The Communicator 509.533.3602 www.twitter.com/_communicator

Jan. 26 - Feb. 8, 2012 spokanefalls.edu/communicator Volume 43 | Issue 5

The Environment PG. 3Coal-Free Northwest PG. 2Efforts made to prevent coal transports Alternative living strategies aimed to reduce waste

Freeganism PG. 4Perspectives on the importance of natural beauty

SIDELINESINDEX

NEWS................................2

PERSPECTIVES...................3

FOCUS ..............................4

Corn mazePG.4PG. 8

FOCUS FOCUS

Cloud computing PG. 5

International film festivalPG. 6

Crossfit

PG. 8

SFCC’s President and Vice Presi-dents of Student Learning and Stu-dent Services positions are opening up.

SFCC President Pam Praeger took her job as an interim, after the last President, at the end of 2010 in the academic year with a one year ap-pointment. When asked to consider another year she decided to stay on as President in 2011, but is now retir-ing after serving two years as Presi-dent of SFCC.

“I’d like to pick some areas where people would need the skills and talents that I could bring and that I’m passionate about,” said Praeger. “(To be) working with individuals in

SFCC presidential positions to openWhitney MarshallThe Communicator

the area of education is a key factor, probably the biggest thing for any in-dividual to help them move forward.”

Vice President James E. Minkler was a Dean of Humanities and Social Sciences and the director of interna-tional instructional programs at SFCC from 1999-2007. In 2007 he served as the academic services officer for 3 years till he was offered the V.P. of learning position at SFCC in 2010.

While working at SFCC, V.P. Min-kler said he enjoyed being able to create programs to work with com-munity members in K-12 education and in the Universities to partner and develop programs that develop new path ways and opportunities for stu-dents.

SFCC is going to face new changes in administrative positions for this coming school year.

“These are challenging times with budget cuts and the fact that we have a presidency that’s opening,” Minkler said. “We have a vice president of student service position that’s open, we have my position that’s opening.

“There’s been some other things that have happened that have cre-ated change in trying to deal with budgets and becoming more efficient as a Community College District...the most important thing is we still have lots of students who are follow-ing their dreams and achieving those dreams here at Spokane Falls Com-munity College.”

V.P. Minkler said he is looking at positions opening up at SFCC as well as other aspects to see where his next step will be in working at SFCC.

“I have the opportunity to apply for the position, but because it’s an

Students at SFCC can expect sig-nificant changes to where they can smoke sometime in the Fall of 2012.

Associated Student Government, working in conjunction with SFCC administrators, plans on removing as many as 18 of the existing 31 smok-ing locations on campus, creating a central part (core) of the campus that is smoke-free.

“It started last year, when were were notified by Crystal Paniero from Spokane County’s Health Depart-ment that some complaints had been filed by employees,” said Alex Rob-erts, Vice President of Student and Social Services at SFCC. “She said they could cite us for the infractions but they’d rather help us educate our campus and maybe encourage us to go smoke-free.

“I said whoa (to the smoke-free suggestion) that’s a lot, but we started working with Alex Standard (ASG

Smoking policy to change

Clayton KraftThe Communicator

SMOKING | Page 2

Definition of ‘rape’ redefined

Loni TaberThe Communicator

According to the Department of Justice web page the definition of rape has been redefined for the first time in over 80 years.

Attorney General Eric Holder an-nounced the revision at a national press release on Jan. 6. As defined by the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program, rape used to be de-fined as “the carnal knowledge of a female forcibly and against her will. Attempts or assaults to commit rape by force or threat of force are also included; however, statutory rape (without force) and other sex offenses are excluded.”

Local resident Stephanie Gardi-pee said she was a victim of multiple rapes and only reported one at the time.

“Since I had not gotten the help I needed the first time, I was a silent victim and none of my attackers have had justice served to them,” Gardi-pee said. “(Rape) is one of those gray areas that nobody wants to discuss but I think that unless you can dis-cuss it you wont move forward.”

RAPE | Page 2

acting position eventually they need-ed to hold a national search and hire for the position,” Minkler said. “I may be rehired before I step down, and I may apply for other positions too.”

The V.P. of student services position is also opening up. V.P. Alex Roberts of student services serves as an advis-

PRESIDENT | Page 2

Contributed photo of Pam Praeger, President of SFCC

SFCC student Jessica Steffens stands next to a sign regarding the new policy, on which students penned their disdain for the new proposal

Drew Castellaw | The Communicator

Smoking Facts:

One generation ago, people

were allowed to smoke in hospitals.

Smoking can shorten a per-

son’s life by ten or more years.

Regular smok-ing can cause

a person to need cigarettes

just to feel normal.

Nine out of ten smokers

started smok-ing before the

age of 18.

Cigarette companies are not allowed to advertise on

TV.

Source: kid-shealth.org

Chinese New Year

PG. 5

Did YouKnow?

CCS directly contacts each

of the more than 1,200

communitycollege

presidents across thenation forpotential

applicants.

