Viewpoints Issue #9 March 10, 2016

yNEWS

Downtown Dicken’s festival

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ySPORTS

Beach Volleyball wins 6-4

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yA&E

‘Triple 9’ falls short

viewpoints An Associated Collegiate Press two-time national Pacemaker award-winning newspaper, serving as the voice of the students since 1922.

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VOL. XCVI, NO. 9

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MARCH 10, 2016

Faculty Association at odds with Chancellor CRYSTAL OLMEDO @Crystal_Olmedo

VICTOR DURAN | VIEWPOINTS

White park was closed down while an investigation is under way involving one gunman escaping after firing five shots, one of which struck a man in the head.

Students left in the dark CRYSTAL OLMEDO & JAMES H. WILLIAMS

The Riverside Community College District failed to inform students of an incident, which was initially reported by some to be an active shooter situation, that occurred next to the district’s new plaza.

A man was shot in the head at White Park on Feb. 29 and two suspects were at large until March 2.

Faculty, staff and administrators were notified via email by RCCD Chancellor Michael Burke more than an hour after the shooting took place.

In the email Burke reported the state of the investigation of the shooting at White Park and that the District Offices and other downtown buildings had undergone a

temporary lockdown.

According to RCCD Director of Risk Management Michael Simmons, this was for informational purposes only. Students did not receive any notification of the lockdown or the shooting.

Simmons spoke with Viewpoints after being redirected following an attempt to reach Burke was unsuccessful.

An RCCD community service officer was one of the first on the scene and rendered aid to the victim. RCCD dispatch was alerted by a someone who was in the Centennial Plaza at the time of the shooting, according to Simons.

Simmons said that there are contingencies to activating the mass notification system or Rave portal. The Rave portal uses phone numbers and

emails listed for students, staff and faculty currently employed with or enrolled at an RCCD campus.

If Rave was activated, members of unified team college administration, the Chancellor’s office, Risk Management, Safety and Police would determine the emergency type, the group or facility to be notified and the message type, including text, phone, email or digital signage.

The last update received by the emergency notification system was a test alert conducted on Oct. 15 and, it reached about 80,000 contacts according to Simmons.

“The mass notification system would be activated if there was … imminent danger to the district or college constituents

Riverside Community College District Board of Trustees appointed a compliance officer at the Feb. 16 meeting and the hire has been a cause of concern within the RCCD Faculty Association.

According to Dariush Haghighat, the president of Riverside City College’s Faculty Association, the union expressed concern about the Board’s appointment of Lorraine Jones to the position, because there was not a member of the faculty association on the hiring committee.

“The association is shocked, dismayed and frustrated that the hiring was done without their knowledge,” Haghighat said.

Jones was previously the director of equal opportunity employment and diversity and the Title IX coordinator for Mount San Antonio College until 2015.

While she is no longer an employee at Mount San Antonio College, she is still in the middle of a civil lawsuit in which she is accused of covering up a rape by former students of the college.

“The faculty association condemns any indifference toward rape on a campus and any allegations and takes them seriously,” Haghighat said. “We expect our district to do their due diligence.”

Although the association is concerned about the issue, according to Haghighat they are not passing judgment on the allegations.

See WHITE PARK on Page 4

See FACULTY on Page 3

RTA downtown terminal to be eliminated DIEGO D. GARCIA @Dee_Noir

The downtown Riverside Transit Agency’s bus terminal will be eliminated indefinitely as of January 2017 and buses will be dispatched directly to individual stops.

The City Council unanimously voted in favor of moving the Riverside Public

library from its present location to the location of the downtown bus terminal.

This is the most significant change for RTA in the last 30 years. “We are going to be building new bus stops and improving existing stops as well. The good news is people who ride the bus in downtown Riverside are going to see some very positive changes in the way they get around,” said Bradley

Weaver RTA spokesmen.

More than 20 existing bus stops will be renovated.

This project will begin during the summer and end after the fall in order to shift from the downtown terminal on Jan. 2017.

“Essentially we have outgrown our old home,” Weaver said.

“There are 600 buses a day... going into that site. So RTA realized they had to change how they were delivering their

services,” said Cindy Roth, President and CEO of the Greater Riverside Chamber of Commerce. “We fully support the move of the Main library to the RTA site,” Roth said.

“It’s a win win all the way around,” Roth said. Although these new provision may be beneficial to Riverside County residents there are some who have different views.

See RTA on Page 4

INDEX

NEWS SPORTS A&E VIEWS

2 5 7 9

2 March 10, 2016

News

RCC students utilize waitlists

GIOVANNI CARDENAS | VIEWPOINTS

Riverside City College Admissions and Counseling employee assists students.

Crime Briefs y

Feb. 9 Theft from cafeteria

At 2:15 p.m. Cafeteria staff alerted Riverside City College Police of a male that had stolen a burrito from the school cafeteria.

RCC Police used both eye witness account and video tape to Identify the suspect. RCC Police located the suspect on Brockton Avenue and arrested him for theft and an outstanding warrant. y

Feb. 11 Non-student refuses to leave

At 10:54 a.m. RCC police respond to a report of a non-student male loitering around the Samuel C. Evans Sports complex field west of Magnolia Avenue next to Parking Lot T. The individual was asked to leave by an RCC athletics field caretaker. After refusing to leave RCC police arrived on scene and the individual left.

Feb. 17 Hit and run vehicle collision with no injuries y

A vehicle collision occurred at 7:49 a.m. in the parking structure. No injuries were reported. y

Feb. 17 Stolen vehicle

RCC Police received a report at 6:03 p.m. of a stolen vehicle. A vehicle was stolen at 8 a.m. from Parking Lot E on Terracina Drive. y

Feb. 18 Stolen vehicle recovered

At 4:46 a.m., RCC Police recovered a stolen vehicle from Parking Lot Y. This was the same car stolen on Feb. 17 at 8 a.m. the previous morning.

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Feb. 23 Graffiti found in Parking Lot T

Graffiti was found defacing walls and signs in parking Lot T.

CHRIS VALDEZ

@RCCViewpoints

Since waitlists were implemented in fall 2007, students have been filling the roster.

Those waitlists are full of students hoping to get the classes they need, but it seems waitlists fulfill another role most students don’t know about: waitlist are a key tool used to add new class sections.

This spring semester students registering at Riverside City College increased by 1.8 percent over Spring 2015, according to the enrollment status summary on California Community College Chancellor’s Office website.

Title V and the Education code ensures priority registration is given to veterans, disabled students, and to those in programs

like Extended Opportunity Programs & Services, Nursing or Cosmetology.

It also prioritizes new students who are looking to transfer to a four year college or straight into the workforce.

New students and those not included in those programs sometimes end up having to add to the waitlist.

“When I first started it wasn’t as bad, now it’s more overwhelming,” said Edgar Ramirez, a Riverside City College student.

Many students like Ramirez are beginning to avoid and even drop classes with waitlists that are full. To students it seems like only the lucky few at the top of a wait list will get into a class.

However, dropping a wait-listed class does more harm than good.

“Waitlists were implemented in order to give students a chance to sort of, virtually wait in line for that class they needed,” said Dawn Valencia, dean of enrollment services.

Even this isn’t enough to deal with the amount of students who need classes. This is where adding new class sections comes in.

The Dean of Instruction of each department looks at which classes have the fullest waitlists, in both past semesters and the current semester, to help determine if a new class section is needed.

If the resources, like faculty and classrooms, are available to add the new section, then the class is accommodated. Which makes the wait list a valuable resource for administration in figuring out where new classes need to be added, and where staff as well as resources need to be allocated.

This also gives students an

opportunity to register for the same class at the same time slot with another instructor.

According to Johanna Va s q u e z , a d m i n i s t r a t i v e assistant III, this policy has allowed students this semester the opportunity to get the classes they need without having conflicting schedules.

This policy is only effective if students stay on the waitlist.

Dropping a wait-listed class sends the Deans of Instruction the message that students don’t need that class, and a new class section doesn’t need to be added.

Students on a waitlist also have the responsibility of checking up and knowing if and when they are added into a class.

“If they put themselves on a wait list they will be notified at their RCC email that they’ve been added into that class,” Valencia said.

“Students who signed up for a class on a waitlist, never attended, didn’t know that they had the class, and the professor for whatever reason didn’t drop them so they ended up with a grade.”

Students who don’t check their email won’t be aware they may have been added to a class roster. According to Academic Policy 5075, instructors are required to drop inactive student.

The students who aren’t dropped end up with a failing grade at the end of a semester.

Dozens of students each semester end up having to fill out an Extenuating Circumstances Petition to have these failing grades dropped from their records.

“We do try and maintain communication, but it all comes down to whether or not students are reading their email,” Valencia said.

three campuses in the district, according to the proposed timeline for the elections.

The ASRCC Supreme Court will approve the packets during their next meeting.

A Programs for Success open forum will be hosted March 10 in the cafeteria, located in the bottom level of the Bradshaw Building from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m.

