Vol 61, Issue 2

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 61, Issue 2

theswcsun.com

Nov. 17, 2017

Custodians suit claims job racism

By Katy Stegall News Editor

Heads above the rest

Alexander Contreras/Staff

please see Custodians pg. A3

Southwestern’s women’s soccer team came within 10 minutes of an undefeated season and breezed into the playoffs ranked #12 in the state. Mitzy Ortega scores on a spectacular header to tie San Bernardino, 1-1.

Coverage on pg. 13

who was described by college employees as “ballistic” when Lambert took Blackboard out of the portal. Lambert said he planned to “work out bugs” and reconnect Blackboard to the portal in two to three days.

He never got the chance. Within an hour of Lambert’s action former Director of Human Resources Marvin Castillo appeared in Lambert’s office to escort him off campus. He spent nearly four months on administrative leave.

Lambert said he was reinstated in June with greatly diminished responsibilities.

McClellan and Borges charged him with an array of infractions, he said, including unprofessional conduct with emails, conduct with malice, engaging in hostility, verbal abuse and being physically threatening. He has also been charged with sabotaging Blackboard.

“When I came back from my first suspension, I was isolated into a small office and prevented from performing 99 percent of my job description,” said Lambert. “I was not permitted to interact with faculty or anyone other than by

sitting in my office answering phone calls and emails, then entering them into Service Now. I was not allowed to fix any problems and my access to Blackboard was not allowed.”

He said he felt like he was in employment limbo.

“My job description stayed the same,” he said. “My pay rate stayed the same, but literally 99 percent of my job description was restricted, taken away.”

Lambert said he has worked successfully at SWC for 17 years and in higher education for 30. He was held in high regard by most faculty who relied on him to keep Blackboard running smoothly, according to members of the technology committee who said they are supportive of Lambert but fearful of crossing McClellan. He is the recipient of a national award for his skill as a Blackboard administrator. He also received excellent employee evaluations.

Over Lambert’s 17-year tenure at SWC, he said he was only evaluated twice.

The purpose of employee evaluations

are to assess the employee’s past work performance and to establish future work objectives.

In Lambert’s evaluations, his attitude, work knowledge, judgment, initiative, communication and leadership of others exceeded expectations, according to the evaluation documents.

Lambert said his trouble with McClellan and Borges began Jan. 30 when the web portal shepherded by Borges failed to smoothly incorporate Blackboard, causing hundreds of instructors and thousands of students to lose data and be locked out. Lambert sent a global email explaining that he needed to separate Blackboard from the portal for a few days to determine the source of the problem and fix it. Within minutes of doing so, he said, Borges and McClellan “became unglued.” Within 40 minutes Castillo was in Lambert’s office to deliver the suspension letter and remove him from campus.

Lambert said he was later charged with

Transgender students who have fought hard for the right to use their chosen names instead of legal names are celebrating a decision by college administrators to allow chosen names for college documents and records.

Southwestern College is the first in San Diego County to allow its students to use their chosen names on class rosters, waitlists, grade rosters, WebAdvisor, Blackboard and Canvas, said Dr. Malia Flood, dean of Student Services.

“We knew that it was important to our students and we wanted to make a safe and welcoming environment for them,” she said. “The next step is getting the word out to students and out to faculty and staff, and letting them know that this is available for students.”

Chosen names help improve safety for transgender people — America’s most assaulted and murdered population — by reducing the chance that they will be unintentionally outed by faculty when they call role.

please see Lambert pg. A4

please see Chosen Name pg. A2

SPORTS

Formerly incarcerated students are now mentors and role models for others.

Descendants and friends celebrate the honored dead at National City’s La Vista Cemetery.

Southwestern’s talented football team rampages to a 9-2 season and bowl victory.

@THESWCSUN

ASO needs to amend its constitution after students almost elected a sexual predator.

By Dasha Vovk Staff Writer

ARTS

VIEWPOINTS

Larry Lambert, the embattled Online Instructional Support Specialist, said he may soon be fired by the college.

Lambert said he has not been told the reasons for his possible dismissal and was surprised to be threatened with termination following a brief respite after a semester-long administrative leave. He said he will be the subject of a Skelly hearing in December where he will be afforded the opportunity to contest charges leveled at him by a pair of college administrators.

Generally popular among faculty and students he served as administrator of Blackboard Learning Management System (LMS), Lambert said he ran afoul of IT Director Daniel Borges and Dean Mia McClellan during the opening days of spring semester. Lambert temporarily disconnected Blackboard from a new college portal because “hundreds of faculty and students were not able to get it to work,” he said.

The portal was a pet project of Borges,

Transgender students may choose names

CAMPUS

Supporters protest threatened firing of Lambert

By Brelio Lozano Staff Writer

A third lawsuit centered on racial discrimination and retaliation has been filed against Southwestern College within 11 months. This time custodians Thaao Streeter, Mark Gutierrez and Roderick Curry have filed a joint suit claiming systemic racial discrimination that began in 2009. The suit alleges SWC did not adequately train employees to prevent racism and retaliation.

Former dean Dr. Donna Arnold and PC technician Johnny Blankenship have also filed separate discrimination suits.

“Defendants (SWC) committed these acts alleged herein maliciously, fraudulently, and oppressively,” the custodians’ suit alleges. “They also acted with the wrongful intention of hurting Plaintiffs, and acted with an improper and evil motive amounting to malice or despicable conduct.”

College officials declined to comment specifically about the custodians’ suit, but several insisted that each allegation has been investigated, according to college officials.

Streeter, Gutierrez and Curry said they were not satisfied with the results of the investigations and that racist

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Katy Stegall, editor

NEWS

Nov. 17, 2017 — Vol. 61, Issue 2

Tel: (619) 482-6368 email: news@theswcsun.com

Body cam funds granted to SWCPD remain untouched

By Yazmin Chavez Staff Writer

Across America 6,000 police departments use body cameras.

Southwestern College is not one of them.

SWCPD received a $3,000 grant for body cameras in 2014, but officers have yet to wear them.

Funding from ASIS International, a global security organization, was granted to help SWCPD start a body camera program. About 35 percent of America police departments employ body cameras according to the 21st Century Police Task Force.

Fast forward three years and there has been no progress at Southwestern.

SWCPD Sgt. Robert Sanchez said he was skeptical about the logistics of body cameras from the beginning.

“Introducing a new camera system also means getting a new server to support and store the body evidence data,” he said. “The officers cannot manipulate the video. The only thing the officer will be allowed to do is dock (a) camera and download the data to the server.”

Sanchez said there was not enough money provided to staff the entire force.

“Unfortunately it takes more then just $3,000 to get a body worn program going,” he said. “We could have bought with $3,000 about for or five cameras.”

SWCPD is looking into purchasing a $7,000 server to support body cameras, Sanchez said.

Former Police Chief Michael Cash, who was directed to establish body cameras at the college, spent considerable amounts of money on new vehicle and personnel, but never completed the body camera system.

The vehicles have some largely unused and are parked around campus with no officers inside.

At least three people hired by Cash were done so outside the college hiring process and were let go. One is currently suing the college.

Tim Flood, SWC vice president of financial affairs, said he was not yet working at the college when the grant was awarded.

“I am sure we have the funding in abeyance in a public safety account until the cameras and storage was identified and purchased,” he said.

Flood confirmed that a meeting is planned to discuss the possible purchase of a ser ver to support body cameras, but that no specific plans exist. Sanchez said the original proposal was to have a long-term maintenance contract for the cameras Thomas Contant/Staff and server since the SWCPD does not have the expertise to repair the MANY VEHICLES, NO BODY CAMERAS – An SWCPD project to purchase body cameras has stalled despite a grant from ASIS equipment. Any proposal would have International. Former Chief Michael Cash purchased several new vehicles that are seldom used, but no cameras. to consider which type of cameras to purchase, said Sanchez, and how to remain current.

Police in other parts of the country.

by Cash in the SWCPD locker room. She filed a lawsuit against Cash and the Some SWC students and faculty have SWCPD has weathered numerous Cash was put on administrative leave in SWCPD in December. Cash was caught been vocal proponents of body cameras controversies in recent years, including October 2016 when a female student hiring officers who did not go through following the details of several African- abuse of power by former chief Brent worker alleged sexual assault and a legal hiring process or who were not Americans in the hands of American Chartier and still-unexplained gunfire attempted rape in police headquarters. police academy graduates.

Vicario named special assistant to president for ‘Vision for Success’

By Paola Gutierrez Assistant News Editor

California’s often-fragmented system of 114 community colleges took a step closer to a common set of goals when the government board voted to enroll Southwestern College in the “Vision for Success.”

The program is an attempt to reduce growing achievement gaps and increase falling transfer rates.

SWC’s Academic Senate voted to join the Vision for Success last semester and set goals to reduce achievement gaps by 40 percent and increase transfer rates by 35 percent within five years.

SWC’s transfer rate is currently thought to be less than 20 percent.

It was as low as 8 percent during the superintendency of R.K. Chopra seven years ago.

Dr. Eloy Ortiz Oakley, chancellor for the California Community College system, said the purpose of the project to improve the quality of education in community colleges.

“My hope is that the document will serve as a guide for me and our board of governors over the next several years,” he said.

Marie Vicario-Fisher was hired to be the acting special assistant to President Murillo, and reports directly to her.

Fisher claims she is responsible for overseeing, leading and facilitating

VICARIO the Guided Pathways framework that will be developed by the college constituencies with input from our students.

“My hope is that through increased collaboration between faculty, staff and administrators, we will redesign our processes in a manner that gives students a greater ability to achieve their educational and career goals,” said Vicario.

Each community college in California has different systems of teaching and learning. Vision for Success integrates the goals of all community colleges, Oakley said, in hopes of better securing the state.

SWC President Dr. Kindred Murillo said the project is an attempt to help

students to be more successful in less time.

“We want students to feel supported,” she said. “We want them to stay here so they can get their degrees in two to three years maximum, so they can move on or go get a job. It’s the right vision. It’s well focused and it aligns to everything the community college system is doing.”

Murillo said community college students need better guidance so that they take classes that help them to reach their goals.

“Vision for Success” contains seven commitments: · Focus relentlessly on students’ end goals. · Design and decide with the student in mind. · Pair high expectations with high support. · Foster the use of data, inquiry, and evidence. · Take ownership of goals and performance. · Enable action and thoughtful innovation. · Lead the work of partnering across systems.

SWC Student Trustee Rudolph Villegas said he expects great things from Vision for Success.

“I think of this document as a call for action in hopes that they better accommodate both systems into one.”

Chosen Name: Transgender students may use chosen names on college docs Continued from pg. A1

Dan Cordero, president of the SWC Sexuality And Gender Acceptance Club (SAGA), has been a vocal advocate for chosen names. Cordero, a transgender man, said gender variant students who could not afford to legally change their names had to contact professors ahead of time to let them know about their chosen names and pronouns. That did not always work, he said. When a professor calls students by their legal names instead of their chosen names, Cordero said, it causes invalidation to students’ identity and makes them feel uncomfortable and distressed in class. That impacts their academic performance and also endangers their safety on campus, he said.

“It comes down to physical and emotional welfare of the students at the end of the day,” Cordero said. “So I’m glad that Southwestern College is taking a step in the right direction to implement positive changes for the students.”

Cordero said he hopes the college will take more proactive steps to respect and protect transgender students.

Cordero has led the effort to allow students to use chosen names for years, since he was outed unintentionally by professors calling roll during the open class of the semester. Prior college leaders said IT could not make the change, but Flood and college president Dr. Kindred Murill insisted it could be done.

CORDERO To indicate their chosen name, students must type it in a space for a chosen name on their CCC Apply application or go to the Southwestern College Admission and Records Office and fill out a short form in person. Their chosen name will then show up on all rosters and other schoolrelated documents.

Students’ chosen names will not appear on federal documents that require the legal name. These include financial aid, transcripts, diplomas, student health services, international students and EOPS/CARE/Guardian Scholars.

Cordero said the Trump Administration will likely make it impossible to change federal rules for the time being.

Border Angels 3k run for friendship an international winner

By Alex Shinder Staff Writer

Planning a 3k race is a challenge enough, admitted Enrique Morones, but holding it along the border crawling with Border Patrol and military required international connections, diplomacy and patience.

Not to mention some sturdy running shoes.

Runners from Southern California and Northern Baja laced up for the inaugural Border Angels BiNational Friendship 3k Run hosted by the human rights organization.

Morones declared it a dusty yet inspiring success.

“It’s the first time we are holding this friendship run,” he said. “Being that it’s the first time, it doesn’t come without challenges.

While people around the country are thinking ‘more walls’ we are thinking ‘more friendship.’ This event is all about friendship.”

Runners included members of Latinas A Correr (LAC), an organization that helps Latinas get healthy through running. LAC has branches in Chicago, Virginia, San Diego

and Tijuana. Arlene Gonzalez led the group at the Friendship Run. “I work with three type of women,” she said, “those that have escaped domestic violence, human trafficking and cancer survivors. It’s all about using running as a therapy. We work on a training plan and work together for three to five months preparing to do a 5k to help build selfesteem.”

Morones said 40 runners participated in the border run.

Gabriella Javier finished first. She said she loved running because it made her feel peace, freedom and allowed time for herself.

Sal Flores, director of LAC’s Tijuana charter, said the run helped on a grander scale.

“Despite there being a border wall, this event shows unity and community with everyone in the southern region, especially with those that enjoy running.”

“While people around

the country are thinking ‘more walls’ we are thinking ‘more friendship.’ ”

-Enrique Morones Border Angels

Alex Shinder/Staff

RUN TO THE BORDER – Enrique Morones consults with Border Patrol Agent Saul Rocha during the Border Angels 3K run.

behavior has stretched over the course of five SWC presidents and acting presidents.

Their complaints were initially made public in 2015 when a letter addressed to Assemblymember Dr. Shirley Weber was given by Arnold to The Sun on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Also copied on the letter were the San Diego NAACP, U.S. Office of Civil Rights, San Diego’s Office of the EEOC, SWC’s Governing Board, SWC Professor Stan James, Arnold and Arnold’s attorney Deborah Brady-Davis.

It stated that “a number of us (employees)” had experienced racial discrimination on campus. Signers of the letter were Blankenship, Streeter, Gutierrez, Curry and Eric Matos, who has since retired. Streeter, Gutierrez and Curry said they had tried numerous avenues to voice their complaints prior to signing the letter.

“A number of us who are African-American (or perceived to be African heritage), who are employees of the Southwestern Community College District, are constantly subjected to institutional racism, differential treatment, harassment and a hostile work environment on a daily basis while in performance of our jobs,” read a passage from the 2015 letter.

Director of Facilities Charlotte Zolezzi supervised custodians from January 2016 until early spring 2017. Streeter, Gutierrez and Curry said in interviews with The Sun in January and in their suit that Zolezzi harassed them and conspired to get them fired. Zolezzi said this was untrue and that she was just trying to get them to work. The custodians allege in the suit that she blackmailed them with incriminating pictures and subjected them to retaliatory work evaluations. Zolezzi also denied that.

“You just don’t want to be watchdogging someone all of the time,” she said. “You want to turn them loose, they’re adults.

You just want them to complete their job.”

Zolezzi said she was relieved of her supervision of the custodians following recent litigation. Vice President of Business and Financial Affairs Tim Flood has been temporary supervisor of all custodians since June 2.

Former SWC President Dr. Melinda Nish wrote a letter to the newspaper published Feb. 14, 2015 in response to the January 2015 letter signed to the custodians and Blankenship.

Nish wrote that the employees’ complaints were old and had already been investigated.

“We want to assure our campus community that every allegation—three of which are three to six years old—has been fully investigated and appropriate action has been taken,” wrote Nish.

Later in her letter she wrote that one allegation was “never reported to Human Resources or to Campus Police, but was immediately investigated when Human Resources received the recent letter.”

Former CSEA Vice President Silvia Lugo said the custodians told investigators that the letter was written by Arnold. Lugo said Arnold never showed the letter to the custodians or Blankenship and that they were directed to sign a blank second page that was later attached to the letter.

Some of the signers, when questioned by The Sun in January 2017, confirmed that Arnold asked them to sign a blank page and did not show them the actual letter. Arnold has not responded to numerous phone calls seeking her response.

Prior to her suspension and subsequent retirement, Arnold had denied writing the letter.

Lugo said there were contradictions in the custodians’ testimonies throughout the investigation that brought their credibility into question.

“It became clear to the investigators and to us that the custodians were manipulating this investigation and were lying half the time,” she said. “They have alienated themselves by making up some of these things or changing facts to benefit them. It’s disappointing that grown adults have to go to this

Continued from pg. A1

degree of manipulation and lying to get out of working.”

Former CSEA President Andre Harris agreed and said the custodians complained constantly and did not put enough effort into their responsibilities.

“Do your jobs, man,” he said. “And I quote, just do your jobs.”

Arnold and Blankenship filed separate lawsuits within the last 11 months over backlash from the original January 2015 letter. In the March 17, 2015 issue of The Sun, Harris wrote that he disagreed with statements made in the January 2015 custodian’s letter and that, in his opinion, African-Americans were by and large well treated at the college.

“As an African-American male and having worked at SWC for the past 15 years, I can honestly tell you that I (personally) have never witnessed any type of racial discrimination at this institution,” Harris wrote.

Harris predicted his letter would “prompt some to call me an ‘Uncle Tom’ or even a ‘Sell Out.’” He was correct.

His letter angered some African-Americans on campus.

Lugo and other college employees reported that they heard Arnold and Professor of Commercial Music James Henry, an African-American, engage in a loud and heated discussion about Harris and his letter in Arnold’s office.

Though the door was closed, Lugo and others present said they could clearly hear Arnold and Henry use disparaging and racist language. Lugo said she heard Henry refer to Harris as “a house nigger” and making reference to Uncle Tom. “What I wrote in my letter to Weber was that it was a management issue, not a racial issue,” Harris said to The Sun in February. “That this was poor management and allowing grown men to act like children. Then they came after me.”

Harris received a death threat in the mail after his letter appeared in The Sun. Blankenship and Arnold had their computers confiscated soon after. Blankenship’s was returned, but Arnold suddenly retired after the incident.

The author of the death threat has not been identified.

Some college employees said the FBI was called to investigate, but FBI spokespersons would neither confirm nor deny that. Arnold, before her suspension, denied writing the death threat. Henry has refused requests for an interview.

NAACP San Diego Branch President Dr. Andre Branch said his organization was investigating SWC after numerous allegations of racial discrimination from employees in March 2017. Branch did not reply to

STRONG WORDS – (above) Five minority employees signed a letter dated January 14, 2015 accusing the college of racial discrimination in the workplace. (r) Former CSEA President Andre Harris was sent a death threat after he wroter a letter to The Sun saying he had never experienced racial discrimination at Southwestern.

Jan. 14, 2015

numerous requests for an interview and has yet to provide any information from the NAACP investigation.

SWC President Dr. Kindred Murillo, who started working at the college in February 2017, would not comment on the three lawsuits that stemmed from the letter to Assemblymember Weber. She did, however, address racism, retaliation and discrimination in a recent letter to the college community. Murillo said these behaviors are problems she and administration “must address” by creating a task force to prevent similar situations from happening in the future. “The Advisory Task Force to the President on Inclusion and Race Relations” will convene in December.

