NEWS: Murder on Monday

Monday, March 29, there will be a murder with over 60 witnesses, all dressed in Roaring ‘20s attire, who will be required to solve the deadly deed. Antelope Valley College is hosting its first Murder Mystery Dinner in celebration of Spring Fest.

The faculty and students are invited to participate in what Liset Varela said “will be a really fun night to investigate and socialize with students and faculty.” Varela should know: she has been in charge of planning the event since last fall’s Homecoming, among many other Student Development activities.

Despite no previous murder mystery nights on campus, the idea of the event seems to have caught on. As of this writing, spaces are limited and are being filled quickly. Those working on the project are not only hoping for a good turnout, but expect an engaging audience willing to participate in the game.

Both faculty and students are expressing enthusiasm.

“Dr. Zimmerman [department head of Student Development] is really excited about this event,” said Anna Becerra, who has helped to plan the project.

Participants can expect to walk into an illegal gambling den of the era, where they will encounter a deadly surprise. Each guest is expected to dress appropriate to the gangster-ridden era.

The 1920s fashion for both men and women was quite distinct. Women wore long pearl necklaces, flapper dresses, evening gowns and boas. Men donned zoot suits, black or white ties on black shirts, and gangster hats.

During the Murder Mystery, cue cards will be given out to guests, so they can participate along with the 20 committee members. The committee’s inside knowledge will help solve the murder, although guests are going to be just as involved in its solution.

This event revolves specifically around “The Murder at the Four Dueces,” an online game that offers advice on setting up your own murder mystery for profit.

Dinner will be served at the game, with lots of appetizers and a special mystery dessert. Despite the Prohibition-criminal theme, alcohol will not be served. There will be cider, however, as well as other non-alcoholic libations.

Along with the murderous dinner, there will be prizes given for best actor/actress and best dressed. The 1920s casino-themed night will be held in the SSV Boardroom 151 at 7 p.m., and is expected to last two-to-three hours.

Murder mystery nights at other colleges have yielded profitable results. AVC’s Murder Mystery Night, however, is a nonprofit celebration for students and faculty to socialize in a safe environment.

– By Jeremy Tompkins and Katherine Maritz

NEWS: Printed copies of our first issue now available

We're finally able to proudly say "The printed copy is available!" Make sure you pick one up. Spots around campus include the library, the ls1, Lecture Hall, the apl lobby, cafeteria, and the admin building!

- By Russell S.

NEWS: March Madness Hits Paraclete High School

The Oasis Christian Church is hosting an event called “March Madness” on Saturday, March 27 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. The doors will be open at 4:30 p.m.

This event will be held at Paraclete High School Gym, which is located at 42145 30^th Street West. Admission is free for everyone.

At this event, there will be food, games, a DJ, a live band, prizes and a sermon. Everyone is invited to “rock [their] favorite jersey”.

For more information, please visit www.myspace.com/occmarchmadness.

-By Dani Jean Keinz

IMPORTANT: TAKE A STAND!

If you want to take a stand against budget cuts in our schools text "NO MORE CUTS" to 69302. Find more information here http://nomorecuts.com/

NEWS: Student Protests Escalate

On Monday, March 22, students from community colleges around California marched on the state capitol.

The students were protesting the large budget cuts in education, which resulted in either classes being cut or overcrowding.

Protesters marched from Riley Field, across the Sacramento River and up to the capitol building.

Protests were peaceful with no arrests reported.

The protest was organized by the Student Senate for California Community Colleges. (SSCCC)

- By Joshua Sanchez

OPINION: Buyback Breaks Down

If there’s one thing everyone’s been having a problem with lately, it’s money.

College students have always been pretty close to broke but in the current economic state it’s made things even harder.

Luckily there are many things students can do to make money for instance defrauding the financial aid system or playing the market on eBay.

Of course, what about all of those books that have accrued in your room or your car just sitting there? There are so many of them from all of the semesters you’ve been here at Antelope Valley College because you can’t get more than two or three classes at a time unless you’re lucky.

What if you could sell them back to someone else who might need them? Well the good news is, you can!

Just show up to the book buybacks and—oh wait that’s right, your books are considered out of date because there’s a new edition every year.