Some of the programs from campus that will be in attendance at the forum will include the Pathway to Law School program, Honors Program and the Paralegal Studies Program.

The purpose of the forum is to help students reach the resources they need to succeed in college.

“Students don’t know what resources are available, so many of the resources don’t get used,” said one of ASRCC’s Supreme Court Justices Patty McAdams, . “The resources are there to help students with their college endeavors.”

Student government welcomes members from other programs to attend the forum.

ASRCC Student Government elections will be held May 10 and 11. The court plans to follow a model similar to last year’s elections.

Positions that are up for election include president, vice president, and senators.

Other items discussed in the meeting included budget meetings and recruitment for the Supreme Court.

Budget meetings will be held March 29 and 30, where RCC clubs will present a board composed of ASRCC members with budget proposals for the following academic year.

Supreme Court Justice Pro Tempore Adam Molina mentioned he wants to continue with efforts to recruit more students to join the Supreme Court. He said he is worried there are not enough students to help during the busy months of April and May, when the Student Government elections take place.

Supreme Court meetings will be held twice a month for the spring semester.

ASRCC election coming up HECTOR M. ZERMENO @Zector_news

The Associated Students of Riverside City College Supreme Court held its first meeting of the spring semester Feb. 25 in the Student Government Building.

During the 30 minute meeting, the court discussed some of the upcoming events for the semester such as the Student Trustee election, a Programs for Success open forum, and the ASRCC Student Government elections.

The Riverside Community College District is scheduled to have district-wide Student Trustee elections on April 5 and 6.

Students interested in running for student trustee are required to have completed at least 12 units and must have a 2.5 GPA or higher.

Student Trustee election packets will be made available March 14 at 9 a.m. in the Student Activities office at each of the

News

March 10, 2016

Dickens Festival enlightens

STACY SORIANO | VIEWPOINTS

Members of The Atlantean Foundation drink tea and socialize near their tent where they displayed various artifacts from different parts of the world and time on Feb 28 in downtown Riverside Dickens festival.

TAVEN STRICKERT @RCCviewpoints

Music, muskets, mead and memories. The Dickens Festival returned to Riverside for the 23rd year. For one weekend a year, Riverside residents are transported to the time of Dickens and his good old Oliver Twist.

The festival welcomes all whether they be an attendee, historian, costumer, Steampunk or even just a beer enthusiast. The festival is a yearly attraction that has “grown exponentially and will continue to do so,” according to festival board member Brenda Beers.

The festival is a celebration of history during the time of Dickens, but has grown from its early days of being a small

group of historians and one actor portraying Dickens himself.

Now there is massive community of reenactors with vendors of all varieties as well as fourteen authors of the time Dickens engaging in environmental acting for the duration of the festival.

“It’s fun we are not just reenacting the battles, we are giving insight that these were real people just like my great grandfather… their times, music and memory should be remembered,” said Bruce Carver of the Armory Band.

Charles Dickens was portrayed by community actor Paul Jacques. Jacques is an actor with the California Theatre and will be putting on the production Spamalot later this year.

“It promotes literacy… human rights and everything

forward thinking society should be striving for…it’s not just me out here and I hope that people can find a literary voice they can connect with” said Jacques in reference to why he chose the role of Dickens.

Mark Twain, who declined to give his name to remain in character, shared his classic insight on the broad implications of history as it pertains to the Inland Empire.

“Humans will always endeavor to suppress their wretcheder side and the only way to do it is to look closely back at history and its mistakes as one would personally do with themselves,” said Twain.

The actor shared his thoughts on the Twain’s impact on history.

“Huck Finn dealt with more than slavery then because slavery still exists, it’s just changed its

Innocent until proven guilty FACULTY from Page 1

“It is clearly important to separate allegations from proven fact. The Faculty Association does not wish to jump to any conclusion,” Haghighat said.

“We don’t want anyone rushed into judgment, but we expect the board to give us a definite conclusion to this cloud that is hanging over our heads …

(Jones) is innocent until proven guilty.”

Haghighat said that the faculty association will be submitting a report to the Board addressing the violation of a “gentleman’s agreement” held between Michael Burke, chancellor of RCCD, and the faculty association and suggested an investigation into this matter. This agreement was arranged because of past issues the association had encountered with former District Compliance Officers.

“There have been some issues with that position (Director of Compliance) which is exactly why we want to develop a board policy,” Board of Trustees President Virginia Blumenthal said. “That way everybody knows.“

Haghighat said the Faculty Association did a Google search and found out about the lawsuit, giving them more reason for worry on the matter. After learning about the lawsuit, they contacted Burke, Human Resources,and Riverside City College President Wolde-Ab Isaac.

“Because of this incident and what was done the word of the chancellor cannot be trusted,” Haghighat said. “So we need an agreement in writing in the board policy.”

According to Haghighat, the Faculty Association believes the board needs to clearly outline the hiring process with no ambiguity that “all stakeholders are to be involved in the hiring process of key administrative positions.”

Blumenthal said she is “not at all ”concerned that Jones is holding the same position she served in at Mt.SAC. “Anybody can get sued.

It does not mean (you) have committed any wrongdoing, “Blumenthal said. “We’re not involved in that.”

Burke apologized at the March 1, Board of Trustees meeting for not involving members of the

faculty association in the decision to hire a new district compliance officer.

“First of all the recent compliance officer recruitment hiring that we did, brought attention and serious concern around how we engage with involved faculty or hiring committees,” Burke said at the meeting. “We did not follow our past practice, this is my oversight.

I own that mistake. I’m sorry for the oversight and I want to share that it was not intentional.”

RCCD Student Trustee Ryan Rudolph said he was unaware of the lawsuit that has been filed against Jones. He said he remembers Burke apologizing for an action he had taken, but it was unclear what exactly Burke was referring to.

“Let’s have an open dialogue so we can … ensure campus safety,” Rudolph said.

The board policy is scheduled to be presented at the April 5 Board of Trustees regular/ committee meeting at the District Office Boardroom in Centennial Plaza.

Diego D. Garcia contributed to this article.

clothes. I would say this to all the readers of viewpoints, to become aware that human trafficking in the Inland Empire is of such proportion that it might as well be called the same thing.”

The festival also played host to a myriad of costumed guests such as pirates, royalty, barmaids and for the first official time, Steampunk. Steampunk has always been part of the festival, but this year the vendors were invited and Sunday was designated Steampunk day.

Dan McGrew of Rogue Privateers was making a real Zeppelin only with time sensitive technology from 1904 or Nicole Goldberg from Baubles and Steam Emporium handmade thousands of pieces of jewelry that range from authentic to Steampunk art.

Talking to those who do dress up for fun like Hayley Humberson, an anime and convention fan who attended the festival, one can see the intrigue taking the leap of creativity.

“I have never come across a mean spirited person at one of these things, even if your costume isn’t perfect people just love to see you trying and getting in the spirit” said Humberson. The community is very welcoming and even if you don’t know where to start you can always find guidance and a good time at the festival.

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The guests themselves who were out of costume did not get left out, in fact they said they felt as welcomed and included as any costumer.

For attendees that are of age the festival tavern may be the highlight of their time at the event with local brews, magic shows, dancing girls and as colorful characters as one could hope to meet. The leader of the Tavern is known as Mistress Babs and she said intends on expanding the tavern as a draw for more young adults such as of age college students. Babs said that the festival was a group effort of dedicated volunteers headed by a passionate few. “We all love the festival, but Brenda Beers is the glue that holds this festival together,” Babs said.

Roy Deitrich, first time festival goer and bartender said he was astounded to see the camaraderie of the day as well as the support the festival seemed to give to local businesses. “All the beers here are locally made on Van Buren and most of the vendors are local businesses so this is more than just an event, it is a community networking opportunity,” he said.

News Briefs Remember to use

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Planetarium to hold show Riverside City College is scheduled to host an assortment of shows this spring semester. , “Comets” will be held from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the Planetarium on Mar. 11 and will be about myths and facts about the so-called mysterious space travelers and how they travel through the solar system.

Green Festival comes to RCC Riverside City College is scheduled to host The Riverside Green Festival and Summit on April 23 from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the Quad and Garden. There will be presentations every half hour and many tips for the backyard farmer from master composters and gardeners.

Centennial Plaza Open House Riverside City College District will be holding an open house of Centennial Plaza for the Riverside City College Culinary Arts Academy, Coil School for the Arts and RCCD offices on Mar. 14 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.

4 March 10, 2016

News

Arrest made WHITE PARK from Page 1

(students, faculty and staff),” Simmons said. “If the danger was unknown to them, the mass notification system would be required in order to notify them that they are in imminent danger.

If the emergency communication would be necessary to prevent injury or death to the district or college constituency.”

RCCD Interim Police Chief Colleen Walker also reported that the department had determined there was no immediate threat to those on the RCC campus.

“My community service officer determined the scene was closed because the suspect had fled,” Walker said. “She climbed the fence, went to render aid and got a statement from the victim and made sure she broadcasted the information.”

