mountie M E D I A
A PRODUCT OF THE MT. SAC JOURNALISM PROGRAM
THE ONE YEAR EXPERIMENT
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s the adviser of the student publications, I’ve witnessed a shift in my students’ interest that was clearly seen in their lack of motivation. While they used to like putting out the print newspaper, they began to loathe it and the long hours and late production nights it took to produce it. Maybe if the student population was reading the paper they might have felt differently. Each semester they would go out on campus and take a survey: “Do you read the student print newspaper?” The answer was a resounding “NO.” It’s hard to spend endless hours on a publication, only to walk by a campus news kiosk to see the newspaper’s crusty edges from hours of sitting in a pile under the sun, or on a windy day blowing all over the campus.. Something had to change. Each semester I take a poll of my student’s media consumption. When
asked if they read a print newspaper, there would always be a few hands slowly raised. As the years passed, the raised hands decreased. I always ask, “ Where do you get your news?” “Online!” they would all respond. But last year, the responses changed. “Where do you get your news?” “Twitter! “Instagram!” and some various apps I’ve never heard of. It’s a different world out there and the sooner advisers realize it, the sooner our students will be able to find employment. So what exactly have we done that’s so different? We stopped publishing all of our print publications and have moved our newsroom over to medium.com. First, we moved our student magazine, Substance, to medium. We are digging deep and writing well, and hopefully will make you laugh and sometimes cry. Next, we moved our print newspaper to medium. We are putting up stories daily that are well researched and that cover topics important to college students. And last, we launched
a news site on Twitter where the campus community can follow us for up-to-the-minute reporting. Why Medium? Because it is an awesome platform and it is visually appealing. And the people behind it gave us a chance. When they heard about our idea to move the newsroom over to Medium, they were excited. There has not been a college that has ever attempted something like this. They have taken the time to meet with us, offer their support, and give input on everything from advertising and sponsorship, to what works and doesn’t work, and they even provided us our own tech support person. This is the perfect merge of tech and college journalism. How exciting is that? To read the student magazine, go to www.substance.media To read the student newspaper, go to www.sac.media For up-to-the-date news coverage, follow us at Twitter @saconscene
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WHAT THE MEDIA HAS SAID ABOUT SUBSTANCE “Medium has also become an experimental platform for cuttingedge higher ed institutions — from Stanford to Cornell, MIT to Mt. San Antonio College.” - Gabe Kelinman, Medium “[What’s interesting] to me is the allin push. They decided to shake loose all of the old yokes of college media.” Dan Reimold, College Media Matters “Freed from print deadlines, the students felt they had the time to do quality work that was being seen by Medium’s wider community of readers.” - Ben Mullen, Poynter “What has struck me isn’t their immediate success, but the rationale behind the endeavor. It cuts across nearly every issue higher ed is facing today.” -Kate Lee, Medium
HOLY C R A P,
IT’S TARTAR CONTROL! The most huggable Mormon Missionary rebels are here to spread the word about Jesus through the sound of filthy hardcore punk. story by jamie nicole rocha Punk rock is pretty boring these days. Compared to the fun and controversy that surrounded punk rock groups in the 70s and 80s like Black Flag, The Damned, and the Dead Kennedys, the punk rock of today has been sucked dry in an effort to be more technical and political. While those things are not all bad, it often results in music getting caught up in the vicious and mundane cycle of being interchangeable and safe. It’s been a while since I’ve had a band catch me off guard, make my mouth drop in awe, and question my entire existence without their music in my life…that is until a show on May 3, 2014 at the Observatory in Santa Ana, Calif. changed all that. On that day, my salvation and faith in punk rock would be saved by two Mormon missionaries and their robot. Sean Hart, Robert Selander and Robot (yes, a robot. He is the drummer and bass player) make up the band Tartar Control. Hailing from
Salt Lake City, Utah, the band now resides on the hard streets of South Central Los Angeles as part of a musical mission to spread the word about the Mormon church. But, Hart and Selander are not your ordinary Mormon men. Brought together by their love of punk rock bands like NOFX, Leftover Crack, and Choking Victim, Selander, the vocalist, and Hart, the lead guitarist and co vocalist, blend a perfect concoction of comedy, mosh pit-inducing chaos, and Book of Mormon metaphors into their unique recipe of punk rock. The music is sinfully rowdy and the lyrics are so hilariously sacrilegious that it will make the prophet Joseph Smith and his 51 wives turn over in their graves. But they do it in the name of Jesus. “We always considered ourselves to be the Lord’s toothpaste,” Robert said about the meaning of the band’s name. “We are God’s cleansing agent.”
