Volume 114 Spring 2011 Roundup Issue 4

ROUNDUP UP

Budget crisis remains

Sydney Grossman/ Roundup

The California Community College (CCC) system is facing a major budget crisis for the 2011-12 school year.

California is facing a $26 billion budget shortfall. Gov. Jerry Brown has proposed extending the tax on vehicle sales, sales tax and income tax. The tax extension would add an estimated $11 billon to the budget.

In order to extend the tax increase, Gov. Brown is attempting to put the issue before the public during a special election.

Needing a quorum of two-thirds, Gov. Brown is currently short five Republican votes.

Current budget plans call for a $400 million cut to the CCC budget and a $10 fee increase, according to the CCC Chancellor’s Office.

This is assuming voters approve the governor’s ballot measure, which is by no means certain and remains unknown for at least one more week.

According to Joy McCaslin, Pierce College’s interim president, this scenario is favorable.

“We are planning for the best situation,” McCaslin said. “We want the class offerings to stay the same. Instead, we have been cutting back on supplies.”

If the proposal does not reach the voters because of Republican holdouts, or if the electorate does not approve the tax extension, the outcome will result in severe budget cuts for the CCC.

In that case $685 million will need to be cut from the CCC budget. This amounts to a displacement of approximately 400,000 students from the CCC system.

“Each department will have to contribute,” said Fernando Oleas, chair of the modern languages department.

Pierce is currently planning for both contingencies, but both McCaslin and Kathleen Burke-Kelley, president, have more of a focus on creating a guideline for the best situation.

“We’re cutting back on other expenses and not cutting classes,” said McCaslin. “Kathleen and I speak on the phone and plan out what to do next.”

Under the worst case scenario a 15 percent reduction in Pierce’s budget could result in the displacement of 6000 students and would force the admissions office to reassess all the registered students.

“We have a unique budget situation and we just don’t have answers and can’t move forward yet,” McCaslin said. “We want students to have classes and Pierce has a good reputation for maintaining what we offer.”

Unfortunately, there seems to be a slim chance of new hires for the fall semester. Full time faculty will be given full classes and adjunct professors, since not permanent, can be let go.

“We don’t want to let them go,” McCaslin said. “We are trying not to replace anyone.”

There are several options the chancellors office is considering, including a 90-unit cap on each students subsidized credits, a fee increase to $66 per unit, eliminating funding for athletics, repetition of PE and fine arts classes.

“Every community college is in a giant struggle,” said McCaslin.

sgrossman.roundupnews@gmail.com

Coburn Palmer/ Roundup cpalmer.roundupnews@gmail.com

Spring has sprung

Amale calf born Mar. 3 at the Pierce Farm, broke his leg last week and was put in a cast, according to Dr. Leland Shapiro, department chair of agriculture and natural resources.

The calf was injured when his mother stepped on his leg in the days following his birth, according to Alice Christensen, a 21-year-old pre-veterinarian major.

The heifer and calf are being kept separate from the rest of the herd in a barn while the baby recovers. Injured calves have a low survival rate as a result of difficulty in eating.

The injured calf was born as a set of twins and the other calf has not been effected by the injury.

Though injuries can be fatal to baby animals, the new calf is healing better than expected and looks to be healthy soon, according to Sahpiro.

Kat Mabry/ Roundup

According to KTLA-Channel 5 Sunday evening newscast, Pierce College would be closed due to weather and rain causing floods and unsafe classrooms the following day.

Not quite.

With close to a record-high inch count totaling approximately 5.5 inches in Woodland Hills, some classrooms were affected but Pierce College as a whole was open for classes Monday.

Precipitation totaled at a record-breaking 6.57 inches Nov. 29, 1970.

Though the campus was open Monday, select classrooms

were closed due to flooding.

Three classrooms in the Behavioral Science building and one Village trailer were temporarily unavailable to students Monday morning.

“There is too much rain damage,” said Dr. Nicolas Habib, adjunct professor of philosophy. “Class will resume on Wednesday, but it’s just too dangerous now.”

The three classrooms in the Behavioral Science building: 1309 -1311 were cleaned up and reopened by 11 a.m., according to Paul Nieman of Plant Facilities.

As a result of the misinformation provided by KTLA, the Pierce College Sheriff’s Department received more calls than normal Sunday and half a dozen calls Monday before the first

classes of the day.

Facebook exploded with comments from students attempting to confirm the news they had heard from what they knew to be a reliable source.

It wasn’t until the automated message came from Admissions that confirmed the falsehood surrounding the KTLA briefing.

According to emails between Pierce College Public Relations and KTLA management, the source who shared the information was never checked for clarification.

kmabry.roundupnews@gmail.com

Jose Ramero/ Roundup

OUCH: A newborn calf stands by iits mother after breaking a leg and having it put in a cast on March 17.

John Gutierrez / Roundup

GRAZING: Cows graze on the green, sunlit grass on the hills of the Ranch behind the Pierce College Farm Center with the Warner Center in the back ground.

