Detour, detour, and another detour. By now everyone should have noticed the new building be-ing constructed at what once was the DVC commons, the raised cement platform in front of the bookstore. But what is it and what is it for?

I would like to introduce you to the new South and North

Buildings (that is right, TWO buildings!), and on top of that, a new bigger and greener com-mons centered at where the cur-rent antiquated cafeteria is.

The South building is the one currently being completed. There has been minimal delay in the construction. “There has only been one delay... So far it looks like the delay will only be two weeks (still October),” said Chri-sanne Knox, Director of Market-ing and Communications. This building will be home to Student Services (counseling, admissions, financial aid, etc). This building will open near the end of the year once the current Student Services staff is moved over.

Next, during this coming De-cember, the current Student Ser-vices building is scheduled to be demolished. Scheduled to finish by May 2014, this will lead to the start of constructing the North Building. The North Building will be across from the South Building, split by a wide walkway. There will even be a bridge con-necting the second floors of the South and North buildings!

Culinary Arts students rejoice, as the North Building will house the new Hotel and Restaurant Management (HRM) classrooms. For everyone else the North Building will also have the new cafeteria (or the “Diablo room”) and food services center.

Later in June 2014 once the North Building is finished, pre-

Being in the right place at the right time may be called luck. Being in the right place at the right time for weeks on end? That is what DVC music pro-fessor Glenn Appell calls “good mojo,” and that is how he sums up his four-month Roots Music Journey.

At the end of January, Ap-pell embarked on a sabbatical to explore the roots of histori-cal American music. Not your average road trip, this journey took him from the Bay Area to the southeast coast in a string of back road juke joints, humid outdoor venues, and decades-old bandstands to witness roots mu-sic in all its glory.

Music historians describe roots music as any music that is acoustic and does not involve amplification. Here is a visual: an acoustic guitar, a fiddle, throw in a banjo, calloused fingers strumming a washboard, and bare-feet stomping in time on the sagging porch of a clapboard house. This is roots music.

Appell’s good mojo found him on a tour of the Jerry Lee Lewis house by none other than Lewis’ sister. As the last person in the door at the famed Bird Café in Nashville, Appell was

sat in the front row for a highly touted singer/songwriter inti-mate concert. He also ran with the King of the Zulus in New Orleans, toured museums, stu-dios and private homes by gener-ous hosts and found himself in many behind-the-scenes situations. His good mojo even included finding Jack White tickets.

“Rural America is keeping roots music alive and well,” Ap-pell was happy to report. He was particu-larly inspired in Bristol, Tenn. to see the Ken-tucky School of Bluegrass and Traditional Music from the Hazard Community and Tech-nical College performing at the venerable Carter Family Fold. He thought, “Imagine that…a community college that is paying attention to its own local cultural treasures.”

Appell was split between Nashville and New Orleans as the cities with the best local mu-sic scene.

Traveling through the south was not without its moments of culture shock. Although Appell did not witness any blatant acts of racism, he was surprised by the amount of Confederate flags and memorials scattered through the small towns of the south. “I understand that it is a part of the region’s history,” stated Ap-pell, but he was a little unnerved by the amount of money spent to maintain and restore these monuments. Happily, this was balanced by integrated bands

and audiences with a com-mon love for roots music.

In the mid-dle of May, Appell re-turned to the Bay Area with 15,000 miles worth of photos, vid-eos, memories and a better understand-ing of and appreciation for American roots music.

Appell is planning a series of “lunch time talks” where he will fully present the details of his journey. Until then, you can see some of his best-of moments on his blog at: http://gappellroots-music.blogspot.com/

The

• NEWS 1, 2 • SPORTS 4 • OPINIONS 5 • EDITORIAL 5 • ENTERTAINMENT 3 • FEATURES 2 • CAMPUS BUZZ 5 • CALENDER 2 • POLICE BEAT 2 • STAFF INFORMATION 5 •

Swimming with laughter!

For exclusive online articles and up-to-date DVC sports information, visit us online!

Page 6

Volume 80 No. 1 Copyright © 2012 The Inquirer - Diablo Valley College www.TheInquirerOnline.com Thursday, Sept. 13 - Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2012

President of ASDVC willnot take seat

“Rural America is keeping roots mu-sic alive and well...Imagine that…a

community college that is paying atten-tion to its own local cultural treasures.”

‑Glenn AppellMusic professor

Student Voice of diablo Valley college

INQUIRER

DVC alum’s production company a hit! Welcome back to DVC!

As the Associated Students of Diablo Valley College gets ready for the fall semester, they do so without their President, Fran-cisco Hinojosa. Despite having won the popular vote last spring, Hinojosa will not be President for the fall semester.