Even the books you have that aren’t out of date won’t fetch a good price; five or six bucks for most of them.

Whose fault is it that your books are outdated and practically worthless? Yours? Nope. The answer isn’t so easy but it has a lot to do with greedy publishers.

One student in particular is unhappy with the book buyback situation.

His name is Garrett Stoffel. “I have always hated the bookstore because their prices don't come with lube because they are a raping [me], but it’s the convenience that keeps me coming back.” Stoffel said.

This reflects a lot of student’s opinions unfortunately.

When asked about re-selling his books on the web, “My first semester I tried buying books online. I had three classes. One professor said that it’s an AVC copy of a book and needs to be bought here. The second book I tried buying online, they sent the wrong one which turned into a hassle, and ended with me buying from the campus bookstore, and the third book was my only lucky buy on half.com. I got the college algebra book that was selling in the bookstore for $160, for 12 bucks on half.com and the even more awesome part was it was the teacher’s edition. So for 12 bucks I got to learn AND know all the answers! I’ve used Amazon before, and they are only about 20 to 40 bucks cheaper, but then you have to wait for it to arrive which isn’t fun, and then the 10 books I have sitting here won’t sell on chegg.com or textbooksnow.com because they are old editions.” Stoffel said.

Are there ways we could change the format by which our books are sold?

We could rally the students to boycott books all together to send a message to congress that this is a horrible injustice and something needs to be done but unfortunately that’s just impractical.

So what should students do? What will finally save us from being even farther in the hole than we already are?

“I’m excited for the days of digital books. I would love to have my Macbook, or potential iPad, with the books right there [so that] I can take side notes right there, and then I wouldn’t have to lug half a tree around. For the bookstore in general, they have some awesome customer service. If you tell them what you need they get it for you, so it is quick, but 750 bucks for four classes worth of text books is insane.” Stoffel said.

There you have it, book buybacks aren’t helping and are in fact taking advantage of student’s financial situations.

- By Russell Spencer

SPORTS: Taylor to take over for Men as Dieter resigns

The AVC women’s basketball head coach John Taylor will take over both the women’s and men’s basketball programs.

After the resignation of former men’s head coach Dieter Horton last week, Dr. Jackie L. Fisher Sr. announced that the decision had been made that coach Taylor would take the role as head coach for both programs.

The move will be for only one year and was decided to continue a sense of stability for the freshmen and recruiting circuit.

“Taylor is a highly skilled and experienced head coach with an impressive record during his 10 seasons of leading the women's team at AVC,” Dr. Fisher said.

To keep some steadiness to the men’s program, assistant coaches Brad Wiggs and Tim Atkerson will continue their roles on the men’s staff in an effort to help out coach Taylor as well. On the women’s team, Barry Green, will be expanding his responsibility to also help out Taylor.

Though it can be considered an odd move, it has been done at the junior college a few times, even as recently as last year. At Ventura College, Ned Mircetic guided both the men’s and women’s programs into the playoffs.

Coach Taylor has a record of 237-100 in his 10 seasons as head coach of the women’s program.

“We have every reason to expect that he'll continue that same record of excellence with the men's team," Fisher said.

- By Clayton Fawcette

ART: Photo Journal: Donald Williams

With his world on his finger tips, the sky is the limit for this former Division 1 Kentucky basketball star who lost everything.

-By Brandon Mann

NEWS: Power outages on campus

Spring break for AVC means electrical upgrades in many of the schools buildings. Power will be shut off and the building will be inaccessible during the down time. The memo reads:

FACILITIES PLANNING AND CAMPUS DEVELOPMENT

SPRING BREAK CAMPUS POWER OUTAGES

High voltage electrical upgrades being made campus wide will cause a number of scheduled power outages during the spring break week from Sunday, April 4th through Sunday, April 11th.

