FM Radio on the LBCC Campus

Good morning LBCC!! That’s what could be heard on the FM radio air waves around South Albany, Tangent, and maybe the entire Mid-Willamette Valley.

Photo by Dale Hummel

A few months ago it was thought that  political science instructor, Doug Clark, said that in 1978 there was a radio station on campus that didn’t quite make it to air. There was an assumption that there was a studio, antenna, and everything still on campus.
A member of the LB security office was summoned to open the room. As we walked to the door there were visions of  ancient tape decks, turntables, and mixing boards covered in inches of dust. As the door swung open, and the room was inspected, the visions diminished. There were only shelves containing gallon jugs of cleaner and the floor was sparsely covered with mops and buckets. No studio! Mr.Clark was miss-understood, but he likes the idea of a radio station on campus and still hopes in can be a reality.

The idea of a radio station at LBCC first started in 1977 by a committee of staff members and volunteers, according to “The History of Linn-Benton Community College”, a book by Rosemary Allen Bennett. For six months the committee worked to create a station that would best serve the needs of the college as well as the community.

photo by Dale Hummel

By the fall term the idea of a radio station had went from a dream to the planning stage. By July Doug Clark, with the help of Jim Dunn, who was the manager of the successful KLCC radio station at Lane Community College, submitted the proposal to the LBCC board.

From the beginning, the board was hesitant and skeptical about a radio station on campus. The board feared that it would be a waste of tax payer money. They also didn’t think it could be directly linked to an instructional program, and that there was not enough interest in the station.

Because of these decisions, the radio station on campus never became a reality.

Bing images

The first person to successfully demonstrate the controlled transmission and reception of long-range radio signals was Guglielmo Marconi in 1895. Today Marconi is known as the father of radio. In 1907 American inventor Lee De Forest was responsible for making it possible for longer audio radio transmissions. More radio history can be found at www.earlyradiohistory.us

Radiotimeline.com

Civilian radio actives were suspended during WWI, however, the military used and improved on the existing industry and thousands of troops were exposed to the technology and entertainment of radio. After the war several small broadcasting companies began to pop up and by the 1920s there were about 500 small stations playing a chaotic collection of programming.

A time line on the “golden age” of radio can be found at www.digitaldeliftp.com/LookAround/la_gaspot_timeline.html

Radio has changed by leaps and bounds since the turn of the century. Live broadcasts on small, privately owned stations have given way to the phonograph, then to tapes and CDs. Now, most radio stations are owned by a few communications conglomerates and use automated computer software with satellite syndicated broadcasts. Nearly every radio station in the country has a web site and many stream their broadcasts online.

photo by Dale Hummel

Perhaps the automated software and the large corporate feel have taken the romance out of what the radio used to be. The funny local disk-jockey, the favorite song played at request, the local news, sports and weather played seemingly just when you need it have all been lost under the immense pressure of the big communications companies.

The “golden age” of radio can flourish at LBCC. Live and recorded music of any kind, broadcasted theatre plays, events, news, sports, weather. Even political and religious debates and issues can be broadcasted from the heart of the Mid-Willamette Valley, including emergency announcements and Amber Alerts. Anything the Federal Communications Commission, (FCC) will allow can and should be heard from an LBCC radio station.

Just imagine it, a streaming radio station operated by, to and for the Linn-Benton Community College students, faculty and staff. The possibilities are only as limited as our imaginations. People on and around campus can be informed, enlightened, instructed and entertained with an operational FM radio station.

Several students have voiced their approval of an FM radio station on campus by signing a club registration form. Most of these people are quite excited about the idea.


To be apart of what could be something great, or just for information on setting up an FM radio station on the LBCC campus, send an e-mail to LbccFmradio@yahoo.com or go to Lbcc FmRadio on Facebook.

Links:
LbccFmradio@yahoo.com
LbccFmRadio@Facebook.com
www.digitaldeliftp.com/LookAround/la_gaspot_timeline.html
www.earlyradiohistory.us

Occupy Wall Street vs. Tea Party: A Country in Protest

        

Throughout the history of our country, citizens have shown disapproval of society and politics by protesting. The reasons are quite diverse. In the early days people protested an oppressive monarchy 3,000 miles away, excessive taxes, and abuse to people, among others.


Today, the people of our country have not lost the skill or the will to protest. It seems, however, "We the people" have split our protesting into two groups; the Occupy Wall Street Movement, and the Tea Party Movement.


