Venture 2010

Venture Venture

A Mt. Hood Community College Student Publication Spring 2010

Editor's Note Editor's Note 2010 Venture Staff: Editor: Sanne Godfrey Photo editor: Brett Stanley Staff: Jen Ashenberner Devin Courtright Chealsey Fischer Jon Fuccillo Jake Fray L. John King Ron J. Rambo Jr. M. Michael Rose Jordan Tichenor Chelsea Van Baalen Advisers: Dan Ernst Bob Watkins

Venture is a student publication produced in the journalism area at Mt. Hood Community College.The articles and art in this publication are the property of Venture and do not necessarily reflect the views and/ or policies of Mt. Hood Community College. None of these materials may be reproduced or reprinted without written permission fromVenture.

Mt. Hood Community College 26000 SE Stark St. Gresham, Oregon

Change. It’s something we often don’t realize until we remind ourselves of how things used to be.

This issue of Venture magazine presents several stories focusing on changes in the lives of MHCC students and members of the community.

In January, Haiti was struck by a magnitude 7.0 earthquake and for the Haitian students at Mt. Hood Community College, it became a reality that they would not return to the same home they left behind.

Changes don’t only happen in far away places. Changes happen within our daily lives, such as the changes in technology over the past decade. It has changed the way people do research, it has changed the way classes are taught and how libraries are structured.

MHCC instructors Doug McCarty and Rick Zimmer are retiring and leaving behind a legacy of planetarium shows and theater performances.

The athletic programs go through changes every season when they start recruiting athletes that would best fit into the programs.

Meanwhile, conspiracy theories have changed people’s beliefs and ideas, as well as the way we see the world around us.

In the past few weeks, while Venture was being created, Associated Student Government President Bradley Best was asked to resign by the Senate. This experience has undoubtedly changed not only Best and ASG, but it changed Venture as well.

Venture magazine is a publication of photography, design and feature stories produced by MHCC students in the journalism program. Special thanks go to the advisers Bob Watkins and Dan Ernst who put in more time than we could’ve ever asked for and who start sentences with “I don’t want to tell you what to do, but if it were up to me . . . ”

Sanne Godfrey

Venture Venture

A Mt. Hood Community College Student Publication • Spring 2010

Photo by Miguel Samper

6

Returning to a different Haiti

Story by Jen Ashenberner

Haitian CASS students prepare emotionally to return home after a 7.0 magnitude earthquake destroyed the country they left behind.

Photo by Brett Stanley

12

We create together

2 16 20 28

An ever-changing resource Story by Sanne Godfrey

The Internet and modern technology have made libraries more competitive.

Among the stars

Story by Sanne Godfrey, Chelsea Van Baalen and M. Michael Rose

MHCC is home to one of five planetariums in Oregon.

Reflections on a temultuous year

Story by Devin Courtright

A year in review by ASG President Bradley Best.

Beyond top secret Story by Ron J. Rambo, Jr.

History instructor and student share common interest ‘conspiracy theories.’

Story by Chelsea Van Baalen

Rick Zimmer’s top five list of theater productions during his 11-year career at MHCC.

32

A parting shot

Photo by Brett Stanley

Jazz Band solo performance by Mitchell Saint Germain

COVER --

Photo by Brett Stanley Photo by Jon Fuccillo

24

You gotta earn it Story by Jake Fray

Coaches have to decide on more than just a recruit's talent level, which starts with character.

The fountain in the front entrance at MHCC caught at night providing a glimpse of light on campus.

BACK COVER -Photo by L. John King

Two ducks create a home in the NW in MHCC's back yard.

An ever-changing

g resource Story by Sanne Godfrey Photos by Brett Stanley

W

alking into the MHCC library today, the first thing you’ll see is desks filled with computers and a group study area with students focused on interactive study.

Ten years ago, the first thing you saw would have been card catalog files, large oak cabinets filled with little paper cards, and students in quiet, solitary work. The library was much quieter and there were not nearly as many computers.

Librarian Teresa Hazen said there has been a shift in instruction and study habits in the MHCC library, and in libraries in general, which means students now study more in groups and the library is more conducive to collaborative learning.

The way the library looks now reflects the way people conduct their research. The Internet has drastically changed the way libraries, and therefore librarians, work.

Photo by Brett Stanley

The MHCC library now offers dozens of computers and laptops to aid students in research and studying for their courses.

“Technology is changing fast and it’s harder to keep up. We (librarians) have to make an effort to be more current,” said Hazen. “We’ve had to adjust to the avalanche of information.”

Hazen said the library is a space to provide electronic information, but also a human connection.

People who come into the library have different expectations than they had 10 years ago. They expect the answers to be instantaneous, Hazen said.

Ten years ago the library had less than half the databases and half the budget in has now, and databases were not available off campus, according to Hazen. She said online databases now

information that is the Internet.

MHCC librarian Anna Johnson said, “I graduated from college in 2000, so I spent a lot of time that year in the Swem Library at the College of William & Mary in Virginia.

“We had Internet librarian access in our dorm rooms by then, but to do any sort of online research you had to go to the library because, in those early days of online databases, searching was only available from the computers inside the library.

“It wasn’t like today when you access library resources from anywhere,” she said. “I tell students all the time how lucky they are that they can do library research anytime, anywhere, from any computer with a web connection.”

“I tell students all the time how lucky they are that they can do library research anytime, anywhere, from any computer with a web connection.”

Anna Johnson MHCC

give access to 32,500 full-text files, in contrast to 250 print titles available in the library.

“We have over 90 databases and we probably had 20 (databases) 10 years ago,” said Hazen.

Hazen said in the past people were more reliant on books and often had to travel to other libraries to complete their research; students are now more reliant on electronics and the wealth of

Public libraries are becoming more and more a place where people perform their research and librarians no longer “just” know the Dewey Decimal System.

They teach how to utilize the Web and how to take advantage of the latest technology for research.

Lynne Palombo, the news researcher for The Oregonian, said, “Most of the expensive, non-intuitive, databases have been replaced with Web-based and more user-friendly interfaces. The pricing has changed, too. We are now able to offer many of those databases to our users. I am no longer the gatekeeper but more of an adviser. My research is now either project-based or for large, breaking stories.”

The MHCC library has been offering research-themed student success seminars every quarter since fall 2007.

Johnson said, “We decided to offer web-searching and research seminars to help students whose instructors don’t schedule library instruction sessions.

As most students know, MHCC has a robust library instruction program where instructors invite librarians into

their classes to teach subject-specific research skills.

“MHCC librarians work with thousands of students every year in these library instruction sessions, in courses across the whole curriculum,” she said. “Some colleges offer lots of drop-in research classes, but the MHCC librarians prefer to work with students inside their courses, because we believe that research instruction is much more meaningful when it’s tied to specific assignments.”

