Sept 22, 2006

Glendale CollegeEl Vaquero

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 22, 2006www.elvaq.com Volume 90 Number 1

Vaquero Views Students take on

challenges of new term. Page 20

BanksyControversial

British artist exhibits his work in L.A.

Page 15

EdinburghTheatre Arts

students travel to Scottland.

Page 12

Parking Students are affected by

lack of space.Page 4

New president/superintendent Audre Levy was unanimously selected by the Board of Trustees and is the first female to hold the position in the history of the campus. See story, page 5.

Photo by Griag Agop

Photo by Jane Pojawa

Photo by Ty Hathaway

2 Friday,September22,2006 www.elvaq.com

OBITUARY

CampusMournsLossofMathematicsProfessor

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Deirdre Collins, a ten-ured math professor,

passed away on Aug. 17 due to complications that arose af-ter having a heart attack while she was on campus April 4.

She leaves behind her husband of eight years, Sterrett.

Collins had been a faculty member here since September 2001 and began her tenure Sep-tember 2005. She was working her way through the math se-quence to teach all the higher lev-el mathematics according to Peter Stathis, the Division Chair of the math department.

Math instructor, Kathleen Hol-mes said that “[on April 4] after leaving her class she was going down the stairs and she felt faint. She thought that if she went to her office and kind of just rested a little bit that it would pass. And it didn’t, so she called the nurse

and by her describing her symp-toms to the nurse, the nurse called paramedics. She was taken by ambulance from [GCC].”

According to Holmes the hos-pital decided to perform an angio-gram on Collins and depending on their findings they might also perform surgery. They ended up doing a triple bypass surgery soon after the angiogram.

Holmes said that the last she had heard that night was that the surgery had gone fine and that the doctors would be reviving Collins in the morning. The next morning however, they could not wake her.

Collins, prior to the angiogram, appeared fine for someone who had just had a heart attack said Holmes. Both she and Stathis went to the emergency room to see her.

In the emergency room she was talking to Holmes and asking her to make sure her classes got can-celled.

Stathis said that when he was waiting with her in the emergency room Collins dozed off for awhile. He happened to have a book with him so she awoke to find Stathis reading. She asked him about the book and after describing it to her she asked for her purse to write down the title because she said it sounded interesting.

“She was an intellectual,” said Stathis. “That’s how I see her, in the best sense of the word, some-one who’s really interested in knowledge and different people and their peccadilloes.”

Many from the math depart-ment and her church visited Col-lins and they even started a jour-nal. They would write down who went to see her, on what day, at what time and a brief description of what happened during their stay said Holmes.

This was mainly for her hus-band but also for her other visi-tors so they knew that other peo-

Math instructers from left to right: Gary Massion, Mike Allen, Steve Marsden, Bill Shamhart, Lynn Pomeroy, Andy Young, David Jones, Pete Witt, Deirdre Collins, Liz Russell, Peter Stathis, Kathleen Holmes, Yvette Hassakoursian

By Alison GellerEL VAQUERO FEATURES EDITOR

Deirdre Collins

ple had been there with her and if there had been any changes.

Collins never regained con-sciousness after the surgery. She remained in an intensive care unit at Adventist Hospital for three months because of infections and was then moved to a long term hospital care facility in West Covina. She was only there for a few weeks before she passed away, according to Holmes.

Collins was very active both at school and in her social life.

Holmes said that the math de-partment is a very close group. Many from the math department go to lunch every Friday and Col-lins usually came along.

She had been working with Holmes on The Math Collabora-tive for the past three years; the Collaborative was originally started five years ago by Holmes and David Hassett, another math teacher at GCC, who worked on it together for the first two years.

“[The Collaborative] is with the local high schools,” said Hol-mes. “And we work with them to brainstorm any kind of strategy we can use to try and improve students preparing more in high school. So when they get here their math placement scores are as high as possible and they can start at the highest math class pos-sible.”

“I was always amazed at how much energy she had,” said Hol-mes. “She was just incredible.”

Collins was governor-at-large and treasurer of the Faculty Asso-

ciation of California Community College, a member of the Glen-dale Quilt Guild, a member of the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society, she was very interested in learning disabilities and help-ing disabled students, as well as being very active in her church, according to Holmes.

She was also involved with many different committees at GCC. “She had a fresh eye on everything,” said Lynn Pomeroy, math professor.

Holmes and Stathis expressed their admiration at the extra work she took on for her students. Col-lins gave a quiz every week and students would have to go to the learning center and get signed off that they went over the problems they had trouble with. If, on a test, 80 percent of her students got a problem wrong she would put it on as many quizzes as it took un-til 80 percent got it right.

Stathis said that at her memorial service on Sept. 9 he talked about this unique teaching method. “None of us would do that much work. We usually do five tests or something. It was hours more of extra grading that she didn’t have to do, but she believed in it and she found it successful.”

A memorial scholarship has been set up in Collins’ name. A large envelope is located outside Pomeroy’s office, SG 364, with small envelopes in it to donate to the scholarship.

Alison Geller can be reached at [email protected]

www.elvaq.com Friday, September 22, 2006 3

NEWS BRIEFS

By Rachel MillsEL VAQUERO STAFF WRITER

happened with the blood and how it helps.

The American Red Cross Web site offers facts regarding blood donation which can help students understand the value of their blood donations. According to the figures presented, every two seconds someone in Amer-ica needs blood. They also state that one out of every ten people admitted to a hospital needs a blood transfu-sion. The site also reports that the national demand for blood is higher than the 15 million donations col-lected annually.

A person who wishes to donate blood needs to be over the age of 17, 110 pounds or over, and in general good health. The required waiting time in between blood donations is 56 days. However, if just palates are given, a person can donate a maxi-mum of 24 times a year. Another fact is that one blood donation saves up to three lives.

“If people want to give blood they’ll find a way to do it,” said Machin.

Students can find information about local blood drives and other in-formation regarding the blood donat-ing process at http://www.redcross.org/donate/give/

September 11 and 12 the college commemorated the five year an-

niversary of 9/11 by sponsoring a blood drive that gave back to many local hospitals and blood banks as well as donating money to charity.

The donors gave more than a pint of blood. Many also gave $2 dona-tion to a 9/11 Children’s Fund. The total amount raised was reported to be $184 for the 92 donors.

Many of the donors were regu-lars. Students Andrew Watson and Loudvik Avanesian had each donated more than five times before the blood drive on campus.

Another regular, Victor Rosales said, “[I] don’t do drugs, so I might as well donate blood for a good cause.”

This fall’s blood drive had 23 more donors than last fall’s blood drive. However, this blood drive had fewer donors than the last blood drive on campus which was in the in spring. That blood drive had a turn out of 107 donors.

“I think students don’t donate blood because they have a fear of needles and they don’t care,” said Watson.

Another student, David Machin, 18, said he would feel more inclined to donate if he knew where and what

Board of Trustees Honor Police Specialist Kobaissi By Olga RamazEL VAQUERO EDITOR IN CHIEF

At Tuesday’s Board of Trust-ees meeting, Police Spe-

cialist Nidal Kobaissi was hon-ored for his accomplishments as president of GCC’s California School Employees Association (CSEA). Kobaissi will be step-ping down from his position af-ter nearly three years of service.

According to Kobaissi, before he stepped in as president, GCC went through some tough times. The budget and layoffs were major concerns, but eventually things smoothed out.

“I tried to make the best out of things,” said Kobaissi. “We [GCC] kind of carried through and things are looking a lot brighter.”

A former student of GCC, Ko-baissi understands the students’ point of view. He believes that if the faculty does not work well together, the students do not get what they are paying for.

Saodat Aziskhanova, who was the former vice-president for the employees association, will be taking over the role of CSEA president.

During the trustees meeting, Aziskhanova presented Kobaissi with a plaque and a light saber to “help him on the other side.”

“I think he [Kobaissi] was an outstanding leader,” said Aziskh-anova. “He did change a lot of things at CSEA.”

Aziskhanova credits Kobaissi for helping make the classified employees an integral part of the campus community.

Both Kobaissi and Aziskhano-va worked closely on the CSEA, respectively as president and vice-president.

Kobaissi has no doubt that Aziskhanova will do a great job carrying out her duties as presi-dent.

“She’s been with me the whole time [and] we think along the same lines,” said Kobaissi. “She’s very passionate about what she does and she’s very good about what she does. She’s going to get all of my support and I know everybody is going to want to support her.”

Kobaissi will now re-focus his undivided attention to his career in the police department.

Photo by Olga RamazNidal Kobaissi, Campus Police Specialist, is honored at Board of Trustees Meeting for his work as former president of GCC’s California School Em-ployees Association.

Rachel Mills can be reached at [email protected]

Photo by Emmanuel BelvizLoudvik Avanesian, an accounting major, takes time to donate blood on Sept. 12. Avanesian says he donates blood every month.

Students Donate Blood, Money to Commemorate 9/11

Olga Ramaz can be reached at Olga_Ramaz @elvaq.com

parking] system. Most of them want to park in the complex across campus on Verdugo. Even when it’s full, they’d rather wait there [for an available space].”

Kobaissi said that returning stu-dents were already familiar with the stacked parking; it was the new students who were unaware of the system. In anticipation of this problem, campus police asked lot attendants to distribute fliers containing parking information to students as they came into the lot.

He said that all student lots were completely filled up only on Thursday, Sept. 7, and again on Monday, Sept. 11, at around 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. on both days.

“We have not yet reached full [parking] capacity, except for two hours”, said Kobaissi.

He also added, “those were the toughest times to find parking.”

Director of Business Ser-vices, Bill Taylor, added that this semester’s first-day parking situation was “not much differ-


NEWS

Parking Takes its Toll on Students, New Building DelaysBy Pauline GuiuanEL VAQUERO NEWS EDITOR

GCC students and staff are again forced to deal with

the problem of parking as a new semester begins. Jam-packed parking lots and students driv-ing around in their cars searching for available space have been a common sight in Student Park-ing Lots B, 30, 31 and 34 since fall classes started on Sept. 6.

The lack of parking spaces for students has been worsened this semester by the ongoing con-struction of a $26 million dol-lar parking structure in Upper Parking Lot B, which has taken away 400 parking spaces from students since last spring. Ad-ministration worked to alleviate the problem by shifting those spaces to other lots or through the stacked parking system.

