A N AT I O N A L PA C E M A K E R AWA R D N E W S PA P E R
Volume 58, Issue 1
theswcsun.com
September 7 - October 12, 2014
Elected officials strive for local university By Gonzalo Quintana Assistant Campus Editor
As the summer sizzled on, plans to bring a four-year university to Chula Vista heated up. Assembly Member Shirley Weber, the Chair of the Assembly Select Committee of Higher Education in San Diego County Shirley Weber travelled down from Sacramento
to hold an Informational Hearing in the Chula Vista City Council Chambers to update the status of the university project and to discuss the roles local and state government as well as the community and postsecondary institutions would play in the process of obtaining the school. Chula Vista University has run
into several obstacles since being proposed in 1993. Community member David Walden said he is frustrated over the university’s delay. “After 20 years of thought, still nothing,” he said. “The need is clear. There’s really nothing else to discuss except putting the right people in the right forums and putting the resources together.”
Southwestern College governing board member Tim Nader said he remembers when talks of the university first started 20 years ago when he was Mayor of Chula Vista and is happy they are still ongoing. “It’s good that we’re still talking about it and I understand that the please see University pg. A2
Gonzalez campaign finances bill vetoed
Governor says bill inspired by South Bay Corruption Case is too narrow By Bianca Quilantan Assistant News Editor
Lorena Gonzalez was one signature away from passing a sweeping piece of legislation to reform California election law. Governor Jerry Brown, however, would not go along. Brown vetoed Gonzalez’ bill, AB 1431, that would have outlawed public school administrators from fundraising unlimited amounts of campaign cash for board members of K-12 and community college districts. AB 1431 was passed by the state assembly and California senate in August. Brown’s veto message said he did not think it was fair to single out one class of people for the prohibition. He left the door open, however, for future legislation. Gonzalez (D-San Diego) and Senator Joel Anderson (R-Alpine) co-authored the bill to prohibit administrators of school districts and community college districts from accepting contributions for the campaign of an elected official of the district employing the administrator. AB 1431 also would have prohibited an elected official from asking an administrator to receive campaign contributions. Gonzalez said AB 1431 was inspired by the “pay-to-play” scandal that led to the South Bay Corruption Case, which resulted in 15 indictments of elected officials, including eight with Southwestern College connections. Administrators had political prominence due to their access to campaign funding from potential architects and building contractors vying for multi-million dollar contracts.
JAGUARS PROWL
NEW HOME S By Nicholas Baltz and Lina Chankar Staff Writers
outhwestern College’s long-awaited $45 million DeVore Stadium 2.0 has opened its gates to the community — well, some of it. Neighboring Bonita Vista High School’s Barons found SWC barren. BVH football players were not allowed access to the new locker rooms, training facilities, concession facilities, water, ice or even toilet paper at their home opener. SWC has a lifetime obligation to share facilities with BVH — which helped build the stadium — and college officials quickly issued an apology following a whacking in the San Diego County news media. President Dr. Melinda Nish apologized for Dean
please see AB 1431 pg. A2
of Athletics Terry Davis’ blunder. Her statement said, “For the remainder of the Barons’ football season: • The men’s and women’s soccer lockers rooms on the ground floor of the new field house will be available for the Barons and their visiting teams; • Referees may use the staff locker room on the 4th floor of the field house; • In advance of each game, Bonita Vista High School trainers will coordinate with Southwestern College trainers to make arrangements for ice and other needs; • Bonita Vista High will be able to use the Southwestern College ticket office, but not the college’s ticketing equipment (the same arrangement SWC had when playing at Olympian High School); • Bonita Vista High will reimburse Southwestern College for cleaning expenses, supplies and bathroom supplies (the same arrangement SWC
Police investigate man angry about tennis program By Nicholas Baltz Sports Editor
furthest along. “We are in the construction document phase,” said Prop R Bond Manager Mark Claussen. “Construction on (National City) is estimated to be next summer, (pending state review).” SWC President Dr. Melinda Nish said the new building will be versatile. “Everything that is going into that new building in National City is classrooms,” she said. “So it’s not just going to
A man who has made a series of angry accusations about access to college facilities has become the subject of a campus police investigation. Larry Kelly purchased display advertisements in the Chula Vista Star News and San Diego Reader that called Southwestern College a cancer to the community. “Southwestern is the worst f***ing college in the whole goddamn world,” Kelly told journalism students after REASONS barging into the newspaper lab one evening. “This place is going down.” Kelly’s latest ad warned that if his demands were not met he would pursue legal action. Kelly has demanded full public access to all tennis courts, the dismissal of tennis coach Susan Reasons and a three-year contract for him to run the
please see Prop R pg. A3
please see Tennis pg. A2
please see Stadium pg. A2
Science building up next for Prop R By Jaime Pronoble News Editor
PEEKING AT THE FUTURE — An artist rendering of a possible two-story National City campus with new science labs.
INSIDE: f
Footballs and soccer balls are now flying through the renovated DeVore Stadium, and soon the wrecking ball may be flying through the college’s aged gymnasium. After a four-year slowdown due to the South Bay Corruption Scandal, construction at Southwestern College is picking up momentum. Proposition R bond projects on the National City satellite campus are the
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Griselda Delgado and Jaime Mercado race for Seat #1. Special Edition.
A toast to the French from a study abroad student. Campus, A6
Joe Chavez is a world class athlete and respected leader. Sports, B4
Well-traveled Mariachi Garibaldi conquers Brazil. Arts, B1
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Jaime Pronoble, editor
NEWS
Sept. 7 - Oct. 12, 2014—Vol. 58, Issue 1
Tel: (619) 482-6368 E-mail: news@theswcsun.com
Stadium: New DeVore complex open after three years of re-development
University: Plans for four-year Chula Vista campus began in 1993
Continued from Page A1
had when playing at Olympian High School); • Waiving of the college’s requirement of exclusive concession sales to allow Bonita Vista High School fundraising food concessions within the public breezeways.” BVH head football coach Chris Thompson said he was upset with the initial rude treatment, but was now satisfied. “We got our accommodations,” he said. “I don’t have anything to complain or be upset about. It obviously got all the way to the top and when that happens things get done.” SWC narrowly avoided losing a contract with California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) to host three days of high school championship football games in November and December. “The agreement pays Southwestern College $53,000 to host the games and will be on the November 12 governing board meeting agenda for approval,” according to Public Information Officer Lillian Leopold. Proposition R bond funded the $45 million renovation, which took nearly three years to finish and came in $1.5 million over budget. Nearly one eighth of the voterapproved $389 million bond has gone into stadium improvements. Fans have mostly expressed approval of the renovated facility, but football and soccer players have given it less-generous reviews and have complained about the hard surface that recently reached 140 degrees during an afternoon soccer match. Contractors blamed unanticipated underground water for the cost overrun. It required a canyon drainage system, which cost an additional $1.02 million, according to Justin Maletic, project manager for Balfour Beatty construction. “When we dug down we hit this body of water, basically an underground aquifer and had quite a bit of water coming out of the wall,” he said. “We put in horizontal drains and basically relieved the hydrostatic pressure behind the wall. (We) eventually diverted it under the building to drain into the sewage system.” Nearly $500,000 was added for an electronic security system and audio video equipment. Dr. Steve Crow, vice president of business and financial affairs said the added equipment is for safety. “This additional scope of work is to address campus security initiatives and current audio visual technology that was necessary, but not
Tennis: College rejects call to terminate coach Continued from Page A1
Southwestern College tennis program. “We will become and continue to be a public relations nightmare,” read the paper. “We pay taxes and enough is enough, we’re ready for the media we’re ready to picket.” College officials met with Kelly, but did not acquiesce. After meeting with Vice President of Academic Affairs Kathy Tyner and Dean of Athletics Terry Davis, Kelly has made a series of appearances on campus and has issued a number of threats. Reasons said she was offended by what was published in the Star News
Continued from Page A1
Mason Masis/Staff
Colin Grylls /Staff
UPGRADE — DeVore Stadium has classrooms and a 150-seat lecture hall .
included in the original contract,” he said. SWC construction consultant Mark Claussen said new synthetic field will have a cooling system for hot days and a drainage system for wet weather and will save 1 million gallons of water per year. The field is marked with both football and soccer lines in offsetting colors. Ba l f o u r B e a t t y C o n s t r u c t i o n Superintendent Tyler Steele said the field house earned LEED Gold ranking for sustainability. “The U.S. Green Building Council certifies buildings based on a number of criteria all related to sustainability, such as energy efficiency, day lighting, environmental footprints and what it’s made of,” said Steele. “If you can buy organic for a building and get your building products from close by,
you save money.” SWC’s field house also has state-of-theart classrooms, including a new 150-seat lecture hall. Chula Vista Mayor Cheryl Cox attended the stadium’s opening ceremony and counts herself as a fan of the renovation. She said SWC has built something for today’s generation and tomorrow’s, thanks to the generosity of taxpayers who supported the bond issue. “This was out in the middle of nowhere in the ‘60s and now to look at this extraordinary corner with not only things for athletes and coaches but also for the observer,” she said. Nish said she is very pleased with the project and that commencement exercises would return to the campus after three years at the Chula Vista Amphitheatre.
“(This) is a great venue for classes, for our football team and for distinguished speakers series,” she said. “This is going to be a fabulous asset for our students and for our community.” DeVore Stadium was named after Chet DeVore, who served as SWC president from 1961-1981. On the day the stadium was rededicated, DeVore’s sons John and James told the audience about their father’s passion for Southwestern and what the new stadium would have meant to him. “The stadium was named after our dad for the work that he mostly did as superintendent/president,” James said. “For his vision and his leadership, but in his heart our dad was a football coach and he did believe that athletics was the perfect place to teach character to a young student.”
and that Kelly was “flat out wrong” about the tennis courts. “First and foremost you should have the common courtesy to come to somebody and schedule a meeting with them,” she said. “I don’t know who this man is. I’ve never seen him before. I think what he did was self serving and instead of handling it in an appropriate procedure, he just tried to bully people to get attention.” John Moreno, publisher of the Star News, said the ad was reviewed before it was published, but did not disclose the amount of money Kelly paid. “I was fine with the first one,” he said. “He did change the copy on the ad and I did not realize that. I do think the language was much more direct and stronger the second time. It was an oversight on my part.” SWC officials sent the Star News a letter to the editor and Moreno said he was sensitive to the relationship with
the college. “Part of what we do as a community newspaper is create a forum for the exchange of ideas,” he said. “Mr. Larry Kelly is expressing his thoughts.” K e l l y s a i d S WC ’s a c c e s s w a s unacceptable and that he is a man who knows how to get things done. “Any time anyone’s went against me, I might have lost, but I brought them down, too,” he said. “I always bring people down and I’m in the right this time.” Tyner said that Kelly’s claims were not accurate. “At this point, a number of his complaints having to do with access turned out to be not correct,” she said. “In other words, we have courts that are open on the weekends, they are open on the holidays and they have been, from what I understand.” Reasons said SWC has always welcomed community players and
that the courts are perpetually open to the public. “Monday through Friday they are all open all day long,” she said. “On the weekend we don’t have any school activities, so there are two courts open for the public. There are 23 courts within a 5-mile radius of here that are open for play.” Reasons said people need to realize the courts are primarily for the benefit of SWC students. “People look at our sports fields and think of them as just a game but it’s not,” she said. “It’s a learning environment and it’s a classroom first and foremost.” Kelly said he is ready to go to war with the school over the situation. “My impression of Southwestern and the tennis situation is laziness, passing the buck and being selfish,” he said. “They just don’t give a darn. I just don’t believe it.”
AB 1431: Pay-for-Play Scandal inspired bill
asking them for money to give to candidates,” he said. SWC Governing Board Member Tim Nader agreed. “Administrators should be focused on educational access and results,” he said, “not on political fundraising for their preferred bosses.” SWC President Dr. Melinda Nish said that the campaign reform bill would not have a major impact on future SWC campaigns. “It bans college administrators from raising money for a specific c a n d i d a t e ,” s h e s a i d . “ C o l l e g e administrators generally want to remain neutral when there is an election going on because you never can predict the outcome.” Gonzalez said legislation is necessary. “Hopefully it’ll restore balance in our electoral process when dealing with community college boards and school board,” she said. “ (It) takes (administrators) out of the equation and allows the voters and individuals to kind of make that determination and that’s where it should be.”
Continued from Page A1
Rick Flores /Staff
THIS CLOSE — Assembly Member Lorena Gonzalez convinced the California Assembly and Senate to support her bill curtailing campaign contributions by public school administrators, but the governor vetoed the bill.
“The superintendent was having too large of a say in who our school board members were or community c o l l e g e m e m b e r s w e r e ,” s a i d Gonzalez. “They did that by raising unlimited amounts of funds for those members.” Gonzalez said the issue became a serious conflict of interest. “The superintendent should have been accountable to the board, should of been accountable to the students and the voters,” she said. “But instead the board became accountable to (administrators).” SWC Governing Board Member Humberto Peraza said superintendents were getting too involved in politics. “There should never be a time where a superintendent is calling somebody that does business at the college or any school district
state has had severe economic and budgetary constraints between then and now,” said Nader. “However, those constraints are only going to get worse if we don’t accommodate the educational needs of our students.” Chula Vista Mayor Cheryl Cox hopes to show results in the coming months. “It has been a slow, meticulous, very methodical process,” she said, “and come the next 90 days, with our fingers crossed, we will have the land we’ve been looking for for the last 14 years.” The land she referred to is located close to the Olympic Training Center in the Otay Ranch section of Chula Vista. Interested parties are counting on a total of 375 acres. Chula Vista boasts a population of approximately 250,000 and is one of the most diverse cities in the nation. It is also home to many popular landmarks, such as Living Coast Discovery Center and the Olympic Training Center, both of which were mentioned as possible resources for the proposed university. Representatives for both the University of California and California State University presented their cases in an attempt to land the bid. After making comparisons to the abundance of four-year colleges in and around Los Angeles County, Weber questioned the lack of a presence in San Diego. “We have what? UCSD, San Diego State and San Marcos,” she said. “That’s it, as the second largest city in the s e c o n d l a rg e s t county. We have a shortage that’s there.” We b e r s a i d hopes are to attract students from all over the state and to give NADER those who prefer to stay close to home an option. Many are turned away by SDSU and UCSD because the schools are heavily impacted. Chula Vista university would house around 20,000 students and would work closely with community colleges and high schools in the region. This would diminish the number of students who have to leave the county to f u r t h e r t h e i r “However, education. We b e r s a i d those she has spoken (budgetary) to presidents of local campuses constraints to eliminate the are only “ p u s h - b a c k ” going to that tends to come with the get worse p r o p o s a l o f if we don't a competing school. She said accomodate she wants them the to be a part of educational the process. “ I t ’ s n o t needs d e s i g n e d t o of our take resources from San Diego students. ” State or our UC campus,” said We b e r . “ I ’m Tim Nader gonna continue Governing Board t o f i g h t t o Member fund those campuses and increase their budgets because they are important entities in this region.” Budget cuts have been an issue within the educational system since the recession. President and Chief Executive Officer of the South County Development Council Cindy Gompper-Graves said businesses can and should benefit together with the school. “We wanna make sure that our university is an economic engine,” she said. Gompper-Graves said the opportunity for economic impact would be far greater if the university had a strong research and development component. During her closing remarks, Weber said she was done doing studies, but that she did have critical questions about the type of campus the city should have. “One of the things I’ve looked at is that we haven’t had a Cal Tech and a Cal Poly developed in a long time,” she said. “Maybe that’s our signature campus that we hang our hat on. That brings in UCSD and SDSU to help develop something they already have bits and pieces of.
NEWS
The Southwestern College Sun
Sept. 7 - Oct. 12, 2014—Vol. 58, Issue 1
Prop R: Wellness center and performing arts facility still in planning Continued from Page A1
READY TO TAKE ON THE CORNER LOT — Proposition R Bond Manager Mark Claussen has been brought in to get construction back on track.
support dental hygiene and medical operations.” Nish said the majority of new classroom spaces are science labs. “Even if you’re not a dental hygiene student, there are a lot of students that are going to need biology, microbiology, chemistry — that’s going to be super important because long before the (Math, Science and Engineering building) is done, we’ll have those labs out there in National City,” she said. Nish said she hopes it will be operational in either fall 2016 or spring 2017.
New ASO president looks to increase book rentals, spirits By Mason Masis Campus Editor
ASO President Sayaka Ridley has a lot on her plate. She is a Southwestern College student, the ASO president and the governing board student trustee, all at 19 years of age. Sun staff sat down with her for a one-on-one interview during which she skillfully addressed topics such as student apathy, Proposition R, voter I.D. and her priorities while in office. Q: What are the day-to-day responsibilities of being the ASO President? A: I meet with different constituents on campus, I meet with ASO advisors, I go to the executive meeting – I chair it – and I go to the senate meetings sometimes and I oversee everybody in the ASO. Q: You replaced the former student trustee, Laura Castillo. How does your platform differ from hers? A: I wasn’t here when she ran because I’m still pretty new to Southwestern. But I guess the thing that differs is she had many projects lined up, but I think it was kind of overwhelming for their team because they were only able to accomplish one of those projects, which was the calculator rental program. Students now are able to rent calculators. But they had a bunch of other projects, for example: textbook rental, laptop rental programs… stuff like that. Us, we have a few specific ideas we hope to accomplish. Q: What are those ideas? A: One of them is broadcasting, of course. We are also trying to finish the projects from last year. For example, the textbook program. You can now rent textbooks in the campus bookstore cheaper – about 40 percent of the retail price. And that was done by the ASO. We purchased a bunch of textbooks and finalized that during the summer with my administration. Q: Southwestern College just opened up its renovated stadium. It has been two years since we’ve had a football game here. Do you think this is going to help combat student apathy and increase school spirit around campus? A: Oh, yeah! I think it’s a great idea. Actually, the ASO is going to have its mascot out there, our jaguar. Yeah, I definitely hope it’s going to raise school spirit. We are so glad it came out to be really awesome. I’ve heard a lot of good feedback from the students. They think it’s beautiful, they love it and we are all excited about it. Q: What are some of the other things that the ASO do to help keep students from becoming apathetic, help them have some jaguar spirit? A: Yeah, definitely with our activities, for example Welcome Week. We had a really big turnout this year compared to last year because this year we had dance performances, we actually got to have our clubs on campus get involved with the ASO and have them perform there. If you saw there was a huge crowd, everybody was cheering. It was just great. So I think that it helps when we host activities like that it really helps Southwestern College students come together as a community. Q: Going back to student apathy. I know voter turnout was not very high last year. What are some of the things you guys are looking to do to make sure voter turnout is larger this year? A: Well actually the reason why the
voter turnout was a little bit low this year is because last year they had like six people running against each other. This year there were only two people, so what this means is there were only two parties that were able to publicize about the election. And also our parties were very small, neither of us had a full ticket. That’s why our current ASO team is half Blue (Party) and half Gold (Party). Q: Here at our school it is required to have a student I.D. to vote and people have criticized that. In (national and statewide) elections judges have struck down voter I.D. laws. What is your opinion on that? A: Yes, that is something we have been talking about. We’ve actually been wanting to move the elections to online. That way it’s more accessible, it’s more convenient, it’ll be faster, more efficient. That’s a little bit complicated to do, but that’s been something we have been thinking about, it’s been on our mind, and we definitely want to change that. Q: And would that only require a voter I.D. number? A: I think so, just a student I.D. number. Q: What is keeping the paper ballot elections from just verifying based on (a student I.D. number)? A: I’m not sure. They really don’t want people to double vote. They want it to be as accurate as possible. Q: You mentioned that you are also the student trustee. Can you talk about what that means? A: A lot of people don’t know what the student trustee is. It’s really cool. You get to sit on the governing board. The governing board meets once a month and they make final decisions about campus. It’s a really big position. But the student trustee only has an advisory vote. When I vote, it’s just an advisory vote, so I don’t really have a direct impact. But, they (governing board members) do listen to the student trustee because I represent the students at Southwestern College. Q: Is there any issue that you would take a hardline against the governing board on, if it was brought up, and they disagreed with you? Something you are really passionate about? A: Well there was a little issue this month about the pools. Because we are going to redo the pools and they wanted to just have two pools, but I thought we should have three pools because it is in our budget and it would generate revenue because we can offer membership for the pools. And so, it was kind of a split vote – I think it was three to two – so I did stand up against that. I’m not afraid to stand up to them if I have a different opinion than them. Q: Could you talk about the executive positions on the ASO? A: So the ASO is comprised of the president, six vice presidents and then 22 senators. So we have the executive vice president who is Jacob Alvarado. He is in charge of the senate. We have our social vice president who is Renalyn (Serrano). She is in charge of the activities, for example Welcome Week. Then we have the VP of club affairs, Krista Garrigus. We have Mari Salazar. She’s the executive secretary. We have Matthew Schwimmer, who is the VP of Finance. He just deals with the ASO budget. And we have Leo Pascual, he’s our vice president of public relations, and that’s it.
