CORSAIR
OCTOBER 05, 2016 | VOLUME 112 ISSUE 02 | SANTA MONICA COLLEGE
FIRST COPY OF THE CORSAIR IS FREE, EACH COPY AFTER IS 25
FOOTBALL MOVES FORWARD ONE WIN IN FIVE GAMES HAS MEN'S FOOTBALL LOOKING FOR ANSWERS (P.7)
LIVESAFE APP LOOKS TO BE THE FUTURE OF CAMPUS SAFETY (P.3) HISTORIC BUSINESSES TRY TO SURVIVE IN CHANGING CITY (P.4-5)
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CONTENT
VOLUME 112 ISSUE 02 • OCT 05, 2016 • SANTA MONICA COLLEGE
EDITORIAL STAFF jacob hirsohn
............................ Editor-in-Chief
corsair.editorinchief@gmail.com september dawn bottoms
.......... Digital Editor
corsair.digitaleditor@gmail.com
christian monterrosa
............... Digital Editor
corsair.digitaleditor@gmail.com
josue martinez
.............................. Photo Editor
corsairphotoeditor@gmail.com jose lopez
....................... Assistant Photo Editor
corsairphotoeditor@gmail.com
daniel han.................................... Design Editor
corsair.designteam@gmail.com
CORSAIR STAFF Kianna Anguiano, Andrew Aono, Hank Brehman, Emily Burton, Daniel Bowyer, Oscar Carranza, Andera Canizales, Cliff Cheng, Kevin Colindres, Joanna Esquivias, Emily Flores, Samuel Gerstein, Sam Green, Alex Harris, Marco Heredia, Christina Kelly, Kissindre Kimbrell, Daniel Lee, Brian Lewis, Agustin Martinez, Erendira Martinez, Caroline Marriott, Yulia Morris, Dylan Mulcahy, Leslie Plascencia, Brian Quiroz, Matina Rakar, Jasmin Rogers, Brian Schaefer, Gabriel Schittdiel, Jett Sacker, Rebecca Singleton, Jovante Smith, Marisa Vasquez, Rosangelica Vizcarra
Mar Vista resident Kathleen Feldman (left) and her instructor Kyle Willson (right) during the Trapeze class at Trapeze New York School Los Angeles on the Santa Monica Pier on October 3. (Photo by: Yulia Morris)
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR Hello readers of The Corsair,
FACULTY ADVISORS saul rubin
............................ Journalism Advisor
gerard burkhart.........................Photo Advisor
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FRONT COVER Photo by: Daniel Bowyer. Caption: Coach Bill Laslett is in his first year of coaching for the Santa Monica Corsair's football team, and is in his 18th year of coaching football. October 1st.
One of the unique things about attending a community college is the diversity in age. When attending a four-year university, you start with a lot of 18-19 year olds, and graduate with a bunch of 22-24 year olds. At a community college, the halls are populated with peoples of all ages. Still, much of the population here is going to be labeled a “millennial.” That’s what I am, and that’s who I am going to be addressing in this letter. Millennials are weaponized in the media constantly. Whenever anything in the world is changing, the media, largely still controlled by baby boomers, figures out a way to blame us for it. Sometimes we aren’t buying enough diamonds; sometimes we’re buying too much wine; sometimes we aren’t buying houses enough or saving enough money (I wonder why). Most recently, we’ve been blamed for tanking the Olympics television viewership, and, more importantly, potentially electing Donald Trump by voting for third-party candidates. It’s important to me that you know that you are allowed to vote for whoever you want. A vote for Gary Johnson isn’t a vote for Trump; it’s a vote for Gary Johnson. Same goes for Jill Stein, and Evan McMullin, not that anyone actually knows who that is. I don’t know if he will be on the ballot here, to be honest. If you want to vote for Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump, that’s okay too. I strongly encourage you not to vote for Trump, for the same reasons you have probably already heard a million times. Your vote is yours. And somewhere along the way, Clinton’s campaign and her supporters have lost track of that. You don’t get someone to vote for you by telling them “You have to vote for me!” You get them to vote for you by convincing them you deserve their vote. Clinton has done a miserable job convincing millennials to do that, exemplified so clearly by the success of Bernie Sanders. But that’s not the important part. The important part is that if Trump gets elected, it isn’t our fault. We are voting for Trump less than any demographic in the country. We just happen to also be voting for Johnson and Stein more as well. Somehow, the older generations of voters have forgotten that “symbolically” voting for someone isn’t as meaningful as “actually” voting for them. If you’re staunchly anti-Clinton and staunchly anti-Trump, I encourage you to consider your options. If you can stomach voting for the lesser of two evils in Hillary Clinton, I respect that. If you can’t do that, I respect that too. Hopefully, Clinton can take some very easy steps to encourage millennials to vote for her — endorsing marijuana legalization and scale back the endorsements from the GOP, for starters.
