Viewpoints Issue #6 Nov. 13, 2014

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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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Veterans honored at RCC Page 2

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Dia de Los Muertos lives on in Riverside

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Halo trilogy remastered Page 16

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Vol. XCIv, No. 6

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Viewpointsonline.org

November 13, 2014

RCC ranked at No. 1

Following a league victory over Chaffey College, the Tigers are playoff bound

CCCFCA/JCAB State Football Poll Team

LUIS SOLIS / PHOTO EDITOR

CONTENDER: Members of the Riverside City College defense swarm toward the El Camino

Warriors’ ball carrier in the the Central League opener Oct. 4. RCC is 5-0 against league teams. JAMES H. WILLIAMS MANAGING EDITOR Riverside City College and San Mateo College finish tied with seven first place votes apiece in the Nov. 10 CCCFCA/ JCAB State Football Poll. The Tigers are listed as the No. 1 ranked junior college football team in California based on total points in the state poll, where they edge out San Mateo College by one point. RCC is coming off a twogame road trip in which they played the then ranked No. 2 Long Beach Vikings and the Chaffey Panthers in back to back weeks in Central League play. The win clinched the league title and a playoff berth for the Tigers while extending a six game winning streak that started after the lone loss of the season to Grossmont College Sept. 20 by 10 points. “I think we learned a lot from the Grossmont game,” said Tigers football coach Tom Craft.

INSIDE:

“We hit the BYE at a great time to go back and work on some fundamentals and evaluate our players.” The evaluation for the Tigers included a switch from Kelly Hilinski to Nicholas King at the quarterback position. The change has been “effective” but King is still “developing” at the position according to Craft. It is a familiar situation for the Tigers, who have made a switch at quarterback for the third consecutive season. King had 311 passing yards and three touchdowns against the Panthers. He also had 72 rushing yards. Wide receiver Isaac Whitney had 120 receiving yards for the Tigers while running back Denzel Foster rushed for 108 yards and a touchdown. Panthers’ quarterback Levi Plante had 150 passing yards while rushed for two touchdowns against the Tigers defense.

NEWS

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Ray Ford had one interception against Plante in the win, which he returned for 43 yards. I t w a s F o r d ’s f o u r t h interception of the season, three of which were in league play. “The players have trained really hard,” Craft added. “We have improved along the way and established ourselves as a very good defensive team, good at special teams and a developing offense with a high ceiling.” T he Tige r s a lo ng w it h Fullerton, Butte and Ventura cli nched t he f i rst of eig ht California Community College Athletic Association regional berths. The four teams are all league championship and two of the final four spots will also go to league champions. The final two bids will be announced after the final week of the regular season. RCC (8-1, 5-0) will conclude the regular season as it host Citrus College Nov. 15.

OPINIONS

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FEATURES

Record

points

previous rank

No. 1 Riverside

(8-1) 409

3

No. 2 San Mateo

(8-1) 408

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No. 3 San Francisco

(8-1) 380

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No. 4 Mt. San Antonio

(8-2) 355

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No. 5 American River

(8-1) 351

1

No. 6 Fullerton

(8-2) 342 6

No. 7 Butte

(7-2) 316

No. 8 Long Beach

(7-2) 345 7

No. 9 Golden West

(7-2) 285

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No. 10 Santa Rosa

(7-2) 274

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No. 11 Ventura

(6-3) 241

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No. 12 Laney

(6-3) 218

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No. 13 Cerritos

(6-3) 210

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No. 14 Diablo Valley

(6-3) 207

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No. 15 Sacramento

(6-3) 180

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No. 16 West Hills

(9-0) 135

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No. 17 Victor Valley

(9-0) 129

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No. 18 Chaffey

(5-4) 125

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No. 19 Bakersfield

(5-4) 103

22

No. 20 Southwestern

(8-1)

91

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No. 21 Fresno

(5-4)

89

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No. 22 Glendale

(8-1)

86

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No. 23 Hartnell

(8-1)

84 24

No. 24 Chabot

(5-4) 80

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No. 25 Palomar

(5-4) 78

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A&E

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SPORTS

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Viewpoints

Serving students since 1922

2 | November 13, 2014

NEWS

RCC searches for new president A commitee is formed to find a new president for Riverside City College by September 2016

LAWRENCE MANNS ASST. NEWS EDITOR Riverside City College is in the process of searching for a new president. Dr. Irving Hendrick and Sylvia Thomas are leading the effort to find a candidate qualified enough to fill the role. The new president will take office on the 100th birthday of the college, in September of 2016. The search team, comprised of Hendrick, Thomas, and a committee made up of representatives from the college staff, Associated Students of RCC, RCCD and Riverside. In all, there are eight members of the committee and they will work together to screen and judge the qualifications of the applicants. “The role of the search committee is to identify from the total pool of candidates a smaller group of candidates who appear from their applications to meet well the qualifications specified in the presidential profile,” Hendrick said. “The Committee will interview this sub-set of applicants by asking them a series of questions which the Committee will be developing.” Each candidate will participate in an interview with the committee and every candidate will be asked the same questions. Depending on each applicant’s answer to the set of questions, the committee will review the group of candidates a second time, taking both their answers and

pre-interview application into account. The candidates will then be brought to RCC to meet with various campus groups and participate in a forum and will likely be brought to meet with members of the local community. The exact plan as to how all this will be achieved has not yet been decided by the committee. “From past experience, one can make a reasonable guess that the number of finalist candidates will be in the neighborhood of three to five,” Hendrick said. Thomas’ and Hendrick’s role in the search is to supply the search committee with candidates, and advise the search committee. “In effect, our job is to make the job of the search committee difficult by supplying them with a large and highly qualified pool of applicants from which to select,” Hendrick said. As well as advertising the search for potential candidates, they will facilitate the transportation of all the candidates that come to RCC. They have also put together a profile, detailing the roles of the president and the qualifications necessary to be considered. According to the presidential profile, the candidates must have an outstanding record of academic leadership, financial stewardship and business acumen in a higher education system. The applicant also must have been a successful student.

The chosen candidate will become responsible for a multitude of things, including being the chief financial manager, finding sources of funding, ensuring the success of the students, recruiting and managing staff, being a liaison to K-12 schools and providing career opportunities to students. At this time, there have not been any applicants, as the search has yet to be formally announced. However, Hendrick and Thomas have already begun to advertise the position, putting up a notice on RCC’s main webpage. “Ms. Thomas and I have advised several major state and national professional groups that the search will be announced soon, so a number of candidates likely are considering the prospect of applying once they read the presidential profile” Hendrick said. Hendrick expects the search to run according to plan, but expects challenges of a mental nature. “The expectation here is that the Chancellor and the RCC community will settle for nothing less. That, I suppose, does impose considerable pressure and accountability on all involved with the search process,” Hendrick said. The overall cost of the search will not be known until it is completed. There not any extra expected costs, unless extra advisors are brought on to the team.

C RIME

LUIS SOLIS

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PHOTO EDITOR

WORDS ON THE WALL: Students had the opportunity to write words of gratitude to veterans on a wall Nov. 11.

Clubs collaborate to thank veterans SHAMIR ALEEM JOSA LAMONT VIEWPOINTS STAFF

Riverside City College Student Veterans Association launched its annual Operation Toy Drive this holiday season with tacos and flying projectiles on Nov. 11. The event was held outside of the Martin Luther King Jr. building where students wrote statements of gratitude to Veteran’s on a wall. They then received a red ticket that they could exchange for a taco meal at a stand just a few feet away. The drive gathered toys and games for children in Riverside and the surrounding communities for Christmas and the holidays. “We collect toys and give them to the local fire department who distributes them to local families,” said Garry James, RCC Student Veterans Association president.“Students can drop off their donations in the designated bin at the Veterans Resource Center.” Because SVA had a taco vendor at last year’s Veterans celebration, they opted again to bring him back for this year’s event.

“There are many clubs and organizations on campus for veterans and those interested in working with veterans,” James said. “Veterans Clubs is a national chapter of Student Veterans of America and it gives the chance for veterans and those interested working with veterans the chance to serve as officers in a national organization.” Other clubs participated in the drive and a day of thanksgiving with their own ideas to be more involved on campus. The Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics club sought the SVA and asked about presenting a trebuche or catapult for their event, which they accepted with enthusiasm. Each team builds their own castle made of cardboard and the objective is to knock them down with the trebuchets and catapults. James wanted the event to make students on campus aware of the STEM club. “STEM’s always looking for new people and we are new this semester and try expose students to what kind of engineers they want to be,” said Juan Marquez, STEM club president. The SVA offers the students who get involved several opportunities for experience.

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Date

Crime

Time

Location

Status

Oct. 28

Driver w/ no license

4:29 p.m.

Public Street

Cleared by Adult Arrest

Oct. 28

Annoy/Harassing Telephone Call

7:09 p.m.

Riverside

Information Only

Oct. 30

Lost Property $400

10:32 a.m.

4800 Magnolia Ave. Riverside

Inactive

Oct. 30

Petty Theft

4:02 p.m.

Lot A

Inactive

Nov. 5

Revoked/Suspended license

10:03 a.m.

Mine Okubo Dr.

Cited and released

Nov. 5

Offensive words in public place

11:44 a.m.

Cp-College PD (MV)

Cleared by other means

Nov. 6

Petty theft

6:33 p.m.

Math and Science

Nov. 7

Vandalism, less than $400

9:50 a.m.

Office of Economic Development

Information Only

Nov. 7

Battery on police/ Emergency person/ Resist

7:46 p.m.

Wheelock Stadium

Cleared by Adult Arrest

police Nov. 10

Vandalism $400 or more/ Grand theft

5:49 a.m.

District Office

Pending

Nov. 11

Fictitious Check/ Bill

10:45 a.m.

