2021 Collegian Times Cultured L.A.

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COLLEGIAN TIMES 2021 SPRING-SUMMER

ROBERT WILLIAMS, LACC ALUMNUS ‘MR. BITCHIN’ JUXTAPOSES LOWBROW, FINE ART

MAY BE?

MAEBE A. GIRL WILL WIN A SEAT IN CONGRESS

CULTURED L.A.

HOLLYWOOD GAY BARS, SKATEBOARDERS AND HOT CARS

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

Campus life slowed, then disappeared in the face of the pandemic last spring. The Hollywood Freeway emptied out for a while near L.A. City College, as students and faculty stayed home for months and plunged into Zoom culture. Culture and cartoon king Robert Williams says, if you can think it, you can say it with a cartoon. We tested that when reporters Rebecca Grazier and John Johns delved into the L.A. City College roots of the artist, magazine publisher and creator of an art movement. Photojournalist Louis White followed the contours of the 515 miles of freeways in L.A. County, where you are what you drive, and a lot of people are turning into Teslas. Car culture was not born here, but it certainly has flourished in Los Angeles. From widebody muscle-cars to single-seater smart cars, they all share the road. Sit back and ride this one to its conclusion. Cultured L.A. is not a question, it is a confident, definitive statement. Where else would Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee Mike Stoller spend time in a therapeutic drumline with former gang members? The alumnus uses music to heal at Homeboys Industries. A trans politico wants the congressional seat of the Honorable Adam Schiff of Burbank. It would be a first. Matthew Rodriguez follows the political trajectory of Maebe A. Girl. Some things are forever lost in translation, but not in the multicultural newsroom of the Collegian. Edward Locke uses his Mandarin-language skills to spill the tea on the largest Chineselanguage newspaper in the U.S., that foments hate right under our noses. A newspaper from Taiwan delivers racist messages about African Americans to its American readers from coast to coast. What happens in Compton does not stay there. A transplant from Chile gets his first skateboard and moves back to Latin America and exports skater culture with him. And it is the end of the road for The Faultline. It provided a sense of community to its LGBTQ clients for decades. Culture reporter Will Torres traces L.A. gay bars back to 1891. LAPD officers arrested journalists who reported on their evictions of the homeless of Echo Park. Collegian reporter Keliyah Williams faced charges, too. Free Keliyah. Free Speech. Preserve freedom of the press. A small but mighty band of social media users showed Wall Street they can cut a piece of the pie for themselves. GameStop anyone? I am from Los Angeles, and one of the people who was born and reared here. I believe I am certified and authorized to say, yes, LACC we’ve got culture without you ever taking an onramp or the Metro or a trip to LAX. Just turn the page. Best regards, Angela Johnson Editor-in-Chief Collegian Times

COLLEGIAN TIMES STAFF Editor-in-Chief: ANGELA JOHNSON Art Director: BEATRICE ALCALA Copy Editors: JOHN JOHNS THANDI CHIMURENGA Photo Editors: BEATRICE ALCALA, LOUIS WHITE Reporters: DIANA CAMPBELL, JAMES DUFFY V, REBECCA GRAZIER, JOHN JOHNS, JUAN MENDOZA, MATTHEW RODRIGUEZ, WILLIAM B. TORRES, KELIYAH WILLIAMS, LOUIS WHITE Columnists: THANDI CHIMURENGA. EDWARD LOCKE, KELIYAH WILLIAMS Photographers: FRANKIE MARTINEZ, MARTIN BAUTISTA, WHITNEY D. GIBSON, JAMES DUFFY V, LOUIS WHITE Illustrators: STEPHANIE KO, CASSANDRA MUÑOZ, MARISSA RODRIGUEZ Special Thanks to photography professor DANIEL MARLOS Adviser: RHONDA GUESS Broadcast/Online Producer: BEATRICE ALCALA

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TABLE OF CONTENTS CULTURED L.A. ISSUE

6. STEAL AWAY WITH BOOKS THIS SUMMER We survey the literature faculty expect incoming freshmen to read at some of the top universities. 8. LATIN AMERICAN FILMMAKERS FIND BALANCE IN ACTIVE ART Chilean filmmaker takes skateboarding from South Central L.A. to Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. 10. MAEBE A. GIRL TRAILBLAZES A PATH TO CONGRESS Unconventional times call for a candidate that will get out the vote for the 2022 midterm elections. Maybe, that’s Maebe A. Girl.

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CAMERA LENS

CAPTURES PERFORMANCE ART

12. ROAD ENDS IN EAST HOLLYWOOD FOR FAULTLINE Former patrons remember happy times “over the rainbow” at the legendary gay club once owned by Judy Garland’s husband. 14. CAMERA LENS CAPTURES PERFORMANCE ART A visual artist and performance artist collaborate to share their vision. 19. FUN WITH FERAL CATS Great satisfaction comes in saving the lives of a family of wild felines. 20. IN THEIR OWN WORDS: PORTRAIT POSING Photojournalist Louis White explores the face of androgyny. Reflections on gender and the challenge to live authentic lives outside of mainstream culture unfolds during portraits. 22. IN YOUR FACE: GUN CULTURE RUSHES INTO FOCUS Working the graveyard shift at his brother-in-law’s convenience store almost sent our writer John Johns to an early grave. 24. CHO IS SO SERIOUS; SHE MAKES YOU LAUGH Culture reporter Will B. Torres interviews Margaret Cho about her new podcast, her sexuality and the violence Asian Americans face today. 26. MUSIC TREASURE PLAYS IT FORWARD FOR HOMEBOYS Half of the songwriting team of “Hound Dog” for Elvis Presley pays it forward and uses music to create harmony among former gang members. 29. STRONG HANDS KEEP HOLDING Small but mighty group of social media users shows Wall Street Bros they know how to play the market and win, too. 31. CAR CULTURE: IT’S STILL TRUE, NOBODY WALKS IN L.A. Cali car culture rules the streets of L.A. Nobody walks in the City of Angels. 36. PROJECT ROOMKEY OPENS DOOR TO GET UNHOUSED OFF THE STREET Providing shelter for the unhoused is just the first step toward making a difference in their lives. 38. SMALL ‘WORLD JOURNAL’ PROMOTES RACISM, LOST IN TRANSLATION Edward Locke translates and refutes the racist messages in a Taiwanese newspaper that publishes from coast to coast. 40. COVID-WEARY REPORTER MAKES GUATEMALA ESCAPE Will B. Torres explores the natural splendor of Guatemala, a country that many Americans overlook. 44. POLICE SNARE COLLEGIAN REPORTER IN HOMELESS CRACKDOWN Free speech groups cried foul when the LAPD evicted homeless residents of Echo Park and arrested journalists covering the protest. 46. ROBERT WILLIAMS Alumnus Robert Williams brings lowbrow to the highfalutin world of art. 50. SHERIFF ALEX VILLANUEVA Needs to have a seat. 51. ART Cartoons with a conscience.

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NOBODY WALKS IN L.A.

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CREATE SKATE

The college magazine is published as a learning experience, offered under the college journalism instructional program. The editorial and advertising materials published herein, including any opinions expressed, are the responsibility of the student newspaper staff. Under appropriate state and federal court decisions, these materials are free from prior restraint by virtue of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. Accordingly, materials published herein, including any opinions expressed, should not be interpreted as the position of the Los Angeles Community College District, Los Angeles City College, or any officer or employee thereof. Collegian ©2021. No material may be reprinted without the express written permission of the Los Angeles Collegian.

FILMMAKERS FIND BALANCE IN ACTIVE ART

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FREE SPEECH GROUPS CONDEMN LAPD ARRESTS OF REPORTERS

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COLLEGIAN TIMES 2021 SPRING-SUMMER

ROBERT WILLIAMS, LACC ALUMNUS ‘MR. BITCHIN’ JUXTAPOSES LOWBROW, FINE ART

MAY BE?

MAEBE A. GIRL WILL WIN A SEAT IN CONGRESS

CULTURED L.A.

HOLLYWOOD GAY BARS, SKATEBOARDERS AND HOT CARS

2021 Collegian Times Cover art by Robert Williams “Irene Interfacing with an Astrodynamic Epiphany”

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University of California, Berkeley (Selected by faculty) Fiction: “Where the Crawdads Sing” by Delia Owens Science: “Silent Spring” by Rachel Carson The Arts: “Borderwall as Architecture” by Ronald Rael History: “Two Weeks in November” by Douglas Rogers Psychology: “The Righteous Mind” by Jonathan Haidt

STEAL AWAY WITH BOOKS THIS SUMMER BY JOHN JOHNS

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ILLUSTRATION BY CASSANDRA MUNOZ

ou’ve done well. Now, you are ready to take the next step. But to what college or university? Every website seems alike, with smart looking students, stately campuses with perfectly manicured lawns, leafy trees in autumn colors and red brick walls covered with ivy. They practically shout, “You belong here!” But, how do you know it is the right place for you? Especially, if your knowledge of the prospective college is limited to the website. One of the best ways to learn what campus might be a good fit is to figure out the culture or subculture of a campus by seeing what the faculty expects incoming students to read. Your intrepid Collegian Times staff has assembled short lists of five books each from eight different schools that range from three of America’s great public universities, to a small historically black women’s college, two Ivy League schools and finally two of the service academies. For consistency, we focused on the academic fields of literature (fiction), the Arts, science, history and psychology. Where no selection was made and a title is not listed in the category, it is because no selection was made by the faculty or students. Hence, it wasn’t important to the recommenders. Finally, we compiled a separate list of books that are on every school’s list.∫ Plus, an interesting surprise. ∫

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (Selected by the library staff ) Fiction: “The Cellist of Sarajevo” by Steven Galloway Science: “The Weather Makers” by Tim Flannery The Arts: “Satchmo” by Gary Giddins History: “One Vast Winter Count” by Colin G. Calloway Psychology: “Mistakes Were Made (but Not by Me)” by Carol Tavris; Elliot Aronson Spelman College (Selected by the student body) Fiction: “They Tell Me of a Home” by Daniel Black Science: (no offering in this subject area) The Arts: “My Song: A Memoir of Art, Race and Defiance” by Harry Belafonte History: “The Firebrand and the First Lady” by Patricia Bell-Scott Psychology: “Heavy” by Kiese Laymon University of Texas, Austin (Selected by the faculty) Fiction: “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain Science: “Physics for Future Presidents: The Science Behind the Headlines” by Richard Muller The Arts: (no offering in this subject area) History: “The Hot Zone: The Terrifying True Story of the Origins of the Ebola Virus” by Richard Preston Psychology: “The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains” by Nicholas Carr

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United States Military Academy, West Point (Selected by the Commandant) Fiction: “Gates of Fire: An Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermopylae” by Steven Pressfield Science: “Army of None: Autonomous Weapons and the Future of War” by Paul Scharre The Arts: (no offering in this subject area) History: The Peloponnesian War by Thucydides Psychology: “Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking” by Malcolm Gladwell United States Naval Academy, Annapolis (Chosen by the Commandant) Fiction: “Ghost Fleet: A Novel of the Next World War” by P.W. Singer & August Cole Science: “Army of None: Autonomous Weapons and the Future of War” by Paul Scharre The Arts: (no offering in this subject area) History: “Neptune’s Inferno: the U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal” by James D. Hornfischer Psychology: “The Honest Truth About Dishonesty” by Dan Ariely Harvard Divinity School (Chosen by alumni and students) Fiction: “Moses, Man of the Mountain” by Zora Neale Hurston Science: (no offering in this subject area) The Arts: (no offering in this subject area) History: “The Black and the Blue: A Cop Reveals the Crimes, Racism, and Injustice in America’s Law Enforcement” by Matthew Horace and Ron Harris Psychology: “The Christian Imagination” by Willie Jennings

Princeton University (Chosen by the faculty) Fiction: “The Garies and Their Friends” by Frank Webb Science: “The Cholera Years: The United States in 1832, 1849, and 1866” by Charles Rosenberg The Arts: “The Tower and the Bridge: The New Art of Structural Engineering” by David Billington History: “Cigarettes, Inc.: An Intimate History of Corporate Imperialism” by Nan Estad Psychology: (no offering in this subject area) Phi Beta Kappa Honorary Society (Recommended or written by members) Fiction: “Not Without Laughter” by Langston Hughes Science: “The Social Life of DNA: Race, Reparations, and Reconciliation after the Genome” by Alondra Nelson The Arts: “Here I Stand” by Paul Robeson History: “Imperial Intimacies: A Tale of Two Islands” by Hazel Canby Psychology: “The Deepest Well” by Dr. Nadine Burke Harris Books Everybody is Reading “How to be an Antiracist” by Ibram X. Kendi “The Warmth of Other Suns” by Isabel Wilkerson “Maus” by Art Spiegleman “Between the World and Me” by Ta-Nehisi Coates “Killers of the Flower Moon” by David Grann “The New Jim Crow” by Michelle Alexander

Studies show that 75% of the public never read a single book. Read two books on this list and you’ll be ahead of 90% of the population. Enjoy your summer, reading of course. And, keep up the good work!

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n a t a c u Y Merida,

! e t a Cre

! e t a Sk

LATIN AMERICAN FILMMAKERS FIND BALANCE IN ACTIVE ART BY REBECCA GRAZIER PHOTOS COURTESY OF UNSPLASH.COM

Colonial architecture, trendy boutiques and Olmec-Toltec culture and cuisine are good reasons to hang out in Merida, in Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. It’s called the “white city” for the limestone buildings and its cleanliness, but it is just one of several destinations in Latin America that inspires fast and furious skateboard art.

Chiche'n itzaá '

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t’s the middle of the day, and the sun is bright as a man stands on a six-foot-high concrete gap. His dark blue jeans stand out against a red shirt that reads “Tricolor 00.” The 20-something is perched atop one of the largest gaps in Latin America for skateboarders. A gap is the distance between two points of different heights that a skater must overcome. The 20-something man’s brown hair creates a contrast against the blue sky. He stands on the edge, skateboard in hand, and he looks below at the four very large blocks and grass gap beneath him. He turns around, puts his right foot on the skateboard and skates all the way to the other end of the concrete gap, which is about 20 feet away. He turns around. With his right foot on his board, he begins pushing, all the way to the edge of the gap where he jumps off. He hits the ground and lands on his side. He gets up and walks back to the other end of the gap. Again, he gets back on his board. He starts pushing, all the way to the edge of the gap where he jumps off. He lands again on his side, and this time he scrapes the palms of his hands as he slides against the concrete.

