The INQUIRER

STUDENT VOICE OF DIABLO VAL LEY COL LE GE

Volume 77 No. 1 Copyright © 2010 The Inquirer - Diablo Valley College Thursday September 16, 2010

News: 1, 2 • Sports: 4 • Opinions 5 • Editorial: 5 • Entertainment: 3 • The Buzz: 5 • Calendar: 2 • Features: 6 • More content at: www.TheInquirerOnline.com

JONATHAN ROISMANEditor-in-Chief

jroisman@theinquireronline.com

Walters, Page 2

JACOB PARKStaff Writer

jpark@theinquireronline.com

DVC will be having a changing of the guard later this month when school presi-dent Judy Walters retires.

Walters, who has served as the school’s president since 2007, will retire Sept. 30.

Walters took over the college in the midst of a cash-for-grades scandal that has rocked the campus since it became public that year and other accreditation issues that hurt the school’s reputation and morale. She said that she was hired to help change the cul-ture of DVC and heal its wounds.

“The culture of the college really needed to come together and work with each other in ways they hadn’t been able to do in the recent past,” Walters said.

Bill Oye, dean of student life, said Wal-ters’ leadership helped the college make

important steps towards resolving its accreditation issues. He also said she helped bring the different departments of the school together.

“I think many would point to bridg-ing gaps be-tween many faculty mem-bers and ad-ministration as part of her success dur-ing a very difficult eco-nomic climate in the state,” Oye said in an email inter-view.

Walters, who had heart problems in March caus-ing her to miss a number of weeks, said she is retiring

for health reasons. Peter Garcia, currently Los Medanos Col-

lege’s president, will replace Walters on an interim basis until July 1, 2011, when a new full-time president will be hired after a nation-wide applicant search, said vice president of instruction Susan Lamb.

Faculty, Page 2

It’s gotten to the point where we’re cutting off arms. It hurts. No matter what we do, it hurts.

“

”SUSAN LAMB

Vice President of Instruction

The recommendations for which departments will recieve either full-time or part-time faculty have been finalized and handed.

The so-called Box 2a com-mittee is a group of four administrators assigned the task of researching and making these recommen-

dationsThis committee has

recommended that one full-time faculty position should be filled for the Al-ternate Energy Technolo-gies/Electronics/Computer Technical Support, one position to Journalism and one to Broadcast Commu-nications Art/Art Digital Media departments will be receiving full-time faculty support.

Walters has accepted the recommendations and the

faculty will begin working January 2011.

There had initially been 12 vacant positions to fill with teachers earlier this year.

After extensive delibera-tion among the faculty and administration officials, Walters decided to cut six of the full-time teaching positions as a means of balancing the school’s cost with the least amount of di-rect impact on students.

“It’s gotten to the point where we’re cutting off arms,” says Susan Lamb, vice president of instruc-tion and one of the mem-bers of the committee, referring to the cuts to staffing and services that has been taking place. “It

hurts. No matter what we do, it hurt.”

According to Glen Appell, Box 2a committee member and vice president of the United Faculty, the prob-lem with having mostly part-time faculty is the lack of support from teachers for other extra curricular activities.

Appel said, “Part-time teachers have no ties out-side of the classroom.”

“They don’t get paid enough to be involved in other activities, like groups or committees,” said Ap-pell.

After retirements of a few faculty members and services were cut, the de-cision to fill the three re-maining needed faculty po-

sitions made it so that only a few departments would be receiving the full-time help.

“We had to cut 15% of the budget,” said Walters, alluding to the severity of DVC’s budget shortfalls adding that it was “the highest cut in recent his-tory.”

Three other positions were filled earlier this year.

The president’s office is-sued a report regarding the Box 2a committee’s decision noted that the rec-ommendations were made by weighing a multitude of factors, such as part-time to

Part-time teachers have

no tiesoutside of the

classroom.GLENN APPELL

Vice President of United Faculty

“

”

From my standpoint,

I think that I’ve made a solid

impact in terms of establishing collaborations and ways for

people to work together.

JUDY WALTERSPresident of DVC

“

”

Budget cuts have left the DVC chemistry department struggling with a short-age of laboratory support workers and instructors have been forced to turn

JULIUS REANews Editor

jrea@theinquireronline.com

GERARDO RECINOSStaff Writer

grecinos@theinquireronline.com

JULIUS REA / The Inquirer

Student Chemistry Stockroom worker Euna Kim organizes supplies while in the Chemsitry Stockroom.

students away. Previosuly, lab support

has been insufficient “up to the point of having to cancel a class because a lab was not prepared,” said chemistry professor Ron Rusay.

Kenneth Myambo, a full-time chemistry lab coor-dinator, Ellena Kutner, a part-time lab assistant and 13 student workers cur-rently make up the lab sup-port staff.