Coburn Palmer/ Roundup

Nuclear energy costly, unsafe

Japan’s triple disaster serves as a harsh reminder to the unprepared

It is arguable that while nuclear reactors generate electricity, the means of production are not only wasteful but dangerous – too much risk with too little gain.

While electricity itself isn’t harmful to the environment, the refined uranium mined to fuel a reactor is. The process of refining this highly volatile radioactive element (which is also mined as a natural resource in this country) is as expensive as it is untenable.

—EDITORIAL—

The war for education

With California currently ranking 49th in education changes need to be made

Education is the future of our country and as such should require first priority in our national and state budget.

Elementary through high schools have seen their budgets devastated as have community colleges and universities.

Education is being cut across the board.

We, as a society, have seen fit to give education a back seat to everything else that seems more immediate.

Ignoring a problem won’t make it go away. We have taken a short cut that will eventually come back to haunt us.

As a society we seem to have made a plan to have a less and less educated public. Is this really what we want?

The service sector, the lowest paying job category in America has grown by leaps and bounds while our manufacturing jobs have been outsourced.

We still maintain the lead in technology but how long will this last when schools are cutting Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) education.

Will life really be worth living after we eradicate the arts from our schools?

We will no longer have musicians or artists; those people who contribute to our culture.

Today’s instructors teach tomorrow’s leaders, and while we have never seen fit to pay them as much as CEOs, we have at least provided them classrooms in which to teach.

Now, with school’s budgets being slashed, we can’t even provide the classes students so desperately need.

California is ranked 49th in education statistics while education funding has dropped 40 percent since 1980, according to an independent analyst working for the Pell Institute.

Meanwhile, the United States ranks 18 in a list of 36 industrialized nations, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

This is not a good long-term plan.

With the fall of the middle class at home and the rise of China as the next world power, the United States must do all it can to maintain its superiority for the good of our way of life.

California is currently running a deficit of $20 billion solely to repay loans we have taken out, according to the legislative analysts office.

There are several ways to get money; pay off these loans, save the money spent on interest, take the hit even though it might be an uncomfortable cut in social programs, and invest the saved money in education.

Our nation is currently conducting overt military operations in two foreign countries to the tune of $1.2 trillion, according to a recent New York Times article.

Whether or not we agree if these wars should have been launched is irrelevant. In this economic crisis the time has come to choose them or us. Choose us.

—Letter to the Editor—

California tuition not a heavy load

Having come from another state, I would like to briefly discuss my mixed feelings about the peaceful protest of today. First, peaceful protests of any kind are something I support wholeheartedly and always have.

However, as a point of information, following are some facts most people may not be aware of.

We have the lowest tuition rates in the USA. For example, Nassau Community College on Long

Island in NY, the only 2 year college within a huge area of Long Island, charges $1866 per semester for NY residents. In addition, fees are charged for many services we give away, such as $40 to process an application, $5 per transcript, $50 to petition for graduation, to name a few.

I cannot help but wonder if this protest would attract as many students if they were aware of how low our fees are in comparison to the rest

of the country. The California legislators have never wanted to place our budget problems on the backs of the students – who does? – but I do honestly feel that reasonable increases are inevitable over the next few years if we are ever to get out of our current financial problems.

-Barbara Heller Secretary, Academic Affairs

The nuclear energy industry in America has had its pitfalls and setbacks, ranging from fierce opposition to nuclear disasters like the ongoing Japan nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant.

In wake of the earthquake, tsunami and subsequent nuclear meltdown, 7,000 people are confirmed as dead and 11,000 are missing.

The radiation leakage from the damaged reactor cores has already seeped into the groundwater, irradiating foods like spinach and milk beyond levels safe for human consumption.

This disaster has triggered an international examination of the use of nuclear power, one that is long overdue.

While the use of atomic energy comes with the risk of humanitarian crisis, and high production costs, without the return benefit of clean or energyefficient production, the nuclear power industry remains tenacious in its self-support.

The nuclear energy lobby has pushed aggressively in the wake of the Japan disaster, with nuclear energy companies clamoring on the airwaves to mitigate any negative feelings the public might have on nuclear power.

Even so, President Obama has authorized a safety review of the 104 existing plants in the United States, an investigation that has uncovered over a dozen ‘near misses’ at plant facilities nearing 60 years of age.

Nuclear energy currently accounts for 8 percent of the total U.S. energy consumed, and that number is expected to decline in the coming decades.

Earlier in his presidency, Obama also approved the building of several new reactors, as part of his ‘green energy initiative.’

There is only so much nucleargrade uranium to go around, and it won’t be long until the U.S. will be forced to import it from other countries – much like we do with oil.

Transporting this uranium is costly, even without the issues of nuclear security and public safety to factor in.

It still takes gas or diesel to fuel the trucks that carry uranium across the country, and the vulnerability of these supply lines and indeed the nuclear facilities themselves are cause for concern.