Fire technology major Stanley Woo said that the parking situation was “bad” on the first day of school.

ent” from the last few semesters. “Students were hunting

and waiting for spaces, but it was the same last fall,” said Taylor. “Parking is adequate for our current enrollment.”

According to Taylor, more spaces are available for stu-dents along Verdugo Ave. since the City of Glendale agreed to honor GCC parking per-mits for public parking spaces.

Vice President of Administra-tive Services, Larry Serot, said that the college actually has more parking spaces for students this semester than it did in the spring.

The construction of the $16 million dollar Allied Health Building has also partly caused the loss of a few more parking spaces for staff and faculty. Work on the building has been delayed by “manpower and construction methods,” according to Taylor. The project is expected to be completed by the middle of spring 2007 and will house the graph-ic arts and nursing programs.

“We’re two to three weeks behind schedule,” Taylor said. He attributed this to several problems, including inadequate manpower, poor soil condi-tions and over-excavation on the part of the construction com-pany working on the building.

However, Taylor emphasized that parking was “not affected” by the delay in construction. “It only took away a few spaces,” he said, referring to the loss of the G lot and part of the F lot behind the cafeteria and library build-ings. This area was cordoned

off and installed with temporary stairs in the summer to allow pas-sage for students up to Lot B.

Serot added that the loss of those parking spaces was not due to the construction of the Al-lied Health building, but more because of the construction of the elevator tower that will transport students from campus to the future parking structure.

Staff and faculty have been asked to park off campus since the spring. They are taken by a shuttle system to and from various parking lots in Glendale. Accord-ing to Kobaissi, there is a current shortage of around 35 parking spaces for staff and faculty.

However, the collective sac-rifice will be rewarded as the parking situation is expected to improve drastically with the com-pletion of the six-story parking structure in July 2007, according to Taylor. The structure will have a total of 1160 stalls, guarantee-ing a net gain of 850 new spaces.

Kobaissi said that even now, there are enough park-ing spaces for the students. “Students need to know that parking is available,” he said.

Serot also assures students that the parking situation will “ease up” after another week.

“The first two or three weeks of school have always been a problem,” said Serot. “But after the first few weeks, things settle down and everyone should be able to find parking.”

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“I arrived at seven [a.m.] and started looking for parking in the complex [along Verdugo Av-enue],” said Woo. “It was already full, so I drove up to Lot B. It took 20 minutes before I got to park.”

Woo added that for the first few days, he and his friends would come to school as ear-ly as 7 a.m. so that they could find parking spaces and avoid being late for class, even if it meant waiting in their cars un-til their classes began at 9:30.

However, college police spokesperson Nidal Kobais-si said that parking has been “pretty good” during the first few days of the fall semester.

“It has been good, especially with the stacked parking,” said Ko-baissi, referring to the parking sys-tem in which lot attendants assist students in finding available spac-es in Lot B and park the students’ cars for them when the lot is full.

“It’s just that some students are not aware of the [stacked

Pauline Guiuan can be reached at Pauline [email protected]

Most students who voted at elvaq.com agree that parking at GCC is a problem.

HowwouldyougradeyourGlendaleCommunityCollegeparking

experience?

9.7% A

3.2% B

16.1% C

32.3% D

38.7% F

Total votes: 31

* Poll run date: June 4 to Sept. 22


NEWS

New President/Superintendent Feels Right at HomeBy Pauline GuiuanEL VAQUERO NEWS EDITOR

Photo by Jane PojawaNew college president Audre Levy believes in “doing your best job because someone’s always watching you.”

A tall, dignified woman often dressed in a suit is usually

seen roaming the halls and build-ings of GCC. She occasionally pauses to greet a staff or faculty member or to talk to a student. She visits classes and sits at a desk, quietly observing the stu-dents and instructors. Afterwards, she returns to her office to con-tinue with the load of work that she has to deal with everyday as a school administrator. This is Dr. Audre Levy, GCC’s new presi-dent/superintendent.

The Board of Trustees and presidential selection committee unanimously selected Levy as the new president last May out of four candidates, making her the first female president in the his-tory of the college. Since John Davitt’s retirement in July, Levy has been working doubly hard to get to know the school, the stu-dents, and the faculty and staff.

“This is a really dynamic college,” she says. “Glendale has some wonderful programs and exciting teachers…I enjoy the community. People have been so supportive of me.”

Board of Trustees President Kathleen Burke-Kelly said that the board was “very impressed with Dr. Levy’s broad experience in education and her many accom-plishments,” according to a news release on the GCC website.

Before coming to GCC, Levy had been the president of Los An-geles Southwest College for five years. She was an English teacher at elementary and high schools for 12 years, and has also worked at various community colleges and four-year universities.

The new president says that she has an “interesting” background. “I came from a very small coun-try town and was in a high school class of only 25 students.”

Being one of four siblings, Levy says that she was pressured to excel academically because of her older sister’s achievements. “She was the [high school] vale-dictorian. People were expecting the other sister [Levy] to be just like her.”

As a high school student, Levy described herself as being very “social,” involving herself in forensics and public speaking. “I would even give speeches to farmers,” she says. She graduated

as the class salutatorian and was offered several college scholar-ships.

Levy went on to Michigan State University, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in public speaking with a minor in English. She later on earned four master’s degrees in education, psychology, administration and conscious studies.

“I’ve been a perpetual student,” she says. “I love being in a class-room.”

After teaching at public schools in Detroit for almost nine years, Levy moved to California with her husband and two children. She taught for a few years at ju-nior high schools, then started to consider taking her career to the community college level.

“It was my new year’s resolu-tion to get a job at a community college,” Levy says. “So for three months, I was actively program-ming my mind for that. Every night I would do something, like visit colleges, read catalogs, and work on my resume.”

Levy volunteered as a coun-selor at the West LA and Santa Monica colleges. Because of her experience as a high school teach-er, former students would come to her for counseling and she soon became “the popular one.” It was not long before she became a full-time counselor at Valley Col-lege; she was also hired by Santa Monica College for a part-time counseling job.

“You’ve got to figure out how to make things happen for yourself,” Levy says. “You’ve always got to do your best job because some-one’s always watching you.”

According to Levy, one of her strengths is that she manages to stay “very calm” and “always level,” even in volatile situations. “People watch me, and they see how I handle difficult employees and situations with students, and they recognize that.”

She also says that she is “very involved with the spiritual com-munity. My thinking is part of that spiritual philosophy that if you change your thinking, you change your life. What you attract in your mind is what you attract in reality. If you have a good at-titude, you’ll attract people with a good attitude.”

Levy’s secretary Sally Holmes says that it is a “pleasure” to be working with the president. “I greatly appreciate the opportu-nity to work with Dr. Levy,” Hol-

mes says. “She’s very intelligent. She’s a wonderful woman.”

When asked about her role as college president, Levy says that she is “a strong advocate for the students. I see my role his way: though I’m looking out for every-body, I’m specifically the voice of the students. Often at [staff/facul-ty] meetings, I would remind ev-erybody, ‘Remember, we’re here for the students.’”

Student and ASGCC Senator of Campus Organizations Paolo Ba-naag says that Levy “shows great character.” According to Banaag, Levy sat in on one of their meet-ings and “gave a really inspiring speech that ended with her saying, ‘Without you guys, we wouldn’t be here.”

Because of her love for learning, Levy enjoys visiting the classes on campus. “I’d be sitting at one of the desks and at times I’d like to raise my hand and get involved in the discussion, but I can’t,” she says with a grin. “I’m a guest. I’m supposed to behave.”

Levy believes that in her first few months at GCC, she is learn-ing that the college has several strengths that make it very dif-ferent from other community col-leges.

“The faculty is very innova-

tive,” she says. “They’re good at looking at situations differently and getting students involved in education. They get students ex-cited so that they [students] will continue to explore it beyond the class.”

She also says that she is “excit-ed about the students,” and enjoys attending ASGCC meetings and talking to students around cam-pus. She is fascinated the diver-sity of the student population.

ASGCC Vice President of Campus Activities Sevada Begi-janyan says that Levy “cares so much about the students. She’s interested in students’ opinions and always wants to know what they want or what they think.”

The new president says she even often gets invited to eat with students and faculty. “People know I like to eat,” she says. “So they take me out to eat, and that’s why my diet didn’t work,” she adds jokingly. She says she espe-cially enjoys the meals prepared by the culinary arts department in Los Robles.

Levy has also observed the college’s partnership with the Glendale community is “very solid. The mayor and other peo-ple in position in this city know about the college and support this

college.”When asked about continuing

former president Davitt’s legacy, she says that Davitt was “a giant on the community college level. What he left behind was a sense of unity among the faculty and staff, and for students, he helped them look at this [GCC] as a place that was their home. He was also very instrumental in reaching out to the community. He left some big shoulders to stand on, and I’m very grateful for that.”

She adds that she is still in con-stant communication with Davitt and that he has been very gener-ous with advice on how to handle situations at the college. “There are many parallels between us,” she says.

Some of the challenges Levy is facing as the new president in-cludes the college’s “fiscal needs” because of rising educational costs and meeting the students’ needs with the current budget; she also wants to help high school graduates coming to the college to acquire skills and experiences that were not previously available to them.

Levy is also quite concerned about the “biggest issue” of park-

[See Levy, page 7]

Starting Winter 2007, tuition will be dropped to $20 a unit from the cur-

rent $26, announced ASGCC president David Arakelyan at Tuesday’s ASGCC meeting.

Arakelyan explained how the approval of the fee reduction may possibly solve low enrollment issues in the college.

“We, as a student association, represent students and do what we’re supposed to do,” said Arakelyan. “We want to make GCC affordable for everyone.”

Although this was a successful mo-tion, the ASGCC legislature is still try-ing to push tuition costs down to $15 a unit. In order to do this, 5000 signatures are needed to petition the request. Vari-ous committees within the student gov-ernment legislature were encouraged to be active in the pursuit of lower tuition costs.

“This is something where you can make a difference on a larger scale,” said Student Activites Coordinator and Advi-sor Alen Andrassian. “This isn’t going to happen if you don’t put work into it.”

ASGCC Announces Tuition DecreaseBy Kara AranasEL VAQUERO STAFF WRITER

ASGCC’s special committee reported spending $179,000 on a new web design for the school’s website. “It helps put the college out there,” says Arakelyan, hop-ing that this could be another solution to the low enrollment dilemma.

