The Renegade RIp Vol. 82 No. 11

The Renegade Rip Bakersfield College

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Vol. 82 ∙ No. 11

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

New CSU transfer bill brings hope and questions

By Breanna Gray Reporter

Governor Schwarzenegger signed Senate Bill 1440, which simplifies the transfer process from California Community Colleges into California State Universities, into law on Sept.

29.

Starting in the fall of 2011, students who earn a 2.0 GPA or higher with 60 transferable units, and 18 of those units in a major

or area of interest, are guaranteed admission as a junior into their local CSU. For many current community college students, the requirements for transferring are confusing and they end up taking more units than necessary. With this bill in place, students will not have to repeat coursework at the upper division level.

Amber Chiang, Bakersfield College Marketing and Public Relations director, said that the

state government has told CCC’s and CSU’s that they must have the system in place by fall 2011.

“That’s actually pretty quick, typically curriculum development and matriculation is a time consuming process. There are already teams in place moving forward with this at the state level and then it’s going to be directed down to us,” Chiang said.

This fast time frame will not benefit students who are graduating in the spring, but should

make transferring easier for incoming students as well as current freshmen.

Rachel Sanders, a college freshman, decided to take online classes through Brigham-Young University rather than going to a community college because of the restraints associated with transferring into four-year universities.

“The school that I wanted to transfer into next year doesn’t accept transfers anymore be-

cause of the economy and many of the state schools are cutting back on how many transfers they are allowing,” Sanders said.

According to Chiang, such problems will be solved through the new agreement.

Chiang said, “Previously we did have a 60-unit transfer that worked for the CSU’s, some UC’s and some private schools, but as enrollments got so crazy it kind of just went away. Because those schools were so impacted

they weren’t taking our students so now we are basically putting that back into place.

“The reality is that the classes aren’t really going to change.

What is going to change is the agreement between the two schools and what it takes to transfer over there.”

Details of how the system is going to change and what schools are considered as local have yet to be seen this early in See TRANSFER, Page 4

Business conference hosts popular speaker line-up

By Brian N. Willhite Editor in Chief

The Bakersfield Business Conference, hosted by Borton Petrini, roared into town for the 25th anniversary of the local event extravaganza Oct. 9. The big-tent event featured some of the most well-known platform speakers in politics, such as Sarah Palin, former governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney and former Vice President Dick Cheney.

The conference also featured motivational speakers such as Joe Clark and Medal of Honor recipient Peter Lemon. Entertainment acts such as Rich Little and political satire comedy group The Capital Steps provided the light-hearted entertainment to the audience of over 10,000.

Taking place on California State University, Bakersfield’s soccer fields, every attendee in the audience cheered as they stood, waving the American flags they held for each speaker that took the stage at the big-tent event.

After a five-year absence, the conference returned to bring back the tradition founded in 1985 by the event’s master of ceremonies, George Martin.

Bringing together high-level speakers for an event this large is not an easy task, according to Brandon Martin, media coordinator and son of George Martin.

In addition to booking speakers a year and a half in advance, the elder Martin, who books the guests, must determine if the speaker will still be relevant once the event comes to pass.

Martin commented on how the

Photos by Gregory D. Cook / The Rip

Above: The grounds of the Bakersfield Business Conference were decorated with 2,880 flags commemorating the lives lost in the Sept. 11 attacks.

Left: Former Vice President Richard Cheney and wife Lynne share a moment of personal reflection on stage at the Bakersfield Business Conference on the Cal. State Bakersfield campus Oct. 9.

For extended coverage of the

Bakersfield Business Conference See pages 6 and 7

Bakersfield Business Conference has firm criteria that must be met when they look for speakers to book.

“Just because somebody’s a big name, or a celebrity, does not mean they get to grace the stage of the Bakersfield Business Conference. Our attendees are much more demanding than that,” said Martin. “Not all of our speakers are political in nature; we like

to get the audience feeling good about themselves, laughing and enjoying themselves.”

The event also looks to find a variety of speakers to include in the line-up, regardless of their background, to give guests the best experience possible at the conference, according to Martin.

“We want the best speakers we can find, and we’ve been lucky that that’s turned out frequently

Fine Arts classrooms struck by burglary and vandalism

By Gregory D. Cook Online editor

Students and instructors in the Fine Arts building arrived on campus on the morning of Oct. 11 to discover that at least two rooms had been burglarized over the weekend, and some equipment had been stolen.

According to Sgt. Christopher Counts, of the Bakersfield College Department of Public Safety, the burglaries occurred sometime between late Friday night, Oct. 8 and early Monday morning, Oct. 11.

Counts expressed that Public Safety and the Bakersfield Police Department are looking into the incident, but declined to comment on an ongoing investigation.

FA 47, a room that is used for communication classes, was broken into, and a 55-inch LCD television was taken, and an LCD projector was

taken out of FA 65, a music room.

The vending machines outside of the Fine Arts building were also vandalized over the weekend, but Counts refused to speculate if the two incidents were related.

School officials would not publicly release certain information, but the value of the missing equipment was estimated at more than $3,700.

A. Todd Jones, chair of the Communication Department, expressed concern over how the missing equipment will affect the classes being taught in those rooms.

“The students need that equipment for their communication presentations,” he said. “Right now, we are working on getting something temporary in there.”

He added that he was unsure of where the department will find the funding to permanently replace the equipment.

to include both women and minorities. Probably the most popular speaker in the history of our event, in terms of attendee feedback and evaluation forms, was a woman, Margaret Thatcher,” said Martin.

“Ultimately, nobody is saying we have to have a certain ratio of this ‘type’ of person, we look at them as individuals. This year, as in years in the past, minorities

have performed well as public speakers. We brought back Joe Clark on different occasions, not because he’s African-American, but because he’s frankly just one of the best platform speakers in the nation. There’s no doubt about it, he definitely earns his place on our stage.”

One of the attractions special to the event were the 2,880 flags that were posted into the ground by members of local high school ROTC programs and wounded veterans as a memorial for each individual that died during the attacks on 9/11.

Martin discussed the importance of the dedication and what

the organization hopes attendees will take away from the memorial.

“There’s 2,880 flags for each person who died on 9/11, and the idea is you should be able to go to the top of the 110-foot Ferris wheel, look down, and get a real visual representation of all the lives that were lost on that day and start to understand, maybe for the first time because 2,880 is a big abstract number, and look at what it really meant in terms of our country’s loss that day,” said Martin.

From humble beginnings in the 1980s, to the nationally See CONFERENCE, Page 6

Women’s soccer sets demanding game pace Pamela Mier (left) of L.A. Mission College and freshmen Kelsey Andrew (right) of Bakersfield College fight for the ball at the BC soccer field Oct. 5. BC, which is 5-5-2 overall and 3-2-1 in Western State Conference South, won their conference match 9-0.

See page 10 for BC soccer story. annie stockman / The Rip

Features

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Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Via Arte gives Marketplace an art show makeover

By Brian N. Willhite Editor in Chief

The Via Arte Italian Street Painting Festival returned to the Marketplace for the 12th year Oct. 9-10 to promote the arts in Bakersfield and help support educational programs by the event’s host, the Bakersfield Museum of Art. Consisting of original artwork and recreations of existing pieces, artists sketched and shaded their works with colored chalk on the blacktop of the Marketplace’s parking lot as crowds gathered to witness the event.

One artist, Marla Moreno, 19, was inspired to create a piece that depicted her love of the World War II era and the modern soldier, which she titled “Honor Then, Honor Now.” “This is my fifth year out here, and this year I wanted it to be a little more special because my boyfriend’s a corporal in the Army,” said Moreno.

“I wanted to do something that just wasn’t pretty to look at but something that was going to mean something to people, something that was going to touch somebody, somehow, somewhere and that’s my goal,” she said.

Moreno’s artwork depicted a soldier’s face split down the middle with an American flag with the left side of the face resembling a World War II combat soldier and the right side resembling a modern day soldier in desert camouflage gear.

Another artist, Beth Ansolabehere, 25, focused on recreating

Deedee soto / The Rip

Magdalena Martinez recreates “Medusa,” an original artwork by Greg Horn as part of the Via Arte street-painting art show at the Marketplace on Oct. 9. an existing black-and-white portrait of surrealist artist Salvador Dali by Philippe Halsman.

“I like the black and white the best because it’s the highest contrast, and the images really stand out to me,” she said.

Ansolabehere won the secondplace award in the Copy of Artist’s Work category; she has now participated in the event for nine years.

In addition to the artwork being created, the event also featured performing artist groups like musical acts and dance troupes.

Bands and dancers performed on the street in front of the Mar-

ketplace’s fountain to standing audiences over the course of the two-day event.

Via Arte also featured a Wellness Fair hosted by San Joaquin Community Hospital. Patrons were given tips and educational information about health issues like weight loss, strokes and chest pains.

Health screenings were also being conducted for blood pressure, cholesterol and glucose levels.

The assistant director for the Bakersfield Museum of Art, David Gordon, discussed how street painting fairs originated in Italy

as a way to reproduce famous artworks and how they were a way to educate the community about art as well as offer tips for the public.

Similarly, according to Gordon, Bakersfield’s event is meant to offer the public a look at reproductions of great art as well as give artists a forum to express themselves.

“It’s a free event for our community, and we have artists from all over California that participate in it. It helps us build up our membership and it gets people to come together to celebrate art,” said Gordon.

deedee soto / The Rip

Beth Ansolabehere paints a portrait of Salvador Dali with chalk at the Marketplace Oct.10.

Zombies and geeks battle to the death in play Photojournalist brings Africa to Levan Center

By Vincent Perez Features Editor

The Empty Space Theater is hosting the original play Geeks vs. Zombies that has tonguein-cheek references to movies, music, comic books and video games with violence and humor mixed in.

The play centers on four individuals, “Blair” (David Rock), “MacReady” (James Kopp), “Wallace” (Thor Reese) and “Loomis” (Mike Solko) as they fight off zombies to save themselves by using zombie and other movie tactics.

Geeks vs. Zombies writer Rock, 30, explained where the idea came from while talking to the other horror-comedy play writer Kopp, 32.

“We were looking at doing ‘Night of the Living Dead’ and James Kopp said that he had an idea for a zombie show – I said, ‘Let’s do that instead.’

Rock added, “He had an idea for script-wise and I said, ‘Can I help you write it?’ Usually, James doesn’t like to work with other people, but he said yes. I helped him write the script and just came up with it as we wrote.

He did a lot of research on zombie movies – that’s where the play came from. We knew we needed a lot of combat, zombies, so everything was a given, dialogue and such.”

During the first two nights of the play, the play received great praise and sold out.

Kopp said, “We’ve put a lot of work into it, so it’s nice to know.

With so many shows in town because it’s not a theater town, a lot of work goes into shows that get 10 or 15 people a night. To be selling out is really nice.”

Kopp referred to a few audience members who talked during the play, which is known as a mortal sin in theater, but hoped for better when he said, “We’re geeks man. We got to set a standard.”

Rock added, “The huge response is great. It’s payoff – we’ve been working so hard.”

“For the audience, every time a hand comes through the glass, just a gasp [heard] or when a zombie busts through – for the whole front row to sit back in their seats is absolutely amazing for us. It’s better than we could have expected.”

“We’ve run our own companies before. We each have our own perspective things, since we were longtime buddies, [we] might as well put something together and it came out great,”

By Michael Wafford Opinions Editor

Nathan wilson / The Rip

From left: Blair, (David Rock) Loomis, (Mike Solko) MacReady (James Kopp) and Wallace (Thor Reese) prepare to beat some brain-eating zombies to death in Geeks vs.

Zombies at the Empty Space on Oct. 14. eight months.”

He added, “Anyone who does a zombie show in Bakersfield is probably going to sell out.”

However, he said the difference is that “it’s a really dark show with the lights, blood, and broken glass.”

The next shows are Oct. 22, 23, 28, 29 and a midnight show on Oct. 30. The play is free to the public and there is a suggested donation of $8 for students and $10 for adults. Doors open at 7:30 p.m., and the plays start at 8 p.m.

nathan wilson / The Rip

One of the zombies (Ernesto Aguilar Jr.) attacks Wallace (Thor Reese) during Geeks vs. Zombies on Oct. 14. said Rock.

George Spelvin, a 20-year veteran actor who played Milo, said about the first two nights of the play, “We’ve had great response from the audiences and they’ve been wonderful.”

Spelvin said how he got involved with Geeks vs. Zombies.

“I met James Kopp and he

asked me to be in the show and I said ‘yeah.’ I read the script and thought it was fantastic and thought, ‘I’d like to do this show.’”

Rock said about the lengthy playwriting, “We started writing this in January, February and going through the process. This has been our lives for the last seven,

Photojournalist Brendan Bannon visited Bakersfield College during the week of Oct. 4, capping off his visit with a discussion in the Levan Institute on Oct. 6.

More than 150 members of the BC student body and faculty crowded inside the Levan Institute to view Bannon’s presentation. The Daily Telegraph’s Mike Pflanz, who has been working with Bannon in Africa for the past five years according to the pair, accompanied Bannon.

The presentation showcased multimedia projects put together by Bannon for organizations such as the United Nations. The projects were focused on the lives of refugees within refugee camps.

“The photography assignments were designed to allow the kids to fully explore the range of human experience,” Bannon said. “Here we get a fully picture of refugee life.

People living in a small community in a small part of the world, but their experiences are not small. They’re as expansive as the human experience anywhere.”

Born in Buffalo, N.Y., Bannon said he began working in photography after rediscovering his interest in the art form while caring for his sick mother in the early 2000s. After her death in 2005, Bannon began

working as a freelance photographer in Africa.

“He’s not just a photographer, he’s a very good journalist,” said Pflanz. “I’ll sit in an interview and have prepared two dozen questions which I will ask over the course of a couple of hours. And at the end of that, it’s Brendan’s turn to take photos and he always sits down and he says ‘actually you know what, give me 10 minutes to have a conversation. I don’t want to start taking pictures.’

My best quotes for my stories always come, invariably come, from those final 10 minutes of conversation with Brendan.”