Bradshaw Building

Information Only

Illustration by: JACKIE TREJO


Viewpoints

News

Serving students since 1922

November 13, 2014 | 3

N EWS BRIEF S Follow us @rccviewpoints

Clery Report updated

JOHN VILLANUEVA

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STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

PAYING RESPECT: Navy Chief Mineman Michael Pittenger donates his time in uniform placing flags at the graves of servicemen in Riverside National Cemetery Nov. 8.

Community lays flags on graves to honor Veterans JOHN VILLANUEVA STAFF WRITER Flags are dressed along the tombstones in Riverside National Cemetery on Nov 8. to show respect to the deceased United States enlisted men and women. A Flag for Every Hero is an event held over the past seven years where people come together as volunteers or a part of an organization to plant a flag for every fallen soldier on the Veterans and Memorial day weekend. With supporters such as Trail Life USA and the American Red Cross Aaron Wyant, a trail leader, helps bring the kids that are a part of Trail Life USA together to recognize what the American Armed forces have sacrificed for the freedom of America. “My father,” Aaron Wyant said holding back tears, “my father who died this last year was a veteran. My brother is a veteran as well which is still in our grace and in our lives. But looking at what those men did for me, and making sure we have a safe place to vote so that we can speak our mind, so that we can protect our family, that means a lot as an American. We come out here to show these guys a little bit of respect for a lot of what they did.” Mike Wyant, Troopmaster in Trail Life USA, served for 5 years as a captain in the army and is brother of Aaron Wyant. “ Tr a i l L i f e i s a b r i e f adventure program that is Christ centered and is built on character,

adventure and leadership,” Mike Wyant said. Mike Wyant described the event as “a crucial event for our community” and says that it is meant for people “to come together as it has done for years, and to honor our men and women of the armed forces.” Steeve Pen n i ng ton is Community chairmen of Troop 703 Trail Life USA and describes the event as a day to honor the fallen. “This is an important way to teach our sons to understand there are many that scarified for our country,” Pennington said. “We come to honor that sacrifice, so they know who they are and why.” T h e Tr a i l l i fe USA organization has been lending their support for the past four years through word of mouth to neighboring communities. Enlisted Nav y Chief Mineman Michael Pittenger, helped donate some of his time to help his mother volunteering for the American Red Cross and for the event. “If you t ake it into consideration (that) even if all these people weren’t career in the military, if you add up each one of their terms of service and just think about how much this group has done for our nation, it’s overwhelming,” said Pittenger. “For us to come out here to pay a little respect, take a few hours out of our day and put out flags, it’s almost insignificant compared to what they did.”

Pittenger does something different each year for the Memorial and Veterans day holidays to support the fallen armed forces. Not only do the local Riverside community and surrounding communities contribute during A Flag for Every Hero, but big organizations also lend a hand,. The American Red Cross is another organization that donates their time and resources to plant flags on every tombstone over the past several years and has given a lot to help the community on this event. Dave Curran, Leader of the Riverside chapter of the Service to Armed Forces, said that what they’re doing here is meaningless to what these men and women gave. “It’s our way of spending veterans day In the moment,” Curran said. “The reason I joined SAF of the Red Cross (is that) my son had joined the air force a year ago, so it’s a way to stay connected to him. It’s a way of showing tribute to those who had gone before him. It’s really just a drop in a bucket.” Denise Pittenger, mother of Michael Pittenger and volunteer of the American Red Cross, agrees with Curran. “Every f lag we put in is heartfelt and seeing the kids participate is really touching.” T he R iver side Nat ional Cemetery will continue to hold these gathering each year for the Veterans and Memorial Day weekend.

The previously bare Clery Report was updated by Chief Miyashiro of Riverside City College Police Department with RCC’s crime statistics for the years of 2011 and 2012 on Oct. 28, almost a month after the Oct. 1 deadline given in the U.S. Department of Education’s Handbook for Campus Safety and Security Reporting. The following day, Oct. 29 the report was also updated with policies regarding crime reporting and incidents, and programs and services available to students who are victims of crimes, which the preceding version of the report was lacking. A notice was sent by email to RCC’s students, staff and faculty indicating that the Clery Report was available for viewing on RCC’s Campus Police webpage. 2011 crime statistics for drug law violations on public property for RCC were misreported. RCC’s Clery Report showed zero violations, whereas the the U.S. Department of Education’s Campus Safety and and Security Data Analysis Cutting Tool shows 10. According to Miyashiro crime statistics are “automatically inputted by computerated dispatch.” Miyashiro stated that discrepancy in the statistic was a result of a “typo” and that the figure has been amended. The figure does not currently appear in the 2013 Clery Report published on RCC’s website. The report was supposed to have been presented to RCCD’s Committee for Teaching and Learning by Miyashiro at the Nov. 3 Board of Trustees meeting. The presentation has been pushed back to the Nov. 18 Board of Trustees meeting.

RCC makes Military Times’ Top 140 Military Times has included Riverside City College on their list of best colleges for veterans. “We factor in what is, to our knowledge, the most detailed schoolby-school data on veteran students’ academic success anywhere, including graduation, retention, persistence and course completion rates,” said Amanda Miller, editor of Best for Vets. “By recognizing only the schools that do the most, we believe we’re helping to raise the bar in veteran student services.” RCC and Pasadena City College are the only two California Community Colleges included in Military Times’ 140 Best for Vets list.

Corrections and Clarifications: - Viewpoints printed in the Oct. 30 edition on Page 3 that RCC Police Chief Jim Miyashiro was presenting the 2014 Clery Report to the RCCD Board of Trustees Nov. 4. The report was supposed to be presented Nov. 3, but will now be presented at the Nov. 18 Board of Trustees meeting. - In the Oct . 30 issue of Viewpoints on Page 3, the brief titled “RCC receives trade grant” states that RCC will be receiving $1.1 million from the trade grant and Norco College will receive $1.4 million. Viewpoints would like to clarify that these figures are still currently estimates. The final figures will not be known until the colleges actually receive the grant checks, according to Robert Schmidt, senior public affairs officer at RCCD. - Viewpoints gave photo credit to Michael Walters on Page 9 of the Oct. 30 issue for the “VIP Nightclub brings out the divas of the night.” The correct spelling for the photographers name is Michael Walter. - Viewpoints published a photo cutline on Page 16 of the Oct. 30 issue that the “Aquatics Club” participated in the pumpkin-carving contest. The Viewpoints staff acknowledges that there is not an Aquatics Club at RCC and that the photo features the Gender and Sexualities Awareness Club. Viewpoints also had a factual error in a different photo cutline on the same page. The Art Club is carving “Boo” from the Mario Brothers Franchise and not the “Oogie Boogie Man” as published. - In the Oct. 30 issue of Viewpoints on Page 10, the story titled “Trolley takes dynamic dances to the streets,” mentions associate professor Mark Harris. The correct name is Mark Haines.

JOHN VILLANUEVA

/

STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

FLAGS FOR OUR FALLEN: Volunteers from the American Red Cross place flags at each gravestone to honor the service and contribution of the resting soldiers.

- Robbie Silver was credited for photographs published on Page 13 for the “Downtown struck by zombies” story in the Oct. 30 issue of Viewpoints, however the photographs were taken by Michael Isberto.


Viewpoints

4 | November 13, 2014

News

Serving students since 1922

Election results: Board of Trustees

Virginia Blumenthal VALERIE OSIER NEWS EDITOR

Janet Green

LUIS SOLIS / PHOTO EDITOR

FORUM: Trustee Janet Green speaks at a candidate forum.

Janet G reen has ser ved eight years on the Riverside Community College District Board of Trustees. “Don’t laugh, but I went to RCC at one time,” Green said, “and I took political science, and then I worked at RCC as

pa r t-t i me facult y teach i ng emergency medical technicians, then I happened to marry the administrator who hired me, then I had to go ... because he did not believe in husband and wife working in the same place ... I never lost my dedication to RCC.” According to Green, she ran for the board again because she didn’t finish all of the work she wanted to do, including getting more classes for students and filling all administrative positions that are needed. “The one thing I would like to see students do is to feel comfortable about approaching us trustees personally when we’re not at a board meeting …” Green said. “But I want students to know that I personally am accessible to them any time they want to pick up the phone and call.”

Virginia Blumenthal is the current president of Riverside Community College Board of Trustees and has served eight years on the board. “One of the things we need to do is to try to have more classes offered for our students while still maintaining our financial s t a bi l it y …,” Bl u m e n t h a l said. “We are trying to do the impossible. We are trying to offer students many more classes and do it on a much smaller budget.” Blumenthal was born and raised in Riverside, and her parents still live across the street from Riverside City College “I’m a graduate from RCC,” she said. “I got my AA degree from RCC. I’m very proud to be an alumna of RCC. And I personally believe that our

LUIS SOLIS / PHOTO EDITOR

FORUM: Trustee Blumenthal speaks on her campaign trail.

district is the best community college district in the nation.” Blumenthal is excited to continue work on the Coil School for the Arts in her coming term as Board of Trustee President, and looks forward to continuing work to solve the budget crisis.

Tracey Vackar

Image courtesy of: Tracey Vackar VACKAR: Tracey Vackar is the new Trustee for Area 5. Tracey Vackar has served on the Moreno Valley Unified School Board for the past 20 years. She is cu r rently the director of Career Technical Education at Fontana Unified School District. This will be her first term on

the RCCD Board of Trustees. “I can help suppor t the transition from high school into community college, for all our school districts we serve for RCCD …,” Vackar said. “Also, the new trustee seat will actually give the community that I reside in an actual voice on the RCCD board.” Vackar also currently works closely with RCCD faculty and high school faculty in Industry Advisory Committees to make sure the CTE curriculum aligns with industry standards. “ T h e m a i n t h i ng i s t o set policy and to ensure that the college program has the adequate support that they need and the resources for quality programming. I think that that is the first and important role the a board member has,” Vackar said. Vackar will begin her term serving on the Board of Trustees in the coming Summer.


