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volume 107 issue 9 • April 30, 2014 • santa monica college
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Nick Kovalenko Corsair Former SMC student, and 1964 U.S. volleyball Olympian Michael O’Hara, poses in front of the Santa Monica College Wall of Fame on Friday, March 28 in Santa Monica, California
Mike O’Hara: Life above the net
Trev Angone Sports Editor
Most people would be able to feel a sense of accomplishment in their lives, if they were able to say, become an Olympic athlete, or rub shoulders with U.S. Presidents and celebrities alike. Even winning national championships or having the honor of fighting for our country’s freedom would be enough to feel a sense of satisfaction during ones lifetime. But for Santa Monica College alumni and ex volleyball coach Mike O’Hara, he had checked all that off his list before turning 30. Since his glory days, O’Hara has even helped start a U.S. chapter of Ready, Set, Gold!, a foundation focused on keeping kids active, competitive and health conscious. In addition to starting his foundation, O’Hara found time to publish two books: ‘Prostate Cancer: And Other Prostate Problems, Prevention, Measures And Cures’, and ‘Volleyball, Fastest Growing Sport in the World! The Basic Guide to the Sport Challenging Soccer.’ But the impact O’Hara has had on the people surrounding him goes far beyond books and foundations. The institutions and lives that he has touched cannot simply be measured; the impact is much further reaching. O’Hara was born in Waco, Texas. But by the time he was seven, the family was on their way to the West Coast, to try their luck in the growing beach town of Santa Monica. A city at the time, O’Hara describes as more of a country town equipped with boardwalk trolleys and bathhouses, which he remembers as being Mecca.
When it was finally time for O’Hara to attend high school, he found himself in the awkward position of being the smallest student, boy or girl in the entire school, a predicament he soon would grow out of. After graduating from Santa Monica High School, O’Hara took the next step in his journey of higher learning as he enrolled into Santa Monica College. With the help of a very beneficial growth spurt, O’Hara had his sights set on joining the SMC basketball team, and soon would be surprised by the new opportunities he would be offered. After attending SMC, O’Hara was set on transferring to the University of California, Los Angeles and possibly playing for the storied UCLA basketball team. An idea that was out of O’Hara’s realm of possibility, even for an athlete as gifted as him. “I went over to UCLA hoping to play basketball, and coach Wooden said ‘Mike, I like your interest, but I have a set team, and you only have two years of eligibility left, I can’t do it’,” said O’Hara. “So I said goodbye to basketball, and joined a fraternity house that had a volleyball court in the back yard. Nice guy Wooden, he liked me. In fact somewhere along the line I hired him to coach my kid. We’ve got pictures of all of us in my trophy room.” After being turned away from the basketball program, O’Hara joined the Delta house, a UCLA fraternity. What O’Hara would stumble upon next would change the trajectory of his life from that point forward. While getting familiar with the Delta
house and all of its accommodations, O’Hara found his way to the backyard where the fraternity had set up a volleyball/ basketball court. Before O’Hara knew what happened, he was the top contender at the fraternity. “They said ‘forget about basketball, this is your sport.’ Once I started playing, I found out I was really good at it right away,” said O’Hara. While at the Delta house, volleyball wasn’t the only thing O’Hara fell in love with. Shortly after joining the fraternity, O’Hara developed a deep appreciation for the guitar, a love affair that is thriving to this day. One of the remaining effects of his childhood music lessons is his affinity for music, none having a greater effect on him than the guitar. The guitar is one of the remaining instruments that O’Hara still plays to this day. “I fell in love with the guitar at the Delta house. The Tri-Deltas came over for an exchange and they brought this gal that had spent four years in Hawaii, and she did a hula for us. Everyone in the room, woman or man fell in love with her,” said O’Hara. “I mean It was such a sensational thing, and I love Hawaii, I spent some time over there because volleyball is king, beach volleyball was invented in Honolulu at the Outrigger Canoe Club.” What started out as a great way to spend his free time and socialize eventually turned into a vehicle for athletic competition. The competition that O’Hara craved when he initially tried out for the UCLA basketball O’Hara on pg 11
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volume 107 issue 9 • April 30, 2014 • santa monica college
E D I T O R I A L S TA F F Henry Crumblish····· Editor-in-Chief c o rs a i r. e d i t o r i n c h i e f @ g m a i l . c o m Elizabeth Moss·Digital Editor-in-Chief c o rs a i r. w e b e d i t o r @ g m a i l . c o m David Yapkowitz······Managing Editor c o rs a i r. m a n a g i n g @ g m a i l . c o m Ronja Jansz···········Health & Lifestyle c o rs a i r. l i f e s t y l e p a g e @ g m a i l . c o m Alci Rengifo····· Arts & Entertainment c o rs a i r. c a l e n d a r p a g e @ g m a i l . c o m Jonathan Ramos······· Opinion Editor c o rs a i r. o p i n i o n p a g e @ g m a i l . c o m Trev Angone·············· Sports Editor c o rs a i r. s p o r t s p a g e @ g m a i l . c o m Jimmy Janszen············· Photo Editor Rachel Porter············· Photo Editor c o rs a i r p h o t o e d i t o r @ g m a i l . c o m David Veta················Design Editor c o rs a i r. d e s i g n t e a m @ g m a i l . c o m Jhosef Hern····················Illustrator c o rs a i r c a r t o o n @ g m a i l . c o m c o r s a i r s ta f f Brandon Barsugli, Scott Bixler, Cesar Clarke, Amalia Darin, My’sson Downs, Mia Duncans, Elin Ekdahl, Paulina Eriksson, Carlos Espinosa, Walter Flores, Rachel Gianuario, Qalil Ismail, Sarit Kashanian, Nick Kovalenko, Aaron Leaureaux, Juan Lopez, Malin Lord, Jazmin Martinez, Christophor McGovern, Delmy Moran, Adrien Piteux, Liz Phillips, James Powel, Patrick Shanley FA C U LT Y A D V I S O R S S a u l Ru b i n & Gerard Burkhart AD INQUIRIES: c o rsai r. admana g er@g m ai l . co m (3 1 0 ) 4 3 4 - 4 0 3 3
Brandon Barsugli Corsair Manuel Henriquez talks to Dr. Chui L. Tsang, Superintendent and President of Santa Monica College trying to find out what he can do to get the right to play his music as he was used to.
AS Board votes to impeach Matt Nicholson
Henry Crumblish Editor-in-Chief
The Associated Students Board of Directors has finally come to a decision regarding the impeachment proceedings against Director of Activities, Matt Nicholson. After being cleared of charges of misappropriation of AS funds, the board instead charged Nicholson with dereliction of duty on Monday at their weekly meeting in the Cayton Center. Associate Dean of Student Life Sonali Bridges urged the entire board to vote on the impeachment and not abstain. “There’s too much at stake, there’s so much going on, please make a yes or no decision, please do not abstain,” said Bridges. At one point during the vote, the board took a two minute recess and AS President Ty Moura even gave moderating responsibilities over to Vice President Kyle McGrath. “I will pass the gavel,” Moura said to Nicholson. “You are just unwilling to take responsibility for your actions right now.” After much contention and five weeks of charges and proceedings, the vote to oust Nicholson passed with 12 in favor, one against, and one abstention from Moura, Nicholson was officially impeached by the AS. “What this means is the board has chosen to impeach you,” said Bridges. “In order for their vote of impeachment to take place and be solidified it needs to go before a judicial board. We currently do not have a judicial board.” Despite the fact that Nicholson was impeached, he will still remain in his position as director of activities until a judicial board can be formed. The vote by the judicial board will either uphold or overrule the AS board vote, and the vote by the judicial board is final.
