the advocate 2-26
DESCRIPTION
The Contra Costa College's student run newspaper in San Pablo, Calif.TRANSCRIPT
By Sinoti IosuaSTAFF WRITER
From a spacious room full of books to a class-room-sized portable, the Bookstore has shifted its location to a smaller facility but continues to serve about 6,000 students.
The Bookstore moved to Lot 9 at the begin-ning of the spring semester when construction of the new Campus Center began and its old home in the Student Activities Building was demolished, leaving students with a smaller space and lim-ited supplies.
Nick Dunn, Bookstore sup-ply buyer, said the store is also experiencing problems such as leaky ceilings, alarm sen-sors malfunctioning and doors not shutting properly.
And some of the most important elements to ensure the Bookstore’s merchandise is not stolen are already fall-ing apart.
In addition, Dunn said the Bookstore needs more storage space.
“There isn’t enough room to stock books, so if some-thing runs out we have to put in another order,” he said. “We can’t just grab it from the back like we used to. There’s not much variety anymore.”
Before, students were able to skim the aisles and find their books. Now, they present an employee with the name of the book and wait for him or her to retrieve it.
Dunn said, “From my knowledge, the new center for the Bookstore will be opening in fall 2016. So as of now we will remain here.”
When the temporary Bookstore first opened, the lines were outrageously long, extending outside the doors while the narrow aisles inside the building were jam-packed with bodies. Some students said they waited nearly half an hour in order to check out.
C M Y K C M Y K
CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW B
C M Y K C M Y K
CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW B
THE STUDENT VOICE OF CONTRA COSTA COLLEGE, SAN PABLO, CALIF.SINCE 19508 PAGES, ONE COPY FREE
VOL. 101, NO. 15WEDNESDAY, FEB. 26, 2014
ACCENTADVOCATE.COM
WritingAuthor imparts
perspective
Honoringthe pastBlack HistoryMonth celebrated
spotlight page 5focus page 8
Chinese new year
San Francisco parade examined through images
campus beat page 4
Greenewill
receive Multi-Ethnic SportsHall of
Fame’scoaching
award
in briefBookstore
moved to tem-porary location in Lot 9.
Storage space has sig-nificantly been cut back.
Students are no longer able to browse for books. They must know which copy they need.
KEEPING THE RHYTHM Sales floor, books limitedService hindered by shrinkage of Bookstore
Former Comet coach recognized for legacy
CHRISTIAN URRUTIA / THE ADVOCATE.
QING HUANG / THE ADVOCATE
Sharing knowledge — Performer Kiazi Malonga leads the conga drum performance during the annual Black History Month Celebration event in the Knox Center on Feb. 13.
CELEBRATING HERITAGE
By Rodney WoodsonASSOCIATE EDITOR
“Coach Greene — he’s a professional and he’s a teach-er,” Athletic Director John Wade said reminiscing about his time at City College of San Francisco when he played bas-ketball against an Ed Greene coached Contra Costa College squad.
Greene coached the CCC men’s basketball team from 1969-1989.
Wade said he remembers playing on good teams at CCSF but that they always failed to get a victory against Greene’s Comets.
“I remember we lost,” Wade
said with a laugh. “Coach Greene had some outstanding players who were well disci-plined and ran their plays pre-cisely — they played the game the right way.”
Greene will be honored as the recipient of the Multi-Ethnic Sports Hall of Fame’s Outstanding Coaching Award, in honor of his 19 years coach-ing, accumulating at least 17
SEE GREENE: Page 4
SEE HERITAGE: Page 4 SEE BOOKSTORE: Page 4
By Lorenzo MorottiASSOCIATE EDITOR
Students, faculty and local resi-dents gathered in the Knox Center to gain a better understanding of African-
Event explores history, culture through drumming
“Coach Greene — he’s a professional and he’s a teacher.”
John Wade,athletic director
“It is very tiny and it’s hard
to make a trip from
class to the Bookstore and back to class in a timely fashion because
of its new location.”
Ciarra Streater,culinary arts major
Reputable — Former men’s basketball coach Ed Greene will be the recip-ient of the Multi-Ethnic Sports Hall of Fame’s Outstanding Coaching Award.
American heritage through spoken word and powerful drumming of the Yoruba and Congo cultures on Feb. 13.
“We celebrate the continuity of life through the drum,” Cal State-Monterey Bay Africana studies professor Umi Vaughan told the 150 people in atten-dance. “It is an intergenerational and cross cultural connection.”
The Talking Drum in the African World Community brought together many different cultures to experience the meaning of drumming through an African-American perspective, Vaughan said.
Master drummer Kiazi Malonga led the drum group and dancers with whis-tle in mouth as they engulfed the audito-rium with rhythmic waves halfway into the ceremony.
The drummers stood behind a pair of two dancers dressed in vibrant colors and ornaments of West African culture. They moved gracefully, in sync with each other and Malonga, as he con-trolled the rhythm that was enhanced by the quicker beats resonating from behind him, before forming a conga line.
WEDNESDAY, FEB. 26, 2014 VOL. 101, NO. 15
Editorial
Voices of many
Knowledge of history
available year around
lack History Month is a time of year with which anyone who has gone to an American school
is familiar. Every February, history classes across the nation turn toward the subject of African-American history, and how it has impacted the United States.
Many classrooms will listen to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have A Dream Speech.” Many will hear the stories of Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, Frederick Douglass and Jackie Robinson. Yet a long list of names, a list of names far too few people would immediately recognize, will go unsung over the 28 days that make up Black History Month.
Few people likely even know how Black History Month came to be. The reason it was created was because African-American history was ignored almost completely in education. And African-American history is still large-ly ignored.
The fact is, the study of other cul-tures in general is largely ignored in the U.S. Many students will completely miss out on studying about the struggles and history of another culture.
The sad part about this is that some-one who misses out on studying about another culture is missing many of the stories that can make history so excit-ing.
The stories of the men and women who fought tooth and nail for their own freedom, and the freedom of their children, are as heart-wrenching as they are awe inspiring. The lengths men and women were willing to go to hurt their fellow human beings is as disgusting as it is terrifying.
Students who miss out on studying another culture also miss out on the opportunity to learn more about them-selves and their own environment.
If someone is a student or not, they are denying themselves a truly enrich-ing experience by not reading deeper than the big names in African-American history.
Learning about other cultures, about the history and the struggles of another people, can only broaden one’s point of view.
Students should not look at African-American, Asian-American or Chicano studies as boring or pointless because these classes can easily be some of the most entertaining and enriching classes a student can take.
Though it is too late to enroll now, students should look toward future semesters, and plan to enroll in a class about a culture that is not their own.
Black History Month provides 28 days where many history teachers choose to focus on a non-mainstream culture. The other 11 months provide students the opportunity to study the rest of them.
B
CampusComment
What do you think about Black History Month?
MIKE THOMAS AND JORDAN KHOO / THE ADVOCATE
Parents not ready
for independent future
Culture
here is a lot of pressure being the first one in the
family to get accepted into a four-year university.
But it seems especially hard when you are a first generation American.
There is a higher demand for us to continue our educa-tion in order to avoid a life of struggle like our parents knew back home.
There is a need for us to have that title under our belts so our families can gloat about it to others.
We even spend years in school doing something we have no interest in just to please our parents in hopes of earning a sustainable life.
