Vol110 issue04

CORSAIR

OCTOBER 07, 2015 | VOLUME 110 ISSUE 04 | SANTA MONICA COLLEGE

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CONTENT

VOLUME 110 ISSUE 04 • OCTOBER 07, 2015 • SANTA MONICA COLLEGE

EDITORIAL STAFF Devin Page ....................................Editor-in-Chief corsair.editorinchief@gmail.com Yasha Hawkins...........................Managing Editor corsair.managing@gmail.com Alissa Nardo ......................................News Editor corsair.news@gmail.com Bailey Peraita ..........................Health & Lifestyle corsair.lifestylepage@gmail.com Oskar Zinneman ........................... Opinion Editor corsair.opinionpage@gmail.com Josh Shure .........................................Sports Editor corsair.sportspage@gmail.com Nik Lucaj ..............Arts & Entertainment Editor corsair.calendarpage@gmail.com Claudius West .................. Multimedia Director corsair.multimediadept@gmail.com Jose Lopez ...........................................Photo Editor corsairphotoeditor@gmail.com Alexandra Perry ...................................Illustrator corsaircartoon@gmail.com William Miguel ..............................Design Editor corsair.designteam@gmail.com

Seasonal fruits and vegetables mark the change of the seasons. (Dotan Saguy/The Corsair)

CORSAIR STAFF Chase Maser, Daniela Barhanna, Carolyn Alfaro, Jeremy Sanders, Kevin Colindres, Alexandra Obiekea, Adam Robert Thomas, Jacob Hirsohn, Wynn Taylor, Hannah, Kovar, Semaj Harbin, Andrew Olender, Frederick Riggs, Tarah Kelly, Roxana Esquivias, Yesenia Sandoval, Samantha Ruvalcaba, Samuel Huntington, Ariana Kidd, Melina Guelli, Stephanie Irineo, Ryanne Mena, Carlos Espinosa, Ramses Lemus, Daniel J. Bowyer, Dotan Saguy, Tina Eady

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FRONT COVER Photo Credits

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR DEVIN PAGE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF As the anniversary of the Santa Monica College shooting hangs in the rear view mirror, it is impossible not to think about it in light of the shooting that happened at Oregon's Umpqua Community College.

Being that I was there during the shooting in the SMC library, I can sympathize and imagine what those students had to go through.

In dark situations like these, where school shootings and mass murders have become the norm, it is easy to want to bury your head in the sand and proclaim ignorance to the situation. But I think if we are not being conscious of what is happening around the world, outside of our bubble, then we are only prolonging the education needed to assess each wrongdoing.

Could it be that we don't have proper mental health funding widespread in America? Are there deeper rooted issues that make it commonplace in our society for straight, white, cisgender males to go on killing sprees every time they get their feelings hurt by a woman? This is the critical dialogue that moves past the "head in sand" response and sparks attention on issues that are not going away anytime soon.

At the Corsair we really strive to educate on information that readers didn't know before. Objectivity, news value, and fairness are guidelines we abide by to maintain proper coverage in our print and online edition.

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Every so often we receive misunderstandings in the form of complaints directed towards the Corsair. And while each staff member is taught to take nothing personally, it can be baffling to receive feedback that is so far off from what we were trying to accomplish.

Last week, I received an email from an English Professor on campus complaining about our use of photos in our coverage of the debate last week between SMC and the British National Team. In fact, they were "mystified by the large color photo of just one of the debaters that occupies almost the entire front page. There were... four quite intelligent debaters in the theatre who engaged in a stimulating discussion of an important issue. In fact one of them was a young woman."

Being that the debate was about gender equity, I guess some people would have seen it more fit to include photos of the women on the cover, or at least some variety in the two pictures we had to use.

The English Professor went on to say, "Given the subject of the debate and extensive discussion of many of the perceptions in society of women and men, the rationale to publish these photographs, to be charitable about it, is an example of sending mixed messages and is terribly ironic."

That professor is right, it is ironic.

The irony remains with the fact that we are talking about gender and automatically relating it to the woman. As far as I have gathered, gender is a very sensitive issue in @THE_CORSAIR •

which people identify with either a man or a woman, not to be confused with sexuality or physically being a "man" or a "woman."

I doubt anyone went around to ask each debater what gender pronoun they prefer, but it was definitely assumed by their physical appearance what they represented.

So while yes, Ms. Whalen was engaged in a large part of the debate, photo quality was not sacrificed to suit the subject.

What often happens in these cases is that people jump to conclusions first and ask questions later.

I'd like to remind the public that we are just doing our jobs and while we're certainly not the LA Times or the New York Times, we are student journalists preparing for actual jobs in the field and journalism is a field that is largely misunderstood.

While we as journalists have to always stay on our toes and wait for the crowds with pitchforks, we are just students, not racist, bigoted people trying to run a politically incorrect paper.

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NEWS

VOLUME 110 ISSUE 04 • OCTOBER 07, 2015 • SANTA MONICA COLLEGE

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PEER EDUCATORS PREMIERS WITH MOVIES FOR MENTAL ILLNESS ALISSA NARDO NEWS EDITOR Proactive and compassionate, Peer Educators opens up their program with workshops addressing mental wellness.

Peer Educators is a group of students interning within the Psychological Services center on campus. The group is focused on bringing awareness to mental health issues by hosting events on campus. Through this, the Peer Educators hope to release stigma and provide resources to students who are not ready to go to Psychological Services yet.

“We want to open a dialogue on campus about mental health and mental illness and how it does affect so many students,” intern Nicole Cutrona said. “It is a real issue that we don’t talk about too often.”

This is Peer Educators' first official year as a group after piloting the project on a smaller scale last year. Where only two students made up the program last year, Peer Educators is now comprised of 11 interns, diverse in backgrounds and majors.

“I think what ties everyone together is a passion for representing the mental health field and just wanting to help fellow students,” Cutrona said. “Compassion is kind of the main factor. People came in for interviews like, ‘Should i cover my tattoos? Change my hair color?’ No, you’re perfect. The point is we’re trying to represent the student population and how varied it really is.”

