Take a look outside. The sky is getting bluer, the days longer and the temperatures warmer.

And as students respond to the rising thermometer, they begin stripping off their winter garb in exchange for sandals, shorts and, well, basically, more skin-reveal-ing clothes.

Although it has yet to be prov-en by the experts, many scientists believe that in spring time the warm weather and shedding of clothes brings out more phero-mones in humans– chemicals that are believed to stimulate the sex drive.

Whatever it is – it’s spring time – time for love and romance. And while there may not be a clinical

definition for the symptoms that go with it, many people just at-tribute their fatigue and apathy or excitement and energy to one thing: spring fever.

Spring fever can be character-ized by low energy, fatigue and apathy in the early spring season. As spring continues and the day length increases, people become overwhelmed with a sense of excitement and energy.

Charlene Melrose, a psychol-ogy professor at Orange Coast College, said although spring fever isn’t an actual condition, she said there are changes in the body that might affect a person’s mood.

Melrose said these changes, scientifically speaking, are a re-sult of melatonin levels decreas-ing during periods of increased sunlight. Melatonin is a hormone that affects sleep cycles and mood changes.

“More melatonin is released in

Check out coastreportonline.com for exclusive articles, videos, photographs

and blogs. Our blogs include The Music Pirate, Poetic

Pirates, Mesa Munchies and A Week in Geek.

INSIDE

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How did you spend your time during spring break?Go to coastreportonline to vote.

DISTRACTIONS

THIS ISSUE

Visit the Coast Report website and watch news broadcasts and slideshows. Look for them under the multimedia link.

ONLINE

The acting and dialogue in this action flick left much to be desired.

See Page 4

Volume 65, No. 21 April 6, 2011 www.coastreportonline.com

SPORTS

COAST REPORT

Covering Orange Coast College since 1948

Movie review

FEATURES

Army vetsreturnhome The air basereunion will take place at its former location April 30.

As Orange Coast College stu-dents walk across campus in a hurry to get to their next classes, many may not know that the same ground was once marched on by cadets training to becom-ing pilots and navigators for the United States Army.

The Santa Ana Army Air Base was once located where the Coast campus now lies and covered close to one-fifth of Costa Mesa, according to the Costa Mesa Historical Society website.

The OCC Foundation and the historical society are organizing the upcoming 35th annual air base reunion for the men and women who trained on and maintained the base during World War II.

According to Art Lambert, chairman of the Santa Ana Army Air Base branch of the Costa Mesa Historical Society who once trained on the base, the base was used from 1940-1944 to train cadets to become pilots, navigators and bombardiers.

Approximately 180,000 cadets were trained at the base, includ-ing members of the Women’s Army Corps. In addition, a group of around 25,000 people ran the base, which included a military hospital.

Jack Hammet, a Pearl Har-bor veteran, will be the feature speaker at the event. Although Hammet never trained on the base, he is a former councilman and mayor of Costa Mesa.

According to Lambert, the Costa Mesa Historical Society started the reunions and was the sole organizer. However, after 30 years the society considered discontinuing the annual event

PrincessesBY KATIE SARNASTAFF WRITER

Photos by Kelsie Tine

A make-up artist helps a high school student prepare for her prom night. The Belle of the Ball event was put on by Girls Inc., the Orangewood Children’s Center and Women Helping Women and was held in the Orange Coast College Student Center on May 26.

Dresses, jewelry and make-up filled the Student Center during the Belle of the Ball event.

By Kelsie Tine Masses of girls crowded anx-

iously outside the Student Center at Orange Coast College waiting to be fitted and accessorized with everything needed for a high school prom.

The Belle of the Ball event March 26 was held to fulfill the dreams of girls who would otherwise not be able to have a dress and shoes for the biggest high school dance of the year.

With the help of Girls Inc., the Orangewood Children’s Center and Women Helping Women, 315 girls walked away with a complete prom package.

From the outside the OCC Stu-dent Center looked unchanged. The inside, however, was transformed

into a girls’ playground. Racks of dresses took over the

tables and make-up artists were lined up to turn every girl into a princess. The lounge area became a dressing room and the culinary area turned into the ultimate shoe department.

The event was set up in four stages. First the girls tried on dresses and shoes and were able to accessorize, then they went to a drum fusion (mu-sic and movement) workshop, then to the make-up stage and finally a body image workshop.

“It’s so much more then prom — it’s a day of empowerment for the girls,” said Brateil Aghasi, an associ-ate with Women Helping Women.

Spring: nature’s way of saying ‘let’s party’

Graphic by Aimee Kawasaki

BY HANNAH FRYEDITOR IN CHIEF

Coast men’s swim team beat Golden West College on Friday 142.0-55.0

See Page 6

Swimming

File Photo

The Orange Coast campus once was a military base.

See ARMY Page 6

The seasonal increase in sunlight changes the

body chemistry.

A feeling of restlessness, excitement, or laziness brought on by the coming of spring.

As winter recedes into spring, depression lifts.

Spring Fever is in the Air

for a day

See PRINCESS Page 6

Fillms by Orange Coast College students will be on display at the Regency Lido Theater on May 1.

See Page 3

OCC Shorts

Students may feel excited and full of energy in the coming months.

See SPRING Page 6

2 CAMPUS APRIL 6, 2011

CRIMEBLOTTERTrunk Sale

A report was made about an unauthorized solicitation that occurred about 12:40 p.m. on March 21 in the Adams Avenue Parking Lot.

The student who reported the incident was walking through the north part of the lot when he observed two men attempt-ing to sell electronics from the back of a white Ford minivan, according to Chief of Campus Safety John Farmer.

The student told a potential customer that it was a scam. One of the alleged scammers picked up a coffee cup and threw it at the student and pro-ceeded to drive away.

Campus Safety was not able to locate the vehicle. Farmer said that anyone that tries to sell something from the back of a vehicle should be reported.

SorryA female student reported

that she backed into a vehicle at about 11:15 p.m. on March 17 in Adams Avenue Parking Lot.

