Vivid writing featured during Literary Arts Festival

Posted on May 13, 2012 by admin

By Sean Asuncion

GROSSMONT COLLEGE-Students and alumni shared stories and poems dealing with deep feelings and their personal experiences during an April 30 session of the annual Literary Arts Festival. All displayed their abilities to write descriptively and to create clear imagery for the audience.

The literary concert started with Nikolai Beope, a Grossmont alumnus who today holds a Masters of Fine Arts in Fine Writing. With the first sentence of his piece, “A Boy,” I sensed I was in for a weird piece. It began “A, Boy, Carries. A Bucket of His Feces, Behind 3 marching lines of Boys.” I must admit I didn’t understand “A Boy”.

Another piece that caught me off guard was by Grossmont student Shonna Gillis. Her story was sexual and lustful telling the audience of a relationship between a man named Mr. Turner (also known as Walter Williams) and an unidentified girl. Her  descriptive writing enabled listeners to imagine the sexual situations that the two found themselves in such as the girl’s breast grazing Walter’s chest, her spreading her legs wide, opening up her hips and straddling him.  Yes, I  wanted to hear or read more.

Student Raymond Vera Cruz wrote “Falling Awake” which told of Jaz who dreamt of being with a girl, whose name was not mentioned. Cruz described in detail the feelings a man can have when he’s with a woman he likes.  “Her voice is creamy, slow, like caramel drizzling, only twice as sweet.”  He described the anxiety, insomnia and impatience a man may experience  during the waiting period for the moment of truth; does she like me?

Sadly Cruz also tells of the bad part of finding out; Jaz learns that girl likes actually likes his brother Noah. “As my heart sinks, her smile widens….the bridge sinks violently as the building topples onto it and we are inches from death,” he writes. He goes into a state of depression realizing that the bridge or relationship they had is crumbling.

The readings read by students and alumni were entertaining. It was easy to tell that the writers understood descriptive writing very well. They were able to create imagery that enabled audience members to experience in their mind what was written.

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Asuncion is arts editor of the GC Summit.  He may be contacted at sean.asuncion @gcsummit.com

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Afternoon spent on a Poe-sitive note

Posted on May 12, 2012 by admin

By Johnny Weber

GROSSMONT COLLEGE – “Was he a madman? Was he a genius? Or was he both?”

Write Out Loud attempted to unravel the mystery behind the words of one of the most beloved American gothic poets, Edgar Allan Poe at the literary arts festival on May 1.

Write Out Loud is a theatrical group consisting of Veronica Murphy, Walter Ritter and Tim West. Special guest Tom Andrew also performed.

The event stated out with harrowing screams from the actors as they read “The Language of Poe” an introduction to the macabre and morose style of Edgar Allan Poe. Murphy, Ritter, and West’s words were echoed off of one another in a haunting tone.

Tom Andrew read “The Oval Portrait” in a fireside matter. His vocal inflections kept the audience hanging on his every word. His cadences built tension that made the audience shudder yet yearn for more.

Walter Ritter and Tim West performed the “The Cask of Amontillado” in a “drunken” stupor. West played the evil protagonist, Montresor brilliantly with a snicker and a wry smile on his face while exacting his revenge. Ritter played the part of Fortunato perfectly coughing loudly here and there and slurring his words together to sound drunk.

Unfortunately, the production had to stop early as it did not have enough time to finish.  Write Out Loud had booked Room 220 until 1:50 p.m., and a class was scheduled to begin ten minutes later.  The group will be performing its next play titled Animals I Have Known around the county. For more information visit www.writeoutloudsd.com or call 619-297-8953.