“We know we have some issues with racist statements, micro-aggressions, lack of tolerance and diversity,” Murillo said. “This problem is on us. This is our problem and we must address it.”

Brady-Davis was the attorney for Arnold and Blankenship as well as the attorney of record on their lawsuits before she died of cancer earlier this year. Streeter, Curry and Gutierrez have asked for a jury trial. Blankenship and Arnold have made similar requests.

Streeter, Curry, and Gutierrez have a hearing scheduled for Jan. 23, 2018.

April 8, 2015

Trio of custodians file racial discrimination law suit

Oct. 16, 2017: Streeter, Gutierrez and Curry file a lawsuit in San Diego Superior Court against SWC. They charge racial discrimination, failure to prevent discrimination, retaliation, negligent supervision, harassment based on race, retaliation in violation of public policy and intentional infliction of emotional distress. They demand a jury trial.

June 2, 2017: Supervision of custodians was transferred from Director of Facilities Charlotte Zolezzi to Vice President of Business and Financial Affairs Tim Flood.

NEWS March 22, 2017: NAACP San Diego Branch President Dr. Andre Branch confirmed numerous complaints of alleged discrimination received from employees at Southwestern College. Branch said an investigation would follow. No results of the investigation have been released and the NAACP has gone quiet on the matter.

Feb. 3, 2017: Blankenship files lawsuit in San Diego Superior Court against SWC for employment discrimination based on race and retaliation.

Jan. 25, 2017: Harris releases death threat letter to The Sun.

Dec. 9, 2016: Arnold files a lawsuit in San Diego Superior Court against SWC for employment discrimination based on race, retaliation and constructive discharge. She insists she was forced to resign.

June 30, 2015: Arnold retires.

April 27, 2015: Series of employees interviewed by Human Services investigators, some multiple times.

April 24, 2015: Office computers of Arnold and Blankenship are confiscated by the college. Both are placed on paid administrative leave. More diversity training.

April 16, 2015: Brown resigns.

April 14, 2015: Harris receives death threat in the U.S. mail.

April 13, 2015: Performing Arts Coordinator Silvia Lugo reports to Human Resources that she overheard Professor of Commercial Music James Henry and Arnold using racial slurs against Harris during a loud conversation in Arnold’s office in the School of Arts and Communication.

March 17, 2015: Director of Facilities John Brown and Facilities Supervisor Ramsey Romero placed on administrative leave. In a Letter to the Editor published in The Sun, African-American CSEA President Andre Harris said he had not experienced racism at SWC.

March 10, 2015: Full story reporting the accusation of college racism published in theswcsun.com. Nish meets with custodians.

Feb. 14, 2015: Nish writes Letter to the Editor to The Sun. “Every allegation has been fully investigated and appropriate action has been taken.”

Jan. 19, 2015: Arnold gives The Sun a letter that claims racist acts against AfricanAmerican employees. It is addressed to Assemblymember Dr. Shirley Weber, Arnold, the San Diego NAACP, San Diego Office of the EEOOC, U.S. Office of Civil Rights, Governing Board President Norma Hernandez, Professor of History Stanley James and Attorney Deborah Brady-Davis.

ormer SWC dean Dr. Donna Arnold has been at the center of a series of raciallycharged events over the course of the past three years. She retired suddenly in June 2015 and filed a racial discrimination suit against the college in December 2016 claiming she was forced out due to her African-American race.

F

Timeline of Events The Southwestern College Sun Nov. 17, 2017 — Vol. 61, Issue 2

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The Southwestern College Sun

NEWS

Nov. 17, 2017— Vol. 61, Issue 2

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Criminal justice professor is newest Title IX officer

By Katy Stegall News Editor

said. “It’s a lot to put on one director. It’s an overwhelming task.”

Caspi is the most recent in a series of acting Title IX officers.

Southwestern College’s revolving door in the Title IX is spinning His job description expands beyond SWC’s previous Title IX again, but President Dr. Kindred Murillo said she thinks the newest administrators. He is tasked to investigate gender discrimination and acting director will provide some much-needed stability. sexual misconduct as well as oversee employee diversity.

Murillo appointed criminal justice professor Dr. David Caspi as Caspi said he believes administration saw an overlap with the two Title IX officer following the quick appointment and even quicker departments. departure of Trinda Best last summer.

“Creating a safe environment of inclusivity and diversity are all Best, the former vice president of human resources, was appointed things that create a more stable and welcoming college campus,” he

by Murillo in July to oversee sexual misconduct and gender said. discrimination investigations. Best was placed on leave before her Title IX is also experiencing changes at a national level. Secretary duties could begin. The college has had difficulty keeping an officer of Education Betsy DeVos recently made amendments to weaken in place over the past decade and has had a series of people holding Title IX regulations and called Title IX a “failed system.” Moves the position for short stretches of time.

by DeVos will make it more difficult for sexual assault victims, A reason for Best’s leave of absence has not been according to women’s rights advocates. provided. Best did not respond to requests for an Schools prosecuting sexual assault “This is an important issue. interview. must move from a “preponderance Murillo also decided to separate student and Anyone who’s been watching the of evidence” model to a “clear and employee responsibilities in the office of the convincing standard” of proof. news (on Harvey Weinstein) for director of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.

SWC has conducted a series of sexual the last few months knows that.” misconduct investigations. Murillo said Director of EDI Dr. Guadalupe Corona will now focus on student diversity.

-Dr. David Caspi, there has been 35 race-related or sexual Corona said the separation is not a split, but a misconduct investigations during her 10 Title IX Officer months as president. Among those are realignment of resources.

“I believe employees need as much support as the an ongoing lawsuit against SWC’s Police students,” she said. “The more training and support Department filed by a former campus we offer our employees, the better they can serve our students.” police student worker who charged three officers with numerous Murillo concurred. She said it is a goal of administration to have allegations of sexual misconduct. Sexual assault within the ASO is the ethnicities of employees mirror student demographics. Currently, also under investigation. the Latino student population is 49 percent and Latino employees Murillo said she is confident Caspi will perform his duties well. are just 26 percent.

Caspi has been a professor of criminal justice for six years, he said, “We are really working with hiring and retaining diverse employees and has a background in law and investigations. Caspi said his years that match the demographics of the students,” Murillo said. “We of teaching have given him sensitivity to gender and discrimination still run a very white faculty and administration, but our students issues. are mainly Latino.”

“Teaching criminal justice involves issues where I have to discuss Student and employee equity was too much responsibility for one biases and discrimination based on gender,” he said. “The criminal employee, Murillo said. justice system itself has inherit biases. Those are topics I’ve been “Everything related to students stays under Dr. Corona,” Murillo teaching about for a long time.”

Thomas Contant/Staff

A NEW TITLE – Dr. David Caspi, a criminal justice professor, said his background is applicable to his new duties as Title IX officer.

Caspi said the decision to leave some of his classes was like choosing between his children.

He will also serve as a member of Murillo’s Advisory Task Force on Inclusion and Race Relations.

“I’m super excited about this opportunity to have an impact on the college in a totally different way than I have as a faculty member,” he said. “This is an important issue. Anyone who’s been watching the news (on Harvey Weinstein) for the last few months knows that.”

Confederate plaque gone, but cemetery memorial remains

Thomas Contant/Staff

STONEWALLING – The United Daughters of the Confederacy installed a Stonewall Jackson monument in Mount Hope Cemetery as well as a plaque honoring Confederate President Jefferson Davis in Horton Plaza. City leaders had the plaque removed. Conservatives responded by threatening to destroy Chicano Park’s famous murals. They were thwarted by counter demonstrators.

Sydni Ingram Assistant Viewpoints Editor

Chula Vista’s little-known brush with the Civil War ended before it started when a gruff old shopkeeper on Broadway told a group of Confederate soldiers garrisoned in Tijuana and a platoon of Unionists holding down San Diego to knock it off and go back to their bases.

They did, with no shots fired.

Nearly 120 years later the War Between the States echoed again in San Diego when the mayor ordered a plaque dedicated to Confederate President Jefferson Davis in Horton Plaza removed.

Mayor Kevin Faulconer ordered the action after receiving a petition.

“San Diegans, especially our African-American and other people of color community, as well as the hundreds of thousands of visitors each year, should not be asked to honor our nation’s racist past, nor support the continued racism and hate we see today around the nation,” the petition read.

Faulconer did not need much convincing and called for the plaque to be removed immediately.

Davis, a slaveholder who owned a cotton plantation, is considered a traitor by most Americans, but a hero to some racist conservatives, particularly in the American South.

White supremacists, nationalists and neo-Nazis were protesting the removal of a Robert E. Lee statue in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Heather Heyer was killed when an angry white supremacist intentionally hit her with his car. Her death sparked the removal of Confederate monuments in Texas, South Carolina, Florida and other states.

Thousands of San Diegans have also petitioned for the removal of Confederate monument located in Mount Hope Cemetery on Market Street. Forcing removal of the large monument will be more difficult since it is on private property as opposed to a public area.

United Daughters of the Confederacy, an organization that claims to honor the memory of fallen Confederate soldiers installed the plaque and the monument. Their stated intention was to denote and honor the semi-mythical Jefferson Davis Highway, which the DOC advocated for 100 years ago. It was to start in Arlington, Virginia (the home of Robert E. Lee) and end in San

Diego. Members said they installed the Horton Plaza plaque to honor soldiers who passed away in the city after the Civil War. Local conservatives tried to retaliate by threatening to destroy the famous murals of Chicano Park. About 15 right-wingers were met with a counter protest of almost 3,000 defenders of Chicano Park who formed human chains around each mural. One defender was 78-year-old artist Salvador Barajas, who linked arms with friends and family around the Border Angels mural he recently painted.

“Those guys will have to come through me first,” said the sprightly Air force veteran without a hint of jest.

Border Angels founder Enrique Morones said the Confederate monuments should all come down.

“We cannot have these symbols of hate,” he said. “That’s not what freedom of speech is all about.”

Morones said symbols of hate should not be celebrated in public places. He and others have fought for the removal of a statue of former San Diego Mayor Pete Wilson, also located in Horton Plaza. Like the plaque, Morones said, the Wilson statue symbolizes hate and oppression. Wilson advocated for Proposition 209 when he was governor of California, an anti-Latino ballot measure struck down by voters. Morones said that they would continue to protect Chicano Park from aggressors like the local white supremacists.

Governing Board President Tim Nader and college president Dr. Kindred Murillo released a joint statement on behalf of the college.

“We are deeply saddened by the hate speech and violence in Charlottesville this weekend,” they said. “It has only strengthened our resolve to actively engage in Southwestern College’s year-long ‘Inclusion Matters’ dialog and training opportunities.”

Dr. Eloy Ortiz Oakley, chancellor of the California Community Colleges, agreed.

“As we have seen recently, an old and vile menace has visited some college campuses across the country to spread hatred and terror,” he said. “The California Community Colleges denounce white supremacists such as the KKK and neo-Nazi groups that seek to incite violence and attack core values of human dignity.

As the Southern Poverty Law Center points out, these groups are drawn to college settings because our campuses reflect the highest ideals of human rights, including free speech.”

Removed statues and plaques • Statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee removed in September in Charlottesville, Virginia.

• Plaque dedicated to Confederate President Jefferson Davis in Horton Plaza removed on August 9 by order of San Diego mayor.

• San Diegans petition for the removal of Confederate monument located in Mount Hope Cemetery on Market Street.

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Nov. 17, 2017 — Vol. 61, Issue 2

Katy Stegall, editor

NEWS

Tel: (619) 482-6368 email: news@theswcsun.com

Mexican sewage contaminates beaches across border

Victoria Sanchez/Staff

SHORELINE PLAGUE— Sewage and toxic waste from Mexico are killing wildlife and sickening humans who surf and swim in Impearial Beach and Coronado. South County cities are suing the U.S. government for not doing enough to prevent the intentional dumping of sewage and toxins in Mexico.

By Aileen Orozco Assistant Campus Editor

Imperial Beach Mayor Dr. Serge Dedina and his son, Israel, became violently ill after they swam in the sewage-infested waters off Imperial Beach. They were plagued by sinus, ear and gastrointestinal infections because Tijuana had been illegally dumping sewage into ocean.

“They’re doing sewage spills and not telling us,” he said. “My son got sick in July and had to get urgent care. He got so sick.”

Dedina filed a lawsuit against the International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC) as well as the U.S. Federal Government for violations of the Clean Water Act and other federal statutes. Imperial Beach sent a notice of intent to sue Sept. 27, giving the IBWC and federal government 60 days to reply. Dedina said they have received a response from the U.S. Justice Department, but not the one he hoped for.

“The response was basically ‘It’s not our problem,’” said Dedina.

“They’re more mad at me for complaining about sewage than they are at fixing the problem.”

Dedina said the City of Imperial Beach will be moving forward with the lawsuit in the next couple of weeks. People who know Dedina well said his action is notable because he has spent most of his life patiently working with Mexican officials and urging Americans to be respectful and not finger point.

Many San Diego residents have fallen ill after the Tijuana CESPT (Comision Estatal De Servicios Publicos De Tijuana) dumped raw sewage in the Playas de Tijuana beach without notifying U.S. officials.

Shorelines along Imperial Beach and Coronado became contaminated while residents swam in an ocean of sewage and toxic waste. Dedina and National City Mayor Ron Morrison both said that Mexican officials denied their responsibility over the sewage spill and claimed it never happened.

According to Morrison, Dedina has requested a federal investigation from the IBWC into the sewage spills that Tijuana has denied.

Morrison said it is common for CESPT to dump sewage and toxic waste into border canyons and the Tijuana River only to deny it afterwards.

As political tensions between the United States and Mexico grow, countries have become more disobliging towards the other, making matters of the San Diego and Tijuana pollution more difficult to deal with.

“This needs to be done between our two federal governments,” Morrison said. “Our problem is the strained relationship between the two governments, a lot of unnecessary redirect has been going on.”

Lambert: LMS administrator fears he may soon be fired Continued from pg. A1

sabotaging Blackboard, which he vehemently denied. He also denied “planting a rogue file” in the system, as his charge papers claimed.

Lambert has refuted most of the charges against him and said the college failed to present any evidence that he was a poor employee or bad colleague.

“Where is the file?” he asked. “There is no evidence of this. Accusation of intentional interference of systems with no proof.”

Lambert acknowledged that he had been guilty of unprofessional conduct, including walking out of meetings, but he insisted he was never physically threatening, as McClellan and Borges charged.

“I am 6’2” and 300 lbs, and look like a scary guy to some smaller people,” he said. “I was just frustrated at the consistent exclusion from the Online Learning Committee and staff. I was not yelling or threatening.”

Lambert admitted he wrote some “testy emails,” but he said his emotion came from his love for his job and his desire to serve faculty and students well.

“I’m no angel in this,” he said. “Those emails and stuff were pretty incriminating because I was upset. I was frustrated because the decision process to move from one learning management system to another was deeply flawed.”

Lambert was outspoken about his concerns over the transition from Blackboard to Canvas. He insisted it was unfair of the SWC Academic Senate to compare Canvas and Blackboard Ultra, an updated LMS that was still being tested. Faculty members of the Academic Senate are empowered to choose an LMS because it is considered an academic matter.

“Blackboard has a brand new version that’s coming out and it won’t be ready really until summer, possibly fall,” he said in an article published in The Sun last year. “What the Academic Senate is going to compare with Canvas is ridiculous because that version is going to be gone shortly after they decide to make the decision. They’re going to try to make Blackboard command demo a system that’s not ready to be shown yet.”

Lambert insisted he was trying to do his job, which he said is to serve faculty and students by providing the best possible LMS experience. He said he spoke up because he strongly believed Blackboard was a better LMS and that moving to Canvas would hurt students.

“I’m not fighting Canvas, I was fighting the decision-making data and

More than 250 million gallons of raw sewage spilled into the Tijuana River on February causing San Diego beaches to close for more than a month. It moved downhill through the border canyons, reaching the beaches of South County. Dedina said there have been over 320 known sewage spills since August of 2015.

The U.S.-Mexico Border Water Infrastructure Program (BWIP) is an EPA program that helps restore sewage infrastructure.

Surfrider policy coordinator Gabriela Torres said the BWIP distributes money to fix sewage infrastructure in Tijuana. Mexico’s government relies on this American money to fix and update the sewers, but if they fail to do so, sewage ends up in the Tijuana River Valley.

“This is a problem that needs to be solved,” Torres said. “There’s a greater benefit to investing and in having to fix it than having sewage continue to enter because it affects all the residents here.”

Surfrider is a local non-profit organization committed to protecting the San Diego County beaches. It is involved in working to fight sea level rise, climate change and pollution. It has recently become involved on the Tijuana and Imperial Beach sewage border issue, advocating to try to stop it once and for all, Torres said.

Surfrider is forming a Blue Water Task Force, a water testing program that would provide an extra day of coverage each week by ensuring that pollution in the water is not hazardous. The IBWC currently provides one day of water testing for contamination in the San Diego county beaches per week. Surfrider officials have decided that one day of testing is not enough when residents are falling victim of U.S. and Mexico government negligence over safe waters.

Surfrider will soon launch a six-week pilot program to train volunteers and gather necessary equipment.

In September Congress voted on H.R. 3345, a bill which could potentially eliminate the BWIP. Congressmen Darell Issa and Duncan Hunter, Republicans who represent inland districts, voted to eliminate BWIP. Without the BWIP, the number of sewage spills would increase, said Torres.

Issa and Hunter earlier voted to have BWIP funds for infrastructure repairs removed. The City of Imperial Beach is currently working on getting those funds back by trying to reach out to other members of the San Diego County congressional delegation.

Securing funding for sewage repairs has been difficult for Imperial Beach and Tijuana without cooperation from their federal governments.

“It just shows how dysfunctional our federal government is on this side of the border,” Dedina said. “More importantly, how unfortunately incompetent and corrupt the people who are running the sewage industry in Tijuana are.”

the information they were using to make the choice,” he said. “Their single most emphasized point of their choice of Canvas over Blackboard was that it was free.”

Canvas offered its system to SWC for free for two years in exchange for a four-year contract. SWC was paying about $130,000 a year for Blackboard, Lambert said.

Canvas will replace Blackboard at SWC in a phased-in 18-month migration period. By summer 2018 all courses that employ LMS will be in Canvas. Borges did not respond to questions about the cost of Canvas.

Lambert said his suspension was unfair and based on personal animosity rather than professional reasons.

“So what happened was when I was brought back and given my charge packet, I was given the decision of my case and what the outcome would be,” he said. “I was never deposed. I was never talked to. I was never allowed to give them my side, and from what I understand, that is common at SWC.” Lambert, the former president of the classified employees union, said he is dissatisfied with the process of the administrative leave for classified employees because they are very vulnerable to capricious and arbitrary charges and have little power to defend themselves.

“They call it leave, but I call it suspension because it is,” he said. “The whole process is based on hearsay. (It is) not an attempt to find truth, but an attempt to convict, and that’s all that they do.”

Lambert said he voiced his concerns about switching the LMS for almost five years. He was not included in the selection process, he said, though he had more expertise than anyone on campus.

“I was cut out of the entire selection process and they were making decisions based on bad data, erroneous thought processes and irrational kind of direction,” he said. “I’m really very much passionate about online learning and so I’ve worked my tail off for all these years trying to make sure that the online learning program is good and it is.”