The group’s first event of the semester, Movies for Mental Illness, will be held tomorrow from 11a to 1p in BUS 111. Peer Educators partnered with Art for Impact, a nonprofit which uses art to address a variety of mental health issues.

During the event, several Art for Impact short films will play, each followed by a group discussion. At the end, several of SMC’s psychologists and Peer Educators will come together with various mental health agencies from the community to

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discuss living with mental health issues, seeking aid and fighting stigma.

“If people are hesitant about mental health as a topic or want to learn more about it and see what it’s about, come to our Movies for Mental Health,” Cutrona said. “It’s a safe, easy way to get introduced to all of these ideas and to learn more. We’re really excited to be able to bring this to campus.”

Future Peer Educator events lined up include workshops centered around topics like test anxiety, body image, losing loved ones, reducing mental health stigma and healthy relationships.

“In workshops, when I disclose personal information about myself dealing with mental illness, I can see other students opening up and wanting to share about their own life experiences,” Cutrona said.

“I can show ‘Yes, I’m a student and I’m making it work’ and it’s not something I’m ashamed of, and they can see it’s something they don’t need to be ashamed of either.”

The interns earned training through mental health education organizations such as Mental Health First Aid, BACCHUS and Kognito.

While these qualifications do not make the interns certified psychologists by a long shot, it provides Peer Educators with the ability to educate their peers (yup) and recognize signs to kickstart their peer’s journeys to improved mental health.

“If, at a workshop, anyone has any questions or wants to come up to us, we’re always available to talk,” Cutrona said.

“If someone wants ask questions, we can walk to class and talk with you. One of our main goals is to direct people to resources in the community.”

Since on-campus resources are scarce, oftentimes Psychological Services cannot provide much more than short-term problem solving for students in need.

Because of this, one of the center’s strategies is to direct students to outside resources to find long-term assistance.

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Allison Brown Ph.D is the coordinator for psychological services at Santa Monica College helping many students with mental health issues on campus. (Daniel Bowyer/The Corsair)

Psychological Services hopes that Peer Educators becomes another way for students to learn about assistive resources in a more discreet manner. By relating to their peers during workshops, Psychological Services predicts that students will be more open to considering mental health assistance.

“I think it’s often more powerful coming from a peer than coming from a faculty member or a psychologist,” Alison Brown, psychologist and Peer Educators advisor, said. “We’ve come a long way and Psycho-

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logical Services are in high demand but there’s still a huge stigma around mental health and mental illness. With Peer Educators, people can still get information without having to walk into our office, which can be very scary for a lot of students. I think [aid] coming from peers makes it that much more accessible, much more relatable, less scary.”

Peer Educators will release internship applications for the 2016-2017 school year beginning in Spring.

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NEWS

VOLUME 110 ISSUE 04 • OCTOBER 07, 2015 • SANTA MONICA COLLEGE

MARRIED MARINES COPING WITH CAMPUS CULTURE SHOCK ADAM THOMAS STAFF WRITER After years of campaigns and ordinances attempting to make SMC a smoke-free campus, not much has changed at the thoroughfare near the Pearl Street entrance.

It’s still the same haven for musical students to practice their guitar strumming, skaters to get their kick-flip on, and congregating crowds of smokers fitting in a drag between classes as it ever was. The sidewalk of smokers on Pearl is a place to hurry past if you’re worried about the effects of carcinogens but for some it's a home where you can take a puff.

Of the many pairs of people you can find smoking next to the Bundy campus shuttle stop there are obviously a number of couples.

One couple in particular is easy to spot by the comfortable body language they share.

He’s a tall drink of water with short blond hair and a wide disarming grin. She's dwarfed by her backpack and his height and has long black hair kept in a ponytail and piercingly wise eyes. Neither likes to dress up, happy to keep T-shirts, jeans and sneakers as a daily uniform.

The couple is Chris and Samantha Purucker. They’re both first-year students here at SMC. They’re recently married. They’re Marines. And now, they’re still coming to grips with civilian life.

“It's still difficult. In some ways it's nice because I don't have to be up early or work 16 hours a day,” says Chris, “but in a lot of ways it sucks because you miss that sort of . . ."

“Camaraderie?” says Sam. ". . . Yeah." He responds.

No longer being within the regimented structure of the United States Marine Corps, they've found there's a lot to deal with after serving. The effects of their work life transcend into every moment. Chris, 26, brings up his frustration with the nature of politically correct campus conversation after spending years surrounded by rude, crude gear-heads working as a flight line mechanic stationed at Marine Corps Air Station in New River, NC. Both bring up the sense of unfamiliar unease that comes when the easy identifiers of rank and uniform are stripped away.

When the people surrounding you are truly strangers rather than being able to rely on the sense of unity shared experiences like boot camp can bring.

It was this unity that led Sam, 24, a member of maintenance administration in the same unit, to meeting Chris in a “smoking pit," much like the one they hang out in here at SMC. She talks of the sense of family that the Corps brought and how marriage felt like the natural next step—about how the corps trained outgoing service members in how to balance a checkbook or invest in a business, but not how to handle civilian life on a social level.

“There's nothing to help you deal with culture shock,” says Sam. “That's exactly what it is. Culture shock. Especially because I did a little over four years and I left at 18.

I didn't have a strong adult life to revert back to. All I had was high school and the Marine Corps."

This culture shock is a common experience for veterans. A study released earlier this year by USC and the Orange County Community Foundation (OCCF) showed that 61 percent of post-9/11 veterans reported adjustment challenges while 45 percent of them needed time to decide what to do with their civilian lives. A major cause

United States Marine Corps veterans, Samantha (left) and Christopher Purucker (right), are both full-time first year Santa Monica College students who are married to each other and taking classes together. (Daniel Bowyer)

was PTSD, which 44 percent of the veterans surveyed screened positive for.

This includes Sam. After being discharged in 2013, Sam was diagnosed with PTSD stemming from her time stationed in Afghanistan. It took her some time to be able to leave the house, having to learn to deal with a severe sense of agoraphobia and panic attacks. Aside from help from Chris, she’s also got Buddy, a service dog provided by the Veteran's Affairs, that also helps aid Sam’s balance after injuries sustained during her time in the military.

