THE EYE THE STORM OF
Now playing, “Frantic/Tempest” is the latest theater show produced at Long Beach State. The show is a modern and interpretive take on a classic.
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ON THE COVER
Photo credit: DELFINO CAMACHO / Long Beach Current
Christina Du Chene as Prospero addresses the audience at the end of Shakespeare adaptation “Frantic/Tempest” on Feb. 11. The show was produced in collaboration with CSULB, Cal Rep and Frantic Assembly.
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Basic Needs pops up around campus to promote student resources
BY MAYRA SALAZAR News Assistant
TJob navigation
Financial literacy
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he Basic Needs Program held a popup on Feb. 12 to inform students about resources the program provides. It was moved to inside of the USU near the exit of the Beach Pantry instead of The Outpost Grill Lawn due to ongoing rain.
The pop-up included free servings of kale chips snacks, hygiene kits (given with the completion of a nutrition survey), food trivia for free samples, stickers, pamphlets and bookmarks with information about CalFresh.
Erin Boyd, a CalFresh healthy living trainer, said that during the Basic Needs pop-up event on Feb. 5, meal kits were distributed with the help of CalFresh Healthy Living. The goal for the Feb. 12 pop-up was to give out at least 30 hygiene kits. The program ended up doing just that as they neared the end of the time of the pop-up.
“We give bookmarks [with information about CalFresh] and if they’d like to make an appointment for a pre-screen they can, cause we know that a lot of students are on the go,” Gissel Rubio, a CalFresh assistant, said.
The purpose of the Basic Needs pop-ups are to make students aware of the numerous resources the Basic Needs program provides, such as:
• Emergency grants for students going through a crisis of unforeseen situations like a car crash or medical expenses they can’t pay for
“The case workers actually help you find an apartment; they give vouchers for students to stay at hotels if you’re homeless or getting evicted,” Rubio said.
Some students at the pop-up were surprised by all of the resources the program can offer.
Rubio said the program wants to help students strive in academics, achieve better in school and give them motivation that someone is there for them.
The programs team also wants to make sure students know that they are not alone in their situations, and the program provides resources to help out.
“It’s okay to ask for help and to not be okay,” Rubio said, in hopes to get more students to come by the Basic Needs pop-up and take advantage of the resources and people willing to help.
“It’s okay not to be OK,” Abby Carmona, CalFresh assistant, said.
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• Housing resources
land acknowlEdgmEnt
The next Basic Needs pop-up is set for Feb. 19 at The Office of Belonging and Inclusion Patio from noon to 2 p.m.
Here at the Long Beach Current we acknowledge that the school we report on is located on the sacred site of Puvungna, “the gathering place”. We are on the land of the Tongva/ Gabrieleño and the Acjachemen/Juaneño Nations who have lived and continue to live here.
We also acknowledge the Gabrieleño/Tongva (pronounced: GABRIEL-EN-YO/TONG – VAH) and Acjachamen/Juaneño (pronounced: AH-HACH-AH-MEN/JUAN-EN-YO) as the traditional custodians of the Los Angeles region along with the Chumash (pronounced: CHOO-MOSH) to the north and west, and the Tataviam (pronounced: TAH-TAH-VEE-YUM) and Cahuilla (pronounced: KAH-WEE-YAH) Nations to the east.
We respect and value the many ways the Tongva/Acjachemen cultural heritage and beliefs continue to have significance to the living people and remind us about the sacred and spiritual relationship that has always existed here at what we now call California State University Long Beach.
Editorials: All opinions expressed in the columns, letters and cartoons in the issue are those of the writers or artists. The opinons of the Long Beach Current are expressed only in unsigned editorials and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the journalism department or the views of all staff members. All such editorials are written by the editorial board of the Long Beach Current.
Monday, February 17, 2025
lEttEr Policy: All letters and emails must bear the phone number of the writer and must be no more than 300 words. The Long Beach Current reserves the right to edit letters for publication in regard to space.
a one-time $30,000 allocation of ASI funds for clubs and events on campus during the Feb. 4 Budget and Finance com-
ASI allocates additional funding to student organizations
BY CHRISTOPHER CANCHE CHAN News Assistant
Funding for student organization travel and grant application hearings was a topic at the Associated Students Inc. financial meeting at Long Beach State on Tuesday, Feb. 11.
The ASI meeting focused on allocating funds to provide assistance, cover travel costs for conferences, competitions and other events focused on the CSULB community.
Following discussions from the Feb. 4 meeting on how to allocate additional funds, the board agreed to allocate $10,000 to the student travel fund, leav -
ing $20,000 for Spring 2025 periodic programs, which will increase allocation awards from 50% to 75%, according to the ASI agenda.
