The Mesa PressVolume 55, Issue 1 The Independent Student Publication of San Diego Mesa Collegev v February 14, 2012

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Budget cuts cause rise in SDCCD tuition costsDANA C. GRIFFITHStaff Writer

San Diego Community Col-lege District is raising its tuition costs to $46 per unit

in fall 2012 as a result of the most recent round of budget cuts.

Budget cuts have caused the SDCCD to cut $31 million from their $300 million budget, so stu-dents are impacted both financial-ly and by a decrease in the avail-ability of classes.

These budget cuts have also caused the SDCCD to cut all summer school classes exclud-ing specialized programs. This means students trying to quickly pass through their first two years of college will have to wait.

“The total number of classes we schedule for summer 2011 will mean the same number of classes will have to be subtract-ed from the fall 2011 or spring 2012 semesters,” according to Mesa College’s Academic Senate in meeting notes from April 11, 2011.

The San Diego Union Tri-bune reported on proposed bud-get cuts for this year. The super-intendent of San Diego Unified School District, Bill Kowba, has called for a draft budget cut that would remove about 821 teaching jobs.

Governor Jerry Brown re-leased his draft state budget plan, which resulted in SDUSD cut-ting $121.5 million from public schools’ budgets, and commu-nity colleges are feeling the burn next. Brown is pushing for a tax this November to generate money for schools. If this initiative fails, community colleges in Califor-nia face a $4.8 billion cut to their budget.

The public is starting to re-spond to Brown’s new tax ballot measure. “Those of us that are wealthy like myself should pay more,” said Eli Broad, a wealthy LA businessman and philanthro-pist in an interview with the LA Times on Wednesday. This echoed Brown’s call for higher income taxes on those making more than $250,000 a year.

“There are so many human needs in education and elsewhere. And I like the fact that it’s tem-porary, for five years. Hopefully, by then, a lot of other things will change,” said Broad.

According to Mesa College’s website FAQs, people who are af-fected by the budget cuts should contact San Diego and California elected officials. Contact Gov-ernor Jerry Brown about his tax initiative at http://gov.ca.gov/m_contact.php.

Mesa College swim makes waves

Mesa College offers parking alternativesJOE VILAYRATHNews Editor

To accommodate the influx of students, San Diego Mesa College has insti-

tuted additional parking this se-mester to help ease the burden of finding parking on campus.

According to the Parking and Construction page of the Mesa College website, additional parking arrangements have been made with the San Diego Na-tional Guard Armory (located on

Mesa College Drive), providing students with an extra 208 park-ing spaces, and is within walking distance of Mesa College. These spaces are available in the rear parking lot of the National Guard Armory, but the front parking lot is reserved for the Armory staff.

Access to these spaces is cru-cial since the “A” Overflow Lot has now been restricted to only staff/faculty use, which is a loss of 50 parking spaces. Adherence

Anthony Stephens participated in the 50-yard butterfly at the Waterman Festival hosted at Palomar College. For more, see page 8.

Sarah Takeda/Contributing Photographer

Catalytic converters illegally confiscatedJUSTIN WELLSStaff Writer

Since the start of the spring semester students from San Diego Mesa College

and San Diego State University have had their catalytic convert-ers stolen from their vehicles. In one day 10 were stolen at SDSU and on Jan. 23 one was stolen at Mesa College.

These catalytic converters are important for the car and help keep the air cleaner. They convert the harmful compounds in the car exhaust, hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen oxides, into harmless ones.

An email from the San Di-ego Community College District states “most of the thefts were from late model Toyota pickup trucks.” These trucks are targeted because it is easier to remove the part from a vehicle that does not need to be jacked-up.

While the converter is the only part that seems to be tar-geted, it is important that students make sure all things related to their car are secure.

For Mesa college student Al-exander Gonzalez, his concern is frank. “S*** happens,” Gonzalez said. Being a student that parks off campus Gonzalez feels that if something happened to his car the “school doesn’t have a problem” or would be blamed by him. “You pay 20 bucks for a pass” as well as security, added Gonzalez.

An easy way for students to keep their car and their belong-ings in it safe is to double check that their cars are locked. With newer model vehicles being equipped with a remote control it is as easy as waiting to hear the horn or see the lights flash con-firming that the car is locked.

However, many students on campus have older model vehi-

cles that require a driver to manu-ally check to see if each door is locked. While it may be a small amount of time to circle the car and check that everything is se-cure, it is well worth it. It beats having to come back and find that something is missing from the car.

The email from SDCCD also included some helpful tips to pre-vent car parts from being stolen and broken into: “Park in well lit areas…park close to entrances of buildings…engrave your license plate number on the converter to make it traceable… purchase a vehicle security system.”

Every day, students walk to-ward class along Mesa College Drive and they can hear the loud sound systems that other students have. While some may find it en-tertaining to blast their system as they get onto campus it seems that their loud music is a priority over the safety of the car.

This is a prime example of students asking to get something stolen. The car owner is just dis-playing what he or she has in the car that is of value right before they park and leave it alone for at least an hour and a half. And an hour is all a thief needs to infil-trate the car. Then the owner will be driving home with no music to listen to or even possibly need to call for a ride.

In addition to keeping the music down students should also keep other valuables in their car hidden such as iPods, wallets, money, phones, etc. Also make sure that the windows are rolled up and to push in the side mirrors, because there are so many bad drivers and parkers on campus.

While an alarm system may deter someone from stealing it does not actually stop him or her, it is just a sound that lets others know that something is being sto-len.

See Parking, Page 6

Happy Valentine’s Day!

The National Guard Armory is now providing extra, off-campus parking for Mesa College students. Nicholas Santiago/Photo Editor

Mesa loses to PalomarPage 7

Tasty pork in North ParkPage 5

SOPA censors freedomPage 3

New editions add to costsPage 6

Lauren J. Mapp/Editor-in-Chief

Carlos Guerrero/Staff Photographer

Jackie Williams/Contributing Artist

Lauren J. Mapp/Editor-in-Chief

• New hit film ‘Grey’ draws line between humor and drama

• Petitioners unwanted on Mesa College campus

• Losing weight not worth damaging health

The Mesa PressOpinion Page 2 February 14, 2012

This publication is produced as a journal-ism workshop for aspiring journalists. All ma-terials, including the opinions expressed here-in, are the sole responsibility of the authors and should not be interpreted to be those of the San Diego Community College District. Submis-sions may be made to the address below.

