May 9, 2005 issue

A FIRST AMENDMENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER

Vol. 38. Issue 24 – May 9, 2005

DIGGING DEEPER FUTURE STUDENTS FACE 80 PERCENT INCREASE IN CAMPUS CENTER FEE TO FUND RETROFIT page 4

The board’s verdict Trustees unanimously vote to approve the layoff of De Anza classified employees page 5

Start your engines De Anza to host autocross competition next Sunday back page

The Voice of De Anza College

2Editorial La Voz

The Voice of De Anza College Phone: 408-864-5626 Fax: 408-864-5533 lavoz@fhda.edu www.lavozdeanza.com Room L-41 21250 Stevens Creek Blvd.

Cupertino, CA 95014

Editorial Staff Steven Cabana Editor-in-Chief editor@lavozdeanza.com Sarah Gahan Editor Emeritus Katherine Nguyen News news@lavozdeanza.com Ryan Bell Features features@lavozdeanza.com Sherry Sanguinet Opinions opinions@lavozdeanza.com Melissa Lewis Entertainment entertainment@lavozdeanza.com Dan Sealana La Voz Online web@lavozdeanza.com Naciem Nikkhah Photo Lucia Kim Graphics Scott Lipsig Assistant Entertainment Contributing Staff: Susan White, Sylvia Lam, Jeff Ledesma, Shona Sanzgiri, Koosha Araghi, Sunny Dutt

Business Staff Cecilia Deck Adviser ceciliadeck@sbcglobal.net Walter Alvarado Lab Tech alvaradowalter@fhda.edu Reza Kazempour Business Manager ads@lavozdeanza.com

About Us

La Voz is a First Amendment newspaper written and published by De Anza college students.

Staff editorials reflect the opinions of the majority of the editorial board and do not necessarily reflect the views of the author or the opinions of the La Voz staff.

Opinions expressed by staff and contributors are the opinions of the individuals and not necessarily the opinion of La Voz. La Voz is partially funded by the De Anza Associated Student Body and is printed on recycled paper. All rights reserved; no part of La Voz may be reproduced without permission.

Letters, Submissions and Press Releases

Letters to the editor, submissions and press releases are welcome and must be signed and include contact information for verification and follow-up. Letters should be 300 words or less; letters more than 300 words may be edited for length.

Letter content must not be libelous or intended to air personal grievances. La Voz does not guarantee that submissions and letters to the editor will be printed, nor does it guarantee coverage of events for which it receives press releases.

La Voz reserves the right to edit letters and submissions for clarity in accordance with Associated Press writing style.

Photo Reprints

Images published in La Voz or online at http://www.lavozdeanza.com are available for purchase.

Ten limited use digital images can be obtained for $20 or 8x10 prints for $25. Contact Reza Kazempour at 408-864-5626 or by e-mail at ads@lavozdeanza.com to place an order.

Advertising

Advertisers reach 3,000 De Anza community members weekly by advertising in La Voz. Contact Business Manager Reza Kazempour at 408-864-5626 or send an e-mail to ads@lavozdeanza.com for rates.

May 9, 2005 * WWW.LAVOZDEANZA.COM

Editorial

Spin and scandal make us dizzy The next time you read a major newspaper or scan the magazine stand at your local grocery store, read as many headlines as possible.

Headlines are sensationalized, frightening, and often inaccurate representations of America.

More and more, it seems like their only purpose is to sell papers – which is understandable, but something important is being left behind.

Telling readers the truths they need to know has always been the first priority of ethical journalism.

While outright Jayson Blair-style lies are reprehensible, there are other, subtler problems with the news.

One of last week’s top stories, right next to stories about Palestinians going to polls in local elections and four Baghdad attacks killing 26 people, is

the story about “runaway bride” Jennifer Wilbanks, who pretended she’d been kidnapped.

Wilbank’s actions wasted police resources and her story wasted everyone’s time.

Though it wasn’t relevant to economics, government, any important figure, problem, or event, her dirty laundry was on nearly every front page and television news show.

It has been well over a century since the debut of America’s “yellow journalism,” which sold newspapers using scandal and sensationalism.

These days, who can tell the difference? To the audience, it’s all journalism: all of the prying paparazzi, the Jeff Gannons, and the tabloids touting batboys and celebrity-alien lovechildren.

While all forms of journalism are

colored by bias, there are varying degrees of opacity.

Obviously it’s good when journalists make the effort to act ethically and seek the truth. But good journalism shouldn’t be applied to one story at a time: journalists need to make it a priority to give in-depth coverage to the types of stories that really matter, not the latest Hollywood divorce.

When the opacity obscures all truth and objectivity entirely, nothing is left but an ugly homogenization of fact and scandal-loving spin. It’s all presented on a silver platter by the silver-tongued people Americans are supposed to trust the most.

