The Advocate, Issue 17, Feb. 17, 2012

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Men’s basketball drops a game against Clackamas cougars

February 17, 2012

Learn more about the cast of “Snoopy!!!”

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Queer Straight Alliance looking for new members Volume 47, Issue 17

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Presidents honored despite open campus Classes will remain open Monday for historical reasons, despite the fact it is a federal holiday

by Leah Emura The Advocate

Despite the fact that Monday is a federal holiday, MHCC will be open for a regular instructional day due to historical reasons, according to Cassie McVeety, vice president of college advancement.

Officially named Washington’s Birthday, referring to George Washington whose birthday is Feb. 22, Presidents Day was established by Congress in 1971 mandating every third Monday in February as a holiday.

Although George Washington was the first American to be honored, the purpose of the holiday is not to celebrate a particular president, but the office of the presidency.

Although Presidents Day is a federal holiday, some businesses stay open. This may result in other community colleges being closed depending on their academic calendar, said McVeety.

Portland, Clackamas and Chemeketa community colleges are open. Clark Community College will be closed.

McVeety added, “According to longtime employees, the college has historically been open for Presidents Day.” Cathy Nichols,

president of the Classified Employees Association, said “In our recollection, we have only have had it off when we have had a furlough day, which is a college mandated closure.”

The MHCC District Board is responsible for this decision on Presidents Day. The process begins with MHCC’s President’s Cabinet recommending an academic calendar, this is reviewed by the Board, which then gives final approval to the calendar, according to McVeety.

Another factor that affects this federal holiday is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. MHCC is either closed on MLK day or Presidents Day. “Historically,” McVeety said, “the academic calendar each year has been set with input from each of the employee associations.” This also includes many other factors to be in consideration with “the number of Monday holidays that would impact Monday and Wednesday classes,” McVeety continued.

MHCC students and staff should acknowledge President’s Day as an instructional day based on the historic pattern and the fact that the academic and annual calendar has already been established and “published with MLK Day as the holiday,” McVeety said.

MHCC partners for new energy training

by John Tkebuchava The Advocate

Mt. Hood Community College is planning to develop a training program for energy plant operators within the next three years.

The program would be in partnership with Development Partners, the sponsors of the proposed Troutdale Energy Center, and NAES Corporation.

As a part of the training program, students would use the Troutdale Energy Center as a training facility.

The Troutdale Energy Center is one

Mt. Hood Community College

of numerous proposals in the making to provide Portland General Electric a power source for their customers.

PGE spokesperson Steve Corson said PGE has submitted an Integrated Resource Plan request to the Public Utility Commission of Oregon, which outlines strategies to meet the region’s electricity needs for the next 20 years.

As a part of the Integrated Resource Plan, the Boardman Coal Plant would be closed by 2020.

Corson said PGE hopes the request is approved by June.

After approval, Corson said PGE would

request bids and begin the process of evaluating them, which would include the Troutdale Energy Center proposal.

“At this point, (Development Partners) haven’t submitted a proposal yet,” Corson said, adding that as such, they don’t know what the details of the Troutdale Energy Center proposal are.

If a bid fits the needs the needs and requirements of PGE, they will accept the bid, which Corson said they hope to do sometime in the summer.

According to the Troutdale Energy Center proposal, the facility will be a multi-million dollar project and is ex-

pected to create hundreds of construction jobs and 25 to 35 technical operation jobs as well.

Marc Goldberg, MHCC dean of instruction for adult basic skills who has been working with Cassie McVeety, vice president of college advancement, has met with officials from NAES Corporation, which provides operation and management services to energy plants.

see Energy on page 3 Gresham, Oregon

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February 17, 2012

Editorial

Students need more opportunity for course feedback Students choose to come to college to further their education. Part of that includes taking their educations into their own hands to get their desired outcomes: degrees.

Holding your education in your hands requires students to choose classes and the instructors that will be teaching those classes. We understand, sometimes a specific time slot will take priority over who is teaching the class, but for those of us who find a good instructor important to our decisions, The Advocate would like to see more options for students to have information on what kind of class they’re getting into.

Currently, many students are resorting to ratemyprofessors.com in order to find a suitable instructor. The website itself cannot be considered ultimately reliable because first off, it includes a “hotness” rating and secondly, it seems that a lot of teacher reviews are on one side or the other: the instructor was either absolutely horrible or belongs in the realm of Gods as far as teaching is concerned.

Another problem with ratemyprofessors.com is that reviews of instructors don’t have to come from a specific school base. If an instructor teaches at multiple colleges, students who review them may not be from Mt. Hood Community College. While this widens the pool of reviews, every school has it’s own community that may accept one style of teaching over another.

