Volume 35 | Issue 5 • Incline Village, NV • www.snceagleseye.com • October 29 | 2015

Eagle’s Eye S i e r r a N e v a d a C o l l e g e

It’s Happening Again?Gun violence on the American campus

Dueling Views: Should guns be outlawed in America? p.15 | Eagle’s Eye Edu-graphic p.14 |Staff Editorial: Active shooters- can there be a protocol? p.14 ■

WHEN THE SNOW FLIES, YOU WINBuy your ticket at Prim to guess when the first snow will hit SNC.

>CAMPUS PAGE 3

HALLOWEEN AROUND THE WORLD

As Americans decide what costumes to wear to their yearly Halloween parties, people from other countries celebrate the time of year most represented by the dead differently.

>NEWS PAGE 11

CAMPUS ALERTS

The E2Campus alert system is used on over 800 campuses nationwide, but half of SNC’s student body is unregistered.

> NEWS PAGE 6

Photo by Danny Kern | Cartoonist Keith Knight speaks about police brutality and racial prejuidice.

K ChroniclesComic artist Keith Knight presents “They Shoot Black People Don’t They”

DANNY KERNStaff Reporter

Being an interdisciplinary liberal arts institution, Sierra Nevada College has been at the forefront for inviting unique multi-disciplined artists to come show their work and speak to our community, students and faculty.

At 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 22 in the Prim Library, visiting artist Keith Knight presented his captivating slideshow “They Shoot Black People Don’t They”. This hour-long presentation is a compilation of 20 years of police brutality cartoons created by Knight.

Originally born in Massachu-setts and now living in South Carolina, Knight is a multi-talented, motivated individual. He has been a successful rapper, social activist and cartoonist.

His current work is continued

through three popular comic strips: the Knight life, (th)ink and the K Chronicles. He’s been making these strips for two decades now, and in these two decades, has won a handful of awards through his humorous yet impacting strips.

Digital Arts professor Chris Lanier has known Knight since the late 90’s. When living in San Fransisco, Lanier reached out to Knight because he read his strip and was looking for some advice on how he could further pursue his work as a cartoonist. Since meeting over 15-years ago, Lanier has kept in touch with Knight through several interviews for various publications.

“I was very happy to have the opportunity to have him out here,” Lanier said.

To follow up the last visiting artist who was a graphic nov-elist, Lanier believed Knight

would be a good example of how graphics and stories can be used to spread important messages.

“I would describe his work as socially aware. I think he is an artist that does very engaging art, but it’s also art that connects to the real world,” Lanier said. “I always enjoy any sort of opportu-nity to have art on campus that is basically digesting what is going on in society and politics.”

With this sometimes being a touchy or controversial subject matter, comic strips allow for a sort of humor element that starts conversation easier because it disarms people in some way, Lanier said.

Lanier also believes that with comic strips, a big part of it is the visual component. “Where you can sort of tell a story in a way where people can sort of get it

See CHRONICLES, 13

Pitch Competition

Winners & Their Prized Ideas |

p. 4

2 | EAGLE’S EYE CAMPUS SNCEAGLESEYE.com

OCTOBER 29 THURSDAY

Trail of Treats and Terror 4-7 p.m.

Patterson and Campbell-Fried-man Halls

Open Mic Night8:15 p.m.

David Hall

NOVEMBER 5: THURSDAY

Casino Night7-10 p.m.

Patterson Hall

NOVEMBER 6:FRIDAY

San Francisco Weekend TripPatterson Lobby

Undergraduate English Re-search Colloquium

1-4 p.m.Prim Library 214

Writers in the Woods: Chris Millis7 p.m.

TCES 139

NOVEMBER 13: FRIDAY

Mammoth Opening Day Trip5:30 a.m. - 8 p.m.

Meet in Patterson Lobby

NOVEMBER 17:TUESDAYBackcountry Basics Avalanche

Awarehess Workshop7 p.m.-9 p.m.

Prim Library 320

NOVEMBER 19: THURSDAY

SNC Thanksgiving Dinner5 p.m.-7 p.m.

Patterson Hall

NOVEMBER 23: MONDAY

Thanksgiving Break Begins11/23-11/27

of eventsCalendar

Sierra Nevada College rec-ognizes the educational and societal value of encourag-ing the uninhibited, robust, free and open discussion of issues and ideas on Amer-ica’s college and university campuses. It is therefore the policy of the executive lead-ership of Sierra Nevada Col-lege that all student edited campus media have been established as designated

public forums for student expression. It is the intent that student media will provide a full opportunity for its students to inquire, ques-tion and exhange ideas and that they will strive to reflect all areas of student interest, including topics about which there may be dissent or con-troversy.

The Eagle’s Eye is produced by the Editing and Journalism Workshop classes of Sierra Ne-vada College.

Managing Editor Meghan Herbst

News Editor Bekah Ashley

Photo and Design Editor Nick Galantowicz

Online Editor Kelly Mahoney

Sports EditorJackson Heath

Feature EditorStephanie Coates

Reporters Danielle Hicks, Stephanie Coates,Francesca Curtolo, Danny Kern

Adviser Tanya Canino

Advertising:Businesses who would like to support the student newspaper at Sierra Nevada College while gaining exposure to the Incline Village community are encour-aged to advertise in the Eagle’s Eye.

For more information, please email the Eagle’s Eye at eagles-eye@sierranevada.edu

Would you like your opinion published in the Eagle’s Eye?

Please send comments to eagleseye@sierranevada.edu

Letters to the Editor: eagleseye@sierranevada.edu

Corrections Policy:The Eagle’s Eye strives to be ac-curate, fair and complete in its coverage and correct significant errors of fact. If you see an error, please e-mail the editor at eagle-seye@sierranevada.edu or call the adviser at 530.581.1020.

Sierra Nevada College

Student Media Policy

Faculty of the Fortnight: Chris MillisDistinguished author to speak at Writer’s in the Woods on Nov. 6CARISSA PRIEBUSCHContributor

In a dimly lit office, a table cov-ered in piles of paper sits beneath a shelf stacked with books. A second desk is covered with yet more papers and literature of every kind. On the wall hangs a large poster for the movie “Small Apartments.” Chris Millis, the writer in residence at Sierra Nevada College this year, has multiple projects going on all the time with various deadlines.

“My writing projects never end. There are five things that I am working on one table and a bunch on another. I have three books I’m writing right now, plus a screenplay rewrite. I have another screenplay that I have to write from an outline that I did, and that is just the stuff on the top of the list,” he said.

Millis teaches creative nonfic-tion, fiction and screenwriting classes at Sierra Nevada College. He says teaching has been a learning process for him.

“The fact that I need to pick apart my process, figure out why I do what I do, and the way I do it, and then organize that into a 15-week program, has been chal-lenging and fun,” he said.

Millis received his MFA from Goddard College in Ver-mont.

“I got my MFA because I pub-lished this novel, “Small Apart-ments,” and had the opportunity to write the screenplay. I was going through a funk, so I went to graduate school to try to figure out how I wrote a book in the first place and got it published,” he said. “The nice result was getting the MFA and being able to teach college writ-ing.”

Prior to arriving at SNC, Millis

had not spent much time in the classroom as a professor.

“Outside of seminars and presentations, I hadn’t taught academically before. Then I got invited to be a visiting writer at the College of Saint Rose in Albany, New York in their graduate program. I only had to teach one class but had other responsi-bilities,” Millis said.

In 2012, Millis was invited by English Depart-ment Chair June Saraceno to come to SNC for a writer’s workshop. A year and a half later, Saraceno reached out to Millis to come back to SNC as the writer in residence. Millis had been working in Los Angeles while his family was

living in New York. He saw Saraceno’s invitation

as a chance to create a more stable life in Incline Village.

“I was living in California for most of the year and felt

like SNC was a pretty cool invitation. I was

very grateful to be invited. I discussed it with my wife and

we decided to do it as an adven-ture as a family and to put our twin boys through third grade here,” he said.

Millis says he is not here to just grade papers and tell students if they are good or bad, but to give advice and teach students the

tools needed to turn writing into an easy process.

“I’m just hyper-focused on practical tools that writers can use,” he said.

Millis says the writing process is all about learning a simple three-part structure. This structure can help in all forms of writing.

Part one includes the thesis and involves setting up the story. Part two is the midpoint, where a big change will happen, and in part three the character combines knowledge and experience to make a comeback.

