The Corsair Spring 2025 - Issue 2 by Santa Monica College

A day of milestones: Celebrating the 40th L.A. Marathon

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

Bruce Zhang

Multimedia Editors

Isaiah Stacy-Sutton, 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 Writers

Staff Photographers

| Ryan Ross

Faculty Advisors

Sharyn Obsatz | Journalism Advisor

Gerard Burkhart | Photo Advisor

Samantha Nuñez | Social Media Advisor

Staff Social Media

Victoria Cue | Priyanka Gupta | Crystal Gutierrez | Toni Guzzo, Keala Hadaya

Lindsay Kaplan

Alondra Lemus | Brianna Minor, Samiyah Williams

Inside cover: During warm-up, softballs rest on Santa Monica College’s softball field at John Adams Middle School in Santa Monica, Calif., on Thursday, March 13, 2025. The Corsairs are hosting their home matches on a softball turf field which makes the balls skid faster than playing on dirt fields. (Silke Eichholz | The Corsair)

Cover: Mathew Richtman, 25, from Elbum, Illinois, crosses the finish line and wins first place at the 40th annual Los Angeles Marathon on Sunday, March 16, 2025, in Los Angeles, Calif. He is the first American to win the LA Marathon since 1994. (Mary Funsten | The Corsair)

Making it through the madness LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

Adriana Brady | Editor in Chief

The Corsair returns to publish our second publication in March, and I continue to reflect on how busy the newsroom has become. Ironically, it really is March Madness - aside from all the basketball tournaments. It is a whirlwind of coordinating events, meeting deadlines and publishing stories.

Since it is also Women’s History Month, I’d like to formally recognize all of the women on our staff, who continue to make the Corsair the publication it is. From our advisors, Sharyn Obsatz and Samantha Nuñez, to all of our editors and our staffers - your hard work and accomplishments do not go unnoticed, and they continue to drive us forward.

I’d especially like to thank my Managing Editor, Jenna Tibby, who has worked tirelessly with me behind the scenes to lead and support the Corsair. I am blessed to work alongside you and thank you for all the work you put in each day.

Additionally, I’d like to congratulate our photo editor, Jake Crandall, for winning the Press Photographers Association of Greater Los Angeles (PPGLA) Student Photographer of the Year. Congratulations on all the hard work you have done and continue to do for the Corsair - we are grateful to have you serve on the staff.

This publication aims to highlight events that occur on our campus and focus on our primary audience: the Santa Monica College (SMC) community. The Corsair continues to ensure we hear the voices of our community. In carrying out this goal, we strive to uplift marginalized groups, including women, and showcase their perspectives. Within the stories, the representation and contributions of women permeate through and are invaluable.

I will admit, at times during these past few weeks, I have found it quite difficult to balance being both a student and Editor-in-Chief. It is a constant overload of schoolwork and working on editing content, and simply put - I have been feeling stressed. However, I am constantly reminded that I have talented editors and staff behind me who display unwavering support.

Each day, our staff continues to demonstrate the talent we possess in our newsroom. When met with challenges, the Corsair staff faces these situations head-on. Although there are of course growing pains and we still have work to do, the future is bright for the Corsair and I cannot wait to see where we go next.

With that, I present the second edition of the Corsair for Spring 2025.

Protesters march at the Women’s Day March to City Hall in downtown Los Angeles, Calif., to show their support for women’s equality on International Women’s Day on Saturday March 8, 2025. (Lisa Whitmore | The Corsair)

Allison Horin (#12), a Blocker, watches as Stella Moritz (#9) a Split from the Corsairs, Santa Monica College’s beach volleyball team tips the ball over the net in a game against Hope International University Royals at Ocean Park North Beach Volleyball Courts in Santa Monica, Calif., on Thursday, March 20, 2025. The Corsairs lost to the Royals 3-2. (Jake Crandall | The Corsair)

A marathon runner gets a massage after running in the 40th annual Los Angeles Marathon on Sunday, March 16, 2025, in Los Angeles, Calif. (Mary Funsten | The Corsair)

Budget cuts at SMC raise questions

Kyla Downey | Staff Writer

Superintendent and president Dr. Kathryn Jeffery presented both long-term and short-term plans to combat budget issues at Santa Monica College, including cuts to faculty, in an email on Feb. 11. SMC staff are questioning why faculty is the target.

On Feb. 11, 2025, Santa Monica College (SMC) superintendent and president Dr. Kathryn Jeffery sent an email to SMC personnel regarding budget updates at the College. The email had information on SMC’s deficit and how Jeffery plans to combat this loss of revenue. Following this email, the Board of Trustees held a meeting on March 4, 2025, where SMC faculty expressed their views about the cuts and asked questions.

In January 2025, Gov. Gavin Newsom released the state budget for 2025-26; SMC is expected to receive an amount of funding similar to the 2024-25 year. However, there is an issue bubbling up to the surface regarding SMC’s continued “hold harmless” status per the Student Centered Funding Formula (SCFF) of California Community Colleges.

“Hold harmless guaranteed that community college districts like SMC that might be negatively impacted by the SCFF received at least their 2017-2018 funding, adjusted for COLA,” wrote Jeffery. In Newsom’s proposed budget, hold harmless districts are no longer granted funds for cost-of-living adjustments and expenses (COLA).

Jeffery wrote in the email that the detrimental fires that devastated the community in January directly affected many SMC students and staff,

though it is not certain how the fires will affect enrollment. The legislature is planning out enrollment backfill for colleges affected by the fires. SMC and otherW impacted colleges could receive “an extended number of years of current funding” that could be increased by COLA.

“SMC is experiencing a multi-year structural deficit,” wrote Jeffery, which translates to the college’s expenses being significantly more than their revenue. If the legislature follows through with enrollment backfill and COLA, which would shrink the deficit, the current prediction is an $11 million structural deficit for the 2025-26 year. Even in that case, SMC would have $11 million worth of reductions to carry out.

In response to these projected reductions, Jeffery has devised a longterm plan, including staff reductions implemented along a three-year schedule, non-personnel expense reductions, fund shifts and organizational realignments. Jeffery also said that “several senior staff are expected to retire within the next year.” In addition, class schedules will be reduced starting in summer 2025 and all the way through the 2025-26 year.

Jeffery included a short-term plan in the email, effective immediately. The plan freezes approved hiring unless the position vacancy “stop(s) a vital District function”; eliminates overtime unless the expense is reimbursed from an outside source, is needed for a vital District function or involves public safety; and freezes contracts unless they are required for a vital District function or public safety. The plan also reduces spring classes and counseling hours.

There have been some responses to these budget cuts, with some community members viewing the cuts toward certain staff and the reduction of classes and counseling hours as unfair. Dr. Peter Morse, physics professor and SMC Faculty Association president, spoke at the Board of Trustees meeting on March 4. Morse presented slides and expressed his views on the budget cuts and where he predicts the impacts will be directed.

Morse said that there are two budgets given throughout the year: the tentative budget in June and the adopted budget in September. These two budgets allow the College to plan out what they can provide for students throughout the year. Additionally, the end of the fiscal year is when the actual expenditures and revenues reports are received.

Graphic by Jenna Tibby

These two budgets are “crucial, as I say, in setting what’s going to happen next,” said Morse, regarding the tentative and adopted budgets. A bleak outlook on the tentative budget could result in classes being canceled, reduced counseling hours and a reduction in hiring full-time faculty. Morse said, “We don’t find out till June, if we’re lucky, what the state budget’s going to look like.”

“SMC is experiencing a multi-year structural deficit.”

