AgorAM O N R O E C O U N T Y C O M M U N I T Y C O L L E G E

INSIDE

The

Lisa GhigliazzaCopy Editor

On Monday, February 27, 2007, the Monroe County Community Col-lege (MCCC) Board of Trustees voted to approve the 2006-2010 Master Agreement between the Community College District of Monroe County and the MCCC Faculty Association (MCCCFA). After many months of negotiations between the district and MCCFA teams, the faculty have a new contract. The contract will be retroac-tive from August 28, 2006, the date the previous contract expired.

Present at the meeting were Board members Joseph Bellino, Jr., Wil-liam Braunlich, Michael Meyer, Mary Kay Thayer, and Thomas Waldecker. Chair Marjorie Kreps was not present, but participated by phone. The vote was 5-1, with Meyer being the only ‘no’ vote.

Before the vote was taken, Board member William Braunlich expressed his disappointment the faculty did not agree to switch to a PPO insurance similar to the Blue Cross/Blue Shield PPO insurance which the remaining employee groups have. He said the other employee groups were asked to assist the college in meeting future salary increases by decreasing health-care costs. MCCC currently pays the total cost of each full time employee’s healthcare premium. Braunlich said healthcare is a significant cost for the college.

“One significant way to decrease the healthcare costs is to move away from what has been termed the ‘gold-plated plan’ [MCCFA’s current in-surance plan] to the PPO, Preferred Provider Network in which the health

insurance companies charge sub-stantially less for those programs,” Braunlich, said. “It’s in that context in which I would like to say that it’s truly disappointing that the faculty did not agree to move into a PPO at an earlier date.”

The new contract allows for faculty members to select either the MESSA PPO or continue with the current MESSA Super Care I plan until 2009 at which time all faculty members will

move the PPO. Braunlich submitted that there was

a possibility the college’s revenues could decrease in the future, due to potential reduction in property values, This, he stated, could have an impact on MCCC’s future financial stability.

Faculty present at the meeting were pleased the Board approved the new contract but were not pleased with Braunlich’s remarks.

“I was very happy with the outcome. I think both sides worked hard for this agreement. I’m disappointed, though, that certain Board members used this as a ‘bully pulpit’ without opportunity for any rebuttal,” Dr. William McClo-skey, professor of English, said.

The contract gives the faculty a three percent salary increase which is the same increase the other employee groups received in their recent con-tracts.

March 1, 2007Vol. 49, Issue 6

College, university transfer fairWednesday, March 14 - 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

Thursday, March 15 - 3:00 - 7:30 p.m.

Drop by and talk to representatives from EMU, Findlay, Heidelberg, Lourdes, Siena Heights, Spring Arbor, UT, and

Mercy College

Learn about available majors, prerequisites, financial aid and scholarships, and distance learning opportunitiesEvent held at MCCC Whitman Center

7777 Lewis AvenueTemperance, MI 48182

Opinion, 2 & 3What does it mean to be

“straight edge?” One Agora reporter explains.

Marriage annullment initiative

promotes same-sex unions, equality

Campus News, 4 & 5MCCC’s radio station Dream

97.5

Several stu-dents will be studying over-seas this spring

Feature, 6 & 7Stuck in

Monroe on spring break? Look

inside for ideas to keep

occupied

Former MCCC student describes his experience as a soldier fighting in Iraq

Entertainment, 8 & 9Harry Potter’s all grown

up. Read more about Daniel Radcliffe’s latest

mature en-deavor

Filmmaker David Lynch’s mov-ies analyzed, explained

In the Mix, 10Foundation awards

Family Fun Night at MCCC

Spotlight, 11 & 12“Pick the professor”

The Agora staff melts in your mouth, not in your hand

Faculty contract ratified

Agora photo by Tonya Huffman

Board members and administrators going over the ratified faculty contract.

Michigan, Ohio Canadian studies on campusJeffrey KodyshReporter

MCCC will host the joint meeting of the Michigan and Ohio Canadian Roundtable groups at the La-Z-boy Center on Friday, March 23. The Roundtable is sponsored by the Cana-dian Studies Center at Bowling Green State University, the Canadian Studies Center at Michigan State University, MCCC, and the Canadian Consulate General in Detroit. These meetings will bring people from a wide variety of backgrounds and interests to talk about issues which affect both Canada and the United States. Many differ-ent issues, such as teaching Canadian studies, energy and environmental re-source issues, to historical issues such as the War of 1812, will be covered. Students, faculty, and the general community are invited to attend.

Why should students attend the roundtables? A better understanding of Canada’s issues and international

relationships is key to forming a strong North American continent. Ac-cording to Stuart Fike, assistant pro-fessor of geography, Americans tend to forget we are not the only nation on the North American continent.

“Canada tends to take a back seat to the United States” Fike said.

Fike believes we forget about our neighbor to the north and our vital re-lationships, be it economical, military, or cultural. For example, economical-ly, Canada is our number one trading partner. Militarily, Canada has helped the United States in the war on terror by putting soldiers on the ground in Afghanistan. Canada and the United States have the distinction of having the longest shared unfortified border in the world. Also, our cultures share a tremendous amount of history and heritage, such as both being colonies of the British.

“We [Canada and the United

States] can continue to grow and pros-per with strong relationships between our countries,” Fike, said.

These roundtables will help bring conversation and exchanging of ideas between our two countries.

MCCC is hosting the event this year because of our central location be-tween Ohio, Michigan, and Canada. Morning and evening sessions will take place at the La-Z-boy center. Dr. Bruce Way, dean of humanities and social science said.

“We have the facilities here and we are virtually a border institution.”

Some of the activities scheduled to take place include announcements, discussion of study in Canada oppor-tunities, grant support updates, and general mixing and mingling. Sarah Hubbard, vice president of public af-fairs at the Detroit Regional Cham-ber of Commerce, will present an informal discussion on travel security

between Canada and the US during the luncheon break. In the afternoon, transportation is planned for a visit to the River Rasin Battlefield Visitors Center, which will allow participants to see first hand and join in discussion about a piece of the War of 1812 histo-ry which took place here in Monroe.

“We are going to that site [River Ra-sin Battlefield Visitors Center] because of the opportunities for comparative studies regarding the War of 1812” Way said. Many MCCC students are interested in the event. “Yes, I think it [the Canadian Roundtable studies] is a good thing. It will help build a better relationship.” Josh Young, said.

Registration forms for the roundta-bles may be found at the college web-site, www.monroeccc.edu, in either a PDF or electronic format. The reg-istration deadline is March 16, 2007. There is no charge for the roundtables and light refreshments will be served in the morning.

Bethany YounglovePage Editor

Roses and candy, drinking green beer, and Santa Claus stuffing stock-ings are what many people associate with some of the holidays on our cal-endar. Yet, what was the purpose of setting aside February 14, March 17, and December 25? What began years ago as days to celebrate the men who had dedicated their lives to bettering their community, has now become a day to make out with your sweetie, get drunk, or see how many presents we can get. How many people even know the reason we celebrate these holidays? Most people don’t celebrate these days for the reason they were originally set aside.

Saint Valentine was a priest in Rome and with the help of St. Marius and his family, he aided those who were putting themselves in a position of persecution from the Roman emper-or, Claudius II. The emperor seized Valentine and made many promises to him if he would renounce his faith. When Valentine refused, he was pun-ished with beatings and ultimately be-headed. He died on February 14, the day we celebrate as Valentine’s Day.

Saint Patrick was captured at age 16

by Irish marauders and sold into slav-ery. His master made him a shepherd and he spent many hours in prayer while tending sheep. While in captiv-ity, he learned how to perfectly speak the language of the Irish, which would help him later in life. He also became familiar with the faith of Druidism, which the Irish people practiced. After serving his master for six years, he ran away to Britain. There, he dedicated himself to serving God in ministry. He became a student of St. Germain and was promoted to the priesthood. He assisted St. Germain battle pagan teachings in Britain and was com-mended to the Pope, who then sent Patrick to Ireland as a missionary. There, he performed many miracles, was divinely protected when attempts were made on his life, and converted many Irish people to the Catholic faith. Whenever Patrick was not working as a missionary, he would devote his time to prayer. Thus, we now celebrate, St. Patrick’s Day.

Saint Nicholas was born to a wealthy family in Turkey, raised a de-vout Christian, and was orphaned at a young age. He then sold everything he had to assist the needy, sick, and suffering. St. Nicholas is especially remembered for three specific deeds.

First, he gave money to three sisters as dowries in order for them to be married. He threw the money in their window and it landed in their stock-ings, which had been hanging by the fire to dry.

Second, while visiting an inn, he dreamt of a crime which had taken place recently in which the innkeeper had murdered three theological stu-dents and hid their remains in a large bucket. After this dream, he asked the innkeeper about it, prayed earnestly to God, and the three boys were raised from the dead.

The third deed took place while Nicholas was taking a sea voyage. The ship was struck by a fierce storm, which nearly wrecked the ship. Nich-olas prayed and the storm ceased. Many of the things Nicholas did were in secret and he did them without ex-pecting anything in return.

Holidays we commonly associate with love, beer, and stuffed stockings were originated to celebrate the life and works of these men whose only desire was to serve their world. These holidays are truly all about the selfless love these men gave to those around them. Each of us should seek to show such love to the people in their own life. No, not everyone needs to sell

their entire estate and give it to those around them or travel to foreign coun-tries in order to convert the inhabitants to a particular faith. However, we can all work to make the world around us a better place by doing simple things. Making a donation to local charity, becoming involved with an organiza-

tion such as “Big Brothers, Big Sis-ters,” or even baking some cookies for the old lady down the street are simple yet effective ways to show love to oth-ers. Guaranteed, these random acts of kinds will not only bless the receiver with love, but it will be an even bigger blessing to the giver.

Tonya HuffmanPhoto Editor

Not following directions equals get-ting lost. My dilemma consists of my car, my fiancée, and two free tickets to a movie theatre I’ve never been to, let alone seen, in the middle of Ann Ar-bor, Michigan.

Ann Arbor has many site-seeing op-portunities, but I really wasn’t in the mood to view all of them. Fate saw it differently. We mapped it out before we left: take 23 to 94 to Jackson Road, which seemed easy enough, right?

We merged onto 94 and it was the wrong way. I proceeded to get off at the next exit and change directions. The fiancée said we are to get off at exit 179 and we should be right there, well that would have been great ex-cept there wasn’t an exit 179. Great, we hadn’t even made it off the express way yet and we were already lost, but to my surprise this wasn’t even the worst of it, fore we had plenty more getting lost to do.

I assumed the next exit would be close enough and we could make it from there. It seemed like a great idea until we pulled out the map, which ev-idently wasn’t detailed enough for our little excursion, though we thought we could make do.

