Volume XXX - Issue 6 November 3, 2011 www.theskylineview.com

Read about what during Skyloween on Pg 3

Students participate inrally against the cuts

By Nina Smirnov

Photo by Will Nacouzi/the SkyliNe VieW

Skyline Against the Cuts volunteers man a booth.

Rally held to voice concerns over cuts

Retrospectback on Pg 7

In an attempt to stimulate and inform the Skyline student body, Skyline Against the Cuts held an in-quad informative event on Thursday, Oct. 27 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The event, organized by student Michael Madden (who has been involved in Occupy movements throughout the Bay Area), was a collective effort made by Skyline Against the Cuts, the Black Student Union, Gay-Straight Alliance and LASO. Students’ voices could be heard over loudspeakers in the quad as they called out to fellow students in an attempt to promote activism and action against ever-increasing budget cuts.

“The situation with the cuts [in California] is becoming very seri-ous,” Madden said. “We’re here with an essential proposal to actually block the UC Regents from meeting on the 16 of November at UCSF, where they will vote on increasing fees at UC campuses 81 percent over three or four years, making total tuition come to $22,000, excluding books and housing. We’re talking about the death of public education here in California.”

Despite the fact that they are lacking their original organizer in addition to their faculty adviser, Skyline professor Michael Hoffman, Skyline Against the Cuts garnered

interest from students looking to make a difference.

“I started helping pass out flyers and started getting really involved in [Skyline Against the Cuts],” says first-semester student Elisa Jimenez, who volunteered at the event. “It’s affecting [students]. There are a lot of people that we passed out flyers to and they [say] they’ll come by, and you know they’re not actually going to come by because they’re

not that interested. But it’s because they don’t know; they don’t know exactly what’s happening. We need to educate them to show them that this is how it’s affecting you, and this is what’s going to happen.”

The green table cloth donning the Skyline Against the Cuts table caught the eye of several students who, upon walking up to the table, could pick up information on Sky-line Against the Cuts and sign their name on a pledge sheet to participate in events during November. Students

An ongoing investigation is be-ing conducted into the alleged sexual assault that occurred on the Skyline campus on Tuesday, Oct. 25.

According to a press release made by the San Bruno Police De-partment, the incident took place at roughly 8:30 p.m. on the first floor of Building 1. The victim informed police that she was in a vacant classroom when an unknown male entered and sexually assaulted her, fleeing shortly after.

The suspect is described as a white male, standing at 5’11, be-tween the ages of 25 and 30. He has an athletic build and a tattoo or scar on his neck. The investigation is being conducted by the San Bruno police and is being led by Detective Sergeant Troy Fry.

According to Commander Hanlon of the San Bruno Police Department, information could not be released about the nature of the incident or future courses of action that the police may undertake because the investigation is ongoing. Skyline’s campus security has responded by increasing patrols conducted on the campus in an effort to main-tain safety and reassure students, as elaborated by Skyline Chief of Public Safety Brian Tupper.

“We’ve added extra patrols, at least until the month of November,” Tupper said. “Basically, the idea is more visual deterrence.” Tupper

who wrote their email address on this list will be sent emails informing them of upcoming opportunities to organize and protest.

“We want classes!” says second-semester student Gabriela Saucedo. “We need this. This is our educa-tion—that’s what we need. It’s simple, isn’t it?”

According to an informative sheet titled “Budget Cuts and Sky-line College,” “Enrollment in com-munity colleges has grown by 44 percent in the last 15 years, yet funds have continually been divested. The college system would have grown 5.5 percent in 2009-10, but instead has shrunk by 4.8 (percent)!” This was but one of the many facts given to students in hopes of motivating students to act.

“A right to education is being eaten away much faster than we would have expected because things are becoming so serious,” Madden said. “What we’re really talking about when we’re talking about cuts is we’re talking about the end of access to education for people of color.”

For more information on what you can do to participate in up-coming acts of civil disobedience, students are welcomed to attend Skyline Against the Cuts meetings, which take place every Wednesday

also added that there were certain actions that students could take to further assure their security, such as travelling in a group or request-ing a security escort from campus security.

The assault mars what is an otherwise positive security record for Skyline, as indicated by past data from ope.ed.gov, a government website which gives information on frequency of reported crimes of U.S. schools. Only one aggravated assault had occurred in the past three years, and no crimes of a sexual nature had been reported.

Skyline student government has begun to discuss possible means through which to deal with the incident, as elaborated by student government senator Mark Lipkin.

“It (the assault) was mentioned in the meeting,” Lipkin said. “We discussed setting up some sort of support system for the victim, but nothing has been enacted yet.”

Students such as Isabel Maranan have also begun to take their own measures to ensure further safety.

“I have evening classes, and sometimes it is really dark,” Maranan said. “Me and my friends started walking in groups.”

The investigation is ongoing, and any students with any information are urged to call the San Bruno Police at 650-616-7100 or SMCCCD Public Safety at 650-738-4199.

“We’re talking about the death of public

education here in Cali-fornia”

-Michael Madden

Assault investigation ongoingSan Bruno police conducting investigation into assault

By Matt Pacelli

Photo by Matt Pacelli/the SkyliNe VieW

Room 1118, where the assault took place, is now off limits

Read about Trojan Chat with Veronica Uy on Pg 8

� November 3, 2011Skyline ViewThe

N e w sThe Staff

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Will NacouziSocial Media Editor

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Matt PacelliFeatures Editor

Juliana LeonOpinions Editor

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Rich EstradaChief Copy Editor

Liz McMahonCopy EditorNina Smirnov

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Terence ChinSarawut Saechang

Editors At LargeJJ Valdez

Marc ArguelloJay Johnson

Staff WritersLea NaqishbendiCamille Wieland

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PhotographersJonathan Chan

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JJ ValdezAlyssa Koszis

Faculty Adviser Nancy Kaplan-Biegel

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Skyline participates in Diaspora Project

The Counsel General of South Africa, Nombuso Ndomo, visited Skyline College’s Center for In-ternational Trade Development on Thursday, Oct. 20 to discuss the Af-rican Diaspora Project, particularly with the college’s involvement in the Genographic Project.