Both groups label themselves as "grass roots" movements, and both groups are extremely passionate about what they believe in, but their differences are much more numerous than what they have in common. Both groups seem to have a common enemy, big money and the coruption it brings.

 If the OWS people took some lessons from TTP they might actually accomplish something useful.

The Occupy Wall Street Movement began September 17, 2011, according to www.occupywallst.org. When the Occupy movement first came into the limelight of the media, the people that were commonly shown were college-aged young people who seemed to have no idea what they were doing there. The young people protested their lack of pizza, beer, marijuana with all the cooth of a drucken frat boy. Like many times before, the mass media seems to bring out the worst of people. Eventually, people with coherent thought and speaking skills came forth with Ideas that made sense. When this happened, celebrities, politicians, and the mass media seemed to jump on the Occupy protest bandwagon. OWS was everywhere, from Main Street to Wall Street.

The Tea Party, as we know it, was created on Feb. 17, 2009, according to www.teapartypatriots.org/about/,  for the education and advancement of constitutional conservative values. The Tea Party Movement, (TTP) for a while, never really had central leadership or a main spokesperson, however, the Occupy Wall Street; (OWS) movement had something that the Tea Party did not, mass media coverage. For a few months, the media seemed to create a “blackout” of the Tea Party and their protests. Unless someone in the movement did or said something that was very controversial, which was far and few between, they were not covered by the media.

  Occupy people seem to believe that big business and large corporations is one of the biggest problems with our society, however, the list goes on. Other grievances include mortgage foreclosures, corporate bailouts, student loans, right to work issues, and many others. One of the lists of grievances the OWS has you can find at http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/10/28/18695784.php .

 TTP’s grievances are more political and include reduced individual liberty, excessive government, abuse of the Constitution, runaway government spending, gun control,  disrespecting the military, disrespecting christian values and many others. This list can be found at teapartypatriots.ning.com. TTP also has a list of demands that they claim are “non-negotiable” such as a strong military, pro-domestic employment, gun owner ship being essential, balancing the national budget, and several others. There is even a documentary on the Tea Party Movement.

According to www.ibtimes.com, OWS also has a list of demands. Some of these include elimination of the corporate state, health care for all, jobs for all Americans, a fair tax code, ending a constant and perpetual war for profit, and several others. Their voice seems to be in more of a liberal mind set and many out spoken OWS speakers blame large corporations and the Republican Party for many of negative issues of today.


Both of these groups are a firm believer in protesting and letting the world know what they think, however, OWS and the Tea Party have very different ways of expressing themselves.


 OWS has something they call “mike checks” and, a system of communication with their hands for loud environments, and, of course, “occupying” places. This is the act of taking a tactical position of an area, staying there while holding signs of protest and screaming at their intended target, even if they are in a street. This act commonly leads to what is known as civil disobedience, and then to being arrested by local law enforcement.

If the occupiers aren’t in danger of harming themselves or others, law enforcement might let them “occupy” an area for days if not weeks without the threat of arrest. To critics, this activity is known as “squatting”, which is why OWS protesters are known as "squatters", among other things. Usually they will camp in city parks over night. In many cases this is illegal. The protesters refuse to leave, and wonder why they get arrested.

Some critics of OWS consider the protesters to be a bunch of spoiled, pot-smoking, trust-fund brats who want the government to give them everything. The OWS people also seem to be strong believers in global warming and think that the United States doesn’t need a strong defence.


TTP is much more civil and patriotic. They plan the protest ahead of time while securing the proper permits for the type of protest they may be doing. Like the OWS, TTP protesters also carry signs, but there is very little yelling or screaming. Usually there is a master of ceremonies and scheduled speakers.
The group will intently listen to the speaker without incident.

  It has been said that strong critics of TTP assumed that the movement is controlled by the Republican Party and ran by angry middle-age white bigots and racists, who love guns and religion. Some of these critics call people in support of TTP “teabaggers”. The title is rumored to suggest a lewd sexual act.

Not everyone has strong feeling for either groups. So much media attention directed towards the protest can be aggravating and boring to people like this.

Scott McAleer is a history instructor at LBCC and has some interesting views on both groups. He claims that both are having quite the impact on the national discourse and to some extent causing a change in politics. Scott says ,"OWS has been very successful in informing average Americans about income inequity."

Scott's opinion is that TTP has been successful in changing the agenda of the Republican Party and has become a political force to be taken seriously, but he feels that because their goals are so wide, they will probably never achieve them.