Source: ccs.spo-kane.edu

jan. 26 - feb. 8, 2012 NEWS The Communicator

2 Did You Know?: Whatcom county legislature has produced a proposal which aims to build the country’s largest coal ex-port terminal in Bellingham.

The world’s largest coal companies are organizing proposals that, if suc-cessful, will lead to 40-50 uncovered coal trains rolling through Spokane every day.

The plan is to ship coal from the Powder River Basin in Wyoming, through the Northwest, to the port areas of Bellingham, Grays Harbor, Longview, St. Helens and Coos Bay in Washington and Oregon. It would then be transported by ship to China.

All of the train routes run directly through Spokane.

“Spokane is an important player in making it untenable for coal trans-ports to come through Washington and Oregon,” said Robin Everett, associate regional representative for the Seattle branch of Coal-Free Northwest, an organization with the stated mission of stopping coal exports.

“If there’s a strong contingency of folks here in Spokane who are going to make it hard for any coal export terminal to be built, that really helps us,” Everett said. “You guys are on the route for any proposal, you’re stuck with it no matter where it goes.”

Everett said that coal trains would release cancer causing agents into the air, congest traffic and could even prevent emergency vehicles from making it to the hospital on time due to congestion.

“Realistically the proposals won’t be passed for a couple of years, but

we’re going to make sure it never happens,” Everett said. “We want Washington as a whole to say it’s just not coming through.

“The two big permits the coal companies need to get is a shoreline development permit and an aquatic lease, those are the two that we have a chance to fight.”

Coal-Free Northwest organizes meetings and events in order to increase awareness about this issue, and is working on reaching out to students in colleges around the Northwest, with fliers and petitions to sign.

“We want all of Washington looked at and all of our concerns looked at in every community,” Everett said. “We get Spokane in that review process by having a variety of people telling them they have to look at Spokane.

“We want doctors, small business people, fellow environmentalists, recreations users, faith leaders, a broad scope of people with a strong voice in opposition.”

Spokane River Keeper, Bart Mi-hailovich, said there’s a lot of atten-tion being paid to this issue on the coast and a lot where the coal origi-nates in Montana and Wyoming, but not enough in the areas in-between like Spokane.

“My goal is to protect the river and keep the community healthy,” Mi-hailovich said. “These coal exports are bad for both of these.”

Matt Leonetti, public spokesman for Coal-Free Northwest, said any-body living within 100 square feet of

Opposition to proposed coal exportsJackson Colby

The Communicator

Coal Hard Facts

The nation’s coal plants produce 140 million tons

of coal ash a year.

Each year, coal pollution causes

12,000 emer-gency room visits and $100 billion in health costs.Source: beyond-

coal.org

Nancy Locke | The CommunicatorOn one of the proposed routes, Matt Leonetti proclaims his opposition to the proposals.

President at the time) after that.”The ASG then created an approach

to smoking that focused on mak-ing the core of the campus smoke-free. This means that the central 18 locations will be removed to clear through-fares (walking paths) for stu-dents and employees per state guide-lines, while keeping outer locations available for smokers.

“I think ultimately the vision of last year’s student govt. was that this is a first step...progressively move smok-ing outward to the edge of cam-pus and aiming at a smoke-free campus at some point in time,” said Roberts. “Project-ing when that would be is tough though, despite some gen-eral discussion about 2014, we’ll have to keep assessing year by year if we’re really ready for that.

“I’m viewing that as a wait-and-see approach because if we’ve got-ten the core taken care of and the through-fares are clear, I’m comfort-able...and if it doesn’t ever get to a smoke-free campus I think we’ve done some real good already.”

Keeping the core of the campus smoke-free will necessitate the op-tion for campus security to be able to write citations for violating the new policy (a $30 fine), but the adminis-tration is quick to stress that this is their last resort.

“It’s my hope that between the conversations and meetings that

were had, and our intent to give warnings for as long as possible cita-tions can be a last resort,” said Ken DeMello, SFCC Campus Security Supervisor. “There’s a lot of places where people have been educated that smoking isn’t possible, like fly-ing on a plane or downtown at the bar, so it’s another place considering smokers will need to take into ac-count.”

“If someone gets a citation it should not be a surprise to them.”

In addition to complying with state health requirements, the smok-ing changes are viewed as a chance to educate about smoking and help students kick the habit when possi-ble. Information is being made avail-able at the smoking locations as well as planned links to the American

Cancer Association from SFCC’s web-site.

“We acknowl-edge smokers on the campus and we welcome them as well, we just want it to be a bit more orderly and more mindful of those who struggle with

clean air issues,” said Roberts. “This seems to me to be a pretty equitable approach, and people seem to un-derstand that so far.”

The new ASG council has stayed involved in the planning and imple-mentation of the changes.

“The student council set up a pre-sentation to facilities and grounds,” said Heather McKenzie, Senate Ad-viser. “It was their suggestion to re-move smoking from the center of campus.”

“They were instrumental in the process and in connecting with the administration to make this work.”

Smoking:Administration talks about avoiding citations

From Page 1

“If we’ve gotten the core taken care of and the through-fares are clear I’m comfortable...if it doesn’t ever get to a smoke free campus I think we’ve done some real good already.”