During her visit, Ndomo ex-pressed interest in the Genographic Project and met with Professor Moynihan to talk about the project and its purpose and what role Sky-line could play in it.

The goal of the project is to discover and map human migra-tion and immigration as far back as 60,000 years to as early as 10,000 years ago.

Ndomo’s interest in the project stems from social challenges present in her native South Africa, where the after-effects of Apartheid linger and the country is still divided along racial lines. Ndomo hopes that the genetic evidence from the project is enough to convince people in not only South Africa, but also here in the US that we are all the same, re-gardless of ethnicity or skin color.

Current research conducted by the project has helped to demonstrate thus far that human beings share 99.9 percent of the same genetic material, with the only difference being 0.1 percent, which manifests itself as the physiological adapta-tions humans have made to their environment. These external varia-tions, such as different skin pigments

or eye shapes, are what are often used to describe a specific group as a “race.”

The Center for International Trade Development’s Executive Di-rector, Richard A.F. Soyombo, found genetic information to be especially supportive in pointing out the trivial-ity of racism.

“Therefore, based on that 0.1 percent that you think you’re dif-ferent than I am?” Soyombo said. “That there’s so much division in the US?”

The project also encouraged Professor Moynihan to partner with National Geographic and a few other organizations to create Sociology 143 (Sociology of Migration and Immigration). National Geographic provided the funding for the class while Moynihan wrote the cur-riculum.

Sociology 143 will cover the So-ciology of Migration and Immigra-tion and will examine the patterns, environmental conditions, political

context, economic factors and cul-tural identity of human migration over the course of human history.

Currently, students in Anthropol-ogy 125; History 104, 435, 240, 335, 430; and Psychology 200 are taking part in the Genographic Project.

The course is also one of the core classes for the African Dias-pora program and as such is part of the Center for International Trade Development.

The Genographic Project and the Sociology 143 course are part of the Center for International Trade Development’s push to demonstrate that the African Diaspora program isn’t only for a particular group of students, but is open to all students to take part in and to illustrate that regardless of ethnicity or back-ground, we are all the same.

“If the project can prove to you that the only difference between us is 0.1 percent, then I will be for-ever proud to be part of Skyline,” Soyombo said.

Skyline College held its annual Holiday Job Fair on Nov. 2 in the cafeteria to introduce employers to Skyline’s young and able student body.

The Transfer and Career Ser-vices center has held the annual event for over 13 years to help students and businesses alike to prepare for the holiday season. Employers with job opportunities are contacted and invited to attend to facilitate the hiring/ job seeking process for both sides.

The event attracted both stu-dents and employment seekers alike, who were able to pursue potential career opportunities by asking different representatives from different businesses, such as The Marriott hotel services and Chanel 26, a Chinese language broadcasting organization.

County of San Mateo Human Services Agency representative Hal Kataoka shared his thoughts on the current state of the American economy.

“We are currently in the great-est recession in US history, and it’s important to have a career path in mind,” Kataoka said. “Our goal is to help people direct their lives toward that path.”

Career Center Director Virginia Padron was hand raffling off sev-eral prizes for the students in atten-dance provided by the employers who were able to attend the event.

“We stand behind this event because it presents a great mix of opportunities for Skyline students,” Padron said. “We know that it can be a sensitive issue and would like to do what we can to ease the process.”

Employment Development Department representative Jenny Carreno was at the event sharing information about its services at Skyline.

“There are a lot more employers here than last year,” Carreno said. “Today’s event shows over a 25 percent increase in opportunities. Hopefully this means that things are looking up for everyone on the job hunt.” The Employment Development Department services at Skyline College are available to everyone, not just Skyline students. This assistance not only offers help with a job search, but also provides resources, tools and help develop-ing a resume suitable for today’s job market. The Employment Development Department staff can be contacted in Building 1, Room 1-1219, Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Jobs fair brings employment opportunities to Skylinecampus, Bay Area job seekers

Campus takes part in study meant to discredit racismBy Will Nacouzi

Photo by Will Nacouzi/the SkyliNe VieW

Micheal Moynihan with Nombuso Ndomo

By Rich Estrada

3November 3, 2011 Skyline ViewThe

Features

The ASSC hosts Skyloween In case you missed them,

Snooki, Robin Hood, and a ghostbuster were all on

campus recently! Why, you may ask? Well it

was Halloween, duh! On Monday, Oct. 31,

the ASSC held Hal-loween Festivities

actually get to see the school and see what you’re doing, that you’re not just dropping them off and leaving them so they can see what college is like. It kind of sparks it better so that when they grow up, they might want to go [to college].” The Halloween event also fea-tured a costume contest put on by ASSC and the Gay-Straight Alliance. Students who were in costume had the opportunity to win prizes by participating in the audience voting con-test. The winners included a white ghost, Tinkerbell, her Gypsy mother, and Venom. All three winners received gift cards. There were so many creative costumes that it was dif-ficult to decide on one winner. The Halloween festivities were a hit for Skyline students as well. “I’m excited to see everyone out,” said Skyline student Saulo Picazo. “It’s a very good so-cial atmosphere and there are not a lot of opportunities like this so I’m enjoying myself.”

Although you did not have to be in costume to partake in the Halloween festivities, with the success of this years’ event, the number of students dressing up in costume on Halloween day may very well increase. When asked if he will come to school in costume next year, Picazo said, “Of course. I already have a few things in mind.”

