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Volume XXX - Issue 2 September 15, 2011 www.theskylineview.com
San Bruno Commemorates Skyline remembers victims of San Bruno fire
“This evening is not the time to talk about regulations or regula-tors, about rules or statistics,” San Bruno Mayor Jim Ruane said to the large crowd gathered in the Skyline quad. “This evening is our time to remember and celebrate the humanity of our community.”
The mood was somber on the anniversary of the San Bruno fire on Sept 9. A cold fog covered campus, very d i fferent from that same night one year ago when the skies were blue except for a column of flame and black smoke emanating from the city of San Bruno. The sky that night had also been covered with streaks of red as planes flew overhead dump-ing retardant to try to stem the fire that claimed eight lives that night.
Lavonne Bullis, Greg Bullis, William Bullis, James Franco, Jacqueline Greig, Janessa Greig, Jessica Morales, Elizabeth Torres. These are the eight people who lost their lives to the explosion and resultant fire of the high-transmis-sion gas line that exploded in the Crestmoor neighborhood. They
weren’t the only ones affected by the fire: Some were injured, some lost their homes.
Joseph Ruigomez, a Skyline student, was not only injured in that fire, but lost his girlfriend, Jessica Morales, to the fire.
“Every day is a fight,” Ruigo-mez said. “You go to the hospital
and come out with tons of other prob-lems.” Ruigo-mez also said that he really m i s s e s h i s girlfriend, as evidenced by the fact that his injuries
came from trying to rescue her from the fire that night.
The ceremony began with Brian Molver of the San Mateo County Office of Emergency Services walking into the quad through the fog playing “Amazing Grace” on the bagpipes at 6 p.m. He made his way past the front of the crowd and left the quad in the opposite direction, all the while playing the song as he seemingly vanished in the fog, the sound echoing off the buildings.
A bell was rung by different
Read about the world after the calamity p. 6
Find out about the success of the China Dance p. 3
Read about how Skyline team dominated Mendocino p. 8
people eight times, once for each of the fallen. Ruigomez helped ring the bell for Morales when it was her turn.
“It was very good closure,” said Alexa Aguiar, a Skyline student and a close friend of Morales. “It was very heartwarming to see everyone who came to support the families.”
Clergy from across San Bruno of different faiths gave small speeches,
“It was very good closure. . . . It was very heartwarming to see everyone who came to support the families.”
—Alexa Aguiar
making sure to be as sensitive as pos-sible to everyone. As the speeches were made, people of all kinds low-ered their heads, even the grounds and maintenance staff who were standing in the back.
The event concluded with the release of doves, first one for each person being remembered, then a mass release of more doves. The doves were trained homing pigeons,
so when released they all coalesced in one spot and flew off together, a rather fitting end to the whole event.
“It was light,” said Rene Morales, mother of Jessica Morales. “It was nice and a release.”
Additional information was pro-vided by Estrella Benavides.
By Stephen Benoit
STEPHEN BENOIT/THE SKYLINE VIEW
Joseph Ruigomez rings a bell for his fallen girlfriend, Jessica Morales. .
STEPHEN BENOIT/SKYLINE VIEW
Greg Torres releases a dove for one of the eight people who lost their lives last year in the fire.
2 September 15, 2011SKYLINE VIEWTHE
N E W S
The Staff
Want more news?www.theskylineview.com
Or maybe you have news for us?(650) 738-4377
Want to yell at [email protected]
Or use snail mail:The Skyline Viewc/o Language Arts
Room 8-8110Skyline College
3300 College DriveSan Bruno CA 94066
Stephen Benoit
Matt Pacelli
Julianna Leon
Joe Barrack
Daniel Beckman
Richard Estrada
Liz McMahon
Nina Smirnov
Estrella Benavides
Diana Rodriguez
Blair Hardee
William Nacouzi
Jervis Lawas
Terence Chin/Sarawut Saechang
Marc ArguelloJay Johnson
JJ Valdez
Lea NaqishbendiCamille Wieland
Dean Kevin SantosSarawut Saechang
Jonathan ChanMilan Subedi
Roxanne Wahab
JJ ValdezAlyssa Koszis
The Skyline View is a First Amend-ment Publication. The Skyline View
is published bi-weekly during the spring and fall semesters by the jour-nalism students at Skyline College. The Skyline View is a member of the Journalism Association of Commu-nity Colleges. Opinions expressed
in the paper are those of the writers and should not be interpreted as the views of Skyline College, SMCCCD,
the faculty, administrators or the newspaper adviser. Additionally, the
paper does not endorse any of the products or services advertised.
The Skyline View welcomes Let-ters to the Editors; letters must in-
clude full name, address, and phone number for verification. The Skyline View reserves the right to edit letters
for length, libel, clarity, and taste.
Guaranteed admission now limited
Elections to be held September 21The Honors Club is holding elec-
tions Wednesday, Sept. 21 at 1:30 p.m. in room 7241 in an effort to resume normal operations and ap-point new governing members.
The club will choose its leaders by a committee of its five active members.
“Our club is a modest five mem-bers,” said Gabe Denham, a can-didate for Honors Club President. “However, our dedication and enthu-siasm more than makes up for what we lack in size, and I am sure that with such a solid foundation we will continue to grow as a club.”
Nina Smirnov, who has been Honors Club President for the past two semesters, believes that Denham is a good candidate because of his previous experience in a similar role as president of the Honors Society at College of San Mateo.
“He has experience with it al-ready, and he’s really good. He’s really on top of his stuff,” Smirnov
of Denham’s qualifications.Smirnov explained that the main
goal of the Honors Club is to be a link between the Honors Trans-fer Program and the academically minded students who participate in the program.
“We try to let other honors stu-dents connect with one another,” Smirnov said.
Under Smirnov’s leadership, the club organized movie showings and even a stress relief day before finals week, where all interested students were able to make their own stress balls using balloons and flour.
