The Mesa PressVolume 56, Issue 4 The Independent Student Publication of San Diego Mesa College

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The High Five: Public TransportationPage 2

Iraq: One Decade LaterPage 2

Pauly’s Pizza Joint delightsPage 3

v v april 9, 2013

Jezebel or justified

Women: You can’t live with them and you can’t leave them unat-

tended in a garden with a serpent. This idiom was inspired by a lec-ture given by professor Sondra Frisch in honor of Women’s His-tory Month. The lecture was giv-en in room H117/118 on March 19 and it was entitled “Eve: The First Feminist.”

During the lecture, Frisch discussed the first three chapters of the Tanakh, or the Hebrew scriptures, which is the main text Frisch teaches with in her Hu-manities 104 class.

People who attended were extremely active as they read along with Frisch during the readings of the Tanakh. After the readings, the first three chapters of Genesis were thoroughly ana-lyzed and later discussed.

With her understanding of the Hebrew culture and language, Frisch expounded upon the many themes depicted within the Tanakh. The themes of discussion ranged from prominent figures

RASHAD MUHAMMADOpinion Editor

within the Torah to current the-matic ideals of religion. A num-ber of texts were mentioned and many subjects were deliberated, but the main focus was the first female known as “Eve.”

With her popular feminis-tic approach, Frisch analyzed texts referring to Eve. She, in many ways, defended the much-criticized figure referred to as a disobedient seductress in many scholastic writings.

The actions of Eve were put on trial and Sondra Frisch played the role of Eve’s defense attor-ney. The audience played the jury and contemporary assumptions played the role of the prosecutor.

In modern times Eve is por-trayed as the person who commit-ted the first sin and is regarded as the one responsible for our mortality and women’s suffer-ing, i.e. childbirth. Presumably, her defiant actions caused the damnation of the Earth. Although speculative, this premise is vastly accepted and believed, but Frisch and other defenders of Eve argue against this preconceived notion. As Frisch has stated many times

See Eve, Page 3

Tents of Truth was an eye-opening experience for Mesa College studentsKATE FRASERStaff Writer

Almost 500 students attended the fifth annual Tents of Truth event that ran April 2-3 at the Mesa cafeteria quad.

The event, aimed to increase awareness of dis-crimination, took participants through a variety of scenarios in which they experienced the ef-fects of discrimination firsthand.

The event is coordinated by the Cultural Advisory Council and is powered entirely by volunteers. Tents of Truth “depends on the col-laborative efforts of the Black Student Union, MECHA, Women’s Empowerment Union, Mesa Academy, Puente, Chicana/Chicano Studies, Black Studies, Mesa College Diver-sity Committee and the Humanities Institute,” said Sue Shrader-Hanes, Clinical Coordinator at Student Health Services and Co-Chair of the Cultural Advisory Council.

After completing a questionnaire and signing a disclosure, participants proceeded through a series of five tents. The first tent imi-tated a classroom setting, and worked through three scenarios of discrimination at school. Shrader-Hanes welcomed the group to a gay world where the participants have been ob-served exhibiting heterosexual behavior and have been prescribed shock therapy in order to “correct” their sexual orientation. Afterwards, disabled students talked to the class about be-

ing judged and isolated for their disabil-ity on campus, and the class was taught in another language to recreate an ESL student’s experience.

“Discrimination is completely in-appropriate at this time in history,” said Shrader-Hanes.

Mesa student Myrella Thomas at-tended the event with her Black Contem-

porary Social Problems class. “We’re all going through a struggle, no matter who we are, what we look like – everybody is going through something, a personal struggle. Everybody,” Thomas said. “And we sometimes assume that the oth-er person is not going through something because we don’t know, so we’re blind to that. We think, okay, our life is so hor-

rible until we find out what someone else is going through.”

The second tent recreated a border crossing. Students, taking the role of im-migrants entering the United States ille-gally, crawled through dark tunnels and were caught and harassed by border patrol agents. The recreation was intense and in-tentionally frightening, leaving some stu-dents shocked or upset.