Acting in his stead, in accor-dance with the recently updated ASDVC by-laws, will be Ryan Souza, the former Vice Presi-dent of Legislative Affairs, until the ASDVC meets to discuss the issue, their first meeting being on Tuesday, September 11th, at 2PM in the Student Union build-ing.

Hinojosa has left office for “personal reasons”, says return-ing ASDVC Adviser Yvonne Canada. On Wednesday the 29th however, Hinojosa made a post on Facebook where, in passing, he mentioned that he has been deemed unfit for the position because of failing a class during the spring semester.

The matter of who will re-place Hinojosa will be voted on by the ASDVC, most likely in their second or third meeting, the 18th and 25th, respectively. As per ASDVC code, open elec-tions will not be held to settle the issue.

AIDAN HERRICKNews editor

Contact AIDAN HERRICK at AHerrick@TheInquirerOnline.

com

Good mojo makes music historyDVC music instructor takes you on journey into Roots Music

RYAN PETERSStaff writer

Photo courtesy of GLENN APPELL

Pat Thomas (left), son of James “Son” Thomas, renowned blues musician and sculptor, stands with DVC music professor Glen Appell (right).

Contact RYAN PETERS at RPeters@TheInquirerOnline.

com

ALEX BRENDEL/ The Inquirer Spring 2012

Francisco Hinojosa stepped down from the ASDVC presidency due to being ineligible.

Commons project promises plentyMATTHEW EMMANUEL

Staff writer

UPDATE, Page 2

MATTHEW EMMANUEL/ The Inquirer

Final construction of the new south building is set to be completed by Octo-ber.

Need to know:Expected completion of:Phase 1: Site utilities and preparationNovember 16, 2011

Phase 2: Construction of South Building (Current Phase)October 20, 2012

Phase 3:Demolition of cur-rent Student Services Building

December 20, 2012

Phase 4: Construction of North BuildingMay 7, 2014

Phase 5:Demolition of Cafete-ria and HRM Buildings: June 24, 2014

Phase 6: Construction of New Commons and North Entry: June 2014-Nov. 2014

“There has only been one delay... So far it looks like

the delay will only be two weeks (still October),”

~Chrisanne KnoxDirector of marketing and communications

-pare to say farewell to our an-tiquated and by then replaced Cafeteria, and hello to the com-ing of the new DVC commons ground. After demolishing our current cafeteria construction for the new commons will begin. It will be the heart of DVC, reach-ing the bookstore, student union center, music building, DVC’s pond, and the newly constructed North and South buildings all from one spot. It will be three and a half acres of open space filled with benches, gardens, trees, and grassy fields all main-tained by rainwater and storm runoff.

As for the future, “the remod-el of the Engineering Technol-ogy Building is the next project scheduled after the commons project is complete,” said Vice President Christopher Leivas.

The Commons project, de-signed by Steinberg Architects, came with a cost of $52 million funded by Contra Costa County voters through Bond Measure A in 2006.

2 Thursday, September 13 - Wednesday, September 26, 2012The Inquirer - Diablo Valley College

NewsCALENDAR

Thursday Sept. 13

Brown Bag Workshop “Achievements in Memory”

12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.

Student Union

Friday Sept. 14

All Day - Pass/No Pass Deadline

Open Garden and Plant Sale

9:30 a.m. - 12:30p.m.

DVC Garden

Tuesday Sept. 18

Financial Aid drop-in

9:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.

San Ramon Campus

College Success Workshop

5:30 p.m. - 6:45 p.m.

Student Union

Wednesday Sept. 19

UC Berkeley College Rep Visit

9:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.

Career, Employment, and Transfer Center

Music Concert: The Night Jazz Band

8:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.

at Armando’s

Thursday Sept. 20

Brown Bag Workshop “Constitutional Day”

12:30 p.m. -1:30 p.m.

Student Union

Monday Sept. 24

College Council

2:00 p.m.- 4:00 p.m.

Community Conference Center

Wednesday Sept. 26

Music Concert: Rock n’ Jazz Show

8:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.

Performing Arts Building

Police Beat

8/28/12

Student was contacted at the used bookstore for sell-ing books that were stolen from the DVC bookstore. During a search the subject was found to be in posses-sion of drug paraphernalia.

9/04/12

Report of a physical alterca-tion outside of the DVC Media Center. One of the involved parties advised that he was struck inside of the library by an unknown subject who could not be located.

9/05/12

Unknown subject(s)smashed a window and took property from a vehicle while it was parked unat-tended in the lot.

H A Y W A R D C O N C O R D O A K L A N D

Where All Your Possibilities Come Into View.