The next time the media tries to dizzy you with its kaleidoscopic spin, stare past it and do your best to seek the facts yourself.

Letter to the Editor

Give me a double shot

Vegetarian tales

Dear Editor,

Dear Editor,

I thoroughly enjoyed Sarah Gahan’s column on “Latte Culture.” It was refreshing well written and right on point. If most articles are single lattes, hers was a mocha grande with an extra shot of espresso!

Starbucks is so ubiquitous in our culture that we almost have to train our children how to deal with it – right along there with “look both ways before you cross the street.”

However, I’ll tell my children: “friends don’t let friends do Starbucks.”

Why? Coffee culture is an art, not a science. Granted, they have mastered aspects of coffee shop life with their consistent drinks, good lighting and hard to resist munchies. However it is a monoculture, and at the same time we are, as Sarah aptly points out, also subjected to the science of consumerism. Admittedly I’ll go to a Starbucks on occasion, but only if the sign on the freeway says “next coffee 60 miles.”

However, the guide to drinks that Starbucks provides on how to order drinks is a good thing. Coffee culture is beautiful, and people should know how to fully appreciate it. Coffee and coffee shops provide an invaluable place and means for people to meet, study and relax.

Every time I hold a true and freshly made latte in my hand, I am reminded of all the good things about civilization – a reminder I need given that we are otherwise in the middle of a war, environmental degradation, and societal breakdown.

The bottom line is that we need diversity in all aspects of life: ideas, people, food – and coffee. Imagine if there were only one type of bird or flower, or if all your friends were clones.

Starbucks systematically destroys diversity. I am so grateful for the community I feel at unique places like Coffee Society across from De Anza. I’m also very grateful for excellent journalism. Kudos to Sarah Gahan for her highly entertaining column.

Kudos to La Voz for offering readers a handy list of great places to get meat-free food (“Vegetarian’s guide to De Anza,” May 2). Vegetarian eating is growing in popularity, especially on today’s college campuses where polls show that one in five students consider themselves vegetarian or vegan.

In addition to reducing the risk of heart disease, cancer, and the dreaded freshman fifteen, a vegetarian diet also reduces animal suffering.

Each year, billions of cow, pigs, and birds raised for food in the United States are subjected to cruel practices that would be illegal if the same things were done to cats and dogs. Most egglaying hens spend their entire lives so intensively confined, they can’t even spread their wings!

Luckily, adopting a more compassionate diet has never been easier. More and more restaurants are adding animalfriendly meals to their menus, and vegetarian options, like soy hot dogs and veggie burgers, are sprouting up in grocery stores everywhere. For free vegetarian recipes, visit http://www.TryVeg.com.

Steve Hays Student

Know your FAFSA Dear Editor, “Know your enemy” before you fight is the best advice I can give De Anza students. A string of La Voz editorial comics has portrayed California’s governor as the enemy, the larger-than life weight-lifting nemesis, out to wildly cut education funds and destroy the lives of struggling students. If the fight to stay in school can be aligned to a comic-book saga, then the Financial Aid office is your rocket shoes.

Federal, state, and private money is set aside to help students through a variety of grants and scholarships to help them not only pay for their tuition, but books, housing and living costs. Filling out the FAFSA form may not be the heart-racing drama, but it will certainly provide a higher chance of financial help than raising a fist to Schwarzenegger.

So check out http://www.deanza.edu/financialaid/, apply for aid before the summer quarter, and do yourself a service by thinking realistically when it comes to what efforts will keep you in school.

Anna Callahan Student

Erica Meier, Director Compassion Over Killing

Front page photo illustration by Pedro Paulo Viegas de Sa.

Opinion

May 9, 2005 * WWW.LAVOZDEANZA.COM

3

Star Struck Every year, Americans waste time, money, energy, and other resources on a recreation that has absolutely no social value. No, I’m not talking about Nascar. I’m talking about the preoccupation with celebrities and their personal lives.

Brad and Jen broke up because Brad wants Angelina who used to be married to Billy Bob and before that, like, so totally kissed her own brother. This sounds like part of a conversation I would have suffered in junior high, not the content of mass media. However, it’s both.

And it makes me want to claw out my own eyes while waiting in line to just pay for my groceries.

Celebrities, at least in the Hollywood context, are frequently carbon-based bipedal lifeforms like the kid who sits next to you in class and never stops tapping crappy new metal beats on the side of his desk. The difference is that they have, talented or not, climbed the ladder of prestige made with child-labor and whose ubiquitous images you suffer on a daily basis.

I have favorite celebrities - Jon Stewart, Uma Thurman, and Paris Hilton. Paris Hilton is on the list only because she reminds me of everything a woman should never embody.

