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Volume XXIX - Issue 5 March 31, 2011 www.theskylineview.com

Possible changes to registration policies

Networking is key. This was the refrain echoed by several professionals at the campus’ Career Networking Night on March 23.

Harry Joel, vice chancel-lor of human resources and employee relations at the San Mateo County Community College District, emphasized this point.

“(E)veryone is a potential contact to someone who may be in a position to hire,” Joel said. He added that we are all at “six degrees of separation.”

Virginia Padrón, who is a career counselor, Career Center director, and one of the coordina-

Career networkingStudents learn to market themselves

by Liz McMahon

The California State Legislature is calling for reforms to the com-munity college system in order to save money and help students reach their educational goals.

Recent data have revealed that a vast number of community college students are not on track to finish their lower division studies within two years. In fact, only about one fourth of students who enter Califor-nia community colleges are able to transfer within three years. The state government feels this is detrimental to its higher education budget and the success of the community col-lege system.

About 85% of first-year Califor-nia community college students are unprepared for college work. This causes a need for remedial classes so students can get up to speed. About 10% of instruction at California community colleges was at the pre-

collegiate level in 2009-10, at a cost of $550 million dollars. Not only is this type of instruction expensive, but when students need to enroll in these classes, they are usually unable to get the credits they need to transfer within two years.

In 1960, the California Post-secondary Education Commission designed its Master Plan for Educa-tion, which outlines the purpose of the community college system. The plan has been amended over the years, but the main message is the same. The purpose of the California Community College System is to enable students to (1) earn credits in order to transfer to a four-year institution, (2) receive an associate degree or certificate, and (3) gain basic job or language skills.

Currently, the minimum number of units students need to transfer is 60. Once those credits are earned, it is the expectation of the state that

students leave community college and enroll in a university. However, there are many students who have more than 60 units and remain at community college rather than move on. In 2009-10, there were about 120,000 students enrolled in California community colleges who had more than 90 units (which is the maximum many public universities will accept for transfer). There were about 9,000 students in the state with 150 units or more.

This can be problematic for a number of reasons. Foremost is the issue of open classes. With class op-tions down and enrollment up, it is more critical than ever that students who intend to transfer are able to get the classes they need.

“I only need two more classes,” Jessica Candelaire said. “I can’t get into them, though, because they fill up so fast.”

The concern of the legislature

is that long-time students have priority registration over students who haven’t been enrolled as many semesters. In theory, this is to make it easier for students who are closer to transferring to get the classes they need, but it doesn’t always work out that way. Many students, like those mentioned above with more than 90 units, may not intend to transfer.

The second issue is state fund-ing. The state currently subsidizes community college fees so students only have to pay a fraction of the true cost, but this is putting a strain on state resources. This, along with the issue of class availability, has led to a number of recommendations from the Legislative Analyst’s Office.

Regarding the issue of open classes, the LAO recommends that colleges give the highest registra-tion priority to those who are fully matriculated (defined as those who have “participated in assessment,

orientation, and counseling, as well as completed an educational plan,” according to LAO’s report) and are making good progress toward their educational goals.

As far as the state budget goes, the legislature does have the power to require full (unsubsidized) fees for students who fall into certain categories. The LAO recommends a cap of 100 units, which would prevent those students with more units from receiving full govern-ment subsidies.

It is currently unknown how the legislature will act upon these recommendations. The state has recently passed legislation that re-quires the Board of Governors to put together a task force whose primary purpose is to create a plan for stu-dent success within the community college system. The plan is due next January and will subsequently be presented to the legislature.

by Blair Hardee

Build your addiction for “Minecraft” on page 7

KiriaKos Vilchez/The sKyline ViewVincent Iannone(Left) talking with Puente counselor Sandra Rodriguez(Right) a facilitator at the event.

gain valuable knowledge from the panelists. Lopez, who is interested in the medical industry, said she would like to talk to “a nurse and see how their work environment is.” She added, “I like helping

kids and adults, so that’s kind of my inspiration.”

The event was sponsored by sev-eral campus organizations, includ-ing the African-American Success Through Excellence and Persistence Program. Jamela Brown, who was a volunteer with ASTEP and had helped to prepare the building for the event, offered this advice to students: “(I)f you can’t be disci-plined about your education, you’re definitely not setting the right path for your career. . . . (Employers) want the students that have a proven capability, a proven track record of reliability.”

The event kicked off with coun-selor Nate Nevado serving as master of ceremonies to introduce various student musicians, who played, sang and rapped. With the crowd sufficiently excited and engaged, Joel took the stage and encouraged students to network and dress for success.

Following the vice chancellor’s speech, students went upstairs to listen to the panelists in their cho-sen field speak about job success. Professionals such as Cece Rebele imparted knowledge and wisdom to their attentive audience. Rebele, who is the program services coordinator for the early childhood education department at Skyline, advised stu-dents to “start to tailor your educa-tion around something that you think is going to be a big job demand. . . . (D)iversify yourself because you’re

munity college any way possible; get their foot in the door. While they’re in there, they need to make some good connections, and the ideal situation is to have a mentor, but the biggest deal is to make good connections.”

Students who participat-ed in the networking event reacted positively to the experience. Music student Vincent Ionnone said he received good advice

comes time to start negotiat-ing with people you’re wanting to sell your work to,” Ionnone said. “I learned how the freelance industry differs from the com-mercial industry, and I learned a lot about the speed at which things change within electronic media.” Iannone added that he feels better prepared to pursue a career in the arts and com-munications industry.

The consensus among

people involved in Career Net-working Night seemed to be that interacting with professionals in your chosen career field is the best way to get involved in the career of your dreams.

tors of the event, said the purpose of the event was to re-establish the connection between education and work, which she thinks is missing.

Professionals from six different industry categories—including Arts/Communications, Business/Administration, Education/Human Services, Health/Medicine, Law/Public Service and Technology/Science—were or-ganized into groups of five panelists. These panelists spoke to students about the every-day realities that their jobs entail as well as effective methods of beginning a career in a

specific industry.Skyline student

Leticia Lopez, one of 180 students who registered for the event, was hopeful that she would

from the presenters, and he seemed enthusiastic about his prospects.

