Volume73 issue11

‘Dear White People’ defies stereotypes

P. 7

Spotlight on new Bollywood course

P. 8

Volleyball ranked first in CCAA

P. 10

Sonoma State Star SINCE 1979

VOLUME 73 // ISSUE 11

SONOMASTATESTAR.COM

NOVEMBER 4 - NOVEMBER 10, 2014

Campus reacts to World Series victory Kayla E. Galloway News Editor

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he San Francisco Giants are World Series Champions for the third time in five years with Wednesday’s game seven 3-2 victory against the Kansas City Royals at the hands of a save by pitcher Madison Bumgarner. Some call the Giants’ postseason reign a dynasty, many may call it luck, but students at Sonoma State University are not afraid to show their San Francisco pride.

“The Giants winning the World Series is nothing short of historic,” said Joe Holl, a junior and biology

major. “The way they were able to prove every one of their doubters wrong and win it all is something that I will never forget. They have cemented their status as a true dynasty.”

Last Wednesday’s game ended with a priceless reaction by Giants’ third baseman, Pablo Sandoval as he collapsed on the field, relishing in his team’s World Series win, as well as another “Buster-hug”, a term coined by fans, between Bumgarner and Catcher Buster Posey following the final out.

Fifth-year senior, Danny Lindsey had many doubts about the Gi-

ants’ post-season run, but ultimately credits the win to the coaching of Manager Bruce Bochy.

“I didn’t have much faith seeing the Giants enter the playoffs with the second wildcard spot. Yet once they beat the Pirates [for the wildcard spot] and soon into the series with the Nationals, I was reminded of both 2010 and 2012,” said Lindsey. “It’s no doubt that the Giants didn’t have the most talented team in 2010 or 2012, or even this year.

Yet Bruce Bochy is arguably one of the best managers in baseball history.”

Game seven began with an un-

successful 42-minute outing by starting pitcher Tim Hudson, who had waited his entire career of 16 years to pitch a World Series game.

San Francisco Pitcher Jeremy Affeldt then took the reigns, following Hudson’s struggles and pitched 2 1/3 innings to stabilize the Giants and Royals score. As the third inning approached, the two teams were tied at score of two.

In the bottom of the third inning, the rookie second baseman of the Giants, Joe Panik, made a defensive play that many are calling one of the most memorable plays in World Series history. With a run-

ner on first base and no outs, Kansas City’s Eric Hosmer almost got a base hit up the middle of the field.

Before the ball hit the outfield, Panik dove to the right and f lipped the ball to shortstop Brandon Crawford without getting on his feet.

Crawford then got the force out at second base and continued with a throw to first base for the double play.

Hosmer was originally called safe at first base, eliminating the Giants’ chance at a double play against the Royals. But Giants’ See WORLD SERIES on Pg. 11

Initiative aims to aid distressed students Jon Cappetta Staff Writer

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STAR // Gustavo Vasquez On Friday Sonoma State University students held a memorial for a Southern California law enforcement officer, Eugene Kostiuchenk, who lost his life in a hit-and-run accident resulting from drunk driving. He was the father of Sonoma State junior Justin Kelley.

Community remembers fallen officer Gustavo Vasquez Asst. Photo Editor

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lmost 200 people crowded together at Stevenson Hall’s courtyard Friday, in a memorial to honor the loss of a Sonoma State University student’s father, a sheriff’s deputy who was fatally struck by a drunk driver.

Ventura County Sheriff’s Deputy Eugene Kostiuchenk, stepfather of student Justin Kelley, lost his life Tuesday, Oct. 28 in the line of duty.

A drunk driver struck Kostiuchenk while he returned to his vehicle after a routine stop early morning on Tuesday.

Shortly afterwards, the driver crashed and was arrested and charged for driving under the influence, and hit-and-run.

“Just as friends of Justin, we wanted to illustrate our commitment to him,” said

Adam Rosenkranz, chief financial officer of Associated Students. “Regardless of any distance that we may be separated by, we are all in this together and being a part of a fraternity and a brotherhood is more than being one another’s friends”.

Kelley was home with his family during the time of the memorial at Sonoma State. “[At] the end of the day, regardless of fraternity, he’s just one of my friends and I care more about this kid then he would ever know,” said Rosenkranz “People from the police department, fire department; countless people have never met Eugene but they are all affected by this and I think this shows a lot about our character as Sonoma State students.”

Rosenkranz lead the memorial by reading Kostiuchenk’s obituary, and saying some words before handing it off to

students in the crowd to speak.

“I really appreciate seeing all the people out here for the vigil. It represents the kind of connection that we have, even if it’s not direct,” said Pedro Cortez, member of the fraternity Phi Delta Theta.

“It’s nice to see everyone out here to support Justin, and the passing of his father.”

Members of the entire Greek community at Sonoma State came to show their support as well.

“In honor of Justin and his stepfather, I pledged sobriety for the entire weekend,” said Celia Walker, member of Alpha Xi Delta Sorority. “I encourage some of you to try and do the same the last thing we need is another tragedy.”

Students were seen wearing black and blue ribbons as a way to show a tribSee MEMORIAL on Pg. 4

onoma State University administration has taken an initiative to help aid students and improve the safety of the campus as a whole. It’s is called the Red Folder Initiative.

The initiative is an educational reference for faculty and other staff members to turn to for guidance when encountering a distressed student. The Red Folder Initiative was also put into action with University of California campuses roughly two years ago.

“The Red Folder provides basic guidelines for people who are not mental health professionals to respond to various situations and to determine the appropriate course of action,” said Matthew Lopez-Phillips, vice president for student affairs and chief student affairs officer.

The Red Folder was given to the entire faculty at Sonoma State, and will soon be accessible to students on campus as well. The Red Folder will be offered and found on the desktops of computers on campus. The initiative is targeted for nonmental health professionals to serve as a reference for faculty members.

“I think it will be helpful to faculty and staff who are often the first ones to notice that a student is struggling and may be unsure of how to respond and/ or where to refer the student oncampus to get further support,” said Laura Williams, director of Clinical Services.

The folder offers signs of a distressed student in which faculty members can refer to assist struggling students. The initiative helps faculty and students recognize those showing signs of distress. Therefore, it serves as a reference that offers tips

and guidelines on how to talk to, and even handle a student who is in distress.

Lopez-Phillips believes that fellow students, faculty and staff are oftentimes the first people to witness early signs of distress in students during class, or in residence halls.

“Students may initially seek assistance from these people, as they are perceived as being available and willing to talk. If we want SSU to develop into a caring campus community, each member must be concerned for the wellbeing of others,” said Lopez-Phillips, “The Red Folder is a good way to respond to a potential student in crisis as it describes indicators to look for, ways to be supportive, and allows concerned parties to make informed suggestions and referrals to the appropriate campus resources.”

The Red Folder offers contact information to its users, as it connects one with on-campus resources that are directed to aid a distressed individual.

With recent events in the U.S. surrounding the issue shootings, stabbings and other forms of extreme mental breakdowns, this initiative is intended to provide a positive influence on college campuses. Providing easy access to a reference of guidelines for people who are not trained professionals, it will help to catch signs of a distressed student more quickly, and allow for the student to receive the attention he or she needs.

For those untrained in psychological treatment such as college faculty and administration, helping someone showing signs of distress can be confusing and difficult.

For more information regarding the Red Folder Initiative, contact CAPS or University Affairs.

“The Importance of Being Earnest”

‘Bandwagoners’: Love/hate relationship

Sonoma gets paranormal

Check out review on Pg. 6

See the column on Pg. 3

Read more on Pg. 8

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Editorial

Nov. 4 - Oct. 10, 2014

sonomastatestar.com

THE STAR Fall 2014 Editorial Board

Dylan Sirdofsky, Editor-in-Chief Kayla E. Galloway, News Editor Aryssa Carvalho, Asst. News Editor Rachel Keigley, Opinion Editor Brandon Stachnik, A&E Editor Alexis Mills, Features Editor Kayla Webster, Sports Editor Connor Gibson, Photo Editor Gustavo Vasquez, Asst. Photo Editor Megan Kleszcz, Copy Editor Peter Njoroge, Copy Editor Brennan Chin, Online Editor & Distribution Manager Amanda Saiki, Advertising Manager Anika Jess, Marketing Coordinator Eddie Blake, Editorial Cartoonist Paul Gullixson, Faculty Adviser

Star Production Lab Sonoma State University Salazar Hall 1053 1801 East Cotati Ave Rohnert Park, CA 94928 (707) 664-2776 Advertising: sonomastatestar@gmail.com, attn: Amanda Saiki

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star@sonoma.edu Editor’s Pick This week’s can’t miss article: “Why you so obsessed with me(dia)” Now, don’t get me wrong, I love being able to browse social media, and catch up on all sorts of things that are of interest. But there comes a time when we all realize we’re spending a little too much time on it. Staff Writer Jonathan Angulo takes into account the repercussions of media use, and how we should be approaching the issue.

Turn to page 3 to read the column Letters to the Editor

A letter to the editor forum will be open to the expression of fact or opinion that will be of interest or importance to readers of the STAR. Letters which fit within the scope of First Amendment protection, and that meet other stipulations spelled out in this document, will be published on a space available basis as explained below.

Each edition of the paper will include a letters column if letters are available. Letter writers may expect prompt publication of their letters in the paper’s opinion section, as space is available. Letters of up to 500 words will be allowed and must be submitted no later than the Friday before the publication date. Published letters must be free of libel, since the publication is held legally accountable for all content. Although personal controversy will be tolerated, it is the responsibility of the editor to check statements purporting the facts. The editor is also responsible for making decisions as to the pertinence of the letter to the SSU community. The STAR reserves the right to refuse publication to any letter and to edit for length. Letters must sign all contributions and the editor must verify the signer and the writer are one in the same through personal conference. The STAR will honor requests for anonymity at the editor’s discretion. To send a letter to the editor email star@sonoma.edu. Letters received in any format other than by email will not be published.

Corrections/Clarifications

In the Oct. 28 edition of the STAR, the article “Tony Gemignani: The pizza master’s showcase” should have stated Gemignani, owner of Tony’s at North Beach at Graton Resort and Tony’s Pizza Napoletana in San Francisco, was the first American to win the Pizza World Cup in Naples, Italy. In the article, “The colorful, legendary, local venue,” one of the podcast’s titles was incorrect, and is actually called “Onstage with Jim and Tom.”

Publication

The STAR is published every Tuesday during the fall and spring semesters. Printing is done by Healdsburg Printing. The weekly publication of the STAR is made possible by Instructionally Related Activities Funding.

Opinions

Opinions expressed in the STAR are those of the writer and not necessarily those of the STAR or SSU. The editorial reflects the views of the STAR Editorial Board on issues it considers to be of particular relevance to the campus community.

STAR // Eddie Blake

When the tough keep going Read more about the Red Folder Initiative on page 1.

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ollege students are often prone to excessive amounts of stress. But what responsibility should universities take in helping these distressed, struggling students? This is where the newly-implemented Red Folder Initiative comes into play.

This initiative is said to help Sonoma State University faculty and administration recognize students who display self-harm or distressed behavior. The question of the initiative’s effectiveness is debatable, but hopefully it will have the intended positive effect on campus.

Many students struggle with the stress and pressure of college, and the responsibilities they’re expected to take on. The problem with stress comes when students don’t know what to do or where to go when it becomes unhealthy.