Syuzanna Petrosyan, Vice President of Finance, explained that $79,000 will be used to keep the website running, while the other $100,000 will go to making the website more attractive and will also add new languages on the site so that interna-tional students can understand it.

The committee is hopeful that these new changes will draw more students to choose to attend GCC.

The school also received the Title V grant for $2.9 billion paid out over 5 years.

Title V is aimed towards Hispanic-serving institutions, to help students still in high school by giving them a better college education experience. The goal is to help students under the grant to get through GCC in just two years and onto a four-year university.

The Campus Relations Committee is also planning to take a survey of what kind of food students would like to eat

Kara Aranas can be reached at [email protected]

Trustees Applaude new Title V Grant

The college has been awarded a new Title V Grant to help im-

prove the access and success of low-income students. This was just one of several important topics covered at Monday’s Board of Trustees meet-ing.

The new Title V Grant will give $575 thousand a year for the next five years.

Scot Spicer, the Associate Dean of Instructional Services, and Cathy Durham, the Title V Grant Director, gave an informational presentation on the intent and benefits that this grant, which begins October 1, will give low-income students as well as the college.

The goal for this grant, accord-ing to Durham, is to “enhance-

By Alison GellerEL VAQUERO FEATURES EDITOR

[See Board of Trustees, page 8]

6 Friday, September 22, 2006 www.elvaq.com

NEWS

[See related story, “David Arakelian Takes on

Role of New ASGCC President,” page 8]

on campus. They are suggesting that the culinary department cook fresh food for students instead of opening up fast food restaurants in the cafeteria. “Maybe we can have fresh salads,” said Vice Presi-dent of Administration Carolina Yer-nazian. There was also a proposition for the school cafeteria to start accept-ing ATM cards to make it easier for the students.

As the meeting came to a close, Vice President of Campus Activities Sevada Begijanyan read the “Quote of the Day.” The purpose of the “Quote” is to moti-vate the officers that make up the AS-GCC legislative body as they prepare to carry out tasks that lay ahead.

Begijanyan read, “Accept the chal-lenge so that you may feel the exhilara-tion of victory.”


NEWS

New President Believes In Defying Odds[Levy, from Page 5] ing. “One of the things that’s first on my agenda is trying to find more parking for every-one.” However, she does not be-lieve that the parking problem has greatly affected enroll-ment. “Some students have probably decided not to stay because of the parking. But really, comparing where we are now to last year, we’re just about even and lost only about a hundred students. And that’s not to say that those who’ve left did so because of the park-ing.”

Part of her goals for the stu-dents includes being able to improve curriculum in such a way “that will make students want to stay and learn more” and to improve campus fa-cilities. As for the faculty and staff, she wants to continue and strengthen “Dr. Davitt’s

legacy” of unity among them, and to get them to “socialize” with other members of the campus community more.

When asked about her personal goals, she jokes, “To lose weight.” Then, more seriously, she adds that she wants “to be a person my family and friends would always want to be with, that they would really seek me out because they want to be in my company. I also want to maintain my positive at-titude even in the midst of chal-lenges, and to be a light for others in the midst of darkness.”

Despite having a very busy schedule, Levy does her best to find time for family and friends, especially for her son in North Carolina and her daughter in Florida. “I go and visit them at various times during the year, and we talk on the phone at least once a week.” She also spends time with her sister a couple of times

a month.Levy says that she would

like the students to know about her background because “any-one can do what I have done. I want them to know that they can do anything they can put their mind to if they would only sit down and decide, ‘I’m really going to do this.’ Whether it’s to lose weight, to get a college degree or to run a marathon, it all starts with a commitment.”

“I’m a person who’s defied odds. Part of defying odds is believing in yourself and not succumbing to the pity party,” she adds. “We have to remember that it’s our attitude and not the color of our skin or how much money we have that matters.”

Low Enrollment Epidemic Hits GCC, Classes Cancelled

Graph shows how GCC’s enrollment is below the estimated student population growth as mandated by state government.

By Diana PetrasEL VAQUERO STAFF WRITER

Enrollment for full-time col-lege students has dropped six

percent since 2003 and continues to stay at a steady sum of about 12,300 students because of tuition hikes, student interest and a lack of classroom and parking space.

There are 109 California com-munity colleges, and a majority of them are having problems with low enrollment this fall. Unfor-tunately, Glendale Community College is no exception, and it is now lacking in FTES (Full time Equivalent Student). “There are some [community colleges] that continue to do well [without any problems of low enrollment], but they’re usually in areas that have an increase of population,” said Larry Serot, Executive Vice President for Administrative Ser-vices.

According to the Vice President of Instructional Services, Steve White, colleges receive a certain amount of money from the gov-ernment for a certain number of FTES. The more students en-rolled means more money for the

school. When there are fewer stu-dents, the school loses money that could benefit the school.

White said that an FTES is one credit or non-credit student en-rolled at Glendale College. The student must be enrolled in 15 units for both the fall and spring semesters to have a total of 30 units total, said White.

In terms of money, he said that the college receives about $3,900 to $4,000 for one credit FTES and around $2,200 for one non-credit FTES. “There are about 16,000 credit and non-credit FTES en-rolled at Glendale College, said White, “The school receives about $70,000,000 for that many FTES.”

The number of FTES each year is expected to grow. When the school does not reach the growth enrolled, the school loses money.

However, in order for the FTES number to grow, the economy has to be doing poorly. One major reason why community colleges are struggling with low enroll-ment this semester is because student enrollment has an inverse relationship with the economy.

“When the economy is doing

well and people are working, they won’t go to school to be trained to work on job skills,” said Serot. “So whenever the economy does well, our enrollment goes flat. Then when the economy is bad and people are out of work, they go back to college to retrain, and student enrollment increases.”

Another reason to why student enrollment has not increased may be because of the two fee increas-es that have happened at GCC. In 2002 the enrollment fee at GCC was $13 per unit. Then in 2003 it increased to $18 per unit; in 2004 and 2005 the fee jumped to $26 per unit. With each fee hike, stu-

dent enrollment decreased and now the number of FTES attend-ing Glendale College is around a stable sum of 12,300 students.

Both Serot and White have said that low enrollment affects ev-eryone. Even Dr. Teresa Cortey, Chair of the Foreign Language Department said, “Low enroll-ment classes are still classes de-serving of respect, and [French] 103 and [French] 104 are part of the core program of the major, and [those classes] cannot be cancelled without hurting [other] students.”

However, White said that there may be some limitation to the numbers of students attend-ing Glendale College because of parking and the numbers of classrooms available on campus. The college is unable to offer new courses and services for students. Part-time professors are unable to teach because there are not enough classrooms for them.

“The number of students en-rolled is not low. Enrollment is just flat like others in all the other community colleges in the state because of the economy,” said Serot.

He also said that low enroll-ment does not affect the students who plan on transferring to a four-year university. Programs like the nursing and transfer programs are very popular among most students; their classes are never lacking in interested students.

However, Serot also said that there are students who are tak-ing classes in areas that are not as popular as finishing general education requirements or get-ting into the nursing program. Programs like computer science are the ones that have taken a dive in the number of students taking

the course.Public Relations student Nanor

Avedissian has experienced one of the consequences of low en-rollment. She expected to earn a Public Relations Certificate this semester, but the one class she needed to earn the certificate was cancelled.

Avedissian said, “Specialty classes are empty and the general education classes are full. People just want to finish their general education and get out.”

The school hopes that the num-ber of students will increase next year. The construction in the back of the school includes a new park-ing structure and a new three floor building called Bhupseh Parikh Health Services and Technology.

Enrollment fees are going to be lowered for winter interses-sion 2007. Serot, White, and even Associate Dean and Director of Financial Aid Patricia Hurley all said that fees are changing from $26 per unit to $20 per unit.

The college is working on ways to advertise the school. “We are increasing our advertising bud-get, and we are developing a new newsletter to the community that will have an insert directed at high school students and their parents,” said Serot.

According to Serot, the school’s job is to market itself through web-casting on websites like Myspace.com to get the word out to the public. They are also going to ad-vertise in different languages to let more people know about Glen-dale College in hopes of increas-ing the number of students here at Glendale College and eliminate the problem of low enrollment.

Diana Petras can be reached at [email protected]

Pauline Guiuan can be reached at Pauline [email protected]


NEWS

David Arakelyan Takes on Role of New ASGCC President

Photo by Sumaya Mehai Jorge Acevedo, founder of Delta Sigma Omicron.

By Susan AksuEL VAQUERO STAFF WRITER

David Arakelyan, former ASGCC trea-surer, was elected president of the As-

sociated Students of GCC (ASGCC) for the 2006-2007 school year.

Arakelyan said he wanted to be presi-dent of AS because he finds it to be differ-ent from other campus organizations. “Be-ing part of the AS is a life changing experience. It has so much to offer and gives room to grow,” said Arake-lyan.

“Being president I have to have a vision to direct the or-ganization,” said Arakelyan. As far as responsibilities go he has to overlook and be a part of every committee to ensure that everything flows is carried out as planned. He sits in during meetings and provides his input on certain issues and discussions.

“David is very intelli-gent, so if you need to ask him something or need help with something you know he will help you out,” said ASGCC senator Arbi Ismailyan.

His previous role as ASGCC treasurer was very different from his current role as president. As treasurer his main concern

was the budget, in which he overlooked the spending and controlled the dispersing of the money. Being president, you have to have a wider mindset, according to Arake-lyan. As president you have to make sure everything is running smoothly and be able to multitask.

“One of the many perks of being part of AS is being able to voice your opinion,” said Arakelyan. He adds, “Being able to put your input on certain issues that matter

and affect the student body makes being part of AS worth the while since your opinion ac-tually matters.”

In addition to his obligations connected with maintaining good grades and other clubs, Arakelyan is able to keep running the AS his highest priority. Aside from being part of the AS, Arake-lyan is part of several other organizations on campus, including

Alpha Gamma Scholars; Political Aware-ness, which he founded; and the Russian Speakers Association, which he has also founded.

Arakelyan is proud of Glendale Col-lege’s AS. He is constantly coming up with new ideas to get students involved

and make college feel like it is more than just classes.