Since 2013, the average difference between the College’s tentative budget and the adopted budget is around $4 million. Morse spoke on how these yearly differences in allotted money could have been used to help the students at SMC. The difference between the end of the fiscal year and the adopted budget averages to around $4.5 million, which means there is over an $8 million increase at the end of the fiscal year.

“Faculty costs of salary and retirement benefits are not driving this college’s expenditure slash revenue imbalance,” said Morse, while presenting slides to the Board. The College’s expenditures have risen from 3.47% in the last 15 years to 4.70% in the last five years; meanwhile, the faculty salary and retirement benefit increases have risen from 3.12% in the last 15 years to 4.07% in the last five years, according to the data in his presentation.

Jamar London, math instructor and SMC Academic Senate president, also spoke at the meeting and reflected on the need for certain classes and why adjunct, or part-time, faculty are beneficial to the college and the students. London said that students need to be allowed access to specific classes in order for them to propel forward in their lives while also being able to make money.

London highlighted the importance of adjunct faculty, who said they help the students of SMC because they love what they do and they want to see SMC prosper. London continued by saying how crucial part-time employees are to the campus, and ended his speech by saying that adjunct faculty should not be viewed as “the easiest place where we can sort of make changes.”

The California School Employees Association (CSEA) spoke at the March 4 meeting and said the layoff deadline notice was approaching, which would have been March 15. However, on March 20, Grace Smith, SMC Director of Public Information, said no employees were notified about layoffs or demotions on March 15.

On March 21, Veronica Diaz, SMC Director of Budget, confirmed in an email that the short-term actions from the Feb. 11 email are still in effect. Diaz added that three long-term actions are being carried out which are, shifting the cost of Big Blue Bus to the Parking Fee fund as well as shifting costs of Facilities Planning staff to RDA funds and reducing all discretionary expenses by 5% starting the fiscal year of 2025-26. “The District is in the process of evaluating and implementing the other long-term actions to reduce cost and/or generate revenues,” wrote Diaz.

by Jenna Tibby

Illustraion

Santa Monica College warned over antisemitism claims

Santa Monica College was included in a list of 60 colleges and universities warned to uphold Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.

By: Jared Blair | Multimedia Editor

This week the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights sent letters to 60 colleges and universities across the nation pertaining to investigations that have been launched over antisemitic behavior on their campuses. Santa Monica College was included in this list alongside USC, UC San Diego, and UC Santa Barbara.

In recent years, investigations into antisemitism on college campuses have increased due to a rise in reported incidents and growing concerns from students, faculty, and Jewish advocacy groups. This trend comes after years of heightened political tensions, social justice campaigns, and increased awareness of hate crimes and discrimination.

The Trump administration’s Department of Education addressed antisemitism on campuses in 2019 by issuing an executive order extending Title VI of the Civil Rights Act to include the protection against discrimination based on shared ancestry or ethnicity, which includes Jewish students. This led to several investigations by the Office of Civil Rights into allegations of antisemitism at various universities.

Santa Monica College holds a memorial for the hostages taken on Oct. 7, 2023, at Santa Monica College in Santa Monica Calif. on Oct. 7, 2024.(Jake Crandall | The Corsair)

Santa Monica College Main Campus.on Wednesday, March 19, 2025, at 1900 Pico Blvd in Santa Monica, Calif. (Silke Eichholz | The Corsair)

Rabbi Eli Levitansky, an outside advisor closely working with the Chabad Jewish Student Club, sits at a table shortly before a program that he heads called Sinai Scholars on Wednesday, March 12, 2025, in Santa Monica, Calif. While Levitansky does not hold an official role at Santa Monica College, he has collaborated with the administration for over 18 years. (Nathan Hanson | The Corsair)

After the October 7 2023 attack on an Israeli music festival that left 1200 civilians dead, including 40 Americans, and another 251 people in captivity by terrorist group Hamas, tensions rose again on campuses as students chose to support either Israel or Palestine. A federal investigation was launched in 2023 after student group Students Supporting Israel claimed to have been denied official club registration following the October 7 attack.

Hillel International, an organization that advocated for Jewish students around the world reported a 700 percent increase in hate incidents on college campuses during the 2023/2024 school year that followed.

Throughout the summer of 2024 campuses across the nation saw protests boil over leading to the suspension and arrest of students, resignation of administrators, and an attack on a pro-Palestine encampment at UCLA.

International non-partisan education organization StandWithUs issued a letter to Santa Monica College in June 2024 citing two incidents within the Ethnic Studies and Art departments stating students were, “compelled to adopt opposing political viewpoints as truth.” The letter went on to say, “This is particularly concerning because we understand this course is mandatory for most students, who are being taught anti-Israel propaganda as though it were fact.”

Santa Monica College representatives responded to our request for comment on these letters saying, “Santa Monica College remains committed to upholding a culture of inclusivity, where open dialog

and respectful exchange of ideas can take place. Through professional development, mental and emotional health support for the college community, and other measures, the College has sought to build bridges and ensure students and colleagues are aware of their rights. SMC stands against anti-Semitism, just as the College stands against all forms of discrimination and hate.”

Speaking to Rabbi Levitansky from Chabad SMC he said, “There has been another incident just within the last few weeks with students and this kind of curriculum.” Levitansky went on to say, “I do not like to play victim but if any other race or ethnicity were targeted like Jewish students have been, there would be backlash.”

These letters arrived the same week that Columbia University student and Pro-Palestine activist Mahmoud Khalil was arrested for his participation in the events at Columbia University during the summer 2024 protests.

“We know there are more students at Columbia and other Universities across the Country who have engaged in pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity,” Trump said in a social media post. “We will find, apprehend, and deport these terrorist sympathizers from our country — never to return again.”

SMC Club “Students for Justice In Palestine” held a club meeting recently, however nobody was in attendance. The club has been sharing posts on their instagram supporting Khalil however they did not respond to requests for comment.

Rebecca Kaitlyn, a film major and the social chair for the Adelante Club, holds a sign that reads “No Human Is Illegal” at the Anti-ICE Freedom March, organized by the club on Tuesday, March 18, 2025, on the Santa Monica College campus in Santa Monica, Calif. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is a U.S. federal agency that enforces immigration laws, stirring controversy with an uptick in deportations of undocumented individuals in the U.S. under the Trump administration. (Nathan Hanson | The Corsair)

Anti-ICE walk brings march culture back to campus

The Adelante Club held an Anti-ICE Solidarity March attracting students, staff and counter-protesters.

Jasmine Villanueva | Staff Writer, Phoebe Huss | News Editor

When President Donald Trump was inaugurated in January 2025, he vowed to increase the number of deportations of undocumented immigrants in the United States. Later that month, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) carried out hundreds of raids. It resulted in hundreds of undocumented immigrants getting detained and deported.

On Tuesday, March 18, the Adelante Club at Santa Monica College (SMC) hosted an Anti-ICE Solidarity March on the main campus quad.

According to Paola Vasquez, Adelante Club treasurer, the idea to hold an anti-ICE march first came from a board member, one of 10 student-held leadership positions in Adelante.

“From there, it just blossomed,” said Vasquez. “We have such a great board that we were able to, with the help of leading board members, create this march, to show that, as the Adelante Club, we will not stay silent while our Latinx community is being hurt by the rhetoric (around) undocumented immigrants. Especially since a lot of undocumented immigrants aren’t Latinos.”

An estimated 100 people gathered in front of the fountain by the Humanities and Social Science (HSS) building at around 11 a.m. Then, led by the Adelante Club’s cabinet members, the crowd moved in front of the library.

It was a sea of white, as the club had encouraged supporters to wear the color in solidarity, a symbol often repeated across protest history. The crowd was full of people from all backgrounds, including people from the Black Collegians program and the Indigenous Scholars Club.

