Rafael OchoaContributing writing

Oxnard College welcomed thousands of students, community members, vendors, and local-area high school students to their annual Multicultural Day last Thursday to celebrate the diversity present in their community.

Diva Ward, Multi-cultural Day coordina-tor, worked vigorously to make sure this was a successful event. The festivities united the sur-rounding community with the student body and offered visitors a glimpse into the differ-ent cultures from around the world

“Our goal this year was to share the culture of the community with attendees and provide high school students with information about Oxnard College,” said Ward. “Attendance was fantastic—we had great vendor presence and in-credible student partici-pation.”

Live performances, food samplings, work-shops, presentations and various activities, made for plenty of opportuni-ties for students and visi-tors to participate in.

Flags from na-tions around the world adorned the campus and flanked the various ven-dor, club and business booths. The Shen Chun Do club garnered steady crowds throughout the day with their enticing music and various mar-tial arts routines.

Kiara Hodges,

20-year-old psychology major, enjoyed the mar-tial arts performances the most.

“Martial arts is the best,” said Hodges. “[The performances] re-ally show a lot of the cul-tural backgrounds of the students.”

Out of breath and pausing to catch some air, Shen Chun Do club president, Mario Cesar Cardona enjoyed the at-tention his club received.

“It is physically draining as we have to respond to random an-gles of attack,” said Car-

dona. “Our routines are not choreographed.”

High school stu-dents also enjoyed the atmosphere at the col-lege. Senior students from the seven local area high schools were in at-tendance to learn more about the college and

participate in workshops to increase their aware-ness about the commu-nity college experience.

Terry Redmond, transfer counselor at OC, enjoyed the presence of the high school popula-tion.

“With high school

students present, we can market our college now for them to consider lat-er,” said Redmond. “We give these students the proper advice and guide them with the enroll-ment process.”

Students filled the student services walk-way as they stopped to glance at items for sale at vendor tables that included traditional Mexican zarapes, Indi-an handcrafted jewelry and other knickknacks from cultures around the globe.

Attendees also sam-pled diverse food rang-ing from Mexican to Brazilian cuisine, many of whom stopped to in-dulge in the rich-smell-ing Mexican cuisine of-ferings of the campus club, MEChA.

At the MEChA food stand, club volunteers shared their success in selling out of tamales and nachos. The profit earned from the food sale will fund a trip for four of their members to a National MEChA Conference in Wisconsin later this year.

Competing high school bands filled the airwaves with familiar melodies as they per-formed their practice routines. Marjorie Price, dean of Liberal Studies, listened in admiration.

“There’s a lot going on, a lot of excitement,” said Price. “A little some-thing for everyone.”

For the complete read on this story, please visit us at www.student-voiceonline.com/Ox-nard.

Student Voice Feb. 16 - Mar. 2 w w w . S t u d e n t V o i c e O n l i n e . c o m FREE Vol. 8 , No. 9

MoorparkOxnardVentura

VC fights breast cancer OC club fundraises for trip MC talks bacteria

OC exhibits diversity at Multicultural Day

Photo by Chad JonesWeaver - Ivan Bautista demonstrates how he weaves a blanket for preschoolers at OC during the Spring 2011 Multicultural Day.

Photo by Chad JonesBeat doWn - Israel Vasquez and Mario Cesar Cardona from the OC Shen Chu Do Club perform a demostration of Jujitsu.

Photo by Chad JonesShake it - Alexandra King leads students from both OC and several local high schools in the art of belly dancing.

Leah GrullonStaff writer

Egyptians are facing a new political, social and economic phase in history since President Hosni Mubarak resigned after a 30-year-term, relinquish-ing control of the nation to its military.

In Mubarak’s last speech, delivered on Feb. 8, he emphasized his responsibility in ensuring peaceful power transference in that Middle-East country.

“My primary responsibility now is security and independence of the nation,” said the ex-Egyptian president on Aljazeera’s website. “To ensure a peace-ful transfer of power and allow handing over re-sponsibility to whomever the people choose in the coming presidential election.”

For almost 60 years, Egypt has been one the most powerful allies of the U.S. in the Middle East. This relationship improved with the deceased Egyptian president Anwar Al-Sadat, who played a crucial role by signing the Camp David Accords and the Peace Treaty in 1978 and 1979.

Egypt has also followed the American policy on regional issues and has benefited from American aid packages that involve military and economic coop-eration.

Now that economic cooperation is at an annual foreign assistance deficit of $1.5 billion, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton could be cut off if any future Egyptian government did not respect human

rights and committed to democracy. “There has to be a commitment by whoever is

in the government that they will engage in a na-tional dialogue with people of Egypt,” said Clinton on “Meet the Press.” “With the aim at taking actions that will meet the legitimate grievances of the Egyp-tian people.”

Political analysts say that some crucial elements made the army consider not to support Mubarak anymore. Some of those elements are that Mubarak remained in power for a long period of time, in ad-dition to his age and illnesses. Those elements pres-sured the top of the military to consider placing a new general before Mubarak died to keep the tran-sitional power stability of the nation after his death.

However, the Egyptian ex-president had other plans. Handing over the succession to his son Gamal started the anti-Mubarak sentiment.

Although some people compare this situation to Iran’s in 1979, Founder and CEO of Stratfor George Friedman does not think so. In accordance to Fried-man, three elements make the difference as the Egyptian business class is not supporting the Mus-lim Brotherhood (this organization split after Sadat’s assassination in 1981) and Mubarak did not allow it to grow up during his regime.

“You cannot look at what’s going on in Egypt as an Islamist revolution,” said the CEO of Stratfor to Jonathan R. Laing in an interview for Barron’s Maga-zine. “Not with the military and the liberal demo-cratic crowd also playing key roles.”

The Muslim Brotherhood is an Islamist transi-tional movement and the world’s oldest and largest Islamic political group. The Muslim Brotherhood’s website explains that it was founded in 1928 in Egypt by Hassan Al-Banna, with it’s slogan being “Islam is the solution.” Ironically, this organization is the weakest power group in Egypt.

Instead, the Egyptian army is the strongest and most respected institution in Egypt, so it has brought some concerns about what would happen if the ex-tremists took over in Egypt and might remilitarize the Sinai Peninsula, even though its army is not yet a force able to take on the U.S. or Israel.

According to Steven Pfeffer, a political science professor at Moorpark College, the Egyptian military has to be careful about the transition to democracy.

“We are hoping they will arrange and guarantee free and fair elections,” said Pfeffer. “In my opinion, the choices made by the Egyptian military will be the most significant factor.”

For full story, go to studentvoiceonline.com.

Egypt: The beginning of a new democracy?

Photo courtesy of Lilia Cancelegypt - Cairo’s street markets seems to still attract customers.

Photo by Chad JonesCroSSing the threShold - Eric Apodaca and Alma Reyes celebrate one year and three months of love on Valentine’s Day during the ‘Mock Wedding’. See page 3 for the full story.

Photo by Chad Jonesyou may kiSS the Bride - Jennifer Brumit and Cody Kupfer kiss after getting hitched at Ventura College’s ‘Mock Wedidng’ on Valentine’s Day. See page 3 for the full story.

