Vol. XXXXI No. 8 Fremont, California Thursday, October 6, 2005

MONITORMONITOROHLONE COLLEGE

Riding 600miles forAIDS fund

– Page 4

Up on the roof

Ohlone is going through a facelift, as Andy’s Roofing company isdoing more than $700,000 worth of roof work on buildings onethrough nine. This is a part of a renovation and upgrade projectfunded by the 2002 Measure A bond.

Staff photo

Students‘busted’for talking

Poker crazemakes stopat Ohlone

– Page 5

Proposalfor retailon Mission

Hangingabacusof Ohlone

Katie Frank’s ce-ramics class gotcreative with theoldest form of thecalculator: theabacus. Designedto be translucent,the porcelainshapes hang mys-teriously in theOhlone quad, notjingling as much aslanguorouslyswinging.

Photo by Daniel Kwan

Multi-cultural unity festivalscheduled for next weekend

Free HIV testing resumes

Continued on Page 3 Continued on Page 3

By ANNA NEMCHUKNews editor

For all those different people whoare really all the same, a multi-culturalfestival for the “celebration of unity indiversity” is planned by IACFUC, theIndo-American Community FederationOct. 15-16 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. in theOhlone College parking lot.

For skin-decorating needs, Mendhibooths will be readily available, as wellas food and crafts booths for those con-cerned with bodily functions and aes-thetics.

The cultural program will juxtaposeOmei Martial Arts with Bollywood Hol-lywood Expressions, the mystifying

World Jazz Fusion with the MickeyMouse-reminiscent Chinese FantasiaPerforming Arts.

A health fair sponsored by the Ameri-can Association of the Physicians of In-dian Origin (AAPIO) will be held Sun-day, Oct. 16 from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.On its heels will come an immigrationfair from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Campus parking will be free - admis-sion tickets will be $3 a person andavailable at the entry gate.

This is the first time that a nonprofitorganization is doing a festival to pro-mote diversity and harmony and I wouldurge (people) to come and participate,”said Jeevan Zutshi, a spokesman for theevent.

By JOYCE LEUNGStaff writer

Free and anonymous HIV testing willresume at the Student Health Centerevery Tuesday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.for the entire year with results availablewithin two weeks.

“It’s important to know your status,”said Andrew Navarro, Health Educa-tion Specialist of the Tri-City HealthCenter. Though HIV symptoms may notbecome apparent for anywhere fromseveral months up to several years, early

By KRISTA MARTINEZStaff writer

The Ohlone campus is rarelyhome to vagrants, vandalism, vi-ciousness or various other indigni-ties. However, there comes a timewhen the campus security has toact, when prodding and gentle re-minders from students, staff andeven deans just aren’t enough.

Sept. 29, the constant talking inHyman Hall reached such an ex-treme that security was called out.

Ben Peralta, a member of thecampus police force, instructed eachof nine disruptive students to bestill and to copy their student IDnumbers and names down on a pieceof paper. In what he stated to becomplete concordance with accept-able practice, Officer Peralta or-dered the students to sit on the floorcross-legged and take their handsout of their pockets. This turned out

By OMER AHMEDStaff writerand KRISTA MARTINEZStaff writer

A new grounds project is on theroster for Ohlone. The olive treepromenade along the front of theschool, shielding the campus fromthe view of Mission Boulevard, isslated to become a string of busi-ness properties.

Last Tuesday from 1:30 to 5p.m. in the NUMMI Theatre, theSelection Committee appointed byOhlone interviewed and made rec-ommendations to the developmentteams that are pursuing the rightto develop the area.

Corporations representedby development teams in-clude Avalon Bay Communi-ties, BT Commercial RealEstate, Dutra Enterprises,SobratoDevelopmentCompanies

Carnivalat PalmBosque

– Page 6

detection will allow for treatment as soonas possible. According to Navarro, theearly use of advanced treatment thera-pies can hinder the progression to AIDSfor those infected with HIV.

The Tri-City Health Center uses anoninvasive method of testing, meaningno needles for those afflicted with aphobia of sharp, pointy objects. Instead,the center opts for the Orasure methodwhere a specialist swabs the inside ofthe cheek with a Q-tip.

No appointments will be taken, walk-ins only.

OPINION2 MONITOR October 6, 2005

Offices are located in Room 5310 on campus, 43600 Mission Blvd., Fremont 94539-5884. Call (510) 659-6075. Fax: (510) 659-6076. E-mail: monitor@ohlone.cc.ca.us

Opinions expressed in the MONITOR are those of the respective authors and are notnecessarily those of the staff, the college or the Associated Students of Ohlone College.Unsigned editorials reflect the majority view of staff members. Advertising material isprinted herein for informational purposes and is not to be construed as an expressionof endorsement or verification of such commercial ventures by the staff or college.

The MONITOR is funded by the district, by the Associated Students of Ohlone College,and through advertising revenue.

The MONITOR is a member of the Associated Collegiate Press, Journalism Associa-tion of Community Colleges, Community College Journalism Association, CaliforniaNewspaper Publishers Association, College Media Advisers and Society of NewspaperDesign.

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Regional Pacemaker1988

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CAMPUS COMMENT > > >

“Family - when they expect you todo more than you can do. And just

nagging.”

“Nothing. We stress out toomuch-that's not what life’s about.Just find a way to deal with it.”

What adds the most stress to your life?

KAMAL AHMEDTeaching

“My family and culture. Peoplealways asked me (even in kinder-garten) “why don’t you date?”

OPINION

MICHAEL WIETECHAHistory

ZARGHOONA JOYAAPsychology

SAIRA SIDDIQUIHistory/Political Science

SANDY SILVANursing/R.N.

“Kids. They stay out all nightand worry you.”

“Financial problems. Paying forschool and trying to get good

grades at the same time.”

How plugged in are we really? Is that all we know?By JEROME ENGELBERTS

Opinions Editor

Is it just me, or has anyone elsenoticed that the communicationsskills necessary for having an ac-tual conversation face-to-face arewithering on the vine?

Technology enables us to stay intouch in many electronic and con-venient ways - but are we actuallystaying in touch? Take cell phones.Everyone (yes, me too) has one.But because it’s ever present, peopletend to use them as a conduit to theworld, rather than using them tocommunicate when other optionsare out. Cell phones seem to urge

their owners to deliver status re-ports.

Tell me if the following soundsfamiliar: You’re next to someonein the check-out line at your gro-cery store. Their phone rings (as in:suddenly you hear the rap versionof “Hava Nagilah”). They pick up.This would be what you’d hear (Ifyou’re impolite enough to eaves-drop, or alternatively, if they’re talk-ing loudly enough for everyone toenjoy it) “Oh, hi. ‘Sup? Eh - nooo....I’m just standing in line at the store.What? Eh...broccoli, bagels, tooth-paste. Mm-hmm... no, I’ll just goover to theJiffy-Lube next. Dropoff the car; then go have a coffee.