This happens three more times. On the sixth try, he kicks, and the board flips. He catches the board in the air as it flies through the sky. He lands the trick, but not before he puts his hands on the ground. He gets back up and tries it again. On the eighth try, he finally lands one of the biggest kick-flips in skateboarding history. The skateboarder is Jorge “Pekas” Farah, and the film is chapter four of “Gap De Locos,” a four-part video series on Farah, one of the best-known skateboarders in Latin America. Victor Antillanca filmed the movie. He is also the creator of Conception Video Magazine, an international video magazine filmed by six Latin American skateboarders. Antillanca was Born in Santiago, Chile and moved to Los Angeles with his parents in 1999. He was just 12 years old when he moved to Watts, a neighborhood in South Los Angeles. Although they only lived in Los Angeles for one-year, the memories for Antillanca are vivid: helicopters overhead, gun shots and people running from the police. The Chilean filmmaker moved around a lot during the three years he lived in the United States. Antillanca remembers the day when he got his first skateboard. It was 1999.

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“Another Chilean kid gave me a used World Industries board and some wheels, so I learned to ollie on the living room of my house in Watts,” Antillanca said. “So, counting from my first ollie to now, I’ve been skating for 21 years.” The skateboarder and filmmaker has had a passion for skateboarding ever since. He moved back to Santiago for a year to live with his grandparents when he was 15. Then, a desire to see more of the world compelled him to leave Chile at 16. He traveled a bit, and he then moved to Cancun, Mexico at the age of 19. He ended up living in Cancun for 10 years while he traveled the world. During his time in Mexico, Antillanca honed his skills as a filmmaker. He met like-minded people with the same passion for skateboarding. What began as a personal project in Mexico, has grown into an international video magazine with creative filmmakers from North America, Central America and South America. Antillanca came up with the idea of Conception Video Magazine while sitting at a desk in his studio in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico in 2016. He had been meditating on what he wanted to do with his life. That’s when he says the idea came to him. What began as a personal effort to travel, skate and film, morphed into an international creative project. “I just wanted to live my life doing what I love,” he said. “I knew then that this was what I had to do.” Antillanca learned to make films as a young teen. He is self-taught. His first documentary followed the lives of street vendors in La Alameda, Santiago, Chile who police persecuted. He produced his first film for Conception with a friend in Playa Del Carmen, Julio Mora. He created a storyboard with an idea of the type of video he would create. The duo filmed their first clip in an hour with a Nikon camera and a 50mm lens. “The footage came out super dope,” Antillanca said. “I recently posted a clip from this video and some people thought it was a film. I thought that was dope.” The film he is referring to is called “Twerk.” It is a video about skateboarding that he filmed during spring break of 2015. He continued to work at his craft. By the time the pandemic arrived in 2020, he went in a new direction. He turned his personal project into an international collaboration. He invited fellow filmmakers from Mexico and Chile to join him. Alberto Aquino Ramirez is one of them, and he is based in Oaxaca, Mexico. Ramirez says skateboarding is big in his city, and it is evolving fast. He spent more than three decades of his life

skateboarding. He began filming other skaters when he was 13 years old. It opened doors for him that led to work at a TV station where he could hone his skills. Ramirez says he hopes to contribute to international skateboarding by exposing the best skaters in his country. “Now, it has more government support because parks are being built, and there is also a street culture, but more filmmakers and photographers are needed to meet the demand for skaters,” Ramirez said. In South America, filmmaker and skateboarder Andres Flandez has been skating for 28 years. He remembers playing with his brothers’ skateboard. He says the sport is gaining popularity. “Skateboarding is taking spaces in every single town of Chile and a lot of insane kids are coming up,” Flandez said. “But we still have a lot of work to do yet, especially opening dialogue spaces between the skateboard scene and the government.” Skaters are often misunderstood. Some people view them as vandals, thugs and stoners. While some skateboarders are guilty of jumping fences to access areas that are “off limits,” skateboarders usually do so to skate those ledges, benches, and staircases they cannot find anywhere else. They start young. Flandez is based in Valdivia, Chile. He began filming his friends while they were skateboarding. “I remember stealing my mother´s camera every afternoon while she was working and going to film with my friends when I was 12,” Flandez said. “Then at 21, I bought my first camera and started filming everyone that was into it.” Flandez says filming for Conception is a great way to do what he loves, and it lets him move around the world. He says it allows him to meet people from different cultures. “It’s like a passport to get in any city in the globe, and I think that’s amazing,” Flandez said. “Conception Video Magazine” consists of four sections. “Good Weather”is a daylight video montage and features a crew of skaters from different cities in different countries. The group produces “Night Sessions,” which is only filmed at nighttime, “Respect,” and “Short Films,” which is filmed over 30 days with one skateboarder. “That’s how we tell our story, and for those who skateboard, this montage is more cinematic, and personally is one of my favorite ones to do,” Antillanca said. With filmmakers based in three different parts of Mexico, these Latin American filmmakers show others what skateboarding is like in their part of the world. ∫

ILLUSTRATION BY CASSANDRA MUNOZ

SIDE WALK SURFING

Deck – the flat board that a skateboarder stands on when skating. Trucks – are essential to the skateboard because they are used to attach the wheels to the board. Ollie -is a trick where the skateboarder leaps into the air without using his or her hands. Bomb a hill – to skate down a big hill. Bowl - a vert or mini ramp that wraps around forming the shape of a bowl. Drop in when you go from a flat transition to a steep transition. Front flip - a frontside ollie with a 180 degree kickflip. Kickflip - is the maneuver in skateboarding in which the rider flips their skateboard 360° along the axis that extends from the nose to the tail of the deck. Push - With one foot on the board, the other pushes along the ground to get speed. Wallride - A trick where you ride your board on a very steep or vertical wall. Half pipe - A ramp composed of a flatbottom with concave transition leading to vert on both sides. Nose - The part of the deck in front of the two mounting holes which is steeper and longer than the tail. Wheelslide- when you slow down without putting your feet down.

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THIS IDEA OF INCREMENTAL CHANGE IS GETTING US NOWHERE. —MAEBE A. GIRL

Unconventional times may call for unconventional candidates, and Maebe A. Girl could be the sort of person that causes voters to rally in the 2022 midterm elections.

MAEBE A. GIRL

TRAILBLAZES PATH TO CONGRESS BY MATTHEW RODRIGUEZ

PHOTO BY WHITNEY GIBSON

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he holds the distinction of first drag queen ever elected to public office in America two years ago, and she won reelection to the Silver Lake Neighborhood Council in April where she serves as treasurer and Region 5 Representative. Meet Maebe A. Girl – a 34-year-old trans non-binary – someone who does not identify as exclusively male or female. She often wears a body conscious dress, topped with a tailored jacket and three-strand pearl necklace. She may opt for black platform boots or pumps with matching tights. A photo of the neighborhood councilperson in a sleeveless green blouse exposes a series of wristto-shoulder tattoos. She alters her hair color from jet black with soft body waves, to platinum-blond tresses depending on her mood that day. Meticulous. From the sweep of black eyeliner to a soft contrast of pinkish lipstick. Maebe is more than

6 feet tall. She prefers the pronouns she, her and they. And when work on behalf of her constituents is over, she “hosts, produces and performs in drag shows around Los Angeles,” according to her website. “For decades, drag queens have been a vital part of the LGBTQ community and are often pillars of the community when things go wrong,” she says. “And, I carry that over into my political world. Whether or not drag is trying to be political, it’s an involuntary act against what our society says are how things should be.” Voters swept Maebe and her progressive agenda into office with a slate of like-minded neighborhood public servants in 2019. A year later, she placed third with more than 20,000 votes in a bid to unseat Adam Schiff, the prominent democrat from the 28th Congressional District in California. “L.A. is such a progressive city, or at least we think it is. But, if you look at our representation it

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is very centrist,” Maebe says. “I don’t think that’s an accurate reflection of its people.” So, she will make a second attempt to beat the incumbent, Congressman Adam Schiff in the midterms next year. In 2020, Maebe ran her first primary election campaign hoping to unseat Schiff for California’s 28th Congressional District seat where she placed third behind runner-up Eric Early. The margin was narrow: only 1,114 votes behind Early. For Maebe, the result of the 2020 general election was anything but a defeat. “Especially for an unconventional candidate, somebody who is a trans person, a drag queen, we weren’t really sure what to expect. And, we were so grateful for the outcome. We came closer than we ever thought imaginable,” she said. If elected, Maebe would be not only the first transgender person ever elected to Congress, but she would join a growing faction of progressives within the Democratic Party who advocate for popular policies such as Medicare for All and the Green New Deal. Maebe seems bold and unafraid. She does not hide her stance as a progressive alternative to Schiff. “I am technically running as a Democrat, but I am a leftist, a progressive,” she says. The future of progressives within the Democratic Party is uncertain. Some proponents advocate pushing Democrats to the left, while others advocate the formation of a third party. Maebe says the answer to the million-dollar question for progressives lies somewhere in the middle. “The future of progressives and leftists . . . I think it needs to be both,” she says. “Democrats know their vulnerabilities and progressives are their vulnerabilities. They are not actually in favor of a Green New Deal or Medicare for All and that is because of their corporate ties to the pharmaceutical, insurance, and fossil fuel industries. Unfortunately, money is power and that needs to change.” Maebe says she will not accept corporate dollars. This places her at philosophical odds with the incumbent who accepted $958,089 in contributions from lawyers and lobbyists in 2020, according to The Center for Responsive Politics (CRP). Schiff ’s campaign committee and leadership PAC raised a total of $22.4 million in 2019-2020. This included contributions from the University of California, Stanford University, Disney, Davis Companies, Comcast, AT&T, retirees, Raytheon Technologies, Boeing, law firms and others. Maebe says she is not running to smear Schiff, but says she is bothered by the idealization of today’s politicians. She says his voting record speaks for itself. “I’m a firm believer that a politician is only as good as their voting record,” Maebe says. “If you take a look at Adam Schiff ’s voting record, there’s a lot of iffy stuff in there. I wanted to run as somebody who

THE FUTURE OF PROGRESSIVES AND LEFTISTS . . . I THINK IT NEEDS TO BE BOTH,” SHE SAYS. “DEMOCRATS KNOW THEIR VULNERABILITIES AND PROGRESSIVES ARE THEIR VULNERABILITIES. THEY ARE NOT ACTUALLY IN FAVOR OF A GREEN NEW DEAL OR MEDICARE FOR ALL AND THAT IS BECAUSE OF THEIR CORPORATE TIES TO THE PHARMACEUTICAL, INSURANCE, AND FOSSIL FUEL INDUSTRIES. UNFORTUNATELY, MONEY IS POWER AND THAT NEEDS TO CHANGE.

is more like the everyday person, someone working class, someone who has experienced oppression in their lives.” A cursory glance at Schiff ’s voting record reveals ties to the military industrial complex and corporate firms. Maebe unflinchingly lays out the facts. “If you take a look at who his donors are, his donors are weapons manufacturers and defense contractors. Northrop, Grumman, and Lockheed Martin who have given hundreds of thousands of dollars to his campaign.” CRP shows Northrop contributed $22,000 to Schiff ’s leadership PAC and campaign finance in 2015-2016. This unconventional politician is seizing the moment to cement a place for herself in the political arena and convince voters of the common interests and goals that cross party and identity lines. She imagines a vast and influential coalition that has the power to drive change. Maebe says policies like Medicare for All, the Green New Deal, and abolishing ICE are common goals that voters can all rally around to create tangible policy.

What is most impressive about Maebe A. Girl is her recognition of the intersectionality of social issues that are widely treated as unrelated. She recognizes that advocacy for one cause will almost always mean advocacy for another. “The thing is, we can actually focus on both at the same time, they are deeply related,” she says. “For example, medical justice is LBGTQ justice, you can’t have one without the other. This idea of incremental change is getting us nowhere.” The issue of homelessness in Los Angeles County is particularly close to her heart and doubts anyone living in the city would deny that homelessness is the most pressing issue facing Los Angeles. This is a situation that Maebe says has been building for years, especially with the COVID-19 pandemic. “How many people who were already housinginsecure have now been thrown over the edge? It’s gotten so much worse,” Maebe says. “And you can see it visually throughout the city.” She places particular focus on the push by Los Angeles City Councilmember for the 13th District, Mitch O’Farrell to turn Echo Park Lake with its many encampments into an enforcement zone, which would allow LAPD to force unhoused people to vacate. Maebe says that the root causes of homelessness are often housing instability, rising rents, and mental health issues on an individual level. “It’s a very complex question with no simple answer,” Maebe says. “But there is so much more that our federal, state and local governments can be doing. There’s just a lot of underlying issues where we are not taking care of our people.” The niche that Maebe A. Girl has carved out for herself as a political drag queen began to attract attention in 2017. She performed political numbers that parodied Trump administration members like Kellyanne Conway, Sarah Sanders and Melania Trump at local drag brunches in Silver Lake. The goal was to entertain and be funny, but also critical. Educate the audience and shed light on what unfolds at the highest levels of power. “I vividly recall one of the first times I did a Melania Trump number and somebody coming up to me afterward asking who Melania Trump was,” Maebe says. “I was a little at a loss for words and came out of it thinking if they don’t know who these people are, then they probably don’t know the atrocities they are committing.” Insofar as the intersection where politics meets drag performance art, the symbiosis has always been there. Drag seeks to transcend rigid concepts of gender expression, and it challenges conformity. “They’re actually so much more connected than the average person would ever think,” Maebe says. “The act of going out in drag is a political statement.” ∫

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just walk over for a drink or two during the weekend,” Larry said. “I would also go over when it was underwear night and have a great conversation with one of the bartenders named Elijah.”

ROAD ENDS IN

EAST HOLLYWOOD FOR FAULTLINE

Somewhere, there’s a beautiful over-the- rainbow ending that Judy Garland sang about in “The Wizard of Oz.” But not so for the Faultline, the legendary gay club in East Hollywood once owned by Garland’s husband, Sid Luft. Four clubs shuttered in West Hollywood since the start of the pandemic, diminishing a slice of cultural life.