Storing the excess nuclear waste is also an issue. After all, Uranium-238, the isotope used for nuclear applications, has a halflife of 4.46 billion years.

This accumulated waste will literally sit for thousands of years, and since no one has the technology to neutralize this waste, the best solution is to bury it underground and away from major population centers.

However, any proposed sites for such a repository would eventually become overfilled, and vulnerable to attack, natural phenomenon or just plain human error or technological failure.

Unless the nuclear industry can come up with a plant impervious to all these things, as well as provide a financially and environmentally viable way of producing nuclear power, we find ourselves in a puzzler.

Why invest in a technology so risky that disasters like Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi are a clear and present danger? Why invest millions in a technology that is so costly to produce, and yet so unsustainable at the same time?

Why risk so much for so little?

The answer to the nuclear question isn’t unclear.

sjackson.roundupnews@gmail.com

COMMENTS FROM ONLINE READERS

We as students also need to made aware of where are money is going when are fees are hiked. Currently only $6 out of the $26 per unit makes its way back to the community college system. Majority of the fees make its way back to administrative costs (a small %. While the majority of the fees makes it way back to the K - 12. So we aren’t funding the community college system but other educational institutions unlike the UC’s and Cal State system where their tuition hikes go back directly to their educational institutions.

- Regarding the article - ‘March in March’ by: Eduardo Razo

Maria Salvador / Roundup

Sienna Jackson / Roundup

Not guilty after 17 years

Freed man speaks out after wrongfully accused

After being sentenced to the electric chair, the inmate walked the stage at Pierce College.

Juan Melendez was sentenced to death on Nov. 2, 1984, after being wrongly accused and convicted of murder and armed robbery by the state of Florida. He was incarcerated for 17 years, eight months and a day.

It was 16 years after his conviction that evidence implicating the real killer surfaced. The evidence was in the form of a taped confession, and it was later discovered that the prosecutor had knowingly withheld this proof.

On Jan. 3, 2002, Melendez was released from Union Correctional Institute with only the clothes on his back and $100 as compensation from the state. He still hasn’t received an official apology from the state of Florida.

His March 15 presentation commenced with a screening of the trailer of “Juan Melendez 6446,” a documentary that recounts his true story by way of accounts given by Melendez, his mother, lawyers and friends.

“I am not a killer,” he said as he began his narrative. “My momma didn’t raise a killer.”

For a large part of his presentation, Melendez gave a first-hand account of what it felt like to be constantly reminded, through the dwindling numbers of fellow prisoners, of his then-impending fate.

“You knew the exact moment that someone was being executed because the lights would flicker on and off,” he recalled.

He also talked about his feelings as he was led out of prison and his conflicting emotions in leaving behind over 17 years worth of friendship and

brotherhood with his fellow convicts.

“I was saved not by the system, but in spite of the system,” said Melendez, a devout Catholic. “I was saved by the grace of God.”

Melendez and criminal defense attorney Julie Caruso jointly answered questions from attendees in a short question-and-answer portion following the presentation.

Many student attendees voiced their appreciation for the event.

“A lot aren’t aware of the legal system and how its works,” said 52-year-old criminal justice major Carole Michaux. The event was headed by Four Corners Co-op, a Pierce College club dedicated to bringing awareness to students on issues concerning social justice, environment conservation, and overall health and wellness.

“This is the kind of thing that our club stands for,” said club president Kyle Morris.

Refreshments worth a dollar each were sold by the club throughout the entire event.

“Part of the proceeds will be donated as part of Melendez’ honorarium,” said Four Corners Co-op co-founder Nam Tran during a recent club meet-

Professor honored

Leo Sirakides, an overall joy to be around and an educator who truly devoted his life to his students died Monday, March 21, 2011.

Sirakides served as what is the equivalent to a contemporary Dean of academic affairs at Los Angeles City College and as vice president of student services at Los Angeles Southwest College before coming to Pierce.

He stepped down from his position as dean to focus on his students.

Sirakides joined the computer application and office technologies department in the 1970s on campus.

“This is the kind of guy where people just loved to take his classes,” said Bob Lyons, fellow instructor at Pierce and long time friend. “He was dedicated to his students.”

He will be missed.

Services were held for friends and family Monday March 14 at the Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral.

Tsunami aid relief

The EAO (Emotion Abuse Organization) is holding a Tsunami Relief in front of The Great Hall helping the victims of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

“We raised $80, pretty good on the first day,” said Mark Mendoza “We are advertising through flyers and through Facebook.”

ing.

Tram added that though Melendez originally asked for $250 to speak, he did agree on $175. The club wanted to give at least a $200 stipend.

“Kathy Oborn, an advisor for the club, is donating $100 for his payment,” he said. “And the French Club is also chipping in.”

When questioned about the honorarium, Caruso readily explained its necessity in Melendez’ and her pursuit of justice in the legal system.

