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Wednesday January 16, 2002
Clackamas Community College
Oregon City, Oregdn
Volume XXXVI, Issue
9
synesthesia earns national recognition
MAGGIE JIRASEK
Editor-in-Chief
synesthesia,
Clackamas'
lit
erary arts magazine, won a
first-place award in the
American Scholastic Press
Association’s annual maga
zine competition for being
an outstanding overall ex
ample of a scholastic pub
lication in format, content
and presentation.
The journal competed
with other publications na
tionwide and according to
the ASPA, "it shows a great
deal of time, energy and tal
ent by the writers, artists,
editors, photographers, lay
out designers and advisor."
The first time synes
thesia entered the annual
magazine competition, in
1998, it won a second-place
award.
synesthesia started out
as a way to publish the win
ners of Clackamas' writers
contest about ten years ago
but soon developed into a
course where students
would be in charge of lay
out, design and choosing
SALENA DE LA CRUZ / Clackamas Print
Amanda Coffey, advisor to synesthesia, wallows happily in copies of the college's
award-winning literary journal.
specific poems, stories,
plays and art work for their
publication.
“The class and the
journal go together,” ex
plained Amanda Coffey,
English instructor and ad
visor. “We focus on edit
ing and publishing in the
literary world and we look
at different literary jour
nals. Students are respon
sible for the whole thing,
from the beginning to the
end. They do everything
from the actual selection to
design and software on the
computer.”
Students who are in
terested in literary jour
nals, layout and production
should sign up for WR 246,
which will be offered in the
spring term. They should
have taken at least one cre
ative writing class before,
either
in
fiction,
playwriting, poetry or
screenwriting. For those
who want to submit a story,
poem, drama, essay or art
work for consideration for
the next issue of synesthe
sia, contact Coffey at ext.
2829.
Unemployment rate rises, hopes fall
NICK BARRON
Business Manager
The unemployment rate for
the state of Oregon rose in the
month of December to 7.5 per
cent, the highest rate of any state
in the nation, leaving 129,500
Oregonians searching for a steady
source of income.
Oregon has experienced a
steady increase in unemployment
since December 2000, when the
unemployment rate was 4.2 per
cent. Since then, the state’s num
ber of unemployed people has sky
rocketed by 58,400, while the
number of employed people has
dropped by 63,700.
Manufacturing has cut the
most jobs, letting go of 3,100
people, mostly in the lumber and
wood-products industry, which
lost 900 jobs. Another reason
What's Inside?
Opinión...Page 2
News...Page 3
Feature...Page 4
A & E...Page 5
Sports...Pages 6-7
The End...Page 8
behind Oregon’s sky-high unem
ployment rate is the impact that
high-tech manufacturing has on
the state’s economy, an industry
that dropped 600 jobs.
“Two friends of ours got
laid off from Freightliner. They
had a shortage of trucks to be
built,” said Cassandra Hall, a
CCC student.
In the construction indus
try, the number of unemployed
rose more drastically than the
normal seasonal decline, as 2,500
jobs were eliminated in Decem
ber. The number of employed
people in December was 75,600,
the lowest seasonal number since
December 1995.
An industry that usually
grows from September to Decem
ber is that of retail, which in 2000
hired 12,300 people during that
period. 2001’s holiday hiring,
though, fell short of that total with
just 11,300 jobs added to accom
modate holiday shoppers.
Tyler VanOsdol, student,
was a car salesman for a local re
tailer, but noticed his paychecks
were getting slim as the economy
slowed down. “I quit my job be
cause of the economy; no one was
buying cars."
Clackamas student Scott
Vondrachek’s father and father-
in-law lost their employment.
“My dad lost his job two months
ago at Qwest My father-in-law
lost his job last month because
the company was going under.”
There are some industries
in Oregon which have not been
affected as severely by the eco
nomic downturn as other indus
tries. For example, the health ser
vices industry which includes
nurses, pharmacists and lab tech
nicians, added 900 jobs in De
cember and has expanded by
4,800 jobs since 2001. Social ser
vices has added jobs, mostly due
to the expanding population.
Other industries that have
been less affected by the reces
sion are those that provide people
with local entertainment. In the
economic aftermath of Sept. 11,
the majority of Americans are opt
ing not to travel but to spend time
and money close to their homes.
This trend led to an increase of
500 jobs in December for the
motion-picture and amusement in
dustry. Included in this industry
are movie theaters, ski resorts, fit
ness clubs and video-rental stores.
In November, the Port
land-Vancouver metro area lost
700 jobs, bucking the trend of
gaining several thousand as it has
done in recent years. The metro
area, which features Clackamas
County, has 22,500 fewer jobs
than a year ago.
“I hear a lot of places are
taking the lowest bidders for jobs.
It doesn’t matter how good you
are, just how cheap you are,”
stated Bryan Casey, whose uncle
lost his position at an area print
shop.
Lance Gardner of Adams
Temporaries in Clackamas, says
that there has “definitely been an
increase” in the number of people
looking for temporary employ
ment Of those individuals, most
seem to be non-college graduates.
Gardner stated that at this stage,
a college graduate is still “in a
better position to find them
(jobs).”
One potential employer for
college students in the area has
been the Clackamas County Parks
Department. Every summer an
average of 25 to 30 people, gen
erally ranging in age from 18 to
24, are hired. This year, however,
may be quite different, accord
ing to Mike McLees, parks su
pervisor for Clackamas County.
McLees believes that his depart
ment will be forced to make some
adjustments this year, as the
state’s budget problems trickle
down to the local level.
Clackamas County parks may
open for the season later than the
usual April 1. Another change
could be allowing camping just
on the weekends. Both measures
would mean less hours for sea
sonal employees or less employ
ees needed.
See Unemployment, page 3