Cuesta employees will not be getting their sched-uled one percent salary increase this year.

Outraged faculty mem-bers spoke out during March’s Board of Trustees meeting.

“I know in our past his-tory, budget numbers were not very well trusted. And I think we have come a long way with those numbers,” mathematics department chair Marie Larsen said. “However, I know there are still questions that need to be answered.”

The district has been through three major bud-get reductions over the last six years, each more than a million dollars. The largest was the third, about $1.6 million, according to Toni Sommer, Vice President of Administrative Services.

The main argument against the one percent sal-ary increase is the threat of future budget cuts, Sommer said.

“We are not going to make our cap; we are just going to get as desperately close as possible,” Sommer said. The cap is the number of students that the state is willing to pay for. If Cuesta goes over the cap, the col-lege is teaching students without state funding. If it goes under the cap for two consecutive years, the state reduces the number of students it will pay for. This is the second year Cuesta is significantly under-en-rolled.

The state pays the school just about $450,000 for ev-ery 100 full-time equivalent students (FTES) “We can be as much as (and we don’t know yet) 200 FTES short. That is $900,000, if in fact even shorter, you can do the math. Right? We won’t know yet until the end of summer school,” Sommer said.

1%By Mike Satchell

Editor-in-Chief

The Cuestonians t u d e n t v o i c e

Volume 50, Issue 7Cuesta College cuestonian.com

March 25, 2014

Eighteen Cuesta build-ings must be demolished or retrofitted by September 2015 or the college will be in violation of a state education code.

That means well over 60,000 square feet of classes, departments and offices need to be given a new home in the next year and a half. The main obstacle in the way of accomplishing this feat is that “we just can’t afford it,” according to Vice President of Administrative Services, Toni Sommer.

Cuesta’s administration has a plan for getting the money to solve this problem: a local bond.

The school is planning to put a bond measure on the ballot as early as next fall that could potentially give the school $350 million, more or less, allowing Cuesta to build new buildings and retrofit some of the old ones. In this

scenario, the problem of dis-located students and faculty would be solved.

If the bond fails Cuesta will have to get a little more creative with its solution; for instance, trailers.

“We would look at true temporary facilities such as single-wide, 60-foot facili-ties that we’re putting in the parking lot, in the dirt,” said Cuesta’s director of facilities services and construction, Terry Reese. “It would be an extreme measure.”

The school has not suc-ceeded in passing bonds in the recent past. It is one of five California districts that is not supported by a bond. The last bond measure the school passed was for $8.5 million in 1974. Cuesta’s lat-est attempt, a 2006 measure for $310 million, was rejected by voters.

Toni Sommer heads a task force that is currently work-ing to make sure that this bond will not suffer the same fate as the 2006 measure.

The bond task force is do-ing focus groups and surveys to find out what voters would support.

They are also trying to reach a “list of 1000” influ-ential people on campus to spread the word of Cuesta’s dire need for a bond.

If the bond fails Cuesta will have to get a little more creative with its solution; for instance, trailers.

As it stands now, it looks like the bond will provide funding for four new build-ings, repairs of failing build-ings, bringing the school’s technology up to date and “retiring old debt” which means paying back money that the school has borrowed for past renovations.

This l ist is subject to change based on what Sommer finds to be most popular with potential voters.

“It’s called the potential bond list,” Reece said. “It ba-sically spells out exactly the opposite of 2006. In 2006 we had $180 to $200 million in new buildings and we had $40 million in renovations. It was, oh my God, it was huge.

“You’ll see that what’s being put forward [for the 2014 bond] is literally what it simply takes to keep the district going,” Reece said.

At presentations around campus, Sommer stressed using the bond money to build goodwill with voters for future bond campaigns.

“Bonds are something that we’re gonna have to have. And so this bond is important, not only how we do the campaign, but how we implement it,” Sommer said.

“We have to show good stewardship,” she said. “Because if nothing else, I guarantee to you, weather we win or lose, we will be go-ing out for a bond again and we have to prove that good stewardship.”

Bond to the rescue?

By Cliff MathiesonManaging Editor

Toni Sommer’s bond task force showed off pictures of decrepit, defunct, delapidated and derilict parts of Cuesta to demonstrate the school’s need for a bond.

Phot

os co

urte

sy o

f the

Cue

sta M

aint

enan

ce T

eam

See 1%, page 5

ASCCElECtion SpECiAl

New café reviewPage 9

Clerksmovie review

Page 10Artist feature

Page 7Bike trailPage 4Page 3

I was initiated into the cell-phone club I so desperately wanted to be a part of at age 12, and nobody was going to stop me on my path to popularity by decorative phone case.

Except for one person: my mother.No talking after 9 p.m..No texting. No phone conversations

in the car. Phones should be put away in all dining situations.Because of this constant feeling that my mother was hov-

ering over me waiting to yell at me for being rude to others in public, I’ve always been overly cautious about not to offend others in similar situations. Values such as proper phone eti-quette in public have made a significant impression on me.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind people being on their phones and taking care of what they need to take care of. But, I start to have a problem with it as soon as it affects my life.

There is nothing more disrespectful than being on a date with someone who pays more attention to their phone than you. I used to date a guy whose hands and eyes were glued to his iPhone. Texting while watching our favorite show, “working” while out with friends, browsing Reddit while waiting for jalapeno poppers.

Now, I’m not just an upset, narcissistic twenty-something who needs to be the center of attention. I don’t feel like I should have to explain to someone who is right in front of my why blatantly ignoring someone else is rude.

Maybe it is the mere fact that we don’t know what is rude anymore when it comes to our phones.

A study conducted by the Pew Research Internet Project, “The Best (and Worst) of Mobile Connectivity,” shows that people are more likely to admit how their phone helps them and are in denial when it comes to their own phone etiquette.

The majority of people ages 18 to 29 admitted that hav-ing phones improved their way of living in a positive way by making it easier to stay in touch with loved ones (90 percent), making them more productive while doing other things (64 percent) and simplifying daily routine schedules (63 percent).

These same individuals denied negative impacts of cell phones, only half admitting heightened difficulty focusing on a single task without being distracted (33 percent). Even less admitted it was harder to leave work at work (25 percent) or to give others their undivided attention (30 percent).

However, 50 percent of people said they encounter people talking loudly or using their phones in an annoying manner, in the same study. The discrepancy of the numbers suggest that people do not want to admit when they, themselves, are committing a crime of inconsiderate communication.

While attending the Associated Collegiate Press National College Journalism Convention (ACP NCJC) in February, Margaret Sullivan, Public Editor for the New York Times, took the time to speak to a room of hundreds of aspiring journalists about her professional career.

With a swift turn of my head, I counted nine —nine— people on their phones. This was just in the two to three rows in my vision. I gave them the benefit of the doubt, thinking they must be live tweeting about what a great speaker Sullivan was or how grateful they were that she was speaking with us. Instead, Twitter was used as an open dat-ing forum, with people at the conference tweeting things like, “Are any of the girls in here DTF?”

As someone who believes that my phone has made my life easier, I fully agree with utilizing all of the functions of my call phone. However, I also know when it is not appropriate to attempt to pass the next level of Candy Crush.

When I was in middle school I had a friend, Katherine, who texted like she was being paid by the letter. My mom caught wind of Katherine’s obsession and, convinced that I would fall prey to the texting typhoon, refused to add texting capabilities to my phone until I was well into high school.

I watched people around me grow up with their noses shoved in a flip phone, and listened to the constant click-clack of buttons. I don’t know if I just got used to being one part of two conversations, but I honestly don’t mind when someone is on their phone in front of me, with the exception of a few select scenarios.

Unless someone on their phone is blatantly ignoring me, I rarely take offense. Generally, I am under the impression that the casual texter does not mean anything by it. Things come up, people get momentarily distracted; I’m not often surprised or put out by it.