“When I think about teach-ing writing, I really think about teaching architecture. I’m teaching students how to frame houses. What you do with the frame is up to you,” he said.

Millis likes to make story struc-ture easy to relate to by decon-structing works of writing with his students.

“I think showing students the

structure in articles, books and movies gives them a wonderful lightbulb moment,” Millis said.

Many students and new writers often lack self-confidence regard-ing the quality of their work. Millis encourages his students just to finish.

“People are judging themselves too harshly. It is important to finish things,” he said. ”Structure gives you the confidence that you will finish because you can see that it is all mapped out.”

Millis says he is getting more comfortable in the classroom as he helps students create a toolbox of skills and techniques that can be used for a lifetime.

“It’s really cool for me knowing that I can help somebody shorten their learning curve on some-thing that would have taken lon-ger to learn on their own,” Millis said. “It gives me a lot of pleasure to share something I know.”

Photo courtesy of Chris Millis | Chris Millis

“I’m teaching students how

to frame houses. What you do with the frame is up to

you.”-Chris Millis

October 29, 2015 CAMPUS EAGLE’S EYE | 3

> WORD ON CAMPUS WHAT ARE YOU DRESSING UP AS FOR HALLOWEEN?

“I’m going to be Red Rid-ing Hood.

Stephanie Kwon, Senior

“Ernest Heming-way.”

Nicholas Fabris, Senior

“I’m go-ing to be a cavegirl.”

Brittany Whicher, Junior

“I’m prob-ably going to be Bambi. It’s really cool makeup.”Katie O’Hara,Senior

Eagle’s Eye in the Sky:When will the first snow hit campus? Take your guess!

Bet on when snow will fall on campus to benefit Protect Our Winters and possibly take home some cash prizes

KIMBERY OYERVIDES & ALYX LEVINEContributors

In case you have been living under a rock, the topic of conversation in the basin has

been this upcoming winter and when we are going to get our first snowfall. Above is a graph that shows the average date for the first inch of snow measured at five locations around the Lake Tahoe Basin. As you can see, Mt. Rose has gotten the earliest snowfall in past years, due to its base elevation of 8,801 feet. For lake level, the first snow-

fall comes more than a month later. There is about a month of variation in the data that was collected, mostly depending on the location and elevation of the stations. This semester, the fall 2015 meteorology class taught by Associate Professor Andy Rost is introducing a snow poll open to all students and faculty at Sierra Nevada College.

Beginning Thursday, Oct. 29, SNC will be kicking off the inau-gural snow poll. All interested will be able to place bets on what day they believe will receive the first inch of snow to hit Patterson lawn on the SNC campus. Bets

will be taken in the library at a designated area where you will be able to place your money and selected day into a envelope and drop into a box.

There is no limit to how many bets you place and how many people bet on the same day. If you bet 10 dollars you can chose up to

ten days and so on. Once the first inch of snow

lands on Patterson lawn the win-nings will be split 50/50 between the winner(s) and Protect Our Winters. If you are unfamiliar with POW, their mission state-ment is to “Engage and mobilize the snowsports community to lead the fight against climate change. Our focus is on educa-

tional initiatives, advocacy and community-based activism,” according to their website.

So, if you think you know when the first inch will hit campus, clean out your cars, search the couches, shake the loose change from your pockets and place your bets. Help Protect Our Winters and make your own winter a bit sweeter.

Diamond Peak winter job fair11/7

Saturday 11/7: 9am-1pmBase Lodge • 1210 Ski Way

Employee privileges include*: • Free season pass & free employee ski days at partner resort • Free ski/snowboard lessons & standard rentals • Discounted or free season pass for spouse & dependents • Discounts on food and non-alcoholic beverages • Discounts at the Incline Village Recreation Center • Potential for summer employment at other IVGID venues * Depending on employment status

Apply for multiple jobs online: yourtahoeplace.com/jobs

Or apply at IVGID • 893 Southwood Blvd • 775-832-1100

Meet managers and interview at the job fair:

Inside, outside & on-snow positions available including: Ski & Snowboard Instructors, Snow Reporters, Rental Technicians,

Ski Patrol, Lift Operators/Ticket Checkers, Cashiers, Groomers, Mountain Hosts, Parking Attendants and more!

Photo courtesy Andy Rost | An infographic depicting when it may snow around Tahoe

Photo by Stephanie Coates | Students Anthony Martin and Ryan Cornelis discover some snow atop a peak in South Lake Tahoe on Sunday, Oct. 18

4 | EAGLE’S EYE NEWS SNCEAGLESEYE.com

Business Plan Pitch Competition advances to the next stage

DANNY HICKS Feature Editor

Eight teams stood with their ideas in front of a mixed group of peers and professionals at Sierra Nevada College’s 2015 Pitch Competition. While students did their best to remain calm and professional, nervous laughs and shaky voices occasionally slipped through as each prepared for their presentations.

Students, faculty and communi-ty members gathered on Tuesday, Oct. 15 in the Tahoe Center for Environmental Sciences (TCES), to hear live business pitches from the finalists of the 2015 Pitch Competition. Among the crowd were students, professors, SNC President Alan Walker, and a panel of four judges: Scott Levy, Janet Lowe, Nora Lacey and Elbridge Stuart, each of whom have their own accomplishments in the professional world.

“The questions from the judges were great,” said Walker. “They were real life in the sense that they would be some of the ques-tions and issues that you would expect from retail outlets and investors if they were out in the private sector pitching this idea,” said Walker.

The presenters were given three

minutes to pitch their idea to the judges, and then five minutes were allotted for the judges to ask questions and offer their thoughts on the product. Presenters included Forest Jade, iGov voting phone app; Megan McClintock, GPS tracking safety in equine facilities; Kevin Kleeb, Nala babysitting app; Jason Maynez, Wilderness therapy program for veterans; Colleen Healey and Austin Leal, Polar blanket; Kyle Jacobson and Tayler Robertson, Dreamster; Andrew Clifton and

Steven Jenab, Stitches on the Go; and Sasha Severance, BearAWAY.

Business Department Chair Kendra Wong has been oversee-ing the competition from the beginning along with Tim Cohee, Program Director for Ski Busi-ness and Resort Management.

“I think the competition was great,” said Wong. “The competi-tion provides a great opportunity for students to get feedback on

their ideas early on in the pro-cess.”

According to Walker, the com-petition captures many distinct characteristics of the college; the entrepreneurship program, the business program, the culture of competition and experiential learning. “Those have all been hallmarks for this college and it’s something that really sets us apart. All those things culminate in an event like this,” said Walker.

After the presentations, judges deliberated and chose three win-

ners to divide $850 worth of prize money. Maynez placed first in the competition with his wilderness therapy program for veterans, which entails a two-week getaway where veterans receive therapy in the outdoors. McClintock took second place with her idea for Chaperone, a GPS tracking device used for safety in equine facilities.

Severance took third place with her idea BearAWAY, a small device used for deterring bears from homes with mothballs.

A senior at SNC, McClintock says she saw the competition as a way to get her product out in the open for feedback, in a space where she can explain her prod-uct and answer any questions that people may have.

“My favorite question from the judges was when they asked me if I had thought about trying to be in a bigger market. I was really excited that they asked me that because I think that it’s great to start in a niche market, and then once the equine market is filled with my product to then move to

other markets where danger is prevalent,” said McClintock.

Sophomore Colleen Healey pitched her idea for the Polar

Blanket, a blanket that prevents people from heating up too much while they sleep by blowing air through small holes in the blanket itself. Healey partnered with Senior Austin Leal for the competition.

“I was definitely nervous go-ing into the Pitch Competition because of the size of the audi-ence. When I got up and started to pitch my idea, all my thoughts fell into place. There were some really cool ideas being presented, so the competition is certainly

not easy,” said Healey. “The judges were really constructive. I have a few parts of my business plan that I am still developing, so the feedback that they provided was super helpful and encour-aging going forth. They asked some pretty tough questions and definitely gave me certain aspects to explore.”

Over the next few weeks, the students will be working with Wong and Cohee to begin devel-oping their business plan. Wong has set bi-weekly goals for the competitors to work on a part of their plan, and then turn it in piece by piece to Cohee and her-self to review and give feedback on before moving to the next section of the plan. Final plans will be due on Jan. 22, and the Trepp Business Competition will be held on Feb. 23.