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BY WILLIAM B. TORRES

ince the pandemic began in March 2020, many small businesses suffered and eventually closed their doors to the public. The LGBTQ+ business community suffered a great deal during the shutdowns. A few iconic nightspots like the Faultline that cater to the gay community are now permanently closed. The legendary gay leather bar called East Hollywood home for decades, located a few blocks from L.A. City College. For 26 years, Faultline has been the home to many gays across the homo spectrum, including bears, otters, leather-look, twinks, drags, and jocks. Bears prowl through a club. They are large, hairy masculine types. The otter is a thinner version of the bear. The leather-look sports black

handcuffs and leather vests with tight pants. Twinks are thin – the more feminine, beautiful types, while jocks are fit, athletic and strong. Drags are short for drag queens. Spot Morphs from Red Rouge to Bar for a Cruise Devion Coleman, a poet, and writer would visit the Faultline from time to time before COVID. “Every time I would walk into the doors [of Faultline], I would see the gay United Nations inside the bar,” Devion said. “The Faultline was a very welcoming and accepting community.” When it came to Faultline, Judy Garland would say, “Toto, we are not in Kansas anymore.” In the 1960s, gay icon Judy Garland bought the building with her then, late husband, Sid Luft. It was named Red Rouge according to ‘wehotimes. com.’ In 1963, Garland placed her handprints and signed her name on the cement floor, behind the club’s back bar. Since the days of Judy Garland, the actual building has been a haven for the gay community – for over 40 years. After the Red Rouge, the building was called Stud, a Levi/leather cruise bar from 19741988. In 1988, the Stud converted to the Zone, and then in 1989, it was called Griff ’s. In 1994, Shawn Farnworth bought the building on Melrose and named it Faultline. Larry Wilson lives three blocks from the Faultline and would go over every weekend before the lockdown began. “Drinks were so cheap at the Faultline, I would

Lively, Uncensored Crowd Makes Tracks to Faultline Because Faultline was a gay dive bar for over 26 years, it can be an “unrated” environment in the gay community. This means explicit acts were likely to unfold inside the club. An interview subject who will remain anonymous enjoyed going to the Faultline in the 1990s. One of his most memorable moments at the Faultline was a New Year’s party, where he became intoxicated and had a very close encounter with a famous porn star named MackSF inside the bar. “I had to call a cab to get home, and I left without my pants. When I woke up the next morning, I couldn’t remember ‘HOW’ I got home with no pants,” the partier says. “This had to be around 25 years ago. I was in my late 30s, and I’m now 65.” Not only has Faultline been a haven for the gay community in East Hollywood, but the local businesses also supported the leather bar. Josh Schneider is a tattoo artist and works at Marginalized Tattoo, a shop next to the Faultline. Schneider would always grab a drink at the Faultline after work. “It doesn’t matter if I’m straight, I was welcome by the doorman, and bartenders, each time I would go for a drink after,” Josh said. “It was fun culture to be around, and it will be missed.” LACC faculty, students and East Hollywood residents would pump their gas at the Mobile Station at the corner of Melrose and Vermont. The neon-colored sign of the Faultline was in clear view to any customer pumping gas. Jose Avalos works at the Mobile gas station. He has been there since 2001, and he says he has always supported Faultline’s customers. “I never had a problem with the gay community, and the gay community has always been really nice to me every time they would come inside to buy a snack or water after the late hours of the night,” Avalos said. “I was a good friend with the previous owner, Jorge Usatorres. Once a week, Jorge would come inside the gas station and have a small conversation about his job or my wife and kids.” West Hollywood Gay Clubs Lose Glitter in Pandemic Almost six miles away from Los Angeles City College the heart of the gay community, West Hollywood, suffered during the pandemic. Danny Rivas works for the city. He is the West Hollywood code of compliance manager and is not shocked that Faultline closed permanently. “A lot of businesses don’t own the property, which makes it hard for the bars like Faultline to stay open when revenue isn’t coming in,” Rivas said.

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(L) The Faultline was a gay leather cruise bar in East Hollywood. The bar attracted different men from all ages and races. (R) Judy Garland became Hollywood’s golden girl from the 1930s to the 1950s. Garland’s late husband owned the Red Rouge bar, which became The Faultline in the 1990s.

The pandemic hit West Hollywood hard. Four Gay clubs and bars closed their door last year: Rage, Flaming Saddle, Gym and Gold Coast Bar. “The bars closed in West Hollywood because they couldn’t pay the property owner,” Rivas said. “I believe the same thing happened to the Faultline.” David Cooley is the only business owner in West Hollywood that is also the property owner of the most famous two clubs in the city, The Abbey and The Chapel. “The Abby opened during a perfect time when West Hollywood wasn’t considered a city,” Cooley said. “The Abbey started as a coffee house.” Cooley turned a small coffee house into “the greatest gay bar on the planet,” according to MTV. This was not the first pandemic Cooley had encountered. In the ‘90s, Cooley watched his customers and friends die during the HIV/AIDS crisis. “Act-Up (Aids Coalition to Unleash Power), would always start their marches at The Abbey and march to Hollywood,” Cooley said. “Even when AIDS was considered a taboo, West Hollywood had always been a safe zone to anyone in the LGBT community.” While the Abbey survived the AIDS Pandemic, COVID-19 was the biggest challenge The Abbey faced in 30 years. “We had to open and close four times during the pandemic, which is extremely costly because the health department doesn’t really give you a clear message when you are going to close,” Cooley said. “You can order $40,000 worth of products to get you through the weekend—your poultry, your meats,

your bakery, your labor cost, and then within a short notice to say that you are closed. Even when you’re closed, it’s still a huge expense to keep the business running with no income revenue.” There was a point where Cooley says he thought the Abbey would not make it through the pandemic. With his management team and staff ’s help, some who have been with him for close to 30 years, The Abbey will remain open to celebrate their 30th anniversary in May 2021. “The love and appreciation that our clientele has given us for being open while having a safe environment has been overwhelming,” Cooley said. “Not only can our clients be themselves but COVID safe as well.” Cooley was fortunate because he owned the real estate and the business where The Abbey is located. At the same time, he will miss his neighbors. “I’m very sad to see many LGBTQ bars and businesses who cater to a certain clientele have closed their doors forever,” Cooley said. “If you were looking for Latino men, you would go to this bar; if you were looking for hot muscle boys, you would go to this bar. Most of the bars were small and indoors, and unfortunately, they did their best, but COVID got to them, and they are now closed forever.” End of an Era? The last co-owner of the Faultline, Ruby De Fresno, told “Q Voice News” she wanted to keep the bar in hopes of reopening after the pandemic was over. “I’m very excited to keep the legacy of the

Faultline alive,” De Fresno told “Q Voice News.” “Preserving the historic bar has always been close to my heart.” The Collegian Times walked to the famous queer building across the street from the campus. The Faultline sign is gone, and a rental banner is placed in the front door with a telephone number. A gentleman who goes by the name of Jason opens the door but does not want to be interviewed and only says a few words about the Faultline. “All the gay stuff is out of the building,” Jason said. The new co-owner, who identified himself as Diante Jerome Malique III, intends to turn the beloved gay bar located at 4216 Melrose Ave., into a straight bar. “I don’t want to exclude anyone from the East Hollywood community, which is why I intend to make the bar open to anyone who wants to enjoy a cold draft beer, regardless of any sexual preference,” Malique III said. As for Wilson who used to go to the Faultline every Sunday for underwear night, he says East Hollywood will not be the same. “I am definitely going to miss that place, and I hope they find a new home,” Wilson said. De Fresno has placed all the interior décor in storage in case the Faultline ever finds a new home. “The Neon penis, neon clock, and the larger-thanlife, iconic Faultline leather men art pieces are being preserved in a storage.” De Fresno said. While the ultimate fate of the Faultline is unknown, Gov. Gavin Newsom plans to fully reopen California’s economy in June 2021. When it does open, Cooley says he will compare that day to the Roaring Twenties. “There is a reason why it’s called the Roaring Twenties, after the pandemic in the early 1900s,” Cooley said. “I want the Roaring Twenties back, and when we declare it, I’m going to have dancers and DJs, and everyone is going to be up and dancing.” ∫

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Multimedia Experience: Listen to Chopin Nocturne in B flat Opus 9, no.1 (Copyright Free)

CAMERA LENS CAPTURES PERFORMANCE ART BY MARTIN BAUTISTA PHOTOS BY MARTIN BAUTISTA

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hese photos represent my collaboration with the ballet dancer, Rebecca Joy. We met in a dance class. Two artists work together to share their vision with anyone who can appreciate it. Dance inspires me as an art form. I try to explore its similarities to other forms of art. I wanted to incorporate lines and shapes that the dancer made with her body into the composition of the photo, so that the location and the dancer interact in a sense. I used this opportunity to study light and shadow and how it falls on the dancer throughout her movement. More importantly, these images were a way for me to not only explore, but to acknowledge, appreciate and share the beauty and significance of dance. Like other artists, dancers are not paid very well, and they can really wear down their bodies for the sake of their art. If even one person can appreciate dance more through these photos, then I am satisfied. ∫

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Low Tonal/Low Incident

- Pique passé turned in en pointe. The arch of the dancer’s foot mimics the curve of the pipe on the floor, the square balances on her head and her arm imitates the position of the plant.

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[Left] W/B High Tonal/Low Incident - Fourth position en pointe with arms in

allongé. The one point perspective creates two diagonal lines from the floor and the frame of the windows that would eventually converge outside of the composition, the dancer’s arm follows the line as well.

[Right] W/B High Tonal/High Incident - Piqué developpé forward en pointe. The dancer is creating line with her entire body, a strong vertical line and diagonal lines that run parallel with each other.

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Low Tonal/Low Incident

- Legs crossed en pointe. The use of repetitive lines puts the dancer into a place of infinite space.

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FUN WITH FERAL

CATS BY JAMES DUFFY V

PHOTO BY JAMES DUFFY V

Few greater joys will come to you than in sparing the lives of a family of wild felines.

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oday, the cats are out of the bag and out of our house. I hope my girlfriend does not mind that all our feral cats are roaming the yard for the first time in months. ‘All?’ you ask. We have at least five in our care. The first thing to remember about feral cats is that if you feed them once, they probably won’t leave. They are exploring the yard

now. Mice, birds, possum, and a family of raccoon travel through the yard only after the cats leave. The animal rights group, PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, reports cats cannot survive without care. Of the 60 to 100 million feral cats in the U.S., most do not die of old age. We call her Vampire; she hissed at times and came to the yard infrequently for a bowl of chow. She was a gaunt, Russian Blue, meaning she was all grey in color. Russian Blues are gorgeous when they are healthy. My girlfriend, after she moved into an apartment with a yard, adopted Vampire’s sister, lovingly named Moose. Moose grew into a thick-coated, grey beauty. In the world of feral cats Vampire has a romantic side to her. Out of the blue, Vampire’s ribs started showing when her belly swelled with a litter. As she approached her due date, Vampire disappeared for days. Soon after, we heard high-pitched chirps that were not birds. Six was the final count. Vampire’s kittens moved together for months, jumping at her tail. Four greys, a black and white we named Amanuensis, and a frenetic grey and white with a nom-de-guerre of Solstice. The frightened kittens hid when they first came indoors, and they didn’t recognize each other when they lived outside. But, they like it in our home as they are getting more and more domesticated. One of the greys, Solomon, prefers to catch his meals outdoors. He ate two lizards and a finch on the patio. But he still purrs when we bring him dry food.

While it’s fun to share off of your plate and as Solstice’s curiosity makes her a frequent guest to our breakfast table, we have to be vigilant because common beverages like coffee, tequila and milk can make the curious carnivores sick. If you are feeding them from a plate, it is best to feed them unseasoned meats. My girlfriend objected to my keeping them in the apartment. “How will we afford the food?” she asked. ‘You already feed them twice a day,’ I said. Amanuensis is surprisingly skittish after six months in our care, even though we fed her since she was weened. She spends most of her time in a closet which she hesitates to leave. Her litter mate, Solstice, is affectionate and never seems to sleep. At night, they dart around the house -- foot patter, bangs and screeches wake us. They rarely fight and I feel comfortable letting them out. Not wanting to increase the size of our cat family or the local feral cat population, we decided to spay our kittens. The little rascals scratched, bit and hissed like snakes when we took them to the vet. One veterinarian charged nearly $1,000 to vaccinate and spay Solstice. Cats mature quickly as Solstice moaned in heat at just six months of age. We learned that there are effective alternatives to high priced vets. The non-profit FixNation provides a similar service for about $100. Besides FixNation, other low-cost providers include Spay California and PetSmart Charities that will connect pet lovers to low-cost veterinary services. FixNation provides their service for free if cats are feral. L.A. County Animal Care and Control also lists vets who will vaccinate cats at “low cost.” After months of cleaning, mediating their disputes, and late-night scampering, to see them play together makes it all worthwhile. ∫

Saul and Solstice curl up in a cat bed on a spring morning.

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CULTURED LOS ANGELES

VERNELL DAYE

IN THEIR OWN WORDS PORTRAITPOSING PHOTOJOURNALIST LOUIS WHITE EXPLORES THE FACE OF ANDROGYNY. REFLECTIONS ON GENDER AND THE CHALLENGE TO LIVE AUTHENTIC LIVES OUTSIDE OF MAINSTREAM CULTURE UNFOLDS DURING PORTRAITS.

“I don’t accept things blindly. It’s the quickest way to draw borders around ourselves. Dropping those beliefs is the quickest way to our evolution. That’s why South-Central Pop Star is so special. Those words aren’t supposed to exist together; I decided they do. South Central Pop Star is representational of my future, and the present we could have.”

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PJ MERCED VELAZQUEZ

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‘Rights’ of Spring Artist’s Statement Move forward steadily and bright. It’s not just a rebirth but, a resurrection. These portraits are intended to mean different things to different people. This is a representation of progressive thoughts and ideals, without asking anyone or society for permission. Why? A butterfly does not ask for permission to fly. This is a visual conversation and not just about our ideas of gender. It is more a conversation in self-presentation and renewal of a commitment to the authentic self. Bespoke self-purpose in proud “Who I am today came with a lot of reflecting, education, patience, self-love and acceptance for myself. Growing up in a strict household, I was taught what it means to be a boy/man — when in reality, I never quite fit into those boxes. I knew I was uniquely made, but I didn’t have the words to describe it. And today, I am proud to claim my queerness. I am now a beautiful butterfly who broke free from its cocoon.”

“Lovingly referred to as Shauna Mamma, we are mothers of the House of Delirium. I’ve always turned heads of men and women. Growing up I looked like a beautiful boy, Bob Dylan, who grew into a Marilyn Monroe body (and sometimes, I share her bad days). Presence is so much more than gender specific, I believe. So are clothes, life is a stage. I always serve a look for myself, but also to brighten - inspire someone else’s world. Quarantine has been so drab. This is why I went out and bought a whole bunch of new pieces in L.A.: vintage Boy Scout top, Gucci strawberry scarf and shoes in Chinatown, NYC. I welcome spring, and all its beauty and glory.”

SHAUNA TORRES

vivid effervescent colors. Truth and light burst forth from the season before. This self-divination – this moment – is spring.

THOMAS GREENOUGH

“I grew up in the rigidly defined box that is gender in the bible belt. After years of soul searching and therapy, I’m finally ready to live authentically as myself. I want nothing less than total freedom of expression and identity. I want to work toward a world in which I have that freedom and every single other person does as well. This life is the only one we can be certain of. I don’t want any of us to waste time due to our culture’s narrow understanding of gender.”

