The Advocate Vol. 50, Issue 28 - May 15, 2015

The Independent Student Voice of Mt. Hood Community College

May 15, 2015

Volume 50, Issue 28

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PE RF TH VA EC E UL T T

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Candidates ready to represent MHCC

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Photographer explores gray area PAGE 7

Saint hurdles challenges PAGE 11

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You Tube

the advocate

OPINION

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April 24, 2015

Editorial | Big Brother is watching you; Take Internet security measures

or such a modern phenomenon, the Internet has simplified our daily tasks through a very complicated algorithmic procedure. Simple chores that used to require physical effort such as purchasing groceries, paying bills, doing re-

We hope that providing you background information and safety tips will enable you to lessen your chances of joining the millions of Americans who fall prey to identity theft each year.

search, etc., are now being accomplished through invisible means, namely radio waves.

While this may seem a no-brainer, it is imperative that we don’t become negligent. Just as we keep a close eye on our precious physical belongings, we need to take the protective measures to safeguard our banking, social security, and other private personal information from predators, whether they are crooks or even the National Security Agency, (NSA).

Our hope at The Advocate is that you will take personal time to jump into the following in-depth articles – starting in our May 22 issue – that will teach the basics of protecting your private information. While on the Internet, we are theoretically in one place, yet are simultaneously vulnerable in every corner of the world.

We hope that providing you background information and safety tips will enable you to lessen your chances of joining the millions of Americans who fall prey to identity theft each year.

Anyone can be seduced into giving the

the advocate Editor-in-Chief Greg Leonov

Opinion Editor Emily Wintringham

Copy Editor Jon Fuccillo

Sports Editor Brandon Raleigh

Assisstant News Editor Sam Krause

Assistant Opinion Editor Ivy Davis

Lifestyle Editor Adam Elwell

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Ad Manager David Ahlson

“man in the middle” information to access your hard drive. You can be tricked into false subscriptions, advertisements, or even virus notifications that demand your computer’s password. Hackers can then control your computer and use proxy servers to intercept information that travels from your brain, to your device, to the router and eventually to, say, your bank. They stand, figuratively, between your device and the router, where their malicious software siphons every character you type. As you type and communicate, adept hackers are able to identify important numbers and decode them to use the information to their advantage.

Crooks don’t always wear ski masks, however. Some wear suits and ties and even have a seat in the White House.

Internet security took precedence in the current decade after informants and the media exposed NSA’s breach of one of the agency’s most fundamental policies: Never spy on American citizens behind their back, if they are not a cause for concern.

Since the NSA was created in 1952, it vowed to protect the United States from another Pearl Harbor – the surprise attacks inflicted by Japanese fighter planes that devastated the U.S. naval fleet and triggered America’s entry into World War II. Fast-forward 60 years, and according to a documentary by PBS-TV’s “Frontline,” the NSA was surprised on a clear blue morning as it grew aware of the World Trade Center towers burning and collapsing, watching on a cheap television set in the office. Another mass attack had slipped through the agency’s control.

Before the events of 9/11, cryptologist Edward Loomis time and time again proposed to the agency a data collection program called Thin-Thread. In an interview with “Frontline,” Loomis was brought to tears when he explained that ThinThread was designed to monitor international Internet traffic going from foreign countries to the United States, and would have prevented such a trav-

esty.

In the months following 9/11, the NSA adopted this method of surveillance, except somehow the crucial privacy settings that would prevent the probing of all Americans were stripped away. The NSA would survey the lives of everyone – their phone calls, their emails, their search history, their payment history – and extract any information they desired to obtain.

There was clear opposition to the Patriot Act, pushed by the Bush Administration and passed by Congress, during the years following 9/11. Many people were silent, fearing that should another act of terrorism take place on U.S. soil, those who spoke against NSA surveillance would be blamed.

Edward Snowden, was a 29-year-old former NSA subcontractor when he leaked classified documents detailing the NSA’s surveillance practices to journalists, in 2013. He revealed that the NSA was coercing Verizon to allow the agency to record all phone calls the company routed. Some call Snowden a traitor and others revere him as a hero.

Snowden currently has taken asylum in Russia.

Crooks don’t always wear ski masks, however. Some wear suits and ties and even have a seat in the white house Today, it is difficult to know who we can trust. We know that we are being watched by criminals and government agencies.

There are ways to shield your identity and personal information and to prevent fraud.

Keep an eye on coming articles.

Photo Editor Beka Haugen

Reporters

Advisers Howard Buck, Dan Ernst Bob Watkins

Graphic Designers Heather Golan Shawnie Fortune

Will Darkins

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

David Ahlson Omar Morante Steve Olson

Video Editors Aurora Angeles Thomas Stewart

Alex Seymour Isaiah Ishman Ivy Davis

www.advocate-online.net #mhccadvocate

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

Chat with Barney Have you ever been on Tinder? - What do you think of it?

“To be perfectly honest, I think Tinder is just a terrible informational app. People would be better off downloading Bejeweled.”

Ryan Strecker Theater Technician AAOT “No. I think it’s weird.

My boyfriend’s sister has it and she meets some pretty interesting guys - like a relationship never comes out of it. It’s just a one-night stand.

It’s terrible.”

Jessica Gomez General Studies

“I have one but it makes me feel bad to be like, ‘You’re ugly ... You’re ugly,’ so I don’t like to use it.”

Miranda Helm Early Childhood Education

chatwithbarney@gmail.com

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. Cover graphic by Heather Golan - the advocate

the advocate

OPINION

May 15, 2015

Column | Go take a hike!

Ivy Davis

“Our group of friends are “I’m glad Idiverse.” got to see the pretty day that we get to ignore each other and have a socially acceptable Alex Garcia free-sex app.”

Kevin Aguilar AAOT

“Yes. It’s ridiculous. There are so many online dating sites right now, but I think Tinder is less about dating and more about just getting laid. I think it’s for a younger population - when I was on there it was, like, no one my age.”

Jena Worth Business Degree No. I don’t know, it seems really weird? My impressions are I would be uninterested because it seems like a hook-up site and that’s not something I’m interested in.”