This led immediately into the Impact tent, featured graphic photos and video to reveal the consequences of discrimination if allowed to fester.

Next, students stepped into a school bus and were led by Starla Lewis, Pro-fessor of Black Studies, through a visu-alization of being an African American child participating in the desegregation of schools. With eyes closed, rows of stu-dents imagined a school day filled with abuse and fear, and then pictured the pride of ultimately overcoming adversity.

Tre Oconer, a member of Mesa’s Out-reach program, said that it’s “always the bus” that makes the most impact. “You’ve been talked to in other languages, you go through border patrol, and then you get to the bus,” he said. “It’s emotional.”

Sue Shrader-Hanes discusses the emotions the students experienced in the Tents of Truth. Kate Fraser/ Staff Writer See Tents of Truth, Page 3

Swimmer Mike Brown swims freestyle during March 15 dual swim meet versus Southwestern College. For more, see page 4. Kyle Kenehan/ Staff Photographer

Mesa swim and dive team competes against Southwestern and Grossmont

This publication is produced as a journal-ism workshop for aspiring journalists. All ma-terials, including the opinions expressed here-in, are the sole responsibility of the authors and should not be interpreted to be those of the San Diego Community College District. Submis-sions may be made to the address below.

To submit a letter to the editor, please in-clude your name (unsigned letters or letters signed with aliases will not be printed), age, major/profession, college attending (if not Mesa) and e-mail address. Submit your letters to the address below or by e-mail.

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StaffDanielle BellavanceMonica Marie DubéKate FraserKyle KenehanJimmy SpillaneKale Williams

Information

Editor-in-ChiefCurtis Manlapig

Sports EditorCurtis Manlapig

Photo EditorM.A. Damron

News EditorCurtis Manlapig

Features EditorJoe Llorin

Advising ProfessorJanna Braun

The Mesa PressOpinion Page 2 April 9, 2013

Rashad MuhammadOpinion Editor

A decade of war hurts all parties involvedKALE WILLIAMSStaff Writer

Ten years ago on March 19, 2003 United States sent troops to invade

Iraq with the intent of disarming Iraq’s weapons of mass destruc-tion (WMD).

The majority of Americans thought we were doing what was necessary to preserve our country in response to the ter-rorist attacks a few years earlier.

During the time from March 2003 until December 2011 we sent more than 1.5 mil-lion troops to Iraq. Over 4,400 of them never made the trip back. The funding was nearly 820 billion of U.S. tax dollars. When we started deploying troops to Iraq the national debt

was around $6.7 trillion and by the end of the war it had more than doubled in size to over $14.7 trillion. And for what?

Granted, we got rid of a man who was doing unspeak-able things, like mass murder-ing his own people, but once Saddam Hussein was gone we stayed and kept using American bodies and dollars to help.

We searched and never found any WMDs. The Iraqi government had no ties to Al Qaeda. In hindsight Iraq was just another country with a ty-rannical leader in charge. If the government, had told the popu-lation that the reason for the in-vasion was to oust Hussein for crimes against humanity it may have been an easier pill to swal-low. Instead, they chose to feed Americans false information.

During the time of the Iraq War America was also deploy-ing troops, though in smaller numbers, to Afghanistan. Fight-ing wars in two different coun-tries requires a larger number of personnel. A larger personnel means a larger budget and more tax dollars.

Since 2009 $18 billion has been spent just to keep the Chapter 33 G.I. Bill, bet-ter known as the Post 9/11 G.I. bill, going. The bill pays full tu-ition to most schools, gives ex-tra money to help pay bills, and kicks in more to help with books and other expenses, like park-ing. This comes to no charge to the vet but not the taxpayer.

That explains for some of the increase in debt but not all of it. With combat units in multiple places the need for assets rises.

The need for more tanks, air-craft and land vehicles goes up.