Halloween extrvanganza entertains the masses

The Skyline art gallery hosted a reception for its Dia de los Muertos exhibit on Tuesday, Nov. 1 from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. The exhibit lo-cated in the gallery behind building one, ran from Oct. 25 through Nov. 1, and included art made by several Skyline students.

Students submitted paintings, ceramic figures, and incorporated art into altars, also known as ofren-das, meant to honor the dead for the exhibit. Primarily a Latino cel-ebration, Dia de los Muertos takes place on Nov. 2. On this holiday, the living celebrate death and remember the deceased with joy rather than sadness.

“It’s mainly celebrated in Mexi-co and Latin America, and instead of a sad way of honoring the dead, it’s a way of honoring the dead in celebra-tion and fond memories of the dead and loved ones in the past,” says Skyline student Jason Thomason who produced work in the gallery. Thomason also holds a work-study job in the gallery and is in the art gallery practicum class, taught by Professor Paul Bridenbaugh. “I think we have close to 50 people that have put up a piece of art or paint-ing or sculpture. It’s open to all the students and faculty at Skyline, so anybody could participate.”

The exhibit was a cooperative ef-fort which included Skyline Latino communities such as PUENTE, who provided art by Diego Rivera among other things. Professors Lori Slicton and George Buckingham offered students extra credit to attend.

Paul Bridenbaugh, the gallery curator and part-time Skyline pro-fessor of 20 years, commented on the gallery’s open and culturally conscious atmosphere. “We have information on the walls about Japan, China, Korea, India and all kinds of traditions that honor the dead in some way,” says Briden-baugh. “We kind of tied it all to-gether in that way.”

Not limited to visuals, the warm and welcome sentiment in the air encompassed various styles of art. As students strolled through the open gallery, absorbing the various paintings,altars, photographs and in-stallations, they were serenaded by Skyline’s Jazz Quintet, which com-prises Skyline students Ben Villa (trumpet), Vincent Iannone (piano), Alex Rosales (bass), Andrew Fenn (saxophone), and Norman Medina (trombone). The quintet (which featured an extra member for the event) also included Mills High School student Nathaniel Welch on drums. The quintet was approached by Zachary Bruno, Skyline’s music instructor, in an attempt to stimulate and connect the artistic communities on campus. The band will perform at the reception for the Empty Bowls Project Fundraiser on Wednesday, Nov. 2 from 6 to 8 p.m. in building 6, as well as at the Light And Shadow exhibit reception on Thursday, Nov. 10 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. The Light

and Shadow exhibit will comprise of ceramics and photography and will run from Nov. 9 to Dec. 2 in the Skyline Art gallery.

The reception attracted a wide audience, filling the participating stu-dents with pride and excitement.

“It was very freeing and felt very good to pay tribute to my parents, who really encouraged me to play with clay,” said ceramics student and Vice President of the Ceramics Club Stephanie Clemons, whose altar and ceramic artwork sat in display at the gallery. “It was wonderful! It was so good having all these people come in and look at the work and just take it all in, absorb it, and comment on it, and see that there’s a lot of artistic talent here on campus.”

“A lot of people don’t even know the gallery’s here,” Thomason says. However, it is certainly not lacking in activity. There are many future events planned, including the Empty Bowls Project Fundraiser and the Light and Shadow exhibit.

Dia de los Muertos exhibit spooks, awes, and inspiresSkyline art community thrives

Wong now an adviser

Students and faculty at Skyline College prob-ably know and admire Professor James I. Wong. For those who don’t, he is a his-tory and geog-raphy professor here at Skyline College. He is better known by his students for bringing excite-ment and humor into his classes.

Wong, a man of many accom-plishments and titles, has done it again. He has recently returned from New York City from a for-mer Flying Ti-gers Conference and Reunion.

The Flying Tigers were an air supply unit in World War II. They were also known as the 1st American Volunteer Group. A common image associated with them is the plane with shark teeth painted on the front.

“They were all Chinese Ameri-can,” Wong says. “The vast majority of them were American born.”

About 27 former members were able to attend the conference. The 27 were all mixed from four differ-ent units of that division. Wong’s connection to the Flying Tigers is his father used to be one. His father did two terms and has the patch and discharge papers to prove it. Wong also mentioned that he unfortunately never got to talk with his father about the Flying Tigers; it is something he regrets to this day.

Luckily, Wong had the chance to interview some of the former members to work on his publica-tion of a book he is writing. At the

conference, he met with individuals that were active within the union. They asked him to be their academic advisor to the Flying Tigers website. This includes looking over their journals as well as their website itself.

“I am honored that they asked me and I look forward to doing it,” Wong says. “It’s kind of like my contribution to the Flying Tigers.” He remembers growing up in Waterloo, Iowa and his father being extremely proud of being a Flying Tiger.

A lawyer, professor, inspector to the Sanda Kickboxing Federation, Immigra-tions Warrior, and now academic advisor to the former Flying Tigers Club! What hasn’t he done and what will Professor Wong do next?

To listen to Mr. Wong talk about his trip to New York, including descriptions of 9/11 ceremonies, his father’s involve-ment in the Flying Tigers and the Flying Tiger Conference experience, visit www.theskylineview.com.

Our own Flying Tiger representativeby Sarawut Saechang

by Nina Smirnov

by Jervis Lawas

MilaN Subedi/the SkyliNe VieW

Student and rising artist Jason Thomason, gets friendly with the dead. MilaN Subedi/the SkyliNe VieW

Above, profesor James I. Wong in his office

in the quad from 10 a.m. to noon. Skyline students were able to show off their costumes and get into the Halloween spirit. The ASSC of-

ent games, handed out free pumpkin pie and cotton

candy, and even brought a jump house to get

students excited about Halloween.

