Venture 2012

venture spring 2012

editor’s note

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photo contributed by jonathan long

t’s that time of year again when the trees bloom and the journalism room sees all hours of use while a team of students shut themselves away to huddle over computers to put together a magazine. Venture Magazine serves as an opportunity to bring outside life onto Mt. Hood’s campus and for students to get their hands on a different writing style and design element.

This year presented a few challenges to overcome along the way to producing this magazine.

While the intent of last year’s Venture was to send Journalism Advisor Bob Watkins out to retirement “with a bang,” as read in 2011’s issue, he has stuck around. Not with the prominence that he once had, mind you, but he did manage to sneak in week to week to aid in the newspaper and to assist in editing the content of this magazine.

The thing that was truly different and difficult about Bob not being around as much, was that the writing course he taught and that normally provided much of the content for Venture, was nowhere to be found.

The staff this year had to brainstorm and find compelling stories to put together without the assistance or guidance the writing class offered. As well as make time to work on Venture outside of their demanding class, work and newspaper schedules.

It really was a challenge.

This issue has shown everyone that things will come through if you’re willing to dedicate enough time to them.

Don’t be deceived by the simple look.

You can’t judge a book – or a magazine in this case – by its cover. There were plenty of man-hours, hair pulling and anxiety attacks put into this.

Despite set backs and challenges, I am proud of what is now sitting in front of you.

It was a team effort.

All that is left to do is to read and enjoy the features resting neatly in front of you.

-Kylie Rogers

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Evolution of Gaming MHCC gamers provide insight on future of electronic entertainment

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Rosewood Turns From Crime to Community Amidst drug and gang activity, Rosewood CafĂŠ looks to better the neighborhood

team editor

Kylie Rogers

copyeditors

designers

Shelby Schwartz

Yuca Kosugi Logan Scott John Tkebuchava

Mike Mata

photo editor Logan Scott

Venture Magazine is a Mt. Hood Community College student publication produced by students in the journalism department. The articles and materials present in Venture do not necessarily represent the views of Mt. Hood Community College. None of these materials may be reproduced without written permission from Venture.

Mt. Hood Community College 26000 SE Stark Street Gresham, Oregon 97030 503-491-7413

This issue of Venture Magazine was printed on 10% post-consumer fiber.

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Right Lane Rebels A look inside Uphill Battle, one of Portland’s unique moped clubs

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The Mission behind the Man

Saints’ basketball player juggles family, faith, and school

writers

David Gambill Jill-Marie Gavin Chanel Hill John Tkebuchava

advisers Dan Ernst Bob Watkins Lisa Marie Morgan

What started out as a simple pastime has evolved into something much more­– video games have become a multi-billion dollar industry with seemingly endless possibility. story and photos by john tkebuchava

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T

he crowd was deafening as the hundreds of men and women who packed the auditorium cried out in joy, anger and disbelief, eyes fixated ahead.

On screen, we see the stern and concentrated faces of the competitors and the heroes of the people in the crowd.

The energy of this small sea of flesh compares to a crowd at the Super Bowl.

But, the activity is very different.

The focus of this gathering is video games.

Professional video gaming to be exact.

An ever-changing and growing pastime, video gaming has quickly evolved from an escape for a small group of young, sweating males in a basement, button-mashing orders to unrecognizable pixels on a screen, to an international phenomenon and even a competitive sport, the events of which often resemble the descriptions above, and can be as baffling to some as it is exciting to those who call themselves gamers.

As the video game industry has grown and evolved, its reach has stretched even to Mt. Hood Community College, which started offering a game development program in 2011.

Wayne Machuca, a Computer Information Systems (CIS) instructor who was a major figure in getting the video game design program going, said his idea to create the video game design program began back in early 2000. He said he went to interview for his MHCC position with the college president, who said to him, “’Enrollment is dying, what will you do to change that?’” He answered, “What we will do is make a video game design program.”

Though enrollment had gone up significantly after the introduction of video game design based courses at MHCC, Machuca said he looked at enrollment and felt that it should be higher. So he researched the students who were taking CIS classes and realized that a “significant number of people taking classes wanted to be game designers,” yet the school offered no such program, so students would only enroll in the game design-related courses that were available.