From the texter’s perspective, there is a lot of good in being able to connect with anyone at any time. My mom lives in Phoenix and if I want or need to connect with her while I’m talking to someone else, I can do so without having to completely cut myself out of the face-to-face conversation by making a phone call.

Digital messaging is not always a secondary, trivial conversation anymore. It should be considered that just because someone is talking digitally, that does not make their conversation invalid or unimportant.

I can understand that some people get uncomfortable with this. The conversation goes from someone giving 100 percent of their attention, to a little less, and that can be hurtful.

I feel like the best thing one can do is to be honest and explain when they feel neglected during a conversation. If they cannot respect that, then maybe the relationship was faulty in the first place, and now there’s just a more obvious platform to show it.

Most people do not seem to realize when their phone usage comes across as rude. A survey conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs, “Associated Press: Rudeness Study,” showed that 55 percent of respondents said that they frequently witnessed someone being rude on their phone. However, 91 percent denied having rude phone etiquette themselves.

So it could be an oversight across our society. Our recent technology boom has made having and using a cell phone essential, and the idea of that having some sort of backlash shouldn’t be surprising.

As of 2013, the term “nomophobia” has been defined by the Merriam Webster dictionary as: “A pathological fear or dread of not having one’s mobile phone.”

The attachment, according to a national 2011 survey by mobile app company, Telenav Inc., is so strong that 70 percent of respondents said that they would be more willing to give up alcohol for a week than their phones. thirty-three percent said that they would be more willing to give up sex for a week; and 20 percent said that they would be more willing to give up their shoes for a week than give up their phones.

From my own experience, I feel that having someone on their phone in front of you is, in most cases, forgivable. There isn’t usually any ill intent behind it; and when someone does it in front of me, I do not usually find that our face-to-face conversation is greatly disrupted.

Op in ionMarch 25, 2014 Page 2 The Cuestoniancuestonian.com

The CuestonianEditorial StaffMike Satchell, Editor-in-Chief

Cliff Mathieson, Managing EditorTally Meyers, Copy Chief

Justin Montes, Photography EditorTrevor Nickel, Sports Editor

Member Associated Collegiate Press

Jason Enns, Features EditorMichelle Zaludek, A&E EditorAustin Herbaugh, News EditorAmanda Fridley, Online Editor

Julie Ramsay, Staff WriterKim Bisheff, Adviser Aleksandr Hewitt, Advertising Manager

Opinions expressed in The Cuestonian are those of the newspaper staff and are not necessarily shared by the college staff or faculty.

Comments? The Cuestonian welcomes correspondence and opinions from its readers. Letters should be emailed to cuestonian@gmail.com

The first copy of this paper is free, and costs $1 per copy thereafter.

Cuestonian@gmail.com805-546-3288

Cuestonian.comFacebook.com/Cuestonian

@Cuestonian on Twitter P.O. Box 8106San Luis Obispo, CA 93403-8106

“It’s annoying when you’re trying to talk to people and they’re on their phone.”

Jessica Ybarra, art major, 6th

semester

“People Snapchat videos during one of my classes. It’s pretty irritating.”

Marianna Lavigne, undeclared major, 2nd semester

“ It i s i mp or t a nt t o communicate face-to-face and read facial expressions. You can’t get that through texting.”

S a m Fr e e m a n , b u s i n e s s administration major, 4 th semester

“It bothers me when people play flappy bird and they get pissed off.”

Mark Shirley, kinesiolog y major, 2nd semester

“It doesn’t really bother me. It’s their phone, their business.”

Michael Olenicof f, physics major , 2nd semester

Cougar Comments

What bothers you most about peoples’ phone

usage?

Phone etiquette: no fair

Phone etiquette:laissez-faire

By Michelle ZaludekA & E EditorCopy Editor

By Tally Meyers

Photos by Justin Montes/The Cuestonian

Students have the op-portunity to pick the next Cuesta student government president during this year’s ASCC election, which takes place from March 26 to April 2. Voters have the option of choosing cur-rent ASCC senator Scott Chedester, who is running unopposed, or “none of the above.”

The only other item on the ballot is a provision that would change the minimum unit requirement for being an ASCC member from nine units to five units. Students don’t have a choice on this ballot item either, according to ASCC advisor Anthony Gutierrez.

“Irrespective of its ap-proval, we will still have

to go with the five units,” Gutierrez said.

This means that if the measure doesn’t pass, the ASCC will pass it them-selves after the election.

There was heated debate over the fairness of this issue at the March 3 ASCC senate meeting.

“I’m okay with it be-ing changed; what I’m not okay with is wasting the resources bringing this out to a student vote if their vote doesn’t count anyway,” said Sabrina Bussell, ASCC activities director. “If they say, ‘we want it to stay at the nine units,’ and we don’t support it, I think it negates the whole process.”

ASCC president Charles Scovell disagreed.

“Three times in history the people’s vote didn’t even count for the [United States] presidency, I don’t see why it

would matter at a local col-lege,” Scovell said.

Since only one candidate is running, and the student vote does not affect the ASCC’s decision on the unit requirement measure, the outcome of this election is already decided. The ASCC minimum unit require-ment will change to five and Scott Chedester will become president, unless more than three quarters of the students vote for “none of the above,” in which case another election will be held at the beginning of the fall semester.

ASCC is paying $1,935 for the service that will al-low students to vote online.

Despite the lack of op-tions, Gutierrez believes that this election is im-portant. “I encourage all students to vote,” Gutierrez said.

Cuestonian: What is your major and what se-mester are you in?

Scott Chedester: Right now I’m just getting my general education and it’s my second semester at Cuesta.

C: Are you from SLO?S: I’m actual ly from

Lemoore. It’s 30 minutes south of Fresno.

C: And you went to school there?

S: Uh- huh, I went to Lemoore High. I loved high school. I was very involved in high school and I made the most of high school, pretty much.

C: Were you involved in leadership there, too?

S: Actually only my se-nior year. I was a delegate, and then I was choir club president. I was just always very involved. Like, since freshman year I wanted to be in leadership but all of my other electives took over, so I couldn’t do leadership and all the other electives I wanted to do.

C: Why did you decide to run for president of ASCC?

S: At the beginning of last semester I had someone tell me about ASCC. And I was like, okay, sounds pretty cool. And I liked leadership in high school and stuff and

I’ve always thought about politics and stuff like that. So I decided to do the leader-ship class here. And then I just got more knowledgeable of Cuesta and not just, like, what’s up front and what ev-eryone sees, but I’m actually sitting back here and we’re voting on things and all this stuff. I think it’d be cool to actually be able to have a big-ger part in it, you know?

C: What quali t ies would make you a good ASCC leader?

S: I try to be a good leader, I mean, as much as I can. I like to be able to delegate people to do things and stuff in the right ways. I like to be a very honest person so; usually what you see is what you get with me. I’m a hard worker when it comes to it. When something needs to get done I like to get it done and if it’s important I won’t procrasti-nate with it. Obviously, being a president at a college, every-thing is important. So I won’t be procrastinating at all if I get the presidency. [Laughs]

C What do you think of the job that the current ASCC president, Charles Scovell, is doing?

S: Charlie’s a good guy; he’s also been a pretty good president. He’s done a lot of things for the college that people don’t get so see, actu-ally. He went to one of those council things and he was trying to pass a new law for the state for schools and stuff.

And see, people actually don’t have any idea of what he did. So, honestly, I think for this year that he’s done well. He’s done good things and he’s a really nice guy; that’s one of the big reasons he got voted for. So I think he’s doing a pretty good job.

C: What will you do the same or differently from Scovell?

S: As a president I would like to run things in more of an orderly fashion. I’ll do the same as what Charlie does, actually I wanna get even better at it, cause Charlie’s probably the master at go-ing out and just talking to random people and getting them involved in a good con-versation and stuff. I thought I was good at doing that, no, Charlie’s really good at talk-ing. So that’s something I will strive to do the same.

