Nov 23, 2015

MCCC welcomes new professor

‘MyMathLab’ details clarified

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New waisttraining fad on campus

November 23, 2015 Vol. 62, Issue 3

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Reaction to Paris attack

Study abroad students share their sentiments

Evan Kutz

Assistant Editor

Six months before the Paris terrorist attacks, two groups of MCCC students visited the French capital.

Political Science professor Joanna Sabo led one of the groups of students, who stayed in Paris for 2 nights during an 18-day tour of Europe.

Sabo said it’s important that Americans continue to travel abroad.

“I heard a wonderful quote from a women in Detroit who was interviewed this morning and she said the minute we stop traveling because they’ve made us afraid, then they’ve won, and we can’t let them do that,” Sabo said.

“Students travel all over and there are dangers everywhere, as long as there are groups like ISIS out there,” Sabo said.

French authorities are still working to piece together the events that led to the Nov. 13 terrorist attacks in Paris.

Terrorists killed 129 people and injured 352 during multiple attacks throughout the city, including a mass shooting, suicide bombers and the murder of hostages.

“Americans, French, friends, neighbors,

“It’s so beautiful, and busy, and full of life.

It’s brilliant.

The time we spent there was amazing.”

Julia Gryzwinski Member of MCCC Study Abroad group relatives, everybody should care about this.

They should be writing their Congresspersons about what they expect them to do,” she said.

Sabo also said people should be standing up to these groups and willing to support expenditures for intelligence, diplomacy or military action as the situations necessitate.

“There are places in the world where people feel as if they’re immune to these types of attacks,” she said. “Nobody is immune.”

Former MCCC student Alee Hill said the attacks have taken away the sense of frivolity, happiness, and fun that the idea of Paris held for her.

“Just a few short months ago I was gazing at the Eiffel Tower, purchasing books at Shakespeare and Company, and trying to navigate the Metro without a care in the world,” Hill said.

“It just hurts to see that Paris isn’t able to fully give the excitement and romance to its citizens and tourists as I know it can; at the moment, it holds a sense of fear.”

Hill doesn’t see the Paris attacks as a problem of religion.

“I do not blame a certain religion for these attacks. Terrorism has no religion,” she said.

MCCC International Studies Club president Steven Moore, said it was heartbreaking to see the destruction in a place where he was shown such beauty.

It was encouraging, he said, to see how the world responded.

“Seeing the world light up the one night Paris didn’t, gave me a sense of hope for us as humans. I pray for the people of Paris. I can’t wait to go back and see the beauty of Paris again,” Moore said.

Former MCCC student Julia Grzywinski said Paris was like a dream.

See Students, Page 2 One of the MCCC Study Abroad groups poses in front of the Eifel Tower.

Bruck party host devastated by disappearance Shaylie Calvin Agora Staff

Photo courtesy of Mike Williams

Mike Williams, who hosted the party where Chelsea Bruck disappeared, performs with his band, Pick Axe Preacher.

A small town Halloween party made nationwide news a year ago due to the tragic disappearance and murder of local resident Chelsea Bruck.

The 2014 Halloween party was hosted

by Mike Williams, 31, more often referred to as Big Mike.

Despite the tragedy, Williams held another Halloween party this year, but it was moved Downriver and was combined with Diddybop Entertainment.

Williams has been having parties like this on and off since high school. He has always had a decent turnout and never expected anything like this to happen.

“It’s just a horrible incident,” Williams said. “I could never anticipate anything like this to happen.”

“It’s just crazy, you hear about this stuff on the news all the time and having it hap-

pen literally in your own backyard, it’s pretty crazy.”

Williams estimated there were about 1,000 people at the 2014 party, coming and going. There was a bigger turnout at this party than any of his in the past.

“More people showed up than normal, because I ran out of parking; people started parking on the streets,” Williams said.

“Between the hours of 12 - 2 a.m., I was trying to get people off the streets.”

Williams likes throwing the parties because he’s an entertainer. He is a vocalist in a band called Pick Axe Preacher.

Williams and his band received a lot of bad publicity when Bruck disappeared. He said he thought they handled the publicity well, limiting the posts on Facebook. He also made posts informing people about Bruck.

Many people didn’t think much about it when they first heard Bruck was missing, Williams said.

See Party, Page 2

Social media citing new reason to stop shaving Evan Kutz

Assistant Editor

Men and women have an interesting relationship to shaving.

Both do it, some semi-regularly and some religiously. Yet others are using it as an opportunity to say something to the public.

No Shave November, or Movember as the Prostate Cancer Foundation has dubbed it, is becoming recognized by more people each year, thanks to its Internet-born pop culture status, The initiated are told they can call themselves “Mo Bros.”

Through it, men’s health awareness is finding one more solid platform to raise attention.

Then last summer, a new Internet-born awareness campaign used growing hair as their speaking platform.

It’s difficult to say where it began, but suddenly thousands of women were using their social media accounts to post photos of their unshaven armpits, often dyed teal or pink, and using the hashtag #FreeYourPits.

Their message was simple — the disparity between society’s expectations for gender and sex, with the issue of body shaving as the hook.

The subject was covered by nearly every major news publication, so there was no denying the scale

Inside:

Campus News..............2-4,6 Opinion.................................5 Feature.................................7 Arts&Entertainment...........8

Two women display their dyed armpits as part of a social media movement on gender perception.

the movement reached.

Feminism entered a fourth wave sometime early this decade, and as generations before, the post-Internet generation is creating its own cultural idioms.

Modern feminists have evolved over the last decade, making use of this emerging culture to help novel ideas catch on.

Today there’s a chance for every voice to be heard, with microblogs and sub-culture movements weav-

ing in and out of pop culture.

Personal image has always been a subversive platform for college-aged passionates, yet it arguably means more than ever because of society’s aggressive focus on personal looks.

Clothing isn’t just clothing, and hair isn’t just style—it’s representative of your beliefs. So when women began posting photos on social media sporting some healthy armpit hair, the buzz grew quickly.

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“I personally wouldn’t do it just because that’s how I was raised—I was raised with, ‘Here’s a razor, you’re supposed to shave your legs and your armpits, and you know, just go with it’,” said MCCC student Taylor Messer.

“But I’m all for other people just being like, ‘Well, I’m going to grow it out, this is what I’m going to do, I feel beautiful regardless,’ …and I wish I had that confidence.”

There is a widely regarded taboo against this practice. It’s rooted in a 100- year-old advertising campaign used to sell shaving products, a campaign that has been so successful that it was artificially adopted as Western culture.

MCCC professor and librarian Dr. Terri Kovach said the general ideas that we see being marketed to us are, as many things are, placed between money and sex—from clothing and shaving product advertisements to pop icons.

“It’s that do you please, do you not please,” she said.

Messer said people make it unsightly for women to even be seen with body hair, citing women’s razor commercials that show legs that are already hairless.

“They won’t show that on TV because ‘it’s gross to have hair’,” she said.

Messer said it’s also asking women to take time out of their day to shave.

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Campus News

November 23, 2015

Robotics program produces champions Emily Lorton Agora Staff

A robotics program sponsored by MCCC has created a pair of champions.

The VEX Robotics Club gives high school and elementary students a chance to work together on a team to design a robot with a specific function.

Local competitions are held across the country where multiple teams come to participate, said Jeff Demaray, the mentor of the robotics club.

Two students in the robotics program, Marissa Harrison, 14, and Tessa Garlepied, 15, were the Middle School VEX Skyrise Competition 2014-2015 champions.

MCCC also has a robotics club, directed by Bob Leonard, separate from the VEX Robotics program.

Demarary said student usually begin practicing around the end of October or beginning of November.

“We are trying to get them to convert over to the VEX U robotics,” Demaray said.

Demaray said he uses the VEX Robotics program as a way to promote MCCC. “We bring banners and promotions to the competitions to show the college to students who otherwise may not know it’s there,” Demaray said.