Watching a Tartar Control show is like watching Jekyll and Hyde unfold right on stage. At first, you see two clean cut, well-mannered, and well-groomed men. Their hair is slicked and combed perfectly to look their Sunday best; black ties are nicely knotted against their collars, and their white shirts are clean and
pressed, which showcases their Elder name tags pinned tightly into place. “We came to play some songs for you all here tonight,” Selander says in squeaky, harmless voice as he gleefully grips his microphone like an 8-year-old with an ice cream cone. “This first song is about having good morals…” “About being an upstanding citizen,” Hart chimes in. “But most importantly…it’s about Jesus,” Selander adds. “This is called ‘Jesus is Love.’” Then the (holy) shit hits the fan in the best way possible. Robot starts blasting punk-driven beats and pulsating bass lines as Hart dishes out fast-paced, loud, eardrum- shattering riffs on his guitar that sound like a love letter to the intensity of Leftover Crack. Your attention diverts to Selander as he transcends into a dance that can be best described as a mix of interpretative, acid-induced hippie twirling and floor gymnast tumbling. Tartar Control’s hardcore punk punches an unholy wave of shock to the unknowing audience members as the band transforms from two sweet toned potential Leave-it-toBeaver characters to the most foulmouthed, chaotic, in-your-face and entertaining individuals right before their eyes. “He is the light and the new king to be! So get out of my way and don’t fuck with me! I can break your face! I can break your shins! I know Jesus Christ will forgive my sins,” Selander screams to three tattooed individuals in the front of the stage, right before somersaulting into the crowd as he sprawls out smack dab in the middle of the mosh pit as fans dance around him. And this is only the first song. The band’s live experience and latest 30-track album “Holy Crap!” which is filled with praise songs like “Smoking Crack,” and “Sodomy Baske.” To read the rest of this story, visit tinyurl.com/pn853xu
ACTUALLY, I’M NOT WHITE Light skinned Latinas: Privileged, outcast, and judged by their community story by cynthia schroeder
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hey see the difference. They feel the difference. They don’t talk about it. There is a hierarchy w i t h i n t h e L a t i n o community that exists both in Latin American countries and the United States, that determines who can be beautiful and who can be successful. A Latina’s appearance is not limited to stereotypical “Latina” features—dark brown hair, dark brown eyes, mocha complexion— some Latinas also have naturally red or blonde hair and light colored eyes. The socially constructed hierarchy deems light skinned Latinas, or güeras, who have European features, beautiful, smart and trustworthy while morenas, Latinas with darker skin and more indigenous features, cannot be beautiful and could never aspire to be more than a maid or a nanny. Güera Genesis Chavez-Caro, a 20-year-old student at San Francisco State University said that in the Latino culture, the lighter someone is, the prettier they are while the darker they are, the uglier they become. She said that Latinos aim to be more white because that is what the ideal beauty is. “I’ve heard people tell my [dark skinned] cousins ‘Oh put sunscreen on because you’re going to get dark!’ whereas with me, they told
me, look at your skin and how nice and bright and pretty it is. I love your rosy cheeks.” While güeras benefit more from this type of hierarchy, they struggle with intersectionality issues that are unique to them. Light skinned Latinas are caught between two cultures, American and Latin American, and do not perfectly fit in with either culture regardless of how they choose to identify themselves. Alyssa Mendoza, a 22-year-old student at Holy Names University in Oakland, Calif., is offended when people, especially Latino people, assume she is “white washed” simply because she is light skinned. “I’ve been told that I don’t understand what it’s like to be Mexican. Just because I speak English well and eloquently doesn’t make me any less Mexican. [Someone that is] ‘white washed’ is someone that is negligent of their culture. I acknowledge that I have indigenous blood in my veins even if it doesn’t look like I do. I am and always will be proud of where I come from.” Patty Delgado, 23, who is a full blooded Mexican, has light skin and light brown hair and often gets mistaken for being Jewish or Slavic. She grew up in a predominantly Latino part of Southern California. Even though she is Mexican, she didn’t feel like she fit in at school because her music taste and style of dressing, what she referred to as
“shopping mall punk,” were deemed skinned Latinas also experience as “white.”“When people [in our racism on top of sexism, even in community] see that you are into a work environment. On her 15th some sort of subculture it’s like ‘why birthday, Mendoza’s coworkers had are you trying to be white?’ because cake and pizza during their lunch you’re not interested in the majority break to celebrate when her white, interest—air force 1s, G Unit, 50 Cent,” male boss walked in and disrupted said Delgado. “This one girl gave the party. me a hard time every single English Mendoza said, “[My boss] class. She would say, ‘Why is your told me, ‘Happy Birthday Kiddo. hair green? Why are you wearing Congratulations on not getting converse? Why are you trying to be pregnant.” Mendoza didn’t realize so white?’” the connotation of that statement As much as she says it humors at the time and the power it would male suitors, ignorant employers, have over her. She recalled feeling or Latino restaurant employees, ashamed for a long time after her Delgado takes offense to others’ false boss made racist comments to her assumptions about her ethnicity. Delgado, a graphic designer by trade, “When others