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That would help put the narratives about third-party voters to bed. It would be directly contradicting everything she has done so far this election cycle, but it would be a welcome October surprise. No matter how things turn out, I am excited to see how we vote. I'm not excited to see what a Trump presidency would look like. I have a feeling I already know what a Clinton presidency would like, and I'm not too excited about that either. Regardless, the millennial vote will be crucial to this election and even more crucial in the next few elections. So I hope you take time and consider your vote (and in this case, that doesn't mean just blindly vote for Clinton.) Anyway, thanks for powering through that. Let’s talk about the second issue of The Corsair now. Caroline Marriott gave you all of the information you need to know about LiveSafe, an app the SMCPD is hoping will make your life on campus safer. The whole thing seems a bit “Big Brother-ish” to me, and I probably would have felt a bit better about it pre-Snowden. But you can tell the intentions are good, and I think it will be effective. Our photo story is about three businesses which have been in Santa Monica longer than most of us gosh darn third-party voters have been alive. They’re being pushed out of the city one skyscraper and one rent hike at a time, so it is important we appreciate them while they are here. We also have a story about the two branches of the religion of Islam, how they differ, and how they interact. On the backpage, a former Editor-in-Chief contributed a dark, funny, and insightful piece about last week’s celebrity bombshell, the Brangelina divorce. Our cover story is about the SMC men’s football team and their new head coach Bill Laslett. Their new season is off to a rough start, and we talked to them about why, and what they’re doing to get better. Showing pride in being a millennial is often too sincere for our post-post-ironic generation, but it is something that I genuinely feel. We get a lot of flack, but next time you are reading a thinkpiece on Salon about the new thing millennials are ruining, replace the word millennials with the phrase “young people.” It always clears things up for me. For now, remember that we are doing our best, and, if we ever get the chance, I think we will make the world a much better place.
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Sincerely, Jacob Hirsohn Editor-in-Chief
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NEWS
VOLUME 112 ISSUE 02 • OCT 05, 2016 • SANTA MONICA COLLEGE
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CAMPUS SAFETY: THERE'S AN APP FOR THAT
Santa Monica College Cheif of Police Johnnie Adams shows LiveSafe to SMC students Kimberly Perdomo (left), Kattie Gutierrez (middle),
CAROLINE MARRIOTT STAFF WRITER Currently used at over 100 colleges in 30 U.S. states, LiveSafe — a free-to-download app soon to be licensed on the SMC campus — is the world’s leading communications platform for reporting crimes, suspicious activity, and directing people to safety resources on college campuses. “I was a victim of assault. I was held up at gunpoint whilst living in Capitol Hill,” said Shy Pahlevani, founder of LiveSafe. “It just inspired the entrepreneur in me to want to leverage the mobile to be able to communicate with safety officials,” said Pahlevani. “My co-founder, Kristina Anderson, was a survivor of the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting…We used our personal experiences as the foundation and motivation behind growing LiveSafe.” SMCPD Chief of Police Johnnie Adams previously worked at USC, where he saw the LiveSafe app used firsthand. He proposed bringing the LiveSafe app to SMC to the Associated Students board and asked for $28,000 of funding to support this mission. The AS board voted in favor of funding the app at their September 19 meeting. “Whoever has [the app] on their phone [can be] extra eyes and ears to the police department,” said Adams. “We have 33,000 students and we have 15 officers, which is not a lot of officers if you compare to UCLA, which has 43,000 students and 65 officers.” The app sports several features. LiveSafe users can share safety concerns via “Report Tips.” There are pre-listed tips that can be selected including violence, mental health, theft, and sexual assault. Users can send, anonymously if preferred, texts, photos, videos, and audio clips directly to safety officials. The SMCPD or LAPD will respond in real-time via a live online chat. Because the tips are GPS-tagged, police know exactly where to go. “A couple of people were arrested [at USC] based on the use of the app,” said Adams. “We caught [bike theft] suspects because a student could text and take a picture… When a student is on their phone, they are usually texting anyways. The crook is not thinking anything is happening… texting doesn’t raise the suspicion of the suspect, so it helps us to catch them a lot quicker. But if someone started dialing, the suspect would realize they are calling the police. No police department [near here] has the ability to take information via text.” Safety officials can use the app to share critical information and notify of updates, ensuring that all students and faculty