MHCC offers evaluations on a random basis through e-mail, but not for all of a student’s instructors in a given term. Formerly, the college offered written evaluations on the basis that instructors volunteered to be reviewed.

When evaluations are set up on a website, the teachers must first optin to do the evaluations, deciding if they would like their courses evaluated and if so, which courses they would like evaluated. Once they have decided that, the evaluations are sent out to students. The students are then only able to evaluate a course if their teacher has approved it.

This leaves students with limited ability to give feedback because many teachers may opt-out of this process.

The Advocate feels that students would benefit from having more opportunity to evaluate and give feedback when a teacher may be lacking in teacher to student communication skills.

Currently the MHCC valuations received from students are not made public. This gives students no outlet to take a hands-on approach to their education by having a reliable review of a Mt. Hood specific instructor

by fellow peers.

The Advocate would like to know what is being done with these evaluations and how many students are taking advantage of them. Are they really doing us any good?

The Advocate’s proposed solution to this would be to have reviews sent out by e-mail to every registered student for every instructor they’ve taken for that term and have a guided evaluation to take them through the process.

Questions would need to have an open-ended portion where students could write their own comments either in addition to or separate from any potential multiple choice questions.

Following submissions, the school would do well to publish the reviews for the benefit of the student body.

It would also give the instructors the opportunity to see the impact of their teaching style and how well it is working for students taking their classes in a reliable setting and make adjustments as needed.

Heritage months not widely celebrated, recognized

by Yuca Kosugi The Advocate

Everyone is a little bit racist —and some more than others.

Now that we got the hard part over with, let’s about various heritage months celebrated in the United States with open minds. For the sake of keeping things relatively simple, we will classify a heritage month as those that have been proclaimed by a U.S. president, and that the history portion of each is geared more toward its history in the United States.

It is February, which is Black History Month. It is arguably the most celebrated among the other heritage months. November was Native American Heritage month and mid-September through mid-October was Hispanic Heritage Month.

However, there are many other heritage months proclaimed by a U.S. president that are less known. March is Irish-American Heritage Month. May is Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month, Jewish-American Heritage Month and Haitian Heritage Month. June is Caribbean-American Heritage Month. October is Italian-American Heritage Month and Polish-American Heritage Month.

Some may ask, when is White History Month? This is blasphemy, reverse-racism, blah blah blah. The way I see it, although it’s not official or proclaimed by the president, “White” history month is every month. History taught in public schools is history seen

and interpreted from the American point of view. So-called world history in American schools consists mostly of American history, European history, a touch of eastern Asia and conquistadors in Latin America, all from an American or western point of view.

And yes, the various heritage months are not represented equally and are not celebrated in the same capacity. I did not even know about the Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month (consisting of Asians and Pacific Islanders) until I did a little research, being a curious Asian-American myself. There are also many white sub-groups like the Slavs and other Western European groups that are not represented as well. And when was the last time there was an event for Caribbean-American Month? I’ve never heard of that before, either.

That being said, is it really fair to restrict and condense the history and heritage of one race or ethnicity into just a month? What’s the point? Black History Month is turning into a broken record of hero-worship, learning about Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and Rosa Parks. Black history in the United States is also not just “black history” but it is also part of American history.

What really needs to be done is to integrate different yet relevant cultural heritage and perspectives into history classes taught in public schools. Teach about Christopher Columbus, not only how he luckily landed in the Americas, but also about how the Native Americans felt about him then and now. Teach about the Pacific front of World War II from the various Asian perspectives, not only the American.

So in the similar degree of corniness and idea of “make every day an Earth Day,” I think that the heritage months are counter-intuitive and should be integrated into everyday history classes instead.

the advocate

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Kayla Tatum

www.advocate-online.net

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Living Arts Editor

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Energy:

February 17, 2012

Continued from page 1

According to the Troutdale Energy Center proposal, the facility will be a multi-million dollar project and is expected to create hundreds of construction jobs and 25 to 35 technical operation jobs as well.

Marc Goldberg, MHCC dean of instruction for adult basic skills who has been working with Cassie McVeety, vice president of college advancement, has met with officials from NAES Corporation, which provides operation and management services to energy plants.

According to a post on the MHCC website, the program may take up to three years to realize, though Goldberg said he hopes it won’t take that long.

“We are looking to possibly do something sooner. The question about three years is under the assumption that we’re building a new two-year associate’s degree. We’re still in the preliminary stages of fleshing out what

MHCC proposes plans to create energy training program for students

this partnership looks like,” he said.

