Oak Leaf Fall 2019 Magazine

OAK LEAF MAGAZINE

Class clown

Gina Stahl-Haven, comedian and instructor

Changing minds

Psychedelic psychotherapy in Sonoma County

Carceral state

The prison industrial complex wasn’t the solution for my mom

FALL 2019 theoakleafnews.com

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REACH. TEACH. MAKE AN IMPACT. MASTERS PROGRAMS IN:

TEACHING COUNSELING LEADERSHIP ADVOCACY NEW LOCATION AT

SANTA ROSA JUNIOR COLLEGE

USFCA.EDU/EDUCATION

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Cover photo by Edgar Soria Garcia

Contents 2 Meet the Oak Leaf 4 A decade of change Linda Odetto 6 Changes on campus: Q & A Jasmine Hall Benigno-Hall 8 Tackling adversity: Bear Cubs change with the game Ian MacGregor 10 Fake reality: SRJC students unprepared for a fake news world Alex Nunez 12 B-CARE: SRJC’s improved crisis response team Sam McMinimy 14 Carceral state: The prison industrial complex wasn’t the solution for my mom Jesse Kapukui 17 Changing minds: Psychedelic psychotherapy in Sonoma County Zane Zinkl 20 Juiced players vs. juiced balls: Experts debate reasons for home run highs Kayla Beaton 22 Double life: Classes by day, jokes by night Riley Palmer 26 Garages and bedrooms and bars: Making it big in Sonoma County Séamus Reed 29 20/20 vision: A decade of change, by the numbers Marilyn Santos and The Oak Leaf Staff 30 10 iconic films from the 2010s James Domizio 32 When we post the past Téa Lindsey 34 “That’s just how it is”: Trials and tribulations of modern day dating Allison Khadoo 36 The digital detox diary: My 24-hour device-free diet Mark Fernquest 38 Kincade Fire gallery The Oak Leaf Staff 44 Regeneration: Four ways to survive climate change Mark Fernquest 46 Evacuating Healdsburg: My experience fleeing home during the Kincade Fire José González 48 When it’s time to bug out: What to pack when you have to get out of Dodge Mark Fernquest and Abraham Fuentes

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Letters from the Editors Mark Fernquest and Edgar Soria Garcia Magazine Editors We live in a time of unprecedented technological, socioeconomic and climate-related change. So when we became co-editor magazine editors, “change” became our theme. We decided to take the opportunity to revamp our look and infuse this edition with a cohesive feel and strong content. We’re grateful for our magazine team and fellow writers for turning our vision into The Oak Leaf’s vision. Nothing brings a group of people together like publishing a magazine. We would also like to shine a light on our amazing adviser Anne and our TA Lauren, who made us think critically to come up with the finished product.

Late nights in the newsroom filled with arguments and laughter are a great way to finish this decade with The Oak Leaf. When it came time to start actual magazine production, the universe decided to test us. Delays included a campus-wide lockdown and the Kincade Fire — but the final blow was a “bomb cyclone” storm that hit Santa Rosa hard and caused a power outage. That power cut taught us a hard lesson in the importance of constantly saving master files. We lost a whole day’s worth of work. But we prevailed and had a great time catching up in spite of everything.

Riley Palmer and Abraham Fuentes Editors-in-Chief As SRJC enters 2020, we as editors-in-chief couldn’t be happier to give The Oak Leaf its final send off. Over the past decade numerous personalities have passed through the newsroom, and these voices have only strengthened The Oak Leaf’s character. This semester we’ve had fewer staffers walk in, yet we could not have asked for a more dedicated crew. We have continued to win general excellence awards from the Journalism Association of Community Colleges as a testament to our strong content.

The change in the air is palpable. SRJC is shrinking, weather patterns are more extreme and communication has digitized. Over the course of this semester, we highlighted these changes through our online publication and now, the magazine you have in your hands.

As the world changes, The Oak Leaf changes with it.

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Oak Leaf Staff

Anne Belden Adviser Lauren Spates TA

Editors Jesse Kapukui Features Editor Ian McGregor Sports Editor Marilyn Santos Sports Editor Séamus Reed A&E Editor Zane Zinkl News Editor Writers Alex Nunez Allison Khadoo Kayla Beaton James Domizio Linda Odetto Jasmine Benigno-Hall José González Téa Lindsey Sam McMinimy Photo by Kaila Bohler

Want to get involved?

Contact: Anne Belden abelden@santarosa.edu

Special thanks to Noe Naranjo

Journalism courses offered at Santa Rosa Junior College Journalism 1 - Intro to Journalism Journalism 2 - News Gathering and News Writing Journalism 52 - News Media Practice (The Oak Leaf) Journalism 55 - Multimedia Reporting Journalism 56 - Editing for News Media Journalism 59 - Photojournalism

Stay connected to us

theoakleafnews.com Instagram : @srjcoakleafnews Twitter : @theoakleafnews Facebook.com/oakleafnews theoakleafnews.com

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ver the course of the O past decade, The Oak Leaf covered signifi-

Scandal Stuns Volume cxxxviii Issue 1

October 27, 2017

SRJC Community

www.theoakleafnews.com

the oak leaf

cant changes to the Santa Rosa Junior College campus and surrounding community.

FIRESTORM

Oak Leaf reporters and photographers captured noteworthy moments of student unrest like marches for the Doyle Scholarship, immigrants’ rights, women’s rights and climate action.

‘Like hell was chasing you’

2012 28-year veteran police officer faces embezzlement and grand theft charges

Staff members also investigated a scandal involving a corrupt campus police officer and fires that devastated Sonoma

How could it happen and what would drive an employee to steal?

Santa Rosa goes Consumerism gone wrong “Downstream”

The

P. 9

P. 5

SRJC baseball preview P. 11

OAK L E A F Santa Rosa Junior College’s Student Newspaper

A decade o Volume CXXIII, Issue I

February 1, 2010

www.theoakleafonline.com

Bertolini Student Center opens

Day Under the Oaks canceled Buckley Collins

2017

2017 comprehensive coverage of the most devastating wildfire in California history

A&E Editor

By Linda Odetto

Photo by Molly Rose Livingston

Shelby Pope

Santa Rosa Junior College’s Newspaper

The

Oak

Contributing Writer

Leaf

The Lawrence Bertolini Center opened Jan. 11 after 22 months of construction and $40 million dollars spent, providing a central place where students can eat, socialize, and have access to several student services all under one roof.

Vicky Udall, a fourth-year student who used to work at the Bailey Kiosk and now works at the Bear’s Den in the Bertolini Center, is pleased with the more central setting.

“I’m out of my window. I like the customer interaction here. It’s better,” Udall said.

The building was specifically designed to provide a sense of community.

“We really want to bridge the gap between the age differences that are here on campus by supporting events like the ICC comedy show or the battle of the bands,” said Kristi Gray, vice-president of Associated Student

Let’s talk www.theoakleafnews.com

November 14, 2016

Volume CXXXVI, Issue V

2010

Program. “We’re looking for strong student engagement. I’m really excited about it.”

The building is named for Lawrence Bertolini, a businessman and community leader who served on the Board of Trustees for 17 years, including two terms as president, and was the announcer for various SRJC sporting events for more than 50 years. The building will serve the 37,000 students enrolled, including the 21,460 full time students.

“The student service space is going to open up doors to everybody to be able to get involved, more so than in Pioneer. It’s more accessible,” Gray said. “I think that, as far as programs are concerned, it’s only going to open doors for us to do bigger and better things.”

The first floor houses the cafeteria, Bear’s Den café, staff dining area, a 125-seat student activity center, the Student Affairs Office and CyBear center.

The counseling department, which serves 53,000 students a year, will move into the second floor on February 8.

The Puente Program, CalWORKS, E.O.P.S, Transfer Center, Academic Senate and career development will move in within the next five weeks. Also, three classrooms will be available for use in the fall semester.

The building’s opening marks the beginning of the end of construction funded by 2002’s Measure A. The $251 million bond has paid for the $46 million Doyle Library, the $31 million parking garage, and its most recent projects, 2008’s $60 million Petaluma campus expansion and the $10 million Plover Hall renovation.

The Bertolini Center boasts many sustainable features that cut down on its environmental impact.

A ground source heat pump that uses 250-feet deep shafts to take advantage of the constant 58-61 degree temperature of

Continued on page 2

Reduced Shakespeare helps SRJC theater Benjamin “Brutus” Gruey Staff Writer

Voices of the election

Luke Straub/ Oak Leaf

2016

In this special post-election issue of the Oak Leaf, the staff have endeavored to present many points of view for your consideration.

Some of the articles you read here will almost certainly disquiet, irritate or shock you, however you voted. We ask that you make an effort to set emotion aside, and try to truly think about how other people are experiencing the aftermath of the election. We hope, through these many contributors’ words, to help bring our small corner of the United States of America back to that state described in our Pledge of Allegiance, a place created for and steeped in “liberty and justice for all.”

Find more online:

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OakleafNews

@theoakleafnews

2019 theoakleafnews

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When you combine “James Bond” and “Home Alone,” you get “Spy Kids.” When you combine “The Unforgiven” with the “Birdcage,” you get “Brokeback Mountain,” claims the Reduced Shakespeare Company. When you combine a hilarious stage play with state budget cuts to school, you get a Theatre Arts Department benefit show that will fill the Burbank Auditorium with roaring laughter at 8 p.m on Feb. 10.

The Reduced Shakespeare Company (RSC) is an internationally acclaimed three-man comedy troupe known for taking long boring topics and making

them short and silly. “We do this by cutting out the minor characters and unimportant subplots and getting right to the sex and the killing, which is what people want to see,” Reed Martin, of the RSC, said in an interview for the Chicago Tribune.

The RSC has performed in 45 states and 15 foreign countries.

They had a play running in London’s West End, Britain’s equivalent of New York’s Broadway.

They have performed at the Kennedy Center, the Lincoln Center, the White House and many other venues across the globe.

They are perhaps most famous for their rendition of all 37 of William Shakespeare’s plays in 97 minutes. Their debut to the public was a 20-minute version of Hamlet at Renaissance festivals in 1981. For 10 years

the company added more plays and finally with a six week sold out show in Montreal, the RSC became a fulltime gig and the actors quit their day jobs. The RSC currently has six stage show.

Reed Martin has been with the RSC since 1989 and has helped write all the stage shows except for The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged).

He is also a current instructor at the SRJC’s Theatre Arts Department. He juggles work at the SRJC and work on stage by performing during breaks and sometimes over the weekend. “Not so many days off,” Martin said of his work schedule.

The RSC has booked the Hollywood show at the Kennedy Center for three weeks this summer but since the show is five years old, they wanted to do some

tweaking to the first act. They didn’t have any performances booked before then, so Martin asked Leslie McCauley, SRJC’s Theatre Arts Director, if they could do a benefit show for the Theatre Arts Department. “This is our sneak peak preview for the JC,” Martin said.

“Reed Martin is awesome. If you’ve never read or seen one of the RSC’s plays, you’re missing out,” SRJC Theatre Arts Department student Ianna Vasale said.

Even if you are not familiar with Shakespeare’s work, “RSC is flawlessly adept at transforming Shakespeare’s works into a very funny farce.” Michael Glenn, another SRJC Theatre Arts Department student, said.

Purchase tickets online at www.santarosa.edu/theatrearts, or call the box office at 527-4343.

SRJC’s annual Day Under the Oaks will once again be cancelled, this time because of budget concerns, leaving campus clubs wondering what to do on the fund raising front.

Last year Day Under the Oaks was cancelled because of H1N1 concerns. SRJC President Dr. Robert Agrella, in an e-mail to the faculty, wrote that the event has been canceled due to continuing budget reductions.

Budget concerns are all too familiar at SRJC. School this year has seen unit fee increases and c;asses cut to 20 percent.

“Despite the event being a very popular tradition with our constituency, it is difficult to justify holding such a large scale open house when the college must cut classes and frontline services to our students,” said Dr. Agrella wrote.

The biggest impact of the cancelation is the effect on campus clubs. Every year, around 35 clubs participate in Day Under the Oaks to fundraise and showcase what they have to offer.

“Clubs collect anywhere from $50 to $2,000 each, it’s easily the biggest fund raising event of the year,” said Jude Rowe, Associated Student president.

In two years of cancellation, those 35 clubs are left without their biggest way to receive funding. Not all clubs made back the money that was lost from last year’s canceled event either. An estimated $30,000 is the amount necessary to run the event, which is too much because of budget reductions.

“The (SRJC) district is very worried about how much Day Under the Oaks costs, all the departments help fund the event themselves interdependently of each other,” Rowe said.

That money can be reallocated back to the departments to help with the budget problems facing SRJC. What is unknown at this time is how much money the 35 clubs that would have participated in Day Under the Oaks lost. Aside from

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Doyle status still unknown Michelle Peirnao News Editor Despite the fleeting appearance of Bridging the Doyle, students at SRJC should not expect scholarship aid any time soon. SRJC currently has no plans to continue Bridging the Doyle and Exchange bank cannot predict when the Doyle will return.

At the start of 2009, Exchange Bank suspended dividends to the Doyle trust fund leaving incoming students with no hope of receiving a Doyle scholarship.

Continued on page 3

County. Their work — both stories and photos — won numerous regional, state and national awards.

E-cigarette or hookah pen?

NEWSPAPER

www.theoakleafnews.com Issue VI, Volume CXXXI April 28, 2014

But how the staff chose to portray these events on the newspaper’s cover was equally as important as the content itself, particularly since The Oak Leaf ceased print publication in 2018 after the centennial issue.

Ten percent of high school students tried e-cigarettes in 2012 — double the 2011 number

SRJC says goodbye to oak trees Faith Gates, Brenna Thompson and Nathan Quast

News Editor, Copy Editor and Editor-in-Chief

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f an oak tree falls on campus, it does make a sound.

A total of six oak trees have fallen or been felled in the past year at Santa Rosa Junior College.

The first tree was a 250-year-old, 15ton oak tree that stood behind the main “Santa Rosa Junior College” sign in the open field at the front of campus. The oak fell Nov. 21 during a severe windstorm. The second fell Feb. 8 near the Hyde Park garden near the stage where SRJC holds graduations.

On April 18 and 19 SRJC grounds crew and private contractors removed four more oak trees. Three of the trees were also near the graduation platform and the fourth was on the front lawn.

The felled trees were infected with disease and riddled with fungi that made them a safety risk to students and faculty. SRJC President Dr.

Later that year saw the launch of this magazine, bringing the Oak Leaf into a new tradition in print.

These are some of the standout covers from the past decade.

A rose by any other name still has thorns

“A lifespan of a tree is like the lifespan of a person or any living thing - as they get into old age, they’re less resistant to disease; [they] heal slower.”