A good thing OWS has done, according to McAleer, is to experiment with democracy within the confines of their own camps which will educate future protesters in the past to become better and smarter political activists. Unfortunately, Scott said, "I don't know that its their fault, but clearly some really mischievous folks have infiltrated some of their camps. Anarchists (not all of whom are violent but some are), drug users, freeloaders, and thugs. They are a very small part of the scene. But it only takes a few to create a negative image."

Scott also believes that TTP's idea of the Constitution is to rigid, and the document needs to be thought of as a living document that needs to change with the times. He thinks this inflexibility with TTP ideas will eventually hurt them.

Crystal Warner is a human development and family studies major at LBCC who doesn’t follow either movement. She says it’s a waste of time for all these protesters to be out in the streets when they could be changing things in the system to get what they want. Both movements protests, however. OWS will stay anywhere they wish for weeks at a time, without concern for local laws.

April Wheeler is an English major at LBCC and has sympathies toward OWS. According to April, people have become more and more dissatisfied with both the government and corporations and protesting is bringing attention to the issues. April says that the OWS is being strong by not giving in to the unreasonable demands of the police and having strong organizational skills, and they are doing nothing wrong.


April also claims that because TTP has such a strong ally with Fox News, the movement’s voice can be heard. She thinks if TTP did more of their own research they would realize that they are misunderstanding most of their own main ideas and values. 


April says, “While there are similarities between the two movements, the fundamental difference will never allow for the two groups to merge. When one group wants to see appropriate taxation of corporations and the uber-rich (the "1 %"), and the other group's foundation is "no more taxes," it's nigh unto impossible to see how these movements could ever be united”.

April’s views seem very common in the OWS following. However, many in TTP see this, of course in a very different light.

Big money and big government is one of the things TTP is fighting against. Thomas Jefferson once said, “I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.”  Because of big government that freedom is dissipating.

TTP people are not against taxation, but they are against a large government wasting the money received  from the people. They are a group that considers the Constitution sacred and will do anything to uphold and protect it.

It seems like both movements are similar to the child’s toy, Rock’em, Sock’em Robots. Both groups seem to battle  against themselves vigorously and  both groups have backers they don’t really seem to claim, however, groups do claim them.None the less, they fight each other fiercely.

The Democratic Party and celebrities have jumped on board the OWS bandwagon, while a few of the political right side of the Republican Party is claiming TTP. But neither movement seems to claim any political or business group in their protesting.

It is rumored that Winston Church said if your under 25 and don’t protest you don’t have a heart, if your over 35 and are not a conservative your stupid.
 I am 46 and a conservative. I have a firm believe that both sides are doing some good things, however, too much of a good thing and doing it the wrong way isn't helping our country. 

With young liberals on one side and middle-age patriots on the other, these protests to change the direction of the country will not go away soon. Whatever side you are on, if at all, we can thank the First Amendment to the Constitution for our freedom of speech rights.

 

                                             

 

The Faces of Horror: The Gallery

                                  

Photo by Dale Hummel

One…two, Freddie’s coming for you. Three…four, better lock your door. You look at the glove. If you close your eyes can almost feel the intense heat of the dark boiler room and the terrifying deep laugh of the predator preparing for his next kill. Then you look around and sigh, you’re still in the South Santiam Hall. Yes, Freddie’s glove is there as well as some of the most famous and infamous horror movie villains of our time.

Photo by Dale Hummel

In the South Santiam Hall Gallery there are drawings of the faces we either hate to love or love to hate. Kevin Perry is a former graphics, student at LBCC. He uses different pencils and charcoal for these images. They are done extremely well. The image of Frankenstein’s monster and Pinhead, From “Hellraiser”, are done so well that they seem to be black and white photography.

Photo by Dale Hummel

Perry claims the tools of his trade are compressed charcoal, white and kneadable erasers, and soft, medium and hard charcoal pencils. However, an old t-shirt and his fingers are perhaps his best tools. According to the posting in the gallery hall Perry says, “I often refer to charcoal as finger painting for adults”. His way with the mixture of shades seems to rival any professional artist.

Perry claims his goal is to make himself and the viewer connect emotionally to these characters. “Horror fans are a rare breed and die-hards when it comes to their love of the genre. The power of a great character, whether hero or villain is immeasurable, and I try to capture that power with my drawings”, Perry said.