Courtesy Photo
A HEALTHY FUTURE — Design concept for the the future wellness center on the corner lot meant to replace existing gymnasium and pools.
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A wellness center and a parking structure are also in the works, but the location of the latter is still in discussion. Claussen said he is trying to put an infrastructure package together for review by January or February. “What we’re trying to do is start construction (on the wellness center) probably as early as May or June,” he said. Claussen said the parking structure would also house an emergency callbox and possibly a security office and information kiosk. Governing Board Member Humberto Peraza expressed concern with the location of the parking structure. He said he did not like the idea of a parking garage at the front door of the campus. Governing Board Member Tim Nader agreed. “Looking at this map, it does look as if the parking structure rather than the performing arts center (would be) the face of the campus,” he said. Vice President of Business and Financial Affairs Dr. Steven Crow said it would not be a distraction. “I’ve had the opportunity to visit several campuses that have new parking structures and I didn’t even know they were parking structures,” he said. “So we’ll be working with the architect to make sure it would blend in with the surrounding buildings.” Claussen said another possible concept would be to flip the buildings. Nader suggested a secondary function to the parking structure. “Where I went to college, on top of some of the parking structures, there were playing fields,” he said. “I like the idea of using that additional space for something that is useful to students and the community.” Nish said the location of the MSE building has already been decided. Making room is the challenge. “As soon as we get that wellness center done, we can immediately (demolish) the gym and pools and start construction of the Math, Science and Engineering complex,” she said. Claussen said he hopes to start demolition soon. “We can’t do anything with that until we blow up the existing pools and the gym,” he said. “The plan right now, if we can get it done right, (is to) start the demolition of the existing pools as early as February of 2016.”
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The Southwestern College Sun
VIEWPOINTS
September 7 - October 12, 2014, Volume 58, Issue
Editorials, Opinions and Letters to the Editor
The mission of the Southwestern College Sun is to serve its campuses and their communities by providing information, insights and stimulating discussions of news, activities and topics relevant to our readers. The staff strives to produce a newspaper that is timely, accurate, fair, interesting, visual and accessible to readers. Though the “Sun” is a student publication, staff members ascribe to the ethical and moral guidelines of professional journalists. EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
ALYSSA PAJARILLO
Anna Pryor
SENIOR STAFF
Lina Chankar Serina Duarte
NEWS
Jaime Pronoble, editor Bianca Quilantan, assistant Asjia Daniels, assistant
I
VIEWPOINTS
Kasey Thomas, editor Alyssa Pajarillo, assistant Dan Cordero, assistant
CAMPUS
Mason Masis, editor Gonzalo Quintana, assistant
John Ryu/Staff
ARTS
Gabriel Sandoval, editor Andrew Perez, assistant
SPORTS
Nicholas Baltz, editor Evan Cintron, assistant
ONLINE
Adrianna Heldiz, editor Mirella Lopez, multimedia specialist Melvin Graham, videographer
PHOTOGRAPHY
April Abarrondo, editor Rick Flores, assistant
STAFF WRITERS
Rudee Amaral
Martin Loftin
Jose-Luis Baylon
Christian Lopez
Alberto Calderon
Alan Luna
Brian del Carmen
Kim Ortiz
Jennalisa Esquivel
Andrea Piocos
Carolina Estrada
Maria Ramirez
Abraham Gertz
Ana Raymundo
Brenda Gregorio-Nieto
Nicholas Siriphone
Cesar Hirsch
David White
Joshua Liang CARTOONISTS
Gabriel Hernandez John Ryu Michelle Phillips Nicolas Briceno
PHOTOGRAPHERS
Cindy Espinoza Derrius Boyd
ADVISER
Dr. Max Branscomb
AWARDS/HONORS
Student Press Law Center
Society of Professional
National College Press
Journalists
Freedom Award, 2011
National Mark of
National Newspaper
Excellence, 2001-14
Association
First Amendment Award,
National College
2002, 2005
Newspaper of the Year, 2004-13
San Diego Press Club
Associated Collegiate Press
Excellence in Journalism
National College Newspaper
Awards 1999-2014
of the Year
Directors Award for
National Newspaper Pacemaker
Defense of Free Speech,
Award,
2012
2003-06, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012
Journalism Association of
General Excellence Awards,
Community Colleges
2001-14
Pacesetter Award 2001-14
Best of Show Awards, 2003-14
General Excellence
Columbia University
Awards, 2000-13
Scholastic Press Association
San Diego County Fair
Gold Medal for Journalism
Media Competition
Excellence, 2001-14
Best of Show 2001-03,
California Newspaper
2005-2014
Publishers Assoc.
American Scholastic Press
California College Newspaper
Association
of the Year, 2013
Community College
Student Newspaper
Newspaper of the Year
General Excellence, 2002-14
San Diego County Multicultural Heritage Award
The Issue: Dean of Student Affairs Mia McClellan is a habitual barrier to access, transparency and democratic principles.
editorial
Our Position: For the good of our college, SWC’s grudge-holding, anti-student dean must resign.
Time for Mia McClellan to Resign Here we go again. Dean Mia McClellan’s private war on the student news media rages on, and she has sucked the campus police and college president into the fray. What began as a routine grievance hearing soon escalated into another First Amendment violation by the Queen of Darkness and Shadows. Never one to pass up a chance to continue her long-running vendetta against The Sun, McClellan once again made a mountain out of a mole hill by using her own self-serving interpretation of a college rule and summoning her private army—the campus police—to block access to a meeting that should have been open. Sun staff members were informed of a grievance hearing initiated by student Hugo Rodriguez, who charged two EMT instructors with using racial slurs and threatening students with violence. Rodriguez invoked his right to an open meeting in accordance with the Student Rights And Grievances Procedure and requested, through ASO President Sayaka Ridley and in front of Dean McClellan, that reporters from The Sun attend. Two Sun reporters came to the hearing, but McClellan told them they could not attend because all parties must agree to an open hearing, citing administrative procedure 5530. Sun reporters quickly returned, armed with McClellan’s cited policy, and read from Section K of Procedure 5530, which clearly gives the student the right to request an open meeting. “Hearings shall be confidential and closed to the general public,” it reads, “and witnesses shall be present only when testifying unless the student requests an open hearing.” Did McClellan do what a competent professional should, admit her mistake and invite the reporters in? Of course not. She did what she always does, obfuscate then call the police on SWC reporters who were polite, professional and persistent. Running to her rescue were Police Chief Michael Cash—someone who hates The Sun even more than McClellan—and Sergeant Robert Sanchez. They brought along with them other officers to make sure the meeting was held behind closed doors. Given time, McClellan eventually came up with a new story. Reporters at the scene were told that policy is sometimes open to “interpretation” and there is not one definition of an “open meeting.” Uh… unless it is her definition. Once again McClellan let a small issue become a major violation of principle. Rodriguez’s grievance—though important—pales in importance next to another episode of our college administrators cherry picking their own rules and violating transparency. McClellan and the rest of the League of Shadows quickly concocted story #3—the open meeting policy only applies to witnesses of the hearing. Too bad the real college policy does not say that. In fact, Section F, Formal Hearing Order of Proceedings,
Online Comments Policy
Subsection 4, clearly reads, “Request for Open Hearing.” McClellan and Cash then sat in on the hearing that McClellan had just vehemently fought to keep private. Cash can go in, it seems, but journalists cannot. This was a conflict of interested at best and a brute intimidation tactic at worst. Especially when McClellan’s secretary told Rodriguez via email that his best option was to just stop showing up to his class. We do not presume to know whether Rodriguez’s case had merit, but we do know the dude never stood a chance. McClellan had stacked the deck by picking her own committee. McClellan is either extremely arrogant, very dumb or blinded by her hatred for The Sun. Her continued violations of the Ralph M. Brown Public Meetings Act, California Public Records Act and Federal Sunshine Act are appalling. Policy is enacted to protect students and should not be left up to whimsical interpretation. An administrator with a grudge should not be allowed to distort college rules. College President Dr. Melinda Nish continues to let McClellan get away with it, so she owns this, too. It gets worse. McClellan next tried to personally block Sun reporter Lina Chankar from registering for classes. It took college governing board intervention to prevent what could have become an enormous civil rights and First Amendment violation. Shades of 2010 when Chopra, Alioto and former police chief Brent Chartier bullied and threatened students and journalism faculty. McClellan gets away with a lot, but not that one. The McClellan Problem reaches back years. Her flaunting of college rules and high-handedness rubbed off on other ASO and Student Services employees, including the terminated Craig Moffat and the convicted Arlie Ricasa. McClellan, who hand picked Ricasa as her replacement at the ASO, has tainted a generation of employees and scores of ASO students with her “the rules don’t apply to us” antics. After the appeal, Rodriguez said McClellan threatened him, saying that if he talked to the media “there would be consequences.” This same threat was levied upon The Sun four years ago by former Superintendent Raj Chopra when student journalists were about to break the South Bay Corruption Case. We all know what happened to him. Democracy needs to be conducted in public. Our courts try people in public. Citizens can watch murder trials, rape cases and the South Bay Corruption Case in local courthouses. McClellan has clearly lost perspective. SWC is in an accreditation cycle. Nish and the gang need to remember why SWC was put on probation last time. Ten sanctions against secretive, over-reaching, dishonest administrators nearly got this college shut down. McClellan is not worth it. Nish and the board need to stop putting up with her nonsense. For the good of Southwestern College, McClellan needs to resign or be shown the door.
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t is finally a small world after all. Technology has expanded the way we communicate and who we communicate with. In the not-so-distant past, managing a long-distance relationship was nearly impossible. Moving away to college or being shipped out to war were death sentences for most relationships. Starting a relationship with someone you had never met face-to-face before was seen as flat-out crazy. Gone are the days of waiting long weeks for the postman to deliver letters between lovers. Today, long-distance lovers can keep in contact and up to date with a few taps on a screen. Long-distance relationships have evolved from far-fetched to common. It is now easier than ever to meet people online, fall in love and conduct a meaningful and healthy relationship, regardless of distance. Laptops enabled with Skype or other instant messaging and video call services are a boon to couples. Skype puts far-away lovers in the same room. Video calls sure beat the occasional letter. Video calls can open the door for dinner dates, sleepovers or some company while studying. A long-distance relationship can begin when one member of the couple moves away or two people find a connection online. Romantic connections can be found on various social media sites or through online dating services. Online dating can be rewarding, but also risky. Television’s scary show “Catfish” illustrates how easy it is for unscrupulous people to hide their true identity. Technology can reveal but also cloak. Some means of verification are lost. You only have the information a person gives you. It is important to be cautious in the online dating world. A few tips to prevent catfishers from setting the hook: 1. Meet online contacts in a public place and tell friend and family members where you will meet. Give a trusted friend or family member your date’s full name and contact information. If you are part of a dating website, include the date’s member ID. 2. After establishing a connection with a potential partner, ask to video call as soon as possible to verify that the person is the same man or woman as their profile picture. 3. Call it off if the person refuses to video call. This is a red flag. 4. Be aware of contradictions in contacts’ stories. 5. Always be vigilant for red flags. Trust your intuition. Catfishers can put a worm into the waters, but legit dates can be terrific. Because couples have limited time, the conversations tend to be more meaningful. Couples share more intimate thoughts and feelings in order to compensate for the lack of proximity and physical closeness. Time together is quality over quantity. The Journal of Communications recently found that couples in a long-distance relationship tend to have more conversations about future plans and goals than close proximity couples. While long-distance relationships have become easier to manage, they are by no means easy. While technology has helped close the gap between long distance-couples, there are still problems that couples face. Balancing school, work, time zones and an independent social are challenges technology cannot change. Keeping the relationship healthy and thriving requires a lot of time, planning and effort. Relationships suffer if partners do not dedicate the time it takes for both all parties to feel satisfied. Although the odds may seem to be stacked against couples, with enough dedication and clear communication, couples can truly have a meaningful relationship stretched over miles.
Alyssa may be reached at sexandthesun@theswcsun.com
VIEWPOINTS
The Southwestern College Sun
Sept. 7 - Oct. 12, 2014 — Vol. 58, Issue 1
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Political correctness should go By Kasey Thomas A Perspective
Political correctness—the dark art of avoiding any possibility of offending anyone—has transformed America from a land of free thinkers into a society of eggshell walkers. Meaning, like Alice, goes down the rabbit hole. “Say what you mean,” said the March Hare. “I do,” said Alice. “At least I mean what I say, that’s the same thing, you know.” “Not the same thing a bit!” said the Hatter. “You might as well say that ‘I see what I eat’ is the same thing as ‘I eat what I see’!” Political correctness is eating what we see. It is the avoidance of a word, phrase or action that could remotely offend, even if it is a conversation worth having. It has transformed lively debate into a tango of tongue, where dancers try not to step on their each other’s toes. Americans need to be more direct in conversation and speak meaningfully. Avoiding offense often avoids meaning. Conversations become half-hearted, cautious and dull. Ne w ideas come only after sharp debate. Maureen Stout, author of “The Feel-Good Curriculum: The Dumbing Down Of America’s Kids In The Name Of Self Esteem,” argues that political correctness has led to “counterfeit communication.” “It is also a clear indication of the value we put on truth in contemporary society,” she wrote. “Being politically correct involves either outright lying or euphemisms to describe people or events in an attempt to avoid controversy, discussion or any kind of authentic communication.” We get so caught up in sugarcoating our words that we put people into
safe little boxes. Being politically correct attaches labels to people such as rich, poor, criminal, Christian and Muslim. Sociology’s Labeling Theory concludes that once a label is assigned to a person it becomes them. Lee Bryant, director of Sixth Form Anglo-European School in Essex, England said labels can become more important than people. “Once someone has been successfully labeled as criminal or deviant,” he wrote, “the label attached may become the dominant label or ‘master status’ which is seen as more important than all the other aspects of the person.” It also sends the wrong message to children. A child may be deceived into thinking that their abilities far exceed what they actually do in order to spare the child’s
feelings and self esteem. This happens most often when children are passed onto the next grade when they are not ready for it academically or socially. Children are told as they grow up that “honesty is the best policy,” but they are also told, “if you do not have anything nice to say, do not say anything at all.” Political correctness insinuates that there is “right and wrong speech.” Curse words, for example, are incorrect speech, while flattery, is considered correct speech. By focusing on what is acceptable in present company, people self-limit. Americans are too often blindly agreeing that certain words are acceptable in conversation. In 2011 Alan Gribben, an Auburn University English Professor, censored a piece of classic American Literature. Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” was “sanitized” to include the word “slave” in place of the word “nigger,” which appears 219 times. Because the word is offensive, Gribben felt the need to change Tw a i n’s w o r d s . T h i s in turn, sanitized his student’s perspective of history and avoided a meaningful discussion of slavery, racism and the evolving role of African-Americans in our society. A learning moment was lost due to political correctness. Americans should be honest instead of trying not to offend someone. Sometimes it is better to be politically incorrect and just be honest.