Although the MHCC library budget has been flat for four year, the price of databases has increased by about 7 percent, which means a steady budget is similar to a diminished budget and librarians “end up doing more with less,” Hazen said.

She said that in the last 10 years there has been an increase in competition in research and libraries had to reposition themselves in the market and become competitive.

Regardless of the changing nature of libraries, research and study habits, Hazen said, “Serving students is still the

library’s core mission.”

With the increase of information that can be found in online databases, libraries have been acquiring more laptops in the last five years.

The MHCC library bought laptops at the end of the 2004-2005 school year and Diane Schmitt, public service manager at the MHCC library, said the laptops were checked out 9,976 times in the 2005-2006 year.

Between July 2009 and April 2010, the library checked out 41,957 two-hour reserves.

“The number one service of the front desk office is laptops,” said Schmitt.

One of the ways the library ensures students will want to be there is by being open to student input through student forums and a suggestion board that’s placed inside the library.

“If it’s within reason, we do it,” said Schmitt about suggestions made on the research board.

“The library is used for getting the information you need,” she said, “but is also a place, a hub of activity, where you just want to be.”

Photo by Brett Stanley

The MHCC library has included more areas for groups of students to study, in the addition to quiet-study areas in the back of the library.

Contributed photo by Miguel Samper/Mercy Corps.

Story by

Jen Ashenberner They all have families in Haiti who have been affected by the unimaginable

destruction

of

the

January earthquake. They have lost loved ones to crumbling buildings.

They are all scared to go home. Three MHCC students will graduate in June from the CASS program and return to a Haiti completely different from the one they left behind.

Photo by Brett Stanley

Fort Jacques, Haiti Approximately eight miles from Port-au-Prince

Photo by Brett Stanley

nock Elisme’s father was lucky he had forgotten an important contract at home on Jan. 12 when heading to work in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

Being a dependable worker, he returned home to retrieve the contract. While there, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake devastated Port-au-Prince and its surrounding cities. The quake inflicted so much damage that some people can’t ever see the possibility of recovery for Haiti. The destruction stretched for miles and miles.

Elisme’s father was uninjured and there was minimal damage to his house. In contrast, thousands of Haitians saw their homes destroyed beyond repair and have since been living in tents. Elisme’ father was lucky. If he had proceeded to work that day, he more than likely would have been crushed under the crumbled remains of his building, like his coworker who wasn’t so lucky. His co-worker was one of nearly 300,000 who were killed in the natural disaster,

some still buried under mutilated buildings.

Before coming to study at MHCC, Enock Elisme lived in Fort Jacques, a city that depended on the land for food and creeks for drinking water and the now-destroyed Port-au-Prince for school and work.

“There were a lot of businesses and schools,” said Elisme. “It was always busy with people on the street trying to make a living.”

Fort Jacques is a residential area that is mostly agricultural land about eight miles outside the capital. One important reasons why Elisme chose to apply for the CASS scholarship was so he could learn skills to help farmers better reap the rewards of their land.

“They didn’t know they had to give the land a break between crops,” he said. “I didn’t know that. Now I know that. I learned that from my natural resources classes. I want to go back there and teach the farmers that so they can get even more product from their land.

“The problem was they were harvesting and the soil was not giving a lot of productivity so after a while they thought they were wasting their time,” said Elisme. “They didn’t have anyone to tell them that if they harvest this year, they need to give the land a break next year.”

As a result, Elisme said that poor Haitians were selling their land to rich Haitians who were developing the land into an urban area. The reduction in farmland has since created the issues with hunger.

“We used to have rich vegetable stock,” he said. “We didn’t have any situation like hunger and people dying because of hunger. But now we do.”

While in Oregon, Elisme has had opportunities to learn skills he may otherwise not had the chance to learn.

“I had a watershed class and I’ve learned a lot about how to protect the creeks and spring water,” Elisme said.

His cousin was in school working on his final project in Port-au-Prince on the day of the earthquake, said Elisme.

The building collapsed and there has been no word from him since. Elisme

and his family fear he is dead and still under the rubble.

The contact Elisme has had with his family has built a picture of what Portau-Prince and the surrounding area has become since the earthquake. Schools are closed and the communities are unsure how to get students back to studying. Problems with hunger have grown substantially. The prison collapsed in Port-au-Prince, leaving dangerous criminals to roam free to raid homes.

Elisme said he is scared to go home.

“I’m really worried about the fact that I’m going home right now.”

However, despite the fear of returning to Haiti, Elisme will go home to proceed with his goal of establishing a school or learning center for families.

“I know how to help them,” said Elisme. “I know what to do exactly.

Something I really want to do when I return to Haiti is teach young people, like families. I want to teach them ‘Okay if you have this piece of land, this is the way you should practice agriculture. This is the way you should use the land.’ I’m looking forward to doing something like that.”

What is CASS? The mission of Cooperative Association of States Scholarships (CASS) is to find people who show dedication and commitment to serving their economically disadvantaged communities but may not otherwise have the opportunity to do so, said CASS program director Nikki Gillis.

“We look for the people who haven’t had it easy, but did it anyway,” Gillis said. “It’s usually the son of the farm owner who thinks he has to sell the farm.”

Potential students, who are evaluated by a panel, may not be the ones with the best grades but they have the interest in returning and helping in their community, according to Gillis.

Les Cayes, Haiti Approximately 122 miles, six hours from Port-au-Prince lthough Les Cayes is further from Port-au-Prince than Fort Jacques and suffered minimal physical damage, Enatilova Ferjuste said the people in her community were affected nonetheless.

She remembers the day of the earthquake and the feelings of shock and fear when she saw the posts on the Internet.

“I went to the Haitian website and saw all of those terrible pictures,” she said. “I was really worried.”

“My family is small,” she said.

Ferjuste left two younger brothers and her mother at home when she was given the opportunity to come to Oregon to study natural resources in 2008.

She also left an aunt and a cousin who lived in Port-au-Prince. “After the earthquake we tried to call our families for four or five days,” said Ferjuste.

“On the fifth day we got the chance to talk to them. My mom didn’t want to tell me my cousin and aunt died.”

Ferjuste said her mother and brothers were never in any danger but the loss of her aunt and cousin is a harsh reminder of the devastation the earthquake caused.

Taking up an internship with the American Red Cross, Ferjuste said her priorities have changed regarding what skills she wants learn and bring back to Haiti.

The internship will give her basic first aid and CPR skills so she can be of greater use to an organization at home.