“People love him,” she says of the dark brown and black Rottweiler/St. Bernard mix. “Honestly I don't like being treated like someone who 'you got to be careful what you say around her.' I just want to be normal. Buddy helps that just exponentially."

Despite these hardships, Chris and Sam bristle at the idea that this isn’t something that they can overcome. "Were not freaks.

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A lot of people hear 'veteran with PTSD' and they think we're just going to snap and start killing people, but that's not how any of this works," Sam says, "We're just people who've seen some shit, our brains didn't process it properly. We have this, but just because I have this diagnosis, doesn't mean I'm crazy."

"I don't know what she's talking about, she actually is crazy," says Chris laughing.

If Sam’s crazy, then the Chemistry Club may be in need of a new treasurer. A chemical engineering major with an eye on transferring to UCLA, Sam quickly found a home in the club and is planning on being their official Madame Curie cosplayer. This explains why Sam came to SMC, but what about Chris?

“I got his grandmother to nag him into it,” she gloats.

Aside from sharing a psychology class here with his wife, Chris is pursuing his general education while he figures out what @THE_CORSAIR •

he wants to do next. He’s looking into aerospace engineering, primarily because he got frustrated with poorly designed automobiles in the military.

“Mainly I want to be an engineer so I can tell people to stop designing things in stupid ways," he scoffs.

Sam chides him for this having been the 10th time he’s changed his mind on this and the pair laugh. Watching them, it becomes easy to see why these two fit together so well and why the transition from a world of warriors to cushy campuses of precocious kids can be so tough.

As Sam says, "The Marine Corps operates like a family all across the board. We all treat each other like family. Being married is a small step from there."

The corps gave them a sense of family, but it’s in each other that they’ve actually started to build one. With a foundation like that, the pair is going to be hard to knock down.

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VOLUME 110 ISSUE 04 • OCTOBER 07, 2015 • SANTA MONICA COLLEGE

HEALTH & LIFESTYLE

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THE THRILL OF DANCE

Students gather to learn the art of ballroom dancing by showing up and giving it a try.

SAMUEL HUNTINGTON STAFF WRITER It was a hot day at high noon and there was a small group of students practicing ballroom dance technique in front of the school clock tower without the benefit of music—just waltzing wildly in all directions.

It so happens that it was the continuation of a long standing ritual which has been practiced on campus since 1998 when the SMC Ballroom & International Folk Dance Club was founded.

Now, students meet twice a week under the clock tower to learn the fundamentals of ballroom dance. Instruction is free and available to all students, who may join at any time.

Ballroom dance incorporates a variety of styles which include swing, salsa, tango, waltz, cha-cha, and the foxtrot. The instruction is progressive and there are opportunities to dance at social events in and around campus including a special event at UCLA on October 24th called The Valentino Ragtime Ball.

The newly minted club officers include acting President and first year student, Georgia Eskew, and Vice President and first year Aerospace Engineering student, Allen Alvarado. They share a similar passion, even though they have very different backgrounds in dance.

Alvarado has been dancing for only three weeks and said that he joined because it had always been something that he wanted to do, even as he encountered some anxiety in doing so.

Eskew, on the other hand, has extensive training in a variety of dance styles including hip hop, modern, and jazz. She mentioned that she took her first ballet class at age three, yet had never had any partnered dance experience. She found out about the club from Alvarado while she was walking through campus searching for a different dance class.

Right now, the students are learning the essentials of 1920's style east coast swing. Alvarado said the process of learning can be frustrating but the thrill of learning a new move turns the frustration into joy. Eskew said that a feeling of effortlessness occurs when one really connects with their partner.

The instruction is led by James Zimmer, an SMC and UCLA alumnus who has taught dance and volunteered his services on

Georgia Eskew, President of the Historical Dance Club of SMC and Allen Alvarado, Vice President practice their dance moves on the Clock Tower lawn at noon. (Dotan Saguy/The Corsair)

campus since 1993. During that time he has organized numerous events including a special costumed dance party to mark the 150th Anniversary of California statehood.

Eskew described her passion for dance as a form of self expression. She said, "I'm not good at talking to people in groups but I'm good at dancing with people in groups."

Alvarado encourages reluctant students that might be interested in learning to dance to take the plunge. He said, "Take the initiative and challenge yourself to learn something new."

The SMC Ballroom and Folk Dance Club meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays between 11:15a-12:35p at the college clock tower. The Valentino Ragtime Ball will be on Saturday, October 24th from 8P-Midnight at Kerkhoff Hall. Admission is free and lessons will be offered at the event.

For more information please visit www. studentgroups.ucla.edu/ballroomdance or send an email to historicaldance@yahoo.com.

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SMC students practice a jump and kick move at a swing dance lesson during their lunch break on the Clock Tower lawn. (Dotan Saguy/The Corsair)

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PHOTOSTORY

VOLUME 110 ISSUE 04 • OCTOBER 07, 2015 • SANTA MONICA COLLEGE

Festival goers dance off the booze.

OKTOBE

Attendees participate in the Beer Stein Holding Contest on Sunday.

A visitor at the Vegan Oktoberfest makes a splash as she participates in the Beer Stein Holding Contest on Sunday inside the Bixler Studios in Downtown Los Angeles.

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PHOTOSTORY

VOLUME 110 ISSUE 04 • OCTOBER 07, 2015 • SANTA MONICA COLLEGE

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Festival-goers dressed in traditional Bavarian costumes.

ERFEST "Wreck Check" offers a free BAC test at their stand for anyone at the event.

PHOTOS BY CARLOS ESPINOSA CLAUDIUS WEST MULTIMEDIA EDITOR

A pretzel collar hangs from the neck of an attendee.

This past weekend Angelinos looking for a good time and a Bavarian flavor—minus the meat—were gathered by the thousands under the overcast skies of downtown for the second annual Vegan Oktoberfest.

Festival-goers, some dressed in traditional Bavarian clothing, indulged in many of the typical Oktoberfest traditions, from dancing away their food and drink calories, to flexing their forearms in the beer stein holding contest. Of course, there were the main attractions of Oktoberfest: food and lots of beer.

