The Corsair Spring 2025 - Issue 5 by Santa Monica College

May 14, 2025 | Volume 128 SPRING Issue 5 | Santa Monica College

Corsair Editors

Editor in Chief

Adriana Brady

Managing Editor

Jenna Tibby

Photo Editor

Jake Crandall

News Editor

Phoebe Huss

Opinion Editor

Jeffrey Berrios

Arts & Entertainment Editor

Katie Easterson

Sports Editor

Marvin Ramirez

Culture Editor

Yichi Zhang

Multimedia Editor

Jared Blair

Design Editors

Akemi Rico

Mollie Bishop (Assistant)

Copy Editors

Cassidy Diaz

Jacqueline Martin

Genesis Avila

Digital Editors

Mary Funsten

Tom Rosholt (Assistant)

Social Media Editors

My’Dari Baker

Andrea Castillo

Corsair Liaison

Bei AchiriMofor

Staff Photographers

Charles Barber | Katy Santa Cruz | Silke Eichholz | Fai Fong | Jordi Garcia

Faculty Advisors

Obsatz | Journalism Advisor Gerard Burkhart | Photo Advisor Samantha Nuñez | Social Media Advisor

Santa Monica (SMC) Corsairs’ Annah Legaspi (3) digs the ball to keep the rally going at the Beach Volleyball Pairs Championship at Long Beach City College, May 10, 2025, Long Beach, Calif. The Corsairs defeated Mt. San Antonio College Mounties’ 2-0. (Tom Rosholt | The Corsair)

Cover: Amadour walking through their neighborhood on Wilcox Ave in Hollywood, Calif on Thursday, May 1, 2025. (Mary Funsten | The Corsair)

Staff Writers

Staff Social Media

Sharyn

May the force be with us

Along time ago, in a galaxy not so far away…. the Corsair set on a new adventure to publish its fifth edition.

Our Jedis (editors) have been working tirelessly with the padawans (staff) to keep the Force (publication) in balance, keeping the Corsair alive and full of content. Although, I believe we are working together more as the Rebel Alliance. We are still in full swing — amplifying voices that are unheard, championing creativity and maintaining the balance.

Alright, that’s enough of my love for Star Wars. However, I was very excited to reference the film when I found out we would be publishing in May. As the semester begins to draw to a close, we haven’t slowed down — we’re flying at full lightspeed.

It is bittersweet to say that we are publishing our fifth edition already. Time has flown by and our staff’s time together for this semester is slowly running out. Despite this, I am proud of the hard work that continues to be put in each day, the content we have published and the successes we achieve as a result of our dedication.

I am rounding out my time here at Santa Monica College (SMC), currently pushing through the last few weeks of the semester and preparing for graduation. I know that I am not alone, as we are all finishing our last lectures of the semester and preparing for finals. It is easy to get caught up in the mix of balancing school work and covering stories.

However, I believe that nothing can stop us just yet. We’re still around for four more weeks with unlimited opportunities for coverage. As Yoda once said, “Do or do not, there is no try,” and so we’ve done what I feel is truly our best edition yet.

With that, I present Episode V - the fifth edition of the Corsair for spring 2025.

May the Force be with you.

A person dressed in a stormtrooper costume attends a Mayday march in Downtown Los Angeles, Calif., on Thursday, May 1, 2025.

Adriana Brady | Editor - in - Chief

(Jake Crandall | The Corsair)

Jihu Kang, an international art student, lost everything in the Palisades Fire.

The

college

community

is her strongest stalwart for rebuilding, filling in where the administration faltered.

“While I was driving, I could see the fire, flame going on in the mountain,” Kang said.

The property where Jihu Kang, a 20-year-old freshman, fine art major, and international student attending Santa Monica College, lived was destroyed in the Palisades Fire on Thursday, March 20, 2025, in Pacific Palisades, Calif.

(Jake Crandall | The Corsair)

Jihu Kang, a 20-year-old freshman, fine art major, and international student attending Santa Monica College (SMC) from Korea.

(Jake Crandall \ The Corsair)

Phoebe Huss | News Editor

Jake Crandall |Photo Editor

For Jihu Kang, Jan. 7 of this year was a tragically epic date of many coincidences. Jan. 7 was Kang’s first day of school during winter intersession, and her first time driving to Santa Monica College (SMC) from her home in the Pacific Palisades. That very week was Kang’s last week commuting from that residence before she planned to pack up and move away that Friday.

“I was trying to leave on that Friday… I don’t know how to explain, this is crazy. The timing was crazy,” said Kang.

Each of these coinciding happenings were very, very quickly overshadowed. Her apartment building, situated right by the Palisades Fire Station, was swiftly reduced to rubble by the Palisades Fire. And she only caught wind of it as she attempted to cruise the Pacific Coast Highway home.

“While I was driving, I could see the fire, flame going on in the mountain,” Kang said. “And I think that’s the moment I realized, like, oh shoot, like, this looks bad. Like, bad, bad.

“It was really surrealistic because it didn’t look, like, real. It was just, like, another day, same as another day.”

Kang’s remaining belongings included her car, her school bag, and the clothes she was wearing. She couldn’t retrieve her passport, her jewelry, her laptop, and most of her clothes — “I have lost everything,” she stated.

But most devastatingly for Kang, the fire demolished her oil and acrylic paints, gouache paints, watercolors, an easel, charcoal,

graphite — upwards of $700 of art supplies, as well as a semester’s worth of sketches and projects. For Kang, a fine art major, these were the ultimate irreplaceables.

“Losing all those expensive art supplies was also like really hard for me,” Kang said. “My concern was getting all those art supplies back, because I know I have to have my own art supplies, and I need to restore that back, and that’s going to cost a lot.”

“I keep thinking about, I should draw something according to what happened to me, and maybe that emotion, that strong emotion is going to help me bring out the piece more strong, but I haven’t done it,” she said.

“Coming to California was not my plan at all,” said Kang.

In fact, she grew up in South Korea, moved to Missouri at age 16, and later returned to her home country to work. Twenty-year-old Kang only moved to Los Angeles last fall, and took up residence in a two-story house in the Palisades in order to study at SMC.

Over the course of one semester, she found a robust community of friends on the SMC campus, particularly in the school’s math tutoring lab, which notably underwent a building switch between semesters.

“I made a bunch of friends here from the fall semester,” said Kang.

“Now it’s in the new building, but I really like this social and inviting environment. And also I get to study here, too,” she said.

On Jan. 7, fire morning, Kang went about the first day of school unknowingly. Even when her classmates were pinged with emergency notifications, and smoke clouds filled the sky and the headlines, she couldn’t grasp the impact of the situation on herself until she was driving home.

“It was my first time driving to school, and it was my first time going back to home from the school, and seeing that was a lot. I don’t know how to explain,” she said. “It just felt, like, really, really surrealistic. It didn’t feel, like, real.”

Kang shared the house in the Palisades with the house’s owner, two roommates, three dogs, a parrot, and a koi pond. With the exception of the fish, burned to crisps in the blazes, all living creatures were evacuated successfully. But when she met one of her roommates in the Ralph’s parking lot to which he’d been evacuated, she began to feel the gravity of the loss.

“He was also… really nervous. I think he was a bit crying too,” said Kang. “No one expects the house burn down and your stuff is inside and you didn’t get anything from it. My roommate also didn’t really get anything from the house. I think nobody expected the situation to be, like, this bad.”

Kang tried to contact and reconnect with that roommate months later, but couldn’t reach him — “he just vanished.”

Since then, she hasn’t heard from anybody she used to live with — neither roommates nor the landlord. Immediately, she sought services

“I keep thinking about, I should draw something according to what happened to me, and maybe that emotion, that strong emotion is going to help me bring out the piece more strong, but I haven’t done it.”

People sort through and pick up clothes during Santa Monica College’s (SMC) Palisades Fire relief drive on Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025, in the Corsair Gym at SMC in Santa Monica, California. The SMC fire relief drive gathered clothes and supplies from the community to give back to the victims affected by the Palisades Fire.

Kong Chan (Center Left) and Waseem Rabin (Center Right) unload a U-Haul full of donations from the Beacon Park School in Irvine California, with the help of volunteers (Far left, right, Far Right) from the Fire Support Resource Drive at the Santa Monica College Bundy Campus in Santa Monica, Calif., on Monday, Jan. 13, 2024,.