Professor of Business Dr. Gail Stockin called Lambert “a visionary” who was essential to bringing online courses to SWC. He is also an expert in learning management systems, she said.

“I’ve known Larry for 18 years and he worked with me and a couple of other faculty because we were some of the first ones who did online,” she said. “Online programs weren’t even in existence and we were really the forerunners in getting courses online because nobody had the vision, but we did and Larry did, too.”

Borges and McClellan were each asked three times for comment, including personal visits to their offices, but declined to be interviewed for this story. Robert Unger, acting director of human resources, said he could not comment on personnel matters that included employee

Enough to make you sick: • 320 sewage spills since August 2015 • 250 million gallons of raw sewage have been spilled • 80 percent of county beaches have closed due to sewage spills discipline.

Lambert said he is considering filing a lawsuit against the college, Borges and McClellan. Stockin said she did not have all the information about Lambert’s situation, but many people on campus have been repositioned due to problems and given other opportunities. McClellan was one such person.

“Why was Larry not given that same opportunity?” she said. “It seems to me the college is getting rid of the wrong people. Larry was always a hard worker and conscientious. Not everyone we have to work with has been.”

Borges has been severely criticized for years by faculty and students over serial technology breakdowns, a non-collegial attitude and attacks on faculty. McClellan was transferred from Student Affairs to her current post following complaints that she enabled sexual assault on campus, insubordination and for lying about her involvement with a secretive group of disgruntled former students that illegally accessed student records. McClellan is no longer allowed to supervise student programs.

Lambert said Borges and McClellan were “impossible” to work with.

“The working environment was so hostile that I was so stressed with anxiety and fear for my 17-year career that I had an emotional breakdown at a meeting with the VP of HR, McClellan and others about ADA accommodations for an emotional support animal I asked to have on campus,” he said.

Lambert said he is now working as a driver for Lyft and Uber, pending the outcome of his Skelly hearing. Tim Flood, the vice president of financial services, is scheduled to chair the hearing. Flood can either uphold the charges, modify them or reject them. Lambert also has the right to appeal the Skelly hearing ruling.

Struggles with the college have taken a toll on his physical and mental health, he said.

“I’m a physical and emotional wreck,” he said. “It’s scary how these people can destroy a person’s career and a man’s life without solid evidence of wrong doing. What happened to me can happen to anybody.”

LAMBERT

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NEWS

Nov. 17, 2017 — Vol. 61, Issue 2

Katy Stegall, editor

Tel: (619) 482-6368 email: news@theswcsun.com

San Diego County fights to keep DREAMers safe

Natalie Mosqueda/Staff

By Brelio Lozano and Alexander Contreras Staff Writers

Victoria Sanchez/Staff

Thomas Contant/Staff

Natalie Mosqueda/ Staff

DREAM ON—Thousands crowd the County Administration Building mall to protest President Trump’s call to dismantle DACA.

Undocumented immigrants’ biggest fear may soon be realized as the program Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) may be phased out by the Trump administration.

As early as March 2018, officials said, some of the 800,000 young adults brought to the United States illegally as children who qualify for the program DACA will become eligible for deportation.

This includes many Southwestern College students.

In President Trump’s official statement, he said he would resolve the DACA issue with heart and compassion.

“As President, my highest duty is to defend the American people and the Constitution of the United States of America,” he said. “At the same time, I do not favor punishing children, most of whom are now adults, for the actions of their parents. But we must also recognize that we are nation of opportunity because we are a nation of laws.”

President Barack Obama’s 2012 executive order allowed certain undocumented individuals who were brought to the United States under the age of 16 to apply for two-year work permits and be protected from deportation during that time.

With no path to citizenship, Trump has now decided to fulfill his campaign promise and phase out the DACA program.

“In the best interests of our country, and in keeping with the obligations of my office, the Department of Homeland Security will begin an orderly transition and wind-down of DACA, one that provides minimum disruption,” Trump said. “I am not just going to cut DACA off, but rather provide a window of opportunity for Congress to finally act.” Trump called on Congress to act and create legislation to protect those in the program and create a path to citizenship. Some states are threatening legal action against President Trump for rescinding DACA. Southwestern College’s Governing Board released a statement supporting the DACA program soon after the announcement.

“Our hardworking DREAMers, like students across the country, are working every day to build a better future for themselves and their families, and are an integral part of our communities. We believe every student, regardless of their background or country of origin, has a right to an education at Southwestern College,” the statement read.

College President Dr. Kindred Murillo issued an email to all students re-assuring her commitment to provide the right of education for undocumented students.

“We want to assure you that Southwestern College is committed to providing a welcoming learning environment for all our students and college community, regardless of immigration status or country of origin,” Murillo said. “Our college leadership has expressed unwavering support and commitment to our DACA students and our DREAMers. Southwestern College will continue to advocate on their behalf to ensure that they have the right to live and learn without fear.”

San Diego County activists are also fighting back.

Human rights organization Suenos Sin Fronteras has stood up and given a platform to “those willing to speak their minds” and “a voice to the voiceless.” Armed with legal documentation, members advocate for young immigrants. Suenos Sin Fronteras held a boisterous rally in San Ysidro calling for restoration of DACA. Maria Puga was an emotional speaker at the rally.

On May 28, 2010 her life was redefined when her husband was killed by U.S. Border Patrol Agents while undergoing deportation. She said he was beaten, tasered and denied medical assistance by the immigration agents. No one was charged. Seven years later Puga continues to demand justice and is now an activist in the San Diego community.

“I fear these students who work hard and cross daily just to come to school will suffer the same fate my husband did,” she said.

Marco Amaral, 26, delivered his own personal message. Amaral, a teacher at Castle Park High School, recounted an interaction he had with a student who was strip searched at the border minutes before arriving to school.

“How am I going to teach anything to a 14-year-old child who just went through something like that?” he asked. “This particular student had autism and as he crossed the border at 4 a.m. he was forced into secondary and treated like a criminal.”

Suenos Sin Frontera began organizing biweekly rallies in an attempt to call congressmen to action.

“DACA is simply not enough,” said Suenos Sin Fronteras member Monique Sandoval.

In California, 242,339 young people received DACA status between 2012 and March 2017, according to the Migration Policy Institute.

EdSource reported that 72,300 undocumented students are enrolled in California’s public colleges and universities. An estimated 60,000 are enrolled at community colleges, 8,300 at CSUs and 4,000 at UC. If DACA were to phase out, California retains its mechanism to enroll undocumented students in high schools or colleges. California’s “Welfare Act of 1996” allows undocumented students to attend public elementary and high schools and colleges with or without DACA. DACA students, however, wouldn’t be able to receive financial aid and Trump’s decision would not change that. Undocumented students, with or without DACA status, already are banned from receiving federal aid such as Pell Grants, federally subsidized loans and work-study jobs.

In 2001 California Assembly Bill 540 allowed undocumented students to pay the discounted in-state levels of tuition at public colleges and universities. In 2011 the California Dream Act was signed by Gov. Jerry Brown to provide financial aid to those undocumented students whether or not they had DACA permits.

Lupita Cortez Alcalá, executive director of the California Student Aid Commission, which administers the DREAMer aid, said California Dream Act grants are unrelated to the federal DACA program.

“We cannot emphasize enough that DACA status is not required to be eligible for financial aid or admission to college in California,” she said.

Officials from the California Student Aid Commission emphasized that California scholarship information is kept confidential and separate from federal immigration paperwork. They pledged to resist any federal attempt to get access to the material. Still, officials concede, it is not beyond the realm of possibility for the federal government to gain access.

In January SWC’s Governing Board passed Resolution NO. 1992, “Upholding the Civil Rights of All Residents.” The resolution stated that all students deserve equal protection under the law as guaranteed by the 14th Amendment. It declared that SWCPD would not detain, question or arrest any individual solely on the basis of personal characteristics such as religion or suspected immigration status. It also said the college will not release any personal information, including immigration status, without a judicial warrant or court order.

In September, the California Assembly passed a resolution that condemned President Trump for his decision to rescind protections for people brought into the country illegally as children. House Resolution 66, coauthored by 57 members of the chamber, urged the president to stand with recipients of DACA and called on Congress to find a “bipartisan and more effective” version of the initiative.

It was approved 57 to 1.

The only dissenting member was Assemblyman Matthew Harper (R-Huntington Beach), who argued that DACA was the result of abusive federal overreach

by President Obama.

In response to the threats by the Trump administration, the SWC Governing Board signed onto an Amicus Brief in a Sanctuary Jurisdiction Case. The brief files a preliminary injunction against the Trump Administrations’ efforts to withdraw federal funding from what is loosely referred to as “sanctuary jurisdictions,” according to Board President Tim Nader.

Nader said the Trump Administrations’ description of sanctuary jurisdiction is poorly defined.

“This (amicus brief ) is certainly an effort to defend the rights of our immigrant students,” he said. “It’s also an effort to defend our federal system, our constitution and our American rule of law.”

Nov. 17, 2016— Volume 61, Issue 2

VIEWPOINTS

The Southwestern College Sun

A7

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.

ALYSSA PAJARILLO

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Small-scale racism causes large-scale damage

Alyssa Pajarillo COPY EDITOR

Brian del Carmen

NEWS

Katy Stegall, editor Paola Gutierrez, assistant CAMPUS

Carolina Rubio Ruiz, editor Aileen Orozco, assistant Karen Estrada, assistant VIEWPOINTS

Matthew Reilly, editor Sydni Ingram, assistant Larry Estrada, head cartoonist ARTS

Marty Loftin, editor Jaeneen Chung, assistant SPORTS

Ivana E. Morales, editor Brittany Cruz-Fejeran, assistant ONLINE

Anibal Alcaraz, editor Alejandra Castorena, editor PHOTOGRAPHY

Thomas Constant, editor Victoria Sanchez, editor SENIOR STAFF

Natalie Mosqueda

STAFF WRITERS

Alyson Atencio

Alejandro Morales

Alan Cazares

Juan Morales

Yazmin Chavez

Alex Nuñez

Justin Dottery

Arianna Pintado

Sara Gonzalez

Paulina Valdez

Kareem Kanaan

Grace Vasquez

Brelio Lozano

Dasha Vovk

PHOTOGRAPHERS

CARTOONISTS

Ailyn Dumas Leon

Dan Cordero

Maria Joaquin

Stephanie Garrido

Alex Shinder

Michelle Phillips

ADVISOR

Dr. Max Branscomb

AWARDS/HONORS Student Press Law Center National College Press Freedom Award, 2011 National Newspaper Association National College Newspaper of the Year, 2004-17 Associated Collegiate Press National College Newspaper of the Year National Newspaper Pacemaker Award, 2003-06, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012-2017 General Excellence Awards, 2001-17 Best of Show Awards, 2003-17 Columbia University Scholastic Press Association Gold Medal for Journalism Excellence, 2001-16 California Newspaper Publishers Assoc.

California College Newspaper of the Year, 2013, 2016 Student Newspaper General Excellence, 2002-17 San Diego County Multicultural Heritage Award

Society of Professional Journalists National Mark of Excellence, 2001-17 First Amendment Award, 2002, 2005 San Diego Press Club Excellence in Journalism Awards 1999-2017 Directors Award for Defense of Free Speech, 2012 Journalism Association of Community Colleges Pacesetter Award 2001-17 General Excellence Awards, 2000-17 American Scholastic Press Association Community College Newspaper of the Year San Diego County Fair Media Competition Best of Show 2001-03, 20052017

editorial The Issue: SWC students were only 44 votes from electing a serial sexual predator as ASO president

Marty Loftin/Arts Editor

Our Position: ASO needs to ensure that a sexual predator cannot run for an ASO position ever again

ASO Needs To Tighten Its Rules On Who Can Run For President

Someone who engages in sexual assault should never be elected ASO President. Yet just 44 votes kept former ASO senator and accused rapist Roy Castillo from becoming the leader of our student body.

It is horrifying that the election was even that close.

Castillo should not have been allowed to run.

Southwestern College’s ASO Constitution lists six qualifications to run for president. It is a low bar. A candidate must not hold any other ASO position, have at least a 2.5 GPA and enroll in nine units. There is no morality clause.

It is time to change that.

A morality clause is a section of a contract that stipulates ethical behavior, typically for celebrity endorsements or professional athletes. If violated, the person could lose their endorsement. It is high time the ASO Constitution be amended to include an ethics clause for student government officials, especially the president.

Recent presidents like Melissa Rodriguez and Mona Dibas are sterling examples of what our ASO President should be.

Both ladies were scholarly and moral service leaders. They were role models who fought for students’ rights and against sexual assault.

It is supremely ironic that they could have been succeeded by a profane, manipulative middle-aged sexual predator like Castillo. Compared to Castillo, Roy Moore, Donald Trump and Harvey Weinstein look like rank amateurs. Like Moore, Castillo is a 30-something who likes them young.

There are few examples of morality clauses in other college student government organizations in California, but that is not

Online Comments Policy

an excuse. Being the first should not be a deterrent. Southwestern College can demonstrate some leadership in social change and take another step towards diminishing the rape culture on this campus.

Frankly, SWC cannot afford to sit this one out. Past ASOs have suffered from immoral, narcissistic representatives. Our campus police department is involved in a sexual assault scandal. Current and former administrators have enabled sexual assault and Southwestern’s rape culture. They know who they are. So do we.

It is time for action. It is not enough anymore to wave signs and say the student body stands against violence and sexual assault.

Last year’s mostly-excellent ASO, nevertheless, had too many immature, ill-behaviored members who engaged in disturbing sexual misconduct. Castillo was the worst perpetrator, but not the only ASO official that behaved badly.

ASO officials need to advocate for changes in Southwestern’s dysfunctional culture. Before the culture can really change, college leaders must take the first step. We applaud college president Dr. Kindred Murillo for acknowledging this, but we wish she would actually take that step and make some longoverdue personnel changes. Some heads need to roll to show the community that SWC’s decades of sleazy sexual conduct is over—or is moving toward an end.

An amendment to the ASO’s Constitution will not take back what Roy Castillo did to the people around her— but it might prevent a future sexual predator from gaining leadership of the student body. Castillo is not the first 30- or 40- something to use the college as a sexual candy shop, but our leaders need to do everything possible to try and make her the last.

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Interracial dating may sound like old news now.

America, after all, has gone a few steps from where it was in the 1960s when interracial marriage was finally legalized.

An overwhelming 87 percent of Americans approve of interracial marriage, according to a Gallup Poll.

That does not mean racism is gone, witness the 13 percent that does not approve.

Racism is still alive and well in the dating scene. It just comes in less visible, bite-sized pieces.

On the dating scene men and women are both guilty of fetishizing race.

Terms like “yellow fever” or “jungle fever” are terms commonly thrown around to describe dating or sexual preferences. These terms are problematic, because they essentially say race is a prerequisite rather than the individual.

Yellow fever, for instance, is when someone is strictly or mainly attracted to someone of Asian decent. People who claim to have yellow fever are often attracted to the stereotype Asians shown in Hollywood and pornography, such as the role of the submissive woman, sexual geisha or sweet schoolgirl.

These racial stereotypes often lead to racial micro aggressions within potential dating pairs.

Columbia professor Derald Sue defined micro aggressions as “brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, or environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative racial slights and insults toward people of color.”

In short, micro aggressions are passive-aggressive statements that are prejudiced or racist, whether intended or not.

Micro aggressions toward people who are Asian include speaking to them in an Asian dialect, regardless of if they actually speak the language, or if it is of their actual decent.

As a mixed individual, I have experienced many micro aggressions focused on my Asian ethnicity. I have had boyfriends ask if I could read Chinese or Japanese lettering or speak Chinese or Japanese.

I have had boyfriends ask if I knew how to do Chinese acrobatics.

I am Filipino.

No. I don’t know how to do any of those things.

Asian men also face dating prejudice. They are seen as weak and are often emasculated.

Discrimination exists in the heterosexual world and the LGBTQ communities.

Grinder profiles often read, “No fats, no femmes, and no Asians.”

This racism is not exclusive to Asians. All types of ethnicities face dating micro aggression from those who are supposed to love them most.

It is okay to have a type, but we must think hard about where your preferences bubble up from. Sometimes it is not a good place.

Alyssa may be reached at sexandthesun@theswcsun.com

Matthew Reilly, editor

Tel: (619) 482-6368 E-mail: viewpoints@theswcsun.com

VIEWPOINTS

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Nov 17, 2017 — Vol. 61, Issue 2

Don’t reject your beautiful Mexican heritage

By Ivana Morales A perspective

“El peor enemigo de un mexicano es otro mexicano.”

(A Mexican’s worst enemy is another Mexican.)

I was sitting on the trolley, heading home after school, when I heard two high schoolers, a boy and a girl, speaking “Spanglish” behind me. This is normal since we live in a region where languages mix. Out of respect, I try not to eavesdrop on other people’s conversations, but this particular exchange caught my attention.

“I do not trust Mexicans,” the boy said.

“Me neither,” the girl replied. “I only speak Spanish because of my parents.”

I was surprised. They started a dialog about how Mexico was poor and dangerous, and how they felt ashamed of being labeled as “Mexicans.”

These offensive words of ignorance and prejudice made my mouth drop open in disbelieve. I silently turned to face them.

“Have you ever been to Mexico?” I asked.The two shared a sanctimonious glance.

“No,” said the boy.

These types of conversations make me very sad. I feel conflicted when Chicanos or people of Mexican descendant talk nonsense about the country of their parents or grandparents. Many seem to feel embarrassed about having roots in Mexico. They believe being bilingual is abhorrent.

Being bilingual has been stigmatized. When immigration is motivated by necessity or even survival, the motherland can become a burden.

Speaking the parent language can be considered an undesirable trait, especially if the place of origin has a bad reputation. But instead of feeling humiliated, one should feel pride. If expressing ideas in a single language can be complex, can you imagine the struggle of dealing with two different thoughts with a similar meaning? Being bilingual is a privilege.

Mexicans are diverse and evolving people. One day we seem look like extremely patriotic people and react with burning fury if someone wounds our national pride. The next day we can be racist towards our own kind.

We tend to diminish those who are different.

We judge people for their skin tone and for their accents. If a person has brown skin, we call them “indio.” Having darker skin is looked down upon.

We look down on Mexican-Americans because they are too “Americanized” or because they cannot speak “proper Spanish.”

It should be the other way around. Bilingualism and biculturalism are gifts that enrich the borderlands. They create opportunity to mold a unique identity.

Tolerance is essential. We must respect each other and we need to understand we have the same roots.

Prejudices cannot be erased overnight, but must be worked on gradually.

President Trump began his campaign by labeling Mexicans as “rapists” and “bad hombres,” paving the way for continued rhetoric of bigotry and racism. He wants to build a “big beautiful wall” to

“Mexicans are diverse and evolving people. One day we seem like extremely patriotic people and react with burning fury if someone wounds our national pride. The next day we can be racist towards our own kind.” keep criminals out. His remarks empower racists to think they have the right to act violently and harass minorities.

Mexicans are crossing the border to flee from the United States. Between 2009 and 2014, one million Mexicans returned to the mother country, according to the Mexico National Survey of Demographic Dynamics. My paisanos are heading south, not north.

President Trump is mistaken.

Both countries are intimately connected.

America’s economy depends heavily depends on Mexican immigrants. In 2009, American companies employed 5.9 million Mexican workers.

