Oak Leaf Fall 2017 Issue 3

Volume cxxxviii Issue III

December 11, 2017

www.theoakleafnews.com

the oak leaf 1.4% of SRJC students are

Even before the fires, Sonoma County had a 1.5%

vacancy

in some stage of

rate; optimal vacancy

homelessness.

rates are 6 - 7%.

NO VACANCY Sonoma County housing crisis, page 8

Santa Rosa lost

5% of its housing in the fires.

In the past 5 years,

rent in Sonoma County has

increased 50%.

That’s 3,000 homes.

Photos by Dakota Mcgranahan, Ali Benzerara, Brandon McCapes and James Wyatt

Sexual misconduct allegations hit SRJC.

Scottish athlete kilting the game.

Get to know the new faculty.

SGA president challenges conventions.

News, page 2

Sports, page 5

Features, page 7

Features, page 10

k

2

News

December 11, 2017

College investigates sexual misconduct

Facebook post alleges sexual assault by faculty member Editors-in-Chief

James Wyatt and Ali Benzerara Section Editors Managing Editor | Albert Gregory A&E Editor | Ali Benzerara Co-Features Editor | Amoura Deering Co-Features Editor | Michael Barnes News Editor | Brandon McCapes Deputy A&E Editor | Jett Williams Opinion Editor | Grant Wetmore Sports Editor | Albert Gregory Editorial Cartoonist | Rachel Edelstein Multimedia Editor | Devin Schwarz Social Media Editor | Meghan Buckman Web Editor | Rachel Edelstein

Brandon McCapes & James Wyatt News Editor & Co-Editor-In-Chief

Eric Thompson, full-time instructor and Academic Senate president at Santa Rosa Junior College, denied an accuser’s allegations of decades-old sexual assault she made in a Nov. 15 public Facebook post.

He is on voluntary leave from the institution while the college investigates claims that he had an affair with his underage student while teaching at Ursuline High School in the mid ‘90s.

Staff Writers Sarah Chavez, 39, alleged ThompChelsea Wood, Anthony Rea, Roberta son had a sexual relationship with MacIntyre, Meghan Buckman, Terry Meunruakham, Charlotte Maxwell, her for two years while she attended Lenita Marie Johnson, Jose Gonzalez, the now-defunct all-girls Catholic Michael Barnes, Jett Williams, Matschool, where he worked as a drama thew Wreden, Reina Underwood teacher. The abuse happened from approximately 1993-95, beginning Photographers when Chavez was 16 and ending Photo Editor | Dakota McGranahan when she was 18, she said.

In an email to The Oak Leaf, Distribution Manager Thompson said, “Anyone who knows me well knows that the accusations Layout Team are foreign to all of my behavior. I Devin Schwarz, Rachel Edelstein, section editors and editors-in-chief have never sexually assaulted, molestCourtesy of Facebook ed, preyed upon, or harassed anyone Santa Rosa Junior College instructor and Academic Senate President Eric Thompson is currently on paid leave amidst sexual misconduct allegations. in my life. Not once.” Thompson said he would not comment at length due to the ongoing investigation.

Mike Chavez, confirmed this event.

Thompson’s employment at the all- inspired her to speak out publicly.

“It would be inappropriate, and a Chavez said she continued to see girls school. She questioned the need “Given that so many other women, mockery of the due process, for me Thompson in secret, despite her par- to dig up “ancient history,” and de- so many other people, have come forto air a detailed response to the ac- ents’ objections, and after she turned clined to comment any further. ward about sexual assault, I wanted to Newsroom: 707-527-4401 cusations in the press beforehand,” 16, the relationship became sexual.

Mike Chavez said they didn’t go to let people know,” she said. “I tried so Ads Office: 707-527-4254 Thompson said.“I have been accused “I really felt that he groomed me by the police because Sarah didn’t want to. many times before and people weren’t Advisor: Anne Belden: 707-527-4867 of something that happened more giving me alcohol and drugs and get“She indicated that she didn’t want really outraged by it, and that was reabelden@santarosa.edu than 20 years ago. The college, primar- ting me to trust him. When the con- to go further with it at the time be- ally painful. I decided to do something ily because of the alarming language versation turned to sex, all of that be- cause of embarrassment,” he said. about it because I have two daughters Peer Assisted Learning Specialist that the accuser has used and the pub- came normalized. At the time I felt sort “Today it would probably be different now and I want to be the kind of person Devin Schwarz lic nature of the story, asked me to go of special that this teacher I looked up but she was young back then, and I that stands up and says, ‘That’s wrong— EMAIL on paid leave until an investigation is to was paying attention to me.” don’t know, we just didn’t.” you can’t do that.’” oakleafstaff@gmail.com conducted. I agreed, as is appropriate, At the end of her junior year, In a comment on Chavez’s FaceSRJC President Dr. Frank Chong to say nothing about this case until af- Chavez said she dropped out of high book post, a woman named Lauren said the college hired an independent Advertising Manager ter the investigation is complete.” school, partly because of the emotion- Parnes said she worked at Ursuline investigator to look into the allegations.

Meghan Buckman Thompson has taught religious stud- al turmoil caused by her relationship High School at the time of the assault.

“We take the allegations seriously, oakleaf-ads@santarosa.edu ies and humanities at Santa Rosa Ju- with Thompson.

“As a teacher at the school at the and we’re doing everything we can to LETTERS TO THE EDITOR nior College since 1992 and has been “It started to cause a lot of prob- time, and someone who also spent find out what’s going on,” Chong said.

We appreciate your feedback. Send let- a full-time faculty member since 2001. lems in my life because it was secre- time with Eric and his friends outside On Dec. 7, following the publiters to oakleafstaff@gmail.com During this time, he won awards in- tive and you know, I couldn’t tell any- of work, I will say two things: One, I cation of a version of this article or to the Oak Leaf office. Letters cluding the SRJC body,” Chavez said. absolutely believe you,” Parnes said. online, Dr. Chong sent an all-staff should include first and last name and Academic Senate “School just be- “Two, I feel terrible that I did not trust email regarding the allegations be limited to 300 words. Letter may a joke to me my instincts more and see what was against Thompson. be edited for style, length, clarity and President’s Award “Anyone who knows came Outstanding and so did adults, right in front of me and help you.”

“We are investigating this sensitaste. Libelous or obscene letters will for Contributions in and I started to beFaith Harrison, a friend of Chavez’s tive and difficult matter,” Chong said me well knows that not be printed.

Leadership in 2010 have in a way that when she attended SRJC in the late in the email. “We are also asking the the accusations and the Tauzer Lecreflected that—that ‘90s, said Chavez wasn’t negative SRJC community to be respectful of tureship in recognone of that really about Thompson at that time. all involved parties and allow the due are foreign to all nition of Teaching mattered. After that “She didn’t say he was this horrible process to proceed in an appropriate of my behavior.”

Excellence in 2011.

I harbored a lot of person that did this thing to her; she manner.” In the email, Chong menYears after the alshame and pain just told me the facts,” Harrison said. tioned Thompson by name.

-Eric Thompson, leged misconduct, and suffered for “Even though she defended it at the The All Faculty Association (AFA) Chavez attended many years.” beginning, I don’t think that should sent an email to the SRJC communiAcademic Senate SRJC before transThe relationship have any bearing on it. She was con- ty in response to Chong’s email. The President ferring to UCLA. between Chavez and vinced that this was normal by him AFA, which is in heated negotiations Check out our website: In an interview Thompson ended and bought into it for a long time. I with the administration, said Chong www.theoakleafnews.com with The Oak Leaf, when she was 18. think through therapy she realized violated the AFA/District Contract Chavez said Thompson began to groom After spending a year in Washington, that it wasn’t normal.” with regard to Thompson’s privacy.

In 2017 we decided to her when he was her drama instructor Chavez returned to Santa Rosa and, More than a decade after the relaSection 31.07 of the contract says, and they participated in a production with her parents, told the principal of tionship, Chavez said she began ther- “The District will not use the SRJC transition ourselves into of “Romeo & Juliet” over the summer Ursuline High School about the affair. apy to address the problems this rela- email system for confidential comthe modern era by expandin Sonoma.

“I made an appointment with the tionship had contributed to in her life. munications to the faculty, such as ing our online content and “That was kind of how our relation- principal and told her that this was “Therapy was a long process of re- those related to disciplinary action.” pulling back on our print ship started outside of school, ” Chavez going on and it was inappropriate ally accepting and realizing that I was AFA is filing a grievance against production. Eventually the said. “We would drive together every- and we wanted him fired and we a child and didn’t do anything wrong,” the administration. The email said, Oak Leaf will become an day and he was responsible for me. wanted her tuition back for that she said. “I felt so bad because this “We see this as a violation of one online-only publication.

We’d go to cast parties and he offered year,” Mike Chavez said. “She agreed person I had trusted had really taken faculty member’s confidentiality and This exclusive, digital me alcohol and drugs.” that he needed to be fired, and she advantage of me and taken away my privacy protections as a violation of content can be found daily According to Chavez, her parents gave me a check.” social network and school. What I re- every faculty member’s appropriate at www.theoakleafnews. confronted Thompson before the relaThe Oak Leaf reached out to for- ally became was a sexual object.” expectation that the District will honcom tionship turned sexual and told him to mer Ursuline High School principal, Chavez said the current cultural cli- or existing confidentiality and privastop seeing their daughter. Her father, Sr. Diane Baumunk who confirmed mate started by the #metoo movement cy protections.”

Contact

Web Content

Online Exclusives

News

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3

Negotiations still underway for STNC Charlotte Maxwell Staff Writer The Sonoma County Junior College District (SCJCD) and shortterm/non-continuing (STNC) employee organizing committee at Santa Rosa Junior College are in the middle of negotiations regarding STNC workers’ right to unionize.

According to the agreement between SCJCD and Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 1021, “STNCs are employed to perform a service for the district, upon the completion of which, the service required or similar services will not be extended or needed on a continuing basis.”

The STNC organizing committee would like to be able to negotiate a seniority system, along with benefits, parking, district emails and pay rates, according to members of the organizing committee. Leaders would also like to be part of the conversation about STNC workers losing their jobs to faculty.

At the beginning of this year, SRJC had more than 400 STNC workers, some of whom have been here for more than 30 years. They provide services that the school is lawfully required to offer, such as interpreters for deaf students.

President Frank Chong announced

the cuts to the STNC program at the end of last semester.

“All STNC positions will be discontinued except those that meet cabinet criteria, on a case by case basis,” Chong said in a May 3 email.

Short-term/non-continuing employees do not have the same privileges to negotiate as other college employees. To have their issue heard by the district, 50 percent of STNC employees had to go on record saying they wanted to unionize in what is called a “card check.”

Ian Maurer, president of the organizing committee, said district lawyers appealed the card check, claiming its terminology was unclear Maurer and Cohen want to be able to unionize like the classified faculty.

Cohen said without unionization, STNC workers are treated like second-class citizens.

“We have to use student parking,” Maurer said. “That’s fine, but it takes parking away from students, and it means we have to arrive an hour earlier to get a spot if we start at 9 a.m. since all the students are looking for parking at 9 a.m. We aren’t paid for that time.”

Cohen has worked as an instructional assistant for a sociology professor for 10 consecutive semesters.

He teaches sociology part time and receives a set number of hours based on the number of students in the class.

The college authorizes STNCs to work 175 days out of the year and up to 25 hours a week. The end date of their service cannot exceed 75 percent of the school year—or 195 days.

Short-term/non-continuing employees do not get district emails.

During the fires, when the administration sent out contingency emails, STNCs did not receive them unless department chairs who forwarded them already had their personal email addresses.

According to Maurer, the survey that went out to students and staff during the fires did not reach STNC workers unless their email addresses were already on another department’s contact list. Maurer sees it as a safety issue.

After Chong sent his May letter, the SCJCD asked what what would happen if they threatened to fire all STNCs. “They phrased it as a rhetorical question, but let’s be honest: that’s a threat,” Mauer said. “Did the board authorize them to threaten us? We threatened to walk out.”

STNCs are passionate about what they do, Cohen said.

“I’ve had those moments where you change students' lives,” he said. “We just want a little modicum of respect.”

Melissa Goh, a 21-year-old computer science major, has been a Peer Assisted Learning

Specialist (PALS) during the Fall 2017 semester.

“I hope that the PALS program continues to receive necessary funding to support STNC staff,” Goh said.

“Following the news that authorities are reclassifying PALS to be student employees, I believe a tutor’s capability to assist students in achieving success is not measured by their being an SRJC student or not being an SRJC student.”

According to Maurer and Cohen, there is no history of STNCs getting raises or being part of the conversations that take place.

“There always seems to be money for administration and consultants and we’re the lowest of the low,” Maurer said.

They want to see the district be successful and do not aim to cause disruption. But the district seems to be stalling and the attorneys defending the district are saying that the process is complicated when all Maurer and Cohen want is recognition.

