the advocate - sept. 30, 2009
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Sept. 30, 2009 issueTRANSCRIPT
Rivetingreturn
WWII recreated in production
Site to seemakeover Web page redesignnearing completion
By Asia CamagongSPECIAL PROJECTS EDITOR
In response to a $57 mil-lion deficit, AC Transit is formulating a proposal to eliminate and reroute vari-ous bus lines in its transit district.
Although definite chang-es will not be approved until Oct. 14, bus riders can take the initiative and vocalize their input on the proposal, possibly saving their route of transportation from falling victim to the service cuts.
The 2009 Service Adjustments Plan, featuring a list of modifications made to lines in west Contra Costa County, Alameda County and the Transbay, gives face to a number of considered changes that cut bus services by 15 percent.
“The economy has soured, and our funding basis has dried up completely,” AC Transit Manager of Media Affairs Clarence Johnson said. “We’re left with no alternative but to try to do more with less, and it’s a very difficult thing to do.”
According to the proposal posted on the company Web site, www.actransit.org, 23 complete bus lines and seg-ments of bus lines may be discontinued in west Contra Costa County, while others are subject to a change in routing.
Reacting to the potential changes, students voiced concerns about the reliability of public transportation.
Nursing major Nancy Reyes, a frequent bus rider, said the changes could affect the time it takes her to get to school and work.
A number of the pro-posed changes will affect local bus riders that depend on bus transportation to get to Contra Costa College.
“If you discontinue one line, it could mess up (some-one’s) whole life,” nursing major Kena Bates said.
Local lines coming through CCC, including Lines 70, 71, 72, 74 and 76, are facing possible adjust-ments.
Line 70, currently
C M Y K C M Y K
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THE WEEKLY STUDENT VOICE OF CONTRA COSTA COLLEGE, SAN PABLO, CALIF.SINCE 19506 PAGES, ONE COPY FREE
VOL. 93, NO. 4WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 30, 2009
ACCENTADVOCATE.COM
StalemateMen’s soccer
ends in 2-2 tie
scene page 6◆ sports page 5◆
Buslinesshift,cease
■ SEE TRANSIT: Page 3
SAM ATTAL / THE ADVOCATE
Giving back — Middle College High School senior Kristi Phan (left) and nursing major Andre Dayto plant vegetation on campus during Rheem Creek Volunteer Day Saturday. The event attracted more than 65 volunteers to help add nearly 100 plants to the area.
WORKING TOGETHER
A wrong moveClosure of lab for dis-abled stu-dents is an unnecessary disaster that can be fully avoided through improved effort and volunteer-ism.
page 2
editorial
Despite
recent
revision,
rules
still
blurry
AC Transit reacts to $57 million deficit
Lighting up —Student David Payne smokes a Black & Mild in front of the Humani-ties Buildingwhile wait-ing for his next class to begin Monday.
GEORGE MORIN / THE ADVOCATE
By Sam AttalASSOCIATE EDITOR
More than 65 local volunteers were covered in dirt, weeds and mud from planting vegetation for a campus watershed project Saturday.
The Urban Creeks Council, a Berkeley-based organization, helped Contra Costa College and Middle College High School students work with community members to show their support for the Rheem Creek restoration project.
“I’ve been meaning to help out and clean this school,” CCC alumna Gaby Plaza said. “The school has done a lot for me, so I feel like I’m giving back to it.”
The volunteers worked to clear the campus creek, at a location near the Student Activities Building and Student Services Center, of weeds and other harmful vegetation and put in nearly 100 new plants from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
The volunteer-run project started in mid-2008 and has focused on creating a more habitat-rich ecological system on campus while educating stu-dents, Urban Creeks Council Executive Director Phil Stevens said.
“(Students are) out here learning what it takes to restore an ecosystem,” Stevens said. “(The event) gives them a sense of ownership.”
Volunteers have worked together since the start of the project to remove non-native vegetation to allow creek-friendly plants to grow.
So far, 85 species of plants have been put in the soil.
The project, however, is nowhere near comple-tion, Stevens said.
“It’ll be 3-5 years before it becomes a real beautiful place,” he said.
Stevens said the Urban Creeks Council plans to host creek restoration volunteer days on the last Saturday of every month.
By Jack AndersonSPECIAL PROJECTS EDITOR
Responding to a 62 percent cut to matric-ulation funding, the English as a second language department has been left scram-bling for a way to properly assess incoming students.
The department has not accepted any new assessments since the start of the semester and is searching for a new way to pay for the test by the time the spring semester starts, or they will have to change their assessment process.
Matriculation money is used to provide services, such as counseling and assessment, for students before they register or enroll.
“Matriculation is the process of entering and leaving (Contra Costa College) with goals,” Matriculation Services Coordinator Kenyetta Tribble said.
All assessment is done through matricu-lation, but the ESL assessment is a longer, more involved and more expensive process, Tribble said.
While some students only take a basic computerized test, she said, ESL students
By Holly PabloEDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Faced with the obligation to further reduce student ser-vices and address the state-wide budget deficit, college administrators have chosen to risk the educational devel-opment of some of its most vulnerable students — those with physical and learning disabilities.
Effective Thursday, the Disabled Students Programs and Services (DSPS) High Tech Center in CTC-109, a computer lab equipped with specialized equipment and adaptive software, will be closed indefinitely, DSPS Manager Yasuko Abe said.
Student Alberta Henry said the lab is a vital part of her learning experience.
“The teachers in class sometimes move too fast,
Center closing doorsState reductions force DSPS lab shutdown
Cuts hitprogramAssessment struggles to muster funding
Smoking policy clouded by ignorance, rebellion
By Adam OliverSTAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
A cloud of obscurity has sur-rounded the smoking policy on cam-pus since its revision in 2006 and has left many students unaware of just what is acceptable.
After the revision, Contra Costa College was made a smoke-free campus in an effort to provide stu-dents with a healthy environment
free of secondhand smoke.The policy, posted on signs
throughout campus, states that smok-ing is allowed only in parking areas located at least 25 feet from the entrance or exit of any building.
These signs hardly seem to stop people, however, as many students smoke on campus regularly, President McKinley Williams said.
“Obviously some folks are not aware of (the policy), and hopefully
■ SEE SMOKING: Page 3
■ SEE DSPS: Page 3
■ SEE ESL: Page 3■ SEE CREEK: Page 3
campus beat page 4◆
R E S T O R I NG theENV IRONMENT
WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 30, 2009 ● VOL. 93, NO. 4
EditorialsDepriving the needyDisabled students’ lab
must be preservednformed just a week prior on Sept. 23, the Disabled Students Programs and Services (DSPS) facilitators
were notified to perform two layoffs and shutdown the High Tech Center, a laboratory equipped with specialized computer software, on Thursday.
Because of the $193 million reduc-tion to categorical programs statewide, institutions are making cuts to essential services crucial for disabled student success.
“They might as well cut the legs off the disabled,” DSPS student lab assistant Brad Fisher said. “That’s what they’re doing, just taking the legs out from under them.”