The Red Folder Initiative is supposed to teach faculty and non-mental health trained professionals how to recognize signs of distressed or harmful behavior.

According to a study conducted by CSU Northridge, within the last 10 to 20 years college professionals have seen a shift in students counseling needs, from developmental and adjustment to more severe psychological issues ranging from depression to eating disorders.

There’s something to be said about taking classes throughout an academic year, and whether the pressure to succeed is directly linked to a student’s fear of confronting mental health related issues.

In 2010 the National Survey of Counseling Center Directors found a 16 percent increase since 2000 in the amount of college students who seek counseling on campuses for severe psychological problems.

Is the Red Folder Initiative a quick-fix to the problem among California college students, or will it be a failed attempt by university administration?

This coincides with a study done by the American College Health Association, which found that 45.6 percent of students reported feeling hopeless, as well as an unfortunate 30.7 percent reported to have severe thoughts of depression.

These statistics may come as a surprise to some, but what do these num-

bers say about the ever-present underlying issues that seem to plague the world of higher education? Can a program like the Red Folder Initiative really solve such significant problems that lie within college students’ psyche?

The premise of the initiative is to teach faculty how to respond and help students who appear to have distressed or harmful behavior. Is it feasible to think these troubled students would take the help of their professors who see signs of psychological issues? Maybe not, but it’s worth a try.

At the very least the initiative would offer students another route to go to, since finding a teacher or class geared toward creating an open-discussion environment can be hit or miss. For students able to find instructors and advisers they’re comfortable speaking to in general, the results could end up ref lecting more positively down the line.

There is an evident problem among college students in the U.S. with stress, depression and related issues. Is the Red Folder Initiative a quick-fix to the problem among California college students, or will it be a failed attempt by university administration?

Time will tell on its effects, but students can only hope it will make a positive change on campuses.

Editorial Policy: The commentary expressed in the unsigned editorial represents a majority opinion of the STAR Editorial Board on a topic facing the campus community in keeping with journalistic precedents of other major newspapers, and may not be shared by all staff writers. The board encourages readers to write letters to the editor about all topics, including the editorial.

Letters to the Editor

‘Intellectual repression’ causes concern

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ear Editor, I am responding to Shannon Brown’s article “Students, make your voice heard” (10/14 STAR).

As Brown pointed out, some teachers are not interested in hearing the opinions and ideas of their students, or having open discussions of real issues in their classes. Some respond irrationally to any contrary idea or questioning.

I call that response intellectual repression. I have experienced several examples in the psychology department, and have discussed the subject with social sciences interim dean, John Wingard. He said teachers have the right to determine the content of their class, and I should expect more of what I had characterized as intellectual repression in the future.

This right of teachers is sometimes referred to as “academic freedom,” but there are no freedoms involved for students. Wingard characterized remaining silent as “going along to get along.”

I call it the mush-brain syndrome, because it retards the positive development of the brain.

There is merit to his statement if your only goal is to get a degree. Perhaps you simply enjoy having someone else think for you. Tyrants and crooks love people who do not think for themselves.

The university system is not designed to further the intellectual aspirations of its students, and certainly not to accommodate, in an efficient manner, the learning they need to meet their personal goals.

Primarily, the system is designed to extract the maximum number of dollars from each student, without committing the mistake of educating them adequately to have premature market value. It is designed to extract a nominal amount of work from recalcitrant students, through coercion, as a way to legitimize the grades that are given, and the degrees that are awarded.

It is designed to weed out students that are creative, independent or critical thinkers, by treating them abusively in various ways such as marginalization. Within my major the atmosphere is intellectually stifling and emotion-

ally damaging, with only snake oil as a cure.

The blather I hear about critical thinking being taught is just that. My dictionary says of the word critical: “expressing adverse or disapproving comments or judgments,” or, an “analysis discussing pros and cons.”

Thinking is the use of “rational judgment.” It is preposterous to contend that students are learning critical thinking when they are not allowed to speak; when critical expression is punished, and only going along is rewarded.

Students are too busy memorizing trivia for tests, or regurgitating someone else’s ideas, to critically think or speak out even when it is tolerated. There are no lessons in “critical thinking.” Critical thinking is learned through practice and critical interaction and discussion. When critical thinking is repressed, a very important part of the brain simply does not develop.

- John Laraway, Student, Sonoma State University

Opinion

Nov. 4 - Nov. 10, 2014

sonomastatestar.com

Veronica Benvenuto Staff Writer

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t’s looking like an orange October with many people hopping on the Giants bandwagon. The reason being, another moment in history has been made because the Giants have won the World Series.

While San Francisco may be overjoyed by the win, “bandwagoners” will soon evolve.

A “bandwagoner” is anyone who claims they are a “fan” of a particular sports team, even though they had no prior support for or interest in the team until that team started winning. These type of fans only show playoff interest, have probably never watched a regular season game, don’t own any type of team merchandise, nor would they buy any.

From the moment coming into the world, the Giants have been a big part of my life. I was born at the moment the Dodgers knocked the San Francisco Giants out of the playoffs with a 12-1 victory on the final day of the regular season in the fall of 1993.

The point is, if the Giants win or lose, we stay loyal as true fans.

Fans are brought down by generation to generation. True fans become a family, because they have stuck through all the games for better or worse and they still love the team even if there are days spent just yelling at the television.

The worst “bandwagoner” is someone who jumps from team to team. It’s frustrating seeing someone wear the gear, when they usually do not have a clue about the team

with me(dia)

Jonathan Angulo Staff Writer

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STAR // Marybeth Mondok

No pain no game: The truth about CrossFit

Taylor Graham Staff Writer

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hen people hear, “CrossFit” they usually assume the conversation that follows will include talk about the Paleo diet, someone’s new LuLu Lemon outfit and a workout of the day (commonly referred to as WOD by crossfitters), all strung together with excessive use of the words “bro” or “brah.”

With gyms, or “boxes,” popping up all over the country and posts of WOD’s popping up all over social media, Crossfit is the new workout craze people either love or love to hate.

CrossFit is simply a combination cardio, weight lifting, gymnastics, core training and many other elements to create a fullbody workout.

A typical CrossFit class consists of a warm-up, stretching and mobility, a breakdown of certain lifts, the workout of the day and stretching and mobility again at the end.

The WOD is where all the elements come into play in a cardio workout that combines strength and endurance.

As a member of CrossFit Northgate in Santa Rosa, I have firsthand experience to people’s misconceptions and harsh opinions of CrossFit. To tell the truth, most of them are laughable.

When many people, who have never done CrossFit before, have any medical background or expertise in the field what-so-ever, talk about CrossFit, they are always very quick to say that it is terrible for the body and will lead to injuries.

Before beginning CrossFit, I

had torn my ACL, MCL and meniscus in both knees and had to get five knee surgeries. Since doing CrossFit, the constant pain I used to feel is gone.

Both knees, and the surrounding muscles, are stronger than they were before any of my surgeries, and have honestly never felt better.

Don’t get me wrong, CrossFit hurts. It hurts to do 100 push ups, it hurts to sprint 400 meters on exhausted legs and it definitely hurts to stretch sore muscles.

At the end of a 20-minute workout, those muscles will be burning, and those legs and arms will feel like jello, basically it’s going to hurt. But it hurts in all the right ways. It’s the kind of hurt athlete’s crave. It’s the kind of hurt that makes a person stronger, physically and mentally.

It’s the kind of hurt athlete’s crave. It’s the kind of hurt that makes a person stronger, physically and mentally.

Another common misconception is that crossfitter’s do not care about form. First of all, walk into any gym in the country and there will be a handful of people using poor form. It just happens.

With that being said, CrossFit coaches are practically Nazi’s about form. No one wants to get hurt, and the coaches, especially, do not want people to get hurt in their gym. It’s a liability.

Before any workout, the group will spend as much time as needed to perfect the basics of the lifts before beginning the workout.

There are even classes that focus on the basics of lifting for weeks before joining the rest of the gym in the regular WOD’s.

Something that is commonly said about CrossFit is it’s like joining a cult. A cult? If a cult is a

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Why you so obsessed

Pick a side, any side or baseball in general. The only case where “bandwagoners” are acceptable is when they are trying to learn about the team. Even though they may not like baseball, they are trying to learn, which is respectable.

It feels like it was just yesterday when the Giants won the World Series in 2010, and that was such an emotional time for true fans. The bay area was full of pride and excitement to see the team we love win it all. It was very emotional for one particular person, which was my dad.

I had never seen him cry, but it was at that moment he was witnessing a miracle. The fans that had stuck through it all were the ones who were very touched.

Whether it’s the first World Series to the third win in five years, fans are full of excitement and emotion for how the team won.

The Giants in general especially have a very unique way about them. From fear the beard in “passed years” ago, to the Panda hats, the Giants like to have fun and get creative as a team. Even if you may not be as knowledgeable about baseball, or can’t even name one player on the team, as long as when supporting the orange and black, you do it with pride. Even though “bandwagoners” get a bad reputation, they’re still supporting a team that many people know and love.

By no means is San Francisco the only place where you’ll find San Francisco Giants pride on display. Businesses in the North Bay, Peninsula, East Bay and South Bay are doing their part to root and support the team and it’s proving to be quite profitable. Even the businesses have hopped onto the bandwagon.

If you are one of those people who hopped onto the Giant bandwagon, make sure to pick a team and stay loyal.

Go Giants.

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group of people who like to be together, create friendships and network with each other that goes far beyond the gym, then sure, CrossFit is like a cult.

With all the laughs, high fives and competitive trash-talk fighting to be heard over the blaring music, CrossFit is like going to a crazy family gathering multiple times a week.

One of the funniest stereotypes, however, is everyone who does Crossfit walks around in either a sports bra or shirtless, with their six-packs and defined muscles out for everyone to see.

Although that would be ideal, it, unfortunately, is not reality. I have actually yet to see anyone excessively flaunting their ridiculously toned bodies at the gym, although some definitely should.

Even though some people have big muscles or are really toned, everyone is not like this.

There are the typical meatheads, who wear bro-tanks and drink their protein religiously, yet there are also moms and grandmas who are just trying to maintain a healthy lifestyle despite busy schedules. There are all different types of people who participate in CrossFit, no matter age, gender or culture.

Despite viral videos that show some crossfitter’s using terrible form, while shirtless, holding their protein shakers and saying something to the extend of, “bro, I totally killed that WOD today. Do you even CrossFit?” Remember there are obnoxious, attention-seeking and illtrained people at every gym, not just CrossFit. A few videos do not describe the typical population or atmosphere of a CrossFit class.

CrossFit is not for everyone.

But one does not need to spend a few hundred dollars on new LuLu Lemon gear, start drinking protein or go on the Paleo diet to fit in.

As long as a person is willing to push themselves, work hard and be consistent, they could thrive at CrossFit.

erhaps the title of this article lured you in, curious about the over-consumption of social media, but alas, a phone vibrates in your pocket; don’t look away. Fight the temptation. Could it be that the gnawing sensation to look at your phone right now is the product of over-consumption of electronic media? I’m guilty, and in a sense I think we are all guilty. But it’s not about being perfect and abstaining from electronic media.

