Express, Volume 98, issue 10

SACRAMENTO CITY COLLEGE’S STUDENT-RUN NEWSPAPER SINCE 1922 VOLUME 98 ISSUE 10 MARCH 25, 2014

Physically fitat any ageA 90-year-old student works out with his sons Pg. 7

Former student turns judges’ chairs on ‘The Voice’ Pg. 5

The art of loving life Pg. 6

Panthers baseball with Latin flavor Pg. 8

SACITYEXPRESS.COM

PROFESSOR Gabrielle SmithStaff Photographer // [email protected] RudermanStaff Writer //[email protected] should the new building be named, and why?

David Pacheco // wrestling coach“I don’t know who it would be named after as far as a big thing do to about the past… I think the Student Service Center would be fine. I don’t know who else would deserve it. SSC at SCC.”

Steve Thorpe // administration of justice“It should be called the Admin of Justice building. That’s what it was called before.”

Frank Zamora // professor of art“I like the Student Center. I think it’s a good name. It’s about the students anyway, right? It’s why we’re here. The center.”

Richard Son / professor of physics “I don’t know, maybe after somebody who passed and didn’t get enough recognition for their contribution to the student services. I would like to get the observatory named after Chris Hulbe.”

Gayle Williams // professor of accounting“I was trying to think of something S.C.—that’s like an acronym. That would be fun… S.C.R.U.B. or S.C.R.A.M.”

INSIDE Need more news? Want to stay up-to-date with campus happenings? Get more information and exclusive content at saccityexpress.com.

SACCITYEXPRESS.COM // MARCH 25, 2014

Titus Franklin, Jr.Staff Writer//[email protected]

CITY COLLEGE’S WEBSITE WILL have an all-new look starting March 31, according to Don Button,the graphic communication professor and project lead for the site redesign.

This modernized site will provide an improved source for students to find important information such as class locations, how to contact teachers and staff, events like sports and concerts, and updates on things like financial aid and course assignments.

In addition to the launch of the web-site, City College staff has hosted open forums throughout March so that stu-dents can get a feel for the changes and provide feedback to the site’s designers. The next forums will be Wednesday and Thursday, March 26 and 27, from noon to 1 p.m. in the Business Building, Room 240.

To help new and current students better navigate the site, it has been fully redesigned to include more information from the campus’s departments, faster processing time and a more intuitive interface for students.

“Hopefully, it will be less frustrating,” said Button. “Also, I hope that every-body—students, faculty and staff—will start to feel a little bit more of a sense of pride in the school [now] that it’s pro-jected so much better online now.”

City College’s Communications and Public Information Officer Amanda

Davis explained some of the reasons for the change.

“We hope [the new website] im-pacts [people] in the most positive way possible, and that it attracts students to our college as a marketing tool,” said Davis. “But also [we hope] that it is user friendly for our students and easy for them to navigate towards services and resources that they need to achieve their academic goals.”

In addition to easier navigation for students, the new site will feature a big-ger focus on visual aspects, according to Davis.

“I love that it’s more photo-heavy,” said Davis. “Our homepage in particular just has one big photo, and I just feel like, in general, the design is just more open and modern and kind of easy to read.”

Additional reporting by Daniel Wilson.

New website launches March 31Redesign provides more user-friendly experience for students, staff and faculty

Robert BonettiStaff Writer//[email protected]

THE LOS RIOS DISTRICT Police Department responded to more than 70 incidents on City College campus in February and early March, according to the department’s clery crime reports.

According to district police, most calls were car-related, ranging from thefts and collisions to break-ins. A number of responses also dealt with stolen property and other miscellaneous incidents of drugs, disturbing the peace and fights.

“There’s different rushes at different times,” said Seargant Alex Conroy, an officer stationed at City College. “One month we may have a huge car theft spree. Next month we may have a slew of locker thefts.”

Right now, crime is at an all-time low, ac-cording to Police Seargant Jay Lampano. With City College’s location next to two parks and a light rail station, he predicts this could change due to nicer weather.

“If you see something, say something,” said Lampano of crime on campus. “I have a limited amount of officers on

campus at any given time and am always trying to make you feel safe on campus.”

Crime-related incidents are only a small part of district police responsibilities on campus. Of-ficers respond to “quality of life things mainly,” according to Conroy. “Medical assists for col-lapsed students and arranging medical transport

are common.”Daily duties officers deal with include

directing traffic and unlocking cars for students who get locked out of their cars. But improper parking is the largest

issue on campus, according to Conroy.“Learn to park,” said Conroy. “I am

daily reminding people on how to prop-erly park.”

Properly parking, according to Conroy, includes two things: parking between the white dividing lines and avoiding parking next to cars that have violated those lines. Another issue is parking, with consideration for others, so that people can easily enter and exit their own vehicles.

In addition to keeping order on cam-pus, Los Rios Police Department offers a campus safety training class. While this class is typically used for training of-ficers, anyone interested can participate in the class, said Lampano.

The class teaches general safety proto-cols on campus and trains students how to remain safe on a daily basis.

“Use the campus phones,” said Lampano, regarding students’ personal safety. “We provide escorts in times of need.”

