The Skyline View | Fall 2019 | Issue #5

The SKYLINE View The Voice of Skyline College, San Bruno, Calif.

November 21, 2019

theskylineview.com

Issue 5

Spotlight?

The Spoon River Project; Art at It’s Finest

SPORTS

Skyline College presents “The Spoon River Play” by Edgar Lee Masters

Women’s Basketball Defeat

The Skyline Women’s basketball team won their third game of the season against College of the Siskiyous led by sophomore player Olga Faasolo.

Catch Piergrossi Leads Freshmen trojans to Victory Skyline men’s basketball head coach, Justin Piergrossi has seen many different teams come through his program.

FOCAL POINT

The Mass Effects of Engaging in Climate Change Media

The World Health Organization refers to it as “the greatest threat to mental health in the 21st century.

How to Ease Stress during

the Final Weeks of a Semester

With finals and the holidays fast-approaching, there are ways for students to keep the stress low in order to avoid the end-of-semester stress havoc.

OPINION

Pretty Priviledge does Exist We refuse to acknowledge the fact that our “looks” and our “beauty” give us the mobility to move swiftly through the world and through American society.

Everything But The Double Tap

Instagrams has been for months, testing in different countries, the “likes” elimination on the platform, and our country is next.

NEWS

The Spoon River Project

In a world full of Gus Waters and Hazel Grace, Edgar Lee Masters’ Spoon River anthology is like a black and white picture of our modern world with settings of 1900s.

Transgender Day Of Remembrance

On the 20th Annual Transgender Day of Remembrance, we honor the 26 transgender lives which have been lost to hate in 2019 alone.

Inpiration Board “Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds” -Albert Einstien

By Umaima Ejaz News Editor

In a world full of Gus Waters and Hazel Grace, Edgar Lee Masters’ Spoon River anthology is like a black and white picture of our modern world with settings of 1900s.

The Skyline Theatre Club presented “The Spoon River Project” adapted by Tom Andolora for the Spoon River anthology, set in the graveyards of 1900s is a ride back in time, where you witness the former residents of spoon river examining life and longing for what might have been. As the citizens reflect on the dreams, secrets and regrets off their lives, they paint a gritty and honest portrait of the town as of all of their pasts are illuminated.

“The Spoon River Project” was played from Nov. 15 to Nov. 17 at the Skyline Theatre. The running time for the play was ninety minutes without intermission.

“Skyline’s Theatre Club’s production of “Spoon River” was a quiet reflection on the fragility of life. The show was poetic, and haunting, shown both through a

beautiful set design, and a stillness and focus from the actors.

The overarching tone was solemn, however some moments of elation were awarded to the audience through various musical numbers and ensemble pieces.

Overall, it was a rooted, reflective performance.” Said Erin Perry, member of the audience.

“The type of characters that I play were the kind of ones that did backhanded things in order to make the things work. You know my character did a lot of like backstabbing like my character killed one of the family members to progress or the sort off like a jealous husband, but like basically my entire life I was just sort of privileged” said Francisco Arroliga-Miranda, the actor

Get Up And Work Wednesday Forum

There is work that everyone,Work that you like to do. Find you perfect joblace

By Anthony Revilla Guest writer

G e t W o r k Wednesday helps you get on track to a job that can entice a new passion for your future career.

Struggling to find a job and don’t know where to start? Get Work Wednesday will get you on track and in the right path to a job that can entice a new passion for your future career.

You can come in jobless or employed with a job you don’t love, and leave with a job that can possibly shape your career.

Starting about four or five years ago, Get Work Wednesday was originally created by the Strategic Partnerships and Workforce Development Division at Skyline College. The event’s name came about due to the day it falls on, Wednesday. This event was put together to provide students an opportunity to expand their work experience with jobs they may not have thought of working before. It also opens up the chance for employers to recruit Skyline students who may be searching for part time, full time or seasonal opportunities.

Four employers at a time are allowed to participate in two Get Work Wednesdays, so that other employers equal time and opportunities to be on campus.

This also gives a great chance

“There’s a job for everyone. If you can’t find the right fit, there’s always next Wednesday!” for employers to grow their companies. Whether a small business or an upper echelon company, they are always looking to hire fresh new faces that could bring new ideas and expand the company.

“We select our employers base on their flexible schedules, competitive wages and alignment to our Meta Major Houses,” said Jose Milan, an office aide who participates in Get Work Wednesday.

Employers will present themselves to the division, and from there the division will decide whether that employer is beneficial for students.

From about 9:30 a.m. until about 1:00 p.m. each Wednesday (besides flex days, holidays and other major events, which could interfere with this event), students are welcomed to walk around room 108H, Building 6 to talk to the different employees that are present on campus.

Skyline College student Gavin Divinagracia spoke nothing but good things about the event.

“There’s a job for everyone. If you can’t find the right fit, there’s always next Wednesday!” Divinagracia said. “Don’t give up on hope. Even if there isn’t anything that interests you this Wednesday, doesn’t mean next Wednesday will bring the same results.”

who played (Searcey Foote, Tom Merrit, Hamilton Greene, Deacon Taylor). When asked how he could relate to one of his characters “I feel like with each one of our characters there is a way for me, sort of like having for the audience to empathize with them, each one of these. I can specifically say like each one my characters felt like I shared something with them. Like there’s been moments that I really know I would like to do something underhanded in order to progress but I never have.