Viewpoints

OpinionS

November 13, 2014 | 5

Serving students since 1922

VIEWPOINTS

EDITORIAL

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Travis West 951- 222-8495 viewpoints@rcc.edu MANAGING EDITOR James H. Williams viewpoints.managing@gmail.com ADVERTISING MANAGER Valerie Osier viewpoints.advertising@gmail.com JOURNALISM SPECIALIST Matt Schoenmann matthew.schoenmann@rcc.edu FACULTY ADVISERS Allan Lovelace Jim Burns NEWS EDITOR Valerie Osier viewpoints.news@gmail.com OPINIONS EDITOR viewpoints.opinions@gmail.com

Police Unprepared

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

The basic duties of police are that they are here to make sure citizens follow the law. If citizens don’t follow the law, they arrest us, cite us, fine us, etc. But what happens when the police don’t follow laws? Who holds them accountable? An investigation by Viewpoints into the campus crime statistics at Riverside City College uncovered that the RCC campus police failed to meet the standards for reporting crime statistics. These mistakes had gone unnoticed until Viewpoints investigated RCC›s 2013 Clery Report. Noncompliance with the Clery Act can result in fine of $35,000 for each violation. Penalties for nondisclosure are $27,500 per violation, and in some cases the U.S. Department of Education can withhold all federal funds. The standards the police failed to meet include missing the Oct. 1 deadline and not publishing the programs and services available to crime victims and the crime prevention tips before the deadline. They also failed to address misreported statistics in 2011, resulting in a mistake in the number of drug law violations on public property for RCC. Jim Miyashiro, police chief of RCC, was unaware of the misreported statistics until a Viewpoints reporter interviewed him and brought it to his attention. He was also misinformed of the correct deadline to publish the Clery Report. However, the responsibility does not lie solely on Miyashiro, according to RCC’s interim president, Wolde-Ab Isaac, this report goes through the RCCD Executive Cabinet and is submitted to the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Postsecondary Education before Miyashiro presents it to the Board of Trustees Nov. 18. The campus police didn›t follow the law in reporting for the Clery Act. This violation can cost the school up to $35,000 in fines for each violation. Funds that would be lost due to penalties may be better used for necessary resources that would benefit RCC. It took an investigation by student journalists to bring this to light. According to RCCD’s senior public affairs officer of

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

STAFF

strategic communications and relations, Robert Schmidt, “The district website had the 2014 single-year report posted last month (September), per Denise Hernandez, Web applications technician, well within the Oct. 1 deadline. (Viewpoints) is right that it included only one year’s worth of information, however, by accessing the prior year’s report, the reader would have had access to actually four years worth of crime statistics.” It is unacceptable and illegal to publish the bare minimum information in a document as crucial as the Clery Report. When interviewed about the Clery Report, Edward Bush stated, “It is a public right to know (about crime statistics), to make informed decisions.” Bush also, remarked that there is a need for “personal accountability” and that faculty must be “vigilant in raising awareness” of crime prevention and potential criminal activity, as well as programs and services offered to victims of crimes. The problem with this is that when interviewing administrators such as Edward Bush, vice president of Student Services and Deborah Croan, director of Student Health and Psychological Services, they seemed disconnected and were not fully aware of each others’ responsibilities and current actions in regards to Clery Act compliance. It is important for students and parents to be able to access the Clery Report at any time, and it must be in a format that can be easily understood. This is stressed in Chapter 7 of the Handbook for Campus Safety and Security Reporting issued by the U.S. Department of Education. It takes an entire administration to make sure crimes are reported accurately and on time, it shouldn’t just be up to the police chief to do it all because mistakes are bound to fall through the cracks. Collaboration is key when running something as big as a college. RCC needs the administration to work together as a whole to make sure this college runs well. The administration needs to hold itself accountable.

VP

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

LETTERS TO THE

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.

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

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November 13, 2014

Vol. XCIV, No. 6

REACH US: Associated Collegiate Press

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PHONE: (951) 222-8488 E-MAIL: viewpoints@rcc.edu Editor in Chief PHONE: (951) 222-8495

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Viewpoints is a public forum, First Amendment newspaper. 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.


Viewpoints

Video games regurgitated Serving students since 1922

6 | November 13, 2014

LUIS SOLIS PHOTO EDITOR Video game franchises such as Electronics Arts, Ubisoft Entertainment, Activision Publishing Inc. and GameFreak Inc. bring out a new installment of its most popular game every year reusing the same basic structures as their previous game. Many of these video game franchises are known for games such as “Madden,” “Assassin Creed,” “Call of Duty” and “Pokémon” releasing a new edition on the shelf every year for consumer to spend $60 for one game. The only new concept that video game franchises add on to their new releases are a few new gimmicks and some minor tweaks that don’t affect the

mechanics in any way. This gives video game companies the excuse to charge consumers $60 on the price tag with each installments and don’t get me started on the downloadable content (DLC) pack that end consuming the buyers whole wallet. There is in game content that the consumers gets when they buy the game and then there’s DLC packs that’s release every month and the price range varies between franchises. DLC packs are usually extra content that the consumer buys after buying the game the contents are usually extra maps, more playable characters or powerful weapons that can change playing field. One example of this is Rockstar Games’ new re-release of their most recent video game, Grand Theft Auto 5, according to Imagine Game Network (IGN) Rockstar Games generated approximately $800 million in sales in it initial release. Rockstar Games is rereleasing Grand Theft Auto 5 for the new platform systems,

PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and the major changes to the game is that the player is now able to play in a sharper image of high definition and the biggest hype is that the player is now able to choose to switch from third person to first person shooter. Video games companies are re-using older games to attract older players and making them feel nostalgic by releasing remakes of older versions into a recent newer version of the popular videos games from their childhood for new consoles such as the Nintendo 3DS and PlayStation Vita. “I play ‘Pokémon’ games because they don’t actually come out every year aside from the last few, but some of those have been remakes, and when they do come out I usually feel like playing ‘Pokémon’ again and I just grab the newest one, because why not,” said Daniel Henson. Another of these games are the “Call of Duty” franchise which brings out a new installment every year and its newest release is called “Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare.”

Opinions

“All of these big publishers ought to be ashamed for constantly re-releasing the same old games,” said Henson So many of the games that were popular back in the days are making a comeback on the newer game consoles. The only few changes that are the introduce in the game are the newer guns in the inventory and high definition feature which makes a sharper image and makes more realistic. “‘Madden’ ... those games are just as bad as ‘Call of Duty’. Which is why, I’ve never owned a single ‘Madden’ or ‘Call of Duty’,” said Patrick Porter. “Those games are just really fat cash cows that Activision and EA will milk until the cow drops dead, which doesn’t seem to be happening any time soon, sadly.” Consistency is a good feature for gamers who buy video games from many of these franchises every year, but people need to stop giving into peer pressure and don’t buy these games. In order to force many video game developers into making better games and meeting a

higher demand. With developers purposefully ignoring online play on their older games letting hackers ruin multiplayer on many of these titles will encourage a lot of gamers to give in and just buy the new game. Along with the multiplayer mode, the gamer also gets a bunch of immature overgrown man children and children that are too young to even be playing a game with a mature rating. “I dislike the community the game has, yet I can’t help but play,” said Henson. “I enjoy that I can get into a game get shot in the face because I’m terrible and leave extremely upset that some bro is better than me then exit without fear or worry or have some of time restraint.” Out of principle, consumers should not buy another ‘Call of Duty’ game or ‘Madden’ game for a while because both video game franchises and consumers need to step up in order to change the current situation and force video game franchise to actually try and put effort into making video games again.

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Opinion

November 13, 2014 | 7

College housing would help ANDREA STEWART STAFF WRITER Originally founded to provide no-cost education, community colleges significantly help communities in a variety of ways, however, most do not provide affordable housing. Riverside City College does provide housing, but only for a relatively low number of students, and it is only available for international students. Failing to provide housing opportunities and housing options for regional students may be putting some students at risk for temporary homelessness. According to the California Community Colleges System, when community colleges first were established in 1907, it was in direct relation to the inability of colleges and universities to carry the load of courses demanded by

those seeking higher education. High schools were designed to carry postgraduate courses of study that were local to where students learned. As part of the plan for education known as the Master Plan for Higher Education, tuition was banned in 1960. Then in 1978, due to the beginning of many severe budget deficiencies, Proposition 13 led to the imposition of cost-per-unit classes. In the early 1990’s it cost about $11 per unit on average for a student to take community college classes. In 2009, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed AB2X that planned out a tuition increase that most recently rose to $46 per unit in 2012, which is the current rates students are paying now. In comparison, as the Master Plan stated, in the 1960’s, a community college student would ideally live with his or her parents or other family in their hometown while attending free classes ,meanwhile, in today’s standard, students pay upwards of $600 per semester if they take 12 units and pay the required fees, as calculated from the state cost of community college units and

local fees. The lifestyle of community college students is much different than they were when the institutions started. Many range from ages 16 to 65-years old, or even older, while in the beginning it was only newly graduated high school students, and working adults would take night classes. Many students now have families or have left home to live independently from their families. However, housing in Riverside County is not affordable, especially when trying to take a full load of classes and still work. According to RCC student Aaron Jones, many students skip classes because their bosses schedule them during their times of unavailability and are scheduled for classes. When students start to miss scheduled classes and lab times because of work, it can dramatically change the stress level and emotion of the student. Some students justify missing more class to sleep on the notion that they have been working so hard at both of their commitments that they deserve sleep. Students do deserve a break, that break should come in the form of

student housing. Student housing could dramatically change the way that students see life in community college, by having an actual community for them to be apart of. A community where its education is the most important thing they need to focus on. Recently, there has been a change in the partnership between Riverside Transit Association and RCC, if this change that has not yet been decided has an effect on students getting to campus in a timely matter there will be a push for local student housing in walking distance to campus. Having a local campushousing unit for California residents and not just International students will dramatically affect campus life, creating a homier atmosphere where students hang out and study on campus instead of rushing home. Students look forward to seeing what progress we can make for their benefit and for the campus to move in a student housing driven direction. A housing progression could ease the stress caused by the financial burden community colleges have become.