Simmons said the lockdown involved locking doors on the first floor of the Centennial Plaza.

Centennial Plaza has a builtin security system that requires “appropriate access” in order to reach the second and third floors.

“That incident had, to our knowledge, no imminent danger to the district or college,” Simmons said. “We were not the target. The danger was really

RTA from Page 4 “It’s convenient but, I’m not gonna say it’s a good idea.

They are making the community better for the school, for the business people, for the city, but they are not doing it for the low income families who live around here, who want to do better for themselves. They are trying to make it look beautiful for the schools and other things,” said L.B. an RTA customer and Riverside County resident.

The City of Riverside is currently negotiating a new lease with Greyhound, another bus company in the designated area for the new library.

Others did not have much

known to everyone who was in the building (Centennial Plaza), at that point there had been police activity and other activity … where activating Rave would have been redundant because everybody already knew about the incident.”

Simmons said that a notification had not been issued because there may have been negative effects on the RCC student population.

“In fact, our concern, if we had activated Rave and notified the entire student population of RCC about an incident that occurred in an isolated park a mile away from the college, we probably would have generated more mass panic than anything else,” Simmons said. “We have to be extremely sensitive to that.”

Some students hold a different view and thought that the information should have been shared with them.

“I would have liked to have seen an alert,” said Nigel Item, Associated Students of Riverside president. “I found out through social media.”

RCCD Student Trustee Ryan Rudolph shared a similar sentiment.

“With the shooting happening next to White Park, especially next to the new building, it

to say about the elimination of the bus terminal, but had some interesting views. “I know it’s not in the best part of town. I’ve been to the terminal a couple times. Even though it’s next to the police station you still kinda get your characters,” said Billy Evans, a Riverside City College student and Army Veteran.

Another student also added “well for me, I don’t take the bus all the way to downtown, but it does affect other people’s way to transfer from one bus to another,” said Javier Ochoa, RCC student.

Riverside City Manager John A. Russo was able to bring developers from the Discovery Cube to the Riverside Public library. They decided to look

VICTOR DURAN | VIEWPOINTS

Riverside police investigate downtown Riverside’s historic White Park following the shooting Feb. 29.

should be very important that an alert was sent out that there was a situation,” Rudolph said. “So that the students (know) to stay clear of the area.”

Cory Chenno James, 26, of Riverside and Karisha Johnson, 25, of Colton were arrested after a traffic stop in the city of Colton, according to a press release issued by the Riverside Police Department on March 2. into that site and initiated an exclusive negotiations agreement seeking development in that location. The Discovery Cube is an organization built to ignite children’s natural curiosity in the math and sciences.

Children and students travel to Los Angeles or Orange County to take advantage of what the Discovery Cube provides. The move of the RTA unlocked possibilities for new horizons in the future vacant Riverside Public Library. This could mean that not only would Southern California have a science museum in L.A. and O.C., but now there may be a Discovery Cube in downtown Riverside located right here 1.2 miles from RCC.

Johnson and James were suspects in the Feb. 29 shooting that happened at 11:15 a.m. at White Park. They have been interviewed and booked into Robert Presley Detention Center in Riverside for attempted murder.

A l e x i s N a u c l e r, D a v i d Roman and Hector M. Zermeno contributed to this article.

JOEL ZEPEDA | VIEWPOINTS

A Riverside Transit Agency bus arrives at the Riverside downtown terminal on Fairmount Avenue.

Board of Trustees find report to be outdated DIEGO GARCIA

@RCCViewpoints

The Student Success Scorecard of 2015 for the Riverside Community College District defined Riverside City College as the “primary successor” of the three colleges just below Norco College and determined Asian and Filipino students as the most academically successful cohort of the bunch.

This study was based on new students who completed 30 units from the 2008-2009 academic year and followed their studies through the course of six years testing 7,001 students and excluded 51,826 students, due to lack of qualifications, before presenting its findings to the

Board of Trustees on March 1, 2016.

“Data that’s six years old and with all the other programs that the colleges have initiated and the fact that we received so many other support grants, I think we’ve already seen other indicators that show that our students are much more successful than what the scorecard shows,” said Trustee Vackar.

“Also, some of the cohorts were much smaller than other groups and this and other variables could have skewed the overall data that was presented.

T h e l a rg e s t d e m o g r a p h i c is of Hispanic descent and continuously ranked near the bottom.”

RCCD ranked in at 39.9 percent on a state level with

California at 46.8 percent averaged in the category of degree/transfer program.

The study also revealed that female students were more successful than male students in degree, certificate or transfer completion. 3,881 females and 3,037 males completed these categories, including college prepared and unprepared for college. Also, people under the age of 20 were among the most accomplished in the study with a 5,842 student completion rate overall, including the college prepared and unprepared categories.

African Americans came in at 38 percent Filipinos with 50 percent, Asians at 53.3 percent, and Hispanics at 35.3 percent in the category of certificate, degree/

transfer completion rate to name a few cohorts. A more indepth look on the data can be found on the RCCD website under the Board of Trustees tab by clicking on the March 1 meeting and selecting the Student Success Scorecard for 2015 hyperlink.

Trustee Nathan Miller agreed with Vackar that the study was lacking timeliness and was irrelevant.

“I don’t understand why the data we received was so old and why it takes so long to be compiled and be presented, ” said Trustee Miller.

RCC President Wolde-Ab Isaac shared his perspective on the statistics.

“Our success rate is unacceptably low and it should not take six years for students to

complete courses in a two year college,” Isaac said. “Not only what do the students lack but what do we lack?”

This study does not reflect the academic accomplishments of current students, but is reflective of past students and their achievements.

“Speaking as an African American female in the African American community, education is just now, probably in the last ten years, becoming a really high thing for African American communities,” said Kaitlin Glenn, RCC student and Campus Activities Council member. “I know in some lower communities that it’s not a number one priority for a lot of children but is becoming more so now.”

SPORTS

March 10, 2016

“You’ve got to learn something from every match you play in,”

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- Misty May Treanor

New form of volleyball arrives

The Riverside City College athletic department introduces new women’s sport, since 1996 PRISTINE TOMPKIN @PristineTompkin

For the first time since w o m e n ’s w a t e r p o l o w a s implemented in 1996, a new sport has been added to the Riverside City College athletic department.

That sport happens to be beach volleyball.

Jamie Hofman was named head coach for beach volleyball, by indoor volleyball head coach Monica Hayes-Trainer, making it her first collegiate head coaching job.

“I am really excited to coach the first season of sand volleyball at RCC,” Hofman said. “Especially because (beach) volleyball is a sport that is growing and gaining popularity at every level.”

Hofman is the assistant for Hayes-Trainer in indoor volleyball, and now for beach volleyball the roles have flipped.

She also said there was a big incentive in making beach volleyball a women’s varsity sport.

“I know that there is such a huge interest in volleyball itself,” Hofman said. “ By adding (beach) volleyball, we knew that there would be a strong following right away and a desire to help this sport and its athletes grow.”

The addition of this sport helps RCC comply with Title

STACY SORIANO | VIEWPOINTS

Riverside City College sand volleyball player Marissa Vialpando kneels down to contest a shot as teammate Amanda Barker stands by, the women’s sand volleyball team held a scrimmage at Andulka Park versus San Bernardino Valley College on March 1.

IX requirements, giving 1520 female student-athletes an opportunity to play another sport, according to interim athletic director Jim Wooldridge.

One of those student-athletes is freshman Lauren Wells who said that with beach volleyball she is able to play the game and

reunite with teammates sooner rather than later, since indoor volleyball doesn’t start back up until the fall.

Teammate Melissa Moe said she is glad the sport has finally been introduced.

“To me having (beach) added was a great accomplishment

bottom of the sixth-inning, stopping Santiago Canyon from doing anymore damage, and retained the win.

Tigers’ shortstop Danielle Lopez was the star of the game going home with a cycle, her first ever and the first for the RCC program as well.

“That was something! That’s one player that we went after ( a lot), because we knew she was great with the glove and bat, which showed today.” Dadonna said.

Lopez has 24 hits with 14 runs, 29 RBIs, five doubles and one triple overall.

The Tigers went on a 7-0 run after Lopez ignited the team when she doubled to center field and brought in Jordan Emanuele.

During the run, center-fielder Hunter LaCroix had a two run double in the bottom of the first that brought in Lopez and Dani Melendez.

The team then headed up north to participate in the Fresno City Tournament.

The tournament gave them an opportunity to prepare for a team

that they could face later on in the season.

“We like going up there and seeing the competition it always gets us ready what to expect when we reach the postseason,” Daddona said. “Many times we get to see those teams again.”

Although the team lost on the road against Fresno and Sacramento City College, they defeated Santa Rosa, 4-1, and have since continued their winning streak defeating Fullerton College, 4-3, March 9 at home.

Tigers’ pitcher Laura Mendez has also helped jump start the team with her defense, causing 3.11 strikeouts per game for opposing offenses.

Mendez has 25 strikeouts overall and has not allowed a single triple all season.