To submit a letter to the editor, please in-clude your name (unsigned letters or letters signed with aliases will not be printed), age, major/profession, college attending (if not Mesa) and e-mail address. Submit your letters to the address below or by e-mail.

The Mesa Press Founded in 1966

7250 Mesa College DriveSan Diego, CA 92111Phone: (619)388-2630Fax: (619)388-2835

www.mesapress.commesa.press@gmail.comtwitter.com/themesapress

StaffSerapio AlvarezRodolfo BambillNguyen DoJay GarciaDana C. GriffithCarlos GuerreroNoah N. JohnsonCurtis ManlapigAshley MannRashad MuhammadNicole Perez-HallCarolina SolisBen Somers

Information

Editor-in-ChiefLauren J. Mapp

Sports EditorJeff Ott

Photo EditorNicholas Santiago

Advertising ManagerJustin Wells

News EditorJoe Vilayrath

Features EditorJoe Llorin

Opinion EditorAnnamarie Reynolds

The Word: What was your craziest Valentine’s Day experience?

“My grounded punk boyfriend took me to a cemetery and we did it.”

“My ex-girlfriend tried to seduce me.”

“I don’t do that Valentine’s Day junk.”

“My ex-boyfriend stole my gift from his friend.”

Kris Bacín, 21 History

Adriana Kolav, 19Civil Engineer

Derrick Bebee, 20Accounting

Haley Daniels, 18Advertising

Carmen Valarde, 19Nursing

“I caught my girlfriend selling kisses.”

Staff Editorial:

U.S. citizens response to SOPA halts billAs technology rapidly pro-

gresses and the Internet grows, legislation is in

need of catching up, but an anti-piracy bill that stomps on people’s rights is no way to go about it.

On Oct. 26 2011, U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) and 12 co-sponsors introduced the Stop Online Piracy Act, also known as SOPA.

SOPA, and its companion Sen-ate bill, Protest IP address Act (PIPA), were created with a goal of cracking down on websites that participate in copyright infringe-ment.

The goal is fine but the prob-lem is whether or not it will give the government and copyright owners too much say in what on-line users can and cannot do.

At first there were more Gov-ernment officials for SOPA than against, but that was before anyone was really aware that these bills were making their way through congress.

Then sites like Reddit and Wikipedia blacked out for a day to protest these bills and the new-

found awareness outraged com-puter-savvy citizens across the country.

By idly sitting back and letting lawmakers push through SOPA and PIPA it would have essentially brought the nation one step closer to having a government-censored Internet.

The Recording Industry As-sociation of America (RIAA) and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) are of course two of the biggest supporters of these bills, as they would protect their music and movies to be ille-gally viewed and shared.

The most alarming aspect of SOPA and PIPA is that they would allow IP address owners to take actions without having to have a single court appearance. All that would be required is a letter stating the alleged copyright infringement.

Due to websites blacking out and Americans protesting against the bills they have been shelved. Too many politicians got cold feet and didn’t want to upset voters so close to elections. For now our in-ternet remains unharmed.

Megaupload file host site causes mega uproarNGUYEN DOStaff Writer

Megaupload’s user base is now banding togeth-er to sue the United

States’ government after the shut-down of Megaupload’s servers on Jan. 19, 2012.

Megaupload users can file a joint complaint with pirata.cat, the group organizing the resis-tance. As no one is able to access their files on Megaupload, users are crying for their service to be reinstated or at least for their data to be salvaged.

In midst of Megaupload’s DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) takedowns and server raids are over millions of legally-uploaded personal files.

These files include items that do not violate copyright law any-where, such as work-related doc-uments or family photos.

Users who have joined the joint complaint process expressed their resistance to the FBI’s raid on Megaupload’s server infra-structure – the US government can be charged with violating Ar-ticles 197 and 198 of the Spanish Penal Code because of the mis-appropriation of all the personal data stored on Megaupload’s hard drives.

There were files hosted on the Megaupload servers that were infringing copyright law, but the entire service did not need to be disrupted. Megaupload does its fair share in making sure that copyrighted files, especially those

tagged by a DMCA takedown no-tice, are immediately disposed of.

Online file-hosting providers should not be prosecuted if they are actively monitoring what is being uploaded onto their servers. Many different companies, rang-ing from the search engine mogul Google to another file-hosting service named RapidShare, re-ceive DMCA takedown notices and their servers are still running.

I expect online file-hosting services such as Megaupload and Zippyshare to stay online because of the sheer amount of people who will oppose their closure. I do not believe in the FBI’s actions that shut down Megaupload; their actions reflect an ideology simi-larly to the Stop Online Piracy Act.

Lawsuit procedures have begun in response to the United States closing of the file hosting services of Megaupload. Plaintiffs are requesting the ability to regain access to their uploaded files.

Photo courtesy of Google Images.

Advising ProfessorChristy Scannell

The Mesa PressFebruary 14, 2012 Opinion page 3

Courtesy of contributing artist Jackie Williams

Smokers bending rules on campus

BEN SOMERSStaff Writer

In January 2007, San Diego Mesa College proclaimed itself “100 percent smoke-

free,” and in doing so joined a trend that is becoming increas-ingly popular among Califor-nians.

Just recently, public smok-ing was banned in the city of Del Mar. Now residents of Del Mar who chose to smoke somewhere other than their home or private office can be fined up to $1,000. That, however, is not the case at Mesa College.

Surprisingly, there is no pun-ishment for smoking on campus, just dirty looks, avoidance, and general disgust. Although, if a police officer asks you to extin-guish your cigarette, it’s probably not the right time to rebel against the machine, just put it out.

But we, as humans, are a sneaky people, and will push boundaries until confronted by said officer or other authority. So it’s no surprise that given the right circumstances, clear skies, between classes, the approach of an exam, wild smokers can be spotted on campus.

Having spoken to some of these people, the general consen-sus is that they should be allowed at least an area in which to smoke.

One smoker, a young man, stated that “If I smoke over here, away from everybody else, my smoke isn’t going to float over to the other side of campus and kill someone any more than the smoke of someone standing across the street.”

The student group S.I.C., Smoking Investigation Commit-tee, stated in their presentation to ban smoking on campus, that “On March 22, 2006, a student who is six months pregnant suffered an acute life threatening asthma at-tack due to cigarette smoking on our campus.” The presentation then asks the question “Do we want to risk a lawsuit?”