During the public comments, AS Director of Budget Management elect, Howard Kim expressed his feelings on the matter. “I heard the directors voted against Matt and were making a list on how to catch him on technicalities. I just don’t think that’s right,” he told the board. He added later, “For this year and for next year, I don’t want to be looking behind my back waiting for someone to catch me on some technicality.” The charges brought against Nicholson for dereliction of duty were unwillingness to follow guidelines of AS events, not attending AS office hours, only hosting three events all year, and not facilitating activities meetings and not updating the activities calendar and keeping a file of all undertakings. Throughout the proceeding, the board addressed the charges and Nicholson gave his rebuttals. Many times during the meeting, Nicholson cited Robert’s Rules of Order and terms in a dictionary to defend himself against what he described as “mob rule.” According to Robert’s Rules of Order, dereliction of duty is deliberate, conscious, or willful neglect. Nicholson made his case that, “An officer’s duty is defined as obeying the rules set forth by the constitutional bylaws. The charges brought against me must be proven willful neglect, and in order to convict me you must both prove willful neglect and how I violated the constitution and bylaws.” Inter-Club Council Chair Jasmine Jafari was unhappy with Nicholson’s adherence to Robert’s Rules and claimed that Nicholson violated Article I Section 2 rule 4 of the AS constitution, which states that directors are to “Promote a positive public image and enhance the campus environment.” “At the bare minimum if you use technicalities in Robert’s Rules to get out of everything else you have purposefully, willfully, deliberately neglected that part of
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our bylaws and constitution,” said Jafari. Nicholson stated that he felt unsafe after the multiple charges brought against him and considered the AS office a “hostile work environment,” which resulted in him being unable to attend his mandated weekly office hours. Jafari asked Nicholson, “Did you make an attempt to request to have an alternative location for your office hours so that you could make it somewhere where you didn’t feel it was a hostile work environment?” To which Nicholson replied, “I did not, I cite that I was emotionally distraught.” In addition, Nicholson refutes the claim that he only put on three AS events. According to him, he was responsible for Club Awareness Day, Club Olympics, AS thanksgiving, AS movie night, SMC Appreciation Day, and three Feed the Students. A few of the events cited by Nicholson were put on last semester and according to the activity director bylaws there is no
quota or set amount of events Nicholson is required to put on. As far as following guidelines Nicholson acknowledged that the Feed the Students event was not perfect “I handled the event the wrong way, I admit that,” Nicholson told the board. During the emotional deliberation, Hailie Willis, Director of Sustainability asked Nicholson “what makes you want to stay?” “I want to be here because I want to do events and work to help the students and I feel that this is the best medium for that even if I don’t get along with all the board members,” Nicholson responded. The next step of the impeachment process is to compile a judiciary board consisting of three justices. The next AS meeting is scheduled for Monday May 5. Vice President of Student Affairs Mike Tuitasi will be present to discuss the changes, separation, and services provided by the AS membership fee and the Student ID fee.
Juan Lopez Corsair Santa Monica College Associated Students Director of Activities Matthew Nicholson reads a prepared statement about what he believes was bullying on the part of the AS board at the weekly AS meeting in SMC’s Cayton Center on Monday.
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volume 107 issue 9 • April 30, 2014 • santa monica college
College Fair at SMC James Powel Staff Writer Amidst a crisp and warm Tuesday afternoon, the College Fair took over the main quad at Santa Monica College. Opportunistic students shuffled from booth to booth amid visions of a future in places such as Coral Gables, Florida, Honolulu, Hawaii, and Northridge, California. Students had the opportunity to interact with representatives from 200 universities and colleges ranging from major universities including the University of California, Los Angeles, the University of Kansas, and the University of Miami, to lesser known universities such as the National University Golf Academy and even foreign schools such as the University of Guadalajara and the University of York. Representatives from each school distributed materials on issues ranging from academic standards to student housing and, in the case of the University of Kansas, the evolution of the school’s mascot. However, the fair was a chance for students to learn things about prospective schools that go beyond what is printed in the recruitment materials. For SMC student and kinesiology major Michael Thompson, the fair was an opportunity to ask questions on transfer requirements and graduate schooling. “These people that come and sit here,
they have a lot of information. There is no question that is too stupid. They just need to ask, they need to inquire,” Thompson said. For smaller and foreign universities, the fair was an opportunity to present themselves to a student body that may not be aware of their existence. According to Jayne Hindle, the Head of School Administration for the University of Manchester, the Southern California region is a growing recruitment base for the English university. “The markets are opening up. For some universities like Manchester it’s a trial but there are more established universities like [the University of] York,” Hindle said. SMC President Dr. Chui L. Tsang was pleased by the positive reaction to foreign universities. “I got a chance to talk with some of the universities from Britian who were reporting better than expected student reactions,” Tsang said. “We don’t have enough experience to know that our students are interested to go abroad to study. While students were offered a bouquet of college choices, each selection can represent a definitive choice on a pathway towards a future.
Carlos Espinosa Corsair Students walk by the Santa Monica College fair on the SMC Quad on Tuesday. More than 80 Universities offered information to local students at the College Fair.
Israeli boycott debate rages at CA colleges
Sarit Kashanian Staff Writer
Throughout history, boycotts have been used to bring about social and global change and fight injustice, from the Birmingham bus boycotts, to NBA fans recently threatening to boycott the Clippers. Now, the country of Israel has become the target of a worldwide academic boycott. The highly controversial Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions initiative has been voted on at universities across the globe, including several California universities including the University of Southern California and the University of California, Los Angeles. According to www.bdsmovement.net, the website of the Palestinian BDS National Committee, BDS is defined as “the global movement for a campaign of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel until it complies with international law and Palestinian rights.” Peace talks between Israel and Palestine concerning issues such as BDS were suspended on Thursday, but the subject has been the talk of college students for months now. On Feb. 25, UCLA voted on the initiative to boycott businesses that allegedly profit from the Israeli occupation of Gaza and the West Bank. Students from both sides of the issue endured 12 hours of debate before student government members reached a resolution on the bill. The hearing lasted until 6:30 a.m., for which hundreds of students remained. One of those students was third year Santa Monica College student Mati Cohen, an aspiring UCLA transfer who attended in opposition to the bill. “It was a good learning experience. I think it’s important for transfer students going
to UC’s, or any other higher education schools, to know that there are groups like this targeting a particular community with the intention to demonize and defame under the guise of defense of human rights and national struggle,” Cohen said. On the flipside of the coin was UCLA alumna Marjan Goudarzi, who attended the meeting in support of divestment. According to Goudarzi, the way antidivestment students described the bill was flawed. “Many anti-divestment people began framing the issue as an anti-Israeli bill,” she said. “However, the bill at UCLA is to divest from companies that are involved in the occupation of Palestinian land. It never once asked the university to divest from the cultural appreciation of Israel. It is a pro human rights bill.” A concern of BDS is that it immediately alleges motives of anti-Semitism, but as Goudarzi believes, this idea is a fallacy. “I believe that divestment is important and necessary,” Goudarzi said. “UCLA students should have a right to know that their tuition is going towards their education in a way that that does not violate the rights of those around the world.” BDS is not merely a political or social debate. The religious implications of the initiative have had a forceful impact on Jewish and Muslim students on a deeply emotional level. “I sat in that meeting and I cried multiple times,” Goudarzi said. “As a Muslim woman, I heard very hateful speech. I looked around the room and I thought to myself, ‘look at the hatred in here.’” At UCLA, the initiative failed to pass with a vote of 7-5. “Even though the bill did not pass, it opened a forum for [students] to demonize Israel, accuse it of crimes, and alienate the Jewish community, which has done more
