Feb 27, 2020 (51.5)

C

The

Volume 51 Issue 5 Feb. 27, 2020 - March 18, 2020

ommunicator Spokane Falls Community College

SEARCH & RESCUE DOGS AT SFCC FEATURES, PAGE 9

CONTENTS

02.27.2020

Cover photo by Kyra Smith

NEWS

Multiple security incidents on CCS campuses In the first half of February, two burglary incidents were reported on SFCC's campus. The second one included property damage. Both incidents took place in the gated storage yard at the SFCC maintenance building (Bldg. 10). Details about the suspect(s) are unknown.

Between Feb. 20 and Feb. 25, two cars parked at SCC were broken into and looted.

These events reinforce the encouragement to always lock one’s vehicle while on campus.

If any suspicious behavior is ever witnessed, it should be reported to the Office of Campus Safety. Their 24-hour number is (509) 533-3333.

All incidents have been reported to the Spokane Police Department and are currently under investigation.

Anyone who might have information is asked to contact Crime Check at (509) 456-2233.

Visit us online at: communicatoronline.org

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CAREER & TRANSFER CENTER BASKETBALL UPDATE DEBATE CLUB INNOCENT CONVICT SPEAKER

ARTS

6 CABARET FUNDRAISER 11 "FIRE MELT STONE" PREVIEW

FLAVORS

7

$5 FOR FOOD AT SFCC

FEATURES

Courtesy photo

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COFFEE TALKS INTER MTN SEARCH & RESCUE DOGS TOMMY ORANGE EVENT "THERE, THERE" BOOK REVIEW

The first issue of The Communicator is free. Additional copies are 50 cents. Newspaper theft is a form of censorship and removal of copies may result in criminal charges.

Follow us on Instagram at: @TheFalls_Communicator

Follow us on Twitter at: @SFCCcomm

Staff can be contacted at: sfcc.firstname.lastname@gmail.com

OUR STAFF Winnie Killingsworth EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Kyra Smith REPORTER

Ollie Fisher MANAGING EDITOR

Allison Manion PHOTO EDITOR

Nicholas Jackson WEB EDITOR

Katelynn Cooke REPORTER

Lindsey Treffry ADVISER

Photo courtesy of ASG

This could be you!

WANT TO JOIN THE COMMUNICATOR STAFF? Any SFCC student is welcome to join our staff by enrolling in College Newspaper Production I (JOURN 101).

No previous experience is required.

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News

02.27.2020

3

Career & Transfer Center available to all Center, to help people find jobs and transfer to other colleges, open on campus Winnie Killingsworth The Communicator Odds are that a student doesn’t know what career they want to pursue while attending SFCC. Last year, a survey at orientation showed that over 65% of students don’t know what job appeals to them as a possible career.

This year, a new resource here at SFCC that is available to everyone and wants to help people figure out how to takes steps forward to building their future.

The Career & Transfer Center officially opened last July. Erica Morris, the faculty career and transfer counselor, was hired in May of that year. She meets with anyone who is wanting help applying to colleges or jobs. The center offers resources in preparing for either one. Individuals can build a resume or cover letter on a computer located in the center independently or with assistance from staff in the center. There are monthly workshops that focus on these as well.

They can also practice for interviews.

About 60% of SFCC students transfer after they graduate. Figuring out what classes will transfer to their college or university of choice is a big part of the Career & Transfer Center. Morris helps students “plan out their DTA,” or direct transfer agreement.

Sally Field, SFCC director of planning, institutional effectiveness, and research, previously told The Communicator that around 70% of students pursue a DTA. Many of the students who transfer to a four-year school transfer to Eastern Washington University (EWU). The career center page has a page titled “Destination Eastern” and breaks down the process for how to get there.

While the majority of students

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Photos by Winnie Killingsworth | The Communicator Above: Entrance to Career & Transfer Center is seen in the SUB (Bldg. 17).

Below: Erica Morris, faculty career and transfer counselor, sits at her desk.

transfer to schools in the surrounding area, there are also students who take specialized programs only offered at a handful of places.

Morris has worked with students pursuing gold course management.

“You either go to Nevada or you go to Arizona,” Morris said.

Skill building and events also fall under the wheelhouse of the Career & Transfer Center, too. The transfer fair during fall quarter was one of those events.

Nic Burnham, the program coordinator, often goes into classrooms and connects with students to share the resources available through the center.

