The Advocate Vol. 49 Issue 13 - Jan. 17, 2014

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The Independent Student Voice of Mt. Hood Community College

January 17, 2014

Volume 49 Issue 13

Campus closed Monday for MLK Jr. Day

ransfer

Two MHCC leaders retire

DEADLINE Graphic by Heather Golan - The Advocate

Eastern Oregon University September 1 www.eou.edu

Lewis & Clark College Rolling Deadline www.Lclark.edu

Linfield College April 15 www.linfield.edu

University of Oregon March 15 www.uoregon.edu

Marylhurst University Year Round www.marylhurst.edu

Oregon State University September 1 www.oregonstate.edu

Concordia University August 8 www.cu-portland.edu

Pacific University June 15 www.pacificu.edu

Vice President of Administrative Services passes the torch

Check out schools at transfer day

by Greg leonov The Advocate Mt. Hood will hold its annual Oregon Transfer Day on Thursday, Jan. 30, from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m. in the Vista Dining Hall, to highlight what is required to transfer to a four-year col-

Review:

lege or university.

Students have the chance to meet advisers from different schools around Oregon, Washington and Idaho, said Calvin Walker, MHCC academic adviser.

“This is an opportunity to talk with advisers face to

face,” Walker said. “Otherwise, students find themselves looking at websites, and you don’t know a lot of the information.

“You’re searching on the website for an hour, and normally what would take you an hour could take 15 minutes here,” Walker said

of the event.

He encourages students to attend even if they aren’t sure of their academic future.

“Maybe this will be the influence that will allow you to make up your mind to transfer to [an] Oregon state school or university,

be it public or private,” he said.

Walker said the traveling Transfer Day event is coordinated each year by a different Oregon school.

Transfer

Continued on page 3

‘Ride Along’ fails to bring laughs

by Danny perez-crouse The Advocate My enjoyment of “Ride Along” wasn’t so much from laughing, but by thinking of all the ways I was going to rip this piss-poor excuse for a comedy a new one!

“Ride Along” is about a potential cop, Ben (Kevin Hart), trying to impress his girlfriend’s veteran cop brother, James (Ice Cube), so he can get his blessing in the couple’s marriage. The only way he can prove his worth is by going on a tour of duty to see if he is cut out to be a cop. And through a set of wacky situations the two get caught up in dangerous adventures and Ben proves his worth and they become good friends. Is this sounding familiar?

The story is generic as hell. It’s another buddy-cop movie, and it follows all of the same buddy-cop movie tropes like a champ. A stern loner who doesn’t play by the rules collides with an optimistic wimpy guy who cracks a lot of jokes. They don’t get along, then, they eventually do. There is a tough police chief, a mysterious drug dealer, a double-

Bill Farver

crossing and an attempt at serious stuff.

I am really getting tired of these same terrible buddy-cop movies, using the same terrible rinse-washrepeat formula: Take a really basic and easy-to-write script, throw in a popular comedian and have them constantly ad-lib to make up for the terrible script.

Speaking of ad-libbing, every sequence shoehorns some instance where Ben and James will bicker for a couple minutes over some trivial issue. It’s not even clever or entertaining. It’s childish banter, lacking any wit or clever retorts, that merely pads out the runtime. Ice Cube will say something tough or demeaning, and Kevin Hart will squeak out some nervous, high-pitched babbling.

And there is an occasionally immature or raunchy reference thrown in, like Ben calling his penis “the black hammer” or his girlfriend “bouncy butt.”

review

Continued on page 4

Associate Vice President of Instruction celebrated

Ursula Irwin

Page 3

2013 FirsT plAce

General excellence Oregon Newspaper Publisher Association

@mhccadvocate

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Opinion

Jan. 17, 2014

Editorial:

MLK Day is a day on, not a day off

We know you may already be planning how to spend the sweet three- day break coming up, but do you know why we have Monday off? Do you know the purpose of this holiday, besides extending our weekend?

First things first: The holiday is federally recognized as the National Day of Service in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. The civil rights leader was born on Jan. 15 but the holiday is celebrated each year on the third Monday of January.

MLK’s birthday was first declared a U.S. holiday in 1983, but was formally re-designated in 1994 by Congress as a National Day of Service. A new Corporation for National and Community Service was charged with leading this effort.

For those interested in more about King and why his work was important, here’s a mini-refresher. He was a passionate pastor, activist, humanitarian and, most notably,

chief leader of the African-American fight for civil rights during the 1950s and 1960s. He is best known for his effective use of nonviolent disobedience, based on Christian beliefs, to achieve his goals. His charismatic leadership inspired many around the world.

While King is mostly remembered for his civil rights work, improving community was also very important to him. In his later years, he increasingly focused on fighting poverty. He believed that we all had a duty to better America and its citizens by helping in any way we could through nonviolent means. Therefore, the day of service is meant to channel King’s wishes for a future of teamwork and caring.

The holiday is also part of United We Serve, the president’s national call to service initiative.

There is nothing specific you have to do.

It could be anything. You could provide a service for someone else, such as helping your neighbors, donating your time at a charity or

cleaning up the streets. You can brainstorm your own service just by getting active and motivated. The main idea is to go out and do something. That’s why MLK Day is commonly referred to as “A day on, not a day off.”

If you are struggling to find a worthy cause to support, go to mlkday.gov and use the “find a project” tool to, you know, find a project.

A collective of Mt. Hood students is getting involved by joining other local colleges for a service project at David Douglas High School and its surrounding area.

You must register at www.tinyurl.com/MLKDay2014 by 5 p.m. tonight to reserve your spot with other MHCC students.

We know that kicking back on Monday seems like an enticing option. But we urge you to honor King’s wishes and go out and do something.

Trust us, you’ll feel awesome knowing you participated in a nationwide effort to help out America.

To see what else students had to say about Martin Luther King, go to www.advocate-online.net

Ben Shult

Tyler Jordan

Jacob Rozof

“I know a couple of things about Martin Luther King Jr: He fought for civil rights and he was assassinated.”

“He (MLK) didn’t necessarily start the civil rights movement, but he was a very big activist in it.”

“I am going to watch videos of Martin Luther King on youtube all day and not eat… yeah, I’m a supporter.”

Social media has not benefited us

Illustration by Heather Golan - The Advocate

by Danny Perez-Crouse The Advocate

I don’t have to explain social media.

It’s one of the most well-known things in our society. However, it’s done nothing for us.

