theThe independent student voice of

Mt. Hood Community College

advocate Gresham, O regon | Novembe r 9 , 2012 | Vo l ume 48 , I s sue 8

WWW.ADVOCATE -ONL INE .NE T

advocateadvocate

LAST DAY TO DROPTODAY IS THE FINAL DAY TO

DROP A COURSE WITHOUT

COMPLETELY WITHDRAWING

FROM SCHOOL.

Katelyn HilsenbeckThe Advocate

High school students and their parents can learn about MHCC and college scholarship opportunities at a free College Night event set for 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday in the Vista Dining Center at the main Gresham campus.

Experts will fi eld questions about college, costs and fi nancial aid and will award a few scholarships. Refresh-ments are provided.

Educational Credit Management Corporation (ECMC) has sponsored similar events throughout Oregon and Vir-ginia since 2007.

MHCC was invited to host a College Night that year and has followed up each year. ECMC provides the infor-mation and trains the presenters.

Topics include: How college can change your life; choosing the right college; paying for college; and schol-arship searches and scams.

The presentation is aimed at high school juniors and seniors, although Sydney Eustrom, MHCC manager of student outreach and recruitment, encourages all stu-dents to attend.

“It could be a student who already knows where they want to go... or it could be somebody who’s not even thinking that college is their next step,” said Eustrom. “It’s intended for everyone.”

Students who attend are eligible for a drawing of four $500 scholarships, good at most colleges or universities in the U.S.

Eustrom and MHCC Financial Aid Adviser Tracy Marshall will speak on Wednesday. Both received ECMC training, which encourages story telling to better engage visitors.

“It’s a really casual and comfortable format for high school students, their parents, high school counselors, community members, to come and get their general ques-tions answered,” Eustrom said.

Student guardians and friends are welcome, also. Questions will be taken throughout the presentations.

“You want the support of those you are surrounded by,” said Eustrom. “It’s also super-helpful to get the par-ents involved and informed.”

While a prime outreach opportunity for MHCC, the event is designed to be “hugely informative,” Eustrom said. She wants it “to be something where every single student in that room feels they can relate to some piece of info, whether they are coming to MHCC or not,” she said.

“It’s not the steps for getting started at MHCC, it’s the steps for getting started at college.”

Portland Community College and Clackamas Com-munity College will host the same event, also on Wednes-day.

Pizza and soda will be served to guests starting at 5:30 p.m. The presentation begins at 6 p.m.

John TkebuchavaThe Advocate

Democrat Chris Gorsek, a MHCC criminal justice and geography instruc-tor, has won the 49th District race for the state House of Rep-resentatives, beating incumbent and for-mer MHCC student and Republican Matt Wand.

Gorsek won the seat with 54 percent

of the votes (10,860) to his opponent Wand’s 46 percent (9,168), according to the Multnomah County website as of 8:06 a.m. Thursday.

The road to representative has been a tough but re-warding one, Gorsek said.

“My opponent was a formidable one. It was not an easy race, that’s for sure,” he said.

“I’m honored to have been elected and to represent the people of East Multnomah County and the students of Mt. Hood Community College,” said Gorsek.

“It happened because of all the great support and volunteers that came out and worked so hard for me,” he said.

One of Gorsek’s main focuses over the summer has been going door to door and speaking with county citi-zens individually, something he thinks really helped give him an edge.

“A lot of folks are like, ‘I never get a chance to talk to a representative or someone who is trying to get in-

volved as a representative,’ so it means a lot to them to make those connections,” he said.

Though Gorsek was just elected this week, his work with the government begins next Friday at a Democratic House meeting. Gorsek will be offi cially sworn in Janu-ary.

With this week’s election, the Oregon House of Rep-resentatives was reconfi gured with a Democratic major-ity. The house previously had been split 30-30.

Asked how the new Democratic majority might affect the process of pushing legislation through, Gorsek said, “I think it will help us move forward.”

“Even though I think it’s now easier for Democrats to move their agenda on things like education, I still want us to try and work as a whole body,” said Gorsek.

As for his next steps as representative, Gorsek said he wants to organize some forums on campus and in the community to hear some of the common concerns so he can address those fi rst.

In general, transportation and education are two things Gorsek said he wants to get most involved with in government.

“Education is super important so I hope to get on one of the committees that has some connection and activity with education,” he said, adding he would like to join transportation-related committees as well.

With the representative position comes a new work-load, but Gorsek, asked if he might put some things on hold to focus on his new position, said, “If I managed to do everything I was doing during the campaign, I can still continue doing everything I’m doing now.”

Nonetheless, Gorsek said he’s excited to get started. “I want to get in there and do some solid public service,” he said.

“This is exactly the kind of thing I’ve been interested in doing my whole life.”

College Night seeks to inform students

Mr. Gorsek goes to Salem

NO SCHOOL MONDAYCAMPUS WILL BE CLOSED MONDAY

FOR VETERANS DAY. VETERANS

MAY GET FREE LATTES OR MOCHAS

TODAY IN THE BOOKSTORE.

‘MR. FOX’:COMEDIC ACTING ENTERTAINS KIDS AND ADULTS ALIKE

Measure your state’s progress

Chris Gorsek

page 5

With the conclusion of another presiden-tial election on Tuesday night, we at The Ad-vocate are experiencing something akin to an electoral hangover.

The American presidential election is one of the longest and most expensive elections in the world. The United Kingdom (U.K.), as our most closely related Western country, would serve as an easily relatable example to contrast its rather shorter and cheaper elections to ours.