SFCC’s president Kimberlee Messina is excited to have the Career & Transfer Center open on campus.

“I am really excited to have the positive energy in our Career and Transfer Center,” she said.

“There is great synergy now with our team there, and as we build out Guided Pathways, I look forward to having the center’s role expanded and more integrated in student success and equity.”

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

sfcc.winnie.killingsworth@gmail.com

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News

The Communicator

02.27.2020

Debate club returns to SFCC campus

Recently, a new-old club has come back to the Falls with approval for funding and a new president Ollie Fisher The Communicator Debates aren’t only taking place at a national level anymore.

It’s becoming something more personal to SFCC. The Debate Club, led by student Frederick Van Pallandt is currently in the process of becoming official again. After club gatherings were poorly attended, it had closed up shop years ago. But interest in the club has returned.

The Debate Club recently moved through to the Senate with a unanimous vote after presenting their constitution and budget on Tuesday, Feb. 11, at the Activities Board meeting.

Previously, the Debate Club had not received funding by the Associated Student Government.

Debate Club plans on using their budget to possibly tour high and middle schools and present debates or talk about the importance of listening to different opinions, according to Van Pallandt.

Debate club is “meant to be a space where students can feel comfortable speaking their mind and hearing new topics they might not have heard before.”

—Nicholas Jackson, Debate Club treasurer

During a podcast hosted by The Communicator, Van Pallandt spoke about how the Debate Club is an environment in which students can come to socialize while engaging in civil discourse and learning new ways to critically analyze ideas.

Nicholas Jackson, the treasurer of the Debate Club who was also in attendance at the podcast, said that Debate Club is “meant to

Ollie Fisher | The Communicator

Van Pallandt presenting Debate Club’s constitution during the Senate Activities Board Meeting.

be a space where students can feel comfortable speaking their mind and hearing new topics they might not have heard before.”

One of the main goals of the Debate Club is to promote civil discourse, according to Van Pallandt. They also hope to diminish social tensions and polarization that has been seen all throughout the country.

Even though these are the main goals of the club, Van Pallandt stated that the rules of Debate Club do not allow slander or bullying of fellow students. According to Jackson, the club aims to “foster communication amongst everyone who shows up.”

The topics covered by Debate Club can range anywhere from pop culture to heavier topics such as theology. Topics are decided largely by the students in attendance at each meeting, after being vetted through the leaders of the club.

In the podcast, Van Pallandt

and Jackson engaged in a mock debate using dating apps as their topic of discussion. Van Pallandt argued against dating apps, saying “how they promote hedonism and weaken social structures,” such as marriage. He also mentioned how dating apps encourage people to “use others as tools,” rather than people.

On the other hand, Jackson argued in favor, stating that as long as no one is being hurt and everyone is a consenting adult, there shouldn’t be a reason to be against dating apps. He also argued that many long-term relationships have been formed out of meetings on dating apps.

If you’re interested, Debate Club meets every Wednesday at 2 p.m., in Room 303 of the snw’ey’-mn building (Bldg. 24).

Refreshments and snacks are provided, and in addition to this, Debate Club would look great on your transcript.

Debate Club Meeting Info

Link to the podcast on Soundcloud sfcc.ollie.fisher@gmail.com

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News

02.27.2020

The Communicator

5

Impacted youth forum at SFCC

SFCC student Le’Taxione speaks to students about gang violence Allison Manion

The Communicator Le’Taxione is a full-time student at SFCC and the vice president of our school’s Black Student Union. He’s an author, concrete activist and a member of the Executive Board NAACP-Spokane Branch, with a very important story and message to share with the students of SFCC. Le’Taxione is originally from Fresno, California, where he was one of the founding members of a gang.

“In 1997, I was given life without the possibility of parole in the state of Washington,”’ said Le’Taxione, whose given name is Ernest Carter. This was under the three strikes law for Washington state. He was however awarded clemency in 2015 by Gov. Jay Inslee after serving 22 years of a life without the possibility of parole.

Since his release, he has dedicated his life to impacting and creating change in today’s youth by founding and being involved in several organizations surrounding gang violence prevention “I am the president of LETAXIONE INC. nonprofit,” Le’Taxione said.

He also founded N’STEP, which according to their website is the Nine Steps to Empower Process, is an innovative, non-traditional and effective approach to gang violence prevention. He also speaks at schools and mentors and advocates for justice and social change. He says the time spent in prison was used to enlighten and better himself so he was able to focus his attention on creating change and giving his voice to those who may be experiencing gang violence.