“It’s literally just the two of us,” said Caruso. “There isn’t an organization of any sort backing us up whenever we do these events.”

She added that the honorariums are “the only way they are able to survive,” and that they are currently looking for a private sponsor to back them up financially.

“It would be great to have somebody of influence helping us with our cause,” she said.

Are you protected?

As part of Pierce College’s HIV/AIDS Awareness week, the Student Health Center and Bienestar are providing free and confidential HIV/AIDS testing in front of the Student Services building until March 24 from 2 to 7 p.m. The testing was conducted by Bienestar, a mobilized testing clinic funded by the U.S Center for Disease Control and Prevention as well as the County of Los Angeles Department of Public Health.

Students waited patiently outside the mobile, where counselors filled a table with HIV/AIDS pamphlets, condoms, lubricates and business cards.

Signing up was easy, waiting for results proved to be the tough part.

“The most nerve racking part is getting the results,” said Nursing major, Rene Lexus. “But this is so convenient, it only takes 20 minutes”.

Lexus heard about the testing through last weeks HIV positive speakers from the “Being Alive” organization where speakers spoke about their life with the disease.

Henry Walk, a Marketing major, also became aware of the event through a guest speaker in his health 2 class with professor Diane Kelly.

According to Margaret Babb, a phlebotomy technician and HIV counselor for Bienestar, the test are 99.9 percent accurate, and you have two options of testing: a saliva swap or blood test.

“HIV doesn’t favor any age that you are or whether you are male or female,” said Babb. “That is why it is important to get tested”.

Bienestar provides a variety of services to those who are infected by the disease such as housing, support groups, treatment and counseling.

“Once we know the client tested positive we do a confirmation test,” said Babb. “We send that to the lab for three days and they send us back their findings and confirm our readings”.

With more than one million people living with HIV in the USA, it is important to get tested, according to counselors.

“ A lot of it depends on sexual appetite,” said Babb. “Once a year if you have one sexual partner, every six months if you have five to seven partners and every three months if you have a very active sexual life”.

bocanegramayra3@gmail.com

Sheriffʼs blotter

3/14/11 - Hit and Run - A silver 2004 Honda Civic was rear-ended by another vehicle, which fled the scene. The incident was reported at 10:30 a.m.

3/14/11 - Student incident - A male student grabbed a female student’s shoulder inappropriately. The incident occurred at 5:45 p.m.

3/15/11 - Vandalism - A door in the Art building was marked with “supervisors” crossed out. The incident was reported at 12:25 p.m.

3/15/11 - Misc - A forklift was driven into a roll-up door in Auto-Tech. The incident was reported at 6 p.m.

3/17/11 - Student disturbance - Two students had a verbal altercation in the CopyTech. One of the students pepper-sprayed the other student. Both students were detained, neither was booked on charges. The incident was reported at 9 a.m.

3/17/11 - Vandalism - There was an altercation over a student not being dropped off at the student drop-off area. A water bottle was thrown at one of the vehicles causing a dent. The incident was reported at 1:30 p.m.

3/17/11 - Burglary - A vehicle was broken into in Lot 7. A Apple laptop was stolen. The incident was reported at 2 p.m.

The event is going on Monday-Friday from 9am to 6pm all donations are welcomed clothes, money, and canned food and all donations will go to The American Red Cross.

“I’m telling my friends so they can tell their friends and we are advertising through posters and going to classes asking for money,” said Jennifer Ortiz.

Dancing to victory

The street dance club at Pierce College competed in 18 events and won 16 awards during the High Desert Dance Classic, in Lancaster.

Several members also won awards during individual competitions in which male and females made random pairings of dance partners

The dance team plans to attend the upcoming salsa congress in April as well the LAPD and the Swing Diego dance competition.

Compiled by: Bryan Melara / Roundup

Jose Romero / Roundup

Speaking: Guest speaker Juan Melendez speaks to a crowd gathered to listen. Students voiced their appreciation during the question and answer segment.

Professor by day, author by night

With 50 novels complete and teaching history at Pierce, Hambly has a full plate

Every writer draws from their own, or others experiences, according to Hambly but not every character they write represents them.

“We’re good at making stuff up,” she said.

from outlines so she always knows where they are going but she doesn’t always know how they’re going to get there.

“ I make my outlines short and lose,” Hambly said. “Point A or point B might end up as point Z.”

Afamous author with more than 50 novels to her credit happens to work at Pierce College as a history professor.

Barbara Hambly, an adjunct assistant professor in the history and humanities department, is also a historical fiction novelist although her students might never know it.

“They don’t need me to stand up there and tell them I am a famous writer,” Hambly said. “If they go to the faculty website, they can find out I write books.”

She trained as an academic historian, in order to become a professor and she became a writer because it is what she likes to do.

“Barbara is sweet, congenial and easy to get along with, I shared an office space with her for about a year,” Professor Richard McMillan said.