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IN YOUR FACE:

GUN CULTURE RUSHES INTO FOCUS BY JOHN JOHNS PHOTO COURTESY OF UNSPLASH.COM

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n the night of my 18th birthday, I discovered that my life and my “enemy’s” life were worth more than the minimum wage of $1.35 or a case of beer. I had just graduated from high school and was working graveyard shift in my brother-in-law’s convenience store in San Jose, CA. Let it be noted here, the term “graveyard shift” is not an exaggeration. I was asleep around 3 p.m. when the phone rang. I don’t remember much, except my brother-inlaw saying, “Oh, by the way, the Quick Stop on El Camino Real was robbed last night. It’s the fifth robbery this week by the same guy, so be on the alert.” Oh, great. What am I supposed to do? Get a grenade launcher? Somewhat troubled, I went back to sleep. At 11 p.m., I reported to work. I wore my sky-blue polyester uniform jacket with company logo — sharp, really sharp. OK, my brother-in-law, like your brother-in-law has bad taste — really bad taste, even though he thought it was chic. He also liked Muzak and Ripple. After he visited Vegas, he was confused

about Liberace. It was a hot Friday night in August. It was also payday. The store was busier than normal because dozens of fun-loving guys needed to slacken their thirst with copious amounts of suds. This night brought a rush of customers trying to beat the clock by 2 a.m., when alcohol sales ended Business was almost too much for me to handle until about 1 a.m., when strangely the store emptied out and was suddenly quiet. With no customers to snoop, I dropped all but $50 into the safe. There was always a weird feeling of isolation and loneliness on the graveyard shift when midnight turned into early morning. The store was brightly lit inside, but the parking lot outside could have passed for the dark side of the moon. ‘This Guy is Going to Rob Me’ At about 1:30 a.m., the peace and quiet was broken when a small man opened the door and walked in. He looked like hell. I thought to myself, ‘This guy is going to rob me.’ And then, I forgot the thought as I rang up his “purchase.” He wore a dirty, tattered T-shirt and faded, holey blue jeans, with cowboy boots that looked like they originated on skid row. He weighed about

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2021 SPRING-SUMMER 105 pounds, with the edginess of someone on amphetamines who forgot to eat, comb his hair or shave or bathe all week. He went straight to the cooler, picked out a sixpack of Coors and brought it to the counter. I bagged his beer and rang it up. It totaled $1.47. I will never forget what happened next. Standing two feet away from me, he put his hand down his pants and pulled out a .357 Magnum. He was a shrimp, but he was menacing with the gun. The handle and trigger seemed huge, and the black barrel even larger. How it could have been concealed in his jeans remains a mystery. I had never met him prior, nor had he cause to do me harm. I was stunned and in a state of shock if not outright panic. “Empty out the cash register and put the money in the bag,” he said. Facing the business end of his gun, feeling, and knowing I was not in control of my fate, my brain and adrenal system went into overdrive. Everything — every movement, every word, every sound in real time — seemed to be happening in super slow motion. In this moment, my mind was able to record to memory, every pore on his face, every bad tooth in need of a dentist, every hair on his arm, even every dirty fingernail. In a sensation never felt before or since, my adrenal glands flooded my system. It was on overload. I didn’t become jittery. Instead, I felt like my heart was pumping molasses into my arteries. After I emptied the cash register and dumped the money in the bag with the beer, he tucked his gun back in his pants (cowboy style) and lurched to the front door. He abruptly turned around, pulled the gun out again and waved it in the air. “If you call the cops, I’ll blow your fu----- brains out!” he yelled. And with that, he bolted out the door and into the night to enjoy his life. I locked the store and called the cops and my brother-in-law. They straggled into the store over the next hour. I was not impressed when the cops said they had been canvassing the area and “just missed him.” My brother-in-law was most concerned about the amount of money stolen. No one inquired about me. In the hour following the robbery, my system returned to normal, but my memory became photographic. For the next 24 hours, I could remember every visual detail about the gunman. When the detectives came to take fingerprints, I could point out every single place that he touched without fail. Trouble Comes in Threes The next morning at 3 a.m., I was robbed again. This time, it was a strong-arm job carried out by a local high school football team. They demanded I sell them beer and wine even though it was too late, and they were not old enough to buy alcohol.

At the time, I looked like a 12-year-old myself and couldn’t even strike fear in the cheerleaders. After a short standoff, they got their way. They threatened me with school pride, team spirit and a sledgehammer. When the police came, they said the same thing as last time. “We were looking out for you, and darn it, we just missed ‘em.” I announced my retirement later that week, thus aborting my retail career. I did not get a gold watch nor a dinner with speeches or gratitude for my long service. Instead, over the next several weeks, I looked at albums full of mug shots. None ever matched or even came close to the handsomeness of the gunman. I also gave endless interviews to the detectives describing him repeatedly. Still, they had no leads. Then the police officers stopped calling for information. After a few weeks, I fell into a depression, submerging my anger inward after the violation of my agency. Call it PTSD lite. Guilty Verdict Does Not Guarantee Justice Six months after the armed robbery, I got a call from the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office. “The SJPD found your guy. Everything matches up and we want you to testify in court against him. He pleaded not guilty. Your positive ID of him will help send him away.” Great. The D.A. says this guy has been charged with a dozen counts of armed robbery, mostly of small convenience stores in the San Jose and Salinas area. Sounds like the guy. Maybe there is justice after all. Then, maybe not. I arrived at the courthouse an hour before my scheduled testimony. I expected to be briefed, shown some proof-like matching fingerprints or provided evidence like pictures of his gun or clothes. Anything. Instead, they told me to just go along with everything because he’s our guy. While on the witness stand, I spotted the defendant, a man wearing a repp tie, the repetitive pattern type you wear with a tweed jacket. He was well-groomed and weighed 30 pounds more than my gunman. To top it off, he smoked a pipe. He could have passed for a tenured professor at Stanford; not at all like the underweight speed freak who pointed a gun at me and threatened my life just months before. Bothered by this, during a recess I told the assistant D.A. that the defendant did not look like the guy who robbed me. “Don’t worry,” he said. “He’s the guy. This is what a month of jail time does for an amphetamine user. They put on weight quickly between being off the pills and getting three squares a day.” The public defender did a great job representing his client. He proved to me that positive

THE SJPD FOUND YOUR GUY. EVERYTHING MATCHES UP AND WE WANT YOU TO TESTIFY IN COURT AGAINST HIM. HE PLEADED NOT GUILTY. YOUR POSITIVE ID OF HIM WILL HELP SEND HIM AWAY. identifications by eyewitnesses can be faulty. Although I went ahead and positively identified the defendant under oath, the public defender picked up on my doubt and correctly challenged my testimony. The defendant was still found guilty. I have often felt uncertain as to whether he was the person who robbed me. The behavior of the police officers during the time I was being robbed, and later the investigation and my part in the trial felt like a line from the movie, “Casablanca.” “Round up the usual suspects.” I don’t know if justice was truly served. It was all disquieting. Angst and Anxiety Come Rushing Back I had long since filed away those unpleasant memories from my 18th summer until 1991. It all came back the moment I saw security camera footage on local TV news of the homicide of Latasha Harlins. She was the 15-year-old Black girl who was shot by Soon Ja Du, a 51-year-old Korean American convenience store owner in South Central L.A. The grainy film brought back the old feeling from that summer when I felt like a plastic duck in a shooting gallery. If I had been armed on the second night of being robbed, I could very easily have been Du. I abhor violence by anyone. Yet, I understand the emotions, even the irrationality that wrongly propelled Du to shoot an innocent teenager. When the subsequent trial convicted Du of voluntary manslaughter, it reaffirmed my feelings about gun ownership or usage. Even after my experience of facing death, a gun would only have diminished me to the level of a coward with a teenager’s death on my conscience for the rest of my life. All for a gallon of wine and a case or two of beer. Or in Latasha’s case, a 12-ounce bottle of orange juice. ∫

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CHO IS SO SERIOUS; SHE MAKES YOU LAUGH Margaret talked about her new podcast, her sexuality and the violence Asian Americans face today.

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BY WILLIAM B. TORRES SEE CREATIVE COMMONS CC HTTPS:// CREATIVECOMMONS.ORG/LICENSES/BY/3.0/ GRAPH BY BEATRICE ALCALA

I AM THE BIGGEST FAG HAG. I LOVE MY GAY MALE FRIENDS SO MUCH. BUT WHEN I WAS A LITTLE GIRL I ALWAYS WISHED I WOULD BE CONSTANTLY SURROUNDED BY GORGEOUS GUYS. AND I AM. AND I SHOULD HAVE BEEN MORE SPECIFIC.

tand-up comedian and human rights activist Margaret Cho makes people laugh, at least that’s what the Grammy Academy voting members say. Cho has been nominated five times for a Grammy for Best Comedy Album. She has earned more than 250 television credits according to IMDB.com and is in the spotlight once more for her voiceover role in the Oscar-nominated movie “Over the Moon.” Cho spoke to culture reporter Will B. Torres about her podcast, her sexuality and the issues AsianAmericans face today. Technology allows for a virtual video chat with anyone from anywhere in the world. Zoom video conference application enabled Cho to chat with Torres while he was visiting Antigua, Guatemala, while Cho was at home in Los Angeles, CA. During the Zoom chat, Cho’s Korean heritage is reflected in the background by a prominent Buddha situated behind her along with a blanket depicting an Asian woman placed on her couch. The 52-year-old comedic actor earned a Primetime Emmy nomination in 2012 and has a dozen executive producer credits to her name. But Cho’s talents and interests extend beyond performing stand-up and acting. Besides being a fashion designer and an author, Cho uses her celebrity to speak out against anti-Asian hate and violence. The second season of her podcast, “Margaret Cho: Mortal Minority,” focuses on the crimes committed against Asian Americans in the last two centuries. “From the gold rush until today, we discuss Asian history and then reflect on what is happening pretty much on a daily basis,” Cho said. “It’s really shocking to see all the violence directed at Asian Americans, especially in the last year.” With “Mortal Minority,” Cho moves away from her comedy comfort zone and tackles issues that plague the Asian community. She sits down to discuss the 2007 Virginia Tech shootings and stories like it with Asian comedians, journalists, authors and other voices committed to stop the hate directed at Asians. “It’s [the podcast] very well-researched, and it is

going to be more of a true-crime podcast,” Cho said. “Because it’s really delving into these crimes that a lot of people don’t know about.” Cho says the podcast series increases awareness of the injustices that confront the Asian community today. “Some are very important toward AsianAmerican history,” she said. “Whether the Chinatown massacre in 1871 or the Vincent Chin murder in Detroit in the 1980s. I also want to look at the present-day hate crimes.” According to VOAnews.com (Voice of America international news organization), 15 of America’s largest cities reported a 169% increase in violence aimed at Asian Americans during the first quarter of 2021, compared to the same period last year. “You see almost 4,000 hate crimes reported in the last year, which is just really crazy,” Cho said. “I’m sure that a lot of things have gone unreported as well.” Police arrested and charged Jarrod Powell with attempted murder after he assaulted the 61-year-old Yao Pan Ma, an Asian immigrant in East Harlem. The attack left Ma in a coma and on a ventilator, according to an April 26 report in the New York Times. Additionally, Powell, 49, was charged with two counts of assault as a hate crime. The roots of this anti-Asian violence found a voice in former President Donald Trump. The 45th POTUS appeared to relish repeated descriptions of the coronavirus, calling it “the Chinese Virus” or “Kung Flu.” “I can’t imagine that people are really misinformed that Asian Americans are the cause of the coronavirus,” Cho said. “A lot of the casual nature of racism has a lot to do with Donald Trump’s opinion toward immigrants in general. Asian-Americans are not immigrants. I’m born in America. The majority of us are not immigrants. This is a very strange ideation of what American is and what American means, and this really insane view that we’re somehow to blame.” While she continues to stand up to racism, she injects humor into the discrimination in proper Margaret Cho form.

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2021 SPRING-SUMMER source: http:// www.jokes4us. com/peoplejokes/ comedianjokes/ margaretchojokes. html

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is a very male-dominated, very heterosexual white world,” Cho said. “It’s really restrictive and does not welcome outsider voices, yet at the same time, stand-up comedy is essentially an outsider art form.” An Ace Cable Award for stand-up and an American Comedy Awards prize for best female stand-up in 1994 prove Cho’s chops. With nine successful stand-up comedy shows, including ‘Margaret Cho: Psycho’ (2015) and ‘Cho Dependent (2011), Cho has broken the barriers of stand-up that an Asian woman encounters in a white, heterosexual world. “I love stand-up comedy, I love what I do, and I love the action of it,” Cho said. “I’m not concerned about what I can’t do because in stand-up comedy, you can do whatever you want as long as you’re funny and prolific. I think stand-up nourishes me anyways.” One of her biggest fans and supporters is her mother who has always been at the center of the comedian’s jokes. How does Margaret’s mother feel about this? “She thinks it’s funny and very welcoming of it,” Cho said. “I mean because I think that women in our Korean family who get older often become very invisible. She feels seen, and she feels validated, and I think that’s really important. I’m delighted to give her that.” Artist, Asian American, bisexual, comedian, and human activist: Cho fits into every sub-group important to liberal Americans. As much support and praise as she garners from the left, she receives equal criticism and hate from conservatives and trolls. It must recall the days when she was the

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“Would you engage in an argument with somebody if you were afraid of catching the disease from them?” Cho laughs. “The disease is spread by talking to people and yelling really close up. So, it doesn’t make any sense to argue with someone if you are afraid of catching the virus.” 2021 has been a busy year for Margaret Cho. While working on her podcast and advocating for an end to Asian hate crimes, she also stars in the Oscar-nominated computer-animated film “Over the Moon.” The Netflix movie employs a Pan-Asian cast, including Sandra Oh, John Cho and Ken Jeong. Margaret Cho is the voice of Auntie Ling, the zany aunt of Fei-Fei, the movie protagonist. “I was part of the introduction of the project,” Cho says. “I was in Shanghai in 2018. They were showing us the drawings from Pearl Animation Studio, and I listened to the songs. It was kind of the first emergence of all these things from the movie. It was so incredible to see and hear. I was just really excited to be part of the project.” With the success of “Crazy Rich Asians” in 2019, and “Parasite” winning the Oscar for best feature film of 2020, Asian films are recognized worldwide. Cho is grateful to be part of this movement. “We are starting to see more diversity in film and television,” she said. “I think there needs to be more diversity, but I’m really grateful for the changes that are happening.” Cho says she is also proud to be part of the LGBTQ community. On Jun 19, 2018, Cho came out and identified as a “True Bisexual” to the Huffington Post. Two years after the interview, Margaret has a new opinion on her sexuality. “I think bisexual isn’t exactly the right term because it says there’s only two genders,” Cho said. “Which, I don’t think that it’s actually the right term, it’s the one that makes sense to me, and so that’s what I like to represent.” Despite her successful career as a stand-up comedian, there was a time the girl from the Bay Area of South Korean descent had doubts about her place in the entertainment world. “As an Asian American performer, my career, which is stand-up comedy and television comedy,

I LOOK AT HUSBANDS THE SAME WAY I LOOK AT TATTOOS. I WANT ONE, BUT I CAN’T DECIDE WHAT I WANT, AND I DON’T WANT TO BE STUCK WITH ONE I’M JUST GOING TO GROW TO HATE AND HAVE TO HAVE SURGICALLY REMOVED LATER.