Okay. You too. Bye.”This conversation conveyed

nothing except the most mundanestuff that we all do, without sharinganything personal, making a con-nection, or even - relating to what isdiscussed. It’s talking without com-municating. And our electronic agehas a way of sucking us into thesepatterns.

There are people who, by now,live completely through their vir-tual on-line identities. They’re ahandle on an Instant Message win-dow. Life has become what you candownload, buy online, or read ablog about. Body language is be-coming a dead language, and man-

ners will soon be obsolete, too.There are only a few activities leftthat we actually physically have toget together for - and one of thosemay be falling by the wayside ifWoody Allen’s “Sleeper” was ontrack with the “Orgasmotron” (It’sa scary thought - “Ooh baby, showme your USB port...!”)

Sad to say, there is a growinggroup of people who live almostentirely through handheld electron-ics and the services of their ISP,their voluntary isolation slowlyturning into an involuntary onecaused by lack of personal and so-cial skills outdated by technology.

Although I thoroughly enjoy the

fact that I have email, a mobilephone, and a computer at my dis-posal - I would wither away if Icouldn’t interact with real people.See a real concert, and NOT down-load the MP3 file. Walk into a storeand ask questions before I buysomething. Actually make time tomeet with someone that I like, sitdown, turn my phone off, and havea cup of coffee and talk about howthings are with me and my friend -without having to type “brb” or“lol” or even “ty” and “yw”. If you,too, feel you need to shed the bur-den of living life through your per-sonal electronic devices, visit myweb site at http://www.... (kidding).

By KRISTA MARTINEZStaff writer

Midterms making you far toostressed out? Calling in sick to workbecause that course with three hoursof homework every night justdoubled the workload to cover upall the material? BUCK UP ANDTAKE IT!

Midterms can’t really be that

bad for all of you, can they? I hearall this stressed-out whining abouthow much work you have to do andall I can think is “If you have towork so hard for the test, you reallymust not be learning anything.”

Let me explain my point of view.I have always learned in class. Iwas never the note-passing, back-row-sitting, whispering kind. I satin class diligently listening, takingnotes if we were covering lots ofmaterial and basically using my

class time for what it was for: learn-ing. Having teachers take an extraweek out of my time to go throughreviews insulted me. What was allmy work for? Why did I try toindependently gain an understand-ing of an idea when the teacherwould work us through each ques-tion that might show up on the testindividually? Why don’t we justskip all of our regular classes andshow up for the review weeks andtests because obviously that's all

that matters, since learning isn’tnecessarily the biggest priority formost students.

“Will this be on the test?” is theworst question I have ever heard; Iam a firm believer in ‘The onlystupid question is the one you don’task.’ Of course you should knoweverything the teacher mentions inthe lectures. If it is covered, it isrelevant. Therefore, you shouldknow it. If it is something you shouldknow you should know it for the

sake of gaining a full usable knowl-edge of the subject of the course.

Tests are not designed to findout how much you can learn in aweek. Tests, midterms, finals areall meant, at least originally, to findout what you retained, what younow know for sure about the sub-ject. Learn what you can in classand hopefully, if you aren’t a to-tally TV brainwashed deadhead,you can retain enough to achievethat C+ in your classes.

Midterm stress? Try hard, do your best, mellow out

Editor in chief: Aman MehrzaiNews editor: Anna NemchukOpinion editor: Jerome EngelbertsFeatures editor: Anne UtterSports editor: Nick ZambranoPhoto editor: Devina DeoStaff writers: Omer Ahmed, Steven

Chavez, Morgan Brinlee, Sara Kwan, Joyce Leung, Jessica Losee, Krista Martinez, Danelle Meyer, Erick Sanchez, Huda Shreim, Gabriel Vila

Ad Staff: Altanette Ford, Sarah Noori

Photographers: Daniel Kwan, Mark Blockinger

Ad manager: Corie HowellAdviser: Bill ParksPrinter: F-P Press

NEWS October 6, 2005 MONITOR 3

Editor-in-Chief

by AmanMehrzai

The VoiceWithin

In Japan they’re known asthe freeter generation. NEET’s(Not engaged in Education,Employment or Training) iswhat some European govern-ments classify them as. But inAmerica we call them thetwixters; those who are stuckbetwixt (between) the stages ofpuberty and adulthood.

Perhaps you know a twixter,or maybe you are one. Rangingfrom the ages of 18 to 29, theyrefuse to grow up. They can’thold a job or a partner, and theyconstantly rely on their parentsfor financial support. Theconsensus gentium is that theyare lazy and immature, thoughin most cases the latter provesall the more.

They live in a world offantasy where rational thoughtand emotional blurts are one inthe same, and irresponsibilitybecomes a way of life. So whatcauses this malfunctionedportion of society to get stuckin a state of arrested develop-ment?

Maybe James Dean is toblame. Ever since his manifes-tation into the adolescent worldof the 1950’s, juvenilitybecame synonymous to rebel-liousness. Nonage behaviorextended well into adulthood,and no longer did a young adulthave to hold to his/her responsi-bilities, because it was “nor-mal” to be capricious. Ormaybe the twixter behavior is,as a native American friend ofmine said, a representation ofthe spiritual deadness of oursociety.

Whatever the cause, mostexperts believe that thetwixter phenomenon is foundonly in post-industrial na-tions.

Some authors such as NeilPostman, in his book, TheDisappearance of Childhood ,believed that television is toblame. He described howtelevision has taken awayhuman individualism fromchildren, by replacing moth-ers and teachers as educators.

Postman believed thatchildhood creativity andindividualism was shaped bythe oral and textual communi-cation, in which a child'simagination was sparked bypassing knowledge throughreading.

Since television replacedoral education, argued Post-man, with broadcast televi-sion, a cloned like generationof youth strive for individual-ism and independence inironically, the same way.

A great exposition on twixterscan be found in Time Magazine,which further explores themakings of these malingerers.For comments, emailaman.mehrzai@gmail.com.

to be a problem for some of thestudents in question.

They have complained that itwas a humiliating experience,which isn’t something OfficerFajardo denies at all. “No one likesgetting attention like this from po-lice. I’ve been pulled over before, Iknow I didn’t like it,” said Fajardo.

But pulling their hands out of theirpockets as a method of degrada-tion? Fajardo and the rest of cam-pus security do not agree.

“[The students] are not going tohurt you with their eyes. You needto see their hands,” pointed outChief Fajardo.

