News pages 2 & 3Sports pages 4 & 5 A&C page 8 and 9

Feature page 6 Scene pages 9 & 10Opinion page 11

NOBEL LAUREATEPAGE 3INDEX Carol Greider, a molecular biologist and professor at Johns

Hopkins University, is coming to ARC on March 16.

ARCurrent.com @ARCurrentfacebook.com/ARCurrentcom @ARCurrent

Vol. 66, Ed. 8 • February 25, 2015

american rivercurrent

Photos by Kameron Schmid and Cheyenne Drury / kameronschmid@gmail.com, cheyennemdrury@gmail.comAlex Honnold, left, has been a professional climber since he turned 19. His mother, ARC French professor Dierdre Wolownick, right, picked up the hobby on her own while Honnold was away.

Climbing toward successBy Cheyenne Drurycheyyenemdrury@gmail.com

Children who start walking before they are 14-months-old are considered ad-vanced. Dierdre Wolownick, a French pro-fessor at American River College, knew her son Alex Honnold was developing quickly when he began walking at 11 months.

Honnold was featured in a 2011 episode of the CBS newsmagazine 60 Minutes that featured his free solo climbs in Yosemite National Park.

“From an early age Alex was climbing on

anything that he could,” said Wolonick.The CBS crew utilized 14 cameras to

shoot the climb for television. Free solo rock climbing is done com-

pletely alone and without any ropes or aides.

“Only the climber can evaluate risk, weather conditions, the amount of sleep

they are getting and I know that Alex knows what he is doing,” said Wolonick.

Aside from walking at an early age, Hon-nold has another feature that helps out his climbing abilities.

“What big hands he has,” was always the response people had when meeting her son, said Wolonick.

Honnold, who has been climbing since he was 11, graduated from Mira Loma High School with a 4.7 GPA, and studied engineering at the University of California at Berkeley. By the time he was 19, he had decided to dedicate his life to climbing.

Only the climber can evaluate risk, weather conditions, the amount of sleep they are getting

and I know that Alex knows what he is doing.”

DIERDREWOLOWNICK

“

Cheyenne Drury / cheyennemdrury@gmail.comMembers of the Sacramento, Stockton and Modesto chapters of the Guardian Angels are trying to ramp up their patrol of the Arcade Creek nature trail near ARC’s main campus.

By John Ferranninijferr1995@gmail.com

Flashlights pierced the dim illumination of Sunday’s dusk over the still, cold creek. The sound of boots ruffling leaves could soon be heard, and if the many trees had eyes they could see a brigade of red berets marching two by two.

The six men and one woman underneath those berets are members of the Sacra-mento, Modesto and Stockton chapters of the Guardian Angels, a group of concerned citizens who patrol crime-ridden areas.

The creek is the Arcade Creek adjacent to the American River College campus, where several violent crimes have taken place over

Walking the trail with the Guardian AngelsCITIZEN GROUP PATROLS IN RESPONSE TO AREA CRIMES

PROFESSIONAL FREE-CLIMBER ALEX HONNOLD INTRODUCED HIS MOTHER, AN ARC PROFESSOR, TO CLIMBING

SEE CLIMBING, PAGE 9

SEE ANGELS, PAGE 3

Page 2 NewsFebruary 25, 2015

ASB SENATE DIRECTOR OF ACTIVITIES CALLS ‘B---S---’ ON $5000 BUDGET INCREASE ASBNOTEBOOK

The ASB Student Senate director of activi-ties stormed out of a board meeting Thursday after losing a vote.

David Hylton, who was instrumental in the creation of a task force to plan American River College’s participation in the March in March, was opposed to increasing the budget for ARC’s participation in the annual protest event from a maximum of $17,000 to a maxi-mum of $22,000.

“That’s bullshit,” said Hylton, Senate direc-tor of activities. “I want to be removed from the task force.”

As Hylton was speaking, Tamara Dunning, who is acting as ASB student senate presi-dent, continuously pounded her gavel on a sounding block.

Dunning voted for the increase, saying that

more funding was necessary for promotional events designed to make students aware of the march.

Senator Garett Kegel said that he thinks spending within the parameters of the origi-nal budget is a “moral” issue.

The Student Senate has been giving food to students and advertising in the student paper to help raise awareness, according to Dun-ning.

“We’re over budget because of the in-creased interest,” said Dunning. “If we’re going to go over budget, lets do it because people are coming to the events. We’ve never seen this kind of interest in March in March.”

“So it’s our job to keep promoting this inter-est?” asked Kegel.

Dunning was adamant in her response.“This is our job. This is advocacy,” she said.Hylton was opposed to increasing the bud-

get, saying that the increased interest is more

related to the free food than to student advo-cacy.

“You’re saying they’re interested in March in March,” he said. “I have to refute that. They’re interested in the free meal.”

Two new senators, Richard Dean and Dan Massey, were sworn in to their positions on the board.

Meanwhile, it was announced at a recent meeting of the Clubs and Events Board that the color run to be held at ARC originally scheduled for Feb. 28 has been moved to April 18.

LeslieAnn Dameron, CAEB director of ac-tivities, said she didn’t know why the color run was being delayed. She reiterated that the color run is not being put on by CAEB, but by a separate company, ColorDash5k.

CAEB is planning a Club Day for March 12 that will have an outer space theme.

Joseph Daniels contributed to this report.

By John Ferranninijferr1995@gmail.com

Editor-in-ChiefKameron Schmid

Managing EditorJohn Ferrannini

News EditorJoseph Daniels

Sports EditorsMatthew PeirsonKevin Sheridan

Arts and Culture EditorsLindsey MartinMatthew Wilke

Scene EditorsBrandon Nelson

Jose Garcia

Opinion EditorCameron Weaver

Web EditorEmily K. Rabasto

Multimedia EditorBryce Fraser

StaffNoor Abasi

Miranda BolarNicholas CoreyLena DoBynes

Cheyenne DruryMeredith Durham

Mychael JonesMary-Ann MyersAlex PanasenkoMichael Phillips

AdviserWalter Hammerwold

Photo AdviserJill Wagner

POLICYThe Current is produced by the students of College Media Production, J410-413. All opinions are signed and not necessarily endorsed by the Current staff. All letters and articles appearing in the Editorial, Opinion or Forum sections are not necessarily representative of the Current staff or American River College policy. All articles are the property of the Current. Letters must be typed and can be submitted by mail, e-mail or in person at the following addresses:

The American River Current4700 College Oak DriveLiberal Arts, Room 120Sacramento, CA 95841Phone: 916-484-8304Fax: 916-484-8668E-mail: Current@arc.losrios.eduwww.ARCurrent.com

PROUD MEMBERS OF THE CNPA & JACC

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By Cheyenne Drurycheyennemdrury@gmail.com

She grew up playing every sport imaginable. By her early twenties, she began using meth-amphetamines, which led to a number of visits to the hospital, serving time in jail, being cut off from her parents and losing the custody of her daughter.

American River College stu-dent Sarah Chambers entered a rehabilitation program at the age of 29, and joined Street Soccer USA (SSUSA), a nonprofit organi-zation that uses soccer to break the cycle of homelessness, addic-tion and abuse.