Anti-Asian Hate Crime Incidents Reported to Police in Select US Cities 2019-2020

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Source: https://www.csusb.edu/sites/default/files/FACT SHEET

target of schoolyard bullies. Cho knows how to deal with the negativity. “I don’t really look at negativity as being anything to be discouraged by,” she said. “I think when people are negative toward people of color, toward people who are gay, or women, are sad because their biases are not allowing them to enjoy the art from different views. I’m grateful to represent the different communities that I do, and to me, it’s all really positive.” Throughout her career of more than three decades, Margaret Cho has made people laugh while she advocated for minorities, women, and members of the LGBTQ community. “It’s imperative to have your voice heard and to be seen,” Cho said. “It’s time to welcome diversity and different points of view because we all gain from that. So, yeah, I think it’s a perfect time to see a shift in entertainment where we welcome views of women, women of color, and Asian Americans.” ∫

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Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller at the 1985 award ceremony when both were inducted into the “Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.”

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MUSIC TREASURE PLAYS IT

FORWARD FOR HOMEBOYS

Come along with the Collegian Times on a nostalgic journey with half of the songwriting team of “Hound Dog” for Elvis Presley. Music heals and is used to create harmony among former gang members. BY DIANA CAMPBELL

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lasses begin with a drum circle where everyone checks in and shares their feelings. It may include issues they are facing or hopes for the future. Music affects people in different ways. It can bring them together, create joy or bring a sense of healing. Legendary songwriter Mike Stoller found a way to use his years of music expertise for the Young Musicians Foundation (YMF). The Music Heals program is a unique, trauma-informed music immersion program for participants in Homeboy Industries. Homeboy regards itself as the largest gang rehabilitation group in the U.S. Previously incarcerated men and women receive support and assistance as they re-enter society. The Music Heals program integrates instrumental, vocal and music technology and

production. Emphasis is placed on helping participants connect with “their innate musical abilities” through hands-on experience, exploration and communal participation. It all began because of a chance meeting between the Executive Director of the YMF Foundation, Walter Zooi and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee, Stoller. “Mike mentioned an upcoming meeting at Homeboy Industries regarding a music program he wanted to start,” Zooi said. “I was intrigued and mentioned that YMF would be thrilled to help in any way.” Zooi says the foundation was in the finishing stages of restructuring YMF’s program model to exclusively provide access to music education “to those who would not have the opportunity otherwise.”

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1. “Music Heals,”classes always start with the ‘Homeboys’ participating in a drum circle. They share feelings and any issues they are facing, or hopes for the future.

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2. Elvis performing the Leiber/Stoller song “Jailhouse Rock,” in film with same name in 1957

Months of planning happened before the debut of Stoller’s Music Heals program. It was an immediate success with the Homeboys. Zooi says Stoller attended every meeting his schedule would allow. After the opening drum circle, participants may choose instruction in guitar, keyboards, drums, voice, songwriting or music production with a faculty of accomplished professional musicians and educators, like percussion instructor, Martin Flores. He sees the program as a revelation. “It amazes me every time to realize that folks who fight,” Flores said, “have been shooting at each other before, are now smiling, playing music together.” Stoller Honors Songwriting Partner A tribute to the late Jerry Leiber, Stoller’s musical collaborator, was memorable. It included performances of some of the songs that made the duo famous like “Hound Dog,” “Stand By Me,” “Jail House Rock,” “Love Potion No. 9,” and “Spanish Harlem,” among many others. The tribute also included gems that had gone unheard until that night.

BEST-KNOWN HITS OF LIEBER & STOLLER “Kansas City” “Yakety Yak” “I Am Woman” “Hound Dog” “Love Potion No. 9” “Jail House Rock” “Is That All There Is!” “Riot in Cell Block No. 9”. “Hard Times” “Smokey Joe’s Cafe”* (*Broadway musical)

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1. Participants in the Music Heals program have access to musical instruments, computers, software and other creative tools. 2. “Hound Dog” is the title of Stoller and Leiber’s autobiography originally published in June 2009. 3. “Big Mama” Thornton sold more than one million copies of “Hound Dog,” which she first recorded for Peacock Records.

Rock-pop vocalist Tricia Tahara performed as jazz pianist and singer-songwriter Patrice Rushen led a 13-piece band through a journey of the Leiber and Stoller songbook. Stoller delighted the attendees when he capped the event with a performance. “There are so many great singers and musicians here tonight,” Stoller said. “I am not either. But I did write the songs.” Stoller began to play something he said he did not love — a medley at the grand piano. Within moments, the entire audience appeared to be in tears with his poignant performance of countless classics. Stoller choked up a bit when he recounted his first meeting in 1949 with Jerome Leiber when they were both 16 years old. He says Leiber was writing words, poems and songs, and he needed a melody man. Stoller, however did not like pop songs. He liked blues. After Stoller graduated from Belmont High School and Leiber from Fairfax High, they both enrolled at L.A. City College and signed up for “Harmony 1,” in 1950. Fast forward to their biggest hit “Hound Dog.” Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton was the first to record the song on Peacock Records. She sold more than a million copies. Elvis Presley heard “Hound Dog” and made it his own in an appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show” with different stylings where he gyrated his hips and changed the original lyrics. “We didn’t like that the cheating man had been morphed into a dog, but considering the success it was receiving, we said nothing,” the two men wrote in the autobiography “Hound Dog.” The forward of the book includes a photo of Thornton and the record she released. They paid her homage for being part of their early success. Stoller returned to L.A. City College in 2018 to teach a master class. Leiber and Stoller became architects of rock and roll, two of the most influential songwriters ever in popular music. They were accomplished, impactful hit record producers. The glue that bonded Leiber and Stoller was a mutual passion for boogie-woogie and blues that started in their early childhood. And the beat goes on, because Stoller still writes and creates original music. It seems so appropriate since Stoller is 88, because that’s the number of keys on a piano. ∫

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STRONG HANDS KEEP HOLDING BY KELIYAH WILLIAMS

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PHOTO COURTESY OF UNSPLASH.COM

eddit users banded together in January to show Wall Street the meaning of true strength in numbers. With large groups of traders now pumping money into the market, they were able to shift the power dynamic and expose how the market can be vulnerable, volatile and weak. GameStop is a retailer that sells video games, gaming merchandise and consumer electronics. It was the first stock to be preyed on by social media users. It started with just one observant user on Reddit’s r/wallstreetbets, which is a subreddit for Wall Street Bros to discuss stock and option trading. It was temporarily made private on Jan. 27 at 7 p.m. EST/4 p.m. PST for about an hour because of the influx of new Redditors joining, but has since returned to the platform. One user on the forum pointed out a stock pattern and encouraged members to quickly invest in GameStop; users began to notice more patterns in other stocks like AMC, Nokia, Blackberry, etc. Regular everyday people were now striking GOLD through what are now coined as meme stocks. Each one investing with a different reason; some for personal gain and some for a chance to stick it to “the man.” No matter their reason, they all were making history. At its height, on Jan. 27, 2021, 24 billion shares were traded! In just two weeks GameStop shares had increased more than 1000%. Through all this excitement, some companies like Robinhood tried to (what many people feel) hinder the public’s success by halting the sale of GameStop on their app and adding new securities to their site. Nonetheless, GameStop and other meme stocks beat all the odds and have continued to be successful despite many who predicted

their downfall. As of June 2021, GameStop’s share price is $260. Now, AMC has taken the lead in meme stocks and it continues to climb. With most states opening back up this summer, stocks are projected to skyrocket. Still, many are torn on whether they can expect GameStop and other stocks to hit new highs. Some investors are thinking of betting against meme stocks. “It is extremely tempting to short these stocks, but unless you have huge liquid resources, please try to resist the temptation,” Thomas Peterffy, the founder and chair of Interactive Brokers, said in an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” “These prices can go to unimaginable highs before they settle down to a reasonable valuation, and you may have to cover on the high point.” It does not matter whether you believe meme stocks will tank or rise. It’s incredible that amateur investors have been able to shift the market for so long. People are still holding onto their shares. GameStop’s long term success has shown the whole nation what it looks like when its people band together and fight back against a system that was not originally created for everyone to win. This is the people’s moment to stick it to the Wall Street Bros or maybe just their ticket to comfort. Either way, this movement has become a way for people to dream. To dream of a nice car or nice house that they are gaining for the first time or trying to recover from lack of COVID relief funds or when the market crashed years ago. This is the chance to dream of a world where everyone has some form of income, and they don’t have to hold onto a share to prove they deserve to have money to be a one-percenter. No matter what people are holding for, they are holding and it is making a statement. Meme stocks are still as prominent as ever. Five months in, and the stocks continue to rise. Strong hands, keep on holding! ∫

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CULTURED LOS ANGELES

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CAR CULTURE

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IT’S STILL TRUE? NOBODY WALKS IN L.A.

Flash: Rapper and TV personality Xzibit’s immaculate 1957 Chevy Bel Air sits on display at Mels Diner Drive-in. It is part of the Rider Gang Lifestyle car meet.

BY LOUIS WHITE PHOTOS BY LOUIS WHITE

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erhaps it is the weather, which is virtually some variant of clear summer days all year long. City blocks, lined by almost 100-yearold palm trees. To the north, majestic mountains and to the west, the call of the Pacific Ocean. Postcards and movies make highlights of the endless summer lifestyle of Pacific Coast Highway, which includes the canyons of Topanga and Laurel. The breezy charm of Mulholland Drive. Unlike Detroit, “the Motor City,” there are no salt, snow or major rust problems. As the rapper Ice Cube says, it’s a good day when you can drive a drop-top just about any time of year. “Ventura Boulevard!” Randy Newman sings in a refrain from his iconic song “I Love L.A.” Newman also refers to Imperial Highway, and let’s not forget Whittier and Crenshaw Boulevards. There’s not much to sing about on the flipside of that tune. Los Angeles is an over-populated mess of freeway arteries clogged with drivers trapped in their cars, morning, noon and night, like LACC sociology major Johanna Avalos. She avoids traffic early mornings on her way to work in the comfort of her 2018 Kia Sorrento. But when it’s time to come home, there’s gridlock. So, she can sit behind the wheel and dream of missing the traffic in her favorite muscle car – the Bumble Bee – the yellow Chevy Camaro made famous in the “Transformers” film franchise. Or she could think about her dream of escape to Bora Bora one day. “There’s nothing you can really do about it, but just sit there and deal with it, and it does get frustrating, especially if you’re tired coming off of work and then having to look for parking which is also a nightmare,” Avalos said.

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Classic 911 Porsches and Corvettes gather for a Cars and Coffee event organized by the online automobile culture and lifestyle blog Autoconduct. com

She lives in Korea Town where it can take two hours to find a parking space. The pandemic gave rise to the urban speedster. Stay-at-home orders drove traffic down, but some drivers put the pedal to the metal. It caused officials at Caltrans to team up with the California Highway Patrol and urge motorists to slow down. Speeding tickets for driving over 100 mph increased 87% between March and April 2020. Freeway “parking lots” disappeared at the onset of the pandemic. But traffic increased to 90% by the summer of 2020, according to data from Metro.net. Not even COVID-19 could suppress L.A. gridlock for long. Change is Gonna Come – to L.A. Los Angeles has a plan to banish traffic. Metro’s “Vision 2028” solution includes efforts to solve traffic congestion by providing more high-quality transportation options and plans to implement congestion pricing where motorists would pay more to drive at peak hours. It’s a simple supply and demand problem according to Metro. When demand exceeds supply, everyone slows down. City leaders plan to overhaul streets and create safer transportation policies at a time when motor vehicle violence that involves pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists is up. L.A. adopted a plan called “Vision Zero,” based on a European model. It began in Sweden in 1997. It is designed to eliminate traffic fatalities by 2025. Chic Pursuits for the Well-Heeled California is home to the prestigious and premier Concours d’Elegance, which unfolds on the 18th fairway of Pebble Beach Golf Links. Many consider this the world’s premier car show alongside the Hillsborough Concours d’Elegance, and these are best of show from the quixotic cars of the wealthy, like Jay Leno, Ralph Lauren and Jerry Seinfeld. Then, for the go-real-fast drivers, but legally, Monterey is home to the famed Laguna Seca Raceway. The track hosts sanctioned professional races and days where “weekend warriors” drive their cars in competitive races. It’s all for fun, and there’s no fear of a hefty speeding ticket. Dropping down into Southern California to AAA Auto Club Speedway, formerly California Speedway, drivers congregate for autocross (solo obstacle

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course with cones), drag racing, NASCAR events and club events throughout the year. Cars Provide Escape to ‘No-man’s-land’ A boring hour’s drive from Los Angeles will lead to the Mojave Desert and the Willow Springs Raceway. It offers driving clinics and club races. It also offers sanctioned races, which may include trophies and prize money. It’s a different world from the Ralph Lauren set at Pebble Beach. The crowd that flocks to Willow Springs includes family guys, moms, lawyers, dentists, students and even gardeners on any given weekend. Some people “trailer” their race car to the desert. They might drive a Toyota Camry in the city but transport their Mazda Miata or Porsche GT to Willow Springs. Others may drive their daily driver to the track for a day of racing. Antonio Ramirez works as a warehouse foreman. He is a racing enthusiast who purchased a Mitsubishi EVO MR 8 back in 2005. He says he wanted a four-door family sedan that he could drive reliably to work and race on the weekends. He has found religion. This father of two finds his church as he screams down the back straights in the Mojave Desert at over 100 mph. Antonio says after his first run on a real track, he could never even conceive of street racing for any reason. Urban Speedster Takeover There are others of lesser skill who often decide to race on city streets. This illegal practice does not always end in tragedy. Still, more urban speedsters are part of the daily reality of driving and surviving on Los Angeles roads and highways. The scourge of street racers terrorizes other drivers on the bumpy, pothole-laden, mostly awful streets and roads on and off the Los Angeles traffic grid. It happens from the San Fernando Valley to the beaches of the South Bay. Motorists witness a rise in car collisions, speeding and negligent driving. Some blame the popularity and return of the American muscle car. Phone related distracted driving is also a cause. The city is assaulted daily by the sounds of exhaust from muscle cars and screeching of expensive rubber being burned from impromptu vehicle shows of negligence, recklessness and rebellion.