By electronic media, I am referring to television, radio, computers, internet, cell phones, etc. It wasn’t until I read the book, “Amusing Ourselves to Death” by Neil Postman, that I truly began to realize the problem that electronic media poses to our generation. Postman’s argument was that television is changing the way our society has a conversation. All information that is relevant to our generation is given to us in the form of entertainment. Shows like “Colbert Report” and “The Daily Show” with John Stewart is first and foremost a comedy based-show.

However, it’s one of the most popular ways young people are now informed about important topics going on in the nation. It has replaced the newspaper. Postman argues there is nothing wrong with television shows for the sole purpose of entertaining. It is when we attempt to have important conversations through television that we endanger ourselves.

We are becoming desensitized by electronic media as well. One moment television programs talk about a serious and important topic, like war or breast cancer, and the next we are being sold a car. The viewer doesn’t bat an eyelash; this is now a normal phenomenon.

With the many sources of electronic media, one hardly has time to be alone. I am referring to the small brief moments throughout the day such as walking or sitting alone and eating. Instead of initiating conversation around us or reading a book, we pull out phones and check Snapchat, Facebook and Instagram. All this is doing is feeding the need to entertain ourselves constantly. When activities such as sitting and walking become so mundane that one feels it necessary to entertain one’s self, there might be a problem. The need for entertainment, for stimulus and for laughter makes things like three-hour long lectures seem unbearable. Our attention spans are decreasing, which means more side talks, cell phone usage and nodding off while a lecture is going on.

An abundance of information is available at our finger tips. The internet has made it possible for people to look up literally anything. Technology has dramatically improved life in many ways. But, it has also made it possible for companies cater to their target demographics by using social media, which hands out personal information like candy. For every productive app there is a corresponding time-wasting app. To be aware of our electronic media is the first step. Instead of spending our alone time with our phones, we should try to unplug and engage the person next to us in a chat. Learn more about an important topic or improve a skill. Pull out a book and spend some time with an author. Or just be alone and daydream.

OK, you can go check your phone now.

Hella Nor Cal or totally So Cal?

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Emily Hill Staff Writer

f you call Southern California home, you will most likely connect to this article on a whole new psychological level. Differentiating between Northern and Southern California can be challenging; however, I have found that they are worlds apart in more ways than one.

Now, there is no clearcut line of Northern and Southern California, but a general consensus believes NorCal starts around Santa Cruz, up to the northern most border. MidCal, an area that is mysterious to most Southern California locals, is a complete mystery. It roughly stretches from Carmel down to the San Luis Obispo area, including cities like Fresno and Bishop. In what seems as a nearly unanimous agreement, Santa Barbara is where SoCal begins.

Both sides of my entire family calls Southern California home. I lived there for the first few years of my life until my family and I moved to Roseville.

This “hella” cool suburb outside of Sacramento.

Many start college and hear this strange word that they can’t quite de-

fine, “hella.” It’s used to add emphasis to certain statements like “I’m hella mad right now.” As soon as some begin to use this word, they have officially become a NorCal resident.

Over the years of going back and forth between the two sides of the state, it’s clear they are completely different. So the question remains, which is better? Was coming to college in Northern California the right decision?

Let’s define some substantial differences before deciding.

It seems many college students from SoCal choose to go to college up north to get away from the fast-paced lifestyle or to escape the hold their parents have on them.

Either way, transitioning from a place of constant traffic and acai bowls to a land of actual seasons and Sushirito is a nice change of pace. This change may be refreshing to some, but it is definitely a culture shock in many ways, even though it is still within the state of California.

Lifestyle between the two polar sides of the state varies in many ways.

The stereotype regarding Northern California is that a majority of the people enjoy marijuana, this may be a factor in the laid back way of life. Southern Californian’s seems to always be moving at a very rapid pace. This is especially true when it comes to driving. People in Northern California seem for the most part to be very cau-

tious and often dreadfully slow drivers.

The freeways up North are usually one or two lanes and have a third lane for carpool that is only effective during rush hours. The only toll road most will find usually is to cross a bridge.

Protected double yellow lines are unheard of. In addition, the only way to really know what season it is in Southern California, is by the Disneyland decorations. Northern California overwhelms many with an abrupt temperature change, sometime in mid-October where many suddenly have to pull out those Ugg boots and oversized hoodies. It seems that Southern California is all accepting of fashion, behavior, eye contact, speech and over sharing.

The only rule is to be original and put yourself out there. SoCal-ers love to self-promote.

In the end, both ends of the state offer a variety of attractions and deterrents. Depending on what you’re looking for, California seems to have something for just about everyone. Personally, I find myself constantly craving some fast-paced energy and an occasional acai bowl, so I look forward to hopefully attending graduate school down south.

However, I will miss the pines and being a short distance away from Tahoe, and home of the World Champion San Francisco Giants. All in all, California rocks.

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News

Nov. 4 - Nov. 10, 2014

sonomastatestar.com

Staff Spotlight: Richard Hertz

News Around the World Medical Benefits of Psilocybin Mushrooms Though illegal, psilocybin mushrooms may help in connecting parts of the brain that are disconnected. According to reports from Business Insider, the psychoactive, psilocybin, in “magic-mushrooms” may momentarily change the brains “organizational framework.” This change may cause the visual effects that users experience as well as positive psychological effects, such as lowered depression or anxiety, and a noticeable sense of well-being or openness.

Microsoft releases ‘smart’ wristband Microsoft recently released a smart wristband, which will cost $200 and is “surprisingly” functional according to reports from the New York Times. The wristband can get texts, e-mail and be used to check social media websites. It can also be used to pay for coffee and is water and dust resistant as well. It’s also fitness oriented and will track your heart rate continuously throughout the day. The band is compatible with IOS and Android devises and is now on sale.

Co-founder of Pirate Bay facing jail time The co-founder of Pirate Bay, Gottfrid Warg, faces up to three-and-a-half years in prison for hacking computers according to reports from the BBC. He and an accomplice hacked computers from the Computer Science Corporation (CSC). They both had access to social security numbers and police records for about half a year. He faces his charges in Denmark.

Women returns stolen relic after 50 years A woman returned a stolen relic from Pompeii after she took it 50 years ago while on her honeymoon. Though reports from the BBC kept her anonymous, she seems to have felt bad about her actions due to crying as she gave it back to officials. The relic wasn’t significantly valuable, but police said her actions should encourage others to do the same.

‘Smart’ street lamps in Copenhagen Scientists in Copenhagen are planning on making it the first carbon-neutral city by first installing smart street lamps, which will change in intensity as objects approach them and as objects leave. The lamps can also be manually changed through iPhones and iPads. According to video reports on Reuters, the street-lights account for a fifth of the city’s electricity consumption and by using this new system, they may significantly reduce their ecological impact and showcase a sustainable future for cities around the world.

Danielle Hansen Staff Writer

T

he November general elections are here and many voters mailed in their ballots last week, while today students and citizens can vote in-person at local polling places. Measure M, California State governor, U.S. representatives as well as many other political propositions are up for voting.

Elections can often be frustrating and professor of political science, Richard Hertz is developing a resource that is intended to educate citizens on election and campaign issues.

“We as a country do not pay enough attention to politics,” said Hertz. “It is so difficult for people to find information, having it in one place makes it easier for voters to make more informed decisions.”

Hertz is a Sonoma State University alumnus with a master’s in political science and a bachelor’s in physics.

Politics is the art of compromise, and good politics is people working together, according to Hertz.

He tries to teach this in the various political science courses he teaches.

Looking into weekly political issues, different media outlets and different arguments or points of view are just a few of the many ways his students are enabled to get informed on current political issues.

Hertz has been around the political sphere long enough to understand what it takes to be a good voter.

Engaging, participating and voting are the three essential actions of voters he emphasizes to students in light of the recent election.

Next Generation Politics is a resource Hertz hopes to make available to voters in time for the 2016 elections.

“With the Supreme Court’s Citizens United and other rulings that now effectively permit unlimited campaign contributions, the importance of making it easy for voters to learn who is contributing to the candidates and measures they’ll be voting on cannot be understated,” said Hertz. “We also must develop online platforms that allow candidates to reach many voters for free, in order to reduce the dependence on receiving large campaign contributions from special interests.”

His resource, Next Generation Politics, allow voters to see where the money trails are coming from and to which candidates. This information is scattered and not easily accessible in one place.

Spreadsheets will be created to allow vot-

ers the transparency of money trails, with the simple action of going online and entering their zip code for information.

Hertz hopes to employ Sonoma State students in the development of the databases and online infrastructure of the website.

Hertz also hopes that Next Generation Political will shed light on lesser-known offices and candidates will get the opportunity to record a five minute video to be shown to viewers.

The video option will become available for California voters only, starting in 2016.

These videos will allow lesser-known candidates the opportunity to get their message out to the public without having to fundraise large amounts of money for exposure.

“They (voters) cannot wait for people to magically fix things, they have to get involved,” said Hertz. “The more we [as voters] get involved, the better things will be.”

Hertz advice to students is to vote, and to do research on what you are voting for.

Hertz is a strong believer that people have the power to change things, they just have to get involved.

He also says if you don’t vote, you shouldn’t be complaining about how things are.

Getting involved and doing a little research are two small things people can do to become better voters according to Hertz.

COURTESY // Richard Hertz Sonoma State University professor Richard Hertz takes a unique approach to educating students about election and campaign information.

Associated Students discusses outlook for undeclared Shannon Brown Staff Writer

C STAR // Gustavo Vasquez Law enforcement officer of the community were present at Friday’s memorial for Ventura County Sheriff’s Deputy Eugene Kostiuchenk, who is also the stepfather of Sonoma State University student, Justin Kelley. Kelley was not present at the memorial.

MEMORIAL: Four law officers lost in October Continued from Pg. 1

-ute to mourning.

“The reason we do what we do with the tribute of mourning on our badges is that the ribbon covers the eyes of Justice, so Justice doesn’t see a fallen officer,” said Andrew Barclay, public information officer of the California Highway Patrol. “Ultimately, it is an outward expression to the public to show us mourning a loss of a brother.”

Twenty-eight people die everyday in America from drunk driving crashes, found in data released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s fatality analysis system from 2013.

Kostiuchenk is just one of four law enforcement officers who lost their lives in the line of duty during October in California alone.

“It happens too often and it’s always tough,” said Barclay, “especially in this situation where the deputy was hit and killed by drunk driver. It’s something we go out and try to stop all the time.”

Throughout the month of October, California lost a total of four law enforcement officers from Ventura, Placer, Pomona and Sacramento counties.

Those fallen officers include, Kostiuchenk as well as Police Officer Shaun Richard Diamond of Pomona County, Deputy Sheriff Danny Oliver and Investigator Michael David Davis Jr. of Placer County.

For more information on fallen officers in the United States, people can visit odmp.org and contribute to Kostiuchenk’s online guest book.

ommencing on Halloween, the Associated Students Senate met in the Student Center to discuss a few topics relating to the school.

After the appointment of student, Garett Knight as Associated Students Elections Commissioner, the students began to discuss a resolution that would commend the work of student athlete involvement in Ticket to Success.

Ticket to Success was a project founded in 2013 by Sonoma State University’s Athletic Department in order to bring elementary and middle school students to campus to introduce them to the athletes and tour around the school.

Cary Ybama, involvement chair of the Associated Students, said the program “Introduces middle school students to the idea of higher education while also showing them what SSU has to offer as far as athletics go.”