Letter to the Editor President defends Qatar program Regarding June 9, 2014 Viewpoint article regarding Southwestern College’s relationship with Qatar. I would like to provide information that will correct some factual errors in the article and offer my perspective. First, I must state that this agreement was not made in secret. The Qatar International Program was posted on the Governing Board’s public agenda four different times. There was considerable open, public discussion of this program during the Board meetings, in particular when the agreement was being negotiated and then approved by the trustees in December. A second issue is one of information omission. Students accepted into the Qatar program are employees of the Qatari Coast Guard, which currently does not include women. Allowing women to serve in the
military is still relatively new, even in the United States. It wasn’t until 1979 that women were allowed to enlist in the US military and it wasn’t until January, 2013 that the ban was lifted to allow women to serve in combat roles. This program recruits from a military branch that currently doesn’t include females. A third issue is the perception the college entered into this program because of the potential income to Southwestern College. While revenue generation is possible via non-resident fees and tuition, Southwestern College is a nonprofit, publicly funded institution and we do not intend to generate a financial profit. The cost of instruction and support services to the Qatari students are paid fully by the Embassy of the State of Qatar. The services and fees
are transparently outlined in the master agreement for this program posted on the December 11, 2013 Governing Board agenda. The purpose of the program is to enrich the education of international students and our students. The student-to-student opportunities t o a p p re c i a t e t h e d i f f e re n c e s among cultures and gain a deeper understanding of the values and perspectives of other people can’t be found on Wikipedia or in today’s headlines. I would respectfully ask that we not project the differences of one government’s foreign policy onto a group of students pursuing higher educational opportunities. To me, this is unfair and does not embrace the diversity we treasure on campus. -Dr. Melinda Nish Superintendent/President
Michelle Phillips/Staff
Study abroad programs opens new global vistas By Andrew Perez A Perspective
Savoring a macaroon in Paris, scaling the Great Wall of China and drifting in a gondola in the heart of Venice seem like distant and unattainable experiences to college students working for textbook money at the corner taco shop. No more. Southwestern College is part of a growing vanguard of high education institutions encouraging their students to study abroad. Too many, however, are hesitant to take the opportunity. Study abroad programs encourage a worldview and expand our awareness. Traveling American students gain firsthand experience of other cultures. We get the chance to peek into the daily lives of different peoples in a meaningful way. This summer I joined 14 other Southwestern students for a month in Paris. Offered in partnership with the American Institute For Foreign Study (AIFS), the program started on the SWC campus three weeks prior to our departure. Students enrolled in French 101, 102 and 295 were given a crash course to help us prepare for the culture shock that awaited us. From June 27 to July 25 we were in the grips of Paris, mesmerized by the dazzling colors of the Eiffel Tower and chilled by the brisk, emerald waters of the River Seine. Language barriers were the most difficult obstacles to overcome, but thanks to our three weeks of intensive French, navigating through the narrow rues was, while not painless, at least easier. While it may be less expensive to learn a language through an audio CD, there is nothing like actually speaking it while immersed in its homeland. French came in handy when I suddenly fell ill. While many Parisians speak English, it seemed that everyone we ran into only spoke French. With the aid of one of my roommates, Brendan Lee, I managed to find my way to the Hôpital Américain de Paris. The only English words the taxi driver knew were “hello,” “goodbye” and “see ya later.” In the end it was not a phrase book that saved my life, but the French I had learned the previous week. We explained to the driver that I was sick and needed help. He happily obliged, complimenting us on our broken yet understandable French. Traveling American students also gain first-hand experience of other cultures. Fellow traveler Lorna Meda agreed. “These programs are essential because anyone can just be a tourist and see the sights, but in a study abroad you become
a member of that country,” she said. It was a chance to walk a mile (or a kilometer) in their shoes. During our trip we lived with a homestay family. My stay-home host Madame Soudan, a middle-aged retire, liked to stay out of our business. She was a pleasant converser and provided my roommates and I with breakfast every day before school. SWC student Angelina Gallego said her visit caused her to rethink her concept of Parisians. “I always thought of French people as rude,” she said, “but after a month of living with my home stay, I learned that this just isn’t true.” These programs also challenge unsubstantiated perceptions of the world. Different cultures have divergent views on religion, economics and values. Even a polite American custom could be considered offensive elsewhere. For example, here in America we like to believe that we are special, and thus we have created an imaginary construct called “personal space.” Folks who invade that space are intruding on our privacy and may be considered pushy. In France there is no such thing as “personal space” and I had to quickly get over the fact that a strange man is talking about football three inches from my nose. New experiences forces students to re-examine their beliefs and world view. This builds greater tolerance and cultural literacy as we come face to face with their own cultural biases. Money, unfortunately, can be a barrier. Our excursion cost $4,390 for airfare, housing with a homestay family, transportation and insurance, not including food, textbooks and classes. Financial and scholarships are available. Students who plan ahead and save can do it. Coordinated by SWC Professor Dr. Carla Kirkwood and Doug Chamberlain and Sally Cascoigne of AIFS, the program was very well put together. Aside from studying and attending classes, there were several guided tours that provided an indepth look at Paris. From walking in the steps of Hemmingway and Orwell through the Quartier Latin to hobnobbing it with le bourgeoisie at Marie Antoinette’s former abode, The Palace of Versailles to having a scenic boat ride on the River Seine at noon, we were given a crash course on Paris culture that may have otherwise slipped us by. Study abroad opportunities are worth the cost. Memories and experiences gained from living in a different culture is an investment in yourself. Pack your bags, you are worth it.
Southwestern College has a new $45 million stadium. How will this effect your attendance at college athletic events?
Lisa Trimm, 20, Fine Arts “I do not go to athletic events so it is not something that I am really concerned about.”
Sayaka Ridley, 19, English “I definitely think it will increase the amount of people that go to the football games and ASO will have their mascot out there.”
Richard Hernandez, 25, Culinary Arts “I am more excited to go to events because I was on the football team, but we didn’t have a stadium. I am not on the team anymore but I am still rooting for them.”
Patricia Torres, Library Support Services Supervisor “I would go now because it is new and curiosity. And I would like to see the classrooms, I hear the classrooms are beautiful.”
Glenn Aluague, 20, Undecided “I would be interested in going. The field looks much better now that it’s new.”
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The Southwestern College Sun
CAMPUS
September 7 - October 12, 2014 — Volume 58, Issue 1
We will always have Paris
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the face. Rain came down in torrents and wind shook the trees to their foundations. This was not going to be a San Diego summer, but that was okay. This was Paris. Cold, smoky and desolate. Not at all the quaint “City of Love” depicted in the golden age of Hollywood, at least not yet. First impressions, though, do not always hold. Paris is, indeed, for lovers, and if you are not in love when you arrive you will be when you leave. I was one of the 14 students sent to Paris as part of Southwestern College’s Summer 2014 Study Abroad Program. For one month we were immersed in the culture, history and people of one of the world’s most famous metropolises. Aside from the relentless rain that followed us around like an oppressive mother, Paris and its people were kind to us étrangers. Parisian alleyways, while narrow and confined, opened themselves to me, revealing hidden secrets, history and culture. Metro stations were bite-sized hubs of mobile culture and musicianship. Guitarists, violinists, singers and wanna-be rappers hopped on and off the trains, busking for spare euros in exchange for their chansons. An aging blonde hippie, with hair down to his waist, strummed a beautiful rendition of John Lennon’s “Imagine” on his tiny blue and red ukulele. An accordionist polkaed his way through French national songs that had everyone on the train stomping and clapping. French culture f lourishes in the district of Montmartre, located in the 18th arrondissement (district). Built on a steep incline, Montmartre is the bleeding heart of Paris. This is where artists silently draw caricatures or paint beautiful vistas, writers furiously scribble their elegant or angry missives into notebooks, and philosophers leisurely probe the tenuous
please see France pg. A8
an Lu n
(PARIS)— When I stepped off the plane at the Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris, I was expecting a warm European summer welcome. Instead, I got a cold, wet slap to
meaning of life over a cup of coffee at a local café. Just a couple of blocks further is Pigalle, home to the world famous Moulin Rouge cabaret theatre and the red light district of Paris. Aside from godes, smut and expensive lap dances, Pigalle is a hub of swindlers and con artists, ready to snatch money from gullible tourists. Scraggly strip club owners lurk outside their establishments, their see-through wife-beaters stained with grease, sweat and desperation. Like low-rent carnival barkers, they entice young, horny tourists with promises of exotic dancers and a five euro student discount on alcohol. While these hucksters don’t do anything to help the image of the French, the standard Franco stereotype alive in America is far from the truth. Americans too often paint Frenchmen as rude, pretentious, chainsmoking wearers of striped shirts and berets. During my stay I only encountered a handful of grumpy grossier Francos. Most of the citizens were kind, patient and willing to help me with my nascent French when I jumbled my words. None wore striped shirts fit for a mime. French people are fascinated by Californians. If you ever find yourself in Paris with no money and little French, just mention the Golden State and you will find yourself with a free cup of café and new friends enamored with our beaches and the wonders of California burritos. Scattered along the River Seine are little vendors, lovingly named “Les Bouquinistas.” These quaint merchants sell posters, old antiquarian books and more. Prices are reasonable. As a lover of books, I found myself spending all my money at these moveable feasts. While the rest of Paris is hustle and bustle, time has no Al
Story Andrew Perez Assistant Arts Editor
Southwestern Undocumented students step forward remembers co-founder By Brenda Gregorio-Nieto Staff Writer
Dr. Gordon Browning 1920-2014 By Gonzalo Quintana Assistant Campus Editor
Many dream of changing the world. Few do. Dr. Gordon Browning did. Chula Vista said its final farewell to Browning this summer. His lifespan of 94 years was enough to make his community better. Browning, a dentist, served on please see Browning pg. A8
Even though they walk through the same brilliantly sun-lit halls as every other Southwestern College student, hundreds of young scholars live in a perpetual shadow. Every day could be their last in America. Most of SWC’s undocumented students were brought to the U.S.A as young children by their parents. Many have no memory of Mexico and are as American as an Idaho farm boy or an Oklahoma homecoming queen. Some of SWC’s AB540 students were homecoming queens themselves, as well as football stars, stellar performing artists and debate champions. Some are even valedictorians. Growing up undocumented, these students were often told to hide an important part of who they are. Wendy Plata, 26, has been in the United States since 1990. When she was younger she felt she could conquer the world, she said. As she grew up, however, barriers grew up around her. Rick Flores/Staff “When I was very little there were no A WELL-DOCUMENTED SUCCESS—Alejandra Garcia graduated from SWC in 2014. limits to what I could do,” she said. “The She has transfered to San Diego State University to earn a fouryear degree. restrictions of being undocumented were becoming more apparent when all of deported, including students snatched when you are always looking over your my friends started getting their driver’s right off the SWC campus. Norma shoulder.” licenses. That is where I began to feel Cazares, head of the SWC Transfer Center, Plata said she feared she would never excluded from normal things teenagers said that without overcoming this fear reach her higher education dreams. did.” undocumented students are not able to “College was not looking like a Many like Plata are often told to lie to transfer to a four-year institution. possibility anymore,” she said. “I became their closest friends and acquaintances “They need to be more empowered please see Undocumented pg. A8 for fear of deportation. Some have been and feel safe,” she said. “You can’t learn
Jose Luis Baylon
Music muses make magic in the mind
Music calms the savage breast. Why? From classic pianists to classic rock, our bodies interpret music in different ways. Aisthētikos is a Greek word that means relating to perception by the senses. This definition changed in the 18th century when the word was moved to mean “concerned with beauty.” Today aesthetics is a philosophical idea. It asks, why do humans love beauty? Music is incredibly aesthetic and old philosophers knew it was something special. They felt music in their heart and soul. Contemporary philosophers have continued to ask why. The answer may be more complicated than philosophy. When you hear music, sounds move through the air like waves of fabric in the wind. This is a quantum phenomenon. Space that is occupying the music through the air is packed with information. Air around you acts just like the surface of water. When it is undisturbed, water does not move. It is transparent. If disturbed, vibrations show up as waves. Anytime you play an instrument such a guitar, those strings disturb the equilibrium of the surrounding electromagnetic field, which in this case is the space surrounding you. Vibrations themselves are interacting with the atoms inside your ear. Whatever the beat, these waves penetrate the cochlea nerve inside the ear and scatter the auditory messages throughout your brain. Scattering is very important because it operates different and unique areas of the brain depending on mood. When one area gets activated, depending on how exciting something is, the brain chooses how much attention it needs to give by influencing serotonin and dopamine levels. This is why people get goosebumps when they hear a song they love. It is also why people become thoughtful when the “right song” comes to their attention. The brain uses a reward system to let some of your neurological functions benefit from the beat and cadence of music. It is a clever way to please both body and the human mind living in it. On one side, you enjoy what you are listening to. On the other, your brain gains assistance in helping deliver a boost, a thought, a change, a mode or a mood. This is because your brain is always looking for information that can be personalized for you. It is why a person’s heartbeat rises when they listen to epic music and they immediately began fantasizing about being an action hero. Music can be used to unify people. Sounds are catalysts for certain feelings. It is not uncommon for military organizations to play heroic martial music to help form a stoic soldiering mind. Boot camps have been known to play movie soundtracks on loud speakers while new recruits run on their exercise drills. The idea is that the combination of heroic music and the dynamic training helps place the recruit in control of their own inner hero which actually helps the new recruits push themselves forward. Music is nothing more than arranged notes sounding off vibrations. Yet when people get synchronized with music, it influences behaviors in the body and mind. Each individual knows which songs they run to for shelter. We know which ones motivate us. We know which ones do not work for us at all. We have a physical niche for music. Like musicians have always said, music moves you. Jose Luis may be reached at plutotoplato@theswcsun.com
Mason Masis, editor
Tel: (619) 482-6368 E-mail: campus@theswcsun.com
CAMPUS
Sept. 7 - Oct. 12, 2014 — Vol. 58, Issue 1
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Photos by Rick Flores
TOP HAT, TOP ACT— (clockwise from top l) Classic car owners display their vehicles at Bonitafest ‘14 at Bonita Vista High School. Sweetwater Community Church Pastor Marc LaPointe dressed up as Bonitafest Melodrama villain Cadwell Von Fowl and rode a horse in the Bonitafest Twilight Trail Parade. Members of In Motion Dance Company showcase excerpts from the musical “Chicago” on the Bonitafest Performing Arts Stage.
Community members rally to save a South County tradition By Mason Masis Campus Editor
“Bonitafest lives!” These powerful words echoed across Otay Lakes Road at the opening of this year’s street fair, signaling to all who passed by that the people had spoken. Bonitafest is alive. Bonitafest is here to stay. In the wake of a Bonita Business and Professional Association (BBPA) vote to permanently disband this May, most thought the 41-year-old festival was good as gone. Hard work and dedication ultimately overtook dismay and like a phoenix, a new festival rose from the BBPA’s ashes. Bertha Lopez, Bonitafest’s community outreach coordinator, said that six weeks before this year’s Bonitafest it had only two vendors. Co-chair Linda Berke said on Sept. 13 there were 100 vendors serving the 5,000 festivalgoers. Berke was entertainment chairperson for Bonitafest for the last 12 years. She said when the BBPA resolved to fold she instantly grabbed the reigns and steered the revitalization horse to water. “I’m really glad we were able to pull this off in such a short amount of time,” she said. “Hopefully (Bonita Vista High School) will let us do it again next year.” Berke said the venders were more successful this year than at recent Bonitafests. Nick Aguilar, Bonitafest ’14 Grand Marshal, said this year’s location restored a homegrown feeling. “Bonita Vista High School and Bonita Vista Middle School have been the schools for the Bonita community,” he said. “It’s really good to have the high school connected to Bonitafest.” Berke said Bonita Vista High was the perfect spot to host Bonitafest because it did not require any street closures, had adequate parking and the high school is generally seen as the cornerstone of the community. “When I first (said) let’s do it at the high school I got a lot of flak because it was in Chula Vista,” she said. All complaints were quickly squashed, Berke said, because BVHS is a hub in this area. “It’s because of the music department, it’s because of the football,” she said. “The school does great things. It really is our touchstone.” Bonitafest 2014 Historian Mary Oswell said she journeyed 850 miles, all the way from Colorado, to help play a part in the rebirth of Bonitafest. She attended the first Bonitafest in 1973 as a Girl Scout, she said, and the retooled celebration had the same feeling it did all those years ago. “The only reason it’s going on this year is because some really dedicated people jumped in and made it happen, and that’s exactly what happened in those early years,” she said. “It was a really nice core of people who believed in it and got it going.” Aguilar said he was proud to ceremoniously lead the first
redesigned Bonitafest Parade and that he hoped for many more. “I’ve never been a grand marshal,” he said. “The highest rank I’ve ever had has been school board member, so this is really fantastic.” This year’s Bonitafest kicked off on Sept. 12 with the inaugural Bonitafest Twilight Trail Parade around Rohr Park and the Chula Vista Golf Course. VIPs rode in golf carts provided by the Chula Vista Public Works Department, Parks Division. They led a congregation of bicyclists, horseback riders and walkers. As night fell, participants took out glow sticks and other florescence, transforming the parade into a twinkling twilight vigil honoring the reborn tradition. Aguilar said he liked the quaint parade and hoped to get the high school involved next year. “I’m hoping we can continue this tradition and next year have the Bonita Vista High School’s pep band and banner to lead off the parade,” he said. Bonita Valley Horsemen President Diane Carter proposed the concept of a twilight parade. She said her organization was going to ride around the park in a silent protest for the Bonita parade, but while attending a Bonitafest meeting she thought, why not invite everyone? Carter said the parade was a success. “Everyone had glow sticks and little flashlights to lead the way, to let people know that we love Bonitafest and we love the idea of the Bonita Parade,” she said. “We didn’t know how many we would get, and we didn’t know if we’d get a lot of horses even, but we got a lot of horses. We had people coming from as far as Ramona to come and participate.” Carter said the trail, which gives walkers a tour of commercial, residential and rural areas of Bonita, is a quintessential piece of the town. “That trail that goes around Chula Vista Golf Course and Rohr Park is an iconic part of Bonita,” she said. “So the idea of having it there was maybe even more special than having it on the street.” Chula Vista Council Member Patricia Aguilar, who rode next to her husband Nick in a golf cart during the parade, said it was funny that her husband was chosen to be grand marshal in a reborn Bonitafest when she is currently attempting to revitalize the Starlight Parade in Chula Vista. Chula Vista Mayor Cheryl Cox, who rode in a golf cart with her husband, County Supervisor Greg Cox, said she thinks sometimes its necessary for the old to make way for the new. “You know, things change,” she said. “The first feelings are disappointment, because it’s something that has been done for such a long time, but you recognize that some traditions fade away and some new ones come in. Look at the revival of this, which is so different from the Bonitafest parade as we knew it, but there’s a lot of people having a good time.” Berke said Bonitafest suffered from dwindling attendance because of parking issues and the BBPA’s failure to change
the date after area schools switched to a year-round schedule. These reasons, compounded by soaring costs, spelled doom, she said. Berke said this year’s Bonitafest was carefully (albeit quickly) built on a foundation of grants and sponsorships. All proceeds from vendor rental fees will be donated to the Bonita Vista vocal music department. Supervisor Cox said the BBPA’s choice to dissolve sent tremors that radiated beyond Bonita well into the surrounding areas and the inaugural Twilight Trail Parade was a valiant return of an honored tradition. “It’s on a different scale, a little bit different flavor, a little more low key, but I think it’s still community grown,” he said. “It’s a good community event and a heck of a lot cheaper.” Mayor Cox said the new location was fitting since the 37-year-old Bonitafest Melodrama used to call Bonita Vista’s Bolles Theater its home. Melodrama organizers said it has been financially independent of the BBPA for years and was not directly affected by its disintegration. Melodrama leaders and actors, nonetheless, supported the renewed Bonitafest movement with an unquestionable fervor. Sweetwater Community Church Pastor Marc LaPointe, who plays villain Cadwell Von Fowl in the Melodrama, rode a horse in the Twilight Trail Parade in full regalia. LaPointe said the BBPA had been having trouble with Bonitafest for a while. “I thought it was sad,” he said. “I had been on the BPBA. I understand it was really hard for them to get volunteers and they were tired.” LaPointe said he was hopeful for the future. “People are excited,” he said. “It has more of a community feel than it has had in a long time.” Lopez said though the parade did not have the pomp and circumstance associated with Bonitafest, it was still Bonita’s parade. “It was a very small parade,” she said, “but it was a fullgrown community parade. You saw the kids walking around with their glow lights, on their bicycles with smiling faces.” Supervisor Cox, Mayor Cox and Carter all noted the efforts and sense of community between Chula Vista and Bonita. Carter said the Chula Vista Public Works Department, Parks Division, was very supportive of the Twilight Trail Parade. Mayor Cox pointed out that Rohr Park and the Chula Vista Golf Course, which the parade encircled, were both part of Chula Vista. Supervisor Cox accounted his part in receiving a lease on property owned by the City of Chula Vista to build the BonitaSunnyside Library and said recently deceased community member George Kost, who had been heavily involved with the community, summed it up the best. “He had a phrase that really outlines (this), and that is, ‘Bonita is a state of mind’.”