Machuca said the amount of money within the video game industry is astounding, referring to the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 game that was released in November 2011. “Modern Warfare 3 hit $1 billion in the first weekend,” he said, adding that not even the biggest of blockbuster films see such staggering numbers.

“This industry is insane. In 2011, people spent $8 billion of real money to buy things in an electronic world (such as ingame items),” he said.

“It’s incredible how much money there is in the business.”

Given the fact that the industry is as big as it is, Machuca said, “There’s a desperate need for this kind of degree.”

Just as video games have experienced profound growth as a business, so has the enthusiasm of gamers.

Erika Ruhl is another instructor within the program and a devout gamer herself.

She said her father worked for many different computer companies while she was growing up and she was introduced to the world of video games through the Atari 5200, which was released in the 1980s.

Though her father had initially bought the console to study, Ruhl said that quickly changed once she and her sister took up “studying” it on their own, indulging in classics such as “Centipede”.

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Video games soon became what Ruhl called “an almost meditative activity to do while sorting out the day’s events.”

In high school, Ruhl says she met many of her friends through gaming and even played games with her future husband at her house after work, something she says they still do to this day.

Ruhl said she finds herself absorbed in games with more unique visuals and game play as well as games with immersive worlds.

Beyond even the pure entertainment aspect of video games, Ruhl, as an instructor within the game development and design program, was asked if she considers if video games are art. “In my opinion, art is something that is intentionally created to evoke a feeling,” she said. “If the audience experiences the intended feeling and if you are successful in conveying your message, the work is successful.”

Just as a painter must take his time to perfect every detail in a painting, Ruhl said game creators must also create every single object, down to the last rock, in every video game.

“Every single element within a game is a consciously designed and crafted element,” Ruhl said.

The MHCC Gamers Club is another living testament to the vast growth of the gaming community and the passion of its members.

Nate Whitney, a third-year computer forensics major and member of the gamers club, cites real-time strategy and role-playing games as some of his favorite genre types. He says his love for gaming comes from the ability to “escape from reality and the stress relief it provides along with the mental challenge many of my games provide,” he said.

Arthur Edmunds, another club member and a third-year English major, said his love for

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gaming also came as a child.

“I thought (video games) were amazing. It was like having an interactive TV at the tips of my fingertips,” he said.

Beyond being simply an entertaining pastime, Edmunds said video games have a particularly special place in his heart because of some social difficulties he had when he was younger.

“I never had any friends, really, and so I had to depend on myself for entertainment,” he said, recalling how he would be “bursting into tears for my uncle to give me a chore because I was so bored, though I could have done anything I wanted.”

But the growth in the industry and community have not been without negative side effects. Whitney says many companies now focus on profit rather than the quality of their games, leading to the release of lackluster and uninspired games.

“While the graphics have become much better and multiplayer can now be done across the Internet, games have also lost much of their replay value due to these advancements,” he said.

“Companies are now just concentrating on making the game look good and tacking on multiplayer to sell their games,” said Whitney.

Though gaming has been known to be a male-dominated pastime, its appeal to both sexes has also grown significantly over the year, with people like Ruhl, who is part of the growing number of females who call themselves gamers.

Asked why she thinks the hobby has been so male dominated and why this is changing, she said, “When Nintendo rolled around, it was really hard to find a female character in their games that wasn’t being rescued.”

Concept art of the game “Starcraft II”, one of the most popular “eSport” games. Images courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment.

Adding to the clichéd damsel-in-distress issue, Ruhl said that Nintendo would not approve games that portrayed violence against women. This is a detail that is clearly no longer an issue, with popular titles like the Resident Evil games featuring main and side female characters that are just as apt to die as their male counterparts.

According to Ruhl, playing the video games themselves is not the only thing becoming more common among females, with a significant number of her students being females as well.

“I personally am excited to see all the talent we have coming to MHCC, and our current class (program) is 25 percent female, compared to when I was in school, when the game design major was 16 to one, men to women,” she said.

Gamer club member Whitney said although the gamers club does have a few female members, females in general are often scarce in the gaming community due to the reaction they get from male players because of their gender.

“There are many more women than what appears.

Many hide their gender (online) because of what happens when male gamers find a female gamer. They basically swarm her and many of them don’t like it,” he said.

Though video games are loved by many, it is no secret that they have always been surrounded by controversy, especially in regard to their sometimes violent content and its effect on those who play them.

