Kenny Daniels, right, looks to give CSUN a couple of wins in the NIT consolation round in Western Kentucky. Daniels scored 27 points in Northridge’s first victory of the season against Texas State. Photo Credit: Jonathan Pobre / sundial file photo

The Cal State Northridge men’s basketball team (1-2) continues their play in the Dick’s Sporting Goods Preseason NIT Monday night against Western Kentucky University (WKU) at E.A. Diddle Arena in Bowling Green, Ky. WKU was chosen as one of three sites to host the consolation round of the NIT.

In their last outing the Matadors picked up their first victory of the season against Texas State. The Matadors were behind for most of the second half due to turnovers and lack of rebounds, but Kenny Daniels’ career-high 27 points gave CSUN the comeback to prevail at the end.

The rally could give CSUN confidence going into Western Kentucky, since they fell behind early against Purdue and TCU— their first two games of the season—and were unable to manage a comeback.

Northridge has struggled defensively to start the season, giving up 84.7 points per game and being outrebounded 43.7-35.7. The Matadors have also let their opponents shoot 42.9 percent from the field.

On offense, Northridge was able to get it together against Texas State, scoring 85 points, but the prior two games CSUN was unable to break into the 70s.

The Matadors haven’t gotten good play from the their starting point guard Mark Hill, who is averaging a low 3.3 points and 0.7 assists.

Daniels is developing into CSUN’s go-to guy offensively, averaging 17 points per game.

Northridge has a big challenge against Western Kentucky, the back-to-back Sun Belt Conference champions. The Hilltoppers have won three NCAA Tournament games in the last two seasons and lost in the Sweet 16 against UCLA in 2008.

The Toppers are led by senior guard A.J. Slaughter, who was picked Preseason Player of the Year by the Sun Belt. Slaughter scored 30 points to start the season against Wisconsin-Milwaukee and is averaging 20.5 points in the young season.

In the paint the Matadors will need to worry about junior forward Sergio Kerusch, who was named to the 2009 All-Sun Belt Preseason Second Team. In two games Kerusch is averaging 7.5 rebounds and 19 points. Tuesday in a loss to LSU, Kerusch led the Hilltoppers with 25 points.

After the WKU game, Northridge will play Coastal Carolina on Tuesday, rounding out their NIT play and then returning home to play Cal State Bakersfield on Nov. 30.

The Matadors got swept by Cal Poly and UC Santa Barbara to end the 2009 regular season. Photo Credit: Sami Eshaghi / Assistant Photo Editor

The Northridge women’s volleyball team finished its 2009 season by dropping two three-set matches at Cal Poly and UC Santa Barbara this past weekend, bringing the Matadors’ final record to 8-22 overall and 4-12 in the Big West.

Northridge finishes seventh in the conference just one game behind Cal Poly and ahead of UC Riverside.

The Matadors were unable to produce enough offense to have a fighting chance in either match.

“(This) weekend was really rough for us, especially losing 3-0 in both matches,” junior Lynda Morales said. “Dealing with the ailments of Brittany (Williams) and adapting to the changes of the lineup … hindered us a little.”

The 25-18, 25-17, 25-21 victory brings Cal Poly’s record to 9-20 overall and 5-11 in the Big West.

Cal Poly controlled most of set one with CSUN not developing into a real threat, only tying the score once and changing the lead once the entire set.

The Mustangs’ lead grew to 14-6 before Northridge capitalized on two Mustang hitting errors and two Matador kills to run off their most consecutive points of the set.

Northridge would only come as close as three with the score at 20-17 before being outscored 5-1, and the Mustangs would run away with the set, 25-18.

With minimal hitting and service errors, the second set started off much closer, with the Matadors keeping the score within one, even taking their lone lead at 8-7, before tying it at 11.

But six hitting errors and a service error in the latter part of the set would give the Mustangs the match handily at 25-17.

Set three started off like the second, with both teams taking turns to side out to tie the score five times up until nine. With the score at 22-18, for the Mustangs, a Britney Graff kill spurred a last-ditch effort to push the set bringing the score within one at 22-21.