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To inquire about Hayward campus tours or pre-admission advising, please contact 510.885.2556 or e-mail: admissioncounseling@csueastbay.edu. To inquire about Concord campus tours or pre-admission advising, please contact 925.602.6399 or e-mail: cctransfercenter@csueastbay.edu.

Now Accepting Upper-Division Transfer Applications for Winter 2013

Cal State East Bay

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Advertisement

Suspicious solicitors spark concern

As the fall semester opened, several students on cam-pus, and in the surrounding residential vicinity, were approached by several individuals claiming to be par-ticipating in a cash contest to fund for overseas study trips. These strangers would then claim to sell magazine subscriptions at exorbitant prices that far surpass the av-erage costs that publishers offer to subscribers, and the students who paid a large sum of money for these sup-posed “subscriptions” would reportedly no longer hear back from these individuals or have any form of publica-tion delivered to their doorstep.

According to international student Ninich Chhour, a female stranger knocked on her apartment door on Au-gust 22nd, and she was described as having tattoos on both arms with shoulder length hair. The woman was trying to sell magazine subscriptions to Chhour, claiming that it was a fundraiser for an educational trip to England.

Two other international students from Indonesia, Harvey Tjiupek and Stella Then, have also both experi-

enced strangers approaching them asking them to “vote” for a cash contest but was eventually asked to purchase magazine subscriptions that cost larger-than-usual sum of money.

On August 22nd, an Inquirer reporter also encoun-tered a similar experience. She was sitting behind the DVC bookstore when a man approached her, asking her if she wanted to vote for him in a contest he identified as the “National Cash Awards”. He began making casual chat and asked her where she was from. He then asked her to purchase magazine subscriptions to fund his edu-cational trip to Italy. When she refused, he made conde-scending remarks such as “You are an idiot”, and “Does your country not have a fundraiser, that’s why you don’t know what it is?”

In an envelope he showed the reporter, there was a stack of hundred-dollar bills, and he claimed to have talked to a Malaysian girl who bought six magazine sub-scriptions from him on that same day, at $80 each, which accumulated to $480. The man frequently changed his story with the Malaysian girl who chose to donate to a “Children’s Hospital” instead (which he did not name).

According to the reporter, the man appeared to be in his mid-twenties, with a short crew haircut and had noticeable facial hair around his jaw. Initially, he even of-fered to take her to the ATM in the school bookstore to withdraw cash for him. The man also mentioned that the convenient access of the ATM in the bookstore is the underlying reason why he often loiters around that specific location.

After the incident, the said reporter recounted her ex-perience to the Student Life Office and the DVC Police Department. Leigh Apodaca, of the Student Life Office, says that she has heard rumors about such suspicious incidents but no one has actually come forward and re-ported any case.

If one browses the Internet for a “National Cash Award”, multiple results would arose in which people around the nation attested to similar suspicious incidents relating to such a contest. The only website that seems to represent such a contest has different designs for each page, and there is no convenient way of contacting the organization. There is no e-mail or hotline that one can use to contact the contest representatives and the only method of contacting them is a physical address based in New York City. When this address is viewed on Google street view, it does not match the description given in the supposed mailing address.

Upon interview, Officer Javon Sanders from the Con-tra Costa Community College Police Department said that it was the first time someone has ever complained about this case, but they treat dishonest business prac-tices on campus very seriously. Sanders suggess, if any-one ever encounters such an experience, he recommends approaching Detective Tom Holt who is specifically as-signed to these types of cases. Detective Holt may be contacted at THolt@4cd.edu, or (510) 236-2820.

SOFIA PUTRIStaff writer

International students report being targeted

Contact SOFIA PUTRI sputri@TheInquirerOnline.com

UPDATEFrom Page 1

MATTHEW EMMANUEL / The Inquirer

The new building emerges from the former DVC quad.

Contact MATTHEW EMMANUEL at memmanuel@TheInquirerOn-

line.com

Sports 3The Inquirer - Diablo Valley CollegeThursday, September 13 - Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Vikings nip Napa in the bud

Karin Jensen / The Inquirer

DVC’s Karla Hernandez scored the team’s fifth goal in the 69th minute to give DVC a 5-0 lead.

A strong finish in 2011 and a solid start in preseason games led to a 6-0 vic-tory for the DVC women’s soccer team against the Napa Valley College Storm in Friday’s home opener.

After only 13 minutes of play, the floodgates opened when Bizzy Driscoll (sophomore captain) connected with a Kayla Turkovich free kick from 40 yards out. Within four minutes, Driscoll struck again to double the lead, assisted by Lindsey Parscal. A play that developed with possession in the midfield led to a well-placed cross from Mariah Rodriguez that was put away by Katarina Gentry.

