Daily Forty-Niner; Apr. 5, 2021

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Vol. LXXII, Issue 26

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Monday, April 5, 2021

GRAnD SLAM Inside the

Niner

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NEWS

ARTS & LIFE

Student aid to distribute soon

Hitting the high note

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2 NEWS

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Calling all the graduates CSULB will be hosting commencement at Angel Stadium for students from the classes of 2020 and 2021.

Sports Editor Samantha Diaz sports@daily49er.com Design Editor Alejandro Vazquez design@daily49er.com Advertising Manager Carter Magee advertising@daily49er.com Business Manager Sai Zin Phyo Lwin business@daily49er.com Special Projects Editor Peter Villafañe

By Iman Palm and Julia Terbeche News Desk

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ong Beach State will be hosting an inperson commencement ceremony for the classes of 2020 and 2021 this May, the Commencement Office announced in an email.

“The Commencement Team is working with Angel Stadium of Anaheim to host this year’s commencement, May 28 [to] 31,” the email read. “We appreciate those that participated in last week’s poll to survey location preference. By a 6:1 margin, graduates in the classes of 2020 and 2021 asked that we pursue an in-person option for graduation ceremonies. Based on these results and under the new outdoor stadium live performance public health guidelines, we are planning a pivot from drive-through commencement ceremonies to inperson ceremonies.”

As the city of Long Beach has progressed into the red tier under

the state’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy, outdoor stadium live performances will be permitted starting April 1.

This decision comes after the university sent a survey on March 18 asking students part of the classes of 2020 and 2021 for their input on whether they would prefer to participate in a hybrid car caravan or in-person ceremony this May. Graduates will be split up by college and class: • College of Engineering — Friday, May 28, 9:30 a.m.

• College of Liberal Arts — Friday, May 28, 5 p.m.

• College of the Arts — Saturday, May 29, 9:30 a.m.

• College of Health & Human Services — Saturday, May 29, 5 p.m.

• College of Education — Sunday, May 30, 9:30 a.m.

• College of Business — Sunday, May 30, 5 p.m.

• College of Natural Sciences & Mathematics — Monday, May 31, 9:30 a.m.

In line with health directives, only guests with tickets will be permitted inside the stadium and must remain in their seats for the duration of the ceremony.

“As students will be throughout the 100 to 300 level seating, there will be no processional, recessional, or stage-walking for graduates inside the stadium,” the email said. “At this time, families will be able to view the graduate experience from the parking lot, should they not be allowed inside the stadium.”

Participating students should still complete their graduate slides and name recordings “as these will be key elements of the experience.”

Recording of their name pronunciation closes on April 9, and graduate slides complete with a photo and quote are due by May 1.

The Angel Stadium ceremony will be livestreamed on the commencement website, and the Division of Student Affairs will be hosting virtual cultural graduation celebrations.

Photo Editor Andrea Ramos Video Editor Abel Reyes Social Media Editor Celeste Huecias Podcast Editor Cameron Johnston Podcast Assistant Luke Pajari Design Assistant Anna Karkalik Gisele Robinett News Assistant Iman Palm News Assistant Fernando Haro Opinions Assistant Bella Arnold Special Projects Assistant Giselle Alexandra Ormeño Photo Assistant Richard Grant Social Media Assistants Ashley Ramos Desiree Aguilera Dominique Hernandez Briet Sarthak Sheladia Webmaster Dinesh Reddy Kommera Community Engagement Ashley Ramos Manager PR & Promotions Manager Alejandro Vazquez Distribution Manager Carter Magee Design Adviser Gary Metzker Content Adviser Barbara Kinglsey-Wilson Advertising & Business Jennifer Newton Adviser

Campus facilites to reopen in April The gym and child development center are slated to resume operations this month.

By Jorge Villa Staff Writer

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ong Beach State will be reopening the Student Recreation and Wellness Center and Isabel Patterson Child Development Center next month as California has progressed into red tier under the Blueprint for a Safer Economy.

“That’s very exciting, after 14 months or so of closure, we’ll come back,” Executive Director of Student Affairs Miles Nevin said during an Associated Students, Inc. Senate Zoom meeting Wednesday.

According to Taylor BuhlerScott, assistant director of ASI programs, the child development center will reopen on April 12, allowing six to 10 children per classroom with an estimated 12 to

14 staff present.

Prior to the coronavirus, the IPCDC would serve about 160 children in infant and toddler, preschool and school-age groups.

“There will be three classrooms reopening in total, they will be for the infant toddler and presc hool programs,” Buhler-Scott said.

Both ASI facilities are part of a repopulation effort that is slated to roll out in the coming weeks.

According to Nevin, the SRWC will reopen in three phases, with a new phase opening each week.

Starting during spring break, the rec center will be hosting outdoor fitness classes like yoga, and the following week, the swimming pool lap lanes are scheduled to reopen. The week after that, indoor operations will be resuming at 10% capacity.

Students will be able to reserve a date and time slot using SWRC GO, either on the rec center’s website or app.

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NEWS 3

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Administration urged to consult tribes An attorney with the Native Amerrican Heritage Commission maintained that CSULB has yet to partake in proper consultation with the Indigenous community.

By Julia Terbeche News Editor

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n a letter sent to California State University Chancellor Joseph I. Castro, the Native American Heritage Commission asserted that Long Beach State engaged in “improper consultation practices” regarding the dirt dumping on Puvungna in 2019.