When this was mentioned to one of the smokers, her jok-ing response was “Using fear to get something changed or coerce people is, I believe, a rough defi-nition of terrorism.”

It is clear that most smok-ers feel strongly about not being able to have a cigarette between classes. But when faced with an issue of student health and pos-sible legal action, the college had no choice but to implement the ban, one often broken.

Although it is broken, it is usually broken wisely. Rarely is someone smoking in a crowd of people or while walking around campus. It is out of sight, be-hind a building, on the edges of campus, etc. So the ban has ob-viously worked, even in cases of defiance.

It’s obvious that the ban isn’t designed to suggest quitting smoking, that’s what the 4,000 stairs from the lower parking lot are for.

It is also obvious that the purpose of a smoke-free campus, and its reason for instatement, is that many people find smoking annoying and/or gross, like spit-ting, or Amy Winehouse.

Carlos Gurrero/Staff Photographer

The Learning Resource Center at San Diego Mesa College is suppose to be a

safe haven for studying, but with library etiquette slipping by the wayside, it has become anything but.

Students know that going to the library is one place studying can get done with minimal dis-tractions. Having a sensory over-load at home in the form of TV, children, siblings, gossip – the list is endless – means that home-work won’t get accomplished.

Some students fail to adhere to library etiquette and constantly are in violation of one of follow-ing: socializing, texting, sharing music through the headphones and pound on the keyboard like they’re a pianist at a concert. When working -- especially a subject that requires all the brain-power to calculate the answer the last thing the student wants – overhearing a group of chatty Cathy’s talk about the party last night, who slept with whom class or any other gossip can make it impossible to accomplish any-thing.

Unfortunately it’s something that happens constantly and no matter how the situation gets ap-proached it’s bound to end with

the student who needs peace and quite being the rude person for in-terrupting a conversation.

Not having to worry about cell phones going off is a thing of the past; the new perpetra-tor is text messaging. There are those students that have the com-mon courtesy to put cell phones on vibrate so they don’t disturb anyone, but it keeps vibrating every two to three minutes – this of course is like the beehive you can’t see but know it’s there buzz-ing away.

The flashy Beats headphones are definitely status symbols that are ideal for music videos and re-cording studios, but not the LRC. Having gone to all four floors the students will come to realize that their peers seem to want to demonstrate the loudness of these headphones by blasting the music so everyone that’s around gets to hear.

What makes matters worse is the fact that the student is sway-ing their head back and forth now adding a visual disturbance to the auditory distraction.

On the second floor there are long cubicles that should accom-modate two students yet it seems that sharing is not an option. Having the students turn it into they’re private desk is not some-thing a scholar would do.

Being proactive on this front

will empower the student to ask if the seat is available and fill the table and allow for twice the amount of people to be able to do their work in the quite zones.

Snacks in the LRC provide additional noise pollution, as well as an influx in crumbs left on workspace. Do the body a favor and take a 15-minute study break to consume food in the first floor or outside, the brain and stomach will thank you later with an ideal grade.

Having a computer is a ne-cessity when attending college so it’s not a surprise when students bring theirs to campus, but the loud keyboard clicks can intro-duce even more disruptions to the studious.This is mostly promi-nent in the fourth floor of the LRC where the student is compelled to pound at the keyboard like he or she is a concert pianist.

Obviously, this list is incom-plete as there are many other nui-sances that might arise. Students might not say something about violations occurring but be aware that the thoughts are there.

Don’t be a distraction be-cause this is the only place where students can come to focus. Hav-ing already too much homework students shouldn’t have to worry about their study time being con-stantly interrupted by silly annoy-ances.

Students lack proper etiquetteJAY GARCIAStaff Writer

In February 2004, Mark Zuck-erberg and his fellow room-mates launched what is now

the most recognizable website since Google. In a little under a decade, Facebook has connected millions of people around the world and given them the ability to share their lives with one an-other; and in recent months, has given the ability to stalk one an-other more efficiently.

Over the years since its launch, Facebook made its mon-ey with advertisements, as most websites do. But what set it apart from other companies of that stat-ure, was that it was a privately held company. Emphasis on the “was.”

That’s right; it was a pub-licly held company. February 1, marked the day when Facebook

CEO Mark Zuckerberg did what most people would do with a few billion dollars in reaching dis-tance. He sold it. The site filed for Initial Public Offering (IPO) and is likely to be the largest technol-ogy IPO in U.S. history at about $5 billion.

Let’s face it, going public has a way of always changing a company. In the coming months, likely nothing will change outside of what profile they want you to have next. In the coming years though, pending the events of Dec. 21, what’s likely to change is majority ownership. As of now, Zuckerberg owns the majority at 24 percent with the rest being split amongst initial investors and employees.

If majority ownership chang-es, which if history has taught us anything, it will, the overall goal of Facebook would be to put

more money in the pockets of the shareholders. It could be leaving the decision making to people who know nothing about the in-ternet let alone the website. There is even a potential that if it be-comes too big for comprehension, Mark could be forced to resign by his future board of directors.

Now personally I respect anybody who keeps their com-pany private, much like In-n-Out who hasn’t gone public like most of the fast food industry. Facebook, which is estimated to value $100 billion in the future, is on the verge of becoming bigger than anybody could have imag-ined. With billions of dollars at hand and over 800 million users, they could venture into anything they want. And as long as you have a profile and click that yes

Facebook IPO is of greed not needJEFF OTTSports Editor

See Facebook, Page 6

The Mesa Pressfeatures page 4 February 14, 2012

Grass-fed beef nourishes well-fed humans LAUREN J. MAPPEditor-in-Chief

Scouring the farmers markets of San Diego often brings one to explore new unprecedented food options,

and now more locally-farmed protein choices are available to help bridge the gap between our meals and the farms on which they originated.

Some vegetarians will maintain that meat consumption is absolutely unsustain-able, but with local small ranches popping up in opposition to dirty factory farms, be-ing “green-friendly” no longer means that you can’t be an ethically sound omnivore.

Sadly enough, today’s commercial farms do not fit the picturesque image that comes to mind while cheerily singing along to “Old McDonald.” Instead, most of the nation’s food comes from CAFOs – Confined Animal Feeding Operations – where animals are kept in tightly enclosed and unsanitary conditions as they are fat-tened up and readied for slaughter.