Alexander Norquist General Transfer

the advocate

It is in my Oregonian blood to rant about how great the outdoors are. It rains here a lot, but you should be grateful! Being a water snob Oregonian is much better than being a waterless Californian. Without our excessive amount of rain it wouldn’t be so green here; without the green, it wouldn’t be so beautiful.

We’ve all seen those hashtags - #PNW - but you know what? - This is the Pacific Northwest and the only people who should be allowed to use that hashtag should be the hiking fan, the outdoor-livin’, sunset picture-taking people who live in the PNW and actually enjoy it here. Them, or the tourists who come and take good pictures to later post on Instagram.

Ranting more about how beautiful it is here - tons of Columbia Gorge hikes have gorgeous, amazing, majestic views. A hike on the Historic Gorge Highway could lead to a waterfall or high viewpoint over the Columbia River. Going up the mountain, one could find a lake reflecting Mt. Hood. These natural places of beauty are worth the sweat and blood; sweat because uphill hikes are hard work, blood because there’s a total possibility of falling on rocks or getting hit by a tree branch.

However, the type of reward one feels at the top of a hike is amazing. Working for a great view of Oregon’s majesty, there are three things someone could be thinking. One, they’d be thinking about how they just sweat their A55 off and don’t have to go to the gym for

Photo by Ivy Davis- the advocate

two weeks ... or ever again! Two, one could be thinking about how beautiful Oregon is.

Three, one might be thinking about pushing that family from Ohio out of the way because of the need to take pictures, too.

Yes, tourist are a nuisance. Forget about hiking to the top of Multnomah Falls this season, because the floodgates have opened and tourist are swarming that trail. It’s the outof-towner tourists who swarm with their rat packs in front of the views trying to get everyone to smile for a Christmas card photo that bug me most. Even with these obnoxious tourists on the trail, there are nice tourists, too.

Meeting a passionate, intellectual outdoors enthusiast can be quite lovely. Some people may even share stories and hikes that they’ve been on and recommend them for your use.

But, while talking with people on hikes is nice, they’re even better when you’re sharing them

with someone you know.

My last piece of advice is,, hikes are cheap entertainment. Did you know the outdoors are free? Yeah, free entertainment. You might have to pay for gas, though, but by putting a group together you can do it affordably. Rather than paying $10 for a movie, get five people, pack them into a car, steal $2 from everyone (ask for the money first, then steal it for gas if they say No), drive to some hike on the Gorge and get a workout in.

It’s been said time and time again that this generation of people are more obsessed with their phones then communicating with their friends. So, rather than looking down at a phone screen, look up. Have fun with your friends, make memories, sweat your A55 off, and meet new people.

Like I said, Oregon is beautiful, so go explore it.

Letter from the editor Last week, The Advocate published letters from both the MHCC District board of education and MHCC President Debbie Derr. These letters were in response to our coverage of the proposed 2015-16 college budget in the news section and our editorial on May 1. We appreciate the administration and board taking the time to pay attention and respond to our concerns, and we apologize for printing that we had reached out to board members when, in fact, we had not.

We spoke with fellow Mt. Hood students involved with other clubs and student organizations and agreed that it was not in students’ best interests to raise tuition. Some

of us ended up getting too passionate and focusing on the frustration with having to deal with tuition increases, rather than following through to talk to members of the board and administration.

As journalists, we understand there must be a high level of trust between us and readers. We hold ourselves to the highest ethical standards, and will not intentionally print falsehoods. We accept full responsibility for our mistakes.

For the story headlined “Proposed budget to be presented for approval,” the reporter had a copy of the proposed budget, and got some hard numbers, but didn’t get the

chance to meet with President Derr. An attempt to email questions was sent to her was made, but due to mistakes on our end, she never received it.

Had she received it, we are positive that she would have responded promptly and with detailed answers to our questions.

The original story was written with news content as well as content from the editorial, and our news team worked to separate the two. But, not all of the facts were checked during the editing cycle because the focus was on separating the content between two sections.

We understand that our error could be

seen as a blow to our credibility, and we in no way want to hinder the great relationship we have developed this year with the MHCC administration and the district board of education. We acknowledge that under Derr’s leadership, communication between The Advocate and the administration has been very open and transparent this year.

We wish to continue this trend, not just with the administration, but the board and other groups and organizations, as well. We also will work to make sure similar errors are not repeated in these pages.

-Greg Leonov

Editor-in-Chief

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NEWS Ballots Due May 19: Here are your choices

May 15, 2015

Greg Leonov the advocate

Zone 3 Pat Edwards

Pat Edwards, candidate for the MHCC District board, did not respond to The Advocate’s requests for interviews. He does not have a listing in the current Multnomah County Voters’ Pamphlet.

Edwards is currently listed as a sales executive in his application for the board position. His occupational background includes experience as a general manager; he was a parole officer, was a director for GST Government Systems, and he spent some time in the U.S. Marine Corps, according to his application.

Edwards has a doctorate in business administration from the National Graduate School, a master’s degree in interdisciplinary studies and organizational communication from Marylhurst University, and a diploma in aviation technology from Aviation High School.

He was an elected board member of the Hazelwood Neighborhood Association in Portland.

Teena Kalawa

Teena Kalawa Ainslie, former board member of the MHCC district board of education, and former Foundation board member for 25 years is running for the district board again.

Ainslie said she’s a “frustrated career development person.” Her main concern is 3000 documented homeless students throughout the Reynolds, Parkrose, and David Douglas districts. “The wisdom these young people are getting are from their peers, and sometimes their peers don’t give them the best advice and they don’t have that many choices being homeless,” she said.

“I think the college, with the help of the business community could play a huge part in helping them find out who they are, what they want and how to get it honestly, and without going through the criminal system.”

Ainslie wants to build partnerships with the college and local businesses to provide students with connections to jobs within their areas of interest and study. “The only teachers that I worked with were the teachers that were interested in partnering with industry related to their curriculum,” she said.

“The others couldn’t see how that was necessary because students, in their opinion, needed to get an education first, and then to a career.”

