CORSAIR
JUNE 1, 2016 | VOLUME 111 ISSUE 10 | SANTA MONICA COLLEGE
FIRST COPY OF THE CORSAIR IS FREE, EACH COPY AFTER IS 25
MATH l (x )dx=lim [ [(2/nk) ]2/n] PROBLEMS 2
2
2
0
n
k=1
UNUSUALLY HIGH FAILURE RATES IN THE MATH DEPARTMENT HAVE STUDENTS LOOKING ELSEWHERE (P.4)
df/dt=lim f(t+h)-f(t)/h
] n / 2 ] ) k n / 2 ( [ [ m i l = x d ) l (x 2+76.99 lim 2
2
2
n
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OUTGOING AS DIRECTORS TELL ALL (P.16-17) ATHLETIC DEPT. ATTEMPTS TO RISE FROM ASHES (P.9)
k=1
D FFDD CF FD F C F FFF FC C F
C C
F FC FF F F CF F
LETTER FROM THE FUTURE: DON'T VOTE MUTOMBO (P.19) THE CORSAIR • THECORSAIRONLINE.COM • 1900 PICO BLVD. SANTA MONICA, CA 90405 • (310) 434-4340
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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
VOLUME 111 ISSUE 10 • JUNE 1, 2016 • SANTA MONICA COLLEGE
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR NIK LUCAJ EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
EDITORIAL STAFF nik lucaj
.................................... Editor-in-Chief
corsair.editorinchief@gmail.com
bailey peraita.......................... Managing Editor
corsair.managing@gmail.com adam robert thomas
corsair.news@gmail.com
.................... News Editor
...............Health & Lifestyle Editor corsair.lifestylepage@gmail.com alissa nardo
grace gardner
...........................Opinion Editor
corsair.opinionpage@gmail.com
......... Arts & Entertainment Editor corsair.calendarpage@gmail.com jacob hirsohn
............................... Sports Columnist
josh shure
corsair.sportspage@gmail.com
............ Multimedia Editor corsair.multimediadept@gmail.com alexander melendez
jose lopez
....................................... Photo Editor
corsairphotoeditor@gmail.com josue martinez
.............. Assistant Photo Editor
corsairphotoeditor@gmail.com ramses lemus
..................... Social Media Editor
socialmedia.corsair@gmail.com
alissa nardo................................ Design Editor
corsair.designteam@gmail.com
CORSAIR STAFF Daniela Barhanna, Ryanne Mena, Daniel J. Bowyer, Michelle Ayala, Troy Barnes, Luis Baza, Julia Bergstrom, September Bottoms, Siena Deck, Adriana Delgado, Jessica Dupree, Jerome Harris, Apostol Kanev, Ashleen Knutsen, Leyla Leiva, Ka Leong, Brian Lewis, Sebastian Mayorga, Chris Monterrosa, Manuel Portugal, Joseph Silva, Kyle Toelken, Julia Westman FACULTY ADVISORS saul rubin
............................ Journalism Advisor
gerard burkhart.........................Photo Advisor
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FRONT COVER Illustration by AJ Parry Cover story: The unusually high failure rate of the SMC Math Department has led many students to take their math classes through the UCLA Extension Program.
When our advisor Saul Rubin first offered me the position of Editor-in-Chief, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to take the position. It’s demanding work. The job is a full-time one for which we receive no pay and, added to a full-time class schedule, the burden can get pretty heavy. I had to take some time to think about it before I accepted. I weighed the pros and cons and eventually, as evidenced by my useless weekly rant in this very section, I accepted. What pushed me into accepting was asking myself which decision I would be happiest with 20 years from now. Would I look back at another prosaic semester of IGetC classes or would I remember the time that I was in charge of an entire media company for six months? Option two seemed like a no-brainer. So I accepted the position and set out to build the staff. Through some rearranging of duties and promotion of top performers, I built a team out of a ragtag bunch of misfit toys and we meshed together beautifully. First, I chose Bailey Peraita as the Managing Editor. This position acts as the enforcer as well as the organizer of my life. Her impeccable organizational skills were able to counteract my scatterbrained nature and attempts to remember my to-do list by repeating it over and over in my head. She’s a pitbull, sharp and capable, but scary enough to keep people hitting their deadlines. Next was Jacob Hirsohn. Quiet and unassuming (except for the huge beard, may it rest in peace), he quickly showed his writing talent last semester and was promoted to Opinion Editor. A former film student, Jake’s abilities shined the most when he was tearing apart a big studio film or eloquently explaining why Kanye’s new album was good, yet disappointing. He was a natural choice for A&E editor, as well as the one who will carry the torch of Editorin-Chief next semester, making him the fourth straight A&E editor to inherit the position. To fill Jake’s old spot as the Opinion Editor, I needed a strong, opinionated writer. I found these qualities in a person one wouldn’t think to be heavily opinionated. Sweet and always happy, Grace Gardner is the angel of the newsroom. Always smiling, never sour and usually quiet, Grace is relentless in print, leaving many an unsuspecting challenger in her Op-Ed Duels gasping for breath and praying for mercy. For News Editor, Adam Thomas was a natural choice. Relentless, argumentative and maybe a little too smart for his own good, Adam has a nose for news that would make a bloodhound jealous. Constantly digging in the deepest darkest corners of SMC, he brought the news back to our newspaper. Attending splinter group meetings of student governors, every AS meeting (the man deserves a medal for this alone) and even bringing the riveting Ping Pong Championship to print, Adam seemed to be in so many places at once that I began to think our jokes about cloning him were no longer jokes. For sports, I brought back Josh Shure from last semester. Loud, clad in sweatpants and always trying to convince me that soccer doesn’t suck, Josh has all the knowledge of a sports historian and all the tact of a stampeding rhino. With a deep understanding of all SMC sports and a rolodex that could fill the Yellow Pages, he was able to find us stories that went outside the lines. For H&L, the enigmatic Alissa Nardo. Young, wild, gregarious, and well-rounded, Alissa juggled her position here with five internships. Every union’s worst nightmare, Alissa went beyond her assigned duties as a desk editor and filled the gaping hole that we had at Design Editor. With hands in so many different pots, she’s a modern day Renaissance woman. One other thing I knew I wanted to do this semester was step up
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our multimedia game. That’s where Alex Melendez came in. A common sight around the newsroom last semester, Alex was never an official part of the staff. I brainwashed him, corrupted his mind and indoctrinated him into our cult and he’s spent as much time in the newsroom this semester as I have. A perfectionist with an excellent eye for video, Alex was the unsung hero of the staff. Also, I’d like to give a shout out to the photo side and Photo Editor Jose Lopez — a staff I didn’t pick, but one that performed admirably and deserves all the accolades they receive. In the end, we worked well together and formed lasting bonds and memories. I smoked more cigarettes than any human being should (even though I quit two years ago) and may have developed some lasting stress ulcers, but it was worth it. After this issue goes to print, we’ll all get matching tattoos that say, “Welcome to Blunderdome” — a phrase we coined for the way we conduct business. I love each and every person on this staff like they were my own family and it’s a rare workspace where I actually like everyone that I work with. Now this is normally the part of the Letter from the Editor when I begin to go through what’s going to be in this issue, but I’m going to leave that out for now. It’s honestly just a useful device for adding length to letters that I write at 4 a.m. when my brain power has abandoned me and left me running on base instinct. The one thing I will say about this issue is that it’s 20 pages. It’s the longest issue in recent memory and possibly the first ever 20pager since The Corsair switched to this format. Why 20 pages? Because I’m obsessed with size and like breaking records. Also we have a lot of great content that I’ll let you discover for yourself. Instead, I’d like to preach a little bit. I was never a fan of college or the education system in general. I thought the system was outdated, archaic and sapped all semblance of creativity from the soul, producing a bunch of worker ants whose sole purpose was to bury themselves in $100,000 in student debt, then go out and work that debt off. I took pride in being autodidactic and believed that anything they could teach me in college, I could teach myself because, you know, the internet. But, two years ago, while taking a shower after binging on “Newsroom,” I decided that what I was doing wasn’t working for me. A thought infected my brain and didn’t let up until I signed up for classes at SMC. Returning to school after seven years of on-and-off steel factory work was strange, but I adapted quickly. Chance encounters led me to writing for the newspaper and, eventually, to this keyboard in LS 172B. SMC showed me that a lot of my ideas about the education system were exaggerated. Sure the system is outdated and puts way too much pressure on young, budding minds to satisfy the often arbitrary expectations of professors. But college is more than just the classes you take. You meet people that you never would have met in an everyday setting. While I may come off as somewhat gregarious, I rarely ever pursue relationships with people beyond fleeting surface encounters. I can get a bit reclusive, to my own detriment, and the words “networking opportunity” make me cringe. But here, in this newsroom, bonds are formed whether you like it or not. The inordinate amount of time that you spend with the same people day in and day out force relationships for better or worse and make people like me dive beneath the surface as the small talk tropes quickly run out. The newsroom is also a place of infinite creativity where we are given free reign to report what we want. Our advisor Saul Rubin’s favorite phrase is “First Amendment” — the go ahead to make our own decisions. This has been the single biggest factor in our preparation for professional life. You must be accountable for your decisions. As my father says, “Ask 100 people’s advice, then make your own decision.” These are the best things that SMC has given me. Sure, there are plenty of issues with the way things are sometimes run and not every professor is the one that will change your life and make you consider a new major, but you’re forced to interact and you’re given a chance to practice for the real world. For these reasons alone, I recommend that everybody give college a shot. You, as this generation of students have more power than you know. Creating change is as simple as showing face and following through on your ideas. Going from steel mill worker to Editor-inChief is as simple is taking that first step and using the inertia to carry yourself forward. I would like to thank our advisors Saul Rubin and Gerard Burkhart for everything they’ve done — both their guidance and their conversation. Unlike other stories that I hear at SMC, they never treated us as kids or as lesser than them. They gave us the keys to the car and trusted us to get it back in one piece. There may be some dents and scratches, but she still drives. Now, I place the keys in the capable hands of Jacob Hirsohn. I know you’ll treat her well. And to the readers, thank you for your patronage. This paper wouldn’t exist without you. This is our final voyage. Enjoy.
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NEWS
VOLUME 111 ISSUE 10 • JUNE 1, 2016 • SANTA MONICA COLLEGE
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AS SETS SPENDING RECORD IN FINAL MEETING
Entire AS Board of Directors lines up for photo at the end of their final meeting on Monday, May 23 in the Cayton Center. (Adam R. Thomas)
ADAM R. THOMAS NEWS EDITOR On Monday, May 23, the final meeting of the Associated Students (AS) Board of Directors was held, as usual, on the open floor of the Cayton Center. As with many years before it, this year saw a deluge of last minute budget proposals come to the board for approval, with 33 different action items that the board had to choose whether or not to fund. Led by sleep-deprived President Jesse Randel, the AS board managed to tear through the long list of items in record time. The outgoing board still managed to set another record during their brief meeting, for the sheer amount of money spent at a final board meeting, with over $370,000 requisitioned for current and future expenses — a fitting end to a year where they spent over 50 percent more than the prior year's board. "I don't mean to be short. I apologize in advance to the entire board, I know it's our last meeting but I haven't slept, so bear with me," said Randel after hearing the Model UN Club pitch their request to send a member to Prague. The board approved the request along with all of the Consent Action Items in a bundle, allowing them to cut 18 items out of their agenda immediately. There was a light tone throughout the meeting as they moved through the list, and jokes flew freely as everyone partook of pastries, provided by the Director of Budget Management Samuel Ross, while breezing through their work. After approving the Chamber Music Club's requisition for $1,164.17 for equipment and sheet music with a unanimous vote, Randel announced to the room, “Alright. with that we finished all student spending. The rest is our [AS] spending. So buckle up people, it's about to get expensive." The board laughed loudly in response, but it was clear by the meeting’s end that he wasn’t joking. One of the more notable expenditures was the board’s decision to give next year's AS board a pay raise, doubling the allotment that board members receive for expenses over a semester from $500 to $1,000. The board agreed in a unanimous vote that it was more than earned considering the large amount of time they spent each week working in student government. Ross said, “If directors can spend less time having to work to support themselves and more time dedicated here I think that's a benefit to the student that outweighs the cost."