However, I am as interested in their sex lives and bathroom habits as I am in those of the neighbor’s dog, except I’d rather the dog to be fertile than Hilton. They never have and never will shape who I am as a human being; in their personal lives, they have as much influence over the future as anyone does.

This is the power of the film and television actor, the musician, the author and every other celebrity: to influence whatever medium in which they work. Undoubtedly arts and entertainment shape culture and vice-versa, as we have observed throughout the recorded history of humanity. However, the celebrities’ STDs, fits of anger, blemishes, and tears mean nothing to the starving and dying people of the world and yet their pregnancy scares take precedent over themes of real human triumph and tragedy every day.

These people are not role models unless we want them to be. They are not elite, glamorous, or eating three meals a day unless we want them to be. It’s more important that we determine if they are edifying than if they’re adulterous.

We, as Americans, as people living in a country of legendary accomplishments, inno-

vation and strength of resollve, should take the initiative to remove the power of celebrity to occupy and empty our minds and wallets.

These frequently overpaid and overrated people only have as much prowess as we give them, and we give them too much.

Paris Hilton is not a single mother working two full-time jobs to support her children, Ryan Seacrest is not defending our country, and the fact that Paula Abdul could be having an affair with a contestant on the worthless TV show currently paying her bills shouldn’t offend us as much as the TV show’s existence should.

On the National Enquirer Web site, the second-least popular forum is the “war on terror” forum, with six topics and 22 replies. The “celebrities” forum has 71 topics and 92 replies. Good to know where the readers’ priorities lie.

According to the “Top 25 Audit Bureau Circulation Surveyed Magazines” by Plunkett Research, Limited in 2000, the National Enquirer was in 7th place with a revenue of $173,176,407.

This is, coincidentally, how much it would cost to buy 8,086.5 De Anza College students a 2005 Honda Civic Hybrid. If only the suckers who bought the magazine that year had known how many of us maintain full-time jobs and still dedicate much of our lives to our education - while driving beat-up economy cars.

The point of this article is both to vent and to implore. You must stop patronizing the same people who already make millions from the movies and television shows you watch.

Use your resources to indicate to the bloated media parasites that you’d rather read the news that actually affects you and the rest of humanity.

Britney Spears and the rest of the silicone society was born and will die like the rest of us, and the rest of the details can stay within the multi-million dollar homes where they belong.

Marjan Sadoughi/ LA VOZ

Hold t h aThought: t

By Sarah Gahan LA VOZ I will be the first person to admit that I am not good with money. It's not that I'm incapable of saving, it's more that I prefer not to.

That's why I had to think twice about taking some loans offered to me by the graduate school I'll be attending in the fall.

I'm worried I'll spend the money just because I have it, and then I'll be several thousand dollars in debt, and then I'll be hospitalized after a freak zeppelin accident and I'll lose my health insurance and die alone in poverty.

It's not the most rational train of thought, I know. Especially since my fiancé has a good job, health insurance, and both he and my parents are going to help me out with grad school expenses – that, and zeppelin accidents aren't so common these days.

Mainly, I just didn't want to take the loans because so many of my friends and former roommates are still paying off college loans and credit card debt accumulated during college. We went to UC

Santa Barbara, which is a pretty expensive place to live.It's not just the rent, either.

It's the many, many nights spent downtown at the bars, it's the spring break vacations, it's the endless trips to the mall for clothes to wear when going out, going to the beach, and – oh, yeah, going to class.

I don't want to discourage any De Anza College students planning to transfer in the fall from taking financial aid and loans, though. I didn't take loans, but I worked about 20 hours a week while taking full course loads. My GPA wasn't bad, but it could have been better.

I could have found internships instead of cranking out mochas at thecampus center coffee shop. I also could have spent less on clothes, drinks, and sushi, but I wouldn't have enjoyed college quite as much. I guess I have a problem with deferred gratification.

Student loans tend to be a pretty good deal, especially subsidize loans. If you do something like the Peace Corps after graduating, you can defer payment and sometimes you can get part of the debt forgiven.

Every news story I hear about debt

laments how many Americans are in it.

We're charge-happy. Maybe we all just like feeling that we're doing our part to boost the economy.

One of my friends, a former roommate, was paying 12 percent interest on her credit card and not using her savings – earning less than 2 percent interest – to pay it off. Her reasoning was, "What if there's an emergency?"

College students are especially vulnerable to the lure of plastic. We want to keep up with the Joneses even though we're saddled with tuition, book costs, and rent..We want to spend and spend, even though we're not bringing in the dough because we're busy studying.

I'm no different. I never get too far into debt, but I'm never faraway from it, either. I like buying stuff I like, and when my paycheck doesn't quite cover it I reach for the credit card.

Sometimes it's hard to know what purchases you're going to regret making, and which you'll regret not making.I don't have any easy answers. Or rather, I think we all know what we need to do to stay out of debt. It just happens to be difficult,while getting into debt is almost effortless.