Melissa Lopez, American Sign Language major, said, “I thought it was amazing. I live in McFarland so I don’t get to see things like that. You see these things in National Geographic. You learn about these things in books, but you don’t get to actually meet someone [like Bannon].”

Bannon also spent part of his time here exploring Bakersfield and surrounding communities.

“I come from Buffalo, a town about the size of Bakersfield.

They’re both largely working class communities, and I feel at home here,” said Bannon.”

While Bannon enjoyed his stay in Bakersfield, his visit to the United States won’t be for a longperiod of time. “I do intend to go back [to Africa]. I’ll probably be working on a project in February about Najrobe as a city,” said Bannon.

Features

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Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Abortion issue still a dividing local topic Gregory D Cook / The Rip carissa Edwards / The Rip

BC students listen to L.A. Times columnist Steve Lopez as he talks about his book “The Soloist” in the Fireside Room on Oct. 13.

Columnist, author shares tale of hope

By Ryan George Photographer

“The Soloist” author Steve Lopez, a columnist for the Los Angeles Times for the past decade, spoke Oct. 13, twice in the Fireside room at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. and once in the Indoor Theater at 7 p.m., to explain more about himself and give an in-depth look at the relationship between himself and Nathaniel Ayers.

Ayers, a homeless man, turned out to be Lopez’s subject for the book “The Soloist.” A movie by the same title was based on the book.

At the beginning of his speech in the second presentation, he asked the audience, “How many of you read the book?” About 30 students and staff raised hands.

Lopez then asked, “How many of you saw the movie?” Nearly everyone in attendance raised their hand. Lopez went on to ask one of the key differences in the

movie to the book, and one audience member said, “Well, you’re not Robert Downey Jr.,” which was followed by an uproar of laughter.

Later in the speech, Lopez spoke of meeting Ayers.

“He was standing next to a shopping cart [filled with] his belongings and on the side of that cart there was a sign that said ‘Little Walt Disney Concert Hall.’ So that little slab of pavement, that piece of sidewalk is his stage [in downtown L.A.]…

I did ask him why he played in that particular spot where it was so noisy, and it was even drizzling that day, and he said that he played their because, and he pointed, and said, ‘There is the Beethoven statue. I play here for inspiration…’”

Lopez said that he was just looking for a column idea, and he was unsure that their was a real story to be found here with Ayers, playing a violin with missing

40 Days for Life | Abortion

protesters confront expecting women as they visit the Bakersfield clinic.

By Breanna Gray Reporter

carissa Edwards / The Rip

Steve Lopez addresses BC students’ questions Oct. 13. strings and not taking money for his work, but after having continued contact with Ayers, both of their lives changed.

In his closing, Lopez said that Ayers is still working on some of his mental problems: “Ayers is terrified of television screens, to him those are two-dimensional images that have got to be ghosts. And that is a window into how sick this man is – he cannot process a two-dimensional image. It’s terrifying. It’s another example of him seeing and hearing things and believing in conspiracies. He’s gone to see the ‘Soloist’ several times, never with his eyes open. But he likes the soundtrack to the ‘Soloist.’ ”

Members from churches around Bakersfield have organized six 40 Days for Life campaigns over the past three years through Life Savers Ministry. Terri Palmquist helps run the vigil in front of the Family Planning abortion clinic on 25th and H Street where they have camped out 24 hours a day since Sept. 22 and will end Oct. 31.

Palmquist said she is committed to praying for the end of abortion.

“We know that abortion takes the life of a baby, but it also injures the woman for the rest of her life,” she said. “They say a woman chooses abortion the same way an animal that is caught in a trap will choose to chew its own leg off.

“So our goal is say ‘You know what, it’s going to hurt but we want to open up that trap and heal that leg so you don’t have to chew it off.’ Prayer is a powerful thing. On our own we can’t do anything, but God is the one who will provide.”

According to Palmquist, the abortion rate during the campaigns at Family Planning, which is the only abortion clinic within 100 miles, has been

Anti-abortion activists take part in a continuous prayer vigil near a mock graveyard as part of the 40 Days of Prayer campaign outside of the Family Planning Associates Medical Group offices on H Street on Oct. 14. cut in half. Several local staff members have quit the clinic as well.

The 21st day of the campaign was dedicated to two young mothers who chose not to have an abortion after visiting the clinic.

Caroline Vaughn was only seven weeks pregnant when she arrived for her ultra sound.

“I went in, and there was a little girl outside on the stairs. She told me, ‘It’s a girl.’ I was like, ‘How do you know that?’ And she said, ‘I just know.’ I went in and found out they were twins.

“I called my mom and said I couldn’t do it, there’s two of them. So I walked out and the little girl said, ‘God doesn’t want the baby to go goodbye.’

And that’s why I decided to keep the babies, mainly because of the little girl,” said Vaughn.

While Vaughn was upset and waiting for a ride, Palmquist comforted her and told her that they would help her through her decision.

Vaughn is now seven months pregnant and is expecting to give birth to two baby girls.

Besides prayer, Life Savers Ministries gives out free pregnancy tests, support systems for expecting mothers and referrals to counselors for those who choose abortion.

Supporters of 40 Days for Life believe that the power of prayer will help end abortion.

According to the 40 Days for Life Bakersfield Web site, their aim is to, “Peacefully, prayerfully and lawfully stand up for the unborn who cannot stand up for themselves.”

A Bakersfield College student, who did not want her name used, believes the protesting “Life Savers” are anything but peaceful.

She said, “When I arrived at the clinic I was scared. There was a lady standing outside who told me it wasn’t going to make me un-pregnant, just the mother of a dead child. Then my mom buried my face in her jacket but I could still hear the protester screaming, ‘You’re going to Hell!’ and calling me a murderer. I even had earplugs in and could still hear her.

“That was the hardest decision of my life, and I still carry it with me today, almost three years later. That lady knew nothing about me or my situation, and it’s already hard enough without some stranger yelling at you.”

She also said that it wasn’t until after she left the clinic that the protesters began showing mercy as they followed her to her car while holding crosses.

News

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Rip staff only one to earn three excellence awards Bakersfield College’s journalism program became the only community college in the Southern California region to win general excellence in three categories Oct. 16 at the awards banquet of the Journalism Association of Community Colleges conference at Cal State-Fullerton.

The Renegade Rip staff, competing against entries from 35 other community colleges, earned general excellence from the organization in all three possible categories: newspaper, online edition and magazine.

Several other colleges earned general excellence in two of the three categories, but BC was the

only one to get all three.

The JACC annual regional conference – a two-day event – involved workshops, contests and other journalism-related activities.

The newspaper general excellence entries consisted of three consecutive issues from the spring 2010 semester, the online edition is ongoing but was judged mostly from last spring, and the magazine consisted of entries from the spring edition of the Dissenter.

Professional journalists from the Central Valley and Southern California volunteered to judge the general excellence and individual entries. To achieve general

excellence, the entries must receive a certain score.

The Rip staff also collected an unprecedented number of individual regional awards in mail-in and on-the-spot competition. That included three first-place honors: David Karnowski for column writing, Katie Avery for critical review, and Mateo M. Melero for magazine feature story.

Mail-in entries typically number up to 70 per category, and the on-the-spot competitions involve covering actual events on the Fullerton campus and producing stories, illustrations, photos and page designs in tight deadline constraints.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Individual awards at JACC conference MAIL-IN

** Avery, magazine opinion story ** Joseph Cota, news photo

First place ** David Karnowski, column writing ** Katie Avery, critical review ** Mateo M. Melero, magazine feature (non-profile) Third place ** Gregory D Cook, sports feature photo Fourth place ** Kelly Ardis, news feature story ** Michael Morrow, magazine profile feature ** Melero and Karnowski, online photo essay ** Leia Minch, inside page layout/ broadsheet ** Minch, profile feature story ** Karnowski, Ardis and Vincent Perez, magazine layout/design

Honorable mention ** Karnowski, feature photo ** Karnowski, news photo ** Karnowski, magazine cover ** Karnowski and Ardis, front page layout/ broadsheet ** Minch and Minami Perales, informational graphic ** Cook, sports feature photo ** Perales, magazine illustration ** Manuel Morfin, news story ** Samantha Garrett, line illustration

ON THE SPOT Fourth place ** Garrett, editorial cartoon Honorable mention ** Martin Chang, critical review

News Briefs Dawn of the Space Age at Bakersfield College On Oct. 21 at 7:30 p.m. is a short tour of the evening sky using the planetarium’s Goto Chronos star projector. Afterward will be Dawn of the Space Age that shows humanity’s historic first steps into space and the first 50 years of space exploration. Tickets are sold at the Bakersfield College ticket office. Tickets are $6.50 for adults and $4.50 for children. For more information call 395-4326.

The Healing Powers of Music In the Bakersfield College Indoor Theater will be the Bakersfield College Choirs with Centennial High School Chamber Singer, performing The Healing Power of Music. Tickets are $8.50 for general admission. The performance is on Oct. 22 at 7:30 p.m.

‘Steppin’ Out’ Bakersfield’s Gay Pride celebration Oct.23: It’s the 7th year for Bakersfield’s gay pride celebration with fun and game areas for kids of all ages. Featured this year is Three Chord Whore, Michelle Weingarden, Rainbow Flags and Rainbow Voices, and Stiletto Divas Drag Show from 8-9 p.m. also No H8 photos will be taken

by Adam Bouska. Photos are $40 for individual shots and $25 per person for group shots. Be sure to wear a white shirt and be there between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. The entire program starts at 3 p.m. and entry fee is $10 but free for ages 10 and under Trunk ‘n’ Treat: A fun, safe family event On Oct.31 between 5:30-7:30 p.m. will be games, candy, inflatables and food. Barbecue steak sandwich dinners will be $7.50 if purchased early and $10 at the event. Wristbands are $5 for unlimited fun on the inflatables.

The event will be at Olive Knolls Church located at 6201 Fruitvale Ave. call the church office at 3993303 for more information and to purchase tickets.

Computer commons in library now open for usage again on Fridays and Saturdays Starting Oct. 15, the new schedule will be Monday through Thursday during the normal library business hours of 8 a.m. to 7:45 p.m. On Fridays and Saturdays, they will resume the normal hours for the computer commons, which are: Friday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. and on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Holiday closures are on Thursday Nov. 11 for the Labor Day Holiday; Nov. 25 through Nov. 28 for Thanksgiving Holiday; and on Friday Dec. 10 it will close at 2 p.m.

This schedule is due to remain the same for the rest of the semester.

photo illustration by Nathan Wilson / The Rip

A current look at the solar panel project complete with installed panels in the northeast parking lot of the Bakersfield College campus Oct. 14.

Solar panels almost ready for operation

By Brian N. Willhite

The project has incurred some delays throughout the process but Schiers feels that the delays will result in a better product.

“There have been some slight delays, and we are planning to slurry coat and restripe the lot, but we’re getting into cooler weather so by the time that we do that we’re probably going to end up with a better product and we’ll probably slurry coat this spring.

“Other than that, the solar field will be in use and start generating electricity

as planned and we will make accommodations for the parking in the meantime,” said Schiers.

According to Schiers, the college would like to add more solar panels to other parking lots, mainly the southwest and southeast lots, but at this time those structures would be too costly for the college without any financial assistance.

“We have no plans in the immediate future because of the incentives that are offered to put them in are only for your

first initial install.

Until the rules and regulations change that would allow institutions such as Bakersfield College, or the district, to be able to initiate a second project here at BC, with similar incentives and rebates, then we would do it again but it’s not cost effective right now if we have to do it on our own without any help,” said Schiers.

Once the panels are operational they will supply 33 percent of power used by the entire BC campus.

Serrano meets with staff to listen and answer questions

are placed in basic skills education and said, “I think that is where most of our dollars are going.”

A question was asked regarding accommodations for disabled students, citing how some students are concerned that they may be losing out on services they have come accustomed to.

“There are some accommodations that are required and some accommodations that are nice to have if you can provide them,” said Serrano as she mentioned how services like a sign language interpreter is required but getting on a cart and riding across campus is not a service that is required.

“I personally think we need to help people with the minimum that is required, if we can do more than that I

think that’s wonderful,” Serrano said as she described the non-essential, “miscellaneous” services in question.

The response by the audience member who asked the question was that students that are unable to walk to classes do need those services because they are essential necessities. Serrano did not have a reply.

Serrano believes that enrollment numbers are down about 100,000 community college students this year because of budget cuts.

Serrano said the California community college system is the largest higher educational facility in the world with 72 districts and 112 colleges that include a statewide enrollment of approximately 310,00 students.

Editor in Chief

Bakersfield College’s solar panels are nearing completion and should be fully operational in November.

According to LaMont Schiers, director of administrative services, all of the panels are now installed, leaving the last of the electrical work to be configured as well as some painting and slurry coating, which is a protective sealant mixture for the asphalt parking lot.

By Brian N. Willhite Editor in Chief

Kern Community College District Chancellor Sandra Serrano was at Bakersfield College in the Fireside Room on Oct. 5 to host an open forum for students and faculty members.

She highlighted a few of the district’s decisions concerning the primary goals

of meeting the students’ needs and the needs of the local community.

Serrano also noted that many other community colleges are cutting their summer school programs and more classes during the regular semester than BC has. An issue concerning funding for remedial education was raised to which Serrano pointed out that approximately 65 percent of enrolled students

Some chair lifts at BC set to undergo new renovations soon

By Cristal Rodriguez Reporter

Bakersfield College has many chairlifts around the campus to make access to classes easier for students with disabilities; however, most of these lifts are not in operation and have not been for some time.

According to Paula Bray, manager of maintenance and operations, these lifts are located in the Humanities building, at the exterior of the Student Services building, Language Arts building, Speech and Music building, and Science and Engineering building. Two are also in the gym.

“The ones that are currently working are the ones located in Humanities, SAM and both that are in the gym,” said Bray These lifts are not for public use. To be able to use them, a student has to have a key.

“At the beginning of the semester, students will need to go to Disabled Student Program and Services to get a key in order to use the lifts,” said Angelica Gomez, director for the disabled students program.

“We consider this a challenge and want to provide access to every student,” said Bray.

At BC there are access ramps near all the buildings that they have built to accommodate the need of the students with disabilities.