But being a governing member of the Honors Club requires unwaver-ing commitment in terms of time and energy. Smirnov knows this firsthand from her two terms as president.
“My first semester [as president], we did a lot of good things, but it was really, really stressful in addition to all my school responsibilities,”
Smirnov said.During the spring 2011 semester,
Smirnov’s Honors Club respon-sibilities took a back seat to her schoolwork, and the club remained largely inactive. But she appears optimistic about interest in the club this semester.
“This semester we have new people who are really interested in taking leadership responsibilities and are willing to put in the time,” Smirnov said.
Returning Honors Club member Diana Kozlova agrees with her col-league about the new additions.
“The people who are meeting are the people who want to be in charge,” said Kozlova of the new members.
Kozlova believes that while the club remains small in number even with the new additions, their shared enthusiasm bodes well for the future of the Honors Club.
“There are only five of us, but
Honors club elections pending By Joe Barrack
we get together because we want to make a difference,” said Kozlova.
So far this semester the club has developed concrete ideas to benefit the community in ways that reach beyond the simple confines of Sky-line College campus.
Smirnov explains that already in the works is a program that hopes to get California prison inmates read-ing more books.
“We also try to do things to enrich the community. For ex-ample, we’re going to be doing the Prisoner’s Lit. Program, bringing books to prisoners whose libraries have been closed.”
The Honors Club anticipates a busy and productive fall semester. Election results will be finalized Wednesday Sept. 21.
Transfer admission guarantee requirements have been raised for UC campuses this semester, which could make transferring more diffi-cult for Skyline College students.
For the first time in the UC system, the UC campuses have set a limit on the transfer admission guar-antee (TAG) for all California com-munity college students, effective this semester. Students may only apply for a TAG with one campus of their choice, rather than with as many schools as they wanted, which was permitted in past years. Seven of the nine UC campuses are partici-pating in TAG this year, including the UC’s at Davis, Irvine, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, Santa Bar-bara, and Santa Cruz.
For students to be eligible for a TAG, they must have a minimum of a 2.8 GPA and 60 UC transferable units by the end of the spring 2012 semester. The GPA requirements may vary by major and campus choice. Schools that never par-ticipate in the UC TAG program because of the high amount of appli-cants each year include California’s most popular UC campuses: UC Berkeley, which recruits students themselves rather than allowing students to apply for TAGs; and UCLA which has cancelled their TAG program.
Skyline College Transfer Cen-ter Director Jacqueline Escobar sees this change as unfortunate for com-munity college students planning to transfer to UC’s. Escobar explained that it is a result of what happened last year since the TAG application made its way to the internet.
“They allowed students to apply to all seven campuses, so students applied to all campuses whether they had serious interest or not,” Escobar said. “The UC end had to review it, as well as the Skyline faculty. UC decided that if they were going to continue with the tag
program, they would set stronger limitations, so now it’s one TAG, one campus.”
Despite the new TAG rules in effect this year, some students don’t feel too bothered by the one-tag, one-campus rule change. Skyline student Edwina Yuan is a second-year student who plans on applying for a TAG to UC Irvine this month.
“Personally, I like it a little more because I am an indecisive person, so this is a way to force me to really think about what I want to do, and what school really fits me,” Yuan said.
Currently, Yuan holds a 3.74 GPA and is preparing to apply for a TAG with UC Irvine as a criminol-ogy major this month. Yuan offered some advice about applying for a TAG.
“I always go to the transfer center, I always read the announce-ments, I always look at fliers, and most importantly I go to counselors,” Yuan said. “Utilize all the resources you can find, and don’t be afraid to ask questions.”
The UC system has made other significant changes to the TAG pro-gram as well. It isn’t just the one-TAG, one-campus rule change, but some GPA requirements have sky-rocketed in this year’s TAG program. To be eligible for a TAG with UC Davis, you must now have an overall 3.2 GPA this year, compared to a 2.8 GPA in the past, and engineer majors must have a 3.3 GPA. To be eligible for a TAG with UC San Diego, you must have an overall 3.5 GPA this year, compared to a 3.0 in the past.
However, Escobar had advised many students interested in applying for a TAG with UC Davis based on a 2.8 GPA requirement, only to find out about the new GPA requirements last May, which she feels is unfair to the students.
“It’s kind of late already if you start registering in April,” Escobar said. “We will always put out a work-shop in the summer in case students
need to change their schedule.” The UC TAG application is
now open for students interested in applying for a TAG until Sept. 30, and the regular UC application will open up for all other interested
students to apply on Nov. 1; the ap-plication process will close on Nov. 30. If interested in applying for a TAG, students are advised to see a counselor immediately.
For the first time, UC restricts the number of community college transfer students
By Terence Chin
3September 15, 2011 SKYLINE VIEWTHE
FEATURES
China Dance School Performance
Dancing: a fun way to promote chinese cultureby Sarawut Saechang
The China Dance School per-formed here at our own Skyline The-ater on Sept. 10 at 7:30 p.m. Despite it being a foggy Saturday night, the show was sold out within 20 minutes. Unfortunately, some guests had to be turned away. China Dance School was delighted to have many students, teachers, family members and friends in the audience. During the show, a moment was given to honor Cali-fornia Senator Leland Y. Yee’s wife, Maxine Yee, who was sitting in the first row among the crowd. Yee had many kind words for China Dance School and Skyline College.
The show had 18 dances with dancers of varying ages and groups of varying sizes. The mission of the night was to show off Chinese dance styles from different backgrounds and of Mongolian and Tibetan style. Each dance was introduced with a matching poem that set the stage for the complimenting dance.
After seeing nine dances, the audience was treated to a ten-minute intermission break halfway through the show. Snacks and refreshments were also for sale in the lobby.
Among the excited chatter dur-ing the break, many patrons were ready to talk about the dance and their experiences. Skyline’s own Professor James I. Wong had this to say about the performance: “Very entertaining, informative, educational, and it opens a whole new world of Chinese art and dance to people who normally wouldn’t know.” Wong himself had promoted the dance to many of his students.