Mexico is a wounded country battling corrupt governments, drug cartels and negative clichés. Mexicans are often depicted as lazy people with big sombreros and old burros.

But Mexico is so much more.

Mexico is beautiful, with an amazing culture. Its language is exquisite and the landscapes are breathtaking, not to mention the distinctive music and food.

Mexico has 27 archeological sites that are recognized by UNESCO as World Heritage Site.

I felt more pride for being Mexican when I came to the United States. Being away from the country I was raised in made me value my own cultural identity like never before. Most importantly, it made me realize that we are unique individuals b e f o r e anything else.

I am Mexican and American.

I cherish my heritage. I wish everyone did.

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Neurotypicals need to cool it with the advice

By Marty Loftin A perspective

Marty loftin/arts editor

Mind over matter sounds good in theory, but when the problem is in someone’s head, the matter is a lot more serious.

People with mental illnesses have enough stress in their lives and do not need their friends and family playing armchair psychiatrist trying to cure them.

Neurotypical people cannot understand what is like to be neurodivergent.

Neurotypicals fail to comprehend the difficulties of having a mental illness, which causes them to offer non-cures and impossible solutions, which can include suggesting a healthier diet, more exercise or trying certain legal or illicit drugs.

While these suggestions are usually made in good faith and with the best intentions, they are still ignorant to the nature of mental illness and can make those on the receiving end feel guilty or ashamed of their condition.

Attempts at empathy and understanding are much better than any advice from a non-professional or novice.

No one should feel humiliated by their conditions or the symptoms of their problems. Alienation and social anxiety, commonly associated with mental illnesses, are common.

In the United States 44.7 million adults were affected by a mental illness, according to data from the 2016 National Survey on Drug Use by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

Lots of people are in the same boat.

Many are ashamed to have a mental condition that requires medication.

Without the right medicine or treatment, mental illnesses can force many neurodivergent people to suffer incessantly.

Anxiety and depression cannot be cured by sunshine and vegetables, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia cannot be fixed with meditation and vitamins, and other serious mental conditions cannot be alleviated without the right medicine prescribed by a real doctor. Some cannot be cured with currently available medicines.

Neurodivergent people are sometimes thought to be inherently violent,

“Anxiety and depression cannot be cured by sunshine and vegetables, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia cannot be fixed with meditation and vitamins... serious mental conditions cannot be alleviated without the right medicine prescribed by a real doctor.” especially those with bipolar disorder or schizophrenia. Truth is, people with mental conditions are more likely to be the victims rather than those inflicting harm. One in four people with mental illness experiencing some kind of violence in a given year, according to a study titled “Mentally Ill Often Targets of Violence” by Crystal Phend, published in MedPage Today.

Less than one percent of people with severe untreated mental illnesses who commit violence grab the most media attention. It does not help that mental illness is villainized in fiction, especially in Batman, where a mentally ill hero fights a menagerie of mentally ill villains who are often locked up in stereotypical mental asylum, with Gothic architecture and straight jackets, before they escape to wreak havoc again.

It is wishful to think that those who would willingly harm innocent people have a problem with their brain and are not sane. In reality, most violent people are perfectly cognitive neurotypicals and their pleas of insanity are often unsubstantiated.

Insanity is a wholly legal concept used to distinguish guilt from innocence when the defendant’s ability to determine right from wrong in relation to their

crime.

Even doctors and psychiatrists with years of training have difficulty finding solutions to their patient’s mental health issues. Not all doctors are interested or able to work with their patients with mental illness to help develop the right treatment plan.

Depending on severity of condition and symptoms, many types of drugs or forms of therapy can be used for treatment, but it is not an easy process.

Whether it is anxiety, depression, PTSD, schizophrenia or another condition, not one form of treatment is a cure-all for every person with that condition.

A study published by psychologist Jeremiah Schumm and colleagues reported that 63.4 percent of veterans with PTSD preferred psychotherapy and medication and 30.1 percent preferred psychotherapy alone.

Finding the right cocktail of medicine can take months of experimentation and back-and-forth. Finding the right balance between feeling better and feeling worse is hard.

Neurodivergent people have to experiment with various mood- and mind-altering substances and then report back to their doctor the results over a period of months until they find a treatment plan that works for them.

Until they find the right combo of drugs that helps stabilize their condition, it is up to neurotypical friends and family to support their neurodivergent loved ones, especially when they display the symptoms of their mental illness and need that support the most.

Even if treatment goes well and one has found the “right” cocktail, the body and mind can change and what used to work loses its effectiveness. One must be introspective and vigilant when it comes to treating their mental illness so that yesterday’s cure does not becomes tomorrow’s disease.

Mental illnesses, like any kind of disease, happen to real people and should not be suffered in silence. It takes a lot of work for a mentally ill person to keep up appearances and put up a front that suggests that everything is fine. When a person is brave enough to speak out about their condition, it is up to their loved ones to accept them and lend them their ear or a shoulder to cry on.

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Matthew Reilly, editor

VIEWPOINTS

Nov 17, 2017 — Vol. 61, Issue 2

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Tel: (619) 482-6368 email: viewpoints@theswcsun.com

Thinking Out Loud What do you think about Trump’s decision to repeal DACA?

“I disagree with the decision.

They have the right to stay here. They have families here and spent the majority of their lives in this country.”

Ruby Alatorre, 19, Undecided

“I feel like it’s wrong to send them back though they’ve been here for years. I think it’s unfair.”

Shelleya Jones, 18, Criminal Justice

“It’s bad, because they are doing something right. I don’t understand why they have to deprive the people from education.” ilse magana, 23, Music

“I’m not happy at all because everyone deserves an education, it’s a human right. This is a violation of human rights.”

Anthony Oriol, 25, Film Production

“It’s immature of him to focus on deporting children when there are positive things he can be doing.”

Gabral Macias, 21, architecture

Follow us on: The SWC Sun Theswcsun

@theswcsun

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Larry Estrada/Head Cartoonist

Palestinian Muslim feels rejected by America

By Nada Dibas A perspective

I am a Palestinian Muslim and I consciously exclude “American” from my identity. Although my documentation says I am an American, I don’t believe so.

Palestinian refugees don’t get to call anywhere home. They are always on the move because no one wants them. The only place I am made to feel at home is Palestine. I will never consider America to be my home because I’m not welcome here. I don’t want to identify with a nation that rejects me. Rejection takes many forms: even though I am not being actively removed from this country, simply existing can be difficult.

It’s difficult to go to my classes and have to put in the energy to argue and banter with a white man who believes Muslims don’t have the right to privacy. It’s difficult to always be talked down to. It’s difficult to constantly be conscious of the dirty glares I am getting while dining with friends. Quite frankly, sometimes it’s dangerous just to leave my house looking the way I do.

People tell me to look at all that this nation has done for me, but I will not applaud people for being decent human beings. People want me to be thankful for the basic human rights that come with having U.S. Citizenship. But here’s the thing about rights, they’re not privileges, they’re rights. I don’t owe America a “thank you”

for giving me the right to vote.

Let’s be real, women only achieved that right 90 years ago and black people only 60 years ago. How far have we really come?

Although it is hard to look beyond our own bubble of being, there exists multiple worlds beyond the one we live in. The most beautiful gift

I will never consider America to be my home because I’m not welcome here. I don’t want to identify with a nation that rejects me. life has to offer is the ability to exist in multiple worlds at once. While it comes with its struggles, there is nothing more significant than these hardships. There is nothing more worth being able to switch between languages, understanding different societal norms, adapting easily to different environments, being able to engage in a majority of conversations or having the ability and desire to know more about the conversations you have a hard time contributing to. I attribute this to the different worlds I’ve had the privilege of experiencing.

I was born in San Diego and lived here until I was 10. I then moved to Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates and my family and I lived there for

a year. We then moved to Abu Dhabi, UAE and we lived there for almost 7 years before I moved back to San Diego. During those 7 years, we moved a lot within the city. I’ve been to a total of 3 different high schools but never stayed for more than two years. I was bullied here in San Diego prior to moving for being the Arab kid and I was bullied in the UAE for being the American kid.

I was never Arab enough for the Arab kids, and I wasn’t American enough for the American kids.

The bullying ended after the 6th grade when I learned to embrace my mixed experiences. It made me cooler than all the other kids. Everyone wanted to be my friend and I instantly turned into a popular kid.

My main concern when moving to the UAE was food and TV. I was so worried they wouldn’t have disgusting fast food restaurant (little did I know, I would, and they would be better) and I was so worried I wouldn’t have my precious Disney Channel (which I didn’t, but I adapted and I survived). America isn’t the greatest country in the world and I’m glad I was able to venture out and see that. I’ve been all over and there are very few nations that the United States is superior to.

Seeing all that I’ve seen and being everywhere that I have been, I speak from a wealth of experience. I have a lot more to experience. My experiences have made me who I am today. Who is Nada Dibas? She is a Palestinian Muslim Activist Hijabi Queen who will continue to fight injustices across the nation and the world.

SWC cafeteria needs more vegan options

By Sydni Ingram A perspective

Chick-fil-A is known for its quirky ads of cows promoting the consumption of chicken. What if other barnyard animals like chicken, pigs and sheep banded together and encouraged society to consume more vegetables?

Vegans do not consume any meat or any animal-based foods, including dairy or eggs. Vegetarianism is more lenient, allowing the consumption of milk and cheese.

Most people follow through with these diets for the health benefits, philosophical opposition to killing animals or both.

Vegetarians have healthier hearts, as well as lower cholesterol, blood pressure, hypertension and Type 2 diabetes.

Vegetarians also tend to “have a lower body mass index and lower overall cancer rates,” according to the American Dietetic Association.

Activist vegetarians argue that the animal industry is very cruel.

Many activists believe that animals have rights that forbid killing of them for the consumption of humans.

They insist it is unethical to eat meat when a plant-based diet is available.

Southwestern College should support vegetarian diet and activism, since more Americans are moving towards a plant-based diet. College cafeterias should take this growth into consideration.

“Six percent of the U.S. population now identifies as vegan, compared to one percent in 2014,” says One Green Planet, a site that encourages green living.

“The plant-based meat market is set to

reach $5.2 billion by 2020 and could make up one-third of the market by 2050.”

Southwestern College must increase its variety of plant-based foods for the growing vegetarian population.

Plant-based options in the cafeteria are currently limited, with little to no diversity. Hot food entrees change constantly throughout the weeks, yet plant-based options remain stagnant. Having options for vegetarians and vegans is a step in the right direction, but eating the same foods can be exhausting. What is currently

Larry Estrada/Head cartoonist

being served in the cafeteria involve the salad bar, premade wraps, and a few other alternatives. No hot food meals are available for people on these diets besides a side of vegetables and fries.

Quick and easy vegetarian and vegan meals can be made available in our cafeterias. Vegetarian options like Buddha bowls, which contain various types of healthy grains, vegetables and protein, should be added to the menu. Southwestern college typically serves chili that contains meat daily. An alternative would be to make the chili meatless, while including more vegetables like corn in place of meat. Cafeterias can also add more cooked vegetables with the other hot dishes that are served.

This is small compared to the endless amount of chicken strips, steak quesadillas, sandwiches and more being served.

With the new implementation of vegetarian meals, students will also have healthier food options. Not only are plant-based dieters gaining from this, but also regular college attendees.

This school must prioritize the incorporation of plant-based meals, so students do not have to go out of their way to meet their needs. Chula Vista as a whole does not have many, possible any strictly plant-based restaurants.

Expanding the food here on campus can be efficient and convenient.

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Matthew Reilly, editor

VIEWPOINTS

Nov. 17, 2017 — Vol. 61, Issue 2

Tel: (619) 482-6368 E-mail: viewpoints@theswcsun.com

Trump’s phony condemnation of Alt-Left is a false equivalency

By Matthew Reilly A perspective

There is no such thing as the alt-left.

In the wake of the chaos that erupted in Charlottesville last month, President Donald Trump blamed “many sides” for the violence.

“What about the altleft that came charging at the, as you say, the ‘altright?’ Do they have any semblance of guilt?” Trump said during a press conference.

“What about the fact they came charging — that they came charging with clubs in their hands, swinging clubs? Do they have any problem? I think they do.”

Trump just branded those opposing racism and antiSemitism as being equivalent to those perpetrating those heinous acts, focusing on who he wants to blame. Trump isn’t trying to vilify the Democrats for the violence, he’s trying to shift blame onto a whole new bogeyman: the so-called alt-left.

For many people, this was the first time they had ever heard the term “alt-left.” The British Telegraph newspaper, for example, even claimed the phrase was “coined by Mr. Trump.” This is incorrect.

The term ‘alt-left’ was first used by centrist Democrats as a way to disparage those with more leftist views.

The term was coined “to create a false equivalence between the far-right and ‘anything vaguely left-seeming that they didn’t like,’” Anti-Defamation League analyst Mark Pitcavage told The New York Times. “It did not arise organically, and it refers to no actual group or movement or network.”

The concept of the alt-left was inevitable after the concept of the alt-right was created. The alt-right is the title given to the generally incoherent grouping of Nazis, Klansmen and Internet trolls whose support gave rise to Trump’s candidacy in 2016. Those who were labelled as alt-right by the media, like Neo-Nazi Richard Spencer, wore the title proudly as it sounded more palatable than ‘neo-nazi.’ Alt-left, however, was just created to be used as an epithet.

The term alt-left started picking up steam among centrist Democrats when Bernie Sanders declared his candidacy for President. Prominent Hillary Clinton supporters in the media, such as Joy Reid of MSNBC, would use the term on her show to mock Sanders supporters and their lofty ambitions.

There was nothing inherently wrong with disagreeing with Bernie Sanders’ proposals, but using the term ‘alt-left’ was a deliberate attempt to associate progressive Sanders supporters with the vile and regressive alt-right.

Throughout the primary, anyone who disagreed with Clinton would be dismissed as a member of the ‘alt-left’ and anyone who was a member of the ‘alt-left’ was dismissed as “just as bad” as the alt-right.

But the alt-left is the left. The “alt” is meaningless.

“In the context of the alt-right, ‘alt’ could be made to mean ‘unacceptable,’” said Sam Kriss of Politico in a piece on Charlottesville. “Calling their opponents to the left an alt-left implied, circuitously but unmistakably, that they too were racists and sexists, transphobes and anti-Semites, without ever requiring the courage to directly make the accusation.”

Trump has now coopted the term, meaning it is going to be perpetuated by his base for years to come. It means if someone is perceived as ‘alt-left’, their words will be devalued. It means beneficial leftist ideas like singlepayer healthcare, Universal Basic Income, and Wall Street regulation will be seen as negative and undesirable by some. It means people will hesitate joining progressive leftist organizations like Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) due to avoid being associated with groups like Antifa. The term is meant to control the left’s ideas and to keep them from ever becoming a reality. It is a devaluation of what the left has fought for, and continues to fight for.

Students need mentorships

By Victoria Sanchez A perspective

Mentors are not to be confused with counselors. SWC counselors are notorious for not providing the help students need. Appointments are nearly impossible to make and advice is often vague. Too many of our overworked counselors are underinformed about specific majors and cannot offer strong advice.

A mentor knows what path a student needs to take because they have done it. They are experienced in the field and familiar with the discipline. They can be trusted to provide guidance, perspectives and options.

Mentors are able to provide students with a wide range of skills and assets. Not only will a student gain the necessary knowledge and a good sense of understanding of the field of their choice, they will also acquire interpersonal skills that will help enhance healthy relationships with family, friends and coworkers.

Students benefit by working closely with someone who has been in a field. Young students often enter college thinking they want to major in one thing and after a few months realize it is not what they want to do. This leads to a cycle of chaos and sampling classes in search of a career path. Time and money roll by as students take unnecessary classes. Mentors give students perspective and strategy. They also shed light on the career path.

Students with clarity of purpose will enjoy higher transfer rates. Students will ultimately know what classes they need and what they must do to advance in their field.

Mentors can help students achieve their goals, set a proper class schedule and inspire them to transfer sooner than the current six-year average. Mentors can be magic. Our college needs to develop mentorship programs like we see in journalism and nursing.

Mentors can light the path.

We need help finding them.

It is not always what you know, it is who you know. Even bright students can be blocked from success if they do not meet the right people at the right times.

Southwestern College is in dire need of more extensive mentorship programs. Community colleges consistently show low transfer rates and low retention in transferrequired classes such as English or Math. Only 15 percent of SWC students are transferring into four-year universities following their time at the college, according to admissions employees. The number may be as low as eight percent.

Mentorships increase student production, decrease stress levels and help create a path to success, according to a study by David L. DuBois and Naida Silverthorn in The American Journal of Public Health.

MSE Mentorship Program is advertised as a network for STEM majors to receive counseling and a mentor, though faculty and staff are provided on a voluntary basis only. MSE is guilty of overselling and does n o t h a ve a d e q u a t e resources to be an adequate program for students in need.

I know, I was a part of the program. I almost fell through the cracks.

MSE offers the extra help needed to advance in STEM-related field, as well as internships that lend a necessary boost to move forward. Problem is, it excludes students who are not STEM majors. Community college is a melting pot of hidden talent and outstanding individuals that require equal support from the college. No one major is more important than another. Students should have the opportunity to be offered the help that they Brittany cruz-fejeran/Staff need. (Yes, even those pesky majors under the School of Arts and Communications.)

Letter to the Editor Administration assures commitment to sexual assault procedures One of my commitments to the Southwestern College community from my first day here was that we would fairly and immediately deal with issues and complaints, in particular incidents of alleged sex discrimination and assault. And we are doing that. Today, when there is knowledge of misconduct, the district begins an investigation immediately—with or without a formal complaint.

While those involved in it have the right to share their experience, I cannot discuss the details of the incident covered in the most recent issue of The Sun under the district’s student privacy requirements. But I can tell you that an investigation was begun as soon as I learned of the rumor of what happened during this trip.

Not only did we take action on this incident. But since March 1, 2017, the district has investigated 12 student-tostudent complaints, and 18 staff-to-staff complaints. Of those 30 investigations, all but eight have been completed. Their resolutions are expected soon.

Southwestern College values mutual respect, integrity and accountability. If we are to live our values, we must demonstrate through words and actions that Southwestern College is a safe place for students, faculty, staff and administrators. For me, those are not just words. They are a basic expectation that all leaders— student leaders, faculty leaders, classified professional leaders and college leadership—must follow.

Kindred Murillo, Ed.D. Superintendent/President Southwestern College

The Southwestern College Sun

Nov. 17, 2017 – Volume 61, Issue 2

CAMPUS

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Phi Theta Kappa sends aid to refugees in Mexico

Honor society collecting clothing, food, supplies for migrants stranded in Mexico PTK members are also collecting signatures on a petition they plan to send to the United Nations. Habeeb said the club is aiming for 10,000 signatures.”

“Our main focus is to maybe send some ulio Cesar spent 15 years rebuilding his life. In the blink of an eye, everything was students out to UN headquarters,” he said.

“With those signatures they can kind of see destroyed when he was suddenly deported.

Back on the U.S. side of la frontera, the this is a really big issue, especially in San Southwestern College Phi Theta Kappa Club Diego.”

PTK members are also raising money on is trying to help by supporting a refugee center GoFundMe to contribute to refugee and that serves people like Cesar.

Claudia Portela, coordinator of Desayunador immigrant organizations like Desayunador Salesiano Padre Chava, a center for refugees, Salesiano Padre Chava. They are planning a immigrants, deportees and homeless in trip to the center to deliver the items in person.