People search through the remains of a burnt-out home destroyed in the Palisades Fire in the Palisades, Calif., on Feb. 9, 2025.

(Jake Crandall | The Corsair)

Dead fish float in a small pond after the property where Jihu Kang, a 20-year-old freshman, fine art major, and international student attending Santa Monica College, lived was destroyed in the Palisades Fire on Thursday, March 20, 2025, in Palisades, Calif.

from the city of Santa Monica and from the nearby Korean consulate, and found nothing but dead ends.

“Even my government couldn’t help,” she said. At the Korean embassy, “what they told me was they can’t really help me with anything.”

“So I tried to search for, like, Santa Monica city help, but they all just said, like, FEMA,” Kang said. Since she doesn’t possess U.S. citizenship, and is not a green card holder, she was told she was ineligible for fire recovery help from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

“We all got impacted. So it’s kind of unfair for the people who don’t have citizenship,” she said. “Some of them got, lost home like me, but then like, we can’t get any help, other than community and school.”

The biggest source of support she found was from SMC, specifically their Fire Disaster Support Distribution events, Cooperative Agencies and Resources for Education (CARE) grants, and short-term therapy. All of the above services were made known to Kang in a district email to her and several other wildfire victims.

At the distribution event, she picked up groceries, clothing, blankets and other essentials. The CARE grant provided $5,000. And Kang attended therapy for the very first time through SMC’s Center for Wellness and Wellbeing (CWW), which she described as “helpful.”

“They did send out the email. But they didn’t really call me to, like, check in, or anything,”

Kang said. After the initial recovery efforts sponsored by SMC elapsed, by the end of January, she was left on her own again, and the school hasn’t reached out since.

“I think since I’m kind of used to moving to new places and, like, adjust to the environment, it was kind of easier for me to move… forward,” Kang said. “So I didn’t really hang on to what happened to me.

“But the first month it was a bit hard, and I think I was kind of depressed.”

Though she utilized the school’s therapy services, she wasn’t poised to rave about them. Service at the CWW, which provides free short-term counseling for enrolled SMC students, wasn’t what she hoped.

I couldn’t see her after that,” she said.

In addition, Kang said the school wouldn’t allow her to transfer her wintertime coursework to a corresponding online course, even after explaining her circumstances. As a result, she couldn’t continue or finish any classes during winter intersession.

In the immediate aftermath, Kang shuffled from a friend’s house in Torrance to a different friend’s empty studio in Santa Monica, and, finally, to a place of her own in Koreatown. Though she’s taken up permanent residence in that central L.A. neighborhood, she spends most of her time elsewhere.

“I feel more comfortable being in, near Santa Monica area, because that’s where I used to live, and that’s where I hung out with my friends,” Kang said.

“Even now, like, I usually come to school Monday through Thursday everyday as early as possible. And I don’t really spend much time in K-Town. Like, all I do there is just sleep and do extra study at night and that’s pretty much it,” she said.

Often required to enroll in multiple onground classes to maintain their visas, the college’s population of about 3,000 international students are pillars of campus life. Though the facilities from the city, the school and her home country’s government are proving to be lackluster for Kang, the oncampus community she garnered for herself,

At the distribution event, she picked up groceries, clothing, blankets and other essentials.

“I personally wouldn’t say it was successful,” she said.

“But it did help me just talking about what I’ve gone through to someone that’s not my friend. I think it did help. But I’ve only seen (the therapist) three times, and I got busy, and

especially in the Math Lab, remains a haven.

“I’ve made tons of friends in this environment,” she said. “It means a lot to me.”

On Jan. 12, Kang’s friends established a fundraiser for her on GoFundMe. Kang has since received donations from all over,

(Jake Crandall | The Corsair)

“It’s just really unfortunate what happened, but we gotta move forward.”

-Jihu Kang

including her friends in Missouri and her former high school teachers.

More help for Kang came from local artist Adam Alessi, who ran an art supply drive out of his Los Angeles studio for artists affected by the fires. Kang received canvas paints and palettes from him.

“I usually do my own projects, my own, but also all my drawings I did in the past semester was also burned, so that was really upset,” said Kang. “I got some art supplies back… from the artist (Alessi) and that was nice.”

Kang even interviewed with Korean television stations, allowing community support to reverberate internationally.

“I was in a TV. I was, like, damn,” she said. “A lot of my friends and people I know in Korea actually saw me in the TV and they texted me, like, I saw you in TV, I’m so sorry that happened to you. And, yeah. It was wild.”

Kang has since revisited the grounds where her apartment once stood: “Actually seeing the apartment, I was emotional, but I didn’t cry or anything. It was just like, it really happened. Seeing it in person, that was a lot to take in.

“I didn’t get anything back. But just seeing it in person, I think that was worth it.”

As of May 12, Kang’s GoFundMe raised $3,972 from 75 donors and is gradually increasing towards the ultimate goal of $8,000.

Kang’s GoFundMe is found at gofundme.com/f/ support-jihu-lost-home-in-palisades-fire

Speaking to fellow survivors, Kang wants to be frank: “It’s just really unfortunate what happened, but we gotta move forward.”

A firefighter sprays down flames from the Palisades fire that consumed a home in on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, in Palisades, Calif.

Jake Crandall | The Corsair

Sherman is squirming, constituents close to fisticuffs

and

particularly on

A raucous Town Hall

Rep. Brad Sherman sparked lively argument

debate,

transgender rights, pro-Palestine efforts and anti-Trump combat.

Phoebe Huss | News Editor

House Rep. Brad Sherman from California’s 32nd congressional district speaks to the crowd at a Town Hall he hosted at California State University, Northridge, Premier America Credit Union Arena in Northridge, Calif., on Saturday, April 26, 2025. (Jake Crandall | The Corsair)

Thegym was heated, welcoming impassioned constituents of Rep. Brad Sherman. As House representative of California’s 32nd Congressional district, Sherman represents about 760,602 Californians in Congress. About 1,800 of them hustled into the Premier America Credit Union Arena at California State University, Northridge (CSUN) on April 26 for a Town Hall event to hear from Sherman on his efforts to combat President Donald Trump’s “reckless and chaotic agenda.”

Randomly selected individuals waited on benches closer to the congressman, granted permission to look him in the eyes and question him directly. Sherman waxed and waned on the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), what he calls corruption in the federal government, protecting Social Security and the Department of Education, and the fears afflicting undocumented immigrants, generating raucous applause. He told jokes and bantered with his constituents. A banner behind him read, “CHAOS CAUSES CORRUPTION.”

Occasionally he engaged the audience with live polls on divisive issues. But the congressman maintained generally congenial camaraderie with the audience until about an hour in, when a voice broke clear through the silence.

“Say you support trans rights!”

The voice was Flora Gonska, transgender and pro-Palestine activist, who rose from the stadium bleachers and fixed themselves with a megaphone to ensure everybody clocked their deliverance.

“We have demands! You have trans constituents who need you to take a stand,” said Gonska. Sherman said he would only address those who had registered and gambled to speak. The crowd voiced their disagreement, cheering Gonska and shouting, “Answer her!”

“Say you support trans rights! Say it and I will sit down.”

said Gonska. Though the congressman eventually spoke the words - “I do support trans rights” - the activist remained out of their seat and standing for the rest of the afternoon.

This rowdy public forum was rife with debate, dissent and even some one-on-one argumentation, impelling security to monitor the audience and dissuade fisticuffs. Per the request of CSUN, Sherman reduced the amount of ticket offerings after his office alleged receiving threats of violence from “various groups.” The group that showed up, nearing 2,000, was described in a press release by the Sherman team as “packed and passionate.” At its extreme, the release stated, it was a “charged atmosphere.”

