuesday vs Citrus 2:30 p.m. March 24 at Valley 1-3 p.m. March 29 vs. Mission 2:30 p.m. For more information see: http://www.glendale.edu/athletics/
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Wednesday, March 16, 2011
19
Calendar On Campus LECTURES
WOMENS HISTORY
“Going Green” — Speaker Larry Eisenberg, Executive Director for Facilities Planning and Development for the Los Angeles Community College District. Today in Kreider Hall. 12:20 to 1:30 p.m.
“Women’s Status and Global Population Growth”— Speaker is Geography instructor Marla Conti. Thursday in Kreider Hall. 12:30 to 1:30 p.m.
Science Lecture Series — “Harmonic Analysis in the Real World.” The speaker is Ashot Djrbashian, GCC professor of mathematics. Tuesday in SB243 at 12:20 p.m. L.A. Writers Readers Series — Aimee Bender, author of “The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake” and “The Girl in the Flammable Skirt,” and Sarah Shunlien Bynum, author of “The Ms. Hempel Chronicles,” and “Madeleine is Sleeping” will give readings followed by a question and answer session. March 29 in Kreider Hall. 12:20 p.m.
“Women of World War II, Long Beach, California” — Speakers will be instructors Beth Kronbeck and Robyn Fishman. Tuesday in Kreider Hall.12:30 to 1:30 p.m. “The Evolution of Women in Law Enforcement and what it Takes Today to Succeed” — Speaker is instructor Mary Schander. March 23 in Kreider Hall. 6:55 to 10:05 p.m. “You Can’t Do That; You’re a Girl” — Dr. Amy E. Hackmann, Cardiothoracic Surgeon at USC will speak. Presented as part of the Humanities/Social Science Lecture series. March 24 in Kre-
ider Hall 12:30 to 1:30 p.m.
MEETINGS Board of Trustees Meeting — Monday in Kreider Hall. 5 p.m.
FINANCIAL Free Tax Preparation — Volunteer income tax assistance. Income limit $60,000. No appointment needed, allow approximately 4 hours. Saturdays in SR112 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
workshops “Learn to Meditate” — Meditation is said to help to clear and calm the mind. Free. Every Wednesday from 12:30 to 1:20 p.m. in AD 243. For more information call (818) 551-5192. “Fragments” — Learn about different kinds of
sentence fragments and how to correct each; work on practice exercises. AD238. Thursday from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. “How to Recognize and Correct Run-ons” — Learn to recognize a variety of situations in which runon sentences commonly occur; receive practice exercises. Monday from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. in AD 238. Free. “Logical Fallacies” — Learn how to identify and avoid nine common logical fallacies. Recommended for English 101 and above. March 24. 6 to 7 p.m. in AD 238. Free. “MLA Requirements” — Learn about stylistic requirements mandated by the Modern Language Association. March 29 from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. in AD 238. Free. Students are encouraged to register for the workshop online. For more information, visit www.
glendale.edu/learningcenter or call (818) 240-1000, ext. 5341.
MOVIES Friday Flix: — A screening of the 1998 film “Waking Ned Devine” directed by Kirk Jones on Friday. Then on March 25: Roman Polanski’s “Repulsion” Films are free at 12:30 p.m. in SG 334. Discussions led by instructor Mike Petros after the screeenings.
PLANETARIUM “Evening with the Stars” — This planetarium show will introduce the stars, constellations and planets Friday at 7 and 8:30 p.m. and Saturday at 6:30 p.m. Admission is $10 for adults and $5 for children 12 and under. No late arrivals. For more information, visit www.glendale.edu/planetarium or call (818) 240-1000, ext. 5275
Around Town exhibitions “Visions of the Orient: Western Women Artists in Asia 19001940” — Pacific Asia Museum. This exhibition celebrates their 40th anniversary. Runs through May 29. Ticket prices and hours vary. 46 N. Robles Ave., Pasadena. For more information call (626) 449-2742 or visit www. pacificasiamuseum.org. “Three Fragments of a Lost Tale: Sculpture and Story by John Frame” — Huntington Library. The exhibition includes sculptural figures, multiple stage settings, still photographs, and animated film vignettes. Runs through June 20. Ticket prices vary. 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino. For information call (626) 405-2141 c or visit www.huntington.org. “Human Nature: Contemporary Art from the Collection” — LACMA presents a collection of 75 works of art in diverse media, including painting, drawing, photography, video, and audio
from the museum’s permanent collection of contemporary art. Runs through July 4 . Ticket prices and hours vary. 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles. For more information call (323) 857-6000 or visit www.lacma.org. “William Leavitt: Theatre Objects” — Museum of Contemporary Art. Covering 40 years of sculptural tableaux, paintings, works on paper and photographs. Runs though through July 3. Ticket prices and times vary. For more information call (323) 6266222 or visit www.moca.org. “Stories to Watch: Narratives in Medieval Manuscripts” — The Getty Center. Featuring some of the ingenious methods that medieval illuminators used to depict factors of narrative: the drama of decisive moments, the development of events through time, and verbal interaction. Runs through May 15. Museum hours vary. Free. 1200 Getty Center Drive, Los Angeles. For more information call (310) 440-7300 or visit www. getty.edu.