“Tonight I learned about how to gauge the value of your work and how to protect yourself when it

Girls come to learn at Skyline to expand their horizons on page 2

going to have to market yourself eventually.”

Vanson Nguyen, a math professor at Skyline, also had recommendations to offer to would-be teachers. Vanson said they should “volunteer at a nearby com-

The Staff

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Room 8-8110Skyline College

3300 College DriveSan Bruno CA 94066

Editor-In-ChiefMarc Arguello

News EditorJJ Valdez

Features EditorRobyn Graham

Opinions EditorAlexis de Guzman

Entertainment EditorBrittany M. Olgardt

Sports EditorBlair Hardee

Copy Editor Liz McMahonProofreader

Timothy MarasiganPhotos Editor

Larry CortezGraphics Editor

Alyssa KoszisCartoonists

JJ ValdezAlyssa Koszis

Alexis de GuzmanOnline EditorStephen Benoit

Multimedia EditorBrittany M. OlgardtPublic Relations

Tosh HunterKiriakos Vilchez (assistant)

Staff WritersJay Johnson

Lea NaqishbendiHanul Park

Milan SubediCamille WielandDaniel BeckmanMario Rodriguez

Dean Kevin Santos

Faculty AdviserNancy Kaplan-Biegel

The Skyline View is a First Amend-ment Publication. The Skyline View

is published bi-weekly during the spring and fall semesters by the jour-nalism students at Skyline College. The Skyline View is a member of the Journalism Association of Commu-nity 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 Let-ters to the Editors; letters must in-

clude full name, address, and phone number for verification. The Skyline View reserves the right to edit letters

for length, libel, clarity, and taste.

2 March 31, 2011Skyline ViewThe

Features

March 31, 12–2 p.m.I Can Afford CollegeWhere: building 6, cafeteria Description: Missed the March 2 deadline? Don’t worry; you can still apply for financial aid.

April 2–April 8Spring RecessWhere: Skyline

April 4, 4:30 p.m.Equal Education for All Where: Union Square, San FranciscoDescription: Walkout and national day of action

April 12, 12:30–2 p.m.Talisman/Open MicWhere: building 1, outside the theater lobby

April 12, 12:30–2:30 p.m.Financial Steps—Money Management and DebtWhere: building 6, room 6202

April 12, 12:30–2 p.m.Career Workshop: Jump Start Your Online Job SearchWhere: building 1, room 1218

April 13, 5–7 p.m.Financial Steps—Money Management and DebtWhere: building 6, room 6207

April 13, 4-6 p.m.FAFSA WorkshopsWhere: building 2, room 2117 B

Every Wednesday 1:45-2:45 p.m.Relay for life Sign up in the cafeteria (Skyline college) www.relayforlife.org/skylinecollegeca

Have a school-related event you would like announce here? Contact Features Editor Robyn Graham at rgraha21@my.smccd.edu Include date, time and place of event, plus a 1-2 sentence description of the event and its purpose.

Upcoming EventsMarch 31-April 13

As a college student, being able to save should be a trait that is learned and mastered. Saving takes only seconds in live action, but it takes much time and many steps to master. Taking control of your traits involves yourself, persistence and, in this situation, location. Any location that you’re in can lead to much sav-ing or spending, depending on how you look at it.

The environments that students put themselves in have many traps for spending money. Essentially, it is as if you have no other choice but to spend the most. Places like movies theaters, amusement parks and other types of attractions to “get away” can also make the pocket sense go away.

At amusement parks, there are always more options than $4 sodas and $6 popcorn. This is where the tip comes in handy: study your environ-ment and just glance through. Just asking and looking will find you the better price. Vendors and sellers are always in competition with one an-other, and even a 50-cent difference in price could lead to saving.

At the movies, you really have no choice about how to spend money because things will be expensive. Use common sense and take ad-vantage of the value package with popcorn, soda, and candy to save a few dollars.

Although students try to avoid spending money on campus, it works its way in a majority of the time at school. Outside of school, there are many places to spend money, but on campus there are also alternatives to spending money.

The one thing that students should do is look at prices, especially in re-gards to campus food. The café, caf-eteria and bookstore all have plenty to offer for students to eat, but if you look closely, some of the prices are different. The most important thing to avoid is the vending machines; the machines take a $1 bag of chips and sell it for 50 cents more.

The key factors to knowing your environment are simply using your eyes and asking questions. Wander-ing eyes catch prices and locations that help with saving money. Asking questions can push you in the right direction of where you can be frugal with your money.

Just taking advantage of these two traits can lead to a lot of saving in any environment. Instincts can take your financial situation from tight to right regarding how to spend.

My name is Luis Osorio; I’m a Skyline Student with helpful tips when it comes to saving money. Saving money isn’t easy but with a little advice, smarter spending can be accomplished. Check out my blog at www.baysbottomdollar.wordpress.com

Money-Saving Tips from Lui$Know your environment, and know it well

by Luis Osorio

Girls uncovering their potential

Math and science are the fields of knowledge that most females are most likely to turn their backs to, but Skyline College has been hosting life-changing conferences that strengthen girls’ beliefs about their abilities.

With successful years of enhanc-ing and inspiring young girls behind them, Skyline has once again wel-comed Expanding Your Horizons, a math and science conference for girls that was held March 19.

A lot of people ask, “Why the gender?” Girls are not likely to take math and science classes in college, and girls have fewer role models in math and science, so Skyline has been giving them people to look up to.

EYH is a nationwide and world-wide movement that expands young women’s (6th–12th grade) options to widen their perspective and aware-ness of math and science, which prepares them for college. Skyline was one of the first institutions to host the event, and it has done so for the past 31 years.

To make the conference possible, volunteers took weeks to prepare for the event with the help of the Genentech Foundation.

Before the girls set off to the workshops prepared for them, Presi-dent Regina Stanback Stroud of Skyline College introduced Caille Millner, author of “The Golden Road” and member of the San Fran-cisco Chronicle Editorial Board in the general assembly to share her experience.

“I didn’t think it would have much use in my life,” Millner said, “but then at a certain point, I realized the problem wasn’t math or science. The problem was that I had made myself believe that I wasn’t good at them.”

