Latin cuts hurt SCC education

Thor movie not great, not awful

Softball ends on a sad note

OPINION ON 3 A&E ON 5 SPORTS ON 8

FAIRFIELD, CALIF.www.solanotempest.net

VOL. 27, NO. 14MAY 18 - SEPT. 13, 2011

T H E V O I C E O F S O L A N O C O L L E G E

MORE ONLINE AT WWW.SOLANOTEMPEST.NET: Timeline: SCC through the years

“It’s stasis that kills you off in the end, not ambition.” - Bono, lead singer of U2

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

Not all thrilled with The 99

Katrina Tuttle/Tempest

This poster was displayed on the side of the tent. Photographs were not permitted inside.

By Sharman BruniA&E Editor

It’s pretty hard to miss the large white tent in lot two of our student parking lot. The tent first caused a stir when it blocked off parking, though eventually parking was opened up again in a section of the lot. Inside the 20,000 foot tent is a demonstration called The 99, a Christian organization which seeks to educate viewers with a walk-through theater that demonstrates graphic represen-tations of the average number of deaths the organization says teenagers die from each day.

The blueprint for the tent has a variety of rooms throughout the structure, including rooms called the “Crack House, Fight Club, Suicide, Consequence Hall, Make-up and Merchan-dise.” The 99 requires an av-erage of 250 volunteers per night to run the facility and lo-cal churches, law enforcement agencies, non-profit organiza-

tions, and individuals are an-swering the call. Numbers for The 99’s attendance rate have been in the thousands with 25,420 in attendance in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and 15,026 in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Pastor Joan West from Lib-erty Christian Center came to the governing board meeting on Jan. 19 to present the idea behind The 99 to those in at-tendance. She stated that there would be presentations in the tent for people to hear about God, but staying to hear these presentations would not be mandatory. Pam Keith, a trust-ee on the board, expressed concern about the credentials of counselors who would be present to speak with attendees in the tent. West replied that the counselors are volunteers, who may or may not have professional training, but who are willing to listen and write down attendee’s information if further help is needed.

Student chased Bin LadenBy Tessa TerrillStaff WriterAnd Anthony PetersEditor-in-Chief

You can’t judge a book by its cover. A Solano Community College student, who asked to be referred to as “Rio,” is a perfect example of this. Look-ing at this squat man whose glasses take up half his face, you would never guess that he played an important role in our nation’s history.

In 1977, Rio joined the military. He became a Green Beret in 1983. He was one of fifty troopers who was part of a task force for anti-terrorism. The task force was named Dag-ger and they were deployed worldwide. Over the course of his career he visited about 86 countries and learned seven languages. He also converted

to the Islam religion. During one mission, Rio and

his team were close to captur-ing Osama bin Laden but never received the command to pur-sue him. Bin Laden was also found later in Yemen; troops were told to leave him alone.

When Rio wrote a report in 1994 explaining how the U.S. would be attacked by plane, people laughed at him. In the same year, he was also part of a group who collected garbage on a mission and from that ob-tained a sample of bin Laden’s DNA.

General Mulholland was his commander; Mulholland was a Lt. Col at the time. Rio also spent some time as a HALO free-fall pilot instructor and has cross-trained with Islamic regimes.

He was not surprised that bin Laden was found in Paki-

stan. “I have no doubt they (Pakistan) knew about it,” he said. “His killing was given on a silver platter from Bush to Obama.”

When Rio first started in Special Forces, he was a medic. The training for this included keeping an injured goat alive for 24 hours. He then went on to an engineer and then a demo man, where he cross-trained with weapons. He was a Team Sergeant on his last five missions.

After that, he got called back when 9/11 happened. This is when he applied to be an air marshal.

Until bin Laden was killed, Rio felt that particular mission was in vain. He believes that this mission was successful because the U.S. went back to unconventional methods of

SCC celebrates its 65th anniversary

By Cutter HicksStaff Writer

Solano Community College Foundation (SCCF) will an-nounce our 65th Anniversary Celebration on May 20, ben-efitting the SCC Osher Scholar-ship Endowment.

The anniversary celebration will begin at 5:00 p.m. with a wine reception and gourmet dinner by Alex’s Catering. Fea-tured keynote speaker is Ed Rollins, former White House political director and a Class of 1962 alumni.

Following dinner, jazz and blues legend Barbara Morrison, will kick off a musical tribute to the evening’s theme, “Cel-ebrating the College’s history; Yesterday, Today, and Tomor-row.” The musical tribute will include performances from the

SCC Jazz Band and the Social Dance Club.

Peter Bostic, Executive Di-rector of Institutional Advance-ment said that this musical reunion is going to be a fun way of raising $65,000 for stu-dent scholarships. The mon-ies raised will be matched by the Bernard Osher Foundation through June 2011.

The anniversary event be-gins at the Ulatis Community Center for the reception and dinner, and then the musical concert will take place next door at the Vacaville Perform-ing Arts Theatre. This will be an evening of gathering, food and entertainment.

For more information on tickets and sponsorship, call 707-864-7141 or go to www.solano.edu.

8SEE 99, PAGE 6

8SEE RIO, PAGE 6

COFFEE BREAK2 THE TEMPEST n MAY 18 - SEPT 13 , 2011

Important Dates

May 9 - Jun 12 Open Registration for Summer classes

May 9 - Aug 16 Open Registration for Fall classes

May 18 - 25 Final testing Class time schedual posted on Solano website Wed, May 18 My Solano Student

Workshop Room 103A 6 p.m. - 8 p.m.