“Kendra was very adamant about sending us emails and making sure we had the resources we need to be prepared. Tim was really on top of giving us per-sonal feedback on our ideas,” said

McClintock.“We have meetings to talk about

the feedback from the judges. I was really surprised how inte-grated the faculty was with this and it really helped. I think their help had a lot to do with my success in the competition,” said McClintock.

Students are now processing the information given by the judges and choosing to incorporate, or not incorporate, their feedback into their business plan.

“When it comes to the busi-ness aspect, I am going to have to change some of my segments and distribution channels, but those are minor changes. The actual production of the blanket is going to be a challenge, but the judges provided great insight,” said Healey. “I’m definitely going to have to produce a few proto-types to see what the best model is. I have also changed the actual material aspect of the blanket several times. After looking up regulations, I have come up with a viable and safe product. I am going to tweak my prototype a bit and see if I can make it even more efficient,” she said.

Wong and Cohee will be with the competitors every step of the way over the next few months to assist them with their business plans.

“I’m really proud of all the stu-dents that competed in the pitch competition,” said Wong. “To get up in front of your peers and a panel of external judges, that takes guts in any way shape or form, so I’m really proud of the students for putting their ideas out there, for putting themselves out there, to get that feedback.”

If you are interested in joining a business plan team, Megan McClintock is looking for a chief financial officer and a chief tech-nology officer. Email her at meg.mcclin@gmail.com to learn more about this opportunity.

Photos by Danny Kern | SNC students and faculty come together for photo post competition pitches

Kendra Wong is all smiles while presenting awards to students

Left to right | President Walker, Jason Maynez and Kendra Wong

After competing in the pitch competition students are advancing to the next phase of the competition

October 29, 2015 NEWS EAGLE’S EYE | 5

The Sierra Watershed Education Partnerships (SWEP) hosted its 20th Anniversary Gala on Oct. 23-24, celebrating 20 years as a community supported nonprofit organization while kicking off its inaugural film festival, “Water. The Essential.”

“It’s a wonderful program,” said Clare Foster, a 26-year North Tahoe resident, photographer, writer and Tahoe Truckee Uni-fied School District employee who works with Special Educa-tion students.

“They care deeply about our

watershed, our environment and also the future of our home, our earth. I’ve had the pleasure of being involved with SWEP and seeing the teachers at work and they are tremendous human be-ings,” she said.

The festivities began at 6 p.m. Oct. 23 at Sunnyside Restaurant in Tahoe City. After the audience had the opportunity to place bids in a silent auction, enjoy delicious h’orderves and listen to a live band, SWEP Executive Director Missy Mohler spoke about the organization’s mission to promote environmental stew-ardship by connecting students to their community and local

environment through compre-hensive watershed education and service learning.

“We may be a small organiza-tion, but we have a big heart,” said Mohler.

After hearing from Mohler, SWEP’s Program Coordinator Ashley Phillips and Instructor Jan Ellis, the signature “Trashion Show” began.

During the “Trashion Show”, lo-cal high school students modeled several outfits, each handmade by the students out of unique materials (trash). It was both educational and lighthearted. Ac-cording to SWEP’s website, the goal of the “Trashion Show” is to send a message of positive action.

“In the ‘Trashion Show’, all of the club members make outfits out of trash and each outfit has a specific environ-mental message to inspire people to help protect the environment,” said Truckee High School Senior Kyla Burrell, who is in SWEP’s Envirolution Club.

Burrell has been involved with SWEP since her freshman year of high school. She said the organization has given her the opportunity to mentor elementa-ry school students, help improve recycling at elementary schools and participate in town council meetings.

The film festival kicked off the following day, Saturday, Oct. 24, when over 25 films were screened at the Tahoe Art Haus & Cinema and Moe’s Original BBQ.

The films ranged from shorts to feature length documentaries. Each one was both captivating and educational, addressing water issues on rivers and oceans, the western drought, stewardship projects and adventures on water in its many forms.

Several of the films addressed environmental issues taking place locally, while others ex-tended throughout the U.S and some addressed international issues. In many of the films, viewers were offered information about how to take action with the different issues.

One of the highlights of the festival was having several of the

filmmakers attend. Award winning filmmaker

Will Parrinello from Mill Valley Film Group screened four of Mill Val-ley Film Group’s

award-winning shorts from its New

Environmentalist Se-ries: “Mother of the Rivers,”

“Art for Change,” “Marshland Dreams” and “Dredging Up a Solution.”

Each film from the series shares a common goal: safeguarding the Earth’s natural resources from exploitation and pollution, while fighting for environmental justice in their communities, according to The Mill Valley Film Group website.

After screening “Marshland Dreams” and “Mother of Rivers” on Saturday afternoon, Parrinello spoke about his experience work-ing on these projects.

“The challenges we face

seem so insurmountable, and for a lot of us, myself included sometimes, we kind of hope somebody else will deal with it, or we just want to turn away and not even think of it because it’s so overwhelming,” Parrinello said. “But, these people who we are lucky enough to make films about are doing something about it, and they would say we all can do something about it because it’s a grassroots movement.”

Parrinello explained how the people in the films are not people who have huge organizations or infrastructure or support.

“It’s one person who’s a catalyst, who then through their passion and charisma draw other people to them, and so we just have a great relief that we all need to be hopeful and we all need to be active. We all need to be doing something in our own commu-nity,” he said.

Parrinello said that one of the things he respects about SWEP and why he was glad to be screening at their festival was SWEP’s involvement with the community.

“It’s important: education, awareness and the next genera-tion — getting young people to be aware and to feel like they have hope,” he said.

Several other filmmakers who attended included locals Tom Day, Mike Hatchett and athlete Jeremy Jones. The filmmakers joined the audience Saturday eve-ning for the Adventure Filmmak-er Exposé, where two 30-minute films, “Fisherman’s Son” and “We Trust Your Judgement” were

Photo by Danny Kern | SWEP presents its first annual film festival, “Water. The Essential!”

Clare Foster Photography | SWEP “Trashion Show”

“We may be a small organiza-

tion, but we have a big heart,” Missy

Mohler

SWEP brings community together through film BEKAH ASHLEYNews Editor

See SWEP, 12

6 | EAGLE’S EYE NEWS SNCEAGLESEYE.com

Students and faculty are getting ready for the winter season with new gear and workouts, but

are not thinking about how to deal with winter weather. The answer is e2Campus.

Winter weather can be tough when snow hits Tahoe.

Sierra Nevada College offers a system to be prepared for that and deal with difficult situations in an easy way.

With e2Campus, a text alert notification is not only sent out for weather issues, but for every kind of emergency on campus.E2Campus is an electronic noti-fication system, which sends text alerts campus wide.

“Those who sign up, get a notifi-cation on their phone when there is an emergency or a weather alert,” said Interim Marketing Director Jim Scripps.

Currently, there are more faculty members than students registered, but overall only 207 people signed up, according to Lizzie Thibodeau, Director of

Student Affairs and Housing.“We need to promote the

E2Campus system as we get close to the snow season, because that’s when they use it the most. That’s also how students find out that classes are cancelled,” said Senior Communication Director Erika Cole.

As Scripps emphasizes, e2Cam-pus is not an automatic system that comes with the status of be-ing a member of student/faculty. Both students and faculty need to sign up for it from the SNC website in an easy 30 seconds process.

However, not many students signed up and lot of them never heard of the e2cam-pus alerts.

Thibodeau manages the system and informs students and faculty about the service through emails that are often missed by students.

“I send out emails about the e2Campus on how to sign up, so it’s important to read your emails because you might show up to

school when it’s cancelled,” said Thibodeau.

“It’s a great system to have in place to stay informed on any hazardous situations,” said Marina McCoy, SGA vice-president and Green Council president.“However, not all students are informed about it. There needs to be more outreach to students so that everyone signs up for it,” said McCoy.

Out of a sample of 17 students, 15 of them are not signed up for

the notification system. For those who are not signed up, the major-

ity of them have never heard about e2Campus. Students that live

on campus don’t see it as a necessity, Sopho-

more Nicole Ross said.Junior Taylor Robertson,

Global Business Management major, uses the system and is happy with how it works.

“The text service is definitely useful, but I’ve only seen it used once. Students will always have their cell phones on them and will check a text before an email,

which is usually how the school contacts us,” she said.