A full day was planned, involving registration, hands-on workshops, a special group activity and a career fair and science exposition. The conference also provided young

girls with the op-portunity to inter-act with positive role models who are active in math- and science-related careers.

For parents, the conference offered a two-and-a-half-hour workshop on college planning, academic require-ments and financial aid.

“The girls are fortunate enough. We never had some-thing like this when we were young-er,” said Christine Case, a member of the planning com-mittee.

Throughout the day, volunteers and instructors guided students within the campus.

“Every year, it’s fun and very rewarding,” said Vanson Nguyen, a member of the planning commit-tee. “I get to help a thousand kids! Every go’fer (vol-unteer) plays a big role in helping each of the girls, and I am part of that effort.”

A loose net-work of people at Skyline talked and coordinated with each other; they worked to organize the event.

“We had different sections of working around the campus, which made my group sociable around the campus with parents and their children,” said Ruce Head, a student volunteer. “The event was a blast!”

In this world, gender is never

a condition of what people are capable of, especially in math and science.

“We have 31 years of quotations where a little girl would say, ‘Now I can do anything;’ that’s pretty powerful,” Case said. “Something like, ‘Now I know someone cares about me.’ It’s extremely powerful; it simply tells us they are in great need for this.”

by Alexis de Guzman

Skyline hosts Expanding Your Horizons for girls who discover math and science can be fun

alexis de Guzman/The sKyline View

First two photos: The girls are busy participating in the Chemistry Majic Show workshop. Last photo: Girls compare schedules after registration in the gym at Skyline.

Dear Johnny,

I have trouble talking to women. I recently separated from my girlfriend of four years and have not been single since high school. Every time I try to speak with a woman, I get nervous, and then she just gets a weird expression on her face (sometimes rolling her eyes) and quickly retreats. Please help me.

From,Socially Awkward

For all of you out there that do or do not agree with what I say, I encourage you to e-mail me your opinions or post comments online. Once again the e-mail address is advice.johnny@gmail.com. Send me your thoughts, questions, and critiques. I am waiting to hear from you.

Dear Socially Awkward,Wow, ending a four-year re-

lationship is very hard and heart-breaking. I hope you have taken time to reflect on that long relation-ship to see what exactly led to its demise. A common mistake many of us make is ending a relationship and then, because we feel lonely, im-mediately try to pick up on people we find attractive.

With that being said, I think you’re trying too hard. I have always said that every woman of substance I have ever met was intro-duced to me randomly and without method. Those random encounters

in life are what turn into something real. Dating works for some, and I get that, but those of us who don’t like social situations like that need to embrace the social interactions we have every day.

Keep your eyes open and maybe give that girl in lab your number and set up a study session. It doesn’t have to be fake; getting to know someone for who they are as op-posed to only what they look like is an amazing experience and can lead to true love and a great connection. Remember that friendship is the strongest foundation in the world

for relationships.When you meet new people,

make an effort to really get to know them; you will be amazed at how interesting another person’s life is when you listen.

My advice is to sit back and en-joy life. In doing so, you will natu-rally attract people to you because they will see your carefree approach to relationships and find it refresh-ing. Don’t forget to talk to and get to know some new and interesting people. Who knows, you might be befriending your future girlfriend. Good luck!

Relationship Advice from Johnny Dear Johnny

you didn’t know any better, going into Eureka Square, you’d think Pacifica was a ghost town. Eureka

Square, a once prominent and popu-lar shopping center in Pacifica, has nearly completely emptied out of its businesses over the course of a few months.

However, the slumping economy is not the primary factor in the mass exodus of business from the shopping center. According to store owners, it’s more easily attributed to sudden, dramatic increases in rent and unexpected fees from the landlord, Biagini Properties.

“We had a drug store, video store, a cafe, all of those are closed,” said the manager of Oceana Market (fro-merly Food Town) Jesse Gutierrez. Gutierrez says that although his mar-ket has remained open, the closure of businesses around his store effects him negatively as well.

“People don’t want to come for just one thing,” Gutierrez said. He said that the lack of foot traffic from other stores makes it harder for Oceana Market to attract business.

Gutierrez says that money is tight as it is, and the landlords increas-ing rent isn’t helping the situation. Instead of lowering the rent to help businesses in their time of need, Gutierrez says that their rents are

by Marc Arguello

Eureka SquareWhere have all the businesses gone?

Events1814: Forces allied against Napoleon capture Paris.1889: 300-meter Eiffel Tower officially opens, commemorating the French Revolution.1932: Ford publicly unveils its V-8 engine.1933: German Republic gives power to Hitler.1941: Ground is broken for Union Square Ga-rage in San Francisco.1949: Newfoundland becomes Canada’s 10th province.1967: Jimi Hendrix burns his guitar for the first time in London.1996: Space Shuttle STS-76 (Atlantis 16) re-turns to Earth

Birthdays1943: Actor Christopher Walken is born in Astoria, Queens, New York.1948: Al Gore, former Vice President, is born in Washington, D.C.1971: Craig McCracken, writer of the Power Puff Girls, is born in Charleroi, Pennsylvania.

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being increased. He sug-gested that this isn’t a very wise business strategy in the long run.

“It’s their money,” Guti-errez said, concerning Bi-agini Properties. “They can do what they want.”

However, some store owners suggested that Bi-agini might be trying to force out businesses so that they could use the lot for their own purposes.

“They could be greedy,” said the

owner of Anime Imports, Mike Fields. “or they’re trying to clear out the place for something else.”

Fields formerly worked at DNA Cards and Com-ics, a comic book store that formerly resided in Eureka Square. In 2005 it had to close down due to large increases in rent and unexpected fees from the landlords.

Fields said that typi-cally, Biagini would nearly

double the rent of businesses after their initial lease expired. Not only this, but the store owners would be

charged with various unexpected fees for services they didn’t request, such as roof repair and parking lot maintenance. Over the course of several years, many businesses left as soon as their leases were up.

Fields says he’s sad to see so many local businesses have to close because of this.

“I only shop at small businesses, so it’s sad to see them go,” Fields said. “It’s a bad business model to raise the rents on local businesses.”

