Eagle's Eye

Volume 35 | Issue 8 • Incline Village, NV • www.snceagleseye.com • February 4 | 2016

Eagle’s EyeS i e r r a N e v a d a C o l l e g e

Stay aware in the backcountryAvalanche awareness is critical when venturing into the un-skied p. 7

Rough start for cross-country teamAfter a demanding first season, the team is motivated for change and improvement | p. 9

Dueling Views: Trans-Pacific PartnershipThe Eagle’s Eye debates the massive international trade deal. | p. 11

“Houseless” in Tahoe

Rise and shine, pull the curtains down from tinted windows, slide into clothes in the cool morning air, and open the back door of a truck to the orange Tahoe morning. This has been the routine of Sierra Nevada College Senior Sage Sauerbrey for over four months.

Breakfast is cooked on the tailgate of his truck and the early morning chill incentivizes a quick ski session before class. Sauerbrey is not the type of person you might associate with homelessness. At about six feet tall, with chestnut brown hair hanging inches above his shoulders and a signature baseball cap, he fits the demographic of a typical SNC student, and to be sure, he is an unusual case.

MEGHAN HERBSTManaging Editor

See HOUSELESS, 8

Photo by Danny Kern | Miranda McFarland poses in front of her live-in bus

2 | EAGLE’S EYE CAMPUS SNCEAGLESEYE.com

FEBRUARY 5-6: FRIDAY-SATURDAYPeter Grubb Ski/Snowboarding

Overnight Hut Trip 9 a.m. - 5p.m.Patterson Lobby

FEBRUARY 7:SUNDAY

Super Bowl Party3:30-7:30 p.m. Patterson Hall

FEBRUARY 8: MONDAY

From Mythology to Star Wars7-9 p.m.

TCES 139

FEBRUARY 10: WEDNESDAY

Human Trafficking Awareness7-9 p.m.

TCES 139

FEBRUARY 12: FRIDAY

Writers in the Woods: Rebecca Makkai7-9 p.m.

TCES 139

FEBRUARY 13: SATURDAYWriters Workshop with Rebecca

Makkai9 a.m.- Noon

TCES 139

FEBRUARY 15: MONDAY

President’s DayCampus Closed

FEBRUARY 19: FRIDAY

Boreal Ski Trip8:30 a.m. - 3 p.m.Boreal Ski Resort

of eventsCalendar

Sierra Nevada College rec-ognizes the educational and societal value of encourag-ing the uninhibited, robust, free and open discussion of issues and ideas on Amer-ica’s college and university campuses. It is therefore the policy of the executive lead-ership of Sierra Nevada Col-lege that all student edited campus media have been established as designated

public forums for student expression. It is the intent that student media will provide a full opportunity for its students to inquire, ques-tion and exchange ideas and that they will strive to reflect all areas of student interest, including topics about which there may be dissent or con-troversy.

The Eagle’s Eye is produced by the Editing and Journalism Work-shop classes of Sierra Nevada College.

Managing Editor Meghan Herbst

News EditorsJackson Heath and Jamie Wan-zek

Photo and Design Editor Danny Kern

Online Editor Nick Galantowicz

Campus EditorKeifer Bly

Reporters Jamie Wanzek, Jackson Heath, Hannah Green, Terra Breeden, Bliss Georgiev, Rachel Lightner

Advisers Tanya CaninoAlison Bender

Advertising:Businesses who would like to support the student newspaper at Sierra Nevada College while gaining exposure to the Incline Village community are encour-aged to advertise in the Eagle’s Eye.

For more information, please email the Eagle’s Eye at [email protected]

Would you like your opinion published in the Eagle’s Eye?

Please send comments to [email protected]

Letters to the Editor: [email protected]

Corrections Policy:The Eagle’s Eye strives to be ac-curate, fair and complete in its coverage and correct significant errors of fact. If you see an error, please e-mail the editor at [email protected] or call the adviser at 530.581.1020.

Sierra Nevada College

Student Media Policy

Faculty of the Fortnight: Richard GireFrom a Craps champion to Assistant Professor, Richard Gire has seen it all BRIAN GASSContributor

On a not so snowy spring day in 1975, four young men walked into a casino in South Lake Tahoe and took the craps table by storm. With the help of lady luck and quick calculations derived from days of study and practice, the men walked away with full pockets and wide smiles. One of these men was Professor Richard Gire, and he approaches craps as he does everything in his life: with practice, an eye towards the future, and just the right amount of swagger.

“I want to raise the bar of aca-demic rigor at SNC because we are not all teaching at the same level of accountability. When stu-dents run into someone like me it is a culture shock. The bottom line is that I want your degree to be worth a lot.” Gire said.

This “raising the bar” is re-flected in Gire’s control of the classroom, the curriculum he builds, and the way he dresses; always a suit and tie.

Like most, Gire took a wind-ing path after high school as he pursued higher education.

“I didn’t do well my first time at college,” he said. “ I went to UC Santa Barbara right out of high school and I was really not ready. I flunked out and ended up enlisting in the Navy for 4 years during the Vietnam War.”

In the Navy, Gire worked as an electronics technician maintain-ing the navigational systems on fighter jets.

“When I got out of the Navy I was really motivated because I was four years behind all of my colleagues” Gire said.

He went on to get his bach-elor’s from San Diego State and his MBA from the University of

Southern California.The majority of Gire’s profes-

sional career was spent in the entertainment industry in Los Angeles.

“In the early 80’s I started as a computer guy for Columbia pictures. Then I looked around the company and tried to figure out who had the best job, and it was the lawyers. The entertain-ment attorneys made really good money, worked 9 to 5, and were in the know on all the deals.” he said.

While working at MGM, Gire went to Loyola Law School at night to earn his law degree. From there, he worked at several different companies both U.S. and foreign-owned. The focus of his work was in the distribution of the content that the entertain-ment companies produced.

“At some point my kids grew up and moved away and my wife and I looked at each other and said ‘why are we still here (Ven-tura County)?’” he said.

