pages - Ohlone College

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Women’s
tennis wins
first game.
OPINION
Treadway
to travel to
India.
SPORTS
NEWS
FEATURES
Theater kicks
off ‘One Acts
in a Box.’
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Fremont, California
Vol. XXXVII No. 8
Non-smokers
profit from
smoking.
March 20, 2008
Students, rappers CSEA reaches
share the Hill
resolution
at concert
By Brian Chu
Staff writer
Photo by Japneet Kaur Johar
By Andrew Le
Staff writer
“S***, I can take on anybody here, I can take on any
of these learners.” With these lines, members of the
rap group L.O.C. Ness—the “Monsta Gang” from
“The Bay to LA”—mingled with Ohlone students
during last Thursday’s hip-hop-centric Rock the
Hill concert.
The first act was Kalizay, starring 20year-old full-time Ohlone student, single
mother, worker of two part-time jobs,
and aspiring musician Lila Salinas.
With house, bossa nova, and Spanish
music influences, Kalizay’s lyrical
dexterity made the crowd exponentially increase in size, from half
a dozen to 37 at the peak of the performance. Though this was the first time she’s
performed in front of a live audience, Kalizay
is already expected to garner radio play on 94.9
next month when her new single drops.
The second act was a collaboration between rappers
5-10 and Deuce Uno with producer Rich Kidd that proudly
represented the Bay by incorporating elements of hip-hop
and hyphy. As frequently heard in the genre, the act sang
freely about explicit content and filled in the intermittent
periods between songs with lines such as “We all f***ed
up right now.” The audience got into the performance,
dancing in sync with the beat, some members even
throwing up Mac Dre-style “thizz” signs.
Continued on Page 3
Lila Salinas of the band Kalizay
sings at the ASOC Rock the Hill
concert Thursday.
The Ohlone California School Employees Association (CSEA) and college administration reached
an agreement last Thursday on the pay increase in
the contract for CSEA members. They will receive
a 5.57 percent pay increase, as per the original
contract agreement.
The original contract states that the administration
would give a pay increase to the CSEA equal to that
of the highest pay increase to any other bargaining
unit, in this case the United Faculty of Ohlone. The
CSEA, which represents more than 100 secretaries,
instructional assistants and lab assistants, agreed to
change the wording in their original proposal from
the word “growth” to “equity” in order to clear up
misconceptions and confusing wordage.
“It was my understanding that the word growth
could have been used in the future to set a precedent
that the administration did not want. It was not
the CSEA’s intention to set a precedent and so we
changed the language of the contract to focus on
equity, and that was more agreeable,” said CSEA
President Linda Evers. The pay increase will be
retroactive and CSEA members will receive compensation from back to July 2007.
The CSEA is planning to put together their new
contract next week and then send it in as a proposal.
When agreed upon, it will take effect July 30.
“Ultimately, I believe that confidence between the
CSEA and district was repaired,” said Evers.
Assistant Director of Human Resources Lyle
Engeldinger could not be reached for comment.
Attempts to reach Vice President Jim Wright were
redirected to Engeldinger.
ASOC examines constitution, free speech
By Barry Kearns
Staff writer
The Associated Students of Ohlone College (ASOC) continued its series of workshops outlining Student Member Board of
Trustees Ken Steadman’s sweeping changes
to the constitution Tuesday.
These modifications include a new way of
handling finances, new responsibilities for
senators and executives, new positions and a
system of removing elected executives from
their positions. The constitution would also
pay senators as much as $3,000 per person
for regular attendance and extra effort.
During the workshop, Steadman asked the
ASOC to refrain from offering small changes
and comments during the workshop and to
have these concerns addressed at the legislative meeting on Friday mornings.
The workshop opened on Article III of
the constitution, which described the various
roles of the potentially new ASOC. Some
of the biggest changes included making
the president of the ASOC also serve as the
student member on the Board of Trustees,
and forbidding executive officers to chair
certain committees.
The constitution also gave additional responsibilities to the rest of the ASOC executives. The secretary would also be keeping
archives and acting as a historian for the
ASOC. The vice president and legislative
representative would be required to attend
all Ohlone Board of Trustees meetings. If
the constitution passes, the ASOC treasurer
would have to develop and execute one
fundraiser per month.
One of the most noteworthy changes
Steadman made to the constitution is the new
provision to remove executive members of
the ASOC. Some of the ways an executive
can be removed from office include a twothirds majority vote of the ASOC in a special
election and the executive being found guilty
of something before a judicial review.
Steadman also discussed the procedure
for adding amendments to the proposed
constitution which would require, if passed,
a two-thirds majority vote from within the
ASOC or a process that would require the
signatures of 500 students, followed by an
ASOC meeting and then a decision by the
Board of Trustees.
Along with all of these new responsibilities
came some new rewards. Steadman proposed
a series of scholarships for members of the
ASOC who met certain criteria; among them
are the perfect attendance award and the extra
mile award.
A senator could potentially make up to
$3,000 by achieving all of the scholarship
awards, which surpass the executives’
salaries. Steadman believes that the senators
can and should serve for two consecutive
semesters. The minimum requirement for a
student to become a senator would be a 2.0
GPA and enrollment in at least five units, these
minimum requirements were decided by the
state to best represent all students.
Some of the other changes Steadman proposed affect the money requests the ASOC
receives over the summer. Steadman has put
in provisions in the new constitution that
would place a cap on money requests and
would also need the sponsorship of a student
and a senator.
There are also measures in the new
constitution that would curb the number of
committees being formed by the ASOC and
would require a set attendance for the committee to continue existing.
Today, Zuhal Bahaduri, ASOC representative at large, will hold a meeting in the ASOC
room in Building 1 in the main campus at 3
p.m. to go to the Newark Ohlone Campus and
look for a free speech area on that campus.
Bahaduri encouraged students who value the
freedom of speech to join her in looking for
a free speech area. While the area selected
may only prove to be temporary, Bahaduri
vows to make the selection of the students the
permanent free speech area on the NOC.
The ASOC also announced the Rock the
Hill concert this Thursday between 1 and
4 p.m.
ASOC adviser Debbie Trigg added that the
committee to search for the next president of
Ohlone College has narrowed its search.