According to Hambly there are two kinds of writers. The first kind start writing as small children, and writing is a safe place for them to go. The second start writing later and writing is the dangerous place.

Molding students into rock stars

Hambly applied to teach creative writing at first but was later hired to teach history because of her degree.

“Barbara can teach other classes too, she has taught the Honors class,” chair of the history department Gene Larson said.

Meanwhile, Hambly’s students might never know she is a professional writer.

“I think that bringing anything from my writing life would be a distraction,” she said.

Despite her attempts to remain hidden some of her students do wind up reading her blog and discover her secret.

Her advice to beginning writers is to have someone they know read their writing and give them feedback.

“They can tell you if you are writing clearly,” Hambly said. “You are to close to it.

If writers get stuck at a crossroads, they should retrace their steps and have their characters take a different path, according to her.

“ Your subconscious is telling you that you are going down the wrong path,” Hambly said.

She generally starts her books

Hambly also says that beginning writers spend too much time describing their character’s worlds and not enough time describing the action.

“A common mistake is to put everything in one lump,” Hambly said. “You should divide your writing into little slivers and distribute them through out your book.”

Hambly will soon be selling her whole backlist of sword and sorcery and vampire books in digital form through Open Road Media, and all new original stories on her website barbarahambly.com

“The series got dropped, but I still had many fans,” said Hambly. “I’ve started writing short stories of those series.”

Hambly believes that writers write because they have no choice. The only difference between her and another writer is that she gets paid.

“Every writer makes 10,0000 mistakes, get started and get them out of the way,” she said.

On Monday’s they crowd faculty office 3100.

This month, the Latin American Culture and Literature Club “La Razon de la Sinrazon” has finalized plans for the project they’ve been working on since Fall 2010, the bilingual magazine, “Tertulia.”

The Spanish word, tertulia, refers to a reflective gathering among acquaintances, where cultural, literary and artistic themes are discussed.

“This is an opportunity to demonstrate our creativity,” said former club president Luis Enrique Barco.

Barco, 23, came up with the idea of publishing the magazine last semester while he served as president.

The club initially planned on documenting the public demonstrations in Southern Calif. protesting the recently enacted immigration laws.

After an unsuccessful attempt at producing a documentary the club’s focus shifted.

The magazine, which will contain stories, poems, lyrics and other artwork, isn’t exclusive to the Latin American Culture and Literature Club; any Pierce College student can submit work.

“Express yourself,” said “Tertulia” editor Florencia Orlandoni. “That’s the only requirement.”

In order to fundraise for the magazine, the club organized two major events that took place during October and November at the Great Hall last semester.

During “Salsa Night,” the Great Hall’s carpet-cov-

ered floor was used for dancing; “Bohemian Night,” featured a number of performers.

“We’ve been done everything to raise money; we’ve sold raffle tickets, sold empanadas and asked for donations.” Said Barco. “We’re still searching for more funds in order to have a larger number of issues printed.”

Although club members have found funding a challenge, it isn’t their biggest issue.

“Our biggest fight, is encouraging people to turn in their work,” said Barco. “People have to believe more in themselves.”

In total 30 literary works from 17 authors have been submitted to Andrea Gordillo, club president, since the club started receiving material.

Another editor for “Tertulia,” Anayeli Villanueva, 25, is planning on this project being published once a semester.

“We don’t want this to be a one time thing,” Villanueva said.

The last day for students to submit work for “Tertulia” is March 31.

Editors expect to have 200 issues printed and available during the latter half of May.

“Something as significant as this, deserves more help,” Barco said.

Victor Stephen Kamont/ Roundup

Michaia Hernandez/ Roundup

Coburn Palmer/ Roundup

Victor Stephen Kamont/ Roundup

Melody Soto/ Roundup

Devon Trammell / Roundup

Devon Trammell / Roundup

Evan Lipton/ Roundup

STORY

Both an adjunt assistant history professor and published author, Barbara Hambly is about to make her novels digitially avaialable.

Age gap, ignorance and tutors, oh my

Director Valorie Grear gears up cast of ‘Born Yesterday’ for April 1 opening on Mainstage

Written in 1946, the post World War II play follows the life of an odd couple. The Pierce College Theater Department will be presenting its spring semester production of ‘Born Yesterday,’ a play by Garson Karin.

Set in Washington, D.C., the play tells the story of an unscrupulous millionaire, Harry Brock, who becomes embarrassed by his girlfriend, Billie Dawn, due to her ignorance, and thus hires a reporter, Paul Verrall, to tutor her.

In 1950, the play was brought to the screen by Columbia Pictures and starred Broderick Crawford as Brock and Judy Holliday as Dawn.

The film was remade in 1993, starring John Goodman (Brock), Melanie Griffith (Dawn), and Don Johnson (Verrall).

A revival of ‘Born Yesterday’ is currently on Broadway with Jim Belushi (Brock) and Robert Sean Leonard (Verrall).