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Mason Masis, editor
CAMPUS
Sept. 7 - Oct. 12, 2014 — Vol. 58, Issue 1
Tel: (619) 482-6368 E-mail: campus@theswcsun.com
Photos by Andrew Perez
SECRET’S OUT — (above) Loud visitors to the Centre Pompidou get a towering shush. (below) A neon sign welcomes lonely travelers into the warm arms (or legs) of women-of-the-night in Paris’ red light district of Pigalle. (bottom) Ancient skulls stare back at gawking tourists from deep in the catacombs. (right) The Eiffel Tower casts its steely gaze onto idle Parisians along the River Seine.
France bursts with joie de vivre Continued from pg. A6
meaning along the banks of the Seine. Woody Allen got this right in his films. Snaking its way through the middle of Paris, the river has a peaceful quality that enraptures tourists and natives. Emerald green waters lapped up on the embankment where I sat, cooling my dangling legs with a fine frothy spray. Looking into the depths of the river, my imagination was set free, just as so many others had been set
Browning: Active dentist helped lead creation of college Continued from pg. A6
the Southwestern College Governing Board for 20 years, from 1969 to 1998, and helped develop the Dental Hygiene Program, which has become one of the college’s signature programs. Christine Perri, dean of the National City campus which hosts the program, credited Browning with getting dental hygiene on its feet. “ He w a s v e r y i n f l u e n t i a l a n d instrumental in beginning the program here,” she said. “If it wasn’t for him, we wouldn’t have a dental hygiene program.” Browning was raised in a Depressionera farming family. He graduated from Eastern Kentucky University and dental school at the University
of Louisville. He served in the U.S. Navy, then opened a dental practice in Chula Vista. Browning’s friends said he saw g re a t p o s s i b i l i t i e s f o r h i s n e w hometown and he played a key role in establishing Southwestern College in 1961. “Southwestern is the greatest thing to ever happen to the South Bay,” Browning used to say. Jerry May, executive secretary of the Chula Vista Rotary Club, said Browning was a great Chula Vistan. “Gordon was very sharp and he liked to talk politics,” he said. May said Browning was a member of the Rotary Club at a time when members were predominantly Republicans. “He was the only Democrat there and he was proud to point that out to people,” said May. Browning is survived by his wife Patricia, son Patrick, stepson Steve Peace and five grandchildren.
Undocumented: Students finally getting support Continued from pg. A6
discouraged about continuing higher education after high school.” About 360 undocumented SWC enrollees are classified as AB540 students, Cazares said, though thousands more may be undocumented. Since the passing of the Assembly Bill 540 in 2001 there have been many changes at SWC, she said. More undocumented students reach their goals of transferring, earning their Associate degrees or completing a certificate. Immigration Policy Center studies have concluded that less than 10 percent of undocumented community college students transfer. Cazares said Southwestern College has made it an institutional priority to help undocumented students
free before. Its waters whispered its stories to me and I sat with my notebook in hand, furiously trying to make sense of the ideas that emerged in my tingling head. Paris is a hotspot of creativity and it is contagious. In May while stateside my creative juices were dry. Writer’s block had set in and I was bashing my head against a blank paper wall in hopes of getting anything to come out. As soon as I set foot on Parisian soil, ideas were liberated like doves on a cool morning. Like churning
f lood waters, they overpowered the brick dam in my mind and carried me along. Paris is a life-changing experience. After my short month-long stay, I fell in love with the City of Lights. There exists a certain je ne sais quoi about Paris that can be found nowhere else in the world. It has the ability to mesmerize and humble in a single breath and while it may sound cheesy, I feel like I truly did leave my heart in Paris. I know one thing – I shall return for it. Save me a spot by the river.
come out of the shadows and reach for their American Dreams. Finances are another obstacle. Undocumented student Alejandra Garcia was accepted to SDSU, San Francisco State, CSU Fullerton and Long Beach State. Lack of financial aid was nearly a dream killer, she said. SWC now has 150 scholarships AB540 students can apply for. Garcia was awarded the SWC IDEAS Club Transfer Scholarship and the MANA Scholarship. “Now I’m transferring, I can see that it’s doable,” she said. “Now I’m able to get the financial aid I need to boost me up to continue at San Diego State.” California’s DREAM Act allows AB540 students who meet the requirement to apply for state financial aid, Cazares said. SWC’s Chicano-Latino Coalition also provides a $1,000 scholarship specifically for undocumented students. IDEAS provides three scholarships. Cazares said undocumented students have full access to the Transfer Center and counselors there are happy to help. “I’m very happy to say that our financial
aid office has gotten more active in giving undocumented students information about the DREAM Act,” she said. “We have a multitude of workshops and presentations and try to help them find the resources to help them pay for their education.” Cazares said the Transfer Center will also provide information about the Affordable Care Act and Differed Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), an executive order aimed to prevent deportations of qualified college students and other productive, law-abiding undocumented people living in the U.S. She said she would like to provide more presentations to help inform undocumented students and their families. Plata said that Cazares is a huge help to undocumented students. “She is someone who is so passionate and so smart and is interested in helping out students like us,” said Plata. “I have gained a lot of respect for Southwestern College. It has been a tremendous help in my transferring and I will be transferring next year thanks to all the tools Southwestern has provided me.”
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The Southwestern College Sun
Oct. 13 - Nov. 7, 2014 Volume 58, Issue 2
ARTS
‘RENT’ DELIVERED > REVIEW By Cesar Hirsch Staff Writer
ent” came in on time and in full. It was quite a pay off. Southwestern College’s production o f “ R e n t ,” the dark but hopeful musical, resonated with big personalities with even bigger voices, all expertly guided through the Age of AIDS by Ruff Yeager against the backdrop of Professor Michael Buckley’s brilliant set. Countercultural icons from the underbelly of America’s bohemia came back to life on the stage like Reagan-era flashbacks. Actors Jeffrey Crofton, Ryan Dietrich, Ian Morton, Oscar Limon, Taylor Henderson, Wilford Paloma, Meg Monroe and Erika Osuna led a deep and spirited cast that shimmered in the darkness of an innovative and eclectic score. America’s “Love in the Time of AIDS” is sometimes hard to look at, but nearly impossible to ignore. Set in the fictional but symbolic
Alphabet City, N.Y., Mark (Dietrich) and Roger (Crofton) struggle to keep their loft warm as their former roommate, Benny (Limon), attempts to evict them and clear out a colony of homeless people huddled outside the building. A charismatic and fiery performance artist named Maureen (Osuna) has left Mark for an equally temperamental lawyer named Joanne (Henderson). For Roger things seem bleak as he mourns his girlfriend’s suicide and wrestles to write one last song before dying of AIDS. He meets erotic dancer Mimi Marquez (Monroe), who is instantly smitten by him. Meanwhile, Tom Collins (Morton) develops a tight bond with cross-dressing percussionist Angel Dumott (Paloma). Under a dimmed light, Crofton expressed his desire to write one last meaningful song in “One Song Glory” with impassioned sincerity and a powerful voice that carried emotional resonance. Rocking high heels, Paloma was fabulous. Dietrich and Henderson were a fiery and delicious dynamic exhibit as they danced to “Tango: Maureen.” In “Out Tonight” Monroe filled the gritty stage with a sensual energy. Her please see Rent pg. A10
LAST TANGO—Ryan Dietrich and Taylor Henderson dance the tango during the SWC producton of “Rent.” Their dance was a sign of frustration towards another character in the production.
Rick Flores/Staff
Exhibition remembers how SWC arts faculty sparked a revolution By Gabriel Sandoval Arts Editor
For a brief, shining moment in the early 1960s, nascent and tiny Southwestern College was the focal point of a flourishing art scene that would eventually be felt around the world and produce a global superstar. In the 1960s, though, nobody but the artists seemed to think that was a good thing. Administrators, faculty and community members often expressed outrage. Complaints were rampant. Controversies were inevitable. Today, memories of those turbulent times are gone but not quite forgotten. Oceanside’s Museum of Art has given aficionados an opportunity to finally appreciate these rebels with its exhibition, “Spitting in the Wind: Art From the End of the Line.” It features former SWC art instructors Bob Matheny, John Baldessari and Russell Baldwin, as well as local artist Richard Allen Morris. Matheny and Baldwin became regional art names, Morris an international star, Baldessari a global phenomenon – which he remains to this day. Curator Dave Hampton said the quartet produced artwork that fueled the major contemporary art of the 1960s and shaped today’s San Diego art community. Hampton said his motivation to curate the exhibition grew out of his friendships with Matheny, Morris and Photos By April Abarrondo Baldwin. He said learning about the artists created a picture of a complicated and compelling scene. “Their stories were really fascinating. I felt like I had never heard any of this,” he said. “People weren’t talking about this really interesting history.” In late 1950s the creative lives of these artists overlapped. They were regularly exhibited at the same galleries, together and in one-person shows. They formed friendships and taught at the same institutions. From 1965-66 each was profiled in San Diego and Point Magazine and had a solo exhibition at the La Jolla Museum of Art (now the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego). Matheny was hired to teach art at SWC in 1961. Later that year he established the Art Gallery at Chula Vista High School when SWC still shared its facilities. In 1964 he helped an architect design SWC’s gallery. “I asked for certain things,” he said. “Moveable walls, electrical outlets on the floor and that ceiling, where you can move panels around. Then I made sure there was a storeroom, a place to store art in the back of the gallery, in the same building.” Matheny was gallery director for more than 15 years, taught at SWC for 30 and built SWC’s art collection. Baldessari taught at SWC from 1966-68, was the first to be shown at the gallery and went on to become a reluctant, world-famous art superstar. “We had the liberty of putting on events that we thought would be fun for everybody,” he said. Baldwin and Morris were also shown at the SWC gallery in its formative years. Baldwin taught at SWC for one semester in the spring of 1965 before moving to Palomar College, where he established its art gallery Gabriel Sandoval/Staff and collection. He said in interviews he had hoped to SPITTING IN THE WIND— (top left) Richard Allen Morris’ “Self-Portrait.”(top parallel in North County what Matheny had done at please see Spitting pg. A11
right) “Untitled (Soft Ruler)” by Russell Baldwin. (above) Three pieces by Bob Matheny.
Bianca Quilantan/Staff
FLIGHT OF FANCY — (above) Mueller’s painting “Cockpit” in his exhibition “The Forgetting Factor.”(below) “Bucky,” a waxed geodesic dome.
Art inspired by math adds up to great exhibit By Gabriel Sandoval Arts Editor
For some people math inspires fear, sweaty palms and mind-numbing headaches. For others it inspires art. Math adds up for Nicholas “Nikko” Mueller, a Southwestern College assistant professor of art. Mueller’s latest exhibition, “The Forgetting Factor,” at the SWC Art Gallery, features 27 examples of his immensely elaborate and extremely logical art. One such piece is “Bucky,” a mesmerizing geodesic dome named after Buckminster Fuller, a 20th century visionary. Standing 8 feet tall with a circumference of about 50 feet, the massive dome is made from steel tubing, cheesecloth, string and melted wax. “I wanted this very rational, very futuristic space to get disrupted by something that was very different from that,” Mueller said. That disruption happened to be a human touch, a sense of time and weathering, he said. Several years ago while studying abroad in Rome, Mueller said he saw altars and shrines that were covered by ages of
layered wax. That sensibility, he said, was what he wanted for “Bucky.” Mueller and seven assistants, which included former and current SWC students, Professor of Art Marisol Rendon and her husband, Ingram Ober, assembled the dome and coated it with boiling wax over a period of four days. Mueller said the process was maddening. “I had to go in there with a blow torch,” he said. The wax was set ablaze to create the effect he wanted, Mueller said. It dripped on his face and hair. He later admitted that it hurt, but not terribly. “Fire is an amazing thing,” he said. “It’s both beautiful and intimidating, so it was an please see Mueller pg. A11
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The Southwestern College Sun
Oct. 13 - Nov. 7, 2014 Volume 58, Issue 2
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Jazz café delightfully rich, thoroughly entertaining > REVIEW By Rick Flores Assistant Photo Editor
Jazz Café is a showcase and fund raiser for the Vocal Jazz Ensemble’s trip to the Reno Jazz Festival. Folks in Nevada better watch out, these people can sing. Director Tracy Burklund-Becker opened the evening singing “Autumn Serenade” by Peter DeRose and was a tough act to follow. Staff Accompanist David Castel de Oro blistered a tenor sax solo during the song’s instrumental section that set the piece on fire. They set the bar really high for the rest of the performers, but most of them soared over it. Ehryk Jimenez’ peppy performance of Van Morrison’s “Moondance” played well against the slow and bluesy song that came before it. His voice took flight and a scat solo gave a lively jump to the concert. This roaring concert had a few stumbles, but was mostly sublime. Laura Carter’s performance of “Midnight Sun” by Lionel Hampton was less than satisfactory. She lacked a little air support and struggled to keep her intonation at times. Another bump in the road was Mae Enginco’s performance of “Tell Me More” by Billie Holiday. Enginco’s singing was airy and needed more air support. Her stage presence was also lacking. Jon-Anthoni Nieves rendition of Too Darn Hot” by Cole Porter gave the concert a jolt. His impressive vocals and charismatic stage presence drew the audience into his performance. He was a true showman, even removing his hat and jacket and tossing them in the audience. After many strong solo acts, the full ensemble came on and cooled things down with “Cry Me a River” by Arthur Hamilton. Keanu Hill’s solo of the opening verse brought a new and distinct tonality yet to be experienced in the concert. Once the tempo picked up, the entire group really got into the song’s groove and lifted the audience. Camila Halm delivered a phenomenal solo with the rest of the ensemble supporting her. As the night came to a close, BurklundBecker stirred a holiday favorite into the mix. With a lively Latin feel, the Jazz Vocal Ensemble delivered a spectacular rendition of “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” by Frank Loesser. Audience members were dragged into the
Photos by April Abarrondo
THEIR WAY – (above) Michelle Kaufman revives Frank Sinatra’s “September in the Rain.” (right) Keanu Hill and William Robinson perform a Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. standard.
holidays a little early but did not seem to mind. Ensemble members were full of jolly good cheer. With the vocals being very close to the original chart, the ensemble gave an original and lively song to enjoy as the night came to a close. SWC Jazz Vocal Ensemble had a terrific showcase and look to be in great shape for jazz festivals next semester. Reno, beware, Southwestern College is bringing some thunder.
Painting with words (and paint)
MIDDLE EASTERN DELIGHT— Louis Valenzuela jams on the oud during Dornob’s performance at SWC. Dornob played its Persian fusion style of music to a packed house and featured SWC Hall of Fame alumna Stacey Barnett.
By Andrew Perez Assistant Arts Editor
Emma Lee Whitworth lives a dual life. By day she is a soft-spoken adjunct instructor at SWC, teaching her students the wonders of proper English diction and rhetoric. By night she is a creator of exotic worlds, a painter turning blank canvases to richly-colored wonders. Fiery reds burn next to sorrowful blues, conflict finding an accommodation. While pirouetting ballerinas, basking mermaids and fuzzy creatures populate her art, the female body is WHITWORTH front and center. “I paint almost all nudes,” she said. “Nudity connotes vulnerability to me, but at the same time there is great strength in the female body. I am really interested in female agency, particularly in terms of ownership of the body.” Originally from Seattle, Whitworth made her way to San Diego County to earn her Master’s in education from SDSU in 2010. “My brother was embarking on his T.A. position as an English lecturer at Washington State University,” she said. “I helped him with some lesson plans and instantly fell in love with the prospect of teaching.” She has been an adjunct at SWC for five years and also teaches at SDSU and San Diego City College. Whitworth approaches her painting with creative resolve, yet she tends to be self-critical. “I have never thought my art was good enough,” she said, “I get frustrated every time I paint. It seems more like a psychological imperative that I paint rather than something I do for fun.” please see Whitworth pg. A10
Kasey Thomas/Staff
Persian musicians blend traditional, contemporary > REVIEW
By Evan Cintron Assistant Sport Editor
Courtesy Photo
‘ABSOLUTE EXPRESSION’ — SWC English adjunct instructor Emma Lee Whitworth explores her darkest emotions in her artwork. She prefers painting nudes.
Middle Eastern musicians could not make it out of America’s most diverse college without a slice of blue-eyed soul, a jolt of jazz and a bit of African thunder. It was a musical smoothie in SWC’s music blender and it tasted great. Dornob, a group of wizardly Middle Eastern musicians played Persian, Turkish and Arabic melodies and allowed a pair of gifted Jaguars to sit in. More fun than serious, the sextet group transformed a bland room into a musical paradise. When the first chord was struck, the room slowly slipped into a trance with the soft singing and mellow Persian instruments.
Stacey Barnett, a legendary SWC vocal music alumna and Performing Arts Hall of Famer stood out as usual, singing a sweet, soft melody like a chilly Philadelphia acapela group standing around a burning trash can on 42nd street. Barnett could probably front just about any band in the world, but fit with the Persian ensemble like an exquisite Persian tapestry on an ivory tile floor. Sweet ney flute filled the air like an ocean breeze on a hot evening. Luckily no cobras were in attendance because they would have been instantly hypnotized. Dornob showed great chemistry during “Two Lovers.” A vocal line led in the song followed one-by-one by who added their own personal voice. SWC Professor of Music Todd Caschetta lent helping hands on the drums, tambourine, suspended please see Dornob pg. A10
Sept. 7 - Oct. 12, 2014 Volume 58, Issue 1
By Cesar Hirsch Staff Writer
Jonathan Larson’s world was falling apart, plagued by drugs and disease. Under the shadow of AIDS in New York’s East Village, Larson’s musical “Rent” depicts the dark life he knew. It is a morose masterpiece. Deep in American bohemia, “Rent” gives an intimate glimpse into the lives and relationships of a group of
The Southwestern College Sun
ARTS
struggling young artists living in a New York loft. Director Ruff Yeager said the 1996 musical still carries a relevant message. “‘Rent’ speaks to a younger audience,” he said. “It deals with relevant issues like sexual identity, addiction, financial insecurities and self-expression.” Following the political indifference to AIDS epidemic of the 1980s, “Rent”
wrestles with the stigmas and struggles that followed the desperate campaigns to bring attention to a global pandemic. Larson died in his New York apartment of heart failure at the age of 35, just weeks before opening night, unable to see the impact his music had on the world. “Rent” is based on Puccini’s 1896
PREVIEW
opera “La Boheme.” Larson’s bohemian hipsters reside in 1990s New York instead of Paris’ Latin Quarter of the 1830s. Like Puccini’s dramatic, twisted opera plot, “Rent” keeps the brooding intensity and glamour of the bohemian life. Larson’s motley group includes an anarchist academic, an aspiring filmmaker, a brooding musician, an impassioned performance artist, a drag
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queen, a lesbian lawyer and a yuppie. Yeager said he has a strong cast to play the edgy ensemble. “I think the campus is going to be blown away by the array of talent that will be performing this musical,” he said. “I have immense faith in these student actors.” “Rent” r uns Oct. 22 - Nov. 2 at Mayan Hall. Tickets are $8 for students.