“One of the reasons that

we decided to put together this event is mainly to have Skyline students come together and enjoy the Halloween spirit,” said ASSC Senator Christian Etienne. “We felt like there hasn’t been many events that have been organized in the past couple of months, but the Halloween event is going to give them the opportunity to come together and dress up and have fun and also give the opportu-nity to the day care center to bring their kids here and just enjoy it.” Children in their costumes flocked to the jump house and reminded everyone how much Halloween meant to when stu-dents were younger. Staff of the Skyline College Child Develop-ment Center and parents enjoyed seeing the kids being able to take part in such a fun-filled event. Nina Guo, a Skyline student whose daughter is on the day care wait list, shared how impor-tant it was as a parent to have these events open to children. “It’s great,” Guo said. “You can actually bring them and they

fered students the chance to

compete in differ-

MilaN Subedi/the SkyliNe VieW

Miku Mendoza, president of club Otaku Nation dressed as Pikachu.

MilaN Subedi/the SkyliNe VieW

Skyline student intrigues with a mask, corset and tutu.

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5November 3, 2011 Skyline ViewThe

OpiNiON

Be cool: Stay in school

Since its founding, the United States has been in a near-perpetual state of war. However, one chapter in our history of bloodshed is quickly coming to an end with the announce-ment of the withdrawal of troops from Iraq at the end of the year.

Iraq is a country that is primar-ily Muslim and was invaded by the United States beginning in 2003 under false pretenses, resulting in the deaths of thousands; civil-ian deaths amounting to numbers beyond 100,000. This war and the war in Afghanistan are what have led to the world image of a corrupt superpower that has declared war on Islam. This is not the case: In my eyes the war was an overblown reac-tion to an event that while horrific has done exactly what was planned because of our reaction. I hope that with the end of this war we can

begin the repairing of the image of the United States.

The September 11 attacks have forever changed the United States, just as its planners had likely in-tended. The goal of a terrorist attack is to instill terror, and look at us--we’ve given up many civil liberties

in the name of fighting terrorism. With all the security upgrades to planes since the attacks, I doubt the situation could ever happen again, yet the Transportation Security Ad-ministration still exists and comes up with more and more ways to infringe upon our privacy. Then there’s the

President Obama announces US withdrawal from IraqIraq’s future remains uncertain after the American occupation comes to an end

By Stephen Benoit warrantless wiretapping brought about by the Patriot Act, which brings in a whole slew of issues about our rights being violated.

If you look at how England reacted to its 2005 terror attacks, you’ll see how I believe the United States should be. When England had bombings during rush hour that were intended to harm civilians, they didn’t blow it out of proportion. Yes, they wanted justice, but they didn’t decide to sacrifice everything in pursuit of it.

If you read into the history of Osama bin Laden and the reasons that he may or may not have turned to terrorism, you’ll see that US oc-cupation is really high up there on the list. Have our wars in the Middle East given birth to a new bin Laden or even several of them? Will our children pay the price for our hunger for vengeance?

Public doMaiN iMage

Earning a degree has many benefitsAs Americans, we have the fundamental

right to an education. In fact, from age six to eighteen all Californians are required to be in school. To many American youth, education may seem more like an imposi-tion than a right.

But when reaching adulthood, education ceases to be a requirement and instead be-comes a choice; an important one that can significantly affect the outcome of your life. At the most basic level, every high-school graduate has two choices: attending col-lege or not.

Community colleges are not in the business of coddling or handholding, but they do provide students of all ages with an incredible resource for transferring to a four-year university, and students enrolled

in community college have an obligation to themselves to take full advantage of the service offered by community colleges.

At The Skyline View, we can’t put a great enough emphasis on the importance of a four-year college education, and with UC and CSU application deadlines on the horizon, we urge you now more than ever to dedicate yourselves to transferring to a university.

At first glance it can be tempting to forgo a college education in pursuit of seemingly more attractive options. Military recruiters lure high-school students with the promise of helping them become self-sufficient and providing pay raises with military promo-tions. Company recruiters are also eager to get high-school graduates to perform

menial minimum-wage duties. Getting a minimum wage job may

seem lucrative to a kid just out of high school, but putting your time, talent and money toward a good college education is without a doubt the smartest investment you can make.

On average, those with a four-year degree have a much broader choice of ca-reers, often in higher-paying professions. Additionally, college-educated people experience a much lower rate of unemploy-ment than those with only a high-school diploma and have increased opportunities for promotion.

However, the path to a college degree is not always a clear one, and often it can be difficult to know where to begin.

By enrolling in a school such as Skyline College, students make a conscious deci-sion to better their futures through higher education. However, community college is not without its pitfalls.

In our previous issue, The Skyline View covered a recent report highlighting the astounding amount of state funds spent on community college students who drop out during their first year. It’s estimated that $130 million in California taxpayer money went to first-year dropouts in 2009.

Some of these numbers are the result of systematic shortcomings on the part of community colleges, but ultimately it is the student who makes the choice to continue his or her education.

Set educational goals for yourself start-ing today and follow through on them instead of adding to community-college dropout statistics.

Having a four-year degree is quickly becoming a necessity. You will most likely need at least a bachelor’s degree to make a decent living wage, and many employers will only consider candidates with a col-lege education.

Not only does a four-year university help you achieve your academic and career goals, but it also provides you with a once-in-a-lifetime chance to meet new people and make lifelong friends.

The many rewards of transferring to a four-year college make the choice an easy one.

You needn’t suffer from the old Frostian dilemma of which diverging road to travel. Nor in ages hence need you hide your doubt with a lie. Because when it comes to pursu-ing a college education, the two roads do not lay equally; higher-education will take you farther than you can imagine.