assume that I am white, has also experienced racism in the they strip me of my culture.” workplace and said she feels racist Chavez-Caro feels she commentary is only said in front always has to prove herself to of her because she is light skinned. other Mexicans, particularly dark “People want to bond with me over complected ones, because of her racist commentary because they light complexion. “Whenever I speak think that I’m white so I won’t say Spanish, it has to be perfect. I have to anything but I’m not white.” know every little detail about where When designing greeting my parents are from because if I cards for Cinco de Mayo that were don’t, I’m not ‘Mexican’ enough.” intended to be aimed toward the Mendoza said she has also felt that Latino community, Delgado was met she was not Mexican enough at with ignorance from her Creative times. Director. “My creative director “People have made me feel showed me an image of a Chihuahua ashamed because I call myself wearing a sombrero and serape with Mexican. It’s hurtful to feel you don’t salsa in the background. She was like belong in your own community.” ‘Isn’t this so cute? Isn’t this so funny?’ Being able to pass for being white, like I was so overcome with anger.” most güeras are, doesn’t guarantee To read the rest of this story, acceptance by white people. Light visit tinyurl.com/p2vbv2o
FIGHTING A DIFFERENT
BATTLE Veterans return home to a broken system depressed, stressed WITH no help in sight. story by ADAM ERNESTO FUENTES
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he city of Talpa is considered one of the holiest places in Mexico. Every year thousands of Catholics make a pilgrimage to this small pueblo in the state of Jalisco to give their dues to the Virgen de Talpa. Reverent followers journey here to complete a manda—a pilgrimage to the home of the virgen when a prayer is granted to the follower. Last month I accompanied my mother from California to Talpa on her journey to fulfill her promise to the virgen. In the summer of 2007 at the age of 17, and to the shock of my parents, I enlisted into the United States Navy. Amidst the Iraq War, my parents took my decision tougher than I expected. My mom resorted to religion to help her get through my five years in the service. She prayed to the Virgen de Talpa devotedly promising a pilgrimage to her upon my safe return. Often I would get care packages out at sea with crucifixes and pictures of the virgen — a reminder that my mother was always there for me, even when my faith in God had completely run dry. As she delivered flowers and candles to the Virgen de Talpa, my heart was heavy with guilt. While
she prayed, I contemplated those hellish nights on deployment in the South China Sea where among the turbulent waters of a typhoon I nearly ended my life. On nights like those, the sounds of sailors puking from the motion sickness would echo throughout the berthing followed moments later by the faint smell of stomach acid and half-digested food. The alarming echo of metal clanging through the ship’s compartments as equipment was tossed about in the tempest made sleep on one specific night en route to the Philippines impossible. I made my way to the main deck and to the nearest hatch with access to the tempest outside. I pulled the lever up half way and leaned up on it. The rain and wind pounded on the hatch. I stood there tempted to invite the elements inside. By the age of 20, I had experienced a dehumanizing, drawn out, and seemingly endless misery. Not the kind of misery like the death of a loved one, but more like a car crash happening every hour, the sense of inescapable doom, a feeling of terror and anxiety that clung to my insides — a deployment at sea. All it would have taken to end my life was just a slight opening of the hatch and a jump into the waters
below. I’d drown before anyone could even notice I was missing. No one would be there to talk me out of it. I opened the hatch all the way. Only the security latch was keeping me from the elements. Thoughts of my mother receiving news of my death started to seep into my resolve. She doesn’t speak English, so someone would have to translate the news of my death. She would most definitely be confused. She would deny it. I’ve never heard my mother cry, but she cried in my mind, and it startled me right there by the hatch. There would be no closure, no body to bury. How selfish of me. I closed the hatch and dogged the lever down all the way. I was wide awake, in shock and full of adrenaline. My mom rose from the altar, and signed the cross over herself. I wish I could have told her there that it wasn’t her religion or her God, but my love for her that saved my life that night, and every other sleepless night thereafter that I found myself at that hatch. Suicide among service members has been talked about in great lengths since the start of the Iraq and Afghanistan War. The military suicide rate exceeds the
suicide rate of the general civilian population, but it wasn’t always so. In every war before the War on Terror the military suicide rate was always considerably lower than that of the nation as a whole. Outside of active duty, male military veterans are twice as likely to die of suicide compared to their civilian counterparts. Army veteran Michael Prysner, 31, believes one reason for the high suicide rates among veterans is the concept of moral injury and how the Department of Veteran Affairs, VA, classifies posttraumatic stress disorder or PTSD. “I know there are a lot of people — especially when they deploy when they are young, I was 19 years old — in an environment where you end up doing things that later in life you are morally conflicted with. At the time you fall into being a fucked up person, and then you have to go through life remembering yourself as that person. And you just hate what you did, hate what you were, and you can’t convince yourself that you are any different now. That is a major thing that people deal with that is not really touched on by the VA care.” To read the rest of this story, visit tinyurl.com/kvkkw2p