“Thoughts that I entertained during my 22 years in the prison industrial complex were for the most part centered upon purpose-spiritual enlightenment-socio-economic and political justice and change and of course my complete liberation from that form of oppression.’’

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While incarcerated, Le’Taxione wrote 15 books and published 10, three of them children’s books. He also wrote curriculum “Addressing youth/gang violence, self-image and self-worth-ACE’s-environmental trauma and its effect on the psyche,” Le’Taxione said.

Now out of prison, he used his voice both on and off the written page to spread his knowledge and guidance to those finding themselves in similar and different situations then his own, offering support to youth affected by gangs.

When asked why he will be speaking here, he said “I am enrolled in college, so naturally this experience is to be both realized and actualized and in doing so growth is mandated.’’

Le’Taxione believes it to be the most important thing to have these programs and people out there helping today’s youth in the world we live in.

“It is imperative for there is a lack of both two-parent homes and opportunities for youth that have been impacted by ACE’s-trauma-discrimination of all kinds-homelessness, etc. Our youth’s voices must be heard directly from our youth’s mouths and Photo courtesy of Le’Taxione we as both individuals and organiActivist Le’Taxione will speak to CCS students on Feb. 29. zations/institutions must create an atmosphere wherein we can make available a community support system of healing,” Le’Taxione said.

He will be speaking to CCS students at the Impacted Youth -Le’Taxione Forum from 10 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Feb. 29 in the SUB Lounges.

“If you want your challenges and desires to be heard – attend this Impacted Youth Forum for free and make your voice heard,” Le’Taxione said.

An important thing you can -Original Diamond Boy: Psychology of a Gang Banger take away from this event, according to Le’Taxione, is that your destinies are your own, and must -Nine Steps to Empowerment Process (N’STEP) Gang be pursued in the face of adversiViolence Prevention and Intervention Curriculum ty. If this is done, he said, there is nothing that can stop your success.

“Our youth’s voices must be heard directly from our youth’s mouths.“

Top Reads by Le’Taxione

-Gangology 101

FOR MORE INFORMATION: https://www.nstepgangology.com

-Concrete Roses -I Am More Than a Gang Member -A Bully’s Behavior

sfcc.allison.manion@gmail.com

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Arts

02.27.2020

The Communicator

The show must go on! Drama club fundraising Benefits of theater classes explained by professionals after Cabaret night Kyra Smith

The Communicator On Feb. 11, Bigfoot Drama hosted its very own Cabaret night fundraiser, featuring many performances from its wonderfully talented members, along with a cutting of their past production of “Bonnie and Clyde.”

“All of the scenes, monologues, and songs that the students present will be used for competition next week when they travel to Colorado to represent SFCC at the Region 7, Kennedy Center American College Theatre (KCACT) Festival” said Ashley DeMoville, the faculty advisor for Bigfoot Drama, before the students departed for the Feb. 17-20 competition.

According to the SFCC Spartan Theater Facebook page, Jaycelane Fortin, Sarah Plumb and Matt Gerard will all be progressing to the semifinals of the Irene Acting Scholarship competition at the KCACT festival.

Fortin started in the fall quarter of last year and is now the president of the Bigfoot Drama Club, and has a work-study position with the theater.

She believes we need theater, because “when you think about it all

Photos by Kyra Smith | The Communicator Molly Robbins, Sarah Plumb, Nikki Green, and Jaycelane Fortin perform “You’re Going Back To Jail” from “Bonnie & Clyde The Musical.”

the things that people in do everyday life, is accessing emotions and understanding people, and that’s what theater is. We’re storytellers. It’s the form of entertainment people don’t realize they require. You even need drama kids to do educational videos.”

DeMoville sees a theater class as a place for everyone.

“I recommend acting/performance classes to anyone who wants to build up their confidence speaking in front of groups,” DeMoville said.

“I recommend stagecraft or technical

“To portray people, you have to understand people.”

-Jaycelane Fortin

theater classes to anyone who wants to learn a variety of construction, lighting, sound, and painting techniques. Our classes are a lot of fun and really hands-on, so they are a great way to round out your schedule.”

DeMoville said theater should be funded because it “provides audience members an opportunity to truly empathize with other human beings. I’d say that learning empathy is perhaps the most important thing we need right now as a society.”