When asked how many students of his were in attendance, he replied,
“Well, I so far only have 28 checked in, but that’s a lot and I heard some came but they (the show) sold out.”
Another professor, R.J. Ward from Foothill College in Los Ga-tos, wanted his friends performing and Skyline College to know, “It’s a terrific show, great presentation, really beautiful.”
A particular group of students who were standing out front dur-
ing the break said, “It’s actually entertaining,” “Wow, I am glad I came!” and, “The little girls do-ing the horse dance was the best!” These students wanted to remain anonymous but still wanted to encourage other students to check out China Dance School.
Kara Chien, the house man-ager of the show, could be seen smiling, greeting and passing out programs before and after the
dance. Each program contained the poems that were recited during the show as well as pictures of the danc-ers. The programs also contained the school’s history and contact information.
The dance was put together by Kaiwen You and Aiping Zhou, among other staff and faculty mem-bers of both China Dance School and Skyline College. China Dance School’s performance here at Sky-line promoted Chinese art and dance
and also the school itself. “I’m glad I can fit you in and
have so many people show up; thanks for coming and supporting us tonight,” Chien said to most guests as they left the show. Further infor-mation about China Dance School and its upcoming performances can be found at http://chinadance-theatre.com.
Stay alert and look at flyers around the halls, or visit the Stu-dent Activities Center to find out about events, dances, movies or other great opportunities happen-ing around Skyline’s campus so you don’t miss a chance like China Dance School’s performance.
Are we prepared for an emergency?
At the beginning of this semester, a veteran student had a breakdown in Building 5. This caused us at The View to wonder, how prepared are we for an emergency at Skyline College? Manuel Peix, an Instructional Aide from the Learning Center, was the one who helped that student. The unknown student apparently had a flashback as someone mentioned his lost war partner’s name in the class-room. According to Peix, the veteran student had what is called Post Trau-matic Stress disorder after fighting in World War II. Many students have had bad experiences fighting in war, and simply hearing the name of their tragically dead partners can ignite bad memories. Two students saw the veteran student hitting himself on the head in Building 5 near the stairs in the hallway. They ran inside the Writing Center to report it, and Peix was the one who helped the unknown veteran student.
“As I saw him, I realized that he was having a breakdown,” Peix said.
by Estrella Benavides
Skyline Theatre proudly hosts the performance, expanding the awareness of its students. IMAGE COURTESY OF SARAWUT SAECHANG
“It’s a terrific show, great presentation, really beautiful.”
—R.J. Ward
What’s next? Are we ready?
ESTRELLA BENAVIDESTHE SKYLINE VIEW
This emergency contact information is found in every hallway on campus.
If you’re looking for some-thing to do this weekend, how about escaping back to the 15th century and taking a walk through the Re-naissance Faire in Casa de Fruta? The faire runs from Sept. 17 through Oct. 16. Not only can you witness the tiny village of Willingtown coming to life, but you can also enjoy dance performances, theater and traditional Celtic and Gypsy music.
If you’re excited for Halloween and just can’t wait to dress up, this is your chance to take advantage of the two-for-one ticket sale, for one weekend only on Sept. 17 and 18! Plunge into the experience and ap-preciate artisans’ handy-work and designs while sipping on ale. Not to mention all the themed events where you can get your “Jack Sparrow mojo” on for the Pirate Invasion on Oct. 1 and 2. Bring your masks and garlands for the Bacchanal Mas-querade on Sept. 24 and 25, and be captivated by the charm of the fairies in the Fantasy Weekend, which runs on Oct. 8 and 9.
It’s only $25, so don’t forget to be there from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Casa de Fruta, 10021 Pacheco Pass (CA Highway 152), Gate 6, Hollis-ter, CA. For more information, go to http://norcalrenfaire.org, email [email protected] or call (408) 847-FAIR.
by Julianna Leon
Renaissance Faire: stepping back in time to the era of knights & feastsA taste of yesteryear
“I helped him for five to ten minutes as the secretary helped me to make a call.” He wanted to have the number to Psychological Services so he could call them immediately and ask for advice, but it was no-where to be found in the booklet posted near the campus public phone. He was trained during a Flex Day, but he was not able to do as he thought was best because his training was very general. “I did what I could, and I stepped back as the Public Safety people arrived.” He added, “It was not traumatic for me, but was scary.”
Furthermore, he described what happened two years ago, as students reported that a student had been shot. Peix had seen and heard this student laughing and playing around with two other students prior to the incident. When Peix heard what had happened, he could not believe what the student was saying because he thought the student had been joking.
Judith Cheung helped Peix and called Public Safety in the veteran student emergency. She had a hard time remembering what happened, but said, “He was not in the Writing Center; he was in the hallway of Building 5.”Chief Tupper was busy on Friday, but did say, “I love to be able to train the student body on how to respond in an emergency.” There is no doubt that he is willing to help, and The View acknowledges that Emergency Response Guides are posted near the public phones on every floor, but it feels like we should take the lead and prepare for a crisis ahead of time. Public Safety does not have a schedule posted on its door or a message recorded through its 4199 extension advising what to do in the event of an emer-gency. Many are aware that they can call 911, but if we are in shock we may not know what to do.
Tupper said that on the day of the bomb scare, all the students should have received an email, but
not all did. He feels that we are pre-pared as a community, but believes there are about 10,000 students and every single one of us should have a
plan. Too many heads thinking and deciding what to do without a guide may only create chaos.
Thumbs down:Fantasy FootballWeek 1
“Week one loss attributed to key players’ injuries.”
—Richard Estrada
Thumbs up:Cheese-filledhot dogs
“You lose, vegans.”—Matt Pacelli
Thumbs up:The Heavy
“ENTIRE TEAM IS BABIES!”—J.J. Valdez
Thumbs Up: Minecraft up-
date
“I’m very excited for all the new adventure additions. Finally a re-ally good reason to play Minecraft again.”