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damage than the bill would have done if it passed,” Cohen said. Rabbi Eli Levitansky of Chabad at SMC, also against BDS, described three aspects of the initiative that he considered problematic. “If they were to pass the divestment, Palestinians will be losing out just as much as the Israelis,” Levitansky claimed. He cited the recent BDS campaign that pressured actress Scarlett Johansson to discontinue her association with SodaStream, which has a branch in the West Bank, after her appearance in the brand’s commercial. “These companies are also invested in the Palestinian territories, so by boycotting them, they are making it worse for the Palestinians as well,” he said. According to Levitansky, the branch in the West Bank employs hundreds of Palestinians, and shutting them down would do more harm than good. “If the point of the divestment is actually to ‘punish’ states that have human rights violations, then there should be the same movements invested in Syria, Iran, Saudi Arabia, almost every single Arab country or state,” Levitansky said. “And yet, there is not one group which is coming out with the same initiative within these countries.” Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expounded on this idea in his speech at this year’s Israel Public Affairs Committee Policy Conference in Washington D.C. “The BDS movement is not about legitimate criticism, it’s about making Israel illegitimate. It presents a distorted and twisted picture of Israel to the naive and to the ignorant,” Netanyahu said at the conference. The UCLA divestment vote has furthermore garnered feelings of resentment between Jewish and Muslim @t h e _ c o r s a i r •
students. In the official press release following the school’s BDS resolution, UCLA Students for Justice in Palestine remarked that, “denying the human rights of Palestinian students and their communities was an acceptable sacrifice in order to maintain a status quo that prioritized anti-divestment students’ feelings over Palestinian students who suffer ongoing, everyday violence.” Like both Cohen and Goudarzi, the UCLA SJP felt the hours of public commentary to be “painful,” but considered the discussion a necessary step in order to publicly expose their perceived denial of Palestinian security. The BDS resolution passed at the University of California, Berkeley last year, gathering congratulations from supporters and an introduction of a new resolution by disparaged opponents that called for a twostate solution. It is the stark contrast in opinion such as with the BDS issue that illustrates the existing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, leaving the political world to wonder if the historical struggle will ever be resolved. While hearings such as the campus BDS conferences serve as an open medium to discuss both sides of this dispute, one must reflect on whether reintroducing the topic simultaneously makes way for further divide. “Before people jump at trying to help humanity just because it sounds right, they should do the proper research about what is happening,” Levitansky urged. “It is very easy to play with people’s emotions, and people will sign many things without thinking because it feels right. But people need to know, especially students, that before they jump to conclusions they should do the proper research because what they are saying or signing is making an impact.”
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volume 107 issue 9 • April 30, 2014 • santa monica college
Third Street Adidas flash mobbed in solidarity with Chinese workers
Alci Rengifo & James Powel A & E Editor & staff writer
Last Thursday evening, internationalist solidarity manifested itself at Santa Monica’s Third Street Promenade when a coalition of activists flash mobbed the local Adidas store to make shoppers aware of ongoing labor strife and the plight of sweatshop workers in China. The group of approximately two dozen protestors was composed of various students and local activists from the University of California, Los Angeles, and the University of Southern California. Their goal was to raise awareness against the sweatshops in China which produce products that companies such as Adidas and Nike sell. Workers at these shops are paid as little as $1.60 an hour and work as many as seven days a week according to the pamphlets the group handed out. They began their protest by first entering the Adidas store posing as shoppers. After a few minutes group members unfurled signs and banners and began chanting “Adidas, Adidas, you’re no good. Treat your workers like you should.” One activist attempted to use a megaphone to inform shoppers of a current strike by 48,000 workers at the Dongguan Yuen factory in China. The workers stopped working at the factory citing unpaid social insurance, housing funds and invalid work contracts. Adidas store employees immediately intervened and attempted to silence the speaker and convince the protesters to leave the store. The flash mob action turned into a march through the shop which snaked its way outside as shoppers and tourists watched. At one point, Adidas employees became aggressive in tone and told protesters “you have no place here, you have to leave the store.” Others attempted to block photos from being taken. Some shoppers, like Demetrius Ross, said that human rights concerns influence purchasing decisions. “I don’t want to buy something that oppresses a group of people,” Ross said. Adidas employees refused comment on
Jonathan Avitia Corsair Protestors march down the Third Street Promanade towards the Nike store on Thursday in Santa Monica, Calif. The protest was in support of striking factory workers at the Yue Yuen shoe factory in Donnguan, China.
the situation. Activists continued to voice their message outside and members of the Industrial Workers of the World labor organization unveiled a red and black Anarchist flag. Pedro Santiago, a tourist from Jalisco, Mexico was on vacation with his family and they witnessed the protest as it emerged from the store. “I think it’s good,” said Santiago. “In Mexico we have a lot of those sweatshops too.” The protest marched down the Promenade, with some of the performers in the area cheering them on. At one point a pamphlet was handed to a singer performing that evening who read the information into his microphone for all to hear. USC student Mikey Chin, one of the students participating in the protest stated, “We’re trying to show people what’s going on. Adidas has basically not given workers
their pay and they have been keeping money away from them. We’re telling Adidas hey, pay your workers what you should.” UCLA student Amy Lin, another activist involved in the event, has a more personal connection to the issue. “My mother was a factory worker in Taiwan and never received benefits she was entitled to,” said Lin. “At the Santa Monica pier a lot of people come to feed money into the economy but they don’t recognize that their actions might be harming those on the other end such as workers in China.” The march culminated in the group chanting in front of the Nike shop at the Santa Monica Place. The protesters were not allowed by security to walk past the front entrance sign because the mall is officially designated as private property. As the protest continued, Francisco Coronado for the Industrial Workers of The World spoke on the evening’s events
while representing the libertarian socialists in the group. “As long as people here are more aware that’s a gain out of this,” said Coronado. The action was also planned to coincide with the one year anniversary of the Rana Plaza garment factory collapse in Savar, Bangladesh where over 1,000 workers were killed. For a few hours, amid all the shopping and dining, the voices of China’s workers echoed through out the Promenade. Sophia Cheng, the lead organizer of the event, believes that responsibility lies within the companies themselves. “The brands like Adidas are not taking responsibility for what’s happening with the factory worker, “ said Cheng. “The brands profit the most off of the factory workers and they set the standards for their subcontractors. In that way they are very responsible for the working conditions.”