It seems that the best thing to do is just to be mindful of where your money is going.Think about the difference between what you need and what you want, and whether what you want will be worth paying for at 15 percent interest for the next decade.

Think about where you see yourself in ten years, and what you want to be paying for.. or came in to tell her she'd tested positive for an STD, she nearly had a heart attack.

She's in her mid-to-late twenties and single in a major metropolis but she doesn't exactly sleep around. The guys she dates are successful businessmen in their early thirties, not skanky lotharios.

Condoms are a must. She takes birth control pills. She gets tested regularly.

Not only does she have sex responsibly, she acted responsibly as soon as she found out she had an STD. Even though she was embarrassed, she called the only two men she'd slept with in the last year and told them they needed to go see a doctor and get tested Sarah Gahan is a weekly columnist for La Voz. Comments should be directed by e-mail to lavoz_holdthatthought@yahoo.com

4News

May 9, 2005 * WWW.LAVOZDEANZA.COM

Campus center fees soar to $13 CAMPUS CENTER MONEY $7.50 Campus Center fee now.

$13 as of July 1.

$18 by 2020.

$4 million for construction of center.

$0.5 million for furniture, fixtures, and equipment.

By Melissa Lewis LA VOZ The De Anza College campus fee will increase from $7.50 to $13 by July 1.

This fee, while voluntary, is one of several fees students pay at the beginning of each quarter.

Over a fifteen-year period, the campus fee will rise to $18.

The fee will be used to renovate the Hinson Campus Center.

The money will be divided into several budgets.

“A portion of managment costs has been, for several years, charged to the campus center, $16,000 per year,” said Jeanine Hawk, vice president of finance and college services.

“Operating expenses will be between $650,000 and $700,000 for the next two years. The debt service will be $400,000 and the building renovation and equipment will cost $115,000 over a period of two years as well,” she said.

The De Anza Associate Student Body Senate voted 6-15 to endorse the campus center fee increase with one abstention.

“The campus center has a campus center advisory board, and the voting members of that board are students, so we’ve had students involved in the entire

planning and design process,” Hawk said.

“We also did a Web-based student survey to try and get a sense from the students of what their priorities were for the campus center and included those in the design.”

According to Hawk, the purpose is twofold. The first part is to “support the operational piece of the campus center, which includes the custodial staff, equipment, supplies, and an increase of the campus center director and assistants’ salaries by approximately 5 percent.

The larger part, Hawk said, is to “issue $4.5 million of debt to support renovation of the campus center. About $4 million will be used toward the construction project itself, and the half a million will be used for furniture, fixtures, and equipment.”

Approximately two-thirds of that half million will be used for the American Disabilities Act and heating ventilation and air conditioning upgrades.

Approximately one-fourth of the half million will be used for renovation of the dining and server areas.

The downstairs offices, which include financial aid and student activities, will be renovated with new paint and floor coverings.

Scott Lipsig/ LA VOZ

Contractors began splicing and encasing cables behind the Administration Building.

Reinforced concrete will help prevent future construction accidents.

Construction accident severs phone cable

By Scott Lipsig LA VOZ A contractor accidentally severed a shallow phone cable near the Administration building last Tuesday morning.

“It took out [phone service to] the P.E. Quad, the Child Development Center, Environmental Studies and the Science Center,” Donna JonesDulin, director of college services, said.

The accident shut off phone service but not power or other essential systems.

A utility pathway runs underneath the asphalt, connecting different parts of the campus. When previous contractors laid the phone line, they had to work

around the pathway.

“Sixteen years ago, instead of going underneath it, they went above it,” said Fortunato LucasZuazua, who works at De Anza College in the education technology services department.

When Semans, the current contractor for De Anza, cut through the asphalt and concrete, it also cut through the conduit containing the cable because it was so close to the surface the contractor was repairing.

“It was an inch and a half below the surface,” LucasZuazua said.

As of press time, Josie Hernandez, call center support technician, said that repairs were expected to be done by Monday, if not sooner.

News

May 9, 2005 * WWW.LAVOZDEANZA.COM

5

Board approves 22 DA layoffs

By Sherry Sanguinet LA VOZ It was standing room only at the district board room at Foothill College, where the board of trustees met Monday and unanimously voted to lay off classified employees.

An overflow of students and staff wrapped around the hall leading out of the board room.

Layoffs were one of many high-profile issues on the agenda, along with student senate budgets and Measure E items.

Administrators and the board of trustees decided to cut classified positions to make up for a deficit. According to the board, district personnel estimated that the “operating deficit” was in the range of $8.4 million.

Much of the projected deficit is due to a decrease in enrollment.

“Every 1 percent decrease in enrollment is equal to $1 million,” said Vice Chancellor of Human Resources Jane Enright.

