2013–14 Issue 8

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Campus Chronicle

The Campus Chronicle is a free publication.

a publication of the Pacific Union College Student Association

vol. XC

no. 8

WEDNESDAY 5 MARCH 2014

SPECIAL EDITION : SA ELECTIONS PUC

2014

SA

“Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost.”

— President John Quincy Adams.

HOW TO VOTE Voting starts after Town Hall Wed 9 p.m. - Thurs 9 p.m.

1 Log on to Canvas

2 Go to The Source

3 Click on Survey

4 Vote for your candidate

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no. 8

ELECTION ISSUE

Candidate for SA President What is your class standing and your major?

What skills make you qualified for president?

Junior, business administration.

I balance three completely unique jobs with being a fulltime college student, along with maintaining a personal life in between, so I think persistence, determination, commitment, and patience are what qualify me to be SA President.

What is your overall goal for SA next school year?

To bring students closer to one another. To bridge the gap between the upperclassmen and the freshmen, as well as those who know each other from their academies and those who don’t know anyone at all. In the process of bringing the campus closer together, I would also like to raise awareness throughout Napa Valley, of the amazing potential our students have to offer. I feel that SA is the key to achieving this goal because SA is what connects the student body to the administration, and if we all learn to work more closely with one another, we vastly increase our overall chances for success.

What do you think makes a good leader?

Knowing that one is never more right than when they can admit to being wrong, as well as having a sincere interest in the wellbeing of others

Anything else?

Daniel DeCaires

If we pass up our right to vote in life, we pass up our right to complain. Voting takes 30 seconds. Complaining about something you wish would change, takes at least twice as long.

Candidate for SA Executive VP important. Even starting at the end of this year I need to be talking with senators really consistently. I need to be hearing feedback, and I think that’s one of the ways we’ll be generating ideas and figuring out where we’re going.

What is your class standing and your major?

Sophomore, math education and aviation double major.

What has your experience on senate this year been like?

What are a few points you want to implement in senate next school year?

This year on senate, I would have liked to see senate do more. And the year is not over on senate, so I still think senate can do a lot this year. I think there has been a little bit of a loss of direction for senate. I think senate feels like there a little not sure what they’re supposed to do.

I think at this point, a lot of things are still up in the air.

I’ve been considering moving senate to every other week that way senators will have time to work on their bills. Then I’ll have time to discuss it with them in between senate meetings. I’ve also been looking at maybe cleaning up the constitution a little bit. Our constitution and bylaws can be messy in some places. Over the past few years there’s been a significant improvement, but think there’s still more to do.

How do you think you’ll change that for next school year?

I think communication early on with senators is very

Marcus Helmer

Candidate for SA Social VP What is your class standing and your major?

What is some of your previous experience in leadership/social events?

Junior, intercultural communication and Spanish double major.

I have always loved planning events, making things happen and having fun! Throughout high school, I was always involved in holding an office and taking on social activities.

I am very involved in the school and even represent it with one of my jobs as a Student Ambassador in the enrollment services department on campus.

What events do have in mind for next year?

What I would like see happen next year is for more participation and input from the ENTIRE student body, so we can boost school pride/spirit and be proud of where we go to school! We are so privileged to attend this school, but most of the time, we take it for granted and overlook how blessed we are. As for specific events that will be different from the regular ones, well, you’ll just have to wait and see! I would love any and all suggestions that anyone has, so please bring them up to me and I will strongly consider each and every one!

Anything else?

I am running unopposed, but that is no excuse to skip elections! Students, if you want to see a change, don’t just expect it to happen! We need to hear your opinions so we know what needs to take place and happen! Although it may sound cliché, your voice DOES matter, so take the two minutes it takes to vote. Can’t wait to have the opportunity to work with you next year!

Kate Mayne

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WEDNESDAY 5 MARCH 2014

ELECTION ISSUE

Candidates for SA Religious VP discuss about, the song set list and speaker for the night and the Tough Questions Chronicles Night, where the student body gets to dialogue with our chaplain about the major issues we as Christian college student face. But at the same time I want to keep those vesper ideas that have been really impactful to the student body like last week’s praise night. Ultimately, what I think vespers will look like next year is a place where we get to experience God on a level that we never have before.

What is your class standing and your major?

Sophomore, theology major.

What do you think a vespers service will look like?

What I think vespers is going to look like next year is ultimately what the student body wants vespers to look like next year. Coming off of the successful year that Adam has had so far, I’m looking to keep the core of his success (like his hard work in music and the team that he has surrounded himself with) and build on expanding vespers from there. My whole vision for vespers next year is to simply add more variety to the existing format of vespers. How I plan to do that is by introducing nights like experiential prayer night, where we get to unpack prayer through art and activity, interactive service night where we have a part to do in worship like picking the topic to

George Tuyu

What is your class standing and your major?

What is your biggest goal for next school year?

Junior, theology.

My biggest goal for next year is to make a positive impact in the spiritual lives of students and to equip and challenge them to make a difference in this world as we gain more people for the Kingdom.

You talked about the importance of diversity, how will you implement these ideas into vespers?

Do you have anything else you’d like to say?

This school has been blessed with a variety of gifts and talents that can all be used to enhance the worship experience of the viewer and participant. Therefore, I plan on working with groups of different majors, clubs and backgrounds to diversify our worship experience by allowing them to showcase their gifts in praising God through, but not limited to, dramas, spoken word, concerts, poems, etc. I would also like to provide a variety of topics that are relevant to this campus and engage students in a discussion of the things that matter the most to them. Technology will also play a significant factor in engaging the students more.

It would be an honor to serve PUC as RVP. Recognizing that I am incapable of accomplishing any of this on my own, I look forward to working with a diverse team of dedicated students to make vespers an enjoyable experience and an avenue for spiritual growth in the lives of the students.

Josue Hernandez

Candidate for Financial VP What is your class standing and your major?

In your speech you spoke about ethics, efficiency and team work being important components in this office. What is your strategy to uphold that standard?

Junior, Accounting.

What was your experience at Adventist Health like, and how do you feel this has prepared you for the FVP office?