I want more people to be available to come into my office. That’s one thing, just so I can hear. Because, what’s ASCC? We’re the voice for the students of Cuesta. So I want everyone to, like, know that you can actually come and talk to the president of Cuesta or you can come talk to the secretary or the trea-surer and, actually, you can actually figure stuff out and you can know stuff. I’ve heard students say, like, ‘oh, I don’t know that much about what Cuesta has to offer and stuff.’ I’m like, really? There’s so much we have to offer. And I want that to be publicized

more, so that’s something I’d like to do.

C: How will you advo-cate for students during your term?

S: That’s kinda the same thing that goes into what I was just saying, like, I want to make myself more available to all of the students. So, I’ll ad-vocate for them by, like, just having them telling me their needs, so I can actually try to implement what students have to say here. So I actually can give them a voice. You know, we’re the voice.

C: What changes will you implement as ASCC president?

S: I’ve thought about this actually. First off, big time, something that we have to do next year, because I don’t think we did it well enough this year, is publicize. Just for events, ‘cause look, Family Fun Day, it needs to be pub-licized to the max. Because when we had Fall Festival we thought we publicized to the max, but really, I mean when I just ask a student, like, did you know that we had Fall Festival? They have no idea, you know? So that’s some-thing that I’ll wanna change cause I wanna be able to, like, let students know more about what’s going on here.

C: Do you have any plans for how to publi-cize more?

S: Oh, yeah. Definitely. I’ve thought about, well,

there’s always rolling sign-boards. I wish people stared at them and, like, looked at them. But then we publicize on the website and, like, ev-eryone gets on to myCuesta you know? But a lot of people don’t, like, even ever look at the picture that’s right there telling you what’s going on. There’s a calendar on the left, you know?

Maybe what I’ve thought about doing is, like, just tak-ing the calendar and mak-ing that one email, like, to students so they can actually have the option of being like, ‘oh, wait, this is in my email. What’s going on at Cuesta this week?’ So, stuff like that.

C: Any other chang-es that you’ve thought about?

S: Yes, but, that will be for a later time. Cause, I can’t make any promises right now, actually. [Laughs]

C: Anything else you’d like the students to know about you?

S: I’m a kind, honorable person who wants to make the bridge between students and Cuesta school. I wanna make that bridge smaller by just me being in ECab [ASCC Executive Cabinet]. Just making it to where the bridge is smaller than it is right now, cause I’d like for students to be more involved with Cuesta.

By Cliff MathiesonManaging Editor

By Cliff MathiesonManaging Editor

Unopposed ASCC presidential candidate, Scott Chedester, is ready to lead.

Phot

o co

urte

sy o

f Sco

tt C

hede

ster

Interview conducted, condensed and edited by Cliff Mathieson.

Unopposed

The Cuestonian sits down with ASCC’s only presidential candidate

Ne wsMarch 25, 2014 Page 3 The Cuestoniancuestonian.com

stretching approximately 12 miles.

The idea is that it will di-vert traffic off the highway between San Luis Obispo and Cuesta and also provide a safe route for bicyclists between San Luis Obispo and Morro Bay. The trail is estimated to cost around $11 million and may see construction of a section be-tween Cal Poly and Cuesta in the next 10 years.

“We’re meeting with people [public and private land owners] and seeing what opportunities there are for building the trail. So at this point, it’s really a study,” said Jessica Berry, Transportation Planner for SLOCOG. “It’s kind of a feasibility study.”

The preliminary trail study is being funded with a Federal Scenic By way Grant with the support from SLOCOG, San Luis Obispo, Morro Bay and the

County of San Luis Obispo. Ideally, the trail will be a paved Class I facility the en-tire way, which requires that it be at least 8 feet wide with 2 feet grated on either side.

“It’s likely there are ar-eas where that’s just not possible, so there may be portions that are Class III, which is just on a road,” said Berry. “Our goal though is definitely to have a Class I facility that’s off of the highway. It’ll be safer, it’ll be more pleasant.”

SLOCOG is also work-ing with SLO Count y Bic ycle Coa l ition a nd Cuesta’s Grassroots Club to do more public outreach regarding the trail proposal. Matthew Fleming, English professor and Grassroots club advisor, and Eric Hightower, a fourth semes-ter environmental science and sociology major, are organizing a ‘‘bike break-fast’’ in late March to pro-

Ne wsMarch 25, 2014 Page 4 The Cuestoniancuestonian.com

Bicyclists consistently have one main concern: avoiding the dangers of sharing the road with high-speed, multi-ton machines.

Fortunately for Cuesta commuters on bike, a new trail proposal, known as the Chorro Valley Trail, would give cyclists their own path - and a sigh of relief knowing they won’t have to share the road with vehicles.

While the trail is still in its proposal stages, members from the San Luis Obispo Council of Governments (SLOCOG) have already met with Cuesta College Superintendent/President Gil Stork to discuss how the trail would benefit Cuesta students. Sticking close to Highway 1, the trail would begin near Cal Poly, run through Cuesta and go all the way to Morro Bay,

mote the trail and engage Cuesta students who could potentially benefit from it. SLOCOG’s Rideshare will be putting on its own bike workshop in April.

“I really like the idea of the community side of it, that it would reinforce that and encourage people to exercise more, encour-age them to be more envi-ronmental and encourage them to connect to their community college. I think it would bring the college to the community and the community to the college,” Fleming said. “Give people options so they don’t have to compete with the cars.”

Upon completion of the study and extensive pub-lic outreach, the proposal will be taken back to the SLOCOG board on June 5 and the document will be released for public review. It will then be taken back to the board in August for

approval and passed along to the county. They will be responsible for doing the next steps, such as environ-mental work, engineering and construction.

“It’s pretty early in the planning process but it’s nice to have that Scenic Byway Grant,” said Bruce Gibson, 2nd Distr ict Supervisor for the County of San Luis Obispo.

“I think the future of this kind of transportation is big in this county, partly for getting people to work or school, but also we’re becoming a center for bi-cycle tourism. I think this county would really benefit by a whole series of these kinds of bike trails.”

For more information, contact SLOCOG at (805) 781-4219 or slocog.org.

Anticipate freedomBicyclists

from highway 1by Justin Montes

Photo Editor

A new bike trail proposal will give commuters a safe pathway from slo to morro bay

Mental Health • Emotional Support • Suicide PreventionFree and Confidential 24 hours a dayHablamos Español • Seeking Volunteers

A Program of Transitions-Mental Health AssociationInspiring hope, growth, recovery and wellness in our communities.

Visit t-mha.org or SLOtheStigma.org

This map is not a trail guideThis map is a preliminary planning tool and does not constitute an adopted Bicycle or Pedestrian Plan. Many of the routes or staging areas identified on this Map are simply proposed for further study and are not open to the public for any purpose. This map does not convey any right to the public to use any trail routes shown, nor does it except any person from trespassing charges.

This map shows the possible trail routes from San luis Obispo to Morro Bay. No trail proposal has been solidified yet.

Hundreds of the classes you need!Only $46 a unit

Schedule posted on Class Finder: March 28Priority registration begins: April 14

~ 3 SESSIONS AVAILABLE ~

(805) 546-3100 cuesta.eduOn-site.Online.

@

SUMMER STARTS

CUESTA 2014

4 WEEKSJune 2 - June 27

6 WEEKSJune 16 - July 24

8 WEEKSJune 16 - August 7

Cuesta students now have the right to challenge the grades on their aca-demic records, thanks to a new policy passed in February. This policy is a result of Cuesta aligning with changes implemented by the Community College League of California.

Students can challenge their records if they feel that they are inaccurate. For example, if a professor gives a student a D grade and the student feels that they deserve a C or higher, the student has a right to challenge it.

