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Richland

Vol. XLI Issue 6 February 17, 2015

BlackPg. 5History Month:

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C l u b f a i r o n c a m p u s : F i n d i n g h o b b y p a r t n e r sStaff photo Ashling HanMohammed Ayachi introduces his sugar glider friend named Zera at the Richland Zoology Team table.

Staff photo Isai Diaz

Manga, plushie and anime-related items attract new members at the Anime Club table.

Staff photo Isai Diaz

Students play a Wii U set up at the Gaming Club table.Staff photo Ashling Han

Halleyia Aivarez is excited to hold a bearded dragon named Freddy.

No matter what your tastes are, if you are a Richland student and you have a hobby, you can find a club on campus to join. There are plenty of them and they came together Thursday in the first fair club of the spring semester.

Throughout the morning, students learned about the different campus clubs and what activities they offer to members. It was a good chance for many students to select and join clubs.

The Atheist Club joined the club ranks this semester. It was created just a couple of weeks ago. Its president, Andrea Hamilton, explained what the club is about.

“We will discuss issues involving religion and science, and the separation of religion and state. We are not anti-religion at all, we want people of all backgrounds to join us.”

The Atheist Club offered a scientific experience to attract students’ attention. They had a device on the table that looked like a flashlight but was actually a microscope. When pointing the instrument at an object, students could see on a computer screen the object up close. For example; the fibers of a sweater.

The Video Game Club was another one of the groups that caught students’ attention. Its members displayed programs on their computers to show people what games they like to play. Many students stopped by and spent time playing with them. Others just walked by and watched in amazement as club members danced around a speaker that played electronic music.

They had such a party, according to one of the members, Peige Christensen. Games were provided by students associated with the club, “We had a competition last year for ‘Smash Bros.’ We will probably have it again this year,” said Christensen explaining that she joined the club because it is a place to have fun and meet other people.

“Even if you don’t like video games, you can come and play music and dance with me if you like.”

Students who don’t find a club that fit their interests are encouraged to create a new club.

MARTA PLANELLSStaff Writer

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Richland hosts basketball tournamentBLANCA REYESPhotography Editor

The Thunderducks sealed their first place finish in the regular season with a victory against Cedar Valley College, 68-60 Wednes-day night.

Although the Thunderducks were losing by nine points in the first half, Richland came back stronger in the second half and beat the Suns by eight.

“Our guys kind of regroup. [They are] start-ing to defend the ball better, guarding better and rebounding a lot better,” assistant coach Brian Graham said.

Assistant coach Michael Gross said that the team and coaches are taking the victory in stride because the season is not over and now every team knows everyone else’s game. It is like an open window for the opponents.

“It’s hard to beat the same team twice,” Gross said. “It was a wake-up call. I’m glad it was then and not now.”

Because the T-Ducks are conference cham-pions, Richland will play at home during the tournament, which is scheduled to begin next week. Richland ended the regular season with an impressive record of 20-3.

The tournament was rescheduled at press time to be held today through Saturday. The six conference teams will take part.

The Thunderducks were rescheduled today at 6 p.m. at home against the winner of the first round, which was scheduled for Saturday at Northlake College.

Richland’s coaches and players are cautious about their achievements and are still working hard to be ready for tonight’s game. Graham said that the team does not have the luxury of days off at this point of the season.

“Everybody in our conference has the abil-ity to beat us,” Graham said.

“We see each team twice, so there is nothing to be seen,” Gross said.

Even though the T-Ducks have a home court advantage over the other teams because of their conference win, they still either have to win the upcoming tournament or win a playoff game afterward if they are going to the national tournament. Richland doesn’t want to take chances, though.

“Losing the championship game [last year] make us to want to do it better,” center Ish-mael Donzo said.

According to Donzo this year’s team is han-dling the pressure better than last year’s and they have a good chance to finish this season on the top because of the hard work done over the season.

“That night we need to bring energy. We need to play hard on defense,” Donzo said.

