The Advocate, Issue 30, May 27, 2011

VENTURE magazine is out on newsstands

VOLUME 46, ISSUE 30

MAY 27, 2011

now

MHCC softball wins the NWAACC tournament for the third year in a row SEE PAGES 6-7

changes to catalog page 3 /// Living arts page 8 /// no school monday, may 30, for memorial day

2 OPINION

THE ADVOCATE

MAY 27, 2011

Editorial

At the end of a tumultuous year, a bright spot

Editors-in-Chief Jen ashenberner & jordan Tichenor

Sports Editor Jon fuccillo

Living Arts Editor david gambill

Assistant Living Arts Editor anevay torrez

Photo Editor Devin Courtright

Assistant News Editor john tkebuchava

Reporters Jill-Marie Gavin shelby schwartz mike mata Kylie Rogers

The Advocate would like to offer its congratulations to the Saints softball team for winning its third consecutive NWAAC Championship title Monday.

We would also like to point out a few other reasons this win is more than sports related. Your Saints softball team has served as a reminder that through hard work and dedication, great things can come to pass.

It was not so long ago that we as a paper, as a school and as people who are supposed to be working toward a common goal learned that lesson ourselves.

Contract negotiations and all the bad blood exchanged during the process became all-consuming, consuming the school and distracting from education, which should be the common goal.

There were times when it could be argued that both sides had dug in their heels and refused to

compromise.

In the face of adversity it seemed as if no progressive moves were being made. Until finally, there were some. Faculty and students bonded together and fought to overcome.

The Saints softball team also faced adversity.

There were members lost to injury, personal circumstance and poor academic performance. Still the Saints bonded together, eyes forward as one to attain what is being called a history-making season.

The Saints won the Southern Region title as well as an NWAACC title. Under the principles of perseverance, consistency and hard work, they proved that starting with one step, one day, one game at a time, you move one step further to achieving anything.

So congratulations to the Saints, for not only for large but small victories.

Yuca Kosugi Laura Knudson Mario Rubio Riley hinds Chanel Hill

Adviser

Bob Watkins

Assistant Adviser Dan Ernst

E-mail advocatt@mhcc.edu 503-491-7250 (Main) 503-491-7413 (Office) 503-591-6064 (Fax) www.advocate-online.net

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

Submissions 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.

Front-page photo contributed by Jeff Hinds

Eye on nature: A symphony of birds

By Wally Shriner MHCC Instructor

On this sunny day, after one spring rain and before another, our campus is alive with color and song. While we have been focused on our work environment, the trees of our campus have filled with travelers from the tropics. Atop Douglas Fir sit American goldfinches in yellow and black, singing like the canaries they resemble. In the canopy above our forest trail are black-headed grosbeaks from the mountains of Mexico.

They have joined warblers, vireos, and tanagers that have spent their winters in the tropical forests of Central and South America. Together they are a

symphony of yellows and reds, blacks and grays, trills and melodies.

Though some of these feathered miracles will continue north, others will join our familiar residents in the building of nests and raising of young. For all of them, each dawn breaks on a new period of promise. One filled with familiar and constant challenges and threats, certainly, but also one with precious rewards. No wonder they greet the dawn with song.

Wally Shriner, MHCC instructor of ecology, evolution and wildlife biology, writes a monthly column on the connections between mere mortals and the wonders of nature.

Story on MHCC board vote requires correction/clarification An article in the May 20 Advocate about the MHCC District board approval of a contract with the full-time faculty requires a correction and a clarification.

First, the correction: The Advocate article erroneously stated that the district board ratified the contract with the teachers in a May 11 executive session. The board apparently did not hold an executive session on that date, according to June Jacobs, assistant to the president for strategic initiatives & board relations, and did not take a vote in executive session, which is impermissible under the state open meetings law. The Advocate recognizes its error and regrets the mistake.

Next, the clarification. The headline in the Advocate story said “Board vote to okay contract held without notice.”

The original intent of the story (in spite of the incorrect assertion that an executive session vote was held) was to report that the board seemed to have ratified the contract in a meeting that was held without properly notifying the media, as required by state law.