So, you know, just sort of having the audience empathize with each one of the characters and sort of see if like you know they can sort of take something from it and have them kind of like go outside of

Remembering The Transgender Community Together we can put an end to the violence against trans people

By Umaima Ejaz News Editor

Twenty-one years ago, Rita Hester, a black trans-woman, was killed in an act of hate in her Boston apartment.

As the one-year anniversary of her death approached, activist Gwendolyn Ann Smith organized a vigil in San Francisco’s Castro District on Nov. 20, 1999, to honor Rita’s life and others who had been killed in acts of anti-trans violence.

Fast forward today, on the 20th Annual Transgender Day of Remembrance, we honor the 26 transgender lives which have been lost to hate in 2019 alone.

“The average life expectancy for transgendered individuals is 35 years old. As opposed to, as to 75 years old for other genders in the US.” Said Chris Hollingshead, they call herself Accidental activist.

On Wednesday Nov. 20th at Skyline College students put up portraits of all the trans people that lost their lives to violence last year.

Most of these cases involve clear anti-transgender bias.

“A lot of people are lost to violence. There’s a lot of suicide as well. And the reason there’s

All You Need To Know About The You Drug Use How Drugs that affect your brain

By Calixto Reyes

Opinions editor

Skyline College students and faculty gather around a set of tables at the Fireside Dining Room. Each table prepared with its own large cardboard layout of a specific drug and much information about it.

Behind those tables, the students explain their research on the drugs they are presenting and hand out small brochures with more detail. Jennifer Merrill-Sinarle, the psychology professor at Skyline College, coordinated the event.

“These are my students in introduction to psychobiology and all semester long we kind of look things that affect our brain.” Merrill-Sinarle also went on to explain her psychobiology class.

“One of the things we looked at all semester is food. Like how do the foods we eat affect our neurotransmitters, are they good for us are they not good for us?

Something else we’ve taken a look at are drugs, and especially the drugs that are commonly used by college students, how are they affecting your brain.”

Professor Merrill-Sinarle also stated everything at the event was “student made”. When arriving to the event you got a document similar to a “passport” and you had to go to every table and receive a stamp.

Once full, this “passport” can receive extra credit in stu-

dents psychology class. One of the reasons why there were many students attending this event in the middle of the day.

“It was pretty cool, it was pretty interactive, you know people are seeing other students, so it makes it more fun.”

Says student and psychology major, Patrick Ignau, who attended the event as a student of Professor Merrill-Sinarle’s psychology class for social psychology. He also said he believed it was important for other students to know about these drugs.

Two students of her Introduction to Psychology class were making their way out of the event, Skai Cachaperl and Maggie Deguzman, both of whom are Skyline College students. Although they are not psychology majors, their reason for being at the event was to receive extra credit for their Introduction to Psychology class.

“For Marijuana, I was kind of surprised that it is addictive, I didn’t know that. A lot of people were saying that it wasn’t,” Cachaperl said, when asked what their biggest takeaway from the event.

Skyline College student Katie Schafer and Shayla Sandoval were operating the “Alcohol Table,” which had a poster board filled with facts about the drug as well as myths that were debunked. They also had brochures set on the table that gave more information to people who were curious enough to pick them up. Both students are currently taking Professor Merrill-Sinarle’s Introduction to Psychobiology course

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News

The Staff Editor-In-Chief Daniel Archuleta News Editor Umaima Ejaz Focal Point Editor Milla Tivadar opinions Editor Calixto Reyes Sports Editor Cristian Garcia Copy Editor Ry bevington Misha Berman Photo Editor Gianna Sozzi MULTI-MEDIA Editor Hanz Mathew Pacheco Staff Photographer Kathryn Trefz editor at large Mark David Magat Social media Editor Layna Salinas Staff writers I-Wei ChangFaculty Adviser Nancy Kaplan-Biegel

Want more news? www.theskylineview.com Or maybe you have news for us?

(650)738-4302 Want to yell at us? theskylineview@gmail.com Or use snail mail: The Skyline View c/o Language Arts Room 8-8110 Skyline College 3300 College Drive

Groceries For Everyone

Continued from Page 1Remembering trans Community

Every Thursday Skyline Helps all those in need

By Hanz Mathew

see the benefits of it. One of the main problems that they faced back in February was students feeling like they did not have enough time to get the groceries.

“What we did to try to fix that is to make a separate student registration process that is much faster,” said Thompson, concerning improvements that have been made. What this means is that students don’t have to wait in the huge line to get the groceries. They go on a shorter line only for students. This event also has something called “student boxes”.

This allows students to come in the morning before the market, fill out a form, and fill out a request of what they would like in their box, and it is made for them so that afHanz Mathew/ ter class, students can come and Groceries being distributed at Skyline College The Skyline View pick it up. For those interested in Every Thursday, many students Back in February of this year, volunteering, the best ways to get Sparkpoint started the Com- involved are to directly contact and community members gather to munity Market Program to try the Sparkpoint Center or to just participate in Community Market Day, which is hosted by Sparkpoint to support Skyline students showing up at the event. Sparkoutside building 4 of Skyline Coland community members. point wants also students to get lege. By participating in this event, “We started because we kind of reach our maximum capacity with students and members of the comour food pantry with supporting munity are able to receive groceries such as fruits and vegetables for free. people with food,” said ThompSparkpoint has been around since son. “We wanted to do more, 1922. They are a financial capawe wanted to try something different, and we wanted people to involved. “This event is very benbility support programs resource that helps students and community see the work that we are doing.” eficial to my family,” said one atmembers with things like health, They made a lot of changes and tendee of the event. “Especially to education, and financial stability. improvements to make the Com- those with a big family.” “The line Chad Thompson, the director of munity Market Day much more is long each week, but it is worth Sparkpoint, spoke about how Sparkconvenient to those people partic- the wait,” said another attendee. point operates around campus. ipating in this event and especial“We do financial coaching,” ly to those students who needed Thompson said. “We do a lot of it. “Almost every week we try to work around food access, so we improve and change some of our have a food pantry, food stamps, strategies to be more effective,” we have a scholarship program, we Thompson said. The original idea have all of this support that connects for the market is to provide more to someone’s financial situation.” support to students and for students Multimedia editor

