Viewpoints issue # 7

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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Six alarm fire rings in Downtown Page 3

Riverside revitalizes jazz

Rapper wears many hats Page 8

Vol. XCIv, No. 7

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Tigers get caged

A penalty plagued SoCal championship game ended with the RCC Tigers losing Mt. San Antonio

LUIS SOLIS / PHOTO EDITOR

CORNERED: RCC quarterback Nicholas King carries the ball into two Mt. San Antonio defeners in the Tiger’s 35-14 loss at the SoCal football championship game held at the Wheelock stadium on Nov. 29.

JAMES H. WILLIAMS MANAGING EDITOR Quarterback Justin Alo and the Mt. San Antonio College Mounties defeated the Riverside City College Tigers, 35-14, at Wheelock Stadium to win the Southern California Football Championship and advance to the CCCAA State Football Championship.

Alo was named most valuable player, after completing 16 of his 26 passes for 263 yards and three touchdowns.

Alo entered the game with a chip on his shoulder against the Tigers defense following a regular season loss to RCC, in a game in which he had thrown four interceptions.

Running back Omaris Tolbert rushed for 172 yards and a touchdown on 26 carries against the Tigers, who entered the game as the No. 1 state ranked team.

Sitiveni Tamaivena led the Mounties’ defense with 11 solo tackles and 2.5 sacks. He was also named player of the game.

The Tigers scored all 14

INSIDE:

December 1, 2014

Viewpointsonline.org

points in the second half after being shutout by the Mounties defense in the first half.

Tigers quarterback Nick King, who was held to 28 passing yards in the first half, threw both of the Tigers’ touchdowns. King finished with 126 yards.

King was pulled from the game in the second half for Kelly Hilinski, who was the starting quarterback to start the season. King was quickly brought back in after Hilinski threw an interception, which was the first turnover for either team.

The loss snaps RCC’s eightgame winning streak and gives the Tigers an 11-2 overall record to end the season. The Tigers were the Central League Champions.

Mt. San Antonio College (10-2) will play Dec. 13 against San Francisco City College for the State Championship.

The Mounties have played San Francisco four previous times and share a 2-2 record in the series.

The win also gave Mounties football coach Bob Jastrab his sixth SoCal Championship.

LUIS SOLIS / PHOTO EDITOR

RUNNING WILD: Mt. Sac quarterback Justin Alo threw for

263 yard and three touchdowns in the Mounties’ 35-14 victory.

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A& E

RCC choir student dies in car accident Vega, featuring the West Valley High School choir, a group he performed with when he was in high school. Over 500 people came out to honor the two with a candlelight vigil.

As well as performing with the choir in high school, he was also active in the theatre, playing the lead in “Les Miserables” and “The King and I.” “He was a really good actor,” West Valley drama teacher Stacey Bailey said. “He probably would have gone on to do wonderful things.”

According to Bailey, he was a jokester and was the life of the party. Every day, he was full of life and joy. Griffith was also well respected and liked.

“He was really popular. I didn’t know him well, but he touched people with his musicals and was loved by everyone.”

RCC student Chelsea Napier said.

“That’s the hardest part about his passing. He won’t be there for us anymore.”

After graduating from high school, Griffith went to RCC to major in music and vocal performance. He made the highly selective chamber ensemble as a freshman. He had also won a multitude of vocal competitions.

“He was just a great member of this choir and will be missed a lot,” Byun said.

LAWRENCE MANNS STAFF WRITER

One of Riverside City College’s most talented actors and musicians, Christian Griffith, passed away in a car accident in Hemet on Nov. 8. He was pronounced dead along with his friend from his alma mater, West Valley High School.

“It was his first year in Chamber Singers. He had a wonderful tenor voice,” RCC choir director John Byun said.

“He was a great guy, and loved by everyone in choir.”

On Nov. 8, Griffith was traveling in an SUV with Andre Vega, a senior at West Valley, Norine Myers, Linda Rangel and Chloe Hess, the driver of the vehicle, along with one other person.

At around 11:15 p.m. the SUV approached Domenigoni Parkway in Hemet. Hess lost control of the vehicle. The SUV overturned and injured all six of the car’s occupants.

According to Lt. Eric Dickson of the Hemet Police, the vehicle was traveling above 65 miles per hour.

“The vehicle began swerving from side to side,” Lt. Eric Dickson wrote. “The vehicle rolled numerous times off the north edge of the roadway, and several people were ejected.”

All six of the vehicles occupants were taken to the hospital, where Griffith and Vega were pronounced dead. The others were stabilized.

Dickson does not believe alcohol or drug influence was a factor in the crash.

Griffith was 19 years old.

A day after t h e c r a s h t h e r e NOT FORGOTTEN: Christian Griffith was was a memorial to described as a joyous person, which can be honor Griffith and seen in his Facebook profile picture.

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NEWS

News

Serving students since 1922

2 | December 1, 2014

Greenhouse plans create stir VALERIE OSIER NEWS EDITOR

Riverside City College faculty are hesitant to open the door for more problems that could be caused by the addition of a greenhouse on the roof of the Math and Science Building after problems such as sickening odors, poor ventilation, excessive noise and temperature level issues have plagued the building since its construction.

The Life Science Department requires the use of a greenhouse to supplement lessons in many of their classes, according to Virginia White, a biology professor at RCC. When the science department occupied the old Physical Science and Life Science buildings, there was a small greenhouse in between the buildings that served life science classes.

When the departments were relocated to the new Math and Science Building, the old greenhouse fell into disrepair and was considered too far away from the new building to be of any practical use to life science classes.

“It’s an important facility for the department and we have classes that are literally called ‘Botany’ that are all around plants and we don’t have a place to grow plants, which is so disappointing,” White said.

Since the planning stages for the construction of the Math and Science Building, a greenhouse was to be put on the roof of the building for the Life Sciences Department.

However, due to budget constraints during the building process, several things had to be taken away, including a greenhouse and a reverse osmosis water filtration system.

“There are many things that were planned and we’re reevaluating in terms of the

resources that we have, the things that need to be fixed and things that need to be added,” Dr. Wolde-Ab Isaac, interim president of RCC, said. “We need to start using the small amount of money that we have to try and make the campus safe and functional. Maybe we can wait on having a ‘Grab and go’ to eat … and do we need to have the very beautiful and nice courtyard that might cost us a half a million?

We need to think about all this.

So those things have been put on hold for us to be able to have a more comprehensive plan of the campus itself.”

Faculty in the Chemistry Department are particularly concerned with the possible construction of a greenhouse on the roof because the area that is outlined for the greenhouse is directly above chemistry labs.

“If they think it (a greenhouse) is very useful or necessary, that’s totally legitimate, but it’s just more that we foresee more trouble with the building,” said Leo Truttmann, a chemistry professor at RCC. “We are really concerned with having more problems with the building, because of that it’s just one more complication, one more thing to do, but as a department, it’s nothing we have against a greenhouse, I mean, I’m not a biologist, I don’t know what the value is … if they think its important, then please, put a greenhouse somewhere.”

The main concern is of water seeping through the ceiling from the greenhouse, causing water damage and safety issues in the chemistry labs. They also worry about the weight of a greenhouse plus the weight of soil and water combined into one spot on the roof.

The faculty’s concern is also due to the previous problems the building has had and the process and time it took to get them fixed, according to Truttmann.

VALERIE OSIER / NEWS EDITOR

ROOF TOP: Chemistry instructor Leo Truttman shows where the greenhouse will be built on the roof of the Math and Science Building. If built in the white box, the greenhouse would be directly above Chemistry labs and would have to be custom made.

Faculty in the Life Science Department is also concerned for the safety and structural problems that could be caused by putting a greenhouse on the roof of a building.

According to White, if the greenhouse were to be built on the roof, it would have to be smaller and customized, which would cost the department more money.

H o w e v e r, l i f e s c i e n c e classes have been in need of an operational greenhouse near the building since 2012.

“If it’s on the ground, it’s easy to get students in there and involved and working in the greenhouse, and that is one of the goals,” White said. “But, the policy of the department, our philosophy on it is: we want a greenhouse, and in whatever capacity that has to happen, that’s fine, it just needs to not sacrifice the safety of the building, or safety of the chemists, of course, but we really need a facility we can use with our students and get the coursework that they need done.”

C RIME

However, worries about the greenhouse are unnecessary right now due to restrictions from the Division of the State Architect which is preventing further modifications to the Math and Science building.

According to Chris Carlson, chief of staff and facilities at RCCD, during construction of the building, the drywall contractor hired for the project was unable to keep up with the construction schedule and the district had to hire another drywall contractor to augment the original contractor’s work to keep the project on schedule.

This has caused a dispute case between the original contractor and the district that must be settled through the DSA before any modifications can be made to the Math and Science building.

“We’re going to push to be as expeditious as possible, but we also need to be as fiscally prudent and responsible as possible during that process,” Carlson said. “We could make it go away today if we were willing to write the check the contractor

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thinks he’s owed, we don’t believe he’s owed that, we think he’s owed a significantly less amount, because we took away a significant amount of work because he couldn’t perform it.

So, that’s where that gets a little sticky … It could be two more steps, it could be 12 more steps.”

The dispute between the contractor and RCCD has put any plans of building a greenhouse on the roof of the Math and Science Building on hold in the meantime.

“We know that the greenhouse was originally in the building plans. We also have learned that somewhere along the lines, there was a request to take it out of the approved DSA plans,” Carlson said. “So what we will do, when we finally get the clearance to move the greenhouse forward, we’re going to study some different options. And we’ll take into consideration all the parameters so that the college is given different options with the different parameters, so they can make informed decisions about its location.”

dirk or dagger Nov. 12

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Business Education

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Wheelock Gym

Information Only

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Hit and run property damage only

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Wheelock Stadium

Inactive Illustration by: JACKIE TREJO

Viewpoints

News

Program to speed up completion

CAITLIN MACDONALD ASST. NEWS EDITOR

Riverside City College’s Interim President Wolde-Ab Isaac is introducing the Student Success and Completion Pathways Plan which is designed to speed up the rate some students move from community college to four-year universities.

The plan is scheduled to launch at RCC in fall of 2015.