--Alex RobertsSFCC Administration

the tracks will be in dire health straits if the trains start coming through.

“I sit in on Coal-Free Northwest board meetings,” Leonetti said. “They’ve delegated me to go to SCC and SFCC to put up demonstra-tions which include a power point explaining how all these coal trains rolling in will negatively impact the community.

“My goal is to get the voting age people on board with the consensus that if these trains do come in daily it will hurt the environment.”

Leonetti said it might be hard to stop the proposals because the plans would supposedly lead to a huge economic boom.

“We’d be getting rid of our unused dirty coal that nobody wants and

selling it to China at a decent price,” Leonetti said. “Spokane’s a very ob-jective city that’s just in the mix of it, with nothing to gain but everything to lose.”

Tyler Deatherage, a Spokane na-tive, said that people are being selfish in opposing these coal trains.

“Coal supplies the world with heat,” Deatherage said. “It has to get from one place to another somehow.

“If we can save a country or help people that need heat, why shouldn’t we do that?”

Deatherage said that Coal-Free Northwest is a selfish group that cares more about the environment than freezing people in China.

SFCC Administra-

tors:

1:President

2:V.P.’s

7:Deans of Instruction

2:Deans of Student Services

2:Associate Deans of Student Services

Source: spokan-efalls.edu

Rape:

From Page 1

The reasoning behind the change

The new definition revised by UCR states that rape is, “the penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of an-other person, without the consent of the victim.”

“The new definition is improved quite a bit I think that it will make a difference in how rape cases will be dealt with,” said Gardipee, “My first time being raped was when I was 15...I was in the halls after school and we were making out.

“Things got out of hand; I told him no but he forced himself on me.”

A recent unsolved case reported on

Oct 6, 2011 happened on the SCC campus. The event took place in the parking lot during the day, the victim reports the suspect started conversa-tion before forcing her into a vehicle.

According to the Crisis Connec-tion website, 1 out of every 7 women currently in college has been raped, however, 9 out of 10 women raped on campus never tell anyone about the rape, and more than 61 percent of rapes are never reported to law en-forcement.

“Rape is a devastating crime and we can’t solve it unless we know the full extent of it,” said Vice President Biden at the Press release. “This long-await-ed change to the definition of rape is a victory for women and men across the country whose suffering has gone unaccounted for over 80 years.”

President:

From Page 1

The search for new leadership is detailed

is adviser to the President and also works on keeping the student service programs running.

“The position was advertised na-tionally in the Spring of 2008 and I applied, interviewed twice, and won the job competitively,’’ said Roberts. “Prior to joining SFCC I had a varied background including work in stu-dent services/activities plus most re-cently had been Dean of Liberal Art & Sciences with Wenatchee Valley Col-lege. This is my 20th year of consecu-tive work experience in community colleges.”

V.P. Roberts along with the V.P. of Student Services are looking at serv-ing SFCC in any position.

“I am always looking for ways to serve this college and internal oppor-

tunities are of great interest,” said Rob-erts. “Given the uncertain future, I am not limiting my scope internally, how-ever, and I am scanning the region for opportunities to serve through leader-ship a variety of post-secondary and private industry organizations.”

These positions need people who will lead and make critical decisions. In April and May there will be open forums held for a minimum of three candidates to be chosen for the posi-tion. Then the Chancellor of SFCC will decide from the candidate who will be the next President of the school.

For the V.P. of Student Services there will be an open forum in late May or early June. The one who chooses the next V.P. of student services will be the new President.

V.P. of student learning position may not be opened up for changes until the next school year.

Students can participate in the open forums by using a link on SFCC’s web-site.

Bureau of Justice:In 2009 the

National Crime Victimization

Survey estimates of rape and

sexual assault were 0.2 per

1,000 and 0.8 per 1,000 women

aged 12 and older.

Source: bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov

Source: slog.thestranger.com

jan. 26 - feb. 8, 2012

3

shelby miltner | Editor erspectivesP

Did You Know?: The total amount of natural gas that is produced for avista use is 35 percent. Source: avistautilities.com

The Staff

The environment is a broad topic, their are many meanings and ideas. We protect the environment or try to. We do our part in protecting the environment from recycling to using renewable energy to using

transit systems or riding bicycles. Their are many ways to do your part in protecting the environment even if it’s small, every little bit helps.

In the Inland

Northwest there are plenty of renewable resources including abundant amounts of hydro-

power, coal, natural gas, nuclear energy; and rising amounts of wind power and biomass.

According to Avista’s website, the most used renewable energy source is hydro-power which contributes about 50 percent of our local energy usage. There are six dams that are spread along the Spokane River. Avista owns these six dams and two other dams, the Noxon Rapids Dam in Noxon, Mont. and Cabinet Gorge Dam in Clark Fork, Idaho, both are spaced along the Clark Fork River.

Most of the hydropower that is being used comes mostly from the Noxon Rapids and Clark Fork Dams. These dams have big gener-ators and produce larger amounts of electricity than dams locally.