Sequoyah Thiessen, Indigenous Scholars Club president, encouraged her club’s members to join the demonstration and show support.

“We feel very connected to immigrants that come here out of struggle because they’ve been basically displaced from their homes,” said Thiessen. “When you really think about that, that’s kind of like a similar situation to what we went through. And when you’re displaced, you are already so vulnerable, and it just shows our lack of empathy as a society that we would dehumanize the people who are most vulnerable.”

Thiessen said, “As an Indigenous person, for this land to be stolen by white people and then they try to deem who’s a criminal and who’s not, that’s crazy.”

“So today, we march in solidarity for those who cannot advocate for their rights to be in the very country which they have built to make great.”

Several speakers addressed the crowd at a podium with a microphone. The first speaker was Adelante Club president Nahomy Rivas.

“The purpose of this march is not just a Latino issue. This country was built on stolen land, unpaid, inhumane, unjust labor, and off the backs of immigrants searching for a better life,” said Rivas in her speech. “So today, we march in solidarity for those who cannot advocate for their rights to be in the very country which they have built to make great.”

Gladys Preciado, a full-time art history professor at SMC, spoke after Rivas.

“As a faculty member, as an educator, and as someone deeply committed to justice and equity, I cannot stay silent in the face of injustice. I cannot stand by while members of our communities live in fear, while families continue to be torn apart by ICE, and while policies funded and supported by the current administration continue to target and unjustly criminalize people,” said Preciado. “We say no to ICE. We say no to these unjust deportations, and we say yes to the dignity, the safety, and the humanity of our Undocu+ students and families, both on campus and beyond campus.”

After Preciado, SMC sociology professor Rebecca Romo took the mic to make some points about immigrants.

“Immigrants make living here in this global city better by sharing their cultural diversity in the form of food and music and other ways of life,” said Romo. “Immigrants are more than just their economic contributions. But it is a fact that their hardship and sacrifice make living here more affordable, and produce would be a lot more expensive without immigrants, like my dad, who worked in the fields in Sacramento picking tomatoes and onions when he was a youth.”

Jessica Rodriguez, an ethnic studies professor at SMC, went on after Romo.

“My grandparents came to this country with nothing and left this Earth with very little, but I am their legacy,” said Rodriguez. “I am, and you are, proof that they tried to bury us, but they didn’t know we were seeds, so let’s keep growing.”

Marisol Moreno, head of the DREAM Resource Center and a faculty member in the history department, delivered her speech following Rodriguez. She teaches Chicano and Latino history and has been an advisor and ally to undocumented students for 30 years.

“I’m a very proud daughter of immigrant parents,” said Moreno. “I am here because of the work of my parents, of their freedom dreams, that they work hard to make possible.”

Preciado, a professor of art history at Santa Monica College (SMC),

to a crowd gathered for the Anti-ICE Solidarity March,” organized by the Adelante Club as a way to protest the Trump administration’s recent crackdown on deportations at the SMC campus on Tuesday, March 18, 2025 in Santa Monica, Calif. (Nathan

Aisla Ortiz, vice president of Indigenous Scholars, holds a sign that reads “Not Even Safe the Right Way – Where is Mahmoud?” on the outskirts of the Santa Monica College campus on Tuesday, March 18, 2025, in Santa Monica, Calif. (Nathan Hanson | The Corsair)

Santa Monica College (SMC) students embrace each other at the Anti-ICE Solidarity March rally held by the Adelante Club on Tuesday, March 18, 2025, at SMC in Santa Monica, Calif. (Jake Crandall | The Corsair)

Gladys

speaks

Hanson | The Corsair)

After a quick speech, she and Rodriguez read a poem by Yosimar Reyes titled “UndocuJoy.” The poem celebrates undocumented immigrants’ joy, resilience and beauty despite their struggles and hardships. Reyes will be visiting SMC on April 3.

After the speeches concluded, the march began.

With accompaniment from Santa Monica College Police Department (SMCPD) officers, the marchers proceeded on their first route. They departed from the quad, walking down the path between the library and the Math and Science Building to reach the sidewalk on Pearl Street.

Marchers recited several overlapping chants and held up posters with anti-ICE messages. Multiple cars that passed by on the street honked in solidarity, and each time, the crowd cheered in response. Adelante Club cabinet members were spread amongst the crowd, each chanting something different with a megaphone, and that section responded with the corresponding call.

Though the event was political, Rivas intended to curate a welcoming, “very hippie-like” environment. To summon students without heavy political interests, she called the walk a march instead of a protest. To engage busy students without the time to march, the club spent the previous week offering poster-making spaces, available to all.

“I like to be connected to everyone,” said Rivas.

SMCPD maintained their spread-out presence, with one officer at the front and another at the back, accompanied by a police cruiser.

SMCPD chief Johnnie Adams told the Corsair the club had met with police officers early in the march’s development, to arrange for safety and minor traffic control procedures.

“I was very proud of our students exercising their rights under the First Amendment,” said Adams.

Other SMC faculty members kept up the rear of the protest, professing intentions to provide the students with security. Academic administrator Jose Hernandez wanted to defend students’ safety and constitutional rights.

“I think the challenging part that I have with the current administration is that they’re trying to shut people down,” said Hernandez. “I think it’s students who live up to the Constitution and follow the first amendment rights.”

Members of the Student Life Office, including A.S. Board of Directors members and associate dean Thomas Bui, were seen at the protest.

The marchers looped around campus on the 17th Street and Pico Street sidewalks before returning to the quad through the street entrance by the Student Services Center. The marchers took a break, and Adelante Club members and staff handed out water. They repeated the same march cycle several times, making circles around the campus.

The Anti-ICE Solidarity March marked the first large-scale political demonstration at SMC in months. Hernandez sees this as an upward development.

“I’m hoping we see more… to be involved in civil engagement I think is very important,” he said.

Thiessen was involved in the SMC Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) demonstration after Trump’s election. Considering future campus protests, Thiessen is thinking big.

“We can have a reputation for being a college, like, that really cares about its students and rallies a good community of each other. That’s the goal,” she said.

Abby Flores, digital media director for the Adelante Club, credited the march’s ferocity with the cross-club intersectionality, facilitated by Adelante’s outreach team.

“We had a lot of motivation, we had a lot of engagement, a huge crowd,” said Flores. “We greatly appreciate the help and support from all the different clubs that participated, as it helped bring a bigger crowd.”

“We’ve always been very good, very into, like having all the communities come together,” said Rivas. “We like to say we’re one big family in Spanish, somos una gran familia.”

After the final loop, the club planned to finish the demonstration in the quad with closing remarks by speakers. However, counter-protesters from the Revolutionary Communist Party (RevCom) suddenly arrived and started yelling through megaphones and waving posters.

In response, Rivas and Adelante Club vice president Esthela Moncada called for the march’s early dispersal. Turning their backs to RevCom, they used megaphones to amplify, “Please disperse, we don’t want to give them an audience,” and “They are not part of Adelante Club, please walk away.”

“Immigrants are more than just their economic contributions. But it is a fact that their hardship and sacrifice make living here more affordable, and produce would be a lot more expensive without immigrants, like my dad, who worked in the fields in Sacramento picking tomatoes and onions when he was a youth.”

Michelle Xai, leader of the RevCom Corps L.A. Chapter, said the purpose of the counter-protest was to bring attention to the ongoing strife in Gaza. Xai said the Adelante Club had previously stated that speech topics unrelated to immigration were forbidden, but RevCom intended to bring “the whole message.”