However, not all of the businesses that left Eureka Square left because of the rent. Margaret Tassi, owner of Clay Creations, had to move her business due to a completely unre-lated issue.

However, Tassi understands the struggle that other businesses have with Eureka Square.

“It’s really hard for the businesses still there,” Tassi said. Tassi said that the empty spaces have a big impact on the amount of foot traffic Eureka Square gets. “People get a sense that something’s not right,” Tassi said.

Deedee Crader, a resident of Pacifica said that she has never seen Eureka Square so empty.

“It’s scary,” Crader said. “You’re watching something that used to be bustling that’s not there anymore.” Crader said that the situation is as much a fault of the bad economy as it is of Pacifica itself.

“Nobody comes here anymore,” she said. “There’s nothing here.”

If

marc arGuello/The sKyline View

Eureka Square now has more empty buildings like these than it has actual businesses.

“It’s scary. You’re watching something that used to be bus-tling that’s not there anymore...There’s nothing here.”

--Deedee Crader(A Pacifica resident)

March 31

3Skyline ViewThe

FeaturesMarch 31, 2011

4 March 31, 2011Skyline ViewThe

OpiniOn

Get out the vote!Why your voice matters to Skyline

Thumbs down: Rebecca Black

“She can’t sing; she’s auto-tuned so much that it’s not even her own voice anymore. I’m not ‘jealous;’ I just think she can’t sing.

--Stephen Benoit

Thumbs down:Store closures

“It’s weird seeing places that I’ve been going to my whole life suddenly pack up and leave.”

--Marc Arguello

Thumbs down: No free time

“Full-time work and school means no more free time. Sad face.”

--Brittany Olgardt

Thumbs down: Looking for a parking spot at Skyline

“With my first class at 11, it’s usually impossible to find park-ing.”

--Blair Hardee

Thumbs up:two snares and a cymbal falling off a cliff

“Ba-da-chsssh!”--Timothy Marasigan

Thumbs up: Spring

“It’s finally time for me to start planting my vegetables.”

--Alyssa Koszis

Thumbs down:Computers

“My eyelids are gonna die.”-- Alexis de Guzman

There are many decisions made by the Associated Students of Skyline College that affect the entire student body here on campus. The most important thing they do is represent all of the students and give us a voice in many affairs that affect us. That is why we at “The Skyline View” believe it is extremely important to vote in the ASSC elections, and we encourage students to get connected with student government.

The ASSC may not be the U.S. Senate, but for what gets done here at our school, it is just as important because it is a governing body. So, it is sad to learn that a small minority decides to get involved in school affairs while the vast majority of the student body does not. The end result is that most students are virtually unheard from even though some issues may directly affect them.

Amory Cariadus, the ASSC adviser, informed us that voting among Skyline students has been low, and that it is an issue that the ASSC has been trying to address.

“We always want the number to go up, and sometimes it doesn’t,” Cariadus said. “They’re usually pretty low.”Cariadus told us that people unfortunately don’t see the importance of voting for student government. If students

want to implement change, she encourages them to run for office, and if they can’t run for office, she would encour-age them to come to the ASSC and talk about what they feel needs to be addressed.

The ASSC has been stressing the importance of voting in events on campus, but Cariadus acknowledged that students have other obligations, such as academics and work.

Pati Ane Gladstone, ASSC commissioner of activities, also spoke about the lack of participation in student government.

“When they were first talking about the cuts a year ago in the cafeteria, I said to them, ‘You’ve got the most important thing: your vote! Go out and vote. It’s free, and it doesn’t cost you anything.’ And I’ll bet you half of the student body didn’t vote.”

We feel the need to express to all here at Skyline that you do need to vote. You get the chance to make a differ-ence. You may think it is a long shot that one person can make a difference, but if all who thought like that voted, there would be change.

The ASSC held the nominee elections for Student Trustee on March 29 and 30 and only one person, ASSC’s Gladstone, was running to represent our campus. This causes us to think that student involvement is definitely a problem.

It seems as though the majority of Skyline students forget the power they hold in voting for someone or some-thing. When you cast a vote, you know you’re doing your part in addressing issues that are important and need to be solved. With participation in school affairs, things can change for the better.

ASSC Vice President Amanda Parker said it is not too late to vote and get involved. The candidate application deadline for all executive council and senator positions is April 18. The general election takes place from May 2 through May 4, and the ASSC will contact students through their SMCCD college email accounts and provide voter information. Parker strongly encourages those who want to make a difference here on campus to vote and run for office.

We couldn’t agree more with the statements from Cariadus, Gladstone and Parker, and we feel that it is paramount that we all take an active role in our student government. Vote, and things like financial aid difficulties, program funding, and the desire for special events will be taken into account and discussed. Get involved and things can change. There’s nothing more to it.

I’ve lived in Pacifica my entire life. There’s one thing about this place that has always been true, at least in my lifetime: Pacifica is not very friendly to businesses. Any large chain store that tries to move into one of Pacifica’s many vacant lots often has to jump through a va-riety of hoops, and even then there is no assurance it’s going to survive here. It’s weird to think that when I was 7, I had more dining options in Pacifica than I do now.

For example, we used to have a Wendy’s, a KFC, and two Taco Bells. I remember these very vividly from my childhood, as they were some of my favorite treats on Friday nights. Today, the Wendy’s is now a McDonald’s, and the KFC and one of the Taco Bells are simply empty buildings. These are just fast food restaurants. I can just go to Daly City if I want to eat at them, but I can’t even begin to count all of the local places that have started in Pa-cifica only to die a few months later. Basically, whenever a new business opens in Pacifica, the first words that come to mind are, “I wonder how long this is going to last.”

I don’t know what is more to blame for this, Pacifica residents or Pacifica’s government. I know that my family is usually in favor of hav-ing more stores open in our little city, especially considering that Pacifica seems to specialize in leaving lots open for years at a time. However, it seems just as many people actu-

ally like having Pacifica as a small “scenic” city. They’re under the impression that if Pacifica actually gets some attractions, it’s going to lose its charm somehow.

I don’t buy that for a second. Plenty of cities, especially here in California, have great shopping and dining options while having a bevy of scenic areas. San Bruno, for example, has awesome restaurants and shopping while having weather dramatically better than that of Pacifica.