It is ridiculous and ultimately coun-terproductive to eliminate the lab before carefully thinking about the conse-quences. While the college will save money in operational costs, the dam-age to students’ social and educational development is worth much more.
Rather than fully surrendering to the budget crisis, more creative efforts should be taken to continue providing the 1,000 students in the DSPS program with educational planning, individual counseling and adaptive technologies.
In one year, the program’s operational budget was slashed 45 percent.
While there is a shortage in money to pay for workers, the college needs to quickly identify ways to offer similar services with fewer resources, such as recruiting and training multiple volun-teers to fill the vacant positions.
If the program no longer accom-modates students with the lab, it could jeopardize their confidence and pre-paredness to pursue future endeavors.
Vice President Carol Maga said plans to reopen the center in the future have not yet been determined, but alternate solutions are being considered, such as keeping the center open, but with reduced time slots.
In addition, with the layoffs of com-puter aided instuction lab coordinator Eric Appel and one student worker, much more is being taken than access to computers.
Dismissing DSPS personnel ruins the intimate and positive relationship between students and helpers that make education more enjoyable and effec-tive.
“(The lab personnel) take their time to explain things,” student Alberta Henry said. “(They) help the students understand their curriculum better.”
By downsizing assistance, the pro-gram places students at a higher risk of struggling to accomplish their goals.
Recruiting volunteers to provide the lost services is the wise solution.
As a college and overall society, there is an obligation to acknowledge every student and provide helpful services with no regard to abilities or disabili-ties.
I
“Not necessarily. I think that there should be accommodations for those who smoke, and it should be in an open space.”
Sara Scottundecided
CampusComment
Should the campus smoking policy be stricter?
“It is a public area and not everyone should be exposed to smoking, because we all know what the effects of sec-ondhand smoke are.”
Pamela Chacha biology
“I don’t like walking around and having the smell, (because) it really bothers me.”
Gabriela Diaznursing
“There’s a lot of ‘No smoking’ (signs), but then a lot of times you see people smoking there. It’s right by the buildings, so you can’t really avoid it.”
Michelle SaechaoMCHS
“Yeah, it should be (stricter), because some people don’t like the smell of the smoke.”
Eligio Avilaconstruction
“No, because people aren’t really bothered too much by it. You barely even notice peo-ple smoking any more.”
Jordan Williamsart
Quotable“Freedom comes at a hell
of a price. It is not guaran-teed. It is fragile. It must be constantly championed and
defended.”
Allen H. Neuharth The Freedom Forum founder
1994
Holly Pabloeditor-in-chief
Sam Attal
associate editor
Asia Camagongassociate editor
Alec Surmaniassociate editor
Cassandra Junielspotlight editor
Diana Reyesopinion editor
Dariush Azmoudehsports editor
Lamar Jamesnews editor
Brent Baintoscene editor
Jack Andersonspecial projects editor
Isaac Thomasphoto editor
Erik Verduzcoassistant photo editor
Paul DeBoltfaculty adviser
Staff writersNatalie Estrada
Anthony FarrChad Garcia
Malcolm LastraMaria Martinez
Jon PinlacKristina Plaza
Alexandra Waite
Staff photographersCrystal Joy BisGeorge Morin
Adam OliverDesmond Sylva
Brian YoungRoman Young
Staff illustratorsJames Heck
Cody McFarlandJoel Ode
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CRYSTAL JOY BIS AND NATALIE ESTRADA / THE ADVOCATE
Homeless population deserves same respect
■ Gratitude
hile eating lunch one day in Berkeley, I noticed a
man in his early 20s sitting a few tables across from where I was sitting who was inces-santly staring at me.
I ignored it for the first couple of minutes, but then I began to get uncomfortable. Shortly after, he stood up, but I noticed he was heading over toward the garbage bin near me.
Sure enough, he began to reach in the trash and pulled out a box with leftovers and then sat down to eat. This man was not alone, however, as he was accompanied by a young woman who also looked around his age.
It was overwhelming to see how two people close to my age were already experi-encing such a lifestyle.
Of course, I am not igno-rant of the fact that this could happen to anyone, and that I have seen young people as young as can be without a home. But when you are sit-ting next to two people who clearly are in more need of that meal than you are, there is a feeling of selfishness that begins to take you over. At least that is how I felt.
As the two of them sat down and began to eat, I became hesitant to continue my meal. Instead, I walked over to their table, and hop-ing I would not offend either one of them, I asked, “Hey, would you guys like me to buy you lunch?”
Without hesitation, both of them took the offer. The expression on their faces revealed profound gratitude, and I could not get over it.
“Hey, ah, we really appre-
ciate you buying us food and drinks,” the man said. “You have no idea how hungry we were and how disgusting it is to dig in the trash for left-overs.”
Maybe I do not personally know what it is like to live under such cir-cumstanc-es, but that is exactly why I chose not to disre-gard their situation and to help them eat some good food.
Unfortunately, not every-one feels that way, and the more people keep telling themselves negative things about others or begin to resentfully generalize, the refusal to help those who are clearly in need will begin to manifest into our existence.
Sometimes we may not be as lucky as the rest, and it is needless to say that someone out there will always have it worse than us.
Poverty has been an exist-ing problem since the begin-ning of time, and I am sure we do not always firmly recognize how big of a prob-
lem it is until it hits us one way or another. This could happen when we run out of money for our bills or when we simply cannot afford to treat ourselves to something to eat when we go out with our friends.
Think about how unfor-tunate we feel when we can-not pay for our own food as we watch everyone fill their stomachs. Now imagine how despondent individu-als without a roof over their head feel when they cannot even hope for a meal within the next couple of hours or maybe even days.
Life has taught me that even at its worst, there is always something or some-one out there that will bring me a little bit of comfort. It is also important to remem-ber that one can suffer from loneliness as much as they can suffer from hunger.
The fact that they are living without a home, and most likely without a family, does not mean they are guilty of something in life, or that they chose to strictly live that lifestyle. Many do not have the support system most of us do, or even someone who will generously lend a hand.
The homeless are con-stantly forgotten people, and we should not forget our responsibilities to treat all humans with respect.
Like the Greek philoso-pher Plato said, “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fight-ing a hard battle.”
Diana Reyes is opinion editor of The Advocate. Contact her at [email protected].
JAMES HECK/ THE ADVOCATE
dianareyes
W
THE ADVOCATE l WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 30, 20092 OPINION
One
can suffer
from
loneliness
as much
as they can
suffer from
hunger.
mapped to travel between Richmond BART and CCC, would be changed to operate only from the Richmond Parkway Transit Center to Richmond BART. Riders will need to take Line 71 for a service to Parchester Village and Atlas Road.
Also rerouted between the Richmond transit center and BART, Line 71 will no longer provide a service between CCC and Hilltop Mall.
Line 72, currently traveling from Hilltop Mall to Jack London Square, would oper-ate between CCC and Hilltop Mall through Moyers Road and Groom Drive.
Also, the weekend frequency of Line 72 would be reduced to 40 minutes.
“Most of the community takes (Line 72), so it’s going to be hard for most to get around,” radiology major William Brown said. “(The changes are) a bigger burden on some people.”
