advocatetheNovember 4, 2011 Volume 47, Issue 7

4 Feature: Sleepy Hollow actors 6 Nature trail photo collage 8 • Change your clocks Sunday!• No school Friday, Nov. 11

Gresham, Oregon

www.Advocate-Online.net

Mt. Hood Community College

Students pay homage to indigenous cultures

by Jill-Marie GavinThe Advocate

A variety of indigenous cultures of North America are being honored this month at Mt. Hood Community College, including several events this week in the College Center and a major American Indian celebration scheduled for Nov. 12.

Dia de Los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, is a Mexican holiday that MEChA, formerly known as the Latino Club, chose to celebrate in the College Center Tuesday and Wednesday.

At the event, MEChA sold sugar skulls made by club members and gave away smaller skulls. Janat Quiroz, co-chair of MEChA, said sugar skulls were originally used as decorated trophies for games played by ancient members of the Aztec tribe.

November is also American Indian Heritage Month and on Wednesday, a group of Aztec dancers, who hold classes every other Tuesday with the MHCC Native American club, held a ritual dancing ceremony to honor their Mexican ancestors.

Chako-Kum Tux, the MHCC Native American club, will also honor Ameri-can Indian Heritage Month by hosting its eighth annual Kanawaksooma Pow Wow Nov. 12.

The pow wow grand entry is at noon and begins with bringing in the colors and entrance of all the dancers. The event will offer an opportunity to observe traditional dancing, drumming and singing as well as an opportunity to be included in arts, crafts, and trying traditional foods. The event is scheduled to end at 10 p.m.

Club President Elisha Big Back said last year more than 1,000 people at-tended the event.

Big Back, of the Northern Cheyenne tribe, said Chako-Kum Tux doesn’t have a lot of active members of the club. She said about 15 members show up for club events.

Big Back said there are a lot of American Indians on campus but most don’t come forward to join the club because they don’t want to get involved in the drama that often presents itself in many American Indian gatherings.

She also said some people who don’t join feel like they’re culturally alone or don’t know about the club.

Big Back said the reason behind the annual Kanawaksooma Pow Wow is to “raise awareness of the American Indian com-munity and to promote education of Native youth.”

Asked the meaning of the event name and club name, Big Back said, “Kanawaksooma is a Chinook tribal word mean-ing quiet thunder. Chako-Kum Tux is Chinook slang meaning becoming to understand.”

She said Robert Van Pelt, founder of the MHCC club and a Plains Indian, chose Chinook as the language because he wanted to keep the language local to Mt. Hood. The Chinook tribe is the original inhabitant tribe of the Columbia River banks throughout Oregon and Washington.

During November, which is American Indian Heritage Month, Big Back said Chako-Kum Tux has planned the pow wow, Thursday night culture classes and every other Tuesday they will hold Aztec dance classes in the Visual Arts building.

She said the biggest challenges that Natives face today are negative stereotypes and that many think tribal people are disappearing. She said she hopes these events will help people learn how to be respectful of American Indians and promote diversity of all types.

She also said she wants club members to be personal ex-amples that Natives are not always drunk, lazy and ignorant the way a lot of people assume.

The pow wow is still accepting vendors, who are urged to contact club Vice President Celia Payer for more informa-tion at 503-960-1745. Student organizations and non-profi t vendors can reserve space for free and all other vendors are subject to a $40 fee.

Above: Johnny Martinez, Pajuta Hourie and Willan Cervantes perform traditional Aztec ceremony in the college center Wednesday for a Day of the Dead event. For the last six years MHCC has hosted a celebration for the annual Mexican ritual “Dia de Los Muertos.”

Right: Two children participate in last year’s Kanawak-sooma Pow Wow, this year’s pow wow is scheduled for Nov. 12.

Photos by Riley Hinds and Devin Courtright/� e Advocate

2 opinionadvocate

the

November 4, 2011

Editor-in-ChiefJill-Marie Gavin

Associate EditorsJohn Tkebuchava & Mike Mata

Sports EditorChanel Hill

Living Arts EditorDavid Gambill

Assistant Living Arts EditorKylie Rogers

Mt. Hood Community College26000 SE Stark Street

Gresham, Oregon 97030

E-mail advocatt@mhcc.edu

www.advocate-online.net

503-491-7250 (Main)

503-491-7413 (Offi ce)

503-591-6064 (Fax)

Interim AdviserBob Watkins

Assistant AdviserDan Ernst

SubmissionsThe Advocate encourages readers to share their opinion by

letters to the editor and guest columns for publication. All submissions must be typed and include the writer’s name and contact information. Contact information will not be printed unless requested. Original copies will not be returned to the author. The Advocate will not print any unsigned submission.

Letters to the editor should not exceed 300 words and guest columns should not exceed 600. The decision to publish is at the discretion of the editorial board.

The Advocate reserves the right to edit for style, punctuation, grammar and length.

Please bring submissions to The Advocate in Room 1369, or e-mail them to advocatt@mhcc.edu. Submissions must be received by 5 p.m. Monday the week of publication to be considered for print.

