Covenant Coffee, Features, Page 3
Cleotilde, Spotlight, Page 7
Tennis, Sports, Page 10
The Renegade Rip Bakersfield College
w w w.t h e r i p .com
Vol. 83 ∙ No. 4
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Anti-abortionists converge at BC By Brian N. Willhite Reporter
Photos of aborted fetuses were on display in the free speech area of the Bakersfield College campus on March 9. The bannersized pictures were brought on campus by Project Truth, an organization dedicated to spreading their anti-abortion message to college campuses. Students received the demonstration in a mostly civil manner and engaged in conversations with representatives while others stood aside listening. The discussions also sparked debates between
students. Organizers of the display passed out anti-abortion literature and spoke to students, giving their position to preserve life. Some of the handouts included information about how to seek out counseling after getting an abortion, some facts associated with abortions and included a discussion about how abortion clinics are targeting minorities. The group also offered a DVD that shows an abortion being conducted. One of the Project Truth’s members named Don, who didn’t want to give his last name
for fear of threats against him, stated their position and reason for visiting BC. “Our main focus is to show people that an abortion is an act of violence that kills a baby and we have no business doing that,” Don said. Some students agreed with Project Truth’s crusade while others felt that the pictures and propaganda were horrible scare tactics and believed they had no right to be on campus. BC student Kara Wesley felt that the photos and presentation were effective and appropriate because she believes some stu-
dents are seeing the photos and changing their viewpoints on abortion. “I think it’s great. People need to know exactly what’s going on with decisions they’re about to make,” Wesley said. Veronica Ortega was another student who agreed with the anti-abortion message being presented and feels that it’s wrong to have an abortion regardless of the circumstances involved. “I think that even if you were raped, you shouldn’t get an abortion – in my opinion. I know I wouldn’t,” Ortega said. Please see Abortion, Page 4
Gregory D. Cook / The Rip
A group of students gather in the free speech area as members of Project Truth put on an anti-abortion display March 9. The display consisted of several large panels displaying aborted fetuses and abortion information, as well as speeches from the Project Truth members.
BC rolls through opening WSC play
SGA seats filled for next year By James Licea Copy Editor
By Julian Moore Opinions Editor
The Bakersfield College baseball team improved to 4-0 in Western State Conference play with a walk-off win against College of the Canyons on March 10. The Renegades pulled out the 4-3 win with a two-run single from shortstop David Pennington in the bottom of the ninth. “This is a dream come true, I’ve dreamed of this since I was a kid. And beating Canyons, that’s just a blessing and now we’re 4-0,” said Pennington. Sophomore Bryan Maxwell was on the mound for the Renegades looking to earn his first win of the season in five appearances. The Renegades looked to be in control of the game until the sixth inning when the Cougars scored three runs on four hits and an error. In the bottom half of the sixth, BC scored a run off a single from left fielder Mike Spingola and from a sacrifice fly from Ben Straka. The Renegades would keep Canyons’ hitters at bay, setting them up for chance to win it in the ninth. Enrique Meza led off the ninth with a walk on four straight pitches from Canyons’ Andy Arriaga. The next batter, Riley Showers, squeezed out a single from a bunt attempt, as the ball rolled under the out-stretched glove of first baseman Jake Jelmini. Daniel Rueger came in to pinch hit and was also walked, but this time to load the bases. As Pennington was ready to step into the batter’s box, Canyons’ head coach Chris Cota came out to the mound to pull Arriaga for David Haerle. Pennington swung at the first pitch from Haerle and put it in the gap between first and second. Meza came in to score easily while Showers came in for a play at the plate. The throw from the right fielder was on-line but catcher Michael Browne lost it on the tag leaving Showers safe at home as the winning run. Pennington was immediately mobbed at first base by the entire dugout. “Right when I saw the ball was dropped at home and we won, something set off inside of
Gregory D. Cook / The Rip
Above: Renegades outfielder Riley Showers slides in safe at home in the bottom of the ninth inning, scoring the winning run against College of the Canyons at Bakersfield College on March 10. Below: Showers and outfielder Christian Brady celebrate after the Renegades’ ninth-inning 4-3 win. me. I got really excited because I know we’ve been working really hard and fighting all game to get a few runs. And just to give that to the crowd was just a good feeling.” Before stepping in, Pennington prepared for the at-bat with a personal moment. “I said a quick little prayer, and I said, ‘Well whatever happens is up to you,’ and I just got up there and tried not to think of anything. I just cleared my head and looked to get the job done. Head coach Tim Painton was relieved afterward to get the win against a typically good team in Canyons. “It’s a good feeling to comeback in the ninth inning and win a very close ballgame, and play well against a good club,” Painton said. “Fortunately today we got a little help with them in the ninth to load the bases, and David Pennington being at the plate is a guy you want to see in that situation. “He’s been a clutch guy for us for two years, so we were happy to have him at the plate,” he said. Maxwell, who pitched the complete game giving up two of the Renegades three runs, said after the game that it felt good to finally get a win. “I’ve been pitching well lately and I’ve had some tough-luck losses, and I knew if I kept pitching my game our offense would come through.” Maxwell was also glad to have Pennington back healthy, who has only been back for five games in the field, calling him a “catalyst.” “It’s huge having Penny back healthy, because Please see Baseball, Page 11
New members will fill the Student Government Association at Bakersfield College after the online elections on March 8 and 9. This year, 941 students voted, around 350 less votes than last year. Joyce Coleman, the dean of students, said members will start training with the current SGA immediately to prepare them for their positions, which officially start in June. To help them become more effective leaders, she explained Tawntannisha members Thompson will attend a National Student Leadership Conference in Atlanta. The winners of the SGA election include: president, Tawntannisha Thompson; vice president, Gilbert Hernandez; treasurer, Richard Villanueva; secretary, Toccara Byrd; legislative liaison, Bonnie Wilson; general council, Derrick Kenner; and activities liaison, Theresa Hall. Even though some candidates went unopposed, Byrd explained that any student has the right to be written in on a ballot for the SGA. Certain candidates, she said, were taken off the final ballot at the last minute due to paper work that was not turned in on time. During their new term, Coleman said members will start working where the last SGA left off, as well as bring in new ideas to help benefit the student body. As the new general council, Kenner said he would like to extend the hours of the library to make it easier for students involved in sports or who are taking night classes to study. Please see SGA, Page 4
Renegade Game Room closed to student body until further notice By Mateo M. Melero Reporter
Due to violations of the Bakersfield College Game Room regulations, specifically concerning food consumption, the lounge has been closed since Feb. 28, and will not be accessible to students again until proper
security is ensured. “As the Student Body President I witnessed people eating numerous times and stated there was no food or drinks allowed in the game room,” said Student Government Association President Lisa English. “Some of the students were the same students I had asked the previous day to not
eat in the game room.” Upon visiting the room, English said she saw food wrappers, crushed soda cans, food smeared along tables and spilled drinks. The closing of the room was finalized by Dean of Students Joyce Coleman, and has no set date for reopening. Kevin Workman, Digital Art
student and user of the game room, was present the day the room was closed and said, “I was bummed a little bit, but it’s more the fact that they wasted $10k to build something that’s an extension of the cafeteria that people can’t eat in, and then just shut it down.” English said in regards to
room’s current inaccessibility, “The closing is not permanent. We are looking into installing security cameras.” Waiting on approval from BC’s Maintenance and Operations Department, English says that the cameras will allow them to observe the students who are breaking the rules and “making
it a bad situation for everyone else.” As for ensuring and enforcing the room’s rules English said, “The Student Government checks the game room when they can; however, we should not have to be babysitters [when] the signs state no food or drinks.” Once cameras are installed the game room will be reopened.
Features
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The Renegade Rip www.therip.com
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Classic mission houses rich artistic heritage By Monica Bolger Reporter
A subtle bell may be heard ringing down the street from Bakersfield College at the place where Berger and Water Streets meet. Here an 800-pound bronze bell is pulled into action from its bell tower to remind the “La Loma” community that it’s time to push past the sanctuary doors and fill the pews to give praise as mass begins at the San Clemente Mission. The “mission” holds a historical past as being one of the first chapels in the state of California to be discarded by the War Assets Administration. The chapel was once represented as a large investment by the army and was signed over to Father Thomas of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, where it was established on the same day, Feb. 15, 1947. It was soon after that Padre Francisco Garces introduced the
idea and acronym of the word “mission” and was then established as the Mission of The Sacred Heart. The exterior of the church is surrounded with visible artwork of iconic statues, saints and angels that were each hand sculptured of wood, carved and imported from Mexico. Its architectural style of arched
arcades and columns was influenced from the same design and construction as that of the 21 original Spanish-styled missions of California. The mission survives off of small donations given to a passed-around collection basket during mass and volunteer work that financially supports the entire congregation. Frank and Leila Espinoza are well known to the church for contributing their time to organizing events and devoting their charity work for the safety and well being of the church. “It’s a beautiful congregation that’s made up of different races and ethnicities and our one priest that is bilingual,” said Mr. Espinoza “This mission was rebuilt in 1995 but was first established in 1947 as part of the Diocese of Fresno,” Espinoza said. “The whole world is divided into diocese, and Fresno is the one we’re a part of since that is where our
photos by Brandon Barraza / The Rip
Above: The San Clemente Mission on March 9, located on Berger Street, is a classic example of California mission architecture. Left: Statues adorn the mission’s grounds. only Bishop, John Steinbock, used to reside. “We no longer have a bishop anymore,” said Espinoza. The inside of the structure is also composed of handcrafted and stenciled artwork that is flourished on the walls, ceiling beams and at the altar of the mission. “It’s a beautiful church and each piece of artwork has either been donated or specially made for us by crafted artisans. The stained glass windows each give a message that educates people of California’s ancestral heri-
tage, our state flower and animal, along with plant and animal life that make up our state. If you look closely you can see, in the Bakersfield window, the Tejon Ranch symbol and Kern County’s agriculture around it,” said Espinoza. The mission’s sacristy has a variety of different sacred vessels, consisting of paintings and saints that have also been handed down to the church by different people. “We have one of the largest sacristies and as you can see, and it holds many sculptures that we keep on display for historical
BC farm offers students agricultral experience
Event gives youngsters a ‘Reel Fun’ experience
By Esteban Ramirez Reporter
photos by Gregory D. Cook / The Rip
Above: Collin Gray, 4, shows off his catch at the 2011 Reel Fun Fishout on March 5. Below: Anglers are reflected in the waters of Mirror Lake at Hart Park.
According to Bakersfield College agriculture professor Bill Kelly, nearly 40 percent of the jobs in Kern County are in the agriculture industry. Kelly said BC started offering agricultural classes in 1913 and was the first of California’s community colleges to do so. The BC farm was started in 1973 thanks in part to Keith Haycock and Lloyd Hokait. In BC farm classes, Kelly explained, the students get to grow crops, feed and take care of animals and operate farm equipment. The farm allows students get hands-on experience to apply to what they learn in class about animal and crop science. Students get to take part in feeding and take caring of animals such as: sheep, hogs, cattle, horses and poultry. Professor William Barnes and Professor Gay Gardella donated the animals and the others were purchased. “Students will be able to find agriculture jobs easily after taking these classes,” Kelly said. “You’ll get a lot of
Kayla Broadhag / The Rip
The Bakersfield College farm owns many sheep that students care for as part of the agriculture classes offered there March 10. incredible experiences in these classes such as learning about diseases and preventing them, getting to grow fruits and vegetables with your own hands, working with tractors and seeing baby animals being born.” Kelly also added that “you don’t need experience in agriculture to get in this program. Although it would
The Gate offers youths a safer musical grotto By: Martin Chang Reporter
The Gate, a concert venue on 23rd and O Street, focuses on providing a positive place for the youth to listen to music and support music acts. According to event director Mike Carlson, it is “the atmosphere” that makes The Gate different from other venues. He said, “It’s a safe atmosphere. There is no alcohol allowed on the premises. We take care of The Gate inside and out, making sure it’s safe for everybody. We won’t allow fights to break out. The safe atmosphere is the key, making sure everybody has a good time. There is some hardcore trashing that goes on, but its
purposes,” said Espinoza. “Our library in the back is part of the exhibit. It contains many collected books that explain the history of California missions and how they were founded, including different writings by high thinking theologians and philosophers. “San Clemente Mission is a historical landmark that not only welcomes every part of Bakersfield’s community but also gladly gives tours to elementary schools that want to give students an idea of what original California missions look like and the history behind them.”
not malicious.” Carlson says that this dedication to a positive venue is because of the religious connection. The Gate is a branch of The Garden Community Church. He said, “Obviously with God being the center, we discourage verbal abuse by the bands, we discourage cursing and things like that. Bands from out of The Garden and other churches come here and play and get the word of God out. We do allow secular bands to play here.” Tommy Juarez, a fan of shows at The Gate, says that it’s the “good people and good environment” that bring him to the venue. He says, “It’s really nice and chill. It’s one of the main reasons [I come to The Gate]. There’s
benefit you if you took it in high school, you don’t need experience. This is perfect for those who wanted to take it but never got a chance in high school.” Kelly said that the BC agriculture program is experiencing some budget cuts. They had 50 classes last year and now it’s down to 20.
