Vol110 issue10

CORSAIR

DECEMBER 09, 2015 | VOLUME 110 ISSUE 10 | SANTA MONICA COLLEGE

FIRST COPY OF THE CORSAIR IS FREE, EACH COPY AFTER IS 25

SCANDAL OVER STUDENT FUNDS (PG. 3)

THE DAILY LIFE OF A MODERN PORNSTAR (PG. 5)

SAVE THE BEES, SAVE THE PLANET (PG. 6-7)

M. COURAGE DISPLAYS ACTS OF COWARDICE (PG. 9)

A LOOK AT PING PONG AT SMC (PG. 11)

THE CORSAIR • THECORSAIRONLINE.COM • 1900 PICO BLVD. SANTA MONICA, CA 90405 • (310) 434-4340

2

CONTENT

VOLUME 110 ISSUE 10 • DECEMBER 09, 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 Jacob Hirsohn ............................... Opinion Editor corsair.opinionpage@gmail.com Josh Shure .........................................Sports Editor corsair.sportspage@gmail.com Nik Lucaj ..............Arts & Entertainment Editor corsair.calendarpage@gmail.com Adam Thomas...................Co-Multimedia Editor corsair.multimediadept@gmail.com Alexander Melendez .....Co-Multimedia Editor corsair.multimediadept@gmail.com Jose Lopez ...........................................Photo Editor corsairphotoeditor@gmail.com

Car club members gather with other Venice community members at the Great Western Steak and Hoagie Co. where they participate in Christmas toy drive in Venice, California on Saturday. (Jose Lopez/The Corsair)

Alexandra Perry ...................................Illustrator corsaircartoon@gmail.com William Miguel ..............................Design Editor corsair.designteam@gmail.com

CORSAIR STAFF Josue Martinez, Chase Maser, Daniela Barhanna, Carolyn Alfaro, Jeremy Sanders, Kevin Colindres, Alexandra Obiekea, Adam Robert Thomas, Grace Gardner, Oskar Zinneman, 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

FACULTY ADVISORS Saul Rubin & Gerard Burkhart

AD INQUIRIES: corsair.admanager@gmail.com (310) 434 - 4033

FRONT COVER Graphic by William Miguel

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR:

THE STORY BEHIND OUR AS COVERAGE DEVIN PAGE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF It's the end of my first semester as Editor-in-Chief and I have gained a much broader perspective of how things should be run than when I was a section editor and staff writer. This semester has been me, as well as my staff, finding our balance and seeing what works and what doesn't work, what stories our audience cares about and what they don't. One thing that students might not care about as much is how our school is being run, particularly by our student government — the AS. If they knew more though, their investment level may go up.

This semester in particular, we haven't covered much of what's been happening with the AS, and it's not because they haven't been up to anything interesting. They have made it a priority to solve the homeless student problem and provide assistance for them, put on a pretty successful homecoming week raising school spirit, and more.

It has been difficult however to acknowledge these accomplishments as well as let's face it, some shortcomings. And not because the AS board members haven't been forthcoming. For instance, Alexa Brechensbauer and Amber Winter were very helpful and informative with all of their plans for homecoming week. They walked me through their entire process and let me know of any meetings. Jesse, the AS President has been transparent through the good and the bad. The only roadblock has been the advisor, Nancy Grass, who says she prides herself on being upfront and having an open door policy.

However, when trying to contact AS we were told that in order to interview them, we had to send the interview questions prior so that they can review them and essentially prepare for them; a less than

FOR EXTENDED COVERAGE VISIT US AT THECORSAIRONLINE.COM •

ideal situation for a journalist.

These kind of roadblocks have been ever-present. Most recently we looked into doing a possible story on action item that we saw on one of the AS meeting agendas, to approve $25,000 for a Nutcracker production for Professor Tahvildaran and the PPI (Public Policy Institute) who made the proposal. The story was made into an assignment on our content manager and if a writer were to find out more details of the story, then we would pursue it.

Fast forward to the presidential forums when I was approached by Grass that we not write a negative story and "pick on the AS" the following week. The fact that she knew about a possible story meant that she was told by someone either in the class or formerly, which is not only a breach of privacy, but also unethical to confront someone and interfere with a story, a first amendment right for freedom of the press.

This brings me to Nov. 28, Saturday, when the Photo Editor and some staff photographers were confronted at the door of the nutcracker by stage manager Liz Phillips, who told them that the only one they would be allowed in would be if she received the photos for approval as well as a promise

@THE_CORSAIR •

that they wouldn't be associated with any negative story. This order came from higher up, she claims. All of this for a story that has been floating in the ether, not even touched until all of the random interference.

What did either the AS, Grass or Tahvildaran have to hide? This became the interesting part of the story.

All of the dirty details will be in the news story, but to sum it up AS funded $25,000 of student money for a Nutcracker performance put on the Westside Ballet, the guild of which Tahvildaran is the President. He submitted a proposal and convinced the board members that it would be beneficial to students.

They went along with it, assuming that it should likely benefit students. The performance was never widely publicized throughout SMC, and tickets were $40 a pop. Student tickets were promised and were to be distributed to the SMC community, shown in the AS Agenda on Oct. 19, but alas none were given out by Tahvildaran and the PPI per their agreement.

Now the AS board members are figuring out a resolution for the broken promise, but the part that doesn't make sense is the interference. Different Corsair staff members have been contacted, including the Multimedia Editor and the A&E Editor, all being assured that students were involved in the production and that no interference was known about or intended.

If the AS board members want to continue to receive coverage (they have regularly asked us to publicize stuff in the past), there has to be clear communication and transparency and an openness that hasn't been present thus far. The Corsair staff will continue to do their job and investigate anything that has to do with the student body, bringing you news that you may not always care about, but that you most likely didn't know about.

/THECORSAIRNEWS •

/THECORSAIRONLINE

NEWS

VOLUME 110 ISSUE 10 • DECEMBER 09, 2015• SANTA MONICA COLLEGE

3

HE SAID, HE SAID: THE $25,000 BATTLE ADAM THOMAS MULTIMEDIA EDITOR If you’ve read the local papers or checked Santa Monica city event calendars, you may have heard of the massive success of the recent ballet performance of Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker,” held this year from Nov. 27 to Dec. 6 at the Broad Stage.

If you check the online press releases you would know that for the third year in a row, all performances were sold out – this time before the second week began. If you heard the underwriting for the show running on KCRW, you would know that the ballet was brought to the community

by Santa Monica College and featured the SMC Symphony Orchestra that brought the magic of the Christmas classic to life with live music.

But if you’re an actual SMC student, there’s a good chance that you didn’t know any of this. Moreover, you may not have known that the show wasn’t merely put on by SMC, but more specifically, has been brought to the community by the Public Policy Institute and Associated Students of SMC. Why might the student body of SMC not know these things?

Because unless you checked the Special Events page on the SMC website, there was little advertising for the The Nutcracker actually on campus. No ads showed up in The Corsair, nor was there mention

by AS itself at the “Feed Your Mind” event, where board members were handing out pizza to students on the campus quad on Nov. 26, the day before the run of “The Nutcracker” began.

AS had planned on spreading the word while distributing 250 tickets to students to see the show for free. These were tickets - worth a total of $10,000 at the box-office price of $40 per ticket - that AS was expecting to receive the week before the show began. This wasn’t a mere assumption – AS was told this by Dr. Richard TahvildaranJesswein, the co-director of the PPI here at SMC, and the person who convinced the AS board to help fund the show to the tune of $25,000. It was the largest single expenditure the AS board made for their special events budget during the entirety of the fall semester.