“If you see something, say something. I have a limited amount of officers on campus at any given time and am al-ways trying to make you feel safe on campus.”

Sgt. Jay LampanoLOS RIOS POLICE DEPARTMENT

“Learn to park, I am daily reminding people on how to properly park.

Sgt. Alex ConroyLOS RIOS POLICE DEPARTMENT

Midterm police reportsStudent parking violations top campus criminal activity

Dianne Rose // [email protected]

James Bergin//[email protected]

Officer Robinson and Officer Conroy doing a routine patrol at City College.

A screenshot of the new City College user-friendly website that will debut at the end of March.

Photo courtesy of City College Website

MARCH 25 – APRIL 6, NOON PAC 106Enjoy the performing arts theater at work in the latest Storytime presentation of “Goldilocks”.

THURSDAY, MARCH 27, 11:30 A.M. – 12:30 P.M.BUS 153Organize financial aid papers and stop by to attend the Financial Aid 101 Workshop.

FRIDAY, MARCH 28, NOON – 1 P.M. PAC 106Celebrate the women students at City College who have achieved significant accomplishments.

SATURDAY, MARCH 29, NOON - 3 P.M.1323 North Ave.Have what it takes to be part of a Stomp team? Bring it! Contact Angela Murchison-Evans at 916-728-0119 for more information.

APRIL 1-9, NOON – 1 P.M.QuadTake a break from the books and join your peers in the Quad to hear future student leaders of City College speak about the changes they hope to bring to the campus.

APRIL 3Join City College in the new Fast-track classes offered for convenience to students. These class sessions are compacted to give students a chance to take on more during the semester.

FRIDAY, APRIL 4 All daySign up today in the Transfer Center, RHN 147, to tour the San Jose State campus, and learn how to transfer.

STORYTIME THEATRE: ‘GOLDILOCKS’

FINANCIAL AID WORK-SHOP

17TH ANNUAL OUT-STANDING WOMEN STUDENT AWARDS

SCC STOMP TEAM CLINICS AND TRYOUTS

STUDENT ELECTIONS CAMPAIGN PERIOD

SAN JOSE STATE BUS TRIP

THIRD FIVE-WEEK CLASSES BEGIN

EVENTS CALENDARAddressing sexual assault on campus and globally‘Brave Miss World’ documentary opens discussions of rape at college forumKendall BennettStaff Writer // [email protected]

“NO MEANS YES, AND yes means anal!”

Fraternity brothers chanted this while marching blindfolded pledges across the Yale University campus in the middle of the night in 2010.

Professor Martin Morales, chair of the department of political science and global studies at Cosumnes River Col-lege, pointed out that if this can happen at Yale, a pinnacle of higher education, it can happen anywhere.

“Every person, every single race—ev-ery single society is affected by [sexual assault],” said Morales, who opened a dia-logue about sexual assault March 5 at CRC.

Morales hosted a screening of the documentary “Brave Miss World” fol-lowed by a question-and-answer panel discussion attended by about 250 stu-dents, staff and community members.

“Brave Miss World,” a feature-length documentary by Cecilia Peck, follows Miss Israel, Linor Abargil, who was crowned Miss World seven weeks after being brutally raped in 1998. Ten years after the attack, Abargil took steps to bring a voice to a silenced, worldwide issue.

“She circles the globe trying to help women speak out against what’s been done to them. She travels to Africa, for example, where she talks to a group of girls who were raped as children, not even teenagers yet,” said Morales. “She wants to raise awareness of the issues of rape. She hopes this film is a guide on how to respond to sexual violence. She wants women to feel no shame for what’s been done to them.”

After the film, a panel of community members, advocates and professionals shared insights and experiences. They provided information and answered ques-tions from the audience.

“What we’re trying to do is increase awareness of this pandemic, open a dialogue of very serious things that aren’t discussed easily, and, above all else, come together as a community,” said Morales, who believes that this is an especially important topic on college campuses.

According to crime statistics pro-vided by Morales, City College had a total of four sexual assaults that occurred on campus between 2010 and 2012. There were two sexual assaults in 2010 and one each in 2011 and 2012.

“One is a big number, and one is one too many. It deserves our attention,” said Morales.

There are steps students can take to prevent being sexually assaulted. Morales suggested taking advantage of campus escort programs that are offered at all of the Los Rios District campuses. Captain of Cosumnes Police Department and

panelist John McPeek told the audience that it is a good idea to “make sure people know where you are at, who you are going out with. How many times have we seen this in the paper where somebody has disappeared and no one knows where that person is?”

Brenna Lammerd-ing, prevention and education assistant at WEAVE, Inc., explained that while reducing risk is important, it is also important to recognize that society must not blame the survivor, even if these steps were not taken.

“You should be able to walk to your car at night and not get attacked. You should be able to wear a mini dress out on the town with your girls and not get attacked. You should be able to go anywhere, anytime and not have someone attack you,” said Lam-merding.

Statistically speaking, there is no bet-ter time to open this dialogue, according to Lammerding.