Somehow we went from State Street, which took us straight through the University of Michigan at 30 miles per hour, practically stopping at all 50 lights in the process. Street after street, we still didn’t know where we were, or, more importantly, where to go? We would make a left here, and a right there, and then this road would

turn into that road and all-in-all we were more lost than we were in the first place.

At that point in time, I was crying and yelling, “all I wanted to do was go to this movie because I thought it would be fun and it’s free and we have no money and now we aren’t go-ing to have a seat if we ever do make it there” and so on. He was yelling, “it’s all my fault, I should have printed out the directions, I am an idiot, I’m sorry…”

Finally, he yelled “turn left here, there’s a gas station and we will stop and ask for directions.” These may just be words to document down in history; a man is asking for directions, I’m quite sure this might have been a miracle.

Sure enough, the kind man at the station said: get back onto the express-way; it will lead you right to Jackson Road. So there we went again, merg-ing on the expressway. By the way, it was officially 7:00 p.m. If I forgot to mention this before, the movie started at 7:00 p.m., looks like we are late.

As we flew down the e-way I thought to myself, ‘great I’ve seen all of this before and look there’s State Street again.’ We were so lost again. But the fiancée says “lets just keep go-ing” and just as I was about to give up, sure enough, we come upon exit 172, Jackson Road. Nice

We made the movie, because it ac-tually began at 7:15. I guess I might want to invest in one of those “Tom, Tom” navigational things, instead of listening to the fiancée: “Chris, Chris.”

Marjorie HaliburdaCopy Editor

In a direct response to the 2006 State Supreme Court decision upholding the ban on same-sex marriage, advo-cates of same-sex marriage in Wash-ington are now gathering signatures to get a measure on the November ballot which would require heterosex-ual, married couples to have children within three years or else—“else” be-ing the annulment of their marriage.

The paperwork for the measure was submitted last month. Supporters must gather at least 224,800 valid sig-natures by July 6 to put the initiative on the next general election ballot.

The Washington Defense of Mar-riage Alliance formed last summer after the upholding of the same-sex marriage ban and Initiative 957 was filed.

If the Initiative is passed by Wash-ington voters, the phrase “who are capable of having children with one another” will be added to the legal def-inition of marriage, married couples in Washington will have to file proof of

procreation within three years of the date of marriage or have their mar-riage automatically annulled, couples married outside of the state will have to provide proof of procreation within three years of the date of marriage or have their marriage deemed “unrec-ognized”; and it will be considered a criminal act for people in an unrec-ognized marriage to receive marriage benefits.

Even though most supporters of this proposal are calling it “absurd,” they do feel it proves a point, exposing the hypocrisy of the social conservatives who say the sole purpose of marriage is to procreate.

If same-sex couples can be denied marriage because they are unable to have children together, heterosexual couples who are also unable (or un-willing) to have children after a given time period (in this case, three years) should be denied marriage, say sup-porters.

Although this measurement surely will not move past the clipboard, espe-cially with the overwhelming amount of animosity toward gay couples in

the United States, it does make an aw-fully bold statement—and a true one at that.

At the very least, the initiative is thought-provoking and opens up doors for debate. Hopefully, it will get to the bottom of the discrimination and hos-tility rooted in last year’s decision.

Opponents are holding firm to the idea that the measure is an attack on traditional marriage: between a man and woman.

Many people are okay with allow-ing homosexuals equal rights in jobs, housing, and equal protection of the law, but throw equal access to mar-riage into the mix, and it becomes quite obvious that homosexuals are still isolated from straight America. Let their existence be recognized, but just don’t let their love be recognized in the same way, right?

All supporters are saying is this: If conservatives are going to base their case against gay marriage on the fact that same sex-couples cannot have children together, why doesn’t this same argument extend to the straight population?

The Agora is published by the students of Monroe County Com-munity College, 1555 S. Raisin-ville Rd., Monroe, MI, 48161. The editorial office is located in 202 of the Life Sciences Bldg., (734) 384-4186. agora@monroeccc.edu.

Editorial policy: Unsigned edito-rials represent the majority opinion of the Agora staff. Signed columns represent the opinion of the writer. All letters to the editor must include a signature, address and phone number for verification purposes. The Agora reserves the right to edit

for clarity, accuracy, length and li-bel.

The Agora is a student-managed newspaper that supports a free stu-dent press and is a member of the Michigan Community College Press Association, the Michigan Collegiate Press Association, the Michigan Press Association, the Community College Journalism Association, College Media Advis-ers, Associated Collegiate Press and the Student Press Law Center.

Mark Bergmooser, Adviser

The Agora Editorial Policy

Troy WhiteReporter

If you want it, they got it. If you don’t want it, they will sell it. Plus, you determine what you want to pay or sell at. This is what eBay is all about.

eBay is an online auctioning site which was founded in 1995. This site is bringing people together on a national and international level of buying and selling of anything you can possibly imagine. In its mere be-ginnings in 1998 they had 8,000 items listed for auctioning; by 2006 it grew to 610 million.

This site is great for finding deals on almost anything you can dream of and is very easy to use. I have purchased sev-eral items from eBay due to the deals I am getting. Most people are scared of the fact there are possible scammers out there just waiting to steal your money. eBay has a system where you are covered, without charge, up

to a certain amount ($500 if obtaining

a PayPal account). Setting up an ac-count is very simple and they walk you right through each step. All you need is your credit or debit card num-ber and you are on your way to buying or selling whatever you wish.

Many people are using this auction-ing site to save them loads of money and because the site is effortless to use. Just search, bid, and wait to see if you can outbid other users while try-ing to achieve the best deal possible for the item.

“I like eBay for the fact it’s very safe, easy to use, and also I get better deals on the things I buy rather than purchasing them in the store,” Jake Gust, Monroe County Community College (MCCC) student and frequent eBay user, said.

eBay is a great site to use on almost anything you would like to purchase or sell. It is very safe and reliable, and Ebay will help you with any problems you have with your experience with them. So, join the 222 million regis-tered users to buy and/or sell 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

No kids, no marriage

Wrong turns = lost

2 AGORA Opinion March 1, 2007

Holiday celebrations of Saints

Many holidays have turned into something that they were not origionally in-tended to be.

Online buying, selling the eBay way

This is an example of an eBay screen.

March 1, 2007 Opinion AGORA 3

Media emphasizes style over substanceBrian ReadyAssistant Editor

We’ve all heard the story by now.Anna Nicole Smith, the former

model, reality TV show star, and wid-ower of J. Howard Marshall, died un-expectedly in Florida on February 8. The woman who was famous for be-ing famous, has now reached an even higher level of fame thanks to the con-stant attention the media has given the situation.

Not a news show goes by without the mentioning of the life Smith lived, or the baby girl she left behind. The public is constantly bombarded with tales of Smith and her strange relation-ship with Marshall, the 90-year-old oil tycoon who was worth an estimated 474 million dollars at the time of their marriage. Or, the media talks about her problems with weight, and drugs. Finally, a new soap opera developed, even better than ones played out on “All My Children,” when the media began to ask: who is Danielynn’s fa-ther? Is it Howard K. Stern, Zsa Zsa Gabor’s husband Prince Frederik von Anhalt, celebrity photographer Larry Birkhead, or her former bodyguard Alex Denk? There are even rumors that perhaps Marshall could be the baby’s father.

Perhaps an even better question than who Danielynn’s father is, may be, why would the public care? Why is it never enough to let someone sim-ply die? Do people not want to say goodbye to the star? Perhaps we enjoy watching this surreal plot unfold, and realize that even famous people live in a not so perfect world? Whatever the reason, the media will continue to feast on any new story that develops from this sorry tale.

In a way, this case reminds me of the aftermath of the death of baseball great Ted Williams. After his death, Williams’s kids battled over whether to cremate him or to freeze his body in a chamber and retain his remains for-ever. Now, he is remembered as much for his talent on the baseball diamond as he is for his frozen head. Ask your-self, is that how you would want to be remembered? Or would you rather be thought of as a doting parent, spouse, neighbor, sibling, worker, and citi-zen?

Unfortunately, because of the me-dia’s handling of the case, Smith will always be linked to her death as much as she was linked to anything she ac-complished in her life. Regardless what one thinks of her, or even if one questions why she is famous in the first place, no one deserves that type of exit

from life. Death, after all, should be a celebration of the life one has lived. What type of celebration has Smith re-ceived for the life she lived? Besides four men (and a dead one) fighting for

the right to her baby, of course. I say, its time to move on from this episode of “All My Children” and enjoy the present-day stars, while we remember the deceased fondly in our hearts.

The media brings the news to the public. In some instances, though, the infor-mation provided is unnecessary.

Internet car insuranceIs it the real deal or a real pain?

Sarah StraubPage Editor

Oh joy… another six months has gone by. Car insurance is due, yet again, and all I can think of is my payment is nearly a fifth of what my car is even worth. I am a full-time student and only a part-time worker. I do what I can to get by and I make just slightly more than nothing. Something has to give. Perhaps I will invest in a dazzlingly stylish bicycle.

Flipping through the channels on TV, I often see characters offering me help. Be it a pink-haired her-oine, a sarcastic gecko, or a couple of helping hands; lowered rates are offered to me at what seems like every commercial break.

But who should I believe? The pink-haired Esur-ance heroine who can offer me the convenience of never having to drive to an insurance office again? The Geico gecko? He says he will save me money, it is his job after all, and he claims to love it. Or the helping hands of Allstate which want to protect me and put me into those good ole hands? None of these advertising ploys really seem to stand out from each other, so I suppose it is now up to some simple searching.

By logging onto the Esurance site, putting in the make and model of my car and other basic infor-mation, I find my ‘98 Taurus can be covered semi-annually for $480. Geico offered similar coverage for $650. Allstate, under the same conditions was quoted at $760.

How I found such varied results was intriguing to me, but I think it is a no-brainer to say which com-pany I would choose. Quotes are likely to change from vehicle to vehicle, but judging by my own personal experiment and Esurance being $170-280 lower than other insurance companies commonly advertised on TV, I will say they do seem to be an inexpensive solution to car insurance.

The only problem I have with this company is that they conduct business solely online, by telephone or through the mail. While their offer of convenience sounds amazingly tempting I’m not sure whether they would do me good or not. Currently, my local insurance offers me a slightly higher rate than Esur-ance does, but makes up for it with a physical loca-tion. Sometimes I value the ability to roam into the insurance office with a few days left on my policy to pay on-site and avoid late fees. While it would be nice to, “Quote, Buy, Print” and do nothing more, you never know when the security of a physical lo-cation may come in handy.

If you are looking to save money on car insurance, I encourage you to set up your own rate-comparison experiment. Done online, it takes less than half an hour or so and is very simple. Perhaps you will find the perfect deal with little work on your part. On the other hand, maybe you will find the extra money you could save can be talked down due to the cost of your own peace of mind. You will never know unless you look into it.