Opinions expressed in columns, letters to the editor or advertisements are the views of the author and do not necessarily refl ect those of The Advocate or MHCC.

the advocateOpinion EditorShelby Schwartz

Copy EditorsKylie Rogers & Yuca Kosugi

Photo EditorRiley Hinds

Web EditorJohn Tkebuchava

Web DesignerLogan Scott

Broc Christensen

Leah Emura

Jeff Hannig

Laura Knudson

Mario Rubio

Reporters

Editorial

by David GambillThe Advocate

Hide your Norelco in the closet for prostate cancer. Lock your Gillette in the cabinet for multiple sclerosis. This year men and women together will ban the razor to show solidarity for several causes while partici-pating in No-shave November.

This world-wide, fall tradi-tion has many variations but one rule is always the same: You can-not shave a single hair on your body.

The ritual is a spin off of Movember, a movement to grow mustaches from scratch during the month that started in an Adelaide, Australia, pub in 1999, according to www.movember.org.

I have my own theory about how No-shave Novem-ber became a rallying point for charities in November. At www.urbandictionary.com, user “onetimethingg” posts that women may fi nd it repulsive for a man to have a

rough beard. He continues that this may lead to the man receiving “beard burn,” i.e. being cut off from sex for the month. Ahh, but how well would that threat go over if he were growing his beard for charity?

The most common way for a participant to raise mon-ey during the month is to have your beard sponsored. Several groups, such as Boston University’s Law Men’s No-Shave November for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, are raising money for their own awareness groups.

In addition to the charity, No-shave November is also a chance for solidarity with your fellow students. Say hello to your neighbor with a friendly beard scratch. Maybe someone will even start a campus group that meets weekly to compare beards and share stories about that neck itch that won’t go away. I’ll keep my eye out for a poster about when and where we’re going to meet.

Besides charity and fraternity, another good reason to participate in No-shave November is to impress your family. Thanksgiving is near the end of the month and your facial hair will be three-weeks old by then. With fa-cial hair growing at a rate of about a half-inch per month, according to www.hairfi nder.com, your parents will be mighty impressed with your show of manhood at the

table in three weeks. Heck, you may even get to carve the turkey this year.

Or you can always participate for the same reason I do: laziness.

Women shouldn’t be shy about participating either. Skirts will be popular on campus this month as ladies show off their stubbly legs. There are pictures of ladies at the Movember website who are wearing fake mustaches for the month. Even if all you do is sponsor, though, ev-eryone has an opportunity to be involved.

This month is not all about fun and games though. I would like to offer some requests for the safety of the general public. First, no tank tops. It’s too cold outside anyways and no one else wants to see your armpit hair. Second, if you work in the food service industry, please invest in a hairnet. And the last safety rule is: Don’t hurt our eyes with your Gallagher impersonations. If you’re a little shy on top but bushy on the sides, invest in a hat you can wear for a month and there won’t be any complaints.

Let’s make this year a No-shave November to re-member by posting pictures of your beard on the Ad-vocate’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/TheAd-vocateOnline.

Prepare for beard overload and more during No-shave November

Illustration by Yuca Kosugi/� e Advocate

Veterans Day evolves with time

The face of the modern veteran has changed.

Once upon a time the traditional vision of soldiers from the different branches of the military was of statuesque white men. Today, we know that dating back to the early days of our nation, Native Americans and African Americans were beginning to enter the armed forces to protect this country.

As we approach Veterans Day next Fri-day, it’s important to include all defi ni-

tions of the word in our minds.Recent advancements in diversity

have been made to the point where soldiers of all colors, genders, and sexual orientations are returning home with labels as U.S. veter-ans. But many people still have the vision of the typical WWII man coming home to his blush-

ing bride.In this day and age, we

have our veterans from wars past,

the new gen-eration of

m i l i -

tary faces and everyone in between.Though Veterans Day is celebrated Nov.

11, there is an entire week until then to really consider the sacrifi ces made by the veterans themselves and the family that are closest to them.

The wars of today no longer require coun-trywide drafts, which means our newest sol-diers shipping off are doing so of their own free will.

This is all the more reason to honor them.Though there are rivalries between the dif-

ferent branches of the military, all of them serve a noble purpose that helps advance this nation. Whether you agree or disagree with the policies set forth by the government, you must respect the bravery exhibited by these individuals willing to follow orders at all costs and risk their lives for what they believe is right and to keep us safe.

Since veterans are so diverse and so many, it’s hard to fi nd a family that doesn’t include a veteran in their network.

Veterans Day is more than a day off work or school. It’s a day to truly honor those we love and respect. To do this properly, friends and family members must give genuine thought to what would suit their veteran the best, whether it’s dinner or a card or just a

kind word of encouragement. Photo from/dreamstime.com

Editorial

Veterans Day evolves with time

The face of the modern veteran has changed.

Once upon a time the traditional vision of soldiers from the different branches of the military was of statuesque white men. Today, we know that dating back to the early days of our nation, Native Americans and African Americans were beginning to enter the armed Americans were beginning to enter the armed forces to protect this country.

As we approach Veterans Day next Fri-day, it’s important to include all defi ni-

tions of the word in our minds.Recent advancements in diversity

have been made to the point where soldiers of all colors, genders, and sexual orientations are returning home with labels as U.S. veter-ans. But many people still have the vision of the typical WWII man coming home to his blush-

ing bride.In this day and age, we

have our veterans from wars past,

the new gen-eration of

m i l i -

tary faces and everyone in between.Though Veterans Day is celebrated Nov.