“We were supposed to get [the tickets] at our last board meeting, and we did not,” said AS President Jesse Randel on Wednesday, Dec. 2, during the second week of the performance. “We are trying to track them down because it's a big deal to us."

Randel said he wanted to give Dr. Tahvildaran-Jesswein the benefit of the doubt until there was no doubt left, and AS tried to reach him throughout the rest of the week. By Friday, Dec. 4, when AS still hadn’t heard back he said, “Everybody knows that we're trying to get ahold of [Tahvildaran-Jesswein]. I don't want to throw him under the bus or anything, but it's pretty irritating."

The AS board had been convinced to fund the PPI’s production of The Nutcracker back on Oct. 19, after Randel and Tahvildaran-Jesswein had negotiated for months on how AS could fund the PPI’s 2015 Fall Forum that ran from Nov. 16

Theatre goers pick up their tickets for the Nutcracker performance at the Broad Stage on Sunday in Santa Monica. (Jose Lopez/The Corsair)

through Dec. 6. Due to changes in fiscal policy, AS could only easily fund singular events for department measures, so it was decided that they would grant PPI their now annual allotment of $25,000 by funding half of the SMC Symphony Orchestra’s fees for the show instead.

“They wanted money from AS to support a variety of programs” said Samuel Ross, the AS board’s Director of Budget Management. Ross and Randel said that they were fans of the mission of PPI - to grow the number of people who are aware of public policy and how policy is made through the Public Policy AA degree and the various events they put on throughout the year.

Ross said, “One of the biggest justifications for me was not just the specific event but the totality of events that PPI puts out for students throughout the year, and assistance makes it easier financially for them to put on all these things they do."

Aside from two abstaining votes - one from Randel - only one member of the AS board voted Nay on the measure, Vice President Steve Maldonado. The rest of the AS board that spoke to the Corsair indicated that in addition to supporting the PPI’s mission, they had been counting on the free tickets as a factor in their decision to fund the initiative. Aside from defraying the cost of the expenditure, the tickets were a way for the event to more directly benefit a greater number of SMC members who have paid their AS fees.

“Basically, all of our money is student tax money,” said Randel. “So the only ethical way to spend that money is to ensure that it goes to benefit students in the best way possible."

Of course, what the “best way possible” might be is tricky to define. In terms of public relations for recruiting potential SMC students, assisting public events as beloved as The Nutcracker seems a resounding success. Whether one could say that the $25,000 AS spent on the measure has been a cost effective measure fin terms of a direct benefit to the student body is much more questionable.

The SMC Symphony Orchestra, fea-

FOR EXTENDED COVERAGE VISIT US AT THECORSAIRONLINE.COM •

tured in most advertisements for the Nutcracker, is primarily composed of students and community players who sign up and pay their fees. Students in the SMC Symphony Orchestra cannot be paid by AS, or anyone within the school’s administration due to legal regulations.

The funds granted by AS are actually going to pay the fees of a number of professional musicians hired to play the event with them. Randel said the idea was to give the students a chance to play an event with talented professionals.

“Our orchestra is made up of a lot of students from SMC a number of community players, and also of course, professionals to tie us all together,” James Martin, conductor of The Nutcracker Orchestra, said.

In reality, this SMC Symphony Orchestra includes 16 students and seven SMC faculty members alongside 31 non-student/ faculty musicians, according to The Nutcracker program. The program may be inaccurate however, as the production’s budget presented to AS lists funding for 44 professional musicians. With an orchestra comprised heavily of professionals, only a select few SMC musicians actually gained the opportunity to learn from playing with professionals. Calling it the SMC Symphony is misleading at the least.

Randel and Tahvildaran-Jesswein finally made contact around Friday, Dec. 4, but at that point in time it was too late for AS to receive tickets for the sold out shows, forget distributing them amongst the student body. At this time, TahvildaranJesswein informed Randel that there had been some distribution of complementary seats to SMC students in the Music and Dance departments. “[Tahvildaran-Jesswein] said that he gave out 150 tickets to students and he can prove it,” Randel said. "That is great, but that doesn't really do anything for what our agreement was. Our agreement was still that we get 250 tickets to hand out and we never got those tickets and it's a big deal to us. Because we don't want to send the impression that, you know, you can

@THE_CORSAIR •

make these verbal commitments and just renege on it."

Speaking to the Corsair, TahvildaranJesswein stated that the issue was all a misunderstanding between PPI and AS. That where AS was expecting actual tickets to distribute amongst the student body, PPI had always intended to leave a number of seats open for SMC students to claim for free during performances held on Wednesday, Dec. 2, and Thursday, Dec. 3.

On the subject, Tahvildaran-Jesswein said "I'm going to take full responsibility for the misunderstanding with that."

But what taking responsibility will mean remains to be seen. Randel didn’t want to speculate on what the AS response would be in the future, but did express frustration with the lack of communication that had occurred between PPI and AS. "We never got a response from him until after the shows had already started,” Randel said. “That's part of what's upsetting.

Because we did follow it up, we chased it down, but because we tried to do it respectfully, we were ignored."

Tahvildaran-Jesswein insisted to the Corsair that even though he had been busy with the performances at the Broad stage, he was not a difficult man to reach as he teaches classes every day on campus. He did not want to comment about the attempts that Randel said AS had made to reach him, insisting that, “To not be accessible is I don't think that's a fair characterization of anybody involved in Public Policy.”

After everything, Randel wanted to assure students that AS was not treating this lightly, saying “For our part in this, on the AS, we don't want students to think that we don't take the spending of their money seriously - we take it very seriously. It is a great big deal that we spend the student's money in the best interests of the students as ethically as possible. We want to fix this and we want to do everything we can as open and transparent as possible because it's a public organization.”

/THECORSAIRNEWS •

/THECORSAIRONLINE

4

NEWS

VOLUME 110 ISSUE 10 • DECEMBER 09, 2015• SANTA MONICA COLLEGE

TRANSFERRING FROM SMC TO A UNIVERSITY What you need to know

Students gather around the University of Southern California (USC) table at the college fair held at SMC on Tuesday, October 13, 2015 to ask questions regarding transferring. (Dotan Saguy/The Corsair)

ANDREW OLENDER STAFF WRITER "So, where do you want to transfer to?"

A common and often intimidating question asked among Santa Monica College students. Choosing the right university can be a challenge, especially when you’re choosing a major. Fortunately enough, SMC provides a handful of transfer resources for students including counseling, workshops and programs. Not to mention the school's exceptional transfer rates.

Making sure to have all the requirements needed for your desired school tends to result in a little anxiety for students. To avoid the anxieties, students are recommended to schedule an appointment with a counselor and following the instructions in the “Transfer Essentials” brochure found in the SMC counseling office.

SMC counselor Judy Lam explains the importance of seeing a counselor, “students often think they can go to siblings and friends to decide what classes to take in order to transfer.” Lam stresses that there is a lot more that goes into it than just choosing classes. “Requirements are different for every school," she says.

Although this should be common knowledge for a college student, it isn't always.

“Just this year, USC changed their general education,” says Lam. With requirements constantly changing, students are advised to meet with a counselor so that they are not using outdated transfer information.

Transferring to a university can be even easier with the help of SMC’s Transfer Admission Guaranteed (TAG) program. That’s right, admission guaranteed.

This particular program grants students guaranteed admission to a handful of UC,

FINALS WEEK STUDY TIPS FROM 4.0 GPA STUDENTS ANDREW OLENDER STAFF WRITER Finals are right around the corner, and it's time to start planning and preparing for them. Instead of crunching and cramming a textbook's worth of knowledge in a few hours, The Corsair decided to speak with 2 of Santa Monica College's students with a GPA of 4.0, Julia Westman and Alejandro Diaz De La Torre.