Andre Achacon, ASI vice president of finance, said that the admission of additional students for the school year caused the budget to increase, as more students contributed to the student fees collected.
“Bottom line, enrollment was so much higher this year, and that means that as ASI we charge the student fee every semester,” Achacon said. “So we took a look at our budget and tried to figure out if there were additional funds to allocate as a one-time financial grant to support students and organizations through our existing grant programs.”
The additional student fees, as Ach-
acon pointed out, give ASI the ability to further support student organizations by providing more resources for initiatives.
However, as Achacon explained, the funding process can be unpredictable since the number of applicants isn’t known until the middle of the year.
“The reason why we voted to allocate to an unrestricted fund is because we approve grants on a rolling basis, so we never really know how many students will apply for grants each year until the middle of the year,” Achacon said. “So, this unrestricted additional funding will be used once we exhaust our funds.”
Chief Financial Officer Andrew Kerr said allocating the additional revenue Achacon mentioned was an easy decision for ASI and all those involved because it supported the goal of enhancing the col-
lege experience for students.
“Just thinking back to my time as a student, any opportunities to do things outside of just the normal day-to-day— like just showing up to class—enhances the college experience,” Kerr said.
“The more opportunities we can provide through ASI that add to students’ education is really exciting.”
Kerr’s focus on creating more opportunities for students showed in the grant hearings, where student organizations requested funding for travel.
These funds, as noted by biochemistry student Italy Escobar play a role in building connections for students.
“It’s nice because it’s for the community, and that’s always important to have,” Escobar said. “If they have funding, I really like what they do for people.”
Photo credit: SAMUEL CHACKO/Long Beach Current
Vice President of Finance Andre Achacon discusses
mittee meeting.
Students clash with anti-abortion activists, prompting UPD response
BY BRANDON RODRIGUEZ Contributor
Anti-abortion activists and students clashed between the Bookstore and Psychology Building on Monday, prompting a response from the University Police Department.
An anti-abortion group by the name “Survivors” displayed photos of dismembered fetuses and abortion statistics along the Bookstore pathway, grabbing the attention of students walking past. Activists also handed out pamphlets alleging the organs of aborted fetuses
were being harvested.
One of the activists, identifying themselves as a “Survivor” and declining to use their real name, said the group had a mix of responses ranging from peaceful conversations to outright confrontation.
“We have some people that come up to us and quietly whisper, ‘Thank you for being here.’ We don’t get enough prolife views on campus and then we also have those who get triggered,” the Survivor said.
Victoria Adint, a political science student, stopped to have a conversation with activists, which led to two more students joining in. After a verbal argument broke out, Adint and the other students
walked away distraught.
“It’s not human, it’s not from a place of empathy, it’s from a place of hate and it’s really sad to see,” Adint said. “She was yelling at me, she was like ‘Are you going to punch me? Are you going to punch me?’ And I was like ‘No I’m not going to punch you, I’m just talking to you because I don’t think that what you’re arguing for is right.’”
As the tension grew with more students engaging, animation major Moth Leal pushed the group’s signs down, which sparked a larger confrontation. Shortly after, UPD arrived on the scene, breaking up the altercation.
When asked about the incident, UPD said they were unable to comment.
“If we want to use their logic. Did those babies consent to having their pictures spread around like this,” Leal said. “Since they have all of the same rights as another human being, did they consent to having their bodies being posted?”
Nate Hargus, a Survivor activist, said the group used signs containing graphic imagery with dismembered fetuses to gain the attention of onlookers and spark conversation about abortion.
“What we believe is that you can’t be pro-choice if you don’t know what that choice looks like,” Hargus said. “Hence, victim imagery. So it goes back to a long line of history that proves victim imagery is something that people will never be able to unsee. ”
Photo credit: BRANDON RODRIGUEZ / Long Beach Current
An anti-abortion activist hands out pamphlets near the bookstore on Feb. 10. The activists, known as the “Survivors,” put up anti-abortion signs seeking to raise awareness to the issue.
Students respond to anti-abortion displays offering support, resources
BY ETHAN COHEN
News Assistant
As rain steadily fell over campus, a small group of Long Beach State students gathered on Wednesday, Feb. 12, pushing back against rhetoric and graphic displays from anti-abortion activists who had appeared earlier this week, sparking debate and confrontation.
Responding to the outcry, the handful of students lined the pathway between the Bookstore and Psychology Building holding signs, offering support and handing out information about Planned Parenthood’s resources.
The “Survivors,” an anti-abortion group, stirred controversy on campus by exhibiting signs and pamphlets featuring images of aborted fetuses on Monday and Tuesday. Their presence sparked outrage among passing students, leading to heated debates, verbal confrontations and intervention by campus police.
One of the counter-protestors, Kiara Rivera, 22, was standing adorned with her umbrella and Planned Parenthood informational pamphlets in hand.
