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Covering the San Diego City College community since 1945
Volume 66, Number 11
March 20, 2012
Students showcase talents City hosts talent show in Saville Theatre By Jennifer Manalili City Times
City College is a melting pot of talent. This was proven on the evening of March 10 when, after weeks of tryouts and elimination, an eclectic group of more than 25 performers took the stage at Saville Theatre for “Talent in the City.” There was a great audience turnout and the theater was almost sold out. The talent show performers were a reflection of the different backgrounds that the campus is made of. In a great act of improvisation, Felander Stevenson took first place and received a trophy and $600 for his cover of Cee Lo Green’s “Forget You.” Stevenson’s background music was lost, but he went forward with his performance, choosing instead to sing the song a capella. With a little help from the audience, who provided a beat by clapping, he pulled through. The second place trophy and $300 prize was awarded to Nicole Delia. Delia’s opera performance was striking, her song a refreshing change to hear amongst the other musical styles. Arthur Hernandez
News/Calendar............... 2-3 Life................................... 4 Arts.................................. 5 Voice................................. 6 Sports............................... 8
DSPS adviser on loan from Mesa By Benny A. McFadden City Times
Felander Stevenson (left) and Nicole Delia (right) accept their trophies for first and second place (respectively) of the Talent in the City Show, March 10 in the Saville Theatre. Troy Orem, City Times Deleon, who displayed his impressive technicality and piano playing, took the third place trophy and $100. Even the performers who did not place were enjoyable and surprisingly entertaining. Perhaps most surprising was the fact that Kingsley
Jackson did not place. Jackson, sporting a red blazer and slicked back hair style, performed a melody of Mario’s “Let Me Love You” and Beyonce’s “Baby it’s You.” He pulled out all of the stops, turning the few minutes into his own production by taking to the stage with a crew of
dancers and a set to act out the songs. Like Jackson, Fabian Chandler did not place but got the crowd to holler and whistle as he danced to a melody of Michael Jackson songs that included “Dangerous,” “Smooth Criminal” and “Jam.”
Chandler’s enthusiasm and his impressive dancing pleased the crowd. Samerra Dean sang Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep.” She took just enough inspiration from the original and was able to balance it with her See Talent, page 5
City College’s Disability Support Programs and Services was forced to borrow a counselor from Mesa College after losing a full-time counselor from City’s campus. This problem came on the heels of a huge funding reduction under Gov. Jerry Brown’s new budget. According to Peter White, City’s vice-president of student services, the funding for special services, which funds DSPS, was cut by nearly 50 percent, in addition to the smaller cut that was made to the district’s general fund. The unnamed DSPS counselor who left City was forced to take a medical leave of absence after being diagnosed with an illness. Currently, City and Mesa have only one full-time DSPS counselor on each campus. A third counselor, who had previously worked full-time at Mesa, now divides her time between the two. According to the San Diego Community College District annual report, between July 2010 and Oct. 2011, City had 966 DSPS students while Mesa had 1,057. See DSPS, page 2
Foreign languages brought closer to home By Daphne Jauregui City Times Language is no barrier for the students and faculty at City College. The Language Day Festival took place on March 14 at Gorton Quad. Students from different cultural backgrounds enjoyed a day filled with good food, catchy music and culture from all over the world. “This event brings a great opportunity to all our language students to come together as one soul and celebrate the richness of our cultures,” said Rosalinda Sandoval, a Spanish professor and coordinator of the event. Promoting the language and world cultures programs was the main purpose of host-
ing this event. The study abroad program had a booth located at the festival and students had the opportunity to sign up to visit Buenos Aires, Argentina this fall. The Spanish club set up a table entirely dedicated to playing “Loteria,” a Spanish variant of bingo and had many prizes to offer to the winners. They also displayed an interesting collection of dolls, each of which represented the different states and people of Mexico. Members of the Spanish club performed a lively version of the song “Cielito Lindo” which was awarded with applause from the crowd. They made sure to keep the musical vibe going by dancing to “Caballo Dorado” and invit-
ing everyone to join in from the beginning of the event to the very end. The Italian club was on hand to share a taste of Italy, encouraging others to try out different Italian breads. “It was pretty cool. What made today unique is that we were able to be with a lot of other cultures at the same time,” said Daniel Morales, a student from the Italian club. Morales also performed in a small skit speaking entirely in Italian alongside Sarah Alami and Talina Bajis. The French club was not left behind, especially when it came to a performance by Joseph M. Stewart who played the accordion. Free face painting was Students peruse the booths at the Language Day festival, which is held ever y semester. Bobby Whaley, City Times See Language, page 5