Last year the program hosted almost 1000 children from 11 Santa Rosa schools.

The Associated Student Senate closed the conversation by saying they believe it would be a great idea to create a formal written statement commending all those involved in creating and executing this

project and present it to them.

Next on the agenda at Friday’s meeting was the discussion of undeclared majors.

This topic resources for the advising of these students cannot keep up with the growing trend of students being undeclared.

Although the discussion didn’t have a clear focus as to how to address these problems, the students discussed all of the ways that undeclared majors aren’t properly getting the right amount attention because of the lack of undeclared advisors at Sonoma State.

According to the university, all undeclared majors need to seek advising after 30 units.

However, according to the student handout on undeclared majors, it states that after 60 units an undeclared major needs to go see an advisor.

With only three full time and one part-time undeclared adviser, the requirement of seeking advising after 30 units is making it difficult for the advisers to fit every student in.

The vice president of the senate said the advisers are having a difficult time just fitting in the 60 unit requirement.

According to the legislation the Associated Students created, over one-third of all freshman are undeclared.

This is creating significant pressure on the advisors to be able to meet with each individual person and discuss career

options.

The Academics Senate Representative respectfully disagreed stating that it would be more beneficial for students to explore all their options instead of being limited to one field and being tied down to a certain field for the remainder of their professional careers.

Another topic that was brought up relating to undeclared majors was the dropout rate of Sonoma State students.

In the draft of the legislation, it was said that roughly 80 percent of declared students continue with their education after their sophomore year but only 73 percent of undeclared students continue after their sophomore year.

The Associated Students Senate also discussed ways as to combat this large problem, but didn’t reach an agreement as to how to effectively reach a solution.

The Executive Director, Erik Dickson, said the legislation needs to be pulled apart in order to get a clear message across.

The discussion ended with Senate agreeing that the legislation needed to have a target resolution and to make it more specific toward undeclared students.

This Friday’s Associated Students meeting will be at 1 p.m. in the Student Center. For more information and meeting minutes, visit sonoma.edu/as.

News

Nov. 4 - Nov. 10, 2014

sonomastatestar.com

facebook.com Sonoma State University’s Filipino American Association participated in CSU Fullerton’s annual Friendship Games, a tradition of the university since 1985.

Filipino Association promotes friendship in competition Kirsten Reeves Staff Writer

T

his past weekend, Sonoma State’s very own organization, Filipino American Association took a trip to CSU Fullerton, to compete in the annual Friendship Games. The Filipino-American

cultural club was established in 1995 and has since grown from a small group to a large organization of over 80 members who take pride in their family oriented environment.

Additionally, the association hosts the annual Pacific Cultural Night, one of the largest multi-cultural events at

Sonoma State, every April.

The Friendship Games is an annual competition hosted by CSU Fullerton’s Filipino-American Association, a tradition dating back to 1985. Over 50 student -run Filipino-American organizations from California, Arizona, Nevada and Hawaii make the journey to compete

Professor honored with award from NASA Amy Lee Staff Writer

S

onoma State University professor Lynn Cominsky was honored with the Women in Aerospace Award last week in Arlington, Virginia.

Only six women in the nation were selected to win this award which makes it so significant to the Sonoma State community. Dr. Hashima Hasan of the NASA headquarters nominated Cominsky due to her leadership skills and dedication to making a difference in the lives of girls and women in science.

Having a Sonoma State professor win this award is both an honor for Professor Cominsky but considered an honor for Sonoma State as well.

Cominsky has taught at Sonoma State University for over 25 years in the physics and astronomy departments.

She has written over 100 research papers and is the principal investigator on over $15 million of grants to Sonoma State.

“Professor Cominsky is the founder and director of SSU’s Education and Public Outreach Group, which supports several different NASA high-energy astrophysics missions, and also develops curriculum for the NSF-funded Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) project and for the U.S. Department of Education,” said Jean Wasp, media coordinator for Sonoma State.

This group focuses on training for kindergarten through 12th grade teachers. They develop online interactive learning activities for math and science for the teachers to have their students use.

This further makes a difference in the lives of young girls and has potential to make them find the same love of science that Cominsky found years ago.

“In the past, she has served as the scientific director for the PBS NOVA television program ‘Monster of the Milky Way’ and accompanying planetarium show ‘Black Holes: The Other Side of Infinity,’” said Wasp.

Cominsky has always been the type of person

Sonoma State University professor Lynn Cominsky has been honored with an aerospace award from NASA. Cominsky is one of six women in the nation to receive the award. who likes to be involved and hold many leadership positions in her profession.

She was also named Sonoma State’s Outstanding Professor in 1993 as well as the California Professor of the Year by the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education.

As her career continued, she has been named with numerous more awards and titles including being named a fellow in 2007 by the California Council on Science and Technology, a fellow in 2009 of the American Physical Society and a fellow in 2013 of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

One of her main focuses in her career is to be an advocate for young girls and women in aerospace. Aerospace is not a common field for women to be working in, so Cominsky finds it important to push women to further their studies in the field.

The Women in Aerospace program has been around for nearly 30 years.

Their main focus is to expand opportunities for women and leadership in the aerospace community. Both men and women are able to enroll in a membership through Women in Aerospace.

The volunteer-run organization holds a focus on networking for those who are members. It gives people from all over the country an opportunity to work together with a shared interest and bond.

For more information regarding the Women in Aerospace Award, students are encouraged to visit womeninaerospace.org or contact Hasan of NASA who nominated Cominsky for the award in which she earned.

5

“This may be one of the hardest positions to take,” said Ochoa, “For it has to do a lot with finance and organization of the whole event to ensure that everyone is committed to coming down to Friendship Games with us.”

The SPUF team works and organizes the visual aspect of the event. The association’s SPUF team is very closely involved with crafting for the event, and creating cheers for the team as a whole to chant at Friendship Games. Additionally a Roll Call Dance Choreographer makes a one-minute dance to be performed during roll call at the event.

The dance and crafts are always made relevant to the association’s theme, which this year was “FAASSU in Ancient Greece.” The organization attended the event in togas and battle armor with props to match.

Lastly there are two Friendship Games’ captains who are the captains of the four main events previously mentioned.

Reporting to those two captains, are an additional eight captains, two for each major game. Their positions require working as team motivators, referee responsibilities and keeping track of the games. Underdogs no more, Sonoma’s Filipino American Association took home a trophy this year.

“This was the first year FAASSU was able to make it into Final Rampage, the top three teams overall in games, and actually took home a trophy,” said Laforga, “we took first place in all four games in the heats we competed in.”

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COURTESY // SSU NewsCenter

“In the past, she has served as the scientific director for the PBS NOVA television program ‘Monster of the Milky Way’ and accompanying planetarium show ‘Black Holes: The Other Side of Infinity,’” said Jean Wasp.

in a series of four major games: Alpine Green, The Nasty, Big Groundhog and Conveyer Belt.

“FAASSU has been participating in the Friendship Games for the past 10 years and have always been seen as the underdogs,” said FAASSU treasurer and Friendship Games CoCoordinator Kirsten Laforga.

“This year we were able to show how much heart and dedication FAASSU puts into Friendship Games.”

When asked if there was any preparation involved in Friendship Games, president of the Filipino American Association and Friendship Games cocoordinator, Paolo Ochoa, emphasized that the organization fully utilizes all eight weeks leading up to the event.

“The preparation process is very tedious and something we try to make sure our members are dedicated to.”

The association practices three or four nights a week to prepare for the games, which are very physically strenuous and technique oriented.

“Our blood, sweat and tears goes into practicing for the games. Even though the games are played at Friendship Games look quite ‘silly’ they are actually very physically demanding and one wouldn’t know how much work it takes to perfect the technique and concept of the games until they have fully practiced and even competed in the games,” said Ochoa.

Once the organization’s executive board is sorted, a smaller board is created specifically for Friendship Games consisting of two coordinators, two SPUF (spirit, pride, unity, friendship) coordinators, and two Friendship Games’ game captains.

The coordinators are responsible for the technicalities surrounding Friendship Games such as means of transportation to and from the event, where the club is staying, and the registration for Friendship Games.

Page

Arts

Page 6

Nov. 4 - Nov. 10, 2014

sonomastatestar.com

Cloaked creativity Nataly Estupiñan Staff Writer

“P

ainting is like a hero in a movie who everyone thinks is dead, but really is not,” said Frank Ryan. Through his words that come from experience, Ryan both inspired and peaked the interest of many art majors and art appreciators in the University Library Art Gallery at Sonoma State University It was a tight fit at the art gallery on Thursday as various art students and people from the art community came to meet Ryan and enjoy his interesting sculptures and paintings.

Ryan, a former SSU student, whom attended the school between the years of 1995-2001, showcased his artwork, discussed how he became interested in art and described his struggles as an artist.

“It’s inspiring to see an alumni from SSU become a successful artist,” said senior Victoria Bevington.

Ryan became interested in art at the age four, when he began drawing pictures of dinosaurs with his father. As he grew older, he had acquired an interest in special effects through his interest in “Star Wars” movies and other films.

He would often find himself pausing his favorite scenes in movies, such as “Predator” and “Robocop,” and sketch those scenes.

Ryan also spoke about how his struggles with majoring in art and the lack of support art majors sometimes experience from their family.

“Art as a career is challenging,” said Ryan, “because you kind of have to figure things out on your own.”

Ryan discussed the multitude of jobs that he does in order to have a studio and keep creating.

One of his side jobs includes working as a canvas stretcher, a task that many artist do not enjoy doing nowadays.

For Ryan, the jobs that he does on the side are what keep him going financially.

Despite the struggles, Ryan enjoys what he does and pays no attention to what others say because he will always continue to do what he loves.

“It would be a nightmare to be doing work that I don’t love to make money,” said Ryan. “I’d rather be poor.”

Ryan’s exhibit is titled “CLOAK: Iterations of a Draped Figure.”

This exhibit features a series of paintings and sculptures of cloaks that were

draped over his body and inspired during Ryan’s two and a half week residency at Chalk Hill, an artist residency in Healdsburg.

During his residency he proposed his sculptures and various artist help him with his creations.

“Everything about the sculptures were completely my choice,” said Ryan.

These cloak-like sculptures were created from various materials, including tablecloths from his wedding, melted wax, bronze, to name a few.

Despite the fact there are a few holes in the sculptures, which he states can be seen as errors; he learned to appreciate them despite the fact he is a perfectionist.

The paintings that are seen in the exhibit were created after the sculptures had been made.

He was inspired by the sculptures and found various items to give the cloaks shape and make it appear as though they are concealing something or someone.

He created the sculptures with the intent that other people would love to draw them. The medium for his paintings was terra-cotta clay with water, giving it a rich and earthy feel.

Through his brush strokes one can see the creases and the shadows with the cloak.

This accentuates the idea of concealing something, while also drawing the idea that something is absent in these paintings.

“This has been a wonderful experience,” said senior Dane Singh. “To be able to sit with an artist in a room full of work, while he is describing it has been great.”

Aside from making these series of paintings and sculptures, inspired by cloaks, Frank has also learned to find his inspiration within his surroundings.

When he moved to Los Angeles 11 years ago, he sold his car and rode his bike almost everywhere. From doing so, he was able to get inspiration from his surroundings.

Ryan would often paint, draw or photograph what he would see and would sometimes pay homeless people to sit while he would draw them.