Xai alleged the club threatened to report RevCom to campus police, which she called “collaborating with the fascist America.”

Rivas contested this. “We’re not in compliance (with fascism). We had a point to be made and we didn’t want a different point A, point B, point C,” she said.

Rivas, a psychology major, has worked on campus for years and participated in on-campus protests with SJP. Having experience with RevCom, she described their intentions as contrarian, even hostile.

“I know they’re not to spread unity, they have their own agenda… this sense of, like, trying to get a gotcha moment from people instead of informing,” said Rivas. “I knew they were just going to try to instigate our students and cause a commotion.”

“People deem movements like ‘Abolish ICE’ or all these other movements as hostile,” said Rivas, hoping to correct the narrative by refusing to tolerate RevCom. “The reason why we held this protest today was because of people like them.”

Adams also commented on the RevCom presence, noting the party’s first amendment rights and the club’s same right to express their distaste.

“This is where people have a choice on whether to listen to what they have to say (RevCom) or move on,” said Adams. “In this instance our students stressed the purpose of the march was one of unity and that they would conduct themselves peacefully.”

“As you can see our students did not want to engage in this instance and conducted themselves admirably in keeping with what they set out to do,” said Adams.

Though officially dispersed, some marchers stuck around to mingle and pick up Know Your Rights materials and red cards from the club’s Info Booth, considered by Rivas to be the march’s prime aspect.

“Honestly, I’m very sentimental… Today was peace, unity and information,” said Rivas, reflecting on her accomplishment.

Rivas seeks to maintain the same momentous spirit for the rest of the semester with Adelante, the club known for fun, frequent activities and an easy source of friendship.

“It’s honestly just a safe space,” said Rivas. “I think we’re going to just have a semester of, like, happiness during turmoil.”

“We have such a great board that we were able to, with the help of leading board members, create this march, to show that, as the Adelante Club, we will not stay silent while our Latinx community is being hurt by the rhetoric (around) undocumented immigrants. Especially since a lot of undocumented immigrants aren’t Latinos.”

Adelante Club members hold up signs at the Anti-ICE Solidarity March rally held by the Adelante Club, on Tuesday, March 18, 2025, at Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, Calif. (Jake Crandall | The Corsair)

Machines are not writers, NaNoWriMo.

Katie Easterson | Arts & Entertainment Editor

AI does not have the power of a writer. NaNoWriMo is a non-profit with an annual novel writing contest, AI usage now allowed.

NaNoWriMo is a U.S.-based non-profit promoting creative writing around the world. They’re specifically known for an annual contest where users try to write a 50 thousand word novel. Writing is hard, especially keeping the motivation to continue projects. Documents sit untouched for weeks, getting covered in invisible digital dust and eventually being forgotten. Writers not knowing where or how to progress in a story– getting lost in parts of character development and world building. NaNoWriMo is a space for writers to feel somewhat united, not isolated by unmotivation anymore.

NaNoWriMo has recently promoted the usage of AI in their annual contest. In a statement made by the company on Sept. 4, 2024, they said that, “We also want to be clear in our belief that the categorical condemnation of Artificial Intelligence has classist and ableist undertones, and that questions around the use of AI tie to questions around privilege. Not all writers have the financial ability to hire humans to help at certain phases of their writing. For some writers, the decision to use AI is a practical, not an ideological, one.”

OPINION

There’s a familiar feeling that comes with writing, at least one that I can envision very well– squinted eyes and headaches from staring at a screen for so long. Rewriting over and over again, typing and deleting words to make sure it is as close to perfection as I can grasp. The boost of motivation when I realize I’m close to a big number. Nine thousand words. Ten thousand. Jumping up to twenty. Constantly telling myself I will eventually go to bed, that I can always write more tomorrow. Even in those moments, I never want to stop writing.

Even through the headaches and bright white screens, even through weeks of writer’s block and days of laying in bed– wondering when I will someday become the writer I want to be, I am in love with fiction. I create characters that are people of my own, ones that I relate myself to. Digging deep into their brains with my fingertips, intertwining myself within them, they are more than just words on a screen. I created these characters, they are tangible parts of me that cannot be replicated by a machine.

You can ask AI to generate you a story. You can ask it to write you a fan fiction of your favorite characters, or to write you an article about

breaking news. You can have AI summarize your books and give you homework answers, but AI cannot replicate the strength of a writer. AI cannot clone the hours put into revising, to drafting. It cannot have the qualities of a human– exhaustion, motivation, power. AI cannot replicate a sleep deprived journalist who writes until they pass out at their desk.

In the statement mentioned previously, the company also mentioned how using AI can be helpful for people with disabilities and how excluding it is ableism. “Not all brains have the same abilities and not all writers function at the same level of education or proficiency in the language in which they are writing. Some brains and ability levels require outside help or accommodations to achieve certain goals.”

As someone with ADHD who struggles with mental illness, projects can be difficult. I procrastinate for weeks, pushing away tasks and slowly consuming myself with higher phone screen time and meaningless “doom scrolling.” I can spiral into episodes of sadness and anxiety. Sadness lurks

Graphic by Katie Eastersom

and it conforms into normalcy. But I am still a college student and I am a writer who has multiple projects I adore. I do not refer to AI to continue my story. I do not rely on it as a pillar for imagination, because it is nothing of the sort.

In a non-scientific, voluntary survey shared by Instagram story, college and high school students from around the U.S. gave their thoughts on the use of AI in writing. 24 voted no in response to the question “Do you like AI?” and 7 voted yes. 77.4% to a 22.6% percentage. When asked, “Do you think it’s wrong to use AI to produce written stories?” 23 voted yes,

Sean Ireland, an English Professor at Santa Monica College, gave his thoughts on if AI takes away from the art of writing. Ireland said, “Yes and no. For certain types of writing, no. It isn’t harmful. I think that AI can be effective for use in business writing, emails, and in certain technical writing. It can be used for other types of writing too, of course, including textbooks and things like that, even newspaper writing to some degree, but it’s not journalism, and writers have used it in these ways. However, for creative writing, including fiction and poetry, maybe drama, which are spiritual in nature, use it at your peril. There’s something about the human

“I don’t think AI will ever write as well as these writers because AI will never know suffering the way they did.”

8 voted no. 74.2% to a 25.8% percentage.“If you were in a writing competition, would you use AI to help you advance and have a higher word count?” 29 votes for no, 2 for yes. 93.5% to a 6.5% percentage. In regards to the usage of AI, almost every response disapproves of it.

Originally, on the NaNoWriMo website, there were forums where people contributing to the annual challenge could talk to other contestants, make friends, and gain insight on their writing, specifically those seeking advice on how to continue their stories– or simply just to bond with others interested in NaNoWriMo. There were multiple different chats to join, but due to problematic moderators, they ended up ceasing them all.

In a forum post from the company on December 4, 2023, they said, “Monitoring our inboxes and forum questions has become a full-time job. As a result, our plan is to close all current Board forum threads as well. We will respond to questions that have already been posted as time allows us. Folks can email us with questions and suggestions at [nanowrimoboard@gmail.com} but please bear with us around the expediency of our responses.”

voice that I just believe can’t be replicated—a software will never write The Sound and the Fury because the idea of it alone is remarkable. AI will never write the plays of Shakespeare because the more closely one reads Shakespeare, the more he appears.”