An Earth Week request for $325 was
presented by Kevin Feliciano to offset the
costs of Earth Week. There will be a vote on
the money request next week. Maria Javier
asked for the elections committee money
request to change from $500 to $550 to factor in sales tax.
The money request made by the Chinese
Student Association for the sum of $450 was
approved for the Chinese singing competition.
An identical request made by the International Student Coalition will be decided on
next week.
2
monitor March 20, 2008
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Opinion
Editor in chief: Anna Nemchuk
News editor: Eric Dorman
Features editors: Sandeep Abraham, Barry Kearns
Sports editor: Tomás Ortega
Opinion editor: Andrew Cavette
Photo editor: TBA
Online editor: TBA
Staff writers: Inez Black, Brian
Chu, Tseten Dolkar, Rachel Funk, Andrew Le, Elise Leon, Jerome Nepacena,
Joe Nichols, Jacque Orvis, Ryan Richmond, Kyle Stephens, Max Stephens,
Kathy Sung
Photographers: Pei Ju Chen,
Japneet Kaur Johar, Danielle Rivers
Ad manager: Jacque Orvis
Adviser: Bill Parks
Printer: F-P Press
The Thinker
Offices are located in Room 5310 on campus, 43600 Mission Blvd., Fremont 945395884. Call (510) 659-6075. Fax: (510) 659-6076. E-mail: [email protected]
Opinions expressed in the Monitor are those of the respective authors and are not
necessarily those of the staff, the college or the Associated Students of Ohlone College.
Unsigned editorials reflect the majority view of staff members. Advertising material is
printed herein for informational purposes and is not to be construed as an expression
of endorsement or verification of such commercial ventures by the staff or college.
The Monitor is funded by the district, by the Associated Students of Ohlone College,
and through advertising revenue.
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Community Colleges, Community College Journalism Association, California Newspaper
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The Decider
The Learner
Education gets a bad Rap.
Opinion
Ohlone’s ties with China questioned over Tibet
By Tseten dolkar
Staff writer
As images surface of China’s
violent crackdown on protesters in
Tibet, one wonders what we in the
Free World can do.
Martin Luther King Jr. has said
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to
justice everywhere.” The cultural
genocide and the oppression of my
people in Tibet are frighteningly
similar to the Holocaust in Nazi
Germany.
Beginning March 10, the day
the protests in Tibet began to take
a violent turn, China did its best to
blind the world from the ugly truth
of its harsh rule over Tibet.
China ordered tourists out of
Tibet, banned journalists from
entering the country and blocked
YouTube, BBC and CNN in main-
land China – in addition to China’s
already strict Internet and news
censorship. If China doesn’t want
its own people to see what’s happening in Tibet, I can only imagine
what it’s hiding from the rest of
the world.
The People’s Republic of China’s
official Press Agency, Xinhua, an
organization that Reporters Without
Borders has called “the world’s biggest propaganda agency” is the only
news agency with an abundance of
information on the current situation
in Tibet.
On March 17 alone, it listed 17
different state-run articles on the
riots and protests in Tibet. What I
do not see listed on the site is the
factual death toll of 80 that the
Tibetan Centre for Human Rights
and Democracy (TCHRD) is confirming.
What I do not see are images
of my people fighting with sticks
and stones, outnumbered by everincreasing and fully armed Chinese
police.
What I do not see are images of
Tibetan protesters being tear-gassed
and jailed, merely for chanting
“Free Tibet!” Blurry and amateur
footage captured on cell phones are
the only hint of the harsh oppression
Tibetans face daily.
Tibetans, Free Tibet supporters
and human rights campaigners
worldwide are calling on the global
community and the International
Olympics Committee (IOC) to
boycott the Beijing Olympics.
China, in its desire to rise and be
seen as a prominent world power,
has made unfulfilled promises to
improve human rights practices in
Tibet and mainland China. How-
ever, with the violent crackdown on
the protests in Tibet in the past week,
China has contradicted itself.
As reports from inside Tibet
reach the TCHRD, we learn that on
March 17, students in various universities and schools across Tibet
have staged protests in opposition
of Chinese Rule.
People in Tibet know from experience that when they step outside
their homes to protest, there are only
two endings: detention or death.
After 50 years of being oppressed in their own country, the
normally patient, nonviolent and
peaceful Tibetans have received
little attention.
It is unfortunate that only when
violence is involved, does the rest
of world pay attention. The justice
owed to them is past due.
As a student at Ohlone College,
the district’s eagerness to join hands
with China does not rest easily
with me.
I find it somewhat distasteful
that my own college is working
closely with the suppressive
Chinese government, not only
courting students to enroll here
(which in-and-of-itself is fine), but
also actively seeking to establish a
sister college within China.
With their established ties already in place, even a tiny gesture
from Ohlone would be received by
the Chinese government as a sign
that the world is watching.
It is a gesture I think the college should make. It would show
that we will not allow China’s
economic status to compromise
our pledge as citizens of a free
country to defend the freedoms
of all individuals.
a virgin teaching a class on sexual
education. They might be able to
quote from the book and spout
off figures, but they have no real
understanding of the act.
Next, all of you should become
keenly aware of the face that you
make when you see someone smoking. This is going to require a little
participation, so tape this article
to the bathroom wall, right next
to the mirror. Good, now stand in
front of the mirror, and close your
eyes (after you read this paragraph
of course).
I want you to imagine a birthday
party where the birthday boy is crying because the clown has defecated
on the cake. It’s very specific, I
know, but necessary. Picture it.
Make that face, hold it and open
your eyes. That… right there in the
mirror, is the look we smokers get
when we are caught.
When I tell people that I have
quit smoking, especially when I tell
non-smokers, they smile, tell me I’m
doing great things and often give
me something to autograph (and I
do). They ask me why I quit smoking and I give the correct answers
– it’s for my health. That’s not the
real reason though.
The real reason is that I’m tired
of playing this game. The fact is we
have a huge percent of the population addicted to a government regulated drug whose addictive qualities
have been compared to heroin. To
combat this fierce, mind-altering
addiction we make ad campaigns.