The VEX Robotics club is part of the STEM Program (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) at MCCC, he said.

Participation in the club does go on the transcripts of the students, but no credits are offered at the moment. That’s something the group is working on, Demaray said.

The VEX Robotics group is a noncredit lifelong learning class, beginning this semester.

There are two competitions per year, one at the Monroe County Fair and one in the Health Building at MCCC called The MCCC/Autodesk Fall VEX competition, which took place on Oct. 10.

The MCCC/Autodesk Fall VEX qualifier is a competition where students compete for a spot at the state championship

Student Marissa Harrison works on her team’s Skyrise Competition robot.

at Michigan State University, Demaray said.

Seven local teams consisting of 21 students competed for the VEX trophy, along with teams from around the country.

“The events consist of four primary

parts: qualification matches, elimination matches, skills and judging,” Demarary said.

After a quick inspection of the robots, the computer randomly generates two team alliances to compete.

The teams must work together to score

as many points as possible.

During the skills tests, competitors are judged on their programming and driving skills.

The scores are kept separate and the top scoring team receives bids to states or the World Championship in Louisville, Kentucky.

Harrison and Garlepied have both been on the VEX Robotic team for three years.

“We have always been on the same team; we have done about 13 competitions together,” Harrison said.

Their winning robot was an elevator lift that could stack cubes; the goal was to see whose robot could stack the cubes the highest.

Harrison and Garlepied said they worked on their robot for about five months with continuous improvements after that.

Both girls got involved in robotics after they were invited to see a robot competition.

“The first year of robotics is mostly just learning; our first robot barely worked at all,” Harrison said.

“We both went into this blind, it has definitely been a learning process,” Garlepied said. “We learn as we go.”

High school and elementary students can come to the robotics club Tuesday and Thursday nights from 7-9 p.m.

“We spread the word any way we can; anyone can show up,” Demaray said.

Being involved in VEX Robotics clubs either in elementary or high school gives the student an opportunity to compete for millions of dollars in scholarships from different colleges, according to Demaray.

“This is a good way for students to build their résumé and for kids to use their brain,” Demaray said.

He said the ultimate payoff is seeing the students be successful.

He got involved with robotics after his sons joined a robotics club during high school and never left.

“The kids are what bring me back; they aren’t the same when they leave,” De-

maray said. “They grow and understand more.”

When the kids come to the club, there is no instruction kit; it is all up to them, he said.

“It is strictly trial and error. We help them when they need it, but they figure out how to build the robot on their own,” Demaray said.

Richard McKinley, who started the robotics club at MCCC with Demaray, said his favorite part is working with the kids and helping them build robots.

McKinley worked at Jefferson and Monroe High School and then started the program at MCCC. “My favorite part is seeing the kids do things that I can’t, McKinley said. “These are the best group of kids I have worked with.

Ethan Harbaugh, 13, and Samuel Mohn, 14, are first and third year club members respectively.

Mohn attended a competition in Louisville, Ken., and was ranked the 27th highest team in Michigan.

After seeing his brother do robotics at his high school, Mohn joined VEX as soon as he was old enough, he said.

“Trying to fix your mistakes every week is so much fun,” Harbaugh said.

“It’s cool to see what other teams are creating and to compete against them.”

“Eventually you learn what everything does and how the parts work; then you can help other people who are just starting out,” Mohn said.

Derek Ball, dad of one of the members, said it is really nice seeing his son looking forward to coming to the robotic meetings and competitions.

“I needed something for him to get involved in that would generate an income one day,” Ball said. “It also allows us to bond as father and son; it gives us something to work on together.”

Team member Caden Smith, 13, said that the team dedication brings him back.

Working with my team and never giving up is really cool,” Smith said. “Being determined and working together to build

Students who visited Paris react to attack Party host devastated Continued from Page 1 “It’s seen as this city of lights, and love, and of life. People are just driven to its allure.

I never really understood what any of that was about until I actually got there, though,” Grzywinski said.

“It’s so beautiful, and busy, and full of life.

It’s brilliant. The time we spent there was amazing.”

For her, standing underneath the Eiffel Tower was a surreal moment.

“It’s one of the most known landmarks in the world, and watching it light up at night is a moment that I will remember for the rest of my life, but it’s kind of been tainted and soiled by the image of the tower being dark.

That image is so haunting and just scary and sad,” she said.

Former MCCC student Kayla Corne also commented.

“When I first heard the news about the terrorist attacks in Paris, my heart sank,” she said. “I thought to myself, I was just there, how is this happening? All I could think about was all of the good times and memories we had there were now in the shadows of fear.”

Another issue which is now front and center is the Syrian refugee crisis.

Many argue that ISIS wants the US to reject refugees and increase airstrikes in Syria and abroad. This helps their goal by creating new enemies of the US who will be persuaded into fighting for groups like ISIS, who recruit those affected by our militant actions in the Middle East.

Corne said that denying entrance to any refugee sends the wrong message.

“These people fleeing need a safe place to

go. They are longing to find hope for tomorrow, and I think the least we can do is provide them a little peace of mind in a time of turmoil,” she said.

“Honestly, if ISIS wants to do something to America, they will. Refugees are an independent factor of what is going on, and to clump them into the terrorist crisis is wrong,” Corne said.

“It is my hope that people will begin to educate themselves more on the topic of refugees.”

The judgments on refugee motives discredits their past and the conditions they left, Corne said.

“Our world has always had to combat hate, and it’s time we break the mold,” she said.

Grzywinski also said she thinks the U.S. and other countries should continue to aid refugees from the Middle East.

“We change our Facebook profile picture filters, we retweet all of these things saying ‘pray for Pairs’ and ‘pray for peace,’ ‘pray for the world.’ We light up our buildings with the colors of the French flag. We talk about how these things need to change, yet how can we say that we support them if we don’t want to help them?”

“These people have nowhere to go. I understand the government at both the state and federal levels are trying to be cautious of other attacks that may take place here. I get that they want to protect their own citizens,” she said.

“I get that ISIS has claimed that it has soldiers, or followers, or whatever they label themselves, here in the states. None of this changes the fact that these [refugees] need help.”

Editor: Jacob Adams Adviser: Dan Shaw Staff: Jeff Brown Shaylie Calvin Cherie Farley

Caroline Hudson Mika Kotanova Sydney Begeman

Hill also voiced concern for the art and history that countries like Paris have to lose in targeted attacks. Earlier this year ISIS claimed responsibility for the destruction of invaluable historic artifacts in the Middle East, such as those in the ancient Assyrian city Nimrud.

“Not only would these terrorists groups be causing mayhem, but they’d also be taking away art and culture that has existed for, in many cases, centuries,” she said.

“I know people have lost their lives, and so many others are in a state of panic, but someone has to think about the art and culture. It gives the present a look in to the past, and it’s humbling.”

According to Williams, Bruck had attended two parties before the 2014 version. She was a fan, he said.

“I feel horrible for Chelsea’s family, I couldn’t imagine,” Williams said.

He said the SWAT team paid him a very unpleasant visit.

“They weren’t very nice to me; I even let them in,” Williams said.

“They talked very nasty to me, threw me on the ground, told me they were going to shoot my dog.”

“They dug up stuff I burned back in high school; I mean, that’s how far they dug back.”

Williams said many people blamed him for the disappearance. They said it was partly his fault for throwing a party that big.

“People were coming by all hours of the night. Some lady came out at 3 a.m. with her dog to search my yard,” Williams said.

“Drones were peeking in my windows at night, helicopters flying over my house. It was the first time in my life I didn’t feel safe in my own home.”

Chelsea Bruck’s remains were found in April, almost six months after the party, in a wooded area off Briar Hill Road in north Monroe County. Workers building a house in the area got their truck stuck and stumbled on the body when they got out.