On how newer writers can improve without using AI, Ireland said, “For new writers, I think one has to read and read and read, to find that rapture. It’s important to study and practice grammar and punctuation too. It’s part of the craft of good writing. And in the end, the writer needs to tell the truth and to believe in what he or she is doing. The writer will offer a part of his or her heart. I really believe this. How do you explain Dickens? Or Emily Dickinson? They needed to write. So did Melville and Faulkner and Toni Morrison. It seems to me there was a need there and a sort of agony. A computer just can’t feel that and so I don’t think AI will ever write as well as these writers because AI will never know suffering the way they did. I suppose one can program AI to suffer. I wonder what that would look like. Or imagine the Beatles just appearing from some AI model. What would that have been like for all of us? Impossible. They’re us and we’re them.”

Lastly, in response to the question, do you think there’s any ethical way to incorporate AI into creative writing?, Ireland said, “There are lots of ethical ways to incorporate AI into writing. I really think it’s fine to use in many industries. I don’t personally find it unethical to use it in business or in academia in textbooks or to create policy, organize material for classrooms. It isn’t even unethical to use creatively. But I think we lose something. At least it can’t play tennis. Yet.”

As a writer I have worked on projects with over a hundred thousand words. I have spent hours brainstorming, editing, infusing myself into these characters I have created, almost at some point becoming them. When I discovered NaNoWriMo through a mutual friend, I was ecstatic to learn that other writers love this art form as much as I do. To let the laziness of AI seep into art, to let it change the meaning of a challenge entirely, is disheartening.

Graphic by Katie Easterson

A day of milestones: Celebrating the 40th L.A. Marathon

Inside the 40th anniversary of the Los Angeles Marathon as runners from around the world are brought together through sportsmanship.

Zachary Sanchez | Staff Writer

LOSANGELES, Calif. —On Sunday, March 16, the McCourt Foundation hosted the annual Los Angeles Marathon which gathered many members within the community and throughout the world.

As the full field marathon was moments away from beginning, the buzz of agile runners and attentive onlookers prevailed. Dodger Stadium had been filled with both foot and automotive traffic as early as 5 a.m., stoking ecstatic anticipation that broke loose around 7 a.m. as the main waves of runners were let off after an enthusiastic countdown.

Before sunrise, over 25,000 runners ventured upon their journey towards Culver City. Some appeared to be unrested through their sluggish posture and quiet demeanor, whilst most made their energized optimism evident through their chants and clapping.

Before 8:30 a.m., the Top 10 in both pro-women and men, open-women and men surpassed the halfway point in West Hollywood. By 9:08 a.m. the first pro-man, Matt Ritchman, 25, from Elburn, Illinois, finished with a time of 2:07:56; Ritchman is the first American to win the L.A. Marathon in 31 years.

Tejinesh Gebisa of Ethiopia wins women’s first place at the 40th annual Los Angeles Marathon on Sunday, March 16, 2025 in Los Angeles, Calif. (Mary Funsten | The Corsair)

Matthew Richtman celebrates his first place win at the 40th annual Los Angeles Marathon on Sunday, March 16, 2025, in Los Angeles, Calif. Richtman is the first American to win the LA Marathon since 1994. (Mary Funsten | The Corsair)

By 9:14 a.m. the first pro-woman, Tejinesh Gebisa Tulu, 30, from Kenya, finished with a 2:30:14 running time. By 9:26 a.m. the first open-man, Jayson Wilia, 26, from California, finished with a time of 2:46:49.

Finally, by 9:47 a.m. the first open-woman, Noe Hernandez, 51, from Utah, finished with a time of 2:51:39. The Top 10 in both pro and open categories were finished well before 10 a.m.

Near the finish line, both sides of Santa Monica Boulevard were profuse with outspoken onlookers waving their signs of encouragement and loudly clanking their cowbells. They spilled onto the tracks and tightly circled incoming runners to such an extent that the staff of the Marathon had to push them back for safety.

One couldn’t move an inch without stepping onto another’s shoe or pushing up against another’s chest. Flags from various countries could also be seen waving in the air, displaying the immense diversity present.

The Avenue of the Stars had much more space and much less chaos, as newly accomplished runners could be seen slowly strolling about, sitting upon the sides of the road, withdrawing themselves for momentary relaxation. But as more runners began to finish, the avenue swelled.

Families and friends could be seen slipping through tightly packed crowds in search of their dear ones. There was a collective embrace that could be seen through full-faced smiles, heard through words of courtesy and encouragement. There was an embedded appreciation and awareness which everyone displayed so amicably, showing that those who felt this communal embrace most were runners themselves.

“This is my third L.A. Marathon in a row and I haven’t seen such a big turnout until now. The marathon is always a spectacle, but this is just something else. It’s quite refreshing, to be honest. I just feel much more supported. I’m glad to see so many come together purely out of comradery. This is definitely what we need as a city, as a county,” said marathon runner Fenando Rodriguez after the race.

Many runners shared that same sentiment after the race. Jasmine Hernandez, a Marathon runner, spoke about why this race is so important for her.

“I believe it’s the time and place of it. Recently there has been a long streak of disappoiment, a long streak of stress, fear and anger. We all see it, everyday. It can weigh heavy on our minds and affect more than what’s visible, it rots us almost. All that negativity. This Marathon is the exact opposite. It is a joy that we can all share, it is uplifting and allows you to shift focus to what really matters, people.”

Stacked medals wait for distribution at the 40th annual Los Angeles Marathon. (Silke Eichholz | The Corsair)

The 40th annual Los Angeles Marathon winners Moses Kiptoo, Athanas Kioko, Mathew Richtman, Tejinesh Gebisa, Antonina Kwambai, and Savannah Berry (left to right) pose after receiving their medals. (Mary Funsten | The Corsair)

Jesse Larios, known as Bearsun, runs towards the finish line. Larios created the giant anime-style bear suit and persona that he wears while walking or running to raise money for various causes. He finished the race in three hours, 31 minutes, three seconds. (Silke Eichholz | The Corsair)

Thousands of runners pack together on Hollywood Boulevard during the 40th annual Los Angeles Marathon in Los Angeles, Calif., on Sunday, March 16, 2025. An estimated 26,000 people participated in this year’s marathon, starting at Dodgers Stadium and ending at the corner of Santa Monica Blvd and Avenue of the Stars in Century City. (Nathan Hanson | The Corsair)

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Setback on the sand

Corsairs’ beach volleyball falls short to the Hope International Royals and the Nebraska Cornhuskers

Nicole Lankton (#5), a blocker from the Corsairs, Santa Monica College’s beach volleyball team, blocks a ball from Hope International University, Royals player Sabrina Galassi (#20) during a game at Ocean Park North Beach Volleyball Courts, in Santa Monica, Calif., on Thursday, March 20, 2025. (Photos by Jake Crandall | The Corsair)

On March 20, the Santa Monica College (SMC) women’s beach volleyball team held an anticipated tri-matchup against the Hope International University (HIU) Royals and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) Cornhuskers at Ocean Park Beach. Heading into the matches, the Corsairs held a record of 8-3 and currently sit fourth in the Western State conference.

The Corsairs hit the ground running against the Royals, with pairs Nicole Lankton, Annah Legaspi, and Sophia Vandenberg, Samantha Harvey starting off strong in their first sets. The Corsairs dominated from the service line and at the net, but a few mistakes allowed HIU to catch up.

The Royals defeated the Corsairs with smart placements of the ball in the court and taking advantage of the weakening defense. Despite struggling in serve-receive and making small mistakes, the Corsairs kept up their energy and won two of their matches. Lankton and Legaspi fought in a tight set, trading back-to-back points with the Royals, but lost with a ball hit out.

The Royals defeated the Corsairs, winning 3-2. The Corsairs kept up the energy after facing their first loss of the day as they anticipated the matchups between the Cornhuskers.