Is Internet car insurance worth the risks?

Straight-edger faced with challenges,

temptations,choices

Josh KrausPage Editor

The life of a straight edger is hard at times. Life is full of choices and temp-tations. Just simply being straight edge does not make avoiding those tempta-tions easier.

What is straight edge you ask? Straight edge, or its abbreviation sXe, it’s a lifestyle choice to abstain from both alcohol and recreational drugs. Along with this, most straight edgers also stay away from promiscuous sex. It should be noted that straight edge is not a religion, it’s more like a self phi-losophy or a personal commitment, and above all else, it’s a choice. In this sense, no one is born a straight edge nor have they been a straight edge for their entire life.

Straight edge has close ties with hardcore punk music. In fact, it’s where it first got started. The idea for the straight edge lifestyle was invent-ed by band member Ian MacKaye of Minority Threat. MacKaye speaks out about living a drug and alcohol free lifestyle in the appropriately named song “Straight Edge.”

In the 80’s, when straight edge started to become more popular, edg-ers marked their hands with black X’s to let others know who they were and what they stood for.

You may be wondering why anyone would actually want to do something like this. Perhaps the idea of staying away from alcohol, recreational drug use, and sex seems absolutely insane to you or even worse it seems like a boring way to live. But think for a moment of the benefits of living such a life style, more specifically, physi-cal and mental health. Drugs affect the body in various ways such as brain damage, kidney and liver dam-age, even physical appearance. The dangers of alcohol are just as varied. Loss of brain cells, liver damage, even death if drinking is combined with driving. It’s pretty much assumed staying away from these toxins is, in fact, a healthier way to live.

Along with the health benefits, many straight edgers stay away from drugs, sex, and alcohol simply because they feel as if they don’t need it. They see these things as a crutch and as objects people become dependant on.

Personally, I have seen the affects of both drugs and alcohol destroy the lives of personal friends of mine and this is just an unnecessary waste of human life. I believe I can enjoy life without the added affects of both al-cohol and recreational drug use. I feel being straight edge helps me to fol-low my beliefs and not compromise my standards. It’s also comforting to know there are other straight edgers out there who believe the same way I do and they are there to give support.

Being a straight edge isn’t simply about staying away from drugs, alco-hol or sex, it’s about a personal choice and commitment for yourself. In the end, it’s still your choice.

To bite your tongue or not bite your tongueGary KnoxReporter

Controversy is defined as a pro-longed public dispute, debate, or con-tention; concerning a matter of opin-ion. Controversy can divide friends

and colleagues, or bring people to-gether, merely cause discord, or create change. So, how does someone walk the line between speaking out against injustice, regardless of public opinion, and merely pushing the envelope for the lone purpose of creating buzz?

To answer this question, consider a comparison of two individuals, both known to have ruffled the feath-ers of conventional society. First, Rosa Parks, who caused quite a stir on December 1, 1955, after refusing the request of bus driver James Blake that she relinquish her seat to a white man. Parks was arrested for civil dis-obedience, but her actions triggered the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which has gone down as one of the largest and most successful mass movements against racial segregation.

Yes, Parks was undoubtedly a con-troversial figure. Her actions went against social norms and challenged the thoughts and opinions of those around her. Was it worth the fight? What would have happened to the civil rights movement if she simply agreed to go to the back of the bus? Without Rosa Parks controversial act, would the world have been ready for the dream of Martin Luther King? Think about it.

As you continue to ponder, consider another controversial individual: Jerry Springer. Springer has made a name for himself by creating a talk show famous for pushing the limits of de-cency. Women beating up each other, men beating up each other, cousin lovin, and a man marrying a horse, these were all hijinks on display dur-

ing the famously controversial Jerry Springer Show. Now imagine the world without the Jerry Springer Show. What would be the fate of talk shows if Springer had not discovered that people beating up each other equals big ratings? Think about it.

In most cases Rosa Parks and Jerry Springer do not belong in the same sentence. The point of comparing the two however, is this: Controversy has its place. It belongs in places where the status quo is not good enough. It belongs in places where following the rules does society a disservice. Creat-ing controversy is only necessary if the message being preached will leave the world a better place. If it does not, then bite your tongue because the world does not need another Jerry Springer.

Radio students live the ‘Dream 97.5’Patrick DunnReporter

“The best music of the eighties and early nineties!”

It sounds like the slogan for a big radio station out of Detroit or Toledo, but it is actually the tagline of WYDM Dream 97.5, Monroe’s radio station. The WYDM facilities, located at Mon-roe High School (MHS), are operated by Monroe County Community Col-lege (MCCC) broadcasting instruc-tor Milward Beaudry. Although the station is licensed to Monroe Public Schools, MCCC has an agreement to assist in WYDM’s operation and pro-gramming. All WYDM disc jockeys are students at either MCCC or MHS.

WYDM acts as a hands-on facility for students enrolled in MCCC’s in-troduction to mass media course, as well as its various radio courses.

“The hands-on approach is critical to landing that first job in the indus-try,” Beaudry said, speaking from his twenty-three years of professional experience in broadcasting. Beaudry said all advanced radio students are required to spend two hours a week on air in the studio.

MCCC Advanced Radio student Josh Baltrip, 19, said working at WYDM has helped him in an intern-ship at Tower 98 and in his other com-munications studies. Baltrip said the favorite part of his Tuesday evening on-air shift is knowing people are out there listening.

According to Beaudry, WYDM is not only a teaching tool, but also “…the means to promote the community and provide a service of entertainment along with public service.” WYDM’s music library is comprised of about 1,300 songs from the eighties and ear-ly nineties. Beaudry said the format is chosen to appeal to women ages 25-54, but he has received feedback from both men and women.

“The music is a good mix which works well in an office or business,” Beaudry said. “During the evening hours and on weekends the format is more up tempo.”

WYDM recently added some jazz into its mix, partnering with John Pat-terson of the Monroe County Conven-tion & Tourism Bureau to create the “Jazz Up-Front” program, airing Sun-days at 9 p.m. The station also incor-porates public service announcements

and community information into its programming.

WYDM is also equipped to “take the show on the road” for remote broadcasts.

“Remotes are an excellent way to promote the station and the commu-nity,” Beaudry said.

Live broadcasts can be transmitted from a remote site to the MHS facility via a computer modem. An upcom-ing remote is MCCC’s Family Fun Night. Advanced radio students will also broadcast all week long from this summer’s Monroe County Fair.

Beaudry has big plans for WYDM’s future, continuing to develop its use in the MCCC broadcasting program and researching the possibility of increas-ing the station’s signal to cover all of Monroe County. Beaudry said he would also love to incorporate news and sports coverage into WYDM’s programming.

“Dream 97.5 is the only station li-censed to Monroe which provides local programming and community service,” Beaudry said. “I really feel there is a need to provide this type of service to our community.”

Inclement weather taken seriously

Brian ReadyAssistant Editor

College courses offered at Monroe County Community College (MCCC) are taken so one can further their edu-cational development, or prepare for their desired career.

Other courses offered at MCCC en-able one to learn about everyday life activities and further their knowledge about the world during this technology boom. The latter type of courses are offered as a part of the Lifelong Learn-ing Program available at MCCC. Stu-dents as well as many people around the community have taken advantage of this educational opportunity.

“I think it’s a good idea. Its help-ing a lot of people,” Nancy Lambrix, an MCCC graduate of 1982 who is currently enrolled in an intermediate Windows XP course, said.

The Lifelong Learning Program of-fers non-credit and non-degree classes that enhance educational opportunities for adults, in a wide range of fields. Classes are offered in: professional development, computer training, con-struction and real estate, industrial technology, medical skill training, personal interest, crafts and hobby, sports and recreation, and health and wellness.

“Our lifelong learning programs are designed for adult learners, so we try to form classes with their busy sched-ules in mind—on weekends, week-nights or one-day seminars…The process to register and join our classes is very simple and what most of our students find is that it’s a great way to meet people with similar interests or

a fun way to spend their free time,” Tina Pillarelli, the director of Lifelong Learning, said.

Pillarelli believes the classes are beneficial to students, in part, because of the instructors who teach the cours-es.

“Our instructors have a great deal of experience and/or education in their field and many have been with us for years. They are very dedicated to teaching for us and overall find the experience rewarding,” she said.

According to Pillarelli, there are over 3,000 students per year served in this program. One of those students is Walt Schwartz who, like Lambrix, is also taking the Intermediate Windows XP course.

“I’m an old guy and I’m just taking it to learn about computers,” Schwartz said.

“I think it’s a very good class. If you pay attention and take notes you can learn a lot from it.”

Lifelong Learning classes are of-fered during the morning, evening and weekend at the Main Campus, Whit-man Center, and online. Students may register for any of the classes via SMART, telephone, mail, fax, in person or on the internet. Schedules for the Lifelong Learning classes are available at various locations on campus, at Monroe County librar-ies, directly mailed to individuals on the program’s in-house mailing list, mailed to past Lifelong Learning stu-dents (who’ve taken classes within the past two years), and placed in the Monroe Evening News, the Bedford Now, and can be found at http://www.monroeccc.edu/ccs/LLSchedule/W07/index.htm.

Gary KnoxReporter

Safety is a high priority at Mon-roe County Community College (MCCC).

To ensure the safety of students traveling to and from school, Randy Daniels, vice president of student ser-vices, is given the difficult task of de-ciding weather to close MCCC due to unsafe weather conditions. According to Joe Verkennes, director of market-ing, to aid Daniels in his decision, pro-cedure 2.39 of the MCCC Policy and Procedure Manual is used as a guide-line. The policy states the following: “Inclement weather is defined as any weather conditions severe enough to threaten the safety of students and employees: for example, snow, ice, flooding rains, and tornadoes.”

To make this process more effec-tive, as well as gain feedback from

those affected by such decisions, Dan-iels takes the time to verbally seek in-put from students and employees. He also plans on sending out an e-mail asking for feedback, which he hopes will improve any decisions he must make regarding inclement weather in the future.

According to Daniels, the most difficult part of dealing with bad weather is trying to predict it. Certain steps are taken to ensure the MCCC grounds are accessible and safe for everyone. Jim Blumberg, director of physical plant, and his maintenance and grounds crews are responsible for carrying out these steps. In addition, a new “late start” option has been uti-lized at the college. The purpose of implementing a “late start” option is it allows more time to check roads and weather conditions. This gives the maintenance crew more time to clear sidewalks, driveways, and park-

ing lots. It also allows more time for weather conditions to improve.

For notification of college closings, an annual fan out system is published. Once it has been determined MCCC should be closed due to unsafe weath-er conditions, the fan out system is used to notify MCCC employees. Stu-dents and the general public are then notified through various media out-lets specified by the fan out system, including local television and radio stations.