THE NOT SO CRAZY LIFE OF A CAT LOVER story by breanna lopes
My cousin recently had a baby and during a visit I was able to spend time with the little bundle of joy. She’s adorable in every “baby” way. She goos and gahs appropriately, blows tiny bubbles of spit your way, opens her eyes in surprise while playing peak-a-boo, throws her food at whatever poor soul has been tasked with feeding her, and giggles when she farts or makes her contribution to that day’s dirty diaper supply. It’s all terribly, unbearably adorable. But as the night continued and my cousin’s contribution to the selfsatisfied talk of babies and children morphed into the almost endless babble I had heard my entire life, I found myself getting lost in the various colors of M&M’s inside of my cookie. And just as I found a yellow M&M buried, I realized I had lost track of the conversation and therefore left myself vulnerable to an attack.“What about you, Bree, don’t you want children? Any boyfriends yet?” Caught completely off guard and still thinking about the victory of having found a peanut M&M, I answered, “Nope. I just have my cat.” I realized my mistake almost immediately as I extracted the M&M from the cookie. As I brought the traitorous piece of chocolate to my lips, I lifted my eyes to the poignant stares of my family members. “I’m really busy with school,” I offered up in hopes they would let
the subject drop. “My cat pretty much takes up all my free time. Anyway, I don’t have the time or energy for a boyfriend, let alone the responsibility required of a tiny human,” I said shoveling myself deeper into this hole of the “crazy cat lady” persona. “My cat’s like my child, except he’s a hell of a lot less work.” That was it. Honestly, I should have known better. Everything I said was entirely true but it also left me open for my cousin’s rebuttal. With a raised eyebrow, she said, “Oh my God, Breanna, you’re going to end up a crazy cat lady!” Everyone laughed and then they moved back to discussing the baby poo topic. It was over pretty quick but I knew something significant had happened. It was like my family, in that moment, in labeling me as a cat lady, accepted that I was doomed. My fate was to die alone, a spinster for life, filling the void of never having loved or been loved by adopting an insurmountable number of feline friends. And here lies the issue. I was only “crazy” because my affections were given to a cat instead of a baby. Although it is equally as ridiculous to prattle on and on about the exact shade of brown of their baby’s daily deposit, these moms were at least talking about a human being. They have, responsibly, upheld the status quo. To read the rest of this story, visit tinyurl.com/nh67bs2
PUTTING THE REALITY BACK IN FOOTBALL story by robbie de anda Fantasy football players go through an emotional roller coaster every Sunday with all the loops, drops and rises the typical National Football League week provides. Fantasy football translates the real NFL player’s game statistics into fantasy points which are then added to a fantasy team; however, today some football fans have gotten caught up in the “fantasy” of fantasy football and have lost sight of the reality in the sport as well as the teams and players who make up the league. During a fantasy football draft, all players in the NFL are placed into a fake free agent pool for your specific league to choose from, where fans can select the top players at each position on the field, mostly offensive skill position players. These drafts can be anywhere from 15–20 rounds each, where each fantasy player selects one NFL player per round. When the final draft pick is made, you can finally stare and
drool over the championship team you hope you just compiled. These drafts are vital because one wrong choice during a fantasy draft can significantly change the outcome of the season for a fantasy owner. The manager of each team drafted can be referred to as the fantasy owner, and every week they pick the top players from their team and place them in their starting line-up. Every week two fantasy owners within the same league face off and must pick their best starting line-ups. All statistics the NFL player records, from a wide receiver catching a pass to a running back rushing the ball for a 15 yard gain, are documented and processed into points. Fantasy Football is not all about the positive statistics. The bad stats are also significant because players can lose points for their fantasy owners. For the rest of this story, visit tinyurl.com/nwog9h5
GAY, LATINO & MACHO
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orced onto a school bus as the day came to an end on a Thursday in 2005, Josue was frightened and uncertain what the future held for him and his companions. Chaperons from the strict Latino Pentecostal church took away all methods of communication so they were virtually removed from society. Arriving at a ranch in the middle of nowhere under the cover of darkness, the teens were forced into separate rooms. Each day they were made to pray and denounce their sexuality. It was believed that the teens had demons controlling them. And, before he was allowed to be “cured,” the scared 17-year-old was held down against his will while several people screamed in attempts to speak with the alleged demons within. They performed an exorcism to cure him of his homosexuality. For Josue Velasquez, now 26, the idea of being gay and Latino did not sit well with his religious mother. She upheld a standard of masculinity