The goal of this new program is to “reduce time for remediation and shorten time for graduation,” explained Isaac. “96 percent of our incoming students are not college ready in math. Only about 17 percent are college ready in english. Every fall semester our student population is about 20,000. Of those 20,000, less than 4,000 are new students.”

Because the cap for funding from the state is fixed, it is not possible for all students to get all the classes they need every semester, according to Isaac.

It is taking too much time for students to finish community college requirements, move on to university and become whatever profession he or she wants to become, he said.

There is also a major financial impact caused by so many students remaining clogged in the community college pipeline for five, six, seven years or longer.

“The economic impact of creating a fast moving, highly successful pathway (through college) is multi-fold. If a student who graduates in six years is graduating in two years, then the cost per degree is reduced to one third of the original cost,”

Serving students since 1922

Isaac said. “The money saved can be used for other students because it cuts down the cost for those already enrolled by helping them graduate faster. By moving students out in only two years, we’ve created space for new students to come in.”

Nearly two thirds of students at RCC require financial aid.

“By helping student move to university within two years, we are actually empowering the community. It’s one of the best ways to help people move out of poverty,” Isaac explained.

“That is our job. To uplift and strengthen the economic, wellbeing and quality of life of the community that we serve.”

Isaac explained that The Student Success Program is broken down into a “1+2+2 system.” Students will complete their remediation classes in a maximum of one year. The program will then guide them through completion of their associates degree and on to transfer to a California State University to earn their bachelors degree within two more years.

Instead of spending years in the community college system, students will have the ability to earn their bachelors degree within five.

Often, students begin their college careers without enough clear, structured guidance about which courses or programs to take that will lead them where they want to go scholastically and professionally. It is not uncommon for students to get offtrack from courses they need by enrolling in countless electives or courses that are not necessary to achieve his or her goals. The extra

classes certainly rack up college units but, according to Isaac, can leave the student stagnant in their academic progress, keep them in community college longer and is a financial drain on the student, college and the community as a whole.

RCC is also trying to be preemptive by introducing the Student Success Program while students are still in high school.

“We are talking very much with the (high) school system,” Isaac said. “We are creating, articulating, designing courses high school students can take to help them reinforce their English and math so that we can reduce time for remediation. By the time students come to us, they will require maybe one semester to get up to college level and move on.”

High schools would be able to do this by creating a system that is “cohort based and blockscheduling led.”

Instead of throwing the student into the confusing rapids of college course selection, which is often when students lose sense of direction, Isaac explained that block-scheduling helps create a mapped out structure of the path each student wishes to take. For example, if a student wants to become a journalist or a teacher, the pathway clears a direct highway to that goal.

“The road is mapped out so the student knows exactly where to go every year and the courses will be reserved - they will have priority registration,” Isaac said.

“Students won’t have to spend time hunting for courses and it’s totally structured. That, is what the pathway system does.”

Fire in Downtown Riverside Damages estimated at $1.2 million to building

JOSHUA WILSON STAFF WRITER A blaze ripped through a vacant Riverside apartment Nov. 16 at the corner of Market and Fairmont avenue. Riverside Firefighters responded to the fire at approximately 4:45 p.m.

Approximately 100 firefighters and staff worked around the clock to battle the blaze in and outside of the three-story 5000 square foot former senior apartment.

Upon arrival to the scene, the Firefighters cut into the roof to ventilate the flames and then enter the building to ensure no one was inside. As the firefighters cleared the inside of the structure, the intensity of the heat in the room caused the entire interior to be set ablaze. The firemen in their protective gear were instructed to exit the building and

descend from the roof for safety purposes. After assessing the situation, firefighters reentered the building.

Upon re-entry, firefighters reported dark smoke and zero visibility inside. After clearing the building the firefighters exited the building again for safety. Windows on the third floor blew out due to the pressure built up from the smoke. It was determined that the conditions from the interior structure were no longer safe for firefighters to work under as they exited the building. Riverside fire department battalion chief Mike Staley ordered the fire to be extinguished from the outside.

“Major parts of the fire were extinguished that night. There were still little pockets of fire burning that we couldn’t get to because floors had collapsed, and there was also a wall that was

about ready to collapse, so there was no reason to put somebody in there to put out those little pockets of fire.” Staley said. “We put water on it from a distance until it finally went out.”

Fire hoses dumped thousands of gallons of water from various vantage points outside of the building.

Around midnight, a majority of the flames were extinguished.

On Nov. 18, the building was finally tuned over to the owners, who’d been in the process of renovating the structure to reopen it for rent prior to the fire.

The building suffered severe structural damage from the fire.

The total cost in damages to the building were stated to be an estimated $1.2 million, however, the owners still plan to rebuild.

Arson investigators still have yet to determine the cause of the fire.

December 1, 2014 | 3

N EWS BRIEF S Follow us @rccviewpoints

Writing Center surveys students The Writing and Reading Center is conducting a 10 question survey of all students enrolled in a WRC Lab course.

The survey is part of an effort to allocate resources appropriately in the WRC, according to an email sent to students Nov. 19.

The WRC asks that during the week of Dec. 1-5, students take the survey during their scheduled time at the WRC.

Scholarship deadline approaches Riverside Community College District is offering scholarships to students enrolled at any college in RCCD. All complete scholarship applications must be submitted on or before the deadline Jan. 9, 2015 at 5 p.m.

The application process includes writing a personal essay, a letter of recommendation and submitting the online scholarship application.

Some scholarships may also require unofficial transcripts, a specific short essay, creative writing samples or a copy of your military discharge document.

Spring study abroad in Dublin The Riverside City College study abroad program is still accepting applications for the spring semester trip to Dublin, Ireland until the end of the 2014 fall semester.

The trip will be from Feb. 18 to April 30, 2015 and offer general education courses in theatre and psychology.

Included in the cost of $8,099 is: round trip airfare, transfers from and to Los Angeles International Airport and the airport in Dublin, shared home-stay with breakfast and dinner daily, walking tour of Dublin, medical and travel insurance, welcome and farewell dinners and orientation materials.

For more information contact Jan Schall at (951) 222-8340 or Bill Despres at (951) 222-8348.

Library hours extended for finals The library will be open extra hours Dec. 1 through Dec. 11 to provide students with access to resources in preparation for final exams and class projects.

The hours will be: Monday through Thursday from 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Corrections and Clarifications: - On page 3 in the Nov. 13 issue in the article titled “Community lays flags on graves to honor Veterans,” we identified Steeve Pennington as community chairman; he is actually Steve Pennington, committee chairman of Troop 703 Trail Life USA. - On page 3 in the Nov. 13 issue in the brief titled “RCC makes Military Times’ Top 140,” we stated that Riverside City College was listed in Military Times’ 140 Best for Vets list. It was Norco College that was listed, not RCC. - On page 13 in the Nov. 13 issue, the photo “Sing Along,” was courtesy of Jodi Julian, not Todd Cole.

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Police plan new procedures 4 | December 1, 2014

News

Serving students since 1922

Trustees and police chief take measures to avoid Clery Report mishaps in the future

CRYSTAL OLMEDO ASST. NEWS EDITOR R ive r side Cit y C ol lege missed its deadline to make a complete Clery Report accessible to students, staff and faculty by Oct. 1, but the general consensus from those involved is that they have taken the incident as “learning experience,” and they plan to move forward by widening the lines of communication.

Jim Miyashiro, Riverside Community College District police chief, presented the crime statistics for 2013 at the Nov. 18 Board of Trustees meeting at Norco College. The report showed a decrease in criminal incidents when compared to the previous years’ reports, and Trustees Mary Figueroa and Virginia Blumenthal thanked Miyashiro and the RCCD Police Department for their efforts in keeping RCCD’s campuses and surrounding areas safe.

During his Clery presentation, Miyashiro commended Viewpoints for finding the discrepancies in RCC’s 2013 Clery Report. He also affirmed that the difference in the f ig u re for d r ug law violations on public property surrounding the Riverside City College area was due to a “typo.”

Penalties for Noncompliance of Clery reporting requirements and nondisclosure of Clery crime statistics can range from $27,500 to $35,000 per instance.

The likelihood of a fine is low according to Janet Green, and Aaron Brown, RCCD’s vice chancellor of Business and Financial Services.

“There could be a fine, but from Miyashiro’s standpoint

the likelihood is remote. Even if RCC were subject to a fine there is usually an appeal process,” Brown said.

According to Brown, RCCD does not have insurance for this particular circumstance if a fine is issued.

“So, the funds would come f rom a couple of potential sources, depending on how large it is,” Brown said. “It could be taken from the general fund or it could be split funded with the Safety and Police Department, because the police force is partially funded by the Parking Services fund.”

If RCC is issued a fine, the correspondence would go to Brown’s attention and a meeting with Miyashiro would take place in which the fine would be assessed, and there would be a timeline for payment. “ We wou ld ex h au st al l avenues for a potential waiver, and make sure that we’ve got our process in place so that it doesn’t happen again, and pay the fine,” Brown said.

A partial Clery Report was submitted before the deadline with the information available to the Miyashiro at that time.

According to Janet G reen, Miyashiro met with a Clery representative and was advised to submit all the statistics he had and to add the supplementary information when it was received.

“Miyashiro has a massive job (in compiling the Clery Report) and he has to work with and wait for other agencies to give him statistics to complete the report. The process needs to be revamped,” Green said.

“Mistakes are going to happen and when you work with the

public you have to learn to take criticism as const r uctive criticism. This is definitely an eye opener for ever yone. The chief has told me personally that he is more than willing to make t he necessa r y changes that would improve the Clery reporting process.”

R C C D REPORT: The Clery Report was administrators Board of Trustees meeting. recognize a Against Women Act of 2013. need for prompt reporting and “W henever we have heightened collaboration among changes we meet with our legal all involved in the process of representative and we draft Clery reporting. a template so that we have “ RC C D’s w e b s i t e a n d an understanding of all the RCC’s website contained 10 information that is to be included years worth of crime statistics,” in the report,” Miyashiro said.