With the pay for the upcoming Terrance Ware adminisOf course, the measure’s high expense helped lead to the tration increased, the board cut through numerous Major massive amount of money requisitioned at the meeting in Action Items (measures costing over $1,000) with minimal total, which Ross announced at the meeting’s end to be debate and unanimous votes, until they came to a dead stop totaling $378,707.49. over the most expensive proposal of the day: Director of This isn’t out of the ordinary for the 2015-16 AS Board Student Assistance Johnathon Hughes' proposition to create of Directors either — it's been a consistent trend. After a $150,000 endowment for the Student Success Award — a careful review of the all of the AS Minutes for the last sescholarship handed out by AS — so it could be funded in mester and year, the board had approved $1,684,238.10 in perpetuity. encumbered expenses. Subtracting the $702,015 put aside Hughes opened the issue by declaring its merits, saying, for the Big Blue Bus Anytime program that is a mandate “If every board for the next 10 years allocated the same for AS, the board approved a total of $982,223.10, a roughly amount of money that we allocate now, then we would get 55 percent increase over the expenditures made by the the same amount of scholarships that we currently give out, previous year’s board. for the rest of the college's life." This would also seem to put the board Considerable debate occurred among over-budget, as the AS had an operathe board members over the measure, tional budget of about $1.4 million at with the opposition led by Ross. Ross’ the start of the year, except for the fact primary complaint was that it would be that many of the budgeted items were permanent and prevent flexibility for "RANDEL ANNOUNCED “not to exceed” amounts, and many future AS boards. He said, “There would TO THE ROOM, 'ALRIGHT. have cost far less than were budgeted be no way of undoing this. That's one WITH THAT WE FINISHED for. According to Ross, who spoke to of the reasons we have to re-approve The Corsair about the large amount of ALL STUDENT so many things each year. It gives us a encumbered expenses the board requichoice. This would remove a choice SPENDING. THE REST IS sitioned all year on this point, the final from every future AS board.” OUR [AS] SPENDING. SO expenditures should come out to There was also concern that since $1,165,746.73. the endowment would be handled by BUCKLE UP PEOPLE, IT'S Ross wrote via email, “Ideally, yes, ABOUT TO GET the SMC Foundation, the AS board AS wouldn't get over encumbered. But would lose the ability to choose which I think it would've been crazy to let EXPENSIVE.'" students would receive scholarships in certain arbitrary distinctions impede the the future. Eventually, the issue was good work we were able to fund.” settled by Academic Computing InStill, the board seemed quite proud structional Specialist Lee Peterson, who of their achievements throughout the works in the Cayton Computer lab. year. After they finished the work of “My labor union has given the foundation an endowment approving this expensive final meeting in record time, the fund," Peterson said. "The foundation has been very agree- board members used their director’s reports to deliver kind able with us for years and years and years on helping us set words of thanks and appreciation to each other. up our committee and how we're going to administer it. . . Director of Sustainability Heather Haro summed things We've lived off the interest and we've had a scholarship up by saying, “I'm just going let myself get sentimental for every year since at least 1990 from one single donation. a moment. I feel really lucky to know you all. It's been a That's how an endowment works." great year." The measure passed with only three nay votes, and was the only issue to receive any nays for the entire meeting. All others passed unanimously.
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NEWS
VOLUME 111 ISSUE 10 • JUNE 1, 2016 • SANTA MONICA COLLEGE
HIGH FAILURE RATE IN MATH DEPARTMENT RAISES QUESTIONS BAILEY PERAITA ASHLEEN KNUTSEN SEPTEMBER BOTTOMS There’s a familiar sight every time you walk past the math complex. Students of all sizes, ages, and backgrounds clutch their returned tests in hand and discuss their grades with confusion and disappointment. These students are so focused on looking at their papers that they can’t avert their eyes. One student with a heavy backpack will bump into two people, shortly apologizing with a mutter. His focus is somewhere else: on the terrible grade he just received on his math test. The students stumbling out of the Math department with a shocked look on their face and a failing grade on their mind aren't just English or art majors either. Last fall, Samantha Purucker, a chemical engineering major, walked out of the math complex with a D in Math 7. Just like the English majors, STEM students discover that they're failing in math too. It's the best known secret on campus: SMC students are failing to pass their math classes in large numbers. According to the Fall 2015 Grade Distribution Report, around 26 percent of students received Ds or Fs, while the Fall 2015 Course Retention Rate report indicates 27.1 percent are dropping out before the semester is completed. In total, 53 percent of SMC students aren't able to pass their math courses, a rate far higher than any other department. In comparison, Life Sciences has a total non-passing rate of 30.6 percent and Physical Sciences has a total non-passing rate of 35.8 percent. These are classes that are plenty tough, so the Math Department's high failure rate can't simply be due to the general challenge of the course material. But the million dollar question is: what is rotten in SMC's Math Department? According to students who spoke to The
Irena Mihalachii and Jingwei Fu, both business majors at SMC prepare for math finals on campus. (September Bottoms)
Corsair, including engineering major and Associated Students Director of Budget Management Samuel Ross, the problem is likely due to a number of factors. "I don't think it's any one problem," Ross said. "I think part of it is the dearth of fulltime faculty. I think maybe [the other part] is that they're really taught for math majors. I mean we're a community college. We should be trying to meet students where they're at." Ross elaborated a bit saying that while much of what was taught in higher level math courses was rigorous and "cool" for those who majored in mathematics, much
Graphic by William Miguel
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of it wasn't relevant for most of the other STEM majors who far outnumbered them in class, let alone general ed students. As for the lack of full-time faculty, the Math Department is currently comprised of 24 full-time (17 percent) and 117 part-time professors, offering 21 courses this semester. Many of these professors are overloaded, and are teaching over 3 sections. Purucker agreed with Ross about the methodology not being appropriate. Purucker had Professor Matthew Konya last semester and expressed extreme disappointment with his methods, saying, "I feel like he taught the subject well, but the design of the class is not very conducive to a student succeeding. Homework from the textbook was assigned, but not collected or graded, so it was impossible to find out if we had done the problems to the professor's expectations until the exams.” The Corsair spoke to Konya, who felt that he had struck a balance in his teaching methodology based on his 18 years of teaching at SMC. "One of the things that’s always a question to be addressed is how you’re going to balance the practical problem solving side to the more theoretical background of it . . . I try and strike a real balance between the two," said Konya. Asked if he felt the faculty imbalance was a problem with the department, Konya said, “I don’t know. I honestly don’t know if I think it does. I think based on what I’ve seen — the level of teaching at the part-time level is high.” Still, Konya agreed that he 'd like to see more full-time faculty. Mitra Moassessi, chair of the Math Department, said, “Every year, each department requests more full-time faculty. However, the decision whether or not to hire more full-time faculty is made by the district.” On this point though, there are movements being made by the school's administration to rectify the problem. At the District Planning and Advisory Council (DPAC) meeting on February 24, the gathered constituencies of SMC voted to recommend to the Board of Trustees that they raise the number of full-time faculty at an accelerated rate. In a motion forwarded by Moassessi and seconded by Peter Morse, DPAC recommended that the school district increase the amount of full-time faculty by five percent a year, every year, until a goal of 75 percent full-time faculty is reached in the 2022-23 school year. According to Moassessi, this should begin this fall. With two of the current full-time @THE_CORSAIR •
Math Department staff retiring, they will be adding five new full-time professors for the 2016 Fall Semester. Until then, many SMC students, aware of the high chance they have of not passing math at SMC, due to the published grade distribution and word of mouth, have decided to find alternate solutions. The most common method has been skipping math at SMC entirely and instead taking equivalent UCLA extension courses. While costing more money per class, many students have said that they're much easier and taught better. Clint Thodos, a 21-year-old English major, made that choice in the fall of 2015 after dropping a math class at SMC the previous year. He found it more accomodating and eventually earned an A grade and acceptance into UCLA for fall of 2016. Moassessi refused to comment on students taking these UCLA extension courses rather than staying at SMC, though she did defend the integrity of those who teach in the department. “Every faculty is professional and have been teaching for a long time,” said Moassessi. “They know what they’re doing.” But of course, for a department based on metrics, the Math Department keeps facing troubling data. Aside from endless reports from students of all backgrounds and experiences like Thodos and Purucker, studies are showing deep problems. A recent study performed by the Minority Male Community College Collaborative and presented at the April 5 Board of Trustees meeting, included the results of a focus group of math students who were men of color. Some of the challenges reported by participants included: inconsistency between lectures, text books, exams and other classes; faculty making students feel uncomfortable for asking questions or being stereotyped as incompetent; and a lack of validation or support to transfer from faculty. It’s clear from this study, RateMyProfessor reviews and grade distribution reports, that students at SMC are struggling with the offered math classes here on campus. A chance to see the results comes with the published grade distribution reports, which give the amount of each letter grade awarded broken down by course and section. “Every department chair gets a report from the district about grade distribution,” said Moassessi. When asked if the department uses this information to improve on the courses, she stated, “We study it,” and declined further comment.
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VOLUME 111 ISSUE 10 • JUNE 1, 2016 • SANTA MONICA COLLEGE
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CAMERAS KEEP CRIME DOWN ADAM R. THOMAS NEWS EDITOR It was the second week of last fall semester, and Ethan Opdyke discovered what all cyclists who study at SMC dread: his bike had been stolen. “I came here midday, for a 1 o’clock class. When I got done with that, an hour and five minutes later, and my bike was gone,” said Opdyke about the theft. Opdyke reported the incident to the SMCPD, knowing full well that he had little to no hope of ever seeing his bike again. “This was how I commuted. This and the bus, but the bike was way faster,” said Opdyke about how the theft had hurt his daily commute. Which was in part why, after a warning from Sgt. Mark Kessler at the opening of the 2016 Spring Semester about a rising trend of bike thefts on campus, Opdyke made a public comment at the March 21 Associated Students board meeting about installing cameras near the bike stations on SMC’s Main Campus. But unbeknownst to Opdyke, the measure was already underway, and over the spring several new cameras have been installed near the campus’ bike station, which is most likely why both bike thefts and crime overall are down on campus, as reported by the SMCPD. “I think overall the crimes are down. I think the advent of having cameras on campus is a good thing, because it’s helped us to clear cases,” said Chief Johnnie Adams. “Because of the fact that the cameras are out there, it’s a visual deterrent because the suspect will see the camera and think twice before doing something.” This reduction in crime on campus held especially true for bicycle thefts. Adams told The Corsair that between April 6 and May 26 no bike thefts had been reported to the SMCPD, and there were 3 fewer thefts for
Physical and Forensic Anthropology professor Ciaran Brewster unlocks his bike near the bike lot on Pearl Street yesterday. (Josue Martinez)
the Spring Semester, with 11, than in the Fall Semester, with 14. Unfortunately this long streak was broken on May 27 with the first bike theft in over a month, but the overall trend was positive. After knocking on a nearby piece of wood, Sgt. Jere Romano said, “It’s been really peaceful. . . We’re way down [on crime], compared to year over year.” Romano stated that another major factor in the reduced crime rate was very likely the
increased size of the SMCPD. Two recent hires, officers Dominic Jester and Traci Dickenson, have added much needed muscle to the campus’ force. Romano said, “There’s more of us on during the week now. With the addition of the two new officers, we’re able to cover more ground.” Adams also said that directed patrols in areas that were analyzed to be prone to crime had helped the department prevent these
thefts, saying, “Because of those patrols, hopefully we’ve done our job and reduced crime that way.” For Opdyke, it’s nice to hear, though he was still a bit ambivalent about the situation. “It’s good that something has been done,” he said, “but it’s reactive because bikes have been stolen before. The school could have done better in those regards. But I am happy that there is a camera now.”