Photo by Dale Hummel

A visit to the South Santiam Hall Gallery will, perhaps, reacquaint you with an “old friend”. Among the pieces you will find the likeness of actor Vincent Price(1911-1993), Dr. Hannibal Lector from “Silence of the Lambs”, Freddy Krueger from the “A Nightmare on Elm Street” series, Michal Myers, form the “Halloween” series, the dijnn from “Wishmaster” among others.

Photo by Dale Hummel

Each drawing done to near perfection and nearly mesmerizing. Maybe even good enough for a story line for a horror movie.

Any movie fan, horror or not, would thoroughly enjoy the images of the characters who have made us scream in the theatres and have haunted our dreams.

 To visit your favorite bad guy, go to the South Santiam Hall Gallery, The exhibit goes from Febuary 12 to March 9 and is open Monday through Friday from 8 am to 5pm. Don’t forget to make a comment in the note book…if your dare!

Profile: Doug Clark, Instructor Extraordinaire

 Doug Clark is kind of reminiscent of Indiana Jones the way he sat behind his organized desk in a room crowded with shelves and book cases stuffed with books, Native American pictures, artifacts and even some skulls, which seem to draw in students like a moth to the flame. It was found out later that he shared his office with an anthropologist. Even though Doug teaches political science, he is still more interesting than an old skull.

Clark was born in Tualatin on a small farm. He and his two brothers worked the land and tend the animals for extra money. When his father died, his family was forced to move to suburbia, as he put it. 

His mother wanted him in the “rhythm of school". He was a pretty good student and was fairly athletic. He even had a football and baseball scholarship and attended the University of Oregon. Even though he enjoyed being active in sports, he found an interest in pre-law, social issues and public affairs. Doug was even active in a group similar to the Marines version of the ROTC.

He was working on his doctrine in political science when life got in the way. It was the early 1970s. He had a wife, two kids and little money. He needed a job. He found it with Linn-Benton Community College. His first year was uneventful. “It wasn’t a big deal”, Doug said

In the 1980s he applied for the Fulbright’s Exchange. This allowed for Clark to be a part of a “teacher exchange”. He taught many classes in London, Russia, The Netherlands, Hungary, Poland, and many other places. Doug also took students on “peace trips” around the world. They had to do all the fundraising themselves. He thoroughly enjoyed his trips. He had always told himself he did NOT want to get stuck in Oregon.

He is blessed with three children. “I am very much a family guy”, Doug said. He enjoys going on “outings” with the family. He takes them to Portland, Eugene and other places in Oregon and “Does things”, he claims. But they don’t stay in Oregon all the time. They have gone to Budapest and Prague for Christmas.

In his spare time he enjoys reading and doing research. He organizes his thoughts by doing a lot of writing and research into world affairs and a lot of research on America, its history and what direction the country is going in.

Another thing he likes to do when he is not in his class room, with his family or globetrotting, is playing tennis. He’s been playing the game with the same three friends, twice a week, for the last 25 years. All four men are retired from LBCC. He also enjoys riding his bike and hiking.

Clark really enjoys teaching which, he says, also happens to be very challenging. He says teaching can be difficult, but the students inspire him, especially when he gets an e-mail or phone call from a successful ex-student thanking him for his instruction.

Doug Clark seems to have a mastery of the class. During a lesson it appears as though he knows what to say and when, as well as how to say it. He will travel around the room scanning with his eyes as if they were sensors in search of the notorious “nod of fatigue” or the “glass eye of boredom”. If he sees proof of these conditions in the people he is lecturing to, he seamlessly changes his strategy to gain the upper hand and the attention of the wandering mind of the student to bring the class back into his grasp of learning by moving around the room more, asking unexpected questions, and fluctuating his voice.

Scott McAleer is a history instructor at LBCC. Even though Scott has known Doug for six years, he has never observed Doug's teaching style.

"People who have had his courses seem very well informed", Scott said, "they come into the class with an informed world view, and are prepared to discuss a variety of topics".

Scott says Doug is a "big Ideas" guy. "He sees history, politics, and world events form 40,000 feet, whereas most have a ground view". Scott also said, "I think one of his strengths is to get students to look past the tired, well-worn approaches to understanding the world around them and getting them to rethink the way they look at things."

McAleer describes Clark as being infectious, enthusiastic, and solution oriented.

Eric Noll is in Doug's political science class. Eric has a fascination with this topic. The class was recommended to him, and since he had already had a class with Doug in the past, he jumped at the chance to be in Doug's class.

 "He presents the information in a way that's down to earth and easy to under stand", Eric said. He also claims that Doug has a vast array of knowledge and experience, yet he really seems to care for his students.

