Gresham PD Controls a Drone. Photo from Gresham Police. I want everyone to know I did my best to be professional and resist the urge to open this article with the absolute softball about police and flying. I’ll leave that to your imagination. Because I’m a professional. What I’m referring to is the Gresham Police department’s recent launch of their “drones as first responders” program. Modeled after the Chula Vista police departments drone program that opened in 2018, robot c

[Ed. note: An earlier version of this story published in the May 31 issue of The Advocate misidentified the Town Hall facilitator as Doctor Abio Ayeliya, MHCC Director of Student life and Civic Engagement. He was not present at the meeting. The Advocate apologizes for the error.] On May 7, Mt. Hood Community College had its once-a-term Town Hall event – a forum held between the MHCC District Board of Education, our student government members, other Saints students, and anybo

Artwork by Devin Singh It has been an amazing year working with The Advocate, being able to contribute to every issue as much as I can. The freedom of bringing in my ideas and having them seen has always given me this feeling that I cannot describe. On top of that, I get to work with the most talented and passionate people who come into a room together to make The Advocate, who are willing to help and give wonderful ideas for the next comic I may draw. I recommend anyone with

No matter whether you have great, purposeful ambitions and experiences ahead or are heading into new adventures not by choice, moving on is hard. I have been with The Advocate since January 2023, almost a year and a half, and that is a major part of my life. Roughly 8% of my life up to this point has been spent working with a wonderful team of writers and editors at this college newspaper. My departure is a bittersweet moment as I thoroughly enjoyed my time here working with

“[Being a BIPOC adoptee] is a resilience that no one asked for.” – S. Loecker (she/they) Hi, I’m Kira. I am a Korean, transracial adoptee from Montana. In my thirty-something years, I have never thought to openly discuss my adoption story or its unsolicited mental health baggage. Thinking about it, no one has asked. I don’t blame them. It’s personal but also seems odd, given (almost) everyone is getting curious about exploring their mental health. Even so, the adoptee experie

Jojo Siwa, of Nickelodeon and “Dance Moms” fame, recently started out on what appears to be the least successful “All press is good press” PR campaign I’ve ever seen. Jojo blew up on TikTok in 2021 after publicly coming out in a video dancing to the song “Born this Way” by Lady Gaga, and opened up about her relationship with a woman named “Kylie Pru.” The pair would split later that year and eventually get back together, but Jojo would continue to gain popularity on the app f

Image sourced from opb.org In November 2020, Oregon voters approved Ballot Measure 110, which decriminalized the unlawful possession of small amounts of controlled substances in an effort to direct police to more useful pursuits and to break the stigma of those suffering from substance addiction. The aim was to provide counseling and health services for addicts, instead of punishing them for a disease they have. This measure looked incredible on paper, but unfortunately, the

Frutiger Aero, a style you might recognize from late 2000s and early 2010s advertising, technology, and media, has recently come back with a vengeance. This post-Y2K look first emerged in the home screens of the Windows Vista operating system, and went on to influence several pieces of physical technology with its smooth, shiny, and brightly toned aesthetic. Frutiger Aero’s main visual components are sprawling green fields, sunny blue skies, and bright white futuristic struct

“There is no planet B,” reads a sign held by a young protester in NYC, back in 2019. The subject of the protest is a dark, shadowy figure. It has been referred to in many ways – global warming; the problem of our generation; climate change. Climate change as a concept has existed for well over a century – says NASA. In 1896, Svante Arrhenius, a physical chemist and physicist, predicted that any changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels could cause the Earth’s surface tempe

Image sourced from LinkedIn.com For many of us, the thought of going to college and getting a degree is nothing more than a fantasy. Time-consuming and expensive, colleges are largely inaccessible to those struggling with poverty, with children, or who work full-time. Personally, I had never thought I’d be able to afford higher education until I learned about MHCC. Affordable tuition and classes are only a part of what makes Mt. Hood so important. Our school also offers numer

Submitted by Twila Bruni, MHCC Funeral Service Education Student Can you believe that we are already well into the year 2024? Somehow four years have flown by within the blink of an eye – and our lives as we know them have been changed forever, whether we like to admit it or not. It isn’t as if we all forgot about the treacherous time that was 2020. It seems as if we were all forced into the lifestyle of hermit crabs who learned to love life at home and take what we can get

With the rapidly approaching election of student body leaders (Associated Students of Mt. Hood Community College) comes a small handbook of guidelines. This handbook is full of the morals the college wants candidates to embody and pages to fill out if you want to give it a shot (you should). It also states proudly on the cover, “BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO SEE” – a mantra of good intentions that I believe MHCC has beyond failed to support. Upon opening the packet, one of the fi

Mt. Hood Community College’s website redesign is just around the corner! No, it is not the first time that has been said, but after all the delays, I have been told that the new website is launching this Winter Term “for sure.” Knock on wood. I, for one, am looking forward to the improvements the overhaul will bring. In the meantime, I want to take the opportunity as an MHCC student to share what I would like to see from the new website. First off, if you have ever read an

MHCC is already halfway through the academic calendar year, meaning that Associated Students of Mt. Hood Community College (ASMHCC) President Javier Estrada and Vice President Emily Phoun are halfway through their one-year term. It made sense to sit down recently with Estrada and Phoun to check in with goals they set last year, issues currently effecting students, and their aims looking forward. First, I asked about Barney’s Broadcast, a project they eagerly described last sp

Photo by Tony Acker “Let’s give a moment of silence to the motherfuckers still suffering…” These words echo in my brain as a reminder to myself that although I am not exactly where I want to be, I am no longer suffering and causing others to suffer due to the results of my drug and alcohol abuse. Another big reminder for me is seeing my community members in severe danger from their substance abuse addictions. I drive by a houseless camp, or someone strung out yelling at dem

Gambling has long been a part of our society, an entertaining way for people to play their favorite card games and perhaps to win a large sum of money. Familiar games such as poker, blackjack, or slot machines quickly come to mind. But there is another way of gambling rapidly expanding across America: legalized sports betting, which offers fans an opportunity to win big payouts but also take big losses. Sports betting places money (a wager) on a particular outcome for a prof

When I was little, Valentine’s Day meant preparing hand-crafted cards for all the other kids in my class, plus my teacher. I would make 27-32 items, often using class time to practice the skills of cutting, pasting, lettering, and planning, to make them all by the deadline of Feb. 14. I got good at making sure I had the base materials labeled for each of the people I wanted to honor on Valentine’s Day. I also learned how important it is to prioritize the creation of the items

The first time I walked onto the Mt. Hood Community College campus I was intrigued by the distinct concrete architecture style, otherwise known as “brutalism.” However, the charm of the concrete Academic Center wing quickly crumbled away, as serious problems with it and the surrounding campus began to reveal themselves – issues I believe significantly impact the student experience and, in some cases, safety. Here I will I bring up potential solutions, some that may even be co

Photo: Jenny Kane / AP As we all struggled through the bitter cold weather during the blizzard that walloped Portland Oregon from Jan. 13 through the weekend and well into the following week, some of our neighbors weren’t so lucky. For those who don’t even have four walls and a roof over them to fight off the wind, snow, cold, and wet it was especially brutal. Those who had to venture outside of their homes for work or travel faced tremendous peril. What we know now is that i

Many wise people recommend keeping a journal to process the emotions and ideas of our inner world. The act of keeping a journal, or a record of our thoughts, gives us a platform on which to work through our struggles, toss up our feelings onto the page and then reflect as we observe the words and drawings. It is therapeutic to put my words on paper and realize that I didn’t have to store them in my head any longer. By putting the words on paper, I could see patterns and get t