-Carl Dobson

Frank Chong said a “tree doctor” comes annually, and was at SRJC on April 24.

One such diseased tree that was removed is the large oak on Burbank Circle. It contracted a socalled “oak root fungus” endemic to Californian soil. It had less than half its healthy life left, according to Bill Pramuk, consulting arborist with Tree and Garden Vitality.

There was healthy root tissue around 40 percent of the base of the tree, Pramuk added. Affected trees can sometimes recover from these fungi, but it depends on age.

“A lifespan of a tree is like the lifespan of a person or any living thing - as they get into old age, they’re less resistant to disease; [they] heal slower,” said Carl Dobson, manager of grounds and recycling at SRJC. Dobson said the vast majority of trees on campus are healthy and strong. The diseases they contract, however, pose a significant risk of trees falling and causing damage.

Dobson said that much like cancer, these fungi could spread over time and deteriorate their hosts until the tree poses a safety hazard.

“We try to stop it before it gets to that point,” Dobson said. The only way to stop a sick tree from getting worse is to cut it down.

“It’s a sad thing having to Continued on page 2

pg. 8

Volume cxxxIX Issue 1

April 17, 2018

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the oak leaf

SRJC to spend another Day Under the Oaks Darcy Fracolli Managing Editor

Magic, jazz, Native American cultural celebrations, delicious food, a petting zoo and the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to touch a human brain will all come together when Santa Rosa Junior College hosts the 2014 Larry Bertolini Day Under the Oaks celebration May 4.

From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. children and adults alike can learn about education and career opportunities, take in the magic of chemistry, ooh and ew over the mystery of the human brain and participate in arts and crafts at over 140 booths all over campus.

The annual event, a longtime staple of SRJC, was on hiatus due to budgetary issues from 2008 until its resurgence last year.

This year, food trucks will be a part of the event for the first time, supplementing the steady supply of tasty treats supplied by student clubs. Sadly, the Oak Leaf’s own legendary cakewalk will not be returning this year.

Many clubs seize the opportunity for fundraising, as the Black Student Union did last year, barbecuing to fund their trip to Tanzania.

Highlights from last year included Aztec dancers, Wu Academy martial arts performers, and the removal of a local DJ from a demolished vehicle by the Public Safety Training Center.

Although last year’s event was dimmed by a morning full of cloudy skies, this year the weather forecast predicts nothing but sunshine and temperatures upwards of 80 degrees Farenheit and minimal wind.

The Centennial Issue

2014 Erik Jorgensen/ Oak Leaf

Oak trees marked for removal await their fate Friday, April 24 near Burbank Circle.

Joseph Barkoff / Oak Leaf

One of the petting zoo animals from last year’s Day Under the Oaks event.

of change 2018

1918-2018

Issue I,Volume CXXX

Photo by Donald Laird

September 9, 2013

www.theoakleafnews.com

Santa Rosa Junior College’s Newspaper

Oak

Leaf

The

fire takes all www.theoakleafnews.com

Word of Mouth, Open Eyes and a First-hand Glimpse into the State of Unrest in Syria William Rohrs

A

2011

Co-Editor-in-chief

young man from Syria came to Santa Rosa Junior College in December 2009 to pursue his degree in robotics and engineering. He had left the college of Damascus to finish his graduate work overseas, with the intent to return to Syria and share his knowledge. But by summer 2010, civil war broke out in the place he called home, delaying his return.

Working on his graduate degree in robotics at UC Berkeley, the young man, who wished to remain anonymous, revisited SRJC Sept. 7 to hold an objective lecture about the various factions that comprise the Free Syrian Army and its ongoing conflict with Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.

Program engineering professor Vince Birch worked with the student while he studied at SRJC. “It was my good fortune to have [him] to help out.

He’s hard working, congenial and a very good guy,” Birch said. The physics department hosted the lecture, stressing the event is not about political statements, but information. The lecture included the BBC documentary “A History of Syria,” an explanation of Syria’s impact through history and the major elements of the Syrian civil war.

“I don’t think the Western media is giving a fair representation of the news,” said SRJC physics professor Linda Williams. “When we were in school, we had teach-ins: big assemblies with panel discussions from the faculty about all sides of the issue. We need this information.”

In spring 2010, Middle Eastern countries including Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Yemen and Syria began protesting their respective governments. The period of revolution became known as the Arab Spring.

Each country achieved different measures of revolution: Egypt managed to oust 30-year president Hosni Mubarak; Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali no longer holds controlling interests in Tunisia; Muammar Ghadafi’s death at the hands of the Libyan military ended his regime in the war-torn nation and while Yemen transferred power from former president Ali Abdullah Saleh to a unified national government, Al Qaeda operates without reprisal within its borders.

But Syria remains in an open state of conflict.

Currently, two main factions fight for power. The Alawites, a minority Islamic group that holds Syria’s political power through President Assad, receive support from the Libyan Hezbollah and Shiite Islamic countries like Iran and Iraq; and the Free Syrian Army...

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2013

Bear Cubs Football Kicks Off with a Roar Joseph Barkoff Photo Editor

U

nder new head coach Lenny Wagner the Bear Cubs opened the new season like a blast from a cannon, crushing

Mendocino College in a barrage of superior offensive and defensive play winning by a score of 54-7.

The score was an impressive 48-0 at the half and most of the starters cycled out by the end of the first quarter allowing most of the squad to enjoy valuable early-season game time....

Continued on page 11

September 28, 2015

Volume CXXXIV, Issue II

“All my photo albums, all my medals from sports, all my jerseys that I got, all my clothing, all that’s gone.”

2015

Photo Courtesy of Ashley Hart

Santa Rosa Junior College student and basketball player Ashley Hart and her family stand in front of the remains of their burned house. Theirs is one of many Lake County homes taken by the Valley Fire.

Catherine Ramirez Layout Editor Her heart raced and her breath cut short as she heard her sister’s scream over the phone: “Fire, fire!” Ashley Hart panicked. The Valley Fire drew closer to her family home, and she was 124 miles away.

“I’ve been living there my whole life. All my memories are there. Everything,” Hart said.

She is one of many Santa Rosa Junior College students the 119 square mile Valley Fire impacted when it swept through southern Lake County and destroyed more than 1,000 structures.

After graduating from Middletown High School in 2014, Hart moved into her aunt’s Santa

Rosa house and enrolled at SRJC, majoring in kinesiology for athletic training and playing on the basketball team.

She was attending her first football game as an athletic trainer when she received news of the fire.

“We’re down in Butte,” Hart said. “I get this phone call from one of my closest friends

who was like ‘Yeah, my house burned down.

Everything is gone.’”

Assured that her own family house in Lake County was safe from the fire, Hart offered her friend their home.

“I’m like ‘Hey if you need anywhere to stay, you can come to my house,’” Hart said.

Student dies, gaming community mourns Written by Maci Martell, Owen’s older brother Andy Owen reflected Reported by Daniel Kong and Taylor Kong on his brother’s passion for the game. “He took it pretty seriously. It was important to him to do well and play right. He didn’t let failure get in News Editor, Photo Editor and Staff his way of succeeding and doing really well. It’s Writer admirable,” he said.

Cherished friend and student Nicholas Owen, Close friend Ken Streets also mentioned 20, died from a car collision on his way to school the importance of the game in Owen’s life. “He Monday, Sept. 14. wanted to take his ‘Magic’ to the next level, an CHP officials said Owen drove off the road almost semi-professional level playing,” he said. and collided with a tree near Petrified Forest “It was kind of the dream he planned to follow.”

Road and Sharp Road in Calistoga around 8:10 To honor Owen, friends gathered at Outer a.m. Medical officials pronounced him dead Planes Comics and Games in downtown at 1:15 p.m. in Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital. Santa Rosa Sept. 20 for a potluck and a Magic: The Sonoma County Sheriff Coroner’s Office the Gathering tournament. identified Owen’s body Sept. 18.

“Everybody here loved him. There was Owen, a Santa Rosa Junior College student and no reason not to love him, just a positive Montgomery High School graduate, was a card guy,” Andy said of the people gathered at the game enthusiast. His game of choice was Magic: tribute tournament. the Gathering, a strategic card game where one Bradon Stratton, a 10-year friend of the summons creatures and spells from other planes deceased, said Owen played Magic: the Gathering to defeat his or her opponent. since he was 8. “We had a good time playing, and

SRJC Polar Bears Get to know new start season strong SRJC faculty SRJC’s hockey team comes out fighting in its first two games of the season.

Sports, Page 7

Learn about the academic and personal lives of nine out of 33 new full-time SRJC faculty this semester.

Features, Page 13

Continued on page 10...

Daniel Kong/ Oak Leaf

Friends and family put up signs in memory of Nick Owen at Outer Planes Comics and Games.

I don’t know what else I’m going to do, who else I’m going to call, to have fun with,” he said.

Many of his card-playing friends also knew him by the name “Salty.” Stratton said Owen earned this nickname because he used to mope and complain after he lost. But the name stuck with him more out of a term of endearment and camaraderie.

“I think of him as a fierce competitor and a good friend,” Stratton said.

Streets commended Owen’s good character

and caring disposition. “He was one of the better representatives of the community you could ask for,” he said. “He didn’t understand why somebody would cheat; theft never occurred to him.”

Alex Spataro, an employee at Outer Planes, said she met Owen at the store a long time ago and they became good friends. She remembered how he loved playing various sorts of face-to-face interaction games with other people.

Continued on page 3...

A different view on Yum yum, dim sum migration Read about European migration as told through the eyes of a European.

Hot and fresh Chinese food just around the corner from the Santa Rosa campus.

Opinion, Page 15

A&E, Page 18

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Changes on campu Question Key:

1 What’s the biggest single change

you have seen at the JC? 2 How might SRJC’s campuses change in 10 years?

3 What will the JC’s demographics look like in 10 years?

Eric Thompson is the Santa

Rosa Junior College academic senate president and a religion, philosophy and humanities department faculty member. He started at Santa Rosa Junior College as an adjunct instructor in 1989.

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The biggest change I’ve seen is in laws that are passed in Sacramento that govern the community college system. We have to, as a college, obey those laws that they write. Those laws are mostly written by people who don’t know anything about education. Most of the people who are involved in it have never taught at a community college. Most of them have never been a student at a community college.

And so they make laws about how we’re supposed to do things and then they impose them on us, and we have to shuffle and shift to accommodate.

AB705 was a law passed a year and a half ago that changes all the requirements for math and English for degrees. It completely transformed what we do when we’re placing students. What we had to do was to get rid of the classes that are preparatory or developmental, so students won’t have them available.

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I think that the Southwest Center has got to change. It’s in Roseland, down by the junction of Highway 12 and Fulton. It’s in ruins; it’s this old broken down school facility that we rent. I think we [have] to do something better about that if we’re going to keep the Southwest Center. It’s going to have to change in terms of its function. We have to build something in that neighborhood or in that area that we’re actually proud of. Basically everybody who has been there is embarrassed by it. So the facility has to change.

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That’s a great question. One of the things we are arguing about among the faculty leadership of the college is whether or not we should have less campuses and not more. In general, I think the way our county is demographically, we are an old white county. We don’t have a lot of younger people coming up or moving in or being born. I don’t see the population necessarily growing a lot right now, and [the JC is] downsizing.

And so I don’t see it — I could be wrong about this — I don’t see our student body being a lot bigger in the future.

us: Q & A

By Jasmine Benigno-Hall

“ Frank Chong was hired in January 2012 as Santa Rosa Junior College’s fifth president and first Chinese-American president.

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More students of color, more diversity in the workforce. I’m the first non-white male president in the history of the college. I’m only the fifth president, so I came up here to really serve all students, but I do feel like students of color and DACA students and LGBT students really need to have an opportunity to shine and to blossom — to achieve their dreams.

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I think in the future, there’s going to be a lot more pressure to teach more online classes.

I think online is the fastest growing method of instruction and students seem to like it.

It’s a lot more convenient for them, especially for our students who are working, who can take the class or lecture when they get home or after their kids are in bed. So, I think online is definitely something that will continue to grow not just at the JC but throughout the nation and the state.

We want to continue to be cutting edge like doing the hemp program or developing a construction program at the Petaluma campus.

So we want to be at the forefront of where the careers and jobs are.

We want to be at the forefront of where the careers and jobs are.

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”

I predict [our demographic variety] will increase, and Latino students will probably creep toward being the majority. They’re about 35% now; eight years ago it was 25%. The Latino population will grow, the African American population will stay pretty steady, the white population may decline a little bit.

It’s hard to tell because different businesses will bring certain groups up here. Clearly we still get half of the students who graduate from Sonoma County high schools. Our seniors will come to the JC to go to college.

We want to maintain that penetration rate.

We want kids who graduate from local high schools to consider us not as a second choice but as a first choice.

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Photo by Joseph Barkoff

SRJC safety Kasey Kikuyama demonstrates a perfect-form tackle Sept.7 against Fresno College. Though there is slight helmet-to-helmet contact, Kikuyama leads with his shoulder and wraps up nicely.

Tackling adversity Bear Cubs change with the game

By Ian MacGregor

Football constantly changes on both sides of the ball. Tackling mechanics have changed how defenses play, and a shift away from the run game has changed offensive philosophy. As the game evolves, players and coaches are forced to adapt or get out.

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Research on chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, and other brain injuries caused an in-depth look at tackles. Less than a decade ago, helmet-to-helmet hits were legal. Now, leading with your helmet on a tackle is an automatic ejection at the college

level; in the NFL, a 15-yard unnecessary roughness penalty results in a hefty fine of up to $75,000.

Coaches teach players to lead with the shoulder and wrap up with the arms as the correct form, and this in-

season. Fast forward to 2019, and that number jumped to almost seven.

The offensive game looks very different than five years ago when, teams lined up in the I-formation to run the ball up the middle of the defense.

it differently than teams of the past. A lot of pressure falls on quarterbacks to power the run game, especially at the college level. Teams like to open up the field with run-pass options. This sets up easy play action passes and takes pressure off the offensive line.

Today, the majority of teams operate primarily out of the shotgun, employ zone reads and run-pass options to move the ball on the ground.

For the Bear Cubs, this is no different. Quarterback Will Heckman has more carries than any other running back on the roster with 97. He’s also

“Of course we want to win games, but these kids have futures.”

Teams have slowly moved away from running the ball in favor of downfield passing. In 2010, then San Diego Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers led the NFL with 4710 passing yards.

Only four other quarterbacks threw more than 4000 yards. In 2018, three NFL quarterbacks surpassed Rivers’ 2010 mark, and 12 passers went over 4000 yards.