From left: Ben Villalobos, Jose Meza, Austen Matson and Louis Delgado perform as the band Company to Keep at The Gate Community Center on Feb. 18.
Martin Chang / The Rip
drunk people everywhere at Jerry’s and The Dome. Here, the worst you get is smoking outside, and that’s not even a big deal.” When attending shows at The Gate Juarez feels, “a good sense of joy” and “gets really happy.” Juarez also likes the low prices of tickets and variety of acts.” He said, “It’s only seven dollars for a show. It’s not all hardcore, you get acoustic and alternative.” Some of the bands that play at The Gate feel supported by both the venue and the audience. Chris Fink, lead singer of For Every King a Crown, plays at The Gate. He said, “every time we play here, everyone that’s in the crowd gets involved and they participate in the music they re-
ally seem to enjoy it. They slam dance, hardcore dance, they’re onstage, they’re moshing, if you love music you come to the show and enjoy it, you do what you want to do.” Fink describes hardcore dancing and slam dancing as a “way of getting out your emotions through energy and passion. If you’ve had a bad week, if work has been crappy you just go out there and swing away.” Fink commented about The Gate as a venue, “The people who run The Gate are very nice. They’re all about the local scene. You don’t have to sell tickets to play. They pay you. It’s a nice venue. The stage is nice. The sound equipment is nice. It’s really fun to play.”
Kyle Lutge, lead singer of Stomping Grounds, a band that plays at The Gate, echoes Fink’s sentiments. He said, “It’s friendly, everyone welcomes you with
open arms, nothing is hostile, everyone’s nice, it’s a fun place to just have a show. There are never fights here. You can pretty much be yourself.”
Features
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The Renegade Rip www.therip.com
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Service provides foster youth employment By Cristal Rodriguez Reporter
Covenant Coffee, along with Covenant Community Services Incorporated, is a non-profit organization that offers many programs to foster youths. The programs were created to help find foster kids in Bakersfield and its surrounding areas a place to stay and provide jobs for the youths in those programs. “This program, Covenant Coffee, started a year ago when CEO Randy Martin and local roaster Isaac Dennis came from North Carolina and shared the same idea,” said Jeremy Hendricks, project manager for the coffee program. “‘Coffee roasted on purpose and for a purpose’ is the motto for the coffee shop,” said Martin and Dennis about the program. Martin and Dennis shared the idea and believed that they could help many youths become independent and successful by providing them with jobs. They both felt that opening a business and offering jobs to foster youths, would make them feel more positive about themselves and would create new opportunities for them. These programs are only of-
fered for foster children and youths in order to better the system. There are two programs available, Covenant Coffee and Covenant Media. “Covenant Coffee is our new program for the youth, but Covenant Community Services Incorporated has been here in Bakersfield for 15 years helping out foster youth,” said Hendricks. Many foster youths do not do well in the system and when they get booted out at the age of 18, they have nowhere to go or nothing to do, so they get into trouble with the law or involved in gang violence. “Here at Covenant Community Services, we are trying to take the adolescents being emancipated and help them become independent,” said Hendricks. In addition they also provide housing for the youth involved in Covenant Coffee and other programs. “We have two programs that provide housing for our foster youth, Building Blocks and Traditional Housing,” said Hendricks. “Traditional housing is one of the bigger locations were housing is provided because its an apartment complex.” Currently Covenant Coffee
gregory d. cook / The Rip
Barista David Balderas (left) and project leader Jeremy Hendricks pose with mugs in hand at Covenant Community Services on 29th Street on March 11. doesn’t have its own location, so as for now they just have it running in the office of Covenant Community Services. “We are very excited and proud to say that we have two possible locations for the coffee shop which are 1700 North Chester, where the old Bank of America used to be, and another location in Taft,” says Martin. Many people get the idea that these will be like the Starbucks all over town, but these coffee
shops will be nothing like Starbucks according to Hendricks. “It’s more of a local shop and the coffee is roasted to perfection.” Covenant Community Services Incorporated and its many programs such as Covenant Coffee are located in downtown Bakersfield on 1616 29th and Eye Street. “We welcome volunteers and they are highly appreciated. We have several programs that need mentors,” says Hendricks.
gregory d. cook / The Rip
David Balderas shows off his barista skills while preparing a latte at Covenant Community Services on 29th Street on March 11. The organization is hoping to open a coffee house in the near future.
Locals jubilate for Mardi Gras By Amber Troupe Reporter
gregory d. cook / The Rip
The Bakersfield College cafeteria on Feb. 24 offers a large selection of fresh salads, soups, sandwiches and fruit as alternatives to typical fast-food style burgers and fries.
Healthy alternatives are pricey on campus, ‘junk food’ is cheaper By Cristal Rodriguez Reporter
It’s very important to offer a variety of food at Bakersfield College, according to Diana Murrell, who works in the Renegades Food Court. “Everyone likes different things, some like junk food and others want salads and fruit, so we offer many choices,” said Murrell. The Panorama Grill and Renegades Food Court offer salads, fruit, deli sandwiches, tuna, water and Powerade. “Sometimes I just want to hurry and get a healthy snack to eat on my way to class, but all I can get is water, and sometimes I get stuck buying Hot Cheetos because it’s all I can grab,” said Gabriela Cruz, BC student. The BC cafeteria has junk food such as chips, cookies, brownies, cakes, chocolate bars, candy and soda for students to just grab. These foods aren’t necessarily healthy, but they are the less expensive when compared to other items in the cafeteria. “I try my best to stay healthy for my kids, but it is just so hard because the food here costs so much, especially the healthy food,” said BC student mother Patricia Rivas. “I’d just rather grab a bag of chips or a cookie and a soda for about $3, because if I try getting a water bottle and some fruit that would be like $5, which is totally not worth it.” BC does its best to provide foods that are healthy for students and athletes. Both the Renegades Food Court and the Panorama Grill
use Canola oil, which has no trans-fat. This oil is used on everything fried in the Panorama Grill, according to Murrell. Some of the healthy foods they have on campus do cost more than other items. The salads offered at the Renegades Food Court cost $7 for the big box or $3 for the smallest size. The fruit cost just about $4 for the smallest box depending on which kind of fruit students choose and bottled water or any drink beside soda range from $1.69 to $3.50. Deli sandwiches can be purchased at the Renegades Food Court and range in prices depending on what is put on the sandwich and if you want half or the whole thing, a combo can cost up to $7. They do have baked chips on campus that are a healthy on-thego snacks, but those are only sold during food court hours. Karen Alcanzar said, “it’s ridiculous, I think, because the only healthy food here costs so much. A single banana should not cost a dollar and a water bottle should not cost nearly $2, that’s just ridiculous. And let’s not talk about the salads.” The issue with healthy food on campus is more about being affordable than not having options. Amanda Villalobos suggests that there should be more food given in the small salads and fruit so it would be worth the price. “We would all be really happy when we walk into the cafeteria and grab a healthy oatmeal cookie or granola bar and bottled water for $2 on our way to class,” said Linda Ramirez, student.
Fat Tuesday is usually one the biggest parties in the country in almost every city or state, but Bakersfield’s events turnout was on a smaller scale. A lot of people didn’t know that there were Mardi Gras parties in Bakersfield to attend, while others did not know what it was or did not celebrate it. “I never heard about anything here. I didn’t know there was a Mardi Gras even in Bakersfield. I’m not 21 yet, so I can’t drink that may be why I didn’t know,” said Crystal Lands, 20, Forensic Toxicology major. Nathan Auman, 21, explains what Mardi Gras meant to him and recollected the extravaganza he went to the year before, “It just means having fun like I did last year at the lingerie and soap party I went to. But this year I’m not going to be doing anything.” One student excited about the Fat Tuesday celebration was Sydney Jensen, 21, who explained what Mardi Gras meant in her opinion. “To me it means party; celebrate New Orleans, boobs and boobs galore!” Jensen said. She explained what her plans for this year’s festivities were; “I’m going to throw a Mardi Gras party with everyone dressed in colorful masks.” Besides the party Jensen is throwing at her home, Fishlips Bar and Grill, in Downtown Bakersfield had a Mardi Gras themed bash. The bar had a large portion of seats filled at the tables and bar. Hilary Brown and her friend, whose boyfriend was in one of the bands performing, Dub Seeds, said this year was her 1st
megan luecke / The Rip
Revellers at a Mardi Gras party at Fishlips imbibe drinks and food as they celebrate Fat Tuesday on March 8. Fat Tuesday is traditionally the day before the beginning of Lent. time celebrating Mardi Gras at Fishlips. “I heard about it through my friend because her boyfriend is in the band, that’s performing next, Dub Seeds.” Although it was her first time partying at Fishlips, Brown said that she celebrates every year. “I’m not from here, I’m from Santa Maria, well Santa Barbara it’s just like a little Bakersfield,” she said as she chuckled to herself. Across the bar, in the booths section, two ladies with reserved tables rocked to Dub Seeds, who performed on stage. Brianna Among and Courtney Meza, are somewhat veteran’s to Fishlips they shared. Among said after she finished listening to the band’s song, “Once or twice a week, I’m here because I
do open mike night, but this my first Fat Tuesday here though.” Her friend Meza stated, “I have been coming here four or five times a week for the last four years, I can’t exactly remember because I was pretty wasted, what happened at last year’s Mardi Gras, but so far its turning out to be better than this year’s.” Another happening in Downtown Bakersfield in honor of Mardi Gras was at a new place, Ink Bar and Nightclub that was hosting its very first Mardi Gras function, where there was a small crowd of party-goers at the door, showing ID as well as ordering taco’s from the Bar’s catering service provided to go with their drinks. Edgar Gonzales, 28, Communications major at Bakersfield
College, stated that this was his first Mardi Gras Party at the Ink Bar. “I’m with Spank Entertainment Promotions, and I actually did a lot of the promoting and organizing for this Mardi Gras theme here tonight.” Ink Bar had waitresses in black dresses with colors of Mardi Gras intertwined in various different ways. Although the building was not packed, there were two levels to the Ink Bar and the downstairs area was where the dance floor was located as well as the drink filling station the waitresses came from. The festival at this particular bar was scheduled for the last call to be at 1:45 a.m. with people already feeling the carnivallike celebration.
Women celebrated through local play By Amber Troupe Reporter
Clothed from head to toe in outdated garb, easily recognizable as being from a time period in the past, the speaker moves her hands and body in an expressive manner. Actress Althea Williams has been acting in general for over 41 years now and has been playing Sojourner Truth in the shortened version of a play titled “A Woman Called Truth,” put on by the Bakersfield Community Theater, where Williams has been the vice president for the past four years. In character, Williams talks about the period of Sojourner Truth’s life when she was a
slave, when she was freed and on her ‘travels’ as the speech put it. This is the first time that Williams has been invited to perform this excerpt, “Speaking The Truth” with the Women’s Month Event at Bakersfield College. Even though this was Williams first time performing this piece at BC, the seats were filled, all except for two. The moving passage had the room silent, especially during instances Williams would break out in song, singing spirituals like “Wade in the Water.” The performance consisted of speeches and storytelling to bring to life a small section of such an historical figure’s biography. Williams spoke about
slavery in depth with such lines as, “I worked like 20 men and eat like ‘em too, whenever they fed me. I worked till my hands were bruised and sore.” Williams portraying Truth spoke of all the different names she was given as a slave and how it took years for her to find the name that truly belonged to her. There was also hidden information in the plays dialogue, like how Truth spoke at a women’s conference with Susan B. Anthony and how she met President Abraham Lincoln. After the plays end, Althea received a standing ovation for her performance and portrayal as Sojourner Truth. When the speech was over, Williams opened the floor up
for questions from the audience with the first question about Truth and the Underground Railroad. The question about Truth’s role in the creation of the Underground Railroad, allowed for Williams to clear up what she considered to be a little known fact. “There is actually a small section in the display case at Fisk University, which is built on part of the Underground Railroad, dedicated to Sojourner and her contribution to the Railroad.” Williams continues to be a part of this play and has been for the last three Black History Month festivals, including the BCT’s first Annual Black History Month Celebration.
News
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The Renegade Rip www.therip.com
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
News Briefs
SGA: Election winners excited about roles in upcoming term
BC now offers swimming passes
Continued from Page 1 About his new position, he stated, “What I bring to the table is not only just the knowledge of Robert’s Rules, but working well with others is something I bring in to the twist of it all.” Villanueve stated that in his new position as treasurer, he would like to focus on “building a better relationship between the students and SGA.” He also stated that he will try to work on creating awareness about the cleanliness of the campus and try to get people more involved in maintaining a cleaner school. Byrd expressed her excitement for the new SGA members. Even though her position is one she has held before, she stated, “I aspire just to be great in my position. I believe that every day you come to Bakersfield College, you conquer the world.”
