The Voice of San Jose City College Since 1956
Tuesday, April 1 , 2014
State of planet drives away aliens
Chance to join spacefaring community lost BY TYLER BAR-NESS TIMES STAFF
The world is abuzz over the first contact made with alien life from beyond Earth’s atmosphere. People of the world were shocked by the news that humanity is considered too troublesome to join the interstellar community. “Your nations are divided, your leaders are in gridlock, and your programs to leave your homeworld’s atmosphere have stalled,” said Vhluuhgotha, ambassador and vice president of the Uplifting Evaluation Committee, whose name has been shortened for convenience and inclusion of sounds that the human mouth cannot pronounce. “As far as the Galactic Senate has seen, sharing our technology with your people would prove catastrophic.” Scientists have estimated that the exchange of technology, particularly the faster-than-light engines that allowed these foreign life forms to discover our planet, would propel human progress into the stars. “The chance to visit our sister planets, and the chance to exchange ideas with species able to travel between stars has been lost to us,” said Dr. Sigmund Brandon, chairman of the recently-founded Committee for Interstellar Relations. “It’s ridiculous,” said Malcom Dalton, another committee member. “These aliens have in their power the ability to solve world hunger, cure diseases that have plagued mankind, and they want to deny us representation in the Galactic Senate because we’re divided?” Not all experts are offended by this blatant statement of mistrust from our fellow creatures.
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SONIA WARAICH / TIMES STAFF
DaQuane Fox, 19, journalism major, and Chad Stewart, 26, creative writing major, rehearse for the play “Reckless” in the Theater on Tuesday, March 25.
Students prepare to get reckless Theater production of contemporary play set to premiere on April 4 BY SONIA WARAICH TIMES STAFF
Facing life’s challenge and learning to cope with them are the central themes of Craig Lucas’ 1983 play “Reckless,” which
is set to run at the SJCC Theater from April 4 to 6. “There’s a lot of humor,” said actor Chad Stewart, 26, creative writing major, “but it’s very dark.” Actress Casey Jane Satterlund, 24, art education major, said she enjoyed the play because of the abundance of varied roles and personalities, making it “a great character study.” “It’s kind of about what each individual character is hiding,” Satterlund said, “and
Volume 77 Issue 5 how each character deals with the traumatic experiences they’ve had.” Stewart said the title of the play hints at the central theme, “the recklessness of humans … and how people cope with those (reckless) decisions.” “It’s a pretty surreal play,” Stewart said. “It’s one of those things where you’re not sure if it’s a dream.” Stewart said Dennis Sloan, professor of theater arts, was a big help in preparing for the play, providing exercises through the theater production class coursework. “A lot of it is keeping a journal, character analysis, that kind of stuff,” Stewart said. Sloan said he provided students with exercises focusing on different aspects of their acting, from the emotional and psychological to the physical and vocal. The exercises have a wide range of functions. Some are for expanding the range of an actor’s pitch, others are breathing exercises to ensure one’s voice does not get damaged, while others are tongue twisters meant to improve enunciation. “It’s pretty exhausting, I scream a lot,” Satterlund said. “Even when I’m not screaming I’m talking in a pitch that’s not natural for me, so it’s kind of demanding in that way.” Satterlund said she did not mind the amount of work and was having a lot of fun with the cast, which includes 10 student actors and six students who are focused on the technical side of things, such as the set and lighting. “There are 22 roles,” Sloan said. “It can be performed by as few as seven actors or as many as 22, so it gives us some flexibility.” Admission to the play is free with a donation of canned food, which will go to the Second Harvest Food Bank. “There is also an idea in the play that you can, in many ways, create a family,” Sloan said. Sloan said the characters in the play lose their families in one way or another, but still end up finding and becoming a support system for each other. “It is a subject matter that I think appeals to students because it is contemporary,” Sloan said. “It was written in the 80s, but I think the themes are pretty universal.”
AISHA MCCULLOUGH / TIMES STAFF
A construction worker exits the newly added green fence that restricts student access to parking in the back lot near the field while construction to the old 100’s building early morning on March 24.
Construction blocks access to campus New fence brings parking problems
BY AISHA MCCULLOUGH TIMES STAFF
Many students were surprised to see a giant, green fence when they arrived at school on Monday, March 17. The green fence, installed in the back parking lots near the 100 buildings, cut off the parking lot and access to the campus for students parking on the public street and coming from nearby. Construction on campus in the past year has been ongoing as several upgrades and changes to the campus are underway.
NEXT NEWSPAPER: April 22
The most notable addition is a wroughtiron fence that went up around the campus last semester. Before, students could enter the parking lot next to the softball field from the adjacent street. Students can no longer drive into the parking lot; it is only open to pedestrian traffic. Now that the construction project to remove the three 100 buildings is underway, the new fence is locked so the adjacent parking lot can be used for construction staging. Elgin Hawkin, 20, biology major, said he feels “inconvenienced and frustrated by having to walk around the Child Development (Building), adding an extra six to seven minutes to get on campus.” Since recent construction began and the green fence was installed, parking has become
a hassle for many students. “They can send a text or email about stolen catalytic converters, amber alerts or help with taxes, but how come they cannot send one that will talk about the parking situation or major construction?” said Pedro Sanchez, 23, biology major. Since campus upgrades began, 49-year-old Magda Gonzalez was struck and killed by a construction-related accident near the Fine Arts Building in 2013. Kathy Bruga, yoga professor, said, as a faculty member, she received updates from Gilbane about on-campus construction. Bruga said she has to park in the student parking lot and walk farther to her morning yoga class, which is located in one of the buildings slated to be part of the new campus upgrades.
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