Three women from the Sacra-mento Lady Salamanders SSUSA spoke to ARC students on Feb. 19, which included Chambers, Angie Draws and Lisa Wrightsman.

Draws began to use drugs by the age of 16, and by the end of high school she was living with her drug dealer boyfriend.

“I was a functional drug addict. I held down a job and paid rent but eventually I lost my job, my home, my family and my friends.”

Draws became involved with SSUSA in 2010.

“I had no real structure be-

fore street soccer. My whole life (was) surrounded around being high and street soccer taught me the importance of showing up because anyone who knows me knows I am al-ways late and can’t be held ac-countable.”

Wrightsman, the founder and director of the Sacramento Lady Salamanders, grew up with a soccer ball at her feet. She attended Sacramento State University where she played soccer, and continued her ca-reer as a semi-professional soc-cer player.

Wrightsman began to use drugs once she realized she wasn’t going any further with her career.

“My whole life revolved around soccer, so when it didn’t pan out the way I wanted it to I didn’t know what to do with myself. I was out on the streets for two years abusing drugs, and not getting anywhere,” Wrightsman said.

Wrightsman was the first woman to represent USA in the Homeless World Cup in Rio De Ja-neiro, Brazil 2010.

Statistically, SSUSA is making an impact here in Sacramento.

“The national average for so-briety is one out of 10 and here in our program we have 64 per-

cent furthering their education, 94 percent remaining sober, 41 percent off of welfare, and 41 percent in permanent housing,”

said Wrightsman. “Street soccer has taught me to

be a light rather than a raging tor-nado,” said Draws.

Using soccer to kick a habitCheyenne Drury / cheyennemdrury@gmail.com

American River College student Sarah Chambers is one of the team members of the Sacramento Lady Salamenders, a street soccer team with a cause.

SACRAMENTO SOCCER PROGRAM AIMS TO USE THE SPORT TO BREAK THE CYCLE OF HOMELESSNESS

Cheyenne Drury / cheyennemdrury@gmail.comFrom: left to right: American River College student Sarah Chambers, Tiffany Fraser Coach of the Sacramento Lady Salamanders and Unique Torres at practice.

In Vol. 66, Ed. 5, on page 1, Professor John Sinclair Long is misidentified in the photo as the man in the center. Long is actually pictured on the right.In Vol. 66, Ed. 5, on page 1, an experience re-counted by Long about an injury that occurred during a performance as a Blue Man Group mem-ber is misrepresented. Long actually witnessed the injury, which happened to a fellow group member.In Vol. 66, Ed. 6, on page 7, Chris Rodgers served in the U.S. Army from May 2007 to July 2008, not May 2007 to March 2008 as is stated.

In Vol. 66, Ed. 6, on page 7, it is stated that the Arabic word jihad means holy war. In fact, the fact has many different meanings for Muslims, including striving or struggling.In Vol. 66, Ed. 7, on page 4, it is stated that Ameri-can River College football players have been signing letters of intent to play at the university level since December 2014. Actually, some ARC football players had made oral agreements as early as December 2014 to play at certain universities, but physically signed their letters of intent on Feb. 4, 2015.In Vol. 66, Ed. 7, on page 2, it is incorrectly claimed that the Clubs and Events Board is host-ing a 5k color run on Feb. 28. The color dash is being put on by The ColorDash 5k and is to be held at American River College. It has since been postponed to April 18.

Page 3News February 25, 2015

Nobel laureate set to speak By Joseph Danielsjoseph64daniels@gmail.com

Nobel laureate in Physiology or Medicine, Carol Greider, will be speaking at American River College during a ceremony that will honor her mother, a former ARC professor, on March 16.

The event is open to all members of the public, although registration is required.

Rina Roy, dean of science and engineer-ing, discovered that Greider’s mother worked at ARC, while she was working on a presentation to inspire female high school students to become interested in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) disciplines.

Roy was researching women who won Nobel prizes in science related fields.

Greider won the Nobel Prize for Physiol-ogy or Medicine with Elizabeth Blackburn and Jack W. Szostak for the discovery of telomerase, an enzyme that is thought to be key to understanding how cells age.

“The work that she is doing with telomer-ase has a lot to do with the process of aging. So her work may reverse that,” said Roy.

Additional presentations have been add-ed to the schedule.

The first presentation will take place be-tween 2 and 3 p.m. and will focus on what led to the discovery of telomerase, while the second presentation will take place from 6 to 7 p.m. and will focus on the health implications of the discovery.

There will be a question and answer session for science and engineering, allied health and gerontology students that will take place from 3:15 to 4p.m.

There will also be another Q&A for bio-technology students, and other top science classes and clubs that will take place from 4:15 to 5 p.m.

Roy said that even students who are not taking science courses will be able to get something out of Greider’s lectures.

“What would you find from a Nobel lau-reate, somewhere in that structured pro-cess, something different, something out of the box that no one thought of before,” said Roy.

Executive Director of the ARC Founda-tion Kirsten DuBray said that one of the goals of the event is to get donors to make a donation to the science department.

ARC will be engraving a tree plaque dedi-cated to Greider’s mother, Jean Foley Gre-ider, who taught at the school during the 1960s.

The plaque will be placed on a stone next to a group of redwood trees that can be found near the horticulture department, which is already dedicated to the late Gre-ider.

“If there is a message I want to give to students, (it) is don’t be afraid of science,” said Roy.

In order to register for the event, attend-ees must contact Christina Wagner in the Center of Teaching and Learning.

Angels: Members on lookout on Arcade trail

the past year, including multiple at-tempted sexual assaults, a strong-arm robbery and an armed robbery last No-vember.

“Someone could be hiding in that bush,” said Manuel Rodriguez of the Modesto Guardian Angels as he shined his flash-light on to a bundle of brush. “That’s how they grab someone. The kids from the college walk here daily.”

The Guardian Angels were founded in 1979 in New York City by Curtis Sliwa. They are a group of citizen volunteers. They do not carry weapons while on pa-trol.

Originally patrolling the high-crime New York subways, they have become an international organization dedicated to providing a presence in places with a reputation for crime.

Martin Smith, leader of the Sacramen-to Guardian Angels, said that they were asked to come to the Arcade Creek trail after a series of crimes in the neighbor-hood.

“The neighborhood watch group here reached out to us,” said Smith. “There were a couple of child abductions in the houses.”

Kevin Mititi of the Stockton Guardian Angels said that the Sacramento chapter reached out for assistance.

“We were called in for assistance and they needed our help,” Matiti said. “We’re basically a big family. It makes you feel good to help people. It’s dangerous and people ask you why you put yourself on the line. But someone has to.”

Smith said that the red berets have the same authority as any citizen, and that their presence is primarily meant to fos-ter community awareness rather than to punish.

“We have the same amount of author-ity as anyone,” said Smith. “We’re not like the police. We want to involve everyone in making the community safer.”

“We’re not trying to be adversaries, we’re trying to encourage them,” he said.