SMC STUDENTS' EXPO LINE EXPERIENCES JAY YIM STAFF WRITER
the extra buses anymore.” For some students, the Expo Line has proven useful, As the electric rail car but hasn’t really changed comes to a stop, words that much for their daily commute. haven't been heard in Santa Rather, it has added an extra Monica for over 60 years option to avoid traffic. Karen come out from the PA system: Martinez, 21, who is a nursing the announcement of an armajor, said,“I have taken riving train. The doors open, trains before, so it wasn’t as and hundreds of riders scurry special to me. I usually take out of the door and run down R10, but depending on traffic, the railway like excited I choose to take the Expo Line animals dying to eat their to avoid traffic.” food. Like Ocampo, Martinez Since its opening day on also chooses the walking route May 20, the Metro Expo Line to campus. “One thing I would has seen thousands upon say to students is that it’s great thousands of eager riders for those who don’t like taking hopping on board in order to the bus,” said Martinez. go from to Downtown Santa Of course there is one last Monica to Downtown Los group of students who are Angeles. However, there is excited about the Expo Line, another stop along the newly but because there is not a opened line that's seen almost conveniently close station to as many people getting off, their house, they cannot hop and they're none other than aboard. Tangila Lee, 22, a the students of Santa Monica Jennifer Bryan, 19, a cosmetology student waits for the Expo Line train at the SMC stop on Tuesday. Jennifer is one of the many students who use the theater arts major, expressed College arriving at the 17th/ train to commute to school. (Josue Martinez) her sadness over what she SMC station. called a “catastrophe.” As the first day the Expo Line, I used to ride the R10 and, on top of that, 2 or 3 ad“I really want to take the train," said Lee, "but unfortuLine was officially open during the school semester, Monday, ditional buses.” nately, it is pretty inconvenient because I would have to May 23 saw the first packed bunch of SMC students arrivStudents have the option of using the Breeze Bikes, take a 30 minute bus ride just to get to the closest station. ing to school on it. Since then, waves and waves of students taking the bus, or walking to campus when they get off at If it was closer, I would take it every day to school.” have taken the Expo Line captive, changing the daily commute the 17th/SMC station. For Ocampo, she chooses to walk to For many SMC students the Expo Line is lifesaving, for for many SMC students who need to travel long distances campus. others it’s merely one option of many, and for some, it's to get to campus. “It’s most comfortable for me. I don’t really mind unfortunately out of their reach. Regardless of which catKathy Ocampo, 19, who is an biological science major, [walking],” said Ocampo. She also expressed excitement egory they fall under, it can be said without a doubt that the spoke at length about how the Expo Line has made an impact about the Expo Line cutting down on the number of buses Expo Line has changed the life of plenty of SMC students on her commute to school. “The commute is great, but it she needs to take. “All I need to do now is just walk straight does get very packed," she said. "Before I took the Expo to the station and straight to my house. I don’t have to take in some way, shape, or form. FOR EXTENDED COVERAGE VISIT US AT THECORSAIRONLINE.COM •
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SPORTS
VOLUME 111 ISSUE 10 • JUNE 1, 2016 • SANTA MONICA COLLEGE
ATHLETIC DEPARTMENT: INSTABILITY CAUSES CONCERN
JOSH SHURE & TROY BARNES SPORTS COLUMNISTS Junior college athletics provides a platform for thousands of student athletes around the nation to play collegiate sports while optimizing their academic and athletic potential to eventually transfer to a four-year university. Athletics is constantly used by institutions as a promotional tool to attract prospective students because success in it can easily be determined. Santa Monica College's Vice President of Student Affairs Mike Tuitasi judges success of Athletics based "on the positive experience that student-athletes have in their sport. In addition, student-athletes reaching their academic goals as well as their athletic goals is an indicator of success." After what has been a roller coaster calendar year for SMC athletics, a thorough examination is in order to determine the current status of the department. The SMC Athletic Department, which offers 17 sports, 8 men’s and 9 women’s, had a successful year by Tuitasi's definition, as shown by the awards handed out on May 12 by the SMC General Advisory Board to the most outstanding scholar athletes of the past year. Since SMC brought in Reggie Ellis as the new interim athletic director in September 2015, the football team went undefeated and won a championship, men’s soccer, women’s soccer and men’s volleyball all reached the playoffs, both the men’s basketball and women’s volleyball teams finished with winning records and cheerleading took fourth at Nationals. However, with all the success athletics had this year came turmoil as well. The cheerleading program was indefinitely suspended, head football coach Gifford Lindheim and many of his supporting coaches left for El Camino College, women’s volleyball coach and SMC alumna Nicole Ryan left to take a job at Brentwood High School coaching volleyball and women’s soccer coach Aaron Benditson was fired. The department also faces sanctions handed down from the district. All of these things leave several questions loom
numerous meetings with union representatives and SMC administration, a decision was made that the firing should have never occurred. Benditson was unable to be reached for comment. In a recent development, a new head football coach has been hired. Tuitasi confirmed that SMC has hired William Laslett to replace the departing Lindheim. While the football coaching vacancy has been filled, the women’s volleyball coaching position remains open, but Tuitasi said that they are in the process of filling it. Lastly, the cheer program will continue in this upcoming semester, however, it is not considered part of the Athletic Department. A cheerleading class will be offered in the 2016 Fall Semester, but Tuitasi said, “Cheer does not fall under CCCAA [California Community College Athletics Association].” Neither the women’s volleyball nor the football coaching positions have been approved as full-time positions. The reason why SMC was unable to retain the coaching services of two of their most decorated coaches, Lindheim and Ryan, is the fact that neither of them were full-time. Currently, the Athletic Department only has one full-time head coach: women’s basketball coach Lydia Strong. Besides Strong, all 16 of the other head coaches are part-time. The differences between a part-time coach and full-time coach are drastic. First, being full-time provides job security. Former swimming coach Steve Contarsy was fired from his coaching position, however, retained his tenured kinesiology position. Additionally, the difference in pay and benefits is nearly $100,000. For instance, Strong’s pay and benefits as full-time faculty totaled $144,107 in 2014, while part-timer Lindheim’s pay and benefits totaled $50,828. For someone like Lindheim, who has a family to provide for, this was insufficient to live on. Graphic by William Miguel “I taught Middle School PE from 7:45 a.m. to 3 p.m. [while at SMC],” said Lindheim. “[El Camino] offered me a full-time teaching job on around the Athletic Department's future heading into the campus. I have been part-time at SMC for the past 7 years.” “Full-time faculty positions are submitted to the Full-Time summer. Faculty Hiring Committee. A full-time coaching position Problems like these are nothing new to SMC athletics was submitted this year. However, it didn’t rank favorably,” though. One of the major problems for the program has said Tuitasi. been the lack of consistency at the head of the department. Glendale Community College’s athletics program offers Since Ellis arrived at SMC, he has had to tackle issues 12 sports, has 10 head coaches and seven full-time coaches. that stem from well before he ever stepped foot on campus. LA Valley College has 10 head coaches, Over the past couple of years, there have six of which are full-time. El Camino been several violations by several differCollege, where Lindheim took a new ent sports, consequently resulting in job, has 14 head coaches, 10 of which sanctions. An integral part of working "SINCE [INTERIM are full-time and it has an additional past a probation period is implementing a system and structure that this department ATHLETIC DIRECTOR seven full-time coaches in the department has been lacking. However, the athletic REGGIE] ELLIS ARRIVED besides the head coaches. “The department has submitted prodirector position has simply been a revolvAT SMC, HE HAS HAD TO posals for head full-time coaching posiing door hiring process. TACKLE ISSUES THAT tions for the past five years,” said Tuitasi. “It’s always been tough because my He also explained how having more whole time here, there’s been so many STEM FROM WELL full-time head coaches would provide different athletic directors," said Brian BEFORE HE EVER stability for the department, specifically Eskridge, who's been coaching water STEPPED FOOT ON because “they are more accessible to polo at SMC for the last five years. "It’s their student-athletes.” always changing from one to the next to CAMPUS." In addition, in an attempt to break the the next. There’s no real stability.” mold of previous years and provide staOver the course of the last seven years, bility to the department, Tuitasi hopes there have been six different athletic to hire a permanent AD this year. "The directors and three in the last four years. position will be open to all qualified applicants," he said. “Two of those AD’s served as interim AD,” said Tuitasi, Reggie Ellis was unable to be reached for comment on who is in charge of oversight of the Athletics Department. whether he will seek the permanent position. “I hope to hire a permanent AD this year.” For the time being, time will only tell on who will fill It’s not surprising to see violations occur when there has the remaining coaching vacancy and whether the department yet to be a constant head of the department. will retain an athletic director for longer than a year. As the summer approaches, some good news has come However, even with all the stresses of being a part-time from the department in regards to handling the coaching faculty mixed with the minimal support from administration, vacancies. Aaron Benditson, who was fired a few months ago, has coaches such as Eskridge can't fathom the idea of leaving been reinstated as the head coach of women's soccer. After SMC saying, "I love SMC... this is where I want to be."
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HEALTH & LIFESTYLE
VOLUME 111 ISSUE 10 • JUNE 1, 2016 • SANTA MONICA COLLEGE
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SUGAR, SPICE AND EVERYTHING NICE A peer into the life of a college sugar baby ALISSA NARDO HEALTH & LIFESTYLE EDITOR With owered eyes covered in eyeliner sharp enough to kill, Luna is hard at work. She's stationed at her sewing machine, stitching patches onto a leather jacket with her rescue dog, Izzy, watching from her lap. She's wearing large platform shoes, a devilish lace-up top and a microscopic pleated skirt. Luna has just come home from a day at her part-time job, working at a clothing boutique. "Can I smoke?" she asks casually. She crawls into bed and lights up, still clad in platform boots. I take a seat on the floor between her Sailor Moon and Care Bear stuffed animals, on a mountain of shag carpeting. Izzy runs back and forth between us. Mirrors line the walls of her fantastic pink and purple den. Her home consists of two rooms and doubles as a sewing workshop where bright fabric samples, nostalgic photos of friends and a pink ball gag hang for inspiration. Here, she stitches up glittery bras for her online shop and Instagrams out killer selfies paired with sex-positive mantras for all to read. But it's not her Etsy sales, retail gig or Instagram persona that pays for her workspace or covers her rent. Luna, on-again, off-again SMC student, dates rich men for money. "Luna" is her stripper stage name. Among her other forays into sex work, she is a sugar baby. The definition of a sugar relationship varies depending on the source. Some consider sugar daddies as a mutually defined relationship where a "sugar daddy" or "sugar mommy" pays a "sugar baby" money to spend time with them on their terms. Some sugar relationships have blurrier terms, where the daddy provides the baby with luxury goods or experiences instead of straight monetary payment, sometimes called "Splenda daddies." Luna is just one of the many young college girls forging relationships with the rich and elite. According to SeekingArrangement. com, the self-proclaimed “world’s largest sugar daddy website,” nearly two million students have joined their site as of January 2016. The number of young girls on Seeking Arrangement is in such abundance that the website has created a benefits program for student babies called Sugar Baby University, with on-site perks to bolster students' profiles. The program advertises sugaring as an alternate to college loans and low-wage jobs as means for paying for school. "FAFSA and grants can be a nightmare — that’s if you are approved," Sugar Baby University's website says. "With SeekingArrangement.com’s Sugar Baby University, students from all backgrounds and income levels are welcome. No minimum GPA required. Join today and get your education paid for by a generous sponsor." “There is a lot aside from the monetary gain,” Brook Urick, Seeking Arrangement’s Public Relations Manager, says. “Most of them are looking for mentorships outside of school. For example, a medical student can talk with doctors. So there’s a lot of mentorship.” Luna agrees: sugaring is time spent well compared to working minimum wage. "It's a customer service-related job — which I am good at — that has flexible hours and doesn't require a college degree, and makes more money than minimum wage so I can afford to live on my own," Luna says. "And that's why I do it. It was mostly an
Graphic by Alexander Melendez
economics and convenience decision." Frenchie, an SMC student and novice There are no set prices: sexual trends, the sugar baby, says, “I’ve been on two coffee caliber of a baby's profile and the buyer's dates with the same guy. I liked it. The guy preference dictate how much a baby can was really nice. He didn’t pressure me into request and how much a daddy's going to doing anything. We just met up and talked.” want to put out financially. Coffee seems to be the consensus on a "Everybody, for complicated reasons, typical first sugar date. Luna also recalls makes different amounts of money," Luna going on many dinner dates in her initial says. "Simple things make a big difference months as a sugar baby. in your income. If you're blonde, you're “We went to fancy restaurants. One time probably going to make more money... If a guy ordered takeout and we watched a you have big boobs, even if they're a little bunch of movies." Luna lists dates off the fake, as long as they're not ridiculously fake, top of her head while scratching Izzy's head. they're gonna make you more money. Big "One time, we went to see a movie, we went butt? More money. Little shopping for stuffed waist? More money." animals, we went looking Luna says at the start of "I LIKE TO GO HAVE at antique furniture for him. her time "sugaring," she Another guy, we went to FUN AND GET had short hair, which as "a FUCKED AND DRESS the bar that he owned and rule of thumb in sex work NICE. AND I LIKE TO walked down the boardin general, unless you're NOT WORRY AT THE walk. Just date things.” really, really good at END OF THE MONTH Luna abhors the claim working it — typically THAT I’M NOT GONNA that sugar daddies are only short haired girls make less signed up because they are HAVE MONEY.” because heterosexual men ugly. Out of the approxi--LUNA are dumb, especially in mately ten guys Luna has LA," she says. Luna now been out with, she insists has long hair, which "is most of them have been great because money." attractive. They don't pay for girls because Luna began sex work after her first quarter they have to. They pay for girls because they at UCLA, when she became a stripper. After want to. dropping out of UCLA, she wanted to move Sugar daddies aren't trying to meet your out independently without financial assistance family or deal with your emotional baggage. from her parents or otherwise. Luna's sugar They pay because they want stress-free fun, baby career began about six months after unconditional attention, and casual affection she began stripping. from attractive young girls. "When I went back to UCLA in the fall, "Besides attention, guys on that site are after having taken a couple quarters off, I usually looking for something specific to do got into sugaring because I needed something with youth," Luna says. "Youth manifests less time consuming than stripping that wasn't itself in a lot of different ways and sometimes always so late at night, but was cohesive they like the taboo of it and sometimes they with school as well," Luna says. don't and that manifests in different ways. But not all girls enter the sugar world Youth. That's it." after engaging in sex work. With magazines As evident from the success of sugar like GQ and Cosmopolitan normalizing the relationship websites, it's clear that sugar stories of sugar baby experiences, girls who daddies enjoy treating girls to luxurious nights would never consider themselves sex workers in exchange for the ability to talk about use the site in the same fashion that one uses themselves, leading the conversation in a regular dating site. whichever way they want. This could be
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anywhere from sharing wall street stories over wine or gushing about their passion for boating while actually boating. And though sugar daddies are notorious for taking babies on extravagant dates, the opulent experiences aren't primarily why the girls do it. Most sugar babies are just in it for the money. “I was able to buy a really fancy sewing machine this year, and I was also able to save up for life insurance, which I’m in the process of getting approved for," Luna says. "I get to save money in a tax-free way, which is good for the future and retirement and shit.” And as for question that is often first on people's minds: in the long term, do you have to have sex with the sugar daddies? "In short, if you want to do it for a while, probably," Luna says. "For the first few months, I was on Seeking Arrangement, I personally had a rule for myself where I didn't want to have sex... It's super rare to find a situation that's satisfying for both parties where you aren't having sex or sexual contact. And that works for some girls, but it's a lot more limited and it doesn't really make it so you can have a real-ish relationship, which is hard for everyone to keep going with. It is possible in the short term.” To put it bluntly, opponents equate this sort of dynamic to prostitution. But according to the sugar babies themselves, this is not the case. The relationships consist of more than just a physical connection. Sugar daddies provide monetary assistance, mentorship and fun experiences in return for emotional attention and affection from attractive babies. And seeing as the supply and demand for the relationships is only growing, maybe this dynamic works. “Sugaring makes me feel cute and empowered and stable,” Luna says. “I like going on dates already. I like to go have fun and get fucked and dress nice. And I like to not worry at the end of the month that I’m not gonna have money.”