Chancellor Martha Kanter called the budget problems “a crisis in Sacramento.”

Kanter said of the layoffs, “It’s a very sad day in the district.”

Classified employees pleaded their cases one-by-one to the board. Art Hand, chief steward and Foothill librarian, said, “We have to keep trying. Here are some people you need to hear from.”

Budget Analyst Martha De La Cerda said, “I have worked for Foothill/De Anza since 1972. I know no other employer except FHDA. The district needs to reconsider their structural change. District managers are creating supervisors who only supervise one employee. The money used to pay cell phone bills alone could be used to pay classified salaries.”

Meeting Highlights • The Board unanimously voted to lay off 22 classified employees, effective this summer.

Marjan Sadoughi/ LA VOZ

From right: De Anza College President Brian Murphy, Foothill College President Bernadine Chuck Fong, Chancellor Martha J. Kanter and Assistant to the Chancellor Jon O’Bergh listen to classified workers during the May 2 Board of Trustees Meeting at Foothill College.

Sandy Hay, board of trustees president, said, “It is not an ‘us versus them,’ we are all ravaged at all levels.”

Janet Rindfleisch, director of the Euphrat Museum, whose job is to be eliminated, said, “The Euphrat could grow, adapt, prosper and create a legacy. We need commitment from the college.

[The layoff] will result in eventually shutting down the museum.”

Inside the boardroom, a few attendees held handmade signs protesting the layoffs, stating, “2 out of 3 chief stewards are targeted for layoffs, this = union busting,” and “Support classified staff, no layoffs.”

Academic Counselor Rebecca Levin said, “I urge the board to look at using their reserves.

Please listen to suggestions for across the board reductions.”

De Anza President Brian Murphy said, “We are all underfunded across the board. This has sparked a level of conversation about cooperation. Every position really matters and every position

cut hurts its department or program. That’s just the bottom line.”

Board member Hal Plotkin told a story about his mother, the sole provider for his family, who was laid off when he was in high school.

Plotkin and his sister had to quit school and work in a pizza parlor in order to make ends meet. Plotkin told the audience he knows firsthand the devastation that can be caused by layoffs.

Two votes against the layoffs were from student trustees Melanie Dunn from De Anza and Rodolfo Vazquez from Foothill. Student trustee votes are only advisory and carry no weight.

“We want to look at every possible stone and leave none unturned,” board member Paul Fong said.

Before the layoff discussion, the Foothill senate gave a PowerPoint presentation on their 2005-2006 budget.

Foothill Senate President Kee

Hoon Chung spoke of their vision to become more visible, accessible, expressive and professional as an organization. The board quickly approved its budget.

“When this remarkable group is running the world, I hope they remember our foundation,” board member Plotkin said.

De Anza Senate President Nadine Foster-Mahar presented its 2005-2006 budget.

“We’ve been tightening the ship and have tried to turn the negatives into positives,” FosterMaher said.

“We have tried to promote student success on campus,” Senate Vice President Henna Khan said.

She cited the tutorial center, whose budget was approved, as one of their success stories.

All the Measure E actions and projects were approved.

Upgrades will be made at De Anza to the Learning Center and the P.E. quad.

Renovations at Foothill will be made to the Campus Center, P.E. and Science buildings.

• If budget problems continue, 26 more classified employees may be subject to layoffs effective between July and September.

• All layoffs will be from the De Anza College classified employee group.

• The De Anza Associated Student Body Senate 2005–2006 budget was approved.

• The Associated Students of Foothill College Student Senate 2005-2006 budget was approved.

• The board approved Measure E funds to upgrade the De Anza Learning Center and P.E. quad.

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A+E 6 “Me Thao” great but never quite culminates

May 9, 2005 * WWW.LAVOZDEANZA.COM

By Katherine Nguyen LA VOZ In “Me Thao,” or “Once Upon a Time,” in English, a handsome and rich lord named Nguyen is struck by disaster when his long-awaited love dies in a car crash.

Nguyen bans the use of the industrial technology from his land, Me Thao, after blaming it for his love’s death. Devastated and crazed, he continues his rash dictatorship until his faithful servant and friend, Tam, deals him the ultimate wake-up call: his death.

In the film, Tam is played by former De Anza student Don Duong, a controversial actor who was forced to leave Vietnam because of his role in “We Were Soldiers,” according to an article in the San Francisco Chronicle.

The plot of “Me Thao,” is interspersed with love stories and a curse. One story involves Tam and a traditional singer who is already married, named To.

The other story is about a mute servant girl named Cam who is desperately in love with Nguyen. The curse is of an old dan day, a Vietnamese threestringed instrument.

Wow, this film has so much potential with an out-ofthe-ordinary plot, realistic actors and the simple beauty of 1920s Vietnamese landscape and architecture.

But boy, does it ever fall flat.