The Tigers have now won two games in a row and look to make that three as they are scheduled to host Orange Coast College on March 11 at 2 p.m. In the last meeting against the Pirates, RCC won 7-6, scoring their last three runs in the sixth-inning.

for the volleyball program,” Moe said. “I know my coaches have been trying to make things happen with it for a while and so it’s great we got it.”

She added how important it is to demonstrate to the community that the sport is here to stay.

“We are definitely working

hard not only for ourselves and coaches, but also to prove people how much adding sand means to us,” she said.

T h e b i g g e s t d i ff e r e n c e between beach volleyball and indoor volleyball is the amount of players in the match. For indoor volleyball, there are six players on each side of the net, while in beach volleyball, there are teams of only two players.

Hofman said that beach volleyball already has a strong following and the team has adjusted well to the change.

“To have it at RCC is a testament of how RCC is looking to improve and gain knowledge and respect from other schools as well as the community,” she said.

“The girls have all dove head first into learning the game and have improved so much.”

The lack of appropriate practice area on campus has led the team to practice at Andulka Park throughout the week, and hosted its first scrimmage there March 1 against San Bernardino Valley College.

On March 4, the Tigers took on San Diego City College in their first match of the regular season, where they defeated the Knights, 6-4.

The Tigers are scheduled to take on Fullerton College on March 11 at Cypress College.

GALLERY: Visit us at viewpointsonline.org

Softball team picks up speed after win at home ALEXANDRA ORTIZ & LAURA M. TAPIA @RCCviewpoints

This season has been a slow start for the Riverside City College softball team, but after picking up a 12-11 win March 2 against top ranked team Santiago Canyon College (SCC), it might just be the spark they needed.

Head coach Michelle Daddona took notice of the significant win.

“I (have to) tip my hat to them (SCC), without a doubt that’s the best team we’ve faced all season,” she said. “For us to do what we did against them, (it) should show us our true potential.”

The Hawks came out swinging for the fences in the first inning taking a 4-0 lead, but it was short lived when RCC answered back with seven runs of their own, regaining the lead.

Neither team put their bats down the rest of the game, totaling five lead changes.

RCC took the lead in the

ANDREW BRADY | VIEWPOINTS

Hunter LaCroix takes one deep for a two run double in the bottom of the first inning against visiting Santiago Canyon on March 2.

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March 10, 2016

Sports

Baseball coach is next man up Former Riverside City College baseball player goes from outfield to coaching the team ALEXIS NAUCLER @AlexisNaucler

When a head coach of 27 years takes a leave of absence, someone has to step in and lead a team to a 10-3 overall record before heading into conference play.

This is exactly what Rudy Arguelles, Riverside City College’s assistant baseball coach, did when head coach Dennis Rogers announced his absence for the 2016 season.

Arguelles was born in Corona and has resided in the Inland Empire ever since.

Growing up, Arguelles played multiple sports, including football, basketball,track and field, soccer, and of course, baseball.

Out of the different sports he’s played, he mentioned football was one of his favorites because of the aggressiveness and intensity involved with the sport, which he has ingrained into the baseball culture at RCC. “He’s really trying to make us an aggressive team, kind of have a culture more this year,” sophomore infielder Brody Weiss said. “An aggressive culture, kind of being relentless is what his big word has been, just being relentless the whole nine innings of the game.”

Although Arguelles has appreciated the aggressiveness and intensity of football, he has decided to focus on baseball, which he felt would fit him best and would be able to play for many years.

“In the long run, I knew where I was that if I was going to have a chance to extend my years, you know playing a sport, it was going to be baseball,” he said.

During his years at Norco High School, Arguelles’ baseball coach talked to him about Rogers, where he has been, what he has done and who he is. It was during a senior year All-Star game, that Arguelles finally met Rogers in person and knew right away who he wanted to play for.

Rudy Arguelles D R A F T E D

BY THE ANAHEIM ANGELS IN 1998.

P L AY E D

FOR CEDAR RAPIDS KERNELS FROM 1999 TO 2OOO.

IN THE COLLEGE PLAYED

WORLD SERIES IN 1998.

W ENT

TO ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY ON SCHOLARSHIP.

ANDREW BRADY | VIEWPOINTS

(Clockwise from bottom left) Head coach Rudy Arguelles making mid-game roster substitutions when facing Saddleback on March 8. (Top) Arguelles coaches freshman Ryan Mota during games versus the Gauchos. (Bottom right) He has lead the Tigers to a 11-4 overall record as new baseball coach.

“I was so dead set on being around him and being a part of his program and being under his tutelage,” he said.

Arguelles started at RCC in the fall of 1991, where after a semester, he decided to take a break to focus on working fulltime to help support his family.

He had a lot of experiences during his leave, including getting married and having a child.

Due to his tremendous passion for the game, Arguelles decided to return to RCC three years later and try out for the baseball team one more time.

“During that time I knew if I had the opportunity to have a second chance to come back I was not going to fail,” he said.

Getting back on the field, Arguelles played every position possible, from outfield, infield and even on the mound.

His time at RCC was of great importance to him, as he worked with very notable coaches such as Bob Miller, Scott Majors, Carl Sanchez, Jeff Shiner and Brian Green who have helped Arguelles build his baseball background.

“The time here allowed me to really understand and grasp what the game demanded. It

allowed me to really solidify my foundation that I was able to carry over throughout the rest of my years collegiately and gave me a little opportunity to have some experience with the Angels,” he said.

When it was time for to transfer out of RCC, Arguelles had options as to where he could transfer, but it was his one trip to Arizona State that made the choice clear.

He then canceled all other college trips and decided on ASU, where he’d received a scholarship.

As one who never harped on the past or worried about the future, Arguelles has always lived in the moment, which was something Rogers instilled in him, and never worried about when and where he would receive a scholarship or who was going to recruit him.

“I never took away from what my agenda was on a daily basis, and that was how I am going to get better today and not worry about what the future was going to bring,” he said.

Arguelles transferred to ASU in 1996, where he majored in Communications in hopes

of going into broadcasting or becoming a sports analyst.

“It was a goal of mine when I step foot on that campus that by the time my years were up as far as athletically I was going to have a degree in my hand no matter what.”

The Sun Devils eventually went to the College World Series in 1998, where they defeated Long Beach State, 14-4, in Game 11 on June 3. It was right before this game that Arguelles’ coach shared with him what every baseball player wanted to hear, that he was drafted by the Anaheim Angels.

“It was an absolute special moment … I still get emotional,” he said. “I took a sprint out to center field, gathered myself because we had a game to play and the goal was to win a National Championship there at that moment in time, so I allowed myself about 10 minutes then it was back on task.”

He graduated from ASU, degree in hand and went straight to play for the Angels’ single A affiliate the Cedar Rapids Kernels. The transition from playing in college to the minor leagues was a good experience

for Arguelles, as he noticed the change in mentality and attitude.

“It was not so much a team concept more was it individual approach because the whole goal when you get in the minor leagues it kind of changes it’s about the individual, it’s about the progress and development of the individual because their goal and absolute goal is to reach the pinnacle, which is the big leagues.”

Arguelles finished his time with the Kernels in late 1999 to 2000 to then come back to where it all started, RCC, to begin his coaching career.

“It was more excitement to be able to contribute back to the program that allowed me to develop and grow and give me the opportunities,” he said.

A s a b a s e b a l l p l a y e r, Arguelles never thought about getting into coaching until Rogers encouraged him to be a part of the program at RCC. Arguelles never found himself to be nervous or anxious about starting his career as a coach, but the transition from player to coach was tough for him, as his whole mentality had to change.

“In the younger days, that’s probably the hardest part I think for young coaches when they start out,” he said. “The toughest transition from a coaching standpoint was the mental side of things to where you expect things to be done, (and) expect actions to take place you wanna get in there and you want to do it yourself.”

Looking back at his playing days at RCC, transferring to ASU and being in the minor leagues, there was one person that Arguelles felt had the most impact on him “not only in the game but in life.”

That person was Rogers, who was admired for several reasons, including his uniqueness and knowledge of the game.

“He’s such an individual that pays attention to absolute detail with every element, every facet, every component that’s involved, not only with the game, but within life. He’s always looking to enhance, he’s always looking to add to, and he’s not one to be stingy … he’s always willing to give,” Arguelles said.

As Arguelles learned from Rogers and gained experience as a coach, he started to notice a change in his demeanor and the way he saw the game, saying he still has a lot of intensity, but has gained more control and is able to see more detail in the game.

“That’s the biggest area of growth that I have and that I feel now as when I started out,” he said. “The game has definitely slowed down.”

For the rest of the article visit us at viewpointsonline.org

& A E Students showcase cultures March 10, 2016

“To become a fan of something, to open and change, is a move of deliberate optimism, curiosity, and enthusiasm.”

HECTOR M. ZERMENO @RCCviewpoints

Cultures in the United States are celebrated for their unique contributions to the American experience.

For African-American culture, February is a time that commemorates the history and achievements that make it a big part of this country.