Line 74, though still stopping at CCC, is planned to discontinue service to Orinda BART and the Richmond Marina, changing its route to start at Castro Ranch Road and move toward El Cerrito Plaza BART.
Service after 9 p.m. may be elimi-nated and week-end evening hours extended by a half hour to an hour.
The segment from the Richmond Parkway Transit Center to Hilltop Mall in Line 76 would be terminated, traveling only from Hilltop Mall to CCC.
Johnson said the cuts were determined by the availability of funding for and necessity of services, he said.
“We (began) by streamlining our service and (looking at) lines that were underuti-lized,” Johnson said. “We tried to see if we could make them more useful, more efficient by combining them or eliminating a line all together.”
Though the company has already made changes, such as an increase in bus fare, layoffs and a demand for each department to increase efficiency by 15 percent, there were still not enough adjustments to pay off the million-dollar deficit, he said.
While there is no immediate plan to add more modifications to the bus lines, there is also no guarantee that the following year will not require more changes depending on the budget, Johnson said.
“We would prefer not to make cuts at all, but that’s not the reality of our economic condition,” he said.
Trailing the possibility of the cuts, how-ever, is the opportunity for the community to change them.
Beginning in May, the company has orga-nized workshops to discuss the proposal. The first round gathered ideas from community members about the services they wanted and needed, Johnson said.
In the second series, held throughout September, the public has provided feedback to the AC Transit staff.
“We’ve been trying to adhere to (the community’s) concerns the best way possible given our financial situation,” he said.
The last public hearing before the pro-posal is sent to the board for approval will be in Fremont today from 6-8 p.m. at the California School for the Blind Theater.
Contact Asia Camagong at [email protected].
have a computerized test as well as a written portion. ESL faculty members then read the written portion and combine it with the results of the other tests.
“It’s kind of sad. We have a really good placement process, and it took us a while to establish it,” ESL department Chairwoman Gabriela Segade said. “Now that we have a solid tool in place, we don’t have the money.”
Each written test has to be read and evaluated to place stu-dents in one of five levels. The computerized test is automatically scored and then combined with the score of the written to have an all-encompassing assessment of students’ level.
“Research shows that (the writ-ten test) is the most valuable part of assessment,” Segade said.
She said that some schools do not have this portion of the test, but students will be required to do
writing in nearly every class, so it is important to assess at what level they can write. Segade also said some students might be able to speak, understand and even read very well but have trouble with written English.
The reading and assessing of all the tests resulted in roughly 300 hours of work for ESL staff, Segade said but there is no money to pay the faculty for this work.
“If you’re not placed at the right level, it can be chaos. How do you adjust instruction?” Segade said.
If students are misplaced or place themselves, they might take unnecessary and redundant classes or get into sections too advanced for them, she said. Instructors cannot adjust their teaching level
if some students are beyond the material and some students are still struggling with it.
“It’s important to start at (the right level),” said Mirina Flores, medical assistant and ESL level 5 student. “Maybe it’s level 1, but you have to go step-by-step.”
If students become frustrated with their classes, they might drop out or fail, Segade said.
“Part of it is just educating people on why it’s so important,” she said.
Dr. Timothy Clow, senior dean of research and planning said, “We have an ever-increasing influx of non-native speakers of English because of affordable housing, and this is a bedroom community to what areas are hiring. A lot of people don’t realize it but this is a microcosm of a global community right here.”
Contact Jack Anderson at [email protected].
Newsline
Monday, Sept. 21A petty theft was reported
at the Bookstore.
Tuesday, Sept. 22A suspect was arrested
for being drunk in public.
Wednesday, Sept. 23A suspect was arrested
for possession of drug para-phernalia.
Thursday, Sept, 24Victim reported the theft
of his wallet.—Jon Pinlac
CrimeWatch
and they don’t have the time to explain,” she said. “But here, they take their time and it helps the students understand better.”
Vice President Carol Maga said the decision was made because of the cate-gorical funding deficits that DSPS is experiencing.
According to the state Chancellor’s Office, state-wide DSPS funding dropped from $98.4 million to $54.2 million for the 2009-10 aca-demic year.
“(The Contra Costa College DSPS program) had $881,386 in 2008-09,” Abe said. “In 2009-10, we have $476,786.”
Abe said that as a result, there is a lack of funds to pay for a classified hourly staffer to maintain the lab.
Though plans have yet to materialize, Maga said the college hopes to reopen the center in the future.
“We’re trying to provide the same services with lim-ited resources,” Maga said. “I’m very disappointed that we’re having to do this.”
Learning disabilities
specialist Peggy Fleming said the federally mandated DSPS program, currently serves more than 1,000 stu-dents at CCC.
The center provides sup-plementary learning through a positive environment where the students can receive help with their class curriculums while learning how to use Microsoft Windows.
Henry said closing the center and reducing accom-modations to the bare mini-mum will only present more barriers.
“I don’t know where we’re going to go,” Henry said. “They’re making it harder, and it’s not fair.”
Accommodations found in the center include speech recognition software called Dragon for the paraplegic, which types what the student speaks into a microphone, and screen reader software for the visually impaired that reads textbooks and hand-outs aloud called Kurzweil.
Maga said the expensive software was updated last year and it is unfortunate that the center is closing after all the work that has
been done to improve it.The center addition-
ally provides more space to accommodate wheeled mobility devices.
“This semester, I’ve already served over 100 stu-dents, and there have been over 400 visits already,” computer aided instruction lab coordinator Eric Appel said. “It’s a valuable service. It’s really helped the students succeed.”
Students receive support and individual help from Appel and student lab assis-tant Brad Fisher, who is also part of the DSPS program and has seen the changes and relocations of the center throughout recent years.
“When I started, I knew nothing about computers. If it wasn’t for those services, I would be somewhere twid-dling my thumbs,” Fisher said. “This is one place that shouldn’t be touched.”
Without the center, stu-dents agree that their pur-
suit of an education will be much more difficult.
“When we need more time to take a test, we come in here,” student Ruth Keppard said.
While there are other labs on campus that the students can use, those facilities lack the specialized software and the expertise of trained indi-viduals to assist them.
Maga said the college is trying to find alternative solutions to the problem, such as moving the soft-ware into the Skills Center or finding a way to keep the center open but with reduced operating hours.
Appel said that even if the software were wide-spread on campus, students speaking aloud while using voice recognition software, for example, would be a disturbance in a place that requires a quiet atmosphere, such as the Library and Learning Resource Center.
Also, student Tanicka McDowell said the closure might cause other labs to become more crowded, which might affect learning.
Abe said that since the
beginning of the year, other damaging cuts have already been implemented.
An assistant position is being released effective Thursday to backfill the deficit, the loss of paid note-takers for DSPS students has decreased the amount of workers, and there is no money to acquire new tech-nologies and methods of teaching, she said.
The clerical work, includ-ing state-required entries that document student use of the available meeting times for educational planning and counseling, will now be divided among the remain-ing program facilitators.
Contact Holly Pablo at [email protected].