“It’s everything about Oktoberfest except the food and beer is vegan,” says David Burke, the event creator. Oktoberfest is a 205-year-old festival that has its roots in the Bavaria province of Germany and is celebrated around the world. However, in its purest form, Oktoberfest is typically not the place for vegans as the foods traditionally associated with the event contain various animal products and varying wheat-based alcohol. While American beers are typically vegan, many imported beers are processed using fish products,

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which naturally vegans want to avoid.

Although the event is essentially a two-day party, an underlying truth is not lost on the partygoers: this is a festival celebrating a continued vegan lifestyle. “This is my 27th day of not eating animals or contributing to the death of any animal,” says Giles. “I’m here to grow my consciousness, trying to love myself more and think of other people more.”

In addition to beer and food vendors, there were animal rights groups on the site, such as Last Chance for Animals, to educate those that were coherent enough to hold a conversation. There was also a blood alcohol test booth for those who may have had a little too much fun. People not only didn’t seem to mind the booth, but rather seemed to enjoy it.

“I think that it’s a good cause and in some cases it promotes you to drink more, but it reminds you how much you were drinking before you take the wheel,” says Anthony Ross, a party-goer who proudly displayed his .23 blood alcohol concentration on the back of his shirt. Like many party-goers, Ross said that he and his friends would be going home in an Uber—a lucky thing for other drivers.

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

VOLUME 110 ISSUE 04 • OCTOBER 07, 2015 • SANTA MONICA COLLEGE

INSIDE THE BROAD MUSEUM

The Broad Museum, located on Grand Ave. in Downtown Los Angeles opened to the public on September 20th. (Carlos Espinosa/The Corsair)

Guests interacting with the sculptures inside the Broad Museum. (Carlos Espinosa/The Corsair)

ALISSA NARDO NEWS EDITOR A fresh addition to the contemporary art scene and downtown skyline, The Broad museum opened on Sept. 20.

The museum’s namesake is the same family that funded SMC’s Broad Stage and Performing Arts Center. Eli and Edythe Broad (pronounced like “road”) are big players in LA’s art scene, funding art buildings and collections at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art, UCLA and more through their art foundation.

The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation strives to “[foster] public appreciation of contemporary art by increasing access for audiences worldwide.” This explains why the new museum’s admission is free, with tickets near-booked through December.

The art starts before one even steps foot through the door. The Broad is already known for its modern architecture, with a white honeycomb shell encasing a solid, glass and cement bunker. The museum finds itself lain in welcome territory, sandwiched next to the Walt Disney Concert Hall and across from the MOCA.

Walking through the front doors, viewers are immediately met with a single melting lamp-post, which seems to be a fun tease on the iconic “Urban Lights” at LACMA, and a tribute to the recently-late Chris Burden. From there, attendees follow a path of concrete and plaster through the temporary exhibits on the first floor.

The exhibits as a whole are home to a historical mishmash of contemporary art, with subjects as vast and relevant as Michael Jackson and Karl Marx. The collection predictably does a good job of hosting big names, but lacks diversity in the artist roster.

The highlight installation is Yayoi Kusama's, “Infinity Mirrored Room,” a mirrorlined room decorated by star-like LED lights, spanning on infinitely in the endless reflection. First premiered in New York, the installation’s one person capacity gained itself notoriety in the art world. Each viewer spends up to 45 seconds in the room, taking selfies and star-gazing as they please.

Though the time limit may seem short, the intimate experience leaves a lasting impression with all viewers.

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The rest of the first floor is small, with most of the rooms only holding a couple, mostly unfamiliar pieces in them. Out of the selection, Takashi Murakami’s colorful, anime-esque murals stand the tallest, spanning all four walls of the largest room. Littering the floor are life-size sculptures by Murakami, bubbly Japanese figures formed of metal and paint.

Making way through the building via elevator or stairs, onlookers get a peer into the Broad’s expansive, on-site art vault. The vault is home to over 2,000 pieces of art, all in Broad’s name, and is visible through windows, tucked in the center of the building, making it almost a piece itself.

Upstairs, the permanent collection prominently gives space to pop art kings Roy Lichtenstein and Keith Haring. With many bright and oversized pieces, the pop collection has almost too many eye-catching works, leaving little room to breathe.

In one corner of the floor sits a colossal dining room set entitled “Under the Table”

by Robert Therrien. An initially exciting piece, viewers are turned off by the “look, @THE_CORSAIR •

don’t touch” policy put in place by the museum. While understandable for the sake of preserving the art, those giant chairs are almost begging to be climbed upon.

The permanent collection also hosts pieces familiar to LA’s contemporary scene (think the inaugural collection of LACMA’s Broad Contemporary Art museum in 2008), such as the “Balloon Dog” and “Michael Jackson And Bubbles,” both by Jeff Koons.

Presenting these pieces in the same fashion is exhausting to local museumgoers and questionable, considering The Broad boasts that they designed the building around their expansive art vault.

Overall, the exhibits make many nods to the art world, but the collection never quite delves deeply into the art world itself. Rather, The Broad houses a rudimentary collection of cacophonous pop art and is more of a nice Sunday afternoon date idea rather than a thought-provoking art experience.

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VOLUME 110 ISSUE 04 • OCTOBER 07, 2015 • SANTA MONICA COLLEGE

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

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UNDEAD POETS SOCIETY CHASE MASER STAFF WRITER David Burak, a veteran English professor at SMC, wears a worn-out baseball cap and a gray-faded vest. He looks like a humble man who has experienced the beauty of life, and his soft voice gives even more humanness and gentility to his demeanor. He approaches the podium, and the crowd settles down to an energetic rumble of students and faculty who are eager to listen.

Silence falls upon the audience, and for a brief moment, everyone is fully engaged.

In past years at SMC, the English department took their time to celebrate the writing of the faculty and David Burak was the outlet for their artistic expression. “We used to have poetry readings all the time with the staff,” says Mario Padilla, a well-known English Professor on campus. “But all of a sudden, for 5, 6 or so many years, it stopped.

So I was surprised when I saw that David was putting together a poetry reading like the old days.”