Robi n St ei nba ck , RCC D’s “My guess is that the new format i nter i m vice cha ncellor of for the report is going to be a E d u c at io n a l Se r v ic e s a nd 30 page report that goes more Workforce Development and in depth than what we were Planning said. “It is best to obligated to report for this year.” provide comparative statistics In response to the for more than one year at a time discrepancies in crime statistics for all who are interested in the Miyashiro stated, “My records crime statistics. We provide more clerk is the one that is responsible data, although it was separately, for doing the Cler y Repor t than most colleges will. The goal inquiry, so we’ve learned that for the future is for data to be obviously if we put data down provided in a comparative way, and we also provide it online, we to be posted early, and to get the have to double check it. When notices out to our community you’re working with a report before the deadline.” that is formatted with such tiny Miyashiro confirmed that he numbers and statistics that have met with a Clery Compliance a lot of zeros it is really easy to auditor who provided miss something. For the report information on the 2014 changes for the year of 2014, I will make to Clery reporting that will be sure to go through the report implemented per the Violence so that the information that we

LUIS SOLIS / PHOTO EDITOR

presented at the Nov. 18 provide matches what we post to the Department of Education’s website.”

According to Miyashiro, when a reporting process involves multiple police departments it is not certain that the required information will be received on time to meet the Oct. 1 deadline. The Clery compliance auditor that Miyashiro met with advised the chief to include all information available, per the Clery Handbook, and if information from other police departments is not received before the deadline the chief must follow up with a notice and make documentation of such notices.

“We issue a reminder letter to contributing departments in February and follow up with a reminder in September. When I meet with the other chiefs I want to make sure that we work out a format that would expedite the process and a format that everyone can benefit from,” Miyashiro said.

Bathrooms make LGBTQ+ students uncomfortable AMBER JONES SPECIAL TO VIEWPOINTS The issue of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning+ rights on the Riverside City College Campus continues after a year on the back burner.

“As a transgender person, I have an anxiety of public restrooms, so if I am at school I w i l l wa it a nd go t o t he mall to pee, which can cause health problems,” said Ethan Lopez, Gender and Sexualities Awareness president. “I do this because it is a consequence of not having a safe space.”

LGBTQ+ students argue that binary bathrooms create gender segregation and violate LGBTQ+ students’ civil rights. Gender and sexualities activists have made the argument that they are already using the restrooms and that transgender people are at a higher risk of being verbally harassed or physically attacked

in a bathroom.

“Also with the inclusion of gender-neutral bathrooms, queer students won’t have to be constantly questioning their gender in order to pee and it is inclusive to gender-queer people who don’t identify strictly as male or female,” Lopez said.

Title IX is a federal law that prohibits discrimination in K-12 schools, although, it doesn’t apply to city colleges or universities. However, many states have passed laws and colleges have added school policies to protect LGBTQ+ students from discrimination.

Some oppositions against gender-neutral or a third option for bathrooms are religious based. Opponents also fear that sexual harassment or assault is a possibility in gender-neutral bathrooms.

“There shouldn’t be a change in bathroom signs to protect people’s modesty,” said Marcos Lee, a member of the Well Christian Club on campus. “I

have nothing against gay people.

I have gay friends and I love them but I don’t agree with them, but I treat them well because in the Bible it says to show grace and that Jesus said, ‘neither do I condone but sin no more.’ It’s not just about procreation, it’s about how God intended humans to be.”

T he issue was not only discussed, but the Student Senate voted upon it.

“A way to enact effective change and you’re a club on campus is to talk to the student Senate. The st udent Senate will take the clubs proposal under consideration and then vote; however, it is important that people who are directly affected by these issues join the Student Senate to make the voting process more diverse and changes happen,” said Le Nguyen, executive treasurer for the Associated Students of RCC. Brennan Gonering, a student Senator in 2013, tried to affect change du r ing his ter m by

proposing a resolution to the Student Senate. The proposal asked the Senate to consider “c h a n g i n g f a c i l i t i e s t h a t correspond with their gender identification” as stated in the proposal. “ T he ot he r pa r t of t he resolution though, was a longerter m goal and was for the student government to advocate for more single-stall, genderneutral restrooms on campus,” Gonering said in an e-mail.

“Currently there are only two, one underneath the library, and the other... is a little more hidden and I’m not entirely sure where it actually is. “ T h e r e a r e m a ny s u ch rest rooms in the Math and Science building, but they are locked for faculty only use, for reasons that have never been satisfactorily explained to me.

Part of the problem, however, is that there are few major planned construction projects for RCC (except for a new student services building) and converting current,

existing multi-stall restrooms would be costly and not exactly efficient. As for multi-stall, gender-neutral restrooms, well, the atmosphere at RCC is rather on the conservative side of things in that regard, and considering the blowback we received from trying to grant binary-identified trans individuals pre-existing protection, it seems a bridge too far at this point.”

C u r r e nt A SRC C v ic e president elaborated on the topic of the discussion on binarybathrooms in the Student Senate that started in 2013.

“Although Brennan proposed the resolution RCC (the Student Senate) voted no because it had to go through Student Senate for consensus and Doug Figueroa, 2013 president, vetoed it,” said Ryan Rudolph ASRCC vice president.

With gender and sexualities awareness becoming a prevalent topic of this time the conversation is expected to continue.

Viewpoints

SPORTS Serving students since 1922

RCC place second in state

EDITH NORIEGA SPORTS EDITOR The Riverside City College women’s water polo team began their final stretch in the two-day semifinals and state championships game from Nov. 21-22.

The Tigers reached the state championship for the fourth time

in the last five seasons beating Diablo Valley College 12-8 in the semifinals on Nov. 21.

Doug explained that the game plan against Diablo Valley was very simple; it was just to do what they had been doing all yearlong.

RCC went down 2-0 to start the game but stayed the course and eventually the jitters went away and started to play well and

outscored Diablo Valley 5-2 in the third quarter.

“We know we will have our hands full with Fullerton, but we believe that with a strong team effort we can win,” said head coach Doug Finfrock.

Through triumph and tribulation the Tigers were defeated 8-7 in triple overtime against the Fullerton College

Hornets in the 2014 state championship game.

Riverside led 1-0, after the first quarter but the Hornets returned with a vengeance tying it 3-3 at halftime.

The Tigers never stop roaring and finished in a 6-6 tie at the end of regulation.

“I am very proud of the girls for their performance and for reaching the championship game, however our goal all year was to win it,” Doug Finfrock said.

After a scoreless first overtime period, each team scored once in the second extra session to send the game into sudden death.

This marked the second time that a women’s water polo state championship game was decided in triple overtime.

RCC were led by Alia McMorris, who had three goals and two assist, defender Melissa Woody and attacker Brandi Carroll each scored one goal while goalie Katia Montoya had eight saves.

This was the fourth time Riverside (26-6 overall) was in the state title in the last five seasons, and also made their twelfth state championship appearance but sustained all six setbacks this season to Fullerton.

December 1, 2014 | 5 “Make sure your worst enemy doesn’t live between your own two ears.”

- Laird Hamilton

Sports roundup Cross-country

The women’s cross-country team showed what they have been working on all season at the CCCAA State Championship meet Nov. 22.

The Tigers kept their fivewomen pack under one minute despite losing their No. 2 runner.

RCC placed seventh in the team race with a time of 1:38:32.

Brianna Jacklin continued to dominant and continued her rein as the Tigers No. 1 runner finishing 18th overall in a time of 18:56.8.Followed by Isi Ibarra (45th overall) and Crystal Tejeda (46th overall).

Men’s cross-country The men’s cross-country team posted a twelfth out of 28 teams and compiled 358 point at the CCCAA state championships Nov 22.

Leading the top spots for the Tigers were; Doug Negrete who was 34th overall with a time of 21:02.1, Dennis Gonzalez finished (83rd overall) in at a time of 21:46.3; Anthony Munoz (102nd overall) finished 21:59.3 and Hector Ruiz (117th overall) with a time of 23:18.0.

Tigers basketball dribbles to a prosperous start

ALEXIS NAUCLER STAFF WRITER The Riverside City College w o m e n ’s b a s k e t b a l l t e a m improved to 3-1 overall on the season following victory against the MiraCosta Spartans, 69-50, on Nov. 15 at the Wheelock Gymnasium.

RCC basketball coach Alicia Berber believed both team having had injuries was a big factor.

“They’re a competitive team,” said Berber. “They’re playing with a lot of injuries right now and so are we, we’re down to eight.”

Despite the lack of depth on the roster, Berber felt the team put forth a good effort.

With half the roster consisting of freshman, the Tigers are still trying to get familiar with one another on the court.

“Overall, I just thought it was a good team effort, I thought our post-players did a good job on the court,” said Berber. “I think we’re doing a good job as limited as we are and as young as we are.”

“We’re just trying to get together and find our nitch as a team and find what our identity is,” Berber said.

After a short stint at Florida A&M University, sophomore center Tori Mitchell has returned to the Riverside area, where she played at Riverside Poly

High School, with the hopes of contributing to the Tigers this season.

“We could’ve executed more on defense and ran through the plays more,” said Mitchell. “As a team, I want us all to do well.”

Mitchell has also set personal

goals for herself in regards to contributing to her team, specifically with rebounding.

“Personally, I’m trying to get the most rebounds and go for the record,” Mitchell said.

Mitchell had game-high 12 rebounds and 19 points for

a double-double against the Spartans. Tigers’ sophomore guard Tierra Fugua had a game high 10 assists.

“That might be up there in the single-game records,” Berber said in response to Fugua’s performance.

The Tigers will be on the road starting Dec. 4 in the Sequoias Tournament against Solano College.

I n t h e To m G i l c r e s t Invitational Tournament Dec. 5-7 and at the Cerritos College Dec. 12.

LUIS SOLIS / PHOTO EDITOR

DRIBBLE: Riverside City College Guard Brittany Williams takes charge of the ball against College of the Desert on Nov. 7.

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6 | Decmber 1, 2014

Arts & Entertainment

IMAGE COURTSEY OF LIONSGATE PUBLICITY

Dystopian ‘Hunger Games’ REVOLUTION RISES: Katniss Everdeen played by Jennifer Lawrence, the girl on fire turned Mockingjay, inspires the spirit of revolution in district 13.

RAFAEL RIOS ASST. A&E EDITOR

“ T h e Hu nge r G am e s : Mockingjay Part 1” fires off where “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” ended, with Katniss Everdeen distraught about district 13, leaving Peeta Mellark behind in the arena and her taking the entirety of the film wanting to get him out of the Capital.