“We do financial coaching”

Continued from Page 1-All You Need To Know About The You Drug Uses “I feel like alcohol, especially around college students affects them a lot more. It’s a more frequently used drug.”

San Bruno CA 94066

The Skyline View is a First Amendment Publication. The Skyline View is published bi-weekly during the spring and fall semesters by the journalism students at Skyline College. The Skyline View is a member of the Journalism Association of Community Colleges.

Opinions expressed in the paper are those of the writers and should not be interpreted as the views of Skyline College, SMCCCD, the faculty, administrators or the newspaper adviser. Additionally, the paper does not endorse any of the products or services advertised.

The Skyline View welcomes Letters to the Editors; letters must include full name, address, and phone number for verification. The Skyline View reserves the right to edit letters for length, libel, clarity, and taste.

November 21, 2019

for which it was an assignment.

Schafer and Sandoval gave a brief presentation on the drug they chose.

“I feel like alcohol, especially around college students affects them a lot more. It’s a more frequently used drug. “ Says Sandoval during the presentation. “And also there’s a lot of things about alcohol that a lot of people don’t even know, like how it affects men and women differently.” “I feel like it is more about personal choice and your morals, and people should be safe if they do drink alcohol,” Schafer said when asked about alcohol and its widespread social acceptance compared to other drugs that were being shown “Also don’t ever feel peer pressured if you don’t want to do it,” Schafer continued to give advice. Both Schafer and Sandoval agreed that it is not acceptable to drink and drive. “There are a lot of deaths associated with alcohol and people have died and have killed others,” Sandoval added.

Both topics which they hope students would take away from their presentation and brochures.

Continued from Page 1-Skyline Presents The Spoon River

“The audience sees our characters losses and seeing what we our character did in our lives and how we carry ourselves, how we take our own character. The way they can see maybe then they are able to learn something they’ll be able to do something differently. Yeah, they won’t have the loss that we have, and the regrets that we have but they’d have another beginning or ending,” the theater and kind of like, Okay, well, you know, I felt that way before, you know, I’ve never acted on it, but now that I see that how you know if I did act on it, what would happen would potentially could have happened.”said Arroliga.

Furthermore, a lot of the actors spoke about how their characters shed light on the social issues and the problems today.

“Our characters all for the most part are kind of reaching for something and wishing for something that we didn’t have while we were alive. You can see that by just studying the stories that were telling that there was something that we could have done differently.

So for the audience to see that.

We’re in the same situations, you know, Humans don’t change too much. Over time, fundamentally, so seeing our lost. So The audience sees our characters losses and seeing what we our character did in our lives and how we carry ourselves, how we take our own character. The way they can see maybe then they are able to learn something they’ll be able to do something differently. Yeah, they won’t have the loss that we have, and the regrets that we have but they’d have another beginning or ending,” said Elian Fontanilla, Soloist / Actor (Zenas Witt, Archibald Higbie, Daniel McCumber, Elmer Carr, Soldier).

The cast and crew in total had 15 actors therefore it lead to one person playing a lot of character and jobs of and on the stage upon which Lyn Azucena, Stage Manager Actress (Nellie Clark, Mary McNeely, Lydia Puckett) and Salma Zepeda, Stagehand/ Actress (Sarah Brown, Rosie Roberts, Elsa Wertman, Daisy Fraiser) stated that as an actor it was challenging for them to express so many different sentiments at the same-from being full of emotions to being stoned. The play in all was a learning experience for the cast and crew, and for the audience it was a beautiful balance between past and present.

Like Salma’s character, Minerva Jones says it “I thirsted so for love I hungered so for life”.

so much suicide is because of the bigotry that exists the transphobia it was the CDC that released a statistic that showed that suicide rates rise by 2.5% every time that someone encounters an instance of transphobia so every time that someone is yelled at for are not being the person that other people want them to be. It increases their likelihood of committing suicide by 2.5%” said Hollingshead.

As is too often the case in the reporting of anti-transgender violence, many of these victims are misgendered in local police statements and media reports, which can delay our awareness of deadly incidents. In the pursuit of greater accuracy and respect for transgender and gender expansive people in both life and death, HRC offers guidelines for journalists and others who report on transgender and gender non-conforming people.

This is just another step of the many to protect the trans.

They further talked what people could do to end the violence against trans “There is legislation right now, in the Senate. It’s called the Equality Act. Senate bill 788. And there are postcards in the Skyline library that are already pre stamped and pre addressed to go to various senators who have not yet signed on to be sponsors. But what that we do is it would provide federal protections for all LGBT individuals. In 27 states, it’s still possible to be fired for being LGBT. You can be denied housing, If you’re LGBT. You can be there tonight alone, restaurants can refuse to serve you and that’s in 27 states” added Hollingshead.