The woman told Campus Safety that she did not know what she had done until she left the scene and another driver told her that she had hit another vehicle.

Farmer said the woman claimed to have hit a green vehicle while she was backing up because there was a dent in the back of her car.

Farmer said that anyone who drives a green convert-ible should contact Campus Safety.

—The Crime Blotter was compiled by Tarah Khan from Campus Safety reports.

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Students to represent in D.C.

Orange Coast College students may have found an answer to their budget issues with the up-coming OCC Job and Internship Fair set to take place in the Quad on Tuesday at 10 a.m.

Unemployment rates in Cali-fornia are close to 3 percent

higher than in the rest of the United States according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics earlier this month.

“There is a lot of competition and job seekers out there,” Anthony Hou, a career coach at the Orange County One Stop Center, said.

With summer approaching, students are looking for jobs and internships with full force.

“Right now everyone is start-ing to think about the summer,” Rena Quinonez, OCC Job Cen-ter and Internship Specialist said. “We’re getting a lot of calls about internships.”

The OCC Job Center currently has about 140 jobs and internships posted on its online job board.

According to Quinonez, the job fair is great for students because it brings employers directly to students.

Hou will be one of three experts holding workshops in preparation for the job fair. He said that he will personally look at each student’s resume and help tweak it to make it more marketable during his resume writing and job searching skills workshop.

Hou’s workshop will be held today at noon in the Student

Center Lounge.A job interview preparation

workshop will be held on Thurs-day at noon by Nath Mollas, a recruiter for Verizon Wireless, at the Student Center Lounge. A workshop for “Inside Secrets of a Recruiter” was held Tuesday.

“I look at candidates and they come into interviews not pre-pared,” Mollas said. “Take those workshops being offered.”

To reserve a seat for a work-shop, call (714) 432-5576 ext. 1. For more information on the job and internship fair go to www.col-legecentral.com/occjobfair.

Free workshops include interview preparation and resume writing. BY ANNIE KIMNEWS EDITOR

Celebrate Green Day on campus

Orange Coast College’s Green Day will be held April 6 to pro-mote the “oceansafe” rainwater capture system as well as envi-ronmentally friendly vehicles.

The event will start at 9:30 a.m. in the Robert B. Moore Theatre with a “Water Is the New Oil” presentation from author Steve Solomon.

He will speak on information from his new book “Water, The Epic Struggle for Wealth, Power, and Civilization.”

Following the presentation the event will continue from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the

Quad which will be hosted by OCC oceanography professor Tom Garrison and staff from the marine science program and the international business program.

The Quad will hold a show-case of vehicles that promote the electric and hybrid way of driving.

Admission is free.

Power Shift 2011 is a confer-ence taking place April 15-18 in Washington D.C. where college students around the country go to promote clean energy resources.

The Green Initiative Fund at Orange Coast College is going to send three students to take part in the conference to help find ways to make OCC a more sustainable environment.

According to their website, Power Shift 2011 is recruit-ing 10,000 youth advocates to help take a stand against big corporations that are harming the environment. The partici-pants will learn to help guide the course of their communities on a clean energy path over the next two years.

Also, participants will be going through two days of non-stop campaigns to help push higher education campuses to the next level and be at the forefront of the clean energy movement.

Each participant will come away with the knowledge of how to take the steps within their respective communities

and learn how to promote ac-cess to clean resources, accord-ing to the conference mission statement.

The students that will be selected on behalf of OCC to attend the conference will have a passion and are willing to take the steps necessary to push for sustainability in our environment, according to campus reports.

According to the Power Shift 2011 website the backdrop of Washington D.C. has played a central role for youth advocates over the decades to go and raise their voice. This conference gives the youth of America another opportunity to give voice to their cause.

Three students will be selected to attend the green conference. BY KELSIE TINESTAFF WRITER

Photo by Annie Kim

Joe Nilson, 23, an economics major, rides his bike across campus to his next class.

More than 30 employers to visit campus for fair

Hands Across California joins state community colleges

An estimated 1.5 million pairs of hands are set to join together on April 17 at 2 p.m. in a statewide event called Hands Across Califor-

nia to raise money for schools. A line of hand holding Orange

Coast College participants will create a chain down Fairview Road that will connect them to representatives from nearby com-munity colleges.

“I hope it will remind people of all the good work that is going on at California community colleg-es,” said Carla Martinez, student services coordinator at OCC.

“This is going to be a very fun

event to promote education,” Sara Khatib, 19, a business eco-nomics major and Associated Students of Orange Coast senate vice president, said.

According to the campus captain for the event, Courtney Grove, a 19-year-old genetics major, the In-terClub Council will assign points to participating clubs on campus.

About 1.5 million people overall are estimated to partici-pate, Grove said.

“This is a huge event that is spreading from one part of the state to the other, connecting 112 com-munity colleges from San Diego to Sacramento,” Grove said.

According to the Hands Across California website, ce-lebrity spokespersons include Ryan Seacrest, George Lopez and MC Hammer.

To sign up for the event contact Sara Khatib in the ASOCC office next to the Student Center.

Statewide event attempts to raise monies for schools and scholarships. BY KATIE SARNASTAFF WRITER

FROM CAMPUS REPORTS

DON’T HOLD IT INTell us what you think. E-mail a letter to the editor to coastreport@yahoo.com.

For a student’s perspective on this event, see Question of the Week on Page 5.

3FEATURESAPRIL 6, 2011

There are thousands of parking stalls on campus and each day they are packed with students. This week

the Coast Report found out a little bit more about ...

Jonathan Cao-NguyenMUSTAFA NAQVI

STAFF WRITER

PARKING LOT DIARIES

While he was pacing up and down the rows of cars in the Adams Avenue Parking Lot with a puzzled look on his face, Jona-than Cao-Nguyen, a 19-year-old biology major, had a bemused look on his face — he had forgot-ten where he had parked his car.

“It’s been a long day,” Cao-Nguyen said.