“We aren’t delusional,” Maurer said.

“Our issue has more to do with respect and having a seat at the table.”

Maggie Fishman, president of the Board of Trustees, declined to discuss the labor negotiations.

“As long as we are in negotiations I cannot say anything, except that I am hopeful for a positive resolution,” Fishman said.

Rachel Edelstein/ Oak Leaf

AFA and District at impasse over adjunct pay Courtesy of afa-srjc.org

Roberta MacIntyre Staff Writer Disagreements over salaries have resulted in protracted labor negotiations between the All Faculty Association (AFA) and the Sonoma County Junior College District after the district filed paperwork with the California Public Employment Relations Board seeking resolution assistance, Dec. 1.

According to the AFA, the the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) has determined the two entities to be at an impasse.

PERB is the State agency responsible for enforcing the collective bargaining laws covering employees of public schools and community colleges According to the AFA, the district’s filing by the district with the PERB determination came as a big surprise to the AFA negotiating team.

Karen Frindell Teuscher, science instructor and AFA president, said the next step is to have a mediator assist with the negotiations.

“If it is determined that an impasse exists, it goes to mediation

and then the mediator will help to fruition, the college wouldn’t the two parties come to a reso- be able to recruit and retain quallution of their differences,” said ity staff.

Deirdre Frontczak, philosophy inRather than utilizing an estabstructor and AFA council member. lished salary-setting methodolThe AFA and the district have ogy known as Rank-10, the adbeen in negotiations since Sep- ministration asked employees to tember 2016. The return to a 2016current contract 17 salary schedended in June 2017 ule, Merkel said.

“To negotiate a oneso the faculty have The AFA arbeen working withgues the district year contract when out a contract for needs to estabthey’re just going nearly six-months. lish the Rank-10 “This is unique,” pay methodolto have to go back said Amy Merkel, ogy, which basto the table in a few full-time SRJC es faculty comcounselor and on months to negotiate pensation Transfer Center dithe 10th highest next year’s contract rector at. “Usually paying Califorwe have a contract nia community is strange but that’s before graduation.” college, to rewhat’s happening.”

Merkel received cruit and retain a huge round of aphigh-caliber facplause at the Nov. -Amy Merkel, full-time ulty upon which 14 Board of Trustthe college has counselor and Transfer built its reputaees meeting after she expressed her tion. “To take a Center Director concerns over nepay cut when top gotiations between administ rators the district and the have seen raises AFA during the of about 30 perpublic comments period. cent since 2014 would be absurd,” She fears if the district’s propos- Merkel said. al of a 1.5 percent pay cut comes Al Maggini and Larry Bertolini,

former members of the Board of Trustees, wanted to pay SRJC faculty as much as the highest paid California community college faculty, but the district couldn’t afford to.

Maggie Fishman, president of the Board of Trustees, said she couldn’t comment on the negotiations because they are still in progress.

“I’m hopeful that we’ll reach a settlement that works for everybody,” Fishman said.

According to an article on the AFA website, “The Rank-10 Covenant-Why it Matters,” by SRJC Librarian Will Baty, the Rank-10 methodology was established by former members of the Board of Trustees.

The article also states that the Rank-10 utilizes a quantitative, transparent measurement based on statewide salary data and allows SRJC to remain competitive with other colleges as it recruits faculty members.

According to the 2017 AFA Salary Study Summary available on the AFA website, which uses the Rank-10 Methodology, the 201718 salary schedule indicates a salary increase for full-time facility between 3.33-3.78 percent, depending on their employment sta-

tus. This includes a cost of living allowance (COLA) of 1.48 percent.

Another sticking point for the AFA is the district’s proposal to go from a three-year contract to a oneyear contract. Merkel is concerned about being six-months into negotiations for a one-year contract.

“To negotiate a one-year contract when they’re just going to have to go back to the table in a few months to negotiate next year’s contract is strange but that’s what’s happening,” Merkel said.

Douglas Roberts, senior vice president of finace and member of the District Negotiating Team said in a Dec. 1 email that the proposed compensation increase was higher than what SEIU negotiated.

“It is our sincere hope that the mediation process will assist us in reaching an agreement,” Roberts said.

4 news

December 11, 2017

Digital window into our past

Devin Schwarz/ Oak Leaf

Throughout its nearly 90-year run, The Oak Leaf, or Bear Facts as it was originally called, has sported a number of visual styles. The front page, the entry point to the paper, best displays these changes of aesthetic.

Albert Gregory Managing Editor Pearl Harbor. The Loma Prieta earthquake. Watergate. You can now go back and read about these historic events and more in old copies of The Oak Leaf newspaper from 1924-2000 that are now available online.

Former Student Government Assembly leaders spearheaded and found funding for the digitazation project.

Approaching the 100th anniversary of Santa Rosa Junior College, SGA and SRJC faculty and staff have compiled these historic copies on the California Digital Newspaper Collections website (cndnc.edu).

“As we move into a more online format in The Oak Leaf ’s 90th year, it brings me some measure of comfort that we have preserved the history online,” said the Oak Leaf adviser and journalism instructor Anne Belden.

“I also think it’s a great tool for students and journalist to compare then and now.”

The first available issue of The Oak Leaf, which was then called Bear Facts, is from Dec. 12, 1924 and allows readers a window to understand the culture of students during that era. Stories included the creation of the Associated Women Students Organization, the annual football banquet and reminders of the upcoming Christmas party.

Over time, the coverage became much more hard-hitting as student journalists printed articles covering the attack on Pearl Harbor and later the 1969 Santa Rosa earthquakes.

During World War II, The Oak Leaf ’s Jan. 12, 1945 issue ran letters of SRJC students who were fighting overseas. The Oak Leaf sent newspapers to the students and the students responded with letters.

A quote from one of the letters read, “The copies of The Oak Leaf, too, are wonderful to get for they bring memories of my association with it, an experience I treasure. The students producing the paper today in the face of odds are doing a wonderful job and revel a swell spirit by their administration. As long as American youth have such determination to see things through, regardless of odds, how

can liberty and justice for all of us help but prevail in one world?”

In recent years, The Oak Leaf has continued to cover local and global events. This year, this student-run newspaper was arguably faced with one of its toughest tasks: covering the North Bay fires.

One of the people who led this digitization project was former SGA President and current Inter-Club Council Chair Joshua Pinaula.

“To my knowledge, there had been many groups that wanted to have The Oak Leaf digitized and for a long time, but it seemed like no one had the time to figure out the exact steps on how to do it,” he said.

Pinaula, a history major, faced many roadblocks trying to achieve this project.

“In the end, this project was a student-lead initiative, and it’s one that took a lot more work than you may think,” he said. “When I first started, I was told that we should ‘put a pin in it,’ and later in meetings, there was a point where I had to really emphasize, ‘I’ve acquired $20,000 to get this project done!’ I’m only the student body president until the end of this academic year, this is the only opportunity that we will have to get this kind of funding—we’re getting this done now.”

Pinaula understands that a student reading “SGA pays $20,000 to digitize student newspaper” might to be critical of the SGA. “I wanted to explain that we were using the reserves, a restricted revenue source, the $1 Representation Fee, to do this project,” Pinaula said.

The $1 Representation Fee is restricted to being used for representational issues.

There’s a very small list of things that those funds can be used for, but one of those things is a student newsletter. In this case he made an argument for The Oak Leaf.

Pinaula gives most of the credit to Curriculum Technician Adrienne Leihy for the success of this project.

“I was able to obtain the funding and get the project started, but Adrienne really helped facilitate all the communications between all the involved departments and getting the project finished,” Pinaula said.

“I also want to thank the SRJC archives for embracing the digital age—digitizing our yearbooks is the next project!”

Find our NEW! mobile app on your preferred platform

The mobile app will help unite the diverse SRJC community by alerting them to breaking news and current events in a timely manner Theoakleafnews.com

TheOakLeafNews

-Follow usInsta: @srjcoakleafnews & Twitter: @theoakleafnews In the midst of its coverage this semester, As the paper transitions away from print, The Oak Leaf has also been transitioning The Oak Leaf developed an app, which is to a mostly online publication. Although available in the Apple App Store or in the the paper has run three print issues, most Google Play store. of this semester’s content can be found online at www.theoakleafnews.com.

Sports

www.theoakleafnews.com

5

International player scores with SRJC

Q&A with Scottish transfer student and former pro athlete Matthew Wreden Staff Writer For Santa Rosa Junior College freshman Owen McCabe, a transfer student from Scotland, soccer is everything. On the field, McCabe is known for being vocal during games, making sure his teammates are all on the same page and keeping their spirits up.

McCabe and the Bear Cubs finished with an overall record of 10-7-4 and a conference record of 4-3-3. The team lost in the second round of the playoffs against No. 1 seed Fresno College. McCabe is one of six foreign student athletes on the soccer team, all of whom are pursuing the “American Dream.”

McCabe recently sat down with the Oak Leaf to discuss his soccer career at SRJC, living in Scotland and more.

Q: Explain your life in Scotland and how you started with soccer.

A: I finished school at 16 in Menzieshill. I knew I wanted to start working and coaching. I began working with a school doing elementary work for kids from 18-monthold to 16-years-old who had an interest playing soccer. During that time, I was also playing for a semipro soccer team called “Dundee” in Dundee, Scotland. It was a relaxed league. I got to play football with all my friends.

Q: When did you start to play soccer?

A: I began to play when I was only 4-years-old. I was very early to the game. My dad has been there for my entire soccer life.

Q: How was the process of moving to the United States?

A: The process took a while. For about a year to a year-and-a-half I was trying to get everything finalized and get all the accommodations done. When I was about halfway through the process, I told my mom, “I don't want to do it anymore.” All the waiting was getting to me, but I got into this mindset where I just wanted to finish this.

Q: Why did you move here?

A: You know, all throughout my teenage years I always told my friends, “America is the place I want to go.” I heard of this “American Dream,” and I wanted to get in on it. I was so excited to move here. Just the little things like the weather were something I was looking forward to. In Scotland, it’s cold and wet year round. But, the main reason why I moved here was for the soccer. I wanted a different perspective of how the game was played. I wanted to be with a better talented group of guys.

Q: How did you did you discover SRJC? A: Someone just told me about the school. So me and my dad sat down and did a lot of research. I reached

Dakota McGranahan/ Oak Leaf

Once a semi-professional soccer player, Scottish transfer student Owen McCabe is now displaying his talents at SRJC.

out to the coach [Marty Kinahan] and started the process. Being in another country, Marty keeps me motivated and it helps a lot.

Q: What was your experience during the Tubbs Fire?

A: Being so close really opened my eyes, and as the first day went on, it was really scary. To see such a great response from the community, it was amazing.

Q: What are the biggest problems with being a foreign student athlete?

A: I really never had any prob-

lems. Just learning the different soccer language was the hardest part.

Q: What is the biggest change you saw from your teammates from Scotland and here?

A: The standard of play is 10 times better than back home. It is very competitive here—way more than back home in college. Back home you train twice a week and then have a game on the weekend.

Soccer is full-time here, which I really enjoy.

Q: Do you miss Scotland? Do you

ever have second thoughts?

A: Of course I miss my friends and family, but at the same time I love it here. I never stop and think what would I be doing if I was back home.

McCabe has another year to play at SRJC, before he can make the move on to a four-year university. McCabe said he would love to stay local because of the great weather. He wants to attend Sonoma State University and continue playing the sport he loves.

Trump vs. sports Anthony Rea Staff Writer

Opinion President Donald J. Trump should be focused on politics instead of always thrusting himself into the sports world.

Most businesses he has owned or been involved with haven’t done well, like Trump University or the New Jersey Generals.

The Generals was a team in the United States Football League thatTrump owned. During a 1984 interview, he said he could’ve purchased the Dallas Cowboys, but thought the Generals were a better investment.

The USFL was created in 1982

by David Dixon, who saw an opportunity to form a football league that ran through spring and summer, providing football fans something to watch when the NFL is finished in the fall.

Ratings were decent during the first few seasons, but in 1985 the USFL voted to move from spring to fall because of the pressure Trump put on the owners to try to compete with the already established and popular NFL. After he lost a lawsuit claiming the NFL was monopolizing fall football failed, the USFL collapsed in 1986.

In 2014, Trump, once again, tried and failed to purchase an NFL franchise, this time the Buffalo Bills, but wasn’t able to because he claimed

the price was too high. And big surprise, he turned to Twitter to vent.

“Even though I refused to pay a ridiculous price for the Buffalo Bills, I would have produced a winner. Now that won’t happen.”

Trump was pissed after his previous attempts to purchase NFL teams were foiled by other owners, who wanted nothing to do with him. His need to be No. 1 drove him to bite off more than he could chew and he made it his mission to beat them at their own game.