First off, the U.K. holds elections, called General Elections, every fi ve years to elect a new body of Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons, which is analogous to our House of Representatives. There are two provisions that allow for Gen-eral Elections: if a motion of no confi dence is called by Her Majesty’s Government (which includes the House of Lords) and passed with a simple majority that lasts for 14 days without a new government being voted in, or if a motion for General Election is agreed upon by two-thirds of the total seats in the House of Commons. This not only sets a fi rm timeline for elections, but also the provisions to change them as the government or people

see fi t, whereas in the U.S. we have set elec-tion timetables for representatives, senators and the president unless there are vacancies on a scale that require a special election.

The U.K. General Elections are also rela-tively brief. The Queen dissolves the Par-liament in mid-April and the populace has about a week to register to vote. The people vote by the fi rst week in May, with the new MPs returning to Parliament in mid-May. For those keeping tally on your fi ngers, that’s about four weeks.

In contrast, the U.S. presidential elec-tions for this year began in January 2011 and concluded just two days ago. A fi nger tally shows 22 months. This begs the ques-tion: How can an incumbent effectively get through his or her campaign goals when they end up spending just shy of half their term campaigning for re-election?

The Advocate would like to humbly of-fer up a solution: a single six-year term. If this were the case, presidents would no longer worry about politicking during their term with an eye towards re-election, would not spend approximately two years trying to get re-elected and should be able to better

execute their policy aims. But wait, the ever-present contrarian

would say: Wouldn’t putting one person in offi ce for six years without re-election hand them unchecked power to wield?

Nay, we would re-spond, because the pro-cess for impeachment and removal would remain the same and could actually stand as a more menacing al-ternative. This should be the case, because if someone has six years in offi ce and can’t follow through with their policies, then impeach his/her ass and elect a new leader. Simple!

Another major issue The Advocate has with the presidential elections is the sheer amount of money involved.

In a report by The New York Times, Obama and the Donkeys raised $934 mil-lion and spent $852.9 million of that while Romney and the Elephants raised $881.8 million and spent $752.3 million. That adds up to roughly $1.6 billion dollars spent on

the presidential election by both candidates.What. The. Hell.

Shouldn’t this money be used for better purposes? Yeah, some

money needs to be used for ad-vertising and speaking trips; but, with the Internet, the dissemination of informa-tion shouldn’t be hard and speeches could be streamed

and kept on fi le on YouTube, which would drastically cut

down on the candidates speaking with Joe-the-Plumber types.

American politics was built on grass-roots politics. However, there comes a time when antiquated procedures need to be put to rest. There’s a reason why no one uses typewriters, Polaroids and Walkman play-ers anymore. The same should be said of such folksy grassroots political procedures that occur at the national level.

So, after eating several tacos to soak up all the bingeing of the presidential election, we at The Advocate are eyeing the afore-mentioned suggestions like an AA brochure and hoping for the best in 2016.

When a veteran shares a sto-ry of past combat it’s easy to ap-preciate. Honoring that person is as simple as listening politely, applauding and hopefully shak-ing hands and thanking them personally.

While attending classes, grabbing a coffee in the book-store or studying in the library, there may be no special physical distinction from the average stu-dent and a veteran.

“This is it,” said Tyson, a man who clearly doesn’t fi t the mold for the job he’s taken on, when I asked him what he did at the Veteran’s Offi ce. Ty-son looks like a heavyweight boxer, has a full beard and a disarming sense of humor. He does not look like a fi le clerk.

Stefanie interrupted Tyson: “That’s what we all do,” referring to fi ling duty.

“Filing and helping veterans get on fi le and their benefi ts started,” said Stefanie, a polite mother with a bull-ring septum pierc-ing.

Tyson worked intelligence, or “intel,” for the Navy, Stefanie did interrogations for the Army and the last veteran I interviewed, Es-tevan, did intelligence analysis.

After fi ve minutes, I was either invisible or one of them; I wasn’t sure. They were laugh-ing, interrupting and teasing each other, bringing to mind the sense of family and ca-maraderie Stefanie had mentioned in our earlier interview.

“They’re bad-ass. They’re fun to work with,” she said when I asked what she liked

most about helping veterans.“It’s like the military, but not so uptight –

I’m allowed to put holes in my face.”Stefanie, Tyson and Estevan are all going

to MHCC and working in the Veteran’s Of-fi ce. After graduation, Stefanie plans to be an English instructor, a profession she had targeted since high school before deciding to join the Army.

“I was taking AP classes and needed money for college,” she said adding that the job of interrogating was also enticing.

Tyson is headed for management leader-ship, he says. He has always been interested in business. Last year, for Veterans Day, he

and his dad handed out clothes and box lunches to homeless veterans.

“This year, I’m going to try to write a pa-per. School has really ramped up,” he said.

Estevan spent fi ve years in the Army and two in the Army reserves. He is studying ge-ology, a subject he fell in love with during his fi rst class with instructor Daina Hardisty. He wants to go into economic geology.

He plans to spend time with his family over Veterans Day and said that if a veteran needed help, “I would help them.”

Worker Bees. Bad-asses. All-around cool people, as far as I could tell.

Each veteran I interviewed was calm, polite and above all more than happy to answer any of the questions I had. Mostly, thinking back, they seemed just like any other group of students that have spent a lot of time together — but they’re not just like other students.

Every veteran I talked to has done some-thing I have not: served his or her country in the military.

They have all probably been in situations we all could never imagine or experience even through the best fi lmmaking. Yet, there they were, fi ling away, teasing each other about their clothes and going to school – just like you and me.

OpinionNov. 9, 20122

“How long should presidential terms be?”

www.advocate-online.net

Same terms as now

One six year term

One four year term

Co-Editors-in-ChiefJohn Tkebuchava & Mike Mata

Associate EditorKylie Rogers

Living Arts EditorShelby Schwartz

Assistant Living Arts EditorDorothy Ocacio

Opinion EditorJeff Hannig

News EditorMike Mata

Sports EditorJohn Tkebuchava

Copy EditorsKylie Rogers & Dorothy Ocacio

WebmasterLogan Scott

Photo EditorJeff Hannig

Mt. Hood Community College26000 SE Stark Street

Gresham, Oregon 97030

E-mail advocatt@mhcc.edu

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SubmissionsThe Advocate encourages readers to share their opinion by

letters to the editor and guest columns for publication. All submissions must be typed and include the writer’s name and contact information. Contact information will not be printed unless requested. Original copies will not be returned to the author. The Advocate will not print any unsigned submission.