Serina Duarte /staff
SWC SUPERHERO— Film instructor Neil Kendricks has a power and it’s his epic storytelling ability. His current project is a documentary about comics and their effect on culture.
Capturing comics is a serious project By Gabriel Sandoval Arts Editor
Courtesy Photos
STARS OF THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE—Mariachi Garibaldi members dress in extravagant carnaval costumes during their trip to Brazil to perform at the Festival Internacional de Folclore. (below) Violinist/vocalist Noemi Zavala performs in Nova Petrópolis.
RAZILIA B N ADVENTURE By Gabriel Sandoval Arts Editor
H
igh atop Corcovado Mountain, the towering Christ the Redeemer statue gazes over Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Near its base, 2,400 feet above the teaming city, a group of Southwestern College students shivered and took selfies, surprised by the chilly air atop a tropical mountain. A ghostly white mist formed puffy, nebulous clouds that brought frothy rain from the sky. Ill-equipped students expecting the steamy weather of the World Cup huddled like puppies on a brisk morning. Brazil was not the sizzling whitesand, blue-skied picture of paradise they had imagined – it was better. SWC’s Mariachi Garibaldi was cooler than a breezy mountain top and hotter than
an Amazon rainforest during a triumphant appearance at the Festival Internacional de Folclore in Nova Petrópolis, a rural city located in the mountainous state of Rio Grande do Sul, 900 miles south of Rio de Janeiro. It was el mariachi’s first journey to South America after gracing stages in France, Korea, Russia, China, Mexico and throughout the U.S. Mariachi Director Dr. Jeff Nevin said people love the SWC banda – even in countries where mariachi is foreign as Klingon opera. “Mexicans have a reputation of being just really outgoing, just really friendly,” he said. “Everybody around the world just receives us well.” Local audiences gathered by the hundreds at the festival as musicians and dancers from around the world represented their cultures through the performing arts. Maraichi Garibaldi performed please see Mariachi pg. B2
REMEMBERING MANNIE KUGLER (1922-2014)
Renaissance man was artful master of life itself By Gabriel Sandoval Arts Editor
Chula Vista Renaissance man Mannie Kugler died recently, but not before squeezing every possible ounce of life out of his 92 years. He was many things, but the retired judge was primarily a disciplined and devoted student of life. He was also a student at Southwestern College for more than a quarter century. Kugler began attending SWC in 1987 when he was 65. He took an array of art classes before discovering that painting was his passion. He became known for his Jackson Pollack-inspired drip paintings and had several exhibitions in the student art gallery, the campus library, his church and the San Diego Art Institute’s Museum of the Living Artist in Balboa Park. Spring 2014 was his final semester.
SWC art gallery director Vallo Riberto was introduced to Kugler in the early 2000s. Riberto said they first met while Kugler was painting in the courtyard. “Passing through the courtyard, he stopped me and he asked me a question about painting, a technical question,” Riberto said. “And those questions went on for the duration of our relationship.” Riberto said Kugler was a hard-working artist, always looking for new ideas and eager to improve. There were times, though, that Kugler could be frustrated by Riberto’s suggestions. “He has this thing about purple, yellow and black,” Riberto said with a laugh. “And I just said, ‘Mannie, you’ve got to give up that purple for a while.’ He just loved using that purple.” Art instructor Sheila Moran was Kugler’s friend and please see Kugler pg. B2
Courtesy Photo
HOLDING COURT — Judge Mannie Kugler was a brilliant lawyer, judge, artist and an SWC fixture for 27 years.
It may be, as Neil Kendricks insists, the golden age of comics. And Kendricks himself is their documentarian. Four years ago Southwestern College adjunct instructor Kendricks began production on his first fulllength documentary, “Comics Are Everywhere,” a candid look into the world of comics as seen through the eyes of artists who make them. Kendricks’ film poses an elusive question: What does it take to create? After years in production, Kendricks is now asking himself that same question. His film has wavered, warping gradually from passion project to ferocious beast, savagely hindered, tinkering on the brink of completion. “It’s like trying to skin a bear with a small knife, and the bear’s still alive,” he said. “I have to wrestle the bear on a constant basis.” Despite on-going battles, Kendricks continues the film’s production with superhero bravado, expecting to move into post-production by spring of 2015. A year after that, he said, the film should be finished. “At the end of the day, it’s still something that I’m in love with,” he said. “No matter how hard it gets, I’m not willing to give up.” Kendricks, who has shot footage at Comic-Con, said his film shoots are not traditional by any means. “It’s me, a backpack and a camera,” he said. “A lot of times I’m filming by myself.” Last year Kendricks received a much-needed boost when he was awarded a $20,000 grant from the San Diego Foundation’s 2013-14 Creative Catalyst Fund. “I was overjoyed to get it,” he said. “I had gotten scholarships in film school and stuff like that, but this had particular significance because I had struggled so hard and with so little money, just money out of my pocket.” Kendricks was selected from a pool of about 100 applicants. He is sponsored by Pacific Arts Movement (PAM), a non-profit responsible for organizing the San Diego Asian Film Festival. Executive Director Lee Ann Kim said PAM staff was excited to support Kendricks and acknowledged the difficulties that San Diego filmmakers face. “There aren’t a lot of resources here,” she said. “It’s an uphill battle being a filmmaker in San Diego. Neil was very, very lucky to have gotten this kind of funding and we were very lucky to be a part of it.” Kendricks used his grant to buy a Canon C100 high-definition video please see Kendricks pg. B3
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Sept. 7 - Oct. 12, 2014 Volume 58, Issue 1
Gabriel Sandoval, editor
ARTS
Tel: (619) 482-6368 E-mail: arts@theswcsun.com
>REVIEW
April Abarrondo/staff
VOICE OF LIFE — Soloist Victor Chan soars in “Requiem.”
Mariachi: SWC ensemble cements its global reputation Continued from pg. B1
twice a day for a week straight. Violinist Jacqueline Sierra said she cherished the experience. “We had the opportunity to show the people of Brazil what mariachi is,” she said, “(We were able) to show the beauty of it.” Before traveling to Nova Petrópolis, los mariachis had a few days to explore Rio de Janeiro. On the itinerary were the famous Copacabana Beach, the Christ the Redeemer statue and Sugarloaf Mountain. City streets abound with a mosaic of local vendors enticing tourists with souvenirs and exotic native fruit. SoCal mariachis immersed themselves in the vibrant culture of another hemisphere that developed on the bottom half of the planet. Buildings painted lime, cherry and hazel lined streets like walkin flower bouquets. Food stands featured authentic lavender açaí bowls. Aromatic smoke from barbecued kebabs drifted like ghostly temptations through the crowds. Melodic Portuguese sang the songs of daily life. Rio’s Sambodrome, the artful streets designed by Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer, served Courtesy Photos as the backdrop for the luxurious MAGICA DE MEXICO — (top) San Ysidro’s Ballet Folklorico Jalisciense teamed annual carnival parade, as the with SWC’s Mariachi Garibaldi to dazzle local audiences at Festival Intermacional de mariachis entered the tropical Folclore in Nova Petropolis, Brazil. (above) Violinist Michael Smith. spotlight. Streets were lined with bleachers and packed with the memory of exuberant approached, they took a cable car Nova Petrópolis. Experienced celebrations. Mariachis donned ride to Sugarloaf Mountain as Rio travelers, the mariachis are used extravagant carnival costumes de Janeiro revealed its panoramic to transporting instruments. So it that flared with primary color. beauty in full — a powder blue was a surprise to them when their Smiles stretched ear to ear. sky dissolved into ebony as streaks airline demanded a separate plane Mariachis also combed the of grapefruit pink and sherbet ticket for the lumbering guitarrón. legendary Copacabana beach and orange lingered above the warm Guitarrón player Eunice Aparicio swam in the emerald Atlantic ocean and tropical city below. said she has traveled abroad with as locals played futbol and In the morning their plans her instrument many times and foot volley on the shore. were to take a flight southwest has always checked it on her During the golden hour as twilight to Porto Alegre and buses to flights. After a brief argument,
Kugler: Renaissance man was famous lawyer, judge and talented painter Continued from pg. B1
mentor for 15 years. She said she remembers him as a productive artist who was open to learning and had a genuine personality. “Anyone he ran into was his best friend,” Moran said. “I really miss him.” Art was a passion of Kugler’s, but over a lifetime that stretched more than nine decades, he had many. Born in Los Angeles on April 11, 1922 to Joseph and Rose Thaller Kugler, he was the youngest of four children. Fresh out of high school, he enlisted in the Army and served in World War II. He ascended to the rank of captain. After the war he attended UC Berkeley and earned a BA in political science in 1947. In 1950 he earned a law degree from Berkeley’s Hastings College of Law. Kugler moved to Chula Vista and got
right to work. He became the deputy county counsel of San Diego County in 1953 and served until 1958. From 1958 to 1961 he was the city attorney of Chula Vista and was victorious in his case against the Rohr Aircraft Corp., which was decided in the U.S. Supreme Court in 1961. Later that year he was appointed Municipal Court judge, a position he held until his retirement in 1985. Kugler was the program chairman of the Chula Vista Rotary Club on Oct. 21, 1960 when President Dwight Eisenhower attended a Rotary Club meeting on a fairway at the San Diego Country Club in Chula Vista and addressed a crowd of more than 25,000. Kruger’s granddaughter Meris Gomez said he would always laugh telling that story, the brief moment he spoke to Eisenhower. Pointing south, Gomez said, her grandfather could only think to utter a few words: “Do you know that’s Tijuana over there?” The president replied: “I do.” An ardent outdoorsman, he loved to hike,
the musicians gave in and bought the guitarrón a seat. Safely secured, the guitarrón wore a seatbelt like the rest of the passengers, but consumed no peanuts. Nova Petropólis was as different from Rio as mariachi is from hiphop. Settled by Germans in the 19th and 20th centuries, it was more European culturally, racially and meteorologically. Daytime temperatures seldom touched 60 degrees and a few mornings were frosty. Los mariachis were woefully under-dressed in their flip-flops, shorts and tanktops. Local clothing stores did brisk business selling pants, jackets and beanies to turistas Americanos. Cold air was warmed by hot music. Mariachi Garibaldi opened each festival set with “Do Brazil,” its medley of the traditional Brazilian samba, “The Girl From Ipanema” and other Latin American standards. Audiences burst into applause, overcome with joy, as they recognized the melody. Aparicio recalled how she felt as this situation played itself over and over again. “It was an overwhelming sensation of happiness,” she said. “Oh my God! We’re making these people happy!” Nevin said traveling helped to galvanize Mariachi Garibaldi. “I noticed when we started taking these trips that the performance level of the group got so much better,” he said. Often, he said, young mariachis can start to play professionally without proper training. “It’s a funny thing because they can be hired when they know 40 or 50 songs, but they’re not as good as they should be,” he said. “A really good professional mariachi knows a thousand songs.” Mariachi Garibaldi does not yet have a repertoire of 1,000 songs, but it has a reputation burnished by thousands of fans on four continents. In Brazil, Southwestern’s global ambassadors hit all the right notes.
ride bikes, mountaineer and run. He was one of the first to run across the Coronado Bridge in 1969. Kugler’s reverence for the outdoors lured him to the Sierra Club, where he volunteered for 30 years. In 1999, the club awarded him the Silver Cup, its highest honor, and then again in 2012, with a Lifetime Achievement Award. Pat Klaasen, a long-time member of Sierra Club, became friends with Kugler in the early 1980s. Klaasen learned firsthand the extent of Kugler’s love for politics. On a road trip in the early 1990s to the Canyon de Chelly National Monument in northeastern Arizona, Klaasen said Kugler brought information on more than 20 propositions on the ballot of the upcoming San Diego election. “We debated every single issue, forwards and backwards, until we were all quite sure how we were going to vote on it,” Klaasen said cackling. “I have never been so well prepared for an election.” In Kugler’s latter years he ushered
Requiem inspires the living By Andrea Piocos Staff Writer
“Requiem” had the power to raise the dead. Southwestern College’s vaunted choirs combined with special guests in a transcendental performance that rocked the audience and stirred the afterlife. SWC brought back a pair of alumni superstars to propel two versions of the Roman Catholic mass for the dead into the realms of the living and that which lies beyond. Tenor Victor Chan and soprano Charisma Miller conjured grave-splitting performances that paid homage to souls on both sides of the Veil of Life. Michelle Tolvo-Chan, Victor’s equally-talented wife, skillfully directed the combined choirs of the Southwest Singers, Foothills United Methodist Church, St. Marks Chancel and Southwestern college Choirs through Mark Hayes’ “Requiem.” Her super choir was worthy of Quincy Jones’ “We Are the World” ensemble, blending layers of talent on strong music. There were breath-taking moments. Baritone soloist Alex Vargas was a standout, his rumbling voice shaking the crumbling foundation of venerable Mayan Hall. Ah, but the best was to come. Dr. Terry Russell dusted off the SWC commission “Misa Azteca.” Film composer Joseph Julian Gonzalez’s Aztecan piece is based on the Ordinary of the Roman Catholic High Mass and verses from “Cantares Mexicanos.” “Misa Azteca” relives the glory and horror of the Aztec Empire and its destruction by the Spanish. Sung in Latin, Spanish and Nahuatl, its opening was enough to induce shivers. Western guitar and brass melded with Aztec percussion to create a 15 th century spectacle that seemed to make the theatre disappear. please see Requiem pg. B3
“Abstract Expressionism has become a passion for me. I love the feeling of painting on canvas and the process of creating. Moving the paint and allowing the image to reveal itself is my goal. When I have created a cohesive and vibrant painting, I am artistically fulfilled and excited.” - Mannie Kugler regularly at the Old Globe Theater and maintained a garden. By day he painted, at night he danced. Patti Wells was Kugler’s dance instructor. They met in 1994. She remembers how polite and intelligent he was, and also how persistent and comprehensive he was as a dancer. He could waltz, tango, swing, ballroom, jitterbug and salsa, among others forms. Wells said he was loved by many because he was a loving and caring man. “To me, he is the example for all of us to live by,” Wells said. Kugler was married to Adele Miller for
45 years. She died in 1993. Kugler is survived by a son, Drew Kugler, and daughter-in-law Lisa Kalin, daughter Jane Kugler and five grandchildren. In an exhibition at the student art gallery in the early 2000s, Moran recalled that Kugler had collaborated with SWC students on an installation. There was a card table, a chair and a paintbrush. Kugler’s contributions were two of his illustrious drip paintings, hung on the wall right behind the objects. In the forefront of it all was a sign he made. It read: “Gone Dancing.”
ARTS
The Southwestern College Sun
Sept. 7 - Oct. 12, 2014 Volume 58, Issue 1
B3
Museum mascot not always wanted, but always notable By Andrew Perez Assistant Arts Editor
A lion-duckling-caterpillar chimera greeted people with a giant brown paw at the Shoshanna Wayne Gallery in Santa Monica. Four colorful, smiley-faced creatures waved at passersby outside the Orange County Museum of Art in Newport Beach. Across America strange paper-mache and felt ambassadors are part of SWC art instructor Brian Dick’s ambitious venture, Nationwide Museum Mascot Project (NWMMP). Co-founded by Dick and his wife Christen Sperry-Garcia, NWMMP consists of the couple standing outside participating art museums in colorfully gonzo costumes, enticing curious bystanders through the doors. They are for museums what the San Diego Chicken and Philly Phanatic are for baseball. “We offered it as a free service,” Dick said. “We engage with passersby with handshakes, high fives, hugs, pro-museum sign picketing. We pass out buttons and stickers and spread the word about the museums through social media.” Sperry-Garcia said Dick started the project based on a lark. “Brian thought it would be funny to make mascots that promote museums the way they promote sports teams,” she said.
Courtesy Photo
DIPLOMATIC IMPUNITY — Brian Dick’s whimsical “museum mascots” are uninvited arts ambassadors that have appeared at many of the world’s great galleries.
Their first official gig, after a performance at the Arts on Adams festival at Adams Avenue in 2005, was for the San Diego Museum of Art in 2008. Since then they have staked out highly acclaimed museums such as Le Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Detroit and the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles. Recently the pair embarked on a tour of the art museums of Los Angeles and Latin America, titled “The LA-LA Tour.” For two months the intrepid trekkers spent the South American winter inside
smiling felt and cotton characters. They visited 13 museums, including the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Buenos Aires in Argentina and the Museo de Arte Moderno de Bogotá, Colombia. The scope of such an undertaking meant that Dick and Sperry-Garcia needed some help. Graham Husted, a former Cypress College arts student, joined them. “I was first introduced to the Nationwide Museum Mascot Project when finishing school in 2011,” he said. “Our class was assigned a project based on their work and
we had to construct our own mascots using only items we had at home.” After visiting Dick’s studio, Husted was asked to help with the LA-LA Tour, where he took photos of the spectacle and sometimes posed as a mascot. “What really appealed to me was the ability to view an onlooker’s reaction from within a piece of art,” Husted said. “It made me think: What has the Mona Lisa seen?” While the nomadic artists said their mascots have been a hit with the public, not every museum welcomed them. “Although it does operate on the level of a prank, it is more complex than that,” Dick said. “We do actually promote them. Museums like to be in control of their own branding. They believe that we challenge that.” Dick and Sperry-Garcia’s goal, they insist, is to attract those who think that museums hold nothing more than pretentious art and boring fossils. It also serves to broaden the museum’s clientele and generate more revenue. “Museums are not often accessible to everyone,” Sperry-Garcia said. Only one thing makes this unconventional married couple happier than to see a child smiling and high-fiving their creations – it is to see a child enter a museum.