According to Al Wheelchair Ramps Guide, “The Americans with Disabilities Act

require that buildings be constructed with ramps to allow people in wheelchairs to have access. Failing to meet this requirement can put owners at risks of being sued.”

BC has taken into consideration all the rights of their students with disabilities and has made it a safer environment.

“I’m very happy with these ramps here because they help me get to where I need [to go],” said BC student Sara Wilson, who uses these ramps to get to class.

There was a meeting Oct. 13 at the Collins Conference Center from 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. to discuss the issue.

At this meeting Bray spoke about her plans for the future and the importance of fixing the chairlifts on campus.

“I am very pleased that they are actually taking this issue into consideration. If it wasn’t for this meeting I would not have known that they were even considering fixing the chairlifts,” said Korina Cruz, a BC student who attended the meeting.

Both Bray and Gomez are working on getting the lifts fixed for students.

There are going to be many changes with the lifts at BC. In some cases they are looking to replace lifts with elevators, and the SAM building will be completely renovated and will have compliant lifts for students.

Bray and Gomez do not have a date for when these renovations will start, but they hope it will be soon.

TRANSFER: Getting in CSU’s faster Continued from Page 1 development.

BC President Greg Chamberlain believes that the main detail to be set is what exactly is considered your local university.

He said, “[Porterville College] has many students who go to Cal State Bakersfield and many students who go to Fresno State, so what’s home to them?

“Is it just going to be strictly miles on the map?”

Though SB 1440 has a lot of progress to be made in a relatively short amount of time, Chamberlain supports the bill and believes that it will greatly benefit BC’s students.

He said, “I see it possibly getting students to complete their objectives faster.

“Because if you can truly get out of here and transfer with 60 units and finish with 120 rather than 130 or 140 or even 150, that’s going to save the students money and time.

“And that also means seats are freed up. If you aren’t stuck around here for another semester to only take three more classes, that you may not need to have, then that’s three classes that someone else could be getting into.”

Chamberlain said that the col-

leges have currently been told to sit and wait while CSU and CCC systems discuss an overall approach to the new legislation.

BC freshman Rose Taylor said, “I’m going to be applying to both CSU’s and private universities and they all have different requirements.

“So it makes it kind of difficult for me because I’m going to have to take more classes than I probably need to in order to meet all of them, just in case, and then maybe I’ll just get accepted into one of them.”

Assembly Bill 2302 accompanies the transfer bill and asks other California university divisions to similarly clarify their transfer systems, although they are not under state lawmakers.

According to an e-mail sent out by Linda Michalowski, vice chancellor of California Colleges, “It is important to recognize that SB 1440 will not solve every transfer related problem.

“As long as we face unprecedented fiscal challenges, issues such as impaction will remain.

However, SB 1440 is a tremendous step in the right direction, and together we are committed to its successful implementation.”

Campus

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Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Employers reach out to BC students

By Cristal Rodriguez Reporter

Here at Bakersfield College there were many employers offering jobs for students. Career Day took place in the Campus Center on Oct. 7.

“This is a great event. I didn’t know all these places were hiring,” said BC student Megan Price.

“I had just been awarded work study and then got my information from the Job Placement Center so I am glad these resources were available for me.”

There were many employers including Panda Express, Pizza Hut, In Shape, Comfort Dental Kids, Goodwill, Avon, Boys and Girls Club, State Farm, Grimmway Farms, Big 5 and many others.

There were many BC students dressed in buttonup shirts, slacks, ties, heels and suits to look for a job or career.

“I had to come all dressed up with heels and everything because I am hoping to find a job, and I really like how BC puts on these events for students,” said Gabby Sixtos, who attended this event.

Pizza Hut was very popular and had many people filling out applications.

“We need workers and are willing to hire BC students to become part of our business,” said a Pizza Hut representative.

Career Day is catered to students twice a year, once in the fall and in the spring semester.

Job developers Antonio Alfaro, Vikki Coffee, Rudy Gutierrez and Denise Crawford organize Career Day. They are also in charge of the Job Placement Center, which is located next to financial aid in the Student Services building.

“Everyone at the Job Placement Center is always very friendly and willing to help out the students. I always come here when I can because they have a lot of jobs on the computers for me to look over,” said Sixtos.

Carissa edwards / The Rip

Ana Zuniga (left) talks to Stephanie Aguilar about workng at KERO/ Azteca 42 during the Bakersfield College Fall Career Day on Oct. 7.

“We have Career Day to set up BC students with employers so that they don’t feel like nothing is out there. We expose them to all sorts of opportunities,” said Araselli Herrera, who works at the Job Placement Center at BC. The organizers were surprised by the

amount of people who attended.

“There were quite a few hundred students. No questions about it,” said Herrera.

For those who missed this Career Day, there will be another held in the spring semester.

carissa edwards / The Rip

Kathy Gildez (left) discusses Pampered Chef employment options with Cassie Medel during Career Day on Oct. 7

Bakersfield-inspired Many students don’t plan on voting poems read at BC

By Zak Cowan Reporter

Nearly half of Bakersfield College students will sit out the upcoming midterm elections on Nov. 2, a downturn from the previous election.

Of the 120 people polled on campus regarding who they will vote for in the gubernatorial race in California, 47.5 percent said they don’t plan to vote.

Among those who will vote, 30 percent of the students polled sided with Democrat

Jerry Brown, and 19 percent of the vote went to Republican nominee Meg Whitman.

Less than one percent of the students polled said that they would vote but haven’t decided which candidate they will vote for.

Hamzah Hussein, 18, will vote in the election, but said that there is not a clearcut favorite and that it’s anybody’s race at this point. “In my mind Brown has a slight edge,” said Hussein. “Just because he has experience and knows what he’s doing.”

The poll of strictly BC students showed that turnout for college students will most

likely be down from the 2008 election, when an estimated 74 percent of voters aged 18-29 voted in the election.

“I’m just not really interested in [politics],” said Christy Martinez, 18.

Martinez said that if she were voting in the election, she would probably vote democrat.

The results do show that Democrats will likely still receive the majority of the youth vote like they did in 2008, when they received 66 percent of the estimated 22-24 million voters in the age group.

Martin chang / The Rip

Don Thompson laughs with the audience in the middle of reading his poem at the Levan Center on Oct. 12.

By Martin Chang Reporter

At the Norman Levan Center for the Humanities several poets read poems inspired by the Bakersfield area, each poet read different works based on different aspects of Bakersfield life.

The reading occurred on Oct. 12, and its title was Poetry and Place. It was the first event in Kern Literary Week, a weeklong event that ran from Oct. 12 - 16.

Chris Livingston, an organizer of the events, said they were meant to “highlight the world of literature in Bakersfield and Kern County.”

Three poets read poetry that night. The first was Don Thompson, who has been publishing his poems since the 1960s.

Some of his poems focus on the power of nature, with several mentioning the wind. He once taught as an adjunct instructor at Bakersfield College.

“On the Bench,” a poem by Thompson was inspired directly

by BC. “As I was walking to class one night, I just happened to glance on the tables there, on the benches, with names all carved in, and that’s what ignited this poem,” said Thompson.

According to Thompson, when picking poems for this reading, he “was looking for something that was placed named.”

“I was trying to come up with things that specify about a place.

[Something] that you can locate very firmly in a landscape, but a lot of the stuff I’m doing is that way anyway.”

The second person to read was Nancy Edwards. Edwards is recently retired after having taught English at BC for many years.

She expressed how living here as affected her. “Bakersfield has been my home for over 40 years, and I loved the people here in my career as a teacher, and the peaceful and nurturing lifestyle.”

After talking to Ann Williams, a fellow poet and friend, about being an educator, she was inspired to write a poem about being a teacher.

Williams said that it was “wonderful” to inspire the poem.

The poem is called “Teaching in the Valley,”which she read at the reading.

A section of the poem reads, “Yes, I have taken out my fancy degrees and given everything in one lesson, in one hour, all the time allowed for me, hoping to carry the sky.”

The third poet to read was Jack Hernandez who organized the reading. He read “Zingo’s Cafe” and “First Street Cafe,” which he had written while observing cafes and coffee shops around Bakersfield.

Hernandez said, “I’ve been writing in coffee shops for 30 years. I enjoy having people around. I enjoy [being] connected to life.”

information compiled by zak cowan / the rip Samantha garrett / The Rip

120 Bakersfield College students were asked who they would vote for in the 2010 gubernatorial election.

Notes on notecards

By Samantha Garrett Copy Editor

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Bakersfield Business Conference The Renegade Rip www.therip.com

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

CONFERENCE: Both sides

of the political spectrum Continued from Page 1 recognized event it has become, organizers of the Bakersfield Business Conference credit their growth to the attendees and presenters sharing their experiences.

“We began with 250 people in a small tent in Stockdale Country Club, and through mainly word of mouth, we’ve done very little marketing – we’ve grown. It’s been a very organic process,” said Martin.

“I think that the patriotic tentcity environment provides a lot of attraction. Normally platformspeaking events are in hotel rooms... but what we offer is a better opportunity to interact in almost like a Disneyland type of environment. Basically, as much as you can do in turning an unimproved soccer field into a kind of wonderland for people to have a great experience,” Martin said.

Martin also credits former Secretary of State Colin Powell as a source for the conference’s success. In Powell’s autobiography, there is a page with a picture of

“I don’t think there’s any other single-day, platform-speaking event in the nation that has over 1,000 volunteers.”

Bradon Martin Media Coordinator him walking on the stage at the Bakersfield Business Conference in front of 12,500 cheering people waving American flags as he looks on in astonishment, according to Martin.

“This guy (Powell) has given a lot of speeches, a lot of very important speeches in a lot of very important venues, but when he saw our crowd on their feet with that incredibly patriotic display, literally, he was speechless for a

moment, and he’s been one of our greatest advocates in terms of introductions to speakers and telling them about our event,” said Martin.

In addition to the 10,000 in attendance, the conference was managed by a group of over 1,000 volunteers that held the event together.

“I don’t think that there is any other single-day, platformspeaking event in the nation that has over 1,000 volunteers.

These are people, mostly from our community, who have decided to give their time,” said Martin.

The all-day event also featured a farmers’ market, Ferris wheel and merry-go-round.

The show concluded with an evening program titled The Music of Our Lives, which included performances by Bobby Vee and Ronnie Milsap.

The next Bakersfield Business Conference, according to Martin, is tentatively scheduled to take place in 2015.

Gregory d. cook / The Rip

Comedian Rich Little impersonates former president Richard M. Nixon at the Bakersfield Business Conference on the Cal. State Bakersfield campus Oct. 9.

Congressman expresses optimism for GOP success

By Michael Wafford Opinions Editor

Congressman Kevin McCarthy spoke several times throughout the day at the Bakersfield Business Conference.

His speeches were met with a combination of laughter and reverence at the celebrity tent where the crowd overflowed so much that many had to stand outside the tent to get a chance to see and hear McCarthy.

The Young Gun Republican, a term

used to designate the rising stars of the Republican Party, discussed what he views as the ills of Washington, D.C., and the ideas of his party and himself that would set the United States on the path he and his fellow Young Gun Republicans advocate.

“The private sector creates jobs. The private sector could create more jobs if the government gets out of the way,” said McCarthy. The speech focused on the power of the private sector to generate jobs and the belief that taxes and

regulation are counterproductive to private sector growth.

He also criticized the various stimulus plans and bailouts over the past two years.

“More people today believe Elvis Presley is alive than those who believe the stimulus created a job,” said McCarthy. His criticisms of current political polices also included his displeasure at the overabundance of discretionary spending and the amount of debt owed to foreign nations.

McCarthy also talked about the California state budget. While he stated that stage legislators had to make tough decisions, McCarthy said, “Next year we’re going to be in a worse situation.”

His speech was filled with criticism for both Democrats and Republicans that he felt have deviated from the core beliefs of their party. Still, the former Bakersfield College student and Cal State Bakersfield alumnus has confidence in his party.

“I believe that if the election was to-

Business component of conference still present

Former first lady shares her experiences

By Michael Wafford Opinions Editor

By Brian N. Willhite Editor in Chief

The former first lady, Laura Bush, took the stage at the Bakersfield Business Conference on Oct. 9, to a cheering crowd of over 10,000 giving her a standing ovation.

As Bush addressed the audience, she thanked them for coming and said how she was very happy to be in Bakersfield and to be speaking alongside “such distinguished speakers.”

Bush’s speech opened with an introduction about her family and how they have been adjusting to their new lives outside of the White House. She also discussed how her two daughters were doing as well as her husband, the former President of the United States, George W. Bush, and how his family had once lived in Bakersfield in the late 40s, and how they consider it one of their hometowns.

As the former first lady proceeded, she spoke about her time in the White House and the experiences she had, like her relationship with the media and how everyone had certain expectations of what they thought she should be.

“My first job was to find my identity as first lady, not as easy a task as you might think since everyone seemed eager to assign me a personality of a previous first lady,” said Bush. “‘Who do you want to be?’ reporters kept asking. ‘Hillary Clinton or Barbara Bush?’ My answer was always the same. I just think I’ll be Laura Bush.”

She felt that the media wanted to portray her as a stereotypical 50s housewife – “Someone who was comfortable and pleasant and dutiful and keeping her opinions to herself,” Bush said.

Gregory d. cook / The Rip

Former first lady Laura Bush speaks to the conference audience Oct. 9.

Bush did, however, have a few opinions she did want to share, and one of them was that she believes that every child in America should be able to read and how that was the cause that she wanted to champion.

“From my own experiences as a reader, and a librarian, I know books have the power not just to move people as individuals, but to shape our journey as a nation,” said Bush.

“For me, reading is not just a cause I selected as first lady; it’s one of the guiding passions of my life. So I was especially excited on September 8th, 2001, that was the day of the first National Book Festival, an event modeled on the highly successful Texas book festival that I helped start a few years earlier when George was governor,” she said.

Bush then discussed how the events of 9/11 changed everything and how her role as first lady took on a different agenda for her.

“As first lady I was no longer just speaking out about literacy, I was giving a radio

“I am not a CanadianAmerican. I am not an EpiscopalianAmerican.

I’m not a white American. I ‘m an American.”