“One in three women and one in six men will experience sexual assault during their lifetimes. Ninety-five percent of sexual assaults on college campuses [go] unreported,” said Lammerding. “There’s a lot going on, and no one’s talking about it,” she said.

"I've seen a lot of unreported abuse within the LGBT community. It's prevalent,” said City College sociology major Iris Truley. “People [are] afraid of discrimination.”

It is vitally important that people recognize that society must stop sexual assault, added Jessica Heskin, violence and sexual assault support services direc-tor at CSU, Sacramento.

“We need to hold perpetrators ac-countable. We have to hold our media accountable. We have to do that as a culture. We need to own this on a societal level,” said Heskin.

But holding sexual assault perpe-trators accountable means that sexual assault crimes need to be reported. “In 80 percent of assaults, [the victims] know

their perpetrators in some way so they might not want to press charges for a multitude of reasons,” said Heskin.

For those sexual assault cases that do get reported, Heskin explained that most of the ones she has seen did not make it to trial because there just wasn’t enough evidence. Irrelevant evidence is too often a factor for the jury.

“We need to have juries that quit questioning what the victim was wearing

and what she was drinking,” said Hes-kin. “That is why forums like this are so important—so that we can educate the public and we can have educated juries and an educated society.”

Information and assistance is available to City College students. “Our counselors are trained in crisis [counseling],” said Ash-ley Gibbs, medical assistant at City College’s Health Office in RHN 125. “There are four crisis counselors available at a time.”

Panel member Alexander Kagan, a Cosumnes River College counselor, en-couraged those who may have suffered a sexual assault to seek counseling, wheth-er or not they wish to press charges.

“In the process of receiving counsel-ing we would encourage you to contact law enforcement to press charges against the perpetrator,” said Kagan.

Heskin said she told her clients, “Once we report it, it may go through, it may not. But you get to know that you did what you felt you had to do. And that you spoke your truth.”

Heskin also applauded the film.“ ‘Brave Miss World’ did a really good

job of showing why I have done this for 13 years,” said Heskin. “The reason I am a victim advocate is because I get the very rare opportunity to see true heroism and strength of the human spirit on almost a daily basis, and I get to see people who have been through really horrific situa-tions and yet somehow, some way, they are able to come out on the other side.”

“You should be able to go anywhere, anytime and not have someone attack you.”

Brenna LammerdingPREVENTION AND EDUCATION ASSISTANT

AT WEAVE, INC.

“One is a big number, and one is one too many. It deserves our atten-tion.”

Martin MoralesCHAIR OF THE DEPARTMENT OF POLITI-

Miss World 1998 Linor Abargil, advocate for rape awareness and women’s rights.

Chair of the political science department at Cosumnes River College Mark Morales hosted the viewing of “Brave Miss World.”

INSIDE Need more news? Want to stay up-to-date with campus happenings? Get more information and exclusive content at saccityexpress.com.

Alina Castillo // alinacastilloexpress@gmail.

Courtesy of bravemissworld.

4 EXPRESS // MARCH 25, 2014

Former Panther rocked on ‘The Voice’Jeremy Briggs goes from City College baseball to TV show contestantXochitl OrozcoStaff Writer // [email protected]

AT CITY COLLEGE, THE baseball dia-mond is a place where hard-working stu-dents become devoted athletes. It is also where an athlete named Jeremy Briggs stepped off home plate and into his music career. After joining a local Sacramento band as its vocalist, he couldn’t pass up the opportunity to further his career by auditioning for NBC’s “The Voice.”

Although Briggs qualified for the show and appeared in the first few episodes, he was eliminated on the first “battle duet” March 18. He may not have hit a home run on “The Voice,” but Briggs remains a star in many City College memories.

While attending City College from 2006-2008, Briggs played a large role in City College’s baseball program. Accord-ing to head baseball coach Derek Sullivan, Briggs was first baseman and designated hitter on the baseball team for three years and took on the responsibility of coaching for one year.

During these years, Briggs says he majored in government and took a few recording engineering classes.

Briggs says music has always played a large role in his life.

“[My] parents always had classic rock blaring in the house. [I] got heavy dose of Zeppelin, Aerosmith, and the Stones,” Briggs says. “[My] grandfather played trumpet at McClatchy High School in the 1950s, and [my] uncle played lead guitar in a metal/hard rock band in the ’90s.”

Briggs’ passion for music was appar-ent throughout his time at City College.

“As long as I’ve known him—about nine years—he’s showed a skill and inter-est in music,” says Sullivan, remembering when he was a mentor to Briggs.

Briggs had just started City College’s baseball program during Sullivan’s first year back as a coach.

But when it came down to it, Briggs says he had to choose what was best for him and his future.

“I was at a crossroads,” says Briggs. “Do I continue to coach baseball at Sac City College or chase my dream of singing and playing music for a living? I knew in order to do this, I had to stop coaching and jump headfirst into my music career.”

Briggs took that leap into music with Relic 45, a Sacramento rock ‘n’ roll band. They have played at Harlow’s Restaurant and Nightclub in Midtown and were once a featured band at Concert in the Park.