Him and his wife decided to retire from the entertainment industry and make a permanent move to their vacation house in Truckee, California.

Though Gire had retired from the entertainment industry, he never stopped working. In the 2 years before beginning his work teaching at Sierra Nevada College, Gire wrote and self published a book called “No-Nonsense Craps: The Consum-mate Guide to Winning at the Crap Table.”

“When I was in grad school, a few of my buddies and I came up to South Lake Tahoe during Eas-ter break to go skiing but there wasn’t any snow. We were going to be there for a week anyway so we decided to learn to play

craps,” he said. “We read voraciously and spent

a lot of time in the casinos. We really dove into it and after that I became a craps player,” Gire said.

With enough free time follow-ing his retirement, Gire wrote a best selling craps books that still sits atop the Amazon bestseller list.

“I did it just because I wanted to be able to say I did,” he said. “A lot of people say they are going to write a book and never do.”

In 2007, Gire brought his wis-dom and talent to the classroom, where he felt out opportunities at both the University of Nevada Reno and Sierra Nevada Col-lege. The cards were in favor of the Eagles and a few weeks after applying Gire was teaching Business Law at SNC, a course that is now notorious among the student body as being challenging and fruitful.

“It was probably the best class I have taken at SNC. I really feel like I have the right ground-work to protect myself and my business in the future” said Casey Gor-don, a Senior majoring in Entrepreneurship.

Gire has been a full time faculty member at Sierra Nevada Col-lege for eight years. Throughout this time he has tirelessly pushed to improve the business

department and the quality of education here.

“I am now involved in the mar-keting program as the chair and my goal is to build that program up to what it should be,” Gire said.

Outside of the business depart-ment Gire is the Chair of Faculty Council where he runs meetings every other week.

Though Gire has had a very successful career as an entertain-ment lawyer, book author/pub-lisher and now teacher, he still looks for improvement.

“One of my goals is to em-power faculty. It’s the faculty that provides the product here and it’s they who will ultimately improve the value of your education,” he said. “A mere diploma without something retained between your ears means nothing. I want this college to be ranked. I want parents to appreciate and respect this place as much as the students do.”

“I want to raise the bar of academic rigor

at SNC.”

February 4, 2016 CAMPUS EAGLE’S EYE | 3> WORD ON CAMPUS DO YOU THINK THAT VOTING IS IMPORTANT?

“I’ve never voted before, actually. I think it’s im-portant if you’re educated on the subject.” Rachel Lightner, Sophomore

“ I do. I didn’t before, but now I do. I saw the can-didates and I was scared.” Deanna Kuns, Sophomore

“Yes. If we don’t vote, they’ll elect someone with different opinions than students.”Andre Cheva-lier, Sophomore

“Yes. I run a club and deal with SGA a lot.” Dave Wadleigh, Junior

ANDY ROSTContributor

Greetings SNC readers! The Eagle’s Eye in the Sky is back for another semester of keeping our readership informed about all things meteorological. Welcome back!

Since we last wrote (way back in early December) our winter has turned out to be, well… a winter. In dramatic contrast to the previous 3 to 4 winters, we actually have cold temperatures and most of all SNOW!

The Sierra snowpack is in good shape so far with most locations in the Northern Sierra at or above normal levels.

Figure 1 from the Natural

Resource Conservation Ser-vice (NRCS) Snow Telemetry (SNOTEL) web site (http://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/snow/) shows the location of local snow survey sites.

The color coding show with the east side of Tahoe is, in general, 125% to 150 % of normal while sites on the west side of Tahoe are generally 100% to 125% of normal snowpack.

Figure 2 shows the readings from our closest snow station at Marlette Lake. With 63 inches of snow, a Snow Water Equivalent (SWE, amount of water in the snowpack) of about 17 inches, and still 2 to 3 months of winter to go, are in great shape.

There is currently little to no evidence that the high pressure

system that sets up off the coast of California and prevents storms from hitting our coast will set up any time soon.

This means, the storm-door is open and we can ex-pect more unstable weather, and hope-fully more snow storms.

Eagle’s Eye In The SkyContributed by Andy

Rost | (RIGHT) Figure 1 (ABOVE) Figure 2

4 | EAGLE’S EYE NEWS SNCEAGLESEYE.com

Powder, Wagyu, and Snow Monkeys in Japan

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Ever wanted to eat some of the highest quality beef while snowboarding or skiing some of the best snow in the world? You could still have the chance. Over winter break, Sierra Nevada College hosted a travel course in Japan. This trip will be available to students again this May.

Art Department Chair Sheri Leigh O’Connor took a group of students and some adults from the general public to study the culture.

“I’m obsessed with Japan. I love it. I’m always gushing about it,” O’Connor said.

Although usually the class is composed of SNC students only, this winter break, many adults from the general public atten-ded as well.

“I took the class to expe-rience Japanese culture, food, and to ski the fresh ‘Ja-pow’,” Sophomore Chase Gerwin said.

Many students may not see the benefits of travel abroad. But the rewards are priceless.

“When the students finally get

there, they’re like, ‘oh I get it now,’ because it’s just such an amazing experience,” O’Connor said.Students, who travel to Japan

with SNC, tend to go for these reasons.

“Japan has many traditions and customs that are unique and truly fascinating,” Sophomore Morgan Barth said. “While I was on this trip I tried to learn as must as I could about the culture because to me it’s really interes-ting.”

One large part of Japanese culture is their food; one of the most familiar to those of us in the United States is Wagyu beef.

The Japanese specifically breed and pamper the Wagyu cattle to be some of the most flavorful and tender meat in the world.

“Ben Carpenter, Steven Jenab,

and I were on a mis-sion to find the beer-fed and massaged

Japanese Wagyu beef,”

Gerwin said. “After days of skiing

fresh powder, we found an ups-

cale Wagyu steakhouse. Our loud sounds of enjoyment made the Japanese girls across from us put their hands over their mouths and giggle.”

Students had different interests along the trip.