With Black History Month coming to an end, students at Riverside City College came together to showcase their artistic talent.

The Ujima Project hosted the Black History Artist Showcase in the Digital Library Auditorium Feb. 25.

“I just have goals and aspirations of making it as big as possible,” said Cory Justice, president of the Ujima Project.

Justice said he felt the event was a success and he saw a better turnout than he expected.

The event presented a variety of talent including dancing, spoken word, drawing, graphic design, painting and hip-hop.

“For the student art showcase today, we really wanted to highlight some of the work of African-American students here on campus,” said Alise Clouser, adviser to the Ujima Project.

One of the artists present at the showcase was a dancer named Jazmyn Williams.

Williams performed a modern dance to spoken word because she enjoys emoting her feelings through the dance.

A video of “Dear Black Girl,” a spoken word poem performed

by YouTube vlogger Felicia Ngwube, played on the screen while Williams danced in the pit in front of the stage.

“I didn’t want to do a song because sometimes songs don’t really capture feelings,” Williams said. “The first time I heard (“Dear Black Girl”) I said, ‘This is it. This is what I’m doing.’”

Ngwube speaks about the hardships that many AfricanAmerican girls face in today’s society. Beauty standards, name butchering and being subjected by men were some of the hardships mentioned by Ngwube in the video.

Williams said she connected with the hardships Ngwube talked about in her spoken word.

The emotion of the dance combined with the spoken word was felt in the audience.

Nicholas Smith-Williams was another artist who brought paintings and illustrations to the showcase. He began getting involved with art at the age of 6.

“What kind of kept me going

MARY VALTERRIA @RCCviewpoints

Nostalgia comes in many forms. For Netflix users, it arrived in a red convertible that just finished crossing the Golden Gate Bridge.

The long awaited Netflix series “Fuller House” opened with this exact scene, only the beloved Tanner girls of the original series “Full House” were all grown up with children and careers of their own. The plot, however, was a familiar one.

Viewers who watched the original series “Full House” remember the father and matriarch Danny Tanner (Bob Saget), who raised his three girls with the help and support from Uncle Jesse (John Stamos), friend Joey Gladstone (David Alan Coulier) and later in the show, Aunt Becky (Lori Loughlin).

“Full House” helped launch the careers of twins MaryKate and Ashley Olsen, who portrayed the youngest sister Michelle Tanner. The Olsen twins became household names almost overnight. Together they starred in countless television, film and video projects. The Olsens eventually switched direction and moved on, quite successfully,

from acting to fashion design.

The spin-off show “Fuller House” centered around oldest sister D.J. Fuller (Candace Cameron Bure), a recent widow left alone to care for her three children. In true Tanner fashion, the family stepped in to help. A now grown-up Stephanie Tanner (Jodie Sweetin) and long-time best friend Kimmy Gibbler (Andrea Barber) moved in with D.J. to lend a helping hand.

Cameos from the original cast and popular catchphrases used during the first run of the series provided some viewers with the wholesome comedy that they longed for since “Full House” ended its stint in 1995.

Joey was still full of fun-loving antics that he was able to share with the Fuller kids and there was no shortage of “Have mercies” or “How rudes!”

Fans of the show may have been disappointed if they were hoping to hear “You got it dude,” or “You’re in big trouble, Mister,” because there wasn’t an Olsen twin in sight to reprise the role of Michelle. “Fuller House” did not try to sweep Michelle’s absence under the rug, in fact the Olsen empire was mentioned quite a few times.

“Fuller House” enthusiast Nicole Foust reacted to the show with glee and excitement.

“I was curious to see how

- Carrie Brownstein

MARCUS COCOVA | VIEWPOINTS

Ujima Project Club member Matisse Marie, a Riverside local recording artist, performs her set at the Ujima Artist Showcase held in honor of Black History Month on Feb. 25. was the idea that I wasn’t good,” said Smith-Williams. “That was always a driving factor, just trying to get better.”

Other artists involved, like Crystal Crossley, want to make an impact in media and to change the lack of representation of minorities.

“One day I hope to make my own comics or video games that feature characters that look more like myself and my family,”

‘Fuller House’ revives past TV REVIEW

7

they would bring the show back,” said Foust, “I liked all of the references and catchphrases.”

Not all students were as pleased with the trip down memory lane. “Full House” fan Catherine Sanchez felt that the similar scripting of the two shows made the spin off exactly the same as the original.

“Some throwbacks are cute, but it was overkill,” said Sanchez.

“It was annoying.”

The finale of the inaugural season left the Fuller House women with many upcoming decisions that will affect the direction of the show’s characters, both old and new.

Netflix subscribers who finished the “Fuller House” season were left with their own tough decisions. Is the show content likeable enough to keep people watching? Will ratings drop once the nostalgia wears off? Will the spin-off gain a new generation of faithful viewers?

In time these questions will be answered, because “Fuller House” has been renewed for a second season. It looks like the viewing schedules of “Fuller House” fans may have just gotten fuller.

said Crossley. “As a kid I felt somewhat left out.”

Building leadership and providing tools for academic

success are some of the ways The Ujima Project helps students like Crossley pursue and achieve their dreams.

Quilt debuts new album ‘Plaza’ MUSIC REVIEW

ALEC CAVILLO

@RCCviewpoints

Harmonizing vocals, reverbed guitars, catchy lyrics and psychedelic vibes is what you get when you listen to Quilt’s third album, “Plaza.”

Quilt is a four-piece band from Boston, Massachusetts.

The duo, lead singer/guitarist Anna Fox Rochinski and fellow vocalist/guitarist Shane Butler, met at School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston in late 2008.

They later added bassist/vocalist Keven Lareau, and drummer/ vocalist John Andrews.

Rochinski’s lovely vocals and cute physique leave your ears and eyes amazed with her talent and charm. Butler’s vocals and guitar playing bring another special talent to the group. Butler and Rochinski could easily be the frontman of any other band, but together they make a good team.

The band’s sound is like they could have taken a time machine from the late 1960s when Psychedelic pop was starting to get popular. Today they would be classified as a psych indie pop band.

“Plaza” was released Feb. 26 on the record label Mexican Summer, which is the label Quilt released their two previous albums on.

The cover of the album looks basic with a chair in the middle of an empty room in what looks like the city of Los Angeles. The

pastel looking colors don’t help the appeal of the cover. It could have been better, but essentially describes the title of the album.

I thought that this album was going to be interesting and hard to top considering all of the hits from their previous album, “Held In Splendor,” but I was wrong.

This album definitely is close to their last album if not better.

My favorite track off the bat is “O’Connor’s Barn.” The guitar riff in the beginning of the song was so catchy that it opened my ears up to the rest of the song.

After it was over, I could still hear that little melody in my head. As a guitar player I was envious of the simplistic yet awesome riff.

The most underrated song in this album has to be “Padova.”

The sound of notes being slid down the neck of the guitar, the soft vocals, light drums and even a harp all complement each other for a song that makes you feel kind of sad.

The song even has a deeper meaning than just “maybe we will meet in Padova.” Butler mentioned in an interview with NPR Music that he wrote the song not long after his mother died.

Quilt couldn’t have picked better tracks to be singles.

“Roller” and “Eliot St.” both capture the spirit and good qualities of “Plaza.”

For the rest of the article visit us at viewpointsonline.org

8

March 10, 2016

The stars look very different

A&E

The release of David Bowie’s final album ‘Blackstar’ and the legacy that he left on fans MUSIC REVIEW MARCUS COCOVA @RCCviewpoints

The 26th addition to David Bowie’s discography was the well concealed album “Blackstar.”

The date of the album’s release upon record store shelves Jan. 8 would also mark Bowie’s 69th birthday.

It was only two days later that the beloved multimusician, singer, songwriter and starman, after a rightfully unannounced 18 month battle with cancer, was pronounced dead.

His latest piece “Blackstar” c a m e t h r o u g h t h e fo g of misunderstanding and suddenly became very clear.

Aside from the two singles released f rom the albu m (“Blackstar” and “Lazarus”) as well as what had been shown in their partnered music videos, not very much had been shown or said about the album. This made the sounds of “Blackstar” almost as unexpected as Bowie’s death, especially with sound of his previous album “The Next Day,” which broke The Thin White Duke’s 10 year silence.

Having had a much more traditional Bowie-rock sound however, before the album’s release Bowie did cite his primary creative influences for the album’s sounds and styles as being both the experimental hip-hop group Death Grips as well as Kendrick Lamar’s 2015 album “To Pimp a Butterfly” which created expectations as far as what sort of textures the instruments of the album would provide.

W hen the album was released, the impacts of Lamar’s “To Pimp a Butterf ly” could without a doubt be heard with musical components such as the amount of emphasis placed upon the varying styles of jazz that the cosmically haunting saxophone delivers, which acts somewhat like a guide or second narrator for listeners throughout the album, ushering them through the corridors of the “Blackstar” experience. The saxophone being Bowie’s first instrument gives this album a very full-circle effect.