“It allows a positive out-come for students to review their educational records”, said K ristin Pimentel, A d m i s s i o n s R e c o r d s Director. Pimentel adds that students are encour-

aged to meet with their professor before filing a formal dispute.

Students can dispute their grades by writing to the Vice President of Student Services, Sandee Mclaughlin. She can then meet with the student and the faculty member who gave the grade that’s be-ing disputed, according to Pimentel. This has to be done within six months of the grade being recorded.

The grade in question can then be corrected or removed from the student’s academic record.

There is currently no form for students to appeal to change their grades since the policy is still new.

The policy change is being implemented at all California community colleges.

A new opportunity have opened up for Cuesta stu-dents who are studying Spanish, a transfer degree.

The Associate Degree for Transfer (AA-T) allows students to transfer to a California State University as junior in their major—guaranteed.

“It’s a wonderful op-portunit y for students who want to major in Spanish,” said Tony Rector-Cavagnaro, chair of the languages and communica-tions division.

“It is a stepping stone for students who want to enter into the modern languages and literature department at Cal Poly.”

To receive the A A-T degree, students must take Spanish I through Spanish IV. Spanish IV will be of-

fered again starting in the spring of 2015.

“Tertulia” is an infor-mal gathering of students who meet and talk casu-al ly about anything in Spanish. It is led by pro-fessors Raquel Garcia and Colby Nixon.

“The goal is to get you guys to speak and feel com-fortable in real life conver-sations,” Garcia said, “and to be effective communica-tors in Spanish.”

Cuesta now offers 19 transfer degrees, more than all but one other California community college.

Students who want to practice their language skills outside of class can go to a new group that meets in the cafeteria every Wednesday and Thursday from noon to 1 p.m..

New

s Br

iefs

All

bri

efs w

ritt

en b

y Au

stin

Her

baug

h, N

ews E

dito

r

Change your grade ¿Hablas Español?

Staf f members, l i ke m a t h prof e s s or Ju l ie Hoffman and math chair Larsen, have raised ques-tions about the accuracy of the long-term budget projections.

“How come the multi-year budget assumptions were presented in negotia-tions before they had been

1%, from page 1 vetted with Planning and Budget?” Hoffman said.

While Hoffman admits she is not an accountant, she insists there are many aspects of the five-year pro-jections that do not add up.

The amount of money the school saves every year for a reserve is conservative, said teacher’s union presi-dent Debra Stakes. The Chancellor’s office requires five percent of Cuesta’s in-come to be held in a reserve,

while our district requires six percent. The teacher’s union had the District’s most recent budget projec-tions audited. Their find-ings were that last year, the reserve was around twelve percent.

“So the district’s posi-tion is that we need this money to offset economic uncertainty, and our posi-tion is, no, you need to give us our COLA because that is a cost of living allowance, and we haven’t had one since 2008. So we are mak-ing 16 percent on the dollar less than we did in 2008,” Hoffman said.

Before conversations about the validity of the projected budget could happen among members of the Planning and Budget committee, the district negotiating team used it to justify the refusal for salary increase, said Hoffman.

“We’re pretty sure the district has the funds to give us the one percent raise, which is pretty mini-mal. It’s sort of a drop in a bucket,” said English professor Tom Patchell, who acts as a bridge be-tween the teachers’ union leadership and the council of representatives, who are members of the faculty. “It’s really a small amount of money. It comes down to chump change, really, and that they aren’t even will-ing to give that just sends a really negative message to the faculty.”

I n re sponse to t he union’s request for a per-manent one percent sal-ary increase, the district offered a one-time, 1.57 percent bonus—if they get Redevelopment Agency (RDA) funds.

“The money didn’t come through R DA; it came from another avenue,” said

Tony Rector-Cavagnaro, lang uages communica-tions department chair. “Basically they are say-ing that because it didn’t come from the RDA, they can’t give us that money,” he said. “There’s that say-ing, ‘Where there’s a will, there’s a way.’ Well, there’s no will here, so there’s no way.”

“It’s really a small amount of money. It comes down to chump change, really, and that they aren’t even willing to give that just sends a really negative message to the faculty.” -Tom Patchell

The pay scale of Cuesta’s faculty is rated among 14 other schools that have sim-ilar size, density and demo-graphics, Stakes said. “Our entire [pay scale] is in the bottom 10 percent of the entire community college system in California,” she said. “Ten or 15 years ago there was a promise—an as-sumption that we would get pay adjustments that would keep our [pay scale] in the middle of the 14 compara-tive schools. Since 2007, we have gone from being in the middle to being at the very bottom.”

“Because we continue to decrease our offerings (because we were being paid for less students), what’s happened now is the state wants us now to grow back to our old sizes immedi-ately. We’ve cut programs, we’ve cut staff and sections, and you just don’t do that in one semester,” Sommer said. “What happens is that we were very successful in cutting our demand for classes and so now we need

a couple years to build it back up.”

Cuesta has gone from hav ing four telephone operators to having one. Reprographics, which sup-ports the printing for class-es, has been cut from two employees to one. From two or three mail clerks, the school now has one, Sommer said.

“Every time that person gets sick or takes vacation, we don’t have mail service. So we have cut to the bone trying to keep those cuts away from the classroom. Not having mail service one day doesn’t really affect the classroom. Not having it for a week effects the insti-tution in terms of paying our bills and meeting our deadlines,” Sommer said.

In addition to layoffs, the school has been forced to reduce some of the staff ’s hours. During two and a half of the last five years, Cuesta has had to furlough some of the school’s manag-ers and classified staff by five percent. Recently, the school has brought those staff members back to 100 percent.

“It was very discourag-ing and demoralizing that a faculty that works as hard and is as successful as ours has to beg for a one percent increase and then be sum-marily dismissed,” said biology professor Nancy Mann. “Especially when the governor made that money available specifically for cost of living increase.”

“I share their frustra-tion. I have tried for the last five years to find a fo-rum to talk to the faculty,” Sommer said. “I think it is totally unfair to have such a significant portion of our staff not being informed about the budget and I want to right that wrong.”

Ne wsMarch 25, 2014 Page 5 The Cuestoniancuestonian.com

25

1

8

15

22

29

31

7

14

21

28

30

6

13

20

27

27

3

10

17

24

28

4

11

18

25

29

5

12

19

26

26

2

9

16

23

30

MarchKey of

events

April

E V E NTS March 25, 2014 Page 6 The Cuestoniancuestonian.com

What are you listening to?A collection of Cuesta students’ favorite music

“Collieman”Slightly Stoopid

Benjamin Foster,social science major,

3rd semester

“War of Change”Thousand foot crunch

Sarah Ballesteros,undeclared major,

2nd semester

“Going to the ceremony”Kid cudi

Josh Batten,liberal arts major,

2nd semester

“Welcome Back”Calvin Harris

Leanna Bravo,child development major,

4th semester

“Unfold”The xx

Farra Putnam,undeclared major,

2nd semester

A rts & E nterta inme ntMarch 25, 2014 Page 7 The Cuestoniancuestonian.com

A little bundle of gauze and thread sits on the desk, facing the wall; and upon examination, a small rope juts from the belly. When picked up, the bundle is sur-prisingly heavy and a little bit supple.

The sculpture, titled, “Why Did You Come, Baby Dear?” won fourth semester art major Emily Emanual the first place in the sculp-ture category in Cuesta’s student art galley last year.

“I feel like people have to hide, in our culture, a lot of the painful things that happen to them. In my day and age [...] abortion was illegal,” Emanual said, “I had an abortion, and I had a miscarriage [...] I have three kids, too, so it was also about [them].”

Emanual’s artistic inter-ests lie in assemblage, espe-cially found object sculp-ture. By finding common objects, Emanuel can re-claim and repurpose them.