DSPS | Program loses almost half its budget■ FROM: Page 1
■ CAMPUS EVENTS
Potter shows Mexican art
Pilo Mora, a Mata Ortiz potter, will give a speech about ancient Mexican pot-tery traditions in the Art Building today from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Admission is free.
“The economy has soured, and our funding has dried up completely. We’re left with no
alternative but to try to do more with less, and it’s a very difficult thing to do.”
Clarence Johnson,AC Transit manager of
media affairs
accenta d v o c a t e
TwitterReceive breaking news and updates by following The Advocate’s Twitter account, AccentAdvocate.
ONLINE EXCLUSIVE
CAMPUS BEAT WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 30, 2009 l THE ADVOCATE 3
■ FROM: Page 1
Regardless of how long the overall project will take, students were happy to be able to make an immediate impact on the college’s ecosystem.
“It feels good to be improving the environment at the campus you attend,” business adminis-tration major Antonio Para said. “You can take pride in it every time you see it.”
The unexpectedly high num-ber of volunteers made the event run smoothly, said Del Arroze, Urban Creeks Council stream res-toration intern.
“Today was incredible,” Del Arroze said. “The work we did today would (usually) have taken
us a month.”Biology 110 instructors and
various campuswide clubs offered students the chance to volunteer for extra credit or community work hours.
Alpha Gamma Sigma Honor Society member Erin Massa said the satisfaction earned through working on the creek is enough to get her to volunteer for the project regularly.
“Even if I wasn’t getting credit, I would still do this,” Massa said.
Volunteers agreed that the large turnout of people willing to work on Rheem Creek helped make the event more enjoyable and productive.
“It’s really cool (when) every-
one’s helping out,” MCHS senior Charmaine Serguro said.
Other volunteers said having many people work on the creek helped students get to know each other better.
“(The high outcome) builds camaraderie,” Para said. “It makes if more fun (and) gratifying.”
Massa agreed.“It feels good that people are
coming out and caring,” she said. “I feel united with other people.”
For more information, visit the Urban Creeks Council’s Web site at www.urbancreeks.org or call at 510-540-6669.
Contact Sam Attal at [email protected].
Transit
Creek | 100 new plants sown
we can get the word out,” he said.Yet, for those who know and understand the
policy, there is little incentive to abide by it.“Does anybody enforce (the policy)?” marketing
major Julia Medicus said.The lack of enforcement of the smoking policy is
one of the greatest factors contributing to the overall haziness of the policy, Medicus said. Without being told explicitly by faculty, staff or police aides, many assume that the policy is not to be taken seriously.
“The security just drove past us and they didn’t say anything,” business major Cameron Padilla said while smoking with a few friends in front of the Applied Arts Building.
As the number of police aides has dwindled from 15 to eight in the last two years, fewer authorities are on patrol to enforce the policy. As a result, the policy is one that has become difficult to enforce.
Williams said it is like speeding on the freeway. If there are no highway patrol cars around, there is nothing to stop people from doing it.
Feeling that students also play a role in enforcing policy, ASU presidential candidate Kristina Bautista encouraged students to act their part in assuring their peers the right to avoid secondhand smoke.
“There’s not a lot of student involvement, that’s something that the ASU is trying to work on,” Bautista said.
In working to promote involvement, the ASU recently heard feedback from students about issues affecting them on campus. Among the issues dis-
cussed was smoking.“It’s kind of annoying that they don’t take other
people’s concerns into consideration,” student Frank Souza said in relation to smoking on campus.
Feeling sympathy for smokers on campus, how-ever, Souza offered solutions that might make the situation better for both smokers and non-smokers.
“There are a lot of places on campus that don’t have a lot of foot traffic,” he said.
Souza proposed creating designated smoking areas outside of parking areas.
In agreement, many smokers feel that being able to smoke only in parking areas is an inconvenient condition added to an already inconvenient habit.
“They definitely need (to make) a designated smoking area (outside of parking areas),” Medicus said.
Many smokers feel that it would encourage them to not smoke in front of buildings or along pathways that are often filled with students, he said.
Contact Adam Oliver at [email protected].
Smoking | Little enforcement
ESL | Funds slashed 62 percent
“We’re trying to provide the same
services with limited resources.”
Carol Maga,college vice president
■ FROM: Page 1
■ FROM: Page 1
■ FROM: Page 1
“They definitely need (to make) a designated smoking area (outside
of parking areas.”
Julia Medicus,student
■ HISTORY
District hosts book-signing
The district is hold-ing a book-signing for its 60th anniversary living his-tory book at the Craneway Pavilion in Richmond on Monday from 1-3 p.m.
The book costs $30, and today is the last day to RSVP for the event.
To RSVP, register online at www.4cd.edu or call 925-229-1000, ext. 1358.
■ LIVING WELL
ASU analyzes drug abuse
The ASU will be hosting a “Students Living Well” forum on drug abuse in the Fireside Room Tuesday from 1-3 p.m. Topics will include marijuana, alcohol, caffeine and sex.
For more information contact the ASU at 510-235-7800, ext. 4407.
■ BASKETBALL
DSPS to host athletic game
Disabled Students Programs and Services will host a wheelchair basketball game between the Comets and the Bay Area Outreach Recreation Program (BORP) All Stars teams in the Gymnasium Oct. 16 at 7 p.m.
The CCC Comets are recruiting. For more infor-mation, call the DSPS office at 510-235-7800, ext. 7220.
■ AWARENESS
Film seriesto educate
DSPS will show a film titled “Spit it Out” in the Library Learning and Resource Center in LLRC-107 Monday from 2:30-4 p.m.
The film looks into a man’s journey through sobriety after abusing drugs and alcohol to mask his stut-ter and his family’s legacy of denial.
The movie is the first installment of the Disability Awareness Film Series held throughout October.
For more information, call 510-235-7800, ext. 7220.
By Brent BaintoSCENE EDITOR
Plans for the new and improved col-lege Web site are well under way, as the current redesign process takes further shape to meet cultivated expectations for a spring 2010 launch.
Already 18 months into action, the project proposes to have better navi-gation, consistent informational con-tent and integrated features such as a Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feed, Information Technology Manager James Eyestone said.
“(The Web site) is a monumental undertaking,” he said.
Along with new features and improve-ments, a new structure for content updates has already been implemented, Web Administrator Roger Polk said.
Members of the administration are responsible for generating their designat-ed part of the Web site’s content, which is then plugged into the program Microsoft SharePoint, he said.
The production team working toward the Web site’s inception includes students contracted from the El Cerrito High School student program Tech Futures, Polk said.
As content is generated, the students work with the SharePoint software for organization.
Gradually, the content managers (administration members) will work with SharePoint and be responsible for updating the Web site, collectively, on their own, Polk said.
“It will be interesting to see the pro-cess by which the Web site will be main-tained and updated,” he said.
Since July of this year, Tech Futures students have been working with tech-nology systems, Eyestone said.
“(The Tech Futures students) are largely self-motivated young adults,” he said.
Development for the new Web site
was imperative, as the Accreditation Commission for Community and Junior Colleges stated in its recent visit to the college that it was necessary for overall student progress and student learning outcomes.