“The NAHC strongly advises the California State University system and CSULB to reach out to the local tribes as soon as possible and engage in meaningful tribal consultation,” Enforcement Attorney Justin Freeborn wrote.

“The NAHC cannot act as a proxy for consultation with tribes, and we have not been empowered to do so by any tribe.”

This letter is part of an ongoing exchange between the California Native American Heritage Commission and Castro to address actions taken by CSULB involving the 22-acre plot of sacred land and to affirm that consultation

with NAHC staff does not serve as consultation with local tribal groups.

The NAHC first sent a letter to Castro on March 5 requesting protection of the land, to which Castro responded on March 11 claiming the university is addressing the situation.

“The campus is currently engaged in a process with the Native American Heritage Commission…to develop a permanent plan for that soil to better integrate it into the surrounding landscape and to introduce native plantings,” Castro wrote in his March 11 letter.

Sent on March 23, the most recent letter is a response to these claims, which the NAHC feels is a “mischaracterization” of the commission’s role in the ongoing dispute, according to Freeborn.

Freeborn stated that the role of the commission was to “facilitate CSULB consultation with tribes,” not to “take the place of tribal consultation,” something the university failed to do.

During construction of the new Parkside North Dormitory in

LAUREN BERNY | Daily Forty-Niner

Dirt piles are located on Puvungna where the dumping occurred in 2019.

September of 2019, crews hired by the university used heavy machinery on Puvungna and dumped dirt containing debris onto the land. According to state legislation, agencies must seek commentary documentation from the Office of Historic Preservation before engaging in any activity that involves locations registered with the National Register of Historic Places.

The university moved forward with these actions on Puvungna,

a NRHP-listed site, without prior consultation of tribal groups, which is part of the ongoing lawsuit brought on by members of the Native community.

The March 23 letter also references the university’s previous actions regarding the plot of land, including the attempt to construct a mini mall on Puvungna in the 1990s.

“The similarities between present day actions are of great concern to the NAHC as the

Commission has previously taken steps to protect the site against similar CSULB actions,” Freeborn wrote. “The misrepresentations in [Castro’s] letter make it extremely challenging for the NAHC to continue efforts to facilitate meaningful tribal consultation or further problem-solving discussions between the parties — something that appears an ancillary benefit to CSULB.”

CSULB to distribute $23 million of federal relief Long Beach State students can expect to see federal disbursements after spring break, according to the Division of Students Affairs.

By Jorge Villa Staff Writer

L Daily Forty-Niner File Photo

ong Beach State will be distributing approximately $23 million of federal relief money to students in early April after spring break, Vice President of Student Affairs Beth Lesen said during Wednesday’s Associated Senate Zoom meeting.

According to the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, the money comes from President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s American Rescue Plan Act that the House of Representatives passed on March 10 in an effort to provide supplemental relief funding for students and institutions.

Lesen maintained that “some folks may

receive a different amount than others,” as funds are dispersed.

Jeff Klaus, associate vice president of Student Affairs, will be meeting with ASI members next Wednesday to discuss the logistics behind distributing the money.

However, undocumented students and international students will not be eligible to receive federal money, according to the United States Department of Education.

CSULB will be running tests on a new security system during spring break to ensure money gets transferred to students safely.

“It’s not a conspiracy to make sure that you don’t spend it in the wrong place, we’re actually just trying to make sure that we protect that money,” Lesen said.

Associated Students, Inc. Senate will reconvene via Zoom next Wednesday at 3:30 p.m.

4 ARTS & LIFE

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Engineering equality

The 100+ Women Strong initiative, led by women including alumnae, is supporting women in the C

By Paris Barraza Arts and Life Editor

T

he Building Blocks of 100+ Women Strong

When Debbie Meeks began working at a refinery in Los Angeles around 1987 or 1988, she was one of about 20 professional women working there out of about 2,000 people, half being union workers and half working in management.

In fact, Meeks said she was probably part of the second group of women engineers that were hired.

Meeks, who graduated from Long Beach State in 1986 with a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering, said that when she and her coworkers went out to inspect equipment and make sure everything was working, operators had a “mindset” of whistling at people or making crude jokes.

Likewise, workers would open their lockers, inside a picture of a naked woman hanging.

It wasn’t Meeks’ first time being in an environment dominated by men, nor would it be her last.

But over 30 years later, Meeks is stepping into a new type of environment—one where women are at the forefront.

She and nine other women who have navigated the fields of chemical engineering, civil engineering, computer science, electrical engineering and mechanical engineering successfully are spearheading 100+ Women Strong, an initiative within the College of Engineering at CSULB that was supposed to make its in-person launch in spring 2020 but had to be delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The initiative, which hosted its first virtual event in March, will provide students with an opportunity to be in direct contact with women from their respective industries. Meeks, along with the nine other steering board members, will act as mentors and resources to not only attract students to the field, but help current women pursuing it.

But it doesn’t end there.

100+ Women Strong hopes to see 100 women donate to the College of Engineering, which will go toward local outreach efforts as well as reward female students in the college with scholarships.

According to the Society of Women Engineers, 19.9% of bachelor’s degrees are awarded to women in engineering and computer sciences.

Dr. Tracy Bradley Maples, interim dean at the College of Engineering, said that when she was a professor in computer engineering and computer science, she’d walk into a room and see only

PHOTOS COURTESY OF

Some of the members of the 100+ Strong Steering Committee. Photo courtesy of the College of Engineering. one or two women. While they often did well in class, Maples said, they also would feel shut down by their male classmates or were hesitant to speak up.