Trump is acting like a jealous ex-girlfriend with the NFL because some of his buddies are owners like the Dallas Cowboys’ Jerry Jones, who donated $1 million to Trump’s campaign.

When you thought the tensions between the NFL and Trump couldn’t get any worse on Sept. 20, Trump gave a speech in Alabama that was supposed to be a rally for Republican Senator Luther Strange. Instead, Trump had to bring up the protest occurring in the NFL in which players knelt during the National Anthem, a movement started by former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick.

In the speech, Trump said, “Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now. Out! He’s fired. He’s fired!”

Just let that sink in. Our president is telling owners to fire players for exercising their First Amendment rights and calling them sons of bitches. That’s something you would nev-

Devin Schwarz/ Oak Leaf

Throughout his presidency, Donald Trump has lashed out at multiple sports organizations as well as individual players.

er hear come out of the mouth of any other president but then again we're talking about Donald Trump, the man who said “grab em by the p***y” in a 2005 recording.

The sports world is fighting back.

Trump’s buddy Jones and other owners were quick to turn on him after the “son of a bitch” speech. Some even kneeled with their players, and others linked arms with them.

He hasn’t been allowed to be involved in the business side of the NFL, so instead he finds other ways to mess things up. Through Twitter posts or in his speeches he’s also attacked NFL players and professional teams for opting to skip the traditional White House visit after a championship season.

The first professional team expected to visit during Trump’s presidency was the 2017 NFL champions, the New England Pa-

triots. A total of 68 players were invited to the White House, but shocking no one, only 34 of those players made the appearance.

Many of the players made it known early like Martellus Bennett, who told reporters in the locker room immediately following the Super Bowl win that he wouldn't visit the White House.

Even Tom Brady, the guy who had the “Make America Great Again” hat in his locker, didn’t show up.

It's clear that athletes and professional sports teams don't respect Trump. How could you? The man goes to Twitter whenever anybody says something remotely bad about him and doesn’t seem to shut up about things he has no business being in.

Trump does not just go after football. After the Golden State Warriors terrific 2017 playoff run, culminating in a championship, two time MVP

Stephen Curry said he wouldn't attend the White House visit when he was asked in an exit interview after the championship win.

Instead of representing our country better and just ignoring it, Trump addressed this by embarrassing America once again with a tweet saying Curry’s invitation had been revoked. There are more important things in politics than the Warriors not visiting the White House.

Trump needs to stay in politics and worry about things like funding the government right now.

Sticking his nose into this is not only pointless and makes America a look bad, he’s not adding anything to them. He’s just taking away. When players have mixed sports and politics they’ve used their platform for good. Their protests open people's eyes and bring them together instead of separat-

6

Features

December 11, 2017

Get your apples ready

By Charlotte Maxwell

Sarah Lesson, Philosophy

Q: What do you hope to accomplish here?

Q: What is your best college memory?

A: More than anything, I hope to be a small A: It's hard to pick one. School is my happy part of the story my students tell about how place! Makes sense that I chose to be a teacher. they fulfilled their dreams. It's hard to say how Now I never have to leave college. grateful I am to join the community here at Santa Rosa Junior College and for the chance to Q: What is your favorite junk food? share my passion and knowledge of philosophy A: Easy, chocolate. Does wine count as junk food? in our classrooms.

Q: What is the best career advice you’ve received?

Q: What was your dream job as a child?

A: It sounds corny. But if you're able, pick a A: For the first 12 years of my life I was sure I job that's truly meaningful to you. Money can would be a veterinarian when I grew up. Sadly, buy a lot of things, but it can't buy you purpose I eventually realized that I'm not strong enough or fulfillment. to see animals suffer, so I'd be useless in that field. But to this day, I'm amazed by people who Q: What inspired you to work in your are able to do that important work. chosen field?

A: Philosophy is one of the few places in life where the questions matter more than the

Q: What do you hope to accomplish at SRJC? Q: If you eat eggs, how do you like them prepared?

A: I want to be able to give to students the A: Over-easy. knowledge that I have gained over my 36 years of my nursing career and to learn from them.

Q: What was your favorite class as an unI want to show the students and the commu- dergraduate? nity what the college is standing for in this A: Creative writing because I have a vivid nursing program and to usher students into imagination, and it gave me an outlet to express careers and help them be better prepared. I myself. want to get involved in different clubs when I’m able to and just really come into the JC Q: What is the soundtrack to your life? family. I want to give them my experience and A: “The Wind Beneath My Wings.” take from their experience.

Q: What is the best career advice you’ve received?

Leon Hsu, Physics

Q: What do you hope to accomplish at SRJC? A: To make a difference in students’ lives by helping them to succeed in physics. I used to be at a research intensive university and part of my reason for coming here was I really liked the teaching part of my job.

Q: If you eat eggs, how do you like them prepared?

A: I like them fried.

Q: What was your favorite class as an undergraduate?

A: I had a physics class called “Physics of Nuclear Weapons, Nuclear War,” and a couple other things. It has now taken on the less aggressive title of “Widely Applied Physics.” But, in that class, we looked at how physics could be used

Q: What do you hope to accomplish at SRJC? A: I hope to encourage my students and the greater college community to appreciate the value of writing and the value of good critical thinking and to think about various political and social issues in a new and more exciting way. I’m really passionate about new media and technology, and how students participate with it in their own lives. I think part of my job is to be an advocate for writing and to think about how writing takes place in every classroom and the value of writing in students’ greater lives.

Q: If you eat eggs, how do you like them prepared?

A: Scrambled. I can only eat them scrambled. It’s so terrible. My wife always makes fun of me because she can eat them in all the different ways, but I can only eat them scrambled with a lot of cheese.

Q: What was your favorite class as an undergraduate?

A: I had so many. I went to UC Santa Barbara as an undergraduate, so the one I always talk about is a class I randomly took. It was film studies for general education. It was called Film Music. I thought we would be discussing scores of movies, like John Wil-

liams and Alexandre Desplat. But it turned out that the class was all about movies about music.

It was taught by this film director from Hollywood who had spent her career doing indie films about the punk scene in Los Angeles. I’m really passionate about music and film, so taking that class was incredible. Our final for the class was to write a paper where we argued on behalf of our choices for a soundtrack to our lives.

A: Whatever I do, do it with my whole heart and my whole might. And to know that I am the eyes, ears, mouth and hand in the heart of God and to give the best service I can.

answers. I continue to be inspired by my discipline because it invites us to cultivate an appreciation for uncertainty and complexity in a world that's constantly trying to sell us vacuously simple, sure solutions.

Q: How do you relax at home?

A: I cook, bake, embroider, abuse a ukulele, hike, play video games and mostly snuggle with my dogs, Calliope and Persephone, who are my best friends, and my cats, Arthur and Jeremiah.

Lillian Rankins, Health Science

Q: If you had $5 million how would you spend it?

A: After I pay my bills, I think I would like to invest in an unwed mothers program to get unwed mothers the opportunity to better themselves. It would be a program with accountability to start them off with jobs to help them get started.

Q: What inspired you to work in your chosen field?

A: I had a job tutoring physics. I found that students, every semester, would come in with the same questions. So I felt like there should be something one could do to the physics classes to eliminate these common questions that Q: What is the best career advice you’ve re- students have. I became very interested in what ceived? you need to do in a physics class to learn the A: The best career advice I received was material. from an older professor at the University of Minnesota. He told me that I had to give myQ: If you had $5 million, how would you self permission to do things badly, because we spend it? all try to do everything as well as we can. But A: I have a lot of different ideas. I could use sometimes there’s too much to do and you do some of the money to support research in the best that you can, and if it doesn’t come out physics education. I could provide a foundagreat, you have to say, “That’s OK, I’ll improve tion for scholarships for students in need who on it going forward.” are interested in physics or the sciences. to get order of magnitude estimates for a wide variety of applications, from looking at how deep submarines could go, to how big the blast would be from a nuclear bomb, to how airplanes fly and how to design a plane that could fly at different speeds. To me that was really exciting.

something that will improve your professional experience. When I was a master student, I decided to stay an extra year in the program because one of my mentors said, “if you’re getting professional experience, you should stay.” That made all the difference.

Q: What inspired you to work in your chosen field?

A: My dad. Both of my parents were teachers for their entire careers. After I got my BA, I went to Japan and taught English for a year. That made me really inspired to come back and get my credential so I could teach in America. From there, it developed into working with English and then feeling like I wanted to become a college instructor. And now here I am.

Q: What is the soundtrack to your life?

A: I listen to everything. I started listening to Michael Jackson and pop music from the ‘90s. My dad is a big jazz fan, so I listened to a lot of jazz music in junior high. I listened to a lot of ska in high school and Ben Harper. From there, I got turned on to punk music and emo music, and then from there it developed into indie music. Now I just listen to Q: If you had $5 million how would you spend it? blues and rock. My wife is really into country, so A: I always say I would pay off all my debt. My now I’m getting into country. It’s all over the place. wife and I just bought a house, so I’d pay that off.

Then I’d pay off my parents’ debt. Then I’d pay off Q: What is the best career advice you’ve received? my wife’s parents’ debt. Then if there was monA: The best career advice is to go into a job where ey left over, I’d buy a new car for us, and I’d put you’re learning all the time. Another piece of advice, the rest in a savings fund for my new baby who’s even if it’s to your detriment financially, is to do coming in March.

John Kincheloe, English

www.theoakleafnews.com

Features

7

Annexation’s rose-colored glasses also increase for 2018, the current charge for a 32-gallon can is $17.05, effective Jan. 1, the new rate for a 32-gallon can will be Co-Features-Editor $26.85 per month. Taxes such as these There’s a neighborhood in Santa Rosa are estimated to add up to more than that once existed within a bureaucratic $220,000 in new revenue for the city, a purgatory realm. The neighborhood is number that will increase annually. part of a 715 acre, concrete chain of five For the majority of Roseland’s low-inislands, situated inside Sonoma County come families, the increase in the aforeyet outside of any city limits. It’s an area mentioned taxes and fees—although inconsidered to be more urban than its sur- cremental—can place an added strain on roundings, with a highly concentrated financially strapped residents. population forming a residential nucleus.

“I think residents will definitely be afThe United States Census Bureau de- fected with the regulations and the taxes,” fines these areas as a census designated Salazar said. place or CDP for short. The locals in SanAlong with taxes and fees, another ta Rosa have a somewhat more appropri- increase Roseland residents can expect ate and endearing term for the area. They to see is the development of desperately call it: Roseland. needed housing, which is already under“Roseland, located just minutes south way. The county has long struggled with of downtown Santa Rosa, is now “of- a massive housing shortage, exacerbated ficially” part of Santa Rosa following a by the recent and unprecedented North successful vote to annex the neighbor- Bay wildfires’ devastation. hood into the city, in which only 44 votNew housing development in Roseers and 41 property owners filed formal land doesn't necessarily translate into objections. The vote to annex Roseland the construction of more affordable, is the culmination of an initiative led by multi-family units. various city and county officials over the “We’re not going to focus our housing course of the past ten years. The Nov. 1 efforts in Roseland,” Jones said. “We want approval increased Santa Rosa’s popula- to distribute equally. However, the houstion by an estimated 7,400 residents. ing is developer driven.”

In Roseland, goats and sheep graze A San Ramon-based Lafferty Commuin the yards as taco trucks and tamale nities development site named Blume is stands grace the streets. This popula- currently underway on Sebastopol Road tion of farm animals and Latino ven- and advertises 51 single-family-residencdors have been at the heart of Roseland es ranging from 1,355 to 2,450 square feet for decades. Following the recent an- and 16 townhomes from 1,368 to 1,600 nexation, residents question whether square feet. or not city-impleThe company demented and develscribes Blume as beoper-driven changes ing “...in the urban “Is Roseland going will force Roseland heart of the wine to have a change of country, an area with to be the new place heart, so to speak. a vibrant culture waitto kick it? Where “We want to ing to be explored.” maintain the charA stone's throw the tacos are organic acter and culture down the road from and cost $5 and the of that area, but we Blume is another will prioritize infrabillboard located Mexican market structure that will be near Brittain Lane becomes a fairneeded,” said Jessica advertising close Jones, Santa Rosa’s to six acres offered trade coffee shop?” supervising planner. at $2,395,000. The Due to its -SRJC faculty member Coldwell Banker long-standing status billboard touts the as a census designatlocation as having ed place, Roseland “great development has gone decades potential” at 8-18 without the benefits units per acre. of improved sidewalks, roads and comRobert Martinez, 22, SRJC political mercial development. science major and Roseland resident, reGlen Salazar, Roseland resident and mains cautiously optimistic about what student success technician at SRJC’s Roseland’s annexation will mean for the Southwest Center in Roseland, knows housing market. this all too well. “It kind of feels like we’re “I’m happy we are finally part of in a Third World country here with the Santa Rosa, but this is five months roads and infrastructure,” Salazar said. too late. I would have voted for MeaSanta Rosa is slated to receive $12 mil- sure C and I’m worried that because lion from Sonoma County to offset the it didn't pass, those of us in Rosecost of improved roads, parks and other land will be negatively affected.” basic municipal needs for Roseland. In Measure C, which would have imple2015, a city report estimated that it would mented rent and eviction-control ordicost Santa Rosa upwards of $80 million nances in Santa Rosa, was rejected by to bring the neighborhood on equal 52.5 percent of the voters at the ballot box ground with the rest of the city. this past June.