11, there is an entire week until then to really consider the sacrifi ces made by the veterans themselves and the family that are closest to them.

The wars of today no longer require coun-trywide drafts, which means our newest sol-trywide drafts, which means our newest sol-diers shipping off are doing so of their own diers shipping off are doing so of their own free will. free will.

This is all the more reason to honor them.This is all the more reason to honor them.Though there are rivalries between the dif-Though there are rivalries between the dif-

ferent branches of the military, all of them ferent branches of the military, all of them serve a noble purpose that helps advance this serve a noble purpose that helps advance this nation. Whether you agree or disagree with nation. Whether you agree or disagree with the policies set forth by the government, you the policies set forth by the government, you must respect the bravery exhibited by these must respect the bravery exhibited by these individuals willing to follow orders at all individuals willing to follow orders at all costs and risk their lives for what they believe costs and risk their lives for what they believe is right and to keep us safe.is right and to keep us safe.

Since veterans are so diverse and so many, Since veterans are so diverse and so many, it’s hard to fi nd a family that doesn’t include it’s hard to fi nd a family that doesn’t include a veteran in their network.a veteran in their network.

Veterans Day is more than a day off work Veterans Day is more than a day off work or school. It’s a day to truly honor those we or school. It’s a day to truly honor those we love and respect. To do this properly, friends love and respect. To do this properly, friends and family members must give genuine and family members must give genuine thought to what would suit their veteran the thought to what would suit their veteran the best, whether it’s dinner or a card or just a best, whether it’s dinner or a card or just a

kind word of encouragement. kind word of encouragement. Photo from/dreamstime.comPhoto from/dreamstime.com

advocatethe

November 4, 2011

news 3

Part one

of threeby Mike Mata

The Advocate

Diane Noriega, hailing originally from Monterey, Calif., and more re-cently Sandy, brings years of administrative experience and a willingness to learn to her new role as an MHCC District board member.

“I retired from a very long career in higher education in California,” said Noriega. She said she ran for a board position in Monterey before moving Oregon, but lost. She said this gave her valu-able experience in running for a board position that helped in her successful campaign last year.

“When I came up here, it (running for election as a board member) was the furthest thing from my mind,” she added.

After meeting former MHCC President John Sygielski at the Rotary Club in Gresham (where Noriega is president-elect and literacy chair), she said Sygielski and a few other people suggested she run for the board position.

“I have a lot skills to use (as a board member),” Noriega said of her decision to run for the slot.

Noriega moved from Monterey to Sandy two and a half years ago after retiring as interim president of California State University- Monterey Bay. Her career included mem-bership on the board of trustees for the Monterey College of Law, board chairman of the for United Way of Monterey County, and provost, academic vice president and profes-sor at Cal State-Monterey Bay. Noriega’s focus in teaching education was centered on teaching language and literature to second language learners.

“I come from a Spanish background, so I had a multi-cultural back-ground,” she said.

Of her plans for the year as a board member, Noriega said it would in-clude getting to know the college programs and getting comfortable with the fl ow at MHCC.

“It takes a year or so to learn the ropes and then you get good at it,” said Noriega, adding that she will seek a second term because once you “get good at it, your term is up.”

Another goal is fi nding of another college president following Sygielski’s departure last summer.

“The most important job is selecting the Mt. Hood president,” she said.In addition to the presidential search, Noriega sees the board as respon-

sible for the fi scal well-being of the college.“We have a fi duciary responsibility. And we know we have to make ad-

ditional cuts. We have to work smarter and get the budget where it needs to be,” she said, adding that the board seems to have balanced the budget on the backs of the students and “we have to do things a different way.”

In addition to her work, Noriega and her husband enjoy traveling, having been to South Africa, Zambia, Botswana, Italy, Spain and France. She also takes pi-ano lessons with her granddaughter and is working on the theme song from “Somewhere in Time,” an old Christopher Reeve movie, and “Memory” from ‘Cats.’

Noriega chose to live in Sandy because her son lived there with his family and they “visited every other month and stayed for a couple of months around the holidays,” at a house built on property owned by Noriega and her husband.

Noriega was elected for her position on the board last spring and began sitting in on meetings in January, in the midst of the contract negotiations.

“It’s [the contract negotiations] familiar to me. It’s a time honored tradition in higher education, where the faculty and the administration tend to get on ei-ther side of the fence and throw mud at each other,” Noriega said.

“It got pretty ugly toward the end, but I’m glad there was resolution. It was a rough time for the col-

lege and there’s still some healing to be done,” she added.

by Leah Emura The Advocate

A rescue service for students in

need, Barney’s Pantry is a collection of donations that includes countless food and hygiene products available to any student.

Items include macaroni and cheese, soups, beverages, feminine hygiene products and many other items. Each student is allowed to choose up to three items per day and the pantry is stocked every two weeks.

Donations can be made at any time and are collected at the Associated Student Government offi ce in the Col-lege Center. To encourage students to donate, the bookstore holds “Spirit Fridays” where students and MHCC employees can get a discount for do-nating a can of food and when they wear the school colors .