In addition, students may call (734) 384-4223 for cancellation information or visit the MCCC official Web site at monroeccc.edu. and click the link en-titled, “College Closing Information,” which is found on the main page.

“I use the telephone number to find out about school closings. I am glad there is a way to find out if school is cancelled that is so convenient,” Em-ily Grummel, MCCC student, said.

4 AGORA Campus News March 1, 2007

Agora photo courtesy of Milward Beaudry

Radio students attend class at Monroe High School.

Agora photo by Nick Vanderpool

The harsh weather Monroe has experienced has caused icy roads and large snow drifts resulting in delays and cancel-lations of school.

Lifelong Learning offers educational experiences to all

Dr. David NixonMCCC President

In the last issue of the Agora, I re-ported that Monroe County Com-munity College’s Higher Learning Commission Re-accreditation Steer-ing Committee utilized data collected from every employee at MCCC to identify six initial areas of greatest opportunity at MCCC. Each area was assigned a subcommittee charged with formally defining the area based on that data.

The areas include:

Effective CommunicationEmployee PartnershipsVisioning/PlanningBudgetEmployee TrainingDecision-making

Due to space limitations, I provided you with the definitions of two of these

areas last issue – Effective Communi-cation and Visioning/Planning. In this issue, I will provide you with the defi-nition of Employee Partnership.

Employee Partnership means:

We all need to work together in a climate of mutual respect and engage-ment toward common, unifying goals and then head together in the same direction. The college’s success be-comes everyone’s success. The goals and direction need to be clear, so that everyone knows his or her individual

role and how he or she can work to-gether with others for the good of stu-dents and the institution. Successes at the college should be based on collec-tive “team” efforts, where people are able to express ideas, be listened to and have their ideas taken into con-sideration. “Partnership” involves everyone working together to make the college what it is today and what it will become in the future.

I encourage you to e-mail me your comments at dnixon@monroeccc.edu, or just stop by my office.

MCCC Re-accredidation update: Defining the Areas of Greatest Opportunity, Continued

Nick VanderpoolAssistant Photo Editor

Students interested in spending spring semester in Europe earning nine credits can still talk to Dr. Jo-anna Sabo to sign up for this year’s wait list. Students can also sign up in advance for the possible trip again in 2008 or 2009.

The Study Abroad program will be taking 32 students, three faculty mem-bers, and three chaperones to Europe for this spring semester. There, they will be taking three classes for nine academic credits, more credits than a normal spring semester gives. These classes are Art 155, Art Appreciation, taught by Gary Wilson, Humanities 151, Intro to Humanities, taught by Ann Orwin, and Political Science 211, Comparative Politics, taught by Joanna Sabo.

Orwin, who has been to Europe be-fore and teaches Intro to Humanities often, said this will make the class a completely different experience for students.

“When studying the Parthenon, in-stead of reading or looking at pictures, they will actually be standing there,” Orwin said.

Art Appreciation is a class that is already heavily visual and reliant on Wilson’s storytelling, but Wilson him-

self has never been to Europe. The big difference for his class is actually be-ing able to see the artwork he tells so many stories about.

Orwin also emphasizes there is no better growth experience than a dif-ferent culture. Students will be able to interpret everything better by taking what they learned in Europe and ap-plying it at home.

While the trip to Europe alone is enticing to students, Sabo emphasizes the other benefits this trip could have for history majors, art majors, future teachers, and any job where interna-tional exposure might help on their resumes.

“When I asked [students] infor-mally, most cited nine credits as the reason for going instead of the trip itself,” Sabo said. The program was also designed so classes would be transferable.

Students will start their semester by having some instruction on campus. These classes will be offered three nights a week from 6-10 p.m. for three weeks. There will also be some online instruction. The remaining three weeks of the semester will then be spent in Europe, where the group will be visiting London, Paris, Lu-cerne, and Italy, including Rome and Florence. The trip ends with a cruise through the Greek Isles. Stops will be made along the way at the Vatican and

the Louvre. The students are expected to leave around May 23 and return June 11.

Sabo stresses students will still be going to class throughout this time. Classes will be held in hotel lobbies and rooms, as well as on the busses.

Sabo explained that in order for a student to sign up to leave this year they must have the full down payment of $4,100 right away. This covers ev-erything except for the books required and any extra spending money. Stu-dents should do their own research on how much extra money to bring, but Sabo points out that in Europe things are more expensive. Students should still be able to get by on a relatively small amount of money.

To qualify to go on the trip a stu-dent must have two letters of recom-mendation from faculty and three from personal references. A good aca-demic standing and a full background check are also required. If a student is on academic probation or is found to have any kind of minor in possession charges or drug possession charges, then they are instantly unable to go. These charges can date as far back as high school. Drinking is also prohib-ited for the most part on the trip, as with any other kind of drug abuse. A student risks being sent back if this is found to be the case.

Students prepare to study overseas

Courtney SisungCopy Editor

Award-winning artist, Christopher Leeper, will be coming to Monroe County Community College (MCCC) on March 14 at 7:00 p.m. in room A-173. He will present a slide show on his watercolors and give a lecture on his life and his work. His work will also be displayed in the MCCC library from March 14 to April 6.

Leeper has won two gold medals from the Ohio Watercolor Society for his watercolors. He has also illus-trated many childrens’ books, such as “River Otter at Autumn Lane,” “Ema the Rhino,” and “Norman the Lion.” Recently, he wrote and published his own book, “Realism in Watermedia,” which teaches different styles of art-work to beginning artists.

“We’re really excited about having Chris come here,” Ted Vassar, assis-tant professor of art, said. “It’s always great to get a successful artist to come visit the school.”

Leeper is coming to MCCC as part of the visiting artist series.

“The visiting artist series at the col-lege is when artists come to the school, give a lecture, and display their work,” Vassar said. “We usually pick about

two artists a year to come. Then, after they come, the college buys a piece of the work and it is displayed on the campus.”

The visiting artist series, which is sponsored by the Campus Communi-ty Events, has been part of MCCC for over a decade. All art on the campus, except for a few done by the college’s art professors, has come from the vis-iting artist series. Most artists who present are local artists who live in the tri-state area.

“Most of the artists who come to the series are artists we have met,” Gary Wilson, assistant professor of art, said. “I have done street fairs for over 40 years and I have met a lot of artists. Ted [Vassar] does the exhibition cir-cuit and is deeply involved in the Ohio Watercolor Society. That’s how he met Chris [Leeper]. Plus, we know what kind of art we want to add to our col-lection and what artists will be good demonstrators for our students.”

Vassar says that many artists want to come to MCCC because of its good reputation. According to Vassar, art-ists who come to the college “pass the word to other artists.”

“Our school has a great collection and welcomes many artists,” Vassar said. “Many volunteer to come here

because they know their art will be ap-preciated here. A few years ago, when our artwork was audited by the gov-ernment, they said we had the finest original collection of art of any col-lege in Michigan. Artists want to be a part of that.”

Leeper will also be bringing copies of his book to be signed for visitors. His lecture will include a slide show, details about his life and early work, and how he developed into an artist.

According to Wilson, admission is free and open to the public.

“Anyone who wants to come is wel-come,” Vassar said. “Chris [Leeper] is a great artists and a great guy. He’ll have a very interesting presentation.”

However, even with the free admis-sion and the months of planning that go into each series, many students have no idea about the event. Todd Williams, an art students at MCCC, had no idea that the visiting artist se-ries even existed.

“I had no idea that artist visited the school, much less famous ones,” Williams said. “I mean, I’m kind of a hermit, but I think I should have heard about this. I would like to be more in-formed about these things, that way I can decide if I want to go see them.”

Watercolorist to present work to MCCC

Agora photo courtesy of www.christopherleeper.com

“Stream View” by Christopher Leeper, watercolor, 21 x 21.

Agora photo courtesy of Lisa Ghigliazza

Charlotte Ghigliazza was selected to attend the Grassroots Legislative Confer-ence and National Student Lobby Day which will take place in Washington D.C. from March 3 to March 6. All expenses for the conference are being paid for by a Scholarship award from the Unied States Student Association.

March 1, 2007 Campus News AGORA 5

Jeffrey KodyshReporter

Gasoline prices in Monroe County have continued their roller-coaster ride. Currently, prices are running about $2.40 a gallon, which is an in-crease of forty cents from this past December when gasoline prices were running right around the $2.00 a gal-lon mark. Prices of crude oil on the future markets, from which gasoline is derived, have remained volatile, running about $50 to $65 a barrel on future markets around the world. This volatility in crude oil prices, an increase in heating oil consumption, increased tension in the oil producing areas of the Middle East and Venezu-ela, and the burden of switching over to winter Environmental Protection Agency formulations of gasoline have all been factors in the increased cost of gasoline.

Monroe County Community Col-lege (MCCC) students have found numerous ways to fight back against the increased gasoline prices. Some students have decided to try to drive less.

“I try to limit my driving, just to school and work,” Chris Kinney, MCCC student said.

Others try to save on gasoline by

combing resources and improving maintenance. Still, others try to save on gas by driving smaller, more en-ergy efficient cars.

“I carpool and make sure my car is maintained” said Hannah Zolla-Schucart, MCCC student, said.

According to energy industry ana-lysts, there is more bad news for your wallet. The price of gasoline has most likely al-ready passed its lowest price for the year. Gasoline prices will be on the rise over the next few months, as demand in-creases for the spring and sum-mer driving seasons.

Brent Wood, employee at the BP service station in Temper-ance said, “I have a feel-ing that it rise a lot, may-be over $3.00 a gallon.”

No one knows if gas prices will reach over last’s year high of over $3.20 a gallon.

“I sure hope not, be-cause I will not be able to afford [my trips to] northern Michigan this next summer” said Josh Smith, a motorist at the BP gas station.

6 AGORA Feature March 1, 2007

Understanding the MisunderstoodSarah WillsPage Editor

People in Monroe seem to have skewed views on many of today’s most prevalent religions. Christianity is the United States’ most practiced re-ligion, (roughly 86.2% of the popula-tion) according to adherents.com. The majority of Monroe’s population is Christian so its doctrine is fairly well understood. However, it is astonish-ing how few people know about Is-lam or Buddhism, or rather, what they encompass as a belief system. Here is a list of the United States’ other practiced religions, philosophies, and spiritual paths. They are in alphabeti-cal order:

1. Agnosticism- (.7%) The word “Agnostic” is derived from Greek; “a” meaning “without” and “gnosis” meaning “knowledge.” The people who say they are agnostic are voicing they don’t necessarily refute the pres-ence of a universal omnipotent entity, but they don’t honestly know. If there is a God, metaphysics or an afterlife, it is currently unknown and perhaps

inherently unknowable.2. Atheism-(7.5%) Atheist can also

be broken down as “without the belief of god/gods.” Atheists do not believe in the presence of a universal being. Even so, atheists are not necessarily against spirituality. Atheists can be very spiritual, just without the need of a deity or deities.