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Some of the weapons of choice under the spotlight are the vogue Dodge Chargers and Challengers, which range from the affordable average car price starting at $30,000 MSRP, up to $80,945, with 292 horsepower from the 3.6-liter V-6 at 19 mpg in the city and 30 on the highway. The Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat widebody with a 6.2L HEMI SRT V-8 engine rated at 707 horsepower and a top speed of 196 mph is also a favorite of some drivers. These circular drifts of vehicular violence and prowess are called “donuts.” They happen in residential intersections as well as some of the busiest and most traveled intersections in the city. Off the record, LAPD officers say their hands are tied because of policy regulations from higherups. Street racing and negligent driving, street takeovers and even illegally tinted windows are not a priority because of political pressure and the reallocating of funds. The street racing task force has been suspended. The LAPD is reluctant to discuss the matter. The Collegian Times contacted the media relations office more than a dozen times. They would not return calls or emails that requested clarification of their policies or enforcement. The Collegian Times contacted two rankand-file patrol officers, both of whom expressed

concern, but said there is nothing they can do officially. Like all things car in Los Angeles, this happens all over the city. Be it on Crenshaw Boulevard, or Sunset and Vine, the intersections are tattooed in rubber, like urban crop circles. EV-Cars Cater to Elite Taste No two vehicles of mass production are more opposites of culture, yet equally popular as the Dodge Hellcat and the Tesla Models right now. Similarly, however, both cars are marketed using speed as an attractor. Go figure. Nevertheless, Los Angeles is filled with Camry’s and bespoke Mini Coopers. Menacing muscle cars like the Dodge Charger Hellcat and its sibling, the Dodge Challenger are common. They are everywhere. Along with Ford Mustangs and GM Camaros, and all with ridiculous affordable to semi-affordable horsepower, the kind formerly only found in nameplates like Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche and Corvette. Los Angeles has no shortage of the exotic class leading sports cars, and the now new segment, exotic sports utility vehicles from the likes of VW groups Lamborghini and Porsche. The venerable Porsche 911 variants and Bentleys are no less strangers to any part of Los Angeles County, which may be surprising to some. You would expect to see Porsches, Bentleys and Maybachs in Beverly

(Top) Horsepower: The return of American Muscle, ready to roar, a 2021 Dodge Charger with “Scatpack” 485 bhp performance option. (Bottom) Burnt Rubber: Donuts resemble urban crop circles where drivers took over an intersection.

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Hills or Brentwood, and you will see plenty. However, even in lower-income areas of the county, you will find the aforementioned cars alongside the equally exotic slow and low vintage, classic lowrider cars. Many of the latter can be just as expensive as the exotic sports and luxury vehicles. However, in these areas, there are far fewer Mini Coopers, Teslas, Miatas, Nissan Leafs and Subarus. Los Angeles is an automobile enigma town. You cannot throw a rock without hitting a Toyota Prius or a Tesla Model 3 in most parts of the city. The almost silent sleek battery-electric software cars manufactured by Tesla in Los Angeles are street wallpaper. They are as commonplace as street murals, vegan restaurants and graffiti. The futuristic Tesla Supercharger stations are scattered all around the city and in parking garages. There is an allure to driving a Tesla or Polestar and soon Lucid Motors electric vehicles. Part of it is concern about the environment and overpriced gasoline, and part is exclusivity. New Tesla Model 3 owner Kelly Brand is an L.A. transplant and a former Corvette daily driver by way of Georgia. One of the surprising things she learned about Tesla ownership: not so exclusive. At least not in Los Angeles. They are everywhere. No matter. Brand loves her white-on-white, silent four-wheeled computerized and fast, nearly-a-robot car now. She does not mind the Tesla Supercharger charging stations that are sometimes full or the slow free charging spaces. She can play games or catch up on “Judge Judy” while she waits. “It drives well, and it has so much torque that it feels faster than my Corvette,” Brand said. “I have free supercharging for a year, so that’s been amazing, paying zero money for fuel.” The fact that EV’s are so popular in Los Angeles also speaks to the city’s culture. The sexy new bold status machines are fit for celebrities and the granola set. Meanwhile, Brand looks forward to software updates. “It’s like Christmas waiting to see what new goodies ‘Santa Elon’ has dropped under the tree,” she said. “On one of the last updates, we got a boombox function that lets you play music and sound effects from the outside speaker. If I wanted to, I could ride around and sound like the ice cream truck ... It’s not useful, but it’s fun, and that’s what gives the car personality.” ( Even law enforcement is not immune to car culture. In Los Angeles, it seems to be a bit of a flex. The LAPD still employs the dependable Ford Crown Victoria, which is no longer in production by the way. The motorcycle officers ride both BMW and Harley Davidson motorcycles. Pretty prestigious bikes for municipal police duty. Police patrolling on beemers and hogs is very L.A. Like Los Angeles itself, L.A. car culture is full of contradictions. Fast cars and traffic! Everything is 20 minutes away, but in traffic it’s an hour. No place to park, or hanging out in a parking lot. The ‘80s band Missing Persons sang “Only a Nobody, Walks in L.A.” ∫

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(Top) Dual Motor: The popular Tesla Model 3 with darker-than-legal, window tint makes its way, traffic free and Southbound on La Cienega Boulevard, Los Angeles. (Middle) No Waiting: Tesla Supercharger station stands idle near SpaceX at 1 Rocket Road in Hawthorne, CA. (Bottom) Gridlock: Southern California traffic equalizes every car model, fast, slow, new or old.

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PROJECT ROOMKEY OPENS DOOR TO GET UNHOUSED OFF THE STREET BY JUAN MENDOZA PHOTOS BY FRANK MARTINEZ

VIEWS OF DOWNTOWN L.A. HIGH-RISES AND PANORAMAS OF THE HOLLYWOOD HILLS SEEM LIKE POSH SHELTER FOR HIGH-RISK HOMELESS INDIVIDUALS. BUT A PLACE TO LAY THEIR HEAD IS OFTEN JUST THE BEGINNING OF A LAUNDRY LIST OF ISSUES THAT SHOULD BE ADDRESSED.

(Left) Shelter: At-risk homeless individuals receive shelter at the historic Mayfair Hotel to decrease their chances of contracting COVID-19 on the streets. In April, the 15-story-hotel filled with homeless clients. (Right) Signs of Life: Clients from Project Roomkey congregate on a corner near Seventh Street in downtown L.A. Residents who have been vaccinated say they feel comfortable enough to meet outdoors and chat with friends. (Bottom) Neo-classical architecture: New owners renovated the Mayfair Hotel in 2014. It retains its art deco flair.

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oors opened at the Mayfair Hotel in 1926 and attracted glamorous Hollywood musicians, artists, writers and performers to the dramatic public rooms. The property faded over the decades, but new owners began a renovation of the historic 15-story hotel in 2014. In March of 2020, a housing shortage exacerbated by the pandemic, forced the hand of city and state officials. The Los Angeles Homeless Service Authority (LAHSA), partnered with the City of Los Angeles, the County Health Department and Public Health Services, mental health and federal partners to start Project Roomkey. Now, the Mayfair Hotel welcomes a different type of longerterm guest. “Marco” has called the renovated hotel home since last Thanksgiving. He stands on the street outside the building, like many guests during the day. In addition to the room, “Marco” receives three hot meals a day. He says he is satisfied with that. “Before, I was in a homeless shelter on Broadway and Main Street in Downtown L.A.,” he said. In the middle of the conversation, a woman walked out of the Mayfair. She approached “Marco,” grabbed him by the arm and led him inside the building. ‘It’s my nurse,” he said. The state program has helped 10% of all

homeless in California during the pandemic. But the homeless need more than a room. Training, new skills and access to social services help the unhoused to re-enter society. The purpose of Project Roomkey is to help the most vulnerable homeless populations at risk for coronavirus infections, like seniors and people with disabilities and mental health issues. The candidates for the program are the homeless who are found in the most critical conditions or considered a high risk for COVID-19, like seniors, people with disabilities or mental health issues. “The threat of COVID finally led the state and federal governments to do something,” said L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti recently during his State of the City address. “I’ve been banging the table about it for a long time. Treat it like an emergency.” Garcetti says the program has helped thousands of the most vulnerable Angelenos find temporary shelter in trailers, motels and hotels. The Mayfair is just one of many Los Angeles hotels whose owners signed up for the program to help mitigate the housing shortage during the pandemic. Hotels experienced a high cancellation rate in the first six months of the pandemic, so Project Roomkey looked like a win-win situation for both parties. One of the safety procedures of the hotel does not allow residents to congregate inside the building.

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BECAUSE WE ARE HOMELESS, PEOPLE STIGMATIZE US AND BELIEVE THAT WE ARE NOT ABLE TO CHANGE OUR HABITS AND BEHAVIOR. IT IS UP TO US TO CHANGE AND EDUCATE OURSELVES AND LOOK FOR NEW OPPORTUNITIES. “MARCO” HOMELESS INDIVIDUAL

Most of them leave their room during the day to go outside to socialize with their friends and fellow residents. Many of them have nowhere else to go. So they congregate on the sidewalk outside in front of the hotel where they chat and some drink. Trash litters the sidewalk where they gather. Parts of the building exterior appear to be deteriorating. At the entrance to the lobby, program participants must pass through a security check, which includes a head-to-toe pat-down. They pass through a metal detector and receive a temperature check before they may have access to their room. A safe and secure place to stay is one of the stated goals of the program. Besides a place to lay their heads and daily sustenance, no job training or other career support services are offered. “Homeless are referred to a case worker, and they need to sign a contract and work with a case manager to get housing,” said a staff member who chose to remain anonymous. “Once they get a house it’s either co-op living, or their own apartment, depends on what they qualify for.” “Ralph” was living on the streets before he came to Project Roomkey and the Mayfair Hotel. He struggled with substance abuse and became separated from his children and family. “I came here because the social worker was doing visits to us on the street and giving us some food,” “Ralph” said, as he stood on the sidewalk and looked for his identification badge to get into the hotel. “One day she offered me a room, and I accepted. And she helped me to fill out the application, and this is how I ended up here like a rehab.” “Ralph” spoke to the Collegian Times about the stresses of living on the street. He says there is an uncertainty at the end of each day and another at the beginning of the night. “The most important thing is to have a roof, a place to stay,” he said. “I feel safe in this place, I feel good in my room. They provide me hot meals, and it’s all that I get.” “Ralph” signed a three-month contract at the Mayfair Hotel. The social worker promised to find permanent housing after his contract ends. Each program participant works with a case manager to create an exit plan. The obvious goal is permanent housing. But if for any reason that is not possible, they will be housed in a shelter or other options will be explored Life has been difficult for “Ralph” living on the street over the last few years. Now, he is in a rehabilitation program and cleaning himself up. He plans to find his family and reunite with his three children, a daughter and two sons, ages 23, 22, and 18 years old, who live in Simi Valley. There are 294 rooms at the Mayfair Hotel, and it remains 95 percent occupied. Project Roomkey has been extended until September 2021.∫

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SMALL ‘WORLD JOURNAL’ PROMOTES RACISM, LOST IN TRANSLATION BY EDWARD LOCKE

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ov. Gavin Newsom has moved to address the issue of social injustice and discrimination against African Americans through the power of his office. He signed Assembly Bill 1321 September 2020 (AB1321), and now the work begins. The nation’s first task force to study reparations for African Americans who are descendants of slaves met in early June. There is an important backstory in the pages of racist media that escapes the notice of the mainstream. We need to call it out. It deserves the attention of anyone who believes in the tenets of democracy and the quest for social justice. Here’s an example: See Headline 1 This translates to: “Newsom has totally lost His Human Conscience by Signing the AB3121 to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans” The article appeared in the World Journal in December 2020. You may have missed it because the article was written in Mandarin. The author, Guan Shan, claimed that his heart was filled with “righteous indignation” upon hearing the governor signed the bill. He wrote it was “essentially a robbery act.” The World Journal is the largest Chinese language publication outside of China. It is headquartered in Queens, New York, and has a daily circulation of 350,000 readers. Here is a partial translation of the writing that shapes the views and beliefs of some Americans and other people who speak and read Chinese around the world. Commentator Guan Shan is not alone in his willingness to malign Black Americans as he mounts a case against reparations. Xue Yongkang also weighed in on the issue with an article in September of 2020. See Headline 2 The translation of the headline would be: “It Is Ridiculous for California to Compensate the Descendants of Black Slaves” He bases his objection to reparations on an already costly pandemic and his belief that most African Americans do not deserve reparation: “On the contrary, in the past 150 years after the

Headline 1

Headline 2

It Is Ridiculous for California to Compensate the Descendants of Black Slaves

Newsom has totally lost His Human Conscience by Signing the AB3121 to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans

emancipation of the slaves, except for some selfrespected African-Americans who make a living out of their own labor, most of the criminals in the prisons are African-Americans; African-Americans enjoy all kinds of benefits, and special treatments when they enroll at schools or apply for a job. Other ethnic groups obey the police orders when they violate laws and are arrested, while most AfricanAmericans resist arrest and escape, causing conflicts between the police and the people!” Meanwhile, Guan doubled down, as he cited statistics on welfare payments with regard to African Americans: “Black people generally live in poverty. A large number of their children are raised by single mothers. However, their mothers have received various kinds of milk powder subsidies and housing subsidies since they were born. Decades ago, a family of four had 680 dollars of food stamps a month. The total amount of subsidies for single mothers a month could be several thousand dollars, several times more than those of us who are hardworking immigrants. How can we say that they are discriminated against and live in poverty?” The World Journal, its editors and contributors rely on tropes and stereotypes about African Americans. Black people generally live above the poverty line, although their poverty rate is twice as high as those for white and Asian Americans. Guan also promotes the politics of division and the “us against them” narrative that may comfort those who would like to forget or never learned about the issues of social injustice and discrimination suffered by African Americans since the founding of the 13 colonies. Guan also uses cultural common ground to make his case and offers familiar ideas to the reader. Among them, the idea that African Americans should be controlled and brought to heel. He maintains that African Americans are “children,” and he and his ilk are “parents.” He wrote: “As an old Chinese saying goes, ‘a stick makes a filial son, a loving mother makes a failing son’ and ‘giving a cup of rice makes a receiver feel a favor and giving a picul of rice makes the receiver a grudge;’ it is the result of this kind of benevolence. The ancients have long warned that excessive flattery and connivance to their children and friends can only lead to more greedy demands. As long as they

can make trouble, they can take and loot properties for nothing. Who is willing to repent and become a Buddha? It’s impossible. America’s elites can wait but will never see the Black organizations back off.” According to this logic, society should try to make African Americans “filial sons” by striking them with a more heavy-duty “stick.” Increase their incarceration rate, practice more racial profiling against their communities, and give police more license to shoot them. Remove all welfare payments (“a picul of rice”) the working-poor currently receive from the government, and only allow them small handouts from private charities (or “a cup of rice”). Dismantle the entire welfare system of the United States government. Then, America could return to the “Good Old Days” of laisser-faire capitalism, and a few wealthy tycoons from other racial and ethnic groups, and originally from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Mainland China, or Southeast Asia, could enjoy huge tax cuts. This is what the author of this racist article wants for America, and we must confront the World Journal and this racism for what it is, wrapped up in a conservative rag. The two-year study of how to best implement reparations to the descendants of Black slaves is a moral duty for the State of California. Many have suffered from discrimination based on their skin color. The authors of the racist articles in the World Journal have no moral qualifications to publish such one-sided, biased content based on even bigger lies to poison the readers who look to them for information and critical thought. The poisonous line of thinking and false claims are broadcast all over the Chinese-speaking world. At home, low-information readers are fair game to the belief that they are a so-called “model minority” of “tax-paying hard-working people” who lose out on opportunities that go to the “lazy” and “incompetent” ethnic groups, i.e., African Americans and Latin Americans, through welfare and affirmative action. Don’t stand for it. Write the World Journal and let them know their exclusive space, just got larger. We see them. Do not allow the Journal to lie and sow discontent unchallenged. Write the World Journal, its editors and its advertisers. Let them know that the lies they tell are not lost in translation. For the purpose of political brainwashing, this behavior cannot be accepted by Americans with human conscience. ∫

My goal is to Stop Racism and donate money to children’s organizations colleges and children’s hospitals to benefit children across the U.S.