Some coal and natural gas is produced in Washington that is owned or operated by Avista. Combustion plants that are spaced throughout the Northwest provide energy and electricity to power companies. Avista operates and

owns seven coal or natural gas plants that produce electricity in Eastern Washington, Northern Idaho, Central Montana, and North Central Oregon. These plants produce natural gas that is used in homes locally and in southern and eastern Oregon, according to Avista’s website. The total amount of natural gas produced for Avista’s use is 35 percent. The total amount of coal is ten percent. A small amount of wind power, about two percent, is produced on a wind farm near the Oregon border which Avista uses to provide power to it’s costumers according to Avista’s website.

When using and making all the renewable energy in the North-west, the environment is still being protected. Some seem to think and believe dams and power plants that produce electricty, dis-troy the environment. Dams have fish ladders or are creating new ways for fish to travel through thier dams. There is just as much harmful fumes being put in the air by vehicals as there are harmful fumes going into the air by power plants.

While many believe renewable energy is depleting or being harm-ful to the environment by the way we make and use the renewable energy, I would have to disagree. This world is filled with renewable energy and so is the Northwest.

Renewable energy explained

The Ever-

green State just has a ring to it.

I love everything about Washing-ton.. the people, attitude,

culture, but above all the nature.I can go ten minutes from my

house and be immersed in forest. Countless evergreen trees are a sight to behold.

Flying to Seattle, looking out the window you can see the beautiful Washington landscape in 45 minutes.

Evergreens in the east, prairie in the center and mountains as you approach the west. Driving to Seattle you can take in the scenery for four and a half hours.

Driving back to Spokane, it’s fun to see how abruptly the land-scape changes from the green forest in the west to the prairie in the center. It’s always a satisfying feeling as you approach the east, and Spokane trees start to make their appearance.

What’s not to love about such beauty? Why shouldn’t we protect it? Ideally these questions shouldn’t have to be asked, but they do.

Many people throw trash on

the streets, and these are our av-erage citizens. Think about what the huge corporations are doing to the environment.

Many corporations are focused on profit and disregard the negative impact to the environ-ment and the health of citizens earning their profit entails.

Many cities start with the chopping down of trees, instead of building a city in the midst of the trees like Spokane. But even here a lot of the natural wildlife has been driven away by our industrialization.

People should be proactive when it comes to defending our environment. Whether you live in a beautiful city like Spokane or Seattle, or you live in a city already infested with pollution like Los Angeles, you can join the fight against environmental degradation.

You can join environmental groups, pick up litter, recycle cans and bottles, and turn off water when not using it.

I feel that some people in the Northwest take the natural beauty for granted, without real-izing that it’s not everywhere and it’s a privilege.

As Chief Seattle said, “The Earth does not belong to us, we belong to the Earth.” Please, everyone, help keep Washington green.. forever green!

The evergreen environment

This is in regards to the November 17-30 issue on the article regarding cuts to Chemical Dependency Programs funding. The comment of Jennifer De-Ruwe stating that Spokane Police is qualified to deal with substance abuse and mental health issues is very irresponsible. I think that the Communica-tor has a responsibility to ask DeRuwe what makes her think that SPD is qualified to deal with these people. It takes a minimum of 2 years to treat chemical dependency disorders as a CDP, other credentials such as LMHC (Licensed Mental Health Counselor) take even longer to earn, minimum of 4 years. This is a slap in the face to our program and the folks who work hard and take pride in treating these folks. The SPD has showed they DO NOT know how to deal with folks with mental disabilities and substance abuse disorders as evidenced by the Otto Zhem death as a result of the use of excessive force by former Officer Karl Thompson. The Communicator needs to follow up on this with SPD; the statement made by DeRuwe is incorrect, irresponsible and insulting.Thanks,Andrew Riddle

Letter to the editor:

JacksonColby

ShelbyMiltner

In Eastern Wash-

ington, we experience a hot and dry climate. This is due to the Cascades running through the western part of the state

and stopping most of the moisture from getting into the eastern part.

A rain shadow means that areas on the Lee-ward side of a mountain range receive much less rain than the windward side.

“We studied it in Washington history class back in high school” said Conner Nuckols, a biology student at SFCC. “It’s weird be-

cause everyone knows about it over on the west side, you’d think people who were actually effected by it would know more about it.”

The rain shadow in Washington is caused by moisture collecting at the peak of the mountains and condens-ing into rain near Puget Sound. This collection of moisture is due to the sudden cooling of air because of its quick rise into the upper atmo-sphere. Then the dry air proceeds over the mountain and down into the Columbia basin. This explains not only Eastern Washington and Or-egon’s dry climate, but also why the Puget Sound and Willamette Valley experience such high amounts of hu-midity. Spokane tends to stay more

humid due to the same rain shadow effect on the rocky moun-

tains but with moisture brought down from Canada.

Spokane is in a great spot to experience the much sought after four seasons.

