Native American
Petersen Museum’s British Invasion
Heritage Month
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Collegian Los Angeles
The Voice of Los Angeles City College Since 1929
Wednesday, December 1, 2021 Volume 187 Number 5
News Briefs
Education
Employers Come To City The Annual Fall Career Fair begins Thursday, Dec. 2, on L.A. City College’s main Quad at 11 a.m. Students will have an opportunity to meet and speak with employers who are currently hiring. The event will also feature food and a raffle for prizes. The second day of the fair, Friday, Dec. 3, will be held virtually via Zoom starting at 9 a.m. For more information, contact David Turcotte at turcotdr@lacitycollege.edu.
UC System Drops SAT, ACT for Undergrad Students
University of California leadership announces undergraduate admissions process will no longer require standardized testing.
Find Year Up Jobs Students who have completed high school or a GED and are interested in a career in business, quality assurance, IT helpdesk or client services may apply for a position with Year Up Los Angeles. The application deadline is Dec. 3. Check eligibility and apply at www. yearup.com/applyfax.
Library Offers Chat
T
By Matthew Rodriguez
he UC Board of Regents has reaffirmed that the SAT/ACT testing requirements will not be required for undergraduate admissions at least until 2024. Instead, the leaders of the nation’s top public university system support developing a more equitable standardized test, reiterating that the undergraduate admissions process will remain test-free for the foreseeable future.
“We don’t have an assessment now that we believe we can use effectively,” said UC President Michael Drake during a Nov. 18 meeting of the UC Board of Regents. The announcement comes on the heels of a Sept. 2021 rejection by a UC Academic Senate committee tasked with exploring the Smart Balanced (SB) assessment. The committee rejected a standardized test based on the Common Core curriculum given to public school children in grades 3 to 8 and grade 11, as an eq-
uitable alternative to the SAT/ACT tests. The Board of Regents has recognized the barriers to access to the UC system. In part, these gaps lie at the intersection of race and income that give a leg up to wealthier students, whose families can afford expensive test preparation and academic tutoring. UC Regent Jonathan Sures questioned the value of standardized testing bluntly. “I believe this test is a racist test,
L.A. Observatory Remembers
Death Toll Mounts: 74,374 in Calif. L.A. Launches its First COVID Memorial
The MLK, Jr. Library is open Monday-Thursday from 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m, and Fridays from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. A librarian is available to help students with research 24 hours a day, seven days a week, through an online chat feature. In addition to textbooks required for classes, the library has research guides and scholarly articles to assist students with school research papers. Access the library at www. lacitycollege.edu/Resources/Library/ MLK-Library-Home
By Sorina Szakacs Mayor Eric Garcetti launched Strength and Love on Nov. 18, The City of Angels COVID-19 Memorial to commemorate, honor and remember those lost to the virus and those
See “UC System” page 6
Thanksgiving
‘Day of Gratitude’ Brings Assistance to Students
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By Marvin Andrade
he third annual Day of Gratitude event delivered 200 meals to students at Los Angeles City College on Nov. 16. Students also received financial compensation to help pay for meals. The event is a way for the LACC Foundation and the Associated Student Government (ASG) to support the college’s most vulnerable population. “In addition to the 200 meals, the City Cares Network also distributed $50 [e-cards] for groceries to 1,000 students,” said Marcy Drummond, vice president for economic and social mobility innovation. The cards could be used to purchase groceries at Kroger Company stores like Ralphs and Food 4 Less.
who helped the city throughout the pandemic. The front lawn of Griffith Observatory turned white with 26, 661 flags each representing a person Los Angeles County lost to COVID since the beginning of the pandemic.
Spring Schedule Arrives The schedule for Spring classes is now available on the college’s website and via the student portal. Open enrollment begins on Dec. 15. Access the schedules at www.lacitycollege.edu/ Academics/Classes/Class-Schedules
there’s no two ways about it,” said Sures, in the Nov. 18 meeting that was live streamed and recorded for viewing on the Board of Regents website. The decision reverses more than 50 years of reliance on standardized testing to determine who gets accepted. The UC system of nine undergraduate campuses regularly appears on the lists of the top educa-
Photo by Louis White
See “pandemic” 6
See “Thanksgiving” page 6
VDK Campus
New Covid Numbers
Program Helps Students Care for Family at Home
Winter Classes Open Enrollment for Winter classes is now open to all students. Winter session runs Jan. 4, to Feb. 6, 2022. Check www.lacitycollege.edu/ Academics/Classes/Class-Schedules/ Open-Classes-Winter for more information.
A non-credit certificate program at L.A. City College may help students learn how to care for a loved one at home and get paid for the work
See “more news briefs” page 6
By Daniel Marlos A balance between work, school and care for an elderly relative or a disabled child may be easier for some community college students who enroll in an L. A. City College non-credit certificate program offered at the Van de Kamp (VDK) site. Some community college students struggle with work and school schedules while they care for their family. The knowledge of benefit services that are available through the L.A. County Department of Social Services provides an option. The In-Home Supportive Services Skills (IHSS) certificate of completion is designed for students to provide in-home care to patients.
INDEX Opinion & Editorial
2-3
Photo Focus
4-5
News 6 Scholarships 7 Sports 8 Features B-1 Legacies B-2 A&E B-4
See “VDK Program” page 6 Illustration by MICHAEL SITAR
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Opinion & editorial
Los Angeles Collegian - Wednesday, December 1, 2021
Editorial
think about all the people who are no longer here, all the families who lost someone. There is a silence broken only by a slight flicker of the little flags in the breeze. It’s easy to wonder, by any chance, each of those souls came back to wave the flags themselves just to signal that they see the tribute paid by a city in mourning. I lost my father to COVID-19 last year, on Nov. 24. He is not one of the
white flags at Griffith Park, but for me, the three-day memorial is personal. There are thousands of families in L.A. County alone, who share the same story; who also lost someone dear to the virus. I am not alone… and that matters. As of Nov. 2, there were 26,661 lives lost in Los Angeles County. This morning, Nov. 22, as I write these words, the number is up to 27,010. By the time of the print edition, the
city will have more angels… Jan. 25, 2020 is considered Day One of the pandemic. That day, health officials confirmed the first COVID-19 case in Orange County. California registered its first coronavirus-related death 11 days later. Dec. 1 is Day 676 of the pandemic. The county lost more than 27,000 people. They all left this world too early. Almost 700 days later, Europe is the pandemic’s epicenter once more. Austria is the first country to impose lockdown for all unvaccinated adults and mandate vaccine for anyone 12 and older, but the end of the tunnel is not visible yet. The end of the pandemic is nowhere close, and the death toll will get higher with every day. Next year, we’ll have more flags and more buildings lit in blue as the night falls. We’ll maybe have more vaccinated people, but will we learn anything from all the suffering? The mayor’s memorial of “Strength + Love” follows three steps: honor, remember, mobilize. How many of us will follow those steps? How many of us will honor and remember that numbers and flags are more than numbers and flags? They are people who lived in the same buildings, on the same streets and neighborhoods, in the same city and county. This is a fight in an invisible war. More than 27,000 souls lost the fight. The last step on the mayor’s memorial is “mobilize.” How many more will die, before all of us who are still walking this earth truly mobilize and fight back?
rifle. We knew it before the gun charge against him had been dismissed. We knew it before we heard about Judge Bruce Schroeder’s other courtroom shenanigans. We knew it. And, even though the writer, Toni Morrison, tells us that we should be surprised and shocked every time something like this happens, just so that we don’t become comfortable with it, we just don’t have the energy. Because we knew it. We knew it when we saw the video from that night of protests in Kenosha over the shooting of Jacob Blake in the back by law enforcement. The footage showed Rittenhouse walking towards police with his hands raised, surrendering as he had just shot two people, and the police passed him by like he was in their way. We knew it.