“We’re out here today to kind of change the vibe that [the anti-abortion activists] gave yesterday,” Rivera said. “Now we just have a sign for self-care, giving out hugs, high fives, fist bumps and also just fact-checking some of the claims they were giving out.”
Rivera, a child-development and family studies major, highlighted how it was first a Reddit post and then a Discord group that organized students to come out, despite the rain.
Another student, Alex—who chose to share only his first name due to possible social repercussions—stood amid the clash of students and anti-abortion activists on Tuesday, observing the debate unfold.
The 22-year-old English major said a member of the anti-abortion group likened the images of aborted fetuses to
counter-protesting the
Feb. 12, between the bookstore and Psychology
the open-casket funeral of Emmett Till during the Civil Rights Movement and drew comparisons between abortion and the Holocaust.
“I felt that was pretty abhorrent and I was opposed to that,” Alex said. “Someone set up a Discord to try and organize a counter-protest…but I think because of the rain and the [anti-abortion] group not showing up today, there aren’t as many people as we thought there would be.”
Long Beach State students have access to a range of reproductive health assistance options through Student Health Services, including free annual exams, birth control options and medication abortion services for pregnancies up to 10 weeks.
The clinic offers options such as the pill, implant, IUC and shot and provides confidential, low-cost medication abortion services with financial assistance available.
For more information or to make an appointment, students can contact wellness@csulb.edu or call (562) 985-4771.
We’re out here today to kind of change the vibe that [the antiabortion activists] gave yesterday. ”
Kiara Rivera Counter-protester
Photo Credit: ETHAN COHEN / Long Beach Current Students
presence of anti-abortion activists in previous days gave out hugs, high fives and fist bumps on
Building.
Faculty leads immigration defense workshop amid increasing ICE raids
BY EMILY URIAS Contributor
As immigration enforcement continues to intensify under the Trump administration, faculty and advocates at Long Beach State sought to help educate students and staff on their legal rights.
The California Faculty Association of Long Beach collaborated with the Latinx Faculty and Staff Association to host a workshop on immigration defense at the University Student Union on Monday, Feb. 10.
Shiu-Ming Cheer, the Deputy Director of Immigrant & Racial Justice at the California Immigrant Policy Center, said that the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has long practiced not conducting raids at ‘sensitive locations,’ which include schools, places of worship, health centers and educational institutions; however, the Trump administration reversed that policy.
“Because we’re now living in a time when a lot of things are unprecedented, and we can’t really predict what happened,” Cheer said. “But there’s been almost no instances of ICE seeking to enter schools. That’s why it’s important that we know our rights.”
ICE has the authority to enter public spaces such as streets, parks, courthouses, and government buildings to make arrests. However, they cannot make arrests or conduct raids if the space is private.
Cheer said a solution to keeping places private is to put up signs on doors to indicate that the area is private, such as designating a library room as a student-only reading area.
ICE requires a valid warrant to enter private spaces, whereas in public spaces, they don’t need a warrant to speak to a person and arrest them.
“Everyone who lives in the U.S. has legal rights regardless of immigration status,” Cheer said.
If ICE does show up, Cheer said students and staff need to be aware of the following rights:
You may ask an officer if you are being arrested, but you have the right to remain silent.
Anything you say can be used in court against you.
You have a right to an attorney. Do not sign any documents.
The California Faculty Association
with the Latinx Faculty and Staff Association
Cheer said it is highly encouraged that faculty and campus police be notified if ICE is seen on the CSULB campus.
Teresa Puente, an associate professor at CSULB, encouraged students and staff to record videos and take photos to document everything if they come on campus.
Norma Salcedo, the Director of Dream Success Center, said that the center provides free legal immigration services for students and their families.
She said it is highly advised to create an emergency plan if someone they know or they themselves are not citizens.
This plan can include having a list of phone numbers to call, a lawyer’s name and number and important documents stored in a safe place at home.
Alicia Del Campo, a Spanish professor at CSULB, said safety is the main reason such workshops are crucial for the university community.
“We need to create a network of well-informed faculty and staff, so then we can adequately help protect students. Staff and students may be at risk from the current administration,” Campo said.
Graphics by El Nicklin / Long Beach Current
is a union consisting of over 29,000 CSU faculty. The CFA collaborated on this workshop
to educate CSULB people about defense against ICE to educate.
CSULB’s Debate Club ‘Beach Forensics’ continues its storied history
BY DIEGO RENTERIA Arts & Life Assistant
Individuals who are riveted by discourse, pragmatically persuasive or competitively captivated in debate may find solace at Long Beach State’s own competitive speech and debate team, Beach Forensics.