Asked why she thinks video games seem to always have a negative stigma associated with them, Ruhl said, “The media always likes to paint a sensationalist view on things, and fear sells, but the context is what’s important.”

“Throughout history, we have used the current ‘art du jour’ as a scapegoat for what our teens are up to: rock and roll, jazz, romance novels, ‘moving pictures.’ Even the waltz was supposed to cause young ladies to be unruly and have loose morals,” she said.

Ruhl also said that games now come along with ratings based on their content.

“Games have ratings, just like movies. If your child is not old enough to watch a rated ‘R’ movie, they should not be playing a rated ‘M’ game,” she said.

The gamers club was asked how they respond to the often negative and “rot your brain” mentality associated with video games. “I think that people who say that video games are a bad influence are just seeing the small bad side of our culture,” said Whitney. “As I said before, games can be good stress relief as well as a mental challenge. It has also been shown that gamers have better hand-eye coordination and reflexes,” he said.

Left: Erika Ruhl, a gamer and instructor within in the game development program.

Below: Third year game development program student Alaina Jacoy shows off some of her work.

Bottom: Members of the Gamers Club enjoying themselves at their weekly “Game Day.” left photo contributed by erika ruhl

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“As for them being a waste of time, what about watching a movie, TV or reading a book? None of those activities are a ‘waste of time’ so why should video games be any different?” said Whitney.

Though video games have been a significant element in his life, Edmunds says it has sometimes been detrimental, as he can get too involved in games at times. He also said that some people react negatively or violently to video games as well.

But besides those points, Edmunds said games have a definite positive side to them as well.

“But that’s also positive; it helps you get stronger, perhaps. It’s also positive for the fact you grow, you learn about yourself some as you interact and you become something you could never be,” he said.

“You can suck at running, you can suck at math, everyone will laugh at you, but in games, you are king. People look up to you like a hero. You are the god,” he said.

“If it was not for games, I may not be where I am in my life today, and because of that, I may not exist today,” he added.

In one of the more interesting results of the evolution of video games, it has also given rise to a phenomenon com-

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monly referred to as “eSports”, or electronic sports.

Gamers who are good enough can now become sponsored to play video games as a full-time profession as part of the competitive “sport” and often com-

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pete for thousands and even millions of dollars at video game tournaments.

In some countries like South Korea, games like StarCraft, a futuristic real-time strategy game developed by the gaming company Blizzard, are televised and have huge followings.

The website Twitch.tv, a popular online video game streaming site where professional video game tournaments and players stream themselves playing video games live, has over 35,000 viewers at any given time and features hundreds of channels of dozens of various popular games.

Asked what her thoughts were on professional competitive gaming, Ruhl said, “It might seem whacky to us, because historically, our big physical competitions have garnered the most attention, but even now, things like televised poker matches are becoming common place.”

“The moment someone can make money off of it, it will leave the indie scene and as games spread and lose their ‘geek’ stigma, we will see things like that become more common place,” she said.

Whitney said, “There are competitions out there that have a several million dollar prize, like the latest League of Legends tournament and its $3 million prize and they are recorded and broadcast throughout the Net.” As for what lies in store for the video game industry of tomorrow, Ruhl believes video games will become even more common within daily life.

“For the future of gaming, there are a few things we can realistically expect: Games will become more prevalent, as technology becomes cheaper and people just get more used to the concept of games, just like rock-n-roll has long lost its shock value,” said Ruhl.

“Just as gaming becomes a more prevalent form of media, we will see more overlap into other sectors, such as education, health and business, because the combinations of what we can do with it are limitless,” said Ruhl.

Left: Concept art of the game “Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim”, a favorite of game development program instructor Erika Ruhl.

Image courtesy of Bethesda Softworks.

story and photos by jill-marie gavin

Aspiring café brings art, music and hope to a troubled neighborhood 162nd Avenue and East Burnside has become an intersection notorious for criminal activity. Drug trafficking, prostitution and gang violence are all things to be expected from Rosewood Neighborhood residents. The trials of this area have escalated over the past decade, but a group of dedicated people has set out to reverse the deterioration of East Portland and Gresham.

Jennifer Glass spends her weekdays and often weekends sitting in a partially finished leased space trying to better the lives of Rosewood residents.