We knew it because we know the history of this country: white men with guns are sacred and not to be touched. We knew it because more than 70 million people in the United States voted for Donald Trump in 2020. 70 million. We knew it because the police officer who shot Jacob Blake in the back seven times faced no consequences for his actions, and neither have the vast majority of police officers who have shot unarmed black men, women and children in this country. We knew it. We weren’t surprised. A few of us weren’t shocked and a few more of us weren’t even angry. Because we’re tired. Trying to achieve social justice is a tedious undertaking. It’s not for the faint of heart. It’s easy to get burned out and demoralized. It’s easy to question the purpose and just say to
hell with it all. Very easy. Many are called, but only a few stay the course. Those of us who do stay the course understand that the pursuit of justice is a long term undertaking. It’s a process, not an event. And so we pace ourselves. We’re going to get tired, but we’re not going to give up. The stakes are too high. If teenagers with semi-automatic rifles can occupy the same space as protestors fighting injustice, and can shoot and kill those protestors and get acquitted in courts of law; that now means the right to assemble and protest belongs only to an acceptable few, instead of to every one of us. We can’t allow that to happen on our watch. It is our duty to fight for justice and equity. We have to get back out there. And we will. Just as soon as we find these car keys and finish eating dinner.
after stopping off to ogle a cute barmaid at the local road cave. Nonetheless, Mrs. Rittenhouse scores a double, as she’s also the perfect embodiment of a feminist seeking equality with men. What better way to join the feminist sisterhood in the Democratic Party, than through gun ownership? So forward to the present, and dear Kyle was doing what any red-blooded American boy should do; even if he can’t vote, join the Marines or sign a contract. Leave it to Mom to
get you the deadliest weapon on the market, although you can barely lift it. Then drive across the state line in her car and in order to start hunting your fellow humans cuz they don’t deserve to live and you’re scared of them anyway. Then, when you score a hit, whine self-defense and say you are enrolling in nursing school. Thanks, Mom! So America, let’s give thanks to the Founding Fathers for giving us the sacred right to hunt humans ad nauseam. And, let’s stay number one!
ble for this negligent action. Moreover, because of this oil spill, soon it will not only affect marine life, the pollution will also affect humans—and what we eat. The fish in the area will not be safe to eat because of the dangerous proximity to the oil. Eventually, after the spill reaches other beaches and coasts in Southern California and beyond, more marine life will be affected, and additional beaches may be closed. Gov. Newsom’s quick action in asking the federal government to declare a national emergency in the area was timely and will allow the state to obtain federal aid. “With the frequency of oil spills and lack of corporate accountability for them, I fear that the young people in my life will only know the ocean by observing it on the other side of thick glass in a zoo or aquarium, rather than in the natural habitat I’ve known and loved my entire life,” said Alex Lohman, an attorney for Children’s Law Center of California in an editorial for CalMatters News. However, nothing will reverse the damage to the wildlife—the migratory birds that are covered in oil and therefore cannot fly South. Since we know who is responsible, the California Justice Department should turn up the heat on Amplify Energy. This oil spill is a crisis and needs to be repaired before the situation gets worst.
Photo by Louis White Griffith Observatory’s front lawn turns white on Nov. 18 to remember all those lost due to the pandemic. The COVID-19 Strength+Love memorial consists of 26,661 flags, each representing one person who died in L.A. County from the beginning of the pandemic until Nov. 2, 2021.
City Grieves with 26,661 White Flags
By Sorina Szakacs There’s always something striking about memorials. The atmosphere is loaded with contrasts: serenity and grief, peace and the noise of questions that go through someone’s mind, while on sacred ground. The COVID-19 memorial at Griffith Observatory does the same. Walking the pathways between thousands of white flags makes you
We Knew it, But We’re Tired By Thandisizwe Chimurenga “I’m having grilled snapper for dinner.” That was my caption when I forwarded a news post on social media that Kyle Rittenhouse had been acquitted on Nov. 19. It’s one of the ways my friends and I sometimes show our indifference. When some major breaking news occurs that we don’t care about, we’ll post the news item and caption it with something mundane like what we’re having for dinner. Or, that the car keys we had been looking high and low for were actually in our coat pocket.
Actually, that’s not entirely true. It’s not that my friends and I don’t care about the Rittenhouse verdict. It’s more that we’re tired. We knew, even though we weren’t sequestered with the jury in Wisconsin. We knew it before the gun charge against him had been dismissed. We knew it before we heard about Judge Bruce Schroeder’s other courtroom shenanigans. We knew that Rittenhouse was going to be acquitted of the charges of first-degree intentional homicide, first-degree reckless homicide, first-degree attempted intentional homicide and two counts of first-degree reckless endangerment in the deaths of Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber and the wounding of Gaige Grosskreutz, the men he shot with an AR-15 semi-automatic
We’re Number One By John Johns America is the most violent society ever created. Bar none, we’re number one, numero uno, the top dog! Genghis Khan, Queen Victoria, Napoleon— powder puffs. Stalin, Hitler, Mao? They killed lots and lots of innocent people over a decade or two, but nothing like us, for so long. No one, with maybe the exception of the Roman Empire, has ever sustained blood letting as long has the good ole Red, White and Blue. Shoot, we’ve been killing non-stop since 1776. Just ask the Natives about the “City on the Hill.” As empires go, Rome lasted a lot longer than we have. But, what’s crucifying a few thousand devout Christians and some rebellious Spartans compared to having 15,000 nukes ready to strike? That is a nice tidy arsenal that just happens to be enough to destroy the world six billion souls over. Our success is due to being democratic. The right to hunt humans is enshrined in our Bill of Rights. And, boy are we ready to go a hunting,
owning more guns than the rest of the world, with 400 million guns in a population of 325 million. Number two? That garden spot of the Arabian Peninsula—Yemen. So this brings us to the Rittenhouse verdict. The jury did right. Kyle Rittenhouse is an all American boy, who was brought up right and proper by his ever-loving pistol-packing mama. Her maternal instincts were instilled in sonny by demonstrating how you should love your rod a whole lot more than humanity. Her role model was Ma Barker. The Rittenhouses are the perfect embodiment of Republican, which is to say American family values, and includes the good housekeeping seal of approval awarded by the NRA every year. To be fair and to her credit, Mrs. Rittenhouse with her love of guns has achieved equality with men, traditional men from out of the past— real red-blooded men. No wimpy, limp-wristed liberal, white wine swilling, quiche eating Scarsdale Galahad’s, not these guys. Ok, so maybe at heart, they’re a bunch of troglodytes, always leaving the little woman back in the cave to dust and mop or vacuum and scrub. All the while, going out with their buddies hunting for a Woolly Mammoth or two. Of course, they’re gonna come home late reeking of booze
Officials Must Charge Company for Huntington Oil Spill By Carlos Perez The Huntington Beach area oil spill is seriously affecting birds and marine life. As state officials now have an idea of how the spill occurred, the culprit would appear to be an irresponsible oil company-Amplify Energy. Marine animals, such as fish, crabs, seals, and dolphins were the first to be harmed. Several weeks on, there
is no doubt that sharks and other sea creatures are still being affected by this horrible accident. Scientists say the damage from the spill can last for years. After local officials questioned the cause of the spill, the California Justice Department began an investigation. As many Californians are asking authorities if they knew of the potential for the spill, I believe that the oil company that owned the carrier where the spill occurred should be held responsible for the damage. It does not matter if the company is a corporation, the corporate veil should be pierced, and individuals should be held criminally responsi-
Collegian Los Angeles City College Visual & Media Arts Department 855 N. Vermont Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90029 323.953.4000 ext. 2832 losangeles.collegian@gmail.com Editor-in-Chief Sorina Szakacs Graphics Layout Editor BEATRICE ALCALA Copy Editors Angela Johnson Daniel Marlos John Johns Opinions & Editorial Editor John Johns Arts & Entertainment Editor RACHEL RODRIGUEZ Photo Editor Louis White Photographers CHRISTIAN CHAVEZ Louis White Illustrators Cassandra Munoz MICHAEL SITAR Reporters Matthew Rodriguez, Juan Mendoza, JOHN JOHNS, SORINA SZAKACS, POUPY GAELLE NGUESTOP, MARVIN ANDRADE, DAniel Marlos, Thandi Chimurenga, Carlos Perez Faculty Adviser Rhonda Guess
For all submissions including letters to the editor and publicity releases, send materials to Collegian offices located in Chemistry Building, Room 207, or email: losangeles.collegian@gmail.com. To advertise in the Collegian, direct all insertion orders and questions to: pr.collegian@gmail.com. Issues of our award-winning newspaper and magazine are instantly available to our readers on issuu.com/ collegianwired.