I just hope that the United States doesn’t repeat history and make the same mistakes the Reagan adminis-tration did that very well may have led to the hatred of the United States that burned in bin Laden’s veins. One of the popular theories for the hatred was that under the Reagan administration, the CIA was notori-ous for funding any army that was fighting any cause that resembled Communism.

One such army that was funded was the Mujahideen, a group that is regarded as the precursor to the Taliban. The Mujahideen were fighting Soviets in Afghanistan because of our fear of communism. When the Soviet threat ceased, so did our funding of the Mujahideen and Afghanistan fell into utter chaos as a result.

We made our bed and had to sleep in it, but now if we repeat our mis-takes and our stabilization comes to an abrupt end in Afghanistan, as so many people seem to want, history will undoubtedly repeat itself.

One day, sometime close to the ungodly time of 5:50 a.m., I turned on the television machine and put on the local news, hoping to find some ridiculous story that would help me get my bearings. My prayers were shortly answered: Middle school children were, in an effort to get high, choking each other to the point of unconsciousness, which I found to be the stupidest thing I had heard in a long time.

I should say now, before I continue, that I am not asserting that I am some kind of genius---I solve Rubik’s cubes with a

hammer, and I’ve watched the movie “Pet Sematary” about a thousand times. I also feel kind of bad for making such broad, generalized statements on the intelligence of a group as a whole, but there is no other way for my brain to quantify this. It’s breathing! Not breathing makes you die! No one should have to remind you to breathe, or tell you that not breathing is a bad idea. Are kids getting progressively stupider?

To quote Reverend Lovejoy from the Simpsons, “Short answer ‘yes’ with an ‘if,’ long answer ‘no’ with a ‘but’.” No, kids’ actions don’t seem to indicate that they are any stupider than they have ever been. They run headlong into traffic. They

sniff glue. They make homemade bombs. I still do some of these things, and it’s in no way evidence of the decline of western civilization. Even choking each other to get high is still in the realm of feasible child/adolescent behavior, as the drive to explore the world often leads to really, really moronic ends. It seems absurd in retrospect, as I feel that the knowledge I have amassed over my limited lifetime would be enough for me to decide that certain actions are potentially too perilous to engage in.

However, if you were to make an assessment on the lack-ing brain power of the youth of today from an educational standpoint, you may find a more tangible argument. The US’s rankings in math, science and reading are, compared to the rest of the world, mediocre, with the Program on International Student Assessment (PISA) ranking American fifteen year olds 35 out of 57 in competing countries in its 2006 study.

Declining test scores could be blamed on a number of fac-tors, but western society’s need for instantaneous information surely has played a role in the dimming of minds. People seem to be relying more and more on the internet as a source of quick, cursory information gathering. While this is defi-nitely a good thing in that it allows people access to tons of information, it also seems like it simultaneously contributes to a lack of knowledge. Knowing something versus looking it up and instantly receiving the answer are two different things, and I think that as more and more people grow up using the internet as a crutch, it will continue to adversely affect learning potential.

Kids aren’t stupid. They’re just idiots. How much knowledge the next generation retains seems to be more of a commentary on how they fare against the shiny, colorful hurdles society has set up for them, rather than the deadness of their brains.

United States Marines storm Saddam Hussein’s palace.

Photo illuStratioN by Joe barrack/the SkyliNe VieWMiddle-school students have been choking eachother to achieve a euphoric state.

By Matt Pacelli

EDITORIAL

Little children with even littler brainsToday’s middle-school kids are product of modern society

6 November 3, 2011Skyline ViewThe

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H E A LTopic: Occupy Wall Street protests

Dear JohnnyMany of you out there are wondering what to do when it comes to your relationships,

jobs, or life. My name is “Johnny” and I would like to help you. There are some basic relationship issues everyone deals with. Think of me as Deepak Chopra, Oprah, or even Ferris Bueller. I’m just someone that wants to help with your issues. If you would like to share you issue with me and get advice email me at advice.johnny@gmail.com.

J.J. ValdezDear Johnny,

I’m dating this great guy who opens doors for me, takes me out to places I like to go and actually listens to me when I talk. There is just one thing that I don’t know what to do about: He drinks too much and sometimes even shows up to a date buzzed. He’s not angry or mean, he’s just really goofy and sometimes rude. I don’t know what to do.

--Ms.

Dear Ms.,

Dating is a wonderful thing. Going out and having fun and getting to know someone else intimately is a lot of fun. Listen to one of the key phrases in that sentence: “getting to know someone.” That is the whole reason you go on multiple dates, right? You need to be honest especially in a new relationship or while dating someone new. The last thing you want to do is get into an argument with this person about why you didn’t tell them about something that bothered you in the beginning. It’s a wasteful argument that leads nowhere.

My advice is to go right out and say it. Sit him down when you are both sober and ready to have a serious conversation. It’s either that or stop calling him altogether and say that it isn’t working out (one of the benefits of just dating and not being in a relationship). This isn’t one of those problems that ends up working itself out or one of those things you can just overlook. In fact, your being honest with this person could possibly lead him to seek help for a drinking problem and send you into the arms of a mature man that you have fun with. You are right to worry when a guy is fantastic but is socially awkward enough to show up to a date buzzed—that’s weird. Bring these concerns to his attention if you want to continue to have these great dates, and you will also feel good about genuinely helping a person with a problem. Good luck!

I’m a man of very strong opinions and strong convictions. I draw strength from fighting for what I believe is right and hating injustice.

That’s why this production I was ex-tremely torn for the production night. As you may or may not have known, there was a general strike on November 2 in protest of the police brutality in Oakland that left a marine in critical condition. This is the kind of protest that I would love to be a part of, but my responsibilities as edi-tor in chief kept me from attending.