Moments later a Graff hitting error would give Cal Poly match point and a kill by Dominique Olowolafe closed the match.

Olowolafe led Cal Poly with 12 kills hitting a .647 clip and was accompanied by Jennifer Keddy with eight kills.

Graff led Northridge with seven kills, and Morales, Angela Hupp and Janet Alvarado each had five kills to add to Hupp’s 19 assists and single ace.

Saturday night saw much of the same from Northridge, as Santa Barbara won with scores of 25-15, 25-21, 25-18.

UCSB jumped to a quick 10-5 lead, eventually widening to 18-9 in set one. The Gauchos would lead twice by 11 points at 22-11 and 24-13.

CSUN would rally two more points off of two Gaucho hitting errors. But with set point on the line, a Hupp attack error handed the set to UCSB.

“Our passing at Santa Barbara started off really weak, but it started to progress,” Morales said.

Northridge was able to find ways to keep set two close, tying the score multiple times up until 21. But a combination of two Rebecca Saraceno kills, a Gaucho ace and a Northridge hitting error would close the match.

In the final set, the Matadors were able to stay within three, but UCSB would begin to pull away at 19-15, leading by as much as six. With the score at 22-16, CSUN would rally only two more points but back-to-back Saraceno kills would hand Northridge its final loss of the season.

“I think a lot of it has to do with our energy,” said Morales. “If we aren’t playing together we start to fall apart … this weekend if we had played together we would have pulled off the win.”

Saraceno finished with 10 kills and eight digs with Lily Lopez adding seven kills.

The Matadors hit .064 as a team. Graff led with 11 kills and Morales had six kills.

In her finale as a Matador, Hupp had 22 assists, five digs and four total blocks, and fellow senior Tela Burnett had five kills and five total blocks.

Freshman Janelle Nomura scored 15 points against the Spartans Friday night. Photo Credit: Sami Eshaghi / Assistant Photo Editor

The Cal State Northridge women’s basketball team (1-2) captured its first victory Friday night on the road, but it did not come easy. They were able to come away with a narrow one-point victory against San Jose State, 62-61.

The Matadors have struggled in their first two games of games the season because they unravel at key times during the game.

However, this time the Matadors learned from their past mistakes and did not hang their heads when something went wrong.

CSUN was tied with San Jose State at the half, 29-29. The Matador women started the second half on a bad note by falling behind on the scoreboard.

The Matadors did not get down on themselves because of turnovers but instead decided to go after the victory. They did not make the comeback by shooting well from the field because they only shot 38 percent for the game.

Nor did the Matadors make their return by shooting three-pointers. The team shot 41 percent from downtown.

Also, they had only shot a decent 76 percent from the free throw line. So, how did the Matadors make a comeback after an 11-2 run midway through the second period? They did it by tough individual play and second-chance opportunities.

Jasmine Erving, who played like a true center, had 21 points and a game-high eight rebounds.

Freshman Janelle Nomura had a complete all-around game. She had 15 points, one 3-pointer, three offensive rebounds, two assists and three steals.

Both Erving and Nomura were contributing factors to the key run in the second half.

The rest of the Matadors helped with getting key put-backs. The team finished with 12 second-chance points.

Furthermore, the Matadors built a 53-45 point lead with their run. However, the game was far from over.

San Jose State made one last run. Players like Chasity Shavers and Britney Bradley both had huge games against the Matadors. Shavers finished with 11 points, and Bradley finished with 10 points.

They helped close the gap to one point in the final minutes of the game. The score was 62-61, and with 7.4 seconds left, guard Katrina Thompson was fouled. She missed the one-and-one at the free throw line.

San Jose State grabbed the rebound, and Shavers’ half-court buzzer beater was no good.

“It was a good win”, says head coach Staci Schulz. “It was good to get the ball rolling, and we have the potential to be a good team. However, we are better than a one-point win.”

“It was kind of tense out there. Missing from the free throw line made it scary,” Nomura said.

Most coaches want the game to be close in the fourth quarter on the road, and that is exactly what happened in this game.