Rosewood Initiative, a nonprofit organization focused on revamping the neighborhood, defines the Rosewood neighborhood as Southeast 157th to Southeast 165th and Northeast Holiday to Southeast Alder. It includes portions of both Gresham and Portland.

Glass has been a part of the initiative since she took a job with Americorps in 2011. She said Portland Police Lt. John Scruggs and Gresham Police Sgt. Mark Madison started the initiative.

After a year of working for the initiative, Glass was offered a job to work as the fulltime coordinator for a project the initiative was starting, Rosewood Café. Rosewood Café is a leased space in the complex on the northwest corner of Stark Street and 162nd Avenue.

The space has been leased and designated

photo contributed by christy hagman

Top: Project coordinator Jenny Glass displays a bracelet she made during youth night at Rosewood Café May 17.

Above: Artist Antwoine Thomas discusses his mural design with Rosewood Café volunteers at the May 10 youth night.

to be a safe place for Rosewood residents to congregate and have positive company. Not yet an actual café, when building permits are finally approved Glass said there will be a coffee stand and eventually a café.

Scruggs has stepped back from some of the groundwork that goes into Rosewood Café but remains on the executive board for the Rosewood Initiative.

He said he spent some time working on the Gresham/Portland border that runs along 162nd Avenue and, after seeing his share of criminal activity, decided to lend a hand to transition in the area.

The first piece to the change came in the

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You can blame me for the idea of playing classical music to cut down on crime. Not the opera though — that was Trimet’s idea. lt. john scruggs portland police department

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form of an apartment manager alliance.

After hearing time and time again that the main contributor to crime was a lack of community between neighbors, Scruggs started introducing apartment managers to one another.

“I would ask some people, ‘How long have you been living here?’ And they would say ‘five or six years.’ Then I would ask them how many neighbors do they know and they would say they didn’t know anyone.” He said with an entire area of strangers, there is no one to look out for each other.

He said after hearing complaints from one apartment manager making claims of drug dealing tenants from a complex across the street, and hearing the same complaints from that complex’s manager about the complex complaining, he connected the two managers to watch each other’s tenants to cut down on crime. That yielded some positive results and the manager camaraderie increased from there.

Glass said that when she came aboard the project, managers were having monthly meetings with the police and eventually these meetings evolved to apartment manager and local business owner meetings. She said now they’ve become community meetings.

Some of the changes that have resulted from these meetings have been a collective effort to erect fences in the community. Glass said these fences have thwarted the attempts of some criminals to flee the police.

This and other innovative ideas have been introduced by Scruggs. He is the officer that was behind playing music at the 162nd Avenue MAX stop. Scruggs said, “You can blame me for the idea of playing classical music to cut down on crime. Not the opera

though — that was Trimet’s idea.”

Scruggs said he and the three other original board members were all outsiders and their ultimate goal was to hand the project over to members of the community so they could own their own solution.

Though Scruggs was one of the people who started the initiative, he said Glass has been an outstanding connector to folks and has been heavily involved in helping out. He also said of Glass, “She has been the driving force on the ground and keeps the program moving forward.”

Glass agrees with Scruggs about the initiative, stating that the need for community started the project and that has been the biggest need in the neighborhood. She also said even though her binder of community resources, for things such as food, housing and utility assistance, is very helpful, she hopes community members will learn to sustain themselves and eventually won’t need to rely on another strained program.

She said they were not here to give another handout, and that’s not what people need. She spoke much of the ideas behind their work and what needs to be done but had to take frequent breaks to address incoming neighbors.

Even though her work load is heavy, Glass excuses herself from her work each time a visitor comes through the door and attentively discusses with them whatever their needs are.

She spends a lot of her time networking and attending to the administrative side of the job at her computer, but she also spends a huge amount of time being a community resource and friend.

One person stopped by asking for parenting classes in the area to satisfy

Department of Human Services’ requirements to get her kids back. A few came looking for places to get food, but most would come just for some company. Asked if this was normal — for her to get several visits an hour for assistance or company — Glass said, “Oh, yeah, people stop by all the time. Sometimes just to have someone to talk to,” Known simply as “Jenny” to her neighbors, Glass always welcomes visitors with a hug and sincere greeting by name. Mondays are a workday for Glass and she spends that time requesting funds through various grants and trying to get the space worked on. She spent the whole of winter working 40 plus hours a week with no heating or drywall. In between these duties, she makes sure she is spending time with visitors.