Students can help support the Spartan Theater by donating their time or money and seeing productions. The theater produces three major shows each year. The next full production will be “Fire Melt Stone” on March 6-8 and 13-15, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. in the Spartan Theater.

Fortin urges all students to come because they “have a free ticket.” All students need is to show their CCS ID at the door.

Anybody in the community can be a part of these shows, and DeMoville suggests joining the SFCC Bigfoot Drama Facebook page, if anyone is interested in contributing to these shows.

Jaycelane Fortin and Molly Robbins perform a duo scene.

sfcc.kyra.smith@gmail.com

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02.27.2019

Flavors

7

Study break game plan: $5 food edition What to eat (and where to get it) when your brain wants a break without breaking the bank Winnie Killingsworth The Communicator As students run from one class to another or use the space and resources available on campus to study for a test and complete assignments, food is often on their minds.

“I slept through my alarm and I missed breakfast.”

“I can’t study with my stomach rumbling every other second.”

“I’m on campus for another three hours. Food sounds amazing right now. I wonder what’s close by?”

Whatever it is in your head, there are options for under $5 that you can grab on campus to help you through the rest of the day and homework waiting to be done.

The cafeteria in the SUB (Bldg.

17) has ready-to-go sandwiches and salads as well as a hot food and a

salad bar. Prices vary depending on what catches your eye. Many protein options are above the $5 mark.

Sandwiches such, as peanut butter and jelly or egg salad (gluten-free options available), are below the mark at $3 to $4.

Multiple buildings across campus have vending machines for snacks and drinks. Outside the prosthetics lab in Bldg. 19, one of each can be found. $1.50 gets you a Pepsi or Mountain Dew. If it’s a Rockstar energy drink that you’re wanting to quench your thirst, it’s 75 cents more.

The vending machine full of snacks next to the drinks has chips, cookies and candy packaged in bright colors filling it. Prices for these range from 75 cents to $1.25.

What your favorite munchie is or what food you might be craving are ways you can decide where to fill your belly while taking a break from filling your brain.

Photos by Winnie Killingsworth | The Communicator

Above, right: Entrance to the SFCC cafeteria Above: Candy options are seen in a Bldg. 19 vending machine At left: An egg salad sandwich from cafeteria

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Features

02.27.2020

The Communicator

Connecting over Coffee Talks The last two Coffee Talks of the winter quarter focus on important topics Ollie Fisher

The Communicator Snacks and drinks occupy a table toward the back of the cozy, living room-esque MOSAIC center, located in the SUB. Couches with pillows and padded chairs surround a coffee table with pens and paper neatly arranged. Despite the cold February weather outside, MOSAIC feels like a warm sanctuary. A few minutes past 11:30 a.m., Claudine Richardson, director of Student Development, Diversity & Equity, entered and began to lead one of the last Coffee Talks of winter quarter, speaking about self-love and self-worth.

The purpose of Coffee Talks is to help students learn leadership and adulthood skills. When Richardson came to SFCC in September 2016, there was a gap in leadership-type programs that focused on communication and emotional intelligence.

Richardson saw an opportunity to fill this gap and, taking inspiration from a previous employer, Dr. Susan Hills, at Eastern Washington University, set up the Coffee Talks at SFCC. The Coffee Talks are where students are “engaging in an intelligent conversation where students are asking questions or learning through different communication styles,” according to Richardson.

They are held in the MOSAIC Center or LGBTQ+ Student Center, but most often, the MOSAIC room, located across from the Recreation Room in the SUB. Richardson said that organizers wanted students to feel comfortable, hence, why the room has couches, snacks, and beverages for events.

Previous Coffee Talk topics have ranged from building credit and how to do it, finding roommates and establishing boundaries, what it means to move on from relationships, and how to correct language when someone shares information with you.

Coffee Talks will be continuing into next quarter, and topics being planned include how to get credit

sfcc.ollie.fisher@gmail.com

Ollie Fisher | The Communicator Coffee, punch, and snacks decorate the table just behind the front desk of the MOSAIC center, welcoming students to the first Coffee Talk.

and improving your credit score, as well as planning for attending college past SFCC and your career.

The Coffee Talks on Feb. 6 and 13 featured the topics of self-love and self-worth and mapping how you want to be treated, respectively.

