Divergence

Divergence Magazine At a minimum, the mergers are creating a new class of “too big to fail” institutions -- banks that must be bailed out, various presidents will inevitably tell us, to prevent a “domino” economic effect. These institutions will then enjoy what is tantamount to a taxpayer guarantee of all their liabilities (not just the customers’ deposits).

Editorial Diana Arbas Editor in Chief Edward Derbes Senior Editor Yosathorn Pamon-Montri Advertising Manager Bryce K. Graphics & Layout Manager Kenny Rivera Photo Editor Chrystal Hartberg Creative Editor Fahd Sheikh Opinion Editor Contributors Erin Abs, Anna Allen, Amanda Avelar, Derrick Coleman, Raul Gonzales, Scott Hankinson, Chris Hernandez, Scott Hirano, Yoomin Kang, Maria Leano, Vanessa Medina, Alexandru Mitroi, Anna Rangel, Michael Uriegas, Christopher Wyart, Dianne Yabut Faculty Adviser Robert Mercer Cypress Chronicle Cypress College 9200 Valley View St Cypress, CA 90630 CyChron.com [email protected]

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Divergence Magazine

-- Ralph Nader “Bank Mergers Skip Along, Right Past the Customers” New York Times Nov. 12, 1995 So nobody saw it coming. Right? Almost 13 years ago, Ralph Nader predicted -- wordfor-word, it looks like -- our present economic drama. Now, those in charge say they have no idea what happened, but we have to bail out these “too big to fail institutions” to prevent a “domino” effect. This magazine goes to press a full week before the issue actually arrives. As it goes to press, the economy is still afloat, and we’re only teetering on the edge. If it has fallen over by the time you read this: sorry. The truth is this all started with the extreme deregulation of the Reagan era. Critics criticized -- as they tend to do -- Reagan’s economic policy then, saying, pretty much, this would happen. There’s at least one very important lesson to be learned from this: you can’t always trust those in charge; you can’t always trust those who have so-called authority. If Nader could figure out this was going to happen nearly thirteen years ago, can we really be expected to believe that George Bush and his so-called economic experts -- Fed Chairman Ben Bernake and Treasury Sec. Henry Paulson -- can’t figure out what happened after it’s over? When Diana, the editor in chief, and I began working on this magazine this summer, I had in mind a magazine that questioned those in authority and held them accountable. I hope we’re living up to that. At least better than the mainstream media covering this out-of-nowhere “economic crisis.” In this issue, we introduce you to the new North Orange County Community College District Chancellor Ned Doffoney, someone, along with all the other people relevant to making education better for our intended readers, Cypress College students, whom we will continue to monitor. We’ve seen Doffoney do nothing wrong, nor do we expect to. But we want you to know we will help hold him and all other adminstrators accountable to their appointed positions. Also, there’s an update on last spring’s article on a $7.5 million generator on campus that still isn’t functioning as intended. Relaying the information onto you, so you can watch your tax money at work. And, we’ve got coverage of the swap meet, which we assigned when we heard the swap meet brings in over a million dollars annually for the college. We wanted to see where that money -- your money -- went. Finally, we have learned about the struggles of many international Cypress College students. We’ve included that in this issue, so you can be aware, not only of their trials, but of one of the many programs the administrators are trying to build. We checked-in to see how they’re faring. Edward Derbes Senior Editor

[ November 2008 ]



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[ 4 ] News Briefs Campus news and previews from Sept. 3 to Oct. 7

[ 7 ] Cypress College: The American Dream International students tackle higher tuition and culture shock



[ 10 ] Barato, Barato, Todo Barato Cypress College hosts swap meet every weekend • Photo Essay: You Never Know What You’re Looking For

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[ 14 ] Busted Gears $7.5 million generator shut off until further notice



[ 18 ]

[ 16 ] Literary Section • Book Review: Into the Wild • Essay: Richard Siken’s Crush • Poetry

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Student Art



[ 20 ] A Conversation with Kate Reid Music Department Chair discusses music, teaching and South Park

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[ 22 ] Opinion Section • Op-Eds: Support Our Troups (A Rebuttal), Where is the Love? and The Passion of Suicide • Cartoon: Then and Now • Horoscope: Madam Toaster Predicts Your Doom! (Scorpio)

November 2008

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News Wheelchair Basketball Will Play At Home Photo from Cypress College

by Dianne Yabut Writer The Cypress Wheelchair Chargers will play a home game in the Gym I building on Tuesday, October 7 at 7:30 p.m. Cypress College has included Wheelchair Basketball as part of its athletics program since 1973, according to the Cypress College website. The Wheelchair Chargers play against other teams in the Southern California area and participate in out-of-state tournaments. For more information, call the Wheelchair Charger coaching staff at (714)484-7379.

Associated students, Lb Memorial Host Blood Drive by Christopher Wyart Writer

The Associated Students (AS) and Long Beach Memorial Hospital hosted the Cypress College Blood Drive on Thursday, September 25. The Blood Drive raised 130 pints of blood for Long Beach Memorial Hospital, potentially saving 390 lives. Students filed into the student center to donate blood. Many of them were first-time donors like student Claudia Garcia. “I’m doing it because I’m a human services major and feel the need to help others.” Garcia said she was a little nervous but it feels good to help people, and she’d do it again. For more information about upcoming AS events, call (714)484-7198 or visit the Student Activities Center. Photo by Erin Abs

Photo by Derrick Coleman

Health Fair Educates Students by Derrick Coleman Photographer

The Cypress College Health Center and the School of Nursing sponsored the Health Fair Thursday, September 25. The Health Fair offered free flu shots for students. (The flu shots were $10 for faculty and staff.) General health information, free blood sugar screening for diabetes and blood pressure screening were available as well. The Health Center is located on the first floor of the Gym II building. For more information, call (714)484-7361.

For more on these stories and other breaking news ... 4

Divergence Magazine

Briefs California Author Will Give Lecture by Chrystal Hartberg Creative Editor

A California author will deliver a lecture (“Writing About California’s Crossroads Culture”) on Tuesday, October 7, from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the campus theater. James D. Houston authored eight novels, including “Farewell to Manzanar,” which the Los Angeles Times named one of the Year’s Best Books. “I hope that you will encourage students to attend,” said Language Arts Dean Eldon Young in a campuswide email. For more information on James D. Houston, visit his official website at http://www.jamesdhouston.com/

Photo form James D. Houston

GALA Makes No on Prop 8 Posters by Vanessa Medina Photographer

The Gay and Lesbian Association (GALA) made “No on Proposition 8” posters at its Thursday, September 25 meeting. Club members and officers socialized and ate pizza during the activity. GALA President Murtaza Rizvi said, “We made the posters so the students would have a chance to express why they feel that Prop. 8 is an unfair proposition, not only with words but with pictures and art.” According to http://www.voterguide.sos.ca.gov/, Proposition 8 will appear on the November 4 California General Election ballot. If it passes, it will change the California Constitution so that only marriage between a man and a woman will be valid or recognized in California.