The classic hip-hop style smooth ness of some of the drum beats such as those heard in “Lazarus,” “Dollar Days” or “I Can’t Give Everything Away” also come across as though they’ve been inspired

by Kend r ick Lamar’s work and faultlessly set the stage for Bowie’s last, more spectral, scenes of his final act.

Meanwhile other t racks rage on with higher levels of intensity and sporadic panic behind the drumming such as what is heard in “Tis a Pity She Was a W****” or “Sue (Or In a Season of Crime)” both of which are unmistakably the discussed influence of Death Grips.

While many of the album’s

unique properties come from the instrumentals which add to this grim celestial picture, its primary force and narrative lead painfully comes from Bowie himself.

For a majority of the album Bowie plays with his vocal age more than ever before, truly providing his closing set of songs with a distinctive accent.

hand into another direction with what can only be described as a monologue of sorts.

The repeated line suddenly begins to come back to haunt Bowie and soon after he breaks into a short series of silly faces and gestures exhibiting his reluctance to come to terms with the reality of affairs, Bowie

“Blackstar” works so well as a whole to chronicle the thoughts and feelings of a dying Bowie.

After a great deal of time spent in reverie and personal deliberation it comes down to the two songs which close out the album, “Dollar Days” and “I Can’t Give Everything Away.”

It must also be noted that

IMAGE COURTESY OF ZACHARIAH JOLIN

Writer Marcus Cocova holds up a copy of David Bowie’s latest and final album “Blackstar.”

T h e a l b u m’s t i t l e a n d i nt roductor y t rack quick ly slam Bowie’s unbearable truth down on the table with the repeated declaration of “I’m a Blackstar!” When watching the music video, the inclusion of the visual component seems nearly imperative if one hopes to fully comprehend the distressing message that this courier carries with him.

At it’s int roduction, the feeling is evoked that things are at some sort of apocalyptic minutes-till-midnight end with the audience being shown a mangled spacesuit containing a jewel encrusted skeleton, both of which could have belonged to none other than Bowie’s acclaimed fictitious portrait of bravery and at times his tool for introspection, Major Tom. Then it appears, the badge of endtimes, the black star.

The video goes on to show Tom’s skeletal remains drifting into the same black sun that looms over this doom-laden planet. Bowie, alongside his own quietus offers the epilogue to what is now a trilogy which includes “Space Oddity,” “Ashes to Ashes” and finally “Blackstar.”

With his own conclusive chapter, he gives fans the final tale of the Major.

The song takes its most interesting t ur n as it nears the four-minute mark when suddenly there is a complete change in vocal inflections and the pounding cry comes to a slow; the viewers are shown Bowie dressed in raggedy clothes being housed by a dilapidated attic. Bowie, out of what reads as desperation, clasps his hands together and reaches toward the sky almost as though to beg whoever may be listening or as a way of attempting to forcefully navigate the plot of the matters at

hangs his head and melodically proclaims “I’m a blackstar” once more, but this time, it is delivered as a defeated acceptance of fate.

Over the course of the rest of the album, Bowie sustains the very same personal and social cognizance that he illustrates in the opening title track. Lines such as “Look up here I’m in heaven,” “Everybody knows me now” from “Lazarus” and “I’ve got no enemies” from “Dollar Days” make it very clear that he was aware of the magnitude of his accomplishments, his social stature and the number of reverberations his passing would cause.

Bowie even, by complete coincidence, wrote the chorus of the song “Girl Loves Me” as “Where the f*** did Monday go?” and he died on a Sunday.

Although there was no way he could have known the exact day of the week his death would have landed on, this certainly adds that one final touch of the surreal otherworldly ambiance Bowie always carried.

The aforementioned hypothesis he had made about everyone knowing him would only come to be backed by fact.

The day of his death as well as the day following consisted of global commemoration. That night, Bowie’s hometown of Brixton, South London exploded with lights, his music and fireworks all in remembrance of a life made worthwhile as a rock’n’roll star.

Masses of flower bouquets were laid at both his final place of residence in New York as well as near his childhood home in front of a mural painted by street artist Jimmy C. Thousands of fans sprang up out of nowhere to come together in song and tribute.

The personal favorite songs of the album are incredibly dif f icult to select because

from a conceptual standpoint the notion of “‘Tis a Pity She Was a W****,” “the w****” being death, makes the song worth much more than it initially is at face value and is worth honorable mention.

“Dollar Days” f rom the f irst listen was a song that silenced a room. O pen i ng with the unpacking of what sounds to be a letter, a single bracing sigh from Bowie and finally cardiac monitor beeps, the song immediately colors you mind with hues similar to those in “Lazarus.” This ballad takes its time with each of its steps in eventually rising to be particularly beautiful.

The beginning of the actual melody featuring the silken guitar/saxophone duet sets the mood that matters are coming to their inevitable close. Bowie, soon after, states the line “If I never see the English evergreens I’m running to, it’s nothing to me, it’s nothing to see” which escorts this album to a very calm state in which Bowie speculates the possibility of an afterlife and its irrelevance, which we are left to assume comes from the satisfaction his celebrated life has granted him.

With the final track “I Can’t Give Everything Away,” Bowie seems to say that no matter how familiar or adjusted he has come to be with death and the ideas that passing on to whatever it is that comes next after the last months of his life, he simply cannot give his life away. Undoubtedly, this speaks to Bowie’s overall honesty within his artistry.

Despite all that has been said and felt throughout the album, Bowie still yearns for eagles in his daydreams and diamonds in his eyes. This song concludes the album with the message that no matter what, he could not be

prepared to leave this life behind him.

To conclude, “Blackstar” is a sensational album. It is one that deserves to be just as eternal as the stars and the space they fill.

Bowie has touched upon his final months, a relatively rare knowledge to work with, combined with levels of care, brilliance, honesty and poise that many artists are simply incapable of achieving.

The grade of skill with a craft one must posses to paint an image like this, in the manner that Bowie has, is a thought that leaves one astonished by human potential. The way every inst r ument of the album is incorporated is ideal in setting the tone for topic. The way Bowie presents these concepts while staring death in the eyes is an act of honor that deserves the reverence it has received.

It is easily one of the best Bowie albums ever made and while unfortunate, it is the perfect final chapter to the epic melody that is Bowie’s music. A man who fell from the stars and made this world better with what he had to offer it. He will be remembered, he will be missed and he will be forever loved by the world over.

Godspeed, Major Tom.

Events Calender “China Clipper” CAF Hanger at the Riverside Airport March 11 6 p.m.

California Irish Festival Historic Downtown Upland, Inc. March 12 11 a.m.

Forbidden Broadway Fox Theater Riverside March 12 2 p.m.

Art for the Animals Riverside Art Museum March 13 4 p.m.

Self Help Festival NOS Events Center March 19 1 p.m.

Between the Tables Back To The Grind March 20 4 p.m.

V iews Kesha legally bound to Sony March 10, 2016

Tell

9

us what you think, in a letter to the editor, in an email, or use #RCCnow.

How one ruling proved musicians aren’t people but investments

JAKOB WOOD

@RCCviewpoints

Kesha Rose Sebert, known si m ply a s Ke s h a , i s i n a custody battle not over money or accreditation, but for her freedom.

Over the past few years, Kesha ha s fa ded f rom t he billboard charts and people are finally starting to notice. Unlike artists such as Rihanna and Adele, the party hard pop star known for smash hits such as “Tik Tok” and “We R Who We R” isn’t hiding away in a studio laying out a new album for her eagerly waiting fans.

Instead, she’s engaged in a lawsuit battle with her very own producer Lukasz Gottwald, aka Dr. Luke.

What’s most shocking about this court battle is that it isn’t new news. The trending hashtag #freekesha has only picked up within the past few months while the case has been in motion since October 2014. It’s as if someone were trying to keep this case under wraps.

Despite signing a contract

agreeing to six more albums w it h D r. Luke, Kesha asserts t h a t s h e will not record any new music with her current producer.

The reason for this request is quite simple: she ref uses to work with her abuser.

According to Rolling Stone, Kesha depicted multiple accounts of both sexual and psychological abuse inf licted upon her by Dr. Luke over the past 10 years. In response to these allegations, Dr. Luke filed a counter lawsuit against Kesha claiming that the singer was trying to breach their contract through extortion.

The idea that Kesha is making up accounts of sexual assault in order to slip out of a contract promotes misogyny. Denying her “allegations” discourages other rape victims to come forward about their own assaults.

T his is yet another step backward i n t he ongoi ng movement for basic human rights.

USA To d a y w r o t e t h a t , a t Kesha’s most recent hearing, Supreme Justice Shirley Kornreich denied Kesha a preliminary injunction, stating, “My instinct is to do the commercially reasonable thing.”

This ruling prevents her from recording new music without Dr. Luke, her producer and abuser.

Fans and fellow artists have made it clear through Twitter and other social media out le t s t h at t hey stand with Kesha, refusing to let this case go unnoticed.