I know social media is a fine tool to stay connected with your friends —although it’s a very impersonal means of communication. When I want to know what’s going on with my friends, I call and ask them. The only people I choose to stay in contact with in my life are people I truly care about. If you don’t “stay connected” with someone, you probably aren’t that close. And you shouldn’t be able to know so much about someone’s life without having spoken to them in years, or ever. Much

of social media isn’t even communication: It’s just monitoring or “stalking,” which is really creepy.

This constant stream of information about others has made us more paranoid and anxious than ever. Take Facebook fear and depression, for example. The fear is that you may have missed a notification; the depression is spurred by the sight of others doing things you wish you could be doing, and in being consumed in their lives through social media. Anxiety U.K. did a study that found social media negatively impacted 51 percent of 228 people polled. And 45 percent said it made them feel worried or anxious.

Our chief concern, of late, has been to legitimize our lives. We are obsessed with documenting every little moment we deem noteworthy, so that we can have proof of it. And then, we have to display our lives for the world to see so we can sleep soundly at night, knowing that other people approved of that slice of cake we ate.

We now inherently compare each other’s lives by cataloguing how many interesting places we’ve taken photos of, how clever our posts are (judged by the number of “Likes” or re-tweets), how many people comment on them and the people on a list who clicked a button confirming that, yes, they acknowledge our existence.

This is not a healthy way to live. A study at the University of Maryland had the participants go into a media blackout, after which most expressed extreme discomfort without social media.

We shouldn’t worry about whether something we did was cool, trend-setting or notable. And we shouldn’t try to turn arbitrary nonsense into public matters. When you get a piece of cake, eat that cake. When something bad happens, just deal with it. When you have a fun experience, be satisfied that it occurred. When a person does something nice for you, say ‘Thank you’ to that person’s face. Just live life.

Some observers say a benefit of

social media is the way in which news travels faster than ever before. But, this is a double-edged sword because false information and rumors also can spread like wildfire. The speed in which we hear things leads to much hyperbole in the negative aspects of our generation.

We think that many things such as violence, illiteracy and bullying are rampant, due to the fact that we now hear about these things whenever they happen, rather than any actual increase.

But, surely this is a great way for marketers to spread the word on their products, right? Newspapers, television, radio and social media are all cornerstones of advertising and communication, however. Social media is just the new kid on the block. It will eventually be irrelevant. One hundred years from now, we may be communicating through each other’s bloodstreams.

For right now, social media is what’s in.

Therefore, anyone selling something is forced to embrace the most popular model of information distribution.

the Advocate Editor-in-Chief Katelyn Hilsenbeck

Living Arts Editor Rebecca Gaulke

News Editor Katelyn Hilsenbeck

Asisstant News Editor Greg Leonov

Another potential benefit is that, thanks to social media, we are more literate than ever, due to the massive amount of reading and writing people do that way. But, since everything people read and write there is so devoid of substance, spelling and basic grammar, it’s a Catch-22. What’s more, it worries me that people have to put in so much effort to sound like an idiot. There are big wavy lines that tell you what you’re writing is wrong. You can go back and edit your mistakes. You have to truly commit to illiteracy by ignoring all that stuff.

I’m not saying that social media (man, I’m sick of those words) is the bane of humanity, nor do I think it should be destroyed. All I am saying is that nothing good has come from it.

You gain nothing with Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and whatever else.

And if you were confused by all the correct spelling and sentence structure in this column, let me rephrase: Yo, itz ridclous hw bad lame social mdia is nowwwadayys #forevur.

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E-mail: advocatt@mhcc.edu 503-491-7250

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Mt. Hood Community College 26000 SE Stark Street Gresham, Oregon 97030

The Advocate encourages readers to share their opinion by letters to the editor and guest columns for publication. All submissions must be typed and include the writer’s name and contact information. Contact information will not be printed unless requested. Original copies will not be returned to the author. The Advocate will not print any unsigned submission.

Letters to the editor should not exceed 300 words and guest columns should not exceed 600. The decision to publish is at the discretion of the editorial board.

The Advocate reserves the right to edit for style, punctuation, grammar and length.

Please bring submissions to The Advocate in Room 1369, or e-mail them to advocatt@mhcc.edu. Submissions must be received by 5 p.m. Monday the week of publication to be considered for print.

Opinions expressed in columns, letters to the editor or advertisements are the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The Advocate or MHCC.

News

Jan. 17, 2014

Start planning to transfer early

MHCC leaders leaving

‘Strong leader’ retires – again

by Katelyn Hilsenbeck The Advocate Bill Farver’s journey as interim vice president of administrative Services is coming to an end — but it lasted much longer than expected.

Farver was hired out of retirement on a part-time interim basis and believed the position would only be for several months. Almost three years later, he plans to retire again.

“I have nothing but wonderful things to say about Bill Farver,” said Pam Benjamin, executive assistant to the president and who works in the same office as Farver. “He encouraged his direct reporters and his staff to be the best they could be. He gave his staff confidence and I could see that.”

Farver had previously retired after being the executive assistant at Portland Public Schools. He also had a 17-year career with Multnomah County, including positions ranging from working for a county commissioner to chief operating officer.

“This has been the third time I’ve left an organization in which people thought I was retiring, but I wasn’t sure,” Farver, 65, said.

Soon after graduating with a bachelor’s degree in political science and a

major in education, Farver and a college friend, Doug Sherman, developed a program for high school freshman and sophomore students who were on the verge of dropping out. He spent seven years teaching this program, called the Cleveland Option Program, at Cleveland High School.

“It was rewarding and exhausting and I had to leave when I started losing my sense of humor,” he said with a chuckle.

“I didn’t know anything about community colleges,” he said. “I’ve enjoyed it much more than I thought I would.”

During his time at MHCC, he focused on two main areas: decreasing the budget deficit of nearly $8 million, and increasing college morale.

“I think the college has made a lot of strides in terms of budget stability, and I think the administrative team, which is a group I have worked with, is a much stronger group and are just having a chance to show their individual skills and their team skills much more.”

Laurie Linn, executive coordinator who worked closely with Farver, said, “Bill was a strong leader. He was a very invested mentor. He built a lot of trust within his team.”

His said his strategies for increasing morale were as follows: “With the

Transfer

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administrative team, it was doing a lot of listening and giving people a chance to talk about what had happened and get support for that. In terms of the overall college, it was trying to set a tone for getting back to the use of college councils.”

The most rewarding piece of his time at MHCC was “working individually with the people on my administrative services team and seeing their growth and enthusiasm for their work. Their intelligence and their passion for the school come through on a daily basis,” Farver said.

“As I leave Mt. Hood, I’m excited about the leadership of Debbie Derr (the new college president). I think the college has someone who’s committed to staying and really has the skills set to have an impact here.”