Myambo said the chem-

istry department needs the equivalent of 2.5 full-time lab coordinators and a total of 15 to 18 student workers to sufficiently support the chemistry labs.

Student workers are responsible for creating and preparing necessary chemical compounds, set-ting up labs for instructors and providing tutoring ser-vices, Myambo said.

“The students do provide significant support to the chemistry department,”

said Myambo. “Without the lab support,

you can’t do the same num-ber or quality of labs that you need in a college chem-istry class,” said Rusay.

“There should be two full-time workers. In a per-fect world, three would be great,” Rusay said. “With-out Kenneth and Ellena, we wouldn’t be able to run the program.”

Chemistry, Page 2

Chem labs out of balance

Budget deficit leaves shortage of lab help

College assigns three full time faculty positions

Walters’ legacy: Bridging gaps

|Out of Bounds|In defense of Alex Smith

‘Friends and Family’Takes over library

Inquirer EditorialThe right to religion

Zambür Downtown Concord’s new eatery reviewed

2 Thursday, September 16, 2010The Inquirer - Diablo Valley CollegeNews

The drama department was a lot quieter than usual the morning the e-mail went out that beloved teacher, acting mentor and Korean War veteran James “Jim” Kirkwood had died at 5 A.M. on Monday, August 30, 2010. He was 79 years old.

Kirkwood was a full-time instructor at the DVC drama department for 38 years, from 1966-2004.

When Kirkwood retired from teaching full-time, many of his former students flew in from various parts of the country to attend his ceremony.

Kirkwood did not stop there though, after retire-ment he continued to teach drama as a part-time in-structor from 2004 to the spring of 2010.

Kirkwood, who had a de-gree in both drama and the-ology, amazed his students with his ability to get to the core of acting, producing, directing and, according to several students, he could even tap into their spirits and souls.

According to Beth McBrien, a drama teacher and former student at DVC, many of Kirkwood’s cur-rent and former students credit their success as ac-tors, artists and educators to Kirkwood’s talent and his ability to influence as a teacher in not only drama, but in life itself.

McBrien said if you asked Kirkwood if he could do anything over again, or if he could change anything about his life, he would have said, “No.”

Kirkwood was brutally honest when speaking with students in the drama de-partment, and that is the way he taught, said drama student Nick Tarabini.

Kirkwood wanted his stu-dents to “live acting, even while not on stage” Tara-bini said.

Tarabini said it was an honor to take drama classes with Kirkwood because he was so passionate about teaching.

Kirkwood was “com-pletely unconcerned about bureaucracy within teach-ing” and taught from inside himself, not from a book saying what he ought to do, Tarabini said.

Kirkwood “was always striving to do better, he wanted to know if there was ever a way he could do bet-ter and [was] constantly ex-amining the way he taught,” McBrien said.

Kirkwood is survived by his daughter, Lindeen, and his thousands of students that went on to peruse their passions thanks to him.

A celebration of Jim Kirk-wood’s life will be held at Zio Fraedo’s, 611 Gregory Lane in Pleasant Hill on Saturday, September 25, 2010 Noon - 5pm. $30 per person to defray costs.

All those planning to at-tend will need to purchase tickets in advance. No ad-missions will be available on the day of the celebra-tion.

To purchase, please visit https://www.ovationtix.com/trs/pe/8455635. The deadline for ticket pur-chase is set to September 17, 2010.

MICHAEL CHASEStaff Writer

mchase@theinquireronline.com

Studentsmournloss oflong-time teacher

-tra Costa Community Col-lege District faculty union, said Walters helped the school’s constituent groups trust one another and work together in a positive [man-ner].

“Faculty was very frus-trated with the whole tone and tenor of the college,” Appell said. “I think Judy [Walters] has done a great job of rebuilding a demo-cratic and shared-gover-nance model.”

“From my standpoint, I think that I’ve made a solid impact in terms of estab-lishing collaborations and ways for people to work to-gether,” Walters said.

Jeffrey Michels, president of the CCCD faculty union, rated Walters’ tenure at DVC a success.

“She met challenges, from

Advertisement

F ACULTYfrom Pg. 1 C HEMISTRY

from Pg. 1

The chemistry depart-ment ment has dealt with staff reductions while try-ing to enforce limits to the size of laboratory classes.

According to department chair Mary Ulrich, a few sections have more than 28 students, but there are only 28 stations in a laboratory.

The state looks at the to-tal number of students, not particular overcapped courses, and will not pay for extra class sections when the college is over capacity, said Ulrich.

Chemistry professor Wayne Larson said there is a little “wiggle room” for additional students in the lecture classes but labs are not as flexible.

Larson said he had a waiting list long enough to fill two extra sections.