called machismo that conflicted with the person Velasquez is. In the Latino culture there is a belief that men need to be hyper-masculine, domineering, controlling, and without the slightest hint of femininity. The culture of machismo is a conflict between the two identities; gay and Latino. The ideology requires such a high standard of masculinity that it is nearly impossible to reach. Critics of machismo such as journalist and feminist Germaine Greer have said, “The tragedy of machismo is that a man is never quite man enough.” Being raised in a machismo culture impacted Velasquez’s his life, and his future. As a teen, he dreamed of becoming a fashion designer. His mother would crush those dreams one day when he showed her his prized drawings. He was a junior in high school and had spent most of the year preparing a portfolio. When he told her of his plans to attend fashion design school, she walked him out to the yard, threw his drawings in the barbecue, and made him light his portfolio on fire. Her son, she said, would be a man,
The struggle to be queer and out in a machismo culture story by albert serna & adolfo tigerino not a maricón, a derogatory term used to describe gay Latino men or any man who is effeminate. “She said that fashion was not a man’s job,” Velasquez said. “I felt so defeated. I let go of that dream because I knew I would never get the support from my mother or family.” Velasquez now majors in anthropology at University of California at Irvine. He said his mother even tried to get him to skip college and go to a vocational career. “Never in my life would I do that. It makes me laugh because I would like to think that my family would want me to aim higher.” Velasquez has sashayed away from machismo and embraced the elegance of drag culture when he hits the stage as “La Buganvilia.” “I always told people that I didn’t like that stuff, and that I would never dress up like a woman because I was a man, a gay man, and that’s how God had made me,” Velasquez said. It wasn’t until 2010 that the show RuPauls’ Drag Race changed the way he viewed drag, but his first attempt was all for fun. Now drag
is an integral part of who he is. “For now, drag is an art of expression for me. It is a way that I can still live my dream of fashion and costume making. I make all of my costumes and the costumes for other drag queens.” But not all endings are as glamorous as Velasquez’s. In the barrios of Los Angeles, the culture of Machismo thrives. So many men are born and raised to uphold the masculine identity and pass it along to their sons. Take Felix Rios*, a 35 yearold Mexican who grew up in East Los Angeles surrounded by figures meant to be idolized; the men who worked construction all day and provided for their families or the caballeros who toiled on the field. Early on, Rios knew he was different, but an experience with his father would forever leave a scar. “My dad was a big mean guy. He took my brother and I out to the desert with a bunch of guys. They said it was going to just be the men on a camping trip so I was excited,” Rios said. To read the rest of this story, visit tinyurl.com/ojjzmxo
TOP 8 UPCOMING SUPERHERO MOVIES A COMIC NERD COUNTS DOWN MARVEL AND DC’S NEW RELEASES STORY BY NICK MOORE
Shazam
Doctor Strange
While it looks as if we will not get a lot of origin stories to DC heroes, Shazam would need one to explain all that comes to be this amazing hero. Even though I would much like to see Shazam face Superman, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is set to play Black Atom in the film, Shazam’s arch enemy.
It seems that every month, rumors go around on the Internet as to who is going to be Doctor Strange, from Joaquin Phoenix to Liam Neeson. Yet as of now it looks as if Benedict Cumberbatch will be the handling the magic. I guess this is what makes me interested, knowing this role will be played by a star and not a newbie.
Release Date: April 5, 2019
Release Date: November 4, 2016
Avengers: Age of Ultron The films that are getting closer to release in theaters are the ones that I put higher up on the list. In this film, it looks as if robots are planning to take over the world again (Terminator.) The team is back together. After seeing the epic trailer, this movie is easily my most anticipated movie of 2015. Of the Words of Ultron, “I’m going to show you something beautiful.” Release Date: May 1, 2015
Captain America: Civil War
Wolverine While there is no set storyline, nor any information if Hugh Jackman will return, Director James Mangold hints that the first and only Logan will be back and will be based in a futuristic timeline. I can only hope for an OldMan Logan film. “The Wolverine” not only gave me hope for the next “X-Men” movie, but future work as well. Release Date: March 3, 2017
X-Men Apocolypse
Since the Demise of “Spiderman 3” (Spiderman is the face of Marvel in comics still), both Captain America and Iron Man have led the way for Marvel films. They both have gained an incredible amount fans through the years. Now it’s time to see who is the rightful face of the Marvel Universe.
Thanks to Bryan Singer for pretty much erasing “The Last Stand” from our minds with “X-Men: Days of Future Past,” “X-Men Apocalypse” looks to be the true ending to the mutants we fans truly deserve. The villain to cause havoc this time around will Apocalypse.
Release Date: May 6, 2016
Release Date: May 27, 2016
Justice League I grew up watching the super friends face off against Lex Luthor and Darkseid on a weekly basis. To see all these characters from Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and so on come to life would be a dream come true. If DC is to battle Marvel, they have to make Justice League. Solo films cannot win fans over anymore. Release Date: Part 1 — November 17, 2017 & part 2 — June 14, 2019
Batman v. Superman After years of waiting, after thinking Superman Returns would start the World’s Finest story arc, after Christopher Nolan’s “Dark Knight” trilogy, after a disappointing “Man of Steel” (first rule for a Superman movie is that he does not Kill! You fucked up Snyder), it’s true. We will see the Caped Crusader go toe-to-toe with the Ideal of Hope. Release Date: March 26, 2016
WHAT ABOUT LOCAL NEWS?