"Unacknowledged Legislators of The World”, a line borrowed from the historic poet, Percy Bysshe Shelley, was the title of the reading hosted by Burak, the Black Collegians and the Latino Center on October 1st at SMC. The reading included several well-versed and accomplished writers from the college and even a few alumni. Faculty poets included Ernie Padilla, Mario Padilla, and Will Doucett. The lineup also included SMC student Amanda Ortiz and alumni students Isabel Spiegal and Marlene Ruiz.

Throughout the reading, the reaction to the poetry by the students was a heartfelt one. Listeners closed their eyes and felt the words fall down upon their heads before being snapped back to reality as the poem ended. “There are infinities here in Santa Monica, Martha—run, crawl, skate. When you get here, place your hand here, allow my hand here,” reads Ernie Padillia, in a soulful love poem to his wife. Soulful encompasses what the afternoon was for

everyone who attended.

The art of poetry was mysterious as each writer recited their work in a deep reflection. A common theme amongst each poet was the aching pain of what it is to be human. "A bliss of emptiness follows," words read patiently by professor Will Doucett in a poem about a past relationship. What many young students began to realize is that faculty members have dealt with and are still dealing with the same longing for the same answers as they are.

This universal idea was also expressed by Marlene Ruiz, a former SMC student who rediscovered her Latino roots through the Adelante Program on campus. She read, “You’re lost, confused, and depressed. You have become blind to your true self,” a feeling understood by the applauding audience.

“Poetry will never become obsolete,” claims Isabel Spiegal, “A good poem can hit you so hard emotionally, and is more immediate." That is exactly how the event felt. For that one fleeting hour, everyone there bared their souls together, and everyone there left feeling inspired.

During a Luncheon after the event, David Burak expressed how “very touched [he was] by how well it went— exceptional, great.” He plans to have another reading in the Spring, incorporating both students and faculty for a second time.

The luncheon begins to clear out and soon it's just David sitting at the table. He packs up his notepad and puts his worn hat back on his head and immediately the words of Will Doucett from his poem, "The Ghost on 90th” come to mind: "Old Horses, we thought, with old dreams." This horse still has a few good races left.

Isabel Spiegel, a former Santa Monica College student, reads her poetry at an event on the main campus of Santa Monica College. (Daniel Bowyer/The Corsair)

OPINION

RELAX, IT'S JUST SEXUALITY GRACE GARDNER STAFF WRITER In the wake of the supreme court decision approving marriage equality, homosexuality has, in most places, reached a sense of normalcy. No longer are gay couples identified awkwardly as "partners." Now they can just be your average Joe's on Maple Street with two kids and a golden retriever, just like the rest of them.

From since I was in grade school, I've been hearing about gay rights. My friends and I would pick up on it one way or another—from the picket signs sporting support for prop 8 to little snips here and there on the radio.

That being said, all I heard about was the gay community. There were people who were straight and people who were gay and to be bisexual was to be confused.

When I reached junior high, bisexuals weren't confused, they were sluts.

There was a new level of sophistication in high school where a consensus was reached that they were "seeking attention" or "going through a phase”. Its never been a culturally acceptable thing to be bisexual or sexually fluid.

According to sociology professor Elizabeth Ziff, “Those people are still marginalized in both the gay and straight community because as much as there is the intimidation from the straight community, there is some in the gay community. Its just

as unfathomable that you wouldn't be one hundred percent gay.”

That being said, there is a consensus within researchers of sexuality that most people do fall somewhere along the spectrum. There have always been bisexual people in society and to some extent bisexual practices.

According to Ziff, in ancient Greece, one would marry and have a family but they primarily look to same sex lovers for sexual pleasure. Homosexuality’s history in America has evolved with our institutions and the way we look at genders role in society. “[Homosexuality] was greatly constructed when private property, paternal lineage, [and] all of that great capitalist stuff really got put into place. I think we used to have more fluidity before a few significant social shifts in the sense that it was kind of just not talked about. Until the industrial revolution and society as we know it, sexuality just wasn't the way we think of it now," Ziff said, "It wasn't associated with moral goodness the same way that is has come to be associated... It wasn't a part of what made a person who they were.”

Granted, homosexuality was never seen as normal or “preferable” but in a way, the lack of conversation allowed for more freedom. Because there wasn’t explicit dialogue on the subject, there was less context

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behind experimentation. While today, experimenting can cause one to be incorrectly labeled, back then it was just doing what you wanted to do.

A big part of the issue is the labels themselves. As I said before, most of us exist on a spectrum. There are various levels of attraction and different ways you can be attracted to someone. The words "gay" and "straight" don’t take into account that you may be willing to kiss someone of a certain gender, but not have sex. Or you may be willing to have sex, but not be romantic.

You may have romantic feelings, but no sexual attraction. The words "gay" and "straight" and even "bisexual" don’t take these things into account.

“I can distinctly remember the shift a few years ago when I would have students come to me and say these boxes don't exist for us. Like this isn't the way you should talk about it anymore,” Ziff said, “This isn't what it means for us. So I think people are getting more and more wary of labels and maybe the power of them and what it means for them.”

Labels mean limits. For women who identify as lesbians, to breach outside of that and be intimate with a male is understood to be looked down upon. For straight males, who have it worst of all in terms of judgment, experimenting is simply unheard of.

There is an immense pressure to pick a team and stick with it. A lot of this stems from personal insecurity or uneasiness around people who's sexuality they're unsure of. With a strictly defined sexual identification, people know what to expect. @THE_CORSAIR •

There’s no confusion or mixed signals.

However, we as a population have learned in recent years, as we have established laws protecting LGBT people, one person's comfort should not override the freedom of another.

There have been tears, marches and riots for this. There have been laws tossed from congress to the president to the courts and back again so people could love who they love and sleep with who they want to sleep with.

Im not arguing that anyone should attempt intimacy with a gender they're not inclined to be with, but it does break my heart knowing the statistics surrounding spectrum sexuality and that I've known only one man to be bisexual my entire life.

I'm calling on society to take a step back, relax, and let people do what they want to do.

Homophobes need to relax. People who associate masculinity with being attracted to females need to relax. People who think straight people experimenting with members of the same sex makes them gay need to relax. People who think gay people experimenting with the opposite sex makes them straight need to relax.