As the FVP, one of my responsibilities will be to help create the SA budget for each quarter. My goal is to help create a budget that best reflects the vision and goals of the SA while also spreading the funds among the officers in a way that will optimize their ability to do their jobs effectively.

While working at Adventist Health I was able to see the accounting structure, like the schedule of when the financial statements were prepared, how and why the checks and balances were set up to prevent misuse of money, how the chart of accounts was set up and several other aspects of the office. Having worked already in an actual accounting department gives me a good foundation as well as experience that I can draw from in order to do well as the FVP.

Nancy Aldridge

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no. 8

ELECTION ISSUE

Candidates for Campus Chronicle (Newspaper) Editor 99 percent of students here are on some form of social media platform, be it Instagram, Twitter or Facebook.

We spend so much of our time on these platforms that it makes sense to make them an integral part of our outreach process. If people can get more behind-the-scenes exposure to the paper making process this will hopefully encourage more people to pick it up and participate in the paper’s process. This is in hopes to get more student interaction involving the paper on social media.

What is your class standing and your major?

Junior, political science and history with pre-law.

You talked about a more well rounded staff in your speech, can you elaborate on that?

Yes, I definitely want a more well rounded staff next year.

For the most part, all the people on the paper are Journalism majors or some sort of Comm Major, and I believe there are a lot of other people on campus that want to write and have their voice heard. If we can have a broader writing staff, then I feel we will have a broader audience. This is all in hopes to encourage more diversity in the paper’s writing.

Anything else?

Next year I really want to make this a paper that students and faculty want to pick up because they find the content appealing and because there are chances for them to become involved and interact with the Campus Chronicle. I want to truly make this a paper about the students of PUC.

Where does social media fit into the Campus Chronicle?

David O’Hair have more interactive content, it will be more accessible to more people, and it will be able to have more content.

Along with saving money and time to print it, online publication will also save trees. Another vision I have for the Chronicle is to have more student-focused articles. I believe that national and world news stories are important, but they need to have a PUC angle on them. Our articles need to be relevant to our student body as well as informative.

As editor I plan to work closely with our section editors and writers to develop article angles that will make them interesting for our students to read.

What is your class standing and your major?

Sophomore, politial science and journalism with pre-law.

What kind of experience do you have that makes you qualified for the CC position?

I have been working in publications for almost eight years. I wrote for my junior high newspaper in seventh grade, then the yearbook in eighth grade. In high school, I was on the yearbook staff for all four years, and I was the editor for the last two years. I also wrote for the high school newspaper during my senior year. I joined the Campus Chronicle staff last year and this year I am the features copyeditor.

Anything else?

Where do you see the future for CC? I believe that the future of the Chronicle lies online. It is great in the print form, but being online will allow it to

Tara Hattendorf

I came to PUC to study journalism, and although I changed my major and career goals along the way, I still love journalism and hold it dear to my heart. I believe that the Chronicle has a bright future, and I am honored to be on its staff in any form. I see the Chronicle as being by, for and about the PUC community, and I have a vision to do this.

Candidate for Video Yearbook Short Sketches. Students Portraits will spotlight talents, big news, and the backstories of different PUC students.

Event highlights will take the SA events from the previous month and condense them into a short video reflection.

The Short Sketches will be short fiction narrative films created purely for the entertainment of the student body dealing with situations we all face here on campus.

What is your class standing and your major?

Freshman, film and television production.

What is it like to be a freshmen running for this position?

Anything else?

It has been such an honor being recommended to this position in my first year here. Being Video Yearbook Editor is a huge job, and it is kind of intimidating, but I’m so excited to be getting this involved on campus so early in my college experience.

My vision for video yearbook next year is to see it transition from a one-man job to a creative team. I’ll always be on the lookout for actors, writers, and other crew members.

If you want to get involved, let me know!

What can we expect for the new monthly videos?

My goal for the monthly videos is to produce a balanced combination of Student Portraits, Event Highlights and

Mark Soderblom

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WEDNESDAY 5 MARCH 2014

ELECTION ISSUE

Candidates for PR/Marketing The Funnybook, the student directory, shall be published annually and distributed no later than four five weeks after the beginning of fall quarter, unless approved by SA Senate.

Failure to meet a set deadline will result in a 10 percent stipend decrease for the editor and staff. Included in the directory shall be at least one page set aside to identify that year’s PUC SA officers and the senators. The Funnybook has the option to publish the funnybook online.

Board at time of interview.

-Share a plan to produce an online student directory/ Funnybook.

-Strong organizational and managerial skills.

-Able to build a team; be a team leader and team player.

-Able to manage conflict.

-Knows and understands job and job description; is accountable to students, senate, and advisors.

-Take a leadership assessment test (leadership style/ strengths/weaknesses) and discuss results with Elections Committee.

-Interview with the PR/Marketing advisor, Michelle Rai, and Online Funnybook advisor, Cliff Rusch, prior to Elections Committee.

-Interview with Elections Committee and campus leaders as requested (i.e., Campus Chaplain, Director of Student Activities, Missions Director, VP for Student Services, etc.)

Candidate must show evidence of the following: -Junior or Senior (3rd or 4th year student); rare exceptions may be made proven college leadership experience (i.e., SA, Senate, Life Groups, Ministries, or Clubs.)

-Successful work experience with social media, online, public relations, publication staff, or club PR officer.

-Possess a vision/passion for generating excitement/ enthusiasm for the campus and campus events through various media.

-Showcase recent work(s) to be presented to the Publications

Tiffany Brus The Funnybook, the student directory, shall be published annually and distributed no later than four five weeks after the beginning of fall quarter, unless approved by SA Senate.

Failure to meet a set deadline will result in a 10 percent stipend decrease for the editor and staff. Included in the directory shall be at least one page set aside to identify that year’s PUC SA officers and the senators. The Funnybook has the option to publish the funnybook online.

Board at time of interview.

-Share a plan to produce an online student directory/ Funnybook.

-Strong organizational and managerial skills.

-Able to build a team; be a team leader and team player.

-Able to manage conflict.

-Knows and understands job and job description; is accountable to students, senate, and advisors.