Relic 45 was made up of Briggs (vo-cals/guitar), Stephen Larsen (lead guitar), Andrew Barnhart (bass) and Zack Kampf

(drums). According to the Relic 45 web-site, the group was known for taking the elements of rock ’n’ roll and making their own interpretations of songs.

“Rock ‘n’ roll has been dead for decades. I want to be part of a new gen-eration of artists to bring it back,” says Briggs.

Briggs did bring rock ‘n’ roll back with his song “Bad Company” in his blind audition for “The Voice”. During the blind audition, each coach has a small amount of time to decide if the contestant’s voice will benefit their team and to turn around in his or her seat to face the contestant. While artist Usher and Adam Levine did not turn their seats, Latin artist Shakira and country singer Blake Shelton did, thinking Briggs to be a contender worth fighting for.

“You have 90 seconds to try to make four giants in the music industry turn their chairs with nothing but your voice. [It was a] very surreal moment in my career. I’m grateful for the opportunity,” says Briggs.

After some banter between Shakira and Shelton, Briggs chose to be on Team Shakira for the competition. His friends and fellow coaches expected Briggs to be successful in his audition.

“[I was] not surprised at all. All his friends had been asking him to try out for those shows for a while,” says Sullivan. “He should do well. He knows how to work hard, learn, get better and compete.”

Briggs went into “The Voice’s” “battle duet” round with fellow contestant Clar-issa Serna singing Foreigner’s “Cold as Ice.”

During the battle round, the music star coaches choose two team members to compete against each other by singing the same song in front of the live studio audience. Once the duet has ended, the coach must choose which of the two sing-ers will advance to the knockout round.

In the March 18 round, the coaches were split on which contestant to choose to send to the knockout round. While Blake Shelton gave credit to Briggs’ abil-ity to hit the high notes and stay on key with Serna, Shakira ultimately decided to send Briggs home.

“I think he did better than [Clarissa Serna],” says Marisa Bustamante, a fan of “The Voice” and a City College dance stu-dent. “After watching him [on The Voice], I would definitely go see him live next time he plays in Sacramento.”

THE AVERAGE AGE OF today’s live theater patron is over 50 years old—at least given the amount of gray hair I see in Sacramento audiences. With baby boomers retiring, the local theater scene enjoys steady patronage. But theater directors need to find ways to engage younger audiences.

With hundreds of TV channels, video games, and multi-million dollar blockbusters on screens everywhere and eyes glued to smartphones, how do theaters stand a chance? How do we spark new interest while maintaining established theatergoers’ support?

One exciting way to do this is fus-ing multiple artistic forms of media—think radio, visual arts, projection, live theater, music and special effects mashed up with traditional works.

City College arts faculty strive to move forward with increasingly power-ful technology and current artistic movements while remaining true to the arts’ traditional roots.

Chris Iwata, dean of humanities and fine arts at City College, said the college is combining forward-thinking trends with classic methods.

“A common thread is that our arts departments are moving with contempo-rary trends, but not moving away from their traditional foundations,” he said.

With the renovation of the Performing Arts Center, the theater program can bring in mixed media pro-ductions to the stage. The department played with this trend by putting twists into shows, sometimes setting them in alternative timeframes—for example, last summer’s production of “Twelfth Night” set in 1975 New York City.

The Sacramento area boasts dozens of theaters that have melded different art forms in more than just unconventional settings.

Placerville’s Imagination Theater garnered interest in its production of “Dracula” by doing a half-live-theater, half-film mash-up.

“The Intergalactic Nemesis” is a “live-action graphic novel” combin-ing a live 1930’s-style science fiction radio show with projected illustrations. The interplay of radio and art excited seasoned theater veterans and younger audience members. This was one of the best shows I have ever seen. Period.

The intermingling of media can bring compelling experiences to art lovers looking for something outside the norm. Orchestral concerts are played with images projected in the background for a more evocative performance.

Intelligent lightshows grow more complex and add excitement to con-certs. Film clips are used in theaters as background images or taking the place of complicated scene changes.

All this stirring of media creates exciting new ideas popping up not only in local venues but here at City College. This forward-moving yet grounded approach helps maintain a strong base of established support-ers and attracts new audiences to the scene, ensuring a long and enduring place for the arts.

—Meg Masterson

City College alumnus Jeremy Briggs joined Team Shakira on the NBC singing competition show ‘The Voice.’

“I knew in order to do this, I had to stop coaching and jump headfirst into my music career.”

Jeremy BriggsCITY COLLEGE ALUMNUS AND MUSICIAN

Jeremy Briggs competed as a rock singer on ‘The Voice.’

CAMPUS Catch up on the latest campus events at saccityexpress.com.


Daniel WilsonNews Editor//[email protected]

LEGENDARY YANKEES PLAYER LOU GEHRIG is not only known for his tri-umphs as an all-time great first baseman, but also as a pioneer in raising awareness for the terminal disease that killed him in 1941.

“I might have had a tough break, but I have an awful lot to live for,” said Lou Gehrig in 1939 during his goodbye speech at Yankees Stadium, explaining that even though his disease stopped him from playing baseball, he didn’t let it stop his love for life.