Ferjuste said, “I wasn’t really interested in working with the Red Cross but after the earthquake, I realized it would be a good thing to have those skills.”

Even though she will be returning to a family she loves, Ferjuste said it would be difficult to return to Haiti because of not knowing what she will be returning to.

“I will be really glad to see my family,” she said. “At the same time, the country I will go back to is completely different.”

Her main concern is the opportunity for jobs that she had prior to the quake may not exist anymore. Port-au-Prince was the center of Haiti’s economy. It was home for a majority of the big businesses and since the destruction those businesses are no more. This is creating a trickle-down effect for the surrounding cities as those residents usually come to Port-au-Prince for work.

Gillis said the CASS program will be sending the 2010 Haitian graduates to Washington, D.C., before they return to Haiti for an informational conference. She said they are doing this so the students can ask questions of Haitian representatives about what they will be returning to in Haiti.

“They will be able to discuss their fears and the representatives will make clear what is rumor and what is truth,” said Gillis.

At the conference they will also connect with organizations and support networks that are stationed in Haiti. “We want them to have a sense of purpose when they return home,” Gillis said.

Photo by Brett Stanley

CASS Alumni Update

CASS graduate and native Haitian Carmelle Bozor’s family has been living outside their home under a make shift “tent” since the January earthquake.

The yard is just big enough to hold a “tent” and there is barely enough room for Bozor, her grandmother, her sisters, and her brother to sleep, according to Nikki Gillis, CASS program director at MHCC. “The tents that homeless Haitians are living in aren’t the kind of tents that we would go camping in,” said Gillis. “They consist of a piece of plastic here, a piece of metal there, or newspaper. Anything they can use to just put it together.”

Bozor is working with an organization called Global Orphan, which is devoted to providing “care for orphaned and abandoned children living in extreme poverty,” according to its website.

Gillis said, “She is helping coordinate an orphanage and translating for international aid workers.” The orphanage is located in Croix des Bouquets, approximately eight miles north of Port-au-Prince, and is now home to Haitians displaced by the earthquake.

Bozor was unavailable for comment due to limited email and phone access but Gillis is hopeful that she and her family are safe and Bozor is continuing her work with the organization.

For more information about Global Orphan or to make a donation, go to www. globalorphanproject.org.

CASS Alumni Update

Jermie, Haiti Approximately 165 miles, five hours south of Port-au-Prince ose Lukinsa Laguerre has been protected by her family from the vivid details of what’s been happening in Jermie since the earthquake. The positive feedback from her mother and father only reinforce her belief that they don’t want to worry her with her being so far away and unable to do anything.

“Every time I talk to them, I get the impression that they are somewhere else,” Laguerre said. “I live in Haiti but they live someplace else so they aren’t in the same situation.”

One piece of negative news her family did tell Laguerre was that she had lost her cousin in the earthquake — and that news just hasn’t sunk in for her yet. “It’s hard to accept it being so far away,” she said. “I think when I get back there it will be easier to accept because I don’t see the fact that they died for real.”

For the first week after the earthquake, Laguerre was overwhelmed with guilt because she wasn’t at home with her family and friends during the traumatic event.

At this point, Laguerre isn’t really sure what she will be returning home to but knows it will be different and even more difficult than before the earthquake.

“I wanted to go and support my family,” said Laguerre. “If crying with them would help, I would do it a thousand times.”

The temptation to believe everything she hears around her is tempered by her belief that bad news sells and if there hadn’t been a devastating earthquake in Haiti, her country wouldn’t have ever been in the news.

“The problem with the news around here is when people turn on the TV and they are saying something about Haiti, they show all the bad

stuff,” said Laguerre. “I have never heard, and not necessarily just about Haiti, but you never turn on your TV and hear, ‘Oh, there was a good thing happening in Haiti.’ You should go and visit that place. It’s so beautiful, like paradise.”

Photo by Brett Stanley

Jermie is an isolated town on the southeast coast of Haiti and, to Laguerre, it was paradise.

“It was wonderful there. The trees — you know, people talk about the deforestation problem that we have back there but it was beautiful. My town was beautiful. It was a nice place to live, sunshine every day,” she said.

Her plan is to return to Jermie and create an organization or a business concentrating on restoration projects.

“I’m starting to have new ideas of what I want to do and what I can implement there,” said Laguerre. “I’m thinking big.”

Jean Magnus Regis graduated from CASS in 2008 and returned to his home in Haiti. He is living in a two-room apartment in North Haiti. It is equipped with running water supplied by a well run by an organization called Gift of Water. He uses solar panels or a generator to run electricity and a scooter to travel to work sites.

The earthquake has been an opportunity to build a new Haiti.

Regis said in a May 13 email.

“After Jan. 12, I said to myself that the ‘new’ Haiti is now or never.

“I am working as the codirector of a U.S. foundation called iF Foundation (Iovino Family Foundation),” said Regis.

“We are basically doing economic development by providing interest-free loans to groups or associations to start or expand a small business.”

In addition to his work with iF Foundation, Regis said he spends his weekends talking to youth about natural resources.

“We are working on building a community library with Internet access,” he said. “The goal is to have good education (available) and people will stay in the community, not leave for the city looking for a good school.

“My experience with CASS has shown me how to use my free time for a good cause,” Regis said. “I am grateful for that.”

For more information about if Foundation or to make a donation, go to www.iffoundation.org.

Contributed photo by Miguel Samper/Mercy Corps.

The Solon Menos camp, in Pétionville, Haiti, is just one of the locations where Mercy Corps is providing clean water, proper latrines and a drainage plan to prevent flooding from heavy seasonal rains.

Mercy Corps: hrough the eyes of an outsider on their first visit to Port-au-Prince, Haiti, the scale of destruction made by the January earthquake is unimaginable.

“There are streets that look like deep rivers of rubble,” said Lisa Hoashi, public information officer with Portlandbased Mercy Corps, in mid-May. “There are buildings whose floors are stacked one atop the other like a sandwich.”

Since the quake rocked the already impoverished country, Mercy Corps has worked to provide clean water and latrines to Port-au-Prince camps, which Hoashi said are “two needs that continue to be a priority for survivors.”

The economy was devastated by the earthquake and through “cash for work” opportunities provided by Mercy Corps, displaced Haitians living in camps are able to help rebuild their community and earn an income.

“We go into the camps to learn what kind of work projects will improve the camp condition,” Hoashi said from the Haitian capital by e-mail. “For example, digging drainage canals so that heavy rain doesn’t flood the tents.

“Once we’ve identified a work project, we then pay one member from each family in the camp to do work on the project. They receive this income for 20 days, which allows them to provide for their family’s basic needs for food and other household needs. Their spending, in turn, provides

business to local vendors getting back on their feet,” she said.