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nnovation is a crucial part of any venture, whether it be in business, technology, science or media. That is what SAC.Media is all about. The student media has taken its first step in developing and producing multi-platform content that both engages and encourages students to take an active roll on campus and the world around them. Through the use of live coverage, in-depth reporting, and popular culture, SAC.Media delivers what students want in a manner that fits the way they live. But what does that mean for campus news? It means that we, the student media, can now take what some may find boring and
tell it in a way that matters. SAC. Media is also a way for students to communicate their interests and inform each other about the goings on at Mt. SAC. Utilizing Instagram as a form of social interaction, SAC.Media has branched out further than we ever thought possible, and it continues to grow. Although we acknowledge that media is ever changing and that the landscape of media today may not work in the media of tomorrow, we accept the challenge of constantly evolving and are proud to adapt to student’s wants and needs. From the Mountaineer, to Mountiewire, and now to SAC. Media, news aficionados, sports fans, and pop culture buffs can all rest assured that we have it covered. It’s news, without the ink.
PARKING WARS
Walnut City Council slaps Mt. SAC with a lawsuit to squash new parking structure STORY BY RACHELLE ARAGHI
“We are surprised by the ruling, but we understand the court’s desire to give the citizens a full hearing. We look forward to presenting our case in court and are confident we will prevail. Mt. San Antonio College has carefully followed all regulations in the planning for this structure. It is a necessity for students and the broader community we serve,” college President Dr. Bill Scroggins said in an email. The City of Walnut initially filed a similar restraining order, but failed to have reasonable probability. A second restraining order was then filed to reconsider the temporary suspension of the five story parking construction, but was also denied. After a failed second attempt to interrupt the construction, a third restraining order was issued to stop the development of the food services building on campus, Judge Lavin also denied this request. The approved restraining order from the Timberline community forces Tilden-Coil Constructors Inc. from performing any additional construction, except for emergency work or repairs that might endanger the public. “It appears to the satisfaction of the court that this is a proper case for
granting a temporary restraining order as the court finds the applicant United Walnut has established a reasonable probability that it will prevail in its claim that the college district cannot exempt itself from zoning laws,” Lavin wrote. They’re in a hurry to do as much as they can before our case can be heard,” said attorney Craig Sherman, representing the United Walnut Taxpayers. Mt. SAC’s attorney Stan Barankiewicz denied that construction is being “hurried.” According to Barankiewicz, Mt. SAC loses $25 thousand every week to comply with the restraining order and is costly effecting additional construction developments on campus. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for May 7, at the Los Angeles Superior Court. The controversy over the proposed parking structure included in Measure RR has led the City of Walnut and residents of the Timberline community to file separate law suits against Mt. SAC for violating city zoning and environmental laws. At the Walnut City Council meeting on March, 25, Timberline residents asked the City Council to file a second
lawsuit against Mt. SAC before the judge withdraws the first lawsuit. At the time, construction would be midway through and the residents had not submitted their claim on time. “They want to play hardball and be obnoxious about it. They are marching ahead and shoving it in the public’s face. But they know this is going to get overturned,” said Craig Sherman, San Diego-based attorney for United Walnut Taxpayers. The $353 million Measure RR voted in by Walnut residents in 2008 would fund the estimated $48.5 million, five-story project. The measure uses the language “expand parking capacity,” however the Timberline community, Walnut City Council and Mt. SAC, have been debating meaning of the term over the past year. “We don’t believe the ‘parking structure’ was included in Measure RR,” said City Manager Robert Wishner in an interview Monday. Finding a middle ground in understanding the term “parking capacity” has been the primary dispute of this litigation. Mt. SAC’s academic enrollment has grown every year, with 54,358 students registered for the 2013–2014
school year, nearly twice the amount of the city of Walnut, which has a population of 30,065. The continued growth of the student population is also a concern for the Walnut City Council. “A task force will set up their initiative, but the goal is to address some of these issues — the growth [of students enrolled at Mt. SAC],” said Wishner. He suggested that satellite campuses and shuttling students to and from CAL Poly could limit traffic and reduce the need to build a parking facility. Mt. SAC began construction a week after receiving an approval from the Division of the State Architect on March 18. One resident who declined to give his name but said he was a part of the Timberland fundraising committee said, “I know what [Mt. SAC is] doing, they are trying to be passive aggressive and as nasty as could be — in your face, putting up signs saying ‘it’s under way,’ they have students right now trying to divide the community.” Mt. SAC board members passed a resolution on Feb. 11, indicating that the campus does not need to abide by City of Walnut zoning laws. To read the rest of this story, visit tinyurl.com/pr6n7ka
IT’S LIKE A MOVIE, BUT REAL LIFE Ray and Sandy’s Hideaway Bar — sometimes you wanna go where everybody knows your name. STORY BY BREANNA LOPES