Smith did add, however, that in certain situations it may become necessary for an Angel to make a citizen’s arrest, the freedom every citizen has to arrest a per-

son who is committing a crime in their presence.

The Guardian Angels are always look-ing for new volunteers and fundraisers.

Cody Sass, 18, was the youngest of the group. He lives in Stockton and be-came interested in the group because his neighbor is a member.

He pointed at the middle-aged Sean Rodgers, saying “I’m actually Sean’s neighbor. I asked him about it, came to a meeting, and got interested. I started when I turned 16, the minimum age.”

Members have to go through hours of self-defense training, and the organiza-tion itself provides self-defense training and anti-bullying initiatives.

“Awareness is the first step of self-de-fense,” said Smith.

Rodgers said that people using the trail should not use headphones or be distracted. He also recommended people use pepper spray.

“The good stuff that shoots 20 feet away,” Rodgers added. “Not mace, but pepper spray.”

Ultimately, the Angels reiterated that their goal is community involvement. They make it a point to introduce them-selves to curious bystanders.

When Fair Oaks resident Dylan Pat-terson asked the angels who they were as they walked by, Martin Smith went to introduce himself.

“We like to introduce ourselves to oth-ers,” said Rodgers. “It’s a good opportuni-ty to explain who we are, where we came from, and maybe he’d want to join.”

Patterson had mixed thoughts about the presence of the red berets.

“I’ve seen them on television, on the news,” he said. “What are they going to do if one of those thugs are over there? It’s good to see them though.”

Michael Joseph of the Modesto Guard-ian Angels said that the group wants the community to take some responsibility in increasing safety. He was disappointed that residents didn’t join them on their patrol when they first visited the trail last December.

“Last time the neighborhood all came out and when we started the patrol they went back in their homes,” said Joseph. “We want to get the neighborhood in-volved.”

Courtesy of Johns Hopkins UniversityCarol W. Greider won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering an enzyme that may be the key in advancing cancer treatment and understanding the aging process.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Cheyenne Drury / cheyennemdrury@gmail.comMembers of a voluntary neighborhood watch group, the Guardian Angels, prompted by last years armed robbery, patrolling the Arcade Creek trail behind American River.

In Volume 66 of The Current, the following cor-rections are listed:

CORRECTIONS

CAROL GREIDER IS COMING TO ARC NEXT MONTH FOR A CEREMONY FOR HER MOTHER, A FORMER PROFESSOR

Page 4 SportsFebruary 25, 2015

Men’s basketball reaches playoffsTEAM WILL PLAY FOOTHILL COLLEGE AT HOME TONIGHT AT 7 P.M. FOR A CHANCE TO ADVANCEBy Matthew Peirsonmatthewpeirson@gmail.com

American River College’s men’s basket-ball team has reached the playoffs, seed-ed 16 in the brackets released on Monday that denoted the seeding of every qualify-ing team and the playoff schedule.

ARC will host Foothill College, the 17 seed, in a play-in playoff game tonight at 7 p.m. at ARC, with the winner then scheduled to travel to Fresno City College on Saturday night to face the top seeded team in Northern California.

ARC and Foothill did not meet in the regular season, so the two teams will be playing a fresh matchup in a big game that decides their respective playoff hopes.

ARC finished the season with an overall record of 15-10, and finished .500 in con-ference play at 7-7.

Foothill finished the season 12-16 overall, and below .500 in conference play at 5-7.

ARC lost four of its last six games over the final three weeks of the season, leav-ing the team’s playoff hopes up in the air over the weekend.

After Friday’s loss at San Joaquin Delta College to finish the regular season, many of the players were seen on the court with

dejected looks on their faces.“It just sucks to know that this is it. Or

it might be,” said center Eugene Crockett following the loss to SJDC.

Other players on the team had similar reactions.

“A win (at SJDC) would’ve been a last conference win for our sophomores, se-cured a playoff spot,” said forward Austin Lobo. “Just knowing it’s up in the air has left us a little bit salty.”

According to ARC head coach Mark Giorgi, the team had “a 99 percent chance” at a playoff spot with a win on Friday, but those chances would drop to “50-50” with a loss.

“If you win, we’re not sitting around wondering if you’re in the playoffs or not,” Giorgi said. “If you lose, you leave it in the hands of six other human beings, and who knows what they’re thinking.”

Despite the jumbled standings to fin-ish the season, ARC was selected as one of the teams to participate in the play-in game, with the official playoff brackets released shortly after 5 p.m. yesterday.

Now the team focuses on winning the play-in game, before a chance to face top seeded Fresno in the first round.

Matthew Wilke / mattwilke675@gmail.comARC forward Keishaun Sinclair drives to the basket during their loss at San Joaquin Delta. Despite the loss, ARC will play Foothill College in a play-in game tonight at ARC.

Matthew Wilke / mattwilke675@gmail.comGuard Demontra Harrison dribbles down court during ARC’s loss at San Joaquin Delta. The loss meant the women’s basketball team finishes with a record of 10-16 overall.

Women’s basketball team finishes 10-16By Kevin Sheridankevinsheridan56@gmail.com

When American River College’s wom-en’s basketball team started the season with a record of 0-5, many players doubt-ed if the team could win a single game.

“I asked the kids, after the first five games ‘Do you think we’re gonna win a game?’” said ARC head coach J.R. Matsu-nami.

“We hadn’t won, and there were a lot of (players) that didn’t believe we could win,” she said.

The team would go on to finish the 2014 season with an overall record of 10-16, and 5-9 in conference.

After finishing tournament play in De-cember, the team won two straight games on the road, winning at San Mateo and Sacramento City College in early January.

It would go on to lose six of the next seven games, including blowout confer-ence losses against Diablo Valley College and San Joaquin Delta College.

Playing at Cosumnes River College on Feb. 3, the team overcame a controversial finish to end regulation and won in over-time 64-59, but would lose its last five games to end the season.

In the last game of the regular season, the team lost at San Joaquin Delta College by a score of 91-55.

Matsunami says the thing that im-pressed her about the team’s develop-ment was the way they matured as the season progressed.

“What I liked the most is … they all grew up. This was a group, none of them knew each other except for Kamari (Hunter) and Demontra (Harrison) before the season, and they all became very good friends,” he said.

“If you’re not gonna win the state cham-pionship, you’d better take something away from the game with you, you still should have the love of the game, and you should still have the love of your team-mates.”

The team finished the season having shot 30.8 percent from the 3-point line, and averaged 50.2 points per game.

Guard Jazlynne Macklin led team in to-

tal points with 282, and center Kohl Bry-ant led ARC in field goal percentage at 39.7 percent.

On defense, forward Cassandra Jaimes led the team with 37 blocks and 219 total rebounds and guard Kamari Hunter led the team in total assists with 31 and 55 steals.

The team also dealt with injuries and illness during the middle of the season.

Guard Zhane Washington missed time after suffering a concussion, and Jaimes missed time prior to the semester starting after surgery on her tonsils.

The team was also impacted by a flu virus that made its way around the team. Forwards Haylee James and Jaimes along with Washington all came down with the flu during the season.

Matsunami says she believes these fac-tors affected her team.