“My favorite part of the trip was staying in Akiabara, which is known as electric town in Japan,” Barth said.

While the trip felt mostly like a vacation, there were educational

aspects as well.“We did a paper cutting

workshop and a choking metal stamping workshop so we did different Japanese art forms,” said O’Connor. “It’s a three credit course for the two weeks, and their one assignment is writing a journal.”

Despite having to do a little work the students seemed to enjoy themselves.

“Japan is such a homogeneous

culture. There is really nothing like it in the world. Bill Murray in the movie ‘Lost in Translation’ captures some of the essence,” said Gerwin. “It was more fun than I expected. I want to travel back to Japan and experience the skiing and food again.”

There will be another opportu-nity for students to take the trip this upcoming spring. In May, O’Connor will be taking a class to Japan with a concentration in

ceramics.

HANNAH GREENEStaff Reporter

“I’m obsessed with Japan. I

love it. I’m always gushing about it.”

Sheri Leigh O’Connor

Photo courtesy Hannah Green| A plate of Wagyu beef, a type of high-quality

February 4, 2016 NEWS EAGLE’S EYE | 5

SGA’s slow trip to Squaw ValleyRACHEL LIGHTNERStaff Reporter

BLISS GEORGIEVStaff Reporter

What did you do over Winter Break?

Many students were busy ski-ing, working and visiting family this winter break. Some traveled back to their home states while others went on vacation.

“I went skiing over winter break to Schweitzer in north Ida-ho for a few days,” Freshman Ga-briella Makena said. “That is my home mountain. It was good to be back in foggy weather as weird as that sounds.” She had a lot of fun skiing the northern snow, and en-joyed being back at home.

Makena said being back on her “home mountain was a great feel-ing.” She went to Idaho to see her dad, grandma, uncle and cousins. They all skied together.

Meghan Herbst, Eagle’s Eye

Managing Editor, said she saw “Star Wars” three times over break, twice when she visited her boyfriend who attends the Catho-lic university Notre Dame, in In-diana.

“The campus was huge,” Herbst said. “The library is 12 stories tall with no windows, because they want everybody to be in a cube just focusing, and there is a giant Jesus mural on the outside.” Ap-parently Jesus looks like he just made a touchdown.

Senior Marina McCoy, a Sus-tainability and Business major, coordinated the sustainability ef-forts at this year’s SnowGlobe Festival in South Lake Tahoe. The techno music festival is all outside and has about 15,000 at-tendees.

“It was really interesting,” Mc-

Coy said. “I usually work small bluegrass and jam band festivals that are sustainability oriented. When I signed on to SnowGlobe they said they didn’t want to re-cycle.” McCoy snuck in recycling anyway and had it end up being a big win.

“Next year we are going to look at how to reduce waste from the get go,” McCoy said.

Reducing waste is her main fo-cus, and she is planning to intro-duce reusable cups and plates to next year’s event. She also would like to help educate the glitter and glow stick crowd of SnowGlobe about sustainability. McCoy skied over break, too, at Squaw and Alpine, and in her home state of Vermont.

Junior Payton Roberts returned to his hometown in Juneau, Alas-

ka this winter after a seven year absence. Roberts’ close childhood friend had multiple sclerosis, and recently passed away.

“Even though it was a sad reason that brought me back up there, I got to see lots of my childhood friends and my sister and niece. It turned into a positive experience,” said Roberts. “Lots of positive stuff came from a neg-ative thing and that’s how life is sometimes.”

While in Alaska, Roberts got to do lots of hiking. He explored the Mendenhall Glacier ice caves, met lots of new people, went ski-ing and even briefly saw the au-rora borealis. He ate “soul food at an odd little famous restaurant” named Pel Meni.

Journalism Professor Ann Ma-rie Brown trekked through the

jungles of Costa Rica with her husband, Jack. She said they spent three weeks driving around the country camping, but they did spend a few nights in lodges. They stayed in established camp-grounds and beaches and while the rain fell every single day dur-ing their trip, the weather was a warm 90 degrees.

“We hiked volcanoes and we went surfing. We saw a lot of wildlife,” said Brown.

During their trek through the rainforest they encountered mon-keys, sloths and rare birds, in-cluding a toucan that perched on Jack’s arm. Brown also saw “a wonderful bird, the laughing fal-con, who when catches a snake or prey actually laughs.”

SNC students dish on their winter activities

Tahoe locals know the traf-fic struggle when getting to the mountain on a Saturday morn-ing, especially after a snow filled night.

Bay Area folk and eager skiers and snowboarders alike flock to the local area to catch early turns on one of the several ski areas. On the morning of Saturday, Jan. 23, six Sierra Nevada College students, accompanied by Will Hoida, joined the masses on the trek to the slopes of Squaw Valley Resort on an SGA sponsored ski day. Although the trip took a few unexpected turns, they did not stop the students from making the most of the adventure.

The group originally planned

on taking a shuttle from the Hyatt parking lot to Squaw, but due to maintenance issues, they had to reconsider their means of transportation.

“We ended up taking the public bus to the mountain, but it became a kind of wild adventure with all of us riding on the public buses with our snow gear,” said Dean of Students Will Hoida.

The slow moving public bus made for a delayed arrival time, but also considering the fact it was a Saturday morning with fresh snow on hill, it took the group nearly three hours to get to the mountain. Traffic was at a stand still on both sides of High-way 89 with people determined to get into Alpine Meadows and Squaw, including the SNC crew.

“It took a really long time to get

there, but I’m just stoked I was able to ride Squaw,” said Senior AJ Black.

Black saw the positive side of the situation upon remember-ing he was able to ski Squaw at a mere $20 instead of the original $110, thanks to the SGA.

“We didn’t end up getting there till 11am due to traffic, but we still had an awesome time,” said Hoida. “It was a change of events, but it ended up working for us anyways.”

For Sophomore Emilie Amundsen, it was her first time skiing Squaw.

“I had a really good time, it was kind of windy but the snow was good,” said Amundsen.