Fortunately, a push for greater “farm to plate” knowledge – or knowing exactly where one’s food comes from – has led to an increase in the availability of what is known as “grass-fed” beef.

Technically, all cattle are grass-fed for at least a limited amount of time, but what makes this category of meat significant is that it is grass-finished, not force-fed corn,

soy or grains. This change in diet makes all the difference since corn is not part of the cow’s traditional diet, and therefore causes major health issues for it.

The result is a need to use antibiot-ics along with growth hormones that con-taminate the human food supply. Some of the antibiotics used to treat livestock are similar to those given to humans, so they can decrease the effectiveness of medi-cine when a consumer is sick, according to Eatwild.com.

A healthier diet for the cattle leads this alternative to factory farmed meat to be leaner, therefore being lower in both fat and calories. Omega-3s are higher in grass-fed beef, and it can have up to four times more vitamin E, according to American-grassfedbeef.com.

When cooking grass-fed beef, you can grill or pan sear it the same way you would for its conventional counterpart, but it is typically best to use a slightly lower temperature.

Grass-fed beef stars in this recipe alongside the underappreciated, but abun-dantly delicious, baby purple kale and whole wheat Israeli couscous, making it a well-balanced meal. Depending on the amount of meat each diner prefers, one filet steak can be cooked per person, or a single filet can be divided to minimize red meat consumption.

Recipe: Greens and Grass-fed BeefServes 21 cup whole wheat pearl couscous1/4 cup green onions (Kawano Farms)1/2 cup Parmesan cheese2 portobello mushroom caps, sliced (Kawano Farms)1/4 cup Pinot Noir2 cups baby purple kale (Sage Mountain Farm)12 asparagus stalks (Valley Heights Ranch)1-2 filet steak (SonRise Ranch)1 small carrot, peeled and diced (Suzie’s Farm)3 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil, dividedBruschetta sea salt, to taste (Salt Farm)Fresh ground black pepper, to taste

In a small sauce pot, bring two cups of water to a boil, then add one teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil, couscous and sim-mer until cooked to al dente. Once water has evaporated, fold in the green onions and parmesan cheese – season with brus-chetta sea salt and black pepper – before packing the mixture into two small rame-kins and setting aside.

Using a small sauté pan, heat one tea-spoon of extra virgin olive oil and cook sliced Portobello mushrooms until soft-ened, then add pinot noir to the pan. After the mushrooms are cooked through, add

kale to the pan and season with half a tea-spoon of both the bruschetta sea salt and black pepper.

Lightly steam or sauté asparagus, then set aside.

Rinse steak, pat dry and sprinkle with bruschetta sea salt and black pepper on both sides – brush grill or sauté pan with remaining olive oil to prevent it from sticking. Grill or sauté steak to desired temperature, then layer couscous, kale mixture, asparagus and steak on plate, then garnish with raw, diced carrots before serving hot. –Lauren J. Mapp

Opportunity blooms into success for Andrew GarciaJOE LLORINFeatures Editor

With today’s world being practi-cally lived through social net-working outlets like Facebook

and Twitter, anyone looking for success can get lost in such chaos. However, such misfortune is not the case for musician An-drew Garcia.

Garcia is an aspiring singer and gui-tarist who was born in Compton but raised in Moreno Valley, Calif. His parents were both gang members in Compton and they did not want that life for Andrew, so they relocated to Moreno Valley to give him better opportunities.

Garcia took these precious opportuni-ties to heart, as he is following his aspira-tions to be a famous musician – a dream he’s had since he started singing and play-ing guitar at the age of 18. He is currently on his way to making his dream a reality.

Many will recall that Garcia was a contestant on one of the most popular tele-vision shows to date, American Idol. He cemented himself as a musical force to be reckoned with when he astonished the American Idol judges at his audition, sing-ing the ever popular Maroon 5 chart-topper “Sunday Morning.”

Not only did he get a “yes” from each judge, including guest judge Katy Perry, but Simon Cowell, the famed heckler him-self, noted that Andrew was “genuinely a good singer.” Little did Simon know, Gar-cia had not received formal vocal training prior to entering the competition.

Before appearing live in front of mil-lions of viewers weekly, Garcia established

his name and reputation through the power of YouTube, where he posts videos show-casing his musical talents.

Currently, Garcia’s YouTube channel has over 190,000 subscribers and his videos collectively have nearly 9,000,000 views. His own original works, covers songs and collaborations with other popular “YouTu-bers,” like Ryan Higa and Kevin Wu have attributed to his Internet following.

Although Garcia aspires to be a fa-mous musician, he’s already made a few of his other dreams come true: falling in love and having a family. His fiancée Chris-tine Concepcion is also a popular artist on YouTube and together, the two have a son named Caeland, who drives Garcia to do his very best in any endeavors he ap-proaches.

“Fatherhood gives you a reason to do what you love and to appreciate what you have,” said Garcia.

Settling down and having a family normally slows down one’s dreams, but this only pushes Garcia further as Garcia continues to do what he loves. He released his first single, entitled “Crazy,” in June of last year and he is regularly on the musical grind, performing both locally and nation-ally and collaborating with many artists on various projects.

He is also one of the seven main members of Yesterday, Today, Forever (commonly referred to as YTF), a musical comedy group consisting of popular You-Tubers. The group joined together through social networking and they performed

In the Spotlight

Column: Locally Sourced Meals

Whole wheat pearl couscous, a variety of vegetables, portobello mushrooms and a grass-fed filet steak balance out each other in this simple recipe.

Lauren J. Mapp/Editor-in-Chief

See Garcia, Page 6

San people represented in exhibitNICHOLAS SANTIAGOPhoto Editor

Art Review

Artist Atara-Baker showcases her artwork inspired by her experi-ences in South Africa. Though

born in Israel and having studied sculp-ture in Rome, Baker resided in Africa to further expand her art studies, where she indulges into her interest of color.

For Baker’s exhibition, she created large-scale paintings conflated by the ar-tifacts and culture of the San people of the Kalahari Desert. Within each painting resides a set of literal human expression from objects Baker has gathered: bolts, washers, etc., and creating facial features such as a set of eyes, a nose, and a mouth to help represent the tonality and physical gesture of the paintings.