Being in the early stages, Goldberg said some specifics of the program, such as how long it would take to complete or whether students would receive a degree or certificate upon its completion, have yet to be worked out.

“We need to make sure it meets the needs of the employer, that it meets the priorities and strategies of the college. It’s too hard to simply answer, ‘Is it three years?’ Well, we’re not even certain what we’re building quite yet, but we’ve talked about a lot of different ideas.”

As well as employment opportunities, students may also be able to take part in internships, some of which may be paid internships, said Goldberg.

“In the last meeting we had with (NAES), we talked about the idea of internships for MHCC students at their power plant in

News Briefs

“It’s exciting to be engaged with an employer that is serious in its proposal to build a new plant in their district and is going to be hiring these 25-30 employees to start.”

Marc Goldberg MHCC dean of instruction Hillsboro,” he said, adding that some paid summer internships have been among the discussions.

“It’s exciting to be engaged with an employer that is serious in its proposal to build a new plant in their district and is going to be hiring these 25-30 employees to start,” said Goldberg.

Although the training program would be an addition to MHCC academics, customized training is not something new to

the college.

“Our workforce development division does a lot of customized training for employers, so we do a lot of customized training for employers in our district already.

We partner with Boeing Portland, which is a few miles from here, and that’s one of the largest employers in the district,” said Goldberg.

Goldberg said one the reasons power plant companies have been looking to train and acquire

employees is because “in a conversation I had with an employer, they said there’s a lot of folks in our industry who are getting ready to retire. There’s a lack of knowledge and interest in the energy field. I think it’s exciting to hear about an industry where the average age is close to retirement and that this employer is coming to us and saying, ‘We’d love to work with you, because we know that these employees are not going to be around much longer,’” he said.

Asked what value the program could bring to students, Goldberg said, “It’s another option for students who may be interested in this type of work.”

Goldberg said the program has more to offer students than just power plant management.

“There’s a tie-in with computer information systems, tie-in with engineering and there’s a tie-in with environmental sustainability,” he said.

January Red Cross Blood Drive exceeds goals by 13 units of blood

The Red Cross Blood Drive hosted on MHCC’s campus Jan. 24 and 25 had a great turn out, according to Associated Student Government President Jackie Altamirano.

“We had so many walk-ins that we had to actually turn down people,” said Altamirano. “We also filled in all of our appointments.”

The goal set by the Red Cross was 53 units of blood for Jan. 24, and 58 units were collected with five deferrals.

The goal set for Jan. 25 was 55 units and 63 units were collected, with nine deferrals. In total the MHCC Blood Drive exceeded

the goal set by the Red Cross by 13 units.

One unit is about a quart and each donor can donate up to one unit. Potential donors may be deferred due to a number of reasons, but the most common reason is low iron count, according to SAB Wellness Programs Coordinator Teresa Vega.

Not only did ASG have a great turn out in blood donors, but also in the amount of volunteers at the event, “we had probably about 25 volunteers that day,” said Altamirano.

The next wellness-related event will be a wellness fair in March.

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February 17, 2012

“We didn’t show a lot of patience, and missed easy baskets.”

Geoff Gibor Saints head basketball coach

Saints men’s basketball falls to rival Cougars at home

by Chanel Hill The Advocate

It was the type of game where everything lined up: the open looks were there, the defense was there and every shot seemed to fall.

Unfortunately, it was not happening for the Saints but for the Clackamas Cougars as they defeated MHCC 67-46 on Hood’s court Wednesday night.

From the start, the Cougars, who have one of the biggest teams in the NWAACCs (only one player is under six feet tall), came out aggressively but the Saints, who run an up-tempo offense, stayed even with the Cougars to tie 18-18. But then the Cougars went on a 16-0 run, leaving the Saints trailing by 13 points heading into the second half.

“We didn’t show a lot of patience, and missed easy baskets early which shook our confidence a little,” said head coach Geoff Gibor.

“At halftime I told them, there’s no 13-point basket, and that we needed to take it step by step.”

The Saints came out aggressively in the second half, getting within 10 points of the Cougars before they pulled away, sealing the deal with a shot at the buzzer to take the game 64-46. The loss, according to Gibor should serve as motivation for games to come.

“Not only do you lose pretty bad, but you lose on home court, with them knocking down a shot at the end. It should sting,” said Gibor. “In a loss, the evaluation process becomes a lot more critical than it does in a win. You learn from losses, and are better for it.”