Farver said he isn’t sure what retirement will hold for him, but he is sure he will try to exercise and see friends more often.

“I’ve really been fortunate in terms of the quality of people I work with and the opportunities I’ve had. I have no regrets about the jobs I’ve been blessed to be given opportunities on.”

Linn said, “If you didn’t get a chance to know him while he was here, you missed knowing a wonderful human being.”

This year, Central Oregon Community College is staging the event, to be held at all 117 campuses in Oregon, said Seana Barry from that school’s admissions and records department.

In each case, the target is “current community college students getting ready or even thinking about transferring,” Barry said.

She said that transferring students should start planning their moves promptly. They should make sure the classes they are taking at their current college will transfer, she said. “But if you don’t know until later in the game, or are in your second term, start looking as early as you can,”

by Dominic Say

Irwin to sign off after 27 ‘wonderful’ years The Advocate Ursula Irwin, MHCC associate vice president of instruction, will log her last day on campus today, after announcing her retirement in December.

Irwin has spent 27 years as a faculty member, dean and vice president at Mt. Hood.

“I’ve had a wonderful time here,” she said. She described her colleagues as “treasured” and said, “I’ve worked with wonderful people all over the campus.”

Irwin said retirement came naturally, but she’s positive about the state of the college. “We have the best teachers here,” she said.

Her colleagues offered similar praise.

“She’s fantastic. She had wonderful follow-through and she’s passionate, said Garie Zordich, Humanities Department administrative assistant and the assistant to Irwin while she was humanities dean for three years.

“A real advocate for the department and for the college… one of the best

deans we’ve ever had in this department,” Zordich said.

Humanities instructor Holly Degrow said, “I really think Ursula had a nice sense of humor and a great way with students… she had high standards.”

A retirement party was held Monday for Irwin in the Mt. Hood Office of Instruction.

“We’re going to miss her terribly,” said Zordich. “What else can you say about someone who dedicated practically her whole adult life to the institution?”

she said.

Walker said Transfer Day is a great opportunity for students to learn about what other colleges exist in and around the state of Oregon, and also what types of majors and programs – and flavor – they have to offer.

“All schools have a unique quality,” he said.

Walker said Mt. Hood strives to help students succeed, wherever they attend classes.

“We want to make sure that students who come here get something from having to spend anywhere from a year-and-a-half to two years getting an education, and then, hopefully, transferring on to a four-year college or university,” he said. “It just makes you more competitive in the workplace. You have a better life.”

Registration opens for blood drive The Advocate

by Katelyn Hilsenbeck

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A blood drive will be held Monday and Tuesday in the Jazz Cafe.

If you wish to donate blood, either register in the ASG office located in the Student Union, call the Red Cross (1-800-REDCROSS) or look for an ASG member recruiting for donors with an iPad. The first step to donating blood is to complete a donor registration form, which includes information such as your name, address, and phone number. Second, you must present a stateissued ID or two other forms of ID. Upon checking in, you will

need to answer some questions during an interview about your health history and places you have traveled. Once the interview is complete, a Red Cross worker will check for temperature, hemoglobin and blood pressure levels and pulse.

The donation process should then last eight-10 minutes. When about one pint of blood is collected, your donation is complete and a worker will bandage your arm.

Donation of platelets, red cells, or plasma by the more complex process of apheresis may take up to two hours, meantime.

Light snacks and refreshments will be available for all donors afterward to assist in their recovery.

HVAC repairs finish on time, slightly over budget

by Katelyn Hilsenbeck The Advocate The project to replace the heating/air conditioning system and to upgrade exterior campus lighting that was completed in late November came in $140,000 over budget, according to figures released by the college last week.

The project that began Aug. 12 and was completed Nov. 27 replaced nearly 50-year-old ventilation fans that were growing increasingly more unreliable.

Smaller, more efficient units were installed.

As a result, MHCC will receive an Energy Trust of Oregon tax incentive of $351,000, plus a $58,000 bonus for finishing the project on time.

The $140,000 spent beyond the original $4.6 million budgeted amount was “due to construction delays and added costs,” Maggie Huffman, MHCC director of communications, said in an email.

Besides the HVAC work, additional outdoor lights were added between the 1700 Building to the Stark Street entrance, at some extra cost. “Many people walk through that area at night, which was very dark before these lights were installed,” said Huffman.

One cost increase resulted from

a change in code requirements during design review that engineers were not initially aware of, requiring adjustments after Gresham city officials reviewed the plans, Huffman said. New air intake routes were also found to be necessary for the Fisheries building.

Also, asbestos was found in an area not believed to contain it prior to construction, said Huffman.

“We found asbestos in two fan rooms, causing us to (locate) different air routes. The space was too confined to get in there and physically remove the asbestos. We also found asbestos on some pipes that had been hidden from view by the old fans.”

Portable heating and air conditioning units were rented during construction, as well.

Huffman said, “This project had its challenges, including those related to retrofitting a nearly-50-year-old building and making sure that classrooms, offices and other areas remained at a comfortable temperature.”

For instance, a strong odor caused by a sealant resulted in some complaints from instructors, staff and students; as a result, that sealant was replaced by an odorless one. The odor first surfaced between Aug. 12 and Sept. 27 and reappeared in early Oc-

tober. Employees were temporarily allowed to relocate, work from home or use vacation or sick days if the odor affected them.

Some areas were fully ventilated, and classes relocated or dismissed.

Going forward, there are contract guarantees in place to mitigate any further surprises.

If projected campus energy savings targets following the overhaul are not reached during the next seven years, Johnson Controls, the firm responsible for the replacement, must issue MHCC a check for the difference, based on their project contract. Precise savings goals are not available at this point, but it is estimated the project will save MHCC $4.65 million over the next 25 years.

The overriding positive of the project, Huffman said, is “we now have state-of-the-art instrumentation that continuously monitors the HVAC system and delivers just-right temperature air as needed, based on time of day and other factors.

“The new system is more responsive to changes in weather and demands coming from individual spaces,” she said. “It is a cutting-edge system that brings our college into the 21st century of energy efficiency and environmental conservation.”

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Living Arts

Jan. 17, 2014

‘Ride Along’ doesn’t impress someone makes fun of Ben’s height.

Ben is also an avid gamer, which 1 triggers some of the most lazy and asinine satire towards gamers I have ever seen.

I’m not above simple or juvenile humor. Some of my favorite comedies, such as “Anchorman,” “The Big Lebowski” and “Spinal Tap,” are loaded with juvenile humor. But these movies have really interesting and colorful humor, dialogue, characters and scenarios, with some well-written and self-aware potty humor. None of that is present here.