Planned Parenthood Express Clinic 9 a.m. - 12 p.m. Thu, May 19 African American Genealogy Workshop Vacaville Lap Room 211 5 - 9 p.m.

Sun, May 22 Clean and Green day SCC campus Register at Horticulture 1000 building 9 a.m. - 12 p.m.

Wed, May 25 Graduation Ceremony SCC Hollister Stadium 10:30 a.m.

YESS Program Study Secrets Room 443 3 p.m. - 5 p.m.

Planned Parenthood Express Clinic Room 1409 9 a.m. - 12 p.m. Tue, May 31 Summer couses begin

Financial Aid Tue, May 24 Financial Aid Internet Cafe Room 438 3 p.m. - 5 p.m.

Wed, May 25 2010-2011 FAFSA submission deadline

Tue, May 31 Financial Aid Internet Cafe Room 438 3 p.m. - 5 p.m.

SCC Theatre

May, 12 - 29 SCT presents Wizard of Oz

Thu, Fri & Sat 7:30p.m. Sat & Sun 2 p.m. 1400 SCC Theatre

Upcoming Events

Wed, Jun 1 YESS Program Study Secrets Room 443

3 p.m. - 5 p.m.

Osama is Dead: What Now?Like 9/11 or when Michael

Jackson died, I will forever re-member where I was when I first received news that Osama bin Laden had died.

But, unlike 9/11 or with Michael Jackson, my immedi-ate thought was, “Okay...”

It seems to be the general consensus that we Ameri-cans want photographic evi-dence that Osama bin Laden is dead.

I suppose I can understand the reasons why the pictures weren’t released; national se-curity of inciting rage from Al Qaeda.

Who’s to say the pictures weren’t Photoshopped to be-gin with?

In this day and age, can we really know what’s legitimate and what isn’t?

How would we even prove that the pictures were legiti-mate if they were released?

Would pictures prove any-thing at all? Consider this: Osama bin Laden is dead; his wives and his sons already at-test to that knowledge.

What do we need pictures

for if everyone already says that he is?

I can understand why President Obama chose not to release the pictures. Here we have a fallen leader; though he’s our enemy, he’s a leader nonetheless.

How would you feel if someone published photos of our president being killed by our enemies?

At this point, President Obama had to make a deci-

sion, to flaunt our victory or to do what is honorable.

I feel the matter of releas-ing pictures in such a delicate situation is almost irrelevant.

How would you go about trying to prove how bin Laden died, when he died and by whom, if you’re so skeptical?

I don’t believe that seeing an image would change any-one’s mind; it would make the skeptics look for another rea-son to not believe.

The question would then become, “Who took the pic-ture?” or, “Why was it now released?” “How do we know the picture is real?”

Instead of focusing on that one aspect, I think we need to move forward and consider, “What now?”

This doesn’t change the fact that our troops are still in the Middle East, that we’re still in a “war,” that every single day our soldiers put their lives on the line protecting this coun-try while we’re still stuck on “I need to see a picture.”

Let’s be proactive instead of reactive.

By Khrystan Policarpio Staff Writer

As some of you may have noticed, there is a tent taking up 2/3’s of the North parking lot. In it, is a traveling circus known as the 99.

The 99 is basically a radi-cal evangelical group that is trying to convert people to Christianity.

Now my piece is not on whether or not Solano should have let them rent out the space for a month right in the middle of finals (short answer: HELL NO.)

But it’s on how this form of Christianity should have no place anywhere near impres-sionable youth (which accord-ing to their websites seem to be their main focus.)

Though I was raised in the church for the majority of my life, I do not consider myself a Christian.

That being said, I do have a history with the church and understand what it takes to show Christianity’s true face, and any religion for that mat-ter.

Most religions are based on love and forgiveness, but what the 99 are trying to do is show a religion based on fear; fear of dying and going to Hell.

That is no way to show a religion that is based on love. People that convert based on fear won’t stay believers but people that are shown love and forgiveness have a ten-dency to stay in that religion.

At the end of the day, these people are barely any better than the extremists we see on T.V.

It’s a good cause that tries to keep kids off of drugs and in school, however, when it involves religion, things can get sidetracked.

Hopefully, the people that go to the 99 don’t see a reli-gion based on fear but that of love.

Fear is no way to make a difference

By Anthony Peters Editor in Chief

Brewster Rockit

8SEE LATIN, PAGE 6

OPINION 3THE TEMPEST n MAY 18 - SEPT 13, 2011

Angeline Aroha Toddnews editor

Matthew Johnsonopinion editor

Sharman Brunia&e editor

Vonique Stricklensports editor

Sarah DowlingDeborah Graham

Cutter HicksKirk Jackson

Rebecca NaranjoKhrystan Policarpio

Gretchen SmailTessa Terrill

Katrina Tuttlestaff writers

Samanda Dorgeradviser

It is Tempest policy to correct any errors in the paper. Please contact us if you spot one.

To get in touch with us:phone:(707) 864-7000, ext. 4361e-mail: tempest@solano.edupostal address:SCC, Room 18614000 Suisun Valley Road, Fairfield, California 94534

The Tempest is published by Solano College students. Opinions expressed in the paper are those of the indi-vidual writers and artists, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the college’s governing board, the admin-

istration, the faculty and staff, or the Associated Students of Solano College.

Readers may take up to five copies of The Tempest free. Additional copies may be purchased for 25 cents.