Lou Gehrig’s disease—amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)–is a disease that gradually kills the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, which control the mus-cles all over the body, eventually making it hard or impossible to walk, talk, eat, swallow or breathe. Most people who are diagnosed with the disease die within 3-5 years after the onset of symptoms, but in rare cases, people can live for much longer.

Cathy Speck, 54, is a former City College student who was diagnosed with ALS in 2009 and lives by a mantra similar to Gehrig’s. Speck says she believes that learning about the ability to cope with the loss of loved ones through humor gave her a whole new lease on life.

Speck spoke to City College Profes-sor Joanne Moylan-Aube’s Psychology of Death and Dying classes March 10, something she has done many times before. But because of Speck’s worsening condition, Moylan-Aube said Speck may not be able to do so for much longer.

“Each time that I ask her [to speak to my classes], I always keep my fingers

crossed, and hope and pray that she’s still capable,” Moylan-Aube said to the class before Speck began her talk.

After expressing how happy she was to be able to talk to the class, Speck—who sat on a stool behind her colorfully decorated walker, full of stuffed animals, rainbows and even a horn—started by addressing the disease.

“There is no cure whatsoever,” said Speck. “There isn’t really hope for a cure, certainly not within my lifetime.”

According to the ALS Association’s website, there is medication to help control the symptoms, but “when the motor neu-rons die, the ability of the brain to initiate and control muscle movement is lost.”

Speck explained that she is not the only person in her family to be diagnosed

with the disease. Her aunt, two of her sib-lings and her mother all died from ALS.

“My mom could do anything in the world, and she was never sick,” Speck said with a smile. “She was so strong and so funny and she knew everybody—just the most wonderful person I have ever known.”

Speck said her mother began experiencing muscle weakness when she was approximately 49. Doctors first diagnosed her mother with tennis elbow because, initially, her symptoms were mainly showing up in her arms.

In February 1971, when Speck was 12, the family assembled for a meeting and Speck’s dad explained to her and her seven brothers and sisters that their mom had been diagnosed with ALS. He read information about ALS from a pam-phlet, which included information that the disease is fatal.

“I knew whatever these people thought they were talking about, they were not taking into consideration my mom because my mom could beat any-thing,” Speck said.

As Speck continued to address the class, she explained that for a while the family took care of Speck’s mom at home, but eventually she had to be admitted to the hospital.

Speck paused during her story to explain to the class that she was going to be funny, but first she needed to explain the devastation she went through so that

people could understand why humor is a big part of her life.

“The last time I saw her, I said ‘see you later.’ That’s what I said,” Speck ex-plained as the room went silent.

She said that two nights later, the phone rang at four in the morning.

“[My dad] came in and he sat down at the edge of my bed. He said, ‘Honey, mommy died,’” said Speck.

As Speck looked around the room at the students’ saddened faces, she said, “I know,” acknowledging to the room that this was the sad part of the story.

After her mother died, Speck said her life went into a downward spiral. Accord-ing to Speck, she grew up in an era when it often wasn’t okay to talk about things like death and the associated feelings with which the loved ones of the deceased must cope.

While a student at Sacramento State, Speck played basketball for the college team. After blowing out her knee, Speck went through a very dark time in her life. She related how she jumped from addic-tion to addiction, suffered from bulimia and anorexia, and dealt with symptoms of depression, including self-mutilation and feelings of wanting to commit suicide.

Then one day, she noticed a beautiful little girl in a childhood photo and real-ized it was her. Knowing that she could no longer continue to put that little girl through such things, she decided to turn her life around by returning to school to explore her interests.

“What are some things that I like? I like singing, I like creative writing, I wanted to take women’s history,” she pondered to herself. “So I decided to go back [to college] and just take some classes I liked; just ones that I wanted to take.”

Speck enrolled in classes at City Col-lege, including Psychology of Death and Dying.

“I was like, ‘Yeah’ I want to take that, I’ve been pondering on that since I was 12,” said Speck. “This class saved my life. This class turned me around. I didn’t know what exactly was going to happen after I died, but it gave me the chance again to look and to know that I did want to live. I just had to figure out how to get there.”

After completing the class, Speck de-cided to focus on humor, singing and the other things she loved in order to cope with all the pain in her life.

In recent years, because of her expe-riences with the disease, she has not only become an expert on it, but also works to raise awareness through participation in events like the Greater Sacramento Walk to Defeat ALS, and other events.

In 2010, Speck went skydiving and said she decided it was the perfect way to raise awareness about ALS. Speck now works to help raise ALS awareness and money for research through her ALS Sky-diving Specktacular, which will be holding its fifth annual event May 17 in Davis.

Students in the class were asked to turn in a one-page response to the speech that will be given to Speck to read.

“It really opened my eyes,” said Trev-yn Currie, a computer science major. “I didn’t know anything about the disease. [Speck] being able to skydive is amazing.”

For Speck, being able to help others by telling her story along with enjoying life through humor is the reason she gets out of her hospital-style bed every morning.

“When I came here, when I was hurting and I was looking for something, I found it here,” said Speck after she was finished talking with the class.

