10/10/11

Page 1

THE

San Jacinto Times

Half-man half amazing, a legend passed away on Oct. 5, 2011. Page 2

The voice of San Jacinto College since 1991

SJC is turning 50 in a huge way October 10, 2011

The Student Publication of the San Jacinto College District

Vol. 22, No. 4

Check out our staff blog at www.sanjactimesstaff@wordpress.com

College football rivalries should have an Alpha but no Omega. Page 3

The Devil Wears Prada comes back hard with a new LP. Page 5

Photo by Gabriel Osburn

600 supporters can add up to a great looking human number SJC students, teachers and faculty got together on October 4 to commemorate the 50th Anniversary in a very visual way

By GABRIEL OSBURN San Jacinto Times

San Jacinto College continued to celebrate it's 50 year anniversary this month with a gathering of roughly 600 students from all three campuses to create a giant “Human 50” as part of its ongoing year-long celebration. A lot can happen in 50 years, and San Jac certainly has plenty to celebrate. When it first opened in the fall of 1961, San Jac only had 700 original students and conducted classes out of what was essentially a strip mall.

Today it enrolls more than 29,000 students and continues to expand on all three campus locations and beyond, frequently offering more classes and options to the student community. The “Human 50” ceremony itself had an excellent turn out, with students from all three campuses showing up to get involved and show their school pride. Most, if not all, of the athletics department were in attendance, along with several other groups and clubs and even some old alumni. The whole event was orchestrated by event coordinator and senior graphic designer for the market-

ing department, Josh Wilson, who was 20 or so feet off the ground, strapped into a lift and organizing everyone via bullhorn. Using this new point of view he managed to get everyone adjusted, along with help from volunteers on the ground. Pictures of “The Human 50” should be available at (www.sanjac.edu/anniversary) by clicking the “Photo Gallery” link on the right hand side of the page. Along with events like “The Human 50,” the three campuses of San Jacinto College will be lining up several different functions throughout the

On May 16 around 6:15 pm, Dr. Matkin was making his usual commute home on Spencer Highway going east when out of nowhere he saw a car had blown a stop sign and was crossing three lanes and was heading straight for his lane. The car jumped right in front of him in his lane. Only making things worse, the car was oblivious that he had cut Dr. Matkin off, but the driver was also going a great deal slower the Dr. Matkin’s 2009 Yamaha Royal Star. Dr. Matkin had no time to stop and his bike had only one path and that was the back of this vehicle. As the bike careened to the back of the car, Dr. Matkin careened with it. He flew off the bike flipping and rolling to the side

of the street. He was knocked unconscious and remained in the hospital for five days. He suffered major injuries; he broke his left clavicle, broke three ribs, and bruised a lung. All of this was a result of a person not paying attention. As Dr. Matkin sat across from me with a big smile on his face retelling the story for the hundredth time, I could see the passion in his expressions for the joys of riding. The accident hasn’t stopped Dr. Matkin from riding; he is actually rebuilding his bike, but he does plan to sell it. That instant in his life really made him reflect a little more about his

2011-12 school year. For example, staring this month is the Decades Celebration, with each month representing a different decade in San Jac's history. This month's theme is the 60's, and each month there will be a quiz contest you can enter, with a 50th anniversary t-shirt as a prize. If you answer correctly and your name is drawn at the end of the month, it's yours. Also be sure to check out the volleyball Alumni Match at central campus on the 29th. A calendar list of these events and others is available on San Jac's anniversary website.

Central’s Matkin not going to let accident slow him By CRIS RODRIGUEZ San Jacinto Times

Millions of people ride motorcycles daily. Motorcycles are a culture of their own. One person in particular who we all might know and has a big passion for Motorcycles is our very own President of San Jacinto College Central, Dr. Neil Matkin. Generally when you think of the President of a college you don’t really imagine them riding a motorcycle. Dr. Matkin has been riding motorcycles for over 30 years and has ridden more than 150,000 miles across the U.S. with his family. You can say riding is second nature to Dr. Matkin.

Wonders should be a wonderful new head SJC basketball coach By MIKE VASQUEZ San Jacinto Times

Wonders has 14 years of collegiate coaching experience including several conference titles and one NCAA tournament birth with Lamar University. Coming into this season the obvious question must With rosters changing every year, usually one thing be about the pressures of on this campus was certain. The replacing a living legend. Ravens always knew that coach Scott Gernander would be leading Obviously the style When asked about this Wonders replied, “As far as them on the basketball court. pressure goes it’s yes and no. I Coach Gernander was a legend of play we have learned a lot from coach for this school and the basketball Gernander, and the man is a program. His accolades preceded established the past few legend. There is no way I can him wherever he went. However replace him, I can only apply this year he will not be coaching due to his retirement. seasons has helped us what I learned from him to my style of coaching. All I can do Though he has retired, he took is be me and coach to the best special care in grooming his win. of my ability.” replacement. Like one of those Wonders believes as far as classic movies where the master the play calling goes, they is preparing his student for the must take the if it isn’t broke, day when he will have to take on don’t fix it approach. the role of leader, Gernander has passed the torch on to new head basketball coach “Obviously the style of play we have established the past few seasons has helped us win. Jacob Wonders. PLEASE SEE WONDERS on Page 4

-Coach Wonders

INSIDE

Column/Commentary...2 Around San Jacinto.....3 Front Page Jumps.......4 Entertainment...........5-7

PLEASE SEE MATKIN on Page 4

Photo by Cris Rodriguez

Dr. Neil Matkin is back in action after a scare.

Professor’s play set to be a smash By HARRISON LEE San Jacinto Times

What’s Past Is Prologue may sound like something intimidating, but rest assured, it isn’t. It’s a long-invested labor of love laced with equal parts Shakespeare and Marlovian lamentations “It began as a series of one-acts I wrote with my sister,” Dr. LeMaster explained. “Among the plotlines involved a time-traveling Shakespeare, but this one stood out.” What is ‘this one’? Dr. David LeMaster’s new play What’s Past Is Prologue can best be described as a simultaneous study/lampooning of all the theories about who may or may not have written the works we all logically attributed to Shakespeare. From there, Prologue gleefully dances into the absurd. “I was trained as an absurdist from the start, which makes things a little more interesting,” Dr. LeMaster volunteered. “There’s a big Shakespeare v. Marlowe debate, and I say who cares?” With his goal of the surreal already in mind, he knew he wanted a very specific picture of the Shakespearan-Marlovian debate. “Being trained as surrealist first, I look at subject matter in the most opaque way possible.” Dr. LeMaster believes that we’ve placed the beloved Bard on too high of a pedestal, and that perhaps irreverent humor is the best way to achieve balance. “I believe Shakespeare is Shakespeare, personally. We focus too much on authorship and too little on the overall work.”

Photo by Harrison Lee

Gino Sandova (left) Jason Broussard (right), absorb advice from Dr. David LeMaster. Already a prolific writer, Dr. LeMaster says he sometimes go through nearly a thousand words to find three paragraphs. “I like to think of myself as whittling down the stone around what is hopefully a beautiful sculptor. It may sound weird, but I hear every line in advance in my head. I hear the line, I hear the rhythm.” A playwright since high school, he finds it easier than it sounds to get all the dialogue out while still making it entertaining. “It’s a little like music to me, and I consider how everything should flow together. It’s always a labor of love to get the first draft out.” PLEASE SEE PLAY on Page 4


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