The film never quite reaches its climax, with slow scenes welcome but quick bursts of humor and passion in between.

The shots in “Once Upon a Time” are especially abrupt when focusing on the pensive and sorrowful eyes of Nguyen as he thinks about his future without his new bride – and then it goes back to the fire pit he’s gazing at – and back to his face and back to the fire.

Huh? What’s going on? Is there something in the fire that I’m not catching? I give up.

I know how “Once Upon a Time” is trying to make me feel, about all the pain and desolation of humanity and love and the poignancy of it all.

I’m not heartless, just confused and bored.

posed to cheer him on his path of delusion and crazed grunting?

Still, “Once Upon a Time” is commendable because of its long journey to the people of the world including the United States, Italy, Japan and France.

Although it was banned in Vietnam when released in 2002 due to the controversy surrounding Duong’s involvement in “We Were Soldiers,” “Once Upon a Time” won the top award, the Golden Rose Award, at the 2003 Bergamo Film Festival in Italy.

“Once Upon a Time” is a great effort and collaboration of many fine Vietnamese actors and veteran female Vietnamese-French director Viet Linh.

They are making their mark in the growing Vietnamese film industry, but “Once Upon a Time” is only one small step on a path of many winding miles. I give “Once Upon a Time” two out of four gold stars for effort, wonderful acting and scenery.

“Maybe I’m not artistic enough to understand, but when Nguyen is making love to a wooden statue, sweating and glistening all over, am I supposed to cheer him on his path of delusion and crazed grunting?”

NBC’s “Revelations” an obnoxious hodge-podge This article originally appeared on www.lavozdeanza.com

By Kharman Aidun LA VOZ If you don’t watch television very often, be glad you missed the show “Revelations.”The series, which airs Wednesday nights on NBC, is obnoxiously cliche and unimaginative.

“Revelations” seems to be an odd combination of “The X-Files,” “Touched by an Angel,” and a magic show featuring Penn and Teller. The series appears almost interesting in the commercials, until the announcer starts talking and you hear a bit of the plot line – or lack thereof.

The show’s so-called “plot” is about the apocalypse on earth.

According to the show’s creator, David Seltzer, the end of the world starts out with some crazy woman giving birth to Christ.

Next, possessed weirdos seduce 15-year-old boys over the Internet to join Satan.

Bill Pullman stars in “Revelations” as the skeptical Dr. Richard Massey, whose daughter was kidnapped and allegedly killed by Satanists.

To add to Massey’s bad luck, his stepson, Hawk, got himself kidnapped as well last week after the cute girl he was flirting with online turned out to be a satanic cult member.

Instead of using the tired cliche of the maverick priest who takes on corruption within the Catholic Church, “Revelations” gives us the rebellious nun, Sister Josepha Montafiore, played by Natascha McElhone.

Unlike Dr. Massey, “Sister Jo” believes that the events that are taking place have supernatural origins.

“Revelations” is “The X-Files” after being groped by an angel or, eventually, a nun.

In one scene from last week’s episode, Sister Josepha has to remove part of her habit so she wouldn’t be spotted by the men trying to kill her. Who saw that coming?

No one would have suspected that the attractive, naughty, blonde nun would take off her uniform! The next logical and annoyingly predictable step is, of course, a forbidden love

It isn’t an awful film, but it’s mediocre. The final package just needs better wrapping with sparkly ribbons. The setting is beautiful and the characters all have the grace of the glamorous 1920s.

Copyright NBC Inc.

interest between Sister Jo and Dr. Massey.

“Revelations” also features Fred Durst from the band Limp Bizkit – because choosing the right guest star will make your series a winner.

Durst’s portrayal of satanic cult member Ogden, however, is flat and unconvincing.

Of course, this is unless Satanists are supposed to be stoic and expressionless, in which case Durst pulled off his character perfectly.

This show has a holy trinity of characteristics that will make any series a surefire winner: a seductive nun, Fred Durst and Christ. And then someone bites off his finger. Yes, Fred Durst bites off his own finger for no particular reason except to show how evil and nasty Satanists are – and that they can re-grow digits after a satisfying meal.

We don’t need to see a Satanist bite off his own finger and grow it back again, because this does not prove someone is evil – just disturbed.

At the conclusion of Wednesday night’s episode, Ogden and his satanic pal push Hawk off of a cliff, again for no particular reason except to show the audience how “evil” they are.

The one thing “Revelations” desperately needs is humor. Without humor, people are going to laugh at things they shouldn’t – like the whole show, for example.

At the end of Wednesday’s episode, the announcer prepared us for the adventure we’re in store for next week: “Prepare for the most intense chapter of ‘Revelations.’”

If the creators of the show are merciful, perhaps it will be the last chapter of “Revelations.”

Dan Sealana contributed to this article.