These anti-smoking websites like
thetruth.com cost millions of dollars, but honestly, they only make
me want to smoke more (and stub
my cigarettes out on their faces).
Whether we smokers will admit
it, we are addicted and I think we
would benefit from some real assistance getting off cigarettes. Instead
we get a patch… and that only
Continued on Page 3
Barry is really hacked off about not smoking
By BARRY KEARNS
Staff writer
It has now been 28 days since
I’ve had a cigarette. I quit and this
time it’s for real. I would like to
get a few things off my chest to the
members of this non-smokers club
to which I now belong.
Non-smokers should never talk
to smokers about smoking. It’s like
Campus Comment > > >
What would make you hang out on campus more often?
Adán Ortega
Ahmad Meher
Jennifer Worth
Ajmal Karimi
Tesa Wroblewski
BIOLOGY / CHEMISTRY
UNDECLARED
“Host more activities in the
cafeteria.”
“Music...Something jumpin’.”
“A peace festival.”
“An open forum for tutoring on all
subjects.”
“I’m already here too much for
theater tech.”
FILM / MUSIC
BUSINESS
KINESIOLOGY
News
College 12 trees greener
March 20, 2008 monitor
3
Treadway to visit
India, set up sister
college connection
By Joe Nichols
Staff writer
President Doug Treadway leaves today
for India, heading a group with two other
campus officials to lay the groundwork for
a sister college. He will be accompanied by
International Services Director Eddie West
and Chemistry Instructor Anu Ganguly.
Treadway will be in India for five days;
while there, he will lay the groundwork for
students to come from India to Ohlone College to take math, science and technology
classes.
Treadway said that as college president,
he has to be the person to lay the groundwork with the U.S. Embassy and the Indian
government to allow students to come here
and study.
He added that there are currently plans
for a sister college in the City of Jaipur,
put in place by Electronics Instructor Gary
Mishra, but those plans have been placed on
hold until the city can send a delegation to
Jaipur this fall.
Treadway’s trip, which takes place over
spring break, will include stops in the cities
of Mysore, Delhi and Bangalore, the sites
of this summer’s semester abroad trip. The
reasons for stopping in these particular cities
include the fact that they are the technology
centers of India.
Students will also have the chance to
visit Bangalore this summer, from June 1
to July 31.
Stops will include Bangalore, Jain temples
and shrines in the villages of Belur and
Halebidu and the historical cities of Cochin
and Alleppey.
Students interested in attending this trip
may go to Room 1131 and pick up an application.
Students perform, learn
Photo by Eric Hui
ASOC Vice President Jackie McCulley guides volunteers’ shovels Tuesday during a LIFE club-led tree
planting event by the main stairway. The clubs planted 12 trees during the gardening session.
Continued from Page 1
Producer Rich Kidd has a compilation out available for purchase at www.myspace.
com/bigrichrecords, featuring illustrious names such as Mistah Fab, a local legend among
the Bay scene.
The third act was L.O.C. Ness, a hip-hop crew with an official roster of 20 members.
A unique act, some members on stage didn’t even provide vocals, but rather danced with
brooms and played with water bottles. With songs containing graphic lyrics, L.O.C. Ness
put forth a primal performance that got members of the audience to dance and bob their
heads in approval.
Also primarily influenced by the “getting dumb” hyphy movement, they played bangers
as well as an R&B-tinged song. To further enhance the hyphy feel of the event, the smell
of grape swisher, a type of marijuana, wafted up from the lower parking lots. The band’s
shining moment, however, was when the music was cut and members started to flow.
The final band scheduled to perform, Weslester, never arrived.
The next Rock the Hill will be this Thursday and will feature Val and the Evil Monkeys,
starring Ohlone’s own Math Instructor Jeff O’Connell, along with band Blood and Water
and the rapper Young Fats.
Team to examine college’s bottled water impact
By Rachael Funk
Staff writer
Are Ohlone students drinking enough water? Are we
being sufficiently “green” with the empty water bottles that
are left over?
A team of environmentalists are going to meet at Ohlone
with Ohlone’s Sustainability Coordinator George Rodgers
next week to look into ways of protecting the environment
while still encouraging students to get plenty of water.
According to the August 13, 2007 article “Water, Water
Everywhere, but Guilt by the Bottleful” from the New York
Times, “It takes 1.5 million barrels [of oil] a year just to make
the plastic water bottles Americans use, according to the
Earth Policy Institute in Washington, plus countless barrels
to transport it from as far as Fiji and refrigerate it.”
“8 out of 10 water bottles used in the United States become
garbage or end up in a landfill,” quotes www.refillnotlandfill.
org.
The site also states that 190,000 homes could be powered
by the wasted energy from bottling water. Refilling a water
bottle with tap water and reusing the same bottle more than
once can help reduce plastic waste.
Next week’s meeting should encourage Ohlone to find
more ways to keep the campuses environmentally friendly
and contribute ideas to minimize the garbage that could be
recycled.
Instructor speaks on effects of drug advertising
By Joe Nichols
Staff writer
Christine Carroll, an Ohlone
alumnus and adjunct speech instructor, gave a presentation on drug ads
and their perceived effect on college
students at the Brown Bag Science
Seminar Friday.
Carroll spoke concerning the
process she had to follow in developing her hypothesis and then
getting approval from the Master’s
board and Cal State East Bay Board
of Regents. Carroll and her team
then conducted a survey of 192
college students in English, communication and math classes at Cal
State East Bay.
Of those who were surveyed,
the majority claimed that drug ads
had more of an effect on others than
themselves. Her research showed
that many of the people who were
surveyed said that they learned
about the risks and benefits of a
drug from its advertisement, and
many of them said that it made
their relationships with their doctors better. A few of those surveyed
- less than one percent - said that
information they got from the ads
caused conflict between themselves
and their doctors.
After the presentation, Carroll
took some questions. The first
concerned her reasons for choosing this topic. She replied that her
motivation included the fact that
first of all, she had an interest in
the topic, and secondly, there had
never been a study done on this
demographic. In response to another
query, Carroll then discussed the
directions in which she’d chosen
to take her research. The next step,
according to her, will be to send out
the same survey to people who work
Smoking: I did it for the kids
Continued from Page 2
covers part of the problem.