—Marc Arguello
Thumbs Down:Pillows that don’t
stay fluffy
“They go flat like a pancake.”—Julianna Leon
Thumbs up:Taco Bell, cookies, and pizza on production night
“Good food will always give us energy to work.”
—Terence Chin
Thumbs up:The San Bruno fire memorial
“Remember the people who aren’t with us today.”
—William Nacouzi
Thumbs up:Joe Ruigomez’ memories of Jessica
“The one who was, is, and always will be.”
—Estrella Benavides
Thumbs up:Free Stuff
“ It’s always better than stuff I paid for.”
—Jay Johnson
4 September 15, 2011SKYLINE VIEWTHE
OPINION
BART Protesters: Your cause is just, your methods are not
In case of an earthquake
Police brutality is no laughing matter and should not be tolerated by any person for any reason, but when you’re disrupting a service that’s necessary for a lot innocent people, you will lose the support of the people.
We’d like to ask any Skyline students who are protesting the cell phone disruption and police brutality to think more in depth about what they’re doing and reconsider the form of protest that is causing so much disruption.
We think people should definitely be protesting questionable actions that have been taken by the police, but it should be done in a way that doesn’t cause delays in the system. People’s livelihoods rely on that system; people take that train system from all over to reach their jobs and get back home every day.
While you are getting your point across by delaying the system, you’re also aggravating a large amount of people. These people would more than likely join your cause if you weren’t causing them trouble with their jobs or making their trips home a nightmare.
The idea is similar to a picket line, but since the protesters are not affiliated with BART in any way, it’s not the same. Some of us at The View have harsh beliefs as to how police brutality should be dealt with, so we’re behind you on that aspect, but we think that protests could be executed in such a way as to get the public’s attention without being problematic.
People who are in no way associated with BART shouldn’t be forced to drive every Monday to avoid delays. It’s punishing people for something they didn’t do, like the execution of an innocent man.
To reiterate, if you’re out there protesting, please try not to be disruptive. See if you can protest in a way that doesn’t get in the way of innocent people.
Hello, Skyline. My name is Ste-phen Benoit and I’m the new Edi-tor-in-Chief of The Skyline View. This is my fourth semester on staff, and I’m happy to be here to produce this wonderful paper with wonder-ful people.
As the former online editor, I will probably tend to have more of a focus on our online edition this semester than previous editors did. I know firsthand how painful it was getting content online and how our paper before was just shovel-ware. We’d occasionally have a timely article that we’d throw up immedi-ately, and then everything that went into the paper would get thrown online the day of circulation.
This week will probably be the final week of that, as I want to change our focus to giving you, the reader, a constant stream of new content throughout the week. The
question is, what kind of content do we want to run?
I want you to have a say in that. What would you like to see in your school newspaper? Are there certain stories you want to see? Are there columns you would like to see? How-to guides? Entertainment?
Feel free to message us on Twit-ter at TheSkylineView, or you can email us at [email protected]. Facebook is also an option; you can leave us a comment on our wall.
This semester I’d really like to have some strong interaction with our readers. We want to know what you want so we can present the paper to be more to your liking. Do you want more game reviews? Do you want more in-depth reviews of already reviewed games? Would you be interested in video game review videos?
A lot of us at The View are huge nerds and would likely happily game with you if that’s your interest. At least three of us are hardcore into League of Legends, so if you’re into that we’d be glad to add you and play a game or two with you, or even against you.
We’re also on Steam, and we’ve taken the liberty of creat-ing a Skyline View g roup on Steam, so if you’re interested in playing with us or fellow Skyline students, you should join the group!
The best way to get in touch with us is definitely the Twitter feed though. It’s the most fre-
quently checked media outlet we have, and if you have an idea for a story, it’s a great way to send us a tip.
Also, we’re always looking for interesting people to talk to. Are you par-ticipating in a protest? Is there something in-credible about you that most p e o p l e d o n ’ t
know? Send us a tip on twitter! We’d love to do a piece on you.
“Are you participat-ing in a protest? Is there something incredible about you that most peo-ple don’t know? Send us a tip on twitter! We’d love to do a piece on you.”
—Stephen Benoit
5September 15, 2011 SKYLINE VIEWTHE
OPINION
by JJ Valdez
HEAL
HURT
Topic: Having to pay tuition at the begin-ning of the semester
Heal:
“By paying right away, you don’t have to worry about it later on. And since you commit by paying right away, you are more invested in the classes.”
—Josue Picos
Dear Johnny
Dear Johnny,
I have been single for quite a while and find myself being destructive in social situations with the opposite sex. It’s like this weird pattern I can’t get out of. I really like some of these women I meet, yet I always find a way to make fun of them during the conversation and ruin my chances. Please help me out!
—Jester
Many of you out there are wondering what to do when it comes to your relationships, jobs, or life. So let me introduce myself. My name is “Johnny” and I would like to help you. There are some basic relationship issues everyone deals with, issues like: “Why doesn’t my significant other pay more attention to me?” or “Why does he always hang out with his friends?” or, here’s a common one, “Why doesn’t he brush his teeth regularly?” These are just a taste of the curveballs life throws at us on a day to day basis and exactly what I would like to give you advice on. Think of me as Deepak Chopra, Oprah, or even Ferris Bueller. I’m just someone that wants to help with your issues. I am going to start this column with a problem that was recently shared with me. If you would like to share you issue with me and get advice email me at [email protected].
Expectorating on campus is becoming a disgusting trend
Spit Happensby Matt Pacelli
Dear Jester,
This isn’t the first time I have heard about this phenomenon. Lots of guys have a hard time speaking to women and find it easier to put them down during social interaction. They feel like making fun of them puts them on some sort of equal playing field, as though if they did not make fun of them on some level then they would be conceding the social upper hand.