Born and still living in Ana-heim, Cao-Nguyen has been at Orange Coast College for two years and is the president of the Inter Club Council — a branch of the Associated Students of OCC that oversees all Coast club activities on campus.

“We just sort of watch over all the clubs here and help organize events,” Cao-Nguyen said.

In May, Cao-Nguyen’s one-year presidency term of the ICC will end, something he said he will miss, yet he stays optimistic.

“It makes me sad that my term is almost over. It seems like just a few months ago I was elected

president,” he said. “It was really an enjoyable experience and I was happy I could help out.”

When he’s not busy being a student and ICC president, Cao-Nguyen said he likes to spend his time on the beach, eating sushi and browsing social networking websites, the latter which he says he does too much of.

“I’m always on Facebook or Twitter whenever I am home,” he said. “I need to focus on school more.”

Cao-Nguyen said his main priority is to transfer and gradu-ate for now, and to continue to be a part of the student govern-ment, something he considers a hobby.

“I really like to give and help my community out in whichever way I can,” he said.

For the time being, he said he is satisfied in Orange County.

“Great weather, a laid back and social lifestyle, and easy access to beaches — that is why I love the OC,” Cao-Nguyen said.

PLEASE JOIN US IN CONGRATULATING

OCC Honors ProgramStudents and Faculty Mentors

Spring 2011 Conference Presenters and Award Winners

Association of Core Texts and Courses – 2011 Student ConferencePepperdine University - March 4 - 6

Sarah Renteria, “The Water Nymph”

Mentor: Prof. Ken Parker, EnglishSelected for Publication

Honors Transfer Council of California – 2011 Student Research ConferenceUniversity of California, Irvine - March 26

Lorena Acuña“Increasing Dopamine Release to Experience

Euphoria...Addiction of Methamphetamine”Mentor: Prof. Jennifer Koontz, Psychology

Alison Onusz“The Getty Kouros:

A Seven Million Dollar Mistake”Mentor: Prof. Irini Vallera-Rickerson, Art History

Qui V. Pham*“A Remedy for Recession”

Mentor: Prof. Michael Olds, Economics

Jordan Potter“Degradation of the Sign: How Derrida has

Destroyed Meaning, Time, and Reality”Mentor: Prof. Karen Felts, English

Shana Schreiber**“An Examination of the Effects of

Organic Pesticides on Plant Health”Mentor: Prof. Kelli Elliott, Biology

Sabrina Solouki“Simulacra: No Meaning, Truth, or God”Mentor: Prof. Stephanie Wells, English

* Winner: Exemplary Achievement Award ** Winner: Exemplary Achievement and Director’s Awards

Western Regional Honors Council – 2011 ConferencePark City, Utah - March 31 - April 2

Qui V. Pham“A Remedy for Recession”

Mentor: Prof. Michael Olds, Economics

Jordan Potter“Degradation of the Sign: How Derrida has

Destroyed Meaning, Time, and Reality”Mentor: Prof. Karen Felts, English

Jaz Bonnin“The Climb”

2011 ScribendiVisual Art Publication Finalist

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Pirates, camera, action

Seven films by Orange Coast College students will be shown at the Regency Lido Theater on May 1 as part of the Newport Beach Film Festival.

The films are a part of a collection called OCC Shorts, ranging in duration from three to 18 minutes. For the first time since the showcase was conceived, all of the films will be shown on high definition Blu-ray discs.

The films are of a variety of genres and were submitted by OCC film students, who were mostly completing assignments for class.

Nathan Boice said he made his music video because it was an assignment due for his Film 240 class with no intentions of submitting it to the festival.

“My friend asked if I wanted to submit my film on a whim and I said sure,” Boice said.

Now he is excited at the idea of his short, “In for the Kill,” being shown at the theater.

“In for the Kill” is a song done by the group La Roux, and the music video revolves around a girl in the kitchen hav-ing flashbacks of her past.

Nicholas Ybarra created a short romantic drama called “Out of Bounds,” which is about two lesbians. The story

is not about gay rights, but is simply about two girls in love.

“I didn’t want to shove my opinion down viewers’ throats,” Ybarra said. “To me it just isn’t fair.”

While Ybarra’s film deals with touchy subjects, Will Ga-briel said he wanted to create a drama with more humor .

Gabriel, director of the short “Lemonade,” said that his movie has a similar style of the motion pictures “Juno” and “500 Days of Summer.”

The short is about a man who upon his return from college has to deal with major changes in his life.

This film is the longest in the collection with a run time of 18 minutes.

“Shortcut,” directed by Gabri-ela Peñúñuri, is also a dramedy, but has a style of its own.

It is a silent movie that tells a story about a girl who is ob-sessed with trying to find the right guy.

It is Peñúñuri’s second se-mester at Orange Coast College and she is the youngest director with a film in the collection.

Steve Guzmen, the produc-er of both “Lemonade” and “Shortcut,” said that “Shortcut” was shot one in downtown Santa Ana’s Artist Village.

Joshua Lang was the director of photography for “Shortcut” and is also the director of the short, “Condemned.”

“Condemned” is a science fiction thriller about a musician trapped in a theater and has to fight demons to escape.

According to Lang, the de-mons represent many different trials that some artists face to produce their work.

In addition to fiction, some of the films are documentaries.

Gustav Sandegard, who is from Sweden, made his short movie about the local surf shop “Froghouse,” a Newport Beach icon. Clocking in at about four minutes, “Froghouse” is con-sidered a mini documentary.

A much longer documentary that is part of the collection is the film “Uncaged,” directed by film student Matt Rodgers.

The documentary revolves around a man named Yoko who has been training for his first Mixed Martial Arts fight.

The budget for the film was relatively high compared to some of the other entries. The trip to follow Yoko cost $400 alone.

“We had high aspirations when we first started,” Rodg-ers said.

According to Rodgers, the entire documentary was shot using one digital SLR camera, which helped to achieve a pro-fessional look at a reasonable price.

From dramedies to documentaries, OCC Shorts will show at film fest.