Richardson, who led the first talk this quarter, spoke about how it’s important to love yourself first and foremost and how it’s important to communicate and establish your own values to not just others, but to yourself.

Richardson also spoke to how its important to make a focused, clear effort in your way of living.

“Pick one thing you know you can do, and create a more targeted, intenseful living of your life,” Richardson said.

The second Coffee Talk was more of a follow-up to the previous one than a standalone. Richardson had a conversation with the audience about choices and how both our conscious and unconscious mind influences both choices and experiences. “When you remove the ‘I’ (from your statements, you remove agency from yourself,” said Richardson.

In addition to this, Richardson spoke about how you want to be treated is shaped by how we treat others. The old adage, “Treat others the way you want to be treated,” was explored more in-depth and actually contradicted, as we ex-

Photo courtesy of MOSAIC More information about MOSAIC’s services and their mission statement.

plored how different people have different boundaries.

Besides this, Coffee Talks offer an opportunity for fellow students to meet. Two students who attended the Coffee Talk on self-love and self-worth, Amy Krug and Elisa Vigil, spoke about how they both enjoyed the event. Vigil said it was “a lot of self-reflection (and) a space to connect” with others.

“It’s nice to take a minute to reflect and examine your selfworth,” Vigil said.

Krug said she found the information presented useful and that

she wants to utilize it in her day-today life.

Coffee talks are most often generated out of things students wanted to see, despite being led by a faculty member. There is a long list of future topics planned, and all are vetted by MOSAIC Work Study students during the summer, as they tell Richardson what they wish they had known the previous year.

“Sometimes if you just create an opportunity, those conversations can take place in a way that is meaningful to (students),” Richardson said.

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The Communicator

02.27.2020

Features

9

Good dog! Search and rescue pets at SFCC

Faces of Intermountain Search Dogs seen on campus Kyra Smith The Communicator

SFCC proudly employs three volunteer members of the Intermountain Search Dogs, a nonprofit organization based out of Spokane County. They work under the authority of the Spokane County Sheriff’s Department as aid for search and rescue.

One of these people is Phoebe Duke, the member coordinator for the team, who has been an athletic trainer at SFCC for 40 years.

Everyday, Duke comes to work at SFCC with her 6-year-old Labrador retriever, Hunter.

Since he was 8 weeks old, Hunter and Phoebe have been training on how to find missing people through the Search and Rescue Academy. It takes over 100 hours and lots of money in order to become search and rescue certified.

“People are amazed we don’t get paid for it. Not only is it volunteer, but we pay for everything out of pocket” Duke said. This includes training, supplies, and anything else they might need on the job.

While they might not get a paycheck, Hunter gets his rewards after a job well done with a game of tug or chasing a ball.

“He’ll do that all day long,” Duke said.

One of Hunter’s most recent tasks was finding one of eight people who were buried on Silver Mountain on Jan. 7.

A Two Bear Air helicopter was able to narrow the space where the woman was thought to be, to about a 30-by-30-foot area, where they then used Hunter and another dog to pinpoint exactly where she was.

The Washington Post called it a morning on the ski slopes that turned to tragedy. The avalanche killed three people and injured four on open run.

Most of what Intermountain Search Dogs is known for is going out and looking for lost hunters, Alzheimer’s patients, and autistic kids.

Duke would tell anyone wanting to do what she does that it takes “a ton of time and a ton of money.”

Both Alida King, and her dogs

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Phoebe Duke and her canine companion, Hunter, on SFCC campus.

Kyra Smith | The Communicator

Dezzi and Remi, and Karen Kelly and her dogs Bliss and TaSul also work at SFCC and volunteer their time with Intermountain Search Dogs.

More information and photos of all of the canine members can be found on their website, intermountainsearchdogs.org.

FOR MORE INFORMATION AND PHOTOS: Go to intermountainsearch dogs.org

WHY STOP NOW? Finish your bachelor’s degree online at the UW.

SOCIALSCIENCESONLINE.UW.EDU

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Features

02.27.2020

The Communicator

Visiting author tells all in Q+A event

In preparation of author Tommy Orange’s event, the auditorium in Building 24 filled on Feb. 5 Katelynn Cooke The Communicator

Tommy Orange, an up and coming Native American author, from Oakland California, visited SFCC, Feb. 5, for a wire harp and red nations, Q+A event.