Senior Kayla Metzer, born and raised in Los Ange-les, doesn’t use the e2Campus system, and she hasn’t experienced any weather emergen-cies in Tahoe so far.

“All I know is that many people use it because we haven’t had a need for it since I have been here. There haven’t been any snow days or major emergencies since I arrived in 2012, that I know of,” said Meltzer.

However, weather emergen-cies are not the only reason why e2Campus is useful for our com-munity.

The recent shooting at Kimpqua Oregon Community College in Roseburg, Oregon resulted in the deaths of 10 students.

This is just one of the examples where a text alert could make the difference, even if in Oregon it failed to warn students and faculty.

“In an active shooter situation,

we would send a message stating ‘Hold in place.’ What that means is that you would need to stay

where you are and take cover,” said Thibodeau.

“For example, if you are in the art build-ing, and there is a shooter in Tahoe Center for Environ-mental Science, you

would hold in place, and so you wouldn’t be

walking on campus,” said Thibodeau.

“It’s not only for weather, but for every emergency, so we can let everybody know what to do so we don’t have chaos where everyone is going in different directions,” she continued.

The e2Campus system that SNC uses is the choice of over 800 campuses that everyday depend on the system around the United States , according to the e2Cam-pus website.

“Whether or not El Niño will actually hit the area or not, the more people to sign up, the more people benefit from it,” said Scripps.

FRANCESCA CURTOLOStaff Reporter

匀椀攀爀爀愀 一攀瘀愀搀愀 䌀漀氀氀攀最攀 猀琀甀搀攀渀琀猀 ☀ 昀愀挀甀氀琀礀 爀攀挀攀椀瘀攀 　─ 漀昀昀

Campus Safety: (775)-223-3107

Snow Line: (775) 881-7597

E2Campus alerts keep students informed

“It’s important to read your emails because you might

show up to school when it’s cancelled,” - Lizzie

Thibodeau.

October 29, 2015 FEATURE EAGLE’S EYE | 7

ODAL: Out with the old, in with the newFreshman year Utah expedition? ODAL faculty develops new curriculum progression to emphasize skills development and leadership application earlier in the program

Photo by Kat Daubner | Students on the Utah Extended Field Experience

STEPHANIE COATESFeature Editor

There are many programs and opportunities at Sierra Nevada College that make the small, eclectic, liberal arts school stand apart from other colleges and universities. The Outdoor Adventure Leadership Program, commonly referred to as ODAL, is one of them.

The ODAL program started up in 2008 to cater to students inter-ested in the outdoor industry. It is part of SNC’s Interdisciplinary Studies program, giving students the ability to pair ODAL with another discipline, such as En-vironmental Studies, Entrepre-neurship, Psychology, English/Journalism, Ski Business Resort Management or Art.

ODAL students spend much of their time out in the field navigating mountainous terrain, climbing granite walls, descend-ing snowy slopes, and maneu-

vering through river gorges, as explained on SNC’s website.

However, in addition to this, the program moves beyond small group field experiences to apply students’ learned leadership skills into the wider community through service learning and senior portfolio projects that require integration of disciplines, according to the website.

“When we started it seven years ago, we threw it against the wall to get it up and running,” said ODAL Program Director Rosie Hackett. “Then the students came, it became super popular, and the students then gave us feed-back on how we can improve. Now, we are seizing the moment and taking the time to reorganize the curriculum pro-gression to create a masterpiece.”

The ODAL revamp team, con-sisting of Hackett, Instructor Daryl Teittinen, Associ-ate Professor Andy Rost, Interdisci-plinary Studies Chair Katie Zanto and Dean of Students Will Hoida have brain-stormed the new curriculum progression to better highlight their main student learning outcome: skills development and leadership application. ODAL Student Representative Scout Sorcic has witnessed the revamp from its beginning stages.

“Rosie would mention an idea

to me and I would offer feed-back, but the curriculum change is largely her, Katie, Daryl, Will and Andy,” she said. “I am learn-ing about the official changes alongside everyone else.”

Three more elective field credits have been added on to the de-gree, increasing the requirement from 22 credits to 25 credits. Additionally, the program now offers optional emphasis for ma-jors who wish to be recognized for specific outdoor skill sets, in the form of three to five more elective field courses, according to Hackett.

The graphic above explains what courses have been added, along with the course progres-sion reorganization.

“The course progression makes sense now,” said Carissa Prie-busch, junior and first-year ODAL student. “You’re jumping right into the action of being outdoors.”

One of the prominent changes in the curriculum is the placement of the extended field course in Utah. Hackett said students will now take the extended field course at the end of their first year in the ODAL pro-gram, rather than as a capstone course their senior year. Getting this experience early on will instill concrete leadership and field skills, which students can apply to courses later on in the pro-

gression.The expedition course is

facilitated by Outward Bound outdoor school and provides a multi-element expedition (river, canyon, and mountain), accord-ing to Hackett.

“We decided it was impor-tant skills development for our aspiring outdoor leaders to gain the extended field experience in multiple environments, and it is way cooler,” she said. “They get an opportunity to run rivers like Cataract Canyon and then venture into the technical slot canyons of Dark and Bowdie

Canyons.”Hackett also

mentioned that Outward Bound offers free In-structor Train-ing Courses for aspiring instruc-tors. National Outdoor Leader-ship School, the outdoor school SNC used to go through for the Utah expedition, offers instructor training courses as well, but for a fee of about

$5,000. “We hope that our ODAL graduates might end up working for these schools,” she said.

Despite these exciting changes, with adjusting the sails doesn’t always come smooth seas.

“I think the hardest part has been figuring out how the faculty are going to advise, and how to space this year's overlap between upper division superstars and new ODAL 101 students on the extended field course,” Sorcic said.

Hackett and the rest of the ODAL faculty look forward to working out the kinks and intro-ducing the new and improved curriculum to ODAL students.

“I can’t tell you how excited I am about our new ODAL progression,” Hackett said. “We have a program now that re-ally develops outdoor skills and provides students opportunities for true autonomy in leading. This is what they need to develop professionally and get outdoor jobs.”

ODAL 101: “Why mess with a good thing? This is our foun-dational class for outdoor skills development!”

ODAL 150: “This is a new num-ber for our Wilderness First Responder course. The course content has not changed. Stu-dents are simply encouraged to take the course earlier in their ODAL progression .”

ODAL 201: This is the new and improved ODAL. “This is now a combination of the cur-riculum taught in our previous Outdoor Leadership class and the extended field experience from our Utah course. Students research and study the skills all semester in the classroom needed to be an outdoor leader. They then get to practice and hone their newly acquired skills on a three week field course in the remote canyons of Utah at the end of the semester. “

PHED/ODAL field electives: “We have always had a choice of field courses for our ODAL stu-dents. These include the Rogue River Expedition, Canyoneer-ing, AIARE level 1 avalanche certification, Backcountry Skiing/Snowboarding Yurt Ex-pedition, and Challenge Course Leadership. However, students were only required to take 3 elective field courses. The new progression requires students to take 5 credits of field and skills development. This hones our main mission of skills develop-ment!”

ODAL 301: “Environmental Interpretation - just like ODAL 101, this course has not been changed. This course focuses on interpretation skills (i.e. teaching and facilitation skills) and brings the environment in which we recreate to life.”

ODAL 350 and 355: “Leader-ship Practicum and Wilderness Orientation Leader: Students will now have a choice of taking WO or Leadership Practicum. Through classroom discus-sions, research, and activities, students learn the theory, the logistics, the risk management, and the facilitation and teach-ing involved with having total autonomy in leading an outdoor adventure. Student then either lead Wilderness Orientation in August or various outdoor adventure expeditions through-out the semester. This is their chance to practice, make mistakes, and develop their leadership skills!”

ODAL 401: “Outdoor Adven-ture Ethics and Land Man-agement: This course did not change much, it just improved! It’s the last course students take in their ODAL majors. This course presents a powerful tool for understanding the chal-lenges facing outdoor adven-ture leaders today. Beginning with the premise that outdoor adventure leadership must be informed by a well-developed land ethic, the curriculum delves into some of the thorni-est problems in land ethics, ex-ploring them in clear, straight-forward language.”

Rosie says...