The Matadors continue their two-game road trip at the University of San Diego Tuesday night. Tip is planned for 7 p.m.

The panel at the first Young Democrats meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 18 that took place at the Balboa room located in the University Student Union. Photo Credit: Raspina Jannesar / Staff Photographer

Empowering women and breaking the molds that women face on a day-to-day basis was the common theme throughout the night as the first annual women leaders lecture, hosted by the Young Democrats Club, took place Nov. 18 in the University Student Union’s Balboa Room.

The panel of five individuals representing women leaders, organized by Young Democrat members Pious Ahuja, a political science major, and Natalie Parmenter, a liberal studies major, consisted of a group of women with high levels of education and high-power careers.

Dina Cervantes, Sheena Malhotra, Suzanne Whang, Marcia Zellers and Tamar Galatzan shared their first job experiences, their inspirations in life and the challenges that women must overcome to be successful figures of authority.

“I always felt like I was this macho guy trapped in this little woman body,” said Whang, an actress of 20 years, comedian of seven years, published author and current host of HGTV’s “House Hunters.”

Most of the women on the panel admitted having a similar feeling to Whang while growing up and even today as adult women.

Galatzan, who is a Los Angeles Deputy City Attorney with the Neighborhood Prosecutor Program and a member of the Los Angeles school board, recalled a time in fourth grade when she organized a walk-out because a physical education teacher told all the girls to cheer on the sidelines while the boys played all the sports. She said all the students sat on the kickball field until the teacher allowed Galatzan to play.

Zellers, who is the head of digital media at the Fashion Institute in Downtown Los Angeles and a single parent of a 7-year-old daughter, said that while growing up she was always very feminine, doing things that many young girls do such as play with dolls, but she did notice that there was a dominance in her personality that other girls did not necessarily possess.

Family problems, ditching school and doing drugs, Cervantes said, were the primary reasons she spent time at a continuation high school for at-risk students.

“I used to hang out with gangsters,” Cervantes said. “I was looking for a family.”

Despite a troubled youth, Cervantes realized several years later that the people she was hanging out with were not her family, and even though her real family had its problems, they would always be there for her.

Cervantes graduated from CSUN a year and a half ago and is now working with the Los Angeles Unified School District as a field deputy making sure that schools’ needs are being met.

Life was much different for Malhotra, who grew up in India working in the film and TV industry, and now she is the chair of the women and gender studies department at CSUN.

While growing up, Malhotra found herself gravitating toward a liberal outlook on life, but what is considered very liberal in India, Malhotra found to be rather conservative in the United States, and it took some adjusting and a college professor mentor for Malhotra to discover what ideas she actually believed.

“I think I had very much the stereotype in my head of what a feminist was,” Malhotra said.

She said that with the help of her mentor she was able to really understand the concept of feminism and secure her beliefs.

This panel of women not only were inspired in different ways to get to the positions they are now in, but along the way they each had to dabble in different areas of work before finding their niche.

“Mine was child prostitution,” Whang said, jokingly. “My parents are very proud of me.”

Actually, Whang had her first job by the age of 17 as a dental assistant. A few years later, while studying math at Yale, she was disappointed by under-challenging math courses and found psychology more interesting. It was not until she received her masters from Brown University that she really got into acting and emerged into the entertainment business.

Galatzan said that when she was a little girl her dream job was to be an archeologist, but that dream never manifested into anything and instead she started out working in sales and customer service.

“I was 15, I sold shoes,” Galatzan said. “I can look at anyone’s feet and tell what shoe size they are.”

During college Galatzan called herself the “queen of internships.”

Today Galatzan said she loves her jobs even though it is sometimes a struggle to balance being a mom to two young boys, ages five and seven.

She is the only member on the Los Angeles school board with school-aged kids. Sometimes she must leave work to care for her sons, and that is only part of the battle.

Galatzan said that while she was campaigning to become a board member and often away from her children, other women would say to her, “If you’re really a good mother, you’d stay home with your kids.”

For Malhotra, her dream job of becoming a teacher is now a reality.