To view more artwork from Ryan for pure enjoyment or inspiration, one can visit his website, frankryanstudios.com.

This former SSU alumni has proven to many that it’s possible to do what one loves, and has shared this idea through his artwork on campus.

COURTESY // David Papas “The Importance of Being Earnest” featured student actors Rusty Thompson, JoAnn Amos, Katee Drysdale and Angel Hernandez.

The road to honesty Alyssa James Staff Writer

“T

he Importance of Being Earnest” shows just that – how telling a lie can ultimately cause more problems than it’s worth. Written by Oscar Wilde, this play follows two young men who are on the pursuit of marrying two women, who are both determined to marry a man with the name of Earnest.

The play’s protagonist, Jack Worthing (William “Rusty” Thompson), is a man of great importance from the town of Hertfordshire, where he is guardian to Cecily Cardew (Katee Drysdale), the 18-year-old granddaughter of the late Thomas Cardew, who found Jack as a baby and adopted him.

The title of the play is a double entendre because Ernest is the name of the fictional scandalous brother Jack has created.

Ernest always needs attending to when Jack is in a situation he doesn’t want to be in, which furthers the irony of the word earnest, which means “to be honest and sincere.”

Jack uses his imaginary brother as an excuse to disappear off to London for days at a time to do whatever he wishes.

Whenever Jack is in London, he

D

Sonoma State University alumnus Frank Ryan’s feature exhibit at the University Library Art Gallery is entitled “Cloak.”

“inspires absolute confidence” and is the only name she is satisfied with.

Act II begins at Jack’s country estate where Algernon shows up unexpectedly, posing as Jack’s mysterious brother Ernest. After discovering this, Jack is infuriated to find Algernon pretending to be him without his knowledge. Jack must go along with the lie, even though he was preparing to kill of Ernest so that he would not have to live a double life anymore. The reason why Algernon took on this roll is so that he could get close to Cecily and ask for her hand in marriage.

He is ecstatic to find that his feelings for her are reciprocated, but then quickly becomes put off after she tells him coincidentally that she, too is in love with the name Ernest, which, unconsciously echoing Gwendolyn, she says “inspires absolute confidence.”

Both men are left in a predicament about what they should do next – either reveal the truth about their names and suffer the probable consequences or continue living a lie going by the name of Earnest.

“The Importance of Being Earnest” is a mind-boggling tale with endless plot twists and turns that keeps the audience guessing. The play, directed

by Judy Navas, will run from today at 10 a.m. to November 9 in Evert B. Person Theatre on the Sonoma State University campus.

Art connected by time Gustavo Vasquez Asst. Photo Editor

STAR // Brandon Stachnik

goes by the name of Ernest, which is what everyone there knows him by.

No one but Jack knows this secret of his double life, until his best friend in London, Algernon Moncrieff (Angel Hernandez), becomes suspicious after discovering an inscription inside Jack’s cigarette case that says “To Uncle Jack, from little Cecily.”

He confronts and questions him in order to get an explanation on who “Jack” and “Cecily” are. Jack decides to come clean to Algernon about everything he has been hiding with his double life and tells him that he intends to kill off his fictional brother Earnest because Cecily has become increasingly interested in him.

After telling him about Cecily, Algernon becomes very interested in her. Jack is in love with Algernon’s cousin, Gwendolyn Fairfax (JoAnn Amos), and at the beginning of Act I, he goes and visits Algernon in London to announce that he is going propose to her.

Gwendolyn later arrives with her mother, Lady Bracknell (Cat Bish), who is the aunt of Algernon. Jack proposes to her and she says yes with much enthusiasm. He is later distressed to learn that Gwendolyn is fixated with the name Earnest and does not wish to marry anyone with any other name.

She states that the name Ernest

ozens showed up Thursday to the opening reception of “In the Valley of the Sun” art show, a multi-media installation currently up in the University Art Gallery, which will be up until Dec. 7.

The doors might be closed, and the windows will be covered but the gallery is open, as said on the front door.

The multi-media installations in the current art show consist of three different installations based around the idea of time and how it’s connected to place.

The collaborating artists Kevin Cooley and Phillip Andrew Lewis were invited by Michael Schwager, the gallery director and an art history professor, after seeing some of their work from a gallery in Los Angeles.

“The various pieces in the show sort of represent these different points in time,” said Lewis “as connected to geological locations.” The show consists of three pieces: In the Valley of the Sun, 2014. Quartz Array, 2014 and Tide Over, 2014.

“In the Valley of the Sun,” 2014: Suspended from the gallery ceiling were 12 flat screen televisions connected by a wooden frame creating a upside down arch.

The televisions were connected to 12 CCTV cameras on the ceiling in a row, pointing from west to east.

Representing the line from the quartz mines in the foothills of the Sierras and Bodega Head, which is said to consist of granite that originated from the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

“Quartz Array,” 2014: This instillation consists of 365

digital alarm clocks piled in a corner of a wall. All of them use quartz to accurately record time, which connects to the area. The clocks varied in times, even thought they were all turned on at the same time.

“Tide Over,” 2014: A video was playing against a wall of the tide coming in at Bodega Hill. In the artist lecture the day before the reception, the artists said they left a VHS camera left on the beach at low tide, and kept recording until high tide came in and destroyed the camera.

They digitally recorded the video, then yanked out the film and measured the rise from low tide and high tide with it; which could be seen being pulled in a loop above.

“It took me a lot to think about the art,” said Curtis Driscoll, a history

student viewing the art show during opening reception night.

Unlike many art shows, “In The Valley Of The Sun” was built on site, consisting of the artists working nonstop at the gallery, along with the help of Sonoma State art students.

“I proposed instead of doing the same show, why don’t we do something new,” said Cooley, “part of our practice being the fact that we are in separate cities and separate time zones, makes studio time interesting.”

Cooley and Lewis met while they were both artists-in-residence at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Art. “Part of working this way, we sort of put a lot of things at risk in our process,” said Lewis. “We have these ideas and we work through all the worst case and best case scenarios and we come and immerse ourselves.”

STAR // Gustavo Vasquez “In The Valley of the Sun,” currently installed in the University Art Gallery, features three pieces, titled “In the Valley of the Sun,” “Quartz Array” and “Tide Over.”

Entertainment

Nov. 4 - Nov. 10, 2014

sonomastatestar.com

The struggle in progression

Sara Molenda Staff Writer

facebook.com Daniel Radcliffe stars in the new thriller, “Horns,” released Friday in the U.S.

From Harry to horrifying Jenna Fischer Staff Writer

Review

L

ove makes demons of everyone: Quite literally in Iggy Perrish’s case. “Horns” released on Friday in the United States, and if the viewer can get past the shocking gore and psychological horror, this indie movie is worth the watch.

“Horns” starts off like a stereotypical mystery thriller: First a romance scene between two love birds, and then a sharp transition to the girl’s murder investigation, with the boyfriend in the center of the heat.

The only variant is Iggy (Daniel Radcliffe) who is obviously innocent, and the movie’s plot is shown through his experiences with proving his innocence.

The clear difference between a normal murder thriller and this one is in the first quarter of the movie. Iggy begins to sprout devil’s horns out of his forehead. After this occurrence, every encoun-

ter with other people Iggy has is completely turned into a horribly honest, and most of the time gruesome, conversation which is the effect of the horns on other people. These outbursts by others seem completely governed by the seven deadly sins.

In one scene, his own brother Terry Perrish (Joe Anderson) gives away that he was the first to discover Iggy’s girlfriend Merrin’s (Juno Temple) dead body in the forest, but he didn’t report it to the police because he was afraid of being a suspect.

Even when his own little brother was put to the heat for it, Terry still hid the truth, showing the sin of greed. Another scene depicting a sin was a conversation with Iggy’s father where he tells Iggy he was envious of the love Iggy and Merrin shared and his “favorite thing about you (Iggy) was her.”

This clearly shows the sin of envy, especially when he tells his son he believes he murdered her and can never forgive Iggy for taking

Merrin away.

Through the course of the movie, the search by Iggy to find Merrin’s killer becomes more intense due to the frequent flashbacks the audience gets to witness with Iggy.

The most heartwrenching flashback was of their love growing from childhood into adulthood through a tree house they shared.

Many of Iggy’s memories of Merrin are wrapped up in their magic little spot in the woods; which also happened to be the scene of Merrin’s murder.

The further into the movie the viewer gets, the stranger, gruesomer, and more fantastical the events become, however, the storyline is absolutely engrossing. The viewer falls in love with Merrin through Iggy’s memories, and feels his pain through each painstaking event he has to bear through.

The only downside is the questions the audience is left with at the end of the movie.

The horns, the sins play in the events and the whole religious aspect of the movie is

never fully explained and never came full circle in the end. The mystery of Merrin’s death, however heartbreaking, awful and tragic it is, is solved, but the audience will never get answers to the mysteries of their own.

Many viewers of this movie flocked to it due to the attraction of the main actor, Radcliffe, known for his role as Harry Potter.

His acting style in this movie is radically different from that of “Harry Potter,” but it could be argued that his performance in “Horns” better portrayed his acting style as he had no huge expectation to fill with his character, so he made it his own.

Whether the choice to see this movie is for the actor, or for the bizarre, intriguing story, it’s worth giving it a shot. In no means will this movie be everyone’s favorite, and it will most likely only appeal to a certain niche of viewers. However, if one is looking for a movie to watch while feeling genre adventurous, this is the one.

R

Review

acism is not dead. It is alive and thriving on the fear and judgments of the ignorant.

Writer and Director James Simien attempts to expose the realities of racism in society today in his film, “Dear White People.” The film follows the lives of four students at Winchester University, an Ivy League university.

The students are each dedicated to a different form of media, including: films, blogs, magazines and newspapers.

Each individual strives to succeed in each of their concentrations, while also staying true to their perspective social morals.

Tessa Thompson leads this epic cast as the token social activist, Samantha White. Whilst struggling to identify her personal identity as a biracial, Sam hosts a web video series titled, “Dear White People.”

In her effort to combat issues of racism within her residential halls and throughout the rest of campus, she uses her show as a way to bring to light issues of race around the school.

Although she proceeds with her rambling often in a sarcastic tone, Sam combats real issues with real knowledge.

She utilizes her knowledge

of history and pop culture to remind audiences that racism is present in multiple situations in multiple communities.

The film focuses on the varying degrees of acceptance, first within the black community and secondly on the nationwide university system.

Within the residence hall, traditionally an exclusive blackonly dormitory, the film delivers insight into the varying degrees of what it means to be black.

For example, Lionel Higgins (Tyler James Williams), a freshman at Winchester and a self-proclaimed fan of Mumford & Sons, sits in the middle of two races.

He finds himself uninterested with members of the Black Student Union and equally unaccepted by his Caucasian peers.

Troy Fairbanks (Brandon P. Bell) finds himself stuck on impressing his demeaning white colleagues while also appeasing to his groups of black friends.

Colandrea Conners, better known as “Coco,” is, as many would guess it, stuck between impressing her white colleagues and simultaneously struggling to fit in with her own race.

Each student experiences the struggle of trying to find their place in a white-dominated society while also holding true to their personal identities.

These students are neither accepted by their black communities nor their white counter-

parts.

The film continues with a glimpse at shocking and accepted representations of racism today.