She is a member of the SNC Freestyle Ski Team, and spends the majority of her days on skis.

“It was cheap compared to a normal ticket, and it may have taken a long time to get there, but it was definitely worth it in the end,” she said.

Look out for SGA’s upcom-ing events, including the Peter Grubb Hut ski trip and a spring break surf trip.

Photo by Jamie Wanzek | The summit of Squaw Mountain, the site of SGA’s most recent student trip

#sncyourshotHere are the winning #sncyourshot

pictures from the last two weeks. The first place picture will receive a $10 gift certificate to the on-campus bookstore!

If you want your picture in the next issue and a shot at a gift card make sure

to hashtag your next adventure with #sncyourshot.

If you won this week email us at [email protected] to collect

your prize

2. 3.

1.

6 | EAGLE’S EYE NEWS SNCEAGLESEYE.com

The Alpine, Freeski and Snowboard teams are

continuing their tradition of United States Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Association (USCSA) competitions; a division SNC has earned numerous National titles in over the past two and half decades. The teams are beginning their season of USCSA competi-tions where they will acquire individual points to qualify for the 2016 USCSA National Cham-pionships in Lake Placid, New York, March 6 through 12.

“It is exciting because we won Nationals last year and we have a similar team this season.” Ac-cording to Jon Cherry, the Head Freeski Coach. “As long as we stay strong and healthy.”

Thus far in the season, the teams have participated in one competition at Diamond Peak Resort USCSA competitions. On Jan. 17 at Diamond Peak, the Snowboard and Freeski teams competed in the Slopestyle while the Alpine team took Giant Sla-lom. As expected, the SNC snow teams won the overall competi-

tion. The weekend was supposed to consist of two events. How-ever, the Jan. 18 competition was

cancelled due to weather. “The weather has not been co-

operating this season, which has lead to half of our competitions being cancelled so far this season. Nonetheless we have already shown our skills at the competi-tions this season with a host of podium finishes and a 1st place ranking in our series,” Com-mented Max Leabman, Head Snowboard Coach. “We have a very strong team this year with a lot of leadership coming from our experienced group of Seniors.”

This semester the SNC teams are already excelling in snow sports competitions.

“The results are reflecting where we are right now, which is good but we are waiting for greatness,” said Branko Zagar Head of Athletics and the Alpine Ski Team. “It is very important our skiing peaks for March and Nationals.”

While the weekend of Jan. 17 marked the first weekend for Freeski and Snowboard com-petitions, the Alpine team has

been competing all across the region for the International Ski Federation (FIS) and the The National Collegiate Athletic As-sociation (NCAA), to earn individual points and experience. The Alpine teams have made it to Panorama, British Columbia for The North American Cup and Park City Utah for NCAA.

“I have definitely been skiing better in training than competi-tions so far but we are getting some awesome training right now and I feel ready to go do some good results soon,” said Senior Johanna Tikkanen.

Currently the teams are practic-ing at Diamond Peak, Northstar, Boreal and Sugar Bowl. The Alpine team is training Tuesday through Friday with competi-tions on Saturday and Sunday, while the Freeski and Snow-board teams alternate between Diamond Peak, Northstar and Boreal.

Sopho-more Ali Perotti com-mented that, “We have a really strong team this year, it’s a good show-ing.”

In preparation for the winter season, all the teams partici-pated in dryland training; a key element for athletes in remain-ing healthy and strong. For the Alpine, Freeski and Snowboard teams, all engaged in early morn-ing training at High Altitude and calisthenics at Incline beach. According to Cherry, the early dryland proved productive for the early season snow year.

“Dryland was really produc-tive. We had some great gym sessions, it was great to come together and see what every-one’s strengths and weakness are because we’ve had five people tear their acls last season,” said Perotti.

Injuries are an inherent danger when participating in snow sports lending problems for SNC athletes and snow teams.

“Last year was my comeback

year from an ACL injury. the whole season was a big struggle due to the fact that i had a lot of pain in my knee every day,” com-mented Tikkanen.

While the Men’s Alpine team is remaining strong and healthy this season, the Women’s Alpine team is struggling with injuries.

“We already have issues with injuries. Two girls from last year are still recovering injuries from last year. We possibly have four girls out for the season already,” said Zager.

With strong teams representing SNC this year, the goal for all the Freeski, Alpine and Snowboard is to remain healthy and strong for the upcoming competitions and Nationals.

The teams will compete at Mammoth for regionals Feb. 13 and 14.

SNC Ski and Snowboard Teams Continue Tradition

Photo courtesy of Johanna Tikkanen The Women Alpine Race team enjoy a race day at Squaw Valley Resort.

JAMIE WANZEKNews Editor

Photo courtesy of Ali Perotti | TOP Perotti does a 720 at USCSA Nationals 2015 in Oregon; BOTTOM Emilie Amundsen and Perotti enjoy practice for Nationals.

SNC SPORTS SCHEDULE

FEBRUARY 6:SATURDAY

FEBRUARY 7:SUNDAY

FEBRUARY 7:SUNDAY

FEBRUARY 13:

SATURDAY

Men’s/Women’s Alpine Skiing9 a.m.

Heavenly

Men’s/Women’s Snowboarding, Men’s/Women’s Freeskiing

11 a.m.Heavenly

Super Bowl Party3:30-7:30 p.m. Patterson Hall

Men’s/Women’s Alpine SkiingTBA

Mammoth Mountain

February 4, 2016 NEWS EAGLE’S EYE | 7

This winter, more snow has covered the Lake Tahoe Ba-

sin than any year since 2012. Ac-cording to a recent report by the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA), “a snow survey this Janu-ary by California Department of Water Resources found 54 inches of snow at Echo Summit. That’s 16 inches above average for this time of year.”

As snow blankets the Sierra Nevada Mountains, skiers, snow-boarders, and snowmobilers are hitting the backcountry in search of untracked powder. However, with snow levels rising, so too has the number of avalanches. For outdoor enthusiasts exploring the backcountry slopes this winter, being prepared for an avalanche and knowing how to evaluate snow conditions is imperative.