College Vice President Carol Maga said Contra Costa College’s current Web site is unattractive, unexceptional and out of date.
“We needed to improve the Web site,” she said.
Meetings have been held over the past few weeks to check overall progress of development.
Polk said that during meetings, the identification of new categories of Web
site information is introduced so that drafts of organization can be implement-ed along the redesign process.
Among those attending the meetings, ASU representatives also provide input and suggestions for the Web site.
“It has been important for ASU mem-bers to be involved (with the develop-ment),” Eyestone said.
Though there is only a rough draft available of what the Web site will look like, Maga said that everything is already working very well.
The initial target launch date for the new Web site was slated for January 2010, but due to the consensus ruling of complexity at the last meeting on Sept. 15, it has since then been pushed back to February 2010, Eyestone said.
During the month gap, Eyestone said, Web site usability tests will be conducted where a group of college constituents will participate to find the most common links based on new design and use results to further refine the final product.
Contact Brent Bainto at [email protected].
New Web site to launch in 2010El Cerrito students, managers nearing project’s completion
ERIK VERDUZCO / THE ADVOCATE
Sharing experience — Sonia Nzingha Dugas discusses a scene from a movie, viewed in LA-105 Sept. 11, that connected with her lecture. Dugas teaches African-American Psychology and Black Male and Female Relationships.
Teacher engages students with joy
Plans to
improve
college
with
cabling,
smart
classes,
network
shifts
follow
master
plan
THE ADVOCATE l WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 30, 20094 CAMPUS BEAT
By Lamar JamesNEWS EDITOR
Sonya Nzingha Dugas, known as professor Nzingha to her students, is chang-ing the way students learn and boosting the interaction between pupil and instruc-tor.
A graduate of San Francisco State, Dugas teaches two classes at Contra Costa College — African-American Psychology and Black Male and Female Relationships.
She said she loves to teach her students about topics related to history and psychology.
“I like the fact that I can share the experiences of a people and also celebrate the accomplishments of the people at the same time,” Dugas said. “I think it is important to tell the story of a people, because it tells a lot about their psyche, which is critical in understanding the learning process.”
She said she teaches so the next generation can learn and eventually lead.
“The learning environ-ment should be about shared experiences,” Dugas said. “I should be able to teach and learn from my students. It’s a circular process of exchang-ing ideas.”
Simone Foster, a student
that has taken both of Dugas’ classes, said she is a very passionate teacher who has a good time teaching her cur-riculum.
“I respect her, because she is very real.” Foster said, “She teaches from a personal and educated point-of-view that really grabs the student in and makes them want to think about the material.”
Dugas grew up all around the Bay Area, but attributes her time spent in the Los Angeles area as the founda-tion in her values and hos-pitality.
“I remember going down south and everyone would speak to each other, and if you did not speak you would get in trouble,” Dugas said. “That was just a hospitable custom that was in that area, and I appreciated that.”
Dugas said her parents really wanted to make sure that she knew “how to be,” which is where she attained a lot of her cultural values.
Also a parent herself, she said teaching and parenting are the two hardest things she has to do, but two things
she gets the most satisfaction from.
“Every year I take a look at my personal vision, and I accomplish everything I set out to do,” Dugas said. “But my greatest accomplishment comes when a student comes and tells me, ‘Professor Nzingha, I learned some-thing in your class.’”
Foster said she is engaged in Dugas’ classes because the history and psychology pro-fessor embodies the essence of the subject and delivers it the best way she can.
“I think she is so passion-ate about what she teaches because she knows there is a need for us as African-American people to know our culture and know the importance of what our peo-ple did,” Foster said.
Student Akeem Palicious also said Dugas was an enthusiastic instructor.
“She cares a lot about the subject, and you can tell by the way she delivers the information to students. She wants every student to be engaged and have an opin-ion,” Palicious said.
Student Dominique Williams said she has learned about the history of African-American people and some of their great accomplish-ments in an interactive way.
“The way she teaches is very unique, combining edu-cation and entertainment, so the lectures are never bor-ing,” she said.
Contact Lamar James at [email protected].
Dugas shares her passion for cultures
“(Dugas) teaches from a personal and educated
point-of-view that really grabs the
student in.”
Simone Foster,student
Changes demand infrastructure upgradeBy Asia Camagong
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Standing with aged buildings and outdated technology, it is no surprise that the college often looks and feels like one of the oldest in the district.
Yet, within the next year, the campus is set to begin a makeover upgrading not only its physical structure, but also the way it operates.
“Students coming in five to 10 years are going to be on a completely different campus,” President McKinley Williams said.
The Facilities Master Plan, outlining the changes in store for the structure of the campus, will work to better accom-modate students and faculty, he said.
Alongside the Facilities Master Plan, the Districtwide Strategic Infrastructure and Telecommunications Plan features technological upgrades necessary for the new physical structure, Vice Chancellor of Information Technology Mojdeh Mehdizadeh said.
Funded by the Measure A bond passed in 2006, both plans will imple-ment changes to the campus, including three new buildings, the installment of a new voice and data network and upgrad-ed technology.
“(The current campus) makes you think we’re not really a premier college, but we are (going to) look like a nice, modern facility,” Buildings and Grounds
Manager Bruce King said.Beginning in 2010, the Applied Arts
Building will be renovated with smart classrooms, or classrooms built with computers and audiovisual equipment like hanging projectors, and will ideally be finished by the summer, King said.
Following installment of the smart classrooms is the demolition of the Humanities and Student Activities build-ings, replacing them with the three-sto-ried Classroom Building and improved SA Building, he said.
Williams said math and speech class-es taught in the Liberal Arts and H build-ings will be moved to the AA Building while services in the SA Building, such as the Bookstore and Student Dining Room, may be relocated to portables during construction.
An additional building may be built to house the core of the command net-work, the location where all fiber optic and copper cabling on campus meet, cur-rently under the H Building, King said.
He said the construction of the two buildings could take three years to com-plete.
Within five to six years, the recon-struction of the LA Building will take place, transforming it into the Science and Allied Health Building for science programs, King said.
“We’re updating facilities to accom-modate teachers today (to help them teach) in a (more modern) way,” Williams said.
While the Facilities Master Plan ensures to revamp the physical aspect of the facilities, the technology infrastruc-ture lays the foundation from which the facilities will function.
“(There are) a lot of behind the scenes kind of benefits,” Mehdizadeh said.
Dealing with an outdated phone and voicemail system, the campus is cur-rently working with technology requir-ing parts no longer made by the manu-facturer, Technology Systems Manager James Eyestone said.
“It’s not a question of how you main-tain it, but can you maintain it at all,” he said.
Mehdizadeh said failure to keep up with the advancement in technology could lead to future trouble.
“Honestly, we are using a very aged infrastructure, which makes it hard for us to take advantage of the technology and services that are available,” she said. “More and more of the things that are being implemented throughout our orga-nization rely on a robust data network.”
By upgrading the telephone infra-structure with Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), voice and data networks are converged to allow the transmission of information from phones to comput-ers and vice versa, she said.