Chris Hollingshead said there is this human library that they’ll be talking about they’re own personal experiences tomorrow. And then they’re doing a film screening on Friday at 3:30. They’re screening the film, Real Boy, a documentary that follows the story of a young man who’s transitioned. And it’s not only his journey, but it’s also his mother’s journey to acceptance, and kind of goes into what it means for not only the individual transition, but for the family it is the grieving process. Students can go the Skyline College Library on Thursday 21st Nov. and watch this documentary.

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Opinions

Editorial

Our Smoking Policy Blows

Cristian Garcia/The Skyline View

Tobacco use remains an issue here in the United States. Yet here in the Bay Area, many cities have been trying there hardest to combat it to the best of their ability.

In June, San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to approve a ban on e-cigarette sales and stop deliveries of e-cigarettes that are purchased online. The Berkeley, Fremont, and Richmond City Councils have all recently voted to ban the sale of e-cigarettes. Most recent-

ly, San Mateo and Santa Clara County Supervisors both voted unanimously to ban selling and distributing e-cigarettes, effective as of the summer of 2020.

San Mateo County already has a ban on flavored tobacco products being sold throughout the county, looking to keep teens away from consumption.

These are all tremendous efforts that puts the health and environment first, not just for smokers, but anyone who could come in contact with second-hand smoke as well.

Yet it should be addressed how Skyline College, along with the San Mateo County Community College District, is failing to make any attempts that reflect what our Board of Supervisors are looking to push: making San Mateo County a smoke-free environment. In order to so, Skyline College must become a smoke-free campus.

This change would have many benefits to the campus. It would seek to put an end to teen smoking, our air quality would have a slight adjustment, and fewer students would be at risk of inhaling smoke near the designated smoking areas on campus.

It should be noted that Skyline College currently has a smokefree policy that was implemented during the fall semester of 2009. It goes hand-in-hand with the SMCCCD smoking policy where des-

November 21, 2019

Artistic License

ignated smoking areas are 20 feet away from entrances, windows, or air vents. SMCCCD states that their intent is to “provide a smokefree environment to the greatest extent possible.”

The greatest extent possible?

What more could possibly be done to make it a smoke-free environment? By enforcing no smoking at all.

At the time of the policy going into effect, the Skyline College campus had nine designated smoking areas. That has now been reduced to six. It’s a subtle change yet it doesn’t do enough. Additionally, most students who smoke with an e-cigarette product on campus tend to avoid these areas and partake wherever they see as best for them. This policy is clearly broken from the ground up, plus is barely put into place by Skyline faculty or staff.

This smoke-free policy put in by SMCCCD needs to have a serious overhaul, one that can tackle both the health and the environmental standards that San Mateo County is looking to hold itself to, along with the blocking teens from turning to tobacco. But for now, we should applaud San Mateo County for being one step ahead of everybody else when it comes to preventing teens from getting hooked.

Everything But the Double Tap By: Daniel Ossa Staff Writer

Instagrams has been for months, testing in different countries, the “likes” elimination on the platform, and our country is next.

The platform has been testing the possibility of making likes private in a number of countries this year.

“We are expanding to include those tests in the U.S. next week. Looking forward to the feedback!”. Said Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram on his Twitter account early this week.

If your Instagram is “on test,” you will see it at the beginning of your feed as a disclaimer. What Instagram said on a press release early this year was that they “want followers to focus on what you share not how many likes your post gets”, which in the long term will decrease the social media pressure, anxiety and they are doing this for “the sake of mental health”.

Posts will still be able to get the double click option, but only creators can see the number of likes.

However, their followers would

not be able to see the number of likes or the people that previously liked it.

Instagram influencers already started to show their discomfort in their platforms, celebrities like Ellen DeGeneres are suggesting the option of taking down the comments but not the likes. Since “likes” are harmless but comments can be the reason why people suffer social anxiety in the first place, people just started to address the topic during the last week when Instragam has been testing it in countries like Australia and Japan

since April 2019.

Instagram is trying to reduce the like’s competition and encourages to engage more with followers in the comments than just a like, but the issue comes when the business model that companies have been following is based on the number of likes per post as a way to measure the engagement, likes are the currency of the social media and the main people affected by those new configurations would be influencers and brands. One of the reasons why Instagram is trying to change the rules in the game

could be the fact that influencers has been making a lot of money out of the platform that is free and in the future they will start charging for this feature for those with business profiles, which it’s a move to eliminate the “third party” and push the brands to do deals directly with the platform instead of using influencers or content creators, there is, most likely a financial incentive behind this, since average Instagram users would not be directly affected by those changes in the long run as content creators are by now.

A Thousand Miles in Virtual Shoes Gaming’s uncanny benefit for sympathy By: Mark David Magat Editor at Large

So it’s no secret I’m a massive mental health advocate, and the reason for it is that I live with schizoaffective disorder depressive type. So yes, I do hallucinate. So once I heard a game called “Hellblade” wanted to tackle not just mental health, but schizophrenia in the forefront, I was a bit apprehensive to play it. But I eventually did and even though it’s a beautiful game, I had to stop within 8 minutes of playing. It was way too real. And I’m really happy that a game like this is out.

With all my other articles on games, I will never stop professing video games are now the best way to teach our younger audiences about

life and especially empathy. Even though with the example I gave in the intro being too much, that’s how living with a mental health disorder is like. Coming from a guy who deals with hallucinations everyday, it’s powerful that a game can almost bring me to tears through just sound design.