Memberships:Journalism Association of Community Colleges

California Newspaper Publishers Association

Anthony Peterseditor-in-chief

The Voice of Solano College nVol. 27, No. 8

CAMPUS CONVERSATION

“What are you doing over summer break?”

“I’m taking classes, looking for a second job and going to Idaho.”

-Katie Golemio, 19business

“Maybe make up some cred-its. It depends on if I pass or not.”

-Alicia Lee, 20psychology

“Going to Arizona. We’re also visiting New Mexico this year.”

-Anjali Chandra, 19undeclared

“I will be doing my studies. I will ba enrolled and focus-ing on developementally dis-abled. ”

-Walidah Sharoieff, “18”criminal justice

In these days of low job rates and descending markets, it’s no wonder the economy is in such a shuffle.

Before we panic and start making rash decisions or sit-ting on our couch mumbling and grumbling over things we can’t control, how about standing up and giving a voice to things that you hold dear.

For me, that’s my educa-tion, Latin and journalism in particular.Mid-semester ru-mors spread that Latin II and III might be cut from the cur-riculum.

I confirmed my suspicions after speaking with the Dean of Humanities Philip An-dreini and Dean of Academic & Learning Resources Jeffery Lamb.

I have wanted to learn Latin ever since I was in the military when I saw the movie “Akeelah and the Bee”.

The scene that opened my mind was where Laurence Fishburne’s character, Dr. Lar-abee, touched on the etymol-ogy of words with Akeelah, played by Keke Palmer.

In the movie Larabee asks her, “Where do big words come from?” Akeelah replies “Little words.”

“…and there are tons more for you to learn. There are Greek ones. There are Latin ones. French ones…” Larabee says.

After that, I became ob-sessed. I had to learn the lan-guage. I bought the Workbook for Wheelock’s Latin and tried to learn on my own.

During my off time I im-mersed myself with the ba-

sics. The concepts were dif-ficult but I have to say it paid off.

After only four years in the Navy as an aircraft electrician, Latin helped me break down hard-to-understand scientific concepts and understand how an aircraft system worked.

I have to give credit not only to my military training but also to the basic Latin, which resulted in my advance-ment to Petty-Officer Second class (E-5).

Latin is an important lan-guage to learn, even though it is not spoken.

“Latin teaches you a great deal about the logic behind communication and ideas,” said SCC Latin instructor Jude Morris. “As well as its rhetori-cal structures that enable us to understand ourselves and our society better.”

“This is one of the primary reasons the language has been experiencing a resurgence na-tionwide over the past years,

because such skills are in high demand, both at universities and in several important pro-fessional career fields,” Mor-ris said.

I was never a good English student before Latin, I just didn’t get it. What Latin did was help me see the formula that structures English gram-mar and find the creativity that allows words to be po-etic.

Latin is not a typical gener-al education requirement, but it does satisfy general educa-tion sections like the humani-ties and foreign language.

There is a reason why the Latin language has not com-pletely disappeared. It is used in the sciences, mathematics, philosophy, medicine, and law just to name a few.

Latin students at Solano range from future engineers, anthropologists, physical therapists, enthusiasts, and of course, future journalists.

Three semesters of Lat-in has expanded my men-tal stamina to endure tough concepts with a tight school schedule.

Over the past three semes-ters I have begged myself not to drop the class because I knew I would get more out of the experience if I stayed.

It was a fun gamble won-dering if I was going to fly sticking through and fighting for.

Every Latin translation I have ever found myself push-ing through has always been rewarded with enlightenment. Latin has helped my mind

By Vonique StricklenSports Editor

The logic of LatinWhat? The president of So-

lano Community College is blog-ging? My eyes caught the link on the upper left hand corner of our website. My reporter’s instinct kicked in. Do I dare click on the link?

I wondered what juicy gossip I could find out. Was he secretly in a punk rock band? Was he go-ing on elaborate trips to the Ba-hamas on the weekends?

I clicked on the link and was pleasantly surprised: news about SCC with a personal touch.

Most blogs provide commen-tary or news on a particular sub-ject, this one was no different.

Jowell Laguerre, superinten-dent/president of SCC had taken time out of his busy schedule to give the community news briefs on the happenings in our com-munity.

“The publications director and the webmaster both felt that because I communicate a lot to the community that a blog would enhance that communication.” Laguerre said in an interview.

Laguerre says due to the rapid transition within the col-lege, communication is impera-tive for both the public and the students.

The blog will serve as an enhancement to the S/P Direct, which is another online publica-tion found on the college web-site.

The S/P Direct was created to keep staff and faculty informed on SCC news. I manage 10 blogs myself and know the work that it entails to keep them running.

I admire Laguerre for his com-mitment in keeping the SCC com-munity and the public abreast of

the latest developments. The blog contains nine cat-

egories, announcements, bud-get, community, donors, facility, reorganization, staff, students, and uncategorized.

Laguerre’s recent post in the budget category titled, “Monday Morning Mystery,” interjected a bit of humor when during a re-cent meeting with his executive staff members, Laguerre discov-ered, “a major misunderstanding that exists even with the execu-tive staff … one of us thought that we did not have a budget problem for the coming year.”

As a journalist though I wish he had named the person, but overall I love the honesty aspect of the subject matter. It is the honesty and timeliness of sub-ject matter that makes me want to read more from this blog.

I would love to see staff mem-bers and other faculty formulate blogs under their departments.

This would keep students

By Deborah GrahamStaff Writer

President keeps in touch with blog

“Trying to relax. Hopefully leave the state.”