The team’s namesake, Forensics, is rooted in the Latin word “ennis,” which means “forum.” In Ancient Greece, forums were competitive debates between peers.
Originally founded in 1953, Beach Forensics has developed long standing accolades from local tournaments like the 2o25 Crossman Invitational at El Camino College, to ones across the nation like the International Forensics Association in Dublin, Ireland.
At these competitions, the team participates in 11 different events such as persuasive speech, dramatic interpretation or parliamentary and policy debate.
According to the club, there are no prerequisites or requirements for anybody to join.
They encourage all students who are interested in public discourse or advocation of ideas and subjects they feel most passionate about, regardless of major or debate experience, to join.
First-year communication studies major Guadalupe Guzman said she has been in the speech and debate world for more than 10 years. She joined Beach Forensics, she said, to continue her passion of advocation.
“It really helped me advocate for things that I am really passionate about,”
Guzman said. “Now at the university level, I advocate for myself, and people like me who don’t have a voice.”
Through the club, Guzman said she’s found other individuals that have went through similar experiences she has.
“In a competition last fall semester, I had some people come up to me and thank me for a speech I did and telling me that they were glad that I share my experience, because they had been through the same thing or similar,” Guzman said.
Over the past few years, Beach Forensics have continued to add to their storied history.
In March 2024, one of their members Cydney Izabal took home an international title from the International Forensics Association in Dublin, Ireland in the
prose interpretation discipline.
In January of this year, debate partners third-year Africana studies major Curtis Ortega and first-year Chicano studies major Daniel Medina won the Rutgers’s Brick City Round Robin competition in policy debate.
Winning this championship, Ortega said, puts them in position to contend for the National Debate Title.
“It feels amazing,” Ortega said. “My partner and I were extremely excited to get to travel to New Jersey to win the championship. This is our first year debating together. The beginning of the year was a little rocky, but winning the championship shows that we have what it takes to win.”
Ortega and Medina spend a considerable amount of time in their preparation
for their debates.
Like other members of Beach Forensics, the two said they use their time after and outside of meetings to prepare and communicate their strategy for their upcoming debate competitions.
“It took a long time to prepare for our last competition,” Ortega said. “Generally, [in] ‘Round Robin Tournaments,’ you typically know who you are competing against and what you will be debating about. So, you have to do an immense amount of preparation per round.”
Long Beach State’s Beach Forensics team poses after a win at the Ground Hog Day Invitational Tournament at Grossmont College on Feb. 1. Each member of Beach Forensics specializes in different types of speech or debate, while also being well-informed in a large array of topics.
Photo Courtesy of Beach Forensics
Yet, looking past the quest for titles and their successes, Beach Forensics said they pride themselves on the fact they are a family.
Their club page on the CSULB website cites one of their core mantras as, “’F.O.E.,’ Family Over Everything.”
“We understand each other. We go through similar things,” Guzman said. “The majority of the team are minorities so we understand each other, and we are there to be each other’s support system.”
The Beach Forensics Team holds their meetings every Tuesday and Thursday in PSYCH-202.
Photo Courtesy: Beach Forensics
Long Beach State’s Beach Forensics team poses after winning at the Ground Hog Invitational Tournament, held from Feb. 1 - 2 at Grossmont College.
Love at The Beach
BY NI BALINESS Contributor
From “friends to lovers” to “love at first sight,” many couples on cam pus have tropes that best represent their love.
Each trope signifies something special to each couple. For couples across the Long Beach State campus, their words of admiration for their partners never fell short.
Third-year art major, Reggina Escalante, and third-year geography major, Alex Pierce, said they met each other through a mutual friend.
“My co-worker was like ‘Oh let’s go study at the library, is it OK if I bring one of my friends along,’” Pierce said. “That was the first time we met in person, but I thought she was too cool so I didn’t talk to her or look at her or say anything.”
A couple of months later, Pierce decided to message her.
It was on Valentine’s Day when the two went on their first date, now celebrating their second anniversary of that day.
Through laughter and smiles, Escalante shared
classic, other couples have different stories.
In the case of third-year journalism major Carly Brenner and fourth-year sociology major Devin Fontanez, the two recounted the peculiar way they
Since then, Brenner and Fontanez have been dating for about a year and a half.
While the two do not always bump into each
other on campus jors, they said it does preciation for one another.
“I like how creative Brenner said. “He’s new things, new perspectives, and it’s been really cool.” Although their to-lovers ending, both
“For me, it was like [I] met him again coincidentally,”
“I’m going with
The smiles, laughter not stop with the students 40-year-old faculty Gajewski and her husband, jewski both work on Heather works as University Library, and Their story began of recalling books, in
ARTS & LIFE
From far left: Adam Gajewski and Heather Steele Gajewski share how long they’ve been together on Feb. 10. Their first date was in April 2019, and by December they got engaged. However, due to COVID, they waited until 2022 to officially tie the knot. Long Beach State campus couple Reggina Escalante (left) and Alex Pierce pose at upper campus on Feb. 10. , Carly Brenner (below left) and Devin Fontanez explain that it feels nice to have the option to see each other on campus, even if it’s just to say hi.