Those are some of the nu-merous long-term effects on America’s economy. On the tenth anniversary of the inva-sion there were at least a dozen car and suicide bombers that killed at least 60 people in the capital of Baghdad. The main targets of the bombings were not government officials or mil-itary personal. The main targets were civilians. Throughout the decade there have been almost 116,00 deaths to Iraqi citizens not part of the conflict, showing that we did no more to protect the population from slaughter than the incumbent regime be-fore the invasion.

Iraq is still socially deci-mated and torn between differ-ent political views and powers.

Today Iraq seems to be regress-ing instead of progressing like we promised when we invaded its cities. It is still operating as it did before America tried to force its ideals upon it.

The invasion now looks like a complete and utter failure. America sacrificed too many men and woman for fabricated propaganda. The government spent too many tax dollars on problems that were not theirs.

Iraq is no better off a decade after the debacle of American influence. We as a country have seen nothing but the national debt rise along with the body count of our service men and women. We cannot get those dollars back or the last ten years back but more importantly we can never get those people back.

Time Warner and Fox Sports San Diego still in stalemateCURTIS MANLAPIGEditor-in-Chief

The 2013 Major League Baseball season has just begun and fans ev-erywhere are tuning in to see their

favorite teams take the field. But believe it or not, a professional baseball team that inhabits “Americas Finest City” is not seen on television by nearly 185,000 households.

The San Diego Padres signed a $1.2 billion, 20 year deal that would make Fox Sports San Diego the new TV home of the Padres and the deal took place in the 2012 season. There was a problem though. Fox Sports charged all the local cable compa-nies an extra fee to carry the new channel. Only two of the five major cable and satel-lite companies in San Diego agreed to this added fee.

Cox Cable and DirecTV were the only two to jump on board with this new agreement while Time Warner Cable, Dish Network and AT&T U-Verse refused and thus were left in the dark. The season began with 42 percent of the county not able to watch Padres games.

42 percent of San Diego County makes out to be around 1.2 million people that were not able to watch a team play in a ball park that was publicly funded. How is that fair?

Fox Sports San Diego’s channel does not only carry Padres games, but it will also carry Los Angeles Clippers and Ana-heim Ducks games along with a full line-up of other various programming that in-cludes local college sports. This increase in the amount of programs has led to an increase in price.

With a season of no Padres for much of the county, the second season of the 20 year deal has arrived only now with one major cable company holdout. Time War-ner Cable is now the sole provider to not have a deal with Fox Sports San Diego as AT&T U-Verse and Dish Network finally agreed to broadcast the channel in time for opening day of the 2013 baseball season.

Time Warner, who operates in the territories north of the San Diego River, currently serves 185,000 people which is a large chunk of the population of San Diego County. Their argument is that Fox Sports San Diego is charging a 400 percent increase over what Ch. 4 charged and not everyone in San Diego watches the Padres and would want to pay extra for a channel they don’t want.

But for those who do enjoy watch-ing the Padres, it has been a difficult time while playing the blame game with the two companies still at odds. It has become such a dilemma that even the local government has attempted to get involved.

A professional team in any sport should be broadcasted through all cable and satellite companies in the city’s area so that all citizens can watch the team they root for. The fact that the Padres are not seen by a large portion of the county is dis-cerning and downright unacceptable.

Fox Sports and Time Warner need to come up with an agreement that benefits the consumers and puts the Padres back on TV for all who wish to watch. For those still in the dark, stay positive, cheer on the team and keep the friar faith.

Top 5 reasons to take public transportation

COLUMN: THE HIGH FIVE

M.A. DAMRONPhoto Editor

During my travels around the world, I have utilized public transportation in just about ev-

ery country I have visited. Some are good, like Japan’s train system, where you pretty much don’t need a car. There is also bad transportation services like Atlanta’s MARTA, where walking may get you to your destination faster. From people staring at you without blinking, police listening to preposterous stories about why you don’t have a ticket, there is always a reason to take public trans-portation. Here is my top five reasons to take public transportation:

5. To catch up on some much-needed sleep. There is no better sleep in the world than the sleep you catch in-between stops on the train after a long night of binge drinking or studying. The trick of it is being able to wake up at your stop, an art form that has been perfected by U.S. sailors and Japanese business-men. 4. Avoid being the next victim of road rage. Let’s face it, being stuck in traffic after a concert, sporting event or even rush hour just makes you want to kill. You can avoid that lady in the cham-pagne colored Prius who won’t let you over or the guy in the jacked up “Bro-Sled” with the Chargers flags who won’t look you in the face as your lane runs out

by taking the train. Most of the time, you will be home before they ever get out of the parking lot.3. You can watch what love looks like at the bottom. I prom-ise you if you ride public transpiration enough, you will see a crack-head couple deeply in love. Watching them be over affectionate one minute and the next at each other throats because they can’t decide who is going to carry their 15 plastic bags of random stuff. It’s a train wreck that everyone wants to be a part of. (Sidebar: What do crack-heads carry in those plastic bags?)2. Music sounds better. When you get on a train or bus, find yourself a seat, strap on your headphones and push play on your phone or iPod, something amaz-

ing happens. The rhythms of the music and the rhythms of your ride, always seem to become one. As you look out the window and witness what it truly means to be in your city one stop at a time, the soundtrack you provided will never sound better.1. The show always goes on. Be-ing on the train is better than late night cable. If you put that many people from all walks of life in that small of a space, and shake it constantly for about seven minutes at a time, stop, refresh and re-peat, you are going to get a nice little blend of tasty chaos. As long as the trains are running, there is going to be a show. So next time you grow tired of what’s on television or you are just flat out bored, take a train ride. You will not regret it.

The Mesa PressApril 9, 2013 Features/News page 3

Pauly’s Pizza Joint hidden gem of San Diego

There is a substantial difference between the towering skyscrap-ers lining New York’s horizon and

the sunny California coastline, plainly obvious to the common viewer. Walk-ing down the cement walkways in awe of the shadowy towers above, one could not possibly help but note the unique aroma of the Italian-inspired world-renowned flavor of the city: pizza, a delicacy often copied but not duplicated. How could someone walking down Miramar Road, just south of Mira Mesa, sense the same smell, the same flavors, and the same pizza?

Just west of the road’s train tracks is a small eatery aptly named Pauly’s Pizza Joint, a pizza-by-the-slice hole-in-the-wall shop nearly indistinguishable be-tween a liquor store and a Chinese buffet. Yet the establishment’s product makes this door stand out above the rest, despite being nearly 2,800 miles from home.

“I was born in Brooklyn, New York, in an Italian area,” says the joint’s own-er, Paul Franza, a transplant from the East Coast wooed to the West in the late 1980’s, “I grew up watching my great aunts and grandma making fresh pasta, sauce… Food is a part of our culture.”

With the help of his partner and girl-friend, MonaVi Aquino, Pauly’s Pizza Joint opened its doors in November 2011. “The reason I’m here and the rea-son this is all possible is her support and her help,” Franza said.

I had the pleasure of sitting down a few days ago to enjoy a couple slices and a soda. Laid out before me were two healthy portions of dough, cheese, and toppings. On one, the Buffalo Chicken, lay chunks of chicken nestled in soft dough doused in Frank’s Red Hot Sauce and ranch dressing, sauces that exceed

the missing traditional tomato sauce. This slice, a personal favorite, reminded me of a chicken wing on dough. The sec-ond slice was a little less daring, from their “Healthy Choice” menu: Italian piz-za, with white ricotta and dried red bell peppers laid on top of a grassy green bed of spring spinach (“for the colors of the [Italian] flag,” exclaims Pauly himself).

Franza, whom the store takes its namesake, can be found in the corner of the rather small kitchen, hidden by glass storefront, tossing raw dough into the

air. Every pie sold is hand-tossed, a piz-za-making tradition that establishes his store with the credibility other San Diego shops lack. “It’s a rolling pin… that’s your cookie cutter, that’s your franchise, that’s sacrilegious,” he says, “I learned from this business: if you’re not spinning the pie with your hands from start to fin-ish, it’s not the way it’s done.”