BY ETHAN HAWKESSTAFF WRITER

Photo courtesy of www.949.comOrange Coast College students will show their short films at the Newport Beach Film Festival at the Regency Lido Theater.

“We had high aspirations when we first started.”

Matt RodgersOCC Film Student

4 DISTRACTIONS APRIL 6, 2011

Campus Events

“Original Play Festi-val,” April 15-17: Come see a collection of works written by and for the OCC Repertory. Recommended for mature audiences. In the Drama Lab Theatre. Admission is free. April 15-16 at 8 p.m. April 17 at 2:30 and 7 p.m.

“ T h e P i r a t e s o f Penzance,” May 4-8: Gil-bert and Sullivan’s comic operetta will have audi-ences laughing and sing-ing along. In the Drama Lab Theatre. Tickets are $12 in advance, $15 at the door. Students, seniors and children’s tickets are $8 in advance and $10 at the door. May 4-7 at 8 p.m. Matinees May 7-8 at 2:30 p.m. Free OCC student and faculty show May 6 at 12:30 p.m.

“One-Act Play Fes-tival,” May 19-22: An eclectic festival showcas-ing a wide variety of origi-nal and published works. Recommended for mature audiences. In the Drama Lab Theatre. May 19-20 at 8 p.m. May 21 at 2:30 and 8 p.m. May 22 at 2:30 and 7 p.m.

“OCC Film Festival,” May 21: The 41st annual OCC Film Festival will feature outstanding student films from this year, as chosen by the film/video department. Films will be judged by faculty, staff and alumni. Tickets are on sale at the bursar’s office for $10. The festival is open to students and the general public. Films begin at 7 p.m. in the Robert B. Moore Theatre.

Theatre

For information on most campus events,

call (714) 432-5880 or toll free at

(888) 622-5376.

Dance

“Student Dance Con-cert,” April 29-30: OCC students perform original choreography with the help of faculty and guests. Tick-ets are $10 in advance, $15 at the door. 8 p.m. in the Robert B. Moore Theatre. Tickets $5.

“Studio Hour,” May 17: OCC’s dance depart-ment invites guests to an informal presentation of classroom material and works in progress. Studio hour showcases the depart-ment’s wide range of dance styles including jazz, bal-let, Middle Eastern and swing. In the Robert B. Moore Theatre at 7 p.m.. Tickets are $5.

“World Dance Celebra-tion,” May 20: A lecture-demonstration of the color-ful heritage of the world dance community. Direct-ed by Angelika Nemeth. In the Robert B. Moore Theatre. Free admission for K-12 schools at 11 a.m. $10 general admission for 7 p.m. showing.

Music

“OCC Jazz Ensem-bles,” May 2: Orange Coast College’s jazz en-sembles perform in the Robert B. Moore Theatre. 7:30 p.m. Directed by Paul Navidad. Advance tickets are $8. Tickets are $10 at the door.

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With an adjective like “true” underlined in the name, I had high expectations for the True Food Kitchen, and they were more than fulfilled.

The restaurant focuses on natu-ral ingredients to keep the body healthy without sacrificing taste.

The whole menu is based on Andrew Well’s Anti-Inflamma-tory Diet and Food Pyramid, which is focused on the ingredi-ents needed to sustain a healthy physical and mental life.

The restaurant’s interior culti-vates an eco-friendly look with its high ceilings, wooden and glass decor, green plates and planted grass sectioning off the tables. The relaxed mood adds to the so-

phistication of the atmosphere.I started off with a refreshing

red moon soda which was a mix of pink grapefruit, yuzu and agave juices. The tall glass paired with a slice of grapefruit made the essence of real chic come alive, and the smooth taste with a kick of sweetness cleansed my mouth after every bite.

The soup of the day - cleverly titled “immunity soup” - was a delicious mushroom stock base with onions, shiitake mushrooms, carrots, blanched broccoli and astragalus root. The stock was a

little strong, but the vegetables added their own oomph to the soup to lighten the taste.

My main dish of choice was the natural certified Angus beef steak tacos. Every second of eating these tacos was an experience in itself. This was mainly because of the tenderness of the steak pieces that were piled high on tiny corn tortillas.

The steak’s juices and woodsy spice complemented the avocado, sprinkled cotija cheese, and toma-tillo salsa laying gracefully atop the meat.

Since the three tacos are as-sembled and prepared like three bite sized street tacos, each bite gives you a taste of every flavor.

Accompanying the tacos was a bowl of heavenly anasazi beans with a hint of cotija cheese, on-ions and tomatoes. The kitchen was a true success that left me feeling balanced and satisfied.

The True Food Kitchen’s prices range from $6 to $12 for appetiz-ers and $7 to $24 for entrees.

The restaurant is located in Fashion Island at 451 Newport Center Drive in Newport Beach.

Truly tastyfood

BY BRITNEY PERAZASTAFF WRITER

Fashion Island restaurant focuses on anti- inflammatory diet.

Photo by Britney Peraza

Angus beef and salsa is piled high on steak tacos at True Food Kitchen in Newport Beach.

It’s been 14 years since The Descendents last performed in Southern California and on Thursday the band is reuniting to tour with heavy contenders Bad Religion and Rise Against at the Long Beach Arena.

The tour, which also features newcomers Four Year Strong, was announced in early Febru-ary. Within the first 30 minutes of tickets going on sale on Feb. 19, floor tickets were sold out.

Rise Against released its sixth studio album “Endgame” on March 15, and the success of the recent single “Help is on the Way” has garnered them mas-sive attention on mainstream radio.

As a result of the album’s release, Rise Against is em-barking on a North America tour, and the band is kicking it off with the Long Beach Arena show.

Six years ago, Rise Against was an opening band for punk veterans Bad Religion, and now with the newfound success of Rise Against, Bad Religion is set to be one of the openers for Rise Against at Thursday’s show.

Bad Religion, which formed 30 years ago when punk rock was still barely emerging, most recently released its 15th studio album “The Dissent of Man” in 2010 through Epitaph Records.