“Just the overall effect on the team, be-cause it changes your substitution pat-tern. (The virus is) lasting a couple weeks, its not like you can just kick it off in a cou-ple days, its not a 24 hour bug,” said Mat-sunami of the flu’s impact on her team, adding that other teams had to face the flu as well.

Three sophomore players plan to trans-fer to four-year universities at the com-pletion of this semester.

Forwards Erica Bossett as well as James will both transfer to Sacramento State, with Bossett planning to major in kinesi-ology and James in criminal justice.

Macklin will transfer to CSU Monterey Bay, with the intent of majoring in bio-chemistry, and spoke highly of her time on ARC’s women’s team.

“These two years have been the most fun of my basketball career,” Macklin said. “I’ve never been around such a fun, ac-cepting environment.”

Macklin plans to keep playing after she transfers, and said she learned valuable lessons while at ARC.

“Just perseveration, not giving up,” she said. “So many things on and off the court, more than just basketball.”

“Not quitting is one of the best things I’ve ever done,” said Macklin.

By Matthew Peirsonmatthewpeirson@gmail.com

American River College’s baseball team stands with a record of 5-5 through 10 games, righting the ship after three bad losses in its first four games.

Following a 7-4 home win against Solano Community College on Feb. 10, ARC’s team is now in the midst of playing six straight games on the road, the last of which is to-day in a rematch at Solano.

In the first five games of that stretch, ARC compiled a 3-2 record, losing the first two games at Hartnell College before win-ning three straight at Mission College in Santa Clara, Shasta College in Redding, and Laney College in Oakland. The results of the Solano game were not available as of press time.

The game at Shasta was originally sched-uled to be played three weeks ago, but was forced to be played at a different time due to rain in the Redding area.

In the two games at Hartnell College in Salinas over the Valentine’s Day weekend, ARC played competitively in a 10-6 loss on Feb. 14 before being blown out 12-1 on Feb. 14.

ARC shut out Mission College 10-0, thanks in large part to a six-run second in-ning. The team totaled 16 hits in the vic-tory.

Despite the travel from the night before and the early morning turnaround, the team came out and dominated Shasta Col-lege the following day, winning by a final of 17-6.

Saturday in Oakland, the team scored three runs early and never gave up the lead to Laney College, punctuating the win with four runs in the eighth inning for a 10-4 victory.

EARLY INNING PITCHING SETTLES DOWN

After the first few games largely saw ARC’s starting pitchers struggling from

first pitch, the staff has settled down to al-low no more than two runs in the first in-ning over the team’s last five games. Matt Gunter has steadily improved as the sea-son has progressed, going seven innings while only allowing two hits and striking out eight in the 10-0 win at Mission Col-lege. Gunter also has struck out 25 batters, good enough for seventh overall in the

state.OFFENSE STAYS HOTThe team has scored at least six runs

in every game since it’s last home game, a Feb. 10 win against Solano. The lone ex-ception was in the 12-1 loss at Hartnell College. Corner infielder Kirby Broadbent is second overall in the state with a .533 batting average and .833 slugging percent-

age, and is fifth in the state with an on base percentage of .600.

UPCOMING SCHEDULEThe team will play its first home game

in over two weeks on Thursday when it hosts Diablo Valley College. Next week, its straight back out on the road to play Modesto on March 3, then home against Cosumnes River College on March 5.

Page 5Sports February 25, 2015

SPORTSUPDATES

Bryce Fraser / brycefraser180@gmail.comPitcher Sharie Albert winds up against during ARC’s Feb. 19 game against Merced.

MEN’S TRACK AND FIELDARC’s men’s track and field team took part in the event as well, with sophomore Robert Ellis finishing first in the 400-meter dash with a time of 48.04 seconds. Sophomore Shawn Simms took home first overall in men’s long jump, with a distance of 22 feet and 8.25 inches.

WOMEN’S TRACK AND FIELDAmerican River College was one of seven teams to take part in the Pete Giachetti Invite on Feb. 21. Fresh-man Imani Thomas finished first in the women’s 100-meter dash with a time of 12.16 seconds, while fellow freshman Tatiana Bell also finished first in the women’s 200-meter dash.

TENNISBoth teams have started 3-0 this sea-son, most recently traveling together to mutually defeat Shasta College. The men’s team won 9-0, and the women’s team won 7-2.

WOMEN’S SWIMMINGAmerican River College took part in the Las Positas Invite, which took place from Feb. 20 to Feb. 21. Fresh-man Mariah Motheral finished third in the women’s 100-yard individual medley. She was one of three ARC players to finish in the top 10 in that event.

UPCOMING HOME GAMES02/25 Men’s Basketball vs. Foothill 7 p.m.02/26 Softball vs. Sequoias 12:30 and 2:30 p.m.02/26 Baseball vs. Diablo Valley 2 p.m.02/27 Men’s Tennis vs. Santa Rosa 1 p.m.02/27 Women’s Tennis vs. Santa Rose 1 p.m.03/05 Baseball vs. Cosumnes River 2 p.m.03/07 Track and Field, Beaver Relays 10 a.m.03/07 Men’s Tennis vs. Foothill 1 p.m.03/07 Softball vs. Sacramento City 12 and 2 p.m.03/10 Women’s Tennis vs. Sierra 1 p.m.

Baseball reaches 5-5 through ten

Bryce Fraser / brycefraser180@gmail.com Matt Gunter is seventh in California with 25 stirkeouts. ARC’s baseball team has righted the ship at 5-5 after three losses in its first four games.

TEAM SHOWS STEADY IMPROVEMENT WITH 3-2 RECORD IN THE LAST TWO WEEKS AFTER A SLOW START

Page 6 FeatureFebruary 25, 2015

By Cheyenne Drurycheyennemdrury@gmail.com

American River College students Jesse Szabo, Branden Coleman and Tristan McNay all have two things in common. They all attend ARC and they are all in The Madison Hudson country band alongside lead singer Madison Hudson.

Szabo began guitar lessons with Bryon Martin when he was 11-years-old and Coleman began private drum lessons with famed drummer Mike Johnston when he was just 12-years-old.

Hudson started singing in the 1st grade and decided by 6th grade that her career would be in music.

McNay’s father, who played for the Montrose Frank Hannon Band, got him his first bass guitar, and after that McNay taught himself how to play and and has only been playing for the past three years.

Hudson, who dedicates her spare time to working on music, graduated a year early from high school.

Szabo and Coleman’s music rela-tionship stretches back to when they were 12-years-old and in their first band, Liberate, together.

Madison Hudson formed roughly a year and a half ago when Szabo heard through a friend of a friend that Hud-son was looking for a guitar player.

Hudson and Szabo started out do-ing acoustic music and began adding members, losing some along the way, now fulfilling their current image of a country cover band.

The band covers artists such as Mi-randa Lambert, Sugarland and Lady Antebellum.

“Craziest experience was at a show

where there were guys break danc-ing in front of us – yes, breakdancing to country – so we brought them on stage in front of hella people and talk-ed to them for a second. Then they started dancing onstage while we played then kept doing backflips off the stage. It was insane,” said Szabo.