Social media citing reasons to stop shaving

The Agora Assistant Editor: Evan Kutz

MCCC Study Abroad member Alee Hill points to the Mona Lisa at the Louvre in Paris.

Continued from Page 1 They figured maybe she was drunk and went home with friends. Williams had the same thoughts at first.

“Maybe they were overreacting, maybe she’s just drunk somewhere,” he said.

Williams was active in the search and very cooperative with the family.

“Monday around 1 or 2 I took the dog out for a walk looking for Chelsea, then he stepped on a fox trap as I’m looking,” he said. “I’m walking back with him, I have blood on me and the family is in my yard; it just looked really bad.”

“By the time I got back from the vet, there were about 20 cars in my side field, so I helped them search,” Williams said.

“It was like a circus for two weeks in my yard, constant news crews and search parties.”

He thinks he did all he could in the pre-planning of the party.

“They are really thought-out parties,” he said. “I had 15 guys running security for me. I had organized parking, people were running the parking.”

After everything that happened with Bruck, Williams said that he would never have another party.

But he changed his mond and decided to move the party 45 miles north to Hamtramck.

Emily Lorton Julia Toniolo

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Editorial policy: Unsigned editorials represent the majority opinion of The Agora staff. Signed columns represent the opinion of the writer. All letters to the editor must include a signature, address and phone number for verification purposes. The Agora reserves the right to edit for clarity, accuracy, length, and libel.

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Continued from Page 1 “Sometimes I forget to pluck my eyebrows, sometimes I forget to shave my armpits—sometimes I just don’t feel like wearing mascara. I’m still okay with the way I look,” she said.

The fact that men don’t have these duties is frustrating to her.

“It’s weird that girls are expected to wear makeup, wear tight clothes and shave their body hairless except for the really long hair on their head,” she said. “Guys are just like, ‘Okay, well I hopped out of bed today, and I maybe put on a tee shirt.’

“It sucks that girls feel pressured, like they can’t be beautiful if they don’t shave their armpits,” she said.

Messer told a story she heard that resonated with her. A women was approached by a man who told her she would be really beautiful if she just shaved her legs. Her response was posting glamour photos of her with her unshaven legs to her Facebook, saying, “Am I not beautiful?”

“If you have to go back 20 years when you were first handed a ra-

zor and you were told to shave your legs and you have to sit there and think about it, and you didn’t want to do that then, then don’t,” Messer said. “Do what you want to do. You don’t have to live your life for men and other women,” To the women who look down on other women who don’t shave, Messer said “Get over yourself.”

And to the men who don’t know how to feel about it, “You don’t shave your pits, you don’t shave your legs.”

The power struggle between men and women bothers MCCC student Phoenix Vaive.

“People aren’t allowed to be opposed to things like shaving.

I think that’s interesting,” Vaive said.

“It’s like men kind of adopt the standard for women. Not that they shave their legs, but that they think women are beautiful only if they do shave their legs. And that’s kind of weird.”

Vaive thinks that we focus too much on appearance as a whole, without considering the person

behind our looks.

“Invest yourself into figuring out who you are—not what you are and what you have on your body. Just be yourself.”

Women who have to remove hair on their face for fear of being looked at for it is yet another issue of these expectations.

“That’s unfair if they’re judged for what they’re born with. That’s like flat-out segregation,” Vaive said.

Messer explained that some blonde-haired girls like herself may have hair on their face that’s just not visible.

For girls who have darker hair, they may have to remove or bleach those same hairs on their face.

“And it’s like… why? It’s you,” Messer said.

Dr. Kovach said that many women have heavy facial hair, and that society should accept it.

The pressure women face comes down to social sanctions— informal sanctions against doing what is not considered normal.

We see these in action every

day, from the way people treat others based on their personal appearance alone to behaviors like smoking, she said.

These sanctions against what’s not normative have different degrees.

“A woman who chooses not to shave her facial hair that she’s had since she was 14 and she’s just tired of it now gets brutalized somewhere, minorly harassed, stared at, all of that… or eventually may in fact get cornered in a hallway at their high school,” she said.

Human beings have a history of trying to control what they feel they don’t understand.

Dr. Kovach sees this divide between men and women as a fallacy, because there is no real mystery to womanhood.

At the same time, she finds it interesting how men have begun to shave their body hair, as well as go tanning.

The idealized male figure will always exist, but he’s changing.

“It was John Wayne, then it was the Marlboro Man… I’m not sure who it is anymore,” she said.

Campus News

November 23, 2015

mcccagora.com • The Agora

|3

Kultur-nacht

German and Spanish food was served.

Photos by Emily Cornett

Haley Breckenridge enjoys a piece of cake.

Students enjoy tastes, sounds from around world

By Emily Cornett For the Agora

The foreign language department hosted a Culture Night on Nov. 11, providing food from around the world.

The focus of the evening was for students to enjoy a relaxing night of foreign food and discussion.

Students also were able to showcase their talents. Derek Malhoit, Miyuki Zerke, Katie Wicker, and Samantha Bartley performed songs on the piano, Andrew Rayl played the violin, Tyler Lambert played the trumpet, and

Derek Malhoit plays the piano.

Darian Branham and Raiann Porkarski played charades.

The German 151 class also sang a traditional German song.

“It was nice that all of the language classes could learn over food and culture beyond learning the language in class,” Jessica Ryder said.

She said her favorite food was the beef bourguignonne, which seemed to be a big hit, along with the German chocolate cake.

Tacos and German sausage were also available, as well as multiple other desserts.

German students sing a traditional German song.

GSA holds suicide vigil

By Emily Lorton

Warning Signs of Suicide

Agora staff

No one should be left behind or left alone struggling with suicide.

There are multiple resources available to those who have thoughts or have been affected by suicide.

This was the main point made at the “Healing for Yesterday, Educating Today, and Hope for Tomorrow” Suicide Awareness/Prevention Candlelight Vigil on Nov. 11.

MCCC’s Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) hosted the candlelight vigil to remove the stigma of talking about suicide from today’s society and provide resources for people who have thought of taking their own lives.

Ally Shyllander, co-chair of the GSA, said suicide is prevalent in the LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered, Queer) community, and nearly 30 percent of LGBTQ have attempted suicide.

“Although the LGBTQ community members live happy and successful lives, the awareness still needs to be made,” she said.

Last year, the MCCC GSA club hosted their first candlelight vigil during suicide awareness week in September.

Since veterans have a suicide rate that is 50 percent higher than someone who has not served, the GSA decided to host the second vigil on Veteran’s Day, Shyllander said.

“This is a great way to show resources to those who need them and a great way for remembrance,” said Kaye Lani Rafko-Wilson, executive director of Gabby’s Ladder. “It shows how it can affect a community.”

Gabby’s Ladder offers grief support groups for all ages at no cost, Rafko-Wilson said.

The Left Behind support group is specifically directed toward adults who are left behind after a loved one completes suicide.

The phrase “committed suicide” is often used, but Rafko-Wilson said they like to use the phrase “completed suicide”.

Completed is a softer word, she said, while committed is often associated with crime. The victim has an agenda and when they are finished, they completed their task.

“If someone is thinking they are better off

• Threatening to commit suicide.

• Talking about wanting to die or being better off dead.

• Having a history of making suicide attempts.

• Showing sudden changes in behavior: becoming withdrawn, moody, or irritable.

• Being sad or depressed; crying.

• Showing changes in eating or sleeping habits; having headaches, stomach upsets, or other physical problems.

• Making “final arrangements,” giving away personal possessions.

For more information or help: • Trevor LifeLine (866-488-7386) • National Suicide Prevention Hotline (1-800-273-TALK)

“It is important for people to know they are not alone.”

Kaye Lani Rafko-Wilson dead, it is our job to help them understand this is short term and they can overcome this,” Rafko-Wilson said.

She added that it is exciting that the college is conducting a suicide awareness event. She said she was grateful to be part of it.