With the yearly Halloween party being thrown by a particularly narrow-minded group of white male students, audiences might have assumed that it would be something particularly racist.

However popular it might be to paint white faces with brown paint, sport toy guns and rubber Obama masks, then run around with gold chains to the sound of rap music, the truth is these offensive and disturbing costumes are actually an accepted form of partying.

And it doesn’t stop at offending the black community.

Other themes like “Colonial Bros and Nava-Hos” and “Geishas and Gentlemen” use stereotypes and generalizations to represent races that are probably not too keen on the costume choices.

“Dear White People” challenges viewers to take another look at society claiming a utopian state, free of racism and prejudice.

The truth lies in the way individuals continue to accept racist demonstrations without an empathetic thought as to how affected groups might feel.

Simien and his team challenge audiences to address the issues of racism and breakdown the fear of the unknown.

New Swift: Less country, more pop Ashley Ronsse Staff Writer

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Review

aylor Swift traded in her country twang for a pop beat. In Swift’s new album, “1989,” she channels a soft-pop sound.

She has come a long way since her first selftitled album in 2006. Over the years, Swift has changed and developed her sound from Nashville country roots to conquering the pop industry.

The fact Swift can start her musical career in one genre, and then develop as a pop star, is an incredible statement to the artist Swift is; how she can produce music in multiple musical genres and be successful at it. Like her previous albums, Swift sings about love, heartbreak and romance.

Swift’s first single off the new record, “Shake It Off,” remains the No. 1 song on iTunes, which became popular very quickly, sparking parody videos including a memorable one of Delta Sigma Psi fraternity.

This is Swift’s fifth and most successful record-breaking studio album. In its first week of being released, it sold 1.3 million copies. The album is No. 1 on iTunes, and was instantly popular in its first week of release.

This is Swift’s third album in a row that has sold more than 1 million copies in its opening weekend. The previous record-holder is Brittany Spears and her album, “Oops! I Did It Again.”

Swift’s album is expected to have the larg-

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est sales week for any album since Eminem’s 2002 album, “The Eminem Show.”

The first song on the album, “Welcome to New York,” is a pop anthem referencing the famous city of New York but also used as a metaphor for Swift’s change of sound. The chorus of the song describes this metaphor: “It’s a new soundtrack. I could dance to this beat, beat. Forevermore.”

“Blank Space” is a hip-hop love song. This song encourages Swift’s reputation as being a heartbreaker and writing songs about love and heartbreak. The chorus warns about heartbreak: “Got a long list of ex-lovers. They’ll tell you I’m insane. ‘Cause you know I love the players. And you love the game.”

All the songs on the album are work well, however a few favorites would include “Style,” “I Wish You Were Here” and “Out Of the Woods.”

“Style” is about love and timeless fashion.

This track is rumored to be about Swift and her on-and-off romantic relationship with Harry Styles from One Direction. “I Wish You Would” has a great beat and emphasis on the guitar , which continues to build tempo.

The last song on the record is “New Romantics.” The song was inspired by a 1970s band called the New Romantics and is another song about heartbreak. The chorus of the song celebrates this idea of new romance: “Baby, we’re the new romantics. Heart break is the national anthem. We sing it proudly.”

Taylor Swift’s “1989” is the first album of the year scheduled to officially go platinum last week.

facebook.com Justin Simien’s “Dear White People” released in the U.S. on Friday.

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Features

Nov. 4 - Nov. 10, 2014

sonomastatestar.com

ParaNoma: The disguised ‘dance’ I

Natalie Bergman Staff Writer

t’s the night before Halloween. The sky is dark, drizzly and the air feels chilly. All is quiet and ominous, as a hint of mystery and surprise awaits.

Sonoma State University’s Associated Students Productions Event Committee put on a haunted Halloween festival named ParaNoma on Thursday at the Cooperage for games, face paint and dancing.

The event was free for all students as long as they had their Sonoma State University I.D. on-hand.

Although the turnout was far from what the ASP Events Committee was hoping for, a lot of time, effort and planning was put into making the event worthwhile for the students who decided to attend.

Upon entering ParaNoma, there were decorations galore to give the event a true haunted Halloween-like atmosphere. The doorway was covered with spider webs and tube lights glowed wrapped around the entrance.

Caution tape and flashing lights were scattered around the room, while DJ beats echoed from inside the building. ASP Security Staff patted down each student before entering to ensure the event was safe and monitored.

The entry room was covered in spider webs that had all kinds of bugs looking as if they were just about to fall on one’s head.

To the right there was a henna tattoo artist that provided henna artwork to all who showed interest.

Along the walls were couches and chairs where students sat with their friends, cuddled with their significant others or stared at their smartphones.

The next room was the dance floor where orange and black balloons covered the ground and colorful lights flashed from the stage. DJ Konik and DJ Nile performed while skeletons and bones hung behind them.

In addition to dancing, the dance floor had a blacked-out photo booth where those with costumes and face paint were

able to show themselves off as a photographer snapped their photo.

Few people were dancing, but the DJs continued to play for the few who were bold enough to shake their butts.

The last room was an art and games room which consisted of pumpkin decorating, apple bobbing and the face painting station.

There was an orange table that had around 20 pumpkins decorated with stickers and colored markers, giving students the chance to decorate a pumpkin however they’d like.

There were cat pumpkins, pumpkins with mustaches and others that said things like “Happy Halloween” and “I Heart ASP.” The apple bobbing station was a small blue kiddypool with floating apples and rubber fingers to add a creepy effect.

Four $5 gift certificates to In-N-Out were used as prizes to the lucky few who were able to bob for an apple without a stem.

The gift certificates were all won within the first hour, and the bobbing remained as a game just for fun for the rest of the night.

Lastly, the face painting station had two artists who provided quality skills in their art and gave students complete facial transformations.

The majority of the face painting was detailed different renditions of Day of the Dead skulls. There was also a student wearing intricate full-faced Spiderman face paint, plenty of cat faces and students who decided to get only half their face done with a creative design of their choice, mostly flowers.

In addition to the games and dancing, there was also a costume contest that neared the end of the night, where a girl dressed as Russell from the movie “UP” won a gift certificate for In-N-out.

Although very few people were in costume and few people attended ParaNoma, the ASP Events Committee took pride in their event and strived to receive input from their guests to help them improve for more events in the future.

Halia Daugherty helped put together ParaNoma. Daugherty

was dressed as a dead cheerleader and eager to share all about the ASP Events Committee and what they strived to provide for the university.

“The police don’t allow ‘dances’ on campus besides the occasion event held in the ballroom, which requires much time in advance to be permitted. So we technically couldn’t refer to ParaNoma as a ‘dance,”’ said Daugherty. “We had to advertise it as a Halloween Extravaganza that involved games and dancing, without putting the label ‘dance’ attached to it.”

ParaNoma may have consisted of several fun-filled Halloween-themed games, but apparently the committee had planned for even more that fell through.

“The Fire Marshalls showed no interest in our event and wouldn’t come to approve haunted maze that we had planned for,” said Daugherty.

“They claimed to not have enough time, however we asked them a week in advance when we were just beginning to plan.

We wanted to have people dressed as zombies jump out at students as they try to find their way through the maze. It was a great idea but unfortunately it was never approved.”

The ASP Events Committee is a new committee that Daugherty was proud to advertise in hopes to get more students involved and potentially join. ASP Events Committee sets up events on campus paid by student’s tuition.

“The goal behind the committee forming and throwing these events is to prove to us that we can do an event beneficial to students. We want students to come to us, tell us [what] they want, and have a great time on their own campus,” said Daughtery.

The ASP Events Committee would love student feedback and are always looking for new members who show interest in creating more events to be thrown on campus.

Currently, there is no ASP Events Committee website, however, if one is interested in joining or looking for more information, email specialevents. asp@gmail.com to get involved.

wikipedia.org With registration sneaking up, next semester a brand-new Bollywood course is available for students and film studies minors to take for general education.

Bollywood film highlighted Megan Minturn Staff Writer

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tudents have the opportunity to take a virtual trip to Bollywood in a new course available next semester called LIBS 209: Bollywood and Globalization.

The course satisfies the C1 area of the general education pattern and also counts for elective credit toward the film studies minor offered at Sonoma State University.

The definition of Bollywood means films produced by the Mumbai film industry, primarily in the Hindi language. They contain song and dance numbers as part of the plot. Surprisingly, Bollywood only encompasses about 20 percent of Indian cinema.

The class will mainly focus on Bollywood and globalization. Throughout the course, students will be looking into some of the social and economic changes in India during the period of liberalization in the 1990’s and see how those changes shifted Bollywood and Bollywood films. The course will include many film screenings.

“All of the Bollywood things I’ve seen are so fun to watch,” said sophomore Sarah Seaborne, “if we watch a lot of Bollywood films in this class I’ll definitely sign up for it. I think I would love it.”

At the end of the course students will be able to answer questions such as the difference between Bollywood films and Slumdog Millionaire films; representations of sexuality and gender changed throughout 21st century Bollywood; and how the Western world inf luenced Bollywood’s style.

The professor of the course, Ajay Gehlawat ,told the STAR, “This is the first time such a course is being offered at Sonoma State University and it’s particularly nice that it will be a large-level course held in Warren Auditorium, as the best way to ex-

Open area for women of color Alexandra Rentoria Staff Writer

“O

facebook.com The day before Halloween, ParaNoma helped to get students into the eerie spirit.

Even though this was advertised as an Halloween event, it was actually a dance.

perience Bollywood is on a big screen with a big audience.”

Gehlawat will teach the course in the spring on Fridays in Ives Hall. Gehlawat is an associate professor of theatre and film in the Hutchins School of Liberal Studies and program coordinator of the new film studies minor at Sonoma State. He taught here since 2007 and before that he taught at the Pratt Institute and the City University of New York. He holds a doctorate in theatre and film at the City University of New York Graduate Center.

“I hope that, in the process, students will not only learn more about Bollywood and India, but also, more broadly, develop an ability to engage in critical discourse about global cinemas and cultures,” said Gehlawat.

Although this is the first time this exact course has been offered, Gehlawat has taught classes like it before. He has taught large GE film courses such as LIBS 204: Minorities in American Cinema and smaller seminars in the Hutchins School on Bollywood. This course is modeled upon some of his previous courses.

“Bollywood is a lot of fun, but it also raises a lot of interesting questions about global cultures,” said Gehlawat.

This course will offer insight as to how to understand Bollywood beyond the dancing, singing and bright colors. It will provide students with a different way to understand film and the history of India and Bollywood.

It is different than your average C1 category GE like art history or American multicultural studies.

Megan Lee, a freshman looking to fill her C1 category in the GE pattern, said, “This actually seems like a really fun class, when I think of Bollywood I only think of ‘Slumdog Millionaire.’”

Look for this course for next spring registration to learn about Bollywood and how it’s changed film.

ur goal is to create a safe place and community for women of color on the Sonoma State University campus,” said Alissa Melendez. “We hope to help women of color explore how their identities have impacted them and provide support along their journey of self-discovery.”

The Women of Color Collective is held every Thursday from 2-3 p.m. organized by Isabel Avila Saiter and Melendez.

The group is hosted in the HUB in the Student Center where it is calming, secure and comfortable. Some of the walls are decorated with unique art work and cozy couches.

Any SSU student is allowed to come to these meetings and the group is very supportive to every student. This collective offers a place where women of color can feel safe and be supported by other people.