It was inevitable that I was going to go on to a uni-versity after spending four long years at Contra Costa College.
However, my father and grandparents, who grew up in Pakistan where women do not stray far from home, have had a difficult time grasping onto such a con-cept.
Breaking the news to my father that I have the oppor-tunity to attend Cal State- Long Beach has been a year-long process.
Although he is Americanized, he still holds on to many traditional values from his homeland.
The process has included countless hours of discuss-ing financial needs, housing, transportation and safety.
All of these are normal conversations among fami-lies who are expecting their children to leave the nest.
What is not so normal is having your parents try to
convince you to stay home or their spouse to move to the area of your college or university, or even just trying to make you feel guilty for leaving them.
All of this has hap-pened in my situation.
I have continually told my father that it is time to cut the umbilical cord and let me learn what it is like to be inde-pendent, although it might be tough on both of us.
As his only daugh-ter, that is easier said than done. The same goes for my grandpar-ents.
If it were not for my birth, they would have moved back to Pakistan, where, let’s be honest, the situa-tion is far from great.
In my father’s culture, daughters do not usually leave home at such a young age unless they are married or have a trustworthy male there to protect them. I have neither.
I guess the problem is that they have had 22 years to prepare for this moment.
In those years they have not only been inattentive to my dreams of moving to Southern California, but neglected to realize that it
was going to be a reality someday.
I keep reminding both sides of my family that Long Beach is only a seven-hour drive away from home and that it is easier for me to visit them than if I were away in a different state. But it has still been tough on them.
With time hopefully they will adapt to this situation I have chosen for myself.
Don’t get me wrong, my family is proud of all that I have accomplished with school and my life.
However, they want their only daughter to be safe and close to home so nothing bad will happen to me.
Leaving the nest only means that I can look forward to nightly FaceTime calls and Skype sessions.
Eventually monthly visits from my dad once I leave this summer.
As time is dwin-dling down, I am finding it harder and harder to explain and deal
with my parents’ and grand-parents’ feelings.
Nevertheless, I am sure with a little time and con-vincing, they will eventually come to terms with this new venture in my life.
Madisen William is a staff writer for The Advocate. Contact her at [email protected].
LORENZO MOROTTI / THE ADVOCATE
madisenwilliam
T
THE ADVOCATE l WEDNESDAY, FEB. 26, 20142 OPINION
Leaving the nest only meansthat I canlook forward tonightly FaceTime calls andSkype sessions.
Quotable“I want freedom for the
full expression of my per-sonality.”
Mohandas K. GandhiIndian leader
1946
George Morineditor-in-chief
Cody McFarlandLorenzo Morotti
Rodney Woodsonassociate editors
Brian Boylenews editor
Mike Thomassports editor
Veronica Santosscene editor
Qing HuangChristian Urrutia
photo editors
Janae Harrisassistant photo editor
Paul DeBoltfaculty adviser
Staff writersFanisha AyatchJoseph Bennet
Jamah ButlerNina Cestaro
Daniel CifuentesSharrell Duncan
Florinda HersheyRyan Holloway
Sinoti IosuaJose Jimenez
Van LyRyan Margason
Manning PetersonStephen Son
Mark WassbergSean Whatley
Madisen William
Staff photographersCody Casares Jordan Khoo
Staff illustratorsJoel Ode
HonorsACP National Newspaper
Pacemaker Award1990, 1994, 1997,1998,
1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008,
2009, 2011
CNPA Better Newspaper Contest 1st Place Award
1970, 1991, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000
JACC Pacesetter Award1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013
Member
Associated Collegiate Press
California Newspaper Publishers Association
Journalism Association of Community Colleges
How to reach usPhone: 510.235.7800
ext. 4315 Fax: 510.235.NEWS
Email: [email protected]
Editorial policyColumns and editorial
cartoons are the opinion of individual writers and
artists and not that of The Advocate. Editorials reflect
the majority opinion of the Editorial Board, which
is made up of student editors.
Associated Collegiate Press
“I think it’s important because we can all relate to struggle, and that brings us togeth-er.”
Shannon Fowlerpsychology
“It’s recognition of where we came from. We give some kind of importance to black history because it is an important part of his-tory.”
Angelica Camoschemistry
“It is important to not forget where we came from so we can move forward instead of backward.”
Brian Morenophysics
“It makes you go back and think of your roots. It helps me think about the hard times black people had to go through.”
Wilford Carneybusiness administration
“Black history is always important. So I treat every month like it.”
Therris Cunninghamundecided
“It’s a time to celebrate what black people were doing, and what we are doing now.”
Brittany JonesMCHS
PROTEST
Students plan to march on Capitol
The March in March protest for education on the state Capitol will take place on Monday.
The ASU will have a bus to bring students up to Sacramento with them for the protest. The bus will wait for students in the park-ing lot in front of the Gymnasium until 7 a.m.
Consent forms for minors are available in the Student Life Office in AA-109.
ASU board members invite you to join them in advocacy for student concerns and proper education.
For more information contact the ASU in AA-109 or call at 510-235-5279.
Newsline
Tuesday, Feb. 11: An officer conducted a traffic
stop and it was determined the driver was driving with a suspend-ed license. The vehicle was towed and subject was cited.
— George Morin
CrimeWatch
Greene | Former coach honored, recognized
Receive breaking news and sports updates by following The Advocate on Twitter and Facebook.twitter.com/accentadvocatefacebook.com/accentadvocate
Follow The Advocate
WORKSHOP
Scholarships available, open
The Puente Club and the Chicana Latina Foundation present an infor-mal workshop on scholarships for Latina college students Thursday from 2 to 4 p.m. in PS-106.
The workshop is directed at col-lege-level Latinas who are seeking to gain experience in the areas of essay writing and scholarship inter-viewing skills.
The workshop will help stu-dents prepare the essay portion of the application, presenting one-self positively in writing, prepare for the interview, develop strong interviewing skills and understand Latina leadership principals.
The workshop presenter will be Ludmyrna Lopez, board member of the Chicana Latina Foundation.
For more information please contact counselor Norma Valdez-Jimenez at 510-215-3916.
LEADERSHIP
Event focuses on personal growth
The African-American Male Leadership workshop is set for Thursday at 2:30 p.m. in GA-50.
The Contra Costa College African-American Staff Association is working toward creating a better environment that is conductive to learning.
The workshop will focus on addressing the educational, socio-cultural and emotional needs of African-American students and staff.
The group focuses on provid-ing individual expertise to encour-age scholarship opportunities for African-American students. It also serves to promote unity and sup-port amongst staff and students and disseminate information of particu-lar interest to African-Americans.
For more information please contact Athletic Director John Wade at 510-215-4804.
PLAY
‘In The Blood’ performance set
The drama department will host the play ‘In The Blood” by Suzan-Lori Parks and directed by Tyrone Davis in the Knox Center from March 12-15.
Tickets are $10 for students and $15 for general admission. All per-formances will begin at 8 p.m.
For more information please contact the Knox Center at 510-215-4950.
games won in each season and winning 71 percent of his games, while capturing six con-ference titles before retiring from the bench in 1989.
The ceremony will be held at the Oakland Marriott Hotel on Friday from 6-10 p.m.
In 2000 Greene was inducted into the California Community Colleges Coaches Basketball Hall of Fame.
Greene’s family moved to El Sobrante when he was just a child in 1955.