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volume 107 issue 9 • April 30, 2014 • santa monica college
Ukranian student returns to conflict-torn homeland
Alci Rengifo Arts & Entertainment Editor When her country erupted in revolution, Svitlana Kostenko knew she had to return and be a witness to the great upheaval in Ukraine that gripped the world. Born and raised in the capital of Kiev, Kostenko currently studies journalism at Santa Monica College. She moved to the United States one and-a-half years ago. When protests spread against the government of pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych in November, she and her husband watched online and on television as angry crowds gathered at the “Maidan” or main square of the capital, chanting demands and slogans under the towering statue of the Archangel Michael. “We were reading the news and we understood we needed to go, we didn’t feel right staying here,” said Kostenko. “We were on vacation in Puerto Rico, we came back and bought tickets and got on a plane the day after we returned.” It was not hard for Kostenko to articulate why her hometown joined cities like Athens and Cairo, which have also been set aflame with the masses expressing anger at their governments. She described a country where the people feel disconnected from rulers, where corruption is strife and postSoviet hopes dashed. According to Kostenko, the last straw was when Yanukovych rejected a deal for greater economic links with the European Union in favor of closer ties with Vladimir Putin’s Russia. “His decision was the trigger to make people go on the street,” she said. “I know the Central and Western parts wanted to be closer to the EU.” Once Kostenko landed in Kiev with her husband and their 16-month-old son, they made their way to the square to join the gathering crowds and witnessed the rise of the barricades. “We met all of our friends in the main square. We were happy. We said ‘we are not moving from here, we are fighting for our rights, we know that we’re going to win,’” she said. In the early days of the uprising the mood among the protesters was festive with beer and snacks being passed around. Kostenko remembers standing in the square, crying with inspired, hopeful emotion as protesters shared their grievances and hopes as snow began to fall on the Maidan. With the grace of Slavic poetry, she described coming back home with her husband as, “smelling like fire.” But when the government grew nervous over the mass size of the protests, security forces were soon unleashed. “My husband was there [in the square] at night because I stayed in the apartment taking care of our baby,” explained Kostenko. “All the bad stuff started happening at night.” Kostenko had to keep track of her
Courtesy of Svitlana Kostenko SMC student Svitlala Kostenko was a witness to the revolution that shook her home country of Ukraine. Today she hopes that her country can rebuild itself and avoid a war with Russia.
“It was the worst experience I had in the last ten years of my life,” she said. Kostenko immediately connected the experience of Ukraine with that of Egypt and other Arab countries, comparing the situation in Kiev to the events depicted in the Oscar-nominated documentary “The Square” about the Tahrir Square revolt. “I was watching it and saw Ukraine in there. I felt really connected to Egypt,” she said.
“I want to see a government that knows if they take money and are corrupted, they will be thrown away,” husband through her iPhone as protesters clashed with police, flames licked the night sky and gunfire echoed across the streets. The situation became tense for Kostenko when she would turn on the television and see the bloody images of riot squads smashing through crowds and beating down citizens.
On February 22, Yanukovych fled Kiev and the crowds celebrated their triumph. Although they had some sense of victory, they still have a long way to go. Kostenko believes that Ukraine’s system remains infiltrated by politicians in the pocket of Putin and so this will make a real transition to a sovereign government more difficult. Ukraine is not the only European nation
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to experience unrest. Greece, Spain, and Italy have seen a storm of upheaval due to economic woes affecting their populations. The situation in Ukraine has now grabbed international attention because of growing tensions involving Russia. Immediately after a new, pro-western government took power in Kiev, the region of Crimea became a hotbed of protests that seemed to demand joining Russia. Recently Russia has annexed Crimea following a local vote in favor of the union. The United States and its major European allies have imposed sanctions on Russia, threatening further action if Moscow stokes more unrest in Ukraine’s eastern, Russian-speaking areas. “Since my early childhood I remember a lot of Crimean people being pro-Russian,” admitted Kostenko, “Russia used it. But if you dig into the history of Crimea it’s never been a sovereign state. It’s been under Turkey, under Russia, under the Soviet Union.” Following the annexation of Crimea there is a new fear in Eastern Europe that Russia has new expansionist aims and will soon decide to invade or make further inroads into Ukraine itself. @t h e _ c o r s a i r •
Kostenko herself fears that one day she will look at a map and see that the current borders that define her homeland have been changed. Another lingering fear is that upcoming elections might be rigged under Putin’s influence to install another Moscow-friendly president. “He’s going to do something to escalate the situation and to try and cancel the elections,” she predicted. She laments that many Russians are, in her view, brainwashed by waves of propaganda fed to them by Russia’s state-monitored TV and internet outlets. Despite the ongoing tensions Kostenko still has hopes that the Ukrainian revolution will bring hope and not war. “I hope next time I go to Ukraine I will see Europe, I will see clean streets, people looking forward to big changes and ready to build a new country,” she said. For Kostenko change means a government that will be accountable to the people. “I want to see a government that knows if they take money and are corrupted, they will be thrown away,” she said. “I want them to fear people and be afraid of the people so they can do a good job.”
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volume 107 issue 9 • April 30, 2014 • santa monica college
C OUNTRY alling
Juan Lopez Corsair Festival attendees Taylor Ririe and Brittany Chapple dance in the Honky-tonk tent at the Stagecoach Festival at the Empire Polo Grounds in Indio, Calif. on Sunday, April 27, 2014.
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Mia Duncans Corsair Festival attendees express their patriotism on Sunday at the 2014 Stagecoach Festival in Indio, Calif.
Juan Lopez Corsair Festival attendees are seen inside of the fan-cooled Toyota Subzero tent at the Stagecoach Festival at the Empire Polo Grounds in Indio, Calif. on Sunday.
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Juan Lopez Staff Writer
As the dust settled from the two week long Coachella festival, Indio, California became home to a different kind of music festival the following weekend. For seven years, Stagecoach Festival has served as a west coast beacon for country music fans of all ages. Bringing together some of the biggest names of the genre such as Luke Bryan and Jason Aldean, along with up and comers like Hurray for the Riff Raff and Hunter Hayes and a fair share of legacy acts like Wanda Jackson and Lynyrd Skynyrd, the festival has earned the unofficial moniker of being the Coachella of country music, even taking place on the same Empire Polo Grounds. Though many outside of country music culture would think that the crowd would be older and caucasian, the younger fans sported attire comparable to that many would have seen at Coachella, ranging from girls in skimpy bikinis to shirtless men in extremely short cutoffs or chaps, but thankfully there were no inappropriate headdresses. There were even a fair number of fans from different backgrounds, Juan Reyes, a Sonoma State graduate knows the stereotypical image of a white male with a truck many imagine when they think of country music and the lack of diversity amongst the artists. “When you actually come here, you realize that’s not all it is. It’s more diverse than people
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think,” said Reyes. “When you hear a song you like, it doesn’t matter who sings it.” Many artists at Stagecoach even covered songs from other genres, with Sugarland’s Jennifer Nettles covering Imagine Dragons’ “Demons” and Luke Bryan Taking on Macklemore’s “Can’t Hold Us.” New Orleans based Hurray for the Riff Raff made a stop at Stagecoach in between performances at L.A.’s Echoplex last Friday and the Grammy Museum on Monday. Hurray for the Riff Raff is the stage name of Americana singer Alynda Lee Segarra who is of Puerto Rican descent. She performs accompanied by her band which includes fiddle player Yosi Pearlstein, a trans male. Los Angeles based band Nocona played at Stagecoach’s new Honky-tonk stage, where the lights were low and the airconditioning was humming. Lead singer Chris Isome’s entire family is from Texas which he says influenced the band’s Mexicali twist. He lists “Ring of Fire” by Johnny Cash and “Ride Away” by Roy Orbison as early Mexican influenced songs he enjoyed as a child as well as a number of punk influences. Isom said “I still love songs in that tradition which echo so much mariachi music.” In the end, when most people were asked why they like country music, they responded similarly. The music speaks to them and feels relatable, it transcended stereotypes and provided an immersive experience of stories and melodies.
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volume 107 issue 9 • April 30, 2014 • santa monica college
photostory 7
Mia Duncans Corsair Guitarist Michael Carter (left), and Country Singer Luke Bryan (right) perform on the Toyota Mane Stage in front of a sell-out crowd on Sunday during the 2014 Stagecoach Country Music Festival in Indio, Calif.