None of this is black and white and while its extremely easy and convenient to try to classify people's sexual orientation with a slim number of labels, its detrimental to the individual in the sense that it causes one to put arbitrary limitations on themselves. The pressure to pick a side isn’t healthy and, quite frankly, unrealistic.

What is the point of LGBT acceptance if not to liberate oneself?

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10 OPINION

VOLUME 110 ISSUE 04 • OCTOBER 07, 2015 • SANTA MONICA COLLEGE

FEAR CULTURE Don't take candy from strangers

NIK LUCAJ ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR

ʻʻFear cuts deeper than swords.ˮ

- Syrio Forel, A Song of Fire and Ice

by George R. R. Martin

"The land of the free and the home of the brave." When Francis Scott Key wrote that line, he was watching the Battle of Baltimore where the British shelled Fort McHenry for 25 hours straight. We were fighting for what we didn't have back then and we had nothing to lose. Now we fear losing what we have and that fear is what jeopardizes us being the land of the free and home of the brave because those two things are not mutually exclusive. The less brave we become, the more freedom we will give up.

We clutch so strongly to our way of life that we're beginning to strangle it.

America is Lennie and freedom is its puppy. We're just too powerful to have soft, fragile things. We get bitten by a mosquito and kill it with rockets.

The media preys on this. We are the innocent young children and fear is the media's candy. We can't resist it. The assortment is vast and comes in many different flavors. Fear of salmonella, trichinosis, pesticides, GMOs, gluten, black people, brown people, beards, police, NFL players (warranted if you're a woman), Skynet, turbans, Ebola, vaccines, anything that ticks, using the wrong pronoun and Sharia Law coming to Texas. Even after we're lying there with stomach aches, wailing in pain, they shove more down our throats until we're comatose and suggestible. Then the government steps in...

PATRIOT Act? Well that sounds pretty patriotic. Sure. Invade Iraq? Well they apparently may possibly perhaps have a chance at having weapons of mass destruction. Why not? Torture? Only if you're sure it'll make us safe and only do it to brown people with unpronounceable names so we can pretend you're not talking about real people. Destabilize an entire region of the world to get revenge on one man and his evil organization?

Well we've seen enough Charles Bronson movies to know that always works out well.

We’ve allowed our freedoms to be chipped away in differently sized chunks because we wanted to protect ourselves just until things got better. Well, things aren't going to get better. We will always be under siege by those who detest our power and our way of life.

America is a country that was built on balls. Revolution is a win or die proposition.

In order to carry one out, there must be little concern for your own life. The concern must be strictly for the ideals that you’re fighting for—freedom and equality (at least that's what Jefferson's brilliant manifesto, which was essentially a big middle finger to the British and aimed at galvanizing the common man, said we were fighting for).

We remained brave for over 150 years. Then, the two World Wars occurred. We learned from fascist Germany and communist Russia how powerful fear could be. Fear of the Germans was enough to spark everyone into actions. Propaganda posters such as this were hardly necessary: Following WWII and the unnecessary bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in order to send a message to Russia that we were not to be trifled with, there was the Cold War—easily the most terrifying time

Illustration by AJ Parry

to be an American in US history. From 19471991, Americans had to live with the constant fear that at any moment a full scale nuclear war could break out. Fear became a normal part of American life and not just any fear, but an existential fear that the human race could be wiped out and the earth left as uninhabitable as Venus.

Fear of communism led many lives to be ruined due to McCarthyism and many lives to be lost in Vietnam(although the fear of communism was just the guise used to convince the people that it was a good idea) and countless other battle zones. This fear of threats to American "values" peaked after 9/11 and grew exponentially as a result of those terror attacks. Campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan ultimately lead us to the state of our nation today.

America is a fearful nation, all you need to do is check the stats. According to the Chapman University Survey of American Fears, despite the fact that crime has dropped steadily over the past 20 years, most people believe that crime happens way more often than back in the "good ol' days." This is a direct side effect of a media that has made pedaling fear its business and business is a-boomin'.

The survey states that the three biggest factors that lead to fear are lack of education, the viewing of talk TV and true crime shows.

Just turn on your TV and flip it over to Fox News or MSNBC. You'll see the kind of his-

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trionic headlines that should be reserved for tabloids. "Storm of the Century" to describe six inches of snow, "outbreak" used to describe 11 American cases of Ebola and "Carmageddon" for a day that had less cars on the road than a Sunday morning in Omaha.

The media uses methods of inspiring fear for two reasons: ratings and misdirection. The one thing that everybody cares about is survival, and if they can convince you that there is a threat to you or your family's life, then you're going to stick around until you find out what's going on. Because of this, the media is incentivized to turn even the most innocuous things into something terrifying to promote mass hysteria while political issues that have huge implications are largely ignored.

According to Mediamatters.org, in 2014, between October 7th and November 17th, major TV news networks aired over 1,000

segments on Ebola even though only two of the 11 Americans who contracted Ebola died. Why? Because Ebola is a perfect horror movie villain if presented correctly. To compare to those 1,000 Ebola segments, in 2014 major networks spent less than one minute a month talking about campaign finance reform despite the immense impact it has on our entire election system. Misdirection.

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to do nothing but benefit and inspire terrorists. The goal of terrorists is to evoke terror. Well no worries on that front, the American media has you covered. Reliably giving round-the-clock coverage to any attack that occurs and examining it from every angle, the news is the perfect promotional tool for any terrorist organization.

ISIS hardly has to post any YouTube videos at all, Fox News has that covered.

According to CNN, between 2002-2013, however, the total number of American deaths due to terrorism was 390. The amount of people worldwide who die from terrorism is 42 per day which may seem like a lot until you see that hunger kills 21,000 people a day, as per Poverty.com, and about a third of those are children. Unfortunately, talking about solving world hunger is not entertaining, is not conducive to profits and does nothing to feed the Military-Industrial Complex.

There's a reason that the top eight psychiatric drugs in 2013, according to Psychcentral.com, were anti-anxiety meds totaling over 250 million prescriptions. People are in a perpetual state of fear about what might happen next. These drugs induce apathy, then the government cashes in.

You're looking at one thing while the Federal magician makes another chunk of liberty disappear.

The world is no more violent today than it was 50, 100 or 200 years ago. It is actually much safer by a large margin.