Next Issue: December 14, 2021 Editorial Deadline: December 10, 2021
Opinion & editorial
Los Angeles Collegian - Wednesday, December 1, 2021
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City Views
How do you feel as we move into our second school year of COVID-19 regarding online vs. in-person learning? Compiled by Analuisa Alvarez
JOSEFA LUIS Major: CNA Program
GELIA GUMEROVA Major: Nursing
OMAR HERNANDEZ Major: Music
ANJELICA ROSE Major: Classical and Jazz Bassist
HYERI YUNG (Hailee) Major: Natural Science
I like both because I have time to [come] to campus to share with others and learn a little bit more, and I like online because I’m taking an ESL English [class] at night and prefer to stay at home because it gets cold at night. But it is better to have in-person [learning] because I think I learn more. It’s hard [online], I know it’s hard to study [at home] because sometimes I can’t understand [. . .] there’s a lot of people speaking on the microphone. I don’t focus because it’s boring, I can’t hear. But yeah, I think it’s better to come to campus for learning.
I feel like online learning due to covid is more convenient for students and their safety. Online learning vs. in-person, I don’t see the difference if you can do it online, like, you should be more motivated and self-educate also. You can text or email your professor if you have a question. Usually, professors answer you very quickly, [well] some of them and it’s very convenient for me.
I will say that something that [has] been demonstrated already by COVID-19 is that online classes, they really work. They can work in many different situations, like, when I say situation I mean careers. But specifically in music, the career that I am taking is very difficult [online] because you need to see your professor all the time, and get everything from them. Even the way they use their fingers on their instruments. It’s useful in some ways, but not 100 percent, not in the full context. But it’s useful.
I feel like time is nonexistent for me now, and I actually really like online learning even though it’s hard to grasp the materials sometimes. I could do my laundry and be in math class. I could be cooking breakfast and be in my harmony class but now, I have to be here for everything, and I can’t multitask [. . .] Online has it’s pros, in-person has it’s pros too because you pay more attention, and you have less distractions. But I think hybrid is the best way to go because it gives people a chance to be in their element while still learning, and also the other option is being in the school zone element.
I still prefer online learning. It’s really hard wearing the mask during class, wearing the mask is really annoying. It’s hard to communicate as an international student, and wearing the mask only makes it harder to communicate. So, I don’t think I have to be exposed (for in-person learning), even though I’m already fully vaccinated, but I don’t know. I still prefer online [learning]. For us international students, [professors] they have, especially Zoom hold meeting[s], so if we miss something we can go back and check it again, and it’s so helpful. Especially for me, if it’s really hard to follow some concept, and if I miss it because a professor explains it so fast, you know, I could go back and watch the videos again.
Ink Style
Illustration by MICHAEL SITAR
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Photo Focus
Los Angeles Collegian - Wednesday, December 1, 2021
Native American Heritage Month
Illustration by Beatrice Alcala
City Rests On Hallowed Ground By Sorina Szakacs
What we know at First Nations — and what some people just now seem to be realizing (at least since 1990) – is that Tribal people have been here since long before the beginning of the US.
10,000 years ago, the City’s campus land grew lush with fields of grasses and wildflowers, wild grapes, wild rose and wild lettuce. The willow and sycamore trees lined the bank of a freshwater creek full of rainbow trout and king salmon. What once was the land of the Tongva villages is now covered in concrete and asphalt. Buried deep under the campus, City’s origins cannot be ignored. The college lives on hallowed ground, and each part of the 49-acre campus pays tribute to what was once part of a vast Indian Country. In 1990, President George H. W. Bush approved a joint resolution designating November 1990 “National American Indian Heritage Month.” Similar proclamations, under variations on the name including “Native American Heritage Month” and “National American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month” have been issued each year since 1994. The initiative highlights the contributions of the first Americans to the establishment and growth of the United States. Marisa Page, First Nations development officer, says the celebrations should last longer than a month. “What we know at First Nations — and what some people just now seem to be realizing (at least since 1990) – is that Tribal people have been here since long before the beginning of the US,” Page writes on the firstnations. org News page. “We helped colonize powers throughout the history
-Marisa Page
of North America. We assisted the Spanish in the development of major cities in the Southwest and gave aid to the pilgrims to survive those first long winters. We taught the colonizers how to farm on unfamiliar lands, and we showed them how to track animals. Our contributions have made this country what it is today.”
Photos Courtesy of Unsplash and the Boston Library
Photo Focus
Los Angeles Collegian - Wednesday, December 1, 2021
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News
Los Angeles Collegian - Wednesday, December 1, 2021
From “Observatory” page 1
From “VDK Campus” page 1
From “Thanksgiving” page 1
City Commemorates COVID Deaths with Flags
Students Study for In-Home Care Certificates
The City Cares Network gave out $50 grocery cards to 1,000 LACC students to be used at Ralphs and Food 4 Less.
Edwin Charles Krupp, the Griffith Observatory director says choosing the park’s lawn for flag placement makes sense, since the observatory is “the hood ornament of Los Angeles.” “People all the time want to do something at the Griffith Observstory because of its visibility, but that is not appropriate,” says Krupp. “But there are times, now and then, when a specific project has particular meaning for the community at large and it does actually make some kind of sense and if anything is more serious than this, it is hard to imagine right now for our city.” The installation was open to the public until Nov. 22. The memorial unfolded for three days from Nov. 18 – Nov. 20 and focused on the ideas of honor, remember and mobilize. Angelinos honored first responders, essential workers, small business owners and everyone “who held the city together” since the start of the pandemic. The “remember” part of the memorial focused on the virus’s death toll in Los Angeles County, as of Nov. 2. The last part of the action, “mobilize” invited the county’s population to give back to their communities and “build a stronger, more resilient city.” “We will forever remember those we’ve lost to COVID-19, and never forget how the pain summoned the best of the Angelino spirit: to help, care for, and stand with one another through fear and heartbreak never felt before,” Garcetti said in a statement. During the three days, buildings across Los Angeles were lit blue each night to mark the Strength and Love memorial. As of Nov. 28, California closes in 75,000 COVID-19 deaths, while 27,121 are in Los Angeles County. From “UC System” page 1
UC Drops SAT/ACT’s tional institutions in the nation. The University of California joins a growing list of colleges and universities shifting towards a test-optional admissions process. Locally this includes the University of Southern California, which has made their SAT/ACT requirement optional for academic years 2022 and 2023. USC will then review and determine the impact on the institution’s long-term position on standardized testing.
The L.A. City College website states learning outcomes include the skill to “safely assist patients in living in their own homes with basic functions of daily life.” Students learn to assist with hygiene, comfort, nutrition, sleep, and rest. “I’m excited about the number of completers,” said Veda Hill, the LACC noncredit/adult education curriculum coordinator. “It’s a popular program, and we offer the courses in a variety of cohorts: English, Spanish and Korean.” More than 1800 students have completed the certificate program since 2015. Instruction also leads to an American Red Cross certificate in First Aid and CPR training. The list of authorized services a provider may offer includes everything from house cleaning and grocery shopping to meal preparation, driving a patient to medical appointments or more personal care services. “The recipient can be a family member,” said Lusine Chaparyan, an IHSS call center senior clerk, “but they do not have to be a family member, and the provider may administer services to more than one recipient.” Provider-applicants receive an orientation package with forms and a return envelope, according to Chaparyan. Applicants submit copies of their driver license, social
security number and fingerprints. Once applicants receive approval, they submit a form for the eligible recipient of the IHSS services. Providers cannot work more than 66 hours in a week. “Applicants who want to register as IHSS providers for either family members or unrelated recipients do not need a certificate,” Chaparyan told the Collegian. Applicants may even register online during the current COVID pandemic. Chaparyan says new applicants begin by watching a 45-minute informational video online from the Department of Social Services. Professor Mireya Nava is the IHSS Coordinator at LACC. She says many students do not seek jobs through L.A. County. Nava says there are independent agencies that require the certificate LACC offers. “And so that’s how those students, those individuals benefit from taking our training because those agencies do require the certificate,” Nava said. “Some of them are working already … taking care of maybe a family member or a daughter or a son or a father, you know … that may be ill or may have some sort of disabilities. So, sometimes the students take do the training just to get a little bit more knowledge in regards to how to take care of someone in their home.”