With improved infrastructure comes Devin Cardenas, co-director of the increased costs for the city to cover the North Bay Organizing Project, was one balance. Who will pay these costs and of many advocates pushing for Measure how is a concern for Roseland residents. C to pass. Cardenas believes Sonoma “The biggest questions we get are ‘what County is the next domino to fall in the is going to cost me?’ And ‘are my taxes Bay Area’s losing battle against gentrificagoing to go up?’” Jones said. tion and the ongoing housing crisis.

The city has assured residents that “There’s been push out happening property taxes will not increase as a result across the county due to the rising housof the annexation, however it will imple- ing market and greedy landowners,” ment new taxes and fees. The city added Cardenas said. “I think low-income, a five percent Utility User Tax to the cost multi-family unit housing will be crucial. of monthly utilities PG&E provides.

We need to make housing on public land Garbage and recycling services will accessible to working-class people.”

Michael Barnes

Michael Barnes/ Oak Leaf

Property managers are quick to put up signs amidst the 2017 Roseland annexation touting that the new city will have lots of potential.

Cardenas points to Sonoma Coun- the neighborhood home may not have ty’s recent SMART Train as one of the privilege of voting because of their the possible factors in the displace- legal status. ment of residents.

Without the security blanket of rent “Public transportation projects like control, the fear of price gouging and the SMART Train can be synonymous rapid development has some Roseland with the push out of low-income, work- residents leery of the future. ing-class residents.”

“I’m worried there’s nothing to stop the Research from a joint UCLA-UC cost of living to go up higher even though Berkeley Urban Displacement Project wages aren’t going up” Martinez said. on gentrification and displacement in Other residents choose to look at the urban communities revealed from “2000 potential benefits future development to 2013, neighborhoods near light-rail can bring to the area. or subway projects are more associated “People might be resistant to the with increases in white, college-educated, change because they like to do things trahigher-income households and greater ditionally,” Salazar said. “If there’s more increases in the cost of rents.” housing, then more people might enroll The findings stated, “Conversely, in the Southwest Center campus.” neighborhoods near rail development A SRJC faculty member, who chose are associated with greater losses in dis- to remain anonymous, is concerned for advantaged populations, including indi- the impact on the cultural and ethnic viduals with less than a high school di- makeup of the neighborhood, worrying ploma and lower-income households.” that Roseland could be on its way to sufThe study acknowledged, “The im- fering the same fate as San Francisco's pacts vary across locations, but the Mission District. biggest impacts seem to be around the “Is Roseland going to be the new hip downtown areas where transit-oriented place to kick it?” the resident asked. developments interact with other inter- “Where the tacos are organic and cost $5 ventions aiming to physically revitalize and the Mexican Market becomes a fairthose neighborhoods.” trade coffee shop?”

The SMART The Roseland Train is receiving Community Village praise for rejuveshopping center on nating the businessSebastopol Road “When I hear es in Santa Rosa’s appears to serve as grandfathering in, I downtown Railground zero for the road Square with hear ‘you’re sustaining ongoing revitalizaits 7 Fourth St. station efforts in the a generation.’ How tion. The Railroad neighborhood, with Square station is a city planned event many more years one of three stations called “Roseland do we have of the in Santa Rosa, with Community Celethe others located at bration” scheduled culture and energy the Sonoma Counto take place there it has right now?” ty Airport and off of on Jan. 20.

Guerneville Road Event planner and -Jake Ward, event in North Santa Roseland resident Rosa. UnsurprisJake Ward, the man planner and Roseland ingly, there are no behind the first ever resident stops in Roseland.

“Roseland Commu“People in Rosenity Festival” that land need to form a took place on Oct. voting block to push 1, has volunteered the city to give low-income families ac- to assist the Community Advisory Board cess to public transportation, better wag- with the annexation celebration event. es and rent protection,” Cardenas said.

"Some people living in Roseland For Roseland residents, the annex- don't even realize what exactly is goation finally allows them the opportuni- ing on legally there," Ward said. “Some ty to get involved and vote on initiatives of the residents wonder how retaining directly affecting them. Yet, a majority of the unique cultural identity amidst bethe nearly 60 percent of Latinos who call ing annexed is going to be possible?”

The city will "grandfather in" certain taco trucks, food vendors and livestock lots for longtime neighborhood residents following the annexation. However, this legal flexibility pertains to only one generation of Roseland's residents, business owners and farmers.

"When I hear grandfathering in, I hear 'you're sustaining a generation,' but long-term what happens for Roseland? How many more years do we have of the culture and energy it has right now?"

Ward said.

Merchants in downtown Santa Rosa successfully lobbied against the presence of taco trucks and food vendors in Railroad Square because of the perceived threats they posed to businesses.

Roseland allows for taco trucks and food vendors to operate, partly because of the neighborhood’s long-standing designation as county land outside the purview of city regulations.

In 2007, the Sebastopol Road Urban Vision Plan proposed a tree-lined plaza housing mixed-use buildings, a grocery store and acres of newly developed parks for families in and around the Roseland Community Village shopping center.

Ten years later, there’s no tree-lined plaza, just a Dollar Tree. No mixed-use buildings, only the Roseland Community Library, which may not be open past June 2018 depending upon its budget. The new grocery store is the same one that has always been there, Camacho Market. And as for acres of newly developed parks for families, behind the Dollar Tree is Remembrance Village, a newly developed encampment of more than 100 homeless recently uprooted from highway underpass encampments downtown.

As numerous efforts and proposals to revitalize and redevelop Roseland into something bigger and better have come and gone, one constant remains: the resiliency of community members who remain loyal to a neighborhood that allows them to maintain their collective identity.

This resilient identity is the beating heart of Roseland.

The recent annexation into Santa Rosa brings another round of even more ambitious development and revitalization plans to the neighborhood, leaving many in the community to wonder how long the heart of Roseland can continue to beat at the same rate it has for decades.

SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO?

Deconstructing the housing market Brandon McCapes News Edtior Additional reporting by James Wyatt

A

lthough October’s wildfires spared his Santa Rosa home near the Coffey Park neighborhood, Santa Rosa Junior College fashion design major Garrett Cledd and his family are still losing their home.

Cledd lives with his father and his father’s girlfriend on Tedeschi Drive, where they rent a four-bedroom house on a month-to-month lease agreement. Many property owners in Santa Rosa are taking advantage of the high home prices due to the increase in demand and decrease in supply following the fires.

“They want to raise the price of the house and sell it,” Cledd said. “You’re just kind of f***ed because fire victims are getting first priority, as they should. Those people lost everything.”

What used to be affordable is now too expensive for people who lost everything.

“My dad’s not even looking because everything is out of our price range,” Cledd said. “The cheap stuff is already taken and there’s just not any options because everything is so expensive these days.”

Cledd’s is one of many stories in post-fire Santa Rosa.

Higher-income residents who lost their homes in the fire are able to out-compete lower-income renters, who are forced out. The costs of the housing loss are being diffused to the region’s most vulnerable residents.

A 2016 survey by the Office of Institutional Research on housing found 1.4 percent of SRJC students were in some condition of homelessness and 10 percent experienced housing problems as a major barrier to academic success.

According to a research project by the Sonoma County League of Women Voters (LWV), Santa Rosa and Sonoma County lack sufficient affordable housing for residents in the low-to-moderate income brackets, a problem only exacerbated by the fires.

“A household with two persons employed full time at minimum wage would have to pay over half (54 percent) of their gross monthly income for a one-bedroom apartment,” the report said.

Housing is considered affordable when its cost does not exceed 30 percent of monthly income.

A majority of renters whose income falls below the median spend more than 50 percent of their income on rent, according to a Sonoma County report on housing and homelessness.

Furthermore, the LWV report states that nearly half of Sonoma County’s young people want to leave the area due to its lack of affordability.

According to The Santa Rosa 2016 Housing Action Plan, the city severely lacks affordable housing.

“This is indicated by rising residential rents and prices, dislocation of working families to other communities (increasing commuting), and increasing reliance on sub-standard housing, over-crowding and other coping mechanisms.”

All of these factors threaten the college’s enrollment, already crippled in recent years as students are pushed into the workforce and away from higher education due to the increased cost of living in the area.

WHEN IS HOUSING AFFORDABLE? WHEN IT’S 30% OR LESS OF MONTHLY INCOME.

THE CRISIS NOW Before the fires, the California Housing Partnership Corporation (CHPC) estimated Sonoma County needed more than 17,000 affordable rental homes to meet the needs of low-income renters. The fires cost the county an additional 4,000 units.

Pre-fire Santa Rosa alone had a deficit of 3,950 housing units and the additional loss of housing in the wildfires brought the total units needed in the county seat to nearly 7,000.

The county suffers a dangerously low vacancy rate of 1.5 percent. A Sonoma County Economic Development Board report, “Building HOMES: A Policy Maker’s Toolbox for Ending Homelessness,” said the optimum vacancy rate in a healthy housing climate is between 6 and 7 percent.

The worry is not necessarily that Sonoma County will become a place reserved for high-income earners, but that the lack of workforce housing is unhealthy for the economy. Shortages in the provision of basic services could occur if the employees fill those positions have to leave the area to find affordable housing.

“If we do not find real solutions to our housing crisis soon, we will see more and more of our younger population and families leaving the area,” the LWV report said. “This will cause the median age to grow higher and higher, until we become primarily a senior community.”

Seniors between the ages 65-84 are the fastest growing population in Sonoma County, increasing by 22,000 between 2006 and 2015.

Without enough affordable housing for lower-to-moderate income residents who make up the workforce, Sonoma County risks losing the workers essential to its booming economy.

ANNUAL INCOME NEEDED TO PURCHASE MEDIAN-PRICED HOME (2016): $116,100 ACTUAL MEDIAN INCOME (2016): $63,910

HOW WE GOT HERE

HOMELESSNESS

Debbie Mckay, a LVW member who worked on the organization’s research project, said the region is feeling the long-term effects of the 2008 economic recession, which crippled the housing industry nationwide.

“We’re partly the victim of the bust in the housing industry because not a lot of housing has been built from 2008 to now,” McKay said.

State and local policies make California a particularly expensive place to build homes. Strict housing regulations, like those enacted by the California Endangered Species Act (CESA), raise the cost of housing.

“We have pretty strict building codes in California,” McKay said. “There’s a lot of things that drive up the cost of housing, like having urban growth boundaries.

Some of these are good policy, but they have the unintended consequence of making land less available.”

Amid the state budget crisis in 2011, Gov. Jerry Brown ended a state redevelopment program, which provided municipalities with funding needed to build affordable housing.

In response to the lack of state funding for affordable housing, municipalities like those in Sonoma County increased fees, a move that sometimes had the unintentional effect of increasing costs to developers and decreasing the incentive to build low-income units.

Urban growth boundaries are intended to keep communities separated by unoccupied land, preserving the insularity of cities but reducing the total available land for building.

Santa Rosa has historically had strict local policies as well, including zoning restrictions on the height of buildings and density of units in a given area.

McKay said these restrictions were designed in a time when Santa Rosans wanted to prevent the city from becoming too big with structures corrupting its picturesque views.

Nowhere is the housing crisis more visible and acute than in the homeless population. Santa Rosa instituted a Housing First policy in dealing with homelessness, which removes conditions on housing the homeless and makes treatment of the underlying causes of homelessness secondary to providing individuals with homes.

The National Alliance to End Homelessness said evidence-based Housing First is the most effective public policy strategy in dealing with the homeless. The LVW report argued that, in addition to being a public health crisis, homelessness is more costly to the public than it would be to provide affected individuals with housing.

“Data from communities across the country show that public costs incurred by those experiencing extended periods of homelessness include emergency room visits, interactions with law enforcement, incarceration, and regular access to social supports and homeless services,” the report said. “These combined costs are often significantly higher than the cost of providing individuals with permanent housing and supportive services.”

Although the county’s homeless population has decreased since the recession due to improved economic conditions, falling from 4,539 in 2011 to 2,835 in 2017, the lack of affordable housing makes the Housing First solution for the remaining homeless residents untenable.

AS OF 2017, SONOMA COUNTY’S HOMELESS POPULATION IS 2,835.

DEVELOPING SOLUTIONS The Sonoma County Community Development Commission (SCCDC) works to promote the production of affordable housing in the region.