Peter Lemon Medal of Honor Recipient

day, the Republicans would win,” said McCarthy.

To ensure this, McCarthy said he has been going around the country helping candidates by giving his endorsement.

While there to speak, the congressman was also there to spend time with his constituents. “It’s just kind of my personality,” said McCarthy, who spent time talking to people offstage, signing autographs and occasionally hugging members of the crowd after his speech was over.

address denouncing the brutal treatment of women and children by the Taliban,” she said.

Bush also talked about how she was often confronted about the criticisms in the media of her and the president and if they bothered her, to which she replied that they did bother her but that she wouldn’t let it get to her.

“This is America, and America hangs on the proposition that what most of us in the White House sometimes perceive as a chorus of complaints... is in reality a kind of sacred music, or at least the clanking gears of democracy,” she said.

As Bush finished her speech, she discussed how leaving the White House was a bittersweet occasion because of the strong relationships they had made and how their life would be very different once they were gone.

Bush concluded with saying how her greatest honor of being first lady was witnessing her husband and the American people face up to fear and stand proudly doing so.

“Someone said I was thrust into the spotlight.

Actually, it was a lack of thrust that got me here.”

“In order to truly lead, we must learn to listen.”

Michael Steele RNC Chairman

The Bakersfield Business Conference wasn’t all politics. Several local and statewide businesses came to the event to both serve the guest and promote their goods.

With over 10,000 guests in attendance, businesses saw the conference as an opportunity to advertise new and existing services.

Food and drinks were provided

by Choura Event for all guests, press and speakers that day.

Kathy Clapp of Choura Events came to Bakersfield with 20 other employees, and she said 100 local volunteers from the Bakersfield community helped them.

While prepared food was served throughout the day, a farmers market offered fruits and nuts to the guests. Randy and Michelle Spoerstra of Alpha Produce oversaw the farmers market.

“All the products were donated by farms,” said Randy Spoerstra.

Pamela Kaa, of Alpha produce, joined by the Spoerstras daughter, walked around the conference tossing fruit at guests.

“We were playing a game called ‘think fast,’” Kaa said. “Some people couldn’t make it over here because they were listening or sitting under the shade relaxing, so we’re just helping them enjoy some fruit.”

Not every business there was offering a service. The Ronald McDonald House was there to generate interest in the charity.

Bakersfield house manager Scarlett Sabin said she was glad to be able to talk to the community about the charity’s services which include housing the families of hospitalized children.

The conference also gave people a chance to hear entrepreneurs, such as Wally “Famous” Amos, speak with hundreds attending these business-related presentations.

Mike Navarro, an architectural engineer, said, “I’ve been to this conference about five times. I’ve always enjoyed it.”

Navarro said he was spending the majority of his time listening to business-related speakers this year.

“I like this one, I like the fact that we have multiple venues going on,” he said. “I think in the past there have been just two other tents. It looks like this tent here is focused on business topics. There’s a good variety.”

Overall, the businesses and people in attendance were enthusiastic about the event.

“I think it’s exciting for the community of Bakersfield,” said Charlie Moe, AT&T’s Central California sales director. “It’s a chance for community leaders to get together with one another and share the experience. It attracts a lot of other business leaders from throughout the country, so it makes them interested in our community and potentially draws them into invest, maybe start a business or bring a product to market here.”

Cpt. C.B. Sullenburger II Pilot

“Life is worth all the enthusiasm you have to offer it.”

Wally Amos Entrepreneur

Photos compiled by the rip staff

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Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Palin rips current administration POPULAR POLITICIAN | Sarah

Palin speaks to a large crowd at the Bakersfield Business Conference about the current administration.

By Mateo M. Melero Magazine Editor

To the roar of the crowd and a waving sea of hand-held American flags, Sarah Palin made her entrance on stage at the Bakersfield Business Conference Oct. 11.

The former Alaska governor and potential 2012 presidential candidate took position behind the lectern inside the main speaking tent, thanking the crowd and expressing her excitement for speaking in Bakersfield.

“I’m glad to be here in California’s country capital, where we have the Bakersfield sound, and we have the likes of Merle Haggard,” said Palin.

Palin began to tell the audience of a recent interview she had with Ronald Reagan’s son, Michael Reagan.

During this meeting, a quote was stated by the former president in October of 1987 concerning the economic state of the country at the time, came into the conversation.

Stating the quote by Reagan, “For once, there was a great confident roar of American prog-

ress and growth and optimism, now there is eerie, ghostly silence and economic stagnation, unemployment, inflation and despair,” Palin related the statement to the current sociopolitical state of the country.

Asking the crowd, “Are we better off than we were before Barack Obama?” and with a congregated “No,” from the crowd, Palin began to criticize the current administration.

“By every measurable standard, though unfortunately, we are worse off now than we were two years ago,” said Palin.

“Unemployment has risen 57 percent, and that means five million more Americans are out of work today.”

The former Alaska governor went on to critique President Obama on his reform programs, the unemployment rate and his tax policies.

After stating another quote

by Reagan, Palin went on to talk about the average American citizen, as well as how the Tea Party movement has the well being of the what she called “the little guy” in mind.

“The little guy has been forgotten for too long,” she said.

“Now the little guy is fighting back against the big powers that be, and the little guy doesn’t ask for much, certainly not from his government.

“All he has ever wanted was

Annie Stockman / The Rip

Sarah Palin rouses the crowd at the Bakersfield Business Conference on Oct 9. a good job in his own home town and a fiscally and psychically secure union –

an honest government that is on our side and doesn’t ride our back,” said Palin.

Concerns for the current California water situation and the Delta smelt fish were also addressed by Palin.

“Here in California we see rich farmland left fallow be-

cause some faceless bureaucrat in D.C. decides that a two-inch fish is more important than the thousands of Californians who have worked this land for generations,” said Palin.

Concentrating throughout her speech on the recent actions of Congress, Palin expressed her discontent for the current presidential administration and how she feels “the government is no longer on your side.”

“The little guy sees the small mom and pop business closing down because they can’t compete when government over-regulates them and tilts the playing field in favor of the big guys who could afford lobbyist to write rules for everybody else,” said Palin.

“Look just recently at McDonald’s. They get an exemption from Obama-care, right?

But what about the moms and pops? What about the rest of us?”

Detailing on how conservative Americans, including the Tea Party Movement, have taken to activism and marches, the former governor spoke on how the Republican Party should be taken back to its roots and rebuke the current reform of government and health care.

“This year we have resisted the temptation too, to run as a third party. We are working within the GOP, which is good,

healthy for the GOP to take it back to its roots, that’s where we got to go,” said Palin.

Noting a divide in the current Republican Party, between the Tea Party and liberal conservatives, whom she referred to as the “cocktail party,” Palin stressed that they would not go the way of the liberal Republicans.

“Now already there are some of those in that cocktail party wing who are looking at the Tea Party, and they are hoping that it will just go away after Nov. 2, so that the GOP can kind of swing back to the status quo unfortunately.”

Palin expressed confidence that her party will win the majority in Congress this year and hope that they would win the presidential election in 2012.

“We will win this by sticking to the time-tested truths that built America into the safest, most generous, most prosperous, healthiest nation on earth – time tested truths, the truth that the government that governs least governs the best and the truth that the constitution provides the path toward a more perfect union,” said Palin toward the conclusion of her speech.

As she exited the stage to cheers, Palin said, “Thank you for being part of the solution.

God bless you Bakersfield. God bless America.”

Former mayor talks leadership

By Mateo M. Melero Magazine Editor

Annie Stockman / The Rip

Former NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani speaks at the Bakersfield Business Conference on Oct 9.

Displayed along the grounds of the Bakersfield Business Conference were flags commemorating those lost in the attacks on 9/11. Inside the main tent at 2:35 p.m. the former mayor of New York City, Rudy Giuliani, spoke about his experience with the disaster, his time in office, and the criteria required of a good leader.

Throughout his speech, he offered principles he believes that are required of a good leader, providing stories from his life and criticism of contemporary politics. In stating the leadership principle, relentless preparation, the former mayor went on to tell of his experience on Sept.

11, 2001.

“When I was first told of the attack on the World Trade Center, I was about six miles away having breakfast with two friends,” said Giuliani. “I was told that a twin-engine plane had hit the World Tower, and I had no idea of how to react.”

On his way to the towers, Giuliani saw the second plane crash into the other tower. Upon arrival, the mayor was warned by police.

“As I was looking at the [falling] debris,” he said. “I just stopped and froze because I realized that I wasn’t watching debris. I was watching a man throw himself out of the 102nd floor, fleeing flames behind him.”

Realizing during the attack that he didn’t have an exact plan, Giuliani drew upon scenarios from other disaster plans to help deal with the situation at hand.

In explaining the courage principle, the former mayor said, “Most people think of courage as the firefighters, the police officers on 9/11 running into the building.

“A firefighter running into fire isn’t brave, he’s crazy. The difference that creates courage is you use your fear in a productive way. Fear is a very, very valuable thing,” said Giuliani.

Speaking on his early days as mayor of NYC, Giuliani spoke of the policies he employed in order

to drop crime, unemployment and debt for the city.

“When I was mayor of NYC, I knew my priority was to reduce crime.” said Giuliani “If I didn’t reduce crime the city of New York would be gone.We were the crime capital of America; we were on the front cover of Time Magazine, in 1990, as the rotting of the big apple. People were afraid to come to NYC and businesses were moving out.”

According to Giuliani, when first taking office, he was faced with a 10.5 percent unemployment rate that he cut down to five percent.

The city, at the time, had 1.1 million people on welfare, which was reduced to less than 600,000, and a $2.3 billion surplus that was increased to $3 billion when he left.

“I had a big deficit. I cut every budget. I cut everything that had to be cut, and I cut things that shouldn’t have been cut, but I had to in order to survive.”

At the end of his last term as mayor, Giuliani said, “The city

went from being in 1990 ‘The Rotting of the Big Apple’, to being on the front cover of Time Magazine Jan. 1, 2000 – and Time Magazine said that NYC is the city that had gone through the greatest urban renaissance in the last 70-80 years.”

In explaining his principle about leaders having to have strong beliefs, Giuliani commented on how American politics now consists of politicians that rely heavily on public opinion polls to dictate their agendas and are afraid to make crucial decisions.

The mayor then presented a hypothetical scenario: If he were to take a poll before he came out to speak and repeated the majority opinion of the poll, what that action would make of him.

“I wouldn’t be a leader, I’d be an actor, and that’s what many of our politicians have become,” said Giuliani. “To be a leader, you have to be an optimist. I don’t mean you have to be foolish, I mean you have to confront problems and start thinking about how to overcome them.”

Headliners not the only ones to draw applause from crowd

By Michael Wafford Opinions Editor

Although Sarah Palin was the object of nearly every attendee’s attention, she wasn’t the only internationally known speaker at the 2010 Bakersfield Business Conference.

From former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Newt Gingrich to Chairman of Republican National Committee Michael Steele to a few national heroes, the attendees of the Bakersfield Businesses Conference had a day full of political and social commentary.

Gingrich spoke on the ills of modern day American politics.

“Money isn’t the problem, politicians are,” said Gingrich, who went on to say the United States’ economic woes were the fault of too much government regulation, high taxes and government bailouts.

Crystal Lei, an attendee at the conference, said, “I’m not a Republican. I wouldn’t want to put a title on myself, but there were some points in his speech that were good.”

Gingrich’s stance wasn’t just shared by the crowd but by many of his contemporaries during the Bakersfield Business Conference.

Steele spent his time addressing many of the same issues as

“I don’t need Obama to care for me, therefore, I don’t need Obama-care.”

Michael Steele, Republican National Committee Gingrich and other speakers, but he took time out to answer questions from the crowd.

“I don’t need Obama to care for me, therefore, I don’t need Obama-care,” said Steele when asked about his views on entitlement programs.

The crowd and Steele’s discussion led to him emphasizing the importance of keeping current tax cuts in place, the impact of small business owners on the U.S. economy and criticism of

“. . . I f they’re up there polarizing, call them back.”

Bob Beckel Democratic strategist

policies introduced by President Barack Obama, specifically Wall Street reform.

Former governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney talked about America’s pioneering spirit and exceptionalism.

“They [the founding fathers] said, ‘No. We’re not going to be taking the course of security. We instead are going to let American people choose the dreams in their hearts and follow their own fates,’ and by virtue of that

Not every speaker discussed politics, Voyager flight pilot Dick Rutan, Medal of Honor recipient Peter Lemon and U.S. Airways pilot Captain Chesley Burnett Sullenberg III arrived as special guests after Sarah Palin’s speech, sharing their experiences that have made them known as American heroes.

While the tone of their speeches differed, they all focused on the benefits of serving the military, the importance of sacrifice of others and that they felt Americans should stand together in times of war and peace.

Their speeches were met with applause from thousands of guests.

“I’d rather go to hell alone than follow a crowd to heaven.”

“Government will be the forth bubble.”

Newton Gingrich Politician

choice this country became the world’s place for opportunity,” said Romney.

“Washington, and in some respects to both parties, over the last couple of decades, Washington, has grown so big and is taxing so much that they’re smothering that spirit, and we must not let them do it.”

The guests applauded the speakers several times throughout their speeches and were enthusiastic about the event.

“I’m loving it. All of them are great. All of them are fantastic.

I’m not disappointed by any of them,” said Sahib Mujahid, a first-time visitor to the conference.

Joe Clark Educator

“We may wear different jerseys, but we are on the same team.”

Donna Brazile Democratic strategist

photos compiled by Rip staff

Opinions

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The church of Conservatism

Prop 19: drug debate up in smoke

Magazine Editor

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CON

PRO

By Mateo M. Melero My Fellow Americans, Well the legal, taxpayin’, red white and blue-blooded ones anyway. On Oct. 9 we saw the great Bakersfield Business Conference return to the Cal State Bakersfield soccer fields. All along convention grounds, patriots commenced in the true American way, holding holy capitalistic communion with $6 cups of wine and praising the one true god – Ronald Reagan.

Worship took place in the great impervious tent of Conservitude, which was almost as long as Obama’s term but more comfortable because I didn’t have to worry about paying for anyone’s health insurance if it fell down. I made sure to take a moment and appreciate George Martin for hiring legals that could set it up right.