Graham said that the team is prepared to take this challenge and do everything they can do in order to get the results they want and bring home the championship.

“I think we have a chance, but everything [depends on] the outcome of our perfor-mance,” Graham said.

For more information about the team vis-it www.richlandcollege.edu/basketball or stop by Guadalupe Hall, Room G-120.

Classical music reinvented: loadbangMARTA PLANELLSStaff Writer

Everything has its place. Every style of mu-sic has a stage.

To see an opera you go to a theater, but to see a Katy Perry concert you should go to a basketball arena or football stadium. The same goes for liturgical music. You might think that it is unique and exclusive to churches. Until recently.

The band loadbang breaks with the conven-tions of classical music incorporating it into its repertoire in a totally innovative way. Rich-land students enjoyed this new chamber music during the concert that this New York quartet performed on campus last Tuesday.

Its members, Andy Kozar (trumpet), Will Lang (trombone), Adrian Sandi (bass clarinet) and Jeff Gavett (baritone) chose liturgical mu-sic as the theme for its visit to Richland and played a selection from the “Missa de Nostre Dame de Guillaume de Machaut,” with parts of a Andy Kozar composed piece.

You only need a minute to know you are dealing with something entirely new. The way they employ the instruments, incorporating small objects that change their sound, is clever and unique. The lyrics don’t just tell a story, they become part of the sound.

It is precisely this “new use” they bring to the lyrics that is irreverent in loadbang. “The sounds of the words are broken into pieces. Instead, using the text for a semantic meaning, the text becomes purely sonic,” Gavett said.

Since its founding in 2008, loadbang has premiered more than 200 works. While playing liturgical music at Richland, the band worked to do more than that.

“Our work is writing, improvising and com-missioning new works to be written for the ensemble. We are always playing brand new music,” Gavett said.

It was a good opportunity for students to relate to the world of musical creativity. The band gave one final tip to the students: “The important thing is that you will play with the sounds, giving them new uses. Create music that you like.”

Staff photo Ashling Han

Coordinator enjoys working with studentsJOYCE JACKSONCopy Editor

Kristi Nealy has only been at Richland for a few weeks, but she already has some creative ideas to coincide with her new position as stu-dent life coordinator in the Office of Student Life in El Paso Hall.

Nealy, 39, has previous experience working in a similar position at Odessa College.

“I wanted to return to it, to working with other people, being able to be creative and im-pacting other peoples’ lives in a positive and productive way,” she said.

Nealy has a B.B.A. degree in marketing from Angelo State University in San Angelo.

As student life coordinator, Nealy works with student organizations and programming and assists with student government.

Nealy said she likes Richland and feels wel-come here.

“I feel like I fit in. Everybody has been so nice. People are happy here. I’m glad to be here. I’m glad to be a Thunderduck,” she said.

One thing Nealy said she really likes about the campus is the culture.

“To me, it’s the diversity, all the different cultures that are here; ages, educational back-grounds. The culture at Richland is energetic,” she said. “It’s very accepting. People treat oth-er people with respect. That’s the one thing that I really like about being here. You don’t

feel intimidated. It’s refreshing.”Nealy said she has some creative ideas for

her new position. “I know that one of my goals is to help our

student life be the leader in the district for the other campuses, to bring unique new ideas that you probably wouldn’t see on a college campus,” Nealy said.

One idea concerns free massages, which are offered at Richland during finals week.

“I want to expand that into more of a spa event,” she said. “We used to do ‘Spa Day’ at my campus. We would decorate the whole room to look like a spa. We had food and gave door prizes. That’s one of my ideas.”

Nealy said this is one idea that she brought to her previous employer, Odessa College.

When Nealy isn’t working, her hobbies in-clude cooking, shopping, traveling and danc-ing, especially to salsa music.

Loadbang pleases the crowd by performing innovative works of liturgical music.

New OSL employee, Kristi Nealy.

Sports schedule

Staff photo Blanca Reyes

Ishmael Donzon grabs a rebound in a game against Mountain View.