The Saints, who are now tied for first place in the Southern Region with the Chemeketa Storm with a 9-2 record, will be tested in all three of their remaining games. On

Saturday, the Saints head to Coos Bay to play the Southwestern Oregon Lakers, who coach Gibor says is supported by “a notoriously volatile crowd.” The last time the two teams met was Jan. 21, when the Saints bested the Lakers 88-76 in Gresham.

The Saints are looking at a tight race in the Southern Region as they look to clinch a playoff berth and secure their goal of winning the region. But first they must get through the Lakers Saturday before coming home to face the highly anticipated match-up against the Chemeketa Storm.

The first time the two teams met was Jan. 25 in Salem, when the Cougars displayed their aggressive defense and up-tempo offensive game, handing the Saints their first loss in the region and breaking their eight-game win streak.

“We have to focus, on defense and rebounding, and all play together,” said sophomore guard Robby Rivers Thursday.

The Saints, who match up well with the Storm and their style of play, were tied 39 at the half in the first game before the Storm defeated the Saints 89-77.

The Saints will need to get out on shooters early on and will also need big shot production from their team. Sophomore Rei Jensen had 23 points against the Storm in their last meeting, followed by sophomore point guard Marcus Moore who had 19 points.“We can’t get this loss (Cougars) stop us from doing what we’re doing,” said Rivers.

The Saints loss to the Cougars followed their 70-62 victory Feb. 11 on the road against the Umpqua Riverhawks where the Saints outrebounded the Riverhawks 50-27. Team scoring was led by sophomore Spencer Clayton, who posted 19 points, 13 rebounds and six assists.

Photo contributed by Jeff Hinds The Saints will play SW Oregon on Sophomore Drew Johnson takes the ball down court Wednesday night against the Clackamas Cougars at home. the road Saturday with a game start time of 6 p.m. before heading back to play the Chemeketa Wednesday night at home with a game time of 7:30 p.m.

Mt. Hood-Chemeketa comparison (Southern Region games only)

Points per game FG pct.

3-pt. pct.

Free throw pct.

Rebounds/game

MHCC 81.36 48% 40% 65% 40.45

Chemeketa 88.64 46% 31% 68% 38.36

Upcoming GAMES Men’s Basketball Feb. 18, 6 p.m. vs Southwestern Oregon, away Feb. 22, 7:30 p.m. vs Chemeketa Storm, at home

Women’s Basketball Feb. 18, 4 p.m. vs Southwestern Oregon, away Feb. 22, 5:30 p.m. vs Chemeketa, at home

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February 17, 2012

Lady Saints lose to Cougars after falling behind in the second half

by Laura Knudson The Advocate

It was a different setting but the same story for the MHCC women’s basketball team Wednesday night as they fell to the Clackamas Cougars 64-39 at home.

The Saints trailed 29-26 at the half but Clackamas pulled away at the start of the second half. The Cougars moved the ball around well, making the Saints struggle to keep up while putting the game out of reach.

Sophomore Melissa Carey was the leading MHCC scorer with 10 points, followed by freshman Hannah Mocaby with six points.

Freshman Kelsey Barnes had 10 rebounds and sophomore Emily Burch contributed six assists.

The Saints, who struggled to hold onto the ball, had 28 turnovers that the Cougars converted for 24 points.

Head coach Jocelyn McIntire, who has spoken to her team’s lack of focus and mental toughness in the second half of games, was frustrated on the sideline, yelling, “C’mon ladies, let’s go. Be aggressive.”

Wednesday’s game was the Saints second loss to the Cougars.

In last Saturday’s game, the Saints were ahead at the half 32-27 but were unable to hold on against the Umpqua Riverhawks, who put the game away 74-63.

Barnes was lead scorer with 17 points, followed by Taylor Grote with 15 points. Burch had four assists and Barnes led with eight of the Saints 29 rebounds. But the Riverhawks outdid the women with 58 rebounds, 20 by Pua Kailiawa.

The Saints now have a 4-7 record in the South Region. They are tied with the Southwestern Oregon Community College Lakers for fifth place, leaving the women with just a slim chance of making the playoffs.

Last season the women finished fifth and just missed the playoffs. The top four teams from each region qualify for the NWAACC tournament.

The women will hit the road to take on SWOCC Saturday in Coos Bay. The game is scheduled to start at 4 p.m. They will play Chemeketa Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. in Gresham.The game is scheduled to start at 4p.m.

Freshman power forward Kierstin Yates scored four points Wednesday night against the Cougars.