By half time, the Vikings were clearly

in command of the game with a 3-0 lead. “Looking good so far…in gener-al, you can’t be upset with a clean three goal lead at half,” said Ralph Saunders, fan/soccer dad from San Ramon.

The second half ended with three more goals from Katarina Gentry, Karla Hernandez and Cindy Lopez.

One of the many game stand-outs, Pamela Ramos, played her midfield po-sition in a true winger fashion by assist-

ing the defense in key plays and transi-tioning to an offensive position to make two assists and build productive plays that led to additional goals. “We played a really competitive, fun game. It was a great start,” quipped Pamela on their win. Pamela is a first year player, and a true asset to the team.

Head Coach Cailin Mullins was really happy with Friday’s win. “It was a tough start, but we handled the first five to ten hard minutes and it opened up from there. Our training paid off, and we were able to use our strength and retain our shape through the finish.”

Assistant Coach Sam Liubicich agreed, “The girls played awesome. We came

out, had fun, and played our style which led to the results we wanted to see. If we keep it up, we will have a bright season.”

To see if the season stays bright and to cheer on our Vikings, come to their next home game Tuesday, Sept. 11 at 7 p.m. for a game under the lights in the stadium. You can also keep up with the team by “liking” their Facebook page and following the team schedule on the Athletics page of the DVC website.

Soccer team starts home opener with 6-0 victory over Napa

RYAN PETERSStaff writer

Siobian Flynn / The Inquirer

Abbie Noland, left, Lindsay Wood, center, and Sandra Foster, right, were among the top performers.

Volleyball team leaves Diablo Valley Classic 1-1

If you have ever used the term “dumb jocks”, don’t be caught using it in the pres-ence of the DVC men’s water polo team.

Aside from being the four-time defending conference champions and substantial fa-vorite to make it five in a row, the men’s water polo team might be even better in the classroom.

Coach John Roemer em-phasized his players’ academic prowess more than their tal-ent in the pool. “Last year we had the highest GPA of all 17 DVC athletic teams,” he said. He also proudly stated that the team was nominated for top scholastic team amongst all junior college sports teams in the country, where they were awarded fourth place.

This is likely only the be-ginning. In the four years that

Roemer has been head coach he has created a grades first culture. He made it clear that if a player cares less for aca-demics than water polo, they can’t play for him. It seems to be paying off.

“Every guy who had aspira-tions of going to a four-year school has done just that, in the time that I’ve been here,” Roemer said. And these are no chump schools: many of his players are being accepted into institutions such as UC-Davis, UC-San Diego, UC-Santa Barbara, MIT and UC-Berkeley.

However, Roemer still has high hopes for his team. He said he expects to win the state title this season, which would be the first in team his-tory. Their best finish to date is third place, last year.

Early prospects appear to back up Roemer’s expecta-tions. The best players are the six sophomores he retains from last year. Three top-notch goalies are present as well; a position so loaded that one was forced to redshirt.

The team also has excep-tional depth. With the ability to go 12 or 13 deep, instead

of the usual seven or eight, there is no relenting when the second-stringers enter. “There’s not that much of a drop off, which is great. We’ve never had that before,” Roemer stated.

Multiple players have shoulder problems and fa-tigue issues. But he said that if most stay healthy this water polo team could be the best DVC’s ever had.

Roemer credits the team’s in and out of pool success to the fostering of a positive and standard-laden environ-ment. He said that more than half of his responsibilities are non-athletics related. “It’s like being a second father,” he said. He’d rather one of his players miss practice to study for an exam. “My highest ex-pectations are for what you do in the classroom. Not... water polo.”

Men’s water polo: all work and great play

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Contact Ryan Peters at RPeters@TheIn-quirerOnline.com

“The girls played awesome. We came out, had fun, and

played our style which led to the results we wanted to see.

If we keep it up, we will have a bright season.”

~Sam Liubicich, Women’s soccer assistant coach

The DVC women’s volleyball team came away from Wednesday afternoon’s season-opening Diablo Valley Classic tournament 1-1, against Solano and Merced.

In the first game of the tournament, the Vi-kings faced Solano Community College, los-ing in a 3-2 comeback by their Fairfield rivals.

The first set of the Viking season was as even as they come. The largest difference for either team was a three-point, 18-15 lead for Solano. However, it was DVC who came out on top right out of the gate with a 29-27 first-set victory to start the season, aided by sopho-more right side Sandra Foster.

Solano won the second set and DVC the third, but it would be Solano who emerged the victors, winning the final two sets of the season opener.