“It’s a crying shame that I’m allowed a class max of so many people and I

full-time faculty ratios and program size and growth.

Some of the other de-partments with teaching positions that will not be filled with full-time faculty include the departments of Physical Geography, Hu-manities, Administration of Justice, and Computer Science/Computer Network Technology.

When asked whether these positions have any chance of gaining full-time faculty in the near future, Walters made it clear that there is no way to know when these positions would be filled so long as there is no budget being passed by the state legislator.

DVC has felt another wave of conflicts due to the state’s legislative stalemate.

reach that max and there are so many people stand-ing there,” said assistant chemistry professor Craig Gerken.

The students do provide

significant support to the

chemistry department.

KENNETH MYAMBOChemistry Lab Coordinator

“

”

W ALTERSfrom Pg. 1

the grade-change scandal to the accreditation demands, with a genuinely collabora-tive, inclusive leadership style that not only worked, but also brought the DVC community together,” Mi-chels said.

“She has left a legacy at DVC of improved structures and revitalized shared-gov-ernance that will continue to serve faculty, staff and students well in years to come.”

Walters said she was con-fident that the school was in good shape to move for-ward without her, and she and Lamb agree that Gar-cia would be a good leader for DVC.

“Peter is very knowl-edgeable of the district,” Walters said. “He’s familiar with DVC.”

Garcia said he was ready

to take over DVC, although he said he’s “a little ner-vous like a kid at the first day of school.”

“Personally, my goals are really to learn some new approaches to student services and instruction,” Garcia said. “[I want] to fol-low up and build some new professional relationships with colleagues in the dis-trict.”

“For the institution my hope is that we continue the good work that Dr. Wal-ters and the campus has been engaged in terms of accreditation.”

“Dr. Walters has been a great colleague,” Garcia said.

Walters said she enjoyed her time at the school and loved working with the ad-ministration, faculty and students.

“It’s been a wonderful experience to work with the people here,” Walters said. “It’s been an exciting time.”

PARJANYA HOLTZStaff Writer

pholtz@theinquireronline.com

CHRISTIAN MAGDALENOStaff Writercmagdaleno

@theinquireronline.com

Despite state budget dif-ficulties, course elimina-tion, and staff layoffs, DVC with hopes to create an im-proved academic environ-ment for students, as well as the planet.

The DVC campus will con-tinue to undergo some ma-jor cosmetic and structural changes as a new building project is scheduled to be-gin early next year. The $54 million project is called “The Future of the Com-mons,” and includes the construction of two brand new buildings, which, once completed, will total ap-proximately 86,000 square feet of building space.

The buildings will be lo-cated in what is currently the Main Quad and student service center. The student service center and cafete-ria, the school’s two oldest structures, will be demol-ished, in order to make room for the construction and the new Main Quad area.

With the addition of the new buildings, “all student services will be in one lo-cation, and the Hotel and Restaurant Management program will have access to new, state of the art facili-ties.” said Chris Leivas, vice president of finance and ad-

ministration. “Students will have a

modern, attractive, and welcoming food service fa-cility, as well as a new, open space for a social student community on campus,” Leivas said.

“This is probably the big-gest thing to happen to DVC since its beginning in 1952,” said Buildings and Grounds Manager Guy Grace.

DVC student, Sidney Selt-cer, 18, expressed her con-cerns toward the loss of the Main Quad. “Yeah, I wait for my sister [in the quad] on Mondays and Thurs-days,” she said. “I have no idea where [I will go.] May-be the library, but it will probably be packed.”

Funding for this project comes solely from a bond that was voted on by Con-tra Costa County taxpayers in 2002 and 2006, making this a property tax funded

project. “No budgets used to sup-

port classroom instruction or student services will be impacted by this proj-ect,” Leivas said. “In the long run, this project will reduce our ongoing oper-ating expenses. The space will be much more energy efficient so our energy us-age will go [down].”

The project is expected to achieve LEED green, gold status. This certification will be a result of the build-ings’ many environmen-tally friendly features, in-cluding synergies between buildings and landscapes, including the recycling of water for such things as plumbing and gardening.

The buildings will also utilize a state of the art heating and ventilating sys-tem, which will help lower the school’s yearly energy costs. Currently heat and

energy usage are one of the school’s highest costs.

Construction for this project is set to begin De-cember 2010. The first stages will be primarily in-frastructure work and will include the redirection of electrical wire and large pipes. During construction, students will officially lose access to a large part of the Main Quad.

“Our plan is to avoid [class] interruptions,” said Grace, “[but] there is a good chance there are go-ing to be [some. I have to be realistic in what we are dealing with. This is a very big project.”

According to Grace, a goal for project completion has been set for three to four years.

“I am very excited about this project,” said Leivas, “It will create a new heart to this campus.”