“Our idea is to build our image and gain popularity and slowly transition into performing and recording origi-nal songs.”

Coleman is also in favor of this transition to original material.

“It’s cool working with originals because Madison will give us a song that allows us a lot of room to work with and be a part of the creative pro-cess,” said Coleman.

Szabo and Coleman were also in the band Mercedez Avenue, a post hardcore band. Before joining Madi-son Hudson they both decided to part ways but still remain friends with their old bandmates.

Madison Hudson has played for crowds as small as 15 people to a New Years Eve performance down-town in front of thousands.

The bands’ most frequented gigs are at the Valencia club in Penryn, Goldfields in midtown Sacramento and Stoney’s off Del Paso Blvd in Sac-ramento.

“The coolest thing about being a part of this band is when we first start playing…because we’re so young the crowd is usually a little unsure, but then when we start playing it’s like ‘hey these kids know what they’re doing,’” said Coleman.

Bryce Fraser / brycefraser180@gmail.comMadison Hudson, center, is the band’s namesake and lead singer, with American River College students Jesse Szabo, right, and Tristan McNay, left. Branden Coleman is not pictured.

Playing Stoney’s with Madison Hudson

Courtesy of Rachel Cameron McNay, Szabo, Hudson and Coleman have been together as band for a little over one year.

COUNTRY COVER BAND COMPRISED OF COMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENTS

ON THE WEBFor a video interview

with the members of Madison Hudson, go to

the Arts and Culture section at our website,

ARCurrent.com

Page 7

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February 25, 2015

Page 8 Arts&CultureFebruary 25, 2015

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By Lena DoByneslena.dobynes@gmail.com

An American River College mathemat-ics professor recently wrote a book seek-ing to explain the basic concepts of calcu-lus to anyone with the slightest grasp of basic algebra.

Anthony Barcellos, past recipient of the ARC Patrons Chair and Faculty Award and Honorarium, is the author of “A Stroll Through Calculus: A Guide for the Merely Curious.”

According to Barcellos, this is not a text-book and is geared towards the intellectu-ally curious, not professionals or students enrolled in a course.

“I want to debunk the almost universal notion that calculus is super-hard math for geniuses,” said Barcellos.

Barcellos went on to say, “If a cartoonist wants to get across the idea that a char-acter is a brainiac, tucking a book labeled “calculus” under their arm is a surefire way to do it – the truth however is very different.”

The math professor, who has been teaching for nearly forty years, insists that a person who understands notions such as “distance equals rate times time” or “area equals base times height” has enough knowledge to get started on the path to learning calculus.

The book covers areas of rectangles, no-tation, and polynomials as well as intro-ducing the fundamentals of Newton and Leibniz and explains how each is applied. Examples are given throughout the book to allow the reader to practice each con-cept for better understanding.

According to Cognella.com, an academic publishing website, the book is an “excel-lent learning tool for students in engineer-ing, pre-medical studies, and the social sciences and can be used in pre-service teaching programs for educators needing a solid background for math units they will teach”. It is available on the site from $30.95 to $38.95.

“I am very pleased with the way ‘Stroll’ came out,” said Barcellos, who came up with the idea after being displeased with an author’s previous work that attempted to do the same.

“The elements of calculus have elegant relationships among them that ‘Stroll’ clarifies without getting bogged down in the formal proofs that a standard textbook must have – that’s why several of my cal-culus students have found the book en-lightening,” added Barcellos.

Fellow math professor Lill Birdsall has enjoyed past works by Barcellos.

“He is a fabulous writer – he has excel-lent grammar and articulates superbly,” said Birdsall of Barcellos’ fiction work, “A Land of Milk and Money.”

According to others around campus who have worked with him or attended a class of his, he is not only an excellent writer but professor as well.

“He is equally good at the highs and lows – he teaches Math 25, Computational Arithmeticas well as Math 402, Calculus II,” said Nancy Reitz, the interim dean of the mathematics department. “He is a sought-after instructor by the students.”

Rhiannon Coxsisk, a Paralegal major, agrees with Reitz when it comes to Barcel-los’s teaching methods.

“He makes you want to come to class – he

finds a way to make the subject fun and en-joyable,” said Coxsisk, who admitted she was not very good in math.

Coxsisk added that fellow peers have spent time sitting outside of class talking about the subject and teacher.

“I like his vibe,” said Marwa Sahel, a pre-medical student. “He’s really energetic and

one of the only teachers that I have who lays out the subject out clearly with different ways to do one problem.”

Barcellos makes sure to keep constant communication lines open with his students – aside from office hours he also has a blog where he posts solution keys to exams and quizzes.

Lena Dobynes / lena.dobynes@gmail.comMath Professor Anthony Barcellos recently published his book “A Stroll Through Calculus,” which explains the basic concepts of calculus for beginners.

Taking ‘A Stroll Through Calculus’A BEGGINERS GUIDE TO LEARNING BASIC CONCEPTS

Page 9Arts&Culture/Scene February 25, 2015

“Big game hunting, it would be a challenge”

-PATRICKSTEUBER Undecided

CAMPUSPU SEL“I would never go free diving, I would rather just go scuba driving”

-ISABELJACOBSONPhilosophy & Poly Science

“I would go skydiving but I would never go bungee jumping because of the free fall feeling and the snap back from the bungee and free falling again”

-HANNAHWILLHELM General Science

“If I wasn’t so fat I’d go skateboarding.”

-TYSENCANNADY Photography student

What extreme sport would or would not be for you?

Climbing: Ascending Half Dome

‘Dear White People’

By Lena Dobyneslena.dobynes@gmail.com

American River College’s Community and Diversity Center will screen a film about ra-cial relations on a college campus to facili-tate a discussion on racial identity, race rela-tions and racism.

The film “Dear White People,” directed and produced by Justin Simien, is a satire on racial relations that follows four African-American students at a predominately white college throughout their year on campus as they deal with racial politics, stereotypes, and their own identity. It will be shown Fri-day, Feb. 27 at 1 p.m. in the Hub.

The movie has received high praise from critics and won the 2014 Sundance Film Fes-tival’s Special Jury Award for Breakthrough Talent.

“I saw this as a great opportunity for di-versity and multicultural discussions,” said peer mentor Brett Spencer of the ARC Com-munity and Diversity Center.

Spencer had the idea to show the movie last semester because of the concepts of stereotypes and racial identity shown in the movie.

“I believe showing this movie is beneficial to the campus. We can use it as a spring-board to produce organic conversation for voices that need to be heard and shared,” said Spencer.

“We hope that this movie generates people to begin thinking about the way they think about racial relations and bring forward varying views to understand one another,” he added.

Music major Manjore Zaki agrees that this topic needs to be discussed and can be ben-eficial to students on campus.

“It’s good to see a different perspective. Diversity is good for man, it’s educational, even if it can be seen as negative,” said Zaki.

Zaki, a Houston native, recently relocated to Sacramento and is pleased with the di-verse culture he has found in California and on campus.

“I have friends of all different ethnicities here - everybody comes together and gets along - I don’t see what’s on the outside be-cause what’s on the inside is all that mat-ters,” he said.