One student says it is important to reach out to those who need help but fall under the radar. “I feel like many students usually don’t like to take part in the resources provided by these programs because they either don’t know about it or don’t like to associate themselves with the stigma around these programs,” said Joseline Gonzales, who did not take part in the event. Others seem to be aware of the significance food insecurity is having on the student body. “Food insecurity, short or long term, impacts health and economic outcomes for prospering students and those who are recipients usually share with their children and families,” said Adelene Bertha, a student attending LACC who did not receive the help but supports the idea. It is part of the Fresh Success Program. It focuses on three ways a student can become successful: strengthen employability, receive supportive services and reduce financial barriers, according to the school’s website. “We also had several students who
are Fresh Success Ambassadors at the event to provide students with information on CalFresh food benefits and the Fresh Success program,” Vice President Drummond said. Although the event was sponsored by the City Cares Network and the LACC Foundation, it required collaboration and cooperation between multiple departments for the day to be successful. As a result of the work of volunteers and workers, students who face disadvantages are now able to turn toward their peers for assistance. Desiree Aguilar says she is happy to see the campus cares about the student body, especially during a time of crisis. “It is amazing to see our school cares for our students knowing our circumstances right now,” Aguilar says. “We all are going through the same predicament that not many can have a grasp on. The school is acknowledging that and doesn’t just stand on the sidelines.” The support does not end with the “Day of Gratitude” event. It contin-
ues throughout the rest of this term and next semester, according to Drummond. “[This includes] $25 weekly vouchers for food in the Cubstore and a $10 daily voucher for the Cubstore or Harry’s Truck during [midterms] and finals week,” Drummond said. Vouchers are first come, first serve to the first 500 students. It is an effort the school is taking to alleviate further stress during midterms and finals week. “I think the help that the school is giving by providing food and gift cards is crucial to aiding students on their educational journeys and allows them one less stressful task for students to worry about,” Bertha said. Organizers plan to announce details about more help in the coming weeks, just in time for finals. “I think all the help and resources given to students by ASG is very helpful,” Gonzales said. “It is good to know there are programs who genuinely care about the wellbeing of students.”
City Updates COVID Protocols 1. The current protocols require all employees and students to be vaccinated. 2. Everyone coming to campus needs to be “Cleared” through Cleared4 as vaccinated or having an approved religious or medical exemption. 3. Everyone coming to campus must be registered in the Cleared4 system. Students are still allowed on campus until the end of the term. 4. Students who have not registered and cleared through Cleared4 will be blocked from registering for on-campus or hybrid. 5. Students who have not cleared the Cleared4 system will only be able to register in online classes. 6. Students are supposed to use the online app daily and answer the questions. 7. Students who need assistance with registering for the Cleared4 system can get assistance at the temporary Welcome Center located in the Cafeteria area of the Student Union. Source: Office of The President
From “News Briefs” page 1
Play Rocket League
College students in the SoCal region can sign up and play in the CCCAA Soccer qualifier. Registration opened Oct. 25 and the games will begin on Dec. 6. First and second place winners will move on to the Championship Bracket, broadcast live on Twitch on Dec. 8. Registration and more information is available at http://cccaa.mainline.gg/fall21/socal/-/tournament/overview
Dr. Aaron Day Speaks at VAMA Lecture
Visual and Media Arts (VAMA) will host Dr. Aaron Day, producer of Fox 11’s morning news show “Good Day L.A.”, via Zoom on Wednesday, Dec. 1, 2021, at 6 p.m. Day has been a broadcast news journalist for 19 years. He has worked at news stations in San Diego, Seattle and Los Angeles and also teaches mass media and journalism at numerous colleges and universities. This event is free and open to the public. Contact Elizabeth Preger for more information at vamavisitingartist@ gmail.com.
Police Wire Compiled by Christian Chavez
921-00399-8716-087 - Attempted Grand Theft and Grand Theft of a vehicle. One individual was attempting to drive a utility vehicle off of Parking lot #4. Security personnel detained him. Police found the suspect in possession of several computers belonging to LACC. - 11/11/2021
Photo by Juan Mendoza L.A. County Sheriff’s Deputy Adolfo Pastrano says security officers on patrol spotted a man in a painter’s vehicle with LACC computers in Parking Lot 4 on Nov. 11, 2021.
Sheriffs Arrest Grand Theft Suspect in Parking Lot By Juan Mendoza Sheriffs arrested a man in possession of several iMac computers, monitors and laptops placed in the back of a painter’s utility vehicle in Parking Lot 4 on Nov. 11, 2011. The incident happened while sheriffs were on patrol. “At approximately 6:30 p.m., security officers were conducting a patrol check of parking structures 3 and 4 when they observed a male driving a painter’s utility vehicle,” said L.A.
County Sheriff ’s Deputy Adolfo Pastrano. Security personnel who are very familiar with L.A. City College facilities and personnel, including the LACC painters, did not recognize this person as an employee. The college campus and offices were closed in observance of Veteran’s Day and no operations, or any work orders were scheduled for that day. When security approached the individual to verify if he was a new employee, they noticed several iMacs monitors and laptops on the bed
portion of the utility vehicle. In a matter of minutes, deputy personnel arrived and investigated the incident. It led to an arrest of the man in the utility vehicle on the following charges: grand theft, attempted grand theft, grand theft of a vehicle and burglary. If the suspect is found guilty, the maximum potential sentence for misdemeanor grand theft is up to one year in county jail. Felony grand theft carries a sentence of sixteen months, two years, or three years of incarceration.
HELP WANTED Writers, reporters, Photographers Graphic & Web Designers Interested? Please email us at losangeles.collegian@gmail.com
Scholarships & Resources
Los Angeles Collegian - Wednesday, December 1, 2021
7
The Herb Alpert Scholarship Spring 2022 The scholarship provides two years of tuition-free study at L.A. City College for all music majors seeking the Music A.A. degree, Music A.A.-T degree and Certificates of Achievement in music. In state, non-resident and international students are all eligible. Apply at: music.lacitycollege.edu Extended deadline: Dec. 15.
(ISC) 2 Women In Information Security Scholarship
The (ISC) 2 Women’s Scholarship by the Center of Cyber Safety and Education offers female students scholarships ranging from $1,000 to $5,000 per recipient. Applicants must be female and pursuing or planning to pursue a degree with a focus on cybersecurity, information assistance or a related field with a minimum 3.3 GPA. Apply at https://iamcybersafe.org/s/womens-scholarhips. Deadline: Feb. 28, 2022
College Board Scholarships
https://scholarships.collegeboard.org
Scholarship America Scholarship America helps break down barriers, open doors, and access scholarships that help students succeed in life. Scholarship America supports a variety of scholarships for students pursuing higher education. The criteria vary widely, and applications open and close year-round. Requirements: This program has eligibility requirements related to the degree being sought. Winning amount varies. Deadline: Dec. 31, 2021
Lillian Gorell Scholarship
The Lillian Gorell Scholarship is for deserving students with preference given to blind students as well as those students wishing to study the arts. This program is offered through The Pittsburgh Foundation. Requirements: This program has academic eligibility requirements This program has eligibility requirements related to the degree being sought. This program has current grade level eligibility requirements. You Could win: $1,500 Deadline: March 31, 2022
James R. and Anita Horne Jenkins Scholarship
The James R. and Anita Horne Jenkins Scholarship is available to students who are currently attending a 2- or 4-year college or university. Recipients are chosen for their demonstration of financial need. This program is offered through the Saginaw Community Foundation. Requirements: This program has academic eligibility requirements This program has eligibility requirements related to the degree being sought. This program has current grade level eligibility requirements. Winning amount varies. Deadline: Feb. 15, 2022
Career One Stop Scholarships https://www.careeronestop.org/Toolkit/Training/find-scholarships.aspx The website offers nmore than 8,000 scholarships, fellowships, grants, and other financial aid award opportunities. Look through the whole list of scholarships, arranged in order of closest deadline. Narrow your list with “Search by keyword.” Enter a keyword about the type of award you’re looking for. Use the filters to see only awards for certain award types, locations, level of study, and more.