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Weber is managing editor of the GC Summit.  He may be contacted at john.weber@gcsummit.com

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Honors bestowed on students, faculty, staff

Posted on May 12, 2012 by admin

By Matt Quijas

GROSSMONT COLLEGE — For 50 years now, this school has been recognizing students, staff and faculty for outstanding performance.  Here are some of this year’s highlights:

Bobby Morris received the Division Honor Award in the Career Technical Education/Workforce Development Department.  He worked as a mechanic in the U.S. Navy for 20 years and decided to learn a new trade.  He is now pursuing a degree in the Forensic Technology program and hopes to use the skills in real crime scenes someday.

The English and Social Behavioral Sciences Division Honor Award was given to Daniel McKay. Formerly homeless and a drug addict, he rehabilitated himself and maintained a 3.96 GPA in honors classes.  During this time he wrote a research paper on bipolar disorder and presented it to the California Honors Research Conference at the University of California, Irvine.  He has since conducted a pilot research study about student stress, alongside Psychology Prof. Teresa Jacob.

Carlos Paz received several awards, including The Division Honors Award for the Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Exercise Science/Wellness.  He was forced to drop out of SDSU due to his mother’s cancer diagnosis on three separate occasions.  He returned to school in 2010 at Grossmont and has especially excelled in Calculus II.  Today, he is known as “one of the most valued mathematics tutors” in Math Study Center.

Tennis captain Guadalupe (Lupita) Sandoval-Garcia and water polo captain Tyler Ormsby were recognized for exemplifying “what the Grossmont College Athletic Department stands for.”   They stand out in the classroom as well.  Both hold well over a 3.0 GPA.

International Student of the Year Akashi Panchal, originally from India, has been at Grossmont for two years now.  She currently holds a 3.68 GPA in Science and Quantitative Reasoning while working at the International Student Counseling Office.  She had earned in India a Bachelor’s Degree in Physio-Therapy and worked the field for three years.

Concurrently, the 13th Annual Recognition Awards were held to recognize outstanding faculty and staff.

President Sunita V. Cooke’s Leadership Award was presented to Pat Murray, a laboratory technician, volunteer on numerous campus-wide committees, and just this month one of five people throughout the entire statewide system of community colleges to receive an award from the chancellor.

Sodexo Manager Lisa Gibson was honored by the Foundation for Grossmont and Cuyamaca Colleges for her leadership in developing a campus food program that has won compliments from the students.

The Innovator of the Year Award recipient, Sara Glasgow, has been with Grossmont for just a year now and was cited for helping to energize over 40 student clubs, and presenting a varied schedule of on-campus events.

Glasgow is the founder of the Week of Welcome (WOW), which kicks off each semester by welcoming new and returning Grossmont students and introduces them to some of the programming the college offers.

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Quijas is editor of the GC Summit.  He may be contacted at matt.quijas@gcsummit.com

 

 

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Mom is someone on whom you can depend

Posted on May 12, 2012 by admin

By Johnny Weber

GROSSMONT COLLEGE – September of 1992; the very first breath I took in of the fantastic world. Ever since then, my mom has been there for me through the good, the bad and the ugly.

I was born the youngest into my family of two sisters, my dad, and my mom, so naturally I was also spoiled (and still am). Whenever my sisters would get turned down for a popsicle, they would always send me in to ask my mom for one with my cute. adorable smile and my puppy dog-eyes and of course my mom would never say no. Right on cue, my sisters would come running in and shout “Johnny got a popsicle can we have one too?”

Fast forward a couple of years when I was in grade school. My dad is a firefighter so he was at home off and on working 24-hour shifts. I was interested in becoming the next best thing in the baseball at the time, I was only about seven, and I needed someone to throw the ball with. My mom, not being of natural athletic talent, would lean to the side to avoid getting hit by the ball, chase after it, and attempt to throw the ball to me, but it would always end up becoming a very slow ground ball.

Freshman year of high school, my mom forced a very important decision on my life that would forever change how I would look at this world and how I would live my life until now. My mom signed me up for guitar lessons, and I reluctantly chose to go as I knew I had no choice. I don’t think I can ever thank my mom enough for doing that for me. Music has forever changed the way in which I have lived my life in the most positive way possible.