In response to the Bakersfield College course Swim and Stay Fit being canceled, the Bakersfield College Pool now offers a swimming pass to students as well as the general public. Priced at $30 for students, and $60 for the general public, the pass will allow access to the pool Monday through Thursday from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. and from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. The pass is valid during the Spring, Summer, and Fall semesters and can be purchased from staff and lifeguards at the BC Pool. Geology club solar oven building contest The geology club is doing a solar oven building contest which will be going during Spring Fling, specifically on the Thursday of Spring Fling. The contest ants are encouraged to go along with the “decades” theme the SGA is doing, more specifically, ‘70s day. Any students that wish to participate should contact Natalie Bursztyn, professor of geology and adviser for the geology club. The project coincides with BC’s solar parking lot/ solar education awareness concept. BC Horticulture Department to put on Gardenfest Gardenfest, the campus festival put on by the Horticulture Department, will be on campus April 9 at the Bakersfield College Horticulture Renegade Park. There will also be booths for campus clubs and other organizations. Reservation forms for booth space for campus organizations can be found on www2. bakersfieldcollege.edu/gardenfest, and the space fee is $75 beginning March 17. Booth space is free up until March 16. BC cheer team tryouts BC Cheer Team Tryouts for 2011-2012 will be held March 28 to April 1. Orientation and first practice are on March 28 in the Huddle and a clinic will continue March 28-31 (Mon-Thurs) at 4:00-6:00 p.m. in the Huddle with try-outs on April 1 (Fri.) at 5:00 p.m. in the Dance Room. Try-outs are open to graduating high school seniors and older. Cheer or dance experience is helpful, but not required, and there are GPA requirements. Information packets available in LA 205A, or on the BC website, or by contacting Becki Whitson at 395-4619 or bwhitson@bakersfieldcollege.edu. Scottish Gathering to be held at Stramler Park The Bakersfield Highland Gathering and Games, a festival for Scottish/Celtic music and culture including food and athletics, will be at Stramler Park on Saturday, April 2. Twilight marathon at the Fox Theatre On April 2, the Fox Theatre will be holding a Twilathon for the charity A Relay for Life. This event includes a screening of all three Twilight movies with a raffle and door prizes. Come dressed as your favorite character for a look-alike contest. Seating begins at 9:00 p.m. and screenings start at 10 p.m, and this event costs $15 or $22 at the door. Call 441-0000 or visit Vallitix.com for tickets. VIP packages also available.
As new activities liaison, Hall stated she would like to get more activities on campus that everyone could participate in, “doing my constituency reports as a senator, one of the complaints is that the disabled students don’t have any activities to take part in.” Her plan to make this happen is to create events like art contests, where everyone could be involved. Hernandez talked about his plans as vice president and said that because he has worked with previous officers, he will be more in tune to what his responsibilities consist of. In his new term he stated that he would like to get involved with “district wide committees, to know what’s actually going on with the school on a wider basis than just within the SGA.” As far as plans for the new
Reporter
Hands Across California, the scholarship fundraising event that is attempting to raise a $100 million endowment for the California Community College system, now has an intended route for the hand holding event. “It’s going to start in Sacramento and it’s going to end here,” said Roger Sanchez, Bakersfield College Student Government Association Liaison to the Dean. The route is expected to come
up working out. “Technology made it so great, last year we were here until almost midnight doing the Scantrons and verifying that they were real ballots and not one of the people that dropped in,” Coleman shared. This year she said it took five minutes. The amount of people that voted this year as opposed to last year, Coleman stated probably had something to it being spring fling. This year prizes were given for people who voted online or who wished to be entered in the drawing. An iPad was awarded to Tabitha Ridenour and an iPod shuffle to Michelle Joy Lutrania, as well as 20 $100 book vouchers. Hernandez expressed his opinion on the results of the election that coincided with all the new members reactions, “I think all
Vice President Gilbert Hernan Treasurer Richard Villanueva Secretary Toccara Byrd Legislative liaison Bonnie Wilson General council Derrick Kenner Activities liaison Theresa Hall the positions were filled appropriately, they’re people that have been involved. It’s not someone that wanted to get involved to fluff up their resume.” He made clear that each member has contributed time to their school taking part in projects on campus.
Abortion: Anti-abortionists drew attention of students and administration Continued from Page 1 Other students in attendance that favored anti-abortion decisions disagreed with Project Truth’s message and methods and felt that some instances are acceptable to have an abortion while other pro-abortion rights students disagreed immensely with Project Truth and their campaign. BC student Rebecca Mateer is against abortions but feels that sometimes abortions are necessary. “I think there are situations that call for it, like the whole ‘rape’ thing. I think if you are raped and you don’t want to have a child because it reminds you of that situation that happened, I’m all for it because that’s just going to make you relive your life every single day,” she said. Mateer also commented how the pictures are inappropriate because some women who have had an abortion may become distraught or overcome with guilt and try to harm themselves because of the decision they’ve made. BC student Veronica Ramos was upset about Project Truth coming on to the campus with their message and felt that abortions are necessary in many cases and to say that they should stop is ridiculous. Her friend David Neill, who is also a BC student,
Gregory D. Cook / The Rip
Project Truth member “Don” (last name withheld by subject’s request) interacts with students during an antiabortion display in the Free Speech Area on March 9. disagreed with the message but still felt Project Truth had the right to be on campus. “I think them coming out here is their decision. Yeah they have freedom of speech, and as long as they’re not shoving it down everyone’s throat, then I think they have a right to speak because everyone has their own opinions,” Neill said. He, along with Ramos, felt the display would have been better served in the Fireside Room or another location indoors.
Other students who didn’t have a strong position on abortions discussed their reactions to seeing such images for the first time. Ryan Roman sat on the benches with his friends and stared at the pictures for a while unsure of what to think about what he was witnessing. “I’ve never actually seen it so it gives a strong message about abortion,” he said. Jennifer Sawyer felt that the photos were a little offensive but at the same time an “eye-opener.”
“I never seen an aborted baby before but now that I’ve seen it, it’s a horrible thing,” she said. At one time during the event, there was a verbal incident that occurred with a few students who began to shout out “We don’t want you here!” and “Leave. We’ll make our own decisions!” The incident drew the attention of public safety officials, dean of students Joyce Coleman and Student Government Association president Lisa English who tried to get Project Truth to vacate the premises. Additionally, one of the Project Truth members was holding a video camera, recording everything going on, which prompted Coleman to place her hand in front of the camera in an effort to get the man to stop recording. The attempts by Coleman and English proved unsuccessful and the man filming was allowed to continue. Public safety officer Chris Counts said that BC is an open campus and that they have the right just like anyone else taking pictures on campus though they would be prevented from recording indoors. “We’re just here to keep the peace. There were some people getting rowdy earlier and we just want to make sure that they’re able to say what they want to say and they’re able to say want they want to say but in a civil man-
ner,” Counts said. He confirmed that no students had to be removed from the premises. Don stated Project Truth’s position that the public areas of the campus are free speech areas and it is not illegal to organize such an event on campus with or without the school’s permission. “The courts have ruled that the campus is a free speech area, it’s a marketplace for ideas and this is a public school and because it is, these are public sidewalks. You can come and present your stuff and talk to people, you don’t have to ask permission, however, we do let the colleges know we’re coming ahead of time and let them know what we’re doing. A lot of times [schools] want us to register with them and we don’t have a problem with that,” Don said. According to English, it is confirmed that Project Truth did notify BC in advance that they would be on campus. Project Truth campaigns all across the US according to Don, “We have four different teams that go all over the country and we live here so we do this area. Our group, in Northern California, has been doing this about five years.” The group members have been campaigning for over 25 years in various organizations spreading the anti-abortion message.
Students get scholarships on International Women’s Day Martin Chang Reporter
On March 8, International Women’s Day is celebrated around the world to honor international women who contribute to their communities. Here in Bakersfield, the day is celebrated by giving awards and four college scholarships, including two scholarships to Bakersfield College students, at a dinner at The Seven Oaks Country Club. Sazuku Itoh, a Japanese liberal arts major at BC and a recipient of one of the scholarships, was “surprised and nervous” at the idea of getting the scholarship in front of people at a dinner that she describes as “serious” and a “big deal.” Yet, she is “very happy” to be honored. When applying for the scholarship, she found it easy to write about herself. She said, “It was easy to write about myself. It was easy to tell
them why I needed the scholarship. I can just be honest and never lie in it.” She preferred the focus on her character and story, to other scholarships, which focuses on her financial situation. In her application she thanked both her biological parents and house parents from her time as an exchange student for their support. Once Itoh earns her Associate Degree at BC, she plans on majoring in economics. She plans on applying to “big company” jobs in Japan. She also has many ideas for small businesses, which she describes as “things in her head.” Joyce Vina, the second BC student to receive the scholarship went through an “emotional” time writing the essay for the award. When writing her essay she recalled the “painful” moments in adjusting to a new culture. She said, “It was difficult living alone, to be far away from your family, from anything familiar. To remember all the
Fundraising event planned for April Mateo M. Melero
term, new SGA president Thompson said she would like to keep things a surprise. “I have a lot of things that I want to do, but I have to figure out if they can be done and so I want to keep it under wraps until I know I can do it. There’s a lot of stuff the students have power over here on campus, but then there’s a lot of stuff that we think we have power over and we don’t, it is the higher ups” About the online ballots, one thing Thompson noticed while talking to the student body was that certain students preferred the paper ballots, while others enjoyed the online ballots. She said that some people found the online ballot difficult to operate. According to Coleman, the new online ballots were done to try and make the election more quick and efficient, which ended
President Tawntannisha Thompson
in from the south through Edison Hwy, then down Fairfax Road to Panorama Drive where it will end at the Bakersfield College main campus. Due to the unwillingness of some community colleges to participate in the event, the hand holding line will no longer make a circle inside and around the state. “It’s actually going to be a big C, due to the fact that Fresno and other community colleges up there don’t want to participate,” said Sanchez.
Relying on participants from the community, the link from Antelope Valley College, BC’s closest participating partner, will require 90,000 people. “We’re going to coordinate with [Antelope Valley] to get more people and meet us half way.” The date of the fundraiser still remains scheduled for April 17. “It’s a big task for just a month,” said Sanchez. “We just need to worry about getting people from here to Antelope Valley College.”
painful things, it was filled with emotions to actually write the essay.” Vina calls the scholarship “wonderful” and “amazing”. Despite the emotional process she found the essay easy to write, saying, “you just have to think it over what happened.” She said, “I was really glad that to be able to get it, after all I’ve been through it’s quite uplifting to get the scholarship.” She, like Itoh, was surprised to get the scholarship. Two California State University Bakersfield students also were awarded scholarships. Their names are Shakira Achuthan and Nanko Morimoto.
Achuthan is majoring in Psychology and plans on helping educate the people in her home country of Malawi. She feels that the scholarship will help her in these goals. This was Morimoto’s first scholarship and she was “very happy” to be awarded the scholarship. Shohreh Rahman, the International Students Counselor at BC and volunteer for International Women’s Day, believes that the scholarships are an important part of the Women’s Day celebration in Bakersfield. Being a volunteer with the event from its time in Bakersfield, her goal “from day one”
was to create the scholarships. She was “very excited” when the scholarships were created in 2010. She believes that international students were an important part of the community for the organization to honor. She said, “There are so many students that are needy and hard working, and international. “They pay out of state tuition. It is really to recognize their hard work. It’s nice to award them.” International Women’s day also honors other international women who have contributed to their communities in categories like education, social work, and the arts.
News
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Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Nathan Wilson / The Rip
Above: The Campus Center as it stands in 2011, with renovated tables and planters. Courtesy of the Bakersfield College archive
Left: The Bakersfield College Campus Center in 1956.
BC celebrates 100-year anniversary in 2013 By Sandra G. Ward Reporter
Students attending Bakersfield College within the next few years will become a witness to a historical event to occur on the BC campus. The year 2013 will mark the centennial anniversary of the first enrollment of students to Bakersfield College. In 1913, BC opened its doors to a student body of 13 and was located on the grounds of Bakersfield High School campus. It wasn’t until 1956, that the construction was completed and the campus was relocated to the Panorama Drive location. It may be early to start thinking about a centennial celebration almost two years away, yet with it being such a significant
event, plenty of time allows for plenty of ideas to circulate on how to commemorate the 100year anniversary. There has already been some activity in the works on campus to get a jump-start on the event. A committee has been formed to create some type of honorary festivities program that the entire community can embrace. Though the committee is on hold at this time due to the medical leave of its chairman, activity is expected to resume in the very near future according to Amber Chiang, spokesperson for the committee. “We’re always looking for ideas,” said Chiang in regards to the festivities. Students, faculty and any interested party are encouraged to present some of their own ideas
once the committee has been re-established and active once again. “Plans are still at the informative stage and should start to pick up during May, and by September the plans should be more open for discussion,” said Chiang So far the committee had a few possibilities they were considering. One issue they were looking at was the time frame of when the commencement part of the celebration will actually begin. “Will it start at the end of the year 2012 or during the first semester of 2013 and will it last the entire school year? But planning is still in its early stages,” added Chiang. A subcommittee has emerged that is in the development of
publishing a book to include a chronology of the history of BC, from its first year to the present, in honor of the centennial. The Bakersfield College Archives Association has been a dynamic source that the subcommittee has relied upon for the material being gathered to include in the book. “Our archives here are very robust,” said Chiang. “Not only does it have a lot of information but also has photos dating back from the college’s first years. “With that we think it’s possible for us to put together a nice book,” said Chiang. The first chapter of the book has been completed thus far. “A lot has happened in 100 years at BC and we have the photos to prove it,” Chiang said.