MABF Scholarships
Organization: Mexican American Bar Foundation Purpose: To support Latino students in their pursuit of legal education. Amount: $7,500 to $15,000 Deadline: March 2022
Niche Monthly Scholarship
The Niche $2,000 “No Essay” Scholarship can be used to cover tuition, housing, books, or any education-related expenses. Anyone looking to attend college or graduate school in the next year can apply.
Federal Student Aid Scholarship Tips
https://studentaid.gov/understand-aid/types/scholarships Check the Federal Student Aid Website for tips on where to find scholarships, fellowships and grants, while avoiding student scam.
Scholarships360.org
https://scholarships360.org/scholarships/top-scholarships-for-college-students/
Scholarships360 $1,000 No-Essay Scholarship
Eligibility: Easy scholarship open to any student who creates a Scholarships360 account! Amount: $1,000 Deadline: Sept. 30, 2022
HireAHelper Skilled Trade & Technology Scholarships
Eligibility: Currently enrolled (or planning to) as a high school senior, or in a community college, undergraduate, graduate, technical college, or vocational program Amount: $2,000 Deadline: Deadlines are as follows: Winter: April 16, Spring: July 17, Summer: Oct. 14, and Fall: Jan. 15 at 11:59 p.m. PST of each year.
Delete Cyberbullying Scholarship
Eligibility: High school seniors, college students, community college students, or graduate students who write an essay about cyberbullying. Amount: $1,000 Deadline: Dec. 31, 2021
Gen and Kelly Tanabe Scholarship
Eligibility: college, or graduate students, including adult students Amount: $1,000 Deadline: Dec. 31, 2021
Zippia’s Teacher Dream Job Scholarship
Eligibility: This scholarship is open to any college, university, associates program, junior college, vocational school, or high school students living in the United States who is planning on a teaching career Amount: $1,000 Deadline: Dec. 31, 2021
Taco Bell Live Más Scholarship
Eligibility: Open to students between the ages of 16 and 26 who submit a video entry about their life’s passion. Amount: $5,000 to $25,000 per year Deadline: Jan. 11, 2022
Lounge Lizard Web Design Scholarship
Eligibility: High school seniors and college students with an interest in Web Design. Amount: $1,000 Deadline: Feb. 19 and Oct. 3 of each year.
Rover Scholarship
Eligibility: High school seniors and college students who write an essay about the impact of technology on their lives. Amount: $2,500 Deadline: May 1, 2022
Ethel Hayes Destigmatization of Mental Health Scholarship
Eligibility: Open to students at every level of education who write a short essay about mental health. Amount: $850 (goes up as donors contribute!) Deadline: June 14, 2022
Probo Medical Scholarship
Eligibility: High school, college, and graduate students with a 3.0 or above GPA who submit an essay about medical technology and the future. Amount: $500 Deadline: Jan. 15 and June 15 of each year
Big Sun Scholarship
Eligibility: Student athletes who are high school seniors or in college. Amount: $500 Deadline: June 19, 2022
Solar Scholarship
Eligibility: High school seniors, college and graduate students with an interest in solar energy Amount: $1,000 Deadline: July 1, 2022
Michael Moody Fitness Scholarship
Eligibility: High seniors, college students, and graduate students interested in pursuing a career in health, wellness, or fitness Amount: $1,500 Deadline: Aug. 1, 2022
Denny’s Hungry for Education Scholarships
Eligibility: All high school and college students with at least a 2.5 GPA who share their ideas to fight childhood hunger Amount: $1,000 to 3,000 Deadline: Varies
LA Cash for College
LA Cash for College provides students and their families with free assistance completing and submitting financial aid applications, including FASFA, the California Dream Act Application and Cal Grant along with scholarship opportunities. Learn more at http://www.lacashfor college.org
Productivity Apps for Students Studios The app offers different tabs for each class, allowing students to separate information and keep track of assignments, due dates and tests.
Myhomework Student Planner
Helps students plan and track homework and assignments, planning the tasks based on due date and sticking to a schedule that ensures each assignment is finished on time.
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Los Angeles Collegian - Wednesday, December 1, 2021
Sports
BritWeek
BritWeek Drives Through Beverly Hills Steve McQueen’s green 1956 Jaguar XKSS, a gray 1928 Bentley Speed 6, and a row of iconic Mini Coopers line up in attendance for the British Invasion show at the Petersen Museum for auto enthusiasts and car aficionados on Nov. 14. By Christian Chavez and Louis White
My
mother gave me a name in Cajun French named ‘Couyon’ which is a fool.
I
have a couyon puppet sitting in the driver’s seat driving away with his magical top hat and goggles.
The growl of cars charged the air as many classics prepared to park on top of the Petersen Museum’s rooftop lot. Guests sipped coffee, and chomped on donuts and sausage rolls, and the smell of engine oil mingled with the snacks on a warm and sunny day. Hundreds of guests came to watch collectors show off their prized classic cars. Former late-night TV host and car collector Jay Leno attended, and so did TV-teacher Bill Nye, the Science Guy. Rapper, Tyler the Creator rubbed elbows with other celebrities and car fans who turned up at 8 a.m. to see rows of iconic cars. Enthusiastic fans snapped pictures and talked to the owners. Petersen Automotive Museum, the City of Beverly Hills and car aficionado Magnus Walker hosted the event, which highlighted a fantastic ride through some of Britain’s most celebrated automobiles. Some cars and their drivers stood out. Daelen Cory wore a top hat and a drawnon mustache, one of many drivers who attended the event and drove his green 1968 MGB GT. “It’s a totally classic gentleman’s car,” Cory said. Inside his car was a 24-inch tall puppet with a top hat sitting in the driver’s seat. The back of his trunk was propped open to reveal another top hat with goggles sitting on the bottom to highlight its unique place among a sea of cars. The car oozed personality. The license plate on the back of Cory’s car had the word Couyon, which holds a personal significance for the flashy driver. “My mother gave me a name in Cajun French, ‘Couyon’ which is a fool,” he said. “I have a couyon puppet sitting in the driver’s seat driving away with his magical top hat and goggles.” The Britweek rally treated guests to many cars with different personalities, rather than the average manufactured assembly line vehicle with predictable curved features. Many of these classic vehicles, such as the Mini Cooper and Rolls Royce were made by hand. Brandon Faith studies photography at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. He says he enjoys photographing car events with a large format 4x5 film camera. This camera allows the photographer to take a step back and slow down to produce an image that captures more detail than a typical camera. “Keep the car scene alive, and just remember the past because if you treat these things poorly, you’re just throwing away this era,” Faith said. The importance of this event is about preservation, and with students like Faith carrying around a large format camera, the car scene will survive and thrive. “All we will ever have is pictures,” said the photo student. The automobiles rolled toward the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts near Beverly Hills City Hall. The parade of classic cars dominated Fairfax Avenue as everyday cars idled on the sidelines. The classic jewels rode in style through L.A’s streets one more time. At the close of the day, fans of British car culture witnessed a spectacular ride through history.
Photos by Christian Chavez (Top) Jay Leno exiting the Petersen parking lot in his 1928 Bentley Speed 6 heading towards the Wallis Annenberg Center of the Performing Arts. All part of the British Invasion Week on November 14, 2021. (Center) A 1968 MGB GT sits on the Petersen Museum’s top level parking lot. The owner, Daelen Cory, adorned his car with a top hat, funky glasses and a license plate with the word Couyon. All part of the British Invasion Week on November 14, 2021.
A green 1967 Morgan parked on top of the Petersen Museum’s top level parking lot. All part of the British Invasion Week on November 14, 2021.
Section B
Collegian Features
B-1
Los Angeles Collegian - Wednesday, December 1, 2021
In Her Own Words
L
Native Student Talks Heritage, Future
By Rachel Rodriguez
countries look like Beverly Hills.
uvLeighAn Clark is a Native-American who attends Los Angeles City College, in pursuit of fulfilling her dream of becoming a filmmaker. Clark has nine college degrees, which include four associate degrees, two bachelor degrees and three masters degrees. She plans to continue her education towards two PhD degrees. Previously from Bay City, Michigan, she became a foster child in Lawrence County, Ohio at the age of 13. Clark has lived in nine states and changed her name five times. Clark hitchhiked and walked from Michigan to California, a three-week journey. She arrived in Los Angeles just before turning 21.