Photo by Vamessa Medina

Board Honors Four Employees by Diana Arbas Editor in Chief

Photo by Scott Hirano

The North Orange County Community College (NOCCCD) Board of Trustees presented certificates of commendation to the “model employees” at Cypress College and the School of Continuing Education (SCE) at its regular meeting on Tuesday, September 23. The four honorees from Cypress College were human services instructor Virgil Adams III, communications instructor Donna Friess, Career Center Coordinator Deann Burch and adjunct economics instructor Jennifer Cherian. “I really want to thank the students,” said Adams. “We’re all here for you.”

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Photo by Scott Hirano

November 2008

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Photo Hankinson Photo by by Scott BLANK

Cypress Welcomes New Chancellor Dr. Ned Doffoney speaks at campus reception by Michael Uriegas (Reporter) and Chris Hernandez (Videographer) Cypress College welcomed Dr. Ned Doffoney, the new Chancellor of the North Orange County Community College District (NOCCCD), at a campus reception on Tuesday, September 16. Doffoney told the reception attendees that there is so much positive activity happening at this campus. “I enjoy being part of Cypress,” said Doffoney. D

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Divergence Magazine

Pamela Gutierrez Country: Mexico Major: Liberal Arts

International Club Photos and Layout by Kenny Rivera

Neesha Lee Country: Taiwan Major: Nursing

Bret Lee Country: S. Korea Major: Comp. Science

Rosa Nguyen Country: Vietnam Major: Nursing

Nhi Thai Country: Vietnam Major: Int’l Business

Yichen Lee Country: Taiwan Major: Biology

Daphne Gopo Country: Philippines Major: Pre-Pharmacy

Guiyu Zhao Country: China Major: Int’l Business

Eunice Seo Country: S. Korea Major: Accounting

Jonathan Tibbetts Country: USA Major: Undecided

Anthony Brown Country: USA Major: Undecided

Michael Lee Country: S. Korea Major: Accounting

Anh Lee Country: Vietnam Major: Comp. Science

Alfred Ong Country: Philippines Major: BioChem

Ruben Dedman Country: Dominican Republic Major: Biology

Pamela Tennysha Country: USA Major: Theater Arts

Johnny Hsu Country: Taiwan Major: Mathematics

Belen Arias Country: Mexico Major: Child Development

Richard Baron Country: Philippines Major: Physical Ed.

Ruth Obidah Country: Nigeria Major: Pre-Law

Ashley Thai Country: Vietnam Major: BioChem

Natasha Corich Country: USA Major: Undecided

November 2008

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Cypress College: “The AmericanDream”

Photo by Kenny Rivera by Diana Arbas Editor in Chief Yoomin Kang Reporter

as the meeting progressed. Club members and their friends drank soda and ate candy, which was distributed by the officers. Obidah smiled. “I remember the first time we had a he International Student Program meeting two semesters ago,” said Obidah. (ISP) is growing, said Dr. Michael “We were barely 10 people. It’s amazing Kasler, President of Cypress College. that we have almost 30 people here.” Kasler leaned into the microphone The students smiled at one another and reported to the North Orange County and applauded. Community College District (NOCCCD) Nhi Thai, an international student Board of Trustees at the September 23 from Vietnam, later introduced herself Board Meeting. as the IC Publicity Coordinator. “My Cypress has gone from enrolling 30 nickname is Bamboo,” said Thai. “My job international students to 179 in about five is to get everybody from Cypress College years, said Kasler. “We have new countogether in this club.” tries represented: Cambodia, the NetherISP Manager YongMi Han also relands, Palestine and Sri Lanka.” cruits students, but on a larger scale. Josh Obidah, an international student “Last year, we had our coordinator from Nigeria, spoke at a very different YongMi travel to some of the countries,” meeting at the end of the same week. Kasler told the Board. “She was in Korea; Obidah looked around the Student Ac- she was in Vietnam.” tivities Center (SAC) Conference Room But that’s not the only way Cypress at the first International Club (IC) meetCollege brings international students here. ing this fall. Every seat was filled. Some “The best advertising, really, is from students stood along the walls and at the the students that are in the program right front of the room; more students filed in now,” said Kasler.

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The Hurdles Enrolling at Cypress College as an international student is not for everybody, said Han. “Tuition alone per year is close to $5,000,” said Han. (While most students pay $20 per unit, the international students pay the non-resident tuition of $169 per unit.) Other yearly costs include $10,000 to rent an apartment and $760 for health insurance. International students shoulder the entire cost of their $17,000 community college education. They are not eligible for state financial aid. There are virtually no scholarships available for international students at the community college level either, said Han. Getting the right visa is another issue altogether. There are 25 or 30 different visas that you can get from the state department, said Han. With most of these visas, an international student can go to school in the U.S., and it’s completely legal. According to federal regulation, though, an international student needs to change to an F-1 student visa once he or she turns twenty-one.

The ISP at Cypress College does not accept a student until he or she changes visa type. “All of my students have an F-1 visa,” said Han. Han’s program helps students with the visa change, but it can be a frustrating process nonetheless. “Students want to come here, but they cannot study until their visa change is completed. So they would have to sit out -- waste -- one semester, two semesters, the whole year until they get the right visa type,” said Han. Once the international students come to Cypress, they face more challenges. Debra McPherson, English as a Second Language (ESL) instructor, said that international students are often under a very strict time frame. “There’s only so much money,” said McPherson. “There’s only so much time. They can’t afford to waste a single moment.” International students must take a minimum of 12 units, but they must also perform well in those units. “They’re under enormous stress, performance stress, time restriction stress. There’s culture shock, the lack of friends. Prejudice against certain ethnic groups, certain accents,” said McPherson. Michael Lee, an international student from Korea, said that he doesn’t think ethnic discrimination is the problem. “I want to call it language discrimination. If somebody cannot speak English well, they just treat them like child.” Adjusting to off-campus life, said Lee, is difficult. “When I go to DMV, hospital, it’s really hard to do something there because I don’t know what should I do, what’s the process,” said Lee. “I couldn’t speak English well, so they couldn’t understand what I’m saying. It was kind of hard time between us. It was kind of difficult things.” McPherson said the international students need to get past culture shock. Everything is fun and exciting for new arrivals. Then they move through the differ-

ent stages of cultural adjustment. “They’re going to hit that fourth stage which is: ‘I hate it here and I want to go home,’” said McPherson. Lee said he missed his family and friends a lot when he first came here. “I really wanted to go back to my country,” said Lee. “What am I doing here? I just want to go back home. But now I can just cut short my emotions and feelings. I’m fine.” The other international students miss their family and friends too. Of course they do, said Lee. “It’s sacrifice,” said Lee. “Because my goal.” Lee repeated, “Because my goal.” McPherson said it’s tough for the international students. “You have to admire Photo by Kenny Rivera

