January 14, 2014 by Richland Student Media

CHRONICLE Richland

Vol. XXXIX, Issue 1 January 14, 2014

Deadly new trend

Pg. 6

Also Inside:

Safety drill Pg. 3 ‘Vagina Monologues’ Pg. 4 Richlandcollege.com

Official Chronicle Outlets

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CAMPUS

Auditions for comedy open to students

Joyce Jackson Copy Editor

Staff photo Joyce Jackson

New student orientation Marcos Solis, 21, registers for Spring classes. Solis, an undecided major, was looking for a business course.

New students got some help in Sabine Hall last week in order to register for Spring classes. Some come directly from high school and others are starting college for the first time. Griselda Flores, senior academic adviser,

said Richland has two different types of advising. Flores said the students in Sabine have registered to come in today between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.

Upcoming events

Richlandchronicle.com January 14, 2014

Each week, the Division of Humanities, Fine and Performing Arts at Richland College presents its Recital Series. All performances are on Tuesdays at 12:30 p.m. and are free to the general public. For more information about the series, contact Derrick Logozzo, coordinator of music, at 972-238-6254.

Tuesday, Jan. 14: First edition of the Chronicle for Spring semester Wednesday, Jan. 15: 7 p.m. Guadalupe Gym Richland men’s basketball Richland vs. Cedar Valley College Monday, Jan. 20: Martin Luther King Jr. Day - Campus is closed. Tuesday, Jan. 21: Credit classes begin Tuesday-Wednesday, Jan. 21-22: Learning Center Open House, Medina Hall, Room M-216 Ask Me tables will be scattered throughout the campus for information and student planners. Wednesday Jan. 29 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.: If you’re finishing your degree or certificate this fall or spring, it’s not too late to apply!

Thursday Jan. 23, 8am to 5p.m.: Excellence in Teaching Nomination Don’t forget to nominate a faculty instructor who you feel to be exceptional and outstanding in the Richland community! Friday, Jan. 31: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Spring Transfer Fair El Paso Hall Over 50 representatives from area universities will be on campus to answer questions. Flyers and pamphlets will be available for students. Monday Feb. 3, 8a.m. to 5p.m.: Last day to drop a class without a “W” for sixteen week classes. Note: During inclement weather when school is in session, call 972-238-6196 to see if Richland will be open or watch any of the local TV stations by 6 a.m.

Students have until Jan. 15 to finish registration. They can sign up online at www.rlc. dcccd.edu by typing in the letters “oar” into the search engine. There, students can find an assortment of resources available. – Joyce Jackson

The Drama Department is holding auditions at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 27 in the Fannin Performance Hall for the fast-paced popular comedy, “The Nerd” by Larry Shue. The plot concerns a strange but hilarious dilemma of a young architect who gets a visit from a man he’s never met, but who saved his life. It will be directed by drama chair Andy Long. There will be roles available for both men and women. Rehearsals will begin the night after auditions from 7 to 10 weeknights. Those auditioning will be required to do cold readings from the script. To audition, sign up on the call board in the Scene Shop in Fannin Hall, Room F-116. Performances will be at 7:30 p.m. March 5-8. For more information call 972-238-6256.

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CAMPUS

Campus police serious about safety KISTEN S. CHETTY Editor-in-Chief

Campus police executed a lockdown training drill Thursday. The premise of the drill was a gunman on the loose in Sabine Hall. Students and faculty were ordered to switch off the lights and head to their designated safe areas. Campus police were stationed inside and outside Sabine Hall conducting the drill. Security inside checked each classroom to see if people had followed the drill instructions. Rooms that had ignored the instructions were recorded by police and reported to Sgt.ww Barry Orton. Orton said that the drill went “very well, except for some minor issues.” One of the issues was that the drill announcement was delivered to the entire campus. Orton had intended for the intercom only to be heard in Sabine and said that “It will be looked into.” Another problem dealt with the doors. Officials outside Sabine noticed that two sets of doors near the front of the building did not lock during the drill. According to Orton all the doors in Sabine are linked to a master lock system and should all lock during this type of event. This is to prevent anyone entering or exiting the building. Students and faculty members will remem-