Recently he has been working on getting several groups of students together to have an academic decathlon. He wishes to start one just within the campus and eventu-ally if it picks up, spread amongst a junior college level. Decathlons exist on both a high school and university levels, but not

yet on a junior college level.Arakelyan would like it if more students

would join the AS. Last term more than 70 students joined the campaigning process of AS. He feels that the AS is one of the most diverse organizations on campus. To be a part of the AS, a student has to do is pay their student service fees; but to hold an office position, students go through an interview and election process as well as maintaining a 2.0 GPA.

He wants to receive more student input and new ideas for school events. Since AS is a student organization it is important that new and more students within the Glen-dale College community become involved in helping to organize or participating in events. “The AS is very different from other or-ganizations and is something that I feel deserves to be given back to, which I do through supporting it and working to im-prove it and I hope that more students are enticed to join,” said Arakelyan. “David Arakelyan has the characteris-tics of a good student body president. He is friendly, welcoming and optimis-tic for the future of the AS with his pro-gressive ideas,” said Ismailyan. “Being president of AS is very underrated. Da-vid works hard to get people involved and gets their voices out there,” he said.

Susan Aksu can be reached at [email protected]

the freshman experience, through learning communi-ties.”

The learning community will be an outreach program to High School students, to hope-fully help ‘at risk’ students to not only go to college, but also to stay once they get here.

The program will have four linked classes: Math, English, Student Development and So-cial Science. This will be a block schedule and the students in the program would take all of their classes together for their entire first year with guar-anteed enrollment and class schedules.

Extra items that will be put to the test in the future for the learning communities, to see if they work, will be a dedicated space for these students so they can socialize together. There will also be help getting these

[Board of Trustees, from page 6]

NewTitleVGranttoHelp‘AtRisk’Studentsstudents jobs and internships in and around campus. Special field trips to universities may be of-fered to the students.

“Essentially the model [of learning communities] says that community colleges can create in an environment, whereby the experiences of students will make them more likely to stay,” said Spicer.

The benefits that that helps stu-dents, according to the presenta-tion, were that students will feel connected and supported; they will be able to learn through teamwork and feel pride and ac-complishment.

GCC faculty will have some benefits as well. They will have “morale-boosting satisfaction of helping an increased number of students learn, persist and suc-ceed.”

A pilot program will begin next fall with 90 students. They will compare the success of the par-ticipants in this program to those

who are not. They expect a higher rate of success from those who are participating in the program compared to those who are not. Students involved should have a higher level of transfer readiness, student engagement and student satisfaction according to Dur-ham.

Other pertinent issues covered in the meeting were the lower-ing of enrollment fees beginning Winter semester, the nursing pro-gram receiving numerous $1000 scholarships and Nidal Kobaissi said goodbye to his position as president of GCC’s California School Employees Association.

Beginning Winter 2007, semes-ter enrollment fees will drop $6, bringing the price down to $20 per unit. This was a decision that was unanimously agreed to by the board.

Cynthia Dorroh, Associate Dean of Health Sciences Division, spoke of GCC’s student nurses. Twenty-three of 33 students were

awarded $1000 scholarships by St. Vincent’s Medical Center.

“We’re very proud of them,” said Dorroh

According to Dorroh the cri-teria for the scholarships, “were academic achievement.”

“We [the nursing department] filled out lots of forms…our stu-dents do participate in service learning, so they all had plenty of health care involvement to in-clude,” said Dorroh.

Dorroh also mentioned that those awarded needed to pos-sess “enthusiasm or a passion for nursing.”

“We of course, believe that our students are the most enthusiastic of them all,” she said.

Nidal Kobaissi’s time as presi-dent of GCC’s California School Employees Association has come to an end. He has been promoted to a management po-sition within the organization.

Saodat Aziskhanova has taken his seat at the Board of Trustees

meeting, as well the position as president.

Kobaissi was awarded a pen set with his name engraved on it by Audre Levy, president/superintendent of GCC. He was also awarded a plaque by Aziskhanova, along with a blue toy light saber, to help him on the other side.

“In the close to ten years that I’ve been on the board, your [Kobaissi’s] period of leader-ship has really been, I believe, the best for your union,” said Victor King, member of the Board of Trustees as well as the elected clerk.

Aziskhanova was welcomed by all members of the board and she, in turn, expressed her happiness as being a member of the team. “This is a great place to work and an exciting time to be here.”

David Arakelyan ran unopposed for ASGCC President.


Photo by Olga Ramaz

“Being president of AS is very

underrated.”-Arbi Ismailyan


FEATURE

Glendale Community College

Demographics of Students Receiving Financial Aid

Fall 2005

No Financial Aid

Receiving Financial

Aid

Ethnicity

% of students not receiving aid who are in

ethnic group

% of students receiving financial aid who are in

ethnic group

% of students in ethnic group who are receiving

financial aidCaucasian/Armenian 20% 49% 70%Caucasian/Anglo 24% 7% 23%Latino 25% 24% 49%Asian/Pacific Islander 16% 7% 31%Filipino 7% 4% 33%Black/African American 3% 3% 53%American Indian 0% 0% 48%Other 5% 5% 53%

Total Number of Students 7,274 6,996 49%

No Financial Aid

Receiving Financial

Aid

Gender


gender group


gender group

% of students in gender group who are receiving

financial aidFemale 53% 62% 53%Male 47% 38% 44%


No Financial Aid

Receiving Financial

Aid

Age Group


age group


age group

% of students in age group who are receiving

financial aidUnder 21 35% 37% 51%21 to 25 28% 26% 47%26 to 30 11% 10% 47%31 to 40 13% 13% 50%41 to 50 8% 9% 52%Over 50 6% 4% 39%


Research & Planning

9/14/2006

By Diana PetrasEL VAQUERO STAFF WRITER

Every student knows that a college edu-cation requires a lot of money.

Like many colleges and universities, GCC has a financial aid office that can pro-vide students with money for their educa-tion.

The Financial Aid Office is located in the San Fernando Complex; it helps more than 10,000 students each year. They offer programs that the Federal Government and the State of California provide for students who need help in covering their costs of tuition in college.

Students have to fill out applications to see if they are eligible for one of the pro-grams. Pat Hurley, Associate Dean and Director of Financial Aid, said that most students fill out the Board of Governors (BOG) Fee Waiver application, which is awarded to students throughout the aca-demic year.

According to Hurley, there are three types of BOGs that students can qualify for: Type A, Type B, or Type C. After ap-plying for a BOG, a student can see what BOG they qualify for by checking with the Financial Aid Office. Students could also check the GCC Financial Aid website.

For BOG Type A, the student or the stu-dent’s parent has to show proof that they are receiving AFDC/TANF, SSI, or Gener-al Relief benefits. Students receiving BOG Type A might even qualify for a discount

on campus parking. BOG Type B is based on the state man-

dated income ceiling. The BOG Type C is available for stu-

dents who don’t meet the criteria for Type A or Type B. Students who can show at least $1 of financial need after filing the FAFSA (Fee Application for Federal Stu-dent Aid) form can receive BOG Type C. However, students might need to fill out additional forms depending upon the fee waiver they receive.

The forms can be confusing for some, but the Financial Aid Office has workers who are always there to lend a helping hand.

There are also workshops to help those who are confused about how to fill out the FAFSA forms and those staff-ing the front desk are also available to answer any questions students have.

There are also Financial Aid advisers who can assist students who have ques-tions that concerning specific areas.

Students can also apply for Cal Grants or fill out a FAFSA to see what federal grants they can receive.

“Only about half of the students attend-ing GCC are receiving financial aid,” said Hurley. “The other half that are not receiv-ing financial aid may be passing up on a great opportunity.”

All students are encouraged to apply for financial aid. The income of those re-ceiving financial aid can range from $0 to $30,000 or higher.

There are FAFSA forms in front of the

Financial Aid office, online, and inside the office. The GCC Financial Aid website also provides links to other forms that students can print or fill out at home and turn it in to the office when they can. The site also has other websites that can assist students who need financial assistance.

The entire financial aid process only takes a few weeks, after which students will receive an Aid Award Notification that tells them if they have been awarded any funds.

Students are not required to visit the of-fice to check their financial aid status.

Hurley said that students can always check their financial aid status on STARS, MyGCC.com, on the WebReg, or at the GCC kiosks.

“It may be a little time-consuming for some students,” said Hurley, “It’s a long process, but the rewards are well worth all the work and the wait.”

Students have to be sure that they submit all extra information that the Financial Aid Office may need to see in relation to any financial aid they are eligible for.

Financial Aid Office hours are posted on the doors of the office and are shown on the Financial Aid website. If there are other questions or comments, contact the Finan-

cial Aid Office at (818)240-1000, ext. 5916 for more information.

Graph compares approximate number of students who receive financial aid versus those who do not.

Diana Petras can be reached at [email protected]

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Students waiting in line or financial aid is a common sight at the start of the term. More than 12,000 applied for aid this semester, with more than 10,000 receiving some form of aid.

-Story and Photography by Carlos Villarreal

FestivalsF@ck Yeah Festival

As summer came to a close, two yearly music festivals

fill the streets of Los Angles, but due to higher ticket prices, attendance at this year’s F@ck Yeah Fest and Sunset Junction may have taken a hit.

“I’m here, where in the hell are you?” a tall, lanky male yells into his cell phone while he leans against a faded blue Econoline van, with a license plate that reads “destroyer.” The van scurries with life inside as friends celebrate this year’s festivities with cheap wine and cigarettes. As people crawl in and out of the “destroyer,” the lot quickly fills as others arrive, ready for the three-day music festival known as the F@ck Yeah Fest.

In its third year, the F@ck Yeah Fest transformed Sunset Blvd. in Echo Park, Calif. into a block party, as hundreds filled the streets waiting to see the more than 50 bands, local comedians and art exhibits, from Aug, 18 to 20.

The festival hosted a number of bands that fall under the radar of the mainstream music scene. Acts such as 400 Blows, Erase Errata, Foreign Born and Black Fag, a Black Flag cover band with a flamboyant lead singer, shared the stage with headlining acts Circle Jerks, Giant Drag and Dead Meadow.

Like with other street music festivals, performers where slotted into half-hour sets throughout three different venues; The Echo, Sea Level Records and The Jensen Recreation Center.

All three venues were within walking distance from each other, allowing spectators the ease of travel and ample time to finish whatever substance they were pulling out of their boot along the way.

Sea Level Records held host to local artists who showcased their labors of love. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and while most of the works presented great talent, others only presented a price tag worthy of so.