Courtesy of Diablo Valley College

This architect’s rendering depicts a redesigned quad area that will be under construction for the next four years.

What’s Next?Current Los Medanos President Peter Garcia will become DVC’s interim president starting October 1 and will hold that role until June 30, 2011

LMC Senior Dean of Instruction Richard Livingston will take over as interim president there until Garcia returns July 1.

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For more information call 925.685.1230 ext 2313 or stop by The Inquirer office.

DVC to forge ahead with new buildings

Thursday, September 16

Brown Bag Lecture Series

Constitution Day – Freedom of Speech

Student Union Conference Room 204 12:30 p.m.

Tuesday, September 21

CSU East Bay Rep. Counseling Building

Sept 219:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

appointments 12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.

drop ins

St. Mary’s College Rep Counseling building

10am-12pm appointments

12pm-1pm drop ins.

College Success Workshop

Building Academic Fluency

Student Union Conference Room 204

Sept 21 5:30 p.m.

Wednesday, September 22

Brandman University Campus Rep.

Main Quad4:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.

Thursday, September 23

Brown Bag Lecture Series: Human Trafficking

Student Union Conference Room 20412:30 p.m.

UC Berkeley Campus Rep.

Counseling Building Transfer Center

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

Tuesday, September 28

John F. Kennedy University Rep.

Sept 23Main Quad

9:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. Sept 28

Counseling Building4:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.

CSU East Bay Rep. Counseling Building

2:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. appointments

4:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. drop ins

College Success Workshop

Building Academic Fluency

Student Union Conference Room 2042:30 p.m.

Night Band Jazz Ensemble

Performing Arts Center7:00 p.m.

Monday, October 4

Transfer DayMain Quad

10:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.

CALENDAR

Entertainment3The Inquirer - Diablo Valley CollegeThursday, September 16, 2010

Jim Jordan has been an art class “lab rat” at DVC for the past eleven years. He says, “It’s depressing to have a garage full of art that no one can see,” so he’s glad the library is displaying his work over the next couple of months in an exhibit ti-tled, “Family & Friends.”

The exhibit, an impres-sive 62 acrylic paintings, is spread throughout the DVC library. The collec-tion of the paintings is composed of a variety of friends from various places, including his many art classes here, as well as family members, all in different settings.

Carly JonesStaff Writer

Cjones@theinquireronline.com

This acrylic painting is one of many by Jim Jordan on display in DVC library.

CARLY JONES / The Inquirer

They range from 11-by-13 inch water color sheets to large 24-by-30 canvases.

Each painting is dif-ferent - a man sitting at a table, a woman sitting on a park bench with her cell phone, an old man sitting on a brown couch holding a coffee mug- but they are held together with a common thread – each of them wears a red shirt.

When deciding who to paint, he starts with the photographs he has tak-en. He says he tends to take pictures now rather than asking them to sit for multiple days in a row. He admits to having a person sit for four days once while he painted.

Jordan says of his work that he’s done “135 of the little ones and, oh, 40 of the big ones.”

He says he looks for “An interesting face, po-sition, and lighting.”

He uses subtle colors combined with sporadic eye-catchers to balance out the painting’s pallet. One painting of a little boy has browns, tans, and a calm blue to con-trast the turquoise, or-ange, and Easter green.

The strokes of his paint-ings are thick but orga-

nized. In one portrait of an art professor, Jordan used an artistic knife and very good coloring: yel-low, orange, green, blue, and brown.

He chooses to paint here, he says, because he likes the structure and social environment and now says, “I’m kind of a lab rat,” because he’s here so much. He advises younger, up-and-coming artists to enroll at a com-munity college because it is inexpensive.

The plans for his col-lection are already in the works. His idea is to paint “something around horses.” He says he wants to complete “a series where people are working around horses, like washing them down, and putting their halters on. And I’ll probably in-

Dozens of pieces by longtime student adorn the library walls in new exhibit

From the garage to the gallery

Jim Jordan

clude dogs in there.” The current collection

will be on display in the art gallery, which is open Monday through Thurs-day, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., un-

til October 16. There will be a public showing of his work September 30 from 5-7 p.m.

ZambürA modern set t ing in downtown Concord

of fer ing good food at reasonable pr ices{ }

People wouldn’t notice Con-cord’s Zambür, a little Medi-

terranean restaurant in between Agave and Brenden Theatres with hookahs, a sitting lounge, jazz music, two hanging LCD televisions, decent food and hookahs. Did I mention the hookahs?

Unfortunately, Zambür doesn’t have a license for them, yet.

Still, it’s easy to see Zambür is trying to com-bine a Mediterranean restaurant with a tra-ditional bar; however, the atmosphere is more Mediterranean than the menu.

Zambür’s menu is very simple, with a few Mediterranean dishes; however, most of the ap-petizers, sandwiches and seafood dishes are Amer-ican.