Others are worried that busi-nesses will somehow build over Pacifica’s natural resources, such as our glorious, acre-wide patches of weeds and expansive, vacant dirt fields. These people I don’t even remotely understand. If new businesses want to actually move into Pacifica, they have plenty of property options without having to build over anything of any value. Although if my article on Eureka Square has taught me anything, it’s that property owners might be just as much part of the problem as the city itself.

Pacifica’s government, however, seems to be populated entirely by the kind of people that simply adores our weed patches. Basically, the main theme behind every Pacifica may-oral hopeful’s campaign is, “I’ll keep Pacifica more scenic than that guy!” Which to me translates to, “Even less is gonna get done. You should really move to Millbrae, dude!”

America is already widely known for having some of the worst edu-cation in the world. Our public and even private schools pale in comparison to those in Europe and Asia. Teachers are underpaid and over-worked, struggling children are not given the attention they need to do well in school, and gifted kids are so bored with the lackluster classes that they rebel or drop out all together.

It does not take a rocket scientist to see that our educational system is flawed, so what is the govern-ment thinking when they take away money from schools, forcing them to cut classes, fire teachers and raise tuition?

Americans pay an arm and a leg to get their kids into great kindergar-tens, sometimes signing their chil-dren up for school before they have even been born; but for what reason? Some of those children will struggle through mediocre school after me-diocre school to gain a high school diploma for learning half of what they should know before turning 18, just to work a full-time, minimum-wage job in the hopes they can pay for a college education—a college education that, frankly, isn’t worth as much anymore.

Many college classes have been cut, forcing students to take classes they don’t want or need. Art classes were the first to go when the budget got tight. Spending money on paint brushes, sheet music and clay was no longer plausible. Art students have to attend over-priced private schools that cost thousands of dol-lars in tuition and sometimes do not even accept financial aid.

The one haven for the broke student was community college. We would come to our humble school knowing it was not the best, knowing our two-year degree wouldn’t get us far, but it would get us somewhere. Now even our cheap community college education is at stake, at least in California. Severe budget cuts are looming over our heads, and we might be forced to pay near-university-level tuition prices. Even as the tuition rises, more classes are cut.

I am most frustrated by this because I am just starting my edu-cation. I plan on getting a PhD, and this is my first year in college. I see a long, expensive road ahead, and it scares me. Like many other college students, I had giant career dreams as a child. Although I no longer want to be a famous rock climber/singer, I do dream of success; and those dreams are being threatened.

I understand that we are in debt. California and America as a whole have a very deep ditch to dig them-selves out of, but I fail to see the logic behind cutting into our educa-tion to try to save themselves from drowning. There has to be a better way than jeopardizing the schooling of a generation and possibly genera-tions to come.

Not only will it become harder to afford school, but what we learn in school will be less substantial.

For my sake and the sake of everyone in college now and in the future, I hope America finds a better way to get themselves out of debt than throwing away our educational opportunities.

Budget cuts threaten our career options

by Brittany Olgardt

by JJ Valdez

HEAL

HURT

Topic: Skyline puts a new coat of paint on buildings.

Hurt: The color “I guess it looks nice, but it’s not a big difference of color. I myself didn’t even notice it at first. Maybe they can use a different, brighter color, you know, something more eye catching.” --Michael Morales

Heal: Me“It’s good because it upgrades the look of

the school. Keeping the school’s image fresh is important to me because a campus that’s well-kept gets me hyped up.”

--Susan Zeghbabeh

Heal: Image of buildings “I like the new image for the campus. It looks nicer and makes buildings stand out more.” --Marina Katout

Hurt: Timing “Why did they have to paint the buildings

now instead of during spring break? They block the path to the bus and to some classes.”

--Edward Reyes

Hurt: Anything else“They are making it look better, but they

could use all that time, effort and money for something more important. I don’t know what at this point but something other than new paint.”

--Jessica Encarnacion

Hurt: Loss of money “The money for this could be used for something else, like, more important because, I mean, come on; the campus looks fine without the new paint.” --Abdule L. Arikat

Heal: Our campus“It makes the campus look neat. It gives

us a sense of pride to see our campus looking so refined and presentable.”

--Adriana Acosta

Heal: Student attendance “It makes the campus look new. If it looks good, students will come.” --Susan Zhung

by Stephen Benoit

Common Sense

The U.S. intervenes in Libya with questionable intentions

Libya is in turmoil right now, and while I think it’s essential for the in-ternational community to intervene, I can’t help wondering why there’s military intervention in Libya of all the places with this kind of unrest.

I hate to be the person to bring this up, but Libya produces a sig-nificant amount of oil, so ending the unrest quickly in Libya is profitable and in the best interests of modern-ized countries. I’m not saying we shouldn’t be helping the people of Libya, but I’m worried we may be helping the Libyans for all the wrong reasons.

Look at Bahrain. Protestors are being brutalized there, but we do nothing about it, probably because it’s in our economic interests for it to stay the way it is as the United States has various ties to Bahrain, including military training coop-eration between the two countries. If we want to propagate peace and

liberty and protect protestors against violence, we can’t pick and choose which countries to support just be-cause we don’t like the leader of a particular country.

Libya and the United States have had long feuds, and it would be within our interests if Moammar Gadhafi were removed from power. If he were gone and a group of rebels that we helped were in power in-stead, we’d have a friend who might be willing to sign treaties with us that give us access to oil in exchange for a variety of things. Libya, as it stands now, has been responsible for numerous terrorist attacks that have resulted in many deaths.

I don’t think Gadhafi should continue being leader of Libya because he’s quite unstable, as evidenced by his actions in recent weeks. Gadhafi has denied what’s happening, refused to admit he’s losing control, and used deceiving images to present false images on state television. For example, state

television showed images of a pro-Gadhafi event and used deceptive camera angles to make it look a lot larger than it actually was.

Gadhafi is not the type to give up without a fight, and sadly, the only way I can see this ending would be not only the death of him but also of his family. The loss of any life is tragic, even if it’s the life of a madman, but with the stranglehold his family has on the country, it’s the only way I can possibly see this coming to an end. At least one of his sons has already died because a Libyan national in the air force was given orders to attack protestors, and he turned his plane and crashed it into a compound, which caused severe burns to Gadhafi’s son. Gadhafi’s son died from the burns a week later.