Today through SaturdayConference Tournament

BaseballWednesdayDallas Christian JV 1 p.m.Dallas Christian JV 3 p.m.

FridayNorthlake College 2 p.m.

SaturdayNorthlake College 11 a.m.

Staff photo Ashling Han

Basketball

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My early Oscar predictions take 2

“Birdman or (“The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance”) B - Michael Keaton is a washed-up actor staging a one-man show on Broadway who deals with a variety of pre-dicaments and problems preceding the opening of his play.

“Fury” B+ - Brad Pitt is commander of a platoon of soldiers facing predicaments aplenty in Germany at the end of World War II.

“John Wick” B - Keanu Reeves is the title character

here, a former assassin-for-hire who gets pulled back into the seething underworld he thought he left behind.

“Stonehearst Asylum” C+ - This is an intriguing tale about various denizens of a mental institution that in-cludes Michael Caine, Jim Sturgess, Kate Beckinsale and Ben Kingsley.

“St. Vincent” B - Bill Murray is a curmudgeon of an old man who befriends a next door neighbor kid (Jaeden Lieberher) who learns to fend for himself in the everyday world.

Ricky’sTake 5

“Still Alice” — Julianne Moore is a college professor struggling with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. Grade: B “Seventh Son” — Jeff Bridges is Master Gregory, a knight-for-hire who has to battle Julianne Moore’s Mother Malkin, who turns into a ferocious fire-breathing dragon. C“Jupiter Ascending” — Channing Tatum (“21 Jump Street”) and Mila Kunis ( “Black Swan”) headline this tale in which Earth is just one of many inhabited planets in the universe. Not necessarily an awful movie, but one that just disappoints. C-

“Kingsman: The Secret Service” — Fun, violent and engaging tale from “Kick-Ass” director Matthew Vaughn that centers on Taron Egerton’s streetwise kid who becomes a secret agent after some run ins with the law. Colin Firth, Mark Strong and Samuel L. Jackson, who speaks with a funky little lisp, all shine in this fun little ride. A-“Fifty Shades of Grey” — This is an overblown melodrama that is almost on par with “Showgirls” for degree of awfulness. Dakota Johnson (TV’s “Ben and Kate”) is the naïve young girl who gets pulled into the world of masochist Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan) C-

This is the second part of a two-part series. The big guns in the best actor’s race are

poised for a showdown befiting a couple of titans who are well liked in Tinseltown. In one corner there is the first actor in the modern era to tackle the role of Batman, Michael Keaton, in “Birdman.” In the opposing corner is Steve Carrell as millionaire Jon DuPont, a wealthy sports enthusiast who wants to see America back on top in wrestling in “Foxcatcher.”

Also nominated are Benedict Cumberbatch for “The Imitation Game,” Eddie Redmayne for his portrayal of Stephen Hawking in “The Theory of Everything” and Bradley Cooper as sniper Chris Kyle in “American Sniper.”

Early predictions were in the Carrell court. I’m sticking to my guns on this one, since he will probably take home the golden statuette.

Best Actress — This is another tight race. Carrell won in the crazy court so that almost disqualifies Rosamund Pike for “Gone Girl,” as a crazy person to the Nth degree. The Os-cars always relish a disease and that’s why Juli-anne Moore will win as the English professor suffering from early onset Alzheimer’s in “Still

Alice.”Also nominated are Felicity Jones for “The

Theory of Everything,” Marion Cotillard for “Two Days, One Night” and Reese With-erspoon in the Pacific Coast Highway trek “Wild.”

Director — Best director, without ques-tion, will be Richard Linklater for “Boyhood.” Just like the unanimous decision of Alfonso Cuaron for “Gravity,” this one seems geared for a winner in Linklater.

Also nominated this year are Wes Anderson for “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” Morten Tyl-dum for “The Imitation Game,” Bennett Mill-er for “Foxcatcher” and Alejendro González Iñárritu for “Birdman” or “The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance.”