According to Brandon Schwartz, lead avalanche forecast-er of the Sierra Avalanche Center, one of the key factors creating unstable snow conditions is the formation of a snow crystal called surface hoar.

“Surface hoar doesn’t fall from the sky, but forms on the snow overnight,” Schwartz said. When storms come through and cover the surface hoar with fresh snow, a weak layer is created in the snowpack, increasing the likeli-hood of an avalanche.

This condition is normally un-common in the Lake Tahoe Basin, but due to this season’s multiple storms and low temperatures,

surface hoar has formed and been buried by fresh snow several times.

“This is the thirteenth year I’ve worked in this area, and I’ve never seen surface hoar buried so many times,” Schwartz said. “The Lake Tahoe region has definitely been through a pretty widespread avalanche cycle. We’re seeing avalanches in places we’ve never seen them before.”

On Friday, Jan. 15, lifelong Kings Beach resident Christian Mares experienced the dangers of unstable snow firsthand when he snowboarded into a closed area of Sugar Bowl Resort and triggered a massive snow slide.

As Mares dropped into a steep, sugary bowl and surfed the untouched snow, he didn’t realize that he had started an avalanche until the churning snow engulfed him.

“I wasn’t aware that I was in an avalanche until it swept me off my feet, and I saw the snow around me collapsing,” Mares said. “It felt like I was in thick water, almost like a soupy river.”

Although Mares did not have avalanche training, his familiarity with the backcountry helped him survive the ordeal. “While I was in the slide, I was trying to think about how to get to my safety zone and out of the terrain trap,” Mares said. “After I missed my safety zone, I just tried to stay on my feet without flipping or tum-bling. When I saw the sunlight, I began to swim out of the snow and onto the surface.”

During the avalanche, Mares

wore a personal video recorder, and the video of his terrifying experience has since gone viral. He is currently under investiga-tion for trespassing in an out-of-bounds zone.

Rosie Hackett, the Director of Outdoor Adventure Leadership at Sierra Nevada College, recom-mends checking the avalanche forecast and taking the American Institute of Avalanche Research and Education (AIARE) Level 1 course before venturing into unknown snowy territory.

“Before you get out there, know where the avalanche problem is located and how to avoid it,” Hackett said. “There is not one avalanche condition that is troublesome; there are multiple problems. But all avalanches require the same three things: unstable snow, avalanche terrain, and a trigger.”

Hackett is an avid backcountry skier and certified AIARE Level 1 instructor. In her AIARE course at SNC, Hackett, along with Professor Daryl Teittinen, teaches students to identify unstable snow conditions and make informed decisions.

“Students learn to plan their backcountry trips using a decision-making framework that helps them become productively paranoid, communicate wisely, and have a great time out there,” Hackett said.

Recently, SNC Trustee Roland Schumann participated in Hack-ett’s avalanche awareness AIARE level 1 class. “The course provided me with my first backcountry

experience,” Schumann said. “I wanted to learn how to backcoun-try ski and use skins, and equally important, I wanted to be able to do those things safely.”

During the three-day class, Schumann learned a variety of skills necessary for safely ex-ploring Lake Tahoe’s snow-clad landscape.

“We were trained how to prop-erly plan a trip and choose the right terrain when venturing into the backcountry. We also learned how to use beacons, probes, and shovels to locate and save avalanche victims,” Schumann said. “Another important set of skills was how to dig snow-pits and observe the various snow layers. This knowledge is impor-tant when evaluating whether the snow in a given area is likely to shift or fracture.”

Schumann’s AIARE class skinned into the wilderness around Mt. Rose to practice these

snow safety methods. On the first two days of the course, the group was pummeled with gale-force winds and cold, cloudy condi-tions, but the weather cleared on the third day.

“We skinned up to a ridge adjacent to Tamarack Mountain, ate our lunches at the top, and skied down, cutting first tracks in fresh powder. It was awesome,” Schumann said.

Despite years of experience in the backcountry, Hackett insists there is always more to learn about avalanche dangers and snow safety.

“I am no expert,” she said. “Once you claim expert status, you stop learning and grow-ing, and you start making silly mistakes out there. I am learning more about snow, avalanches, and decision-making everytime I go out and every time I teach an avalanche course.”

TERRA BREEDENStaff Reporter

Lake Tahoe: Avalanche Country

Due to substantial snowfall in the Lake Tahoe Basin this winter, avalanche safety is essential when venturing into the backcountry

Photo of Christan Mares snowboarding in the Tahoe backcountry

8 | EAGLE’S EYE FEATURE SNCEAGLESEYE.com

匀椀攀爀爀愀一攀瘀愀搀愀䌀漀氀氀攀最攀猀琀甀搀攀渀琀猀 ☀ 昀愀挀甀氀琀礀爀攀挀攀椀瘀攀　─ 漀昀昀

He hasn’t fallen on hard times. “That’s one thing that nobody

understands, is that I’m not doing it for the money,” says Sauerbrey.

He has enough money in his bank account, from a summer job working as a river guide in Idaho, to put a deposit and first month’s rent toward an apart-ment in the area, if he chose to and were able to find one, but Sauerbrey decided that apartment life was much too hemmed-in.

“Tahoe is such an incredible place, but if you live in an apart-ment, the comfort can breed this sense of complacency,” says Sau-erbrey. “No one wants to spend all day in the back of a truck, so it forces me to get out, and basi-cally go hiking and take every-thing that I can out of this place. My social life has improved significantly since I did this.”

Despite these personal ben-efits, Sauerbrey was recently informed his days parking over-night on the SNC campus were over. A policy has been adopted at the private institution that prohibits students from living in their vehicles on campus.

“Apparently it was a change to the student handbook that just

happened this year.I got an email from the

dean, from Will [Hoida], saying that a few people had noticed a silver Toyota on campus, and enough people had come to him that he had to say something,” says Sauerbrey. “So he said that I couldn’t park there anymore.”