Courtesy of the bakersfield college Archive
An aerial photo of the Bakersfield College campus with Memorial Stadium in the foreground in 1956.
MESA program gives members free laptop for community service By James Licea Copy Editor
Ryan George / The Rip
Violinist Samuel Lang, 13, performs “Butterfly Love” as a part of the Chinese Student Gathering on March 3.
Chinese culture shared in BC’s Fireside Room By Kevin Foster Reporter
The Fireside Room at Bakersfield College was standing room only and hosted the Chinese Student Gathering on March 3. The all-around show was a two-hour teaching of Chinese culture and tradition. The international student counselor, Shohren Rahman, put on the performances. The highlight of the show was 13-year-old Samuel Lang, who played a 10-minute violin show of “Butterfly Love.” “Butterfly Love” is the Chinese version of Romeo and Juliet. Lang’s original performance was 26 minutes, but due to time restraints it had to be cut. According to show master of ceremonies Li Kang Liu, a math professor on campus who introduced all the performers, Lang had put in “literally 100 hours of practice.” “I have been playing violin since first grade, so about seven years,” said Lang. The show started with a short film on China that was introduced by sophomore business
major Karen Zhang, who is from China and has lived in Bakersfield since 2009. The film consisted of facts about the Chinese people and their customs. According to Liu the two languages of China are Mandarin, which is spoken in the northern part of China, and Cantonese, which is spoken in the southern part of China. Liu also said that if you know Mandarin you could travel any where in the country and be able to know the language. Sophomore Charmaine, a nursing major, spoke about the difference between Hong Kong and the rest of China. She compared Hong Kong to New York in the fact that both cities are full of business buildings. Sophomore nursing major Vivian Choong explained the different types of Chinese languages and explained to the audience the four different types of characters in the written language. The show ended with final thoughts from Rahman, as she wished people had taken away some good knowledge and hoped to visit China one day.
Bakersfield College’s Mathematics Engineering Science Achievement program has been given a $10 million grant that will be used to provide program members with free laptops in return for community service. The grant was provided by California Connects and according to program director Consuelo Gonzalez, is funded by President Barack Obama’s National Wireless Initiative. The initiative aims to increase the amount of high-speed wireless services in America in five years. President Barack Obama stated in his State of the Union address that this will help benefit our economy by decreasing the current deficit by $9.6 billion and will help ensure the United States role in the future economy by increasing digital literacy. Gonzalez made clear that
they’re not just giving away these laptops. The students involved need to be either math, science, or engineering majors and need to be a member of MESA. Gonzalez explained that each member involved needs to fulfill a minimum of 12 hours of community service. “Our students who will receive a laptop are going to have to go out there in the community and serve at least seven people … we’re trying to reach the gap between people who don’t have access or don’t know how to use a computer or the Internet. “In our county there are a lot of people who are low-income who don’t have access to Internet or computers. And if they do, what they know on the computer is probably very low key, or something that’s not going to better their lives, like YouTube or Facebook,” Gonzalez explained. MESA members contributions, Gonzalez said, will con-
sist of them teaching people how to do simple tasks online including: online banking, accessing medical files, registering for BC, taking classes online and using various computer programs. Gonzalez explained that members of MESA are also low-income students; some of them the first generation in their family to pursue higher education. Adolfo Rojo, BC student and member of MESA, spoke of his involvement in the program, said, “I broke my laptop last year and it’s really hard to get a new one. Since I go to school full time, I work full time. Coming back and forth constantly, I just have enough money to get by. So this laptop is an amazing thing for us.” MESA members are given assessment tests that ensure their computer abilities. The purpose of this, Rojo explained, was to make sure they understand how to do certain tasks on a com-
puter that they will then teach members of the community. Another part of the grant that has yet to be put into action, Gonzalez said, is a Microsoft certification. Students will be able to receive a certificate in programs like Excel, Word or PowerPoint. “We are going to open that to people from campus who are non-MESA students. First we’re going to make sure we take care of this particular group, then we’re going to disseminate it across campus to people who might not be science majors, but would like to get a certificate and are willing to help.” Another project in talks includes having MESA members help high school students prepare for the California High School Exit Exam. Gonzalez shared, “we also have another one that’s called English USA and we’re going to have students from ESL come Saturdays and take modules and hopefully learn English.”
Assessment committee puts on ‘Jazzed’ to help students with learning objetives By Brian N. Willhite Reporter
Bakersfield College’s accreditation process is scheduled to occur soon and students are invited to get involved. The college will be hosting an awareness event all week in the Campus Center with hopes to encourage students to recognize and observe the student learning outcomes in their classes. “What we’re doing this year to increase awareness for students and staff and faculty is we’re going to host an event called Jazzed about Assessments Week,” said Bernadette Towns, co-chair of the assessment committee at BC.
The event will take place March 28 to April 1. “During that week we will also be having the faculty workshops and those workshops will be covering things like classroom assessment techniques, rubrics, how to connect your assignments with your class’s student learning outcomes,” said Towns. She also said that brown-bag lunches will be served with refreshments and desserts. Among the activities, there will be a table set up for students to stop by and receive a free slice of pizza if they can show the syllabi from their classes. Towns asserts that student participation is important be-
cause they should be aware of what teachers are supposed to be teaching them. The student learning outcomes unify instruction so that all students taking particular courses will learn the same material across all classes. “It’s important for the students to know that this is part of their education and that it’s going to improve their education so that they hold the teacher accountable for what they say they’re going to teach them,” she said. Students can also participate in a third-party survey that asks them what they think of BC and if they use the services provided on the campus and if whether or not they like or dislike them.
The college-wide satisfaction survey will choose classes at random to poll. They will be organized through the research office on campus. The accreditation process seeks to evaluate the college as a whole and determines whether or not the institution is adequately competent to do such things as offer degrees. “There are standards that we have to meet in assessments and so far are doing really great... BC is almost where we need to be at the time our accreditation comes,” Towns said. The Jazzed About Assessments Week will take place March 28 to April 1.
Campus
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Transfers won’t stop celebrations
Global students shine on campus
By Mateo M. Melero Reporter
By Keith Kaczmarek Reporter
International students are among the many unseen student populations at Bakersfield College. Since 1982, those students have been coming to BC to learn, with about half moving on to higher education in the United States. With recent campus events such as this month’s International Women’s Day event and the “Cup of Culture” event hosted by Chinese students, they’ve been playing an active role in student life at BC. The hurdles they face coming to BC are not insignificant. Currently numbering only 60 students from 29 different countries, they face a rigorous process to become students at BC. Each pays out-of-state fees of $184 a unit plus a capital fee of $34 per unit plus all other normal student fees, and they are not eligible for financial aid. They can’t even work on campus at any job funded even partially by federal money and only in extraordinary circumstances are allowed to work off campus. The American Embassy won’t even accept an application for a student visa unless they can prove that they have access to the funds required to pay for tuition and expenses. Considering the exchange rate in many countries, these costs can drive many parents of international students to take on double or even triple shifts at their work so that their children to come learn in the United States. “Education is a lot more important in other countries,” said Shohreh Rahman, the counselor for ESL Counseling/International Students for the past 23 years. On top of that, they are required to have high school education, which in other countries is equivalent to a degree here and includes the mandatory subjects: chemistry, physics, and calculus. They are also required to have English proficiency, attaining at least the third level in the TOEFL exam, which demonstrates fluency but not complete mastery. Rahman explained that any students come here to take advantage of our “excellent ESL programs” that focus on one-toone teaching and tutoring. “We are seeing students with much better English skills in the last few years,” said Rahman. “They are very prepared academically, but still some work on their language skills.” She noted that many professors here at BC are impressed by international students’ drive, critical-thinking skills and academic fitness. Sasuku Ito, a student from Japan, has been here three years and is now transferring to Cal State Northridge to study economics and is the winner of an International Women’s Day scholarship. “It’s been my dream since I was in grade school to come to America to study,” she said. She chose BC because she had been hosted by a family in Bakersfield and wanted to be near her host family. She added “It’s a smaller city, so you are forced to go out and speak English because there aren’t a lot of people from your country around like there are in bigger cities.” Rahman said that students come to her in the hopes of studying abroad, but that at this time there were few opportunities. She hopes that one day BC will send its own students to universities overseas.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Brandon BArrza / The Rip
Ann Wiederrecht speaks to students inside the Fireside Room on March 1. The 45-minute speech gave those in attendence a historical look back into the decision.
BC honors women’s voting rights By Sandra G. Ward Reporter
This year marks the 100th anniversary that a bill was passed, granting women the right to vote in California. To commemorate this historical achievement, a lecture was held on March 1 in the Fireside Room at Bakersfield College, to jump-start Women’s History Month declared on the BC campus this month. There was a packed house in attendance to hear speakers, BC history professor Ann Wiederrecht, and Cliona Murphy, professor of modern western European history at Cal State Bakersfield. Wiederrecht’s lecture was titled “Women Win the Vote.” She began with an introduction of the women in history who led the fight to insure women gain suffrage in California. Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady
Stanton made great efforts to fight and persuade the political arena that became an agenda not achieved over night. Wiederrecht continued her speech with a narrative fourphase timeline from the late 1800s to the passing of the women’s suffrage bill of California in 1911. Her 45-minute presentation concluded as an informative historic look into one of the major political accomplishments to develop in California’s history. Murphy’s presentation of “Contradictions and Conflicts,” an account of the women’s fight for the vote in Great Britain and Ireland, immediately followed Wiederrecht’s lecture. Her speech and visual presentation gave a look into the women’s suffrage movement of Great Britain and Ireland. Murphy began her college educational background at the
National University of Ireland where she received her master’s. She later gained her doctorate in history at the University of New York, Binghamton. She has several publications that include, “The Women’s Suffrage Movement and Irish Society in the early Twentieth Century.” Some students commented on the 100-year anniversary of women winning the vote in California. “We deserve it, to be equal and deserve to receive equal educational opportunities as men,” said Maria Canargo, a BC student. She believes that the event should be given more public recognition. Other students seem to agree with Canargo’s statement. “We need to voice our opinions,” said Kathryn Keathing.” These days many women are heads of the households and we need to be heard.”
Due to turnovers in members and leadership between the Fall and Spring Semesters, the Bakersfield College African American Student Union will be holding its Black History Month event March 26. AASU club member and Student Government Association activities liaison Tawntannisha Thompson said in concerns to the lack of events during February, “The problem we had is that the president we had in Fall transferred. And that’s been I think … the last three years.” “The year that I’ve been here,” said Thompson, “there was nothing because we get right out of the Fall/December semester and then we come back in January, and we have all new members.” According to Thompson, the club is currently struggling, along with others, in acquiring new members and participants in the club. This thwarts the development of club-sanctioned events on and off campus. “We are still struggling to get new members in,” said Thompson. “And a lot of students still don’t know that the club exists. We come to school in January, Black History Month is February, we don’t have members until school starts on the 21st … that doesn’t give them time to plan anything.”
Thompson also mentioned that club members either go on to transfer, don’t return for the following semester, or are unable to hold office due to other responsibilities. AASU Adviser and African American History Professor Ishmael Kimbrough said “Going into Christmas break you’re not going to have the same level of cohesiveness, especially because you’re supposed to elect new officers come next semester, so there is not this carry-over of leadership. So it’s almost like reestablishing the club.” Scheduled for a showing at the Bakersfield High School Harvey Auditorium March 26, the club will be showing the film “Men Ain’t Boys.” This film is described in the synopsis on the film’s website as: “At a time when African American men are often depicted poorly throughout mainstream media Tyler New Media breaks that trend with ‘Men Ain’t Boys,’ and ‘Men Ain’t Boys’ provides a blueprint for men, women and children to learn how real men live and how real men love.” AASU is also trying to secure a showing at the BC Indoor theater, as well as the Stars Dinner Theater downtown. For those interested in attending an AASU meeting, or joining, the club currently meets Thursdays at 3 p.m. inside Campus Center 5.