News Analysis

VC’s MoCk Wedding

Crystal GonzalezContributing writer

Oxnard College’s Sociology Club deliv-ered candy grams to students, faculty and ad-ministrators on campus for Valentine’s Day to fundraise for their up-

coming trips to the Mu-seum of Tolerance and Anacapa Island.

Renee Osuna, Soci-ology Club Vice Presi-dent, spearheaded this event with the rest of the club members and expanded on the impor-tance of solidarity.

“It’s very impor-tant to be part of a team and we always work really hard to achieve our goals,” said Osuna. “This semester, we have a busy agenda and great members, so none of this would be possible with-out the collaboration of

everyone.”According to club

members, the OC Sociol-ogy Club strives to spend most of their time serv-ing their community and volunteering their time to those in need. They are a newly appointed club with just one com-

plete semester under their belt, but have been well accomplished by donating their skills to organizations like Habi-tat for Humanity, Food Share and the Camarillo Healthcare Center.

Dr. Marie Butler, so-ciology professor and

club adviser, couldn’t be more proud of her stu-dents.

“They work so hard to help their community and they are lead by a great executive team,” said Butler. “Their chem-istry is remarkable and I am amazed at their ideas and hunger for knowl-edge. This fundraiser will help them reach that knowledge.”

Sure enough, the club sold just about every Valentine’s Day gram that they had and met their projected quo-ta to fund their fieldtrips.

Jennifer Quintana, a 20-year-old psychology major, enjoyed the fes-tive treats.

“I think it’s cool that clubs celebrate holidays like this and benefit from it,” said Quintana. “I bought a few candy grams for my son, my husband and my mom of course.”

Mayra Pacheco, So-ciology Club Treasurer, was glad that the mem-bers were able to have fun and keep the event light.

“We had a great turnout and we were able to socialize and en-gage other students on campus,” said Pacheco. “I am glad that students and faculty supported our cause.”

Oxnard COLLEGEPage 2 Student Voice • www.StudentVoiceOnline.com Feb. 16, 2011

Photo by Monica ValenciaLove in the air - Sociology Club members Mayra Pacheco, Israel Celis, Hector Rivas, Clara Mendez, and David Hernandez take a break from romancing the cam-pus to pose for a picture

Monica ValenciaEditor-In-Chief

Oxnard College students attended a public forum held at the CLU Oxnard Campus, sponsored by the Gold Coast Chapter of the Federalist Society. Sev-eral significant judicial topics were discussed amongst the panelists and the audience.

Natalie Panossian, GCCFS President and attorney, coordinated the forum in order to educate the public about constitutional issues. The guest pan-elists included Joerg Knipprath, professor at Southwestern Universi-ty School of Law, Adam Winkler, professor at UCLA School of Law and Barry McDonald, professor at Pepperdine University.

“I think it’s a great learning experience for students and it in-spires them to learn more about govern-ment,” said Panossian. “It’s also a great venue for students to network with elected officials who come to events like these.”

The forum titled, “Oyez! Oyez! Oyez! – Significant U.S. Su-preme Court Trends and Decisions,” explored cases and issues like Proposition 8, 1st and 2nd Amendment issues, the immigration laws of Arizona, recusals by Supreme Court Justices, the Obama Care Pro-gram, and many others.

This was a free event that welcomed the public with a recep-tion of hors d’oeuvres. While guests mingled, those interested had a

chance to learn about the benefits of being part of The Federalist Society.

According to their membership booklet, The Federalist Society for Law and Public Pol-icy Studies is a group of conservatives and liber-tarians interested in the current state of the legal order.

The most promi-nent issue that the pan-elists were posed with was that of Proposition 8. Although other ques-tions were posed, this particular topic kept cir-cling back more than any other.

“My personal belief is that the ban of gay marriage is a violation of the due process clause,” said Winkler. “Unfortu-nately, for proponents of Proposition 8, the Su-preme Court has made clear in case after case, that animist towards a class of people is not a basis for denying them rights.”

Knipprath also com-mented on the issues of gay rights by stating that this is major a shift, it af-fects fundamental mor-als and these kinds of cases always raise con-troversy.

“It affects people in a very emotional way on both sides of the issue,” said Knipprath. “Courts don’t want to get in-volved and they prefer that the political process sort them out. I believe it is unconstitutional simply because there is nothing in the constitu-tion that protects same-sex marriage.”

In other significant topics, 1st Amendment issues seemed to tail Proposition 8, for much of the forum.

“It’s very important for students to learn both their rights and the limitation of free speech,” said Knipprath. “Free speech is a key component of republi-can government, so it’s important for students to get involved and re-main involved as they go through adulthood.”

Knipprath also stat-ed that one of the things that distinguish the U.S. from so many other cul-tures is the very vibrant, political involvement of freedom of speech that is not recognized in Can-ada or the United King-dom, in the same way as it is in the U.S.

John Garcia, Asso-ciated Student Govern-ment Senator, thought the discussion was very informational and en-lightening.

“This event made me think of what an ex-ceptional job our Found-ing Fathers did when they gathered in Phila-delphia to create the laws that govern us,” said Garcia. “We live by these laws and we are able to discuss these is-sues freely in a public forum such as this.”

Winkler also stressed the importance for students to learn about court trends and decisions, citing that the Supreme Court deals with all our most con-troversial, hot-button issues and often has the last word.

“And if students want to understand what’s going on in poli-tics and the legal regula-tion that controls their lives,” said Winkler. “They have to know what’s going on in the Supreme Court.”

Monica ValenciaEditor-In-Chief

The sounds of the ancient Oud performed by a virtuoso of Armenian folk-lore cascaded into the Oxnard College lecture hall for a distinct mini concert that mesmerized the audience.

John Bilezikijan, classical violinist and oud master, opened his performance with a majestic improvisation that he called “Taksim”. His wife, Helen Bileziki-jan, accompanied him by singing songs in Armenian.

“The definition of the word ‘oud’ means wood actually,” said Bilezikijan. “We Armenians that play this instrument play it in this unique style that’s in-digenous to Armenians or Armenians whose ancestors come from Central Tur-key.”

Bilezikijan gave a brief history lesson on Armenians and the evolution of the Oud. He stated that the Oud is about 2,500 years old and it derives from Ancient Persia, where the structure was much more primitive then.

He also touched on the styles of music that can be played by the Oud and the preferences that some may have in terms of significance, in part by the Ara-bic community.

“Due to the genocide of our people, between 1895 and 1915, our people dispersed the world,” said Bilezikijan. “Depending on where they ended up in, they played folk music based on what they brought to that country and they were influenced by that country and instruments. So it’s very, very unique.”

Still, the difference between the Armenian style and the Arabic style was very apparent and the audience seemed to notice.

Maria Fernandez, a 23-year-old communications major, seemed to be taken by the performance as she wiped a couple tears from her eyes.

“This music is so intense,” said Fernandez. “I don’t know why, but I felt the music, especially when his wife was singing.”