Ruth Obidah points to her homeland, Nigeria.

their desire to come, stay focused and accomplish their goals in another language besides their own and in another culture besides their own and often in an unfriendly environment.” “Free Friendship Club” IC President Daphne Gopo greeted new members and friends at the Sept. 26 meeting. “We made this club because we wanted to foster cultural exchange and host activities and events. Through these events we hope to interact with each other -- international and non-international. Share your culture. Share stories,” said Gopo. “We have what I call a Free Friendship Club.” Gopo later said that it’s not so much November 2008

the academic side that international students struggle with. It’s the social and emotional side. Friendship and networking helps with the cultural adjustment. “It encourages you when you have friends to talk with,” said Gopo. When Gopo first came here, she didn’t have any friends. Now, Gopo mentors new international students. “I help them adjust. They have so many questions.” Gopo said, “I know how they feel.” Lee said he looks forward to having fun with new friends, international and non-international. “I want to make a lot of fun with this club, not only making fun stuff, but I want learn something from different culture thing. I really exciting of this club.” McPherson said that the campus community can learn from the international students too. A lot of non-international students just don’t think globally. “This gives them the opportunity to talk to someone from Ethiopia who absolutely has a totally different perspective on what’s happening in the world,” said McPherson, “anything that can be done to shove people out of a narrow focus, to at least become aware of what other people think and what other people feel.” Non-international student Alfred Ong also said that the international student presence at Cypress College is an opportunity. “I think we should learn other people’s culture and struggles they have to go through to get here, to understand and kind of sympathize with them too,” said Ong. Thai encouraged international and non-international students alike to network and build friendships at the meeting. “Do everything we can do to get people in here. You can talk to your classmates, your friends, your family about this international amazing club.” Thai said, “I hope everybody joins our club forever ever. Don’t leave us. Never leave us.” D

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‘Barato, Barato, Todo Barato’

Photo by Alexandru Mitroi

Cypress College hosts swap meet every weekend. By Anna Allen Writer

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os dolaritos. Lléguele. Lléguele. Dos dolaritos la ropa,” a portly man in a sombrero calls people into his tent. (Come get it. Come get it. Two dollars. Two dollars, clothes.) “Barato, barato, todo barato,” a woman selling CDs yells. (Cheap, cheap, everything is cheap.) Every weekend the California Open Air Market holds a swap meet in the Cypress College parking lot. Hundreds of people come to participate in this event, even buyers from Japan. Cypress College owns the parking lot used by the swap meet. The college rents it out to Rick Landis, division supervisor of the swap meet. He then rents spaces to 500 vendors. Landis said the swap meet provides a wide range of goods—from baby diapers to fresh produce. “There are areas specifically for antiques, used merchandise, clothing, jewelry,” he said. It is a great place for the entrepreneur, said Landis. Cypress College Journalism Dept. Chair Robert Mercer said he once 10

bought some fishing gear there. While teaching study abroad in Japan, he also met a Japanese antique store owner who comes to the Cypress Swap Meet twice a year to buy American memorabilia for his store. Not everybody gets the deal they’re looking for, though. On Saturday, September 27, one woman haggled over the price of weed killer. The vendor would not lower the eight dollar price, and the woman left annoyed. Landis encourages students to come enjoy the bargains found in the swap meet also. “I have bought a lot of stuff over there like knives, shoes,” said Cypress College student Wing So. He also said that he sometimes finds illegal stuff there, like butterfly knives. He said he likes the fact that the vendors are negotiable. “I bought some really cute fu**ing shoes,” So said. “And I’m not gay.” Million Dollar Bazaar Cypress College receives $1.2 million dollars annually from the swap meet, according to Karen Cant, vice president of administrative services. The money is put into a discretionary Divergence Magazine

carryover fund, which Cypress College President Dr. Michael Kasler distributes with the help of six committees, according to Kasler. “When you take a look at $1.2 million it sounds like a lot of money, but the needs exceed the dollar amount,” Kasler said. A discretionary fund is money that doesn’t have a specific, designated purpose, so it has to be allocated. Kasler said the process of voting where the money will be spent begins with every division identifying five major needs. Then five direction committees prioritize the budget requests. Those decisions are then presented to the Planning and Budgeting Committee. Cant, who is a member of this committee, said it is made of two students, three appointed faculty, two classified members, and three administrative positions. They next take the priorities requests and make a list to show to the President’s Advisory Council. The president looks over the requests and he decides whether or not those are important budget requests. Kasler said he has the right to deny a request, but so far he hasn’t. The discretionary funds fill in where

state funding falls short. The state funds the college to teach approximately 10,500 full time equivalent students (FTES). Cypress College exceeded this enrollment by 580 FTES. Kasler said that he felt it was priority to do a better job in helping students succeed. “We rely on the swap meet funds to support programs that we don’t have money for.” Parking Problemas Every weekend, Cypress College buzzes with hundreds of people, but the campus is mostly devoid of students. But some of the students complain anyway. “Finding parking on Saturday is difficult,” said student James Floresco. On the weekends, parking lot 1 is reserved for students and faculty. “We do isolate parking lot 1, I believe, until noon, then open the parking lot for the swap meet,” said Kasler. There are 100 spaces kept open at all times for students and faculty in this lot said Landis. He also makes the vendors park as far away because it helps the turnover and empties spots quicker. At around 10 a.m. on September 27, every spot in parking lot 1 was full. But by 11:30 a.m., approximately 25 spots were available. Because there is only one lot open, students have to walk to classes from that location or try to find parking closer to their building. Floresco also said that the reason he was coming on Saturday was to make up a class, and “not many students come for Saturday school.” He said he didn’t realize the swap meet gave Cypress College that much revenue. The administration has posted a message on the Cypress College website telling students about the difficulty of parking on Saturday. They suggest that the student leave plenty of time to find parking. Landis said he leases about 11 parking lots for other swap meets and has vast knowledge on how to operate parking. He hopes that knowledge will help get rid of any parking problem.