Photo courtesy of Rosie Hac-kett | ODAL Program Director Rosie Hackett

Coming up on Thursday, Nov. 12: a professional panel of land managers and stewards will be discussing the topic of “Balancing Tourism/Recreation in Tahoe’s Fragile Environment” with ODAL students from the 400-level Outdoor Adventure Leadership Ethics and Land Management course. The panel discussion, moderated by Mark Kimbrough, will include professionals from Tahoe Transportation Network, Tahoe Conservancy, USFS Lake Tahoe Basin-Management Unit, and more. The event will be held from 1:30-3:30 p.m. in TCES room 215. Interested students and faculty may attend to listen to the panel discussion and learn more about environmental stewardship.

8 | EAGLE’S EYE FEATURE SNCEAGLESEYE.com

Energy levels were high, attention rates were low and The Grid Bar and Grill was packed beyond capacity. On the evening of Friday, Oct.16, the “Tuff Muffs” and “Strangers Welcome” movie

premiers were presented by Strange Brew. If you’ve ever been to a ski or snowboard movie pre-miere, you’ve probably sat down in a comfy theater seat to watch a 45-minute film on a giant projector screen. Strange Brew does things a bit different, hence the name. Strange Brew is a group of friends who all share a pas-sion for snowboarding. They met four years ago at Sierra Nevada College and over the years they have expanded in numbers by traveling and filming around the country. Too Hard is a production crew led by Danyale Patterson. Their main goal is to enjoy snowboarding in the streets, proving that females can get creative outside of mani-cured terrain parks.Senior Felix Mobarg described the event as “a really cool get together with a bunch of cool people having a good time.” He said that it couldn’t have been better.Senior Jake Brayton claims that he has been to at least 20 different premieres in his lifetime. He felt like having the premiere in a sports bar was awesome because the mov-ies are more accessible.“I think the bar worked good. It was kind of like a sports bar where they have TVs everywhere, so no matter where you were in the bar you could be watching the premiere on the same level as someone in the front row or in the front of the bar,” Brayton said. Mobarg felt like the confined space of a smaller bar venue made the premiere a better experience. He said that the music, movie and vibe of the bar all meshed to-

gether really well. “A bar is the best setting for a premiere. It was differ-ent because it was a smaller venue. There were screens everywhere and everyone was just hanging out having a good time and watching videos,” Mobarg said. “It wasn’t like everyone was just focused on this one big screen, which made it a more social, less serious event.”Junior Miranda McFarland showed up later in the evening and said she was disappointed she missed the all-female movie “Tuff Muffs,” produced by Too Hard. “I was looking forward to seeing that because I love to see girls ripping in an industry that is so male-dominat-ed,” McFarland said.However she was present for the showing of Strange Brew’s 25-minute movie “Strangers Welcome”.“The movie itself I thought was really creative, I loved the build up in the very beginning,” McFarland said.She said the premiere felt like a really good community outreach within the snowboarding scene in Tahoe. “Just bringing the different snowboard crews and groups together, I could feel the passion arising and could feel that energy inside of the bar,” McFarland said. “It was pretty wild to say the least.”The Strange Brew movie was supported by a number of smaller companies in the snowboard industry. The mov-ie’s style reflects that, in the sense that it was a smaller production, unlike larger more popular films produced by major companies.“It’s cool to see not-so-professionally produced snow-boarding, not like Redbull marketing or anything like that. I like the more low budget, raw style,” McFarland said.Some crews try to separate the party and snowboard-ing lifestyles, while Strange Brew and Too Hard aren’t afraid to combine these and show the interaction in their movies. “It’s like they combined those in the premiere event, and in the snowboarding film and that’s what makes Strange

Photo by McGregor Mangan SNC alumni and orginal Strange Brew filmer Stephen Wojcie-chowski was enjoying the event.

Photo by Jake Pollock Danny Kern reads ra-ffle numbers while alumni Ian Daly yells them out over the microphone.

Photo by Danny Kern This girl decided free entry through the window was a good ida.

Photo by Danny Kern Past SNC student Jake Casler was in need of a t-shirt, luckily for him Strange Brew had plenty to get rid of.

Photo by Jake Pollock Senior Marina Mccoy was more than excited to hear her number called during the raffle.

Photo by Jake Pollock Strange Brew raffled off over $2,000 worth of product and swag after the movies played.

October 29, 2015 FEATURE EAGLE’S EYE | 9

premieres their snowboard film “Strangers Welcome” and TooHard’s film “It’s Lit” at the Grid in Kings Beach.

gether really well. “A bar is the best setting for a premiere. It was differ-ent because it was a smaller venue. There were screens everywhere and everyone was just hanging out having a good time and watching videos,” Mobarg said. “It wasn’t like everyone was just focused on this one big screen, which made it a more social, less serious event.”Junior Miranda McFarland showed up later in the evening and said she was disappointed she missed the all-female movie “Tuff Muffs,” produced by Too Hard. “I was looking forward to seeing that because I love to see girls ripping in an industry that is so male-dominat-ed,” McFarland said.However she was present for the showing of Strange Brew’s 25-minute movie “Strangers Welcome”.“The movie itself I thought was really creative, I loved the build up in the very beginning,” McFarland said.She said the premiere felt like a really good community outreach within the snowboarding scene in Tahoe. “Just bringing the different snowboard crews and groups together, I could feel the passion arising and could feel that energy inside of the bar,” McFarland said. “It was pretty wild to say the least.”The Strange Brew movie was supported by a number of smaller companies in the snowboard industry. The mov-ie’s style reflects that, in the sense that it was a smaller production, unlike larger more popular films produced by major companies.“It’s cool to see not-so-professionally produced snow-boarding, not like Redbull marketing or anything like that. I like the more low budget, raw style,” McFarland said.Some crews try to separate the party and snowboard-ing lifestyles, while Strange Brew and Too Hard aren’t afraid to combine these and show the interaction in their movies. “It’s like they combined those in the premiere event, and in the snowboarding film and that’s what makes Strange

Brew. That’s the lifestyle that they’re not afraid to live up to,” McFarland said. “People either love you for it or they hate you for it.”After both movies had been played, SNC alumnus Ian Daly and Senior Danny Kern held a raffle with over $2,000 worth of product and artwork to give away.“It was sick because a $5 cover isn’t anything for a bar, especially one putting on an event like that. With the $5, you got a raffle ticket, and with that one raffle ticket, I won a goodie bag that had a sick pair of Nolan sweat pants, a DVD and some other stuff in it,” Brayton said. “Everybody that got into the bar that night was fair game to win some sick stuff.”A ton of people ended up winning different cool things during the raffle, and some even walked away with prod-uct that had been tossed out into the crowd, according to Mobarg.“Both of my roommates got a bag of goodies, and some sick pictures,” Mobarg said. “The pictures had a little sentence on the back, and I thought that was really cool and it made the prizes more personal.”By the end of the night, over 100 people had come through the windows and doors of The Grid. People from all over Tahoe and beyond came to watch, support and party with the Too Hard and Strange Brew crews.“It was such a sick turn out. There were probably 130 people there,” Brayton said. “I feel like I saw everybody I knew and loved all in one place at one time, and it’s not very often that you get to experience that.”[Author Danny Kern is a member of Strange Brew and the producer of the film “Strangers Welcome”. He also organized this event with the help of alumnus Ian Daly.]

DANNY KERNStaff Reporter

Photo by Gillian Montgomery Art student Collyn Aubrey sold her handmade t-shirts during the premiere.

Photo by Danny Kern Danyale Patterson and Fancy Ru-therford were proud to be representing Too Hard and all other females who aren’t afraid to board in the streets.

Photo by Jake Pollock Junior Jake Brayton found himself a lucky winner, as he only had one raffle ticket.

10 | EAGLE’S EYE FEATURE SNCEAGLESEYE.com

Art Students and the JAPR Process Art students participate in Junior Art Portfolio Review (JAPR) on October 16th in Prim Library. This midway exhibition is required for all students pursuing a major in art. Students have roughly ten minutes to present their work, followed by a Q&A from the art faculty and audience

The JAPR is structured like a common critique familar to all art students. A major difference in the JAPR, however, is not just the artwork is critiqued, but also the artist’s exhibit and overall presentation.

Critiques are integral in an art-

ist’s developement and progres-sion. Hearing critiques allows for the artist to see they’re work from a different perspective.

Many influences can be refer-enced into an artist’s work. As viewers try and interpret those influences, sometimes it’s inter-

esting to compare interpretations to the artist’s actual influences. Sometimes the artist may not have realized they included some influences when asked about them.