-Vurba Upshaw, “21”criminal justice

8SEE BLOG, PAGE 6

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT4 THE TEMPEST n MAY 18 - SEPT 13, 2011

By Khrystan PolicarpioStaff Writer

These days, I feel that comedians look to more crude and raunchy com-edy as opposed to what Demetri Martin described as, “Cerebral Comedy.” Don’t get me wrong, I can appreciate a dirty joke as much as the next person, but sometimes I’d like to laugh and not feel a little bit disgusting for it. Martin is one of my favorite comedians because he doesn’t need to make a joke lewd to garner a laugh from the audience.

Demetri Martin was raised in New Jersey, attended Yale and was one year from completing law school at New York University with a full ride scholar-ship before he dropped out to become a comedian. A gutsy move, Martin

proved to be a worthy entertainer. His unconventional style includes the use of a large notebook pad, various instru-ments, and zingy one-liners. With this in mind, it was with great anticipation that I opened his book.

“This Is a Book” is divided into four parts, each with their own “mini chap-ter” or section within the part, which are ambiguously named. For example, in chapter two, there is a story entitled “Dad”, which is a story about the son of the man who was raised by wolves. The jokes make you laugh out loud, literally, and though “This is a Book” doesn’t read in story form you find that you can’t put it down and end up cart-ing it with you everywhere.

The book begins with, “How to Read This Book” and follows with, “If you’re reading this sentence then you’ve pretty much got it. Good job. Just keep going the way you are.”

Martin’s comedy is hilarious in the

sense that he turns every day things into a joke. Things we never really think about, things that aren’t normally discussed, become points of interest. In chapter one there is a story called, “Genie”, which is a letter from a genie named Akbal to whomever is next to receive the lamp. Akbal effectively puts an end to all the genie “myths”, and even pokes fun at Aladdin, whilst basi-cally stating there isn’t much he can or is willing to do for you, despite having found the lamp.

Martin writes in the same way that he speaks, so if you’ve ever seen him, you would appreciate the way in which the book is written. It’s simple, quirky, an easy read, and an easier laugh. Now that summer is approaching, some light reading is always wanted, and “This is a Book” is perfect for anyone. I give the book 4.5 stars out of 5. It was every-thing I wanted and more.

By Sarah DowlingStaff Writer

Solano Community College dance stu-dents celebrated their 30th anniversary with their production entitled “Dance the Red Carpet” at the Fairfield Center for Cre-ative Arts on May 6-7.

“We started back in 1981, and it started with just a one act show, and so it was re-ally small,” dance instructor Esther Pryor said.

Pryor described that in the early years the dance production program did not have funding. The dancers and choreographers at the time had to fundraise and do a lot of their own costumes.

“We were pioneers for Solano College in terms of the dance program,” Pryor said. The program started to grow and have la-ger casts and larger productions and the school allotted the program a budget.

To celebrate the 30th anniversary pro-duction, dancers who had been a part of some of the first productions returned to be a part of this production Pryor said. The dance production has an array of different dance styles and routines for different lev-els, from beginning to advanced.

“We have jazz, we have tap, we have modern, we have ballet, we have hip-hop,” Pryor said. “We want to have as much vari-ety for our audiences as possible.”

“Dance the Red Carpet” consisted of the dancers and choreographers favorite award-winning Oscar, Tony, and Grammy selections.

The hosts of the production, students John Rivard and Fatena “Fae” Salfiti dressed up in evening wear and introduced each piece in the style of an award show, listing the choices from each decade with impeccable comedic timing. This coupling kept the audience entertained and engaged between performances.

The evening started off with “Com-ing Out of Hiding” choreographed by SCC dance instructor Esther Pryor. Wearing se-quent costumes with matching fingerless gloves that complimented the complex hand movements involved in the dance. The next dance sequence entitled, “A Trib-ute to Michael Jackson Part II” choreo-graphed by dance student Melinda Grefal-dia.

This sequence opened with student Jah-nelle Cerise Robinson in a typical Jackson pose with dim lighting surrounding Ron-inson, focusing the audiences’ eyes to her

solo performance to “Billie Jean”. “Jahnelle is really good. I am happy

that I cast her as a soloist for the Michael Jackson Medley,” Grefaldia said.

When Robinson exits stage right several dancers appear on stage, each wearing a single white glove of silk construction and dancing to Jackson hits such as “Beat it” and “Human Nature” while a smoke ma-chine created a layer of eerie mist in time for another set of dancers to sneak in as zombies and dance “Thriller”.

The next selection was from the Oscar-winning film “Platoon” in which a major-ity of the female cast danced to Aretha Franklin’s “Respect”.

The most unexpected performance of the evening was the sequence choreo-graphed to the Tony award winning “Phan-tom of the Opera”.

The dancers were on point with their choreography, but what stunned the audi-ence was the appearance of couple of Mel-anie and Eric Seilier who are opera sing-ers from the Chico area. In their roles and Christine and the Phantom, they amazed the audience with their musical talent and presence on stage.

The performance based on the 1991 film “The Silence of the Lambs” was only what I can describe as a creepy tango between dancers who portrayed the Hannibal Lecter and Clarice Starling characters.

These dancers briefly connect and break away on the dark stage. Maurice “Mo” Johnson who played the Hannibal char-acter was a tortured, contorted soul who both scared the audience and prompted sympathy from them.