3. Buddhism-(.5%) It was founded by Siddhartha Gautama who was the first to become Buddha. Buddha is a title which simply means “one who is awake” and refers to being aware of the suffering of the world. It is the fourth largest religion in the world and is founded on four noble truths: “There is suffering, there is cause for suffering, there is cessation for suf-fering, there is a path leading to the cessation of suffering.” The last truth speaks of the noble eight-fold path: “Right view, intention, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness and concentration.”

4. Hinduism-(.4%) It is the world’s oldest religion, with no known found-er and the oldest religious texts in the world, dating practically millennia be-

fore the Old Testament. Hindu is seen as being henotheistic or believing in a triad which combines to make one ultimate being called Brahman, these being Brahma, the creator, Vishnu (Krishna), the preserver, and Shiva, the destroyer. Hindus believe in Kar-ma; one’s good or bad deeds deter-mine one’s fates. They also believe in reincarnation. According to religious-tolerance.org, Hindus are normally very tolerant of other religions. They have a saying, “The truth is One, but different Sages call it by different names.”

5. Islam-(.5%) The word “Islam” derives from the Arabic word for “peace.” It is a monotheistic belief in Allah and it recognizes great prophets such as Moses, Abraham, Jesus, and Mohammed, although Muslims do not believe God takes on corporeal form. They follow the Quran which was written and compiled by the prophet Mohammed. It is the only Quran which exists for them.

6. Judaism- (1.3%) People of the Jewish faith follow the Tanakh, which corresponds as the Old Testament for

Christians. A famous Jewish scholar in the medieval times wrote thirteen principles of faith. They have been generally accepted by Jews for cen-turies, however, liberal Jews today debate their relevance. These thirteen

principles are: “God exists, God is one and unique, God is incorporeal, God is eternal, Prayer is directed to God and no other, the words of the proph

See "Religion," page 10

Kristin BoothCopy Editor

The Monroe County Library System (MCLS) is teaming up with Monroe County Community College (MCCC) and the National

Endowment for the Arts to take part in the Big Read project. Doris Shel-don, the Summerfield-Petersburg branch community librarian, heard about the project last November.

“I heard about the project in No-vember 2006 through Margo Zieske and Judy Murray [co-chairpersons for the Book Group Subcommittee],” Sheldon said. “For MCLS to take part in the program, we all needed to facilitate a book discussion in each branch. I think partnering with the community and the schools has been a lot of fun. It has been good for the County. It is nice seeing

everyone doing the same thing at the same time,” she said.

Nancy Colpaert, the director of the library system, has been in full sup-

port and encouraged the entire staff to read the book and watch the movie. Sheldon has already read the novel.

“The book is science fiction. I am not a fan of science fiction, but once you get past that part of the book, I think, the community will enjoy it. It has a really good message to it,” Shel-don said.

Bernie Smith, public relations offi-cer, feels this book is an even better read now than when she read it back in high school.

“I reread the book and it was more powerful today than 30 years ago. I feel people in the community will read the book and see the parallels in today’s society,” Smith said.

Smith believes reading is especially important for children and young adults and feels this book is extremely important for people to read, especial-ly in today’s society.

“It is a good example of how cen-sorship goes on in the country. People should see the list of books that are banned from library shelves,” Smith

said.MCCC sophomore Jillian Stafford

feels the Big Read program sounds like a good idea and would possibly be interested in attending the library dis-cussions. She said she does not take many trips to the library, but would be interested in the program.

“I visit the library about once a month. I might be interested in doing the discussions which will be going on at the library, if it is a book I would like to discuss,” Stafford said.

The library system has been recent-ly advertising the program, by posting up flyers about the Big Read. They are planning on hanging up posters, hav-ing enough copies of the book for the community, wearing pins, talking to schools around the area to see what grades are actually going to be reading the novel, and developing a reader’s guide to help the discussions along.

“State Representative Kathy An-gerer has even created some of the posters for the program. Just getting the word out and getting everyone

into the library is a fantastic thought,” Sheldon said.

Stephanie Rubley, the youth service technician for both Petersburg and Ida branches, feels the program is a great way for the entire community to come together.

“I think it’s great everyone is com-ing together over a book. We are put-ting posters up all over town and we are having a book discussion for the Petersburg branch on April 20 at 1 p.m.” Rubley said. “I think the com-munity will enjoy the story. It’s very thought provoking.”

Rubley’s desire is to change the reading statistics in America. She has been reading to kindergartners for the past couple years to encourage them to read more.

“They may not remember me while I am reading the story to them, but when I go over to their schools on reading trips, they recognize me as the person from the library,” she said.

With a national survey saying See "Big Read," page 10

Libraries across county join in reading

Troy WhiteReporter

Spring Break is nearing and what is there to do? The only way to get down south where the “party” is at is to schedule your vacation months in ad-vance. It is coming down to the wire and there is nothing to do for break, what do you do? There are plenty of things you can entertain yourself with over your ten day break and not need to plan in advance. Here are a few suggestions:

1) Throw a party. If impossible to attend the parties down in Panama City or Cancun, then bring the party here. Everyone’s friends are home from college and if they are coming home for break, they usually no plans other than sitting at home.

2) Go snowboarding, skiing or sledding. Michigan has finally been hit pretty hard with the snow so take advantage of it. Hit the slopes to snowboard or ski for a day. Steve Uhl, Monroe County Community College (MCCC) student, said “I enjoy skiing and plan on going over spring break. I really hope I can get out west some-time soon and hit the slopes, that’s al-ways a good time.” If you don’t have

the gear, you can always rent it. If cash is a problem then stick to sledding.

3) Go on a road trip. Spring break is a break so make use of it. Do not wor-ry about school for a few days. Get a group of people together and go on a trip somewhere you have never been. The possibilities are endless.

4) Start a new hobby. If there is any-thing that sounds interesting but have never tried, due to the lack of time, start it now. Spring break is a week long and is just enough time to start those jobs, run the errands, or even be-gin something you never had time to do in the past. Jake Gust, MCCC stu-dent said “The break allows me time to help out around the farm and earn some extra cash.”

5) Take a trip to Canada. The drive is only about an hour and who wouldn’t want to go to the “big state” to the north? Just rent a room for the night and have the party there. Kevin Carroll, MCCC student, said “Canada is always a good time; you can drink legally and try your luck at the casino. I don’t know if it gets any better than that.” Remember, the legal drinking age in Canada is only nineteen. If that’s not of interest, then there is al-ways the casino.

Gas prices continue to seesaw Spring break alternatives

March 1, 2007 Feature AGORA 7Local soldier opens up about Iraq

Courtney SisungCopy Editor

Imagine a place where the sun is so hot and bright the eyes burn and the skin is scorched. Imagine the wind blowing so hard it whips across the body, leaving little red lines. Imagine a place which is so lonely and scary only an M4 semi-automatic rifle can keep a person alive.

“This is exactly the place I found myself in the last few months,” Gary Queen, an Army National Guard re-servist currently serving in Iraq and former Monroe County Community College (MCCC) student, said.

Queen, 22, has been in Iraq for three months and is currently home on a two week leave.

“I love being home with my friends and family, doing what I want to do,” Queen said, “but I really miss my squad. I worry about them while I’m away.”

Queen says he’s “constantly wor-ried, every minute of the day” as his comrades face the struggles of war without him. He prays no one is get-ting injured or killed as he waits for a call from his comrades everyday.

“When one of our own gets hurt or killed,” Queen said, “it is the worst feeling in the world. I do not know how to explain it. No one in my com-pany has been killed but there have been some major injuries. I can’t go into details on what happened, but the feeling afterwards is a mixture of anger, fear, and sorrow. You’re angry that one of your own got hurt and sad about it, too, but then the ‘what if’ questions start flowing. ‘What if that had been me?’ ‘What if they had died?’ We picture what happened and

try to come up with ideas on how to prevent it.”

Although Queen cannot go into de-tail about ambushes or attacks, he did give his opinion on having to fire his weapon.

“We never go out looking to shoot our weapons. However, when we’re forced to engage, it’s not about killing people, it’s about eliminating a threat to protect our brothers and sisters in the squad.”

Despite the dangers and worries of war, Queen says he has made friend-ships which will last a lifetime. He also says the Iraqi children make what he is doing feel right.

“The children in Iraq are so sweet, but helpless,” Queen says. “One girl, who limps because a roadside bomb hurt her leg, once came up to me with her school work. She was so proud of it that she showed every page to me. When I gave her a pen so she could actually write in the book, her eyes lit up, and she ran to her mom to show her. I never felt so happy and all I did was give a pen to a child who couldn’t afford one. The children make it all worth it.”

However, as much as he loves his comrades, Queen is enjoying spend-ing time with his family.

“I missed them so much,” Queen said. “I want to spend every waking moment with them until I go back.”

Michael Kohlman, a former MCCC student and Queen’s cousin, is also a member of the Army National Guard.

“Although I haven’t been to Iraq yet,” Kohlman said, “I may be deploy-ing there at the end of the year. But I’m not worried about going there. I can see the pride in my cousin’s

eyes and I figure it can’t be too bad. I think I would like having that sense of pride.”

“Mike is my best friend.” Queen said. “We signed up for the Army together over a year ago. Although I didn’t expect us to go to Iraq separate-ly, I know he’ll be fine when he does go there.”

In two weeks, Queen will return to Iraq to finish his one year deploy-

ment. “I’m not that nervous about going

back,” Queen said. “It’s not like when I first left. This time, I know what I’m going into and what it’s like over there. Besides, it is weird being here. I worry about my comrades, knowing that I can’t help them. I want to go back and fight along side them, even though it makes me homesick.”

Queen says the Army is the best ac-

complishment of his life. He would sign up again and go to Iraq again “in a heartbeat” if it was with the right person.

“Yeah, I’m glad to be going back,” Queen said. “But, I’ll miss my friends and family very much. And although I usually hate Michigan weather and the snow, I think I’m going to miss those, too. Did you know that it gets up to 130° F in the summer in Iraq?”

Steven SonorasCopy Editor

Money and time: these are two things nearly all college students are lacking. Monroe County Community College (MCCC) may have a solu-tion: the Instructional Video Network (IVN) Distance Learning Program. Students are now able to take classes which are available in the distance learning center at the Monroe County Intermediate School District (ISD) from one of several remote locations at most Monroe County high schools. Since students have the opportunity to take certain classes closer to their homes, they can cut down on commut-ing, helping them to reduce spending

time and money driving to campus. But students and teachers are find-ing some problems with the program. Could these complications outweigh the program’s benefits?