There are simply more of us and the ability to instantly disseminate information makes sure that no act of violence goes unreported. This ensures that danger is always in the forefront of our consciousness and it's turning us into a doped up, indifferent populace being led by a government that's twitchier and more dangerous than a paranoid meth-head in a bunker full of weapons.

The solution to the fear is to be more informed and more cautious about what news we decide to consume. Without being aware of what is really going on in our country, we won't have a say in how it is being run. Ignorance and gullibility are the greatest threats to our freedom, not terrorism. If we want the words of our national anthem to remain true, we have the realize that our most dangerous enemy isn't overseas, it's in our own minds.

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SPORTS

VOLUME 110 ISSUE 04 • OCTOBER 07, 2015 • SANTA MONICA COLLEGE

CORSAIRS MAKE THE VAQUEROS WALK THE PLANK JOSH SHURE SPORTS EDITOR The loud siren echoed across the Glendale Community College field and after many moments of heart-pounding action, the Santa Monica College Corsairs found a way to register yet another win on their quest for an undefeated season.

The Corsairs did not have another of their offensive explosions, pouring points onto the scoreboard. They had to grind their way to a 32-17 conference victory on the road against the Vaqueros.

"They [Vaqueros] held the ball a lot," said Santa Monica College's offensive coordinator Tim Kaub. "We only had four possessions in the first half and scored on three of them. It forces us to have to come off the bus executing."

SMC star quarterback Troy Williams seemed to be in a zone. Williams completed 20 of 22 throws for 264 yards and two touchdowns. He was also able to add another touchdown on the ground when he dove into the endzone to cap off a 10-yard run to push the Corsairs lead to 32-17 at the end of the third quarter.

"Troy was really good about hitting the underneath stuff as it was there," said Kaub.

The Corsairs were not able to run the ball as effectively as they have in the previous three games. Coming into Saturday's showdown, the Corsairs had averaged 276 rushing yards per game in their first three

games. However, Glendale contained the run and held SMC to only 179 yards on the ground.

Local Santa Monica native and Corsairs running back Kwame Duggins rushed for two of the five SMC touchdowns. The Corsairs' leading rusher led the pack of running backs with only 68 yards on the day to push his season total to 341 rushing yards.

The Vaqueros barely totaled more yards than the Corsairs, with 472 yards to SMC's 465.

"Glendale always plays us tough and we have to create our own energy," said SMC's head coach Gifford Lindheim. "We had to play really hard for four quarters."

Santa Monica definitely had to raise their game in the second half. The Vaqueros scored 10 points on their first two drives of the second half to trim the Corsairs' lead to 20-17. Eventually the Corsairs recovered to end the third quarter with a 32-17 lead that would be the final score.

Santa Monica College's defense held the Vaqueros to five straight turnovers on all five of Glendale's final drives in the game.

Of the five turnovers, three of them were turnovers on downs, while two of them were interceptions—one by sophomore linebacker Anthony Gutierrez and the other by sophomore defensive back Perman Wilson. The playmaking of the Corsairs defense helped them continue their journey for an undefeated season.

"As a team, everyone has to pay attention

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SMC (4-0)

Glendale (1-4)

32

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Santa Monica College Corsairs defenders Aaron Corbin (4, left) and Perman Wilson (7, right) bring down Glendale College Rober Jones (4, center) during the second half of the match at Glendale College. (Josue Martinez/The Corsair)

to what they are doing, they have to look in the mirror," said Lindheim. "We're four [wins] and 0 [losses], but we are just scratching the surface of where we need to be and I want our team to continue to see how we can get better."

The Corsairs will come back home after two straight weeks on the road to play LA Harbor College on Saturday, October 10th at 1pm. The Corsairs will be looking to extend their undefeated record to five wins in five games.

VAQUEROS BRANDED BY THE VICTORIOUS CORSAIRS JOSH SHURE SPORTS EDITOR Santa Monica College's goalkeeper dives to his left reaching both arms out as far as he can reach, but with no luck. The ball trickles by him, deflects off the left post of the goal and rolls into the back of the net. The Corsairs give up their first goal in four games after three straight shutouts. However, this goal put SMC in a difficult situation, down one goal only five minutes into the game.

Santa Monica College's men's soccer team traveled to play against Glendale Community College last Friday, October 2nd.

The Corsairs eventually walked away with a 5-1 win.

The Corsairs entered the game with three straight victories after defeating those previous opponents by a tally of thirteen goals to none. Only five minutes into the game,

Santa Monica Corsairs (8-1-1)

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Glendale CC's Ivan de la Torre, netted the first goal of the game to put the Vaqueros up with an early lead.

"It didn't fluster us. We had a lot of game left," said coach Tim Pierce. "Our guys just worked extra hard, you could tell that it woke them up.

The Corsairs felt the pressure of being down, but they eventually caught some air in their sails.

Roughly ten minutes after conceding a goal, SMC found their equalizer in the form of a converted penalty shot by Claodio Maalouf. It was Maalouf's ninth goal in 10 games.

The Corsairs had a claim at another penalty eight minutes after their first goal when Maalouf was taken down in the middle of the Vaqueros' penalty box, yet no call was made.

Coach Pierce jumped up and down on the sideline in utter disbelief wondering if the referee was even watching the same game as him.

"The refs, they are what they are," said coach Pierce. "We had another clear penalty not called but what are you going to do?"

The game looked to be heading to halftime tied until Corsairs' sophomore cocaptain, Danny Hulbert, found a magic touch. Hulbert elevated above the defense in the middle of the box to head home a Richard Perez corner kick and put the Corsairs up with only three minutes to play in the first half. However, the magic didn't end there. Only 50 seconds later, Hulbert netted

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Glendale Vaqueros (4-3-3)

a wonder strike. As he struck the bouncing ball from Saul Medina, Hulbert was taken down by the Glendale goalkeeper. The ball seemed to float through the air, took a bounce at the goalline and bounced into the back of the net. Danny raised his arms up in the air and looked around to search the faces of his teammates, who were left in awe of his miraculous goal.

"I just feel like my guys gave me good service," said Danny Hulbert, "The way we play, we break teams down slowly and tired them out and at the end of the half, they were susceptible to going down. We took the two chances that came to us."