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t 8:19 a.m., an old man in a champagnecolored Dodge truck pulled slowly up behind an old brick building at the corner of a declining shopping mall. He parked his truck in front of the large white letters that sp ell out, “NO PARKING,” before turning off the ignition and opening his door. He reached over to the passenger side to grab the silver walker he uses to help him get around, now that old age and has taken its toll on his body. The walker exited the vehicle first. His wrinkled, but still strong hands slowly unfolded the walker, left side first, and then right. With a deep breath, he carefully clambered down from the cab of his truck, left foot first, then right. 8:21 a.m., reads the time on the old man’s watch. Two minutes have passed. There are birds along the telephone wires behind the building. The noise they made cannot necessarily be described as singing so much as a continuous chatter which drew the old man’s attention. Looking up, he watched as the morning fog moved about, quickly dissipating under the warm glow of the sun as it made its way out from behind the clouds and over the brick building. A woman in a red sedan came speeding through the still opening gate of the apartment complex across the street. The sound of her
car colliding with the pavement briefly as she sped through the dip, broke the silence of the morning. Her car disappeared as quickly as it had appeared as she had since raced towards the Pomona 60 freeway, praying that God, traffic, and the breaking of multiple speed limits would get her to work on time. The old man moved away from the birds and the slow moving gate that had yet to close. He wheeled himself and his walker further into the shadows of the brick building. There is a 15-foot stretch of dirt hidden between the concave of the brick building and the old brown fence that has started to bow outwards. With careful movements, he maneuvered around the steel rod jutting awkwardly from the dirt towards the pathway that runs alongside a horse-shoe pit that hasn’t been used for years. As he continued on toward a dark colored door, he noticed a stray rusting horseshoe that’s was left behind and reminded himself to have someone pick it up later. 8:24 a.m. Lifting his right hand from the padded arms of his walker, he reached into his pocket and extracted a set of jangling keys. As if by muscle memory, he pulled out the one he needed, inserted it into the lock, moved the key to the right, gave it a jiggle, and pushed. The door swung open. Using the outside light that entered through the open door, he
made his way past the mop bucket, various boxes of liquor, and other stray things that have been packed into the small cramped space that acts as a storage room. He moved through a doorless arch and was greeted by the same sight that he had seen every morning for the past 30 years. There are no lights to turn on, the bar is lit solely by over a dozen fluorescent beer signs that stay on overnight even after the bar closes. To his left is a long marbled laminate bar that seats 19 people. To his right is a wall with wine glasses, small bottles of Sutter Home Merlot, the occasional bottle of margarita mix or Bacardi Rum, and an old black and white photo of six Budweiser girls showing off their long legs and big hair. Across the bar, he can see two faded green
pool tables that charge $1 per game, except on Thursdays, on Thursdays patrons can play for free. Behind the tables are 12 backless stools aligned along a narrow wooden bar that sits below a wall of mirrors. Above the mirrors are several of the fluorescent neon signs that keep the place lit. In the far left corner are four tables, each with at least three chairs surrounding them. Directly to the right of the tables, is a small dance floor, with a microphone sitting on a lonely table, unused until the weekend, when the bar hosts a karaoke night. Ray meandered over towards the big screen television that hangs to the left of the main liquor display and turned it on. To read the rest of this story,visit tinyurl.com/m5pv7gc
MENTAL HELP
WANTED
“It was like Orange is the New Black. I was Piper. Scared and terrified what whatever was going to happen. It was like a mental ward, where they lock you up and can’t get out.” This is how Josue Velasquez, anthropology major at University of California, Irvine and former Mt. San Antonio College student, described the treatment he received after going to Mt. San Antonio College’s student health center for help with his depression. “It’s like a deep hole, and it’s a California run facility. It was almost like jail. It was just very disappointing on behalf of the school. I think it’s because there is no help or support for mental illness disorders,” Velasquez said. Velasquez is referring to the place he was take to when in in November of 2010, he reached out to one of his professors and confessed that he was suicidal and had been cutting himself. The professor called the campus Student Health Services and referred
him there for help. He was kept there until the Los Angeles County crisis team arrived. “They (Health Services) really don’t have a plan of how to deal with the situation so they hand it over to the L.A. County. From there, you’re on your own,” Velazquez said. Velasquez was diagnosed with depression. He admits to “cutting” in high school, but stopped before attending Mt. SAC. Yet it reached a point where he started doing it again and had fallen back into depression. “I didn’t want to deal with people and talk about my problems,” Velasquez said. “It was probably the one of the darkest times of my life, I was really starting to hate myself and my life.” Livier Martinez, a licensed clinical social worker at Mt. San Antonio College, said it is her responsibility and the responsibility of the Mt. SAC medical service staff to keep suicidal students alive and refer them to the proper level of care.