From the first bite, I can taste the integrity only pizza done right can give. My tongue was in ecstasy, absconded to a culinary nirvana where neither sting

nor burn mattered. The sweetness of the ricotta cheese blended nicely with the salty bell peppers creating a lavish spread of flavor over my palette. The bite from the Buffalo’s hot sauce was cooled over evenly by the ranch dressing, with tender chicken grilled to perfection and spread across the doughy red plain like moun-tains across the Sedona desert.

But, Pizza this good always comes with a price, doesn’t it?

“We took this place over in a week. It was a crazy situation,” Franza explained. “We did everything ourselves, from the cosmetics to the repairs. That’s the one thing [everything aside of Pizza making] you don’t expect. ”

Despite the challenges, Paul Franza really has a good thing going. My overall experience here at Pauly’s Pizza Joint has been beyond my expectations for a quick by-the-slice pizza place, far above the impersonal pizza “Big-shots.” Friendly, outgoing staff fill the gaps of silence be-tween my roommate, or my pizza, and me with anecdotes of the pictures adorn-ing the walls, stories of Pauly’s family, or just getting to know their customers a little bit better in between bites of pizza. “And that is the reason we’re here: we’re trying to make the best pizza possible, make the customers happy.”

“If you have a favorite place, and you like the pizza, and you’re willing to expand and come up to Miramar, try the pizza,” Franza humbly interjects, “give it a shot.”

Filled and content, I do believe that a New York classic has found a home nes-tled in the heart of San Diego.

Pauly’s Pizza Joint can be found at 6780 Miramar Rd., Ste. 105, Just behind the Carl’s Jr., west of the train tracks, about 4.0 miles west of the 15 freeway.

over the years, “Eve was framed and de-famed!”

What was most profound during the discourse was how Frisch challenged the audience to think for themselves without the influence of contemporary ideals. She listened to each response intently and thor-oughly responded to all questions asked.

While some scholars argued that Eve was a temptress and a pernicious schem-er, Frisch and her mountain of evidence argued that Eve was only a victim of her thirst for knowledge. The supposition that Eve’s creator wanted her to stay dumb, un-informed, and unaware of her surroundings is void of logic and rationality. Thus Eve is innocent of her alleged detriment to hu-manity.

The lecture sparked provocation of modern ideas about the first woman. Frisch led the charge against society’s misogynis-tic interpretation of Eve. She attacked the biblical opinions that reeked of male chau-vinism and called on the audience to con-front these conceptions in their own way.

In the trial of public opinion, Eve will always be either blamed or revered for her actions. The one thing people agree on is that she was the first to take action, but what are questioned are her motives.

The lecture proposed arguments fa-voring Eve’s innocence and her culpability. Was she Yoko Ono or Susan B. Anthony? Who really knows?

If Frisch is right, then Eve’s attentive-ness and passion for wisdom would make her the first scholar, the first philanthropist, and indeed the first feminist.

For Lewis, the visualization recreated her real-life experiences. “I picked the bus because I was part of desegregating schools as a child,” she said.

“I believe that integration only works with education,” Lewis said. “We keep thinking we just throw bodies together, but if the bodies come together with the same myths, lies, and stereotypes about each other that we’ve had in the past, then we’re going to have the same conflicts.”

Lewis said that she decided to lead visualization on the bus because it let stu-dents feel the experience instead of just be-ing told about it. “Connecting the head and the heart is really what the bus is about.”

After exiting the bus, students were directed to the fifth and final tent, the Tent of Peace, Tolerance and Civility. Inside, students discussed the experience, re-ceived famous quotes related to creating peace, and ate a complimentary lunch pro-vided by the Fusion Cafe via the Culinary Arts Program.

Christal Longaker, another Mesa stu-dent, was pleased with the event, “I think it’s really great that they’re getting the word out and putting it in perspective to make people really think about discrimina-tion and the ways that people discriminate against others without even noticing it”

“People need to take more time and more effort into speaking out about things like discrimination and getting the word out there that we are all the same. It’s about equality, and it’s just all about love,” Lon-gaker said.