Photo contributed by Jeff Hinds

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File the FAFSA by these dates:

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As soon after Jan. 1 as possible

April 1

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April 1 — earlier if possible

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July 1 — earlier if possible

October 1

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Nov. 1 — earlier if possible

February 1

TIPS:

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File your FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) online for faster processing (fafsa.gov).

Check MyMHCC regularly for your application status and turn in required documents promptly.

If you missed deadlines, financial aid will not be available until after the start of the term.

Students are served first-come, first-served for fairness - do not ask for exceptions unless the College made a clear error in your file completion date. This will help us serve you and all students faster!

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Remember: It can take up to 12 weeks for your financial aid to be ready after you file your FAFSA!

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February 17, 2012

On Campus

Snoopy!!!

Your weekly reason to stand up and hit the streets

Feb. 20 Presidents Day is also Free Admission Day to the Portland Japanese Garden. The garden is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and guides will be available all day to share the garden’s history, culutre and traditions. The garden is located at 611 SW Kingston Ave., Portland.

The MHCC Funeral Service Education (FSE) program will hold their 16th annual Funeral Arrangement Exercise. Students will have a chance to make coffin selections and experience other aspects of the funeral process. The free event is open to the public and takes place from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Town and Gown room.

Email hosking.cindy@ yahoo.com or call 503701-0740 to make an appointment.

Feb. 22 Sopranos Kathy Fitzgibbon (Lewis & Clark College choral director) and Hannah Penn (Portland State University voice professor) will be accompanied by pianist Michael Barnes for a recital of songs and arias at The Old Church, 1422 SW 11th Ave. at noon. The event is a part of the weekly Free Sack Lunch Concert series at the church.

Feb. 23

Photos by Riley Hinds/The Advocate

Illustrations by Yuca Kosugi/The Advocate

MHCC’s musical “Snoopy!!!” opens Feb. 24 and the lead roles are played by a handful of first-year students ready to take the stage.

SAM McPHERSON

Sam McPherson, a firstyear student, plays the role of Snoopy. McPherson is from Vancouver, Wash., and he started acting was when his girlfriend in high school encouraged him to try out for their school play his sophomore year.

“Snoopy!!!” is McPherson’s first play at MHCC and he was encouraged by his instructors to try out. When he found out that he got the role of Snoopy, he said, “I was definitely very excited.”

In addition to being very welcoming, McPherson said of the cast members, “They are all very skilled and dedicated actors.”

McPherson said that acting as the cartoon character Snoopy was “at times difficult, but being on stage is very cartoon like.”

JACOB WESTFALL

Another first-year student, Jacob Westfall, plays the role of Charlie Brown. The “Snoopy!!!” musical will be his first play at MHCC. When Westfall found out he got the role of Charlie Brown, he said, “I was pretty exhilarated.

It was the largest role that I’ve ever had in my theater career. It was an exciting experience, but also very daunting at the same time.”

Westfall watched Charlie Brown growing up. “The Snoopy Christmas videos were sort of a part of my childhood; it was something that my parents

would put on to keep me busy,” he said.

Westfall says that being in the play makes it “kinda difficult to juggle classes, extracurricular activities, as well as the play, and music courses and what not. It’s a little bit tough.”

Although Westfall has a busy schedule, performing is his passion.

“My dream is to be a recording artist, a singer/songwriter. Acting is teaching me a lot about stage presence and expressing yourself to an audience,” he said.

Westfall has performed in front of 3,000 people at Cranage Hall at University of Nevada-Las Vegas “that was the biggest crowd that I’ve ever performed (in front of),” he said.

EDDY MORALES

First-year student Eddy Morales plays the role of Woodstock.

Moralas said, “In high school, I never got main roles.

I always got to play chorus, so when I got it (the role), I was like, ‘Woodstock! He’s one of my favorite characters in Charlie Brown. No way! This is a dream come true!’”

Moralas is from Mexico, and moved to Oregon when he was 11 years old. He grew up watching Charlie Brown in Spanish.

“I personally like it (Charlie Brown) in English better, because in Spanish it was kind of boring and flat,” Morales said.

He thinks acting as a cartoon character is “not difficult to me, because my face is elastic, kind of like Jim Carrey, where he can come up with ridiculous faces, and come up with the most extreme faces. So, I can look really cartoonish a lot of the times.”

Morales’ dream acting partner would be Hugh Jackman.

“Snoopy!!!” opens Feb. 24 and runs through March 4. Tickets are $12 for adults and $5 for children 12 and under. Tickets and show times are available at tickets@mhcc.edu. Tickets can also be purchased over the phone at 503-491-7154.

Photos: Sam McPherson, Jacob Westfall and Eddy Morales rehearse for “Snoopy!!!”