Haitians are facing a long road of recovery economically and emotionally. Getting ahead of the destruction is getting more difficult with the onset of the rainy season. Hoashi said the rain started May 1 and it has rained everyday, creating problems with flooding.

“Standing water can lead to the spread of disease,” she said. “We are working hard to help dig drainage ditches in camps and to build structures there like gabions, which are retaining walls that are used to prevent erosion or protect areas from flooding.”

Hoashi described the people of Haiti as “strikingly resilient and determined. They want opportunities to create better lives for their families and a brighter future for their country,” she said.

As of mid-May, about one million Haitians remain homeless. Hoashi, said Mercy Corps is committed to remaining in the country to help Haiti rebuild. “We want our impact to be lasting and sustainable so that Haiti can one day provide for itself,” she said.

People can find out more about Mercy Corps and its relief efforts in Haiti at www. mercycorps.org/Haiti. A donation of $75 can help pay a Haitian resident for two weeks of recovery work.

'We create together' Story by Chelsea Van Baalen

Photo by Brett Stanley

KIng Lear sits upon the stage dressed as a crow during the winter 2010 production of "King Lear."

Theater Department Director Rick Zimmer counts down his top five favorite productions at Mt. Hood Community College

A s Rick Zimmer gets set to retire after 11 years

at Mt. Hood Community College, the theater arts director finds that his five favorite productions have one thing in common: “It always comes down to the cast.”

Sometimes they would get it before I got it — and that’s really, really cool.”

And this, Zimmer said, changes his job from just being a director to being an encourager.

“We create together, collaborate as a team.”

5

With “Measure for Measure,” his first production in winter term of 1999 and number five on his list, Zimmer sought collaboration outside the theater department.

“It was the first experience I had with the collaborative opportunities that were presented on campus,” Zimmer said.

This included: contacting the Graphic Design Program to create posters, which they’ve done for each college theater production since; working with Professional Photography for headshots; and even connecting with the English Department to discuss the play.

“Everybody on campus was willing to let us into their classrooms or provide their students to support the production,” Zimmer said. “I’ve always believed theater can’t exist in isolation.”

Zimmer said Shakespeare’s “Measure for Measure” was more than just a small challenge. “It’s known as one of his problem plays,” Zimmer said. “It doesn’t fit neatly into one of the three categories Shakespeare is typically divided in – tragedy, comedy, history.”

The play is a work of fiction first performed in 1604, and centers around the protagonist Isabella, a girl hoping to become a nun. After her brother impregnates a girl out of wedlock, he is sentenced to death by a judge, Angelo. In order to save her brother’s life, Angelo tells Isabella she must surrender her virtue to him.

Zimmer said that coming into the job as director, he “had no idea what the talent would be like.” However, he found that “my young actors were eager and enthusiastic.”

Anna Heinze was a first-year student when she was cast as

4

File photo by Achim Warth

Issac Jones and Alison Lamb portray characters Tristano and Isabella in the winter term 2002 production "A Company of Wayward Saints."

File photo by Jack Gratton

From left, Escalus (Bill Grandey) tries to stop Elbow (Jeremy Wheeler) from attacking Pompey (Brad Coppola) during a performance of "Measure for Measure" in winter 1999.

Mistress Overdone. “She’s a very strong character, a very loud character, the madame of the whorehouse. I think it’s the only female comic in the play,” Heinze said. “It (the play) was like a beginning for me. I think with the closeness of the cast and crew, it made it really worthwhile.”

Zimmer said, “One of the things I’m really proud of is watching a new actor come in without much self-confidence and convincing this actor he or she has what it takes.”

With Zimmer’s fourth favorite play, “A Company of Wayward Saints,” performed in winter term of 2002, comfort level on the part of the actors was a key factor.

Zimmer said, “The actors that we cast each had to have some amount of improvisation skills, a comfort level working with speaking directly to the audience, and creating snippets of stories that contribute to the overall feel and theme of the play.”

Technical director Daryl Harrison-Carson said the cast made a great ensemble and “the set was fun to manipulate because it folded out of itself into a jungle gym structure.”

This was also the first time the department put on a production using theater-in-the-round, a technique where the audience surrounds the stage.

The premise of the play

involves a company of actors discovering they have a potential benefactor in the audience and must perform several stories that all relate to the meaning of life in order to secure his support.

“They do everything from Adam and Eve to the birth of a newborn baby,” Zimmer said. “They each have an interpretation of what that means and then they act out that story.”

While the play is primarily a comedy, Zimmer said it is not without its serious moments.

“There were elements of drama, not tragedy but serious moments, very poignant moments in the play, very touching, and there was some tear-shedding,” he said. When the cast is able to connect with the audience and draw emotion, Zimmer said, “That’s the biggest reward. I can go home feeling blessed to have this job when that happens.”

3

With “Little Shop of Horrors” from winter 2005 — Zimmer’s third favorite play at MHCC — he said the cast again captured “the real feeling and essence of the play.”

“Their interpretation of the songs was outstanding. It was an incredible, talent-packed cast,” Zimmer said.

Harrison-Carson said the musical was “a lot of fun and it was a great production.”

The musical, based on a 1960 film of the same name, follows the story of Seymour, a worker in a florist shop who discovers a plant that feeds on human blood.

Zimmer said many elements came together to make the production stand out, including costume designer Sumi Wu’s creation of the plant monster, Audrey II, and Jeff Seats’ scenic design.

Contributed photo “All of the elements have to come together, and Zac Ellis, who portrayed Seymour in the winter 2005 musical "Little Shop of Horrors," this is one of those where they all did, which is a holds the plant monster Audrey II, designed by costumer Sumi Wu. common thread through my top five,” Zimmer said.

2

Zimmer’s second favorite production, “Jesus Christ Superstar,” performed in spring 2002, is another production where the elements came together, said Harrison-Carson.

“Huge student involvement, high production values, the band totally rocked — and it was sold out from beginning to end, so we really connected with the community,” she recalled.

Zimmer said, “We had an actor playing Jesus who was an incredibly strong singer. He was amazing. There were a couple of times the audience almost gave him a standing ovation after

a song — not after the play, after the song.”

One reason the community was so affected is because “Jesus Christ Superstar” is rarely performed, according to Zimmer.

Zimmer said people came from more than 60 miles away to see the musical. “This play drew people from areas we typically don’t draw from,” he said.

“The audience is part of the experience. The energy flows in both directions.

"We had an actor playing Jesus who was an incredibly strong singer... There were a couple of times the audience almost gave him a standing ovation after a song..."

Rick Zimmer on 'Jesus Christ Superstar' File photo by Achim Warth

Zac Wilson portrays Jesus in the spring 2002 production of "Jesus Christ Superstar."