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Serving students since 1922

‘T-Rex’ Remains in RFD Memory JOSHUA WILSON STAFF WRITER

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/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER REMEMBER THE FALLEN: Eduardo Teran’s uniform is displayed in station 8 as a memorial to his coworkers and friends. CAITLIN MCDONALD

Image courtesy of: RIVERSIDE FIRE DEPARTMENT

hat was supposed to be a normal day for the Riverside Fire Department became a day that changed the organization forever on Nov. 5, 2005. That day, the Riverside Fire Department received one of its most crushing blows as they lost a dear brother. Fire Engine 3 had been dispatched to a fire at an abandoned home near La Sierra Avenue. After battling the blaze, Firefighter Eduardo “T-Rex” Teran mentioned he felt “overheated” and needed a moment to cool down. As he proceeded to remove his gear and walk back to the truck, Teran collapsed and was later rushed to Kaiser Hospital after going into full cardiac arrest. About 150 firefighters, family members and friends rushed over to Kaiser to find out Teran’s condition. Long efforts to revive Teran had become unsuccessful. Highlighted radio traffic between busy fire stations became deflated and somber as news of the death of Teran came through the transmissions. This had been the first line of duty loss in the department’s 125 year history. “It was just the strangest thing,” said Richard Cabrera, fire engineer and close friend of Teran. “It was just so shocking. We just couldn’t believe it.” Every year since Teran’s passing, several firefighters from the Riverside Fire Department, as well as family members and other firefighters who knew him gather at his grave site. This year over thirty firefighters, family and friends gathered together to

CAITLIN MCDONALD

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remember him. Cabrera recalls Eduardo Teran as “the glue that held the department together.” Cabrera described him as a cheerful, charismatic person who took great pride in Firefighting. “He was just a great guy,” Cabrera said. He recalls a story where they responded to a call together and Teran was up on the roof ventilating the fire by cutting holes into the roof, a technique he had brought to the Riverside Fire Department. “If you heard the chainsaw on the roof and you knew he was working there, you thought— okay,” Cabrera said. “He’s gonna do his thing, and you knew things were going to be alright. You weren’t worried.” Teran’s team remembers him as a person who kept everyone in high spirits during their urban search and rescue mission for Hurricane Katrina. He always knew how to make light of a bad situation, according to his colleagues. Teran was widely known for his esprit de corps. He took great pride in being a firefighter and its traditions, which served as an example for rookie firefighters, seasoned colleagues and superiors alike. He decorated the department with various photos and artifacts which were symbolic to the roots, values and traditions of firefighting. Teran often sold shirts, signs and other memorabilia representing the fire department he and his fellow firefighters proudly served. After the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, he raised approximately $265,000 in sales which he personally delivered to help families affected by the

STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

attacks. Teran was known to other firefighters as an informal leader, ready to take charge whenever necessary. “You always knew when Ed would tell you ‘I got it,’ it was done,” Hernandez said. Teran took it upon himself to look after and train newly recruited firefighters. When asked what was the fondest memory of Teran, almost every firefighter in the Riverside Fire Department begins telling the story of how he trained the new probationary firefighters. With a cigar in his mouth and in all of his equipment, Teran would train incoming firefighters with a fierce and intimidating demeanor that resonated with the new trainees. His stern approach to training kept the firefighters motivated and focused during training. He was known to outline the training firefighters bodies with chalk whenever an unsafe measures is performed during training as a reminder that complacency can cost lives. In the same manner he extended his hand in assistance to those same individuals whenever possible. Nine years later, the memory and legacy that Teran leaves behind is still very much alive within the department, although much has changed since his passing. He has changed the lives of many firefighters and their families, as well as the lives of members of the community. His memory remains in with the many lives he impacted and is still celebrated today, and because of his dedication to service and compassion to his fellow man, he will continue to be celebrated years to come.

CAITLIN MCDONALD

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STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

LEFT: Teran’s motto was “Go Hard or Go Home” and rigorous training methods set the new standard for the Riverside fire department. CENTER: Firefighters grace Teran’s head stone with cigars and beers at his burial site in Riverside. RIGHT: Firefighters, retiree’s and family gather at Teran’s grave in Riverside on Nov. 5, which marks 9 years since the incident that took the fire fighter’s life in 2005.


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Features

November 13, 2014 | 9

MICHAEL ISBERTO

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STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

CARNIVAL GAMES: Volunteers from the Arlanza Community Center help run the Halloween games and activities with the community in Bryant Park on Oct. 31.

Halloween gets healthy Local community figures come together to bring a healthy and safe alternative to children

MICHAEL ISBERTO STAFF WRITER As a child who grew up in Riverside, Raymond Aguirre experienced first hand how community leaders can make a difference in a child’s life. Now Aguirre is paying it forward as the Bryant Park and Arlanza Community Center supervisor and is doing the same for the next generation of children. “Raymond Aguirre has worked here for many years,” said Jim Perry, Riverside City Council member. “He’s a product of the neighborhood. He knows the neighborhood, and they know him.” For as long as Aguirre can remember, the neighborhood has always come together to celebrate the holidays. This year, the Riverside Halloween Carnival was held on Oct. 31 in Bryant Park. This is just one of the events the community has planned for the holiday season. “Our main goal is to keep the kids off the streets,” Aguirre said. Aguirre grew up in the city of Riverside in one of the nearby neighborhoods and he has taken it upon himself to make sure the children have somewhere safe to go for Halloween. Many of the families in the neighborhood trust Aguirre and the Arlanza Community Center as a whole when it comes to somewhere their children can go spend some time. “We’ve known of Raymond for quite a while now,” said

MICHAEL ISBERTO

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STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

HALLOWEEN CARNIVAL: Children sport their wild costumes and fun spirits with costumes like the featured Oogy Boogy man from “The Nightmare Before Christmas.” Romerson Flores, carnival attendee. “He’s very involved with our particular community, and events like the one tonight are great for everyone. Halloween’s fun but it’s not always safe to let kids walk around going from

door to door, and I’m not very comfortable answering the door to my home to just anyone as well. So this is great.” The Riverside Carnival gave families a safe alternative way to spend Halloween, with games

and rides. They also had a dance program and a costume contest for all the children who dressed up, and they handed out award trophies to the children with the best costumes. They also provided free hot dogs for all that came with an appetite. “We partner with our parks and recreation department to put on community events,” Perry said. “This is a great community event where we try to bring the community together in a centralized location, where children, parents, teenagers and everyone within the community can have a one stop shopping center where they come for entertainment and are able to celebrate a holiday. All the games are provided by the parks and recreation department and it’s all being manned by volunteers from the community.” The Riverside Halloween Carnival attendees described the event as a safe way to spend the holiday. Since the Arlanza Community Center promotes health and fitness they provided healthy treats for the children. Instead of candy, they handed out bags of trail mix and toothbrushes for the trick-or-treaters. “My kids weren’t too thrilled about the toothbrushes,” said Josephine Martin, carnival attendee. “But they didn’t mind the fruit and nut bag. I thought it was all great. My kids already had too much candy today. So I like the healthy options they gave. I think the hot dogs may

have been turkey dogs too.” When community leaders take the time and make an effort to take care of the neighborhood, it makes an enormous difference in the lives of everyone. Aguirre was once just another child in the neighborhood but because someone took the time and made a difference in his life, he has come full circle and is now doing the same in taking care of the next generation of children. “It’s been going on for more than 10 years,” Perry said. “It moves around from park to park so everyone can participate and host it. It tends to grow every year. We try to do something different. We try to add things every year. We try to make it new and refreshing each time somebody comes out.” It may seem like just another holiday event, but there is more to it than just another fun night for the family. Events like the Riverside Halloween Carnival instill a sense of community and belonging to the neighborhood and those who belong to it. Because of events like these, one of the children who attended may grow up to be the next community leader. “We’re all very grateful for what the community center does for our kids and for our community,” said attendee Amanda Baker. “Our kids have somewhere safe to go hang out. Being involved with it gives them a sense of accomplishment and hopefully a bright future ahead them.”


10 | November 13, 2014

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Features

JOHN VILLANUEVA

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ASST. PHOTO EDITOR

MARBLE FLESH WITH SUGAR SKULLS: Jeanette Evans (right) of Marble Flesh does a sugar skull face painting to celebrate the dead while Jennifer Ramos, (left) manager of The Walking Sugar skulls, helps her fellow artist during the Dia de los Muertos event in downtown Riverside on Nov. 2.

Artists create Walking Sugar Skulls JOHN VILLANUEVA STAFF WRITER

JOHN VILLANUEVA

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STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

DANCING DEAD: Jeanette Evans of the Marble Flesh painted model Rebeka Josoh in a Catrina style full body mask to enter the Catrina Pageant at the Dia de los Muertos festival.