As Bilezikijan played for his audience, the mood was kept light as specta-tors responded with questions and comments about his playing methods.

Elisa Sanchez, Near Eastern Multicultural Association president, was ec-static to see Bilezikijan perform for the third time.

“You get to really feel the musician’s vibes, experience, and passion and you can’t really get that from a CD,” said Sanchez. “Each time I hear him, he sounds more and more beautiful.”

As the most well known oudist of his generation, Bilezikijan continues to be passionate about his music and his oud. This has also taught him to be a very disciplined person and he hopes to continue to play for a long time.

Shelley Savren, English professor and coordinator for this event, believes Bilezikijan is a talented performer who is well rounded in the cultural playing of the oud.

“He engaged the audience in teaching us about the instrument and enter-taining us with his songs,” said Savren. “His wife added a special touch with her beautiful voice, singing their Armenian songs.”

Sociology Club sends love for funds

Photo by Chad JonesmusicaL oud-yssey - Bilezikijian performing traditional persian music at Oxnard College with his signature Oud.

Students discuss law

Oud comes to

Photo by Oscar Machucaoyez! - From left, Joerg Knipprath, Adam Winkler and Barry McDonald hosted the forum at Cal Lutheran Oxnard’s campus

Jarred KielStaff writer

Police Capt. Richard DeLaO has recently moved into a new office at Ventura College to help make use of the district law enforcement and help bring the community on board.

There may be other motives for the move to the VC campus but the biggest concern is the budget cuts. Even with the budget, DeLaO is very concerned with trying to reorganize the safety and security while having the limited bud-get.

“District and cam-pus have been impacted by the budget, or lack of,” said DeLaO. “Police still need to issue safety and the raise the level of organizing the safety on campus.”

The move brings a more personal level of security to VC, since the office is now located on campus. VC Presi-dent Dr. Robin Colate is thrilled to have DeLaO.

“We’re glad to have him on the campus,” said Colate. “Gives the college a chance to inter-act with him on a more frequent basis.”

With a combined total of 200 cameras on all the three cam-puses and with an 100 more being put together, safety shouldn’t be ques-tioned for quite a while.

Due to the recent retirement of Lt. Kegley, DeLaO has been searching for others that can help out with campus security but trying to keep it under the low budget.

An option that he expressed in-terest in the idea of bringing more sergeants and officers for lower pay, instead of taking on a limited number of sergeants for a higher pay.

“Sergeants would do the day-to-day duties and are allowed to hold certain positions within this organiza-tion,” said DeLaO. “Putting an officer and a sergeant together on certain tasks would still be cheaper than hir-ing one lieutenant. This will help cost savings and help provide safety and the long term budget.”

As of late, the campuses have been experiencing criminal acts in the parking lots with Oxnard College dealing with trucks getting their cata-

lytic converters stolen and VC having a recent car theft.

Lieutenant Greg Beckley from Oxnard College has stated that these have been happening around Oxnard as well.

“There were only two break-ins on campus but only one succeeded,” says

Beckley. “A few others have occurred in Oxnard, including two break-ins at St. Johns Hospital.”

A witness has stated that a white Suburban van was seen leaving the white Toyota truck after being broken into.

DeLaO has issued a warning to all truck owners to go ask around to me-chanics or even the dealerships to see if there is some kind of device that can hold together the bolts even tighter to protect the catalytic converter. The price of safety is less than the price of a catalytic converter.

This move should be able to stop these criminals from breaking into these automobiles and the school se-curity will be heading into a whole new direction. DeLaO has been prais-ing the community for their help with the school safety issue.

“The surrounding community and the police department have joined together to reorganize and utilize safe-ly on and around the campus,” said DeLaO.

Ventura COLLEGEFeb. 16, 2011 Student Voice • www.StudentVoiceOnline.com Page 3

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Elena RuvalcabaStaff writer

Hundreds of people joined together this Wednesday, February 9, 2011, to celebrate VC’s 3rd annual Pink Zone event hosted by the WBCA to contribute, support and raise money for Ribbons of Life Breast Cancer Foundation.

The event included many activities associated with breast cancer awareness along with a basketball game played by Ventura College Men’s team.

Former VC student and breast cancer survivor found-ed Ventura College’s Breast Cancer Education & Advocacy Group back in spring 2002 when she was diagnosed with DCIS cancer at age 42 in her second semester at VC and be-came what is now known as Ribbons of Life in 2007.

Lissa Barreto and husband Bob started this foundation nine years ago and have been devoted in outreaching to families and victims affected by cancer helping them with emotional support and education throughout the entire pro-cess. “The advice I give women is to see a doctor if anything is suspicious” said Barreto, “the earliest is detected the better it can be treated.”

All the money raised at the event is donated to this non-profitable corporation. Due to the great success Pink Zone has had in previous years they have decided to make it an annual event at VC. The event began with several activities a silent auction, along with resource tables and a bake sale.

The silent auction was carried throughout the entire event auctioning porcelain dolls to pies and everything in between with bids starting from $5, $10 and $25. VC’s Psy-chology Club was also present contributing to the event. The club gets involved every year creating special hearts for peo-ple diagnosed or family members who have lost someone with cancer.

Resource tables included Altheas Corset Shop whom dedicated in custom fittings for breast Prosthesis, Mastec-tomy.

Photo by Doug VassarHead of HQ- Capt. Richard DeLaO is now stationed at Ven-tura College.

Students get hitched at VC

Police HQ’s new home

In the Pink Zone, fighting cancer

Photo by Elena RuvalcabaTHe zone- The pink zone activites rose money for breast cancer.

Amanda HovikContributing writer

Love was in the air on Val-entine’s Day as the words “I do” were affectionately expressed towards one another at Ventura College.

No matter at what age, many VC students gathered together on the quad to participate in a 24-hour mock wedding, raising funds for clubs on campus.

As an event dating back from 1999, students celebrated last Monday and donated $5 to-wards the Extended Opportuni-ties Programs & Services Student Association Club along with AGS Honor Society. The profits give EOPS members the opportunity of campus tours to universities like UCLA and UCSB to name a few.

“We can tell students when they see an actual visual of a uni-versity they feel more wanted to

go to a higher level of education,” said EOPS President Edgar Bar-ton.

This cause helps students be-come more invested in their fu-ture and makes them focus on the paths they choose in life for their education and to whom and when they decide to get married.

For the money, students paid they receive a package deal of rings, a mock ceremony including certificates and a picture of their significant other. The option of upgrading was ideal, with candy ring pops and a bouquet of flow-ers for a little something extra.

Students who took part in the event had a good time and for those who were single this Valentine’s Day made this activ-ity worthwhile with their friends. Two EOPS members Abeer Ald-aoud and Khaeja Nafi got married and joined in on the fun

“We’re best friends so I thought why not?” said Aladoud and Nafi. “We get ring pops and

flowers; it’s just for a good cause. I think it’s a great experience. Any-body can do it and we don’t have boyfriends so why not.”

Barton, being a part of the club for a couple semesters com-mented, “I’ve made a lot of new friends... everybody’s become friends in the club... it’s been a very good atmosphere.”