Felicity Gasser, senior community development specialist of the commission, said the housing crisis may get worse before it gets better, especially with changes to the tax code on the federal level.

Gasser said some vulnerable renters will likely continue to face eviction as the housing market adjusts to the loss of supply from the fires.

“There will be a secondary wave of displacement where the rental market is going to get even tighter,” Gasser said. “Prices will go up and people who were living here may be displaced because of the fires.”

Public investment in development, increased creativity in working with potential financiers and increased access to funding mechanisms like tax credits are necessary to recover.

Gasser said the effort to solve the problem will require collaboration between local jurisdictions and the county.

“From our agency’s perspective, the response to the housing crisis is going to have to be a collaborative effort between our community partners and city and county agencies,” she said.

Santa Rosa and the county have worked to reduce regulations during the fire, including incentivizing the construction and conversion of granny units and temporarily prohibiting existing housing stock from being used for vacation rentals.

According to McKay, the region, which has long resisted building tall housing developments with high occupant density, will have to revisit restrictive regulations to combat the shortage and its accompanying problems.

“We would look at densities and height restrictions, and try to be innovative,” McKay said. “We would also look at how to do greener housing, which could reduce the cost of housing by lowering utilities.”

“What we can expect to see is a very slow process. I think ideally, we would build smarter from this.”

Photos by Dakota Mcgranahan and James Wyatt

10

Features

December 11, 2017

From low GPA to Prez of SGA Julia Modell Contributing Writer

There is a common misconception that successful Santa Rosa Junior College students follow a linear academic path straight from high school. Student president Evelyn Navarro, 24, seeks to challenge more than one convention in her role at SRJC. “The norm is not a woman of color in a position of leadership.

I want to make my story a norm,” Navarro said.

Navarro sat at her desk in Bertolini Student Center in early december, reflecting on her presidential experience. She described her journey from dropping out of high school, and failing out of SRJC, to holding the highest student leadership position on campus.

Lively decorations filled Navarro’s office. A Dia De Los Muertos skull sat in the far corner and colorful fliers were taped around the room.

“We are not allowed to tack anything on the walls,” she said.

“But I do my best to make it look more inviting.”

Just as the interview began, someone from administration entered to schedule a meeting on an upcoming Friday. There was some deliberation in attempts to move the meeting from what Navarro would later describe as her one personal day of the week—a day often devoted to sleeping, crocheting or reading.

Navarro grew up in Santa Rosa until age 12, when her parents’ separation sent her to the small town of Paso Robles. At age 17, Navarro returned to Santa Rosa, where she soon dropped out of high school.

After receiving her GED a few months later, she enrolled at SRJC in what she describes as her “first go.”

During her campaign, Navarro often publicized the struggles she faced as a student.

“I am very much a returning student, one who actually failed her first time,” she said.

This was an intentional attempt to challenge the norms of how people often perceive SRJC students.

“Our perspective of JC students is kids fresh out of high school, these 18-year-olds who are bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and ready to take on the world,” she said.

Navarro explained that although this description represents some students, it’s becoming less common.

The SRJC student body encompasses many varying experiences, including those of returning veterans, adults getting their first collegiate education, students who return to school after long breaks spent working or struggling through personal issues—to name a few. Navarro described her path to SRJC as one of the many unique journeys.

Navarro’s “first go” at SRJC centered on activism. She worked mostly with MECHA and Black Student Union. Navarro is of Mexican, Ecuadorian and Moroccan descent. Although she identified most with her Mexican heritage growing up, she experienced the loss of identity by assimilation. It was through groups like MECHA that she developed a more revolu-

Dakota McGranahan/ Oak Leaf

Student Government Assembly President Evelyn Navarro is spearheading efforts to help students get their voices heard by the SGA and SRJC administration as well.

tionary mindset and “discovered Despite her doubts, Navarro folshe was brown.” lowed the advice of Stephanie Lynn Although her activism flourished Star, current vice president of diat SRJC, Navarro’s grades fell as per- versity, who advised her not to put sonal stressors grew overwhelming. off goals she has for herself, or time After her father was deported, she was might pass her by. forced to leave school with a 0.8 GPA Navarro considers herself one of on her record. the least popular members of SGA. She relocated to Oklahoma for She describes her winning the presitwo years but found the environment dency by riding on the coattails of the less hospitable to her education. Af- people she ran with. During the camter leaving Oklahoma, she returned paign Navarro worked to constantto Santa Rosa and worked for a few ly advocate for herself and establish years before fully committing to SRJC recognition. While scrolling through once more. She re-enrolled in the fall Facebook to promote one of the many of 2016 and took 19 units to raise her campus events that she was excited GPA as quickly as possible. about, she explained that she refrains “That whole past year was a clean- from sharing too many events because up,” she said. of her lack of presShe raised her ence on the site.

GPA from a 0.8 to For reference, she a 2.1, a mark high clicked on the page “It is important to enough to qualiof Ryan Sansome, realize that women fy her for student vice president of government. student health. of color have these Navarro was not “He has a huge positions because we presence. It looks initially drawn to Student Govern- fought hard for them.” like he hid how ment Assembly many friends he (SGA).

Former -Evelyn Navarro, SGA has, but it must be President and curlike over a thouPresident rent Inter-Club sand,” she said.

Council Chair After her victory, Joshua Pinaula was some students startdetermined to get ed to recognize and her into SGA and approach Navarro asked her to join both before she left on campus. Some call her “madame for Oklahoma and once she returned. president,” which makes her feel awk“She is very caring and she is very ward; she prefers Evelyn. Others have involved, and these are the hardest approached her to reveal they voted things to teach,” Pinaula said. for her because she is a woman or a Entering the SGA, Navarro’s in- woman of color. Navarro understands tention was to become vice president the desire to see more women of color of diversity. At a meeting where she in leadership roles but notes that these spoke about her vision for SRJC, one are not her only attributes. of the members suggested she run “It is important to realize that womfor president. en of color have these positions be“I didn’t want to run because I want- cause we fought hard for them,” Naed to give the students the best version varro said. of myself,” she said.

Leadership is not new to her,

however she faces unique setbacks as SRJC president.

“It is easy to be on the outside, to be revolutionary, to want to change things up,” Navarro said. But Navarro and her fellow SGA members’ ambitions constantly face the constraints of time, money and clout.

Some tragedies are so unexpected, no leader can adequately prepare for them. In 2017, one disaster marked Navarro’s presidency the most: the North Bay Wildfires. In the aftermath, Navarro advised leaders to first make sure their team was okay and to take care of themselves.

“She very much looks at our body as a family,” Pinaula said.

Navarro echoed this in recalling that immediately after she learned of the fires, she contacted all her “kids,” a term of endearment she uses for her assembly members.

When asked what advice she’d give to students dealing with disasters like the fire, Navarro recommended taking advantage of available resources as soon as possible. At the time, many students did not know about the available Fire Relief Fund and many have not received funds because they are now depleted. She recommended taking care of oneself, physically, mentally and emotionally and listed PEERS as a great organization.

“So often we promote these resources without thinking of them as a resource for ourselves,” she said.

Navarro and colleagues set up a Student Disaster Relief task force to help future leaders navigate such disasters.

Navarro paused to make a mental note to contact student representatives she had met from the LA area.

“It makes me sad to think they are going through what we went through.

I want to reach out and share information that we compiled in the task force,” she said.

Navarro named the SRJC food

pantry, established in 2013, as one of the biggest aids to students after the fire. The free food booths work to combat student hunger.

“Last Wednesday, we accidentally got twice the amount of food. There was nearly 2,000 pounds of produce, and we gave away almost all of it. The need for food is vast,” Navarro said.

At the SRJC Fire Relief event, she spoke to the crowd about unity and pointed to the banner behind her, which read, “The love in the air is thicker than the smoke.”

“I love this quote because you know what is left after the smoke is cleared?

Love,” she said. Navarro says she still sees love on campus. “As the weeks go by it kind of dissipates, but I think there is a lot more openness.”

She hopes students are reaching out to each other.

Coordinator and SGA adviser Zack Miranda has witnessed many presidencies throughout his time at SRJC. Miranda reflected on specific aspects of leadership in which Navarro excels.

“She makes a serious effort to check in with SGA members one-on-one, and she takes every opportunity to sit down with students to hear their concerns,” he said.

The thing Navarro would most like students to know about her is that she is open.

“I almost never close my office door,” she said, as her eyes panned to the door she reluctantly saw close at the beginning of the interview. “I purposefully leave it open so people can walk in and speak to me any time they like.”

The presidential office was more restricted in the past, but she pushed to improve her accessibility. Navarro described herself as awkward and shy, but she tries to reach out to people and get to know them. “If you see me walking on campus, I am someone you can approach.”

Features11

www.theoakleafnews.com

Latinx?

Does ‘X’ mark the spot for those of Latin descent?

Bryan Chavez Castro Contributing Writer One of Ellen Valazquez’s maternal ancestors was raped by a Spaniard.

The scars have been passed on for generations.

“I am Latina,” Velazquez said without hesitating. “But I don’t like ‘Hispanic;’ it’s in regards to being of Spanish descent.It’s a touchy subject in my family; we don’t like to accept that term.”

The universal search for identity has raised several issues for people of Latin-American descent. Designating a term for a complex, diverse culture that is comprehensive is a complicated task. The genderedness of Spanish, the patriarchal implications of the standard norms of the language, and the fight for inclusion of new gender identities have only added to the debate.

In Spanish, for example, the masculine form of words is default: a Latino is a term for a Latin-American male. When the community of people from Latin America came into contact with the English language in the United States, “Latino community” was adopted. Subsequently, it was

used across the board. Latino was the designated term to prefix generalizations about the culture.

Some people were not happy with that.

“People want to take the patriarchal connotations of the Spanish language and contest it and change it,” said Dr. Amanda Morrison, coordinator of the Intercultural Center at Santa Rosa Junior College’s Petaluma Campus. “I am an anthropologist and Chicano Studies scholar,” Dr. Morrison said, when asked about her credentials. “See how I revert back to the masculine ‘Chicano’?” she said, laughing. “It’s taking some time to get used to it.”

As a result, “Latino/a” came along.

It is a common form of inclusion in the Spanish language; it’s meant to be said as “Latino, Latina.” The term seemed to solve the patriarchal connotations. It became official when scholars started to use it.

Younger generations, however, found a problem with the term: it did not acknowledge identities that do not fall under binary gender categories.

“Millennials are coming up with interesting linguistics innovations regarding gender and sexuality,” Dr. Morrison said. “[They] are challenging the gender and sexuality binaries with language.”

Exponentially, the word “Latinx” started to pop up in social media news feeds and online publications in lieu of previous terms. Folks who do not identify themselves with either of the binary gender categories started to use it, and it became a tool that seemed to check all the boxes: it’s gender neutral, non-patriarchal and unrelated to past Spanish influence on Latin America.

Mainstream media have yet to adopt the term, though. “I finished grad school in 2010, and I was in a cutting-edge, Latin American grad school program and I didn’t hear it,” Dr. Morrison said. Although ubiquitous among millennial media, the term is not mainstream. “But if [the millennial] generation decides it’s the norm, they’re gonna be able to flex that,” she said.

Dr. Mai Nazif, SRJC world languages instructor, came across the term “latinx” for the first time in the Fall of 2016.

“I found out about it because it was nominated for the Oxford Dictionary’s Word of the Year Award,” she said.

Latinx made it to Oxford’s short list.

The award is given to popular words during a given 12-month period that have the potential for lasting cultural relevancy. It’s popularity rose exponentially during that year.

The term was created by bilingual and bicultural circles of people of Latin-American descent in the U.S., so it was most likely influenced by English language patterns. The choice of sub-

Antisocial media: Taylor Marek Seprish Contributing Writer Parents often tell their children that too much screen time will fry their brains, but new research suggests consequences may be more severe than burning eyes and lack of sleep. They could face increased risk for suicide.

Between 2005 and 2012, a nationwide study found that depression symptoms in teens soared 31 percent, and suicide attempts rose 23 percent.

The amount of teens who died by suicide rose 31 percent.

Jean Twenge, San Diego State University professor of psychology, recently published her findings on the correlations between increased screen time and rates of suicide and depression. She found the generation of teens born after 1995 have a higher risk of suffering from mental illness. An epidemic, she says, is affecting teens from every region of the country.

Twenge ruled out income inequality, financial issues and academic pressure as causes because she saw these rates were unaffected by factors like income or race. Twenge ultimately found that as smartphone ownership increased amongst teens, so did the rates of suicide and depression.

Although social media is meant to connect people, according to Twenge, it’s driving us apart—physically at least.

Lack of face-to-face interaction often negatively affects our moods and can possibly lead to depression and suicide.