Kendricks: SWC’S veteran filmmaker chronicles comics Continued from pg. B2
camera to achieve the quality he wanted for his film. He also hired film editor Cheryl Kanekar. She said it has been a smooth collaboration and expects the final product to be a pleasant surprise. “It’s not as academic or dry as one might think,” she said. “It’s enjoyable.” Subjects in “Comics Are Everywhere” include Jaime Hernandez, co-creator of the acclaimed comic book series “Love and Rockets,” and Daniel Clowes, whose graphic novel “Ghost World” inspired a film adaptation. Artists JJ Villard and Danni Shinya Luo are the film’s stars. Villard is a former DreamWorks storyboard artist whose animated web series “King Star King” debuted on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim Video in June. Luo, a gallery artist, worked for Marvel Comics on the first three issues of “X-23.” Kendricks said the filmmaking process has taught him the importance of sticking to it. “School is never out when it comes to learning how to persevere,” he said. “If you’re in the arts, you almost have to be obsessed with it. You wake in the morning and that’s what you want to do, every day.” Kendricks teaches the History of Film as Art class at SWC on Wednesdays. On Tuesdays and Thursdays he teaches the techniques in screenwriting, as well as comics and graphic narrative classes at SDSU. Former student Alex Dandino said Kendricks was nurturing and encouraged students to find their own voices. “He’s a professor that doesn’t tell you just one way to do it, (so) it kind of inspires you to do it your own way,” he said. Decades after dipping in the mainstream, comics – as Kendricks’ film suggests – are almost everywhere. “The language of comics is universal, everyone knows it even if you don’t collect comics,” he said. “Anyone can pick up a book off the street and know how to read it. Comics are our mythology. We don’t often think of ourselves being in the middle of something extraordinary, it’s only in retrospect that you realize. This is the new golden age of comics.”
Requiem: Inspiring concert showcases community talent Continued from pg. B2
Chan was born to sing this composition. His phrasing of the Aztec poetry was impressive. Miller’s Aztec woman character was somehow both powerful and delicate, flowing like a brisk autumn breeze through the audience. A spontaneous standing ovation was well deserved. Our departed ancestors seemed to join in. Vocal music – one of SWC’s five best programs – once again drew on the deep talent of this region and used our rich diversity to create beauty not possible in other parts of the world.
Cindy Espinoza/staff
NIGHT OF THE IGUANA — Laurel Dailey White’s “Iguana Vase” was the audience favorite at an outstanding Clay Club exhibit at the Student Art Gallery.
> REVIEW
Clay Club exhibit shapes up brilliantly By Jennalisa Esquivel Staff Writer
Breathtaking and eye-catching, the Clay Club’s latest exhibition in the Southwestern College Student Gallery was brilliant, leaving the rickety realm of coffee mugs and chalices to the less-inspired. Laurel Dailey White impressed with her reptilian, “Iguana Vase.” A scaly lizard hunched on an urn, its spiky scales poking prominently. Although White created the most noticed piece of the exhibit, the iguana lacked detail. Its legs and feet blended lazily into the vase. More detail was also needed for the iguana’s tail, which blended too much and gave the illusion of having two tails. Still, White’s creative piece turned an evening in the gallery into “The Night of the Iguana.” “Open Heart” by Myra Jurado was
an exposed red heart with miniature surgical tools ready to operate. It had detail and definition problems, but overall it was a devastatingly beautiful piece. Only a lover’s broken heart could seem more real. Olga Flores’ “Mug Tree” was made of synthetic material converted into a tree with bits of leaves. It had clay mugs hanging from its branches and placed on the root of the tree. Flores’ sculpture could be compared to a Christmas tree adorned with clay ornaments. Even though the sculpture was somewhat plain, it brought a little nature into the student gallery and was an absolute delight. “Gift From the Sea” by Margot Villa was a curiously-inventive take on mermaids, refreshingly devoid of the stereotypical images of the seductive sirens of the sea. The mermaid looked more fish than
human, with fins replacing its hands and scales adorning its body. This piece used calm colors on behalf of the seashore to give a serene and relaxed vibe. Julie Mosele Green’s staggering car ving “Luv Handles” was an extremely detailed half body, half tree. Sides of the stomach were actual handles, extending like arms with hands pulling at the upper thighs. On top of the piece was an opening with a small woman falling inside. It was as if the woman was drowning in her own lack of self-confidence. This piece stirred strong emotions. In a beautiful exhibition, the Clay Club’s elaborate pieces spoke without words. Each piece intended to tell a story and did so with the remarkable transformation of clay to lively objects. Their creative personalities hummed with energy and beauty.
Anna Pryor/Staff
ON THE FLY — Julianne Sobjana yells Korean-gibberish into Amanda Guerrero’s pelvis as the duo improvise a dance routine.
>REVIEW
Improv team uneven but promising By Mason Masis Campus Editor
Underground Improv, Southwestern College’s masters of winging it, flew into the wall during its fall 2014 debut show. Normally witty, edgy and funny, the troupe limped across broken shards of improvisation doctrine and left the audience awkwardly silent nearly as much as it had them laughing. Underground’s rendition of the “Mormon Tabernacle Choir” began with members Auster Cruz and Braulio Fernandez discussing their plans for world peace. Their quest, however, was DOA as Fernandez monotonously asked Cruz question after question, turning a potentially-wonderful scene into a diabolical game of 20 Questions. Veteran improver Amanda Guerrero salvaged the scene with the night’s first laughs. Guerrero and Julianna Sobejana shone in “Half Life,” an improv that begins like a standard scene, but the time available to complete it is halved exponentially. Sobejana and Guerrero’s drama about two teens dealing with acne and a dead end job at McDonald’s was identifiable and hilarious, especially when they were forced to complete it in four seconds. They continued to impress along with poetic narrators Luiz Torres and John Lopez who translated a foreign language scene between Sobejana and Guerrero in rhyming couplets. This tragedy of two Koreans’ love of dance had the audience roaring with laughter. Cruz, Guerrero and Lopez fumbled through “Actor’s Nightmare” – a scene where one actor reads a scripted part, in this case from “The Dining Room” by A. R. Gurney, and the other actors improv around it. Guerrero’s choice to act the scene out as a dog stole many laughs and left Lopez alone to take on all the challenge of the scene. This led to an uncomfortable performance. Underground’s serious scene was no better. Cruz and Guerrero played a couple dealing with marital infidelity as a third party member gave them funny personality quirks to further complicate the situation. Though these idiosyncrasies were genuinely hilarious, the dialog driven by sarcasm ruined the flow. Guerrero lost the audience with long, padded monologues. Blocking, when one actor says “no” to another, was rampant throughout the whole show. Fernandez’s redemption came at the beginning of the second act. In a scene called “CSI Chula Vista,” Lopez interrogated Fernandez as Torres pantomimed a crime and its details for Fernandez to tell officer Lopez. Fernandez and his accomplice Torres worked perfectly in sync, until the location of the crime came into question. For more than 10 minutes Torres worked tirelessly to get Fernandez to say “wiener schnitzel,” going above and beyond the call of duty and into XXX pantomiming. It was funny and in perfect form. Underground gave the audience excellent variety and an education on nuance in each scene. This likely created new improv enthusiasts in the audience who went home and tried out some sketches with family and friends. Though blunderous, Underground Improv’s opening night showed promise as well as the courage to take risks on stage, something less than one percent of all Americans would even remotely consider trying. One thing is certain, their next show will be different.
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The Southwestern College Sun
September 7, - October 12, 2014—Volume 58, Issue 1
SPORTS
Not your
Joe
average
Cindy Espinoza/Staff
ADIOS! — Sophomore forward Jenny Rodriguez whips past a Grossmont College defender. SWC won 7-1.
Lady Jags even hotter than turf, scald Grossmont By Gonzalo Quintana Assistant Campus Editor
Tom Hanks had to remind the ladies of the Rockford Peaches that there was no crying in baseball. Southwestern College’s women’s soccer team needs no such reminder, despite a 4-2 loss in the first sporting event ever played in the newly-remodeled DeVore Stadium. Unlike professionals who complain at every opportunity, soccer is a stoic, full-contact sport. Resiliency is an expectation. Second-year head coach Carolina Soto just missed the playoffs in her rookie year. Now her team is eyeing a PCAC championship. “This year we’re going for it,” she said. “There’s no reason why we can’t take it.” Donning SWC burgundy, the Lady Jags ran onto the scorching field for their home opener against Saddleback College at the newly-christened, $45 million DeVore Stadium. Temperatures were in the 90s, but on the artificial turf it was 140 degrees. Because the field was designed for football, brown lines were used to mark the field of play for soccer. Spectators hid from the relentless sun by sitting on the west side of the stadium beneath the shade of the announcers’ booth. Excruciating heat seemed to make the players cranky. Rough play started immediately, which the referees let slide. Saddleback scored first, but a clearing mistake by their goalkeeper gave SWC’s Jenny Rodriguez a chance to tie the game. Five minutes later Rodriguez scored again, giving the Lady Jags the lead. SWC’s joy was short-lived, however, as Saddleback scored before the half ended, making the score 2-2. Sprinklers came on right after the whistles blew in an attempt to cool the turf. Misty rainbows floated over the field as the water sprayed. Players from both teams formed lines for the water coolers on the sideline. Both teams demonstrated impressive conditioning and did not let up. The tempo of the game accelerated in the second half with more pushing and harder tackles. Players perspired profusely, bracing themselves on the short chain-linked fence near the sidelines while they battled to keep the ball in play. Drops of water flew off the ball each time it was kicked as if it, too, were sweating. Saddleback demonstrated better ball movement in the last 15 minutes, ending the game with two more goals. SWC fell 4-2. Soto did not make excuses for her team, but admitted it was a tough match. “It was a combination,” she said. “The heat, our fitness level and not being accustomed to playing on turf.” Adjusting to the artificial surface and a field larger than the one they practiced on all summer proved difficult. They did not have much time to prepare because the stadium was not yet opened, said Soto. “The first day we were able to use the field, we were there,” said Soto. “Which was maybe a week before the game.” A trip to L.A. Harbor College marked the second game for the Lady Jags. Despite ending in a scoreless tie, there were reasons to feel optimistic. Rodriguez, who leads the team with six goals in six games, said the Lady Jags should have come away with a victory. “We missed a handful of opportunities,” she said. “Overall, we dominated, but we just couldn’t finish.” Things came together when El Camino-Compton visited. Constant pressure by the Lady Jags kept El please see Lady Jags pg. B5
“I want people to feel comfortable in their own skin... They should take out the dis and look at their ability.”
Joe Chavez United States Soccer Paralympian
Nicholas Baltz/Staff
ON TARGET — Hunter Pochop, 9, takes aim on the archery range during ASRA’s annual wheelchair camp hosted by Southwestern College.
By Rudee Amaral III, Staff Writer and Nicholas Baltz, Sports Editor
J
oe Chavez was born with cerebral palsy, autism and fetal alcohol syndrome. Oh well. Tougher than nails, driven like hail and focused as a laser, Chavez is not one for excuses or “woe is me” stories. Instead, he is an Olympian, a revered student leader and role model. “I feel like I’m just getting started,” said the feisty 24-year old Chula Vistan. “I just want people to know that they should feel comfortable in their own skin. Maybe my example can help motivate them in knowing they can do so much more with their ability, despite their disability. They should take out the dis and look at their ability.” Chavez played a myriad of sports at the Chula Vista Boys and Girls Club. He had his patella realigned when he was 10, making his soccer prowess that much more astonishing. At 15 he attended a wheelchair sports camp and was given a flyer to attend a soccer clinic at the Olympic Training Center. Chavez accepted the invitation. On the morning of the clinic, he competed in a half-marathon at the Silver Strand in a hand cycle. Exhausted, the opportunity almost slipped his grasp. “I remember starting at 7 a.m. and crossing the finish line in the afternoon,” he said. “If I had just gone home, this never would have happened. Honestly, just that split-second decision changed my life. I’m very blessed that I chose that path.” Chavez caught the attention of the coach and was off to Carson, home of the L.A. Galaxy, for a tryout with U.S. National Paralympic Soccer Team. “I’ll always remember that first tryout,” he said. “It kind of felt like being on a reality show, you never know if you’re going to get cut. That was please see
Joe Chavez pg. B6
POINTING THE WAY — Joe Chavez is a Paralympian, role model and respected campus leader.
Ser
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Volunteers help wheelchair sports roll to victory By Nicholas Baltz Sports Editor
Human beings take many things for granted. Cellphones, clothing, housing…legs. Members of the Adaptive Sports and Recreation Association (ASRA) have a message. People cannot control the life they are born in to, but they can decide what to do with it. ASRA is a nonprofit that encourages children with disabilities to give sports a try. ASRA has events year-round, but its cornerstone is the Annual Junior Wheelchair Sports Camp at Southwestern College. For 28 years, young wheelchair athletes have tossed in baskets, smashed forehand winners and captained boats to victory. ASRA athletes spend two days at SWC’s Crown Cove campus on the Silver Strand enjoying events such as canoeing, hand cycling, tubing, kayaking “There are and wheelchair 240,000 dancing. They kids with t h e n m ov e t o the Chula Vista disabilities campus for three in San days of archery, golf, rugby, soccer, Diego and basketball and we are not swimming. Next serving year ice and street hockey will join enough of the lineup. them.” ASRA is Nancy powered by 200 volunteers, Rosenburger counselors and coaches from all Board President over the world. of ASRA N a n c y R o s e n b e r g e r, board president of ASRA, came to the rescue last year when the camp was in danger of collapsing. “Last March the board left and was out of money to pay the director,” she said. “ASRA was going to go away. They had a plan to give away all of the equipment, everything. So a group of us said we can’t let that happen because this is really the only thing in San Diego (County) solely for physically disabled children, so we formed a whole new board. There are 240,000 kids in San Diego with disabilities and we’re not serving enough of them.” Other organizations joined in, Rosenberger said. San Diego Lions Club provided lunch for the three days at SWC. Mission Federal Credit Union provided scholarships along with Challenged Athletes and Kids in the Game. About 75 percent of the kids receive financial assistance, she said. Rosenberger said her grandson, Ethan Burke, 10, is her inspiration. Burke was born with metatropic dysplasia, an extremely rare form of dwarfism with only 80 known cases in the world. Burke’s specialist is in Delaware and he goes twice a year for surgeries, said Rosenberger. “Last time he was there he got an air bubble in his lungs and he couldn’t fly home,” she said. “He was there for three please see ASRA pg. B6
Sports
The Southwestern College Sun
Sept. 7 - Oct. 12, 2014—Vol. 58, Issue 1
B5
Young soccer team struggles
By Rudee Amaral III Staff Writer
Summer scorched a cold Jaguars soccer team when it took the pitch for its first match at at SWC’s recently-modernized DeVore Stadium. Even the 130 degree surface could not warm up the winless Jags. Last season’s high-scoring team that was undefeated in conference stumbled to an 0-3 start following a 3-1 loss to Fullerton College. Fourth time was a charm. Famished Jaguars devoured San Diego City College 3-0 in their first conference match of the season. Goalie Juan Barrera’s terrific play frustrated City College all afternoon and SWC’s sleepy offense woke up. Freshman midfielder Adrian Ramos opened the scoring when he lobbed a volley over the heads of the defenders to midfielder Osbaldo Cervantes, who dribbled around the goalie to a wide open net. SWC never looked back.
Star striker Omar Hernandez used savvy positioning against the defense midway through the first half, creating an easy one-on-one with the goalie to earn his team-leading seventh goal of the season. “I was just ready to score, my mindset was to score,” said Hernandez. Later in the match Hernandez crafted an opportunity when he threaded a through ball to Ramos, who scored in front of the net on an easy redirection past the outstretched gloves of the Knights goalie for the final goal. Hernandez said chemistry within a team comes with time. “We have a great squad of individuals,” he said. “We just have to play together to change the game and control our way of playing, have the team come to us. The chemistry is there we just haven’t played together in a while.” Head coach Cem Tont said the slow start was disappointing but not fatal. “I feel like we have more talent than we
had the last three years but talent means nothing if they don’t play,” he said. “It is going to take three or four games. I’m a patient coach so we are going to turn things around.” Jaguars soccer players need to get used to each other. They also need to get used to a quirky new stadium that has been a disappointment to the fútbol fans and players because of its odd size and sweltering hard turf. Soccer—the South County’s most popular sport—was clearly an after-thought in the new $45 million DeVore Stadium. Diplomatic Tont refuses to criticize the field or blame the stadium. SWC’s match with Fullerton, however, made it clear that soccer at DeVore is going to be a grind. After a scoreless and physical first half, quick scores by the Hornets on missed defensive assignments stung the Jags to open the second half. “Two goals in two minutes,” he said. “In the last 10 minutes of the first half we
Rick Flores/Staff
ZIG ZAG JAG — SWC Midfielder Oscar Hernandez (3) weaves between two defenders in a 3-1 loss to the Fullerton Mustangs.
had two clear chances, if they’re goals, it’s over. This game is a cruel game. I think psychologically they get deflated.” Hernandez scored the team’s first goal of the season with a clear shot at the top of the penalty box. Fullerton freshman Alan Torres answered, though, to make the final score 3-1. Sophomore midfielder Edgar Vibreros said the Jaguars need to do better finishing
Lady Jags: Women’s soccer team warming up to its new home Continued from Page B4
Camino’s goalkeeper under fire throughout the game. Rodriguez caused the first big scare of the match by intercepting the goalkeeper’s attempt at clearing the ball. She fired it right back, bouncing it off the crossbar. Rodriguez had two more shots on goal before she scored to give SWC a 1-0 lead. Rodriguez was not close to finished. After a series of passes, Rodriguez was in the area, one subtle move put her in a position where the opposing goalkeeper’s vision was impaired. She never had a chance. Rodriguez did. She scored. A free kick from midfield by Olivia Serna in the second half caused a commotion. What looked like a long pass was misplayed by El Camino’s goalkeeper, who ran up too close. It bounced over her head and rolled into the net. El Camino scored its lone goal by isolating SWC goalkeeper Brianna Rios and slipping it past her left foot. Rios turned in a stellar performance, though, turning away multiple shots. Defender Alexis Tirado assisted Rodriguez on her third goal of the game – a beautiful header which drew a huge reaction from the small crowd. Tirado, who transferred from Cuyamaca, said one of her goals for the season is to see Rodriguez lead the league in scoring. Tirado is doing her part to help accomplish that feat. Midfielder Stefanie Tellez, one of six returning players, is a specialist at corner and free kicks, but she also creates her own opportunities. Late in the game, Tellez weaved through a series of defenders while moving the ball at will. DeVore field was hers and so was the score. “I attacked more in this game,” she said, “and was able to dribble through some players at the top of the goal box and find the right corner to get a goal.” Play got chippy toward the end, but Tellez did not mind. She scored again on what can only be described as a golazo, rocketing the ball over the goalkeeper’s outstretched arms into a spot where even Memo Ochoa could not reach it. “I took a one-touch shot with my left foot and hit the top left corner,” she said. Forward Briana Candelaria’s assist to Tellez marked the third of the game for her. The final tally was 6-1. “We were all connecting well,” said Rodriguez. “Our chemistry improved during the game.” Tellez said the Lady Jags were hungry. “I hope to see that attitude throughout the season so we can continue growing as a team,” she said. Though the Lady Jags had a couple of setbacks against Rio Hondo and Palomar in games four and five, they got back on track with a 1-0 victory over Grossmont in their most recent match. Soto said she hopes to keep building on the team’s many accomplishments. “They don’t have to be here,” she said. “They do it because they love it.”
shots. “We make the plays, we set it up, we just don’t finish,” he said. Tont, however, said the season is far from finished. Last year’s squad that scored a record 71 goals is in the past, but Hernandez and other talented players remain. Tont said his team would heat up, and not just because of the scorching DeVore Stadium turf.