Atara-Baker’s art exhibition, “Lay-ering Time and Place: An African Mem-oir,” showcases at the Mesa Art Gallery in room D101, and runs from Feb. 9 to March 1, is open on Mondays to Wednes-days from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Thurs-days from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

The Mesa PressFebruary 14, 2012 features page 5

Pork paramours enticed by piggy product pride LAUREN J. MAPPEditor-in-Chief

A little meat and a little bit of veg-etation await you at the swankiest little foodie shack to hit the city,

Carnitas Snack Shack, located at 2632 University Ave. in North “Pork,” as their website jokingly states.

Pig mural covered fencing in view and a wooden, semi-enclosed patio make Carnitas perfect for those warm sunny days that are only too common in Southern Cali-fornia.

While you wait for your meal, relish in the aromatic smells from the kitchen that dance in your nostrils like a BBQ ballerina.

Crispy eggplant mini kebabs, layered with fresh slices of tomato and blue cheese with a drizzle of sweet glaze are a perfect appetizer to start your dining experience at Carnitas.

Try the shack steak sandwich if you want to spice up your life, or even if you just want to subject your taste buds to a lit-tle kick. This sandwich features thin layers of rib eye joined by pickled Serrano chil-ies and chipotle aioli between two pepper-embedded slices of brioche, accompanied by a side of sweet corn coleslaw.

If dining with a friend, share an order of the spiced fries, served in a quaint paper bag with their homemade ketchup. If you really like the seasoning on them, you can buy a container of their spice mix to make a facsimile of them at home.

The grownup, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup-style mousse cup from What’s Ben Baking is so dangerous that it will make

you weak in the knees. The peanut but-ter mousse is so thick and creamy that it is reminiscent of cheesecake filling, and the dessert is topped with a chocolate lid, adorned with smoked almonds and sea salt.

Carnitas Snack Shack is the perfect quick stop shop for those days when you want something simple, but can’t subject yourself to the evil that is the fast food in-dustry.

Anyone that loves to nibble on all things bacon, pork and ham will cry wee wee wee all the way home from Carnitas after strolling up to order a meal that surely won’t disappoint.

Best Picture not always year’s best filmRODOLFO BAMBILLStaff Writer

Over the past few years the quali-ties of Oscar nominations seem to have been more symbolically rep-

resentative of America’s place in film. Though overlooking well deserved

pictures is unavoidable, the promise of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences inching away from their previ-ous trend -honoring sappy over blown titles following traditional cinema values- seemed like progress in the art of film as a real medium of expression.

Unfortunately, due to political Oscar campaigning in the interests of “classic” Hollywood, the Academy has begun to shirk back to its old conservative ways.

Less about taking risks in honoring the best films of the year, the Oscars have been nominating films averting from controver-sial subjects- even diverting from Ameri-ca’s new independent cinema.

The trend this year is about the uncom-plicated film craft of “classic” Hollywood. Anything that breaks convention or might elect a spark of controversy is out; a missed opportunity during such a combative year in motion pictures.

Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive, Steve McQueen’s Shame, Lars Von Trier’s Mel-ancholia, and Sean Durkin’s Martha Marcy May Marlene were completely absent from the nominations despite Refn winning best director at Cannes, and the much lauded acting performances in every one of these pictures from Ryan Gosling to Michael Fassbender, Kirsten Dunst to the stunning discovery of Elisabeth Olsen.

All of these fine actors get to join in Tilda Swinton’s prestigious company after being supplanted by Rooney Mara in The Girl With The Dragon Tatoo whose style and make-up seems to accomplish most of the acting.

It’s not only about what is missing but what was begrudgingly included: sappy confectionery dramas like Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and The Help- a sac-charine look at racism from the 60’s(as if those issues seemingly dissipated thanks to members of the white savior elite)- playing the role of this year’s Blind Side.

Both of these picks have been stuffing the best actors categories, supporting and otherwise, leading to the Academy’s sec-ond nomination missteps of 2012: Good actors in mediocre pictures.

My Week with Marilyn, The Iron Lady, Albert Nobbs, and A Better Life are all guilty parties to strong actors given thin characters in conventional stories.

All other best picture nominations, while a bit more deserving, also seem rather safe: Warhorse displays some mod-erate skill in presenting its traditional story and along with Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris both become conscious nods to past awarded auteurs.

The Descendants even with its ups and downs is, at its center, about family. Hugo is one half family film and in its other a love letter to the days of cinema’s past while The Artist quite literally honors clas-sic Hollywood depression-era diversions.

Academy pundits have disapproved of international and domestic tastes by steering clear of all the American entries at the Cannes Film Festival and ignoring potential choices and award shows, like the SAG awards, the Critics’ Choice Awards, film selections at Sundance, and even the Golden Globes.

With the exception of Terrance Ma-lick’s The Tree of Life, a long shot for best picture, that doesn’t seem to correspond to this new self-serving Hollywood grading rubric, also highlights a classic auteur of

America’s golden age of film from the 1970’s.

Not covering more of America’s new independent cinema was a mis-guided move too conservative in com-parison to Cannes, Sundance and all other film award ceremonies that have included these films.

The Academy has a responsibility to highlight the most deserving motion pictures. Most people depend on the Oscars to display, simply the best mov-ies of the year. And not divert peoples’ attention to nominations that only self serve its own place in history.

After these films win, for the next few months or so, these choices will be on Netflix queues and Redbox rentals along with repelant complaints of “I guess that movie was alright.” Doubt-ing their own instincts that they just spent two hours watching something they were told was good. No it wasn’t good; it sucked.

The eggplant skewer appetizer is a perfect way to start a meal at Carnitas Snack Shack.

Classic Oscars trend of annual misstep is even more off this year.

Photo courtesy of Google Images.

Pickled serrano chilis and fresh tomatoes add spice and tartness to Carnitas’ rib eye steak sandwich.

French fry fans will certainly love munching on Carnitas’ seasoned fries.

Photos by Lauren J. Mapp

The Mesa PressNews/Features Page 6 February 14, 2012

Monday, Jan. 23• Catalytic converter stolen.Thursday, Jan. 26 • Disturbance: Mesa College Drive report of what sounded like a

gunshot.• Fire: Fire in M Lot 1 Mesa Drive, Westside of canyon between

Marlesta and Gennesse.Monday, Jan. 30• Sick/injured person: 19-year-old female walked out of class and

passed out momentarily.• Sick/injured person: On Mesa College Drive female fell and could

not get up.• Lost car: Female cannot remember where she parked.Tuesday, Jan.31• Citizen contact: motorcycle driver attacked student in car verbally

and hit the car. Driver is afraid subject will report a hit and run against him.