Inside, the disciples of Reagan gave great testimonies about the wretched liberal tribulation, calling it like they see it and exposing the so-called conservatives who are too afraid to take action because the liberal media has brainwashed them with their politically correct mind-control machine. And I couldn’t prove it, but, the shear God-Reagan infused sermon of the Maverick Sarah Palin was enough to scare them out of that liberal spell and into the ranks of the Tea Party Movement.

As Palin laid out her bridge to somewhere plan, I found it hard to resist the temptation to break out in tongues. How in the presence of such a great and true American Conservative prophet could you not? It’s hard now after hearing her speak so adamantly of the importance of protecting the great and holy document, the Constitution, not to believe that in 2012, Sarah will rescue us from the tyranny of President Barack Hussein Obama, like Reagan led us out of the sissy regime of Carter.

It was a shame that Obama couldn’t have attended. He could have learned something from Mitt Romney, Laura Bush, and Dick Cheney, whom I am sorry to say that I missed because I didn’t want to miss the chance on hearing how to sell war as peace and line your wallet in the process.

It was a truly a great day for Southern San Joaquin conservatives. The convention was a raw declaration of true Americanism, untouched by liberal lies, though I did hear that there were some liberal speakers at the great congregation. I got no reports of liberal propaganda being spewed, thankfully. I guess that they feel the First Amendment isn’t that secure of a shield to hide behind.

Overall, it’s good to see that the Bakersfield Business Conference has returned. All that was missing was Glenn Beck the Baptist whom I would like to see before the crazy bastard hangs himself upside down on a cherry tree. Also, It would have been nice to see Dubya, but herding steer is hard work so I understand he couldn’t make it.

For those of you who were unable to make it on account of financial reasons because of Obama’s ineptitude to provide you a job, you are not forgotten, brother.

Just remember to watch your Fox News and burn your New York Times, daily.

Your fellow ‘Merican, Mateo M. Melero.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

By Ryan George

By James Licea

Photographer

Reporter

In November, Proposition 19, officially titled the Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010, will be a major turning point for California. It will be left in the hands of the voters to be made into law, or, if voted down, to continue to have the same issues we have with cannabis today.

Prop. 19 has the legal age of marijuana users set at 21, the same for buying or consuming alcohol. I completely agree with the age limit for one simple fact: marijuana and alcohol are both mind-altering substances that do change your mentality, thus changing your thought process and decision-making abilities.

Noonproposition19.com’s opening page summarizes why, as an organization, they are against legalizing marijuana: to stop driving under the influence accidents. They claim the proposition has nothing saying you can get high then drive, and there would be no accurate test to see if that person is under the influence of marijuana, like there is the Breathalyzer for alcohol.

In my mind, that is just a delay in the technology. Someone will become a billionaire off of that machine one day.

Also, noonproposition19.com brings up the Federal Workplace Act of 1988, “which mandates the necessity of a drug-free samantha garrett / The Rip workplace, causing California as much as $9.4 billion in lost federal funding.”

OK, just keep the physical drugs out of the workplace. No smoking a joint out back on your break, and no coming to work high. Both of those should be illegal, for that can, obviously, be dangerous. But for example, say if a schoolteacher gets high Friday night after work and comes to school Monday, he or she shouldn’t be high all weekend long and still high on Monday. He or she has sobered up by then, and his or her students won’t even notice the difference, because he or she won’t be blown out of his or her mind while teaching.

Marijuana leaves tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in your bloodstream and is what is searched for in drug tests, but that chemical remains up to two months in your blood system and should dissipate if you quit weed entirely. That chemical doesn’t mean you are high at this moment, but that you were within the past two months.

Marijuana arrests will be limited to those under the age of 21, so instead of hunting down illegal drug rings, even though that should be continued with more emphasis, officers of the law can spend their time searching for the truly dangerous criminals, and not the happy, and most of the time peaceful, “potheads” out there.

There are many upsides to legalizing marijuana, including the unnecessary arrests and convictions, fewer people in jails and prisons, and loosening up money for California’s budget.

Also, taxing marijuana will give California some extra spending money for what the Yes on 19 people encourage and believe: “Tax and regulate cannabis to generate billions of dollars for our state and local governments to fund what matters most: jobs, healthcare, school and libraries, parks, roads, transportation, and more.” And decrease the illegal drug cartels profits by $1 to $2 billion, as David Knowles said on a column for aolnews.com released Oct. 12.

Buying marijuana will not be like it is today. Instead of asking a shady figure on a dimly light street corner if he has any product, you could safely and shamelessly go into a building set up by the local government to buy your weed and smoke happily at either that location or at home.

All of us know people who use marijuana. We do live in California where it has been decriminalized for a while. Anyone can get a medical marijuana card for many trivial reasons, including nausea, insomnia and pain.

Americans also spend more money than any other country on recreational drugs, giving drug cartels from the lower part of the continent plenty of business.

Helping diminish the amount of drug cartels would be a strong reason to vote for Proposition 19 if legalizing marijuana would help, but it doesn’t.

In other areas that legalized marijuana, cartels were reported to have not diminished, but improvised. Instead they brought more dangerous narcotics into our country.

Legalizing this drug doesn’t come as much of a surprise to anyone, especially since the use of this substance has been steadily growing in America in recent years.

This growth is no doubt due to the fact that it is often glorified in many forms of entertainment, such as movies like “Harold and Kumar go to White Castle” or “Friday,” as well as almost every rap song I can think of.

In the case that it did become legal, certain restrictions currently in place would not change. Using the drug in public areas would still be restricted as well as operating vehicles and selling the drug without a license. People caught providing minors with the drug will also face punishment, similar to those of alcohol and tobacco.

One of the reasons that people feel it should be legal is because of the money we spend on incarcerating marijuana users and dealers. This seems like a good enough reason, however the amount of people serving time in prison for marijuana-related cases is minimal. People will still get punished for not having a license to sell it, which they will no doubt be doing.

Along with the fact that it might reduce the amount of incarcerations, the current economy problems we’ve been having as a state builds the need for more tax revenue. Taxing marijuana and cannabis related materials might help us get out of this debt, right? Wrong.

A report by the RAND Corporation titled “Altered State?” stated that one of the things that would happen if the law passes is that the drug’s price would be lowered.

It says that in past occurrences, such as the ending of prohibition, only proved that “legalization widens availability and misuse, no matter what controls are in place.”

More money would be lost in accidents and medical issues related to marijuana than would be gained through taxation.

Making marijuana legal would only create more potheads. There will no doubt be a bunch of people who will begin using simply because it’s legal and they don’t have to fear punishment.

Though many people argue that there are no serious side effects of this widely popular drug, tests have proven marijuana’s effects to be minimal, not harmless. One of the most obvious signs of it being harmful is something that happens every time a person takes a hit. They cough. This is your body’s way of telling you to stop, that something you are breathing in is harming your lungs.

People always find ways to harm themselves overdoing something. Just like the people who drink and get behind the wheel, marijuana users will be traveling the roads and freeways of California.

It is proven to reduce reaction time for motor skills as much as 41 percent after one joint, on top of causing paranoia. I can only imagine the streets of California with thousands of stoners driving under the speed limit.

Staff Editorial

Nationwide suicides deserve attention when preventable While we are not the sort to criticize media attention to very important issues – such as the current realization that bullying is a bad thing – we would like to point out an underlying problem. For clarification, the issue at hand is the recent suicides resulting from homophobic bullying against young students. This is a dire issue for many reasons, but it is in no way a new one.

This has been a problem for a very long time.

School children and teenagers do not newly possess the ability to be cruel; society has not recently decided to reject people for their sexual identity.

Those responsible for the bullying are following in a long tradition of tor-

menting their peers for sexuality – their parents did it before them, their grandparents before even them.

We, as a society, pass discrimination down to our children – either that or we share it with those around us. We make enough jokes, lobby against enough rights, and cite enough outdated or poorly gotten statistics to make it well within the socially acceptable norm. Enough people are prejudiced to where few would outright reject those who express that prejudice.

It is no wonder that children would repeat those prejudices in the way they do any other until the bullied cannot take it anymore.

And for all students who were driven

to suicide, there are countless others that remain tormented, who are told to “suck it up” when they complain to authorities, who are told that it’s just part of being a kid to be bullied. Being treated as subhuman because of an actual or perceived difference in sexual orientation or gender identity is not normal – should not be normal.

Again, we do not understand why people are finally realizing that this is an issue. Did it really take deaths for us to become aware? Did it really take the stacking of names of those deceased for America to wake up and realize that this is an issue, that we cannot condone such mistreatment.

For every one who has made a gay

joke, for every public figure who has been publicly outspoken against homosexuality, for every individual who has openly expressed a disdain for any sign of a difference in sexuality or lifestyle, there is a child listening and realizing that it is OK to think that homosexuality is wrong or bad or gross.

They aren’t getting it from thin air.

This is not some innate idea within the human psyche. Children are bullying other children because “fag” is an insult, because when something is stupid it is “gay,” and so on and so forth.

Why are we surprised that this is happening? These children are merely mimicking the society they are surrounded by.

What is your stance on Prop 19 and why?

Editor’s note: ’Gade Feedback is a feature that asks students their opinion various topics.

Compiled by: Rip Staff

Tony Ibarra, Undecided: “I would say yes.

I think it would make crime go down.”

Taylor Setz, Animal Science: “I disagree, I think it will cause more problems.”

Andy Urena, Pre-Law: “I agree. It would bring a lot of money to California.”

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.

Staff

Editor in Chief..........................Brian N. Willhite Reporters: Kristen Blue, Martin Chang, Zachery Features Editor...............................Vincent Perez Cowan, Chrystal Fortt, Breanna Gray, James Licea, Sports Editor.......................................Julian Moore Yvonne Macias, BrendaIrene Rodriguez, Cristal Copy Editor ................................Samantha Garrett Rodriguez, Sandra Ward Photo Editor..................................Annie Stockman Opinions Editor...........................Michael Wafford Magazine Editor.........................Mateo M. Melero Photographers: Carissa Edwards, Nicholas Flores, Ryan George, Deedee Soto, Nathan Wilson Online Editor...............................Gregory D. Cook Video Production........................Michael Morrow Adviser.......................................................Danny Edwards

Andrew Saiz, Business Administration: “I say legalize it.

When I was using it my grades were up and now they’re down.”

Destiny Silva, Criminal Justice: “Yes, because we can tax it to help our state get out of debt.”

Write The Rip

Letters should not exceed 300 words, must be accompanied by a signature and the letter writer’s identity must be verified.

The Rip reserves the right to edit letters, however, writers will be given the opportunity to revise lengthy or unacceptable submissions.

If an organization submits a letter as a group, it must be signed by only one person, either the leader of the organization or the letter writer. Pen names are not allowed and anonymous letters will not be published.

How to reach us

-Address: Bakersfield College, 1801 Panorama Drive, Bakersfield, CA 93305 -Phone: (661) 395-4324 -Web site: www.therip.com

Sports

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The Renegade Rip www.therip.com

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Coordinators help make BC a strong team Bolton: Multi-sport athlete finds his niche

By Michael Wafford Opinions Editor

Reggie Bolton is the Bakersfield College Renegades defensive coordinator.

He’s also a former college athlete, head coach and family man.

Born and raised in Oakland, Calif. Bolton didn’t immediately take to football. “Football wasn’t a sport that I originally started playing. I started playing basketball and baseball originally, I didn’t play football until I got into high school,” said Bolton.

“I was average at basketball.

You’re not over six foot and you’re over 200 pounds in high school, you’re not a very good basketball player. So I started off playing basketball and ended up just baseball and football.”

Bolton continued to play football in high school, and in 1988 he went on to play football for Humboldt State where, he played linebacker.

“I just continued to play all the way through college, just got serious about working out and started enjoying the sport,” he said.

The defensive coordinator hadn’t always been interested in coaching.

“My plan was not to go into coaching. It was to go into probation, law enforcement. I did a six-month internship down in Oakland at Alameda county probation. And then one of the guys that I played for, a coach, talked me into coming back, being a

Reggie Bolton

graduate assistant and coaching football and working on my master’s degree. From that point I got into coaching.”

Since them Bolton has earned his master’s degree in kinesiology and began coaching with stints at Sacramento City College and Humboldt State for six years as assistant head coach and defensive coordinator.

He then became head coach at Santa Barbara City College and held that job for four years before moving to Bakersfield in 2008, with his wife Krista and sons Kaden, 9, and Kyndrie, 3.

The transition to BC was an easy one for Bolton as he was already familiar with head coach Jeff Chudy.

“It’s a good relationship, it’s one of the reasons I chose to come here,” said Bolton.

“We both coach on the defensive side of the ball so we have a lot in common.”

“When I was at Humboldt State, I recruited from this area.

So I would come down here and I knew him when he was a defensive coordinator here.

Then when I was at Santa Barbara as a head coach we would compete against each other.”

While Bolton was familiar with coach Chudy, he didn’t meet offensive coordinator Dean until he began working at BC. “Coach Dean I met here, it’s a very good relationship. Coach Dean’s a very good person in general, you know outside of being a good football coach. He’s a positive guy to be around,” said Bolton.

His respect for coach Dean extends not only to the offensive coordinator’s personality but also to his style of coaching.

“I like what they do on the other side,” Bolton said. “They’re a multiple formation offense that causes you problems by changing personnel and formations.

They pretty much do a lot of things I would do on offense. I think they do a good job, I think it’s a pretty good offense to run.

“When I was a head coach that was the style that I wanted my team to run.”

Since he began coaching at BC, Bolton has been pleased by the result of his players. The coach has high a positive view on this year’s team.

“I think we’re playing pretty good. I think we’ve been getting better every week,” he said.

“When you start with such a young group, we’re play anywhere form nine to 12 to 15

Gregory d. cook / The Rip

Bakersfield College defensive coordinator Reggie Bolton runs the defense through drills at practice Oct. 14. Bolton was a three-sport athlete before settling down to football. freshman in each game.