“I’m a very slow reader and [a book] kept getting recalled by Heather and I was like ‘Who is this Heather’,” Adam said. “She keeps recalling the book and I’m trying to read it.”
Heather and Adam laugh about it now, but it was that book, “Discovery of Witches,” that made them aware of each other.
As a married, working couple, having each other on the job is a great opportunity to see each other.
“We don’t work in the same office but we do work in the same building so it’s kind of nice,” Heather said.
Heather said she admires Adam’s sense of humor and positivity, and Adam praises Heather’s confidence and the way she carries herself.
At a steady growth, their love story developed from a “meet-cute” moment.
“Very much a ‘meet-cute’ of bumping into each other and fighting over the same book in the library,” Steele Gajewski said.
because of their different madoes not take away from their apanother. creative and open-minded he is,” been able to show me a lot of perspectives, new experiences cool.” story seemed like a friendsboth were unsure of what trope like a random stranger and then coincidentally,” Brenner said. strangers-to-lovers,” Fontanez laughter and shared fondness does students of Long Beach State. faculty member Heather Steele husband, 39-year-old Adam Gathe CSULB campus. as an archivist librarian at the and Adam works at Circulation. began due to an old library system in which a person’s borrowing period is shortened so another person can borrow the book.
Photos by NI BALINESS
Photo credit: DELFINO CAMACHO/Long Beach Current
Prospero, as portrayed by Christina Du Chene, magically conjures a Tempest or storm to bring Antonio, his brother who betrayed him and stole his life years ago to him in hopes of getting revenge during the Feb. 11 dress rehearsal of “Frantic/Tempest.” From left to right the other actors on stage are; Aryan Chhabra as Trinculo, Chloe Strolia as Ferdinand, Annabelle Kerns as Gonzalo, Bobby Brannon as Antonia (to the right of Du Chene), Himika Kaku as Sebastian, Christian Blandin as Alonso, and in the foreground holding a light is Esmeralda Ruiz as Caliban.
Magic, motion hit University Theater with Cal Rep’s ‘stormy’ season opener
BY DELFINO CAMACHO Arts & Life Assistant
Tempest [Tem-pest]: Noun: 1: a violent storm. 2: tumult, uproar.
It begins with a storm.
But in “Frantic/Tempest,” a William Shakespeare adaptation, the storm is a sea of bodies.
Produced by Long Beach State’s California Repertory Company and directed by Theater Department Chair Ezra LeBank, the adaptation updates the setting to modern times while retaining the original language.
LeBank adapts certain scenes into “highly physical” dances and movements, condensing the epic into a tight 70 minutes.
“The show begins with a shipwreck, and what a fun opportunity to make something really broad and physical and to tell that story with our bodies,” LeBank said. “I love telling stories with bodies, and the more elemental it is like a storm, a shipwreck, a moment of magic … all those give very easily to movement, ideas you can express clearly without words.”
A “comedy” in the classical sense, “The Tempest” is Shakespeare’s final solo-written play. It is essentially a revenge plot - one that also involves humor, magic and love.
“It’s a story about an exiled Duke,” student actor Chloe Strolia, who plays Ferdinand, said. “He is exiled to this island with his daughter where he learns how to conjure magic, and he casts a Tempest, a storm to bring the people
that wronged him to this island in an attempt to kind of reclaim what’s rightfully his.”
Portrayed by Christina Du Chene, the Duke uses the magic of two servant spirits to get revenge on the brother who betrayed him and usurped his role.
“That’s Prospero,” LeBank said. “So the story is what does he do when he has the opportunity for revenge, and how do they all deal with the various complications of that moment?”
Typically set on a remote island, the play’s setting is updated to an isolated, cavernous warehouse in contemporary Los Angeles.
Instead of a storm-caused shipwreck, the version portrays a post-climatechange LA ravaged by violent storms, leading Prospero’s targets to take refuge in the warehouse where the Duke lives.
The physical aspect is another storyline addition, although one that LeBank received help developing through the U.K.-based theatre company Frantic Assembly.
Strolia first worked with Frantic Assembly when LeBank invited her to be an assistant director for “Frantic Long Beach,” a show the company created on
campus last semester.
This year, Frantic Assembly helped train the cast for two weeks.
“As an actor, I often have a really hard time getting into my body; I often feel when I’m standing on stage that I look like I’m just standing reciting lines,” Strolia said. “So working with the Frantic practitioners... [they] really helped me find a physicality to the character that felt truthful.”