Brittany Remnet and her boy-friend of nine months Tim White, who attend VC, had a reason to partake in the mock wedding be-ing that it was their anniversary. “My mom was there and couple of our other friends was there and they were witnesses we all just had a great time, I was blush-ing the whole time because I was imagining he gave me a promise ring for Christmas so I was just imagining what it would actually be like to take that final step not that we’re ready to but in a few years when we’re done with our education and everything,” said Remnet.

Photo by Chad JonesLove is in THe air- EOPSSA hosted the Mock Wedding outside the Student Activities Center, by the campus quad.

Moorpark COLLEGEPage 4 Student Voice • www.StudentVoiceOnline.com Feb. 16, 2011

Hannah EndresStaff writer

With every seat filled and standing room only in the Forum, it would seem that at first glance, class must be in session at Moorpark College.

As the first of the five ‘Year of the Econo-my’ lectures set for this Spring, Moderator and anthropology professor Rachel Messinger, set the stage with questions that the students might like to know about when choosing a major.

A panel of five di-

verse participants, each of whom were formerly associated with Moor-park College, were brought together to dis-cuss various college-to-career pathways. The Forum stage was simply set with five seats for the lecturers and a final seat for Messinger.

“How do you choose a major and does your major matter?” asked Messinger.

Each participant an-swered questions based on their own personal experience and perspec-tive.

University of Cali-fornia: Los Angeles Major Gifts Officer and history major Nick The-odorou explained how his experience as a stu-dent athlete and a player in the minor leagues, led him to choose a career focused on helping other student athletes.

“Do something you enjoy,” said Theodorou. “Regardless of the de-

gree, receiving it shows competency.”

Next to Theodorou sat Moorpark Alumni and photography major Becky Savell. Her expe-rience as a photographer helped her to develop her people skills, which proved to aid her with her new career as a fi-nancial advisor.

Julia Strong, Wet-land Biologist and busi-ness owner, sat in be-tween and discussed beginning her college career at MC admitted to changing her major sev-eral times and her career

choice even more. For her, the most important factor was getting her degree.

“Having a degree filters out people,” said Strong. “It tells whether or not you can get the task done.”

Next to Strong sat bio archaeology major and UCLA student, Am-ber Madrid. Contrarily to the other participants, she explained that her major choice was vital. This allowed her to ob-tain the experience nec-essary for a career in her field of interest.

Finally, there was philosophy major, Adam Blazej, who stressed the importance of picking a major that never made him bored. He started out as a business major but hated the thought of reading text after text that he was not fully interested in. He now works for a non-profit organization and contin-ues his education read-

ing texts that he enjoys. Although it would

be pleasant to say that students were waiting eagerly for the lecture to begin, most were not. The audience consist-ed mainly of students whose teachers either made it mandatory or extra credit to attend.

Sam Hucker, kine-siology major, attended the lecture because her professor made it man-datory.

“I think it was kind of pointless listening to people’s lives,” said Hucker. “Everyone’s

lives end up differently.”However, by the end

of the hour-long lecture, many students kept the panel quite busy during the open question ses-sion.

The next event in the Year of the Economy lec-ture series is scheduled for Feb. 16, 12-12:50 in the TV studio located in communications build-ing.

James HardingOnline editor

Bacterial proteins are extremely tiny, but hold the key to solv-ing some of humanity’s most pressing global problems, such as grow-ing enough food and cre-ating enough energy to sustain expanding popu-lations.

Dr. Jim Alfano, pro-fessor at the University of Nebraska, was the guest speaker at the sev-enth annual Gary Ogden

Memorial Lecture held at Moorpark College’s Performing Arts Center. Alfano, one of Ogden’s former students, was inspired to become a bi-ology professor because of Ogden’s influence on him.

“I became a profes-sor because of Gary,” said Alfano, “I really do credit him for my career. It’s been a great career.”

Students gathered in the Performing Arts Center at 7 p.m. on Feb. 10 to listen and learn

from Alfano’s lecture which was titled, “Green Revolution: The covert takeover of the plant im-mune system by bacte-rial virulence proteins.”

Before and during his lecture which gave a detailed summary of his recent research, Alfano spent time relaying the experiences he had with Gary Ogden throughout his academic career.

Dr. Jana Johnson, a biology professor at MC, was the organizer of the lecture but could not at-

tend due to illness. In her stead, another professor of biology at MC, Marie Panec, spoke at the be-ginning and the close of the lecture.

“I think Gary Ogden would be very proud of his student,” said Panec after Alfano had con-cluded the lecture.

Ben Green, a 20-year-old computer science major, said, “I thought it was really interesting... he was definately on top of his subject matter.”

James HardingOnline editor

Enthusiastic stu-dents gathered outside the Campus Center at Moorpark College to learn about various clubs and their activities and possibly join one or more of them.

Club Rush was a great success with club

members reporting that they exceeded their goals for interesting potential members after the two hour event that started at 11 a.m. on Feb. 9.

The Moorpark Col-lege Business Students Association was one of the many clubs that par-ticipated in Club Rush this year. Michelle San-guinet, a 19-year-old

business finance major, and several other BSA members enticed stu-dents to join their club by handing out flyers and talking with stu-dents about what goes on at their meetings and how their club benefits its members.

Sanguinet was “very excited” to have “ex-ceeded their goal for signing up students.” The BSA meets every other Wednesday at the

Technology building in room 109. Their next meeting is scheduled for Feb. 23 at 3 p.m.

The Student Nurses Association used Club Rush to both find po-tential and to fund raise to buy equipment and help pay for graduation and conferences. Isabel Jimenez, a 27-year-old nursing major, said that Club Rush met her ex-pectations.

Connor Weidle, a

19-year-old chemistry major and president of the Ultimate Frisbee club, was also at Club Rush to raise student awareness of his club.

“We were a new club last semester,” said Weidle. “I think we got a good response today.”

The Ultimate Frisbee Club meets every Mon-day at 3:30 p.m. on the soccer field.

The Moorpark Envi-ronmentally Responsible

Group Effort was also in-volved in Club Rush this year. Their Vice-Presi-dent, 32-year-old envi-ronmental engineering major Jonathan Foote, was at Club Rush not to hand out paper wast-ing flyers to students but instead give them a healthy fruit snack. MERGE meets every Monday at 3:30 p.m. and Thursday at 2:30 p.m. in room 222 of the Physical Science building.

Annual exams · Family planning Breast health care · Emergency contraception

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Make an appointment today! | 888.898.3806

Annual exams · Family planning Breast health care · Emergency contraception

STD testing · Cancer screenings

Make an appointment today! | 888.898.3806

Associations and clubs seek potential members

NursiNg - Members of the Student Nurses Association.BusiNess - Business Students Association members.Photos by James HardingFrisBee & Merge - President of the Ultimate Frisbee Club, left, and the Vice President of the Moorpark Environmental Responsible Group Effort, right.

Future biologists inspired by researcher

Photo by Kim KohlieberMeMorial - Dr. Jim Alfano, the guest speaker of the seventh annual Gary Ogden Memorial Lecture.