Local acts like The Silversun Pickups and Darker My Love kept the crowds at The Echo wanting an encore as well as another drink. As Envy, a band touring from Japan, ripped through a brutal but beautiful set, the local hardcore fan base stood shoulder to shoulder, arms crossed, showing the boys from Japan how cool L.A. is. The coup de grace came Friday night as Keith

Summertime

Morris of Circle Jerks reminded many why they had a Mohawk in high school. On Sunday night, shoe glazers Dead Meadow brought the thunder and overuse of the smoke machine.

“Hey when is Blood Meridian going on?” someone asks the master of ceremonies, Sean Carlson, mastermind behind the F@ck Yeah Fest. The twenty-something Carlson has single handedly organized and promoted the F@ck Yeah Fest all

three years and is perhaps one of the only promoters in town still doing it for the love of the music.

Ticket prices were higher this year then previous due to bands being flown in to perform. This time around they sold for $20 a day or $55 for the weekend. The first year the fest was free, and there was a $6 fee for the second. The price hike did not stop a steady stream of attendance, but numbers were down from last year. As the ageless

formula proves true, hipsters and money do not mix well.

Regardless of ticket prices and low attendance the F@ck Yeah Fest will continue to lure and unite underground music lovers against the more corporate music festivals, such as Coachella, where $6 bottles of water and bad tan lines go hand in hand.

A week later and a few blocks across town, the annual Sunset Junction Street Fair took place on

Summer music festivals Sunset Junction and F@ck Yeah! give LA an earful. At left, bands rocked the F@ck Yeah! for three days of sonic saturation. Above and right, The Cramps made Sunset Junction attendance worth the heavy entrance fee.

Aug, 26 and 27 showcasing The Cramps, uncouth door attendants, high ticket prices and the crowd’s favorite, a naked guy.

With more than 20 years in operation, the Sunset Junction Street Fair in Silverlake hosted three massive stages, dozens of street vendors, more than 40 bands and artists performing on a strip of Sunset Blvd. The two day festival brings entertainment and enjoyment to thousands, but due to

a strictly enforced entrance fee, this year’s event gave the appearance of a heartless corporate event, as oppose to a community street fair.

As a group of young rockabilly girls walked toward a main entrance, adjacent to an El Pollo Loco on Sunset Blvd., they are stopped and asked for the $15 entrance fee. The girls look a bit confused and ask the attendant, “Isn’t it donation only?” only to get a monotone reply, “not this year.”

As the girls stand back and brainstorm, others make a mad dash through the El Pollo Loco next to the entrance, only to be stopped at the other end by staff and asked to see their wrist bands only to get pointed back to an exit.

As compared to previous years where a simple buck would cover the entrance fee, this year’s $12 before sunset, $15 after, left many stuck at the gate.

In previous years, entrance to the street fair only required a minimal donation to help aid the Sunset Junction Neighborhood Alliance, the event’s organizer, and 501(c) 3 that uses the proceeds from the event to fund various programs throughout Silverlake, Los Feliz and Echo Park, according to their Web site.

Normally an event this massive would have to apply for permits from the city of Los Angeles for the live music, vendors and street closure. Due to the non-profit nature of the event, the city has waived the fees in the past, because of this reason the street fair would have to charge a donation only entrance fee.

Last year, when the fair was still donation based, many who attended felt they were strong-armed into paying the “suggested” $10 entrance fee according to the LA Weekly.

Regardless of high entrance fees, many still braved the 90 degrees plus heat and sometimes close to impossible parking prospect.

As in past years, the junction hosted a solid line-up of great bands and performers including Sonic Youth, X, The Walkmen and The New York Dolls. This

year’s headliners included Redd Kross, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Hank Williams III and The Cramps.

As crowds eagerly wait for the

headliners, children and nervous parents ride squeaky carnival rides worked, by creepy attendants, while others dance in the street to tunes provided by an old ice cream

10 Friday,September22,2006 www.elvaq.com11

FEATURE

[See “Cramps,” page 14]

Theatre Arts Students Represent GCC at ‘Festival Fringe’By Kara AranasEL VAQUERO STAFF WRITER

Pirates, folks dressed up in Renaissance costumes, and

a giant bat boy filled the roads of High Street. The street, which was also known as the “Royal Mile” which led up to Edinburgh Castle, were teeming with enter-tainers filling the air with music. All were promoting performances occurring at venues surrounding the castle. The animated activities and enthusiasm are known as the annual “Festival Fringe” held in Edinburgh, Scotland and the des-tination of GCC’s very own the-atre department last August.

The small group of ten students flew to the “Festival Fringe,” to promote and perform, former GCC theatre arts professor, Ken Gray’s play “Something’s Miss-ing,” a tale of survival and hope in the life of an abducted child. Having a sensitive subject matter such as the one in “Something’s Missing,” gave the impression that the reaction of the audience would be less than accepting, which proved otherwise at the festival.

“All theatre is about the audience,”Gray said.

Jose “Shermie” Aguilar,18, a member of the street team said, “When the play was performed here the audience was shocked and taken aback since it was a taboo topic, in Scotland though ,at the festival, though they found the play unique and interesting.”

The play was performed at one of the Rocket venues, located around High Street, called “The Roxy.” Ashley Ratcliffe, 21, a

theatre arts major, also known as the “den mother” of the group, spoke about the excitement hap-pening backstage.

“It was pretty hectic backstage though,” she said. “We only had 10 minutes to move the set and set up, but we were really profes-sional about it,” describing the technicalities backstage.

“In the end,” she continued, “the play was what mattered most.”

Promotion also became another problem,

“Here we are, surrounded by music and lively entertain-ers and we’re promoting a play that’s touching on a real subject matter and more serious,” said Tiffany Brian, 18, leader of the street team. The play’s street team which was in charge of advertis-ing the play by putting up posters

Photo courtesy GCC Drama Dept.The cast and crew of “Something’s Missing” take it to the Edinburgh Fringe.

Photo by Jane Pojawa“Something’s Missing.” “Ryan,” played by Carlo Morelli comes to terms with his abductor “Preston Roberts” played by Davidjohn Morris.

and handing out flyers. “We’re trying to promote an American play where American culture is not very popular,” said Brian.

The team would stand on High Street alongside perform-ers endorsing their play. “We even had people dress up as a Minnie Mouse and a princess, just to attract people to come to our show,” laughs Brian. All the hard work paid off, because the venue was over half full. “Open-ing night was the biggest crowd ever,” Brian said proudly. Lead actor Carlo Morelli , 20, said, “In the end it was all about the street team” in relation to the successful viewer turnout.

Morelli played the lead char-acter, Ryan, and displayed an “incredible performance for the audience,” according to Brian. It was Morelli’s first time playing in

a lead role outside the of United States.

“I was at ease and found no dif-ficulty doing playing the part. It’s not often that GCC gets a chance to represent its very own, original play, written by its own teachers [Ken Gray] in another country. I was there to do a professional job, and do it to the best of my abil-ity,” said Morelli.

Morelli said that the biggest challenge for him was playing the different ages that his charac-ter portrayed.

“Performing at GCC, it was hard to capture the different ages, and learning to be older was hard. But at the festival it was the com-plete opposite. I had to learn to be younger,” chuckled Morelli.

“Carlo’s acting grew by leaps and bounds,” said Aguilar, when asked to describe Carlo’s perfor-mance. Professor Gray praised Morelli on his presentation,

“As a performer, Carlo grew stronger. Each subsequent perfor-mance became Carlo’s finest hour as an artist. I hope he becomes a respected working actor, but if he does not, if some other profession lures him away, this experience has made him a more loving, tol-erant, and understanding human being. I have a profound respect for this young fellow for taking on this challenge and forging from his own raw materials a for-

midable artist of himself.” Despite the obstacles they faced

in promoting it, the students en-joyed themselves. “There were people there from all over, from Iraq and from Japan,” observed Ratcliffe. Cultures from all over the world came to offer a piece of their talent at the festival, making it a more memorable experience for those attending it.

“The whole experience wasn’t really a competition. It was a display of talent and it was what you brought from your side of the world,” described Brian. The fes-tival allowed the students to open their eyes to the incredible talents that came from across the globe.

Through it all, strong friend-ships, respect and admiration were also built.

“Just like the saying goes, you really don’t know someone until you live with them,” said Brian. The group stayed at student hous-ing flats called Wright’s houses.

“We had to stay in a small room meant for five and [we] had to stuff 10 people into one room,” said Brian, speaking about her experience. A seemingly irritable and uncomfortable arrangement turned into a bonding experi-ence for her. “You learn to help them out where they need it,” said Brian.

Kara Aranas can be reached at [email protected]


FEATURE

Photo by Jane Pojawa“Ryan,” played by Carlo Morelli and his parents “Roger” and “Barbara,” played by George C. Mackey and Sarah Cross try to reconnect in “Something’s Missing.” Davidjohn Morris plays “Preston Roberts.”.

Dance Instructor Patti Cox, Reminisces on Golden Era

Patti Cox is not just another dance instructor at GCC.

Cox had a long prominent ca-reer as a dancer in the wonderful world of show business.

Cox has been a dance pro-fessor at GCC for 25 years.

In 1981, she started teaching ballet and now she teaches tap dance classes. She has been danc-ing since the age of 4. Cox grew up in Burbank and attended Bur-bank High School. “I consider myself a valley girl!” said Cox as she lets out a joyful laugh.

Growing up in the 1950’s, 60’s and even the 70’s there was a lot of work for dancers on TV shows and movie musicals, according to Cox. There was the “Ed Sullivan Show” and “The Red Skeleton Show” on which Cox performed. She’s also danced hand in hand with Lucille Ball on “I Love Lucy.”

Cox’s impressive resume in-cludes movies and musicals such

By Michael ColemanEL VAQUERO STAFF WRITER

as “Carousel,” Rogers and Ham-merstein’s 1955 “Oklahoma!” “Anything Goes” starring Bing Crosby, “There’s No Business Like Show Business” and “Silver Chalice” just to name a few.

According to Cox, for dancers of this generation, the job market is not sufficient enough. The only jobs young people today may be able to find are the jobs on MTV she said. “There’s just not enough work out there like there was in my day,” Cox adds.

“Today’s dancers are brilliant; there are so [many] more difficult moves and steps than back in my day,” Cox said as she took off her tap shoes.