According to the ARC website, the student body is a little under 50 percent white, 19 percent Hispanic, 11 percent Black, and 9 percent Asian, with 11 percent identifying with another race or races.

“I hope the place overflows — this movie is not limited to the Black community — it is deep, multi-faceted and relates to other mar-ginalized groups who have been oppressed,” Spencer said.

“We all knew that Alex was going to end up climbing and that was that,” said Wo-lonick.

Honnold is most notably recognized for being the only known free solo climber to complete the Yosemite Triple Crown.

He completed the climb in 18 hours and 50 minutes ascending up Mount Watkins, the Nose of El Capitan and the Regular Northwest face of Half Dome in Yosemite.

In 2010, Honnold was awarded the Golden Piton, an annual award presented to people in the rock climbing community, for his accomplishments in climbing.

Honnold isn’t the only one in his family who has climbed Half Dome.

“Alex and I go on at least one climb a year together and Half Dome was the very first,” said Wolonick.

“It’s nice to be able to share cool adven-tures outside from time to time,” said Hon-nold. “I didn’t really get her into it. She just asked to come to the gym once, and then when I was gone on trips she just kept coming and got psyched on it and made friends at the gym.”

Honnold is good friends with Tommy Caldwell, who recently made history with Kevin Jorgeson after becoming the only people to free solo climb El Capitan, a precipitous slab of granite in Yosemite Na-tional Park.

Honnold and Caldwell climbed the Fitz Traverse together in Patagonia in Febru-ary 2014.

This climb is a 11,171 foot ascent over the six ridges of the Fitz Traverse includ-ing Aguja Guillaumet, Aguja Mermoz, Cer-ro Fitz Roy, Aguja Poincenot, Aguja Rafael Juárez, Aguja Saint-Exúpery and Aguja de

l’S.It took Honnold and Caldwell four days

to complete the climb. Honnold also has had experience climb-

ing with Hans Florine.They currently hold the record for their

climb of the Nose of El Capitan in which they finished with a time of 2 hours, twen-ty-three minutes and fifty-one seconds.

Honnold has notable videos made of him with footage of him climbing: Alex Honnold 3.0, The Ascent of Alex Honnold and Alone on the Wall.

Wolonick is proud of what her son has been able to accomplish in the world of climbing.

“Watching him climb is like watching ballet,” she said.

Kameron Schmid contributed to this re-port.

CONTINIUED FROM PAGE 1

AWARD-WINNING SATIRE FILM ON RACE RELATIONS SHOWING THIS FRIDAY

February brings the ‘Blues’PLAY IS BASED ON 1955 MURDER THAT SPARKED THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

Courtesy of ARC TheaterThe cast of “Blues for Mr. Charlie,” which opens this Friday. Directed by Samuel Williams, the play is the first of the semester at ARC.

By Kameron Schmidkameronschmid@gmail.com

The American River College theater de-partment is commemorating this year’s Black History Month with a production of “Blues for Mister Charlie,” which pre-mieres Friday.

Loosely based on the real-life 1955 murder of a black 14-year-old, Emmett Till, playwright James Baldwin originally dedicated “Blues” to “the memory of Med-gar Evers, and his widow and his children, and to the memory of the dead children of Birmingham.”

Evers, a civil rights activist, was assas-sinated in 1963 by Byron De La Beckwith, a member of the White Citizens’ Council, one year before “Blues” was produced.

This year will mark the 60 year anniver-sary of Till’s murder, which was commit-ted by two white men after Till had been accused of flirting with a white woman, Carolyn Bryant.

Till’s death helped spark the civil rights movement in the U.S., when after being ac-quitted of the kidnapping and murder, and thus protected against double jeopardy, Roy Bryant, husband to Carolyn, and Roy’s half brother J.W. Milam, publicly admitted to committing the crimes.

The play, in three acts, centers around the murder of Richard Henry, a black youth in a small town. His accused killer, Lyle Britten, denies the murder, and the town is thrown into a tempest of confu-sion and anger.

Director and ARC faculty member Sam-uel Williams, who has a well-established history of tackling tense racial issues in his pieces, has been rehearsing his cast since January, and is always one step ahead of the actors, according to cast members Wi-lysha Walton and Raven Jones.

“Sometimes you don’t always under-stand what he’s doing, but once you do, it just makes sense,” said Walton, who plays one of the students of Meridian Henry, fa-ther to the slain Richard.

“Sam has a very clear vision of what he wants and a lot of the times we don’t know what he’s doing when he’s doing things, but once we get there it’s not what we ex-pected, and it’s a lot better than what we thought,” said Jones.

Jones, who plays Britten’s wife Jo, de-scribed the play as “soulful, very passion-ate, and very fast.”

“It’s not one of those plays where you’re sitting there wondering what will happen next,” said Jones.

Jones also described her character as a “picture perfect housewife,” but one who is “very sex-starved, and very sassy and needy.”

With subject matter so charged, and in the wake of societal movements like #BlackLivesMatter and #ICantBreathe, “Blues” promises to make viewers think about how our country has changed since the beginning of the civil rights move-ment.

Page 10 SceneFebruary 25, 2015

TAKETHISCLASS Journalism 320: Race and Gender in the Media

By Jose Garcia jig.garcia1995@gmail.com

Not many other classes out there gets students fired up like Journalism 320: Race and Gender in the Media.

The class not only covers con-troversial topics dealing with gender, ethnicity and social class, but professor Alan Miller likes to play devil’s advocate.

Miller has somewhat of a rep-utation for his unique style of teaching and engaging the stu-dents in the conversation.

Miller bounces ideas back and forth during class in order to show students how to look at subjects like racism and sexism in a different way.

In one such instance, Miller has gone down his class roster and profiled all his students by both their race and gender to prove his point.

Some students may take of-fense to some of the topics and humor that come up in the class-room, but Miller believes it’s needed to get students to speak their mind and to keep them en-gaged.

With a strong background in journalism and teaching, Miller aims to teach students to think for themselves and to have an open mind.

“The main goal is to get stu-

dents to shape their own in-formed opinion, and to not let the media or others make their deci-sions for them,” said Miller.

Journalism major Faisal Man-zoor said of the class, “This class is very lively and the length of the assignments are as long as you want them to be, as long as you have strong informa-tion. Mr. Miller is a great teacher as well. He keeps the lectures interesting and gets his point across.”

Miller also brings a large amount of enthusiasm to class as well, so even the lecture portion of the class keeps students inter-ested.

“Sometimes students view me as a bigot for the things I say. I don’t believe most of the things I say, but it gets students to be-come passionate and engaged in the class and I find that to be a good thing,” said Miller.

One portion of the class work has students do an assignment about late-night talk or news sat-ire hosts, and have a discussion about the way their views are portrayed and the way they act within the eye of the media, as well as when they’re not in sight of the media.

If you’re looking for assign-ments and discussions that will keep you amused, then this is the class for you.

Miller makes sure all of his stu-dents are involved in class activ-ity and discussions.

“When you’re in the field you aren’t going to have a teacher telling you what to do. This class is teaching me about how certain people are viewed in the media and that will help me in achieving my major,” said Manzoor.