The time of Gadhafi is coming to an end, and one can only hope that a reasonable government takes his place.

5Skyline ViewThe

OpiniOnMarch 31, 2011

� March 31, 2011Skyline ViewThe

entertainment

imaGe courTesy of sTephen BenoiT

Looking north towards a hotel and other buildings at Rockaway Beach.

Confusingly bad, “Sucker Punch” is not worth the wait

“Sucker Punch” was a disap-pointment. From the trailers of the film you get the usual Zack Snyder flair that you saw in “300” and “Watchmen”. There’s cool looking slow motion action, de-saturated color schemes and more cool slow motion action. What the trailers don’t tell you is that the plot is confusing as hell and that the acting is mostly bad and doesn’t make it easy to get into the film. To make it worse all that action that happens in the trailer doesn’t happen until a good 30-40 minutes into the movie.

“Sucker Punch” has a strange plot, it’s a bit fantasy, a bit action and I guess some semblance of drama. It’s also confusing. At first main character Baby Doll is sent to an insane asylum by her evil step-father so he can get all of her dead mother’s cash. They schedule her for a lobotomy so she can’t rat on her father and fast forward a few days later and she’s getting said lobotomy.

This is where it gets confusing, as she is about to get it the world changes into a theater and girls are only portraying the lobotomy scene. They never explain what the whole 15 minutes of intro was about or why the world just changed because suddenly it’s like the whole movie started over

from Baby Doll getting dropped off except now it’s a burlesque whore house and instead of a lobotomy she’s getting her virginity sold off to some anonymous rich man.

In the end it does go back to lo-botomy world but it’s still never ex-plained what the whore house world was about or how it even correlates to the lobotomy world. It’s like that happened and this is happening too but not in some parallel universe. They just happened, deal with it.

Another problem I had was all the slow-motion used. If you’ve seen Snyder’s previous work “300” then you know this is a guy who loves to slow stuff down. Pretty much the whole useless “real-world” intro is done in de-saturated slow motion. When we get to the whorehouse portion of the movie it’s only real prevalent when there’s a fantasy sequence.

When we get to the fantasy world any time someone moves in a way that’s not just walking doing abso-lutely nothing it’s pretty much in slow motion. Also since Baby Doll is wearing a Japanese school girl outfit when fighting it wouldn’t be a slow motion movie without constant slow motion panty shots. Sure, if you’re a 15 year old boy that’s awesome but for anyone not going through puberty it’s just unnecessary.

Even with the crap story and constant sloooowing I’ll say that

I enjoyed the music of the fantasy world. Going into one of the action filled sequences there’d be a new song that in a way fits the event happening, more rhythm wise than lyrical. It worked in a way that when fighting started it felt like you were watching something like a music video, the beats and crashes fit to bullets and explosions and that was neat.

Let me explain how the fantasy action worlds worked, in the whore house world Baby Doll can appar-ently dance so good that people are mesmerized and can’t stop watch-ing, this is due the fact that she ap-parently is just being all sultry and

moaning and whatnot. I say apparently so much because

with all of the hype about how amaz-ing she dances we’re never privy to it. It’s like having a friend talk about how awesome something is for days, over and over and over yet every time you get the chance to see it he goes “hey lets go look at this other cool thing instead.” It’s annoying.

Back to what I liked, the action. For a visual feat “Sucker Punch” was really well done, crafting whole worlds, let alone four of them isn’t easy yet Snyder managed to do it and he made them all very unique in their own way. He also seemingly, at least to me crafted them around the music

or vice-versa. For four separate se-quences to be based in steam punk, feudal Japan, a futuristic landscape and a medieval dragon’s lair and to have their own fitting accompany-ing music is pretty amazing.

Though “Sucker Punch” had some great graphics and music, they don’t make up for the confusingly bad storyline, horrible acting and over implementation of slow-mo-tion. At best I’d say it’s a rent but definitely not worth paying to see at the theater.

by Jay Johnson

imaGe courTesy of warner Bros. picTures

The fantastic graphics were the only redeeming quality in the movie“Sucker Punch.”

by Stephen Benoit

Out and About:Rockaway Beach

Rockaway Beach is a small beach in Pacifica that’s a quick drive from campus and a nice place to go to get your head straight.

Rockaway Beach is just off Highway 1 on the right if you’re heading south from Skyline. The beach features occasional gnarly waves and some tide pools if the tide is low. There’s a trail nearby that

leads you up the hill toward Linda Mar. It gives you a nice view and can lead you right near Linda Mar Shopping Center.

However, the Rockaway Beach area doesn’t end with the beach. Just across the stretch of developed land is a quarry full of natural beauty. While pampas grass is an invasive species, it’s quite pretty waving back and forth in the winds, especially in the large fields of it on the floor of

the quarry. The quarry area is full of all sorts of cute rodents includ-ing kangaroo rats, rabbits and the uncommon ground squirrel, which lives underground.

Walking on the ground level of the quarry, you can often see birds overhead, looking for rodents to eat. It’s a great spot to get pictures of various birds in flight. Snakes slither about while frogs stick near the vari-ous water sources in the area. The

quarry itself features various trails that lead you up above the cliffs that look out over the ocean.

Natural beauty isn’t all that you’ll see in the area. You may notice the interesting architecture the devel-oped area south of the quarry has to offer. It has several good restaurants, such as Nick’s, which makes a deli-cious crab sandwich, and Rockin’ Rob’s, which has great burgers and awesome milkshakes, and when you

walk in it feels like a blast from the past. On the other side of the quarry is a sewage treatment plant, which isn’t the prettiest thing in the world and sometimes has an unmistakable smell. But this treatment plant has a massive array of solar panels, and it’s interesting and heartening to see businesses attempting to build around green energy and self-sus-tainability.

The sounds at the beach, while rather typical for a beach, are quite relaxing and great for just sitting, closing your eyes and listening to the sound of waves crashing against sand and rock while birds call overhead. The sounds of the quarry are interesting as well. On an espe-cially windy day, you can hear the wind screaming around you as you approach one of the trails leading to a cliff overlooking the sea. The sound and force of wind is incred-ible sometimes. One time, it felt like it could knock me off my feet at any moment. This was, of course, nowhere near sheer cliffs that drop into the ocean.