Students are also conducting research on the Tijuana, said Cesar is just one of the many thousands of once-successful migrants whose topic of “Peace and War,” said Lena Rodriguez, accomplishments were crushed by a swift 18, an art major. It is focused on language barriers faced by refugees and immigrants who deportation.

“When you leave, the shock of having lost flee violent countries. Language barriers can everything that you dreamt of in the United prevent success or even survival in another States or the dream that you wanted to go country, she said.

“It’s extremely important that we (help conquer is shattered,” she said. “What they face when they arrive is sometimes orientation provide) refugees food, cooking supplies, that guides them where to go or what to do and clothes,” Rodriguez said. “But we think sometimes it is the streets that receive them.” language acquisition can also be considered a necessity for survival.”

Desayunador Salesiano Dr. Michael Odu, dean Padre Chava volunteers offer of Math, Science and services for immigrants and Engineering, is the advisor refugees like Julio Cesar. “College is beyond for Honors in Action. He These include food, showers, haircuts, phones, changes of just getting credits and said he hopes SWC students become a part of the fight for clothes as well as medical, improvement in the lives of dental and psychological moving on. refugees and immigrants. services. Volunteers also serve “As an employee of this breakfast to as many as 1,500 Be part of the change.” college, it to our people a week, said Portela.

-Dr. Michael Odu students Itoowe be sure that PTK formed “Honors in Advisor, Honors in Action they are global citizens at Action” to help refugees and the end of however many stranded immigrants. It has years they spend with us at held a refugee donation drive Southwestern College,” Odu for Desayunador Salesiano said. “ Coming to college Padre Chava throughout the is beyond just getting your fall semester and continuing credits and moving on. Why don’t you pick a into finals week.

People may donate bottled water, canned catalyst? Why can’t you be part of the change foods, clothing, personal hygiene articles that is inevitable? It is coming. It is better for and cleaning supplies. Donation boxes are you to be a part of it and tomorrow you can stationed at the library, Academic Success say, ‘Yeah, I was there! I was one of those!’”

People who have lost everything stop by Center, Math Center, Cesar Chavez building, Student Center ASO, Language Department Desayunador Salesiano Padre Chava every week, Portela said, hoping they will receive a and MSE building.

Chapter president Eric Habeeb said students meal and any other help they can get. “What we are raising awareness as well as collecting do or give for another human being, I believe life will repay. I think that as inhabitants of contributions.

“A lot of us see (the need) just reading this planet, we must live giving helping hands articles, but we don’t really know how bad it and helping one another mutually.” actually is,” he said.

Story and Photos by Aileen Orozco Assistant Campus Editor

J

HONORS SOCIETY IN ACTION— (top to bottom) Desayunador Salesiano Padre Chava provides a variety of services for immigrants, refugees and homeless. Free haircuts improve self esteem. Nutritious breakfasts help fuel a healthy day. “En Esta Tierra Todos Somos Migrantes” (On this Earth we are all migrants).

Carolina Rubio, editor

CAMPUS

Tel: (619) 482-6368 email: campus@theswcsun.com

Nov. 17, 2017 — Vol. 61, Issue 2

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Southwestern a springboard for CV mayor

By Arianna Pintado Staff Writer

F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote “There are no second acts in American lives.”

Mr. Fitzgerald never met Mary Casillas Salas.

Chula Vista’s first Latina mayor ended Act I of her life as a high school-educated, divorced, 37-yearold mother of two who had watched her dreams fade into memory.

“I found myself in a situation where my life was changing,” she said. “I was getting a divorce and through the pain of all of that I decided it was the right time to go back to school. In order to really maximize my potential and develop myself as best as I could, education was a key.”

Determined to start down another path, she enrolled at Southwestern College. Her first goal was to transfer to SDSU for a B.A. in social work.

It was not easy.

“When I started back to school I was so intimidated by the whole process of being an older student, 37, and going back to college,” she said.

Casillas Salas said she did not have much interest in politics growing up. She did not know much about the role of mayor, council members or committees and it was not until her time at SDSU when she became more aware of the importance of politics.

She found a new passion.

“As I got into SDSU, I started doing coursework there that made me understand social welfare policy and the roles that politics play in the welfare of a person’s life,” she said. “That’s when I got interested in what politics did. In social work you are working to change individual lives, but in politics you are working to change systems.”

During her time in college Casillas Salas was active in the South Bay Forum, an organization dedicated to promoting diversity in elected offices. Members of the group helped mentor people from minority backgrounds to run for office.

Casillas Salas graduated in 1989 eager to spread her new wings. After serving as a member of the Chula Vista Civil Service Commission in 1991, she was appointed to the Planning Commissions in 1993. In 1996 she was the first woman elected to the Chula Vista City Council.

She was re-elected in 2000.

In 2002 she ran for mayor against Steve Padilla, but narrowly lost.

“I felt I was the best candidate at the time,” she said. “That was the hardest loss for me ever.”

Casillas Salas was elected in 2006 to the California State Assembley where she served for four years.

In 2010 she ran against Juan Vargas for a seat in the California Senate and lost by 22 votes in a race that was so dirty Vargas was sanctioned by the Democratic Party even though he won. Vargas operatives published a photo of Casillas Salas at a Halloween party dressed as a biker chick with a fake tattoo drawn with a ball point pen. They mailed the photo to voters saying it was “the real Mary Salas.”

Losing the Senate race was tough because it was a lot of work and very tiring, she said, but it did not hit as hard as losing the 2002 mayor’s race.

“My heart wasn’t in it,” she said.

“Working on the state level was not my passion. Working on a local level was and seeing the actual results of what you did. Everything happens for a reason. Failures teach you a lot more than success does.”

Casillas Salas had two years remaining on the council and was determined to make the best of it.

“I had a choice to make,” she said.

“I could either sit on the dias feeling sorry for myself or I could make the most of my last two years and that’s what I chose to do.”

Former Chula Vista Council Member Rudy Ramirez said he was impressed by the grace and persistence she demonstrated.

“I think she is tenacious,” Ramirez said. “She ran for mayor and lost and she had to sit there with Steve Padilla who ran and won.”

In 2014 Casillas Salas ran for mayor again. Her century-old family history helped motivate her.

In November 2014 Chula Vista elected its first Latina mayor — alcaldesa primera.

“It was very significant because I would be in my office and see the pictures of my family around here and my family has been in Chula Vista for almost 100 years now, and so I had a deep love for my community and yet I didn’t see us being represented,” she said.

Mayor Casillas Salas has plenty going on, but she said she is most passionate about is getting a university built in Chula Vista.

“We have the land for that, we have a need, we don’t have a four-

Alex Schinder/Staff

MADAME MAYOR– Chula Vista Mayor and Jaguar-for-Life Mary Casillas Salas rose from community college to

alcaldesa primera.

year university south of the Interstate 8,” she said. “I think it’s a matter of social justice and it will come, but it’s taking too long.”

Serving as mayor also includes the responsibility of fighting for people in your community, she said. President Trump’s decision to end DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) is hurtful to Chula Vista, she said.

Chula Vista is 60 percent Latino, 82 percent minority and rich with DACA-eligible students and work-

ers. Casillas Salas said she feels strongly that Trump’s actions are a violation of their civil rights and that America needs the contributions of DACA people.

“We have so many brilliant young people who are affected by this,” she said. “People who are contributing to our nation. The United States is shooting itself in the foot. We need these people. It’s unfortunate that we have this administration that is not only unempathetic, but downright cruel. It’s a cruel admin-

istration and there is no other way to put it.”

Chula Vista demonstrates to America that diversity is strength, Casillas Salas said. She said she wants to keep serving the community she loves and continue her fight against Trumpist attacks on people of color, the environment and the middle class.

“Our’s is a talented community.

We have a lot of young artists here that are just amazing. We have a lot of people who are amazing.”

VP of PR spreading the word

By Victoria Sanchez Photo Editor

Victoria Sanchez/Staff

GETTING INVOLVED— Journalism major Makeylah Hernandez stepped up to take over as ASO Vice President of Public Relations.

M a k e y l a h He r n a n d e z decided it was time she became more involved in the campus.

Now she said she wants others to join her.

Hernandez was appointed ASO Vice President of Public Relations after the winning candidate in May’s student government election was disqualified. ASO President Kristyn Smith chose her out of a dozen applicants.

“Makeylah had this energy and vibe that she was so passionate and excited to be in the room,” said Smith.

So c i a l Vi c e Pre s i d e n t Marissa Eguiza said she encouraged Hernandez to apply.

“I knew that she was qualified for the job,” said Eg u i z a . “ T h i s p o s i t i o n requires working on the newsletter and getting information out regarding

ASO and other studentrelated activities on social media. She’s very talkative and outgoing. All these things make her a good asset to the ASO.” Hernandez is in her third semester at Southwestern College. She was a psychology major studying neuroscience, she said, but she switched to a major where she could serve and inform others.

“I changed my major to journalism and it seemed like right after I did that the position of vice president of public relations opened,” she said. “I have always wanted to be more involved with the school.”

“Student involvement in campus activities at SWC is very low,” she said. Campus life should be more than “coming to class and going straight home afterwards.”

Hernandez said she wants students to know they have reason to be here. She wants

students to be showcased in a way that make them feel their college is proud of them. “ It’s n o t o n l y Southwestern, we are Southwestern College and many people that attend do not plan on transferring, so this is all that they have and they deserve that entire college experience all the way around,” she said.

Hernandez said she will continue the ASO newsletter and develop strategies for students to step out of their comfort zones and trust the ASO to represent them well.

“I don’t want the ASO to be something that stays in the Student Center,” she said. “I want it to come out. I want to go visit classes and establish personal connections with each student. Let them know who I am, who we are and that we are there to support them.”

A12 Nov. 17, 2017 – Volume 61, Issue 2

Carolina Rubio, editor

CAMPUS

Tel: (619) 482-6368 email: campus@theswcsun.com

Formerly incarcerated now powerful teachers

JoseLuis Baylon

Corporal punishment severely damages kids, should be outlawed

Photos by Natalie Mosqueda/Staff

FREE TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE—Formerly incarcerated students Patrick Wallace, Maria Elena Morales and Kenneth Cochran are using their oftentough experiences to educate and mentor college students.

By Katy Stegall News Editor

Ryan Rising met his best friend in the midst of a race-fuelled riot in Pelican Bay State Prison. They were on opposing sides of the war, almost killing each other.

“He started giving me books and telling me to read the highlighted parts,” Rising said. “He helped enhance my mind and helped me grow.”

He is now co-founder of Urban Scholars Union with Maria Elena Morales, a San Diego City College originated campus club geared towards supporting those affected by incarceration. Rising was in and out of correctional systems from age 11. His adulthood was spent in various prisons from Folsom State Prison to Pelican Bay. Following his release, Rising said he wanted nothing more than to obtain an education.

So he did. He is a published author, a scholar with his sights on Berkeley and a motivational speaker. Rising’s work with the latter led him back to Pelican Bay to talk to inmates about the power of education, where his best friend Amir is still incarcerated. Rising was unrecognizable, he said.

“Amir didn’t even recognize me, he walked right past me,” Rising said. “When they said my name, he stood up and gave me a little salute and he started crying.”

Some unaffected by incarceration have not been as accepting towards USU, said both Rising and Morales. Overcoming society’s stigmas on incarcerated individuals has been the toughest obstacle to overcome.

“I’m speaking at these forums and trying to push and create change and transform my life but still I’m not trusted,” Rising said. “I’m no different than a lot of people.

The only difference is that I served some prison time because I got in some trouble.”

USU has now branched out to Southwestern College. Morales said the South Bay is in dire need of a program like USU.

Students at SWC she said, face unique difficulties due to the college’s proximity to the U.S-Mexican border.

“It’s going to be a beautiful thing to see the different colleges working together,” she said. “A lot of students at SWC may be impacted more. They might have parents in immigration detention centers. We want to make sure their voices are heard.”

Morales said most people do not grasp the full definition of formerly incarcerated, and said those who hear about their group presume everyone is a one-dimensional felon.

“They think it’s just someone who went to prison,” Morales said. “It’s people who have been through the juvenile system, who have done county, state or federal time. It’s also anyone who’s been given time to go into a recovery home instead of prison.”

Morales went through juvenile corrections and faced challenges with drug addiction and unhealthy relationships with men.

She used to physically abuse her children, she said, which is a scar that her daughter still carries. They both now attend the same college. The healing process USU provides reaches beyond those formerly incarcerated and is also there to help those affected by incarceration.

“She asks if I talk about how I used to physically abuse them, and I say yeah I have to acknowledge that. I can say that yes I was physically abusive to you and I put drugs and men before you because of my past,” Morales said. “The difference though is that I don’t live in the guilt. I take full responsibility. IT makes her very proud.

This work shows that I won’t go back to doing what I used to. I don’t put hands on my kids. I don’t put men before them. I don’t do what I used to do.”

USU member Patrick Wallace met Morales after he was released from a 25 year sentence. She said he watched the group silently for a while, apprehensive about interacting with the group. Following her

testimony, Wallace said he was in awe that she was unafraid to share her testimony to help her community heal.

“Being a leader was never something I expected,” she said.

She began to battle the stigmas associated with her past 3 years ago because of a sociology professor. He invited her to an ACLU event, which she was absolutely terrified of attending she said. Morales said she was riddled with sweat and anxiety until her professor pointed to her in the middle of a conversation with a member of ACLU and referred to her as a leader.

“It will always be life changing to me—I never thought I was a leader,” she said. “I had always been called a hood rat or you’re a gang banger, a welfare mom, a drug addict. That’s totally opposite of what a leader was. In that moment I began advocating for myself.”

Latino students honored

By Luis Orantes Staff Writer

It was pozole time for a small coterie of students honored for their service to the campus and wider community. Before members of the LatinX Committee ladled out the celebratory soup, they heaped praise on students for their leadership.

LatinX Heritage Month Awards were presented to 12 students from an array of campus organizations for “outstanding leadership, dedication and service.” Recipients were: Ezequiel Soltero, Maribel Aguirre, Eliza Moreno, Claudia Ortiz, Alyssa Pajarillo, Dan Grayson Cordero, Katy Stegall, Jose Gutierrez, Tito Hernandez, Cezar Zamora, Klarissa Jimenez and Erick Salazar.

Aileen Orozco/Staff LatinX committee members Carla Sevilla have planned for events, inX MARKS EXCELLENCE— Carla Sevilla, Javier Madrigal and Art Guaracga recognize Tito Hernandez at the LatinX Pozole Para Todos cluding Pozole Para Todos, Dia de la ceremony for his community work, strong academic performance and Raza, and Halloween Pachanga. courageous character.

Officials estimate that almost 60

percent of SWC students are Latinos.

Francisco Robles, vice-president of the Society of Hispanics Professional Engineers (SHPE), said he would like to see opportunities for SWC Latinos.

“I think the school needs to create more events focused on Latino students as they represent a huge amount of the students who currently attended Southwestern College,” he said.

Robles said LatinX events are a great opportunity for students to meet other students and earn scholarships.

Dr. Guadalupe Corona, director of the Office Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, invited members of the campus to become more involved.

“The (LatinX) committee is open for any student,” she said. “You don’t have to be Latino to join. It’s open to anyone that wants to learn about the Latino culture and celebrate the diversity that the campus embraces.”

Even though we are well into the 21st century, corporal punishment is still legally used in U.S. public schools.

U.S. Department of Education data from 2016 concluded that school corporal punishment is legally practiced in 22 states. More than 160,000 children were legally struck, slapped, paddled, publicly humiliated and physically abused by their teachers or administrators last year alone. Of those students, more than 50 percent were children who have physical, cognitive and emotional disabilities. About 40 percent were African-American.

Every 30 seconds during the school year, a public school student is corporally punished. In 2003, the Society for Adolescent Medicine estimated that as many as 20,000 children were rushed to the emergency room as result of corporal punishment. Doctors treated ruptured blood vessels, nerve and muscle damage, broken bones and brain hemorrhages.

How can “civil” America still allow barbaric corporal punishment?

In 1977 the Supreme Court deemed school corporal punishment constitutional. Few states at that time had banned the practice.

In 1986, Gov. George Deukmejian signed Assembly Bill 1617, which outlawed corporal punishment in California public schools.

This law, however, did not prevent private religious schools from continuing the abuse. To this day, 33 states have banned the practice in public schools, but lightly-regulated private schools in 48 states still use corporal punishment.

In 22 states school employees are exempted from child maltreatment laws, meaning if they battered their students to the point of injury as punishment, they could not be prosecuted. In most states hitting an animal to the point of injury is a felony. Believe it or not, if the same abuse was inflicted by a parent to a child, a court of law can persecute a parent, but not a teacher or school employee.

Dr. Martin Gershman, a San Francisco pediatrician and a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics, was blunt.

“Today, advocates for children maintain that the use of force in our schools is sanctioned child abuse and the only officially approved form of physical abuse that remains in this country,” he said.

Corporal punishment in schools violates civil rights law.

Human Rights Watch and the ACLU found that punishment was used to address “unfavorable” behaviors that occur from a student’s disability, ranging from autism to Tourette syndrome.

A child has no choice about a disability. Imagine the confusion in a young one’s mind, to get mistreated in front of their peers in a setting that should be safe.

Imagine the damage and insecurity that is created.

Scientists from University of Missouri-Columbia have found that physical punishment in school will lead to detrimental behavior in children 10 years into the future, creating a young adult with poor self-regulation, sometimes lacking social skills needed for emotional intelligence.

International scientists are pleading with parents and teachers to learn to foster emotional intelligence into their parenting or teaching skills. This means teaching empathy, caring and persistence to promote social emotional competencies in and out of school.

Conscientiousness and emotional regulation predict academic outcomes such as GPA. Developing a student’s intellectual capacity requires teachers and parents to sustain their student’s interest and passion for long-term goals. It would then need students to believe that their intelligence can improve with effort, rather than believing they are fixed with conditions out of their control. And finally, developing a sense of belonging where students feel accepted and valued in their school environments.

Still, these children need protection from their government. No child should be harmed. No one.

Before President Obama left office in 2016, Secretary of Education John B. King Jr. urged state leaders in a letter to ban corporal punishment nationwide.

On Jan 3, 2017, a bill was introduced in Congress, HR-160 Ending Corporal Punishment in Schools Act of 2017. It is in the first stages of the legislative process.

It is up to the committee on Education and Workforce to decide if it reaches the Senate floor.

Sadly, way too many Americans support schools for physical punishment on their children despite the facts proving it will worsen a child’s quality of life. After all, HR-160 barely passed on a 6-5 vote to even be read, with some conservative U.S. representatives going on the record saying physical punishment is good for learning respect and obeying authority.

All we can do now is pick up the pieces of broken minds and hope to rehabilitate these children as adults, which would not have to happen if schools did not abuse their students in the first place.

JoseLuis may be reached at plutotoplato@theswcsun.com

A14 Nov. 17, 2017 — Volume 61, Issue 2

SPORTS

The Southwestern College Sun

ALMOST PERFECT — Southwestern forward Damaris Aguila battles for possession against Grossmont College midfielder Madison Altomare.

Alexander Contreras / Staff

BEAUTIFUL SEASON Lady Jaguars undefeated until waning minutes of season finale

By Ivana E. Morales Sports Editor

Wonder Woman is real. Just look around campus.