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HEALTH & LIFESTYLE
VOLUME 111 ISSUE 10 • JUNE 1, 2016 • SANTA MONICA COLLEGE
THE MADNESS OF THE 2016 ELECTION Corsair journalists discuss chaos at local presidential front runners' rallies
San Diego police officers attempt to take into custody protesters on the railing outside the Trump Rally at the Convention Center in San Diego on Friday, May 27. (Jose Lopez)
SEPTEMBER BOTTOMS CHRISTIAN MONTERROSA STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERS We are told that we have freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and the right to peacefully assemble. While this holds true, our expressive freedoms often come with the aggressive and sometimes violent disagreement of others. This 2016 presidential campaign has caused an uproar among opposing supporters unlike anything seen since the late 1960s, when Martin Luther King Jr. and Senator Robert F. Kennedy were assassinated over political disagreements. Two candidates in particular, Senator Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump, seem to attract supporters with radical viewpoints, while Hillary Clinton supporters, in hopes of expanding upon progress made by the Obama administration, watch from the sidelines. Living in a democracy, we can expect politicians to lobby for the support of citizens by means of appealing to their needs. When a scarce job market and a student loan deficit of over one trillion dollars exhausts middle class America, it becomes effortless for candidates to propose extreme political ideologies, which in turn appeal to extreme supporters. Naturally, political views on polar opposites like mass deportation versus a pardon on current illegal immigrants, will result in acute contention and political unrest. By attending multiple rallies hosted by Clinton, Sanders and Trump, respectively, The Corsair was able to experience this pandemonium first hand. When we first took on this daunting political beat, our goal was to create a simple profile on each running candidate and their politics in order to inform our student body. However, after attending the lawless Donald Trump rally in Costa Mesa, it quickly became clear that the story was no longer the candidates themselves, but rather their supporters and the chaos they were surrounded by — or causing. Bernie Sanders, a candidate seen as an unwavering socialist who has gained massive support among the Santa Monica College community, held rallies in Santa Monica, Carson, and many other cities throughout Southern California to prepare for the June 7 primary. Sanders supporters of every stripe gathered in anticipation. An overall warm, uplifting mood spread like wildfire as supporters sprawled out on the
Rosario Dawson (left) walks off stage as Dick Van Dyke (right) takes the podium at a Bernie Sanders rally on the Santa Monica High School football field on Monday, May 23. (Kyle Toelken)
grass, painting Bernie signs and hashing out the details of his presidential plans. The never-ending lines of supporters chanted things like, “feel the Bern” and “we love you Bernie.” With the camaraderie among supporters commonly found at most Bernie rallies, coverage by the media was almost non-existent, being that a story embracing the positive side of the campaigns doesn’t entice an audience. Bernie fans were filled with such bliss during Bernie rallies, but this stood in stark contrast to their judgment, hatred, and violence-filled protests outside of both Trump and Hillary rallies. “Feel the Bern” turned into literal burning of Trump campaign signs. “We love you Bernie” evolved into “fuck you Hillary” outside of a Clinton rally held at
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East Los Angeles College on May 5. Anti-Hillary protesters, including devout Bernie supporters and the Brown Berets organization, were waiting for their chance to confront the attendees. Lined up alongside the exits, the protesters hurled hateful remarks and insults to exiting Hillary supporters. Although these agitations did not result in physical altercations, anti-Hillary demonstrators were clearly looking for a fight. Inside ELAC, everyone remained civil, with the exception of a few instigators who were escorted out. With Clinton holding a steady lead in California, protesters questioned the willingness from her supporters to turn a blind eye to the current FBI investigations and her confusing changes of heart when it comes to the legalization of gay /THECORSAIRNEWS •
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VOLUME 111 ISSUE 10 • JUNE 1, 2016 • SANTA MONICA COLLEGE marriage, her involvement with Wall Street, and her exaggerated description of what happened in Bosnia. At the Trump Rally In Costa Mesa, civil debates were not an option as violence erupted between Trump supporters and anti-Trump protesters, some of whom were Bernie supporters. Unable to present concrete reasons as to why they were demonstrating against Donald Trump, “I’m just here for the experience” became a common statement among this new generation of political activists. An anti-Trump protester participating in the riots that night said, “To be honest, most of these people feel outcast and rejected, and that gets them angry.” At the same time, other protesters felt that Trump is a racist and a bigot, referring to his generalization of illegal immigrants as “rapists” and “criminals.” These controversial and “politically incorrect” statements tend to appeal to a radical demographic that still exists within America. One woman in the Costa Mesa rally audience berated a Hispanic man recording video on his phone and yelled, “You just wait until Trump becomes president, you’re going to wish you were in hell.” Cole Bartiromo, a Trump supporter, was punched in the face after calling protesters “illegal scum,” making headlines across multiple news outlets. With a strong media presence at every rally, the opportunity to broadcast opinions only escalates the actions of demonstrators and supporters, often magnifying the severity of the situation by those hoping to document something newsworthy. Like the media, law enforcement officials have overcome the learning curve, increasing security at every rally along the way. Designated protest zones, police on horseback, and swat teams are only a few ways in which police have adapted to the violent outbursts that shadow this presidential campaign. Many protesters have faulted the police for the increase in force, claiming things like “you’re supposed to be protecting us” and expressing an overall tone of mistreatment. However, this interpretation fails to recognize that police
HEALTH & LIFESTYLE
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Hillary Clinton speaks to supporters during a campaign rally at East Los Angeles College in Monterey Park on Thursday, May 5. (Christian Monterrosa)
are responding to violence rather than creating it and overlooks the passion-driven instigation towards them — passionate instigation that, interestingly enough, reflects the ideologies and personalities of the candidates they support. Bernie Sanders supporters seek freedom from a society which they deem unfair, much like Sanders’ declared war on Wall Street. Bernie’s aesthetic of a systemic “revolution” inspires his supporters to do just that: revolt. Trump supporters show a scary resemblance to the Republican candidate, often repeating his controversial statements verbatim and carrying a confrontational demeanor, much to the approval and encouragement of Trump himself.
Hillary Clinton supporters, meanwhile, remain calm and collected, staying out of the riotous fights between competing parties, mirroring the neutral mindset of Secretary Clinton. Having become experts at playing defense, it was hard to find any Hillary supporters at the aforementioned protests. Looking ahead, the presidential campaign sits at a dramatic fork in the road. In one direction lies just another election year, with all of the current turmoil finding itself buried in the history books. In another, the potential to repeat the violence of 1968, if not raise the bar.
more to explore
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10
PHOTOSTORY
VOLUME 111 ISSUE 10 • JUNE 1, 2016 • SANTA MONICA COLLEGE
Right: Classic American cars can be seen cruising by some Cuban construction workers who are on a break from working on the restoration of a colonial building across the street from a revolutionary mural of Che Guevara in Havana, Cuba on May 4, 2016. The city is in the midst of an urban transformation as many colonial buildings are being worked on to bring them back to life from a condition of decay.
Above: A Cuban man repairs the spokes on his pedicab bicycle while friends socialize on the sidewalk in Havana, Cuba on May 2, 2016. In 1962 President John F. Kennedy made official the embargo against Cuba which has inspired a local culture of ingenuity where repairing anything and everyting has become the solution when replacing is not an option. Right: Cubans line up to take pictures of and view the cruise ship Adonis, run by Fathom Travel, docked in Havana, Cuba on May 2, 2016. This is the first cruise ship to make its way to Cuba since 1978 carrying a total of 704 passengers from Miami.
Right: A man marches with his child on his shoulders in front of the Ministry of Interior building in Plaza de la Revolución during May Day in Havana, Cuba on May 5, 2016. Starting at 4 a.m. the streets began to fill with people until they were packed for miles with people celebrating the day with patriotic fervor.
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PHOTOSTORY
VOLUME 111 ISSUE 10 • JUNE 1, 2016 • SANTA MONICA COLLEGE
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A man sits on the rocks at the malecon seawall area enjoying the ocean view along with fishermen and divers in Havana, Cuba on May 3, 2016. The malecon is a popular social destination for many Cubans who may have plenty of time to spend, but little money. In the day it's a place for bathing, while at night the sidewalk along the malecon will become active, transforming into a social hotspot alternative to clubs.
CUBA: OPEN BORDERS, OPEN OPPORTUNITIES PHOTOS AND STORY BY JOSE LOPEZ Cuba, for many Americans, is a mysterious and forbidden place. Few have had the opportunity to travel to this country due to the blockade from the embargo that was put in place by John F. Kennedy in 1962. As a result, our perceptions of this island rely heavily on images from schoolbooks and the media. Thinking about Cuba, for some, conjures up ideas of an isolated island filled with communism, decaying buildings, and a land of revolutionary icons like Che Guevara and Fidel Castro. Andrei Cranach, 42, a director of photography working in Cuba on the production of an episode of “Keeping up with the Kardashians,” stated that he “had this old, antiquated, communistic Russia, third-block view of what Cuba might have been like” until he visited in person. This is when he saw the amount of invention and commerce happening as well as how heartwarming and open the Cuban people were. Today, Cuba is changing. While still very nationalistic and filled with revolutionary spirit, it is opening up to Americans and the misconceptions are being challenged. During a single week in Cuba, many historical firsts occurred that highlight the demise of the old embargo. The film “Fast and Furious 8” has become the first Hollywood studio film to go into production on the island since the embargo was instituted. In the fashion world, Chanel moved into the popular Cuban boulevard of El Paseo del Prado to produce its first fashion show in Cuba with many celebrities in
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attendance including Vin Diesel, the star of “Fast and Furious 8.” The first cruise ship since 1978 docked in Havana, arriving from Miami with 704 passengers aboard. Even the Kardashians have managed to become part of history by filming one of their episodes in Havana. All of this has followed the historical visit in March by President Barrack Obama, who has taken a lead in normalizing relations between the United States and Cuba. I encountered many Cubans who said they want changes to come to Cuba in the form of economic opportunities. The embargo has taken its economic toll and limited the prospects for Cuban people on the island. Some Cubans mention that the main reason people try to leave the island is for economic opportunities, but they still look forward to returning to the island. Cuban President Raul Castro has helped to slowly open up economic opportunities for the Cuban people starting with giving people the ability to engage in self-employment in 2011 as opposed to state run economics. In addition, Castro announced last Tuesday that Cuba will legalize small and medium-sized private businesses. Opportunities within Cuba from the improved relations between them and the US are sure to bring many more changes down the road for the Cuban people. In the end, with all the difficulties that they endure, it is the words of Cuban Poet José Martí that sum up their patriotic spirit: "Our Wine is Bitter, But it's our Wine".