I have to wonder how many Skyline students participated in the protest. In fact, we at The Skyline View would love to talk to you if you protested in Oakland or San Francisco. The whole idea that our government would attack its own citizens seems hypocritical considering our condemnation of other countries for doing the same thing recently. Mind you, there haven’t been any fatalities as far as we know, but if the violence keeps up, who knows where it’ll go.

I fully encourage any students who want to protest to go and join the good

fight to end the brutality of police in California against people protesting their impending futures. I’m reminded of old horror stories my dad would tell me of what happened during Vietnam with pro-testers. We can’t revert back to an age of suppressing opinions we don’t agree with. As editor in chief of a newspaper, I know just how important free speech is.

If we don’t protect freedom of speech now, what kind of world are our children going to live in? Do we really want to go back to the age of tyrants and theocracies? Do we really want people to be executed for speaking out against a religion or a person? Right now protesters are fight-ing the unfair treatment of the richest 1 percent of America by the United States government with bailouts for the rich and tax codes that have them paying less than us when considering income.

I encourage you to go out there and protest; protest police brutality, protest corporate greed, protest anything you want. Because unless politicians and the government know they have your ire, nothing will ever change.

Heal: The 99%

“People are being heard, and at least people are stand-ing up for something. This will affect all of us.”

--Victoria Ferrari

Heal: The educated 99%

“I feel that as long as people know what they are talking about, it’s important for them have their voices heard.”

--Kayln Edwards

Hurt: Occupants who get hurt

“It’s good to stick up to what you believe in, but the reactions from the police have not been good at all. (Protesters’) lives are in serious danger.”

--Claudia Paghunie

Hurt: Keeping the peace

“I don’t know much about the Occupy movement, but I do know that a peaceful pro-test should not be met with police violence.”

--Miguel Bisteni

Hurt: Change

“As of now it’s a hurt. It seems that there have been no changes and people are getting hurt, but hopefully things will change as they get more attention.”

--Lacie Spruitenburg

Hurt: Disrespectful 99%

“It seems like none of this is a heal, because they block traffic and pee in public. If they didn’t cause problems for other people around them like in the city, then it’d be better.”

--Ivanessa Zelaya

I’m a student at Skyline, and every morning as I walk to class, I feel so good about our beautiful campus. It’s a good example of how a bond measure benefits students, teachers and all oth-ers who work here.

At every school in San Bruno, there are classrooms, fields, playgrounds and athletic fields that need to be upgraded and underground gas, waste and sewer lines that need to be replaced. Energy-efficient windows need to be installed. There’s been a lack of state funding for classroom and school facility improve-ments, and the scope of needed projects far exceeds the district’s general fund budget for facility improvements.

Measure O is a local bond measure that was put on the upcoming Nov. 8 ballot by unanimous vote by San Bruno Park District Board of Trustees (with one member absent). It will provide $40 million to improve the buildings and grounds at all schools in the San Bruno Park School District. The money cannot be taken by the state and spent elsewhere or used for salaries. A tax rate of $30 dollars per $100,000 of assessed valuation (not to be confused with market value, which is almost al-ways higher) per year, or $2.50 a month per $100,000 will be levied on all tax-able property within the district.

Because it is good for the commu-nity, Measure O enjoys endorsement by many organizations such as the San Bruno Education Association (a branch of the California Teachers’ Association), the San Mateo Demo-cratic Party, the San Mateo County Central Labor Council, and the San Mateo County Building & Construction Trades Council, among other profes-sional organizations.

Measure O is necessary for giv-ing local children the best chance of success. The technology updates and classroom modernization will provide them with better tools to compete in today’s world. It’s not just the students that benefit, communities strengthen through stronger schools, and property values increase. It’s unfortunate that some very vocal individuals get help in opposing Measure O by spreading false information.

As Mr. Russ Hanley, retired teacher, and former SBPSD board member says, “Education is the foundation of every healthy community. All children de-serve a quality education, and Measure O will ensure that we have the facilities to make that possible.”

OPEN FORUMSan Bruno’s Measure O

By Jenny Minh-Ai Vo Phamhi

If you would like to contribute to the opinions page, email us at letters.sky-lineview@gmail.com

Hurt: Change and keeping the peace

“So far it looks like the

protest hasn’t been very successful. But on the other hand, without protesters, how else would anything change?”

--Sarah Davis

H U R T

7November 3, 2011 Skyline ViewThe

eNtertaiNmeNt

StePheN beNoit/the SkyliNe VieW

The Squire stands in the tavern where you spend your time in between missions.

by Chris Korp

by Stephen BenoitWhile the heroes are away the

trainees must save the day! Play as one of four young heroes as they repel the forces of evil from power-ful crystals that seal away an ancient evil in this unique third-person tower defense for the PC!

If you’re familiar with tower defense games you probably know how they work in terms of building towers to kill swarms of enemies as they approach. In Dungeon Defend-ers you have a character that levels up, not just a tower. So while your towers unleash their assault you can fight on the front.

The four classes are Squire, a front-line warrior with physical towers; Apprentice, a magician with various elements and magical tow-ers; Huntress, a ranged fighter who builds nothing but traps; and Monk, a support character who builds auras and can fight with both ranged and melee attacks. The game features co-op and is best with an even mix of the characters.

I will say if you try to play this game alone you are a glutton for punishment because it will not be easy for a character trying to play solo. Your best bet is to play with friends because if you play with random people on the internet you’re bound to play with people so stupid it’s going to give you an ulcer. Seri-ously, I have to wonder where these

random people are from because it blows my mind how mind bog-glingly dumb they are.

The game has a rather cartoony aesthetic that seems to have really exploded since “World of Warcraft” became such a huge hit. The enemies are mostly Goblins, Orcs and Dark Elves of numerous varieties. The varieties each do different things so building an appropriate defense is essential.