“I think playing really good teams in general… it ups our level as a program,” said Corsair split Sadie Town in regard to playing high-level opponents. “It’s really cool to be out here and like, meet all these players, see all these players, and get more experience in general. I think that… it just helps us get more experience and improve our confidence.”

However, the Corsairs couldn’t outlast the momentum coming from the Cornhuskers. While the Corsairs were struggling against the Huskers’ size, they found other ways to score points. Corsairs’ pair Eden Lorin and Town beat Huskers’ pair Andi Jackson and Harper Murray with tips. Harvey and Vandenberg maintained their offense and continued to pick up balls on defense, but were struggling with serves.

The Corsairs lasted in rallies with their defense, but they were swept by the Huskers. With a 5-0 win, the Huskers extended their winning streak to 17 straight.

“I think that it was a slight letdown mentally. I don’t actually think it’s a physical issue so much as kind of pushing through the discomfort, and then really finding a way to grind out some wins,” said head coach Christian Cammayo on the Corsairs’ match day performance.

Adriana Brady | Editor In Chief

SPORTS

“You need an opponent to push yourself… out of that comfort zone, and when you have, like, some of the best opponents anywhere… Hope International, they just lost a tight match to the number one ranked NAIA program last Thursday, and they upset the number four ranked team,” said Cammayo. “Nebraska is on a now… 16 match win streak, and… they have multiple All-Americans. They’re third in the country. So it’s like, that’s what we’re looking for. We want to get pushed out of our comfort zone to find out how good we can become.”

The Corsairs recently continued their conference play in another tri-matchup against the Moorpark College Raiders and the Ventura College Pirates on March 21 at Moorpark College, earning a 3-2 victory over the Pirates and a 5-0 sweep over the Raiders. They look to face their next opponents, the Cypress College Chargers and Lassen College Cougars, at Ocean Park on March 26.

Top: Campbell Flynn (#16), a University of Nebraska Huskers player, attempts to block a shoot from Finely Mayer(#14), a Blocker from the Corsairs, Santa Monica College’s beach volleyball team, playing alongside teammate Kyla Dothard (#1), a Blocker, during a game.

Left: Sadie Town (#6), a Split from the Corsairs, Santa Monica College’s beach volleyball team, hits the ball to Hope International University Royals during a game.

Players and coaches from the Corsairs, Santa Monica College’s beach volleyball team, and the University of Nebraska Huskers pose for a picture after they finished their games at Ocean Park North Beach Volleyball Courts in Santa Monica, Calif., on Thursday, March 20, 2025.

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Jocelyn Winn: Protecting the child within

Jocelyn Winn, Student Service Specialist at the Black Collegians program, shares her journey through SMC as a student and now as a mentor, offering connections to others.

Fai Fong | Staff Photographer

This article contains remarks and a discussion about suicide.

During Black History Month and Women’s History Month, the Black Collegians and Adelante Center at Santa Monica College (SMC) would get calls looking for Black representations. While this happens every year, Jocelyn Winn, who works with Black Collegians, understands deeply that our world needs this.

Jocelyn Winn, age 46, has been the Student Service Specialist for the Black Collegians at SMC since 2010. She supports Black and brown students and connects them to resources to guide them through their educational journey at SMC.

For Winn, the job has been very rewarding. At times, the volume of students that come through the office is taxing. It can be emotionally draining, especially for someone like Winn, who is empathetic. But when she sees the progress that the students make, the best part of her job, it all feels worth it.

She said, “To see students walk across the stage, or when the students come to me and say I got accepted to this school or that school for transfer, or this is my last semester, as much as I will miss seeing that student... I really want them to be successful.”

Most importantly, Winn wants students to find their own voices to advocate for themselves, an invaluable tool that can help them in life. She wishes someone had taught her the importance of speaking up earlier in her life.

Winn struggled most of her life, doubting herself when people said she wasn’t good enough. She grew up in Vallejo, a small town north of San Francisco. Her father was a pastor of a church in a predominantly white neighborhood. He had very traditional beliefs that Black people, especially women, had specific roles and boundaries governed by rigid rules. He did not allow Winn to join groups like the Black Collegians because he considered any Black identity group to be radicals and separatists.

For Winn’s father, Black identity wasn’t something you celebrated but something you hid. Winn doesn’t fault her parents. “My parents did the best job that they could,” said Winn, based on the climate of their time and their personal experiences of being raised by parents from the South who “feared so many things.”

As a form of self-preservation and protection, her parents grew up believing that being safe meant not drawing attention to yourself. She describes “loitering” laws that police used to discourage hanging out in public with more than one Black person.

She said, ”It was almost like in order to survive, you had to give up your Black identity or your sense of community.”

As a little girl, Winn was timid and shy, and would hide behind window curtains whenever she heard police sirens. She learned to not question authority at a very young age.

Growing up in Vallejo, being one of the few Black people at her school, Winn was often treated differently. She often felt dismissed or cast aside in class. As a child, Winn didn’t think much about these inequalities until later in life, when these memories surfaced.

Winn’s educational path took many turns. But at each juncture, Winn was lucky enough to meet a pivotal person who inspired her.

Jocelyn Winn, Student Service Specialist at Black Collegians, in her office on Wednesday, March 19, 2025, at Santa Monica College, in Santa Monica, Calif. (Photos by Fai Fong \ The Corsair)

“ I always felt like I was the weakest person in the room... by writing the memoir, I think I was speaking for all the people who felt like the weakest people in the room.”

In the 1990s, Winn’s family moved to Southern California, where she enrolled at SMC. Not knowing what to study, she spent years taking classes and exploring until she met a counselor in the Black Collegians Umoja Community named Cassandra Patillo. She encouraged Winn to finish college and helped her transfer to a four-year college.

Winn learned from Patillo how to approach students like herself. Her path came full circle and she ended up at the Black Collegians Umoja Community again, this time helping others who felt as lost as she was.

Even though Winn feels fulfilled now, she reflects on that time when everything felt so difficult and tiring. She thought her life would be easier to just put a “period” there. “I didn’t want to feel pain anymore,” said Winn.

Winn was dressed in yellow during the interview, smiling and cheerful throughout. Immediately, a sunny disposition would come to one’s mind.

Sasha Shelton, an SMC psychology major who works with Winn at Black Collegians, described her as someone who “radiates warmth and approachability.”

“Working with her is a joy because she fosters an environment where we can freely express ourselves,” said Shelton.

Winn said, “you don’t know when someone is suicidal.” She reminded people that someone who might look happy would often surprise others that the person needed help.

Depression has no face.

Winn cautioned that the strongest person in the room is probably the one who is carrying a lot inside and the one we need to check on.

At the lowest point in her depression, Winn had gone through ways in her mind to kill herself. She was living with her sister at the time, her closest family member and best friend. What stopped her from carrying out the suicide was that she could not think of a way that wouldn’t bring trouble to her sister.

One night, the compulsion to act on it was so strong that she refused to leave the house, fearing that she wouldn’t be able to stop herself. She opened up to her sister about her suicidal thoughts. At her sister’s urging, she decided to seek therapy.

Out of seven people she called, there was only one therapist who took her in as a patient.

Years of therapy brought Winn to the resolution that “my life is my life, and I’m responsible for my life, and I can make decisions in my life to have the things that I want.”

Not until the end of her healing path did her doctor finally reveal that the only reason she called Winn back was that Winn was suicidal, and her own son, a medical doctor, had killed himself. Depression and suicide can happen to anyone, even those with a therapist as a mother.

Winn eventually wrote a memoir, titled “One of Nine: A Memoir: A Collection of True Stories that Prompted Suicidal Thoughts and Began A Remarkable Journey to Find a Reason to Live.” Despite having a degree in English from California State University, Northridge, Winn never planned to be a writer. Her college professor had told her that Black characters in writings were not marketable.