Wednesday night in the college center.

Feb. 24 See all of your favorite Peanuts comicstrip characters in the MHCC Theater Department’s presentation of “Snoopy!!!” which opens today at 7:30 p.m. in the College Theater. Tickets range from $5-$15 and can be purchased online at tickets@mhcc.edu or at the box office. For more information contact the Performing Arts office at 503491-6969. Performances are Feb. 24-25 and March 1-3 at 7:30 p.m. and there are two 2 p.m. Sunday matinees Feb. 26 and March 4.

Snoopy

The MHCC Career Planning and Counseling Center is hosting a Summer Jobs and Career Fair in the Fireplace Lounge in the College Center from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Employers from Timberline Lodge, Mt. Hood Aquatic Center, KOIN 6 Television and The Home Depot, to name a few, will be in attendance. For more information call the Career Planning and Counseling Center at 503-491-7432.

Story by Kayla Tatum/The Advocate

Snoopy

Feb. 21

MHCC first-year theater students to bring the comic strip to life in the winter musical

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February 17, 2012

On Campus

Black tie dinner will raise hospitality funds

by Shelby Schwartz The Advocate

Hospitality and tourism students are putting together a black tie affair on campus slated for Feb. 25.

The event is designed as a fundraiser for both the hospitality and tourism club and the program itself to provide funding for field trips and to give students a chance to go on trips that will help them in their industry.

“The gala dinner and hospitality and wine auction that we sponsor is a combined event. It’s really one fundraiser and money is brought in from both selling dinner tickets and also auctioning off donated items from the hospitality industry that have been given to us to allow us to support the program,” said Court Carrier, program director for hospitality and tourism.

“The purpose is to supplement field trips which we have no budget for,” Carrier said. “We also have an endowed scholarship fund that we established and we give money to that every year from these fundraising efforts,” he said.

The name of the event is “The Distinguished Guest Chefs Invitational Gala Dinner” and this year’s theme is “experience Peruvian cuisine — ‘the land of abundance,’” Carrier said.

The event will take place in the Town and Gown Room (2057) and the Jazz Café. Admission is $70 per person and includes hors d’oeuvres and wine sampling during the reception as well as a four-course dinner. The event will begin 5:30 p.m. and dinner will be served at 6:30 p.m.

According to Carrier, the concept is to have a different executive chef who works with the program’s culinary students and they end up crafting the meal.

“Our other students are volunteers and they end up working the event either as hosts, as cashiers, as runners to help take auction items out to peoples cars afterwards, marketing and logistical committees, food committees to get donated items of food, so we don’t have to buy the food for the dinner,” Carrier said.

Carrier said the event will have about 16 students working with guest chef Hank Costello in the kitchen and about 60 more students working on the event and planning it.

Costello is the executive chef of Andina Restaurant; he will be working with students to create a Peruvian cuisine.

“About half the money that we raise comes from the dinner tickets sales and the other half comes from the auction. Restaurants donate meals for four people, hotels donate weekend packages, attractions give us tickets to the places, like museums,” Carrier said.

“Usually we end up with about 130 or 140 different items on our auction. There is a lot of fun things,” Carrier said.

“Program resources, scholarships and field trip supplemental funds are what we use that money for,” Carrier said.

Tickets for this event are still available for purchase. There is a limit of 120 attendees. Tickets can be purchased by calling the Hospitality and Tourism Club at 503-491-7486.

Off Campus Review

‘Some Nights’ moves along emotional coaster

by Jill-Marie Gavin The Advocate

“Some Nights,” the newest album by Fun., which will be released Tuesday, opens with a boost of energy that nearly guarantees to impress. With the melodic high-pitched vocals of Nate Ruess, reminiscent of Freddie Mercury, set over the skillfully composed and almost operatic score, the intro to the album sets high hopes.

In December of 2011, Fun.’s “We Are Young” was performed by the cast of “Glee,” catapulting the somewhat obscure band into the number one downloaded

song slot on iTunes that week.

The momentum only grew from there when during Super Bowl XLVI, Chevrolet aired a commercial featuring the same song.

With this newfound mainstream exposure, the pressure for “Some Nights” to please the general audience is high.

This is the sophomore album for the band that formed and began practicing together in New Jersey in 2008. The band put out an album entitled “Aim and Ignite” in 2010 and was put on the top five bands to watch by “Rolling Stone,” though this was not enough to push the band from stardom to media saturation.

In the city, for the city.

WARNERPACIFIC.EDU PORTLAND, OR

Ballads fill the album and make listening pleasant and uplifting. Well-placed and occasional bursts of energy keep the listener from being lulled to sleep.