Foster contributed 15 kills, 7 assists, 12 digs, 2 blocks and 3 aces in the first game.

Vikings coach Jackie Ponciano-Babb said of her team’s play, “When we’re on a roll, we’re on a roll. When we have a lull we need to make sure we maintain aggressive play. When [a player is] not being consistent or staying ag-gressive in their play, chances are they’re going to be subbed out.”

DVC’s final game of the tournament against Merced College would also need to be decid-ed in five games with the Vikings on top this time. Once again Foster was a major factor with 10 kills, 3 assists, 12 digs, 3 blocks.

Ponciano-Babb said of Foster’s season last year, “She played in our epic match against [Sacramento City College] where we won at their place. She was an integral part of that game. After, she got an MRA and realized she had a stress fracture.”

With little time to prepare for the Diablo Val-ley Classic, Ponciano-Babb used the opportu-nity to get a feel for this year’s team.

“Our goal yesterday was to figure out differ-ent lineups and let everyone play,” Ponciano-Babb said. “It’s hard to get everyone on the same page with only a week [to prepare].

Ponciano-Babb added, “I’m excited... Last year there were only twelve [players]. This year we have numbers, which is great because every-one’s competing for a spot.”

“Last year we had the highest GPA of all 17 DVC athletic

teams.”

~John RoemerMen’s water polo coach

Water polo team excels on and off field

GABRIEL AGURCIAStaff writer

Destructive forces that propelled “Hurricane Akin” into the eye-of-the-storm-of-controversy over a woman’s right to choose, have shattered the Repub-lican Party’s best efforts to hunker-down and woo the American women’s vote by November.

Mr. “legitimate rape”, Re-publican Representative of Missouri, Todd Akin, blew ashore in August with a heart-felt message to female rape victims; if you are im-pregnated as a result of rape,

then you really weren’t “legit-imately” raped. While being raped, your vagina magically detects and barricades itself from rapist sperm versus welcome sperm. It’s a mira-cle!

While liberals and conser-vatives have polar-opposite views on a woman’s right to choose, “Hurricane Akin” and his fake science brought an overwhelming majority into agreement on this one very important concept; rape is rape. But how to deal with the aftermath of such a vio-

lent act if a woman is impreg-nated - well that is where the two parties take divergently dif-ferent paths.

Mr. Akin and his Category 4 storm blew the roof off of a dirty little secret that the Republi-can Party prayed would never see the light of day; their creation and support of policy that forces women to carry a rap-

ist’s baby to term and then give birth to that baby. The

cat is out of the bag...and that kitty is pissed off.

As a rape sur-vivor, I find it unimaginable to be violated by a rapist only to be subject to a re-peat violation of my body by the men and wom-

en in the Republican Party who believe a woman should

NOT be allowed to have an abortion even in instances of rape.

I believe in their hearts, conservative American men and woman want to ensure that rapists are punished, not victims. If the Republican Party refuses to embrace the dignity and self-sovereignty of women, they not only lose a presidential election, they lose their humanity.

Lucia Nardi, Diablo Valley College student

STAFF WRITERS Thalia Avila, Anthony Camacho, Samantha Chiu, Jamieson Frazier, Julia Kinkela, Joshua Knoll, Eric Lee, John Michaelson, Celeste Milina, Ryan Peters, Erika Peterson, Sofia Putri, Riley Shingler, Jessica Trimmer, David Vargas, Col-leen Wallace, Brandon Zaeni PHOTOGRAPHERS Sara Berkson, Karin Jensen DESIGNERS Kellyn Borst, Jack Dillon

INSTRUCTIONAL LAB COORDINATOR Ann StenmarkADVISER Mary Mazzocco

EDITOR IN CHIEF Hakeem MontesMANAGING EDITOR Andrew O’Connor-WattsONLINE EDITOR Kellyn BorstNEWS EDITOR Aidan HerrickOPINIONS EDITOR Brenan Peterman PHOTO CHIEF Karin Jensen

Editorial Board Staff

• Phone: 925.685.1230 ext. 2313 • Fax: 925.681.3045 • Email: inquirer@dvc.edu • Website: www.TheInquirerOnline.com • Printed Every Two Weeks •

Do you believe that your elected

representatives hold your interests

as a student in mind?

BuzzTh

e

THE INQUIRER

Diablo Valley College321 Golf Club Road, H-102

Pleasant Hill, CA 94523

The Inquirer is published Thursday mornings during the school year by the journalism students of Diablo Valley College. All unsigned articles appearing on the opinions page are editorials and reflect a two-thirds majority opinion of the editorial staff. All signed columns and cartoons are the opinions of the writer or artists and not necessarily those of The Inquirer, Diablo Valley College or Contra Costa Community College District.