RandyBreedlove

Weird Washington

“We studied it in Wasington history class back in high school”

-Conner Nuckols, SFCC biology student

Editor-in-ChiefAshley Hiruko

Managing EditorJackson Colby

Web ManagerLauren Miller

News EditorClayton Kraft

Focus EditorRandy Breedlove

Sidelines EditorGabriel Dillon

Perspectives EditorShelby Miltner

Photo EditorNancy Locke

GraphicsAngelisa Turner

Multimedia Nadia Kurakin

AdviserJason Nix

MarketingLoni Taber

AdvertisingRandy Breedlove

Staff members can be reached via email with the following format:sfcc.firstname.lastname@gmail.com

Angelisa Turner | The Communicator

The Communicator, a student-run publication, provides students an opportunity to connect with their campus and enrich their time at SFCC. We hope to maintain a forum in which students are able to voice diverse opinions on campus-related issues. The Communicator also aims to inform students about topics relevant to their education.

Please Note

The Communicator is an open forum for student coverage and opinion that is entirely student edited and produced, with absolutely no prior review from the faculty or administrators of Spokane Falls Community College. The content in this publication is the responsibility of the student staff of The Communicator, and as such do not necessarily reflect the view of Spokane Falls Community College administrators, faculty, or the student body.Individual student contributions to the opinion page or any other section of this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial board or the student staff of The Communicator.

The first copy of an issue is free, additional copies are 50 cents each.

randy breedlove | Editor ocusF

4 Did You Know?: Transit service in the Spokane area began in 1883

jan. 26 - feb. 8, 2012

Imagine a life in which all the essentials, from food to clothes to shelter, came out of dumpsters. Many freegans live exactly this kind of life.

Freeganism, a combination of the words ‘free’ and ‘veganism’, is a term that was coined in the 1990’s.

“Freegans are people who employ alternative strategies for living based on limited participation in the conventional economy and minimal consumption of resources,” accord-ing to freegan.info, “Freegans em-brace community, generosity, social concern, freedom, cooperation, and sharing in opposition to a society based on materialism, moral apathy, competition, conformity, and greed.”

Zachary Grey, a Seattle resident who lives a freegan lifestyle by choice, sometimes getting his food out of dumpsters, said ‘freeganism’ is just a new term to make a really old thing cool.

“People have been eating out of the trash for as long as there’s been trash cans,” Grey said. “I think for most people globally it’s not so much a political statement as just a survival necessity.

“It’s a global thing to eat trash but that’s just because most people are really, really poor.”

Grey said that the amount of food people throw away is enough to feed most if not all of the hungry people

in the world.“It’s a cultural thing in the USA,”

Grey said. “We consume in excess and don’t put much thought into how much we’re wasting.

“It’s pretty ridiculous.”Grey said that while it might be

silly to give a title to the lifestyle, the lifestyle itself is very beneficial.

“Most food is taxed,” Grey said. “If you’re funneling money into the government, you’re inevitably sup-porting war.

“It’s a privilege to feel so free and dig out of the trash.”

Freegans adopt a variety of strate-gies and lifestyle choices in order to get their message across and not

contribute to society’s waste.“Getting food out of the trash can

only take you so far,” Grey said. “If you’re doing that as the end goal, you’re just going to be dependant on the existing system.

“The best thing to do is learn how to grow your own food and grow enough to share with other folks...that’s a more long-term, self sustain-ing way to get free food and it’s a lot more fun.”

Derek Richardson, a self-pro-claimed waste reduction engineer from Portland, Ore., said that an anonymous book called Evasion, published by CrimethInc., helped influence him to become a freegan.

“I’d go into town when I was younger to skate and sleep outside,” Richardson said. “Dunkin’ Donuts would throw out these huge bags of doughnuts and I was like ‘f--- yeah, free food!’

“From there I was like ‘wait a minute, if they throw these out in this dumpster I wonder what other awesome treasures are out there to find.’”

Richardson said that for the most part it’s possible to live a self-sus-taining life using only things that can be found in dumpsters.

“In Spokane I found an entire kitchen set in a Pizza Hut dumpster,” Richardson said. “Kettles, spatulas, silverware, it was awesome.

“Pretty much anything you could think of you can find in a dumpster.”

Richardson said that if more people adopted a communal freegan lifestyle it would be possible to make a lot of positive changes in the world.

“The best thing to do is just get food out of the dumpster and feed whole downtown areas,” Richardson said.

Jacob Prahm, a McDonald’s employee in Spokane, says their restaurant throws away about 60 full meals a day.

“Food will get old and we just throw it away,” Prahm said. “Any-thing that gets ripped or teared, if it’s not cooked well, if it’s not done right, if we get a customer’s order wrong, we just throw it away.

“It’s our policy.”

One’s trash, another’s treasure

Spokane is home to several recy-cling programs, but one of the most community oriented and capable is Earthworks, a locally owned and operated business since 1980.

“We will take anything as long as it is not radioactive and doesn’t contain mercury,” said Jim Schrock, Recycling Manager for Earthworks. “We don’t accept things that are non-recyclable such as food prod-ucts.”

However, Earthworks, along with several other recycling centers in Spokane, accepts many things you might not expect.