“It Gets Better” is a shock that exposes the listener to a pop-punk anthem that motivates a sense of purpose and urgency. The surprises are endless as one travels through the tiers of the album. The diversity of sound isn’t confusing because somehow the band manages to maintain cohesion.

Though the styles are plentiful, each one is delivered with precision and is right on cue.

This keeps the listener from being overwhelmed by sound.

The electronic tempo and percussion of “All Alone” is much different than its predecessor’s background music but the vocals of Ruess are enough to keep the style intact.

Each song is unique and has its own personality, but much like a family of individuals, they are all clearly related. The synthesizer used by Ruess in “Stars” is slightly over the top and seems much like a half-sibling when compared with the rest of the album. This is only one complaint in a sea of praise, but it was jarring enough to retract from the cohesion that up until then had been so alluring.

Regardless of its flaws, “Some Nights” is worthy of purchase. The ups and downs of mood created by the band make it a listenable album to nearly any audience. It’s a good album to play while sad, sleepy, mellow, happy or a combination of all.

Q&A

With “Snoopy!!!” beginning its performances on Feb. 24, The Advocate wanted to know what students remember from Snoopy and their childhood.

“(My memories) are fond.

I have kids and some of them have kids. We enjoy sitting around enjoying (the shows) and remembering what it was like as kids and hearing the teacher go ‘blahh blahh.’ We can still relate to that.”

Rose Marie Davis

Hospitality and Tourism

“In the ’60s I had an album called ‘Snoopy and the Red Baron.’ It’s a really cool song. The album was red. It was either the late ’60s or early ‘70s.”

Ike Isaacs

Business and Marketing

“I mainly remember him (Charlie Brown) trying to get the football, and him (Snoopy) in World War II.”

Alex Rumkles

Criminal Justice

“I remember Snoopy and Woodstock and there’s that one that stinks.”

Tyson Davis Business

“I didn’t read the comic but I watched the Peanuts Christmas special. Once in July and once around Christmas. Kind of a tradition.”

Undeclared

Torie Johnson

8 living arts

advocate the

February 17, 2012

New club president seeks to revive QSA

by Mike Mata The Advocate

One of the MHCC’s most active clubs in past years, the Queer-Straight Alliance is rising from hibernation with a new president.

Kevin Elliot, an openly gay 25-year-old, first-time MHCC student came to the school this term and asked Student Events & Center Coordinator Meadow McWhorter about QSA and, according to him, a few questions later he was the new president.

“Unfortunately, last term it (the club) kind of just petered off. You know how college students are. People got busy or graduated and moved on,” said Elliot of the club’s recent inactivity.

“Both of my roommates are ex-students here and they were really active in QSA. I am trying to bring it back, to a successful and positive place for people to come to.

All people,” said Elliot. “I really don’t care what acronym you consider yourself,” he added.

“I write a motto on the board every week in the classroom: ‘Be who you are and love who you are’,” said Elliot.

The first official QSA meeting of the year was held Feb. 9 in Room AC2607, near Engineering and Mathematics, from 1-2 p.m.

There will be meetings there now at that time every Thursday.

Currently, Elliot and QSA are one and the same, with no other officers—the vice president, treasurer, SOC representative and the Diversity Council officer—or full members, though Elliot added that his roommates will attend as many of the meetings as they can and he will be at every meeting regardless of the turnout.

Asked how many members he would like to have, Elliot said between six and 10, so that the other officer slots would be filled and still have room for regular members to come.

However, QSA does now have a faculty adviser — Steven Storla, the Career Pathways program coordinator.

“I was talking to Mary (Burlingame, bookkeeper in the College Center) at the front desk and I was just asking her some questions about who was the former staff adviser and she kind of pointed me over toward Steven — even though he wasn’t the former adviser,” said Elliot.

“I talked to him about what I’m trying to do and where I would like to see the club go and kind of who I am as a person and why I’m choosing to do this. We decided it would make sense if he was the new adviser,” added Elliot.

Elliot created the first GSA (Gay Straight Alliance) at Springdale Job Corps before coming to MHCC and cited it as a helpful experience for his work with QSA now.

“I remember when I was young and dealing with coming out and stuff like that.

It was really difficult not having anyone to talk to, not having anyone who understood where I was. I want to create a place where we do. We understand what you’re going through and we’ve been there. Let’s help each other through it,” said Elliot of his inspiration and drive to restart QSA at MHCC. “Ultimately, I just want to be the guy I needed when I was there,” he added.