Using VoIP to unify communication and messaging tools will allow one to use a phone to check an e-mail message or a computer to listen to a voicemail, Mehdizadeh said.
The wide area network will also have a greater bandwidth, providing more speed on the computers, she said.
In addition, the college will provide full wireless coverage and access to all areas on campus, as well as the future smart classrooms waiting to be installed in the AA Building and classroom build-ing, she said.
“It is an upgrade all around,” Mehdizadeh said.
Contact Asia Camagong at [email protected].
Eyestone
The infor-mation technol-ogy man-ager is currently working with other employ-ees and El Cerrito students to finish the rede-sign of the college’s Web site.
“It will be interesting to see the process by which
the Web site will be main-tained and updated.”
Roger Polk,Web administrator
“(The current campus) makes you think we’re
not really a premier col-lege, but we are (going to)
look like a nice modern facility.”
Bruce King,Buildings and Grounds manager
By Dariush AzmoudehSPORTS EDITOR
After playing a sloppy first half against Yuba College, the Comets were able to shift the momentum of Friday’s home game when mid-fielder Jamie Sahagun received an assist from forward Diego Orellana and scored the team’s first goal dur-ing the 64th minute of the game.
Unfortunately, the men’s soccer team (3-3-3 overall, 0-0-1 in the Bay Valley Conference) could not mus-ter enough goals to best the 49ers (4-2-1 overall, 0-0-1 in the BVC), resulting in a 2-2 tie between the two teams in the conference opener for both squads.
“The first goal is the hardest to get, but once we got that it gave the team energy and motivation to get better,” Sahagun said.
Contra Costa College plays its
next game against Merritt College (3-4-0 overall, 0-0-0 in the BVC) at home on Friday at 4 p.m.
Forward Jordan Zerbini was able to score the game-tying goal for CCC on a penalty kick four minutes after the first Comets goal.
The penalty was given for a handball performed by the 49ers inside the box.
In the first half, the Comets were having difficulties getting the ball to their forwards.
Yuba was able to score a goal in the 7th minute by forward Roberto Paras.
“We didn’t play a good game as a whole,” coach Rudy Zeller said. “We felt the pressure.”
Samuel Danby, 49er midfielder, assisted Paras for the first Yuba goal and scored the second goal at two minutes into the second half on a header from an aerial pass from for-ward Smithy Mendoza. Danby was a key player for the 49ers by being all over the field helping pushing their attack forward.
Overcoming a lack of the team’s own offensive power, the Comets were able to boost their defen-
sive skill in order to hold off Yuba College to only two shots for the rest of the half.
“We learned we can come back as long as we play as a team,” Medeiros said.
Zeller said one of the problems they faced was Yuba playing with five midfielders, and he had to switch the Comets’ formation to a 3-5-2 to match the 49ers in the midfield.
Defenders Jimmy Medeiros and Tao Sabella helped control the backfield throughout the game and were able to clear the ball at the necessary times.
Midfielder Andre Delgado con-trolled the ball in the midfield and helped make passes to his team-mates. Zeller said that Delgado’s work ethics made him the player of the game.
After coming up with the tie, the Comet’s entire team showed an improvement, such as Orellana, who showed more ball control and was able to dribble past defenders with ease.
The Comets had failed to score a goal in their previous two games against American River and Chabot colleges.
Additionally, the Yuba game included three direct red card calls. One was called on the Comets and two on the 49ers.
Both the Comets and the 49ers received cards for unsportsmanlike conduct when Comet Delgado and Danby got
into an altercation. The second call was made
because Yuba College midfielder Jonathan Garcia was arguing with a referee.
Zeller said in order for the Comets to be successful, they need to be a “90-minute” team, playing consistently over the entire game.
“They have spurts that they play good and spurts that the play bad,” Zeller said.
Contact Dariush Azmoudeh at [email protected].
By Malcolm LastraSTAFF WRITER
With exhaustion and a poor aspiration to win, the women’s volleyball team fell at the hands of Napa Valley C o l l e g e Friday.
T h e Comets (0-2 overall, 0-1 in the Bay Valley Conference) began BVC play against the defending conference-c h a m p i o n Storm (2-5 overall, 1-0 in the BVC) by losing in straight sets, 25-18, 25-6 and 25-5.
Contra Costa College plays its next game tonight at 6 p.m. against Mendocino College (4-7 overall, 2-2 in the BVC) at home.
“(The game) was dis-appointing,” Comet coach Azure’D Nunley said. “Too much potential wasn’t shown.”
The team showed little effort in communicating with each other on the court, which was a major problem last year, as they struggled to get in sync.
“We could have put in
more effort (and stopped) lacking in communication,” sophomore middle hitter Rose McGinley-Bradley said.
The first set started off with the Comets scoring first. The Storm soon took a 3-1 lead and the game went point-for-point with each team matching the other.
During the middle of the set, however, the Comets weakened and succumbed
to several kills, adding to the Storm’s points. The C o m e t s showed some effort as they attempted to make a come-back.
The team’s attempt to save the first
set was not strong enough, however, as the Storm won 25-18.
“We should’ve carried the same effort (shown) in the first set (into) the rest of the game,” Nunley said.
Comet players agreed that the team effort was not shown throughout the game, and that their play did not match their potential.
“Everyone gave up and we weren’t giving our all,” sophomore setter Emily Hansen said.
The Comets started the second set with fatigued players who became slow in reacting to the ball, giving
up many digs and a five-point run to the Storm. The score at the end of the sec-ond set was 25-6.
CCC also played the entire second set without team captain McGinley-Bradley.
“We’re playing as indi-viduals (and) not putting things together,” McGinley-Bradley said. “(My effort)
could have been put into better use.”
Nunley said she wanted to find the right combination of players on the court.
The Comets attempted many failed digs and gave up several points to the Storm as they inflicted a 16-0 score.
CCC then scored on a five-point run, but lost the
final set 25-5.“There was no team
chemistry and no team effort,” Nunley said. “We needed to talk to each other and actually have a desire to play the game.”
Contact Malcolm Lastra at [email protected].
Volleyball team loses BVC opener
FootballContra Costa College
V S.
Gavilan College
When: Saturday, 1 p.m.Where: Comet StadiumRecords: CCC 0-4 overall. Hartnell 0-3 overall.
Background: The football team looks to defeat Gavilan College this Saturday. Both teams are winless so far and are looking to get their first win this weekend. The Comets will try to rebuild from their 68-41 loss to De Anza College, while the Rams come off a 20-10 loss to San Jose City College. With the loss, the Comets extended their losing streak to 17 games but are looking to put an end to it before Oct. 20, the two-year anniversary of their last win. The Comets’ appetite for a win has been growing bigger and bigger as the weeks go by. They hope to continue to put points on the board and establish an improved run defense against Gavilan.
— Dariush Azmoudeh
Game of the Week
ScoreBoardComets 2 49ers 2
Next game: Friday vs Merritt, 4 p.m.