Yorleni Calderon (right). (Photo by: Yulia Morris)
are prepared in any emergency situation. “We can put clear instructions of what you need to do so that you can help,” said Adams. “Let’s say an earthquake occurs, we can put down our emergency procedures on earthquakes... [and] where our evacuation zones are.” Adams also attached significance to students being able to contact SMCPD directly via “Call Campus” or “Message Campus” in addition to “Call 911.”
LiveSafe sports a variety of features the SMCPD hopes will make the campus safer. (Photo by: Yulia Morris)
The “SafeWalk” feature allows students to safely get to their destination by having someone else, such as a friend, faculty member, or police official, virtually escort them. Students can share their current location, destination location, and estimated arrival time with their contacts through “Notify Friends,” and then their movements can be followed through a live map as they travel from point-to-point. Others can keep constant, simultaneous communication with the student, which allows instant help in case of emergency. This tracking system is especially useful for students with
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classes at night. In addition, if a student is in an unfamiliar area, they can use “Safety Map” to find out exactly where they are, which places are reported as dangerous and should be avoided, and what emergency resources are nearby. Although it appears there are many benefits of LiveSafe, there were mixed reviews among the Associated Students Board who ultimately voted in favor of the app. The AS Director of Budget Management, Orlando Gonzalez Gudino-Guizar, explained why he disapproved the app. “First of all, it’s a lot of money,” said Gonzalez GudinoGuizar. “The [funding for the] app is going out of the newtech and student success account. As of right now we have $352,000 in that account. The app was $28,000. That’s eating up a little bit less than 8 percent.” He said, “I don’t think we should be paying 100 percent of it. It will help keep us safe but that shouldn’t be the responsibility of the Associated Students… if it’s that important the district should be able to allocate some money to it.” AS Vice President Adrian M. Restrepo was initially not convinced that funding the LiveSafe app was a good idea due to the cost, but eventually voted in favor of the item. “I approved it because it will allow the next boards to know how to approach business if another app was to come out,” said Restrepo. However, he is uncertain about the app’s success at SMC. “I think it’s on a trial period,” said Restrepo. “I wanna see numbers. I wanna see how many people are downloading the app weekly. I wanna see how many people are using the app. I wanna go and ask people if they know about the app.” Pahlevani discussed some of the many success stories reported by other campuses that use LiveSafe. “[At] USC... a student was harassed and they used the LiveSafe app to report it. Within minutes they arrested the individual. It was on the front page of LA Times,” said Pahlevani. “Georgetown University, there was a real-time tip about indecent exposure and they made an arrest. University of Delaware, a student submitted a tip about a robbery and an immediate arrest was made. Northern Virginia Community College, a student’s life was saved based on information that came through [the app]. According to Chief Adams, LiveSafe will most likely be launched at SMC on October 20. This is the day of the Great Shake Out, a set of earthquake drills nationwide, making it the perfect opportunity to educate students about the app. /THECORSAIRNEWS •
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PHOTOSTORY
VOLUME 112 ISSUE 02 • OCT 05, 2016 • SANTA MONICA COLLEGE
Tel Trujillo (right) wipes off leftover hair from Luis Martin's (left) face after receiving a haircut at Tel’s Barber Shop on Pico Boulevard on September 29.