The band continues to find time to perform and embark on tours, all while vocalist Greg Graffin continues to teach at UCLA.

Perhaps the most anticipated performance of the entire con-cert is The Descendents, who last performed in Los Angeles back in 1996.

The band most recently per-formed in October 2010 at Fun Fun Fun Fest in Texas, and De-cember 2010 in Australia.

Tickets to the show are sold out.

Post and past punk bands to performBY STEPHANIE MENDEZSTAFF WRITER

Between the corny lines, Zach Snyder’s “Sucker Punch” delivers just enough action and visual treats to make it worth seeing.

The film creates anticipation as it switches between reality and an imaginary world through the eyes of the protagonist.

Baby Doll (Emily Browning) has been locked up in an asylum for accidently shooting her sister, and her crazy stepfather wants the workers there to give her a lobotomy.

Baby Doll and the other girls Rocket (Jena Malone), Blondie, (Vanessa Hudgens), Amber (Jamie Chung) and Sweet Pea (Abbie Cornish) spend the movie trying to

find any way to get out of the asy-lum as well as their job working for the asylum’s owner Blue, who has them dancing at his underground gentleman’s club.

The movie reflects a theme of women struggling in society to gain power through the obstacles of good and evil.

Whenever Baby Doll dances in the film her mind takes her to an imaginary world to escape reality momentarily.

Baby Doll meets a man in that world who tells her that they have to find five things in order to es-cape: a map, fire, a knife, a key, and a fifth item, which is a mystery.

They start their quest to find all these objects through battle scenes that require strength and willpower.

In Baby Doll’s imaginary world, the girls are in a video game equipped with weapons and ammo - ready for anything that tries to get in their way.

A major concept is the impor-tance of sacrifice between the girls to reach their ultimate goal, and there are many twists and turns that catch the audience by surprise. The question of whether they will find the five things they need creates a sense of suspense throughout the film.

The costumes, makeup, special effects, and action overpowered the script for the movie and in-cludes a “Moulin Rouge” vibe.

The acting could’ve been a lot better, and sometimes corny and mediocre lines made certain scenes uninteresting.

The music in “Sucker Punch” had a few tracks by the lead actress Emily Browning.

I give this movie 3.5 out of 5 stars, and the ending of the film was somewhat disappointing and predictable. I only enjoyed it be-cause of the action-packed scenes, the costumes and makeup.

As I took the CD out of my bag and removed the plastic cover-ing, I was expecting a plethora

of Mary Jane bouquets to come surfing into my ear.

Surprisingly enough, when I heard Wiz Khalifa’s new CD, Rolling Papers, I was proven wrong.

For you hip-hop heads out there who judged the album be-fore hearing anything other than “Black and Yellow,” the album does not disappoint.

The first song, “When I’m

Gone,” speaks of how he’s going to live life to the fullest because he can’t do that when he’s gone.

“Rolling Papers” consists of mostly laid-back drums with fu-turistic sounds that make you feel

like lounging back on a throne with your girlfriend, staring out toward the city lights with the music bumping in the back.

Khalifa pulls off the acoustic song, “Fly Solo,” with his mel-low flow.

Girls battle imaginary samurai

Wiz Khalifa’s latest offers laid back drums and mellow flow

BY ELIZABETH SCHMIDTSTAFF WRITER

Emily Browning plays Baby Doll in “Sucker Punch.”

BY OMAR GUZMANSTAFF WRITER

5VIEWSAPRIL 6, 2011

Coast Report

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Articles, comments and editorials are those of staff members and editors and do not reflect the views of Orange Coast College, its administration or student government or the Coast Com-munity College District.California law states that college journalists are assured the same First Amendment rights as profes-sional journalists. Their work can-not be subjected to prior restraint and the law prohibits college officials from disciplining a student for activities related to speech or press related endeavors. Coast Report welcomes letters from readers. Guest Commentaries are the views of the writer and don’t reflect the views of the Coast Report, OCC or the district. Letters must be signed and are subject to editing for taste, length or libel. Letters are limited to 350 words. Advertising claims are those of the advertisers and do not constitute endorsement by the newspaper. Coast Report reserves the right to reject any advertising for any rea-son. The newspaper is not liable for return of unsolicited materials.

What do you do to help the environment?QUESTION of the WEEK

EDITORIAL

Earth Day is on April 22 and the entire month is dedicated to celebrating and honoring our environment.

According to the Environ-mental Protection Agency, National Week of the Ocean starts on April 3 and National Park week starts on April 16. This month is also National Gardening Month.

There are a wide range of things that we can do to help the environment from invest-ing in a hybrid vehicle to composting food.

Still, many of us aren’t as environmentally friendly as we’d like to be. Maybe we think it takes too much time, think it’s too hard or maybe we’re just plain lazy. So how can we make a broad ranging issue as simple as humanly possible?

If we had to limit it down to the bare essentials, here are three super easy things that anyone can do, and should do, to do their part in helping the environment.

Don’t litter. This message goes out to all

the smokers on campus. With controversy and de-

bate over banning smoking on campus permeating the halls, it doesn’t seem wise to flick your cigarettes all over the ground.

Even worse is the 50 ciga-rette butts wedged into the dirt directly next to the empty campus ash trays.

Not just smokers are guilty of this mindless crime.

Candy wrappers, soda cans and food on the ground is just

a sad sight to see. Recycle. We have recycling bins lo-

cated all around campus. Since most of us refuse to use a reus-able canteen, at the very least, plastic water bottles should be tossed in the recycling bins.

OCC also has a recycling center. It’s located near the back of Adams Avenue Park-ing Lot and the entrance is off Adams Avenue. Gather up your recycling from home and bring it on over, it’s simple, really.

Don’t top off your gas tank.According to the EPA, gas

tanks should not be topped off during hot weather.

With summer soon approach-ing, this not only prevents air pollution but can save precious dollars in your wallet.

Over spring break, a dozen Coast students sponsored by the OCC Sierra Club spent their time, not in Cancun downing Jell-O shots, but at a volunteer camp devoted to restoring and protecting plants that are indigenous to Catalina Island.