Students are finding themselves distracted by the unusual layout of IVN classes, which includes several televisions, cameras and microphones set up around the room to allow stu-dents to interact with students located at remote locations. This interaction is often key to communicating ideas in the classroom, but some students find the technology to be distracting. Kyle Miller, a student in Vinnie Mal-tese’s math explorations course, said, “It’s irritating that you have to choose to look at either the professor or the

screen and not both. The fact that you can see the other class [on the televi-sion screen] is harmful. There’s only one student at the remote location and it’s a distraction. I can’t imagine if there were a dozen or more.”

For teachers, the cameras in the room are both a blessing and a bur-den. They replace the traditional dry-erase board and allow them to broadcast demonstrations and infor-mation from the Internet on the class television monitors. Using cameras to transmit ideas to students at remote lo-cations can spell trouble, though. Vin-nie Maltese, dean of the science and mathematics department, will have to find new ways to communicate some ideas.

“I have used a large globe in the past to demonstrate how the distance between two points is not necessar-ily a straight line,” he said. “I will not be able to do this in the IVN setting and will have to find a way, probably through the use of the available tech-nology to demonstrate this.”

Despite the minor problems the dis-tance learning environment causes, the program appears to have immense possibilities. The equipment allows for students all over the county to take the same class without travel-ing more than a couple of miles away from home. The program also allows for the enrollment of more students than can fit in one single classroom because of availability of the remote

locations. If 25 students were to take a class at Jefferson High School, an-other 25 at Monroe High, 25 more at Summerfield High, also 25 at the ISD, 100 students could take the same class. This provides a great opportu-nity for students who are required to take a course that is being offered in the distance-learning program, be-cause without the program, the class would fill up much faster.

Maltese predicts that with improved technology, the minor downfalls of the distance learning technique will be reduced to a minimum, and the possibilities for the program will be limitless.

Distance learning program: profitable or detrimental?

Kristin BoothCopy Editor

Before the Nintendo Wii, the mov-ies, the Internet, the radio, the televi-sion, the telephone, or the iPod, there was an extremely relaxing past time: reading. Reading has been around for thousands of years. It is easy to become a book addict and books are readily available to anyone who de-sires a real inexpensive adventure. Reading allows people of any age to experience a thrilling adventure, a sassy romance, take a trip into outer space, go back into history, or expe-rience a terrifying mystery. Yet, over the past couple decades has America as a whole lost its desire to read?

According to a recent survey con-ducted by the National Endowment for the Arts, less than 50 percent of Americans read literature of any kind. With numbers for reading literature so

low, what do reading enthusiasts think about it?

Monroe County Community Col-lege (MCCC) sophomore Karley Stanton, who is an avid reader, was not shocked by the news. She be-lieves technology is one of the factors responsible for the decline in reading.

“I am not really surprised. In a world with so much technology, chil-dren miss out and do not use their imaginations like in the past. I think it’s very sad because people who don’t read are losing out on so many things,” Stanton said. “I love reading because it is a stress-reliever. It is a way for me to unwind after a long day and lose myself,” she said.

Lori Jo Couch, professor of English, loves to read and desires to incorpo-rate good reading material throughout her courses in the hope it will allow students to enjoy their work through-out the semester.

“I try to choose reading assign-ments students will enjoy, but it is often difficult. In a class of 25 stu-dents, for example, each student has his/her own preferences. Then, it is up to each student to decide how he or she approaches the work. If a stu-dent is determined to learn and grow, every assignment becomes part of the process,” Couch said. “In addition, I find the works I am most excited about, my class will grow to like also. I think enthusiasm for reading can be contagious,” she said.

There are many benefits for those who love to read. People will broaden their vocabularies, use their imagina-tions in ways video games do not al-low them to, stimulate their brain, and learn important information.

“Reading benefited me as a person by broadening my vocabulary and stimulating my imagination. It is very special to me and I love sharing it with

others. Being a good reading model is a goal that I have for my life,” Stanton said.

MCCC sophomore Amber Morris, doesn’t read as much as she should and feels America should take these numbers to heart and start reading.

“I didn’t know there were so few who read. I think it’s sad. I also think people, including myself, should read more. I know reading used to be the main source of entertainment. It helps with literacy. I think these numbers explain why test scores are so low in America,” Morris said.

There are many different genres out there for the reading enthusiast. They range from contemporary realistic fic-tion, romance, science fiction, mys-tery, historical fiction, biographies, and more. It doesn’t take long for a person to become an avid reader.

MCCC freshman Jeremiah Werstein

also reads for pleasure and feels read-ing is important in defining America as a culture.

“Reading is the basis of our culture. Anything of substance we know about ancient cultures is garnered from their writing, if they had any. If you want to get ahead in the world today, be-ing able to read and being literate are a must. Everything in our culture revolves around being able to read. Even the Internet with all its video streaming capabilities still requires a great deal of reading. Besides, you’ll never know what you’ll learn when you pick up a book,” he said.

In a world saturated by so many technological advancements, curling up in a cozy chair and picking up a good book to read is always relaxing. It allows human beings throughout the world to go on adventures with-out leaving the comfort of their own homes.

Pleasure reading a thing of the past?

Agora photo courtesy of Gary Queen

Former MCCC student Gary Queen serves in the Army.

Charlene HuntReporter

He is recognized by millions as “The Boy Who Lived,” but will Daniel Rad-cliffe’s reputation survive the storm of criticism following his controversial role in the Tony award-winning play Equus? Radcliffe, who plays Harry Potter in the series of Harry Potter (HP) films, is battling with more than wizard’s chess this season.

Radcliffe has starred in five Harry Potter films so far, with the fifth to be released this summer, but he has never starred in a professional stage produc-tion before. Critics and Radcliffe’s spokesmen have been arguing this was Radcliffe’s attempt to “be seen as someone other than Harry Pot-ter.” With the last installment of the HP books coming out this summer as well, an aspiring actor like Radcliffe

would need to take his profession a bit more seriously in order to have a career outside of the wizarding world.

Determined not to fall into the list of lost child actors such as Gary Cole-man and Macaulay Culkin, Radcliffe is diversifying his talents to include numerous films and plays at one time.

The seventeen-year-old Radcliffe told the Times Online, “Better sooner than later. To some people, I will only ever be Harry. I know that, I don’t fight it. I don’t want to distance myself from him. I’m proud of that work. But I do want to show them I am not Harry Potter. I am an actor.”

Equus revolves around young stable-hand Alan Strang, played by Radcliffe, and his not-so-innocent obsession with horses. Equus teeters on the delicate topics of psychology, religion, and social norms. Horseshoe spikes periodically blind horses, and the boy, mentally unstable and dam-aged, undergoes a series of psychiatric evaluations. Strang is portrayed stark naked in the closing scene and partial-ly nude for other portions, even with his girlfriend, whom in this produc-tion is played by Joanna Cristie. On February 1, racy photos of Radcliffe and Cristie lit magazine stands on fire to promote Equus’ release and pro-duction. The play has won countless awards in the past and, despite contro-versy and gossip, tickets for the shows have often sold out. However, the pic-tures have people in many countries speaking out about the sudden change

to the HP image.“We had never seen him with his

clothes off before. We all went ‘wow’. […] He has a confidence in his own appearance. With the performances

that I’ve witnessed, when that boy takes his shirt off, Harry Potter has flown out of Hogwarts for good,” pro-ducer of Equus, David Pugh, said.

However shocked the world seems

by Radcliffe’s nudity, critics see it as “artistic expression” and “mature de-cision making.”

8 AGORA A&E March 1, 2007

Harry Potter grows up, tones up

Agora photos courtesy of Equus.com

Daniel Radcliffe as Alan Strang in Equus. (left) Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter.

see “Potter,” page 10

Steve SonorasCopy Editor

Winter is a time normally associ-ated with cold weather, shivering, staying at home in seclusion on the weekends, and utter unhappiness for most people.

Musically, winter is seen as a time for dirges, gothic ballads, and annoy-ing Christmas carols. Robert Schneider and his Apples in Stereo have created the anecdote to this unfortunate sea-son. The band’s latest release, New Magnetic Wonder, is packed with sun-ny pop tunes and warm, soothing mel-odies which will help get your mind off the blizzard-like weather outside. However, despite overall catchiness, the album lacks consistency.

New Magnetic Wonder, the first re-lease on actor and part-time Hobbit Elijah Wood’s Simian label, marks a sloppy return for The Apples. This comes as no shock, since they ap-peared to be losing their touch at the time their last record was released five years ago.

The record makes a cringe-inducing start with “Can You Feel It?” The tune is a repetitious bash on the hypocrisy of FM radio, but ironically, the song itself features more pop hooks than lyrics, making it just as mind-numb-

ing as anything else on the radio. Schneider redeems himself im-

mediately by the second track, Sky-way. The song is the first in a series of cleverly instrumented power-pop tunes which would make Ric Ocasek proud. While the lyrical content of Schneider’s songs is often uninspired, he makes up for it with the passion in his delivery. His band, made up of several members of the Elephant 6 label collective, provide a perfect, seamless backing for Schneider’s pop vocals and guitar.

The album on a whole is a bit mud-dled. The 24 tracks on the disc are at once intimidating, but only 12 of the songs are actually over three minutes. The other half are unnecessary, irritat-ing instrumentals.

These minor set-backs don’t get in the way of the stronger material on the album. The band weaves in and out of emotionally charged rock and slick, upbeat pop tunes. They also merge different sonic styles to show off their range of abilities. The most powerful song on New Magnetic Wonder, “7 Stars,” finds The Apples sounding like Eno-produced U2, and the album’s current single, “Energy,” should have even the shyest listener singing along to its irresistible melody.

Apples In Stereo discover

‘New Magnetic Wonder’

Have something on your mind?

The Agora encourages and welcomes letters to the editor.

Feel free to drop by our office (L-202), stick one in our mailbox, or drop us an

e-mail at agora@monroeccc.edu

Chris SlatCopy Editor

The first River Raisin Ice Harvest Festival took place in downtown Monroe on February 23 and 24. The focus of the festival was on ice carvings, produced by professional ice sculptors who gave live demonstrations. The carvings included depictions of area business logos, animals, and local landmarks like the Custer statue. They were displayed around downtown Monroe and in front of the Loranger Square pavilion. The nearby Dorsch library, currently under renovation, opened its doors for the occasion and offered free hot chocolate and coffee, as well as craft tables.

Monroe County Community College currently offers an ice-carving course, but was not represented in the festi-val, although Monroe County Convention and Tourism Bureau Director John Patterson expressed interest in getting more college involvement next year.

River Raisin Ice Harvest Festival

Nick VanderpoolAssistant Photo Editor

David Lynch deserves some respect. No one can quite get into the human mind the way he can. Lynch has a way of twisting and bending his characters close to the breaking point and wit-nessing that, “snap from the inside,” is the most horrible feeling expressed by an actor or actress on screen, a feeling the viewer shares as well.