Dean of Students Will Hoida says he understands the severe interplay of high rental costs in the local area and the desire to live sustainably that pushes some students to utilize their vehicles as a living space.

“The students that are doing this are trying to be sustainable, which we definitely understand. They’re trying to be creative,” says Hoida. “But when it came down to it, we said the biggest concern, especially with winter approaching, is the safety of the students.”

Hoida has served in his cur-rent position for three years, and had never heard of students living out of their vehicles prior to this semester, when several students and faculty members approached him to point out the trend.

Hoida took the matter to the

administration at Sierra Nevada College for discussion. Admin-istrators were concerned that ve-hicle living would make students an easy target for criminals, pose a health risk in extreme cold weather and attract bears to the area.

“We did kind of look at the other aspects, and

we do understand there are some ad-vantages too, but at this point the safety concerns outweigh those,”

says Hoida. Junior Miranda Mc-

Farland has been living out of her vehicle for over a year, and thinks that the new policy has an adverse effect on student safety.

“If they really care about my safety, wouldn’t they want me on campus? Wouldn’t I be safer on campus than sleeping in my bus off campus and having more liability for my safety by getting sideswiped by another car, like a drunk driver?” says McFarland. “There’s 24-hour security on campus. I feel so much more comfortable sleeping at night, on campus, than when I’m sleeping off of campus on the street.”

After the new policy came into effect, McFarland attempted to find new places to park her bus,

but she continued to run into legal and financial obstacles.

“I moved into my bus for financial reasons but also for sustainable reasons and wanting to have a minimalistic lifestyle, and just work less, consume less,” says McFarland. “They make it literally impossible to be homeless here. You get ticketed or fined or told you can’t do that. There are all these homeowners regulations that say you can’t park, and you’ll get questioned if you’re loitering. They’re making homeless people criminals.”

37 homeless individuals cur-rently reside in Placer County and Truckee, according to the Department of Housing and Ur-ban Development. The number of homeless residing in Incline Village has not been tallied.

Parking along county roads and in residential areas, without the permission of the owner, is prohibited overnight, and ac-cording to McFarland, regular patrols enforce these regulations. She has been warned, fined and asked to move, and now she is unable to utilize the only lot in Incline Village with 24-hour security.

At the University of California at Santa Cruz, growth of the stu-dent body in the 1980s led to the installation of a “camper park” where students could rent space

and purchase, outright, campers to live in, which were far cheaper than rentals in the surrounding city.

The park includes community showers and bathrooms, camp-fire circles and shared responsi-bilities.

While the harsh winter climate in the Tahoe basin makes it difficult to continue outdoor living in the winter, McFarland is optimistic that SNC students and faculty can find ways to make a more sustainable lifestyle a possibility.

She has drafted a proposal that she plans to bring to the attention of the administration at the beginning of the Spring semester.

SNC’s Board of Trustees cited growth and a larger student body as one of the main goals moving forward during their presidential search over the spring semester in early 2015. Hoida says that the administra-tion has started to brainstorm what additions the campus may need as the student body contin-ues to grow.

“We’re always encouraging students, if they’ve got some ideas and other campuses are doing it and it’s working there, we definitely want to entertain those ideas,” says Hoida.

HOUSELESS, from front page

“They’re ma-king homeless

people criminals.” Miranda

McFarland, Junior

February 4, 2016 SPORTS EAGLE’S EYE | 9

Athletes, coach at cross-roads on trainingSNC’s new sports teams face hurdles as they navigate training, schedules and intensity to build a winning teamJACKSON HEATHNews Editor

Starting a new college sports team is never an easy task. The Sierra Nevada College cross-country team began its first season last semester and has already come across several glar-ing issues.

“I’m not going to lie, it was pretty rough,” said Conner Ly-man, a freshman and runner at SNC, when asked about his thoughts on the first season. Ly-man was one of the few members of the team that came from a competitive running background before coming to SNC and has already found the challenges of trying to build up a new team from scratch.

“We lost a lot of members on both sides, guys and girls, until it was just two guys with a bunch of substitutes from the soccer team and four girls” Lyman said.

Many of the athletes that joined the team did so out of curiosity about the sport and a need to challenge themselves. But some realized early on that they may have bit off more than they could chew.

For many, the schedule was just too difficult to manage. Giulian-na Crivello, a freshman and first time runner, said the worst part was the early practices.

“It was a big transition for me running miles a day, but I

couldn’t stand the early morn-ings,” said Crivello.

“We had practices that began at 5:30 a.m. and with everyone’s classes and any other priorities they had the day before, that was a bit rough,” said Lyman.

Anthony Skiles, the head coach of the cross-country team, is aware of these issues, but is not concerned because of the pro-gram’s infancy.

“It was the first year for the program,” said Skiles. “I am building for the future…you try to replace the ones you lost and add a few more on top.”

A singular voice in a group can help Lyman, previously being a captain of his high school cross country team, has taken it upon himself to fill in as a captain, seeing the need for more leadership.

“I try to reflect the entire mood of the team as the captain,” said Lyman. “If they’re not happy, then I’m not happy.”

A meeting was held Jan. 25 for both current and inter-ested cross-country athletes. The topics brought up were focused on recruiting new athletes and allowing current athletes more leeway for their training, to the relief of the runners.

“As of right now, he [Skiles] is more focused on recruit-ing more runners rather than

us,” said Lyman. “He’s letting us determine what we want to do and how we want to run. That’s definitely a relief.”

Some athletes had left due to the differences in opinions with Coach Skiles and his intense style, but Crivello appreciated his support.

“Coach Skiles is not for every-body, but I definitely enjoyed him as a coach,” said Crivello. “He was very supportive in my first year of running. And that’s all I could’ve asked for.”

The new approach to the

scheduling and the willingness of Skiles to open up has proved to be a solid turning point in team moral and Lyman thinks this will prove to be beneficial for the future of the team, but believes more can still be done to fix any further concerns.