However, a disputed charge oftwo allegedly uninvolved students

being among those gathered hasruffled feathers.

“We feel this is too harsh for justtalking,” said Karan Rai, one of thestudents involved in the round-up.“This isn’t the first time this hashappened,” said a writing lab in-structional assistant. MultipleHyman Hall staff members haveurged the group to be quiet, only to

be met with “rudeness and defiance,”said the assistant. “This is just the firsttime we have a written report withnames,” remarked Fajardo.

In an effort to be as lenient as pos-sible on the students, all disciplinaryaction is being referred to Student Ser-vices to be taken care of without involv-ing any criminal charges of disturbingthe peace.

and Summerhill Homes. AvalonBay specializes in luxury homesand apartments, Dutra is Fremontowned and operated and SobratoHomes has previously worked withOhlone.

The corporation selected as de-veloper would be in charge of popu-lating the frontage with commercialand business properties. The current

plan is for there to be one or two largestores such as Trader Joe’s or WholeFoods to draw people into the area.The plan is believed to be feasible asthere is no existing grocery store inthe immediate area. Smaller storesand businesses would fill out thedevelopment and draw more people.

The project will potentially hidethe campus from the street and thebuilding of an archway or other ar-

chitectural elements is planned tomark the area as being a part of theOhlone Community College District.The olive trees currently in the areaare to be integrated as part of an openplaza. More than 500 parking spaceswill be available. The developmentis also to be specifically linked to thecampus, allowing students easy ac-cess to the area. The possibility ofusing parts of the land for homes or

apartments is also being discussed.Previously, Ohlone worked on

sending project evaluation papers tothe district and planning the devel-opment with the aid of district staff,paid consultants and the selectioncommittee. Later this month, theBoard of Trustees will consider rec-ommending development teams tonegotiate with nonbinding letters ofintent.

The twixtergeneration

Continued from Page 1

Continued from Page 1

Students complain about Hyman crackdown

Proposals considered for Mission Boulevard

Mautaz Ansour explains the religious observance of Ramadan during a talkin the Quad Monday.

Photo by Devina Deo

Campus speaker explains RamadanBy OMER AHMEDStaff writer

Last Monday the Muslim Stu-dent Association presented its“What is Ramadan?” seminar.

The event occurred in the Quadat 11:45 a.m. in front of Building 5.Speaking on the topic of Ramadan,fasting, Islam and Muslims wasMautaz Ansour.

A self described “student of Is-lamic knowledge,” Ansour cameto the U.S. from Amman, Jordanseven years ago and just moved tothe Bay Area four months ago. Hestudied under many different Is-lamic scholars while in America.

After the speech, a question andanswer session was held to clear upany misconceptions.

Throughout the entire event,pizza and drinks were offered froma kosher/halaal restaurant calledN.Y. Giant Pizza and Gyro.

DVDs and pamphlets coveringa broad array of Islamic issues weremade available to the audience.Topics covered in the free litera-ture covered the topics of the Is-lamic belief system, Jihad to the

life of Malcolm X.The purpose of the event was to

inform Ohlone students about theupcoming month of fasting andpromote understanding. Presidentof the MSA Hamzah Harah said,“We want everyone to be aware ofwhat Ramadan is and what Mus-lims are doing.”

Ramadan occurs on the ninthmonth of the Islamic lunar calen-dar. Due to this, Ramadan occurson different dates every year of thecommonly used solar calendar.This year it began on Oct. 4. It willend on Nov. 2 or 3. During themonth of Ramadan, able-bodiedadult Muslims restrain themselvesfrom eating, drinking, smoking andsexual relations during the day-light hours. These restrictions areintended to teach the fasters self-control, patience and sympathy forthe less fortunate. The act of fast-ing is also seen a form of atone-ment.

The time is believed to be holi-est month of the year because itwas when Muslim holy book, theQur’an, was reveal to the prophetMohammad, founder of the reli-

gion. After the last day of the month,Muslims observe the Eid ul-Fitrholiday.

Future MSA events planned in-clude a community fast breakingor iftar that will be attended byFremont mayor Bob Wassermanon Oct. 8 at 6:15 p.m. in the Cafete-ria. There will also be a speech byAli Ataie, founder of the MuslimInterfaith Council, on fasting tra-ditions.

The Muslim Student Associa-tion holds weekly meetings andprayers in Room 4201 every Fri-day at 1:30 p.m. Ohlone also offerstwo philosophy courses about Is-lam, PHIL-112 Introduction toWestern Religion and 114 Intro-duction to Islam.

Psychologyworkshop set

A Psychology Transfer Work-shop will be held next Wednesdayat 2:30 p.m. Psychology instructorTom McMahon will unveil his“Transfer Guide for PsychologyMajor.” A location will be an-nounced.

By DANELLE MEYERStaff writer

Each year, Ohlone names a Citi-zen of the Year is given to oneindividual who is recognized forcontributions to the Tri-Cities area.

This year the Ohlone CollegeFoundation Board and the Citizenof the Year Committee picked RickGeha, a realtor, staff member onthe Board of Directors for Kidango,and President of the Ohlone Col-lege Foundation Board, to be giventhe award at the annual BenefitLuncheon.

“Rick Geha is a successful realtorand mentor who has given much ofhis time and efforts to the commu-nity,” said Josephine Ong-Hawkins,Executive Director of the OhloneCollege Foundation.

Geha has been an inspiration tomany through his years of contri-butions not only to the community,but also to Ohlone itself. “He hasbeen President of the Foundationfor 8 years, and supports our stu-dents not only by lending his ownfunds, but by soliciting funds fromoutside sources on behalf of thecollege,” explained Johari Peebles,Ohlone Foundation Coordinator.

According to the Ohlone Foun-dation Webpage, Geha is a “Localbusinessman, entrepreneur, philan-thropist and charming Master ofCeremonies...being honored for themany years of service rendered tothe community.”

The Annual Benefit Luncheonwill be held on Friday, Oct. 21 atthe Newark Hilton to honor Geha’sachievements in the community,and to award Citizen ScholarAwards to students who show out-standing services in the area. “Theevent is attended by communityand political leaders from the tri-cities area,” said Peebles.

Pepsi International StudentScholarship, Don and BabsAmsbaugh Award for Health Sci-ence and the Fremont Bank Schol-arship, are a few of the 11 awardsthat will be given out to studentsworth a total of $5,500.

Annualawardslunch set

FEATURES4 MONITOR October 6, 2005

By DANELLE MEYERStaff writer

The thought of traveling from SanFrancisco to L.A. via a bicycle mayseem like an impossibility for mostof us, but for Corie Howell, currentOhlone stu-dent, a 600-mile bike ridebecame notonly reality,but an accom-plishment shewill never for-get.