Flora Gonska, a trans rights supporter, clutches a transgender pride flag, and asks House Rep. Brad Sherman from California’s 32nd congressional district during his Town Hall, “Do you support trans rights?” Gonska refused to sit down until Rep. Sherman answered the question, occasionally shouting over him, speaking to the audience, leading to a standoff with campus security and police standing at the bottom of the bleachers. Rep. Sherman did not respond to Gonska before relenting and stating he supports trans rights, but he doesn’t hear anyone asking him to do anything specific on the issue besides state his support of it. Gonska remained standing for the rest of the Town Hall. (Jake Crandall | The Corsair)

The release did not elaborate that the “charged” personnel it referred to were frequently so moved to vocalize that they spoke out of turn, shouting from their seats and audibly overpowering the congressman. Though they broke the rules by making comments outside of the lottery system, their comments often drew the same amount of applause as Sherman’s.

The congressman joined the ranks of high-level government officials, Democrats and Republicans alike, who find themselves facing abundant criticism in fiery town halls across the country, a phenomenon that has considerably blossomed since Trump’s inauguration. At one such event on May 4, an audience for New York’s Rep. Mike Lawler “devolved into chaos,” according to The Hill, as screaming constituents were escorted out by law enforcement.

In March, a town hall by Republican Sen. Roger Marshall in Kansas was quickly shut down after a large faction of the audience began pressing the senator on federal actions by Trump and Elon Musk. Mike Johnson, Speaker of the House, subsequently warned Republican leaders to avoid town halls, and claimed that these events’ dissenters were mostly paid operatives.

Just two weeks prior to Sherman’s, 30th California district Rep. Laura Friedman met a swath of loudmouthed constituents, described as “hecklers” by the Daily Beast, at a town hall at Los Angeles City College. Though the events differed, many dissenters delivered similar concerns regarding their representative’s lack of “sufficient” action in response to the Trump administration.

At Sherman’s, in the climax of physical corrosion, a screaming match between a pro-Israel veteran and an Israel critic nearly came to blows in the grandstands before security cut in. Though the total group was a small fraction of his constituency, it was divided, with about one in 10 attendees in full approval of Trump and his agenda.

A significant round of “boo”s ensued when Sherman suggested he didn’t believe Nancy Pelosi had engaged in insider trading.

Above all, Sherman was open about his determination to counter Trump, and defined his strategy: “The way to stop Trump is to win the 2026 (House) election, and to educate and demonstrate and mitigate between now and that election.”

One audience member found this particularly unsatisfactory. “We did that eight years ago, and we’re back here again. What are you gonna do?” he yelled at Sherman, with arms spread wide. The audience roared in concurrence.

“We did that eight years ago, and we’re back here again. What are you gonna do?”

Following outbursts from several audience members, the crowd morphed into a free-for-all, peppering the congressman with forthright questions, even some accusations.

After her protest, Gonska departed the auditorium and joined leagues of pro-Palestine activists outside, who had gathered well over an hour before the Town Hall was scheduled to begin to protest the congressman’s support for Israel. Sherman is the co-chair of the House Israel Allies Caucus, and the most senior Democrat on the House-Knesset Parliamentary Friendship Group; the Knesset is Israel’s house of representatives.

A Donald Trump supporter sits in attendance at House Rep. Brad Sherman’s Town Hall at California State University, Northridge, Premier America Credit Union Arena in Northridge, Calif., on Saturday, April 26, 2025. (Jake Crandall | The Corsair)

An attendee at a Town Hall hosted by House Rep. Brad Sherman yells, “What are you going to do?”, questioning Rep. Sherman’s planned response to the Trump in Northridge, Calif., on Saturday, April 26, 2025. (Jake Crandall | The Corsair)

Michael Chatsworth, an Air Force veteran, yells, “Do you fucking support Hamas,” at those who cheered after an audience poll question results were revealed asking, “Should we continue to provide arms aid to Israel?” with the results: 30% yes 55% no 15% unsure, at a Town Hall hosted by House Rep. Brad Sherman in Northridge, Calif., on Saturday, April 26, 2025. (Jake Crandall | The Corsair)

At the demonstrations, protesters held signs reading “Stop Funding Genocide” and claimed Sherman is “owned” by the lobbying group American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).

After leaving the Town Hall, one pro-Israel constituent yelled “Release the hostages!” before spitting on the protesters.

Sherman himself avoided speaking on Israel or any related issues at the Town Hall.

“Brad Sherman is the biggest Zionist in Congress,” said David Klein, retired professor of mathematics at CSUN.

An outspoken pro-Israel advocate, Sherman is known to defend Israel in Congress, promote the #BringThemHome movement and sponsor legislation such as the current “Accountability for Terrorist Perpetrators of October 7th Act.”

Though Gonska differs with the politician on foreign affairs, their mid-rally fight didn’t mean they disagreed on everything. “Brad Sherman is (actually) one of those Democrats who supports queer rights, at least on paper,” Gonska said afterwards. “My big issue is that he has not made any public statements since before the election last year.”

Though Gonska described the congressman’s reaction to their outcries as “mid,” the evident success was in constituent backing. “There was a lot of positive reception from people who knew what was going on,” they said. “There was a lot of people who, during and after, came over and said like, thank you for doing that. Thank you for saying it. Somebody needed to say it.”

Having achieved solidarity, Gonska described the room as a typical American forum: “It’s not that the people don’t support trans rights or the people don’t support trans people. It’s that the politicians are often unwilling to bridge that gap of, like, actually representing their constituents.”

Pro-Palestinian protesters gather in front of Brad Sherman’s Town Hall in Northridge, Calif., on Saturday, April 26, 2025, to voice their disapproval of his pro-Israel policies. (Jake Crandall | The Corsair)

House Rep. Brad Sherman from California’s 32nd congressional district speaks to the audience at a Town Hall in Northridge, Calif., on Saturday, April 26, 2025. (Jake Crandall | The Corsair)

Gender-neutral restrooms to arrive on SMC’s main campus in 2026

Santa Monica College (SMC) has started construction on gender-neutral restrooms, to be completed in 2026.

Jeffrey Berrios | Opinion Editor

Graphic by Katie Easterson

The construction of a gender-neutral restroom building at the Santa Monica College (SMC) main campus has officially begun. The building will be located near the main quad area between the Theater Arts building and the Humanities and Social Science (HSS) building.

According to the Citizen Bonds Oversight Committee, the estimated total cost is $6 million. The funding source for the building comes entirely from Measure V. The website also states the project has a building footprint of approximately 700 gross square feet (GSF), a 1,400 GSF canopy and 3,000 GSF affected site area that will include flatwork and landscape.

According to a March 21 report by the Citizens’ Bond Oversight Committee, the contractor for the building is Reyes Electrical Contractor, the architects will be from TSK Architects, and inspection and testing will be done by CNA, Geolabs, Spectrum Fire and JL Inspection.

SMC explained the purpose of these restrooms on their bond project planning website, SMC Bond Projects“As part of the College’s Gender Equality mission, the District is committed to providing facilities in support of gender equities. This project is part of the College’s continuous facilities improvement plan in achieving equity goals.”

In SMC’s planning documents, the restroom facility is said to feature five standard stalls and one “accessible” stall. “All-gender restrooms benefit all people, including transgender and gender diverse individuals, people who require assistance of a caregiver of a different genders, and parents with children of different genders,” the document states.

SMC’s Board of Trustees held a public meeting on Jan. 21, 2025 to discuss various issues pertaining to the SMC community. The building of gender neutral restrooms was a prominent proposal that was heavily discussed throughout the meeting. Many SMC staff and community members spoke at the meeting in support of building the restrooms.

The meeting held a vote with all trustee members on consent agenda item 8-A, described by the Board as “Award of Contract - Gender-Neutral Restroom Building.” According to the Board of Trustees, this would ratify a contract with the lowest responsive and responsible bidder. Elisa Meyer, English department faculty member, showed her support for the approval of gender-neutral restrooms at the meeting. Meyer said, “This is a key step in supporting LGBTQ+ students and colleagues safety and well-being.”

She said, “Though this is an integral step for which we are grateful, further work is needed in these up and coming months and years to provide safe spaces for LGBTQ+ community members. It’s a pursuit that is an integral part of fulfilling our mission and values to provide a welcoming, thriving and safe environment for all students, especially minoritized students.”

Dr. Steph Anderson, a faculty member in SMC’s psychology department, chair of the Equity and Diversity Committee, and co-facilitator of the college’s LGBTQ+ Safe Zone training, also spoke in support of the proposal.