But why? Even with this state-funded, anti-smoking ad blitz,
why do smokers get very little substance in the way of help? It’s
because cigarettes are one big pacifier, for all of us, smoking and
non-smoking alike.
Unlike scarier, boogie-monster drugs, cigarette addiction
doesn’t interfere with one’s ability to spend money, so it is
generally tolerated. In fact, smokers provide a steady income to
California. According to records from the Board of Equalization,
California took in $1,026,497,000 in tax revenue from cigarettes
in the 2005-’06 fiscal year.
From that, 57 percent (50 cents out of the 87-cent tax on every
pack) goes to the First 5 California program, which improves the
quality of life for children from pre-birth to kindergarten. They
say this is to make up for the burden of increased medical bills
that our evil lifestyle inflicts upon the healthy, but recent studies
suggest that smokers may actually be saving the country money
by dying faster.
No need to shove old folks into the Arctic Circle on some floating patch of ice - not if they’ll croak at the age of 50. We smoke,
we grumble, we pay and you let us.
overnight shifts.
Carroll holds a master’s degree
in Mass Communications from
CSU State East Bay and teaches
communication classes at Ohlone.
The Next Brown Bag Seminar
will be Friday, March 21 from
11:45 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. in Room
3201. Director of Science Policy at
UC San Francisco Dr. Dina Halme
will speak on Stem Cell Research
in California.
Correction
The story “ASOC discusses salary for
members” in the March 13 edition of Monitor included the sentence, “Compensation
is currently set at $200, with bonuses.” The
point was that under the current draft of
the proposed ASOC consitution, executive
ASOC officers would receive $200 a month,
not that they are currently paid that amount.
The Monitor regrets the lack of clarity.
4
monitor March 20, 2008
Weighing
Anchor
By Eric
dorman
News editor
War hits
your wallet
“It’s the economy, stupid.”
It was Bill Clinton’s promise to
address the economy in 1992,
and four elections later, it’s worth
bringing up again in relation to
the Iraq War.
As this year’s candidates
go about making promises and
announcing plans, they have
consistently devoted more time to
the economy than to the war. And
why not? Polls have repeatedly
indicated that Americans think
a tanking market deserves more
attention than a far-off desert
struggle.
It might be time to think again.
The economy and the war aren’t
as far removed from each other as
they might seem, according to a
recent Washington Post editorial
by Columbia Economist Joseph
Stiglitz, who calculated that the
Iraq War will end up costing the
U.S. $3 trillion.
$3 trillion. It’s a respectable
number, one that has the power
to serve as a reality check to
those who believe the war has no
effect on their lives. It’s a dollar
amount that begs another look at
the reasons behind our presence
in Iraq and the human, as well as
financial, cost of that presence.
Whether or not our Iraq presence is justified is a murky issue,
but the figures involved paint a
picture that could hardly be more
clear. Yesterday marked the 5th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq,
and Stiglitz calculates that every
month in those five years costs
the U.S. $12 billion ($16 billion
if you include Afganistan) in
upfront costs. When you add hidden defense budget costs, benefits
for future veterans, equipment
upkeep costs and the societal
costs that accompany loss of life,
the figure climbs steeply.
As a student, it’s easy to think
that by the time you start your
career, the tax burden of financing
the war will have already been
shouldered. Again, it’s time to
think twice. Bush’s slashed taxes
and increased expenditures have
resulted in the war being financed
largely by borrowed dollars. That
money has to come from somewhere, and that somewhere is
your pocket.
Think about what those trillions of dollars could be doing for
our country, and the world, if they
weren’t flowing into the Middle
Eastern sands. We could have
achieved universal health care for
all Americans, at an annual price
tag considerably less than the
amount we spend in Iraq every
year. We could have even cut
taxes in a meaningful, sustainable
manner.
Sometimes it takes a dollar amount to bring home the
incredible human costs of a war.
If nothing else can, let’s hope this
number drives home the fact that
whoever and wherever we are, the
war is our problem.
Features
Forensics: Ohlone vs. California
By Chen Lin
Staff writer
The Ohlone Forensics team
took second place at the California
Community College Forensics Association state championships last
weekend, making it their best performance this semester and earning
five competitors the right to compete
at Nationals. Altogether, the team
won two gold medals, five silver
medals and three bronze medals.
The most successful competitor
was Emily Burkett, who earned a
gold in Extemporaneous Speaking
and broke into finals for four other
events.
Her debate partner, David Taube,
won a gold in Lincoln Douglas and
shared silver with Emily in Parlia-
New glass art in Treadway’s office
Photo by Japneet Kaur
President Treadway’s office now features Carol Lawton’s Glass
Art and Design class’s latest pieces of crystalline sculpture.
mentary Debate.
The other prize-winners were
Sammy Obeid, who won silver in
Speech-to-Entertain, Athena Bringhurst, who won bronze in Parli,
and Mike Sagun, who won bronze
in Programmed Oral Interpretation. Their performance last week
was one of the best in the team’s
history.
“This is better than we’ve ever
done,” said Kay Harrison, a forensics coach and speech instructor at
Ohlone.
The tournament, which began
Wednesday and lasted until Sunday,
featured 16 community colleges
from across California and was
held in Concord, at the Crown
Plaza Hotel.
The prize-winners from this
tournament are qualified to compete
in the Phi Rho Pi national tournament, which will be held April in
St. Charles, Illinois, just outside of
Chicago. About 80 two-year schools
regularly attend that tournament.
Last year, Ohlone took 6th in the
sweepstakes for their division and
first place in both Parliamentary Debate and After Dinner Speaking.
To help fund the trip, the Forensics team is sponsoring a Comedy
Night on April 11. One of the performers will be Sammy Obeid, a
professional comedian and second
place finisher in Speech-to-Entertain at last weekend’s tournament.
More information will be available
on the Ohlone website.
Fresh blood in nursing program
By Tseten Dolkar
Staff writer
When asked about her job, Sharon Briggs said she is living her
“life-long dream to teach.” Briggs,
a Geriatric Content Expert certified
by the California Board of Nursing,
is an instructor for the second year
nursing program.