He first stepped on the pavement of CCC just as the current Comet men’s and women’s
basketball coaches did — as a player. In 1959 Greene played the first of two years as a Comet forward where, in his sopho-more year, he aver-aged 23 points per game.
Greene was always a standout basketball player, earning all Alameda-Contra Costa Athletic League honors at De Anza High School and participating on competitive teams at Cal State-Fresno after his years to CCC.
He said he did not get the itch to coach until he took a trip to
Africa. He was selected as a student ambassador to travel to North Africa and teach basketball.
“When I was 22 years old I received a phone call,” Greene said. “I was selected to take a trip to (help) introduce Africa to basketball.”
Greene said that is when he fell in love with coaching.
Greene said he, in addition to other coaches, held clinics in Morocco, Algeria, Ethiopia and Sudan teaching the sport. The coaches’ mission was to prepare African athletes to participate in the basketball event at the Olympic games.
When Greene first became coach of the Comets, coming off of a 3-23 season at Logan High, he said he was scared to lose. In his first
FROM: Page 1
Student worker Jacqueline Alejandre, however, said they established a system at the start of the semester where the first two aisles go to register one and two, and the other two aisles go to the other registers.
One of the biggest concerns many students had about the new location was book buybacks.
Because there are only five book buybacks throughout the year, Dunn and his team pushed book buyback back to the beginning of February, in hopes of slashing the long lines mid-semester.
Due to the increasing use of online book renting, the book buy-backs have not been as time con-suming, which has benefitted the student workers in the more com-pact space.
Apart from the obvious chang-es, Alejandre said, “It’s the same amount of work, we just have to condense the items to fit within a small space.”
Some students voiced their dis-pleasure with the space and loca-tion of the Bookstore.
Culinary arts major Ciarra Streater said, “It is very tiny and
Bookstore | Limited space changes services
QING HUANG / THE ADVOCATE
New location — Students walk into the temporary college Bookstore, which has moved to the modular portable in Lot. 9. The Bookstore has had to cut back on the number of copies of books and materials offered during construction due to a limitation of space.
it’s hard to make a trip from class to the Bookstore and back to class in a timely fashion because of its new location.”
As the semester has progressed many students, on the other hand,
are adjusting.Rickala Geeter, a student work-
er, agreed that nothing has really changed. There are still lines just as there were at the beginning of the spring semester.
Faculty and students have been forced to adjust to the location and smaller space, by determin-ing when the busiest hours are at the store to avoid long lines and crowds, she said.
Western belief of a separation between the performers and audience was torn down after the music stopped and the applause died in the auditorium.
“In my culture that does not exist,” Malonga said. “It has been good having all of you as an audience — but I’d like to blur that barrier.”
He asked audience members sitting in the darkness to come onto the stage and join in dance.
Thirteen people took the stage, each from a different ethnic background and age to form a line of dance that went from one end of the stage to the other.
The drums started up again. Claps and shouts erupted from the audience to the beat of the drums. Among the drummers and dancers was drama professor Linda Whitmoore. She said being up there felt amazing.
“The drums go straight to your soul — it makes you want to move,” Whitmoore said.
ASU Treasurer Antone Agnitsch was also on stage. He said, “The music made you want to dance. You really feel the passion of the drums. It gives you a really cool vibe.”
Presentations by students who took one of African-American studies professor Carolyn Hodges’ classes and local residents’ reflections on their ancestry spanned the first half of the celebration. All spoke of a rich African ances-try that they had not known until they enrolled in one of Hodge’s or sociology department Chairperson Manu Ampim’s history classes.
African-American studies major Tanika Carter thought she could not learn anything she did not already know about slavery, and
the resonating negative effect it has had on the African American culture in the United States, she said.
She was unaware that instead she would be studying the ancient civilizations of West Africa until she completed a semester of one of the African-American studies classes offered at Contra Costa College.
Carter later said she craved more knowledge about her peoples’ culture and history.
“African history goes beyond slavery. It goes back to the great empires of Mali, Songhai and Ghana,” she said.
“How could I have gone this far in life and not know about the great African civilizations?” Gateway student Dominque Spain asked the crowd later.
These civilizations thrived thousands of years ago during different time periods in West African history.
The Yoruba people also hail from West Africa and are the dominant ethnic group in current day Nigeria.
Like many ancient civilizations around the world, African culture is steeped in symbolism. The drum for the Yoruba people is the center of their religious and cultural belief system.
“‘Anya’ is the godly energy that inhabits the
drums,” Vaughan said. “It’s the spirit of sound that can awaken gods and stir every human emotion.”
As he spoke to the audience from behind the podium, their eyes were drawn to the three drums that stood center stage.
All are different sizes and produce unique sounds.
Vaughan introduced each, starting with the smallest. The “Okonklo,” he said, is the sim-plest and most repetitive. The “Itotolay” is the one that follows. It has a deeper and more agile melody. The largest is dubbed “Iya” in Yoruba culture.
“This is the bass,” he said.He then played a CD with all these sacred
drums playing in unison and asked people in the audience to raise their hand when they heard a shift in the rhythm. Hands rose from the dark-ness almost on cue.
“These drums are used to recreate speech,” he said. “To call the spirits for healing or advice.”
ASU President Ysreal Condori said, “Culture is not valued sometimes. It’s very important because we have a very diverse community with many roots outside the U.S. Events like this connect us all.”
Vaughn concluded his presentation by say-ing, “Most importantly, we have to take this positive energy and use it to mend social wounds and keep on in this mad, wonderful world.”
The ASU paid the performers $4,000 to help the African-American Staff Association put on the event, Condori said.
FROM: Page 1
Heritage | History explored through drums FROM: Page 1
S A N F R A N C I S C O S A N T A R O S A S A N J O S E S A C R A M E N T O P L E A S A N T O N
925.867.2711
Small Classes
Outstanding faculty with academic and real world expertise
Convenient campuses in Santa Rosa, San Jose, Pleasanton, and Sacramento
Financial aid and scholarships available
Classes start in January and August
CHANGE THE WORLD FROM HERE
ADVERTISEMENT
year as CCC coach the then 29-year-old led the Comets to a 23-5 overall record.
“I learned how to coach in those two years,” Greene said. “We took who we could get, strung them together and told them they were winners. I didn’t teach them basketball, I taught them how to play together and love one another.”
Once the wins came, the former coach said his players began to solidify as a team believing in his coaching philosophies and tutelage.
Players looked up to Greene as more than a coach — one player in particular that has grown a special kinship with Greene is women’s basketball coach and journalism adviser Paul DeBolt.
“He was the first coach I had who could be (brutally) honest with me and still have a heart,” DeBolt said. “I knew right away that he really cared about me as a person.”
“He was tough. Coach Greene wanted to win,” DeBolt said. “He was also a great role model for all of us who were fortunate enough to play for him.”
DeBolt played for Green from 1973-1975.
Greene and his former athletes have come to share a father/son relationship of sorts.
“He’s like my son,” Greene said. “He truly is. When he lost his father (Paul) walked up to me and said, ‘you’re my black father.’”
One of Greene’s more famous and influential former athletes is Kenny Carter, better known as “Coach Carter,” the basis of the 2005 motion picture.
Carter, famous for locking his undefeated Richmond High School team out of the gym because of poor academics, played for Greene in 1978-79.