Ainslie believes that Mt. Hood’s current president actively works to get partnerships, and wants to work to build even more. “Knowing Debbie Derr, I’m sure that she probably has done some partnering and encouraged partnering industry with the college,” she said.

Besides community partnerships, Ainslie is concerned about the state of disrepair of the college itself. “When I was on the board before, we had all kinds of issues with deferred maintenance because we had budgets that we couldn’t get passed.”

Ainslie was a secretary in 1972 when the last bond was passed. “That was the last bond issue for any kind of building or community involvement, as far as community participation was involved, we built a swimming pool.

I’m just glad that college is there for the mental health of our whole community, and we need to be serving the entire population and I know that’s what has been the goal.”

Mark Callahan

When MHCC District board candidate Mark Callahan was reached via email for an interview, he directed The Ad-

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vocate to his statements in the Multnomah County Voters’ Pamphlet.

Callahan decided to run for the board because he wa nts to serve, according to the pamphlet. “I believe that to make our community better, I cannot just sit on the couch, watch TV, and complain any longer, I have to get out there and do something to make things better,” his statement reads.

He is an information technology consultant, and has been so for 15 years. He has a “Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with an option/focus in Management Information Systems,” and a minor in pre-law from Oregon State University, according to the pamphlet.

He previously served on the Eugene Income Tax Opposition Statement Committee and was a candidate for U.S. Senate in 2014.

According to the pamphlet, Callahan believes in self-education and the willingness to be personally accountable.

“Education, is a step in the right direction for a person to becoming a productive member of our society, and helping to make our country strong once again.”

In his statement, he said he rejects “being a victim of circumstance,” and an “entitlement mindset.”

Callahan has two daughters and is an Eagle Scout and he said he has the motivation to lead by example, according to the pamphlet.

“Pursuing an education helped me to develop that work ethic, that motivation, that drive, that contributes to my willingness and desire to serve as Mt. Hood Community College Board, Zone 3 Director,” according to the pamphlet.

Zone 5 Bob Coen

Current MHCC District board member Bob Coen is running for another term because he said he felt that he has more to contribute. He wants to stay on the board so that there would be stability, since at least two positions will be filled with new members.

Coen’s role as a parent and community member provide a background different from most of his peers on the board.

“Primarily, I come from the business sector,” he said.

Having a different background than other board members is “predominately the distinguishing factor.”

Rising tuition and fees are among Coen’s greatest concerns, he said.

“Community college is meant to be accessible, affordable, and I think we’re getting to a phase for a lot of different reasons that isn’t allowing it to be as approachable as it was always intended to be.”

To help relieve some of the financial challenges for students, Coen said that passing a general obligation bond would help.

“Another simple answer would be to continue to refine our cost structure. Right now (we) have four different (employee) unions,” and it is expensive to negotiate with each one, he said. “The outcomes of that on all sides are ultimately what the cost of tuition is.”

With the aging population, continuing to pay retirement dues and fund health insurance benefits also poses a challenge. “With the increasing costs, it’s just hard to manage that without addressing tuition at the same time,” said Coen. “I’m hopeful we can find other funding alternatives, grants, (and) bonding… to offset some of those (costs).”

His involvement in the hiring of President Debbie Derr is one his main accomplishments, he said. “I think she’s a long-term solution, not a short-term solution. I think her presence and experience - her motivation is exceptional, and so I’m definitely most pleased at that decision we made to hire her.”

To help increase student enrollment at Mt. Hood, Coen listed three goals. “If we create an environment that’s compelling… that’s first and foremost. Secondly, if we can continue to make the education affordable and accessible to our entire district population, that would be another point

of consideration. The third thing, I think we need to market to our successes,” he said.

Regarding community outreach, Coen said there is more to be done, but “I think we’re pretty highly regarded as it stands today, and I only see that being upward bound,” he said. “In a good economy it further highlights health, not only for our students, but also for business that falls within our area.”

Kenny Polson Kenny Polson, a candidate for the MHCC District board, did not respond to interview requests with The Advocate. He is a student management specialist (dean of students) for Portland Public Schools, according to the Multnomah County Voters’ Pamphlet.

Polson was a community college instructor and is “a product of community college,” according to the pamphlet.

He wants to work to “keep college affordable, academic,” and he said he “will strive to make the college the cultural hub of the community.”

Polson has been an educator for 30 years and “served many years in a leadership role,” according to the pamphlet. He was involved in positions that oversaw “budgeting, marketing, performance schedules, equipment, personnel, curriculum, compliance with state requirements, safety, morale, parent communication, personnel and more,” according to the pamphlet.

Zone 7

Zone 6 Michael Calcagno Michael Calcagno was featured in a previous issue of The Advocate. Find out more about the candidate online at www.advocate-online.net/news/ board-candidate-hopesto-create-a-better-mthood-8809/

Michael Langley Michael Langley was featured in a previous issue of The Advocate.

Find out more about the candidate at www.advocate-online.net/news/ board-candidate-hopesto-create-a-better-mthood-2-8811/

Diane Noriega

“I think (it) is such an important part of the overall health of the community, and it’s such (an) opportunity for our students coming out of high school, coming back to school for retraining, polishing up their skills,” she said.

Noriega said she has a passion for the college, and said that one of her major accomplishments so far is hiring President Debbie Derr, who had “five years experience as a president coming in” to the job.

Another accomplishment is getting all “(labor) contract negotiations resolved last year with no negative press in the media,” she said. The exchanges were civil and fair, she said.

Noriega helped with bringing the cost of running the Aquatics Center to a manageable level, bringing the school’s annual investment from about $750,000 to about $275,000 in four years.

“As of this spring, we’ve made it (the Aquatics Center) an auxiliary to the college. It will have its own budget, and it will be expected to have a business plan and operate within its means,” she said.

Noriega, too, is concerned with the physical condition of MHCC. “It’s an old campus and there’s a lot of things that need to be improved, so I think that we’re going to put a lot of energy into trying to get a (general obligation) bond passed,” she said. If the measure is approved, improvements would be made to all three Mt. Hood campuses, she said.