Women love a guy with a sense of humor and enjoy laughing just like guys do, but making them the butt of the joke or putting them down is different. You have to get past this insecurity of yours and accept the fact that all men and women are on the same social playing field. Both men and women are somewhat nervous during a first encounter and feel obligated to make that situation memorable to the opposite sex, especially if there is an attraction.
Try making yourself the butt of the joke. Being able to take yourself lightly is very attractive—no one likes an image-obsessed sour grape. By changing the target to yourself, you are consciously making a change every time you find yourself in a social situation with a woman and taking one more step toward changing your habit. Remember that you don’t always have to make fun of someone when talking to the opposite sex; simply listening to a woman can have substantial benefits and can prove to be very effective when you are trying to get to know them.
Make sure you crawl before you walk and take things slowly; you are not in a race for love. Taking the time to really appreciate someone can lead not only to romance, but to a rewarding friendship. You may want to start off by telling whomever you are speaking with that you usually are shy when talking to woman; that can be a kind of dorky, sweet ice-breaker for now and may even get you a sympathy vote (ha-ha). Good luck on your future endeavors with the opposite sex, and remember that funny equals sexy; belittlement equals single.
Hurt:“I know university campuses do it too, but
I think one of the benefits of a community college is letting students pay at their own pace, which is good for those struggling financially.”
—Stacy Hanssen
Hurt:“It’ll just make things worse by put-
ting more stress on students; it makes it so students can’t decide whether they want a certain class or not till it’s too late.”
—Steve Alvarez
Hurt:“[Students] don’t have money right
away sometimes. It doesn’t affect me ‘cause I have financial aid, but that doesn’t matter ‘cause other students don’t have that option. It might even make it so students won’t want to come to school.”
—Felicia Salazar
Hurt:“It can hurt those who are less fortunate
and don’t have the money to pay right away. Some students will be forced to sign up for less classes.”
—Eric Guerra
Hurt:“My situation is different because I get
money from Veteran Services, but I don’t get it till the middle of the month.”
—Krystle Capacillo
Hurt:“I don’t think people should pay right
away because some students simply can’t do that, which is most students I think.”
—Erika Robertson
As years pass by, different trends fall in and out of practice. Jeri Curls were once popular in the 1980s. At the turn of the twentieth century, children were given morphine to calm them down for bed. Both of these things were viewed as socially acceptable in their times, and both are now recognized as being grossly irresponsible. And now, today, there seems to be another irresponsible trend on the rise at Skyline: spitting on campus.
It almost seems as though it is such a simple and long-standing social construct that it shouldn’t require commentary. Don’t spit on campus—it’s gross! It occupies the same realm as picking your nose and flicking it aimlessly into your surroundings. But sure enough, it’s becoming more and more prevalent: people walking around, spitting wherever they feel like, with no re-gard to people around them. I have seen actual pools of spit around the stone blocks in the quad. I have friends who walk around and, I kid you not, spit at the end of every sentence, as though it’s a period or a way to make a point.
There are times when spitting is
fine, such as when you have been exercising vigorously, have eaten something that is unbearably hor-rible, or on the grave of an enemy, but that is not the problem. The problem seems to be that there has been some slow decay of social awareness among some people throughout the course of their lives, which has led to the point where they either don’t care or don’t notice that they are spraying bodily fluids in public.
But wait! I’m not just some lone maniac, lurking behind bushes, seething with rage every time some-one expels spittle. Other students share my disgust as well. For example, Skyline student Sarah Lidwell personally finds spitting very unsightly.
“It’s disgusting and ungentle-manly,” said Lidwell. “People shouldn’t hack their phlegm on the sidewalk.”
Of course some may argue that to be forbidden to spit wherever they feel would be an infringement on their rights, maybe even going so far as to say that to spit in public is to express oneself. Let’s try to use the first amendment as a shield for spitting. Such an argument would ultimately be faulty, due to the fact
that the expelling of expectorant in public is unsanitary and is endanger-ing the health of those around you. I am far from a legal expert, but I am fully aware that freedom of expres-sion and doing what you feel like stops dead when it interferes with the well-being of others, like the Ohio retiree who allegedly punches chil-dren for fun. (News coverage of the event can be found at http://youtube.com/watch?v=h-4tU9nafaU)
“But how could it be harmful?” you may well ask. The answer comes in the form of a list of diseases spread through saliva: tuberculosis, whooping cough, mononucleosis, and the flu are just a few of the fun ways that your spit can turn into a weapon of pestilence. In fact, Sky-line biology teacher Dr. Nickolas Kapp specifically says that many public health issues, such as the spread of disease, can be solved spe-cifically by not spitting in public.
I feel that this whole problem of spitting where people please could be solved with the tired, ridiculous, yet appropriate adage of “would you like it if I came to your house and spat on your floor?” Not that I think of this place as a home, but since I have to be at skyline, I’d prefer it not be soaked in phlegm.
6 September 15, 2011SKYLINE VIEWTHE
ENTERTAINMENT
IMAGES COURTESY OF STEPHEN BENOIT
at the beginning; ain’t so simple with this one,” says the narrator. “Now here’s a kid whose world got all twisted, leaving him stranded on a rock in the sky.” “He gets up,” says the nar-rator as you real-ize you now have control of the game. It doesn’t take long b e f o r e you real-i z e t h e game is actually narrating your ac-tions. The entire game is narrated in this fashion, making it feel like an epic fairy tale that’s being told as you play.
The story of the game is excellent: The world in the game has been destroyed by something called the “Calamity,” which you’ll learn more
about as you play. The story of the game is a tad dark at first, but it’s quite fitting for the feel of the game.