“The proposed freestanding all-gender restroom sends a really powerful message, this is a college where all students belong, where we prioritize their safety and we’ll revalue their ability to focus on learning instead of fearing being able to meet a most basic human need.”

Jose Reyes, foreman for the construction of the gender neutral restroom, monitors workers as they dig a trench to connect to the sewer line.

(Fai Fong | The Corsair)

Anderson said, “The cost of delaying or denying this project is far greater than the cost of moving forward with it.”

Before a decision was made, a couple of the trustees also spoke in support of the proposal. Trustee Anastasia Foster thanked the college for recognizing the need for gender-neutral restrooms, and called out Santa Monica city council members for their stance when the topic was spoken about a year prior.

“I was very disheartened about a year ago to listen to a city council meeting, well into the late hours of the night in this city, where we heard council members make archaic and outdated and obscene old trope junk about the LGBTQ community, and the use of gender inclusive and all-gender bathrooms, representing a complete lack of understanding of what it was, or representing a complete lack of respect for staff’s time and presenting it to them. I couldn’t be more pleased with my colleagues on the dais and in staff and representing our students, faculty and everyone in our community, that they are welcomed in our campus no matter who’s president, that they are welcomed no matter who’s on city council, and that they’re welcomed on our campus.” Foster said.

Trustee Rob Rader mentioned his personal motivations in supporting the proposal. He said, “I have a trans son and I’ve had to scout bathrooms everytime. And the very issues they’ve brought up are the ones I have to worry about with my son.”

Radere said, “When we do an item like this, I show him, so that he does understand that there are places that are open to him.” After the speakers were finished, the trustees voted on the proposal, and by a unanimous vote the proposal was approved.

The estimated completion date for the restrooms is December 2026.

The men’s and women’s restrooms in the Library Buliding.

A construction worker for the building of the gender neutral restroom digs a trench to connect to the sewer line.

(Fai Fong | The Corsair)

OPINION

Physical media: dead or alive?

As digital apps become the norm for music, the use of physical media starts to dwindle. Los Angeles citizens described the role physical media plays in their life and their thoughts about its future.

Zachary Sanchez | Staff Writer, Rafael Lopez | Staff Writer

It’s well known that streaming services have lowered the usage of physical media dramatically. According to a study Statista conducted, more than 300 million LPs and EPs were sold each year during the 1970s, but fast forward to 2024 and that number has staggered to only 43.6 million.

Vinyls and CDs have become obsolete in a world that increasingly relies on instant access and portable convenience. However, physical media has not yet fully died out, as it still survives through music enthusiasts. The question is, will this be enough to sustain their future in society?

The biannual record store day was on April 12 and various shops throughout Los Angeles offered generous discounts in celebration. The Corsair visited Amoeba Music in Hollywood to gather a general consensus on the state of physical media.

Alan Pierce, age 48, was one of the many eager customers waiting in line outside the store. “I’ve been using vinyls and CDs since I was in my teens. Then it was out of necessity, now it has become a hobby more than anything else. I’ll end my days by putting on a record, but that’s as far as it goes,” said Pierce.

“It’s become impossible to deny apps like Spotify due to their accessibility. I love CDs, I’ll use them when driving, but I don’t love them enough to go back to walking around with a portable CD player all day long. You

know? I think vinyls and CDs will always have a place as antiques,” said Pierce when asked about the future of physical media in society.

“While growing up, my parents kept a record player in the house. They’d only use it ever so often, but when they did it was nice for all of us. Because of that, I’ve always collected vinyls to play and hang around my room. It’s definitely something you do in your free time. Outside of that I’m not sure, I can’t imagine people going back,” said Nathan Ramirez, age 18, another customer in line.

Despite discrepancies in age, both young and old share a similar conclusion. Physical media has an undeniable sentimental value, but aside from that, it just doesn’t have the same use that it once did.

Chris Vagoni is the owner of Record Surplus, and worked at Record Surplus for 20 plus years before buying the store in 2021. Record Surplus, located on Santa Monica Boulevard, sells records, CDs, tapes and even laserdiscs.

When asked about the sales throughout the years, Vagoni said, “It’s up and down, a bit of both, it’s kinda seasonal within the year. During the pandemic things were super slow, and then ramped up big time once people were able to get out. Collecting in general during the pandemic kinda spiked and prices kinda shot up, they definitely come down a bit,

A man bikes past Record Surplus on Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles, Calif., on Friday, April 18, 2025. Record Surplus, previously located on Pico Boulevard., has served music lovers of Los Angeles for over 35 years.

(Gregory Hawthorne | The Corsair)

but compared to pre-pandemic, prices have been higher in general for new records as well as vintage ones.”

Record Surplus has a selection of vinyls including rock, hip hop, classical, purely beats, jazz and soul.

“I try to keep records in the shop that sell, I will also take gambles on new stuff. My taste is narrow but I like to think it’s broad. I’ll take risks with new bands that I’m familiar with, that my customers maybe aren’t, but if I have multiple customers asking about a band, I’ll carry their stuff. Like last summer, Chappell Roan, she blew up. I didn’t know much about her but we kept getting calls, so I was like, alright, let’s see how three will go, boom, gone in the same day. We don’t turn over records as fast as bigger shops like Amoeba so I try to be conservative with new records. Used records, I have a pretty good idea what sells and what I need. If I have too much of something, I’m not picking it up,” said Vangoni.

Vangoni’s love of physical media translates to his personal life as well, though there is some balance. “At the store all day we listen to records mostly, CDs and tapes. At home I use records, CDs and tapes, on the drive I use, you know, the phone Spotify. My kids love records, CDs and tapes. They like Spotify too, they make playlists, it’s convenient for that. So it’s a good healthy balance,” he said.

As for his thoughts on if people will shift back to physical media, Vagoni said, “I think it’s healthy to have both. The benefit of having digital media is being able to preview stuff. When I grew up you had to buy a new record to listen to the whole thing, you couldn’t preview it on Spotify or YouTube. It might be my favorite band, but this new record could not be as good as the last one. I bought a lot of records that I wish I hadn’t and if I could’ve saved that 15 to 20 dollars I would have.”

Though physical media has taken a backseat in recent years, record shops like Record Surplus and Amoeba Music have kept it from disappearing completely. But it is difficult to claim it is back in full swing, because of the convenience of apps like Spotify and Apple Music. Both forms of media continue to have their benefits; one is convenient and the other gives you something to collect. The use of both digital and physical is still popular today.

“They can go on thinking that way those people can remain in the dark. Physical media is something to hold on to, and it’s also something to pass on. Take good care of your physical media and it’s going to last for a long time. Physical media is alive and well within our shop, within our community, within Los Angeles, within the whole state of California, within the whole United States, it’s alive in every country out there. Except maybe Antarctica. But I bet you there’s a bit of physical media there too,” said Vagoni.

Avori Johnson, (24) a resident of Los Angeles, shops for her first vinyl records at Record Surplus in Los Angeles, Calif., on Friday, April 18, 2025, and states, “I just got a record player, so I've got I've got my top tracks on my mind: ‘In Rainbows’ by Radiohead, my favorite band of all time, A Tribe Called Quest, I also really love to listen to bossa nova, so I'm trying to try out a new bossa nova record.”

Vagnoni (50), owner of Record Surplus, which has served music lovers of Los Angeles for over 35 years, said, “I always tell people trust your ears. Don’t let anybody else tell you that records are better than this or that, or CDs are better than this or that. It’s up to the individual, because you’re the only person that has those two ears on your head. And that’s nothing anyone can take-away from you,” at Record Surplus in Los Angeles, Calif., on Friday, April 18, 2025.

Chris

Cowboy Carter album by Beyoncé, Photo illustration by Gregory Hawthorne

(Gregory Hawthorne | The Corsair)

A Look at Innovation, Ethics, and the Future of Sound.

Jordan Brown | Staff Writer

Asartificial intelligence continues to reshape industries across the globe, music remains one of the transformations’ fiercest fronts.

Questions over ethics, creative ownership, and authenticity loom larger than ever, casting a shadow over an art form built on human expression and emotion. But for many artists, AI isn’t the enemy, it’s a powerful tool. From bedroom producers to studio professionals, AI doesn’t necessarily replace the soul behind the sound.