“We need to get the college to a place where we’re in the 21st century technologically; looking at all of our distance learning options and ensuring that our students have access by every means to student services, curriculum, and programs. I think that takes a while because that takes a financial investment, and it also means changes to the actual infrastructure,” Noriega said.

“It’s been so gratifying to be able to represent the campus and see what a good school we are and how we measure up across the country. That’s been just an incredible rewarding experience.”

Diane Noriega has been MHCC District board chair for the past two years, and is running for re-election to the board.

She has been involved with education from a faculty level and has worked as an administrator, and was elected to the Mt. Hood board in 2011.

Noriega said she feels right at home on the board, and that she believes in the mission of community colleges.

Tamie Arnold

Tamie Arnold was MHCC’s student body president in 19941995, and was a clinical nursing instructor in 2005. She was also a CNA instructor at the Bruning Center.

Arnold is a registered nurse, and also currently serves on the Fairview City Council and Fairview budget committee, the Fairview economic development advisory committee, and the Reynolds School District budget committee.

Mt. Hood Community College holds a special place in Arnold’s heart, she said.

“I don’t quite know how to explain the passion I have for the school,” she said. “There’s something about serving students, representing students’ best interest and advocating for higher education - kind of puts the bug in you.”

Affordability of higher education is a big concern for Arnold, she said. “I can’t stress enough the importance of insuring that our colleges remain affordable for our children,” she said. She has a 15-year-old that she will encourage to attend a community college. “That’s where I started. I think it’s opened doors (and) enhanced career opportunities.”

One major concern Arnold has about the college is the disrepair. “The college still has a lot of structural issues that need to be addressed and in order for the college to be viable, we have to have some financial support with the college infrastructure,” she said. Still, she is impressed with some of the changes that have been made since she was last present at MHCC, she said.

Relationships with business and marketing the college are also priorities for Arnold. “I think we’ve done a good job of celebrating and getting the name of Mt. Hood out there, but I think we could actually do even better than all of that.”

Arnold said she has contacts that would help strengthen the college’s relationships with businesses.

“Let’s not forget the fact that making sure, probably first and foremost, that education is reasonable for the students, and that’s probably the most important thing,” she said.

the advocate

NEWS

May 15, 2015

Ted Tosterud

Ted Tosterud is currently the mayor of Fairview, and he is on the MHCC Foundation board. He has 46 years of business experience running medical laboratories and a pharmacy. He merged his laboratories and they eventually became part of what is now Quest Diagnostics “which is $7 billion, almost $8 billion (in sales) today with 40-some-thousand employees,” he said.

His experience in business and the Foundation were contributing factors in his decision to run for the MHCC District board of education.

“I came to the Foundation and it’s been very interesting for me, Tosterud said. “I read scholarships, I help raise money, and I would just like to work for the kids” if elected,” he said.

A prime objective for him is to keep tuition costs down, he said. He hopes to apply his six-sigma experience (a set process improvement techniques) to MHCC and start “looking at the college having to reduce expenses (rather) than raising tuition,” he said.

Running medical laboratories, Tosterud was constantly working on cutting costs and refining processes to “reach the bottom line,” he said. In a business, “we develop paths, we develop different placements of equipment - all kinds of things that would reduce the number of steps that somebody might have to take which is going to help reduce costs,” he said.

Tosterud said he wants to work with the Oregon Legislature to find a better way to determine state funding for colleges that is not based on the number of students and credit hours at the particular college.

But he still suggests a business-type approach.

“You have to kind of run it like a business,” he said about the college running efficiently with minimal cost.

“The real thing is - you gotta go out and increase enrollment. You have to figure out a way to get kids going back to school. You gotta dig and find out, ‘Why aren’t kids going back to school?’

“If I do get in there (the board), I would definitely work for the kids – that’s what it’s all about.”

Marshall Tuttle

Marshall Tuttle was a music instructor at Mt. Hood Community College for 11 years. He is currently on the board of directors for the Multisensory Learning Academy (MLA), and is the president of a community college in Uganda, in Africa. He is running for the open at-large (Posi-

tion 7) seat on the MHCC board of directors.

Tuttle believes he has an “acute awareness of some of the issues” that have been piling up on the college for years, he said. “Education is a service industry, and so the thing that should be first and foremost in consideration anywhere is that the students are what it’s about.”

He said that expertise in areas of administration and 11 years of instructing at Mt. Hood are his best qualifications. He wants to push the idea of free college. “My specific thing is getting the college to focus on students, working with the state, and (to) try and forward the idea that the community college should be free.”

Community college was free for Tuttle when he was attending, and he witnessed some of his students move to Europe to get a cheaper education. “We start talking about ‘brain drain,’ that’s going the opposite direction at this point (students leaving the U.S.) because why would anyone study here?”

Tuttle said he has been concerned with the board’s functioning since the presidency of John J. “Ski” Sygielski,

who led MHCC in 2008-11.

“There is right now some adversarial relationships between administration and the faculty in a number of places, and I don’t think that serves anybody,” he said. “I don’t think that serves students, I don’t think that serves faculty in serving the students, and I don’t think the board’s doing anything about it.

“I would think that the administration is there to facilitate the job of delivering instruction. The administration is not there in order to put stops on what the faculty is doing, so that seems to me to be an inversion of the basic function that ... school is about the students.”

Some of the hard feelings involve MHCC labor contract negotiations, and the board’s role in them, Tuttle said. Going forward, he said he hopes Mt. Hood board members hear employee stories from all sides and “don’t sit back as if it’s a social club, but actually positively interact with things that are not going well and try to do something that will improve it or take control of the situation.

“If you delegate everything (to administrators), and then just wash your hands of it, then what kind of governance is that?” he said.

When he isn’t running a college, Tuttle is a practicing musician. He plays a number of different instruments. “You have to be multi-talented to make a living as a musician, so most of us that are making a go of it do whatever is accessible at the moment. And then, when you’re doing it, you have to love it,” he said.