Beautifully painted men and women competed for best Catrina designs in Riverside to celebrate Dia de los Muertos. People flooded Ninth and Market Streets with decorative sugar skull face paintings to commemorate the dead on Nov 2. Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead celebration, is a Mexican holiday where people from all cultures and backgrounds come to honor their deceased loved ones. There were activities such as Aztec dancing, live music, children’s programs and the Catrina Pageant. The pageant involves body and face painters, as well as costume designers who worked to come up with the most original and authentic face, body and costume design that illustrates the Mexican culture that is Dia de los Muertos. Among the vendors was the face and body paint booth The Walking Sugar Skulls, a business that moves around the Inland Empire. Artist Jeanette Evans of Marble Flesh helped The Walking Sugar Skulls to paint and enter pin-up model Rebeka Josoh into the Catrina Pageant. “The world needs art, it’s the creativity that keeps the culture going,” Josoh said. “My background is Filipino, and to come here and celebrate the dead with The Walking Sugar Skulls and all the people here is a wonderful experience.” Jennifer Ramos, manager and owner of The Walking Sugar

Skulls, describes the event as being made for people to come together and cherish their lost and loved ones. “I’ve never been to an event like this and it’s different,” said Jonathen Rivera, partner of Josoh. “I’m happy to be here with her.” Evans started her business Marble Flesh in Fontana and has jumped from city to city for two and a half years. “Since 2012 I’ve wanted to show my visions I see in my head,” Evans said. “Everything, from color, choice, line work, and character is rooted from the way I feel. I express myself through my artwork and I was glad to have been a part of the Catrina Pageant and show the community my artwork.” The cultural event was hosted by Division 9 Gallery, partnered with the Riverside Metropolitan Museum and Ballet Folklórico de Riverside and is held right after the Halloween holiday. Members from the Norco Community College Anthropology club were first timers to the event and said that after being there for a couple hours they felt the impact of such a powerful culture. “We are learning a lot about the culture,” said Edlin De Santiago, president of the NCC anthropology club. “We know that not all of the day of the dead events are like this, but just to see this aspect of it, it’s incredible, it’s amazing.” Dia de los Muertos is upheld in the traditions within Mexican culture and will return to Riverside in the years to come.


Features

BEETLEJUICE:

Rebekah Josoh warms up in the cool evening of Dia de los Muertos in a striped jacket reminiscent of the undead character in Tim Burton’s “Beetlejuice”

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November 13, 2014 | 11 JOHN VILLANUEVA / ASST. PHOTO EDITOR


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12 | November 13, 2014

Features

JOSIAH PATTERSON

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SPECIAL TO VIEWPOINTS

SPIRITED MARCH: Roosevelt High School Marching Band performs “Who’s Who in Navy Blue” marching down Cole Avenue in Riverside on Oct. 18.

School bands rank and file

JOSIAH PATTERSON SPECIAL TO VIEWPOINTS

Proud family members, friends and entertainment-seekers gathered to hear band students from all over Southern California perform in the 10th Annual King Band Review. Walking down Krameria Avenue in Riverside on the morning of Oct. 18, people could see and hear band after band practicing in the street for performances that would follow. The event was free of charge and open to the public. Band directors instructed students as parents cheered encouragement for their children. Parents stood next to their children’s bands and watched as they started practice marching down the street. They made a turn onto Cole Avenue to a warm-up

section, and eventually made their way down the street to near Bergamont Drive, where they would perform in the parade. Parents briskly walked alongside keeping pace with the bands and taking pictures. Judges waited at the end of the street with clip-boards to judge participating bands in categories such as marching and maneuvering, music and showmanship. There were 13 high school and six middle school bands from across Southern California that participated. School spirit was prevalent as crowd members shouted uplifting school mottoes and encouraging words while each band walked up into performing position. Band directors made sure the bands were ready before starting. The announcer gave

an introduction and listed each bands’ achievements before they performed. After the parade finished, crowd members made their way back to the King High School football stadium where trophies were awarded at an award ceremony. Jason Magallanes, father of a Henry J. Kaiser High School band student, appreciated the event and the work his daughter put into it. “My daughter works hard in these events to benefit her future,” Magallanes said. “She is on the soccer team too, and things like this get her motivated to do her best in high school. This kind of event gives students structure, confidence. Down the road, it gives them discipline. It helps their future.” Magallanes sees the event

JOSIAH PATTERSON

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SPECIAL TO VIEWPOINTS

SCORE: Judges for the 10th Annual King Band Review concentrate as they rate performances.

as playing an important role in forming community. “It’s great to see how parents support the kids.” Magallanes said. “As a community, it got our support.” The King High Band Review, originally named the Lester Oaks Band Review, was sponsored by the Riverside Unified School District. “They spent a lot of money and didn’t see a lot of return,” said Charles Gray, Martin Luther King High School band director. “They looked out and said, ‘well, there are not a lot of people out there.’” The district did away with The Lester Oaks Band Review in 2002, but Gray was granted permission to do the Riverside King Band Review in 2004. The King High School Band hosts the event and marches in

the parade, but they are exempted from receiving awards. They are judged, but do not compete in their own band review, according to Gray. “I request that the judges adjudicate us, that they evaluate us,” Gray said. “So they will give us sheets and numbers just like the other groups.” Gray attributes the band review’s 10 year success to three factors. “You have to have the director that has the vision, the parents who can make it work and the kids who take part in it,” he said. “You have to have all three.” Gray said the only money the band review makes is from food sales, and they normally only break even. “We all here at King High School do it for the love of the activity,” Gray said.

JOSIAH PATTERSON

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SPECIAL TO VIEWPOINTS

FALL IN LINE: Glendora High School Tartan Band and Pageantry perform “The Voice of the Guns.”


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November 13, 2013 | 13

Arts & Entertainment

SING ALONG: Cast

IMAGE COURTESY of TODD COLE

of “Shrek“ the musicial breaks into song as the fairytale creatures figure out the identity of Lord Farquaad’s father

‘Shrek’ makes magic at RCC MARISSA BOSTICK ASST. A&E EDITOR

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hen I first heard that ‘Shrek the Musical’ was going to have a run at the Landis Performing Arts Center, I was a bit apprehensive. Usually when something I like is adapted for a large production, I get excited. The thought of ‘Shrek’ being a musical just baffled me. Nonetheless I took my seat and soaked in the décor created for this musical. The proscenium arch had a scroll-like banner that read, “Once Upon a Time…” to echo the storytelling to come. The orchestra pit also was decorated with a grass look and cat nine tails to give the stage a swamp like atmosphere. Interestingly enough, there was also a walkway around the orchestra pit allowing the actors to be more a part of the audience. Opening scenes in any kind of production often set the entire emotional narrative and this Gary Krinkle directed musical followed that very path. “Big Bright Beautiful World,” the opening song, was comical in part and oddly refreshing as a young Shrek’s parents explain the world to him as they send him to be on his own at only 7 years old. Although the song had its nuances it still lacked comedic timing until it was rescued by changing the opening to “Fiona the Musical.” Stephanie Wall’s diva-esque version of Fiona saved the opening number by giving it life again and the funny punch it lacked. The opening is also where we first see Shrek, played by Josh

Tangermann. This is actually the third time Tangermann has played this character and it showed. “Unlike the movie, I can put heart, I can put emotion into it” Tangermann said, “that’s what I love because Shrek can go through so many ups and downs and it’s just something that makes for a great part.” After being displaced by Lord Farquaad, played by Johnny Fletcher, and relocated to Shrek’s swamp, Pinocchio played by Justin Goei, and the fairytale creatures break into a song appropriately titled, “Story of My Life.” The ensemble sing about how happy endings just don’t seem to work out for them. A couple of the best one liners in the musical come out in this song like the three little pigs exclaiming, “He huffed and he puffed and he signed an eviction notice!” The big bad wolf ’s one liner unquestionably was a close second as he also howled out, “They called me a hot tranny wolf mess.” Even though the musical was about Shrek, Anne Montavon’s Gingy might be the sleeper best character of the musical possibly because she stuck to the character without over doing it. While the story of Shrek is a familiar one, the progression along the storyline seemed to advance quicker than expected. F l e t c h e r, i n t e r e s t i n g l y enough, played Lord Farquaad on his knees the entirety of the play, showing great dedication to the character. The only real fault with the character was the design or the decision to have flimsy fake legs that often distracted from

their comical intentions. The book and lyrics written for the musical by David LindsayAbaire obviously drew from the movie, which kept in jokes that were meant to go over children’s heads. One of those being the joke alluding to Farquaad “overcompensating for something with such a large castle.” Another creative thing was the quoting of other Broadway classics like Wicked. After sending Shrek to find Fiona, Farquaad sings “…and no one’s gonna bring me down” hitting the high notes at the end of the run along with striking the pose and being doused in emerald green light. Not straying far from the original Dreamworks version of the musical, there were three Fionas to sing, “I know it’s today.” Having the part split into three allowed the emotional stance of the character be known giving it even more depth than before. Instead of having somebody in a cheesy dragon costume onstage, a larger than life detailed puppet with three puppeteers played Dragon, whom Anjanique Jewell voiced off stage. T he mus i c a l w as f i l l e d with highly relatable music, Tangermann felt that the most relatable song was “Who I’d Be.” “It asks if you could be any one in the world here’s who you’d be and Shrek says if I could be anyone else in the world except an ogre I’d be a poet, I would be a Viking, I would be this and this and this and this, it’s just anyone can relate to that.” To close out the dialogue in act one Donkey, played by Charles McCoy, shrieks out in fear of Dragon

prompting Shrek to hurry after him. After being rescued, Fiona calls after Shrek to “slow down!” only for Shrek to shout back “Well, I’ve got to save my ass!” I n m o s t m u s i c a l’s t h e orchestra is sometimes seen, always heard but never truly involved until now. Every time Donkey or Shrek made a short joke to Fiona about Farquaad, the orchestra’s drummer assisted with a “bum dum tiss” to end the joke. Fiona even asked the drummer, “What are you doing?” and then pointed to the conductor then to the drummer and making a hand motion almost like she was saying, “what the hell, knock it off.” Staying true to the childish nature of ‘Shrek’, he and Fiona let out a disgusting exchange of burps and farts in “I Think I Got You Beat.” Although the song started as an inside look about how they really viewed their respective childhoods it quickly lightened up, especially after Shrek says, “that’s a chipotle squirter.” One of the more serious songs was “When Words Fail” which seemed misplaced even though it gave the emotional backing for Shrek’s feelings toward Fiona until he misunderstands something Fiona tells Donkey in private. Although the show was not a Broadway production, most of the aesthetics of this production seemed to be. However the frequency that Tangermann tucked his mask into shirt became a bit distracting. Before accepting that he was not a real boy, Pinocchio makes fun of Peter Pan telling him he

was 34 years old and needed to shave. After a bit of encouragement, Pinocchio then lead the fairytale creatures in an encouraging song titled “Freak Flag.” The song’s message being about embracing your differences and letting them be known with no shame by letting your freak flag fly for all to see. Reprises of songs often give a completely different emotional stance than before. The reprise of “Big Bright Beautiful World” gave it a new light and turned its previous dark meaning into something romantic, especially as Shrek sings it to Fiona. Although there were many comical elements to the wedding scene of the play, the best might have just been the Fairytale creatures storming the wedding. Various characters held hilarious signs that read, “#occupyduloc,” “make wishes not war” and “I have the right to bear arms.” There was really only one real problem with the end, the audience wasn’t sure if “This Is Our Story” was the ending song until they sang, “I’m A Believer.” The confusion could have been due to rolling out a pair of giant hearts that read “the end” during “This Is Our Story.” Even after nearly laughing myself to tears at times, I still can’t figure out why Shrek was made into a musical. This musical is undeniably something to bring young children to that will introduce them to the world of theater. It could be possible that turning Shrek into a musical was done with that in mind, either way, I’m a believer.