At night, the sounds of the quarry get more interesting because the abundance of rodents brings coy-otes, and as dusk falls you can hear them howling over a kill and the sound echoing throughout the quarry. Overall, it’s a great place to go if you just need to go for a nice relaxing walk and then get a bite to eat.

�Skyline ViewThe

entertainment

imaGe courTesy of sTephen BenoiT and reddiT’s puBlic “minecrafT” serVer

“Minecraft” players can recreate almost everything imaginable.

“Minecraft”: Creative addiction using cooperation and survival

by Marc ArguelloYou are a visitor in a strange

place. On your first day, you will wander the blocky, Lego-like world, watching rectangular animals bounce around with unbridled glee. You will soon realize that basically everything in this world—the dirt,

the trees, even the animals—can be broken into pieces and collected. Once you collect parts of this new, blocky world, you are free to reuse and re-shape them however you see fit, often combining certain objects with others to make tools and weapons.

However, when the sun goes down, zombies, skeletons, giant man-eating spiders, and the infa-mous and ubiquitous creeper will do everything in their power to murder you and ruin your buildings. Until the sun rises, you are forced to either fight off these terrible creatures or

dig down into the earth, exploring naturally occurring caves and min-ing for rare minerals.

This is why Minecraft, an inde-pendently made game by developer Mojang, has sold over 1 million copies.

Priced at a measly $20.59, Mine-craft continues the trend of games providing nearly limitless gameplay for a relatively small price. Even playing causally, I’ve already totaled way more time playing Minecraft than playing full-priced, $60 block-buster games such as Dead Space 2. While plenty of these full-priced, blockbuster titles are in fact still amazing experiences, it gives me pause to consider continuing to pay full price for them, when the games I’ve been playing the most the past few months (Team Fortress 2, League of Legends, Minecraft) are all either free to play or under $20.

In Minecraft, there are no clear objectives to follow. You are com-pletely free to do whatever you desire; there is no clear way to win or lose. The bulk of enjoyment for me comes from simply exploring the randomly generated worlds. Every world is completely different from one another.

Digging deep down into the caves will reveal natural cave net-works, some of which will contain dungeons filled with treasures to

collect and monsters to fight. The deeper you go into the mines, the more rare minerals, such as iron, gold, and diamond, you will find. These minerals are rare enough that finding them always feels satisfying but common enough that you are never frustrated by never finding anything good. After a certain point, it’s almost guaranteed that you will find something good if you take the time to discover it, and that keeps me coming back.

Minecraft can be played com-pletely with other people via dedi-cated servers; however, the process to play with others at this point is not very user friendly. There is no easy-to-navigate server list like many games have; you can only join a server you have the IP address for. This can make playing with friends unnecessarily difficult, as hosting a server requires a fairly good deal of technical knowledge. However, the game is still technically in its beta form, so it’s possible that kinks like this will be worked out and multi-player will be easier for the layman to access.

That shouldn’t discourage you, though: even when playing it alone, Minecraft is an unforgettable, ad-dicting experience.

Baddest ComicsBy: Alyssa Koszis

Typical “Minecraft”

Billboard weekly top 10

March 31, 2011

What’s hot and what’s not? Basically, these are the questions most music lovers have in mind.

Billboard.com has made music selection easier by giving its fans an inside scoop with the Hot 100 most popular picks of the week, including all sorts of genres from rock to pop.

Let’s take a healthy dose of music therapy by reviewing the first 10 songs on the Hot 100.

#10:Peakingatnumber10is“DownOnMe”byJeremih,amanborn into a musical family. The song, featuring 50 Cent, jumped up three places, leaving listeners with a catchy beat to dance to.

#9:Exploding25weeksonthelist,“Grenade”byBrunoMarsissaid to be one of his own favorites. Mars revealed plans to follow hit single “Just the Way You Are” with “Grenade” in an interview with “Digital Spy.”

#8:Lookathimnow!DespitethecriticismofChrisBrown’srap-ping skills, “Look at Me Now” proves people wrong and now peeks at number eight on the chart.

#7:In“Perfect”byPink,optimismandencouragementformthemessage of the song, which no doubt caught the audience in a short span of time.

#6:FortheGleeksoutthere,hittingthesixthspotonthelistis“LoserLike Me,” which premiered in Glee’s first all-original episode last Tuesday.

#5:Beingasuccessonthechartsthroughouttheworld,“JustCan’tGet Enough” by The Black Eyed Peas nailed the fifth spot on the chart after being number 22 last week.

#4:“ForgetYou”byCeeLoGreenwontheGrammyawardforBestUrban/Alternative Performance at the 53rd Grammy Awards on February 13, 2011. The song also won the title of Best Song of 2010 on Meatacritic’s Best of 2010 Users Poll.

#3:Iguessshereallytendstobeloud.“S&M”byRihanna,inheralbum Loud, marks Rihanna’s first return to a dancehall-influenced sound since 2006’s “A Girl like Me.” The song remains strong in the same spot as last week.

#2:KatyPerry’s song“E.T.”was sung togetherwithAmericanrapper, singer and record producer Kanye West. The song builds a strong foundation from the third spot on the list last week.

#1:Firstperformedatthe53rdGrammyAwards,“BornThisWay”by Lady Gaga rules the Hot 100 list in its fourth week on the list. The club-ready song received positive reception by critics.

Well, there are the top ten. Want more? Just check out the full list of the sizzling Hot 100.

And if you’re a person who sticks to one genre, I have good news: They’ve got everything handy, including pop, rock and alternative, all organized for you. Just log on to Billboard.com and suit yourself with the sizzling hits of Hot 100.

by Alexis de Guzman

SportsSkyline Upcoming Games

by Blair Hardee

Adaptive P.E. enables students

3/31 VS Fresno City College 3 p.m.4/12 @ De Anza College 3 p.m.4/14 @ Fresno City College 3 p.m.4/19 VS City College of San Francisco 3 p.m.4/28 VS De Anza College 3 p.m.5/3 VS Mission College 3 p.m.