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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
VOLUME 111 ISSUE 10 • JUNE 1, 2016 • SANTA MONICA COLLEGE
THE HUMBLE BEGINNINGS OF ATLEE GALLIMORE
Hip-Hop artist, Atlee, performs at the Romanov Restaurant and Lounge in Studio City on Wednesday, May 25. (Christian Monterrosa)
JACOB HIRSOHN ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR On Wednesday, May 25, Atlee Gallimore performed a song titled “Bad Habit” at Romanov, a Russian restaurant in Studio City that turns into a lounge at night. Before he went up, he was anxious to perform. But not in the way any artist is always anxious to perform. Atlee was anxious because he was supposed to go on stage at 10:45 p.m., and it was getting close to 12:30 a.m. Atlee would walk away regularly to go talk to someone, anyone who he thought could get him on stage. He would usually come back and say, “Alright, I’m up next.” He wouldn’t be. This was the third or fourth time I had talked to Atlee, a 21-year-old rapper and SMC student whose new EP, “Lost In Transition,” is out today. This was the first time I had heard him express negativity about anything. The environment we were in certainly didn’t help. The event was titled “The Mic Live” and was hosted by a comedian and singer who did a not-as-offensive-as-it-couldhave-been rendition of Frank Ocean’s “Thinkin’ Bout You,” where he had rewritten the lyrics to make them more clearly about a man. Atlee’s thoughts, via text: “I wish this dude would quit talking & let your boy go up there already,” ending with not one, but two of those angry red-faced emojis. The host would introduce different acts, and they would come up and do one or two songs. Somewhere between 10 and 15 people went before Atlee — they all started to blur together after a while. There was no cohesion of style, or intention. Some performers were budding musicians looking to get some stage time. Others were essentially doing karaoke. The entire night was bathed in a feeling of “why is this happening?” This feeling peaked around midnight when the host invited a second comedian up on stage to do an improvised R&B song about a suggested topic from the audience. The subject they chose was “fake booties,” which I am about 75 percent sure no one actually yelled out. Romanov was trying to pass itself off as a nightclub, both in atmosphere and in price, but was treating their stage as an open mic. The moments the audience was most engaged was when the DJ was playing popular songs. This, of course, changed when Atlee took the stage. Unlike the many performers who had gone before him, there was no mystery about what he was doing up there. He confidently stood at the mic and spoke about his EP and the song he was about to perform. He even got a laugh out of the audience, who had been all but ignoring the performers for most of the night.
The quality Atlee displayed that was most unique from his fellow performers was an actual sense of self-awareness. He read the audience, who had just reached their highest energy level of the night — the DJ was just playing “Cut It” by O.T. Genasis, so it’s understandable — and explained to them that his song was a little different. “Bad Habit,” like every song on his 5 song EP, is personal, emotional, and open. “It's just being honest, man. It’s all I know. I can't rap about, like... I'm not too good of a storyteller, making up stories and things like that. I'm more just into my life,” said Atlee when we spoke the day before his performance. If he has any hesitation about his vulnerable performances, it doesn’t show in his stage presence. He is a confident and considered performer. He was the only one on stage throughout the night that had the good sense to utilize the mic stand, placing himself confidently in the middle of the stage instead of wandering around aimlessly. The man Atlee is off stage is much different than the man
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he is on it. For an artist so bursting with lyrics, he is a man of few words in person. This isn’t lost on him though. “Even when I have a conversation with people I'm really close with about how I feel, I could write it a lot better, and play it for a lot more people. It's really odd, but it's just easier for me to say it on a song than to someone's face,” said Atlee. At times, he may come across as insecure. He often apologizes and tries to manage how he is coming across, taking long pauses to consider what he is saying. This isn’t about shyness or insecurity though. It’s about Atlee knowing what he is best at. “Everyone says, ‘I do it for the love, blah blah blah,’ but I really do. I'm happiest when I'm writing songs or doing a show here or there. I'm most myself,” he said. “I had a line on there — it didn't make this project — but I said ‘I'm quicker to say it in a verse than I am when we converse.’ That's really who I am on a song more than talking to you.” In reality, his ego is just as important to his success as a musician as his emotion. “The guys who entertain, their ego is part of why they're so entertaining. They embrace that like... it's about me. And I'm not trying to be cocky or arrogant, but I love me. To the point where it's like, ‘Listen to me!’” he said. It’s why he is such a strong performer, and it’s why, even though “Lost In Transition” is his first official release, he could be a musical force to be reckoned with in the future. While so many artists feel ashamed or scared to promote themselves, Atlee has no such hesitation. If you look at his Twitter, he is tweeting at writers for various publications and different music industry people constantly. He says he wants to get the release of his EP promoted on Complex, Vibe, anywhere that will take him. This is how he found out about The Mic Live at Romanov. Watching him walk off to try and talk someone into letting him on stage for the fifth and sixth time, I couldn’t help but think, “Who is he even talking to at this point?” Most of the other artists there would have walked out of the building if they were asked to wait two hours to perform. Atlee didn’t. “[I’ve worked on the EP] over the past year. There's been a lot of songs that didn't make it. For songs on here, [there were] some verses i just completely scrapped. Just said, ‘I don't like this, I don't like this’ and just redid them,” he said. “I'm just excited and happy to finally put it out. I've been holding on to it for so long.” Not many people have heard of Atlee Gallimore yet. But if he keeps pushing and keeps being himself, both on the stage and off, it is likely you’ll be hearing about him again very soon. /THECORSAIRNEWS •
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VOLUME 111 ISSUE 10 • JUNE 1, 2016 • SANTA MONICA COLLEGE
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
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THE COTTON SHIPS COLLECTIVE JACOB HIRSOHN ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR Cotton Ships is a band made up of five members, but if you ever spend any time with them, it feels like a lot more. The band consists of four SMC students: lead singer and band founder Kenny Chesler, bass player Michael Cagliata, guitar player and occasional saxophonist Evan Ho, and vocalist Kaiya Crawford. The drummer is Elliot Lowell, who doesn’t go to SMC. Over the last few weeks, I’ve had a chance to spend time getting to know the band and the family they’ve created while spending time with them in the studio, watching them perform at a venue called WHQ in El Segundo, as well as sitting down with Cagliata and Chesler earlier this week. “We have a weird system of groupies that hang out with us, or are dating us,” said Cagliata. “They all sleep with Evan,” said Chesler. “Yeah, they all sleep with Evan. All of them sleep with Evan,” said Cagliata. While the size of the band and the band’s following has grown over the past few months, Cotton Ships is Kenny Chesler, in many ways. He founded the band over a year and a half ago, and is the only member who has been around the whole time. “[Michael is] actually like our seventh bass player,” said Chesler. Through all of the turnover, Chesler has stuck with the idea of Cotton Ships for reasons both practical and creative. “Once you've built that momentum — you build like a fan base — you get to a certain point where it's easier to get shows. It's a lot harder to start from the ground up,” said Chesler. “It's always been sort of a vehicle for songs that I have. Why change the name? At least, going forward, it is my project.” When you arrive at whatever garage they are recording in that day, it is hard, at first, to tell who is in the band and who isn’t. There are a lot of people around — everyone is participating and multiple people are holding instruments. As they get ready to record, jokes are still flying, and beers are being dispersed. People enter the garage, get a few jokes off, and then head back inside. Before long though, you start to identify Chesler as the center of the chaos. And once him and Cagliata start to actually record, there is little that can break their focus. On this particular day, they are recording in a garage-based studio owned by an older man that they have met along the way. While he was managing the recording earlier, he apparently got frustrated by a lack of professionalism among the band and asked them to leave earlier than expected. They needed to be out by the end of the night, and they needed to have the rest of their EP recorded by then. Chesler explained this to me and to Cagliata, but neither of them seemed concerned. As Cagliata records bass tracks — Chesler sitting next to him operating Pro Tools and giving him notes in between takes — what sounds like a loud argument is going on inside. It goes on for at least 15 or 20 minutes, with none of the Cotton Ships members paying it attention. Finally, a loud comment about antiinflammatory medication breaks Cagliata's focus,
Lead singer Kenny Chesler (left), drummer Elliot Lowell (middle), and bass player Michael Cagliata (right) perform during a Cotton Ships set at WHQ in El Segundo on May 27. (Jacob Hirsohn)
prompting him to turn around and make eye contact with me, raising his eyebrows momentarily before returning to his work. For two people with such musical focus and ambition, Cagliata and Chesler are both pretty casual about their future in music. Despite all of the energy they put into Cotton Ships, Cagliata is currently focused on becoming a psychiatrist, where Chesler is interested in being a teacher. “The duality of band life versus school life is really hectic in all of our lives,” said Cagliata. “Right now, we're still in the DIY stage where we're booking the shows... Not the kind of thing where we can just live off of it.” “I could, dude," said Chesler. "I took a gap year and I was just working and playing music, and I was making enough to like, live somewhere. It's either all or nothing. Bands that make it, they're fully committed, because you have to be. It's such a crazy business.” This impression was furthered when they discussed whether they would rather be a world-famous, Grammy-winning band, or be local legends who have to struggle through the industry for years. While Cagliata started
by saying he would take the Grammys, they both had their doubts. “It depends, because in my mind, I don't know if music is the final thing for me. So it might be cooler to have like that grind. Almost like an outlet, you know. Teacher by day, musician by night,” said Chesler. “I would probably like the personal respect of the grind, and the local scene loving you,” said Cagliata. While this current iteration of the band has only been together for a few months, it seems like they’ve known each other for life. They have a chemistry together on stage that seems to come naturally to them. To echo this, Chesler seemed to feel this was the strongest iteration of the band yet. “It's more collaborative. I feel everybody musically is on the same page, where it hasn't always been that way. Like everybody knows and is comfortable with the style we're playing. The other times, it's always maybe not been as... we just haven't flowed and been locked in as tight as we are [now],” said Chesler. And the music seems to be growing with the band.
“I've noticed that the songs just become more intricate. And just, I wanna say, fresh. That's just the word. I don't think we wanna do the same thing twice,” said Cagliata. Chesler said, “I feel like the songs are getting more complicated and longer, and that might be just us playing together longer, and getting more comfortable. Just having people being really good, being able to stay focused for that long.” A lot the band's bonding can be traced back to a San Francisco trip they took to a play a few different shows. This was the first time Cagliata played with the band, as their bass player at the time was too busy to make the trip. Cagliata's first experience with the band didn’t exactly start out with a good omen though. On the way up to San Francisco, he was driving a car with two passengers and got in a horrible accident, with the car flipping off of the side of the road. By some miracle, everyone in the car was fine. The accident left Cagliata with only a small scar on his thumb and the trip continued as planned. “The next day, I'm still beaten up and having this existential crisis because I should have died. But I didn't die, so I was just celebrating life. But then the next day, they picked me up and we drove to Santa Cruz and we played this fuckin' show,” said Cagliata. Cotton Ships is a constantly rotating and changing group, with only Chesler remaining steady at the center. They don’t seem overly concerned with where the band is headed, what genre they are, or who is actually in the band, but with the current formation of the group, they have found a musical chemistry, as well as a dedicated fan base of Redondo Beach moms. For now, maybe that is all they need.