Graffiti not welcome by those on campus By Brandon J. Whited Reporter
Students and staff at Bakersfield College are fed up with bathroom graffiti and want nothing to do with it while some find it entertaining. Dave Howlett, a sophomore majoring in criminal justice, said, “It makes me sick, and I detest almost anything that has to do with it, unless the art is worth appreciating. Most of the graffiti seen around campus is nothing more than mixed up letters and numbers blurred together.” Unlike Howlett, when asked about graffiti, Luisa Hurtado said, “I really don’t see much around campus,” but according
to Karla Barajas, a freshmen, the bathrooms down at the Language Arts building are constantly vandalized with women trying to ruin others’ reputations and solicitations for sexual favors. “It makes me feel very uncomfortable.” Other students, such as Jonathan Walker, a sophomore majoring in history, find it entertaining. “When I walk into a bathroom and see a swastika on the wall, I could take offense because I’m Jewish, but it’s hard to get offended by ignorant people,” said Walker. “I think it’s funny to see how people advertise their ignorance.” Many students feel that graffiti
Annie Stockman / The Rip
A women’s bathroom stall covered in graffiti in the Humanities Building on March 22. has no place on a campus setting. Deante Rodriguez, a sophomore majoring in business management responds, “Pencils should be used in the classroom and not in a bathroom. “It doesn’t affect me, but it could start drama that doesn’t need to be on campus,” Rodriguez said. BC maintenance painter Mitchell Barter said that bath-
room graffiti cleanup is an ongoing process. Barter explained that “one week I can remove graffiti from the same bathroom three times in one day and the next week there’s none at all, it just depends.” Barter also said some of the worst graffiti is up by the public transit station and is done by non-BC students. When asked how grueling the job can be, Barter replied, “It de-
pends on if they use ink or felt. Ink comes off, but felt stays forever.” BC carpenter Jimmy “Smitty” Smith recalls a time when they had sting operations where they would freshly paint a bathroom and check after every student. “It’s disheartening to know that someone would willingly deface public property used to help people better themselves,” he said.
BC professor promotes second printing of book By Monica Bolger Reporter
Brandon Barraza / The Rip
Natalie Bursztyn at the promotional event for the second printing for her book, “The Geology of Kern County.”
Bakersfield College geology professor Natalie Bursztyn was at the Levan Center on March 1 promoting her second printing of “The Geology of Kern County.” Bursztyn is excited with the content of her book and is happy to be sharing it with the community. “Things are finally expanding, after taking me two years to write,” said Bursztyn. The 84-page publication includes her own pictures and diagrams of Kern County that emphasize tectonic actions of various locations around Red Rock Canyon, the Kern River Valley and desolate routes that run through Highway 58, Boron and the Mojave Desert. Bursztyn claims that her text demonstrates the validity of the Plate Tectonics Theory that paleomagnetism is used to tell the “rewind time” of the geological history of plates. “These tectonic plates, seven major and seven minor, are all in contact of each other and move in a motion that causes force and stress, thus leading to the deformation of the earth’s
crust,” explained Bursztyn. Tectonic plates are broken into small, brittle, eggshell-like pieces that makeup the outermost compositional layer of the earth’s crust, also known as the Lithosphere. “Looking at plate tectonics and most of the world’s agricultural elements, we are able to determine from different crusts that everything we see as landscaped today was completely submerged underwater at one point,” said Bursztyn. Bursztyn’s book also includes sketches of fossilization in her chapter about the paleontology of Kern County and the teeth that are found on Shark Tooth Hill. “The most surprising thing to me that I found in the geology itself was the history of the Kern River,” said Bursztyn. “I spent a long time thinking about the Kern River, and I actually spent a day or two with Jason Saleeby, who’s the geologist from Cal Tech, and we just patrolled around the area and picked up rocks, looked at rocks, talked about rocks and looked at maps, talked about maps, and try to generalize our ideas of the Kern River,” Bursztyn’s journey has not
only helped her broaden her studies but has also led to the findings of new artifacts and areas of agricultural terrain to use for her book. “The photograph that wraps around the cover from side to side was taken looking west into Kern County and the neon sign that you see on the side of Highway 58 that says ‘rocks’, I thought was a great picture. “You’re also seeing the area north of Tehachapi and north of Mojave,” said Bursztyn. Bursztyn talks about the two geological settings of the solid, crystalline Sierra Nevada to the east and the loose sandy San Joaguin Valley to the west and includes the history of how Bakersfield developed its main waterways. She accentuates her findings of obsidian rocks and Joshua trees that are commonly found throughout Kern County and live within the appropriate climate. Bursztyn’s goal of this project is to give readers the understanding and the history behind Kern County’s geological system. The book will be available for checkout during the second week of March at the Grace Van Dyke Bird Library.
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Wednesday, March 16, 2011
The Renegade Rip www.therip.com
Mother spreads message after tragic loss By Michael Wafford Editor in chief
After the death of her son in 1996, Cleotilde Gaxiola, 56, was overcome with emotion. “I felt sad, and I wanted to find the answer. You know, ‘why me, why my son?’ And I got really sick, really ill, and I lost my memory and I was in the hospital,” said Gaxiola. “I lost everything; my house, my husband, we got divorced. Married for 25 years and after that my husband left. “If not for the combination of my faith in God, school and my family I would not be talking with you, because it’s really hard.” Her losses were triggered by the killing of her son, Eddie Hernandez, on March 27, 1996. Since then she has focused her life on speaking to others in hopes that they will avoid a life of violence and drugs the way he did. “I’ve been going to junior highs, to elementary schools to colleges to all the places to talk with the students to tell them it’s a better way to do things. Violence is not the answer to anything,” said Gaxiola, a student at Bakersfield College. Gaxiola does this to honor her son who was focused on using education as a tool to avoid a life of criminal activity before his death. At the age of 16, and on track to graduate from high school, he was killed in a random act of violence 15 years ago.
Gregory D. Cook / The Rip
Cleotilde Gaxiola displays a photograph of her late son in front of a mural painted in his honor March 14. “On March 27, this person came to the house and killed my son. I was at home. The whole family was there. I was playing with my daughter before we go to bed and he came to the house, because he was doing drugs and alcohol and he wanted to rob so he could buy drugs,” said Gaxiola. “He thought nobody was home because it was after 11. He knocked on the door and we didn’t open the door so he went to the back, knocked on the backdoor. “My son opened the door and he killed my son,” said Gaxiola. While her son’s killer has been found, Gaxiola doesn’t find comfort because of it. “He is incarcerated for 25 years to life, but I’m not going to have my son
back because he’s in jail,” said Gaxiola. After the death of her son, Gaxiola’s husband left her. “When everything was fine, he was there but when a tragedy was coming he left me,” said Gaxiola. “I felt like when I needed him the most was when he left me.” After the separation she had to “do everything” for daughters, Lisa, 25, and Sandra Hernandez, 24, and because of them she was able to heal. “I didn’t want to live anymore but I had to stay here to take care of my girls. I had to keep dealing with life to take care of my girls. In the beginning they didn’t want to live anymore either,” said Gaxiola. “It was so hard for me [to explain to them] for years and
years they had to go to school and forget about the past. It was not easy.” Since then her daughters have started families of their own and Gaxiola has become a grandmother. “I feel really happy because I’m going to have more family coming. They’re not going to replace my son but they bring me a lot of happiness.” Gaxiola currently attends BC to help achieve her goal of becoming an alcohol and drug counselor. A BC student off and on since 1996, Gaxiola said she finds college helpful. “Being at BC [with] the students and the professors are helping me a lot with everything. Bakersfield College for me is like my family right now,” said Gaxiola. One of her instructors, English professor Elizabeth Rodacker, said, “It’s amazing. She is actually one of my heroes because she’s been through so much. So many challenges, so much suffering and she still is very positive. “She will very often say life is good on her e-mails or calls to me. She is someone who will not give up.” Her positive attitude extends not only to school. Gaxiola has remarried since her divorce. “I’m starting a new life right now,” said Gaxiola. “I’m converting all my negative things into positive things. If I can touch one life of any student, if I can make them change the way they’re thinking then my son’s life was not in vain.”
Gregory D. Cook / The Rip
Cleotilde Gaxiola touches a portrait of her late son Eddie Hernandez in a mural on Goodman Street on March 14. The mural is a memorial to Hernandez and represents the unfulfilled dreams and goals he had.
Kayla Broadhag / The Rip
Jose Lemus (left) and Matt Macias are part of the sculpture class at Bakersfield College where they constructed their cardboard transformers for a class project March 3.
BC: Students in disguise By Brian N. Willhite Reporter
As a crowd of Bakersfield College students gathered to watch an exhibition by their peers in the art department, they noticed two large boxes that drew their attention and anticipation as they patiently waited to see what would happen next. On the walkway outside of the ceramics classroom, one plain box designed to look like a camera was placed adjacent to another taller box that looked like a refrigerator, both were still while the audience settled for the show. Once everyone had arrived and was ready for action, the two boxes sprang to life, transforming out of their disguises and revealing the armored combatants underneath who then began to wage war with one another. As cardboard swords and arm blasters clashed into shields and coffee cups, the crowd watching reacted with excitement and applause before heading back to their classrooms after the dueling dynamos ended their performance. The students of professor Emily Maddigan’s sculpture class had crafted life-sized, transforming robotic costumes using bare minimum essentials to bring their covert comrades to life. The functional and combatready attire for both teams was a
small-group project that encouraged creative craftsmanship as well as some healthy, but friendly, competition. “The project itself was to create a transformer using only cardboard and some hot glue and packing tape... we can’t really bring in lights and electronics. So using the basics, how advanced can you make it,” said Matt Macias, art major and one half of the box camera team. Macias and co-creator Jose Lemus described their group’s project and why they chose their particular design. “Ours was an older box camera and we focused mainly on the inside of what he looked like as a robot at the transformation. The basic inspiration was functionality. We both do photography, too, so we were familiar with the camera itself and we chose the box camera specifically because it was more functional with a large open space on the inside to work with,” said Macias. The other team’s co-creator Ericka Gonzalez admits that at first her team had no idea the direction they wanted to take their transformer in but knew they didn’t want to take it too serious so they went for a comical version of their project. “When we first started out we had something completely different in mind, we changed something on it everyday. We
originally had it to where it was going to be this weird refrigerator monster-thing that was going to have a lobster claw and weirdlooking feet, we just really didn’t want to go with a boxed robot/ Optimus Prime-thing,” The villainous refrigerator robot sported an array of detailed additions like the main door having shelves and Starbucks coffee cups neatly organized and ready for serving. There was also a surprise in the freezer that displayed the robots evil plans for all to see. “The freezer was like a computer brain and had a computer screen on the back that said ‘KILL!’” Gonzalez explained. Surrounding the brain were cardboard clips designed to look like icicles, Gonzalez felt that it was a nice touch and added to the comedic value of the character. Macias also commented on how the other team did a lot to dress up the outside of their robot and that “it really looked like a refrigerator.” The two teams had still not seen the finished work of their counterparts’ project and were eager to see how they put the pieces together. “I was pleasantly surprised when they came out and the door opened up and there were all the Starbucks coffee cups and things like that,” Macias said. In the development of their projects, they were sure that they
Kayla Broadhag / The Rip
Cameron Hutton, a student in the Bakersfield College sculpture class demonstrates the transformation process of the cardboard refrigerator transformer March 3. didn’t want to make something that was reminiscent of a concept from the Transformers line of creations and instead strived to be more original in their designs. “Everybody’s seen a car transform, a plane transform and even a soda machine transform in the movies, but not really a refrigerator. Nobody’s really had a fridge-bot 2.0 or anything like that,” Macias said. Gonzalez, Lemus and Macias would all like to continue pursuing art to inspire themselves and as a profession. They each have goals that they would like to reach and are thankful about the opportunities they’ve had at BC. Originally pursuing a degree in art therapy, Gonzalez changed her major after real-
izing that it wasn’t the creative outlet she was looking for and since then has decided to focus in on sculptures and fine arts as her field of expertise. The lifelong artist would like to return to college-level classrooms one day and give back to students as a teacher. Macias, who never wanted a nine-to-five job, credits his family for his love of all things art and feels that if he could continue to make art for the rest of his life that would be OK with him. He also enjoys making “free art” for the masses and appreciates public displays like graffiti. Lemus would like to get his degree in art from BC and then go to an art school in Paris before eventually returning to Bakersfield to help mentor underprivileged youth on the east side and
help them express their creative talent. “There’s a whole bunch of talented kids out there on the streets who need guidance to express their art and not through drugs or alcohol but they need a place where they can go and be guided,” Lemus said. Both Lemus and Macias also agree that doing art is not about the money or fame but if those things did come along, they would probably more than OK with that. An art exhibit is being planned at the end of April in the BC gallery for students of the art department in which Macias and Lemus will have displays of their work. They may even reenact their big-bot-battle for the show’s opening, according to Macias.
Opinions
Page 8
The Renegade Rip www.therip.com
Wednesday, March16, 2011
Staff Editorial
Return elections to campus Bakersfield College recently held elections for the Student Government Association. These elections were available only through the Internet. Electronic elections are a weaker route to go and on-campus polling should return for the next SGA elections. Voter turnout was down from last year with voters in the 900s this year compared to last year’s turnout of around 1,300 voters, according to Joyce Coleman, the BC dean of students. This lower turnout may be due to a less proactive campaign run by SGA this year compared to previous SGA elections held at BC. While signs were posted throughout campus to inform students, the lack of physical polling areas on the campus meant the less technologically-savvy students or those who missed the fliers would be unable to vote in this year’s elections. In previous years, the booths and polling areas set up inside the campus center let more of the student body know elections were occurring and let them vote at the polls. The lack of a polling area this election was a result of the SGA’s desire to save money, according to Vice President Brian Rathefelder. While BC does offer Wi-Fi to every student on campus, many students do not own a device capable of taking advantage of this service and would need to find a wired Internet connection to vote on. While computers are available to every student at BC, public computers such as the ones in the library are often hard to come by, as the computer commons are full of people doing schoolwork or entertaining themselves between classes. If SGA elections are to reflect the opinions of the student body, then whatever route results in the most students voting should be used. While setting up polling areas and other attention-grabbing feats may cost SGA more money than an online-only election they are worth the cost, as the results clearly show that on-campus voting with physical booths is the way to go in order for future elections to better reflect the opinions of BC’s student body.