“Our coach was more than a coach,” Carter said. “He was a great role model. He wanted us to be successful after basketball. Coach Greene is a winner at all (facets) of life.”
Carter, who was in Texas when he spoke with The Advocate, said he is scheduled to speak in Indiana on Friday. After his speech he will catch a plane to Oakland to watch Greene accept his award.
Today Greene continues to mentor the youth in the Richmond community, living with his wife Arinel Greene in El Sobrante.
“Our coach was more than
a coach. He was a great
role model. He wanted us to be successful
after basketball. Coach Greene is a winner at all (facets) of
life.”
Kenny Carter,Ed Greene’s former athletes
“These drums are used to rec-reate speech, to call the spirits
for healing or advice.”
Umi Vaughan,CSU Monterey Africana studies professor
CAMPUS BEAT WEDNESDAY, FEB. 26, 2014 l THE ADVOCATE 3
THE ADVOCATE l WEDNESDAY, FEB. 26, 20144 CAMPUS BEAT
ADVERTISEMENT
CODY CASARES / THE ADVOCATE
Bridging the past — History professor Manu Ampim speaks to community members about the distinct characteristics of the “Olmec Heads” during his lecture at the Richmond Public Library on Feb. 13.
Ampim opens debate on ‘ocean highway’
By Sean WhatleySTAFF WRITER
Residents of Richmond had the opportu-nity to sit in on a lecture by history professor Manu Ampim titled “Ancient Africans in the Americas Before Columbus.”
Hosted by the Richmond Public Library Foundation in their community center on Feb. 13, Ampim offered insight on this obscure and overlooked idea.
“With the general public, the focus tends to be on slavery,” Ampim said to the small room packed with nearly 40 community residents.
When asked about the turnout, he said, “People seemed generally pleased. I’m just happy any time we can fill all the seats.”
Before the lecture, RPLF board member and former Contra Costa College president McKinley Williams discussed his enthu-siasm for the lecture and debate series and provided context and background to it.
“We’re interested in celebrating all eth-nic studies and this topic was appropriate for Black History Month,” Williams said. “We want to show Africans have made a contribution.”
Ampim addressed Williams’ point by briefing the audience on an ancient king of Mali whose influence reached even the Spanish conquistadors.
As Ampim progressed through the lec-ture he cited the work of his former mentor, the late Dr. Ivan van Sertima. Dr. Sertima researched the giant statue heads of the Olmec kings and their physical characteris-tics similar to those of ancient Africans.
Ampim also discussed the strong possi-bility of ancient Africans’ abilities to travel across the globe. He referenced the RA II, a primitive reed boat constructed by Norwegian ethnographer Thor Heyerdahl. In his presentation, Ampim detailed how the reed boat was able to cross the Atlantic Ocean in 57 days.
“Oceans are a highway,” Ampim said. “If your boat can stay afloat you’re coming to America.”
Richmond resident Ronald Wilson found the ability for ancient Africans to travel across the world particularly interesting and said, “I never considered that aspect. It was very informative.”
Board member of the RPLF, Michelle Milan, said, “We want to get people reading and engaged. (Through this lecture series) we’re trying to raise public awareness of the library and create community dialogue.”
According to RPLF Board President Sandi Gesner-Maack, the RPLF is looking forward to more community events. These events will be designed to raise awareness and help provide funds for the Book Van Campaign and possibly a new library. The Book Van Campaign is a project the RPLF launched to meet the demands the current bookmobile service cannot. Gesner-Maack believes it will be able to help spread aware-ness and better serve the local community.
For those interested in getting more engaged with the library, the RPLF will host Ron Shoop of Random House, Inc., as a guest speaker on May 1.
For more information on the Book Van Campaign visit the RPLF website at www.rplf.org/bookvan.htm.
CODY CASARES / THE ADVOCATE
Spreading knowledge — Author Andrew Lam shares his personal experiences from his work during the Author Talk and workshop in LLRC-107 on Saturday.
Author shares immigrant writingsBy Christian Urrutia
PHOTO [email protected]
The Friends of the Contra Costa College Library and Poets & Writers, Inc., hosted an Author Talk event in the Library and Learning Resource Center Saturday.
The Author Talk’s guest of honor was author Andrew Lam, known for writing about the immigrant experience in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Lam read several passages from his three books and discussed his cultural upbringing and feelings of alienation at a young age.
“My work is very pro-immigrant experi-ence and it has always shown immigrant experience and how that can change peo-ple’s experiences when arriving in a new country,” he said.
Lam’s latest work, “Birds of Paradise Lost,” is a collection of short stories that focus on Vietnamese immigrants in the Bay Area. Lam was born in Vietnam and forced to move to Guam at a young age, which is when he first began to feel alienated.
“I remember one of my first times in Guam hearing about the end of the Vietnam War and being unable to return. It broke my heart at the age of 11,” he said. “It took years for me to mourn that fact and, when I got to writing, I talked about the loss of a home country through my eyes.”
He said his foray into creative writ-ing came about when one of his English as a Second Language professors at UC Berkeley read his work and convinced him to change his major.
“And my mom didn’t like that,” he said. “She was already telling people her son was a biochemistry major at Cal.”
He mentioned how technology removed letter writing as a popular outlet for venting or voicing opinions and is now predomi-nately relied upon by prison inmates and refugees.
“It’s unfortunate that the only people who do practice (letter writing) are the only ones who have no other way of communi-cating,” he said.
Lam asked the attendees to write a letter to their younger selves and to read them aloud when finished.
“Letter writing is the most natural form of writing because you’re addressing some-one and you have to be true with what you feel,” he said.
Lam also said that writing fiction can contain many different forms of emotions.
“Fiction can allow you to live from the
inside out. In fiction I can live all the lives, I can claim to know various perspectives,” he said.
Much of Lam’s work revolves around the perspective of a refugee migrating to the United States and the cultural shock that comes with being an immigrant.
“We build our composites on who we know and some of the time people do not like how the writer envisions them,” Lam said. “I had one uncle tell me he wouldn’t speak to me unless I vowed not to write about him anymore.”
Although this occasion marks Lam’s fourth visit to the college and the first time a workshop was included during the reading, the turnout was surprisingly low.
Library coordinator Ellen Geringer said, “The fact that (the event) was on a Saturday had a lot to do with the (low) turnout. I was really sad, I thought people would’ve liked it because we got to see lots of different sides of him as he read and spoke about writing.”
Only six people attended the event, two of whom were students of adjunct English professor Nora Kenney.
Dr. Kenney said, “I was interested in discovering his work and, as a professor, am always looking for new writers and content that would touch on the things I like to teach. It is a privilege to have this discussion here and for students to hear about the immigrant experience, independent of color.”
She said that inviting an immigrant writer is an ideal way of unifying a crowd and that there tends to be a tendency to “otherize,” or de-emphasize, strangers without knowing them, and hosting this type of event shows how much people have in common and in ancestry.
Student Audrey Webb was glad to hear Lam’s experiences.
Webb said, “People who do not know about immigration should read his stories. It’s good to hear from someone who has gone through that experience and has his own personal account.”
“Letter writing is the most natural form of writing
because you’re addressing someone and you have to be
true with what you feel.”
Andrew Lam,author
By Brian BoyleNEWS EDITOR
In history classrooms across the nation, students are sitting down this month to learn about the contributions African-Americans have made to United States history.