Q: What does Native History Month mean to you?
Clark shares her story with the Collegian. Q: Can you share more about your Native American heritage? Clark: I was raised with my birth father’s side of the family. They denied their Cherokee bloodline because my grandmother married a racist. They hated my birth mother because she was Aztec. I became a foster kid at the age of thirteen and because my family is not registered with a tribe it is actually illegal for me to say I am Native American. My only proof is two blood ancestry tests. My Native bloodline is high enough to register with a tribe, but you still have to prove which tribe you are from. I do not speak to my birth father’s side of the family, and Aztecs do not have a tribe despite being on the USA list of civilized tribes. Many people think those of us not raised on “The Rez” want to be part of it for the money. In fact, not all tribes get money, and many live in poverty that makes Third World
Mom, dad,
Clark: No one teaches the truth of Native history or current events. They feed the fairytale of the first thanksgiving, which did not happen the way people are taught. I find it even more insulting that it is done during the month of commemorating the genocide of Native people. Native children are still being taken from the tribe and put in foster care in the white man’s community. If they stay there long enough they lose their tribal enrollment. This lowers the number of tribe members, which gives the government the right to abolish the tribe. We are down to 550 tribes in the United States, 50 less since the ‘70s. None of this is talked about during Native History Month. Q: Can you tell more about yourself, not only as a Native student, but as a Native woman? Clark: My religion is a mix of my Native religions (old ways) and my Pagan Irish ancestors. I believe in protecting Mother Earth and animals over humans. I believe the strong protect the weak. I believe that we need to go back to the old tribal communities of “We” and not the “I” communities we are living in. If we go back to the old Native tribal ways, I believe that many of our country’s problems will go away in a few generations. Q: What does independence mean to you as part of the indigenous people? Clark: The biggest independence that can be given to the Native communities is the right to prosecute criminals no matter what
skin color or tribal affiliation, on their land. Crimes are committed on tribal land because the tribes are not allowed to go after any tribal people that commit crimes on tribal land, no matter the crime. Rapists and murderers get away with it and local police will not investigate it nor can they on tribal land and very rarely the FBI. This is why there are so many missing Native women and children. Q: What are some projects you have and are working on? Clark: I am trying to film all my shorts to build my director’s reel and showcase my writing skills in the hopes of making it as a filmmaker. I am polishing off a feature film about the right to die when you are sick and dying anyway. I have the outline for a feature called Finding Santa, which is about foster kids running away to confront Santa. I am told that there is no audience for this because people overlook those of us raised in state care and will not look at the ugly truth of child abuse. I am trying to find a way to self-publish my book of poems and artwork. I also have three children’s books I am trying to self-publish. I do not have the money to pay an illustrator so I am taking drawing classes to learn to draw better. To find out more about LuvLeighAn Clark, check out her IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/ name/nm3617523/?ref_=nv_sr_ srsg_0. Clark has some of her short films available on her website: https://luvleighan.wixsite.com/ goddessproductions/shorts-1. She also has some educational documentaries available on the website as well which can be found at: https://luvleighan.wixsite.com/ goddessproductions/documentaries.
m a e t g n i nn i w the Journal 220-1 and Journal 220-2
J oin CT
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
C
CORONAVIRUS ROARS INTO 2020
Collegian
TIMES
2020 SPRING
CULTURED L.A.
HOLLYWOOD GAY BARS, SKATEBOARDERS AND HOT CARS
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B-2
Collegian Legacies
Los Angeles Collegian - Wednesday, December 1, 2021
Photo Courtesy Andrew Godot 13, Andrew Shiba -Wikipedia Hannah spends a good deal of time within the imposing walls of Brasenose College at Oxford University. Only 11 percent of state school students in the U.K. win a place there, according to a Sutton Trust report from 2016.
Hardship Tests Student, Scholarships Bring Education of a Lifetime The quest for higher education drives a student from L.A. City College to Columbia University and travel across the pond to an historic institution that educates presidents, princes and kings.
S
By Sorina Szakacs
he walks with a firm resolve to continue her education “come what may.” The gateway to Hannah’s future is an antique fortress door of weathered heavy wood beneath a carved stone frieze. A crowned lion and a unicorn support the college’s gold and blue coat of arms. Inside the Old Quad, she stops, gazes upward, slowly closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. The sky is bright blue and the sun showers her in warm rays. It is warm for October in this part of the world. For a moment, the warmth of the sun reminds her of California, where her journey began five years ago. She flashes a smile, as she joins the cohort of new Oxford students, ready for Matriculation Day. They wait in small groups on the pavement surrounding Brasenose College. They seem to be on a “Harry Potter” movie set. This is the United Kingdom, after all. The whitish-yellow limestone from the Headington quarries and the freshly sodded lawn could transport anyone back in time to a 16th century autumn day. But this is Oct. 4, 2021. The students, even though all dressed the same in this century’s fashion, do not seem out of place. And they couldn’t be, since all of them are about to be matriculated in an initiation ceremony—a most prestigious rite of passage— they are about to go down on the scrolls as Oxford’s new generation of future alumni. All wear head to toe sub fucs: plain white shirts adorned with black ribbons or bow ties, dark clothing, and the black sleeveless gown with a turned collar. It has square pleats that hang the full
length of the gown that falls to the hip or knee. It all depends on the student’s status. Hannah Gehrels graduated from Los Angeles City College (LACC) in 2018. City College became her sanctuary, her home and her refuge. It was the place she turned after hitting rock bottom. “I restarted school at a point when I had lost everything,” Hannah says. “I had lost my children to divorce and international kidnapping and was looking to repurpose myself. In fact, I ended up in Los Angeles on vacation and without goals or even an intention to stay. I was following a friend when I enrolled at LACC. That friend subsequently quit school but I found it to be a healing.” Life in a “square box,” in a Los Angeles women’s shelter with a newborn does not seem like a recipe for success for most people, but Hannah is one of a kind, driven and ambitious. She spent her community college years focused on a better future for her and little Carolyn. Many times, Hannah carried the baby and later the toddler with her to class.
D
uring a creative writing exam, Professor Sam Eisenstein snapped a photo of the motherdaughter duo. Hannah sits at the desk, face down, eyes on the paper, focused on her exam. Carolyn, then a one-year-old, sleeps peacefully across her mother’s lap. “You wouldn’t even have noticed she was there,” Hannah says. “She was such a good baby and still shows up for my lectures with the same attitude of been here, done this,” Professors always remark post lecture how good she is to have in class.” She is six years old now and familiar with lecture halls, libraries and university events. Even so, she is still a little girl who loves her unicorn dresses and has friends her age to play with. “Carolyn already knows a good deal more than her peers about tertiary education,” Hannah says. “She’s been to university lectures
and seminars; she’s attended office hours and orientation. She has lived in the U.S. and U.K. and has a growing network of global friends. Carolyn has a betterequipped lexical toolkit than I had at her age, all due to my academic peregrination. She is aware of this privilege and takes advantage of it.” Hannah struggled financially through college, lived in a shelter while enrolled in classes and had to budget her scholarship money to survive. She does not want her daughter to face similar struggles in the future. “So, it follows that my greatest desire is for her to live unrestrained by these contraptions,” she says. City Becomes First Stop in Academic Career Looking back to that Fall 2015 semester when she took the first step toward a new life by enrolling at LACC, Hannah remembers she was overexcited. “Ignorant of the inner-workings of the American college system, I tried signing up for 16 classes,” Hannah says.
So, it follows that my greatest desire is for her to live unrestrained by these contraptions.