In 2010, seven running backs carried the ball more than 300 times; Atlanta Falcons’ bruiser Michael Turner led the league with 334. In 2018, Ezekiel Elliott of the Dallas Cowboys was the only player to log more than 300 carries with 304.

struction begins at the lowest levels of football.

The Santa Rosa Junior College Bear Cubs practice this technique extensively. “The primary goal here is player safety,” said Santa Rosa Junior College Head Coach Lenny Wagner.

“Of course we want to win games, but these kids have futures.”

At every level of football, defensive penalties are at an all-time high and it’s truly difficult to cover or tackle without drawing a flag.

In 2010, NFL teams averaged five unnecessary roughness penalty per

SRJC tight end running back Sadik Ali sees the games changes as affecting the ‘glory positions’ of the sport.

“In the ‘90s it was [Barry] Sanders and Emmitt Smith getting all the hype,” he said, naming two of the league's all time best runners. “Now it’s the Odell [Beckham] and Julio Jones hype train every year.”

Beckham and Jones are two of the leading wide receivers; a position that is reliant on a teams decision to pass.

The shift away from classic run formations hasn’t been easy on offensive coordinators.

leading the team with seven rushing touchdowns, something that would have been unheard of 10 years ago.

Other Bear Cubs have been forced to adapt to the quarterback-centric style.

Running back Kenneth Fitzgerald has thrown 22 passes this year, after attempting none before this season.

Though position switches from quarterback to running back are standard, the opposite is unprecedented.

“It’s just about adapting,” Fitzgerald said. “Football is different now. There isn’t room for five or six [running] backs on every roster. You have to be willing to change.”

“Football is different now...

You have to be willing to change.”

Even teams that like to run the ball do

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Fake reality

SRJC students unprepared for a fake news world

By Alex Nuñez

Only one of the following stories is true. Can you pick which one?

A

B

C

Decatur man discovers bride is ‘his own granddaughter’; no plans for divorce

Drunk Florida man tries to use taco as his ID after his car catches fire at Taco Bell

SRJC to propose intelligence test for incoming students!

A 68-year-old man from Decatur in Northern Alabama has reportedly had a “terrible shock” after discovering his new bride, a 24-year-old woman from Montgomery, is actually his own biological granddaughter.

Tacos are not recognized as legal forms of ID in the state of Florida.

Matthew Falkner found out the hard way after he passed out drunk in the drive-thru of a Jensen Beach Taco Bell and his car caught fire.

The SRJC Office of Enrollment announced that all students will be required to take an IQ test immediately following the winter break, according to officials who spoke with The Oak Leaf News.

The incident occurred Oct. 1 in Jensen Beach, according to the blog Off the Beat. Falkner had apparently decided to make a run for fast food after downing some beers; he made it all the way there in his pickup and received his taco before falling asleep.

Officials said the test will be used to evaluate the intellectual levels of students entering SRJC, but skeptics accuse the decision of being racist, saying it will benefit students from white affluent neighborhoods over poorer immigrant communities and communities of color.

The man and his 24-year-old bride, who live together in Miami after tying the knot three months ago, discovered the unfortunate coincidence as they leafed through one of his old photo albums, the Florida Sun Post reported.

If you chose A or C, your media

literacy skills could use a brush up.

students reported they get their news from social media.

Fake news can be hard to spot, but the writing usually leaves clues. An exclamation point in the headline, a lack of named sources and the articles’ origin should make you question whether each story is legitimate.

“I suggest that there is not one shared universal definition of fake news because it means different things to different people,” said SRJC Reference Services and Instruction Librarian Canon Crawford.

Try looking at other sources for the story you chose. Can you find any?

Do they say something similar?

If not, you’re probably dealing with fake news.

In an ever-changing world, news, facts and information play major roles in our everyday lives. With cell phones, laptops and Wi-Fi, we have access to a steady stream of information and misinformation.

According to a November Oak Leaf News survey of 49 Santa Rosa Junior College students about news-consumption habits, 46.9% of SRJC

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“Only 16.3% of students said they always fact-check what they read.”

Another 40.8% said whether they fact-check depends on who posted the article.

Like the fake news articles above, fake stories are designed to strike an emotional chord with their audience. People concoct fake stories to achieve political or financial goals.

“With a lot of the stories that end up being classified as false stories or fake news, they usually have a little kernel of truth to them,” Crawford said.

An Oak Leaf survey found the majority of students do not fact-check their news sources.

For example, in 2016, “Pizzagate” circulated around platforms such as 4chan and Reddit, where online conspiracy theorists claimed that leaked Hillary Clinton campaign emails referring to social gatherings involving pizza were in fact coded missives for an underground human trafficking child-sex ring involving senior members of the Clinton campaign.

Only 16.3% of students said they always fact-check what they read.

The kernel of truth is this instance is that WikiLeaks did release Clin-

ton campaign emails and that those emails mentioned pizza gatherings.

These facts were twisted into claims of organized pedophilia at a Washington, D.C., pizza parlor. While the claims were ridiculous, thousands of voters read and believed them.

With 2020 election campaigns in full swing, it’s imperative that students step up their game when it comes to detecting fake news. SRJC students have access to these tools online at https://libguides.santarosa. edu/fakenews.

Along with free online resources, the college also conducts free workshops for students.

“In past semesters I’ve had as many as a hundred students attend, but because of the fires and power outages, attendance has dropped to half,” Crawford said.

At the workshops, students learn how to read the headlines, break down written formats and inspect vocabulary usage to detect fake news, Crawford said.

In an ever-changing world with more information now available than at any other point in the history of mankind, knowing how to tell real news from fake news is an important skill to have.

OK, we’re going to give you a second chance to spot fake news. Which of the following is true?

A

Spanish Man Builds 60-Foot Spaceship To Visit Planet From His Novels The Huffington Post reports a man in Spain definitely has the travel bug, but he’s not looking to take a plane or RV. No, a self-constructed spaceship is the ride favored by Lucio Ballesteros, an 87-year-old writer, musician and YouTuber from Montoedo, Spain.

B

Santa Rosa baby speaks full sentences at eight months An anonymous woman said her baby started to repeat phrases of the character Cartman from South Park while in her playpen in the living room.

“I was in the kitchen and I heard a voice say, ‘Who killed Kenny,’” the woman said.

“We have never seen a baby speak this fluently,” the baby’s pediatrician said. He didn’t wish to be named.

C

Trump sees pictures of dead whales, talks to CNN, then changes environmental policy President Trump changed his stance on environmental policies Friday after he saw photos of dead Beluga whales in Alaska that had washed ashore after the White House allowed seismic blasting for oil exploration two weeks ago.

“Those were the greatest whales," Trump said. "My voters like whales.

I like whales.”

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If you chose A, congratulations. If you chose B or C, please reread this article.

B-CARE

SRJC‘s improved crisis response team

By Sam McMinimy

The statistics are alarming.

In a 2019 survey of Santa Rosa Junior College students, 85% reported they felt overwhelmed, 64% said they felt overwhelming anxiety, 54% felt hope-

less and 45% said they had been so depressed it was difficult to function.

reformed rapid-response team to deal with potential crises on campus.

As students grapple with financial, emotional and educational stress, SRJC officials responded with a newly

The B-CARE team — an acronym for consultation, assessment, response and education — is prepared to provide resources and support to ensure anyone in distress has the proper help.

SRJC conducted a survey last spring asking students to report on their mental health during the last 12 months.. % 83 d: e st

Ex ha u

With the risks of conflict, school shootings and student self-harm seemingly on the rise, SRJC District Police and Student Services combined forces to address problems distressed students face on campus.

83 %

When the anti-abortion advocacy group Project Truth came to campus in October, B-CARE was out in full force. Dean of Students Robert Ethington and District Police Chief Robert Brownlee were on scene with other officers and faculty to perform peacekeeping measures or duties and ensure safety and civility.

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Illustration by Edgar Soria Garcia and Alex Nuñez

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When an SRJC student assaulted one of the Project Truth members, B-CARE acted in seconds to restrain the student and de-escalate the situation.

The B-CARE program works hand in hand with “district police, student health, student life and conduct, Title IX, disability resources, academic counseling, student grievances and various other offices,” said Bert Epstein, manager of student health services at SRJC. B-CARE provides an outlet for students or faculty to anonymously report any sort of uneasy behavior or concerns. The program began in the early ‘90s as SRJC Crisis Response.

“It used to be geared more toward staff and faculty concerned about a student,” Epstein said. “In the last year or two we have expanded the emphasis to include students using the team [who are] concerned about another student.”

Comprised of 15 team members between Santa Rosa and Petaluma campuses, B-CARE consults and assesses those in need and guides them to the proper resources they need to overcome their crisis.

Depending on the severity of the issue, the specific team member most knowledgeable in certain circumstances will respond.

The anonymous reports can range from mental health-related to common school struggles; however, the focus of B-CARE remains rapid response to active situations, rather than counseling.

Those seeking counseling will be directed to the proper channels.

SRJC District Police Chief Robert Brownlee handles any criminal aspects such as sexual misconduct or violent outbursts.

This approach is markedly different from 20 years ago, when mental illness was often swept under the rug.

As a result there are still repeat students who need attention, as well as those choosing not to reach out.

“The past twenty years have witnessed dramatic developments and pivotal changes in behavioral healthcare,” said Pamela S. Hyde of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

“Of the 25,000 students we have, we can’t help them all,” Ethington said.

Mental health is becoming less taboo to talk about among younger generations. The stigma is wearing off, and the B-CARE program’s open strategy is achieving lots of positive outcomes.

Roughly 150 reports are sent in each year, and the results are beneficial.

“Let’s say I see 100 cases a year, I’d say at least 90% are still here and doing fine now,” Ethington said.

To date, no fraudulent reports have been filed, which Ethington attributes to the realization that false reporting is in poor taste.

“Maybe once students become more aware they can file a report, there could be a false one. But I think 99.9% take it seriously,” he said.

Many students do take it seriously.

“I think that the more help available, the more people will be willing to bring it up [in conversation],” said SRJC freshman Maisie French.

Epstein handles mental health issues while Ethington manages student conduct issues.

“We’re the eyes on the street. We’re watching for things that may be unsafe or need support then addressing them real-time,” Ethington said. The B-CARE team members take every concern very seriously.

“We really want this to be a safe place, and it’s not going to be completely safe. It’s just a crazy world we live in,” Ethington said “If we can let folks know we’re here to support them, that goes a long way into creating a culture of safety.”

Although B-CARE doesn’t have much recognition yet among students, one of the team’s main goals is to get the word out.

Because of the confidentiality of these reports, B-CARE is able to keep tabs on student concerns and can decide the best method for working them out.

“We can’t force a student [to reach out for help] but we can definitely reach out to a student and let them know it’s confidential and everything that’s available to them,” Ethington said.

theoakleafnews.com

13

Carceral state

The prison industrial complex wasn’t the solution for my mom

We were excited to rebuild our relationship and create positive memories, especially after realizing all the new opportunities to see each other we took for granted before her arrest.

Fast forward a couple of months after her release.

Although she was in a program intended to help her reintegrate, she struggled to find housing and mental stability without therapy or access to healthcare.

I shared how emotionally taxing it was to visit and see her suffer, but her frus-

“Every aspect was designed to be punitive; none were rehabilitative.”

tration in that moment still won. She said she’d rather go back. I was crushed.

She was so desperate to be sent back that within days, she committed a felony — not vandalizing public property this time — and was sentenced to serve at a state prison 200 miles away, too far for me to visit.

Why does the U.S. hold a quarter of all prisoners on Earth, despite encompassing only 5% of its population?

Perhaps the history of the PIC can help us understand why it maintains institutionalized slavery and oppresses marginalized members of society.

What I didn’t realize as an adolescent was that an intersection of social factors set her up for failure and deprived her of the help she needed.

Soon, she believed continuing to actually live outside the conditions of jail was impossible.

The last time I saw her was to take her to a doctor’s appointment and pick her up some medication with my dad.

When we returned to the parking lot of her transitional housing, I could

Her addiction was disregarded and criminalized. She wasn’t connected with supportive forces outside of jail.

Every aspect was designed to be punitive; none were rehabilitative.

theoakleafnews.com

A 2016 Bureau of Justice report states the U.S. holds more than 2.3 million adults behind bars and even five years after being released, more than 80% return.

I was young, but I remember struggling to understand how she arrived at her decision.

In jail, yes, she was punished, but she also never received therapy or gained any strategies to help build strength mentally and be a productive member of society after her sentence.

14

In fact, the U.S. imprisons more people than anywhere else.

Garc ia

During our visits behind bars, we discussed a future where we could pick her up on her late night release day and celebrate by going out to eat at a Japanese restaurant and catching an action flick.

According to “Shared Sentence,” a recent report by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, 1 in 28 children has a parent imprisoned in the U.S. and 54% of inmates have kids.

oria

I couldn’t wait to reconnect with her after she finished her sentence, when she’d never live behind walls again.

I hoped to change her heart and mind.

I said something to the effect of, “Don’t leave me again. It’s been too hard.”

gar S

Then, I entered a labyrinth of corridors and searched for her module, stepped into the metal room and waited patiently for her behind the glass barrier.

Sadly, my experience has become more common as more children grow up with parents imprisoned in the welloiled machine of the Prison Industrial Complex (PIC).

ion b y Ed

Every weekend I got used to the dehumanizing routine. I checked my pockets for contraband, made sure my clothes followed the dress code, walked into the crowded waiting room, lined up and passed through a metal detector.

tell something was wrong. She felt overwhelmed shouldering the weight of her recovery and explained how giving in and going back to jail might be easier.

strat

ated — for vandalizing public property — I counted the approximately 730 days until she’d get out.

Pho to ill u

The first time my mom was incarcer-

By Jesse Kapukui

Our prison system’s roots in white supremacy and colonization illuminate why the policies and logic surrounding our prison system are biased and why 60% of prisoners are people of color.

A 2017 article from Al Jazeera explains legislation since the 13th Amendment, which abolished the institution of slavery, underhandedly paving the way for our PIC by allowing servitude as punishment for crime.

With the country’s economy suffering after the Civil War, Southern prisons were used to control recently emancipated slaves and exploit them through the “convict lease system,” which sold prisoners to work in mines and on railroads and plantations.

In the 1980s, the Nixon Administration’s War on Drugs sent the number of black and brown prisoners skyrocketing again.

According to the criminal justice reform organization Sentencing Project, the prison population increased 600% and the number of minor non-violent offenses eligible for jail time also increased.

Then, the Reagan Administration cut more rehabilitative social programs, so prisoners didn’t get needed skills, support or training inside or outside of jail to assist them in joining society.

While the history of the PIC is complicated, these events do shed light on the capitalistic motivations for people in power to imprison others, which dictates that for-profit prisons need prisoners to make money, thus the advocacy for stricter laws and mandatory sentences.