“At its heart, engineering, computer science jobs are about working in teams and that’s why it’s so important to have women’s opinions in what you’re doing,” Maples said. “They need to be part of those teams, but also that’s what makes it hard if you’re the only woman on a team.”

It’s why initiatives like this, Maples said, to some extent will be about increasing the number of women, but also showing them that they can have successful, wellrounded lives while pursuing these fields.

Director of Development Nicole Forrest Boggs, according to Maples, was the one who brought the idea of 100+ Women Strong with her from a conference, where it was being done at another university. From there, the College of Engineering reached out to alumni who had shown interest in supporting the

college.

For someone like Dorothy Benveniste, a senior project engineer for Boeing who holds a bachelor’s in software engineering, 100+ Women Strong was only a natural extension of her “personal passion” toward STEM education for underserved youth.

Benveniste, who has co-led the initiative, is part of Beach Engineering Student Success Team, which allows freshmen interested in studying engineering to join a cohort to work with peers and faculty frequently, receive supplemental tutoring and, ultimately, increase success of students in the department, especially those of diverse backgrounds.

Benveniste said that she initially didn’t major in engineering, but gained confidence in her abilities in the professional environment, making her realize she was capable of academically pursuing engineering.

“It took me a long time to get to where I finally ended up, and

hopefully we can cut that time short for this generation of engineering students,” Benveniste said.

According to Maples, this year the 100+ Women Strong Initiative is providing scholarships to what the program calls ambassadors, women in engineering who are going out to local high schools to educate students on what engineers do.

The Society of Women Engineers reports that 9.5% of freshmen women in 2017 intended to major in engineering, math, statistics or computer science compared to 3.7% of women in 2007. While the intent to pursue these fields is there and growing, it also becomes a matter of if those students stay.

“We’re really trying to help students who are in high school who are maybe headed towards STEM to consider engineering because engineering degrees are really helping degrees,” Maples said. “We’re out trying to make the world a better place. That’s the ultimate goal.”

Women in the Workplace and in the Classroom As of fall 2020, 19.5% of the students enrolled in the College of Engineering at CSULB are women.

The lack of women compared to men in the classroom poses a series of questions, with little answers.

One reason Meeks theorized that contributes to the smaller percentages of women in engineering is the level of difficulty some major-specific college classes are. Getting low grades, especially if one once considered themselves to be a high performer, could be challenging and upsetting psychologically, enough for some to change fields, according to Meeks.

But Benveniste mentioned another factor, that there are no female role models, leaving women in the field on their own to figure out if they are doing things correctly, both professionally and in their personal lives.

“I think 100 Women Strong is vitally important because it

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ARTS & LIFE 5

for women at CSULB

College of Engineering. But to see success, the challenges women face in STEM must be understood.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

Debbie Meeks, left, Strategic Alliance Manager at Shell Oil Products who graduated from CSULB in 1986. Holly Craig, middle, CFO of Stratonics and a member of the 100+ Women Strong steering committee. Craig graduated from CSULB in 1984. Dorothy Benveniste, vice chair of 100+ Women Strong.

THE COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

gives female students a support mechanism and professional approach of women in industry who could model that behavior,” Benveniste said.

Another factor, according to Holly Craig, a member of the 100+ Women Strong Steering Committee and CFO of Stratonics, is using language or perpetuating mindsets that play up the idea of how difficult these fields may be to pursue if you are a woman. That only serves to deter women.

“When we just say, ‘They’re victims, women are victims, the field is rigged against you, you’re going to be pushed down,’ because if somebody told me, ‘Hey, come over in this room over here, you’re going to be battered and you’re never going to have a chance,’ do you want to come?” Craig said.

Craig, who graduated from CSULB in 1984 with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering, said she always felt uplifted by the male colleagues throughout her professional career but did recall entering a National Institute

of Standards and Technology facility that didn’t have a women’s bathroom at the time.

When Craig was first accepted into CSULB, she did not know what she wanted to do, only knowing that she was good at math and science classes and enjoyed that.

She wandered into the library and was able to take a strength and weaknesses aptitude test.

The results quickly pointed her to the direction of engineering, and immediately, Craig was convinced by a faculty member in the department to pursue the field.

The field of engineering is broad, and information about the field is something Craig said is not really shared with at the high school level, which makes promoting it so important to ensure that students don’t lose out on the possibility of engineering just because they don’t know it well enough.

But during Craig’s career, she said that if there ever was any initial perceptions made about her by colleagues due to her being a woman, it was changed once Craig put in the work.

It’s an important note to make, that the experiences of one woman in engineering can be vastly different from that of someone else’s. It’s also something that Meeks emphasized, saying experiences differed based upon the company, the state you work in or what field.

And for Meeks, her time at the refinery also included an “amazing” male supervisor who never treated her differently, holding her to the same expectations as her male colleagues.

She said she felt like an equal, and never really thought about the fact of her being a woman in engineering.

But at 25, she made the move to Texas and worked at a Dutch company as a technical service engineer, where inside the headquarters office, aside from administrators, Meeks was the only woman in a group of about 40.

Meeks recalled seeing her male colleagues get together and take customers out to topless bars for lunch, go together to the golf course or go out drinking.

“There is a lot you started seeing, when it mattered to me, you started feeling like there was this divide,” Meeks said.