This assertion was based on a May 11 communication from Randy Stedman, the board’s negotiator, to Brett Nair, an Oregon Education Association representative connected to the faculty bargaining effort. That email, sent at 1:03 p.m. on Wednesday, May 11, stated: “As you requested, I am giving you notice that the Board has transmitted to me a document acknowledging its ratification of the contract.”

Since the memo indicated that the board had acknowledged its ratification of the contract, such an action would have required a meeting, which would have required notice to interested media.

However, the Advocate received an email letter this week from Jacobs saying that the board did not meet on that Wednesday morning. In her letter, Jacobs wrote, “The Board of Education Chair signed the agreement to ratify the next morning.” Freeman is the board chair and the “next morning” was Wednesday, May 11.

If it were Freeman alone who took the action to ratify the contract, then no open meeting would have been necessary on the morning of May 11.

• A longer version of this story may be found on the Advocate website at www.advocate-online.net

NEWS 3

MAY 27, 2011

Photos by Jon Fuccillo/ The Advocate

Portland Trail Blazer Patty Mills

Portland Trail Blazers backup point guard Patty Mills visited MHCC Wednesday to raise money and awareness for Australian flood victims. Mills signed autographs, posed in photographs for fans and sold T-shirts for $20.

“Back home, they don’t care if I just give them my money,” Mills said. “I’m trying to spread awareness. Not a lot of people know what’s going on (in Australia).” A spokesperson for Mills estimated they raised close to $2,500.

Music area loses catalog pages and tuition waivers part of a redistribution of waivers across the college.

Janet McIntyre, dean of Integrated Media, PerAs restructuring takes place across the MHCC forming and Visual Arts, said Wednesday two pages campus, the music department is taking two hits of were cut out of next year’s course catalog because this year’s catalog “misled students into thinking its own.

Two pages are being removed from the 2011- there is a music degree.”

“There’s no music degree and there never has 2012 course catalog highlighting music classes. In addition, tuition waivers for students interested in been a music degree (at MHCC),” said McIntyre. studying music have been significantly decreased as “There is no music program (and) there never has been a music program. It’s a department with a curriculum; terminology is really important.”

Music instructors Dave Barduhn, director of vocal jazz band Genesis, and Susie Jones, jazz band director, said the music department is working to establish an associate of science degree in music after losing its options in next year’s catalog.

Barduhn said the music department’s tuition waivers were diminished by 97 percent.

McIntyre said the waivers have been doled out equally between twelve departments, so that more students in more areas of the college will have an opportunity to benefit from them.

“The music department will take a hit in order for more students to have that opportunity,” said McIntyre.

“The transition of going from what we currently have to what we are about to have, was prematurely dropped out of the WARNERPACIFIC.EDU catalog,” said Barduhn.

McIntyre said she asked the music department to create an AS degree to give students an opportunity to obtain a music Ranked as one of the best values and best baccalaureate colleges in degree. the West by U.S.News & World Report 2010, Warner Pacific is an urban, “I think it’s imperative. It’s critical they Christ-centered liberal arts college in the heart of Portland. With 27 offer students an opportunity to complete undergraduate majors, you can choose from hundreds of career options. (the program) with an associate of science (degree),” said McIntyre. “It would take 2219 SE 68th Avenue Portland, Oregon 97215 care of all the confusion.”

503.517.1020 503.517.1540 warnerpacific.edu McIntyre also said the music depart-

By Devin Courtright The Advocate

i wonder ...

what is my next move?

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ment should establish a transfer articulation agreement with a four-year college/university, such as Portland State, in order provide students an official Associate of Arts - Oregon Transfer degree in music.

Jones said last week that the music department has considered starting an articulation agreement with PSU if that’s “useful” in establishing an AAOT. She said, “If we need have to have an articulation agreement, that (PSU) would be the logical school to do with because the greater number of our students go there, as oppose to scattering everywhere.”

Asked how he felt about the decision to cut catalog pages, Barduhn said, “In the short term, it’s going to hurt some students. The AS degree will be in place for our students who are here to deal with and perhaps we could have it in place for the end of fall but it won’t be in place immediately.