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14 | November 13, 2014

A&E

Crème de la Crème

showcases Alumni of Distinction

TYLER REESE STAFF WRITER

Brilliant and artistic does very little to describe the masterpieces the alumni art students of Riverside City College have on display. “Crème de la Crème: Alumni of Distinction” is the first art show of its kind on RCC’s campus. “We’ve been thinking about doing an alumni show for quite awhile,” said Leslie Brown, Art Coordinator for the exhibit. “I think part of our job here at the art gallery is to really help our students make decisions about their careers, and to move forward with their careers.” The pieces themselves were hand-picked by the full time staff members of the art department. Each staff member was given the responsibility to choose two

to three pieces. From the alumni submissions, only 14 were chosen to have their pieces on display. The art exhibition displays a wide variety of mediums from clay sculptures to painted canvases and blown glass. Not only are the pieces on display but a select amount are for sale and can be purchased through the art gallery. T h e g a l l e r y c h a rg e s a percentage for selling a piece, which helps fund it. The majority of the works in the gallery were primarily clay sculptures that were scattered around on different display tables. Canvas paintings saturated the walls with the occasional graphite drawings. “We felt that we really showed how far people went and how successful they were,” Brown said. “That it’s inspiring,

very inspiring to see their works.” “Crème de la Crème: Alumni of Distinction” art gallery opened Sept. 23 and will remain open until Nov. 21. The art exhibition is located in quad room 140 and is open to the public Tuesday through Friday noon to 5 p.m. and Thursday evenings from 5:30 to 8 p.m.

TYLER REESE

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STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

WHAT STICKS: (Above) “Lost Art School Student in Apt.” by

RCC alumnus Richard Corral is an expressive art piece that evokes images of “throwing it to the wall to see what sticks,” plays with identity and delves into string theory.

FISHY: (Left) “The Gift of the Sea” by artist Marijke Terwisscha

is a stylistic and cultural representation presenting fertility and life in a depiction of a mermaid sitting on the world and the sea.

Internment camps can’t stifle art Camps of World War II inspire a documentary on Japanese culture and the art today

MICHAEL ISBERTO STAFF WRITER The Center for Social Justice & Civil Liberties in Riverside held it’s monthly film screening Nov. 6 for the city’s art walk, but this particular screening was a little different than ones in the past. They screened “Hidden Legacy,” a documentary about the renaissance of traditional Japanese performing arts in the World War II interment camps. “We do this every month for arts walk,” said Hillary Jenks, director of The Center for Social Justice and Civil Liberties. “We do a film screening. They tend to be documentaries that look at some intersection of art and social justice. This is the first one that we’ve had a whole performance, a Q&A and we brought in the filmmaker. And this is actually the first time it’s been shown in the Inland Empire.” Shirley Muramoto Wong, the creative director for the film, was interested in the subject from an early age. Her curiosity about the history of how Japanese arts and music were passed down from each generation started back in high school and has grown more and more as the years have gone by. “I’ve been curious about it ever since I learned my mother had learned to play koto in the camp,” Wong said. “I thought that when she said camp; I thought she meant summer camp so I kind of let it go after that. And then in high school I started learning more about the history of the Japanese Americans internment

camps.” Wong started the journey of putting the film together many years ago and it has been a long process. “She brought a not quite finished version to the Japanese American National Museum in LA in April, which is how I learned about it,” Jenks said. “I contacted her and she was finishing it over the summer, and I told her we’d love to have it here. It worked out.” Although the process was a long and arduous one, Wong explained that someone had to do it. Even after many years of researching the topic she couldn’t find the history of Japanese arts in the internment camps. “It’s been a very long process,” said Wong. “No one wanted to talk about their experiences in camp to begin with because it was a humiliating experience. And I think there was another layer of not wanting to talk about anything Japanese at that time, because there was a strong sense of wanting to assimilate and trying to be more American: patriotic.” Even after visiting the Japanese American Museum and going through their libraries, she couldn’t find anything about the subject. “They wanted to prove that it was a mistake that the American government put these people in camps for the wrong reasons,” said Wong. “They wanted to prove that they were as American as possible. So after the camp experiences they decided no to talk about anything Japanese. A

MICHAEL ISBERTO

/

STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

THE SOUNDS OF CULTURE: Shirley Muramoto Wong plays the koto as part of her film showing with the Center for Social Justice & Civil Liberties at the Riverside Art Walk. lot of my friends said they never heard about Japanese anything. Their parents didn’t want them to develop any type of accent. So they only spoke English, even if their parents weren’t very comfortable with the language.” Although Wong did not really hear much about the Japanese internment camps or even Japanese culture in general from her parents, the little she did learn inspired her to invest her time and money into shining the light on her mysterious heritage. “One of the phrases that jumped out to me was, ‘you could only take what you could carry,’” Wong said . “I looked at the koto and went ‘mom, did you take the koto to camp with you?’ As you can see behind me, (Koto motions toward the bench sized string instrument) it’s a 6-foot

instrument. She never really talked about it much even then. So I went on my own little quest to find out how she was able to do that, and if anyone else had a similar experience.” “Hidden Legacy” is the untold story about tradition of Japanese art and music. Because of music and art they were able to express their feelings in such trying times, and even a moment of peace and happiness for those 2-3 hours during their concerts and shows. “Some people ask me how come it’s taken this long to get to this point to bring this out,” Wong said. “Some of my teachers that we spoke to in the film told us that they were concerned that their arts would not survive. As you know, most of them are in their late eighties and nineties,

and they want the Japanese arts to continue. So that was another reason why they came forward and started telling their stories. So it had to wait until now to come to fruition.” The Center for Social Justice & Civil Liberties is open every Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. They are also open the first Sunday of every month. Its current full-time exhibit is the Mine Okubo collection, an artist who is a Riverside City College alumna. “Upstairs we have all of Mine Okubo’s art work,” Jenks said. “On campus they have Mine Okubo Drive. She was an alum. She went to RCC and then she became a very famous artist. When she passed away she left her paintings to us. So that’s the whole upstairs.”


A&E

Viewpoints

Serving students since 1922

November 13, 2014 | 15

IMAGE COURTESY of TODD COLE

LUSH LA LADIES: Fresh off an extensive world tour the Calvin sisters, Jennifer and Jessie have been enjoying down time, playing all around thier native Los Angeles, promoting thier new EP “For The Feel” which dropped Sept. 16 and working on new material for next year.

Beach-punk girls of Bleached make waves

How Los Angeles D.I.Y. style has progressed since early ’00s DAVID ROMAN STAFF WRITER

sisters they each joined other bands, with Jennifer relocating to New York and Jessie With dreamy melodic tunes as attention making a name for herself and her skills grabbing as the lead singer’s pink hair, local on guitar in LA. Los Angeles indie upstarts Bleached have It was upon Jennifer’s return to the been making waves with their summer West Coast that the sisters decided to vintage sound that makes anyone wanna take their early ideas to form a band more breakout in the Watusi. seriously and Bleached began performing “It’s Friday night in Echopark, and recording in 2011. where anything can happen!” shouts the Releasing their debut full-length “Ride captivating Jennifer Calvin to a packed Your Heart Out” Bleached takes their show at the Echoplex, July 27. listeners on a sugary yet sour sounding Since that dynamic show in LA’s rollercoaster of emotions, from their lead flourishing hipster neighborhood Echopark single “Next Stop” which serves as their the punk-pop girls of Bleached have been get up, get out and dance anthem. Their very busy touring all around the country. dreamy “Love Spells” epitomizes their While the San Fernando Valley natives dazed sunny feel both of these tracks might not be breaking new ground with revealing influences from the Ramones, their dream-punk sound, it certainly is The Donnas and even Fleetwood Mac. making waves. Started by the Calvin sisters “I was going crazy being in someone Jennifer (vocals, rhythm guitar) and Jessie else’s band,” writes Jennifer Calvin on their (lead guitar, backing vocals) back in 2013 label Dead Oceans website. “Me and Jessie Bleached has garnered a lot of attention in are so proud and happy to be able to focus their native LA where they are known for on our own music, together.” putting on some of the wildest live shows It was their mid-summer performance full of kick-ass energy. at the Echoplex in which the band decided Tracing their roots to lo-fi garage rock to preview the three tracks off their fall EP band Mika Miko headed by Jennifer under “For The Feel” which was spawned after the name “Victor Fandgore” and Jenna a year of heavy touring throughout the Thornhil as “Jet Blanca” Mika Miko was country and abroad. well known around the underground LA Featuring three tracks of summer bliss scene as the kind of show you wanted to to mark the end of the summer the EP’s see when you’re strapped for cash but still sound has roots in the Kinks, with the title wanted to have a crazy time making a track even being rerecorded through an second home out of the all-ages venue The amp owned by the venerated classic rock Smell with other acts like Hawnay Troof. band. Between that and the lead single “Poison Ivy” which serves as a jukebox dance hit, the threetrack “For The Feel” packs a groovy care-free punch that’s more enticing than most fulllengths. Despite being a part of the -- Jennifer Calvin (lead vocals) underground D.I.Y scene for over ten years and enjoying every second of it, the Calvin Despite turning out classics like “Too sisters seem to finally breaking through cute to puke” and “I Got A Lot (New New to a more mainstream audience, even New)” and extensive touring the fiveplaying on Last Call with Carson Daly it piece went their separate ways. But with seems that their forthcoming demo is one the urge to perform stirring in the Calvin to look out for.