“I kind of scavenge,” Emanual said. “If some-thing catches my eye, I will stop and pick it up.” The ob-jects, according to Emanual, can come from almost any-where; whether it be a stray item that she comes across, or from a thrift store or oc-casionally from Ebay.

“What I did was get a baby doll that was the right length of a normal newborn [...] and I opened it up and measured out 7.5 pounds of rocks, because that’s what the typical newborn weighs,” Emanual said when explaining how she cre-ated “Why Did You Come, Baby Dear?” Additionally, Emanual, put the doll in a fetal position, wrapped it in batting and gauze, then laced red thread through the gauze.

“W hen I did that,” Emanual said, “I went, ‘I love this, this is me, and this means a lot to me, and nobody will ever buy this sucker, but I love it.’”

Though Emanual has been an artist for most

by Michelle ZaludekA&E Editor

Artist feature: Emily emanualof her 66 years, it has not always been her trade. She spent a large portion of her time in various administra-tion and social servicing industries.

“It’s really what was best for me, to get the hell out of there,” Emanual said.

“I thought, ‘What do I love to do?’ and it’s always been art,” Emanual said. Hence, she came to Cuesta with the intent of honing her craft.

Ema nua l ’s projects , which usually take about a month to complete, do not usually all come from one source of inspiration.

“Her work is more con-ceptual,” art gallery instruc-tor David Prochaska said, “she’s trying to find herself in her work.”

“I listen for that voice inside,” Emanual said, “It doesn’t have to be art-re-lated, it could be a political issue, it could be a cultural issue, it could be something that happened in my or someone else’s family, and I begin to build that picture.”

Phot

os b

yJus

tin M

onte

s/T

he C

uest

onia

n

Jazz EnsembleCuesta Bands

by Amanda Fridley Online Editor

Band name: PerchBand members: Nate Johnson, singer/ rhythm guitar, second year at Cal Poly; Billy Chambers, lead guitar/backup singer, Cal poly graduate; Brett Rodriguez, keyboard/percussion, sec-ond semester at Cuesta; Shane Siewerts, drums, third year at Cal Poly; Aaron Folkrod, bass, second semester at Cuesta.

Folk and lounge band The Sunny Knights, which consists of Cuesta students, performs at Bliss Café in downtown San Luis Obispo.Band name: The Sunny KnightsBand members: Wyatt Wakefield, piano, fourth semester music major; Talia Ortega, f lute/vocals, fourth semester music major; Kenneth Davis, drums/percussion, second semester music major

The Cuesta Jazz Ensemble rehearses for it’s upcoming performance at the CPAC.

Phot

os b

y Jus

tin M

onte

s/T

he C

uest

onia

n

Am

anda

Frid

ley/

The

Cue

ston

ian

A photo Collection of featured Cuesta Student bands by justin montes

“Why Did You Come, Baby Dear?” (above) crafted from found parts, won Cuesta student, Emily Emanual first place in last year’s student art show.

The book-binding project (above, left) was one of Emanual’s first works done at Cuesta. Floating feet (above, right) is part of an ongoing series.

Music filled the audito-rium and the members of the Jazz Ensemble nodded their heads to the beat, con-sumed by each piece they played. No one would ever guess that this was the first time they had played those pieces together.

Immediately, the talent of the students was undeni-able.

“This group has only been together for this se-mester and has been the center piece of our Jazz pro-gram,” said Jazz Ensemble director Ron McCarley.

“Weather or Not,” writ-ten by John Rapson, was the first song performed. Sam Franklin blew me away from the beginning with his solo on the tenor sax. As he played, the other members of the ensemble continued on with their own melodies, creating a nice swing feel.

McCarley was particu-larly excited about the two guest soloists in the show, Jay Mason and Charlie Morillas, who played in sev-eral songs in the concert, in-cluding “Hunting Wabbits III (Get off My Lawn!).”

B o t h M a s o n a n d Morillas played their solos effortlessly with smiles on their faces. After their so-los, McCarley informed the audience that it was their first time seeing the music and they had no time to pre-pare, causing the audience to immediately burst into applause. In the true spirit of jazz, the performance was an improvisational interpre-tation of the music.

Mason and Morillas were asked to appear in the fes-tival last-minute after per-forming the night before with Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band.

“I wanted to pick a few pieces from Gordon Goodwin so that they would be familiar with those pieces because there was no oppor-tunity to rehearse,” he said. “They were literally playing those pieces with us for the first time on stage.”

2014 student art exhibition All Cuesta students are welcome to submit work for the

2014 Student Art Exhibition. Submissions are open March 31 - April 2 in the Art Gallery

Jurored by Cal Poly Assisstant Prof. of Sculpture Diana PuntarArt Exhibition opens April 11 - May 14

Cuesta/Cal Poly psychedelic rock band, Perch performs at a local house show.

!DO

THE W

ALK COMMENCEMENT IS COMING

Check your myCuesta email for your invitation!

IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER

CAPS & GOWNS > April 14 Go on sale at the bookstore

RSVP > May 19 For commencement

REHEARSAL > May 22 2:45 pm in gym

COMMENCEMENT > May 23 3:00 pm in gym

*

cuesta.edu

23MAY

Students sit in a room full of distractions; lizards and other slimy creatures line the walls in aquariums, fossils of animals long since past hang from the ceiling. In front of them are microscopes and squids laid out on the table, and yet a gleeful presence brings attention to the front of the class.

By the whiteboard is a small smiley blonde woman trying to transfer her excite-ment for cephalopods to her students.

Laurie McConnico, full-time biology professor, is call-ing out to the class to clarify a question on her lab. She then combs the class as students conduct their experiment. For those who want her help she responds as a fun and ef-fective teacher.

She’s not afraid of being called the “crazy seaweed lady;” she is friendly, and even a little goofy, which one might expect from someone who has strong passions for both science and helping oth-ers learn.

McConnico lives a life of balance between being a teacher and a scientist.

She recently received a sab-batical permitting her a one-year leave with pay from her full time position at Cuesta. For the next academic school

year McConnico will be far away from the coastal campus doing research in Mexico as part of her Ph.D program.

As a woman who enjoys research and loves algae, she is enthused to be studying the nutrient dynamics of red algae rhodoliths that live off the Gulf of California.

“I’m really into algae, so I study seaweed. I nerd out on those pretty extensively,” McConnico said.

The calcified red algae she will be studying are not attached to anything, but sit in beds along the ocean floor with anywhere from hundreds to thousands of in-dividual, free-moving pieces of algae.

Each piece grows very slowly, with several organisms living inside it. McConnico will be researching the po-tential of these organisms to make nutrients and their contribution to the algae’s survival.

“If you have a nutrient poor environment, it doesn’t necessarily mean every-thing is nutrient starved,” McConnico said.

“They are basically a little condo; they play home or host to a number of different invertebrates,” McConnico said. “Well, you’re 100 years old and you have 1,000 bodies living inside you that’s a big deal when you think about

things humans do to poten-tially disturb the sea bed.”

McConnico knows not everyone has or would ap-preciate her knowledge of sea life, but she is doing her part to grow that knowledge through research and extend it to others

“I would hope that when students are done taking one of my courses they have a bigger appreciation for the marine or terrestrial en-vironment ... and in both cases, hopefully learn how much humans are negatively impacting those environ-ments and the rapid rate in which they are doing so,” McConnico said. “You have a tremendous capacity to make a negative impact.”

She has always wanted to study marine biology she said, but “the teaching part … was almost an accident.” However, now full-time fac-ulty, McConnico has two marine biology courses, an ecology course, a coastal field studies class, and co-teaches environmental microbiology with Dr. Favoreto.

“I’ve been at Cuesta prob-ably longer than I’ve been

anywhere since I left my par-ents house,” McConnico said. This is her seventh year.

Go back a few years and you’ll find McConnico in Florida, working as a psy-chologist (someone who stud-ies seaweed). Unhappy with management there, she ap-plied for her first ever teach-ing job as a general biology professor at San Diego City College. After only one year there she got a job at Cuesta working more hands on and in her desired field.