Lynch’s films are undeniably hor-rifying, yet, they are not horror films. His films express true human feelings on backdrops which seem so bizarre. The characters’ lives almost appear to shatter and reassemble physically on screen. There is never a useless scene, if something is shown, Lynch wants you to see it.

His films have been considered dif-ficult to understand, and rightfully so. In order to understand Lynch’s newest three hour film, INLAND EMPIRE, the following three films should be seen before the movie’s release.

1. Mulholland Dr. Lynch’s modern masterpiece, Mulholland Dr. is a love story, a psychological thriller, and a luring tale about corrupt success por-trayed in Lynch’s non-linear (non-se-quential) fashion. While it’s definitely a Lynch film, it’s the easiest of his films to comprehend.

The movie revolves around actresses Naomi Watts and Laura Elena Harring, who both play women tangled in an affair, plagued by inconceivable events which all, somehow, lead to the mysterious Mul-holland Drive that circles around the “Hollywood” sign. In their chance meeting, by way of a car accident, the two become a larger part of each other’s lives. Eventually, like every-thing good portrayed in a Lynch film, their relationship does not last.

Without a doubt it is a movie which is best seen twice, with a very open mind. Many of Lynch’s critics com-plain there’s really no story or point in Mulholland Dr. However, there is and it’s far truer than one force fed to us through an immediately gratifying tale. Mulholland Dr. is a surreal adventure into the human psyche and despite its difficult presen-tation and somewhat disjointed scene transitions, it is the perfect Lynch movie to start with.

2. Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me. For most people who don’t even know who Lynch is, Twin Peaks, the television series, was his most memorable work. The prequel film, however, received less praise. The critics universally berated it and by the fans of the Twin Peaks series, it was out rightly disregarded.

The film, Twin Peaks, was a prequel to the television series. The TV show chronicled Agent Dale Cooper’s (Kyle MacLachlan) time spent in the small town of Twin Peaks, attempting to discover who murdered the high school prom queen Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee). The movie, on the other hand, recounts the last seven days of Laura Palmer’s life.

Sheryl Lee’s performance in the movie is outstanding. Lee’s character, Laura, is a young girl who has been raped since she was 12. As a result, she tries to subdue the pain of continuously being abused, by seeking solace in drugs and selling her body. Although this is difficult to watch, the film gets harder to stomach as she begins to snap and starts to realize what has really been going on.

Without having seen an episode of the series, the movie is still comprehensible enough to feel for the character of Laura Palmer. Lynch somehow captures the torment in liv-ing the double life of a young girl who means well, but has to crawl through life under a heavy weight. While the surreal elements of the film are the most bizarre of any ofhis other works, it’s sufficiently grounded in reality for the viewer to connect with the film enough to want to do something about the world around us.

3. Eraserhead. It is redundant to call a Lynch film weird, but undeniably Eraserhead may very well be the weirdest of the bunch. Released in 1977, Eraserhead was his first film and, quite possibly, his most important work. However, it was also his most difficult to understand. The film is broken up by extremely odd dream sequences and the dialogue is about as present as it was in Tom Hank’s Cast Away.

The film is a black and white endeavor set in one of Lynch’s oddest fantasy worlds. The music, following the pattern of weirdness, is limited to industrial hums in the background.

The world of Eraserhead is filled with many abandoned factories. Its dissonant industrial sounds help to create the perfect atmosphere in which to tell the disheartening tale of Henry Spencer (Jack Nance). Henry is a lone-ly young man with a sort of “Kramer” hairdo who unexpectedly becomes a father. The baby is born with an ex-treme birth defect; I mean it is one of the scariest props ever filmed. To this day, Lynch will not say how the baby was made, it’s that bizarre.

Eraserhead, is about the atmosphere and the sympathy for poor Henry, a normal man stuck in an abnormal world. Any prospective parents can relate, as the seeds for the film came from Lynch’s first child and his fear of parenting. The setting perfectly exem-plifies the desolate feeling in being a single parent, bringing a child into a cruel world, especially one the parent does not even understand themselves.

Lynch is often thought to dwell only in worlds other than our own, far off places in his head the average person could never reach. What he really por-trays is the most real, satisfying, and abnormal feelings humans experi-ence. These feelings are just contorted through kaleidoscopes, lenses with which Lynch views his world, show-ing even in the darkest corner there’s something amongst the shadows.

In Lynch’s new film, Inland Empire, this is no different. The story, which he describes as being about a woman in trouble, captures Laura Dern as just that, an actress in a cursed film which slowly becomes her life. Critics have called it difficult, again claiming the film is nothing more than a 3 hour drug induced trip with no purpose. However, if it’s anything like these three films, that could be a very good thing.

March 1, 2007 A&E AGORA 9

Chris SlatCopy Editor

The 79th Annual Academy Awards ceremony was held and telecast on February 25, drawing attention from film fans and followers worldwide. Since 1929, the Oscars have suppos-edly honored the highest cinematic achievements. But is that what they really do? It seems the majority of people at Monroe County Community College (MCCC) do not think so.

“It’s not about what the best mov-ie is,” said MCCC student Cary St. Charles, 33, who has very little inter-est in Oscar night. “It’s more about political statements and sociological statements.”

Historically, there has been contro-versy surrounding the films that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences commends.

Particularly, the most coveted award, the award for Best Picture, has often been given to films that some believe are unworthy or have not stood the test of time. For example, Citizen Kane, the film the American Film Institute (AFI) called the great-est movie of the 20th century, lost the Best Picture award in 1941. The win-ner was a film called How Green Was My Valley, which few people today have even heard of.

“There are some really good mov-ies which don’t get as much attention as they should,” said student Veronica Terry, 23, who believes that the Acad-emy Awards focuses too much on “high-budget” and “A-list actors.”

Still, sometimes even great film-makers have been overlooked. Alfred Hitchcock, recognized as one of the greatest directors ever, responsible for classic films like Psycho, North by Northwest, and Rear Window, was

nominated for the Best Director Oscar six times and lost every time. Is there more to the Oscars than honoring great films?

Monroe County Community Col-lege (MCCC) faculty member Lori Jo Couch said she has only a casual inter-est in the Academy Awards, but sees both sides of the argument.

“I do think you have to be talented to win an Academy Award,” Couch said, “but they’re also voted on by [the nominees’] peers, so I’m sure there are some politics involved.”

MCCC student Jay Melich, 19, doubts the integrity of the Academy Awards and says they do not affect what he thinks of movies or which ones he sees.

“It’s not a way of rewarding quality movie-making,” Melich said. “It’s a way of getting people to see movies.” Generating early buzz about potential Oscar nominations is a tool “if you

want to sell a lot of tickets in the first week,” Melich said. He also added many great movies, particularly com-edies such as Office Space, receive no Oscar recognition even though they are well received by much of the pub-lic.

Faculty member Timothy Dillon, a movie buff, believes the awards cere-mony has its benefits, although he ad-mits that some politics are involved.

“I think it exposes good movies to people who don’t know of them,” Dillon said. “And I like that filmmak-ers are awarded for their accomplish-ments.”

Whether the Academy Awards truly honor the best film achievements, or if the decisions are solely political, one thing is for sure: the annual event will continue to hold the attention of movie fans and the media for years to come.

Academy Award politics

Filmmaker David LynchDebunking the “trip”

Go Ask OgreLetters from a deathrock cutterSarah StraubPage Editor

Many people write letters to musi-cians, actors and the like, hoping for, but not expecting any correspondence back. Writing to someone you do not know, who you feel has changed your life considerably through their art can be oddly therapeutic. It is often easi-er to pour out your soul into a letter meant for a perfect stranger than it is to your best friend. You listen to their music, watch their movies, or read their books and feel they are speaking to you; that they, in some way, knew exactly how you were feeling and created this piece with you in mind. Granted, these people have never met you, but through their thoughts and work, they make you realize that you are not alone in the world. Go Ask Ogre is the story of just that.

The book chronicles the life of author and former Toledo resident Jolene Siana between the ages of 17 to 20 through personal journal entries and correspondence with her famous pen-pal, Skinny Puppy band-mem-ber, Nivek Ogre (Kevin Oglivie). By responding to Siana’s letters, Ogre helped her through the war of life and took part in the realization that it truly is worth living. She wrote letters, sent personal artwork, and let her emotions flow out like wine, unaware, at first, of the rewarding relationship that would follow. She wrote to a man she had never met, but considered one of her favorite rock stars and reached out for a friend in someone she hardly knew.

As time went on, she would meet up with Ogre at shows, where he was the understanding friend she so desper-ately needed at some particular point in her life.

This is not the sob story of a depressed teenager. Nor is it the story of an obsessed fan meeting her rock and roll idol. It is not a story at all. It is a book about life, writ-ten as such. By sharing these letters with her readers, Siana gives hope to those who may feel there is none. She tells the story of an illness not many talk about and gives a voice to a group of people who, un-til recently, did not have one. Years ago, not many knew what a cutter was, or what the illness was about. Today, however, through people speaking-out about their experiences, and writing book such as this one, the world is beginning to gain understanding as to why people do these things to themselves.

Unbeknownst to Siana, Ogre had managed to keep all of the letters she had written to him over the years and returned them to her in 2002.

“Revisiting the letters has been a gift in many ways. I observed patterns in my behaviors and my relation-ships that have helped me to become more self-aware,” Siana wrote. “I’m thankful I had writing and draw-ing as an outlet during my darkest times. I am certain that when I was feeling suicidal, expressing my feel-ings on paper and looking forward to seemingly small things, such as seeing my favorite bands perform, literally kept me alive.”

Agora photo by Sarah Straub

Agora photo courtesy of Wire Image

Agora photo courtesy of BBC

10 AGORA In the Mix March 1, 2007

Congratulations Winter 2007 MCCC Foundation Award RecipientsField Trip of “BodyWorks” Exhibit in Detroit: A Visceral Experience for Anatomy Students to Dr. Chris Boudrie, adjunct instructor of anatomy and physiology, for an award of $2,140.

Fall National College Media Convention, Washington, D.C., to Mark Bergmooser, assistant professor of speech, journalism and tae kwon do, for an award of $2,100.

MASS Trip to Toronto, Ontario, to Lori Bean, associate professor biology/chemistry, for an award of $2,100.

The Humanities Experience, to Ann Orwin, assistant professor of English, education and journalism, for an award of $2,100.

Tour of International Machine Tool and Automation Show by Technology Students at MCCC, to Bob Leonard, instructor of manufacturing technology, and Tom Harrill, assistant professor of electronics and computer technology, award $2,100.

MCCC Semester Abroad: Europe 2007, to Dr. Joanna Sabo, professor of political science, and Lauren Van Houten, a sophomore at MCCC majoring in pre-speech/language pathology, for an award of $2,100.