Jessica Ashby, a second-year student at GCC, who has just joined Patti Cox’s tap class said, “I love this class. I have not tapped in a while, this is a good workout and Patti is awesome.”

In 1960, Cox was a part of the Arizona gymnastics league. “Dancing really beat my body down,” Cox said as she put her CD’s into her little roller-luggage.

It seems that nothing can slow down this jazzy tap teacher, not

even the four rods and six screws in her back.

It is hard to believe when you look at Cox, that this sweet little lady used to be a weight lifter. “I was a competitive body builder. Yeah, I qualified to go to Atlan-tic City for the finals,” Cox said. One of the reasons she did not go to the finals is because that “back in those days you had to pay your own entry fee and the fees were pretty expensive.”

“We’re gonna learn a new step which I think is fun, it’s called the Sneaky Pete!” Cox informed her students as she crept on her tippy toes looking like a burglar sneaking into a jewelry store.

Cox often attracts a crowd who watch her instruct her students. She often invites people walking by the classroom to come and watch or join the class. Not many teachers do that; Cox is truly one of a kind.

It seems that all of the students that have taken Cox’s class adore her. “Patti Cox; she is a wonder-ful lady, a good teacher,” said Anoush Alexanian, second time student of Cox’s tap class.

“She is the best teacher at GCC!” said Narc Vanetsiaix. Narc is a current student of Cox. “I’ve taken Patti’s tap dance class [for] two semesters because she is patient and a kind

teacher. I feel nice after taking her classes.”

Patti Cox is a dedicated per-son who loves her profession; dance and teaching. Her words of advice to those students try-ing to make it out there in the world of dance are to start with the beginnings, whether it be tap, ballet, jazz or hip-hop. “Come to Glendale College and take dance classes. The cheapest dance classes in the world right here at Glendale College,” Cox said as she left the dance room with her roller-luggage.

Michael Coleman can be reached at [email protected]


FEATURE

Photo by Sumaya Mehai Patti Cox leads studentts in tap class. She has been teaching dance at the college since 1981.

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FEATURE

New Film Class Explores So-Called ‘B-Pictures’By Alison GellerEL VAQUERO FEATURES EDITOR

ence fiction club in the world.” The course is five weeks long

and highlights the three decades of B-movies and the eight ma-jor genres in the movie industry: mystery and drama, fantasy, com-edy, adventure, horror, musicals, westerns and science fiction.

“Ever since I was a kid I was interested in movies,” said Jack-son, “I was disabled as a child; I have cerebral palsy, very mild. But it meant that as a kid I had to stay home a lot and on TV in those days, what you mostly had were old movies. So I watched a lot of old movies as a kid.”

His passion seems to lie in the B-pictures/movies. B-pictures were originally used as double features. Studios would turn out quick, shorter, films to go along with their feature films. This is where the phrases A-list

and B-list stars were coined.The A-listers were seen in

the feature films that were giv-en a larger budget while the B-listers worked on a much smaller budget and had less time to complete the project.

B-pictures were a way for many to get their ‘big break.’ According to wikipedia.org, stars such as John Wayne, Jack Nicholson, Robert Di Niro and Vincent Price got their start in B-movies, as well as directors Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese. Most of former Presi-dent Ronald Reagan’s acting ca-reer was in these types of films.

“A lot of people have a bad idea of B-pictures because of the really bad ones that were made in the 1950’s,” said Jackson. “Es-pecially the science fiction pic-tures, where anybody who got a

few thousand dollars would make a movie and [people,] especially journalists of that period, saw what the B-pictures of that time were and they kind of assumed that they’d always been that bad.”

Ed Wood is one of the more famous B-list sci-ence fiction movie makers.

Jackson is no stranger to the movie industry having worked in the business in the 1970’s. He was forced to stop due to stress so he went into film jour-nalism instead, focusing on his appreciation for the B-pictures.

“I was always very curious about who the people were, what they did, how they got there,” said Jackson. “What they were when they weren’t in the movies and so just because of my curios-ity I started finding books to read about them and a little later when

During the golden age of Hollywood (1930’s),

movie studios began making B-pictures and starting in Oc-tober, GCC student Charles Lee Jackson II will teach a course on the history of these classics in North Hollywood.

Jackson, 56, has been a student here since 1991 and is working towards his associate degree in 2-dimensional visual arts. He taught Ephemeral Cinema in January and May and the class is being held as a fundraiser for the LA Science Fantasy Society Clubhouse in North Hollywood.

The Clubhouse is a non-profit organization and according to wikipedia.org, “It is the old-est continuously operating sci-

I was old enough finding them and interviewing them myself.”

He has written for various mag-azines including Orbit, a Nether-lands based magazine as well as FilmFax, a magazine dedicated to the B-movies. Jackson has written for Extra Added Attractions for the past six years, which is a mag-azine that he publishes himself.

Ephemeral Cinema will be ev-ery Tuesday night from 7-10 p.m. for five weeks beginning October 7. For more information about the class call (818) 246-2552.


The Cramps Rock Sunset Junction

Carlos Villarreal can be reached at [email protected]

truck converted into a portable DJ sound system as leather covered “daddies” stroll by.

Vendors lined along the entire stretch of Sunset Blvd. sold everything from bacon wrapped hotdogs to questionable glass tubes as jewelry, at what seemed a flea market set to a great soundtrack.

Storefronts along the route hosted sales, live music and the occasionally promotional item such as free energy drinks or t-shirts.

As the sun set, the carnival rides lit up, the poor souls who had one-too-many, buried their head in their laps as the headliners took to the stage. On Saturday night, Redd Kross’ glam/pop-rock sound was met by a large and roaring crowd, marking the band’s return to the stage after a short hiatus.

Sunday night welcomed the grandson of country legend Hank Williams, Hank Williams III, and his band Assjack, whose fast and furious country tunes left many waving their empty Jack Daniels bottles in the air.

The night came to a close with pycho-billy pioneers The Cramps. As front man Lux

Interior donned a wig and pulled a wine bottle out of his pants, guitarist Poison Ivy wailed away as the crowd trashed below.

Shortly after The Cramps’ set, the festival was shut down by police due to what was believed to be a naked individual running around the street, just another normal night in Silverlake.

As for the glory of its previous editions, this year’s street fair was knocked down a few notches due mainly to the higher entrance fee. Although $15 many not sound like an arm and a leg to some, to a family of four (with perhaps a fixed income) the price might have sent some families packing and many with the feeling that the community spirit was sucked out of the community fair.

[Festival, from Page 11]


ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

There Is an Elephant in MY Living Room

Famed street artist, Banksy, hosted a three-day event

showcasing his numerous works as well as a painted live elephant from Sept. 15 to 17.

A lone alley known as Hunter Street lies off of Santa Fe Street in an industrial area of downtown Los Angeles. The alley is lined by dingy old warehouses, only a block away from a strip club. At the end of the alley there was a beat-up, white delivery style truck, parked. Emblazoned on the side of the truck, in bold black letters, was “Banksy.”

A sweltering hot, musky warehouse completed the scenery, by hosting Banksy’s free three-day show, “Barely Legal.”

More than 20 pieces of Banksy’s work were on display, including a live Indian elephant that was painted from head to toe to match a floral patterned living room setting, complete with a coffee table, chairs and chandelier.

Banksy, whose true identity remains unknown, was not on hand

to discuss his work. Peter Bowes of BBC News stated, “It is understood that the elephant, blending into the background, is meant to represent the big issues in life, such as poverty, that some people choose to ignore.”

Keeping with Banksy’s secret identity, the location of the showing was only disclosed on the day of the premiere to the public. The night before, an invitation-only celebrity launch party was held, where it was reported that Cameron Diaz, Colin Farrell, Orlando Bloom, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie attended.

The showing was billed as a “vandalized warehouse extravaganza,” having an overall theme of global poverty and injustice.

Banksy’s work is deeply rooted in politics and pop culture, something that started in his early days as a graffiti artist in England.

At the entrance to the exhibit a sign read “smash the system;” adjacent to it, a surplus police S.W.A.T. van lay in the center of the warehouse.

On one side of the van, a painting of Dorothy from “The Wizard of Oz” held a noose, while the other

British Guerrilla Street Artist Unveils Exhibit in Los Angelesside illustrated a police S.W.A.T. team with weapons drawn. They stood in a line, followed by a small boy about to pop an inflated paper bag. On the back door of the van hung a representation of two male British police embraced in a passionate kiss.

Large paintings hung from the ceiling, suspended by chains. One depicted an image of Mother Teresa with the message, “I learnt a valuable lesson from this women - moisturize everyday.”

Along the back wall of the warehouse, next to the living room set, hung altered thrift store-bought paintings. One shows a beautiful beach at sunset. While waves crash ashore in the background, a prisoner kneels down in an orange jumpsuit. His hands are shackled, his face bound and covered by a black hood.

In a room to the right of the S.W.A.T. van, an eight-minute video was projected on the wall. The video documented all the pranks Banksy is famous for, one of them being secretly hanging his own work in major galleries in New York and London.

The video also included footage

of his latest prank on Paris Hilton.Banksy produced 500 altered copies of Hilton’s album and hid them throughout record stores in England. On the cover, the album appears the same. It is only when Hilton fans open the CD jacket that they find a photo of the heiress topless with the head of a dog. Instead of her bubble g u m - p o p tracks, the altered CD included 40 minutes of remix music by Danger M o u s e , one-half of the famed G n a r l s Barkley.

T h e sticker on the front of the album adver t i ses its hits, ranging from “Why am I F a m o u s ? ” “What Have I Done?” and “What am I for?”

C o p i e s of the faux album have been receiving high bids on eBay, where one commanded the price of $938.

During his brief stay in Los Angeles, Banksy managed to pull another stunt by placing a life-size blow-up doll of a Guantanamo Bay detainee inside the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad ride at Disneyland, causing a temporary disruption in the popular attraction.

The doll wore an orange jumpsuit, a black hood and shackles on its hands and feet as seen in one of the artist’s paintings. The stunt was meant to highlight the condition of terrorism suspects held at the controversial Cuban detention center.