A Mediterranean res-taurant with hot wings, crab cakes, fish and chips and a cheese steak sandwich on the menu is a little odd.

Fortunately, Zambür’s food speaks for itself and

it says one thing: when it’s delicious, it doesn’t matter what type of food you’re eating.

The hummus, a spread of chick peas and sesame served with pita bread, is a delectable, creamy and somewhat spicy ap-petizer.

In short, it was so damn good.

Sambosas, or potato-stuffed pastries, were flaky on the outside and perfectly soft on the in-side and served with a house sauce of yogurt, mint, cilantro and cori-ander.

The combination is good but definitely not perfect.

The calamari, or deep-fried squid, was served on top of a balsamic vin-egar salad with a version of a tartar sauce.

Calamari can come off very chewy sometimes and is often served in very small pieces.

Zambür’s calamari was plump, soft and cooked

to perfection. Even though the salad

made the plate prettier, it was unnecessary.

The Shami Kabob was served with a cumin-dusted tomato and cum-in-sprinkled basmati rice with peas and corn.

Unlike some Mediter-ranean food, the spices on the meat weren’t overpowering its flavor.

Zambur’s Döner Kabob sandwich had grilled chicken, onions, toma-toes, cucumbers and pep-perocinis with a tzatziki sauce on pita bread.

Tzatziki, usually made of yogurt, cucumbers, garlic and mint, was so strong that you couldn’t taste anything else be-sides the mint and a hint of chicken; still it was a delicious sandwich.

The house sauce, made of cilantro, yogurt, and coriander, was served with a few of the dishes.

Since it was a little spicy and the taste can stay on the tongue for a while, it was too much spice when served with some of the dishes, like the Döner Kabob sand-wich.

However, the sauce on some pita bread makes a tasty bite.

All of the dishes, appe-tizers or otherwise, are under $10, which is great for anyone on a budget.

The food overall is light and works better for lunch than dinner.

The food tastes like homemade, or at least a house boat drifting around the Mediterra-nean Sea.

Zambür is a cozy res-taurant that is perfect for lunch with simple, delicious Mediterranean food with hookahs.

Julius ReaStaff Writer

jrea@theinquireronline.com

{ }when it’s delicious, it doesn’t matter what type of food you’re

eating.

{

{ Zambür

1985-D Willow Pass Rd. Concord

Accepts Credit Cards

Price Range: $6-10 per dish

Full Bar after 5p.m.

Open: 11a.m. - 9p.m,

(925)288.1466

CHRIS CORBIN / The Inquirer

CHRIS CORBIN / The Inquirer CHRIS CORBIN / The Inquirer

The Shami kabab, served with fresh basmati rice and lightly grilled tomatoes

Zambür’s Döner kabab sandwich is served with the standard house sauce The calamari at Zambür is perfectly cooked and served on top of a salad

I tend to root for the underdog, especial-ly one that gives 100 percent and does ev-erything to the best of his or her abilities. I also don’t like when people get screwed over.

I defend San Jose Sharks forward Patrick Marleau whenever people are down on him, which, quite frankly, is all the time. As bad as former NFL quarterback Joey Harrington was, he was unfairly used as a punching bag by fans and the press when they should’ve realized quarterbacks go to Detroit to die. Hell, I still say Samuel J. Til-den won the presidential election of 1876, but that’s for another column.

San Francisco 49ers starting quarter-back Alex Smith fits in the category of un-derdog and someone who received a lot of unwarranted criticism.

Look, I realize most people don’t want to hear about Smith.

Many of you see him as a bust who was given a number of chances to prove him-self and never did. The 49ers haven’t made the playoffs since the 2002 season and Smith, the No. 1 overall draft pick in 2005,

w

4 Thursday, September 16, 2010The Inquirer - Diablo Valley CollegeSports

Out of Bounds: Alex Smith

49ers quarterback Alex Smith drops back to pass in warmups.

Jonathan RoismanEditor-in-Chief

jroisman@theinquireronline.com

has failed to give San Francisco anything substantial.

Whenever someone tries to defend Smith, fans and NFL experts think he’s just being protected with a bunch of excuses that have nothing to do with his below av-erage play.

But those people are dead wrong.There are a number of legitimate rea-

sons why Smith has struggled, and there are just as many reasons why he will suc-ceed with the 49ers in 2010.

I could focus on the fact that Smith had five offensive coor-dinators in as many seasons, or that he had mediocre talent around him until 2009, or that former head coach Mike Nolan unreasonably called him out pub-licly over injuries Smith couldn’t control. Nolan was never really on Smith’s side, and the quarterback competition before the 2008 season was a complete sham (anyone who thought J.T. O’Sullivan was a better signal caller needs their head checked).