Winn found that her most heartfelt writing was about herself, and she didn’t want her writings to be criticized. She would often write down vivid memories in tiny stories and stuff them into a box for years, with little thought about them.

Winn didn’t think these writings would amount to anything until she took a memoir writing course at SMC. It was a taught by Monona Wali, a writing instructor in SMC Community Education.

After reading a traumatic memory Winn wrote as an exercise, her instructor urged her to continue writing and to compile a body of work. Encouragement from someone who was an accomplished writer made Winn, for the first time, feel like she could be a writer.

The most difficult part about the memoir was exposing her family in her writing. She worried about her parents’ reaction. However, Winn also wanted to live in the truth.

She couldn’t decide how to balance the desire to tell the truth and her duty to protect her family. It was during COVID-19 that, after losing relatives to the disease and seeing people struggling with depression, she felt compelled to write the book.

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Winn knew her experience was not unique. She thought the book could be helpful to those who had similar experiences. She wanted to protect that little girl within her. “I always felt like I was the weakest person in the room... by writing the memoir, I think I was speaking for all the people who felt like the weakest people in the room,” said Winn.

Winn said, “I felt like no one had told me that they had been depressed… or they were suicidal at one point in their life, and they were able to make it through it. (If they had told me) then I might have been okay or at least think ‘I’m not the only person going through it’, because the first lie that you believe in that state of mind, is that no one understands…”

“If I could help a couple of my students… or help my nieces and Wnephews… I wanted them to know that their aunt went through this deep depression, and I did not want it to be a secret,” said Winn.

Winn still wrestles with heavy subjects such as racial identity and sometimes feels compassion fatigue when working with her students. She cares deeply because she can relate – she was once one of them. But she has to learn to balance her emotional capacity; otherwise, the empathy drains her.

Sometimes, the struggle feels like a tug-of-war. Being a black woman, she describes it as playing a game of mental chess 24/7. It is tiring, but she also draws strength and affirmation from her black identity.

She knows herself, and she no longer allows others to define her. She believes “we attract the things in our life that are best for us only when we know ourselves.”

Winn said, “there are people I’m not going to touch, and there are people that I’m not going to be able to convince. But their journey is something different from mine, and that is okay.”

Recently, Winn has been working on her master’s degree at Walden University in industrial and organizational psychology. She is studying the dynamics of how humans behave in group environments and foster cooperation and harmony. Eventually, she hopes to use these skills to help children build identity positivity in early childhood education, reaching those as young as transitional kindergarten (TK). She wants children to have a better experience than she did.

Outside of her studies, she enjoys gardening and practicing meditation. She is working on a series of children’s stories and podcasts about meditation and mental health. She wants to see more black representation in meditation practice and mindfulness.

For Black History Month, she conducted a workshop at SMC titled “The 10-Minute Manifestation Plan”. It introduced a practice of meditating for 10 minutes, for 100 days, and over 10 things you want to manifest in your life. This tool has worked for her, and she wants to share it with her students.

There are only a few intangible things Winn wants. She is pursuing things that she hopes will leave something positive for others, and affect permanent change.

“There are things that are unkillable. I’m hoping things that I do are unkillable… the ‘undieable.’ So (do not) invest your time and effort in things that can be burnt or can be sold or that can be lost, but things that will be cherished forever,” said Winn.

She doesn’t know if they are “impermanent,” but with each endeavor, she keeps adding another semicolon to her life as yet another unwritten story.

SMC’s Center for Wellness and Wellbeing is available for those who feel anxious or depressed. The center can be contacted at 310-434-4503. For their 24/7 Emotional Support hotline, call 800-691-6003.

Jocelyn Winn (left), Student Service Specialist at Black Collegians, talks to Chinonso Njoku (right), a student worker and kinesiology major, and Jennifer Chacon Alvarenga (middle), a student worker and sociology major, on Wednesday, March 19, 2025, at Santa Monica College, in Santa Monica, Calif.

Ramadan: A month of fasting and spiritual connection

Kayjel J. Mairena | Staff Writer

Students observing Ramadan at Santa Monica College balance school life and their religious obligations.

As the sun rises, Muslims worldwide rush to drink a bit of water and swallow one last crumb of food before Fajr, the morning prayer. Tired faces with full stomachs begin laying prayer mats pointing toward Mecca, the holiest city in Islam. Knees hit the floor, foreheads kiss the ground and Fajr commences, marking the beginning of the daily fast.

“It’s difficult, the first few days, then you get used to it. The hardest is the third day,” said Muhammad Hassan, a Santa Monica College (SMC) student.

Feb. 28 is the beginning of Ramadan, a month-long fast in the Islamic religion. As Ramadan continues, students try to balance their lives

while simultaneously participating in the Five Pillars of Islam, core practices and beliefs meant to guide Muslims.

In Islam, Ramadan is considered the holy month; it’s the commemoration of the Prophet Muhammad receiving the first verses of the Quran from the archangel Jibril (Gabriel). At the end of the 30 days, a celebration known as Eid al-Fitr (Festival of Breaking the Fast) occurs.

During Ramadan, Muslims are encouraged to participate in the Five Pillars of Islam: Shahada, Salah, Zakat, Sawn and Hajj.

Shahada is the declaration of faith. Salah is prayer, with five obligatory prayers throughout the day, and one optional prayer at night. Zakat is

Worshippers gather for Maghrib (sunset prayer) at the King Fahad Mosque on Wednesday, March 19, in Culver City, Calif. (Nathan Hanson | The Corsair)

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charity and Sawn is fasting. Lastly, Hajj is a pilgrimage to Mecca, the holiest city in Islam.

“We get closer to God and we focus. Most people aren’t religious, most days; but during Ramadan, we’re obligated,” said Ines Zine, a SMC student.

From the hours of dawn till dusk, observant Muslims refrain from food, drinks including water, smoking, sexual relations and derogatory behaviors.

According to the the Quran (2:185), “Ramadan is the month in which the Quran was revealed as a guide for humanity with clear proofs of guidance and the decisive authority. So whoever is present this month, let them fast. But whoever is ill or on a journey, then let them fast an equal number of days after Ramadan. Allah intends ease for you, not hardship, so that you may complete the prescribed period and proclaim the greatness of Allah for guiding you, and perhaps you will be grateful.”

“This a commandment of God, for us to fast. Fasting teaches you to discipline yourself. You have food. You have water, but you don’t drink it. You have a wife, but you don’t have relations with her in the daytime until you break your fast,” said Mouhamadou War, chief of security at the King Fahad Mosque in Culver City.

War said, “Some of us fast Mondays and Thursdays, it’s like a habit. It cleans your body. Fasting will make you understand that you have food, but some people don’t. When you’re eating, sleeping, and having a good life, some other people suffer in their lives. Fasting will discipline you to think about others and feel for those people too. It makes you understand what is the creation of the human being, because most humans think only about themselves.”

Depending on one’s location, the fast can vary from 12 to 16 hours. According to a study by the National Institute of Health, some symptoms of intermittent fasting include: headaches, mood swings, lethargy, dehydration and low blood sugar.

“Some people get tired. Your sleeping schedule isn’t right,” said Zine.

“I don’t think about it because if I do then it’s going to make it even worse,” said Ahmed Abdallah, a SMC student.

According to Johns Hopkins Aramco Healthcare, “After a few days of fasting, you are likely to have raised your level of endorphins — pain-blocking chemicals in the brain that reduce stress, increase alertness, and enhance your feeling of wellbeing. Fasting has also been shown to assist weight loss, reduce levels of bad cholesterol, improve digestive health, reduce blood pressure and resting heart rate, and improve memory.”