• Disturbance: Female upset and crying because bookstore is out of a particular book. Started a scene with staff.

• Verbal disturbance: Male vs. Female. Bald mustache 20s wearing blue shirt, jeans and backpack. Female held against wall, female late teens wearing jeans.

Crime ReportCrime report compiled by Justin WellsFor Jan. 23 to Jan. 31

Continued from page 1Parking

their first (but certainly not last) concert in October of last year. YTF also released a Christmas-themed EP in December.

Whether it be spending time with his fiancée and child or tak-

Continued from page 4Garcia

to the rules and regulations of the Amory lots is vital for fu-ture contractual needs. However, these lots will be unavailable to students on certain dates. Please refer to the Parking and Construc-tion page of the Mesa College website for the specific dates.

Initially, Mesa College also provided a shuttle service, which was located at San Diego Com-munity College District North City Center on 8401 Aero Drive. The shuttle would drop students off at Armstrong Place near the Allied Health Education & Training Facility (S Building). However, this service has been discontinued due to under usage, according to monitoring from the SDCCD Parking Services.

There are some ways stu-dents can help with the parking crisis. As always, students should come to school with enough time to get to class. Leaving 10 min-utes earlier will give students more time and opportunity to find parking, as well as minimizing the parking franticness. If able to, students should carpool to school. This will lessen the stress on stu-dents and create more parking spaces.

Mesa College student Saul Parra is an example of a student overwhelmed by the chaotic parking, but decided to do some-thing about it.

“It would take over 15 min-utes to find parking here. It’s cra-zy,” said Parra.

Parra decided to avoid the whole issue and began carpooling with friends.

“It just makes things much easier,” said Parra.

Public transportation is also an option. The San Diego Metro-politan Transit System has routes that run all over the San Diego County. This also eliminates the parking hassle altogether, all the while creating more parking spaces.

Another choice is for stu-dents to bike to school. There are bike racks located throughout the campus and some near classes, which can be convenient. Without the need to find parking spaces, students will have more time to get to class. Also, biking is an-other way to fit in some exercise in the daily routine.

For further information, visit the Parking and Construction page of the Mesa College website at http://www.sdmesa.edu/park-ing/index.cfm.

Publishers continue to raise textbook prices, report saysRASHAD MUHAMMADStaff Writer

San Diego Mesa College has suffered the rising cost of textbooks in recent se-

mesters due to new editions and additional Internet supplements, which in turn creates financial burden for students.

The Mother Nature Network (MNN) reports that the US Gov-ernment Accountability Office conducted research to determine the cause of the rising cost of textbooks. In a report summary, the U.S. GAO stated, “Publishers say they have increased invest-ments in developing supplements in response to demand from in-structors.”

Publishers, such as O’Donnell & Associates, have put much of their focus on the Internet. These new innovations create more supplements which

in turn raise the price of the book they’re supplements.

“The teachers gain nothing from the publishers. It’s the cor-porations that make the prices so high,” said Mesa Bookstore Su-pervisor Carol Rohe.

Nancy Wichman, the District Bookstore Manager, stated that those publishers are responsible for the constant increase of prices.

“I’m looking at one of the bookstore shelves and I see a book for $250. It’s insane! It’s the revenue system for the pub-lishing companies,” said Wich-man. “They’re adding these new supplements to attract customers mainly for financial reasons.”

When asked if Mesa’s faculty benefited from these sales, Wich-man stated, “They may be…I don’t know. I don’t pay anybody anything. I would have no idea of knowing.”

Teachers get to choose which

books to assign to their respective courses. They can choose less ex-pensive books and save students the dreadful financial burden.

Dr. Ron Ryno teaches soci-ology at Mesa College. Dr. Ryno has been utilizing the same text-book for the past ten years. The three hundred page textbook Ryno uses cost $5.

“The faculty are the ones who make the decision, the Book-store doesn’t,” said Wichman in agreement. “If I was responsible for assigning texts I would go out and look for the best price and value for the students but it’s not my job because academic free-dom prevails.”

There are laws and federal acts in place to help decrease the prices of textbooks. There are also many national groups to help defer the costs, these endeavors becomes meaningless without the support of teachers.

Monroe offers Mesa student scholarshipGUADALUPE MAGOSContributing Writer

Krystal Monroe, a stu-dent at San Diego Mesa College, established the

Krystal Rose Scholarship dur-ing the fall of 2011, which offers financial aid to young women who’ve had hardship growing up.

The name “Krystal Rose” is a combination of her and her sis-ter’s name. It was an image she had of broken glass that reflected the pain she and her sister went through.

Growing up, the absence of both of her parents helped her re-alize her purpose in life.

“I always had this idea that me and my sister were going to be helping out a lot of girls who grew up in that same situation,” said Monroe.

The purpose of the Krystal Rose Scholarship is to aid women who haven’t had the support of a parent or parents.

“What prompted me to do this scholarship is the story be-hind me,” said Monroe. “All scholarships have a story behind them, whether it’s memorials or just plain academics but none wanting to help low income fe-males, someone who’s trying to overcome anything, not necessar-ily involved with school but just outside issues.”

The Krystal Rose Scholar-ship is offering $500. To be eligi-ble for the scholarship you must meet the following criteria:

• Completed at least 6 units at Mesa College

• Demonstrate a GPA of 2.5 min.

• Currently enrolled in at least 3 units at Mesa College

• Demonstrated financial need. (Verification of financial need will be processed through the Financial Aid Office at Mesa College)

• Must be female, low in-come, minority student striv-ing to overcome the obstacle of having an absent or incarcerated parent.

• Must be striving to make a difference in the community in any area focused on helping people and or children or teen-agers.

“Every time I tried apply-ing for a scholarship, there’s all these expectations or they were specifically for something like science, or math,” said Monroe. “There’s never just that help

available, so I said I wanted to make this scholarship as easy as possible.”

In the near future she hopes to create a scholarship that is not only for women, but helps men as well.