This year, the faculty boosted do-nations by sponsoring a competition held between departments. The de-partment that donates the most will be recognized at the end of each month. ASG offi cials hope this will set a good example and will prompt more stu-dents to participate.

During Thanksgiving week, ASG will be giving away gift baskets. In or-der to receive one, there will be sign-ups in the ASG offi ce. For Christmas, ASG is in the process of making an-other drive for the holiday season.

Barney’s Pantry to o� er new services

Nov. 14 issue of The Advocate will feature the second in a three-part series on the newest board members.Next profi le: Maggie Nelson

New board member shares her plans for MHCC

Photo from www.mhcc.edu

by Jill-Marie GavinThe Advocate

A fi nancial forecast for the MHCC general fund, looking ahead to 2012-13, will be presented to the district board at its monthly meeting at 6 p.m.. Wednesday.

Jennifer DeMent, director of fi nance and auxiliary services, will present the report, which states that “there is a real pos-sibility that community colleges will be subject to the 7 percent to 10 percent additional reductions that the governor is asking from all state agencies” for the next fi scal year.

Also at Wednesday’s meeting, two students from the Un-dergraduate Catalytic Outreach & Research Experiences pro-gram will also be making short presentations.

Dean of Science Clyde Jensen said the point of Ucore is to provide Oregon community college students, specifi cally MHCC students, the opportunity to do physical and chemical science research over the summer at University of Oregon.

He said students are paired with graduate U of O science students and gain experience by taking direction from them during research.

Jensen also said there are six students in the program but due time restrictions only two will present.

According to a board meeting agenda prepared by Execu-tive Coordinator of Strategic Initiatives and Board Relations Michelle Gregory, Daina Hardesty, MHCC’s Ucore liaison, is scheduled to introduce the program to the board before stu-dent presentations.

The fi rst student, Eric Head, a geology major, will present his fi ndings with his project on offshore seismometer deploy-ment aboard the R/V Wecoma. After Head’s presentation, Kristen Brewster, a biochemical sciences major, will discuss her project: the study of 6-MI through linear dichroism.

Jensen said they’re reporting their fi ndings to familiarize the board with the special nature of the program and also to motivate other students to get involved in a physical science research career.

advocatethe

advocatethe

advocatethe

advocatethe

November 4, 2011

news 3news 3

Upcoming board meeting to include � nancial forecast

Member at-large Diane Noriega

Sasha La Greide won � rst place in her vehicle“Ferrari.” Greide is a mechanical engineering major. � e race was hosted by the engineering department and was held on the interior MHCC roadway in the northeast corner of campus on Oct. 28.

Engineeringstudentsrace in self-made cars

Photo by Riley Hinds/� e Advocate

4 living artsadvocate

the

November 4, 2011

Nov. 8

Nov. 9

Nov. 10

Nov. 12

Nov. 11

Your weekly reason to stand up and hit the streets

Seattle rock group Minus The Bear will celebrate its 10-year anniversary at the Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E. Burnside St., Portland. Tickets for the 21-and-over show are $19.50 and can be purchased at ticketfl y.com.

A one-night showing of the 2011 American western-stylized ski movie, “Solitaire,” will play at the Bagdad Theater, 3702 SE Hawthorne Blvd., Portland. The fi lm starts at 6:30 p.m. and is all ages. Tickets are available in advance for $12 at cascadetickets.com or $15 at the door.

MHCC vocal jazz group Genesis will host the all-day “Genesis Invitational Festival and Concert,” in the Visual Arts Theater. The evening show starts at 5 p.m. and features pianist and vocalist Louise Rose and is $5 students and $10 for adults.

Aisha Tyler, the voice of Lana Kane from FX’s animated series “Archer,” will perform her brand of wit at the Helium Comedy Club, 1510 SE 9th Ave., Portland, Nov. 10, 11 and 12. Tickets are $20 for general admission and $25 for reserved seats. For more information visit www.heliumcomedy.com.

by Shelby SchwartzThe Advocate

The male leads in the theater department’s Children’s Theater pro-

duction of ‘The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” may be new to MHCC — but not to the performance scene.

Evan Wollam and Drew Pierce will take to the stage Monday in the College Theater to take on the roles of Brom Bones and Ichabod Crane

For Wollam, who went to Eagle Valley High School in Gyp-sum, Colo., this is his fi rst play at MHCC although he has been acting for more than 10 years and voice acting for fi ve years.

Wollam said, “I came to (MHCC to) hone some technical skills and decided to give (the play) a try.”

Wollam will portray Brom Bones, the play’s bully and arch nemesis of Ichabod. “Pretty much, Brom is the all-American hero. He is the equivalent of the homegrown high school football player.”

“I think I only really relate to my character in size. Brom is the mean guy. I don’t see myself as mean. Brom has been taught that physical strength is the only true strength.”

Wollam said the relationship between his character and Pierce’s Ichabod is “a relationship of pure animosity. Pretty much the fi rst day I see him I’m like, ‘Who is this goof?’ He (Brom) realizes that Ichabod is after his love interest, Katrina, so what started out as a bullying has turned into a one-on-one duel.”

As far as his career goals, he said, “I would defi nitely like to make it big as an actor. I wouldn’t mind doing theater or movies but I’m mostly trying to break into

the voice acting bracket.”Recent Sandy High school

graduate Drew Pierce will por-tray the geeky, intellectual Icha-bod Crane.