The dedication of students committed to a selfless cause can be inspiring to all of us and something we can hope to aspire toward.

Until then, maybe we can just commit ourselves to the very basic principles that all of us should adhere to.

Don’t litter, make sure to recycle and don’t top off your gas tank during the summer months. It’s really as easy as it sounds.

Happy Earth Day.

Simple steps you can take to save the planet

Julia Foss20, art

Spencer Wighton 22, business

Brittany Maver 20, dance

Ricardo Jua 20, undecided

Jack Saltonstall 18, undecided

“I recycle by unplugging everything in the outlets when I don’t use it. I use

canvas bags and reusable bags.”

“One time I had a party and we saved all the beer bottles and cans. We recycled

everything and turned them into the OCC recycling center”

“When I smoke, I don’t throw my cigarettes on the floor or trash. I pick up

trash when I see it on the floor.”

“The other day I saw a bag of chips and a banana peel on the floor, and

since there wasn’t a trash can nearby I kept it in my pocket till I found one .”

“I recycle bottles and cans. I try not to use bottles as much. I also use paper

bags.”

Kicking the habitMore and

more people in the United States are try-ing to qui t smoking and those who do not smoke are pushing their smoker friends to get it out of their faces.

In the most recent survey posted on the American Heart Associations’ website, 24.8 million men and 21.1 million women in the Unit-ed States are smokers. Approxi-mately 40 percent of smokers will try to quit this year and about 7 percent of them will be successful their first try.

The truth is, as a long time smoker I have found quitting smoking to be the most difficult thing I have ever tried to do. I am a

chronic quitter and I have yet to be successful in quitting for even one full year since the age of 13.

Personally, whenever I have managed to take some time away from smoking the first real stress-ful event that I encounter leads me right back into this insane addiction.

When I read facts on the Amer-ican Heart Associations’ website about smoking such as how 69 out of the 4,800 chemicals found in each cigarette cause cancer, it does virtually nothing to me. My mind shuts off and I continue to smoke my pack a day.

I absolutely hate smoking. I hate the smell of it. I hate the

price of it. I hate not being able to run a mile without feeling like my lungs are going to explode.

I hate the constant enslave-ment of it.

I am a walking, talking contra-diction because I will stand there

while smoking a cigarette and tell you how badly I want to quit. It’s really kind of embarrassing to admit how powerless I feel about this monkey on my back.

However, there is light at the end of the tunnel because there are a lot of different ways to dropkick this habit out the window.

You can use nicotine patches, nicotine gum, there are support groups, there is prescribed medi-cation called Chantix that is sup-posed to block the nicotine recep-tors in your brain and numerous hot lines you can call.

I am on day 2, again, without cigarettes and feeling hopeful. I just keep trying to remind myself how much cooler I will look at age 65 without dragging an oxygen tank behind me everywhere I go.

I encourage all smokers to quit and think about your health, the health of those around you, and all the money you will save.

Libya hopefully not Iraq IIThe continu-

ing mayhem in Libya and now in Syria and Yemen as well, has given rise to many illusions.

A m o n g Arab dicta-tors, it revived hopes of the possibility of escaping the fates of Ben Ali and Mubarak through the use of brutal force.

Gaddafi has been inspiring fel-low despots to use fear as a tool against their people through the use of terror tactics.

In Syria, Bashar al-Assad has opened fire randomly on dem-onstrators in the cities of Daraa

and Latakia and 61 have died in a matter of days, while next door in Jordan, security services have vio-lently dispersed a peaceful protest organized to demand reform.

Even worse, in one of the worst Arab massacres in recent years, pro-government forces in Yemen gunned down 52 peaceful protesters on March 18.

More isolated than ever, Ye-meni President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s days appear numbered.

What we are seeing in the Mid-dle East is a continually growing trend of the public taking matters into their own hands and fighting for what they believe in, against the oppression from govern-ments and dictators who have had their way for decades.

The international community, including the United States, Brit-

ain and NATO, have intervened on humanitarian grounds and though they have received a lot of criticism, the decision has saved civilian lives.

In making his case this past week for the use of force in Libya, President Barack Obama sought to assure the American people that this intervention is prudent and wise, and that it bears no resemblance to the controversial and costly war in Iraq.

He even tried to preempt the comparison altogether, explain-ing why his administration will not attempt to overthrow Gaddafi by force.

However, one can only hope that Obama has learned from his predecessor’s mistakes and that Libya doesn’t just become an-other Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Dalai Lama leaves Tibet in a new state of mind

Retroactive inspections put passengers at risk

Southwest airlines has re-cently experi-enced several incidents with planes in their fleet and has been ground-ing planes in order to per-form inspec-tions.

The airline has found five planes thus far, with problems relating to metal fatigue or cracks to the fuselage, that are in need of repairs.

The problem is that these inspections are retroactive, in response to the incidents, rather than being proactive and pre-ventative.

It seems odd to me to think that problems such as these have been either going undetected till

now or were being detected an ignored.

Thousands of people get on planes every day and expect to be safely transported to their destination of choice, often paying hundreds of dollars for the service being provided to them.

Obviously Southwest airlines was not doing everything in its power to ensure that the expec-tations of their customers were met. Instead they were putting their passengers in grave danger by allowing them to board planes which had not been properly maintained.

Closer inspections of planes are needed in general and on all airlines rather than just on Southwest’s fleet after po-tentially dangerous problems arise .

Such things need to be handled before rather than after the fact.

It’s great to know there are many people getting their morn-ing boost from the Starbucks Coffee Co. and it is even better knowing they are all contributing to the Green Movement as well.

Starbucks just recently part-nered with the Conservation International group and launched its Starbucks Shared Planet initiative.

This initiative is Starbucks’ commitment to doing good

things, not just for people, but for the planet as well.

As a barista, I have noticed some changes.

In the past six months Starbucks has mandated changes in its baris-tas’ drink-making routine.

Starbucks now has new mate-rials to work with and a beverage repeatable routine.