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LIFESTYLE Weakly Horrorscopes*

May 15, 2015

Othello actors talk acts 3 and 4 PART 3 OF A 4 PART SERIES Ivy Davis

the advocate Taurus (April 20 - May 20) - An unexpected visitor will show up at your door soon – well, they were unexpected. Just act surprised; it’s super important that you play it off cool, lest they accuse you of witchcraft.

Gemini (May 21 - June 20 ) - It might not seem like the best strategy to you right now, but in your case your best option is to definitely go for guilt. Let yourself go, so people can’t avoid it by simply not talking to you.

Cancer (June 21 - July 22) - Mars’ alignment indicates that the roof of your car, in the MHCC parking lot, is the best possible place you could meditate right now. Like, third-eye level transcendence, bruh.

Ian Booth and Melanie Steere play the romantic couple of Othello and Desdemona in Mt. Hood’s spring term production of “Othello.” Both thespians started their theater career in high school. Booth said when he was a freshman, he had been into sports his whole life, but was too small for football and so he decided to be in a musical.

“People seemed to like me, I was okay at it, and it was so much fun that I just decided to stop doing every sport I had ever played and just do theater,” he said.

Steere took drama at Centennial High School her freshman year, then continued taking theater until she graduated. “I decided I couldn’t live without theater,” said Steere, so she decided to join MHCC’s theater program.

Steere has performed in a number of plays, but Desde-

mona will be her first lead role.

“It’s kind of intimidating, but it’s a great challenge for me. When I first read Desdemona I thought she seemed really weak; I’m trying to find her strength,” she said, hoping to bring fire to the character.

She said she tries to make everyone smile backstage. “ I like to have fun with everyone. If someone needs encouragement, I like to give that.”

Steere said the play is challenging, but a great learning experience. “Reading Shakespeare is so much different from performing it,” she said.

Booth, on the other hand, has been in a total of 14 plays, 15 if the one he directed is counted. Most of the roles Booth played have been “big, out there, and really To see the full story, go to www.advocate-online.net

Leo (July 23 - August 22) What if I told you that this week you would develop telepathic powers exclusively with Kanye West. Would you believe me? It’s okay, just accept Yeezus on your own time.

Virgo (August 23 - Sept. 22) - This week, most of your friends would consider you something like Rain Man, but as if Tom Cruise had played him instead of Dustin Hoffman. Do with that what you will.

Libra (Sept. 23 - Oct. 22) - The best thing you could do for yourself this week is to really experience the exhilaration that comes with sprinting in crowded, public places.

Scorpio (Oct. 23 - Nov. 21) - Prepare to take this week one mild existential crisis at a time.

Or, pick up bowling. I hear that’s a good time.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22 - Dec. 21) Don’t look now, but it’s over your left shoulder. Or do. It could be friendly, I would say the odds are like 60-40.

Capricorn (Dec. 22 - Jan. 19)Forget conventional study methods. Mercury is so close to Earth right now that you should never pick the obvious option; instead, use your textbooks as a pillow and create an osmotic relationship with the material.

Aquarius (Jan. 20 - Feb. 18) - So, the return of Zaltac and subsequent ascension were supposed to happen like a week ago; it’s probably twice as likely this week.

Pisces (Feb. 19 - March 20) - The answer to life, the universe, and everything is right in front of you: Don’t think, just yell out a word.

Tomas Tellez B.S. in Human Development and Family Sciences OSU Ecampus graduate

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the advocate

LIFESTYLE

May 15, 2015

Local photographer presents ‘Circles of Identity’

Beka Haugen - the advocate

Photographer and Edmonds CC instructor, Minh Carrico says his favorite piece is “Saigon, USA,” (pictured Left) which is being displayed in the Mt. Hood Fireplace Gallery. The name of his exhibit is “Circles of Identity,”

Jon Fuccillo

The Advocate

W

hile spending a majority of his youth in Little Rock, Ark., Vietnam-

ese-American Minh Carrico fell in love with, and was intrigued by, the wonderful world of photography.

“I was 8 or 9 years old and always had a camera in my hand,” Carrico recalled of his childhood. “I would mainly (steal) my mother’s camera when I was younger.”

Minh Carrico That passion is now on display on the Mt. Hood campus in Gresham.

The 46-year-old Carrico has 20, 11-by-17inch photographs displayed in the Fireplace Gallery, which is open to all inside the Student Union through May 29. The exhibit, “Circles of Identity,” is open 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday-Thursday and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday.

Carrico, born and raised in the states, struggled at times with his Vietnamese heritage.

In 2002, he made the first of three trips to Sa Dec, Vietnam, and other cities throughout the country. He was accompanied by his mother, whose maiden name is Nguyen.

The mother-son duo would later head back to Vietnam in 2004 and 2008. All three visits were during the Vietnamese Lunar New Year, also known as Tet. “My mom was my cultural contact for everything and that’s the origins of where all my mother’s relatives are basically from,” said Carrico, who is an art instructor at Edmonds Community College just north of Seattle.

He added, “It really helped bring my mother and I closer. We didn’t always see eye-to-eye (normally) and I was able to come up with a great project, which turned out to be the best (idea) at the time.” So, he decided to document his trip and to create moments and memories through the lens of his camera.

While visiting Vietnam, Carrico snapped over 4,000 photos, which he had to narrow down to 35-40 photos for public display, he said.

Carrico learned a lot about his “identity” and his art craft during his Vietnam trips.

“It was a huge part of trying to figure out who I am since that’s my (heritage),” he said.

“I’m too western to be Asian and I’m too Asian to be western. I’m kind of stuck in this gray

area,” he said he learned through his experiences traveling back and fourth between Vietnam and the U.S. The project took eight years to finalize and to be displayed.

Carrico said he’s most proud of his “Saigon, USA” photo, among those being displayed at MHCC. “There are a number of reasons it’s my favorite piece,” he said. “When the war ended in 1975 all the Vietnamese people wanted to move on, and Americans have had a hard time letting it go for some reason. In many ways, a number of the Vietnamese people want to come to the states.”

“The ‘Saigon, USA’ is a Vietnamese bus driver wearing a USA hat with a bus full of Vietnamese soldiers with a Saigon marquee on the side of the bus,” Carrico said with some intensity in his voice. He said he couldn’t have timed it better, given the subject matter.