Water polo season sinking By Joshua Liang Staff Writer
Photos by Colin Grylls
RAMMED — (top) Freshman linebacker Laasaga Fuga (43) clobbers Victor Valley return man Terrence Chambers (17) on a kickoff following a 25-yard touchdown pass. Freshman wide receiver Sergio Bailey (11) catches an 11-yard touchdown pass against Santa Monica College. Sophomore running back Charles Westbrook breaks a tackle in a 35-6 victory against Grossmont College.
Jaguars off to 4-1 start By Colin Grylls Managing Editor
Halfway through the season, the Jaguars football team has done its best to prove itself worthy of its dazzling new $45 million palace of pigskin – the renovated DeVore Stadium. Southwestern College claimed San Diego County’s community college throne after a 35-6 demolition of longtime nemesis Grossmont College and a 55-7 trouncing of San Diego Mesa College. “It’s great to be kings of the county,” said head coach Ed Carberry. “This is the second year we’ve beaten everybody in San Diego County. It’s only, I think, the second time in the history of this school where we’ve beaten Palomar, Grossmont and Mesa.” SWC was second in the American Mountain Conference last year with a 6-1 record (9-2 overall). A tough 34-31 loss to the Victor Valley Rams in the conference opener has the 1-1 Jags (4-1 overall) back in second place. Neither team led by more than seven points during the hotly-contested battle. With the score tied 17-17, Jaguar return man Shannon Nickson started off the second half by returning the opening kick 36 yards. Later in the drive, receiver Kevin Mills took a pass from quarterback Luis Perez 40 yards to Victor Valley’s three-yard line. On first and goal, running back
Charles Westbrook tried diving into the end zone, but was marked down at the two. Westbrook was stopped just one yard short of the end zone on second down. Perez tried sneaking the ball in on third down, but was stopped inches short. A collective gasp spread through DeVore Stadium as Westbrook took another handoff on fourth down. The Rams battered the offensive line and stopped Westbrook for no gain. Jaguar fans were left speechless as Victor Valley celebrated its goal-line stand. Two plays later Victor Valley quarterback Paul Mroz dropped back and fired a rocket to Diamante Luna for a 98-yard touchdown and a 2417 lead. Carberry said the series tipped momentum to Victor Valley. “No one play or one player loses a game,” he said, “but one group can win the game. We’re a yard away from the end zone and can’t get in. That’s on us. We win the game if we score there and they stopped us with a yard to go. That unit has the best players on our team. The biggest, the strongest, the best blockers and they stopped us from getting a yard three times.” Victor Valley handed the Jags just their fourth loss in the last three seasons. Last year, the defense finished fifth in the state with 19.2 points allowed per game. Two years ago the Jaguar
offense led the state by scoring 45.3 points per game. Carberry said SWC has the talent to reload rather than rebuild and so far the team has proved him right. Both the offense and defense are ranked sixth in California with 42.8 points per game and just 17.6 points allowed per game. Westbrook, who was the Jaguars’ top rusher in 2012, is returning to the team after redshirting at Division II Southwestern Oklahoma State last year. He torched Santa Monica College for 240 yards and two touchdowns. SWC’s defensive line has been dominant with all-conference end Ray Clapper returning along with Mike Molina, who sat out last year after being named first-team all-conference in 2012. Receiver Kevin Mills said practicing against the dominant Jag defense has prepared the offense for any challenge it could face. “We just have athletes on the defense,” he said. “They can make plays that other teams we’ve gone against so far can’t do, so we’ve been prepared. It seems when we go against other teams, they can’t stack up to what our defense does.” Israel “Tofi” Paopao started off the season as the starting quarterback, but please see Football pg. B6
Water polo stars at Southwestern College are as rare as Ivy League transfer students, but Nick Howard is a legit beast in the pool. His coach and teammates are hoping he can lead the Jaguars out of the water polo wilderness they have floundered in since the turn of the century. SWC’s 2-10 start hardly calls for champagne, but its 26-8 dunking of Miramar College has raised hopes and self esteem. “We are earning some respect through the way we play,” said head coach Jorge Ortega. “We are no longer a team other teams are just going to practice against.” Sophomore driver Howard, who in 2013 was second in the state in scoring and steals, recovered from a sleepy start this season to blister Miramar with five goals and four assists. Goalkeeper Josue Macias had six saves. Ortega said the Jags made like orcas and hunted in a pack. “We don’t depend on one guy,” he said. “We had nine different guys scoring and 11 guys with assists. That shows we spread the ball around.” Season opening losses to Palomar and Grossmont were washed away by the win. “They started thinking we are a lot better then this,” Ortega said. “Instead of tearing us apart, it lit a fire on these guys during practice and carried on this game against Miramar.” Perennial powerhouse Grossmont College caught a break in the season opener when Howard was nearly drowned by his studies. He was held scoreless and admitted his focus was not on the game. “I was up all night doing homework,” he said. “I had class at six this morning and I went home to do an essay. Now I have to go home to do another essay.” Howard’s course load aside, assistant coach Raul Lopez said the 2014 team is the deepest since 2009 when he and Ortega took charge. “We have seven guys on the bench,” he said. “We have already achieved so much from that. We are able to get three or four of the starters to rest.” Lopez said communication is crucial. “Water polo is such a physical game it doesn’t matter how skilled you are,” he said. “That is why it’s important to play as a team help each other out and communicate in order to have a better outcome against the bigger teams.” Ortega said the coaching staff has high standards for players. “We push them through hard and difficult workouts,” he said. “We do a drill where if one guy does not work hard enough he is going to pay for that.” Freshman winger Giovanni Lucatero said the team has benefitted. “We have been upping our swimming game to improve our offense,” he said. “So in the summer we have been swimming thousand of miles to prepare for the season.” Howard and company have miles to go before they sleep, but in the meantime, they look forward to a solid season after years of treading water.
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Sept. 7 - Oct.12 , 2014—Vol. 58, Issue 1
Nicholas Baltz, editor
Sports
Tel: (619) 482-6368 E-mail: sports@theswcsun.com
Football: Loss to Victor Valley spoils bid for undefeated grid season
ASRA: Organization serves, provides mentors for children Continued from Page B4
Continued from Page B5
months and had to hang in halo traction 24 hours a day to straighten his back. Then they put rods in his back and one time both of them had broken his ribs. Even though he is mentally fine, physically he just cannot communicate or get up and walk.” Saving the organization was music to many members’ ears, including Travis Perreira, who has been involved with the camp since its inception 28 years ago. Perreira was born with cerebral palsy and started out as a camper at age 8 before becoming a counselor and soccer coach. “It’s important for people with disabilities to provide role models for younger kids with disabilities,” he said. “Growing up, I didn’t know many people with disabilities, let alone someone with my own disability. I think one, there is a lack of role models and two, and it’s great for me to expose the kids to my sport of wheelchair soccer.” Perreira said that society’s perception of disabilities has improved but not enough. “I would like more of a perception that we can contribute to the workforce and to the community,” he said. “When it comes to adaptive sports, I wish it would be more compared to nondisabled sports, covered by sports writers. I think that would show the
an injury against Pierce College allowed Perez to claim the role. Carberry usually rotates the two in each game and has split their snaps almost evenly – Perez has attempted 115 passes to Paopao’s 105. Paopao showcased his creativity against Grossmont when he shoveled the ball to Mills, who was in motion and running at full speed. Grossmont defenders read the play and the entire defense flowed to the ball. Mills promptly turned around and started running back towards the left side of the field, but Grossmont defensive back Christopher Bryant was locked onto him, virtually guaranteeing a Jaguar loss of yards. Paopao, though, unleashed a hellish block with his 240-pound body. As the defensive back hit the turf, the crowd went into a frenzy almost as loud as Paopao’s shoulder smashing into Bryant’s chest. Mills scampered 10 yards into the endzone. Linebacker Blake Wilson said Paopao’s block energized the team. “Quarterbacks don’t really do that,” he said. “Quarterbacks are kind of finesse, but Tofi gets down, nasty and gritty. If the quarterback’s throwing that block, it’s going to get the sideline pumped.” Carberry, however, said the team overreached at times. “We made a lot of mistakes on offense, where we should have just kept running towards the goal line,” he said. “Instead we turned around all over the place. If we hadn’t played such great defense, we’d have put them in a position for a short field.” When the Jags have clicked, they have been explosive. Carberry said the team’s speed makes a big play possible on nearly every down. “It makes the coaches a lot better,” he said. “The plays you call work better. When you’ve got guys who can run a long way on any given play, you don’t have to be perfect.” Wilson said other teams should take note. “We don’t change our game plan for someone else, they change for us,” he said. “We’re Southwestern College and we’re coming out to make a statement. We’re up on the rise and we’re definitely looking forward to taking them on and showing everyone that we are a powerhouse.”
WORLD CHAMP— SWC student Rolando Samson has dominated opponents near and abroad for national and global championships.
Samson: SWC student is jiu-jitsu world champion Continued from Page B7
Courtesy Photo
NO HANDS— ASRA campers enjoy
rafting at SWC’s Crown Cove campus.
most respect for the athletes and the sports that we play.” Jacquelyne Yawn, 26, is a super role model. She has been involved with the camp for 18 years, 13 as a camper and five as a counselor. When she was four months old Yawn suffered a spinal cord injury in a car accident that left her paralyzed below the waist. That has never slowed her down. She recently graduated with a Master’s degree in English from SDSU and was accepted into a disability studies doctorate program at the University of Illinois, Chicago. “People don’t realize how much disability representation has changed over the course of history,” she said. “In Moby Dick the villain was an amputee, same thing with Captain Hook. Then you also get disabled characters that are pitied, like in The Secret Garden or in Pollyanna, where the whole goal was for them to get better. Today we are starting to wean ourselves off that thanks to the popularity of fantasy and science fiction where disabled characters are actually heroes, for example the ‘Hunger Games’ books. I’m hoping to teach that perspective in universities and bring more disability literature into the curriculum.” Yawn is currently working on several books, including a young adult novel and a picture book for kids. Her main character is a person in a wheelchair. “I feel like this camp has such a big impact on the campers,” she said. “Each year this is very vital for their health and self-esteem. It was one of the things that drove me to pursue college because I realized if I could do all of these other things, why not college? It teaches them to challenge and constantly question everything and that’s what I think is most important.” SWC student Joe Chavez is another camper-turned-counselor. The kinesiology major is the former president of the SWC ABLE Club and a member of the U.S. Paralympic Soccer Team. Chavez said he wants to give back to the community that supported him for so many years. “I want to be a physical therapist,” he said. “I want to help people achieve and get to where they’re going. Putting a smile on these kids’ faces and knowing that I was in their position once makes me feel good.” ASRA’s recreation leader is SWC student Jazmin Garcia, 26. She said she became involved in 2008 with few expectations and now loves her work. “It’s the people I work with,” she said. “There’s some that I’ve known for six years now and we’ve grown together as a family.”
Samson’s first opponent was a towering 6-foot-2-inch, third year purple belt. Samson, only five-foot-7-inches and blinded by tears, fought his heart out. He said he put everything into the fight and went on to win match after match. “It just felt amazing,” he said. “Afterwards I just cried and cried. That was my comeback return.” A month later Samson competed in the Abu Dhabi trials in Long Beach to qualify for the world championships, all the while sporting the name of his cousin on the back of his gi. He won all four fights in his weight class. He fought three more times in all weight classes round. His last fight, he said, was against one of the strongest competitors he ever faced. In the last seconds Samson passed his opponents guard, giving him a one-point advantage and the victory. Samson traveled 8,441 miles to compete
Joe Chavez: Olympian on the pitch, ambassador on campus and in community Continued from Page B4
always in the back of mind, but I knew I wanted to do more and I made it. I got to join that brethren.” In 2006 Chavez traveled with the team to Rio de Janero, Brazil for the ParaPan American Games in an attempt to qualify for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. “The only ones wearing that red, white and blue were teammates and coaches,” he said. “Honestly it was scary. I was very homesick, but you are there for a reason, to play soccer and represent your country.” The team’s will to win was not enough to punch its ticket for Beijing, but Chavez’ appetite grew. “The Olympics is every four years, but each and every one of us on the team knows it’s not,” he said. “My season never ends. I train every day to get better, to get that gold medal.” Next were the 2010 Para Pan-American games, this time in Argentina. Chavez said he played with a torn meniscus but kept it to himself. “If you saw me, you would think there was nothing wrong,” he said. “I never let the pain show. What matters is playing for your country and I didn’t want to give that up.” He missed the 2012 London games. Rehab, he said, was grueling. “It was a long process, but I’ve done this so many times as a little kid that it’s just gotten easier,” he said. “I knew that I would come back faster and stronger.” On campus Chavez is a gold medalist. A kinesiology major, he studies the art of physical rehabilitation. He became the youngest President of Abilities Beyond Limitation through Education Club (ABLE), where he created the Walk-n-Roll Marathon. “It allowed people to get in a wheelchair, roll around the perimeter and get a sense of what it’s like for those who have a disability,” he said. “It helped to keep things growing, expand that awareness throughout the community.” More impressively, perhaps, Chavez helped to lead an effort to raise funds to
in Abu Dhabi against great fighters from Brazil, Romania, Australia, Russia and other nations. After a win in the semifinals, Samson faced a ruthless competitor from Russia for the world title. “I already knew what kind of fighter he was, he likes to fight dirty,” he said. “I knew he was going to shake my hand and then shoot for the take down for two points.” Anticipating the attack, Samson put his opponent in a triangle choke 25 seconds into the round, forcing him to tap out. The Russian, however, left his mark. “I didn’t think anything of it at first because I had just won,” he said. “Afterwards I was like, wow it really hurts right here (thigh). This Russian guy bit me after I tapped him out. I never got bit before.” Samson’s girlfriend Kathleen Kimoden said she video chatted with Samson after he won. “It was unreal,” she said. “Winning that has to be the biggest accomplishment in jiu-jitsu. After that, everyone knew him.” Samson concurred. “Kids come up to me, parents come up to me and tell me that they’re proud
of me for going to school and training at the same time,” he said. “It’s an amazing feeling to see kids smile.” After finishing classes at SWC, Samson makes a 30-minute commute to ATOS Jiu-Jitsu in Kearny Mesa three or four times a week. He begins training at 11 a.m. and his training includes 10 sparring rounds of 10 minutes each. Training ends at 8 p.m., then it’s time to study. Samson’s dream is to compete in at least one MMA fight then change careers. “My main goal is becoming an athletic trainer,” he said. “I like to be very hands on and work directly with athletes and people who really need it. My ultimate goal would be to get my doctorate in physical therapy so I can open up my own facility. I wouldn’t mind doing jiu-jitsu on the side and training with friends. I just want to focus on getting my degree first and then jiu-jitsu.” Samson said he has a few tournaments lined up this fall. “I’m always going to compete no matter what, that’s just who I am,” he said. “I love the adrenaline and the feeling of winning and losing. Just going out there and fighting, that’s what I enjoy.”
purchase a van capable of transporting Cardenas said he is thankful he met students in wheelchairs. Chavez was Chavez and that he is the embodiment awarded SWC’s first-ever Student access of prosdiorismós, seizing life’s infinite Award last year. possibilities. Dr. Malia Flood, director of Disability “If you take more opportunities in life, Support Services, who was the ABLE Club more will happen, the more outcomes that advisor during Chavez’s presidency, said he will transpire,” he said. “Joe is an example was truly amazing. of that,” “The club got bigger when he was Their kinship grew over the years, but president,” she said. “He would not just one conflict made them brothers. At 21, have an idea, he created the energy to get Chavez discovered he was adopted at birth. things done with tireless enthusiasm and “I’m proud to be adopted,” he said. commitment. He has been a great “It gives me more strength champion for access.” and motivation. Reflecting “I want Karina Mendoza, a former I understand why (my people to feel back, ABLE Club president, said she was adopted parents) didn’t tell comfortable me until later. I didn’t know inspired by Chavez’s actions. “Just seeing what he did made in their own because I was so camouflaged me think I could do something for with love and that’s one of the the school,” she said. “I witnessed skin. Not to biggest things I couldn’t have a kid in the student center having care what expected. They treated me as trouble getting in and out of if I was their own and that’s the restroom. That’s what led to others think the thing that really matters me working real hard to get the of them or the to me. They were always there wheelchair accessible doors and I people who for me through surgeries and was able to get three.” complications. I’d give my Current ABLE Club Advisor tell them they whole life to them and now Robert Valerio said he remembers can’t.” I dedicate my life to them.” a soft-spoken, hesitant Chavez. Cardenas shares a similar “He was a very quiet guy when past. he started,” he said. “Little by little “When you’re adopted you he started learning the process feel like you don’t have an of how clubs work and how to identity, you don’t feel like present in front of the club, doing people want you,” he said. big presentations in front of the “I was left at a fire station by campus during college hour, which my mother. My parents were is amazing because I was able to see heroin addicts. That is why I that firsthand.” have auto-processing disabilities, because Through the ABLE Club Chavez met they fucked up my egg growing up.” Dominic Cardenas, who would become Their friendship was also strengthened his best friend. through their love of soccer and they began Cardenas, a recent SWC graduate with to train together, said Cardenas. a degree in film editing, modernized “He works harder than he should,” said the ABLE Club website logo and was Cardenas. “He goes that extra mile to the recognized for his video work with Drug point where it’s exhausting to watch. That’s Abuse Resistance Education, (DARE). why he wears the uniform. He represents They have shared numerous escapades, but his red, white and blue. I respect that.” Cardenas recalled one in particular. Cardenas said they coached girls soccer “I think the coolest one was when he together. raised $10,000 for the disabled van,” he “The most important thing for us during said. “That was a great thing he did. I feel that was having fun,” said Cardenas. “I like Joe was the voice of that club. The would always be the mean one and Joe school really needed someone like that. was the nice one. Joe would say ‘Come on It might be used by a small percentage of man, loosen up, it’s a nice day. Who wants students, but it’s a small percentage that to go for ice cream?’ It made Joe and I better matters.” people because they taught us to be more
Joe Chavez United States Soccer Paralympian
responsible. It learned to be better with my motor mouth and be more reserved. After that season, I was more patient.” “And I became more aggressive,” Chavez chimed in. After months of rehab on his knee, Chavez was finally ready to return to the practice field and his soccer family was there to support him, said Cardenas. “All the girls came out for a scrimmage game with signs to support against Canada,” he said. “That’s when old Joe came back. He needed that.” After everything they have been through together, Cardenas said they are best friends. “We watched the whole World Cup together,” he said. “We play pool, go gamble together. Joe would give me his buffet wristband and while I was waiting for him I’d set up my laptop and eat all the lobster and cheesecake with my stretch pants on.” Chavez is training daily for his next run at gold at the Chula Vista Futbol Club. Trainer Raul Reyes said Chavez’s attitude is rubbing off on the team. “We are hoping that these players grab a little bit of what Joe has,” he said. “That’s what I’ve been trying to encourage. Joe, the way he is, he can do everything in the world, so you can too. Nothing’s impossible.” Chavez has also hit the ice and picked up the pads to begin training for the U.S. Paralympic Sled Hockey team. He is a member of the San Diego Ducks Sled Hockey Team and will be training with U.S. gold medalist goalie Steve Cash, in Indiana. “I want people to feel comfortable in their own skin,” he said. “Not to care what others think of them or the people who tell them they can’t. When I was little the doctor told me I wouldn’t be able to walk. I’m proving them wrong and it’s powerful. The possibilities are endless. I had a dream and I didn’t know how far this dream would take me. Never stop believing, never give up and you can do anything, just put the work in.” With a third place finish in the Copa América tournament in Toronto, Canada, The U.S. Paralympic National Soccer Team continues its quest to qualify for the 2016 Paralympics in Rio de Janero, Brazil.