Letters to the editor should not exceed 300 words and guest columns should not exceed 600. The decision to publish is at the discretion of the editorial board.

The Advocate reserves the right to edit for style, punctuation, grammar and length.

Please bring submissions to The Advocate in Room 1369, or e-mail them to advocatt@mhcc.edu. Submissions must be received by 5 p.m. Monday the week of publication to be considered for print.

Opinions expressed in columns, letters to the editor or advertisements are the views of the author and do not necessarily refl ect those of The Advocate or MHCC.

the advocateDaniele Caldwell

Katelyn Hilsenbeck

Brandon Kissir

Shaun Lutz

Aaron Marshall

Cameron Miller

Danny Perez-Crouse

Lisa Sorenson

Kayla Tatum

Jackie Garrity

ReportersTyler Heyl

Jonathon Long

Photographers

Howard Buck

Dan Ernst

Bob Watkins

Advisers

Jeff HannigThe Advocate

Veterans on campus spend holiday like many other students

Editorial: Presidential campaign exhausting, needs change

In the Nov. 2 issue of The Advocate, the article titled “State report shows inconsistencies in wilderness program” reported that Lizzie Montgomery was banned from campus. Montgomery is allowed to teach on campus without any penalties, while Bryan and Kim Anaclerio are still on administrative leave from campus. The Advocate regrets this error.

Correction:

3Newsthe advocate

Book sale builds scholarship fund

Lisa SorensonThe Advocate

A new nature park is scheduled to open this month right around the corner from the MHCC Gresham campus.

The 5-acre park, offi cially named College Nature Park at Beaver Creek, stretches east of the campus to Troutdale Road, between Stark and Cochran streets.

“The park will provide easier access to the wetlands of Beaver Creek and continue to serve as an outdoor classroom for environmental classes (at MHCC),” said Rich Faith, community development director for Troutdale.

New developments include two trailheads on Troutdale Road – one at Stark Street and one at Southeast 34th Circle - that connect to a short trail leading to benches, a picnic area and an observation wall overlooking the wetlands. Most of the land in the park will be protected and restored as natural wetlands.

The property is part of a 62-acre site sold by the MHCC District board to Metro Regional Government in 2004, but is being developed and will be main-tained by the city of Troutdale.

The $450,000 cost to develop the park was funded by voter-approved natu-ral areas bond measures in 1995 and 2006, a grant from Oregon Parks and Rec-reation and an improvement fund from the city of Troutdale.

The bond measures were passed as a way to protect water quality, wildlife habitat and outdoor recreation opportunities for future generations.

Faith said there are no plans to extend trails further into the wetlands or through the park toward MHCC. Addition of the observation areas at the na-ture park is meant to protect and restore natural areas and to discourage people from hiking directly into the wetlands.

Park seeks to create outdoor classroom setting

Kayla Tatum The Advocate

MHCC’s “Something Wonderful” Project 2012 is asking for staff, students, and those in the East County Community to be a part of the effort to help less fortunate families dur-ing this holiday season.

The “Something Wonderful” Project is a non-profi t organization that has been in ex-istence since 1994. Over the course of the 18 years, there have been approximately 900 families helped through the program.

In working with MHCC staff, students, and people in the community, the “Something Wonderful” project was able to continue to purchase winter clothes, holiday meals, toys and household items for many families.

The “Something Wonderful” project se-lects families through the applications they re-ceive. The goal every year is to help about 40 families, but this year they are striving to help “about 60-80 families,” said Rich Duval, Proj-ect YESS Manager of Youth Workforce. Duval said one of the main ways people know about the project “is through word of mouth.”

The “Something Wonderful” project has had many success stories, “families that I’ve helped in the past have done well, fi nished college, [busy] with family and came back to me and wanted to give back,” Duval said.

“It’s like pay it forward,” he added. MHCC students who want to volunteer and “adopt” a family can get involved through a MHCC club or by contacting MHCC’s Student Union.

Those who want to apply for help can submit an application to Rich Duval, Project YESS Manager of Youth Workforce in AC49 (lower level of the Student Union) or apply to Administrative Assistant Katrina McNeal at the Business and Information Systems, Room 2655. There is no guarantee of families being selected after submission. Applications forms are available in the Student Union Offi ce. Deadline for applications is Nov. 13 by 5 p.m. Families will be contacted within 2-3 weeks of submission.

For more information about the “Some-thing Wonderful” project, contact Katrina Mc-Neal at Katrina.McNeal@mhcc.edu or call 503-491-7515. Rich Duval can be contacted at Rich.Duval@mhcc.edu or call 503-491-7641.

The College Nature Park is under construction, but will continue to be used on a weekly basis for environmental education classes at MHCC.

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Jackie GarrityThe Advocate

Proceeds from the upcoming Shelie Macias Memorial Book Sale fund a scholarship for Hispanic/Latino students who study English as a second language.

The book sale is being held Thursday, Nov. 15, in the Vista Dining Center from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The Shelie Macias Memorial Scholarship provides one year of tuition for a full-time Hispanic/Latino student.

Macias’ name can also be seen in a memorial garden on campus be-tween the 1300 and 1500 wings. Macias was an MHCC employee killed by a vehicle on campus in December 1998 in the crosswalk between the 1700 block and what is now the ECC parking lot

The root of the scholarship fund for Hispanic and Latino students comes from Macias’ work here at MHCC in the English as a Second Language (ESL) department. Macias had a long history with this cam-pus and started coming as a child to “mom and dad’s work,” as both of her parents were employees here.