There are two ways to play: One is to make your character into a killing machine and fight all the enemies toe-to-toe yourself. Another way, probably the most common, is to build towers in a strategic manner and let them do all the kill-ing for you. Personally in my first play-through I’m playing the latter as a Squire and it’s going quite well so far.

The story mode of the game seems to be a little short. I’ve just entered the last act with my circle of friends, and we’ve only played about 15 hours so far. However, you

can go back to old missions and play them with additional conditions such as different modes. Also, there’s a challenge mode that we haven’t gotten into because it recommends character levels far beyond where we’re at, but it definitely adds a lot to the game.

Better yet the game seems to be planning to frequently add content updates, the first batch of which are free. The first batch was some con-tent for Halloween, with new outfits and a new challenge map. It’s not a

bad little game for $15, but I’d only recommend it if you’re going to play with a circle of friends.

If you like playing RPGs, MMORPGs, Adventure RPGs, or FPS (First Person Shooter) Novem-ber is the month for you debuting multiple titles that are sure to make any gamer a happy camper.

Here is a list of some of the more popular titles that will be coming out later this month. There is a title for every major console on this list including PC, enjoy!

Dungeon defenders delivers

The happy children and two headed puppy provide gleefully misleading artwork for the Melvins stupendously abrasive 1993 album Houdini.

The album itself serves as a fairly good starting point if one were to ex-plore the bizarre, crushing, and often confounding world of Melvins, as it gives a glimpse of the band’s amor-phous and innovative musical style, which, while influenced by hardcore punk, metal, and 70’s arena rock, is most notably colored by the band’s own tendencies towards unorthodox songwriting.

With this in mind, it seems highly likely that whoever made the move to have Melvins signed to a major label (Atlantic Records) must have been subsequently fired, as most of the Melvins’ work seems commer-cially unviable. That being said, Melvins are undoubtedly one of the most astounding bands to ever come into existence, and Houdini captures them at their most concise.

Houdini wastes no time estab-lishing the band’s musical identity, as evidence in the opener “Hooch”. The song starts off with a bombastic, off kilter drum beat, and chugs along aggressively, with singer/ guitarist Buzz Osborne caustically spewing out non-sense lyrics.

The song is also one of many which highlight the interplay be-

tween Osborne’s brutish guitar playing and drummer Dale Crover’s plasticity in his percussion work. The interplay of instruments is matched equally by Osborne’s tremendous singing voice, which sounds like it is composed of equal parts Army drill instructor, Gene Simmons (before he lost his voice), and an over worked electric lawn-mower.

In fact, the only conceivable knock that could be levied against the band’s sonic output could be the rather menial role of the bass, which for this album, was credited to Lori Temple Black(Shirley Temple’s daughter), although she would soon be replaced.

Houdini continues into the sludgy second song, the unusually titled “Night Goat”, a driving, murky dirge which is periodically punctured by a high pitched creaking sound from Osborne. Murkiness, it should be noted, is one of the Melvins’ more distinctive qualities, along with their ability to create songs that can outright irritate the casual listener,

as exemplified by the doomy track “Hag Me”, which lasts roughly seven minutes and moves along at a funeral pace. (Melvins also have a penchant for weird song titles) “Honey Bucket” by contrast, sees the band charging ahead at an unex-pectedly rapid speed, throwing their massive bulk around like a sumo wrestler shot from cannon.

The simple, violent, thrashy introduction to the song may also be one of the finer guitar riffs ever penned by man, although the case could be made that the entire song itself belongs in the pantheon of all things heavy.

While tremendous riffs abound, the final two tracks put a screeching halt on most of the momentum the band has built over the course of Houdini. “Pearl Bomb” may trick CD listeners into thinking that their player is skipping with its jittery, mechanical, minimalist beat that clicks on annoyingly until a baseline indicates that it is in fact an actual song. The final track “Spread Eagle Beagle” is almost unlistenable. It consists of nearly eleven minutes of nothing but percussive noises, such as people banging on trash cans and the like.

Despite being nearly two decades old, Houdini hasn’t lost an ounce of its left field fury, and remains an undeniably impressive record.

Other November Release Titles:

SkyrimLegend of Zelda: Skyward SwordMW3Saints Row 3

••

••

The Melvins deliver with “Houdini” by Matt Pacelli “Duck, You Sucker” is set during

the Mexican Revolution, but it cen-ters on the relationship between an Irish Republican Army explosives expert, John H. Mallory, played by James Coburn, and a Mexican bandito, Juan Miranda, played by Rod Steiger.

This movie is a fictional account of the revolution in which Mal-lory essentially tricks Miranda into becoming a hero of the revolution by dangling the bait of a big heist that never existed in the first place. This film also throws off the bonds of reality with its chronologically misplaced use of the Irish Repub-lican Army and modern weaponry that did not exist yet during the real Mexican Revolution.

Through their traveling battles that include gratuitous murder and drinking, Miranda slowly morphs into the hero that Mallory envisioned him to be from their first meeting, but that is not what makes this film worth watching. What makes the film worth your time is that it is truly bizarre. The first strange thing noticed while viewing this film is the music. Even though it was set in Mexico in 1914, the music is a strange and seemingly drug-influenced version of late 1960s pop music. Also, with a peculiar and awkward title like “Duck, You Sucker,” it is impressive how many times the screenwriter managed to fit

that catch phrase into the film.One other aspect of this movie

that leaves the viewer scratching his or her head is the strange flashbacks Mallory has in times of stress. In these flashbacks, Mallory is taken back to Ireland where he and his best friend are taking turns kissing the same Irish lass. To add to the “true to life” Mexican flair that this film provides, Steiger’s accent is akin to Desi Arnaz’s in “I Love Lucy.” In other words, the actor could only summon a Cuban accent for his role as a Mexican-bandito-turned-revolutionary-hero.