Having been raised in Berney
Falls, in the foothills of Yosemite,
Briggs describes herself as a “mountain girl” who enjoyes the outdoors
and the wide variety of activities
it provided. Among other things,
she fly-fishes, kayaks and, in 1989,
placed 15th in Women’s Amateur
Windsurfing in the nation.
After graduating from Highland
Hospital School with a diploma,
Briggs went onto Mills College
Nurse Sharon Briggs
for a nursing certificate. Following
her nursing license from the State,
Briggs worked for 10 years as a
nurse in pediatrics, surgical and
critical care. She then began inservice education in the emergency
rooms, and so marked the beginning
of her career as a teacher.
In 1975, Briggs started the
Health Occupation program at
Lassen Community College in
Susanville. It was after seven years
that her husband was transferred
to Redding, she began teaching at
Shasta College and became a LVN
Specialist.
Briggs then enrolled at Chico
State to pursue a master’s degree,
but she became sick last year
with different illnesses and was
bed-ridden. Only after consulting
with a specialist was her condition
identified as Lyme disease. Determined to make up for lost time, she
finished her master’s and graduated
in 2005.
Briggs’ students Laura Salinaro,
Jill Ingraham and Kathryn Miranda
all described Briggs as a teacher
with “no ego, and someone who
cares about her students.” Briggs
said she is “destined to help people
in whatever way [she] could.”
Briggs is passionate about what she
does, which, in healthcare, she said
requires “a calling.” With 43 years
of experience behind her, she could
be earning more at hospitals, but
chooses instead to prepare future
nurses at Ohlone. As she toured
the Newark Center’s nursing labs,
she enthusiastically spoke in-depth
about Ohlone’s new Simulation
Center, one of only a handful in
the Bay Area.
Briggs is a mother of three and
has three grandchildren. Briggs’
webpage, which was the thesis project for her master’s, can be reached
at: mycoplasmasupport.org.
the site and focus on empowering
women, and not to give up when
[she] ran into the many forks in
the road.”
In addition to her academic
qualifications, and her esthetician
license, she hopes to effectively
use her experiences as a make-up
artist, a former model and a former
employee for Johnson and Johnson
to contribute to the content.
Ferguson hired a web design
team for the building of the actual
website. The site, which was seven
months in the making, received
1,200+ hits pre-launch. Part of dual
sites, a separate Little Miss Chatty
Cathie website is designated for
girls ages 8 – 12. Users can read
both in Spanish.
Ferguson sees the website growing globally into a venue where
peer mentorship can be created,
and awareness of events concerning women regarding self-esteem
and violence against women can be
raised and educated on. She eventually hopes to start a non-profit with
her sister for battered women and
under-privileged children.
She sees a major feminine movement happen through Chatty Cathie
and alone fills the multiple positions
of writer, editor and photographer
but is looking to hire a full staff of
volunteers to add on to the current
help from family and close friends.
Those who are interested in modeling, writing, and photography may
contact her through the website.
Student website empowers girls
By Tseten Dolkar
Staff writer
Former Ohlone College student
Tanesha Ferguson launched ChattyCathie.com on March 6. The
website covers a wide variety of
topics, ranging from fashion to
health to world issues.
Ferguson said that girls “need a
place to share ideas, voice opinions,
thrive and inspire and be inspired
by female peers – free of judgment,
sexism, ridicule and competition.”
The website’s goal is to “provide
a dynamically thriving and safe
community for girls of all ages, to
exchange thoughts and ideas on all
things relevant to being female, and
most importantly, replace female
exploitation with self-respect and
empowerment.”
Ferguson grew up the oldest of
six children. Consequently, she
said she feels responsible for helping and setting a positive example
as a strong, independent woman
to students faced with similar life
pressures.
She was the first in her family to
graduate high school on time and go
on to college. Ferguson graduated
from Ohlone in 2004, and went on
to UC Berkeley to acquire a BA in
English. Upon graduation, her idea
of forming a magazine-like website
took shape after much encouragement from her father.
She credits him “as the one who
really encouraged [her] to pursue
March 20, 2008
Features
monitor
5
Devil’s
Advocate
By Anna
Nemchuk
Editor-in-chief
Leaving
home
Photos by Japneet Kaur
“Midnight at the End of the World,” left, with Jessica Stanley, Wes Walters, Jonny Scott and
Drew Raboy; “Crime and Punishment,” right, with Drew Raboy and Jonny Scott.
One: put your one-acts in a box, two...
By Kathy Sung
Staff writer
Opening night for the Student
Repertory Theatre brought comedy
and entertainment to Ohlone on
Tuesday, March 18, at 8 p.m. with
the most acts ever in one show.
The Theatre and Dance department
came together with 14 of the most
entertaining acts picked by various
students. “One Acts in a Box,” the
combination of 14 acts in one show
was delighted the crowd.
The night started off with humor
presented by Hannah Thrasher, Emily Stoner and Stacey Lynn Bell in
“Ladies Alone”. An entertaining
play about three ladies making a pact
on spending a ladies’ night together,
the play is filled with great lines
like “Not the Bible, it’s kind of too
frivolous for that” when the ladies
are swearing to spend one Saturday
night together every month.
The lights and backdrops were
fitting to the scene, allowing the
audience to laugh along as the cars
outside honked and dresses with
holes showed up.
The night continued with acts
like “Conversation 2045” showing
how according to the program “a
time when courtship is completely
computerized and a get-acquainted
chat is more like a formal interview”. The act starred Sora Baek,
Melanie Kay O’Connor and Jeremy
Laurenco.
“Crime and Punishment” came
on with an amusing scene of a
headmaster trying to punish a
student. The dialogue between the
actors was well-performed, bringing about shrieks of laughter from
the audience.
Other acts included “Midnight
at the World’s End,” “End of the
World,” “Check Please,” “Faith”
and “It’s not YOU!!!.”
Cyrus Soliman, an actor in
“Faith” and “Check Please,” said
“there’s so many things happening”
during the plays. He’s spent over ten
hours this week at the theater. Some
actors will change the words of the
writers, but Soliman said, “I don’t
agree with that. I like to respect
the writer’s work.” He believes
writers write the lines that are in a
screenplay for a reason.