From the time in elementary school when one of her teachers had to step out of the room and told Malhotra she was to monitor the class, she found herself taking the job very seriously, threatening students with a ruler if they misbehaved. She said that having that kind of power attracted her.

Working in the marketing business was not where Zellers ever thought she’d have a career.

“As a woman I have to be three times better (than a man) to be considered competent,” Zellers said.

Although she is happy with her job, she still feels as though she is not where she wants to be.

“I always felt like this creative person,” Zellers said.

Her philosophy about life is that people go through a series of quests to find out what they want, and personally she feels as though she has yet to reach her full potential.

Maybe this is “divine dissatisfaction,” as Whang calls it; the idea that a person is always striving for more, that continues to push these five women to be confident, strong leaders and reshape how women are perceived in today’s society.

Juan Preciado Jr, 21-year-old, double majoring in Chicano/a studies and sociology wants to be a motivational figure for students of color and non english speaking children to continue their education. Photo Credit: Wendy Barba / Staff Reporter

Some children grow up admiring their science teacher. Others want to grow up to be just like their history teacher. But unfortunately, not all children grow up with a figure of inspiration they can look up to within the educational system.

Juan Preciado, Jr. said he grew up with little incentive from his teachers within the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). Today he looks to make sure all students have someone they can look up to for support and encouragement.

“I experienced careless teachers and counselors that made school even more difficult,” Preciado said.

The 21-year-old, double majoring in Chicano/a studies and sociology, believes this is one reason why very few Latinos pursue an education beyond high school. Preciado said it was discouraging for him to grow up surrounded by teachers who did not care about the education their students were receiving.

Preciado strives to be a motivational figure for children who are attending grade school. He is currently employed at James A. Foshay Learning Center in LA where he is working with English Language Learners as a paraprofessional. His goal is not only to teach these students to better understand the English language, but also to ensure they are given guidance.

“There are a few Latino men involved in education, and I feel it is essential to have figures within education for students of color to relate to and have a motivating figure and person to look up to,” Preciado said.

By inspiring young students, he hopes he will be able to encourage them to stay in school.

“Figures one can relate to within education prevent dropouts and keep students interested and enrolled,” he said.

Preciado’s approach at keeping the youth interested is by being a mentor they can view as a close friend or even relative. Sharing his experiences from when he was young, Preciado hopes it will lead kids to believe they too can become leaders.

But Preciado said his own inspiration today comes from the children he works with on a regular basis.

“The majority of the students I work with are new to the country and understand no English and are unable to read or write. Seeing these students motivates me to continue to pursue an education and become an educator,” he said.

Working with children who are limited in their form for communication helped Preciado realize how much he takes for granted, he said. He now wants to take advantage of all his resources to help students of color continue their education.

“Despite having such horrible experiences, I’ve managed to continue to pursue my education. I want to be that cool, down-to-earth figure any student can relate to, as cheesy as it sounds, to inspire other students to pursue their own education,” Preciado said.

In it users can control a hand to slap a female model across the face. The more you hit her the worse her bruises get and your “Gangsta” rating keeps going up. Eventually you’ll reach “100% Gangsta,” at that point the words “100% Idiot” come up on the screen and the woman is seen on the floor crying in pain.

The United Nations Development Fund for Women estimates that at least one of every three women globally will be beaten, raped or otherwise abused during her lifetime and that in most cases the abuser is a member of their own family.

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t get it. It was a play on our desensitization to violence. Initially the Web site would be viewed the same way a video game, rap song or movie that promotes violence towards women would be viewed.

The creators hoped that in the end the user would feel guilty, but I doubt enough people will feel guilty enough to make the campaign a success. The campaign was a failure.

You have to also hit the model a lot to get to the point where the words “Idiot” flash on the screen. So it’s okay to hit her twice, but not ten times? I didn’t get past the first slap before I stopped. Even though I knew the site was fake it felt wrong.

It uses a real life model not a cartoon, which only adds to the effect.

It’s definitely something I haven’t seen before and it gets people discussing the issue, which is extremely taboo and hard to track.