Best Picture — I hate to say it, but it looks like the year of “Boyhood,” even though “American Sniper” and “Birdman” both have received nothing but accolades. Lest America forget the other works of excellence that were nominated, other contenders are “Selma,” “Whiplash,” “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” “The Theory of Everything” and “The Imita-tion Game.”

The Oscars ceremony will be broadcast on ABC on Feb. 22.

RICKY MILLEREntertainment Editor

Oscar predictions: Pt. 2

“Glory” (1989) — Denzel Washington won his first Oscar as Pvt. Trip, who joins the North’s all-volunteer black regiment, the 54th, in the Civil War. The solid cast includes Matthew Broderick (“Ferris Beueller’s Day Off ”), Cary Elwes (“The Princesss Bride”) and Oscar winner Morgan Freeman (“Million Dollar Baby”). Grade: A

“Boyz N the Hood” (1991) — Director John Singleton was just 24 when he directed this slice-of-life tale about growing up in south cen-tral L.A. Laurence Fisburne was Oscar nomi-nated for his role as patriarch Furious Styles. He was the caregiver to Cuba Gooding. Jr.’s Tre. A-

“American Gangster” (2007) — Direc-tor Ridley Scott helmed this tale about Denzel Washington’s family man gangster Frank Lucas and his rise to power in 1970s New York City. Also involved is Russell Crowe’s cop Richie Rob-erts, who has personal dilemmas of his own. A-

— Ricky Miller

MyTop

3picks for

BlackHistory Month

Staff illustration Quan Tran

Staff illustration Kisten S. Chetty

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BSA takes time to share prideMELANIE BRANDOWEditor-in-Chief

African-American read-intween the youth of today and the times of the past,” Merritt said.

Merritt said the event will consist of the spoken word, readings from Ameri-can poet, novelist and playwright Langs-ton Hughes, poet Maya Angelou, perhaps best known for her autobiographies and world-renowned poet, writer and educa-tor Nikki Giovanni. Included will also be original pieces by students and Richland staff.

So far, 22 people have signed up to take part in the event at the Office of Student Life (OSL) in El Paso Hall, Room 040.

The read-in is sponsored by the Af-rican-American Connection, African-American Black Studies and the OSL. All events are free and open to the public.

JOYCE JACKSONCopy Editor

There are many events taking place this month at Richland as part of Black History Month.

One of them is the African-American Read-In from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Feb. 25 in the cafeteria. It’s open to students, staff, faculty and administrators.

Cedric V. A. Merritt, program services specialist for Career Services, said this will be the 12th year Richland has participated in the read-in.

“It’s to celebrate the contributions of African-American authors, poets, play-wrights and to foster the relationship be-

My truth about black history

History in our country is displayed ev-ery day through one’s visions and truth. One may feel about certain occurrences, create scenic well-rounded assumptions about belief or disbelief, that make up cultural awareness whether it be fair or not.

Color added to that particular stan-dard is just that, color. When I think of black history the word “black” isn’t re-ally that important to me because we, as Americans, whether black, beige, white or brown stand to make history every day in our lives based on decisions we make and partake in.

These decisions will affect the way we make history as people, hopefully in a positive sense, but sometimes we make a decision that will affect history nega-tively. That is disturbing, yet true. I want to share a few thoughts on some history-making events that involve both blacks and whites and have had enormous im-pact on our beloved country.

Police shootings, justified or not, have made our citizens react in some of the

JEROME ROBINSON IIStaff Writer

largest civil protests ever seen, from coast to coast involving marches larger than some led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the mid-60s.

Another movement that has changed the way I look at history in general is the gay rights movement/agenda. There’s no color to this history-making, impactful movement, events are taking place in this country that are huge, and no one month or color can capture the strength and pres-tige they hold.

Black people, famous or not, have had a number of history-making moments that are great and deserving of note, so many that I can’t possibly name all. But here are a few of the most famous and deserving people: Russell Simmons, (activist), Presi-dent Barack Obama and Oprah Winfrey (mogul). The list definitely goes on and on, but it’s the people who make history ev-ery day, in my humble opinion, that make our history great and undefined. The way their humble spirit is silently drawn by the strong pull of what they love, that is love, because that is what history is all about.