The night continued with a Cuban sal-sa choreographed by Natasha Clarke with dancers from Dance Unlimited and a “Fosse Medley” that paid tribute to Bob Fosse a fa-mous dance choreographer.

The finale was choreographed by Shah-rzad “Shazzy” Khorsandi to a selection from the film “Dirty Dancing”, which fea-tured the entire cast.

“It’s like our own family outside of fam-ily. It’s a good support group and then it’s just so much fun and you learn so much each other just being in a group. It’s not competitive at all, it’s a learning experi-ence from day one,” dance student Jessica Bohler said.

For students that are interested in be-coming involved in the production, the class is offered every spring semester at SCC and is catalogued as PE 004E.

Inspiration: The event that began my professional training in dance was when I ushered for SCC Dance Production's 1996 show Keep On Dancing. Sitting in the audience made me felt like, "I want to be up there. . . dancing."Dance Experience: I have a B.A. in Theatre with an emphasis in Dance and 15 years experience in performance, choreography, and various dance styles and was involved in numerous master classes with world renowned dance companies and local artists. Favorite Dance Style: Jazz. Favorite Song: I have many favorite songs. At this moment, I would say "Not Like the Movies" by Katy Perry.Favorite Production Involved In: I am in the middle of transitioning into a new career. However, I will always enjoy dance because it's a skill and passion I developed. Dance is good exercise and a release for emotions. Working with the community in the performing arts builds family-like relationships, and I enjoy teaching students dance because I get to see them learn and grow.

Melinda Grefaldia, a choreographer and dancer at Solano, shares some of her inspirations and favorites in the world of dance.

Dancers dazzle audience members at the “Red Carpet”

Maurice (Mo) Johnson

Comedian Demetri Martin delights readers with his first novel

BOOK REVIEW

Although the title is rudimentary, the book itself is filled with pages of laughter and witty humor.

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT 5THE TEMPEST n MAY 18 - SEPT. 13, 2011

By Gretchen SmailStaff Writer

The movie “Thor”, despite being about an all-powerful god, is flawed. Directed by Kenneth Branagh, “Thor” is the fourth movie to be added to Marvel’s Avengers universe, flying in on the heels of “The Incredible Hulk” and both “Iron Man” films and soon to be followed by “Captain Amer-ica”. Although this slew of su-perhero movies is undoubtedly a cause for celebration among comic book fans, it also leads to a problem that is apparent in the “Thor” movie: the movie becomes less about the super-hero that the movie is named after and more about setting up a prequel for the “Aveng-ers” movie. “Thor” doesn’t feel like a stand-alone movie any more than the second “Lord of the Rings” film does.

Thor is literally pushed off his own pedestal in fa-vor of providing ample set-up for the “Avengers” film with scenes that include introduc-ing Jeremy Renner as Hawk-eye, not-so-subtle references to the Hulk and his research, and of course a crack at Tony Stark from Agent Coulson of S.H.I.E.L.D. In fact, Agent

Coulson and S.H.I.E.L.D. have so much screen time relative to Thor that the movie could just as easily have been named af-ter them instead.

Having so much screen time dedicated to S.H.I.E.L.D. then means that time has to be tak-en out of other things—namely, the plot and character develop-ment. The plot for “Thor” is straight-forward, if not a little unbelievable and cliché: there is love at first sight, sibling jealousy, and some borrowing from the King Arthur tale. All of these are tossed together, making a very predictable plot line that makes you sometimes feel a mixture of disinterest and exasperation.

The characters are similarly inoffensive and simple, but as a result lack depth. You never feel great emotional anguish or an overwhelming sense of tri-umph for the characters. Chris Hemsworth owns the role as Thor, as does Natalie Portman as Thor’s love interest, Jane. Together they make an attrac-tive couple, and some of the best scenes are when Jane is floundering in Thor’s charm-ing presence. But the movie’s timeline only allows for two or three days of romantic interac-tion, which makes you ques-tion how genuine or significant their relationship really is. You want to believe that their love is not shallow but the movie

barely gives any breathing room for such thoughts.

When you’re watching “Thor” you get the distinct feeling that Marvel is treating it as something they have to get out of the way in order to focus more on the “Avengers” movie. Which is disappointing, considering that Hemsworth turned Thor from a hulking Nordic brute that modern au-diences probably can’t relate

to into a cheeky, handsome, and likeable brute, who makes even viewers unfamiliar with the comic books laugh. Hem-sworth literally carries the movie through and makes it an enjoyable watch, despite all its flaws, simply by convincingly portraying Thor as an airhead-ed but endearing jock.

Am I saying that “Thor” is not worth the money? No. In fact, I enjoyed the movie (al-

though as a woman I’m biased. Have you seen Hemsworth’s gorgeous smile and abs?) But seriously, the movie is defi-nitely a good way to start off the summer. It’s entertaining without being mind boggling or frustrating, and although you won’t leave feeling blown away, you won’t feel entirely dissatisfied either. The movie deserves 3 ½ out of 5 stars.

MOVIE REVIEW

Thor’s hammer has an Achilles’ heel

Thor, the god of thunder, and his foster brother Loki, the god of mischief, find themselves engaged in constant sibling rivalry.

Paramount Pictures

By Sarah DowlingStaff Writer

A photo exposition consisting of work from seven local photographers including April Wells, Rick Mar-iani, and S.N. Jacobson Donnio is being housed at the McCree-Goudeau Gallery located at 939 Marin St. in Vallejo. The gallery is open Friday and Saturday from 1:00-6:00 p.m. and on Sunday from 2:00-5:00 p.m. The exposition runs from April 30 to June 4. For more information,contact the McCree-Goudeau Gallery at (707) 246-4991.