After six years working at the company, Meeks began working at Shell, once again seeing a familiar pattern of being the only woman in her group.

“I did not realize for many years how much inequality there was,” Meeks said, explaining her experiences over the years. “I had no mentor, I had nobody to look up to, I had nobody looking out for

me, it was just me. And I was just marching along doing what I did, getting pretty abused, quite frankly, along the way, but I just accepted that this is what I got into.”

Michelle Heng is a fourth-year chemical engineering major and president of Society of Women Engineers at CSULB. Not only does Heng see the fact that women are being outnumbered by men in the field, she explained that as a result, women can experience imposter syndrome.

Heng explained she would have encounters with her male classmates who did not always take her ideas as valid. Her contribution would be overlooked until another male student spoke up and said the same idea, any hesitancy suddenly disappearing.

It didn’t help that Heng’s friendliness to her male classmates is often misunderstood as potential romantic interests. It was tiresome for Heng, who said she questioned if engineering was even a safe place for her as she was faced with advances from her colleagues.

“It’s exhausting to not only just find your way as a student and to climb the totem poles of your engineering courses and how to be a leader, but then to have these outside, external nuisances of just, ‘Do I feel safe in my classroom, do I feel hurt, do I feel respected?’”

Heng said. “That can really detract from one’s ultimate goal of really mastering what they’re learning in their classes, and their goal of being a competent engineer.”

Inside the workplace, Mayra Sanchez, a fourth-year computer science major, recalled her experience as a development intern for a small start-up company that turned into a part-time position the summer before her sophomore year.

Sanchez, who didn’t realize how much computer scientists made, said her increase in wage when promoted to associate web developer showed her there was a lot of money in the field. But when she spoke to a male counterpart who also attended CSULB, he disclosed to her how much he made.

Their wages were not comparable.

Although Sanchez tried to brush it off, she said she began finishing her tasks quickly and found herself with free time. She noticed she began to gradually receive less development-related work and was instead given work in the marketing team, all composed of women at the company.

When Sanchez attended a Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in

ENGINEERING | CONTINUED ON PAGE 6

6 ARTS & LIFE

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ENGINEERING | CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5 Computing conference, invited by a friend at CSULB, she began to see the other unfair ways she was treated.

Sanchez left the company, later receiving the opportunity to work with Nike, not only happy with the work culture, but because “right off the bat,” Sanchez was interviewed by a man and a woman.

Creating Spaces for Support At CSULB, Sanchez is part of Women in Computing, a student organization promoting leadership, confidence and opportunities for growth for women, transgender and non-binary inclusive, in technology.

She’s taken on mentees in the organization to teach them about web development, something that was well received by them.

“A lot of people love hearing my story as a first generation, woman of color… [a] woman of color working for these companies and persevering in STEM,” Sanchez said. “I feel like I didn’t have that really growing up, but at CSULB I just kind of looked up to men, but seeing a woman in that position, for me, would have really empowered me to do more.”

Meanwhile, Heng leads Society of Women Engineers, a national organization promoting women to successfully have careers in engineering and leadership while highlighting the importance of diversity and showing that engineering is a positive field that contributes to the quality of life.

It’s why having organizations like Society of Women Engineers or initiatives like 100+ Women Strong are so important, which support women coming together, learning from one another and feeling supported, Heng said.

For Heng, joining the Society of Women Engineers was an inclusive space that not only focused on women, but also on people

INFOGRAPHIC BY PARIS BARRAZA

The data used is from the Society of Women Engineers. who weren’t feeling represented and giving them the opportunity to develop themselves professionally.

Heng said that the people she’s met helped build that confidence to understand where her doubts come from, but also not let them get in her way.

Ideally, Maples said that the College of Engineering would like to create a space at CSULB for women in engineering to interact with the 100+ Women Strong steering board members and other professionals, perhaps for a discussion over lunch or being able to walk in and have a chat. It’s something Benveniste said would not only serve women, but serve all students in need of resources.

And 100+ Women Strong, Maples said, is also making sure it listens to what students

have to say to learn what they might want from the initiative.

But the key in all of these spaces is mentorship opportunities, and its something the steering board members at 100+ Women Strong know.

Craig navigated her professional career without mentorship, her self-determination and drive propelling her to do well in school and find work.

But, mentorship could have had a place in her life.

“I look at what we’re doing now, 100 women strong, we’re saying connect, have a mentor, have someone you can lean on and I look back and go, ‘If I had just one ounce of that,’” Craig said. “Not that I’m not happy where I ended up, but I might have

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just done something different, or maybe it would have been easier, maybe the path would have been easier, I don’t know.

People need other people to lean on, people with experience and even your peers.”

Like Craig, Benvensite did not have a mentor, saying there was no around then that “looked like her.”

“I’m very grateful that the women today have a much more supportive environment, and given a little bit of direction, that they’ll be able to find it,” Benveniste said.

The College of Engineering has also actively supported recruiting women to work as faculty in the past 10 years, Maples said.

And currently, Benveniste points out, there are women in leadership positions within the college like Maples, like Dr. Antonella Sciortino who serves as interim associate dean for academic programs, like Dr. Saba Yohannes-Reda, director of K-12 outreach and recruitment who Benveniste has worked with through BESST. Or, the leadership of Tu Ngo and Dr. Jelena Trajkovic, who helped create MarinaHacks, CSULB’s first womencentric hackathon.