When a teacher puts aside his own goals for his students, it says something about the instructor. Doug Clark is a dissertation away from obtaining a PhD in political science, yet he has been “retired” since 2003 and still teaches history and political science at LBCC.

Doug doesn’t see himself doing anything else but teach. It seems as though it is in his blood and he thoroughly enjoys it. It shows in the way he presents the lessons to his class. If he couldn’t teach history or political science, he would be coaching younger kids in football and baseball.

Doug Clark is a fascinating man who is easy to talk to as well as a good story teller. Even though he is widely traveled, he knows very well where home is and he has quite a fondness for his home state. Some day he may retire completely, however, it is unlikely. He is still enjoying himself too much right now to do anything else, and as Doug says, “All things are Possible”.

At a glance
Who: Doug Clark
What: Political science and history instructor
Where: LBCC
Clark holds a master's in political science and loves teaching the class
Link
http://cf.linnbenton.edu/artcom/social_science/clarkd/web.cfm?pgID=14

Review: Last Man Standing

Tim Allen is back on the small screen with a new sitcom that has some similarities to the 1990 TV show “Home Improvement”, but there are differences. Differences that could make “Last Man Standing” last well past syndication. Tim Allen has been in entertainment since 1988 as a comic, actor, and producer, and has been in “Galaxy Quest”, “Toy Story”, “Toy Story 2” and many other TV shows and movies.

Mike Baxter, (Tim Allen), is a marketing executive at a large sporting goods store called Outdoor Man. At work Mike rules with a “King-of-the-Hill” kind of attitude and really enjoys his sales trips and promoting the goods the company offers, however, at home there are four women, and he is always the “odd man out.” Mike’s, “That’s what’s wrong with the word today”, rants always earn eye rolls from the ladies in his family, but seem to make sense to most everyone in his company.

In the first episode, Mike’s boss and company owner, Ed Alzate, (Hector Elizondo), tells him that he is shutting down the catalog department, and Mike has to change to the cyber world to stay with the company. He gets the Idea of a vlog from his daughter, and begins showing the “item of the week” on line that morphs into a rant of how men of today are losing their manliness.

Because of the changing of the department, Mike stays home more now and his wife goes to work. This creates quite a challenge for him at home of dealing with his teenage daughters.

 Nancy Travis is Venessa Baxter, Mike’s wife. Also starring in the show is Alexandra Krosney, Molly Ephraim, Kaitlyn Dever who play the daughters. The Baxters has three children living at home and the oldest has a small child of her own.

Mike struggles with trying to teach his three daughters old fashion family values while trying to keep his masculinity intact, run a business, and keep up in a modern world.

His daughters, who are 14, 17, and 22, make it difficult for him to understand. Not just understanding females, but understanding young females in a modern hi-tech world. The 22 year old daughter has a young son, which sometimes provides much need “male bonding” for Mike.

Fans of Tim Allen shouldn’t be disappointed with this sitcom. I was kind of surprised. However, that ABC aired this show. Mike Baxter shows his opinion of several of today’s issues, including child proofing a house, child care with alternative ideas, vegans, fantasy football, soccer, Obamacare, and others.

The character seems a bit on the conservative side for what network broadcasting is today. Not unlike other shows of the past, like “All in the Family”, “That 70’s Show”, “Sh!T My Dad Says”, and even “According to Jim”.

So far “Last Man Standing” isn’t gaining too much support in the entertainment world. Daniel Fienberg, who writes for hitfix.com, calls the show a “Dreadful new Tim Allen sitcom”, and asks the reader to “Ignore "Last Man Standing."

 According to hollywoodreporter.com, the show is “A predictable sitcom with a stupid premise and bad acting.”

Despite the bad reviews from the “Hollywood Elite”, “Last Man Standing” definitely fills the niche’ of manly-men who enjoy watching television without the onslaught of left-leaning TV shows that attempt to push alternative ideas that flood the primetime air waves of America.

If you like “Home Improvement”, you’ll love “Last Man Standing”

At a Glance:

“Last Man Standing”

Genre: Male oriented situation-comedy TV show

On most ABC affiliated stations, abc.go.com/shows/last-man-standing

Length: 30 minutes, (with commercials)

Stars: Tim Allen, Nancy Travis, Alexandra Krosney, Molly Ephraim, Kaitlyn Dever, and Hector Elizondo.

What the show is about: A married father of three tries to keep his manliness in a world surrounded by females, via imdb.com