-Take a leadership assessment test (leadership style/ strengths/weaknesses) and discuss results with Elections Committee.

-Interview with the PR/Marketing advisor, Michelle Rai, and Online Funnybook advisor, Cliff Rusch, prior to Elections Committee.

-Interview with Elections Committee and campus leaders as requested (i.e., Campus Chaplain, Director of Student Activities, Missions Director, VP for Student Services, etc.)

Candidate must show evidence of the following: -Junior or Senior (3rd or 4th year student); rare exceptions may be made proven college leadership experience (i.e., SA, Senate, Life Groups, Ministries, or Clubs.)

-Successful work experience with social media, online, public relations, publication staff, or club PR officer.

-Possess a vision/passion for generating excitement/ enthusiasm for the campus and campus events through various media.

-Showcase recent work(s) to be presented to the Publications

Ashley Cotter

Candidate for Diogenes Lantern (Yearbook) The Diogenes Lantern, the student yearbooks shall be published annually and distributed no later than one week before the closing of spring quarter. The editor and staff stipends will receive a 1/10th stipend upon successful completion of this deadline.

-Strong organizational and managerial skills.

-Able to build a team; be a team leader and team player -Able to handle conflict -Knows and understands job and job description; is accountable to students, senate, and advisors -Take a leadership assessment test (leadership style/strengths/weaknesses) and discuss results with Elections Committee.

-Interview with the DL advisor, Brian Kyle, prior to Elections Committee.

-Interview with Elections Committee and campus leaders as requested (i.e., Campus Chaplain, Director of Student Activities, Missions Director, VP for Student Services, etc.)

Candidate must show evidence of the following: -Junior or Senior (3rd or 4th year student); rare exceptions may be made.

-Proven college leadership experience (i.e., SA, Senate, Life Groups, Ministries, or Clubs.)

-Successful experience as a yearbook editor and/or working on the DL staff.

-Proven experience in photography and computer competency as demonstrated to DL advisor.

-Possess a vision/passion for showcasing the year’s events on our campus through a printed medium.

-Portfolio of recent work(s) to be presented to the Publications Board at time of interview.

*All written content on this page was taken from the SA Constitution and Bylaws.

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NEWS & FEATURES

Outside the Classroom The significance of an Internship Experience.

By Araya Moss Often students are hesitant to pursue internships because they think will be regulated to making coffee runs or simply making copies: for free, of course.

Whether or not an internship is paid or unpaid, for credit or not for credit, does not change its value. This type of hands-on training is an investment in your future that classroom experience alone cannot provide.

PUC’s career counselor, Laura Gore, speaks of the value of an internship saying, “So many students are getting a college degree that experience is now becoming what sets you apart.” In the competitive job market, just a college degree is no longer adequate.

Obtaining relevant experience and skills in the field you are considering is a great way to decide if this is the right fit.

Senior, public relations major Jerilou Miranda realized this quickly in her two internships last summer for different entertainment publicity agencies in Los Angeles. “I didn’t completely know what I was getting myself into,” Miranda recalls. “I was making cold calls and pitching clients to several media outlets on my first day. There was no running for coffee.” Although she was thrown in on day one, the opportunity gave Miranda an accurate picture of what she wanted to do, which is what the internship experience is all about.

Gore says that an internship helps students to grow and develop skills that will help them to be successful in the workplace, but is also a safe place to make mistakes.

For Rene Maldonado, a triple major in Psychology, Spanish and Exercise Science, his mistake was one of the ways he was able to benefit from coaching a middle school basketball team in St. Helena. When his partner was sick, Maldonado had to run practice by himself. The first day he asked the kids

what they wanted to do, which resulted in them goofing around. The second day, however, he was more assertive and told the kids that they would work on defense and rebounding.

“I wanted to be their friend, but at the same time I had to create distinct lines between friend and coach,” said Maldonado. This is an important skill to develop for maintaining an appropriate psychologist/client relationship, which Maldonado can take with him in his pursuit of becoming a psychologist for an Olympic team.

Internships are so important that they have become graduation requirements for several departments, including communication, visual arts and the business department will soon require internships for all their majors. There are also various departments that have experience built into their major such as education and nursing and social work, where an internship practicum experience takes place during senior year. Others are optional such as computer science and English.

Overall, PUC has taken more of an interest in making internships available to students and requiring them.

Gore advises students to start on their internship search early. “If you want an internship during the school year, start looking before the quarter you are interested in.”

If you are looking for a summer internship, now is the time. Internships can be found by talking with advisors and professors, and even through those who have been hired specifically to help students find internships like Brittnie Sigamoney, who is the coordinator for the communication department. Students can also access PUC’s new online internship and job board. Other internship websites include: internships.com, internmatch.com and indeed.com.

Additionally, every quarter Gore offers workshops and individual help on resume writing, interviewing, job searching, etc.

How Healthy Are Our Health Drinks?

PUC offers an assortment of dubiously “nutritious” and “organic” health drinks.

By Tara Hattendorf and Jessica Winters Organic, natural, raw, vegan ... the list goes on. The Dining Commons and the Pacific Café sell a wide variety of health and energy drinks with phrases like this covering their labels. The marketers know which words to use to attract the attention of health-conscious fad-following college-age students, but are these drinks really as healthy and nutritious as they their labels say? Of the dozen or so healthy and natural energy drinks that PUC sells, we researched six to test the claims of the various drinks.

It Tastes RAAW These taste like a typical fruit juice. They are pure in their consistency, so they are quick to drink. However, there are too many competing flavors in them.

Each of the RAAW drinks sold in the cafeteria have two different main flavors in their name, but there are more underlying flavors. The first listed ingredient in the raspberry lemongrass juice is pineapple juice. It adds a sourness to the sweetness of the drink, but there is too much happening at once.

RAAW drinks claim to be natural, without any preservatives or artificial flavors. Along with being marketed for being vegan and non-GMO verified, these drinks are also kosher. It is notable that among other health drinks, these are not organic certified. What jumps out about the nutritional value of these drinks is the high content of vitamin C, which is known for its health benefits.

The exact amounts of vitamins and minerals differ by the flavor, but vitamin A and vitamin C are high in many of them. While this juice is fun to shake up a boring routine, their overall nutritional value is nothing to boast about.