Dennis Feehan, a veteran musician and Pierce College alum, will be staring

Practice makes perfect

weeks of intensive vocal and choreography rehearsals, and are now working on staging and blocking.

Putnam said that the casting process for this particular musical took longer than usual.

Musicals productions are usually shown sometime during the summer intercession, but conflict with ongoing construction forced the Theatre Department to reschedule this year’s a semester early.

“They’re actually closing down the Performing Arts building this June,” said Theatre Manager Michael Sande. “It’s going to be closed down for a year [due to construction].”

It’s also unusual for a musical production to be performed in the Dow Arena Theatre, but “Musical of Musicals (The Musical!)” Director Gene Putnam doesn’t mind.

“We have a small cast comprised of only six people,” he said. “It just all works out really well for this.”

Created by Joanne Bogart and Eric Rockwell, the production is essentially a 90-minute parody of musicals.

It puts a spin on the classic plot of “I can’t pay the rent!” through recounting it in five different ways, each reflecting and mocking five different musical styles.

The five acts that the musical is divided into satirize the musical techniques of five of theatre’s most respected composers: Rodgers & Hammerstein, Stephen Sondheim, Jerry Herman, Andrew Lloyd Webber, and Kander & Ebb.

“People who are familiar with musicals will identify,” said Putnam. “But even if you don’t know musicals, you’ll have a lot of fun.”

The original cast called for only four members, but Putnam wanted to maximize the number of people that will be involved in the show.

“I’m just using a bit more [cast members] to give other people a chance,” he said.

The musical is in the early stages of production. The cast members have already gone through two

“There are no small parts here,” he said. “And everybody has multiple roles in the play.”

Putnam said that he saw a performance of the show in the Laguna Playhouse somewhere around four to five years ago.

“I just liked it,” said Putnam. “It spoke to me.”

It isn’t just Putnam who is impassioned by the musical.

“I like the challenge of having to play five different characters in one show,” said 56-year-old Michael Chandler, one of the show’s cast members.

Putnam, who plans on retiring this June, lists this production as the last musical he will be doing as a full-time instructor at Pierce College.

Michele Selin is the musical’s assistant director and accompanist, with Cynthia Stults as the vocal director, Kelly Iannuzzi as the choreographer, and Thomas Cunningham as the stage manager.

In addition to Michael Chandler, the cast includes Evan Boelson, Lyndsay Brooks, Kelsey Lansdowne, Carolyn Schultz, Cynthia Stults, and Donovan Weir.

The long-running, off-Broadway sensation “Musical of Musicals (The Musical!),” will run from Friday, April 29, through Sunday, May 8, in the Dow Arena Theatre.

Tickets are priced at $12 for both students and seniors and $15 for general admission.

They may be purchased by calling (818) 719-6488. For more information on the event, please visit their website at http://info.piercecollege.edu/theater/.

in the production as Harry Brock.

“The process of learning a song is similar to learning a script,” said Feehan. “It just takes longer.”

The roll of Billie is casted to Sarah Ryan.

Ryan has years of experience on the stage and has had small parts in many televiosion shows.

“In the play, Billie reads the book ‘David Copperfield’ by Dickens, so for research I started reading it myself,” said Ryan.

What is a millionaire without a “minion” to do his bidding?

Veteran stage actor, Dana Craig, plays Ed Devery, a corrupted U.S. Senator.

“They print the auditions in a professional publication called ‘Backstage’ and I’m always checking for auditions,” said Craig.

Feehan, Ryan, and Craig all agree that rehearsing for the play is a lot of fun and working with Valorie Grier, the plays director, is a wonderful experience.

The play runs April 1 to 10 on the Mainstage at Pierce.

For ticket information call (818) 7196488 or visit their website at http://info. piercecollege.edu/theater/.

Performances

Dates and Times:

April 1: Opening night 8 p.m.

April 2: 8 p.m.

April 3: 2 p.m.

April 8: 8 p.m.

April 9: 8 p.m.

April 10: Closing night 2 p.m.

Admission: $12- Students and seniors $15- General admission

Tickests are currently on sale at the Pierce College Theatre Deapartment

Pierce prof directs ʻDogs of Warʼ at North Hollywood Theatre

The last two perfomances of “Dogs of War, or, That’s What Friends are For” will be March 25 and 26.

The play is written and directed by Adjunct Instructor of Music James Domine.

The play is a modern story of gang warfare romance in Los Angeles.

“Thematic threads of love and devotion, murder and revenge are woven together in a poetic tapestry that through imaginative and colorful use of language creates a mysterious and strange reality that is at once philosophical and metaphoric,” according to actorfourmtheatre.com.

Both remaing

Crystal Endless/ Roundup

ACTION: Denis Freehan and Dana Craig run through scenes from Act I as Harry Brock and Ed Devery at rehearsal March 16 in PAB.

Going under the knife

Lucas, a 1-yearold Doberman/ German Shepard mix, is currently recovering from a major life-altering operation.