The film’s portrayal of colonial Vietnam is indeed breathless, but the film never lets us forget the oppression of the people during that time.

Maybe I’m not artistic enough to understand, but when Nguyen is making love to a wooden statue, sweating and glistening all over, am I sup-

Comics

May 9, 2005 * WWW.LAVOZDEANZA.COM

7

The Rebooted | Sarah Gahan

Joy Comes Bottled | Sarah Joy Callahan

Not Nowhere | Dodge Stewart

Horoscope | Sarah Gahan

A Day in the Life | Angela Tsai

"A principality is created either by the people or by the nobles, accordingly as one or other of them has the opportunity; for the nobles, seeing they cannot withstand the people, begin to cry up the reputation of one of themselves, and they make him a prince, so that under his shadow they can give vent to their ambitions."

—Machiavelli's The Prince (1513)

Untitled | Karolina Lewis

I wonder what dog food tastes like…

Regrettably, I recently attended the National Horoscope Writers’ Convention in Glum, South Dakota.

What awaited me there was an afternoon of horror.

Why such an event was held in a town whose population numbers in the dozens, a town with no hotels or banquet facilities whatsoever, I do not know.

One would think a group of self-described prognosticators would have forseen the inherent difficulties of such a locale, but such is life.

At any rate, I was lambasted and summarily dismissed from the organization – not for failing to pay my quarterly dues, as I first suspected, but as part of a vendetta against me and all that I stand for.

It began innocently enough, with some sub-par repartee as we filed into the rickety structure which the organizers had booked for a convention hall. I believe the original purpose of the structure was to serve as a barn, but I doubt any self-respecting animal would deign to rest his or her tired hooves in such an establishment, even in the blistering chill that tore at our faces every time we stepped outside.

But I digress.

As stated above, a light banter between fellow horoscopographs began, at first a series of light jabs at the vagueness of one scribe’s predictions, or the alleged loose morals of another astrologist’s mother.

It was all in good fun, or so it seemed. Then, the attacks began flying more sharply, and more markedly in the direction of yours truly.

I was taken aback by the vitriol spewed in my direction by my slow-thinking, mouth-breathing colleagues.

While I had always pitied them for their inability to recognize their own failings, I had no idea my innocent forays into their field would rile them so.

But indeed, I was confronted with anger, fear, and resentment – all foaming from their mouths as if they had swallowed shaving cream after mistaking it from whipped cream (as, in fact, I had seen a few of them do.)

The thrust of their argument, insomuch as I could piece it together despite their inability to synchronize the operation of mind and mouth, all over the constant honking of air-horns and other toys of the common mob, was that I – I! – was a fraud.

Imagine my growing astonishment, dear reader, as I looked into their red, contorted faces. After all, have I ever presented myself as anything but a fraud? No. I am convinced my conduct has all been impeccable. It is the mob who was wrong.Wrong ... and out for blood.

Next week: The thrilling conclusion of the tale! Our fearless fake astrologist finds herself in danger of being tarred and feathered! Read on next week to discover how Ms. Gahan escapes the bloodthirsty mob!

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8Features

May 9, 2005 * WWW.LAVOZDEANZA.COM

De Anza plays host to automotive showdown

By Vadim Yaport LA VOZ On May 15, after a two-year hiatus, the thirty-sixth Duel at De Anza will be held in parking lots A, B, and C on the De Anza College campus. The autocross event will feature 200 racers driving cars ranging from stock Civics to hand-built racecars.

The first car will be off the line at 9 a.m., and the event will end between 4 and 5 p.m. The last day to register as a driver has passed, but admission is free to the general public. The event will be the largest one-day autocross event in California.

The Duel at De Anza is organized by the De Anza Auto Tech Club, which is counting on money from food sales, registration fees and local sponsorship to provide income for the club. The $5 million insurance policy for the race is being provided by the National Auto Sport Association, to which the Auto Tech Club has a membership. The club is also selling $10 T-shirts up to and on the day of the event at the Automotive Tech Center.

Michael Brandt, the Executive Head of the Automotive Department, is organizing the event. He anticipates between 1,000 and 2,000 spectators to attend. His tip to drivers? “It’s not the speed, it’s the smoothness.”

This is because the course will be built around the light poles of parking lot B, with the longest straightaway measuring only 40 yards. Driving skill and

a car’s handling capabilities will be the most important factors in shaving seconds off lap times.

The first of each driver’s three runs is for practice; the combined time of the next two make up the driver’s overall time.

Brandt has seen professional autocross racers participate in the events, and according to him the reason the pros choose to compete is the crowds.

“A lot of autocrosses are held at abandoned army bases or airports with no spectators. This way, they can have fun and show off for a crowd,” Brandt said.