Sambazon Sambazon (think Amazon, which inspired them) drinks come in a few different flavors and are all marketed as being healthy and organic. The açaí juice is sweet, but its flavor is not memorable. It does taste like real acai — it is made from “140+ acai berries” — so if you enjoy açaí drinks and bowls, you might enjoy this. It has a smooth consistency, but is almost watered-down.

Flavor aside, Sambazon drinks are labeled as organic, gluten-free and vegan.

They have good nutritional value, too. Açaí berries are called a “superfood” because of the antioxidants found in them, and they have become a popular trend in the last few years. The Sambazon açaí juice has over 1 gram of fiber and

protein; significant amounts of iron, calcium and vitamin A; and omega 3, 6 and 9 fatty acids. More substantial amounts of these vitamins and nutrients can be obtained by eating bread, raw vegetables and fish, but for vegans and those with gluten sensitivity, Sambazon juices could be a healthy option.

Harmless Harvest Coconut Water This 100 percent “raw” coconut water tastes just like its name suggests: raw. The flavor goes through three to four different stages as you drink it, from surprising, to refreshing to mellow. For everyone who has never tasted the uniqueness that is coconut water, it can only be described as a mix between watermelon and honeydew, which makes perfect sense considering that it is both coconut and water. Interesting and refreshing is the best way to describe this drink.

Harmless Harvest drinks are certified organic and nothing in them is from concentrate. The coconut water has only one listed ingredient — coconut water. Significant amounts of vitamins and minerals are in the drink including potassium, fiber, phosphorus and calcium. As coconut water is essentially water with nutrients, there are only 112 calories per bottle. Coconut water should not be used as an alternative to plain water, as it is expensive and the calories in each bottle add up, but it is better than drinking soda.

Neuro Neuro beverages come in a variety of colors and flavors and claim to provide different benefits including sleep aid, increased energy and stress reduction. These drinks have not been tested by the FDA, so there’s no real proof as to whether these claimed benefits are legitimate or all in the mind. The drinks do contain various vitamins such as B12 and D, so there are some healthy qualities to them.

As for taste, these drinks are very similar to the flavors of any other sports drink — artificially flavored and watered-down. One benefit, though, is that the drinks do contain less sugar than energy or sports drinks, so they are, comparatively, a better choice.

Argo Argo Tea is a specially infused iced tea line that comes packaged in sturdy glass cylinders. A variety of tea types and flavor combinations are available, including Green Tea Ginger Twist, MojiTea and White Tea Açaí. The drinks are made up of steeped teas mixed with fruit juices, juice concentrates and cane sugar, and the bottles they come in are easy to grip and reusable, as well as doing (Continued on next page)

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NEWS & FEATURES (Continued from last page) away with the chemicals of plastic bottles.

The teas’ flavors are well-balanced with the juices they are infused with, so that the flavors enhance each other instead of trying to dominate each other. The amount of cane sugar is also well-measured, so the drinks aren’t overly sweet.

They are refreshing, healthy choices, and the green and black teas provide a decent pick-me-up for low-energy days. Just be aware that each bottle contains two servings worth of the beverage, so it’s probably best to spread consumption out over the course of the day.

Honest Honest teas and ades come in many different flavor combinations. They are an organic line, so none of the ingredients have been treated with pesticides or genetically modified in any way. The ades are made up of a combination of fruit and vegetable juices and juice concentrates, as well as cane sugar. When it comes right down to it, though, the product is actually made up of only 10

percent juice, so most if it is concentrate and filtered water with sugar. The teas are also organic and contain steeped tea, fruit juices and concentrates, citric acid, cane sugar and in some cases honey, which makes them unfit for strict vegans.

The labels also state clearly that they are made up of less than one percent juice.

The ades are very sugary and artificial tasting, which is likely a result of them being derived from concentrates. The teas are weak in flavor, so the fruit flavors and sweeteners stand out most prominently. Overall these drinks, while organic, don’t seem very healthy, and the flavors are greatly lacking.

There is no substitute for a healthy and balanced meal, but the health drinks and juices sold at PUC can be used as healthy supplements to meals, or as quick snacks on the way to class. Particularly for vegans and anyone with gluten sensitivity these drinks can be a good option. Remember to pay attention to clever marketing tricks in the labels and pay attention to nutrition facts. When in doubt, just drink water.

The Riot Trifecta Ukraine, Venezuela and Thailand.

This picture is from the Ukraine riots, and it is a writer-approved photo and can be printed.

By David O’Hair Political riots rocked the populations of Ukraine and Venezuela as protests turned violent, claiming numerous lives. The overarching theme of these riots is that the countries’ citizens are outraged at their respective governmental bodies.

Independence square riots: Kiev, Ukraine As a recap of the Issue 6 story, the Ukrainian leader, President Viktor Yanukovych, was expected to enter into a deal with the European Union providing them with free trade and increased cooperation with the EU. However, Yanukovych decided to reject the deal and instead has entered into talks with Russia’s Eurasian Customs Union, which would strengthen ties to Russia and further separate Ukraine from the rest of Europe. Ukrainian citizens were not pleased with this decision at all.

In November, Ukrainian citizens began peacefully protesting the deal, but recently protests have turned deadly.

Over one million citizens were protesting in Independence Square when suddenly on Feb. 19, the police stormed the protestors’ camp and that is when the violence began erupting from both sides of the protest.

It was estimated that 22 protesters were killed by police forces on the first day.

The protesters threw Molotov cocktails and rocks, fired guns and used smoke grenades. When the images from Independence Square first hit the streets, people described the scene as apocalyptic. As the death toll rose for both police and protestors, the world watched in terror and international diplomats tried to decide what to do. The United States placed travel bans on 20 Ukrainian officials in order to speed up peace talks.

At printing Yanukovych has been democratically ousted, but the problems for Ukraine have a new front: invasion from Russia in the Crimean region.

Venezuela protest turns violent The two sides of the Venezuela protest are the government, specifically President Nicolas Maduro, and the citizens, mostly made of rioting students. Protestors are demanding that Maduro take responsibility in lowering the crime rate and fix the terrible economic crisis that is sweeping the country.