Your enjoyment of this film may differ if you are already a Kevin Hart fan. However, his starring debut failed to turn me into a Hart-throb (watch that catch on). His delivery is over-the-top, manic and irritating.

And his jokes are so simple you could probably find the same material etched into a grade school bathroom stall.

To put it simply, I did not laugh at all during this movie. I may have smirked a couple times, or started to feel something along the lines of laughter, but I never cracked up. The only time I laughed was near the end, in a somewhat cleverly designed scenario that was paired with some well-structured dialogue.

If you love Kevin Hart, generic plot structures and comedy that would make children groan at its ado-

Review

Continued from page

HIIII Movie Review I’ll give you a little taste. (Ice Cube) “Get in the car.” (Kevin Hart) “You want me to get in the car, like right now?” “Yes.” “Ok, don’t you be yelling at me you big ape.” “Just get yo little ass in the car before I beat you.”

Now take that kind of back-and-forth, stretch it out for almost two hours, and you’ll get a good feel for the movie and you will understand my pain.

Everything lacks any creativity or thought. Rather than craft humorous scenarios that encourage great dialogue possibilities, everything feels like a stock scene with Kevin Hart improvising. The jokes, if you can call them that, are cheap, low-effort jabs that will elicit a laugh only from those with the lowest of comedy IQs. Many of the jokes are rehashed over and over again. “Ride Along” doesn’t so much beat a dead horse as chop the limbs off and grind them into dust. Here’s a fun drinking game: Take a shot every time

“Ride Along” hits theaters today, starring Kevin Hart and Ice Cube.

lescence, then you’ll love this processed garbage of filmmaking.

Web photo

But, for anyone else, please, don’t support this crap. If you’re in dire

need of a solid laugh, just go see the new “Anchorman” again.

Cosmetology instructor also a singer

by Greg Leonov The Advocate

Arietta Ward

MHCC cosmetology instructor Arietta Ward moonlights as a singer while spending the day teaching part-time at Mt. Hood’s beauty school. “(Singing) is a passion of mine. Teaching as well. They go hand in hand, and it just took a minute to understand how they do go hand in hand,”

TO BE DETERMINED

Ward said. “There’s a balance in both disciplines; they complement each other.”

Last week, Ward performed at the monthly MHCC “First Thursday” event with the Janice Scroggins Gospel Group. Scroggins is Ward’s mother and a prominent pianist in the Pacific Northwest.

“Growing up in her house, she exposed me and my sister” to music, Ward said. “That’s

Looking for something to do? Check out our revamped weekly calendar for

Smash Putt! 2014

Arabic Heritage Celebration Tuesday, Jan. 28 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Student Union

Looking for a lunch-time activity? Come celebrate culture and diversity! This event includes free food, prizes, and Henna tattoos, and will feature special comedic guest Sammy Obeid. It’s free for MHCC students and $2 for guests.

a salon. “She said, ‘Well, if you go to beauty school, I’ll let you work in the shop,’ ” Ward explained.

Even though that shop “kind of fell through,” her new career track was established, she said. Previously, she had worked a number of jobs, and she ended up working as a patient transporter at OHSU to pay for beauty school.

The birth of her son cemented

the need for a stable career, she said.

A degree in cosmetology can lead to many different career paths, Ward said.

Singer

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Viral Vid of the Week

some fun ideas!

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what we grew up doing.”

Although she has sung publicly all her life, Ward pushed that aspect aside when she became a single mother at a young age. “I shut all that down and went to beauty school, became a hairdresser, a cosmetologist,” she said.

Her decision to pursue cosmetology was the result of an offer she got from an exboyfriend’s mother who owns

The Mega Miniature Golf Apocalypse Jan. 31 - March 30 140 NW 4th Ave, OldTown, Portland This two-month long event features a unique artist-made indoor interactive mini-golf course made by Seattle artists. Part art show, part hightechnology, part warehouse party — there’s something for people of all ages and interests. Weekends and weeknights are 21+, but there are family friendly matinees on Feb. 16 and March 9, noon to 3 p.m. Go to smashputt.com for more information.

3A Tribute To The Life and Legacy

Of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Monday, 11 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.

Anthem Convention Center, 3300 NE 172nd Ave, Portland

World Arts Foundation Inc. is putting on its 29th consecutive tribute to Martin Luther King, Jr. and invites the audience to appreciate the sacrifices that have been made to live in a democratic society, which fit the 2014 theme “Oh Freedom!” Their focus for 2014 and beyond is to emphasize the importance of educating all of America’s youth about the Civil Rights movement and who made it happen. Five dollar donations or five units of non-perishable foods will be collected at the door and given to local food banks. If you don’t have plans for Monday’s holiday, check out this event.

Peter Pan marriage proposal at SSE Hydro in Glasgow In the mood for a laugh and/or cry? As part of our weekly feature, we will show you one awesome video and tell you why you should watch it.

This week’s video proves that fairy tales actually do come true! Well, maybe not, but at least for this real life couple they did. In the video, Peter Pan proposes to Wendy, his real-life girlfriend, in the middle of the play they star in together. He arranged for the music to cut out, and even had her family sitting in the audience to see it all. The Scottish couple make this video adorable, and it’s sure to tug at your heart strings. But beware, Wendy’s cry will pierce your ears throughout the entire video. It’s still worth a watch!

Living Arts

Jan. 17, 2014

5

Faculty exhibit: part 2

Annual faculty exhibit open now

Photos by Carole Riggs - The Advocate

The annual faculty exhibit will be open through Jan. 30. Top right: Mary Girsch’s artwork includes a photo of her father, altered through Photoshop and using chalk pastels. Bottom far right: Steve Mauldin’s piece titled “Riddle” shows a series of symbols that represent the birthdays of him and his wife.

Mt. Hood’s annual faculty exhibit showcases the talent of the instructors of the Visual Arts department. It includes the work of five full-time and nine part-time instructors, and will be on display through Jan. 30.

Here are a few profiles to give you a behind-the-scenes look at the artwork.

Joe Davis Full-time instructor Joe Davis’s work includes raw porcelain plates and sculptural objects. The plates are utilitarian and usable, he said.

The process of making the plates, titled “Wavy, Gravy, Flashy Plates,” involved firing them upside down, while stacked on top of one another. The plates show evidence of the direction of the flames where the plates were warped by ash.

He emphasized the fact that he made the plates without using any glaze, and simply allowed the fire to run its course.