McCree-Goudeau Gallery houses “7 Photographers: A Salon and Exposition”

Photos by April Wells

THE TEMPEST6 THE TEMPEST n MAY 18 - SEPT. 13, 2011

and the public aware of such things as faculty changes, award-ceremonies, and much more.

Some people feel blogging is becoming obsolete but if you ask the owner of Huffington Post it is now one of the quickest ways to get news.

So be sure to click on the President’s Blog on our website. You will be pleasantly surprised with the information you will read about your school.

I can’t wait until Laguerre starts “tweeting.” SCC is defi-nitely moving ahead with social media commentary.

7 BLOG: FROM PAGE 3

7 LATIN: FROM PAGE 3and my confidence to grow

morethan any other course I have ever taken.

You have to do what you have to do these days but at what cost? The education sys-tem seems to be getting fur-ther and further away from educating to a system that is solely in place to make mon-ey. The children are no lon-ger “our future” --the children are getting robbed.

The classics, which used to be considered an educa-tional requirement, are now electives fighting for survival. The older generation wonders why the younger generation is getting shafted and the answer simply seems to be money.

Although the event has been receiving a large amount of press, there are many individu-als who are not thrilled with the philosophy of The 99. So-lano student Barbara Schmidt wanted to know more about The 99 so she researched the group’s history in depth.

“This organization is not upfront about who they are or what their goals are,” said Schmidt. “One really has to dig to discover that they state in their own documents that they are an urban crusade.”

She also spoke of the organi-zation’s roots saying, “The 99 and its founder, Terry Henshaw, are inextricably tied to Victory World Mission Training Cen-ter and their documents they state that only Christians go to heaven and everyone else is going to hell, the only answer to life’s problems is Jesus and, finally, they say that homo-sexuality is a sexual perversion and subject to dismissal from the school because it breaks their honor code.”

And although they are a Christian organization, not every Christian believes that what they are doing is right.

“Fear is a sad substitute for

education,” said student Larry Ragland.

Ragland is an adamant church-goer and sings on his praise team as well, but he sees The 99 as the wrong ap-proach towards evangelizing and believes that actions speak louder than words, or in this case, fear tactics.

Members of the Associated Students of Solano College had expressed previous con-cerns with the event blocking off parking lot two during the final weeks of school, but Su-perintendent-President Jowel Laguerre was behind the mo-tion and approved the idea on Jan. 7.

According to Peter Bostic, Ex-ecutive Director of Institutional Advancement, the motion was first denied as a college-spon-sored event but The 99 was later accepted as a vendor. The college will be receiving $2,016 in vendor fees from the event, in which Bostic says are based upon hours of operation rather than an accumulation of days.

Admission is $3 for individ-uals age 12 and up. The event will be open on weekends from May 13 to June 5 at 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays.

warfare. He also says that bin Laden was looked at as a figurehead to terrorist groups, and by declaring war against the U.S., he became their lead-er.

“No matter where we go, at peace or at war, they are fight-ing us,” he said. According to him, the foundation of their beliefs is that anything that is “injected” into their comfort zone is bad. He says that they think we are against them be-cause we have a democratic government.

Rio broke his neck and back in a training accident in east-ern Afghanistan. He was vis-

ited by the president of the United States at the time, and other officials in the hospital. He received four coins while in the hospital, one from Presi-dent Bush, and the other three from 4-star generals. He was wheelchair bound for 4 years after that, and was told that he could only understand things up to the 4th grade. He consid-ers himself a success for mak-ing in to SCC.

Rio retired as Sergeant Ma-jor E9 with a Legion of Merit medal.

Next time you are walking to class, remember that heroes walk amongst us.

SCC adminis-tration stays in touch

Education is valuable

7 RIO: FROM PAGE 1

7 99: FROM PAGE 1

Retired Sergeant Major speaks on military past

The 99 tries to scare students straight

SCC club goes green

Katrina Tuttle/Tempest

Joseph Zapantis spends his morning recycling around Solano Community College campus on Friday, May 13.

By Katrina TuttleStaff Writer

Solano College clubs can now promote themselves and recycle at the same time, thanks to SCC business major Joseph Zapantis.

Zapantis is the founder of the Solano Community Recycling Club, a campus club that is distributing recycling bins and raising money from the cans, bottles and paper they collect.

“Recycling has to be conve-nient and it has to be inviting,” Zapantis said. Zapantis is a transfer student from Skyline College. He and his club mem-bers, including ASSC President Lexi Palmer, collect bins about twice a week.

“People can really help out by recycling when they see a recycling bin,” Zapantis said. “Instead of just chucking it away, stick it in your backpack until you see a recycling bin.”

Zapantis said that the club is here to “promote environmen-tal awareness and to recycle. There is an underlying as-sumption that you have to give up your standard of living. You don’t have to.”

Zapantis and the other club members want to reach a point in the recycling program that it can be able to sustain itself. They are working side by side with the faculty sustainable committee and are also negoti-ating with garbage companies on making this a permanent solution.

Campus clubs can promote themselves by purchasing a re-cycling bin, decorating it with their club name, and then put it on campus to collect recy-

cling. If the clubs do not want to maintain the bins, the recy-cling club will do it for them. If any clubs are interested, Zapantis said that they could e-mail him at SolanoCommu-nityCollege@yahoo.com.