A massivegroup of 2,000people beganthis vigorousjourney onJune 5 to helpbenefit the SanF r a n c i s c oAIDS Foun-dation, and theL.A. Gay andLesbian Cen-ter.

“I foundout about theevent whenmy company sent me to the bakeryto pick up donuts,” Howell said. Onthe counter was a brochure for theride.

“I had always been interested ingetting involved in fundraisers andtrying to do my part to help out. Isigned up for it the next week, eventhough everyone thought I wascrazy.”

The ride was a weeklong eventwith camp-out points stationed alongthe way in cities such as Paso Roblesand Ventura. “We rode from 60 to100 miles a day,” Howell said.

Each of the riders were requiredto raise a $2,500 donation, and givena list of mandatory items to pack.

“We were limited to one 70-poundbag that had to include our sleepingbag, detergent, shower stuff, sleep-ing necessities, snacks, PJs, bikingclothes and street clothes,” saidHowell.

Since Howell’s friends and fam-ily didn’t think she could do it, sheonly wanted to finish the trip thatmuch more.

“Having no one believe in mehurt a lot, but gave me more strengthand passion to do it - not only for thegood cause, but to show myself, andeveryone around me, that I could doit,” said Howell.

By JEROME ENGLEBERTSOpinion editor

The coffee stand is back in business! For all of uswho pray to the Godess Caffeina or just simply enjoya frothy cappuccino, there is reason to rejoice.

The stand is now owned and operated by BayBridge Coffee.

We spoke with owner Dave Bernath, who also runsa Bay Bridge Coffee shop on Fremont Street in San

By OMER AHMEDStaff writer

Now there is some digital helpfor Ohlone students who are strug-gling with algebra.

Mathematics instructor TaniaMunding has started using a soft-ware package called MyMathLabto help her students learn what twox equals minus 22 over 10 is allabout. Munding said, “All over theU.S. we have a problem with alge-bra.”

The learning success rate for al-gebra classes is reportedly about46 percent, but many educators be-

Problems with math? New software may helplieve that figure to be too high asstudents are often passed withoutfully learning the skills. The reasonthat students don’t always retaintheir abilities in algebra, accordingto Munding, is a lack of practice.

“They need to work out their‘muscles’,” she said, and with theMyMathLab software, Mundingplans to give students a workout.So far the results have been prom-ising. This semester, the first classto use the software averaged a 90percent on its first exam.

Last year Munding discoveredthe wealth of software available toassist teachers and students in math

classes and set about researchingand testing the different packagessuch Alex, Eduspace, Ilearn andMathZone. She said she choseMyMathLab because it was userfriendly, easy to understand andprovided the maximum possiblehelp for students.

The software has a number offeatures that benefit students andteachers alike. The software cancreate and assign homework froma textbook and automatically gradeit. This gives the students enoughpractice to really learn and doesn’tlet them fall into the belief that theteacher will give points for any

homework turned in regardless ofquality. Tests can be timed andmonitored. Also, several ways ofteaching students are provided bythe software including multimediaexamples such as video lecturesand animations.

The class is convenient for teach-ers as all the homework and testscan be recorded in a grade bookprogram that allows for weightedscores and quick calculation of in-dividual and class averages.

The software can be difficult toset up as it requires that the instruc-tor take their whole semester lengthclass and digitize it, but once the

class is fully created, the entirety ofthe course can be copied and usedby other teachers. E-mail and In-stant Messaging tutoring can beavailable to students.

MyMathLab comes with a num-ber of Pearson Publishers textbooksand has also been adopted byDeVry University.

While only one class uses theMyMathLab package at the mo-ment, Munding is working onadapting her Calculus C course towork with the software. She hasalso shown the software to othermath instructors and would like tohold seminars on it.

Beth Victorianos is at the controls of the newly-reopened coffee stand infront of Building 1.

Photo by Daniel Kwan

Because she hadn’t ridden longdistances before, Howell didn’t havethe kind of equipment that the pro-fessional bikers had.

“All the other riders I spoke tothought I was insane for not havingclip peddles or the right shoes...By

day 2, I was sosore I couldbarely walk.”

The route tookthe riders throughback roads, cliffsand the end wasalong Highway1.

“The last legof the ride thoughand into LA wasscary because wewere riding onthe side of High-way 1, with carsspeeding past uson the left andcliffs with theocean below onthe right,” saidHowell.

Among themany riders werea group of HIV

positives that were riding to fight forthe cause.

“I made friends with a man on thePositive Peddlers. He had stoppedalong the trail because he was tired,so I stopped and we spoke for awhile.

“He had a big stuffed rabbit tiedonto his bike and was so upbeat andhappy, even though he was sick andexhausted. He completely made ev-ery negative thought about the ridevanish from my mind, and gave methe courage to keep going.”

On June 11, with a “Giant OCRroad bike” equipped with no spe-cially added pieces, Howell provedshe could beat the odds even when itseemed everything was against her.She finished the 600-mile bike rideright along with everyone else.

At the finishing point, all the rid-ers were greeted by tons of peoplecheering them on. “At the closingceremonies I was so happy to havemade it, but devastated because itwas over. It was probably the hardestphysical thing I’ve ever done, but atthe same time the best experienceand most rewarding,

“We were all so happy to havedone the ride, to have been a part ofsomething that was so amazing andunforgettable...I’d do it again.”

Building 1 coffee stand is backFrancisco (right off the...Bay Bridge, you guessed it).He is a coffee connoisseur and proudly states that theyemphasize all natural drinks, shade grown organic freetrade coffee, roasted by local coffee roasters. Prices arevery much in tune with what you’d pay at the big chaincoffee places.

Dave Bernath won’t be the one who will be manag-ing the stand though ... You’ll be asking BethVictorianos to brew you a cup, or make you a smoothie.As of last Tuesday, they’re open for business.

600 miles by bicycleto raise funds for AIDS

Deaf News Corner

Photo by Devina DeoCorie Howell

By ANNIE UTTERFeatures editor

The Ohlone College Deaf Center (OCDC)opened in 1972 to just 30 deaf and hard-of- hearingstudents. That number has grown to more than 200each fall every year. The question is, why is therea deaf pro-gram atO h l o n e ?What makesthis place sospecial?

It goes wayback whenThe Califor-nia School for the Deaf in Berkeley was to bemoved into the current site of Fremont in 1980.The college wanted to educate the public about thedeaf world, so they offered American Sign Lan-guage (ASL) classes, deaf culture and classes forthe deaf and hard-of-hearing so they could beready for the new community in 1980.