Badminton3/31 VS Ohlone College 2:30 p.m.4/2 @ City College of San Francisco 1 p.m.4/5 @ West Valley College 2:30 p.m.4/7 @ Gavilan College 2:30 p.m.4/9 @ Monterey Peninsula College 1 p.m.4/12 VS Mission College2:30 p.m.4/14 @ Hartnell College 2:30 p.m.

Baseball

BLAIR HARDEE/THE SKYLINE VIEW

Interview by Mario Rodriguez

Students with limitations don’t have to give up on fitness

There are many physical educa-tion options at Skyline, but contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to be completely physically capable to take part.

Chip Chandler is an instructor here who teaches not only regular fitness classes but also adaptive physical education classes. Adaptive Physical Education is for people who want to stay active but may be limited in some way. Participants in these classes include disabled Skyline students, injured Skyline athletes and even people who come to Skyline spe-cifically for this program.

“The majority (of people) are here after they’ve had some serious, debilitating accident or disease,” Chandler said.

Students come for adaptive physical education after suffering from bad falls, hip replacements and even strokes. Much of the time, these people need rehabilitation be-yond what the hospital can offer and what their insurance will pay for, and in most cases, additional physical therapy is very expensive.

In Adaptive P.E., people can improve their strength and mobility for a fraction of the cost of reha-

bilitation else-where. Howev-er, just because they’re paying l e s s d o e s n ’ t m e a n t h e s e people need to make sacrifices in terms of in-dividual atten-tion. Chandler makes sure that he knows each person’s limi-tations, and he

designs their exercise plans accord-ingly.

The inspiring thing about the Adaptive P.E. class is how far these participants have come since they first set foot in the weight room. Hank Marsh, an Adaptive P.E. stu-dent, suffered a series of four strokes and was left paralyzed throughout the entire right side of his body. However, in the six months since he started Adaptive P.E. at Skyline, he says to have made great improve-ments.

“That man is a very good leader,” Marsh says of Chandler. He also

likes his classmates, saying they’re “a good group of people trying to get back in shape.”

Like many of the people in Chandler’s class, Marsh comes in with a caregiver. In this case, it is his wife. Many times, spouses will come with each other to offer sup-port, since the instructor can’t watch everyone at once. These caregivers are an integral part of the Adapative P.E. program; without them, partici-pants may not be as successful.

While every person in Chandler’s classes has different limitations, they still do group exercises. During their group time, everyone is encouraged to do whatever they are physically capable of. The group setting is ben-eficial to the participants because they have additional support from Hank Marsh and his wife work out together.

one another.“Being in a group setting makes

a person feel better because they see others who are also struggling and dealing with limitations,” Chandler said. “So it’s a psychological boost as well as physiological.”

Most students in Adaptive P.E.

classes have made great strides improving their physical abilities since dealing with serious limita-tions. They insist that with the help of their instructor and the support they get from each other, they have become more capable than they once were.

BLAIR HARDEE/THE SKYLINE VIEW

BLAIR HARDEE/THE SKYLINE VIEWChip Chandler explains which muscles are being worked during the group exercises.

The Skyline View: What got you interested in playing and what was the first team you played for?

Devin Kelly: My grandpa signed my brothers and I up for Pee Wee baseball in South San Francisco when I was 8 years old and I just fell in love with the game. The first team I ever played for was the Pirates.

TSV: How difficult is it to train when being on the team? Do you have to make sacrifices?

DK: I believe the harder you train the stronger you will become and the tougher you will be both mentally and physically. Sacrifices are an everyday thing; you have to give up everything now to gain it all in the end.

TSV: Does being on the team affect your time needed to study for course-related work?

DK: No, I learned throughout high school how to time manage and be responsible to get homework done after practices.

TSV: About how many hours a week do you practice? Describe a typical practice.

DK: Almost 15 hours a week dur-ing the fall semester and only about 9 hours a week during the spring because of games. A typical practice usually starts about 1 p.m. and starts

with stretching, then playing catch. Sometimes we will break everyone up by position and do defensive work probably for one hour or so, and then all position players come together to hit in the cages or out on the field.

TSV: What would you say is your favorite part of playing on the Skyline team?

DK: Just the tradition of the program and all the players that have worn the jerseys before me and see-ing everyone learning the game and how we flow as a team when we’re doing well.

TSV: So you’ve received a schol-arship to a 4-year college. How did the Western Kentucky University scout you, and how did they per-suade you to join?

DK: They got in contact with

my coaches and me. We just started talking and they were interested, and I took a visit out to their school and they offered me a scholarship.

TSV: Are you hoping to make a career out of baseball? Other than playing, what career would you choose to pursue?

DK: One of my goals was to use baseball as a way to get college paid for. Now, since it’s going to give me a free education, I would like to take it as far as I could. I’m going to major in sports management to be apart of the game somehow.

TSV: What would you suggest to any Skyline students hoping to get on a team and one day getting on a college team?

DK: Work hard and be mentally strong. Don’t let anyone say you can’t do it.

Trojan Chat

Player ProfileName: Devin KellyYear: SophomorePosition: Catcher

Catcher Devin Kelly talks about his love for the game at a young age and how he has reached his goal of

getting a free education because of baseball.

Recent Games and

Results

BaseballCoast ConferencePacific Division Games:3/1 @ Chabot: L 8-3 (0-1)3/3 VS Gavilan: W 4-0 (1-1)3/8 @ Cabrillo: L 7-5 (1-2)3/10 VS Monterey Peninsula: W 15-7 (2-2)3/12 VS Cañada: L 4-2 (2-3)3/15 VS CSM: L 5-0 (2-4)3/17 @ Ohlone: L 8-3 (2-5)3/19 @ Hartnell: W 6-4 (3-5)3/22 VS De Anza: W 10-4 (4-5)3/24 @ Cañada: L 17-3 (4-6)Be sure to support Skyline baseball in their big game against Ohlone on March 31 at 2:30 p.m.!

Badminton3/22 @ City College of San Francisco: L 21-0 (0-1)

“Being in a group setting makes a person feel better because they see others who are also struggling and dealing with limitations.”

--Chip Chandler