People can choose to come to any meeting. In these groups everything is completely confidential and individuals are free to give input whenever they feel comfortable to speak.

Not only do these groups listen to other’s feelings, stories and opinions, but they also can connect with each other.

This connection can make an individual feel safe, accepted and realize others understand them or may even have the same experiences.

The attendance tends to vary from how many students come to each group, but there is no limit on how many people can attend.

The group is always welcoming more women of color to come, to bring friends and other students they feel would benefit from com-

ing.

The more individuals that show up, the more diverse the discussion can grow. Yet, no matter how many students show up, the group will always be available to women of color who want a secure place to talk.

The Women of Color Collective is a group provided by the on-campus Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS).

The services provide students with confidential counseling for private complications that hinder their education, career or overall perspective.

They have a variety of groups in diverse backgrounds, such as Bisexual Discussion Group, Survivors of Sexual Assault, Pathways Through Grief and more available to all students.

Another benefit about all of these groups is how no registration is necessary and walkins are welcomed.

So even if a student does not plan to go to a group and just wanted to go see what the group’s intentions are, they can simply walk-in.

There are all kinds of groups on campus for student’s welfare and to improve student’s involvement with school and life.

The Women of Color Collective is just one of the groups trying to build not only a support group for colored women, but also a strong community.

By being a part of these discussions it can open an individual’s eyes to new ideas and thinking.

These groups can enlighten anyone who is willing to listen to the hosts or other members, and add to the discussion.

It may be difficult to enter a group where one’s not 100 percent comfortable, but by simply sitting in on a session, uneasy feelings can dissipate and confidence can build.

Features

Nov. 4 - Nov. 10, 2014

sonomastatestar.com

Page 9

Sex knowledge all around

Kimberly Paasche Staff Writer

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ex positions, sex toys, relationships and proper terminology for sex organs and meaningful talks about sex are all one Sonoma State University campus club talks about.

Sonoma State has over 170 clubs and student organizations. Studies show that joining a club increases enjoyment of college, and chance of graduating.

Sex Geekdom is a national and international organization, and a community that creates a safe place to talk about sex. The clubs main goal is to create a fun and comfortable atmosphere to talk about all things sex-related.

This is not a club for people who are hoping to find sex partners, or to engage in sex.

Sex Geekdom has hubs all over the country and the world, one of which can even be found at Sonoma State. SSU is the first college club version of the group, but there is hope it will not be the only one. The club is new this semester and currently has 26 members, but the students anticipate growing bigger in the next semester.

“I hope more colleges will start [this club],” said founder Kate McCombs. “It’s important everywhere and especially at [this] time of life.”

The values of the club include them not being a hook up spot, and that anyone no matter what age or stature may join or attend meetings. Sex positive is important and the club and

members are to respect boundaries. Being sex positive does not mean having more sex is better, but talking about sex in a positive way is good.

The club does have boundaries and is sure to inform all members. If a member is not comfortable with a particular topic, the group works around that.

“We focus on things people want to learn.

A lot of people don’t get the chance to talk about it, and by ‘it,’ I mean sex,” said Sex Geekdom Emissary Amelia-Marie Altstadt.

Sex geek or sex nerd is a term the group uses to describe someone who is interested in academic sex knowledge or spreading awareness to others. The interest goes farther than

just improving one’s own sex life, but learning about sex just for the sake of more knowledge.

Their website explains that people who really like math, sports or movies like to learn more about each topic, and so do sex geeks.

“There are proper terms for anatomy. ‘He put his thing in my thing.’ We want to lift that taboo while teaching people the proper terms,” said club Treasurer Abraham Sanchez.

McCombs started the club in 2012 while living in Australia. Originally from California, McCombs now lives in New York. She is a sex educator, has a master’s degree in public health and runs a sex-ed topic blog. She also speaks publicly about sex and runs educational workshops.

COURTESY // Amelia-Marie Altstadt

The club meeting or events can be as casual as after work drinks, can include outings to sex related seminars or even movie festivals.

McCombs is always open to new ideas for outings or meetings. The SSU Sex Geekdom community is working on getting a more permanent meeting location in the Student Center, but for now meet every Wednesday from 1-2 p.m. in the outdoor patio at Lobo’s.

The blog McCombs writes in is my sex professor. The blogs description is that it will teach about having better, happier and healthier sex. It is to educate men and women on body functions, having great sex, relationships, tips, tricks, techniques, sexual orientation, sex research, gender, the latest sex-enhancing products and health and wellness.

Debby Herbenick, who holds a who holds a doctorate in public health and is a research scientist at the Center for Sexual Health Promotion at Indiana University, created the blog.

The website mysexprofessor.com has lots of information, as well as humorous stories and personal experiences. It’s simple to navigate, and has many topics that range from how to stay healthy and relationship facts, to articles as extreme as purchasing breast milk ice cream.

For those who want to find out more online, go to sexgeekdom.com, or find them on Facebook or Twitter. McCombs’ blog about can be found at mysexprofessor.com.

My Sex Professor can also be found on Facebook and Twitter. To find out more about the SSU Sex Geekdom Club, shoot an email to Sexgeekdomssu@outlook.com or search for the SSU Sex Geekdom Facebook page.

Lagunitas: The neighborhood brewery Lauren O’Malley Staff Writer

“B

eer Speaks People Mumble.” Thiss is one of the many known sayings from Lagunitas Brewing Company, a local beer brewery in Petaluma specializing in creative brews and names for beers, such as Little Sumpin’ Sumpin’, Little Sumpin’ Wild and Little Sumpin’ Extra. With nine specialty year-round brews and nine seasonal brews, Lagunitas has an assortment of flavors to try.

Lagunitas was established in 1993 from a home brewery started by Tony Magee on his stovetop in Lagunitas, Calif., and moved to Petaluma in 1994, where they expanded their property in 2012. In April of that year, Lagunitas expanded their company even more by building a taproom and brewery in Chicago, Illinois. During the beginning years of the brewery, Magee was also working another job.

Magee designed each label himself along with handwriting each recipe from scratch.

Magee cares about the way his beer taste because they are a reference to him.

“Lagunitas is unlike any other brewery, their motto, ‘Beer Speaks, People Mumble,’ shows how they make sure to brew their beer top-notch so that people know their beer is good quality,” said senior communications major Casey Sears.

Lagunitas also donated beer to many organizations for fundraisers, a current fundraiser going on until Nov. 15, is Beers for Brrs. People can go to Lagunitas and donate warm clothing such as pants, long sleeves and sweatshirts, which goes to Petaluma COTS, Community of the Shelterless, to help the homeless stay warm during the winter. Each person who donates clothing will be invited to a special VIP party hosted by Lagunitas, but the party date is yet to be determined.

With the assortment of brews, the nine beverages that are year-round are: Imperial,

Hop Stoopid, Censored, Maximus, Pils, Daytime, Pale Ale, IPA and Little Sumpin’ Sumpin’.

The nine seasonal beers are Hairy Eyeball, Brown Shugga’, Little Sumpin’ Wild, Imperial Red, Little Sumpin’ Extra, Nighttime, Undercover Shut-down, Cappuccino Stout and Sucks.

Lagunitas released a new pale ale on Thursday called Born Yesterday or as Lagunitas calls it a reborn Pale Ale. It’s a light blend that can be found at nine places such as four parts of California, Chicagoland, Nevada, Oregon, Washington and Arizona.

“I really enjoy going to Lagunitas because of their around the world beer tastings,” said senior business major Tyler Stetson.

An around-the-world beer tasting is a flight of 16 different types of beer for $21.

Stetson goes to Lagunitas with friends and all of his friends and himself order and share the flights because it has so many of the options of brews that are on the tap.

“I love working at Lagunitas its more than a job, it’s more like a family,” said Sarah Allegra, an employee at the Schwag Store in Petaluma’s Lagunitas Brewery.

Lagunitas also has many food options such as more than six appetizers, such as a cheese plate, their house marinated olives, a hummus plate, bacon mac and cheese and much more. Also on their menu Lagunitas has featured salads, sandwiches and desserts.

“As much as I am not a fan of beer, I always enjoy going to Lagunitas because of the atmosphere, it’s so fun and lively,” said senior business major Katelyn Robb.

Lagunitas has entertainment on the weekdays and on the weekends. Weekday entertainment starts at 4:30 p.m., while the weekend entertainment starts at 3 p.m.

Events that are coming up this week are Nov. 5 Tim Farrell, a musician, on Nov. 6 an acoustic guitarist David Grier, on Nov. 7 a bluegrass band Royal Deuces, on Nov. 8 an acoustic duet 77 El Deora and on Nov. 9 Disorderly House Blues will perform.

facebook.com Lagunitas is not only providing variety of beer but hosting “Beer for Brrrrrs” which is donations of warm clothes in exchange for an invite to their VIP Party.

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Sports

Nov. 4 - Nov. 10, 2014

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Volleyball ranked first in conference Conquer Pomona, San Diego Ancia Purdy Staff Writer

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he Sonoma State University women’s volleyball team soared through the weekend adding two wins over Cal Poly Pomona (31) and UC San Diego (3-0) to their already first place record in conference (14-3).

The Seawolves first traveled down to Pomona, which ended in four sets. Though the Broncos were the first on the board, SSU bounced back with two points of their own and for the rest of the set held the lead to win the first set 25-18.

Though the Seawolves led the second set most of the way, it proved to be a battle towards the end as Pomona tied things up at 21. While never giving up the lead, points bounced back and forth and Pomona tied the score several times. SSU finally got two straight points to end the set (29-27) and go up 2-0.

The third set started out like the first two with the Seawolves leading, but the Broncos bounced back to tie at 10 points apiece. They then took the lead until SSU tied at 17 and again at 20 and 21 before Pomona ended the set (2225) with a kill.

“Before every match, our coach emphasizes that we have to write an ‘A’ paper every game. We have to perform perfect every match,” said senior Regan Richert.

The fourth and final set continued to be a battle by both teams. SSU led most of the way, but Pomona stayed right behind them. The first match point, the Broncos led with the Seawolves at only 22. With a kill by Caylie Seitz and two

COURTESY // SSU Athletics Caylie Seitz led the team in kills, 19 total, against the San Diego Tritons. errors on Pomona, the Seawolves gained the lead and eventually won the set 28-26.

“I think as a team we came in a little complacent into the third game,” said Seitz. “With knowing we lost that one we knew we needed to finish it in the fourth by playing as hard as we could.”

Madelyn Densberger led the team in kills with 14 and had 2 blocks. Seitz trailed behind with 13 kills and 1 block.

The following day the Seawolves traveled down to La Jolla to take on fourth-seed UC San Diego and ended their weekend with a sweep over the Tritons.

“Being in first place we try to think about one game at a time because every team is out to get us,” said senior Regan Richert. “Before every match, our coach emphasizes that we have to write an ‘A’ paper every game. We have to perform perfect every match.”

The first set proved to be a battle, with SSU ending on top 32-30. The Tritons held the lead up until SSU tied the game at 15. From there the points went back-and- forth until a kill by Densberger and an error from the opposing team ending the first set.

The second and third sets were led by the Seawolves, ending in a sweep by the Seawolves.

Seitz led the game with 19 kills and Kelsey Hull added 11. Kaitlyn Connolly had a match-best 18 digs.