Ohlone College Deaf Center is one of the largestDeaf programs on the community college level in

the U.S.A., signs Tom Holcomb of Deaf studies.Currently, there are about 150 deaf and hard-of-

hearing students enrolled. Half of the students arefrom the California School for the Deaf in Fremont(CSDF) and the other students come from main-stream schools from all over California, as well asother states.

There are also a large number of foreign stu-dents coming from Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, andAfrica. The main reason why students are comingfrom so far away is that the majority of communitycolleges do not provide a variety of services likeOhlone.

Joe McLaughlin is the Dean, Deaf Studies &Special Services. There are eight staff that teachand sign in ASL and half of the staff are deaf. Theinterpreter staff currently has seven full-time inter-preters and 15 part-time interpreters and are stillhiring for more.

Ohlone also provides an Interpreter PreparationProgram (IPP). For more information about coursescheck out http://www.ohlone.edu/instr/div_deaf/ipp/

The Ohlone College Deaf Center is located inRoom 5305 over the cafeteria. You can check thewebsite at http://www.ohlone.edu/instr/div_deaf/

FEATURESOctober 6, 2005 MONITOR 5

Hickies, how toget rid of them

JessicaLosee

Hickies. Getting them is fun,getting rid of them is hell.

I was recently trying to purgemyself of one of these littlemaladies. I was desperately hopingthat I could do so without having toresort to taking my skin off with acheese grater, claiming that alienshad attacked me the night beforewith a new, messier alternative totheir signature laser.

I realized while looking onlinethat many people do not evenknow what a hickey is.

A hickey, according to onewebsite, is a number of smallbroken blood vessels under theskin - basically, it is just a smallbruise. Certain areas of skin doseem to be more prone to hickiesthan others, including the areasurrounding the neck and shoul-ders, as well as the inside of theelbows and knees.

Most hickies are caused byover-passionate blood-suckersattaching themselves to a victim’sneck. Other times, you canaccidentally apply them to oneselfif you happen to suck on your armfor a while. There are also rarecases of people being attacked bytheir vacuums while cleaning theirrooms. It’s been known to happen.

There are many ways suggestedonline using everyday items toremove hickies, including pressingon the area with the back of a coldspoon, using a highlighter orlipstick cap and “blot” the areausing a small amount of suction,heating the area with a warm spoonto break up the small clots ofblood, putting vinegar on it, as wellas hundreds of others.

One article from Wiki.ehow.com suggests using a toothbrushand brushing the area: “Using thetoothbrush method reduced myhickey in seconds, and after aboutan hour, it was gone!”

The method I used workedfairly well: icing the area for a fewminutes, then taking a comb andcombing the blood vessels backdown. It did not get rid of thelargest ones, but after about 10minutes there were only three orfour small red spots on my neck.

After you try your homeremedy, if it does not seem to beworking, one can always try tocover the area with make-up,which the cheap stuff can bepurchased for only a couple bucksat any local drug store or grocerystore. I recommend that whenapplying the make-up over theblood-darkened area, blot it on toensure the make-up is thick enoughto cover the hickey.

If all else fails, one can resort tolame excuses. I personally favorputting a bandaid over the area andclaiming it is a pimple. No one willwant to look at such a monstrosity.You can also buy a neck brace andsay you were in a car accident.

In the end, you can wear aturtleneck, although it is a bitobvious if one wears a turtleneckin 75-degree weather.

By JEROME ENGELBERTSOpinion editor

The de Young will celebrate itsre-opening in Golden Gate Park,San Francisco with a 31-hour mu-seum marathon, which is free to thepublic.

The museum will be open con-tinuously from 10 a.m. on Oct. 15until 5 p.m. Oct. 16. The openingweekend program includes music,dancing, food and a full schedule ofperformances by local groupsthroughout the museum grounds.To memorialize the occasion, aphoto opportunity station will belocated near the historic sphinxsculptures.

Special events are planned forthe opening weekend including:

Members of the San FranciscoSymphony Brass;

Performances by San FranciscoOpera & San Francisco Ballet;Hatshepsut: From Queen to Pha-raoh;

Golden Gate Park Band; LelandStanford Junior University March-ing Band; a special Poetry, Musicand Art program.

Poet Laureates to read originalpoems dedicated to the grand open-ing of the new de Young Museum,among with others former San Fran-cisco Poets Laureates JaniceMirikitani, and LawrenceFerlinghetti; the Hot Club of SanFrancisco and many special attrac-tions.

The previous deYoung museumwas damaged beyond repair duringthe 1989 Loma Prieta earthquakeand the buildings were torn down.The design of the new museum hasbeen controversial, and the reopen-ing has been eagerly awaited by theBay Area arts community.

For a complete program, pleasevisit http://www.thinker.com/deyoung/visiting/index.asp or callthe De Young museum’s hot line at(415) 863-3330

By SARA KWANStaff writer

There will be two ASL VarietyShow classes, ASL-213B andDEAF-213D for the nine-week se-mester starting Oct. 17.

The classes will put on a varietyshow, featuring deaf and hearingASL students during finals week inDecember. The purpose is to con-nect the two worlds of deaf studentsand hearing students.

For information about the class,go to the the Ohlone website usingWebAdvisor, www.ohlone.edu.

Students will be interacting witheach other in a variety of perfor-mances that will include ABC’sand number stories.

If the Ohlone theater is not avail-able for the performance, then theCalifornia School for the Deaf inFremont will be willing to host thisevent.

Josh Snedigar, above, fans a deck at last Friday’s poker tournament atOhlone. Below, organizers break out the chips.

Photos by Daniel Kwan

Poker craze reaches Ohlone

De YoungMuseumto reopenon Oct. 15

ASL varietyshow classes

By GABRIEL VILAStaff writer

Imagine 50 young men andwomen together in a room, clus-tered in small groups around tableswhere cards are thrown down andbets are placed, the rush and excite-ment of winning and the bitter tasteof defeat.

No, we’re not in Vegas ladiesand gents, we’re at the Gamers’Association’s Texas Hold’em PokerBenefit Tournament, held last Fri-day in the cafeteria.

Josh Snedigar, president of theGamers’ Association, was proud ofthe event. “Our treasurer came upwith the idea, and we ran with it.”Really, the club is for all forms oftabletop gaming, ranging from theclassic board game Risk to moreesoteric card games. So when pre-sented with an idea for a fundraiser,Texas Hold’em, being the popularchoice from television and in gen-eral a great game was an obviouschoice.

“We only expected 30 or sopeople to show up,” Snedigar said.“But 54 people signed up in ad-vance, and we actually have peoplecoming in from outside the school.”