There aren’t many survivors in the world, and when you find one, it becomes your priority to bring them back to your base, a floating town in
the sky called The Bastion, w h i c h i s maintained and under-stood by a gravelly man who serves as the narrator. The narra-tor is also an intricate part of the story, a n d w i l l s lowly re-veal his part in the world. T h e g a m e p lays l ike an old Super
Nintendo Entertainment System RPG. The first thing that came to mind while playing this was how much it reminded me of “Secret of
Mana.” There’s a healthy assortment of weapons that lets you play how you want. Whether with hammer and bow, machete and musket, or rifle and mortar, you can combine weap-ons in any way you want by binding them to your left and right mouse buttons if you’re playing on the PC. The game itself takes place on a series of floating slabs of land in the sky, suggesting that the core of the planet is incredibly dense, keeping the gasses surrounding the planet trapped and the land slabs caught in an orbit within the gas. Theoretically, if the gravity on the planet is that strong, then the planet would eventually recombine, but not with the same structure as before. Overall the game is a small master-piece, and I look forward to seeing what the developers do in the future. So I’m giving this game a 5/5, partly because the story is impeccable. It’s not forced down your throat in an obtrusive way; you just learn it as the game is narrated during your journeys.
by Stephen Benoit
“Dead Island” brings the zombies but not the gameplay by JJ Valdez
Bastion is a $15 game that was made by a team of seven people, and it’s quite the little masterpiece of a game that plays like a fairy tale. My absolute favorite part of this game is the soundtrack. It’s an in-credible compilation of songs from the game, and if you buy the game on Steam, for an extra $5 you can get the “Soundtrack Edition,” which comes with a copy of the soundtrack. The soundtrack is truly intoxicat-ing; generally I’m quite addicted to NPR when I drive, but since I got the CD, it has been the only thing I listen to exclusively for weeks. The game borrows from many different styles of music. Cowboy-movie soundtrack, Asiatic, and Middle Eastern are just a few of the styles I recognized. The game used them well; there wasn’t a single part of the game when I thought the song didn’t fit well with the area I was in. “Proper stories are supposed to start
IMAGES COURTESY OF DEEP SILVER
“Bastion” creates a fun world around you piece by piece
“The gameplay in ‘Dead Island’ fails on two major parts, the combat and the
”—JJ Valdez
I wasn’t expecting much go-‐ing into “Dead Island;” I mean, it
good that I should have picked up on is how it seems to be a rag-‐tag assortment of other games Franken-‐
Certain elements of “Dead Is-‐land” are similar to other games,
such game is “Borderlands,” right down to the leveling system and
Yes, much like “Borderlands,”
characters who ultimately never
it a step further than “Borderlands,” however, by having its characters
during the start of the game, but
Even during the actual cut scenes where they make appearances, the
give a “yes” or “no” whenever a quest is provided to them, or during
It also apparently never occurred to the developers that some of their
advice to allies would sound awk-‐
totally makes up for the lack of
Games involving zombies are no-‐
The last big zombie-‐game franchise
was the “Resident Evil” series, which can be charitably called unique and
I can understand the developer’s decision not to have their cake and eat it too, but for the love of god they could have at least tried for some-‐th ing other than “get off
The basic p rem i s e o f staying alive in a zombie game can be a winning formula (games
showed us that), but this formula only works if it’s backed up by de-‐
The gameplay in “Dead Island” fails on two major parts: the combat
The combat in “Dead Island”
is reminiscent of “Condemned” because of the emphasis on me-‐
it means that on average, players
rather than
horde to make up for the fact that you rarely ever use any
A n o t h e r problem with the combat is that it gets te-‐dious and bor-‐
zombie can be rendered immobile as long you keep pressing the kick
has been given a ridiculous amount
at full sprint no zombie can keep up with you, zombie encounters are
And even if you do somehow die, you just re-‐spawn a few feet away
All enemies remain in the same state as when you died, making the
The biggest fault by far that I found in this game is that it expects to keep players going through its quest system, which is so boring and unchallenging that it makes the
The “Dead Island” quest system
that you have a main mission and along the way you get bogged down
there’s always a certain point when I just want to ignore every side mis-‐sion and focus on the main one to
find the resolution; with “Dead Island,” that point was halfway
Nearly every quest given to you is a fetch quest, all of which are just variations of “go here”
when the emphasis is to survive and you’re trying to get food and
And because this is an open-‐world game, the only way to get
the mini map’s route, which should be straight forward but somehow
This is the type of game in which your objective is down the street, but because a lowly hedge bush is blocking your way, the game will have you drive the
-‐nel, around a mountain and over a
It’s rare that I play a game in which almost everything goes wrong at once, and considering that this game copied so many elements from other tried and tested games, one would think it
But no, it may have an open, tropical world like “Far Cry” and “Just Cause,” and it may have a
-‐demned,” and it may even try to
“Dead Rising,” but the main dif-‐ference is that all those games
BASTION UNLOADS HIS NEWLY AQUIRED SHOTGUN ON HIS UNSUSPECTING FOES
7September 15, 2011 SKYLINE VIEWTHE
ENTERTAINMENT
One of the more ironic movies out this year (actual irony, not the hipster perversion), includes fear of the dark as a major component. “Don’t be Afraid of the Dark”, an atmospheric horror film directed by Troy Nixey and written by Guillermo Del Toro, stars Guy Pierce (Alex) and 10 year old Bailee Madison (Sally) as a divorced father and his daughter. Katie Holmes (Kim) also plays Alex’s live in girlfriend. The film is set in the 1970’s and takes place in a large, brooding manor in Rhode Island.
What initially seems like a fan-tastic opportunity for Alex and Kim (a pair of interior designers) to fix up an old, historic home takes a quick turn south when strange voices begin beckoning Alex’s daughter Sally? This leads Kim and Alex to discover that the house has a far more sinister past than they first expected; its air ducts are inhabited by small, incred-ibly menacing creatures that seem to like the taste of children’s teeth.
For much of the first half, the film does a good job of setting up jarring, scary moments, relying more on suspense and eeriness than sheer bludgeoning gore, which makes the few bloody moments stand out more starkly. Darkness naturally plays a major role in creating much of the tension, as the little goblin things can’t stand anything beyond mood lighting. Devices such as flashlights and cameras become thin, fallible barriers against the lurking and ever present terror.