Pierce has been acting for three years and performed in eight shows in high school, play-ing lead characters in several of those shows. Two of the roles were the dad in “Leaving Iowa” and William Randolph Hearst in “The Cat’s Meow.”

“He’s kind of a wimp. He’s an intellectual type. He prides him-self on intellect and how well read he is,” Pierce said of his character.

Wollam said, “There is no hero. Ichabod is a jackass, Brom is a jackass. They are just different sides of the scale.”

Pierce said he feels he can relate to his character because, “particularly in middle school, I was bullied a lot. Bullies can read when someone is easy to mess with and Ichabod has that and Brom picks up on it.”

Pierce, regarding his charac-ter’s relationship with Brom, said, “He’s like the big wolf on cam-pus, I want to be cool with him. It’s like the un-cool kid wanting to be cool with the cool kid even though he’s a jerk.”

Pierce is a theater major and is a vocalist in a metal group. He also writes lyrics.

Show dates for “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” are Nov. 7, 9, 14, 16 and 18 at 10:30 a.m. and Nov. 19 at 2 p.m. The shows on the Nov. 16 and 18 are sold out.

The show runs at just under an hour and tickets are $2. Tick-ets can be purchased at the door and reserve seats for the morning shows are available by calling the box offi ce at 503-491-7154. Tick-ets for the Nov. 19 show are avail-able in the College Theater Lobby Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 8:30 a.m. to noon.

Photo by Kylie Rogers/ � e Advocate

‘Sleepy’ co-stars make debut on MHCC stage

Veterans Day — Campus

will be closed.

“Sleepy Hollow’s” lead males Evan Wollam (le� ) and Drew Pierce practice during the play rehearsal on Oct. 26 in the college theater.

On Campus

MHCC vocal jazz group Genesis will host the “Genesis Invitational Festival and Concert” Saturday, Nov. 12, in the Visual Arts Theater, joined by special guest performer Louise Rose from Victoria, B.C.

The all-day event will feature performances from eight high school groups: Richland, Parkrose, Fife, Garfi eld, West Linn, West Sa-lem, Mark Morris and Summit.

The evening events will start at 5 p.m. with Genesis opening for Rose, according to Genesis director Dave Barduhn.

According to lrose.com Rose is a composer, arranger, pianist, vocalist and actress.

Tickets for the Genesis and Lou-ise Rose concert are $5 for students and $10 for general admission.

A previous issue of the Advocate reported that the event would be held Nov. 11, but all activities will be held Saturday because the cam-pus will be closed Friday, Nov. 11, in honor of Veterans Day.

by Mike MataThe Advocate

The Planetarium Sky Theatre will host the November show “Celestial Cornucopia” Mon-day at 7 p.m. and 8:15 p.m.

“The theme will be ‘Celestial Cornucopia’, more or less in keeping with the harvest sea-son,” said interim planetarium director How-ard Knytych.

The show will focus on deep sky objects (DSO), particularly two nebula, the Great Ori-on Nebula and the Horsehead Nebula, in the Orion constellation and the fact that Jupiter is the closest to Earth in its yearly orbit.

Knytych did his fi rst planetarium show in September, as he took over for Pat Hanrahan, the resident planetarium director, who has been in Namibia in Africa.

“Pat is returning from Namibia, Africa, on the fourth of this month. He’ll be too wiped out to do the show on the seventh. He’s been resident astronomer at a four-star resort there since late August,” said Knytych, adding that Hanrahan’s job was “one of those it’s-a-rough-job-but-somebody-has-to-do-it type of gigs.”

“I fully expect to have to put up for some

time with his raving about what a great ex-perience he will have had. Good thing he’s a friend,” said Knytych.

For any curious regulars of the planetarium shows, the “Galaxy Song” will still be played.

Admission will be free for MHCC students with I.D. and $2 for the general public. Parking permits required and can be purchased for $3 at a kiosk by the main entrance to the school.

Genesis to open for Louise Rose

Find this story and others online at

www.advocate-online.net

Planetarium show to feature two nebulasOn Campus Brief

Photo from dreamstime.com

advocatethe

November 4, 2011November 4, 2011

living arts 5

by David GambillThe Advocate

Portlanders taking a break from occupying the park blocks of downtown Portland may fi nd par-allels between their movement and the plot of the fi lm “Tower Heist.”

The workers of the Tower, a fancy condomin-ium for the ”richie rich,” have been swindled by the penthouse suite owner Arthur Shaw, played by Alan Alda. Shaw’s character is a greedy, sin-ister, villainous characterization of the billionaire 1 percent.

Ben Stiller’s character, Josh Kovacs, is the gen-eral manager of the Tower and had built a trust-ing relationship with Shaw, a relationship that gave Kovacs the confi dence to entrust the pen-sions of the Tower employees with Shaw.

Shaw takes everything, including Kovacs’ job, and is detained by the FBI while trying to fl ee the country. This is when Kovacs builds a team, with help from Slide, a professional thief played by Ed-die Murphy, to beat Shaw at his own game.