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SportsFeb. 16, 2011 Student Voice • www.StudentVoiceOnline.com Page 5

VC women capture 21 straightVC Women’s basketball takes control from some clutch shooting. Capturing an astounding 21 straight WSC North titles.Jarred KielStaff writer

Ventura College Women’s Basketball (21-6, 10-0) came out on top with a 68-52 victory against a very physical Santa Barbara City Col-lege (17-10, 4-5).

This was a special game for both the play-ers and the community since the Women’s Bas-ketball Coaches Associa-tion and the team put to-gether activities to help support breast cancer awareness.

The game started off a bit slow offensively with both teams show-ing impeccable defense.

VC’s starting cen-ter Destinee LaFountain had some early blocks to lead the way and helped spark an offensive rally

in the early goings. The teams started to

trade baskets through-out the first half with some highlight plays from point guard Rebec-ca Griffin and shooting guard Carlotta Kloppen-burg taking center stage with the scoring.

The game was neck and neck with VC lead-ing 26-22 going into half-time.

Things started to get interesting around the middle of the second half when Stephanie Ramirez was hit while shooting a three pointer.

This was just a small spark to bring life back in the gym, but then Klop-penburg hit three con-secutive threes in a row to liven up the crowd.

“Kloppenburg was the spark in the second half,” said Assistant Coach Robin Hester. “Everyone knows she can hit the shot, she had the hot hand tonight.”

Ventura took a late lead going into the final ten minutes with Santa Barbara trying to slim the lead but never got close.

Ventura couldn’t miss late in the game with Kloppenburg and LaFountain hitting some clutch baskets.

Both teams started to get a little scruffy to-wards the end when emotions started to get in the way of game.

This was Kloppen-burg’s night to shine with her leading the Pirates with 18 points on 6-7 shooting from 3-point range.

LaFountain led the defensive game with four blocked shots and Griffin leading the pass-ing attack with nine as-sists and 17 points to go along with her great passing.

Ramirez also had a good game getting 13 points of some fantastic shooting.

The Pirates won this game by overcoming this very physical team by matching their tough-ness and also raising their mental awareness on the court.

There was never a sign of giving up when someone was not hitting her shot or whether the ref had the wrong call.

“Even though they played physical, we overcame it both physi-cally and mentally,” said back up forward Janessa Martinez.

This is VC’s 21st straight WSC north championship.

They are the defend-ing state champions and hope to continue their winning ways into the upcoming playoffs.

Back-to-back state championships would mean the world to this squad that consists of mainly freshman.

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Channing CheaVentura editor

Oxnard College (15-8, 7-2) slipped by Moorpark College (8-16,3-7) 82-79 on the shoulders of reserve point guard Malcolm Popes’ stellar performance.

Pope had 25 points in the game. Down the stretch he came through with clutch free throws to put OC up 76-74. Pope and OC never looked back from their extending lead even with the efforts of MC.

MC hit a key late three to make it 77-80 with 1:06 left. OC drew a foul on the next play; Gary Johnson hit 1of 2 from the line and MC hopes jumped up when guard Coltrane Powdrill drew a three-point foul.

Powdrill only hit 2 of the 3 from the three-point foul. Things were bleak as MC was forced to foul and OC went up 82-79.

With 5.5 seconds left MC had one more chance, but the lock down defense by OC kept MC from bringing the ball down and was forced to take an er-ratic shot that reamed out.

MC met a good team that came together in the clutch minutes.

“I don’t think weakness played a part in (this loss), I just think we lost to a good team,” said MC head coach Remy McCarthy.

The Raiders shot 58% from the field and had 29 rebounds in total, MC had a complete game just couldn’t pull through in the final seconds when push came to shove.

Forward Alex Romero had a double-double for MC with 20 points and 13 rebounds. Coltrane Pow-drill had 25 points to answer OC’s Malcolm Pope 25 points drubbing.

“Getting the ball to the high post was key,” said Forward Codye Hatcher of OC.

OC’s Steven Powell had a season high 17 points and Pope came of the bench for his 25 points.

Ventura College’s (21-7, 9-2) ineligibility means Saturday’s win for OC against Santa Barbara College 105-67 clinches WSC north supremacy at 16-8, 8-2 in WSC north play.

OC clinches men’s WSC North titlePhoto by Chad Jones

Straight elevation-Forward Destinee Lafountain goes up on the elbow jumper for two points. Fountain had key defens for Ventura’s 68-52 victory February 9.

Photo by Channing CheaFree throwS-Moorpark’s Alex Romero shots a pair of free throws in MC’s 82-79 loss to OC February 9

Student Viewpoint:Should students be allowed to smoke on campus?

Smoking:J.D. ZelmanOpinion editor

I get it. Smoking is bad for you. I don’t have to say what kinds of health problems to-bacco smoke causes. So for those of us who do it, it becomes much more of a hassle when we are being told where we can and cannot smoke.

We smoke because of an addiction to nico-

tine. According to the National Institute for Drug Abuse, we smoke “Because nicotine acts in the brain where it can stimulate feelings of pleasure.”

It makes you feel good, and for others, its helps them feel psycho-logically better in times of stress, but I’m not say-ing you should go out and buy a pack of Marl-boros this second just be-cause it feels good.

Along with those feelings of pleasure and ease, it still can kill

you in the long run. But for those of us already hooked, we enjoy it. Don’t ask why.

Even as a smoker, I can understand why Moorpark, Oxnard and Ventura Colleges all have a no-smoking-on-campus policy. While the District has no stance on smoking, the individual colleges can create poli-cies saying whether or not students and staff should be permitted to smoke on campus.

According to Cali-fornia statute, people are not allowed to smoke “within 20 feet of a main exit, entrance, or oper-able window of a public building.” This includes all campus buildings and public areas. And for a while, all three campuses adopted this policy.

Moorpark College was the first to change the rules of on-campus smoking; confining smokers to the parking lots and designated off-campus areas. Oxnard followed suit in Spring

of 2007, and Ventura in fall of 2010.

People don’t like cig-arettes anymore! Things have changed, and now the social stance (or stigma) of a smoker is no longer sexy or sophis-ticated, but gross and shunned.

But there are a rebel-lious few out there who defy these rules. Some student smokers decide that this rule is wrong. You may see them in the area near the Forum parking lots, or behind the Campus Centers, but these brave few are hold-ing fast to the fact that they should not be sent all the way to the parking lots during class breaks to fulfill their habit.

Some students don’t like cigarette smoke, some students simply don’t care, and other stu-dents don’t think it’s fair that smokers be shunned to the parking lots only to have to rush back to class. So how do we find a happy medium?

The answer is des-ignated areas. There should be a few desig-nated smoking areas on all three campuses for people to be able to smoke within the cam-pus parameters.

These areas can be designated smoking areas much like what theme parks and public areas utilize. The general non-smoking public can steer clear of these ar-eas if they don’t like the smoke, while smokers are not shunned to off-campus areas to get their fix. It’s just not right! Ostracizing students for their addictive and un-healthy but legal habit is wrong. It’s like taking a student with a mild cold and telling them they need to go to the park-ing lots because they ar-ent healthy and might be contagious.