Given the emphasis on movement, metaphor and lighting, the production design focused on simplicity.
LeBank worked with student designer Saul Diaz, who had previously designed a busy set for “Urinetown,” to create a more minimalistic environment with a deceptively “simple” tarp as the centerpiece.
“That’s how the set went from a full build of a warehouse to a tarp, which symbolizes warehouses and old factories, but also I folded and painted the tarp to look like a sail, meant to connect with the Tempest as a ship in a storm,” Diaz said.
AI Research Club develops technology to educate, assist students
BY JOSHUA FLORES Contributor
Apersonalized Long Beach State chatbot, an MMA fight result predictor and facial recognition technology applications are just a few projects currently being worked on by students, for students at the AI Research Club.
Established in the Spring of 2024, the AI Research Club is a recent addition to the numerous clubs on campus.
According to vice president and fourth-year computer science major Shaun Lim, the club began as an idea with the former co-president Shrey Modi last spring, who has since graduated.
“We just wanted something to do with like large language models, generative AI,” Lim said. “So we just started coming up with ideas, and actually a big inspiration at the time for us was we heard that UCI had its own chatbot at the time, ZotGPT.”
Lim said they figured if UCI could develop their own chatbot, then they could too. Designed around assisting Long Beach State students, the two came up with SharkGPT.
“We used a specific architecture that basically takes data from Cal State Long Beach’s websites and the chatbot reads that data whenever a person asks it a question,” Lim said. “It’s just like a super fast quick search for any Cal State Long Beach information.”
Lim says that SharkGPT can help answer a student’s question that may not be available if they were to search it up on their own. For example, if you were a computer science major interested in the data science industry, SharkGPT can give you a list of classes available at CSULB that would be relevant.
Other students, like second-year computer science major Keith Natakusuma, are also working on their own independent projects within the club.
Members of the AI Research Club at CSULB’s Week of Welcome inform students of their club and current projects. The club is open to anyone regardless of major or academic background.
“I was already working on an AI project for my interests, I’m particularly interested in MMA,” Natakusuma said.“I wanted to compare an AI model to my own picks, so I think it’s just the ability to consolidate things to a predictable outcome.”
With his project, Natakusuma seeks to learn how to use AI to predict the outcomes of MMA fights – a sport he said by nature, is super volatile and unpredictable.
Being a part of the club, Natakusuma said, has helped him learn how to navigate AI and apply it to his own project.
Natakusuma is also one of several club members currently working on developing applications with facial recognition technology, which the club began as a project this semester.
“We are planning to work on, hopefully, a mobile app and there are various topics that we’re still deciding on what to do with,” AI Research Club Teach Lead Soroush Mirzaee said.
Expanding on these topics, Club
Treasurer Shrawak Shakya illustrated a few examples.
“We could do things like authentication – one of the ideas I had was authentication for hospitals, but we can’t really do that because it’s sensitive data,” Shakya said. “A more fun one is like music, so if you recognize someone’s emotion and based on that they play some type of song.”
Currently, club members are looking for the best application for the technology that is also feasible for the club to develop.
Mirzaee said that for the development of the application, they are going to use the open source software Flutter, which was developed by Google and is used in applications like Gmail, Google Photos, and the Google Play Store.
The club will also be using Google Cloud Services for the backend, which is code that runs on an application’s server not seen by users, in addition to data storage.
The purpose of developing facial recognition technology is so club members have a project to work on where they can learn about AI, and how they can use tools to develop it into an application that can be used in the real world.
“We’re really just trying to help people because AI is pretty daunting, even from a computer science perspective –like how does it work, you know,” Lim said. “I would say that the main motive is to inform more people on AI and basically demystify AI.”
Photo Courtesy: SHAUN LIM / Long Beach Current
Graphic credit: EL NICKLIN/Long Beach Current
Bring back real yearners: Why men in R&B need to sing about love again
BY JAZMYN DE JESUS
Social Media Editor
As I was making my Valentine’s Day playlist, I found that nearly every song sung by a male artist added was made prior to the new millenia, which posed the question: did men stop singing about love?
Looking to male artists who are at the forefront of R&B right now, since that is a genre known for its romantic quality, I came to the realization that we may be facing a lack of yearning in R&B as a whole.
PARTYNEXTDOOR and The Weeknd recently released R&B albums, one of which coming out on Valentine’s Day titled $ome $exy $ongs 4 U. However, I did not feel sexy or romantic while listening to either project.