“Our students who are here will be able to benefit from it but it’s the people and the perception of people who are just looking at our catalog, without the benefit of talking to us, who will think that there’s no degree,” said Barduhn.

Genesis member Mark McSpadden said, “It was really nice having that page in the course book because it helped me structure my classes. Now we’re going to have a lot of students coming in on the first day saying ‘which classes should I take? Which classes should I drop?’ and so on.”

McIntyre said, “The issues I’m trying to avoid with students is that if they’re interested in completing and transferring to receive a four-year degree, they will understand what courses will apply, what will move them closer toward that degree and what courses may be simply elective courses that won’t serve toward completing (a degree).”

Jones said, “Students that are here right now will have a degree in place for them,” said Jones. “When we work on the AS, it will be there for them but it’s the students who are new to the college, who look at the catalog to make their decision on where they want to go to school and if they look at our catalog and see they we have nothing, they’re going to turn somewhere else.”

4 SPORTS

MAY 27, 2011

"I told the girls, ‘You have a chance to make history."'

Meadow McWhorter, Saints head softball coach

Three-peat

Abo winn Left Delt Belo cham

Saints sweep the NWAACC Championship tournament for the third year in a row

By Chanel Hill and Jon Fuccillo The Advocate

DELTA PARK — The final out nestled in the glove of freshman catcher Alexis Cline, and the Saints rushed the pitcher’s mound where sophomore ace Kayla Anderson stood with a clinched fist as the team became softball’s best again.

Head coach Meadow McWhorter stood with a smile cheekto-cheek after her troops had pulled off the impossible – three NWAACC championships in a row — with an 11-3 victory over the Everett Trojans.

“We set a goal right behind home plate January 31,” said McWhorter, who already attained her goal of winning the Southern Region title that had eluded the Saints since 2008. “The past two years when we won the championship, we didn’t win league.

I told the girls, ‘You have a chance to make history.’”

For the third year in a row, the Saints made winning look easy when it counted the most, sweeping tournament play with a lethal combination of pitching, glovework and timely hitting.

In the championship game, MHCC pounded out 17 hits and played errorless baseball on the defensive side, The Saints actually trailed 3-0 in the bottom half of the first inning, which prompted a pitching change. McWhorter wasted no time pulling starter sophomore Chelsea Schriber to bring in Anderson — who proceeded to shut down the Trojan offense for the rest of the game.

Freshman designated batter Ashley Devincenzi hit a two-run double in the top of the second inning with two outs. Sophomore

left-fielder Jessica Guy added an RBI double in the fourth to tie the game at 3-3.

The team then took a 4-3 lead in the fifth on a solo homerun by sophomore Amanda Bunch that sent the Trojans center-fielder straight through the fence The Saints picked up more momentum in the sixth inning by starting with three straight hits. Guy led off with a single and then sophomore outfielder Brittany Chestnut slapped a single over the Trojans shortstop and then advanced to second on the throw in from the outfield to push Guy to third. First baseman and redshirt freshman Mai Galusha then homered to left field to build a 7-3 advantage. Prior to that three-run homer, Galusha was 0-for-3 with three pop-outs.

“Meadow was trying to calm me down and told me the last atbats are what count the most,” Galusha said. McWhorter nailed it on the head after the advice. “So I made some adjustments in the dugout,” Galusha added.

It felt “amazing,” she said. “It kind of broke the game open for us.”

Galusha, who missed all of last season due to a torn meniscus in her left knee, adding salt to the wound, by drilling a two-run triple down the right field line in the seventh inning, later scoring on a passed ball.

The Saints piled on four more insurance runs in the top of the seventh to put any chance of a comeback to rest.

In her final day as a Saint, the Eastern Oregon Universitybound Anderson tossed 6.3 scoreless innings and fanned seven Trojan batters.

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SPORTS 5 softball nwaacc7

MAY 27, 2011

Championship game

11

championships 2011 box scores

3

Sunday, May 22 MHCC 1, Wenatchee Valley 0

Semifinals - With two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning, the Saints freshman catcher Ashley Devincenzi drove in the lone run.

Sophomore ace Kayla Anderson struck out six in the victory.