“Ecology is probably my science background, the dis-tribution and abundance of organisms and how the environment affects those things,” McConnico said. “So that may be my discipline but then you go to marine realm, and that’s where I choose to apply it.”

She gets to apply it pretty regularly in her Coastal Field Studies class, which she says is a unique opportunity be-cause it is the type of class you would generally only see at the university level.

“I get a tremendous a mou nt of s upp or t ,” McConnico said, “students, faculty, etc. There has been a wide range of support for me to go back to school while keeping my job.”

However, for someone who never thought they’d be a teacher but has a passion for science and helping people learn, the job comes with certain challenges.

Teacher Feature: Laurie McConnicoF e aturesMarch 25, 2014 Page 8 The Cuestoniancuestonian.com

Laurie McConnico helps students work the microscopes as she answers questions about her biology Lab.

Jaso

n En

ns/T

he C

uest

onia

n

“I’m really into algae, so I study seaweed. I nerd out on those pretty extensively,” -McConnico

“I have less and less tol-erance … for students who just haven’t figured out why they’re in school, and that it really is a privilege. There are a lot of people who would love to go to college, but can’t afford it [or] never got that opportunity,” McConnico said. “They take a lot of my soul on a daily basis ... and take away from experiences from students ... who do want to learn, or at least know they want to do well.”

Being a professor can be stressful enough, yet McConnico takes on more. Come fall she will be bal-ancing life as full-time fac-ulty, and a full-time student, while doing it in Mexico, and all in Spanish. But, McConnico prefers life as a busy body.

“Part of my motivation for going back to school is that I miss doing research … whatever I’m doing 10 years from now, I hope it involves being able to do research and still teach.”

Though teaching was not a part of her plan it has become a large part of her life, and she believes she has important knowledge to pass on to students.

“I would like to motivate students to see that there are plenty of strange, bizarre and lovely creatures out there and that they warrant protection … and that maybe they’d be energized to do their part in caring for it.”

By Jason EnnsFeatures Editor

Scout Coffee Co. was booming on a gloomy morn-ing. I walked around to scope the place out, shocked to see a full-house given that the long reigning Garden Street coffee king, Linnaea’s Café, is just a few doors down.

The vibe felt like a toned-down version of the popular hipster study spot, Kreuzberg. The baristas were friendly and helpful, verging on bubbly.

I would have gone with a medium roast with hefty cream, but this particular morning was a doozy, so I went the vanilla latté route–very tall–costing me $4.75.

As I waited, I sat on a small chair next to a student utilizing the tree stump table in front of her. It felt cozy, open and inviting even down to the natural lighting. The machines brewing that liq-uid, black gold were white and vintage looking.

When I got my latté, I was impressed. I saw my barista measure my vanilla to ensure just the right amount of flavor. And as a customer, I appreciate a server’s strive for consistency. The latté was perfect; not overloaded with syrup, but present enough to notice. It was also the perfect temperature; I was able to take comfortable sips just seconds after it was crafted.

Not bad.

I can get a vanilla latté or a medium roast with heavy cream anywhere in town. For me, it’s all about what kind of pastries they have available for my belly.

In the terms of quantity, Scout was lacking in the pas-try department. After debat-ing over what I thought to be a sad selection, the bacon monster that lives inside of me went with the bacon and date scone for $3.50, which I was told was backed fresh in-house that morning.

The scone was phenome-nal, but I had heat it at home myself because they don’t have toasters. Other than that small obstacle, I enjoyed the sweet, thick crust. The inside was soft and had de-cent sized bits of both bacon and dates.

News update: I appar-ently like dates.

Overall, my experience was enough to keep me com-ing back. I enjoyed the friend-ly conversation I had with the barista about making sound effect to get through the day’s small tasks. I would rate Scout Coffee Co. a four out of five, solely because I need a heated pastry when life get’s me down.

Scout Coffee Co. is lo-cated in downtown SLO at 1130 Garden St. and are open everyday from 6:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. For more information, visit scoutcof-feeco.com.

Tasting with TallyCHERIE MOORE’S SWEET POTATO AND

BLACK BEAN BURRITOServings: 11 Whole wheat tortillasApproximately ¼ can of black beans Approximately ½ of a sweet potatoHandful of chopped kale Salsa to taste Avocado/guacamolé to tasteMixed greens to taste

Put sweet potatoes in oven at 400 degrees for about 40 minutes. Soak and cook loose black beans or, warm a can of black beans in a pot. Lightly cook kale in a pan or wok. Warm tortilla, then begin adding ingredients once ready. Sweet potatoes should easily come right out of the skin. Place appropriate amounts of pota-toes, black beans and kale (keep in mind you have to wrap it when your done). Then add salsa, from a jar or from scratch (tomato, red onion, cilantro, mango, jalapeno, garlic, and lime). Add avocado, or make your own guacamole to add (onion, cilantro, garlic, lime, black pepper, avocado, tomatoes). Finally add mixed greens. Attempt to wrap it all up, and enjoy.

cuis ineMarch 25, 2014 Page 9 The Cuestoniancuestonian.com

Cooking with Jason“Weight gain is pretty

simple,” said Cherie Moore, head of the nutrition depart-ment at Cuesta. “It’s calories in versus calories out.”

I know that for myself I find it a lot easier to put calo-ries in than to get them out, but that’s no excuse to let my figure go.

“They’re eating more than they’re burning off,” Moore said, regarding students whose health have been on the decline so the question is, “Why is that happening?”

You probably don’t need me to tell you what has had an effect on your own health. Maybe the stress from school has dramatic effects on your eating habits. Maybe your social life has resulted in too much beer drinking on the weekends, or maybe you’re so busy studying you have no time for exercise.

“A lot of the time students tell me, ‘I don’t have time to exercise,’ or ‘I don’t have time to make good food,’” Moore said. Time management is a necessary tool in staying healthy and “it has to be a priority.”

“[Students] come to school without a plan and they’ll eat whatever’s available, wait until they get hungry and eat whatever looks good or eat from a vending machine even,” Moore said.

Her suggestion was to plan out your week, figure out when you have time to exer-cise. Also plan meals to cook ahead of time and get all the necessary groceries for that meal plan at the start of week.

There are ways that you can get help living a health-ier life here on campus. In Kinesiology 220, Moore co-instructs the class with Jani Johnson, the kinesiol-ogy health sciences athletics chair, and former Track and Field coach. Moore works with students on their nutri-tion goals and Johnson works with them on their exercise goals. Imagine Cherie Moore as your personal nutritionist and Jani Johnson as your per-sonal trainer, but it only costs you the price of one Cuesta course, and you get transfer-able credit.

“They can’t just say ‘oh, I want to lose weight,’” Moore said, since weight loss is tricky their goals must be exercise specific, like to get the rec-ommended 300 minutes of exercise a week.

Nutrition goals are small and practical, too.

“We’ll look at their diet analysis and it’ll show they’re low on a couple things and I’ll say, ‘Add sweet potatoes, see if you can add sweet potatoes three times a week,’” Moore said.

The recipe Moore shared with me is one for an easy and

super healthy, throw-together meal; Sweet Potato and Black Bean Burrito. You have to cook the potatoes, but the rest requires very little. I bought canned black beans from Trader Joe’s, but I made my own salsa which was worth the effort.

Trader Joe’s had a Cajun black bean option but I could hear Moore in my head tell-ing me to buy the can labeled “Organic Black Beans.”

I highly recommend try-ing out Moore’s recipe for mango salsa, as opposed to using your favorite brand. Buy a lot of salsa ingredi-ents and have extra because it’s that good and that easy to make. The salsa is deli-cious and so is the burrito. I love sweet potatoes and was thrilled to hear how healthy they are, and how tasty they can be in a burrito. You add avocado and kale, which under normal circumstances

aren’t some of my preferred ingredients, and you end up with a yummy burrito full of super foods.