His journey was guided by students, faculty and staff as they prepped the canine, performed surgery and comforted Lucas during his recovery.

The furry friend was brought in by his owner to be neutered, a procedure that renders male dogs sterile by surgically removing the testes.

Lucas was treated with tender attention upon arrival.

In less than two hours, the drowsy

pup was resting comfortably in the recovery section-sans his testicles. His prognosis is excellent and the veterinary training given to the students will prove invaluable as their pre-vet education continues and they help more dogs just like Lucas.

Photos by Jose Romero

—BASEBALL— Fer na ndo Ga l legos Fernando Gallegos

Gallegos, a middle-infielder by trade, has been like the majority of his teammates lately in that hits have been hard to come by. The freshman from Sylmar High School chose a good time to unleash the barrel of the bat. Number 12 had the game-wining walk-off RBI single during extra innings for the Brahmas against Citrus College Saturday afternoon.

Gritty win inspires future

Santhon stellar again, team rallies during extra frame

This sophomore outside-hitter from Sun Valley was one of the few bright spots for the Brahmas volleyball team verse El Camino College Friday night. Sargsyan led his team with 17 kills during the team’s nailbiting five game loss.

Sareen Hagopian won every event she competed in Friday for the Brahmas, helping the team secure the win over Valley College. This freshman won three events that included the 1000-yd free, 200-yd individual medley, and the 100-yd breaststroke.

CORRECTION: 3/16/11 - Last week’s Brahma of the week, tennis, is named David Engelberg not Daniel.

They needed a good week, and they got one.

Despite giving up a lead in the ninth, the Pierce College baseball team defeated the Citrus Owls (9-11, 4-3) 4-3 in ten innings.

The win capped a week in which the Brahmas went 2-1, bringing their overall record back over .500 (10-9), and their conference record to just one game under .500 (3-4).

“We’re kind of just being a bunch of ‘I’ guys, all playing for ourselves,” said sophomore Travis Forbes, on the Brahmas recent struggles.

“Once we start playing together we have the talent on this team to do something really, really special.”

Forbes got a chance to make a difference in a new way, getting his first start at catcher this season.

“We had a couple freshman…who were struggling a little back there,” said Forbes, who recently signed as a catcher with Gonzaga University. “To be honest, even after not catching

Taken for granted?

Men’s volleyball team upset by El Camino

Navid Khoi / Roundup

The Pierce College men’s volleyball team took their three game winning streak, and 8-2 record on the road to El Camino College (4-5) on Friday night looking for an easy win.

Pierce got overwhelmed by the way El Camino College came out to start the game with both their play and high emotions.

“I have a lot of emotional ties to Pierce College,” said El Camino College Head

Coach Dick Blount. “My mom died a couple years back last time we played them.”

The Brahmas came out sluggish and not really interested to start off the game.

“We came out lackadaisical and really slow, we really weren’t prepared mentally,” said freshman AK Gharwal.

Pierce was in a big whole to start off the first set, down 14-5, eventually losing the first set, 25-17.

“This is a tough place to play, the depth perception with this funky arch work makes it hard to track the ball,” said Pierce Head Coach Eddie Stanislawski.

The start of the second set was where Pierce seemed to realize that El Camino was not going to be a walk in the park.

It was a tight second set, till Pierce pulled away, winning the set 25-23. The final kill of the second set sent Hunter Hovland of El Camino walking back to his bench cursing.

“We don’t stop playing hard until the whistle blows,” said Gharwal.

The third set went to El Camino

25-17; were again Pierce just did not look like the team we are accustomed to seeing.

Pierce finally got their swagger back in the fourth set, were they showed more emotion than they had throughout the game.

“We don’t need to worry about what they’re doing if were on fire,” said Stanislawski.

The fourth set was a tight contest all the way through, until Jon Souisa had the winning kill to give them the set 25-23, forcing a fifth and final set.

“We just had to stay focused and keep playing volleyball,” said Souisa.

in awhile, I felt more comfortable there than in the outfield.”

“Me and Travis are pretty close,” said Ryan Santhon, who started on the mound for the Brahmas. “I’m used to Gonzalez, but Travis did a great job catching.”

Santhon pitched a full 9 innings, giving up 9 hits, no walks, 3 runs (2 earned) and striking out 7, while throwing to his new battery-mate.

For the Brahmas offensively, the big hit came in the bottom of the 10th, when Fernando Gallegos lashed a walk-off single after a pair of Citrus errors put runners in scoring position.

“It helps…not only the team, but my confidence, because I’m a freshman,” said Gallegos.

Only two of Santhon’s runs were earned, as a Justin Fredlander error set up what would prove to be a key run in the top of the eighth.

“If we play catch a little better, we’re not in extra innings,” said head coach Jon Bushart. “But that’s baseball. You’ve got to work around that stuff.”

Errors have been the Brahmas undoing as of late, but on this day at least, they were able to overcome.