“There’s going to be times when there’s a big learning curve for those guys, but I think they’ve done a great job of being involved in what we’re doing and putting the time in. They’ve been getting better every week, which is all we ask them to do,” said Bolton who believe this years team has the potential to go to this years playoffs.

Bolton preaches one thing above all else to the players.

“Play smart, make good decisions, play fast and always play hard,” he said.

The interactions and relationships he develops with players

are Bolton’s favorite aspect of coaching.

“There’s a lot of good, positive relationships that come out of it,” he said. “I have a lot of guys who I still talk to now that I coached 10 years ago. We still stay in contact, and it’s just because of the relationships they had when they were playing for me.

“You see them at the age of 18 and they’re fresh out of high school, and now 10 years later, they’re 28 years old, they’re married and they have kids and they’re established men,” he said.

“It’s good to know you had some impact or some influence on the men that they’ve become

over time.”

While the father of two enjoys seeing his players grow, he has no aspirations to have a coaching relationship with his children.

“I’m not interested in coaching my sons at all. I just want to be their fan, their supporter,” he said.

“I just want to be a father, I don’t want to be their coach,” said Bolton who continued to say that the most important aspect of being a father to him was being supportive to his sons.

“I think there’s a different relationship when it comes to coaching and just being a father. I don’t want to confuse the two for them or myself.”

Dean: From BC player to Renegades coach

By Michael Morrow

Video Production Editor

Bakersfield College offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Carl Dean has been called a guru of sorts when it comes to producing strong offenses and good Division 1 prospective quarterbacks, but that isn’t all he is about.

Dean grew up in Bakersfield and gained an interest in football by just being around the game and his older brother, who also played football. Dean played quarterback at West High School. Growing up, his favorite pro football team was the Dallas Cowboys.

“Shoot, as long as I can remember, I was tossing a football around. I don’t know that there’s one specific thing that ever got me really interested in playing it, other than, I had an older brother who played high school football and I just loved being around that, and I just got turned on to it,” said Dean.

“I can always remember being a Cowboys fan when I was a little kid. Being a big Tom Landry fan, and I remember the mystique of the Cowboys,” he said. “As I got into playing, I really enjoyed watching Joe Montana. Certainly an over-achiever at quarterback, and one of the greatest that’s ever played. I’d say he was the one I watched the most as a player,” said Dean.

After playing at West, Dean brought his talents to BC, where he played under then head coach Carl Bowser in 1992. That was also the year current head coach Jeff Chudy was hired as an assistant at BC. After his time at BC was done, Dean traveled up north to play for the San Jose State Spartans, where he played three seasons, including one redshirt year.

Dean reminisced on why he chose coaching. “I got into coaching primarily because I knew I wasn’t good enough to

Carl dean

keep playing, I wanted to be around the game and learn as much as I could about the game.

So I took that path as a career choice,” he said.

As the offensive coordinator, some of Dean’s philosophies come straight from who’s on the team. “Philosophically my biggest thing is execution and repetition. We’re big believers in taking care of the football and if you turn the ball over, you can’t play for us,” he said. “Anytime you look at the box scores of football games, it really comes down to two statistics.

“One is turnover margin. Are you winning the turnover battle?

If you’re winning the turnover battle, you’re going to give yourself a chance to win each week,” said Dean. “The other thing is time of possession. Are we controlling the football? When we do have it, are we scoring points?

If we’re not turning it into to points, we’re kind of spinning our wheels,” he said.

Dean was asked about specific offense types and he continued with, “Philosophically, in terms of what kind of offense we’re going to be, it’s really going to be dictated on our personnel.”

He continued. “If we’re really good at throwing the ball, and we have the personnel to do that, then we’re going to do that. If we can’t throw the ball and we can only run it, then that’s what we’re going to do” he said.

“We’re going to do whatever

gives us a chance to win,” said Dean.

Dean said if given any type of player for any position, the type of offense he would run would be multi-formation with multiple personnel packages. Dean said they would run a minimal amount of plays out of every formation possible, which would make it easy for the offense to understand, but difficult for the defense to comprehend.

As specifically for the Renegades now, Dean believes his offense can take them far, but it has to be a complete team effort to make the playoffs.

“Hopefully, the offense can take us to a conference championship. I know that it’s not just the offense, it’s all three aspects of the team, special teams and defense, and we’ve have to do our part,” he said. “I think our entire team is a young football team, and offensively we’re no exception. I think we’ve made improvements in areas from week one that we struggled with.

“So we’re coming along and we’re going to see here real quick, because the next five opponents are all good football teams and it’ll be a good measuring stick for us,” he said. Dean went on to talk about trying to perfect the offense and how that can be a struggle for him some times.

“I would say that I try to be

gregory d. cook / The Rip

Bakersfield College offensive coordinator Carl Dean works with the quarterbacks during practice Oct. 14. Dean quarterbacked the Renegades from 1992 to 1994. a perfectionist, which is to a fault to some degree. I always see room for improvement,” he said. “Certainly we can be better blocking people, certainly better at taking care of the football. Our goal is to not beat ourselves and I think the first four games we did that.”

Away from the field, Dean spoke about his relationship with the rest of the staff.

“I think we have a great relationship. We understand that we have a job to do, and coach [Reggie] Bolton, and coach Chudy do a great job on the defensive side, and coach Chudy trusts me

with the offense,” he said. “I’ve learned a lot from coach Chudy and one of the things as an assistant coach, is you always look for things that you can take away from the head coach, the knowledge and the wisdom that you can gain from him.

“I’ve learned a lot from him and coach Bolton, who was a head coach at this level. Coach Bolton and I, when we’re not coaching football, we’re exercising, playing racquetball together and our families get along great,” he said.

As for other stuff Dean likes to do away from the field – Dean is

a married father of triplet daughters – he loves the time with his family. Dean’s wife, a former Renegade, is Christy Dean and their daughter’s names are Mia, Gracie and Sophie.

Dean talked about how the best part of coaching is similar to what he enjoys away from the game.

“Just seeing old players come back, who loved being Renegades, loved being here, had a good experience and are now in their community giving back to their and being a vital role being citizens. Having an impact on someone else’s life,” said Dean.

Sports

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The Renegade Rip www.therip.com

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

BC soccer moves to even at 5-5-2

By Vincent Perez Features Editor

Over the span of four matches, the Bakersfield College women’s soccer team has won two matches, tied and lost one.

The team’s record is 5-5-2 overall and 3-2-1 in the Western State Conference South division.

On Oct. 16, BC lost 2-0 at L.A. Pierce (12-0-1, 6-0 in WSC South). Pierce scored its two goals in the first half.

Pierce is ranked No. 1 in SoCal rankings and first in conference.

BC coach Scott Dameron said about the conference loss, “We did well in the second half, but we didn’t finish our chances.”

He added, “Their goalkeeper was very good. She made a couple of really good saves when it was 1-0. She made a save that nobody could figure out how she got. That did a lot to change the game because we would have tied the game up shortly after they went up 1-0.”

Dameron talked about the officiating in the game, “We had a goal called back. It was a ball that got knocked down – the goalkeeper ended up falling down, and it seemed pretty harmless but the referees called a foul. It was unfortunate because that would’ve tied it up as well.”

He added, “We’ll be able to figure out the errors. The things we try to do in that game we did well. We got in the box and thought we won a couple of penalties, but there were things that were let go because it was a physical game.

“I’m not dissatisfied with how we played, we just have to finish our chances better.”

BC tied 1-1 with Citrus on Oct. 12

in a WSC South match. BC’s Amber Beckham scored with an assist by Terryn Soelberg. BC led at halftime, but a second half goal by Citrus tied the game.

“We were inconsistent in that game.

We weren’t able to control the game in the second half,” said Dameron.

He added, “Neither team could get the strikes and we had to settle for a tie.

The score was pretty accurate of how it went. One half we were in control and they were in the other.”

BC defeated L.A. Valley 5-0 on Oct. 8 at home.

“Scoring five goals is good – hopefully we can score more from the run of play,” Dameron said of the first three goals that came off of corner kicks.

BC overpowered L.A. Mission with a 9-0 win at home on Oct. 5.

“In games like that, we’re trying to compete against what we’re capable of so we got early goals and relaxed a bit,” said Dameron.

“I was glad to see that we were able to keep the energy level up, because it wasn’t close, in terms of being physical.”

Amber Beckham and Brittany Hunt each had a brace and an assist.

Dameron talked about the coming matches in the second round of conference play.

“After playing Canyons, we will have seen everybody in our conference. In the second round, the key is who adjusts better.”

Dameron added about the team’s progression in the season, “We’ve definitely gotten better but we have to be more consistent.”

BC is currently in fourth place in the WSC South.

Annie Stockman / The Rip

Amber Beckham (2) of Bakersfield College goes for the header against Los Angeles Valley on Oct. 8.

Renegades football follows bye week with strong play upfront

By Michael Morrow

Video Production Editor

After a bye week, the Bakersfield College Renegades took their No. 2 ranking to Santa Maria to take on the Allan Hancock Bulldogs and came away with another victory 29-7.

After going 4-0, the Renegades – now 5-1 and 1-0 in conference – lost to nationally ranked No. 1 Mt. San Antonio College, then took a much needed bye week and bounced back with a strong showing against the Bulldogs.

“I think it helped a lot, we certainly had a lot to work on, and still have a lot to work on.

We took that extra time and used it to prepare for Hancock,” said head coach Jeff Chudy. “It also gives everybody a chance to take a deep breath and kind of evaluate where your at.

“For our guys, it gave them a chance to kind of heal up a little bit, because we had some guys that were a little banged up.

“It’s a grind right now. We’ve got four more games and the Ventura game is extremely huge, so it certainly came at the right time of the year,” he said.

Starting quarterback Lyle Negron spoke about how the team faired against Hancock.

“We played all right, good enough to win. But we have to play better for the next teams, like Ventura and El Camino.

These teams will be a lot better,” he said. “We just need to be more consistent running and passing the ball.”

Chudy reflected on how the offensive line played against the Bulldogs.

“Well, I think by far, we played our best game upfront in terms of controlling the line of scrimmage and being able to run the football,” he said. “That was something that we challenged our offensive line and they stepped up to the challenge.

“They took a lot of pride in what they were doing and we were able to kind of mix things up quite a bit and it was something that we needed to do going into league play,” Chudy said.

As for the defense, Chudy mentioned how the game plan went accordingly.

“We put them in long yard situations and we didn’t give up many long plays. I think the lon-

gest run play they had was something like 10 yards,” he said.

“When you take a team that has a certain way of playing the game, and you take that away from them, that creates some inconsistency on their part and they could just never get into a rhythm.”

Negron went 10-of-12 for 64 yards with 12 carries for 25 yards and three touchdowns.

Negron talked about the most important part of his big game.

“I felt all right, but we won the game. That’s all that matters to me,” he said.

Running backs Julian DeanJohnson and Andre Smith missed early action due to violating team rules.

Dean- Johnson sat out the first quarter, while Smith missed the first half.

Dean-Johnson ended up with 13 carries for 77 yards and one touchdown and also completed a

70-yard pass for one of the biggest plays of the game. Smith had eight carries for 32 yards.

Chudy talked about the two players being benched.

“There are life lessons to be learned in everything that we do and those guys had a little hiccup in their giddy-up and they’ve learned from it and they played extremely hard when they got a chance to play,” said Chudy. “We expect those guys to be team

leaders from here on out.”

Chudy mentioned what the team needs to do to get better.

“Offensively we have to control the ball, try to keep these guys off the field as much as we can and continue to try and protect the ball,” he said. “When we’ve been successful, we’ve been on the plus side of the column in the turnover margin.”

Hopefully we can continue to do well in the kicking game,

which has been an area that we’ve been pretty successful in.”

Up next for the Renegades are the Ventura College Pirates.

“Ventura’s quarterback is a Denard Robinson/Michael Vick type of guy, and he just gives you fits, we’re going to have to contain him,” said Chudy.

“Basically everything runs through him, and he’s an 800yard rusher and I think he leads our conference in rushing now.”

Sports

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The Renegade Rip www.therip.com

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

BC getting ready for No. 2 Pierce

By Julian Moore Sports Editor

The Bakersfield College volleyball team has played 13 matches on the road this season and has a record of 7-6 on the road. Many of these games have come through tournaments the Renegades have attended. At home, the team’s record of 2-1 reflects the lack of home games the Renegades have actually played.

The road-tested team is 3-1 in the month of October, winning three on the road and dropping one at home.

Freshman right-side hitter Taylor Tafarella has been looking forward to getting back to the team’s home court for home match Oct. 22.

“I think its definitely been hard for us and put a lot of pressure on us because traveling is hard but I think we’ve coped with it really well and made up for it,” she said.

A confident head coach Carl Ferreira felt similar to Tafarella in that the team has gained a good insight through the travel.

“Being on the road is very fatiguing,” he said. “It takes longer to recover every time you’re on the road.

“But there’s a flip side to look at it, we are a very mentally tough team now. It’s been an imbalanced schedule to began with.

But because we had some out of town tournaments, it seems like the bulk of our games are on the

road,” he said.

“We will play anybody, anywhere, that’s our mantra what we talk about all the time. So we know how to travel and play but that’s a learned skill that this team has done very well.”

Overall, the Renegades are currently 9-6 and are looking to improve with a set of matches coming up at home against Canyons. The Renegades defeated Citrus College 3-1 by the scores of 23-25, 25-21, 25-22, 25-23.

Coach Ferreira felt his team has began to embrace the experience he knew they could attain throughout the season.

“I think we’re starting to understand how to manage the game I would say that’s something I’m most satisfied with,” he said. “I think once you start understanding how to manage the game.

“In the sport of volleyball only the ball goes from side to side, there’s no contact with people.

So understanding how to manage the game is a big part of just how you play, and I‘m very impressed with our development in that area.”

Ferreira also mentioned how certain players have stepped up to help the team recently.

“We have numerous players that have stepped up in different capacities, but to name a few: Mary Maiocco, Mikinzi DeMarco, Samaiyah Wilkins, Amanda Escalante, and Jasmine Chisolm.

But the four returners from last year have been great,” he said.