The Nazi-like uniform worn by the Mexican Army officer and the desert landscape lends a certain “Raiders of the Lost Ark” quality that should appeal to some movie-goers. If you are spending a night at home with your friends and want to laugh you can do no better than “Duck, You Sucker.”

“Duck,You Sucker” FTW

SportsSkyline Upcoming Games

11/04 VS CCSF 2 p.m.11/08 @ Chabot College 3 p.m.11/11 VS Ohlone College 12:30 p.m.

Women’s Soccer11/08 VS Las Positas College 2 p.m.11/11 VS Monterey Pen. Col. 2:45 p.m.

Men’s Soccer

Wrestling Volleyball11/05 @ Menlo College Open 9 a.m.11/12 @ SFSU Tour. 9 a.m.11/18 @ Menlo College 7 a.m.

11/09 VS Monterey Pen. Col. 6:30 p.m.11/11 @ Chabot College 6:30 p.m.

by Will Nacouzi

rich eStrada/the SkyliNe VieWVeronica Uy puts in work in the weightroom.

The women’s soccer team faced off against Las Positas College on Friday, Oct. 28 in San Bruno.

The Las Positas Hawks entered the match after losing to Ohlone College on Oct. 25 and ranked fourth in the Conference prior to the match. Skyline College entered the match fresh off their win over Cañada College and ranked third in the division but were ranked first just a few weeks ago before injuries to key players affected their game.

The match kicked off at 2 p.m with both teams fighting for com-mand of the ball, but neither team was successful at maintaining con-trol for long as control of possession switched back and forth between players.

The closely contested first half of the game ended with both teams tied at 0-0. The break between halves gave both teams the time to rest and re-examine their mistakes on the field. Both teams come very close to scoring during the first half of the game but mistakes and good

defense halted any attempt to score. Jazmine Cazares came close to a goal but the Hawks’ defense once again countered and was able to hold back the attack.

The second half of the game kicked off with the Trojans on the assault, with Cazares , and sea-son-scoring leader, Katie Jaques, almost putting the Trojans ahead in the opening minutes of the half but was stopped by the Las Positas’ goalkeeper.

The following ten minutes saw both sides fighting hard to put points on the board, but the defense of both teams kept the ball flying back and forth on both ends of the field. For every Trojan attack, there was a response.

The first goal of the game finally came when the Trojans’ Katie Jaques scored 28 minutes into the second half. Skyline took the lead.

The Trojans followed that up with a second goal by Katie Jacques at the 20-minute mark that placed Skyline two points ahead of the Hawks.

The Hawks elevated their game after Skyline’s offense resulted in a pair of goals. After a long battle against the Trojan defense, Las Posi-tas scored their first goal; it was too little too late as the game clock read only two minutes left in the match. They failed to score again before the clock ran out.

The win keeps Skyline third in the Coast: North Division with a record of 8 wins, 2 losses and one tie. The Trojans are only one win behind Ohlone college and two wins behind City College in the Division and are hoping to make the playoffs as pointed out by Head Coach Kevin Corsiglia.

“We knew that we had to get some goals in this game. It’s a very important game for us to win and we only have a few games until the play-offs,” said Corsiglia. “We’re hoping to get in to the playoffs so this game was very important to us.”

Skyline’s next home game will be against Division leader, City College of San Francisco at 2 p.m. The Skyline View talks to

Skyline’s only female wrestler this season, Veronica Uy, a 21-year-old wrestler from Jesse Bethel High School in Vallejo.

The Skyline View: Where did the motivation to wrestle come from?

Veronica Uy: It started in high school. I joined the tennis team, and the wrestling coach was also the tennis coach. He encouraged me to join, and I found out I was stronger than most girls, and I took advan-tage of that.

TSV: What’s it like being the only girl on the wrestling team?

VU: It’s really tough be-cause it’s hard for me to find a partner that’s around my same skill level, and they’re just a lot stronger than I am too. It’s just really tough.

TSV: So you wrestled in high school?

VU: I wrestled for one year and then senior year I got injured. I actually twisted my ankle really bad and it got sprained. It scared me, but I came back.

TSV: Do you have any wrestling heroes at all? Have you been following collegiate wrestling at all?

VU: No, I haven’t. The only people I really look up

to are the people in the mat room, like the assistant coach, Jason. He wrestled here and he’s just a really good wrestler. I admire him.

TSV: So he helped you with your development?

VU: Yeah, a lot.TSV: As far as tournaments, how

do you go about competing?VU: It’s really hard. The guys,

it’s like they’re out to get me. When I’m about to wrestle they stare at me like they want to kill me then take me down, it’s really hard. It’s like they go extra hard because I’m a girl, but I expect it to happen.

TSV: Do you think the fear of losing to a girl plays into that?

VU: Yes, I do and I don’t blame them. I wouldn’t want to get beat by a girl if I was a guy too.

TSV: Is there any discrepancy between male and female perspec-tive of the rules?

VU: No.TSV: Tell us about your experi-

ence in tournaments.VU: It’s been really crazy. That’s

all I can describe because it’s kind of weird being the only girl because when you go to weigh in it’s just a bunch of guys half naked walking around. They just kind of stare at you like, “What are you doing here?” Like I don’t belong.

TSV: Does that shake you in any way?

VU: I get a little scared, but once you get on the mat you lose all fear.

Women’s Soccer:Win, 5-2 @ Canada (10/25)Win, 2-1 VS Las Positas(10/28)Men’s Soccer: Loss, 6-1 @ Ohlone (10/28)Loss, 6-0 VS Foothill (11/01)Volleyball:Loss, 3-1 VS De Anza (10/26)Loss, 0-3 @ SJCC (10/28)

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