Photo by Devin Courtright

Rick Zimmer, who has directed plays at MHCC for 11 years, will retire after this academic year.

1

Photo by Brett Stanley

Edmund (Jeffrey Gilpin), fights with Oswald (Gabriel Mikalson) during the winter 2010 production of "King Lear."

A high level of energy was also present in Zimmer’s favorite production, “King Lear,” this past winter quarter.

Zimmer took a sabbatical in fall 2009 and “saw as many King Lears as I could in a very short period of time,” he said.

“It started to form in my mind what King Lear is, and what King Lear isn’t, to me.

“As I zeroed in on that concept, I started to invite conversations with the scenic designer (Kathleen Powers) and we fed off each other’s energy, creativity. It was at that point I realized this was going to be something special.”

The next step for Zimmer was to invite guest actors for the production, including Sam Mowry in the role of King Lear,

“King Lear” wasn’t the first time guests or more experienced actors had been brought into a production.

“I think each of these productions provided the opportunity for younger, inexperienced actors to learn from the experienced,” Zimmer said. “They set the bar and helped the new students understand the expectations people have for them.

“The whole thing — going back to ensemble when things click as

Tom Beckett as the Earl of Kent, Michael Streeter as the Earl of Gloucester and Peter Arnetta as The Fool. “They all said yes, they were excited, they bought into it. That’s where it just confirmed I was going in the right direction,” Zimmer said of the guest actors. “This was going to be quite a ride.”

Mowry said he signed on because “Lear is such a great role; if asked, you must serve. I had seen the Portland Actor’s Ensemble production the summer before and the play was a hot topic of discussion for my family. It is one of the iconic roles of all theater and it was an honor to be asked. I have always enjoyed working with young actors and that aspect of doing it at MHCC was another draw.”

a group —really starts to take off.

There’s so much more a group can create collectively than with each individual working separately.”

That collective effort and interaction, Zimmer said, is the magic of theater.

“It boils down to human beings talking to other human beings, interacting, people-to-people relationships, as characters and as actors and as people.”

"There's so much more a group can create collectively than with each individual working separately."

Rick Zimmer, Theater department director

The star projector is the central piece in the Mt. Hood Community College planetarium. The display given by the star projector is a replication of the night sky.

Doug McCarty gives shows, such as a look at black holes or images from the Hubble telescope, in the planetarium during the academic year using the star projector.

Doug McCarty, planetarium director

he lights dim in the planetarium and a “wow” can be heard from the children that came to see a planetarium showing.

For more than 30 years, the planetarium has served as a teaching tool to educate MHCC students but also to introduce area K-12 students to the wonder of the sky.

“It’s one of only five planetariums in the state,” said planetarium director Doug McCarty. “There are very few colleges in the world that have a planetarium and a permanent solar observatory.”

In a subterranean room that seats up to 70 people, an image of the night sky is projected onto a 31-foot diameter steel dome that is, despite appearances, suspended from the underside of the library floor above the classroom by a series of steel cables.

The central piece of technology within the planetarium, the star projector, projects an exact replica of night sky using a complex projection system.

The star projector is a hollow ball with about 1,500 holes and a bright light inside that makes the stars and planets appear.

Aside from planetarium shows, McCarty also uses the star projector to illustrate topics discussed in class.

When it comes to teaching at colleges without a star projector or even a planetarium, McCarty said, “I almost feel naked. It’s a strange feeling not to have the star projector to supplement my lectures.”

Homeschool student Novalee Johnstone said, “I like how the stars are on the ceiling” after watching one of McCarty’s presentation in the planetarium.

McCarty said most of his students are astronomy majors or plan on taking astronomy regularly. However, some will just have a general interest.

“What I’ve found is that most people are interested in astronomy on some level, even if it’s just looking at the sky,” said McCarty. “I think that’s what college is about. It teaches you that you can learn anything you want.”

MHCC student Markus Gilham said astronomy “gives you a sense that you can actually feel open and free to do new things.”

Having come to the MHCC planetarium for the first time in the fifth grade, Gilham described the experience of the star projector: “It was the first time I had ever seen a machine that projects the night’s sky over your head. I thought it looked like an attack robot.”

After taking a course in astronomy, McCarty finds the effects can be long lasting.

“A girl who took my class when she was 15 — it was her first college class —received her masters degree in Holland (in astronomy),” McCarty said.

He said the student was also looking to get her Ph.D in Australia.

McCarty said some students who aren’t interested in astronomy as a career sometimes continue their involvement on an amateur level.

McCarty started out as an amateur and said seeing images in books he read as a boy interested him. This is something he uses to interest students today.

“I’m using a lot of Hubble (Telescope) images as well as images from other space telescopes. I think that’s perhaps the most effective way to engage people in astronomy,” McCarty said. “I think the visual component is essential. It’s a big part of exciting people about the subject. These images are remarkable.”

McCarty said he can use the star projector as a time machine because he can see the constellations from years ago and for years to come in almost the exact same location where they would appear in the actual night sky.

MHCC student Abbie Goodyear said, “I have been able to go out and identify constellations based on what (McCarty) shows us here.”

During his classes and presentations, McCarty uses an array of features to help tailor the learning experience to fit his students’ needs.

“It’s not just a canned show. It’s me, live, with this star projector,” said McCarty.

The planetarium's star projector also displays the outlines of the constellations in the night sky.

Photo by Devin Courtright

Reflections on a tumultuous year As the school year comes to a close, ASG President Bradley Best looks at the challenges and benefits of the past year

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eflecting on the 2009-2010 school year, Bradley Best said serving as Associated Student Government president may have been challenging but was a learning experience as well.

“It has restructured my thinking process, how I am viewed, how I should be working with individuals, what works and what doesn’t work, and how to handle intense stressful situations,” Best said.

One situation that caused Best sleepless nights, he said, was in December when complaints were presented to the ASG Senate to reprimand him for violations of conduct and other unprofessional behavior toward students in ASG. The end result was a March resolution from the Senate that Best “maintain posted office hours and be available to staff, colleagues, and students, make a personal commitment to refine his leadership and communication style, (and) successfully pass the mastery test of ‘preventing sexual harassment’ training program.”

The Senate in April approved a resolution asking for Best to resign. He refused, saying there was still work to do and goals to accomplish.

“I try to not think about it all. But late at night when you’re laying in bed and you can’t sleep and all you’re thinking about is how did things get started, how did I end up getting to this point, who is in on the mix, and who helped, you think about it,” Best said.