Saturday, May 21 MHCC 3, Everett 2

Round three - Everett took a late 2-0 lead after the top of the sixth inning. The Saints quickly responded with three of their own in the bottom half of the sixth.

Sophomore Amanda Bunch hit a homerun, while sophomore Chelsea Schriber picked up the win in the circle.

Friday, May 20 MHCC 9, Shoreline 1

Round two - Sophomore Amanda Bunch was a triple away from hitting for the cycle. Freshman redshirt Mai Galusha also hit a homerun in the blowout.

Sophomore Chelsea Schriber struck out 13 and surrendered one hit in the winning effort.

Contributed photos by Jeff hinds

ove: Head coach Meadow McWhorter Monday celebrates with her team after ning their third NWAACC Championship in a row. ft: The Saints celebrate after defeating the Everett Trojans 11-3 Monday at ta Park. ow: Saints supporters braved the elements to support their team in the mpionship game.

“Euphoria. Euphoric. It feels awesome,” Anderson said of the n. “I knew it was going to be a battle. It’s not over ‘til it’s over.”

Allie Milless, the Trojans lone ace, ran out of gas after pitchg every single inning in the team’s previous six playoff games the tournament’s first three days. After pitching 5.1 innings, ojans head coach Randy Smith decided his sophomore all-star eded a break. He called on sophomore Rebecca Johnson to end e day in the circle.

Smith said Milless “was tired, She started to lose a little bit movement on the ball. She pitched her guts out. This was my ghth straight appearance (at NWAACCs) and I don’t think I’ve en a performance like that.”

“Honestly, coming into this, we didn’t know what to expect”, mith added.

The Trojans ended their season 15-9 in region, 28-21 overall.

Bunch, who was named co-MVP of the tournament along th Anderson, said she is proud of the way her team responded adversity this year. The team had a rough pre-season and a gular season that saw the loss of players due to grades, injus and players quitting, including standout sophomore infieldJade-Marie Kealiinohomoku who did not play in the tournaent games. McWhorter would not elaborate.

“Honestly I thought it would be a really rough season,” Bunch id. “This is reality. It’s reality of how a team can come togethWe’re the first team to win league and the championship. e’ve set the bar.”

The Saints, who ended their regular season with a 16-4 rerd in the Southern Region and 26-9 overall, began the tourna-

Friday, May 20 MHCC 7, Spokane 5

Round one - After the Saints jumped out to an early 5-2 lead through two innings of action, Spokane tied the game in the third 5-5. The Saints then scored runs in the bottom half of the fifth and sixth.

ment with a target on their backs because they had two consecutive NWAACC titles under their belts. But despite playing with just 11 players, they had faith that they could get it done for a third year in a row.

“One step at a time,” McWhorter said pausing post-game, “Proud. I’m proud of everything they overcame with only a roster of 11.”

Sophomore Chelsea Schriber was credited with the victory while sophomore ace Kayla Anderson picked up the save.

saints nwaacc championship awards Co-Tournament MVPs: Kayla Anderson - pitcher Amanda Bunch - third base

All-Tournament Team: Jessica Guy - left fielder Brittany Chestnut - center field Mai Galusha - first base

6 SPORTS

THE ADVOCATE

MAY 27, 2011

"This has been one of my most challenging seasons thus far."

Matt Hart, Saints head track and field coach

Photos contributed by Matt Hart

Left: Freshman Chris Benson throws the shot put during the 2011 NWAACC champioships. Middle: The womens NWAACC champion 4x100-meter relay team takes the podium after their victory. Right: Sophomore Zach Young runs the 400-meter intermediate hurdles.

Saints take home women's 4x100-meter NWAACC title

By John Tkebuchava The Advocate

The Saints women’s 4x100-meter relay, smashing its own PR by more than a second, were victorious at the NWAACC championship meet championship meet held Monday and Tuesday in Spokane.

The team — comprised of freshmen Erica Drake, Laura Knudson, Terra Zodrow and Mariah Crumpler — finished in 48.15 seconds, earning the quartet All-American status.

The men’s 4x100-meter team placed second in its race with a time of 42.15. The team was freshman Justin Oliveri and sophomores Nick Mulick, Zach Young and Christ Zeller.