During high school, Macias learned both Spanish and Japanese and became Gresham’s fi rst exchange student to visit their sister city of Eb-etsu, Japan. After graduation, Macias started as a work-study student in the ABE/GED area and eventually became a full-time employee.

Macias not only helped Hispanic students with their English on campus but also went to a local prison to teach there. According to Joy-lynn Woodard, Shelie’s mother and fellow employee of MHCC, “Shelie was a fun-loving, happy-go-lucky individual who was loved by all. Her personality made a room glow when she stepped in and her love of people and helping people was overwhelming.”

“The American Association of Women in Community College (AAWCC) group decided to create the Shelie Macias Memorial Book Sale to help a non-native speaking student because of Macias’ love for the Hispanic community. The book sale was a way that we could build the scholarship fund in her honor as well as have an event that many students would enjoy on campus,” said Woodard.

Woodard added they successfully reached their monetary goal to make the scholarship fund self-sustaining several years ago but with the rising cost of tuition they need to fund-raise every year.

Do something wonderful this holiday season

Living Arts4Nov. 9, 2012

ecampus.oregonstate.edu/cc13800-667-1465

When Dan Edge created a fisheries and wildlife online degree program with Oregon State Ecampus, skeptics nationwide said it couldn’t be done. Three years later, Dan won the nation’s top honor for teaching excellence in online education, and his world-class program is a model for others to emulate. So that settles that debate.

Learn from the nation’s best...online

Experience it for yourself. Choose from 15 online bachelor’s degrees. Winter term starts Jan. 7.

Apply today.

Dan Edge, department head Fisheries & Wildlife Sciences 2012 National Excellence in Teaching Award winner

Shelby SchwartzThe Advocate

As the leaves outside change colors and drift away, we wel-come a new artist with a new medium, color palette and sub-ject into the Fireplace Gallery inside the Student Union.

Sarah Fagan is not the normal still-life painter. She paints all of her subjects in acrylics and gets to know her subjects be-fore she paints and puts them in a unique setting, giving them a modern look. Her collection on display is titled “Objectifi ed.”

“Traditionally, it would be still-life, but I don’t really like the term still-life. I think of kind of boring, baroque scenes of skulls and of fl ower vases and I defi nitely like there to be a little more life,” Fagan said. “Object portraits” is the label she prefers.

“When I’m painting something I like holding it in my hand really getting to know it and looking at photographs of it and trying to capture its essence the same way a portrait art-ist would,” she said. “I like to think of it more than just, ‘I’m painting a bowl of oranges on the table,’ I’m really getting to know the personality of this thing, like I would a human be-ing.”

An East coast native, Fagan now lives in Portland. She at-tended a college for fi ne arts and earned her bachelor’s degree at Stonehill College near Boston, then moved to Portland spe-cifi cally to attend the Oregon College of Art and Craft to learn bookbinding and earn a post-baccalaureate certifi cate.

“Even though I really loved painting I had gotten inter-ested in artist books as well. So, I went and took some book-binding classes and it was fun to learn that skill for about a year. But I found myself sneaking in paintings and I felt kind of guilty for doing it and then I realized I shouldn’t feel guilty. It just means I have this yum factor from painting like I didn’t when I was using tools and book binding,” Fagan said.

Fagan is considering more graduate studies, but said, “The past year or so I just started applying to a bunch of painting shows and getting in.

“This past six months have been like the revelation, like,

‘Oh, I’m a painter, I have a body of work.’ It doesn’t even fi t in my house anymore,” Fagan said.

Fagan has been hired by different schools and libraries to lead classes or residency sessions. She has contracted to teach after school one day a week for schools such as Laurelhurst School and Atkinson Elementary.

She teaches book-binding to children and has taught in the Multnomah and Wash-ington county library systems. She also has taught morning classes at children-oriented ca-fes in the Portland Area, and occasionally teaches classes at children’s bookstore, Green Bean Books on Northeast Al-berta Street in Portland

“A book, if it’s like kids writing their own stories and illustrating it and binding it, is a nice amalgamation craft, so I really do believe in bookbinding and fi ne motor skills,” Fagan said.

Even though she has a degree and now paints full-time, she does not teach painting. “I don’t really teach painting classes, ’cause I don’t like the thought of teaching people to paint the way I paint and I’m not sure how else I would teach it,” she said.

“I like giving them structures like books and letting them fi ll them the way they want. Or I have a series of classes that

I’ve been running where kids make their own art materials from scratch, like we make our own watercolor paints from things like corn starch and vinegar and, like, scientifi c things. I’m really into kids learning to make things from scratch,

whatever that thing is rather than (teach-ing them) a certain style of art.

“I like my children’s classes to be about letting them fi gure out how to put things together and know they don’t have to buy all their art supplies, they can make them, they can make art with any-thing,” Fagan said.

Fagan paints everyday objects in her works. She paints household items that most people own and brings them to life. “There’s just this kind of ‘yum factor’ I feel that’s almost kind of synaesthetic (sensation of a sense other than the one being stimulated, such as a sound evok-ing sensation of a color). For a while, I was painting a lot of my bookbinding tools because I was a bookbinder and there are all sorts of weird hole punches and X-ACTO knives that you use when you are bookbinding.

“In my free time I would go home and paint a picture of my X-ACTO knife be-cause I just loved being able to use like the other side of my brain, the right side of my brain to paint something that I used with the left side of my brain. It was kind of fascinating, getting it right,” she said.

Teachers have told her that many artists start with realism in art school and as they mature, many to abstraction or dif-ferent things. “Who knows if I’ll move out of this? But I really have that yum factor in the realism,” she said.

“Objectifi ed” will be featured in the Fireplace Gallery in the Student Union until Nov. 29.