For the full story go to www.Student-VoiceOnline.com.

Non-Smoking:Channing CheaVC campus editor

With the non-smok-ing camplus policies being enforced through-out the Ventura County Community College Dis-trict, nonsmokers will no longer be in the same danger as smokers put themselves in.

This policy forces students that choose to smoke out into the park-ing lots of their respec-tive campuses if they wish to have a cigarette. This move by the district may have been the only smart thing they’ve done in years.

It has always been district policy that smok-ing was not permitted “during any instruc-tional, programmatic, or official district or college function, in all District vehicles, in all District buildings, and within twenty feet of the exit or entrance of any build-ing,” As stated in each of the VCCCD college cata-logues.

The individual col-leges were allowed to be much more restrictive if they wished. Though the district follows state law, in 2005 Moorpark adopted a non-smoking campus policy stating that any tobacco smok-ing was to be done off campus in the parking lots. Oxnard then fol-lowed suit in 2007, with Ventura shortly thereaf-ter in 2010.

All three campuses now enforce a policy that says all smoking must be done in the parking lots. Nowhere else on cam-puses is this permitted.

With such a policy, students who do not smoke will have a new campus experience. It is needless to say that non-smokers feel discomfort around tobacco smoke. If they enjoyed it then they would probably be

smokers too.However, there are

other serious reasons for needing a policy this strict for smoking than to just allow students to feel more comfortable.

There are clear health reasons involved in the manner. After all, the policies are there “in the interest of the health and welfare of students, employees, and the pub-lic…” as explicitly stated in the college catalogue.

For the first and most

obvious reason, second-hand smoke is always a possibility. Whenever one sees a smoker on campus he or she is usu-ally approximately 20 ft. away from the entrance to a building or class-room.Since classrooms tend to have only one entrance, nonsmok-ers would have to walk around the smokers just to get to class.

Any fool knows that air travels. It would be nearly impossible for a nonsmoker to make it to their location with-

out inhaling side stream smoke.

As stated by the Di-vision of Periodontol-ogy from the University of Minnesota, “Second-hand smoke contains over 4000 chemicals in-cluding more than 40 cancer causing agents and 200 known poisons.”

With this informa-tion, one can see how even those who are in the vicinity of a smoker are put in the same dan-gers as him or her.

The second and equally important reason addresses the possible allergies of nonsmokers.

Those with allergies understand that com-ing into contact with the wrong food or sub-stances can result in any number of deadly reac-tions. The more likely re-action from a side stream smoke would be airway constriction.

For full story on Campus smoking, or to voice your own com-ments, go to www.Stu-dentVoiceOnline.com.

OpinionPage 6 Student Voice • www.StudentVoiceOnline.com Feb. 16, 2011

Editor-In-Chief Monica Valencia

Online Editor James Harding

Opinion Editor J.D. Zelman

MC Campus EditorJames Harding

OC Campus Editor Monica Valencia

VC Campus EditorChanning Chea

Sports Editor Cameron Heffernan

A&E Editor Michael Lemerand

Photo Editor Chad Jones

Multimedia EditorChanning Chea

Student Life Editor Lucas Hinojosa

Producers

Oscar MachucaKenny Redublo

Staff WritersC. Alex BierschLinda CorriganHannah Endres

Leah GrullonJarred Kiel

Elena RuvalcabaChristina Steiner

The Student Voice A F I R S T A M E N D M E N T P U B L I C A T I O N

7075 Campus Rd. Moorpark, Calif. 93021 Phone: (805) 378-1552 Fax: (805) 378-1438 Email: StudentVoice@vcccd.edu

Oxnard College

“Yes, if they are responsible and put their butts in an ashtray.”

Andrea Haggar 18, Non-SmokerUndecided Major

“I don’t understand why they (students) need to go to parking lots.They should have designated areas on campus.”

Jose Luis Rodriguez 20, Former SmokerCulinary Arts Major

“Parking lots are perfectly fine. For a couple people with bad habits, why punish everybody?”

Samantha Bobb18, Non-Smoker

Theater Arts Major

Kicking the butts out of our schools

Smoking or non Smoking? - Should students and staff be able to smoke on campus instead of being shunned to the parking lots?Illustration by Oscar Machuca

Moorpark College Ventura College

The garbage problem: Disposing of trash properlyChristina SteinerStaff writer

The cans stand in pairs outside every building at Moorpark College, one for garbage, and one for “go green” recycling. These garbage sentinels receive our daily waste. Their con-tent’s disposal costs the colleges approximately $100,000.00 annually.

Ventura County Community Colleges’ trash is part of the 60 per-

cent of Ventura Coun-ty’s daily trash, which ends up at Simi Valley Landfill and Recycling Center. Their website, keepingventuraclean.com, claims “In a life-time the average Ameri-can will throw away 600 times the amount of his or her adult weight in garbage.”

This staggering amount doesn’t speak well for our society.

The “REDUCE, RE-USE, RECYCLE,” motto

has been around since Earth day started in 1970 and provides the best solution for our growing waste production.

The responsibility lies with each and every one of us. Population growth and dwindling resources make trash re-duction imperative.

Reusing contain-ers is a commendable solution. Recycling is a partial answer to over-flowing landfills and progress has been made

in the last four decades. The enactment of

AB 75 by the Califor-nia legislature in 1995 made it mandatory for public agencies like our community colleges to reduce and divert the amount of waste.

A report needs to be filed each year to ensure compliance.

Recycling is part of this trash reduction plan. It is necessary that all of us use the recy-cling bins appropriately.

Waste Management can refuse entire recy-cling bins if contaminat-ed with non-recyclable waste. These comingled containers will end up in the Simi Valley Landfill, defeating their purpose.

However, recycling doesn’t add to the cof-fers of our colleges, it only reduces the fees charged for hauled away trash.

For full story go to www.StudentVoiceOn-line.com.

Photo by Amy Nelsongetting traShy - A student tosses away part of aproximately $100,000.00

C. Alex BierschWriter

Moorpark College Theater Arts kicks off the spring season with a new type of variety show, display-ing an array of students’ talents and abilities.

Katherine Lewis, Professor of Theater Arts and Director of the production entitled “Voices In My Head,” is thrilled to start the spring season with a variety show for the students.

“We want to challenge the au-dience, surprise them; show them something they haven’t seen be-fore,” said Lewis.

The production is scheduled to showcase students’ artwork; as well as entertaining miming acts, talented singers, original poems, charismatic monologues, and creative comedy sketches.

The nature of the works ranges across a broad spectrum of diverse topics, from the light-hearted, like issues when communication with the opposite sex to more serious, pressing issues, like the presence of bigotry in our culture.

Lewis is hoping that students who come and see the show will be introduced to so many different tal-ents that Moorpark College has, but aren’t often showcased. It’s an op-portunity for students and faculty alike to see Moorpark’s varied tal-ents in action.

“Everybody is creative in there own way,” Lewis said. “We all have the potential to be some type of artist.”