There are many unjust articles done on video games helping the ever growing issue of mass violence.

And on the surface, that’s an understandable thing to think, but when given a bit of time with video games, you soon realize this isn’t true. Even though most triple A games have violence, that really isn’t the main point of the game. “Assassin’s Creed” is a game about stabbing people but has a bigger dialogue between freedom and order, in Telltale’s “The Walking

Mark David Magat/The Skyline View

Dead”, you’re ruthlessly bashing in zombie brains, but also has a massive thing about nurture vs nature. Beyond the killing and the shooting and stabbing, most games have massive messages on current issues and existential questions.

But I feel that games have the best road to helping people with learning sympathizing with people they’ll never really understand fully. An article done by the Sage Journal did a piece on Telltale’s “The

Walking Dead”, and said it helped so many people sympathies with the characters and made a lot of them rethink about how to treat children. The Walking Dead is an amazing game, highly recommend it, but if more games can do this, put people in roles they probably won’t experience, we can start helping people develop empathy in a controlled environment.

Another massive game that brought a unique perspective was “Mafia 3”. Even though not the best game, I thought it shined at least bringing racism in the 1970s in a video game rather effectively.

For those who never experience being oppressed can feel a bit of it when you’re

just playing a video game, driving down the street, and having police already suspecting you because of the color of your skin.

The hardest part about living with schizoaffective is explaining how it feels to someone who doesn’t. For many people who live with other mental health conditions only want to relate and connect with people on that level. For someone to say “I get it” might be enough. And now playing “Hellblade” more people can at least start to understand where people like me can come from, even though not fully getting it, but can be more understanding of me and everyone else like us.

November 21, 2019

Opinions

Pretty Privilege DOES Exist By: Calixo Reyes Opinions Editor

We refuse to acknowledge the fact that our “looks” and our “beauty” give us the mobility to move swiftly through the world and through American society.

It’s a very hard pill to swallow, I know.

But we have to address it before it becomes an issue that is swept under the rug forever.

Being “pretty” or “handsome” makes people look at us differently. It makes it easier for us to be more successful to put it plainly.

I have never felt physically attractive.

I’ve had to work twice as hard to be likable as opposed to other people who could just look great. It’s not to say that attractive people get things handed to them, but most certainly they benefit a lot from what others would be willing to do for them.

They say “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” that is to say that beauty is subjective. Attractiveness means different things to different people and different groups of people.

Here in America, beauty is synonymous with being white, thin, able-bodied and feminine. For men, it means being white, tall, muscular and masculine. As a young teenager, I often wondered if I would reach this level of attractiveness. After all, I loved the world of fashion and I really wanted to be a part of it.

Handsome has never been the word that people chose to describe me. I grew up as a minority, short, not the type of person somebody would brag to their friends about dating. I’ve had a lot of great opportunities because I worked really hard for them. I’ve

also been rejected from some opportunities and I knew it was because I didn’t fit the ideal image.

People who are considered to be attractive are more likely to get hired somewhere, they can climb the career ladder easier, and have higher salaries. They also do not get punished as harshly. They are also considered to be healthier, reliable, and more competent than others. This is an inherent judgment that people make unconsciously.

Pretty privilege skeptics will often tell you to ask a pretty girl how many times she has been insulted for turning someone down or to ask her what she’s really gotten out of her looks. This rhetoric is often used to deny the claims that looks get you places.

To a degree, it is true. Pretty privilege is not the strongest privilege that there is. We also have male, class, and race privilege that stands on top of the privilege of attractiveness.

4 Drawings by Gianna Sozzi

It has a profound impact on women mostly, and even men. I have personally witnessed this type of privilege happening. Like when I was a manager at a retail store.

At one point, we hired somebody that was deemed attractive and charming by many of the workers. The young man went on to make many mistakes, but was never

understand that certain things did not happen for me because I did not look the part and not because I truly was not capable of doing the work. My work ethic and intelligence are the pillars of my self-confidence.

People need to know that their judgments based on attractiveness are only superficial.

This does not tell you about the quality of

reprimanded by his management as hard as that same management reprimanded other workers for lesser mistakes.

He was often excused for his unexcused absences and was told to just “try a little harder.” I could tell he had never had to really work hard for anything in his life, thus far.

I have had to learn my place. I’ve had to

work someone does. People also need to know that this type of privilege exists. It is not only dangerous to young women and men but a disservice to those who truly work hard as well as have amazing non-superficial qualities.

“Pretty privilege can be the reason why “7 in 10 girls believe they are not good enough or do not measure up in some way, including their looks, performance in school and relationships.”

-Real Girls, Real Pressure: National Report According to “Real Girls, Real Pressure: National Report on the State of Self-Esteem, Dove Self-Esteem Fund,” pretty privilege can be the reason why “7 in 10 girls believe they are not good enough or do not measure up in some way, including their looks, performance in school and relationships.”

November. 21, 2019

Focal Point

How are You Dealing with Climate Change?

A modern term for a modern crisis

By Milla Tivadar

Focal Point Editor

“Chronic fear of environmental doom,” to be defined by American Psychological Association (APA) as the term “ecoanxiety.”

In a randomized poll sent out among Skyline students, only 50% were aware of this expression. Therapists and organizations are quickly catching onto this “pre-traumatic stress” effecting the masses and advancing their awareness on the issue. Even the World Health Organization refers to it as the greatest threat to mental health in the 21st century.