“I was going crazy being in someone else’s band.”

IMAGE COURTESY of CHLOE AFTEL

RIOT GRRRL REVIVAL: Blending punk themes and styles with dreamy

melodies the Calvin sisters are redefining what it means to be punk in 2014.


Viewpoints

Serving students since 1922

16| November 13, 2014

A&E

IMAGE COURTESY of XBOX WIRE

GAME ON: “Halo: The Master Chief Collection” is remastered version of all the previous “Halo” video games that create a better experience for current game consoles.

The remastred ‘Halo’ games arrive RAFAEL RIOS ASST. A&E EDITOR Traveling through space, fighting hordes of “Covenant” alien enemies, and saving all of humanity has never looked so sleek as these new revamped versions of one of the most iconic first person shooter game franchise ever created. Developed by Bungie and published by Microsoft Studios the “Halo” franchise made its debut in 2001 with the release of “Halo: Combat Evolved” on the original Xbox console. The military style science fiction game which brought first person shooter gaming to a new age. “Halo” is the journey of the Spartan 117 or Master Chief, the last of his kind. A military warrior from the future with highly specialized training and an armored suit part of the UNSC(United Nations Space Command.) Several years later came “Halo 2” the sequel released in

2004 which already had bigger changes in graphics to the game which at that time seemed much sleeker than the first, then came the “Halo 3” dropped in 2007 which completed the first trilogy. “Halo 3,” the last of the franchise developed by Bungie, was the first to be released for a newer console, Xbox 360. The most recent of the additions is “Halo 4,” also released for the Xbox 360, but developed by 343 Industries created to take over and primarily focus on the future of the franchise rather than Bungie. Established by Microsoft Studios, 343 Industries began the Reclaimer Saga as the second storyline to follow the Covenant Trilogy (Halos 1-3.) Released in 2012 the newest of the installments has greatly progressed in graphics, and its potential as a franchise has been kept strong enough to have two more games to follow with the possibility of more after that. With the core of the four

main games came a prequel and a spin-off. Some of the games included were “Halo 3: ODST” which was a side story released in 2009 and “Halo: Reach” which was a prequel to the story that focus on a time where Spartans were still the primary source of strength in humanity and was released in 2010. Then come the anniversaries which include “Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary,” released in 2011 as the 10th anniversary for the first “Halo” installment which was a revamped version of the first game which allowed you to switch back and forth from its original graphics to a newer version to see the evolution first hand, and “Halo 2: Anniversary,” also released on its 10th anniversary. Wit h t h e e v o lut i on of technology and graphics, 343 Industries is set to release a significant collection of the franchise, “Halo: the Master C hief C ol le c t ion” a game

containing Halo’s 1-4 with “Halo 2: Anniversary” being the most anticipated to be played in the collection due its special anniversary treatment, with remastered high-resolution and it being the core of the collection. Halo’s 3 and 4 already running in high-definition get standard upgrades that are still noticeable on the Xbox One. The whole collection has been completely revamped with 60 fps (frames per second) allowing the players to feel the fluidity and different feel to the game allowing players once again to switch back and fourth throughout the classic and new graphics to see how far we’ve come in technology and the creation of this artistic form. The release of this game has not been as smooth as developers might have hoped for, with GameSpot posting an article in which a Microsoft spokesperson provided a statement regarding the issues. “We are aware of issues some players have been

experiencing with matchmaking and we’re working around the clock, alongside the Xbox Live team to improve the situation.” It seems that an update was provided improving the problem and more were added to continue any further improvements that were needed. “Halo: The Master Chief Collection” contains all separate servers for each individual game allowing you to play online in each game or revisit the story as Master Chief (Main character) and reunite with childhood memories. This recent release for the franchise becomes a teaser to allow us not to go mad in the wait for “Halo 5: Guardians.” Purchasing “Halo: The Master Chief Collection” allows gamers to test drive “Halo 5: Guardians” in the beta from Dec. 29 through Jan.18 2015, and the full game being released in late 2015 and will continue Master Chief ’s journey that follows after the “Halo 4” storyline.

NOV 13

NOV 14

NOV 15

NOV 16

NOV 17

Trombone and Tuba Studio Recital Digital Library Auditorium 1:50 p.m.

LadyFest IE //BOIS Benefit Show Blood Orange Infoshop 7 p.m.

Free Movies at the La Sierra Library: Tron/Tron Legacy La Sierra Library 1 p.m.

Deerhoof, Crystal Skulls, Go Dark The Troubadour 8 p.m.

Judas Priest San Manuel Bingo and Casino 7 p.m.

Foster the People Shrine Auditorium 7 p.m.

Artists Against Cultures of Violence Back to the Grind 6 p.m. The Misfits Riverside Municipal Auditorium 6:30 p.m.

“Queen and Country” Museum of Modren Art 6:30 p.m.

LUCERO The Echo 8p.m.

NOV 18

NOV 19

NOV 20

NOV 21

NOV 22

Voice Studo Recital Digital Library Auditorium 12:50 p.m.

Melanie Martinez House of Blues: San Diego 6 p.m.

Concert Percussion Studio Recital Digital Library Auditorium 1:50 p.m.

Minus the Bear The Glass House 8 p.m.

Symphony Orchestra Concert Riverside Seventh Day Baptist Church 7 p.m.

Bone Thugs-N-Harmony Riverside Municipal Auditorium 7 p.m.

Sky Ferreira Cherry Glazerr The Belasco Theater 7 p.m.

Art Works Gallery @ Recovery Innovations feat. Pavel Acevedo 5 p.m. Bastille Fox Theater Pomona 8 p.m.

Sky Ferreira The Observatory 8 p.m.

CALENDAR


Viewpoints

Serving students since 1922

November 13, 2014 |

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.

17


Viewpoints

SPORTS Serving students since 1922

18 | November 13, 2014

“Never give up, never give in, and when the upper hand is ours, may we have the ability to handle the win with the dignity that we absorbed the loss.” -Doug Williams

RCC opens season with win Tigers place at Inagural Earning of Our Stripes ALEXIS NAUCLER STAFF WRITER

LUIS SOLIS/ PHOTO EDITOR

REBOUND: Tigers foward-center No. 42 Tori Mitchell catches a rebound off the opponents rim

College of the Desert during the opening round of its Inaugural Earning Our Stripes Tournament.

LOOK AHEAD: Nov. 15 MiraCosta College Nov. 20 vs. Sequoias @ Santa Barbara City College Nov. 22 SBCC MXTE Tournament Nov. 26 Victor Valley College Dec. 4 Tom Gilcrest Invitational Tournament

The Riverside City College women’s basketball team opened their 2014-15 season with the Riverside Earning of Our Stripes Tournament Nov. 7. The Tigers played against t he Col lege of t he De se r t Roadrunners in the Wheelock Gym with an 83-47 win to kick off their season. T h i s ye a r’s RC C t e a m consists of 10 new players and three returners, sophomores Tierra Fugua, Ashley Davis and Tristyn Gates. “I’m feeling really good about this year’s team, we have a lot of experience…the freshmen coming in are just adding to what we have,” said RCC head coach Alicia Berber. Riverside jumped to a 12-0 lead at the 14:12 mark and never looked back. The Tigers put up a 50-14 lead in the first half, but when their defense started to slip in the second half, the Roadrunners, as well as the Tigers, were able to gain 33 points. RCC played a forgettable first half, shooting only 16.7 percent including zero for six on three-

point attempts along with 19 turnovers. “Our defense was off a little and wasn’t in sync at all,” said sophomore guard Tristyn Gates. “I think we kind of got lazy,” said freshman center Jasmine Busby, “No matter how big the lead is you should always play hard.” Sophomore ce nt e r Tor i Mitchell led the Tigers with seven field goals and five free throws while Gates followed with six field goals and five free throws. Busby explained her favorite highlight was scoring a pass from a teammate she was trailing. Coach Berber didn’t feel this game had an MVP, but it was more of a “team victory.” “We’ll see how the season progresses to see if there’s anybody that’s going to stand out but I think they truly are a good team,” said Berber. Following this game, the Tigers lost to El Camino 62-50 Nov. 8 and also had a win over Barstow 61-51 Nov. 9. RCC will host MiraCosta College Spar tans in a noncon fe re nce ga me Nov. 15 at 2 p.m. in the Wheelock Gym.

Volleyball’s energy runs out EDITH NORIEGA SPORTS EDITOR

The Riverside City College wo m e n’s vol l e y b a l l t e a m continue to keep their heads up after falling short against Cypress College Chargers Nov. 7 with set scores (25-23, 25-17, 15-11). In the first set the Tigers really put up a fight by putting a stop to the Chargers top hitter No. 5 Lindsey Ray but due to the inability to connect and reduce errors RCC quickly loss the second and third set. “We had a lot of potential to win especially in the first set but we progressively got down and down and lost all of our energy,” said RCC outside hitter No. 22 Euricce LeSure. “Our momentum and drive to go after every ball they were throwing at us was gone.” To ma ke mat ters worse RCC’s starting hitter missed a practice and game due to a family

loss and their starting middle was in a car accident four hours prior to the game. “ Eve r y t h i ng wa s ju st disjointed even though normally it is because we don’t have a followed starting lineup,” explained RCC head coach Monica Hayes-Trainer. “Very few players have proven themselves to be the starters. They just have to get used to playing next to different people and their used to it but they’re just a little discombobulated for whatever goes on in their head, uncertainties, self talk and where they are at their confidence level.” The Tigers know they can compete against these top ranked teams, they just have to do a little extra in order to get the points, sometimes they are able to and sometimes they were not. No. 18 middle blocker Ashley Tamas played great against Saddleback with 13 kills and against Cypress she had zero.