Mia Duncans Corsair Proud to be an American, seemed to be the theme this year at the 2014 Stagecoach Country Music Festival, which took place on Friday, Saturday and Sunday in the Coachella Valley. The festival included many headline Country bands, indie bands and classic favorites who all performed in front of sold out crowds. Juan Lopez Corsair Festival attendees dance to Trace Adkins’ “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk” in the Toyota Subzero tent at the Stagecoach Festival at the Empire Polo Grounds in Indio, Calif. on Sunday.
Mia Duncans Corsair Thousands of Country music fans lined up for hours in advance to watch their favorite Country music artists perform during the 2014 Stagecoach Country Music Festival that took place over the past weekend in the Coachella Valley.
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& Entertainment 8 Arts
volume 107 issue 9 • April 30, 2014 • santa monica college
Exhibit showcases top photography talent Paulina Eriksson Staff Writer Last Saturday, photography students at Santa Monica College had the opportunity to show their best work at the 35th annual Photography Student Exhibition. Held at the Photography Gallery on the second floor of Drescher, only 160 photos out of 1600 submissions were chosen for display. The selection of photos was made by a jury of faculty members. Photos were also displayed at the Pete and Susan Barrett Art Gallery at the Performing Arts Campus. Students not only competed for a spot on the display wall, they were also competing for several awards in different categories, such as portrait, landscape and travel picture.
This year a new award was introduced; the Art Streiber award. Streiber, a renowned photographer, personally picked the gold, silver and bronze winners in the Best Portrait category and also selected three photos as honorable mentions. According to SMC photography professor, Craig Mohr, this year’s event turned out very well with a high level of interest. “We redesigned our program about a year and a half ago and so the level of work is a lot higher now and also the students have many more interests,” Mohr said. Three of the 160 selected pictures this year belong to Graham Reid who’s been a students at SMC for four years. One of his pictures is shown at the gallery in Drescher Hall and it’s a picture he took at the Dumbarton Bridge in California.
Reid was driving on the freeway when he saw beautiful reflections in the water and just knew he had to go back and capture it. “We had to get off the freeway, come back on and then go back. I drove about 2.5 miles back to get this shot,” Reid said. Reid was really impressed by this years event and the quality of the photos that were displayed. “The event is awesome. It’s a good opportunity and it gives you a sense of accomplishment to get stuff in the show,” Reid said. “There are definitely some people here that are going to make a living out of this and I hope I will too,” SMC students Alex Pizzimenti and Louise Joensson were also impressed by the photos hanging in the gallery. “I really enjoyed the event. It was very interesting and the photos were definitely
intriguing,” Pizzimenti said. While impressed with the quality of work, Joensson believes more publicity would have attracted a bigger audience. “I just wish they would promote events like this more around campus so students outside the photo department would know about it,” Joensson said. “These kind of events are a great way for people with the same interests to communicate and bond.” The Photography Gallery at Drescher Hall is open Monday through Friday from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Pete and Susan Barrett Art Gallery at the Performing Arts Center is open Tuesday through Friday from 12 p.m to 5 p.m. and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The show will run until May 3.
Arlene Karno Corsair Vistors spend time taking in a wide variety of photographic art at the reception of the SMC photo department’s 35th Annual show at the Performing Arts Campus on Saturday.
Oscar-winning Vietnam documentary brings back the horror of war
Patrick Shanley Staff Writer
In honor of the 40th anniversary of “Hearts and Minds” the Santa Monica College Associated Students, in conjunction with the SMC history department, held a screening of the 1974 Oscar-winning documentary in the Humanities and Social Sciences building last Friday afternoon. “Our vision of progress is not limited to our own country. We extend it to all the peoples of the world.” This quote by former United States President Harry S. Truman is heard in the first five minutes of the film, which focuses on the U.S. war in Vietnam that lasted throughout the 1960s and into the early 1970s. The weight of Truman’s words, which were spoken at the end of World War II, hang heavy throughout the film and resonate deeply within its overall message. The film itself is filled with beautiful images of the Vietnam countryside, shocking acts of violence, heartbreaking recounts of brutality, death, and loss, and
is ultimately a time capsule of a nation at a time of immense political and social debate. The generation called on to fight in Vietnam were the children of those who, some 20 years before, had defeated the Nazis. America had just become a global superpower and national patriotism was high. As such, the film focuses on the conflict between those who protested the war and those who felt it was America’s duty to crush the rise of communism in Vietnam. Images of thousands of protesters gathering on the mall in Washington, D.C. displayed the nation’s opposition to the occupation of Vietnam, while veterans of the war were seen throwing their medals at the Capitol building in anger and frustration. Veterans, many of whom lost limbs in the field of battle, gave heartbreaking accounts of things they saw, horrors that took place, and actions they were ordered to carry out during the conflict. In an interview with former airman
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Randy Floyd, the veteran breaks down in tears when remembering his dropping of poison gas and explosives over the rice fields outside Vietnamese villages. “People would suffer, I look at my children now and I don’t know what I would think about if someone napalmed,” Floyd states in the documentary. In one of the film’s most heartbreaking moments, a Vietnamese funeral service is shown. The sobbing mother and siblings of a young soldier are shown mourning the loss of their loved one. When the casket of the young man is lowered into the earth the mother attempts to climb in, sobbing uncontrollably, and needs to be restrained by two attendants. These moments of intense reality remind viewers of the scars and searing consequences of war. The unflinching attitude the filmmakers had to present the fundamental humanity of the Vietnamese people that was, in many cases, violated serves a sobering reminder of the weight of such lofty decisions such as the invasion and occupation of a foreign country. @t h e _ c o r s a i r •
After the screening Zack Norman, who was a producer of “Hearts and Minds,” spoke to the audience about the film. “It was hard to get this made. Columbia was going to bury the picture. We told them we were going to give them their money back, and they couldn’t say anything about that,” Norman said. The film was eventually bought by Warner Bros. and held its first screening in Los Angeles in December of 1974. In April of 1975, “Hearts and Minds” won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Film at the Oscars. The film is poignant today, as America is still entrenched in the Middle East. The occupation of Vietnam had been the longest running foreign conflict in American history until recently, when the American occupation of Afghanistan has now lasted even longer. After 40 years “Hearts and Minds” contains recognizable shadows of American foreign policy in 2014, whether or not that is a frightening or saddening fact is left to the individual.
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volume 107 issue 9 • April 30, 2014 • santa monica college
Marvel v. DC
Arts & Entertainment 9
Walter Flores Staff Writer In worlds of capes and crusaders who save humankind, Marvel is beating DC hands down. DC has had much success with Batman and Superman, but Marvel has countless superheroes that are more recognizable and profitable. Even Superman and Captain America have argued about this in print; In a crossover comic, Captain America saw the DC universe as a fascist state with no room for free will, yet Superman saw the Marvel universe as failing to protect its inhabitants Yet consumers themselves seem to prefer the imperfect world over the ideal one. The reason why Marvel has been slaying DC across mediums including both print and film is due in part to how its stories are formed. Regardless of who they are, its heroes start the same. Something happens to them that leaves them burdened with a superpower and they must learn to live with it. The most notable example of this is Spider-Man. A poor, orphaned kid living in New York who is constantly bullied ends up in an accident that gives him superhuman powers. He was not born with with his abilities, he acquired them by chance. From his experiences he learns the phrase most readily connected with the series: “with great power comes great responsibility.” Another example of this is not an individual hero, but a group of them, The X-Men. In the Marvel universe, “mutants” are anyone who gains superpowers genetically which usually manifest themselves during adolescence. Being shunned from society due to how they were born, the X-Men came about as a means of finding familiarity as outcasts and forming a community of mutants. Captain America falls into this category in his own way. A frail young man in the midst of World War II signs up for an experimental procedure and becomes the pinnacle of human perfection. His body now matches his willpower, and strives to represent the American Dream with his newfound gift. Of all the Marvel characters created, Spider-Man is one of the characters that best captures the hearts of many children, because it’s all about a young kid trying to make sense of his world while trying to be a hero as well. DC’s Superman however, is very much a god amongst mortals. He is living in a world where at any given moment, he can destroy it and no one can stop him, only a deus ex machina like Kryptonite. Batman’s title of “world’s greatest detective” gives writers an out to make Batman illogically perfect. He can always escape every situation because he has contingencies within contingencies prepared for any possible scenario. In addition, much of the DC pantheon are near saints. Batman swears never to kill, and Superman is constantly trying to do the right thing. Meanwhile, Marvel comics is very much trying out new things and story-lines. Sure some of it fails short, but they are at least willing to experiment. DC feels more like a relic of the past, trying to cling on to old ideals and stick to their guns. We don’t need a league to protect humanity from ourselves, just people to avenge us when the world falls to pieces.