The weird little critters them-selves are pretty unnerving, although
their whispering occasionally cross-es the line into the unintentionally funny. Any child who listens to a chorus of dry, creepy voices whispering, “Let’s play,” or “We want to be friends,” coming from an air duct is just a few eggs short of a frittata. However, as the film wears on, the monsters begin to lose their mystique. Part of this seems to stem from the fact that Nixey over anthropomorphizes them, as in one instance when they are seen engaging in chummy behavior like patting each other on the head. The creatures become too familiar, and
while they remain creepy, they start to lose the initial scariness they pos-sessed when they are unknown. The film also feels like it is hurt by the overuse of non-diegetic sounds, as certain scenes feel like they could have been more chilling if they were silent rather than having been backed by music.
The acting within the film is fairly solid, especially from Bailee Madison. Despite being only ten years old, her performance was quite good in that her acting didn’t feel forced or overdone and her fear was palpable. Her spunkiness and
determination to prove that she was not fabricating the existence of the monsters was also entertaining.
Guy Pierce was perfect as a cli-ché of the stupid horror movie dad who assumes his child is insane and tries to stay in the house for financial reasons, in spite of obvious evidence that something peculiar is happen-ing. While his dismissive demeanor is predictable, it works well within the film, as his ignorance really helps to keep his family in danger. In contrast, Katie Holmes was strange in that she seemed sedated for much of the film, delivering re-
ally innocuous lines like, “What’s wrong, honey? Don’t you like rice?” She sort of dragged around for a lot of the movie, although she perked up periodically, mainly towards the end.
Despite having some weakness-es, “Don’t be Afraid of the Dark” is an entertaining film, serving the base purpose of a scary movie, which is to scare. Its attempt to build a scary environment, rather than simply ride a wave of blood (which has its own place) is a welcomed change.
Director Rupert Wyatt’s “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” delivers a cautionary tale about the risks of animal testing and the hubris of mankind in a relevant way. James Franco plays Will Rodman, a genet-ics scientist working on a cure for Alzheimer’s, which ails his father played by John Lithgow.
Rodman, who makes his living by working at a pharmaceutical lab called Gen Sys, makes a break through with a cocktail that not only reverses the effects of Alzheimer’s
but also increases intelligence. One experimental chimp nick-
named “Bright Eyes” is given the cocktail a n d s h o w s signs of ac-celerated in-telligence. Not surprisingly, she acts out during a seri-ous business meeting at Gen-Sys, and as a result, Rodman must put all of his apes to
sleep. Franco’s character is the ar-chetype of the scientist with the heart
of gold, and so when he sees Bright Eyes’ baby chimp, he sneaks it home and raises it as his own.
I n -t e r e s t i n g l y enough, de-spite his dash-
ing good looks, Franco is not the center of the story.
His character spends most of the movie unable to do very much to help his surrogate son Caesar. He does however develop a relationship Caroline, a veterinarian played by Freida Pin-t o . T h e couple does not do much for the film except prop up the back-ground for Ceasar, the CGI chimp that ironi-cally steals the show.
Ceasar the chimp undergoes deep and visceral character devel-opment and packs the film with its emotional punch as he grows from a cute little monkey into a brave and threatening ape. The character is brought to life by Andy Serkis, most famous for his role as Gollum in the Lord Of The Rings trilogy.
The effects of this film are stun-ning. The climax of the film, which overpowers most of the slow plot, involves a massive mano a mon-key face off atop the Golden Gate Bridge. Weta Digital (the same team that brought us Avatar), uses perfor-mance capture technology to let us in to Ceasar’s world through Serkis’ emotive facial expressions and does
this very well. The effects are not overbearing
and give the film an impact that makes up for the emotionally absent human actors.
The film does how-ever deliv-ers on an emot ional front. Some viewers may be turned off by the sci-fi stigma asso-ciated with t h e A p e s -f ranchise ,
but do not fear! Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, a husband-wife writ-ing team, keep in mind the modern perils of animal testing and the prominence of big pharmaceutical companies.
Besides the relevance of modern science, your heart-strings will be tugged as Ceasar faces enemies like Draco Malfoy.
Tom Felton’s role is also arche-typical in that he plays an employee of what most would call a “primate prison”, where he verbally abuses the apes being held. An audience can expect to be entertained by the film which is a light and clever prequel to a classic.
“The effects are not over-bearing and give the film an impact that makes up for the emotionally absent human ac-tors.”
—Nina Smirnov
“The climax of the film, which overpowers most of the slow plot, involves a massive mano a monkey face off atop
the Golden Gate Bridge.”—Nina Smirnov
“Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes” stimulates the mind and proves a success
“Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark” entertains the eye
by Nina Smirnov
by Matt Pacelli
IMAGES COURTESY OF MIRAMAX Katie Holmes looks into the distance gripped with fear
IMAGES COURTESY OF THENTIETH CENTURY FOX
The women of Skyline’s soccer team looked confident as they warmed up for their non-conference match against the Mendocino Eagles Tues-day afternoon. With members of the Skyline men’s team rooting them on from the bleachers, the women looked prepared for 90 minutes of soccer on Tuesday, Sept. 13 at 1:30 p.m.
Within the opening offensive drive, it was obvious that the Trojans were in fact prepared.
They were able to dictate the pace of the game within the opening mo-ments. A member of the men’s team added his own commentary, saying, “Are they even breaking a sweat? They’re killing it.”
Communication was essential in Tuesday’s 7-0 shut-out win over visit-ing Mendocino College. The Eagles were overwhelmed as they tried to contain the Trojans’ explosive offense and superior conditioning, trying to play catch-up early. The game was out of reach after the first half as Skyline dominated with a 5-0 lead. The defi-cit was brutal to watch; the opposing players couldn’t match the energy level displayed by the Trojans.