As more people face the impacts of environmental changes occurring worldwide, the challenges of the future grow more overwhelming. Just this year Greta Thunburg, a 16-yearold climate activist from Sweden has taken her stand on this issue out into the political world sharing her views on government platforms.

These days more people are seeking professional help to talk about the causality through psychotherapists majoring in ecoanxiety and eco-grief alike.

In areas that have been directly affected by environmental disasters, there is a significant influx of people dealing with PTSD reaching out for help.

“Unprecedented changes,” “irreversible damage,” and other expressions associated with covering climate change are steadily being thrown around in media and by scientific predictions. As this problem becomes more urgent, the terms used to report on it are evermore threatening. However, those who still remain indirectly effected take the issue consequently as their own, due to the succeeding uncertainty.

Very few students purposefully disengage with the environmental issues in media, but the majority absorb the information and choose to further educate themselves. At the end of the day, it is up to the individual how the issue affects them. However, along the extreme opinions brought up by journalists and bloggers, the population becomes gradually more polarizing.

Whether you are a believer in climate change or not, there are still red flags that come with this concept. Many mothers, and soon-to-be-parents can see the problem affecting their children’s future. Some express guilt and grief for the upcoming generations. This does not

seem to effect students here, as few at Skyline find the idea of bringing a child into the world to be irresponsible. This outlook can manifest hope among those who presume differently to have children and be fulfilled regardless.

Skyline students that may or may not deal with ecoanxiety, use the following to cope in order by popularity; practicing self-care and building resilience, expressing themselves through writing, and/ or art, appreciating nature by spending more time outdoors, and reminding themselves they’re going to be OK. These are just some of the simple ways to find peace if ever there is a moment of stress/worry when a predicament arises. The least prevalent way students chose to manage this climate caused anxiety, was to take political action. In spite of this, it is the longest and strongest existing solution to transform the quality of the Earth’s ecosystem and environment. While advocating for awareness for climate change is admirable, it carries great mental burden, and we should make sure that when calling for change that we aren’t forgetting our own mental health.

However if you choose to deal with the issue, the best way to deal with ecoanxiety is to look inside and be outside. It’s best to worry less about the future, and fall in love with the beauty that nature provides before you right here right now. The weight of the world should not be placed on your shoulders, but if you are passionate about saving our planet, there are many ways you can participate that could also help release some of the pressure.

5

6

Focal Point

November 21, 2019

How to Ease Stress during the Final Weeks of a Semester

By Layna Salinas

Social Media Editor

With finals and the holidays fastapproaching, there are ways for students to keep the stress low in order to avoid the end-of-semester stress havoc.

Being stressed out is no laughing matter — especially if the holiday season is fast approaching.

However, there are ways that you can make the final weeks of a college semester stress-free and avoid the end-of-semester havoc that most students suffer each semester.

With the holidays and finals looming, Skyline College is currently a weeklong event titled Stress Less: Mental Health Awareness Week, from now until Friday, Nov. 22. For instance, for the first three days of the event, students have been able to make their own stress ball that they can use them whenever they are stressed out, which is a way to reduce the stress that students are constantly facing.

Perry Chen, the Psychological Services Counselor at Skyline College, says that in order to reduce the stress, diet and making sure to get enough sleep is vital.

There are also other things that Chen recommends to do in order to be stress-free. Using a stress ball is not only for the moment that a student is feeling stressed

out. Students can use them whenever they are going through mental illness. Therapy dogs can also help students feel stress-free in the final weeks of a semester.

“One of the best ways to destigmatize mental health issues is to talk about them; to understand that everyone suffers from time to time with mental health issues,” Hollingsheod said.

On Tuesday, the therapy dogs came to Skyline College for students to ease their stress, as the holidays are fast-approaching.

Raymon Gutierrez, the Retention Specialist at Skyline College, believes that therapy dogs help students to reduce the stress

because spending time with the dogs is healthy for them — especially if the finals is now three weeks away.

Skyline College student Ruio Mutul says that therapy dogs help to release the bad emotions from the stress that students are going through.

“Every single bad emotion of bad emotions on your body, you’re able to feel that soft, you’re able to just have the energy to translate through your body,” Mutul said.

At the end of the day, being stressed out can have its consequences: People can eventually suffer from mental illness as a result of being stressed

Tech for the Tightfisted Budget tech for the cheap or the average college student

By Mark David Magat Editor at large

Remember those old cartoons and movies about the future? “The Jetsons” and “Back to the Future 2” have envisioned a future that we haven’t quite reached yet, but we’ve got to admit we’re pretty gosh darn close. We are currently living in the future with technology to solve the biggest problem or the smallest issue, yet the cost of these items cost a pretty penny or two. But of course, here are some great pieces of tech that won’t break the bank.

Laptops:

Phones:

Miscellaneous:

Chromebooks ($140-$250)

Samsung Galaxy A50 ($300)

Chromebooks are really rising in popularity good reason. Even though lacking in functionality and power compared to Mac and Windows laptops, what you get is done well and way more than what you need. You’re not going to a Chromebook to edit 4K videos, but if you need to just write a few papers, do some online research, or just want to kill time with watching Netflix or YouTube, Chromebooks in the $140 to $250 range are perfect.

If you’re looking for an upgrade in the android space but can’t spend the money for a flagship device, the A50 is a great pickup.

