LMC Experience Vol. 98 No. 4 - March 3, 2023

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F.Y.I.

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Study abroad in Barcelona next fall

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New state chancellor named

Christian set to lead June 1

By ALIYAH RAMIREZ Staff Writer

After a nationwide search over the past seven months, the California Community Colleges Board of Governors announced on Feb. 23 the unanimous selection of Kern Community College Chancellor Sonya Christian as the upcoming permanent chancellor.

Christian is set to begin her duties on June 1, replacing Chancellor Eloy Ortiz, after he stepped down in August

from leading the community college system for six years. She will guide the largest and most diverse public higher education system; the California Community Colleges is the most extensive system of higher education in the nation, comprising 116 colleges and assisting 1.8 million students a year.

When Christian began in 2015, she started as a commission member but grew her roles across many educational boards. She led a $150 million

state investment for guided pathways and framework throughout the college system.

In July 2021, Christian became the sixth chancellor of the Kern Community College District, from her experience in higher education working in subjects of mathematics, science, engineering and health.

“She understands what is needed to deliver on record levels of higher education investment to make real improvements to the lived reality

Deputy DA visits LMC Law Society

By MICAH SIMMS Staff Writer

Deputy District Attorney

Diana Weiss visited the Los Medanos College Law Society March 1 to speak about the law profession and ways to get a foot in the door.

Weiss has been in this position for 18 years, serving the sexual assault unit for three terms over the course of nine years.

In-person enrollment trends up

By JADEN FORTIER Staff Writer

As the COVID-19 pandemic has all but surely lost its grip on the world, everyone have been transitioning their ways of life back to how things used to be pre-pandemic. One major aspect of life that’s slowly making this transition is education.

In the spring and fall 2019 semesters, Los Medanos College had a very low number of fully online and hybrid sections offered by the community college compared to the amount of face to face sections there were, as there was only 23 hybrid sections and 93 fully online during this time, while there was as many as 837 face to face sections. Enrollment was also high at 27,051, which is the highest it has been in the past three and a half years. This would completely change when the COVID-19 pandemic first hit the United States in 2020.

In both the spring and fall 2020 semesters the majority of sections were only offered online. Not only did the type of classes offered completely change, the

there were marginal changes in the kinds of sections offered, but things weren’t all too different from the prior year. However, things started looking

How she got here was anything but normative. She went to an Ivy League school to become a paralegal and the hostility of male coworkers drove her to become a lawyer.

“I was not the smartest person in my class, but I worked hard to get a better life for myself,” Weiss said.

Juggling the pressures of family, school, pregnancy and work, Weiss graduated first in her class and passed the California Bar exam on her first attempt.

Leading to her first main claim of her speech: “Don’t let your life get in front of your dreams,” she told the students that if she could do what she did, anyone can do the same. No matter whatever walk of life a person may be in, taking an alternate route to your destination is okay.

When asked whether cases get put aside due to low staff, she responded, “All cases are as important as the first. If there is a case that is understaffed, it may take years for there to be a court case or any action of the matter.”

She used a few examples leading to a sub-claim that

“Cocaine Bear” hits theaters and exaggerates the real event.

Photo provided by Carrie Tan

Dr. Sonya Christian (center) between Board of Governors officers Amy Costa (left) and Hidelgarde Aguinaldo.

Experience informational graphic • Jaden Fortier

Enrollment data from ASR Strategic Scheduling Dashboard.

amount of classes students were enrolled in plummeted by 3,509. The world was shut down, so naturally schools were essentially shut down too. During the spring 2021 semester,

Perspectives 2

Jodi

Velasco

Trans athletes treated unfairly

Legislation banning transgender student athletes from participating in school was introduced by 18 states in 2020. From the New York Times, “Over the past two years, nine states have enacted laws to bar transgender girls and women from competing in girls’ and women’s sports.”

Imagine being discriminated against for being yourself and competing in a sport you played your entire life. The debate on the inclusion of transgender athletes in competitions has been a hot topic. Since the transgender population is increasing, it is important to establish policies that are inclusive and fair to show respect to all.

The lack of knowledge about transgender individuals and the transition process, due to little exposure, leads to uninformed perspectives creating ignorance around this issue.

When an athlete joins a team, they are required to disclose their gender identity before they are allowed to compete. While this may seem like no big deal to most, it is a huge barrier for many young athletes who struggle with gender dysmorphia. To restrict a young boy or girl from participating in a sport that they are passionate about is unfair.

Data by the Northern Star reports only 34% of Americans support trans athletes playing on teams that match their gender identity. But development and education is the first step toward increasing awareness.

In an article about transgender inclusion, “The muscular advantage of transgender women over cisgender women is only minimally reduced after testosterone suppression,” said Allie Reynolds.