It is clear that many book series that get adapted into films make the final book into a twopart ending either to get all the details of the book, or to make more money for the series. “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay” wasn’t necessarily needed to be split into a two part finale.

Although much of the essence of the book was captured, this film felt slightly incomplete with

it missing its second part and there were also a lot of overstated moments.

Some positive things from the film include significant character development and acting from Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) and we finally get to see Gale (Liam Hemsworth) in action instead of minor glimpses of him like the first two films. Also Director Francis Lawrence captured much of Panem (remants of North America) by including much of the rebellion from a few different districts of the story.

Other great acting included Elizabeth Banks who plays Effie Trinket who we finally get to see without the ridiculous makeup style of the Capital and Woody Harrelson, who plays the role of Katniss’s mentor, Haymitch Abernathy who was finally forced to sober up due to lack of alcohol

in District 13.

Even though President Snow (Donald Sutherland) doesn’t have much screen time in the film the small portion he has is as evil as ever allowing viewers to continue to feel more and more anxious for the final film to end.

Another character that was a big role in the books is Plutarch Heavensbee played by the recently deceased actor Philip Seymour Hoffman. Hoffman’s character had to be carefully maneuvered out of the second half of the script. Plutarch Heavensbee only had a couple of dialogue left in “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1” and had a few ready for the second part, which were given to Effie and Haymitch to say.

Director Francis Lawrence said in a statement provided by ABC News “It was a really tough emotional time, tough getting

back into work and trying to find a groove again,” he also stated that “recreating (Hoffman) digitally was never even a consideration.”

Although the films are rated PG-13 the series is more of an R rated one due to things like throwing 24 children into a battle to the death, mass extermination of districts and other gore and brutality that is easy to read, but doesn’t necessarily make it to the screen in the way it’s read making Francis Lawrence limit himself when making the films. “ T h e Hu nge r G am e s : Mockingjay Part 1” made and estimated $123 million in the weekend box office being the biggest domestic debut of the year but the lowest for the franchise.

Expectations were set around $150 million but were far below that the first film “The Hunger Games” opened with $152.5

million and “Catching Fire” with $158.1 million.

Not meeting expectations it is clear that the popularity of the film continues and those who are on board are still waiting in lines for the midnight premieres and those who are not have stopped watching long ago.

“The Hunger Games” was never really about the games, but more of rebellion. Symbols like the Mockingjay calls and the pin that Katniss wears in the arena began to symbolize her as the Mockingjay. A symbol of rebellion.

For those who have read the books it’s easy to see that author Suzanne Collins arranged this series to continue to build up into a climatic ending. The portrayal of the films directed by Francis Lawrence are all pieced together for the final film.

NOV 28

NOV 29

NOV 30

DEC 1

DEC 2

22nd Annual Festival of Lights Downtown Riverside 12 p.m.

Breathe Carolina and Candyland House of Blues San Diego 6:30 p.m.

Carillion Concert UCR Bell Tower 12 p.m.

Alex Clare House of Blues San Diego 7 p.m.

Festival of Lights Lighting Ceremony The Mission Inn & Spa 4:30 p.m.

CALENDAR

Vance Joy Fonda Theatre 9 p.m.

DMX Fox Theater Pomona 8 p.m.

Free Movie Sunday: “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” La Sierra Library 2 p.m.

De La Soul House of Blues Hollywood 8 p.m.

Game Release Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 Remix

DEC 4

DEC 5

DEC 6

DEC 7

DEC 8

Piano Studio Recital Digital Library Auditorium 1 p.m.

Down Riverside Municipal Auditorium 7 p.m.

Kinetic Conversations Landis PAC 2 p.m.

Wind Ensemble Concert Landis Performing Arts Center 4 p.m.

Action Bronson The Observatory 8 p.m.

Kinetic Conversations Landis Performing Arts Center 7 p.m.

ELF the Musical Fox Performing Arts Center 8 p.m.

UCR Chamber Singers Holiday Choral Concert Arts Building Performance Lab 8 p.m.

Chamber Music Series La Sierra Library 7 p.m.

Jazz Ensemble and Vocal Jazz Ensemble Concert Digital Library Auditorium 7 p.m.

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A&E

December 1, 2014 | 7

Updated ‘Pokémon’ games arrive DAESHAUN THOMAS STAFF WRITER

2014 is a good year to be a nerd. Video game graphics look better than they’ve ever looked before. The opportunities for you and your friends to immerse yourselves in them through special means, such as co-operative play and others are boundless.

One such series that has had almost two decades to hone in on the potency of its gameplay is the beloved series known as: “Pokémon,” the Japanese role playing game and pop culture juggernaut.

“Pokémon Omega Ruby” and “Pokémon Alpha Sapphire” arrived conveniently in time for the holidays on Nov. 21. They grant the opportunity to relive a portion of your youth that you spent running around capturing and raising the monsters that could be kept in a ball so small they fit in your pocket like a pack of gum.

Fans have long awaited for updated remakes of the 2002 releases “Pokémon Ruby” and “Pokémon Sapphire.”

O n Nov. 20, dozen s of devoted fans lined up as early as 7 p.m. for the midnight release

DAESHAUN THOMAS / STAFF WRITER

GOTTA CATCH’EM ALL:

“Pokémon” fans wait in line for the new video game releases.

of the new games at Gamestop at the Riverside Plaza.

As the clock drew closer and closer to striking midnight, the excitement f lared. Passersby gawked as they walked past, clearly confused by what was worth all the merriment.

“I live for moments like this. People coming together to celebrate something they all cherish. In this case, it’s ‘Pokémon’,” Adrien Murphy said, an eager fan in line.

If there is something you obsess about quietly but fiercely, you can rest assured that there is almost certainly a community

of people just like yourself who obsess about that very thing, no matter how obscure your passion is. There are Bronies, Whovians, Trekkies and all sorts of other doting nicknames for superfans, upwards of just about anything.

The Nintendo franchise is no different. “’Pokémon’ is everyone’s dream of having any pet they can imagine, in the closest form to reality they can get. You can have a bug...or a dragon. Who doesn’t want to fly?” Brandon Britton said, a long-time Pokémon fan just also eager to receive his copy of Alpha Sapphire.

Nostalgia is often a term associated with the franchise.

There have been all sorts of series reboots and revamps through the years. The game itself evolving like the very creatures in the game it dedicates itself to, but always keeping the same basic formula in tact. It’s this structure that we identify with no matter how advanced the mechanics become.

“I think the game is still popular today because they’re always making it better, from gameplay to graphics. But there’s that basic attachment to it. You grew up with it,” Britton said.

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The titles grossed $1 million in pre-orders alone back in early November and were projected to surpass their predecessors’ “Pokémon X” and “Pokémon Y” opening weekend sales of $4 million. As of now, sales sit around the $3 million mark for “Pokémon Omega Ruby” and “Pokémon Alpha Sapphire” within its first three days, almost globally. With Europe set for a Nov. 28 release.

This franchise has some iron legs on it. Not a single main series “Pokémon” game has ever sold poorly or been scored below an 8 out of 10 on the critic and user website Metacritic. Other critic and video game websites offer up similar verdicts.

Pokémon and its cult-like Pikachu-eared following is not fading away anytime soon.

“Assuming they don’t screw anything up, I can see the game going strong for another 10 years easy,” Britton said. “What will come after that scares me though.” He said with a chuckle.

For more content visit viewpointsonline.org

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8 | December 1, 2014

Sleek and Zen takes food to another level

ALEJANDRA GARCIA/A&E EDITOR

ZEN CORNER: Main entrance of restaurant with an outdoor patio.

ALEJANDRA GARCIA A&E EDITOR When it comes to Asian cuisine many students rush to the nearest bargain store to buy a cheap cup of noodles, but Zen Street is nothing like that. It’s a peaceful experience where a meal is a delicious and fulfilling without breaking the bank.

Located near the intersection of C ent ra l a nd Sa n Diego Avenues is where you’ll find the humble Asian fusion restaurant.

The locale is pleasing to the eye with a sleek minimalistic design as it’s also panoramic with

the view of the main street.

From the delicious iced teas to the mouth watering vegetable pot stickers there’s nothing to regret. Drink choices are unique at Zen Street, there’s more variety than the average fountain drink.

The iced teas here are festive as they’re also fresh and surprising to the tongue.

Thai iced green tea is a great choice if you would like to try something different. Served in a mason jar, the mind colored beverage has a hint of jasmine topped with a frothy whipped cream.

The peach green tea is also a

refreshing option. It’s garnished with blueberries, and every sip is a cool crisp taste of peach. This would be a great if paired with the pork belly ramen.

As for the main course, there’s plenty to pick from Zen Street’s lunch special, which is Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. With vegan friendly options, everyone is welcomed. Their selection is gluten free and contains no mono sodium glutamate (MSG).

The lunch special consists of a salad with ginger miso house dressing and with three appetizers to choose from.

The ramen has a good variety, from vegetarian to curry bomb ramen. It’s all-pretty good, and if you’re not in the mood for broth and noodles there’s always the udon selection.

As for a recommendation, spicy miso ramen with pork belly is amazing. The broth is spicy and rich. All the ingredients make a delicious medley that explodes in your mouth. It’s not a boring dish to eat, for all the flavors are surprising.

Seaweed is given on the side for an optional taste. Adding this extra ingredient upgrades

everything. It enhances all the flavors and surprises the taste buds with an amazing trip that can make one forget everything but this moment.

The appetizer of choice was the Mao Mao chicken dumplings and the vegetable potstickers.

Both were so good, and the vegetable potstickers had a nice crunch do them and when the flavor of the sauce and the vegetables intermingled it just made my mouth happy.

The experience over all was delightful, and the service was excellent. The owner, Diane

A&E

Chitasenee was there to greet customers, and ser vice was promptly given.

Zen Street made its debut earlier this year. Chittasenee, a former UCR student, opened the restaurant once she knew the location was for sale. The previous establishment was Thai restaurant Table for Two. Amazing food and friendly service leads to an overall a great experience. I will definitely come back to have lunch in between classes. Zen Street makes one’s stomach a very peaceful one indeed.

ALEJANDRA GARCIA/A&E EDITOR

RAMEN DELIGHT: Spicy miso ramen with pork belly mixed with ginger and seaweed.