The listed buildings will have no power for the days as noted and will not be accessible. The approved campus power outage schedule is as follows:

Sunday, April 4th

Applied Arts Building

T300 Faculty Office Building

North Central Plant

Monday, April 5th

Applied Arts Building

T300 Faculty Office Building

North Central Plant

Tuesday, April 6th

Gymnasium

Automotive Shop (TE6)

Wednesday, April 7th

Gymnasium

Automotive Shop (TE6)

Thursday, April 8th

Student Center

Fine Arts Buildings

Library

Science Buildings

Lecture Hall Building

Learning Center

Liberal Studies Buildings

Technical Education Buildings - TE1, TE2, TE6, TE6

Gymnasium

Applied Arts Building

Faculty Offices - T300, OF1, OF2, OF3

Math & Engineering Building

Friday, April 9th

SAME AS Thursday, April 8th

IN ADDITION:

Administration Building

Student Services Building

Saturday, April 10th

SAME AS Friday, April 9th

Sunday, April 11th

SAME AS Friday, April 9th

Please contact your supervisor regarding any work schedule questions.

Please contact Facilities Planning and Campus Development regarding any facilities related issues at x6470.

NEWS: Water main break leaves APL building water-less

-Photo by Vanessa Hines

In the early morning of Thursday, March 11, students in the Applied Arts and Liberal Studies buildings found themselves wanting to be in hot water. According to a student worker, there was a water main break between the APL and LS buildings.

It was later confirmed by Steve Standerfer, the public information officer, there was a water main break discovered by a security officer around 12:00 in a construction area.

The cause of the break is unknown. Standerfer explained that there was no hot water because they needed to shut down all the water, “Which would’ve affected hot water, as well.”

-By Antonio De La O and Armando Nuñez

Issues with our first issue

We're having some issues folks, things are still up in the air. Stay tuned for updates.

OPINION: Things you should know about Polyamorism

Some AVC students, who wish to remain anonymous for obvious reasons, have much experience when it comes to the subject of having multiple partners and have gone on to try an alternative lifestyle. Polyamorous relationships are unknown to many and are more popular than we may know.

These anonymous people seem to be, but are definitely not cheaters by definition. Polyamory is a conscious decision by every person involved to be in a relationship with more than two people at the same time. When referring to a polyamory lifestyle, the word “relationship” is not defined by our regular social constraints.

Do not be so quick to judge the sub-culture though. Although Polyamorists lead a life that is looked down on by many, they make a stand to have honest relationships. Knowing the natural lustful tendencies of men and women, polyamory embraces this aspect of our lives rather than accept it as the immoral act it has been portrayed to be in society. Whereas a monogamous relationship obviously has more barriers, temptations, and chances for breaking the old-fashioned rules.

“I said I would never do it, but over time I grew an amazing love,” said the anonymous AVC student who engages in polyamoric activity.

This tenet gives an impression that happiness is everything and control is viewed as a far second. But they have progressed in an area where most monogamists have not, considering more than half of marriages end up in divorce in the United States. It is definitely easier to be honest with your significant other when you start out with “everything on the table.”

This fascinating new type of relationship does not seem to be leaving this campus anytime soon. So next time you forget that communication is the key to your monogamous relationship, ask around campus. You may find some polyamorists who are more than willing to give some advice.

-By Brandon Mann

OPINION: Cheaters

A “cheat” is an imposter, a fraud, a person who acts dishonestly, deceives, or defrauds as defined by dictionary.com. These are definite facts whose meaning to some, would be up for interpretation.

People who have interpreted and stretched these definite facts for their personal exploits are known by many. It seems that almost monthly we find a famous basketball player, established politician or an idolized golfer, busted for being unfaithful. Do these examples seem a little hard to relate to? Surely, you have been, or know someone who has been cheated on before.

Many people who have been in a situation where cheating is going on, would like to know how to prevent it from happening in the future. There are, however, those that would not have it any other way. The media, a clear source of influences which direct the way many of us live and dramatically affects our day to day lives, can not be overlooked when talking about infidelity.

I am sure ashleymadison.com qualifies. The website whose slogan is “LIFE IS SHORT, HAVE AN AFFAIR”, is considered to be the Google of marital adultery by providing a social networking service which willingly allows spouses to cheat on their significant others.

Still, going against decades of social norms is not every controversial media outlet’s main purpose. Take the nationally syndicated television show by the same name; Cheaters.