Story by Devin Courtright “If the situation was very critical and very demeaning and demoralizing, we do have a process of conflict resolution; sitting down and going through the steps of actually analyzing, ‘Is this sexual harassment or not,’ these steps were never taken. There should have been more conversations with individuals and they never surfaced whatsoever, ” he said.

“The only thing that I know is I wake and I’m told that this is going to go in front of the Senate and that’s all I knew. This was all coordinated, in my personal opinion, I really do and I think I have some supporting ideas behind it.

Heather Nichelle-Peres, president of Queer Straight Alliance and a major force behind the Best reprimand, said she thought overall he has done “horribly, unfortunately.”

“I feel like he had a rough start because I don’t think he was properly prepared for the position to begin with but I know he wanted to give it his best effort,” Nichelle-Peres said.

Best said, “You’re never going to have all the answers. You’re not going to know everything. Your going to get in this mix and you’re just going to do the best you can and I thought that (the sexual harassment complaint) was really disheartening,” said Best. “This was my first term, for God’s sakes. If it was my second term and you see a consistent pattern, then yeah, certainly, let’s get through this and talk about it.

“I do acknowledge that I certainly had some fault in some of this. You can’t control everything in life. It’s

what you can control and let the rest happen for itself.”

When he began his term as president in the summer, Best said it was all about establishing “friendship, relationships, getting to know people” in ASG, as well as “understanding the leadership role in the nuts and bolts of the college.” However, he said right away he found it a challenge to work with members in ASG that opposed his goals and vision for the upcoming school year.

“It was challenging, learning about opposition and people that aren’t always going to agree to agree with what you have (to say and offer as president),” said Best. “People wanted to pull in different directions and (as president) you got to learn how to convince people to see it your way or show them your perspective.”

Meadow McWhorter, academic adviser to Best and the ASG Executive Cabinet, said Best’s term as president was a “learning experience and a growing opportunity for him.”

“I think he has learned how to become more of a team player,” said McWhorter. She also said Best has been “very passionate about OSA (the Oregon Student Association).”

“He really enjoyed learning from presidents from the other colleges and universities,” McWhorter said. “He always brought back good ideas. You can always see when he would return that he would be brimming with these ideas.”

Another challenge for Best was losing his running mate L. John King,

who was elected vice president last spring but needed to step down in the fall for personal reasons. Best had to adapt and learn to work with his new vice president, Bethany Peterman. He said, “Between Bethany and I, there was certainly some opposition” but added that it was all professional and never personal.

“It wasn’t like, ‘I don’t like you, you don’t like me.’ It was more like, “Okay, this is what I would like to do for the year,’ and ‘I don’t agree with that,’ and so we had a difference of opinion,” said Best. “It’s a lot of sharing her perspective, compromise, seeing my perspective, and trying to make a collaborative effort to move forward to new initiatives.”

As he was figuring out how to work in a “cohesive” manner” with Peterman, Best said he has learned a more psychological approach to better understand and deal with people within his executive cabinet and other members in ASG. “That’s what Bethany really helped with in our first two (ASG) retreats, said Best. “She’s our psychology major and she did help me with understanding or bringing in the new perspective of why this person thinks this or how they respond to certain perspectives.”

Another challenge for Best through the year was “always” losing staff members in his executive cabinet and “trying to keep the cabinet together and cohesive as well.”

He said he may be upset if cabinet members have issues with “not doing the office hours, not being accountable, (not) being a part of the group” and have trouble coordinating with their schedules, but he has learned to get past those issues and accept his staff’s input and value their involvement in ASG. “You learn right away to find solutions to problems that arise very quickly,” Best said. “So always thinking on your feet and working with others who give you good input (is important), because you may be president but you’re not going to always have the right answer. You’re

Photo by L. John King

ASMHCC Senator Holly Wilburn and ASG President Bradley Best award raffle prizes at the fall term New Student Orientation.

not going to have it.”

Dee Hawes Sr., director of the Student Organizations and Clubs, said Best has overall “done a good job” as ASG president but thinks his personality and communication style has been a challenge for him as president.

“Bradley has had a tough time with it (the position as president),” said Hawes. “In some respects I feel for the guy, and other times I wonder ‘Dude, what are you doing?’ As far as outside the job, I think his personality has got him mostly in trouble and how he interacted with other people.”

Hawes said he’s asked Best “What

have you learned from it (being president)?” and said, “He doesn’t seem to want to answer that question.”

In response to that question, Best said he’s learned to “always listen to the cabinet and hear what their solutions are to some of the problems.

“Don’t get too disgusted, irate or angry with people if they miss assignments or don’t show when they need to be or whatnot because (as president) if you start going crazy, hectic, and wild, that’s only going to make the situation worse. You’re fueling the fire by a lot of intensity.

That was something that I learned right away is do not add more gasoline to

“I got very fortunate with a very good staff, and that’s what probably has kept me here (in ASG) more than anything else . . . .”

Bradley Best

ASG president

Photo by Devin Courtright

ASG President Bradley Best (left) and David Sussman, manager of the College Center student services, worked together throughout the year.

the fire.”

Best said he has also learned to delegate tasks to his cabinet members, which he said helps him in the long run because he tends to “always want to carry the load” himself and put all the weight on his own back.

“One thing that really did bother me or I needed a lot more work on is delegation of tasks,” said Best. “I had to learn to delegate, delegate, delegate, not as in, ‘Hey you, this is a job I am bestowing upon you, see it done.’ No, what really saved me is I got a lot of help from individuals who wanted to take part and that helped me to learn about delegation, which I still struggle with to this day”.

Best says, “I got very fortunate with a very good staff, and that’s what probably has kept me here (in ASG) more than anything else, the cabinet.”

Asked what he thought of Best’s term as president, David Sussman, manager of College Center student services, said, “I think with any administration, you’re going to have ups and downs and there are going to be some things that can be looked at more favorably than others.”

Best said throughout the year, he learned how to make good decisions by “always knowing the facts.”

“You got to have accurate information or your decision is not going to be correct,” said Best. “So making good decisions has always been about seeing the perspective of that side, sharing your own personal perspective along with that, and then you got to make a decision.”

McWhorter said, “I hope he has learned from me. One of the biggest things I’ve encouraged him to do is

to never stop learning and never stop growing and to listen to those around you.

“I feel like Bradley and I have a great working relationship,” she said.

“He has worked with me on a lot of the issues that have gone on this year and I hope that when Bradley walks away that he feels like he has taken some positive things away as an experience.”

Best said, “Probably the most important thing I’ve learned is relating, working with and establishing the staff. Statistics say that’s probably one of the most difficult things to learn or to manage, in a business, the manpower and (human resources).

“That’s been huge and that’s probably what I’ll take away from this whole situation — the holistic, the collaborative and cohesive effort of working within a staff.”