“We will do pick ups for very large items such as refrigerators and

television sets,” said Roy Sommer, a truck driver for Earthworks.

They do both special pick up and scheduled pick ups from 7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Fri-day, with a truck on call for special pick-ups on Saturdays.

Another service Earthworks Recy-cling also offers document destruc-tion, although it is a pick-up service only. After pick up, the documents are kept safely locked up in a spe-cial compartment in the truck until they are brought back to Earth-works Recycling. From there they are brought out to a trailer in the recycling yard were they are again locked up securely. Then at the end of the day they are destroyed by hand, this service also includes credit card destruction.

“We can recycle a good portion of car parts, mainly starters and alternators,” said Christen Forant, an Earthworks employee. “Another thing people don’t think to recycle are computers, computer monitors and bullet shells.”

Earthworks Recycling is dedi-

Anything and everything

cated to preserving the environment and making good use of all ready manufactured material. People can also earn money by recycling newspaper at Earthworks, but at two cents a pound the incentive for most people is just helping the

environment. Earthworks recycling is located 1904. E. Broadway and is open to the public Monday to Saturday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. If you would like to learn more you can checkout their website at www.Earthworksrecycling.com

Clayton PalmquistThe Communicator

Jackson ColbyThe Communicator

Recycling is a very common practice in the western world, most people have one of those blue bins in front of their house. But just throwing a can or two into that bin doesn’t make a difference.

Earthworks recyles most anything found in a normal householdAaron Emery | The Communicator

Photo Illustration by Nadia Kurakin

Recycla-ble Facts:

1. There are 8,660 curbside recycling pro-grams in the

USA

2. Once it reaches the

plant an infrared laser seperates dif-ferent types of

papers and plasitc

materials.

3. With the advent of the single-steam

collection system we only

need one re-cycling bin and no longer need

to seperate recycleables

Source: science.howstuffworks.com

Check out Page 3 for some of

the staff’s opinions and this issue’s letter to

the editor.

To submit your own letter to

the editor, check

out our website:

Spokanefalls.edu/

communicator

For more Focus content visit spokanefalls.edu/communicator/sections/focus/focus.html 5

jan. 26 - feb. 8, 2012 Focus The Communicator

Jan. 23 signifies the start of the Chinese New Year, a 15 day long celebration to bring in the end of winter and the coming of spring.

The Chinese New Year takes place between the end of January and the beginning of February.

“The Chinese New Year celebrates more than just the beginning of the new year, in many ways its the equivalent of Christmas,” said Glo-ria Gau, the Chinese language and culture advisor at SFCC. “It’s a time when Chinese families get together every year and party.”

Traditionally the event lasts 15 days and since 1984 features a parade in the USA and other coun-tries with large Chinese immigrant populations. The Chinese New Year parade was a way to show off their culture and traditions to the host na-tions. Chinese dishes, such as spring rolls and bamboo shoots are often served during the festivities.

“First and second generation Chinese immigrants tend to be more traditional and celebrate the full Chinese new year, but the younger generations prefer to celebrate just one day,” said Gau. “This is because in China it is a national holiday so

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people get into the spirit of it the whole time.

“This is not how we commonly celebrate in western culture so the parade is meant to pack the festivi-ties into one day.”

Chinese New Year is based on the lunar calender which changes ac-cording to the solar system’s position in the galaxy.

“The Chinese New Year is also significant to many non-Chinese Asians due to their shared calendar system and shared religious beliefs,” said Kim Jones, President of the Far East Club at SFCC.

The most common beliefs and practices in mainland Asia are Bud-dhism and Taoism, which are similar in folklore about the end of winter.

Bringing in the year of the dragon

Clayton PalmquistThe Communicator

Although just like any holiday the reason it’s popular doesn’t always have to do with traditions of faith.

“Chinese New Year is about spending time with family,” said Faith Kincaid, a high school student who was born in Dongguan, China. “We give and receive cash, to and from loved ones, which is a com-mon practice (during the Holiday.)”

Left to Right: Suji Moon, Kim Jones, Jane Gong, Kaitlyn Fisette Julia Cheng preparing the traditional decorations for the Chinese New Year. According to 12 signs of the Chinese zodiac, this year is the year of the dragon.

Nadia Kurakin| The Communicator

The year of the dragon

is 2012If you were born in the years 1952,

1964,1976, 1988 or 2000 you are considered to be born in the year of the dragon.

jan. 26 - feb. 8, 2012 FOCUS The Communicator

For more Focus content visit spokanefalls.edu/communicator/sections/focus/focus.html6

With 4 venues and 75 films total from 20 nations, the Spokane International Film Festival, playing Jan. 26 to Feb. 5, is looking to be something students and adults alike can be excited for.

This year, the SpIFF is going to be presented at the AMC Theatre in the River Park Square mall, The Magic Lantern Theatre, The Bing Crosby Theatre, and one benefit showing will be at The Garland.

The films genres range all over the board from family films to com-edies, to some very risky documen-taries. The films being shown also come from many unique places from around the world such as France, Russia and Turkey.