“I don’t think it would hurt to add an assistant coach. It would help to cool things down,” said Lyman.

While the team has already experienced a list of issues, the room for improvement is there and the morale of the team is still

strong. “This was a great first year,”

said Skiles. “I know the team lost some members, but I have faith in the 2016 season. The students that stayed are leaders and the core of the team. I am very happy with them and the hard work they are putting in, so we can reach the goals for next fall.”

Both the coach and students share positive views of the 2016 season.

“I’m proud to say I was on the first cross-country team at SNC,” said Crivello.

Photos by Jackson Heath | ABOVE & BELOW, SNC cross-country athletes practice a strict running schedule

10 | EAGLE’S EYE FORUM SNCEAGLESEYE.com

For four months, home existed somewhere beyond the westward sunset, over the Mediterranean sea. It lay in my future horizon, a place separated by the Atlantic Ocean. Home was carried in my footsteps, across bridges in Venice Italy, the Czech

Republic and under Big Ben. Home was on my back while I rode camels into the Sahara Desert and while navigating German airports. Home ; wherever comfort and love lies, unconventional or not is the greatest constitute of who we are, a characteristic that we unknowingly carry with us, all across the globe. Home shapes our relationship with the world. They say travel far enough and you’ll discover it. Home.

For four months, uncomfortability served as a graceful amenity to my daily life. Surrounded by more buildings, stores and humans than trees and animals, I left anything resembling home, across the Atlantic Ocean. The air fill-ing my lungs was Spanish, the Mediterranean Sea was my natural landscape, American culture (whatever that constitues), was commutated with a resolute country. The people of Spain, with olive skin, dark hair and eyes, rep-resented passion. There was passion in their voices and their embraces with each other. There was passion reach-ing from King’s Palaces in Madrid to, Gaudi’s architectur-al masterpieces in Barcelona, down the coast to Alicante and all across the arid Andalusia region. I found ardor and

beauty all across Spain. I was told once by a local Spanish boy, “American’s al-

ways note their country as a mixing pot and frustration because they don’t have a solidified past and culture. In a sense, Spain is the same way.” A country with a complex past of Roman, Christian, Muslim rules, religion and eras, embed an understanding of human history into my educa-tion far beyond any textbook. Observing the ancient past of famous Arabic palaces, Cathedrals and Roman Castles gave insight into Spain’s most recent history- Francisco Franco’s dictatorship ending in 1975. But I believe, simi-lar to America, Spain also finds frustration when looking to their past for a culture to grasp. We both are unique calico of religions and radical era’s that emit confusion- casting a light upon America I finally understand.

My largest motivation in moving to Spain was Lan-guage. I noticed the different barriers within learning a language. While I am by no means fluent, language and the entire artistry that allows one another to communicate, is both simple and complex. At first, the experience felt more or less similar to the stages a newborn. My brain be-came a sponge absorbing every tiny chord, vibration and action happening around me. This became the first step in learning Spanish, what sounds like a meaningless sentence sang in Latin roots, is somehow meaningful and relevant with verbs and nouns. Although once, and only once you begin to associate those particular sounds, do they become

words and phrases that you can keep in your pocket and allow authentic communication.

There were many moments over my experience in Eu-rope when I thought, “Traveling is dreaming with your eyes open.” Every weekend I traveled to a new reach in Europe, the experience pushed me into whimsical trance. Moving our bones, seeing new places, allows us to defeat the mundane while stimulating our minds. Every sight, every person and experience I met while visiting a new horizon was telling, it created a new perspective into the world and myself. From smelling the dust of Communism in the Czech Republic, admiring Romeo and Juliet’s bal-cony in Italy, glowing under the Palace of Westminster in London, the onset fear of terrorism and the Islamic State after the Paris attacks, to traveling across the Sahara Des-ert via camel, every experience revealed truth and remain timeless.

It has been over a month, and I have traced my foot-steps back across the Atlantic Ocean. Returning home has revealed another adventure, as being abroad has brought new perspectives. For the first time in four months, the ground beneath my feet holds me strong. There is comfort coating every aspect of my life from the English language to snow on the mountains. As I reflect on the past four months, I cannot help but feel as though it was nothing short of daydream, solidifying that traveling and dreaming serve the same purpose in our lives.

Dreaming with Your Eyes Open

JAMIE WANZEK News Editor

SNC students return home from their travels around Europe

Photo by Jamie Wanzek- ABOVE Beber Men feeding camels befo-re thier excursion into the Sahara Desert, Rachel Lightner enjoys a sunrise over the Sahara Desert. RIGHT- Rachel Lightner looks over Lake Como, Italy. Jamie Wanzek stands infront of St. Marks Basilica in Venice, Italy. FAR RIGHT- A viewpoint of Big Ben, in London, UK.

February 4, 2016 FORUM EAGLE’S EYE | 11

Dueling Views

I’m in between a rock and a hard deal. Seemingly, there are people out there who really like the Trans-Pacific Partnership. President Barack Obama and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clin-ton are among them.

So, is the TPP a beneficial deal? Well— it depends on where you’re

standing. For large corporations, agribusiness and the pharmaceuti-cal industry, the deal is sunshine and

roses. There is also a credible argument as to the geopolitical benefits of such a deal with many of our Southeast Asian cli-ent states. On the other hand, China— one of the largest global economies— is excluded from the partnership, a fact that seems to directly conflict with the notion of diplomacy peddled by some TPP supporters.

If you are one of the millions of people in participant countries that perform labor at minimum wage for one of these corpora-tions, you’re in a different boat. If you would ostensibly enjoy medication that is affordable, you’re in an even smaller, jankier boat.

There are a few sections in the trade deal’s text that discuss labor and environmental law. For instance, nations should “rec-ognize that flexible, voluntary mechanisms […] can contribute to the achievement and maintenance of high levels of environ-mental protection,” while also avoiding “the creation of unnec-essary barriers to trade.”