“Daniel Wheeler: Bloom”— Pasadena Museum of California Art; Project Room. Exhibition features both video and structural elements. 490 E. Union St., Pasadena. Runs through April 24. Museum hours vary. For more information call (626) 568-3665 or visit www.pmcaonline.org.
MUSIC Fiato String Quartet— Glendale Noon Concerts presents Beethoven’s string quartet No. 16 in F major. Free in the Sanctuary of the First Baptist Church of Glendale, 209 N. Louise St. Runs from 12:10 until 12:40 p.m. today. For more information call (818) 242-2113 or visit www.fbcglendale.net.
theater “Don Juan Avia” — Alex Theatre. Garbis Titizian presents the comedy. The performance is in Armenian. 216 N. Brand Blvd. One show only March 18 at 8 p.m. Tickets prices vary. For more information call (818) 243-2539 or
visit www.alextheatre.org. “The Eccentricities of a Nightingale” — A Noise Within. The Tennessee Williams classic is directed by Damaso Rodriguez 234 S. Brand Blvd. Runs through May 28. Ticket prices and show times vary. For more information call (818) 240- 0910 or visit www.anoisewithin.org. “Re-Animator: The Musical” — Steve Allen Theatre. A show so bloody the first row of this intimate venue has been designated a “splash zone.” Friday through Sunday at 8 p.m. 4773 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood. Tickets $25. For more informationcall (323) 666-4268.
COMEDY “St. Patrick’s Day with Marc Ryan and Tim O’Rourke Coheadlining” — The Ice House Comedy Club. Wild, loud and delightfully mischievous, also featuring Candice Thompson. Thursday at 8 p.m. Tickets $12.50. 54 N. Mentor Ave., Pasa-
dena. For more information call (626) 577-1894 or visit www.icehousecomedy.com. “The Fix-Up Show with J. Keith van Straaten” — ACME Comedy House. Celebrity guests help real singles get fixed-up on a date live on stage. Wednesdays at 8 p.m. Tickets $15 online, $18 at the door. 135 N. La Brea Ave., Los Angeles. For more information visit www.acmecomedy.com.
WELLNESS Free Health Clinic — Open Tuesdays 5:30 to 8 p.m. or until capacity is reached. 134 N. Kenwood St., third floor, room 330. No job or sports-related physicals. For more information call (818) 243-2105, ext. 202 or visit www.glendaleclinic.org. Free Yoga in the Park — Runyon Canyon Park. Free yoga lessons are offered everyday at 10:30 a.m. 2001 N. Fuller Ave., Los Angeles. For more information call (323) 666-5046. Compiled by Richard Kontas
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Wednesday, March 16, 2011
www.elvaq.com
VAQUERO VIEWS
Persian Club Celebrates Nowruz in Plaza Vaquero
Photo by Mario Camino
CANDIDATE ON CAMPUS: Vartan Gharpetian, left, who is running for the Board of Trustees, attends the Nowruz Bazaar in the San Rafael Plaza with his wife Armina and daughter Nelin last Thursday. The GCC Persian Students Association (PSA) kicked off the upcoming arrival of spring with a new year’s celebration. Featured were musical stylings of DJ Alex who started a half-hour Persian music mix with the Iran National Anthem. PSA members danced and sang urging others to follow suit. Nowruz means “New Day” in Farsi and marks the New Year in the Iranian calendar. Nowruz also marks the first day of spring which is March 21. It is a celebration of the spring Equinox celebrated among Persians for over 3,000 years. The crowd-pleaser and attention-grabber of the event was the Chay Khaneh or tea house table. Adorned with gold and copper sequins fabric, it glittered in the sunlight and lured passers to behold its treasures. Miniature porcelain dolls sat in the middle of the table holding court to plates of cookies and large copper urns filled with tea. Posters of places of significance in Iran, such as the Bridge on Zayandeh Rood, hung from the canopy. Participants could be seen feasting on traditional Akbar-mashti ice cream and basmati rice with beef and chicken kabobs. —Erica White