Tuesday has the same administrative work as all the other days but also includes open gym at Oliver Elementary School at 4:30 p.m. Mostly middle school and high school aged boys show up to play basketball.

Wednesday and Thursdays she spends the afternoon with MHCC students Hadassah Jeremiah, Rebekah Schearer, Emily McLean and Neal Brown when they attend youth night or give free piano lessons. This partnership came from MHCC sociology instructor Daniel Taylor. Taylor said he found out about the Rosewood Initiative and café through the office of county commissioner Diane McKeel.

He said his class is focused on social problems. The class, he said, is not so much about the problems themselves but more about their underlying causes. What are social problems? Who decided they are problems and how have they become problems? These are the questions the class tries to answer.

Taylor said it has been a long time since he’s been to that area and since he lives on the other side of town he hadn’t realized how dense the street activity had become.

He said some of his students have entered the program expecting to make huge changes and are now processing the fact that the big agenda they bring doesn’t quite work.

Taylor said volunteering at Rosewood Cafe

is good for his students and he’s happy they have been given the opportunity for some real life experience.

When Glass is not busy with activities directly associated with the café she has a lot of community meetings she attends.

She spends every other Friday at crime prevention meetings at the Northeast Precinct on Killingsworth Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, but her biggest night of the week is Thursdays.

Every Thursday from 6 p.m. - 8 p.m. is Youth Night at Rosewood Café, although not everyone who attends on Thursdays is a youth. On May 9 there was a turnout of about 15 people between the ages of 10 weeks and 50 years old. On May 2, Glass said more than 30 people turned up for Youth Night.

Papa’s Pizza provides the pizza each week, but Neighborhood Response Sergeant Wendi Steinbronn also showed up with a few pizzas May 9.

Steinbronn said that ever since Scruggs moved to the Northeast Precinct, he is no longer on patrol in the area. Steinbronn, who Rosewood Café Youth Night has visitors of all ages every Thursday from 6 to 8:30 p.m.

Keyard Ward drew a crowd playing Billy Jean on player piano during May 17 youth night.

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Thomas shows his design for the mural planned near the 162nd and Stark intersection. Glass expects Thomas to start the mural in late June and finish in August.

now patrols Rosewood, said she’s been doing her best to help out with the Rosewood Café.

She said she visits the café a few times a week to stay plugged in.

Asked if there was a specific agenda on Thursdays, Glass said, “No, this is pretty much it. We all get together and hang out.”

Some people were eating pizza and texting, while others were eating pizza and playing cards. In the back half of the room everyone took turns playing ping-pong.

Antwoine Thomas is a frequenter of Youth Night and has recently been brought on to design and paint a mural on the north side of the 76 gas station at the intersection of Stark Street and 162nd Avenue. Glass wrote a grant that was approved to pay for supplies and artist work. Thomas will be working with one other artist to get the mural up by August.

Asked if he feels the project is important and how he feels about being a part of it, Thomas said, “This project is very important to me. It’s hard to explain how important it is. It’s actually insane, I’ve always wanted to share my art with a wide margin of people and send a positive message. To have life is a positive thing. I’ve learned through experience you should take

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care of what you have, at least that’s what they say. I have a lot of connections in this area, but technically I’m not a resident. I feel like a resident because of how much I visit my friends over here.” Thomas added he is honored that his art can be used to create change in the area.

Glass said once they had the idea for the mural and wrote a grant request she started looking for an artist. She said, “I was looking for an artist and I started asking people in the community if they knew any and word circulated that some lady was looking for an artist. Then Antwoine saw me in the parking lot and said ‘hey are you that lady that’s looking for an artist?’ And here we are.”

The mural, Glass said, is one of the biggest projects planned for this summer. She said, “Antwoine is a gifted artist. As soon as the weather is consistent were going to get that started and have it done by the end of the summer.”

Glass also said she is awaiting news for another grant to help with artist funds. She said projects like this are going to help the cafe gain momentum. Going along with the original vision for the project, they’re still hoping to

get a coffee shop inside the café and to employ community members. Glass said the barista training and work experience will help people, who may have never had a job, learn what it’s like to support themselves.