Spokane Community College continued to reign as the NWAACC track and field champions on both men’s and women’s side, blowing out all other competition with both team’s scoring around 100 points more than second place.

For the Saints, both men’s and women’s teams placed fourth, with men scoring 71 points and women scoring 68.

“We started off on finals day with a bang as our women crushed the favored team on their track,” said head coach Matt Hart of the women’s 4x100 relay team’s performance.

“Then our men ran a season PR and came in second for the second year in a row against a very talented and fast Spokane team.

“I was hoping this would act as inspiration for the rest of our athletes and carry it with them throughout the day,” he said.

Although the women’s 4x100-meter relay team was the only event in which the Saints took home the gold, the meet was not without its successes, with numerous other top-five finishes.

Among the top finishers: Drake placed third in the 100-meter dash, (12.79); Knudson’s finished second in the 400-meter dash (59.62); Zodrow was second in the 100-meter hurdles (15.34) and third in the 400-meter hurdles, (66.02); and freshman Tyler Callahan finished second in the javelin (204’ 6’’).

“Going into the 400 (meter dash), I knew i had to fight since second place was up for grabs,” said Knudson, “When i rounded the last corner, I knew i had it and did everything I could to pull away from the others.”

Zodrow, who has been a consistently top finisher in the majority of her events and placed second in the NWAACC heptathlon championship meet, was ecstatic about her final performance of the season.

“The NWAACC meet was amazing,” said Zodrow.

“I ran a lifetime PR in the 100-meter hurdles. That was probably my favorite part of the meet.”

“I was a little bit nervous for the relay, but I’m glad we won. It was pretty awesome,” she said.

“I’m happy with my performances this season.

My goal was to beat all my high school records and I did, so that was pretty exciting,” said Zodrow.

“I will be coming back next year and I’m hoping to do even better than I did this year. Maybe work on the throwing events and high jump so I can score better in the heptathlon. I wanted to do javelin in the NWAACC meet, but I’m not too good at that.

I need more practice, so hopefully next year,” said Zodrow.

Hart said injuries plagued the team for a significant chunk of the season. “This has been one of my most challenging seasons thus far,” he said.

“We have had a lot of aches and pains as well as injuries that have limited a lot of our student-athletes to alternative training. Without optimal train-

ing, their competition marks were compromised,” he said.

“The frustrating thing about this is we have not changed our program much to account for the high incidence of injuries. Our program this year is very similar to the program that countless student-athletes have successfully, and without injury, rocked throughout my tenure here at Mt. Hood,” he said.

With individuals like Callahan, who holds the MHCC school record in the javelin, and other top NWAACC finishers like Zodrow and Drake who will be returning next year, the 2012 Saints’ track and field can hope to return a powerful cast of athletes.

“Another descriptor for our 2011 season is ‘young.’

We have a very young and talented group of men and women that got a lot of experience training and competing at the collegiate level. I am hopeful that this will be an advantage for our 2012 season as we should have a lot of leadership next year,” said Hart.

“Also, we are in the process of recruiting some very high caliber student-athletes to add to our talented team for next year. I am hopeful that the majority of them will be big performers next year,” said Hart.

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SPORTS 7 Baseball starts NWAACCs with tough first-round game MAY 27, 2011

File photo by Jon Fuccillo/The Advocate

Sophomore Jeremy Burright was expected to start the first-round NWAACCs game Thursday against the Bellevue Bulldogs.

Saints take field in Longview tourney seeking revenge for 2009 defeat

By Jon Fuccillo The Advocate

Sometimes winning a championship comes down to your first round opponent and how you play with your back against the wall.

Nonetheless, the task remains the same: one day at a time.

The Saints were scheduled to open the NWAACC Championship tournament Thursday with a 4:35 p.m. game against the Bellevue Bulldogs in Longview, Wash. The Bulldogs finished number one in the NWAACC poll and the No. 2 seed from the

North after losing to Everett twice last Sunday in the Northern Region playoffs. Results were unavailable at press time.

A headache of a first-round match up, right?

Wrong, if you ask Saints head coach Bryan Donohue, who wants to ride out on the same momentum wave they rode in on.