Interviewer and Photographer: Ryan Peters and Celeste Milina

“No because they care more about people who can pay

for universities and Ivy League schools rather than

community college students.”

Aubri K., 18Technical theatre

“No, because I don’t feel supported, we’re on our own and things seem to be get-

ting harder instead of easier. There should be more help for us college students to

make our journey smoother.”

Ryan Andres, 19undecided

“No. Politicians seem to be bred for the position. The

place [they come from] does not and can’t represent most

Americans.”

Yaniza Posada, 18Nursing

“Yes…Obviously because we have a financial aid program

that they voted [for] it.”

Erik Smith, 43Computer Science

“No, there are so many colleges, representatives need to consider individuals in colleges and how different each college and indi-

vidual within those colleges are.”

Estela Perez, 18Nursing

Letters to the editor

Opinions

Dear Grassy:I’m feeling so worthless

these days. I don’t know if it’s just me. I keep dating the wrong men over and over and keep setting myself up for re-jection. I don’t feel like I have any value or self-worth and my self esteem is completely gone.

I am still so mad at my ex-boyfriend. He broke my heart and found someone new but continues to talk to me via text and facebook. He’s so happy with his new girlfriend and I’m in so much pain.

Everyone leaves me be-cause they say I am too smothering and needy. But I only hold them close because I am afraid of being alone and feel I would never love again.

How can I make this pain go away? How can I be good enough for anyone?

TheBraveOne.

TheBraveOne,First of all, you are not

worthless and your value is greater than anything you can imagine. Before I try my clumsy hand at answering this complex question, I want to thank you for opening up, from the bottom of my heart.

What you are describing here reminds me a lot of my own personal model for self-loathing, I’ve dubbed it The Shame Spiral. It was where I would engage in self-destruc-tive behaviors, then I’d hate myself so much for engaging in them, that I’d seek out dif-ferent and more destructive behaviors and then hate my-self more for those etc. It’s a bottomless pit.

The worst part about the Shame Spiral, is that no one else can help you to escape it. Only you can break the cycle.

You aren’t broken, you aren’t worthless, you simply

deserve better than you’ve come across yet, and you feel lost. Everyone feels lost. Someone, somewhere, out in the wide world is looking for you too.

I believe that everyone has someone, who will make all the baggage and shame and self-loathing seem like a joke. You need to believe it too, be-lieve it with all your heart.

I’m big on forgiveness. The tricky thing about forgive-ness is that (much like love) it doesn’t matter how much you spread around to others if you haven’t first allowed it of yourself. You’ve made mistakes and you’ve suffered consequences, you must sure-ly be learning.

The Marines say that: “Pain is Just Weakness Leaving the Body.” Though they’re not talking about the kind of pain that you’re dealing with, I think it applies, you’re just

feeling the pain too deeply to see how strong you’ve become as a result. I wish I knew some shortcut, some special technique for “getting over” rejection and heart-break, Lord knows I have ex-perience. But, unfortunately, as Usher says, you have to just “Let it Burn”.

Social Media complicates relationships in such a poi-sonous and toxic way, your entire personal history left open wide for every Schmoe you met at a party or every schmuck you knew in High School. Twitter, Facebook, Draw Something, Words With Friends- You’re forced to endure their most mun-dane utterances, their most insignificant thoughts, see where they had dinner and with whom. You’re forced to remember their keen eye for detail and their knack for linguistics. I’m not recom-

mending that you do some-thing unfriendly as unfriend-ing them, but it might not be the worst thing to consider if those addictive eyeball thieves hurt you so much.

I might be shooting for the moon here, but perhaps you might benefit from tak-ing a month, maybe two, off of the things that hurt you: Guys, Facebook, Fear and Loathing. Assign some re-sponsibility to that formerly destructive time. Whatever makes you happy, feels fulfill-ing (exercise, painting, poetry, darts, fantasy sports). Also don’t ever be ashamed to seek professional help. In this world that I know of, nobody comes out unscathed. It’s im-portant for everyone to have someone to talk to.

Grassy For help with your problems,

email Grassy today: jknoll@thein-quireronline.

The third week of the se-mester is drawing to a close, and if you’re like me you haven’t bought half your textbooks yet. The chore of buying textbooks – along with the anxiety of adding and dropping classes – is just another burden I can’t bear to face. I know I speak for the majority of students here when I say the DVC book-store and the depletion of my bank account has become the reason for my feelings of disgruntled bitterness. What’s extraordinary though is I have finally found some-thing that irks me more than shopping for textbooks: Sell-ing textbooks.