Carrico said he enjoyed his experience in Vietnam, and being able to capture the culture and meet his distant relatives.

“I had a connection with all the strangers that I met randomly along the way,” he said.

“It’s one big family over there.”

He added, “In many ways I am a tourist in Vietnam. But I didn’t want my photos to look like a tourist. And I am always searching for unique photos.”

Prior to moving to the Seattle area, Carrico and his wife lived in Brooklyn, N.Y., before they came to the conclusion that he and his wife wanted to raise a family of their own outside of the Big Apple. “My partner and I didn’t want to raise kids there,” said Carrico, whose son is now 4.

He has been in the Seattle area the last nine years, including the last eight years working at Edmonds CC. Prior to his current job, he worked for a company called OnRequest Images in Seattle, where he served as the senior producer for a one-year stint. All told, he has spent 16-plus years in advertising, including owning his own business. “I’ve always been in artist,” Carrico said. “I used advertising to make money for my art.” He quickly added, “Then I wanted to do (art) for myself.”

Carrico started to find himself and his worth, while earning his bachelor’s degree in photo communications from St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas, during the early 1990s. “I didn’t really grow up until Texas when I became self-efficient,” he said.

What makes the art form of photography so unique and special, is “telling visual stories with few words,” according to Carrico.

“Being an artist is a challenging and a competitive field. It never gets easy for a photographer. Everyone has a different styles.”

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the advocate

NEWS

May 15, 2015

The Advocate receives 13 awards at Linn-Benton CC Last Friday, the majority of The Advocate’s staff traveled to Linn-Benton Community College in Albany to participate in the annual Collegiate Day conference sponsored by the Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association.

An organization founded in 1887 consisting of both professional and college/ university newspapers, the ONPA has been sponsoring the event since 1992.

At the event, representatives from The Emerald Media Group from the University of Oregon talked about journalism and communication with a focus on digital platforms rather than exclusively printing on paper. Samantha Swindler from the Forest Grove Leader discussed her adventures with tracking down a crooked sheriff and reporters associated with the Pamplin Media Group talked about responsible and effective

use of social media in the field.

In all, the Advocate won 13 awards in competition among two-year colleges, with two first-place and six second-place awards, for material published April 2014-March 2015. Last year, The Advocate received 15 awards, and captured 14 the year before.

For the 2014-15 year, The Advocate received: Third place for general excellence, Third place for best design, First, second, and third place for best editorials, all written by Emily Wintringham, Second place for best columnist, David Ahlson, Second place for best news story by Hayden Hunter, Third place for best review by Ivy Davis, First place for best graphic by Heather

Golan, Second place for best cartooning by Heather Golan, Second place for best photography by Carole Riggs, Second place for best sports photo by Beka Haugen, Third place for best spot news photo by Emily Wintringham.

The Advocate has been has been around for the 50 years the college has been in existence. Currently, The Advocate is interviewing individuals interested in joining the editorial board.

If anyone is interested, email or call The Advocate at advocatt@mhcc.edu, or 503-4917250, or visit the newsroom in Room 1369, located in the Integrated Media hallway.

Photo by Sam Krause - the advocate

The Advocate Editor-in-Chief Greg Leonov receiving the awards from Portland Tribune Associate Publisher Vance Tong at Linn-Benton CC on May 8 at ONPA Collegiate Day.

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the advocate

Sports

May 15, 2015

Saints clinch South, head to NWAC tourney

Photos by Jon Fuccillo- the advocate

May 8. Results: Game 1: MHCC 13, Lane 3 Game 2: Lane 4, MHCC 1

May 9. Results: Game 1: MHCC 6, Lane 3 Game 2: MHCC 7, Lane 5

Mt. Hood players rushed sophomore Louis Wolf (middle), who drove in pinch-runner Andrew Haley (6) to clinch the South Region title with a 13-3 win over Lane CC on May 8 in Gresham. The victory gave the Saints an automatic berth into the NWAC Championship tournament in Longview, Wash., on May 21-25.

The Saints (20-4 South Region, 31-12 overall) are looking for their first NWAC title since 2000. (Top right) Head coach Bryan Donohue (5) shares a moment with one of his assistant coaches after the clinching win.

-See more complete Saints baseball coverage at www.advocate-online.net

“I wasn’t too worried about (winning the South). But now the challenge is to win the big one.”

Saints head baseball coach

- Bryan Donohue

Saints track team begin run at NWAC title in Spokane Alex Seymour the advocate

Mt Hood hosted the NWAC league’s Southern Region Championship for track and field last Saturday at Earl Klapstein Stadium, marking the first of back-to-back championship events for the Saints.

Next up: the NWAC Championship, set to start Monday in Spokane, Wash., with more than 15 Saints athletes qualified for the meet.

Six teams competed in the regional showdown in Gresham: Clackamas, Clark, Lane, Mt. Hood, Southwestern Oregon, and Treasure Valley community colleges.

On the women’s side, the top three teams stayed in the same order as in the past few years: Lane would take first with 239 points, Clackamas second with 223, and Mt Hood third, scoring 95.

The Saints managed an impressive six first-place individual finishes, but they didn’t have the depth that the other two teams had in order to compete with them.

On the men’s side, Lane dominated the meet, taking first by an impressive152 points, scoring 309 points total.

Clackamas managed 157 points for second,

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and Treasure Valley grabbed third with 110.

Mt. Hood was close to Treasure Valley for most of the meet, but fell toward the end when Hood didn’t have any entries in the 5,000 meter run or 4x400 meter relay, where the Chukars scored 27 points. The Saints finished with 80 points.

Individually for the women, Courtney Andre scored 31 points, the most points scored by any competitor. She placed second in the 100 meter hurdles with a personal best of 14.38 seconds, first in the 400 hurdles with a season best of 1:05.31, and second in the long jump, soaring to 5.23 meters.

The meet also included the marks from the NWAC Multi-Event Championships, giving Andre another fourth place-finish (in the heptathlon-type competition).