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Rachel Porter Corsair
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10 Opinion
volume 107 issue 9 • April 30, 2014 • santa monica college
Donald Sterling: still adjusting to the times
Jonathan Ramos Opinions Editor
With a lifetime ban from the National Basketball Association and a 2.5 million dollar fine slapping him in the face, Donald Sterling continues to twist and turn racial boundaries, reminding the nation as to just how much the hauntings of history are still present in today’s “equality for all” society. And while enduring racism and discrimination isn’t old news, even in a world with refined morals, the revelation of Sterling’s true colors must be seen as a much more heart breaking truth. Unlike the more recent cases of racial controversy such as the Trayvon Martin case or the Riley Cooper incident, which are both very deserving of their own media storms, this incident involves the billionaire owner of the multi-million dollar Los Angeles Clippers. Celebrity status certainly does not equate to greater importance, but the significance of such a revelation is hard to argue. Sterling’s comments on a tape recording obtained by TMZ, were not any more racist than the previously mentioned cases. However, this case in particular paints a discouraging picture on just how little society really knows about the authority figures it supports. The Clippers are a team that consists primarily of African-American athletes;
a team who partly represents a city filled with a diversity of races and ethnicities. To find out that it has been run by a racist with what many have called a “plantation mentality”, is especially troubling for those who fight for racial equality. “People feel certain things,” Sterling said in the audio. “Hispanics feel certain things towards blacks. Blacks feel certain things towards other groups. It’s been that way historically, and it will always be that way.” Whatever the desires of society may be, it has become painfully obvious that racism and discrimination can never be fully abolished. There is always going to be the individual who lives under a racist cloud simply because they will not change the way they choose to think. Sterling dares to put the blame on history for the hypocrisy in his own senile mindset. His mentality is no different than any other human being unable to break free from the clutches of racist culture. However, he is not just any human being. He is a man in a strong position of power. This is a man who has sat court-side at Clipper games, interacting with fans and players, including those of AfricanAmerican descent. Such a racist figure living under the noses of an entire city as well as an entire franchise raises questions on just how much trust should be put in the leaders of our time. By making the unjust comments, Sterling
did not simply become just another person unable to let go of idiotic views and values of the past. In turn, he unraveled a plethora of possibilities of what others may be living among us under a corrupt ceiling. Sterling’s revelations are not nearly as impacting as the earth trembling power that the Lance Armstrong disaster carried, but they couldn’t have come at a more delicate time. In today’s day and age, humans seemingly scratch and claw for racial progress everyday, only to be set back by inhumane individuals like these. In the tape, Sterling tells his girlfriend that it is fine to fraternize with black people and black athletes as long as she does not promote them to the public by posting Instagram photos of them and taking them to the games. Thoughts like these are what keep the world in a strangle hold. Love black people, as long as you are not seen with them, right? The main argument Sterling poses in the audio is that the society lives in a culture where certain groups dislike other groups based on race and ethnicity, and anyone opposed to it needs to adjust the way they live. Apparently Sterling has failed to notice how the the world has drastically changed since the 1860s and it is he who has failed in adjusting with the times. He may think that his comments represent what the rest of the world may be thinking, but it is he who has gotten lost within
himself, unable to climb out of the racial hole he was dug in. “How about your whole life, you could do whatever you want,” Sterling said to his girlfriend. “You can sleep with them, you can bring them in, you can do whatever you want. The little I ask you is not to promote it, and not to bring them to my games.” Remember that “plantation mentality” that people are talking about? Sterling brings it full circle with when his girlfriend asks him if he understands which race makes up the majority of the team he owns. “I support them and give them food, and clothes, and cars, and houses. Who gives it to them? Does someone else give it to them?,” Sterling said. These players were given a job to do and they have performed at the highest level for their owner. They played a fantastic season only to have it tarnished by an ungrateful owner who sees them more as his pawns than his players. People like Sterling don’t move forward. They don’t see the world as it is because they only see what is in their own hypocritical minds. There is no arguing with them and there is no changing the culture which they abide by. “But maybe you want to adjust to the world,” Sterling tells his girlfriend. I think it’s safe to say that Mr. Sterling wants the world to adjust to himself.
The truth of the tape Christophor McGovern Staff Writer The public media outlet is not a reflection of reality. People are used to what’s been on television regarding the Donald Sterling call of racism. From hearing the recording of Donald Sterling’s conversation with his back door lady V. Stiviano, it’s extremely apparently that there is a lot more happening there. The conversation is odd and strange to start off with, and why it was being deliberately recorded with an interrogation feel is also questionable. Multiple times from the very beginning to the end, it’s clear Mr. Sterling is agitated, feeling she is not grasping what he is trying to get across. It’s obvious he wanted to end the conversation because of her lack of understanding. It feels as though words have different meanings here, in their use and why they were chosen. He isn’t targeting minorities directly. He’s targeting the people whom she is hanging out with and posting about on Instagram. It’s out of context and lacks the real issue of how the conversation got started. The Los Angeles Clippers are at an all time high right now, as a playoff team with a shot at a championship. Because of the tape, Stiviano is now more known than the guys on the bench, and I wouldn’t even be surprised if a desire on her part to be on reality T.V. spurred a new hit series. Mr. Sterling uses the term “black people” because that’s what she uses first. Minorities and black people are seen by him as two different terms, yet she speaks of them as interchangeable. These different understandings cause conflict between them. This makes Sterling sound racist to the public and Stiviano. Who benefits from a lifetime ban? A possible new owner? The NBA with
increased viewership from this drama? Miss Stiviano gaining fame? Rumors have even emerged that Magic Johnson could be making moves to buy the Los Angeles Clippers. His understandings of her instagram posts revolve around the posts of her hanging out with other people whom she has possible relations with. So he’d rather she not post these things publicly. The conversation has nothing to do with minorities or people of skin color; it’s the fact that she’s advertising to the public who she’s hanging around with that initially bothers Mr. Sterling. The issue is her broadcasting her habits to the world; not just the Magic Johnson photo, but multiple and large amount of photos of her with other guys of different races, which he doesn’t like. No man would want to see or hear about their girlfriend with multiple random guys on Instagram or Facebook. Sterling says he promotes love for all and wishes hate upon no one. The man in question did not give off a hateful vibe nor did he say anything questionable. What she is saying to him is based upon nothing, and just feeds his rage. People hear what they want to hear, and it’s always nice to have someone to talk about. Perhaps it’s the degeneration of humans due to social media that makes this okay. As Willie Dixon sang, “Men lie about that spoonful, Some cry about that spoonful, Some die about that spoonful, Everybody fight about a spoonful.” With the allegations against Sterling and Ms. Stiviano’s recent pleading no contest to the DUI charge against her, the Sterling fiasco just seems like another common cry for more attention from celebrities, it’s textbook media garbage being fed to the American public. Eat it up America.