With a reputable grade average, they've decided to speak with The Corsair to give their best tips and explain how to study for a final exam.

tion. Knowing that I will have assignments or exams in different subjects at the same time, I prepare in advance and get ready not to get too overwhelmed with work."

How does your typical finals week look like?

Do you prefer studying alone or with friends?

diaz de la torre: "I wake up earlier than usual and go to sleep later than usual too.

The amount of coffee consumption increases drastically if compared to a regular week. Also, no phone, no TV, no plans and no distractions of any kind are allowed around me. I devote my time to study and stay relaxed."

diaz de la torre: "It truly depends on the nature of the subject, assignment, test or exam. While I prefer to mostly study alone, I do enjoy the benefits and positive consequences of studying with other people, as having a different range of perspectives or ideas often reveal mistakes I was not aware of, or teaches me something new."

westman: "Early mornings and late nights.

A lot of coffee, little sleep and food, and little social interaction."

westman: "I prefer studying alone because in that way it is easier for me to stay focused."

How do you manage your time when you have final exams, projects etc. in several classes at one time? diaz de la torre: "As I will explain later on, it’s all about preparation and organiza-

westman: "As I plan for final exams carefully, the day before the exam I have often already memorized and learned all the information that I need to know. The last day or night I just make sure to thoroughly go through everything. Then I make sure to relax during the evening and get good sleep."

How does your night before a final look like? diaz de la torre: "It depends. For most of the time it looks quiet and calmed. One thing I have realized after years of studying is that sleep is one of the most important

FOR EXTENDED COVERAGE VISIT US AT THECORSAIRONLINE.COM •

CSU, and private colleges. Meeting certain requirements and deadlines are necessary, and in some cases, a contract as well.

Transferring to UCLA for example, requires students to be in the scholar’s program and to be certified by the SMC Scholar’s Office.

As for other schools, requirements depend on GPA, number of transferrable units, etc.

The TAG submission period for students took place this year from September 1 through September 30th 2015. UC campuses then post their tag decisions for students no later than November 15, 2015 (dates subject to change annually.)

Just this past academic year (2014-2015), SMC had more students transferring to universities than any other community college in California.

Between 2013 and 2014, a total of 1,022 SMC students transferred to a California State University. 423 of them transferring to California State Northridge.

Being just about twenty miles from SMC, Northridge has been SMC’s most popular Cal-State transfer since 1994. Cal-State Northridge is highly known for their psychology and accounting majors.

SMC has transfer opportunities with all 23 California state schools including Dominguez Hills, Channel Islands, San Bernardino, and San Diego. To transfer to one of the many California state universities, requires students to complete “The Golden Four” requirements.

The golden four includes English 1, and choices from a variety of other classes. In addition to this, sixty transferable semester units with a minimum of a 2.0 grade point average must be obtained. The GPA for admission can be significantly higher because of the major, campus, and/or applicant pool.

These are just a few of the basic requirements that are needed in order to transfer.

From 2013-2014, 1,061 SMC students transferred to a UC (University of California). 444 of the 1,061 students transferring

to UCLA. Not to mention the transfer rates to UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UC Irvine, UC Merced, UC Riverside, UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbra, and UC Santa Cruz.

Every one of the UC’s are transferable to students and all are part of the TAG program. Some students think of UC’s as harder to transfer to. Although this may be the case, transferring to any of these schools only requires a minimum of a 2.4 GPA in order to be eligible for admission.

This year's transfer students surprisingly have until Jan. 4 2016 to apply to a University of California school. For all the SMC students rushing to get their personal statements done, there is still time.

This extension is a month longer than it has always been in previous years and was done to give all students some extra time to transfer. This being so, the extension also promotes the efforts to increase California university undergraduates for the next three years.

In an interview with SMC transfer center faculty leader, Daniel Nannini, he explains that “meeting transfer requirements for a certain school does not guarantee acceptance to that school.”

With this in mind, students must consider the competition when it comes to applying to schools. Even having a 3.0 does not guarantee you admission to a school that only requires a 2.8. Judy Lam also mentions this, explaining that it depends on the applicant pool for that year. If all the students who applied are well over a 3.0 GPA, the odds are that it will be more difficult for a student with a 2.8 to be admitted.

In contrast to popular belief, transferring from SMC is easy. With over 30,000 students, many people often think classes are impacted and it is going to be impossible to transfer out. Being such a large institution, SMC is prepared with enough classes, transfer opportunities, programs, and counseling for every student.

ways of retaining material and learning. It contributes to helping me stay focused during exams. However, there are some cases in which regardless of the amount of time I have studied for an exam or the level of readiness I feel about it, I still stay up late to make never ending reviews."

What are your best study tips for the students at SMC for the finals?

westman: "As I plan for final exams carefully, the day before the exam I have often already memorized and learned all the information that I need to know. The last day or night I just make sure to thoroughly go through everything. Then I make sure to relax during the evening and get good sleep."

Do you make a study schedule? How do you distribute time among all of your classes? diaz de la torre: "I do a study schedule and a homework schedule, which for me are two complete different things. I try to make my homework schedule based on the needs and requirements of each class and assign at least one hour of study per hour of lecture to all of my classes. However, it is true that some subjects require more time than others, and that some professors work similarly. In some cases, I give more time and attention to some classes than others based on what's mentioned above and my motivation and knowledge on the subject studied." westman: "Two weeks before my final exams I make a schedule. I schedule the days I'm gonna study a specific subject and I also schedule what part of that subject I'm gonna study that day. I do not always distribute time evenly between all classes, because some are easier than others and some are more difficult. I often give more days to one subject, and less days to another." @THE_CORSAIR •

diaz de la torre: "Plan and prepare in advance. It will not only allow you to get a good night of sleep before an exam, which as mentioned I find extremely important, but it will reduce your stress levels and allow you to perform better. Keep an organized schedule, and find what study methods work best for you. I personally like to be ready for a test at least three days prior to do so." westman: "Do not underestimate time.

Why students fail to perform good on final exams I believe is because they have not had enough time to prepare. The reason why they have not had enough time, is Mariah Mickens takes a break from studying to finish her Communications paper in the Santa Monica College library on Monday. (Kennedi Simmons/The Corsair)

because they thought it would take less time to learn something than it actually does. Be realistic with time."

Has your goal been to be a straight A student? diaz de la torre: "It has always been and it will always be as long as I’m a college student.

I find rewards and comfort in getting good grades and it fulfills me as a person to do so.

Moreover, I plan on continuing my education at the graduate level, so the work I do now is extremely important as it may determine my future job or admission options." westman: "Yes. School has always been a big priority in my life, and I have very high expectations of myself. I always strive to earn an A."

/THECORSAIRNEWS •

/THECORSAIRONLINE

HEALTH & LIFESTYLE

VOLUME 110 ISSUE 10 • DECEMBER 09, 2015• SANTA MONICA COLLEGE

5

A Q&A ABOUT LIFE IN PORN WITH MINNIE SCARLET

Minnie Scarlet on a sofa. Photo is property of XOMINNIE.COM taken by Matthew A. Cooke.

BAILEY PERAITA HEALTH & LIFESTYLE EDITOR Some people crunch numbers for a living, fight in arenas around crowds, project their creativity with cuisines or even write articles, but others do porn and like many other jobs it all does the same thing in the end— pays the bills.