I invite you to consider the radically different support systems we could create with these funds.

Who ends up in prison is often not a matter of justice or danger, so much as it is being part of a targeted racial group, economic class or marginalized identity.

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, she could have gone through an addiction treatment program for $4,500.

For example, the NAACP Criminal Justice Fact Sheet cites how black people are incarcerated six times more often than their white counterparts for the same charges.

Moreover, if black and Latinx people

“We must be able to imagine a world without prisons.” were incarcerated at the same rate as white people, prison and jail populations would decrease by 40%.

Yet most prisoners aren’t aware of these systemic flaws that oppress their lives.

Instead, people like my mom internalize the blame.

Conditions have to change. We must be able to imagine a world without prisons.

A support system that humanizes those with mental illness or addiction within jails and offers them comprehensive therapy and treatment does not exist.

So, rather than trying to reform these dehumanizing institutions, we should invest in other social systems to keep people out.

According to the Bureau of Justice, the annual cost of U.S. mass incarceration is at least $81 billion. The Legislative Analyst’s Office adds how, in the state of California, it costs $81,000 annually to imprison a woman like my mom.

For example, in the first year of her sentence, my mom could have received comprehensive emotional therapy for $50 to $250 per hour-long session.

She could even receive a full-time education at $1,300 per year to prepare her for a career when she got out.

Rather than criminalizing them, we should take those who should never have been there in the first place — those struggling with mental illness, addiction or poverty — and invest in resources like housing, healthcare and education to negate a purely draconian system like prison.

If we look beyond our own borders, we see more effective “prison” models already exist.

In Norway, prison isn’t for violence and profit; the only punishment is a withdrawal from society without depriving people of their humanity.

Even those convicted of heinous crimes can be redeemed to some capacity.

Prisoners can lock the doors to rooms with all the amenities of home; they can walk, bike and swim on the grounds and visit family on holiday.

To us in the U.S. it’s unthinkable, but this humanizing and compassionate approach is effective.

According to Emory International Law Review, Norway’s prisons yield 10 times fewer prisoners initially convicted and have a 20% recidivism rate compared to our 75%. That’s right.

One in five Norwegian prisoners return after release, compared to three of every four American prisoners.

While I advocate for the abolishment of the Prison Industrial Complex, I acknowledge dismantling it will be an arduous journey.

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15

Photo illustration by Edgar Soria Garcia

In the meantime, we should rethink how we treat prisoners and the system that dehumanizes them and their families.

Abolition is rooted in the idea that each prisoner’s life is valuable and redeemable to some capacity, and eliminating prison would immensely transform society and how we think of punishment.

We should envision better alternatives and recognize the capitalistic Prison Industrial Complex has no place in the world we want to build for ourselves moving forward.

These examples of the most egregious offenders miss the point.

Some form of alternative punishment may still have a place in the world once our system is changed, but we must acknowledge the dire human-rights issues behind bars and come to terms with their failure to reduce public crime or enhance safety.

It’s been years since I’ve had a relationship with my mom. Given our physical distance, we rarely communicate.

The state of California took a first step by banning privatized prisons and immigrant detention centers when Assembly Bill 32 passed — in October.

The truth is, I’m unsure how much of a relationship is possible between us, given how long it’s been. When I revisit her letters, it’s clear how she needed more support than I alone could give her. I wish we had a better relationship — then and now.

Many other states won’t be in favor of this idea, or claim it’s to radical to work. “Of course society needs prisons!” they’ll say. “Without them, we’d have rapists and murderers rampant in the streets.”

Earlier this year, I received a letter from her. It echoes the themes of violence and isolation inseparable from the function of jails. She wrote about being attacked by another prisoner — severely enough to be hospitalized

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— and every time I read it, I can’t help but mourn for her and ruminate over the broken system that separates us.

Those with addiction and mental health issues should not be sent to prison. Those who exist in oppressed groups shouldn’t be locked up.

If there were another supportive and rehabilitative system in place, it’s likely my mom would have become a productive member of society — and my life — again.

“It’s likely my mom would have become a productive member of society — and my life — again.”

Changing minds:

Psychedelic psychotherapy in Sonoma County

A psychedelic retreat. A 75-milli-

gram dose of ketamine. Intramuscular injections.

Eve laid on her mat with her trip-sitter beside her. She felt it coming on.

Then, whoosh.

“I don’t know if there was a windy noise, or it was just inside my head.

The tumbling, turning, kaleidoscope effect came on, and I was pushed along into a place of distortion and loss of ego. Things continued turning and pouring and weaving, and I seemed to get smaller, and there was a loss of connection to what had come before.

“The fabric- or sand-like nature of the experience expanded, and I really couldn’t hear any music, and I couldn’t remember why all this was happening or who I was but it was more and more obvious, inexorable, the realization that this is how it is.”

Eve shared her experience online via the drug research database site Erowid. It is unknown if she used ketamine to treat depression or other mental illnesses; however, more people are using psychedelics in conjunction with psychoanalysis to better understand themselves and combat the source of their psychological pain.

As recently as 10 years ago, psychedelic therapy was seen as a dark art in the medical community.

The legacy of Dr. Timothy Leary and the counterculture movement of the 1960s permanently tarnished the legitimacy of psychedelic studies.

But now, medical researchers and therapists across the country have opened their eyes to the efficacy of psychedelics in treating many psychological disorders such as PTSD, depression, anxiety and addiction.

Studies from prestigious universities and institutions such as Johns Hopkins and Stanford have proven the

By Zane Zinkl

power of psychedelic compounds such as psilocybin, LSD, MDMA, DMT, mescaline and ketamine to treat psychological disorders, reduce suicidality and improve patients’ standard of living. Psychedelics have even been used to relieve the stress of patients in dealing with end-of-life scenarios.

In a 2019 survey, 14.2% of Santa Rosa Junior College students reported seriously considering suicide in the last 12 months, 2% of students reported attempting suicide and 28.6% have been diagnosed with and treated for anxiety in that same time period.

“As recently as 10 years ago, psychedelic therapy was seen as a dark art in the medical community.”

Another 16% of students reported being so depressed in the last two weeks that it was difficult to function.

In most of these cases, when a student asks for psychiatric help dealing with mental health, they may be given a prescription drug that masks their symptoms and be sent home. A typical psychiatry session will last 20-30 minutes.

ketamine is a controlled substance that must be appropriately administered by a healthcare professional.

Its use in mental health is still considered “off-label,” meaning that psychotherapy isn’t its intended use.

Dr. German Ascani, a West Santa Rosa resident and native of Argentina, has been practicing psychiatry in emergency rooms, clinics and other settings for 12 years. Last summer, he opened Evolve Mind Wellness, a psychotherapy clinic in Sebastopol where he offers general psychiatry, as well as ketamine therapy, to patients who haven’t been cured through traditional prescription drugs or who are dissatisfied with traditional therapy.

Ascani comes to this line of work from a bilingual and bicultural background, having written a chapter on indigenous and mestizo healing practices. He has participated in copious studies and psychiatric research on a variety of topics.

Over the years, Ascani came to believe that the majority of people he treated continued to live with chronic dysfunction from psychological wounds that standardized industrial psychiatry objectified and labeled as symptoms.

“Medication in psychiatry does not kill infectious and invasive organisms,” he said. “It does suppress psychological [and] somatic manifestations of wounds, but it does not treat them at a core level.”

Ketamine, the drug Eve used, is one option for those seeking alternative psychedelic-assisted therapies.

The stories of antidepressants, pill-related suicides and over prescription are prevalent in our society.

Ketamine is a legal medication under Schedule III DEA regulation, meaning it has a moderate to low potential for physical and psychological dependence. Other drugs in this category include buprenorphine and Tylenol with codeine. Like both those drugs,

“If you take the view that medication is the treatment and stop there, subscribing only to the medical or biological model of treatment, you miss the humanity, the connection, the compassion that is imperative in a healing process,” he said.

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17

Photo by Zane Zinkl

Dr. German Ascani prescribes and administers ketamine for psychotherapy at his West Sonoma County office.

“The healing process must address relationship, compassion, humanity and spirituality.”

Psychedelic-assisted therapy returns the emphasis to in-depth psychotherapy, which catalyzes mental healing.

“Ketamine therapy, or any psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy, breaks conventional practice paradigms in that it truly humanizes and dignifies the healing process,” Ascani said.

“This kind of therapy is lengthy, and it’s intense. But it’s very rewarding.”

The average ketamine treatment session can last two to three hours, with a few hour-long standard therapy sessions beforehand in preparation for the experience, giving the therapist and the patient time to build trust and delve into the heart of the patient’s psychological wellbeing.

“You’re not rushed. You’re not part of an assembly line, prescription-type medical approach. It’s a little bit more out of the box,” Ascani said.

The ketamine session is followed by integration, the crucial process of restructuring one’s life by analyzing the ketamine experience.

One of the single most important things Ascani realized about Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy, or KAP, is its role in reducing suicidal ideation in nearly all of his patients.

He’s seen KAP patients undergo a significant shift in perception after

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treatment. Even for patients with chronic suicidal ideations, one of the biggest changes they report is no longer thinking about killing themselves, even though they still might struggle with depression.

“It is legal at this time, and it is important to realize the life-saving potential for many who have not improved and struggle with being functional and themselves in the world,” he said.

“It is absolutely a life-saver for some who have chronic suicidal ideation.”

KAP works by using the dissociative effects of ketamine to bring an individual to a “transformational state” in which the boundaries of their ego start to dissolve.

The “self” becomes undefined, and the patient’s defenses relax, allowing honest introspection. The “self” then begins to reconstruct with the help of a trained therapist.

With “most of our psych meds, that’s the whole intent — repress the symptoms — but you don’t really get at the root core of why they’re manifesting.

[KAP] changes that whole paradigm because people push through those symptoms,” Ascani said.

“You don’t just keep repressing them.

You push through and when you push through, you change the way you relate to them. You change your relationship with your fear, with your pain, with your depression. That’s what happens. It’s a reframing.”

It is the reformation of the ego that occurs and the introspection that comes with it, along with guided psychotherapy, that makes this treatment effective, Ascani said.

According to Ascani’s own research, as well as the compiled research of other medical professionals, ketamine’s record of clinical safety is undeniable.

The doses used in psychotherapy to reach a “transformational state” or “sweet spot” are much lower than those used in emergency rooms and other settings for anesthesia.

Other treatments with ketamine have tried to avoid the “trip.”

“It’s becoming more clear now that most of these compounds, regardless of what it is — MDMA, LSD, psilocybin — that you need this experience to make meaning, to get better.

“It’s a very profound way of getting new insight into your psyche and yourself,” Ascani said. “There’s a lot of healing that takes place in a safe environment.”

That being said, it may not be appropriate for someone to be treated with ketamine while in a psychotic state such as schizophrenia or certain types of bipolar disorders, as the “transformational state” and dissociative effects can have negative impacts that further destabilize an unstable psyche.

In addition, the minimum age for treatment at Evolve Mind Wellness is

18 years old. “This medicine is not for everybody,” he said.

The three most common ways to administer ketamine are via sublingual lozenges, intravenous infusions and intramuscular injections. Evolve Mind Wellness only uses the oral and intramuscular injections for its patients.

The injections are only given in the office, whereas patients can use the lozenges both in the office or at home with prior approval.

Ketamine therapies are not covered by insurance, though the situation is always changing.

The sessions cost hundreds of dollars.

“It is demanding, labor intensive, high-touch depth-work. It’s lengthy, and there’s no escaping that reality in the current ‘for-profit’ model of medicine,” he said.

One of the ways Ascani intends to counter the “For-Profit” model is by seeking funding for his ketamine research.

Ascani’s goal is for the treatment to not be pressured by the market. One possible source of funding would be from private scientific and psychedelic organizations interested in funding research in the field.

Another source would be impact investors looking to do social good with their philanthropy.

All of this is in its infancy.

Just as psychedelic psychotherapy has proven to be a brave new world in the treatment of mental disorders, a private, grass-roots funding of psychedelic research has flourished in the legal gray area, absent of government support.

“You change your relationship with your fear, with your pain, with your depression.

That’s what happens. It’s a reframing.”

the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and the department of neuroscience, “The center’s establishment reflects a new era of research in therapeutics and the mind through studying this unique and remarkable class of pharmacological compounds.”

The research center’s focus is not only in medicine. “In addition to studies on new therapeutics, we plan to investigate creativity and well-being in healthy volunteers that we hope will open up new ways to support human thriving,” Griffiths said.

SRJC Psychology Professor Brenda Flyswithhawks believes psychedelics and indigenous spirituality are being embraced in ways they’ve never been embraced before.

“I think we’ve come a long way,” she said. “The term psychedelic used to never be part of our vocabulary, but it’s not new information to me.”

According to Flyswithhawks, the term psychedelic has grown despite naysayers and judgment.

Johns Hopkins University is building a new research facility focused solely on the study of psychedelics, while a group of private donors gave $17 million to start the Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research at Johns Hopkins Medicine.

“There are prescribed medications and there are non-prescribed medications that can facilitate well-being within an individual,” she said.

According to Roland Griffiths, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine professor of behavioral biology in

Methods of healing are individual; treatment has to be the right match, she said.

“In my culture we have practiced those [alternative] ways of healing.”

There are many variables, and if a culture drinks the Kool-Aid of prescription drugs, that’s all it will accept.

“Just look at marijuana,” she said, referring to its high medical efficacy but historic social stigma.

What Flyswithhawks finds interesting is when people from different ethnic groups share different medicines that they’ve used, they will be ignored, but when white male doctors inside a white male institution say it’s OK, it becomes normalized.

“Now they call it science,” she said. “[But] the history of drugs is highly racialized.”

Flyswithhawks sees this dichotomy even at SRJC. “First thing we did was teach students to grow grapes to make wine,” she said.

Alcohol, being a “white” intoxicant, has status and class that other drugs like marijuana and psychedelics lack.

Regardless, Flyswithhawks is proud of the SRJC hemp program and sees it as a step in the right direction. “[SRJC] has really prepared students for these alternative ways of thinking and living in the world,” Flyswithhawks said.

Ascani suggests SRJC students who are looking for a humanistic rather than a medical approach to mental health should consider ketamine treatment.

“It’s not just treating a symptom because a symptom has a core somewhere. It’s about finding that core, plugging back into your source, into yourself.”

Oftentimes a person’s environment and way of living causes them so much pain. Typical psychiatry wants to rationalize that pain as nothing more than a chemical reaction.

“You may be diagnosed with depression, anxiety or trauma, but these are all just labels that really describe human suffering.”