The first class I ever took at Grossmont was with my mom when I was 16 in Professor Derek Cannon’s history of rock class. We both got A’s in the class and to this day I try to quiz her memory of that class; she hardly remembers a thing and I remember almost everything. If I didn’t take that class with my mom I would never be taking Cannon’s jazz theory classes and would not be as interested in Jazz as I am now.

My mom is in the nursing program at Grossmont currently and we occasionally grab lunch together. My mom has transformed from the person who just takes care of me to someone I can always turn to for advice and have conversations that give me some new perspectives on life.

As I was going through some of my old stuff I found an old card I gave my mom for mother’s day when I was in elementary school. It read “I love my mom because she cooks for me and cleans my room and drives me everywhere.” Now I am writing that I love my mom because she is always someone I can turn to for hard times, she puts up with me and my shenanigans, and she is one of the strongest people that I know.

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Weber is managing editor of the GC Summit.  He may be contacted at john.weber@gcsummit.com

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Literary Festival on campus grows in prestige

Posted on May 12, 2012 by admin

By Johnny Weber

GROSSMONT COLLEGE–The Creative Writing Program hosted its 16th annual Literary Arts Festival with such renowned speakers as Sandra Cisneros, who wrote  The House on Mango Street, and Tim O’Brien, author of The Things They Carried, April 23-May 4.

This year’s festival was organized by English Prof. Sydney Brown, who has coordinated the event for the past 12 years. “In the past,” stated Brown “we have had such authors as Dorthy Allison, Kim Addizio, Nick Flynn, and Anthony Swarford.”

“When the festival first started it was only local authors and college students,” said Brown “but now we are proud at the size and the national recognition of the authors we invite to speak.”

This year’s festival started on Tuesday, April 24 with local novelist Jim Miller and songwriter Gregory Page. Miller read excerpts of his novel Flash. The event commemorated the 100th anniversary of the free speech fight in San Diego. Gregory Page sang labor songs in a Woody Guthrie style.

On April 25, the literature of Sandra Cisneros was examined by professors from Grossmont and by  local authors. A lecture on Cisneros’ world-renowned book House on Mango Street was held. Sandra Cisneros visited Grossmont College the next day. Many students gathered in the Griffin Center and Griffin Gate to hear what advice the author had to give. Afterwards, there was a book signing and many students were able to talk one-on-one with Cisneros.

The second week started with current students and alumni reading their original works. “This is my favorite part of the festival because it showcases the talent of the students we have at Grossmont,” commented Brown.

On May 1,Write Out Loud performed poetry of American gothic poet, Edgar Allan Poe, and other authors demonstrated how Poe inspired them in their production of Shades of Poe. The poetry recited included Poe’s “Cask of Amontillado” and “The Oval Portrait.”

Two events were held on May 2,both dealing with the Vietnam War. “The Wars We Fought,” hosted by Justin Hudnall, dealt with the physical and emotional wars with which veterans have had to deal in their lives.

“Vietnam: Fact and Fiction,” a lecture and discussion with SDSU Prof. Victoria Featherstone, military history expert Joseph Radzikowski, and Grossmont College student Steve Bedle was held in advance of a visit by author Tim O’Brien.

The festival ended with national bestselling author Tim O’Brien reading from his books, The Things They Carried With Them and In the Lake of the Woods, and a book signing in the Griffin Center.

Planning is already in the works for next year’s festival. The creative writing program is going to host its annual write-a-thon in the fall semester. The write-a-thon helps pay for the Literary Arts Festival.  Other sources are donations from private parties and the English department faculty, who set aside funds from their paychecks each month.

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Weber is managing editor of the GC Summit.  He may be contacted at john.weber@gcsummit.com

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Going Bonkers for ‘Lost In Yonkers’

Posted on May 12, 2012 by admin

By Johnny Weber

GROSSMONT COLLEGE – The Theatre Arts Department premiered its spectacular production of Lost in Yonker, directed by Janette Thomas, on Thursday, May 3rd to a full house.  The production has its final performance Saturday evening, May 12.