The poker tourna-ment was held to raisefunds to go towardassisting hurricaneKatrina survivors, inaddition to helpingout the newlyfounded Gamers’Association. “About15 percent of the pro-ceeds go toward vic-tims of Katrina,”Chris Nguyen, trea-surer of the club said.“People just keepshowing up.” Theevent had a $5 buy-infor people whosigned up in advance,and a $7 buy in forpeople who turned up at the door.

Although the event started an hourlate, everyone seemed to be having agood time. Nick Comendant, a pre-med major, thought it was a greatidea. “I heard that the tournamentwas for the hurricane, and I lovepoker, so I signed up.”

But it wouldn’t be poker withoutsomething to win, would it? To thatend, the Gamers’ Association gotJohn T’s to donate prizes. First place,Marty Stroschein, won a deck of

official plastic cards and a deckshuffler. Second place, Nelson Than,took two decks and a set of pokerchips. Third place: Kyle Meiers, wontwo decks of cards and a World PokerTournament Rules book.

From all indications, the tourna-ment was a success, in fact, the onlycomplaint voiced (besides thegroans of painful defeat) was that itwas poorly advertised. Most peopleheard of the event only a day or soin advance.

NEWS6 MONITOR October 6, 2005

Carnival Day at OhloneBy JEROME ENGELBERTSOpinions editor

Wednesday’s Ohlone Carnivalwas an event partially to raisemoney for victims of HurricaneKatrina, and to offer an opportunityto get information about which stu-dent clubs may be available (amongothers the Asian Pacific AmericanStudents Association, and StudentsIn Free Enterprise), advice on trans-

fer possibilities (representatives ofseveral schools were present), pos-sible jobs and internships (localassemblyman Alberto Torrica hadsomeone there looking for interns),and representatives from agencieslike Family Support Services. Alsorepresented was WILD 94.9 radio,which flooded the gathering withan ongoing stream of music.

All these were circled around avariety of recreational attractions

(shooting hoops, card games, ballgames and other activities) in thePalm Bosque.

There was a variety of studentclubs as well as potential employ-ers and other schools vying for thestudents’ attention.

The carnival was organized bythe ASOC with help from the Trans-fer and Career department, whichcontacted most of the participatingoutside parties.

In photos, clockwise from upper left: Wendy Laogoes through obstacle course; Jeremy Leonard(standing) beats up on Alex Truong; Jiran Sayadi inthe Jello-eating contest; Jeff Rodgers, Mike Holmes,Jermaine Smith and Alex Arias mug for the photog-rapher; Sarah Khanghahi passing small basket-balls back to the people tossing them.

Photosby DanielKwan

CAMPUS EVENTSOctober 6, 2005 MONITOR 7

scholarships totaling $5,000 toOhlone students who exhibit dedi-cation to their academic successwhile also demonstrating commu-nity and campus involvement.Each scholarship requires a com-pleted Ohlone College scholarshipapplication. Scholarships will beawarded at the 2005 Citizen of theYear Luncheon on October 21,2005. See the Ohlone CollegeScholarships website for additionalinformation. See HTTP://WWW.OHLONE.EDU/ORG/SCHOLAR-SHIPS/ for more information.

14 Men's Water Polo --3:30 p.m. At Ohlone, versus ModestoJr. College.

15 Deaf BBQ -- 11 a.m. to4 p.m at Lake Elizabeth, Picnic AreaB. Bring a lunch or pay $2 for a BBQhotdog or burger, chips, drink, anddessert. There will be volleyball,baseball, boat rentals, chess, andmore! Just show up! Sponsored byRevival Tabernacle Dead Ministry.

15 & 16 Multi-Cultural Festival -- 11 a.m. to 7p.m at Ohlone College. A celebra-tion of unity and diversity. Free park-ing! Featuring food booths, culturalprograms, arts and crafts booths,business booths, and service booths.Admission is $3 a day and proceedswill help IACF Education Programs.A free health fair, sponsored byAAPIO, will be held on Sundayfrom 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and animmigration fair from 1:30 to 3:30p.m. For booth reservation callShashi Sharma at (408) 569-3396 orNaresh Sharma at (510) 656-6588.

17 Fall 2005 9-week Se-mester Courses Start -- Nine-week classes fit a full semester’scredit into a shortened format. Stu-dents can register online viaWebAdvisor.

19 Book Club Meeting -- 7 - 8:30 p.m at Newark MemorialHigh School, Room 315. The OhloneCollege Book Club will be meetingtwice this semester to discuss TheLaramie Project. Discussion will belead by Rick Flynn of the Englishdepartment. If you can attend a livediscussion, visit http://ohlonereads.blogspot.com for theonline Blog. Copies of the book areavailable for $8 at the Library Infor-mation Desk.

19 Women’s Volleyball-- 6:30 p.m. At Ohlone, versus Foot-hill College.

21 Brown Bag Seminar-- 1 - 2 p.m at Ohlone College, Room2133. The Math and Science ofSafety in the Manufacturing of Semi-conductor Chips. Speaking will beFacilities and Safety Solutions Spe-cialist Aaron Zude.

21 Book Club Meeting -- 1 - 2:30 p.m in the Ohlone CollegeLibrary, Video Conference Room.

OCTOBER

6 National DepressionScreening Day -- 10 a.m. - 2p.m. in the Health Center, Build-ing 16. Ohlone College is on acampaign and joins National De-pression Screening Day to educateeveryone that help and support areavailable. No one needs to sufferin silence or alone. Drop by theStudent Health Center, Building 6to participate in free, confidential,education and screenings for arange of common emotional con-ditions that are often misunder-stood or overlooked. You can alsolog onto depression-screening.orgfor an online screening. Bring theresults to the Health Center for bya counselor who will provide in-formation and support. For addi-tional information call (510) 659-6258 or TTY (510) 659-6219.

7 Brown Bag Seminar -- 1 - 2 p.m at Ohlone College,Room 2133. GIS on Campus - ThePower of Geographic InformationSystems. Speaking will be Profes-sor Narinder Bansal and ProfessorWilliam Harmon.

7 Women's Volleyball --6:30 p.m. At Ohlone, versus WestValley College.

8 Ohlone College SuperFlea Market -- 8 a.m. - 3 p.m atOhlone College, Lots 'E' and 'H'.The Ohlone College Super FleaMarket is held the second Saturdayof every month. Vendor spaces are$30 - same day registration is $35.Admission is free and parking is $2per vehicle. All proceeds supportOhlone College programs. For moreinformation contact Elaine Nagel at(510) 659-6285.