Love thyself. Love thy neighbor. When we all do that we create better history.

Staff illustration Isai Diaz

Not only does the month of February represent Valentine’s Day and sweethearts, it is also a month for the black community to take pride in its history. The Black Student Association (BSA) at Richland is reaching out to the student body with the desire to help other communities.

Government faculty and BSA sponsor Rolanda Randle perceives Black History Month as giving the black community an opportunity to share their con-tributions with people who may not be aware of how they are an integral part of the country. “We celebrate it 365 days a year. It’s a time specifically set aside for that.”

Anthony Simpson, a 19-year-old broadcast jour-nalism major and BSA president, thinks that Black History Month is not as important to people today.

“It isn’t really viewed [as] such an important time of the year. It is only overlooked because people think it has to be as important as everything else is. It doesn’t really pop out to everyone else as far as cul-ture goes, simply because it’s given to us.”

Simpson also feels that, “It’s more of like we are here now and we have to deal with it.

“We can rise. We can help one another out, instead of trashing everything,” BSA vice president Andrew Carter said. The 20-year-old animation major holds a special place for the black community and others that are not a part of it.

He believes that because our ancestors continued to stand up and fight for what we have today, it will be easier to help one another. Carter said this is what the BSA stands for and hopes to achieve.

“This is Richland College and we’re going to help out. This is funded by the dean, he wanted this him-self.”

Carter feels that Black History Month is being pushed to the back burner and not enough time is spent to appreciate a short month of recognition from public schools.

“There’s a lot of things in black culture that go way back, even to Egypt. And you can’t learn all that in a month,” said Carter.

He also feels that it should be the same way with any other race or culture. “I mean one month is a nice start, but wouldn’t it be nice to do this every day?” Carter believes that Black History Month doesn’t necessarily have to be all about the black community.

“There’s so many other great people. John F. Ken-nedy. Abraham Lincoln,” he said, naming some of those who have helped with the black community.

When asked why Black History Month was impor-tant, Carter replied, “I’m mixed but still have black in me and I love it. We have a whole month centered toward our race and it’s a beautiful thing. I’m black and I say it loud and I say it proud.”

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Microsoft’s Windows latest features

JONATHAN JOHNSONStaff Writer

Microsoft had a press conference at the end of January revealing the latest Windows fea-tures and opening the curtains on some new tech.

The press conference started with a bang, confirming that the operating system dubbed Windows 10 would be a free upgrade for Win-dows 7, 8 and 8.1 users for this year only, put-ting to rest some misconceptions about the software’s free release to previous versions of Windows, stating it would be free for life, no hidden fees or trial time.

Additionally with Windows 10, scheduled to launch this fall, Microsoft announced that the operating system will run natively on all Windows products including Xbox One and various Windows phones. Some new features came to the operating system and the most an-ticipated would be Cortana Microsoft’s voice command AI.

A previous installment introduced to the Windows phone that now makes its debut on Windows 10. Of course, like many early prod-ucts that Microsoft has to offer, it is best to wait a week or two for solid reviews and/or patches to the operating system. Many users, like myself, are a bit skeptical about Windows 10 because of the additional features included in the software package.

Let’s take Cortana for example. Cortana is integrated into every aspect of Windows 10 including the operating system itself. Because of its integrated artifacts in the system, the computer running Windows 10 may anchor in performance or network speed, due to Cor-tana constantly running in the background. Windows 8/8.1 had this same issue during the introduction of its Metro UI interface.

Various users would report performance problems with their operating system because of the moving tiles and the fact that the actual Metro UI runs in the background.