Chrystal Fortt / The Rip
Location and history key to keeping city at forefront By Amber T. Troupe Reporter
Being born and raised as a city girl my whole life, Bakersfield was a cultural, regional and climatic shock for me. But I have now been a resident for the last five years and my overall thoughts of the city have been vastly changed due to the everchanging growth and expansion of this subtle but bustling city. Bakersfield’s shining attribute is location, location, location. There are few cities in the United States that have its anchorage advantage. The city is located 94 miles north of Los Angeles, entertainment capital of the world, and 252 miles south of the San Francisco Bay Area. This fact alone could very well be the reason for Bakersfield’s population boom of 78,791 people in the years from 2000 to 2010. The population increase almost has a ripple effect on the evolution of Bakersfield because this voluminous expansion of human mass has made the city of Bakersfield to be ranked number nine of the largest growing cities in the United States. I have personally come to revel in the unmatched amount of warm, golden sunrays that kiss upon this region of California, being from St. Louis, Missouri where every winter there you are guaranteed one blizzard. This small, but iconic characteristic of Bakersfield just may well be the rationalization I use to keep me from seeing California in my rearview mirror. I must not be the only non-Californian that sees the beautiful weather as a motive to stick around a while longer, because this city was ranked in spot number nine for having the best weather in the country. That’s not bad for a place that is in a valley, with dirt roads not quite a thing
Facts speak loud and clear about living in Bakersfield By Keith Kaczmarek
of the past. Although statistics show Bakersfield as having some of the worst schools in the country due to the poverty level, it actually has the largest high school district in California because of the large baby boomer generation here, as Bakersfield is one of the best places to retire. Bakersfield and its surrounding areas have also made a considerable contribution to the counrty music culture, as the place that Buck Owens and Merle Haggard called home. They were the forerunners in the creation of a style of country music known as the Bakersfield sound. These two innovative artists truly helped put Bakersfield on the mainstream’s map of acknowledged cities for country music artists and fame. I personally had no idea what Bakersfield was, let alone what it ‘sounded’ like, until I was introduced to a well-known rock group also credited with creating their own genre, nu-metal. The band Korn (and yes, I’m a fan) is another milestone accomplishment for the city in the field of music popularity, enabling it to reach an even bigger demographic. However, Californians themselves come to the city because of its historical content in film. Bakersfield is an unfrequented film location, with movies that I would have never guessed to be filmed or set here. This list includes classics such as “North by Northwest” and “Psycho.” Cornerstones of the sci-fi genre like “Star Trek” and “Jurassic Park,” emphasize the desert and long dirt roads that comprise Bakersfield. Things like this may seem small to anyone not born and raised in this city, but to residents these very things are the fabric and heart of Bakersfield, California.
Reporter
Bakersfield has a lot going for it, but at the end of the day this town needs to seriously rethink its priorities. There are several issues that need to be addressed before this area becomes a good place to live, or it can even be recommended for human habitation. Let’s look at the facts. In a 2010 survey later quoted in Forbes magazine, Bakersfield ranked as one of the worst places in the US to live in terms of air pollution. We ranked first in short-term particulate pollution, second in long-term particulate pollution, and second in ozone pollution in the United States. The same article also quoted a preliminary 2009 Crime Report from the FBI stating that Bakersfield had one of the highest rates of violent crime in the US. A look at local statistics shows that 26-39% of those crimes are related to the drug methamphetamine. Men’s Health magazine also lists Bakersfield in the top ten for drunkest cities in the US, and has the highest number of liver disease deaths per capita in the nation, and 40th in DUI arrests and 36th in binge drinking. Up to a quarter of our wells are tainted by the banned toxic chemical TCP and the City of Bakersfield and the California Water Service have filed a lawsuit against Dow Chemical and Shell Oil in the hopes of getting the funds to clean it up. Heck, even our housing market is terrible. The Bakersfield Californian reported that, according to the latest monthly report, Bakersfield has the fifth worse residential housing market
in the US. The Californian had yet another article quoting state statistics that Kern County has the highest expulsion rate of students in California. According to the California Department of Public Health, we also have the highest rate of teen pregnancy in California. In 2008, Women’s Health Magazine rated thirty different factors ranging from air quality to visits to the gym and found that Bakersfield was the worse city in the US to be a woman. Put these statistics together, and we can see a picture emerge: Bakersfield is a dirty, dangerous, depressed, dumb and drugged-out city when compared to every other place in our fine nation. In a very literal sense, going anywhere else in the US is an improvement in your lifestyle and health and if you plan to build a life or raise a family, this area is going to be one of the worse places in our nation. Considering that California is one of the most beautiful states in the US, the fact that much of Kern County is an industrialized hellscape littered by oil wells and devoid of vegetation is another factor working against it. Combined with the terrible Central Valley heat in the summer, a person could not be faulted if, in their heat delirium, they suddenly believed that they had fallen into a post-apocalyptic movie. I’m not even going to talk about Valley Fever, a native fungus that we have here that makes the very soil dangerous to human life and turns every windy day into a chance to acquire a life-long illness that if untreated leads to a grisly death. That’s just too easy.
Public should hold celebrities accountable for their outlandish actions By Brian N. Willhite Reporter
I overheard an advertisement on the TV the other day for a show about celebrities titled “Who Do You Think You Are?” and without investigating further I got excited to watch it. As it turned out, the show was not what I had initially expected and is merely a show that traces the roots of celebrities and uncovers interesting things about their
’G ade Feedback
heritage – as if celebrities are the only ones that have an interesting heritage. My assumption was that the show was going to ask celebrities the question that many of us would want to ask them, “Who do you think you are?” Seriously? I was overjoyed with the possibility that a TV show would actually sit an over-deserving celebrity down and ask them why they think they are above every-
one else and should get away with their outlandish antics. Wild celebrities have a history of drawing attention to themselves and being praised for what an average person would get institutionalized for. The antics are enough and everyone needs to ignore these people, or at least point out how they need medical attention. Furthermore, I would still like to see a TV show drill these celebrities in an intervention-style
format and address their issues with them in a serious manner. This is the same thing that would happen with you or I if we were in the same boat, assuming we’re not locked up because of our childish rampages. The show could be titled “What Gives You the Right?” and could even take live questions from the TV audience. And to top it all off, the show could end with them being handcuffed and dragged away.
Sadly, this will never happen, which brings me to my final point: standards set for celebrities are easily a lot more lenient than for the general public. Just remember that if you were to stand up in class or at your job and just rant about the most random, drug-infused tirades, you will be apprehended and counseled and probably kicked out of your job or class, ruining your chances to build any credibility and respect.
But, if you’re a dope-dropping celebrity, you just might get away with anything you want and be rewarded with offers accumulating to millions of dollars of revenue all for your ignorance and general lack of dignity. So, stop paying attention to these people because all that’s happening is that you’re rewarding them and encouraging them to continue, unless they’re on TV getting the right questions asked to them.
“What at BC needs to be repaired or updated?”
Editor’s note: ’Gade Feedback is a feature that asks students their opinion on various topics.
Compiled by: The Rip Staff
Carrie Boyd, accounting: “Escalators at the Math and Science building.”
Erin Cowlings, computer science: “In the classrooms, the desks especially.”
Joey Dunford, psychology and history: “The Campus Center, the leak in the roof that’s been there forever.”
The Renegade Rip Editorial Board Winner of the 2003 and 2008 JACC Pacesetter Award The Renegade Rip is produced by Bakersfield College journalism classes, printed by Bakersfield Envelope & Printing Co. Inc., and circulated on Wednesdays during the fall and spring semesters. The newspaper is published under the auspices of the Kern Community College District Board of Trustees, but sole responsibility for its content rests with student editors. The Rip is a member of the Journalism Association of Community Colleges and the California Newspaper Publishers Association.
Editor in Chief..........................Michael Wafford Opinions Editor..............................Julian Moore Sports Editor......................................Zak S. Cowan Copy Editor ...........................................James Licea Online Editor................................Annie Stockman Features Editor............................Gregory D. Cook
Staff Reporters: Monica Bolger, Martin Chang, Chrystal Fortt, Kevin Foster, Tawny Jamison, Keith Kaczmarek, Tyler McGinty, Mateo M. Melero, Michael Morrow, Esteban Ramirez, Cristal Rodriguez, James Timothy, Amber T. Troupe, Brian N. Willhite, Sandra Ward, Brandon Whited Photographers: Brandon Barraza, Kayla Broadhag, Joseph Cota, Ryan George, Megan Luecke, Nathan Wilson
Adviser.......................................................Danny Edwards
Marshall Dale Goldend III, art: “The art building, they are the lowest [for repairs] on the totem pole.”
Matt Mizell, theater arts: “The SAM building.”
Write The Rip
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How to reach us
-Address: Bakersfield College, 1801 Panorama Drive, Bakersfield, CA 93305 -Phone: (661) 395-4324 -Web site: www.therip.com
Reviews
Page 9
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
The Renegade Rip www.therip.com
Local business offers affordable gunplay By James Timothy Reporter
The training room in Second Amendment Sports at 2523 Mohawk St. has a sort of hybriddojo feel to it. A table with a samurai sword mounted on it sits at one end of the room, with the feel of an altar. Clint Eastwood scowls tore at me from eview his position on the south wall, and I’m slightly confused by the glossy artistic 8X10 next to it that shows a pistol lying next to a cherry on a gray background. Assistant Manager Jennifer McKenna is giving us the rundown on the assortment of training courses the business offers as we fill out liability waivers. I scan the waiver and check the appropriate boxes. Before they place a semi-automatic death machine into my eager hands, Second Amendment is understandably interested in whether or not I am or ever have been a convicted felon, if I am currently under the influence of any mind-altering substances, and if I’ve ever been committed to a mental institution for “an overnight stay.”
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megan luecke / The Rip
Second Amendment Sports at 2523 Mohawk St. March 8.
megan luecke / The Rip
James Timothy fires a Sig 9mm handgun at the shooting range inside of Second Amendment Sports on March 8. Apparently day trips aren’t something that concerns them, I remark. McKenna jokes that they must not be that concerned, since she spends most of her time committed. She’s an easygoing, likable manager, and we laugh at her jokes. After all, she could be armed. McKenna gives us the guided tour. It’s a big place, and after
spending a few minutes looking around the first thing you notice is that it’s more than just a gun shop. It’s a paradise for a variety of outdoor hobbyists. Besides the standards of firearms, holsters and other accessories, and ammunition, there is a plethora of fishing, hunting, and camping gear. There’s an impressive selection of really cool-looking com-
pound bows and other archery paraphernalia, and literally hundreds of different rifles and pistols of all calibers. An amazing M4 Assault Rifle that looks like it is directly out of “Call of Duty” transfixes me but McKenna informs me it’s for law enforcement only. Beyond that, if you’re looking for camouflage apparel, duck calls, or synthetic elk urine, look no further.
Second Amendment is stocked to provide you with just about anything you need for hunting, fishing, archery, camping, etc. My photographer unfortunately denies my request to test out the fake elk urine in the name of science on her person, citing the lack of elk in the immediate vicinity. I question her devotion to the spirit of journalism, but she shrugs me off. In the range, McKenna coaches us on the safety parameters we are expected to practice if we are going to be firing guns off. We don the requisite ear and eye protection, and I choose a Sig 9mm handgun and a target featuring a lumbering zombie that sort of resembles me on it (not surprising, the Bin Laden
target is currently sold out). We squeeze off sixty or so rounds, which is an immensely satisfying experience. Somehow, firing a gun is a terrific stress reducer, an effect I’m unable to explain. It’s relatively cheap, around $15 for the ammunition and target. Several different membership packages are available where signing on for a full year can net you savings on renting various guns and allowing you to bring in guests to shoot with you for no cost. It was an enjoyable and informing experience, and I’m giving serious thought to going back and purchasing a membership for myself, although I don’t own any guns. Yet.