Strong stuff. If I’m the palm oil industry in the participant state of Malaysia, I’m quaking in my boots— on top of the des-iccated skulls of displaced orangutans— but who’s missing all those monkeys jumping on our beds?

Yes, for globalization the Trans Pacific Partnership is another gold star on a laundry list of effective trade deals and policies including the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and it’s lesser-known step-sisters CAFTA, AFTA and TAFTA (all legitimate trade deals).

So if you are a globe, or one of those lucky, hardworking few riding on top of it like it’s an immortal donkey, you’ve found your deal.

The Mexican Zapatista’s response to the 1994 declaration of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), declaring war against the Mexican state, is an hyperbolic example of similar contention happening now against the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) world wide. Like NAFTA, the TPP is a modern trade block including 12 countries that will effectively implement new economic policy in a multitude of industries. Mexico is a member nation in the TPP agreement. Does the sovereign Zapatista community declare a new war?

Why does President Obama favor the TPP so heavily? The lobbying of large corporations and the exploitation of marginalized people is at the essence of

this deal, like in most modern trade blocks. A prominent US Senator was quoted saying, “This trade deal would make

it easier for corporations to shut down more factories in the U.S. and ship more jobs to Vietnam and Malaysia where workers are paid pennies an hour.”

Because congress passed the Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities and Accountability Act of 2015 (BCTPAA), President Obama and the United States Trade Representative have the power to authorize the TPP agreement. In order for the agreement to be ratified under US law, congress to vote on the agreement in November 2016. In accordance with the BCTPAA, lawmakers have no authority in amending any of the trade policies within the TPP at any time.

Citizens across all participating 12 nations are protesting for amendments or the repeal of TPP poli-cies. Most of the protests reflect upon secrecy of policy negotiations, economic stability, labor’s rights, envi-ronmental concerns, electronic commerce and copyright law. Their sentiment is that the TPP will holistically change the global economy for the worse, and their concerns deepen knowing agreements were created in secrecy by powerful government officials.

Yoshi Tsurumi, based out of New York City, writes in The Japan Times, “Under the TPP, Wall Street will be able to circumvent the U.S. government regulations that discourage the fraudulent financial games that bankrupted more than 15 million Americans in 2008. The TPP will let large pharmaceutical firms and Silicon Valley IT firms prolong their patent monopoly profits. Manufacturing firms will more freely send their jobs abroad. Large agribusiness will fatten its profits and small family farmers in the U.S. and abroad will suffer.”

Even countries outside the TPP membership, such as Argentina, have been protesting the deal because multinational companies arguably acquire high net profits effectively by exploiting economies “with rules tai-lored to large corporations”.

This past month, Argentinean protesters were quoted saying, “this treaty clearly violates the sover-eignty of people, it allows companies like Monsanto to sue countries over not meeting their demands, privatize seeds and obtain control over food.”

The TPP is all about control really. Why else would TPP negotiations happen in secret rooms with diplomats sworn to secrecy? Why would official TPP full text transcriptions be released to the public only after fast track bills and national ratifications have been approved?

In the words of Noam Chomsky, “The Trans-Pacific Partnership is a neoliberal assault to maximize profit and domination, and to set the working people in the world of competition with one another so as to lower wages and increase insecurity.”

The full text of the TPP is available for public review online.

The Trans-Pacific Partnernship is a widely contested international trade agreement that would alter the way the United States and Southeast Asia interact economically

NICK GALANTOWICZOnline EditorMEGHAN TEBOW

Managing Editor

Duck By Conor Jordan

12 | EAGLE’S EYE CAMPUS SNCEAGLESEYE.com

Student Profile: Thaina PazoliniDREA PERRINEContributor

AGE: 20 YEAR: Sophomore

Thaina is a transfer student from Brazil who loves to snowboard. She is ready to take on the future but her heart will always be in Tahoe.

What made you want to come to Lake Tahoe?

When I was a senior in 2012, my friend decided she was coming to the US to play tennis for the University of Philadelphia. We talked about it and the idea came into my mind. I talked to my parents about it and they helped me pass the test I needed. I really like snowboarding so I googled school near mountains and I found the community college in South Lake. I went there for 9 months. I realized I wanted to stay here forever. A representative came to LTCC and I decided I would transfer.

Do you ever see yourself leaving Tahoe?I won’t find a career here so I want to go

out to a big city and then come back and live here or have a home here seasonally.

What has been the biggest culture dif-ference for you?

The food. I miss the food back home so much. I knew coming here the food wasn’t that good but I really miss the food back home.

Do you plan on living in the dorms next year?

No I want to move out. I really liked the dorms at first, my first semester was the best semester ever. I feel like my time in the dorms is done. I feel like I am ready to have my own apartment and cook my own food.

What makes you want to stay in Tahoe rather than go back to Brazil?

My sister is graduating next year from high school and moving out to Tahoe. My family also wants to move out here so I don’t see myself going back home.

MAJOR: Marketing and International Studies

Hometown: São Paulo, Brazil

What do you miss from home other than the food?

The parties. The drinking age is 18. They are so different from here. You can go to clubs when you are 16 and you go out all night.

Have you met the other Brazilian’s here?

Yes, I started talking to them after the first week. We got close and now it is nice because I can speak Portuguese and I can talk to them so I don’t miss home.

Was it hard for you to learn English?No, I took English in high school. This

way I knew the basics when I graduated. When I decided to come to college here they hired a private teacher to teach me English. That was really helpful but the basics I learned from school.

How did your parents feel about you going so far away form home?

They were excited and happy that I was coming to a different country. If I stayed home, I would have gone to law school and they wanted me to live at home. I wanted to go to a big city and live with my grandparents but they said it was too dangerous. So when I found out about this opportunity they knew I would be safer than staying in Brazil.

What made you pick marketing over law?

My parents have a company and they are trying to bring it here. I am part of the process and working with them in differ-ent areas. One of the things I like to do is marketing for them. People that work for them told me to switch my major and start thinking about it. They want to bring the company here so I decided I should do something related to business not law school.

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