That stated, with Windows 10, they’ve de-

CHRONICLE Richland

STUDENT MEDIA LEADERSEditor-in-ChiefLayout Editor

Photography EditorEntertainment Editor

Copy Editor

Melanie Brandow Kisten S. ChettyBlanca ReyesRicky MillerJoyce Jackson

ON THE COVERBlack History Month

COVER AND FONTSStaff illustration Quan Tran

Certain cover fonts are provided by the following:http://www.nymfont.com - http://www.bvfonts.com

STUDENT MEDIA STAFFIsai Diaz

Audrey MortonAugustine Mukoka

Jerome Robinson IIJames Schrader

Crissy AshleyAbraham Igene

Quan TranPete ShannonJoe StumpoLydia NigussieMarta PlanellsJonathan Johnson

STUDENT MEDIA ADVISERSErica EdwardsJack Fletcher

David GoodloeTim Jones

Steve NovielloLarry RatliffMarshall Siegel

ISSUE DATESFebruary 17February 24

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1st Place - TIPA Sweepstakes, 20053rd Place - TIPA Online, 2005 & 2006

1st Place – TCCJA Overall General Excellence, 2014Over 170 Texas college journalism awards since 2000

CONTACT INFORMATIONEl Paso Hall, Room E-020, 12800 Abrams Rd. Dallas, 75243

Newsroom: 972-238-6079 E-mail: richanchronicle@gmail.comAdvertising: 972-238-6068 E-mail: advertise@dcccd.edu

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Letter PolicyLetters to the editor may be edited for space. They will be edited for spelling, grammar and malicious or libelous statements. Letters must be the work of the writer and must be signed. For identification and verification purposes, letters also must include the writer’s classification (grade level), full name, address and telephone number, although address and telephone number will not be published.

Editorial PolicyThe Chronicle is the official student-produced newspaper of Richland College. Editorials, cartoons, columns and letters are the opinions of individual students and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of other individual student writers, editors, advisers or the college administration.

© Richland Chronicle 2014

cided to ditch the tile interface and cram it into the start menu. Little is to be said about the customization features in Windows 10, but as I see it, we all have a year to wait and that’s probably best for both Microsoft and the con-sumer.

Eagerly pushing Windows 10 aside, Micro-soft’s new tech has enthusiasts and gamers buzzing all over the Internet about the new tech called, HoloLens. It is an augmented real-ity headset much like the Oculus Rift, but with more functionality.

HoloLens takes you beyond the gaming world and puts you into real life, rendering 3-D objects. From videos loading on your ta-

ble, to playing Minecraft and seeing a creeper blow up through the walls of your house, Ho-loLens takes it to another level of technology. Sounds like science fiction, right?

Peter Bright of Ars Technica said, “Micro-soft’s HoloLens is flat-out magical – 2015, the year that sci-fi becomes real.”

Without a doubt, we are in the future and the new Microsoft HoloLens not only is the next step, but it also moves imagination for-ward from the virtual world to the real world.

As for Windows 10, we’ll have to see. Keep your hopes high, because it’s Microsoft we’re talking about.

News briefs

Virtual reality even closer with HoloLens

In honor of DCCCD’s founding chancellor, Eastfield College will be host-ing a tribute ceremony in its performance hall to honor the late Dr. Bill J. Priest. It will be held on Wednesday from 2 to 4 p.m. The commemoration is open to all DCCCD staff and the community. East-field College is located at 3737 Motley Drive, Mesquite, TX 75150.

Due to conference and profes-sional development days, Both day and evening classes will not meet on Thursday due to the conference and professional development days. Classes will not meet during the day Friday, but Friday evening, Saturday and Sunday classes will meet as scheduled.

Black history events:Wednesday: A Black History play by play-wright Willis Holmes will be presented at11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Fannin Performance Hall, Room 102.A meet and greet will follow.Friday:“Richland’s Got Talent” show,will be held in the Cafeteria, at noon.

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Wearing red to fight heart diseaseLYDIA NIGUSSIEStaff Writer

National Wear Red Day was Feb. 6. The American Heart Association created Go Red For Women in response to the fact that cardio-vascular disease kills approximately 500,000 American women each year.