Rock band Cotton Ships, records at a studio in Granada Hills on Saturday, May 14. (Christian Monterrosa)
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LETTERS FROM THE EDITORS
VOLUME 111 ISSUE 10 • JUNE 1, 2016 • SANTA MONICA COLLEGE
LETTERS FROM THE EDITORS JACOB HIRSOHN ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR Doing new things is scary and, until just recently, I was firmly in the camp that it is overrated. I already know what I like, what’s the point of doing other stuff that I’ll probably hate? This is especially complicated for me, because I don’t like doing most things. I love drinking beer, watching basketball, playing video games, my girlfriend, and writing. It was pretty easy for me to fill up my time with those five things. I don’t like school, talking to people I don’t know, or making responsible decisions. These things feel relatively universal and, in the past, I’ve refused to persecute myself for them. Over the last semester, I learned the error of my ways. After reaching a true low point, I decided that liking five things is not enough to get a person through life and that, eventually, I would have to not only try new things, but give up things that I love in order to truly be a person. Giving up drinking beer was one of the biggest decisions I’ve ever made in my life. I love myself for it, and hate myself for it whenever there is beer near me. Now, don’t get me wrong. I am not stone cold sober, or off of beer completely. I still consider beer to be my favorite thing in the entire world, and I am reminded of this truth every time I have a sip (which is still more often than it should be). Whenever I have a beer now, I marvel at how I ever could have drank as much beer as I once did. It makes me feel so heavy and so tired. I gave up beer (and other wheat-based products) in order
to improve my mental health through my physical health. It made me a better writer, boyfriend and person. But I was at my worst when I was playing video games. I would get lost down a video game rabbit hole for up to five hours at a time, during which time I would simply stop existing. I wouldn’t return texts. I wouldn’t go outside. And I couldn’t write. And with the great absence beer had left in my life, video games were the only thing that could truly numb my anxiety for an extended period of time. Somehow, I convinced myself to sell all of my video games. Around that time, I wrote a story about “Cora,” a short film produced at SMC that made it into Cannes. Up until that point, I would only write stories based off of my own opinions where I didn’t have to talk to anyone, due to my aforementioned distaste for talking to people I don’t know. I loved that story, and I loved the person I was while working on it. It was the first time I felt excited or challenged as a writer in a long time. This experience, along with giving up two of the things I loved most in the world, changed everything for me. I realized that maybe I don’t know anything about anything, including myself. And the only way I can truly grow is to be open to the influence of the universe around me. Maybe next semester I’ll even start liking school (I wouldn’t hold your breath though).
ALISSA NARDO HEALTH & LIFESTYLE EDITOR When you live on a four-year university campus, interactions are guaranteed and almost forced. You dine in halls packed like sardines and sleep in shoebox-esque rooms with two or three other sweaty kids. Solitude is near-impossible to find and socialization is unavoidable. At a community college, community is a choice. We have the freedom to opt out of any, if not all, of these interactions. But that doesn't mean we should. This year, I learned the value in having an optional family. Community college can be a lonely experience while navigating through three-hour long classes in buildings with no airconditioning on a 90-degree day, grabbing smelly orange chicken from the cafeteria in a desperate fit of hunger and then sitting on the bus after long hours spent in the windowless parts of the library, just trying to print out a paper which is long overdue. These scenes may be familiar to some of you readers (hopefully not the part about the orange chicken, but we all have our low moments). As cheesy as it sounds, know that this trying period in our lives does not have to be done alone. And these are trying times. Everyone is here to accomplish something within the boundaries of their own schedule and life outside of school. And everyone wants to get it done as quickly and effortlessly as possible. This mentality of “get in and get out” makes spending more time on campus than necessary undesirable and coming together with fellow students
a low priority for most. But when people do happen to meet and come together, it’s a special moment in time. Forging and maintaining these relationships takes effort. And although we have no obligation to occupy space on campus outside of class time, I urge students to take advantage of being in the here and now. Get involved at SMC, whether that means joining a club, participating in school politics or just hanging out in the smoking section. Forge your own community for the sake of your own sanity. We are so fortunate to go to a school full of diversity. Our student body is made up of artists, nurses, parents and veterans. People young and people old. People looking to transfer and people enrolled only to improve their educations. People who aren’t sure what they want to do yet and are taking their time to figure it out. We have this grand opportunity to interact with people from backgrounds different from ours and different from anything we've seen before. Before moving onto whatever our futures hold for us, where we will soon be filtered and sorted into a place where we fit with people similar to us, take the time to learn from the abundance of characters with unique perspectives to give. I chose The Corsair as my family and my experience has been all the better because of it. I’ve had the privilege of learning from an editorial staff who were different from me — one full of hard-asses, closet conservatives and straight up loons. And I’ve never felt more in place.
BAILEY PERAITA MANAGING EDITOR In December of 2015, our beloved Editor-in-Chief Nik Lucaj approached me as I tried to run away from the monstrosity that is the Letters and Sciences building. His pace was quicker than mine — damn me for not being 6'4" and with a grumpy attitude. Thirty seconds after the initial chase, he offered me the Managing Editor position for the Spring semester. At the time, I would have rather done anything else — including eat glass — but it was his damn friendship, the rest of the editorial staff and my affinity for writing that made me give the aggravated "yes" that started it all. Some of the best things happened because I said yes that night in December. I spent a lot of late nights and early mornings with those people in that newsroom, during which time we supported each other through personal and professional accomplishments. And there wasn't a better place we could be. Alissa, one of the hardest hustlers I know and the craziest little lady, had her own radio station, jobs, and internships, and the irreplaceable zaniness to put us all on a creative streak. Grace, the ultimate hype man, educated me on who knows how many of the social politics issues we have going on right now. Adam. Oh Adam. I warmed up to you. He's a character with many pearls of useful knowledge I'd never even considered for casual conversation. Like I said, a character he is. Jake looks better in my Armani cardigan than I do. He's also one
of the biggest Kanye aficionados I know. His Twitter is lit, but his bio should be changed to "brilliant and blessed." Josh is still Josh. He rambles about sports longer than I can pay attention to and has been my right hand man since I joined this newspaper. Nik is the big brother I never had, and I will forever mock his accent and laugh when he yells at someone who doesn't know who Hunter S. Thompson is. Now I don't want to get all mushy, but I love those guys and gals and every morning and night I spent in that newsroom or out on assignment. There's something that bonded us — not getting paid and the cold air conditiong, but it was all worth it. Now "Blunderdome," "Take a 'P' and reverse it," "Someone say Holocaust?," keeping solidarity in mind and many other silly things have a lot of meaning to me. Out of all my semesters at The Corsair, I've learned a few things I'm glad I did and some I wish I hadn't. Regardless, everything I experienced inside and outside of these walls will always resonate. Now it's time to salute and move on. I've never been more sad, but I'm also incredibly proud of everything we did together in that newsroom.
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Graphic by Andrew Khanian
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LETTERS FROM THE EDITORS
VOLUME 111 ISSUE 10 • JUNE 1, 2016 • SANTA MONICA COLLEGE
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ADAM R. THOMAS NEWS EDITOR The easiest thing I could say that I’ve learned about being the News Editor this last semester is simply this: news is hard. No matter where you go, stories are literally all around you, constantly demanding your attention and trying to become the center of your limited time. You have to be alert to all possibilities and try your best to tap into everything that’s happening on campus. Set up contacts, go to AS meetings, coordinate with people in positions of authority who might be able to give you quotes regularly, while still keeping a cordial enough relationship that you’re not going to feel personally involved if you need to write a story they don’t necessarily like. Unlike other sections, your prerogative isn’t limited to a single idea or theme, so much of your job becomes about discernment and being a filter for what is or isn’t important for publication. For those that watch Game of Thrones, being a News Editor at The Corsair seems a lot like trying to become Varys the Spymaster. You have to have eyes everywhere, learn to play a fair amount of interpersonal politics, and know how to manage a network of people under you all at the same time. You’re actively working to not be surprised when someone comes to you with a tip, because you should ideally already know what’s going on. It’s incredibly exhausting. And like Varys, it sure feels like your hair’s going to fall out and your genitals will drop off due to stress alone. I couldn’t have lasted this long if not for the incredible support, guidance, and camaraderie provided in ample supply by the rest of this semester’s Corsair staff. Literally everyone on this semester’s team is exceptional in some special way, and I hope they know how much I
appreciate every ounce of effort and patience they’ve provided me. I’m a bit of an arguer, so I especially appreciate the patience. It’s a real shame that no one outside of the Newsroom will ever know exactly how hilarious this cohort is at 2 a.m. when everyone’s delirious and throwing out ribald headlines for the issue. For anyone who thought our headlines were ever a bit too cheeky at any point this semester, I can assure you that, at one point, they were way, way, worse. I think the toughest lesson of this semester that I’ve had to learn is to accept imperfection in favor of speed. It can be tough when you’re doing this because you love it and you really want to put out quality content. You never want to see your name attached to anything subpar, always wanting to spend more time writing, more time editing, and more time getting interviews. But there’s never enough time. Learning to make that call to pull it in and publish is a hurdle I initially didn’t quite realize the enormity of. But it’s a great lesson in leadership and in what it takes to get a job done. This semester’s efforts are something I’m going to look back very fondly upon and remember until the day I die. And unless I get some rest soon, that won’t be long from now. My hair’s already falling out and the less said about my genitals, the better. GRACE GARDNER OPINION EDITOR
College is supposed to be about challenging your beliefs. But the way this generally works is that kids will come from the security of their conservative families, arrive at the next four years of their life and abandon previous values — maybe get a tattoo, experiment with the same sex, or start making use of the phrase “fuck the man.” I too have begun to question the legitimacy of the ideals instilled in me throughout my youth. Only the culture and community I was questioning wasn't a tight gripped conservative family, but a community of hip, progressive liberal youths. And it's pretty much all thanks to Ted Cruz. In light of the popularity and drama that consumed the presidential primaries, we did several “Op-Ed Duels” on the most notable candidates. When it was time to cover Ted Cruz, there were plenty who gladly volunteered to detail the extent of Cruz’s failures and why he wasn't suitable for presidency. However, we could find none willing to write a piece in his support. There was rumor of a Republican Club on campus with a member potentially interested in writing it, but that never happened, and a few days before the issue was published we had no pro-Cruz piece. Under the impression (and rightfully so) that I was a cemented liberal, my Editor-in-Chief was initially against me writing the story. But since I was ultimately responsible for the content, I started my own search for something about Ted Cruz I could get down with. In trying to find a policy that appealed to me, it became apparent very quickly that the kind of policies he was pushing for were simply incompatible with the person I was, how I saw things and what I wanted from the world. You're probably thinking, "yeah duh, he's f-ing crazy," but there's actually more to it than that. His policies only seemed insane when I was considering them from my own perspective. But it's not entirely insane to want to help the poor via religious centers at a local
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level rather than through federal welfare. Cruz’s campaign was appealing to a group of people whose way of life was simply and entirely different from mine. His policies were not wrong — only more effective in addressing issues and maintaining values for people in other parts of the country. In fact, I recognized that a lot of the same strategies we used to create a good paper — like paying particular attention to relevancy and what negatively impacts or benefits our audience — political party’s used to come up with effective policies that addressed their own audiences. The way I’d been looking at the other half of the country — with a blind rejection of its values and politics — was really the same way they looked at me with my hardcore feminism and my instinctive disgust for the traditional. Half of the country wasn't crazy, only different than me. Upon that realization, I could no longer justifiably claim the right-wing to be wrong, which resulted in a mental avalanche of questioning everything I had presumed to be correct or ethical. I made a point to constantly and compulsively consider the other side. Now I’m constantly finding newer information, communicating with people with other perspectives and experiences, finding holes in my own arguments and proving myself wrong. I’ve written several pieces that seem uncharacteristically conservative of me, such as How feminism attacks masculinity or Why Black Lives Matter is ineffective. These arguments were largely an effort on my part to shed my own bias and to challenge myself to consider something outside the norms of my own community. Maybe this is just my version of a “college experience.” Who knows, once I graduate everything could go back to normal and I could again identify as a hardcore feminist liberal with an appetite for progress and an instinctive desire to be unconventional. But when you write and edit enough opinion pieces, it becomes fairly apparent that there is really no right or wrong, only better and worse arguments.