“You’re making the 3-dimensional object, but then you’re allowing the kiln to decorate it for you,” he said.

Another piece of his work, titled “Nest,” is more of a sculptural piece, with reference to a vessel, he said. He used a glaze on this piece, which melted and actually sealed the hole shut.

“You could use these to serve wine – I’m the only one that ever does. I could have tried to drill it out with diamond, but I was afraid I might break the whole thing, so it’s purely sculptural now,” he said.

He says the piece references “to a kind of animal . . . a duck . . . it has a tail, and sort of has feet.” Davis is interested in the reference to pottery and animal forms working together, and thinks of the piece as playful.

Another sculpture on display, “Pod Vessels,” was inspired by seedpods, he said. “There’s always a reference to the vessel in my sculptural work, even if it’s purely sculptural: there’s still an interior and exterior.”

Davis enjoys having his work on display for his students to see, where they get to see the end result of his creative process.

“I teach them to develop their ideas over a short period o f

time. I’m convinced that it helps them to trust in the process: the creative processes, the inspiration, thinking, evaluation, and then reinterpretation.”

- Rebecca Gaulke

Nathan Orosco Nathan Orosco’s sculptures, titled “Humira” and “Percocet,” are references to an “essence of a figure or an essence of a being.”

He uses a variety of cast metals and materials to complete his works. “I was trying to make a portrait of these beings, and these beings are pretty much portraits of not anybody in particular. And they’re made out of cast bronze, cast aluminum, cast silicon and plaster,” he said.

He uses molds in the casting process, where he pours the liquid metals plastic into the molds to make it into a shape.

These sculptures are the first step for Orosco to get back into “doing more figurative work, More predominantly nonrepresentational.”

For the last 10 years, while not doing figurative work, he focused more on architectural forms that were more rigid and forms that dealt with landscapes rather than figures.

“With the new work I’m doing, I’m trying to combine the traditional working methods with bronze and aluminum with casting, combine it with some more contemporary materials, like the silicon and the plastic.”

He says he wants people to react to his work in a series of steps. “I want them to first off react to the combination of materials, then after that I want them to try to combine the face and the forms, the patterns. Hopefully the viewer takes the timelessness, a sense of timelessness, to the forms because I think it’s ancient but it’s also futuristic at the same time.”

Orosco says that a big part of art is exhibiting. “We like to show them that a part of making art is exhibiting; it’s a big part of their education to exhibit in the gallery.”

- Rebecca Gaulke

Mary Girsch Mary Girsch’s art has evolved with technology, combining digital prints with chalk pastel and Photoshop. “Photoshop had to evolve in order for artists to do something like this,” Girsch said.

One of her digital prints, titled “True,” displays the golden ratio, which adds a lot to the image. “There’s something about proportion and the subdivision of space and the fact that it’s a man-made con-

struction, but it really was a discovery in nature,” she said. “It adds a mystic element to it.”

The images include a personal touch — a photo of her father at the age of 4, as well as a photo of herself.

“He was a really interesting man,” Girsch said of her father. “One of the things that was interesting about him was that he was really rational and science-y.

He was a science guy, but he was deeply emotional.”

She also uses geometric shapes as a means of expression. “You can see I am constantly using this idea of geometry and I’m captivated by it,” she said.

“There is a mystical quality about geometry because it’s in everything but we never see it, but to me I feel sort of strength and comfort from it.”

Girsch uses a variety of methods while using Photoshop to achieve the desired effect. “Sometimes you can take an image and break it down so much that all you have is color, and its not copyrighted material because it doesn’t exist anymore.

Like the very, very back of this (image) is a texture I found that is the skin of a lizard or something.”

Photoshop gives Girsch the ability to take things apart and make them her own. “Start thinking of an image as a series of pixels that accidentally take this shape, then it sort of frees you visually to sort of take things apart. It’s no longer just a photograph of somebody.”

- Rebecca Gaulke - Information contributed by Greg Leonov

Howard Neufeld Howard Neufeld’s artwork is greatly inspired by the golden ratio. It is displayed repeatedly in most of his work and appears in the piece being showcased at Mt. Hood’s exhibit.

From the beginning of his life as an artist, he preferred squares. “From my first painting class, for some reason, I was attracted to the square format,” he said.

The piece in the Visual Arts Gallery is two golden rectangles crossing, and split in the center.

Neufeld’s work is often inspired by the philosophies of artists Paul Klee and Vasily Kandinsky. They are “two mentors that I’ve kind of clutched on to throughout my whole career,” said Neufeld.

Klee’s philosophy is structured chaos, explained Neufeld. “If you take the word chaos and apply it to quantum mechanics, which wasn’t even around in Klee’s day, you find a lot of really interesting relationships to what he was doing; this sort of natural philosophy.”

Kandinsky was on a quest for pure abstraction, and came up with a theory for non-representational subject matter. He released a booklet titled “The Spiritual Art” in 1910, and was used as a textbook in some of Neufeld’s classes. “I think everybody since that book has been influenced by it,” said Neufeld.

The piece “Untitled Mandala” was made by a process of painting that happened through “half chance and half intuition,” said Neufeld. “It’s almost like you didn’t do it through consciousness with the actual production, I mean; it’s in another area.”

Neufeld asks viewers to use their imagination when they observe his work.

“The bottom line is, I really want the viewer to use their imagination; that’s my goal. That’s my purpose.” He said that everyone has imagination no matter what his or her profession or of walk of life is.

- Greg Leonov

Steve Mauldin Artist Steve Mauldin features paintings that he describes as throwback. They are a series of works that he started, but didn’t finish until years later. “I couldn’t bear all of that paint, and canvas and this work go to waste, so 10 years after I started them, I went back and finished them,” he said.

One of his works, titled “Riddle,” shows a series of symbols that represent the birthdays of him and his wife. Mauldin’s is on the fourth of July, while his wife’s is on Valentine’s Day. “They struck me that there was a slight narrative quality to this configuration: the happy heart and this potential violence. ”The pieces were done through a process in which the artist painted the work face down on a piece of acetate. After that the canvas got laid down on the painting “and peeled off the acetate which is what gave it that slick surface,” said Mauldin, “It was a royal pain in the butt.”

Another set of paintings displayed in the gallery are made by slinging paint, titled “Lookout” and “Warrior.” “I like the energy, and the whole time I was doing these it simulated that there was a great potential for mixing color optically.”

A third set of paintings is on canvases that are split into a white section and a black section, titled “Poles No. 1” and “Poles No. 2.” Mauldin displays the difference of how colors overlap and how they show up on white versus black; he wanted to illustrate a “polar relationship.”