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Santa Monica College Corsair Danny Hulbert (10, Left) attempts to score as Glendale College Goalie Nima Tohidi (1, right) dives to block the shot during the second half. (Josue Martinez/The Corsair)

With a 3-1 lead going into the second half, the Corsairs had the ability to rest many of their starters and let their bench players get some playing time.

With the majority of possession, the Corsairs created many chances yet couldn't seem to further extend the lead. Danny Hulbert came very close to scoring his third goal and top off a hat trick, but was stuffed by the Vaquero goalkeeper. SMC found their next tally when Gabriel "Niño Crema" Torres was taken down in the box for the Corsairs' second penalty shot of the game.

Torres stepped up to convert the penalty and extend the lead to 4-1.

With nearly all their starters on the bench, the Corsairs never let up. As the game clock was ticking down, freshman winger Jonathon Archilla flew down the @THE_CORSAIR •

right wing, launched a cross into the center of the box, perfectly into the path of fellow freshman Christian Herrera-Cruz, who headed the ball in for the Corsairs' fifth and final goal of the game.

Herrera-Cruz was waiting for his chance to score. "We were talking about it with my teammates that if I scored I'd do the Nae-Nae cause I always do it at practice," said Christian.

Herrera-Cruz's celebration was a fitting way for the Corsairs to finish the game.

They deserved the ability to dance and have fun after falling to an early deficit, yet fighting back and destroying the Glendale team.

The Corsairs are now 8-1-1 on the season with four straight wins and are now second in the conference behind the only team who beat them, Oxnard College.

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SPORTS

VOLUME 110 ISSUE 04 • OCTOBER 07, 2015 • SANTA MONICA COLLEGE

THE SUN NEVER SETS ON SETTER AYBIKE TOPUZ TARAH KELLY STAFF WRITER Leaving home, experiencing a new culture, developing a new language and pursing her dream of volleyball is everything Aybike Topuz has done during her time at Santa Monica College.

“I wanted to experience life in the United States and learn with the American culture and the language,” said Topuz.

The sophomore setter from Istanbul, Turkey has high hopes for this year as the team's starting setter.

With Turkey being a long way from California, it seemed like Santa Monica would be out of reach, but not for Aybike.

Aybike’s father is friends with a soccer coach at the University of Southern California and when the Topuz family first saw SMC, they knew it would be the perfect place for her to continue her volleyball career. The school welcomed Aybike with open arms.

“I was nervous about the language. My English wasn’t that great at first but my teammates were really helpful and it made it very welcoming when moving here,” said Topuz.

Her hopes are to remain First Team AllConference this year along with a personal goal of being the best setter in the CCCAA. Topuz was faced with challenges when she saw that, in America, the game of volleyball is different than in Turkey. The positions and system are different but she was ready to prove that she was a great player.

“When I first came here, I was talking to the coach and she was asking me questions and I kept saying yes, but I actually had no idea what she was saying,” said Topuz with a laugh. “We decided then it would be best if I had a translator. That’s when my friend from Turkey came to help us.”

While she is still learning the way the game is played here in America, she seems to have had no struggles during her games.

Starting as setter, Topuz’s teammates look to her for advice both on and off the court. She is a team player, always helping others when they are down and playing for not only herself, but for the whole team.

With her second year in full swing, Topuz is making her mark on the volleyball court.

She had a record high fifty assists to help her team achieve a win against Hancock College.

Setting records and achieving goals comes naturally to Topuz, which is why she has chosen a path in sports marketing.

The 19-year-old sophomore has hopes of transferring to a great university, preferably in southern California, and eventually becoming a professional volleyball player.

Volleyball has always been a huge part of Topuz’s life both here and in Turkey. She wants to continue to play as long as she can, but has a path ready if volleyball doesn’t work out.

Coach Ryan was excited for Topuz to come all this way to play for her. She knew she would be a great asset to the team.

“I got to see some footage of her, playing in Turkey. It was great and now here she is.

It was all very exciting,” said Ryan.

Santa Monica College Corsair Aybike Topuz (Sophmore) who is from Liset, Turkey poses for a photo on the Corsair Field on Tuesday. Topuz is the setter for the Corsairs Women’s Volleyball team. (Josue Martinez/The Corsair)

Her second year is going by fast and both Topuz and Ryan have high hopes of finishing the season with a winning record.

“Being the setter that she is, she basically runs our offense. She runs our show and she's offensively an aggressive setter.

That’s what we need,” said Ryan.

The setter is such a crucial position and Topuz has no problem being the best on the court.

While this is only Topuz’s second year in the U.S., she is already coming back this season as an all-conference player.

Colleges such as Chicago State have shown interest in Topuz. They plan on coming to watch her this season and she hopes of taking her volleyball knowledge there next year.

Topuz is on a path to be one of the best setters that SMC has seen in the past twenty years. The game that she plays is smart. She knows the next play before it happens and knows how to do things right. “[Topuz is} fiery, hungry, willing to do everything she can on the court to win,” said Ryan.

Topuz is the key player on the court for every play, even when serving. In her game against Hancock College, Topuz served five aces and was one of the main reasons the team walked away with a win.

She has many vital assets but her stability and consistency are what have made her most successful at SMC. “I was a setter when I played. The things I see her do are what I would do,” said Ryan, “With many things she does, we say that was a brilliant decision."

As Topuz comes into her ninth season playing volleyball, her teammates and coaches describe her as a mature player.

Topuz looks to continue her strong season and better herself as a starting setter. “Volleyball is what I love to do, I cant wait to take this to the next level."

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You have a world of ideas.

Let’s hear them.

At CSU Dominguez Hills, our students represent many cultures. And share multiple perspectives. With one of the nation’s most diverse campuses, including a thriving international community, we encourage our students to embrace their individuality. While preparing them to collaborate in a global workforce.

U.S. News & World Report ranks CSU Dominguez Hills among the most ethnically diverse universities in the West.

CSUDH.EDU/International (310) 243-3422 facebook.com/csudh twitter.com/dominguezhills

CSU Dominguez Hills | (310) 243-3422 | 1000 E. Victoria Street | Carson, CA 90747

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