Instead, it raises the question: Is this the end of originality?

“I think it’s innovative. I think it can be used as a tool for people that want to learn,” said Vincent Wills, a longtime audio engineer and record producer.

In many ways, AI is democratizing music production, making tools more accessible to aspiring artists. Often disguised under friendlier, more familiar names over the years, it’s been an instrument to help bridge the gap between talent and expertise, providing an opportunity to experiment, learn, and produce music more easily.

It’s a tool to help people take things like theory and “have it spelled out in a format that they can understand,” said Wills.

Wills has been around music his entire life. His father previously worked for Warner Music Group, exposing Wills to the industry early on. By seventeen, Wills had become immersed to life in the studio, mastering analog gear and working with legendary groups like Earth, Wind & Fire.

“Time evolves,” he said. Wills witnessed the rise of technologies like Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) firsthand, a shift that, like AI today, transformed how music was made. It was a stark contrast to his earlier years of working “without a manual,” just “turning knobs,” where being “hands on” emphasized that there “ain’t no rules. If it sounds good, it is good.”

MIDI, arguably one of the most influential innovations in modern music technology, emerged in the early 1980s. While it’s not inherently a form of AI itself, it allowed electronic instruments, computers, and software to communicate in ways that fostered artificially intelligent music systems.

Illustrations by Jenna Tibby

Soon after came AutoTune in the late 90s, a textbook example of artificial intelligence hiding in plain sight. Quietly transforming soundscapes for decades, AutoTune’s ability to drastically reshape vocals blurred the lines between human and digital perfection; once ridiculed, it gradually became a staple across the

Predating both, Illiac (Illinois Automatic Computer), considered one of the first electronically composed pieces, dates back to the 1950s. A string quartet generated digitally, it laid the foundation for later developments, including EMI’s “Experiments in Musical Intelligence” in the 80s. A computer program, EMI used algorithms to analyze the works of various composers and curate music of a familiar compositional style.

Yet, as AI becomes increasingly mainstream, debates over ethical implications, originality, and authenticity of sound continue to shake the industry. Some argue that AI’s ability to generate music, from simple tracks or vocals to complete compositions, challenges the concepts of artistic ownership that have been cultivated for centuries.

How do we credit creativity to a machine? What happens to the value of human artistry and therefore involvement, when an algorithm can produce a track with the simple push of a button?

For many, artificially generated sound feels soulless, lacking the depth and emotion we humans ingrain in our work. It fails to portray the struggles, the

heartbreaks, the joys, and triumphs that reflect the human experience. Others raise concerns over AI’s ability to mimic voices, an issue brought to light over AI generated tracks like “Heart on My Sleeve.” Using vocals similar to Drake, The Weeknd, Future, and 21 savage, it highlights a growing grey area of intellectual property, artist consent, and ownership.

“I don’t think AI scares me as much as the lack of laws to protect us from other people using AI with malicious intent,” said Richelle Alleyne, professionally known as RX.

A Toronto-based singer and songwriter, RX is best known for her work on BTS’s multi-platinum hit “My Time,” featured on the record breaking album Map of the Soul: 7.

“As the music industry evolves it’s our responsibility as creators to educate ourselves on anything that contributes to that, including AI, so that we can always be aware of how to retain ownership of what we created,” said RX.

Still, a growing number of artists are diving headfirst into this technology, not as a crutch, but as an extension of their creative toolkit.

From innovators like RX, shaping today’s sound, to masters of analog like Wills, technologies like AI remain just another step in the evolution of music, a new instrument for those willing to embrace its capabilities, despite controversy.

“I think that you shouldn’t feel threatened by it,” said Wills. “For the real musicians and real players, I don’t think it’s a threat because music comes from the heart and the soul. You’ve got to use it as a tool, and if you use it as a tool, it’s okay, just like any other AI format.”

For Wills, and many alike, the essence of music has never been about the tools themselves, but the person using them. From reels of tapes to digital plugins, Auto Tune to machine learning, every generation of musicians has faced new technologies, redefining creativity.

Artificial intelligence may be able to replicate sounds, patterns, and styles, even replicate voices or curate songs, but it can’t replicate struggle. It can’t replicate life; the pain, purpose, and pleasure that come with it, the thing that builds the passion behind the performance.

In the end, perhaps the real question isn’t whether AI threatens originality, but how it can be embraced within the creative process. Just as other controversial innovations expanded the bounds of creativity, AI has the potential to do the same.

While it can simulate, it’s the human experience, emotion, and unique perspective that give music its soul. With all tools, the value lies in how artists choose to integrate them into their process.

Just like innovations of the past met with skepticism, AI too will find its place; not as a replacement or shortcut, but as a tool to complement human artistry.

SMC wins first State Pairs Championship

Lankton and Legaspi sink the competition to win the 2025 Beach Volleyball State Pairs Championship.

Kayjel J. Mairena | Staff Writer

Annah Legaspi (3) and Nicole Lankton (5) embrace after defeating Fresno City College at the start of the Finals (Tom Rosholt | The Corsair)

The Santa Monica College (SMC) Corsairs women’s beach volleyball 1’s pair won first place in the 2025 3C2A Beach Volleyball State Pairs Championship tournament on May 10, 2025, at Long Beach City College.

The 3C2A State Pairs Championship is the highest level of competition for community college beach volleyball. The event spans two days, with 32 pairs entering pool play and 16 advancing into Saturday’s grueling competition. Teams played three best-ofthree matches to determine seeding on Friday. The round of 16 commenced at 10 a.m. the following day.

The SMC men’s and women’s teams rallied early to support defender Annah Legaspi and blocker Nicole Lankton in their quest for gold. They secured the No. 1 seed in their pool the day before, going undefeated, 3-0. The Corsairs’ faced the Mt. San Antonio College (Mt. SAC) Mounties’ Candace Ceballos and Madeline Castillo in the round of 16.

“I said to them (Lankton and Legaspi), they’re going to push back, it’s a really good team. Did you not see them eliminate your buddies,” said Christian Cammayo, head coach for SMC’s women’s volleyball team, to a Mt. SAC coach after the game. “I’m like, ‘Don’t get comfortable.’”

The match commenced with a quick back-and-forth, scoring 5-5, before SMC took the lead. A series of point runs and kills from both Lankton and Legaspi kept the competition at bay, with SMC dominating the first set 21-14.

Mt. SAC entered the second set hot, immediately going on a four-point run before SMC could respond. The Mounties’ attack was relentless, scoring point after point with no response from SMC. Mt. SAC took an early lead in the set, 7-3, and never let up.

Lankton served an ace, cutting the deficit to three, 10-13, but that would be the last time the set was competitive. Cebellos and Castillo’s onslaught earned them a commanding lead, 17-10, a hurdle SMC couldn’t overcome. The Mounties controlled the second set, winning 21-14.

Legaspi started the third set with a four-point run, stealing the momentum. Mt. SAC tried to overcome the early hurdle, but SMC had found its groove. The once silent crowd was rejuvenated, and the louder they got the more in tune Legaspi and Lankton became.

SMC fans, mostly composed of teammates and parents, stood alongside the fence watching the game. Cameron Taylor, an SMC men’s volleyball star, led the chants. Taylor, at times hanging over the fence, would scream words of encouragement to the SMC players.

“They both tell us, all the time, that us cheering and being our typical loud SMC self is what helps them play better. If we continue to be that for them, it’s going to help them in those tough moments,” Taylor said.

The crowd became ecstatic, jumping and cheering, as SMC ran away with the game. Lankton served the game-winning point, and after a quick back-and-forth, the Corsairs beat the Mounties, 157, advancing them to the quarter finals versus the Orange Coast College (OCC) Pirates.

Nicole Lankton (5) gets watered down from field crew to stay cool during a timeout. (Tom Rosholt | The Corsair)

(Tom Rosholt | The Corsair)

Annah Legaspi (3) yells with excitement after scoring a point.

The afternoon games were played in less-thanfavorable weather conditions. The sun was scorching hot, and the sand radiated heat. Often, fans would run to a mist machine during time-outs.