SportShortDefense scores two TDs in 68-41 loss to De Anza
SPORTS WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 30, 2009 l THE ADVOCATE 5
Comet comeback results in 2-2 tieSecond-half goals not good enough to muster victory
Squad unableto withstand Storm’s gust
ERIK VERDUZCO / THE ADVOCATE
Out of reach — Comet middle hitter Rose McGinley-Bradley stares at her teammates as they fail to reach the ball during Friday’s home game against Napa Valley College. The Comets lost in straight sets 25-18, 25-6 and 25-5.
ScoreBoardStorm def. Comets 25-18, 25-6, 25-5
Next game: Today at Mendocino, 6 p.m.
ver since I was a kid, I have been
drawn to the game of basketball.
From the days of watching Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls winning consecu-tive championship to the times of actually playing the game myself for var-ious youth teams, I have had an undying love for the game.
I am beginning to notice, however, differ-ent changes in the sport that are affecting the game completely.
Growing up as a ’90s kid, I was able to witness NBA games that had an electrifying stature to them, such as Patrick Ewing and the New York Knicks playing down-to-the-wire games against Tim Hardaway and the Miami Heat.
Today, however, I can never really sit down at the dinner table and be able to look forward to an excit-ing match-up between teams.
The NBA seems to be pretty watered down from the fire it once had in the 1990s and early 2000s. Rivalry show-downs and close games seem to have trans-formed into, more or less, popularity contests, thus causing predictable outcomes.
It seems as if the more popular you are as a player in the NBA, the more of an advantage you have to win.
It is like the referees have some sort of guilt hanging over their heads when they make a call a popular player does not agree with, so they try to patch things up with the player by giving his team numerous calls in their favor.
The games go by so slow and take so long because the referees call the most unnecessary fouls. Half the game is spent with a player going to the free throw line. I remember watch-ing games when the ref-erees only called fouls when it was necessary.
I have seen silly foul calls from the refer-ees, such as a defender slightly putting a hand on the offensive player or a simple “love tap” (slight bump) on a layup.
From my understand-ing, basketball is sup-posed to be a contact sport.
It is obvious that the referees are making calls in favor of the most popular teams, as evi-denced by former NBA referee Tim Donaghy pleading guilty to bet-ting and making calls to determine outcomes of games in 2007.
Despite all of the horrible changes to the game of basketball, I am still an avid watcher of the sport and will con-tinue to have a strong passion for the game.
I hope to soon see the game return to its once-glorious past — the way things were.
Contact Malcolm Lastra at [email protected].
malcolmlastra
Repeated foul calls ruin sport
E
Box scoresMen’s soccer (Sept.25 )
Yuba,Contra CostaYuba 1 1 — 2Contra Costa 0 2 — 2
First Half1, Yuba, Paras 10 (Danby), 7th minute.
Second Half2, Yuba, Danby 2 (Mendoza), 47th minute.1, CCC, Sahagun 28 (Orellana), 64th minute.2, CCC, Zerbini 17 (penalty kick), 68th minute.
Yellow CardsYuba, Samuel Danby, 41st minute.CCC, Edgar Wenze, 59th minute.CCC, Jordan Zerbini, 83rd minute.CCC, Peter Jernigan, 90th minute.
Red CardsYuba, Samuel Danby, 69th minute.CCC, Andre Delgado, 69th minute.Yuba, Jonathan Garcia, 90th minute.
Individual statisticsGoals — Yuba — Paras, Danby. — CCC
— Sahagun, Zerbini.Assists — Yuba — Danby, Mendoza. — CCC
— Orellana.Shots on goal — Yuba — 5. — CCC — 3.Saves — Yuba — Tapia 3. — CCC
— Hernandez 1.Record — Yuba — 4-2-1 overall, 0-0-1 in BVC.
— CCC — 3-3-3 overall, 0-0-1 in BVC.
ScheduleWomen’s volleyball
vs. Mendocino, today 6 p.m.vs. Alameda, Friday 6 p.m.
Men’s soccervs. Merritt, Friday 4 p.m.
Women’s soccervs. Mendocino, Friday 1:30 p.m.
Footballvs. Gavilan, Saturday 1 p.m
Still searching for a win, the football team con-tinued to turn the ball over and make costly mistakes in its loss to De Anza College 68-41 Saturday in Cupertino.
The Comets, now 0-4, look to get their first win at home Saturday against Gavilan College (0-3).
With the offense lagging and committing four turn-overs, it was a continuous struggle to stop the Dons’ offense from putting up huge numbers on the ground, coach Dave Johnson said.
De Anza racked up 307 yards on the ground, with an average of 7.1 yards a carry.
“Defensively, we couldn’t stop the run,” Johnson said. “We will continue to get better as we practice and work harder.”
The defense did have its bright spots Saturday, recovering five fumbles and managing to score on two of them. Still, they allowed 28 first downs, 17 of them rushing.
The Dons’ passing attack was held to 223 yards through the air.
With the offense lacking momentum, the Comets picked it up on special teams, with wide receiver Michael Hicks accumulating 198 return yards in the game and returning one kickoff for a 71-yard touch-down.
“We are not going to give up and just quit. We are going to keep playing,” Johnson said.
— Anthony Farr
STORM CLOUDS
WWII musical remains afloat
Newreleases:“Monsters vs. Aliens” (PG)
“Away We Go” (R)
“The Brothers Bloom” (PG-13)
“Sponge-Bob Square-Pants: The First 100 Episodes” (NR)
Games
CDs
DVDs
Movies
This week:“Zombie-land” (R)
“Whip It” (PG-13)
“The Invention of Lying” (PG-13)
“Capitalism: A Love Story” (R)
Newreleases:AFI: “Crash Love”
Mariah Carey: “Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel”
Alice In Chains: “Black Gives Way to Blue”
Paramore: “Brand New Eyes”
Strung Out: “Agents of the Under-ground”
Unleashed
Editor’s note: This column lists popular new (and upcoming) releases for the week.
Newreleases:“Dead Space: Extraction” (WII - M)
“Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2” (PS3 - M)
“Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days” (DS - E)
“Gran Turismo” (PSP - E)
RIVETING
THE ADVOCATE l WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 30, 20096 SCENE
‘Heritage Day’ gathers community
By Cody McFarlandSTAFF ILLUSTRATOR
An estimated 400-500 people crowded the blocked off section of Brookside Drive in San Pablo Saturday, walking about the 20 booths and center stage that made up the city’s annual Heritage Day.
Set up by the recreation division of the San Pablo City Council, the event attracted people of all ethnicities from all across the area came out to not only celebrate diversity, but add to it as well.
“(We want to) create a strong community and celebrate the differ-ent cultures in San Pablo,” Recreation Coordinator Michelle Alvarez said.
This was achieved by the various booths set up by local vendors and organizations, as well as by the series of live bands that performed through-out the day. The booths and the bands all represented different heritages from around the world.
The five types of music groups that performed were mariachi, Indian, salsa, western and country rock and Jamaican.
The salsa group, Alma del Barrio, is a local band comprised of members from Richmond and San Pablo.
“We just want to connect with the community,” senior recreation specialist Jacqueline McAlvain said, “especially in hard economic times like this.”
