Wednesday December 1, 2010
LIFESTYLE
Corsair Newspaper Santa Monica College
Flames of Dante’s deadly sins lick the heels of students By Stephanie Forshee Staff Writer
You’re in the middle of your final and the hot guy in class is distracting you, you can’t help but notice how much cuter your outfit is than the girl’s sitting next to you, and you didn’t really study because last night’s episode of “Glee” was far more interesting. Not only are you likely failing your test, but according to Dante’s seven deadly sins, you are sinning without even realizing it. Christianity recognizes sin, in general, as immoral. But there are seven namely instances where it is not only unforgivable but considered deadly: pride, envy, gluttony, lust, wrath, greed, and sloth. Of the deadly transgressions, sloth is what Italian Professor Maria Giribaldi claims to witness the most from her classes. “In my classes there’s a lot of immaturity,” said Giribaldi. “And usually it comes the moment of the final grade when they think they should have more. But they don’t deserve it because they don’t go to the lab, they don’t do the work, they don’t even pay attention in class. They’re just lazy.” “I think it’s a disease of the times and a disease of this society. I don’t think other cultures have the same sense of entitlement,” she continued. Sloth goes beyond the doors of the classroom though. SMC student Ron Collins sees the laziness most when he’s working around campus to encourage student involvement with the Bus Riders Union. “I do a lot of political work on campus and try to get students to do anything,” said Collins. “Like ‘Hey they’re cutting your
By John Stapleton IV Web Editor There’s a pretty universal list of places in which you wouldn’t want to find yourself after a four-day-long, Thanksgivingweekend bender. While there is an unspoken understanding that these places are not inherently bad locations in and of themselves, there’s a very reasonable logic behind making every attempt to avoid waking up in these places – especially if you spent the previous night (or nights, sure) deliberately drinking yourself into a coma. In no particular order: You never want to come to in a bathtub full of ice in Tijuana; you never want to wake up in the arms of your ex in their bed; and you never ever want to regain consciousness in Skid Row. It’s not that Skid Row’s multitudes of homeless people are frightening, but the area’s cesspool of shady characters that gather on Skid Row will make your primal fight or flight instincts lock on to “flight” quicker than you can say buzzkill. Plus Skid Row is cold, has limited resources, and really, no matter where you’re from, you’re always unnervingly aware that everyone else can tell you’re lost. If you do find yourself somewhere between 3rd and 7th, your head will probably be full of throbbing and your pockets will be empty – at best. At worst, you’ll be riddled with track marks, STD’s and stab wounds. The exception to this rule is if your drunk self had the foresight to guide you to the asshole of L.A. so that your hung over self could be healed with some microwaveable breakfast foods and some hair-of-the-dog beers that will only cost as much as the change you can dig out of your pockets. In that case, Skid
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classes, they’re taking your money away,’ they’re like, ‘And? I’m going to go smoke a bowl.’” Although Collins criticizes others’ lethargic ways interfering with school, it takes a vice of another variety to distract him from his education. “There’s a lot of sexual tension on campus,” he says. “Lust kind of winds up taking over the campus and becomes more important than school.” “Sometimes you’re not going to school to go to school, you’re going to see whomever. There’s a friend of mine that I always totally ditch class with because I really like them,” he said. But don’t think the professors don’t notice the wandering eyes in their classrooms. “I feel they’re distracted, there might be some lust. They’re young and they wouldn’t mind jumping on each other,” said Giribaldi. Student Elena Kivnick doesn’t blame lust so much as greed. “Everyone wants the same thing,” said Kivnick. “So when people go to the libraries and rip the pages out of textbooks, they’ll do whatever it takes to get a good grade.” “I think society shows these stupid problems in movies where people go and get everything that they want,” said Giribaldi. “It doesn’t matter how they get it, if it’s stealing, if it’s cheating, if it’s whatever. [Young students] grew up with that kind of mentality.” The deadly sins appear in a multitude of means across campus, but are there solutions? “I would not allow them to watch certain programs, to play certain video games, stuff
like that,” said Giribaldi. “I would rather they watch things that are celebrating people who are more hard working, honest, more than being a delinquent and getting everything that you want.” “Ironically, I think the solution is education,” said Collins. “Making classes more engaging to students and making
campus life more engaging to students.” Some students like Dennise Sosa are uncertain if there actually is an attainable remedy. “It’s hard because you try to push yourself, but then you’re like nah. Everybody’s lazy, so I might as well be a little bit lazy too,” said Sosa.
Row is right where you want to be at around 6 a.m. so you can join the rest of L.A.’s bottom rung when the doors open at King Eddy Saloon. “Six in the morning is our busiest time!” exclaimed bartender Leo LaMadrid. “We
for those of us who have a hard time balancing the collective value of a dive bar with friendly service, interesting people, breakfast and dirt cheap beers against the collective value of trivial things like… survival. This epitome of “dive bar”
playwright or failed actress as they cultivate cirrhosis and stare out the windows as the LAPD officers usher countless tent cities off the sidewalks. At King Eddy’s “no one gives a shit about your name,” so feel free to sit in silence while you sip your $2.50 breakfast beer under small screen televisions, bobble-head dolls, and a collection of neon beer signs that probably accounts for more than half of the entire block’s electric power usage as recently-evicted “campers” stroll in for something strong (“That’s how you know it’s cold outside: people start asking for 151,” said LaMadrid). But King Eddy’s has more to offer than flea market décor, microwaveable breakfast, and cheap beer with a view. It has pride. Not self-righteousness, but utter shamelessness. King Eddy’s is what bars would be like if prohibition never happened, drinking never became cool, and Old West saloons stayed the exact same. It’s a place for those who are hard on their luck, who are down and out, who are hopeless, or criminals, or running from their past – and it is completely unapologetic about its role as a refuge for the underprivileged. But it’s not depressing; it isn’t sad. You never feel sorry for the bar or its patrons. You feel like everything might just work out in the end, and if everything hasn’t worked out, it’s not the end. Located in the worst part of L.A. with quite possibly the most pitiable clientele, it still gets just as rambunctious as it did over 100 years ago when Stevie Nicks comes on the jukebox. If anything, King Eddy’s will teach you this: When life hands you lemons, get hammered.
Photo Illustration by Sal Guerra Corsair Aside from the morning after all-night study sessions, or post-finals partying, students find themselves asleep at all hours of the day due to one of Dante’s deadliest sins: laziness, or sloth.
Brian White Corsair The homeless and regulars seamlessly mingle over cheap beers and spirits in the middle of skid row at King Eddy’s Saloon.
are jam-packed. A lot of people just come for breakfast, but you got your alcoholics that need that first drink, and those people that were out partying all night that just wanna keep going. But yeah, we usually have a line outside in the morning.” Dubious locale aside, the bar colloquially referred to as King Eddy’s presents something of a conundrum
dive has been located in the corner of the once-luxurious King Edward Hotel since the structure was erected in 1905, and while the building once hosted the likes of Teddy Roosevelt, it now serves as a refuge for the opposite end of the success spectrum. In fact, you’re more than welcome to saddle up next to some forgotten