On the last day of Banksy’s exhibit, 2,000 people stood in line, waiting eagerly to get a glimpse of

Two police officers share a special moment

ByCarlos VillarealEL VAQUERO ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR

Banksy’s work incorporates pop art and mixed messages, like the true meaning of love.Photo by Ty Hathaway

Tai, the elephant, sporting a custom wardrobe in a suburban living room.Photo by Ty Hathaway

Photo by Ty Hathaway

the show. The exhibit drew huge controversy over Tai, the painted Indian elephant, who was ordered by L.A. city officials to be cleaned of the paint on the final day of the show. According to the Associated Press, the L.A. Animal Services’ officials said that they would never again issue permits for such a

“frivolous” p u r p o s e , even though the animal’s owner, Kari J o h n s o n , c l a i m e d that Tai, the 3 8 - y e a r -old Indian e l e p h a n t , w a s n ’ t hurt in any way. The paint was nontoxic and the elephant is “used to make-up.”

E v e n without Tai’s c o l o r f u l w a r d r o b e , Banksy’s art continued to make many

question their viewpoints and morals.

Banksy’s work conveys a deep meaning. Through his art and stunts his is consistently reminding the public about issues they forget about or choose to ignore.

Poverty, injustice, crime, and mass marketing to youth are all center points of his creations, allowing the spectator to see the world for what it really is.

Provoking emotions and opinions is a trait many great artists have strived for. If his piece on Mother Teresa, Tai the elephant or his Hilton stunt offended someone, then he did his job.

Carlos Villarreal can be reached at [email protected]


ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

‘Waiting for Lefty’ to Bring Message from ’30s to GCC

The GCC theatre arts depart-ment held open auditions on

Sept. 11 and 12 for the upcoming play, “Waiting for Lefty” by Clif-ford Odets.

“The auditions were pretty fun to watch,” said onlooker Katrina Sanchez, a current sophomore. “I did spot a few good actors.”

Auditions took place in the Au-ditorium Main stage theatre from 7 to 11 p.m. In order to be cast, there is a requirement for students to be enrolled in at least one unit of the theatre arts workshop class, TA 162.

The setting of the play is New York City during the Great De-pression and it is based on a strike of unionized, New York taxi driv-ers.

Tension between the unionized workers lead to their attempts to strike. Towards the end of the sto-

By Jennifer TinocoEL VAQUERO STAFF WRITER

ry, this tension and anger comes to a halt when they learn that something unfortunate has hap-pened.

Melissa Randel will be direct-ing the play. Although the setting of the play is in the 1930s, she said that the audience will find much to learn from the characters in the play.

“The emotions of all the char-acters dealing with their everyday problems are just so passionate,” said Randel.

There were also auditions for non speaking roles. These per-formers would play the part of Marathon Dancers. These danc-ers are required to be enrolled in either a costume class or a back-stage lab class.

Randel feels that having the rparts of Marathon Dancers add-ed to the play can help symbolize the division of the lower and up-per class.

“It is important for our mod-

ern society to understand that people like the Marathon Danc-ers were willing to dance until they dropped from exhaustion to get even a tiny bit of food,” said Randel.

“Waiting for Lefty” is known for having an explicit political message.

Althought this play is didac-tic, Randel said that the dancers add another dimention to how the message is presented.

“Waiting for Lefty” will open on Oct. 26 and run through Nov. 12. Performances will be Thurs-day through Saturday at 8 p.m., with Sunday presentations start-ing at 2 p.m.

For additional information, call (818) 240-1000, ext. 5618.

Jennifer Tinoco can be reached at [email protected]

‘Nothing up the Sleeve’ Showcases Obscure Art

Photo by Michael Coleman

Florian Morlat is just one of the artists whose work is currently on display at the GCC Art Gallery in an exhibition titled, “Nothing up

the Sleeve.” Moralt’s piece, pictured above, is made up of wood, screws and fabric.

Other artists in the show include Samara Caughey, Nicolau Vergue-rio, Anna Sew Hoy, and Jeff Ono.

“Nothing up the Sleeve” runs until Sept. 30. Gallery hours are Mon-day through Friday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. The gallery is open on Satur-day from noon to 6 p.m.

For more information, call (818) 240-1000, ext. 5663 or visit www.glendale.edu/art gallery.

-Compiled by Michael Coleman

VISIT

US

ONLINE

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El Vaquero Supports Students’ Right for Truth

We all take the First Amendment right of freedom of the press for granted until we

are faced with a challenge that affects us directly—as was the staff of El Va-quero at the end of the spring semester.

The purpose of a newspaper is to in-form. We at the El Vaquero take pride in being the eyes and ears for the stu-dents, faculty, staff and college commu-nity at large.

When we decided to publish an arti-cle on the subject of depression and how it can lead to suicide, we did it with the intention to raise awareness of a serious issue that, unfortunately, affects college students at an alarming rate.

“When Colleges Go on Suicide Watch,” an article published in Time Magazine on May 22, stated that sui-cides are the “second leading cause of death among college students, after mo-tor-vehicle accidents.”

Our goal in publishing our article, “Student Suicides Cause Concern” in our last issue of the spring, June 9, was to stress to those suffering from depres-sion, that they are not alone and there are places on campus where they can seek help. It was also our intention to illuminate the warning signs that can eventually lead to suicide.

Unfortunately, the message of our article was misunderstood.

On June 15, former editor-in-chief Jane Pojawa noticed that a large num-ber of newspapers were missing from news racks. Our initial belief was that parents who attended the commence-ment ceremony on June 10, had taken several copies of the newspaper as a keepsake because we had listed the graduates in the paper.

On June 17, Pojawa received a phone call from faculty adviser Michael Moreau, who also noticed the sudden disappearance of newspapers.

Since Pojawa was not on campus, Moreau re-stocked the news racks on

June 19, only to see the racks empty, yet again, the following day.

But the events that unfolded on June 19, shed some light as to what might have happened to the missing papers.

That same afternoon, Moreau was called into the office of former President John Davitt. When Moreau arrived to Davitt’s office, he was surprised to see Cynthia Dorroh, head of the nursing program, who was also there to see Da-vitt.

According to Moreau, Davitt and Dorroh confronted him in regards to the newspaper and specifically the sui-cide story.

Davitt and Dorroh were concerned that the article was damaging to the school and to the nursing program. They went on to tell Moreau that he was wrong to allow the El Vaquero staff to publish the article.

Moreau went on to explain to Davitt that it was not his role to approve or disapprove of articles in the paper and that it is the student’s paper. Davitt dis-puted this.

What led Dorroh and Davitt to be-lieve this?

The story in question made reference to two former nursing students that committed suicide within seven months of the June 9 issue. One of the students was named, an act which both Dorroh and Davitt thought to be insensitive.

The mention of the two students was not in any way intended to shed a nega-tive light on the nursing department nor the campus. If anything, mention-ing these students and their unfortunate deaths only proved that GCC students are not exempt from the suicide epi-demic reported on the national press.

In the article, Dorroh said that the nursing department had “taken mea-sures” to help the suicide victims’ class-mates, as well as other nursing stu-dents, cope with the deaths. One of the ways students were encouraged to cope was by seeking counseling at the health center.

One of the goals of the article, as men-tioned previously, was to let students know where they can seek help. This was a public service both for possible

suicide victims as well as their friends and family.

Somehow, this message was over-looked and completely misconstrued.

During the meeting, Davitt said that he would order campus police to take the newspapers off the stands. He also asked Moreau to remove the story from the newspaper website.

Moreau agreed to pull the story off the website but asked Davitt if he could leave the newspapers on the racks until June 20.

Davitt agreed. But when Moreau re-turned to work on June 20, the newspa-pers had been removed, once again.

A police report regarding the thefts of the newspaper was filed by Pojawa to the campus police that same day.

A tip from the campus police, how-ever, led Pojawa to the missing newspa-pers, which were found in a dumpster, at the far end of the campus.

We had officially been censored.As we see it, any act of censorship,

whether it be at the student press level or the professional level, not only in-fringes the newspapers staff’s right to free speech; it also quashes the commu-nity’s right to remain informed about events and issues that are relevant to them.

In this particular issue, the article in question contained valid, useful infor-mation regarding suicides and depres-sion that may have proven helpful to some readers.

No one should have the right to con-trol what is published in a student newspaper. In fact, there are now laws that protect student publications from falling victim to similar situations, like the one we experienced..

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenneger recent-ly signed two pieces of legislation that will protect newspapers from theft and censorship.

The anti-theft measure, AB 2612, is designed to protect free publications by making it illegal to take more than 25 copies of a newspaper to recycle them or to prevent people from reading them.

The governor also signed AB 2581, an anti-censorship bill passed by the California Senate last month, which

prohibits colleges and universities from penalizing students who engage in press activities required to produce a news-paper.

The Student Press Law Center said that the laws were passed in response to several incidents of student newspaper theft all over the state, wherein news-papers were missing, sometimes to be recycled, but more often because a par-ticular issue had offended or threatened someone in position of authority.

We at the El Vaquero are aware of our rights and accompanying responsi-bilities.

The college paper is a publication by the students for the students. It is not a public relations medium intended to make the school look good by covering only the pleasant events or the so-called “good news.” College students, faculty and staff deserve fair and balanced re-porting, even if the truth is not pleasant or beneficial to the image of the college.

The student paper exists to inform. It is about time that the state govern-ment understood this purpose of the press and finally provided legislation to protect it against those who feel that the concept of free speech means glossing over the bad news and reporting selec-tively, based on the preferences of those in authority. We have seen this happen time and again with other, major media outlets. At times, even the president of the United States thinks he can dictate what professional journalists can pub-lish and what they cannot.

Because the college environment is a learning environment, it must there-fore resemble the professional world as closely as possible. The professional me-dia covers all stories, from the shocking to the mundane. We see no reason why we, as college student reporters, should be exempt from doing the same. The Constitution has long given us the right to do so, and now, the state government has given us the protection we need so that we can freely exercise this right.

In spite of the censorship incident, we at the El Vaquero march forward with our heads held high and we will con-tinue to raise our voices in support of our fellow students’ right to the truth.


EDITORIAL

More than 1,000 copies of the June 22 edition of the El Vaquero were thrown into a campus dumpster. Photo by Jeryd Pojawa


SPORTS

ChildhoodPassionUnfoldsonSoccerField,InspiresTeamBy Susan AksuEL VAQUERO STAFF WRITER

Second year Glendale Com-munity College student,

Janet DeLaO is a standout soccer player and inspiration to her soc-cer team, according to her coach, Jorge Mena.