Risk of suicide is tied to increased screen time

Jean Erlenborn, Santa Rosa Junior Although Epstein recognizes soCollege health promotion specialist, cial media as a potential cause for believes the exact cause of the rising rising suicide rates, he believes that suicide rates would be hard to pin- it also connects people in ways they point. She believes that sharing stories otherwise wouldn’t be connected, over social media about overcoming which, he says, can be beneficial. mental illness can be helpful for someBoth Erlenborn and Epstein reone who is struggling and even en- ported an influx of students recentcourages them to seek help. ly, especially after the North Bay However, she pointed out a couple wildfires, seeking help from Student of specific problems she sees with so- Psych Services. Both noted a rise in SRJC students cial media regardreporting depresing mental illness. sion and suicidal “When people say things like ‘I feel “I have been happy to feelings as well as bipolar today,’ or see that the stigma of stress and anxiety.

Many SRJC stu‘you’re so OCD,’ mental health issues dents belong to throwing those the generation words around like is slowly receding.” born after 1995, they’re adjectives, and statistically can be harmful to -Bert Epstein, SRJC those actually strugexpeience higher assistant director of gling day to day with levels of mental things like this,” Erstudent health services illness. Millennials lenborn said. are fighting interErlenborn also nal battles unbenoted the potential knownst to most. hazard of increased Erlenborn adscreen time on someone already suf- vises that a close friend or relative fering with depression. The consequent of someone who is having suicidal lack of physical interaction can in- feelings to use the Question, Percrease feelings of isolation, dangerous suade and Refer Method (QPR) territory for someone with depression. when offering support.

Bert Epstein, SRJC assistant director She summed it up by saying, of Student Health Services, believes “Offer them hope, because hopesocial media can be beneficial in many lessness is the strongest predicways. “I have been happy to see that the tor that someone will make an stigma of mental health issues is slowly attempt, so it’s important to try receding. Normalization (of mental ill- to understand and feel their pain ness) is happening on social media and and connect them with alternamany other places,” Epstein said. tives to suicide.”

Coutesy of swarthmorephoenix.com

The language of cultural change speaks volumes for a generation of multiple ethnicities.

stituting the feminine ‘a’ and masculine ‘o’ suffixes with an ‘x’ is premeditated. The ‘x’ represents the desire to be undefined.

Dr. Nazif believes it was not chosen randomly. “Like in algebra, the x represents the unknown,” she said.

“Latinx” seems to cover it all. It has faced criticism, however.

For some people, ‘Latinx’ does not roll off the tongue in Spanish because the ‘x’ sound is not prevalent. There is not a single Spanish word that contains an ‘n’ followed by an ‘x.’ Spanish is a phonetic language; every symbol has a distinct sound belonging to it.

Therefore, “Latinx” would be hard to popularize in countries where people predominantly speak Spanish.

An alternative to “Latinx” does exist: “Latine.” It adheres to norms of usage in the Spanish language. Although Dr. Nazif is new to the term, she says it’s a good option. “It follows patterns that exist in Spanish already. Like

when we say ‘cliente,’” she said. “It is gender-neutral.”

To some, the existence of the term is unnecessary. “I think [Latinx] is f*****g stupid,” a SRJC student said.

It is impossible to determine which one of the new terms will eventually replace the mainstream “Latino.” “If [Latinx] will stick remains to be determined,” Dr. Morrison said.

One thing is certain: to stop using “Hispanic” is a safe bet.

“A lot of people don’t like the term ‘hispanic” because it connotes that you’re connected to European descent, and you’re not proud of your indigenous ancestors,” Dr. Morrison said.

For others, like Velazquez, it is a reminder of the belonging to an ascendance that was imposed through violence, which, in a broader sense, applies to the vast majority of people of Latin-American descent.

Fires affect academics Arlo David Contributing Writer After the wildfires that burned through Sonoma County in October, SRJC Communications Studies instructor Karen Cornwell realized she had to make changes to keep students engaged and moving forward.

For the first few weeks, students were in shock and had “frozen faces,” Cornwell said. It was a hard transition back into the routine of classes, especially for those who had lost homes or loved ones.

Cornwell held what she calls a “hippie circle” in her classes for students to share their fire experiences and current status.

“When we got back, I knew I had at least two students in each of my classes who had lost their homes,” she said.

The circle gave her insight into what students were going through and how to better help them.

Cornwell is one of many SRJC faculty members in this position as classes resumed after the two-week interruption.

Instructors had to change due dates, remove non-essential class material and adjust to the effects of lost class time.

Despite the support from the SRJC administration with additional resources and comprehensive policies to accommodate those affected by the fires, Cornwell found students were still overwhelmed and didn’t necessarily feel supported.

Students said the resources weren’t always accessible enough to be helpful.

“There were too many hoops to jump through for support,” Cornwell said.

Cornwell went out of her way to advocate for students and assist them in getting the help they needed, going as far as paying

out-of-pocket for a computer for a student.

SRJC speech instructor Cassandra Schafer also encountered difficulty with getting students back into the swing of things. However, she has started to see improvements in academic performance.

Schafer made a similar observation immediately after the fire, that students were “glossy eyed and distant,” which she attributes to the shock that comes after days of being on the edge and concerned for one’s safety.

She tried to adjust classes to the twoweek loss of instruction time. “We lost 12 percent of the semester. Our workload should reflect it.”

Philosophy instructor Alexa Forrester was impressed by how quickly most of her students adapted and were minimally affected in their academics.

Forrester noted that the fire was very difficult for student athletes in particular because game frequencies increased to make up for time lost, prompting student athletes have to choose between getting enough sleep or finishing homework.

Unfortunately, not all professors share the same experience.

Communications Studies instructor Monnet Zubieta has had a harder time with students’ performance since the fire.

She has seen attendance plummet and a significant decrease in the amount of assignments turned in.

Zubieta had students who lost their homes, barely made it out alive, or lost loved ones.

2018 is going to be a trying time for many SRJC community members, especially those dealing with the loss of employment or housing.

“It is going to be hard going forward,” Cornwall said, “but if anyone can overcome it, SRJC can.”

12 opinion

December 11, 2017

EDITORIAL

#Defend Allegations: Why we published DACA E Jose Gonzalez Staff Writer Did you know there are close to 11.3 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States?

An estimated 7,000 to 13,000 are enrolled in colleges throughout the U.S. Whether you believe DACA should continue or not, it’s important to consider what undocumented students are facing and what they bring to the future of the country.

Living undocumented is hard.

Programs that help undocumented students are in dire need.

The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) is a U.S. immigration policy that allowed some people who entered the country as minors, and had either entered or remained in the country illegally, to receive a renewable two-year period of deferred action from deportation and to be eligible for a work permit.

When Donald Trump became president last January, it sent the country's undocumented population into a collective panic. With good reason. Trump announced that DACA should end and asked Congress to act on this issue, giving them until March 5, 2018 to do something.

If DACA ends or if Congress doesn't act, 11.3 million people's lives will change severely. DACA gives opportunities to undocumented students. It gives them a social security and quells their fears of deportation.

DACA recipients pay taxes, go through background checks and a lengthy application process. They are still being called criminals. DACA students have done nothing to this country except stimulate the economy. A DACA renewal fee costs $495.

DACA students want a better education and a better living. They want a place where they feel safe, a place where their lives are not threatened by crime and corruption.

If Congress doesn't act, many individuals will leave: those who had a dream and are now doctors, lawyers, teachers and more. Individuals who work to support themselves and their families and who have hope and passion.

The end of DACA is the end of hope. It’s the end of Dreamers and the beginning of a nightmare for 11.3 million people.

DACA-eligible unlawful immigrants who were brought here as children and grew up here trusted the government with their personal information in exchange for work permits and a reprieve from deportation. They think of themselves as Americans and want to believe the protection they were given won’t suddenly be yanked away.

DACA recipients are culturally and educationally American. They pay their own way, contribute to the economy and don’t live off government handouts.

What are DACA recipients going to do if it ends?

ven Santa Rosa Junior College has not escaped the ongoing cultural reckoning in America. Since the news broke around allegations of sexual misconduct by Harvey Weinstein this fall, women (and men) have been coming forward around the country to name perpetrators of sexual misconduct. In November, a former SRJC student did just that against religious studies instructor and Academic Senate President Eric Thompson.

The Oak Leaf was not the first to scoop this story, but we were the first to break it. After discovering the public Facebook post that accused Thompson of having a sexual relationship with an underage student while he taught at Ursuline High School in the early ‘90s, we published an article about the allegations and Thompson’s subsequent leave of absence from SRJC. This online article is The Oak Leaf’s most viewed of the semester—with 1,970 total views between Dec. 6-10.

In the current cultural climate, it’s no wonder. This is, in fact, big news. The public wants to know about sexual misconduct allegations against prestigious figures.

We deliberated extensively before— and in the days after—the article’s publication. There was a fervor to break the story, but we did not publish allegations we knew would tarnish a human being’s reputation lightly. Thompson is a highly acclaimed faculty member who has won many awards for his contributions to SRJC, including the Tauzer Lectureship in 2011.

The accuser posted the allegations in a public Facebook post nearly a month prior to our discovery of it. Typically news organizations wait for a victim to file a police report or come forward in some other official way to report an assault. In

this day and age, Facebook serves that purpose. She was willing to stake her own reputation, and not anonymously, on her claims.

We chose to publish carefully and only what we knew: that a woman was publicly accusing an important SRJC faculty member of statutory rape that occurred more than 20 years ago, and the college was conducting an independent investigation to look into the matter.

Although we decided to produce initially before we had spoken to the accuser or the accused, we did so because the allegations themselves, true or not, are newsworthy—as is the college’s decision to conduct an independent investigation.

The public—in this case the SRJC community, students and staff—has a right to know and to draw their own conclusions around the veracity of the claims.

The legal system is not capable of dealing with accusations of decades-old assault charges due to statutes of limitations. Assuming a particular accuser’s allegations are true and she did not feel comfortable coming forward until this unique cultural moment, the press is truly the only bastion in which victims can achieve some semblance of justice.

A perpetrator may never face jail time, but, if guilty, he will face the consequences of his actions coming to light, such as loss of job or reputation.

In the case of Sarah Chavez, we at The Oak Leaf consider her a credible source.

Chavez, who lives on the East Coast where she has twin daughters, has no inferable reason to fabricate a claim of an illicit relationship between herself and her teacher from 23 years earlier.

Chavez made these allegations in public and staked her reputation on them.

The Oak Leaf has found no reasonable explanation for why she would do this if a relationship did not occur.

Brandon McCapes/ Oak Leaf

In addition to her lack of motive to destroy Thompson’s reputation, sources who commented on her Facebook post helped to verify some facts.

After much internal debate, The Oak Leaf decided to use the term “sexual misconduct” to describe the allegations in question when referring to the JC’s investigation, and “sexual assault” when referring to Chavez’s allegations.

The editors decided that this was the best way to communicate the facts, because our culture is currently in the midst of debating what terminology to use to discuss such behavior.

“Misconduct” is a more accurate term, given the facts we have now because, it implies behavior that continues over time and is not necessarily physically violent.

If a minor attempts to give consent to an adult for sexual activity, he or she is legally unable to do so and any sex is considered statutory rape, which is sexual misconduct, a more inclusive term.

“Assault” is problematic because it im-

plies a discrete, violent act. In this case, there is no indication that the alleged relationship was violent.

We encourage our readers to question the use of specific terms and, while condemning all sexual misconduct, to remember that there are differences in degrees, for instance, between violent rape and offensive catcalling.

The media has an obligation to report that which is in the public’s interest, like the sexual misconduct allegations against a prominent community member. Readers should consider the facts as they are objectively presented and decide for themselves whether or not they are valid.

Never should the mere presence of allegations lead to a conviction in the court of public opinion.

The Oak Leaf will be investigating this story further in an attempt to provide our readership and the community at large with all of the facts necessary to get to the truth of the matter. What happens next is in the hands of the community.

BSU: where are Y-O-U? Lenita Marie Johnson Staff Writer

The history of the Black Student Union (BSU) on campus is a story of ups and downs.

In the past few years the group was active with a very significant presence among black students. Now there is only a mere handful of members and very few activities.

This leaves me wondering, why is this so?

I’ve begun asking black students I see on campus if they are members.

If they say no - which I already know is the case - I ask them why not?

More often than not they have what I feel is a lame excuse like they don’t have time, or they didn’t know the club exists.

The Associated Student Body re-

jected the proposed BSU during the 1960s. According to school records and ASB minutes, the ASB leadership had a fear that the group would become a segregated club. The BSU was opposed time and again by hundreds of students according to minutes from past meetings.

According to past yearbooks, it wasn’t until the mid-’60s that the BSU came into existence as a formal Santa Rosa Junior College club. It’s been reported by former students who were active, that some meetings received support by the Bay Area chapter of the Black Panther Party based out of Oakland. The club organized events and activities open to all students and the public.

Fast forward to today.

When you attend a meeting three students is considered a full room.