Dr. Ascani encouraged students to seek freedom from that oppression.

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Juiced players vs. juiced balls Experts debate reasons for home run highs

By Kayla Beaton

Photo by Andres Pimentel Aguirre Baseball players at all levels are hitting more home runs than ever before, leading players, coaches and managers to ask why.

Baseball was once known as Amer-

ica’s national pastime, yet the once innocent sport has become known for performance-enhancing drugs (PED) and most recently, questions about juiced baseballs.

The juiced baseball theory suggests Major League Baseball (MLB) has altered the baseball to increase scoring.

The difference between a regular baseball and a juiced ball is the density of the core. The core of a juiced baseball is more dense than a regular ball, providing players with more opportunities to hit a home run. But others insist that improved player training methods are behind the home run statistics.

This season, MLB players hit a total of 6,776 home runs, not including the postseason. That is 671 more than the previous mark of 6,105 set in 2017.

CBS Sports writer R.J. Anderson supported the juiced ball theory in an article written in May 2019.

“When paired with other changes, the result was a ball that had less ‘drag’ or that was more likely to travel quicker and longer than its predecessor.”

In a July 2019 USA Today article, MLB’s Commissioner Rob Manfred denied the balls were juiced when he said, “If we make a change to the ball, you will know about it before we change the baseball. We’re going to continue to be transparent.”

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Santa Rosa Junior College Baseball Head Coach Damon Neidlinger believes it’s the baseball players, not just the balls, who are behind the increase in home runs.

“Players are stronger,” he said. “The component of physically training yourself at a younger age is now widely accepted as a policy. If you go back 25 years ago you see a smaller and leaner body.”

“They are throwing harder, and the velocity of their fastball has gone up.”

The Washington Nationals’ Juan Soto, one of the youngest players in the 2019 season, turned pro when he was 20 years old; he hit 34 home runs this season. New York Mets rookie Pete Alonso, 24, broke the rookie home run record with 53.

The game has evolved with technology as a key to helping players see their swings in slow-motion and adjust accordingly. This not only happens in the major leagues, but also in college.

“There’s a lot of video technology. We do a lot of analyzing pro swings and comparing them to our college hitter swings, using pro techniques to help

the college players see what they’re doing and what the best of game are doing at very high speeds,” Neidlinger said.

In the 2010 season, the Bear Cubs hit 15 home runs and scored 202 runs. A decade later, in 2019, the Bear Cubs hit 19 home runs and scored 306 runs.

It’s not only the hitters who are getting stronger, but also the pitchers.

They are throwing harder, and the velocity of their fastball has gone up.

An August 2018 MLB.com article noted the average velocity of a four-seam fastball was currently 93.2 mph — or 1.1 mph faster than ten years ago.

In 2016, Aroldis Chapman from the New York Yankees threw a 105.7-mph fastball. No one has topped it.

“Ten to 12 years ago, the average speed of a fastball was 90.4 mph. Now it’s closer to 94-95 mph. It’s forcing [hitters] to be more mechanically efficient if they want to continue to play,” Neidlinger said.

Bear Cubs third baseman Logan Douglas said balls are coming in faster.

Douglas has been around the game since he was 5 and playing T-ball.

He played baseball, basketball and football at Petaluma High School, but baseball was his true love.

In 2012, Douglas was a part of the Petaluma National Little League team that traveled to Williamsport, Penn-

sylvania, to play in the Little League World Series. The team ultimately lost in the U.S. championship game against Tennessee after making a dramatic comeback late in the game.

Playing for the championship is his favorite childhood memory.

“That’s going to be a big part of my life as long as I can remember. I still have a bunch of posters in my room from the LLWS,” Douglas said.

After high school, what ultimately brought Douglas to SRJC was the baseball program’s reputation.

“I heard from guys who are older than me that they have received good scholarships and the coaching is great,” Douglas said.

Several former SRJC baseball players went on to play, coach or work in the front office for an MLB team.

Jonny Gomes is a two-time World Series Champion with the Boston Red Sox and Kansas City Royals; Brandon Hyde is the manager of the Baltimore Orioles; Jason Lane is the assistant hitting coach for the Milwaukee Brewers, and Joe Dillon is the assistant hitting coach for the Washington Nationals.

Douglas’s top transfer school choice is University of California, Berkeley.

Douglas doesn’t believe MLB balls are juiced; he thinks players are getting stronger.

“Yes, 100%,” said Houston Astros pitcher Justin Verlander in the ESPN article “Verlander: MLB Juicing Balls for More Offense.”

“They’ve been using juiced balls in the Home Run Derby forever. They know how to do it. It’s not a coincidence.”

Verlander connected the dots between MLB and the company that manufactures the balls.

“I find it really hard to believe that Major League Baseball owns Rawlings and just coincidentally the balls become juiced,” Verlander said.

In the same ESPN article, Commissioner Manfred said, “Our scientists that have been studying the baseball more regularly have told us that this year the baseball has a little less drag. It doesn’t need to change very much in order to produce meaningful change in terms of the way the game is played on the field.”

But with so many home runs, it might be more than a simple change of the ball. PEDs were and still are relevant issue in baseball. Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Alex Rodriquez and Melky Cabrera are a few notable players who have been caught using performance-enhancing drugs.

MLB drug tests players three times per year. In 2013, MLB conducted 5,391 drug tests, followed by 7,929 in 2014 and 8,158 in 2015. In 2018, MLB conducted a record high of 11,526 drug tests from pre- to postseason.

The NCAA administers drug tests to Division I and Division II college athletes.

According to the NCAA website, “The NCAA spends more than $6 million annually on drug testing and education in an effort to deter the use of banned and harmful substances.”

The NCAA issues penalties when a student-athlete tests positive for a banned substance.

The penalty “PED [abuse] is strict and automatic: student-athletes lose one full year of eligibility for the first offense (25 percent of their total eligibility) and are withheld from competition for 365 days from the date of the test. A second positive test for a PED results in the loss of all remaining eligibility.”

At the community college level, there is no drug testing due to financial reasons.

“I think we should,” Douglas said.

“It makes sense. I think some people think junior college isn’t at a very competitive level, but when they are here, they figure out it really is. This junior college is right up there with DI.” His coach agrees. “I believe there should be drug tests. We are heading into bat testing now because people have been cheating with bats. If guys are cheating with PED, then absolutely,” Neidlinger said.

“I believe in a fair playing field.”

“They are looking at video and figuring the best approach they can take to the ball, the best way to match the line and the best way to put power on the ball,” he said.

And Douglas believes the average fan wants to see more home runs.

“You can see how the team reacts and how everyone reacts when a home run is hit. Even if you don’t know what the hell is going on, you’re still going to be like ‘oh someone is doing something right,’” Douglas said.

But some MLB pitchers think the ball is different this season.

Photo by Andres Pimentel Aguirre Players, coaches and management at all levels disagree on why home runs have increased year after year with some blaming PEDs and others blaming the balls.

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Courtesy of Rose Shannon, rose@eventtoons.com 22

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Double life

Classes by day, jokes by night

W inning was the last thing on Gina Stahl-Haven’s mind as she

stepped on stage for the finals of the San Francisco Comedy Competition.

In her mind, she had already won.

“Once I was in, I was like, ‘I’m in. I got the Ph.D. now. Who cares?’” she said.

Jokes come naturally to Stahl-Haven.

As she stepped onto the stage, all of the potential jokes swirled around in her brain and bounced off the excitement in her heart.

Would she perform the joke comparing her second husband to a skittish rescue dog? Or would she entertain the crowd with her trip to see an attractive Austrailian gynecologist?

That was for her to decide.

Stahl-Haven is always writing.

Whether it be at the airport as she eavesdrops on a mother declaring her hatred for Kelly Clarkson or in a Santa Rosa Junior College classroom after her students regale her with astrology conspiracies, Stahl-Haven absorbs the world around her and crafts those experiences into jokes.

“With everything in life, I’m trying to do a lot of writing constantly. There’s so many daily experiences [to write about] if you’re really awake to the world,” she said.

A Bay Area native, Stahl-Haven, 39, believes she was born to teach, yet she hid from her students a secret passion: her talent as a stand-up comedian.

After Stahl-Haven competed in the 44th annual San Francisco Comedy Competition this year, she found it difficult to conceal her double life.

She was eventually outed in her communication studies classroom.

“In one of my classes, my student raised her hand and was like ‘I have a weird question: Are you a stand-

By Riley Palmer up? I thought I saw you in the paper,’ and I went ‘I…don’t think it was me,’” she said. “It was this whole awkward moment, and then I said, ‘Yes. It’s true.

You saw it.’”

When it comes to stand-up comedy, Stahl-Haven is a novice with only a year and a half’s worth of experience under her belt.

“Before I had kids, I was, like, a 34C. Now, I’m like a 34 Long.”

She shied away from stand-up comedy for 15 years while she juggled a career in teaching and improv performance.

“I really avoided stand-up because it scared me so much. It’s the worst.

Every audience is different,” she said.

Stahl-Haven explained she has performed at a variety of different venues, from Sacramento State University to a retirement home where the median age was 85.

The first time Stahl-Haven performed, she was sick about it for weeks prior.

She mustered up the courage to deliver her routine and received reassuring feedback.

This propelled her to sign up for another amateur competition in Marin.

She won first place.

From that point on, Stahl-Haven realized that not only is she a gifted performer when it comes to improv, but she can also enthral an audience with her witty writing and cartoonish body language. She continued working on her material and performing about once a month in the Bay Area.

“I kept forcing myself to do it,” she said.

These humble beginnings inspired Stahl-Haven to apply for the world-famous San Francisco Comedy Competition, a multi-week event that helped launch the careers of comedians such as Robin Williams, Louis C.K., Dane Cook and Ellen DeGeneres. This reputation makes the competition entry challenging.

“Some people have been doing this for 20 years and have gotten rejected eight times. [I thought,] there’s no way,” she said.

But a way there was.

“When I found out I got in, I literally sobbed. I thought I wouldn’t make it past preliminary, and that would be the best I’ve ever done,” she said.

Stahl-Haven was going to be one of the 32 people performing her material and pushing her comedic skills for a grand prize of $5,000.

With the pressure on, she began to prepare her jokes and cherry-picked the best of her writing for the demanding weeks that followed.

“It’s so hard to know what’s funny,” she said. “Some more veteran people have told me recently, you just have to go with your gut and if you think it’s funny, usually you’re right. If you have good instincts.”

One of Stahl-Haven’s practice strategies was to sit in front of her husband and recite her material, which she admits wasn’t the easiest way to gauge if a joke was funny.

“I’ll do material for my husband and he’ll say, ‘Yeah. I think that’s funny’ and I’m like, ‘Laugh!’” she said.

Stahl-Haven would often sit in the car on her commute home to Novato and practice her material. She recorded

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these sessions as a way to ensure she would not go over the competition’s strict time restraints.

“You want to make sure you can get enough material in as you can, because you’re trying to showcase yourself, but you can’t go over,” she said.

During the competition, comedians are signaled via flashlight to indicate how much time they have left: a solid light when they hit the minimum time, a flashing light for one minute remaining and a red light for when they have exceeded their time and incurred a penalty.

The competition was a whirlwind experience for Stahl-Haven. She had to perform 15 shows in three weeks for all three rounds — preliminary, semifinals and finals — in unique locations scattered around Northern California while also being a mother

But being in the finals was what mattered most to Stahl-Haven.

“I had a great set. Everyone had a great set. I walked off stage and I was like, ‘No matter what happens, that was awesome,’” she said.

For every performance, the competition announced that night’s winner and who would be moving on to the next round based on the points received for each set.

On the last night, the judges announced both that night’s winner and the overall winner of the tournament.

with Ellen DeGeneres.

“If anything, I had a lot of people in comedy reach out to me. Maybe it afforded me more opportunities that there was a drama,” she said.

Stahl-Haven won $2,000 for her second-place win, which she immediately spent on various gifts for her family.

She bought a new desktop computer for her 11-year-old daughter, Georgia, to practice her writing and a bike for her 3-year-old son, Dashiell.

Once the judges declared Stahl-Haven as that night’s winner, giving her the most available points, she knew what was coming.

Stahl-Haven is unsure what comes next. She admits how hard it is to work full-time as a teacher and pursue comedy in the evenings, but recognizes the deep connection she has with teaching.

“Then they announced I was the winner overall. Everyone went crazy, and

“I love teaching, and I genuinely believe it’s what I’m meant to do. It’s

“If you’re trying to plan a murder in a marriage, you have to be clever. You can’t be sloppy, like a regular murder.” to two children and an adjunct instructor at three campuses: SRJC, University of San Francisco and College of Marin.

“I was leaving these shows in Sacramento at 11 p.m. to be at an 8 a.m. class at USF,” she said.

At the end of the semifinals, 8 p.m.

Sept. 21 at the Luther Burbank Center in Santa Rosa, Stahl-Haven learned she would be one of five comedians moving forward to the final round of shows in Walnut Creek, Sacramento, Oakland, Modesto and Carmel.

The finals were tight. Stahl-Haven’s biggest competitor, Sterling Scott, believed he was going to sweep the final round.

[my family] was so happy,” she said.

The winning female comedian and her supporters shed tears of joy, and their good time proceeded into the after party — until they didn’t.

“We’re in this after party and one of the producers comes up to me and says, ‘It was razor close. We calculated incorrectly, and you’re actually second,” she said.

Stahl-Haven paused. The experience was surreal.

For a little over an hour she thought she was the first woman in history to win the competition, but instead, Sterling Scott took the glory.

He didn’t.

Stahl-Haven still isn’t clear on what exactly happened, but she’s decided it’s best to move on.

The last night of the competition was make or break for each of the five comedians, and tensions were high at Carmel’s Folktale Winery.

Historically, second-place finishers tend to have more illustrious careers, and Stahl-Haven is the only woman to share the second-place position

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a career that if you don’t really love it, especially as an adjunct, then you wouldn’t still be doing it,” she said.

Stahl-Haven’s experience gave her a new perspective of life as a stand-up comedian, and she realized while she loves comedy, her fellow comedians aren’t exactly her “people.”

“Everybody after the show was like ‘Oh we’re all going out to this place until 3 in the morning doing cocaine and stuff like that’ and I’m like, ‘Oh, I have to get home because I’m making snickerdoodles in the morning,’” she said.

She acknowledged the subtle sexism and misogyny present in the competition and how the lifestyle of male comedians is polar opposite of her own.

“There’s so much misogyny in comedy. It’s so undercover, these dudes who act like they’re woke. They don’t even want to hear that the world is not equal. They’re almost annoyed that you might say something is be-

Photo by Abraham Fuentes

Photo by Riley Palmer

Gina Stahl-Haven, SRJC instructor by day and comedian by night, passes back papers to her communication studies class (left) and delivers a clever set on Nov. 20 at 3 Disciples Brewing (right), musing on motherhood and marriage.

cause you’re a woman,” she said.