“Not a lot of people want to talk about death and dying—it’s scary —but when you do talk about it, you find that you’re not alone.”

To learn more about Cathy Speck or to find out more about ALS awareness events includ-ing the May 17 skydive, visit her website at www.cathydyingasliving.com.

Learning to love lifeFormer City College student who was diagnosed with terminal illness speaks to Death and Dying class

Cathy Speck speaks to Professor Joanne Moylan-Aube’s Psychology 390 class in March about living with ALS.

Elizabeth Ramirez // staff photographer // elizabethramirezexpress@gmail.

Elizabeth Ramirez // elizabethramirezexpress@gmail.


CAMPUS Catch up on the latest campus events at saccityexpress.com.

“This class saved mylife. This class turned me around. I didn’t know what exactly was going to happen after I died, but it gave me the chance again to look and to know that I did want to live. I just had to figure out how to get there.”

Cathy Speck

“There is no cure what-soever. There isn’t really hope for a cure, certainly not within my lifetime.”

Cathy SpeckFORMER CITY COLLEGE STUDENT

FEATURES

JAKE ON

Fitness: a family affairFather and sons stay young at City College gym

Jake Patrick DonahueSports Editor // [email protected]

DROPS OF SWEAT COLLECT on the rubber-padded floors of the City College gym as Victor Lagunas Sr. approaches the 10-mile mark in his workout riding one of the schools stationary bicycles. Lagunas biked 13 miles on this day, one more than his usual 12.

At the 13-mile mark Lagunas stops. Momentum from the turning wheels carries his legs through a few more ped-als until he comes to a rest. He takes the white gym towel draped around his neck and wipes the sweat from his thinning gray hair and forehead. His two sons, Victor Jr. and Gilbert—also wrapping up their workouts, come over to meet their 90-year-old father, as they have after every workout for more than a decade.

The Lagunas family’s tenure at City College spans over 50 years. Lagunas’ old-est son Victor Jr. attended classes in the mid-1960s, graduating with an associate’s degree. Lagunas’ three other children followed suit, each spending time at City College before transferring to four-year institutions.

“All of us went to City College. It kind of runs in the family I guess,” said Lagu-nas’ second-oldest child Gilbert.

Upon retirement in 1982, Lagunas started taking courses at City College. He has enrolled in at least one class each semester since.

He started by taking physical educa-tion and German courses and over the years his course work has focused primar-ily on physical fitness.

“When I first started, I used to run in Land Park, three miles. And there was a ski class at one time and it used to take us to alpine meadows to ski, that was is my early ‘70s,” said Lagunas. “I just like to keep busy.”

In 1999 Victor Jr. became the first of the Lagunas children to return to City College, joining his father in a circuit training class. Five years later, Lagunas’

younger son Gilbert joined them in their fitness courses.

“We kind of figured we might as well keep up with what he’s doing; maybe keep us young too,” said Gilbert.

The third of seven children, Lagunas was born in El Paso to a father who had recently immigrated from Chihuahua, Mexico. Lagunas became a journeyman machinist in his late teens, working for Southern Pacific Railroad in El Paso. At 18 he was drafted by the Army and called to fight in World War II where he served as a tank mechanic on the front lines in France and Germany until the war ended in 1945.

After the war Lagunas returned to Texas and went back to work for South-ern Pacific as a machinist, a role he held with the company for the next 36 years until his retirement in 1982.

In 1953, Southern Pacific downsized its staff for financial reasons. Lagunas’ job in El Paso was along those to be eliminated.

This prompted a major change in Lagunas’ life.

“They downsized and they said if you want to stay with the company you have to go to Sacramento, so I decided to move to Sacramento,” said Lagunas.

While at Southern Pacific, Lagunas, not wanting to give up the physical fit-ness he had grown accustomed to in the Army, started handball tournaments at work and kept in shape by running dur-ing his lunch hour.

“When he was at Southern Pacific he would run from the rail shop on Jibboom

[Street], through Old Sac, to Miller Park, then back to the shop,” said Victor Jr.

After a brief health scare in the mid 1960s, Lagunas became even more dedicated to physical fitness, and gave up a smoking habit he had developed since returning from the Army.

“I just didn’t think I was getting any-thing out of [smoking],” said Lagunas.

Outside of exercising at City College, Lagunas says he keeps himself busy with household tasks at his Tahoe Park home where he has lived since 1960, and by spending time with his children.

“My wife passed away 14 years ago this month, so I do my own laundry, cook my own meals, wash dishes and work in the garden,” said Lagunas. “And Gilbert helps me a lot.”

While many at his age require as-sistance, Lagunas remains independent; living on his own with help only from his children.

“I tried to hire a gardener to cut his grass, but he didn’t want that,” said Gilbert.

“Why pay somebody when I can do it?” said Lagunas of his son’s offer.

Lagunas and his sons credit his longev-ity to a lifelong commitment to physical fitness and to his family’s history of good health, despite the occasional bad habit.

“His older sisters are 92 and 91 and his mother passed away at 93, and she smoke and drank,” said Victor Jr.