He was met with eager students and teachers from numerous classes, who had many questions for him and his book “There, There.” The book maintains at least 12 different perspectives. All detailing the days and history leading up to a fictional, albeit celebratory, cultural event, the book’s main setting of interest is the Big Oakland Powwow, and its surrounding areas. The subsequent bloodbath that occurs for the characters and readers, takes place in Oakland’s Alameda County Coliseum.

Orange stated the book was not based off of real people and that had he based it off of people he knew he would have felt it was like exploitation. Which most readers of, “There There” could agree enough of that practice has already taken place against Native Americans.Orange confessed his favorite character was Opal as she has more chapters than the rest.

An interesting connection between the book and Tommy Orange himself is that many of the characters are named after colors.

Readers fall for a character named Blue and another character with the last name Brown. There were no last names, before the colonists the book explains.

Orange was then asked why he chose a specific city. “It makes the characters and the setting more compelling,” he said; This is especially true for Orange and his connection to Oakland and his characters’ same connection to Oakland.

Orange, during a break in questions, said he was surprised no one had asked why his book was so sad, because it was a question he often received. “The book resembles my life and to call it sad was basically to call my life sad,” Orange said.

This earned a mixed reply from the audience; some sighed while others laughed in relation to Orange’s feelings. When Orange was asked if the

sfcc.katelynn.cooke@gmail.com

Photos by Katelynn Cooke| The Communicator Those of little height struggle to see overtop the heads of their peers in the auditorium, as Tommy Orange, and The Wire Harp and Red Nations event speakers contemplate the student and staff alike proposed questions.

story had a moral, he said “I don’t write that way” When asked if the story had an overall message, he said “Life is tragic,” and let the audience sit for a moment with this thought weighing on them. Then he expanded that his character’s preservation and survival shows that life can also be hopeful.

He was later asked if the ending was planned. “I had conceptualized a tragic ending in a writing exercise years before I even considered this book,” he said. He was then asked why he left several characters without conclusions and he stated he likes open endings and for readers to come to their own conclusions about what may or may not have happened to them.

Orange was then asked how he felt about teams that use cultural representations as mascots. He said that most mascots are animals and objects, and asked the audience about local teams that practiced this insensitive process.

The Spokane Chiefs hockey team, and The Spokane Indians baseball team were then mentioned for this use of Native Americans as a symbol as if they were animals or objects when they are instead a people and you would never have a caricature of white people for a mascot, however, unlike other teams such as the Redskins, the Spokane Indians have approval from and are affiliated with the Spokane Tribe.

When Orange was asked if he had advice for other Native authors,

he spoke on getting one’s MFA and dealing with rejection. “Nobody just gets published,” he said.

He was asked if there was more pressure to write the sequel, and Orange replied coldly that there was no new pressure that he hadn’t already felt while writing the first. Orange described his religious upbringing when he said his parents told him the most important thing in his life was his relationship to God and, he joked, “I was like 7.”

Orange said he felt proud that the book identifies the urban Indian experience. When asked why he chose the title he did, he explained this quote from Gertrude Stein: “What was the use of my having come from Oakland, it was not natural to have come from there, yes, write about it if I like or anything, if I like, but not there, there is no

there there.” Orange further said that “There There” wasn’t meant to be thought of as the comforting connotation of the phrase.

In relation to the novel not being comforting, Orange said he chose gun violence to be the climax of the book, because Native history surrounds the idea that white men had guns and Native Americans didn’t and that was why they lost so horrifically.

A student wondered, “Was there anything in particular that gave you the idea to write the book? Like what made you start writing?”

Orange responded, “I knew I wanted to write a novel, I had always dreamed of the community growing up in Oakland growing up native knowing ‘that lifestyle’ was not really covered in other literature.”

Not unlike the display in the book store, SFCC’s library features Tommy Orange’s “There There” book and event poster.

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Arts

2.27.2020

11

Bigfoot Theatre opens a new show SFCC’s drama program prepares for new play; student-led iniative continues tradition of theatre’s original material Nicholas Jackson The Communicator Today, Feb. 27, the SFCC Theatre department will be opening their play “Fire Melt Stone” written by Kemuel DeMoville, for the public. The play is a period piece set in 1889 Spokane during the time of the Great Fire which ravaged downtown Spokane. The play is written to appeal to children, primarily. The actors in the play are all students who attend SFCC. The play deals with themes of family struggle, and how young people deal with problems.