ber the slew of shootings and violent incidents that occurred around the United States in the last six months. When asked if this specific drill was in response to those events, Orton denied it. He said as head of emergency management he is required to run a set number of these drills every year. Added to that he must conduct a set number of fire drills. Students are strongly encouraged to sign up for the district wide emergency notification system. One can sign up by following these steps: First, students need to access their eConnect account. Next, click on “Current Credit Student.” Click on “My Personal Alerts information.” From there, students can choose if they wish to receive an email or text or both when alerts are issued. Orton said there are three types of alerts that can be issued. The first is Lockdown, which will happen if there’s a shooter on campus. The second is an evacuation, which will be issued if there is a fire or if a bomb threat has been called in. The last alert is called Shelter in Place. These are usually connected with severe weather warnings, like tornadoes. Students will then have to go to designated tornado safer zones. By signing up for the alert system, students will be informed of emergency situations and procedures.

Rich Grad president enthusiastic about club Joyce Jackson Copy Editor

If there’s one enthusiastic Rich Grad student on the Richland campus, it’s Michael Aulov. Aulov, 22, an international student from Uzbekistan, said the Rich Grad program changed his life. He attended two presentations on campus this semester with Amelia Fortes from California, one of the directors of the program. But he was a fan long before that. Aulov first learned about the Rich Grad program by listening to a tape of the book, “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” by Robert Kiyosaki. It was a New York Times bestseller. “As soon as I listened to that tape, it changed my view about money altogether,” Aulov said. “A lot of books can be found on YouTube. Timewise, it saves a lot of time.” Aulov also read the book, which he says wasn’t much different from the video. He was attending college in Israel at the time but dropped out and applied to Richland, starting classes here last summer. Last semester, he took 13 hours. For those who are unfamiliar with Kiyo-

saki’s book or the Rich Grad program, Kelly Sonnanstine, coordinator of the Office of Student Life and sponsor of the club, helped get the program for Richland because she experienced success through it herself. Rich Grad could be described as a money management system. It’s a way of learning how to achieve financial independence through investing, real estate and business ownership by increasing one’s financial intelligence. It’s geared toward college-age students, such as Aulov. Aulov hopes to get an associate’s degree in science and then go into finance or marketing. Meanwhile, he, along with several others, are focused on the Rich Grad Club on campus, which revolves around a Monopoly-like game called CashFlow. Aulov became the official club president last semester and will continue in that role this spring. No one ran against him. Club members favored him, he said, because he has played the CashFlow game so many times and was thoroughly familiar with it. “I would assume it’s over 50 times outside of college,” he said. “I was familiar with the game before I came to Richland.” Aulov said he just hasn’t met anyone who is

as interested in this program as he is and that people lack the knowledge about personal finances. “People live from paycheck to paycheck. It’s a miserable life,” Aulov said. “I know people who do that, and it’s just sad.” Aulov said, “Before I played the game CashFlow, I had no idea on how to use my personal finances. It teaches income, statements, which is part of accounting, balance sheets so people who are going to take accounting later on will have an easier time.” Aulov said he would recommend Kiyosaki’s book “to every single person alive today because we’re in a new age, and we should start learning the new rules. A lot of it is in this book.” Aulov hopes to continue with his degree at Richland, then go on for a bachelor’s, master’s and even a Ph.D. Future plans include opening his own business instead of working for somebody else, but he says it won’t be anytime soon. “I have to build a strong business team,” he said. “I’m following the ideas in the book to do that. Opportunities come and go, but overall, I have a dream. I would like to follow that dream hopefully by age 30.”

Richlandchronicle.com January 14, 2014

‘Opportunities come and go, but overall, I have a dream’

News

Celebrating the V-word JONATHAN LEE

Richlandchronicle.com January 14, 2014

Staff Writer

No, not Valentine’s Day. The other Vword. Women from all over the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex this February will present “The Vagina Monologues,” a graphic expression of female sexuality. Cyran Harrington, a 22-year-old Richland fine arts student, will direct the production. Instead of traveling to see the monologues, she wants to bring them closer to home. “I’ve chosen to start the production in the DFW area because I’ve always had to go down to Denton to see the production, and it’s a very moving production,” she said. “The Vagina Monologues,” created by playwright Eve Ensler in 1998, deals with issues such as sex, love, rape, menstruation, female genital mutilation, masturbation, birth, orgasm, vagina slang, the vagina as a physical body part and as a tool of female empowerment. This production features 14 monologues derived from interviews with many women about their different experiences, both good and traumatic. “It gives a variety of stories of all different cultures and all different women to raise awareness in every single way possible, and I think that’s very important for us,” said Harrington.