The College of Engineering also has a goal to grow the percentage of female engineers to 25% by 2025.

And should programs like 100+ Women Strong see success, someone like Heng can see her goal come true.

“I hope that in the future, you don’t need to preface by saying, ‘Oh yeah, I’m a female engineer or I’m a woman in engineering,’ because I hope that it’s not out of the norm and it’s just a widely accepted thing that people don’t even bat an eye at, that people can respect people in the field, no matter what gender they identify as,” Heng said.

Editor’s note: While Associated Press Style does not allow the usage of “Dr.” for a subject who isn’t a medical doctor, the editor is making an exemption to recognize the subjects in this story who do hold a doctorate degree.

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ARTS & LIFE 7

Brava, Brittany, Brava CSULB alumna Brittany Olivia Logan’s recent win from the Houston Grand Opera highlights how her passion for singing is taking her far.

B

By Bella Arnold Assistant Opinions Editor

rittany Olivia Logan started singing as a way to become more extroverted, but little did she know that one day, she’d be an award-winning opera singer.

Logan, 28, is a Long Beach State alumna and is a student in the artist diploma degree program at the University of Cincinnati’s College Conservatory of Music.

The opera singer is a graduate of CSULB’s Bob Cole Conservatory of Music. After her time at CSULB, Logan received her master’s degree in music at CCM. She recently won the Audience Choice Award for the Houston Grand Opera and is a semifinalist for the Metropolitan Opera’s National Council Auditions, which seeks to discover young opera performers.

These auditions attract thousands of singers from over 30 districts and three countries. Logan is one of five winners from the Connecticut District and on top of being a semifinalist.

“I was a super shy kid and my mom thought putting me in sports would help, but I would sit in the outfield playing and making flower bracelets,” Logan said.

“Then one day, my mom heard me singing in the shower. She took me to an audition for a theater company in Orange County called Orange County Children’s Theatre and there they literally turned me into a musical monster.”

Until she was 15 years old, Logan would perform in musicals at the children’s theater. When she started high school, she was an active member of Pacifica’s show choir and continued to sing.

After graduation, she planned to attend Fullerton College with the goal of becoming a marine biologist. It wasn’t until a music professor approached Logan that she would start her long journey filled with music education.

“I felt like music had my heart from the very beginning,” Logan said.

Logan, a soprano, was a member of Bob Cole’s Chamber Choir, where she got the opportunity travel to Europe twice for competitions. Being able to go abroad and study music is a “life changing experience” and influenced her decision to pursue grad school.

Yet, Logan admits that she doubted the choice to go to graduate school.

“I’m not going to lie though, I was so burnt out by the end of Cal State Long Beach just because the music department is so rigorous,” Logan said. “If people tell you being a music major is easy, it is not.”

According to Logan, she had a semester where she was enrolled in 23 units “just to stay on track.”

On top of her music classes, she had a course load filled with general education classes, voice lessons, rehearsals and finding music to build her repertoire.

But, it was “worth it.”

Her professor, Katharin Rundus, who is part of the choral, vocal and opera studies at Bob Cole, insisted that Logan should further her education, so she began to look into the application process.

“She was always very dedicated and focused on her goal of making a career as a signer,” Rundus said. “She was delightful to work with and had many successful singing opportunities as a student here, even while balancing a heavy student workload and working almost full-time. I am delighted that she has continued with success after success after graduation, and I look forward to following her continuing career.”

For music students, deciding to apply to graduate school is an expensive and involved process.

On top of application fees, Logan had to cover the cost of airfare, travel and hotels. Logan comes from a single-parent household and learned that applications were out of reach due to the expenses.

PHOTO COURTESY OF BRITTANY OLIVIA LOGAN

Brittany Olivia Logan is a soprano and currently studies opera at University of Cincinnati’s College Conservatory of Music.

However, being a part of the Chamber Choir gave her the opportunity to be showcased and she was approached by Roberta Jenkins, a Long Beach humanitarian and philanthropist, who helped cover the costs of graduate school auditions and applications.

Logan applied for seven graduate programs, but when she got into University of Cincinnati’s College Conservatory of Music, she was “mind blown.”

“I knew that was the place to be, for me,” Logan said. “Once I knew I was in, I was like, ‘Alright, we’re going,’” At CCM, Logan was quickly thrown into the full-time job that was getting a graduate degree in music. She valued the experience of being treated like a professional

and nurtured like an artist, but claims that it is “not for the faint of heart.”

When the coronavirus pandemic hit, Logan was forced to adapt to the switch from roaring crowds to live streamed performances with muted guests.

Opera performances look extremely different now, according to Logan. Performers are constantly tested for COVID-19, rehearsals are spaced 10 to 20 feet apart and even further from the pianist and Logan is forced to connect to a scene partner who is on the opposite side of the room.

“It definitely is really weird to get there and not hear the applause, finish and not hear applause and then go about your day,” Logan said. “It’s been a

learning process for everyone in the performing arts.”

However, performances being shifted to a streaming experience was a great opportunity for members of Logan’s family to watch her perform for the first time.

Last spring, Logan graduated from her master’s program at CCM in a car on Zoom.

She has continued to adapt to virtual opera performances and audition season during these times and recorded audition tapes in her living room.

“It’s so crazy to even think about,” Logan said. “It’s crazy to know that my talent was able to show through a computer screen and mic with a ring light in front of me. It feels really good to know that my hard work is paying off.”