Earn it You gotta

With only a limited amount of space on a team's roster, has more factors than anyone could think.

Story by Jake Fray

Saints Head Coach Bryan Donohue (second from the right) said he thinks about recruiting even while coaching a game on what positions he needs to fill for the next season. Photo by Jon Fuccillo.

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ecruiting may be a second thought to many, but for coaches it is the key to success.

Most coaches agree it is far more than statistics and honors that turn a coach’s head. What makes a high school athlete worth a second look from a college team is also about what is behind the skills.

Photo by Jake Fray

Cross country and track and field head coach Matt Hart, right, gives a recruit a tour of the MHCC campus. Hart says it is just one of the ways to get a student-athlete to come to MHCC.

“Obviously I recruit them if they are good,” said Saints Softball Head Coach Meadow McWhorter. “But it is more than that. They have to be a good fit for the program and it is more about them as a person.”

“I put all my trust in my team,” said McWhorter. “I encourage the girls to give me feedback about a kid coming in. I trust my girls on their thoughts about a kid.”

Volleyball Head Coach Chelsie Freeman said, “The big thing is their character. It really is important to make sure they will fit in to the program well and I rely on my team’s feedback as well.”

Another fact most people may not realize is that recruiting starts in an athlete’s junior year in high school.

“We started looking at this year’s recruiting class last July,” said baseball Head Coach Bryan Donohue. “It takes that much time for us to decide on a kid, plus we may miss a kid who has a big senior year and need to know how he did the year before.”

Track and field head coach Matt Hart said, “I keep calling them every so often because if they think they are going to a university and they never get the call, they’ll know Mt. Hood still wants them.

I don’t care if they are thinking of going somewhere else, I still will recruit you.”

Recruiting rules provide MHCC an advantage over NCAA colleges as a tool for coaches to get feedback.

“What’s so great is that instead of a kid not being able to practice with (some colleges) under NCAA regulations, they can with us,” said Donohue. “We can have them come on their visit and work out with the team. We can watch them lift weights and practice with the team.

It gives us another chance to evaluate them and see how they will fit in.”

Freeman said, “I invite the girls to a scheduled open gym so that they can come and play with my team. When they show up I just sit back and watch them. We can’t coach them but at least I can see what type of player they are and how they interact with the team.”

Before the coaches have a prospect come to visit, they first need to find the talent. Many coaches have a network all

Photo by Jake Fray

Saints men's basketball head coach Geoff Gibor (left) gives a tour to recruit Otho Lesure (center) of Roosevelt High School with assistant coach Jeremiah Dalton of the MHCC Campus. Lesure is a possible guard next season for the Saints.

over the West Coast, including Nevada for men’s basketball Head Coach Geoff Gibor.

“I have guys all over the place that I trust because they know what type of kids I want to have in the program,” Gibor said. “I have people in Las Vegas, California, Spokane and a lot of other places helping to find me players. But besides that, it is important to me to get the local talent in here first because you don’t want to lose that, especially if it’s in your backyard.”

McWhorter agreed with Gibor about looking local to find talent for her team.

“I go to a lot of local tournaments on the weekends,” the softball coach said.

“I show up and watch but it is hard because if I want to go watch them play, it means I am missing out on my team’s practice time to go scout.”

Donohue said, “I love to go to the showcases and look for players. My coaches and I are out most weekends looking for talent and it is important we look at the local guys to make sure we aren’t missing anyone who we may want to bring in.”

The hardest part about getting athletes to come to MHCC is that in addition to being athletic and fitting in with the team, the player has to be

“They need to be a good fit and it is about their character and if they are willing to be part of something that is bigger than themselves. They need to realize this program is not all about themselves, but about the team.”

Geoff Gibor

Saints head basketball coach sold on going to a two-year college even though they may want to go to a Division one school.

“Kids don’t want to go around saying to their friend they are going to a J.C.,” said Donohue. “We come up to them and tell them we are interested so they come for a visit and get surprised about the atmosphere MHCC has. They start to realize this is a stepping stone for them to go to the four-year they never thought they would be able to go to.”

Hart said, “I believe in the product I am selling. I stress that they are studentathletes. When I take them on a campus visit, I show them the resources they have here. The product sells itself. They are students first, then an athlete.”

McWhorter says MHCC sells itself

with its campus and the prestige of the softball team.

“I think the campus sells itself,” she said. “Many players who can play D-1 come here because they see the passion I have to teach them. That makes them want to come here.”

After talking with the coaches, the bottom line may have been best stated

by Gibor.

“They may have all the talent in the world, but it is about what kind of kid they are,” the basketball coach said. “They need to be a good fit and it is about their character and if they are willing to be part of something that is bigger then themselves.

“They need to realize this program is not all about themselves, but about the team.”

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From J.F.K. to 9/11, government secrecy - real or imagined - has created a common idea that things really aren't what they seem Story by Ron J. Rambo Jr.

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tched into the wall of a men’s restroom stall in the Mt. Hood Community College fisheries building are the words, “New World Order: learn the truth.”

While the phrase itself seems something of a contradiction, there is no denying the increasing popularity conspiracy theories have enjoyed over the course of the last decade.

With 9/11, a new breed of conspiracy theorists have been born. Many feel the government is to blame for not just the death of more than 3,000 on that day, but for a number of increasingly common things: disease, cancer, media bias, constitutional ignorance, police brutality, and even earthquakes. All have been linked to the thought of a power elite running the show under a veil of secrecy.

Pat Casey, an MHCC history instructor since 1999, Cooper, believe the CIA was involved. has seen a conspiracy theory or two in his day.

Cooper gained fame in the conspiracy community “Conspiracies happen all the time, but it’s my in the late ’80s when he began sharing the things he’d contention that it’s essentially impossible to keep them seen and overheard while serving in the Navy. His hidden forever,” said Casey. “They aren’t considered book, “Behold a Pale Horse,” says Kennedy was killed conspiracies when they’re found out. And theorists

by William Greer, an undercover CIA agent – and range from people that are reasonable, rational people Kennedy’s driver the day he was killed. that make great points, to people that just don’t think “President John F. Kennedy was murdered by the rationally or make sense.”

Secret Service agent who drove his car in the motorcade A younger Casey was deeply entrenched in a classic and the act is plainly visible in the Zapruder film,” conspiracy: the John F. Kennedy assassination.