Tafarella was adamant about

Gregory D. Cook / The Rip

College of the Canyons opposite hitter Jennie Long sends a kill past the outstretched arms of Bakersfield College’s Samaiyah Wilkins and Sarah Horcher during a game in the BC gym Oct. 8. how the recent wins have spoken for the team’s success.

“I feel like it’s just shown, not only our team but other people, what we’re capable of and when it comes down to it, we’re going to win when it matters.”

Samaiyah Wilkins, one of the leaders on the team, spoke about how the team has gained some momentum at mid-season.

“We’ve grown closer, which has brought our game up, because you play as good as your relationship. So this past Friday, winning away was a good start to our momentum,” she said.

Both Tafarella and Wilkins praised setter Mary Maiocco for stepping up to lead the team recently. Maiocco, who has recently come off an ankle injury that sidelined her for a few games, has organized team bonding events and vocalized herself on and off the court.

“Basically, I’ve been planning

team bonding stuff, taking incentive and holding people accountable…and at times being the grandma,” she said.

Maiocco also felt that through the growth, the team will find out where they stand come Friday when they square off against second ranked L.A. Pierce.

“We’ve grown in our relationship game, we’ve become closer and our communication with each other has grown a lot.

“I think we’re almost there, and Friday will be a very good test to see exactly where we are, but we’ve progressed a lot though. For example, freshman Erica Rico filled in for me when I was hurt, and she did a great job. I think she had three errors the whole match, which is really good to only have three errors and it being her first collegiate match.”

Wilkins was extremely glad to have Maiocco back healthy as

well because she feels Maiocco is instrumental to her own success.

“I played phenomenal when Mary was first here. My kill percentage was above .400, which is a big deal. Then Mary got hurt and my kill percentage dropped to .100 so she’s been a big influence for our team. And now that we’re getting back in sync, my kill percentage has gone up and our team as well,” said Wilkins.

Ferreira was glad to see the way his team has progressed this season.

“Well I’m really happy, we’re a very young team that’s improved tremendously, really that’s all you can look for,” he said.

“My main goal is that we reach our potential as a group.

That’s really the ultimate thing and we’re going in that direction so I’m very pleased with all the developments we’ve taken on.”

He went on to discuss the

mass amounts of improvements they’ve made going forward.

“It’s been a great learning curve relative to how to approach being a collegiate athlete. Great learning curve based on how to prepare for practice, how to manage a game, how to be mentally tough within a game.

We’re having completely different conversations now so it’s really a complete transformation. It’s just game-by-game, we’re trying to be as good as we can one game at a time. Win or lose, we learn and get better for the next opportunity.”

Ferreira finished by highlighting the areas he feels the team needs to improve on.

“We’ve got to increase our overall kill percentage, and we have to serve a lot tougher.

“We take stats and always talk about the numbers don’t lie, so it’s a great way to measure our improvement,” said Ferreira.

Wrestling team stumbles toward finish, has high hopes for next season

By Zak Cowan Reporter

Wrestling head coach Bill Kalivas likes how his team is improving as the season progresses, but he is realistic in the team’s chances in the final few tournaments.

“I thought we made some improvements at the Santa Ana tournament collectively, when we won 25 and lost 25,” said Kalivas. “We did a little bit better at Modesto, though. We were 3730, so I thought there was some improvement there.”

The team finished 16th overall at the Santa Ana Tournament on Oct. 2 with two wrestlers plac-

RIP N ation

ing, and finished ninth overall in the Modesto Invitational on Oct. 9 with three wrestlers placing.

Kalivas said that there is a lot of competition in most of the weight classes, and that they are still working on designating their first and second scorers for each weight class.

“Unfortunately most of our number twos beat our number ones and knocked them out of the tournament for the placing rounds,” he said. “So that ninth place finish in Modesto probably could have been fourth or fifth place.”

Kalivas said that the team is “a work in progress,” and that they don’t have any high-school state

meet placers currently on the team.

“A lot of these kids have come from programs where they haven’t been taught the proper mechanics,” said Kalivas. “This is a difficult level because most of the kids that they are competing against are state high-school place winners and have been wrestling since they were five or six years old. It’s difficult to develop four or five years of skill in four or five months.”

Kalivas isn’t looking back but looking to prepare for the future.

“I think collectively we work really hard, they stay together as a group, and I think they are trying to be as competitive as they

can, we haven’t seen anyone just give up,” he said. “ As a whole we look to next year, if we can keep half of them around, I’d hope to keep more than half, almost everyone other than the two sophomores.”

The team will finish the season shortly, and the staff has a plan to prepare for next season.

“We have an opportunity to spend some time in the off season developing some more skill,” Kalivas said. “I think we’ll be really representative in the next couple of years.”

“There are a lot of intangibles, goals change, sometimes an athlete’s drive isn’t there,” he said.

“It takes quite a bit for a person to

be focused and be able to maintain something for a long period of time, so I just hope we can give them the right guidance.”

The team is currently moving forward after disappointing finishes in the past weeks.

“My expectations are kind of minimal right now,” said Kalivas. “We’re just going to go see if we can win some matches.

Our main focus is going to be the conference championship.”

Kalivas will lead his team to two more tournaments before the Western State Conference Tournament at Bakersfield College.

“We have two individuals at [the 125 and 285] weight classes that are ranked,” said Kalivas. “The

problem is we have to figure out the middle of the classes.”

Kalivas said that those weight classes are their strongest by far, with Curtis Hulstine and Mark Collier ranked fifth and seventh in the 125, and Brad Carls and Quinn Moore ranked second and seventh in the 285 weight class.

Other than those placers, the team only has one other ranked wrestler in any other weight class, Santino Delfino, who is sixth in the 184 weight class.

The team is working to improve on their weaknesses before the conference tournament.

“We are looking for small victories, with little bits and pieces of improvement,” said Kalivas.

“Who has the worst public image? Brett Favre, LeBron James, Michael Vick, Wayne Rooney or Tiger Woods?”

Editor’s note: Rip Nation is a feature that highlights Bakersfield College’s athletes’ opinions.

Margaret Martinez, cross country: “Tiger Woods, because with that he set a bad image for himself.”

Hannah Chudy, volleyball: “Tiger Woods, because he cheated on his wife.”

Compiled by: Rip Staff

Cross country finishes at 11 and 18

By Zak Cowan Reporter

The Bakersfield College cross-country team competed in the Mt. San Antonio College Invitational on Oct. 15 and will be participating in the WSC finals on Oct. 26.

Then men’s cross-country team finished 18th overall with a total score of 496 and a team time of 2:06:09.

Dave Frickel, head coach for the men’s cross-country team, was pleased with the outcome, but he knows they have a lot to work on.

“We performed well, but it was a learning experience,” said Frickel. “A lot of them never experienced Mt. SAC, which is considered a grueling course because of its hills.

“The next course we’ll run on

should be a much easier course.

It shouldn’t be as challenging for the conference meet.”

Jorge Perez was the first of the men’s team to cross the finish time at 76th overall out of 203 total runners, with a time of 23:35.

“I think I performed pretty good, but it was a pretty hard course,” said Perez. “Just the uphill, the downhill helped us a lot.

I didn’t meet my expectations.”

Perez was followed by Santiago Lazarit, who finished 108th for BC with a time of 24:34.

The women’s cross-country team finished 11th overall with a score of 316 and a total team time of 1:48:38.

Clara Escutia finished first for the BC women’s team, placing 55th with a time of 20:57. Blanca Perez finished with the same time as Escutia.

Pam Kelley, the head coach of the women’s team, liked the way her team performed during the Mt. SAC meet.

“I thought the team did really well. They finished 11th overall out of 22 schools,” said Kelley.

“Three of the teams above them were from Arizona, so that puts us in a much better position. ” “We probably ran our best meet since the opening of the season,” she said.

Kelley said that she will be getting the team ready for the conference meet by making them run distance and doing several speed runs.

Frickel is confident in his team and is getting the team ready for the conference meet.

“We have about a week and a half, so we’re going to get another good week of training,” Frickel said.

Bryan Magno, wrestling: “LeBron James, because Jordan stayed and Kobe did too, so he should have stayed with Cleveland.”

Taylor Tafarella, volleyball: “Wayne Rooney, because he cheated on his pregnant wife with a prostitute.”

Nichole Berry, cross country: “Tiger Woods, bcause he slept with a lot of girls.”

Reviews

Page 12

The Renegade Rip www.therip.com

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Pho Hut’s menu: strange and varied

By Michael Wafford Opinions Editor

Pho Hut’s Vietnamese cuisine makes for an interesting, pleasant and sometimes intimidating meal.

Setting foot inood side Pho Hut, loeview cated on California Avenue, I was greeted by the pleasant scent of the other patrons’ meals. The restaurant is painted in an avocadogreen with a dark brown trim with plastic trees and paintings around that gives the place a relaxed yet slightly sophisticated feel.

The service was wonderful.

Our servers were enthusiastic, answering any questions asked and offering suggestions.

The menu has an impressive number of choices.

From Pho to jellyfish salad to curry to lettuce wraps, Pho Hut’s selection was a bit intimidating to someone with no ex-

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perience with Vietnamese food.

On the suggestion of our waitress I tried the Pho Thai, a beef and rice noodle soup, while my companions ordered spring rolls, chicken Pho, spicy beef noodle soup and a crab meat noodle served with broth. We all chose the small options for our meals with prices ranging from $6.50 to $7.25. Another companion chose to order from their list of specialty drinks, choosing a cup of freshly prepared penny wort and a can of young coconut juice that came in at about $6 all together After a few minutes, large bowls were placed in front of us with a large plate of bean sprouts, basil and cabbage placed in the middle of the table. We were all surprised by the size of the portions. The bowls were wide and deep; they reminded me of a salad bowl.

To be honest, the size was more intimidating than appetizing.

The Pho Thai was filled with onions, strips of steak, cilantro and lots of rice noodles with basil leaves and bean sprouts

Guster’s lastest release is not far off of Beach Boys

By Chrystal Fortt Reporter

Guster’s “Easy Wonderful” is an upbeat, quirky and very poppy album, but it is all over the place with different genre influences and instrument combinations that unfortunately work in only a few songs. “ E a s y lbum Wonderful” is Guster’s eview sixth new album that was released on Oct. 5.

The majority of the album is upbeat and inspirational. There are a few songs that are slower paced than others but still have an optimistic sound.

Most songs have background singers singing cheesy tunes like, “Na na na na na”, “Do do do do do”, “Oh oh whoa oh whoa” and “Who ho ho no oh oh oh” that gave the songs a Beach Boys feel.

The first song of the album, “Architects and Engineers,” has a really catchy chorus. This song fits the genre of alternative rock, but the rest of the songs seem to have many genre influences, which was very unexpected.

Guster is talented at using harmonious voices and a variety of instruments. They use a lot of nicely played piano, intricate percussions and, surprisingly, a

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banjo twang that works well.

The best song on the album, “Hercules,” sounds like a folk song. There is a lot of use of banjo riffs in this particular song that sounded really awesome.

Even though Guster had a lot of variety in instruments and genre influence, they lacked in creativity because they used the same musical structure for almost every song.

They all start with a few measures of instruments and begin to sing a verse, then the chorus. It all builds up to a strong, grand, instrumental bridge, then comes the second verse, chorus, and an abrupt ending.

The only thing different about the songs is the unexpected genre twists and the lyrics, which were written symbolically and hard to interpret.

The worst song on the album is “This is How it Feels To Have A Broken Heart.” The intro is atrocious. Guster’s main singer sounded like a pop singer and used harmonicas throughout the whole song.

The bridge was just as bad as the intro, it sounded like an epic mariachi band joined in the group.

After listening to the album twice, I only liked two songs in the entire album, “Hercules” and “Jesus and Mary.” The rest of the album isn’t really worth listening to.

served on the side. The flavor wasn’t as strong as I had expected from the smell of the dish.

The broth had a strong flavor of onion and cilantro with a hint of nutmeg or cinnamon. The steak was a little dry and didn’t have the flavor of the broth. The noodles were tender and had managed to absorb the flavors of the soup.

The chicken Pho was similar; in fact it was the same thing with chicken instead of beef.

The crab dish was said to be OK, although its brown color didn’t look particularly appetizing.

Not all the food there has a gentle flavor, though. The spicy beef noodle soup caused one of my companions to begin sweating while eating.

The spring were said to taste under cooked and were difficult to bite into.

The only downsides to the meal were the specialty beverages.

The young coconut juice is a clear beverage with chunks of coconut pulp. The juice had a

Nathan Wilson / The Rip

Pho Hut offers five different types of spring rolls at its Bakersfield locations. subtle and unpleasant bitterness.

The penny wort beverage was a green drink served both fresh and in a can. One of my companions ordered the fresh variety that was served in a large glass with pulp.

The penny wort tastes the way

freshly cut grass smells.

I later found out that penny wort is a plant that closely resembles the clover. It’s an earthy beverage and according to our servers it was a health drink, although drinking the beverage seemed to

make my companions and I feel a little sick.

Pho Hut’s large portions, service, large menu, good food and friendly atmosphere make the restaurant a place worth checking out.

BC deli has limited choices but OK food

By James Licea Reporter

The BC deli is open from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday and provides students with sandwiches as well as personalized pizzas and pre-prepared salads.

A sandwich is my favorite thing to eat. The fact that you can fill two slices of ood bread with all kinds of eview food and that you are able to eat on-thego makes me very happy.

I seldom purchase food items from the cafeteria that are not packaged, but I have bought a sandwich or two from the deli on random occasions.

One of the things that gets me down about the deli is that it does not have much of a variety. The selections that students have to choose from are pastrami, turkey, salami, ham, beef, tuna and veggie. This might seem like a lot, but compared to other sandwich shops, it isn’t much.

Usually I get pastrami or a salami sandwich, but on this particular occasion I was in the mood for turkey. Not because I’m particularly fond of the lunchmeat, but because it was one of the few sandwiches that I have not tried from the cafeteria.

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Deedee soto / The Rip

The Renegade Food Court serves custom sandwichs.

Though I prefer to be given a sandwich that has predetermined contents, I filled out a green order form circling the items I desired. I chose turkey with mayonnaise, mustard and avocado and everything else except for alfalfa sprouts because I’m not down with the stringiness.