Overall, she feels the idea of women is changing in both the comedy and competition world.

“If you look at the San Francisco Comedy Competition, this was kind of historic. It was the first time in history two women had been in the finals ever. I was only the second woman ever to place that high except for Ellen. I know the Boston Comedy Competition after 20 years had their first female winner,” she said.

But in Stahl-Haven’s eyes, like many other female comedians, change isn’t coming fast enough.

“You’re seeing some stuff shift,” she said. “I tend to be a little cynical about it and go ‘Oh? First in 20 years? F*ck you,’ Instead of ‘Yay!’ You should have had one sooner.”

While Stahl-Haven is new to the comedic stage, she’s always felt like she’s had a place there.

“Women have always been funny.”

“All this time I thought my boobs were just saggy and tragic. Turns out they’re just suuuper chill.” theoakleafnews.com

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Photo by Abraham Fuentes

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Garages and bedrooms and bars Making it big in Sonoma County

Branden Carrell and his bandmates

watch where they step in their makeshift recording studio. The former garage, once a photo studio, now serves as Carrell’s grandmother’s bedroom.

Carrell’s band, Incredulous, chose the room for its acoustics, despite needing to squeeze a drum kit and guitarist Forrest Giuletti’s recording equipment around Grandma’s bed. Guitar amps are tucked into awkward angles to accommodate the tangle of cords and cables. Incredulous has recorded two EPs in her bedroom, both mixed and mastered by Giulietti.

Across colleges in Northern California, young musicians with new ideas and old dreams organize bands and play shows — with shared dreams of making it big. Legendary groups like Metallica, Exodus and the Grateful Dead share our home and define our reputation as a mecca for metal and rock ‘n’ roll.

Thrash metal group Incredulous was born at the same school — Analy High in Sebastopol — where the Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia attended.

“Just jamming in a garage, that’s how we started,” guitarist Carrell said. “We just played as a three-piece for so long, trying to find a drummer and there’s no metal drummers.”

The band members, some attended Santa Rosa Junior College, identify their style as progressive thrash, influenced by British-heavy metal like Iron Maiden and American death metal groups like the aptly named Death.

Locals sometimes take the North Bay’s international reputation for granted, and it took a new friend from Chile to remind Carrell of this. After listening online to the Chilean thrashband Aberracíon, Carrell contacted frontman Ignacio Norambuena on Facebook. “I messaged him and was like, ‘Dude, I love you guys, I want to get some shirts, I want to get some CDs. Whatever you have, send it to

By Séamus Reed me.’” After talking more with Norambuena and learning how he held the Bay Area in such high regard, the bands threw together a joint tour throughout Northern California.

“There needs to be more of an acceptance of alternative forms of music in towns like that. A lot of places need to be more open because we’re just hippies who wear leather. Don’t worry.”

In Incredulous’ early days, Carrell, Forrest Giulietti and bassist Stephen Coon jammed together. Giulietti attended SRJC before transferring, and Coon took SRJC classes in high school.

Coon, Incredulous’ bassist, said, “We’re respectful. We’re appreciative. We’re loving and caring.”

“End goal: be together, another album, another EP, friendship for life” “Pretty much I was jamming with Forrest at the time, and we were a shitty, Led Zeppelin thing,” Coon said.

“I was friends with Branden from middle school, and I started talking to him about thrash all the time, and I was like, you guys want to start some thrash-metal shit?”

Incredulous struggled to find a drummer, until fate brought Napa native Rafael Bañuelos on board. “I broke up with my old death-metal group,” Bañuelos said. “The day we broke up, I got hit up from our good friend and Forrest’s bandmate Luis, and he asked me if I wanted to jam with Branden and Forrest.” Within 20 minutes, Incredulous had their new drummer.

The band played its first show on Oct. 16, 2016 — opening for SoCal death-metal veterans Cattle Decapitation. “That’s our opening,” Bañuelos said. “We’re not playing a dingy bar or something? We’re opening for Travis Ryan and the gang? That’s crazy!”

Bañuelos mused on the lack of open venues in his hometown of Napa.

Incredulous band members have high hopes for what’s next. “End goal: be together, another album, another EP, friendship for life,” Carrell said. They hope to tour again, both with Aberracíon and on their own.

Dreams of making it big in music transcend genre, and banda norteña crew La Agencia has been playing and chasing those dreams since its members were children.

Emmanuel Lopez Ortiz, 20, started La Agencia as an elementary school project with his father and older brothers.

“I started playing the keyboard, my older brother started playing the bass, my oldest brother played the guitar, and my dad was the singer. He taught us how to play the basic stuff.”

At 15, Ortiz picked up his dad’s accordion and found playing it came naturally to him. “It felt so much easier than the keyboard,” Ortiz said. La Agencia transitioned from a keyboard and six-string guitar combo to a typical Norteño accordion and 12-string guitar style. “As we practiced more and more, some of our family members hired us for their quinceañeras.”

Aside from private shows, La Agencia recently played the Equinox Festival, the first Rohnert Park Latino Festival, the Rivertown Revival Festival and the Railroad Square Festival. The group released on Spotify its first two original songs, and the musicians heatedly debate moving on to a full album. But without enough original songs, the album is still in the distance.

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Photo by Abraham Fuentes Drummer Rafael Bañuelos, 21, performs on Nov. 9 at 3 Disciples Brewing in Santa Rosa during an Incredulous show.

La Agencia also doesn't have a manager and members struggle to stay organized. They have their own speakers and sound system but don’t hire a sound tech to set up and have to do it themselves with difficulty.

good and bad things that came out of it. We learned a lot,” Kuehn said. They opened their last show for Cattle Decapitation in 2015 before going on hiatus the following year.

La Agencia’s members plan to move on to college, and they wrestle with their musical style and their education plans. The future of the band is still up in the air, album or not.

“I can’t help but feel like us practicing together all the time and being around each other — it’s a family thing.”

The dream to make it big drives local bands to leave Sonoma County and develop a fan base in a bigger city.

Santa Rosa death metal band Damascus made that choice and headed to Los Angeles after playing in Sonoma County for their first shows.

Bryan Kuehn, 29, attended SRJC and played in an early incarnation of Damascus that didn’t last. Later he reformed the band later with new members to greater effect. They recorded an EP and a single, practicing in a Santa Rosa smog shop rented by the hour.

Kuehn and two other members moved to Los Angeles to make it big but returned home fractured. “There was

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Musicians like Ortiz, Carrell and Kuehn struggle to balance school and band life. “It’s really hard. We only get to meet like once a month, usually,” Carrell said. Bañuelos and Carrell of Incredulous work in Sonoma County, Coon goes to school in Arizona and Giulietti is a student in Oakland.

The La Agencia band members also wrestle with their future as a band moving forward.

Ortiz plans to earn his psychology degree at SRJC and transfer to a school in Southern California, and his brother has already transferred from SRJC to Berkeley. Lopez and his brothers are all first-generation college students.

Kuehn has also attempted to keep playing music since Damascus fell apart in 2016. So, he jams regularly on his own and plays with his church band. The former vocalist is still active in another band, and the other members play on their own too, but they all still share their passion for music and a drive to play again.

“I think about it all the time, every day,” Kuehn said. “I do intend to do at least a new project, whether it’s with Damascus or not. A lot of my closest buddies, who are like my brothers, were all bandmates of mine at some point. All of my closest friends, they feel like family, and I can’t help but feel like us practicing together all the time and being around each other — it’s a family thing.”

20/20 vision

A decade of change, by the numbers

10

By Marilyn Santos and The Oak Leaf Staff

staff wants to: • • • • • • • • • •

• • • • • • • • • •

leave behind in the 2010s

Single-use plastics Gaslighting and ghosting “The Bachelor” and ”The Bachelorette” PG&E Mark Zuckerberg Citizens United Awards shows Fake news, alternative facts and conspiracy theories Climate change skeptics, Holocaust deniers and flat earthers Robocalls

take with us into 2020

Believing victims of sexual assault CBD and hemp Paper ballots Face-to-face interaction The “tea” Intersectionality Tiny Houses, electric cars and alternative energy Gender neutral bathrooms Facts, science, logic and common sense Disney+

data

SRJC

Leaf

Data taken from SRJC Fact Book

by ethnicity Student body

The Oak

key

Data taken from SRJC Fact Book

academic performance

SRJC students report these factors affecting

things

headcount

Data taken from American College Health Association National College Health Assessment II reports in 2010 and 2019

Hottest industries for grads

According to Jerry Miller, Senior Dean, Career Technical Education

Construction and Trades

Automotive

Hospitality

Advanced Manufacturing Healthcare: Nursing, Psychology

Public Safety

Agriculture theoakleafnews.com

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10 iconic films from the 2010s

By James Domizio

2010

“The Social Network” dramatizes the creation of Facebook and the battles it began that are still raging today. Jesse Eisenberg plays a spot-on Mark Zuckerberg and Aaron Sorkin’s impossibly clever dialogue turns a movie about a website into a classic film. It’s aided by an emotive, award-winning score

by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross and a lovely supporting cast. While the film’s treatment of women ranges from uninteresting to problematic, its depiction of misogyny among tech elite is accurate.

2011

Brad Pitt stars as a god-fearing father and Hunter McCracken plays his impulsive, emotional son in “The Tree Of Life,” Terrence Malick’s meditative epic about a Texan family. More than a typical family drama, “The Tree Of Life” is an impressionistic dream of trauma, hope and life. “The Tree of Life” distills all of life into a gorgeous stream of moments with mind-warping special effects, breathtaking cinematography, sterile production design and dramatic classical score. Malick’s typical free-form narrative makes the film feel long, but patient viewers will be treated to a cinematic experience unlike any other.

2012

Set in post–World War II America, “The Master” comments on film history while telling the story of Freddie Quell, a tortured veteran played by Joaquin Phoenix, and Lancaster Dodd, a charismatic pseudo-intellectual who runs a Scientology-like cult. Mihai Mălaimare Jr. brings crisp and measured cinematography to sweeten Paul Thomas Anderson’s tight script. Amy Adams plays wonderfully against type, but Phoenix and Hoffman’s performances are simply indescribable; an interrogation scene early in the film features some of the best writing and acting of the decade. Like all of Anderson’s films since “There Will Be Blood,” Jonny Greenwood lends the film an experimental string-heavy score.

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In the 2010s, we saw many new classics by directors ranging from old masters to emerging talent. From the rise of commercial LGBTQ films to the wider acceptance of minority-directed films, it’s never been easier to see yourself on the silver screen. Here are 10 iconic films that feature supreme technical skill and impactful storytelling.

2013

A true story more terrifying than any horror film released in the 2010s, “12 Years a Slave” is an unflinching depiction of the terror of slavery.

Chiwetel Ejiofor’s portrayal of freedman-turned-slave Solomon Northup is one of the decade’s best performances, and the rest of the ensemble cast is also admirably good. Lupita Nyong’o’s debut performance earned her an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Inspired by the brutal tableaus of Francisco Goya, the film is full of both beautiful and sobering imagery. The powerful production design and score help make “12 Years a Slave” a worthy Best Picture–winner.

2014

Jennifer Kent’s directorial debut, “The Babadook,” centers around family trauma, guilt and repression with a lofi approach influenced by early-mid 20th century horror cinema. The plot and the scares are intertwined, driven by the performances of Essie Davis and Noah Wiseman as Amelia and Samuel, a grief-stricken mother and her behaviorally-challenged son. The theatrical production design updates and improves the traditional “haunted house” horror trope. Built on the premise that parental abuse and fear of human connection can destroy familial relationships, “The Babadook” is a simple allegory. In the words of Francisco Goya, “The sleep of reason produces monsters.”

2015

Most action movies don’t center on women’s issues, but “Mad Max: Fury Road” isn’t most action movies. It’s a vibrant, exciting roller-coaster ride with feverish editing, a bombastic and occasionally beautiful score from Junkie XL and unhinged, cartoonish performances. The production design is immersive, featuring iconic costume and vehicle design that gives the film an epic scope not unlike the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy. Furiosa, played by Charlize Theron, is one of the decade’s most badass protagonists, proving herself tougher and more compelling than Max, the protagonist of the series, played here by Tom Hardy.

Photos courtesy of IMDb

2016

“Moonlight” tells the story of a sexually-confused man named Chiron in three chapters, showing him as a young boy, a teenager and then a grown man. The first LGBTQ-related Best Picture winner and the first to feature an all-black cast, “Moonlight” attacks traditional masculinity with an achingly tender script. Just as young love and infatuation feel fuzzy and unclear, the painterly camera work often focuses only on the characters.

Mahershala Ali’s muted performance earned him a Best Supporting Actor win despite being on-screen for only 10 minutes. Alex Hibbert, Ashton Sanders and Trevante Rhodes let their individual performances bleed into one in their multi-aged portrayal of Chiron, Naomie Harris gives a monstrous turn as Chiron’s drug-addicted mother and Nicholas Britell’s minimalistic score perfectly complements the film.

2017

A Hitchcock-esque 1950s London period piece, “Phantom Thread” is a true modern classic. Daniel Day-Lewis gives a stunning final performance as dressmaker Reynolds Woodcock, a controlling narcissist who falls for strong-willed waitress Alma, played

by Vicky Krieps. Alma’s toxic relationship with Reynolds, in which the much-older Reynolds gaslights and degrades her, perfectly exemplifies the toxic masculinity that kicked off the #MeToo movement in 2017.

Paul Thomas Anderson's extravagant cinematography, direction and writing create an opulent drama with Greek tragedy grandiose and endless quotability. The film is aided by meticulous costume and sound design, Jonny Greenwood's elegant score and Lesley Manville's performance, which sometimes outshines Day Lewis’.

2018

“Eighth Grade” is the prototypical Generation Z movie. The film depicts the last week of middle school for socially anxious eighth-grader Kayla, played by the transcendent Elsie Fisher. Some of 2018’s most uncomfortable movie moments come from “Eighth Grade,” but only because the situations Kayla gets into are all-too relatable.

“Eighth Grade” is the directorial debut of comedian Bo Burnham, who began his career on YouTube and honestly addresses smartphone obsession in teenagers without demonizing them.

The direction and design of “Eighth Grade” is spellbinding, and Anna Meredith’s thoroughly millennial score reflects the film’s postmodern style. Supporting talent Jake Ryan and Emily Robinson give the film a natural warmth.

2019

“Us” is a horror film that plays on class anxiety and begs for multiple viewings. The film is a uniquely American vision from writer/director/producer Jordan Peele, anchored by Lupita Nyong’o’s explosive lead performance.