NWAC sprinting leader Margaret Paul had a couple of first place finishes for the Saints, winning 100- and 200-meter sprint titles. She ran 12.15 for the 100, and 25.29 for the 200.

Shanice Lakes added another first for the team, winning the 400 meter race in 57.18. She also jumped to seventh in the triple jump with a mark of 10.32 meters.

Kayla Watkins placed eighth in the 800 meters, running 2:42.45, and sixth in the jave-

lin, throwing 34.70 meters. Rachel Woodcock also competed in the javelin, recording a thirdplace, 37.38-meter throw.

Georgia Glovastky and Emily Trosino won their distance events, Glovastky taking the 5,000 meters in 18:46.71, and Trosino winning the 3,000-meter steeplechase in 12:18.04.

Kim Smith also ran the 5,000, taking seventh in 22:16.99.

For the Mt. Hood men, Josh Turner had a full day, competing in the 100-meter dash, 110 hurdles, triple jump, 400 hurdles, and taking part in the 4x100-meter relay. His best performance came in the 110 hurdles, where he took the win in 15.23. Devon Larson also had a strong race, taking second in a personal best of 15.38.

Brandon Raleigh ran the 1,500- and 800-meter double, taking fourth in the 1,500 in 4:03.26 and sixth in the 800 in 1:59.89.

Jonathan Zacarius and Santiago Velasco-Lopez both ran the 3,000-meter steeplechase, Zacarius taking fourth in 10:29.78 and Velasco-Lopez fifth with a time of 11:03.36.

Josh Visan had a season best in the pole vault, with a clearance of 3.73 meters. Bryce Evens jumped 6.38 meters in the long jump, good for eighth.

Tyler Jackson had a strong performance in the shot put and discus, taking second in the shot, throwing 14.39 meters, and first in the discus, throwing 45.12. Nick Ham finished fifth in the hammer with a mark of 42.12.

After the meet, 800-meter runner Barnett spoke about his experience.

“It was really professionally run and was a great atmosphere for all athletes and spectators,” he said. As far as his own event, “I want to be able to maintain contact (with the lead pack) throughout the last 200 meters of the race. I talked to (Saints) Coach (Jim) Satterfield about how we are going to train in order to do that.

“The coaches put forth effort in each athlete, really working on being runner-specific and not generalizing training this year,” Barnett added. “That really helps.”

The athletes who have qualified throughout the year (with high personal marks) will head to Spokane for the NWAC Championship meet, held at Spokane Falls Community College.

The meet runs Monday and Tuesday, and will be the Saints’ final action of the year.

Events start at 10 a.m. Monday.

the advocate

SPORTS

May 15, 2015

Courtney Andre hurdles adversity

Photo contributed by Doug Bowman

Courtney Andre, a star hurdler for the Mt. Hood Saints, is seen leaving competitors behind at the JD Shotwell Invitational in early April.

Alex Seymour the advocate

It was a warm day – the kind of day all hurdlers pray for before a track meet.

It was a home meet and the conditions were perfect. The pre-race rituals though, were not. Courtney Andre, a star hurdler and multi-event athlete here at Mt. Hood, hadn’t gotten her pre-race hit from her inhaler 30 minutes before running. Instead, it was handed to her by a Courtney Andre family member just minutes before the starting gun.

“I took it right before my event, like two minutes before I was lining up in the blocks,” she said. “When you do that, your body is not adjusted and your body feels faint.”

The start was clean though, and the first few hurdles were very promising. A quick lead on the backstretch had her friends cheering

enthusiastically. Coming off the last corner, though, things started to change for her.

“Coming onto the last straight, my eyes started to get blurry and then it started to get all white,” Andre recalled. She blacked out and fell, on the second-to-last hurdle.

Rewind to sixth grade: “I started running cross country because my best friend Sami asked me to join. I don’t remember exactly why I started running track, probably the same reason,” Andre recalled.

Regardless of the reason, she fit in with the sport perfectly. “I loved being with people that also loved to do it, and had fun winning and trying to get better. I guess the challenge was the greatest part of it. That kept me wanting to get faster and faster,” she said.

After Andre had success at Reynolds High School, the next question was where to go next.

“I wasn’t really talking to any other schools (colleges) because I was waiting for them to talk to me. Then I heard my friends from high school, Brandon Raleigh and Emily Trosino,

went to talk to (Mt. Hood) and got scholarships,” Andre said. “I decided to talk to the coaches, and I got offered to be on the team.”

A year later, training was going very well, and the racing followed suit. Andre was in the best shape of her life, until life decided to knock her down.

“I guess I blacked out right as I was going over the second-to-last hurdle and I just fell onto the hurdle, then onto the ground,” she said about the surprise collapse. “I was just lying there, and then I got up. I finished the race!” she said, not without pride.

For a veteran hurdler, the worst part was the fact that it actually happened.

“You hit a hurdle and you trip up a couple of times but you should know by now how to balance your body when you hit a hurdle to not go down. So to actually fall on my face was really embarrassing.”

Despite the fall, the 400-meter hurdles remain as Andre’s favorite event. Her lifetime goal in track is to one day make it to the Olympics. “The 400 hurdles are what I would

really want to improve in and make it to the Olympics in,” she said. “I don’t get as stressed by the 100 hurdles; I couldn’t care (less) if I win or lose. It is exciting that I have improved so much in them recently, though.

“That’s the biggest goal, and of course you have to make smaller goals to get to your bigger goal,” Andre added. For her, that is winning all her events at the NWAC Championships. And the training so far has led this to being a realistic goal. The focus has been getting over the hurdles faster.

“A lot of people make the mistake that hurdling is jumping, when actually it’s running.

You shouldn’t feel like you are jumping at all,” she said. “Every second you spend in the air is a second added to your time. That is what we have been working on. Jumping over and then getting back down and off the hurdle faster.

That has improved my time in the hurdles.”

Andre won the 400 hurdles at the South Region championships this last Saturday at Mt. Hood in a season-best time, and took second in the 100 hurdles with a personal best. In the whole NWAC conference, she is seeded second in the 100 hurdles, just eight-hundredths of a second behind first, and is seeded fourth in the 400 hurdles.