But de s pit e t he army rallied at her side, Kesha is still being punished for speaking up.

This is the truly unnerving aspect of the entire Kesha case.

S h e is being

make you financially stable versus majoring in what you’re passionate about?

There’s a quote that’s always stuck with me through the years: “Choose a major you love and you’ll never have to work a day in your life, because that field probably isn’t hiring.” Ouch, major self esteem blow.

It’s easy to get sucked into this vicious cycle. You graduate high school feeling pretty damn good about yourself, but halfheartedly decide on a major that you know will guarantee a steady paycheck.

As you grow and figure out who you are, the months–maybe even years–go by, you realize maybe you shouldn’t have been so hasty. “But that’s OK,” you tell yourself, going over the bones of the human body for the eighth time at 2 in the morning, “it’ll be worth it when you get that first paycheck.”

You start meeting new people every weekend, and like all college students they always ask

you, “What’s your major?”

“Nursing,” you say, so tired of this question you just want to tattoo “don’t ask me about my major” on your forehead.

“What’s yours?” Their face breaks out into a huge smile and here it comes, you’re irritated and zoned out at this point, but you can’t help noticing how happy and enthusiastic they are.

“Why don’t I feel like that?”

The bitterness starts taking over when you attend class, your interest to learn (which was never really there) depletes, life seems like a tiresome and mundane cycle. When does it end?

It wasn’t until one bleak Monday when I was doing last minute studying in my car for a final.

Out of nowhere I felt a very

producer. But this isn’t the first time Kesha has been sidelined.

As mentioned by T he Atlantic, Kesha supplied the unaccredited female vocals in the chorus of Flo Rida’s 2009 single “Right Round.” This is just one example of how Dr. Luke has complete control over her career as an artist. If he can prevent Kesha from receiving credit on a musical track, who’s stopping him from more personal forms of abuse.

Rape survivors are expected to swallow their pride and report the horrendous act of such an intimate violation, yet when they do, they’re confronted with denial.

Tel l i ng Kesha that her rape is less important than the success of her rapist is not just a s pit i n her face but in the face of every other

treated l i k e a n ILLUSTRATION BY MADISON MOORE investment rather than a human being. Sony fears that survivor.

Kesha’s rape allegations with In addition, the thing Sony tarnish the reputation of one of hasn’t realized is, regardless their greatest producers. of whether or not Dr. Luke did Dr. Luke is a major asset to in fact abuse Kesha, the act of the company having been behind binding her in a contract that several of the past decade’s cares more about potential profit biggest hits. Sony has made than the condition of a human it clear Kesha means nothing being is guilty in itself. c o m p a r e d t o t he i r p r i z e d If he were innocent, and if

he truly did care about Kesha’s health, he would at least attempt to renegotiate their decade-old contract.

The restrictive control being exercised over Kesha is just as abusive as her testimonies.

However, Kesha’s career is not the only thing at stake here. By allowing Sony to hold onto an “investment,” the court is supporting a misogynistic industry.

The decision of the court is a statement in itself that the prosperity of a company is more important than the rights and health of a woman.

If the social standard is to initially guilt the victim rather than the rapist, people need a wake-up call. Society focuses far too much on teaching people not to get raped rather than teaching them not to rape.

Now, I’m not saying people should drop the precautionary attitude against rape culture; what we need to do is address the fact that people, especially boys, are raised in an environment that excuses their actions as ordinary or acceptable.

Have you ever heard the phrase “boys will be boys”?

That statement alone promotes the idea that it’s OK for males to be excessively rowdy, wild or aggressive. That is the root of the problem.

What stems from that is a country that would not only blame a victim but blame them for their assault, all the while supporting their perpetrator.

Changing a major, finding a path from nursing

NICOLE TAMBUNAN @RCCviewpoints

There’s a constant battle between doing what is right and doing what you want, like finding a large sum of money on the ground right around when the rent is due and debating whether to keep it or turn it in.

Or on a more relatable scale, when it’s 7:43 a.m. and you still can’t decide whether to roll out of bed for your 8 a.m. or have a “screw it” moment and go back to bed.

But what about majoring in something you know will

heav y feeling in my chest.

Familiar to this, I was usually able to push it away but this time it seemed to come up into my throat and before I knew it, in about two seconds I had started my car and driven off.

I sat in silence the whole ride home aware I destroyed my chance of ever passing the class, but oddly enough I felt a sense of relief driving away.

The truth I had tried to bury had finally come out: I was unhappy. Why was I even doing this? For my parents, the money?

All I could see in my future was a bitter old nurse.

Nursing is a great career, but it took time to come to terms that it wasn’t for me.

In the end, I decided that I had to trust my gut. I wasn’t

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sure what exactly I wanted to do, I just knew that I didn’t want to be graying, wishing I had the courage to take a leap all those years ago.

I didn’t want to live a safe life of what-if’s. A year later, I’m a completely different person.

I’m still in the process of building my future, but I don’t remember the last time I’ve been this happy with myself. When you try to be true to yourself, life really does have a way of working things out.

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10 March 10, 2016

Views

FBI asks Apple for backdoor Department of Justice demands that Apple help with investigation

VICTOR DURAN @RCCviewpoints

T he Feder al Bu reau of Investigation has been working around the clock to collect intel on the mass shooting which took place at a San Bernardino Public Health facility in December.

The FBI has been working with Apple in an attempt to extract information from a locked iPhone that was found in the alleged terrorists’ home, but this time the gove r n me nt has gone too far.

With S a n Bernardino shaken by the recent attack, and the F B I on an around t h e clo c k investigation for evidence to connect collected Intel to Syed

risk of being hacked into with a warrant from the FBI. This has raised some eyebrows from journalists and human rights activists, whose secu r it y could be i n g reat potential danger if the U.S. courts were to force Apple’s hand.

If Apple complied to the U.S. government in providing the software, the same principle could be used to pressure Apple in countries like China, where activists have already e x p e r ie n c e d loss in data privacy ove r t he Internet.

I f Apple were t o c o m p l y, the government could easily conf iscate or hack iPhones and gai n access to encrypted data.

This case does not only affect Apple, but every major company in having the author it y to ref use ILLUSTRATION BY MADISON MOORE delicate

Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik, the FBI’s investigation has taken it too far in a recent disagreement between Apple Inc. It is speculated that the iPhone 5c owned by Farook potentially holds evidence that may link to future attacks. Apple has refused to breach and disable the security features, claiming that this would have the effect of undermining data security for all Apple customers.

Rightfully so, if the FBI were to get a hold of such security that means all of those with iPhones are susceptible to having their personal information exposed to the government against their will.

Apple ref uses to p rov ide s uch power to the government, with the o v e r a l l

government.

The gesture made by the Federal Bureau of Investigations has thwarted efforts to reach a ny comprom ises bet ween these compan ies over past investigations.

Apple has done all that they can to comply with authorities, showing the options to what can be done within the technologies power to access the concealed data.

Only now there are no more steps for Apple to take, leading the FBI to believe that something must be done.

In a related article from the Los Angeles Times, Cindy Cohen, executive director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation based in San Francisco, states that “Law enforcement doesn’t just want this for terrorist cases, they want it for every case.”

In fact, this is not the first time that the FBI has tried to force Apple’s hand using the All Writs Act to access the contents of a locked iPhone, according to the LA Times.

In a New York case, the FBI asked Apple to unlock an iPhone in a drug probe. The FBI lost the case.

This time, the FBI wants Apple to go a step further, by creating a software that could be used to unlock any phone of the same model.

Apple’s Chief Executive Tim

Cook says the development of this new software would set a “dangerous precedent,” putting millions at risk of being hacked into, according to an interview with Bloomberg Politics.

Building this backdoor to the iPhone is asking for something that Apple simply does not have, and developing this software would put every iPhone user at risk.

The only way the FBI can access this decryption code is to find someone who knew the code to the iPhone, since Apple did not design the new iPhones for them to hold the decryption key.

Some of t he biggest names in the tech industry, including Facebook owner Mark Zuckerberg, Microsoft’s Bill Gates, among some of the top Silicon Valley companies such as eBay, LinkedIn and Twitter, are backing Apple in it’s case to protect the breaching of decryption.

Wit h t h e i r h elp, t h e s e companies are stressing the impor tance of keeping this code intact for the safety of their companies and the general public.

D e c r y pt ion help s ke e p documents safe and allows for the transportation of delicate documents throughout the Web. This is not just a fight for one company. This is a fight for safety of the Internet.

secu r it y of t he company’s most successful products at

personal infor mation f rom being in the possession of the

“I believe that the government should only ask Apple to just unlock the phone and that’s it. They shouldn’t have a key that accesses all phones.

So if they have a warrant then Apple should open up the phone for them, but they shouldn’t have a key.”

-Harley Vasquez

“I think it’s pretty unreasonable to a certain extent. First of all you can investigate it, you can find out different opinions, you can hack it, you can see what’s going on.

Otherwise they might abuse it in the wrong way.”