And if you don’t think these are legiti-

mate reasons for a quarterback’s struggles, would the suicide of a close friend possibly affect someone’s play? Maybe the self-pro-claimed pundits and bloggers should ask

Smith. What separates

Smith from other un-successful quarter-backs in the NFL is that he is committed to winning and be-coming a good player.

Look at former Ari-zona Cardinals QB Matt Leinart. Leinart, the No. 10 overall pick

in 2006, lasted only four seasons in Arizo-na and was benched a number of times. He always acted like the starting job should be handed to him, that he deserved it just be-cause he was Matt Leinart.

And now Leinart is battling for the backup role behind starter Matt Schaub in

Houston. Smith is the complete opposite. Smith restructured his contract with the

49ers, taking less money, just so he could prove himself to the team and prove that he could help San Francisco win. His work ethic and intelligence, combined with his willingness to never give up, give him an edge.

Not to mention he has a talented group of receivers and running backs and an above average offensive line protecting him (a first in his career).

You’re right in thinking that Alex Smith hasn’t done a lot in the NFL. But there’s a reason why coach Mike Singletary named him his starter. Smith has the talent to suc-ceed, and if he stays healthy, he will lead the 49ers to the playoffs this season.

Call it blind faith if you want, but there’s a lot more fact to support my belief in Smith than you might think.

In defense of 49ers QB Alex Smith

Year 2005-08 2009

Games 32 11

Games Started 30 10

Completions 435 225

Attempts 800 372

PCT 54.4 60.5

Yards 4,679 2,350

YPA 5.8 6.3

TDs 19 18

INT 31 12

Passer Rating 63.5 81.5

Player Stats: Alex Smith

Smith restructured his contract with the 49ers, taking less money, just so he could prove himself to the team and prove that he could help San Fran-cisco win.

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Be sure to check out Out of Bounds

At TheInquirerOnline.com

Updated Bi-Weekly by Jon Roisman

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BUSINESS MANAGER Ryan BeckPHOTO CHIEF Travis JenkinsSTAFF WRITERS Michael Chase, Brian Dono-van, Lisa Marie Garcia, Kevin Hayes, Parjanya Holtz, Emma Li, Soledad Lopez, Jacob Park, Michael RobinsonPHOTOGRAPHERS Theresa Stratton, Carly Jones

The Inquirer believes that the developers who are planning to build an Islamic center and mosque two blocks from the World Trade Center have every right to do so.

Although this is a very sensitive issue – we do understand that many people feel strongly against the lo-cation of the proposed mosque – people have the right to be offend-ed. There will always be things that some people won’t agree with, but that does not give them the right to take away someone else’s rights.

It is not fair for count-less Muslim-Americans to be demonized be-cause of the events that transpired on Sep-tember 11, 2001. It’s not as if this mosque is promoting extremist Islamic beliefs or train-ing terrorists. It would seem that the very peo-ple who rallied around the United States after

Sept. 11 would support the Constitution and uphold the rights of its people. You cannot give and take rights when it feels convenient to a certain group of peo-ple.

There are already two other mosques within 12 blocks of the World Trade Center. What should be done with these? If people don’t want a new one built, why do they not voice their concern about the already com-pleted mosques?

We agree with Presi-dent Obama’s initial statement back in Au-gust when he said, “Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as everyone else in this country.” No one has the right to take away someone else’s freedom.

The people who op-pose the Islamic center are doing the United States a disservice. Some people say that by

allowing the mosque to be built, we allow Mus-lim “triumphalism”, as Newt Gingrich said last month. But it would be more triumphant to al-low the mosque to be built because it shows that even after the Sept. 11 attacks, the United States still values free-dom of speech and free-dom of religion.

The attack on the World Trade Center was a tragedy, but it would be a disappoint-ment to allow the 19 hijackers to affect how Americans think about their own civil liberties. The Constitution is a blanket protecting our personal freedoms. If the mosque is opposed, a part of the blanket

will be removed, ex-posing the lengths we would take to discrimi-nate against any group whenever we see fit. That’s unacceptable.

Americans must be al-lowed to express them-selves, and we shouldn’t pick and choose just be-cause some of us might be offended.

EDITORS IN CHIEF

NEWS EDITOR Julius ReaFEATURES EDITOR Scott BabaOPINIONS EDITOR Taliah MirmalekENTERTAINMENT EDITOR Troy PattonSPORTS EDITOR Gerardo RecinosONLINE EDITORS

VISUAL EDITOR Christopher CorbinCOPY EDITOR Ariel Messman-Rucker

Opinions 5The Inquirer - Diablo Valley CollegeThursday, September 16, 2010

Editorial Board Staff

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Winner: Journalism Association of Community Colleges 2009 Online General Excellence

Jonathan RoismanAnnie Sciacca

Jasmine BurchChristian Magdaleno

INSTR. LAB COORDINATOR Ann StenmarkADVISER Samanda Dorger

Does online chat speak affect how

you write essays in school?