Harrington, who has suffered from abuse, chose to put on the production to raise awareness about violence against women and girls in honor of Feb. 14’s “V-Day,” a global activist movement started by Ensler in 1998. “I have been emotionally abused and mentally abused in relationships – whether it be mother-daughter, coach to teammate, things like that – my entire life, and I’ve watched others be abused,” said Harrington. “The majority of my friends have experienced some sort of rape in their life.” One in four college women experience rape, according to the National Institute for Mental Health and Ms. Magazine. All the proceeds from the charity event will go to benefit two local nonprofit organizations. Turning Point, a rape crisis center, provides counseling, education and advocacy for victims of bullying, sexual harassment and sexual assault. Hope’s Door, a domestic abuse shelter, offers prevention services to individuals and families affected by domestic violence, as well as education programs to the community. “The Vagina Monologues” will run Feb. 21-23 at the Community Unitarian Universalist Church in Plano. Auditions take place every Thursday in January. For more information, contact dfwvaginamonologues@ gmail.com.

MOVIES

5 movies of 2013 1. “Maniac”

RICKY MILLER Entertainment Editor

Images courtesy darkmediaonline.com, iconsoffright.com, bloodydisgusting.com, ign.com, darkmediaonline.com,blogspot.com

This was an attempt to make a new rendition of William Lustig’s tale of a serial killer who seemed altogether friendly. The nebbish impostor was played by the weak-looking and scrawny Elijah Wood of “The Lord of The Rings” fame. F

2. “Aftershock”

Talk about a major time waster. I wish I had the hour and a half of my life back for this reprehensible piece of garbage. The plot revolves around an earthquake in Chile and the fact that human beings are even worse than we thought, especially in the murder and rape category. D-

3. “Stranded”

Yet another poor man’s version of “Alien,” wherein our hapless crew must deal with evil on a base on the moon. In the lead was the oncepromising Christian Slater, whose career has seen better days with turns in the abysmal “Mobsters,” “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves” and the Quentin Tarantino-scripted “True Romance.” D-

4. “A Haunted House”

5. “The Last Exorcism Part II”

Lampoon and satire work on TV’s “Saturday Night Live,” but Marlon Wayans tried to take that idea and put it in a feature that runs out of steam in the first hour. The funniest bit, however, deals with some thugs who comment on the placement of a character’s furniture. That bit alone saved this from getting an F on my scale. D

The prime example of why I don’t really care for fright flicks. The dour and plain-Jane looking Ashley Bell returns as the girl whose life feels out of place yet again. I think viewers should save their hard-earned money and rent Roman Polanski’s classic “Rosemary’s Baby” instead. D-

Richlandchronicle.com January 14, 2014

This past year resulted in nothing more than a mixed bag of flicks. Right now, I’m tackling the worst of 2013. I’ve selected a few choice titles that one should avoid playing like the plague on your cherished DVD player. Next week will be on the cheerier side, since I’ll be doing my annual 10 best list. Some of the awful stinkers included the disappointment that was M. Night Shyamalan’s “After Earth,” the Adam Sandler reunion flick “Grown Ups 2,” the true story about selfish brats stealing from other spoiled Hollywood kids, Sofia Coppola’s “The Bling Ring,” Robert Rodriguez’s attempt at Grindhouse garbage with “Machete Kills,” the overlong and uninvolving update of Gore Verbinski’s “The Lone Ranger,” and yet another horror stinker, the Keri Russell led “Dark Skies.”

EDITORIAL

YouTube suggesting violence?