“We just played hard together and for each other,” said Seitz. “We knew what we were down there to do, and knew what we had to do to stay in first place.”

With wins over Cal Poly Pomona and fourth place UC San Diego, the Seawolves are one game ahead of second-place Cal State San Bernardino with five games left in the regular season. The Seawolves return home for their final two home games this weekend in the Wolves’ Den. Both gameS are set to start at 7 p.m.

COURTESY // SSU Athletics New player Leeana Bade scored 14 points in Friday’s exhibition.

Women’s basketball defeats William Jessup in exhibition

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J ake T ucker Staff Writer

he Sonoma State University women’s basketball team won their first exhibition game of the year with a 58-42 victory over William Jessup Friday night in a Halloween matchup at The Wolves’ Den. Freshman guard Leeana Bade stole the spotlight as she led all players with 14 points and added five rebounds. This game was one of two exhibition games before the Seawolves start the regular season with their first game on Nov. 15 against Menlo.

The Seawolves maintained control for most of the game. Junior guards Taylor Acosta and Tanner Adams also put up nine points of their own, and Crystal Sewell led the way for William Jessup with seven points with only playing just

over a quarter of the game.

Turnovers killed William Jessup, as the Seawolves scored 33 of their 58 points off of their turnovers, while William Jessup only scored 11 points off of Seawolf turnovers. Another key factor for Sonoma State’s victory was their bench. SSU’s bench outscored their opponent’s bench 26-6. Shooting percentages weren’t high, as William Jessup shot just 30 percent, and the Seawolves shot 33 percent.

The Seawolves hope to have a better season than last year, as they finished last in the CCAA standings with a 3-19 record. They are a very young team, as their roster consists of nine freshman, six juniors, and no sophomores or seniors.

Their next game is this Friday against UC Davis. Tip off is at 7 p.m.

Sports

Nov. 4 - Nov. 10, 2014

sonomastatestar.com

Page 11

WORLD SERIES: Seawolves show their spirit Continued from Pg. 1

STAR // Sara Wildman Senior JJ Mina goes in for a layup against the alumni.

Men’s basketball reunion

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Kyler Khan Staff Writer

his past Saturday the Wolves’ Den was home to an annual scrimmage game between the current men’s basketball roster and a group of returning alumni. It was also a gathering for friends and family of both teams who were there for the action, all watching from the same set of bleachers.

“Best it’s ever been. Best turnout we’ve had ever,” said Associate Head Basketball Coach Rich Shayewitz.

The game was played with 12-minute quarters and a running clock with no score kept.

In the early minutes of the game, junior guard David Ahern dished out a few passes that led to scores for the current team. One of the assists was on a fast break, leading to a score for senior guard/ forward JJ Mina. Substitutions of five guys for each side were made about halfway through each quarter. Most of the first quarter scoring for the alumni came on a few scattered three-pointers. Junior guard Andy Mitchell continued the first quarter scoring for the current team with a long two-pointer. Following that, senior guard Zen Maki added on a three-pointer and a deep two. The first quarter finished off with sophomore forward and center Nathan Molony-Benjamin grabbing a rebound and going back up for a one-handed slam.

Throughout the game, the alumni bench shared a lot of chatter, jokes and smiles. Some guys hung around the bench enjoying the time to play a bit and also reunite with teammates from their playing days.

A couple minutes into the second quarter, junior guard James Davis hit a three-pointer from the top of the arc. Shortly after, the alumni bench jumped up and got loud after a no-call from the referee on what could’ve been called a charge. Further into the game, Head Coach Pat Fuscaldo also kept spirits light when

he jokingly offered his glasses to an alumni player who had just overthrown a pass.

The action resumed in the second half with a one-handed slam on the baseline from Nathan Molony-Benjamin to start the third quarter. Both of Benjamin’s dunks brought his teammates to their feet.

Another scoring play came on a big fastbreak slam by recent alum and member of last year’s team, Justin Herold.

“It’s always good linking back up with these people,” said Sterling Arterberry. “Favorite play was watching Justin’s dunk.”

Arterberry graduated last May and was teammates with Herold for the last few years.

Deep in the third quarter, David Ahern finished on a baseline layup, followed by a couple of fastbreak scores from Andy Mitchell. The third quarter finished with an alumni half-court shot that caused the whole place to go wild.

Both James Davis and Andy Mitchell made a three-pointer in the fourth quarter. No. 13, Topher Taylor also contributed with a finger roll finish on a layup. The fourth quarter wrapped up with an alumni buzzer-beater three-pointer and cheers from the crowd and both benches.

Two of the alumni, Anthony James and Derek Bell played in the 90s. James played until 1997 and Bell 1991.

“They’re quick,” said James, “they can shoot,” said Bell.

After the game they had been asked what they thought of the current team. If this is any indication for the season, it sounds like the team will have an exciting one coming up.

The Seawolves’ are scheduled to play at Pacific University this Saturday in Stockton. Starting on Nov. 14 in the Wolves’ Den will be the opening of the Ron Logsdon Basketball Classic. The first game is Friday afternoon but the Seawolves are set to play Friday night against Alaska Anchorage and Saturday night versus Pacific Union.

STAR // Sara Wildman Junior James Davis guards an alumni member.

Men’s soccer season comes to a close A ubrie T olliver Staff Writer

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he Sonoma State men’s soccer team’s season came to an end on Thursday at Cox Stadium in San Francisco after a dramatic loss in overtime against conference rival San Francisco State.

Even though both teams combined for a total 45 shots, 14 on goal, the only one to cross the goal line in the entire match came in the 94th minute, off the foot of a Gator player. Both Zanin Mahic’s and Chris Pihl’s collegiate soccer careers concluded with the loss.

However, both seniors made the most out of their final game. Mahic led both teams with six shots, one on goal, and Pihl also attempted to score twice, but one went wide and the other into the hands of the Gators’ goalkeeper.

Although the game was filled with many lasts, for freshman goalie Mitch North, it was also filled with some firsts. North made his first start in front of the net this season and had a season-high 10 saves. The only one that got passed him was the one in overtime that ended the game and the season for the Seawolves.

With the loss, the team ended the season with an overall record of 8-8-2 and a 3-6-2 record in conference play.

manager Bruce Bochy then called for the replay review and challenged the decision that Hosmer was safe at first base. After the review by MLB, the original call was overturned, marking the first time the replay review system was utilized in the World Series.

In the top of the fourth inning, the heart of the Giants lineup delivered with base hits from right fielder Hunter Pence and Sandoval. What earned the Giants their game-winning run, was a base hit by Michael Morse on an 0-2 pitch that drove Sandoval to score the winning run, giving the Giants a 3-2 lead, which was all they needed to earn the game-seven win.

Fast forward to the bottom of the fifth inning, Affeldt is then replaced by Bumgarner to face the Royals in the final innings of the game. Bumgarner enters the game on just two days of rest after his last scoreless outing against the Royals in Game 5 of the World Series. Bumgarner ultimately led the San Francisco Giants to victory, earning the save, after pitching five shutout innings against the Royals, defying the many

doubts stacked against the team.

“Bumgarner is insane and this team finds ways to win baseball games in incredibly talented and fun ways. The Giants really are torture but [they] get the job done,” said Lindsey.

Following the San Francisco Giants 2014 World Series win, the team has become the only team in sports to earn three titles in five seasons while winning every other season and avoiding the post season in the two years in between wins.

San Francisco also became the first road team since 1979 to win a game seven in the World Series.

Junior and psychology major, Amanda Gonyer, sees the Giants’ third World Series win in the last five years as something that not only brings pride to the team and the fans, but also to the Bay Area.

“The fact that the Giants have won three times in the past five years really shows that the Giants are here to stay,” said Gonyer. “I’ve always been a Giants fan but never have I had so much love for the team or the bay then I have in these past 5 years,” “The Giants are not only bringing pride to the team, they’re bringing it to the bay.”

STAR // Edward Goquingco Seawolves crowd Lobo’s to cheer the Giants to victory.

Women’s soccer makes semifinals conference tournament where they would begin by hosting No. 21 Cal State San Bernardino this past Sunday here in Rohnert Park. Lauren Curtin scored her 12th goal of the season early in the game he women’s soccer team is headed to the with a header to the back of the net. The first half semifinals of the CCAA tournament after ended 1-nil with the Seawolves in the lead. an overtime win versus San Francisco State The Coyotes’ player Melanie Aguayo netted in the final game of their regular season, and a pen- two goals within 12 minutes in the second period alty shootout that ended in the Seawolf favor 4-3. after rebounding her own deflected penalty shot They will play Cal State Los Angeles on Friday in and firing another shot past players into the goal Turlock. in the 64th minute. This would put San Bernardino The Gators made the opening goal 12 minutes up 2-1 until the 68th minute when Seawolf Kristal into the first half and the score stayed at 1-nil Luna tied the game on a free kick that bounced through the entire opening half. Just 12 minutes straight through the backfield untouched into the into the second half, the Seawolves took the lead net. with two quick goals within one minute that would After the game was tied at 2-2, the two squads put them up 2-1. Sonoma State outshot San Fran- took nine shots combined, but none would make cisco State 10-3 in the second half but a game-win- it past the keeper. The game would head to extra ning goal didn’t happen for either team in regula- time where once again no one could seem to get tion. The game would head to extra time where in the ball in the net. The game had to be decided, the 98th minute a penalty was called on SF State so the situation called for penalty kicks. Sonoma leaving Sonoma State with a big penalty to make State and San Bernardino were tied at 3-3 in pento take the win. Lauren Curtin took the shot for the alty shots through four rounds of attempts for both Seawolves, but it was blocked by Gator goalkeeper teams. Seawolf Taylor Enzler knocked in the fifth Allison Land. Curtin made up for the missed pen- attempt for Sonoma State. Seawolf goalkeeper alty shot when she ended the game in the second Luis blocked the Coyotes final attempt to win the overtime period with a game-winning goal in the game and book the Seawolves’ ticket to the CCAA 103rd minute of match. The Seawolves started to Semifinals. celebrate the overtime thriller capping off their Semifinals will take place in Turlock this Friregular season with a 14-4 overall record (7-4 in day where the Seawolves will take on top-seeded the CCAA) and sending the Gators home with a team Cal State Los Angeles. The CCAA Finals 7-9-2 record to finish off their season. will take place on Sunday in the same location.

After finishing off their regular season, it was Kickoff on Friday is set for 1:30 p.m. at Warrior time for the women’s soccer team to head to the Stadium.

T

Vasili Loufas Staff Writer

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Photo

Nov. 4 - Nov. 10, 2014

sonomastatestar.com

This week in photos...

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STAR // Sara Wildman Top: Guard Andy Mitchell runs down court during the men’s basketball game against alumni on Saturday.

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STAR // Gustavo Vasquez

Left: Students, members of the Sonoma State University staff and law enforcement agencies rallied together Friday at Stevenson Hall, honoring the loss of a student’s father. Eugene Kostiuchenk was a member of the Ventura County Sheriff’s department, and was struck by a drunk Driver on Tuesday, Nov. 28.

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Everybody loves Ernest…But nobody’s quite sure who he is.

The Importance of Being Earnest

By Oscar Wilde / Directed by Judy Navas

Evert B. Person Theatre / Oct. 30 – Nov. 9 • SSU Students FREE / www.sonoma.edu/tix