Horror-aficionado Peele literalizes American class warfare with themes of mirror images and systemic oppression. The scares feel earned, the soundtrack is perfect and the score is eclectic. Supporting cast standouts include Winston Duke, Elisabeth Moss, Shahadi Wright-Joseph and Tim Heidecker.

Honorable mention to Bong JoonHo’s “Parasite,” another one of 2019’s best films, which explores similar themes through a South Korean lens.

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When we post the past How social media shapes identity

By Téa Lindsey

When Isaac Young opens Insta-

gram, he scrolls through the daily feed perfectly tailored for him by his following list and the app’s own algorithm. He views the pages of artists he follows, stays up-to-date on the happenings of friends and tries to kill time.

On the occasion that he posts, it’s a piece of his life, of himself, that is added to his digital gallery. A selfie, a goofy photo, a trip with his family – memories that he wants to live on, now reside on his online profile.

As he has dedicated more time to the app over the years, a new facet of social media usage has presented itself.

Young, 20, an audio engineering student at Santa Rosa Junior College, is among the many individuals who are now able to use apps like Instagram and Snapchat as digital, self-curated memory books.

sharing these mementos with loved ones is nothing new. This is how families carry on stories of old, how parents connect with children who seem to grow up too quickly, and how individuals display who they are to those who enter their space.

An entire generation has grown up on social media, and each member has a viewable recorded history online.

A romanticization of the past remains steadfast in every generation. Nostalgia is powerful. It’s easy to remember and incorporates only the best of each era and the best of ourselves.

“It’s definitely interesting for me to go back through old photos,” Young said.

“Knowing that I did do that is a pretty interesting feeling. It’s almost like I’m reconnecting with myself.”

Social media is showing us this on a grand scale. But the largest difference in a carefully put together photo album and an Instagram profile is who this collection of identity is for.

The idea of hanging onto fond memories, saving sentimental photos and

“[Social media] generates this notion of necessity for young people to manage and constantly be on top of what they’re doing, their public display and so forth. It complicates this business of who the ‘self’ is,” said SRJC Media Studies Professor Dr. Tony Kashani.

Illustration by Noe Naranjo

Kashani believes digital media consumption has changed the way young minds are shaped more so than any generation. “Social media has definitely had an impact on how [young] people see themselves,” he said.

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He has serious concerns of this “necessity” to not only display one’s personal life through the lens of social media but to curate an entire identity for the public.

“People put so much energy into perception management, where they think that this matters to others, but then, there’s this understanding that I think we should have about who we are, the inner person versus the outer person,” Kashani said.

He refers to those who grew up and are growing up online as “Digital

Natives.” These individuals have an entire aspect of their identity tied to their online history now.

Social media is an unprecedented tool used to divulge memories, moods and detailed aspects of the self.

They have grown up in the age of Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat, all social media platforms that open a portal to the lives of their users and allow for detailed curating of their identities.

This could allow for a more authentic picture of the lives of those online. Or a solely digital history could create a separate identity altogether.

Regardless, there is a symmetry in how both the charming family portraits hanging on Young’s wall — and the iPhone photos of he and his loved ones residing on his Instagram – allow for a window into his past, and a current snapshot of his identity.

SRJC students Leela Langloys, 19, and Kimberly Kiesel, 18, say they use social media to display rather than curate their identities and memories.

“I would say it’s more to share experiences and be like, ‘Hey, look at the fun thing I did!’ rather than be like ‘My identity is wrapped in my social media,’” Langloys said.

Kashani is under the impression that with the correct media education and parent-student relationship, social media can be an excellent tool to display one’s evolution of identity online.

“These tools give us access to so much knowledge. If we know where to look, then it's easy to gain access to knowledge and therefore evolve,” he said.

From an outside perspective, some Digital Natives interact with social media as if it is crucial to curate the best of themselves for their broad audience.

But many, like Young, engage with Instagram and similar platforms like one would a memory depository, or a delicately crafted scrapbook.

We are experiencing a cultural shift in the way we dedicate ourselves to the past and our own histories.

Sharing joyful memories with loved ones may be a familiar sentiment, but the way this personal and emotional reality is being shared is anything but.

Digital Natives are on the forefront of change in how we view ourselves, our histories and each other.

Illustration by Noe Naranjo

“I think I’ve definitely forgotten who I used to be, just in my maturing process, but having a record online helps you remember a little bit,” Young said.

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“That’s just how it is”

Trials and tribulations of modern day dating

The dim light from her phone

screen highlighted Solangel Rostran’s face as she scrolled through her Tinder feed.

Sitting in the comfort of her living

By Allison Khadoo room, her face changed as she read messages from her matches. “So fine wishing I could kiss you LOL.” Another one wrote, “You are absolutely, breathtakingly beautiful.”

A third asked, “What’s good chula?” adding a tongue-out emoji.

Rostran, 21, has been using dating apps such as Tinder since she started college. She met people she could see herself with forever; she met people she liked initially, but in time found boring; and she received multiple instant messages that opened by complimenting her appearance.

“It’s always about my looks,” Rostran said. “I’m selling a look, and they’re buying it.”

“Young people everywhere consider these exchanges modern day dating.”

by Edgar Illustration

Soria Garcia

She is not the only one; young people everywhere consider these exchanges modern day dating.

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Online dating has taken over. Walk onto any college campus and ask a number of students about dating apps such as Tinder or Hinge, and they will immediately know them. The National Academy of Sciences found that 72% of college students use Tinder.

SRJC student Sidney Moliken, 18, has found someone she is interested in on the dating app Hinge, which bills itself as “the app created to be deleted.”

When describing her experience with Tinder, she wasn’t as positive.

“I’m not a fan,” Moliken said.

She does not envision meeting her future spouse online, but if she did, she would not mind telling her friends and family how they met.

“It has become the norm these days,” Moliken said.

bought women flowers and opened doors for them.

In fact, Moliken saw both her mother and high school Spanish teacher find success through dating apps, but she still believes there are negative side effects to online dating.

Apps and online dating didn’t exist; those playing the field were forced to have face-to-face conversations.

Despite the apps’ widespread, Santa Rosa Junior College psychology instructor Jurgen Kremer believes there are problems that can easily emerge with young people using social media.

“One of the challenges of the online environment is that it aligns itself to very rapid responses and instant gratification,” Kremer said. “When you actually sit down and talk to someone, things get slowed down. You can actually think about it.”

Tinder is an example. Users can swipe left and swipe right based solely on a split-second evaluation of someone’s physical features.

“People don’t take into account respect as much, which is fine. That’s just how it is,” she said.

Two people will find themselves attracted to each other, they will talk for a couple of weeks via whichever app they use and then things fizzle out.

“No one follows through. [The relationship] doesn’t progress to that point,” Moliken said.

When it comes to going on actual dates, Rostran has been on a few — none of which lived up to the expectations daters tend to have. “[Dates] are not a thing in our generation,” Rostran said. “I haven’t had a guy who wants to take me out to dinner and go on a cute walk. I haven’t had that.”

Previous generations dated differently. Couples went to the movies. Men

“At some point in time [courting] got lost,” Rostran said. “I know guys aren’t here to take me out. Right now they don’t have the capacity to treat a woman like that.”

College-aged young people seem to accept dating apps for what they are — an extension of hookup culture — but what about those who are younger?

“So much is changing with the new generation. It’s not just about social media, it’s how they view themselves,” Rostran said. “They’re creating this standard of what sexy is, but truthfully, in our communities, sexy is whatever makes you feel sexy.”

SRJC student Lauren Ballinger has been using online dating sites for almost 10 years.

“On my profile I’m straight forward.

I’m a trans woman. I look like a guy. I still sound like a guy. I still dress like a guy. I’m a tomboy, I can’t help it,” Ballinger said.

Ballinger has gotten a lot of hate on dating sites because of how she identifies.

One man on OkCupid even told Ballinger not to contact him and added a comment about how her first name should not sound feminine.

“I just remind myself that I don’t care what they think. It’s obvious they don’t know me,” she said. “My psychology teacher says it’s none of your business what people think of you.”

But that’s hard advice to take when you’re looking for a date through online methods.

“College-aged young people seem to accept dating apps for what they are — an extension of hookup culture — but what about those who are younger?”

Dating today is not easy, thanks in large part to apps designed to help make matches. Instead of putting ourselves out there in person to engage with romantic interests.

“We hide on our phones. We hide on dating sites,” Rostran said.

Kremer advises students to “go hang out with people who share interests with you. Go spend time with them.

If you’re interested in movies, go to a movie with them. If there is food you like, go get food with them.”

Perhaps the takeaway for young daters is not about whether to use apps to find dates, but about accepting the fact that apps may not get you from swiping to sweet-talking in person.

As Charlie’s English teacher in the 2012 film “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” said, “We accept the love we think we deserve.”

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The digital detox diary My 24-hour device-free diet

By Mark Fernquest

The rules: my digital diet will last

24 hours, during which time I will forgo cell phone, laptop, internet, debit/ credit card and electronic key-fob usage. I will, however, use analog technology as usual, including clocks, my truck and a pay phone — if I happen to come across one that works.

Preface The first cell phone I ever owned was an iPhone 4, which I purchased in 2011. I waited that long to jump on the cell phone bandwagon because I’m prone towards addictive behaviors. I saw everyone else buried in their phones and knew owning one would spell trouble for me.

I waited to buy a cell phone until they were so electronically advanced that I could justify the pros as outweighing the cons.

I was not let down. Apps were something I had never imagined, so my iPhone 4 not only took photos and functioned as a flashlight, it also provided me with a bad-ass, first-person zombie game, GPS, access to my bank accounts and more. Much more. It was magic.

But magic has a dark side, and now, eight years later, I’m thoroughly addicted to my iPhone 6 Plus.

If it’s not Facebook, it’s Slack. If it’s not my banking apps, it’s WhatsApp. If it’s not email, it’s Notes. Or Weather. Or AirVisual.

The need to use my phone never ends. I need to take a break and figure out how to address the issue. I’ve lost touch with the natural world, which was once near and dear to me.

Of course, it’s not just my phone that spells trouble; my laptop does, too.

The real trouble is the internet. The digital world is difficult to turn off.

Very difficult to turn off.

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Saturday 10.19.19 6 p.m. My digital diet begins now.

My laptop and cell phone are both turned off and hidden under pillows until 6 p.m. tomorrow. I have $80-plus in my wallet — enough cash to tide me over for 24 hours. I’m meeting friends at the Petaluma Pumpkin Patch this evening and memorized the directions before I shut down my phone. And I’m meeting a friend tomorrow and confirmed our plans earlier today. Why? Cuz no texting.

“I thought this diary would be funny and fun, but so far it’s neither.”

6:30 p.m. I keep feeling like I’m missing my wallet or something. I arrive in Petaluma early. Now I’m in line at El Roy’s taco truck, killing time. I have a painful, almost overwhelming urge to return to my truck to look at the clock. It’s like I need to look at some electronic screen. Then, suddenly, I want to watch the next episode of “Euphoria,” my current favorite TV show. But I can’t. I’m used to being able to do anything I want instantly on my electronic devices. Watching my mind work this way on autopilot alarms me.

7 p.m. I arrive at the Petaluma Pumpkin Patch. It’s dark and hundreds of cars are parked. I’m not expecting this.

I literally thought there’d be five people and a 50-square-foot maze here. Mild panic sets in. How will I find my friends without texting them?

OK, I remember to check in with my intuition, which tells me it will all work out.

I’m prone to worry and my intuition calms me. It is almost always correct.

I’m early and go wait in the long taco line. My friends filter in over the next 20 minutes.

Turns out the corn maze at night is the best thing I could do to begin a digital detox. It’s so disorienting that for 90 minutes I’m consumed by the experience and have no sense of time passing. And it’s fun! As we weave down the paths, I’m glad I don’t have my phone/flashlight/compass/GPS with me.

10 p.m. I get home from the corn maze and sit on my couch to write this by hand, and every few seconds I’m gripped by the urge to check my phone — for texts, for Slack messages, for Facebook updates, for phone calls.

The urge remains strong. I really want to go online.

I thought this diary would be funny and fun, but so far it’s neither. I literally have nothing to do. I’m sitting here on the couch. I can’t stream a movie. I can’t watch “Euphoria.” I’ll go to sleep early. Every minute or two I want to text someone. The urge arises unbidden. This is so boring.

How many more hours do I have to endure this experiment? I don’t know.

I don’t know what time it is.

Sunday 10.20.19 12:38 a.m. I get up and check the time in the kitchen.

8:50 a.m. Just woke up after a deep sleep. This is a good thing — over-usage of electronic devices exhausts my mind and causes me to sleep fitfully.

Being offline for hours yesterday and last night allowed my mind to relax.

Question: Have I forgotten how to live? In addition to feeling withdrawal symptoms, I feel a richness to my

Photo by Abraham Fuentes The challenge is to go 24 hours without digital devices and internet access to test capacity for a disconnected life.

experience that is usually missing.

It is the exact same richness I’ve felt the times I quit smoking cigarettes or drinking coffee. Like I’m free of another burden.

I used to feel this way often, but the feeling fell away during the eight years that I’ve buried myself in the electronic world.

Maybe I’m doing this experiment to find this richness of experience again?

On to other things: I only ever envisioned the typed, end product of this diary. My scrawl is, in fact, almost completely illegible.

12:45 p.m. I go to Sebastopol’s Sunday farmer’s market and walk to The Barlow shopping center with a friend. We talk about cell phones and the internet for a minute, then about other non-tech topics.

When we say goodbye, I walk back to my truck and I feel sudden joy at the abrupt thought that now I can check my cell phone and catch up on Facebook. But that doesn’t happen, because my phone isn’t in my truck.

Instead, I scratch out this diary with pen and paper.

2-ish. Back home now. I don’t know what time it is. I can’t use my phone to photograph my incredibly handsome kitty, Elijah Darkness, and that makes me sad. I have a fleeting thought that I can watch another episode of “Euphoria,” then realize I can’t.

Now I’m going down to the bamboo garden in the courtyard to finish my sparkling water while the clock runs down. I’m still plagued by urges to go online, but they are more than tempered by the emerging feeling of enjoying actual life.

I can’t see a movie either, because not only can I not go online to see the schedule, I can’t even call the movie theater to listen to the schedule the way we used to in the old days.

5:45 p.m. I haven’t sat outside like this, in nature, peacefully and without an agenda, for a long time. I find myself fantasizing about the treehouse I wanted to build on the land I once owned in Trinity County. An old fantasy — I guess treehouse dreams never die. But that dream has, in fact, been dead for quite awhile.