The purpose of a job or career is mainly to pay the bills and if you’re lucky enough you might end up working in a position that you love, are passionate about and empowers you.

That’s what porn actress, Minnie Scarlet is doing. She’s letting her fans while being empowered and enjoying it with her audience. Porn isn’t a typical day job and questions generally arise when someone mentions what they do for a living, even it is something as extreme as porn. That’s why The Corsair took the liberty to communicate via e-mail with the rising and multitalented porn actress to ask her a few things about her career and lifestyle.

What's your stage name? Why? Minnie Scarlet! And honestly it's weird why; I used to have several tarantulas as pets. At the time, "Minnie" was the name of my smallest one and my largest one was a Scarlet Bird-eater breed. That’s how I developed my stage name; think I'm crazy yet?

How'd you get into porn? And for how long have you been doing it?

Just a disclaimer: people working in The industry don't consider me a porn performer because I never did boy/girl scene or shot professional scenes full time but if the majority of your income is made from porn, I think you do porn. I just took part in a lot of indie and amateur productions.

I found myself couch surfing in college at 18 and I didn't want to drop out. It began with erotic nude modeling, capitalizing on the "alternative, tattooed" niche. The site I was on only offered nude photos so it wasn't hardcore or much money. Eventually through the other women I met on the site, I learned of webcamming and selling fetish clips— both better sources

of income and thus started my network of people and places in the industry.

What are the beneficial differences between porn and a regular job?

There's the fact that you can make up to a few thousand on a good day. It's rare and not every porn performer has or will reach that… but it's possible. It's hard to say in general terms because even the porn industry is hierarchical. There are girls who get paid $1-2k for scenes then there are some who get paid $200-$300.

Also I've met so many of my friends in the industry that make working really fun!

It also, like many freelance and entertainment gigs, requires a flexible and nonconventional schedule. Porn can also provide you new opportunities. It closes the door for certain kinds of jobs but it can also serve as a platform to become known or kick-start other endeavors. It really depends on the performer, what opportunities present and what they choose to do with them.

What are some things people don't realize that come with being in the industry?

Barely anybody is ballin' anymore. And if they are, it's because they were smart with their investments and time.

If you shoot for a bunch of companies you just get that one time payment and then somebody else owns that content forever. There's not much security in that.

Plus people are still attached to the romanticized idea that if you do porn it's easy to get big money fast. Every successful porn performer has several hustles for example, I worked at a medicinal marijuana dispensary, as a makeup artist, sold clips, etc. all while "doing porn". Gotta get that money, honey.

What do you love most about porn?

Personally, it's taught me so much about people and social norms. It's a strange thing to focus on when asked about being sexual for money but I'll value and use the

FOR EXTENDED COVERAGE VISIT US AT THECORSAIRONLINE.COM •

information I learn during my time as a sex worker for the rest of my life. It's given me the freedom to present myself sexually in a way that I'm comfortable with, a luxury that didn't come easy— but it makes all the difference.

I also love the chance to look at the current state of pornography and the chance to contribute my own version is a beautiful thing. On top of that, I've been given chances to do awesome non-porn stuff (a B-film, a scene with Charlie Hunnam on Sons of Anarchy). I don't know if I'd have those opportunities if it weren't for porn.

What's your favorite scene to shoot?

Ooooh I love Fem domme (female domination)! I am an out, proud feminist and I guess that attracts submissive men because they love to get chewed out by me. Imagine getting paid to talk about how men should be thankful to kiss a woman's feet and if they catcall, they are disgusting scum). I think it's a somewhat of a high for me and probably therapeutic.

Since you're Asian, what's it like being a direct target for Asian fetish porn?

To put it simply, I hate it! An agent who happened to be a white dude told me once that Asian performers should never be out of work; they should be shooting at the very least one scene a week. I asked him to elaborate, “Where was all this work?”

He then directed me to a company with the words "Third World" in the title. The scene they would hire me for was essentially: I was a Vietnamese immigrant who needed her green card but the only way I could get it was from f*cking a white guy.

I didn't do it for obvious reasons.

It's not uncommon for women of color to be put in these degrading situations that are reflecting of real life. People say it's just fantasy but when people watch these scenes they are thinking about women like my grandma, my aunt, my mother being so desperate in life and then being raped essentially for something like a green card.

So I'm not so fond of Asian porn even if @THE_CORSAIR •

not all are as extreme like that.

Also, you do a web series called Can You Keep Up (#CYKU) that's a spoof of the Kardashians—How's that going?

We wrapped shooting early due to some problems we had. I needed a strong support system and some help. Between promotion, running the twitter, putting together the fundraiser stuff, sending out the thank yous to fans—I also wrote, acted and directed it. Somewhere along the way the fun got lost. There were some unrealistic standards set and It was just not something that was fun or doable anymore.

I think it was an amazing learning process though. Like I mentioned earlier, I value all the information I get to learn.

Recently James Deen has been accused by porn actresses for abuse and rape.

What is your opinion on him?

In the last year or two I actually heard some pretty crappy stuff about the dude including violence and rape so I'm absolutely not shocked. I also read that he rejected the idea of the, "Yes Means Yes" law, which defines consent as a sober, conscious decision by both parties. He just represents an idea of sexuality for women that isn't shameful. Women could actually speak publicly about how hot he was without necessarily saying "I masturbate."

Since he is the epitome of normal (white, Jewish, conventionally attractive) It's super easy to project fantasies onto him.

What should we expect next from Minnie Scarlet?

I want to do a sketch show! “Can You Keep Up?!” was successful in some aspects but my main objective was fun. Sketch comedy is a little more familiar to me. I'm really bad at commitment so staying with the same storyline and characters for too long is blah. I'm going to try and do something that my partner and I can do on our own. So we'll see! I'm sure it'll be something soon.

/THECORSAIRNEWS •

/THECORSAIRONLINE

6

PHOTOSTORY

VOLUME 110 ISSUE 10 • DECEMBER 09, 2015 • SANTA MONICA COLLEGE

Dael Wilcox of Bee Rescue (left) inserts a frame into the honey extractor while Bruce Chartier (right) prepares to turn the crank at the Urban Bee event held by Club Grow at Santa Monica College on Tuesday. (Dotan Saguy/The Corsair)

DOTAN SAGUY STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER On Tuesday December 1, Club Grow welcomed back expert urban bee keeper Dael Wilcox who presented to SMC students. Dael brought with him live beehives to demonstrate to the students how honey is made. After erecting a clear plastic tent and dressing himself and some students in beekeeping suits, Dael proceeded to open beehives and extract frames with combs at different stages of the honey making process and then proceeded to harvest honey from them using a centrifugal honey extractor.

Dael explained that in order to get the clear appearance that’s familiar to consumers, store bought honey is heated

and strained to separate the wax and the pollen from the pure honey. It is then heated at even higher temperatures in order to be pasteurized. In contrast, raw honey still contains bee wax, pollen and isn’t filtered or heated so it can retain its concentrated taste and all its therapeutic properties.

As Dael scraped the honey combs coming out of the extractor, students got a first hand experience of what raw honey can taste like and seemed to enjoy it very much judging by the number of honey sticks each of them had collected.

Dael also explained to students the causes behind the phenomenon observed since 2006 of bee colonies dying

FOR EXTENDED COVERAGE VISIT US AT THECORSAIRONLINE.COM •

@THE_CORSAIR •

out, also referred to as “colony collapse disorder”. According to Dael, this phenomenon has since been explained by several factors, one of which was the use of certain chemicals called Neonicotinoids as pesticides in farming.