Lupe Fiasco fails to live French play a pleasure up to the musical hype By Gregory D. Cook Features editor
By Michael Morrow Reporter
After nearly four years off from putting out an individual album and working on group projects, Lupe Fiasco is back. Too bad the album “Lasers” doesn’t live up to the much anticipated hype. With about half of the album being leaked, most already know what the leader of the “First and Fifteenth crew” had to show on the album. Only half of it is enjoyable. The album is 12 tracks of mediocrity and a lbum mix of hiphop, rock, eview electro and A u t o - Tu n e that can get annoying. The album was released March 8, with hiccups from Fiasco’s label Atlantic Records being the source for the hold up. The album has its ups and downs because Lupe stretched this album too far. With the range this album has, it feels like it doesn’t have a direction. This is because the album has been in production since mid2008. As time went by, records sat on the shelf, and a lot of the original songs were either released early or leaked. “Lasers” features solid production with good percussions. “Letting Go,” features Sarah Green and is a heavy Auto-Tuned, lyrically based song produced by King David. The production is crisp and clean with strong beats and instrumentals. Personally, “Words I Never Said” and “All Black Everything” were refreshing tracks that don’t talk about the same things: bitches, hoes, cars, guns and money. The song featuring Skylar Grey is produced by Alex da Kid. In this song, Lupe releases a politically-charged verse taking verbal shots at George W. Bush, Barack Obama and the war on terror. “All Black Everything” is a great piece of poetry devoted to the thoughts of what if Africans weren’t brought to America as slaves, but rather on their own account. The song takes on a classic feel because of the pro-
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Courtesy of AtLANTIc Records
duction by The Buchanans and is a twisted reality of the world with black people being the head of society. A couple other songs that had good production quality and good-to-great lyricism are “Out of My Head” featuring Trey Songz, “The Show Goes On” and “Never Forget You” featuring John Legend. On the other hand, there were tracks with questionable selections of music and less than Lupe-like lyrics. “State Run Radio,” featuring Matt Mahaffey, is good music with a good topic mixed and produced wrong. The chorus is horrible, and the intro to the song is too long. Also, the use of guitars is just awkward and interrupts the flow of the song. MDMA makes three guest appearances on “Lasers”, one is good, one is bad and the other is all right. “Beautiful Lasers (2 Ways)” was co-written by Fiasco, MDMA and Kanye West and was previously released. The song has an eclectic sound that works with Fiasco’s use of Auto-Tune. “Coming Up” has an overuse of pianos and claps that gets annoying and is one of Lupe’s weakest efforts lyrically. “I Don’t Want to Care Right Now” was produced by The Audibles and is more upbeat than the other two, which were produced by King David. The song is OK lyrically, and Lupe even shows off his technical speedy delivery, but the chorus reminds me of an Akon pop hit, especially because Fiasco sounds like Akon on the chorus. Contemplating retirement, Lupe has said he wants to put out two more albums. “Food and Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album” and “LupE.N.D.” Hopefully they will both be better.
Here, the set became as much a character in the play as any of the actors, with its stairs, doorways and a revolving bed, providing the perfect backdrop for the comedy that was to ensue. More layers of mistaken identity are heaped upon the plot when it is discovered that the drunken, dim-witted bellboy of the Puss is the spitting image of Victor Chandebise. The two characters are both played by Justin Pool, who manages to pull off some impressive costume and position changes throughout the act. Pool does an admirable job in the role of Victor, his portrayal of the bellboy Poche comes off reminiscent of Napoleon Dynamite, although it is still quite entertaining.
The action degraded to the level of a Scooby Doo hallway gag, but in a good way, as the characters run from room to room avoiding or searching for one another. The gem of the second act was the performance of Morgan Von Sydow as Baptiste. His timing was spot on playing an elderly man employed at the Frisky Puss as a decoy for jealous husbands. The third-and-final act brings the audience full circle, and finally lets them off the hook, by giving full resolution to the story. The identities get resolved and the plot twists are wrapped up nicely. The audience was left with nothing more than the pleasure of going for the ride. And what a fun ride it was.
HD Glasses don’t help vision, but are painful By Michael Wafford Editor in chief
The glasses that claim to make the world “clearer and more alive” don’t do either. The HD Vision sunglasses are a complete failure at everything they attempt to do. Seen mostly in television advertisements, the HD Vision sunglasses are a pair of roduct sunglasses eview that are supposed to guard the w e a r e r ’s eyes from the sun, while being clearer than a regular pair of sunglasses so much so that the world is in glorious high-definition. When I put them on the world did not become clear. Instead the Earth was tinged in yellow and as I looked around the park-
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ing lot the yellow skin of the people walking around made me feel like I was in an episode of “The Simpsons.” The glasses also seem to intensify the reds and blues in colors. So much so that traffic lights became turquoise when I wore the HD Visions. The odometer arrow began to glow red, as if I were in a scene from “Tron: Legacy.” It’s a neat feature but it gets distracting, and a little sickening, after seeing parks filled with blue-green grass and candy-apple red cars surrounded by washed out browns and dingy whites. The biggest tragedy of the HD Visions however is that they fail at the most basic function of sunglasses. Sunglasses are supposed to protect the eyes from the sun. The HD Visions do not. Instead they seem to make things like glare and bright light
a little worse, not only making them more blinding, but hurting the eye more. While driving to school in the morning I am usually able to ignore the slight glare from the sun, when I wore the HD Visions the shine became a distraction. The glasses are completely ineffective at guarding the eyes of the sun compared to other budget sunglasses found at mall kiosks and gas stations. There’s also a problem of glare. Light reflects off lenses into the wearer’s eyes. This seems a little dangerous as glare directly into the eye while driving or walking across a busy street could cause an accident. The HD Visions also made my eyes hurt. After wearing the glasses for about 15 minutes my eyes began to hurt and I developed a slight headache. The glasses are comfortable though, and don’t look too
bad for $10 sunglasses. I even got a compliment while wearing them. A friend told me, “they look nice, if you’re from Oildale.” There’s also a problem with the name. A high-definition television’s clarity and resolution isn’t as good the real world’s. If the glasses did as they claimed and showed the world in HD, they would make everything look worse. The HD Visions can be purchased online or at various retailers in town for about $10. They come in a variety of styles and offer wrap-around style shades for those with regular glasses, but they aren’t worth the price and should be avoided. HD Visions sunglasses are terrible. I would rather stare into the sun without them on than see the world in high-definition again.
“What does the word ‘inveigle’ mean?”
Editor’s note: BC Brains is a feature that asks students a question to test their knowledge of all things trivial.
Compiled by: The Rip Staff
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Gregory D. Cook / The Rip
Morgan Von Sydow, who plays Baptiste, studies his lines before taking stage opening night on March 12.
Aaron Cobar, sciences: “To take something.”
Steven Garcia, art: “To talk trash.”
Chris Villalobos, ASL: “To judge people.”
Josh Olivares, physical education: “Sex.”
Julian Perez, fire technician: “Masturbation.”
Correct answer: To persuade or obtain by ingenuity or flattery; to entice.”
BC B rains
Take a pair of suspenders, a continually shifting case of mistaken identity, a jealous, pistolwaiving Spanish husband and a French hotel that prides itself on the fact that “all of our guests are married... Yeah, but not to each other,” and you have the basic ingredients of the lay Bakersfield eview College Theater Department’s recent, and ver enjoyable, production of French playwright Georges Feydeau’s “A Flea In Her Ear,” directed by professor Kimberly Chin. The play started the first of three acts with a pair of Victor’s suspenders being received by his wife after being found in a hotel with a dubious reputation. This set up a scenario of mistaken identities and quirky characters that most modern situation comedies can only dream of. The first few moments may have been a bit confusing, as
little time was spared to set the scene before the plot took off at break-neck speed, daring the audience to keep up with it. Those that did were treated to some nice performances. While most of the cast did quite well in their roles, of note was Adam Raines, in the role of Camille, a character who has an unfortunate, but quite funny in this case, speech defect that prevents him from voicing consonants. Raines did a great job of delivering his lines so that the audience could figure out what he was saying, while still seeming convincingly unintelligible. Jotae Fraser also did a very good job of capturing the difficult essence of his character, Dr. Finache’s, off-handed, intellectual mannerisms, but his voice had trouble reaching beyond the first couple of rows in the theater, and Robert “Goose” Scott’s overthe-top portrayal of Don Carlos Homenides De Histangua, was a thing of beauty, combining both vocal and physical comedy with great effect. The plays second act shifts the action into high gear, as the setting moves to the Frisky Puss Hotel.
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The Renegade Rip www.therip.com
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Athletic secretary retires after watching several generations at BC pass By Michael Wafford Editor in Chief
After 37 years of work at Bakersfield college, athletic secretary Barbie Hobbs has retired. “They conned me into it,” said Hobbs jokingly. “You know, ‘come on down here, this is an easy job, you’ll have fun.’ “Well, it was not an easy job [but] I always had fun,” said Hobbs when recalling how she was placed into the position she held for the majority of her career at BC. Born and raised in Bakersfield, Hobbs began working at BC seasonally in 1974 and began working full time four years later in
the admissions department until retiring this year. “It’s been good, but you got to know when it’s time to go,” said Hobbs. Hobbs said she began thinking she should retire when she began to notice she had seen three generations of athletes go through BC. “You think one day ‘now’s the time.’ I’ve had players where their fathers played, where their grandfathers played ... This year I went, ‘is your dad so and so?’ Oh my god I remember him ... ’ that’s like a 20-year span,” said Hobbs. While her job mostly involved planning and coordinating for the
athletics programs Hobbs said she spent a lot of time assisting BC students and staff who had broken down while on the road. “The worst thing was with Pam Kelley one year. She broke down at Mt. SAC and we got a van from school, my husband and I, we went over the Grapevine. Of course he’s cursing all the way because it started raining, then we hit the fog and then there’s snow. Then we get down to where she is and she’s parked. In the middle of a dirt lot – deep in water – flooded. So we pull up and we can’t save the van so we get the athletes we can take with us and we drive her back and someone else has to go save
the van. “That was an interesting trip. I had a lot of those.” While mainly working with planning and coordinating events, Hobbs said working with the players is the highlight of her time at BC. “Just working with all the athletes. Because you got women, a lot of them have kids some of them have two, three kids. Young mothers and they come with kids. “They go to school, they work, and then they have families. To me that’s incredible. They graduate, they move on, they play somewhere else and take their families with them.”
Hobbs also finds joy in former BC athletes who stay in the Bakersfield community. “If you look at the high schools, a lot of the coaches who are at the high schools are BC products. I went to the East High Hall of Fame dinner and I’m sitting around the table and every one of those guys played at BC one time or another. “We produce a product and they come back,” said Hobbs. Hobbs plans to stay in the community herself. With her retirement beginning Hobbs said she has “no plans whatsoever” for the future, but does want to be involved with the Bakersfield community and the BC athletic
courtesy of barbara hobbs
Barbara Hobbs worked at BC for 37 years. department. Hobbs may be working with the softball program this spring.
Track and field take eight at home meet Bakersfield College’s track and field program hosted the Bakersfield Relays on March 12 and 13. Both the men’s team and the women’s team finished second overall in the meet. The men took a total of eight events, including six of the eight field events. ports Sophooundup more Darien Moore took three of those field events: shot put, discus throw, and hammer throw. Ryan Kirschenmann, a sophomore, took the men’s 200-meter dash, and also participated in the 4-by-400-meter relay when BC lost by less than twotenths of a second to College of the Canyons. The women’s team took four events over the weekends. Clara Escutia took the 400-meter hurdles for BC with a time of 1:09.3. BC freshman Nyleisha James took the high jump, Serena Underwood took the pole vault, and Blanca Perez took the Javelin for BC. Pam Kelley, the head coach of the women’s track-and-field team was very pleased with her team’s performance, as well as the men’s. “I think we had a good meet, we had some good marks on some people,” she said. “We just have to keep working hard to get better marks … that’s the whole name of the game is getting better as you go along. “They’re working hard and we’re getting to the point where we can still get a little better,” Kelley said. “The more we do that the better we’re going to get.” Kelley said that although she is pleased with the improvements the team has made, she would like to see them take the next step.
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annie stockman / The Rip
James Griffin of Bakersfield College returns a backhand from a Santa Barbara City College opponent on March 10.
Quest for victories not so simple By Tyler McGinty Reporter
The Bakersfield College women’s tennis team has had ups and downs this season. After losing its first match against Ventura College, the team bounced back, defeating Glendale College 6-3 on March 1 and Allan Hancock College 9-1 on March 3. However, the team’s matches against Santa Monica College on March 8 and Santa Barbara College on March 10 didn’t fare so well. The team lost both matches 8-1. Coach Gene Lundquist said that Santa Monica was “the number two team in the last year, and stronger this year, unfortunately for us.” Although it was a defeat for the team as a whole, singles player Denisa Hromadkova was able to keep her undefeated conference record for this game. “Our number one player, Denisa Hromadkova, was able to
win against one of the very top players in the conference: Criss Rodriguez,” said Lundquist. “She was previously undefeated in the conference and Denisa played probably the best ladies tennis match that I’ve seen since I’ve been here. It was a terrific match from both players and [Hromadkova] beat her 6-3, 6-2. So that was a nice victory for Denisa.” After taking away someone else’s perfect record, Hromadkova was unable to hold on to hers. Hromadkova lost 6-2, 6-4 against Elizabeth “Betsy” Sauer, who Lundquist feels is Santa Barbara’s best player. Lundquist said that Hromadkova was likely not at full strength for her match, since she had sustained two injuries before the match: a slight hip muscle pull after her Ventura match and a foot injury during her Santa Monica match. The team’s only victory against Santa Barbara came from Jen-
nifer Chan, who defeated Anna Slyutova in a three-set match, coming up 7-5 in the last set. “It was a real nailbiter,” said Lundquist. The women’s team ends the first half of their season 2-3, but Lundquist remains optimistic. “The whole team shows improvement, despite losing to those powerhouses decidedly,” he said. The BC men’s team has also had a tough time this season losing to Glendale 5-4 on March 1 and to LA Pierce 9-0 on March 4, but winning a 5-4 victory against Santa Barbara on March 10. “We played a really good match against Glendale, had chances to win it, but we lost two three-setters in singles, and if we had pulled out one of them, we would have won the match,” said Coach Rob Slaybaugh. The men’s team ended their first half 1-3 and Slaybaugh acknowledges the next half will continue to challenge the team.