Jose Garcia / jig.garcia@gmail.comAllen Miller teaches his Race and Gender in the Media class on Febuary 12. Miller likes to play the part of devil’s advocate in order to keep his student attentive and intrested in his classes.

LRCCD inducted into Business Hall of Fame

By John Ferranninijferr1995@gamail.com

The Los Rios Community College Dis-trict was inducted into the Sacramento Metro Chamber of Commerce’s Business Hall of Fame on Jan. 30, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the district’s in-corporation.

“I think most of the people are ecstatic and pleasantly surprised to get such an honor at this time in the life of the dis-trict,” said Mitchel Benson, the vice chan-cellor for communications and media re-lations for the LRCCD.

The Sacramento Metro Chamber of Commerce represents “nearly 2,000 member businesses and business organi-zations” around Northern California, ac-cording to their website.

“The Los Rios Community College District has made significant contribu-tions to the economic, civic growth and well-being of our community for nearly 50 years,” said Christi Black-Davis, 2015 Sacramento Metro Chamber of Com-merce board chair. “Practically every business, public agency and industry in the Sacramento region employs a Los Rios Graduate.”

Erica Taylor, a member of the Los Rios Foundation board, won Young Profes-sional of the Year at the same awards banquet.

According to Benson, the Los Rios Foundation raises money for student scholarships and a “student emergency fund” for students who “experience a sudden challenge or problem.”

Taylor got involved in the Los Rios Foundation after her experiences in com-munity college.

“I went to Shasta College. Community college has played a big part in my life,”

said Taylor. “I’m a big fan of the commu-nity college system. It did wonders for me. I jumped at the opportunity to help community college students because of my experience with it.”

“The Los Rios district is an unknown or unsung hero in our community. It is a true gem to have,” she added.

Benson emphasized that the timing of the induction coincides with the 50th anniversary of the district’s incorpora-tion as a legal entity.

“As we plan various commemora-tions and celebratory events, this is a great way to start 2015,” said Benson. “We are working on a couple of ideas (to celebrate the 50th anniversary) but are not ready to announce yet. We want to turn this into a way to raise money for scholarships and for the stu-dent emergency fund.”

Heart month brings healthy heart lectureBy Brandon Nelsonbrandon.nelson916@gmail.com

Stress, lack of sleep, exhaustion and poor diet all have one thing in common. No, it’s not college: it’s heart health.

College nurse Pamela Whipple gave a lec-ture during a college hour in Raef Hall on Feb. 12.

As the lecture progressed, Whipple went on to describe the effects of alcohol and to-bacco on the heart.

Thirteen students, faculty and staff at-tended.

When entering Raef Hall students could grab a wallet-sized card with several ho-tlines intended to help cigarette smokers quit, Whipple’s business card, a brochure for the health center, and an advertisement for the upcoming blood drive.

Whipple began the event by telling the at-tendees how the heart works and the cham-bers it consists of.

Common cardiac issues include arrhyth-

mia, congenital conditions, high blood pres-sure, stroke and diabetes.

“Heart attacks are different from cardiac arrest,” said Whipple. “Heart attacks lead to cardiac arrest.”

To promote better heart health, Whipple gave some advice on how one can take bet-ter care of their heart.

These included sleeping for six to eight hours a night, avoiding caffeine, nicotine and alcohol, and having an evening rou-tine which will greatly help sleep patterns, including always turning off electronic de-vices before it’s time for bed.

“I thought she (Whipple) was very knowl-edgable, it was a great refresher,” said Chris-tina Dewitt, an administrative assistant for the science and engineering department.

The blood drive will be held on March 3 and March 4.

The health center is located in the admin-istration building and is open on Monday to Friday 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. although hours may change without notice.

ON THE WEBFor more Take This Class features, including classes on comic books, stage makeup, belly dancing and

homeland security, go to ARCurrent.com/category/scene/take-this-class/

Courtesy of Tia Gemmell Los Rios Chancellor Brian King was presented with the award by James Beck-with, the 2014 Metro Chamber chair.

Lindsey Martin / lindseymartin51391Adding Cheerios into low cholesterol, low saturated fat diets may reduce the risk of heart disease.

METRO CHAMBER OF COMMERCE HONORS DISTRICT

Page 11Opinion February 25, 2015

by Joseph Danielsjoseph64daniels@gmail.com

Newcomers will likely find stu-dents enrolled in their classes who have been attending American River College for years and are es-sentially what can be called “career students.”

Students who have finished their general education and have at-tained associate degrees applicable to their future careers should not be allowed to continue their enroll-ment, as this puts a strain on class availability and costs California taxpayers a significant amount of money per year.

A prime purpose of community colleges is to prepare students for their future educational pursuits at universities and other larger, more central institutions.

The seats that career students take up in a class could have gone to students who are working towards their AA degree or their transfer re-quirements.

Former acting ASB Student Presi-dent Jorge Riley, who is also attend-ing ARC, says he plans on attaining 150 cumulative units before trans-ferring in pursuit of a law degree.

Riley, who has been a student at ARC since 2004, claims to currently have associate degrees in Liberal Arts and Business and plans on getting associate degrees in Real Estate, Business, Accounting, Fo-rensics Accounting, and Paralegal in the next three semesters before leaving community college.

Riley says he feels that the argu-ment over career students sways both sides, but that students benefit from studying alongside veteran ARC attendees.

“I guess you have to weigh the pros and cons, you know?” he said.

“I’m able to attribute a lot of the experience [I’ve received] to the students who are new and are not familiar with the system.”

While these experienced stu-dents’ input could be beneficial to new students, they would be more helpful by relinquishing their class-room seats. The other side of the

coin lies in this central question: How can a student who says he has been at ARC for twelve years be an inspiring example for other stu-dents, especially when the point of community colleges is to quickly as-sist students in getting them jump-started on their future careers?

Career students are not only tak-ing up spaces in class, but the idea that they contribute experience and tutelage to new students is offset by the fact that there are already pro-grams on campus that address the needs of bringing new students up to speed.

Career students, even unwitting-ly, also become a further burden on taxpayers.

Even though students are paying the full amount of the service fees, a portion of that is still being paid by the state.

The Board of Governor’s Fee Waiver, more commonly known as BOG, is a program for all communi-ty colleges in California that waives the payment of tuition for students that exercise financial need. Tuition per class is currently $46 a semes-ter, according to the Los Rios Com-munity District website.

Currently, there are no unit limit restrictions on who can take advan-tage of the program, any student that attends a community college can receive the waiver if they dem-onstrate financial need, sapping the ability for newer students to enter the community college level at the California taxpayer’s expense.

A student may argue that they couldn’t afford to go to a university, however financial aid is available. The max amount of units, according to the financial aid office of Sacra-mento State University, is set at 180 units.

If a student has surpassed that, they could try to file an appeal.

Community college is supposed to be the first step in obtaining an higher education, not the final des-tination.

These students have proved that they have what it takes to succeed at a community college, and they should find out if they can do the same at the next level.