Neonicotinoids were originally intended to repel insects but were proven to also throw off the bees’ navigation system preventing them from finding their way back to the colony. There was an act introduced in congress in 2013 to ban neonicotinoids but it unfortunately hasn’t left committee as of yet. Fortunately the rise of organic farming offers hope for bee colonies in the future. /THECORSAIRNEWS •

/THECORSAIRONLINE

VOLUME 110 ISSUE 10 • DECEMBER 09, 2015 • SANTA MONICA COLLEGE

PHOTOSTORY

7

A sudent holds a frame full of honeycombs, built by bees, that was part of the Urban Bee event. (Dotan SaguyThe Corsair)

Dael Wilcox of Bee Rescue (right) distributes beekeeping suits to Bruce Chartier (right) and Patrick Carroll to use during the Urban Bee event held by Club Grow at Santa Monica College on Tuesday. (Dotan Saguy/The Corsair)

Santa Monica College student, Patrick Carroll, puts on a large beekeeping glove to participate in the Urban Bee event. (Dotan Saguy/The Corsair)

FOR EXTENDED COVERAGE VISIT US AT THECORSAIRONLINE.COM •

@THE_CORSAIR •

/THECORSAIRNEWS •

/THECORSAIRONLINE

8

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

VOLUME 110 ISSUE 10 • DECEMBER 09, 2015• SANTA MONICA COLLEGE

TOP 7 SONGS OF 2015 JACOB HIRSOHN OPINION EDITOR 2015 gave us the first legitimate mainstream rap beef in years, an album with the biggest first week sales in history, Kanye West and Rihanna literally collaborating with a Beatle, the best One Direction song ever, and the return of Carly Rae Jepsen. None of the above are mentioned in the following list of the top ten songs of 2015. It was a good year.

number 7: the undeniable one “Alright”- Kendrick Lamar “good kid, m.A.A.d City” and “To Pimp A Butterfly,” Compton rapper Kendrick Lamar’s first two albums, have both been widely accepted as classics. They are both overrated. Sorry.

GKMC contained 2 or 3 of 2012’s best songs, but was weighed down with a considerable amount of filler. It was instantly received as a modern masterpiece because of its undeniably respectable ambitions and Kendrick’s abilities as a rapper as well as a storyteller. But GKMC, like TPAB, gets lost in its ambitions, and ends up being too long and, ultimately, boring. While TPAB is a more realized version of Kendrick’s vision, it has the same failings.

The one song that showed everything that GKMC could have been was “mA.A.d.

City,” and TPAB holds its counterpart in “Alright.” “Alright” and “mA.A.d. City” both ditch the overwrought pretentiousness and get to the point. “m.A.A.d City” captured the anger and fear sprinkled throughout GKMC, and “Alright” manifests TPAB’s endless feeling of triumph through struggle.

If Kendrick can make more songs this focused, he may finally get the praise he deserves. Oh, wait.

number 6: the young thug one “I Know There’s Gonna Be (Good Times)”- Jamie xx feat.

Young Thug and Popcaan “In Colour” is the formal debut album of one of electronic music’s most prominent figures of the last few years, Jamie xx. It’s an excellent record filled with a variety of styles and little-to-no filler. If this were instead a list of top ten albums of 2015, “In Colour” would certainly be on it.

I love “I Know There’s Gonna Be (Good Times)” so much that if I were given the bizarre choice by some sort of fiddleplaying satan to either keep “Good Times” or the other 10 songs on "In Colour," I would choose the former and sleep soundly.

on face value. But after listening to their collaboration, it makes it almost disappointing to listen to any of the work they do separately. Young Thug gives Jamie’s music a much needed edge; a vocal juxtaposition to his perfectly rounded and forgiving instrumentals. Jamie on the other hand must be incredibly fun to work with because I have never heard Young Thug having so much gosh darn fun.

Young Thug says some of the most absolutely bonkers things I’ve ever heard on this track — “She gon get on top of this dick and she gon squish it like squish” being a personal favorite. And while it certainly turned off plenty of Jamie xx’s fanbase, it also contributed to “Good Times” being a perfect song of the summer.

While the rest of “In Colour” explores seriousness — both emotionally and musically — “Good Times” indulges both Young Thug’s and Jamie xx’s sunniest and silliest pop tendencies. Keep your fingers crossed for "XX Thuggin" in our near future.

number 5: the “this music makes me cry” one “California”- Grimes I feel regretful even as I begin to try and put into words the way “California,” the best track from Grimes' stunning 2015 album “Art Angels,” makes me feel. Mainly because, given that I am writing about it for a newspaper, I am forced to use words instead of just emojis.

On her November 6 takeover of the SiriusXMU radio station, Grimes played “California” for the first time and revealed that it is a diss track towards music publication Pitchfork. There is nothing that sums up what I love about Grimes better than her ability to turn a diss track into the most joyous pop explosion on her album. While her vocals certainly bring a note or two of melancholy, “California” is an absolutely booming pop track the likes of which she has never produced before. It is beautiful and amazing. Heart emoji, heart eyes emoji, green heart emoji, blue heart emoji, watermelon emoji.

Honestly, I had a feeling this would be the case as soon as I saw that Young Thug was featured on “In Colour.”

number 4: the biggest song of the year one

Thug and Jamie xx seem like an odd pairing

“Hotline Bling”- Drake

FOR EXTENDED COVERAGE VISIT US AT THECORSAIRONLINE.COM •

Every single thing Drake says in “Hotline Bling” is stupid, save 7 words. But something gives me the feeling that Drake knew how resonant “Ever since I left the city you” would be; and it’s not just that he says it about a hundred times.

The smash-hit is riddled with passiveaggressive “you’re a good girl and you know it” Drake-isms and odd double standards.

Even the phrase “I know when that hotline bling” makes no sense. But Drake has made a career of covering up his embarrassing mistakes through sheer charisma and force of will, and there may be no better example than “Hotline Bling.”

If it wasn’t enough that “Hotline Bling” is the catchiest song Drake has ever made, the Canadian rapper put on a grey turtleneck and made himself into a meme in a glowing pink room for four minutes just to remind us all, “It’s not that serious.”

number 3: the one that should probably be number one one “Eventually”- Tame Impala I’ll keep my thoughts about the best song Tame Impala has ever made brief since you’re probably impatient to find out what my number one song is, not that people actually read the words in top ten lists anyway.

“Currents,” Tame Impala’s 2015 album, came out July 17 and I listened to “Eventually” several times a day, every day, for at least three months. It is a timeless song which would have been as beloved in 1963 as it still will be in 2083. It would likely still be the only one I ever listened to if it weren’t for the following two.

number 2: the “Baby Girl you’re so damn fine though” one “679”- Fetty Wap feat. Monty “Trap Queen” is the Fetty Wap song you will find on most top ten lists you read at the moment, and that’s completely fair.

“Trap Queen” has three things going for it: It is Fetty’s biggest hit, it’s incredible,

@THE_CORSAIR •

and Monty isn’t featured on it.

Unfortunately for “Trap Queen” though, Fetty decided to say “Baby girl you’re so damn fine though/I’m tryna know if I can hit it from behind though/I’m sipping on you like some fine wine though/And when it’s over, I press rewind though” on “679,” and this fight was over faster than Ronda Rousey against anyone on earth not named Holm.