‘The son of Mona Lisa’ strikes ‘Local Gold’

TRAVIS WEST EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Whether he is promoting his company, “Local Gold,” working on his new hip-hop album, ‘The Son of Mona Lisa’ or at his day job as a community liaison at Home Garden Elementary, Alfredo Pulido always wears the same hat.

His presence in the community has brought together people that otherwise wouldn’t normally have any connection and his connection with kids he oversees make his 3 degrees all worth the work.

“Its fun. It doesn’t seem like work,” Pulido said. “Today I wore a batman shirt with a cap. It was superhero day.”

Society is quick to judge people with tattoos, listen to certain music and shave their head, but Pulido is part of a generation that continues to prove that productivity is not define by their hobbies.

“It works to my advantage to have tattoos, shaved head and plugs because the kids look at me and still identify with me,” Pulido said with a smile.

He began working with Home Gardens Elementary in 2007 as a 19 year old and since then, his colleagues have seen him grow into the man he is today, inspiring young children to work hard and be respectful and you’ll get where they want to be in life.

On a night where he plays softball with a group of friends, most he has k now n since childhood, Pulido recalled a situation where ice cream vendors would hang out at the school he works at and wait for the students so they can sell them some ice cream. He went

on to say that some teachers were under the impression that they were harassing the students and bringing a bad image to the school.

“I middle man a lot of situations where I smooth things out,” Pulido said. “By me befriending the vendors and going out there everyday to see how they were doing helped the teachers see that they must not be bad people.”

It has been a year and a half since Pulido’s last music project, “Potential and Procrastination” and he has been collaborating on songs since with various local artist and is in the process of working on his next album.

“The release of his next album will be titled ‘ The Son of Mona Lisa,” Pulido said.

“The painting is called ‘Mona Lisa,’ but the actual woman in the painting was named Giaconda and that’s who my mother was named after … that’s why I am the son of Mona Lisa,” he explained.

It was something he knew for a long time, but after thinking his mother’s name was weird, she responded with my name is art.

As we were walking to his car after his softball game, he recognized a car parked nearby and made a call to see if his friend was around. There was no answer, but he did mention that because of the company he owns, ‘Local Gold’ he has met people who have a mutual friend because of hats he has produced with the word “Local” on the front.

“I was at the Camp Flog Gnaw show by myself and this guy looks at me and walks away. I’m just listening to music not here to be a tough guy so I shrug it off. He comes back again and says, “is

that a Local Gold hat?’”

Pulido replied, “yeah” and the two conversed. And after a short while, the man asked, “Are you Alfredo Pulido?”

Because of the production of music and hats, Pulido’s reach has gone further than he expected.

Although he is happy with his success, he wants him and his friends to become successful together.

He described Local Gold as an umbrella and as it starts with him.

He wants everyone involved in the process to find success.

“I wanted to do something where I could involve everybody … the friends that tattoo and the friend who does photography and my cousin and his bar. It’s about growing. If I can promote everyone and what they do, it will work in all of our favor,” Pulido said.

With the popularity of the

hats and Pulido’s reputation growing, it looked as though he may have gotten a break when shops and boutiques asked for supply of the hats. After getting word that a shop in Las Vegas located next door to one of the most popular clubs wanted a supply of his merchandise, Pulido decided to not go through with the deal, or any deal for that matter.

“It defeats the purpose,” Pulido said. “We will get that set up eventually, but it has to represent, everyone has to be under that umbrella … otherwise I’d put naked girls on shirts and sell them like some other brands do.”

Making a living off his company is not Pulido’s goal. He counts his blessings everyday, knowing that he has a job that he does not consider work. For him, everything else is for the fun of

it. That perspective gives Pulido the freedom to experiment with his company.

“It’s tactical fun,” Pulido said.

The concept Pulido wants his brand to exude is membership.

The idea is that you have to know someone, have your own passion you are following or know Pulido to get a hat or “membership.”

“We are just connecting dots,” Pulido said. “That idea of 6 degrees of separation is only 3 in the Inland Empire.” He explained.

When it comes to success, many people attribute that to how many people you know, Pulido’s network of friends has every base covered and he is motivated to make it happen with or without you, but he prefers that you join him.

Follow Pulido on instagram by searching @xfredo.

Image courtesy of: Rudy Comacho

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FEATUR S

December 1, 2014 | 9

Serving students since 1922

MICHAEL ISBERTO

/

STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

CLASSIC COMPANY: Jazz Legend Azar Lawrence and friends bring some old-time feel good music to Riverside on Nov. 19, bringing classic tunes to local youth.

Riverside builds up a jazz scene MICHAEL ISBERTO STAFF WRITER

P

eople in Riverside are craving a jazz music scene and the Pierce Street Jazz series is looking to fill that void.

Music filled a full house of listeners Nov. 19 at the Troesh Conference Center in Riverside as it does every other month.

Pierce Street Jazz is a free concert series put together by some of the faculty at La Sierra University, Marvin Payne, Richard Rakijian, and Warren Trenchard.

“We started off with hosting events in the commons, in the cafeteria and it grew and grew,” said Richard Rakijian. “Then the business department asked if we wanted a sponsor and offered their new building as a venue.

We started about four years ago.

We have about six to eight shows a year. But we never thought it would grow to this size but here we are.”

Trenchard and the faculty noticed the lack of live jazz music in the Riverside area so they decided to change that.

“As far as Pierce Street Jazz, Warren Trenchard from the La Sierra Student Union is the one that heads it up,” said Kevin Straine, LSU alumnus.

He’s a jazz fanatic and has even written a book about the synoptic gospels and how they’re like jazz.

Anyway, he set it up and I think Clifford Franklin usually rounds up the music. It started a while back as something Trenchard wanted to bring to the area because he laments the lack of jazz here.”

Every concert Pierce Street Jazz puts together features a special guest artist. All of the particular guest artists they bring in have played some of the most

well-known and jazz legends of all time.

“They bring in some famous jazz musicians that have played with some big names,” said Kevin Jimenez, LSU graduate student of music. “They perform about 1-2 times a quarter, usually on a Wednesday night in the Troesh Center. There have been some big time players, mostly old jazz cats. It’s been like that since I’ve been in school, and I’ve been here for almost five years.”

This particular event featured saxophonist Azar Lawrence.

Lawrence has played with many legendary musicians including

Miles Davis, Earth Wind and Fire, Marvin Gaye and Tina Turner.

Azar plays around the world and has played in Riverside many times and enjoys playing in the area. The group playing with him include Henry “The Skipper” Franklin on bass, Theo Saunders on piano and Ramon Banda on Drums. The group of friends has toured with each other and has also played on each others projects.

Riverside is known as the city of arts and innovation, but some of the older folks in the area feel the shortage of quality music for

the younger generations to enjoy.

“I love that they’re bringing good music to the community,” said Fred Beltz, concert attendee.

“Most of the kids these days aren’t exposed to music like this and it’s a shame. I’m glad they took it upon themselves to bring jazz to Riverside, and it’s free.

How can you beat that?”

Many Riverside residents are excited for the free music events organized by the Pierce Street Jazz series. Music is a universal language that brings together people of all ages.

“The past couple of concerts, the crowd has been a nice mix of a

younger … and an older crowd,” said Cody Harris, a concert attendee. “And the atmosphere is awesome. So anyone who appreciates jazz music will feel welcome here.”

Although this may be one of the first series of it’s kind in the area, the appreciation for what Pierce Street Jazz brings to the community will certainly not be the last.

“This is the biggest showing we’ve had at any concert,” said Jonathan Thomas, LSU student and sound technician. “It just keeps getting bigger and bigger.

It’s really growing.”

MICHAEL ISBERTO

/

STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

THE GRAND FINALE: Theo Saunders tickles the ivories at the Troesh Conference Center for the Pierce Street Jazz series finale.

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10 | December 1, 2014

Features

Safely Surrender law saves lives

“Hundreds of babies have been saved and have a chance to be in a loving and happy family now because the law was created.” -Michelle Doherty JOSIAH PATTERSON SPECIAL TO VIEWPOINTS Defenseless, abandoned, and innocent, yet left to die.

That was the fate of little Yachaziel, a newborn girl left on a conveyor belt at the Advance Disposal facility in Hesperia on Oct. 1.

The Garden of Angels, an organization that holds burial services for abandoned newborns and is committed to the prevention of newborn abandonment recently held a service for the newborn.

Debi Faris, founder of the organization, said she could not help but see the potential the baby had.

“This little baby girl, when I went to pick her up from the coroner’s office, was so beautiful and so perfect,” Faris said. “She had a head of dark hair, a button nose and precious little lips, and it is just so, so sad that the mom could not look at her child and see what I saw. I just saw everything of hope and what this little baby girl could have achieved.”

The newborn was named by the Advanced Disposal employees, according to Faris.

Yachaziel is Hebrew for “God sees all.”

Faris initiated the Safely Surrendered Baby Law in California that went into effect on Jan. 1, 2001.

The law allows mothers to safely surrender their newborns to a hospital or fire station within 72 hours of birth, no questions asked.

It is intended to save lives by preventing mothers from abandoning their infants.

Faris expressed her concern that the state does not budget enough advertising for this law.

“The state has a lot of issues that they are financially responsible for, but that has always, always been my biggest concern is that this is a state-run program now because it is going through social services and things like that,” Faris said.

Darren and Michelle Doherty are the adoptive parents of Madyson Doherty, a 13-year-old girl who was safely surrendered to a fire station in Rancho Cucamonga during the first year of the law’s enactment.

“Getting the word out there is the problem,”

GONE TOO SOON: Casket of Yachaziel, a newborn girl found abandoned on a conveyor belt at Advanced Disposal in Hesperia on Oct. 1. She was buried at the Garden of Angels Oct. 17 at noon.

Darren Doherty said.

Michelle Doherty, who is also a member of the Garden of Angels board of directors, shares the desire that all of the public know about this law.

“It is amazing to me because we have been in it so long, targeting and talking to people about it and trying to get the word out there, that there are still so many people out there that do not know about the law,” she said.

“The only time you hear

about it is when there is a baby thrown out or abandoned. We need to actually have some more celebrity spokespersons, I think, to try and make it a little more out there and accessible.”

The Garden of Angels is active in bringing awareness to the law it started by hosting free speaking engagements.