The hidden camera show whose main goal is to expose untruthful relationships, actually makes an attempt to “treat it more responsibly,” says host Joey Greco. “[People] jump into relationships too quickly. The issue of trust is going to come up in that relationship. Take a little bit more control over your own life.”

Wondering how this relates to Antelope Valley College students? If you do not personally know a student on campus who may be a candidate for Cheaters, you may be in the wrong class.

-By Brandon Mann

SPORTS: On the Horizon

The Olympics are done and the football season is completely over, so what prospective sport or sporting event is on the up and up at the moment?

In professional sports the NBA is three quarters of the way done and heading to the playoffs. The NHL will finally start getting back into action after the Olympic break meaning that they are reaching playoff time soon, while NASCAR is just a couple weekends into their grueling schedule. Finally, college basketball is nearing their “March Madness,” so that means it is almost time for everyone to start filling out their brackets for the office.

Since the NBA trade deadline, the dominant teams appear to have distanced themselves from the competition. The two biggest trades involved possible title contenders which could help them reach the Finals.

The Dallas Mavericks traded for the Washington Wizards former All-Star Caron Butler, defensive minded center, Brendan Haywood and Deshawn Stevenson. These two will combine with Mav’s stars, Jason Kidd, Dirk Nowitzki, and Shawn Marion, to form a formidable starting lineup that can match up with anyone in the Western Conference.

This trade puts the Mavs in the top three or four Western Conference contenders. The real question of this trade is, whether it put them ahead of the LA Lakers?

LeBron James’ Cleveland Cavaliers also made a blockbuster deal that involved another former Wizard All-Star. Antawn Jamison was dealt to the Cavs for Zydrunas Ilgauskas (recently bought out by the Wizards) in a three-team deal that also involved the LA Clippers.

Cleveland is arguably the best team in the league already and this trade could further this belief especially if the Cavs are able to re-sign Big Z. This could even not be the biggest deal for the franchise right now. The question for the Cavs is, does this win them the title and further their chance to re-sign James?

“I don’t see anyone but the Cavs winning the title this year. They are too good, and the Lakers aren’t as good as last year,” says Jeff Kay.

Looks like we will find out in just a few short months.

After the exciting gold medal match in Vancouver, could the NHL become more popular?

Sorry, but unlikely hockey fans.

“That was a very exciting game, but come on. Who really believes that the NHL will gain popularity? That sport is just a step above soccer in America,” says DJ Kelley

Though the gold medal game was exciting, the NHL will continue their seemingly unnoticed regular season and head towards the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Which race are they on to in NASCAR now? Three weeks into their season and already the buzz has died down around the sport. Anyone know why that is? First of all, Jimmy Johnson already seems back on track and on pace to win his fifth straight NASCAR championship. Second? Oh yea, that “sex symbol” female driver, Danica Patrick, will be heading back to Indy Racing.

Well it was nice seeing you Danica, see you again in the summer.

With the top two teams falling this past weekend in college basketball does that make the tournament more exciting? Does it matter?

With all the office pools and brackets filled out it just might not matter.

Possibly the best postseason in all of sports, amateur or professional, there will be guaranteed excitement.

If the latter does not appease to you there is always spring training starting up, and the upcoming NFL Draft.

So who is going to be No.1 anyways?

-By Clayton Fawcette

NEWS: Forensics Team Places in Competition

Friday, Feb. 26, a bomb-threat shut down the 5 freeway, postponing a speech competition for two hours. The threat kept many schools, including Antelope Valley College, from reaching the competition on time. But, the event would prove to be an exciting one for the previously mentioned team when they did finally arrive.

The competition took place at San Diego State University and hosted mainly southern Calif. Schools such as USC, UCLA and other community colleges. What makes this completion so special though is that for the first time, AVC brought home a team speech award for the third most points in their division.

Congratulations to Professor Harish Rao on leading the team to victory. Speech team member Nathaniel Hawthorne took second place in novice impromptu and made it to the final round in novice informational. “I’m glad I went,” said Hawthorne, “I definitely learned a lot from the experience and am looking forward to the next competition.” Considering that this was Hawthrone’s first speech competition, Prof. Harish must be doing something right.