Every year between 600,000 and 6 million women are victims of violence, according to the Domestic Violence Research Center. The statistic was compiled by using various studies and the spread is so wide because it’s hard to really track the total number of victims.

Before you rush to the computer the Web site is no longer available to users who live outside Denmark. Why? Because of high worldwide traffic, so many people wanted to “Hit the B****” that the site couldn’t handle the traffic.

So if you want to use it you’ll have to travel outside the country. In which case you have bigger problems than I thought. Maybe you can hitch a ride with Chris Brown?

Photo Credit: Aprile Sumague / Staff Reporter

Get ready for an exotic experience once you enter the two red doors of Marrakesh restaurant in Studio City. The intimate atmosphere inside sets the mood for a romantic Moroccan dinner date with décors like oil lamps, tasseled curtains, plush pillows and mosaic tables.

Marrakesh is by far the most unique restaurant that I have ever been to. Paper menus are not available, instead the servers recite the courses in detail.

The dinner starts off with washing your hands with warm rosemary water. There are five five-course meals to choose from. My date and I opted for the Fassi Dinner ($26.95), which includes chicken with lemon & olives, and the Marrakesh Mixed Grill ($32.95), which includes shrimp, lamb and chicken kabobs served on top of warm couscous vegetables. Each dinner is served with soup, salad, appetizer and dessert.

The soup Harira consists of lentils, celery, garbanzo beans and tomatoes. This is by far my favorite item from the restaurant. The soup was served warm and well-spiced. I wished they served it in bigger bowls.

The Moroccan Salad came in next, which consists of marinated and smashed eggplant, cucumbers, tomatoes and carrots. I hesitated to take a bite of the eggplant because I never liked the taste of it, but my date encouraged me to try it and said that “you cannot even taste the eggplant.” I did, and he was right; I had a few bites after that.

I thought the server made a mistake by serving the dessert first before the main course. Bastilla, the appetizer which is stuffed dough with chicken, scrambled eggs and almonds topped with powdered sugar and cinnamon was set on our table. I am not a big fan of the stuffing, but I loved the flaky dough.

At this point, my date and I were already full. While resting our tummies and waiting for the next course, loud Moroccan music blasted the entire restaurant. A belly dancer came out and started entertaining the guests. First, she danced in the middle of the room and danced her way to each table. She also encouraged guests to dance with her. The belly dancer was highly entertaining and is also a good workout in the middle of the meal if you participate. I would have joined her in dancing, if I were with a large group.

Our main dish finally arrived, and it looked overwhelming. They were served in big portions, and I thought my date and I could have shared one dish. The chicken from the Fassi Dinner honestly tasted like a Rotisserie chicken from Costco, but served fancier. It was, though, well-cooked and the meat slid off the bone. The only good thing about the Marrakesh Mixed Grill is the shrimp kebobs. I thought it was seasoned to perfection with just enough spice to it. The lamb and the chicken were tough; we had to ask for a pair of carving knives. My date and I hardly touched the couscous, as it was bland and dry, and decided to eat the main dish with bread instead.

The dessert, Baklava, was served with mint tea. I really liked this combination although it wouldn’t hurt to add more syrup on top of the Baklava.

My overall experience at Marrakesh was satisfactory. Out of five stars, I give the food three silver stars and 5 golden stars for the experience and the entertainment. The ambiance and the belly dancer make up for the average food that is rather expensive.

Photo by Egan Snow via Flickr

Organizations like the Surfrider Foundation,  keep tabs on those who pollute our oceans. The foundation even made it hard to believe that surfboards used to ride the waves are a threat to the environment and peoples’ health.

The New York Times article “Surf’s Up, Waste Down” states that surf boards made out of new foam are typically made with a carcinogenic compound called toluene diisocyanate (TDI), that is highly polutant. Although, the article’s focus was on the move to make boards greener, I was appalled to learn about the current method of what materials boards are made of.

Since we are close to our beaches, I assume many CSUN students are avid surfers who care about our environment and would consider switching their board to one that is more eco-friendly.