Sponsored by Macy’s, Go Red For Women is a dedicated group of women educating, re-searching and contributing improvements to heart health.

Red expresses the unity of other organiza-tions that commit to woman’s health and want to support a healthier lifestyle. Students and faculty of Richland joined the movement by the awareness demonstrated in their wardrobe.

Linda Patzke, RN, who works at the Rich-land Health Center, said, “My favorite thing about nursing is helping people when they’re in a vulnerable state to feel more comfortable and to feel like they’re going to be taken care of.”

Patzke has been at the Health Center for one month. She was also wearing red.

According to the American Heart Associa-tion, one in three women die due to heart dis-ease or stroke. Strokes are actually the No. 3 cause of death for women, who have a higher risk of facing a stroke, with one in five experi-encing it at least once in their lifetime.

Stroke risk increases for women, especially during pregnancy and preeclampsia (high blood pressure during pregnancy). Women who smoke, take birth control pills, hormone replacement therapies or experience migraines with aura have an increased risk, too.

Spreading awareness is critical because heart disease is usually unnoticed. “Women overlook it because they’re taking care of their family, they’re taking care of other people and they forget to take care of their own selves,” Patzke said.

In the past, heart disease was viewed as a disease affecting elderly men. Heart disease can easily affect anyone if it is ignored.

Patzke said there are symptoms, such as tightness and pain in the chest and loss or shortness of breath. When the condition gets severe, it can still be reversible unless the dam-age has reached the heart. The next step would be to go immediately to a hospital or call 911.

According to the American Heart Associa-tion it is also crucial to know your family’s health history. High cholesterol, high blood pressure or high blood sugar levels and obesity cause heart disease and can be passed down hereditarily. If you see history in your family tree, the chances of heart disease go higher.

A regimen reducing one’s chances of heart disease can begin by reducing sugar intake. Sugar-sweetened beverages have become a huge source of added sugar, along with items, candy and ice scream. Read the nutrition la-bels at grocery stores before you make any purchases. According to the American Heart Association, consuming a lot of added sugar is a leading cause of the obesity epidemic. Check for added sugars like molasses, syrup or ingredients that usually end with “ose.” These are sugars added during processing and are known to increase the risk of heart disease.

Try to enjoy fruits instead of desserts and maybe sparkling water, unsweetened tea or buying 100 percent juices with no added sugar. You can also try replacing sugars with fruits and spices like cinnamon or ginger in your drinks or meals. These are good first steps to following a healthier lifestyle. Discipline your eating habits and participate in physical activ-ity. You can start lightly by walking more and doing crunches. Yoga and breathing exercises can also help the heart.

The American Heart Association finds it beneficial to go outside at least 30 minutes a day five times a week. Above all, get examined periodically. Let the doctor catch any signs or warnings before it is too late.

Patzke provides checkups at the Health Center, which is located in Thunderduck Hall, Room T-110.

The Health Center is open Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Fridays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. They are closed Saturday and Sunday.

If you or a friend have symptoms, get checked out. You can go red every day by sim-ply being aware.

Photo Courtesy Keenan CobbRichland students and faculty show their support in the fight against heart disease by wearing red.

Today12:30 to 1:30 p.m. Richland College Voice Faculty performanceFree – open to the public

11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Mardi Gras – El Paso HallFree food and beads

Noon to 1 p.m. Fusion Band, Cafeteria Stage“Mardi Gras” (Fat Tuesday) Concert

ThursdayNo classes today – Conference Day

Upcoming Events

Wednesday11 a. m. to 1 p.m. “Suspects in America”By Willie HolmesMeet and greet afterward

Inclement Weather Hotline:

972-238-6196

For Richland employees:972-238-6912

Information available after 6 a.m.

FridayNo day classes but Friday evening classes, Saturday and Sunday classes meetas scheduled

Feb. 267 to 9 p.m. “Une place sur terre/A Place on Earth”Sabine Hall, Room 118Free movie – open to the public

Feb. 24Chronicle Issue 7 on newsstands

Staff illustration Isai Diaz

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