“People are so quick to go to a doctor if they are physically sick, but not mentally,” Rafko-Wilson said. “A person suffering needs to tell someone they trust that they need to get to a safe place and make things better.”

“Mental health needs to be treated on par with physical health,” said Dr. Mark Naber, professor of mathematics at MCCC. Guests Diane Mackey and Jim Gross said they feel like our society does not do enough to prevent or acknowledge suicide.

“Stress and anxiety lead to poor selfimage,” Mackey said. “We need to be kinder and nicer to one another; suicide

has gotten out of control.”

GSA members Gabriel Trejo, Shyllander, and Ian Leach were featured on Toledo 11 News (WTOL) on Nov. 7.

They were contacted by WTOL to talk about the vigil, Shyllander said.

The main things they discussed were how the vigil was relevant to the GSA, why suicide needs to be talked about, and the agenda for the night.

Melissa Grey, assistant professor of Psychology and co-adviser of the GSA at MCCC, was a guest speaker at the event.

“Suicide is something a person considers when they feel they have no help,” Grey said.

She said she thought the event went well overall and could see that everyone was very moved. ‘’Everyone who was there was there for the right reason,” Grey added. “We helped someone regardless of how small the crowd was.”

“Even if one person was there, it still would have been worth helping them,” Raflo-Wilson said.

Grey got emotional when presenting a story about Leelah Alcorn, a 14-year-old transgender who took her own life.

She also noted that youth are three times more likely to commit suicide, and that societies should implement policies

Agora photos by Emily Lorton

Paper bags with lights inside and messages on the outside lined the sidewalk outside the La-Z-Boy Center.

to prevent unfair treatment.

Suicide is the leading cause of death among 15 to 24 year-olds, she said.

“There are great organizations and resources out there for help,” Grey said.

“People just tend to not be comfortable talking about it.”

It is up to the GSA if they wish to con-

tinue doing the vigil every year, Grey said.

There are many myths about suicide that are not true and should not be taken seriously, she said.

“It is important for people to know they are not alone,” Rafko-Wilson said.

MCCC writing fellows hold Poetry Night

By Rex Wagner For the Agora

The MCCC Writing Fellows held their annual Poetry Night at MCCC’s Little Theatre Oct. 29.

The theatre was decorated with cobwebs and there was plenty of apple cider and donuts in the hall outside.

Students and faculty shared their original writing and recited the work of their favorite poets.

Foreign poetry was featured as well, with readings of the famous Chinese poem, “Taking Leave of Cambridge Again,”

by Xu Zhimo, and the Indian poem, “Where The Mind Is Without Fear,” by Rabindranath

“It’s emotional and nerve-wracking, putting all your emotion out in the open.”

poem will be,” he said.

Sierra Taylor’s original poem, “In The Dark,” was a twist on Halloween’s typical scary stories full of ghosts and the like.

Instead, she chose to focus on the real evil that happens in the Ryleigh Byrne dark.

Poetry night performer “I wanted something dark, but not too dark,” Taylor said Tagore.

“Something with a religious MCCC English professors twist.” read the two poems in English, MCCC student Ryleigh Byrne followed by readings by Zijun Ning and Technology Division also delivered an emotional performance of her original work, Dean Parmeshwar Coomar.

“To The Rest of The World.

Coomar spoke on China and “It’s emotional and nerveIndia’s peaceful relationship. wracking, putting all your emo“I’m glad a Chinese poem tion out in the open,” Byrne was read and now a Bengali said.

Agora photo by Cherie Farley

MCCC students participate in a costume contest during poetry night.

4 | mcccagora.com •

Campus News

The Agora

November 23, 2015

MCCC welcomes respiratory professor Kara Walker Agora Staff

Shane Spaulding, MCCC’s newest professor, knows what it’s like to be uncertain about one’s future.

Spaulding graduated from MCCC in 1997 and then obtained a bachelor’s degree from the College of William and Mary before coming back to Monroe.

“I had a plan in life that was supposed to go down one path, and it wasn’t working out for me,” he recalls.

“I needed some direction.”

Then he became aware of MCCC’s Respiratory Therapy Program and decided to check it out.

He thought he would be unable to make it in the nursing program because he didn’t want to draw blood.

Little did he know that a Respiratory Therapist (RT) is called upon to do the same.

“I almost fainted the first time!” he laughs, but he stuck it out and completed the program.

Spaulding graduated in 2010 and obtained respiratory therapy licenses in Michigan and Ohio.

Bonnie Boggs, director of the RT program at the time, was impressed with Spaulding and asked him to return as an adjunct professor after his graduation.

He also worked for several years at the Toledo Hospital and the University of Michigan Medical Center.

He was hired to teach full time as the Director of Clinical Education beginning with this Fall Semester.

Nick Prush, who replaced Boggs as director of the RT program, provided some insight into why Spaulding was hired. “(Shane) holds a high standard in the classroom for our profession, (and) is committed to student success,” Prush said.

“If you want to experience it all in a hospital this is where you go” Shane Spaulding Respiratory Therapy Professor Respiratory therapists work with the heart and lungs, Spaulding said.

They deal with everything from smoking cessation to pulmonary rehab, from simple breathing treatments to running life support systems such as ventilators.

RTs are present from the first breath that a child has, to the very end, when they are sometimes called upon to shut off life support.

Spaulding is adamant about how rewarding the field can be.

“You’re there at a very important, trying time for the family. It may be celebratory, it may be complete, utter devastation,” he said.

“It’s as rewarding as it is trying. But you’re sharing this experience with a family, and it’s powerful.”

Respiratory therapists are on the front lines of most medical emergencies, because if a person cannot breathe correctly, additional medical attention won’t help the patient recover.

They are constantly being taught how to use new technology to help save lives, and their days are usually action packed, Spaulding said.

They work in outpatient clinics, the ICU, or even the operating room.

After an open heart surgery or lung transplant, respiratory therapists help the patient

learn to breathe on their own.

“When you watch medical shows, somebody there is a respiratory therapist,” Spaulding said.

“If you want to experience it all in a hospital, this is where you go.”

Students in the program agree that respiratory therapy can be both important and rewarding.

“We’re learning skills that we are actually going to be using on a person one day to save their life,” says student Amanda Beste. “We could be the difference between whether or not they’re resuscitated during CPR.” The program consists of lectures and lab time, where everything is hands on.

There is also quite a bit of math involved, and students must be proficient in algebra to be successful.

Spaulding said students are committed and passionate about what they are learning, and some even stay after lab to study together and ask questions.

They joke that Spaulding has a pseudo art degree because he draws pictures for them and makes everything interactive.

Spaulding said his personal interests include looking through family history and being an aficionado of 16th Century Dutch print work.

“It’s a very interesting art period,” he said.

One of his ancestors was a member of the Dutch West India Co., and one of his prized possessions is a print circa 1493.

Student Melissa Reeves said Spaulding and Prush make learning fun.

“It’s amazing how much respiratory therapy does,” she said.

Spaulding suggests than anyone interested in respiratory therapy talk to him or Prush.

“Come and talk to us. We’re fun people and very welcoming,” he said.

Photo by Kara Walker

Respiratory therapy professor Shane Spaulding shows a student how to connect an oxygen tank.

Women’s Health: Thoughts on Birth Control

By Caroline Hudson Agora staff

Controversy continues to swirl around birth control more than half a century after the invention of the pill.

There are many different forms of birth control to assist women in preventing pregnancy. These include abstinence, the patch, pills, the shot, the sponge, the vaginal ring, condoms, and the morning after pill.

Sixty-two percent of women in the United States use some form of birth control or contraceptive regularly, according to Our Bodies, Ourselves, a non-profit that advocates for women.

The most frequently used method is

daily birth control pills, chosen by 16 percent of women.

Birth control pills were created by Margaret Sanger in 1950, when she was in her 80s. They were not FDA approved until 1960, and only married women were allowed access to the pill in its first years, according to Our bodies, Ourselves.