Artist paints object portraits instead of still-life paintings

The Cyclocross event ‘Peddlers at the poor farm’ will be held at Edgefi eld McMenamins. The course preview will be at 8:30 a.m.; races begin at 8:50 a.m. Bicyclists are sure to enjoy the mud and high energy, and viewers are invited to come observe the fun. Food and drink may be purchased. All ages are welcome; the event costs $15-$25. McMenamins Edgefi eld is at 2126 S.W. Halsey St., in Troutdale. Register for the event at obra.org.

The 39th Filmmakers Festival premieres tonight at 7 o’clock with Shorts I, from independent fi lm and video mak-ers, at the Portland Art Museum. Shorts II will be screened Saturday and Shorts III on Sunday. Admission is $6-9. The festival will run through Nov. 18. The Museum is at 1219 SW Park Ave. in Portland.

The Clinton Street Theater hosts weekly screenings of current episodes of the AMC hit television series The Walking Dead on Sundays. This week’s episode runs at 9 p.m. Ad-mission is free, all ages welcome. The theater is at 2522 S.E. Clinton St. in Portland.

Internationally bestselling author of “Black Hawk Down” Mark Bowden will share insight on his newest book “The Finish” about the killing of Osama Bin Laden, at 7:30 p.m. at Powell’s City Of Books on Burnside. The event is co-sponsored by the World Affairs Council. For more infor-mation or to preorder a signed edition of “The Finish,” visit www.powells.com or call 800-878-7323.

SATURDAY 11.10 TROUTDALE

SW PORTLANDSATURDAY 11.10

SUNDAY 11.11 Se PORTLAND

TUESDAY 11.13 SW PORTLAND

the day tripperyour weekly event planner

The painting shown is of the lower half of Sarah Faganʼs piece entitled “Abundance.” Can be seen until Nov. 29 in the fi replace gallery in the Student Union.

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Living Arts 5the advocate

Dorothy OcacioThe Advocate

The College Theater was fi lled with the babble of voices as the crowd waited for the play to begin. Children bounced, spun and clapped in anticipation of the story soon to unfold before them. Although only about one-third full, the theater was packed with enthusiasm.

As the lights began to dim, the noise level rose and then subsided when the adults in the crowd shushed the chil-dren. A laugh here and there, more shushing, and the play was ready to begin.

Theatre artistic director Jesse Merz entered from the side door and took the stage. “How we doing?” his voice boomed. When there was not enough response, he informed the kids the play was interactive and he needed them to make the play complete. Merz again asked “How we doing?” This time, it was answered with a loud, resounding “Good!” from the children.

Merz gave a rundown on what to expect during the play, then announced the play to begin. The children clapped and cheered as he left the stage and the curtain rose.

Onstage in low lighting stood three farmhouses with the owners in front of them: Drew Pierce as fat Boggis; Ali Weiher as potbellied Bunce; and Zack Lewis as skinny Bean. Out came three “children,” played by Justin Wright, Matthew Rivera and

Sydney Hope, chanting a rhyme about the horrible trio that is Boggis, Bunce and Bean. As they discussed each character, a spotlight shone on them and the audience heard a description of just how each is despicable.

So began the fi rst performance of “Fantastic Mr. Fox.”Alex Giorgi

played the elu-sive Mr. Fox with the right tone of se l f -assurance and cockiness to his speech, his movements smooth and fl uid. Everyone is “my dear” or “my darlings” to him. There did seem to be a few hesitant moments during his dialogues, but they were barely

noticed. He enchanted the children, who kept their eyes glued each time he was in sight.

When Mrs. Fox, played by Hope, put her children to bed, she asked the audience if it would also “go to sleep” and she would sing a lullaby. The children all agreed and she began to sing “Close your eyes, say goodnight . . . .”

“Is she real?” a boy in the audience loudly whispered to the adult next to him.

Several of the actors play multiple characters during the hour-long play. Because of the costumes, it is not evident, however. Each character in the play has his or her own voice and movements, never giving away that Joshua Mather is

both Small Badger and the selfi sh Rat, or that Bean and Rabbit are both played by Lewis. Missy Paulson as one of the Foxes’ daughters takes on a completely different character type when she shuffl es out as Mabel, the Bean’s housekeeper.

As should be expected in a play, especially one aimed at children, the movements are sometimes fl amboyant and exag-gerated, the actions sometimes goofy, like with the wacky Rab-bit. It works very well, pulling you into the story and letting you know what kind of “person” each character is quickly.

The animal costumes are very good and eerily realistic. They consist of heads and tails, and the actors move in them like they have no animal head covering them at all.

There came the part where the Fox family members have to dig for their lives, and the actors took to the fl oor, “burrow-ing” from one row of seats to the next. After a short while, they stop and ask Mr. Fox for some help from the “moles.” Three children were pulled from the audience and given hats, two of them with mole masks that covered their heads. One had trouble seeing with the mask on as the burrowers worked their way through. However, the children were quite happy to have been able to help out the charming Fox family, evident from their beaming faces as they returned to their seats.

Sound effects are used to portray actions being performed and to enhance other actions. For example, when Mr. Fox is lift-ing the fl oorboards in the barns with just his hands showing the motion, the creaking noise lets the audience know what it is he is doing. The motions were perfectly timed with the sound effects throughout the play.

“Fantastic Mr. Fox” will be performed for area elementary school children only on Nov. 9, 14 and 16 at 10:30 a.m., with a general public showing at 2 p.m. on Nov. 17, in the College The-ater. Tickets are $2 for the show on the Nov. 17; however, no one will be turned away for inability to pay. For more information, contact Jesse Merz at 503-491-6970.

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Shelby SchwartzThe Advocate

A second-year student is portray-ing an angry farmer and channeling this character by using his love of voice acting in the Children’s Theatre production of ‘Fantastic Mr. Fox.”