“ It ’s n ot t h a t big of a difference in a block but to go from those two extremes it’s hard to fathom what is going on, what is making it so difficult to connect,” Hayes-Trainer said. RCC will finish off the season with an away game against the Fullerton College Hornets Nov. 14 and the last home game and the end of the regular season against the Golden West Rustlers Nov. 19. According to the CCCAA rankings the Tigers are currently sixth place with a 3-8 record in the Orange Empire Conference and 6-14 overall with a winning percent of 0.300 percent. This will be the end of the road for the Tigers, as they do not qualify for the Southern California Regionals. Hayes-Trainer commented that she has one thing in mind as the season will come to an end and that is getting back to the gym and working on consistency and reducing errors.

LUIS SOLIS / PHOTO EDITOR

LAYUP: Center Jasmine Busby of the Tigers girls basketball

team goes for the shot in the first game against College of the Desert. Busby averaged 4.7 percent rebounds.


Viewpoints

RCC Tiger draws interest

November 13, 2014 | 19

Serving students since 1922

Isaac Whitney will weigh his options for 2015 season JAMES H. WILLIAMS MANAGING EDITOR

Riverside City College’s Isaac Whitney has collected scholarship offers to play wide receiver for 11 unique Division I football programs in 2015. After playing defensive back in high school, Whitney found his calling as a receiver during his senior year at Southmoore High School in Moore, Oklahoma. “They were short at the position and I hit a growth spurt,” Whitney explained. “That is when they switched me to wide receiver.” Following his time at Southmoore, Whitney attended the University of Central Oklahoma for the first two years of his collegiate career. After redshirting at the Division II program in 2012 which lead to him sitting out the 2012 season, Whitney had 11 catches for 100 receiving yards in 2013. He averaged 9.1 yards on the season. It was not until Whitney heard about the Tigers’ football program that he decided to transfer for a better opportunity. “RCC was a good school to (attend) and they get players to

Division I programs,” Whitney said. “So I decided to come here.” It did not take long for Whitney to begin drawing interest and receiving scholarship offers. “He came from a Division II program with the aspirations of being a Division I player,” said Tigers football coach Tom Craft. “He realized the only way that was going to happen was if he goes to a community college, so he researched all of the community college and found us.” Craft believes Whitney’s decision has really benefited him. Whitney’s first offer was from the Washington State Cougars on Aug. 14, a team that has continued to show strong interest in his talent. “Washington State sends a lot of mail,” he said. “They want me pretty bad so I am going to take a visit there.” He also has offers from programs such as USC, Texas Tech and West Virginia among others. “Many of them are losing their No. 1 receiver next season,” Whitney said. “They are all in need of a junior college receiver that can play right away.” While Whitney has mentioned

For more on Isaac Whitney’s journey to a Division I program scan the QR code with your favorite QR code app bit.ly/WhitneyIsaac

LUIS SOLIS / PHOTO EDITOR

WANTED: Riverside City College wide receiver Isaac Whitney set up a block for the Tigers’ ball carrier against an El Camino Warriors’ defender on Oct. 4. USC as his “dream school,” the receiver would not mind exploring the option of UCLA if he were to receive an offer. Despite the interest and numerous letters he has received, Whitney has held off any future campus visits for after the conclusion of the 2014 season with the RCC. Whitney also told Viewpoints that he would make his decision around the time of the New Year. Whitney had 120 receiving yards in a victory over Chaffey Nov. 8 in which the Tigers clinched a playoff berth and the Central League Championship.

His performance against Chaffey followed his previous two catches for seven yards in the two prior games combined, which were against Mt. San Antonio and Long Beach City. Both teams entered its respective meeting with RCC ranked as one of the top two teams in Southern California. “I started to notice about two games ago,” he said. “I guess they started game planning for me because they realized I was a threat.” Whitney added that he has to get use to the extra attention on the field from defenders and

make any adjustments necessary to contribute to his team. The receiver has 41 catches and 668 yards through the first nine games of the regular season. Craft believes Whitney’s attributes on the field do not define him as a player and a person. “He is one of the best I had just because of characteristics. He has good size and he is physical,” Craft said. “He has a lot of gifted attributes but the ones that really stick out and separates him is his attitude and work ethic.” Whitney will play in his last regular season game for the Tigers Nov. 15 against Citrus College.

Isaac Whitney’s scholarship offers

Illustration by Luis Solis


RCC soars

20| November 13, 2014

ALEXIS NAUCLER EDITH NORIEGA VIEWPOINTS STAFF

Men’s cross-country

The Riverside City College men’s cross-country team will head to the State Championships Nov. 22 after finishing in eighth-place, with 246 points, at the Southern California Championships Nov. 7 at Woodley Park in Van Nuys. Coming in first for the Tigers was Doug Negrete at 21 minutes and eight seconds, and was followed by Anthony Munoz at 21:21, in third place was Julio Martinez at 21:25, fourth place was Jeronimo Brito with a time of 21:42, and following very closely was Dennis Gonzalez with the same time. “I am very pleased with how our guys have packed all season and have continued to run strong,” RCC head coach Jim McCarron. “If they can run like they have been and keep a 25 second gap between our number one and number five runner we can be top 10 at the state championship.”

Women’s cross-country

The RCC women’s crosscountry team posted a sixth place finish compiling 194 points only 10 points out of fourth place over the 3.1 miles course at the Southern California Regional Championships meet.

T h e Tig e r s p u n c h e d i n their golden ticket for the state championships meet at Woodward Park in Fresno California Nov. 22. Rounding up the top spots at regionals: Glendale College winning the meet with 61 points, fol lowed up by Mou nt Sa n Antonio College (79 points), College of the Canyons (113 points), Cerritos College (184 points) and Southwestern College (187 points) to round out the top five. Brianna Jacklin once again cont i nue s t o lea d t he pa ck bettering her time by 25 seconds from running at the same course nearly a month ago. The Tigers have steadily i m p r ove d i n t h e i r ove r a l l course time from one month ago according to the CCCAA rankings. “We are looking forward to show all the work we are putting into these next two weeks,” runner Rebecca Morales said. “We’re really focusing on our strengths this week doing lots of hills and speed workouts. At state we are going to really try to stick together again, sometimes its hard because we all have different abilities going up the hills.” RCC head coach Damien Smith explained that the team needs to focus on closing packs to 30 seconds over the next two weeks could give them a shot on making the podium at state.

Viewpoints

Serving students since 1922

Water polo splash into playoffs EDITH NORIEGA SPORTS EDITOR

After a successful season the RCC women’s water polo team get No. 2 seed and a first-round bye in the upcoming Southern California Regionals Nov. 13. T he Tigers will face the winners between the No. 7 seed Long Beach City College Vikings and the No. 10 seed Santa Barbara City College Vaqueros who play each other Nov. 13 at 12 p.m. RCC finished the last regular season game with a tough battle against the No.1 seed Fullerton College Hornets in the Orange Empire Conference Tournament

game Nov. 8. The game opened up neck and neck throughout the first and second quarters and after the third was locked at 5-5. The Hornets took possession in the final minutes of the game and a one-point lead against Riverside taking the tournament with a 10-9. Nikki Bell led the way for the Tigers with a team-high four goals of the teams nine goals and Kayla Chang with eight saves. In the championship game, Orange Coast College sank at the hands of Golden West College. The Rustlers win marks the 26th consecutive and 44th OEC title in

the programs history. “At this point in the season it is crucial that we do not overlook anyone, past performance or scores do not matter,” said RCC head coach Doug Finfrock. “We will continue with our same starting line-up and the focus for our team will be on the way we were playing not anything else.” The Tigers finished off the season with a strong 6-2 record in the Orange Empire Conference and 24-4 overall with a 0.750 winning percentage. T he Reg ion a l s c ont i nue through Nov. 15 with all games at Citrus College.

RCC clinch playoff berth in loss EDITH NORIEGA SPORTS EDITOR

Despite losing the final regular season game against the Fullerton College Hornets (14-6), the RCC men’s water polo team dominated the pool finishing fourth in the Orange Empire Conference and gained a playoff berth at the Southern California Regional Tournament against Grossmont Griffins Nov. 13. R iverside opened the O ra nge Empi re Con ference Championships with split wins in a sudden death over timequ a r te r f i nals ga me agai n st

Saddleback College 23-22. Then lost a semifinal contest to the top seeded Golden West College 18-8 Nov. 6. Against Saddleback, after ending the first half tied at 8-8 behind offense of Trevor Tripp had team-high seven goals. The Tigers opened up a fourgoal lead by the end of the third period. By the four-minute mark of the fourth quarter, Riverside’s lead was erased and the two teams headed into overtime tied, 18-18. With 11 seconds remaining, RCC ran a timeout play that ended with Joseph Rivas who

finished with six goals, buried the equalizer to for a sudden death overtime period. Daniel Rolph net the game winning goal from the left handers side of the pool. According to the CCCAA Rankings the Tigers finished 3-5 in the Orange Empire Conference with an overall record 8-17. Riverside has been seeded 10th in the tournament and will face No. 7 seeded Griffins. At the top of the men’s brackets, defending state champions Golden West (21-1) lead the No. 1 seed and Long Beach City (21-2) at No. 2.

UNLIMITED BUS RIDES WITH YOUR STUDENT ID

Thanks to the Go-Pass program, students at Riverside City College and Moreno Valley College get unlimited rides on Riverside Transit Agency buses. Whether it’s a lift to class, work or the movies, or a CommuterLink express bus to the beach, just swipe your student ID for endless rides anytime we operate, anywhere we go. For schedule and route information, call RTA at (951) 565-5002 or go to RiversideTransit.com.


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