Legaspi started the game with a nine-point run, setting the tone. The Corsairs were in sync, feeding off the crowd and each other. Legaspi snatched digs, dove for balls and set up spikes, while Lankton became an impenetrable wall at the net.

The nine-point run became a 14-7 lead. Lankton’s height was an overbearing obstacle for the unresponsive OCC players. SMC delivered a swift victory in the first set, winning 21-12.

The Corsairs continued their attack, with Legaspi going on a four-point run to start the second set. Conditions worsened, and players visually struggled with the heat. A timeout was called with SMC leading 14-7, and players from both teams rushed off the court. Legaspi and Lankton ran to a shower head and sprayed themselves, while OCC’s Kayla Ihrig jumped into a tub of shallow water.

After the timeout, SMC’s momentum came to a halt. The Pirates began showing life coming out of the timeout, cutting the deficit to three, 17-14, forcing Legaspi to signal for a timeout.

What began as a runaway affair quickly turned into a close nail-biter. OCC’s newfound momentum brings them within a point to tie, 18-17. Pirates’ Jordan Packer served the potential game-tying serve, but OCC lost the exchange, 19-17. SMC won the next two points, sinking the Pirates and advancing to the semi-finals after a decisive 21-17 victory.

SMC faced the San Diego Mesa College Olympians in the semi-finals. The Olympians won the 2024 3C2A State Pairs Championship, with Myah Gomez returning, looking to win back-to-back championships.

Volleyball players from both colleges stood against the fence to show their support. Players battled on the court, and fans attempted to outcheer the opposing crowd. The majority of Mesa’s volleyball team arrived at the State Pairs Championship to support their teammates after winning the 2025 3C2A Women’s Beach Volleyball State Championship the prior day.

Mesa built an early lead at the start of the third game, 5-2. Lankton’s height advantage was neutralized by Gomez, who found cracks in the foundation of the impenetrable wall.

Mesa’s fan section grew louder as Gomez and her partner, Jaiden Mojica, expanded their lead. Olympian fans cheered and proudly waved their team flag after every scored point. SMC’s fan section was suddenly quiet again, for the first time since the Mt. SAC game.

Lankton scored before delivering a thundering ace to make the game 10-7. The game was highly contested, with Mesa holding a slight lead for most of the set. SMC fought point for point with Lankton tying the score at 16 apiece.

Lankton served an ace to give SMC the lead, 18-17, but Gomez immediately responded, tying the game. Gomez then served the ball, and after a quick exchange, she committed an attack error that electrified the SMC crowd. The Corsairs close the set, winning 21-18.

The second set started highly contested, with the Corsairs riding the momentum. The Olympians tied the game at 6 apiece after a failed blocking attempt by Lankton.

Nicole Lankton (5) blocks the ball hit by San Diego Mesa College (MESA) Olympians’ Myaha Gomez (13).

Nicole Lankton (5) spikes the ball past Orange Coast College (OCC) Pirates’ Kayla Ihrig (20).

(Tom Rosholt | The Corsair)

Mojica serves and after the exchange, takes the lead, 7-6.

Mesa held onto their lead, with the Corsairs not far behind. SMC tied the game at 11 apiece, then took the lead. The Olympians stayed steadfast, always at the heels of the Corsairs.

The last tie of the game was at 13 apiece. Lankton put the Corsairs in front, and that would be the last lead change of the game. SMC’s women’s volleyball team then moved courtside to support their teammates through the last points of the game.

Lankton blocked the ball to extend the lead by three, silencing the Mesa fans. The Olympians lose the next point and call a timeout, trailing 17-13. The Corsairs, on a four-point run, had all the momentum.

Coming out of the timeout, Lankton scored a kill. Legaspi continued the point run by serving an ace, which extended the lead to seven. Gomez then pokes the ball for a point to end the point run, refusing to go down without a fight.

Gomez continued to fight, but it was in vain. The Corsairs defeated the Olympians, 21-15, bumping Mesa to bronze and advancing to the championship round.

The Fresno City College (FCC) Rams beat the Mt. San Jacinto College Eagles in a three-set game to advance to the championship. FCC’s volleyball team stood courtside for the majority of the match, bringing an unparalleled intensity that SMC fans hadn’t matched.

Phoebe Constable and Lusa Andrews entered the competition as the No.1 seed in Northern California, representing FCC. SMC was the top seed in the Southern California division.

The Rams supporters could be heard cheering from across the courtyard during their third set. The SMC fans sat in the stands, staring at them. Lankton then walks over to her teammates and says, “I need you all to go off this round.”

Team support has been crucial to Legaspi and Lankton’s success. The pair frequently relied on their teammates to help ease them during pivotal moments.

“It’s so important. I think us being here is one of the main reasons they’ve gotten so far. Coaches have said it, they’ve said it. Without fan support, you don’t get much energy, and energy can make or break a game,” said Makena Gamby, a defender on SMC’s beach volleyball team. “So, I think having a lot of fans really helps them push forward and push through.”

The afternoon game took place underneath the beaming sun. The shade disappeared, and water was running low. SMC fans stood against the fence, and FCC’s women’s volleyball team went courtside onto the hot-to-touch sand. The top two pairs in California stood laser-focused, never breaking eye contact, as they awaited the referee’s whistle.

Fresno starts strong. They win the first point of the set, and then pull away with an early lead, 6-1. FCC’s courtside support was strong; teammates of the pair danced and cheered on the sidelines.

FCC couldn’t maintain the lead for long. The Corsairs scored a point and then went on a four-point run to tie the game at six apiece. The next few points were highly contested, with SMC pulling ahead.

Legaspi puts the Corsairs in front, followed by back-to-back spikes by Lankton to extend the lead, 12-7.

Constable scores a point to end the Corsairs’ five-point run, 13-8. SMC continued expanding their lead, seemingly running away with the set, but the Rams never lost focus.

Nicole Lankton (5) spikes the ball against Monterey Peninsula College (MPC) Lobos.

Annah Legaspi (3) dives to keep the rally going.

(Tom Rosholt | The Corsair)

Andrews serves the ball and the Rams heat up as Constable spikes the ball to cut the deficit to three, energizing the crowd. The Rams then tied the game, 15-15 after an attack error from Lankton.

Legaspi ends the five-point run with a rollshot, putting them ahead 16-15. The Corsairs then extended their lead after going on a four-point run. Andrews then spikes the ball to save the set before it’s too late, trailing, 20-16.

Constable steps behind the serving line and delivers two quick points to put the Rams within striking distance of the Corsairs. Constable, under pressure, serves the ball into the net handing SMC the first set, 21-18.

The second set, like the first, quickly became anyone’s game. The Corsairs took an early 5-2 lead, before the Rams fought back to tie it at seven apiece. SMC would pull ahead and FCC would come back and tie the game.

Andrews blocks the ball to tie the game at eight, followed by a serving error by Constable, to put SMC ahead, 9-8. Constable, still determined, spikes theball to tie it up at nine apiece. Neither team could pull away, and both refused to let up.

Legaspi then goes on a five-point run, pulling ahead, 15-10, which ended after she committed an attack error. SMC, on the verge of being crowned champions, begins to apply more pressure.

The SMC fans began to match the FCC crowd’s earlier intensity once they had a commanding lead. The Rams begin to falter, as the Corsairs’ lead increases. Lankton then spikes the ball, bringing the crowd’s energy to a new level as the Corsairs jump 19-13.

Legaspi follows Lankton’s spike with a point of her own. All eyes turn to Lankton as she steps to the baseline to deliver the next serve. She looks up and sends the ball over.

The Rams send the ball back, and a rapid exchange occurs. Lankton then spikes the ball for the game-winning kill, 21-13.

For a moment, everything goes quiet, then the SMC crowd erupts and their courtside supporters begin jumping.

“I was able to push, we were able to push, we grew, I’m just so proud of both of us.”

“Yesterday, they honestly did not play well, at all, and they won. Today, they played closer to their potential. I don’t think it was their best, but that’s kind of how good they are. If they play close to their potential, if they play within the range, they’re pretty unstoppable,” Cammayo said.