STILL STANDING
Despite skyrocketing rent and a shifting culture, these 50-year-old businesses still stand PHOTOS AND STORY BY ROSANGELICA VIZCARRA
S
anta Monica, home to the quickly growing Silicon Beach, is changing with all these new tech startup companies coming in. Whether you’re taking your daily commute to school or walking around the residential neighborhoods, you've likely noticed the changes happening all around. As the neighborhood residents and business owners struggle to preserve their small city lifestyle, they're being threatened by the high cost of living and the new upcoming developments that are occurring throughout the city. However, some old shops are still sticking it through and fighting these changes by doing what they do best, whether it be cutting hair, building models, or selling snacks and drinks. Tel’s Barber Shop, Evett’s Model Shop, and Bill’s Liquor and Wine have been around Santa Monica for over fifty years and are still going strong by providing a sense of family environment to their customers. Walking into any one of these shops, you have the opportunity to talk to the owners and employees as if you’ve been going there for your entire life. Tel’s Barber Shop, located on Pico Boulevard, is a third generation business that also has three generations of customers.“I have my two sons and grandson
working here. Randy has been here since ‘83, Brian started here in ‘89, and Andrew has been here for six years. So yeah, it’s a family business,” said Tel Trujillo, owner and namesake of Tel’s. “[Santa Monica] has changed a lot from the schools, to the buildings, to everything physical, but Tel’s remains the same way for as long as I can remember,” said Luis Martin, a Santa Monica local who has been getting his haircut at Tel’s for over 35 years. The retro 70s look has been going strong since Tel took over in 1974. Tel’s shop is one of the few shops who’ve been able to adjust to the changes in Santa Monica. “A lot of old businesses have been moved out or just disappeared, especially in this area, but the changes haven’t really affected me,” said Trujillo. While Tel’s has managed to persevere, there are shops that can’t adjust to the changes so quickly and are battling not only the changing times, but the skyrocketing cost of rent. Just up the street from SMC on Ocean Park Boulevard, there is a hidden hobby shop called Evett’s Model Shop. Colby W. Evett owned the shop, but it’s now ran by his wife, Yvonne Evett, since Colby’s passing a few years back. Airplane models dangle from the roof catching your eye as you walk into the store. “We are playing it year by year here,
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especially with the rent doubling,” said Gene Duarte, an employee at Evett’s. The increasing rent is a threat to the owners of the shops who are barely above water. We often don’t value the things we have until they are gone, and as we can see with the recent announcement that Amoeba Music in Hollywood will close, no business is sacred. These historic businesses offer a unique and valuable experience that their cheaper, corporate competition can’t manufacture. “You can go into Toys’R’Us and buy a model, but the employees won’t know what they are selling to you versus here, you have myself and Gene here to provide you with the best information. We love our job here and don’t know what we would do if Evett’s were to be pushed out. It’s the only hobby store on the Westside,” said Luke Orin, another employee of Evett’s. These shops have been rooted into Santa Monica and in some way have become a part of history to the locals. “You can say our family has deep roots in Santa Monica,” said Jeffery Ruiz, son of the owners of Bill’s Liquor and Wine. “My tata (grandfather) laid all the steps here at Santa Monica High.” Bill’s Liquor and Wine was created by William Stanley Ruiz, also known as Bill, a Santa Monica native, who was able to @THE_CORSAIR •
buy the store before the prices in Santa Monica escalated. Bill’s first started off with three fridges, one for wine, one for beer, and another for milk and have since doubled the size. “Everything is on a corporate level now and you don’t get to know your community so easy like before. Unlike this corner store -- here people walk in and out and don’t fail to have a conversation. The old folks who used to live here come as if it were the information directory of Santa Monica, asking where so and so is, or if so and so is still around,” said Ruiz. Unlike Ralph’s, Toys’R’us, and Supercuts, these old shops allow you to go into the store and talk to the actual owners one on one. Since these shops are so deeply rooted into this city, you may be able to find out some history of Santa Monica you didn’t know, or you may hear some stories you’ve never heard before. Instead of displacing these old shops that have been around the community for over 50 years, we should learn to incorporate them into our lifestyle. Supporting our local small businesses not only helps out these owners, but it also adds a sense of community to our neighborhoods. So why waste money building up a big corporate entity when you can put money into the businesses that are part of Santa Monica’s flesh and blood.