Every February, the U.S. celebrates Black History Month, or as Contra Costa College history professor Manu Ampim would rather call it, “African Heritage Month.” The month is dedicated to learn-ing about major figures in the struggle for freedom and equality African-Americans in the U.S. have faced, as well as famous African-American scientists, authors and inventors.
The history of Black History Month itself, however, is largely unknown to many people. The name Carter G. Woodson may seem unfamiliar. Woodson created, in 1926, what was known as “Negro History Week,” which was to take place during the second week of February. This week was chosen because it would coincide with the birth-days of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass.
“Lincoln and Douglass were two of the most prominent figures in the struggle at the time,” Ampim said. “Woodson chose that time of the year because African-Americans were usually in a celebratory
mood anyway, to celebrate those two birthdays.”
W o o d s o n believed strongly that history was essential to any group prospering and surviving.
Woodson was quoted saying, “If a race has no history, it has no worthwhile tradi-tion, it becomes a negligible factor in
the thought of the world, and it stands in danger of being exterminated.”
As time progressed, the struggle for civil rights, and later on for human rights, that the African-American com-munity was facing would explode into the national conscious. After the tumultuous decade of the 1960s, former President Gerald Ford officially recog-nized February as Black History Month in 1976.
Many names associated with Black History Month are familiar to most peo-ple. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, Frederick Douglass, Harriett Tubman and Jackie Robinson are com-monly referenced in black history.
“But it’s important for people to rec-ognize the organizations that supported these people,” Ampim said. “There’s a lot of celebration of individuals during African Heritage Month, but people need to understand the movement made the individual, the individuals didn’t make the movement.”
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and the Black Panther Party are just a few of the organizations that stood prominent during the period many refer to as the Civil Rights Movement.
“African-Americans contributed a lot to America. Without them, American
Month expressesefforts of many
SPOTLIGHT WEDNESDAY, FEB. 26, 2014 l THE ADVOCATE 5
Month expressesefforts of many
wouldn’t be as successful as it is,” political science major Kirsten Kwon said. “Reminding people of the importance of African-Americans is crucial.”
Like Woodson, many names of important African-Americans will sound unfamiliar to many ears.
“People try to cram so much into the month,” Ampim said. “There’s so much history here, there’s no reason to try to cram it all into 28 days.”
Names such as Mary Mcleod Bethune, Fannie Lou Hamer and David Walker are often over-looked in the teaching of African-American his-tory, yet they are just a few examples of people who risked their freedom, bod-ies and lives in their struggle for human rights.
The study of African-A m e r i c a n history is an enrich-ing study. Throughout all of A m e r i c a n history, the condition of those strug-gling against the American gov-ernment, and their fellow Americans, has defined the nation. The fight to end slavery dominated American his-tory until it transitioned into the fight to tear down institutionalized racism.
While struggling to improve their own lives, many famous African-Americans improved the lives of all of those around them. Men and women have laid down their lives in defense of their country, when their country refused to recognize them as human beings.
Contra Costa College cel-ebrated Black History Month this year in the Knox Center. On Feb. 13, the African-American Staff Association and the Associated Students Union hosted “The Talking Drum in the African World Community,” which was in celebration of African Heritage Month.
“The study of African-American h i s t o r y is the study of American history,” A m p i m s a i d . “There’s really no reason we can’t talk about it on March first.”
Equality embodied within administrationBy Cody McFarland
ASSOCIATE [email protected]
Students in search of empowered role mod-els and symbols of equality in the United States today need not look further than the Contra Costa Community College District.
Two dedicated and hard-working African-American women, Chancellor Helen Benjamin and college President Denise Noldon, cur-rently hold two of the highest positions within the college district.
Dr. Benjamin has made history twice, by becoming Contra Costa College’s first African-American president, and again by becoming the first African-American to head the district in 2005.
Dr. Noldon is currently in her second year as president and is CCC’s third African-American president, following former presi-dent McKinley Williams.
Having always had a strong interest in people, reading and history, Noldon said she is thankful for the opportunities life has afforded her. She contrasted her experiences growing up and in school with those of her mother, who was educated in a segregated school sys-tem in Texas.
Born in Oakland and raised in Berkeley, Noldon graduated from Berkeley High School in 1973. Though segregation still existed in some schools then, Noldon described Berkeley High as being “well-integrated,” and said her elementary school experience was pleasant and just as assimilated.
However, such a fortunate experience was
not common throughout the country, let alone the state during this time.
“I did not know then that the school I was attending was the exception and not the rule,” she said.
Noldon’s life experience and educational background in counseling has allotted her a profound understanding of how difficult, yet how valuable and truly rewarding, it is to pull one’s self out of adversity and champion the education system.
“Education is the key, not only to enlighten-ment and empowerment, but it’s also a good investment,” she said, adding that educated, degree-holding members of the workforce earn higher wages. “(Being educated) was a transforming event in my life.”
She also said that learned information can-not be stolen or devalued economically, no matter what happens in the future.
“You can’t repossess an education,” she said.
Melody Hanson, senior executive assis-tant to the president, said it is very important
to have an eclectic staff and faculty so that they can better serve all students of all back-grounds.
Hanson has assisted college presidents for the past 24 years, working alongside Benjamin, Williams and Noldon, among others.
“(Benjamin, Williams and Noldon) are dif-ferent in their own styles, but have all steered the college to where it needs to be within the community,” she said.
CCC has a reputation of serving underrep-resented minority groups, many of which are afflicted by financial hardship and which may give the college a large number of first genera-tion college students.
African-American studies department Chairperson Carolyn Hodge said that CCC represents diversity overall with a wide variety of ages and ethnicities making up the faculty, staff and student body.
“The campus definitely represents diver-sity. It is why I love this place so much,” Hodge said. “Not just race-wise, but the dif-ferent religious and cultural backgrounds, and especially the difference between ages. Some of my classes have students as young as 16 up to students 70 years old.”
Hodge said that Benjamin and Noldon, and President Obama on the national level, have opened doors by taking up roles of public presence and leadership, presenting the local community with images of hope.
“It’s nice to see these changes. They allow (young people met with adversity) to picture themselves fitting in somewhere in America,” she said. “Soon enough we will be seeing the first female president of the United States.”
BenjaminFor more than a decade, Dr. Helen Benjamin has changed the face of the district. In
1998 she became the first African-American president of Contra Costa College. She became the district’s first African-American chan-cellor in 2005.
Noldon After former college presi-dent McKinley Williams retired at the end of 2011, Dr. Denise
Noldon, who was raised in Berkeley, took over the col-lege’s top spot. Noldon uses her background in educa-tion and counseling to better serve students and the com-munity.
Positions of change“It’s nice to see these changes. They allow (young people
met with adversity) to picture themselves fitting in some-
where in America.”
Carolyn Hodge,African-American studies department chairperson
“The study of African-American history is
the study of American history.”
Manu Ampim,history professor
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY GEORGE MORIN / THE ADVOCATE
Harrison and Antoine Pickett Jr., lineback-ers Darnell Dailey and Trayvon Brooks and fullback Keir Abrams.
The other players signed with schools on the second transfer deadline on Feb. 6.
Watson is the only player on the list who does not play a defensive or offensive line position.