Lost in Yonkers, written by Neil Simon, is from the vantage point of two teenage boys, Arty (Zachary Bunshaft) and Jay (Jacob Gardenswartz) whose mother recently died. Their father (Joel Gossett) has to go out in search for work to pay back his debts to a loan shark, so he drops them off to live with their iron-fisted, stone-cold grandmother (Kate Hewitt) their child like, absent-minded Aunt Bella (Layla Stuckey) and their smooth talking gangster Uncle Louie (Ryan Casselman).

Once again the cast produced a high-quality, laugh-filled performance that included soft emotional scenes with deep meaning. When Aunt Bella reveals that she is not as innocent as she seems, Grandma reacts indifferently, no longer capable of caring because of the loss of her two youngest children.

Uncle Louie helps Arty and Jay through the torture of Grandma’s harsh yet hilarious way of disciplining the.  Arty catches a fever and Grandma gives him the worst tasting soup that has ever been invented. Anyone who has had a grandma knows that even though grandma has some weird and wacky remedies, they always seem to work, and in Arty’s case, this is no exception. Jay has the misfortune of paying for pretzels and pistachios that have a weird habit of disappearing ever since the time that Father was a boy.

The theatre and stage were set up in a way that really felt like a window into the hearts, souls and minds of the characters.  Throughout breaks In the middle of the scenes, a “radio” would play that included big band jazz era hits such as “Perdido” and a 1940’s-style announcer would share news of the wars progress.

Every aspect of the production was put on by the students, from the set design, to the lighting, to costume design.  The set design was excellent. From the 1940’s style fan, to the dollies, to the fold-out couch with a flower-pattern design, the little details were not overlooked.

The costumes were period style, enhancing the performance.  From zoot-suited Uncle Louie, to the “self designed’ dress of Aunt Bella, and to the prim and proper suits of Arty and Jay, the costumes revealed a little bit of who these characters were.

It was a show to remember. From the laughs to the cries, and to everything in between, the cast of Lost In Yonkers put out a first-rate performance.

This is the last play of the season, but next season there will be a total of six productions, three in the fall and three in the spring. There are season tickets available for $50 for all of the plays. Some notable plays are The Grimmers, playing from Oct. 4-13, and The Odyssey: A Play. For more information click here or call Alexis Popko at 1-619-644-7267 for ticket information.

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Weber is managing editor of the GC Summit.  He may be contacted at john.weber@gcsummit.com

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Legalize marijuana? Pro and con

Posted on May 11, 2012 by admin

Editor’s Note: Two writers for the GC Summit have diametrically opposed views on the issue of legalizing marijuana.  We asked Jenn Sanders, who favors the idea, and Dylan Burke, who opposes it, to tell their sides of the controversy.   Sanders is commentary editor and Burke is news editor of the Summit.

Argument in favor….

By Jenn Sanders

Marijuana is more helpful than harmful. Like any of the legal drugs, such as cigarettes and alcohol, there should be an age limit to buy pot. The amount of money that could be brought back into the economy is astounding. I believe that if this “drug” were to be made legal there would be less violence.  The pharmaceutical companies do not want you to hear this, but cannabis has many medicinal properties.

To begin with, the prisons and jails are filled with many who have done nothing wrong, other than getting “caught” with some pot in their pockets. I will admit there are a lot of people who take advantage of the prohibition, but the same thing happened when alcohol was federally prohibited. But weed? Consider this: The government spends approximately 10-14 billion dollars a year on related arrests. In 2009, according to The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), 858,408 people were arrested for marijuana related crimes. That’s a whole lot of money that could be used in many other ways that would help the economy instead of draining it.