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VOLUME 112 ISSUE 02 • OCT 05, 2016 • SANTA MONICA COLLEGE
PHOTOSTORY
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"Everything is on a corporate level now and you don't get to know your community so easy like before." -Jeffery Ruiz
"When we first started everything were mostly empty lots. There were hardly any businesse at that time," said Matilda Ruiz, co-owner of Bill’s Liquor located on Lincoln Boulevard, pictured standing in front of her register on October 4.
Luke Orrin, 31, an employee at Evett’s Model Shop, adjusts a monster truck on his work bench in the back off the shop located on Ocean Park Boulevard on September 30.
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CULTURE
VOLUME 112 ISSUE 02 • OCT 05, 2016 • SANTA MONICA COLLEGE
SUNNI AND SHIA Detailing the different branches of the religion of Islam DANIEL LEE STAFF WRITER Since 9/11, Muslims have been spotlighted on the political stage on a consistent basis. From Syrian refugees seeking safety in America, to radical jihadists violently killing people around the globe, Islam is a highly-discussed religion that many americans don’t truly understand. Much like Christianity can be divided into various subgroups including Protestant and Evangelical, Islam has branches of its own. Sunnis make up the vast majority, about 85 to 90 percent. With over 1.5 billion followers worldwide, Sunnis view themselves as the orthodox branch of Islam and are mostly located in Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia. The name Sunni translates into “people of the tradition,” referencing their practices based on Prophet Muhammad. The other 10% of Muslims, an estimated 154 to 200 million, are called Shias and are largely based in Iraq, Iran, Bahrain, Afghanistan, and Syria. The Shias started as a movement in early Islamic history and the name is a shortening for “Shiat Ali,” or “followers of Ali.” All followers of Islam acknowledge the Quran as their holy book and the prophet Muhammad as a messenger of God. One common belief all Muslims share is the Sunnah: Prophet Muhammad’s original teachings, sayings, and silent approvals or disapprovals. The division between the two largest Islamic branches is rooted back in early history, following the death of Prophet Muhammad in 632 AD. The Shias believed only the descendants of Muhammad could inherit the caliphate, or leadership, while the Sunnis believed a majority vote should elect the head. Eventually, the title went to Abu Bakr, second-in-command in Muhammad’s absence, even though some strongly persisted it should have gone to Ali, the prophet’s cousin and son-in-law. After Abu Bakr’s successors were assassinated, Ali subsequently become leader. The next decades were marked by civil war and Ali was assassinated in the year 661. His sons Hassan and Hussein, who viewed the caliphate as their legitimate right, had the same fate as their father. Muawiyah, the first caliph of the Sunnibased Umayyad dynasty, poisoned Hassan in 680. The Umayyad then killed Hussain in battle the following year. These events orchestrated the primary divide at the time, where Shias adopted values of martyrdom, sacrifice, and grieving, while the Sunnis focused more in God’s influence and power on the earth. Despite their dispute over the heir of the caliphate, the Sunnis do recognize Ali and the three caliphs before him as rightly guided. On the other hand, Shias consider Ali and the leaders who came after him as imams, or those responsible of spreading the prophet’s words upon his death and lead the prayers and services. According to Ali Miyajan, a Sunni SMC student from India, the difference is how they translate the Quran. Miyajan said, “The Sunnis go for the literal meaning of the Quran. The Shias interpret it and make it their own rules. For us [Sunnis], we just pray for Allah. We don’t ask for any other. They ask Ali. In prayers also, they will say ‘in the name of Ali,’ while we always pray ‘in the name of Allah.’ We have to believe it is all about Allah.” This method of interpretation refers to the custom of Shias following the Quran by the understandings of the imams. A Shia SMC student, Mohammed Al Shammari, elaborated on this.