Zapantis said the cost of a recycling bin is $13 and if they keep “recycling at this pace, by the end of next semester, we can get our recycling program where it needs to be.” Based off of one week of recycling, Zapantis said, “We could buy six bins.”

“How successful, how abun-dant and proliferating, depends on how much people recycle,”

Zapantis said.The club is looking for a

variety of people. “You don’t have to be a person who col-lects the bins,” Zapantis said. “We need an accountant, re-searcher, social media people, product researcher, a statisti-cian who can record once a month.”

The club started in the be-ginning of March and meets Wednesdays at the Horticul-ture building, where they store the recycling, and on Fridays in the Bird Room from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.

“The main thing is to recy-cle,” Zapantis said.

SPORTS 7THE TEMPEST n MAY. 18 - SEPT 13, 2011

Rebecca NaranjoStaff Writer

Solano’s baseball team was elimi-nated from the California Community College Super Regionals Saturday and Sunday against Sacramento City College.

The Falcons finished their official Bay Valley tournament 20-4 April 28. They started off strong in the CCC Regional playoffs, sweeping Canada Community College and defeating Sacramento City College on Saturday. The next day Solano lost to Olhone 6-7 then to Sac City 6-7.

“Our team gelled really well the whole year,” Solano pitcher Chris Witschi said.

“This season was wonderful,” first baseman Gene Nanney agreed.

“We had a good group of guys and really good chemistry. All together we came through when times were tough. It was good to have someone whose got your back,” Nanney said.

Even the Falcons head coach Scott Stover was pleased with the outcome of the season. “It was a good season overall. This is the best group of kids to be around.”

Though the season went well, it was still full of ups and downs. Every game was trying for Solano, some more than others.

“I think that the Laney away game was one of the toughest of the season,” Witschi said, refering to the 7-11 loss Solano suffered on March 28.

“It was a real heartbreaker, but it helped us move on and progress,” Witshi said.

“The San Mateo game was one of the toughest,” said Romero, referring to the 3-2 win on February 12.

“There was lots of tension. We managed to put it to a real good team in the end though,” Romero said.

“I thought Laney was a pretty good team,” said third baseman Trevor Matern. “They beat us and were a pretty good team. But after the first

loss, we really came back and played well. We beat them three times.”

Some of the players thought that no team was particularly better than the other, or that one game was harder than the other.

“I think that you have to go out and treat every game the same. Don’t try to make any game different. You just go out to play,” Nanney said. “Every game has emotions running high. You just do your best.”

“There’s not really any difficult team,” outfielder AJ Borja said. “There were just some times where we weren’t up. Every team is beat-able.”

As the Falcons season ended Sat-urday, emotions skyrocketed. One thing was obvious: the Falcons were devastated.

“It’s definitely a tough thing to overcome,” said Nanney. “I mean, it’s baseball. You win some, you lose some. It’s just gonna be hard leaving all these people.”

“It’s really hard,” said Borja. “Most of the team is made up of sopho-mores and were gonna have basically a new team next year.”

“It doesn’t feel great to lose and your season is over,” Stover said. “Some of the guy’s weren’t mentally prepared.”

“I’m disappointed,” Matern said. “It’s not like we were blown out. It was a one point difference. We fought until the ninth inning of both rounds.”

Despite losing before they got to the state finals, this was the first time in Solano Baseball history that the Falcons made it all the way to the Super Regionals.

“Our goal was to make it to the final four,” Stover said. “A lot of the sophmores were disappointed be-cause of the loss since it is their last year. But they should be proud. We did make it very far.”

season. All worries were pushed away when the girls prevailedvictoriously during the last six BVC games. The Falcons produced impressive scores against Contra Costa (22-2) and against Marin (11-0).

During their last game of the season, the Falcons swept Yuba 12-0 and 10-0, earning coach Pearson-Bloom her 300th softball victory. Amazing pitching by Rachael Sponsler and home-run hitting by Jen-nifer Ringle earned the Falcons their 24th win of the season.

With a season-ending record of 34-5-1, the third highest winning percentage of Northern California teams, the softball team earned the eighth seed and their first ever regional playoff match hosted at SCC.

“Another goal we had was to win Regional 1 and advance to the Super Regionals Round 2,” Pearson-Bloom said. “Unfortunately that goal was not achieved.”

On May 7th, the Falcons opened the series against

Feather River College. Jennifer Ringle earned two hits for the Falcons and Melissa Logan pitched eight hard innings. It wasn’t enough. The Falcons lost 4-8 in extra innings with a strong four run victory by FRC in the ninth.

In game two, Solano jumped to an early 1-0 lead but FRC answered back by scoring four runs in the second inning. Both teams put up a tough fight as the game went back and forth for seven innings. Feather River College scored at the bottom of the seventh to take the game into extra innings. The score remained tied until the bottom of the ninth when Feather River took the lead to win the game, ending the season for the Falcons in the playoffs.

A hard loss struck the girls deeply, but it did not overshadow the overall success of their season.

“I think they did a great job,” said Lori Edwards, mother of freshman infielder Dana Manibusan. “Ultimately you want them to play a great game, and they did.”

Another final goal that the Solano softball team had was to move players to four year colleges. The Falcons have one signed player and several others being recruited by colleges. MVP Player of the Year Jennifer Ringle already has her plans lined up.

“I’ll be playing in the fall,” Ringle said. “Then I’m looking at Oregon Tech or Lee University in Tennes-see.”

