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UC Irvine professor covers ‘Darwin’s gift’
City student launches her own fashion line
News, page 3
WHO’S NEWS Veterans seek end to war in Iraq
Life & Times, page 5
CityTimes
Volume 62, Number 3
Covering the San Diego City College community since 1945
October 9, 2007
CHRISTOPHER BLOSS City Times Last July, Kenyon Ralph and four other military personnel, including a City College student, decided to try to stop the war in Iraq. Ralph and his comrades have started an Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) chapter in San Diego, which has the largest concentration of military service members. After going to Iraq, the war there became more personal for Ralph. He felt he could not stay complacent “while fellow citizens were being killed, Iraqis were being killed and having their land destroyed … for no good reason.” Ralph signed a contract, with parental consent, with the Marine Corps when he was still in high school. This guaranteed that when he graduated and turned 18 in 2001 he would join. After boot camp he entered the Civilian Affairs division of the Marine Corps, out of “a sense of duty and patriotism.” The Civilian Affairs division, as described by Ralph, “were supposed to be the good guys,” the ones who try to see how the Iraqis are living and better that situation. In 2003, Ralph saw his first tour in Iraq, in which his squad served as “bodyguards” for the higher ranking officers who would contract projects and talk to civilians. A year later, he did his second tour. He did the same sort of services but this time, he was doing more operations with the infantry unit, which is at the front line of the American ground war. This was the year that Iraq gained its sovereignty; it was also the year that America saw some of its largest casualties
See VETERANS, page 2
INDEX News/Calendar .......................2-3 Arts ...........................................4 Life & Times ...............................5 Opinion ......................................6 Sports .......................................8
DAVID MCATEE City Times
Dancers perform downtown Sept. 29 during the ninth annual Trolley Dances, launched this year at the new City College trolley station across from campus.
Art on Track Trolley Dances takes movement to the streets
KATIE DUNN City Times Deep, slow melodies linger across the room as a young man wraps himself in a mature female voice coming through two speakers. Gliding across the wooden floorboards to the audience, he tells a story of love and betrayal through fluid and distinct movements. Falling slowly to the floor, Kyle Abraham rests his head on an audience member’s lap, spins up from his knees and glides to the middle of the room demanding attention from the crowd as the song bellows the lyrics, “Hey, I know it ain’t right, but I’m in love with someone else.” On Sept. 29 and 30 the ninth annual Trolley Dances event was held at the Smart Corner at the City College trolley stop on
Park and Broadway, a collaboration between Jean Isaacs’ San Diego Dance Theatre and the Metropolitan Transit System. Performances were held at six locations, introducing the public to new neighborhoods and places in East County, as well as informing them on how the transit system accommodates the public. The patrons took part in the event by following a guide onto the transit lines, and out into the city where at each destination, a choreographed dance was performed. Five choreographers directed each performance with different settings and themes. The five choreographers included Isaacs, Yolande Snaith, Kyle Abraham, Randé Dorn and John Diaz. “It’s amazing,” said observer Carrie
See DANCES, page 8
Students, managers grapple with high food prices CARI ARTHUR City Times Of students interviewed Oct. 3 who buy food from the cafeteria, they all agree — food prices are excessively high. Student Brandi Currin said
that at this time she does not have a choice so she is buying food from the cafeteria even with “the ridiculously high price.” Also agreeing the prices are too high is student Priscilla Douglas: “You get a tiny salad for $4.” Then there is student Tian Lu
who, does not like to eat food purchased in the cafeteria because, “Pizza and french fries are not healthy … and they are too expensive.” District Food Services Manager Gayla Pierce has been in the food service business for 30 years
and has not seen the increases go up as substantially as they have in the past six-eight months. “We’re basically trying to break even, we are trying to keep our heads above water, we are
See PRICES, page 3