Sunni Muslims practice their mid-day prayer at the Fahad Mosque in Culver City, Calif. on Friday Sept. 30. (Photo by: Christian Monterrosa)
“Shias have a reference they have to go to do anything they want to do. So, let’s say, for example, tattoos. You have to go to your reference, which is the imam, and ask,” Al Shammari said. “Some references tell you it is okay to put a tattoo, except where you wash on the religious rituals. But some others say it is okay. My reference says it is okay to put it anywhere.” Apart from their differences which resulted from Prophet Muhammad’s death, two other main factors separate these two branches of Islam. First, the Sunni and Shias have different holy shrines. For a Shia, the sacred sanctuaries are the Karbala, Kufa, and Najaf, all located in Iraq. Mecca and Medina are the holy sites for the Sunni, which are controlled by the Saudi Arabian royal family. Second, the Sunni believe the Messiah will come to the earth one day while the Shias believe Muhammad’s religious guidance and command were passed to twelve descendants. The last of the twelve, who vanished during the ninth century in Iraq, is believed to be a boy who disappeared into a cave below a mosque, after his father was murdered. It is believed the boy did not die, but is actually in hiding, waiting to return as the Mahdi (Messiah) to bring justice upon this earth. The partition of Sunnis and Shias kept growing, highlighted by the Iranian revolution in 1979. Tehran, the capital city of Iran, announced new policies supporting Shia militias and forces past its borders. The Sunnis did not take this approach lightly, seeing it as a challenge to especially conservative Sunni nations. Since then, great tension has arisen in the Gulf region, which separates Saudi Arabia, Iraq, United Arab Emirates, and Iran by just a body of water. Despite their differences, a lot of modern Muslims are open-minded and willing to accept each other with open arms. Although many older Islamic believers emphasize this divide, Muslims such as Sheikh Ahson Syed, the imam for King Fahad’s Mosque in Culver City, believes otherwise. Syed said, “If Shias come here, they are most welcome to come and pray. I am the imam for the Sunni, so I preach according to my Sunni beliefs. But if a Shia comes in
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A muslim man sits and prays in the library before the service starts at the Fahad Mosque. (Photo by: Christian Monterrosa)
here, of course I am not going to turn them away. They are welcome to pray and welcome to discuss with me on the different issues.” With Republican candidate Donald Trump casting a negative light on muslims, proposing a stop on immigration "from any nation that has been compromised by terrorism,” anti-muslim advocates have grown brave enough to voice their opinions. Sheikh Ahson Syed has no anger or hostility against those who practice Islamaphobia. @THE_CORSAIR •
“When people who have the wrong ideas about Islam, these anti-Muslim feelings due to what they have read or what they watch on the news, or whatever they have, they are filled with this hate based on misinformation,” said Syed. “The beautiful thing is that when they do actually come and speak to a Muslim and clarify those misconceptions, almost every time they leave that conversation with a whole new outlook.”