I sincerely believe that if weed were to be made legal there would be a lot less violence. Think about it for a moment, how many times have you seen some one get violent while smoking a joint? Or commit some other random crime? The most violent a person using medical cannabis tends to get is tearing open a bag of munchies. Approximately every 30 minutes an alcohol-related accident happens. And, that’s legal. Marijuana has a calming effect which makes people less likely to do anything rash.

Medical cannabis has so many medicinal uses it’s almost out of control. Just to name a few: it relieves nausea for cancer patients; helps to control Adult ADD; Depression; AIDS/HIV; menstrual cramps; birth pains; and epilepsy. Like I said those are just a few. For many centuries before the prohibition of marijuana, cannabis was used to manage all kinds of ailments.

We have been led to believe that Marijuana is bad and causes people to act in ways that are socially unacceptable. These are untruths because cannabis is, in actuality, more helpful than harmful. There are many more uses for this plant besides medicinal and recreational. For instance the hemp plant can be used to make clothing and paper, and so much more. Marijuana should be legalized for more reasons than I have room to write.

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Argument in opposition…

By Dylan Burke

Society doesn’t need weed.

The real question is not if we are economically better off legalizing it, nor if it is a moral issue. At the end of the day the real question is do you need weed?

I stand up with the next guy if the answer is yes, medical marijuana is necessary to the ones such as the elderly who need it. However, I fundamentally disagree with those who feel that America should be a country where in public we have people legally smoking dangerous substances.  Legalization would increase the chances of the drug falling into the hands of kids.  The danger of its use by juveniles is that kids generally don’t exhibit the same reasoning, responsibility, and judgment of an adult.

We already have enough problems as it is with people who aren’t responsible with the amount of liquor they consume; “stoned driving” and other dangers would be increased. Marijuana use isn’t truly a “victimless crime” when you consider all the crimes that may be committed when the user is under the influence of the drug

It is the government’s duty to protect the public from such dangerous drugs. After all, that’s why the FDA was created.  Marijuana is illegal for a reason, and in my opinion it should and will stay illegal unless someone is able to prove society would be better off.

 

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Impressions of a first-time juror

Posted on May 9, 2012 by admin

By Dylan Burke

GROSSMONT COLLEGE – It was a Monday and like many I too thought there was no chance I’d be picked to serve on a jury of 12. I was wrong.

On April 30th I woke up at 6 in the morning; I was to report to the Hall of Justice building (San Diego County Superior Court) at the jury lounge no later than 7:45 in the morning.

Parking on my first day was over priced at $16. Food for my lunch cost me an additional $7 and change. I waited patiently in the jury assembly room for a long period of time, hoping that along the way my name would not be called. Wouldn’t you know it?  I was in the last major group  called for voir-dire, the process by which potential jurors are questioned.

From a pool of four dozen people, 15 were questioned by attorneys for both sides and of those, 12 jurors and two alternates were settled upon.  To my surprise, I was juror 11 in a criminal case involving an alleged drunk driving offense.

I chose to drive and be reimbursed for mileage rather than to accept a free bus/ trolley pass offered by the court system to jurors.  As for meals, I chose to eat at Wendy’s twice, Subway once and in the Hall of Justice’s food court.

Although I was pleased to learn that jurors get a stipend of $15 per day and 34 cents on the mile, I have a radical idea instead; each juror should be provided one meal a day and free parking close to the courthouse.

I feel that one does not need money for driving to the courthouse. Treating jurors like VIPs is more appropriate considering they are taking time out of their lives to perform their civic duties.

At one point, as the prosecutor was making her closing argument, I needed to badly use the restroom. Embarrassed, I raised my hand to ask the judge if I could take a bathroom break and he replied, “Well, all right.” Like a bullet I jumped out of my seat and quickly walked toward the restroom. When I got back to the jury box, I saw that two other jurors had also tken the moment to do the same and then I did not feel as embarrassed.