8 OPINIONS

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Dyslexia on the brain The Daily Forty-Niner’s multimedia editor reflects on her struggle with her learning disability, dyslexia.

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By Lauren Berny Multimedia Editor

hroughout my entire educational career I’ve struggled with words.

From kindergarten to high school, I attended 12 different schools. It wasn’t for reasons most kids transfer, like parents moving to a different city for a job, but because of my learning disability: dyslexia.

According to Mayo Clinic, dyslexia “is a learning disorder that involves difficulty reading due to problems identifying speech sounds and learning how they relate to letters and words.”

For me, dyslexia causes my brain to mix, blur or even add letters to a word. This makes reading and writing

extremely difficult for me, and I didn’t end up learning how to read or write until I was in fourth grade.

When my learning disorder was coupled with an inadequate American school system, it caused me to struggle — and I still do. Most of my teachers turned a blind eye as I fell far behind many of my fellow classmates.

Most of my memories of my youth weren’t very happy. They feel just as blurry as when I try to remember the correct spelling for trama, excuse me, trauma.

Some of my worst memories weren’t from students, but from the teachers. I can still see the look of disappointment and dread on their face when I didn’t understand something.

“Stupid” has always been a trigger word for me.

“What a stupid question!”

I remember my third-grade teacher yelled in my face when she stopped the entire class after I asked her a question on a math assignment.

Or the day my elementary school teacher told my mother that the best thing they could do was discipline me because she didn’t think I would make

it past my first year of high school.

There are many moments like these that I experienced in my elementary-school career that still haunt me to this day.

According to the Americans with Disabilities Act, as many as 80% of those with a learning disability have dyslexia. Though dyslexia is a common learning disability, I was met throughout my educational career with teachers unable to deal with it.

But despite unsupportive teachers, I continued my education.

The odds of students with learning disabilities dropping out of college is 86%, according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information.

Now, I’m a senior at Long Beach State where I work as the multimedia editor for the Daily Forty-Niner. Despite discouragement from previous teachers, I’ve accomplished unforeseen success in my educational career. Finally, I’ve made it to the point where my bachelor’s degree is in sight.

But it took a lot for me to get here.

From high school through

my second year at community college, I was afraid to ask questions. This was something I brought up to my therapist three years ago when I was working on finding my college and major.

When I would think of a question or clarification on something in the lecture, my hand would begin to raise, but then I stopped myself. Images of my professor screaming in my face “what a stupid question” flashed in my mind just as my elementary school teacher did. Before it got past the point where my professor could see I was raising my hand, I’d pretend I was putting hair behind my ear or adjusting my glasses or stretching in my seat.

Therapy helped get me overcomes this self-inflicted anxiety I would face every time I had a question in class. But something else that helped me get over my fear of asking questions was my intro to journalism class.

In journalism, asking questions is what you need to do in order to understand someone or something for a story. Once you understand something within a story, you have to explain it to the

readers. Since being afraid of asking questions was not an option, it helped me get out of my comfort zone and learn the art of asking questions.

Shortly after starting journalism, I quickly became the photo editor for my community college’s paper, SAC Media.

After many articles and hard work, I transferred from my beloved paper to work for the Daily Forty-Niner.

But I’m still facing a problem now, even as a multimedia editor; I’m still not confident with writing.

“But aren’t you a journalist? Shouldn’t you be good with writing?” Yes, I should be better than I am, but I’ve been working on it. The article you are currently reading is me working on it and improving.

Even if this makes me nervous to write, even though I am still haunted by the memories of my childhood, I’ve somehow managed to make it here. I am here.

I didn’t get here because someone held my hand, or because someone had pity on me. I got here with hard work.

Not only because I wanted to prove to those teachers I was able to do it, but because I wanted to prove it to myself.

OPINIONS 9

MONDAY, APRIL 5, 2021 | DAILY49ER.COM | @DAILY49ER | OPINIONS@DAILY49ER.COM

We will no longer be silent

By Rachel Oh Contributor

W

h en I am in pain, I write. And this pain is indescribable, so I’m going to write.

I am the daughter of Korean immigrants. My mom and her family immigrated from South Korea when she was in elementary school, and my dad and his family immigrated from South Korea when he was in middle school. I know bits and pieces of their stories from their early dates in the states. I only know a little bit because it was so painful for them to talk about.

I remember my uncle saying at my grandfather’s funeral that they came here with the equivalent of $20. My mom and her siblings loved going to school because when they got home, they had to go straight to their parents’ shop to work until late hours of the night.

Money was always a struggle and they had a number of businesses close down. In college, my mom’s friends would take food from the dining hall for her because she couldn’t afford a meal plan. In dental school, my mom’s cabinets were absolutely devoid of food.

Funny enough, my parents’ families both ended up in Baltimore, Maryland, though the two of them did not meet until dental school. Despite their circumstances, my parents both pushed and persevered to learn English, go to college and dental school and open up their own dental practices.

I acknowledge the hand of the model minority myth in their successes. I understand that there are systemic barriers that they were able to bypass due to their identities as Asian Americans. Our stories as Asian Americans are the almost stories.

You’re basically white, just not quite. As long as you’re quiet and complicit, we’ll almost value you the same.

The danger in this is that it teaches Asian Americans to be quiet, to pretend that we don’t experience injustice. If we search deep in our souls, most of us will find that we’re desperately holding onto the belief that we’re almost white, that we can be just like white people if we ignore the aspects that make us different.