-By Rebecca Morgan

OPINION: Should chronic droppers be penalized?

We all experience the drudge of the first day of class. Fighting to find parking, running to the classroom, squeezing 50 students into a classroom designed for 25 people. Wait! There’s not enough syllabi for all of you- even if you’re registered- you might not get one because the caffeine-crazed crashers always grab the papers too?

Crashing classes has turned into a free-for-all because of the budget cuts, there are 350 to 400 less classes offered this year but there is another reason crashing is so prevalent, course shopping. Look around you that first week-the registered students, that is. Up to half of those students will not successfully finish the course. At the end of the semester when you contemplate the half-empty room does your mind drift back to those crashing students, the ones who were begging to add this course that others dropped in the first weeks without a second thought

I’ve wanted to shout at the teachers, “Add everyone-you know half these idiots aren’t going to be here in three weeks!” But most rooms are only fire coded for 30 students, so having 50 would be against the law. Teachers could explain the goals of the class, but that may not help.

In my Introduction to Screenwriting class last semester, Professor Kevin North made it crystal clear the first night, saying, “You will be writing a 90 to 110 page screenplay in this class.” Half the class dropped out as it occurred to them that he was actually serious about that. Professor Jared Meeker told his class that they would learn to play the guitar and they would need to practice every day. “You really have to want this!” He stated. Half the class dropped out as they realized that, yes, he really meant they would learn to play the guitar.

The problem of course shopping has infected colleges and universities all over the country. Florida has started making students of Florida Bright Futures Scholarships pay back the money they received for courses they later dropped. This can be a $400 bill to pay after the money is spent. Students at Texas Universities are limited to six course drops, regardless of how many classes they take or how many years they’re at the university.

I propose that California start penalizing students who show a habit of registering for courses that they later drop, say over a three-semester period. For every course you drop after being labeled a “Course Shopper”, you will be pushed back in the registration queue, losing your seniority.

If you persist in this behavior then a $25 drop fee for each course should be assessed. If you still course shop, then I say you should be forced to wear a scarlet CS on your shirt for the semester, and other students will be encouraged to pelt you with soggy cheese doodles.

I know “life happens” while taking college courses. I’m a wife, mother of a nine-year-old son, caretaker of elderly parents, blah, blah blah. You get sick, your mother dies, your husband gets laid off—all valid reasons to withdraw from your classes.

But you didn’t know the class was going to be this hard, don’t like the teacher, it’s too early in the morning for you, you don’t want to write a screenplay even though you registered for Screenwriting 101? Please, suck it up. Complete the course and stop being a jerk to your fellow schoolmates. Let’s cooperate and graduate. Okay?

-By Rosemarie Tighe

OPINION: What is the real price of education?

Like many of you, I had to buy a textbook, and, like many of you, I had to pay ridiculous prices for these books.

I know I am not the only one with this kind of problem. This is something that, in my opinion, is out of control. The fact is that prices are just too high.

Every time a semester starts I am happy, I finally get to do something during the day I think to myself. But recently, I have started dreading the start of school because I know there is going to be a bill of astronomical proportions.

This should not be. Why should students have to worry about the price of textbooks? I am constantly on edge when I go to the bookstore and see a book for $200. That’s right, a single book for $200.

I know some people are going to say that not all books are overpriced, and this is completely true. But there are far more expensive textbooks than there are reasonably priced ones.

I know I am not the only one that feels this way. Aaryn Celis, a math major at AVC described textbook prices as “over-inflated” and “outrageous”. I agree 100 percent with Celis; the prices are outrageous, especially for math books. A calculus book will set a student back $168.85 before tax.

Now if I am magically one of a kind, I am the only person who does not have a job and for me this is too much. Just like Celis, I have my parents pay for my textbooks and this is putting a financial toll on them.

Another thing that is really annoying is the stock that the bookstore orders. They do not order books relative to the people in the classes, but to past sales. This is troubling because David Moyer, the manager of the bookstore, said that there has been a decline in customers because of the class cuts.

Because of the way stocks of books are determined some students are left without a book. One could argue, well you should have bought the book during the break. The truth is that not everyone was able to do that. Crashers are probably the people who have it the worst. They are trying to get a class, and when they actually get it, they find the book out of stock.

