The Corsair- Issue 1 (Spring 2022) by Santa Monica College

2 CONTENT Cultre | pg. 3 Photo Story | pg. 4-5 Arts & Entertainment | pg. 6

FACULTY ADVISORS

(Right) Editor-in-Chief Katheryne Menendez, (Left) Managing Editor Gavin Quinton.

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR My very first Corsair assignment was a beach clean-up article in fall of last year. My partner and I were tasked with covering Heal the Bay, an organization responsible for beach cleanups, and how they were working to clean Santa Monica Beach. But the location online was vague, and we never ended up finding Heal the Bay. What we did find were different people coming out for Coastal Clean-up Day and ended up interviewing whoever we could. All of these strangers had unique stories. One person founded an organization after his friend passed away and wanted to keep his legacy and kindness alive. Another created an organization after his service dog nearly stepped on a needle in the sand. We met an international student who fell in love with Los Angeles and wanted to give back to her new home. For a brief moment, my life was intertwined with the lives of strangers who I otherwise would have completely overlooked.

Ashanti Blaize-Hopkins | Journalism Adviser Gerard Burkhart | Photo Adviser Sharyn Obsatz | Social Media Adviser

The assignments continued, each bringing new memories and friends along the way. Our then Editor-in-Chief, Ashley Cox, saw potential in me, and brought me on as Opinion Editor. I continued editing articles, writing stories, and taking pictures. Towards the end of the semester, I decided to take a chance and apply to be Editor-in-Chief.

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To my surprise, I was selected for the role this past December and have been working non-stop since then. I’d be lying if I said these past few weeks haven’t been characterized by anxiety. When taking on such a significant role, it seems natural to develop insecurities.

Editor-in-Chief | Katheryne Menendez corsair.editorinchief@gmail.com

SOCIAL MEDIA Twitter | the_corsair Instagram | corsairnews Facebook | thecorsairnews YouTube | thecorsaironline

But regardless of what happens this semester, I know that if I were to help even one single person grow their passion or help share someone’s story, my time at The Corsair would have been worth it. Our new staff members are driven and inspired, and they ease the hopelessness I often have about a small group like ours being able to change the world for the better. The staff I have interacted with are intelligent, compassionate people who are aware of how journalism can be used for good, and want to be a part of that. Like the people I met that fateful day of my first assignment, I hope we can be an instrument of change.

WEBSITE www.thecorsaironline.com

FRONT COVER The Rams Superbowl Victory Parade in Los Angeles California on Wednesday, February 16, 2022. The Rams beat the Cincinnati Bengals to claim the championship in Los Angeles at Sofi Stadium. (Maxim Elramsisy | The Corsair)

Editor-in-Chief Katheryne Menendez

C U LT U R E

Feb 23, 2022

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Alumni Profile: The Parkin Way Juliette Marquis | Staff Writer

“I

’ve been drawing for as long as I could hold a pen,” said Santa Monica College (SMC) alum Miranda Parkin who uses she/ they pronouns. They are an award-winning voiceover artist and the newest member of the animation studio Surfer Jack. Parkin, 21, perched atop a cushion on the floor as they smiled warmly, fringed by their curly pageboy haircut and bold thick, black-rimmed glasses on the tip of their nose. A string guitar rested against the walls of Parkin’s studio, which are lined with a dozen vintage postcards and Guillermo del Toro's Shape of Water movie poster. "I don't really have my own art up, but I will actually be changing that," said Parkin. Shuttled between two artist parents from the age of three, Parkin lived in a world filled with laughter, inventiveness, and uncertainty. “My dad would take me to museums and camping up and down the coast, and I would draw everything I saw around me,” they said. Parkin grew up in the Mar Vista neighborhood in Los Angeles. Their father, Scott Parkin, a voiceover artist and teacher, strived to cultivate his daughter’s ebullient imagination. “I’m just always trying to set the table for her as best as I can because I constantly feel a tremendous responsibility to her,” he said. “She has such an amazing brain. I have to feed it.” Throughout their childhood and early adulthood, Parkin struggled to find stable ground, internalizing the turbulent relationship of her divorced parents. Fluctuating between depression and tremendous anxiety, Parkin suffered from chronic panic attacks which often spiraled into despair. In their freshman year at Santa Monica High School, Parkin’s depression became completely debilitating. “I was often outwardly happy, as depressed people often are, but I was just at a horrible place because I didn’t feel like I had anything to contribute,” they said.“I was just really lost.” Parkin missed over 162 days of school that year – though they still managed to graduate with honors. Denise, Parkin’s mother, is a singer/ songwriter with two master's degrees, one in psychology and another in music theory. Parkin inherited their mother’s musical genes as they have perfect pitch. They can hear a piece of music, or a vocal sound, and mimic it perfectly. Parkin’s father put that into context. “I can teach her an accent and she’ll be better than me at that accent very quickly,” he said Parkin has been working as a voice-