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SPORTS
VOLUME 112 ISSUE 02 • OCT 05, 2016 • SANTA MONICA COLLEGE
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UNDEFEATED TO UNCERTAIN Men's football attempts to bounce back after rough start AGUSTIN MARTINEZ STAFF WRITER Changing regimes is a difficult task with any sports team, especially in football. New coaching brings new schemes, expectations and a change of supporting cast. New head coach Bill Laslett has been handed the keys to the Corsairs Men’s Football program saddled with the expectations of following last year’s 11-0 season under Coach Gifford Lindheim, who opted to leave SMC for a full-time job at rival El Camino College. The team has started the new season 1-4, raising some questions about the direction in which the team is headed. A number of problems are contributing to the tough times the team has fallen upon this season. Injuries and issues with eligibility among returning players have hurt the team’s depth, which was already weak due to their lack of a recruiting season. “This year we really didn't have a recruiting season. That’s just how the business goes,” Laslett said. ”The first thing I did when I got here was re-recruit the guys who were here, and we were able to get some guys back.” Unfortunately, about 8-10 players who thought they were leaving were unable to get eligibility for the season in time. “So we do have some student-athletes that are ineligible right now. But they’ll be with us next year,” said Laslett. “We need some more players, some more big people. Overall we’re smaller, but we have great athletes who are giving it 100 percent.” Last year’s success also created other problems for the team beyond high expectations. “We’re in the upper division now. It’s one of the best junior college conferences in the country,” said Laslett. “If we were a four-year university, it would be the difference between playing Whittier and USC. Being in the upper division right now we’re
playing the USCs, but it’s on my shoulders to get it done and I wouldn't have it any other way.” As is to be expected with any regime change, criticism of the new coaching staff has come from players and fans alike. During the Sept. 24 loss to Orange Coast, some fans began to yell “Fire Coach Laslett” as the team fell behind, expressing frustration with the early struggles of the team. The Corsair also spoke to players hoping to voice concerns about the new season, but these players chose to remain anonymous. “We all need more work as a whole,” said one player. “[Coach] needs to step up and be better and push us harder.” Another player said, “It’s honestly...we just don’t have great athletes. And we’re small… I would like to say like half the team it’s [their] first year playing.” Laslett responded to the criticism from fans as well as from his own players. “I’m just going about my job and putting the student-athletes first. I’ve got a tremendous amount of support here on campus. But, hey, It’s my responsibility, so I’m fine with that. I’m going to give it everything I got and that’s what I expect from our players and our coaching staff,” Laslett said. “But as far as the criticism goes, it doesn't bother me. That just goes with the territory. We’re doing things the right way and when you do things the right way, eventually good things happen.” Despite fielding a roster lacking in depth and experience, the team has found some breakout talent in wideouts Conor McMahan and Darius Brown, who've accounted for almost 51 percent of the team’s total offense and 80 percent of the team’s scoring plays. Carnell Lewis is leading the way on defense and could become a Charles Woodson-type player for the Corsairs: locking down receivers on defense, returning punts for big gains, and possibly seeing offensive reps in the future. About 70 percent of the starting football
team are true freshman, according to Laslett. The jump from high school football to the community college level is big because the competition is bigger and faster. Having to rely on half your team to start right away as freshman puts the team in a challenging position, and there's a huge learning curve and growing pains. The Corsairs showed signs of improvement during their 34-31 victory over LA Harbor — but it may be hard for fans and players to be excited about a 1-4 start following an undefeated year. Allowing 43.4 points per game and only scoring 24.8 PPG
through five games means that there is much room for improvement. Despite how the season has been going, Coach Laslett and the coaching staff have done a good job keeping the spirits up of their players and have them working hard. While Laslett strives to coach a winning team, he also notes the value of struggle: “I’ll tell you, you can learn a heck of a lot more from [seasons] where you’re not doing as well. You become a better coach that way, and a lot of players become better players.”
The Santa Monica College Corsairs Head Football Coach Bill Laslett is in his first year of coaching for the Corsairs. Laslett has been coaching football for 18 years. October 1st. (Photo by: Daniel Bowyer)
Santa Monica College Corsair coach, Bill Lasslett left, and Sam Murphy right, congratulate each other after earning their first win of the season against the Los Angeles Harbor Seahawks. (Photo by: Marco Heredia)
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OPINION
VOLUME 112 ISSUE 02 • OCT 05, 2016 • SANTA MONICA COLLEGE
BRANGELINA CRUSH THE AMERICAN DREAM ALCI RENGIFO CONTRIBUTING WRITER
A collective breath could be heard throughout the United States last week, not because of the carnage in Syria, another mass shooting at a shopping mall, or the latest protests against police brutality. Instead, Americans awoke to discover that Brangelina, the pop culture fairy tale of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, was over. In a year that has vomited up Donald Trump, Suicide Squad, and terrorist bombs, it is almost fitting that
at the tail end of the Year of the Monkey, one of our cherished celebrity delusions has gone down in flames. But in a deeper, cultural context, the fall of Brangelina is almost a metaphor, or mirror image of the state of the republic itself. It is worth glancing at how Pitt has been at the forefront of defining superficial concepts of masculinity since the early 1990s, and how Jolie has been a defining example of the modern movie goddess since at least 1999 (when she won the Oscar for “Girl, Interrupted”).