Southwestern College’s women’s soccer earned the right to compete at the California Community College Athletic Association playoffs after having an almost perfect season with 21 straight games undefeated. SWC lost to Grossmont College, 1-0, in the last 10 minutes of the season finale.

Pelé, the king of soccer, said success is no accident. The Lady Jaguars seem to agree.

Head coach Carolina Soto said her players hunger for victory and all their hard work is paying off.

“It is very rewarding,” she said. “We try to keep a really high level of intensity and rigor. If we are not performing, then we talk about it, we communicate, we fix and then we move forward.”

Fall 2017 was a breakthrough season for the women’s soccer team. With every match they won, expectations grew, but the Lady Jaguars knew how to keep their feet on the ground. Soto said players built momentum from last year by making sure everyone was academically eligible and returning with a winner’s attitude.

“We always talk about keeping it humble,” she said.

“They already created a change and there is something Victoria Sanchez / Staff VICTORY — The Lady Jaguars celebrate a 1-0 win over San Diego Mesa College. magical how we all came together.”

The team went from dominating victory to dominating victory, averaging 4.41 goals per game. Captain Aletse “I did not think I was going to be a big part of the team,” Lady Jaguars celebrated with Soto. Lopez was hugged and Camacho said players are aware of their successes but she said. “I feel my performance has been really good and congratulated by each of her teammates. always focused on the next match.

I am very proud of why I have accomplished here.”

“I was nervous because I had not scored in the past few “We know it is a big difference from the past years,” she Another key player in the feline squad is sophomore games,” Lopez said. “I just saw the ball coming and shot said. “We do not want to get too confident because we goalkeeper Rose Hauser, who is third in the conference with my left.” know the next rivals are going to be more challenging.” with 109 saves. Hauser earned two PCAC honorable In the last match of the regular season, a lone goal by With a chameleonic style of play, SWC has a solid mentions in September.

Grossmont’s player Karina Pulido in the last 10 minutes of defense and a high-pressing game.

“I come here (to SWC) almost every day before practice the match ended the undefeated streak and the possibility Freshman forward Damaris Aguila and sophomore to work with the goalkeeper coach,” said Hauser. “Once I of the first PCAC title in the history of Southwestern’s midfielder Bianca Mora lead the powerful offensive. step on the field I just trust on my teammates and myself. women’s soccer program. Soto said soccer, like life, is Aguila, a Pacific Coast Athletic Conference Women’s All the work I’ve put in translates to the game.” unpredictable and sometimes the best team does not win.

Athlete of the Week, finished the regular season with San Diego Mesa College defended as PCAC Champions, “We played strong and the ball would not go in,” she 22 goals. She is the top scorer of the PCAC and sixth in but the Lady Jaguars finished the season ranked 12 in said. “At the end of the game, it was a little heartbreaking, California.

California while the Lady Olympians are 13. but we just moved forward.”

Soto said Aguila is “relentless.”

A DeVore Stadium showdown with Mesa had SWC Their record of 17 wins, 4 ties, and 1 defeat boosted the “She is powerful,” she said. “When you watch her play looking for vengeance. Last year the Lady Olympians ranking of the Lady Jaguars and put them into the Caliit looks like a young kid having so much fun, just enjoying crushed SWC, 8-0. fornia Community College Athletic Association playoffs the game and not having any pressure.”

In the 38th minute the goal that changed the balance in for just the second time in college history.

Aguila, 18, scored two goals in her first home favor of the Lady Jaguars came off the left foot of freshman Their opponent will be the Chaffey College Panthers, match when SWC beat Norco College, 7-0. She led midfielder Fernanda Lopez. The offensive thrust began ranked #5 in the state. Assistant Coach Jennifer Rodriguez Southwestern in its overwhelming victories against the in the right flank with a throw-in made by towering said they are expecting a challenging game.

L.A. Harbor Seahawks and the Cuyamaca Coyotes with sophomore midfielder Christina Hernandez to Camacho, “Chaffey College is strong,” she said. “I feel is going to three goals each game. She extended her scoring streak who dribbled into Lady Olympian’s territory until she was be a good game from both sides and we just want to be to 22 goals against Mt. San Jacinto and Imperial Valley. dragged down after crashing with Mesa defender Karlyn able to get the win.”

Aguila has a shot percentage of .957 and 11 assists.

Ironside. Hernandez quickly recovered the ball and passed Soto said the 2017 season has empowered Southwest“I am super happy,” she said. “It is all about hard work to Aguila. She directed a first-touch pass to Lopez, who ern’s women’s soccer program. and team effort, without my team, I would not be able fired a bending shot behind the 15-yard line into the net “It has really been a journey where we really worked to be up there.” out for a 1-0 lead. hard to just to be the best we can possibly be and reach our Sophomore midfielder Bianca Mora contributed 21 The Lady Olympians offense got stuck in the midfield maximum potential as players,” she said. “Overall I think goals and 12 assists. Mora said she did not expect to score throughout the second half and could not score. A roar of this season has been something I would describe as a lot because she is more of a defensive player. happiness erupted in the stands at the final whistle. The historical and just changing perspectives.”

OPPONENT

RESULT

Norco W, 7-0 Palomar W, 6-1 Irvine Valley W, 2-1

W, 2-1 LA Harbor W, 8-1 Victor Valley W, 6-2 W, 1-0 SD Mesa Cuyamaca W, 9-0 SD City W, 3-0 Imperial Valley W, 9-0 Grossmont T, 1-1 MiraCosta T, 2-2 Palomar W, 5-1 Mt. San Jacinto W, 5-0 Desert W, 7-2 San Bernardino T, 1-1 SD Miramar W, 1-0 T, 1-1 SD Mesa Cuyamaca W, 9-0 SD City W, 3-2 Imperial Valley W, 9-1 Grossmont L, 1-0 Santa Ana

Nov. 17, 2017 — Volume 61, Issue 2

SPORTS

THE GAME’S AFOOT — Quarterback Joshua Cartright scrambles for a 30-yard gain and a first down against Palomar.

Ivana E. Morales, editor Tel: (619) 482-6368 email: sports@theswcsun.com

A15

Thomas Contant / Staff

Jaguars bowl to 14th championship

By Brittany Cruz-Fejeran Assistant Sports Editor

ANTA MARIA — Bear Bryant said defense wins championships. Jaguar Carberry agrees.

Led by its stingy defense, Southwestern College rolled Alan Hancock College 35-14 to capture the American Championship Bowl.

Head coach Ed Carberry turned the spotlight toward Dionicio Monarrez, his hard-nosed defensive coordinator.

“We could not have done it without him.” Carberry said.

SWC’s defense scored as many points as Hancock’s offense.

Defensive back Shaquez Bond blocked a punt, and Ricky Barfield snatched it from the air and ran it for a touchdown.

It was the turning point of the game, said Carberry.

“It totally took their breath away,” he said.

SWC’s offense was also firing on all cylinders with quarterback Demonte Morris and running back Isaiah Strayhorn combining for four rushing touchdowns.

Forced to abandon its preferred running game in an attempt to play catch-up, Hancock could not move the ball through the air. Carberry said he knew it was over.

“And then you can see that (the Bulldogs) were emotionally done,” he said.

The victory washed away a bitter defeat suffered last year against Los Angeles Valley College in the American Championship Bowl that motivated returnees. SWC ran up a 9-2 season record and a 14th conference championship.

Getting into the bowl game was also memorable.

Alexander Contreras / Staff HUDDLED AND READY — The Jaguars’ defensive squad huddles around its coach Dionicio Monarrez.

Showdowns are seldom this classic.

Southwestern College and San Diego Mesa College rolled into their season finale with identical 4-0 conference records “That has really been the story of our season,” he said. “The really outstanding injured, he changed positions because the team needed him there. Bond made and a spot in the bowl game on the line. The Jaguars roared play on (the defensive) side of the ball and special teams. This particular group the transition look easy.

Carberry said winning the bowl was nice, but his real mission is helping to a 19-14 win in a game that will likely be discussed for years got real excited all on their own. Usually the coaches have to start the bonding process, but this team did it mostly by themselves.” his players get into universities and furthering their educations. About 175 to come.

Team captain and linebacker Sergio Ayon said it was always been that way. players have earned university scholarships during his SWC career, he said.

Carberry, always a great quote, summed it up succinctly.

Carberry said he is happy to see his players transfer, but he is also sad to “It was a battle the whole game,” he said. “Somebody was “We started off kind of shaky,” he said. “Everybody was more on the individual side of the ball (in the beginning).” see them go. going to go 4-1 and I’m happy that it is them.”

Ayon said that things started to turn around after SWC’s second loss of “You spend 18 months around them,” he said. “Then you turn around and Star receiver Ryan Stokes agreed.

“We knew it was going to be a fight,” he said. “We just had the season, a 38-34 heartbreaker against Pasadena City College. SWC gave they are gone.” away three fumbles and suffered two interceptions. Five turnovers proved Defensive tackle Anthony Clayton, part of the program for three years, to come out on top.” played his last game for Southwestern in the American Championship Bowl.

SWC’s stingy defense held Mesa’s high-powered offense insurmountable.

“I feel proud that I stayed here and went through the struggles,” he said. “I to just two scores, enough to make the Jaguar’s 19 stand up. With eight picks in six games, Bond was one of Monarrez’s key defenders.

He started out as a wide receiver, but when a starting defensive back was am going to have memories of this place, but I am happy that I am moving on.”

Carberry said he was not surprised.

THOU SHALL NOT PASS — Roderick Futrell snags an interception.

Thomas Contant / Staff

Thomas Contant / Staff

LOCKING ON — Demonte Morris scans downfield to find an open receiver against College of the Desert.

A16

SPORTS

Nov. 17, 2017 — Volume 61, Issue 2

CHEER UP! — Kaileah Soriano cheers on the football team as it plays San Bernardino Valley College.

The Southwestern College Sun

TOP CATS — Jaguar cheerleaders perform a hitch combo pyramid.

Cheerleaders overachieve despite underfunding

Story and Photos by Brittany Cruz-Fejeran Assistant Sports Editor

Sports quiz: What is the only Southwestern College athletic squad to ever win a national championship?

Football? Fumble.

Baseball? Strike out.

Basketball? Turnover.

SWC’s only national sports titlist is its 2006 and 2007 cheerleading teams.

Yet this high-flying squad of men and women remains an underfunded afterthought. SWC cheerleaders often spend more than $1,000 out of their own pockets to don the Jaguar sweater and support other teams.

College cheer is still not recognized as a sport in California and therefore the program does not receive funding from the school.

Cheer coach Nina Williams admits the lack of funding and respect is tough to overcome. Forcing cheerleaders to make monthly payments to be on the team is a major disincentive, she said.

“A lot of the cheerleaders are going to school fulltime and working (to earn money and to be on the team),” she said. “If they do not meet their (monthly) balance, then they are not able to cheer.”

Williams and cheer advisor Patti Moore choose to cut back on costly competitions to keep the program alive, a painful decision for a competitive team like SWC’s. Moore, who was been with the program for 26 years, said that despite the hard work and dedication every cheerleader puts into the squad, the college has never supported the team.

“We always have one or two (prospective cheerleaders) that come in with the best intentions,” she said. “Then they realize that they cannot get the money (to continue) and will drop out.”

Payments for cheerleaders are generally stretched over a sixmonth period ranging from $300 to $350 a month. Many times a student-athlete cannot keep up with the payments, Williams said.

Cheerleader Leslie Martinez said absences as a result of unpaid balances are common.

“At the first (football) game some of us were not able to perform because some were not able to pay for it,” she said. “We feel sad because we want them to be cheering with us, but we understand.”

SWC Athletic Director Jim Spillers has given tremendous moral support to the cheerleading squad, Williams said. Spillers said he thinks the cheer team should be fully funded and considered it a full competitive sport.

Spillers is not alone. At least 35 states and the District of Columbia consider cheerleading a sport. The California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) began to officially recognize cheer as a high school sport this fall. Cheer is also considered a full sport by the United States Olympic Committee and is under consideration as an Olympic sport in the near future. NCAA officials are also pushing to make cheerleading a sport at American universities.

Spillers said he thinks collegiate cheer has fallen through the cracks in California, but that may change. “(Cheerleaders) operate like any other sport on this campus,” he said. “There are enough parallels to recognize it as a sport.”

Williams said she and the cheerleaders appreciate Spillers’ support.

“Over the years, I have seen a lot of (variation in the level of ) support,” she said. “It has been really nice having someone who is not only supportive of cheer, but who understands cheer.”

Spillers said cheerleaders are hard-working student-athletes and an indispensible part of Jaguar athletics.

“They should be funded as any other sport,” he said.

Spillers said the federal government needs to recognize cheerleading as a sport or funding will likely remain nonexistent. “(Changing the funding mechanism) is what really needs to be done,” he said. “What will help them is if we can schedule more competitions.”

Competitions were cut back by Williams because they are an additional cost that many cheerleaders could not afford, she said.

Cheerleading is growing in popularity as a competitive sport across the United States, but in the meantime the Jaguars squad fights for time in the gym, struggles to stay afloat financially and keeps trying to elbow its way into a place at the funding table.

Cheer should not be a hobby at Southwestern, Williams said. “(Cheer is) just like any other sport that requires 100 percent dedication,” she said. “They are asked to work just as hard, perform just as hard and be the best that they can be.”

Plus, she said, Southwestern’s former national champs are, themselves, worth cheering for.

FLYING HIGH — Cheer squad performs a basket toss with Kaileah Soriano as the flyer.

NET RESULTS — SWC’s women’s volleyball team hung together despite a tough season.

Volleyball team fights on through setbacks Story and Photos by Brittany Cruz-Fejeran Assistant Sports Editor

Volleyball captain Valerie Castañon, like William Shakespeare, is resilient.

On a team with a record of 4-20, it definitely helps.

“Wise men ne’er sit and wail their loss,” wrote The Bard, “but cheerily seek how to redress their harms.”

Castañon agreed.

“The good thing about being down as we are, there is only one way up,” she said.

Shorthanded with only eight players, SWC’s team has not packed it in. Its captain and coach will not let that happen.

Coach Jennifer Saleaumua said she does not believe in excuses and is putting her players through a lot of work to build physical and mental strength.

“I tell the girls, ‘If you do not feel 100 percent today, then do not come to practice,’” she said. “I want them to come in here with a clear mind of, ‘Let’s just play volleyball and let’s get it done.’”

Eight tough women have accepted her challenge. Some others do not.

Saleaumua said she had players lined up for this fall, but a number of them opted out even though they had committed to play for the Lady Jaguars.

“We are not a program that wins a lot,” she said. “A lot of girls feel like if they go to the top schools they will not benefit from it. Some of them do not get to play.”

Being a student-athlete requires sacrifices and sometimes life gets in the way, said Athletic Director Jim Spillers. Rosters of collegiate teams are inconsistent.

“Community college athletics in general ebbs and flows,” he said. “Life happens.”

With only eight players fatigue is inevitable, Castañon said, but teamwork improves.

Sophomore Carly Threadgill said a small team also forces versatility.

“There is not always going to be a person who can take your place while you sit it out,” she said. “We fight as hard as we can during the game.”

Saleaumua said helping to rebuild a team has benefits. Being part of a team that goes from rock bottom to success would look better on a resume.

“I think it is unfortunate that I have to produce wins for girls to come here instead of (them) wanting to come here and start working for it,” she said.

Castañon remains philosophical and upbeat. She said the only thing that can really drag the team down are players not doing their best.

“It is about heart and passion,” she said. “Do not play like you do not want to lose, play like you want to win.”

The Southwestern College Sun

SPORTS

Nov. 17, 2017 — Vol. 61, Issue 2

A17

松 浦

(Matsuura)

健

太 郎

(Kentaro)

LOFTY GOALS— Kentaro Matsuura traveled across the ocean and mastered English as well as the art of defense.

Photos by Victoria Sanchez / Staff

Guardian of the Goal: A Japanese import Kentaro Matsuura traveled 6,100 miles to join the Jaguars

By Ivana E. Morales Sports Editor

Kentaro Matsuura moved 6,100 miles from his home in Japan with only one purpose in mind.

“I did not think about the language,” he said. “I just wanted to play soccer.”

Matsuura, 20, grew up in Fukuoka, the capital of Fukuoka Prefecture and Japan’s fifth-largest city.

Ignoring scorching summer temperatures, the future goalkeeper started kicking a ball when he was five.

“I used to play soccer and softball at the same time,” he said. “After three years, I became more interested in soccer. It was more fun.”

Matsuura started out as a striker, but life had other plans. He was riding a bicycle when a car hit him, leaving him International Athletes severely injured.

“I was 13 when that happened,” he said. “I had bone bruises in both of my knees and two toes on my right foot were broken.”

Matsuura returned to practice after four months of convalescing. During that time, his soccer club had two teams but only one goalkeeper, he said, so his coach asked him to fill the role for the local tournament.

“It was my first experience as a goalkeeper,” he said.

“My coach asked me because he knew I could not move a lot.”

After winning the tournament, Matsuura decided to focus on guarding the goal line.

With no goalkeeper coach to teach him the basics, Matsuura said he learned by watching YouTube videos of Oliver Rolf Kahn, known as the Titan, a legendary German goalkeeper famous for his leadership on the field and his explosive personality.

“He was a great goalkeeper,” Matsuura said. “Oliver Kahn had amazing technique and he was a good influence for his teammates.”

Matsuura was offered an athletic scholarship to Ohori High School after competing in Japan’s Club Youth Football Championship. He played with the first team and was the starting goalkeeper his last two years.

“It was weird when we had a day off,” he said. “We started morning practice at 7:30 a.m. and afternoon practice from 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. During the weekends it was usually matches or practices again.”

Men’s soccer coach Cem Tont went to Japan in 2016 as a representative of the Premier Development League to run clinics alongside coaches from Cal State Pomona and San Diego State. Tont said Matsuura approached him during one of the clinics.

“Kentaro showed interest in coming to the United States,” he said. “I explained to him the process he needed to follow if he wanted to be a student in America.”

Matsuura moved to the U.S. last summer with a desire to make a career in soccer. After a 5,552-miles 12-hour flight from Tokyo, he arrived in San Diego. His first day,

faces Immigration of

he said, is something he will never forget.

“I was really worried about the future,” he said. “I could not speak a word of English.”

He could not join the Jaguars right away. To be admitted as an international student at SWC he needed a score of 50 on the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) to enroll in college. Matsuura failed, so for six months he went to a language school called Connect English.

“It was an interesting experience,” he said. “Everyone was an international student, so talking with them in English was so much easier. They were learning, too.”

On his second attempt Matsuura passed and enrolled for the spring 2017 semester as a psychology major.

Matsuura is shorter than most goalkeepers, but he compensates with quick hands and outstanding footwork. Tont said Matsuura is good enough to play in the field and his distribution skills have almost professional-level accuracy.

“He has very quick reflexes,” Tont said. “Maybe he is not that tall, but he has good leaping ability and one of the strengths he has, that very few goalkeepers in the United States have, is that he is incredible with his feet.

He can hit the ball 50, 60 yards and start an attack.”

SWC teammate Josue Lopez said Matsuura is a wellrounded keeper and a hard-working teammate.

“Sometimes we joke around in practice, but he is always on his toes and paying attention,” Lopez said.

“He has a lot of commitment, especially because he is a foreign student who is looking for better opportunities.”