Infielder’s got some beat By Kevin Foster Reporter
Danielle Ayler is not just a softball player for Bakersfield College. She is also a member of the world champion Blue Devil Drum Corps. “Winning the championship last year was very nice. I felt accomplished for all the hard work I put in during the season,” Ayler said about being apart of the Championship Corps. The Blue Devils are a drum corps program with numerous subdivisions of drums corps within the program. The Blue Devils were founded in 1957 and are located in Concord, California. The main corps is The Blue Devils “A” Drum and Bugle corps. The “A” corps is a 14-time Drum Corps International World Champions and has finished in the top five in the last 28 consecutive years. The secondary corps is The Blue Devil “B” Drum and Bugle Corps. The “B” Corps was DCI World Champions in 2009 and
2010. Ayler was a member of the 2010 “B” Corps DCI World Champions. Ayler played the mellophone in the hornline for the championship corps last year. “The hornline plays all the melody. I hate to compare drum corps to marching band, but it’s more similar to that, but just a millon times better and harder,” Ayler said. The Drum Corps wasn’t always on the mind of Ayler. “I started in the drum corps when my boyfriend got me started in it,” Ayler said. She recalls that the drum corps wasn’t exactly what she thought it would be. “It was more fun then I thought and I knew that it would take dedication and that 12-hour rehearsals everyday isn’t something to be taken lightly,” Ayler said. Ayler explained the difference between the “A” and “B” Corps. “The ‘A’ class is a world class, think of it like varsity,” Ayler said.
annie stockman / The Rip
Danielle Ayler plays as a untility infielder for BC. “And the ‘B’ Corps is open class, think of it as [Junior Varsity].” Ayler, a utility infielder for the Renegades, joked about picking Drum Corps over softball if it came down to it. “I love doing both, but I’ve been playing softball for about 10 years and Drum Corps only one full summer. In that one summer after winning a championship, I felt way more rewarded for my hard work. On top of that, it’s extremely fun.”
“The league is about as tough as I’ve seen it for a while. Last year we tied with LA Pierce for fourth in the league, and this year we’ve got a better team than last year, but every team in the league is better. From looking at other leagues, I’d say it’s the toughest league in the state,” said Slaybaugh. “We’ve had a couple matches that we lost 5-4, so we’re putting out effort. Hopefully we’ll have a good second half, I’m not giving up on it by any stretch of the imagination.” Both teams start the second half of the season against Ventura College on March 22, with the women’s team playing at home and the men’s playing away. Lundquist is optimistic about the rematch against Ventura College. “It was so close last time and we weren’t at full strength, we didn’t have all of our players there and hopefully this time we will [beat them].”
Softball The Bakersfield College softball team has lost three straight games and six of their last seven, bringing their record to 7-8, 0-2 in Western State Conference Blue Division. The team played on the road March 5 and March 10. The March 5 game was a three-team day where all three teams would play each other at least once over the course of the day. The day started with BC defeating Saddleback by a score of 11-3 in a five-inning mercy rule. The mercy rule states that if a team is up by at least eight runs after any completed inning after the fifth then the game is over. Freshman catcher Kara Frankhouser hit two home runs in the game against Saddleback, and Golden Valley product Julie Estep gave up a three-run home run in the first inning, and then shut out Saddleback for the rest of the game. Frankhouser continues to lead the team in batting average and is the only player on the team with a home run. BC’s second game of the day was against Antelope Valley (20-1). The day was dominated with six shutout innings by Julie Estep for BC and Christian Carbajal for AVC. Antelope Valley would win the game 3-1 with a two-run walk off home run in the bottom of the seventh inning. The March 10 game was a doubleheader against division foe Canyons. BC lost both of the games by one run. The team will host the BC Classic #2 on March 19 and 20. BC, Riverside, Pasadena and Santa Barbara College will all participate in the six-game event.
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The Renegade Rip www.therip.com
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Late-coach Turner commemorated By Mateo M. Melero Reporter
Inside the island-themed Bakersfield College Cafeteria on March 5, family, friends, supporters, and members of the BC swim team congregated to help raise funds for the team and commemorate the school’s first swim coach, Jim Turner. Turner, who passed away eight years ago, was BC’s first swim coach. Initially brought in as a line coach for the football team, Turner was asked a few years later if he would like to coach the newly started swim program. “He wasn’t a swimmer, he didn’t have any swim coaching experience – just kind of figured it out,” said Bill Moseley, BC computer science professor and grandson of Turner. But despite his inexperience with swimming, Turner persisted as coach, ending at retirement with 35 years as the BC swim coach. “I think his thought on it was, ‘a coach is a coach, if you know how to coach and motivate people and get people excited about working hard, then you could be a good coach,’” said Moseley. “A lot of his swimmers will tell you that his practices were a lot like football practices in the water.” After Turner retired in 1989, the swim team continued until it was canceled in 1993 and would not be reinstated until 15 years later. In 2008, soon-to-be-retired Athletic
Director Jan Stuebbe, along with the current BC swim coach Charlie Pike and BC Aquatics Director Tina Cummings, revived the program from its 15-year hiatus. “Jan Stuebbe was one of the main guys behind getting the swim programs back,” said Pike. Having insured funds for the swim program and requesting reinstatement from the Board of Trustees, Stuebbe asked Pike if he would like to coach, in which Pike said, “I’d love too.” Now, currently in its fourth season since reinstatement, the BC swim team, along with the other sport’s programs at BC are adapting to the current college financing cuts, as well as talk of possibly canceling athletic programs at the community college level. “It’s scary when they’re talking about eliminating athletics in the entire state,” said Pike. “That’s what we’re all worried about, so we’ll see what happens with that.” “It would be a shame,” said Pike. “I think some of the better students are involved in the extracurricular activities.” With the team’s scoreboards currently inoperable and out-of-date, the fundraiser is an attempt to secure the estimated $4,000 required for the purchase of new scoreboards. In regards to the record board inside the Physical Education building, Pike said, “ It’s kind of run down and falling apart a bit, so we’re going to try to get
It’s bracket time folks Open Mike | A column on the everyday happenings in sports.
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The fundraiser, held on March 5, honored former swimming coach Jim Turner, and raised money for BC’s swimming program. some newer ones and something to put out by the pool so that they’re out there for people to see when they swim.” Funds generated from the event will also go to paying for traveling expenses when the team has out-of-town meets. BC women’s swim team captain Brigitte Alexander said, “We have a big meet in Cuesta [coming up], and so we just want to make sure that next year we have some left over so we can just keep sending it on, year after year.”
Including the initial $25 cover charge for the event, the team also held a silent auction, consisting of a television, gift certificates, and gift baskets obtained by the students, to help generate the needed funds. “The real reason was to get people together and get the word out that Bakersfield Swimming is back,” said BC Aquatics Director Tina Cummings. The swimming team will travel to College of the canyons on March 18.
baseball: Streak continues Continued from Page 1 he just gives you that feeling of comfort when you’re on the mound knowing how he swings it, knowing how he fields it, it’s nice having him back 100 percent.” Maxwell also spoke of the trouble in the sixth inning, giving catcher Brock Allen credit for getting him back on track. “I was throwing well early then in the sixth, I wasn’t spotting up as well with my fastball but Allen did a great job of adjusting to that and we started going more off-speed. From that point on, we were able to keep them at bay,” he said. Pennington was glad to pick up the win. “We’ve put a good run on it right now, so to get this one at home against a good ballclub feels awesome. To get this in a conference game is just huge because this
whole year is a grind. Every single win that we can get and push across is a good feeling because in the end, we need to win two out of three against everyone,” he said. Painton said the win was typical of Renegades baseball, “that’s kind of the makeup of our club, we’re going to pitch, we’re going to play defense and got to grind out runs.” Renegades pitcher Marcos Reyna threw a reported no-hitter against Los Angeles Valley College on March 12, for his second win of the season. Reyna, who was a 14th round draft pick in 2009, struck out 13 batters and walked three. BC defeated Los Angeles Pierce College on the road on March 5 in an 11-inning game. Tied at two, the Renegades got the win with a two-run single from Spingola. On the road again, the Ren-
gregory d. cook / The Rip
John Suda connects for a base hit against College of the Canyons on March 10. egades would also need extra innings to beat the West Los Angeles College Wildcats on March 8. BC sealed the game in an un-
conventional 10th inning scoring six runs on just two hits. The Renegades six run inning consisted of: a passed ball, fielder’s choice, hit by pitch, a wild pitch
and five walks. The Renegades have four straight home games coming up with one of them being a rematch against LA Pierce.
March Madness. The time of year when brackets are flowing and money exchanges hands from friend to friend and gambler to bookie. With people placing bets, filling out Michael Morrow bracket after bracket for pool after pool, trying to claim winner to a perfect bracket. Tournament time is a great time of year when the culmination of the regular season and conference championship tournaments pay off for the good and sometimes lucky teams, and not so much for others. The conference championships were some of the best to date. A lot of the games were exciting and down to the last shot, or went into overtime. I can just imagine what the NCAA Men’s Division 1 Basketball Championships are going to hold for the fans. Beside the stupid region names, the only real issue is that the NCAA is not getting all of the right teams in the tournament. And the teams that make the field sometimes get special treatment. The head of the committee who selects the teams invited to the tournament is Ohio State Athletic Director Gene Smith. Smith’s term as head of the committee expires in September. The committee selected OSU as the No. 1 overall seed and what appears as one of the easiest routes to the Final Four. San Diego State has lost only two games all season and finished the Mountain West Conference Championship Tournament on top, beating the only team to beat them this year, BYU. The win gave the Aztecs 32 wins this season, the same as OSU, but only a No. 2 seed in the tournament. SDSU should have been given the No. 1 seed in the West region, Duke given the No. 1 seed in the Southeast region and Connecticut and Texas bumped up, respectively. You do the math and tell me something isn’t a little bit odd about those situations. Another weird happening is, Virginia Tech (21-11, 9-7 ACC) missing the tournament four years in a row, and this year the Hokies upset another No. 1 seed the Duke Blue Devils earlier this year. The Hokies are getting hosed and they should be in the NCAA tournament. Other than that mess, the first two days should go as expected with higher seeds winning out. Some minor upsets of course, but nothing too crazy like number ones going down. The third round gets a bit more interesting, with Duke being ousted, but again, nothing too out of the ordinary. Now in the Sweet Sixteen, that’s where I have things getting a bit dicey for the higher seeds. In the Sweet Sixteen: East: No. 2 North Carolina losing to No. 3 Syracuse West: No. 2 San Diego State losing to No. 3 Connecticut Southeast: No. 6 St. John’s losing to No. 10 Michigan State Southeast: No. 1 Pittsburgh losing to No. 5 Kansas State Southwest: No. 2 Notre Dame losing to No. 3 Purdue In the Elite Eight: East: No. 1 Ohio State losing to No. 3 Syracuse West: No. 3 Connecticut beating No. 4 Texas Southeast: No. 10 Michigan State beating No. 5 Kansas State Southwest: No. 1 Kansas beating No. 3 Purdue In the Final Four, a rematch of a Big East rivalry pits UConn against Syracuse and puts the Huskies into the title game and on the other side, Kansas beats MSU to advance the Jayhawks into the title game. In the end, Kemba Walker and the UConn Huskies are to offensively gifted for the Jayhawks and get to cut down the nets.
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Eyes of the Rip The Renegade Rip www.therip.com
An artistic look at Bakersfield
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Above: An HDR photo of buildings and cars near the Padre Hotel from H Street in downtown Bakersfield. Left: An HDR photo, such as this one taken off of White Lane and Wible Road, can show off how dramatic clouds in the sky can look.
High Dynamic Range (HDR) Photography is a technique used by photographers to give their photos a more artistic and surreal look. They achieve this look by taking three to five different exposures of the same photo and combining them together using an automated process in Photoshop called “Merge to HDR.� The photos on this page are some of the results you can get by using this artistic technique. Photos by Nathan Wilson
Left: HDR photography can give buildings an artistic look, as seen in this photo shot in downtown.
Top: An HDR photo taken at White Lane and Wible Road on a different day than the one at the top of the page.
Bottom Left: An HDR photo of Reading Cinemas and the cars in the parking lot on Wible Road.
Bottom: This photo of the river, taken at Riverwalk Park, shows how using HDR can give photos a fully exposed look.