She said along with work experience, they’re hoping to finish the dry wall, pending approved building permits, and hopefully purchase computers to help people create résumés and apply for jobs.

Looking ahead at other advances for the program, Glass said the Rosewood Café has been added as a line item to the Multnomah County budget and is currently pending approval. Glass said if approved, she hopes they will be able to hire someone else to work there. She said it would have to be someone fluent in Spanish. She said she can speak some Spanish but it’s one of the bigger barriers to reaching out to everyone in the neighborhood, which is roughly 20 percent Spanish speaking.

As for short-term goals, Glass said, this

summer, local apartment managers have considered partnering with Rosewood and having an apartment field day, where tenants from different complexes compete in relay races and other recreational activities.

Papa’s Pizza has partnered with Rosewood and agreed to host a carnival this summer, which Glass said is hopefully going to be their big end of the summer bash. The idea of having a talent show hosted at a nearby venue has also been thrown around.

Meanwhile, she said, they will have their regular weekly activities with a few barbecues thrown in the mix.

Asked of her biggest goal with the cafe, Glass said, “The little everyday things are what matter most because people around here are used to people showing up to try and save them, but they always give up and leave. We want to be open consistently and want people to know we’re here for the long haul.”

Neighborhood residents enjoy conversation and pizza at youth night May 17. Each week dinner is donated by Papa’s Pizza on Stark Street east of 162nd Avenue.

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story by david gambill photos by kylie rogers

The first time Eric Stevens rode a moped was around seven months ago after he moved back to Portland from Philadelphia. “Ever since then, that’s all I do,” he said.

Stevens is trying to become the newest member of Uphill Battle, a moped club in Portland. He came to a recent meeting to find out his club status.

According to club member Chris Leighty a moped is a 49 cubic centimeter (cc) motorbike that is peddle started. Legally, anything that is below 50cc and less than 30 miles per hour is considered a moped.

Before the meeting starts, Stevens goes to the bar for a few drinks. Stevens could be at the pre-meeting barbecue but can’t be a part of the deliberation because the vote is on his membership status.

Prospective member Stevens found out about the gang through club co-founder Joe Peg; they went to school together in the early 2000s at Portland Art Institute.

That’s where the two found out they had lived relatively close to each other, in Orange County, Calif., for

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most of their childhood.

“Once I got a bike, I was hooked,” said Stevens.

Currently, Stevens rides a blue 1979 Tomos Bullet with an A3 motor. Before the Tomos, he rode a Honda Express.

“That is the jankiest bike you could possibly ride,” he said while waving his hands in a zig-zag motion to show how the wheels would move while riding it. “I was like I’m going to walk or I’m going to ride this thing and I decided to ride that thing (the Honda Express),” he said.

The club started about five years ago with founder Joe Jontig, who goes by Joe Peg, his brother Josh Jontig and a couple others who aren’t in the gang anymore.

“There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think that Uphill Battle is my life. Uphill Battle is my life, it’s my friends and it’s my existence.

Uphill Battle ’til the day I die, that’s why I have a giant Uphill Battle tattoo,” Peg said.

Most people who drive on the main streets in Portland probably won’t see much of the moped gang.

Stevens said that really fast mopeds

used for riding without paperwork like registration, insurance or a driver’s license.

He said that as the weather gets nicer, mopeds frequently get pulled over by motorcycle cops and cruisers. “You just hope you get lucky,” Stevens said about moped users riding dirty.

A couple of reasons Stevens said he wanted to be a part of the club were the benefits. Club benefits include trading parts and deals on mopeds. “A bike for sale at $300 would probably go for $200 in the club. Parts-wise, it’s like, hey, I need something, do you have something extra?” he said.

With 13 years of sheet metal experience, Jim Tucker is the house welder.

Tucker makes parts in addition to fixing bikes.

“If you don’t have it, I can try and make

something. Sometimes with these old bikes, it’s all you can do,” Tucker said.

“Jim brah (Tucker) is our hillbilly fabricator,” said Peg. Tucker has a reputation in the club for taking on risky challenges. When he sold a bike and the buyer needed a cross-bar, he welded the cross-bar to the fuel tank. “I just emptied out the fuel, plugged it up and filled it with water. Most people wouldn’t even touch that,” Tucker said.