I forgot to add mix greens, but that was fine by me. After adding in the kale and avo-cado on top of the salsa, my burrito was looking primarily like veggies. I ended up get-ting mostly veggies in my first bite and became instantly cynical, but once I reached the medley of warm black bean and sweet potato mush, my opinion was swayed.

Kale has a stronger flavor than cabbage or lettuce, but it pretty much serves the same purpose of added texture in the healthy burrito as lettuce or cabbage would in a normal style burrito. Next time I’ll make my burrito with more mush and less crunch (kale).

After thoroughly enjoying my meal, I was really curious as to what other inventive ways I can be eating healthier.

Just

in M

onte

s/T

he C

uest

onia

n

Jason fails to wrap his burrito and anticipates a mess as he takes the first bite.

Tally takes a sip from her vanilla latte to wash down her bacon-date scone.

Phot

o cou

rtes

y of C

ryst

al G

arci

a

By Jason EnnsFeatures Editor

By Tally MeyersCopy Chief

Looking for something more from your education? Transfer to a college that works as hard as you.

University Partner since 2001at Cuesta College.

Building 2700-A at the San Luis Obispo campus.

(805) 593-0237GoForGreater.org

VISIT

Peter Stolberg ‘13

Mov ie Re v ie wMarch 25, 2014 Page 10 The Cuestoniancuestonian.com

Michelle: So, long-story-short, it’s a movie about two guys working service jobs, who obviously don’t want to be there; and who take every opportunity to slack off in the most imaginative ways. Not to mention the sidebar of two love interests, two drug dealers and a host of customers that anyone who’s worked customer ser-vice can relate to.

Amanda: I was a little thrown off by the movie being in black and white, but I loved the crazy antics of bored employees.

Tally: I actually enjoyed the fact that it was black and white. It gave it a rel-evance to today without visually throwing me off. I also loved the simplicity of friendship that was demon-strated in this movie. Dante and Randal get into a huge fight about life choices that would probably end any relationship. But, like, 30 minutes later, they acted as if nothing had ever hap-pened. That’s love.

Michel le : O vera l l “Clerks” was pretty good though. I mean, we all dozed off now and then but

that wasn’t really the movie’s fault. It’s just easy to fall asleep when it’s 90 percent chatter.

Tally: Does that hold true to real life? My mom says I’m also made up of 90 percent chatter...

Michelle: Sorry, I nod-ded off for a second, what was that?

Tally: I work in a res-taurant and let me tell you, I can definitely relate to the main character, Dante. Having to deal with dumb people all day really sucks.

Amanda: If only we could get away with talking to customers like Randal.

Michelle: He really took rudeness to a new level, though. I would be really impressed if anyone in real life could get away with talking to people that way. Tally: For a guy who seems like a lazy, porn-obsessed douche-bag, Randal was surprisingly articulate and thoughtful. My favorite part is the five minute explana-tion of why the second de-struction of the Death Star caused a greater impact to innocent, third-party con-tractors. Poor family men

just trying to make a living.Michelle: I appreciated

that Randal spent the whole movie trying to get Dante to enjoy himself, though. At the very least, Randal knows how to make the best out of a bad situation.

Amanda: Like when Randal talked Dante into closing down the store for a rooftop hockey game? Dante is dedicated to his sport.

Michelle: Shame he isn’t dedicated to his job?

Tally: Or his girlfriend. I mean, girlfriends.

Michelle: Can we talk about the semantics of Veronica’s sex-life? Because I feel like Dante blew that out of proportion.

Amanda: She’s a busy girl; school —and dicks.

M i c h e l l e : Ple a s e , Veronica made a point to say that she was “busy” long before she and Dante were ever together.

Tally: Not to mention that Dante was really proud of his own conquests until he knew that Veronica could get some, too.

Michelle: Wise words from Silent Bob, “There’s a

million fine-looking women in the world, but they don’t all bring you lasagna at work.”

Amanda: It was a bad day for Dante though. Everyone told him to what extent his old high school girlfriend, Bree had been cheating on him .

Tally: He gets a little bit of justice though. She ends up accidently getting down with a dead guy in the bathroom.

Michelle: So I guess necrophilia was just her desserts?

Ta l l y : D e f i n i t e l y. Although, Dante wasn’t just getting bad news about his ex. He got crap from every-one all day: the gum pusher deterring people from buy-ing cigarettes, Randal sell-ing cigarettes to a five-year-old under Dante’s name and then Veronica breaking up with him to boot.

Amanda: And he wasn’t even supposed to be there! Moral of the story: Don’t go into work on your day off.

Tally: I concur. But if you have to, make sure you have a goofball friend like Randal to keep you sane.

By

Amanda FridleyTally Meyers

Michelle Zaludek

Our Ratings

Overall Impression

Dante’s inferno

What we learned

Never, ever pick up anybody’s shift

Use of witty chatter

90/100

Creative porn titles

69/100

number of customers successfully helped

At least 3 (sort of)

clerks : trip le f e ature

Need help with Money 101? That’s OK. Figuring it out is half the fun. We’re here to help.

ONLINE BANKING FREE MOBILE APP ON-CAMPUS ATM

SESLOC.ORG 805·543·1816

TOGETHER WITH YOU.

Federally insured by NCUA, a U.S. Government agency.

The Cuestonian cel-ebrates the 20-year anniver-sary of “Clerks” with a triple feature review.

The 1994 slice-of-life mov ie, fol lows Da nte through a day of work at a small convenience store when he’s not even supposed to be here.

I volunteered to take the Cross Fitness Training course at Cuesta, and boy, did my world get rocked.

My cross training jour-ney started out on a hot and sunny morning on Cuesta’s track field. Jani Johnson, the kinesiology department chair had the class run up and down the stretch of field a few times to warm up. At that point, I thought it seemed like the average fitness class of-fered at Cuesta. My mind was soon changed.

Four different circuits were set up for the class to do at two-minute intervals. For many people two min-utes seems like nothing but in this class they last a lifetime.

The first circuit I tack-led was a rubber tire run then a sprint. High knees were the key to success for running in the tires. Unfortunately, I learned this the hard way and with-in my very first seconds of the class, I fell face first across the tires.

I should have taken into consideration that being a klutz and doing anything with agility was a recipe for disaster.

All the other circuits to follow were just as fast paced and just as f un. Every student enjoyed the variety of workouts from kicking soccer balls, jump-ing rope to throwing medi-cine balls.

I would like to consider myself a physically fit per-son, hence the reason I was so surprised when I found myself out of breath after only the first circuit. Luckily, there were many opportunities for water breaks.

Crossfit has exploded onto the scene as one of the most popular forms of fitness this year. The fast pace, badass workouts and amazing results make it hard resist (especially when champions of the sport look like Rich Froning).

For those of you who do not know anything about Crossfit, it was developed by Coach Greg Glassman, who was aiming to create the most versatile athletes. Crossfit utilizes three sep-arate f ields of training: intensity, functional move-ment and variety.

For any exercise to be considered Crossfit, they must meet those three principles. Activities such as shoveling dirt, hauling rocks and cutting down trees to weightlifting, pull ups and sprinting , ac-cording to Crossfit Ocean City, a Crossfit affiliate in Maryland.

The f itness world is used to workout fads ex-ploding onto the scene, seemingly overnight only to fizzle out the next day.

So far, Crossfit has de-fied this stereotype year after year. Not only are there over 7,000 Crossfit affiliates worldwide but now a Crossf it-inspired class has made it’s way onto Cuesta’s campus.

The alternate workout routines of Crossfit and the sense of teamwork have inf luenced Jani Johnson to teach the cross training class at Cuesta.

“I like the variety of circuits and I also like that the circuits lend them-selves to a lot of encour-aging and pushing each other among the students,” Johnson said.