He said he felt ill-prepared by the coach-ing he received at his high school, but he traveled to Idaho State on a football scholar-ship right out of Pittsburg High. He quickly returned to the Bay Area and joined the
CCC program. “It’s the little things,” Watson said. “The
coaches pay attention to the details and are very good at emphasizing preparation and communication.”
He said the coaching staff is the reason why CCC has become known for producing athletes who can compete on the next level.
“That’s why this is the JC (junior col-lege) to come to,” he said.
Carter said, “We are a very detailed machine right out of the high school level.”
In the football coaches office on the sec-ond floor of the Gym Annex Building there is a thick black three-ring binder on a desk containing business cards from hundreds of different D1 college scouts that Carter has compiled during his coaching career.
“When freshman players join the team I bring them up here and ask them what is your dream school,” he said. He then opens the binder and tells them that their dream can become a reality if they can dedicate themselves to success in the classroom and
on the field.Watson’s dream was to go to San Jose
State, he said. He is currently enrolled there on a full scholarship after his time in the football program at CCC.
Defensive back Antoine Pickett Jr. was also scouted as a senior at De La Salle High School in Concord.
“I didn’t like the football program at Sacramento State,” he said. “I feel like I’m more ready now than I was when I was 17 years old coming out of high school onto the D1 bench.”
Pickett was accepted with a scholarship to Florida A&M. He said the football pro-gram at Florida A&M has an atmosphere that reminds him of CCC’s.
“Coach taught me to become responsible as a man and to be held accountable for my actions,” he said. “I’m an out-of-state player from Richmond in Florida trying my best to represent my Contra Costa family, and my family at home.”
“Coach taught me to become responsible as a man and to be held accountable for my
actions.”
Antoine Pickett Jr.,defensive back
ScoreBoardVikings 4 Comets 0
Vikings 11 Comets 6
Next game: March 6 at Mendocino College, 1 and 3 p.m.
Follow this game live at twitter.com/accentadvocate
THE ADVOCATE l WEDNESDAY, FEB. 26, 20146 SPORTS
Athletesgrantedentrance
INFORMATIONAL GRAPHIC BY GEORGE MORIN / THE ADVOCATE
The Comets’ football team, under coach Alonzo Carter, will send 12 players to four-year colleges on full-ride and aca-demic scholarships this fall. Carter plans to build on his success moving players on to the next level of play.
12 football playersawarded scholarships
By Lorenzo MorottiASSOCIATE EDITOR
The Contra Costa College football pro-gram is dedicated to helping student-athletes transfer to four-year schools and receive scholarships to help them along the way.
This past season, football coach Alonzo Carter has seen more California native play-ers transfer to D1 schools than the football program has ever seen in the four years he has been coach. Only two of Carter’s schol-arship transfers came from out-of-state this past season.
“We won’t apologize for having a lot of out-of-state players in the past, but this year the emphasis is our local players,” Carter said. “We have the most D1 signees in Northern California, hands down. That’s a feather the program can put in its cap.”
Over the course of Carter’s coaching career at CCC, the football program has produced more than 30 student-athletes who have received scholarships to four-year schools.
The highest average GPA among football players of any of the years Carter has been coach is 2.9.
“I think we are going to top that this year,” Carter said. “We have about 15 guys on the dean’s list this season.”
When Athletic Director John Wade hired Carter in 2010, he wrote a list of 10 priorities on which he wanted his players to focus. At the top of the list is “Graduate and Move on to four-year Universities.” The last on the list is to become league champions.
Carter said that this year there were six mid-year transfers. These students already have enrolled at four-year schools in and outside of California. They are quarterback Malik Watson, defensive backs Dominique
Softball squad unable to find momentum
GEORGE MORIN / THE ADVOCATE
Missed opportunity — Comet third baseman Madisen William misses a catch as Vikings center fielder Isabell Vergara slides into third base during CCC’s game against Diablo Valley College on Feb. 18. The Comets fell in both games of the doubleheader, 4-0 and 11-6.
By Brian BoyleNEWS EDITOR
PLEASANT HILL — The Comets’ softball team (1-4-1 over-all) struggled in its doubleheader against the Diablo Valley College Vikings (6-4 overall) Feb. 18, los-ing the first game 4-0 and the second 11-6 at the DVC softball field.
The Comets managed only a single hit in their first game against the Vikings, a double by center fielder Jasmyne Brice. Viking pitcher Carrie Lee faced 23 batters, striking out 11 of them. In contrast, the Comets’ pitcher Caitlyn Bal faced 26 batters and allowed eight hits while only managing to strike out three Vikings.
“Carrie was definitely the best pitcher the girls have faced all sea-son,” Contra Costa College assis-tant coach Dwayne Bal said.
Caitlyn Bal started the sec-ond game against DVC, while the Vikings opted to switch Lee for Sarah Alford, who was the Vikings’ first baseman during the first game against the Comets.
The second game showed that the Vikings are a much more dynamic team than the Comets. Taking what they learned from their first game, the Vikings estab-lished an early lead.
The Vikings used a series of quick bunts to place shortstop Amber Golini and right fielder Sarah Martin on base. The mul-tiple bunts capitalized on Bal’s inability to field bunts quickly. This strategy worked perfectly for the Vikings. Third baseman Sara Cundy’s first at bat in the second game was a home run over the
left field fence, driving Golini and Martin home as well.
DVC scored once more, when catcher Victoria Frazer hit a double to bring Alford home.
The Comets’ second inning was a quick three up, three down inning. Comets’ third baseman Madisen William struck out swinging, while left fielder Ciarra Streater and right fielder Brandie Newton made contact with the ball, but failed to make it on base.
The Vikings’ second inning was another multi-run inning. The Vikings’ first five batters in the inning made it on base. Golini was hit by a wild pitch, and Lee got to first by way of balls. Three of those five would make it home, bringing the score at the end of the second to 7-0.
Liliana Reyes, who was play-ing as the Comets’ shortstop due to Sharrell Duncan being unable to play because of an injury, had an impressive day on the diamond, despite the pit the Comets found themselves in. At the top of the third, she was the first Comet to score in the doubleheader.
Reyes hit a single and stole her way to second base, which
allowed for the Comets’ catcher Kaitlyn Oshiro to drive her in with a double hit far into center field.
The bottom of the third was a lackluster inning for the Vikings. Reyes at shortstop managed to stop any play hit into her vicin-ity. Comets’ center fielder Elvira Figueroa caught a high fly hit by Vikings’ center fielder Isabell Vergara. Figueroa quickly fed the ball to Comets’ second base-man Sinoti Iosua, throwing out the Vikings’ pinch hitter Marshale Baisden, and ending the inning.
A single hit by Iosua at the top of the fourth would turn into the Comets’ second run earned that day. A single hit by Streater would drive Iosua home, when the Vikings’ third
baseman missed the ball, allow-ing Iosua to advance on an error. The Vikings earned their last runs of the day in the bottom of the fourth. The Comets’ pulled Bal from the mound, in favor of pitcher Shannon Fowler. An error by William at third base allowed for Lee and Cundy to make it home again, while a double hit by Frazer, and another single by Vikings’ first baseman Riane Randall, would turn into the runs that brought the score to 11-2 at the bottom of the fourth.
“It wasn’t a good day for me,” William said. “I would make one bad play, and it would just trickle down from there.”
Softball coach Karolyn Gubbine said, “The team has a hard time
relaxing. We let pressure get to us and have a hard time recovering.”