STUDENT MEDIA LEADERS Editor in Chief Managing Editor Layout Editor Sports Editor Entertainment Editor Radio News Director Copy Editor

Kisten S. Chetty Christian Tanner Lora Advincula Blanca Reyes Ricky Miller Carla Davis Joyce Jackson

ON THE COVER Image depicting a victim of knockout game violence.

COVER AND FONTS Cover image www.blogspot.com Certain fonts are provided by the following: http://www.nymfont.com - http://www.bvfonts.com

STUDENT MEDIA STAFF Khaled Al-Wajih Melanie Brandow Dakota Cortez Gabriel Flores Isai Diaz Hanna Foster Peter Alexander Hearns Jonthan Lee Kyler Kent Alana King Shikha Veronica Jacob Sayako Metoki

Ricky Miller Noah Percival Raymond Thomas Pronk Avery A. Rains Blanca Reyes W. Ben Roach Alice Robinson Pete Shannon Ben Siebel Nini Sterling J.D. Stockman A.M. Stofko

STUDENT MEDIA ADVISERS Terry Blend Erica Edwards Jack Fletcher David Goodloe

Press

for violence and/or stupidity

Richlandchronicle.com January 14, 2014

Image courtesy deviantart.com

Most of us use YouTube in one form or another, from having our own channels where we upload videos to merely being linked to a video from a friend. If you are watching a video on the Internet, chances are it is on YouTube. Like anything else YouTube is a tool and its outcomes are based on the user. Many creative people use YouTube to gain exposure for their projects, artwork and indie projects. However, there are people who wish to gain exposure as well, just for more sinister acts. A random act of violence called the “Knockout game” has been gaining popularity in recent months. The goal is as simple as it is utterly stupid. A person picks a random passer-by and sucker punches them as hard as they can, hoping to knock them out as another records it. It’s then posted on YouTube for everyone to see. As anyone with two brain cells to rub together could imagine, this has had disastrous consequences. In New York, a 78-year-old woman strolling in her neighborhood was punched in the head by a stranger and tumbled to the ground.

In Washington, D.C., a 32-year-old woman was swarmed by teenagers on bikes, and one clocked her in the face. In Jersey City, a 46-year-old man died after someone suckerpunched him and he struck his head on an iron fence. Closer to home, a 27-year-old suburban Houston man hoping to gain national exposure by knocking out an unsuspecting bystander has been charged with a federal hate crime. Would people still do idiotic things to hurt others if there was no YouTube? Probably, there will always be people who, as the butler Alfred from “Batman” put it, “just want to watch the world burn.” The problem is that YouTube gives a platform to people that reaches millions. It’s a popular forum to which they would not have had access otherwise. YouTube is not some shady site that you erase from your browser history. It’s become a place where people head to find information, entertainment and updates on the world. YouTube needs to step up to the task of better managing these types of videos with the

knockout game at the forefront. The website already has policy in place; by visiting http://www.youtube.com/t/community_guideline, you can read their policies on the type of videos they allow and that they will enforce their rules. The knockout game infringes on at least three of its rules, one of which is taken directly from Dangerous Illegal Acts. “We draw the line at content that’s intended to incite violence or encourage dangerous, illegal activities that have an inherent risk of serious physical harm or death.” One teen was shot and killed while participating in the knockout game. I think that qualifies. YouTube did not create this game, but YouTube is the platform that makes playing this game so enticing. The Houston teen admitted that he did it “hoping his video would be nationally televised.” If YouTube cracks down on these videos as hard as they crack down on copyright violation, then without a platform for popularity this alleged game would not be as popular or widespread. — Kisten S. Chetty

Tim Jones Steve Noviello Larry Ratliff Marshall Siegel

Spring 2014 ISSUES January 14 January 21 January 28 February 4 February 11 February 18 February 25

March 4 March 25 April 8 April 22 April 29 May 6 May 13

AWARDS ACP Pacemaker Winner, 2000, 2001, 2007 ACP Pacemaker Finalist, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2007 ACP Online Pacemaker Finalist, 2007, 2008 1st Place - TIPA Sweepstakes, 2005 3rd Place - TIPA Online, 2005 & 2006 Over 150 Texas college journalism awards since 2000