Editorial

SCOTT BABA / The Inquirer

Opinions

BuzzThe

Adrienne Almari-nez, 19Nursing

“I don’t think so. Usually people know how to switch back and forth.”

Denying New York mosque hurts us all

Bicyclists: Don’t tread on meAs of late, the endeavor of walk-

ing to DVC from the outlying ar-eas surrounding the campus has become quite the hazardous en-deavor.

The reason? The bicycles. While I applaud the bicycling

folk for their choice to take the en-vironmentally sound and healthy alternative to the single passen-ger Hummer lifestyle, I can’t help feeling like the safety of my per-son has been the price that has been forfeit.

While the sidewalk used to be a safe haven for the health con-scious, car-less, and eco-friendly, my tenure at DVC has taught me it

is also an excellent real life simu-lation of the game Frogger.

I can barely walk a few feet down Golf Club Road without hav-ing to look over my shoulder and see a bike careening toward me at speeds that seem inappropriate for the four-foot-wide sidewalk that I am being forced to share with my two-wheeled brethren.

The law regarding this, it would seem, is intentionally ambiguous. California Vehicle Code states that any bicycle must be ridden next to the right side of the road, off of the sidewalk. The law also states that a bicycle can be ridden else-where in circumstances where

there are hazards to the bicycler. The law leaves itself open to in-

terpretation as to what a hazard

could be. The obvious answer is the notion of cars zipping in and out of the campus, but that begs the question, should the people that are legally walking on the sidewalk have to suffer for what are simply the occupational haz-ards of the bicyclist lifestyle.

If the idea of moving cars smash-ing you between the concrete and their differential gives you night-mares, then maybe the cyclist life-style isn’t for you, because I know the idea of being nearly run over by some bicycler, who should ar-guably not be on the sidewalk in the first place, isn’t the life for me either.

A national uproar over religious freedomAs many individuals in this na-

tion are already aware, construc-tion plans to replace a damaged Burlington Coat Factory with an Islamic Community Center that would be located approximately two blocks from the ruins of the September 11th attack on the World Trade Center nine years ago have caused a national uproar and media-fueled debate that has the United States grappling with its sense of religious freedom and tolerance.

I recently saw The East County Sunday Time’s article on the sub-ject; titled, “N.Y. mosque flaps tests limits of U.S. tolerance,” and I found that I should perhaps ex-press my own views on this con-troversial matter. It is my opinion that the construction in itself is a risky endeavor. From a business vantage point, their pay-off would most likely be a small community of Muslims. The risk is the resent-ment and prejudice of neighbor-ing communities. Judging from the reactions and media attention

that this debate has received so far, the risk factor is a very likely outcome.

Economi-cally, I would not recommend this investment, but antagonism towards Mus-lims will not [be reduced] if people refuse to learn what Islam really is. As a compro-mise between the two stands on this issue, perhaps a festi-val promoting peace among religions would be more favor-able.

One of the biggest arguments against the construction of the Mosque that I’ve heard is the proximity of the Mosque in terms to Ground Zero. ‘If two blocks distance is too close, then how far

is far enough?’, The implication of this question being that any answer or distance in New York

wouldn’t satis-fy everybody. Yes, it’s insen-sitive to the families of 9-11 victims, but look what is going on right now in our so-ciety.

The whole Arizona issue with ‘illegal immigrant’ feuds and car checking laws is a similar is-sue. It’s all fear

of people who are not us. We’ve done this countless times in this country. I know the situation is different, but people are people in this country. Unless they are doing some sort of crime, they have a reason enough to put the mosque there. Crude? Unfair?

Harsh? Maybe. But if we are to look past the people in general, and instead look at the specific people who did this, we realize that these are just people setting up a mosque somewhere.

Legally speaking I would allow them to build the mosque, wher-ever and whenever they like it, denying them their right to do so would undermine our own free-dom, after all.

Negatively stereotyping and painting the Islamic community as religious extremists only serve to confirm our own narrow-mind-ed and limited acceptajce of oth-ers as the suicide bombers.

Religious intolerance is what drove the terrorists to destroy the World Trade Centers; religious tol-erance, on the other hand, would be the greatest way to oppose Al Qaeda. Don’t fight fire with fire, but with holy water.

-Michael Jaquez, Antioch

Troy PattonStaff writer

David Edward Bloodgood, 19

Art“I’ve never written ‘lol’ in any essay I’ve ever written.”

Rachael Stirling, 21Radiology

“I would hope not. I know people that talk like that.”