The protests caught global attention Feb. 12 when the police killed three protesters and now the rioting has turned to complete violence throughout the cities. To try and end the rioting peacefully the opposition leader (of the rioters), Leopold Lopez, turned himself in to authorities on Feb. 18. Although there have been no resolutions between the parties so far, the tide could turn in the coming weeks.

Thailand riots shake Bangkok The citizens inside Bangkok have been demanding that Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra step down for being corrupt and being controlled by former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. The rioters are mainly from the middle classes of Thailand which, is why the protests are concentrated in the highly populated city of Bangkok.

The solution that the people want is to replace the governmental system of Thailand and replace it with a “peoples congress” that would be truly representative of the Thai people. These protests began in November, but just on Feb. 18 the rioters were violently attacked by the riot police. The conflict is ongoing with no solution in sight.

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Campus Chronicle

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SPORTS/OP-ED

2014 Sochi Olympics Recap The best and the worst that made the 2014 Winter Games not Sochi.

By James Shim The highly scrutinized Winter Olympics came to its conclusion on Feb. 23 following the closing ceremony held in Sochi, Russia. With multiple events —and controversies— that spanned the two weeks of competition, keeping track of the action proved to be a difficult task for many. For those who missed out on this year’s Winter Olympics because of school, work, lack of interest or even protest, here is a quick recap of the best and worst moments from Sochi.

Heading into the Olympics, 12 new events made their debut in hopes to add a more “youthful flare” to the Winter Games. The ski halfpipe, ski slopestyle, snowboard slopestyle, snowboard parallel slalom, women’s ski jumping, biathlon mixed relay, team’s figure skating and luge team relay all made their debuts in Sochi.

Prior to its start, much controversy surrounded the 2014 Winter Olympics, starting with the passing of a controversial law in Russia. This law, which referred to the “On Protecting Children from Information Harmful to Their Health and Development” amendment, banned the distribution of propaganda of “non-traditional” sexual relationship among minors. Many world leaders interpreted the law as a way to suppress the rights of the LGBT community in Russia. Discrimination on an international scale led to protests worldwide and throughout the games held in Sochi.

More protests ensued during the Olympics, as Ukrainian alpine Skier Bohdana Matsotska also showed a sign of protest, but for different reason. On Feb. 19, Matsotska pulled out of the Olympic Games in protest against the violent clashes as part of the civil unrest in Kiev, Ukraine. She further explained her protest on her Facebook page saying, “In solidarity with the fighters on the barricades of the Maidan, and as a protest against the criminal actions made towards the protesters, the irresponsibility of the president and his lackey government, I refuse further performance at the Olympic Games in Sochi 2014.”

Past the politics and the international turmoil, the Winter Olympics showed that host nation Russia ruled the games. Not only did the Russians win the overall medal count with 33 medals, they also won the gold medal count with 13, a feat that has not been accomplished by the host country since the Norwegians did it in the 1952 Winter Games. Russia showed utmost dominance in the Winter Games, and its athletes were heavily rewarded. Russian athletes who had the privilege of winning a medal not only stood atop the podium in Sochi, but were also rewarded with Mercedes Benz’ worth up to $146,500.

While Russia celebrated its medal-count victory, the United States can consider itself the “king of the bronze medals.” American athletes won a total of 28 medals, with 12 of those medals being bronze. This marks the third time in the past four Winter Games that the Americans have won the tally for most bronze medals. The Americans also failed to win a medal in individual figure skating and speedskating for the first time since 1984.

As the Americans struggled to win a medal in speedskating, the Netherlands won 23 medals in speedskating events alone. The Dutch won a total of 24 of the medals at the games. Ninety-five percent of the total medal count for the Netherlands came solely from speedskating. To put that in perspective, the Dutch speedskating team alone finished sixth on the overall medal count, and did so with only 41 athletes. Canada as a country had one more medal than the Dutch speedskating team, and had over 180 athletes who participated.

On the other side of the ice, an online petition shocked international airwaves as the scoring of the women’s figure skating competition was called into question.

South Korean figure skater Kim Yuna, nicknamed “Queen Yuna” for her flawless routines on the ice, was upset in the women’s figure skating event by what many are calling a “robbery” of sorts. Yuna, who was the favorite heading into the Olympics, was upstaged by Russian figure skater Adelina Sotnikova. Yuna’s flawless routine was only good enough to earn her a silver medal, rather than the gold that many had anticipated. Many media outlets and sports journalists around the world took to social media and addressed the controversial call head on.

Sports columnist Bill Plashcke for the Los Angeles Times wrote, “Kim didn’t win...unbelievable...scandal written all over this...Russian Sotnikova wins, fans going crazy, Kim disappears, wrong, wrong” Olympic researcher at NBC Alex Goldberger wrote “Adelina Sotnikova was excellent tonight, but Yuna Kim was robbed.”

The controversial figure skating judging led to over 1.2 million signatures within 12 hours of Yuna’s surprising silver medal, asking for an open investigation of the figure skating judging process. The petition, which can be found on change.org, demands for a re-judgment of the scoring at the Sochi Olympics. The petition currently has over 2 million signatures.

Whether you enjoyed the 2014 Winter Games, hated it or did not care for it, the Olympics proved to be much more than people having fun on ice. Political protests, scoring controversy and even Bob Costas’ eyes all headlined the activity in Sochi. International spectators must now wait another two years before gluing themselves to television sets and boasting their national pride in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Spring Training Underway Baseball is back in season.

Training, The Cactus League, based in Arizona and Grapefruit League, based in Florida, have officially begun their exhibition games for the 2014 season.

Official lineups, game dates and ticket information can be found at http://mlb.

With the first official day of spring coming up on March 20, one thing stands mlb.com/springtraining , and the teams’ progress can be tracked everywhere out in the mind of major league baseball fans all over the country: Spring from Facebook to Instagram.

By Jessica Winters

Bursting the Bubble Living in a Pluralistic Society.