H
er decision to enroll in college was life-changing. At City, she not only found that she could heal, but also met “competent educators” and peers who helped her keep on going when she felt like quitting. “I really respect professor Farrell, he’s everything you would want in a professor,” the alumna says. “Dr. Bartelt is a brilliant enigma. Dr. Muller wears many hats in her effort to be there for many students. Professor Ealy is retired I believe, but helped scrutinize my Jack Kent Cooke Foundation (J.K.C.F.) application, he is stellar. Another professor I revere is linguist Dr. Lane Igoudin.” Dr. Danielle Muller directs the Ralph Bunche Scholars Program and keeps in touch with Hannah on a regular basis. “It is wonderful to still be in touch with Hannah even though she has left LACC a few years ago. I get to see her blossoming and succeed in her pursuit and focus of higher education and a better life
for herself and her daughter,” Muller says. “Hannah started her academic career at LACC and is now at Oxford College in England. How awesome is that?” With straight A’s on her transcript, she joined the Ralph Bunche Scholars program at City and was later inducted into the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society. It was during one of the society’s LACC chapter bi-weekly meetings that Hannah heard about J.K.C.F. from a former recipient. Inspired by the alum, she did not delay planning and working to pursue the prestigious scholarship. “That very evening when I went home and perused the website. I began writing the first of what would be many drafts,” Hannah says. City College Cub Morphs into
B-3 Columbia University Lion A few months prior to her graduation with associate of arts degrees in the social and behavioral sciences, the humanities, and French at City, Hannah learned she was the recipient of the J.K.C.F. scholarship. The $40,000 she received helped further her studies. “It was in April 2018, at the Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD) Board of Trustees meeting at Los Angeles Valley College. Dr. Muller knowing I was being announced one of three winners, somehow kept it all to herself while she drove us there. I knew I was to be acknowledged as a semi-finalist. I didn’t know that I had won,” Hanna remembers smiling. “It’s usually hard to catch me off-guard because of a posttraumatic stress disorder. I mean, I manage my life meticulously.” She saw LACC President Mary Gallagher and the LACC Foundation Director Robert Schwartz there, but she still didn’t think anything of it. “I remember holding Carolyn when I went on stage to receive the semi-finalist award,” she says. “When they called my name as a finalist I worried I would drop Carolyn. I was in such shock.” Mere weeks after winning the Cooke scholarship, Hannah received an email from Columbia University in the City of New York. She was accepted and would start her B.A. coursework in the 2018 Fall semester. She left City to continue her language, social and cultural studies. The journey from coast to coast was not an easy one, and Hannah simply says it was a “charged period” when talking about it. She left the West Coast at the end of the summer and moved to the city that never sleeps to further her education goals. But sometimes, changes are hard and tiring, even for focused and meticulous people like her. “Despite my planning and budgeting I went to New York with $80 in my pocket,” she says. “I relied heavily on support from my friends. When I felt like quitting, professor Kaviani encouraged me not to. My friend Arus took me to the airport. Another friend, George, loaned me the money to pay the security deposit for my house because the award itself was still pending.”
H
annah moved into a onebedroom apartment, 10 minutes walking distance from Columbia’s main campus. The mother-daughter duo finally had privacy, a kitchen of their own, and “multiple rooms with doors.” Leaving the L.A. shelter life behind was “liberating” for her. “I was relieved when I finally opened this door I worked so hard to open,” she says. “Here I was receiving a quality education in New York City, having improved my standard of living. I had left the shelter in L.A. and entered a home I provided myself. And I can’t tell you what this felt like to have this without a man granting it under some form of ‘contractual obligation.’” Even though she appreciates the work of New Economics for Women who owned the transitional home she lived in while in L.A., Hannah says the time spent there was “strenuous.” Some residents used drugs, and others were mentally unstable. It was not a child-friendly space. “You have to understand where I was coming from and how long I had been traveling to get where I was,” she says. “So I was very proud of myself to have finally acquired a home. I am grateful for how my life has bounced back after the divorce because all these negative things happened to me along the way—I broke my jaw, my girls were subject to parental manipulation, and I was threatened and intimidated by my ex-husband even after he had injured me physically and left me lame for six weeks.” Hannah’s voice is steady as she recounts her journey. The changes are stark, but she speaks slowly as she recalls how her life unfolded in the last few years. “After being a subordinate for
Collegian Legacies
Los Angeles Collegian - Wednesday, December 1, 2021
It was in April 2018, at the Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD) Board of Trustees meeting at Los Angeles Valley College. Dr. Muller knowing I was being announced one of three winners, somehow kept it all to herself while she drove us there. I knew I was to be acknowledged as a semifinalist. I didn’t know that I had won.
superficially the two journeys seem like paradigmatic experiences.” Though she excelled outwardly, internally she suffered. Thrown into “analytic overdrive,” she felt like a misfit, listening to herself speak in class. “Everyone was talking about ‘agency’ and uptalk was in vogue. So just by opening my mouth I gave away details of my socioeconomic standing and at least the last five years of my educational journey,” she says. “Most of my peers were at the top of their classes prior. I felt I was walking amongst clones. Everyone was a former president or vice-president of something. I went from being a big fish in a small pond to being a small fish in a big pond.” And that was not the only struggle. She had to learn the layout of the new campus, spread out over 10 blocks. Her classes were all over the place. Aside from her studies, she had to focus on getting new doctors, new dentists and new health insurance for both her and Carolyn. The mother-daughter duo had to start from scratch in the new city, without Hannah taking a break from studying and reading around 12 books each week. “I hit the ground running and kept moving. This was damaging because over time, simple things like actively listening and reading, breathing deep, and sitting still became near impossible,” she says. “I developed insomnia and restlessness animated by ‘the city that never sleeps.’ That being said, having matriculated to Oxford I can see I have a leg up on others. Columbia is the lead researchdriven university. That works to my advantage here.” During lectures at Columbia, she often scanned the room amazed how often people would ask questions she thought about, too. This was a humbling experience. What was shocking was that students often turned to drugs to enhance scholastic performance. “I refused to follow the crowd regarding this,” Hannah says. “I committed even more time to running and being on the track. Running has saved my life and improved my time management skills. I know this sounds paradoxical but by inserting a fitness regime in my schedule I have bought more hours in my day.” Painting also helps her “make sense of the world and fight depression.” She says that sometimes, when the clinical depression hits hard and she can’t talk, painting is the one thing she can do. “I actually had my work in two galleries in downtown L.A. while at LACC. I have found buyers are more appreciative of my abstract work, but I usually am commissioned to do portraits,” she says. “Here is a painting of Dr. Gallagher that I gifted to her after graduation.”
S close to a decade—after living with the bare minimum and no alimony—after years of clawing my way out—I win this scholarship and my whole life changes overnight. Now, I have professors who are themselves voices of authority within my field interests—at my discretion. I could talk to them and learn from them whenever I wanted. I was finally leveling up. I was entering a place in society where I could articulate my own value instead of acquiescing to an exerted one.”
A
s a Columbia student, Hannah experienced both ups and downs. She could meet academic expectations because of her exposure to the rigors of the Ralph Bunche Honors Program at L.A. City College. However, it was the social and language transition at Columbia that gave her a lot to consider. “I mean, here I was studying anthropology and linguistics in the hallowed halls of the institution and simultaneously involved in an inner working of the same,” she says. “This was destabilizing because
cholarships Offer Key to Success Hannah could be considered a scholarship guru. Her success in applying for and receiving some of the most prestigious scholarships in the country is a testament to years of research and draft writing. She is the recipient of a second J.K.C.F. award of $120,000 disbursed over three years, which will help her with the M.A. at Oxford. Women’s Education Fund and Soroptimist International each awarded $10,000 to Hannah. She also received a CalWorks Regional Award and many other smaller awards during her years at City and at Columbia. Hannah offers advice, but no encouragement for those who want to pursue scholarship support. She says those who need encouragement should not apply. “They will only be overtaken by students more desperate than them. Scholarships exist for exactly the kind of people who will recognize them for what they are: opportunities to change your life,” she says as she advises students to stay focused on their goals. She says motivated students should not lose heart because of social barriers or problems in their environment. “Do not let it become your inner-
voice. It is particularly difficult to prioritize yourself when you have young children. Prioritize yourself anyway. Model good behavior. Choose self-improvement. Your children will mature and thank you for it.” ‘Once a Cookie, always a Cookie’ Hannah followed her own rules and received her second J.K.C.F. scholarship that helped her fly across the pond and enter the gates of the historic University of Oxford. According to the Cooke Foundation, they usually facilitate their undergraduates into postgraduate and doctoral degrees. “It is simply a matter of applying within three years of your first degree. As the saying goes “Once a Cookie, always a Cookie,” Hannah says. “There is a vast network of Cookie cousins who have used the scholarship to reinvent their lives. These people are now remodeling the world. Many are gifted, prolific, and multi-talented. I pale in comparison to these people and tred lightly around them.” Even though Hannah does not have time to enjoy the outdoors as much as she would like, she says she sometimes takes a spontaneous break from work to run with wild abandon in the meadow behind her home. She describes Oxford as a charming city filled with open air markets, museums, old chapels, libraries, lush meadows, history— “lots of it gnarly.” “There’s even an underground tunnel called the Gladstone Link that connects the Radcliffe Camera to the Bodleian Library,” she says. “It’s picturesque British countryside if you can oblige ‘us’ a bit of imagination with tuck shops, pubs—with period features to boot—and art galleries all flung hodgepodge about. The river Thames cuts right through the city with one of its tributaries meandering quietly behind our house feeding an enormous sprawl of grassland.”