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Ronja Jansz Corsair
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Sports 11
volume 107 issue 9 • April 30, 2014 • santa monica college
from O’Hara on pg. 1 team. With O’Hara’s Delta brothers comprising a pretty good team, his next step was contacting the UCLA athletic director in an attempt to get the school’s blessing in letting the Delta house represent UCLA in the national championships. “I talked to the athletic director who didn’t know anything about volleyball, and asked him, if we pay our own way, would you let us represent UCLA in the national championship?” said O’Hara. “He said yeah, and he gave us some old basketball jerseys and six of us got into a car, drove to Ohio and came back with the championship cup.” O’Hara, who would earn college All American honors in 1953 and 1954, had unbeknownst to himself, created UCLA’s men’s volleyball program from nothing. After his team returned with the championship trophy, the athletic director was very interested in officially establishing UCLA’s men’s volleyball program. “When we got back, I said coach, we’re the national champs, and don’t you think it would be nice to have a varsity program? So he said ‘yeah, I’m in the business of championship teams.’ So the next year we won again, and then after that, they hired a coach, and went about their business,” O’Hara said. Between O’Hara’s sophomore and junior years at UCLA, he found that he needed a way to pass the time. Being in Los Angeles, what better way for an indoor volleyball national champion to spend his time than on one of the many beautiful beaches lining the California coast. It didn’t take long for O’Hara to realize he was missing out on another calling, beach volleyball. “I hadn’t played any beach volleyball until after my two years at UCLA. Summer was there, and what was I going to do? So I went down to play, but it took me about six weeks to get used to it and about two or three months to get a good partner,” said O’Hara. Once he discovered another long lost calling, it was only a matter of time before he excelled to the top of the field, as he seemed to do in almost all of his undertakings. While dominating the beach volleyball circuit, O’Hara and his partner were afforded many opportunities to be ambassadors of the game, most notably in Hawaii. But O’Hara’s affinity for Hawaii would go far beyond the sand and would even follow him back to his old stomping grounds. “The president of the Outrigger Canoe Club was my best buddy. Volleyball was king, and then it came over here, and Duke Kahanamoku was hired by the Santa Monica Beach Club to be their athletic director,” said O’Hara. “After Kahanamoku won the gold medal in the 1932 Olympics, he was king of the world.” After graduating from UCLA and jaunting around the Hawaiian Islands, O’Hara took a step toward a more dutiful line of work as he enrolled in the Army, just as the Korean War began. Going from a tropical paradise to a frozen tundra was shocking, especially for someone like O’Hara who spent every waking moment outside. So to finally get back to the West Coast beaches he so longed for, had to be quite a sight for sore eyes. One of the first activities O’Hara reengaged in upon his arrival back in Southern California was some good ol’ beach volleyball. Except this time the stakes were a little higher, at least on a social level. “I got invited and played volleyball
with Peter Lawford. Though the biggest disappointment when I got to hang with these guys was Frank Sinatra,” said O’Hara. “He was my hero, we would drive out to Vegas for the weekend when I was in college to watch him perform. But getting close to him was a disappointment.” If interacting with Frank Sinatra was a disappointment, then hanging out with the Kennedy brothers and Marilyn Monroe was quite the opposite. “We would be down at Peter Lawford’s house in Manhattan Beach, and here would be President Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy, Marilyn Monroe and Angie Dickinson, you name it,” said O’Hara. “My favorite story is this one time when Marilyn Monroe was there, around one o’clock in the morning; the President said ‘lets go skinny dipping.’ Of course everybody thought it sounded like fun, so out we went, all of us.” To be able to romp around with historic figures like the Kennedy brothers and Marilyn Monroe is as rare as company gets. Most people would find themselves star struck around such wildly popular public figures, but O’Hara had been around the block a few times by then, it would take something more to stun him, or someone. “The Kennedy’s and I talked a little, but they were there to party. They were worrying about Marilyn Monroe and Angie Dickinson. I thought Angie was sensational. I thought she was so much prettier and had so much more personality than Marilyn.” After O’Hara was done sewing his wild oats, he settled down and focused on his beach volleyball career. It would become a move that would lead him to arguably the most important introduction of his young life, the first time he met his wife. “I spiked the ball and it rolled out of the court, and she went and got it for me. So I told her, thank you very much, you will be rewarded after the game,” said O’Hara. The O’Hara’s would have two children, a girl who currently lives in Orange County, and a boy who among other things would become captain of the Harvard and Stanford volleyball teams as well as class president, and eventually C.E.O of Madison Square Garden Television. With a father like O’Hara, such accolades were to be expected. But what might be surprising are the extraordinary influences O’Hara afforded his son. After settling into the Santa Monica area with his own family, O’Hara would procure many business relationships with many well-known business personalities in the L.A. area. One more notable relationship was with the late Hall of Fame Lakers owner Jerry Buss. “Jerry Buss invited me to a fight in Vegas one time, and he said bring a guest. So I brought my 17-year-old son and he brought Magic Johnson,” said O’Hara. “The four of us flew over, and on the way to the airport, I made sure my son sat next to Magic. They had a nice conversation, and we went to watch the fights, and had a great time.” Little did O’Hara know that would not be the last time he or Ryan would have an audience with Johnson. “Three or four months later during the NBA Finals, Jerry called me and said to get over to the Forum, that if they won that night, they would win the whole thing, and to bring a friend. So I brought my son again, because I brought him to everything,” said O’Hara. “We watched them play, they won, and the place went crazy. Jerry asked if we wanted to go to the locker room. So we walked down were Magic was, and the first thing Magic said was ‘Hey Ryan, how’s volleyball going?’ That’s why he’s a zillionaire. Because he’s
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smart and he remembers everything.” With the Hollywood nights behind him, O’Hara would start to cultivate a long lasting legacy in the Santa Monica area, as he took possession of the Santa Monica College volleyball program in an attempt to put them on the map. “I was teaching at SMC at the time. That first year we had the world’s shortest team, we had one guy over six feet,” said O’Hara. “So I said how am I going to turn this around? So I gave them a speech and I said the only way you’re going to win is to not let the ball hit the ground. Everything has to be dug, and as long as you don’t let that ball hit inside the lines, you can win.” What the SMC team would do next, not even the most astute volleyball analyst would have been able to predict, as SMC would beat UCLA for the NCAA men’s volleyball national championship. “It was so embarrassing to them, that Al Scates, my buddy, he hated me. The first year we played that I coached, we came in second in the nation, four-year schools, two-year schools, boom,” said O’Hara. “The next year we won the whole thing, and UCLA came in second, we beat ‘em like fifteen to three. So Al Scates hated me all of the sudden and he worked it to where no longer were community college teams able to play with the big boys. So that was the end of it for a while, then we got our own league going. It was all junior colleges, and of course we did pretty well.” What might be O’Hara’s crowning achievement though is his Olympic legacy. O’Hara not only competed in indoor volleyball during the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, but he has not missed the summer games since. After representing the U.S.A, O’Hara did not stop there. Since his playing days, he has been an Olympic torchbearer four times and even adopted his foundation Ready, Set, Gold! after seeing it presented while on an Olympic committee to bring the games to New York City. “We got indoor volleyball into the Olympics in 1964. Later on I was able to get beach volleyball in. We came in seventh or eighth in ‘64. In those days, it was UCLA playing the Lakers,” said O’Hara. “If you showed promise at a young age in any of the communist countries, especially in Russia, they’d train you at age five or six. They were set for life as long as they kept progressing. Six days a week, six hours a day, volleyball. Or whatever their sport was.” Being such a well-known Olympic ambassador, O’Hara has had the opportunity to bend the ear of many influential and powerful people. Many of them world leaders like former President Jimmy Carter. “I ran into him in Australia at a Young Presidents Organization. We were both speakers, and they took us off to play tennis one afternoon when we had some time,” said O’Hara. “So I walked over to him and said I couldn’t believe you made the decision you made to boycott the Olympics. I was about to give him ten minutes worth, until he interrupted me and said ‘Mike, your absolutely right. It was bad advice I was given, I let them convince me, and it turned into a real blunder. I think that’s one of the main reasons I didn’t win the second time around.’ So what could I say.” Although all of O’Hara’s Olympic endeavors may seem glamorous, it was only a matter of time before the odds caught up with him. During one of his last stints as torchbearer, O’Hara found himself in a shady part of town, late at night with his security escort lagging. What happened next, the Hollywood writers couldn’t have even @t h e _ c o r s a i r •
come up with. “They said they wanted me to run through San Pedro at midnight. My escort was pretty far behind, because there was nobody out. But then we passed this bar and three drunken guys came out and tried to get the torch,” said O’Hara. “So I’m standing there playing Count of Monte Cristo, waving the torch at them until my escort could get there. Eventually he showed up and they ran away. But it would have been the biggest Olympic news story in that non-Olympic year if they had been successful, and I wasn’t about to relinquish it.” How O’Hara got started in Ready, Set, Gold! might surprise people. It actually wasn’t even his idea to begin with. But after it was brought to his attention, he had no choice but to adopt the foundation as his own and champion it to this day. “The mayor of New York City called and said he was putting together a 30 person team to try and get the Olympic games for NYC. I asked who else was in the group and he said Mohammed Ali, myself, corporate presidents, so I went over there and fell in love with a program that London actually won with called Ready, Set, Gold!” said O’Hara. “I knew the guy heading the program and picked his brain. After that, I took the program back to the U.S and was part of the group putting this together and I said we have to use this vehicle to get the kids excited about competition. We hired ex-Olympians and had 50 high schools enrolled in the program. It’s been imminently successful and we’re now trying to get it in other states like New York.” O’Hara has also published two books. Two everlasting icons of his legacy that will give generations the opportunity to not only learn the secrets of the trade for his beloved game of volleyball, but also stay prepared late in life in case cancer ever rears its ugly head. The first book, “Volleyball, Fastest Growing Sport in the World! The Basic Guide to the Sport Challenging Soccer” is a total comprehensive guide to the sport that touches on everything from what the sport is all about to the future of volleyball and everything in between. “We’re converting it into Mandarin because all the Chinese can read Mandarin no matter what dialect they speak,” said O’Hara. “Volleyball is huge over there, it’s growing like crazy.” The second book, “Prostate Cancer: And Other Prostate Problems, Prevention, Measures And Cures” is almost like a game plan for that difficult and unexpected fight with the disease afflicting so many people. The book covers everything from the shock of finding out to the future post-disease. “I had prostate cancer, I went through it, and so I wrote a real good book on what to do, what the different choices are, and they said its saved over six hundred lives, which is maybe the best thing I’ve ever done,” said O’Hara. In his eighty-second year, O’Hara is a shining example to many. What he was able to do in his first 30 years puts most lifetime resumes to shame. The company he’s kept is enough to make anyone long to be a fly on the wall, during one of those chance encounters. The dedication and fervor, which he currently lives with, is enough to make anyone question whether they’re getting everything out of their life.
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12 sports
volume 107 issue 9 • April 30, 2014 • santa monica college
Men’s volleyball loses state championship
Trev angone Sports Editor
The Santa Monica College men’s volleyball team was narrowly defeated last Friday night by the Orange Coast College Pirates, as the Pirates won the deciding fifth and final set of the California Community College Athletic Association State Championship at Santiago Canyon College. The Corsairs started the match by losing the first two sets, putting them in the difficult position of winning three straight sets if they had any hopes of a comeback victory. Despite the imposing combo of SMC AllTournament standouts Taylor Tattersall and Keats Stanley, OCC proved too much for the Corsairs winning 15-10 in the shortened fifth set. “I felt pretty good going into the fifth set. They made a flip with their lineups, which was a good move by them. We had different matchups,” said SMC Head Coach John Mayer. “It’s such a short game, and it’s a game of runs. Maybe if we go to 25, we get our run back. But Orange Coast is a consistent team, you have to earn it to beat them.” As soon as the match started, it was evident that the Corsairs would have their work cut out for them, with the majority of the crowd rooting for OCC. With the game being played in Orange County, this came as no surprise. That didn’t stop the SMC cheering section comprised of SMC basketball players, women’s volleyball team members, and others, from rooting on their home team. “If those guys don’t show up, we might lose in three. It plays a role, it helped us out,” said Mayer. “Our guys probably needed them at times, it was awesome.” Despite the loss, Stanley and Tattersall’s impressions on the season were still felt league wide. Stanley was second in the
conference in kills per set, and Tattersall finished first in kills and third in kills per set. “We had two guys who were two of the best players so that helps. But we had some really mature hard working people,” said Mayer. “Our setter Kasey Dunn, he works his butt off and that’s infectious and it rubs off on everybody. He was our captain, and I think he led us in the way we worked.” During the game, the two teams were having fun trash talking under the net, but as Stanley put it, “There’s always a little trash talking, but it’s all love afterwards.” After a couple of abysmal seasons recently, it came as a surprise and a victory in itself for the Corsairs to make a playoff run as deep as they did. But asking any of the players, they had an idea something like this was always possible. “We had a goal set to become a tribe, and I think that’s what we did in the final game. We came back from 1-10 last year, and to get to the finals is a big improvement.” said Tattersall. With such a dramatic improvement in such a short span of time, there are many reasons for the team’s quick turn around. According to the players, it begins and ends with coaching. “I have to give everything to our coaches,” said Stanley. “They have the ability to slow our minds down and slow the game down for us and just remind us that we’re here for a reason.” It’s easy to lose a championship game, and look back with regret. It’s also a true mark of character to have just suffered a crushing loss, but still have nothing but admiration for your players and staff. “I’m so proud, what an amazing season for us,” said Mayer. “You judge yourself not on wins and losses, but by how hard you go in practice and how hard you play in matches. They came in to practice saying what can I get better at.”
Brandon Barsugli Corsair Santa Monica College Corsair volleyball players Taylor Tattersall and Kasey Dunn hug while watching Orange Coast College (OCC) players celebrate after SMC lost the match against OCC on Friday April 25, 2014 at Santiago Canyon College in Orange, Calif. The Corsairs lost 3-2 during the CCCAA State Championship.
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Brandon Barsugli Corsair Left to right: Izabel Nazdracheva, M.K. Ashmore, Victoria Mamatova, Jessica Goldbeck, Kaori Tsuda, Thanapha Bencharongkul, Juliana Nelkin Jessica Goldbeck and Kaori Tsuda lost on Saturday in the quarter finals to the number one ranked team from Northern California. As a double’s team, they finished 9-1. Marry Katherine Ashmore qualified for the state singles tournament.
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