The Times focuses on a San Clemente based surfboard company, Green Foam Planks, that uses recycled boards and refurbishes them.

They collect  polyurethane cuttings, which come from the foam core boards, and mix them with virgin foam to create a board with 65 percent recycled waste.

The company, which began production earlier this year, has already managed to promote their boards by giving them out to professional surfers and celebrities who surf.

Catilin McCarrick / Staff Photographer

Hello fellow students,

During recent weeks, my administration has been looking for ways to ease the pain of students when it comes to budget cuts. Here’s what we have accomplished in the last few weeks:

* CSUN Associated Students’ (A.S.) first successful online election was completed on Nov. 4. We expect this to make elections in the future run more smoothly, reduce our environmental impact and cost less. I would like to thank A.S. Director of Elections Dan Monteleone, the entire elections committee and his advisors for making this such a great success.
* In an effort to be a more sustainable campus, the university will be installing approximately 200 waterless urinals and upgrading our irrigation systems to be more efficient. This will save millions of gallons of water and ultimately, money for our campus, which can then be reinvested on students. I applaud the work of the senators who helped draw awareness to water conservation, and also the university administration who have responded quickly and positively on this front. I will continue to keep the conversation going on a more sustainable campus.
* Successfully introduced to the California State Student Association a measure to support the Federal DREAM Act last weekend at a meeting of the 23 California State University campuses. The full board is expected to vote on this resolution next month.
* In a move designed to increase the visibility of the impact the budget crisis is having on students, we will be launching a postcard campaign. Our goal is to send thousands of brightly colored postcards to Governor Schwarzenegger and the state legislature in protest of the cuts crippling the CSU.
* The finance committee, under Director Shawn Hakim, will be working hard over winter break to process hundreds of requests from organizations seeking A.S. funding. The process this year has been modified to reduce our paper usage and be more efficient.

I would also like to congratulate all of the senators that were elected in the Nov. 4elections. I’m sure they will be great assets to Associated Students, and I look forward to working with them to represent students.

Abel Pacheco

Associated Students,

President

Los Angeles police and fire officials are stationed at the intersection of Reseda Boulevard and Lassen Street in Northridge, where a car filled with explosives had been brought, Thursday, Nov. 19. The explosives were later detonated on site. Photos by Jonathan Pobre / Executive Editor

Smoke is seen billowing out of the intersection of Reseda Boulevard and Lassen Street in Northridge shortly after a detonation of explosives, Thursday, Nov. 19.

The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Devonshire and Bomb Squad divisions responded to an incident where explosives were found Thursday evening, resulting in street closures on Reseda Boulevard between Lassen and Plummer streets. There were no injuries or arrests reported.

Traffic headed northbound from Plummer to Lassen was blocked by police officers from 3:30 p.m. until around 8 p.m. Caution tape was used to keep pedestrians about 100 yards away from Fire Station 70, where the explosives were brought, while police officers maintained an approximately two-block perimeter to block all traffic.

The explosives were found to be old pyrotechnics that belonged to a deceased relative of the woman who drove them to the fire station around 2 p.m., said Capt. Thomas Reyes of the Los Angeles Fire Department.

Fire Station 70 was “attached” to the incident from that time until it ended, preventing personnel from responding to other calls, Reyes said.

At 7:05 p.m. an explosion was heard just after a voice yelled out, “fire in the hole.”

A second, louder explosion went off at 7:35 p.m., quickly followed by a dark cloud of smoke.

They were controlled blasts directed by the Bomb Squad, said Lonnie Tiano, watch commander at LAPD Devonshire.

Northridge residents Hacatar and Lusin Tasci found themselves stuck on the corner of Lassen and Reseda, unable to cross the street to get to Yolanda Avenue where they live.

“I want to go home,” Lusin Tasci said.

The shopping center on the corner of Plummer and Reseda was also blocked off by caution tape.

“I have heard everything from hazmat to bomb scare,” said Kevin Finkel, a Northridge resident who had been at the scene since the situation began and lives on Reseda just a couple of blocks south of the fire station.