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s for the school curriculum, she says it “requires” students “to lose their sanity” with “as many as 16 books per class per week.” Hannah enrolled in four classes. Between school projects, housework and taking care of Carolyn, she does not have much time for anything else. They both wake up early. She takes Carolyn to school by 7:30 a.m., and on the way there and back, she listens to lectures over headphones. She returns home and prepares class notes or tidies up while listening to an audiobook. “I head to one of the many buildings we meet in,” she says. “The walk can take anywhere between 20 and 35 minutes. Once I am done, I pick Carolyn up at 3:15 p.m., or if I have a lecture or seminar, at 5:45 p.m. When I get home, I prepare dinner while talking to my sister in Jamaica. I facilitate Carolyn’s homework and/or reading exercises. She goes to bed around 7 p.m. (but usually pushes it to 8 p.m.). I work from the point she falls asleep to 2 or 3 a.m. on essays, presentations and just trying to print out or organize the class work.”
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anguage Skills Assure Pathway to Academic Success Hannah’s family moved to Jamaica when she was 3 years old, but she was born in the United States. It took almost three decades and a broken, abusive marriage for her to come back. When she finally did, she realized that the only way to a better life was through education. She speaks French, Dutch and Spanish and studied Romanian as part of her curriculum at Columbia. Her journey was not an easy one, but the rewards for hard work made it bearable. Mary Gallagher, the City’s president says the college is lucky to have students like Hannah “in our midst.” She says Hannah was an “exceptional student,” involved in clubs, student activities and organizations. She even planned a TedX talk at LACC that was “incredible”. “She was a strong advocate for students, a multi-talented, a highly competent student, and a brilliant communicator. Her story is one of resilience, and of resisting the
Hannah painted L.A City College President Mary Gallagher’s portrait in 2018. Painting helps her “make sense of the world and fight depression.”
label “victim.” I admired Hannah for her humanity, for her kindness, and for her beautiful smile and infectious laugh,” Gallagher says. “I feel very proud and fortunate to know a person like Hannah. I am not surprised she went to Columbia or that she went on to Oxford. She is one who will do great things.” Hannah knows how much scholarships matter. The funds assist economically disadvantaged students on their way to success by helping them focus on what is important: their education. Personal essays and statements are part of scholarship applications, and that sets up language as “academia’s most important currency,” according to Hannah. She says that social and economic burdens could bar the way to success. “These deterrents stood in the way of the things I wanted most: an education, opportunities and means,” Hannah says. “I quickly learned that for any class constituent to transition through the ranks they must be in possession of something that defies the laws of the lower level and gratifies the expectations of the higher level.” Hannah encourages students to hone their linguistic and language skills. “In the case of scholarships, people meet you on paper before they meet you in person,” Hannah says. “So your ability to succeed is bound up in language acquisition skills. You have to be able to write well, more so if you grew up in poverty, and you have to be able to metabolize the unsavory things life throws at you and serve this up in delectable prose.”
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t has been almost two months since Hannah’s matriculation day at Oxford. After all students of Brasenose College confirm their attendance and take photos, they walk to the university’s Sheldonian Theatre, to join peers from other Oxford Colleges for the matriculation ceremony. Hannah steps inside the theatre and again, looks upward. The ceiling’s painting foreshadows the Oxford education she will acquire while completing her Masters of Philosophy. The 17th century painting by Robert Streater, “Truth Descending on the Arts and Sciences to Expel Ignorance from the University” stands as proof of what the legacy of being an Oxford alumna truly means. From high relief, gilded cords, putti – cherub- like creatures– roll back a vast crimson awning to reveal “the triumph of Arts and Sciences over Envy, Rapine, and ‘brutish scoffing ignorance.’” Hannah stands next to her friend and listens to the ceremony. It is a short one, but it is solemn. The Latin words resonate inside the theatre’s walls, enhancing their meaning. Students repeat some of the words aloud, a pledge to the university and its mission to “expel ignorance.” Minutes later, Hannah walks out of the Sheldonian, smiling back at the warm sun. She emerges into Oxford “as a fully-fledged member of the University.” “I have always believed in myself,” she says.
Hannah’s Scholarship Decalogue 1.Write succinctly. Abstain from long-winded sentences. 2. Be respectful. Deploy politeness appropriately. 3. Abstain from highfalutin jargon. Speak in layman’s terms when talking about your research interest and studies. Get others excited, not alienated, about what you do. 4. Research the scholarship. They exist at many levels and are often owned by third parties. One of the first things to do is find out if you match their criteria. Ask yourself: Who is behind the award? Who believes in my dreams and wants to help me? What do they stand for? Deliberate on what sort of people would want to invest in society. 5. Most times what you need to write down will need to start long before you apply. In other words, take a genuine interest in helping others long before you are required to write about your community service. 6. Watch out for mechanical and grammatical errors. Dot your i’s and cross your t’s. 7. Attend workshops and ask for help from professors with whom you have built a rapport. If you dislike a professor and they are good at something you need help with, approach them anyway. Be humble and ask for their help. Ultimately, you win because now you have been taught a new skill. 8. Help others work on their scholarships. I cannot stress how much latent incentive lies in helping others. 9. Confidence and arrogance are distinct things. Those evaluating your response want to hear good reasons to invest in you, not arrogant or entitled claims. Confidently make your case by showing how valuable you are instead of by what merit you should be selected. Rather than stating your title and what you generally do, show how your actions made life better. 10. Write, revise, and stay alert. Try to answer the questions long before the deadline. Give yourself ample time to edit again and again. Work on the scholarship when you are sharpest. Get adequate sleep and work when alert.
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Collegian A&E
Los Angeles Collegian - Wednesday, December 1, 2021
Santa Claus Returns to Hollywood
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he Nutcracker and T-Rex, colorful floats, celebrities and movie cars thrilled parade goers at the 89th Annual Hollywood Christmas Parade on Nov. 28. The Viva Panama Float with dancers, and the Idaho Potato Truck on an 18-wheeler carting a two-story, four-ton potato took over Hollywood Boulevard. Award-winning bands and 12, four-story character balloons marched down the boulevard in the Christmas parade that returned to Hollywood after a one-year break because of the pandemic. Jolly Old Elf and Santa Claus with his reindeer brought the holiday season spirit. The event is scheduled for a two-hour primetime television special airing on the CW Network, Friday, Dec. 17, at 8 p.m. Sheryl Underwood, the host of “The Talk” will serve as the parade’s grand marshal.
(Top) The Penultimate float and perennial child favorite Santa Claus and his Reindeer float escorted by Santa Claus, Marines Gunnery Sergeant Jonathan Lazer and Battery Gunnery Sergeant Raymond Paladino (Center) PAVA World, Pacific Asian Volunteer Association wishes everyone Happy Holidays. The Traditional Korean Marching Band brought colorful cheer and sounds to the Hollywood Christmas Parade, Sunday, Nov. 28, 2021. Bottom left: The Los Angeles Police Emerald Society Pipes and Drums Band members are both active and retired officers of the law of multiple agencies. Ring in the cheer at the Hollywood Christmas Parade, Sunday, Nov. 28, 2021. (Bottom right) Milton High School Marching Band of Milton GA., performs during the Hollywood Christmas Parade, Sunday, Nov. 28, 2021.