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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
VOLUME 111 ISSUE 10 • JUNE 1, 2016 • SANTA MONICA COLLEGE
LETTERS FROM OUTGOING AS MEMBERS HOW WOULD YOU TEACH YOURSELF? AS Director of Student Assistance Johnathon Hughes My own past has allowed me to view my time here at SMC with a specialized lens. I served 10 years in the Navy in a highly technical field. My core job was to operate and maintain the electrical distribution system of a submarine nuclear reactor. I worked my way up through the ranks to become the supervisor of training for five nuclear trained divisions. I was in charge of the training of over 80 sailors. I finished my tour as the supervisor of electrical training for one of five crews at the Navy’s Naval Nuclear Power Training Unit, where I oversaw the training of over 100 junior sailors between the ages of 18 and 21, on average. At that command, I had zero academic failures. Each of the sailors that came through my door walked out with the knowledge needed to continue on to serve in the fleet. It is through that lens that I am appalled at the failures of leadership and the lack of accountability and ownership at all levels here at SMC. When I was transitioning out of the Navy and into college, I had this grand notion that it was going to be a place of higher-level discussion and learning beyond belief. I was finally going to truly understand the equipment I used to work on. My merriment came to a screeching halt as I learned over and over again that the acquisition of knowledge is less the goal than attaining the maximum GPA. Teachers lecture and test while students cram and guess, and the world burns around them. I expected there to be this universal understanding that a teacher's job was to transfer the knowledge they have to the students so that we may understand the world we are to inherit. Instead our teachers are more like the absentee parents we have at home. It is up to the students to learn and any failure of the teacher lies with the inability of the students. The lack of motivation on the student’s part is their own inability to internally motivate themselves. I understand that as teachers, you are under a great amount of stress these days. The administration pays themselves double what your salary is and leaves you with the scraps.
The administrators doesn’t listen to your recommendations, but you have so much power if you would regulate yourselves instead of waiting for the administration to tell you how to do things. However, the lack of ownership on the outcomes of your students is your fault. The education system is a tool. If I had a tool that was only 45% effective like the math department is, then I would repair or replace that tool with one that works. Over and over again, the same reasons are given for why our student success rates are low — blame the students. Let us not apply the scientific method or work together in new ways to address old problems — the status quo is fine. The greatest asset SMC has is its teachers. The administration needs to stop weighing them down so that they may get back to work. I used to work with radiation sources. Radiation is harmful to the body. Knowledge, conversely, is beneficial to the soul. When working with radiation we applied the mantra: Time, Distance, Shielding. Because of the radiation's harmful effects, we would go to great lengths to minimize our time around it. We would maximize our distance from it and we would build barriers between us and it. The exact opposite can be said for how to deal with knowledge. My critique of SMC mainly concerns how knowledge is being transferred from teacher to student. Knowledge is power, but the educational system is the means
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by which that power is transferred. In order to gain as much knowledge as possible, we must maximize our time with its source. We must minimize the distance between us and tear down the barriers that prevent us from accessing it. We as students cannot do this alone. We rely on our teachers to guide us. We walk into your classrooms blind. You used to be us. Show us the way to a more informed tomorrow.
AN END TO INFANTILIZING INTRANSIGENCE: IMPROVING INSTITUTIONAL OUTCOMES AS President Jesse Randel
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We the students have an incredible ability at this school: we can speak our minds without fear. There is no one else on campus with the ability to do this because there are paychecks and careers on the line. In the past year, serving as President of Associated Students, I have had the opportunity to be involved in many decisions made here on campus, during which time I have been treated as a respected peer by some, and as an ignorant child by others. I have learned that no matter how much you prove yourself, the people who look patronizingly at you will continue to do so no matter what. No matter how logical and rational you work to be, a condescending eye is cast by someone with an inherently negative perception of students, and so rationality takes a backseat to pride and insecurity. While it is true that we have not yet completed the same level of schooling, we are just as capable of the same (or sometimes a higher) level of critical thought. There is a vicious cycle at play here: students get treated like children and as a result
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they act like children, which justifies the continuation of the treatment. We are expected to constantly give respect, and I would like to think that most of the time it is reciprocated. But in my experience, many “authority figures” think that it is a one-way street. The perception seems to be something along the lines of “I have earned my respect, but you haven’t yet.” Respect is either mutual or it is earned — either both sides buy-in and agree to respect each other, or in the case that seems to be more common, one side has to prove to the other that they deserve respect. More often than not, students are in the position of the latter. However, most of the “authority” at this school has absolutely no basis in reality. Professors have authority because grades directly impact our future, but how does the administrative chain of command in any way have authority over a student (assuming we aren’t breaking obvious rules/laws)? I get the pay structure for employees, but we don’t get paid. We pay to come here. The school exists because of, and solely for, us, the students. It is our money,
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VOLUME 111 ISSUE 10 • JUNE 1, 2016 • SANTA MONICA COLLEGE both tax and tuition, that pays the bills of the school and the paychecks of the employees. The entire point of the institution is to educate us; it is up to us to ensure that we get the education we want and deserve, and it is entirely in our power. It sounds cliché, but it’s really true: when we work together, we can inspire great change for the better. In the past, students have all too often let in-fighting and drama take the forefront while actual issues affecting our education shoot through district committees with nary a discerning eye cast. Even when I started in office, I entered hearing horror stories warning about the headhunting Corsair newspaper reporters. The truth of the situation is that we are all students, and we are all in this together; while it is vitally important for our journalists to keep our representatives honest, it’s more important that students stand in
solidarity when an issue affects us singularly as a constituency group. Our education is our issue, and our problems are ours to fix; no one else is going to do it for us. We cannot complain about anything if we do nothing to fix our own situation. There is one way to break this aforementioned cycle: take responsibility, own our own authority, and most importantly, don’t abuse it. We need to act with integrity. Integrity is the backbone of progress. Even if we mess something up, we should own up to it and learn from it. There's nothing wrong with that — in fact, it should be encouraged. Lying and trying to obfuscate or distract only makes the inevitable truth more damning, and there is no better learning method than trial and error. When we act honestly, we take the fear out of failure, and we grow and advance as educated and honorable human beings.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
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Finally, I would like to commend this year’s Corsair staff. Every single one of them is a great example of students recognizing and not abusing their authority. They have worked incredibly hard this year to keep the students informed of the real issues on campus, whether it be holding the A.S., faculty, or administration accountable when necessary, or lauding the accomplishments of students on a job well done. They have done so with courage and a respectable unflappability. They have shown a dogged determination in searching out the truth, regardless of who it benefits and for that I thank and commend them. I would also like to personally thank both Professor Jim Stramel and Professor Steven Kaufman for the incredible learning experiences they provided me, and the ethical bedrock they enabled me to realize.
CASTLES MADE OF SAND AS Director of Budget Management Sam Ross
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How naïve I was. The institution, the rules and policies and procedures, the way things are done — it all seemed very deliberate, logically crafted, impressive in its scope — grand even, like a stone citadel carved out of the side of a mountain. However, I quickly learned that much of this is for effect and, ultimately, illusory. After a year through the crucible that is the AS board, I finally feel qualified to discuss in a constructive manner some of the institutional failings here at SMC that impede student success. As much as I might find catharsis and probably a bit of schadenfreude in using this opportunity to list my specific grievances, I shall endeavor to keep my eyes on the horizon. Critique is only valuable to the extent that it is in service of effecting change. We must be proactive and strategic to create the change we seek. The list of problems both past and present is long, but what comes next? Resistance, intransigence, rebellion, political gridlock, and an unwillingness to compromise are easy choices, but ineffectual. Just look at the Tea Party Republicans in Congress to see what that has accomplished. There are essentially four constituency groups at SMC: students (for whom the institution exists in the first place), faculty (the educators), classified staff (who keep everything running and clean up our messes), and the administration (who run the college). Both the faculty and classified staff have organized unions (Faculty Association & Classified School Employees Association) that negotiate with the administration to ensure that their interests are adequately represented and clearly delin-
eated in writing. Students are not employees of the college and have no need to negotiate salary, benefits, or terms of employment. But students frequently do not receive a fair shake because we don’t always know all the policies and laws that protect us. Fighting for our rights requires knowledge, organization and negotiation. Unfortunately, the student voice is not adequately represented in the decisionmaking process at SMC. Unlike the institutionalized obstructions to representation that oppressed groups have been forced to overcome in the past, students here face no such barriers. State law ensures that students be given equitable access and a voice in any decision making apparatus that impacts us. Committees like the District Planning and Advisory Council (DPAC) provide recommendations to the Board of Trustees of the college, playing a crucial role in the direction of district policy and priorities. Students get the same number of votes at DPAC as the other three constituency groups, yet our voice is rarely given equal weight to the voices of employees of the college. This is due to the fact that the employees generally maintain more consistent committee membership and have been here long enough to see how the sausage is made. The unavoidable truth is that it takes time and context to be able to provide sustained substantive input. To combat this reality, we need a paradigm shift. We face an existential struggle to organize, attend shared governance meetings, and effectively advocate for the implementation of district policy that is in the best interests of the students. Success comes from confidently and rationally asserting student needs. Great strength comes from the willingness to speak up in the face of overwhelming resistance. Take bold initiative, challenge authority, think critically, challenge basic assumptions, reframe the debate, everything is negotiable, and don’t equivocate — they need us more than we need them. Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good. We can be honest when no one else can. Don’t take anyone’s word for anything — do your own research, trust yourself, and know that changes to the system will always lead to denial and pushback — persist in the face of it! The castles are made of sand not stone; eventually they fall in the sea. Such fortune cookie wisdom abounds. Sometimes the obstacles to change seem insurmountable, but students truly do have the power to effect change here. Programs like the Any Line Any Time with the Big Blue Bus, Activity Hour, free printing, free scantrons and bluebooks, the FLVR Food Voucher Program, and the upcoming extended library hours for finals all came from students who decided to pushback against the currents. The sad truth is that the path of least resistance flows inexorably at cross purposes to the desire for change. Growth is key to the vitality and longevity of any entity. Change is the defining characteristic of the life of the student. Consequently, I have ridden the political crosswinds through ups and downs and some truly surreal moments. The lens through which the administration generally sees students is highly limited. They live and breathe SMC — proud to be SMC to the core. It is their second home. Students, on the other hand, move through the massive bureaucracy by the tens of thousands each year, mostly reduced to numbers on a page in a budget meeting. Granted, such dispassionate analysis is necessary to effectively run an institution of this size, but it seems to me that there are certain employees of the college who have perceived being unengaged as being almost zen-like, and they shouldn’t enjoy it so much. Resistance, intransigence, rebellion, political gridlock, and an unwillingness to compromise — those choices are easy, but ineffectual. If it appeared at times that we in the AS have been combative, this is why. The surest way to be truly heard is to go to the one place where students are accepted into the world as peers: shared governance committees (Thank you AB 1725). This is the entry point, the portal to the internal machinations of the college that shape the nature of our education. There are many ways to “get involved,” but the most important thing is to think critically, think for yourself, and never accept “because that’s the way it’s always been done” as justification for the mediocrity of the status quo. At the end of the day, the whole damn castle exists only to serve us students.