“We are who we are,” Donohue said of his team who finished first in the South. “At this point in the season, it’s what can we do to be the most prepared instead of how can we play better?”

By Monday, the Saints will have answered that question and more. That’s when the four-day NWAACC Championships end. For now they will focus on the fact that every game means the same and they can’t think too far ahead.

“Not worried about what (we) need to do,” Donohue says. “It’s nothing out of the ordinary. It’s the same stuff.”

He enjoys that after missing the postseason for the first time in 16 years, his team has a fresh perspective on what’s ahead.

“It’s not a terrible thing,” says Donohue that none of his players has NWAACC experience. “This is going to mean a lot to them. If we had a team full of guys who have been there, it might be a bigger deal. But it’s just an ordinary game.”

Thankfully for the Saints, the Bulldogs are riding a two-game losing streak. They suffered consecutive losses against the Edmond Trojans Sunday in the Northern Region playoffs.

Donohue said Wednesday, “I’m glad we’re opening up with them. On paper, a lot of people are counting us out. But I know they’re beatable.”

He added that they would face a “great” Bellevue

pitcher, Kyle Swannack (6-0, 1.33 ERA), who was expected on the hill. The Saints were planning to start sophomore all-star Jeremy Burright (6-1, 1.61 ERA) As always, Donohue will depend on a deep rotation and wants his offense to get hot and aggressive right out of the gates. Otherwise, their stay in Longview might be short lived.

“If we don’t show up and hit, we won’t beat these guys,” he added. “They (Bellevue) will bang together some hits here and there. Jeremy will do his job and make them put the ball in play. We just need to get to their bullpen early.”

The Bulldogs (21-3, 33-13) relied on a powerhouse of an offense that led the NWAACC with 46 homeruns, twice as many as the next team. Tyler Cox, Kyle Johnson and Jerad Casper led their team with nine apiece. In comparison, the Saints hit 15.

Donohue favors his team in a close game because of freshman all-star Christian Bannister, who recorded a school record 15 saves to go along with his flawless 0.00 ERA. “We’ve got a guy with 15 saves,” he says. “When everything was on the line, we won.”

To add fuel to the fire, the last time these two met in the NWAACCs was in 2009 when Bellevue sent the Saints home after a 5-2 victory. The Bulldogs went on to win the championship.

If the Saints beat Bellevue, they will advance and play either the hometown Lower Columbia Red Devils or the Yakima Valley Yaks depending on who wins Thursday’s game. They would play today at 7:35 p.m. In case of a loss, the Saints move down in the loser’s bracket and will play today at 12:35 p.m. against the loser of the Red Devils and Yaks.

8 LIVING ARTS Review: New 'Pirates' has more action and less romance

MAY 27, 2011

By Mike Mata The Advocate

Savvy?

Yes, dear readers, Captain Jack Sparrow has returned with the newest Pirates of the Caribbean installment, “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.”

This movie begins with a scene from Spain in which a Spanish noble gives audience to a sailor who has news of explorer Ponce De Leon and the Fountain of Youth. This changes into yet another ill-planned escape attempt from Sparrow (Johnny Depp) — this time from London and without the aid of his first mate Joshamee Gibbs (Kevin McNally) — as Gibbs is the one in chains this time for impersonating Sparrow.

Through a series of typical “Pirate”-esque twists and turns involving a meeting with King George II (Richard Griffiths) and Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) masquerading as a privateer, Sparrow finds his way to a tavern where supposedly he is hiring a crew, though it turns out to be one of his former flames in costume, Angelica (Penelope Cruz). After being shanghaied by Angelica, Sparrow finds himself on board the Queen Anne’s Revenge, the ship of the infamous Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard (Ian McShane).

Blackbeard is on his own quest for the Fountain of Youth to delay his seemingly imminent death and therefore needs Sparrow and his supernatural map and compass. However, Gibbs, ever the pirate, stole the map and is on his way with Barbossa to the Fountain of Youth as well.

Noticeably absent from the plot are Will (Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth (Keira Knightly). This is

because producer Jerry Bruckheimer announced that the previous movie, “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End,” was the final movie, but that a spin-off was possible. Ta-da, and here we have it.