Extra meat is another thing I circled, because in the past I had been given a scant amount of meat that was not fulfilling. All of this was placed on a six-inch French roll.

Opting for the meal, I also chose chips and a soft drink; my meal came up to be a whopping $9.25. Though I did not imagine it to be this much, I knew that ordering extra meat and avocado probably didn’t help

with the price.

What I received was more than I expected. The woman who prepared my sandwich put over an inch of turkey, and a fat amount of lettuce, jalapenos, banana peppers, olives, onions and two half slices of tomatoes.

While she was stuffing the contents of my sandwich, she had trouble folding the roll over because of all the meat and vegetables she packed into it.

While struggling to close the sandwich she asked me, “Are you going to eat this like a taco?” I smiled as she cut my sandwich in half and stuck a toothpick on each end to keep it from falling apart.

Though I was pleased at her generosity, I couldn’t help but notice that the onions were

somewhat transparent and not white like they should be. The lettuce also seemed to be a bit wilted.

Before consuming the sandwich, I inspected it. The texture of the onions was not what is to be expected. Instead of being crisp and easy to break, they were somewhat bendy. I looked at the lettuce and, though it seemed questionable, I decided I’ve eaten sandwiches with lettuce that looked much worse.

Walking through campus while holding my plated sandwich, a sprite and a bag of potato chips, I received glances from several students.

One woman who noticed my sandwich commented, “That’s what I’m talking about. Can I have some?”

The French roll that the meat and vegetables were placed into were not able to support their presence and much of the insides ended up on my plate.

While eating my sandwich, I noticed that I did end up eating it like a taco, scooping up all the items that fell off the plate with my chips.

My experience of this visit wasn’t a great one, but I probably will go again. As far as cafeteria food goes, I feel the meal was adequate. After all we don’t get the privilege of having a Togo’s on campus like CSUB. The two things that I wish we did have were better prices and fresher vegetables.

Basketball game pays respect to Michael Jordan

By Michael Morrow

Video Production Editor

NBA 2K11 is a much better game than I expected, and it’s not just because the greatest basketball player of all-time is featured in several gameplay modes.

Even ideo ame w i t h Michael eview Jordan, 2 K 1 1 started out a bit rough for me, because I’ve been a fan of the NBA Live – now NBA ELITE – series for quite some time now.

Once I switched the button configuration to a more enjoyable

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Courtesy of Amazon.com

Michael Jordan goes up for one of his signature dunks.

for whatever team it may be and you progress through your career, you try to become a star and make your created player into a legend.

There is also the in-game details that make 2K standout from most other sports games.

The in-game commentary actually fits with the moment you’re actually going through, and it’s not just a random quote from the play-by-play man, Marv Albert.

Another element of timeliness is the in-game-time-based leaderboards and standings, which allow you to know what is going on around the league in 2K’s Association Mode.

The ticker on 2K can be changed to fit either your asso-

ciation mode or you can have a real time ticker with real action from the day.

For me, I think the combination of MJ being in the game, NBA ELITE 11 being delayed, the amount of game modes and different things to do in the game and attention to detail, make NBA 2K11 a much better game than anticipated.

The only thing that really annoyed me was the size of the players. Most players looked way oversized for their actual body types. If you can get past that, 2K11 will be an enjoyable game overall.

And as much as I want to dislike the 2K sports franchise, I cannot dislike NBA 2K11.

“What is a mudpuppy?”

Editor’s note: BC Brains is a feature that asks students a question to test their knowledge of all things trivial.

Compiled by: Rip Staff

special Jordan modes, you must first complete the 10 most memorable moments in Jordan’s career. These moments were hand picked by Jordan himself, as he was a major part of the making of the game.

2K11 was refreshingly different in its gameplay and the different game modes it has available. You can create a player as usual and place yourself on a team with whatever attributes you’d like or you can create a player and build him up to get ready for draft day. Based on how well your player has done, You can change your players attributes and effect where he will be drafted and what team you will go to. Once you start to play

Yanet Cortes, Veterinarian Technician: “A puppy filled with mud.”

David Born, Biology: “A dessert with chocolate and gummy worms.”

Zak Plilur, Undecided: “A puppy born in mud.”

Nick Kephart, Undecided: “Definitley food from Oklahoma.”

Oscar Cruz, Fitness Trainer: “A puppy made of mud.”

Correct answer: A type of salamander

BC B rains

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setting and had a couple hours of gameplay behind me, the game actually began to get exciting.

With ELITE 11 being delayed until an unreleased date sometime next year, 2K11 is really your only true hoops gaming action available.

The intro to 2K11 can get any basketball fan’s blood pumping with a sequence about Jordan being a legend and then you hear the memorable sounds of the Chicago Bulls intro music playing and Jordan turning, facing and asking, “Are you ready?”

In 2K11 you can play as Jordan immediately in several different modes, but to trade for Jordan and have him on your team of choice, or to play several

Page 13

The Renegade Rip www.therip.com

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Artist joins others in yearly tradition CHALK ART | BC student and young artist continues to express his creative ambitions through the annual Via Arte tradition.

By Michael Wafford Opinions Editor

Bakersfield College student Kenneth Williams is an aspiring comic book illustrator and participant in Bakersfield’s Via Arte.

Williams, 20, began participating in Via Arte three years ago while he was still a student at Stockdale High School.

Currently in his third semester at BC, Williams also works at Kohl’s department store.

The digital art major was invited by his high school art teacher, Art Sheryn, to participate in Via Arte for a third time this year. He accepted the offer and worked on an original piece titled “Flame Guardian” during the event.

While Williams drew on asphalt at Via Arte, his ideal form of work would be in the comic book industry. “I like comics. It’s what I want to do,” said Williams.

Williams is currently working on a supernaturally themed graphic novel titled “Masquerade of the Gods.” He hopes to publish it as soon as he completes it.

“To me, it’s not all about the money, but I would like to make this a career. So I would like to make money,” said Williams.

“I’d rather work for myself, but I know that it’s impossible. Well, not impossible but it’s really, really hard to publish your own comic and get it out. Ever since I was a kid, I’ve enjoyed Todd McFarlane, Spawn, stuff like that – the really detailed comics.”

Williams hasn’t always been interested purely in working as a comic book artist. At one point in time, Williams had an interest in tattoos, even going so far as to tattoo his leg and arm with a needle and India ink.

Deedee soto / The Rip

Kenneth Williams shows off some of his artwork at the Via Arte festival at The Marketplace on Oct. 10.

“I didn’t know what I was thinking, I was 12 years old,” said Williams. “I regret doing it now, not on the leg, though, because I actually got something out of it.”

The tattoo on his leg has been covered by a professionally done tattoo that he got by winning a worst tattoo contest through KRAB radio.

While his family disproved of his improvised tattoo work, Williams said they are supportive of his endeavors. “My mom and dad don’t do anything artis-

tic, but my sister is a musician,” he said. “They’re supportive of her, too. They’re glad we’re doing stuff like this.”

Drawing is not Williams’ only means of expression. He also plays drums in his spare time.

“I do listen to music whenever I draw,” he said. “Depending on the rhythm, I might move my hand differently. If it’s a fast song I may move faster and it may add to my drawing.”

While a fan of comic book artists, their influence is something Williams attempts to not

Deedee soto / The Rip

Kenneth Williams smooths the color of his painting for the Via Arte festival Oct. 10. show in his work “I try not to incorporate the people that I look up to,” he said. “I just try to develop my own ideas. I’ve taken classes to do that. Even if I don’t like a certain idea I’ll go through and sketch it out and possibly it may turn into something I didn’t expect.”

His passion for comic books also affected his choice of study.

While a fan of traditional pen and ink, the cost efficiency of digital art drew him toward his major.

“Comics are going digital, and it’s more efficient,” he said. “You can Photoshop something, and get it done really quick. You have to buy pens, inks. Some of those Prisma color markers are like two or three dollars a piece and sometimes you need hundreds

of them. You can pretty much go broke just doing art.”

While the threat of going broke is on Williams’ mind, he has nothing else he would rather do professionally. “If you’re doing art you can always express yourself, you can always make your own ideas happen, you can always get better at something,” said Williams.

BC cheer squad uses new calendar for fundraising

By Kristen Blue Reporter

Bakersfield College cheerleaders can be spotted at most sporting events rooting for the college team. This year, the cheerleaders have joined with the football team to make calendars featuring the cheer squad, football players and the BC campus.

The calendars will be sold by cheerleaders on campus and are available in the BC bookstore.

They cost $15 each and will help

benefit the program.

“I dragged my feet a little bit on the idea but we decided to do it,” said BC professor Becki Whitson, who is the cheer adviser. “I was worried. The girls were excited, but they don’t think about things like legal issues, printing, cost.”

The production of the calendar was paid for out-of-pocket. If the calendar is successful, they hope to try again. Whitson said the money used by the cheer squad is money they have managed to

acquire without school assistance. “We receive no financial support from this college.”

The women dedicate their time to represent and support our school’s athletic teams. Whitson estimated the members spend approximately $1,000 each on cheer-related expenses.

“It’s really tough,” she said.

“They pay out-of-pocket, upfront, on-the-spot for these things. We try our best to fundraise, but it’s still hard. These are college students. College

Photo courtesy of Photography by Victoria

The 2010 Bakersfield College cheerleading squad pose for the cover of their calendar which will be used to help fund expenses. The calendar also features photos taken of the squad with BC Renegades football players on the campus and the cost is $15.

students aren’t rich.”

Whitson said a couple of women on the team have used all of their graduation money to cover the costs. “We hope this calendar will help the girls and make this easier on them financially,” she said. “They’re here because they love to cheer, and they all work very hard.”

At 6 a.m. the girls showed up at the school in uniforms ready to shoot. It took a total of two days to photograph all the pictures.

Whitson said, “It was a lot of

hard work, lots of racing around.

They were all troopers. We all pulled together. I’m really satisfied with the results.”

They had 1,000 copies of the calendar printed. “The printer was actually a football player at Bakersfield College back in the day,” Whitson said. “He was happy to help us and gave us a good deal.”

Every year around 30 girls show up in hopes to make it on the BC cheer squad. Judges grade them on different areas de-

ciding who makes the cut on the team. This year, there are 14 girls on the team. Outside of cheering at sporting events, cheerleaders also help with charity events.

“We just did a CASA golf tournament,” Whitson said. “The girls handled tasks like driving the carts and handing out raffle tickets. We’ve worked with an autistic group. Basically any time someone gives us a call, we’ll usually go make an appearance and help do our part in the community.”

Eyes of the Rip

Page 14

The Renegade Rip www.therip.com

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

The Great Western War

By Samantha Garrett Copy Editor

Gregory d. cook / The Rip

While the rest of the people in the Central Valley lived out their sleepy lives, members of the Society for Creative Anachronism came together to wage bloody war on the battlefields of Buena Vista Aquatic Recreational Area just outside of Taft on Oct. 6-11. The weekend-long event included a variety of different attractions themed around the Middle Ages, and, while those involved might have looked like the typical Renaissance fair attendees, their level of dedication and appreciation for detail far surpassed those yearly jaunts into “ye olden” days.

This Great Western War is not the typical weekend adventure. Members of the SCA come from all different parts of the United States, although primarily southern California, Nevada and Hawaii. They band together to re-create the period of old.

During events like this, members don their period clothing (which is not from any specific year in the medieval era but the broad time frame, ranging from the early middle ages to the late middle ages) and adopt their period pseudonyms.

All the typical royalty associated with a kingdom were present. The king and queen, who are so for a period of seven months and actually reign for six, resided over the battles and tournaments along with counts, countesses, barons, baronesses and others.

On Oct. 11, royalty and fighting members of the SCA came together to stage a tournament.

Those fighting fought for a Lady of the Rose (a woman who was formally a queen or a princess and currently a countess or duchess); for each Lady of the Rose, one knight, one “unbelted” fighter, one low level rapier man and one high level rapier man fought.

While men and women prepared their weapons and their armor before combat, the Ladies of the Rose went around the battlefield chatting with old friends.

Countess Albra (Kaythryn Wolters) of Ventura, was queen back in 1996 and had her current title because of her former reign. She talked about how being queen affected her life.

“It was one of the scariest and most intense moments of my life, but it was also very rewarding, and it will always stay with me,” she said.

“Everyone has an inner king or queen. You have to talk to the queen inside you.”

Being queen, she explained, made her a more gracious and stronger person.

The battles that occurred throughout the weekend-long event were organized by battle master Sechequr Qara (Sean Pennington). A medley of fighters, wearing armor and using weapons from all different time periods and regions, were able to fight due to his organizational skills.

There were people representing all different time periods.

A man by the name of Skalla (Matt Jepson) and his band of warriors wore armor based on the Myrmidons from the epic poem, The Iliad, which was written during the classical era of Greece. Not too far away on the field another group of men wore armor from a far more recent period of time, looking something like the stereotypical musketeer. Edward Willis (Brandon Willis) fought for Viscountess Jimena with a rapier, which are a much faster weapon than the huge broadswords that some of the knights were using.

He spoke about how he felt he would do in the tournament.

“They’ve got their swords in your face, in your chest before you can even think about what’s happened.”

As fighting, in both the battles and the tournaments, is all honor-based, a hit to the head or the chest in battle would mean defeat for the combatant.

For many, participating in the Great Western War with the SCA is a way to reach out to people with similar interests and ideas. It is a way to reach back to the pageantry of the past, as well as the savagery.

Members of the Society for Creative Anachronism take part in a heavy-armored combat scenario during the Great Western War, held at the Buena Vista Aquatic Recreational Area on Oct. 11. Participants wear functional armor and use weapons made of rattan to recreate combat

Gregory d. cook / The Rip

Sir Sigifrith Haukenefr delivers a blow to his opponent’s head during a bout in the Valkyrie Rose Tournament. The tournament was held to honor the memory of Duchess Kolfinna Kottr, a member of the SCA that passed away last year.

Gregory d. cook / The Rip

Lord Richard guides his horse Valor through a practice run during a Mounted Pas d’Armes at the Great Western War. In the event, riders challenge each other to compete in various games of mounted skill at arms.

Graphic by samantha garrett