There is a directing class offered
in the Fall for students so that they
can create this show. Interested students get a chance to direct a short
play, and the show is completely
student produced. These students
pass the vision to the set designers
who work together to produce the
show.
Joe Nichols, an actor in “Check
Please” and the assistant set designer for all the plays, believes
that people should take these classes
because “It’s really fun [and] it’s a
lot of work.” Interested students
should begin by taking classes like
Tom Blank’s Acting Styles-Classical class, TD-112.
in DSPS, stated that blind students
have to be high-functioning with
excellent memories to attend college.
The blind have hidden skills,
according to Stephen Kuusisto, an
op-ed contributor for the New York
Times, who was born prematurely
and had his retinas damaged during
incubation. He now teaches creative non-fiction at the University
of Iowa.
Kuusisto was interviewed on
National Public Radio regarding
Gov. Paterson and issues regarding
blindness and the visually impaired.
He said, “I think that blind people
who tend to be successful and
professional…tend to be able to
carry large amounts of information
and compartmentalize it, and call
upon it with remarkable dexterity”
and indicated that Gov. Paterson
demonstrated these skills and was
inspiring.
Being main-streamed in grade
school, middle school or high school
had its disadvantages for Barnes and
the Vasquez sisters. Barnes, who
transferred in high school, stated,
“Everything was old-fashioned
when I was in public school. They
had the BrailleWriter, a typewriter
where a student would have to
laboriously load paper and type
everything by hand.
“With the BrailleNote, students
don’t have to roll in a bunch of
paper. You set up document files
and type.”
Class notes can be printed out in
Braille on a BrailleWriter. Students
can also read their files in Braille on
the 32-key BrailleNote display.
The Vasquez sisters were merely
provided with tape recorders and
someone to read to them as much
as needed before transferring to the
School for the Blind.
They had to learn Braille when
they transferred from their local
school district in the ninth grade.
The BrailleNote computer enables students to take class notes,
including those for math classes.
Assignments are typed in Braille;
then, using Bluetooth technology,
the assignment is easily sent to
certain printers using MSWord to
print out for sighted instructors.
Isabel Vasquez stated that the
earlier blind students are transferred
to the School for the Blind, the more
likely they are to be at proper grade
level by age 18.
Students can transfer to the
School as early as age five, but the
primary issue would be that the students live at the School in Fremont
in small dormitory style.
On a typical day, each student
easily navigates the Ohlone Campus.
Following mathematics class
in Hyman Hall, Angela Vasquez,
who was immaculately, stylishly
groomed and wearing heals, easily
navigated with her cane through
the building up the winding, uneven paths to board a regular AC
Transit bus.
classic Super Smash Brothers: Melee and Halo 3. If console games are
not your flavor, Star Craft, Counter
Strike: Source, as well as Half Life 2:
Death Match will be there as well.
At the last event, the tournament winner received a $15 gift
card for GameStop; this time, the
prize should be bigger, said club
officers.
In addition there will be a raffle
for thumb drives, games and wireless routers.
The GDC is advertising for the
event in front of Hyman Hall, where
they are also showing off Super
Smash Brothers: Brawl on a Wii
with four controllers and taking
registrations for the tournaments.
The Gaming Development Club
has been around for about a year
and is running events like “Brawl”
to raise awareness of the club and
raise money for the club.
More money means the club
can compete with other, more established clubs. The money raised
for the club will be used to put on
more events and to buy software for
game development.
Currently, the club has two projects in the works: action adventure
games with titles “Elder Orb” and
“Tooth and Claw.” These games are
being developed by the club because
they were unable to do so in the
video game design class.
The club is backed by the Multimedia Department and supported
by the Video Game Certificate; it is
looking for programmers, artists,
the musically talented and aspiring
developers.
Outsourcing their projects is
“not always the best,” said Ryan
Coggins, treasurer of the GDC.
Visit www.ohlonegdc.com for more
information.
Ohlone’s blind: more than meets the eye
By Inez Black
Staff writer
The swearing-in ceremony of
David Paterson as the governor of
New York made history Monday,
March 17, as the second legally
blind governor in the United States.
(In 1975, Arkansas Governor Rob
Cowley Riley was the first legally
blind governor of Arkansas for 11
days.)
Robbie Barnes, who plans to
major in music/entertainment, Isabel Vasquez, who plans to major in
interpreting and Angela Vasquez
are all blind students attending
Ohlone.
They qualified for the Apartment
Program at the School of the Blind,
learning independent living skills
while in college.
The students take regular classes,
except they’re provided with Disabled Students Program Services.
Kathleen Schoenecker, adjunct
instructor and instructional assistant
Super Smashers brawl in Hyman Hall
By Kyle Stephens
Staff writer
Get ready for eight great hours
of smashing brawls, combo melee
attacks and plenty of awesome
gameplay at the Spring Break
Brawl. Organized by the Game
Development Club (GDC), the
competition will be held in Hyman
Hall on Friday, March 21. The event
starts at 1 p.m. and will run until 9,
with tournaments starting after 3.
Featured games will include
the much-anticipated Super Smash
Brothers: Brawl, as well as the now
Fleeing the nest is usually discussed from the parents’ point of
view. But are they really the ones
that suffer?
Sure, there’s the loneliness, the
heartache, the sleepless nights
worrying about drugs, pimps and
unpaid parking tickets your child
may be involved with.
But there’s also a newly-vacated room, a much-decreased
laundry load, a house that finally
smells like something other than
feet and pizza and, best of all,
the regained ability to function
as normal human beings, i.e. no
longer full-time parents.
But the poor kid. Thrust out
on its own for the second time
in its life, (the first involved an
unpleasant amount of squishing
and a completely uncalled for
ass-spanking) it must find its way
through the maze of the “real
world” school, society and MTV
have hardly prepared it for.
Bills, it turns out, do not pay
themselves.
Alarm clocks must be set - no
one will wake you up for class,
unless it’s your roommate, five
hours early, courtesy of his PlayStation skills. Groceries fail to
magically toddle from the supermarket to your fridge and, once
there, seem to quickly develop
an appearance more in line with
what you’re used to seeing safely
behind glass in chem class than
on a dinner plate.