Pete Porter, Board Director of the festival, was more than happy to share his excitement for the festival.

“You feel really good, when you’re looking at this year’s roster and see so many tremendous films coming here. It’s bound to be a good year,” Porter said.

The festival has been in effect since 1999, showcasing on world-classic films that were not widely distributed according to the film festival website spokanefilmfestival.org. Some of the films being shown are also films up for awards such as We Were Here, a film about the arrival and impact of AIDS in San

Dominick MartinezThe Communicator

With online purchase @ www.schweitzer.com/daze

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Francisco. The film currently being nominated for an Oscar for Best Short Film.

“This year is going to be an excep-tional year,” said Cameron Gorman, director of one of the short films in the festival. “They have selected some very interesting films that are going to be relate-able to a lot of

the viewers, which is going to make it that much more intense.”

“The entire festival is put together by volunteers,” Porter said. “No one gets paid compensation.”

“Everybody just does it for the love of movies and the feedback we get from our audiences.”

The event is sponsored by com-panies and organizations all over Spokane and has been since the dawn of the festival.

Directors of the international films come from all over the world to watch and and do Q&A’s with the audiences. According to the festi-val’s website, “This gives fest-goers the opportunity to hear filmmakers explain firsthand how their projects went from “Action!” to “That’s a wrap!”

According to Porter, from the films playing to the extras included, SpIFF is going to be an awarding event to all who attend.

“This year is filled with exciting movies and there is quality all over the board,” said Porter. “This is the best we have done and I am excited to see how it comes together.”

13th annual international film festival

The Magic Lantern Theatre located at 25 W. Main Ave

Drew Castellaw | The Communicator

Spokane Int’l Film Festival

Jan. 26 - Feb. 5

“We Were Here” nominated for an Oscar for

Best Short Film

Festival originated in 1999, and is orchestrated by volunteers

In 2010, Prodigal Sons, by Kimberley Reed placed

first in the entire festival. A story

about Family dynamic and a Brotherly

rivalry between Brother and

Sister

Ticket prices range from $8-$15 at the River

Park Square AMC

Source:

spokanefilmfestival.org

75 films to showcase in the 13th annual SpIFF

Everything from the traditional medium of paint and ink to speak-ers and fishhooks find their way into the SFCC Fine Arts Faculty and Alumni Exhibition.

The Strip Show is a collection of work from 13 faculty members and 16 art program alumni. Each artist was given a 10-foot-by-10-inch vertical space on the gal-lery walls, (or standing within a 10-inch square base for sculpture work). The exhibition runs from Jan. 5 until Feb. 4.

“I thought it was a good idea, but having to build something 10 feet tall in a heavy material like clay is not easy,” said Mardis Ne-nno, faculty artist in ceramics.

Her piece in the display, Hooked, Line and Sinker, is made from porcelain and wire.

“I wanted to solve the limitation in an interesting way, so I cheat-ed,” Nenno said.

Nenno’s sculpture carries its mass on the bottom, allowing only a few wires to rise to the 10 foot mark.

“Just like students with an as-signment, they find a way around the limitation until it works for them,” Nenno said. “Often times you come up with ideas that you would never have thought of otherwise; problem solving is a creative process.

“That’s why this show is so interesting.”

Faculty artist, Carl Richardson

said he had the right sized 10-inch squares for years, but just hadn’t done anything with them yet. His piece incorporated the squares with 10-by-10 photos stacked together.

“The piece in the show is the sixth manifestation of what Tom gave us to work with,” Richardson said. “I tossed around a lot of ideas.

“There was a lot of exploration and I learned a lot about what I could do.”

Tom O’Day, who organizes the gallery shows said he does a faculty involved show every other year and alumni work more sporadically.

“I decided it might be nice to do a show together this time and I wanted a way to give enough space for everyone to fit,” O’Day said.

Once the gallery space had been measured out, O’Day said that each person could be allowed about ten. inches wide to show in.

Allie RobertsThe Communicator

Strip Show showcases work of SFCC faculty, alumni

Nadia Kurakin | The Communicator

For more information, and for ticket prices go to spokanefilmfestival.org

6

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gabriel dillon | Editor idelinesS jan. 25 - feb. 8, 2012

8 Did You Know?: Snowboarding has gained immense popularity during the last ten years. In 1985 only 7 percent of U.S ski areas allowed snowboards; today more than 97 percent have opened the slopes to the sport. Source: edgate.com

For outdoor athletes, staying in shape during the cold winter months is no silly half hearted New Year’s resolution . It’s something that is just a given. The way they go about it varies, but for a diverse group in Spokane they all have one thing in common. It’s called Crossfit.

Crossfit is a training program that is usually free of charge and only takes about 30 minutes out of your busy schedule. It’s home is at the Spokane Boxing Gym and put on by Greg Lang.

Crossfit is a super intense work-out that lasts about a half an hour and consists of varied exercises changed up from day to day.

Crossfit is a licenced workout routine put together in the 1980’s by trainer Gregg Glassman.