By Carlo Pean A few months back, Southern University’s newspaper, the Southern Accent, published a clip posing a debate question of whether one should spend more or less time with people who have different beliefs from their own. The author of this clip, a religion major according to the Southern Accent staff, cited that in addition to opening your own mind, making friends with people who believe differently from you could include an opportunity to minister to them because

of their need for help, the friendship is leading you outside your comfort zone, and of course you could be a friend to someone who might not have many other friends. Of course our sister school also stated reasons for spending less time with people who believe differently than you. Reasons include, “You can be led astray. With exposure to other ideas, you may begin to question your own beliefs” as well as “it could take time away from nourishing relationships” and that you are not properly prepared to (saying that those who believe differently are best left to the professionals) and finally, an admittance that you can spend more time with those who believe differently than you “as long as they don’t

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OPINIONS & EDITORIALS become your best friend.” When asked to comment, the staff at The Southern Accent stated: I don’t believe the column should have been insensitive to students who have different beliefs for two reasons: 1. The author is not fighting for us to shun all people who are not Seventh-day Adventists; she is presenting a side of the debate. If that’s the side that angered someone, then obviously, the other side is what they believe. 2. The author did not make up the issue. It’s an topic that has been of discussion within the church for as long as we’ve been arguing about the use of drums.

I hope that PUC students would question some of the insensitivities to people on “the other side” of this debate. As a former resident of the South, I know that clip has upset many students at Southern University. Many students, personal friends of mine, are tolerant, open-minded and sensitive individuals. The question is, how was this idea conceived? How is it that our world is constructed to foster such exclusivity?

Dr. Eboo Patel, an interfaith activist and TEDtalk speaker, who wrote in his book “Acts of Faith”: I believe that the twenty-first century will be shaped by the question of the faith line. On one side of the faith line are the religious totalitarians. Their conviction is that only one interpretation of one religion is a legitimate way of being, believing, and belonging on earth. Everyone else needs to be cowed, or converted, or condemned, or killed. On the other side of the faith line are the religious pluralists, who hold that people believing in different creeds and belonging to different communities need to learn to live together. Religious pluralism is neither mere coexistence nor forced consensus. It is a form of proactive cooperation that affirms the identity of the constituent communities while emphasizing that the wellbeing of each and all depends on the health of the whole. It is the belief that the common good is best served when each community has a chance to make its unique contribution.

Unfortunately, the idea that we should not befriend people outside of our belief

system is religious totalitarian. Granted, it is nowhere near the most extreme example of this but it is in its early stages. Right about now, most of you are wondering what does this have to do with PUC? The thing is, avoiding religious totalitarianism isn’t Southern’s problem or a campus problem but the problem of anyone who holds on to any beliefs. If we insist on holding onto only our beliefs and blocking out the “outsiders,” then we’re doomed to break off into smaller and smaller groups when we find that we have more differences than we thought. With all of these dividing groups refusing to work together, life becomes miserable and short.

But this won’t happen. Why not? Well for one, you guys won’t let it happen.

PUC has taught that the world can only work when we all pitch in. From the healers in nursing departments to the scholars of the religion and psychology departments, we have seen that the world is a more wonderful place because of the diversity that makes it up. The wise men and women of math and science classes reveals to us hidden phenomena of the earth, its artisans in Fisher hall open our eyes to beauty and the adventurers of aviation and physical education classes show us that our bodies are our only true property. This is why we go to a liberal arts school! We have been given the tools and understanding to speak to each academic field and this only works when we learn to live together and love humans simply because they are human.

I have hope for the future for another reason. There’s a God in heaven using all of us to bend the moral arch of the universe towards justice. I’m sure my atheist readers might feel excluded by my language here. Please, don’t. We are all invaluable to making tomorrow a better and happier place than today was.

Guys, I’m excited! There’s something powerful coming toward us from the future and blessed are we, the chosen generation to move history. This is how it’s going to go: realize that everyone, no matter who you are, lives in some sort of bubble. Break that bubble, and make friends with someone different.

Go Culture Yourself, America America’s ignorance to the advantages of learning another language.

By Arielle Serra Unlike most Americans who spent Super Bowl Sunday cheering on their team, I was mostly interested in waiting for the funny commercials to come on. I was surprised to find that brands like Coca-Cola went for my patriotic heartstrings and created a new spin on the song “America the Beautiful.” But I was most astonished by how many people were outraged by the fact that the song was sung in languages besides English.

Regardless of your opinion on what should be considered truly “American,” the issue that boggles me is the fact that many Americans are against speaking any language besides English. With the rate of globalization and immigration into America, it seems only beneficial for those in the work force to be bilingual.

In fact, bilingual speakers are likely to earn 5 to 20 percent more per hour than those who can only speak one language.

While most Americans believe that while learning a second language can be beneficial, they are convinced that it is not an essential skill. Americans also agree that new immigrants who come into the country should learn to speak English. While I agree that the logic is valid, I believe that Americans in general have a double standard. For instance, most American tourists expect that wherever they travel, their hosts should speak English, but they refuse to reciprocate the sentiment by learning another language.

The average European can speak two or more languages while only 9 percent of Americans are fully bilingual and the majority of those are of a Hispanic nationality who immigrated to America. Personally, I find it alarming that America is considered to be a diverse “melting-pot,” yet the majority of citizens

are monolingual and refuse to be otherwise.

Whether you are for or against learning a second language, I’ve compiled a list of advantages for Americans, especially the younger generation, to learn another language besides English: 1. Travel Bilingual or multi-lingual speakers have an easier time traveling to different countries. More likely than not, the natives of the country will know one of those languages, making it easier to get around.

2. Enhanced Cultural Knowledge By learning a second language, you can read a larger variety of books, watch more television and communicate with more people around the world. Bilingual speakers can perceive things in different ways and remain alert to differences in the world, whether philosophically or culturally. For instance, the Sami language has around 180 snow and ice-related words and as many as 1000 different words for reindeer.

3. Improved listening skills Learning new languages increases attention to detail in syllables and words.

4. Delays Alzheimer’s Learning two languages helps your brain grow in switching capacity and mental agility by forcing your brain to recognize two different language systems.

This improves cognitive development and ultimately helps delay Alzheimer’s.