SUICIDAL STUDENTS have doubts about procedures taken by health centers STORY BY NICK MOORE “When they complete the paper work and they check off that they are thinking of hurting themselves, they are immediately assisted by a trained medical staff.” Velasquez was transported off campus, but not before he was given an ultimatum that worsened his fears. When the L.A. County crisis team arrived, he said he was given only two options: go with them for evaluation or go to jail. “I feel like you’re almost threatened to go because you have no other option,” Velasquez said. “I decided to stay because I’m not going to jail. I’m not getting that on my record.” The crisis team took Velasquez to University of Southern California Medical Center, located about 25 miles from the campus, where they treated him with antidepressants for the next 72 hours. According to California Code-Section 5150 when any person, as a result of mental disorder, is a danger to
others or to himself or herself, a peace officer, member of the attending staff, as defined by regulation, of an evaluation facility designated by the county, designated members of a mobile crisis team, or other professional person designated by the county may, upon probable cause, take, or cause to be taken, the person into custody and place him or her in a facility designated by the county and approved by the State Department of Social Services as a facility for 72hour treatment and evaluation. After further evaluation, Velasquez was deemed a threat to himself and was sent to Kindred Psychiatric Hospital. He recalled the mental ward as a place where they lock you up and cannot get out. “It was kind of like going to prison,” Velasquez said. “They make you undress, and you turn in all your stuff. You can’t have your cell phone or belongings with you. I was really uncomfortable. It didn’t turn out the way I thought it would.” He explained how the psychiatric hospital evaluates a person. “The thing that they look for is that you have a place to live. I had a place to live. I was working and was paying rent to live with my sister. streets.” To read the rest of this story, visit tinyurl.com/lncycyg
STAYING CONNECTED SOCIAL MEDIA PRESENCE
T
he challenge of delivering relevant news to a student audience is something that all college journalists face. For the most part, students use their phones and other technology to stay informed. Most students no longer seek out a print publication to consume information. What does that mean for student journalism? In the simplest of terms it means that we— student media—need to evolve. And that
is just what Mt. SAC journalism did. We evolved. No, we experimented. SAC On Scene, or simply SOS, is our new hyper-local way of bringing community news to you— our audience—entirely on Twitter. What that means is that our reporters are out in the community, your community, covering topics that are of importance to you. Whether it is the Walnut City Council crashing a Mt. SAC Board of Trustees meeting, the tragic murder of a Pomona man and the subsequent manhunt for his killer,
or the fight for a higher minimum wage in Los Angeles County, our reporters are on the scene. Although it may seem daunting to some, the dedicated reporters of the Mt. SAC Journalism Department strive to bring the best they can offer in a way that matters to students. If there is something that happens in the community you can bet SAC will be On Scene. And if we’re not, send us a tweet, we’ll make sure it’s covered. Follow us on Twitter @SAConScene
#FIGHTFOR15
ANGELENOS FIGHT TO RAISE THE MINIMUM WAGE TO $15 STORY BY DESIREE MCCLEAN Alexis Frank shares a small twobedroom apartment with her mother and aunt in Los Angeles, Calif. They receive public assistance and Section 8 housing. Even with the assistance of the state, Frank struggles to keep up with rent and bills. She goes to work from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. with no time or money to do much else. “I go to work then go home, Monday through Friday. I have to pack a lunch because my funds don’t allow me to buy anything out. I barely have enough gas to last me for a couple of weeks,” said Frank, a 32-year-old security guard at the Dr. Pepper/Snapple Group company bottling plant in Los Angeles. Los Angeles citizens are fighting for better minimum wages to be able to properly care for themselves and their families. Fast food workers and many others are paid minimum wage at $9 an hour. They are not able to pay rent, other bills, and necessities but work full-time and overtime just to get by. The fight for a $15 minimum wage is in full effect. With petitions across the county and the movement traveling to many different cities,
San Francisco and Seattle have already jumped on board with the pay increase. But hopeful employees from Los Angeles wait in agony to endure a change. Matt Schwartz, president and chief executive of the California Housing Partnership, who advocates for affordable housing, reported that Los Angeles residents need to earn at least $33 an hour — $68,640 a year — to be able to afford the average apartment in Los Angeles County. The $33 an hour figure is based on the average L.A. County apartment rental price of $1,716 a month, from USC’s 2014 Casden Multifamily Forecast. An apartment is considered affordable when you spend no more than 30 percent of your paycheck on rent. Fifteen states, plus the District of Columbia, index their minimum wages to rise automatically with the cost of living. Unfortunately, California does not follow this trend and leaves its citizens working day and night with little to show for it. There is no way that one person making minimum wage can survive on their own. These wages are well
below the poverty line which leaves people sleeping in cars, or living with friends or family, or even on the cold streets of places like skid row in Los Angeles.“Fifteen dollars would be great so I can catch up on my bills and take a day without worrying that if I miss a day of work I won’t be able to pay my bills on time or at all,” Frank said. Some may say the wage increase may come with its own problems. If companies are forced to increase wages they may also feel forced to increase costs to ensure the profit margin does not decrease. In Seattle,
employees of hotels and parking garages have already received the raise, but for some it was not all positive. Free food, free parking, 401k, paid holidays and vacations have all been compromised to keep profits steady. According to Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti’s website, LA’s economy is growing with 40,000 jobs added in the past year and yet too many Angelenos are being left behind and are struggling to support themselves and their families To read the rest of this story, visit tinyurl.com/p6svs2u
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