No one cries over your booboos, unless you’ve managed to
snag a significant other, which
in and of itself brings a whole
new interesting set of problems.
Apparently, people who haven’t
birthed you really don’t have to
take your shit. And you thought
this was just your parents talking
crazy.
And for the final blow, when
you - tired of all the insanity,
exhausted beyond measure by the
tedium of work, school, shopping,
rinse, repeat - escape to your
hometown, arriving dusty and
bedraggled at your front door and
dropping three months of dirty
clothes on the stoop, stuff your
key in the door and, tumbling
inside, prepare to be greeted as
a returning hero with hugs, tears
and hot chocolate, what do you
find?
That your sweet, devoted, caring parents AREN’T HOME!
They’ve gone to gallivant
somewhere. To have fun. To the
museum or a party or a restaurant,
or even skiing. Without you.
Cold. Cruel. How could they?
So you collapse on the couch
to wait, your old room having
been scraped clean and turned
into a workout room. With a
treadmill! Like your parents even
know how to use one...
And when they come home,
turn on the light and find you
lurking in the dark, there’ll be
only one thing you can say.
“Where have you been?!”
6 MONITOR
News
March 20, 2008
TechComm seeks to isolate IT budget sources
By Kyle Stephens
Staff writer
Recently hired Information and
Technology Coordinator Bruce
Griffin will redraft Ohlone’s Technology Master Plan (TMP) within
the next few weeks and “hopefully”
less than a month, according to
Griffin.
At the TechComm meeting
Tuesday at 2 p.m. in Room 1407,
proposed TMP plans included isolating tentative budget sources for
various programs.
This is an funding-independent
plan, discussing simply where the
money will come from.
The sources include the Title
III Grant Language Instruction for
Limited English Proficiency and
Immigrant Students, the IT Budget, the “Other Campus Budget,”
No Impact goals (goals without
monetary cost, such as continuing
ongoing efforts and writing policy)
and Bond money.
Currently, the inventory of school
equipment is being updated and
compared manually to the previous,
not entirely accurate list. The new
inventory is to include computer accessories such as printers and monitors. Inventory is being recorded via
Datatel database software.
In order to expedite the inventory-gathering process, one possibility suggests that faculty describe
their machines to the IT department
via email. The exact data-gathering
method, however, is still under
consideration.
In addition to the inventory is
the implementation of a rating
system for computers, in order to
assess their value to the school. The
rating system is based on various
specifications, namely processor
speed, RAM, purchase datea and
hard drive size. Each characteristic
carries a different weight; the exact
values are being discussed.
Some staff and faculty members
proposed having ratings accounting
for teachers’ needs - as a machine
ill-suited for one may be perfect
for another.
Some gray areas, like Macintosh
users running Windows operating
systems, are cause for classification issues.
The rating system would also be
beneficial for budgeting purposes,
as it is funding-independent. When
it comes to computer replacement,
the machines most in need of such
would be easily identified.
Regarding replacement, Ohlone
at present lacks computers powerful enough to run Microsoft Office
2007.
The TMP aims to keep on top of
the latest technology but, at present,
is unable to do so in this respect.
The purchasing of equipment is
an important issue, as a machine
should be optimized for its given
purpose. Faculty and staff should
not have equipment under- or overpowered for their needs, as it is an
efficiency-sapping mismanagement
of resources.
The decision of what a given staff
of faculty member requires may fall
mostly to the individual, to “selfidentify” their specific needs or to
seek the advice of a knowledgeable
technology representative.
Additionally, the meeting
touched on the need for Ohlone’s
computer labs to have the same
equipment and software.
One system image, or master
copy, of all the software needed to
run a computer (operating system,
basic applications and specialty programs required for any given class)
can easily be applied to a whole lab
if all machines are identical to the
computer the image was meant to
be installed upon.
Campus Events
CLASSIFIEDS
PIANO FOR SALE
-- Upright, rosewood
Chappell piano in excellent
condition. Made in England.
$1,200. Call 510-7901139 or email souzafive@
comcast.net.
1 9 8 7 M er c u r y
cougar $800 OBO
-- Vehicle is in good
working order, will get you
where you need to go.
Automatic transmission.
Power ever ything. 2dr
Gold. Hood and roof paint
are faded. New tires, front
pads, plugs, wires, cap and
rotor, starter solinoid, battery, battery cables. Asking
$800 OBO. Call 510-7901139 or email jackieorvis@
gmail.com
March
20 Women’s Softball -- Away
vs. Hartnell @ 3 p.m.
20 Environmental Sustainability Meeting -- Meetings
are the third Thursday of each
month, rotating between the
Fremont and Newark campuses @ 3:30 p.m.
21 Brown Bag Science
Seminar -- Stem Cell Research in California. Dr. Dina
Halme will discuss her work
at UCSF, which focuses on
the regulation of potential
stem cell-based products.
Presentation is @ 11:45 p.m.
in Room 8203
21 Men’s Tennis -- Away vs.
Foothill College @ 2 p.m.
21 Women’s Tennis -- Here
vs. Foothill College @ 2
p.m.
25 Men’s Baseball -- Away
vs. Hartnell College
@ 2 p.m.
25 Women’s Tennis -- Away
vs. Cabrillo College @ 2
p.m.
25 Women’s Softball -Home vs. Monterey Peninsula College @ 3 p.m.
27 Men’s Baseball -- Home
vs. Monterey Peninsula College @ 2 p.m.
27 Women’s Softball --
Away vs. Gavilan College
@ 3 p.m.
28 Men’s Tennis -- Away vs.
Mission College @ 2 p.m.
28 Women’s Tennis -- Home
vs. City College of San Francisco @ 2 p.m.
29-30 Women’s Softball
-- Away vs. Sierra College
Tournament in Rocklin.
29 Men’s Baseball -- Home
vs. City College of San Francisco @ noon.
March 20, 2008 monitor
7
April
4 Brown Bag Seminar -- Cyber Crime with Steve Hanna,
Instructor. 11:45 a.m. - 12:45
p.m. in Room 3201
16 Spring Health Fair -Visit Building 1 Lobby for
the Spring 2008 Health Fair
@ 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.