To help students complete Salah, the Student Equity Center at SMC offers a brothers-and-sisters praying area, located on the lower level of the Cayton Center.

Salah was originally 50 prayers, but after convening with the Prophet Moses, the Prophet Muhammad went back to God and asked him to reduce the prayer count. It was agreed that five obligatory prayers would equate to 50.

According to different verses throughout the Quran, Salah builds a spiritual connection and moral clarity, while also honoring God.

The Quran (29:45) states, “Recite what has been revealed to you of the Book and establish prayer. Indeed, genuine prayer shoulder deter one from indecency and wickedness. The remembrance of Allah is an ever greater deterrent. And Allah fully knows what you all do.”

A shot of the Sisters’ Prayer Area, located near the Lavender Room in the Cayton Center at Santa Monica College on March 13. This prayer area is specifically designated for women, allowing them to worship in privacy and uphold modesty.

(Nathan Hanson | The Corsair)

“It’s more because of that connection, to clean yourself. You say, ‘From now on, I’m going to change my life, become closer to God.’ To become a better human being and stay away from everything. Ramadan is the month you prepare yourself for next year and many years. We pray every day to God to give us a long life, to meet many Ramadans,” said War.

Eid al-Fitr, the celebration after a month-long fast, occurs at the first sighting of the crescent moon, expected on March 29 this year.

Before Eid al-Fitr can commence, Muslims must give Zakat al-Fitr.

“Whatever wealth you have, called zakat in Arabic. If you have wealth, 1,000 dollars, laying in the bank for the whole year, that’s your savings. If you have that, every year, each $1,000, you have to pay $25 to the poor. In the month of Ramadan, people are very generous. We spend $6000 for food every day in this mosque; some mosques, probably more, just to feed people,” said War.

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Ahmed Mohammed Bashir Abdallah Mabrouk, a business administration major and student at Santa Monica College, takes a photo outside of the King Fahad Mosque while breaking his fast with Iftar on Wednesday, March 19, 2025, in Culver City, Calif. (Nathan Hanson | The Corsair)

He later said, “To feed people is not the zakat. Zakat is like you help your brother, the community. You have to help them, to save them from poverty. If I know you’re poor, don’t have money, you can’t pay your rent, we’ll make the zakat and give it to you.”

“To help you create some kind of business. You can work to take care

“We do the prayer, and once you do that everyone starts celebrating, giving congratulations like ‘Oh Eid-Mubarak, Eid-Mubarak (blessed festival)’ to everyone, ‘Oh, congratulations on fasting the entire 30 days,’” said Abdallah.

“Ramadan is the month you prepare yourself for next year and many years.”

of your family, and maybe next year you can pay the zakat too. You will make money to pay the zakat. This is the benefit of zakat, and all this is the month of Ramadan,” said War.

Once Zakat al-Fitr is given, Eid al-Fitr, the special Eid prayer, can begin and then people go home to celebrate amongst friends and family.

“Eid is the best part, you’ve been fasting for a month. All the fam ily comes together and makes cakes. Guys would go to the masjid (mosque),” said Zine.

“Being close to your family is a really good thing.”

Eid is meant to be celebrated amongst family. The celebration can look like a large party with tables full of date juice, tamarind juice and jallab to wash down sweet or savory dishes, depending on the region; or sometimes, a small celebration amongst relatives sharing tea and bread will suffice.

In Islam, “being close to your family is a really good thing,” said Zine.

Before Salah, the muezzin of the mosque performs adhan, a call to prayer. As the muezzin recites the call, shoeless Muslims run to form long, symmetrical and parallel lines in order of arrival on a prayer mat, regardless of their social status or financial stability.

In Islam, everyone is considered equal in the eyes of Allah, the Islamic god. With that in mind, Muslims with empty stomachs raise their hands next to their face and say “Allahu Akbar” (God is most great) entering prayer, before crossing their arms. They then bow, and lastly prostrate.

The process is repeated several times honoring Allah, and establishing a spiritual connection. The fast reinforces that connection, and each melodious chant from the muezzin marks one prayer closer to Eid.

RUBBERBAND, a Canadian dance company, rehearses at the BroadStage on Saturday, March 8th, 2025 for that evening’s performance in Santa Monica, Calif. (The Corsair | Elizabeth Bacher)

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

RUBBERBAND – the galvanizing, dynamic fusion of hip-hop, ballet and contemporary dance into one. Victor Quijada, artistic director of the dance group. founded the group in 2002. He started his work as an independent choreographer in 1999.

Quijada was born and raised in Los Angeles, being part of the hip-hop culture throughout trends in the 1990s. “When I was about seven to eight years old, I witnessed one of the big waves of hip hop culture that swept through the neighborhoods of the United States. The movement, the style, and specifically the dancing; breaking and popping. I fell in love with that as a child,” Quijada said.

Quijada went to Baldwin Park High School, taking a theater class in ninth grade. “It was another life changing moment. I was heavy into the hip hop scene, the dance scene, but this theater thing – the acting, that was cool. It called to me a lot,” Quijada said. “I heard about this school in downtown called the L.A. County High School for the Arts. I got myself into the school, but not for theater, for the dance department. They were trying to bulk up their numbers of Latino males.”

Quijada said, “My parents don’t have an artistic background, but at the arts high school, I learned about the way composers changed the way people work with sound, dissonance or silence as sound, I learned about painters, learned about dance forms and choreography. That’s what really made me question, what I was up to and where on this artistic timeline would we put ourselves?”

RUBBERBAND is an engaging dance experience, taking the audience away to another world. Quijada’s most recent dance pieces “Second Chances” and “Trenzado” explore themes of leaving home and identity, connection to culture and your roots, where you belong, and essentially, asking the question, what is culture?

“I was raised in Los Angeles, my parents were born in Mexico. I grew up speaking Spanish with my parents, but English to my older sisters. We’d go to Mexico and the kids would let me know that I’m not Mexican, you’re a white boy and you don’t speak spanish,” Quijada said. “Hip-hop, for me, connected many cultures together.”

“RUBBERBAND was necessary. I needed a place where I could be everything. Where I could bring all of those things together,” Quijada said. “This piece, ‘Trenzado,’ which means ‘braided’ in Spanish, is a piece where I definitely unpack a little bit of that.”

Dance is a forever growing art form, a tree with ever growing branches. It’s constantly evolving, with choreographers like Quijada breaking boundaries — exploring what it means to be intertwined with culture and identity, and communication through ideas and fluid movement.

RUBBERBAND was available to see on March 8. and 9 at the Eli and Edythe BroadStage. For upcoming performances, you can check their website.

Cindy Mateus and Rion Taylor rehearse the dance piece “Commission Suite” for the RUBBERBAND performance on Saturday, March 8, 2025, at the BroadStage in Santa Monica, Calif. (Mary Funsten | The Corsair) (Left Photo)

Dareon Blowe (left), Jovick Pavajeau-Orostegui (center) and Rion Taylor (right) rehearse the dance piece “Commission Suite” on Saturday, March 8, 2025, for the RUBBERBAND performance at the BroadStage in Santa Monica, Calif. (Mary Funsten | The Corsair) (Right Photo)

Rion Taylor, Artistic Coordinator and dancer for the RUBBERBAND oganization, and Dareon Blowe rehearse the dance piece “Commission Suite” on Saturday, March 8, 2025, for the RUBBERBAND performance at the BroadStage in Santa Monica, Calif. The organization, led by choreographer Victor Quijada, performed at Broadstage on March 8 and 9. (Mary Funsten | The Corsair)