Respiratory Therapy Sophomore Team to Compete in the Michigan Society for Respiratory Care Sputum Bowl, to Bonnie Boggs, director of respiratory therapy, award $2,060.

MCCC College/Community Band Augmentation, to Mark Felder, director of the College/Community Symphony Band, for an award of $1,500.

The Big Read Monroe Film Festival, to Dr. Terry Telfer, professor of English, and Beth Kohler, coordinator of alumni and resource development, for an award of $1,200. Project REACT 4, to Dr. Cindy Riedel, coordinator of the Learning Assistance Lab, for an award of $1,000.

Holocaust Memorial Center Visit, to Dr. Terri Kovach, professor, reference/technical services librarian, for an award of $750.

Digital Camera Lens, to Mark Bergmooser, assistant professor of speech, journalism and tae kwon do, for an award of $350.

Lunch and Learn at the Whitman Center, to Sandy Kosmyna, director of Whitman Center, for an award of $500.

Aquarius (20 January-19 February) – This is the dawning of the age of Aquarius. Postpone all drug-induced trips until after the 12th. Your lucky numbers are: 4561, 23, and 2,000,000.

Pisces (20 February-20 March) – Put on your nose guard, put on the lifeguard, pass the tanning butter. Your lucky numbers are: 59, -713, 1.

Aries (21 March-20 April) – We don’t have a song lyric for you. Sorry. Your lucky numbers are: 0, -0, 2/3

Taurus (21 April-21 May) – Your bologna has a first name, it’s O-S-C-A-R. Your bologna has a second name, it’s M-A-Y-E-R. Your lucky numbers are: 86, 32, 11.

Gemini (22 May-22 June) – Feelin’ down and dirty, feelin’ kinda mean. You’ve been from one to another extreme.Your lucky numbers are: 66, 99, 44.

Cancer (23 June-23 July) – When you start to scream, that’s when you’ll buy the cream. Your lucky numbers are: 56, 937, 257,411.

Leo (24 July-23 August) – Rising up to the challenge of our rival and the last known survivor stalks his prey in the night. Your lucky numbers are: 3333, 6, 862,547.

Virgo (24 August-23 September) – You made it through the wilder-ness; you know, you made it through. Your lucky numbers are: 69, 69, 69.

Libra (24 September-23 October) – Boy, you’re going to carry that wait, carry that weight a long time. Your lucky numbers are: 458, 7, 12.

Scorpio (24 October-22 November) – Sting you to your rotten bones. Your lucky numbers are: 454/812, 9, 666.

Sagittarius (23 November-22 December) – Cupid got you in a chokehold. Your lucky numbers: 420, 3, 85.

Capricorn (23 December-19 January) – High on a hill was a lonely goatherd. Lay ee odl lay ee odl lay hee hoo. Your lucky numbers are: 5, 65,468, -14.

Agorascopes

From “Potter,” page 8Parents are arguing Radcliffe is no

longer a suitable role model for their children and some HP enthusiasts are growling that he has single-handedly destroyed the entire HP franchise. De-stroyed the franchise?

In 1999, a barely 17-year-old Thora Birch bared her breasts in the film American Beauty and underwent the same ridicule and stigma, though to a lesser extent. American Beauty went on to win five Academy Awards, in-cluding Best Picture. The HP books top the best seller’s charts with every release and fans line up outside Barnes and Noble the night before to get their copy as soon as it hits the stands. Book release parties (complete with costumes and false British accents) and posters for the movies, as well as the films, bombard us with the truth that the fans are loyal. They’ve devel-oped a taste for the story. It is doubtful Radcliffe’s acting choices will actu-ally “destroy” a multi-million dollar franchise.

Role models are double-edged swords. A child will choose their role model regardless of what their parents have to say about them. However, out-side of Radcliffe’s burst of media fo-cused sexual innuendoes, he remains professional, tasteful, educated, and sweet tempered. He suits the overall feel of the character, and if one per-son were going to represent the good qualities of Harry, it would be Rad-cliffe. What people tend to forget, in the midst of their fandom and media ridicule that ‘Harry Radcliffe’ does not exist, it is just a character, some cameras, and a really great script.

The nudity, violence, and psy-chological twists which accompany Radcliffe’s decision to play the part of Alan Strang have left a monumental impact on millions. Where some fans turn their backs, others perk up their ears and let their jaws slack open. Har-ry Potter in the buff? He is… naked? Blasphemy.

The face, character, and role are still exactly the same. The only difference now: when people watch Harry Pot-ter and The Order of the Phoenix this summer, they will consider Equus and realize he is no longer the bumbling ten-year old we met years ago.

Americans are not reading much literature

“With the computer age, I think people are getting away from books. But I do think it is fun everyone is get-ting together to read as a community project,” she said.

Sheldon also feels this program will help the County to want to read more literature as a whole.

“I think it’s sad. If someone is not reading, they are missing out on so much. The more you read, the more you think, the more you think, the more you are able to develop your own thoughts,” she said. “I love to read. When I have a day off, I go to the bookstore.”

For any information on the Big Read visit any of the MCLS library branches and information will be gladly provided.

From “Big Read,” page 6ets are true, Moses was the greatest

prophet and his prophecies are true, the Written Torah and the Oral Torah were given to Moses, there will be no other Torah, God knows the thoughts and deeds of men, God will reward the good and punish the wicked, the Messiah will come, the dead will be resurrected.”

7. Native American-(.05%) The in-teresting thing about Native American spirituality is they do not view it as a “religion,” but as a seamless and in-tegral way of life. Though there are many different variations of Native American spirituality, they generally tend to promote growth of staple crops and luck in hunt. There is a deep bond with the Earth and Sky and between male and female.

8. Pagan/Neo-pagan-(.1%) The word “pagan” comes from the Latin word “pagani” which means “coun-try-dwelling, nature worshippers.” There are many forms of Paganism, but most, if not all, recognize either a unity of God and Goddess or a mul-titude of gods and goddesses. One of the most common forms of Neo-paganism is Wicca, which embraces the unity between male and female. A common mistake is thinking all Wic-cans practice witchcraft which not all do. It is a nature-based polytheistic spirituality which follows the rule, “An ye harm none, do what ye will,” and was founded by Gerald Gardner in the early 1900s as an offshoot of Celtic and early British paganism and is now called Gardnerian Wicca.

Hopefully this list has cleared some of the misrepresentations and pro-vided a basic understanding of the world’s many religions, philosophies, and spiritual paths.

From “religion” page 6

OOPS! Errors made in this issue will be

corrected on our website at http://www.monroeccc.edu/agora/index.

html

The 22nd Annual Family Fun Night is scheduled for Friday, March 23 from

6:30-8:30 p.m. Each year over 700 community members

bring their children to this inexpensive family event. It is a carnival with various

games, prizes, clowns, magicians, and various other booths.Come join the fun!

Like music? Movies? Books? Entertainment,

in general? Want to talk about them?

Check out Agora Editor-in-chief Ashley Braden’s Monroe Blog,

‘So Alive,’ athttp://www.blogsmonroe.com/

entertainment/

For more awesome blogs, visit blogsmonroe.com

Writing Center hoursMonday

8:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.

Tuesday 8:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.

Wednesday 8:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.

Thursday 8:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.

Friday 8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Saturday

9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.

The Writing Center is located in the Learning Assistance Lab (C-218) on the second floor of the Campbell Learning Resource Center. You may drop in, but it is best to make an appointment. The Writing Center offers one-to-one tutoring for all Monroe County Community College students. A Writing

Fellow will demonstrate strategies for prewriting, drafting, revision, and edit-ing.The feedback you receive can make you a more confident writer.

To make an appointment, call: (734) 384-4167 Or email for an appointment at: writing@monroeccc.edu

Email and FAX Tutoring are available in fall and winter semesters only:email directions

FAX # - 734-384-4338A Writing Fellow will respond within 48 hours.

March 1, 2007 Spotlight AGORA 11

Three:

• New here• Working as a guidance counselor for the past year• Lives in Monroe• Attended MCCC as well as Eastern and Central Michigan • Can’t stand rude people • Somewhat of a morning person• 6 feet 1 inch tall• Drives a Ford Mustang to work • A fan of all types of music, excluding rap • Likes to golf, play volleyball, and watch “Real Time” with Bill Maher

Two:

• Teaches science • Lives in Dexter, MI• Married with 2 kids, a boy and a girl • Gets annoyed when students whine or complain about assignments • Enjoys soccer, skiing and traveling • Has been all across Europe• Has been told she talks loudly when teaching and generally paces around the room during class• Drives a Ford Escape to work • Likes to listen to Led Zeppelin• Has been a die hard “Survivor” fan since day one

Four:

• Has taught a foreign language at the college for 15 years• Married and has a son, whom she talks about in class a lot• Enjoys reading, making jewelry, and playing the violin • Is known for talking fast • Has brown hair, green eyes, and is 5 feet 1 inch tall • Attended both Eastern and Michigan State • Likes the shows “24,” and “Little House on the Prairie”

One:

• Teaches English • Lives in Temperance• Married and has four sons• Hobbies: reading, writing, and collecting John Deere paraphernalia • Attended U of M, Western, and Bowling Green • Teaching classes in the basement is starting to get on his nerves • Students may know him for speaking in a southern dialect and using gestures to teach• Never leaves home without music, especially jazz CD’s

Five:

• Enjoys listening to music• Likes to play the guitar • Has a wide collection of armadillos scattered across his office • Is known for constantly taking his glasses on and off while teaching• Carries a thumb pick with him at all times• When he is not listening to music or teaching English, he is probably watching “Boston Legal” • Drives an SUV to work• Biggest pet peeve with the college is there are not enough student activities

4

Pick that Professor

Photos by Nick Vanderpool

Story by Joshua Kraus

1

5

3Look for answers in the next issue of the Agora.

2

Ashley BradenEditor-in-Chief

Patrick DunnReporter

Marjorie HaliburdaCopy Editor

Nick VanderpoolAssistant Photo Editor

Alan McKeeReporter

Troy WhiteReporter

Sarah WillsPage Editor

Jeffrey KodyshReporter

Sarah StraubPage Editor

Courtney SisungCopy Editor

Josh KrausPage Editor

Steve SonorasCopy Editor

Chris SlatCopy Editor

Tonya HuffmanPhoto Editor

Brian ReadyAssistant Editor

Lisa GhigliazzaCopy Editor

Bethany YounglovePage Editor

Kristin BoothCopy Editor

Gary KnoxReporter

Charlene HuntReporter

The Agora can be sweet, sugar-coated, milk chocolate candy pieces and so can you. Visit www.becomeanmm.com to make yours today. Send in your M&M design to Agora@monroeccc.edu

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The Agora staff: melts in your mouth, not in your hand

12 AGORA Spotlight March 1, 2007