Art by Miranda Parkin

over actor since the age of five. “My dad is my best friend. He’s incredibly supportive. I’m lucky,” they said. But what Parkin loved more than anything else was drawing. As the art kid, they would often draw their classmates’ projects. “It was a way for me to relate to people because everyone likes art,” they said. “Everyone likes a pretty picture.” In junior and senior year of high school, Parkin started taking concurrent art courses at SMC. They recalled how they were a 16-year-old in a class of “all grownups” taking animation and character design courses. Parkin explained the reasons they chose to take courses at SMC. “Not only was it inexpensive, but also my professors were incredible. They were all still working in the industry,” they said. ”These guys have worked on shows and movies that I know and like."

“Miranda was one of those students I didn't have to worry about, because I knew she could do the assignments and tackle whatever challenges that came her way,” said SMC animation and storyboard professor Ewald Klautky. “She blew me away with the last assignment in my storyboarding class," Klautky said. The assignment was to make an animatic set to music. Most students chose a movie score or a song they liked, but Miranda composed and then sang her own music for the project. “This is on top of her exceptional drawing,” he said. Professor Klautky still uses Parkin's animatics in his classes, and so Parkin's art “lives on to inspire the next wave of students," he said. Parkin and their dad have an animated pilot that they created called "Comet Casino." It features Maurice LaMarche and Tara Strong.

“There is just such a non-linear connection in the way her brain works,” Parkin’s father said. “The comedian Pat McCormick once said that ‘Beethoven was so deaf he thought he was a painter’, well Miranda has that kind of brain.” In 2021, the Society of Voice Arts and Sciences awarded Parkin with the Best Voiceover Award for Outstanding Commercial in TV or Web. Sitting in their studio, Parkin was thoughtful. This is the thing that I do the most, and I love the most, and I want to keep doing for as long as I possibly can,” they added. Navigating life hasn’t become entirely easy for Parkin, but art remains a refuge as they continue to wrestle with mental health and finding their place in the world.

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Feb. 23, 2022

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(Below) A Los Angeles Rams fan cheers as the team tour bus drives past him celebrating the recent Superbowl win on Feb. 16th, 2022 at Exposition park in Los Angeles, CS.(Brandon Espeleta | The Corsair)

L.A. Celebrates

Superbowl Win

On Wednesday, Feb. 16, the Los Angeles (LA) Rams football team celebrated their Sunday, Feb. 13, Super Bowl LVI victory by hosting a parade. The event spanned throughout the streets of South Los Angeles from the Shrine Auditorium to the Coliseum, a 1.1-mile ride down Figueroa Street. The Rams defeated the Cincinnati Bengals 23-20 in the Super Bowl LVI at LA’s new Sofi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif. This marks the Rams’s second all-time Super Bowl victory out of the team’s three Super Bowl appearances. The victory also makes the Rams the second team in football history to win a Super Bowl in their home stadium. The Rams are the first franchise to bring a Super Bowl victory, and Lombardi Trophy, back to LA since the Raiders defeated the Washington Commanders in 1983.

(Left) Erik Angeles Ca Cincinnati (Maxim El

Feb. 23, 2022

ka Perez celebrates at the Rams Superbowl Victory Parade in Los alifornia on Wednesday February, 16, 2022. The Rams beat the i Bengals to claim the championship in their home, Sofi Stadium. lramsisy | The Corsair)

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(Above) Confetti is shot from the Rams tour bus as they drive along the parade route after winning Superbowl 56 on Feb.16, 2022 at Exposition Park, located in Los Angeles, CA. (Brandon Espeleta | The Corsair)

(Left)The Rams Svuperbowl Victory Parade in Los Angeles California on Wednesday February, 16, 2022. The Rams beat the Cincinnati Bengals to claim the championship in their home, Sofi Stadium. (Maxim Elramsisy | The Corsair)

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A R T S & E N T E R TA I N M E N T

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Feb. 23, 2022

The Best Albums of 2022, So Far the experimental pop project, manages to keep up. Liu raps "eyes on the prize and I'm feeling great" as electric guitar begins to swell, leading to a breakdown that reminds fans of her roots in metal and grindcore.