- Greg Leonov

6

News

Jan. 17, 2014

Ward finds inspiration for hair from students Singer

Continued from page 4 “There’s a lot of different facets you could break off. You could be a chemist, a color expert. You could do a lot of different things, and I just chose to teach,” she said.

Before she landed at Mt. Hood, Ward worked as a massage therapist for a year. “Different people kept calling for subs at school. I was trying to get away, and the other gig didn’t pay as much. Plus, I still had to support my son.”

Mt. Hood’s great wages for instructors is what attracted Ward to teach at the Gresham campus. “In traditional beauty schools, in cosmetology programs, their wages are really close to being minimum wage (for) an educator,” she said.

Ward was hired in 2008, the same year she began singing again. She said she finds singing a healing way to ex-

press herself. “You get to a point, sometimes. Circumstances happen, and instead of going to jail, you need an outlet. In order for you to stay sane, you need an outlet, and singing is my outlet.

“I do it for fun, but I also get paid,” she said.

Ward has branched out “with a lot of different projects,” she said. She is a primary member of the Doodoo Funk Allstars. “It’s a conglomeration of a lot of musicians that are doing a lot of different things.”

Every first Thursday of the month, the Doodoo Funk Allstars host an open mic event they call the “Dookie Jam.” at Dante’s on 350 W. Burnside St. in downtown Portland.

Ward said during the Dookie Jam, her teacher instinct takes over.

“Sometimes I have to remind them that there’s an etiquette, just like school. So, the teacher part kicks in, and it says ‘Look here, this is how this works!’ It’s a team effort, this is not (a) ‘me – I am’ show, it’s a learning expe-

rience for people that are not used to being onstage or for people that have been on stage,” she said.

“It’s like a release for a lot of us.”

While teaching, Ward soaks up wisdom from her students. “I learned so much from my students.

Just a different outlook – you’re doing a haircut a certain way, and then you have them show you ‘Oh, why don’t you do it this way,’ and it’s cut the same way.

“And it’s the same with singing,” she said. “If you’re around your contemporaries, you see a song that you’ve probably been singing forever, and they do something a totally different way, and it makes you think outside of the box.

Photo by Carole Riggs - The Advocate “Everyone has a different outArietta Ward (right) performs at the First Thursday event on Jan. 9 with the Janice Scroggins look, and to learn from it rather Gospel Group. than to say ‘That doesn’t make any sense,’ it keeps you humble, and it doofunkallstars “You can do a lot of different things, keeps your mind expanded,” Ward said.

To see some Dookie Jam sessions, you know?”

Just as with hair, music offers unsimply search for Dookie Jam on YouThe Doodoo Funk Allstars are on bounded creativity.

Tube.

Facebook at www.facebook.com/doo-

Tour Club Fair, complete passport for t-shirt, lunch

by Emily Wintringham The Advocate Mt. Hood’s Student Organization Council (SOC) will present a Club Fair next week, filled with magicians, free food and movies.

The Fair runs in the Student Union from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday and 3 to 5 p.m. on Thursday.

It pays to arrive early each day: The

News Briefs ASG Elections Committee Mt. Hood’s Associated Student Government (ASG) is currently hiring for the 2014 Elections Committee.

Positions include a stipend of $300 to $600 for services provided.

Applications, available online, are due at noon Friday, Jan. 24.

For a list and descriptions of the positions needed and their corresponding stipend amount, visit mhcc.edu/asg.

Eligible applicants must have a minimum 2.0 GPA and be available for interviews the following week.

Contact Meadow McWhorter at Meadow.McWhorter@mhcc.edu for any further questions.

- Katelyn Hilsenbeck

Financial Aid Day Mt. Hood will again host Financial Aid Day, on Saturday, Jan. 25.

The event is staged by the Oregon Student Access Commission to provide free help with filling out FAFSA forms and offers experts’ answers to questions about financial aid.

It runs from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Room AC3333, upstairs from the MHCC Library.

Besides the free FAFSA assistance, there also will be seminars on applying for scholarships, starting at 9:30 and 11 a.m. and at 1 p.m.

To participate and get all the help possible, be sure to bring asocial security number, a driver’s license or other state-issued ID, a current value of assets and 20122013 tax returns.

first 30 students to visit each of the Club Fair tables and fill out their passport get a free T-shirt and lunch.

The theme of the fair this year is the beloved film classic “The Goonies.”

There will be three free showings of the movie on Thursday, at 3, 5, and 7 p.m. in the Visual Arts Theater.

Each day as the fair opens, a special soup and hot chocolate will be provided free while they last.

On Wednesday, magician Hart Keene will perform his blend of magic, mentalism and comedy. Originally from Eugene, he was featured on NBC’s “America’s Got Talent” in 2010.

Emma Bird, SOC director, urged students to take advantage of the chance to check out the active groups on campus. “Students should attend Club Fair because it’s a great way for students to get involved at Mt. Hood

and join a club with people who have similar interests,” Bird said.

“It’s an opportunity for us to show enthusiasm for exploration,” says Rob Sotin, president of the MHCC Science Club. “Students can discover things they never knew existed in the world.”

Clubs scheduled to participate include: Black Student Union, Clay Club, Collegium Musicum, English Conver-

sation Club, Gamers Club, Gay Straight Alliance (GSA), Hotel Tourism & Restaurant Club (HTR), Image Makers, Japanese Club, Jazz Club, M.E.Ch.A., Mental Health and Human Services, Navigators, Rho Theta, R.I.C.E. Club, Science Club, Student Nurses Association, Student Surgical Technologist Associated Team (SSTAT), Vector Math Club, Wildside Club, American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE).

Classified contract still in progress

by Katelyn Hilsenbeck The Advocate The Classified Employees Association and the administrative bargaining team met in mediation Jan. 10 when the college delivered its offer three hours into the meeting, said Cathy Nichols, Classified Employees Association president.

The association reviewed the offer and sent back a previously prepared proposal, Nichols said.

“They came back and said there was a lot of information there and they needed to review it and we were done for the day,” said Nichols. “We were prepared to stay as late as it took to get a contract.”

Their next mediation session is scheduled for Jan. 29.

“We have cleaned up a lot of language articles, but we are down to handful of articles now,” she said.

Nichols said the Classified Association is aiming

to have three-year contract retroactively effective to July 1, 2013. Going into negotiations, Nichols said they were told it would not be an issue to do so; however, she said several months ago they were told the administration was reconsidering its position.