12 Katrina Relief Con-cert at The Saddle Rack --42011 Boscell Rd in Fremont, CA.Join The Saddle Rack, ComcastCable, Q105, and the Tri City Ro-tary Club in honoring Bay AreaFire Fighters of the California Ur-ban Search and Rescue Task Force3 for their help with HurricaneKatrina recovery, relief and disas-ter assistance. A $20 donation forthe concert will be accepted at thedoor. Other items such as money,toys, clothing and other essentialswill be accepted. The benefit con-cert will feature Columbia Record-ing Artist Buddy Jewell, Appal-oosa and friends. You must be 21+to enter.

12 Women's WaterPolo -- 3 p.m. At Ohlone, versusAmerican River College.

14 Ohlone CollegeFoundation “Citizen ScholarAwards” Application Dead-line -- The Ohlone College Foun-dation will offer eight very special

Campus Events listings are free for college-related events. To have your event added or to

place an ad, contact Corie Howell at (510)396-4209 or email c.howell@comcast.net

The Monitor invites your comments. Letters shouldbe 250 words or less, include your name and

relationship to Ohlone. Letters become property ofThe Monitor and may be edited for spelling and length.

Read the Monitor Online:

http://ohlone.edu/org/monitor

“GSA-Gay Straight Alliance”

will meet every Tuesday in

SC116 at 3-4pm. Come and

meet like minded people!

JOBS ANDINTERNSHIPS

Students are Welcome tovisit. Transfer & Career Ser-vices, Building 1 Room 1405A.Open Monday thru Thursday9 to 12 a.m. & 1 to 3 p.m.Closed Fridays.

The Ohlone College Book Club willbe meeting twice this semester todiscuss The Laramie Project. Dis-cussion will be lead by Mark Nelsonof the Theatre department. If youcan attend a live discussion, visithttp://ohlonereads.blogspot.com forthe online Blog. Copies of the bookare available for $8 at the LibraryInformation Desk.

28 Women’s Volleyball -- 6:30 p.m. At Ohlone, versus CanadaCollege.

28 Women’s Water Polo-- 3 p.m. At Ohlone, versus Collegeof San Mateo.

ASSISTANT - Part-time.$8 - 15 per hour in Fremont,CA for 1 - 3 hours per day,weekdays. Looking for a re-sponsible person, who is ableto speak and understand En-glish, and has some com-puter skills such as Internet,emailing, word, excel. Weare a growing company andare looking for smart, intelli-gent people to work at entry-level positions. This positionrequires making packagesand mail labels, picking anddropping mail at post office,light office work such asfaxing, photocopying, track-ing packages on Internet, andentering data. If you havecomputer skills, and are will-ing to take on additional re-sponsibilities, we can giveyou additional work and willof course, pay more. We arewilling to train the right per-son. We are flexible aboutworking hours and can workaround your school sched-ule. #1539380

RECEPTIONIST / AD-MINISTRATIVE ASSIS-TANT - Full-time, entry level,in Fremont, CA. Schedule toBe Arranged. The ideal can-didate for this position is anoutgoing, hardworking per-son with two+ years of ad-ministrative experience. Youmust be professional insideand out, be reliable, detailoriented, organized, and ableto work independently. Youmust also have excellentwritten and verbal communi-cation skills and have fullworking knowledge ofMicrosoft Word, Excel andOutlook. Responsibilities forthis position include, but are

not limited to, answering a multi-line phone, taking detailed mes-sages and transferring calls, or-dering office supplies, data en-try, processing incoming and out-going mail-shipments, copying,filing, typing, faxing and runningerrands (must have current CDL,own vehicle, & good drivingrecord). Additional administrativeresponsibilities will be assignedas experience increases. We of-fer competitive salaries, oppor-tunity for growth, employee bo-nus program, 401(k) plan withcompany matching program,medical, dental vision, additionalmedical & dental insurance avail-able at cost to employee, IDPLicensing program with cash bo-nus upon licensure, internal con-tinuing education program, anda fun & exciting culture. #1538422

JR. ACCOUNTANT/LOANPROCESSOR - Full-time, entrylevel, $10 per hour in Fremont,CA. Minimum 30 hours per week.You must be able to type fast,have good communication skills,and good phone attitude. This isan administrative type job, withbookkeeping, purchasing, andaccounting duties. #1538438

SOCIAL SERVICE COORDI-NATOR - Full-time, entry level,$10 - 11 per hour in Newark, CA.Monday - Friday from 8 a.m. to4:30 p.m. Must have at least anAA degree in Social Work orrelated field. Must have experi-ence in management. You willoversee the social service office,administer all social service pro-grams, grant writing and devel-opment, develop & supervise vol-unteer program. #1538442

LEASING CONSULTANT -Part-time, $15 per hour plus bo-nuses in Pleasanton, CA. EverySaturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. to5 p.m. You must be an outgoing,self-starter with great peopleskills. Experience in Retail orProperty Management sales aplus! We are seeking someoneto both lease apartments andprovide outstanding customerservice to our residents EVERY

WEEKEND. You will work in ourleasing office answering thephone, assisting prospective andcurrent residents with questionsand concerns. Your primary ob-jective is to lease apartments thruphone and in person sales tech-niques. We also have a pro-ac-tive lease renewal program tokeep existing residents. Both suc-cessful leases and lease renew-als pay you bonuses. #1524902

SERVICE REPRESENTA-TIVE- SALES - Full-time, entrylevel, $30,000 - $53,700 a year inPleasanton, CA. 37.5 hours perweek. You must have a Bach-elors or Associates Degree. Mustbe licensed if required by the stateor Strategic Business Unit of Com-mercial Markets. Strong writtenand oral communication skillsneeded. Basic math skills are alsorequired. Some travel necessary.You will work in concert with SalesProducers to ensure retention ofquality business. Acts as primarycustomer contact in addressingquestions and concerns regard-ing account status. Assists SalesProducers in the review, analy-sis, and development of cover-age recommendations for re-tained and prospected accounts.Provides information and coordi-nates activity with various depart-ments to ensure quality service.#1530456

LEGISLATIVE INTERNSHIPPROGRAM - This program of-fers students the opportunity tolearn more about the legislativeprocess, and provides in depthexperience in working in a statelegislative office. The programis flexible to accommodateschool schedules; however, pro-spective interns should be ableto volunteer a minimum of 12hours a week. Internships areunpaid and available year round,and can be completed in ex-change for academic units. Itwill be the students’ responsibil-ity to arrange for course credit.For more information about thisposition and others please visit:Transfer &Career Services, Bldg1, rm1405A.

Page 8MONITOR

OHLONE COLLEGE

PPOO SSRRTTSSThursday, October 6, 2005

By STEVENCHAVEZCorrespondent

Thefinalscore

By NICKZAMBRANOSports editor

SwingAway

Baseball is still in full swing this fall as the Ohlone Renegades pre-pare for their upcoming season in Spring 2006. The season starts upin February.