For students who exhibit in JAPR, the pressure to exploit

their work, their secrets, may seem over-whelming, but as professionals, part of their job will be to expose themselves to the public for praise or ridi-cule.

How can art be explained in one sentence? One quote, said by Leo Tolstoy, explains, “Art is a microscope which the artist fixes on the secrets of his soul, and shows to people these secrets which are common to all.”

Sierra Nevada College’s art pro-grams, faculty, visiting artists,

facilities and resources help shape student work to a level that they may have never compre-hended. As JAPR students con-tinue to explore their disciplines, they take feedback and critiques to further delve into their pieces. At the end of their careers here at SNC, all students majoring in art have a final BFA Gallery exhibit.

Photos by Carissa Prei-busch | (Top Left) - Senior Danny Kern recieves fee-dback from faculty mem-bers. (Top Right) - April Agranoff answers ques-tions asked by the au-dience during her JAPR. (Above) - Shaffer Smart presents. (Below) Student artork on display.

October 29, 2015 FEATURE EAGLE’S EYE | 11

Halloween Around the WorldAs americans craft and decide what costumes to wear to their yearly halloween parties, people from other countries find themselves acknowledging the time of year most represented by the dead differently DANNI HICKSStaff Reporter

In the United States, kids dress up in costumes and go trick or treating. In many other countries, however, families gather solemnly around the graves of their loved ones, remembering them by paying their re-spects.

Halloween, as we know it, originated in Ireland and was originally called Samhain. Samhain was celebrated on the first day of November by the ancient Celts as a festival marking the beginning of winter, according to History.com.

Day of the Dead, or Dia de los Muertos, is a hybrid of two traditions.

According to nps.gov, “The Aztecs of central Mexico, who were at the height of their empire from roughly 1300 to 1500 C.E. (Common Era), had annual ‘death’ ceremonies to honor those that died dur-ing the year.”

When the Spanish conquis-tadors conquered the Aztec Empire in 1521, they brought with them some of their own traditions.

“In Catholicism, and thus throughout Spain, All Souls Day and All Saints Day are holidays that honor the faith-fully departed. When the conquistadors conquered the Aztecs, the Aztec traditions of honoring the dead com-bined with the Spanish tradi-tions of honoring the dead to create the holiday known today as Día de Los Muertos,” according to nps.gov.

“On Oct. 31, you go and clean up the graveyard and make it look really nice, and at home you make an altar. We set up special bread, ojal-dra and un muerto. You also set up fruit or their favorite drink. You aren’t allowed to touch it or eat it,” said Sopho-more Marvin Castrejon.

Castrejon visits Mexico four to five times a year to visit family and has participated in traditional Dia de los Muer-tos events.

“Basically what we all believe is that this is their day to come back and to be on earth again and watch their families and see all the

things we gave them. It’s a very widespread belief,” said Castrejon. “Americans think that it’s like candy skulls and dancing, but it’s really a time to celebrate your loved ones. It’s a very serious holiday. You do not mess around; you don’t go messing up other people’s graves or anything.”

In the U.S., we have Ameri-canized the ancient holiday, and sometimes use it as a theme for a party or dance, but in Mexico, the traditions are still taken very seriously.

“I really want to make clear, that this is not a party. It’s not sugar skulls and getting candy and getting drunk. It’s a very serious thing. People should know that and respect that,” said Castrejon. “Sugar skulls are not a big part of

our traditions. When sugar skulls are used, they are only used to brighten up the grave site.”

The idea of a holiday to pay your respects to the deceased is practiced all around the world, and each country has it’s own version.

“In France we celebrate on the first of November, it’s called Toussaint- All Saints Day,” said Fulbright teaching assistant Stephanie Hamel. “Basically you go to the graveyard, and you just clean the graveyard of your family and close friends, put flowers around the grave and make it look really nice.”

Hamel explained that Tous-saint is a Catholic holiday honoring all Saints. It is a time when French pay respect

to their deceased relatives. All Saints’ Day, the first of November, sees families gathering to visit cemeteries to clean and decorate tombs, mainly with chrysanthe-mums.

“During the season of the Toussaint, you use a certain kind of flower, a very beauti-ful flower called a chrysan-themum,” said Hamel. “If you don’t know about the use of the flower and you just find them pretty and try to offer them to someone, it’s really ill seen because they are the official flowers for the dead in France. So if you ever go to France and you want to give flowers to people, don’t buy those. They are exclusively for the graves and the dead. “

Hamel said that our west-

ernized traditions of dressing up appeared in France about 20 years ago, but never really caught on.

“It’s pretty grim holiday in France, but we all have differ-ent ways of celebrating differ-ent things,” said Hamel.

In many countries, like France and Mexico, this holi-day is a bittersweet time for the living to remember and pay respect to the deceased.

“Halloween is not a typi-cal Italian tradition, rather something we imported from the Anglo-Saxon culture. Our culture is tight with the Catholic calendar, and ac-cording to that, the 31 and 1 are respectively the all dead and all Saints day,” said Ju-nior Francesca Curtolo.

Like the French, Italian tra-dition has them place chry-santhemums on the freshly cleaned graves of their loved ones, as the remember those who have passed on.

“We also celebrate the night of Halloween dressing up with scary costumes. The schools are closed for both of these days, and it’s funny because for kids this means Halloween party, but for adults it means going to the cemetery and bringing flow-ers to the dears,” said Cur-tolo. “My grandma gets mad when I used to say that we have ‘Halloween holiday’.”

According to History.com, many countries around the world have their own version of celebration. The Chinese celebrate the “Hungry Ghost Festival” in mid-July, it is customary to float river lan-terns to remember those who have died. Romanians ob-serve the Feast of St. Andrew, patron saint of Romania, on November 30. On St. An-drew’s Eve, ghosts are said to be about. In England, on All Souls’ Eve, families stay up late, and little “soul cakes” are eaten. At the stroke of mid-night, there is solemn silence among households.

“I’m completely OK with Halloween, as long as it stays its own thing, separate from our holiday. Don’t go out and pretend that someone else’s holiday is your holiday. It’s not. There are boundaries that have to be respected.” said Castrejon.

Photo courtesy of Danni Hicks | A selection of chrysanthemum flowers

Photo courtesy of Danni Hicks | A murial created in respect of lost loved ones

12 | EAGLE’S EYE A&E SNCEAGLESEYE.com

Writers in the Woods: Luis Alberto UrreaHe’s known for writing stories based upon his upbringing, though students revere him for his personalitySTEPHANIE COATESFeature Editor

Acclaimed writer Luis Alberto Urrea captivated the crowd with his down to earth, humorous personality and expanse of knowledge from past experienc-es at the Sierra Nevada College’s second Writers in the Woods event for the 2015-16 school year.

The Tahoe Center for Environ-mental Sciences (TCES) room 139 buzzed with students, fac-ulty and community members mingling in anticipation for the event, which began at 7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 23.

June Saraceno, English Pro-gram chair, began the night with some background information on the author and provided him a warm welcome to the podium.

It wasn’t long before Urrea had the audience booming with laughter and smiles.

“They always ask me, what’s the shortcut? Here’s the shortcut,” he said. “Suffer for 40 years.”

Urrea was a 2005 Pulitzer Prize finalist for nonfiction and a member of the Latino Literature Hall of Fame.

His Mexican-American dual-culture experiences have allowed him to traverse across themes of love, loss, victory and growth from a unique perspective.

Born in Tijuana, Mexico, to a Mexican father and American mother, Urrea was granted the opportunity to experience life from several different perspec-tives.

He described the “culture war”

growing up, with his father try-ing desperately to raise Urrea as a Mexican boy, while his mother did everything in her power to raise Urrea as an American boy. As a young child, each parent read Urrea countless stories in their respective languages, helping to captive his interests in reading and writing.

According to his website, Urrea is now the best-selling author of 13 books. He has won awards for his poetry, fiction and essays.

Urrea said he likes to incorpo-

rate loved ones from his life into his stories.

His most recent novel, “Into the Beautiful North”, chronicles a group of men from a small town in Mexico immigrating to the U.S.

After seeing the film “The Magnificent Seven”, a group of young women decide to follow the men north and persuade them to return to their beloved village. The novel earned a citation of excellence from the American Library Association

Rainbow’s Project.Many students were deeply

impacted and inspired by Urrea’s words.