CONTACT INFORMATION El Paso Hall, Room E-020, 12800 Abrams Rd. Dallas, 75243 Newsroom: 972-238-6079  E-mail: chronicle@dcccd.edu Advertising: 972-238-6068 E-mail: advertise@dcccd.edu Fax: 972-238-6037

MEETINGS & POLICIES Staff meetings: Monday and Wednesday 3:00 p.m. in E-020 ------Letter Policy Letters to the editor may be edited for space. They will be edited for spelling, grammar and malicious or libelous statements. Letters must be the work of the writer and must be signed. For identification and verification purposes, letters also must include the writer’s classification (grade level), full name, address and telephone number, although address and telephone number will not be published. Editorial Policy The Chronicle is the official student-produced newspaper of Richland College. Editorials, cartoons, columns and letters are the opinions of individual students and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of other individual student writers, editors, advisers or the college administration. © Richland Chronicle 2013

Opinion

Blockbuster goes digital only Best Buy, Barnes & Noble next?

Joe Stumpo Staff Writer

Blockbuster has finally closed all of its brick and mortar stores. Will others like Barnes and Noble and Best Buy follow?

released CD by some artist I never heard of playing while browsing through the magazine section of the bookstore. Were it not for Barnes & Noble, I would never have heard of, much less bought, such CDs as “Born to Die” by Lana Del Rey, “Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin,” Celtic Woman’s “Believe,” or another CD of Frank Sinatra’s greatest hits, which I really didn’t need but bought regardless because of the one song I didn’t have on my Ipod, “New York, New York.” Back in the day before DVD got engulfed by Blu-ray, Best Buy had aisles of DVD movies, old and new, for sale as well as a decent offering of music CDs. Today, they only carry

the titles they know are likely to sell. I can’t rely on Best Buy anymore. I have to pull up the coming soon sections of Blu-ray websites to get a full list of what’s coming out or go to digitalbits.com for the latest release news. Now if I want to buy a movie, either I got to go to video-on-demand or order them through, yes, you guessed it, Amazon. One of the joys I got out of going to Blockbuster was whenever all 100 copies of some new release was rented, I could always find something else to rent as a result of browsing the store’s many categories whether it was foreign, sci-fi or music videos. It was Blockbuster that advocated carrying not just the current releases but the obscure never-heard-

of-before, straight-to-video titles, even if most of them weren’t worth the money you paid to rent them. Now those days are over, thanks to the ease we have to get our hands on anything we want via the digital route. Call me old-fashioned, or a grouch who refuses to embrace change when the new overthrows the old, but I don’t get off on this “instant gratification, I want it now” thing as a result of digital downloading. I like to browse the bookstore and want to be able to have the book, magazine, or newspaper in my hands to read, not on some device called a “Nook.” I want places like Best Buy to carry everything for sale day and date I see listed in the

Image courtesys ajc.com bestbuy_news.cnet.com geardiary.com

coming soon section of www.blu-ray.com and not have it based on their decision as to what they think will sell. I don’t want to go to iTunes to find out what the latest music releases are and download 30-second samples. I’d rather hear them off Barnes & Noble’s stereo system if I am in the stores on Tuesdays and should such a song catch my liking, be able to ask the clerk in the video area what CD is that playing? I’d like to think sooner or later people will come to their senses and realize the ease with which we get our entertainment now is overrated and prefer the days back when we could go to such places like Blockbuster to spend time and browse.

Richlandchronicle.com January 14, 2014

An unpleasant thought came to mind last November upon hearing the news that Dish Network, which owns the financially troubled former Dallas-based Blockbuster video, made the decision to close the once-powerful video retailer’s remaining 300 corporate stores in January in addition to ceasing the company’s online video subscription service. This was the result of the way consumers get their entertainment now via the Netflix, Redbox, video-on-demand and online streaming services routes. What came to my mind was the idea of digital downloading, which had me wondering how long before such retailers as Barnes & Noble and Best Buy also go out the way of Blockbuster, despite their attempts to stay current with today’s technology. I only mention those companies because I enjoy visiting those retailers whether I buy something or not. I like hearing some newly

“ I’M

CONFIDENT I WILL FIND A

CAREER PATH THAT’S

BEST

FOR ” ME.

Richlandchronicle.com January 14, 2014

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