However, errors or not, the Citrus offense

had a hard time getting much of anything going against Santhon for most of the game, leaving ten runners on base, six of them in scoring position.

The Brahmas offense managed to capitalize in the first inning, taking a 1-0 lead on a throwing error and extending it to 3-0 on a Giovanni Mazzola RBI double.

After that, however, they were kept quiet until the tenth, also leaving ten runners on base.

James Wharton got his first win of the season after pitching a scoreless tenth.

Despite their prior struggles, the Brahmas still feel that they have what it takes to go far.

“We have probably one of the best offenses in the conference, so we’ll see how it goes,” said Gallegos.

“We need to throw down our egos a little bit and play as the Brahmas, and not as a bunch of last names going out there,” said Forbes. “We’re the Brahmas.”

Pierce’s next home game is tomorrow against Bakersfield at 2:30 p.m.

dcromar.roundupnews@gmail.com

The fifth set was like a game of tug of war, where neither team gave an inch to the other, both wanted the win.

Back and forth was how the fifth set played out, were it seemed who ever had the last serve was going to win the match.

El Camino won the fifth set 15-13, and

stormed the court with such excitement knowing that this was a huge game for them and their coach.

“We were playing everyone tough, we just never got the win, but tonight we finally got that win,” said Blount.

Hayk Sargsyan led the team with 17 kills, and Jon Souisa added in 12 kills.

“We fought hard, but we let our emotions get the better of us with some of the ref’s calls,” said Stanislawski.

Pierce College next game will be on the road at Long Beach College on Friday, March 25 at 6 p.m.

nkhoi.roundupnews@gmail.com

Dan Cromar / Roundup

Jose Romero / Roundup

BANG BANG: Justin Fredlender dives to tag out Citrus runner, Nick Gosano on the third base line at Joe Kelly Field, Mar. 15, 2011.

—VOLLEYBALL— Hay k Sa rgs y a n Hayk Sargsyan

—SWIMMING— Sa reen Hagopia n Sareen Hagopian

Joe Kukuczka / Roundup

FOCUS: Pierce Collegeʼs Christian Nava digs a serve from El Camino College Mar. 18, 2011. El Camino would take win in the fifth set.

“We came out lackadaisical and really slow, we really weren’t prepared mentally.”

-AK Gharwal Pierce College Volleyball

Compiled by Mark Gillman Photos by Joe Kukuczka and Jose Romero

Elam, Hagopian dominate meet, men sputter

/ Roundup

One of the Pierce College swim teams enjoyed ample success in front of the home crowd Friday afternoon, while the other struggled to be noticed.

The Brahma women dominated Valley College, leaving their adversary in the dust.

The 24-event Western State Competition took place at the Steven E. Schofield Aquatic Center, where the Brahmas’ own Sareen Hagopian won the 1000-yd free, 200-yd individual medley, and 100-yd breaststroke; every event in which she competed.

“It wasn’t my best performance but I feel really good, practice has been kind of tough so I’m a little bit sore,” said Hagopian. “When we rest up, I’m sure I’ll do a lot better.”

The Lady Monarchs were no match for the Brahmas, who beat them by a final score of 168-56.

Pierce’s dominance came when the Brahmas three swimmers finished before the Monarchs trio in the 1000-yd free style competition.

Freshman Samantha Elam continued to impress this young season as she won three events Friday: the 100-yd. free, 200-yd. free, and 500-yd. free.

However, the men at Pierce were not good enough to compete against the Monarchs, succumbing 125-98.

“On the women’s side we pretty much dominated almost every event, it was a lot of fun; the fun part was that we

did well in some close races and some people did their best times,” said Brahma swim coach Fred Shaw after the competition. “Valley is a very strong team this year and we snuck in there for some close races, however they did outpoint us in the long run on the men.”

Brahma swimmer Daniel Syssoev says his performance was better than previous ones, but that he and the team could do a lot better.

Monarch men’s swimming coach Jim McMillan was content with his team’s performance.

“They’re swimming well, they’re training hard, they’re getting a little bit better, so it was good to compete against Pierce; they’re a strong team,” McMillan said.

Valley College looks poised and ready to compete this season.

“It was good that we swam well, our training is starting to pay off,” McMillan said. “Today was a group effort, Pierce swims well so we needed everybody to swim well.”

The women’s team was really pumped up after the competition, and excited about their next one.

“We’re doing pretty well actually,” said Hagopian. “Everyone has been working hard out there, everyone has been giving their all.” The next competition for the Pierce swim team will be on Friday, March 25 at Bakersfield College.

Kukuczka / Roundup

JUBILATION: Womenʼs relay team rejoices during one of the teamʼs many triumphs Friday at the Steven E. Schofield Center at Pierce College.

Joe Kukuczka / Roundup

BREATH: Faraz Eshaghi pulls into second place in the 200-yd butterfly against Valley College.

“Everyone has been working hard out there, everyone has been giving their all.”

Sareen Hagopians Pierce College swimmer