CURRENTEDITORIAL PUT YOUR MONEY WHERE YOUR MOUTH IS

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATORS SHOULD GIVE STUDENT SENATE MORE SAY OVER MONEY SO THAT WE CAN ALL BENEFITFor the past several years

American River College students, particularly members of student government, have been partici-pating in the March in March, an annual protest and lobbying event downtown wherein com-munity college students from around the state push for policies that would lessen their financial burdens.

ARC’s Associated Student Body Student Senate has invested thousands of dollars each year in making a presence at the march, which is always in the beginning of the month of March. We feel the money and attention ASB spends on the march could be better spent.

For ASB to spend its money better, the state legislature needs to lower restrictions on how the student representation fee can be spent.

The March in March first took place in 2003. In the half-dozen

marches since it became an an-nual event in 2009, there has been no major enactment of edu-cational reform attributed to it. Textbooks are not cheaper. Com-munity college is not cheaper, with the cost of tuition having risen roughly with the rate of in-flation according to the College Board.

Last year, Student Senate passed a resolution allowing up to $4,500 to be spent going to the march. While the amount of mon-ey spent fell short of that, only nine passengers were on a bus that traveled less than 14 miles from the ARC main campus to the capitol.

This year, the Senate has been promoting the march through on-campus events to try and at-tract ARC students who are not involved in student government.

At one such event, held last Wednesday in the Student Cen-ter, students were treated to free

food provided by ASB and had the opportunity to hear from Joe Stanton, a member of the com-mittee planning the march.

“We’re spending a large amount of money on this year’s March in March to raise aware-ness because that immediate presence was severely lacking from last year’s event,” said Cam-eron Weaver, senate director of public relations.

While we appreciate senate’s efforts, there has to be a better way for the Student Senate to spend its time and money than attending a pep rally that is great in feeling but lacking in accom-plishment.

The money spent on the March in March comes from the student representation fee, which al-lows spending on “payment for expenses for student advocacy,” according to the Student Senate bylaws.

California Education Code sec-

tion 76060.5 establishes that a student representation fee can be established for the purposes of providing for “governmental af-fairs representatives to advocate before the Legislature and other state and local governmental en-tities.”

There is over $100,000 in the advocacy account that the ASB Student Senate has access to, but their hands are tied due to state law.

Could it be that the individ-ual student senates know bet-ter what the students at their schools want on their campuses with their money?

Student Senate could pay for more reserve textbooks in the li-brary, especially for classes with expensive books or for which multiple textbooks are required.

They could spend money orga-nizing a campus cleaning event, such as helping to get rid of the graffiti on campus.

They could spend money on providing more information for not only how to get involved with student government, but also for scholarship opportunities and helping new students get adjust-ed to campus, getting out there and meeting the students where they are.

How awesome would it be for new students at ARC to only need to talk to their ASB representa-tive if they need any help dur-ing those confusing, often lonely, weeks of the first semester?

As one politician once said, good politics is good governance and good governance is good pol-itics. What better way to train stu-dent representatives for govern-ment service than to give them the tools and trust they need to build a closer connection to their constituents and the community which they represent?

Those are some ideas worth advocating for this March.

Career students need to move on

Cameron Weaver / cameron.weaver.arc@gmail.comErik Aselson, vice president of the 99 Rise club on campus, believes that massive income inequality has reduced the political system in the U.S. to one that only benefits the rich and wealthy.

American financial disaster by Cameron Weavercameron.weaver.arc@gmail.com

“Democracy is being eviscerat-ed. What we know as democracy is not something our forefathers knew,” said Erik Aselson, 36, who is majoring in Sociology and is vice president of the 99 Rise club on campus

“It is being turned into a plu-tocracy, a society that is run by the wealthy, for the benefit of the wealthy.”

Income inequality amongst the top-earners of the United States has eclipsed the earnings of middle and lower class work-ers so much that, according to the Washington Center For Equitable Growth, the top tenth of one per-cent of families now own nearly the same share of wealth as the bottom 90 percent.

Essentially, one-thousandth of the U.S. population owns one-fifth of its wealth.

This is not a problem unique to just the United States either. A report released by Oxfam last year garnered attention by high-lighting just how far this income disparity stretches across a global scale. 80 of the richest people on the planet own the same wealth as the poorest 50 percent, or 3.5 billion people.

The statistics speak for them-

selves. Income inequality is a very real problem that has con-tinually been fostered, nurtured, and allowed to run amok, and the generations of tomorrow will be forced to carry this burden on their shoulders.

“The amount of spending for elections that occurred in 2014 has already historically been the highest its ever been, and the trend is not slowing down...who are we voting for, the person who spends the most money?” said Asleson.

In the realm of politics, the Citi-zens United ruling stands as an integral obstacle on the road to a fair, more open political cam-paign process.

Citizens United v. Federal Elec-tion Commission, decided in January 2010 by the Supreme Court, tossed out the corporate and union ban on making inde-pendent expenditures to a poli-tician’s campaign. Essentially, it now allows uncapped access for private donors to contribute as much money as they want to a politician’s campaign, as long as it is not to the politician directly.

For those with countless sums of money at their disposal, this poses no obstacle. According to the Washington Post, the Koch brothers, stalwarts of conserva-tive advocacy groups, plan on spending $889 million during the 2016 election cycle - double what

they spent in 2012.With rulings like Citizens Unit-

ed , is it any stretch to imagine just how uninterested our elected representatives are in repeal-ing legislation that benefits the bottom line of corporations and large entities at the expense of the average Joe and Jane?

At this point, we are on a verge of cataclysmic implosion.

An intuitive approach from the public education system to help build and foster young Ameri-cans’ wealth potential is essential.

Stocks, investments, certifi-cates of deposit, and other forms of savings accounts and interest-building accounts remain some of the most powerful tools avail-able to Americans not born into a pocket of gratuitous wealth.

However, standing up to the crony rulings and regulations in place that have now permanently kept political office out of reach for those without bottomless in-comes is more essential than ever.

“With the 99 percent at such a disadvantage, whose voice is re-ally being heard ... is the person donating one dollar given the same consideration as someone who gave a million? Absolutely not, and the longer that this con-tinues, the more possible it be-comes that our children and their children will not even know what democracy even looks like,” said Aselson.

LARP AT ARCMary-Ann Myers / myersmaryann7@gmail.com

A group of LARPers from the Sacramento chapter of Amtgard playing on campus. LARPing, or live-action-role-playing, is an extension of tabletop role-playing games like Dungeons and Dragons.

We get together and hit each other with foam weapons. And I recommend staying off the field unless you’ve signed a waiver. It’s a little bit dangerous.”

MICHAELACLIFTON“

To read the full story on the Sacramento chapter of Amtgard

and their LARPing activities, go to arcurrent.com, under the Scene

section.

Photos by Bryce Fraser / brycefraser180@gmail.comLARPers Broderick Cross, shielded, and Wesley Miller, double-sword wielding, fight during Amtgard’s first session of LARPing in front of the library last week.

Mary Ann Myers / myersmaryann7@gmail.comPhotography major Patrick McKinley, left, challenges Steven Cornell, right, a welding student.