What’s the worst that could happen? “A small explosion,” Tucker said. “I’m probably the only guy in the whole gang with medical coverage,” he said.

One of the benefits Tucker sees to riding a moped is the great gas mileage. “I’ve got a stock, 1970 Puch Maxi that I have calculated my gas mileage at 120 miles to the gallon,” he said.

Tucker said he also likes to work on bikes for racing.

Sean Harvey has been in the club for two and a half years and is one of the racers. Harvey said races happen about once every other month and often members of the rival moped club, the Puddle Cutters, are racing against them. “We’re cool with each other but it’s like, man, we’ve got to blast those guys out on the track,” said Harvey.

Some of the tracks they’ve raced at include Pat’s Acres, a karting track in Canby, and Portland International Raceway.

Harvey said the racing side of the moped scene is built for the weekend warrior.

“It’s about building this bike in your garage, tuning it the best you can and going out and having fun,” he said.

Harvey has five bikes. He said his bikes serve different functions from every day riding to fun rides to racing. “On the track you obviously have the bike that you’ve worked on. It’s probably a little too fast for the streets, a little too loud, you

Previous page: Joe “Peg” takes Eric Stevens for a ride in a newly acquired cart. Left: Stevens enjoys some barbecue and beer during Uphill Battle’s meeting May 4.

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“

There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think that Uphill Battle is my life. Uphill Battle is my life, it’s my friends and it’s my existence. Uphill Battle ’til the day I die, that’s why I have a giant Uphill Battle tattoo.

joe “peg” co-founder

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don’t want to be that guy (trying to draw attention to himself),” he said.

One of the more popular rides the gang does each year is Zwickelmania, said Tucker.

“The Zwickel is the spout on the bottom of a conical fermenter that you pour the beer out of,” said Peg. He said the event, which happens over President’s Day weekend, is an open house for the Oregon Brewer’s Guild (OBG) where OBG members offer free beer samples.

“We go to the brewery tour, and we don’t drink the samples and we ride our mopeds,” said Josh Jontig.

“And we don’t get drunk. At all,” he said.

When the meeting started, the first thing on the agenda was Steven’s club membership status. The rule for the membership vote is prospects are out if two people say ‘no.’ “Not majority, it’s two people.

Our thought is if we’re going to have two people in our club upset about someone being in, they’re not in,” said Peg. Standing up for Stevens, Peg made his case for Steven’s membership by speaking about the work Stevens has done on his bike. “He pulled the transmission apart. He did a lot of work on it. He knows how to work on Tomos. He fixed the brakes. He put the new mags (magnesium metal alloy wheels) on it.

He’s done a lot of stuff to that bike and he’s worked on engines,” Peg said.

Steven’s vote was a unanimous ‘yes.’

The vote isn’t the final say on Steven’s membership status. New club members must lead a ride before they get their headlight sticker, a symbol of membership.

Top: “Peg” pours coconut water for Stevens. Middle: A member of another moped club, The Puddle Cutters, joins in the barbecue to be greeted by a shower of arugula. Bottom: “Peg” shows off his tattoo dedicated to the gang.

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the behind

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Mission the Man story by chanel hill

n a half empty Toyota Center in Kennewick, Wash., miles from the comforts of his home court in Gresham, Mt. Hood Saints power forward Spencer Clayton stood with tears in his eyes. It was the end, the final game of the NWAACC* Championship tournament in early March during his sophomore season.

Clayton ended the tournament with three triple-doubles, earning individual first All-Tournament team honors, leading his team to a fifth-place finish. There he stood, embracing his teammates and coaches one after another, with his family looking on in support, as they have been all his life.

The 23-year-old Portland native, the second oldest of five siblings, the other four being girls, grew up loving three things: his family, his faith and basketball. With the support of his father Bret, basketball became a part of his life at a young age.

“He always encouraged me to play. It was a nice break from the girls,” joked Clayton, who was a standout player at Camas High School where he averaged 12 points, 8.0 rebounds and 2.0 blocks per game in his senior season. After graduating in 2006, a funny thing happened — he stopped playing basketball.

At age 19, he decided to embark on a mission trip with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

“I always knew I would go on a mission, I felt like I was so fortunate to have the blessings come into my life because of my faith,” said Clayton who split time between Salt Lake City, the University of Utah and Wyoming during his two-year mission. “Door to door, on the street, anywhere and everywhere we could go to spread the word we would; to help other people find that peace that comes along with having Jesus Christ in your life.”