By following “Trap Queen” and “My Way” with “679,” Fetty essentially poses the question, “What if Francis Ford Coppola had followed ‘The Godfather Part 2’ with ‘Citizen Kane?’” While Fetty is unlikely to ever earn the acclaim Coppola did, his career will likely be longer and much more consistent. Besides, Coppola never had to work with Monty.

number 1: the best one (ever) “Sorry”- Justin Bieber I have no idea how Justin Bieber and Skrillex met in real life, so I decided to come up with my own origin story that involves them bumping into each other at some sort of “Why Does Everyone Hate Us So Much” convention held for celebrities in Calabasas. That’s where they figured out they had more in common than anyone could have imagined and decided to enlist the help of Diplo to conquer music in 2015.

Skrillex and Bieber’s musical marriage is one that would have made milk come out of my nose as recently as 2013. Now the main effect it has on me is making love come out of my soul. I listened to “Sorry” until my ears bled, and then I went to the ear store and bought new ears. I saw a .gif of Phoenix Suns point guard Archie Goodwin doing an amazing dance routine in front of an audience of thousands and knew, “Even though this .gif is clearly from a couple years ago, he is dancing to ‘Sorry’ right now, one way or another.”

There is significant scientific evidence that Steve Jobs invented the repeat button so in the future his daughter wouldn’t have to hit the back button to listen to “Sorry” 20 times in a row. There is a video on YouTube titled “Sorry (1 hour long version)” that is just “Sorry” over and over again for an hour, and it recently passed “Gangnam Style” to become the most viewed video in YouTube history.

No, Justin: I’M sorry for ever doubting you.

/THECORSAIRNEWS •

/THECORSAIRONLINE

VOLUME 110 ISSUE 10 • DECEMBER 09, 2015• SANTA MONICA COLLEGE

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

9

"M. COURAGE," THE COWARDLY SLOG

Actress Ionna Kosto reheases for her lead role as Mother Courage in the play M. Courage at the Main Stage at Santa Monica College on Friday. (Jack Proctor/The Corsair)

ADAM THOMAS MULTIMEDIA EDITOR There is an excellently produced anti-war narrative set in a digital playground released this year. It features a charismatic but ultimately unlikable protagonist surrounded by the engine of the military industrial complex and asks its audience to question the lure of the battlefield by showing its grisly underbelly while still being an entertaining and complex work by a known creative genius brought to life by able actors who are experts in their craft.

That narrative is of course, “Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain,” a deeply flawed but well-made video game released in September. It is not, unfortunately, the production of Bertolt Brecht’s picaresque “Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder” (“Mother Courage and her Children”) that the SMC Theater Arts department is currently running on the Main Stage.

Adapted as “M. Courage,” director Terrin Adair updates Brecht’s 1939 work – often called the greatest play of the 20th century – for modern audiences by changing its setting from the "30 Years War" in central Europe to the virtual world of a “postmodern” online video game. The alteration allows for some truly fantastic costuming

by Kristie Mattsson, inventive makeup by Alejandro Bermudez and a generally strong effort put forth by the rest of the technical staff working on the show. However the “war as a video game” pretense is undercut by the nature of the play’s plot and it defeats the entire production with unnecessarily added fridge logic that ruins the themes of Brecht’s magnum opus.

“Mother Courage and her Children” is, unlike most war stories, fundamentally about the nature of the supply line and the stark

reality that a marching army runs on its stomach. Mother Courage is a woman who survives by selling supplies to soldiers, traveling behind the front with her wagon full of goods and her misbegotten trio of children.

Stuck in a war that’s lasted an entire generation, she’s exposed to horror after horror and is undone by her own will to survive through morally bankrupt profiteering.

But if this is all a video game, absolutely none of that makes sense. Video game avatars don’t actually get hungry or starve, they don’t need to drink to soothe jangled nerves and if they’re killed they just respawn and try again. It’s inane to watch this production when you keep in mind the rules of the revision; if you’ve ever actually played an online game you’ll quickly come to the conclusion that Mother Courage herself is likely a 40-year-old man at a keyboard in Des Moines and this “game” is actually set in the world’s most annoying role-playing server, a thought that deflates drama by definition.

It’s a conceit that simply doesn’t work.

It takes a play that understands the absurdities of wartime as tragic and devouring of the human soul and turns it into a total farce. But stuck with Brecht’s masterfully sharp dialogue on human nature that's meant to be serious, a farcical tone just doesn’t fit.

Still, there have been worse thought out adaptations in the world of theater. And the heart of any theatrical production lies in the ability of its cast; able performances can make even critically bad ideas tolerable.

This is not such a cast.

As the central character, the brunt of the criticism falls upon Ioanna Kostopoulou

FOR EXTENDED COVERAGE VISIT US AT THECORSAIRONLINE.COM •

as Mother Courage. It’s a role meant for an older woman who can draw upon years of experience to express a deep forlorn look at the world she finds herself in, but the youthful Kostopoulou has neither the years, nor the pure strength of will to pull the role off. This is topped off with an inability to project vocally, and it falls to inconsistent microphone work to even hear her half of the time.

The rest of the leads fare about the same.

Ashlyn Smith’s mute Kattrin has terrible pantomime and Akua Parker’s portrayal of the prostitute, Yvette Pottier, is the height of cliché. The absolute worst performance belongs to Jesse Sandoval as the Cook – if it were revealed that he had received the script a day before opening night, his flat stammering of barely remembered lines would still be inexcusable.

There are bright spots. Chris Sanders' turn as the Chaplain lets him show ability at deft sarcasm, but it’s the pair of narrators that truly shine. Covered in Kabuki makeup, both Ke Wei and Anna Kaskeeva throw themselves into their roles as guides and muses, bequeathing a spritely energy to a show in desperate need of it.

What’s strange is that the supporting cast shares this energy that most of the leads lack. There are a number of minor characters with only a handful of lines and the actors in these roles make the best of the scant time they have to leave an impression.

Particular praise must be declared for Brandon Burrell, Thomas Bayne and especially Michael Mejia who applies exactly the right tone to his three lines – overplaying a mocking belief in this farce with exactly the correct intonation.

This bizarre reverse hierarchy of acting quality – where the supporting cast pulls @THE_CORSAIR •

off what the leads can’t – creates the impression that the predominant problem with the production lies in direction. The supporting cast must not have been given much guidance, and, left to their own devices, they decided to make the best out of their small roles while the main cast seemed confused as to what they were trying to accomplish. It’s an impression further bolstered by the laughable interludes of stage combat, where the ensemble’s low energy and obvious fear of endangering themselves is ever present.

The cardinal rule of acting is that actors have to show commitment. They have to commit to the reality of their character and the play’s setting and they have to commit to giving their all in a physical sense – projecting their voices and showing passion with their movement and space work. It takes actual courage to get out on stage and that courage should drive an actor’s commitment to their work.

For the most part, this necessary commitment is scattershot throughout “M. Courage” and severely lacking in those that need it most. Whether this is the fault of the actors, due to directorial confusion, or the baffling choices in adaptation is ultimately irrelevant. When commitment isn’t seen by the audience, all they end up seeing is cowardice.

If that’s what you’re into, “M. Courage” is continuing its run this weekend on Dec. 11 and 12 at 8 p.m. with matinees at 2 p.m. on both days. Perhaps by then, the cast will remember to read the second word of the play’s title and apply it to their craft.

/THECORSAIRNEWS •

/THECORSAIRONLINE

10

OPINION

VOLUME 110 ISSUE 10 • DECEMBER 09, 2015• SANTA MONICA COLLEGE

GREED DEFEATS HOPE IN ECONOMY SAMUEL HUNTINGTON STAFF WRITER Country headed in the wrong direction? Somebody seems to think so. According to the results of a national poll the vast majority of the electorate is sour on the economy and the direction of the country.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR Dear Editor-in-Chief,

Graphic by Jacob Hiroshn

The poll was conducted by USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times using Survey Monkey, an online survey company with over 3 million respondents. 70% of those polled said that they feel the country is headed in the wrong direction. The twelfth year in a row that a majority of the electorate has felt this way. “This is the longest period of sustained pessimism (that we have experienced) in more than a generation,” Neil Newhouse, a veteran Republican who advised Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign in 2012, told the LA Times.