“I’m a fighter, I just can’t stop. People have the ability to do so much and somebody has to show you your potential, and I want to be the one saying ‘hey you can do this, stop thinking negative. People need motivation and I want to do that. I just want to shine my light,” said Monroe.

Monroe is currently in-volved in a teaching program at the YMCA. She has a degree in school psychology and hoping to do one-on-one counseling where she can have the opportunity to help others.

Mesa College student Krystal Monroe estab-lished the Krystal Rose Scholarship to aid young women growing up in hardship without the support of parents.

Photo courtesy of San Diego Mesa College

ing on the likes of “American Idol” judges, through all the ad-versity and tribulations, Garcia has come out on top. He’s on a shooting star to fame, in love and a proud and loving father – all be-fore the age of 30.

button on the terms and agree-ments, they can do anything.

This all is assuming Face-book continues to grow. Grow-ing means you have to deal with Wall Street. Wall Street wants you to grow. When growth

Continued from page 3Facebook

slows, the demand growth could hurt its users and the stock value will diminish.

But hey, this move values Mark Zuckerberg at potentially over $28 billion, not bad for a college dropout.

The Mesa Press Sports Page 7February 14, 2012

Men’s basketball stuggles against Palomar

On February 1st, the San Diego Mesa Olympi-ans took on the Palomar

Comets in what was a close first half inside the Mesa gym. Mesa struggled to keep their defense clean and many fouls were called giving Palomar a clean run for the victory.

Keeping a good fight in the first half, Mesa’s Darren “Dee” Hugie, the leading scorer with 20 points, made early 3-point shots that kept the Olympians close. Towards the end of the quarter Hugie made a big play with a block that lead the comets to turn over the ball and send Hugie to the free throw line making both baskets. Hoping to end the quarter

with a tie Mesas Tony Rowe who ended the night with 12 points, forced a turnover and scored but Palomar came back ending the first half with 40-36 lead.

Mesa came back from half time and within the first 3 minutes of the second half had the score tied. The game was close and the score was back and forth. Top rebounder Ja’Mar White had 9 rebounds during the night. Tony Rowe made a 3-point shot around eleven minutes to tie the game once again but Palomar answered back. Towards the end of the second half, Mesa made another three point shot to gain its first lead of the night but quickly lost it. Palomar took another close one, 81-66.

“We tried to hold on and get an at home victory but we made

NICOLE PEREZ-HALLStaff Writer

Ja-mar White (11) attempts one of his many 3-point shots Carlos Guerrero/Staff Photographer

The San Diego Mesa Col-lege Women’s Basketball team played their rivals

Grossmont College to a packed house Friday night, which result-ed in a 57-48 win for Mesa and their 12th win in a row.

During the first ten minutes

Lucky number 13 clinches first title in 10 years

simple mistakes that caused Palomar to go to the line and add points,” said Otis Barrow the top fresh-man on the team who had 10 points on the night. The Olympi-ans have two more regular season games against the Miramar Jets at the home of the Jets on Febru-ary 15 at 7:00pm and their last home game on Friday February 17 at 5:00pm against Grossmont. “[This] Season has had many close games. There are three losses in the last seconds of play and we have also lost

Darren Hugie scored a team high 20 points Carlos Guerrero/Staff Photographer

ASHLEY MANNStaff Writer

2 overtime games. We have struggled at the free throw line, especially the last several games. Our season record stands now at 5 wins and 13 losses,” said Coach Helser

of the first quarter, Grossmont led 15-7, to which Mesa bounced back, and by half time the score was 28-25.

The second half proved to be the most beneficial to Mesa as they took the lead and never looked back.

Freshman Stevie Hall, the team’s leading scorer for the night with 17 points and 7 rebounds. This game was the second time that Mesa faced Grossmont.

On January 11, Mesa came back from behind to win at the buzzer 51-50.

Coach Michael Hooter stated that the first game against Gross-mont was so memorable because “ [after] being down by 15 with with ten minutes to go, and then finding a way to win at the buzzer was probably the most exciting point of the season, most exciting moment, and probably the biggest turning point of the season cause it gave us some confidence. And with that confidence we could win the conference; we knew that we were capable of playing with the team that had won the confer-ence the year before.”

For this victory, player Ka-tie Ratfield says one of the things that help motivate the team on game day is prayer. She said, “I would definitely say pray, it’s kind of cool because we didn’t start off praying as a team, but this year half way through con-ference we started praying as a team, and then it’s actually a cool story, we would always pray be-hind closed doors in our locker room or whatever, and then one

time we didn’t have enough time, so then we went out and prayed in the middle of the floor, and then someone talked to our coach [As-sistant Coach Patty Medina], and said that it was really inspirational to them, so now we do it every time, and now we do it every time and bring people in and pray for them as well.”

Both Ratfield and White would like to further their educa-tion, along with playing women’s basketball, after leaving Mesa. Ratfield said. “I’m talking to a few schools right now, the first one is in Redding, California, called Simpson, and I would love to play there, because it’s a Christian school, and then I’m also talking to Hope International in Fullerton, California, and a school in Boston. White, also looking to further her educational goals said, “I honestly don’t know where I would like to go at the next level, I would love to go to Arizona or San Francisco, and major in Fine Art, Communi-cations, Graphic Design, and defi-nitely would love to play basket-ball at the next level.”

On February 8, Mesa trav-eled down to Chula Vista to take on Southwestern College in hopes for their 13th straight win. But lucky number 13 wasn’t on their mind. The Ladies of Mesa came out on top 60-57 and clinched at least a share of the Pacific Coast Conference Title.

As of Febuary 9, the Lady Olympians are 16-7 (8-0) and have clinched a spot in the post-season and plan to take that suc-cess throughout the playoffs.

Journalism 210 wants you!Curious?

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global events?

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For more information, contact us at mesa.press@gmail.com.

The Mesa PressSports Page 8 February 14, 2012

ANNAMARIE REYNOLDS Opinions Editor

Mesa baseball builds on success from last seasonCURTIS MANLAPIGStaff Writer

San Diego Mesa College’s baseball team began their much anticipated season

on Feb. 3 taking on Mt. San Ja-cinto College where the Olympi-ans put on a show stopping dis-play of hitting and pitching thus earning themselves their first win.

Seventeenth-ranked in the preseason, Mesa College’s base-ball team has a lot to prove after last season’s successful campaign and with 22 freshmen and nine returning sophomores, continuing the winning ways would be a very impressive feat.