Language barriers can sometimes be a problem in school, Matsuura said, but when it comes to soccer, he has no problem communicating with teammates despite their use of Spanish during matches. Lopez agreed.

“In the field we give signals, maybe words here and there,” he said. “Soccer speaks by itself. This sport has its own language.”

Unlike players from other countries with stronger soccer traditions like Mexico, Brazil and Argentina, most of the Japanese players become professional after graduating from college. Matsuura said he wants to get an athletic scholarship and transfer to a four-year university. His current GPA is 3.68.

“I want to be a professional soccer player,” he said. “I think I have been improving my skills, but still I need to keep working. I feel the biggest difference between American soccer and Japanese soccer is that Japanese players are mentally tough and hungrier to succeed.”

Being away from home has been an eye-opening experience, Matsuura said, especially cultural differences between Japan and the U.S. “At first it was difficult to adapt,” he said. “People here are more open-minded, but now I am getting used to it.”

Tont said Matsuura is very confident and disciplined, so nothing will stop him from pursuing his goals.

“You can trust in him 100 percent,” said Tont. “He does not take ‘no’ for an answer and he will outwork anybody else.”

Matsuura finished sixth in the Pacific Coast Athletic Conferences with 50 saves and four shutouts. Thou shall not pass has new meaning on the pitch. Almost nothing gets by Matsuura.

“At first it was difficult to adapt. People here are more open-minded, but now I am getting used to it.”

-Kentaro Matsuura

A18 The Southwestern College Sun

Nov. 17, 2017 — Volume 61, Issue 2

ARTS

Zombie sendups knocks ‘em dead > REVIEW

By Marty Loftin Arts Editor

They crave the flesh of the living.

They are pounding at the door and breaking through the windows.

At Southwestern College the living dead eat brains and make pop culture references.

Ruff Yeager directed two live adaptations of iconic zombie movies in a double-feature performance at Mayan Hall. They were frightfully good.

Headlining the show was a comedic interpretation of George A. Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead.” The play followed the general plot of the original, but sacrificed horror for humor.

A semi-faithful adaptation of Ed Wood’s “Plan 9 From Outer Space” followed that was far more bearable than the original 1959 film that tops most “Worst Movie Ever” lists. The play featured nearly all of the film’s dialogue interspersed with jokes and fourth wallbreaking asides that helped turn this tragedy of a science-fiction/gothic horror abomination into a real comedy.

The two plays paired well together, like fine wine and stinky cheese. Both were adapted by actor and playwright Mark Landon Smith.

“Night of the Living Dead” sparked a zombie phenomenon that refused to die since it first haunted moviegoers in 1968. It presented audiences with an inescapable and inevitable doom in the form of untiring undead.

This cult classic shares the futile efforts of a small group of random survivors struggling to coexist and with the threat of zombies just outside.

Romero recognized that humanity has always been its own worst enemy.

“I have always liked the monsterwithin idea,” he said. “I like the zombies being us.”

Smith’s interpretation of “Night of the Living Dead” held on to the human drama that helped

make it incredibly popular. The injection of jokes and pop culture references, made the play feel more like an episode of “Mystery Science Theatre 3000” rather than a staple horror movie.

The play got a lot of mileage from the clever farmhouse created by set designer Mike Buckley. It allowed the audience to see into it while giving the illusion that the fragile structure protected the survivors from the outside threat. There was even a little hole where the TV went, where the news people would stand a read off their slow drip of information and make snarky comments about the zombie threat.

After Barbara (Wisdom Yarborough) had escaped the zombies that chased her from the cemetery to the farmhouse, she argued with Ben (Julian Sobejana) about whether or not her brother Johnny (Daniel Ward) is still alive.

“You’re brother is dead!” Ben shouted.

“Just like my career!”

“No! He’s not dead!” Barbara screamed.

“Unlike your career!”

While the plot follows the same path as the original, in which a group of very different survivors band together, but ultimately fail to protect each other, there are some differences.

In this version, zombies lie about being Avon salespeople and pizza deliverymen, news anchors fight over for screen time even as their co-workers are picked off and survivors have to choose between a defensible position in the living room and foosball in the cellar (and certain death).

Characters make snappy jokes that juxtapose their dread with dark humor.

“My brother was killed!” said Barbara.

“Hello? Sympathy?”

Unfortunately, this story does not have a sympathetic ending.

In the original, Ben manages to escape the zombies swarming the house only to be shot in the head by an armed posse that mistakes him for a zombie. In the SWC version, Ben escapes the house that has descended into chaos, but is quickly engulfed by the hoard of hungry undead that lurk outside.

“Plan 9 From Outer Space” pitted a race of inept spacemen desperate to

make contact with humanity and their raygun-controlled zombies against a colonel, a police lieutenant, a commercial pilot, his wife and a policeman.

Spacemen try their best with Plan 9, their last hope to stop the Earthmen from destroying the universe with “Solaronite,” a substance that would ignite “sunlight molecules” emitted from the sun and would spread to other stars as well.

Despite the poor special effects, nonsensical plot and ridiculous overacting, the film presented itself with sincerity and undeserved pride, despite zero merit to the pseudo-philosophical ramblings of the main characters and deranged narrator.

Joseph Fallon, a third-year student at SWC whose performance as the narrator was his first acting experience, perfectly captured the desperate yet goofy hysteria of the original narrator.

Unlike Romero’s zombie masterpiece, Wood’s low-budget take on the living dead is limited to just three zombies who are expected by their alien masters to help humanity acknowledge the presence of extraterrestrials.

Several B-movie icons made appearances in the original “Plan 9,” including Bela Lugosi, Maila Nurmi (also known as Vampira) and Tor Johnson, who appear as slowly shambling zombies who silently stalk their inept victims.

“Plan 9” featured not one, not two, but three funeral scenes. In the original, a widower killed himself after his wife is buried by stepping into oncoming traffic.

In the SWC version, the widower ironically walked in front of a car while arguing with the narrator about his lack of suicidal tendencies. Some characters are also renamed for comedic effect, such as Colonel Edwards being renamed Colonel Sanders to set up a joke about being chicken.

While the human characters try to resolve the mystery of missing bodies, they stumble across the plot and are herded by the zombies towards the answers that lie within the spaceship.

Two aliens in charge of the debacle explain that humanity is about to ignite universal

Photos courtesy of Daren Scott

PLAYING UNDEAD— (top) Despite his efforts to keep his group alive, Ben (Julian Sobejana) finally succumbs to the inevitable doom of unstoppable zombies in “Night of the Living Dead.” (above) In “Plan 9 From Outer Space,” pilots and an air stewardess (Patrick Abney, Eric Flemming and Alyssa Castillo) have very different reactions to sighting a UFO.

destruction. But the humans do not take it well and get into a fight that seriously damages the ship.

The humans escape the burning, aluminum foil UFO that flies through the air on an almost-invisible string.

Despite the cheap craftsmanship of the film prop, Colonel Edwards remarks about how advanced the aliens are. In the play, the irony is palpable when Colonel Sanders (Daniel Ward) said the same thing.

“We got to hand it to them, though, they’re far ahead from us.”

On stage the story is transformed into something genuinely e n j oy a b l e . Ba d props, strange costumes, bizarre acting and lame dialogue transcended the source

material.

“Plan 9” is one of the few films that are so bad they become almost good. It becomes a comedy because it tried and failed to be something powerful and culturally significant. “Plan 9” is seen by many as one of the worst movie ever made, but to Wood it was one of his best films.

“Plan 9 is my pride and joy,” he told an interviewer.

Though “Night of the Living Dead” and “Plan 9 from Outer Space” depict the opposite ends of the spectrum of zombie movies, they paired well and glimpsed the zombie phenomenon before it really took off.

They have infected all aspects of popular culture.

They have adapted to every kind of genre.

And it does not seem like the zombie trend will die anytime soon.

The Southwestern College Sun

ARTS

Nov. 17, 2017 — Volume 61, Issue 2

A19

Baja winery nudges aside tequila Story and Photos by Victoria Gonzalez Senior Staff Writer

Like the Led Zeppelin song, Americans can come to California to smoke their stuff.

But they would be wise to try going to Baja California to drink the wine.

Baja California’s Valle de Guadalupe has been quietly producing superb wine for decades. Valle de Guadalupe is a region an hour and a half drive south of the border.

A steep road lined by endemic flora and the ocean’s rolling swell is breathtaking.

It eventually gives way to a sinuous countryside that, due to rains early in the year, is verdant and sweet smelling.

Upon arrival to Valle de Guadalupe, the main road is lined with houses, small businesses and stands selling fat olives, olive oil and honey. Eventually it branches off to give entry to more than 70 wineries with rows upon rows of grapevines lined with wild-looking rosebushes or olive trees.

All the wineries share but one thing: rocky soil riddled with granite and clay.

“It’s a miracle how the grapevines can grow and extract nutrients from soil filled with rocks,” said César Esparza, who manages La Lomita, a celebrated decade-old valley winery.

“Here, the grapes develop great character and resistance because the soil makes them have to struggle and fight,” he said.

Shiraz, Merlot, Tempranillo, Cabernet Sauvignon, Grenache and Chardonnay are some of the main varietals of grapes grown in the valley.

At Finca la Carrodilla, a relatively new project from the Pérez Castro family, who also created La Lomita, the winemaking process is taken from the traditional to the celestial.

“In addition to being a certified organic winery, we also use biodynamic processes,” said Andrea García, who is in charge of tastings at Finca la Carrodilla.

Bio-dynamism is an alternative form of holistic agriculture based on principles of balance, regeneration and harmony.

“The processes follow a lunar calendar that tells us exactly when to water and harvest,” she said.

Whatever qualities the moon’s cosmic powers may bestow upon the wine, the results are excellent.

For 180 pesos, approximately $9.50, visitors can taste generous portions of three wines.

Canto de Luna (Moonsong), an equal mix of Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon and Tempranillo is medium-bodied and fruity. Its name pays homage to the finca’s bio-dynamism. García said it is placed in barrels made of French or American oak for three to nine months to fully develop.

Their Chenin Blanc, on the contrary is a light

Angeles, said they expected to see.

Brown said he and Smith had visited Baja California as kids but got the idea to come to the valley after a co-worker mentioned it.

“I told people at work I was coming here and they were like ‘oh, you’re just driving across to Tijuana, whatever,’” Brown said. “I think people just don’t have a good sense of what it is like down here.”

Smith agreed and said the valley’s ambiance leaned more towards cosmopolitan and refined rather than touristy or rural.

“When I think about Tijuana, I definitely think about it being, I don’t know, more rural,” she said. “Just sitting here, I feel like I’m at a winery in Malibu.

This is a lot more like Napa or Santa Barbara than I thought it was going to be.”

Valle de Guadalupe’s allure goes beyond its excellent wines.

“It’s affordable, amazing and the food is spectacular,” Smith said. “Given the price, -César Esparza it is better than most places I’ve ever been to in LA Most really high-end places in Manager of La Lomita LA are not as good. It’s insane!”

The two Americans experienced culture shock when interacting with Mexican and refreshing choice when chilled, requires visitors who were also staying at their hotel. no barrel time, but it is kept in the bottle “We went to breakfast and all of the for a full year before it is deemed ready for Americans are wearing sloppy t-shirts and flip consumption, García said. flops and looked like Americans on vacation,” Velvety and full-bodied, the Cabernet Brown said. “But all the Mexicans that were Sauvignon also requires a year in its barrel to there, even at breakfast, were all very welldevelop woody undertones. dressed in long pants and long-sleeved shirts.”

Like any good wine, Valle de Guadalupe has “It is definitely a cultural difference that we matured, and in the last few years the rest of have noticed,” Smith said. “They don’t treat us the world has begun to notice. badly because we look like slobs, but maybe “We are starting to make ourselves known in they should.”

Europe and people there ask things like ‘what Brown said many Americans have the wrong is Valle de Guadalupe?’ and ‘they have wine in idea about what life south of the border is like.

Mexico? Isn’t Mexico all about tequila?’ Well “I think it’s just a misconception a lot of no, we have very good wine here too,” said people have about Mexico and Mexicans,” he Esparza. “Mexico has been making wines for said. “They think that it’s a guy who mows more than 100 years, which is something a lot their lawn and you come down here and of people don’t know about.” everyone is very welcoming and well-dressed Around 60 percent of Valle de Guadalupe’s and cosmopolitan. A lot of people do not tourists are international and he has hosted understand that.”

Smith said she initially thought about people from every state in the U.S., he said.

“Before they come to the valley, they think coming back with friends, but ultimately it’s still a little one-acre farm,” he said. “Once found the idea unappealing.

“It’s wonderful,” she said. “It makes no sense. they get here, they are amazed because it is not I can’t understand it but I want it to stay that what they expected.”

A dusty, rural valley is exactly what Chanel way, so I kind of want to keep other people Smith and Justin Brown, visiting from Los out. This is an amazing place.”

“We are starting to make ourselves known in Europe and people there ask things like ‘what is Valle de Guadalupe?’

‘They have wine in Mexico?’”

BUEN VINO—Baja California’s Valle de Guadalupe is home to La Lomita, a certified organic winery that squeezes wine from volcanic rocks and clay. (clockwise from top) Finca la Carrodilla offers class for low cost that is a new project from the Pérez Castro family that also created La Lomita and its state-of-the-art wine cellar.

A20 Nov. 17, 2017 — Volume 61, Issue 2

Marty Loftin, editor

ARTS

Tel: (619) 482-6368 email: arts@theswcsun.com

Book explores how Maya went for broke dies. Until then, Van Stone’s collection is available to students in his art history classes.

Van Stone said he has had to walk in Dr. Mark Van Stone loves Mayan art the grey zone before, but always tries to to pieces…even if it is in pieces. make decisions based on the “greater In his upcoming book, “Maya Mold good.”

Made,” Van Stone analyzes the molds “ I b o u g h t t h re e a n c i e n t Ma y a the ancient Maya used to create ceramic inscriptions from an auction house sculptures en masse, which they then called Arte Primitivo,” he said. “These apparently broke en masse. three inscriptions were the front of stone A r c h e o l o g i s t s r e f o r m e d t h e s e steps that were sawed off and smuggled sculptures from the clay shards found out of Guatemala in the 1960s. Dozens in trash middens located in ancient of these steps were stolen from La Maya cities and discovered that many Corona and ended up in museums across were flute-like ocarinas. the world. They were small objects, so Reconstructions show that many they were easy to steal and easy to sell.” different types of sculpture were produced Until its discovery in 1996, the in large quantities, including figures of Maya city of La Corona was known to men, women, animals, royalty seated archeologists as Site Q, short for “¿Qué?” on kingly thrones and various kinds since no one knew exactly where these of mythological creatures, including stolen limestone reliefs originated. anthropomorphic xoloitzcuintli dogs “These objects came onto the market adorned in warrior’s armor. for $15,000 and a couple of my friends Scholars do not yet know the reason and I tried to raise the money to for creating and destroying thousands purchase them and we couldn’t come of clay statues, but the importance of up with the money,” said Van Stone. ritual sacrifice is well documented across “A year later the seller offered them to many Central American cultures. Van me for half the price. Guy wanted them Stone said this behavior could be part out of his place and wanted to pay his of honoring dead Maya kings or for taxes with the money, and I had just observing important dates from one of gotten my tax return. Together with a the three Mayan calendars. few friends, we put up the money and Though there are many examples of got the inscriptions for $7,500.” sculptures that have been reconstructed, Van Stone said the art found its way molds are much more rare. Scholars home. resist the temptation to actually use an “I was planning to return them to ancient mold to cast a sculpture because Guatemala, which is the right thing to that could damage it, Van Stone said. He do because they were stolen. Somehow had molds digitally scanned, he said, and one of the archeologists working at inverted to give the images the illusion La Corona had heard about us and of being a 3D sculpture. contacted us that he knew someone that Nearly all surviving mold-produced would help us get these objects back sculptures are made of clay, Van Stone to Guatemala and had helped a lot of said. It is possible molds were also used people to return stolen objects. He also to produce sculptures made of incense offered to repay us the $7,500 we had or even food similar to the sugar skulls spent for the objects.” popular during Dia de los Muertos.

Van Stone said that this act of good A few pieces of Van Stone’s collection will drew the ire of some in the art are featured in the book, including a history community who felt that he was vulture-shaped stone pendant and an encouraging the looting of ancient sites ancient mold used to mass-produce the by purchasing stolen goods and that pendant in clay. his charity would drive up the prices of Van Stone said it was possible for him other stolen artifacts. to tell that the vulture sculpture was not Van Stone responded, however, that a simple copy when he bought it, since he would rather have a stolen artifact it was slightly larger than the clay mold returned to its rightful place than to it was partnered with. Over time clay disappear forever. Even so, he still gets shrinks but stone does not, he said. Van the occasional dirty look at conferences, Stone said no Mayan mold partnered he said. with an original sculpture is known to Van Stone’s body of work includes numerous books meant to demystify exist.

Van Stone said he has had to grapple and legitimize the ancient cultures with many ethical issues in his work. of Mesoamerica should be enough to Writing about artifacts he owns is a protect him when he eventually enters conflict of interest, he said. Increasing the Mayan underworld of Xibalba, he the visibility of a fairly unique pair of said with a playful smirk, items in his possession would likely lead Van Stone said he hopes to have “Maya to their value increasing. Van Stone said Mold Made” published and printed by he does not want to sell his objects and Christmas so that he can take copies much of his collection will be donated with him on a trip to Guatemala over back to their countries of origin when he the winter break.

By Marty Loftin Arts Editor

Courtesy of Mark Van Stone

LITTLE BIG DOG— Ancient Mayan artists used molds to make many copies of figures, usually in clay, but possibly other substances including food. A regal xoloitzcuintli dog (above) lived among kings.

Molds include depictions of kings, gods, magical beings like dog soldiers, as well as normal animals like owls (left).

Professor Mark Van Stone celebrates these creations in his new book “Maya Mold Made.”

Art Club seeks inspiration for ‘inclusive’ mural

By Victoria Sanchez Photography Co-Editor

Courtesy of Nikko Mueller

PLURAL MURAL— This drawing by SWC art professor Nikko Mueller is an example of the kind of mural the Art Club would want to display on the walls of the English department.

in the mural.”

Diego Rivera, Alfaro Siqueiros and Jose Clemente Orozco, known as Los Tres Grandes, sparked the Mexican Muralism movement in the 1920s that used murals as a powerful form of visual communication, advocating the opinion of the people

best outcome.

“Murals help the spaces feel more human, alive and vibrant and show S o u t h w e s t e r n C o l l e g e ’s what our values are as a community. architecture reflects its roots to preI think it’s a very special thing for art Columbian ancient civilization. It to be able to do,” said Mueller. is not enough said one artist and “I would like the mural to be student. representative of the student body “There’s not a lot of art on that attends SWC,” said Barlow. campus. If you look around “I’d like to see it as positive, how “We want to make sure that the there are a few sculptures but we can all come together and they blend in a bit too much,” move forward together in a way mural speaks to the community, said Alejandra De Hoyos, brings people together. It’s for students to see themselves in that Secretary of the SWC Art Club. too easy to be about what you’re the faces and words.”

“We need more visual art so against but it needs to be about students can be inspired.”

-Nikko Mueller, what you are for.”