“Side Business’” Even though Cypress College has only been working with the current swap meet operator for less than three years, they are doing a good job, said Cant. She said the contract is for five years, and if they’re satisfied with the services, a new contract can be agreed upon. Colleges are perfect places to hold a swap meet because they have large flat surfaces and many parking spaces, said Landis. It’s also easier to rent from a college instead of buying the land themselves. The swap meet also provides people to direct traffic, and they offer free spaces for clubs to sell things at the swap meet. The Alpha Gama Sigma (AGS) Honors

Society has used the swap meet to do some fundraising. Landis said they pick up the trash after every swap meet. Trash cans are spread across the swap meet, he said, so there is always one near by. Landis said that he prides himself with working with colleges. He wants to come in and out of the college without it looking like they were even there. “I know the swap meet is a side business,” he said, and he wants to make as little impact as possible. And on Monday the students return to Cypress College, with no evidence the swap meet was ever there. D

Debate on Gay Marriage: Legal and Religious Issues

Tuesday, October 14th 12:30 to 2:00 p.m. in Humanities 131 Dr. Jeff S. Siker, Professor in and Chair of the Theological Studies Department of Loyola Marymount University, will take the “pro” gay marriage position. Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse, President of the Ruth Institute and Senior Research Fellow in Economics at the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty will be take the “con” gay marriage position. The debate is open to all Cypress College students and the community at large as well.

November 2008

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A child waits as his mother browses.

Generic MP3 players and accessories at a vendor’s table. Photo by Vanessa Medina

Photo by Alexandru Mitroi

Enjoying shaved ice at the Sw

You Never Know What You’re Looking For Layout by Kenny Rivera

Various truck grills can be found at the Swap Meet.

wap Meet.

Photo by Vanessa Medina

Photo by Alexandru Mitroi

Charles Atkins cleans up after a long weekend. Photo by Kenny Rivera

Busted Gears $7.5 million generator shut off until further notice. By Edward Derbes Senior Editor

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he engine room housing Cypress College’s co-generation unit is quiet with the exception of a three-way conversation about one of the engines. In March, the noise from the engines had made conversation nearly impossible. Now, it’s Sept. 11, and the three people servicing the engines are able to speak in a normal voice. Albert Miranda, director of the physical plant at Cypress College, earlier explained the co-generation installation began in 2004, and the engines started running “a year or a year and a half” ago. He said if they were working properly they could produce about “fifty percent of the energy we use on campus.” However, they were shut down in August. “The original intent (in purchasing the unit),” Miranda said, “was in case there was a blackout,” the co-generation unit would keep the school power on. Miranda, Harold Martin, foreman from Valley Power, and Eric Jacobs, a representative from Salas O’Brien Engineers, are the three men talking about the engines. They all say they were optimistic the engines will be back online soon; and soon after that, the engines will be running as intended. Miranda says that day that the engines should be up the following week. Two weeks later, Miranda writes in an email, “The engines are off line.” 14

So What Happened? The reason the engines are off, according to Miranda and his boss, Karen Cant, vice president of administrative services at Cypress College, is Noresco, the prime contractor on the project, declared the project completed even though Cant says the co-generation unit “never worked consistently.”The North Orange County Community College District (NOCCCD) disagrees. So, the NOCCCD shut off the engines until it could decide what steps to take. Cant said the contract with Noresco required the engines to run consecutively for 30 days, after which the NOCCCD would take ownership of the project. She said the engines have been unable to run for 30 days. Miranda said the NOCCCD has hired Martin and Jacobs independently to service the engines and then attempt to get them back online and then get them to function as they were originally intended. Ninety-nine percent of the work is done, Jacobs said Sept. 11. But, “If they (NOCCCD board members) don’t accept the engines, Noresco’s stuck.” He added, “The most likely outcome is the district will accept the engines.” Martin said he has also been hired to service the engines. On Sept. 10, over the phone, he said, “It is running. We’re just servicing them.” He said “we’re not going to turn them off.” The following day the engines weren’t running. (However, Miranda on Sept. 5 said the engines were turned off three weeks earlier.) “We’ve taken care of them for quite Divergence Magazine

a while. They’re running real good,” Martin said. He said the engines are making the college money when they are running. Martin was hired because the company he works for, Valley Power, is the local service provider for Wakishaw engines, the engine brand used in the co-generation unit. Jacobs explained, “If you buy a Ford, you’ll take it back to a Ford dealer.” Requiem for a Generator? The contract was signed by the NOCCCD and Noresco in January 2004. It includes a clause that reads, “Substantial completion shall occur on or before December 16, 2004.” According to the contract, “substantial completion” “is that stage in the progress of the Work when the Work is complete . . . so the District can occupy or use the Work for its intended purpose.” The NOCCCD purchased the entire co-generation unit for approximately $7.5 million, Cant said. “(Noresco) has gotten a majority of the payment,” but the school is “holding back the retention.” A retention is normally 10 to 15 percent of the total contract price, said Kevin Neuburger, a construction project manager unrelated to this project. Both engines must operate for 30 days consecutively, Cant said, and the engines have not been able to do that. Miranda said, “Only one was running at a time.” “(Noresco’s) not able to tell us why,” Cant said. Cant’s only been on the project about a year and said she’s known

County Community College District’s Complaint Against Noresco Holdings, Inc.,” a legal document filed by Rossini on March 9, 2007, The NOCCCD alleges “Noresco acted with malice, and/or fraud.” The NOCCCD attorney writes Noresco misled it on what the generator would do, including saying the generator “would operate with a positive cash flow” (save money for the campus). NOCCCD also accuses Noresco of “failing to complete the Cypress Project according to the agreed-upon project schedule” (it wasn’t finished on time), Albert Miranda observes one of the components of the generator. “failing to provide generators that operate consistently and about problems with the engines as “inevitable.” Cant also said it was reliably,” and “failing to construct a far back as December. currently in the letter writing stage power plant that continues operation “We don’t know if there are design and lawsuits like this one generally in the event of a utility power outage take multiple years to conclude. flaws,” she said. as optional standby power.” Miranda said they’ve hired Jacobs However, James Rossini, the Theresa MacKinnon of Noresco’s and Martin to “protect the investlawyer hired by the NOCCCD, wrote legal department declined to make a ment.” He said, “Protecting our interin an email there will be no lawsuit. statement. “We don’t have a comest is mainly what we’re doing.” “The District filed a lawsuit in March, ment at this time, because we have a Miranda said he was and is opti2007. In April 2007, the District pending matter between the parties.” mistic about the completion of the and Noresco agreed to arbitrate the But NOCCCD attorney Rossini dispute. The lawsuit was dismissed project. wrote, “Noresco is seeking what it Cant said she was not. “I’ve proband the arbitration was commenced considers its unpaid contract balance ably been more pessimistic than him shortly thereafter . . . “ of approximately $600,000.” (Miranda).” “The arbitration is in the ‘Discov-

Photo by Edward Derbes

See You in Court Cypress College President Michael Kasler’s wrote of the problem in his Sept. 12 newsletter. “After a prolonged period of failed attempts by Noresco to get both engines working in order to provide redundant power to the campus and with the advice of NOCCCD legal counsel, the engines have been turned off. Litigation will follow.” Cant said, “Most likely we’re going to end up in some kind of a lawsuit.” Later, she said a lawsuit is

ery’ stage,” he wrote. “This means the parties are still gathering information.” The contract states that if Noresco “fails or refuses” to continue working on the project, then “all costs, expenses or other charges” to “maintain progress of the Work in accordance with the then current Construction Schedule shall be at the sole cost of Noresco.” Meaning: The costs incurred for hiring Jacobs and Martin may be at Noresco’s expense, according to the contract. According to “North Orange November 2008