For Zack Lewis, this is his fi rst MHCC production.

“I am Bean the cider and turkey farmer, I brew alcoholic cider and I am always drinking it. I’m this type, I would say, ex-military personnel so much so that I’m still wearing my uniform long out of service,” he said.

The story line for “Fantastic Mr. Fox” is centered on Mr. Fox who has been stealing food from three farm-ers, and the farmers are out for re-venge. “He’s very bitter, they say he is the clever one out of the three killer B’s as we like to call them, (Boggis, Bunce and Bean),” Lewis said.

“I feel like Bean is the most ob-sessed, out of the three of getting this fox, so that by the end of the show he is losing it, you know, mentally as they are chasing this fox,” Lewis said.

Lewis is working on his associate of arts

transfer degree with hopes of majoring in ed-ucation. “I just do it because it’s fun,” Lewis said of his acting, as he has no plans to pur-

sue it professionally.

“I guess if I taught theater that would be fi ne, but I don’t love it enough to get a degree in it,” he said.

Lewis got into acting during his freshman year of Sam Barlow High School. “My mom gave be an ultimatum: either I had to take a gym class as an extracurricular or I could do something artsy,” he said.

“I fell in love with it, re-ally I did, and I did shows all throughout my high school career, eventually ending my senior year with being presi-dent of the thespian club, and getting leading roles. While that does sound like I’m very into theater — I do love it — but I just feel like as a career choice, it’s not what I want to do,” Lewis said.

“I’ve dabbled in the professional atmo-sphere, but it’s not the same as everyone who’s doing it because they like it. That’s not to say that professional actors don’t like it, but they are so much more serious about it,” he said.

“I love voice acting. If I was going to do acting, it’d be voice acting. Cartoons, video games, that kind of stuff. I really love doing voices,” Lewis said.

When Lewis is in character for Bean, he channels a raspy, creepy, cranky voice. “I just threw this in. I’m sure I could do Bean in just this voice but my voice isn’t very menacing,” he said.

“He’s growing on me, really. When I fi rst was cast as Bean, I was kind of baffl ed, because I like to think of my-self as a nice guy and a fairly kind-looking person and Bean is supposed to be this nasty, gross, just hateful person,” Lewis said. “It was actually once we got costumes that I re-

ally understood who this person was. Because when I’m not doing my Bean scowl, my costume looks like I’m a park ranger; without you know investing in the character, I look like I’m chasing after Yogi Bear, rather than the fantastic Mr. Fox, so it was really a combination, I think, of voice and costume that helped me fi nd this char-acter,” he said.

Lewis may try out for the MHCC winter musical, “RENT.” After that, he said he may

Second-year student hits stage in first MHCC production

enchants and entertains all agesAlex Giorgi as Mr. Fox, far left leads several other foxes during a scene at a dress rehearsal on Friday Nov. 2.The only public performance will be held on Nov. 17 at 2 p.m. the cost is $2.

Review:

Mr. Fox’‘Fantastic

MHCC production tells the tale of a sly fox and angry farmers

Zack Lewis, Shown at a rehearsal in October, portrays the character, of Bean, in the Childrenʼs Theatre Production of ʻFantastic Mr. Fox.ʼ

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Zack Lewis

Several students rehearse as foxes during a scene at a dress rehearsal on Friday Nov. 2. Performances for area elementary schools were held on Monday and Wednesday of this week and a performance will also be held today, and on Nov. 14 and 16.

Nov. 9, 2012

News6

John TkebuchavaThe Advocate

New MHCC at-large board member Paul Capell hopes to use his background in government and management to help bring the college to new levels with his fel-low board members.

A former member of the MHCC Foundation board, current vice president of West Region Energy Lead at HDR Engineering Inc., and former mayor of Prineville, Ore., (1997-98), Capell has broad experi-ence.

Appointed to the seat at an Oct. 21 board meeting, he came to campus the Friday before the Sun-day meeting to interview for the

position. “I went in on Friday of that

week and met with the remainder of the board and president and just had a conversation with them,” said Capell.

The board called Capell after they met Sunday and told him that he had been selected, with Capell accepting the role the following day.

Capell said he resigned from the foundation board at MHCC last week after taking on the new assignment. “Because of my in-volvement with the new board, I really couldn’t do both, and do it well,” he said.

Capell was happy to be cho-sen, he said. “I was very pleased.

I was thankful that I was able to sit down and talk to the board as a whole and get to know them better and their decision making processes were and what their goals were.”

He joins the board as an interim mem-ber. He must stand for election next year, after fi lling the vacant seat left by Ralph Yates, who resigned this summer in protest of alleged laps-es in campus oversight.

Capell said he intends to run to keep his seat, but wants to keep his focus on helping on the board,

for now. “I person-ally agree and sup-port what the board is trying to do, and want to support both MHCC and the board and their future suc-cess with the large number of issues and challenges at the col-lege,” he said.

Capell is glad to join the board’s cur-

rent search for a new school presi-dent. “I look forward to working for them both on the short term and as long as I can,” he said.

In the spring, the board also will lose board Chair Dave Shields and former chair Brian Freeman.

Both say they have decided not to seek re-election. This will leave three seats open, counting Ca-pell’s, come the spring election.

Asked how he can contribute to the board with the limited time he has, Capell said his experience in management and union negotia-tions provide the means to contrib-ute positively.

“I think I can add value with any discussions with any profes-sors, as well as assisting in the search for the new president,” he said.

Capell will participate on the board for the fi rst time at its month-ly meeting at 6 p.m. Wednesday at MHCC. That will follow a 5 p.m. board orientation session for him.

Paul Capell

PreviewDay

Join us 5:30 p.m. Wed., November 14

Learn about Academic programs Application processPaying for college Campus life

Find Agenda, directions and RSVP at vancouver.wsu.edu/preview

Ask about the

Border Bill—it lets

Oregon residents

pay in-state tuition

for up to 8 credits.