The one character who makes the biggest im-pact on the fi lm is Lester the doorman, played by Stephen Henderson. A minor character, Lester is put on suicide watch after nearly stepping in front of a train. When Kovacs visits his old friend and asks him why, Lester tells the story of how much money he lost to Shaw, his savings from decades of work. Lester explains how he felt his life was wasted and he doesn’t have a skill set be-cause “people can open doors for themselves.”

This interaction helps Kovacs see the wrong-doings of Shaw and pushes him to take action.

A theme of masculinity was emphasized sev-eral times in the fi lm with jokes about whether Kovacs had the balls to stand up to his former master. This theme is the rallying cry for the em-

ployees to band together and fi ght against the big dog.

The timeliness of this fi lm is one of the few highlights that keep the Tower from falling down on itself.

Most of the humor in the fi lm was either crude or was a series of non-intellectual tangents set up for cheap laughs. Slide is the only character who produces laughs on a consistent basis. Besides pushing the plot forward and comic relief, Slide’s character seemed to lack depth and purpose.

The pace of the fi lm is tiresome for an action-comedy. The action sequence at the end of the fi lm isn’t notably memorable except for a couple of elevator scenes and, without giving too much away, some items hanging out the window of the high-rise penthouse.

The best action sequence is early on in the movie when Slide and Kovacs are racing through traffi c after Kovacs has bailed Slide out of prison. It is the only part of the movie that is attention-grabbing and unique. Overall, Stiller and Mur-phy don’t jell consistently as a comedic duo.

The racial undertones of this fi lm are disap-pointing. In Hollywood tradition, “Tower Heist” just had to follow the white, male patriarch out-line where if it weren’t for a white, male lead, none of the characters would benefi t in the end. And of course, only the white men could be the billionaire and the executive workers in the Tow-er.

The biggest heist of all is the one this movie will pull off: raking in millions of dollars for mil-lionaires who are sending you a message that they don’t believe in their own theme by casting a group of the highest paid actors in Hollywood today.

“Tower Heist” opens in theaters across the country today.

Off Campus Review

Hollywood parallels Occupy movement in new movie ‘Tower Heist’

by Yuca KosugiThe Advocate

Although MHCC is named after a mountain, the school just started its Alpine Racing Club (ARC) in 2009 and is still trying to build in numbers.

“The club is for anyone who is interested in the ath-letic aspect of skiing and riding (snowboarding),” said faculty adviser Tom McCormack.

The president of the club, Nathan Strecker, said it’s ironic that there aren’t many members considering that the mountain is so close. So far he said he is one of a handful of committed students in ARC.

“It’d be a great way to hone your skills in skiing and snowboarding. It’s completely for fun,” said Strecker. The fi rst-year business student from Washougal said he started regularly skiing around the age of 3, but has no competition experience.

At this point, Strecker and McCormack just want to spread awareness that there is a club for skiers and riders. McCormack said that each year the club pretty much has to start from scratch because many students move on from the school.

“We kind of foresaw this problem before we formed the club,” said McCormack, who helped students form the club three years ago.

They are looking for students who have skiing or riding experience, but they do not need competition experience. Once the ski season begins, usual-ly around the end of November, the club will have weekly training sessions every Friday afternoon either at Timberline or Ski Bowl.

A minimum of two students plus a faculty adviser must be present for travel; faculty advisers will drive the vehicle.

“We are not a ski ‘trip’ club,” emphasized McCor-mack. “We are interested in the athletics.”

But he also pointed out that the club is by no means serious in a “military style” way. Members can come

to as many or as few training sessions as they want. It’s between being a varsity team and a recreational club, said McCormack.

The club has two coaches: McCormack who has experience in skiing, and Robert Weinman, who has snowboard competition experience. McCormack is certifi ed as a Level-100 USAA (United States Ski and Snowboard Association) club coach and race offi cial and raced on several teams in his 49-year ski career.

There must be at least three men or three women

to compete in the Northwest Collegiate Ski and Snow-board Conference (NWSCS) which consists of 11 uni-versities and colleges. But if there are not enough members who want to compete, members have nu-merous opportunities to compete individually.

McCormack recommends that members purchase the Mt. Hood Fusion Pass, which provides complete lift ticket access at Timberline and Ski Bowl through Memorial Day. The pass may be purchased online at MtHoodFusionPass.com.

On Campus

Photo illustration

Illustration by Yuca Kosugi/� e Advocate

Alpine club focuses on athletics, struggles with numbers

Alpine Information

Meetings are held every Wednesday at 4 p.m. in AC2728

Interested students can attend the meetings or e-mail McCormack at Tom.McCormack@mhcc.edu

❅

❅

Part-time faculty to be honored at district board meeting

MHCC interim President Michael Hay presented two part-time faculty members with fl owers and balloons this week as recipients of the 2011 Part-Time Faculty Awards for excellence in teaching.

Yoko Sato, a Japanese instructor, one of the recipients and was nominated by students. Along with teaching at MHCC, Sato helped organize a fundraising ef-

6 newsadvocate

the

November 4, 2011

This just in: Weekly news briefs

A look at the MHCC Nature Trail

fort following the Japan earthquake last March that resulted in donations of $3000 to Mercy Corps.

The other part-time teacher honored was Erika Hoffmeister-Ruhl, who is a part-time teacher in the new Game De-sign program, and who is also a passion-ate gamer herself.

Both faculty members will receive $250 and will be honored at the district board meeting in December.