The Comets got their act togeth-er in the top of the fifth. Reyes and Oshiro started the inning off by being promptly thrown out at first. Then, Alford walked her only batter that day. With Brice and Figueroa on base after a single hit by Figueroa, Iosua made contact with the ball multiple times at the plate, before sending a line drive out to right field, allowing Figueroa and Brice to score, bring-ing the score to 11-4.
Oshiro and Reyes would both score in the top of the seventh, thanks to solid hits by Brice and Iosua, respectively. Despite the two runs, the Comets would finish the game behind 11-6.
ADVERTISEMENT
Pickett Jr. Florida A&M
Abrams
Harrison University of
Oregon
Watson San Jose State
University
Hogan University of
La Verne
McNair Boise State
University
Hamilton Angelo State
University
Dailey Texas State
University
Haynes Tennessee State
University
Maile Jackson State
University
Walker Mississippi
Valley State
University
Brooks U.C. Davis
By Mike ThomasSPORTS EDITOR
FAIRFIELD — Dominating offensively and defensively, the Contra Costa College men’s basketball team defeated Solano Community College 81-57 on Friday. CCC finished third place in the Bay Valley Conference, but missed getting a spot in the Northern California Regional playoffs.
The Comets (16-12 overall, 10-6 BVC) came out strong, dominating on both sides of the ball, and the game was over in the first half, with Solano (11-16 overall, 7-9 BVC) being incapable of recovering the lead from the Comets. Sophomore guard Fletcher
Brown had his best game of the season scoring 18 points and going 2-2 on 3-point-ers.
“It was a must win for us — and I just played my role and knocked down some shots,” Brown said.
Brown put the Comets on the board with his first 3-pointer of the night and CCC kept up its scoring attack to take a 9-2 lead over SCC. The Falcons tried to come back from the deficit, bringing the score 16-10 with 13:43 left in the first half, but the Comets denied them their comeback by running up the score. The Comets had a 42-24 lead over the Falcons at the half.
“We thought it was going to be a tough game,” men’s basketball coach Miguel Johnson said.
When the two teams played in San Pablo on Jan. 22 CCC was behind the entire game, but the Comets managed to stay on the Falcons’ heels. Toward the end of regulation in that game, sophomore guard Davion Mize made a clutch 3-pointer to give the Comets the win.
However, on Friday the Comets played
SPORTS WEDNESDAY, FEB. 26, 2014 l THE ADVOCATE 7
ScoreBoardComets 81 Falcons 57
Season over: 10-6 overall,16-12 in theBVC
Women’s basketball
Contra Costa CollegeV S.
City College of San Francisco
When: Saturday, 5:30 p.m.
Where: City College of San Francisco
Records: CCC 20-8, 12-4 in the BVC. CCSF 24-3, 12-0 in Coast-North Division.
Background: The Comets will open play in the sec-ond round of Northern California Regional playoffs at CCSF. It’s the Comets first playoff appearance since 2010. The Rams finished atop their division with an untainted conference record. CCC will have to be productive on coast-to-coast transitions to stand a chance against a proficient CCSF offense that averages 73 points per game. — Lorenzo Morotti
Game of the Week
City College of San Francisco
Box scoresMen’s basketball (Feb. 21)
Solano College (57)Sondi 7-12 6-8 21, Doran 4-9 3-6 11, Mohr 2-8 0-0 5, Smith 2-8 0-0 5, Keys 2-3 0-1 4, Moss 2-7 0-2 4 , Tomelloso 1-2 1-2 3 , Badger 1-2 0-0 2 Morrison 1-7 0-0 2.Totals 22-66 10-19 57.
Contra Costa College (81)Brown 6-6 0-0 18, Mize 3-7 10-13 16, Workman 7-12 0-0 14 , Outing 5-7- 3-3 13 Jones 5-8 1-1 11, Carney 1-5 1-2 3, Newell 2-4 0-0 4 Reddford 1-2 , 1-2 3 Baulwin 1-1 2.Totals 32-52 17-21 81.Three-point goalsSolano— Mohr 1 Sondi 1 Smith 1 . Contra Costa — Brown 2 Vance 2.
Fouled outSolano — None. Contra Costa — None.R[
Women’s basketball (Feb. 21)Solano College (94)Hamilton 8-12 7-8 24, Andaya 6-10 2-4 17, Lundy 5-13 2-2 16, White 3-9 2-4 10, Jones 3-7 1-2 10, Clay 3-10 2-2 8 Robinson 2-8 1-2 5, Lawson 1-2 2-2 4.Totals 31-71 19-24 94Contra Costa College (78)Rogers 6-16 9-17 24, Caldwell 7-19 2-4 18, Wyatt 4-9 8-13 16, Coleman 2-6 4-6 8, Adams 3-11 3-4 10, Jones 1-1 0-0 2.Total 23-62 26-44 78.
Three-point goalsContra Costa — Caldwell 2, Rogers 3 Adams 1. Solano — Lundy 4, Jones 3, Andaya 2 White 2 Hamilton 1.
Fouled outSolano— none. Contra Costa — Coleman, Rogers.
ReboundsSolano —53 , Contra Costa 40 (Caldwell 10, Wyatt 11, Rogers 8).
AssistsSolano — 22 , Contra Costa 14.
Softball (Feb. 18) Diablo Valley College Contra Costa College AB R H RBI AB R H RBIGolini ss 3 1 3 1 Reyes ss 3 0 0 0Martin rf 2 0 0 0 Oshiro c 3 0 0 0Lee p 2 0 1 1 Brice cf 3 0 1 0Cundy 3b 3 1 1 0 Figueroa lf 3 0 0 0Alford 1b 3 1 1 0 Iosua 2b 3 0 0 0Frazer c 3 0 0 0 Williams 3b 2 0 0 0Randall 2b 3 0 1 2 Streater 1b 2 0 0 0Liu lf 3 0 0 0 Fowler rf 2 0 0 0Vergara cf 2 1 1 0 Ryan dh 2 0 0 0 Bal p 0 0 0 0Totals 26 4 8 4 Totals 23 0 1 0
Diablo Valley College 101 002 0 - 4Contra Costa College 000 000 0 - 0
IP H R ER BB SOContra Costa CollegeBal (L) 7.0 8 4 2 0 3
Diablo Valley CollegeLee (W) 7.0 1 0 0 0 11*No current standings for preseason play
Softball (Feb. 18) Diablo Valley College Contra Costa College AB R H RBI AB R H RBIGolini ss 2 2 1 0 Reyes ss 4 2 1 0Martin rf 4 2 1 0 Oshiro c 3 1 2 1Lee 2b 2 2 1 0 Brice 1b 3 1 1 1Cundy 3b 4 2 1 2 Figueroa cf 4 1 1 0Alford p 4 1 1 0 Iosua 2b 4 1 2 3Frazer c 4 1 1 4 Williams 3b 4 0 0 0Randall 1b 4 1 1 0 Streater lf 3 0 1 0Liu lf 1 0 0 0 Newton rf 3 0 0 0Vergara cf 3 0 1 1 Ryan dh 2 0 0 0 Baisden lf 3 0 3 1 Bal p 0 0 0 0Pinkston 2b 1 0 0 0 Fowler 0 0 0 0
Totals 32 11 13 8 Totals 31 6 8 5
Diablo Valley College 430 400 0 - 11Contra Costa College 001 120 2 - 6
IP H R ER BB SOContra Costa CollegeBal (L) 3.0 10 7 5 2 0Fowler 2.0 6 4 2 0 0
Diablo Valley CollegeAlford (W) 7.0 8 6 3 1 3*No current standings for preseason play
Baseball (Feb. 22) Contra Costa College Hartnell College AB R H RBI AB R H RBIBrown lf 3 1 0 0 Larronde rf 5 0 0 0Smith rf 2 1 0 0 Ortiz ss 4 0 1 0Davis 2b 4 0 2 1 Duda cf 4 0 1 0Bowie cf 3 0 1 0 Sanchez 3b 3 1 1 1Ray dh 4 0 0 1 Umbarger c 4 0 0 0 Buckely 1b 3 0 1 0 Kapana 1b 2 0 0 0Hughes 3b 3 0 1 0 Sudsbury 2b 3 0 1 0 Niemeyer c 2 0 0 0 Daval dh 1 0 0 0Padilla c 1 0 0 0 Brenner lf 3 0 1 0Weisner ss 3 0 0 0 Flores lf 0 0 0 0 Totals 28 2 5 2 Totals 29 1 5 1
Contra Costa College 100 000 010 - 2 Hartnell College 010 000 000 - 1
IP H R ER BB SOContra Costa CollegeChavez (W, 1-0) 8.1 4 1 1 5 3Galvez (Sv, 1) 0.2 1 0 0 0 0Totals 9.0 5 1 1 5 3
Hartnell CollegeBreschini 6.0 3 1 0 3 2Pina 1.0 1 0 0 0 0Camacho (L, 0-1) 0.0 0 0 0 0 0Gutierrez 1.0 1 0 0 0 0Barron 1.0 0 0 0 0 0Totals 9.0 5 1 1 3 2
AIR BOUND
QING HUANG / THE ADVOCATE
All alone — Comet guard Marcel Jones goes up for a layup during CCC’s game against Solano Community College in Fairfield on Friday.