One of the most common misconception about the pill is that all women are on them to prevent unwanted pregnancy.

While this is their primary use, there are many other reasons women might be on the pill.

Many women start the pill because their periods are either irregular, too heavy, or too painful. Also, women who are anemic can take the pill because it helps with iron

“It serves more than one purpose, which a lot of people don’t understand” Sydney Begeman MCCC Student deficiency.

MCCC Student Sydney Begeman has had her own personal issues with misconceptions about birth control. She has been taking it since she was 8 years old for health issues. Sydney says she is 100 percent in support of taking birth control.

”It serves more than one purpose, which a lot of people don’t understand.

When people say they’re on the pill, most people assume it’s because they are having sex, which is not always the case.”

While there are risks, which many people only see as reasons not to go on it, there are plenty of other benefits. Blood clots seem to be the most feared risk, but only certain pills contain a high risk of blood clots.

A list of brands with a high risk of blood clots can be found at plannedparenthood. org. Many pills contain a very small risk of blood clotting, and a way to cancel out this risk is to not smoke cigarettes.

Some other side effects include minor bleeding between periods, nausea and

vomiting, and a change in sexual desire, but these side effects generally clear up after 2-3 months.

Benefits of the pill include lighter and more regular periods, help with menstrual cramps, protection against acne, protection against pelvic inflammatory disease (which often leads to infertility) and help with iron deficiency and anemia.

“I am for birth control because it does help girls who have health issues,” said MCCC student Hailey Buhl.

Birth control is effective when preventing pregnancy. When pills are taken each day around the same time, only 1 out of 100 women will get pregnant per year, according to plannedparenthood.org

Briefs Submissions sought for 2016 Images Submissions are being sought for the 2016 version of Images, a literary and fine arts magazine produced by the Humanities and Social Sciences Division.

Poetry, short stories, plays, nonfiction essays or artwork are welcome. A submission form must be completed by Feb. 19.

Submission forms can be found at http://www.monroeccc.edu/humaniti/ImagesSubmission.pdf.

Artwork that is not digital can be submitted by contacting Art professor Ted Vassar at tvassar@monroeccc.edu.

Questions can be directed to the Humanities/Social Sciences office at 734-384-4153.

Business professors Wendy Wysocki, left, and Patrick Nedry, third from right, along with professor David Reiman (now shown), took students to a marketing workshop at Eastern Michigan University on Nov. 13.

Concert, rummage Student Government sale raise $500 The International Studies Club helps decorate city raised nearly $500 at a rummage sale Members of Student Government helped decorate downtown Monroe for the holidays.

Eighteen members of Student Government, along with adviser Tom Ryder, worked with Monroe Mayor Robert Clark and other city employees to wrap the downtown light poles with garlands and wreaths.

They were treated to donuts and hot chocolate at Tim Hortons by the mayor.

Student Jessica Ryder hangs a wreath.

and concert held in November.

The rummage sale in the A Building cafeteria raised $168. Items were given away, with donations requested. The money will be used for club activities.

A concert to raise money for refugees, held Nov. 12 in the Meyer Theater, raised $316.

MCCC Marketing wins four awards The Marketing and Public Relations department at MCCC won three gold and one bronze awards for outstanding achievement in community college communications.

The awards were announced Nov. 5 in Fort Wayne, Ind., at a National Council for (Community College) Marketing and Public Relations meeting.

The college competed with community colleges throughout Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, Illinois and Ontario, regardless of size,

according to an email from Marketing Director Joe Verkennes. Only five colleges in Michigan won awards, and MCCC won the most, Verkennes said.

The gold awards were for: • A flier on the Culture and Current Affairs Speaker Series.

• An electronic newsletter for the ASET Division called “Tech Update.”

• A print advertisement, “I Got MY Start at MCCC.”

MCCC hosts visiting scratchboard artist MCCC is hosting an exhibit by painter and scratchboard artist Sande Lafaut, an MCCC alum.

Lafaut presented a lecture Nov. 4, and her art will be on display in the library through Dec. 2.

Lafaut specializes in scratchboard art. Scratchboards are usually quite small but highly detailed. She primarily works with images of animals and landscapes but also does figurative work and portraits.

Lafaut holds an associate degree in fine art from MCCC and a bachelor’s degree in fine art from Eastern Michigan University.

Signs accompanied the shoes that were spread across campus by MCCC’s Gay Straight Alliance on Nov. 19 to represent members of the transgender community who hae been killed in 2015.

GSA makes statement with shoes across campus Cherie Farley Agora staff

If you happened to be walking around campus on Thursday, Nov. 19, it was difficult to ignore the statement by MCCC’s Gay Straight Alliance.

Empty shoes were placed along campus pathways to represent the loss of life in the transgender community in 2015.

There also were signs accompanying the shoes displaying causes of death, such as “suffocation” and “being run over multiple times by a vehicle.”

A display in the A building showed devastating facts about the transgender community, which has suffered greatly this year.

More transgender people were killed in the first six months of this year than in all of 2014, according to the display. So far this year, 75 people were murdered because of their gender identity.

Many people who identify as transgender find themselves homeless. One out of five transgender people will be homeless at some point in their life.

This event, “Walk a Day in Their Shoes,” was to help transgender people gain more visibility.

Opinion

November 23, 2015

mcccagora.com • The Agora

|5

Holidays stressful, yet beautiful

Caroline Hudson

“Even if you are frozen in November, you cannot deny the beauty of the trees all over Michigan.”

Agora Staff

Depending on the type of person you are, you either love or hate fall in Michigan.

Some love the idea of fall and all that it brings. I am one of these people.

I love all warm drinks, the look and sound of the leaves crunching when I walk my dogs, the warm sweaters, leggings, and boots, football tailgates, and the anticipation fall brings for the holidays.

For some, fall is a sad time because of the holidays. If you have lost loved ones, or have watched your parents go through a divorce, the holidays may not be a happy time for you.

Despite these feelings toward Thanksgiving or Christmas, the spirit of the holidays and the season are ones that cannot be denied.

It is hard not to smile when you walk through the mall and see kids squealing with excitement as they sit on Santa’s lap.

I cannot help but feel overwhelmed with a sense of joy from the time Thanksgiving begins until the time Christmas ends, because people’s happiness becomes contagious.

With the craziness of Black Friday shopping and the stress of families coming to town for extended periods of time, I can understand why some would not enjoy this time of year.

Also, if you hate the cold, living in

Food is a big part of the holiday experience, from Thanksgiving turkey and sides to numerous Christmas traditions.

Michigan can make this not as enjoyable, because you are too busy freezing by the time Thanksgiving hits.

As college students, the holiday season is also a stressful time because of all the homework, final papers, and exams. I do

understand all of these things, and how it would be easy not to enjoy this time of year.

Still, the positives tremendously outweigh the negatives.

Christmas mornings are something no one ever forgets, and something almost everyone looks forward to.

Even if you are frozen in November, you cannot deny the beauty of the trees all over Michigan.

No matter how old you are, hot chocolate always seems to make you feel like a kid again, and you have a hard time saying no when someone offers you it.

Giving gifts may take on more meaning to you, now that you are the one doing the shopping and putting all of the thought into it.

I guess what I want to leave students with this holiday season is encouragement.

Many of us balance school and work and this time of the year is extremely stressful.

Don’t let your stress take away from everything you could be enjoying at the same time.

Maybe when you drive home today, you will see the leaves — and smile.

Be careful when choosing courses to transfer Julia Toniolo Agora Staff

ENGINEERS, ARCHITECTS, SCIENTISTS, AND VISIONARIES.

Starting off at a community college has been a great first step to furthering my education, but transferring my community college credits to a university seems to be more difficult than originally anticipated.

Figuring out what classes I need to take that will transfer to a university is like a game of hide-andseek, depending on what university I decide to transfer to.