Since the season began DeLaO has averaged one goal per game, scoring four in one game.

“She misses the easiest ones, but puts in the hardest,” said Coach Mena about her goal at-tempts. “She’s a ‘nines.’ She is a very good center forward,” said Coach Mena, referring to the nickname he uses to describe her. “She’s an excellent dribbler, very finesse and is a great finisher,” he added.

Her on going soccer career in-cludes playing three years on a club team, the Verdugo Hills High School team and the GCC soccer team. DeLaO said she would love to pursue soccer after transferring from Glendale College.

DeLaO’s biggest inspiration is her father, a former professional soccer player for the El Salvador-

Photo by Sumaya MehaiLady Vaquero, Janet DeLaO, aspires to someday follow in the footsteps of her father.

ian national soccer team. Taking after her father who played as a midfielder and forward, DeLa O plays forward as well.

“My dad has taught me every-thing I know about the sport. Ever since I was little he would dress me in his soccer jerseys and we would kick the ball around,” she said.

What DeLaO likes best about playing soccer is being part of a team.

“Working together as a team, meeting new people and making new friends are some of the best things about playing together. Plus it feels good to show off some of your skills and beating the other team,” said DeLaO.

DeLaO wants to transfer to Cal State Northridge because their soccer team is a division I team.

“Janet will easily make it onto a division I or II soccer team,” said her coach, Jorge Mena. Coach Mena said he believes that she definitely has a future in soccer. If her plans of playing soccer on a university level do not work out, she plans on transferring to Cal State of L. A. since it caters to her

major, Administration of Justice.When asked about what she

thought of herself as an athlete who regularly contributes to win-ning games, she responded, “I don’t like saying I’m a great or good player, but I guess you could say that. Soccer is just something I have always played.”

According to Coach Mena, “Janet is a quiet person who gets everything done, but rather than vocally leading a team like some players, she carries the team on her shoulders. She is one of those great student athletes you get lucky to coach once every ten years.”

DeLaO’s favorite athlete is American soccer player, Mia Ham. “I think she’s of the best female soccer players. The fact that she has scored more goals than any man or wom-an professional soccer player is really amazing,” she says.

Despite the competition to to reach the professional level, DeLaO said she would like to follow in her father’s footsteps.

Susan Aksu can be reached at [email protected]

Campus CommentsWhat Is the Most Pressing Issue on Campus?

AyakoTanaka21AVIATION

“Parking; it’s horrible.”

CheynneChong23GEOGRA-PHY

“Parking, it sucks, they [the school] expect you to valet and it doesn’t work.”

DavidSinatra

MEDICAL

“Parking. There are

never enough spaces and I have to get here at 7:30p.m. for a 9:30p.m. class.”

StephanieBranbel19PUBLIC RE-LATIONS

“Parking is really bad, I have wake up an hour early and come to school a half hour early to find parking. Even then I’m still late to class.”

OliverMoore23UNDECIDED

“Parking for sure, it’s a

joke. It’s like trying to pull teeth.”

AnnaDybdahl18BUSINESS

“Park-ing…sucks.

Maybe if they make reserve parking spots, get a number and park there everyday. It would solve a lot of issues, know what I mean?”

JeffRobsison18ART

“I think the smoking is the

biggest issue, I’m trying to study and some guy is blowing smoke in my face and I don’t really like that.”

ElenaTanaka20NURSING

“I guess everyone is

complaining about parking, I’m getting my car next week and I’m kind of afraid and have to figure it out.”

www.elvq.com Friday, September 22, 2006 19

C a l e n d a rOn Campus

Around Town

exhibition

‘Nothing up the Sleeve’ —The GCC Art Gallery is is cur-rently exhibiting “Nothing up the Sleeve,” a show which dis-plays pieces created with mate-rials such as wood and fabric. Artists include Samara Caughey, Florian Morlat, Jeff Ono, Anna Sew Hoy and Nicolau Vergueiro.The show is on display until No-vember 30. The gallery is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and by appoint-ment only on Saturday from noon to 6 p.m. For more information call (818) 240-1000, ext. 5663

lectures

‘Creation Myths of the Uni-

sports

Women’s Soccer —

• The GCC team competes today at Cuesta College. Match starts at 4 p.m.• GCC faces Oxnard on Tues-day at Oxnard. Game starts at 4 p.m.• The Lady Vaqueros will face

Santa Monica College at Sar-toris Field on Friday. The game starts at 7 p.m.

Men’s Soccer — • The Vaqueros take on College of the Canyons at Sartoris Field tonight at 7 p.m.• Tueday, the men face Santa Barbara at Santa Barbara. The game starts at 4 p.m.

Women’s Volleyball — • GCC takes on Pasadena at Pasadena today. Game starts at 5 p.m. • The Lady Vaqueros face Santa Barbara at home on Wednesday. The game starts at 7 p.m.• The women play Moorpark on Friday at 7 p.m. The game will be at Moorpark.Cross Country —

exhibitions

‘Dig It!’ — The Skirball Center is holding a family program on Sunday called “Dig It.” The ex-hibit is a hands on experience of a simulated archeological dig. Those participating learn about the excavations happening in the Near East. The exhibit be-gins at 1:30 p.m. and goes until 3:30 p.m. The Skirball Center is located at 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd., Los Angeles. For further information call (310) 440-4500.

‘All the People in All the World’ — Also at the Skir-ball, “All the People in All the World,” happening on Tuesday. The exhibition runs until Octo-ber 1.

‘Postwar Directions: Abstract Expressionism to Minimalism’ — The exhibit will run through October 15 at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA). MOCA is located at 250 S. Grand Ave., Los Angeles.

‘Bill Owens: Suburbia’ — Also at MOCA, “Bill Owens: Suburbia.” This exhibit will run through October 15. For more information call (213) 621-1749.

‘Comics in the City’ — The

Ice House in Pasadena presents “Comics in the City.” The pro-gram features Tom Rhodes with Tina Kim. There will be two shows on Friday, one at 8:30 p.m. and the other at 10:30 p.m. Tickets cost $17.50. The Ice house is located at 24 N. Mentor Ave., in Pasadena. For more in-formation call (626) 577-1894.

music

The Key Club — •Hed P.E. with special guests Mower, Sunday night.•Friday night, Atomic CD Re-lease Party.• Which One’s Pink? A tribute to Pink Floyd, September 30. The Key Club is located at 9039 Sun-set Blvd. For tickets and informa-tion on all three shows, call (310) 274-5800.

Wiltern LG — •Snow Patrol, Tuesday and Wednesday night. •Thursday night, veteran rockers Sonic Youth. The Wiltern LG is located at 3790 Wilshire Blvd. For ticket information call (213) 388-1400.

The Knitting Factory — •Monday night, Kaki King takes the center stage. •Gym Class Heroes perform on October 3.

•The Cherry Poppin’ Daddies pe-form October 4. The Knitting Fac-tory is located at 7021 Hollywood Blvd. For tickets and information call (323) 463-0204.

The Echo — •Quetzal performs tonight at The Echo, located at 1822 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles. The show starts at 9 p.m. and tickets are $12 at the door.•Part Time Punks peform Sunday night. Tickets are $5. The show starts at 10 p.m. For more infor-mation on either shows call (213) 413-8200.

t e a c h i n g t i p # 9If you have not yet completed your bachelor's degree and are atleast 22 years of age with 60 college units: APU can help you earnyour degree one night a week for 19 months, and become a teacherthrough our human development (HDEV) program. APU offers an inno-vative, alternative degree completion program at seven SouthernCalifornia locations, designed to provide subject-matter preparation forprospective elementary school and K-12 special education teachers. APUalso offers other adult degree completion programs in organizationalleadership, nursing, computer information/management information sys-tems, and Christian leadership.

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• The GCC cross country teams will compete at the Golden West Invitational Saturday. Competi-tions begin at 10 a.m.• GCC will travel to the Bakers-field Invitational on Friday. The competition will begin at 3:30 p.m.

Football — • GCC takes on Los Angeles Southwest College at Sartoris Field. The game starts at 7 p.m.• The Vaqueros face Los Angeles Harbor College at L.A. Harbor. The game starts at 5 p.m.

Men’s and Women’s Track and Field —• The GCC team competes at the Southern California Prelims at Mt. San Antonio College on Sat-urday.

verse’ — The Science Lec-ture Series presents “Creation Myths of the Universe.” Phys-ics instructor Poghos Kazarian will be discussing why there is a universe and how, overtime, the answers helped to evolve the question. Kazarian will cover ancestral ideas through modern myths. The lecture will be held at noon in Santa Barbara, room 243. Additional information may be obtained by calling (818) 240-1000.

“Taking the Initiative: a Dis-cussion of Selected Proposi-tions on the California Bal-lot”— On Thursday, Monica Marquez and Georganne Thom-sen from the League of Women Voters will be discussing eight of the propositions on the Nov.

7 ballot in a pro and con for-mat. At the end of the presen-tation, there will be a question and answers session regarding the propositions. Each member of the audience will be given a copy of the Leauges Easy Vot-er Guide. The league will also staff a voter registration table in the foyer of Kreider Hall.Admission is free.

performance

‘Swingin’ at the Alex’ —An encore presentation of the Towne Singers will be accom-panied by Geo Valles’ Swing City Big Band and the Pasadena Ballroom Dance Association. They will be performing num-bers like “Moonlight Serenade” and “I’ll Never Smile Again.” The show will be presented in form of a live radio show broad-cast from the 1940s, complete with commercial jingles and pe-riod costumes, humor and danc-ing. Tickets for the show range from $32.50 and $22.50. For more information contact the Alex Theatre box office (818) 243-ALEX.


VAQUEROVIEWS

Despite lines for everything from parking to financial aid, registration to buying books, more than 20,000

students have successfully faced the challenges of starting the fall semester.

Noelia Linares, left, waits her turn in line at the Finan-cial Aid Office. She was one of the more than 12,000 stu-dents who applied for aid this semester. Of those, more than 10,000 received some assistance.

The bookstore was filled with activity as students looked for their texts. Prior to making his purchase, Theodick Babajanian, below, flips through calculus textbooks.

Vendors, solicitations for clubs and signboards listing classes attract students on the way to classes, bottom left.

Students Face New Semester Challenges

PhotosbyGraigAgop

Documents

Sept 22, 2006