This would affect issues such as a cost-of-living adjustment. A 1 percent increase would turn into a one-half-percent increase if the contract were to be ratified halfway through the year and not retroactively put into effect, she said.

“When we started bargaining in February, they were looking for a new president. And at that time, the college really wanted to push to have a new contract by the time the new president came.

“I go into every session saying, ‘Let’s get this done!’ ” Nichols said MHCC President Debbie Derr said, “I hear you. Let’s get this done,” at a pre-mediation meeting on Jan. 8 in response to Nichols “let’s-get-

it-done” attitude.

Bill Farver, who held the position vice president of administrative services until he retired Thursday, said, “I thought we were making good strides in building relationships between management and union. I thought we had a good strategy in terms of trying to approach it from objective data and transparency. I think the challenge has been people really overcoming the past . . . and willing to give new leadership the opportunity to build trust with them.”

Farver said his strategy for negotiations was trying “to set a tone of civility and use of data in how decisions were made and an overall openness about how decisions were made.”

“I think my biggest disappointment was the strategies of the budget and how we were going to balance didn’t take hold in labor negotiations with full-time and classified (employees association). The leadership there didn’t embrace labor negotiations based on the data.”

marylhurst student body:

90% transfer students.

With determination and disregard for obstacles, each of them is finishing a four-year degree while transforming their lives in the process. If this sounds appealing, we have one thing to say: Welcome.

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Take exit 8 off I-205 Oregon City

- Lindsay Frost CommCollege_8x5_MtHood.indd 1

12/23/13 9:16 AM

Sports

Jan. 17, 2014

7

2nd-half letdown dooms Saints again Lady Saints host region leader Clackamas next Wednesday

by Q Quarterman The Advocate

Upcoming Games Clackamas @ MHCC Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.

MHCC @ Umpqua Saturday Jan. 25 at 2 p.m.

MHCC @ SW Oregon Saturday Feb. 1 at 2 p.m.

On Wednesday evening, another game slipped through the Mt. Hood women’s basketball team’s hands.

The Saints led 22-21 at halftime against the Portland Community College Panthers.

Unfortunately, keeping a second-half lead has been a consistent challenge for Mt. Hood. This game was lost in the last five minutes of play after PCC surged to a 48-45 lead with 5:54 left in regulation. In all, the game was tied 10 times, with 12 lead changes.

Final score was PCC 62, MHCC 48.

The full court pressure applied by PCC contributed to the Saints’ shooting woes: 10-for-33, for 30 percent) from the field, and 27 percent (4-25) from the three-point range. The Saints also struggled from the free throw line, shooting 35 percent (6-17).

On the brighter side, Mt. Hood finished with more points off the bench than Portland (254), and Mt. Hood kept their turnovers (21) low compared to PCC’s 25. MHCC scored 17 points off Portland’s turnovers.

The Lady Saints found it hard to score down the stretch as PCC guards Diamond Bolden and Shamarica Scott lead the Panthers to the win. Mt. Hood was led by two freshmen: Marley Yates, who had team-high 16 points, eight rebounds, and Alana Wilson, who added nine points and three boards.

Last Saturday against Lane Community College, the Saints lost a tough game at home 87-44. The Titans led at halftime 36-16.

Mt. Hood was in a battle against a team shooting a higher percentage (41.7 percent to 28.3 percent) and a significant rebounding edge (54-31). They were a step or two quicker than the Lady Saints.

Mt. Hood was led by three freshmen: Hannah Wahlers with 13 points while shooting 3-5 on three-pointers; Yates with 11 points and five rebounds; and Taylor Scott, who scored 11 points and six rebounds.

The team will host Southern Region leaders Clackamas Community College Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.

Photos by Carole Riggs- The Advocate

Top Left: Freshman Marley Yates pulls up for a midrange jump shot against Lane on Jan. 11. Above: Freshman Taylor Scott shoots the ball over a Lane defender.

Running is more than just a sport

by Brandon Raleigh The Advocate “Every morning in Africa a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must move faster than the lion or it will not survive. Every morning a lion wakes up and it knows it must move faster than the slowest gazelle or it will starve. It doesn’t matter if you are the lion or the gazelle, when the sun comes up, you better be moving,” according to a Maurice Greene quote.

I’ve been running for many years, competing at the club, high school and collegiate levels.

Something that has always fascinated me about the sport was the success of African long-distance runners.

For many years, African distance runners have stood atop the running world. From the 800-meter dash (two laps) to the marathon (26.2 miles), African athletes dominate. They have brought home countless Olympic medals and seem to own just about every distance record. In fact, 18 of the top 25 record-holders in the 3K steeplechase are Kenyan. Since the late 1980s, 70 to 80 percent of long-distance races have been won by East Africans, according to an article on theatlantic.com.

Most long-distance running success comes out of Eastern Africa, most notably from Kenya and Ethiopia.

There are many factors contributing to the success of these fine long-distance runners. The way they train, where they train, how they eat, what they think and life experiences are all attrib-

utable to their success.

East African runners train at high elevations.

According to a runforyourlife.com article, “Much of East Africa is located at altitudes between 1600m and 3000m above sea level, with the Rift Valley in Kenya and Ethiopia, the two most dominant countries in distance running, situated at altitudes between 2000m and 4000m.”

Training at high elevations, where oxygen

levels are lower, helps athletes increase their red blood cell count. Once returning to sea level they are able to compete at a higher level because more oxygen is getting to their muscles (BBC.com).

African long-distance runners focus on quality over quantity when it comes to training. They integrate hill workouts to build strength and speed and put a large focus on recovery. It is common to see these runners jogging around at a pace average

African long-distance runners have proven their dominance atop the running world time and time again.

Web Photo

runners couldn’t maintain on their recovery days (fullstriderunning.com).

The drive of African runners is tough to match.

An example of the sheer mental toughness of African runners can be seen in the 1968 Olympics: “Kalenjin runner Kipchoge Keino defeated worldrecord holder Jim Ryun. That day Keino not only won gold, but he also ushered in an era of Kenyan dominance. The amazing thing is that doctors had ordered Keino not to run the race at all. He’d been diagnosed with a gallbladder infection just a few days before. A gallbladder infection is incredibly painful. It hurts the most when you breathe hard, when you’re running. Keino not only won the race, but he also set the Olympic record,” (How One Kenyan Tribe Produces The World’s Best Runners, NPR) Winning a big race can help these athletes provide for their families. According to Business Week’s article “The World’s Best-Paying Marathons,” the New York City Marathon handed out an astounding $864,000 in winnings back in 2006.

With the high poverty levels in Eastern Africa, a win could leave an athlete and his/her family set for a long time.