Falcons unable to stop Comets’ offensive push
like a squad that was determined to win a playoff spot.
“We started off playing hard, and with more intensity,” Mize said about the second meeting with SCC.
Johnson agreed. “We just attacked the rim a little bit stronger and we were playing better.”
Prior to the win against Solano, the Comets beat second place Merritt College (17-10 overall, 11-5 BVC) 87-84 on Feb. 19 in San Pablo.
The Comets’ players thought for sure if they beat the Falcons they would earn a spot in the playoffs. The players were excited for a chance to go to the playoffs for the third consecutive year.
Unfortunately for the Comets, the Thunderbirds handed first place Yuba College (21-5 overall, 15-1 BVC) its first conference loss of the season, 99-90, on Friday to take sole possession of second place.
Even though the men’s basketball squad beat the Falcons, it still needed the T-Birds to lose to earn a spot in the playoffs.
The Comets recorded 30 rebounds as a team, with freshmen players Darius Workman and Marcel Jones each grabbing eight of them.
Brown led the team offensively with 18 points and Mize added 16 points and four rebounds. The Comets made 81 percent of their free throws to go 17-21. Mize went 10-13 at the free-throw line. Freshman guard Armein Outing and Jones combined for 18 points in the first half, and all of those were on lay-ups. Freshman forward Jovell Vance added two 3-pointers in the second half.
Wasted scoring opportunities lead to loss
QING HUANG / THE ADVOCATE
Lack of room — Comet guard Ahjahna Coleman attempts to drive past Falcon guard Taylor Hamilton during CCC’s game against Solano Community College in Fairfield on Friday.
By Lorenzo MorottiASSOCIATE EDITOR
FAIRFIELD — Solano Community College routed the Comets 94-78 by transitioning turnovers into layups at the other end and scored relentlessly from behind the 3-point line in the sec-ond half during its last home game on Friday.
The Comets (20-8 overall, 12-4 in the BVC) earned the 12th seed in the Northern California Regional playoffs and will visit City College of San Francisco in the second round at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday.
Against Solano, the Comets struggled finding the backboard during the first half. Too many layups and midrange shot attempts bounced off the rim. They sank a little more than 50 percent of their free throws when most drives into the key ended in fouls.
During the second half, the Comet players were proficient at the Falcon baseline on the breaks. Eleven minutes in, CCC closed a 24-point deficit down to just eight. The Falcons (25-4 overall, 16-0 in the BVC) reclaimed the momen-tum of the game by shutting down space winning defensive rebounds and slowing down CCC’s up-
tempo full-court offense. Solano then sunk seven 3-pointers in the last 10 minutes of the game to become the first women’s team to win 16 BVC conference games. This is the second SCC team to go undefeated in conference play since 2008.
“It feels awesome,” Solano women’s basketball coach Matt Borchert said post-game. “To break that record is something very special. Tonight might as well be a playoff game. This is a good stage to ready for next week and the quality of CCC’s team plays a big part in that.”
When the game was over the Falcons had committed 27 per-sonal fouls on the Comets.
“It was a very physical game,” CCC women’s basketball coach Paul DeBolt said. “We had a lot of free throws, but missed too many.”
SCC guard Nikki Andaya made 50 percent of her four attempts from the 3-point line. “The three pointers helped a lot,” Andaya said. “It picked up our team’s energy and put needed points on the board.”
CCC finished in second place in the BVC while the Falcons finished first. Both teams begin to prepare for a playoff berth next week.
Solano won the initial tipoff. As they searched for an open cut-ter in a well-defended Comet key, a bad pass gave possession away to guard Joie Wyatt. She dribbled the ball down court but couldn’t score the layup. Missed scoring opportunities plagued the Comets throughout the first half.
“They (the Comets) got caught up in the emotion of the game,” DeBolt said. “We didn’t run our offensive effectively during the first 10 minutes and missed a lot of the shots we had — layups and free throws especially.”
Borchert said turnovers hurt his team in the first half. They ended the half with 11 turnovers. CCC topped that number with 14. Solano led 46-33 at half.
“Every pass counts,” Wyatt said. “All the turnovers we had counted against us in the end.”
“We just attacked the rim a little bit stronger and we
were playing better.”
Miguel Johnson,CCC’s men’s basketball coach
ScoreBoardFalcons 94 Comets 78
Next game: Saturday at City College of San Francisco, 5:30 p.m.
Follow this game live at twitter.com/accentadvocate
THE ADVOCATE l WEDNESDAY, FEB. 26, 20148 FOCUS
NEW YEARCHINESE
Photos by Qing Huang
2014
Discipline, teamwork — Members of the White Crane Lion Dance Association display their 268-foot long Golden Dragon during San Francisco’s Chinese New
Year Parade on Feb. 15. The group started as a dance and martial art school in Oakland in 1971 and has become one of the parade’s main attractions.
Held high — Members of The White Crane Lion Dance Association display their 268-foot long Golden Dragon during San Francisco’s Chinese New Year Parade on Feb. 15.
Year of the horse — A student from Gordon J. Lau Elementary School performs during San Francisco’s Chinese New Year Parade on Feb. 15.
With joy — Students
dance on Market Street
during San Francisco’s
Chinese New Year Parade on Feb. 15. More than 100 differ-ent groups
participated in the parade as thousands
of people came to San Francisco for
the annual parade.