Participating automobiles will be separated into four categories, with sub-categories related to engine displacement and suspension type. The first category is stock, meaning the car is identical to what is purchased in the show room. The second is Street Prepared, allowing for certain modifications but keeping the car street legal. Next comes Prepared, which is any Street Prepared car that is equipped with racing tires. Finally, the Unlimited Class, which includes real race cars, and heavily modified street legal cars.

Thirty-five first place and 35 second place trophies will be given, one for each sub-category of cars.

The Auto Club will enter its own project car into the competition, a heavily modified Datsun 510. Club members who worked on the car and took a special driving school classmay race the machine in the Duel.

Steve Cabana/ LA VOZ

Nursing instructor has the best medicine

By Sarah Joy Callahan LA VOZ Joanne Araki is known for her her tears and laughter – she says so herself. When she was presented with De Anza’s Distinguished Educator award, “Judy Miner came in and told me that my students had nominated me for this award. As usual, I started crying,” she said. Araki plans to retire at the end of the quarter after 25 years with the De Anza College nursing program. Her speech is punctuated with laughter and she ends most sentences with “ya?” She says, “Laughing is so important.

I always remember to laugh.”

The Distinguished Educator award honors one De Anza educator each month for displaying substantial, significant and sustained excellence, commitment and enthusiasm to their teaching and is selected from student nominations.

Araki’s life and nursing career began in Hawaii where she grew up as a third generation Japanese Hawaiian.

“I always wanted to be a nurse and just kind of pursued it. You know like how some kids play ‘cowboys and Indians?’ I always played doctor and nurse.”

Araki obtained her bachelor’s in nursing from University of Hawaii. The picture of her graduating class, outfitted in white dresses and adorned with leis, hangs on the wall of her office. She moved to California with her first husband so he could participate in a Berkeley computer program.

While he studied, she worked as a nurse practitioner in El Camino, Good Samaritan, and Valley Medical hospitals. “I like blood and guts ... I’m a real blood and guts person.” After spending time in the medical field, Araki began considering teaching at the encouragement of others who recognized her natural aptitude.

While pregnant with her first child, she studied for her master’s at San Jose State University. Jason was born a week after

graduation. Araki taught at San Jose State for two years, Araki began working parttime at De Anza in 1980, where she developed and taught a RN refresher program.

She never wants to take a similar program herself and has continued to practice and teach throughout the entire time her children were growing up.

“I never stopped practicing no matter what. The nursing department at De Anza is credible because we still [practice].”

Below the Bachelor’s graduation portrait hangs a poster of Jason, who performs under the name “J Turtle.” Jason had earned his Associate’s Degree from the same school his mother taught at, and now makes a living as a singer/songwriter.

Araki finds time to work as his booking agent and displays a bumper sticker with his logo on her car.

“They call him ‘Turtle’ because he eventually gets to where he wants to go, but it takes him awhile. They call me ‘Mama Turtle.” Jason has come back to perform at De Anza and has a booking to perform today.

After working part-time, Araki was hired as a full-time faculty member in 1989.

“I like nursing because you can dabble in a lot of different things” she says of her career and not-so-easily expected jobs, such as a booking agent.

“I get bored easily. I like variety. Not in men, though.” While working at De Anza, Araki was divorced from her first husband, and found a change of life direction in her second husband.

On the wall opposite the graduation portrait and the “J Turtle” poster is a second, “Men in Endolite” poster, a humorous takeoff of “Men in Black” for amputees. Araki has taped her husband’s picture over the face of one of the pictured actors. After losing his right leg as a result of a motorcycle accident and spending much time in the hospital, Araki’s second husband, Michael Faulkner, was inspired to become a nurse himself and joined De Anza’s nursing pro-

De Anza Nursing instructor Joanne Araki is the recipient of the distinguished educator award for May 2005.

She has worked in the De Anza nursing department for 25 years.

Sarah Joy Callahan/ LA VOZ

gram. The loss of his leg resulted in a new relationship.

Friends had been encouraging Araki to begin dating again. After Faulkner graduated from the program, Araki, who had been his former teacher, called him up.

“We were amazed how much we had in common,” she says. The two have been married for 11 years. When Faulkner decided to move away from California, the two decided on a half-way point: Nevada.

Currently Araki makes the five hour commute every other week, but looks forward to retirement so she can spend time with her husband and sons.

Retirement doesn’t mean and end to

nursing or teaching. Araki presently spends her time away from De Anza giving medical care to the Washoe, Paiute, and Shoshone Native American Indian tribes in Nevada. In the future, she will work with the tribes three days a week.

“I want to empower the Indians,” she says. Araki only has a few weeks left at the place she has worked at for 25 years.

“I’m going to miss the people, but not the early hours. I had to get up at 4:00 or 5:00 a.m.” She has been selected as the keynote speaker for the nursing program’s pinning ceremony on June 24 and has a chance for a final goodbye. She says, “I’ve been practicing so I don’t cry.”