If we pretend that we don’t experience racism. If we pretend that we’ve never been hurt by the things white people have done to

“

Rachel Oh and her family at Oh’s college graduation from UCLA.

us, have said to us. If we conform to the way that white people act, talk and go about life, then maybe they’ll finally accept us. If we assimilate and act how white people want us to, suppress our culture to take on theirs, lose our identities to become who they want us to be.

My parents surely experienced mental health challenges growing up, but they did not have the time to address them and to seek help. When I was diagnosed with anxiety and depression in high school, my parents did not know how to help me, because in their minds, “We didn’t have time to be anxious or depressed. We just got over it.”

I was so frustrated with them for so long, but I understand it now. This mindset of working hard, persevering through any challenges in our paths and pretending like nothing bothers us, is what makes Asian Americans the perfect employee— but never the ideal boss. The obedient follower, but never the strong leader. And it makes experiencing racism that much more excruciating, because we have been conditioned to pretend it doesn’t happen to us.

I hardly talk about my experiences with racism. When these things happen to me, I burn with shame but then put on a smile, laugh it off. I have become so good at pretending that I am perfectly fine and that nothing

affects me, that sometimes I don’t even know how I am truly feeling.

To put it bluntly, I have resented and been ashamed of my identity as an Asian American so deeply that I have grown to hate myself.

In middle school, my mostly white classmates started a trend of posting pictures of themselves with their eyes closed, holding up peace signs, captioning these pictures “The Asian Pose.” They probably don’t remember this, but I do.

Two of my middle school classmates went to get their nails done together over the weekend.

They posted about it on Facebook. One of them grieved publicly about how her nail technician had accidentally cut into her skin when trimming her cuticles.

The other replied, “Damn Asians, so aggressive.” They probably don’t remember this, but I do.

I went on a skiing trip with my family when I was probably around 10 years old and my siblings and I decided to ride the mountain coaster. While going up the first hill, I turned around to wave to my sister, who was in the sled behind me. Three older, teenage guys were on the ski lift above us.

They noticed me waving at my sister, and started yelling to me, “Hey, cutie in the purple!”

I was afraid and didn’t want to engage with them, so I pretended like I didn’t hear them. They started laughing and exclaimed,

“She no speaky English!” English is my first language, so why do people think otherwise just because of the way I look?

In college, one of my closest friends at the time told me that she had a “token Asian” friend from home and that I was now her “token Asian” friend at school. “I’m worried I’m not going to remember what you look like once I go home and see my other Asian friend from home!”

The pain of hearing how insignificant I am, from one of my best friends, stung badly.

At my college graduation, I wanted my full name to be read aloud when I walked across the stage. I was beginning to embrace my full identity as a Korean American, and I was proud of my middle name, Jungeun, which means “love and grace.” I also wanted to honor my grandmother, who had given me that name but had passed away when I was 6 years old.

I clearly wrote the pronunciation on the card: Jung-un.

The girl reading the names aloud paused after saying “Rachel,” and then stumbled quickly through Jungeun. I was embarrassed.

When I started teaching, my kids had had little to no experience interacting with Asian people prior to me. I taught sixth grade and my friend, who is Chinese, taught fifth grade. Our students would always ask us if we were twins, because we “look

Photo courtesy of Rachel Oh

exactly alike.” I do not blame or resent my students for this, but I place the entirety of that blame on the white supremacist practices of segregation and gentrification that did not allow my students to have exposure to Asian people.

After one and a half years of teaching and working closely together, my fellow sixth grade teacher called our fifth grade teacher coworker by my name in the hallway. I felt like less of a human, my face must not be important.

These are my unique experiences, along with the “Where are you from? No, where are you really from?” and “How long have you been in the United States?”, experiences that many Asian Americans are all too familiar with. I hope that by sharing my stories and my family’s stories, that other Asian Americans will feel encouraged to share theirs.

To my fellow Asian Americans: Your experiences are valuable and deserve to be heard. You don’t have to pretend that you are okay all the time—it’s okay not to be okay.

As we grieve the unbearable losses of March 16, I hope that we can stand together in solidarity, stop tolerating ignorance, bigotry, xenophobia and racism, value our lives as precious, and continue to advocate for all marginalized communities and communities of color.

I have become so good at pretending that I am perfectly fine and that nothing affects me, that sometimes I don’t even know how I am truly feeling.

”

10 SPORTS

MONDAY, APRIL 5, 2021 | DAILY49ER.COM | @DAILY49ER | SPORTS@DAILY49ER.COM

College athletes, including those at Long Beach State, will have the opportunity to be payed for the image, name and likeness come 2023.

Beach Athletics A supports ‘Fair Pay to Play Act’

By Iman Palm Assistant News Editor

Starting in 2023, student athletes will have the option to get paid for their name, image and likeness.

fter decades of debate among scholars and athletes, a new state law will take effect on Jan. 1, 2023, which will allow college athletes to financially benefit from their name, image and likeness.

Senate Bill 206 has become more commonly known as the “Fair Pay to Play Act.” The new law will allow collegiate level student athletes to make an outside income by monetizing “their social media followings, provide paid coaching, enter endorsement and advertising deals and hire agents,” according to the Regulatory Review.

Previously, athletes were penalized for pursuing outside sources of income.

Although football is the college sport that brings in the most income at $31.9 million a year according to Business Insider, Long Beach student athletes still have a chance to benefit from the law namely through the basketball and baseball programs.