Luckily, I can use the Michigan Transfer Agreement to transfer my basic credits to any university in Michigan.

Students who plan to transfer to colleges and universities in Michigan can use the Michigan Transfer Agreement, or MTA, as a guideline for what classes to take to transfer to any colleges or universities who have signed onto the agreement.

The MTA provides guidelines for students to take certain prerequisite courses from different areas of study such as English, math, science, social science, and humanities. If the courses taken don’t add up to 30 credits, then an additional course must be taken from one of the groups.

A number of colleges and universities abide by the agreement, such as the University of Michigan, Michigan State, Sienna Heights University, Grand Valley State University and many more listed on the

Possible is everything.

MTA website.

The only catch with the MTA is that the guidelines may vary depending on which institution you choose. For example the basic guidelines for what classes you can transfer from MCCC to Grand Valley State University are different from the classes you can transfer to the University of Michigan.

I found this out the hard way, even with counseling here at MCCC. I was already set on transferring to the University of Michigan last year when I met with a counselor to talk about what credits I needed to transfer.

I was given a slip with a list of classes I could take that will fulfill the MTA, and I scheduled my classes according to that. This seemed like an easy guideline to follow, but I wasn’t informed that if the college I want to transfer to doesn’t offer that class, then it doesn’t transfer.

For example my Math 157 credit, or College Algebra from MCCC, is not listed on the University of Michigan website as transferrable via MTA. The lowest math credit listed is Calculus I, because the lowest math course offered at University of Michigan is Calculus I. Had I known this, I would have taken another math course this semester.

MCCC’s vice president of Student and Information Services, Randy Daniels, advises students to get in contact with the college or university they wish to transfer to.

“What we advise students is that if at some point you do decide, it’s really important to have a conversation with someone at that college,” Daniels said.

“The best thing to do is make a connection at the institution you want to transfer to.”

Daniels also noted that transferring credits can be a negotiating matter. You can request that a course you have taken at MCCC be evaluated if it is listed as non-transferrable. Many college websites have course evaluation request forms specifically for this issue.

MCCC advises students to take general education requirements that will be guaranteed to transfer. If the student does not have an institution in mind, then the MTA can help them transfer within Michigan.

A good idea, however, would be to have a list of colleges that you would be interested in transferring to, so when you choose your classes you can pick a general education credit that transfers to all of the institutions on your list.

“What we try to do is help them with general information for new students and try to stick to things that are generic in terms of transferring,” Daniels said.

“If you don’t have an institution in mind, the MTA is a great guideline to follow.”

Daniels said another issue with transferring community college credits is that students sometimes cannot make up their minds.

“One of the things that complicates this is indecisiveness — not knowing where you want to go or study, so we really try to stick to the Gen. Ed. stuff,” Daniels said.

An issue with taking only general education requirements, however, can be that students may not get experience in other courses to help them decide what to major in.

Another issue is students who never declare their major or change their major without notifying the college, Daniels said.

“Some students change their major but don’t tell, and when I say don’t tell, I mean they don’t tell us or let us know to put it in the system,” Daniels said.

“We’re assigning students to academic advisors based on their major.”

If a student declares or changes their major, it would be in their best interest to notify the college so they can be assigned an academic advisor in the area of study. This will allow them to be advised correctly about what courses to take for their degree.

The best advice I can give students here at MCCC in regards to transferring their credits is to do their research on the MTA. It would also be a good idea to make a list of universities that you want to transfer to and then contact those universities and review their transfer agreements to help you choose classes to take here at MCCC.

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6 | mcccagora.com •

Campus News

The Agora

November 23, 2015

Dean clarifies ‘MyMathLab’ program

By Evan Kutz Agora staff

It has been four years since MCCC’s three beginner level math courses were redesigned, yet there still seems to be confusion about the courses.

Last month, a group of students discussed student life at MCCC over lunch with a group from the Higher Learning Commission, who were visiting campus as part of the college’s accreditation process.

Some concerns were voiced on the math redesign courses. Vinnie Maltese, dean of the Science/Mathematics Division, said he wanted to clarify some of the issues raised by the students.

Sometimes when students ask their instructor for help in a math redesign course they are told to repeat things from their lesson plans, such as watching the video tutorials again, or retaking a pretest before a final.

Maltese said he knows of very few cases where that happens, but cited a case where he was informed of a student being told to watch an instructional video once more as it uses step-by-step arithmetic guides.

“There are many things in My MathLab where you can ask for a guided example.

You can ask for another problem that’s similar, rather than the instructor lecturing just one student,” he said.

Maltese reiterated that if a student has a specific question about the arithmetic, they should come back to the instructor for guidance on how to work it out.

Maltese also said he wanted to clarify that My MathLab isn’t used in higher level courses. Trigonometry and Analytical Geometry (Math 159) is offered online, but also in face-to-face courses.

“We do that so that students have options,” said Maltese. “It’s never offered just online.”

The only math courses offered in the redesigned format (not to be confused with strictly online courses) are the developmental courses – Math 090, 092 and 151.

“None of the other math classes are in that format,” Maltese said.

“That would seem really difficult.

That’s why we offer them face-to-face,” he said.

Agora photo by Evan Kutz

Students use their “MyMathLab” laptops in a class taught by math professor Mark Nabor.

He also explained how the math redesign courses differ from online courses.

With math redesign courses, students still meet in person, accessing the material online instead of in a textbook. Pencil and paper are used for tests.

Online courses have no scheduled classes on campus, and students sign in on personal computers, where their work is submitted.

Maltese said the My MathLab software usually works without any hiccups.

“Like anything else, occasionally technology goes down. As far as My MathLab being down, there have only been a couple of instances,” he said.

Last year there were some extended problems, he said, but they were relatively minor and just occurred during one semester.

“Most of the times students think it’s down, it’s really not. It’s a problem with the computer, the wireless connection, or something else,” he said. “But really, there is very little down time, especially when you consider that this system is available 24/7.”

As far as success rates with the redesign, Maltese said that last winter semester aboaut 45 students passed the courses, out of the nearly 150 enrolled. About 80 failed the courses, and 18 withdrew.

Although this looks bad at first, Maltese said, looking at the amount of time stu-

dents logged into My MathLab revealed perhaps why this was the case.

The class is three hours, and students should spend at least an hour working in My MathLab during class, with two hours minimum outside of class. At the end of the semester, students should have logged at least 135 hours.

Of all the students who failed or withdrew, only one had at least 135 hours logged on the course.

“That’s the biggest issue: students are not investing the time in the course,” he said.

“That’s always been the issue. The difference is we’ve never been able to see. I can’t tell how much time you’ve spent on your English course outside of class. As an instructor, I’d have no way to know.

But with this, we do.”

Maltese said this is important to have for developmental courses, as one of the biggest problem with those students is they haven’t learned yet what they have to do in order to be successful.

“This gives us the ability to help them.

But they still have to seek that help. And when they do, we try to help them because we can,” he said.

Some students can get away with passing the class without spending the recommended time, he said, as every student who has graduated from high school in the last few decades has already covered

this material.

“Some can really accelerate. It’s a refresher, and they move through it very quickly,” he said.

MCCC’s Policy and Procedure manual, in Procedure 3.19, says how many hours a student should study for each course.

“Basic to this policy is a commonly accepted minimum of two hours study and preparation time required for every hour spent in class.”

This has been the general rule of thumb for college courses since before 1972 — it’s one thing about higher education that has hardly ever changed, Maltese said.

He noted that it’s human nature for people to try to get away with spending as little time as possible on a course. But not spending the time can lead to a lack of success.

“That’s how college is set up, where the expectation is that the student does more.

And the reason for that is we want to make people self-learners. We don’t want you to have to rely on somebody to learn.

“When you get one of our degrees, we want you to be in a position where now you can seek things… you can go to the library, you can go online, you can get information and learn things yourself,” he said.