The case, which started on Tuesday, May 1,   finished Thursday May 3.  The deliberating process took us a day and a half.  Eleven jurors thought the prosecution had not sufficiently proven its case against the defendant, but one juror remained steadfast in her conviction that enough evidence had been presented for a guilty verdict.   After four to five hours of discussion, we realized that we could not ever reach unanimity.  We sent word to the judge, and he declared a mistrial.

The judge dismissed the case along with all of us and that was the end of it. The prosecution has the option of refilling charges and seeking a new trial.

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Burke is news editor of the GC Summit.  He may be contacted at dylan.burke@gcsummit.com

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‘Deaf world’ game played on campus

Posted on May 9, 2012 by admin

By Barbara Boyd

GROSSMONT COLLEGE — Griffin Center was transformed into a mini-mall on Saturday afternoon, May 5, to help people who hear better understand the world of the deaf.

About 60 people attended the ‘Deaf Deaf World’ demonstration, at which little stores represented such services and vendors as the Department of Motor Vehicles, the Post Office, a bakery, Wal-Mart, cell phone providers and others.

The idea was to navigate your way through them, using only American Sign Language (ASL).

Participants picked a card from a scenario box, going to whichever booth the card directed.  During the event you were not allowed to talk. If you did you went to “ASL jail.”

While I was there, I learned new ASL signs to help me through the game, using them for such words as “horse,” “excuse,” “chicken,” “charger,” “Sprint,” “fake,” “real,” “stamps,” “lock,” and “worried.”

I also had the opportunity to talk with three deaf people. I was able to understand them for the most part, but we didn’t really have a long conversation or exchange names.

I think from my nametag they could see that I was in ASL 1, and knew therefore that I was a novice. When I didn’t understand a sign they finger- spelled to me. They were more patient than I expected.

At this event facial expressions were important. Without the right expression,  someone watching you might not know if you were asking a question, or  just making a statement.

At one booth, I role-played as a student asking my teacher if she could excuse me for being late. While I was learning the sign, I was forgetting the facial expression that I needed to have with “excuse,” so the teacher kept having me re-sign until I remembered the correct facial expression.

Other hearing people also attended this event also, but you wouldn’t know it unless you read their nametags.

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Boyd is a general assignment reporter for the GC Summit.  She may be contacted at barbara.boyd@gcsummit.com

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Super heroes are super at the box office

Posted on May 9, 2012 by admin

By Dylan Burke

SAN DIEGO — The super movie is finally here. All the films featuring original Avengers have included hints and references to the characters’ upcoming collaboration.  It’s a blockbuster, setting the bar high for anything else.

The Avengers represents a collection of heroes of the Marvel Comics universe. Four have already starred in their own movies: Iron Man, Thor, Capt. America, and The Incredible Hulk, The team is brought together by an organization called S.H.I.E.L.D. led by Nick Fury and Agent Coulson.

The villain of the movie is Loki, the adopted brother of Thor. He wants to do bad things to the planet on which his brother found love, as well as to steal a powerful relic called a Tesseract for an unseen master. He has power to enslave people with a tap of his staff.

Half of the film consists of the Avengers’ own personal conflicts as their big egos get in the way of their duties. Iron Man is almost never serious in the film. Thor thinks he’s above the others because he comes from a different dimension. Captain America can’t tolerate ego of any kind. Black Widow is hiding secrets about S.H.I.E.L.D. and Bruce Banner (The Incredible Hulk) tries to stay calm; he’s always angry though and isn’t  that a good thing;?

The plot in my opinion is funny, Iron Man being the funniest character.  The inability of The Avengers to work together without quarreling became tedious to watch, after a while. 

Action sequences comprise the second part of the movie.  They were well done in this observer’s opinion.

I give the movie an 8 out of a possible rating of 10. Everyone who likes superhero movies and reads Marvel Comics and DC Comics should view this film.

The Avengers has done extraordinarily at the box office; the best of 2012 so far.

Burke is News Editor of the GC Summit. He may be contacted at Dylan.Burke@gcsummit.com

 

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