It’s worth noting that the current national unemployment rate is sitting at 5.1 percent, the lowest level since since April 2008, and the economy has produced positive hiring figures since the recession officially ended in June 2009. Gas prices are currently at an eight year low nationally and more than a dollar a gallon less expensive than they were one year ago.

So what gives? What’s the source of all of this anxiety? People are feeling pessimistic because they think the game is rigged.

And they’re right. Our system rewards success but it’s designed for failure.

Right now, the United States is the most prosperous country in the history of the world. The stock market is at an all time high and has been riding a wave of prosperity that has extended for the last six years.

Meanwhile, half of all private sector employees don’t even have a company 401K program. The average worker retires with less than 50K in assets. Wages have been flat for the last forty years. The average worker had more disposable income in 1968 than he has today.

Meanwhile, 20% of our children live in poverty, the highest rate of child poverty of any industrialized nation in the world. Does this sound like the type of prosperity that anyone would envy?

Tax collection — the price we pay for an organized society — is at an all time low.

The marginal tax rate for our wealthiest citizens is 36%. President Obama lost the battle over taxes. He had the audacity to suggest that our wealthiest citizens should pay 39%. Most millionaires pay a lower

marginal tax rate than their personal secretaries. 400 families have more accumulated wealth than the bottom 50% of the entire country. (Michael Moore says 400 Americans have more wealth than half of all Americans. Politifact Wisconsin in partnership with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel March 10th, 2011.) Is it any wonder that the average worker feels like the government doesn’t make life better for him? How can a man be optimistic when he can’t even remember the last time he saw a raise?

There needs to be a fundamental shift in the way we do business.

We have an exclusive society that is predicated on keeping people out, and retaining the status quo.

So, what’s at the root of all of this? The culprit is greed. Pure and simple. The reason why we have so much dysfunction in our political process is because we haven’t really answered a fundamental question about who we are as people. We need to decide if we want to have a me society or a we society. It’s simple as that. Do we want to reward the wealthy and the powerful or do we want to have a functioning democracy?

In his farewell address to the American public, President Dwight Eisenhower warned about the dangers of complacency and said that politics should be the part time profession of every American citizen.

In the mid term elections of 2014 we had a national voter participation rate of 36.3%.

(Voter Turnout in Midterm Elections reaches a 72 year low. Time.com November 10th, 2014) The only time it had ever been lower was during WWII when half of our citizens were stationed abroad.

There are things we know. We know that nobody that works full time should be living in poverty. We know that every American should be entitled to a job that offers a level of personal dignity and that pays a living

FOR EXTENDED COVERAGE VISIT US AT THECORSAIRONLINE.COM •

wage with an opportunity for advancement.

We know that every American should be entitled to quality health care. We know that every American should be entitled to pursue a quality education and that he should have the means to do so. We know all of these things but we don’t demand them. Throughout history the only way that things have ever changed is through civic engagement and grassroots activism.

People speaking truth to power and taking their message out into the streets. Everything must be fought for and protected. Nothing can be taken for granted.

We have serious problems in this country and the biggest problem we face is a crisis of confidence. The inability to come together to fight for and protect a shared set of values.

There needs to be a fundamental shift in the way we do business. We have an exclusive society that is predicated on keeping people out, and retaining the status quo. Why is that we have a record number of unfilled jobs when half of the working population would like to change their careers? Why is it that every entry level job calls for three years of experience in the exact same industry? Why is it that in almost every instance, for the last thirty years, when a man loses his job because of downsizing he ends up with one that pays less? Why is it that despite sending a record number of people to college over the last twenty years that graduation rates haven’t budged? Why is that so many entry level jobs require internship experience and why do so many interns end up working for little and no wages? The culprit is greed.

We have an exclusive society which is predicated on limiting opportunity and keeping people down because there is an entrenched belief that there is only a finite amount of opportunity to begin with instead of the notion that there is opportunity to go around. It’s a downfall in our thinking, and until we decide that we want to have an inclusive society where everyone is entitled to a hand out and a leg up, well; we’ll continue to experience the corruption and downfall of a once proud democracy. @THE_CORSAIR •

My name is Tessa Kline I am a member of Club Grow on campus here at SMC. The purpose of this letter is I wanted to bring more awareness to the students on campus about our club. I feel as much as we attempt to get more students involved most of them still aren’t aware what Club Grow really has to offer. Not only do we grow fresh herbs, fruits, veggies, and flowers. But we make our own compost by using biodegradable items like apple cores and newspaper. Santa Monica College is already known for being a green friendly school so why not contribute back to the planet that we take advantage of everyday. By putting bins around campus next to the trash and recycle bins specifically for biodegradable items. Or even just advocating in the paper “go green and bring your biodegradable items down to club grow located behind the science buildings.” Something as simple as that would majorly contribute to our compost that club grow will end up using for the majority of the plants on campus anyway. We also have incredible guest speakers that come and lecture for an hour on occasion. Just recently we had Pascal Baudar who learned to cook everything he eats with natures natural assets. He works with celebrities and major cooking shows and was an inspiration that more students should have had the chance to here. If announcements were made to the campus when we have those speakers I believe more students would be interested in attending. I never even knew anything about club grow into this semester alone, my environmental ethics class inspired me to join and I’ve never been happier since. It’s a nice relief being able to give back to our planet but also get your stress out by working in the garden. Then seeing the beautiful process of life that a plant can unfold. Students can even get their own plot on campus by just applying for the plot they want. Club Grow’s meetings are held every Tuesday from 11:15 to 12:15 in the garden located behind the science buildings. Club Grow loves our school and students all we want to do is share the love. So please help us get the word and love out there.

Thank you, Sincerely, Tessa Kline

/THECORSAIRNEWS •

/THECORSAIRONLINE

SPORTS

VOLUME 110 ISSUE 10 • DECEMBER 09, 2015• SANTA MONICA COLLEGE

11

UNDER CENTER WITH SMC QB TROY WILLIAMS JOSH SHURE SPORTS EDITOR Half way through the third quarter of the Santa Monica College's bowl game on Nov. 21, the Corsairs lead 63-0 and the win was inevitable. SMC starting quarterback, Troy Williams was taken out of the game after throwing seven touchdown passes through two and a half quarters, putting an exclamation point on one of the best Corsair football seasons ever and pushing Troy Williams back into the national spotlight.

After being a two-time City Section player of the year while playing for Narbonne High School in Harbor City, Troy Williams was one of the nations top recruits going into collegiate football. Coming out of high school, rated as the number one dual-threat quarterback by Rivals.com, Troy had a handful of colleges looking to make him their prized recruit. When it came down to making his decision , Troy chose to take his talents up to the University of Washington.

"I felt a real good connection with coach Sark [Steve Sarkisian], you know, there was a lot of former players from Narbonne," said Troy Williams. "I hung out with those guys a lot; it was like a home away from home."

After sitting out his entire first season by redshirting, he came into his second year with a lot of hope to become the UW starter; however, the coach that recruited him initially, Steve Sarkisian, took the head coaching job at USC and new Washington head coach Chris Peterson was not as fond of Williams as Sarkisian.

"After coach Sark left, I felt like I didn't really have no one there to have my back, coach Peterson didn't recruit me out of high school," said Williams. "I tried to make the best of it, but things just didn't work out."