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Beach House “Once Twice Melody” The Baltimore duo Beach House takes listeners on a journey once again on their eighth studio album, “Once Twice Melody.” The band explores new dynamic sounds and ideas with 18 total tracks, though this record is still invariably Beach House. The album, as a whole, is fun and airy. The band's signature atmospheric synths, slowcore vocals and filtered guitar sounds ground the listener. Subtle changes in energy and harmony aid in telling the story baked into the album. “Once Twice Melody” was released in four "chapters" which makes it play out like a storybook.

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Katheryne Menendez | Editor in Cheif Leo Gilad | Staff Writer Gavin Quinton | Managing Editor

he most influential, sonically ambitious records of 2022 so far, according to Corsair Staff.

FKA Twigs “Caprisongs”

Artpop icon FKA Twigs returns to music with the triumphant “Caprisongs” mixtape. On social media, she described the mixtape as a way to channel her lockdown loneliness in a joyful and inclusive manner by weaving in quarters of facetime conversations with friends directly into the mix. “Having such wonderful people around me to laugh with made me feel lucky,” Twigs said in her Twitter thread on Jan. 13, “If you are lonely or feel isolated or void of encouragement by your immediate circle, you can borrow my friends on the mixtape.” Caprisongs is a glitchy, kaleidoscopic variety show of the most interesting elements of artpop, dancehall, and UK drill— though Twigs has no issue maintaining her signature atmospheric complexity. The clicking of a cassette player, which Twigs uses to shift genres and styles, frames the record. Listeners hear it right at the beginning of “ride the

dragon,” which plays like a low-energy Texas chopped and screwed beat at first. About a minute into the track, the cassette player clicks. Twigs stutters through the middle of her hook. The song doubles in speed. All of a sudden, it's an energetic glitch pop anthem. “Caprisongs” caps off with “thank you song,” an overcast ballad with vocal layering reminiscent of Imogen Heap. In it, Twigs says “I wanted to die, I'm just being honest… Love in motion seems to save me now.”

Death Insurance “I’m in Your Walls” Andy "Flatlander" Morin of Death Grips has launched his label A2B2 Records as part of a larger collective project which aims to bring artists and musicians together. “I'm in Your Walls,” an album by Death Insurance, is the first to be released on the label. The record is a high-energy, genre-bending ride exploring complex drum breaks as fluttering synth

melodies carry the listener along. The beat is extremely fast but Kat Liu, the artist and vocalist behind

Black Country, New Roads “Ants from Up There” English post-rock band Black Country, New Road released their sophomore album "Ants from Up There", which marks the end of the band’s vocalist, Isaac Woods', membership in the band. The album is significantly softer and more upbeat than their debut "For The First Time." Where "For the First Time" is gloomy and ambient, "Ants from Up There" is

blend while updating his themes and stories to accommodate his new lifestyle. Unlike his previous ventures, which saw a more hopeful, hungry Saba (“Bucket List Project”) and a more mournful, somber Saba (“CARE FOR ME”), “Things” sees the emcee at the peak of his success and chronicles the view from above. He reminisces about the youthful exuberance he lost on the journey to the top. On the song “2012,” light strings and backing hums serve as a beautiful backdrop to a story of young love, of a time before his stardom. More than anything, “Few Good Things” is about the precariousness of wealth, specifically Black wealth. Saba knows that, despite how far he’s come, all he has achieved could be taken away in an instant. The success he’s found doesn’t necessarily cover up the trauma he’s endured on his journey. On “Circus”, this is seen on full display. In the interlude, the emcee is nostalgic for recording songs in the basement with his childhood friends. This theme is further reinforced by “One Way.” In the song, the rapper longs for that aforementioned innocence while reflecting on his path to success. The contrast between wealth and poverty, fame and innocence, is a clear theme throughout the album.

harmonic and jazzy. Yet a lot of the signature markers of the band remain, such as jazz saxophones, structures that change from song to song, spoken lyrics, textured production, and gruff vocals.

Saba “Few Good Things” On “Few Good Things,” Chicago-native emcee Saba demonstrates an ability to retain his classic soulful-trap

Illustration by Gavin Quinton