“We try to get the word out,” Michelle Doherty said. “We go out and we try to educate. Try to get

into the junior highs and high schools. That is where it needs to start. They need to know that there are options, not to just hide it and leave the baby. That they can do that without any worry of somebody finding out.”

Faris agrees that the best way to spread awareness is by educating the youth. “ We a r e t h e b e s t speakers our youth can have because for us, there are a lot of issues

that our young kids deal with, and it is just nice for them to know that they are never really alone,” Faris said. “Some kids make it into an unwanted pregnancy and think ‘Oh my goodness, what am I going to do? My parents are going to kick me out; they are going to kill me ... There goes my college, there goes everything,’ while it doesn’t have to be that way. That’s what our mind will tell us to do, to go on the track of fear,

Images courtesy of: Debi Faris

ANGELS OF MEMORIES: 18-year “remembrance” service on Aug. 27 at the Garden of Angels cemetery located in Calimesa, CA. 110 babies are buried at this location.

but with any issue that a person is facing, they face it fearlessly and confide in someone else, and it is never as bad as it would seem.”

Madyson Doherty has spread awareness for the law by making an appearance on NBC and would like to continue advocating for it.

“She wants to be the face of safely surrendered children,” Faris said. “She sees it as an honor, as a gift that she’s been given.

She wants other people to know that life is what you are given and you just take it, and you roll with it, and you try to make a real positive in a negative situation. Madyson has done that, she has been awesome.”

“I love my mom and dad because they are loving and caring,” Madyson Doherty said.

Michelle Doherty sees her daughter’s birth mother as a brave woman.

“Hundreds of babies have been saved and have a chance to be in a loving and happy family now because the law was created,” she said. “Prime example, my daughter could have been thrown in the dumpster or left at a recycling center, but thank God she was not because of that law. I believe her birth mother was brave enough to say, ‘I want a safe place for my child, but I cannot take care of her so this is the next best thing rather than just leaving my baby anywhere.’ She made a very good choice.”

More than 600 newborns have been safely surrendered in California since 2001.

Yachaziel is not the only baby the Garden of Angels has buried that was found in a disposal site. Last year, a memorial service was held for a baby girl found in a recycling plant, according to Michelle Doherty.

Many other newborns have been found abandoned in trash cans and dumpsters. The goal of the Safely Surrendered Baby Law is to prevent these instances from occurring.

“We are human beings, and we need to treat each other as human beings, especially the smallest little ones that are staring at you right in the face and are the most vulnerable,” Faris said. “It is a life or death law, and we need to make people aware of it.”

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Features

December 1, 2014 | 11

RCC SPOTLIGHT: Virginia Blumenthal gives back to the city she came from JOSA LAMONT FEATURES EDITOR Riverside is the kind of city that builds people into a success story.

Board of Trustees President Virginia Blumenthal went to Poly High School and attended her prom at the Mission Inn. When she was in high school she used to put on makeup with her girlfriends and go to Riverside City College to flirt with the college boys. She’s an almost iconic example of the American ideal of classic Riverside.

She remembers the smudge pots in the winter to keep the oranges from freezing and gossiping as a little girl under the trees, or when people went on dates in the groves.

Blumenthal gets excited when she talks about her history with the city, and it’s easy to see the love she has for Riverside.

“It wasn’t my plan in growing up to stay here,” Blumenthal said. “I became an attorney in 1975 I was the first quote ‘girl’ attorney to break through in Riverside, and after I got my law degree and passed the bar the first time I decided this is where I was going to open up my practice.”

Blumenthal boasts the accomplishments of Riverside as if they’re her own. She proudly talks about Riverside hosting the first school district to voluntarily desegregate before it was mandated to do so by the United States. She proudly touts RCC as being the first school to become ADA compliant and the joys of being a part of that community show on her face.

“If you take a look like the Friday after Thanksgiving,” said Blumenthal beaming with spirit, “when they have the Festival of Lights at the Mission Inn: and when at 5:10 in the evening you have Santa Claus that comes out, and with a flip of the switch the countdown from the crowd of 10, 9, 8.

And you’ve got 75,000 people, 100,000 people downtown, and 4.5 million light bulbs go off. And it’s amazing the spirit and the pride we have with that.”

The RCC alumna was a school teacher in her earlier career and wanted to take a legal research class to help her students in their debate class. In order to take legal research she had to take several prerequisites. Before she knew it, she found herself halfway through law school and in love.

“When I first started practicing I loved the law,” Blumenthal said. “I love the Law more now than I did when I first started.

I fell in love with it. I had no intention of becoming an attorney. It was not a great dream I had. It wasn’t that as a kid I always wanted to do it. It never crossed my mind.”

That passion has carried on to her children, and with support from her husband and herself, Blumenthal’s youngest daughter just passed her first bar exam.

When Blumenthal passed her own

LUIS SOLIS

/

PHOTO EDITOR

VIRGINIA BLUMENTHAL: As a Riverside local, Board of Trustees President Virginia Blumenthal grew up to be a success story for Riverside, winning various awards for her excellence in her field and in the community. bar the first time, she decided to open her practice in Riverside.

“There was always a draw,” Blumenthal said. “I didn’t want to come back as a kid I wanted to go away to big cities and Europe and all that, but there was something that kept drawing me back.”

Blumenthal’s practice is located in downtown Riverside, on Market street, walking distance from RCC. Her parents still live across the street from RCC, and she believes her history with the city and the district help her to make good decisions as a board member.

Before she became a board member,

Blumenthal would coach mock trials and served as the president of the Riverside County Philharmonic. She hadn’t intended to run when people approached her to campaign for the position, but after she told her parents it was her father who told her she had to do it.

So she ran and won and has been serving the board since.

Now she balances running her business with the responsibilities of board president and the many extra curricular activities she attends and commits to.

The Riverside lawyer lives with a clear passion that she invests into all the things

she does.

“I actually feel sorry for people who are not passionate about what they do for a livelihood,” Blumenthal said. “I always recommend to students go into what you’re good at and what you really like. Those are the two requirements.”

The path of her life has brought Blumenthal throughout Europe and around the world to beautiful places. She’s been to Luxemburg, where she has dreamt of going since she was a girl, but something always brings her home to the beautiful city of Riverside where she has built her foundation and maintains her roots.

12 | December 1, 2014

Viewpoints

Serving students since 1922

Features

Viewpoints

Video games regurgitated 6 | November 13, 2014

Serving students since 1922

Opinions

JOHN VILLANUEVA

/

ASST. PHOTO EDITOR

SCRAPS FOR SUCCESS: Jesse Guzman, Digital Inclusion program manager of SmartRiverside, leads a tour through their facility to display what employees

and Xbox One, andused computers any way. on Nov. 20. PlayStation “All of these publishers demand. and volunteers alike create in the mechanics everyday in workspace The Bridge4 project upcycles and big provides them to higher low income families. the major changes to the game This gives video game ought to be ashamed for With developers purposefully is that the player is now able to companies the excuse to charge constantly re-releasing the same ignoring online play on their play in a sharper image of high consumers $60 on the price old games,” said Henson older games letting hackers ruin definition and the biggest hype tag with each installments and So many of the games that multiplayer on many of these is that the player is now able don’t get me started on the were popular back in the days are titles will encourage lot of of seniors and lower income locate here. We actually provide manager Jesse Guzman, who was only do they not haveahomes, JOSHUA WILSON to choose to switch from third downloadable content (DLC) making a comeback on the newer gamers to give in and just buy STAFF WRITER Riverside residents. grant money to them.” once a part of Project Bridge but they also don’t have parents.” person to fi rst person shooter. pack that end consuming the game consoles. the new game.

In the program, Riverside The Building Resources for and has a firm understanding of Most vocational schools games buyers The few that Along with the multiplayer Wi t h t h e r a p i d g r o w t h r e s i d ewhole n t s wwallet. ith an annual the Video Intervention andcompanies Deterrence what it isonly like to be changes a young man offer A+ certification which is are re-using older games to There is in game content that are the introduce in the game are mode, the also project gets a of technology in Southern household income of under of Gang Engagement, or entering the program. He values attainable ingamer one year, LUIS SOLIS attract older players and making the consumers gets when they the newer guns in the inventory bunch of immature overgrown California, the forward-thinking $45,000 can receive a free Project Bridge, is one of the his experience, stressing the BRIDGE gives youth the same PHOTO EDITOR them nostalgic by releasing buy the game and then there’s and high defiof nition man childrenin and children SmartRiverside organization refurbished computer complete manyfeel programs under the importance role feature models.which certification about half of that that remakes of older versions into DLC packs that’s release every Videotogame such makes a sharper image and makes are too young to even be playing ventures provefranchises to be a valuable with a lifetime warranty from SmartRiverside umbrella. The “I met my predecessor, Steve time, depending on their prior aprogram recent newer the month as Electronics Ubisoft more realistic. aknowledge. game with a mature rating. asset to the city’sArts, technological S m a r tand R i vthe e r sprice i d e ,range w i t varies h an targetsversion at-risk of youth Laurie, who pretty much took me popular videos games from their between franchises.

E n t e r t a i nand m eto n tthe , Acommunity. ctivision “‘Madden’ ... those games “I“Idislike thewith community the expansion eight hour English or Spanish who are from broken homes or under his wing.” Guzman said. played computer childhood for new consoles DLC packs are usually Publishing Inc. and GameFreak are just as bad as ‘Call of Duty’. game has, yet I can’t help but SmartRiverside is a noninstructional course on the who spend much of their lives on “He such as theinstead Nintendo and extra content consumer Inc. bring out a newthat installment Which is why, I’ve never owned play,” said Henson. “I enjoy that profit organization includes mechanics of that the the computer, its the streets of in3DS school. was the PlayStation Vita. buys after buying the game of its most popular game a single ‘Madden’ or ‘Call of I can get into a game get shot in several programs with the every focus functions and capabilities.

The program provides these first role “I play ‘Pokémon’ games the The contents are usually extra year reusing the same basic Duty’,” said Patrick Porter. the face because I’m terrible and of bringing Riverside residents introductory course youth with progressive lifestyle model because they don’t actually come maps, more playable characters structures as their previous game.

“Those games are just really fat leave extremely upset that some up to speed with computer is mandatory for recipients in alternatives by providing them that I out every year aside from the last or powerful weapons that can Many as of well theseasvideo game cash cows that Activision and bro is better than me then exit literacy, attracting the Digital Inclusion Program. with an opportunity to be in the had that few, but some of those have been change playing fi eld.