Annah Legaspi (3) and Nicole Lankton (5) hold hands while switching sides. (Tom Rosholt |The Corsair)

Corsairs’ (left to Right) Head Coach Christian Cammayo, Assistant Coach Meagan Carter, Nicole Lankton (5), Annah Legaspi (3), Athletic Director Reggie Ellis and Assistant Coach Chris Chown. (Tom Rosholt | The Corsair)

There were struggles early in Lankton and Legaspi’s careers. Coach Cammayo gave Lankton an ultimatum: she could either listen or she can leave the team.

“It was more of me not giving as much effort as I needed to. After that conversation, I wanted to play volleyball. I told myself, ‘This is not how my volleyball career is ending.’ So, I just locked in and aimed to be the best volleyball player I could be,” Lankton said.

Legaspi almost quit volleyball altogether during her recruitment phase, but stuck with it. At their best, they are the tried-and-tested No. 1 duo in California.

“I’m so happy. I almost quit volleyball, and I’m glad I didn’t. I mean, I’ve come so far. I know I’m driving with a bad mentality, for myself, so the fact that I was able to push, we were able to push, we grew, I’m just so proud of both of us,” Legaspi said. “She almost got kicked out (the team). She tried her hardest, she gave me her effort, I gave her mine. I’m just — words can’t even describe it.”

Legaspi will play indoor volleyball next season for the Corsairs, and Lankton is transferring, heading into her junior year. Together, they overcame personal issues, dethroned a defending champion, and defeated the No.1 seed in Northern California, all to be crowned the 2025 3C2A Women’s Beach Volleyball State Pairs champions.

“Today, they played closer to their potential. I don’t think it was their best, but that’s kind of how good they are. If they play close to their potential, if they play within the range, they’re pretty unstoppable.”

Annah Legaspi (3) and Nicole Lankton (5) congratulating each other after scoring a point. (Tom Rosholt | The Corsair)

“Art Unleashed” is the theme for this year’s Los Angeles County Fair. (Silke Eichholz \ The Corsair)

Creativity takes center stage at 2025 L.A. County Fair

TheLos Angeles County Fair puts the spotlight on creativity for 2025 with its vibrant theme, “Art Unleashed.” It celebrates imagination through hands-on exhibits, live performances and family-friendly fun.

On Sunday, May 4, the Fairplex in Pomona came alive with the sights and sounds of the fair, attracting thousands of visitors despite the cloudy skies and light rain. From art installations to agricultural showcases, guests of all ages found something to be entertained.

Residents from across L.A. County took advantage of specially discounted admission. A favorite among guests was the Barnyard Racing Pig Races, where pigs, goats and even lambs dashed down the track to cheer and laughter from the crowd.

Educational attractions were also in full swing. Dana St. Amand, an artisan blacksmith and bladesmith based in Los Angeles, presented live demonstrations of traditional metalworking, explaining the tools and history behind the craft.

Just down the path, Bill Holland, a volunteer farmer at The Farm at Fairplex for 10 years running, offered tasty and rare treats, including samples of exotic fruits like loquats, kumquats and the zesty Australian finger lime.

The fair continues through the month, ending May 26, with themed days, art-focused displays and nightly concerts lighting up the Grandstand stage. For schedules, entertainment lineups and ticket deals, visit lacountyfair.com.

From racing pigs to exotic fruits to blacksmithing demos, the Los Angeles County Fair is bursting with imagination this year under its “Art Unleashed” theme.

Silke Eichholz | Staff Photographer

Four pigs race while a youth fair volunteer rings the bell to start the Barnyard race.

(Silke Eichholz | The Corsair)

The key to keep ng alive: The native milkweed plant

Teague Weybright, Santa Monica Community Garden Program Coordinator, comes to SMC, sharing his knowledge of monarch butterflies and the native milkweed plant that keeps them alive and thriving.

Kyla Downey| Staff Writer

Santa Monica College (SMC) students gathered on the grass, helping pot and disperse native milkweed plants to other students attending an Earth Week series event on Thursday, April 24.

The buzz of eager students flitted through the air as they lined up to pick up their free native milkweed plant at the “Save the Monarch, Plant Milkweed” event hosted by the Adelante Club.

The special guest for the event was Teague Weybright, the program coordinator for Santa Monica Community Garden. Weybright stood on the grass quad conversing with students and watched as others sat in a circle on the grass potting the plant.

Milkweed is native to the western states and is threatened by tropical milkweed, its main competitor and an invasive species. Native milkweed is essential for keeping the monarch butterfly species alive.

Guest speaker Teague Weybright from Santa Monica Office of Sustainability and Environment explaining how plants like the milkweed help the monarch butterfly. (Tom Rosholt \ The Corsair)

“The milkweed plant is a host for the monarch butterfly, so it is the only plant that monarchs lay their eggs on,” Weybright said.

“The monarchs, in lore, are the returning of children and ancestors to their ancestral homes.”

Monarch butterflies have a connection to groups in Mexico City, according to Weybright. Once they migrate down to Mexico from Canada they create overwinter clusters on trees, which provide shelter for them. “(The timing of their migration and) when they arrive coincides a little bit with Día de los Muertos,” Weybright said.

“The monarchs, in lore, are the returning of children and ancestors to their ancestral homes,” Weybright said. He continued that, in reference to this Mexican lore, the monarch butterflies hold a lot of meaning to the people of Mexico, since the migration symbolizes their people coming back to them.

Native milkweed plants continued to be handed off to students, and Weybright shared information on how to care for a milkweed plant.

The ideal time to plant milkweed is early spring, specifically March or April, and it is important to monitor how much water they are given. Weybright said they only need water about once

a week. It is also completely natural for milkweed to lose its leaves during the fall and winter seasons since the plant goes dormant during this time.

Native milkweed plants are vital to keep the monarch butterfly population thriving. As for the invasive milkweed species, in addition to monarchs being unable to lay their eggs on them, they also inhibit caterpillars’ growth.

“Save The Monarch, Plant Milkweed” was the last event put on by former Adelante Club president, Nahomy Rivas, before she stepped down from her position. Additionally, the club hosted the Sip N’ Paint event the Tuesday beforehand, where students painted their own clay pots for the milkweed plant. The event was held in memoriam of Mexican environmental activist Homero Gómez González.

Teague Weybright, Community Gardens program coordinator for the City of Santa Monica (right), shows Miles Bunnell (left), a second-year environmental studies student at Santa Monica College (SMC), how to transplant seedlings during a hands-on sustainability workshop.

(Jiale Xian | The Corsair)

Esthela Moncada, a third-year communications major at Santa Monica College (SMC), distributes biodegradable seed pots. Attendees painted pots and planted native species to help save the monarch butterfly.

(Jiale Xian | The Corsair)

Illustrations by Jenna Tibby

Amadour: Aninterdisciplinaryartistshapedby SMCandexploringqueeridentitythroughart

Amadour, a former Santa Monica College (SMC) and University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) alum shares their journey as a nonbinary, first-generation American artist.

Katie Easterson || Arts & Entertainment Editor

Amadour’s multifarious approach to art, specifically their paintings, is positively unique, continuing to challenge topics like cultural heritage and identity. Their use of texture and bright gold colors is intricate and refined, tying back to their Mexican and Colombian roots. Their art reflects and celebrates the architecture of Santa Monica and Reno, Nevada. Strong, defined archways with crisp blues and hues of silver– the color blocking really makes their work feel distinctive, as they explore geometric abstraction.

Amadour, a former Santa Monica College (SMC) and University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) alum is a 29-year-old artist who

When it comes to Amadour’s identity, they said, “As a nonbinary person, it was just a lot of figuring things out. There’s no direction. I think that those things kind of enlisted in me like, wait, I think I really like to draw and I think I like music, you know?”

Amadour said, “I identified as genderfluid for a minute, but nonbinary really made sense to me because I was like, yeah, I don’t identify as male or female. I’m not talking about sexual orientation or sex, but gender, because none of them add up. I’m just my own box. I feel like that’s nonbinary.”

Monroe and Clark Gable did their last movie there, “The Misfits”. Sometimes it’s a historical reference or a research standpoint that gets me invested in a certain iconography or prediction of what I’m going to paint next,” Amadour said.

When planning their next painting, Amadour’s ideas start to congregate– their culmination of art knowledge aids them as they decide what they want their paintings to be, and to represent.