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REPORTERS NOTEBOOK

COVID-WEARY REPORTER MAKES GUATEMALA ESCAPE Typical vacation destinations are too plain for thrill seekers like Collegian Culture Reporter William Torres. He explores the natural splendor of Guatemala, a country that many Americans overlook. BY WILLIAM B. TORRES

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PHOTOS BY WILLIAM TORRES

houghts of spring break conjure up scenes of clear blue waters and sun-drenched beaches with half-naked people clutching tropical drinks. Places like Cancun and Miami are popular destinations for Americans on spring break. Yet, I decided to think outside the box and go somewhere that is not as popular as Mexico or Florida. I went to Guatemala. It has some of the most picturesque scenery in the world, and there are 30 active volcanoes. Visitors hike to volcanoes and spend the night there. Serene lakes and historic Mayan ruins that have stood for centuries await exploration. Once my airplane landed, I grabbed my bag and exited the terminal. Douglas Ordóñez who was my driver for the trip wore a mask as he greeted me in Spanish. “Welcome to my beautiful country,” Ordóñez said. “We missed you.” Like many other countries affected by COVID-19, Guatemala relies heavily on tourism. On March 17, 2020, Mariano Gálvez who is the governor of Guatemala decided to close all borders and entrances to the country, the L.A. Times reported. Six months later, on Sept. 18, the Americas Society/ Council of the Americas reported that Guatemala had begun to open its borders and allow domestic and international flights. “It hasn’t been easy for Guatemalans during the pandemic,” Ordóñez said. “Which is why we are happy you [are] here.” The first stop I made was Antigua. It is an old colonial town surrounded by volcanoes in the southern area of Guatemala. Each house in Antigua is painted in pastel colors. The city’s roads are paved with rustic bricks.

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1. The Iglesias de La Merced is named after the blessed Mary of Mercy. The White on yellow Baroque architectures is famous with visitors to Antigua. 2. Altamira is an Ecological park where visitors can enjoy nature, walk through the paths and enjoy a wonderful view over Antigua Guatemala Valley. A large wooden hand bridge is the most popular attraction to take pictures in Altamira, especially during sunrise and sunsets. 3. Antigua was once the capital city of Guatemala and the most important city in all of Central America. Many Churches and convents were built in Antigua during the 1700s, but earthquakes in the 18th century damaged many of them. The ruins are still preserved to this day and attract many visitors from around the world. 4. William B. Torres is the cultural reporter for The Collegian Times magazine and newspaper. William has traveled to destinations like China, Thailand, the Burning Man Festival and the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, to cover each experience for Collegian publications. 5. Santa Catalina Arch is one of the most famous landmarks in Antigua, Guatemala. Built in the 17th Century, it was originally part of a school convent. The Arch is in the center of the town.

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The biggest attraction is the Santa Catalina Arch. The arch was originally built for the Santa Catalina Convent in the 17th century. As a convenience of design, the arch connected the convent to a school and allowed the nuns to move from one building to the other without going out on the street. Today, people worldwide take pictures of the canary yellow archway with Fuego Volcano as the background. Fina Herrera who works for Aero Inter Travel Agency made arrangements for my overnight accommodations at Acatenango Volcano. “I am so happy to see my town filled with so many locals and tourists,” Herrera said. “It is a slow process, but we hope tourism comes back to our beautiful, old town.” Farah Ramos of CA Travelers runs an intense hike up the Acatenango Volcano ridge where we settle in at base camp. While we hike up to the volcano, Ramos says she is grateful for the opportunity to lead this tour. “We shut down for nine months because of the pandemic,” Ramos said. “And it affected every small business, including mine. I am so happy to see all of you today.” Hiking Acatenango Volcano was extreme. There was a sudden altitude change from 1,000 to 3,000 feet, and the weather dramatically changed as well. The hike started out with decent temperatures and then suddenly dropped to under 30 degrees Celsius.

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After a five-hour hike, we landed at the campsite where it was freezing and windy. I slept with layers of clothes on and inside a sleeping bag to stay warm. Our guide woke everyone up before dawn at 4 a.m., to begin our hike to the volcano apex. The path we walked to the top of the volcano was extraordinarily high and narrow. The hike is not for the faint of heart, but the view was worth every pain endured. On the northern side of Guatemala where it is humid and hot, the temperature reached 100 degrees during my stay. The region features one of the most significant Mayan ruins in the world: Tikal Ancient Ruins. Tikal is a Mayan city set in the rainforest. Locals and international travelers flock to the ancient pyramids that possibly date back to the first century. When the pandemic hit Guatemala, Tikal closed its doors to the public in March 2020. While there was no revenue coming into the national park because of the lockdown, security guard Leonel Castillo Piñeda says he was fortunate enough to work during the pandemic.

“Even though it was closed for nine months, we still had to roam the pyramids throughout the day and night,” Piñeda said. The upside of the lockdown is that the absence of human traffic allowed nature to take its course. “I got to see jaguars, leopards and monkeys roam around the park during the day,” Piñeda said. “When it is usually guests walking around the park, it was a beautiful sight to see.” One of the most amazing experiences I had was sitting on top of the Temple IV pyramid while watching the sunrise. It was pitch black when I woke up at 4 a.m. My heart was racing while I was all alone on top of the pyramid. I felt an adrenaline rush. All I could hear was the sound of the wild animals roaming the jungle as the sun welcomed a new day in Tikal. Guatemala is such a beautiful country filled with so much to see. Oceans, colonial towns, stunning views, volcanoes and lakes. It takes more than two weeks to see what Guatemala has to offer, which means I will return very soon. ∫

6. Tikal Temple II is a Mesoamerican pyramid at the Mayan Archaeological site in Tikal in Petén. Temple II stands 125 ft. high and is the most thoroughly restored temple at Tikal. It has a wooden structure built on top of the temple so, visitors can climb the pyramid and take pictures of the Great Pyramid Plaza. 7. One of the most famous Mayan temples in Tikal is Temple I. Located in the Great Pyramid Plaza, Temple I is 47 meters in height and was built in the year 700 AD. Temple I is also known as the “Big Jaguar.” 8. Tikal is an ancient Mayan ruins site located in the rainforest on the northern side of Guatemala. On top of the Lost World Temple is the view of the entire Tikal National Park, including The Complex Temple and Temple IV.

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TAKING MILITARIZED POLICE ACTION TO DISPLACE PEOPLE WHO ARE ALREADY DISPLACED IS CRUEL AND DOES NOTHING TO BOLSTER PUBLIC SAFETY. MASS ARRESTS OF PROTESTERS, LEGAL OBSERVERS, AND JOURNALISTS WILL NOT KEEP THE CITY’S BRUTAL, ILL-CONCEIVED ACTIONS FROM BEING KNOWN. — HECTOR VILLAGRA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ACLU OF SOUTHERN CALIF.

POLICE SNARE COLLEGIAN REPORTER IN HOMELESS CRACKDOWN

It was no surprise when police officers in riot gear began to evict residents of a homeless encampment in Echo Park at the end of March. The surprise came when LAPD officers rounded up and arrested journalists. BY MATTHEW RODRIGUEZ PHOTOS BY LOUIS WHITE

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umors swirled among the protesters at Echo Park Lake as nearly 100 LAPD officers surrounded them for hours. Police were ready for a confrontation if anyone interrupted their forced removal of the unhoused park residents. Members of the media were there and so were observers and community activists. When police ordered protesters and homeless to disperse, some packed their belongings and cleared the area. Others were ready to stand their ground. “They’re taking cameras,” one person said. “They’re arresting people,” said another. Police were indeed arresting people and not just protesters. In the darkness, they encircled members of the press, including reporters from major media outlets like the L.A. Times, Spectrum Cable, and KnockLA, a nonprofit newsroom tied to progressive causes. They also detained legal observers and reporters from smaller media outlets, some of whom lacked press credentials. L.A. City College reporter Keliyah Williams was trapped in the middle of the large group of protesters as police herded them down Glendale Boulevard toward the lake to more waiting officers. Williams reports for the Collegian, the student voice of L.A. City College since 1929. She had been to Echo Park to cover the unhoused before. She followed the tension between the LAPD and the activist groups the police were threatening to evict from the park.

Williams says she felt a glimmer of hope when LAPD officers asked for members of the press to step forward. Her hopes faded when they asked for a press badge, something she did not have. “I went up and told the officer that I was with the Collegian, that school was not in-person this semester, but that I have my school schedule and some bylines to prove that I’m a journalist,” she said. “They would not even look at it.” Unmoved, the officer instructed Williams to get in line with the protesters waiting to be arrested. She would be next. “Once they heard LACC and no press badge, they were not interested,” Williams said. “They were targeting people once they were identified. If you didn’t pass the ‘vibe check,’ you were next.” Police officers deployed a crowd-control technique referred to as “kettling.” It is also known as “trap and detain,” when officers surround protesters to corral them before arrests. “Once I was put into plexi-cuffs, they patted me down, took my bag from me and asked for my ID, which I thankfully had and made my processing a little faster,” Williams said. “While this was happening, the officer was trying to make conversation. He says, ‘You go to LACC?’ and I think ‘oh, so it’s not that you doubt that I’m a student journalist.’” Williams says she did not feel afraid or intimidated by the presence of the more than 100 LAPD officers.

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“He told me how this was ‘the risk that you take when you come to these things,’ and how I was ‘so lucky to be here’ because he was an immigrant from the Ukraine, and compared America to a rich kid with a Mercedes but wanting a Range Rover,” she said. “Basically, saying we as protesters were ungrateful and that we should be happy, not protesting. It was just such an interesting view.” Not so interesting for residents of Echo Park who decided to stand in solidarity with the homeless. Olivia Martinez says she is familiar with protests but Echo Park was different. “I had never seen organizers call a protest an unsafe situation, but there was nothing we could do at that point besides keep ourselves safe and go home,” Martinez said. “I’ve been to many protests this year, and this one really felt like a show of force from the LAPD. There were cops with full riot gear on. I got shoved, and after we were fired at with rubber bullets, I decided to go home.” The LAPD tactics drew strong criticism from a few local officials and groups like the ACLU, which called the arrests “militarized police action” in a statement. “Mass arrests of protesters, legal observers, and journalists will not keep the city’s brutal, ill-conceived actions from being known. The city leaders who approved this approach should be held accountable,” wrote Hector Villagra, the executive director of the ACLU of Southern California. The L.A. Press Club (LAPC) reacted the next day to events in Echo Park. Adam Rose, a journalist on the LAPC board of directors and chair of the Press Rights Committee expressed concern about interactions in the field between police and the press. “Our position is very clear,” Rose told the Collegian Times. “Under the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, as well as various local and state statutes and the state Constitution of California, the press should be able to record and document the activity of the police even during an unlawful assembly when the general public is required to disperse.” Police seemed oblivious to any First Amendment guarantees, as officers moved Williams, other journalists, legal observers and protesters to a Metro

AS STUDENT JOURNALISTS, WE DON’T HAVE THE BIG LEGACY NEWSPAPER NAMES BEHIND US AND THE LEGAL TOOLS, SO WE’RE AN EASY TARGET. —ALBERT SERNA SAN FRANCISCO STATE UNIVERSITY

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THERE WERE 182 ARRESTS FOR 409 PC, FAILURE TO DISPERSE, LAST NIGHT. DURING THE COURSE OF THE ARRESTS, THREE INDIVIDUALS IDENTIFIED THEMSELVES AS MEMBERS OF THE MEDIA. ADDITIONAL INDIVIDUALS IDENTIFIED THEMSELVES AS MEMBERS OF THE NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD. ALL WERE RELEASED AT SCENE WITHOUT FURTHER ACTION. —LAPD STATEMENT MARCH 26, 2021 bus. The LAPD released reporters from larger news outlets, but they transferred those who did not have press credentials to the LAPD South Central Station for booking. Police charged Williams with failure to disperse at an unlawful assembly, which is a misdemeanor. Journalist Albert Serna attends San Francisco State University and writes for the Boyle Heights Beat. He says access issues abound for student reporters. “I think that as student journalists, we often get the brunt of cases where our rights are being violated. … Government officials, police, whoever it is, because we put the word ‘student’ in front of ‘journalist’ they think that our rights aren’t as important as professional journalists,” he said. In a similar encounter, Collegian reporter James Duffy covered a town hall meeting sponsored by L.A. City Councilman Mitch O’Farrell. An LAPD officer turned Duffy away at the door because he did not have a press credential. Student Press Law Center Senior Legal Counsel Mike Hiestand offers advice to any student journalists who are barred from public meetings. “If they expect to be covering a body that may not want or expect attention from the press, it’s important to have a basic understanding of the open meetings law in play,” he said. “Thoughtfully explain your positions and if you are still barred from the meeting, ask that notice of your involuntary removal be included in the minutes and leave.” Journalists should understand why a public body meets in a closed session. Hiestand says students should research the issue when they are denied

access. If the law was broken, the student should seek help. The LAPC is leading an effort of 15 or more California unions, journalism groups and press rights advocates. The goal is to form a coalition calling for better protections for journalists to cover protests and other forms of civil unrest. Meanwhile, Rose advises students to plan ahead. “The philosophical is easy, the student journalists should be there, but the practical steps are where the problems occur,” he said. “Make sure you are backed up, make sure someone knows you are there and have your own personal contacts of organizations that can help you should you get into any legal trouble. You avoid problems by preparing in advance.” Serna urges student journalists to fight for their rights guaranteed under the First Amendment. He recognizes they may face resistance, when they deliver unpopular messages. “Since journalists have been doing their job, they have been in some shape or form attempts to silence them, he said. “Systemically, people in power only want us to do our jobs when it suits them.” Williams is undeterred. In June, she learned that charges against her had been dropped, thanks to the efforts of the National Lawyers Guild. She retains her enthusiasm for news reporting. “If anything, I’m thinking ‘when is the next one?” Williams said. “It’s put a fire under me. I’ve learned so much about the law and the community.”∫ Beatrice Alcala and Keliyah Williams contributed to this story.