SWC’s Art Club is partnering De Hoyos said that she hopes Professor of Art the mural will help bring people up with the English department to design a mural to be painted together. on one of the English buildings.

“The union of the people, in The mural will capture the diverse to conveying political and social essence, our community. There’s a lives of the student body and messages towards unity. Murals have problem in Southwestern College of promote creativity, writing and become on of the most important people not being open as they should literacy said Barlow. forms of expression in Mexico, often be because they are thinking about Nikko Mueller, co-advisor of the being the subject of controversy and getting out of here which is strange Art Club, said they want a mural that a constant symbol of hope, freedom because you are here now why not just is inclusive for all kinds of people. and solidarity. make friends and enjoy the moment.”

“We want to focus on making “A public work, many times, is Though the mural is being organized something that isn’t too Eurocentric, a group effort which brings the by the Art Club and the English we want to really represent the community together” said Sarah department, it should not discourage diversity of voices that are out there Barlow, President of the Art Club. students from participating said that are also very important to A mural that can unite the campus Barlow. our student population,” he said. as a community of students, faculty, “It is open to anyone who wants “We want to make sure that the and staff members said Barlow. to join, they don’t have to be in any mural speaks to the community, The way the murals at Chicano club. If you hear about it and want for students to see themselves in the Park have helped in the past unite your voice in there, please feel free to faces and words that are represented Mexican-Americans would be the contact us.”

ARTS

The Southwestern College Sun

Nov. 17, 2017 — Volume 61, Issue 2

A21

‘Dazzle of Day’ exhibit lives up to its name

By Diego De la Rosa Staff Writer

“The Dazzle of Day” photography exhibition at Southwestern College highlighted the work of three artists with local ties.

Paul Turouret, Craig Carlson and Shane Anderson, have collections that were connected by the use of natural light and documentary style.

Bare white walls of the interior of the gallery allowed framed photographs to be the room’s focal points. Instead of labels to identify or describe the pieces, each photograph was accompanied solely with a small numbered thumbtack.

Professor of Photography Micajah Truitt encouraged viewers to approach with an open mind.

“Be careful to think that there is a concrete purpose to every photo,” he said. “A lot of the media presented to us has a reason or purpose behind it, almost like skill set similar to advertisers. It is good to analyze the world and make our own decisions instead of just absorbing what is thrown at us.”

Subjectivity versus objectivity was a theme that ran through the three collections.

“Something Out There, Something is Happening,” shot by Turouret, had a sense of purpose.

His photo series explored “our inherent spirit and psyche of the contemporary American social scene during a time of hope and change and whether that past is truly prologue.”

“Pulse Nightclub, Orlando Florida,” was a particularly haunting photo which depicted the hollow silver shells of empty candles.

Carlson’s “Pedestrian Project” captured daily aspects and behaviors of pedestrians as they walked the famous Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles. Some of Carlson’s photos were printed as raw film, a strip or sheet of transparent plastic, ensuring no alteration to the images.

“Carlson is objective in the way he mentally and physically approaches his photographs,” Truitt said. “When he shoots, he spends time at the street corner and holds the camera at his waist and shoots from there.”

Carlson’s photos appeared deceptively haphazard and had a real world feel.

Anderson’s collection, “Del Rio,” was an exploration on the land surrounding the San Diego River, covering themes including homelessness, exploitation,

environmental impacts, how humans impacted geography and the effects of Spanish colonizers on Native Americans.

“I don’t know what the collection is yet, but I absolutely love it,” Anderson said. “I love exploring, finding new places and seeing new people.”

Anderson said his collection was dictated by the geographical terrain of the area with a minimal amount of direction. Many of his shots are spontaneous, he said. The goal of this collection was to produce a book that depicts the river in a series of photos.

“I hope some people see it as a tragedy, but I also hope some people see it as beauty,” he said. “I am still trying to figure out how I feel about it, but that is the hope, to spark discussion.”

“The Dazzle of Day” was a refreshing depiction of how beauty and complexity can be found in the ordinary items and scenes around us. Photo manipulation and the ease with which any image can be altered allows photos to show or say anything, but this gallery reminds the audience that real beauty is everywhere.

Photos by Thomas Contant/Staff “It is weird to think that parts of ALMOST ANONYMOUS—Local artists Paul Turouret, Craig Carlson and Shane Anderson everyday life have parts that are so present their artwork without attribution.

It was up to viewers to glean their own meaning beautiful,” Truitt said. “It is fun to from the pieces or check a companion booklet to discover the artist’s intentions. think you can take the mundane and make it shine.”

Edgy Chicano art is InnerG of the party

By Jaeneen Chung Assistant Arts Editor

InnerG was not a somber art show where snooty patrons converse over hors d’oeuvres and wear smoking jackets. Instead, multiple art forms came together to create a popping scene as good as any upscale club.

For one night at Studio MIF in La Mesa, the lines between photography, high fashion, p a i n t i n g a n d m u s i c we re deliciously blurred.

A l e x a n d e r C o n t re r a s , a Southwestern College student majoring in film and journalism, known by the moniker “Chicano 4 Life,” displayed photographs depicting Mexican culture from his point of view. His photos depicted two men and two women cooking carne arrachera, drinking beer and playing cards on a table. Little details like using the Mexican flag as a

Ailyn Dumas/Staff

ENERGETIC INNERG —(above) DJ Josh Giggin spins dance music at the InnerG Art Show. (r) Alexander Contreras with some of his photographs depicting his version of Mexican Heaven.

tablecloth, the use of bandanas for headbands and a votive candle depicting Jesus not crucified, made the works memorable.

Together these objects captured the essence of Mexican culture.

“The goal was to portray the Mexican Heaven and what people in Mexico really do,” said Contreras. “I added a little bit of retro touch. That’s why people are wearing bandanas and different type of clothing to represent the past and the new style of Mexican culture.”

Contreras used vibrant colors, rich contrast and saturation in his photos, however, two black and white photos featured a man donning and wearing a lucha-libre style wrestling mask.

The luchador’s eyes stared down the viewer with raw power and strength.

A series of drawings depicted the mythical Medusa using a fineline pen. In the portraits, Medusa is lizard-like with scales

creeping up her neck. Her eyes are shut and blood drips down her mouth while tears flow from her eyes. Roses are scattered near the head of the snakes in her hair, removing some of their maliciousness. This Medusa is illustrated as a monster with a pure and relaxed aura of horror.

Art was not restricted to the walls. Racks of shirts and hoodies created an interplay of color on a medium not often fully appreciated as an artistic canvas. Simple lettering designs of the brands displayed drew the focus away from logos/slogans and onto the different colors.

Live musical rap performances kept the atmosphere of the art show charged with energy throughout the night. Attendees joined in by rapping and dancing along with the music. The night vibe was perfectly captured in the essence of a teenage house party, but with less mess and drama.

A22 Nov. 17, 2017 — Volume 61, Issue 2

ARTS

The Southwestern College Sun

Big Four vocal groups are still rock solid

By Yasmin Chavez Staff Writer

Southwestern College’s storied vocal Phillip Lenud and the Gospel Choir music director is not ready to put down nearly burned down the house with the baton just yet, but she has done an “Again I Say Rejoice,” working up a admirable job training a quartet of possible sweat singing and dancing with religious replacements. passion.

Dr. Teresa Russell’s protégés were on Southwestern is rich with gifted singers, both sides of the conductor’s podium at Quarrels said, which consistently power the Annual Pop Concert and the maestro’s its stellar vocal groups. influence was clear.

“We have a lot of amazing talent on The show was spectacular and a testament this campus,” said Quarrels. “Some to Russell’s legacy. performers are doing R u s s e l l h a n d e d “We have a lot of amazing it for fun, but some over her venerated talent on this campus. Some are vocal music majors Concert Choir to and they are using this former student Sarah performers are doing it for stage as a stepping M a r t i n e z f o r t h e fun, but some are vocal music stone.” stirring “How High majors and they are using this Burklund agreed.

Can You Fly?” The The Pops Concer t young Jaguar-for-Life stage as a stepping stone.” is designed help the Victoria Sanchez/Staff justified her mentor’s -Ernest Quarles singers get used to faith and coaxed a all the distractions FAB FOUR— (top to bottom) The Chamber Singers, Jazz Vocal Ensemble, Gospel Choir and Concert Choir hit all the Guest director and complications of right notes at the annual Pop Concert. rousing performance from the talented men performing for a large and women in black. The Concert Choir audience on a lit and wired stage. was the pinnacle of the show in Mayan “This concert comes up so early in the Hall as it has been in Carnegie Hall. semester, so they really only have three Russell, Martinez and company hit all weeks to prepare for it,” she said. “What the right notes. we really want is they get comfortable on Former Russell student Ernest Quarles stage and just have fun.” gave the audience a taste of opera with his Burkland’s unspoken message was rendition of “Vainement, ma bien-aimee” “Just you wait until the spring concerts!” by the French composer Édouared Lalo. Most of the singers will return of the Earlier in the evening Quarles and the spring, which must be what the coach Chamber Singers got the audience in a of a championship football team feels foot-stomping mood with the percussive like when he knows all of his players will Queen anthem “We Will Rock You.” return for next season.

Not to be outdone, the Tracy BurklundBurklund, Lenud, Quarles and directed Jazz Vocal Ensemble followed Martinez are all former students who up with a soulful rendition of the Ella have returned to SWC as teachers and Fitzgerald standards “Shiny Stockings” leaders. If the measure of a great teacher and “Caravan.” Burklund buttered these is training other great teachers, Russell chestnuts with fresh coats of harmony has excelled in her job throughout her and power, then warmed them over an career. It is clear that the future of SWC’s autumn fire. vocal music program is in good hands.

ARTS

The Southwestern College Sun

Nov. 17, 2017 — Volume 61, Issue 2

A23

Anibal Alcaraz/Staff

Life abounds on Dia de los Muertos

By Aileen Orozco and Marty Loftin Staff Writers

Dia de los Muertos unites two cultures Dia de los Muertos is not about death, but celebrating life.

One day a year the Aztec worlds of the living and dead intersect, and the spirits of the dearly departed walk with their families once again. Spirits journey back to sample their favorite foods, smell sacred cempazuchitl flowers (marigolds) and relish the beauty of altars created in their honor.

La Vista Memorial Park in National City – the South County’s oldest cemetery – put on a spectacular event that celebrated the ancestors with beautiful art, seductive altars and spirited music.

La Vista began hosting a Dia de los Muertos event in 2008 as a way for manager Luisa McCarthy to remember her late father.

“My dad is buried in Tecate, Baja California,” she said. “I wanted to honor him here since I can’t have him here with me.”

McCarthy said she was able to garner enough support from the community to make the event come to life.

“They wanted to help because they could see that it was not for profit, but to keep the culture alive,” she said.

Food vendors sold tacos and sugary skull calaveras while artisans offered jewelry, paintings and sculptures of calacas and catrinas.

Calacas are painted skulls and figures of skeletons.

Catrinas are specifically female skeletons that often wear fancy clothes and wide-brimmed hats.

“Tree of Life,” a massive painted wooden sculpture by artist Antonio Escalante, served as a grand centerpiece for the cemetery celebration. It depicted a golden tree decorated with carvings of painted skulls, colorful marigolds, human hearts and white doves. Scattered around the base of the sculpture were candles, real marigolds, painted skulls and offerings of fruit and sweet bread.

Marigolds are the Aztec flower of Dia de los

Muertos and thousands decorated the cemetery to help guide the spirits to their ofrendas, or altars, with their bright color and alluring aroma.

Beautiful artwork was everywhere, the scent of food and flowers were in the air, and the sound of mariachi music was a clarion of celebration.

Food vendors like El Cacho Fish Taco Stand and Limon Mexican Food offered a broad range of quality food choices for the living guests of the event, and although the dead received mostly fruit and candy, few complained.

Though the event takes place in a graveyard, the atmosphere was festive enough to counteract whatever fears children could have. Face painting stations operated by professional makeup artists transformed people into stunning catrinas. There were also coloring stations where kids could entertain themselves by creating their own painted skulls.

Altars decorated with picture frames of loved ones who passed away were visible throughout La Vista. They were lavishly decorated with flowers and personal possessions that gave meaning to those the altars honor, as well as offerings of food for the dead to enjoy. Each altar was unique and held different meanings for families as they conjured the spirits of the saints by presenting their favorite earthly temptations.

Dia de los Muertos has spread beyond those who originally brought it from Mexico. Now that the holiday is more accessible, people are benefitting from the healthy and constructive ways it allows people to deal with their grief.

Angela and Zachary Riggs, winners of the altar competition, first began taking part the year their 26-day-old child passed away from sudden infant death syndrome. Angela Riggs said she felt competing has been therapeutic for her and her husband.

“It’s brought us so much healing and it allows us to do something for our son with our hands that we weren’t able to do before he passed on,” she said.

Zachary Riggs said he felt that celebrating the Day of the Dead has helped them.

“I think it’s a better way of looking at death,” he said. “We shouldn’t be scared of honoring those that have passed on. We shouldn’t stop talking about them, we should honor what they have done to get us to where we are.”

Beautifully dressed catrinas, some accompanied by male catrins, participated in a costume contest with their own personalized costumes. Skull-faced catrinas somberly marched onto the stage, parading their enormous wide-brimmed hats and whimsical gowns and suits accessorized with lace, sequins, flowers and feathers.

Southwestern College’s Mariachi Garibaldi helped make Las Vista’s Dia de Los Muertos celebration a musical event. Accompanied by the Ballet Folklorico Jalisciense, the two talented groups blew the crowd away with traditional Mexican music and dance helping make the celebration of life authentic.

Jeff Nevin, director of Mariachi Garibaldi, and Mary Lopez, director and choreographer of Ballet Folklorico Jalisciense, both excelled in preparing their groups for this event. Together they made sure that the attendees, both living and dead, were thoroughly entertained.

Though Dia de los Muertos was not widely celebrated in the past, it is becoming more popular in the United States with each passing year. Despite the political climate, the Day of the Dead is a holiday that is thriving.

Nine years ago McCarthy first organized an event that is now a significant part of the community. It caters to all people, addressing the serious aspect of the holiday in which the lives of those who are gone are celebrated and by entertaining the living with contests, music and dance.

National City Mayor Ron Morrison has attended every event since the start.

“Every year it just keeps growing and growing,” he said. “It’s a great family event that allows people to experience this. There are a whole lot of traditions, some of them that people are familiar with some of them that people are not familiar with. That’s what is phenomenal about this.”

Anibal Alcaraz/Staff

Anibal Alcaraz/Staff

LONG LIVE THE DEAD— (clockwise from top) Two kids dance in front of the main stage, a stylish catrina, the “Tree of Life” sculpture located at the heart of La Vista Cemetery, the winner of the catrina costume contest accepting her trophy, an attendee lights incense before a massive shrine dedicated to those who have departed the world of the living.

Victoria Sanchez/Staff

Victoria Sanchez/Staff

A24 Nov. 17, 2017 — Volume 61, Issue 2

Design by Ivana E. Morales Tel: (619) 482-6368 email: sports@theswcsun.com

BACKPAGE

Mictlan’s Warriors

Ivana E. Morales / Staff

Women’s professional soccer is hot as Hades in Baja California Norte

By Ivana E. Morales Sports Editor

T

IJUANA — The Gates of Hell have creaked open at Caliente Stadium in this border city. The devil’s on the loose. A sign in the visitor’s tunnel leading to the soccer pitch warns “This is Mictlan,” a reference to the Aztec underworld guarded by the sacred dogs, Xoloitzcuintles.

The new Club Tijuana’s women professional soccer team is fired up and ready to give ‘em hell.

In 2015 Club Tijuana became the first Mexican team to compete in the Women’s Premier Soccer League, a national circuit in the United States. Las Xolas were forced to play home matches in the border community of San Ysidro because league officials would not let them play in Tijuana, arguing that the town was unsafe. Former general manager Marbella Ibarra said team leaders tried to convince league officials that Tijuana was changing for the better, to no avail.

“Our team was not allowed to play at Caliente Stadium,” she said. “We were visitors even at our home games.”

In their first year competing del otro lado de la frontera (on the other side of the border) Club Tijuana’s women took fifth place. More important, they achieved enormous popularity with matches crowded with families and children.

Las Xolas witnessed first-hand the differences between Mexican and American soccer. American players are characterized by strength and power, while their Mexican counterparts emphasize ball control.

Mexicans were also old-fashioned about gender roles, with some insisting women could not excel in soccer. Americans know better and are proud of their elite women’s national team.

Head coach Andrea Rodebaugh of Club Tijuana said Mexican culture has held back women athletes.

“The biggest obstacle we have faced is the idea that women and soccer do not go together,” she said. “It is ridiculous to think this sport belongs just to men.”

Proximity to the border helped Club Tijuana as progressive American attitudes toward women athletes trickled over la linea.

“I had a group of girls that represented Baja California for 10 years,” Ibarra said. “We won everything, so we reached a point where we wanted to take one step further.”

Ibarra teamed up with Andrea Rodebaugh, Mexico’s former U20 coach, to structure a project they could present to Club Tijuana. Xolos general manager Ignacio Palou approved the project in 2014 and offered Club Tijuana’s headquarters and stadium.

“With a women’s soccer team representing us, we can open the door to those girls who want to be professionals,” said Palou. “We can offer them an opportunity for development, something that was missing here in Mexico.”

Finally, in December 2016, the Mexican Football Federation announced the creation of a women’s professional soccer league.

“It was like a scream on the dessert,” said Ibarra. “We did not know if the idea would turn into a reality.”

Natalie Mosqueda / Staff

GOOOAL! — (top) Club Tijuana’s women’s soccer team celebrates the first goal scored by a female professional player at Caliente Stadium. Evelyn Fernandez had the honors. (above) Xolas midfielder Inglis Hernandez fires a shot against Cruz Azul Futbol Club.

It was real for Evelyn Fernandez, wearing a red jersey with a number 19, when she looked down and prepared the ball on the grass. At the whistle, Fernandez kick the free shot and the fans roared the magic word - gooooal!

It was the first Caliente Stadium goal by a female professional soccer player.

Xolas won 2-0 against Monarcas Morelia.

But not everything is perfect in Mictlan.

In an unexpected turn of events, the Mexican Football Federation made a rule change one month before the start of the women’s Liga MX. Female players with dual citizenship were banned, directly affecting Club Tijuana and teams with Mexican-American players.

SWC women’s soccer coach Carolina Soto said she hopes that rule will change because it limits the growth of female soccer players at the border.

“We need to be conscious that is a border city and we have MexicanAmericans that grew up feeling very proud of their Mexican heritage,” she said. “They speak Spanish and their culture is Mexican. It is unfair to (ban) those girls.”

Meanwhile, at Mictlan, Xolas work to imbue their team with an energetic style of play. Rodebaugh said they need to develop the reserve teams because, after the announcement of the new professional league and the changes of rules, the squad went through a lot of infrastructure changes.

“We need to start thinking about the future,” she said. “We need to form the new generation of players that are going to play for Xolos’ women’s team.”

Rodeabugh said the time for women’s professional soccer in Mexico has arrived.

It is one hell of an idea.

LAS PRIMERAS — Xolos de Caliente was a pioneer in the creation of Mexico’s first women’s professional soccer team.

Head Coach Andrea Rodebaugh (above, r) leads Club Tijuana in the inaugural year of women’s LIGA MX.

Natalie Mosqueda / Staff