Interim board member ready to help on key issues

Wednesday is the deadline to turn in applications for 2013 MHCC Foundation scholar-ships.

Most scholarships are for Winter quarter but some cover the entire academic school year.

If interested in applying for a Foundation scholarship, con-tact the Offi ce of Financial Aid or apply directly via the web at https://www.mhcc.edu/Fi-nancialAid.aspx.

Students are encouraged to

apply for as many scholarships they may be qualifi ed for, in dif-ferent areas. In addition to the Foundation Memorial Scholar-ship for full-time students, there are also scholarships for part-time students and for English as a Non-native Language (ENL) students.

Applicants applying for Foundation Memorial Scholar-ship for the Winter 2013 term must be a full-time student at the time the scholarship is in effect,

with a 12-credit-hour minimum.The applicant must also:

have a minimum GPA of 2.75; have completed a minimum of 36 credit hours in a two-year, degree-granting program, or 12 credit hours in a certifi cate pro-gram at the time the scholarship is in effect; provide transcripts, if needed; and submit two letters of recommendation support-ing academic and occupational promise in the selected program area.

The MHCC district board will honor sev-eral on campus groups at its meeting Wednes-day.

There will be a preliminary meeting and dinner at 5 p.m., including a reception for Capell, unanimously appointed at an Oct. 21 meeting following an executive session.

The regular board meeting begins at 6 p.m.The board will discuss the success of Head

Start and the statistics from August to October. An MHCC program parent, Landra Glover, was named National Head Start Parent of the

Year last month.The board will hear monthly personnel and

fi nance reports, and a budget transfer request will also be discussed.

Eric Juenemann, assistant manager of Mt. Hood’s TRIO Student Support Services Pro-gram, will discuss the program and highlight a student perspective.

There will follow a “Be Strategic” presenta-tion and the president’s report by Michael Hay.

Finally, the board will convene an executive session to discuss labor negotiations.

News BriefsSeveral groups will be highlighted at board meeting

Foundation scholarship deadline is next week

During November and December, customers may bring two non-perishable, non-expired food items to Vista Dining and get half off the price of that day’s special entrée.

“It’s to help the fellow man, it’s the holidays. That’s what you’re supposed to do,” said Pam Carbhaal of Vista Dining.

The food donated at Vista Dining helps fi ll Barney’s Pantry.Barney’s Pantry is a free service for students provided by the As-

sociated Student Government, located in the Student Union. The ser-vice gives students as many as three food or hygiene items per day.

ASG President William Miller said, “I’ve had several students come to me in distress, unsure where their next meal will come from. At the end of the day, it’s wonderful to know you can help someone with such a simple service.”

Vista is open 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday – Thursday, and 7:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Friday.

Barney’s Pantry is open 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday – Friday 10 a.m., and 5 to 7 p.m. Monday – Thursday.

Earn half-off at Vista Dining through December

Two MHCC teachers were honored this week with the 2012 Part-time Faculty Award for Excel-lence in Teaching.

President Michael Hay and various cabinet members gave the news, surprising Zach Hudson and Andy Gurevich during their classes.

Hudson was praised in an all-staff e-mail for developing the special skill set, strength and dedi-cation to help his students succeed in college.

Hudson is also running in a tight race for a position on the Troutdale City Council, narrowly trailing in ballots counted as of press time Thurs-day.

Gurevich was similarly praised as “a true pro-fessional and fi ne colleague who is generously fl exible when it comes to taking on new assign-ments.”

“I guess I’d just like to say that I am humbled and kind of shocked by the idea that my colleagues and students would enjoy working with me even half as much as I enjoy working with them,” said Gurevich.

Both will be honored by the board of educa-tion at its Wednesday meeting, and again Nov. 28 when the MHCC Foundation will present them with a $250 check.

Two part-time instructors honored with award

the advocate Sports 7

Aaron MarshallThe Advocate

Students interested in hitting the slopes this winter, perhaps even to ski competitively, can look at joining the MHCC Alpine Rac-ing Club.

The club’s mission is “to pro-vide an avenue to train for com-petitive skiing and snowboard-ing,” said club adviser Thomas McCormack.

Not much helps more than having a few like-minded training partners, he said.

“A group of some sort is usu-ally necessary to accomplish this kind of training, as it is a very dif-fi cult thing to do by yourself,” said McCormack.

Participating at the club level, participants compete as individu-als but not as a team, he said.

It also pays to have an expe-rienced instructor in the sport, which club members will fi nd in McCormack.

“As a former high school, col-lege, and USSA racing coach, I am currently a USSA-certifi ed coach and can provide on-snow techni-

cal coaching in slalom and giant slalom to ski racing,” he said.

The club is currently inactive, something McCormack hopes to change.

“Prospective members need not have competition experience, but should be advanced skiers or riders,” said McCormack.

The club features both skiing and snowboarding, but more em-phasis is placed on skiing.

When active, the club has usu-ally trained at Mount Hood once a week during winter term.

McCormack said interested stu-

dents can look forward to a good winter sports season this year.

The weather on Mount Hood already looks good for skiing, he said.

“There is always skiing to be had somewhere on Mount Hood, no matter how bad the year,” he said.

“In a good year, we can be on snow in 45 minutes from MHCC. In a bad year, it takes about 60 min-utes,” said McCormack.

Anyone interested in joining the club should contact him at Thomas.McCormack@mhcc.edu.

Day 1 Thursday 2 p.m.Mt. Hood (South seed #1)versusWenatchee Valley (East seed #4).