“It’s gonna be a comfort,” said Dani Healy, who is a 12-yearold named George in the play. “It shows a darker side that I think a lot of people will be able to relate to.”

“It’s about a girl who ends up in a pretty dangerous situation because she was chasing a fantasy and ignoring the people around her,” said Conner Gracio, who will be playing Klein, a 62-year-old prospector.

The show will also be managed behind the scenes by Tori Whorley who will be stage manager for the first time for this show.

The stage manager will be responsible for calling attendance and during the show calls for all of the stage cues. “It’s my first time being a stage manager since I’m usually acting, but it’s been really cool seeing a production from the other side of things.”

Rehearsals have been ongoing since late January. The process that leads to people auditioning can be very different. Healy simply showed up and was told by friends who were also auditioning that Dani should do it too, and received a call back the next day for the efforts. Gracio however knew about the auditions ahead of time and prepped for a one-on-one audition with Chris Hansen who

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Photos by Nicholas Jackson | The Communicator

Two of the actors for the upcoming show prepare for the performance this week. Dani Healy, left, and Conner Gracio.

is responsible for many aspects of the drama department.

After the audition process, actors have a wide array of methods to help them get into their roles.

For Healy, it’s memorizing lines and delving into the characters to understand what makes them and trying to find that missing piece to bring to the stage. Many of the cast are returning from a drama award competition in which three of them placed and one entered as a finalist.

When asked about what the drama program means and provides to the Spokane Falls’ community, Healy and Gracio were in agreement. Inclusion of people and the understanding that comes with it, and helping people to discover something about themselves and learning new perspectives.

The stage has always been a place for people to come together and tell stories. The ability to recognize humanity in any kind of play is a testament to the ability of actors and the scripts they’re given to convey honest emotion.

“We’re very open people,” Gracio said.

“It’s just a cool production that people should come see,” Healy said.

The stage manager for the upcoming show, Tori Whorely.

Actors aren’t the only ones with traditions centered around productions, directors too also have their own. Ashley DeMoville, the other person responsible for the drama department, has a Hawaiian tradition in which the participants repeat a phrase which roughly translates to “we are family.” Hansen has a more traditional method known as the Ghost Light, in which the cast will gather on stage around a single source of light and take solemn moments to

remember the actors who came before them and to acknowledge the legacy they leave on every stage upon which they perform.

If you go: ‘Fire Melt Stone’

March 6-8, and March 13-15 7:30 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays 2 p.m. Sundays Spartan Theatre, Building 5

sfcc.nicholas.jackson@gmail.com

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Features

02.27.2020

The Communicator

‘There There’ worth the reviews?

Katelynn Cooke

The Communicator

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Tommy Orange’s book, “There There,” centers around historic and modern gun violence perpetrated against Native Americans. It is Orange’s first book, and it comes straight out of his hometown of Oakland, California. It deserves all of the reviews, it has featured on the first few pages and back cover of the paperback copy, that is still available in the SFCC bookstore.

The novel works to reshape one’s idea of what it means to be a Native American, especially in modern America. It outlines the principal belief that whiteness has a tendency to drown histories that it doesn’t like or current circumstances of Native American tribes it doesn’t want to be held responsible for.

Orange portrays colonists’ attempts to destroy and erase all of Native American life. In the prologue of “There There”, Orange states “Getting us to cities was supposed to be the final necessary

Katelynn Cooke | The Communicator

step in our assimilation, absorption and erasure, the completion of a 500-year-old genocidal campaign.”

The book also shows how people can see themselves and their actions so differently than the world around them does, through it’s continuous use of symbolism with mirrors as a tool for self-perception.

Each character has something

to say about their reflection and that is a token piece of Orange’s display of cultural identity and sense of loss that it can manifest for a person. Orange struggles with the idea of what makes someone true to their cultural identity without forcing the reader into guidelines of what that definition should mean.

He drives home the idea that to be part of a culture isn’t to know something about it but to accept it is some way or another, and to desire it be part of you.

Cultural identity also goes back to the idea of what is traditional, and Orange makes the argument that traditionality is an aspect of cultural identity but isn’t all that makes it up, for example, in one portion of the book.

There’s a quote from “There, There” about all that isn’t traditional but is cultural, where Orange seems to be writing directly to the reader and his characters. “Or even fry bread which isn’t traditional like reservations aren’t traditional but nothing is original everything comes from something that came before which was once nothing.”

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