Tents of Truth, page 1Eve continued from page 1

KYLE KENEHANStaff Writer

Pauly’s Pizza Joint serves up New York style pizza by-the-slice in San Diego Kyle Kenehan/ Staff Photographer

‘Retaliation’ redeems ‘G.I. Joe’ name

JOE LLORINFeatures Editor

For years, G.I. Joe has been a house-hold name when it comes to clas-sic American pop culture. So when

a motion picture was released in 2009, longtime fanatics were thrilled to see their favorite characters come to life on the big screen. However, the movie bombed with both critics and fans due to its multiple mistakes that made even the younger fans turn their heads in disgust.

With almost an entirely new cast, “G.I. Joe: Retaliation,” released on March 28, stepped up to the challenge of redeem-ing the movie franchise.

Following the events of the first film, Zartan, who is disguised as the President of the United States, sets up the G.I. Joes and frames them for stealing nuclear war-heads in Pakistan. After a military strike ordered by Zartan eliminates the majority of the Joes’ forces, Roadblock (Dwayne Johnson), Flint (DJ Cotrona) and Lady Jaye (Adrianne Palicki), after surviv-ing the assault, seek out revenge against Zartan and the rest of Cobra, led by Cobra Commander, a ruthless dictator hellbent on ruling the world.

It’s safe to say that expectations were especially high for this film, given that the first was an utter failure, complete with lackluster action, terrible acting and the overall feeling that the film never really

took itself seriously. It’s also safe to say that “Retaliation” met and soared above any and all of these expectations.

There was plenty of action to go around and not once did it feel stale or tir-ing to watch. Whether it was Snake Eyes taking on a gang of ninjas in the Himala-yan mountains or Roadblock and Firefly duking it out in a pistol battle, this is one of those films where there’s actually more bang for the bucks you’ll be paying.

The story was drastically better than that of the first film, and although most fans saw “Retaliation” as a reboot of the series, the film dwelled on plot points de-veloped in the first, such as the “Nanomite” technology and the feud between Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow.

The film currently holds a 29% “rot-ten” rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with the general consensus criticizing the movie for being “overwhelmed by its nonstop ac-tion.” If you’re not a big fan of awesome-ness, this is not the film for you.

Whether you’re a fan or not, “Retalia-tion” will finally fulfill the bloodlust you’ve kept through movies like “Olympus Has Fallen,” “A Good Day to Die Hard” and other “action” movies you’ve had forced down your throat this year. “G.I. Joe: Re-taliation” has all of the works for the per-fect “man-semble” film- guns, explosions, ninjas and of course… Bruce Willis.

Rating: 5/5

The Mesa PressSports page 4 April 9, 2013

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Mesa College defeated South-western College in a confer-ence dual meet on March 15,

with an ending score of 226-74. Swim-mers who won multiple events included Diana Carreon, Natasha Macaskill, Mi-chelle McDonald, Alejandra Pantoja, Giselle Suarez and Alisha Weaver.

Mesa College swim team rides current to victory

After a victory over Grossmont Col-lege on March 22 with a score of 214-98, Mesa’s swim team continued their winning streak with this being their fourth con-secutive dual meet championship victory. Multiple event winners against Grossmont included Carreon, Jordan LaHaie, Monica Longworth, Macaskill, McDonald, Pan-toja, Suarez, and Weaver.

Mesa’s swim team also celebrated their 2nd Annual “Opportunity Drawing” fundraiser, which was a success.

At left, swim teammates Nikole Lanchares, Diana Carreon, and Jackie Campbell pose together before March 15 dual swim meet versus Southwestern College. Above, Natasha Macaskill butterflies into the lead.Below, Roberto Becerra takes a breath during his freestyle event. Kyle Kenehan/ Staff Photographer

MONICA MARIE DUBÉStaff Writer