Asked what his short-term goals are, Elliot said he wants to get QSA membership up and “get the word out there.”

“I just think that if more people would come in and sit down through one session, they’d understand it’s not the ‘Gay Group.’

It’s a queer-straight alliance. It only works if you have both sides there,” said Elliot, adding that there are not “sides” in the group.

On Campus

Fireplace gallery artist incorporates myths and birds

Artist at a glance: — Aurand is an art

instructor at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Wash.

— Mythology and

literature, as well as birds, play heavily in Aurand’s paintings.

— Her current show

is called “Migrations and Dwelling places“ and will be on display through the end of the month.

— Aurand’s next

show will be at Garfield Elementary School in Olympia this summer.

Photo by Jeff Hannig/The Advocate

Evergreen State College instructor Susan Aurand’s “Resting Point“ on display at the Fireplace Gallery in the College Center.

Before Portlandia uttered ‘put a bird on it,’ Olympia artist and instructor was doing so

by Jeff Hannig The Advocate

Birds and butterflies act as messengers to other worlds in a mixed-media art exhibit showing in the Fireside Gallery until Feb. 29.

The show, called “Migrations and Dwelling Places” is

by Susan Aurand, who has been painting for 37 years.

She said every piece displayed in the gallery took, on average, a month to create.

She was putting birds in her paintings long before Portlandia’s famous “put a bird on it,” sketch, and even before she started studying the relationships between birds, myths and symbols.

Aurand teaches at Evergreen State College where she and her students are studying symbols throughout art history in her class “Image and Form: Myth, Ritual and Story.”

In her own studies of mythology and literature, Aurand said she discovered that throughout history, birds have been seen as messengers between the human realm, supernatural and divine.

According to Aurand, myths say that birds are able to

go between the world where humans live and the supernatural world.

Aurand said that her use of housing structures, windows, shelves, and doors and the idea of transporting from one world to another was a conscious effort in her work.

“I’m really interested in how we can create one space to make another space, almost like a portal to another world.

The house is a symbol for our lives or self,” said Aurand.

Aurand went on to say how she enjoyed playing with the idea of what we keep stored in our attic, or sub-conscious.

Incorporating mythology and literature is something that Aurand and her students do as a class in Evergreen’s unique classroom structures.

“They are blocked classes called programs,” said Aurand.

Myths, Ritual, and Story is a program that spans over two semesters where students bounce from studying how artists throughout history have depicted myths, rituals and stories to applying what they’ve learned through a variety of mediums, including watercolors, acrylics, oils, sculptural ceramics and mixed media.

Aurand is looking forward to her next project where she will install artwork much like the work seen in Migrations and Dwelling Places. Aurand said installation starts this summer at Garfield Elementary School in Olympia, Wash.

Mock funerals not ‘most fun event‘ but can be

by Kylie Rogers The Advocate

The Funeral Services program is encouraging potential mourners to volunteer their time at the mock funerals to be held Tuesday in the Town and Gown Room from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Last year the mock funeral event played host to about 75 volunteers, according to funeral services instructor Terri Canfield who is supervising the event.

Canfield explained that different parts of planning the event have been assigned to students, meaning there is one student designated to set appointments, another to borrow the caskets, another to distribute fliers and so forth.

The funeral arrangements are made by the second-year funeral services students posing as funeral directors and it is required as part of

the Management II class, according to Canfield. First-year students are involved in the set up and tear down and volunteer to be the family of the deceased she said.

The appointments are typically an hour long, said Canfield, and will address a funeral on an at-need or preneed basis — at-need meaning that the individual has already passed and pre-need meaning that the individual has not yet died.

“It’s not perceived as the (most fun) event but it can be. It’s really educational for both sides,” Canfield said.

According to Canfield, the mock funerals show the process of planning a funeral, which she said could be very beneficial to those who haven’t dealt with a death. Canfield said that it lets the participant know what paperwork is needed and what to bring in if a veteran dies, for ex-

ample.

“You get to have a hands on look and touch the caskets,” said Canfield.

She also described a variety of urns that will be available on campus.

There will be seven caskets to look at, including a wicker casket owned by the college and approximately 30 urns, including a pet urn, available to volunteers.

Cremation is a big industry in Oregon, said Canfield. “(The event) helps the students, number one. It’s educational to the person who (participates). No one has ever said they didn’t like it. It’s an eye-opening experience,” said Canfield.

For more information about the mock funerals, contact Canfield at Terri.Canfield@mhcc.edu. To sign up as a volunteer, you can e-mail hosking.cindy@yahoo.com or call (503) 701-0740.