This spring, the Olympians look to compete for a Pacific Coast Athletic Conference cham-pionship after finishing in second place last season with a record of 21 and 17.

Mesa made it to the Southern California Regionals before los-ing to highly ranked Santa Ana College in three games while

Much like a potent red Swiss Army knife, 21-year-old Dana Felt

carries the power to accomplish much in her tall thin physique. Her freshman year at Mesa Col-lege, she earned eleventh place in the Southern California Cham-pionship Heptathlon with 3,415 points. This two-day competition consists of seven track and field events including 200m, 100m Hurdles, Shot Put, High Jump, Long Jump, 800m and Javelin.

Dana represented Mesa Col-lege and as Foothill Conference Champion she competed against colleges from all of Southern California.

“It was definitely a high-light of my year to hear our rivals Grossmont College cheering for me as I ran the race,” she said.

Between track and college classes, this English composition major keeps her balance by meet-ing with professors during office hours and going to tutoring.

“She is a student athlete that represents Mesa College well ac-ademically and athletically,” said Head Track and Field Coach Re-nee Ross. “She understands that she is a student first and an athlete second. She is an excellent role model.”

Her dedication, discipline and drive have also paved the way for her to achieve second place overall in Foothill Confer-ence for 100m hurdles, fifth place overall in Foothill Conference for high jump, and nineth place over-all in Foothill Conference in long jump.

“She has incredible disci-pline and dedication to the sport of track and field,” said Coach Ross. “She is successful because she has passion and drive. She continues to set goals for herself and does everything possible to meet the goal with her commit-ment.”

Felt’s track record displays what a good attitude, hard work and perseverance can achieve. “No matter what hardship comes her way, injuries or sickness, etc., she makes sure to always have a smile on her face and an outlook that is always positive,” added Coach Ross.

Sept. 7, 2011, marked anoth-er day Felt will live with forever. She had her third heart surgery. “I’ve had a pacemaker put in. I wasn’t allowed to move my left arm for a month and a half. I had a routine of lifting and running ev-ery day. It was definitely a tough adjustment,” she said.

Felt’s attitude can be summed up in this statement: “As long as I can do this, I can do anything.”

Her family’s support has al-ways been a big part of her life. “My mom comes to every single meet,” said Felt.

When asked about any ath-letic or professional role models, Felt explained that she has nev-er looked up to athletes. “Even though there are several amazing professional athletes, everything I need to reach my goals and thrive as a person and as an athlete, I see in my mom,” she said

Felt’s advice to Mesa College students is “Don’t let anything get you down. If you have any pas-sion for it, you will thrive.”

San Diego Mesa College swim team attended the Waterman Festival hosted

at Palomar College, along with 7 other schools, on Feb. 3 and 4. Mesa was able to stand their ground against tough schools like Palomar and Grossmont College.

The first day of the swim meet was a pentathlon. A pen-tathlon is different from a regular meet, there are only five events. All the swimmers swim 50 me-ters of each stroke; butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, and freestyle. Then, they swim a 100 individual medley.

The next day of the meet was a normal meet with some extra relays.

Felt has embarked onheartfelt journey

CAROLINA SOLISStaff Writer

Mesa swim team dives right in to Waterman Festival

Captain of the Men’s Mesa swim team Josh Harris Fulks competing in the 100 yard backstroke at Waterman Festival hosted at Palomar College. Sarah Takeda/Contributing Photographer

Mesa College athlete Dana Felt had several heart surgeries resulting in the placement of a pacemaker, but that didn’t stop Felt from continuing pursuing her athletic career at Merrill Douglas Stadium. Nicholas Santiago/Photo Editor

Mesa College athlete Dana Felt displays her determination and professionalism at Merrill Douglas Stadium. Nicholas Santiago/Photo Editor

achieving victory in one of them.The team is led by Kevin

Hazlett, who has been the head coach since 1999 and keeps his team competitive every year. So far Hazlett has been very im-pressed with his 2012 team.

“We spent a lot of time in the fall working on fundamentals” he said. “This group did a really nice job of buying into our system quickly,” said Hazlett.

He preaches a balanced style of play and likes to put pressure on opponents with overall team speed.

The first game of the season was against Mt. San Jacinto Col-lege on Feb. 3.

Coach Hazlett praised them saying how similar the two teams were.

Fortunately for Mesa Col-lege, on this day, there were not many similarities. The Olympi-ans won the game 10-1 behind

Sophomore Selina Schmeck, one of the top women swimmers at Mesa did not feel so great about her performance, although the women’s team won the first day of races. “I am not where I was last year but I figure it’s the beginning of the season so I can expect to do my best,” said Sch-meck.

Although Schmeck wasn’t confident about her own perfor-mance she was proud of her team this season. “There are a lot of fast swimmers so we can bond over the fact that we want to do better,” said Schmeck

Schmek’s hopes are high for the rest of her season. “Hopefully I can go to state, I know there are a lot of fast girls there,” said Schmek.

Sophomore Joshua Harris-

Fulks was satisfied with his and his team’s performance at the meet. “I feel pretty good about not only my performance but my team’s performance. This [was] the first meat of the season and it wasn’t a real competitive meet, it was more of a fun introductory meet,” said Harris-Fulks.

This season Harris-Fulks feels good about his fellow men swimmers. “We have more guys in the competitive realm than we did last year,” said Harris-Fulks.

Like Schmek, Harris-Fulks as high hopes for the season. “I would really love to see some in-dividuals and relays at state this year to show,” said Harris-Fulks.

This meet gave the team a look at where they are competi-tively. They have a great season to look forward to.

strong pitching and power hitting. Starting freshman pitcher

Chris Tuma threw a solid seven innings allowing only one earned run. His cut fastball was giving opposing hitters a hard time.

“I feel like they haven’t seen something like that before, so I had a little bit of an advantage” said Tuma.

The hitting was a major com-ponent in the win as well. Sopho-more Anthony Diaz had three hits in four at bats, to include one home run.

“See it, hit it and just try to stay relaxed” said Diaz regarding his approach at the plate.

San Diego Mesa Olympians had a successful first game and are poised for a run at the confer-ence championship behind great pitching and a balanced offen-sive mind set. The next two home games are Feb. 14 and Feb. 21 at 2 p.m.