Johnson has students doing a mixture of work-

outs from in the gym to running around the track. This class utilizes Crossfit as a method of training; however, it is also consid-ered a sport.

Th is cla ss does not focus on Olympic lifts, which have been cut from the curriculum along with heavy lifting due to the large class size and safety.

“I encourage my stu-dents to stay within them-selves and only do what they are comfortable with.” Johnson pulls the workout programs for the class from her own experiences as a track coach at Cuesta as well as Step and Pilates instructor.

Many students who are not able to repeat fitness classes turn to this cross training class to stay in shape.

“I really like the avail-ability of this class, with work and school, it f its into my schedule nice-ly,” said sixth semester business major Nathaniel Adams.

“As far as the Crossfit aspect of the class, the workouts she has us doing are really good, they are workouts you wouldn’t thin k of on your own and they really push your stamina,” he said.

Although I may not be a Crossfit athlete, I can defi-nitely see myself involving cross training in my work-outs. The fast pace, badass workouts and loads of fun were impossible to resist.

This class is known as Cross Fitness Training and is located under kinesiol-ogy activities. It will be of-fered again in Spring 2015 as a one unit course.

Body by CuestaBy Amanda Fridley

Online Editor

Phot

os b

y Mik

e Sat

chel

l/T

he C

uest

onia

nnew Cross training class offers credit for getting fit

As class begins, students run back and forth across the field a few times to warm up before the real workout starts.

Medicine ball crunches are part of a wide variety of cross training exercises.

Students do the push-up portion of a two-minute cross training circuit.

Our own Online Editor, Amanda Fridley, smiles for the camera mid-crunch.

sports calendarBaseballTUES. 3/25 Oxnard 2:30 p.m. THU. 3/27 Allan Hancock 2:30 p.m. SAT. 3/29 Allan Hancock 1 p.m.TUES. 4/1 LA Pierce 1 p.m. THU. 4/3 LA Pierce 2:30 p.m.

Softball TUES. 3/25 Allan Hancock 1/3 p.m.TUES. 4/1 Ventura 1/3 p.m.THU. 4/3 Oxnard 2:30 p.m.TUES. 4/8 Moorpark 1/3 p.m.THU. 4/10 Santa Barbara 2:30 p.m.

Swimming FRI. 3/28 WSC Mini Meet #4 10 a.m.FRI.-SAT. 4/11-12 Regional Diving Championship THU.-SAT. 4/17-19 WSCChampionship

Track and Field FRI. 3/28 WSC Coast 1 p.m.SAT. 3/29 Cal Poly Invitational 10 a.m.FRI. 4/4 Orange Coast Team Invitational 10 a.m.

BaseballTUES. 3/11 LA Pierce L 7-5THU. 3/13 Santa Barbara L 7-4SAT. 3/15 Santa Barbara W 4-2

Softball THU. 3/6 Ventura L 7-3TUES. 3/11 Oxnard W 10-1THU. 3/13 Moorpark W 11-6

past games

Sp ortsMarch 25, 2014 Page 11 The Cuestoniancuestonian.com

The smell of the freshly cut grass overwhelms the field; cheers from the dug-out ring and the softball thrown from the oppos-ing pitcher looks like a beach ball to first base-man, Summer Best, as she launches a line-drive into the outfield.

The Cougars softball team is entering the sea-son in hopes to put an end to their six-year playoff drought.

In 2013, the Cougars fought their way to their first winning season since 2009. They won their last four games last season to finish 20-19 and in third place in the Western State

Conference. They fell just two games short of first place in 2013, but should be able to make up those two games and challenge for a their first WSC title since 2008, along with a spot in the postseason.

It m ig ht have been awhile since they last made the postseason, but head coach Sheila McGuire sees great expectations with her 2014 team.

“This is the most ath-letic team I have ever had, by far,” McGuire said. The Cougars only brought back two players from last year’s team, but add a veteran core of transfers and dy-namic newcomers to create a powerful mix of experi-ence, youth and talent.

Sophomore sta r ti ng pitcher Nicole Johnson, who redshirted last sea-son, is proving that they could have used her last season. With an Earned Run Average (ERA) under three and more wins than loses, she has become their dominant pitcher.

J o h n s o n h a s a l s o pitched twice as many in-nings as the team’s other pitchers.

Bre Ojala joins the team with high expectations and is certainly delivering. Ojala is one of four recruit-ed shortstops on the team and has earned a starting spot and high praise from the coaching staff.

“She has great range and a fantastic arm. She has been a nice surprise. She is a legit player,” McGuire said. Ojala leads the team in at-bats and batting aver-age, hitting .500.

“This is the most athletic team I have ever had, by far.” -Coach McGuire

S o p h o m o r e E r i n Pennington moves over from shortstop to third base, in order to hold down the “hot corner.”

“She is very athletic. She has a good glove and good reactions,” McGuire said.

Pennington also gives the Cougars another good hitter with some speed. Her .367 batting average has allowed her to get on base and lead the team with eight stolen bases.

The Cougars have prov-en talented players and just have to put the pieces together in order to reach the postseason.

With an overall team batting average of .330 and an ERA of 3.00, they are certainly challenging teams and staying competi-tive.

By Trevor Nickel Sports Editor

The Cougars’ baseball team has taken the field and is in full swing. The team is set to begin its journey for a nineteenth consecutive play-off berth.

They were ranked number 10 in the CCCBCA Pre-season Poll and still have much to prove with only one returning starter. “We have a good mentality. We have worked hard to improve, but we have a lot of unproven players. We have a brand new team,” coach Bob Miller said.

The cougars pitching rota-tion has the expectation to be-come a solid group, but they still have to go out and prove their talent. Right-hander, Darius Coldiron, missed the 2013 season with injuries, but is ready to comeback and cash in on the promise he showed as a freshman in 2012.

“He has the best stuff on the staff, but he is still bounc-ing back,” Miller said.

Righty Evan Peterson re-turns to the team with great improvement shown dur-ing the fall and is hoping to

have a much stronger season than the one he had in 2013. Freshman Anthony Baleto rounds out the rotation and has the potential to become the team’s ace, and he can also play first base on his days off.

2013 All-WSC First Team selection Parker Hindle re-turns for the cougars behind the plate. He is Cuesta’s top returner and will help

the Cougars young pitchers reach their potential. He also helps the Cougars offensively. Hindle was the team’s most consistent hitter last season.

Sophomore first baseman, Ryan McGuire, has finally found a home at Cuesta, his fourth team in five years. This is his second year at Cuesta and even though he saw lim-ited action at first last season,

Sp ortsMarch 25, 2014 Page 12 The Cuestoniancuestonian.com

Just

in M

onte

s/T

he C

uest

onia

n

he starts this season anchor-ing it. He’ll platoon it with Baleto on his days off.

The Cougars have a lot to prove, but are going to claw and fight in order to con-firm their dominance. Only returning one starter from last season does not phase them and they feel they have the talent to compete with anybody. “We are not battle

Cuesta baseball takes the mound

Softball pitches a playoff run

tested, but we are hungry to work, perform and play. We take pride in our effort,” Miller said.

The squad does produce three sophomore transfers; unfortunately none of them own a collegiate base hit. The Cougars will be tested early in the season with 10 of their first 14 games coming against ranked opponents.

By Trevor NickelSports Editor

Trev

or N

icke

l/T

he C

uest

onia

n

Trev

or N

icke

l/T

he C

uest

onia

n

Steven Pico anticipates the pitch from Santa Barbara’s pitcher, as outfielder, Nick Rutcky, takes his lead from first base and gets ready to head to second.

Third baseman Erin Pennington watches pitcher, Jeananne Ruck, zone in and warm up with catcher Gabby Massari.

Erin Pennington, Summer Best and Jeananne Ruck execute the Cougar play.