5. Spanish is the most frequently spoken second language in America By 2030, 23 percent of the U.S. population will be Hispanic and by 2020, 15 percent of people age five and older will speak Spanish. This means everyone reading this now will be working with a client who speaks Spanish.

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OPINIONS & EDITORIALS (Continued from last page) 6. Prepares Americans for when China takes over China’s average annual economic growth rate is around 10 percent and will surpass the United States as the largest economy in the world by 2030. There are also more people who speak Mandarin Chinese (882 million speakers) compared to English (312-380 million speakers). Our demise is imminent.

7. Easier to learn a third language For instance, it is easier for bilingual speakers of the Romance languages — Italian, French, Spanish and Portuguese — to distinguish and/or understand

other Romance languages they’ve never learned.

8. Speaking secret, not so secret, code Bilingual speakers can talk in class or write notes to their friends without the teacher or other students understanding them unless, of course, the teacher speaks that language.

9. Culture the fruit of your loins Bilingual speakers are more likely to teach their children to speak in multiple languages at home, teaching them to become more cultured as well. Those who believe differently than you “as long as they don’t become your best friend.”

Pizza and Selfies A review of the 2014 Oscars.

By Austin Ngaruiya On March 2, Hollywood’s brightest stars gathered around for a night of backscratching, better known as the Academy Awards. The event was hosted by comedian and talk show host Ellen DeGeneres, and as usual, she charmed the entire audience. This year’s awards movie nominations seemed to have a larger punch of movie superstars than normal: Leonardo DiCaprio, Matthew McConaughey, Meryl Streep and the gang of Hollywood elite seemed to be presented. Just a disclaimer: I am not a movie expert, and I do not play one on TV, but here are a few observations on the 86th Academy Awards.

Gravity was extremely selfish all evening and only left the scraps for other movies to contend for. The movie, starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney, took home six Oscars and completely obliterated the technical categories, rightfully so. Gravity turned the usually gimmicky arena of 3D into a masterful art piece.

The film provides a sensory pleasure that was unmatched by any other Oscar nominated film.

The Oscars dragged a bit at times, which resulted in a 3.5-hour broadcast. No one in 2014 has the attention span to sit through 3.5 hours of anything — I can barely get through a Vine without becoming distracted. Unnecessary montages and a few poorly placed musical performances plagued the show. Although the theme of the night was heroes, the actual heroes montage seemed forced and poorly done — is Agent J from Men in Black really a hero? Also, I think we all could have done without Bette Midler’s “Wind Beneath My Wings” performance, because it’s 2014, and no one under the age of 40 cares about Bette Midler anymore.

Ellen performed remarkably well as a host. She used her dry, frank humor to seamlessly transition between awards and her personality gave the show a casual feel. Ellen does a great job of making other celebrities feel comfortable and allowing them to act like themselves. One high point of the evening involved Ellen ordering pizza for the crowd and a pizza delivery boy actually showing up on stage and passing out pizza like it was Ellen’s 11th birthday.

The pizza party led to Ellen gathering a few celebrities around for the greatest

selfie in the history of mankind. The picture currently has over three million retweets on Twitter, and I’m pretty sure once a tweet of yours surpasses three million retweets you just transcend into a different dimension. We must thank Ellen for her preservation of the selfie. When historians in the future dig up this photo they will know how both incredibly self-centered and amazing our generation was.

The highly anticipated best picture award went to 12 Years a Slave. The award was not a result of white guilt — although there was plenty of that — but the celebration of an extremely well done and landmark film. Seriously, if you haven’t seen 12 Years a Slave, go see it and then find a room where you can sit perfectly still for two hours to contemplate the meaning of life. The film brought in two other awards as well: best supporting actress and best director. Enough can’t be said about Lupita Nyong’o’s performance in the film. She perfectly depicted the true plight of a slave, which is why she was the most deserving Oscar winner of the evening.

Even though it lasted for at least a century-and-a half, the 2014 Oscars were an enjoyable experience and a reminder to never expect John Travolta to remember your name.

Selfie taken with stars at the Academy Awards PC: @TheEllenShow

Kiss My Stache Underlying themes of masculinity in facial hair months.

By David O’HAIR Here we go again, another facial hair growing month! Oh wait, my face is smoother than a baby’s bottom. The number of months dedicated to facial hair have started growing faster than they can be shaved away: Mustache March, Fu Man June, Soul Patch September, No Shave November and Dirty Lip December.

What is the purpose for all these manly months?

Coming from the standpoint of a man who often gets his own facial hair upstaged by a latin 15 year old who has had facial hair since he was born, I cannot stand all these months that demand the men to let it grow. There are too many cultural stigmas that play into these months that eventually lead back to humiliation. I cannot tell you how many times that I have forgot to shave during November and someone has jokingly pointed out the embarrassing amount of facial hair on my face; spoiler alert, I hate that observation. This leads to the underlying fact that many people believe that “real men” can grow these big flowing beards that hang all the way down to the start of their chest hair. Men are under an unfair scrutiny that tries to define the real characteristics of what a man really is.

First off, let me state for the record that I am a man, the manliest man I can be. However, there are many aspects about myself that would separate me from the stereotypical definition of what a man is. I cannot benchpress two times my weight, I do not go off-roading, do donuts in my Chevy truck, and I do not spend the entirety of my Sundays crouched by the TV watching three continuous football games while licking Cheeto dust off my fingers. You would be able to find me running in the back 40, studying in coffee shops and putting on cardigans in-stead of football jerseys. Thus, the social stigma is overwhelming: if you cannot grow a beard then you are somehow not as manly as those men who can. Well, I say that is outdated and frankly stupid.

However, if you are a man who is going to let it grow this month, here are a few guidelines.There are a few classic mustache looks that you are going to want to avoid. There is the Hitler. I do not need to explain this one; just make sure your mustache is wide enough not to be mistaken. If you cannot grow a thick and full mustache, then I have some bad news for you: there is a high chance you are going to look like a pedophile. So if this is for you: just stay away from vans, parks, elementary schools and ice cream shops. Use this formula and you will have a successful Mustache March.