Since she started working at MC in 1975, she used the stage to expose students to new forms of art with her introduction of variety shows. It has been an evolving process that is culminating it’s current incarnation with the production of “Voices in my head.”

“I started with one act plays, then I added monologues, and as the years went on I had ideas of add-ing poems and singers and now it gives everyone a chance to showcase their artistic abilities,” said Lewis.

The show is $10 at the box-office but is available for a discounted price of $8 when purchased online. The matinee performance, however, is offering free attendance. It will be held in the Performing Arts Center from Feb. 23-26 at 7:30 p.m., and the free matinee performance is to be held at 1:30 p.m. on the 23rd as well.

The production is intended for mature audiences and ranges to roughly two hours.If you have any further questions about this event, contact Katherine Lewis at 805-529-0865, or email

at klewis@vcccd.edu.

Arts & EntertainmentFeb. 16, 2011 Student Voice • www.StudentVoiceOnline.com Page 7

Bieber-fever hits the theatersMichael LemerandA&E editor

“Justin Bieber: Nev-er Say Never” was sim-ply confusing. It was footage from his per-formance at Madison Square Garden, a docu-mentary chronicling his “rags-to-riches” story, and an anticipation-rid-den countdown of his aforementioned perfor-mance all at once.

I wish that movie would have just made its mind up because it was demanding as hell for me, as a viewer, to be taken into so many disjointed directions. I don’t get it, am I sup-posed to be worried that Justin may have lost his voice before his Madi-son Square Garden per-formance, that you’ve been showing me foot-age of for the past hour and a half? You’re play-ing the dramatic music, Justin looks disparaged, but I know that come the evening of his show, Bieber totally puts on the greatest perfor-mance of his career, so what am I supposed to do? Pretend that there is some level of uncer-tainty?

Then there is the arbitrary “countdown” utility, which really seems like an after-thought in retrospect. Punctuated in between scenes, you will see a sprawling shot repre-sentative of Bieber’s big night with gigantic pur-ple text at the bottom indicating how many days are left until his performance at MSG.

At first it seems like, “Ok, I get it, this movie is weaving between a narration of Justin’s ‘story’ by his relatives and friends,” but then they start forgetting to let us know when days pass, and we go from Day 8 to Day 4 and then you’re wondering if there is any significance at all to these big purple indicators that seem to appear when they feel like it.

The “countdown” makes the picture even more muddled by the random, spastic mo-ments where the cam-era suddenly appears at MSG, with Justin performing one of his hit singles successfully in front of thousands of maniacs in craft store Bieber regalia.

Are we counting down the days to the show or are we there? What do you want me to feel during your film, Mr. Chu?

There are short-lived moments where you genuinely feel touched by Bieber’s

“team” going outside of the arenas during his “My World” tour and giving floor tickets to in-dividuals who weren’t fortunate enough to af-ford admittance to the pricey experience.

This affected me more than the moments where they choose a random girl from the audience to come on stage during “One Less Lonely Girl” to get ser-enaded by Bieber with flowers and occasional caressing, because that just got mad awkward after the first 20 seconds because the girl is just sitting there crying and

laughing hysterically in front of an audience of thousands of little girls, while Bieber shifts be-tween shuffling his little legs around and paying his dues to the girl sit-ting on the stool in the middle of the stage with the flowers in her lap.

It was nice, I guess.In short, this movie

was a confusing mess glossed and packaged like a traditional MTV production with high definition and sexy ed-iting that wasn’t able to distract me from the in-coherence at the root of the film.

Oh yeah, 3D.

Photo courtesy of ParamountBieBerfeBer - Fans can expect to see a very personal recount of Bieber’s rapid ascension from normality to pop super-stardom narrated by close family and friends.

Michael LemerandA&E editor

Lady Gaga showed up to the Grammy’s in an egg and the world col-lectively rolled it’s eyes and went about business as usual because there isn’t anything shocking about someone dressing like a complete idiot. Do you really raise your eye-brows if you let your child dress itself for the first time and they come out of their room wearing shoes on their hands with their pants inside-out? The only difference is the child doesn’t know any better.

Nobody is impressed by how many things you can turn into a dress and it’s certainly isn’t dis-tracting enough to make your music any more ac-ceptable so give it up, you clown. You are the person that forgets about Halloween and puts a gigantic, banana slip-on over his clothes to get let into a party. You pissed away your chance at be-ing “controversial” when you made a song called “Just Dance.” You are the tacky flagship to a desper-ate industry that succeeds through damning inge-nuity and heralding tripe for the sake of cash. You represent the typical and no amount of pepperonis stapled to velour is going to change that fact.

Her increasingly “bi-zarre” fashion statements

have become so redun-dant that at this point the only thing that would come as a surprise is if she didn’t behave like an attention-starved lunatic every time she walks into the public spectrum.

Lady Gaga has be-come a personification of the desperation existing in the music industry today. In a way, I actually feel sympathy for her; with her face cramped inside an uncomfortable and im-practical outfit, drowning in her stupid creations she has established a necessity just to get her moment in the spotlight. Her juvenile pursuit of being noticed is palpable even through the impersonal shell of the television screen, which is largely the relationship the public has with the pop-superstar.

To her fans, Lady Gaga is a fashion icon and a con-stantly evolving artist, but to this reporter, a member of the general public, she is a cartoonish woman so abhorrently afraid of be-ing swept aside that she creates a substanceless circus in any situation she thrusts herself into, and the grammy’s is a prime example of this.

As a lover of the “arts”, and as a decent hu-man being, I am grossly and severely offended by the occupation and pres-ence of Lady Gaga in the realm of creative ambi-tions.

Photo courtesy of whyfame.comegg-stremely stupid - Lady Gaga was carried through the awards ceremony in an egg shaped vessel by scantily clad models.

Gaga continues her theatrics at the Grammy’s

Illustration by Carlos Kesslermoorpark’s voice - “Voices in my head” is composed of student submissions including short-stories, dance and spoken word performances.

Moorpark to host an evening of originals

Photo courtesy of Titantrononline.comBieBermania- Securing Bieber is a smart move for the WWE as it would appeal to their large adolescent demographic.

Bieber scheduled for Wrestlemania XXVIIMichael LemerandA&E editor

Joining the ranks of Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Motorhead and Ozzie Osbourne, Justin Bieber was con-firmed by celebrity website glamorousones.com to per-form at World Wrestling Entertainment’s super bowl: “Wrestlemania XXVII”.

The global phenomenon that is “Wrestlemania XX-VII” has been a staple in entertainment since it’s debut in 1985 at Madison Square Garden. Hosted annually across the country to sold-out audiences, the event is viewed, attended and adored by people from across the world.

The event is no stranger to celebrity appearances, from Kim Kardashian to Muhammad Ali; there is cer-tainly a level of excitement in the celebrity spectrum each year at WWE’s magnum opus.

“Wrestlemania XXVII” is to be held at the Georgia Dome, in Atlanta, on April 3.

A Grammy analysis

Lucas HinojosaStudent Life editor

To celebrate the of-ficial 4,708th Chinese Lunar New Year, the Conejo Chinese Cultural Association will illumi-nate Ventura County by hosting a community event celebrating the year of the rabbit.