Once the realization set in that his playing time was going to be scarce, Williams had to make a decision, continue fighting for the starting quarterback spot at the University of Washington or transfer elsewhere to try and earn the starting spot elsewhere.

He eventually decided the best decision was to join his former high school offensive coordinator, current Santa Monica College Corsairs offensive coordinator, Tim Kaub.

"I talked to coach Kaub, he told me to wet it out, see how it goes and if it continues to go on, you know you have a home here, with me, in Santa Monica," said Williams. "I didn't want to pass up the opportunity, come play with coach Kaub again, especially after all the success we had back at Narbonne."

Offensive coordinator, Tim Kaub was definitely excited to coach Troy again, it's the quarterback he has worked with more than any other in his coaching career.

"With private training and coaching, I have coached over 30 division one quarterbacks," said Kaub. "He's the only quarterback I've had for five years and relationship wise, I look at him almost as a little brother. I've watched him grow from an awkward eighth grader into a man over the last seven years."

The trust between the two were evident throughout the 2015 SMC football season, one in which Troy lead Kaub's offense into

PING PONG PROGRAM READY TO BOUNCE BACK

Vahid Mosaferi, 43, warms up before the RR Tournament held at the Pavilion Gym at Santa Monica College on Sunday in Santa Monica.

Mosaferi played table tennis for the Iranian national team and has experience as a player and as a coach. (Josue Martinez)

JOSH SHURE SPORTS EDITOR Half way through the third quarter of the Santa Monica College's bowl game on Nov. 21, the Corsairs lead 63-0 and the win was inevitable. SMC starting quarterback, Troy Williams was taken out of the game after throwing seven touchdown passes through two and a half quarters, putting an exclamation point on one of the best Corsair football seasons ever and pushing Troy Williams back into the national spotlight.

After being a two-time City Section player of the year while playing for Narbonne High School in Harbor City, Troy Williams was one of the nations top recruits going into collegiate football. Coming out of high school, rated as the number one dual-threat quarterback by Rivals.com, Troy had a handful of colleges looking to make him their prized recruit. When it came down to making his decision , Troy chose to take his talents up to the University of Washington.

"I felt a real good connection with coach Sark [Steve Sarkisian], you know, there

FOR EXTENDED COVERAGE VISIT US AT THECORSAIRONLINE.COM •

Tim Kaub (left) and Troy Williams (right) pose for a photograph in the weight room at Santa Monica College on November 16, 2015. (Jose Lopez)

becoming the number one offense in the entire state. After dominating performances from Williams, eventually an offer came that Troy couldn't turn down, Pac-12 member, University of Utah.

"Utah really wanted me. They got a great team and I'll be able to play," said Williams.

"I'll also get a chance to show those that doubted me, they made the wrong decision."

Tim Kaub is very proud of what Williams has done with a quarterback that is as special as Williams. "At the end of the day, he could play at any college and he is a Pac-12 caliber quarterback and is a national level recruit both times," said Kaub. "I have yet to come across a guy as competitive as him, who wants to win more and a guy that just has the coolness that he has in a game. His

calmness in the moment, as far as games goes, is simply unparalleled. I was proud, I was happy that he came to us and it worked out for him; he's back where he belongs."

Troy will have a large task ahead of him when he becomes the Utah Utes starting quarterback next year. Some time during the next season, William's former team, the University of Washington will be traveling to Utah to take on Williams' new team and coach Kaub believes people should have high hopes.

Kaub perfectly phrased it, on William's approach to being the Utah quarterback.

"Me and him have some very similar character traits, we both take things personally and we both really, really badly want to beat those people that doubted us."

was a lot of former players from Narbonne," said Troy Williams. "I hung out with those guys a lot; it was like a home away from home."

After sitting out his entire first season by redshirting, he came into his second year with a lot of hope to become the UW starter; however, the coach that recruited him initially, Steve Sarkisian, took the head coaching job at USC and new Washington head coach Chris Peterson was not as fond of Williams as Sarkisian.

"After coach Sark left, I felt like I didn't really have no one there to have my back, coach Peterson didn't recruit me out of high school," said Williams. "I tried to make the best of it, but things just didn't work out."

Once the realization set in that his playing time was going to be scarce, Williams had to make a decision, continue fighting for the starting quarterback spot at the University of Washington or transfer elsewhere to try and earn the starting spot elsewhere.

He eventually decided the best decision was to join his former high school offensive coordinator, current Santa Monica College Corsairs offensive coordinator, Tim Kaub.

"I talked to coach Kaub, he told me to wet it out, see how it goes and if it continues to go on, you know you have a home here, with me, in Santa Monica," said Williams. "I didn't want to pass up the opportunity, come play with coach Kaub again, especially after all the success we had back at Narbonne."

Offensive coordinator, Tim Kaub was definitely excited to coach Troy again, it's the quarterback he has worked with more than any other in his coaching career.

"With private training and coaching, I have coached over 30 division one quarterbacks," said Kaub. "He's the only quarterback I've had for five years and relationship wise,

I look at him almost as a little brother. I've watched him grow from an awkward eighth grader into a man over the last seven years."

The trust between the two were evident throughout the 2015 SMC football season, one in which Troy lead Kaub's offense into becoming the number one offense in the entire state. After dominating performances from Williams, eventually an offer came that Troy couldn't turn down, Pac-12 member, University of Utah.

"Utah really wanted me. They got a great team and I'll be able to play," said Williams.

"I'll also get a chance to show those that doubted me, they made the wrong decision."

Tim Kaub is very proud of what Williams has done with a quarterback that is as special as Williams. "At the end of the day, he could play at any college and he is a Pac-12 caliber quarterback and is a national level recruit both times," said Kaub. "I have yet to come across a guy as competitive as him, who wants to win more and a guy that just has the coolness that he has in a game. His calmness in the moment, as far as games goes, is simply unparalleled. I was proud, I was happy that he came to us and it worked out for him; he's back where he belongs."

Troy will have a large task ahead of him when he becomes the Utah Utes starting quarterback next year. Some time during the next season, William's former team, the University of Washington will be traveling to Utah to take on Williams' new team and coach Kaub believes people should have high hopes.

Kaub perfectly phrased it, on William's approach to being the Utah quarterback.

"Me and him have some very similar character traits, we both take things personally and we both really, really badly want to beat those people that doubted us."

@THE_CORSAIR •

/THECORSAIRNEWS •

/THECORSAIRONLINE

12

ADVERTISEMENTS

VOLUME 110 ISSUE 10 • DECEMBER 09, 2015 • SANTA MONICA COLLEGE

ACCELERATE YOUR STUDIES EXPLORE TRANSFER CREDIT COURSES UCLA Extension offers a wide selection of courses you can take and transfer toward your current or future academic program. These are the same courses that are offered on the UCLA campus.

Choose from a vast array of disciplines—from psychology and political science to statistics and microbiology.

For more information, visit:

Enroll today. Winter Quarter starts Jan. 4!

Questions? Contact us at (310) 825-7093.

17203-15

uclaextension.edu/transfercredit

Transferability These UCLA Extension courses provide units / subject credit toward bachelor’s degrees across all campuses of the University of California and the California State University System. They may also be accepted at many academic institutions nationwide. (Please verify in advance with your institution of choice.)

FOR EXTENDED COVERAGE VISIT US AT THECORSAIRONLINE.COM •

CI15 SMC Corsair Nov.indd 1

@THE_CORSAIR •

/THECORSAIRNEWS •

/THECORSAIRONLINE

11/9/2015 4:32:21 PM