It started as an underground

fitness movement and is semi-mainsteam now . It’s more than likely that if you’re in a decent size city there will be a place that has Crossfit. Some places are starting to charge for their programs but many still put it on at no charge.

During the cold winter months keeping your edge is a must. “I think fitness is essential for fight-ing off the winter blues,” said Ian Dillon, an avid rock climber. “It’s a major component in keeping mentally healthy and keeping those endorphins going, not becoming lethargic during the winter time, especially and also just in your daily life.“

Working out is extremely impor-tant to stay balanced. It gives you more energy at work and life in general.”

During the warmer months of the year there are endless ways to stay in shape for these outdoor type athletes. They run, rock climb (sport, bouldering, and deep water soloing), even trad for those with a extra couple thousand bucks to purchase the gear. They bike ( street and moun-

Crossfit, you have time

Aaron Emery The Communicator

Gabriel DillonThe Communicator

Spokane residents are getting a jump on fitness. A training program called crossfit that only takes a little less than 30 minutes out of your day and offers fast results. The best part? It’s free!

Angelisa TurnerThe Communicator

What does it take to be a hard hitting roller derby girl? A good attitude and a love for blood , fights and fishnet tights.. and a pair of roller skates.

It’s like speed skating with line-backers blocking around every turn.

Women’s flat track roller derby is a five-on-five race to get the jammer (the speed skater at the back of the pack) through a pack of blockers (the defenders against

Hanz Harzl leading the charge at a crossfit session at the Spokane Boxing Club.

tain), they hike and swim, do water sports like wake boarding, knee boarding and water skiing, among other things.

“A lot of people rely on things such as cross country skiing or just regular

skiing or snow boarding and other outdoor activities during the winter

time, but we just haven’t had that this year, its just cold and miser-able.” said Tom Rodgers, a triathlete type athlete who helps out with the directing of Crossfit.

So when we don’t have all these options and in a year with low snowpack at the local ski resorts. These diehards band together to maintain thier edge. Thanks to the dedicated people who put on the local Crossfit program, it has been made a little easier this winter.

the opposite team’s jammer) in a race called a Jam, which lasts two minutes. There are two halves split by thirty minute increments of play time. This all takes place in a bout, which is the game itself. The women who participate create a dual identity. Selina Kyle, a partici-pant, is herself off the track but on the track she is Catwoman. Spo-kannibals Roller Derby (SRD) was founded in November of 2010 and begins their second season with a home bout against Canada’s Koote-nay Kannibelles on March 24th.

“We’re here to further the sport of women’s flat track roller derby

The Spokannibals roller derby team’s 2012 season will kick off with a game against the Kootenay KannibellesContributed by Lloyd N Phillips

and further the personal growth and development of our fellow derby sisters,” said Naomi “Sweetart” Weitz, founder of the Spokannibals. “I believe we’re up for the chal-lenge.

“This season is about taking on more challenging teams, so we may lose a lot more, but we’re not afraid of that.”

SRD’s bouting policy is what they will need in order to take on more challenging teams. It also encour-ages new players known as “Fresh-meat” to improve as well as interact with more skilled skaters. There is only one competing team, with

Spokannibals jammin’ and blockin’ into the 2012 yearRoller derby

games are called bouts. For those of you who are interested in

watching these bouts refer to the

bout schedule below.

If you are inter-seted in getting involved with roller derby ,

check out their website.

2012season

schedualsFeb. 11th vs. Rainy City @

Centrallia, Wash.

March 24vs. Kootenay Kan-nibelles @ Home ( Spokane Valley,

Wash.)

May 19 vs. Mag-ic City Rollers

April and June Bouts to be an-

nounced

For updates on future bouts go online to www.spokannibals.

com

For more infor-mation on cross-

fit go to their Facebook page

CFCS. If you like their page

you can receive updates for the workout of the day, and where they will be held

for that day.

fourteen spots available each bout. “Bouting is based on attendance,”

Said Heidi “Ida B ChoA--” Muat, 39.

While individual skill is ideal for winning games, the team dynamics are more important to the women of SRD.

“No one holds a spot on this team, so there is constant competi-tion,” Said Ti “SmartA--” Marchand, 40.

Sandy “Mama Buns” Fanara, 48, the merchandise coordinator of the league is hopeful for their second season of roller derby.

“What I love about them is that they practice their intentions, and at their bout I watch the perfor-mance,” Said Fanara.

When observed at practice SRD appears to be playing various school yard games on skates. It is this team dynamic that makes them so unique. It is a competive edge that may get them through this sea-son unscathed.

“We laugh at every single prac-tice,” Said Weitz, and this is exactly what attracts fans to watch their performance.

Spokannibals facts and info:Spokannibles were establshed in

Dec. 2010Spokannibals are not part of the

WFTDA LeaguePractices are held at

Roller Valley Skate Center 9415 E 4th

Spokane Valley, WAPractice times are as follows:

Tuesdays 8 p.m.Thursdays 8 p.m.Sundays 11a.m.

“It’s a major compont in keeping mentally healthy and keeping those endorphins going.”

-Ian DillonRock climber