To celebrate a great season, the team made coach Pearson-Bloom a time capsule with messages from them to memorialize the season’s moments. A fun celebration was also had when the post-game water bucket was dumped on the head coach and pictures were taken to remember the moment.

“I am very proud of these young ladies. They have worked so hard this year. They represented us well in the classroom and on the field. It was my plea-sure and good fortune to be a part of their careers,” Pearson-Bloom said.

7 SOFTBALL: FROM PAGE 8

Memorable year for Falcons ends in disappointment

Vonique Stricklen/Tempest

Solano Community College pinch runner Steven Stout slides into Ohlone catcher Joel Thys for the run Sunday May 14, 2011. This was the first time in Solano Baseball history that the Falcons made it all the way to the Super Regionals

Postseason Statistics May 06, 2011 #10 CANADA W 10-8 1-0-0 0-0-0 Consulo,Ben (W 3-1) 150 2:35 May 07, 2011 #3 CANADA W 16-7 2-0-0 0-0-0 Rogers,Rober (W 3-0) 200 2:50 May 13, 2011 SACRAMENTO W 3-1 3-0-0 0-0-0 Witschi,Chri (W) 350 1:55 May 14, 2011 OHLONE 6-7 L 3-1-0 0-0-0 Gibbons,Etha (L) 165 2:26 May 14, 2011 SACRAMENTO 6-7 L 3-2-0 0-0-0 Hopkins,Kage (L) 175 3:03

SCC Playoff bid falls short

“It was a real heartbreaker,”- Solano pitcher Chris Wischi

SPORTS8 THE TEMPEST n MAY 18 - SEPT 13 2011

Basketball: July 25 - JULY 29TH - Summer 2011 Solano College Co-ed Basketball Camp Volleyball: August 5th - 6th from 10:30am-4:00pm (8th- 12th graders)

Swimming: June 20- June 30; July 5- July 14; July 18 – July 28

Soccer: information provided at solanotempest.net

Football: Ongoing

Awardees

Cutter HicksStaff Writer

Solano’s softball post-season was cut short as Feather River College’s Karly Hall silenced the home crowd with a home run ending the game in extra innings 10-9.

Although the Falcons were eliminated from playoffs the team made school history ending the season with an overall record of 34-7-1 and a conference record of 24-0-0.

“This season our quote was ‘We can, we will,” soft-ball head coach Terri Pearson-Bloom said.

“Our goals were not just to win our sixth consecu-tive BVC title, but to go undefeated in that quest for a conference championship,” Pearson-Bloom said.

Before hosting their first in-conference game of the season, the Falcons took on non-conference ranked opponents. Taking down teams such as San Joe City College, Shasta College, Fresno and San Mateo gave the Falcons confidence and “great power points”.

On March 10 Falcons hosted the first game of Bay Valley Conference play. SCC took down the Mendocino

College in a double-header series starting them out with a record of 2-0.

“We expected to win from the start, that’s our expec-tation, every conference game,” Pearson-Bloom said.

On March 12 and 13 the Softball girls attended the Ohlone Tournament in Fremont. The Falcons went 4-1 in the tournament and demonstrated a solid perfor-mance on the field.

After taking the win against Napa and Contra Costa College, the Falcons went up against Marin College in another double-header. Falcons were unmatched in the experience and confidence they displayed that day, shutting out Marin 6-0 and 13-0.

During the last week of March the Solano Falcons took on both the Los Medanos Mustangs and the Yuba 49ers. With amazing pitching performances from Me-lissa Logan and Hannah Wilbur the Falcons produced astounding game-winning scores of 8-0, 7-0, 15-0 and 19-0.

During the month of April, the Falcons knew they were on their last leg of the spring 2011 softball 8SEE SOFTBALL, PAGE 7

Baseball Polls:April 26 Poll - ABCA - Junior College Pacific Associations Division - 9 Solano (26-8, 18-4)

NorCal

April 26 Poll - California Community College Baseball Coaches Association NorCal Poll

3 Solano (26-8, 18-4)

Baseball Awards:BVC Coach of the Year Scott Stover

2011 Bay Valley All-Conference Team Pitcher of the Year: Ethan Gibbons

Pitchers - Aaron Hansen; Kagen Hopkins

Catchers - Victor Romero

First base - Gene Nanney

Infielders - Deron Ard, Solano; Trevor Matern; Patrick Johnson

Designated Hitter - James Mossholder

Softball:MVP Player of the Year – Jennifer Ringle

MVP Pitcher of the Year – Melissa Logan

Pitcher - 1ST Team – Rachel Sponsler

Catcher- 1ST Team – Katie Payne

Infield - 1ST Team – Dana Manibusan

First Base - 1ST Team –Sarah McKnight

Outfield- 1ST Team – Nciole Punla

Swimming:All-American - Arthur Jackson

Women’s Basketball:BVC All-Conference: Ivy Jones, Destinee Sin-

egal; Tara Cooley

Academic BVC Awardees: Jessica Woods,

1st Team All-State: Ivy Jones

BVC MVP: Ivy Jones

Men’s Basketball:Honorable Mention: Marcus Carter

Camps

Vonique Stricklen/Tempest

Solano Community College Pitcher gets ready to throw

a strike to Feather River College batter Sunday May

8, 2011.

Postseason dreams crushedHistorical records and lasting moments

“Our goals were not just to win

our sixth consecu-tive BVC title, but to go undefeated in that quest for a

conference championship,”

- head coach Terri Pearson-Bloom.