In April, Andre committed to run track and field at the University of Hawaii on a fullride scholarship. She will be pursuing a degree in kinesiology. “I’m wanting to be a physical therapist, so in order to do that you have to have your master’s or doctorate. Nowadays people only hire people with their doctorate, so I still have, after the two years I’ve been at Mt Hood, I still have five or six more years of school left,” she said.

In such a technical event, a hurdler has to put together a perfect race to win. Clipping a hurdle, even a lot lighter contact than Andre made a year ago, can decide who wins the race.

Her sprint toward athletic and academic success looks to be on a near-perfect track, so far.

Saints softball sweeps Chemeketa, eager to defend title David Teas

the advocate Hoping to defend its 2014 league title, the Mt. Hood softball team heads into the NWAC Championship Tournament today riding a seven-game win streak.

The Saints (14-6 South Region, 29-9 overall) enter as the No. 4 seed in the 16-team, double-elimination tournament. The tournament takes place at the Owens Sports Complex in Delta Park, in far north Portland.

Mt. Hood plays Olympic Community College (12-12 North Region, 17-15 overall) today at noon.

Win or lose, the Saints would play a second game at 4 p.m. today.

With two wins, the Saints could face the

tournament’s No. 1-seeded Spokane Community College (27-1 in East Region play, 41-4 overall) at 12:15 p.m. on Saturday.

But Mt. Hood head coach Meadow McWhorter – whose teams have won four of the last six NWAC championships – won’t let her team look beyond the first opponent.

“Every opponent at (the) NWACs will be a tough opponent,” McWhorter said. “Olympic has beaten some quality teams and competed in a tough North region. It will be a good firstround game.”

The Saints got their final tune-up on May 8, taking both games of a double header against Chemeketa Community College, played at Wallace Marine Park in Salem.

Mt. Hood took the first game, 11-2, then edged the Storm again, 8-6.

In the opener, freshman pitcher Kelly Scott was sharp, pitching a six-inning complete game, only allowing three hits and two runs while striking out three. MHCC freshman right fielder Reeghan Lehnart went 3-for-3 at the plate, scoring two runs and driving in

The Saints are “honing in their focus and have bought into what it takes to beat quality teams.”

Saints head softball coach

-Meadow McWhorter

two more. Sophomore center fielder SheaLee Lindsey also had a good game, going 2-for-4, scoring twice and also pounding in two runs.

The Saints scored five times in the third inning to get the edge in Game 2 Megan Marcy’s two-out grand slam home run came after Reeghan Lehnart led off the inning with a solo home run.

Scott picked up another victory, allowing four runs in her 6.1 innings of work.

McWhorter said the Saints are ready for another title chase.

“The (players are) honing in their focus and have bought into what it takes to beat quality teams- 100 percent attitude and effort from every player on our roster,” she said.

“We will control what we can control and take our first opponent, one pitch at a time.”

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the advocate

SPORTS

Brandon Raleigh the advocate

hat once was used as a means to leap over enemy walls during ancient conflicts now stands as one of the most fascinating events in track and field: the pole vault.

Although the true birth of the sport is unknown, pole vaulting made its official modern-era Olympic debut in the 1896 Games in Athens, Greece.

Today, pole vaulting involves an athlete sprinting on a runway holding a flexible pole that he/she eventually slides (or “plants”) into a grooved slot (or “box”) that catches the pole, which flexes and propels the person upward – feet first – and over a hanging, horizontal crossbar.

The goal: Get as high as possible without knocking over the bar.

Pole vaulting is not for everyone, but for some athletes, it’s in their blood.

“It’s a huge feeling of satisfaction,” said Mt. Hood sophomore pole-vaulter Joshua Visan of clearing the bar. “All the work you put in is proven literally six inches from your face every time you clear the bar. The free-fall is just the cherry on top.”

There are four major phases in a successful vault, each step as crucial as the one before.

In the first phase, the vaulter sprints down the runway as fast as possible to transfer the most energy to the pole the vaulter will be planting in the box. Seeing as athletes reach their top speed anywhere between 10 to 12 strides, a start distance of just that is perfect.

Modern poles are made of fiberglass and carbon fiber. What once was made of hardwood has evolved into a light, flexible, and energy transferring, efficient pole; each pole designed for the vaulter’s height and weight.

In the second phase, the vaulter

12

May 15, 2015

plants the pole in the box, ideally at about an 18-degree angle. This impact bends the pole to approximately 70 percent of its original height.

Next, the potential energy from the bent pole transfers to the athlete’s body and is used as kinetic energy: It’s a whipsaw effect. The vaulter uses this energy to pull his/her body into a handstand, of sorts, as the pole snaps back to straighten.

In the fourth and final phase, the vaulter in mid-air contorts his/her body to face the crossbar that he/she is attempting to clear.

The vaulter then free-falls onto a large foam pad that’s waiting below as they clear the bar.

Visan, who holds a personal best vault of 4.17 meters (13 feet, 6 inches), discussed the importance of routine when vaulting.

“Routine (that) could be translated as consistency and consistency, is key in pole vault because every inch matters and if you’re even the slightest bit off mentally or physically, then you’re not going to be able to jump properly,”

Visan said.

The world record for the pole vault stands at an astonishing 6.16 meters.The mark was set indoors last year by Renaud Lavillenie of France.

The sport that requires such great speed, strength, and focus also comes with its dangers.

According to a recent NCAA study, a total of 48 pole vaulters died between 1983 and 2010 from injuries sustained while vaulting.

Another study found that 81 percent of vaulters get injured at some point during their vaulting careers. The primary issue is, athletes falling from such great heights.

P o l e vault-

ers such as Visan find it a captivating sport that challenges both the mind and the body, however. Through years of practice and training, vaulters are able to accomplish something most can’t: a perfect vault.

Visan, who is heading to Spokane to vault in the NWAC Track and Field Championships on Monday-Tuesday, spoke on what pole vaulting means to him.

“It’s a way to be unique. It’s my thing,” he said. “I do it because I like it.”