Sports
The Southwestern College Sun
Sept. 7 - Oct. 12, 2014—Vol. 58, Issue 1
B7
Photos by Colin Grylls
PINK, WHITE AND BLUE— SWC and Imperial Valley College don pink uniforms to support breast cancer awareness as Jaguars outside hitter Kassandra Wright scores a point in a 3-1 loss. (below) Sophomore middle back Karla Lopez meets the defender to the ball.
Women’s volleyball battles inexperience By Alberto Calderon Staff Wrtier
HOLY WARRIOR— Rolando Samson transformed the death of his baby cousin Nevaeh into focused motivation and strength.
Jiu-Jitsu R kid takes on the world Rolando Samson fights for his loved ones, conquers demons
Story by Evan Cintron Assistant Sports Editor
&
Photos by Derrius Boyd
olando Samson keeps picking fights. He has picked fights all over the United States and even in Abu Dhabi. And he won. Samson, 19, a Southwestern College physical therapy major, is a jiu-jitsu world champion with more gold medals than Michael Phelps. He has won gold in the 2013 International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation American Nationals Championship purple belt division and the 2013 IBJJF Worlds Jiu-Jitsu Championship in the blue belt division. This year he won his third consecutive lightweight American National Championship. Born and raised in San Diego, Samson began his athletic journey playing basketball and football. His father introduced him to jiu-jitsu when he was nine. “I was getting beat up a lot at first by girls and little kids,” Samson said. “Then my competitive nature grew. After losing so much I wanted to start winning.” At 16 Samson earned his blue belt, signifying his transition to adulthood in the jiu jitsu world. In 2013 Samson competed in the IBJJF World Championships in Long Beach. Fighters from around the world came to compete, including 120 in his bracket. One day he fought seven times. Match after match, Samson dominated his opponents en route to winning the lightweight blue belt championship. His professor Andre Galvao presented him with the purple belt while he was on the podium. “I felt very proud of Rolando in that moment, ” Galvao said. “I believe he can achieve even more with his purple belt.” Samson was on top of the jiu-jistu world, but the excitement came crashing down just a month later when his four-month-old cousin, Nevaeh died. “For me, family is everything,” he said. “It was so devastating. Our family broke down. We didn’t even have any money for a proper burial.” His extended jiu-jitsu family helped him raise $1,100. He remained crest-fallen. “I was really depressed for a while,” he said. “I didn’t even want to think about competing.” In September 2013, Samson made his return by competing in the American Nationals. He wrote “Baby Nevaeh” on the back of his gi. “My first match back, before getting on the mat, I kissed my family and girlfriend,” he said. “Then all of a sudden I just felt (Nevaeh) and I couldn’t help but burst into tears. Right before the match I was crying and all during the fight I was crying. When they called my name I felt chills all over my body. I knew I was going to win because I felt her.” please see Samson pg. B6
For one Southwestern College team the sky seemed to be falling. Palomar College Comets showered the gymnasium floor, leaving the Lady Jaguars volleyball team streaking for the exit in a straight-set loss to extend a winless season. Palomar jumped out to an early 5-0 lead in the first set, a harbinger of things to come. Despite a solid performance by freshman middle Madison Waitley, who led a brief Jaguar rally, Palomar closed out the set, 25-14. Crowd-pleasing rallies filled the second set as both teams played excellent defense. SWC freshman Brianda Diaz was all over the court, but once again SWC fell, 25-14. A lackluster third set went to Palomar, 25-13. Freshman Alina Khenchanthavong and Diaz, who leads the team with 78 digs this season, were bright spots in the loss. SWC also lost in straight sets to the Cerro Coso Coyotes, despite some stellar play from Diaz and freshman outside hitter Alexis Benavides, who led the team in kills. High-level volleyball was on display in the first set, with points scored on kills rather than errors. Alegre and Benavides kept SWC competitive, orchestrating a series of effective setup-kill combinations to tie the set 10-10 and energize the rowdy crowd. Serving gaffes, however, stalled the Lady Jags and they lost the opener, 25-18. Cerro Coso rode the momentum into the second set, jumping out to a 12-4
lead. Diaz ignited the sputtering Lady Jags as they stormed back to 17-13. A Coyotes timeout allowed Cerro Coso to regroup and take the second set 25-20. SWC lost an uneventful third set, although Coach Angela Rock said she saw some encouraging traits in her young team. “It’s just our inexperience,” she said. “We have three starters that have never played organized volleyball, so it’s hard. I’m throwing so much at them. I really admire their ability to be flexible. It was a good tough match.” Assistant coach Tyler Reaves said the Lady Jags will improve. “We don’t lack in skill, we lack in experience,” he said. “Pressure points and close games are where we are having issues. We will get better at all of that, we just need to play more games.” Like in its home opener, SWC nearly upset a formidable Saddleback College before losing 3-1. “Things didn’t go our way tonight,” she said. “We had a bad call with the linesmen. It was out by a foot, but those things happen.” Alegre said the Lady Jags’ must coalesce. “If we can communicate well on the court and play well as a team, I feel like we can have a successful season,” she said. Rock agreed. “One thing we have is good chemistry,” she said. “We have a lot of players who are playing their first year, but are academically sophomores, so I think that maturity brings a lot of chemistry.”
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September 7 — October 12 , 2014 Volume 58, Issue 1
BACKPAGE
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O E D I V AMTES GARTISRE
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N AT I O N A L PA C E M A K E R AWA R D N E W S PA P E R
e u s s I n o ti
Elec
theswcsun.com
September 7 - October 12, 2014
Volume 58, Special Edition
SU H S D v e t e r a n s Ja i m e Me r c a d o a n d G r i s e l d a D e l g a d o b at t l e f o r S WC ’s o n l y c o mp e t i t i v e b o a r d s e at
Too close
to call GRISELDA DELGADO
JAIME MERCADO
Both urge greater administrative transparency By Jaime Pronoble News Editor
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please see Election pg. C4
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M erc Mercado 22
Don’t Know
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t is a two-and-a-half way race for Seat #1 on the Southwestern College Governing Board and candidates Griselda Delgado and Jaime Mercado are in a virtual dead heat according to a poll conducted by The Sun. A survey of 175 SWC students and employees who stated they would vote in the Nov. 4 election showed Mercado with 13 percent and Delgado with 12 percent. Candidate Veronica Valdivia drew support from five percent of those surveyed despite not mounting a campaign. The remaining 70 percent of likely voters said they were undecided. Mercado and Delgado have appeared at forums conducted by Professor of Political Science Phil Saenz and The Sun. Both candidates also spoke at length to The Sun’s Editorial Board. Valdivia was invited to participate, but did not attend any of the forums and did not respond to any messages from The Sun. Delgado is principal at Palomar High School in Chula Vista. Mercado is a former Sweetwater Union High School District governing board member and principal. Both said their experience make them the best fit for Seat #1. Both candidates stressed the importance of community colleges. Mercado said he is an SWC alumnus. “Had it not been for Southwestern College, it’d have been difficult to have gotten my career,” he said. Delgado expressed a similar sentiment. “I’m a product of a community college,” she said. “If it weren’t for
VO
Valdivia Valdiv
Delgado
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Survey says.... Staff members of The Sun interviewed 175 Southwestern College students and staff who said they were planning to vote in the Nov. 4 election for SWC Governing Board seat #1. Candidates Jaime Mercado and Griselda Delgado are in a dead heat, though most respondents said they have not yet decided.
Mirella Lopez/Staff
Graphic is not numerically proportionate.
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The Southwestern College Sun
Griselda Delgado
ELECTION ISSUE
Elections 2014 – Volume 58, Special Edition
Jaime Mercado
Transparency Philosophy
Transparency Philosophy
“Transparency comes with trust. If people don’t trust you, the president doesn’t trust the board then information is going to be withheld. If the superintendent doesn’t trust the information going out then that information is going to be withheld. If you are uninformed, if you don’t have the right information, therefore you’re not going to be making sound decisions. So transparency comes from making sure all entities and the institution, you set policy to make sure that every information, every piece of data is exposed. So everyone, not just the board, but the superintendent or the president or the faculty can have access to it and the students of course.”
“Simply be open to everything. For the public to be able to see every business that you’re conducting. To have meetings in places where everybody can be there and not have 10-15 cops threatening people if they try to get into the meeting. Not having board members cut you off with one minute of communication. Not having board members have the meetings in the middle of the day when nobody can go because they’re working. Having all of the documentation open to everyone. I firmly believe that everything should be open to the public.”
Educational Background
Educational Background
San Diego State University Ed.D. Educational Leadership, In-Progress
San Diego State University Master of Arts in Education
San Diego State University Master of Arts in Education
San Diego State University Bachelor of Arts in Education
San Diego State University Bachelor of Arts in English
Southwestern Community College Associates of Arts in Education
Credentials: San Diego State University California Administrative Service
Credentials: San Diego State University Teaching
Dominguez Hills State University Bilingual, Cross-Cultural, Language & Academic Development California Single Subject - English
San Diego State University School Administration
Priorities
Priorities
- Transparency and accountability
- Transparency and accountability.
- Encouraging programs that are student-centered and giving them the tools to succeed in the job market.
- Restoring the relationship between Southwestern College and Sweetwater Union High School District.
- Stressing the importance of students having the opportunity to participate in college as well as job training programs.
- Improving transfer rates from Southwestern College to fouryear universities.
- Building a relationship with the local chamber of commerce, industry and health-care sector to make educated and meaningful decisions.
- Building a first-rate Vocational/Career education program for those who do not wish to transfer.
Positions Held
Positions Held
- Principal (current)
- Principal (retired)
- Assistant Principal
- Former Sweetwater Union High School District board member
- United States Army Reserves Finance Specialist
- Army National Guard
Notable Quote “Transparency is an action. You cannot ask the right questions if you’re ignorant to the information.”
Awards/Honors Administrator of the Year Association of California School Administrators Administrator of the Year California Continuation Education Association Bilingual Educational Leader San Diego County Office of Education
Notable Quote
ic a Valdi n o r via e V
?
“It doesn’t matter what the history is. What matters is whether it’s legal or illegal.”
Awards/Honors Boss of the Year American Business Women’s Association Principal of the Year Sweetwater School District Management Association Mayor’s Award for Service to San Ysidro City of San Diego
Valdivia has not responded to any requests for interviews.
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ELECTION ISSUE
Elections 2014 – Volume 58, Special Edition
The Issue: Southwestern College needs a new board member with passion, vitality and courage to push our school ahead.
editorial
The Southwestern College Sun
Dan Cordero/Staff
Our Position: A fierce warrior for justice and transparency, Jaime Mercado would bring talent, experience and integrity to the board.
The Sun endorses Jaime Mercado for Governing Board seat #1 After historic elections in 2010 when the very existence of Southwestern College hung in the balance and the 2012 vote where a pair of anti-public education ultra-conservatives were on the ballot, the 2014 election is relatively sleepy. Incumbents Norma Hernandez, Tim Nader and Nora Vargas are running unopposed, our community’s way of saying that we think they are doing a great job. The Editorial Board of The Sun endorses all three and urges district voters to re-elect them on Nov. 4. That leaves just one spot, seat #1, that is being contested. Jaime Mercado, a retired principal and former Sweetwater Union High School District trustee, and Griselda Delgado, principal at Hilltop Middle School, are the only serious candidates. Veronica Valdivia, a teacher, is on the ballot but not mounting a campaign. The Sun invited all three candidates for seat #1 to speak to the Editorial Board. Valdivia did not respond, but Mercado and Delgado both spent nearly two hours fielding questions on an array of issues facing SWC. We thank them for that courtesy and for their candid responses. We enjoyed the lively conversations. Voters can rejoice in the fact that either would be a sharp upgrade over the laconic Terry Valladolid, SWC’s weakest board member and the last remaining trustee tainted by the South Bay Corruption Scandal. Mercado and Delgado are both intelligent, thoughtful educators who care about students and hate corruption. Both are qualified to serve on our board. That said, the Editorial Board of The Sun endorses Mercado for seat #1. Smart, fearless and passionate, Mercado is just the jolt of energy and conscience this college needs. While our current board has done a great job rooting out corruption and restoring accreditation, it has gotten back on its heels. It has been meek in its acquiescence to administration, even when administration was clearly
Election: Candidates vie for seat #1 on the SWC Governing Board Continued from Page C1
the services I received in the community colleges, I could not have transferred to a university.” Mercado said he has lived in the community for more than 50 years, 33 working at SUHSD. He was a member of Sweetwater’s governing board for four years. “I believe I have the experience, the
blundering. Students and this community are disappointed and embarrassed that SWC brought back ill-tempered Campus Police Chief Michael Cash and duplicitous administrator Arlie Ricasa after she committed a crime on our campus. Mercado, we believe, would not have quietly allowed Cash to recklessly (and possibly illegally) discharge his weapon and harass our newspaper adviser, or Ricasa to solicit bribes from her office in the ASO building. Mercado will make a firm stand on campus safety and make sure the leader of our campus police keeps his word when he promises escorts for endangered students. We are nervous that Delgado, an administrator, might fall into the get-along-to-go-along mentality that got SWC into so much trouble during the corrupt Chopra years. As journalists we are concerned that she will not be tough enough on administrators at SWC who are constantly blocking and delaying access to public documents. Asked how she would handle transparency issues, Delgado responded, “I would ask my colleagues, hey, give some historical (background) of what’s been happening with the reporters for the past five years. Then having that conversation with my colleagues, and saying how are we supporting our students, especially our reporters, because they’re the ones communicating with our community.” That type of answer was substandard from someone that wants to be in a position of leadership. SWC’s top officials have a history of repressing freedom of speech. Chopra’s attempt to close down the campus newspaper in September 2010 was national news and the catalyst for the SWC revolution what changed the board and administration. Delgado should have known that and she should be strongly on the side of fighting for the First Amendment and a free press. Mercado was much more clear. “It doesn’t matter what the history is,” he said. “What
information and the credibility to be the key link between Sweetwater and Southwestern College,” said Mercado. Delgado said she has been an educator for more than 20 years after a stint in the military. “My passion for education is completely authentic,” she said. “I’m not here for any political gain. I’m not here for any other reason but to assist students.” Delgado and Mercado said they share similar stances on issues such as student success. “I want to give back to the students,” said Delgado. “I want to make sure we establish programs that support students
and their families, to make sure they transfer to a four-year college.” Me rc a d o s a i d Swe e t w a t e r a n d Southwestern need to re- establish a productive working relationship. “ ( S W C a n d Sw e e t w a t e r ) h a d (an) excellent working relationship, collaboration and coordination of programs from the basic level, to the administration level, to the policy level, and I believe I’m the link to get that back,” said Mercado. “I have the experience, I have the knowledge and the respect of the working force in Sweetwater.” Delgado said a connection between the district and SWC is key.
matters is whether it’s legal or illegal. If it’s legal just give it to them regardless of what the history of abuse is in that area.” Mercado, like SWC Trustee Humberto Peraza, is a warrior against corruption and, boy, do we ever need that here. Mercado was the lone, brave voice against pay-for-play and illegalities at Sweetwater. Some in the labor community justifiably criticized Mercado for supporting Proposition G, which prohibits the City of Chula Vista from entering into Project Labor Agreements (PLA) with labor organizations. He said he now regrets supporting Prop G and, upon reflection, now supports PLAs. Mercado’s passion for honesty, justice and student achievement goes back nearly four decades. His leadership in the astonishing transformation of National City Junior High School in the 1980s is worthy of a motion picture starring Edward James Olmos. He demands excellence and – equally important – supports excellence. That is a lesson SWC’s mediocre-is-okay administration could learn. A life-long educator and learning advocate, Mercado served the community for four years as a teacher and 28 years as a principal. He fought corruption on the SUHSD board for four years. Mercado’s commitment to academic excellence and serving students of the South Bay make him a clear choice. SWC would be fortunate to have such an ethical and inspirational leader on its governing board. He would bring some much-needed vitality and perspective to our honorable but increasingly compliant governing board, and give SWC a community ambassador who is charismatic, persuasive and inspiring. He will brook no nonsense from law-breaking campus cops or administrators. Jamie Mercado is just what this college needs. We urge SWC voters to elect him on Nov. 4.
“Establishing a bridge between secondary and our community college is a critical factor,” she said. “I have seen what our students have to deal with on a daily basis. Thinking about going into a four-year university right after high school is not something most of our kids are thinking about.” She said she wants to instill a confidence that SWC could educate students for their next job, their first job and to give them the opportunity to save up financially to eventually transfer to a university. Both candidates said administrators should not withhold information from the media and the public.
“Stop, it’s illegal,” said Mercado. “Give the information that the people need if it’s legal to be given to them. Do not hide under the red tape of bureaucracy. You don’t have to have people take you to court to give you that information. Just give it to them.” Mercado said if administrators are making decisions they have to hide from people, then they should not make them. Delgado strongly agreed. “I would ask them, ‘What are you afraid of?’” she said. “If you’re afraid of something, then you are hiding, and if you’re hiding something then it is unethical.”