EA will milk until the cow drops franchises are known games without fear or worry or have tech companies to the for Riverside Residents can enroll by simply forefront of the new digital age.

I was remakes, and when they do come One example of this is dead, which doesn’t seem to be such as “Assassin some of time restraint.” area for“Madden,” potential business. calling the city’s 311 hot-line The program teaches youth actually Nicholas Storie: Smart Riveride Youth out I usually feel like playing Rockstar Games’ new re-release happening any time soon, sadly.”

Creed,” “Call ofattempts Duty” and Out of principle, consumers SmartRiverside to and asking to become a part of how to refurbish recycled afraid to ‘Pokémon’ again and I just grab of their most recent video game, Consistency is a good feature “Pokémon” that releasing a new should notfor buy another ‘Callam of accomplish feat through the program. computers which are sent to disappoint. A lot of people that programs fun.

I definitely the newest one, because why Grand Theft Auto 5, according to for gamers who buy video games edition programs. on the shelf every year Duty’ game or ‘Madden’ game various “(SmartRiverside) isn’t just recipients in the Digital Inclusion we get here don’t have role a geek” said Nicholas Storie, a 20 not,” said and Daniel Imagine Game Network (IGN) from many these franchises for One consumer spend $60 for for a while because both video of thetoprograms under Digital Inclusion, it involves program, alsoHenson. teaches them models thatofthey’re afraid to year-old youth involved with the Another of these games are the Rockstar Games generated every year, but people need to one game. game franchises and consumers SmartRiverside is the Digital other things,” said Lea Deesing, an even more valuable skill: disappoint. They do whatever SmartRiverside program. “I like “Call ofThe Duty” franchise approximately $800 executive million in The only new The concept that stop peer pressure and need to step up insimple order toprogram change Inclusion program. program SmartRiverside’s coding. program also which offers theygiving want into because they don’t how just a very sales in it initial release. brings out a new installment video gamesince franchises don’t buy these games. the current situation and forceI has existed 2006 asadd part on of director. “We’ve got school the youth mentoring and builds have anyone to disappoint, and can do a very powerful thing.

R o c k s t a r G a m e s i s r e every year and its newest release to their new releases are a few In order to force many video video game franchise to actually the intelligent cities initiative. outreach (programs). We also bonds with other youth and staff that was my problem... A lot of like that just a few lines of code, releasing Grand Theft Auto 5 is called “Call of Duty: Advanced new gimmicks some minor game developers intoright making try and put effort intoway, making The program and aims to place have the Tenant Improvement members. the people that we get now in some very poetic can for the new platform systems, Warfare.” tweaks thatindon’t affect the better games and meeting a video games again . computers the households Program for companies willing to The Digital Inclusion program either don’t have homes, or not change the world.”

SmartRiverside Bridges the digital divide

“

I like how just a very simple program can do a very powerful thing. I like that just a few lines of code, in some very poetic way, can change the world.

To join Viewpoints you must attend one of the mandatory orientations. The orientations will be held in the Viewpoints Newsroom located on the opposite side of the Assessment Center. The dates will be February 17, 18, 19 and 20 at 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.

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VIEWPOINTS

EDITORIAL

Fueling the flames

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Travis West 951- 222-8495 viewpoints@rcc.edu MANAGING EDITOR James H. Williams viewpoints.managing@gmail.com

After officer Darren Wilson was not indicted in the shooting of unarmed teen, Michael Brown, Ferguson Missouri erupted

ADVERTISING MANAGER Valerie Osier viewpoints.advertising@gmail.com JOURNALISM SPECIALIST Matt Schoenmann matthew.schoenmann@rcc.edu

Police have a different set of rules than the rest of society, and that is a problem.

People opt for the burly alpha type personality to fill police roles, hoping that the strength of conscience will protect them. The sense of moral vindication in its ideal is supposed to be beneficial to the masses and is tinted by rose colored glasses. But what moral superiority really equates to is two distinct sets of rules.

It makes sense that a person commissioned to protect society would need to be protected from what the dark facets of the world make them do. Batman the Dark Knight comes to mind as this symbol of a man who does what he has to for the greater good, but at the cost of minority rights.

Rodney King was filmed being beaten and bludgeoned by several officers to submission in 1992 according to a CNN documentary “Race and Rage: The Beating of Rodney King.” In 1999, Riverside local Tyisha Miller was shot in her car while she was passed out, possibly on the date rape drug GHB, with a gun in her lap, according to the Los Angeles Times. Oscar Grant was caught on multiple cell phone cameras being shot in the back while he was restrained on the ground by police, later causing his death.

The rationale for each of these cases, that we don’t argue with, is that the police felt frightened and the victim was aggressive so the use of force was justified.

If any of us killed someone and claimed self defense the case would be carefully scrutinized and any suspicious activity, like washing off blood or moving the body would be looked at as foul play. Our history would be carefully combed and character witnesses would have to testify on our behalf. In addition, any criminal record from our past that we might be trying to move past would be brought into the picture. All the mistakes of our youth with stolen cars and drug use would be clear indications of our deserving strict punishment and would impact jury decisions.

The difference between the case with us that would likely end with us spending decades in prison for murder and where Darren Wilson was acquitted of all charges for shooting Michael Brown is not the severity of the crime, but the punishment for it.

Legally police have more right to commit agitated murder than anyone else. If Wilson were a white male construction worker, and he got into a heated fight with a punk 18 year black male for walking down the street, which escalated to murder, he would be charged in an open court for murder, or manslaughter and aggravated assault.

“So you give me, at the end of this training you give me the badge,” said Instructor of Administration of Justice Oliver Thompson in a previous interview on a different topic. “You give me the gun, you give me all the implements of my office, don’t come down on me at the end with Kelley Thomas and say I’ve done something wrong.”

After a crime is committed, Police must isolate witnesses before proceeding with interviews, according to Clay Hodson, criminal investigation instructor.

But when an officer is involved in a crime, officers

FACULTY ADVISERS Allan Lovelace Jim Burns NEWS EDITOR Valerie Osier viewpoints.news@gmail.com OPINIONS EDITOR viewpoints.opinions@gmail.com FEATURES EDITOR Josa Lamont viewpoints.features@gmail.com SPORTS EDITOR Edith Noriega viewpoints.sports@gmail.com ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR Alejandra Garcia viewpoints.artsentertainment@gmail.com

are responsible for interviewing the witnesses, officers are responsible for containing the crime scene and officers are responsible for conducting how to proceed.

The first officer on scene likely knows the officer who committed the crime. Or was he called in as backup? Is he then the responding officer, or an additional suspect.

The parameters are clear in the case of murder, and controversies are avoided by distinct laws that establish parameters from self defense to intent and malice.

When an officer becomes angry out of adrenaline from a situation it’s no longer within the confines of the law for people, but within the law for officers. At the point an officers feels threatened his aggravated responses are justifiable.

“Police today don’t be bull*****, they take your ass out, dog, you know what I mean,” said Herman Johnson, a convicted felon for manslaughter. “I can’t be mad though.

Them motha***** was doin’ they job.”

Johnson went to prison for 15 years for manslaughter after he fired at a man in a club who had earlier shot his afro.

Police are like gang members, but they’re just on the other side, according to “Rampage,” a member of the Insane branch of the Crip gang.

“Can we be a gang? sure we can be a gang,” said Thompson. “(Maybe) a person says they found narcotics when in fact they didn’t.”

Like a gang, police operate by a code or set of rules.

“Snitches have been killed,” Thompson said. “Police officers have been killed.”

According to Thompson, police, like gang members can be killed or brutally beaten for crossing the Blue Wall of Silence, a code that police operate under to protect their own and ensure trust.

The similarities in function and creed between police and gang members are innumerable. But when a gang member is murdered no one cares. When a gang member is murdered by an officer no one cares.

“That’s part of the game,” Rampage said.

But when an innocent person is killed by a gang member police phase in a unilateral crackdown to appease society.

But when an innocent is killed by an officer, the rules change.

“All it needs is to have people willing to stand up to the bullies,” Thompson said.

The riots in Ferguson Missouri and across the nation are a moment of outrage at a system that let’s their sons and daughters die in the streets without repercussions.

For years people have expressed outrage through social unrest at the system through cases like Grant, King and Brown. Despite progress, cases like Brown’s still show how far the system needs to come before it truly looks out for the people.

VP

PHOTO EDITOR Luis Solis viewpoints.photo@gmail.com ONLINE EDITOR viewpoints.online@gmail.com

STAFF Alexandra Ortiz Josh Wilson Lawrence Manns Crystal Olmedo Raziel Muniz Andrea Stewart Jesus Rios Jaison Johnson Rafael Rios Daeshaun Thomas Caitlin Macdonald Treva Flores Tyler Reese Sharmir Aleem Michael Isberto John Villanueva Daniel Pena Alexis Naucler Donte Shelton Marissa Bostick Michael Walter

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EDITOR Letters to the editor should be kept to 250 words or less.

Deliver letters to the Viewpoints office in the room behind the Assessment Building. Viewpoints reserves the right to edit letters for space and to reject libelous or obscene letters. Letters to the editor and columns represent the opinions of the individual writers and do not necessarily reflect those of the entire Viewpoints staff, Viewpoints faculty advisers, student government, faculty, administration nor the Board of Trustees.

To get into the conversation visit viewpointsonline.org

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

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Student editors have authority to make all content decisions without censorship or advance approval. © 2014 by the Viewpoints staff, Riverside City College, 4800 Magnolia Avenue, Riverside, CA. 92506-0528. All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced without permission of the Viewpoints Editor-in-Chief.

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To join Viewpoints you must attend one of the mandatory orientations. The orientations will be held in the Viewpoints Newsroom located on the opposite side of the Assessment Center. The dates will be February 17, 18, 19 and 20 at 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Viewpoints

Are males more privileged?

Serving students since 1922

Opinion

ZARA HURTADO SPECIAL TO VIEWPOINTS

Entitlement is the belief that something is owed to you.

That society is in debt to you, that you deserve something more. But what happens when the “prize” is another human being?

Many people have differing opinions on what male entitlement is.