Political Forum discusses Occupy Portland

Students and teachers dis-cussed the pros and cons of the Occupy Portland movement at a political forum held Monday in

the library.Questions discussed in-

cluded “Is the protest effec-tive?” “What will their next

step be?” and “Are the protest-ers expectations too high?”

Several students are par-ticipating in Occupy Port-land and gave their rea-sons for joining and what

the movement is hoping to achieve. Several said they felt the distribution

of wealth was out of balance and that the richest of the rich control too much in the government.

Though many said they sympathized with the movement, several felt that the protest lacked the focus and organization to accomplish much.

Another discussion topic was the simi-larities and differences between groups like the “occupy” movement and the more conservative “tea-party” movement.

There was a period for questions dur-ing the last segment of the forum where individuals could ask teachers and stu-dents about the Occupy Portland move-ment.

Portland church asks for cold weather donations

A Portland church is asking for dona-tions to prepare for an upcoming Thanks-giving feed.

Highland United Church of Christ is accepting donations of men’s and wom-en’ coats, gloves, scarves, blankets, under-wear, warm clothing and any toiletries to help prepare homeless and impoverished

for winter weather. They will distribute these items at

a Nov. 19 free Thanksgiving dinner. Mission and Outreach ministry co-

ordinator Renee Watson-Taylor said last year they fed more than 1,000 peo-ple and this year the church expects to see even more because the economy is even worse.

She said there will be free bus ser-vice from downtown to the church at 7600 N.E. Glisan St., Portland, and those wanting transporta-tion from Gresham area can call the church at 503-287-9567 to check availability.

Watson-Taylor said people can call the church phone number to request home delivery of a meal for them-selves, friends or fam-ily if they are unable to leave the house.

Donations can be dropped off at The Ad-vocate offi ce in Room 1369 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday.

A small creek crosses through the METRO natural area behind MHCC.

A new possibility changes everything.

W A R N E R P A C I F I C . E D UPORTLAND, OR

by John TkebuchavaThe Advocate

The performances of sopho-mores Gabriela Diaz and Chris Newell were the highlights of last Saturday’s Southern Region Championship meet, placing 8th and 11th, respectively.

The meet, the season’s last before the NWAACC champion-ship meet, was held at Clacka-mas Community College.

Conditions were fair, with some early morning drizzle soft-ening up the fl at course before the women’s 5K and the men’s 8K races.

But with the addition of long stretches of gravel, the course was not as tame as it seemed, which left many runners strug-gling.

Head cross country coach Matt Hart said that although he felt the team performed ad-equately, PRs were scarce and he feels the team was capable of more.

“We didn’t perform as well as we could have,” he said. “But we’re still running faster this year than last year. So there’s some good and there’s some bad.

“I think what’s happening is that their stress levels are too high,” he said, adding that they think too much about placement instead of focusing on the race.

“They need to compete more

aggressively,” he said.“There were key points where

they (athletes) admitted they could have done better,” he said.

Freshman Kyle Williams, who placed 22nd, said, “I’m satisfi ed with my performance. I didn’t run as fast as I wanted, but no race is perfect.”

The women’s team placed third at the meet (of three teams) with sophomore Diaz placing highest on the team, breaking into the top 10 at eighth place (19:51), followed by freshman Christa Collmer, 11th (20:18) and sophomores Jennifer Tina, 16th (21:04) Andrea Beseda, 18th (21:33). Then came freshmen Laura Knudson, 22nd (24:26), Molly Scoles, 23rd (24:30), Mari-ah Crumpler, 24th (24:36), Katie Brokaw, 25th (24:55), and Bianca Jimenez, 26th place (24:55).

On the men’s side, sopho-more Newell once again led the pack, placing 11th overall (27:01), with sophomore Jonathon Butcher not too far behind in 17th (27:55). They followed by fresh-man Kyle Williams, 22nd (28:31), sophomores Donnie Coulson, 23rd (28:31.27), Wes Hughes, 26th (28:47), and freshmen Brian Ho-glund, 34th (31:05), and Robert Hanke, 37th (33:32).

With the Southern Region meet behind them, the cross country team now has one more bye week to prepare before they

head to Everett, Wash., for the NWAACC championship meet, to be held Nov. 12 at Everett Community College on the Le-gion Memorial Golf Course.

Asked whether they’ll take it easy in the bye week and rest up or go full throttle, Hart said, “We’ve still got to get fi t and build up speed. I’m hoping we stay healthy, too,” he said.

Williams said, “It’s going to be a hard week of training, focus-ing on the NWAACC meet.”

The NWAACC course is fa-miliar to the runners, who raced on it in October.

“(The team) really likes the NWAACC course.” It’s not a fast course, but not a slow course,” said Hart.

“Now when they go into the meet, that’s already a plus,” he said.

As for his goals at NWAACCs, Williams said, “I want to PR and go under (28 minutes in the 8K).”

Asked what he needs to do to reach his goal, he said, “I’ll need to work the last few miles hard and be competitive.”

Hart, when asked the same of his team, restated his emphasis on speed for next week’s train-ing and learning to compete ef-fectively.

“There’s lots of room for im-provement and we have a lot of talent,” he said. “I’m just hoping we use that talent.”