Damien Square was a recent former BSU president. The club held fundraisers to take a trip to Africa and had a significant number of active members under his leadership, which was often considered extremely radical by some members.

Today the group is making an effort to have a presence on campus by helping feed football players during home games, as well as assisting in

food distribution for all SRJC students on Wednesdays at Bertolini Hall. The club’s mission includes bringing together black students at SRJC. “We want to get the word out that any conflicts are in the past,” club President Dyonna Johnson said.

BSU does hold special events open to the public during February highlighting black history – sometimes in conjunction with Feminists United and MeChA. In the ‘70s and ‘80s, the BSU hosted dances, parties and events, according to Dr. Michael Hale, who is among the current faculty advisors. Dr. Andre Larue and Jessica Loggins of the UMOJA (Swahili for unity) program also assist in facilitating the club.

Batel Silimon, a past BSU president, says the club is committed to “connecting with like-minded folks.” Silimon became president after Damion Square, who was extremely active last year as president in attracting new members and having a black presence. Silimon adds it is important to stay connected to BSU groups at other schools like Sonoma State University.

“Having a leadership position also looks good on a resume,” she said. “BSU needs to be an open space for folks to build community

that is dynamic, while being a safe space for students.”

Elias Hinit is a former BSU president and recently became the first black commencement speaker at SRJC. He now attends UC Berkeley where he is active in its BSU. “In order to grow, it depends on individuals being passionate about the group.

Hosting a party or barbeque, anything to bring folks together. Sometimes you have to start small to grow and get connected with the community on campus and in Sonoma County,” Hinit said.

It goes without saying that if the group is to witness a growth in membership and be an active and vital student organization, more student members are needed.

That could include a massive public relations effort on the part of current members to get the word out on campus and in the community that BSU is active. A membership drive would help. Encourage all students - parttime and full-time - to join the group.

It’s that simple...it’s not rocket science.

BSU meets on Tuesdays at noon in Emeritus Hall, room 1692.

Lenita Marie Johnson is the BSU Inter-Club Council liaison.

opinion 13

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Breaking the chains of oppression Chelsea Wood Staff Writer In the era we live in, it’s important to continue on a path of progression rather than one of regression. It’s time to change gender roles and expectations so men no longer expect to get whatever they want from women simply because they’re men.

Women can’t be owned and we don’t owe men anything. However, traditional gender roles and traits have created a society where men exert authority over women and expect compliance and respect in return.

Traditionally, boys are taught to exhibit characteristics of strength, resilience and bravery while girls are socially expected to be docile, quiet and pleasant. For centuries, societies all over the world have catered to the notion that men and women are separate beings with distinctive qualities.

With old-fashioned upbringings come outdated views of gender roles.

We should avoid preaching falsities like “boys don’t cry” and “he must like you if he teases you,” to children because it can lead to misconceptions of love and emotions later in life.

In recent decades, gender roles have been dismantled at a nuclear

level. Many young families are striving to create gender neutral upbringings for their children to not impose one ideal of upbringing over the other. Teaching children they don’t have to adhere to set standards of gender behavior is a step in the right direction that will hopefully continue throughout adulthood.

There are still a plethora of stereotypes that may never be broken. One is that men are superior to women, and because men are providers, they should be praised.

Because men have typically been in powerful positions throughout history, some people believe men hold a greater power over women and expect women to idolize and respect their male counterparts.

With this mindset, women are expected to respect male egos.

Along with this comes an inherited sense of privilege.

Nevertheless, when a woman says “enough” and challenges a man, she is often berated for contesting his “supposed privilege.”

An example of women defending themselves from assumed male authority can be found in any woman’s catcalling story. If a woman is catcalled while walking down the street and decides to say something back to

defend herself, she will often be met with scorn.

Comments like, “You’re not that pretty anyway,” may be thrown at any barrier she puts up in an effort to block unwanted attention. It’s common to experience immediate backlash after objecting to unwarranted comments because men do not expect to be denied.

In Spike Lee’s new Netflix series, “She’s Gotta Have It,” a strong, independent, black woman, Nola Darling, narrates her life in Brooklyn. In episode one, Nola is walking home alone on a dark street when a man catcalls her: “Hey sexy, what’s your name, girl?”

The man approaches her from behind and grabs her, saying, “Bitch, I’m trying to talk to you!” As she breaks from his grasp, he reassures her he’s just trying to talk to her. However, Nola beats his chest and tells him to get off of her. As she runs away, the man shouts, “Fuck you then! I don’t want that stank pussy anyway. Mother fucking black bitch!”

Once a woman stands up for herself, catcalling men are insulted because the authority they believe they have over women is challenged and weakened. It’s as if some men believe overt approaches that objectify their

Rachel Edelstein/ Oak Leaf

prey will yield successful encounters with women.

A woman would have said something back only out of her own defense and frustration for being oppressed for so long. However, simply ridiculing a man for street harassment can lead to more harassment with words like “bitch” hastily trailing sweet nothings of, “Smile for me baby.”

Microaggressions like catcalling are at the root of a much larger societal issue: rape culture.

The Stanford rapist, Brock Turner, is an exemplary case of men taking from women what they believe

would be given willingly and getting away with it. It’s difficult to pinpoint why a rapist believes he is entitled to sex without consent, but it is even more difficult to explain the reasonings of judges who dole out soft sentences to rapists who are white, wealthy and educated.

Consistent affirmations breed men who function on praise, and once it is no longer flooding in, it will still be expected. In some instances, it is even forcibly obtained. This mentality leads to acts of violence against women who don’t give these men what believe they are owed.

Net Neutrality: The internet under attack foremost being that ISPs can charge you extra to view certain sites. They can even block sites entirely if they choose Opinion Editor & Staff Writer to. It would be like a power company The internet is a marvelous place. charging higher rates to homes and With it, access to all human knowledge hospitals so they can make more monis at our fingertips. We can express our ey or not providing energy to any busithoughts and ideas, good or bad, to ness that happens to cross them. thousands, if not millions, across the Say you had a favorite site called PH. globe. However, the internet and the If net neutrality is repealed, then your freedom it represents is under attack.

ISP could charge you an additional fee The Federal Communications Com- to access PH. What happens if your ISP mision plans to vote on the repeal on suddenly takes a moral stance against net neutrality on Dec. 14. You may not PH? Well, remember those parental be aware of how serious this vote could locks when you were a kid? Imagine be or the consequences if it passes. that on every computer and mobile deNet neutrality is the principle that vice that gets its internet from your ISP. internet service providers (ISPs) are Another thing ISPs can do if net neuto treat all data on the internet equally. trality is repealed is throttling. “ThrotIn other words, they tling” is the term can not charge you used when an ISP more or less for uspurposefully speeds ing specific sites or up or slows down “This is not the content. Since 2015, your internet. There most glamorous the internet has been are two ways in considered a public of causes. But this which ISPs can use utility under Title II The first still concerns a very throttling. of the Communicaway is they can slow tions Act. Because down your interimportant facet of this, net neutrality and then offer a of our lives: a free net has been considered “premium” package safe. The upcoming for regular speed ininternet.” vote plans to remove ternet. Another way this protected status. is to control what The FCC wants you see on the into allow a few big ternet. Let’s say The corporations like Verizon, AT&T, and Oak Leaf put a not-so-flattering story Comcast to own and control the inter- about Comcast on its website. Don’t be net. They would sell us the internet for surprised if that page doesn’t load until a monthly fee, then control what they after a couple of minutes. allow us to consume. This could create This isn’t outright blocking, but, peoa monopoly, defeating all other sources ple are impatient and might exit out beof competition. It would force all peo- fore they have a chance to see the story. ple to have to choose between these top In the United States we have the right corporations as a provider. to the freedom of speech. The internet There are several cons that come is a place where a large number of peowith the removal of net neutrality. The ple express that right. If ISP's gain toGrant Wetmore & Reina Underwood

tal control and end net neutrality, they could monitor blogs and block content they don't want others exposed to.

Speaking of Comcast, some ISPs have promised they would not throttle if net neutrality is repealed. However, I would not trust anything these big businesses have to say. In the past, Comcast has been caught interfering with Bittorrent’s web traffic.

The only positive to repealing net neutrality is that ISPs can make an extra buck or two at the expense of the public. This vote came about because of that all-mighty dollar and corporate greed. With net neutrality, we the public had nothing to lose. If net neutrality is repealed, we’ll be the ones suffering the losses while the ISPs reap the benefits.

One could counter-argue that the repeal of net neutrality would free the market. If you don’t like the way your ISP is treating your internet, you could always change your ISP. That may sound logical in theory. You know what else sounds good in theory? Communism, Anarchism and Libertarianism. The truth is, making the internet a free market may not necessarily be the best thing. There are some areas where AT&T or Comcast are people’s only reliable source of internet. What happens if you're dissatisfied with PG&E? Who are you going to turn to for electricity? Opening the internet to the free market allows for shady and unethical business tactics. Remember when Exxon shut down all those refineries for “maintenance” and then jacked up the price of gas? Imagine if an ISP did something similar.

The average American in 2016 spent around $1200 annually on internet and cable alone. Our nation is consumed by technology. Our lives revolve around access to the internet in one form or another.

Rachel Edelstein/ Oak Leaf

We should have a choice if we are being censored. The choice should be up to the people and not large corporations that could be only spreading their bias and the bias of their financial supporters.

The question remains: what can you do to stop this repeal? Directly, not much. The fate of net neutrality lies in the hands of five FCC commissioners. This is not an issue we can vote on, but you can still do something. You can sign a petition online.

You can call your congress member.

You can attend or participate in rallies and protests against the repeal.

Make some noise. If the legislature we elected truly is for the people, they will listen to us when we say we do not want this.

America was founded on a democracy, full of choices and variety. If we give the power to a few, we won't be exposed to different views or world problems they may try to intentionally block. Net neutrality is a reality today, but if the FCC allows it to be repealed, we will wake up with a harsh reality of our open democracy Internet coming to an end.

This is not the most glamorous of causes. But this still concerns a very important facet of our lives: a free internet. It may not come to pass. Maybe the ISPs will stick to their word and things will go on like they always have. But are you willing to risk the Internet that we have come to love and put it in the hands of for-profit corporations? I, for one, am not willing to take that chance.

14

A&E

December 11, 2017

Bf2 fails to justify price Jett Williams Deputy A&E Editor Han Solo’s famous quote, “I got a bad feeling about this,” perfectly captures my thoughts on the new Star Wars video game, “Battlefront II.” Battlefront II improves upon many of the mistakes made with the previous game, but a lack of depth and content limits its lasting enjoyment.

Currently available for $60, the game, developed by EA Dice and published by Electronic Arts, sticks to the same formula of previous Battlefront titles—large-scale, class-based combat with vehicles and Star Wars heroes —while attempting to add replayability and content.

EA and Dice have a history of producing some of the most visually stunning video games of the last decade, and Battlefront 2 is no exception. The graphics approach photorealism, with dense foliage and incredibly detailed character models. From the stitches holding

together a rebel soldier’s uniform, to immense Star Destroyers, everything in this game is designed to dazzle, while still holding true to the endless Star Wars canon.

While we’re on the subject of canon, it’s worth noting that Disney and Lucasfilm approved all game content, meaning everything in the game fully upholds the larger ‘Star Wars’ narrative. All character models, weapon sounds and maps were built to mirror the movies as closely as possible.

The game’s greatest strength is its online multiplayer. A variety of modes and maps, spanning across all eras of the Star Wars timeline, provide enough content for endless replayability. EA and Dice have announced that all downloadable content for this game will be free, so you never have to worry about a lack of things to do.

In multiplayer, you start out as one of four base classes. As you progress through a game, you accumulate battle points, which can be spent to play as an upgraded soldier, a tank, a starfighter or a legendary hero. As a ground soldier, you die often. But when you save your battle points and un-

SEA Noodle Bar A taste of authentic Thai cuisine

Social Media Editor

Staff Writer

Terry Meunruakham/ Oak Leaf

The orange chicken curry noodle soup bowl served with savory sauces.

ic thin rice, organic wide rice or buckwheat to go along with my curry noodle soup. My waitress suggested the egg noodle, and I am glad she did. The curry broth goes great with the egg noodles. The bowl of curry noodle soup comes with a boiled egg, bean sprouts, Yu Choy, red onion, crispy egg noodles and pickled mustard greens.

The curry is sweet and savory and noodles are the perfect texture. The organic chicken is tender and all of the toppings are exquisitely presented.

You’ll be impressed with the service and will look forward to trying other entrees and SEA Noodle Bar’s specialty cocktails after your first visit. SEA Noodle Bar is at Coddingtown Mall in Santa Rosa.

It is open for lunch from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., and for dinner from 4:309:30 p.m.

modes, both with small teams and no vehicles. Maps are all small, close quarters affairs, with none of the epic battles found in the old games. There is no option for offline space battles. Overall, this mode is only good for several hours of play, before it becomes stale and repetitive.