Recreation Division Manager Mike Heller said the event was funded by a supportive city council and a number of various sponsors, including Jamba Juice, Russel’s Furniture and the San Pablo Lytton Casino, among others.
The recreation division has been working with a music promoter since 2004 to find acts to perform, Alvarez said.
The promoter, Kentara Padron, says it is his job to track down performers that will enrich the local culture as well as to identify talents within the com-munity.
“I appreciate the way this event sup-ports the different cultures within the community,” San Pablo City Council member Arturo Cruz said. “(There is) fun, food and music on such a beautiful day.”
James Solis, Contra Costa College student and member of the recreation division, attended Heritage Day for the second year in a row.
“(The event) continues to bring in the different parts of San Pablo’s culture (each year),” Solis said.
It is a great way for organizations to come out and support the community
while promoting a good sense of unity and overall well-being, Solis said.
San Pablo Police Department Lt. J.P. Creekmore said Heritage Day brings a great mix of people.
It was Creekmore’s first time attend-ing the event, though he has been serv-ing on the force for the past 25 years. He, along with many other officers, was appointed to monitor the event and make sure it was free of crime.
Heller said the event went well and was a huge success for the recreation division.
He said he was glad to see members of the community come together and have as good a time as he did, whether they were from San Pablo or anywhere else.
“At the end of the day, we’re all one big, happy family,” Heller said.
Contact Cody McFarland at [email protected].
By Brent BaintoSCENE EDITOR
The drama department deliv-ered a powerful yet scattered portrayal of ethnic and gender conflicts in the Richmond Kaiser shipyards during WWII.
“Rivets,” a musical written by Kathryn McCarty, was performed from Aug. 28-Sept. 27 in the SS Red Oak Victory docked at the Richmond shipyards for a second year in a row. The musical follows an array of characters’ struggles through tensions of the demand-ing workplace (the shipyards).
As the play opens with a taste-ful disclaimer about why the use of cell phones would clash with the depicted time period, the cast swiftly delivered a solid opening that ushered the audience into the aesthetic vibrancy.
Though “Rivets” proved to be a well-scored and well-choreo-graphed performance throughout, the musical quickly lost grasp due to too many characters being introduced.
With so many characters intro-duced in the first few scenes of act one, differentiating possible protagonists was a bit difficult, since the number of plot lines forced the story to be viewed in a more broad perspective of the overall adversity to be conquered.
Women breaking their con-ventional homemaker roles took on predominantly male-oriented professions on the homefront, such as manufacturing duties and ship maintenance while men were at war.
In addition to the adjustment of women joining the work force, racial agitations were flared between whites and African-Americans. Both disputes made
for the central themes, which were unity and equality.
The cast interactions were depicted correspondingly to the era, as men were shown as dis-respectful toward women and bigotry was still a prominent issue
within the confines of the shipyard.
The stage space was made spatially adequate to the point that almost every scene was crowded and quite busy with almost every actor fully immersed in allot-ted functions.
Group dance numbers like the
party scene brought out the best aspects of the musical, using the appropriate sound and spot light-ing to highlight the eccentric movement of the actors.
It was not until the second act where a more definite sense of main characters was established and unified through love.
Nancy Mitchell, a nurse, sought to breach the homefront and serve overseas to be closer to her fiancé while her sister Evelyn falls for the condescending boss and an interracial couple comes together past threats of career ter-minations and contrasting family views.
The musical, however, did lack character development and had minimal concrete substance though it was quite satisfactory for at least a general idea of the hardship pursuits inspired by the empowering image of “Rosie the Riveter.”
Originally performed at the Knox Center, the musical was moved to the ship last year. The ship added to the greater atmo-
spheric effect of the working environment.
From within the SS Red Oak Victory, audience members were given a more genuine feel of the harsh conditions the riveters faced despite the lighthearted nature of the musical.
“Rivets” was thoroughly enter-taining and was well received by the audience, which happened to
include former riveters and vet-erans.
Despite overwhelmingly char-acter-filled scenes with little central focus, the musical does serve as a great tribute to all who served as riveters, nationwide, and the timeless veterans.
Contact Brent Bainto at [email protected].
“Rivets”
★★★★★Venue: SS Red Oak VictoryDirected by: Clay David
playreview
SAM ATTAL / THE ADVOCATE
Dolling up — Kady Brown (center), along with (left to right) Monica Lenk, Shawn Creighton and Julie Ponsford Holland, break into song during “Rivets,” held in the Richmond shipyards Sunday.
Ethnic diversity celebrated in event
ADAM OLIVER / THE ADVOCATE
Perplexed — Art department Chairman John Diestler examines Colette Crutcher’s ceramic piece at the Eddie Rhodes Gallery in the Art Building Thursday.
By Kristina PlazaSTAFF WRITER
Designed to induce inspi-ration and pure enjoyment, an exhibition for artists to express their own personal vision of the Nordic expression is on display in the Eddie Rhodes Gallery until Oct. 30
Set up by Nordic 5 Arts, an organization of professional art-ists from San Francisco, each member involved in the exhibit is of Nordic or Scandinavian descent, as well as artists born in Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Norway and Iceland.
The artists work in a vari-ety of media, including painting, sculpture, graphics, photogra-phy, weaving and ceramics.
Several members of the group are school instructors or teachers of workshops in their studios.
Pat Bengston-Jones, the cura-tor, had a creation called Journey Stones depicting a strip of old
buildings and walls made of tea, paper, graphite, Italian stone, dust and chips.
Bengston-Jones said that when she was in the studio, her students and she would always drink tea, and she would save the tea bags until they dried.
“Each piece is from a differ-ent time,” Bengston-Jones said. “I’m really interested in ancient history.”
Former student Naomi Diaz is a fan of Bengston-Jones’s art.
“It’s beautiful,” Diaz said. “I like the creativity she had done with the tea bags.”
Co-curator Maj-Britt Mobrand made wool tapestry using traditional weaves and pat-ters. He said his work would just start from something, and he would see where it takes him.
Mobrand’s inspiration comes from jazz, running in nature, traveling and a student he taught weaving to at his studio.
One of the artists, Colette Crutcher, was a sculptor fas-cinated by boxes. The experi-ence of finding something inside aroused Crutcher, altering the idea from a box to three separate pieces of various house sculp-tures, all made from ceramics.
“House and a Half,” one of Crutcher’s sculptures, was ini-tially intended to be just one house. She was so excited, how-ever, that she tilted the carved house and broke the top half.
The mishap of the topless house caused Crutcher to impose a new idea.
“Then I thought, maybe I could make another house that would be able to fit in the broken house,” she said.
The improved creation is now a mini-house that can fit per-fectly inside the former.
“The works offered here are those that struck me as the most interesting and compatible with the gallery space,” said Claudia Chaplin, juror of the exhibition.
Nordic 5 Arts take great plea-sure in having the opportunity of sharing their art and cultural heritage with students and facili-ties, Chaplin said.
A book called Going North is also available for those who are interested in the artists address-ing their Scandinavian heritage in traditional and innovative ways.
Contact Kristina Plaza at [email protected].
Rhodes Gallery displays Nordic personal visions
Exhibit reveals culture