What am I going to do all afternoon without internet access? I already went on a walk. Already went to market. Already saw a friend. I’ll read; I so don’t want to take a nap.

4:35 p.m. Damn, I went out like a light. Just woke up. Was that laziness, or did I need the sleep? Perhaps my brain exists in a constant state of fatigue due to years of internet surfing.

If I’m calculating this correctly, I slept for over two hours, maybe as many as three. Wow. I was out. The day outside is still so blue, so colorful, so warm.

5:28 p.m. After a nice, long walk, I sit outside the front door and admire the early evening with Elijah Darkness sitting in my lap.

Back inside, I pull out my cell phone and my laptop and plug them in to charge, even though they’re both still turned off.

Tidying up my living room fills the remaining minutes.

6:05 p.m. Going back online. I have eight texts, two Slack notifications, seven WhatsApp notifications, 25 Facebook posts and eight emails waiting for me. Before diving back into my screen, I take one last moment to enjoy the calm of the non-digital world.

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The Kincade Fire

Overview by Zane Zinkl

Photo by Abraham Fuentes

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High winds, dry brittle ground and low humidity combined on the evening of Oct. 23 to ignite the Kincade Fire in northeastern Sonoma County near Alexander Valley.

During the next two weeks, the fire burned 77,758 acres, destroyed 360 structures — 174 of them homes — and forced the mass evacuations of the homes of 180,000 people.

More than 1 million people across California lost power in preemptive shutoffs implemented by PG&E and other utilities. Dozens of schools, including Santa Rosa Junior College, closed for a week or more.

Power shutoffs occurred before, during and after the fires, further destabilizing the region.

With the Bay Area devoid of rain through November and continuing to experience high winds, the 2019 fire season extended into late fall.

The prospect of additional preemptive jump the highway and burn through power shutoffs in Northern California West County to the ocean. CalFire orin 2020 remains a possibility. dered the evacuation of all areas from Sebastopol west to the coast. Parts of PG&E and CalFire officials believe the Santa Rosa were also evacuated. The Kincade fire started at 9:24 p.m. Oct. evacuation orders confused many 23 at a high-voltage PG&E facility residents who felt their homes were deep in the hills of the Alexander not threatened.

Valley east of Geyserville and north of Healdsburg. It is believed high winds Thanks to the efforts of 5,000 firetook down a heavy power line, even as fighters from all over the state, the PG&E went to unprecedented lengths losses expected in Windsor, Healdsto prevent destruction. burg and West County were largely avoided. No houses were lost within CalFire ordered the initial evacuations the Windsor town limits. in the Alexander Valley–Geyserville region Oct. 23 and 24.

As the firefighters contained more of the blaze, officials slowly lifted the As the fire expanded, authorities ormandatory evacuations and PG&E dered the evacuation of Windsor and restored power and gas over the next Healdsburg. Windsor became ground several days. The fire was 100% conzero for firefighters’ efforts to contain tained Nov. 6. the fire east of Highway 101.

Following is a gallery of photographs Fearing the arrival of hurricane-force taken by Oak Leaf staffers on scene Diablo winds beginning Oct. 26, during the Kincade Fire that raged CalFire officials worried the fire would across Sonoma County.

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Photo by Zane Zinkl

Photo by Abraham Fuentes

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Photo by Abraham Fuentes

Photo by Edgar Soria Garcia

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Photo by Edgar Soria Garcia

Photo by Zane Zinkl

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Photo by Edgar Soria Garcia

Photo by Abraham Fuentes

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Regeneration

Four ways to survive climate change

By Mark Fernquest

Photo by Abraham Fuentes Santa Rosans will need to make major adjustments to their lifestyles in order to survive climate change.

The scene: 2020–2030 CE

Climate change grips the world and its effects are felt everywhere. Years of seasonal wildfires and drought take their toll on Santa Rosa. The northern and eastern edges of the city burn down in successive years, causing the homeless population to explode.

The regional, wine-based monoculture economy collapses due to overall environmental degradation.

An out-migration begins as local homeless and jobless families flee north in search of better economic opportunities.

The population of the city reaches a low of 110,000 — a 37% decrease from its high of 175,000 in 2017, the year climate change–induced wildfires began.

Because of dramatic changes, Santa Rosans adapt their lives according to these four best practices out there.

1. Plant a food garden. The depressed economy is felt countywide. People

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begin to plant gardens to grow their own food.

air during the smoky fall. Santa Rosa becomes a net food exporter.

The Plant Your Food movement blossoms and neighborhoods become flowering gardens as people plant vegetables and herbs in all available spaces — along sidewalks, in front and backyards, in empty lots and on unused farmland.

2. Create a home-based business. A surge in home-based businesses offsets jobs and revenue lost to the wine industry collapse.

Organic waste is composted and used to enrich soil. Even “night soil” — humanure — is used to fertilize trees, allowing water that would normally be lost through the use of conventional toilets to be used for irrigation.

Gray water reuse and rainwater catchment systems further assist with irrigation needs in the drought-stricken environment. As the years go by, more elaborate community gardens appear in parks and on school soccer fields. Blocks-long butterfly gardens create distinct habitats.

Food forests create microclimate zones.

Trees cool the air in the summer and filter dust and contaminants from the

Bicycle and vehicle repair shops, furniture makers, tax preparers, alternative medical clinics and computer technicians operate out of garages and sheds all across town.

The Plant Your Food movement spawns its own subset of businesses: olive-oil production, canning services, neighborhood distilleries and breweries and marijuana boutiques.

Hand in hand with the rise of cottage industries comes the revival of local markets and currency. Regional commerce thrives.

3. Get to know your neighbors. Reversing a decades-long national trend, Santa Rosans reach out to befriend and help one another. Working together, they repair roads, police their

own neighborhoods and fight fires, filling in the gaps left by perennial budget deficits.

It’s a point of pride that every single person in the city is fed each day.

Neighbors barter and care for one another in familial-like networks.

The local ride-share app Move Me successfully promotes carpools. A sense of community grows within the city, leading to a neighborhood revival.

Roseville becomes renowned for its food-to-table ethnic cuisine and its monthly music festivals, Railroad

“Santa Rosa becomes a net food exporter.”

Square for its daily open-air markets and Memorial Hospital for its sprawling, free herb gardens.

4. Ride a bicycle. High gasoline prices and a lack of expendable cash push people toward more cost-effective transportation. Local startups GreenSide Bicycles and Electric Horse spearhead the rise of the local bicycle industry.

Bike paths are revitalized and built throughout Santa Rosa. As people pedal in greater and greater numbers, the health effects become apparent.

Fewer people get sick, and there is a noticeable decrease in heart and coronary disease.

People begin to spend more time outside, to socialize more and to explore the city in ways they never have before.

With fewer cars on them, the streets are safer and the whole city is quieter.

“Neighbors barter and care for one another in familial-like networks.”

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Evacuating Healdsburg

My experience fleeing home during the Kincade Fire

I had tears streaming down my

face and my hands were shaking — I feared what would come next.

Healdsburg was under mandatory evacuation. I wondered if it would burst into flames and if I would return to a pile of ash instead of my hometown.

By José González I grabbed my phone and started a group chat with family members.

Then I called them and told them to leave work, go home and pack because Healdsburg and Windsor were going to be evacuated.

My sister-in-law heard the panic in my voice and asked, “Are you OK?” I paused and took a deep breath, feeling the tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat. “I don’t know,” I said. She told me to calm down and said everything was going to be OK.

The Kincade Fire started at 9:27 p.m.

Oct. 23 near Geyserville and soon grew into one of the largest fires ever in Sonoma County, one that caused the historic mass evacuations of 200,000 people in Sonoma County. Healdsburg, my hometown, was among the first towns evacuated.

On Friday, Oct. 25, I went to work at 8:30 p.m. at the Healdsburg Community Center, an evacuation shelter that opened 48 hours earlier when the Kincade Fire threatened the town of Geyserville. I was scheduled to work overnight, until 8 a.m. Saturday.

Things didn’t go as planned; Healdsburg was covered in ash, and the fire was less than 5 miles away.

A shift change was scheduled for 8 a.m. Saturday, but our supervisor told us to wait. “We need to be prepared for anything,” she said. We speculated the shelter might be evacuated soon.

Ten minutes later, my supervisor came over and asked, “Do you have gas in your car? If not, go and fill up your tank right now.”

I rushed to the gas station and waited in line behind eight other cars, growing more nervous with each passing minute. I filled up my tank and returned to the evacuation center where my coworker said, “Healdsburg and Windsor are about to be a mandatory evacuation zone.” My heart dropped.

I couldn't even imagine what was about to happen to our small town as shifting winds blew the fire towards us.

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Firefighters, police officers and Healdsburg city staff gather Friday, Nov. 8 at the Healdsbur

I was scared and nervous but I knew I couldn’t show those emotions to the evacuees in the shelter.

Friends called me to ask if it was true and if we had to leave our homes. I told everyone yes and to leave now.

CalFire released the new mandatory evacuation order via social media at 10 a.m. Less than two minutes later, CalFire announced at the community center that “Healdsburg and Windsor are in a mandatory evacuation.”

By 11:30 a.m. the Healdsburg shelter was empty. I was called to go to the Emergency Operation Center to help bring food, water and snacks to police and staff.

I looked around the room and everyone started to panic. People began calling their family members, many in tears because they were now going to have to evacuate twice.

The evacuees began heading to their rooms to gather belongings.

I drove around town and noticed it was empty except for terrified people driving in cars filled with clothes, blankets and personal belongings.

Smoke was everywhere; people were wearing masks. At 2:30 p.m. my dad called and said, “You need to come home. We are leaving now.”

I raced home, packed my belongings in 10 minutes and began driving south toward relatives who lived out of town. I didn't know how long I was going to stay with them; it could be days or months.

Memories of Healdsburg raced through my mind. It was possible my elementary, middle and high schools and my cheerleading gym — all of the places where I’d spent my life — might burn down.

Three hours later, I arrived in Suisun City where my aunts, uncles and cousins from Healdsburg and Windsor were all gathered. Everyone was scared, and everyone wanted to go back home.

Saturday night was going to be difficult — with 100 mph Diablo winds predicted, the worst since the 2017 Wine Country fires. On Sunday, we would find out whether Healdsburg was still standing. No one could sleep; we were too scared watching updates on our phones and TVs. Sunday morning we were relieved to learn Healdsburg was OK, but it was still under mandatory evacuation. No one could enter the town because of high winds and continued fire danger.

On Wednesday, authorities downgraded the mandatory evacuation to an advisory, and my family and I returned home. When I arrived, I headed to the senior center to welcome residents back on Healdsburg Avenue.

When I arrived, I put on my city vest and walked to Healdsburg Avenue where other city employees were gathered. We started shouting, “Welcome!” to all the cars returning to town. Watching residents return with smiles on their faces made me realize how important this town is to me and everyone who lives here.

Photo by City of Healdsburg

rg Plaza on the night of "Coming Together in Gratitude," days after the Kincade Fire.

We were lucky Healdsburg was saved by the hard-working firefighters who kept the flames at bay. We were lucky the town evacuation order was issued with time to spare so we could pack our most-important belongings. Most of all, we were lucky to still have homes to return to.

theoakleafnews.com

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When it’s time to bug out What to pack when you have to get out of Dodge

By Mark Fernquest and Abraham Fuentes

Fires. Floods. Power outages. Sonoma County residents live with them all. It’s not whether these events will strike, but when.

How does one best deal with forced evacuations during high-stress situations? Consider assembling a bug-out bag (BOB).

A BOB is a backpack prepacked with items that will keep you alive in an emergency situation. While BOBs should be customized to individual needs, we list a number of standard items below.

Consider storing your BOB in the trunk of your car or in the closet next to your front door, where it will be easy to grab at a moment’s notice.

We would be remiss if we didn’t address cell phones before getting to our list. Most of us use smartphones in today’s world. We assume you have one and use it during an evacuation or emergency, so we aren’t including them on our list. Cell phones are wondrous devices, incorporating many functions traditionally relegated to survival kits.

They contain GPS apps, compasses, radios, scanners and flashlights.

Email, texting and WhatsApp are all excellent communication mediums.

There are even plant-identification apps and knot-tying apps that can help out in a pinch. Be sure you have your cellphone on you in an emergency situation.

Here are 10 items people in evacuation zones should have stored in a robust backpack that is ready to grab at all times.

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Radio

This is a necessity for both information and entertainment. It should be compact and AA or AAA battery-powered, with a backup hand-crank. Seal it in a ziplock bag. Include a spare set of batteries.

Battery Backup

These small, lightweight rechargeable batteries add additional life to your cell phone or other electronic devices. Include a 12-volt adapter so you can recharge your battery bank in a car.

Watch

If your cell phone loses power, or you lose it, you will still need to know the time. Consider investing in a simple, inexpensive battery-powered or wind-up wristwatch.

Cigarette Lighter or Matches

Gas and power can and will be cut during emergencies, and you may find yourself needing to light a propane stove, a campfire, a pilot light, a lantern or — let’s be honest — a joint. Disposable lighters and paper or wooden matches should last indefinitely if stored in a dry, waterproof container.

Water Bottle

You will need a container to hold drinking water. Consider a reusable plastic or stainless steel bottle with a screw-off lid. You can store items inside it while it’s not in use.

Clothing

Pack spare clothing including multiple changes of socks and underwear. Synthetic fabrics like fleece are lightweight and take up little space so consider gloves, thermal underwear and a beanie made of similar fabrics.

Photo by Abraham Fuentes Store important survival supplies and low-tech entertainment in a stout backpack that you can grab at a moment’s notice.

Headlamp

A hands-free light will pay for itself in spades your first night out, allowing you to read, pitch a tent and perform any number of normal functions far from the city lights. Pack an extra set of batteries.

Book or Kindle

You may find yourself with a lot of spare time on your hands while stuck in an evacuation center or in Highway 101 gridlock, and a book will go a long way towards occupying your agitated mind. Consider keeping a mass-market paperback or a Kindle in your bug-out bag. A paperback never needs a battery, and a Kindle battery will last for a month. The Kindle advantage: you can store many books on one device.

N95 Mask

Cash

Keep a roll of at least $100 cash in 20s and smaller denominations, as well as a roll or two of quarters. This will allow you to pay cash for food, gas or lodging — and use vending machines — when credit card machines are down. It will also allow you to pay in exact, or near-exact, change when the store doesn’t have any.

In addition to the items listed above, you should include spare medication, toiletries, ID and credit cards and any other items you deem important. theoakleafnews.com

Illustration by Noe Naranjo

A particle mask is a must-have item. Masks rated N95 or higher can help protect your lungs from wildfire smoke, as well as filter dust and mold. These disposable masks usually come in multi-packs. Pack several.

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