They bought new milk-steam-ing pitchers with marks for each drink size. This way, baristas only pour as much milk as needed for the drink they are preparing.

Starbucks cups are also made from reused and recycled ma-terials.

Customers are given the op-tion to bring in their own cups and mugs or even to reuse their previous Starbucks cups for a 10-cent discount. I’m sure in this recession every little cent counts.

I still think our company can be wasteful at times but, of course, it takes two to tango. Customers play a big part in making Starbucks environmen-tally friendly.

I have a regular customer who comes in with her own sleeve for her cup of coffee. It’s great to know she’s thinking about the trees.

At work I have to throw away tons of Starbucks gift cards every day. All that plastic thrown into the trash is so wasteful.

It would be a big help to the environment if customers re-loaded their gift cards with money instead of buying new ones.

I think it would be a great idea to add recycle bins to our stores as well.

Furthermore, Starbucks stores have porcelain mugs behind the counter available for customers who are planning to drink their coffee in the store. Baristas should ask everyone that comes inside if they’d prefer their drink in such a cup rather than just handing out paper cups to everyone.

With eco-friendly steps like these progress and change is all that’s in store.

Editor’s note: Crystal Ho is a current employee of Starbucks Coffee Co.

R e c e n t l y we have been hearing a lot about the reb-els in Libya. However, this news has over-shadowed the original rebels with a cause—the Tibetan government in exile.

Last month, the Dalai Lama announced that he would be stepping down as the political leader of Tibet by amending their constitution. This will re-move his ability to appoint the new leader of Tibet.

This is a shift into a democratic parliament, where the prime min-ister will be appointed through an election process, instead of being designated by birth.

A lot of speculation has risen

from this decision but I believe that this is a step in the right direc-tion and, as the Lama said, will benefit Tibetans in the long run.

This will empower them even more, especially against the Chinese.

For about four centuries the Tibetan people have been ruled by the monarchy of the Dalai Lamas. Having a more central, democratic government will give them a better chance to counter Chinese pressures.

They will become more self-reliant and won’t need a figure head to solve their issues.

According to Reuters, their elections will also counter Chi-nese claims to rule the region.

The birth right to rule system has always created controversy between the two governments in who should be the successor.

Now that there are independent elections, the birth designation

will be irrelevant and keep Chi-nese influence out of the picture.

This shift in power will also be very important for the rest of the region and will be an inspira-tion for many changing nations. According to the Dalai Lama, monarchies are outdated and he was quoted saying that he did not want to be like Mubarak.

The results for the elections will be announced on April 27 and it is very exciting to see a new change for such a tradition based government.

Starbucks gets on the green movement bandwagon

Photo courtesy Google

Cory BriddleStaff Writer

Mustafa Naqvi

Staff Writer

PriyaGupta

Views Editor

Jason MorashSports Editor

BY CRYSTAL HOSTAFF WRITER

On the heels of last year’s 10 percent budget cut, the Orange Coast College athletics depart-ment will be hit with yet another 10 percent budget decrease for the 2011-2012 year — causing many sports teams to look for alternate funding.

The athletic department will be receiving 10 percent less money than last year and will have to amp up their fundraising efforts through donations and events like bake sales.

According to Athletic Director Steve Tamanaha, all athletic teams have been forced to start raising money to cover equipment, uni-forms and specific tournaments.

Due to the budget cuts over the past two years, there has been a decrease in the amount of tourna-ments teams attend, and accord-ing to Tamanaha, most teams

attend local competitions to save money.

“Although most tournaments OCC attends are local, many coaches do make sure they fund-raise for at least one far away tour-nament because it is important for the athletes to have a wider range of experiences,” Tamanaha said.

Although the athletic depart-ment as a whole is facing the cuts, Tamanaha explains that it is not equitable all around for each individual team.

“Some teams require more, for example, football has more equipment (one player has over 22 pieces of equipment) than say, swimming, so they need more funding,” Tamanaha said.

According to Dean of Athletics Kevin Ballinger, it is not just As-sociated Students of OCC’s budget cuts that the athletic department has to face, but cuts to the general funds budget as well.

“The division-wide budget is also being cut and due to the cut in general funds there is going to be a 5 percent reduction across campus,” Ballinger said.

This affects the budget for physical education classes, and

some will even be eliminated completely, Ballinger said.

According to Ballinger the ath-letic department, like many other divisions, are making decisions of what to cut based on student need.

“We need to maintain enough classes so it does not slow up students who need to graduate,” Ballinger said.

For the time being, the severity of the cuts is unknown, Ballinger explained, as the district is waiting on the state budget.

According to Ballinger, the bud-get for 2011-2012 is supposed to be released in June, but it doesn’t look like it will happen on time.

“The worst case scenario is that we go into fall without knowing the budget and the board of trustees will have to make a preliminary budget,” Ballinger said.

Ballinger expressed that the ath-letics department is doing the best they can, both with the ASOCC budget cuts and in attempting to predict what the annual budget may be.

Steven Quach, the vice presi-dent of fiscal affairs, could not be reached for comment.

Orange Coast College’s men’s team swam an amazing race against Golden West College on March 25 at GWC with the Pirates winning the meet with a final score of 142.0 to 55.0.

The first event of the day was the men’s 400-yard Medley Relay in which Coast got first, second and third place. The winner of the men’s-200 Butterfly was Kenny Bray with a time of 2.03.69.

“Our team is really looking for-ward to the Conference and State Championships because we have a great opportunity to swim fast and show off all the hard work we’ve been doing all year,” said swimmer David Self. “We are also hoping to repeat as conference champions and have a great chance of captur-ing the state title.”

The winning team for Coast in-cluded Ben Burnett, Stephen Hall, John Chang and Ian Richards with a time of 8:01.00. Coast’s second place team included Jonathan Kim, Josh Kloppenburg, Conrad Trzeciecki and Richard Reyes with a time of 8:02.00.

“The swimmers on the team are doing really well, we’re all working very hard every day,” said swim-

mer John Chang, 19, an electrical engineering major.