For it’s price, they do their job well. It won’t get the best camera or best screen, but for the price, it does a great screen and a decent camera.

Sandisk Extreme SSD (250GB for $72)

Acer Aspire 5 ($600) If you need more power, maybe you do edit videos and want to play a few games, the Acer Aspire 5 is perfect for the college student on a budget. There are a few drawbacks, the biggest one being the screen, totally usable, just not the best. But all the other issues are very minor and the benefits of this guy outweighs the drawbacks.

Plus, for those of you who like to upgrade and mess with hardware, it’s really easy on this laptop.

You don’t need to open the whole back, you just need to open a door or two if you want to increase the RAM or storage.

Mark David-Magat // The Skyline View

out.

Skyline College student Chris Hollingsheod, who organized Transgender Day of Remembrance, says that one of the tips for students to destigmatize mental illness is to talk about their mental health issues.

“Meditation, yoga, petting a dog, getting a hug from somebody, hanging out with friends, watching a movie or TV show, and taking a nap,” Chen suggested. He also recommended to “do a lot of different things,” which can include making a stress ball, or listening to music on a music device or smartphone.

There are ways for students to reduce their stress at a time when Thanksgiving is just a week away, the holidays are fast approaching, and school finals are just three weeks away.

According to the web page “Skills You Need: Helping You Develop Life Skills”, students who are stressed out can refer to the following “10 tips in order to reduce the stress: - Avoid caffeine, alcohol, and nicotine.

- Indulge in physical activity.

- Get more sleep.

- Try relaxation techniques.

- Talk to someone.

- Keep a stress diary.

- Take control.

- Manage your time.

- Learn to say ‘no’.

- Rest if you are ill.”

iPhone 6 ($200) Maybe you want something within the Apple ecosystem, well even though the iPhone 6 is fairly old at this point, it’s still supported by the latest version of iOS. The camera isn’t special, but is still pretty good, the screen is small, but does look really nice, and the size is larger and thicker, but still comfortable to hold in one hand. Overall, still really good.

For all the technology we have available nowadays, It’s kind of hard to find great budget tech under a mountain of mostly poor products. But given enough time and effort, you can eventually find some good stuff.

Now that we’re adults, we have some really important files to either backup or need to transfer.

Portable hard drives are great but are easy to break and are slow and heavy. SSDs are actually getting cheaper, are faster and are less likely to break if you drop them. If I were to recommend one, I would recommend the SanDisk Extreme.

It has all the benefits of an SSD and has some extra features with its durability for that extra piece of mind.

Sony 700N ($100) I profess that with headphones, as long as they work, they work. But if you want to have a better time listening to your music without having to hear that crying baby across the room while you try to buy milk for your morning breakfast cause your roommate Matti didn’t buy any, the Sony 700Ns are a great buy for the price.

Of course there are headphones that sound better and have better noise canceling but for the price, these headphones are a great balance for all these points.

November 21, 2019

7

Sports

Exploring the game of Cornhole

By Cristian Garcia Sports Editor

A game originally played in a playground in grade schools, cornhole is now becoming a professional sport. Skyline students can see the board outside of building four and for those who do not play it is not just a game played at schools, barbecues and bars, it is a serious competitive game.

The name corn-

hole can throw off those people who have never heard of the game. cornhole has many names bean bag toss,

Illustrations by Hanz Mathew Pacheco/ The Skyline View

lawn toss, and dummy board. The origin of the name is simple, the bags have dried up corn and the player must throw it into the hole.

This could change as well when some players play with resins or plastic pellet, it is corn that is the most common to play with.

The lawn game classic of cornhole has been around for

centuries and it was not until 2005 that the American Cornhole Organization established their own rules and official sanctioned products.

The game of cornhole goes like this: players throw 16 ounce bean bags into a raised platform, if a bag lands on the board that is one point, if lands in the hole then the player receives three points. First team or player to 21 wins the game.

The American Cornhole Organization even has their own tournaments the ACO Majors are two day events around the United States that determine and round up the best players for their World Championships in July. Their latest tournament Skilcon was just contested this past weekend in Las Vegas, Nevada, With the popularity of cornhole on the rise could this sport be taken serious. American Cornhole League, another league with only four years of existence, has managed to appear on ESPN

broadcasting a six day world championship.

The sport can be seen in the same light as beer pong or shuffle board which are very bar heavy sport that always has someone holding a beer in their hand.

But, cornhole can be seen as an underdog like the true underdog sport Dodgeball. Another sport that has come from the playground and made its way up to having their own league as well. Unfortunately, these sports are not featured in the National Junior College Athletic Association.

Here at Skyline College sports in our athletic program include, Baseball, Basketball, Volleyball, Soccer and Wrestling to add cornhole into the picture can be a complicated process. A simple backyard sport coming to college can be an impossible task. It was not recently that E Sports was accepted as a sport by the National Junior College Athletic Association with 30 college participating, cornhole can be high possibility.

Piergrossi’s Team is Young yet Poised

I-Wei Chang / The Skyline View

Skyline men’s basketball head coach, Justin Piergrossi has seen many different teams come through his program. Now in his 16th season, Piergrossi’s will have many challenges as he looks to lead his freshman dominant team that is filled with unknown potential.

“Overall I’m pretty happy especially since we’re so young and we’re so inexperienced at this level so definitely I know we can be better than this and we need to start delivering.” said Piergrossi.