African long-distance runners have proven their dominance atop the running world time and time again. The way they train and the mental toughness they exhibit are unique.

Running is more than a sport to African runners. These runners inspire me. I hope to integrate some of their training techniques into my training to help me become a stronger runner.

8

Sports

Jan. 17, 2014

Men’s basketball returns to winning ways

by Aaron Marshall The Advocate The Saints traveled to Portland Community College Wednesday and snapped PCC’s threegame win streak, winning 71-63.

It was Mt. Hood’s second straight win, as the team bounced back from three narrow defeats.

“Our guys did a really good job rebounding. We had eight players with four or more rebounds, which was huge,” said MHCC head coach Geoff Gibor.

“The guys played the scouting report really well with individual players. I thought that helped us keep them off balance,” Gibor said.

“We showed good patience and were able to close out the game.”

Mt. Hood led the Panthers at halftime, 3422. “At the half we emphasized staying patient

We have a deep roster this season and it helps when you have seven guys on the roster with experience.

Geoff Gibor Head Coach in our zone offense. We struggled against their zone the last eight minutes of the first half,” Gibor said, “but they didn’t play any zone in the second half.”

Saints sophomores Jalen Thomas and Brock Otis each had a team-high 15 points. Thomas had a big game off the bench, scoring his 15 points in 15 minutes and making seven of nine free throws.

“His patience has been continuing to get better throughout this season from last year,” Gibor said of Thomas. “As a point guard, you have to be able to control the tempo and not get sped up. He has been doing a better job of

-

that this year.”

Fellow sophomores Landon Rushton and Mac Johnson also scored in double digits, with 13 and 11 points. Johnson went 9-12 from the freethrow line.

The Saints also prospered with points off the bench as sophomore Denzel Green contributed eight points to the 29 total from backup players, compared to PCC’s 23 bench points.

Last Saturday, Mt. Hood hosted Lane Community College and came out on top, 76-63.

The Saints outscored the Titans in the first half 36-32 and ran away in the second half. They recorded 20 assists on 27 shots made, pleasing their coach.

“We came out and played our game. We’re getting better every day, and as long as we continue to get better, that’s it,” said Gibor.

The Saints dominated in the paint, outrebounding Lane 37-25, and got solid contributions off the bench with 28 points, compared to the Titans’ 16.

“We protected home court and this win was a big confidence booster after the three tough losses. We had key contributors off the bench,” said Gibor.

Johnson led the way with 24 points on 10for-14 shooting from the field in 30 minutes, along with six rebounds. Otis added 18 points, including 2-for-4 from beyond the three-point arc. Otis played 38 minutes, the most for any player from both teams.

Green and sophomore Blake Updike scored eight and nine points off the bench, the latter netting two three-pointers.

The Saints shot 50 percent from the field, compared to Lane’s 38 percent.

Gibor acknowledged that the veteran-heavy Saints have had an advantage keeping teams out of the paint this season, but they need to work on turnovers and talking on defense.

“We’ve done a good job inside the post and (defending) guards cutting in,” the coach said.

“We have a deep roster this season and it helps when you have seven guys on the roster with experience. We have been a good second-half team to start, but we have to close out games better and control the tempo late in games.”

Sport

Photo by Carole Riggs- The Advocate

Sophomore Brock Otis pulls up for a jump shot against a Lane defender during the game on Jan. 11. Otis scored 16 points on 5-10 shooting.

At 4 p.m. Saturday, Mt. Hood, now at 12-4 overall, 2-2 in the South Region, heads to Albany to take on Linn-Benton Community College (4-10, 0-4).

SC

“It was a big road win for us (Wednesday) and now we have to build on this,” Gibor said.

On Wednesday, the Saints will host (7-10, 1-3) Clackamas in a 7:30 p.m. game.

entral

NFL Conference Championships

by Edgar Valencia The Advocate For the first time since 2005, all four favored teams in the NFL divisional round took care of business and set up two very exciting matches for this championship weekend.

The fans and league executives got the AFC title game they wanted since the beginning of the season, as the Denver Broncos host the New England Patriots on Sunday. That means another showdown between quarterback legends Peyton Manning and Tom Brady.

It will be the 15th meeting between the quarterbacks in a series in which Brady has a 10-4 edge, including a 2-1 record in the playoffs. He last bested Manning in Week 12 this season with an amazing Patriots comeback from a 24-0 halftime deficit to earn a 3431 overtime win, thanks largely to his three second-half touchdown throws.

The Broncos’ defense will have its hands full. It will have to come up with a solution to stop LeGarrette Blount, who had four rushing touchdowns for the Patriots as they put up 234 rush yards in their win over the Indianapolis Colts last weekend.

On the other hand, the Patriots must find a way to stop Manning, who threw for 230 yards last weekend and tossed an NFL record 55 touchdown passes this regular season, a mark that had belonged to Brady.

Other players to watch for this weekend are Denver wide receiver Demaryius Thomas, third in the league this year with 14 touchdowns with 14 for Denver, and Patriots running back

Steven Ridley, who had 7 touchdowns in the regular season.

In the NFC championship game later on Sunday, the top-seeded Seattle Seahawks will host the San Francisco 49ers in a match sure to be entertaining to watch, since both teams absolutely hate each other.

The Seahawks blew out the 49ers 29-3 in September, but the Niners responded last month in San Francisco with a very close 19-17 win.

This final matchup features two of the best defenses in the NFL. Seattle led all teams in the regular season, allowing only 14.4 points per game. In the Seahawks’ playoff game against the high-scoring New Orleans Saints, they held Drew Brees & Co. to 15 points in their win 23-15 last weekend.

San Francisco ranked third among NFL defenses, surrendering 17 points per game. They now will unleash the No. 4 rushing defense against the league’s No. 4 rushing offense.

Both teams’ QBs are in only their second season as starters, and have met incredible success in a short amount of time.

After taking over for Alex Smith last year, Colin Kaepernick led San Francisco to the Super Bowl (and a hard-fought loss to Baltimore). Russell Wilson helped Seattle win a playoff game during his rookie campaign and in Year No. 2 continues to lead the oddsmakers’ favorites to win it all.

In two matches that promise to set the TV ratings on fire on Sunday, just two teams will emerge. The winners then face off in the Super Bowl, set for Feb. 2 at MetLife Stadium just outside New York City.

AFC CHAMPIONSHIP

New England Patriots @ Denver Broncos Sunday, Jan. 19 12 pm CBS

NFC Championship

San Francisco 49ers @ Seattle Seahawks Sunday, Jan. 19 3 pm FOX