“I feel like the time is here for us to change as the NCAA in this business, so to speak, of college athletics, to give athletes some freedom to make income off of their name, image and likeness,” athletics director Andy Fee said. “I’m supportive of the concept.”

The law, however, still doesn’t require universities to pay their athletes beyond scholarships, so the burden falls onto the students to find their own agents and endorsements.

Currently, the National Collegiate Athletic Association has a rule stating that student athletes can’t make an outside income beyond scholarships that are given to them by their respective universities.

California was the first state to

Photo courtesy of LBSU Athletics

pass a law that directly opposes the NCAA’s current rules on student athletes being paid from third parties.

Other states, like Florida and New York, have come up with similar bills to benefit student athletes.

Long Beach State baseball player Connor Kokx said he thinks athletes should have more of a say in deciding if they want to make money off their N.I.L. “I know it goes against the amateurism and everything like that, but giving [athletes] a choice to make money off of their name, image, likeness should be something that is definitely encouraged,” Kokx said.

Some critics of the law have claimed that this move will take the focus away from the academic side of being a student athlete. The NCAA has stated a concern that some universities will benefit from the law more than others, due to national exposure.

Attorney and CSULB faculty member Jeremey Evans said he still supports the bill regardless of what the critics may say.

“One of the things of why I like N.I.L, particularly the California model, is that it says let’s keep intact the education system and let’s keep intact not having employees as students and things like that, but let’s have the students go out and do their own thing,” Evans said. “Let them make extra money if they want, and that could be significant for some people depending on their following and whatnot.”

Even though the department supports the bill, some have concerns about how it will be implemented within Beach Athletics, including Fee. “I just want to make sure we do it the right way, meaning we do protect student athletes,” Fee said. “Not everyone out there is looking out for other people’s best interest. I would hate for there to be agents taking advantage of student athletes.”

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SPORTS 13

Photo courtesy of LBSU ATHLETICS

After announcing the player-led decision to opt out of the 2021 season, the women’s tennis team is spending its days preparing for next year.

Women’s tennis uses year off to prepare for 2022 competition A near-unanimous decision from players to opt out of the 2021 season comes from concerns over shortened season, practice time and COVID-19.

By Samantha Diaz Sports Editor

A

s spring s p o r t s at Long Beach State commence, there is one team missing out on the swings, serves and matches of the 2021 season: women’s tennis.

The women’s tennis team announced in February that it has chosen to opt out of the 2021 competition after the players came to a 7-1 decision. Although the vote was nearly unanimous, it followed weeks of both individual and group discussions between the team and coaches.

“We got back in early January expecting to practice, then we couldn’t practice until weeks later,

so our season kept shrinking and shrinking,” said head coach Jenny Hilt-Costello. “The conversation first came up in January.”

The tennis team is the only program in Long Beach State Athletics that has chosen to opt out, as well as the only tennis team in the Big West Conference.

According to Hilt-Costello, a shorter season with much less time to practice was the main factor for players in coming to this decision. The team usually begins practice in the fall, so they were months behind schedule and facing a six-week season.

“When COVID-19 started, we had to stop for six months with no practice. I had the chance to go back home and practice at home, but for other girls COVID was still increasing at home and they couldn’t practice,” said junior player Zara Lennon. “When we came back, we felt like we had to practice more and get in shape.

Everyone felt like we still needed more work to compete for Big West.”

The team is well aware of what it takes to compete in the Big West, since they were the last program to claim the title of Big West Champions in 2019. In the shortened 2020 season, they had a conference record of 3-1.

Rather than feeling the need to rush back into competition to defend their title, the players felt a sense of relief knowing their spots on the team would be secure while they took the extra time to practice and get in shape. There are also three freshmen on the team who they feel would not be prepared for such a short season and practice time.

“It was difficult, it doesn’t feel good to step away, but they feel that they’re gaining more by doing this,” Hilt-Costello said. “What they’re gaining by stepping away is more than if they played. I truly believe they made the decision in their best interest, and I’m here to support them.”

The two seniors on the team are both planning to head east to pursue a master’s degree and

continue playing tennis, HiltCostello said, which means neither player will be losing their last collegiate season.

“Had we had one or two seniors losing their last season, the decision would have been more difficult,” Hilt-Costello said.

Concerns over COVID-19 protocols were also a large part of the discussion. While the tennis team has had no players, coaches or staff members test positive for the coronavirus, players felt hesitant to travel to other schools and interact with those outside their bubble to enter competition.

“We have a certain way of doing things here that we feel is safe,” Hilt-Costello said. “They can see what’s going on at other schools and what other schools are doing, and that made them feel differently.”

As COVID-19 vaccinations are becoming more widely available, players have expressed uncertainty regarding whether their decision to receive the vaccine would affect their

eligibility to play.

Athletic director Andy Fee said in February that vaccinations will be optional for members of the department but mandatory for those wishing to participate in inperson activity, and the NCAA said that student athletes could optout of the 2020-21 competition with no effect on their eligibility.

Ultimately, however, the decision to opt out seemed safer for everyone, Hilt-Costello said.

Now that practice for spring sports has been approved, the tennis team is making up for lost time and preparing for the 2022 competition year.

“We all feel confident about going back to compete next semester,” Lennon said. “We feel really confident and back in shape.

We are practicing everyday, and the team is working really hard.

There’s still a lot to do because we haven’t competed in a long time, but everybody is starting to get their confidence back.”

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