What Now? Both Cant and Miranda said the district will continue pursuing the completion of the co-generation unit. “With this kind of investment,” Cant said, “you don’t give up early.” She added, “We haven’t given up on the project, just the people running it.” President Kasler’s Sept. 12 newsletter reports there will be meetings on finding solutions for the engines and getting them online, “hopefully.”D 15

Literary Cusping and After

Open Field Poetics

The diner’s parking lot full, I parked at Blockbuster just down the block. The area just beginning to be built up, tended rows of suburban crops. Red terra cotta bakes, tiling the hills in intricate patterns where once was only plants and boulders and animals. Still, half a mile brings 4 acres of commerce under false sun. Dusk. The horizon just about entirely drained of the regal orange-redpinks I’d driven west into. Brake lights just definable. A rabbit hops from tuft of brown weeds to tuft of brown weeds in the rocky Park ‘n Ride adjacent the diner. Its head watches me only momentarily, judged my path to be non-offensive. It hopped toward the sidewalk, brush-covered hill across the street. Eyes of a lone car creeping toward Blockbuster. Be careful bunny, I think. As if on commend to disobey, its beeline intercepts the Jeep’s front left wheel like an expert geometrician. The thunk answered the question I avoided purposefully. And the Jeep drove on, as it should. And I walked to the diner, and I ate, as I should.

There was this girl who held the world in her hands. Not the entire world, that would be a bit exaggerated. But she held most of the world

Zebulon Huset

in her right hand. Little and insignificant, is what she was known for. Looking at her from the right side of her face, the obscurities become quite clear. Her face glowed a bright magenta, rosy cheeks like tiny pieces of pomegranates sprinkled on her face. She lit the world ablaze with that smile. From the left side, her face seemed symmetrical. Beauty on both sides, charismatic and full of charm... She is beautiful in many ways. It’s just difficult to paint her portrait from

Silhouette Seen Through a Window

my memory.

The leaf’s green backlit by sunshine outside the window. A descending plane drones its air raid siren towards John Wayne Airport, who knows what’s sequestered in its belly. Something that could level fifty city blocks for all I can see, it’s shadowed wings and fuselage taken out of context, in a poem perhaps, could be a black swooping scythe, despite its shape, or the Devil’s trident, a deadly black arrow loosed from across the country. Or a lawn dart. And if you were one of the dumb/ unlucky few whose injuries pulled the product from shelves, that image would be terrifying, but I see them landing in the red ring we’d tossed near the oak four-by-four sandbox walls. I see barbequed burgers, Kool-Aid. A pick up game of basketball after the dart game. Green maple leaves screening the sun to filter down the fresh, verdant light of memory. So if the plane is destined to blow, leak or erupt, to destroy the area of Earth’s surface around the largest port on the west coast, at least I got that one pleasant image back. It’s something.

Erik Heredia

Zebulon Huset 16

Book Review John Leonard on Into the Wild Jon Krakauer’s novel, “Into the Wild,” is pure excitement. The 224-page book chronicles a young man named Chris McCandless and his journey to escape the harsh ideals of American society. McCandless leaves behind a stereotypical “perfect” family and sets out to hitchhike across the United States and eventually into the untamed wild lands of Alaska. Before setting out, he donates his entire savings to charity, and eventually abandons his car and all of his money. “Into the Wild” is a gripping book that keeps the reader hooked. McCandless’s journey is almost surreal. Many people complain about society’s troubles, like financial stress and the classic broken home, but few actually take action like McCandless. The people he meets and the places he goes are nothing special to the naked eye, but when McCandless delves into their lives, he truly learns what his own life is all about. McCandless travels around North Divergence Magazine

America, where he meets a free-spirited couple named Rainey and Jan, who ultimately introduce him to his first love interest, Tracy Tatro. Also, while working on a farm, McCandless befriends a likeable man by the name of Wayne Westerberg who plays the role of a father figure to McCandless. The Sean Penn directed film version of the book was recently released onto DVD and is decent compared to the novel. The movie is a strange combination of uplifting stories and somber occurrences, including the hardships of the Alaskan wilderness and the need for social interaction between humans. If one has read the book, it is rewarding to put a face to all the people that McCandless encountered on his quest. However, reading the book and imagining the characters is part of the reward from the story. Also, the film lacked Krakauer’s commentary, which added another dimension to McCandless’ story. Krakauer related to the young traveler, and this understanding allowed him to defend McCandless against critics who said that he was careless and lacked the knowledge to survive alone. With intriguing and successful works like “Into Thin Air” in his repertoire, it is no surprise that Krakauer did McCandless’ story justice. His attention to detail and obvious fascination with McCandless’s tale shows in the text. Never once does the novel come across as boring, and putting the book down proves the hardest part of the read. The Knopf Publishing Group’s book can be purchased for $14.00.

Christopher McAndless



After Into the Wild

Prophet of Being; existential architect of Soul constructing virginal flesh around broken bone with new blue print of mind Into flames with money with identity Into dust with Name toss it to breeze Born again... Virgin life on foot with roads through roaring rivers peaking mountains Knocking on heart with pregnant solidarity With London, Thoreau, Tolstoy Eat the organic cores of Nature

Drink the salts from Sea Suck the plants of Life Become God At you- I weep Inspirational Pioneer Wild man Who makes me taste the elements in the wind I weepat the dark irony of Nature that held your throat and won At you- I weep with joy at your Life in Death Ryan Johnson

Essay Crush by Richard Siken Chrystal Hartberg Creative Editor Richard Siken’s “Crush,” a collection of poems, tells a single story: the chaos of love will leave you unsettled, uneasy, always. The poetic approach was a necessary medium to convey this message to its readers. The repetition and unruly sporadic language forgoes rules and gets into the energy of language. Silken uses this energy to alter the mental state of the reader, the same way a hypnotist uses language to entrance their listener. Louise Glück states in her introduction to the book that Crush has a heavy undercurrent of panic and this panic is a manic search for reason. In Glück’s conclusion she quotes Emily Dickenson saying, “If I read a book and it makes my whole body so cold no fire can warm me, I know that is poetry. If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry. These are the only ways I know it. Is there any other way?” Siken has indeed caused this reaction in his reader; he has pushed beyond what storytelling is generally accepted to be capable of. Siken’s kind of poetry places its reader in the seat behind a wheel and gives them the choice to decide where they want to go next, almost the way God gives us free will, but we live in his world and in the possibilities of his world, just the way we live in Siken’s world and in his possibilities during the span of our reading. “You are Jeff” is a poem in which the reader is in the middle of a decision, whether or not they should love someone who has, like all people, parts they like and parts they don’t, but that being said Siken asks that the reader keep their options open, and try not to be to partial to one part or the other. Here is the opening stanza:

There are two twins on motorbikes but one is farther up the road, beyond the hairpin turn, or just before it, depending on which twin you are in love with at the time. Do not choose sides yet. It is still to your advantage to remain impartial. Both motorbikes are shiny red and both boys have perfect teeth, dark hair, soft hands. The one in front will want to take you apart, and slowly. His deft and stubby fingers searching every shank and lock for weaknesses. You could love this boy with all your heart. The other brother only wants to stitch you back together. The sun shines down. It’s a beautiful day. Consider the hairpin turn. Do not choose sides yet. “You are Jeff” goes on like this, weaving the reader in and out of these two brothers and placing them back together again. Siken goes as far as to make the reader an only child in the backseat of a station wagon witnessing the twins fighting on the side of the road, a child that has “never experienced anything [that] ferocious or intentional with another person” and telling the reader that “[t]here is an empty space next to you in the backseat of the station wagon. Make it the shape of everything you need. Now say hello.” It is added layers like this that deeply complicate and enrich the poem. These complications mimic real life. How in life, all of these layers, like childhood and memory, can play into every decision a person can make. The final stanza is where Siken brings the reader to their ultimate decision, whether or not they will choose love. Siken doesn’t tell his reader to choose love, but somehow you leave the poem believing you did. …You’re in the car with a beautiful boy, and you’re trying not to tell him that you love him, and you’re trying to choke down the feeling, and you’re trembling, but he reaches over and he touches you, like a prayer for which no words exist, and you feel your heart taking root in your body, like you’ve discovered something you don’t even have a name for. Siken wants his readers to go through the agony of panic and fear along with him in order to get to a place beyond it. To do this Siken leads his readers there through poetry. “As humans we strive to reach a place without worry or anxiety, a place of comfort where all our needs are cared for, a place without threat, a place where we no longer have to think, improve or judge ourselves. Art functions to jar us out of this place by engaging our emotions and showing us in relation to the world and to this other reality, which, ideally, will lead us to reconsider the terms of our lives and to resume our roles in the greater community” (Dobyns 194). Siken’s poetry becomes a necessary porthole to venture through in order to come to conclusions and emotions November 2008

that are beyond our experience. Siken will start somewhere unexpected like telling the reader about names and the many names of the objects of our world and then he’ll keep going with that. When you expect him to stop he’ll shift to a different aspect, a new topic so as not to lose your interest and then there he is, back to naming names. It goes on like this until finally both the reader and the writer are at the other side of confusion together, and it’s then that the reader and poet understand and can move forward. Chemical names, bird names, names of fire and flight and snow, baby names, paint names, delicate names like bones in the body… …Names of poisons, names of handguns, names of places we’ve been together, names of people we’d be together.. ‘Til finally: …but I can’t go through with it. I just don’t want to die anymore. It is only at the end of the book that I truly understand the beginning. The reader gets into the book, like they would get into the ocean- with a deep dive. The introduction poem “Scheherazade”, which is titled after the tale of a fictional Persian Queen who kept herself alive by telling stories at night to the angered and bitter King, is the point of departure for the rest of the book. Look at the light through the windowpane. That means it’s noon, that means we’re inconsolable / Tell me how all this, and love too, will ruin us / These, our bodies, possessed by light / Tell me we’ll never get used to it. Siken never does get used to the chaos of love; he never stops dipping his feet in to see if the water has changed. Despite all the panic love can cause Siken leads his readers through the fire to find love again. And he assures us that we will always move toward it when he concludes in the final poem of the book “Snow and Dirty Rain” that “[w]e are all going forward. None of us are going back.” Works Cited Dobyns, Stephen. Best Words, Best Order. New York: St. Martin’s Griffin, 1996. Siken, Richard. Crush. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2005.

SUBMISSIONS! The literary section is open to all student readers. We are seeking thought-provoking poems, short stories, essays, and book reviews. All genres of interest welcome. Email your entries to cypresschronicle@ gmail.com (subject line: Literary Section). 17

Amanda M. Avelar is a student in ART 144 Cartooning, which is taught Tuesdays and Thursdays at noon by instructor Kirk Sivertsen.

R

aul Gonzales is a student in the Photography Department. He recently received the Edouard De Merlier Scholarship. A special selection of photographs by Gonzales and other students will be featured in the Floating Wall Gallery until October 25. The Cypress College Photography Galleries are on the 2nd floor of the Technical Education 1 building. bout the playing cards series, Gonzales said, “Basically, I wanted to demonstrate how love can lead to domestic violence or non violence… a reminder these are just playing cards, cards I take pride in, having the nobility to demonstrate of what is within the malice of humanity which can lead to this effect among us. I’m not one of those individuals however, but there are people out there like that.”

A

CH: Why the piano? Do you feel the piano has a sound that no other instrument has that you feel you can speak through? KR: I started classic piano in third grade so it was just a natural progression to then continue on and learn some jazz concepts on it. Most great jazz vocalists -- even any instrumentalist, saxophonist, drummer, trumpeter have some kind of piano facility and can play at least just a little bit, but most vocalists are really accomplished jazz pianists, which is something that not a lot of people know. CH: That’s interesting. Inspiration can come from many sources. What are your influences both jazz related and non-jazz related?

Photo by Kenny Rivera by Chrystal Hartberg Creative Editor

Dr. Kate Reid is the head of the jazz program and Chair of the Music Department at Cypress College. Divergence Creative Editor Chrystal Hartberg recently sat down with Reid to discuss music, teaching and South Park. Chrystal Hartberg: You are a jazz musician as well as a music professor. What classes do you teach here at Cypress? Kate Reid: I teach music theory, jazz history, jazz improvisation and private voice for jazz pianists and jazz vocalists. CH: How do you teach improv? How do you go about teaching something that’s organic? KR: That’s a great question. There is a lot of different ways to come about it, I actually start from the concept of conversation and more of expressing oneself through music, but you start really minimal in that you don’t put a lot of expectations on your own self. As you teach the students, you start with a very small requirement, and it is really about communicating a very small idea through music. CH: How did music lead you to become a teacher? Why did you make the change from being a musician to being a teacher of music? KR: I knew really early on that I wanted to be a teacher; I knew probably from third or fourth grade. It sounds very strange, but it’s true. I knew that I wanted to teach and I enjoyed it a lot. Probably later on in 20

high school I determined, though, that the performing was just as important to me. So when I went to school I decided to get performance degrees; but fortunately, if you do get performance degrees, then you can go through a terminal degree, and you can teach at any level. So I knew very early on in my college career that I wanted to do both at the same time. It’s hard to balance them at times, but it’s really rewarding In the end it’s really rewarding. CH: Where does your interest in jazz originate from and how did you go about developing that interest? KR: I started listening to jazz when I was in high school; my brother is a jazz guitarist and every morning in high school, he was listening to Big Band music “Count Basie Orchestra” and “Duke Ellington Orchestra” ‘cause he played in the jazz band in high school. So I was probably in middle school when he started doing that. And I started getting that sound in my ear and it just stuck and so I got interested very early, started playing some piano then got interested with the singing and I was an education major for two years in college then decided I think I’m going to do this jazz thing. So I changed my major in the sophomore year and became a jazz studies major. Divergence Magazine