A take online that many conservative-leaning people side with is that since fourth-wave feminism and the sexual liberation of women moved to the forefront of pop culture in the late 2000s through the 2010s, men no longer feel a
‘Paddington in Peru’ fluffs down a warm embrace in its trilogy
BY DANTE ESTRADA Video Editor
After “Paddington” and “Paddington 2” snagged the hearts of many with the charming and pure-hearted bear, the third installment of the trilogy had many heights to live up to.
milial relationships and finding a sense of belonging. That gets brought down every time another exposition dump is delivered on a piece of treasure-hunting lore that adds no substance.
push to desire women, marriage and relationships in the way they did in prior decades.
I challenge this argument, as I feel since many of the men in R&B of the past such as Luther Vandross, Marvin Gaye or Donny Hathaway were either queer, part of radical political movements of their time that correlated with feminism or both, thus they were inclined to and comfortable with their femininity and celebrated the femininity of women in a loving way through their music.
As studies and surveys have shown, young men have become increasingly conservative in recent years, and dating for young adults in the U.S. overall has been impacted by a growing struggle with anxiety for younger people, which combined has turned many young men, creative or not, away from boldly pursuing romance.
The days of men in white tank tops singing longingly in the rain may be over for now, but social change can hopefully end the nonchalant epidemic that has plagued the male R&B genre.
“Paddington in Peru” is another heartwarming addition to the franchise, fully showcasing Paddington’s allegory of being an immigrant and putting his kindness before anything.
The new film follows Paddington learning that his Aunt Lucy has gone missing from the Home for Retired Bears in his birthplace, Peru. Paddington and the Brown family embark on an adventure to find Aunty Lucy and come across a desperate search of the hidden city of El Dorado.
Courtesy of Sony Pictures and StudioCanal
After seeing Paul King no longer at the helm of directing and writing the third installment, it was reasonable to be skeptical whether the movie would hold up with a new crew behind the scenes.
Despite this, the new film uses new tricks to keep the franchise afloat. It introduces immersive imaginary sequences that bring the series back to its roots of a children’s book. This technique had not been toyed with before in its predecessors.
“Paddington in Peru” is at its strongest when it focuses its story on rekindling fa-
Even with referencing the iconic boulder scene from the “Indiana Jones” series, the adventure side plot tries to imitate “Raiders of the Lost Ark” but comes across instead as “Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.” What pulls everyone to watch this fuzzy loving bear is Paddington’s unrelentness optimism and open heart that never shies away from seeing the good in everything. It’s certainly what made “Paddington 2” a beautiful film in its love for humanity in every corner of the world.
The third film does not step down from that, acknowledging that Paddington is a refugee who migrated from a natural disaster in Peru to London in search of a home and a caring family. Paddington attempts to balance his two identities of being a U.K. and Peruvian citizen.
He reminds us all that acceptance and forgiveness remain key to being compassionate to all.
Though it does not live up to “Paddington 2,” the third film is certaintly worth watching for more awe-struck moments including a singing Olivia Colman nun and Paddington’s everlasting tenderness.
Bruin repellent: The Beach bring out brooms in Westwood
BY DAVIS RAMAGE Sports Editor
LOS ANGELES - No.1 LBSU men’s volleyball made the trip up to Pauley Pavilion to take on the No.3 UCLA Bruins in the second rematch of the 2024 National Championship and left Los Angeles with a sweep of the Bruins.
Coming into the match, LBSU head coach Alan Knipe was not focused on what happened in the National Championship last year.
“It’s a totally different year, a totally different team,” Knipe said.
The first set was back and forth as both teams deployed their high-flying redshirt junior hitters in opposite Skyler Varga and outside hitter Cooper Robinson who were ever-present throughout the match.
Robinson finished the game with 16 kills and Varga posted nine of his own.
The largest lead during the first set was three points as even with the athleticism and talent on display, both sides
made a multitude of errors resulting in neither team jumping out to a sustainable lead.
The Beach ended the match with 16 service errors while the Bruins posted 15 of their own.
UCLA took the lead 17-15 thanks to timely hitting and Beach errors, but that lead didn’t last long as LBSU freshman setter Moni Nikolov’s run of serves led to three straight points and put The Beach ahead 19-18.
There was an audible gasp by the majority light blue and gold crowd every time he struck the ball on his serves throughout the night.
Nikolov finished the match with 34 assists, seven kills and an ace.
The two volleyball powerhouses were deadlocked at 22 until Nikolov swung awkwardly, got blocked, fell and got back up to his feet to launch another attempt at a kill and convert it to make it 23-22, leaving the crowd in awe.
A UCLA service error three plays later gave LBSU their 25th point of the set and the set victory, a set between two of the best teams in the nation that went how everyone expected it would.
The second set opened with some
unorthodox volleyball including a point that included three sets over the net leading to The Beach jumping out to a 7-2 lead and forcing a Bruin timeout.