“I absolutely loved Urrea’s talk,” said Stephanie Hamel, one of the Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching assistants at SNC. “I don’t know how he managed to be so sharp, hilarious and deep at the same time. I went through a complete emotional roller coaster.”

“His story about the death of his father was gut wrenching,

but I love how he managed to make it something so meaning-ful through his writing. And how he mentioned it as a gift, as ironic and sad as it was,” she said.

Hamel lived in Mexico for two years and said she could relate a lot to Urrea’s words.

“His take on gender, on what it is to be a man or a woman in any given cultural context was so interesting. He managed to make me feel somewhat homesick for Mexico,” she said.

The author was able to reach more than just the international audience with his insight and experiences.

“Urrea’s talk was fantastic because I was able to identify with him, even though our lives are so different,” said Sophomore Nicole Ross.

Urrea has taught writing work-shops at Harvard, Massachusetts Bay Community College, Uni-versity of Colorado and Univer-sity of Louisiana-Lafayette.

He is now a professor of creative writing at University of Illinois-Chicago.

Rounding out his talk at SNC, Urrea gave one last piece of advice to aspiring writers.

“I always tell my students, write because you cannot not write,” he said.

The next Writers in the Woods event will be held at 7 p.m. on November 6, in TCES 139, and will feature Visiting Writer and Distinguished Professor Chris Millis on his experiences as prize-winning novelist, screen-writer, producer and cartoonist.

Photo by Stephanie Coates | Luis Alberto Urrea speaks at Writers in the Woods

screened. After the films, each filmmaker answered questions from the audience.

The Q&A was conversa-tional while Day, Hatchett and Jones shared their insights on the evolution of snowboard-ing and the leaps it has taken over the past 20 years in both progression of the sport and also improvements in technol-ogy in the film industry.

“It’s so easy with digital to just blast away and not really think about what you’re do-ing, so I think learning from film was a really good founda-tion for us to start with,” said

Day, a man whose work in the industry began before

the luxury of digital photogra-phy existed.

One of the films brought the audience to the Alaskan back-country during the winter of ‘95, a time when documenta-tion of these sacred landscapes was still rare. After playing this film, Day, Hatchett and Jones jumped ahead several years, sharing a film from the winter of 2011 in the Sierra Nevada.

With creative and beauti-ful cinematography, this film took the audience into the mountains before California entered its current drought,

subtly bringing the attention back to the festival’s recurring theme of the environment and its essential: water.

The festival came to an end the following day after several more films were screened. The weekend marked the first of what the community hopes to see many more of: an eye-opening and inspira-tional learning experience that brought together many people of the greater Tahoe/Truckee region.

Photo by Bekah Ashley | The three filmakers at the SWEP event answer questions about the films and offer insights regarding the status and evolution of snowboarding.

SWEP, from page 4

To learn more about the event and SWEP as an organi-zation, visit http://4swep.org.

October 29, 2015 A&E EAGLE’S EYE | 13

just by glancing at it. As oppose to sort of interpreting

it through paragraphs and texts,” he said.

So what was the story or mes-sage that Knight was trying to tell through his presentation?

“Every 72 hours is probably a rough estimate when someone is either killed or beaten, and most of those are not caught by cell phones,” Knight said.

The idea of an educational pre-sentation occurred to Knight after the Ferguson protest.

“I was doing another strip about police brutality and I was sitting there and I was going, ‘man, I’ve been doing this for 20 years,’ and every time I do a strip, I’m like, ‘I hope this is the last one I have to do.’ Of course, it never is the last one I have to do,” Knight said.

“Suddenly, I was like, ‘Ok, what if I collected the stuff and just do a slideshow showing the modern history of police brutality in the U.S?’”

Gangster rap music has been ad-dressing and talking about police brutality since before 1992.

This is when Knight first began making strips revolved around police brutality.

“I just wanted to inform people that this was going on a lot longer than you ever thought, and it’s go-ing on a lot more,” Knight said.

The presentation was an arrange-ment of Knight’s police brutality comic strips that have been run in papers like the Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle and L.A. Weekly.

“He tries to kind of modulate the audiences reaction in a really interesting way. I think part of it is keeping the audience open to the

subjects. If the strips were just in a serious way, the audience might get too depressed or tense,” Lanier said.

Junior Tajmah Hall grew up surrounded by family that was interested in comics.

She has been reading comic strips since elementary school and she continues to read them now.

In her younger years all she had was either the newspaper or cable TV, so it was one or the other, Hall said.

“Keith’s comics are what I’ve been grown up on,” Hall said.

Growing up, Hall would always see Knight’s strip in her local

newspaper. She always wondered

who he was. “To actually fit the comic with the per-son was interest-ing,” Hall said.Hall can relate to

some of the experi-ences that Knight

brings up in his strips. “Don’t stare at the only black

kid in class. That really singles them out and makes them feel isolated. That is the isolation Keith was talking about,” Hall said.

Knight’s presentation wrapped up by making the point that this concept of white privilege is something that will not change, and it’s something that needs to be seen and used to make a dif-ference.

“I think his message is pretty clear. White privilege is what it is, and it’s something that gives you power in this society. You can ac-tually use that power for positive social change,” Lanier said.

CHRONICLES, from front page

What’s the

Word?: TrumpismsThe GOP candidate in all his glorious fluster.

Winners recieve nothing but victorious self-satisfaction... unless they’re Donald Trump.

“Don’t stare atthe only black kid

in the class.”Tajmah Hall, Junior

CATCH KEITH KNIGHT’S WORK

in the Tahoe Gallery

OCT. 12 - NOV. 13

(ABOVE) Knight’s work on display in the Tahoe Gallery (RIGHT) A collec-tion of published work. | Photos by Danny Kern

14 | EAGLE’S EYE FORUM SNCEAGLESEYE.com

As you take a look into this weeks Eagle’s Eye publication, you’ll find that our popular Dueling Views segment centers on gun legislation. We’d like to focus in on a particularly harrowing

consequence of relaxed gun legislation- school shootings. It seems that everyone — media pundits, psychologists and your “aver-

age Joe”- has an opinion as to why school shootings happen. Arguments center around the degree to which several factors, including mental illness, substance abuse, prescription medication, gun accessibility, bul-lying and violent entertainment, influence the actions of mass shooters. However the arguments weigh out, there is always a level of prevention every institution should take when preparing for the unthinkable event of an active shooter situation.

After Columbine, schools around the nation almost instantaneously implemented protocol meant to protect students and faculty in case of a school shooting. In grade schools students are typically well-accounted for at all times during the school day, making the implementation of protocol fairly simple. For college institutions with student bodies that arrive and leave campus randomly throughout the day, protocol is more difficult to implement.

At SNC, alerts are automated via the E2Campus text messaging system. Considering the recent shootings at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon, a small college close to home, makes us wonder whether it isn’t time to revisit our own protocol for an active shooter situation.

On Oct. 1, 2015 Umpqua Community College’s text notification alert systems failed to notify students and teachers, who provided cell phone numbers, about a shooter being on campus. The only information pres-ent at the time of the shooting was a campus wide email sent by a faculty member.

“There could never be an active shooter protocol that can cover every possible contingency in these situations,” said President Alan Walker.

Some SNC community members have signed up with the E2Campus text messaging system. Currently the system provides weather and school closing alerts to users. Lets hope that’s all the system will ever have to be used for.

SIGN UP TODAY!1. Go to sierranevada.edu2. Select undergraduate or graduate

student at top of page3. Scroll to “Emergencies and weather” 4. Select “e2Campus: Sign up for

e2Campus”5. Create a new account (make sure to

distinguish student or faculty)6. Confirm phone number and your

done!