“The most excit-ing part is that the Chi-nese culture is being reached out to all the lo-cal schools in the area,” said Carol Woo, general manager for the Chinese New Years event. “This is a pretty epic milestone for a lot of the surround-ing Chinese students.”

This year, the CCCA is planning on hav-ing students from the Thousand Oaks Chinese School choir, Thousand Oaks Chinese Folk En-semble and other stu-dents from the Chinese classes in Ventura Coun-ty to come out to per-form. The students will put on a show mainly composed of traditional

Chinese dances, singing, and poem recitals.

“The message that we are trying to send out is for all of the Chi-

nese community to come out and celebrate,” said Woo. “Even though we are in the United States, we still have that tradi-

tion and culture that we celebrate.”

Karen Han, a re-nowned erhu virtuoso, will be just one of the

special guest performers at the Chinese New Years celebration. The erhu is a two-string violin and is known as the official

Chinese violin. She said that playing the erhu is difficult, compared to a typical four-string violin because the erhu does not have a fingerboard.

“Music comes from life and being a musi-cian, I can say that I am more sensitive to feeling [emotions],” said Han.

Han is widely known for contribut-ing to the soundtracks of major films includ-ing, “The Passion of the Christ,” “The Last Em-peror,” “Mulan II,” and “Memoirs of a Geisha.”

“The rabbit is con-sidered to be a very gentle animal and can always be symbolic as a good, peaceful year,” said Woo.The Chinese New Years celebration event will be held on Saturday, Feb. 19, at the Fred Kavli Theatre in the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza. Discount $15 tickets are available for college stu-dents. For more informa-tion on the event, visit www.ccca-tocs.org.

Student LifePage 8 Student Voice • www.StudentVoiceOnline.com Feb. 16, 2011

Year of the Rabbit hops into action

On the rubber band wagonHannah EndresStaff writer

“Boobies,” “Balance” and “Bandz” are just a few of the trendy bracelets covering the wrists of not only college students, but athletes, parents and kids of all ages.

Since 2004, it was not out of the ordinary to see at least five people a day wearing the famous “Livestrong” bracelet. A simple wristband made out of a silicone gel type material created to help a cause. Today, similar brace-lets have also caught the attention of the public.

The Keep a Breast Foundation is a non-profit organization that has cre-ated a clever way to raise money and awareness about breast cancer. The not-so-subtle phrase “I heart boobies” is embedded into a rubber band, which can be seen on the wrists of many stu-dents.

Zumiez store manager, Johnny Pearson, explained that at first they did not have enough “I heart boobies” bracelets in stock.

“Every age wears them and it’s for a good cause,” said Pearson. “Kids like them because it is a popular trend even if they don’t know what it means.”

At first glance, the bands seem inappropriate, but once the negative connotation is cleared, most people want to learn exactly what this cause is about and then participate. Watching any professional sports games today, it is common to see athletes wearing similar bands on their wrists varying in different colors.

This trend has made its way out-side of professional sports and into the

lives of everyday people whether they play sports or not.

Sales associate Stephanie Rodri-guez from Finish Line knows how quickly these bracelets sell out at this athletics store.

“A lot of athletes buy them,” said Rodriquez. “But they get sold because it’s really about what’s in.”

Power Balance bracelets are sili-cone wristbands that raise money for Ovarian Cancer Research. Not only do they raise money and awareness, but they also are thought to improve the overall balance of the body. The brace-lets continue to gain popularity, al-though controversy has recently devel-oped on whether or not the bracelets actually enhance strength, flexibility or balance. Even though the phenomenon of Silly Bandz started in elementary schools, the trend of this silicone brace-let has spread through out high schools and now colleges. The colored bands are thin and look like ordinary rubber bands when placed on the wrist, how-ever when pulled off the wrist they configure into various shapes.

The shapes can be as complex as Snow White, Spiderman or even a Saint’s logo.

This simple idea has transformed into a million dollar company because they can fit to an individual’s specific liking. Fads come in and out of popu-larity every season it seems. Patrick Sayer, a kinesiology major at Moor-park College, remembers trends that were popular throughout his life.

“Its like Pokemon and pogs, those used to be the fad,” said Sayer. “Now it’s wrist bands, Vans and flannel shirts.”

International students living with educational hardshipsHannah EndresStaff writer

International stu-dent Johnny Leiba ar-rived at Moorpark Col-lege two years ago from Jamaica. He was facing tuitionzzzz w www costs of more than $2000, had no source of income and feeling somewhat isolated in a new coun-try.Leiba said the transi-tion was tough, however it was something that he knew was worth it.

“Initially I felt like an outcast,” said Leiba. “I learned to fit in. It was easy to adapt and change.”

Leiba is one of 121 international students at Moorpark College. In-ternational students pay $229 per-unit compared to the $26 per-unit that other students are pay-ing. To add to the high cost, there is also a lim-ited amount of time that the tuition must be paid, which is 7-days begin-ning at the time of reg-istration. Matriculation Specialist of the Office of Outreach and Admis-sions, Maureen Rauch-fuss, explains that the stress for international students is tremendous.

“It’s hard on them,” said Rauchfuss. “The students know that their families are putting ev-erything on the line for their education.”

This semester, the international students’ office has 121 full-time students coming from 48 different countries. Stu-dents must be enrolled in school full-time in order to continue their education here. With-out citizenship students can only work on cam-pus when positions are available. Majed Kaseeh, an 18-year-old, bioengi-neering major at Moor-park College, explained his situation with a law that was passed recently.

“I got lucky,” said Kaseeh. “This past November a law was passed, so I just have to prove I have been living here for more than three years to pay regular tu-ition.”

Kaseeh and his family are Palestin-ian. He was born and raised in Saudi Arabia and moved here when he turned nine. Mov-ing to the United States at an early age made it easy for him to adjust to American customs. Liv-

ing here for nine years already it was fortunate that the law was passed to lower his tuition to the ordinary amount. His family works hard to put him through school and he works hard by being a diligent student. For Leiba, a 20-year-old engineering major, the economic struggle is still a good value.

“In my eyes I see it as a positive,” said Lei-ba. “I’m still saving mon-ey compared to a 4-year university.”

Leiba is originally from Jamaica, his family moved here in order to give him a better chance to make something of his life. Coming from a third-world-country al-lows him to view life here optimistically.

“For the time I have been here I’ve been able to give American teen-agers a view of what it’s like to come from some-where with a new cul-ture,” said Leiba.

For more informa-tion on tuition or inter-national students visit http://www.moorpark-college.edu/services_for_students/interna-tional_students/index.shtml

Photo by Monica ValenciaSilly rabbit - Celebrations commence in Los Angeles on Feb. 5 with a parade kicking off the Chinese New Year.

Photos by Hannah EndresWriSt Worthy - Fashionably forward but still socially considerate, these bands benefit breast cancer research.

Photos by Lucas HinojosaForeign StruggleS - Majed Kaseen (above), 18, and Johnny Leiba (below), 20, pay nearly $200 more per unit than native students.