The plot follows the pattern of the movies with tricks, backstabbing and an almost fickle changing of loyalties, although with the aforementioned lack of the gruesome twosome of Will and Elizabeth, there were fewer changes of loyalties in this movie.

Depp delivers Jack Sparrow in his usual manner, that is to say a hilarious manner full of intricate word play, flourishing of swords and wavering of arms.

Cruz’s Angelica attempts to be more devious than Jack but instead just comes across as an amateur trying too hard to fit in. Nonetheless, she fulfills the role of eye-candy left by Knightly.

McShane’s Blackbeard starts off as a badass, flippantly killing his crew and such, and then turns very paternal when it is revealed that Angelica is his daughter.

Gibbs and Barbossa maintain much their same roles as the previous, meaning that they continue to be a great sidekick and pseudo-villain respectively.

Though lacking in a clear plot, this movie still trumps the second movie, “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest,” which was ludicrous in its twist and turns, and lacks of some of the drama of Will-and-Elizabeth being moony lovers, which is actually a bit of an improvement as it turns the movie into more an action-adventure comedy.

The movie is thoroughly enjoyable for the laughs provided by the ever-fast talking Depp and

Planetarium to introduce the summer's night sky

By Mario Rubio The Advocate

“An Introduction to the Summer Sky” will be presented in the Planetarium Monday, June 6.

Two 45-minute presentations of the same show will be offered, beginning at 8 p.m. Admission will be $2 and the general public is invited to attend.

“It is intended to introduce people to the constellations as well as the nebulae, galaxies, and star clusters that can be found in this summer’s sky,” said astronomy instructor and planetarium director Pat Hanrahan.

Now that summer is here with clearer skies, the stars will become more visible, thus the change in climate will display a shift in star activity.

An astronomy instructor for years, Hanrahan segued

into his current title last year after long-time director Doug McCarty retired from MHCC. Hanrahan credits his support setting up the event to a former student, Travis Shiprack, who could not be reached for an interview. “He has helped me a lot with the public shows and I have appreciated his help,” added Hanrahan.

Hanrahan was previously involved with the public observatory at Clackamas Community College where he enjoyed showing people the stars through their 24inch telescope. He is also a member of the Rose City Astronomers and also active in Astrophotography.

“One advantage of teaching and doing public shows, is that I get to show off some of my favorite pictures that I have taken of the sky,” Hanrahan said.

cynical and sarcastic performance by the ever-enjoyable Rush. On those merits alone, the movie is worth seeing. Plus, who wouldn’t like to see Cruz dressed as a saucy pirate?

Music groups to perform end of term concerts

By Laura Knudson The Advocate

The MHCC Music Department will be offering its End Of Term concerts May 31 through June 2 in the College Theater.

The May 31 MHCC Symphonic Band performance will feature student conductors Taryn Zickefoose, Corbin Wescott, Marshall Nystrom, J.R. O'Brien, Joey Beyer, and Tyler Nelson. Jazz Band director Susie Jones said every conductor has prepared the Symphonic Band to perform his or her piece and that this will be a debut performance for many of the student conductors.

The June 1 concert is dedicated to the choir and orchestra. The orchestra will perform Brahms Violin Concerto. Steven Garvey will be the soloist. Orchestra Director Marshall Tuttle said, “This is an exciting and profoundly difficult

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Presentation of visual images by Yushihiko Yoshida 7:30-8:30 p.m.

Visual Arts Theater

piece which was originally labeled as a ‘concerto against the violin’ rather than for the violin. Steve Garvey is the orchestra’s concertmaster.”

The love duet from “Madama Butterfly” by Puccini will also be performed by the orchestra. This piece will feature Owen Hoffman Smith and Amanda Baker as the singers.

“This concert represents a high point for the orchestra in terms of repertoire and interpretation. The orchestra has not previously undertaken compositions of such intense unbounded romanticism in the past. It should be one of our most exciting concerts ever,” said Tuttle.

The June 2 jazz night concert will feature Jazz Band I, Jazz Band II, and Jazz Combos.

All concerts start at 7:30 p.m. and are free.

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Erica T. Melville art in the Fireplace Gallery

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Jazz Night 7:30 p.m College Theater

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