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The Inquirer is published twelve times during the school year by the journal-ism students of Diablo Valley College. All unsigned articles appearing on the opinions page are editorials and relfect 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

“...people are people in this country. Unless they are doing some sort of crime, they

have a reason enough to put the mosque

there. Crude? Unfair? Harsh? Maybe.”

--Michael JaquezAntioch

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Saad Kamran, 19

“If you do, you shouldn’t be in col-lege. It’s unaccept-able.”

Business

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6 Thursday, September 16, 2010The Inquirer - Diablo Valley CollegeFeatures

Sound pulsates from all direc-tions: BOOM, BOOM, BOOOOM.

A flamethrower erupts in the night sky causing hundreds of shadows to dance into exis-tence.

A pirate ship glides by full of glowing revelers, smiles and laughter all around.

Everything has become inde-scribably alive...

Where am I, you ask? Burning Man, of course!

What is Burning Man? Hav-ing been there, I can honestly say that I can’t possibly come up with an answer that can do it justice. Attempting to do so would be like trying to tell you about a bizarre dream that I have already started to forget. And certainly, my own small ex-perience there cannot allow me to define the event as a whole.

Even so, I can do my best…Imagine a flat, dusty place

where no plants grow and dust storms can strike at any mo-ment. It can be terribly hot in the day and viciously cold at night, especially with the wind. In the temporary city, known as Black Rock City, the only things you can purchase are ice for coolers and drinks like coffee and lemonade.

Everything else you must bring yourself, and you will need necessities such as water in amounts far greater than usu-al. There are no garbage cans, so you must haul out what you haul in. Your ability to be self-sufficient, as well as your abil-ity to work together with those whom you choose to camp with, will be tested like never before.

You’re there to have fun, but first and foremost you’re there to stay alive.

And yet, the bleakness of the natural environment is con-trasted by the incredible rich-ness it provides. Both sunrises and sunsets can be profoundly gorgeous. The heart of a dust-

storm is a surreal place to be if your eyes, mouth, and nose are protected. The dried-up lake bed where the city is located makes for almost effortless biking and walking. Hot days can result in warm nights in which all you need to stay warm is a T-shirt. The desert sun darkens the skin and people unashamedly reveal more of their bodies in the heat.

But what makes Burning Man a truly unique place is what its diverse participants bring to the table. From the giant statues that hover over you to the in-tricate costumes people wear to the cars and bikes people travel

in, art is omnipresent.Music is always playing some-

where. Live music is easily found and every art car seems to be bumpin’ good tunes rang-ing from dub-step to hip-hop to house to trance to country to classic rock to classical to un-classifiable noise. At one dance floor, DJs are even equipped with a button that sets off a flamethrower above the crowd.

After buying your relatively expensive ticket (starting prices online are about $200), a gift economy reigns where there are no advertisements to bother you, no overly-priced pizza stands to stress you out, and virtually no need of cash for a week. People will give you things freely with no expectation of compensation. Once there you are a participant and not some sort of detached observer, and even if you don’t bring any gifts of your own, you can always give compliments (if you want). Simply by being there, you are, whether you like it or not, a part of Burning Man.

For all it has to offer, some

people consider the event to be just a giant waste of brain cells because of drugs. While the “other-worldliness” of the event does indeed tend to attract users of various substances, don’t as-sume that this is what Burning Man is entirely about or that drugs are somehow legal there. Many people don’t do any illegal drugs there at all and still have an amazing time (if not better).

Anyway, the most prevalent drug there by far is alcohol. Free alcohol is easy enough to come by as long as you look old enough (ID may be asked for). In the playful spirit of the festival, someone might require you to chase that Jameson with pickle juice, or find four other friends to take a shot with since all the glasses are glued to a board.

Ultimately, Burning Man seems to be about having the freedom to be yourself and the responsibility to enjoy your time there as much as possible since it goes by so fast. It is certainly not a place for everyone (I could see my mother referring to 99 percent of the people there as “friggin’ weirdos”) but it is defi-nitely a place for some, perhaps even their true home.

As for me, I’m just glad to have a real bed again. Soft, comfy, glo-rious, dust-free. ZZZ

a dreamlike city An inside look at Burning Man

Photos by KEVIN HAYES

KEVIN HAYESStaff Writer

khayes@theinquireronline.com

A “Burner” rides at sunrise. Each balloon has a colored light-bulb inside of it which turns on at night.

The sun rises be-hind“Bliss Dance,” above, a sculpture by Marco Cochrane.

A man feels the warmth of“Nucleus,” above left, an art piece by Kasia Danula-Billhartz.

Experiences of

One ex-ample of the many live bands at Burn-ing Man, this one featuring a propane-enhanced flaming tuba.

For more information see http://burningman.com

Ultimately, Burn-ing Man seems to

be about having the freedom to be

yourself.

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