18 Building of Hubble Space
Telescope -- Presentation by
Astronomer Karl Allmendinger @ 11:45 a.m. - 12:45
p.m. in Room 3201.
22 Women’s Softball -- Away
vs. West Valley College @
1 p.m.
22 Fremont Symphony
Orchestra with pianist
Jon Nakamatsu -- Best of
Beethoven @ 8 p.m. in the
Jackson Theatre.
24-29 Spring Break -- No
classes.
24-28 Spring Break Soccer
Camp 2008 -- For boys and
girls ages 6-14.
25 Men’s Tennis -- Home vs.
Chabot @ 2 p.m.
Read the Monitor Online at http://ohlone.edu/org/monitor
The Monitor invites your comments. Letters should be 250 words or less and include your name and relationship to Ohlone. Letters become
property of The Monitor and may be edited for spelling and length. Campus Events listings are free for college-related events.
To have your event added or to place an ad, contact Jacque Orvis at (510) 659-6075 or e-mail [email protected]
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Page 8
Ohlone hosts Spring Invite, wins both games
By Jerome Nepacena
Sports writer
After a stretch of up and down
games for the Ohlone Men’s baseball team, the Renegades were able
to pick up impressive wins over Taft
and Reedley College as part of the
Ohlone Spring invite.
The Renegades went 2-0 in the
two games they played as part of
the event which took place on backto-back days.
The event was highlighted by
a blowout victory over Taft College in which they overcame an
early deficit, where Taft started
out strong in the first inning by
scoring 3 runs.
A single run was scored on a controversial call on which Renegade
pitcher, Shane Murchison, appeared
to get the out against a Taft runner
who was then called safe, resulting
in two runs scored for Taft.
After scoring three in the top
half of the first, Taft would go on
to score three more while Ohlone’s
hitters caught a hot streak at the
dish by lighting up Taft’s pitching
staff, bringing in 18 runs of their
own after that first inning.
The game featured solid hitting
by players like David Luna, Justin
Landay and Aaron Chavez, who all
took advantage of their at-bats and
came through with clutch base hits
for the home Renegades.
In the bottom of the fourth inning,
the Renegades managed to get their
first lead of the game when first
basemen Justin Lunday got his first
hit and scored two, putting Ohlone
ahead 6-4.
Landay was 2-5 for the game
with a team-leading 5 RBI’s and a
Photo by Tomás Ortega
Ohlone second baseman Matt Langseth applies the tag after Renegades catcher David Luna, not
pictured, guns down Taft’s runner at second.
stolen base for Ohlone.
The Renegades would continue
to roll from there, winning the game
18-6 after nine innings. The team
seems to be finding their rhythm after experiencing some tough losses
during the course of the season.
It was nice to see the team
overcome a deficit and get some
runs batted in after a few games in
which the team couldn’t hold on to
some early leads and would come
Photo by Tomás Ortega
Lea Knop led the Lady Renegades to their first win Friday.
Women’s Tennis first-ever win
By Jerome Nepacena
Sports writer
The Ohlone women’s tennis team picked up its first win last Friday afternoon with several wellplayed matches against Monterey Peninsula College. Lea Knop led the group to a 6-3 victory and
was one of many winners for the Lady Renegades. Other victories included Hanh Nguyen, who won
in the second singles match, Van Nguyen, who won in the fourth and Christina Vargas, who won in
the sixth singles match of the afternoon.
The team also won one doubles match-up and three games by default. This game, which was played
at Monterey Peninsula College, was huge for Ohlone; as Head Coach Fu Wong would tell you, “this
was significant because it’s the first tennis win for Ohlone.” Wong explained, “we are now at 2-7,
which isn’t great, but for what’s basically an expansion team it’s going to be a tough year.”
This season marks the first women’s tennis season for Ohlone and the women’s team looks to build
on their recent success as they host Foothill College this Friday.
up short in the end.
This time around, it was the
Renegades getting over the hurdle
and turning an early deficit into a
dominating victory.
The Renegade baseball team will
head to Salinas to take on Hartnell
this Tuesday. So, while you’re baking in the sun next week,hopefully
if it doesn’t rain, this ball club will
doing all they can to work toward a
winning record for the year.
By Tomás Ortega
Sports editor
score in the first inning on an error
by Sierra’s second baseman, that
would be all they could get. Sumner was also the only Renegade to
get more than one hit in the game. Ohlone would be handed their only
loss of the tournament, knocking
them out of the running for a tournament win. Ohlone’s overall record
jumped to 19-5.
Softball March
Madness wrap
This weekend, Ohlone hosted
its annual March Madness softball
tournament. The tournament was
held at the Pleasanton Sports Complex instead of the usual venue of
Central Park.
While the Renegades did rack
up a 4-1 record for the weekend,
they ended up taking third overall
in the Gold bracket. The winner
of the annual March Madness was
College of Siskiyous, which beat
Sierra-Rocklin 1-0.
The Renegades did very well
on Saturday, picking up a 9 a.m.
victory over Solano College, 7-4.
Their second win came over Feather
River 4-0. Ohlone ended Saturday
on a high note, besting Modesto in
the 3 p.m. game 3-1.
With three wins in pool play,
the Renegades advanced to the
Gold Bracket for Sunday’s games.
They met Fresno City College at
11 a.m. and Kelly Colker pitched a
great ball game. This time, Colker
only had two strikeouts and gave
up one run.
Sierra-Rocklin would pose a
tough match for the Renegades.
Though Ohlone’s Kat Sumner did
Tuesday marks
another win
for Renegades
Tuesday afternoon, the Renegades hosted Foothill College and
let their offense speak loudly while
carrying a big stick. They came out
on top 17-1.
After sitting down the Owls 1-2-3
in the top half of the first, Ohlone
splurged at the plate putting up a 7
spot in the bottom half. The inning
included back-to-back 2-run base
hits by second baseman Desiree
Springs and right fielder Desiree
Sanchez.
That would be all Ohlone would
need with with Danielle Yee on the
mound. Yee went 5 strong innings
and struck out 5.
Ohlone improved to 12-0 in
league play.