College is about preparing individuals to be independent learners, he said.

“When something comes up at a job,

not often is your boss going to say ‘Let me teach you how to do that’… this is the job you’re expected to do.

“If you don’t know how, figure it out.

And that’s where we try to get students.

And it’s a painful process, especially when you’re used to the K-12 system where you do almost everything in class.”

Maltese said the $315 lab fee is another complaint he gets from students. He said the fee is closely comparable to the costs of the textbooks used before the redesign.

MCCC contracts with Pearson to receive the workbook material and laptops that are given to students (and kept) in exchange for the lab fee. The college pays Pearson $289 per enrollment for the amount of computers and workbooks needed. This nets the college $26 per lab fee.

“Students think we’re getting all this money,” he said.

Every semester, the access code to My MathLab is included in the lab fee, which would stand alone at $120. The workbook is around the $75 range. When adding these up, the lab fee is less than what these materials cost.

“This was the least expensive way - for the student - for us to go with this system,” Maltese said.

If a student registers for a third math redesign course, they will at that time be paying more for their laptop and fees than needed.

This extra cost, plus the $26 left over from each enrollment, goes toward paying the tutors (student assistants who have completed these courses) in MCCC’s Math Den, which is available Monday through Thursday, open nearly each of those days from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

The college worked the numbers to compare other options and found that if a student registered for two classes, paying the lab fee twice, it would still be less than what the materials and access would cost for those two semesters.

The Acer laptops, which MCCC continues to receive updated versions of (they used to have an Atom processor but now come equipped with a Dual-core processor), would be in a market price range of $200-300.

“What they get is really a value,” Maltese said.

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November 23, 2015

Features

mcccagora.com • The Agora

|7

Are we “waisting” our time with the newest fitness trend of waist trainers?

Waist trainers have been around for years, but claim their fame from the use of the Kardashians. Many girls followed and declared the trainers do work.

The purpose of a waist trainer is to strengthen your core, straighten your posture, reduce food volume intake so the wearer consumes smaller meals, and to allow the body to rid itself of impurities through perspiration.

Some MCCC students swear by them and think that the waist trainers do wonders, as long as you use them correctly. Alisha Gambrell is one of these students.

To ‘waist’ or not to ‘waist’

“Walking around the house and at work, it helps my back,” she said.

“It kind of feels like it pushes on it (your back) and it feels good when you are sore but if you make it too tight it is hard to breathe.”

Hailie Casper, a waitress and bartender in Royal Oak wears hers while she works and says it helps her back pain.

“I wear it to work when I waitress or bartend because it helps my posture and reduces my back pain. I also wear it when I do cardio just to try and help target my midsection by creating more heat. I only find it uncomfortable when I sit down because mine bunches up.” she said.

MCCC student Natalie Osment tried one for about a week and did not enjoy her experience.

“I didn’t notice any difference. It was just very uncomfortable and sweaty,” she said.

“I stopped wearing it because it pushed all the fat up to my upper back.”

There are some worries about potential organ damage caused by the trainers. Dr. Apovian on health.com describes other dangers.

“Your stomach might get pushed up beyond the diaphragm, which could cause reflux,” says Dr. Apovian. “If you’re wearing one and you experience those symptoms, that’s a definite sign that you need to loosen it or take it off.”

Story and photo by Cherie Farley

Most of those who use the trainers don’t think that this is an issue because they don’t wear them for long periods of time.

“I have heard about the organ thing but I haven’t really researched it. I don’t think I wear mine frequently enough for it to affect me,” Hailie Casper said.

Alisha Gambrell further explains that only if you use the product improperly should anything be an issue.

“I think if you use them improperly, like too tight or too long, it could hurt your insides.

You should put limits on it and don’t push it, health risks should always be taken seriously.

If it is hurting people maybe they should get a bigger size or one that they can loosen,” she said.

Students who do not wear them are unsure of the reliability of the product. Samantha Bartley thinks it is another one of those cheap television products.

“It looks like an ‘As seen on TV thing.’

Something people would spend money on and then it doesn’t really work. It looks unhealthy. That sort of thing doesn’t look good for you. People who abuse it or overuse it could probably get hurt,” she said.

MCCC student Bristyn Nadeau doesn’t think this is just a fitness fad.

“I could see them being used for a long time,” she said.

“I wear it to work when I waitress or bartend because it helps my posture and reduces my back pain. I also wear it when I do cardio just to try and help target my midsection by creating more heat.”

Hailie Casper Waitress

Toledo police chief explains community relations

By Evan Kutz

Agora Assistant Editor

Toledo Police Chief George Kral visited MCCC to speak with students on police-citizen relations during a brown-bag lunch Nov. 3.

Many students attended because of an interest in criminal justice careers, or for extra credit, but others were there to hear a police officer speak on the hotbutton topic of police-community relations.

George Kral became Toledo chief of police during November a year ago, when previous chief William Moton retired.

It’s been ten years this fall since the Toledo riots.

A crowd of around 600 rioted in response to a cityapproved demonstration walk of a National Socialist Movement group of neo-Nazis from Vermont.

Toledo police officers escorted the group, and it wasn’t long before protestors of the walk went from throwing rocks and bottles at the demonstrators to throwing them at the police.

Toledo mayor Jack Ford, an African-American, accompanied by the fire department chief and a pastor, used a bullhorn to address the mob with no success.

Because of various incidents around the country, police relations with citizens have become a hot topic, of interest to college students.

Kral explained how Toledo police are approaching community relations, and how in his first year as chief he has made changes to improve Toledo officers’ understanding of cultures within the city, as well as how to approach people.

MCCC student Sydney Begeman is pursuing a career in forensic science and investigation.

“I thought what officer Kral had to say was in a way a great truth and a good insight to what the police deal with,” she said. “I have ridden with officers and I do believe one of their greatest assets is to have a close relationship with their community.”

Begeman believes that one of the main problems police face is the mistrust between officers and the community.

“The police and citizens need to have a level of trust and security between them, not a sense of fear and hatred,” she said.

Kral said that computers have enabled crime analyses to be done far quicker. He explained that in his patrol days he was sent out to look for crime to little effect.

“I would drive around and hope to find something.

I drove up and down alleys for five years hoping to find someone come out of a house with a TV set — I couldn’t catch a cold, nothing,” he said.

Karl said now they can look at a computer screen with marked locations of reported crime and spend time patrolling those areas.

“We are 125 officers short—we have to police smarter,” he said.

Kral said the Toledo Police Department continues to expand its use of technology, such squad cars equipped with computers and cameras, the Skycop city camera program, and body cameras on officers.

Although this is seen as an improvement, what was lacking was the relationship with citizens.

“What we weren’t good at was working with the community,” Kral said.

Agora photo by Evan Kutz

Toledo Police Chief George Kral spoke to MCCC students at a brown bag lunch last month.

Although the established Block Watch program is popular, it’s really only informative of crime statistics, he said.

“I’m talking about community engagement,” he said. “Don’t nod at me; give me your input, help me with this problem.”

Kral has introduced a Chief Advisory Board, where 17 people, including faith-based leaders, NAACP, public schools, and mental health representatives, meet to discuss the health of the Toledo community every other month.

“I just buy people pizza and they come and talk,” he said.

Toledo Police Department also is revamping its cultural diversity training.

“We’re bringing gangs members in. We’re bringing members of the Latino community, the AfricanAmerican community, the LGBT community,” he said.

“Procedural justice is very simple: you treat people exactly the same way, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation.”

Karl explained the Citizens Police Academy course the department offers Toledo residents, which they are planning to make available each year.

“You do what we do in the academy, minus the

pushups and situps,” he said. “You do everything.

You do a crime scene investigation. You shoot. You do unarmed self defense, you do defensive driving.”

The course is three hours once a week for eight weeks.

“We’re not immune. Someone’s going to make a poor decision, and there’s going to be some negative press on a policing action,” he said.