KR: I’ll try to be brief. As I said early on, Big Band with Ellington and Basie, people like Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, Joe Williams was a huge influence on me as well. Instrumentally, groups like the Oscar Peterson Trio, Oscar Peterson is a jazz pianist, Ray Brown, a jazz bassist, all those folks work together in different formats and amalgamations of quartets and trios. And I kind of got those sounds in my ear early, and I really wanted to emulate them specifically. Sarah Vaughan was one of my firsts that I emulated. Probably currently today most recently a singer that’s unfortunately not with us anymore but I just kind of tapped into her mostly in the later part of my education that would be Carmen McCray, certainly Shirley Horn and then a person that a lot of people know about who is very main stream is Diana Krall. A lot of people listen to her and she’s just really taken over the singer/pianist/jazz bag. People love her, so I listen to her just to know what people are interested in. Non- jazz, classical music whether it be orchestral, string oriented, classical pianists, and even opera and vocalists. All of that great vocal technique inspires me as a vocalist. CH: Have you ever been influenced by hip-hop or gospel music or even country? KR: Yeah actually, definitely gospel and country western too. My family when I was growing up we were a gospel quartet, and we sang a lot. We traveled a lot for about ten years around the East Coast and I actually had a twang to my voice (laughter) and learned a lot of gospel music and sang a lot of gospel music. So, definitely a southern gospel influence. I think the hip-hop

and the more popular and current grooves and styles I’m influenced more lately because my students are into it. They’ll bring stuff in and say, “you gotta check this out,” “What do you think of this?” or “What would you call this music?” or “Do you think this is jazz related at all?” My students bring those influences to me and I’m always wanting to learn something new, wanting somebody to play something that I haven’t heard before. CH: What would you say is your style? KR: I would say definitely in the jazz/piano/vocal bag, and when I say bag I mean the repertoire is jazz standards, the straight ahead swing kind of a feel. Music that is not too hard to get your head around, easy to listen to, but enjoyable, mainstream jazz I think is where we’d put it. CH: Improvising allows the freedom to express how you feel at any given moment, which enhances the performance as it plays off the mood of the crowd. What would you say is the most exciting aspect of improvising? KR: Trying to create something that I haven’t created before and trying to have it sound and feel fresh and new. Trying to create new melodies over the given core changes that somebody else wrote and have all the ideas flow together and when you can come up with even half of a chorus of something that’s really flowing, there is something really thrilling about that. CH: Do you ever write your own music or have you ever written anything that composed the sound of music or the lyrics? KR: I’ve composed a couple things, not one of my forays I would say. You take composition classes in college and you have to put together this that and the other thing, but not a lot of composing. I have a couple things I do in my repertoire that I wrote, but I spend more time arranging other people’s literature for myself than I do composing. CH: I understand that you recorded for independent films. Describe your role in that. KR: I got a call from one of the guys who wrote the music for South Park . . . .

PSSSSTTT... Have you heard about the best kept secret on campus?

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Did you know that as a registered student hereHealth at Cypress services at YOUR Center. that you are eligible for basic health services at YOUR Health Center. The health center is open: Monday, The Thursday, Friday from 8:00 am – 12pm and 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm Health Center is open: Tuesday, Monday, WednesdayThursday, from 8:00 am – 12:00 pm and 1:00 pm – 7:00 pm Friday (Summer hours of operation may vary)

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All vists are CONFIDENTIAL. We are a medical office and medical informaYou just might be surprised at what we can do for you……. tion will not be released to ANYONE without your written authorization, except as required by law. We’re located on the first floor of Gym II building. SO, stop by or give us a call at (714) 484-7361 You just might be surprised at what we can do for you.......

Read more of Dr. Reid’s Q&A, watch the video interview and see more photos at CyChron.com. November 2008

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Opinion

Support Our Troops

A rebuttal to “Support Our Troops” in the October issue. By Sara Magallon

Being the intellectual idealist, you will decide to write a critical protest song scolding the government for everything it’s doing wrong. It becomes an amazing hit and climbs to the top of the charts. Unfortunately for you, it also gets the attention of Homeland Security which whisks you off to Guantanamo Bay. There you spend day after day undergoing “enhanced interrogation,” “pyramid schemes” and other “shady things” they love to put into quotes. Most people would break under such conditions, but you’re such an optimistic hippie (that takes to water like a trout), your stay at the Gitmo Hilton is just peachy. In fact, you go out with a smile even on that fateful night when they hook up your nose hairs to a car battery and decide to “go for broke!” Now, I’d normally predict the amount of time you’d have left, but this time I refuse. You’re such an optimist that you’ll wind up cherishing the last days of your life, taking in every beautiful sunset, smelling every flower and blubbering at every chick flick. You’ll be so immersed in all this sappy crap that you’ll forget to write that protest song. In which case, you wouldn’t die. Then my prediction would be wrong, thus ruining my streak in the local dead pool. And I’ll be damned if I ruin my streak over some freakin’ hippie! Famous Scorpios: • • • • • • • • • • • • • .

Pablo Picasso (Oct. 25th) Hillary Rodham Clinton (Oct. 26th) Sylvia Plath (Oct. 27th) Winona Ryder (Oct. 29th) Larry Flynt (Nov. 1st) k.d. lang (Nov. 2nd) Charles Bronson (Nov. 3rd) Maria Shriver (Nov. 6th) Kurt Vonnegut (Nov. 11th) Charles Manson (Nov. 12th) Martin Scorsese (Nov. 17th) Larry King (Nov. 19) Bjork (Nov. 21st)

Madam Toaster is an unlicensed astrologer. None of her predictions ever come true, but don’t tell her that. She’s got issues!