This has happened to me one too many times and, frankly, I am tired of it.

There’s more. Many people are not buying books from the bookstore, but instead buy from a friend, or an internet site such as Amazon.com.

Celina Poma says she does not do any book shopping at the campus bookstore. She instead buys from other students who sell their books at reasonable prices.

But there is another alternative that can give students a reduced price: book rentals.

Moyer says that the bookstore is looking into a rental service. I think it is a great idea. If you think about it, it would be so simple. It would be right on campus, so all you would have to do is rent the book out for the semester and return the book once the semester is over.

The way some sites work, like Bookrenter.com, is they charge you a late fee, so I am guessing if this does go through then it will probably be similar.

I think that this is something that should have been done a long time ago. It is a system in which the students pay a fraction of what the book costs and they get it for the semester.

Moyer also told me that the Board of Trustees approves the prices, so if you believe that we need change in the school’s bookstore, start demanding it.

-By Antonio De La O

SPORTS: Disappointing weekends

So much could have come out of the first two weekends of February that showed so much promise. There was a Championship game, an All-Star weekend, the biggest race of the year and even a worldwide sporting event.

Super Bowl XLIV seemed to be completely void of excitement, all except for two plays. The New Orleans Saints opened up the second half with an onside kick, and then with roughly three minutes to go, the Saint’s Tracy Porter returned a “pick six.”

Both teams played it safe, which made the only excitement of the game the tight score.

The halftime show continued the bland theme, since no one can live up to the 2004 Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction. The aging “Who” put on a decent show but the lighting was better than the actual performance.

Even without the action that we have grown accustomed to, the game was still able to dethrone MASH as the all-time most viewed show with an estimated 106.5 million viewers.

February’s second weekend appeared as though it would bring even more excitement with three major events.

NBA All-Star weekend was set to kickoff with a celebrity game, a game of HORSE, the skills competition, the dunk contest and then, finally, the actual All-Star game.

The All-Star weekend was held in Dallas, but instead of the NBA’s Dallas Maverick’s American Airlines Center, the festivities took place in the new $1.2 billion Dallas Cowboys stadium.

The first three events for the weekend seemed like the typical lack-luster events but there was hope in the dunk contest. By the performance that the players put up it might as well been canceled. Nate Robinson won his record third dunk contest but no big names were in there to challenge him, thus making this event irrelevant again.

Mike Bass, the NBA's senior vice president of marketing, told Tim Macmahon of ESPNDallas that a crowd of more than 90000 was expected for the Feb. 14 game.

Sunday’s game was the typical NBA All-Star where everyone showboated and no one played defense. The NBA did have better singers perform but the halftime seemed like 40 minutes of a bunch of mediocre performances all around.

The last nine minutes of the game seemed to make up for the silliness. The players actually discovered how to play basketball again and, finally, almost made a game of it.

With 108713 fans in attendance, the game broke the all-time attendance record for an NBA game.

To challenge the NBA was the long awaited Winter Olympics. International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge had high hopes and even said, “Vancouver will serve as the blueprints for the future.”

Rogge continued with “hosting the games is always a complex and challenging undertaking, VANOC and its partners rose to the challenge without compromising the original vision for these games."

The Winter Olympics kicked off with a dark cloud over it, when Nodar Kumaritashvili, a Georgian luger died while on a practice run.

Even with the USA leading in the medals race as of Monday night, this sad event will be remain the story line for these Winter Olympics.

The last hope for a good performance was left up to NASCAR and their own Super Bowl, the Daytona 500.

There was some concern from racing officials due to a decline in attendance and TV ratings.

Sadly NASCAR broke its foot. Quite literally.

A huge pothole developed and caused two delays combining for nearly two and a half hours.

The race wasn’t won by a star as hoped and ended in controversy.

For the biggest race of the year, track and NASCAR officials sure did fall flat on their faces.

For all the potential these two weekends had, all events turned into busts. Hopefully the upcoming weeks will make up for it with spring training, March Madness, and the NBA playoffs just around the corner.

-By Clayton Fawcette