Cooper says in the book. “Watch the driver and not “Everybody thought the Warren Commission Kennedy when you view the film. All of the witnesses screwed it all up,” said Casey, referring to the committee who were close enough to the car to see William Greer that investigated the assassination. “In the mid-60s, a lot shoot Kennedy were themselves all murdered within of critical works came out. Everyone thought it was a two years of the event. The Warren Commission was a piece of crap, including myself. But when I actually read farce, and Council on Foreign Relations members made it, I stood back and said, ‘No, it’s not.’ The commission up the majority of its panel. They succeeded in snowing didn’t know a lot about the really nefarious crap the the American people.” government was trying to do. But they got it right.”

While JFK seems to be a popular old-school The Warren Commission concluded Kennedy was conspiracy, it still attracts the younger generation. killed by Lee Harvey Oswald, and acted alone in Logan Irish, an MHCC broadcasting student who hosts performing the assassination, the conclusion Casey his own radio show about conspiracies every Friday originally rejected but later decided was true. from 3 to 5 p.m., said JFK is one of the conspiracies he “Oswald was a former Marine who never really most thinks about. amounted to anything in his life,” Casey said. “He “Since high school, when I first got into this stuff, decided one day ‘I’m going to kill the president, that will JFK is one of the conspiracies I think about a lot,” Irish make me a star.’ It was essentially his ego that did this. said. “It’ll come out eventually. Somebody knows what Oswald is angry at life, thinking he’s going to be a big really happened. Someone who is about to die will tell time player in the world. He tries to bump off a general the world the truth. The Kennedys are a dying dynasty, in Dallas, but it doesn’t work. So he decides to go for so it shouldn’t be as heavily protected. They aren’t as Kennedy.” dangerous as they used to be.”

Casey said Marines are particularly proud of their Irish said he’s heard some interesting conspiracies marksmanship, a trait Oswald held in high regard. while hosting his show, “Oswald was tested including that former on a shooting range from President George W. Bush ts are so a thousand feet away "Sometimes though is really a lizard – an idea it becomes using only an iron scope; originally conceived of in fascinating that ible,' so they ss po this is how the Marines a 1999 book by David Icke 's it l, el 'W uths. The tr r test their soldiers,” said called “The Biggest Secret: fo g in ok lo start covered d an Casey. “For Kennedy, he The Book That Will Change ed li s ha government " was using a 4-power scope the World.” n? ai ag t no y up before, wh y, from 200 feet away. Two“One of the more comical se Pat Ca hundred feet with that ones I’ve heard is that Bush or ruct MHCC history inst scope is not a hard shot for is really a humanoid lizard a man that well trained.” from another planet,” However, the Irish said. “I think most accusations of foul play conspiracies have some still exist. A number of merit, but not all of them. people, Casey said, believe Bush was an idiot and a the Secret Service acted criminal, but probably not a in killing Kennedy, either lizard.” by mistake or on purpose.

If Bush really is an Others, like former Naval alien lizard, he might have Intelligence Officer William trouble finding others of his

Classified

kind at Area 51, an alien conspiracy Time magazine hot-bed near Las Vegas, Nev., according recently printed to Casey and at least one retired contract a special issue CIA worker. about secret “If there was really something going on societies that will at Area 51, someone would have spoken be on display until out by now,” Casey said.

June 11, 2010, James Noce, a retired Area 51 vet, according to the recently spoke to The Seattle Times about date on the cover.

"The NWO is stil contract work he did for Area 51 from In it, several orders l a process th at is occurring.

1962 to 1965. Experimental testing of two and societies are When they tell you stuff, spy planes, the A-12 and SR-71 Blackbird, discussed and they make it look like things took up the bulk of his time. While he the “myths and aren't really saw plenty of secret things, he and others facts” are revealed, there - but they are. People say there were no UFOs, but the CIA did including that just don't see it ." nothing to squash the rumors because it of the Trilateral Logan Irish, kept the base shrouded in mystery.

Commission, MHCC broadcasting Cooper disagrees and in his book mentioned several student lays out the evidence he has received for times in Cooper’s those who care to dispute and attempt to writing. discover their own findings.

The final page “I believed it was all true then and I believe it is of “Pale Horse” is a fold-out chart of all known past all true now,” Cooper writes regarding the Secret and present members of the Trilateral Commission and Government, New World Order, Area 51, and Kennedy, Council on Foreign Relations, both of which are often among other topics. “I firmly believe that this book considered by conspiracy theorists as the faces of the is closer to the truth than anything ever previously New World Order. Several notable politicians and media written.” members are found, including Connecticut Sen. Chris Casey believes, based on human nature, that this is all Dodd, West Virginia Sen. John Rockefeller, reporters entertaining but believing it makes living a normal life Barbara Walters and Ted Koppel, and former President difficult.

Dwight Eisenhower. According to the list, eight former “Sometimes thoughts are so fascinating that it or current members of Time Inc. are members of either becomes ‘Well, it’s possible,’ so they start looking for the CFR or the Trilateral Commission. truths,” said Casey. “The government has lied and The Trilateral Commission receives a small mention in covered up before, why not again?” the “Frauds and Forgeries” chapter of the magazine (“go So what about a New World Order? Are secret figure,” as conspiracy theorists might say) to which the societies controlling the world behind closed doors? group is described as “a non-governmental organization “If you have serious issues with the current founded by (David) Rockefeller in 1973 to advocate presidential regime, you’ll believe it,” Casey said. “But for improvements in international understanding when the shoe is on the other foot, people freak. and financial systems, and the Bilderberg conference, “You’ll see these large events going on. You see the an annual multinational gathering, first held in the need for order behind the chaos, and if it’s a big nasty Netherlands, to promote international harmony.” group behind it, all the better. Is it really a conspiracy, or So the question must be asked: Is Time Magazine is it just some organization or business doing their own simply creating a benevolent image for itself, as its thing? Companies and organizations on a daily basis do founder Henry Luce was also a member of the Yale things that affect everyone. I don’t see that all the heads fraternity Skull and Bones, or is Cooper’s list of evilof these huge organizations are sitting in this room and doers a panic for no reason? planning things. I don’t see it.”

Maybe, as the magazine itself suggests, it is simply Irish couldn’t be further from Casey’s perspective, best to “stay tuned.” and neither could Cooper.

“The people who run the media all seem to want it “The NWO is still a process that is occurring,” said to go the same way,” Casey argues. “But people don’t Irish. “Obama is not involved, though. He’s just a sit and demand everything the same. Some people like puppet for the people we don’t see. When they tell you things sensationalized, and some people like things stuff, they make it look like things aren’t really there – straight. Media companies want to maximize profit, and but they are. People just don’t see it.” to do that, you have to give people what they want.”

AA Parting Shot Parting Shot

Photo by Brett Stanley

Mitchell Saint Germain performs in the College Theater during the Gabriel Alegria Sextet's visit to Mt. Hood Community College on April 26.

2010

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