-Daryl French

“Well, obviously if it’s going to help figure out the case then they should be able to get into the phone. It’s important, it was a terrorist attack that was happening so it’s for public safety. If they need to get into it, they should be able to.”

-Marie Soto

“I’m for the FBI wanting to unlock the phone because again, that could help with figuring out other terrorist activities. I’m also somewhat against it because I’m afraid the FBI could use that as an excuse to get involved in everyone’s personal lives, wanting to know their information...”

-Rose Becerra

“I think Apple should unlock the phone for the FBI because it’s for our national security. I think that they can create another code to block off hackers from getting into all those other phones. I don’t think unlocking the phone is just going to be an end all to all end alls but I think national security is more important than the FBI being able to get your cell phone information.”

-Nyaa Bruce

“I kind of think that it’s good that they [FBI] can’t get access to the account because it’s going to throw away some of the rights of other people that we have here. I know that it’s a serious issue,I just don’t think privacy should be violated, that’s what our constitution is there for and by allowing that to happen it would be like sweeping it under the rug like it doesn’t matter.”

-Daniel Tamburri

“It’s a huge privacy issue obviously.

The FBI is asking for a blanket hack to a bunch of phones and a bunch of personal information. There have been offers to personally hack that phone and I think that’s the best route to do it instead of asking millions of Americans to give up what is essentially their right. I would firmly put my money on Apple’s side in this case.”

-Naia Al-Anbar

“I personally think Apple is doing what needs to be done. They need to protect people’s privacy, and although it’s a utilitarian way of thinking “the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few” but it’s an invasion of privacy and it’s what’s been granted to us since the beginning of time. Protection of our stuff, and our stuff is our privacy.”

-Emely Vanegas

Campus Conversations

Campus Question: Do you think Apple should comply with the FBI’s demands for a back door?

Campus Views is an open forum for Riverside City College students to voice their own opinions, views and ideas.

Interviews by Nicole Tambuman

Photos courtesy of Stacy Soriano & Henry Jaime

Views

March 10, 2016

11

The right to be informed

Editorial

Why Riverside City College kept students in the dark What is the threshold that justifies an emergency?

How close does a crime need to occur to the Riverside City College campus, or any campus in the district for that matter, for it to be worthy of student notification?

This is the question that came to light Feb. 29 at RCC when a lone gunman shot another male, after getting into an argument at a bus stop, in Riverside’s historic White Park, located 1.3 miles from the main City College campus.

The incident, which was reported around 11:19 a.m., sent the victim to the hospital with the shooter getting away either on foot or in a car and no physical description could be provided at the time.

Faculty and staff received an email detailing the situation at around 12:42 p.m., an hour and a half after the fact, however, students did not receive any kind of notification from the college or the district concerning the incident. Even days after the shooting students are still just finding out about it from various local media outlets.

This is very worrying. Granted it wasn’t a mass shooting or an act of terrorism and the campus police that was dispatched to the site determined there to be no imminent threat to students, but if the incident was close enough for our campus police to respond then why was it not considered close enough for the students to be alerted?

“If you said it’s a mile away and they haven’t caught the guy then yes that’s something to be worried about, especially with everything that’s been going around with active shooters and schools,” said RCC student and campus employee, Cynthia Espino when asked if she was worried about the incident.

We’re not calling for a lockdown anytime something dangerous happens off campus and we don’t want to see a panic started in a day and age where everyone is on edge but it is that very reason that we as students demand to be alerted to incidents like these, we’re the ones who have grown up in a time of school shootings and massive acts of domestic terrorism. We’re the ones who have had the fear ingrained in us. We deserve to be told. We should be able to trust our college to keep us updated with any potential threat.

Morning classes generally release at 11 a.m., if not earlier. That’s plenty of time for a student to have caught one of the many RTA bus lines that pass by the school and make stops across from White Park.

Without alert it’s entirely plausible an RCC student could have walked into a potentially dangerous situation.

The lack of a notification comes as more of a shock when one takes into consideration that the college has an alert system in place that it’s pushed students into joining to receive emails and text messages in case of emergencies.

In the last six months, the college has sent out three text alerts through the college’s alert system.

Two were test alerts and one was a flash flood warning text.

Why have this system in place if it is not being used effectively or efficiently? Starting a panic is always something to be wary of with recent attacks like the one in San Bernardino in December nevertheless, it would not have been hard to include in the alert that there was no direct threat to anyone on the main campus and that the White Park area should simply be avoided.

Especially considering the gunman was not apprehended until days later and there were few to no details available about his appearance or the incident at all.

As a general consensus most polled professors around campus agreed that it was best not to alarm students, however, none would go on record with this sentiment.

ILLUSTRATION BY MADISON MOORE

When students around campus were interviewed, however, an overwhelming majority felt like it was something that they should have been told about, some saying they thought it was wrong they had to find out from outlets like Facebook and not through the school. “(I) heard about it an hour ago through Facebook… I have not received any text messages or emails. I don’t think that many people know, I mean from what I saw there was a couple of hundred likes on Facebook but that was about it.” RCC student Kaylene Aragon said.

Conversely at the University of California Riverside, reports came in of a possible active shooter situation Mar. 7 after a loud bang from the freeway startled students. UCR campus police responded differently than RCC’s however, praising student reactions to the scare and saying it’s best to safe than sorry, a stark contrast to how RCC students were treated.

Isn’t the RCC alert system meant to service the students? Not wanting to cause a panic is admirable but we could have been told in the alert that there was no immediate threat to the campus.

We could have been trusted with the information.

Viewpoints’ editorials represent the majority opinion of and are written by the Viewpoints’ student editorial board.

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12

March 10, 2016

A&E

‘Triple 9’ fails to satisfy viewers

MOVIE REVIEW

DAMIAN GIAMPIETRO @RCCViewpoints

For police officers, code “999” translates to “officer down” and that’s exactly what these Atlanta-based heist men are attempting to make heard over police radios.

Released Feb. 26, the crime thriller “Triple 9” boasts a starstudded cast: Casey Affleck, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Anthony Mackie, Aaron Paul, Clifton Collins Jr., Norman Reedus, Kate Winslet, Teresa Palmer and Woody Harrelson.

Not to mention the director, John Hillcoat, who is known for prior gritty, hard-hitting films like 2012’s “Lawless.”

The heist crew is comprised of former special ops agents, Michael Belmont (Ejiofor) and Russell Welch (Reedus), two dirty police officers, Marcus Atwood (Mackie) and Jorge Rodriguez (Collins), and an ex-officer who is also Russell’s brother, Gabe Welch (Paul).

Opening with a dimly lit, suffocating car scene, the grimy cinematography immediately hooks viewers.

The movie then transitions to a bank heist with the group covered head-to-toe in black clothes as they carry military-

IMAGE COURTESY OF BOB MAHONEY OF OPEN ROAD FILMS

Chiwetel Ejiofor (Michael Atwood) and Aaron Paul (Gabe Welch) in “Triple 9.” grade weapons and perform smoothly as a tactical unit.

The men are only robbing the bank for a single safety deposit box, but Gabe becomes greedy and fills his backpack with money.

Later, a dye pack hidden in the cash explodes and stains the entire team during the getaway, further complicating their escape.

It’s soon revealed that the group is being manipulated and overseen by a Russian mobster, Irina Vlaslov (Winslet), who won’t pay them until a second job is completed.

After one of the heist men is murdered, the rest of the crew becomes divided over whether to stage a “999” for the second job or not.

Atwood, coincidentally, is teamed up with a rookie officer, Chris Allen (Affleck), nephew to Sergeant Detective Jeffrey Allen (Harrelson) who is investigating the most recent heist.

The movie’s cinematography is fresh and enticing, becoming one of its few saving graces.

For example, during a gang unit search turned shootout, viewers look through the thin

window of a riot shield held by Affleck’s character, capturing the action and placing the audience directly in the middle of the firefight.

Also, the movie’s use of color and lighting is visually stimulating, which helps to focus on sordid environments like the nightclubs and pubs illuminated by neon signs and graffiti-covered abandoned buildings.

However, there are two small issues that distract from the movie’s overall aesthetic.

The first being the horrible fake teeth used by Harrelson,

which make him hard to pay attention to, let alone look at.

The second is Winslet’s choppy Russian accent that tends to be poorly mixed with her normal voice.

Besides the surface issues, the development of characters is almost nonexistent.

The majority of the characters stay so utterly stagnant, even with the undeniable thespian talent that is at the movie’s disposal.

An obvious attempt to jump off the screen is made by some characters, but they are quickly smothered by atrocious dialogue and ill-defined characterization.

For instance, Chris Allen bleeds unharnessed potential and an untapped story that audiences deserve.

His wife, Michelle (Palmer), follows suit and seems to fall flat immediately, solely becoming a half-naked beauty instead of a robust female role.

The capacity for stronger story and characterization is evident.

The story beams with its unpredictable plot, but “Triple 9” ultimately falls short on delivering anything except a compelling heist film with a beautiful list of faces, talent and shots.