The winner for the men’s 50-yard freestyle was Kevin Don-nelly of Coast with a time of 21.29 seconds and second place went to Ikaika Sarme of Coast with a time of 22.13 seconds. The Pirates also won the men’s 400-yard free relay. That team included Daniel Burns, Jonathan Kim, Ikaika Sarme and John Chang with a time of 3:26.92.

“We have been continually im-proving and have seen some great developments in the swimmers abilities from the beginning of the season,” said head coach Anthony Iacopetti

The men’s team is ranked top three in state.

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Coast leaves GWC in its wake

BY VINH NGUYENSTAFF WRITER

Excellent relay times propel Coast to a dominating win against GWC.

Opportunity KnoxDuring his 10 years at Orange

Coast College, track and field head coach, John Knox, has done a lot to give back to the athletics community.

Knox is not only the head coach of the track and field team, but also the assistant head coach for cross-country and an instructor. As an instructor, he teaches swim and tennis courses and works in the Fitness Lab at OCC.

“I spend so much time with track and field and athletics, in general. I encourage people to come on out. I don’t cut anyone and we have a big team,” Knox said.

Danny Pham, 20, a radiologic technology major and a previous track and field runner, thinks Coach Knox is really supportive and enjoyed being a part of his team.

“I always felt like he would still cheer me on even if I was the last runner. A couple of my friends and I once found his decathlon record in the books. He’s so fit and healthy. It was cool to have him as my coach,” Pham said.

Marco Ochoa, head coach of the cross-country team at OCC, has known Knox even before he

started working at the school.“I met him while I was coach-

ing at Santa Ana College. I used to recruit his kids back while he was working at Century High,” Ochoa said.

During his summers, Knox does his best to spend as much time with his family as possible. He enjoys reading and catching up with his daughters.

Coming from a small town called Forest, Va., Knox moved to Huntington Beach just before starting high school.

He graduated from Edison High School, where he competed on the track and field team, the cross-country team and wrestling.

While attending OCC, Knox ran and competed for the school on the track and field team for two years.

He transferred to the Califor-nia State Long Beach, where he received his physical education credentials. From there he attend-ed the Azusa Pacific University and earned his master’s degree in education.

BY CRYSTAL HO STAFF WRITER

Photo by Jazmine Fletcher

When not coaching, Knox spends time preparing in his office.

Budget cuts are expected to double in the upcoming school year.BY BRITTANY HAILESTAFF WRITER

PRINCESS: The Belle of the Ball event helped 315 prom goers.

The day began with a speech from actress Janelle Ortiz, 17, from the movie “Prom.”

“Girls have to feel comfort-able in their own skin. It’s important because they have to be able to look at themselves in the mirror and be confident,” Ortiz said.

Throughout the year, of-ficials from Belle of the Ball begin collecting dresses, shoes and accessories so they are able to meet the needs of the girls who sign up. This year they had 1,422 dresses from sizes 0-32, 887 pairs of shoes in all sizes and 899 pieces of jewelry.

Everything was set up in a way to make the day special for the girls. The racks of dresses

were organized by size and color to make it like any other dress shop. Even seamstresses were set and ready to fix any-thing the girls needed.

About 200 volunteers helped assist the girls in picking and choosing everything from the dress to the earrings and became every girl’s very own personal shopper.

As the girls were choosing their accessories, volunteers and organizers said the excite-ment on their faces was what made the day.

“For girls who wouldn’t be able to afford prom and to see how happy and relieved they are -- it’s worth it,” Ve-ronica Escobedo with Girls Inc. said.

In its first year Belle of the Ball fulfilled the dreams of just 10 girls and this year, its fourth, the event was able to make 315 girls happy.

To donate new or used dress-es, shoes and accessories go to girlsinc.org.

SPRING: A plethora of sunshine adds to student’s spring fever.

winter months, when there are longer nights and longer periods of darkness. Many people report more energy during the spring months, when there are shorter nights and there is a decrease in melatonin production,” Melrose said.

Melrose said although spring fever is a vague term, research-ers have addressed mood and behavior changes during the spring season. The Virginia In-stitute for Psychiatric and Behav-

ioral Genetics studied 500 people in the U.S. and Canada and documented that better moods followed spending more time outside on spring days, full of bright sunshine.

“People’s focus at times change with the seasons,” Melrose said. “During times of more light and nicer weather, people start to think ahead toward summer.”

Britnee Pinkerton, an 18-year-old undecided major, said that during spring break she stayed at home playing video games.

“The first day back this week was tiring,” Pinkerton said. “When spring hits, it’s always much more difficult to get to class.”

Melrose said she read an ar-ticle recently saying that human conception spikes in mid-June, right before summer begins. There is a 20 percent higher rate of conception toward the end of spring.

“Even poets seem to point to spring as a time to enjoy love and romance,” Melrose said.

due to their limited amount of volunteers, which is when the OCC Foundation stepped in.

“I think that it is wonderful that the college does this. The college is heroic for taking on the chore,” Lambert said.

The historical society main-tains a database of members who trained or worked at the base while it ran in World War II. It sent out about 1,000 invitations

this year, Lambert said. According to Doug Bennett,

executive director of the OCC Foundation, the reunion has drawn between 60 and 80 peo-ple, including family members, in the last few years. Attendance used to be more than 100 guests, said Lambert, but the number has decreased in recent years.

“Most of the vets are older, are in their mid 80s. It is harder for them to travel now,” Ben-

nett said.Along with OCC, the OC

Fairgrounds, Costa Mesa High School, Costa Mesa City Hall and some of the surrounding residential neighborhoods were also built on the land used for the air base.

The 35th annual Santa Ana Army Air Base reunion will be hosted at the Captain’s Table Restaurant at OCC on April 30.

ARMY: OCC was once the site of the Santa Ana Army Base.From Page 1

Athletics face reductions

Photo by Kelsie Tine

A high school student looks through a rack of dresses.

From Page 1

From Page 1