It’s impossible to review Battlefront 2 and not mention lootboxes.

The lootboxes are the main ways to unlock upgrades and skins for your online characters, but the developers removed the micro transactional aspect from the game after massive community backlash. The

Fairy Tail Faux: Meghan Buckman

Terry Meunruakham

If you are craving Thai food, you must try SEA Noodle Bar, Chef Tony Ounpamornchai’s award-winning restaurant. His culinary team offers a menu consisting of original Thai dishes combined with the highest quality of exotic ingredients that are local, sustainable and organic.

SEA Noodle is beautifully decorated with neat bowls on the wall and offers a relaxing ambience with dim lights. It is clean and tidy. You can either sit outside or enjoy your meal inside. You’ll be quickly seated by the host who serves a refreshing iced water with a wedge of lime. The utensils are wooden, a stylish choice in constructing the modern theme.

You may have a difficult time choosing what you want because the entire menu is full of mouth-watering entrees. The Crispy Calamari was served with a spicy peanut plum sauce, in a rustic, tin bucket and placed on a wooden board, garnished with red onions and cilantro. The tangy, plum dipping sauce complimented the scrumptious, crunchy calamari.

The menu gives a variety of noodle options. I had the choice of egg, mung bean, rice vermicelli, organ-

lock a hero, you are an incredibly powerful force, capable of wiping out rooms of enemy players and turning the tide of battle. This mechanic creates a dynamic experience, as you are constantly switching characters, guns and abilities as the level progresses.

One of the biggest complaints regarding the previous Battlefront game was the lack of good offline content. The multiplayer action was there, but people who didn’t enjoy that style of play were left with very little to do.

EA and Dice have addressed these. While the campaign does stun with visuals, it feels cookie-cutter in its level design. Much of the game consists o f holding an area against waves of enemies, of which there are disappointingly few different types. Some levels do a good job of mixing aerial and ground combat, but for the most part, the missions become repetitive after the first hour.

The arcade mode tries to replicate the instant intensity of the original games, with mixed results. While the increased customization in regards to player modifiers like health and abilities, enemy count and type do add to the replay value, the lack of content in this part of the game makes it feel very tacked on.

You only have access to two

Growing up, we become accustomed to reading fairy tales and poetry books that help us further our knowledge of life. We flip through the imaginary scripts that give us vivid dreams of what we think our life could possibly be like.

“The Princess Saves Herself in this One” by Amanda Lovelace is her own poetry based on the hardships she faced in her life from an early age. Lovelace confronts topics such as family, love and death in short, haunting passages.

“Remember to practice self-care before, during and after reading,” Lovelace said as a trigger warning in the preface.

Lovelace turns her troubled life into beautiful words as she leaves sensitive regards on every page. She expresses her frustration towards her abusive, alcoholic and sick mother through poetry. It’s hard to read because of how daunting the pain was for her.

The book has four chapters, each detailing a time period in her life. The chapters are titled: “The Princess,” “The Damsel,” “The Queen,” and “You.” Her first statement: “Warning I: This is not a fairytale.

There is no princess. There is no damsel. There is no queen. There is no tower.

There are no dragons. There is simply a girl faced with a difficult task of learning to believe in herself.”

Courtesy of Google Images

button to buy lootboxes remains in the game, but for now, it just takes you to a blank screen.

EA and Dice have released a game that improves on its predecessor. The graphics are a new standard for visual spectacle and realism, multiplayer is fun and immersive, and the story mode will provide several hours of entertainment, provided you are already partial to Star Wars.

However, I can’t see many people outside of avid Star Wars fans finding lasting enjoyment with this game. The multiplayer is nothing you can’t find in other recent shooter games. And because the rest of the game is lacking in content and depth, it doesn’t provide $60 worth of gameplay.

A review of Amanda Lovelace’s new book

Lovelace explores the pain of love and how it feels for someone not to love you back. It brings the feelings of hopelessness and loss into life. Her words are short and encapsulate the pain she’s feeling.

This book confronts control and power over a partner in a relationship. The feeling of being trapped and the only way out is to fight back. Lovelace is trying to tell herself that she is better and can achieve a greater love one day.

The passages can bring you to tears because of how alone she describes herself. The empowerment from this book comes from how brutally honest she is with her pain. Lovelace makes pain look beautiful as she displays her vulnerability and strength to move on.

“The Princess Saves Herself in this One” is relevant to all young women.

We live in a time where media tends to twist love in ways we can’t achieve in real life. Women worldwide are standing up against sexual assault and finding a voice within themselves. As a society, we are coming together to end abuse and prove that women can live their lives freely without validation.

Lovelace’s life depicts a collection of issues relevant today, such as bullying, self-harm, eating disorders and racism.

“The story of a princess turned damsel turned queen,” reads the back of the book. The words show the amount of strength she needed to overturn her dejected life into something more worth-

while. This book was the meaningful thing that came out of her battle.

Lovelace is stating that this is what a princess is. A real life princess is destined to have something to battle.

This isn’t a fairytale poetry novel.

It’s reality.

Here are a few poems that left a lasting impression: • If a house does not automatically make a home, then a body doesn’t automatically make a home either.

I’ve always felt like a stranger in my skin.

My mom told the nice doctorshe was seeing starbursts in her eyes & they were almost beautiful to her-like the Fourth of July had decided to come early.

The doctor hesitated before breaking the news to her. “Those aren’t stars. It’s cancer.” Forty years of a smoker.

• If I ever have a daughter, the first thing I will teach her to love will be the word “no” & I will not let her feel guilty for using it. “no” is short for “fuck off.”

• I am a lioness who is no longer afraid to let the world hear her roar an ode to me

A&E 15

www.theoakleafnews.com

Winter Wellness Fair offers students tips and tricks to finish semester strong Meghan Buckman Social Media Editor With finals approaching, students know how strenuous it can be to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

The Winter Wellness Fair at Santa Rosa Junior College on Dec. 7 brought students together to learn how to de-stress, sleep better and prioritize goals.

“It’s our job to reach out to students who might be struggling and make sure they’re going to be OK as well as going to get what they want out of an education,” said Student Success coach Margaret Osgood.

Osgood is one of many Student Success coaches available to guide students in a positive direction. They are located in the Student Health Center. Just like the student counselors, they are available upon appointment. The coaches can make a schedule to help organize study times around finals.

Numerous booths covered topics of student success and sleeping right.

Activities as simple as writing down your goals left students feeling more confident to end their semester.

Communication Studies instruc-

tor Monnet Zubieta held a laughter yoga session. A certified laughter yoga teacher from Sebastopol, she guided a circle of students with exercises like a “happy dance,” which included clapping and laughing at the same time. Zubieta wanted students to let loose and have a positive attitude.

Sleep was another important topic of the night, with a group seminar on how to manage sleeping habits. Students wrote down improved sleeping habits and posted them on a wall to collectively go over with each other.

“There’s a lot of different techniques to help you go to sleep, like aromatherapy and reading,” said SRJC student Maggie Shillington, 24.

Some things to avoid include being on your phone before bed.

Paws as Loving Support brought therapy dogs to comfort students throughout the event. The dogs will also visit the Doyle Library from 1011:30 a.m. Dec. 13 and from 1-2:30 p.m. on Dec. 14. to support students during finals.

“We’re hoping students leave here feeling that they have more tools and tips on how to destress before finals, maybe feel a little more relaxed after petting the

Santa Rosa’s tastiest tacos

Top four taqueria treats Jose Gonzalez Staff Writer Sonoma County has a large number of Mexican restaurants and food trucks, and everyone has a different opinion about where to find the best tacos. After trying 10 different locations, these were the four best carne asada tacos in the area. #4 Casa del Mole With a Oaxacan background, these tacos have become popular.

The mild green salsa that is added on top gives it a layered roasty flavor anyone is looking for. The two tortillas wrapped around the asada taco were very thin, yet they still have enough strength to contain the taco juice. The meat has a softness to it and is cooked well.

Their medium-sized tacos will leave you full after two or three. #3 Mi Pueblo restaurant Their tacos are a bit skimpy

on the meat compared to others but can impress with the taste of quality ingredients such as onion, coriander and red salsa.

Mi pueblo has locations in Petaluma, Rohnert Park and Marin County, but the new Windsor location has become one of the most popular restaurants in that area. #2 Taqueria Santa Rosa Tacos at this Mendocino Avenue restaurant close to SRJC draw a huge lunch crowd. Their red salsa and condiments, which include onion and coriander, gives the tacos a smoky flavor.

The meat is tender and cooked well done. Fast and friendly customer service makes the whole experience even more enjoyable. #1 La Fondita Everyone recognizes Delicias Elenita, better known as “la fondita” for its great menu options such as tortas, burritos and sopes, but the tacos are the main attraction. Even better, they only cost $1.50 per taco. The tacos can seem small, but the flavor is sweet, tangy and packs on the spice. Condiments such as onion, coriander and red salsa give it that extra juicy flavor.

Jose Gonzalez/ Oak Leaf

dogs,” said PEERS coalition member Kayla Dias, 22.

The Sonoma County fires affected students in many ways and left them with panic and anxiety. Event organizers aimed to make a difference in terms of getting students back on track.

“With the fires, it’s been very stressful on people, so we’re hoping this is a place where they can feel relaxed and walk away knowing they can still be successful,” Dias said.

Student Health Center employ-

ees encourage students to branch out and get help even if you need to organize a study plan.

Changing bad habits can affect your overall health as a student.

Going to bed early, meditating or talking to a counselor can make a difference in a busy lifestyle.

“We’re hoping once they leave here, laughing, maybe learning some tips on how to get better sleep, that they walk away feeling that they can do their finals and be successful at the end of the semester,” Dias said.

Winter Spotlight Dance Gala this week Jose Gonzalez Staff Writer

Meghan Buckman/ Oak Leaf

Students at the Winter Wellness Fair participate in activites to improve their success.

Horchata: The new nog to try this season Jose Gonzalez Staff Writer

Horchata definitely adds a refreshing touch to any meal. People that try Horchata seem to fall in love with it right away.

Growing up in Mexico, Horchata was one of my favorite beverages to go along with my meals.

I have so many memories of going to Taquerias, Flea Markets and street vendors where I saw Horchata, that it made me want to start making my own.

I started making Horchata in high school, and at SRJC, I brought it to the newsroom during production.

If you are ever planning an

Jose Gonzalez/ Oak Leaf

event and want to share this delicious refreshment here is a recipe you can use.

Ingredients •3 cups of white rice •2 cups of sugar (adjust depending on how sweet you want) •2 cinnamon sticks •1 TSP vanilla •1 can (14 oz) “La Lechera” sweetened condensed milk •1 gallon of water •Ice Instructions Start by soaking the rice and cinnamon in a bowl of water all night, or at least for five hours so the rice softens slightly.

Strain the water from the cinnamon and rice mixture, disposing of the water.

Blend the cinnamon and rice mixture with water until fully blended. Keep on mixing for about 1 minute or more.

Strain the resulting liquid into a pitcher. Add the sugar, vanilla, “La Lechera,” and Mix well until everything is combined. Add a liter of water and serve with ice.

Enjoy your Horchata paired with tacos, burritos or tamales.

This year’s Winter Spotlight Dance Gala is a celebration of students’ hard work, commitment and talents at Santa Rosa Junior College.

The show will consist of about 30 dancers spotlighting their advanced dance techniques.

The dance gala shows the community and the school what students learn in dance class and the dance department overall.

The intimate environment at the Black Box Theater will make you feel more involved throughout the show.

The night consists of a variety of dance styles, including jazz, contemporary, hip-hop, classical modern and ballet. Group and solo performances will be showcased as well.

“I am excited about performing my solo, but I will also be dancing a ballet piece and a modern piece,” said SRJC dance major Brandon Lombardo, 30. “My solo is about strength and how I evolved over time as a dancer.

I knew I loved to move. Over time I have evolved into a strong dancer as well as choreographer.”

Lombardo is in his last semester at SRJC, and this will be his last performance before transferring to Santa Barbara City College in the spring 2018.

The show is about 90 minutes with a 15-minute intermission.

“If SRJC students are interested in dance and are looking for an evening of entertainment, come and enjoy the show,” said dance coordinator Cassandra Hillman.

“Be open minded to all the possibilities as a dancer or as an audience member. This dance show is a good way for students who are interested in dance can get an idea of what the SRJC dance department is all about,” Lombardo said.

The Winter Spotlight Dance Gala seats close to 100 with additional floor seating for kids.

Tickets are $5 with an SRJC student ID and $10 for the public. You can purchase tickets at the door or pre-order tickets by emailing chillman@santarosa.edu Show dates and times: 7 p.m.

Thursday, Dec. 14 and 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 15 at the Black Box Theatre in Tauzer Gym 951.

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