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Everyone in the armed forces fights for you to be free. They fight for rights so many of us take for granted such as being able to go to college, have as many kids as we want and speak freely about our president. In other countries, people die because of it. Answer me, who would protect our rights as American citizens if they didn’t? Having our rights written on a paper means nothing; our soldiers keep that paper alive. They give it meaning. The Armed Forces have been fighting to protect our rights for centuries. They protect our national security, our borders and make our safety their first priority. Yes, of course the military has changed since 1914, but it’s now 2008 and we must adapt to these changes. I agree, our stable defense forces like the police, national guard and coast guard do provide us with their generous help. Their main duty which they are trained to do is protect and keep us safe. They are trained and ordered to kill those who threaten our safety. Do I have a problem with that? Absolutely not. You believe that today, our military is fighting for all the wrong reasons; we are in a war without meaning. I beg to differ. Many American lives were lost on September 11 and many others were threatened. A mother that was anxiously waiting for her son to come home, but instead had to watch her son’s airplane flight crash into the World Trade Center would believe that we’re in this war for a reasonable cause, for justice, to regain what was taken from us. You didn’t lose anyone, so what say do you have? You weren’t personally affected. Your father didn’t die, your brother didn’t die; you sat at home and said, “Wow that’s horrible, lets move on”. But others didn’t even get the last remains of their loved ones. A war without meaning? How dare you. Whether our soldiers are fighting over a chunk of brownie or the life of my brother, I’d support both. Why? Because I am an American, I stand by my country at its best and at its worst. A majority here, over there, under there and all the way over there probably don’t want us in Iraq. Now, Divergence Magazine

let’s get back to reality. The war wont’ be over in a few months, when Obama wins the presidency or when McCain wins the presidency. Sure they can promise it will, but is it really going to happen? I highly doubt it. You always have the right to express yourself freely, that’s the great thing about being an American. But how dare you take for granted these men and women who leave behind everything for you (willingly or not) -a perfect stranger? You should be ashamed. You probably work 20 hours a week and spend the rest of the time in your comfortable home relaxing, but they don’t. They literally have a 24/7 job, their home is a base. They can’t see their loved ones or write about how much they don’t support the war and how soldiers don’t really fight for our rights (they do it for fun, right?). How dare you feel entitled to express your opinions? I know how... Because they GAVE you the right to be entitled and you are. “Seventy-one percent of Iraqis want us out”. Oh no, they don’t want us there? Thank you for informing us. Everybody gather up your belongings. Fahd just informed us that they don’t want us here. Now, please, think. Do you really believe we can walk out after being there so long? Even if we did just “leave” do you actually believe the soldiers will be home in a few months? No. It will take a year at the minimum to bring them all home. Oh and I’m pretty sure Hitler didn’t want us in Europe either. The truth is, we’re in this war. Like it or not. Soldiers are fighting and I’m pretty sure they’re fighting for us (Americans). So you’re either with us or against us. Simple as that. One more thing, the reason most would rather get their news on the internet or television is because “Divergence” is full of “writers” who lack the ability to express themselves appropriately without the use of vulgar language. We’d have better luck getting news from Ozzy Osbourne. I’m ashamed people like you “write” for the Cypress College “newspaper”.

Opinion The Passion of Suicide: Ethical Considerations

Where is the Love? By MARIA LEANO

you would not wish on your worst enemy. Tough stuff, you say, but how precisely is that a public health crisis? Well, as September a.k.a “Pain Awareness Month” was supposed to publicize, chronic pain is the cruel companion of over 50 million Americans. Unlike the acute pain you might feel if you were to scrape a knee or burn a fingertip, chronic pain does not heal, and it does not go away – even under the best of medical treatment. I hope you are fortunate enough not to count yourself among the 50 million, but what I do want you to understand, is that when that many people hurt consistently – and interminably – it’s not just them and their families that suffer ... our whole society suffers. For one thing, caring for chronic pain patients places an enormous burden on healthcare resources due to factors such as overuse of emergency rooms, extended hospital stays and multiple clinical visits. (In Canada, for instance, more money is spent on treating chronic pain than cancer, heart disease and HIV combined.) Workplaces are not immune from the repercussions of chronic pain, either. Last year, as many as 550 million days of lost work were attributed to chronic pain conditions. For U.S. businesses, that corresponded to more than $100 billion dollars in sick time, reduced productivity, and direct medical and other benefit costs for employees. One recent survey even found that American families with a sick member at home shoulder an average of $77,000 in paid and unpaid caregiving costs each year.

Then & Now

If you saw me walking through campus and spotted the cranberry-colored bracelet on my wrist, would you stop to ask me what it meant? Probably not, right? Wearing the bracelet was supposed to help me bring the same kind of attention and fundraising to my disease that Lance Armstrong managed to detonate on behalf of cancer when he launched his now-ubiquitous yellow Livestrong bracelet. Yet in two years of brandishing my own wrist adornment, I have yet to answer a single question about its meaning. The “cause bracelet” is overused – I’ll give you that (a web search quickly revealed more than 50 color-cause combinations), but it’s confounding to have AN ENTIRE MONTH dedicated to your cause, and still not perceive any uptick in attention to a veritable public health crisis. Yes, a public health crisis. Like 10 million other Americans, I have a chronic pain disorder called fibromyalgia. For people like me, pain is not the symptom of a disease – it is the disease. Fibromyalgia (FM) is so complex that doctors don’t know what causes it, and there is no cure. While FM is not terminal, it is nothing short of excruciating. In addition to the widespread musculoskeletal pain it causes, overlapping symptoms such as extreme fatigue, sleep abnormalities, cognitive dysfunction, migraine headaches and environmental sensitivities not only interfere with daily activities—they can make them altogether impossible. Having lived with FM for the past eight years, I can tell you it is precisely the sort of horror

By ALEXANDRU MITROI Socrates exclaimed, after being sentenced to death, that the unexamined life is not worth living. This statement raises several questions. Which life is worth living? How does one examine life? Rather than providing a direct answer to those questions it is more beneficent to try to determine the quality a person possesses when the life worth living is lived. There exists such a quality. The problem lies in expressing it, as no word exists for it because it cannot be expressed in language. This quality must be experienced. A good way to express it is as passion. However, passion in itself is not the desired quality. It may be better expressed as a passion which is not intense and that is maintained for a long period of time. This quality is expressed by Frederick Nietzsche when he says, “It is not the power of great emotions which makes men superior. It is their duration.” It may be further clarified, through negation, by considering how Aristotle describes the friendship between the young based on pleasure, which he calls erotic friendship. “The young are also prone to erotic friendship, since it is generally a matter of following one’s feelings, and aims at pleasure; they therefore quickly fall in love and quickly stop, often changing in one day”. In the absence of a word to describe this quality it will be referred to as Nietzschean passion. To understand why this is the desired quality there are several ethical principles that need to be addressed first. These principles have been developed to the greatest extent in the East in the disciplines of Zen, Tao, and Buddhism. Because the ways of liberation the Eastern disciplines adhere to cannot be described in positive terms, or directly, Western ideas will be used.

by Anna Rangel

To read the rest of this essay, log on @ CyChron.com

Read a piece on the $700 billion bailout by Economics Dept. Chair Fola Odebunmi on CyChron.com. November 2008

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