Much to my chagrin, DVC’s ‘textbook buyback’ option failed to offer me- or any students I interviewed- any reasonable reimburse-

ment. Sofia Putri, an Inquirer reporter and third semester student, recounted how she was paid a mere $20 for her three English books that cost over $50. Both of my $80 history books were re-valued at an insulting $5. Think that’s bad? My jazz and statistics textbooks were deemed ‘worthless’- despite the fact that the books are re-quirements for current DVC classes. I was outraged! How could the bookstore charge such ridiculous prices for my used textbooks and not offer anything in return?

Surprisingly, the DVC bookstore has very little con-trol over the textbook buy-back program. The Nebraska Book Company (NBC) serves over 2.1 million students across the country with the textbook buyback program. Each month, NBC issues col-leges a ‘buyer’s guide’ which dictates the selling price of used textbooks as well as the

prices that NBC pay for said books. As a general rule, you can expect no more than 50 percent of the book’s original value. Many of the textbooks are valued as low as a dollar.

One might assume that the used textbook business is highly lucrative, with com-panies such as the NBC and the DVC bookstore raking in an enormous profit. How-ever, despite what the endless queues and shelves of books suggest, the DVC bookstore struggles to stay afloat. “We’re essentially a non-profit orga-nization,” admitted Bill Fos-ter, the general manager of the DVC bookstore. “We rely heavily on students to sup-ply us with used textbooks that we need. With the soar-ing prices of new textbooks, we need all the money we can [get] in order to keep shelves stocked.” With the buyer’s guide, the bookstore has little control over how much they pay for used textbooks.

“We’re essentially the middle-man. We’re what the student sees, and therefore, we are the target of the students’ anger.”

Strangely, in May of last year, the NBC filed for bank-ruptcy, seeking exemption from over 210 million dollars in debt. Their apparent ploy to take advantage of poor, debt-ridden students was in reality, just an honest source of revenue – revenue that was not enough to sustain them in the highly saturated textbook market.

Humbled by this new in-formation, I decided to re-evaluate my feelings on the bookstore and textbook buy-back. These companies are struggling in a harsh econo-my and their existence is not as secure as we may think it is. But while I have become more enlightened on the is-sues of the bookstore, I was no closer to solving my own financial issues. How could I sell my textbooks?

Intimidating options like eBay and Craigslist may be less daunting than one would think. With my listing on Craigslist I unloaded three textbooks within a few days with no commission charge.

However, I believe the best way to sell your books is straight to the student. Last week I overheard a group of students discussing their new statistics class and the ridiculous prices of the re-quired textbook. Wait a min-ute – I had that textbook! I approached the group, in-troduced myself, and met a bunch of great people. Why not meet some new students that lie outside your circle of friends? For a community college, there’s a real lack of community- but that’s an is-sue to be addressed at a later date.

Samantha ChiuStaff writer

Textbook buyback

No rape is “legitimate”

4 Thursday, September 13 - Wednesday, September 26, 2012The Inquirer - Diablo Valley College

Opinions

Our pain for their gain?

““Hurricane Akin” and his fake

science brought an overwhelm-

ing majority into agreement on this one very impor-

tant concept; rape is rape.”

Dear Grassy: ‘Brave One’ struggles with depression

Contact SAMANTHA CHIU at schiu@TheInquirerOnline.com

The Inquirer 5The Inquirer - Diablo Valley CollegeThursday, September 17-Wednesday, September 26, 2012

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coordinating.In this case it is a print

workshop and students can view an artist’s work first hand.

The gallery is also involved with federal work study pro-gram which provides the gal-lery with free labor while the gallery in return offers formal training. Many of the previ-ous gallery trainees have gone off to do larger gallery work and coordination.

King, who has been with the DVC art department

since 1997, has seen many successes come from and through the gallery includ-ing established artist such as Robert Brady, Deborah But-terfield, and Mel Ramos to name a few.

For an artist to have their own show at the gallery is a “big deal.” It’s one of the rea-sons people are drawn in to submit their work to the gal-lery. A solo show is the first prize for the Inked Surfaces exhibit which had more than 600 submissions throughout

the nation with only 47 cho-sen to be judged on Satur-day’s showcase.

The gallery is more than a place to showcase art it is a community of artists and art lovers formed amongst a col-lege campus. King also states, “It’s how we share our experi-ences. From the students, to the staff, to the artist, com-munity college is who we are, building bridges and connect-ing people together.”

boyfriend. Other characters include Barb’s husband, Bob (Jeremy Dorado) and The Shark (Kyle Shay Goldman).