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OPINION
VOLUME 111 ISSUE 10 • JUNE 1, 2016 • SANTA MONICA COLLEGE
THE SILENT TYRANNY OF SOFT LANGUAGE ADAM R. THOMAS NEWS EDITOR I wonder how many students at SMC remember George Carlin. He was a legendary comedian who died almost eight years ago, so a recent high school grad attending SMC for the first time this academic year would have been in elementary school then. It’s unlikely that anyone of that age knows who Carlin was at all, let alone the content of any of his bits. Which is a shame. Carlin’s frustration at humanity’s pretensions and his hilarious ability to skewer them so deftly and universally allowed us to not only be honest with ourselves, but I think with others as well. That's something we need more of these days. Carlin hated euphemisms and language that concealed reality and helped Americans not deal with the world directly. This is what he called “soft language” — the “language that takes the life out of life.” Though he offered plenty of mundane examples such as how “toilet paper” became “bathroom tissue” and “constipation” became “occasional irregularity,” Carlin’s classic case study was the term “shellshock.” Originally a term used in the first World War, it described when a soldier’s nervous system got to the point of snapping due to, well, the shock of combat (which in WW1 involved a lot of shelling). Carlin pointed out how the condition evolved into “battle fatigue” by World War 2, then “operational exhaustion” in the Korean War, and finally, “post-traumatic stress.” He makes the case that the treatment Vietnam veterans received for this trauma might have been more effective had the language been kept short, sharp, and to the point — words better reflective of the trauma would lead to more immediate care. Carlin saw this softening as “a function of time,” something Americans did over the years in order to continually linguistically inoculate ourselves so that everything we said was a smidge nicer, but, ultimately, a smidge blander and a smidge vaguer. We’ve added more syllables to words that mean the same thing, and especially like to medicalize or make scientific anything that might seem rough or crude. He saw that a large portion of this softening came from enforced political correctness, coming primarily out of the American leftwing, especially with euphemisms meant to soften the blow for groups that might take offense to labels. For example, how “cripples” became “the differently abled,” or how people who were ugly became “those with severe appearance deficits.” The push for softer language isn’t always a slow and natural accumulation of jargon meant to help us cope with reality through euphemism. It can be a concentrated effort to confuse assertion with aggression or to assist in officially mandated obfuscation — see how the CIA doesn’t “kill,” it merely “neutralizes targets.” It’s these effects that are alive and well eight years after Carlin’s death. I’ve seen it over the last several months here at The Corsair and in the general discussion of politics today. This is especially true on college campuses, where the perennial debate on language centers around acceptability and trends toward increasingly marshmallow grade softness. A professor came into our newsroom one day to remind us that the term we had used to denote a location for a photo credit was “South Central” instead of “South Los Angeles,” the officially recognized term after the LA City Council pronounced it so back in 2003. “South Central” appeared again in our interview with current AS President-Elect Terrance Ware two issues later, and the pro-
Graphic by Alexander Melendez
fessor came in to remind us again. I de- there. It’s a linguistic dodge meant to “ease fended our usage of the term on the fact that a stigma,” which doesn’t actually change this was how Ware had referred to the place anything. he had been raised. Moreover, it’s simply less accurate and After our brief conversation, the profes- more confusing. Like Ware, I’m an LA County sor decided to take our “problematic” lan- native, but I lived for a large chunk of my guage up with our paper’s youth in the community "BUT WHEN YOU advisor, attempting to of San Pedro. San Pedro soften our language on FORCE EVERYONE TO is officially part of the the use of a geographical City of Los Angeles, but USE TERMS THAT ARE it’s further south of downdenotation. Of course, BLANDLY this didn't necessarily town than “South Los produce the results the Angeles.” Officially recINOFFENSIVE, THAT professor wanted. Our ognizing a location as the ARE OBTUSELY advisor did what his title southern district of a city VAGUE AND NICE, denotes, and merely when there is still city advised us to consider the further to the south seems BUT UGLY TO THE complaint. a bit ludicrous. EAR, YOU’RE This was all comAgain, consider CarCOMMITTING TO A pletely ridiculous. lin’s case study. How TYRANNY OF Calling the section of the Post-Traumatic Stress city that is south of DownDisorder is applied in the SILENCE." town and centrally modern day is substanlocated in LA County “South Los Angeles” tially different even compared to Carlin’s doesn’t magically ease economic burdens, time. Now, the softer, medicalized term has erase the history of the ‘92 Riots or improve become so generalized that it’s no longer for the living conditions of people who reside military use, or even for those who never
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got the “PT” part. These days PTSD can apparently be self-applied to anyone who has suffered a “trauma” of any kind. Despite the cornerstone concept of words being that they’re non-violent — as in they cannot physically harm you — plenty of sensitive students in recent years have been insisting that the mean tweets, triggering words and microaggressions they’ve been exposed to were “violent” and have given them PTSD. This in turn has led to students pursuing disciplinary action against guest lecturers, dorm mates and even teachers through Title IX regulations meant to protect students from harm. I’ve heard the whispered fears of faculty over concerns of potential student complaints for errant offensive words at SMC — especially in the Humanities and Social Sciences department. The fear seems quite real. It’s state of affairs was covered nationally in numerous articles last year, eventually culminating in Greg Lukaniaoff and Johnathan Haidt’s “The Coddling of the American Mind” in last September’s issue of The Atlantic. That article sought to create a history of microagressions and trigger warning mandates since 2013 and propose a number of solutions using psychological principles to aid in teaching methodology and administrative guidance. But I think the solution to the issue is far simpler: cut the soft language and people will quickly bounce back to a tougher state. Be definitive and direct with description. Don’t let others insist on using euphemisms. Once people see they aren’t going to find much purchase using a victim mentality to shut up speech that scares them, people will remember their old “sticks and stones” rhymes. The unintended result of the softening of language is the unforeseen success of Donald Trump. In case no one noticed, a huge part of Trump’s appeal is that he’s blunt, crass and doesn’t seem to care much about his choice of words. If you’re offended by something he says, his attitude is “so what?” This makes him appear to be a tough guy to people sick of how downy and coddled social discourse has become. This is a guy who frets about the size of his hands and projecting an image of “winning” at all times. Vainglorious boasting and preening have never been considered tough so far as I’ve known. The only reason this image projection can work is due to relativity. It’s only compared to how fragile and weak the candidates who stick to the script of softness that Trump can appear rugged and resilient. It’s only through the mealy mouthed dishonesty of comfortable colloquialism that he can appear to be authentic. Trump's supporters say outright that they like him because they believe he may be able to throw off the shackles of the left’s control of language. In a May 27 article in The Atlantic titled "A Dialogue with a 22-Year-Old Trump Supporter," the supporter in question said, "This is a war over how dialogue in America will be shaped. If Hillary wins, we're going to see a further tightening of PC culture. But if Trump wins? If Trump wins, we will have a president that overwhelmingly rejects PC rhetoric." This concept is mind-boggling to those who want to be sensitive with their own personal word use, I’m sure. But when you force everyone to use terms that are blandly inoffensive, that are obtusely vague and nice, but ugly to the ear, you’re committing to a tyranny of silence. In such a tyrannical state, the loud-mouthed braggart with fiery rhetoric easily becomes the rebellious rogue. It’s far past time to toughen up. If you don’t, be prepared for Trump.
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OPINION
VOLUME 111 ISSUE 10 • JUNE 1, 2016 • SANTA MONICA COLLEGE
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LETTER FROM THE FUTURE Time travel imminent, don't vote Mutombo JACOB HIRSOHN ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR Hello beautiful readers of The Corsair, I hope this letter finds you well, as I am decidedly unwell. I am writing to you on the day of publication for our final issue of Spring semester, but not the Spring semester you're probably thinking of. As I write this, it is not June 1, 2016, but June 1, 2017. I am the Editor-in-Chief of the paper now, and have been for the past year. Attempting to write my final Letter from the Editor at SMC brought me back to a year previous, and the last issue I worked on under the wise supervision of Nik. I've given a lot of thought about how things have changed since then, and all of the ways I wish they hadn’t. Okay, let’s clarify here — as none of you could possibly know yet, the summer of 2016 will bring massive strides in the field of time travel. Around the beginning of July, President Obama gets weirdly fascinated with the space-time continuum. He starts casually mentioning it in all of his speeches, and starts neglecting his other duties as leader of the free world in order to read Stephen Hawking books and rewatch “Looper” for the 40th time. Given that the summer marks the beginning of the “second semester senior” phase of Obama’s presidency, he not only gets away with his obsession with time travel, but starts pouring trillions of dollars of government money into it. And, proven by the fact that you are reading this letter, he actually pulled it off. That’s right. President Obama couldn’t close Guantanamo, but he did invent time travel. By the end of 2016, there will be a government-issued Barack Obama Time Travel device (he named it after himself, justifiably) in every home. Now I know what you’re thinking: Wouldn’t we have heard about this? If people can travel back in time, wouldn’t we see people from the future coming back to bet on the Super Bowl, or, more likely, commit heinous crimes for which they could never be held accountable?” First, that’s lame and you are a nerd for asking that. Second, you clearly have a very negative view of the world and human nature. You should consider a Xanax perscription or a strict meditation regimen. Third, people cannot yet travel through time. The Barack Obama Time Travel device can only send messages through space and time, which is how I got this letter to Nik and the gang. This new technology has changed the world… but not as much as you may think. We can send messages back to you guys, but you guys can’t really say anything back. All we can do is send messages back in time, hope they reach you, and try to notice changes they’ve made to our world. But as any good journalist has learned, it is pretty tough to actually influence the world with words. It turns out that when people receive a slip of paper out of nowhere titled “A message from the future,” they tend to ignore it. Seeing as I have grown bored of sending movie ideas to Steven Spielberg and slips of paper that just say “u up?” to Marilyn Monroe, I thought I would give it a shot. Because — I hate to break it to you — things have gone horribly wrong over the last year. Not with the paper. I’m a super, super good Editor-in-Chief, and our coverage of the January 2017 destruction of the Santa Monica Pier (you’ll see) was award-winning.
I’m talking about the country at large. California, shockingly, is completely out of water. Luckily, about five months after we ran out of water, we made an exciting development. Humans don’t actually need water to live. We are all constantly grumpy and feel like we are in the middle of a panic attack, but Californians have lived on. Much more shockingly, we also ran out of coffee, weed, Netflix (not sure of the logistics of this one), and sugar. Governor Brown gets super weird around autumn, and starts making random things illegal: puppies (but not dogs, just puppies), cross-country skiing, substituting fruit for your toast at breakfast, and something he referred to as “loud jogging.” He did a week where he made a different thing illegal every day, while also legalizing something that used to be illegal. He made murder legal for like 24 hours, which went about as well as the purge does in all of those “Purge” movies, and made about as much sense, logistically speaking. But it isn’t just California that is suffering. Your upcoming 2016 election, the center of so much ravenous and nauseatingly stupid debate, went worse than anyone could have imagined. No, Trump doesn’t win. It isn’t Clinton, Bernie, or even Mark Cuban. Despite their brave faces, the Republican party was never able to unite behind Trump. The Democratic party crumbled after the convention, when, in an attempt to win over young voters, Hillary said, “I’m sorry that Bernie couldn’t get enough delegates to win the nomination, but, I assure you, I think millennials are bae,” somehow infuriating both millennials and people who hate millennials. Due to all of this, on November 8, 2016, former NBA player Dikembe Mutombo was elected president by a unanimous vote. Now I know what you’re thinking: “Sure, Dikembe Mutombo is a cultural icon and was one of the best defensive players of all time. But wasn’t he born in the Congo? Don’t you have to be born in the US to be president?” First, that’s lame and you are a nerd for asking that. Second, Dikembe was a wildly overrated defender whose iconic finger wag drastically affected the public’s perception of his defense. That was the type of attitude that led to the success of Dikembe’s platform that was basically just the phrase “I’ll defend the country.” Third, you’re probably right, but he just kept saying “Who wants to elect Mutombo?” in that cute muppet-ass voice that he has, and we all laughed and applauded. Plus, with the impending doom of having to elect either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump, we were willing to make some exceptions. But boy were we wrong. It turns out having an NBA player serving
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as the most powerful man in the world is less than ideal. Dikembe is a nice enough dude, and he means well, most of the time. But more often than not, it is like watching a baby drive a car. The national debt has now risen to a number that doesn’t actually exist. It’s one of those numbers like “bajillion” that sounds like a number a child would make up, but, if you Google it, it's actually a real number. So much crazy stuff has happened in the last five months under President Mutombo, it is almost impossible to keep track of it all. I believe he sold the Statue of Liberty to China for like 50 bucks, only to spend billions of dollars buying it back when people got mad. The Chinese government painted it gold while they had it, so it ended up being a net win for America, I would say. Texas seceded from the union, finally. But when President Mutombo found out, he was so mad that he wanted to nuke them (not sure if anyone has explained the actual implications of firing a nuke to him, he just knows it is something he can do). But the Secretary of Defense just said, “Okay, Mr. President, Texas has been nuked,” without actually firing anything. So things are very bad here. I don’t even know what advice I have for you, really. Don’t vote Mutombo would be a start. But @THE_CORSAIR •
even if all 33,000 students of SMC agree, Dikembe will still get more than 99 percent of the vote. I think President Mutombo’s cabinet has been able to convince him that New England is actually a separate country, so they have been unaffected by his presidency. I guess more than anything else, I just wanted to give the fine students of SMC a warning as to what is coming. I hope that you can use this knowledge to make some change in the world. And I hope this letter is actually published, and the Barack Obama Time Travel device isn’t a scam, like so many truthers have insisted. Oh, I should give you a quick sports update while I’m here. The starting quarterback for the Rams’ first game back in Los Angeles isn’t Jared Goff, it’s Peyton Manning. And he dies on the field. In like, the second quarter. It’s super sad. He doesn’t even get hit, he just sort of passes out and never wakes up. The Giants win the 2016 World Series, and the Dodgers will be terrible forever. But I could have told you that in 2016. Last thing, invest in corn. That’s like the only booming industry under President Mutombo. I know, it’s weird, but you will understand why soon.
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VOLUME 111 ISSUE 10 • JUNE 1, 2016 • SANTA MONICA COLLEGE
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