When he was younger, Lagunas played handball, volleyball, and racquet-ball. Now, at 90, he gets most of his physi-cal activity through the stationary bicycles at City College, something he says he plans to continue doing “as long as I can.”

“I think maybe [Lagunas] will work-out at City College until he is 110 years old,” said Gilbert, adding that he and his brothers plan to continue working out with their father.

“We will never quit; it is too much fun watching all the young people drop like flies and not making it to the end of the semester,” he said.

From left to right, Victor Sr., Victor Jr., and Gilbert Lagunas exercise in City College’s North Gym.

“We will never quit; it is too much fun watching all the young people drop like flies and not making it to the end of the semester.”

Gilbert Lagunas

LAST MONTH ATTORNEY JEFFREY Kessler filed a lawsuit on behalf of four NCAA student athletes, challenging rules that prevent student athletes from receiving financial compensation for their efforts on the field. They want to get paid.

The argument made is that college coaches, administrators and the colleges themselves make millions of dollars each season, yet the players get nothing.

An athletics scholarship at a pri-vate institution includes tuition costs, room and board, books and supplies, and miscellaneous expenses.

University of Southern California offers 85 scholarships each year to its athletes, but annual tuition averages at $42,162. Room and board expenses amount to $12,078. Books and supplies add up to $1,500, and miscellaneous expenses rack up $1,480.

In all, a student athlete at USC makes approximately $57,220 per year. They are also eligible for Pell grant and other financial aid programs that are available to all students.

While USC may pay slightly more than some public institutions, the fact remains that college athletes do not go uncompensated for their athletic performance.

But they want more.California is the only state that

does not allow its community colleges to offer athletic scholarships. Student athletes at City College are offered no compensation for their play. They are, however, offered a number of services to help them succeed.

Victoria Cornelius is City College’s athletic academic adviser. Her role is to work with student athletes and provide quick and convenient access to counsel-ing services.

“I think [having a counselor dedicated to athletics] is very helpful. [Athletes] are in practice at least two hours a day and they’re in class so they have a limited window [of time] to get in to see someone,” said Cornelius.

Along with a devoted counselor, City College athletes receive access to free tutoring through a study hall class designed specifically for them.

Last spring, student athletes at City College became eligible for prior-ity .75 registration—allowing them to enroll in classes three days before students with priority one status. This enables student athletes to fit their classes around their athletic schedules, something Cornelius says is a hugely helpful in promoting the success of student athletes.

“I fought for the priority regis-tration with the district for about 10 years,” said Cornelius.

While the City College athletes do not receive nearly the amount of support of their counterparts at Div. 1 schools, they receive many services that are not offered to the rest of the student population. And they don’t complain about it.

Perhaps the big time college ath-letes in Div. 1 could learn something from the community college athlete: Be happy with what you get.

—Jake Patrick Donahue

GAME ON Get the latest game updates, schedules & exclusive interviews at saccityexpress.com


GAME ON Get the latest game updates, schedules & exclusive interviews at saccityexpress.com

Baseball with Latin flavorQ&A: City College athletes talk about adjusting to a new nation and a new way of playing ballJonathan TarayaStaff Writer // [email protected]

IN A BASEBALL LOCKER room 3,500 miles from home, Jorge Perez Bonilla laces his cleats. He dons his burgundy and gold uniform, and takes the field with the rest of his Panthers teammates. But for Perez-Bo-nilla—and the four other Latin American players on the squad—the game is just a little more complicated than simply playing

baseball.Adjusting to college life is something

many City College student athletes strug-gle with. When coupled with an entirely new culture and a new home thousands of miles from where they grew up, it can become even more of a challenge. Jona-than Taraya of the Express sat down with five students on the City College baseball team to discuss the problems and perks that come with being international stu-dent athletes at City College.

Why did you decide to come here to play baseball?

Eddie Sievers (Puerto Rico): Ever since I was little, I’ve always wanted to play college ball [in America] or go professional.

What has been the biggest adjustment in moving here?

Cristian Bra-cero (Puerto Rico): The language and the culture.

Nelson Muniz (Dominican Repub-

lic): The way we play baseball. Over here they focus a lot on fundamentals. In my country we focus on our abilities.

What are the biggest differences between here and your home country?

Muniz: You don’t get this crowd we get here in my country. Walk-up songs, great fields—every time we play, we get a locker room. It’s a great experience.

Sievers: The facilities over here are just way better than the ones back home. Here we play in a stadium; back home it’s just basically bleachers and sand.

Perez-Bonilla (Puerto Rico): We play every day. I love this sport and we play every day. We’ve got everything—we got balls and facilities, we got bats, we got the field, good locker rooms, we get showers. At home we have to bring our own balls.

Is it difficult to handle school and baseball?

Sievers: It is pretty tough to deal with school and baseball at the same time because both of them involve the lan-guage, and so it can get pretty stressful.

Muniz: Time management is a huge deal. It’s kind of difficult to manage time with school and baseball, and we have to find ways to excel at both.

Raul Ortiz (Puerto Rico): We go to school, and we go to the [baseball] park, and that’s really it for us.

What has been the most difficult adjustment?