After returning from his mission, he met and married wife Jenn in December 2009.

“The deal was that as long as I could finish school, he could play basketball,” said Jenn, who completed her education at BYU to graduate in August 2010. Together, they made the choice for him to attend Mt. Hood and soon he was working out alongside Saints assistant coach Corey Nielson at the school’s gym in preparation for tryouts.

In his rookie season, he was met with a set of challenges. “I was naive coming in, I had ideals about what it would be and it was kinda tough,” said Clayton, who admits to his feelings of awkwardness as a kid.

“I was a skinny kid, I just did the best with what I’ve been given.”

What he was given sprouted into a 6’10 frame with potential that Saints head coach Geoff Gibor recognized early on. “He wanted to be pretty good, but he didn’t know how to get there, playing experience is playing experience,” said Gibor, who saw his hunger to compete from the beginning. “Every time he touched the ball he would shoot it, because he wasn’t sure if he’d get more playing time,” said Gibor chuckling.

But despite adversity, he pressed on, something he attributes largely to his faith. “My faith gives me a different perspective than most people,” said Clayton, who devotes three days a week to church, including teaching lessons from the Book of Mormon to the youth. “When other people are freaking out and getting caught up with trivial things, my faith helps me to rise above,” says Clayton.

In the off-season before his sophomore year, he made a commitment to the game, something Gibor said was a turning point for him.

“We had several conversations about how hard he would have to work to play D-1 (Division I) basketball,” said Gibor. “Over the off-season, he made a specific choice to get better — and he did.”

In his sophomore season, Clayton

*Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges Left: Spencer at the free-throw line during the NWAACC Championship tournament in March. photo by jeff hinds

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photos by logan scott

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became a force for the Saints, with his ability to defend and score in the low-post. He developed his game and was a consistent leading scorer for the team, averaging 14.2 points per game and 10.5 rebounds per game, earning the Southern Region MVP award and ranking fourth in the NWAACCs in rebounds with 283. “Gib (Gibor) has been pivotal in helping me see the potential in myself,” said Clayton.

Also by his side were a group of players that he refers to as family, including brother-in-law Alan Yates.

During the season, the Saints went on an eight-game winning streak that ended, coincidentally, during a game Clayton sat out with an injury. Still, he says it’s moving past adversity and tough moments that made this team, this season, special. “We’re all super good friends, in 15 years, if any one of those guys comes to me for something, I’d be there for them,” said Clayton.

With teammates and family, rallying in support, he ended his time at Mt. Hood Community College with offers to play Division I basketball at a number of colleges. Again, he considered his family first.

“We made the decision together,” said Jenn. “I was really impressed

My faith and my family are my first priorities, more of a factor than basketball. spencer clayton

Above: Spencer and wife Jenn at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Gresham. Below: Spencer teaching youth and peers lessons from The Book of Mormon.

that he considered all aspects of the decision. It wasn’t just about basketball. He considered us moving as a family… he was very aware of it all.”

On April 11, Spencer signed a letter of intent to play at the University of California-Davis, where he will be met with a new level of competition.

“It will be another adjustment for him,” says Gibor. “He will experience what it’s like to play with bigger, stronger, faster athletes. He possesses the tools to succeed, it will be all about the mental toughness factor,” said Gibor.

Wife Jenn agrees. “He’s got the height and the skills to play, and being a part of something and experiencing success gave him the confidence to get to the next level, Geoff Gibor was a big part of that.

We love him,” said Jenn. “We’ve loved our time at Hood and we’re

going to miss it, but we’re excited about the next level,” she added.

Clayton will finish his last term at MHCC before heading to California in June, something he says he is anxious to do. “I’m itching to get down there. I love their team; they are super close with the coaches.

When I visited, it just felt like a good match.”

As for now, the skinny little kid who transitioned to a man of faith, and husband full circle back to the hardwood isn’t dreaming of basketball success beyond college.

“In a few years we’ll probably have started a family and had a kid or two. I would love to take bball to the next level, possibly even pro, but it will come down to doing what’s right for us as a family,” says Clayton. “My faith and my family are my first priorities, more of a factor than basketball.”

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