Illustration by: Rebecca Singleton
Like Donald Trump, in a more subdued and saner way, these two screen divas are personifications of everything the American Dream stands for. The acquiring of physical perfection and financial power, mixed with comic, self-contradictory pretentions at charity, defined these two as it defines the U.S. elite. I always wondered how Angelina managed to drag Brad to all those shelterbuilding, orphan-hugging events when he’s a known fan of Ayn Rand, the priestess of cutthroat capitalism (author of the cheerfully titled “The Virtue of Selfishness”). If television and pop daydreams define much of the American mindset, then it’s no surprise this was a love story that began and even ended within the fantasy world of bad movies. The pair famously first knocked boots while shooting “Mr. & Mrs. Smith,” which is an action movie about two married spies. The film is a metaphor for the love and war that goes into married life. Last year, Jolie wrote and directed what is (hopefully) the last drama featuring the two together, “By the Sea,” about a depressed writer and his wife escaping to a French estate by the sea to mope and watch others having sex. The second movie would be agonizingly boring if it didn’t now offer a bit of morbid curiosity. If “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” was at least cheerful and entertaining, “By the Sea” is a collection of shots of a depressed Pitt sitting in a bar drinking and a sad Jolie sitting by a window staring. How can we, the minions, not wonder just how autobiographical the film might be, even if the dialogue is laughable crap in the style of “‘what is that sound?’ ‘It is the sea.’” The first movie could be seen as the honeymoon, the second is the crash, pretty much like the Bernie Sanders campaign story for much of 2016. For millions the Jolie-Pitt arrangement was the shining example of the marriage, or at least partnership, we should aspire to. I imagine the male and female specimens I see packing the local gyms, running past me like dehydrated drones on my way to In-N-Out, and smiling behind Ray Bans with a shirt three sizes too small, are not simply being health conscious. They want to be perceived like the notion of beauty Brangelina represented. In the era of Tinder, you
don’t really need to seek a committed relationship, you can instead momentarily live the fantasy. But all that glitters is not gold. The fact that Jolie is demanding sole physical custody of the children, using terms like “safety” when partially explaining the reasons for the divorce, and when the FBI is investigating Pitt for an alleged incident on the couple’s private plane, it is obvious that beneath the beautiful photos lurked unpleasant, ugly truths. And maybe it is none of our business to know exactly what those truths were. But the cracking of such a Hollywood fantasy is merely a reflection of our national/cultural disappointments which reveal much about ourselves. The fall of Brangelina fits perfectly with the year 2016. It was the year when Bernie Sanders raised many, progressive hopes for a return to New Deal ideals, but the ugly truth about party politics not only denied him the nomination, but bent him to its will complete with an endorsement for Hillary Clinton. The once mighty Republican Party was shattered by a raving, gold-minted candidate who embodies the worst aspects of American culture (and history). The attractive face of American democracy is producing two decades where Americans have only known the presidential conga line of BushClinton-Bush-Obama-Clinton (maybe). This was another year where the illusion of a classless society was again shaken by spates of police killings and subsequent protests. But we still want to believe, which is why Colin Kaepernick is getting death threats over refusing to stand for the anthem in protests of a police culture that patrols working class areas like Damascus. He was commenting on the ugliness underneath the romanticism of the stars and stripes. America wanted to believe it is beautiful like Brangelina, but like Jolie’s makeup in “By The Sea,” the façade smears and drips. Celebrity scandal and broken romances are nothing unique or strange, but it is worth noting the reflection of ourselves in our pop gods, we worship them for a reason. We want to be them, but behind the veil of perfection they are just like us. Brangelina turned out to be just like America: frail, confused, crazy, and now trying to figure out what comes next.
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