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OPINIONS & EDITORIALS

Are You in Med School Yet? Well, Why Not? Going against parents’ wishes to follow my dreams.

By Suwanna Vatananan My story is a little different in that I am the first in my family to attend college and will be the first to graduate college. Yet because of the Asian stereotype I was still expected to pursue a career in the medical field. My parents were constantly pushing for me to do nursing or pre-med, even though I knew I wanted to pursue a degree in communication and a career in event planning since my sophomore year of high school.

Communication was just not an option; they had no idea what is was and were pretty set on the fact that I could do absolutely nothing with it. They would say things like, “But ... everyone knows how to talk!” Even years later, with graduation right around the corner, I still go home to grandma saying, “So what med school are you going to?”

When I got to PUC, everyone around me was stressed out about courses like anatomy and biology, and I was loving life giving presentations and doing group projects. Not saying that being a communication major is easy (‘cause we all know that not EVERYONE could be one), but I’m just happy I didn’t have to memorize every bone and muscle in the human body.

Occasionally, I’ll sit back and question whether or not I am taking the right path. But when I close my eyes there is no way I can imagine myself doing anything else besides communication and event planning. So a big kudos to

all of you pursuing a career in the medical field because I totally would have failed out after my first quarter in college. To each their own, and it’s obvious that I found my niche in the communication field.

The people that I’ve met and everything that I have learned in my college career have made putting up with people who doubt me completely worth it.

That doesn’t mean that the bashing has not stopped because many of the people I have met are still shocked that I have followed through. But I stuck to my guns and made sure no one brought me down. Four years, too many classes, a major and minor and many hours of lost sleep later, I still have no regrets and am excited to get the next step of my life started.

Going against what you are expected to do will be tough no matter how you go about it. Yes, your parents raised you and want what’s best for you. And yes, they have always dreamed about you becoming a super rich doctor. But parents will always be parents and they will support you in all of your endeavors regardless of what you choose, just like my parents do. If you find something you absolutely love, then don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do it. If it’s something that you are passionate about and something that gets you out of bed and excited for the day, then there’s no reason at all to not put your dreams and aspirations first. When it comes down to it, you are the one walking into that job every day and if you’d rather be a zookeeper than be a surgeon — or an event planner as opposed to a nurse, like me — go for it!

Sorry Mom and Dad for I Have Sinned ... in an Asian Kind of Way Disregarding stereotypes and ignoring traditional norms.

By James Shim “When you grow up, you have only a few choices. Be a doctor, a dentist, or work somewhere in the medical field.” In my youth, it kind of felt like a joke.

I did not quite understand why my parents continuously told me this, as I had no passion nor did I see a future in the medical field. However, prior to college I complied and simply agreed with my parents to avoid any awkward conversations about my career.

Expectations were high for me growing up as a second generation Korean American, as my parents not only expected but assumed that I would work in the medical field. I’m certain that 99.9 percent of Asians will agree. Heading into my first year of college, I told my parents that I’d “look into” a career in the medical field as a means to make them happy. At the time, I thought that something about being on this “holy hill” might convince me that work in healthcare is right for me.

Nothing convinced me that healthcare would be right for me. As a matter of fact, I came to realize that I could not envision myself living a life that revolved around healthcare. I jumped around from department to department, hoping that I would find something right for me. The only thing that really stopped me from choosing a career path was the disappointment my parents would express if I told them I could care less about their expectations and centering my life on healthcare.

To this day, it hurts me to see think about how discouraged my parents were when I told them I had no passion or interest in healthcare. Some might call me selfish for disregarding my parents and ignoring the expectations my parents set for me. Sure, but at the end of the day if passion does not exist in

my work, there’s no fuel to my fire. Think about it, if I had no passion to work in the medical field, and I was to become a doctor or dentist, I’d probably hate my job and be the worst doctor, dentist or physician you’ve ever met (but I may be the funniest).

I believe that as individuals, we are all built in different ways. Some of us are built with more creative minds than others; some of us use logic better than others. Our thinking processes all differ and we all have different passions and interests in life. It’s a matter of finding out what your skills are and how you can utilize them that will help you as an individual figure out how you can be an asset to society regardless of the type of job you have.

The reason why I switched to a degree in marketing communication is for another time and place. However, were my parents discouraged when I told them I had switched majors? Absolutely. It took them a few years to realize that for me to be successful in any stage of life, I must be happy with what I’m doing.

Prior to the start of this school year, my parents had told me that although I did not reach their expectation of becoming the next big neurosurgeon or the world’s greatest physician, they told me how proud they were to see their son finish the trials of college.

There’s a cliché that gets tossed around especially in college: “Take a career path that will make you happy, and don’t fall into a job solely because of money.”

As much as I hate cliché’s, this one cannot be emphasized enough. Sure, your parents have high expectations for you … who doesn’t? It does not necessarily mean you have to compromise your own goals to pursue something you love.

Trust me, I’ve been there. Following your parents’ goals and dreams for you are just that — your parents’ dreams and goals. At the end of the day, as long as you work hard, and chase your goals in life relentlessly, what more can they ask for?

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The Backpage Editor-in-Chief Webbo Chen Assistant Editor Advisor James Shim Lynne Thew Head Layout Editor Assistant Layout Editor Cameron Mitchell Jose Lopez News Editor News Copyeditor Alex Blum Jayson Paw Features Editor Features Copyeditor Taylor Pittenger Tara Hattendorf Sports Editor Sports Copyeditor Austin Ngaruiya Jessica Winters Op-Ed Editor Op-Ed Copyeditor Luke Thornburgh Suwanna Vatananan Photographer Allison Regan (SA Election Portraits)

Corrections: Issue 7: page 5 Photo Credit: AP, Getty, Reuters, Staff, etc. photos from sadanduseless.com

Top left: Denis Ten of Kazakhstan Top center: Yan Han of China Top right: Yakov Godorozha of Ukraine Middle left: Zoltan Kelemen of Romania Middle center: Florent Amodio of France Middle right: Mao Asada of Japan Bottom left: Kevin Reynolds of Canada Bottom center: Jeremy Abbott of the United States of America Bottom right: Evgeni Plushenko of Russia ANGWIN

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