“We talked about being aggressive
offensively (during practices) and making sure that we communicated out on the field,” Coach Kevin Cor-siglia said after the game. He also added, “I thought we did a good job making decisions with the ball. You can’t really prepare for your opponent
at this level because of the changes year to year. What we focus on is being at our best when it’s time to play.”
Fans were able to see a strategy that has earned Corsiglia a winning record since taking over as head coach of the women’s program.
Second-year midfielder Adriana Cortes played a superb game. She got her teammates involved, leading the team with four assists. Her execution throughout the game allowed Skyline to spread the field with a balanced attack. Mendocino’s frustration was evident as some players walked off the field before the scoreboard counted down to zero.
Sophomore team member Jazmin
Garcia described the Trojans’ mo-mentum after the game: “We were able to connect on our passes in the second half, and it helped us keep from tiring out.”
Corsiglia’s emphasis on team-work has led to eight consecutive winning seasons for the women’s soccer program. The Lady Trojans’ next match will be against Mission College at Skyline on Thursday,
SportsSkyline
Upcoming Games9/15 VS Mission College 2 p.m.9/17 VS Feather River College 1 p.m.9/20 VS Cañada College (DH) 1 p.m.9/23 @ Las Positas College (DH) 1:30 p.m.
Women’s Soccer9/15 @ Foothill College 1 p.m.9/17 VS Feather River College 11 a.m. (DH)9/20 VS Modesto Junior College 3 p.m. (DH)
Men’s Soccer
Skyline players show their frustraion as they fight an uphill battle the majority of the match.
Wrestling Volleyball9/17 Sac City Tournament 9 a.m.9/26 VS San Jose State 7 p.m.10/8 Modesto Tournament 9 a.m.10/12 VS Chabot 7 p.m.
9/21 VS College of Alameda 5 p.m.9/24-25 San Jose Tournament 6:30 p.m.9/28 VS Foothill College 6:30 p.m.9/30 VS Ohlone College 6:30 p.m.
Trojans: 1, Mustangs: 5
The Skyline College Men’s Soccer Team faced off against the San Joaquin Delta Mustangs on Tuesday, Sept. 13 in their second game of the season. The game took place at Skyline from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. At the end of the game, the scoreboard, barely visible through the accumulating fog, read “Home: 1, Visitor: 5.”
Despite the tension on the field, there was a prominent and palpable feel of community and camaraderie in the stands as they filled up with friends, family and fel-low athletes who came to show their support for the Trojans. Although the fog made for a chilly atmosphere as it blew across the field, the com-munity in the stands kept each other warm with bellowing and cheering. There was definitely a sense that people were invested in the success of the team and that the game itself was a place not only to support the team, but to catch up with friends and sit back and enjoy a soccer game.
The game itself had a slow pace, especially after the first half, during which the score was tied one to one. The Trojans made the first goal about ten minutes into the game and did not score after that.
“We lost our head in the first half (of the game), and once you lose your head, it’s hard to get it back,” goalie Luis Depaz said. Many
spectators hollered encouragement as well as critique to the players from the stands. They had their own commentary to add and spoke freely, especially around the second half of the game. Depaz, despite his best efforts, was unable to stop Delta’s offense.
“There was no communication. There were lots of gaps between the midfielders and defenders,” said Andres Polomo, a former Skyline soccer player.
“The right side was too weak,” added a spectator named Julio.
One spectator named Rodrigo, who preferred not to state his last name, even had things to say about the role of the goalie specifically, saying, “The goalie did not talk to the rest of the team.”
by Nina Smirnov
The Trojans won the alumni wrestling match 34-33 for the first time on Friday, Sept. 9th at 7 p.m. in the Skyline gymnasium.
Although highly competitive, the match serves primarily as a pre-sea-son warm-up for the current Skyline wrestling team. It also provides an opportunity for former Skyline wres-tlers to re-connect with the team.
Some of Skyline’s new wrestlers, such as Veronica Uy, described the experience as being especially helpful.
“I had a lot of fun,” said Uy, the only female wrestler in the event. “It was the first time I wrestled a guy in a college match.”
The alumni competing in the event came from various back-grounds, but all were eager to participate because of the positive impact the wrestling program had
on their lives. Brian Kelleher, who transferred to UC Davis this semes-ter, was compelled to attend both out of familial support and out of dedication to the program.
“My brother is wrestling, so I wanted to get in on the mat,” Kelle-her said, who also cites wrestling as having influenced him as the person he is today. “I’m majoring in bio-chemistry, trying to do research for good causes. Wrestling has moti-vated me in life.”
With the season officially be-ginning on Saturday, Sept. 17, at Sacramento City College, Skyline wrestling looks to be competitive for dual meets, says Coach James Had-don. However, Haddon is weary of pitfalls that may arise as the season progresses, such as injuries.
“Things change quickly,” Had-don said. “It’s hard to say how we’re going to progress.”
When asked about the game, Head Coach Daniel Link had little to say except, “We have things to work on, and we’re a long way away.” The team’s new roster has 21 freshmen out of 25 players. This is a mostly new team that has just begun to play with one another. However, this does not seem to be the cause for the team’s loss, as they did win their first game against Shasta Col-lege on Tuesday, Sept. 6; they beat the Knights 4-2.
Today’s game wasn’t as successful, but the team hopes to work on its issues in the future. The players acknowledged their mistakes and were understandably disappointed with their loss.
“We weren’t communicat-ing that much,” Depaz said. “It just wasn’t our day.”
JONATHAN CHAN/THE SKYLINE VIEW
Men’s soccer team hopes to resolve communication issues
by Matt Pacelli
First time in Skyline history
Skyline dominates Mendocino 7-0by Richard Estrada
“What we focus on is being at our best when it’s time to play.” —Coach Corsiglia
LadyTrojans jump ahead early, shut out the Eagles at home!
JONATHAN CHAN/THE SKYLINE VIEW
The Trojans controlled the pace of the game throughout the match.
Trojans beat Alumni
MATT PACELLI/SKYLINE VIEW
Two wrestlers compete in a brutal match.