Through their first four games they have held their own splitting their wins and losses. Their two defeats against Los Medanos and

at Modesto have only been by a combined five points. It is a small sample size, but they are without a doubt showing that they are capable of being competitive while learning to play with each other.

“We’ve had a couple of games where we faced runs by the other team and we’ve been able to answer those runs by sticking together and just sticking with the plan.” Said Piergrossi.

That plan is being expressed at their daily practices where Piergrossi is looking to sell the basics of being consistently focused, energetic and executing at the highest level. These good habits being established can only make

build his team and make them a stronger unit.

In Skyline’s 91-78 win over Solano, they finished with six players scoring in double figures and shot 53 percent from the field. Led by Colby Vazquez who had 21 yet scoring came from the bench as well with Justin Robles having 14 and Callum Spurlock having 10.

Both Vazquez and Walter Lum lead the team early on averaging 16 points a game but as a team they are averaging about 18 assists per game. The ball movement is another part of Piergrossi’s scheme by not heavily relying on one or two players to account for most of the scoring.

“We are always talking to our players that the person that is the most open should have the ball and then we want that person to make good decisions,” Said Piergrossi.

“We never know who that person is going to be, we are trusting that our team is going to get that person the ball.”

Skyline ends the 2019 year with only one road game when they have to travel to Napa Valley just before Thanksgiving. From there, December will feature five straight home as Skyline looks to strengthen its non-conference record.

The 2-Minute Read With Daniel archuleta

Skyline Men’s Basketball Statistics

Category Conference Rank 79.3 PPG 6th 49.4 FG%

2nd

38.3 3PT%

3rd

17.8 AST 3rd 4.3 BLK 4th

as of Nov. 20

8

The Voice of Skyline College, San Bruno, Calif.

November 21, 2019

The Skyline View

TROJAN ATHLETICS

Faasolo leads Skyline to Victory over Siskiyous

Upcoming Games

Men’s Basketball Nov. 23 vs San Jose (3 p.m.)

Nov. 27 at Napa Valley (5 p.m.)

Dec. 7 vs Merritt (3 p.m.)

Women’s Basketball

Nov. 23 at Folsom Lake (2 p.m.)

Nov. 25 vs Feather River (6 p.m.)

Nov. 26 at Mission (7 p.m.)

Point guard Emilia Dougherty tries to cut through the paint.

I-Wei Chang / The Skyline View

By I-Wei Chang

Wrestling

Nov. 23 Coast Conference Tournament at Chabot College

Staff writer

The Skyline Women’s basketball team won their third game of the season 81-60 against College of the Siskiyous on Friday, November 15. Sophomore center Olga Faasolo scored 22 points, and starting shooting guard Michala O’Donoghue contributed 16 points while shooting four-of-five on three point attempts.

Throughout the first half of the game, Skyline had great ball movement along with good tempo of the game. Faasolo, made the first five shots for Skyline jumping out to a 10-0 lead in the beginning of the game. At the end of the first quarter Skyline lead Skyine led by 14 points thanks to Faasolo In the second quarter, the team focused and played a 2-3 zone while on defense, this restricted the Siskiyous shooters to make shots; while on offense, Faasolo continued to dominate inside the paint, scoring si point in the quarter, plus the team’s extra passing in every section in offensively, created a large amount of wide-open shots from inside and outside the arc.

However, in the third quarter, Siskiyous started to exert pressure on the defensive side making Skyline’s shot selection difficult.

Early on in the third quarter, Siskiyous fired off 11-2 including three 3-pointers forced head coach Chris Watters to call a timeout. After the time out, starting point guard Emilia Dougherty along with O’Donoghue made three 3-pointers within 11 points, pulled the score back to a 57-38 lead, leading by 19 points at the end of the third quarter.

Jump into the last quarter, all the Skyline players still remained concentrated on defense where Siskiyous had fast ball movement outside, with many three-point attempts being put up. Skyline cut the ball with a leading pass, creating transition fast breaks with layups. Gradually, the game settled

down, both teams played their reserves and the game ended with a 81-60 final.

Regarding of the wining in this game, the Skyline head coach Chris Watters point out that controlling the tempo is one of the winning strategies for this game “What we didn’t want to do was try to run up and down with them and play their tempo. So we forced them to play our tempo,” said Watters. “And I think by doing that, we made them a little bit uncomfortable or we took them out of their comfort zone, and it got hard for them to get hot.”

In addition, point guard Emilia Dougherty said in regards to the first half, she wasn’t scoring and applying herself in the game.

However, she believes that trust between her and the rest of her teammates was the most important element to help her to build confidence in the second half.

As for Faasolo who scored the highest with 22 points in the game, felt the winning element is based on the great communication on defensive side.

“We did really well and talking, communicating with each other on defense, especially when we knew that the other team was going to shoot the heck out of the ball,” said Faasolo. “Luckily they didn’t make all the shots that they were shooting, which definitely played a big intimate advantage to us as a defensive team.”

Regarding his player, Watters gives Faasolo affirmation about the growth “She showed a lot of great leadership tonight. She showed a lot of great composure,” Watters said “She’s shown some real growth from her freshman season to her sophomore season.”

Michala O’Donoghue tries to cross over the defender from the corner baseline.

I-Wei Chang / The Skyline View

“She (Faasolo) showed a lot of great leadership tonight. She showed a lot of great composure.” “She’s (Faasolo) shown some real growth from her freshman season to her sophomore season.” - Chris Watters, head coach