“For me it means that men choose to see their sex as a dominant form, in such a way that all that society today is indebted to their manhood and plain existence in the world,” said RCC student Genesis Beltran.

Some argue that it is a preset way of thinking , however, this is not the only sort of entitlement that exists.

“There are all types of entitlement like when you have this privilege you’re born with, you go around not noticing how you step on people, and you don’t notice how you oppress people.

Or how much power you have on your side, because you have so much privilege,” said Paola Alcala, a member of the Blood Orange Infoshop in Downtown Riverside. “It goes with white privilege, heterosexual privilege, cis-gender and male privilege.”

The predominance of men

in power has a lot to do with our culture. Men are highly valued, and as a result, some men feel they are granted certain privileges over other minorities.

“There’s a lot of antecedent in Western thought that definitely contributes to male dominance,” said UCI student Jack Montgomery. “We appropriate women into the domestic sphere.

Men are ‘supposed’ to run things because we are somehow ‘more able.’ But I’m sure that I have learned behaviors that contribute to the whole dominance issue.”

The topic of male entitlement itself is hotly debated, as there is a disagreement as to whether or not it even exists.

“For me, personally, I think it does exist. I don’t consider myself to be a part of the group who takes advantage of male entitlement because I’m a flamboyant male, so I don’t think male entitlement really applies to me,” said RCC student Bryce Hathaway. “I think someone needs to point another human being out, because if you go ignorant about any sort of enlightenment about the equality between genders…they’re not going to.

“I feel you need to step in, to talk with those people.

But of course you need to remain professional,” Hathaway

continued. “From past experiences, I know you can’t get emotionally involved. You won’t get the point across. You need to hold back and let these people realize that human beings are human beings, whatever is between their legs and whatever gender they identify with. It is something I tend to talk to men about.”

Although male privilege cannot be blamed on all men, the fact remains that the perpetrators are in fact male. This “privilege” is often abused and women are left the victims.

As with everything, not every woman’s experience is the same. Ethnicity, sexual orientation and even individual body types factor in to how they are harassed by men.

“Every woman faces different harassment based on their ethnicity,” said Alcala.

“There is this video going around on Facebook, ’10 Hours,’ and it is mentioned that the girl in it is white passing. I don’t know what she is, but the way she is approached by men is completely different than a black woman or a disabled person or a queer person. Even for people who are fat there is a whole different type of harassment. People have posted some really intense stuff on the Guerillera Collective, and I

more about the process I listened to and was eager to take on more responsibility.

Serving as editor-in-chief has been validation for me. Writing is what I was meant to do.

Everything that has transpired from the start of my term has been a learning experience.

Having to handle multiple personalities and situations that would spring up hours before deadline are learning experiences things I will carry with me into my career.

For all the times I bumped heads with editors and other staff members, I thank you.

You all challenged me and because of that, I learned and hope we are all better for it.

I never have taken anything said in those heated exchanges personal and I knew it was because we were trying to do what we thought was best for the paper.

To the editors who served on my staff, thank you. We have known each other for a little over 2 years and the growth we took as a newspaper has been tremendous and although we never achieved my personal goal of a perfect paper, we strove for it and can proudly say it was within our grasp.

To our advisers Mr. Burns and Mr. Lovelace, thank you both for

your help and guidance. I have learned a lot through the critiques and appreciate your support throughout my term.

Matt Schoenmann, who is our journalism specialist and honorary staff member, thank you for everything. From the introduction to new music and many laughs, to the invaluable advice and guidance. Some of the best times I had as editor-in-chief were showing up early and just talking about life.

And to the heart of the paper, the writers. Without any of you, the entire paper does not exist. All of you made our jobs easier and are a huge reason as to why the paper is at the level it is at.

Last, but certainly not least, my first editor and successor, James Williams. Thank you for showing me the way. I always felt that you deserved to be editor-in-chief and now that you will be taking over I believe that you are the person who can take Viewpoints to the next level.

My goal was to be better than my predecssor and we achieved that. I hope I made it tough, but my advice is to strive for the same thing.

The experience was what I thought it would be and more.

At the end of the day, no matter what happen in the newsroom I was always happy I was there.

Farewell address from the editor

TRAVIS WEST

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Life only gives us a handful of moments that we can recall vividly and I am happy to say that serving as editor-in-chief for Viewpoints has been one of them.

When I joined Viewpoints in Fall of 2012, I was apprehensive, nervous and most of all fearful that I may never find my place in college after changing majors 3 times.

For me, writing was never a career path. It was a way for the usually introverted person I am to express my deepest thoughts and emotions without fear of being judged by sharing them with another person.

It was not until I joined Viewpoints that I realized I could make a passion of mine a career as well.

I quickly fell in love with the process of producing a newspaper. Anyone who knew

December 1, 2014 | 15

think it is completely different for everybody with how they look, their ethnicity, their gender, their sexuality, it’s always going to be very different.”

There are precautions women can take as a response to the pervasive nature of male entitlement. Because of it, women do not feel safe to walk alone at night, or to venture out of their homes without first thinking of the ways they may have to defend themselves.

“When I’m by myself, I make sure I have something handy like my keys or a lighter in my hand, just in case,” said Payton Prentice. “A lit cigarette maybe, in case someone tries to assault me and I’m alone because physically, I’m not that strong.

It’d be harder for me to fight off someone who is bigger. It’s dangerous for young women to be walking around by themselves and it shouldn’t. But men think they deserve sex.”

This sense of ownership over women and the belief that women should be complacent is an attitude taught from childhood.

“From the time you’re raised it’s ‘boys will be boys’ when it comes to that kind of thing and it’s not the approach that should be taken. Men are taught from a young age that women are objects. They see them as a prize,” Prentice said.

“I think men see it that way.

If they see a woman dressed a certain way they think she wants attention, but really she’s doing it for herself.”

However, dismissing the issue and claiming that all men are not culprits is the same thing as denying the issue exists.

It is hard to imagine that change could happen overnight because this attitude has been

an integral part of our nation’s identity for so long.

“Learned patterns of thought are difficult to change, but if children can be taught equally, regardless of sex, and not be taught things as predefined by their gender, things like male entitlement can be eliminated,” Beltran said. “If boys are consistently taught that who they are amounts to their presence and their strength, entitlement is then a reaction to that learned ideology.”

As the discussion grows on social media, it also grows on the ground. A prime example would be the Blood Orange Infoshop, located at 3485 University Ave., a safe place for people of all background to share their experiences.

“It’s called intersectionality.

We f o c u s o n a l l s o r t s o f oppression on different levels because everyone has different o p p r e s s i o n s a n d d i ff e r e n t privileges,” said Alcala. “It goes further than feminism.

You involve race, sexuality, gender…it’s way more than women issues.”

The Blood Orange Infoshop holds events to celebrate the empowerment of all women, including queer women and people who identify as women.

One such event is Ladyfest, which first came to Riverside in 2009.

“What Ladyfest in Riverside represents is the empowerment of, mostly, people of color. It’s been going on since the 90’s. it started when the Riot Girl movement started. There weren’t many people of color, gay women or gay men. It has been very cis-women centered, so this year we’re going to try to open it up to queer issues,” said Alcala.

Tweet what’s important to you on campus with #RCCnow to keep your friends up to date on what impacts everyone on campus.

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16 | December 1, 2014

Features

LUIS SOLIS

/

PHOTO EDITOR

MISSION TO MERRY: Riverside and the Mission Inn hosted the annual “Festival of Lights” event that takes place the Friday after Thanksgiving every year. The festival is ranked second in the nation to Rockefeller center by “People Magazine” and represents a cultural staple in downtown to start the Christmas season.

Mission Inn gets Riverside into the holiday spirit LUIS SOLIS PHOTO EDITOR The Festival of Light event brings a little of the “Winter Wonderland” experience to the Inland Empire every year for five weeks.

This year, its held from Nov. 28 through Jan. 6 at the Mission Inn Hotel and Spa. The twinkling of lights, the prancing horses and the smell of freshly baked goods can get anyone into the Christmas spirit.

“I wanted to do something to pay back the community and as a little kid I really enjoyed when my parents would take us out and see all of the neighborhoods that had all lid up in Christmas lights,” said Duane Roberts, owner of the Mission Inn in Riverside. “I thought that would be a great thing here at the Mission Inn where we got such a beautiful architecture and do something for the city and families. I’m all into families and

binding the community.”

The Mission Inn displayed over four million holiday lights surrounding the entire building accompanied by fireworks set off on the event’s first night of the year, which shined brightly into the winter sky.

“We had a couple of thousand people show up in the first one in 1993 and we had a couple of 100,000 lights and 4,000 caricatures,” Roberts said.

The event brought in over 250,000 unique visitors from around the world in 2013 and “People Magazine” ranked the display as the second best lighting ceremony in the nation, behind Rockefeller Center in New York The outside exterior of the Mission Inn has Christmas decorations such as caricatures and scenes on every nook and cranny, including the tropical palm trees of Southern California.

The event also has an ice

skating rink located on Mission Street between University Avenue and Mission Inn Avenue with an admission of $15 per person.

The owners, Duane and his wife Kelly Roberts, saved the Mission Inn from being demolished during 1992 and are the ones responsible for coming up with the idea to decorate the building with holiday lights and it grew into a huge event.

The entire downtown area of Riverside participates along with the Festival of Lights with food vendors selling traditional holiday foods, carolers and horse carriages.

The Festival of Lights is a winter holiday tradition in Riverside that has been going on for 22 years.

“I’m so proud to see how everything has turned out over these 22 years when I first bought the Mission Inn on Dec. 24, 1992,” Roberts said.

LUIS SOLIS

/

PHOTO EDITOR

LIGHT UP: Families and friends headed over to the bright

Christmas Tree near city hall on Main Street to take a break from the Festival of Lights’ enormous crowd Nov. 28.

LUIS SOLIS

/

PHOTO EDITOR

SHINING STAR: The Mission Inn, located in Downtown Riverside, covered with star shaped

decorations, moving caricatures and Christmas lights as part of the annual five-week Festival of Lights event. The event will be held from Nov. 28 through Jan. 6.

/ PHOTO EDITOR HOLIDAY CHEER: Carolers entertain attendees of the annual Festival of Lights event with many traditional Christmas songs.

LUIS SOLIS