Southern Region meet turns Saints focus to NWAACCs

by Chanel HillThe Advocate

Take nothing for granted. That’s the mindset of the Mt.

Hood Saints volleyball team as they prepare for the NWAACC Championships Nov. 17-21. The Saints are still making adjust-

ments despite their number one position seat in the Southern re-gion.

The team, which head coach Chelsie Speer refers to as one of the most athletically talented teams she’s ever coached, contin-ues to push the boundaries of its talent at every match.

The Saints showed this fo-cus and commitment when they were thrown a curveball on their own court in the Dorian Harris Classic tournament at Mt. Hood Community College Oct. 28-29 — and still found a way to win the championship.

With a team drop-ping out of the tour-nament, the MHCC alumni team fi lled in on day one, which resulted in the Saints playing back-to-back matches against for-mer Saints volleyball standouts that in-cluded former play-ers Kynsi Stout, Ali Salsgiver and Terin Filaroski.

Match one put the Saints in-tense conditioning to the test with the back and forth play stretching the match to fi ve games. The Saints took the fi rst two games, (25-23,25-21) but the alumni won the second two games (16-25,23-25). Game fi ve was a fi ght from the start but the Saints squeaked by 16-14 for the match victory.

In match two, the Saints faced the alumni again, this time sweeping the match in straight games (25-22,25-17,25-23). Still, nothing was taken for granted. “We still have things that we can get better at,” Speer said Thurs-

day. “It’s important that we are never getting complacent.”

On Oct. 29, the Saints played three matches, including two Southern Region NWAACC-qualifying teams. First were region-rivals the Clackamas Cougars, who sit third in the

Southern Region. The Cou-gars fell to the Saints in straight games (25-22,25-22,25-12).

In match two, the Saints faced a tough regional team, the Linn-Benton Roadrunners, who hold the number two spot in the South, and who the Saints lost to twice earlier in the season. But in meeting number four be-tween the two teams, the Saints pulled out the victory, as they had in meeting three, sweeping the Roadrunners in three games (25-17,25-8,25-12).

In the championship match, the Saints faced the second-place team from the Northern region, the Shoreline Dolphins,

and were severely tested. As in previous matches when the Saints have dropped game one, the match stretched to a grind-out fi ve game match. The Saints, dropped game one 18-25, then al-ternated winning games with the Dolphins. Game two went to the

Saints 25-22, game three to the Dolphins 23-25 which pushed the Saints to rally in games four and fi ve (25-14,15-13) en route to the championship.

The fi ve game fi ght and tournament victory doesn’t come as a sur-prise to head coach Speer, who prepares her team by putting consequences on drills in practice.

“This is the fi rst team to con-stantly keep me on my toes,” said Speer, “Every time I come up with drills, it will challenge them for a little while and they will get it down. But our prac-tices have helped with those fi ve-game matches. The girls are showing resilience when down or when tested,” said Speer who added, “One-hundred percent attitude and effort every single day are the only things in life you can control. You can’t control an-other team but, you have control of those things at all times.”

Today the Saints will face region-rival the Clackamas Cou-gars at home at 7 p.m.

Saints volleyball shows resilience in tournament victory

� e Saints men’s cross country team starts the 8K at the Southern Region meet Saturday at Clackamas Community College.

Photo by John Tkebuchava/� e Advocate

advocatethe

November 4, 2011

sports 7

head volleyball coach

“One-hundred percent attitude and effort every single day are the only things in life you can control.”

Chelsie Speer

8 advocate

the

November 4, 2011

The third annual Salmon Fes-tival, hosted by MHCC and the U.S. Forest Service, will be held Sunday at Multnomah Falls from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

This year Ed Edmo, a Native American storyteller, will tell fi sh-related stories passed on by the tribes of the Pacifi c Northwest.

There will be transportation connections and tourist services at the festival site. The event in-volves students and staff from the MHCC biology, geography and fi shery departments.

For questions, contact Chris Gorsek, interim dean of social sci-ence, at 503-491-2372.

APPLY EARLY — get money on time

If you need financial aid by the start of the

academic terms:

File the FAFSA by these dates:

You must also complete all MHCC paperwork by the following deadlines:

Summer Term As soon after Jan. 1 as possible April 1

Fall Term April 1 — earlier if possible July 1

Winter Term July 1 — earlier if possible October 1

Spring Term Nov. 1 — earlier if possible February 1

1. File your FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Aid) online for faster processing (fafsa.edu.gov). 2. Check My MHCC regularly for your application status and turn in required documents promptly. 3. If you missed deadlines, financial aid usually cannot reach you until after the start of the term. 4. Students are served first-come, first-served for fairness - do not ask for exceptions unless the College made a clear error in your file completion date. This will help us serve you and all students faster!

Remember: It can take up to 12 weeks for your financial aid to be ready after you file your FAFSA!

TIPS:

CA

1581

Salmon Festival to feature Native American storytelling

Remember to set your clocks back one hour this Sunday at 2 a.m. for this year’s “fall back” as Daylight Saving Time comes to an end.

The Advocate would like to remind you that there will be no school next Friday, Nov. 11, in honor of Veterans Day.

Don’t Forget!

NOTICE: As result of the holiday, next week’s Advocate issue will be pushed to Monday, Nov. 14.