The actors did a brilliant job expressing their character’s frustration, uncertainty, hope, and love in addition to the Backhand Productions crew’s effective use of the space that they had to work with. The stage, which was rented from Under the Sun Studios in Concord, is approximately 30ft by 14ft and they used ev-ery inch of it to help propel their story efficiently. In the beginning of the play many of the props used throughout are strewn across the stage and are slowly taken away un-til the end when the stage is entirely clear. The actors all moved across the stage with confidence and drew you in with their emotional perfor-mances with a healthy dosage of comedic relief.

The director chose “Swim-ming in the Shallows” with care, saying that he picked it for their debut because it was “…gentle enough to push people away but provocative

enough to draw people in, make them think.” “Swim-ming in the Shallows” is de-scribed by Conley as “…not trivial, but not too harsh…a funny, nutty little play.” and by Jake Froehlich, Sound Board Operator, as “…quirky but cute.” both of which are fair descriptions of what I saw

and enjoyed.When I asked Natalie Bar-

rett, the House Manager, why DVC students should be ex-cited about another Backhand Production she replied that “It’s a growth process and it’s all localized…we should help each other grow. We’re out in the real world now, we don’t have teachers to hold our hands.” It ought to be inspir-ing to the rest of the DVC student body that DVC grad-uates are materializing their dreams by putting their de-grees and experience gained on campus to good use. Jason Holland, head of costume design, when overhearing my question also added “Theatre kids straight out of college doing theatre- it’s awesome.”

Backhand Productions will be performing “The Last Five Years” by Jason Robert Brown this upcoming No-vember and will be using their talents during this production to fundraise for DVC’s Dra-matic Society.

SwimmingFrom Page 6

Contact Anthony Camacho at acamacho@TheInquirerOnline.com

Contact Julia Kinkela atjkinkela@TheInquirerOnline.com

Thalia Avila / The Inquirer

Easthampton, MA resident Jonathan Cartledge showcases his 2010 piece titled “Measuring Shells (for Gould)”.

Hakeem Montes / The Inquirer

Nick, played by Michael Thór Kuzmack, contemplates his love for the shark.

“Inked”From Page 6

“It’s a growth process

and it’s all localized…We should help each

other grow. We’re out in

the real world now, we don’t have teachers to hold our

hands.”

~Natalie BarrettHouse Manager

6 Thursday, September 13 - Wednesday, September 26, 2012The Inquirer - Diablo Valley College

Arts & Entertaiment

Hakeem Montes / The Inquirer

Kirsten Dwyer removes the garter belt of Lilian Wouters during the debut performance of “Swimming in the Shallows.”

“Swimming in the Shal-lows” by Adam Bock is the debut play put on by Back-hand Productions, a produc-tion company which almost entirely consists of DVC graduates. The play is directed by Cyle Conley and produced

by Chris Lionel. Conley’s pro-duction of “Swimming in the Shallows” aptly conveyed the human struggle within self-discovery with a good balance of solemnity and humor.

“Swimming in the Shal-lows” focuses on human re-lationships, whether that be to material possessions or to

each other, and how that af-fects them as individuals. The play, set in Twig, Rhode Is-land, begins with Barb (Ates-sa McAleenan-Morrell) com-plaining to her friend Carla Carla (Lilian Wouters) that she has too many things and that she wishes to reduce the clutter in her life. Carla Carla

is having her own crisis by not knowing whether or not she wishes to marry her girl-friend, Donna (Kirsten Dw-yer). Donna, seeking a “yes” from Carla Carla attempts to eliminate her smoking which she thinks is preventing Car-la Carla from consenting to her marriage offer. Donna

and her friend Nick (Michael Tho’r Kuzmack), who has trouble staying in a long-term relationship, decide to make a pact to keep each other ac-countable in regards to Don-na’s stop-smoking campaign and Nick’s desire to find a

DVC grads debut with aptitudeJulia Kinkela

Staff writer

Swimming, Page 5

DVC artgallery gets ‘inked’

Anthony CamachoStaff writer

More than just a little com-munity college art show, the DVC Art Gallery is the fo-cal point of the art student’s learning experience and an important platform for artists.

The gallery is currently serving as host for “Inked Surfaces,” which does not fea-ture any DVC students. How-ever, the value of the gallery to students goes far beyond showcasing their work. The current show as with most shows is put on to compli-ment the current learning program.

The gallery serves as a learning tool and training aid. Arthur Scott King, DVC art gallery coordinator and in-structor says it is “part gallery, part museum, part laboratory, all wrapped in one. It is a way for students to learn how to sell and promote themselves.”

The gallery offers a type of training to students from organizing, to promoting, to

“Inked”, Page 5