Muniz: We have to adapt to the style of play here. In Puerto Rico we like to play with style, and so we have to adapt to the way they play here. We have to take out some of our seasoning, our spiciness, to look more like an American player. Ortiz: We have to deal with racist people.

What kind of racism have you experienced?

Sievers: When we’re on the field, we speak Spanish, and when the other team hears that, they’ll yell “beaners” or cuss words that they know in Spanish. And they automatically think that we’re Mexican.

Do you miss home?Sievers: It’s funny, but sometimes you

really miss home man. Sometimes you think, “Oh, I want to go home,” because over here we get targeted a lot. The little ra-cial comments and stuff. We can handle it, but after a while you get a little homesick.

What advice would you give to international athletes considering playing in America?

Bracero: Just go. If you’re from Puerto Rico or the Dominican Republic or that area of the Caribbean, just come play in the United States. There’s so much opportunity, way better opportunities over here. You’ll get better opportunities in school and in

When losers become winnersThe season ends and City College athletes go to work building skill sets for the next yearKristopher HooksStaff Writer // [email protected]

THE OFFSEASON IS A time when play-ers turn their weaknesses into strengths. It’s when players get stronger both physically and mentally. It’s when losers become winners.

During the regular season, the emphasis of progression is geared toward the team rather than the individual. During the offseason, however, it’s about working hard to get individual players’ skills developed.

For City College athletes on any of the school’s 18 competitive teams, the offseason is not solely a time for rest and relaxation, but in many cases it is when the real work begins.

“There really is no offseason for us,” said City College women’s basketball head coach Devin Engebresten. “When our season ends, the girls only get three weeks off.”

During those three weeks the players unwind and stay away from playing bas-ketball. Then, when the short unwinding time ends, it’s back to the grind.

Once the league mandated three-week resting period is over, Engebresten’s players work out and practice three days a week during the offseason. They also participate in basketball-specific offseason training, which focuses on individual skill sets.

“During the season, we’re gearing up as a team to compete and know what we’re doing,” Engebresten said. “And dur-

ing the spring and summer we’re

gearing up our athletes to get better indi-vidually, so when it comes time to put in your offense and defense, they can do it.”

Many players use the offseason to work on specific goals of improvement they have set for themselves for the fol-lowing season. This offseason, Panthers women’s basketball guard Ashlyn Monk plans to work on her perimeter shooting and ball handling.

“I try and keep up on my running to stay in shape,” said Monk. “I like getting up shots whenever I can and working on my ball handling.”

According to City College volleyball head coach Laurie Nash, the offseason is the most important time for the team.

City College’s volleyball team has an offseason that is similar to basketball. However, instead of a three-week off pe-riod, the volley players have 10 weeks off volleyball-related activities before getting back to training.

During that 10-week period, coaches suggest that players continue to work out to keep up with their physical shape and conditioning, but not to go as hard as they normally would, so they do not break down their bodies.

“My players typically stick to it because the training is year round,” said

Nash. “If they lose any ground in their offseason, then they’re really having to rebuild when we meet up again.”

When the team gets back together in the spring, workouts are focused on strength and conditioning two days a week to get ready for the summer when the intensity of the workouts rises.

During the summer, the volleyball team works out on Mondays and Thurs-days with a heavy focus on plyometrics and heavy lifting. The two-day period in between workouts is designed for a longer period of recovery for the players’ bodies.

“We’re really geared in on plyometric work. We’re really working on power, a lot of heavy lifting, and their bodies are really wearing down. So they need that time for recovery,” Nash said.

Wrestling, unlike most sports, is dependent on a single individual’s strength, agility, and technique. Improvement of those skill sets is what is focused on during the offseason.

The imporant part of offseason train-ing and conditioning, according to City Col-lege wrestling head coach Dave Pacheco, is for wrestlers to improve their strength and technique while not getting burned out. The team practices two times a week during the offseason, and individuals also work out in groups outside of practice.

For wrestling, a sport that is based on maintaining a certain weight for one’s weight class, Pacheco relies on a different philosophy than most coaches.

“We don’t try and get them to a certain weight out of season,” Pacheco said. “Our philosophy is ‘bigger and stronger.’ We’re a lot different from a lot of other coaches.”

Pacheco, who has coached collegiate wrestling for 31 years–including two state

championship seasons with the Panthers–has always maintained that philosophy.

The reason for that thought process is simple: Pacheco says he believes that if a player is busy in practice trying to lose weight, he won’t be working on technique, and that will begin to falter.

“It’s pretty simple in the spring,” Pacheco said. “You just want to keep them focused to keep learning, keep getting strong, and not so much that they start get-

City College sophomore Hudson Buck climbs the rope during offseason wrestling class in the North Gym.

City College freshman outfielder Cristian Bracero slides in to home plate during a Panthers home game at Union Stadium.

“Our philosophy is ‘bigger and stronger.’ We’re a lot different from a lot of other coaches.”

Dave PachecoPANTHERS WRESTLING HEAD COACH

Dianne Rose // diannekayphotos@gmail.

Tamara M. Knox // [email protected]


Documents

Express, Volume 98, issue 10