This was a theme of the second set and Varga, as well as the rest of the Beach hitters, embraced it as they were effective with multiple tips off the attempting Bruin blockers.
From then on, the Bruins took a more direct approach to earning points while Varga and Nikolov continued to display their creativity in the air.
The Bruins’ approach however was effective as they climbed back into the set, only finding themselves down 17-13 halfway through the second set.
From that point on, the closest The Bruins got was five as a deflated Pauley Pavilion tried to will them back into the set.
The connection between Nikolov and senior middle blocker DiAeris McRaven was visually growing throughout the match as the two connected for three points in the set.
Seemingly every time the energy in the momentum shifted towards UCLA, Nikolov and McRaven delivered, including the final point of the set to take a 2-0
lead for LBSU.
The Bruins jumped out to an early lead in the third set, but it didn’t exceed three points until after the media timeout where they went up 16-12.
Long Beach State hung around and fought back from some costly errors, but UCLA kept going on mini runs as it was clear they were desperate to stay alive in the match.
Sophomore outside hitter Sebastiano Sani’s service run took The Beach from down 17-15 to tied up at 17 and all of a sudden, Long Beach State was in position to close out the match.
The set found itself at another deadlock, this time at 19-19 before Robinson’s attack error gave The Beach the lead at 20-19.
LBSU was able to hold on to take the third set victory thanks to senior outside hitter Sotiris Siapanis’ thundering kill from the back row as it secured the sweep in an impressive showing in a hostile environment.
After the game, UCLA fans showed their respect for the stars of Long Beach State as they were lined up for autographs from Varga and Nikolov, a symbol of the talent that The Beach possesses.
Photo credit: JUSTIN ENRIQUEZ/Long Beach Current
Long Beach State men’s volleyball team celebrate jumping up and down as it secured a 3-0 victory over UCLA.
d’Arnaud Athletics, baseball academy that gives back to the community
BY ALAN ALEJANDRO IBARRA Contributor
The d’Arnaud brothers, Travis and Chase, opened a baseball academy called d’Arnaud Athletics just five minutes from where they grew up, giving young baseball players a chance to thrive just as they did growing up.
The facility is located at 3940 E. Gilman St. in Long Beach. The brothers, alongside their partner and baseball lifestyle brand Baseballism, run a 10,208-square-foot baseball development center, serving players from youth to professional levels.
Travis and Chase both grew up in Lakewood Village, where they played in the Little League for the HeartWell Pony-Colts.
Chase then went on to play for Los Alamitos High School, while Travis played for Lakewood High School. After graduating high school, both brothers committed to Pepperdine University.
The d’Arnaud brothers would eventually be drafted into the MLB. Travis was drafted 37th overall by the Philadelphia Phillies in 2007, and Chase was drafted in the fourth round by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2008.
The facility aims to provide a comprehensive and supportive environment for players’ physical and mental development.
It includes three pitching machines, over 8,000 square feet of turf, 2,000 square feet of batting cages, strength training equipment and a barbershop.
“So it’s filled a big hole, void in my heart, because once you stop playing baseball, it’s the end of something, you know, they’re in the greening process that professional baseball players go through,” Chase said.
Beyond the world of baseball, they offer a podcast room “for those that are forward thinking and want to start building their own brand,” Chase said.
Parents can choose to relax in the lobby or in a dedicated office room, where they can get their work done without distractions.
They offer many class sessions for any baseball level, featuring qualified MLB, MiLB and NCAA instructors.
One of the instructors, Braden Murphy, is a hitting and fielding specialist at d’Arnaud Athletics who cares about more than just the baseball aspect of the facility.
“[It’s] more fun than it is a job and I love giving back to helping kids learn stuff earlier than when I found out,” Murphy said.
Micah Claverie, a junior baseball player at Millikan High School, has been going to the facility for a year and can already see his improvement on the diamond.
“I’ve gained a lot of confidence hitting here at d’Arnaud for the past year. A lot of my mechanics have improved as well,” Claverie said. “Talking to Chase and all the other instructors [that] work here, it’s just a good time.”
With d’Arnaud signing for the Los Angeles Angels in the offseason and Chase no longer playing, they are back home to share their knowledge of the sport with the Long Beach community.
“They say ball players die twice, and I know a little something about that thing. So, and this [facility], this fills a big hole in my heart,” Chase said.
”
I’ve gained a lot of confidence hitting here at d’Arnaud for the past year. A lot of my mechanics have improved as well,” Claverie said. “Talking to Chase and all the other instructors [that] work here, it’s just a good time.
Micah Claverie Millikan High School Junior
Photo credit: ALAN ALEJANDRO IBARRA/Long Beach Current Brothers and former MLB players Travis and Chase d’Arnaud opened up an athletic facility just minutes from where they grew up for young baseball players to train at.