Kral said he hopes citizens who take this course will explain to the community — from classrooms to churches, meeting halls or even at dinner — why the officer in a controversial case took the actions that they did.

“It’s been described as 99 percent boredom and 1 percent sheer terror. You’ll go from doing nothing to going 110 miles an hour, chasing a guy with a gun,” he said.

Kral also noted that the city is holding Town Hall meetings.

“We ask what we can do to improve the relationship between police and citizens. And we sit and we listen,” he said.

At the first meeting, 45 people showed up. Kral said he received harsh criticism.

“That’s what I wanted,” he said.

At the second meeting at the University of Toledo, they saw an increase to 150 people, with professors and students voicing their concerns.

“The information we get is invaluable,” he said.

“One guy stood and said, ‘Just remember the first 30 seconds’ of the way a police officer handles an interaction with a citizen because it will set the tone,” he said.

“Right now the people don’t trust us, they don’t trust law enforcement. It’s a very challenging time to be a police officer right now,” he said.

He said a citizen at a town hall meeting at the Farm Labor Organizing Committee said she won’t call police because she’s afraid they’ll run everyone for warrants.

“We don’t run victims for warrants. We don’t. But that’s the mindset that some folks have,” he said.

Kral described a case involving an in-custody death.

“One of my officers was taped punching a guy in the head in handcuffs. That was a bad 48 hours for me. And for the city of Toledo and the police department,” he said.

“Why we didn’t have marches and protests in front of the safety building and everybody rioting is because of the things that we’ve done to reach out to the community,” he said.

“If we didn’t have those relationships, I guarantee you there would’ve been picketers walking around the Safety Building.”

When an officer does something wrong, everyone wants to see the video and report right away, Kral said.

Kral said the department must go through the proper procedures before releasing that kind of evidence to the public.

“I’m not going to roll over for any group — I protect my officers. I will not violate anybody’s civil rights, including police officers, to keep a city calm, I cannot do that,” he said.

8 | mcccagora.com •

Arts&Entertainment

The Agora

November 23, 2015

Halo 5 introduces new mulitiplayer game, Warzone Jeff Brown Agora Staff

After a three-year hiatus, Halo is finally back with its latest installment, Halo 5: Guardians.

It takes place shortly after the events of Halo 4 and introduces some new features and playable characters to the Halo games.

The game was built from the ground up to support co-op play.

This means that if you are playing with your friends, everyone is not just a clone of the master chief.

Instead, before each mission players are prompted to choose which character of a team of four they want to play as. There are two different playable squads, which we’ll get into a little later.

Because there are four members of your fire team, when you get shot down you aren’t out. Your friends or AI companions have a short window in which they can revive you, similar to Gears of War. The campaign is a blast to play in co-op with brilliant level design and fast-paced, adrenaline-fueled combat and set pieces; kicking alien butt has never felt better.

Single player is almost as much fun, only instead of having friends controlling your squadmates, they are controlled by an AI. Often times my computer-controlled allies would run out in the open and systematically get mowed down by the simplest of enemies. Other than that, the way the campaign is designed makes for hours of good

times.

Halo 5’s story was touted by marketing to be “The Greatest Hunt in Video Game History.”

Turns out the Greatest Hunt in video game history isn’t much of a hunt at all, similar to the Halo 3: Believe marketing campaign.

The big problem is the characters. In Halo 5, you play as Fire Team Osiris, a squad of fourth generation super soldiers on the hunt for the other playable squad, Blue team, which stars the main character from every other Halo game, the Master Chief, and his team of second generation super soldiers.

Every playable character has his or her unique backstory and it would be wonderful to get some sort of insight on the people beneath the MJOLNR armor. Instead, what we get is a talented cast of voice actors with their talents put to waste on what is the lightest story telling out of all the Halos.

The highlight of Halo 5 is the online multiplayer, which is superb. Halo 5 multiplayer is split into two modes, Arena and Warzone.

Arena is the game type to play when you’re looking for the most competitive multiplayer experience. It’s a 4v4 battle with even starts and power weapons that drop on the map at designated positions and time intervals.

Arena sports both slayer and objective game types. For each

playlist in Arena, after playing 10 matches, you are granted a Competitive Skill Rating, or CSR. Your CSR puts you up against players of similar skill and makes for a better match-making experience.

If you’re just looking for a good time, Warzone is the place to be.

It’s an all-new game type that fits players against players and AI combatants alike.

The maps are huge and each team has 12 members. In Warzone, the first team to 1000 points wins. The catch is that player kills only count as one point. Your objective while playing is to slay the other team, but also to take over three objective points on the map and fight your way into the opposing team’s base to destroy its

core. However, AI combatants spawn during the match that are worth 25 to 150 points if you take them down. Instead of even starts with power weapons on the map, all players get awarded Requisition points depending on their performance. You can use your REQ points to equip yourself with unique loadouts.

This brings me to the most controversial part of the game. In order to equip the power weapons, you first need to acquire them via REQ packs. REQ packs cost currency that you can earn in game or you can spend cash. Love it or hate it, you earn points fast enough to never have to buy packs with real money, though you could argue people who purchase them

and unlock stuff faster might have a slight advantage.

Regardless, Warzone is some of the most fun Halo 5 has to offer.

Every gun sounds powerful, and the visuals are clean. The field of when, compared to other games, is smaller. Also, the game runs at a smooth 60fps, which feels outstanding.

Halo 5: Guardians is a worthy addition to the Halo franchise.

Not only is it a great place to start playing Halo, but it is also a great game for returning Halo fans.

What the campaign lacks in storytelling it more than makes up for in design and fun gameplay. The multiplayer is both the most competitive and most fun Halo has offered in a long time.

December video game releases Here we are, December!

If you’ve somehow played all the games that came out in November, there are a few games that you can get your hands on this month.

The big two this month are Rainbow Six: Siege, and Just Cause 3. Slightly less of a big deal for mainstream audiences but a massively large deal for fans of Japanese Role playing games, Xenoblade Chronicles X finally comes to North America.

If you’re a fan of bad games, you can pick up a copy of Devil’s Third to satisfy your masochistic needs. With a metacritic score of 44/100, this is one of the most high profile bad games of the year.

December 1 - Just Cause 3 (Xbox One, PS4, PC) December 1 - Rainbow Six: Siege (Xbox One, PS4, PC) December 4 - Xenoblade Chronicles X (Wii U) December 10 - Among the Sleep (PS4) December 10 - Roller Coaster Tycoon World (PC) December 10 - Devil’s Third (Wii U)

New Coldplay album potentially their last Mika Kotanova Agora Staff

It has only been 18 months since their last album, but Coldplay is back with its seventh LP and a brand new single.

The band made the announcement on Nov. 6. The album titled A Head Full Of Dreams was recorded in Los Angeles, Malibu, and London. It was produced by Stargate and Rik Simpson.

They both worked on Coldplay’s last

two albums, Ghost Stories and 2011’s Mylo Xyloto.

According to the band’s website, “Coldplay have never enjoyed making a record more than this one. Nor have they been happier with the results.”

A Head Full Of Dreams includes featured guests Beyonce, Noel Gallagher, Tove Lo, and Merry Clayton.

Coldplay released the first single “Adventure Of A Lifetime” from the

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eleven-track album and is available to listen to on Coldplay’s official Youtube channel. The new single is upbeat and repetitive, which could mean we are in for another Coldplay pop album.

With the new album comes a world tour. Only dates in Europe and South America have been officially announced. The last time Coldplay played in Michigan was in 2012 at the Palace of Auburn Hills.

The new album is also rumored to be their last. Last year, in an interview with BBC’s Zane Lowe, frontman Chris Martin, said “It’s our seventh thing, and the way we look at it, it’s like the last Harry Potter book or something like that.”

A Head Full Of Dreams is due out Dec. 4 through Parlophone and Atlantic Records.