IF SAINTS WIN:Friday 12:30 p.m. versus winner of:Bellevue (North seed #2)/Pierce (West seed #3)

IF SAINTS LOSE: Thursday 8:15 p.m. versus loser of:Bellevue (North seed #2)/Pierce (West seed #3)

For a complete tournament schedule:nwaacc.org/volleyball/championship.php

Shaun Lutz The Advocate

The MHCC Saints volley-ball team will enter next week’s NWAACC championships ener-gized by winning their third out-right Southern Region title under head coach Chelsie Speer and fi n-ishing the season undefeated in conference play (10-0).

The championship tournament will give the Saints an opportunity to defend their title on their own court. The NWAACC tournament is sched-uled to go from Nov. 15 through Nov. 18, all at MHCC’s Gresham campus.

As the fi rst seed out of the South Re-gion, the Saints will face Wen-tachee Valley, the fourth-place squad from the Eastern region (7-7 in regional play; 14-17 overall), in their fi rst game of the tournament Thursday at 2 p.m.

Two road wins topped off an-other successful Saints regular season. First was a trip to Clacka-mas. Winning all three games, the

Saints dominated the Cougars for the second time this season (25-23, 25-18, 25-11).

Several individuals stood out in Friday’s victory, including freshman hitter Tori Kemper, who had a game high 15 kills. Sopho-more setter Alyssa Hall added 24 assists on the night, and as a team, MHCC out-blocked Clackamas eight to three.

The fi nal game of the regular season came Wednesday night

in Salem against the Chemeketa Storm. Earlier this season, MHCC had no issues against the fourth-place Storm but that wasn’t the case Wednesday as Chemeketa came to play.

After falling behind 23-14, the Storm valiantly fought back to tie it up. However, the Saints would “weather” the Storm and win the

the fi rst game 29-27. Kemper had a game high 19 kills, hitting .372 on the night to go along with 20 digs.

Hall assisted on 33 balls, and freshman Keely Siegel had “a great blocking game for us,” ac-cording to Speer. Games two and three weren’t nearly as close (25-15, 25-19) as MHCC fi nished their regular season perfect in regional play (10-0; 29-9 overall). This title goes along with a co-champion-ship last season, giving Speer four

regional titles in as many seasons.

N W A A C C honors have yet to be handed out, but with a 10-0 record, there are sure to be a few familiar names after last night’s coaches

meeting, determining the stand-out players from this season.

But, Speer warned, regular sea-son honors aren’t important right now. “At this point, everyone is 0-0. It’s a new season,” she said. “We can’t take anyone lightly be-ing a number one seed,” she said regarding the NWAACC tourna-ment.

NWAACC Tournament

“We can’t take anyone lightly being a number one seed.”

Chelsie SpeerVolleyball coach

Alpine Racing Club offers competitive side to winter sports

Volleyball wins Southern Region title; NWAACCs to follow

CROSS COUNTRY UPDATERunners will toe the line Saturday in the

NWAACC cross country championship at Plantes Ferry Park in Spokane, Wash. The men’s competi-tion starts 11 a.m. and the women will race at noon.

On the women’s side, the Everett Community College women are defending champions and re-turn six of their top seven runners from last year’s team. The Community Colleges of Spokane, and Treasure Valley Community College have a shot at the victory as well, with their top two runners contending for all conference honors.

MHCC’s Christa Collmer is coming off her

Southern Region victory and hopes to contend for the women’s title. Monica Amaro also hopes for a strong showing.

On the men’s side, three teams appear to have the best chance at the title. Lane Community Col-lege won the Southern Region Championship, Ev-erett Community College is the defending cham-pion and The Community Colleges of Spokane have shown an impressive 1 through 7 spread.

Top contenders from the MHCC team include Alex Seymour, Nathan Geiter and Vlad Ishenin.

— From the NWAACC website and staff reports.

SportsNov. 9, 2012

8

Blazers’ Lillard helps team start off strong

Sport�����entral- Portland Trail Blazers -

SC

- Game of the Week -

The MHCC Saints basketball team played its last scrimmage game against Portland Bible Col-lege on Wednesday night. The team will take a break until Nov. 23, when they take part in the Red Devil Classic in Longview, Wash. After that, the Saints will take on Walla Walla Community College in Washington on Nov. 30. The womenʼs basketball team also held a scrimmage at home Thursday night against Lower Columbia Community College. The womenʼs team has one more scrimmage left on Nov. 16 against Reed College at 7 p.m. in Portland.

Men’s basketball uses scrimmage to prep for tournament

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The Portland Trail Blazers are 2-2 so far on the season and their play has been surprisingly good.

Beating the L.A. Lakers is always nice, but also seeing your favorite team play on the road and win a game in overtime early in the season has a nice feel to it.

On top of that, the two losses have come from two very likely playoff teams.

It looks like Blazers guard Damian Lillard is the real deal. He is an athletic, quick guard who can shoot and pass the ball with a good basketball I.Q. In four games, Lillard is averaging 19 points and eight assists. As of now he is the clear favorite for NBA Rookie Of The Year honors, while anoth-er contender, Anthony Davis of the New Orleans Hornets, sits out with a concussion.

Lillard is making this team exciting to watch. You never know what’s coming when he steps onto the court. During the summer league games and the preseason it seemed like it took Lillard time to get comfortable on the court and take shots, and then in the second half, he would go off. During the regular season he has played well every quarter.

On Monday, though, he looked like a rookie, shooting 2-of-13 from the fi eld and 1-of-8 from behind the three-point line. The Blazers ended up losing 114-91. Nonetheless, in games when Lillard plays well, expect the Blazers around him to play well, too.

Results of Thursday’s game vs. the L.A. Clip-pers were unavailable at press time.

- Aaron Marshall

Atlanta Hawks at Portland Trail Blazers,

7 p.m. (CSNNW) on Monday

Portland Trail Blazers at Sacramento Kings, 7 p.m.

(CSNNW) on Tuesday

San Antonio Spurs at Portland Trail Blazers,

7 p.m. (KGW) on Saturday