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CULTURED LOS ANGELES

Bitchin.

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ENFANT TERRIBLE TAKES DOWN ART WORLD TO LOWBROW

ROBERT WILLIAMS

WILD, SURREAL IMAGES ARE THE VOCABULARY ROBERT WILLIAMS USED TO CREATE AN ART MOVEMENT. WHEN HE ARRIVED AT L.A. CITY COLLEGE, HE PARTIED WITH THE STARS, GOT THE LOWESTPAYING JOB EVER AND MET A BRAINY CHICK IN TIGHT JEANS WITH A T-SQUARE WHO BECAME THE LOVE OF HIS LIFE. BY REBECCA GRAZIER AND JOHN JOHNS IMAGES COURTESY OF ROBERT WILLIAMS

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t took the lowliest and most underappreciated art form to open and democratize American art: the comic book. Robert Williams and his love of the comic book have been at the forefront of free expression or letting your imagination run riot since he left Los Angeles City College in the mid-1960s. Outsiders appreciate his art, but not art school, not his peers, not the art world’s cultural police, certainly not feminist media and definitely not the FBI.

He was just an artist with a dream when he enrolled at Los Angeles City College. Williams left Albuquerque and traveled to Los Angeles with a friend. They found an apartment across the street from the campus in East Hollywood. “And I came out for an art education, and at that time, the art department was in a bunch of barracks, they hadn’t finished the big art building,” Williams told the Collegian. “So, I took all the art classes I could over there, and I just dedicated myself to doing art studies.”

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Williams says the prospects for an aspiring artist were bleak in 1963. He had experienced an unstable home life in New Mexico, long before he came to Los Angeles. His childhood ranged from being secure and uppermiddle class, to living on the street with his mother after his parents’ final separation when he was 12 years old, according to a 2019 interview in The Comics Journal. His father sent him to military school when he was quite young, and by the time he arrived at public

school he was overwhelmed. “I was left-handed and dyslexic and had learning problems and bad lungs,” he said. “And, I was always falling behind, I couldn’t understand this or that. The only thing I could do was draw. I was not good at athletics, I was always out of step, always a f---up. Always a f----up.” But at age 20, the belief he could draw made Williams take a chance. He says earning a living as an artist is not easy, and it was even more difficult in 1963 when he enrolled at LACC. His talent and training informed his decision to throw himself headlong into an art career. “I just completely dedicated myself to the art department over there to study and do projects and what not, as much as I could take on,” Williams said. “I wasn’t so much interested in the grades, as I was the education. I was already a professional draftsman, and this was during the period of abstract expressionism.” The term applies to a movement in American art from the 1940s to the 1950s in New York City and is often called the New York School, according to MOMA. Williams was adept at drawing anatomy, perspective and narrative images. But the style of the New York School popularized by Jackson Pollock and anointed by the New York art establishment, prohibited narrative on canvas. When Williams arrived at LACC, Southern California was a hotbed of youth culture—cars, hot rods, surfing and surf bands. The Golden State was a promised land for landlocked American youth like Williams. He had already fallen in love with hot rods, as his father had given him a roadster when he was barely in his teens. But LACC presented something different. “When we were going there, it was a beatnik school, a hip school,” he said. “It was $6.50 a unit, and I could afford it.” It was a chance to create a new life. Williams saw opportunity when a friend told him the campus newspaper, the Collegian was looking for a cartoonist. Comics had influenced him a lot as a kid, especially Entertaining Comics, better known as EC Comics. The publisher specialized in horror, crime fiction, military, science fiction and satire and dark fantasy. “They were the most bitchin’ comics in the world,” Williams told The Comics Journal during an interview two years ago. “The draftsmanship was remarkable, the stories were written by the best writers, but they were enormously lurid, a lot of gratuitous sex and violence and war comics. Just the stuff a young kid shouldn’t have. I just loved them comics.” This was part of what informed Williams’ work. He accepted the offer and began creating cartoons for the weekly broadsheet, which would open some interesting doors. “I thought it was kind of strange that none of the other students jumped at the chance to get stuff in

5/10/1963

MELLOWSHIP SLINKY IN B MAJOR BY THE RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS

I’M SO IN LOVE YES WITH AN ARTIST IMAGINATION, HE’S THE SMARTEST ROBERT WILLIAMS, STROKE AND SPLATTER I ATTEST TO YOUR GRAY MATTER LIVING KINGS HOW TRUE IT RINGS THESE ARE JUST A FEW OF MY FAVORITE THINGS. SOURCE: MUSICMATCH print, but nobody was really interested in drawing,” he said. “They didn’t pay very much; I think two dollars a cartoon.” He used pen and ink to create the Collegian cartoons. As a novice, Williams’ style was much more direct and simpler in the tradition of newspaper editorial cartoonists. In the first issue following the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Williams paid homage to the spirit of the slain president by drawing a black and white hand clasped in unity in front of an American flag flying at half-mast.

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ART COURTESY OF ROBERT WILLIAMS

WELL, VAN GOGH WAS A CARTOONIST. IF HE HAD BEEN ALIVE IN THE 1960S, IN AMSTERDAM, HE’D HAVE BEEN AN UNDERGROUND CARTOONIST

Whatever the Collegian lacked in pay, it made up for in excitement. Williams was in the fast lane. Dick Baxter was his editor, a scion of an old Hollywood family. His mother was Whitney Blake, an actor with 81 film and TV credits in Hollywood. She was best known for the 1960s TV show “Hazel.” Williams spent time at the family’s Hollywood Hills home. Baxter’s sister, Meredith, went on to become a famous actor and producer who eventually earned five Emmy nominations for her work. “And I was just, you know connected with Hollywood through those people and met a lot of movie stars and was tightly involved there in the Collegian, and so I did it faithfully every week for a long, long time.” It was a good partnership and Williams honed his skills. When L.A. City College entered a national scholastic journalism competition, the staff entered his work. “I came in second place, but the person who beat me was a professional syndicated cartoonist, so I came in second place nationally,” Williams said. “So that added to my portfolio with the cartoons and whatnot and so it really helped me get jobs in the future.” Williams’ editorial cartoons and illustrations appear in the Collegian archives from 1963 to 1964. Editors contacted him after he left because they could not find another cartoonist. He continued to draw for the newspaper and his archived work continues through 1967. Life at L.A. City College was not all projects and publication deadlines. He attracted a few lady friends on campus who he says did not seem capable of abstract thought. But then, he met Suzanne Chorna. “And she was a beautiful girl, and she would walk around the campus with a T-square and a drawing board, so I knew that she had to have some skill and some kind of remarkable intelligence to use a T-square and a drawing board,” Williams told the Collegian. “So, she’d come up to me in class one time and asked me to help her make some plaster for a sculpture, and then from that moment on we were just glued together.” They married after a two-month romance, and they are still husband and wife after 56 years. After a lifetime of marriage, Williams is still captivated by Suzanne. He marvels at how well read she is in a variety of disciplines including astronomy, history, anthropology and paleontology. “Suzanne is always leading me,” he said. “I’m fortunate to be in her company.” A non-conformist in the very conformist early 1960s, now newly married and in need of an income, Williams entered the world of commercial art. He answered a call for an art director’s job that no one wanted. Williams signed on with Big Daddy Ed King. He was a legend in the world of hot rodding and one of the founders of Kustom Kulture and the creator of Rat Fink, the little green rat that epitomizes the world of hot rodding. Williams had found professional bliss.

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By 1970, Williams began to find other artists with similar motivation and interests, which led him to Robert Crumb and ZAP Comix. Time at Zap helped shape Williams’ style. The underground comic publisher encouraged artists there to express themselves as “wildly and as strongly” as they could. “My subject matter is rude, it’s extremely rude, it’s very much like comic book surrealism,” Williams said. That style has been a magnet for controversy. His most controversial painting is “Appetite for Destruction,” which he gave Guns N’ Roses permission to use as the cover for their debut album. Axl Rose, the band’s lead singer, found a picture of the painting on a postcard somewhere on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles. That album sold 14 million copies while pissing off conservative church members, parent groups and feminists. Williams gained worldwide notoriety for the album cover, which he painted 10 years earlier. The painting depicts a woman in a short skirt selling toy robots. Her kiosk is knocked over. So is she. A robot in a trench coat stands over her as a metal avenger flies to the rescue. One feminist organization called it a “glorification of rape.” Feminist writer Kjerstin Johnson said in Bitch magazine that Williams’ artwork “drives feminists up the wall” the way it objectifies women. The masthead of Bitch states it is a feminist response to pop culture. “Most of his paintings are about the domination of women’s superior sexuality,” Lydia Lunch said during her podcast, “The Lydian Spin.” “Which has been misinterpreted by feminists for decades as being misogynist. I think he is one of the most profemale artists, but also an incredible craftsman.” Williams is sometimes called the father of lowbrow art. He has written 12 books, and created Juxtapoz Art & Culture Magazine in 1994. Newstand calls it exciting and inspirational. It is the UK’s largest online magazine store and says Juxtapoz examines the world of art and culture, and features up and coming artistic and cultural talent across the world. Juxtapoz quickly became the best-selling art publication. Williams reflects on his time in East Hollywood. “I had some of the best teachers and ... my debt to Los Angeles City College is enormous,” he said. “It all focuses back to LACC where I learned how to be a gentleman.” A gentleman? Disciplined? Yes. Determined? Yes. A suffering artist? Most definitely, yes. A guy who found his right livelihood? Yes. But, a gentleman? No matter. Williams says his life has turned out well, and he maintains a warm spot in his heart for LACC. “Every 10 years on our anniversary me and Suzanne used to go back to City College and walk around the campus, and here in the last 15 or 20 years it’s had a fence around it so we couldn’t just go walking around anymore,” he said. “My debt is just enormous.” Now, that is a gentleman.

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ART COURTESY OF ROBERT WILLIAMS

9/23/66

6/19/64

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SHERIFF VILLANUEVA NEEDS TO HAVE A SEAT BY THANDI CHIMURENGA Like many African Americans in this country, I was raised in a household by parents who migrated from the Southern United States. As a result, certain phrases and sayings were a part of my upbringing. I can think of two that an adult – any adult but usually my mom – would proclaim in a high-pitched voice whenever they (she) had grown weary of an adolescent’s mischievous shenanigans (usually mine): “I’m so sick of YOU!” and, “Be STILL!” I am so sick of current Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva that “I don’t know what to do” (that last part would also accompany my mom’s proclamations from time to time). Sheriff Villanueva needs to go sit down somewhere and be still. His shenanigans, while full of mischief, are not of the adolescent type: They are a mortal threat to the safety and wellbeing of Angelenos. They are deadly. The sheriff ’s department has had documented existence of vicious gangs, not benign sounding “cliques” or “social clubs,” but gangs of deputies that rule various stations, for decades. Gangs that operate in the exact same manner as the ones deputies pursue on the streets of Los Angeles. Villanueva’s lies that these gangs are a figment of our imaginations are as insulting as they are criminal. Like a loyal fellow gang member on the street, he covers for his homies. He’s got their back. Sheriff Villanueva’s shenanigans had him declaring in May of this year that we here in Los Angeles County are not living in normal times. His comments, made during a press conference to announce the apprehension of a violent offender, were in reference to progressive District Attorney George Gascon’s efforts to reform L.A.’s criminal justice system. The sheriff deviated from his written remarks and made the impromptu reference, stating that the sheriff ’s efforts at delivering justice to crime victims has been hampered by the current district attorney. As part of Gascon’s reform efforts, he has instituted an independent team to review lethal law enforcement use-of-force incidents. This group will examine past incidents and make findings to the D.A.’s office on those cases where the previous

Image courtesy of peoplecitycouncil Venice Beach.

district attorney declined to prosecute. That previous district attorney refused to prosecute a single officer during an eight-year career that saw more than 350 people killed by law enforcement. Is this the normalcy that Villanueva craves? A lot of people are angry with Gascon’s efforts. So angry, in fact, that not only have they taken him to court to stop his reforms, but an effort to recall him from his elected position has also now been launched. And who was present at the press conference announcing this recall effort, as part of the photo op signing the petition against Gascon? Alex Villanueva, sheriff of Los Angeles County. Villanueva was present in plain clothes, not his uniform. The sheriff has a right to spend his free time as he pleases however, if he’s going to spend it on something political that impacts his day job, why not spend it tracking down the whereabouts of his deputy who refused to appear at the coroner’s inquest into the death of 18-year-old Andres Guardado? Why not spend that time encouraging transparency and cooperation in the investigation of Guardado’s death, instead of supporting officers who refused to testify at the inquest?

Guardado, a student enrolled in the Los Angeles Community College District, was shot five times in the back by Compton sheriff ’s deputies in June of 2020. He had been working as a security guard in Gardena when he was approached by two deputies. Their story is that Guardado produced a handgun and ran. Sheriff Villanueva backs his deputies’ version of events, as he always does, but Sheriff Villanueva – not his deputies – needs to answer a couple of questions. Since when is it necessary to shoot someone running away from you in the back? Since when is it necessary to shoot someone running away from you five times in the back? The normalcy that Sheriff Villanueva longs for would cover up the death of Andres Guardado. The file would be put away and Guardado would be just another Brown youth killed by law enforcement, leaving his family with no recourse and lots of questions. But these are not normal times. Sheriff Villanueva is right in that regard. He still needs to go sit down, however. Angelenos are sick of him. But unlike my mom, we know exactly what to do. Like his predecessor, Villanueva must go.

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“WHERE ARE YOU FROM FROM?” ILLUSTRATION BY RIZ RODRIGUEZ

ILLUSTRATION BY STEPHANIE KO

CiTY OF AngElS

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HEY, ARE YOU Ok? ILLUSTRATION BY STEPHANIE KO

Mom, dad,

Collegian, Raising Journalists Since 1929 Journalism 101, Mon. & Wed. 11:10 a.m. - 12:45 p.m. www.lacitycollege.edu