“I realized that Nevada for me is not just my home state, but it’s a place where so many stories have been whitewashed. They’ve been coated with slang, been made about gambling, about being in the wild west, about Americana. All these things are fluid and exist, but they also have overlapped with the erasure of so many people that have gone completely unnoticed in the historical framework.”

relocated to Los Angeles from Reno. From the time they were a child, Amadour has always been driven by creativity and passion. “I loved drawing fairies and angels, like, little garden angels. I always drew myself with a fairy. I’d call them “manas” [hermana translates to sister in Spanish],” Amadour said.

As a child, Amadour found their love for all things art despite that they “grew up in a small apartment in Reno with my mom. I grew up in a divorced household. So it was two days here, three days there. It was always back and forth. I had all these crayons and colored pencils and things, and one day I saw a microphone for this karaoke machine we had, and I was like, I’m going to be a singer someday,” they said.

Even as a kid, Amadour was fascinated with architecture, drawing tons of architectural maps, and obsessed with casinos, which are found in abundance in the bright city of Reno. They wanted to be among the skyscrapers. “I’d make my own fictitious casinos, and I feel like I still have a little Nevada casino in me, because I use gold and stuff. It’s a little bit glammed out and that’s just part of my personality and existence,” Amadour said.

Right now, Amadour is working on The Mapes Suite, a visual and musical project that will debut as their first institutional show next year. The project is based on Black, queer, and Hollywood history from the historic Mapes Hotel that was demolished in Reno. They were at the demolition at just five years old, in 2000. “I came back to it recently, and I was like, oh my gosh, I want to look back into it. Marilyn

Regarding whether certain themes are always prevalent in the art that they produce, Amadour said, “I would say yes and no. It’s project-based. I’m working on my next body of work, which was initially supposed to be an EP. It’s likely to be an album. I’ve had to decipher my own mythology before other people could really decipher it with me. Because it wasn’t built for me to have a lane.”

Amadour in front of a mural of Dolores Del Rio in Hollywood, Calif.

(Ana Sanchez Venegas | The Corsair)

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

“The people who make music like me don’t look like me. The people who sound like me don’t address the points I want to discuss. The people I look up to are not necessarily those who relate to my lived experience. It’s not that I’m refraining from supporting others; I love all of my influences, acknowledge them, and appreciate them. However, I’ve realized I’m really in my own lane on this one. It’s liberating, but also terrifying,” Amadour said.

Amadour has been songwriting since they were thirteen years old, some songs come to fruition years later, like upcoming singles from their forthcoming debut album I Was Born in the Silver and I Died There Too— “Someone Left to Love” and “I Want to Be Your Sailor.” It dives into the hard question— are you going to leave me behind? It goes into Amadour’s family situation, specifically their grandma passing away, and the realization of a blunt lover’s words, knowing that they’ve moved on.

“Maybe there’s something I want for myself. Maybe there’s something that is bigger than this. I go into all of these mood swings where I’m thinking about, you know, I like all of these past things or these present things. “I Want to Be Your Sailor” is like the ultimate love song. It’s like, I love you no matter what conditions. I chose you. I’ve never heard a ballad for myself– even though I love so many balladeers, like Sam Smith, but I’ve never heard a ballad that was geared to a place of just true, like, I love you, from a queer point of view. And that is this song,” Amadour said.

“It’s like asking, do you prefer to taste or see? Both. I can’t do without the other, I have to taste it. I need to taste the salt in the air to know I’m by the ocean. I need to see the fog coming in to know that it’s changing light of day. It’s so experimental for me.”

Amadours wants their work to feel like a safe place. It is structured to be a portal to wherever the viewer needs, to make them feel like they belong, that they are meant to be there, even if it’s unknown or terrifying, even if it feels like life is a twisting road of chaos.

To any young inspiring artists, “I’m a high school dropout. I should have never gotten into UCLA the way I did. Even though sometimes it feels like you should just completely stop your project, that might be a moment to trust yourself even more and get even more introspective. Sometimes, your best work comes out from the moment where you’re living with the most fear or the most inadequacy, or where there’s so many things going on in the world that you feel limited. I think that even in those moments, create. Because sometimes that’s the most powerful thing you could do,” Amadour said.

David Quadrini, a respected art dealer and artist, has known Amadour for about six or seven years. Quadrini founded Angstrom Gallery in Dallas, Texas for around 15 years, leading to the two of them meeting. Quadrini said, “I think it’s pretty true that most people in the art world know at least half of the rest of the people in the art world. It’s one of the largest sort of friends-and-family businesses left in the world, I think.”

Regarding Amadour’s work specifically, Quadrini said, “Very beautiful. It has this mid-century quality, which makes it more utopian than postmid century. It’s all very architectural, but all very much presenting the feeling that was buildings and bridges and machines. The whole Charles Sheeler kind of thing.” Quadrini believes that Amadour is more of a contemporary– someone who’s connected to a lot more cultures than the average art producer.

When asked to describe Amadour in three simple words, Quadrini said, “Confident, clever, and kind.”

Fusing physical mediums of art and music is a big part of Amadour. But, which one do they prefer? Amadour said, “It’s like asking, do you prefer to taste or see? Both. I can’t do without the other, I have to taste it. I need to taste the salt in the air to know I’m by the ocean. I need to see the fog coming in to know that it’s changing light of day. It’s so experimental for me. And I feel so privileged to be in a time where artists like myself can blend those together, and it’s not ostracized or not looked at like you have to be a master of one type of fixture.”

Amadour isn’t seeking mastery— they want the emotions, and they want the feelings that come along with creation.

Amadour displaying their collection of hats in Hollywood, Calif.

(Mary Funsten | The Corsair)

your country only when you

Santa Monica

Mollie Bishop

William Ransom, an artist and educator, poses in front of his installation, “You can’t love

win” during the Converge + Vertex Closing Party. (Ana Sanchez Venegas | The Corsair)

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

Erin Grondzik, an art student at Santa Monica College, attends the Converge + Vertex Closing Party.

Erin Grondzik, an art student at Santa Monica College attends the Converge + Vertex Closing Party.

(Ana Sanchez Venegas | The Corsair)

Funky tunes mixed by DJ and gallery artist Leah King filled the Barrett Art Gallery as Converge+Vertex was celebrated at its closing reception on May 6. Students and faculty were able to view artworks and mingle with the artists while enjoying dinner catered by Alta Adams.

“If you walk through the gallery, through color, through motion, through everything … it’s all speaking to each other,” Willow Vergara said. Vergara, who is a Santa Monica College (SMC) student and a part of the exhibit curation team, explained her perception of the show by breaking down its name. “Converge means to come together and vertex means moving forward. So it’s kinda like depicting Black people in a post racial environment. I think mostly about positive Black representation.”

Converge+Vertex showcases pieces by Black artists from Los Angeles, depicting a connection of time and space. Cole James, the curator of Converge+Vertex, said her goal was to create a living archive. “An archive that was kind of growing and extended beyond … this physical plane.”

“An archive that was kind of growing and extended beyond … this physical plane.” - Cole James

The closing reception serves as a well awaited gathering for Converge+Vertex since the exhibit was unable to have an opening reception due to a shooting at SMC’s Center for Media and Design campus. “Everything was pushed back. Everything was cancelled,” James said. “We just kind of had a soft opening … but it wasn’t anything like this.”

Emily Silver, director of the Barrett Gallery, is sad the exhibit is coming to a close, but grateful for the high attendance at the event. “I think it’s a very joyous evening,” she said. “I’m really pumped to have all these people here to, you know, really celebrate the work again.”

Converge+Vertex is artist Cassidy Everage’s first time having his work displayed in a gallery. As the first recipient of Otis College Charles White scholarship, he feels on the right track as his graduation approaches after Converge+Vertex. “I’m not remorseful about it closing. If anything, I’m like, where am I going to put my painting?”

The last day to view the Converge+Vertex exhibit was May 10.

Alta Adams caters food for the Converge + Vertex Closing Party.

(Ana Sanchez Venegas | The Corsair)

Fair visitors using Rental Scooters to explore the Los Angeles County Fair at Fairplex in Pomona, Calif., on Sunday, May 4, 2025. (Silke Eichholz | The Corsair)