Staff Editorial:

Imagining an active shooter at SNC

October 29, 2015 FORUM EAGLE’S EYE | 15

Gun ownership in this country has been as much a part of our history as the freedom of speech and the right to

vote. Whether it’s for hunting, sport or self-defense, this has been a vital part of protecting the freedoms this country was founded on. As of late, guns have been under the mi-croscope with the rise of mass shootings in our country. A quick response to the root cause of the mass shootings is to blame the gun. It’s loud and scary and is being demonized more and more every day by the press. But these guns never killed anyone. Not a single gun has ever killed a

human being. The gun was in operation of a human in order for these deaths to have occurred. So, with that in mind, the root cause can only be one thing: the shooters themselves. The second amendment mentions the need for a citizen militia if an enemy were ever to rise up and attack our country. George Washington wrote a federal law in 1792 that required every able-bodied man to have military grade weapons and ammunition in case of an attack. While many may argue that in this day and age this sort of firepower is unnecessary, this is mostly due to the fact we have not had a large-scale attack on our country since the American Revolution. To believe that this country is impenetrable by outside attacks is extremely near-sighted and overly op-timistic. With men and women trained at an early age how to use these weapons, our ability to protect ourselves, our families and even our country improves vastly.Many on the pro gun ban or gun control side will argue that the more we allow gun laws to stay prevalent, the more gun deaths will occur. While this may make sense on paper, the numbers do not add up. Take Washington D.C. for example. With some of the most stringent gun control laws in the entire United States at only 3.6% gun ownership, this should show a decrease

in gun related deaths. However, the rate of gun deaths per 100,000 inhabitants has stayed at a rate of 16.5. This means a near average of 100 deaths per year. With about 600,000 residents total in the District of Columbia, this is an appalling number and one that does not reflect the points pro gun control advocates argue. Then, take Vermont. A similar population size of about 650,000 residents, gun owner-ship is at about 44% in the state. Yet the state of Vermont has the lowest number gun related deaths per 100,000 people in the entire country at only 0.3. This leaves Vermont with only 2 deaths a year. These statistics, provided by the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) disprove the theory that more guns ownership equals more gun deaths. What I can take from this is the knowledge of possible gun ownership is one of the many reasons criminals are unwilling to take advantage of people in states with “looser” gun control laws. A final thing to consider is that many of our daily commodities and tools that we use can be considerably dangerous and even deadly. As a whole, we have come to the conclusion that the ability to own and operate a vehicle that can drive over 100 mph is overall a positive and needed tool to transport goods, travel and basic needs of getting from place to place to keep up

with the high paced world of today. With this, we also have to accept the nearly 33,000 deaths per year that result from vehicle related accidents. As of now, gun related deaths sit around 32,000 a year. This is a number that can be brought down by doing the one thing that many do not want to take the time to do, which is teaching proper gun ownership. You cannot just go out and buy a car without having taken a drivers education course, getting behind the wheel training with an instructor, driving with a learner’s permit with someone who already owns a driver’s license themselves and getting at least 50 hours behind the wheel before one can own and drive a vehicle on their own.Gun ownership has been a pivotal part of this countries history and has remained in the constitution because of its record of helping maintain peace and freedom. To pull this amendment would be the beginning of the end of this document’s overall integrity that has allowed us to live the rich and fulfilling lives we have been granted. Not everyone needs to have or own guns, but everyone with the proper training and wherewithal should be able to own a tool to use to hunt for their own food, provide recreation at the the gun range or in worst case scenarios, protect themselves from potential harm.

JACKSON HEATHOpinion Editor

If guns are supposed to make us safe, America should be the safest country in the world. We have more guns per capita than any other place in the

world.This is far from true.While many claim the right to own guns for peace of mind, self-defense, hunting, hobby and target shooting, or just oppose

infringement upon their “Second Amend-ment rights”, does this really outweigh and justify guns’ destructive consequences?Guns make it easy for angry, hot-tempered men and women to shoot their spouses and kids, for the mentally ill to act out whatever pain they are suffering, for violent criminals, for the suicidal, or for children who find guns kept by “properly trained” owners to accidentally shoot themselves or others. It’s quite ironic that these deadly tools are supposed to keep us alive and safe, isn’t it?Two-thirds of homicides in the U.S. involve guns, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Yes, we need stronger, better programs and laws to help the mentally ill, but in the end, it’s their ease of access to weapons that have caused so much destruction at such a big scale.According to data compiled by the United Nations, the U.S. gun murder rate is about 20 times the average for all other devel-oped nations, meaning that Americans are 20 times more likely to be killed by a gun

than someone from another developed country.Anti-gun control advocates will argue that if guns are outlawed, criminals and those who try hard enough will still be able to obtain firearms and abuse them. While this is true, one, guns will be much harder to obtain, therefore discouraging those who could previously purchase a gun on a whim and carry out an act violence, and two, arrests can be made quicker and earlier if all guns are illegal and it becomes a valid reason to arrest someone and con-fiscate their gun(s) for that reason.Britain is experiencing the progressive result of outlawing guns eight years ago. In 1996, Thomas Hamilton walked into an elementary school in Dunblane, Scotland, and shot and killed 16 children and their teacher before killing himself. He carried out the attack with two rifles and four handguns, all which were legally owned. Hamilton had fully complied with gun control laws.This act of violence prompted the Firearm Act of 1997, essentially prohibiting the

ownership of all firearms in Britain. In 2011, guns were used to kill 59 people in all of England and Wales, compared with 77 gun homicides that same year in Wash-ington D.C. alone.According to a study from the CDC, which compared deaths in America in-volving guns to deaths caused by terrorism from 2001 to 2013, gun violence surpasses well over 406,000 deaths, while terrorism is a mere 3,380. If you take away the 9/11 attacks, only 350 deaths.So, why is it that when we hear the word terrorism, it seems to be the utmost thing to fear here in America, whilst we have become completely desensitized to gun deaths and mass shootings?In today’s day and age, there is no defen-sible reason for guns to be a part of our culture. They exist for one purpose: to kill. Nobody should have the ability to end someone else’s life with the contraction of a finger; the ease of pulling the trigger.

STEHANIE COATESFeature Editor

Dueling ViewsIs it time for more gun control in America? Or does gun education need an update?

NEXT WEEK: America’s current contenders for the presidency have an unexpected star: a

democratic socialist in the form of 74 year old man, Bernie Sanders. Does the White House need a fresh view

on politics to fix the current issues regarding the increasing gap of wealth distribution caused by capitalism?

Or does a balancing of wages and taxes end up creating a country completely dependent on the government?

16 | EAGLE’S EYE CAMPUS SNCEAGLESEYE.com

Student Profile: Marcus Rice

Marcus Rice, known around campus for being one of the smart science and math guys who can talk to anyone, left home in central California to move

eastwards to persue his interests in biology in Lake Tahoe.

JAKOB CASTROContributor

What brought you to SNC?I had other options, but for the degree I want, this school was the cheapest and far enough from home. But it’s still kind of close so I can go home whenever I want.

Are you glad you chose to live out here?Yea, because the school is small so it makes it easy to get my work done. I loved making the drive out here and I’ve made really close friends.

Are you going to stay out here all year or go home in the summer? This year I plan on renting a house with a few of my friends at the end of the school year and working all summer and then keep the house all next year as well.

Do you like living in the dorms?It’s a cool experience the first year but I’d rather live off campus because the quiet hour and meal plan rules aren’t really fair. I shouldn’t have to pay for food I don’t really want. I’d rather microwave some chicken nuggets for 5 dollars instead of having to pay $11.50 for a meal I might not even want.

Is the cafeteria food bad?The food here isn’t bad, it’s just sometimes it can get repetitive and no one really wants to eat the same foods over and over again.

What is your favorite thing to eat?Nothing beats a good BBQ with ice cold beverages.

What is it like where you from?I’m from Stockton CA, which currently has one of the highest crime rates per capita. So it’s pretty nice… not really.

What is there to do out there?I don’t really like spend-ing time in Stockton. If my roommate Jake and I are both back at home, I usually go to where he lives because it’s only 15 minutes from me and very differ-ent. He’s a hick from the country part of California called Manteca and we get away with more stuff out there. We can pretty much do whatever we want.

What are your interests?I like to fish, hunt, ride quads and play sports.

Do you play any sports for the school? No, that’s one of the few things I don’t like about the school is the small selec-tion of sports here.

Did you play sports in high school?Yes, in high school I played baseball and football. Actu-ally I played baseball my whole life and it’s pretty much my passion.

Do you have a political opinion?My roommate and I talk about this every now and then. He’s pretty passion-ate about this country and the way he puts it is that “In today’s world in this country it is getting more and more full of weak spineless sissies who have a false sense of entitlement and hardly anyone works for what they want and our political system is a joke, because the people in office don’t really care about what is right for the nation as a whole they only care about keeping their political can-didate in office for financial gain. And quite frankly it’s sickening.” And I honestly agree 100%.

How do you think this issue can be fixed? I don’t think there is a real solution. The only way I see this problem getting better is once the people open their eyes and see that there is a serious issue and the only way to fix it would be to stop segregat-ing ourselves and come together and do what’s right.