Photo by Daniel Kwan

Raider fans rejoice you arefinally in the win column! Andguess what? Sebastian Janikowskihelped put you there.

Janikowski nailed four fieldgoals to put the Raiders on top ofthe Dallas Cowboys, 19-13 this pastweekend in Oakland. This came asa shock to most, as Janikowskimissed two field goals last weekagainst the Eagles.

The Raiders lost the previousweek to the Eagles 23-20, a gamethat was within hands reach if hadnot been for Jano. A victory overDonovan McNabb and companycould have been sweet. How manyother teams could say they havedone that?

Back to Jano for a moment. Histwo missed field goals could haveput the Raiders over the Eagles andleave the Silver and Black goinginto their bye week with a 2-2record. And the last time I checked2-2 is better than 1-3, a whole lotbetter.

Keeping with the theme ofnumbers, Sea Bass was 2 for 2 onfield goal attempts from 40 yardsout in the game against Dallas, butwas 0 for 1 in the same rangeagainst Philly.

These kind of kicks should bechip shots for a guy like Janikowski,who was taken in the first round bythe Raiders six years ago for hissuperior leg strength. There was noexcuse for that missed kick.

In his six-year stint in the NFL,Janikowski is ironically only 40 for59 on attempts from 40 yards out, apercentage of 66, while mostkickers in the league are over 70percent from 40 yards out. But ifyou look back a couple seasons, theRaiders have had their problemswith kickers. Remember Cole Ford?Booed right out of town.

Now do you really want that tohappen Jano? I mean the RaiderNation are already perhaps thetoughest fans in football, but doyou really want to give them morereason to go psycho?

And how often are gamesdecided by less than a touchdown?Twenty-four games, 24 games in aseason that is only four weeks old.And guess what?

The last three games the Raidershave played were decided by thatmargin. So much for the offensethat was supposed to carry theRaiders back into the playoffs.

Wake up Sea Bass, don'texpect your work to be minimal.A kicker has as much importanceto a team as the quarterbackdoes.

So next time when you’reputting on that silver and blackjersey, remember it comes with acommitment to excellence. So youmake sure you bring that, and justwin baby because you do not wantto be the next Cole Ford.

Janikowski putsRaiders at 1-3

By SARA KWANStaff writer

The Lady Renegades continuedtheir hot streak on Friday againstSan Francisco City College. Theroads were against them when theywere informed last minute of SanFrancisco’s double header, whichpushed their game to 2 p.m. insteadof the originally planned 4 p.m.

However, Coach Larry Heslinfit 12 players into a van and droveto San Francisco to play the gameat its scheduled time.

Reinforcements joined themlater on, but Ohlone had enoughplayers to get things started, andthe girls did not let Coach Heslin

down. The game was scorelessthroughout the first half, but in themiddle of the second half the LadyRenegades scored two goals, oneby forward Sarah Fernandez andthe other by midfielder Kristina Eng.

That proved to be enough, as theOhlone defense shut out San Fran-cisco. Amanda Lopez protected thegoal safely for Ohlone as they heldon to win another game.

Unfortunately, they could notmuster any offense for their gameon Tuesday against Cabrillo.

The Lady Renegades allowedCabrillo to jump on the scoreboardearly with two quick goals in thefirst five minutes of the game.Ohlone had many opportunities to

score themselves in the first half,but wasn’t able to capitalize.

In the second half, Cabrillo blewthe game wide open with three moregoals and shut down the Ohloneoffense for the rest of the game as theLady Renegades dropped it, 5-0.

“We’re going to try to not startoff too slowly anymore,” said CoachHeslin.

The Lady Renegades have agame this Friday against De AnzaCollege. If they win that game, theworst position they will be in is a tiefor first going into the second half.

“It’s a matter of the girls comingout to play and believinginthemselves,” Coach Heslin said.“If we do that, we should be alright.”

Women’s soccer blanksSan Francisco City College

Men’s Soccer:Wednesday 10/05/05 -versus EvergreenValley at 4 p.m.

Friday 10/07/05 -versus Shasta at 2p.m.

Friday 10/11/05 -versus Mission at 4p.m.

Wednesday 10/19/05 -versus Chabot at 4 p.m.

Friday 10/28/05 -versus Cabrillo at 4p.m.

Women’s Soccer:Tuesday 10/11/05 -versus Mission at 2p.m.

Men’s Water Polo:Friday 10/14/05 -versus Modesto Jr.at 3:30 p.m.

UPCOMING HOME GAMESWomen’s WaterPolo:Wednesday 10/12/05-versus AmericanRiver at 3 p.m.

Women’s Volleyball:Friday 10/07/05 -versus West Valley at6:30 p.m.

Wednesday10/19/05 - versusFoothill at 6:30 p.m.

Back to what’s important,in a word: football. This weeksaw the Raiders defeat theCowboys and the 49ers beatthe Cardinals.

Wait, the new and im-proved “contenders for thedivision title” 49ers lost tothe friggin’ Cardinals? Thatquote was a paraphrase ofwhat their coach, Mike Nolan,has been-and still is- spewingout of his athlete’s foot-riddled mouth.

Finally, though, the 49ers canbegin the long rebuilding processthis week when rookie AlexSmith takes the helm and tries toget the once-proud organizationback on its feet.

Smith was drafted first inthis year’s draft, given acontract worth $24 million inguaranteed money and toutedas the future and savior of the49ers. He gets his first chanceto prove his worth on Sundayagainst the undefeated Colts.

If you haven’t followed theNFL yet this year, the Coltsare still good, but it’s theirDEFENSE that is puttingthem in a position to win eachweek.

Smith won’t be able to justgo out and pick apart a weakdefense in his first week.Expect for Smith to have abad start. He isn’t going to goout and turn this team aroundthis week, or this season, forthat matter.

If you’re counting, only oneperson in NFL history that wasdrafted first overall, since theAFL-NFL merger in the early’60s has been able to lead histeam to a winning record his firstseason. He was pretty goodthough, and I’m not sure thatSmith could even carry JohnElway’s jockstrap.

The Raiders got their firstwin this week, defeating theCowboys in an ugly but“we’ll take it” game. Goinginto their bye week, 1-3 isn’timpressive, but it’s worldsbetter than 0-2005.

Looking at their schedule,though, it may be gettingeasier, aside from San Diegofollowing the bye week andthen once more in December.The only other game they playagainst an opponent to speakof is in the season’s finalweek against the Giants.

It wouldn’t be out of thequestion for this team to pullthemselves together to evenout at 8-8, and in today’sNFL, that might be enoughfor the playoffs. More likely,however, they’ll suffer thesame fate as the 49ers, nofootball in January.

Squared up

Smith finallytakes the helm

MONITOR