This proves how the unknown can cause conflict due to fear, as transitions can be a dangerous process. There should be no bearing on whether or not someone can exercise fundamental rights. But for transgender people it does, to a humiliating, violating, and sometimes lethal degree.

Some may argue that including transgender women in sports will have priority over athletes due to an extreme physical advantage. However, encouraging extreme physical advantages in competitive sports have always been apparent, but never been discriminated against

According to an article by genderjustice. us, Michael Phelps is “hyper-jointed in the chest meaning he can kick from his chest instead of his ribs; his double-jointed ankles bend 15 percent more than his rivals and, coupled with his size 14 feet, help his legs act like flippers to glide him through the water.”

This alone seems like a greater advantage than most transgender women would have in any sport, yet nobody seems to be upset by Phelps. Instead, this has become a larger issue due to systematic transphobia.

The right to legal recognition, defined that everyone should be able to have documents marked with the gender in which they identify, has only recently gained traction. Many countries do not allow people to change the gender designation on their documents.

This prevents members of the trans community from equal opportunities. But a shift would require societies to recognize gender for what it is: a social construct.

In an article by Gender Justice, “scientists have repeatedly said there is no single biological factor that determines sex, and sex assigned at birth is not the sole determinant of gender.” Gender is individual and neither the government or authority should be able to adjudicate identity through restricting protocols.

Transgender athletes are unfairly discriminated against, but do not deserve to be prohibited from competing in a sport. These physical advantages do not overshadow the hardships these athletes face on a daily basis.

Instead, we should unite and respect people for who they are rather than discriminate against those who are different.

EditOrial

Humility can shape society

It has become a normal thing in our society to hear about acts of gun violence, whether it being police violence, mass shootings or a gun crime that has been committed. Because of this, the obvious question is what can we do to make these events less common. Restricting access to guns can only do so much, especially when the root of the problems with any type of violence lies in the psychology of the human brain.

To fix the issue of gun violence, or any other injustice, we need to solve the world’s problem with humility and compassion toward each other first.

One possible reason why people are able to cause violence toward others is because they ostracize them, seeing people as different from them, or as “the others.”

This ability to disconnect from others allows a person to be comfortable with committing acts of violence toward people, and can be seen throughout the decades in acts of racism, gender inequality, social class inequality, religious hate and countless others.

This psychological phenomenon of mistrust is spread throughout society, creating groups that see anyone that doesn’t “fit in” with them as untrustworthy, and sometimes even a threat.

Times where our connection with each other is strained, like during the lockdown of COVID-19, this separation becomes more evident.

The United Way of the National Capital Area did a survey to see how empathy changed during the events of COVID-19 and “overall, the empathy ratings of respondents decreased by 14% during the pandemic.”

Though “empathy burnout” won’t immediately lead to violence, it is still a large problem that adds to mistrust. When you mix a society going into hysteria over fear of a virus with people’s mistrust and lack of compassion for others, you create a situation where people stop seeing each other as companions and as a threat. This leads people to go to different means to protect themselves, which means buying guns.

A group of associates from Injury Epidemiology did a study on how COVID-19 affected gun purchases and violence, finding that “nationwide, firearm purchasing and firearm violence increased substantially during the first months of the coronavirus pandemic.” About 4.3 million more firearms were purchased in the U.S. from March to July, exceeding what was usually recorded during past years. There was also a 4,075 increase in firearm injuries than what was predicted for April to July.

Our society has become one that lacks for others, being evident in the way that we come together to help each other through the pandemic, society turned to mass hysteria, mistrust and paranoia. Despite the fear of our past, the disconnect of our society is worse. Ostracization lives strong and to change, we need to learn humility and compassion for each other again.

ExpEriEncE Staff

Editor-in-Chief ................... JUAN CEBREIROS

Managing Editor ........... MOHAMMAD NAJIMi

Perspectives Editor ........... ALIYAH RAMIREZ

Arts & Culture Editor ..................... RAY KOPF

Sports Editor ........................ JADEN FORTIER

Photo Editor ................. KATHERINE MUSTAR

Voices

rEadEr OpiniOn pOlicy

The Experience welcomes Letters to the Editor and Guest Columns. All members of the Los Medanos College community — students, faculty and staff — are encouraged to write.

If you are interested in expressing your opinions on campus, national or world issues, drop them off in Room CC3-301 or email them to LosMedanos.Experience@gmail.com. Letters and columns must be typed, signed and include a phone number for verification. They may be edited at the editor’s discretion.

“Champions keep playing until they get it right.”

— Billie Jean King

America Gomez

GUEST COLUMNIST

Don’t let social trends control you

Using social media has become a regular hobby practiced in our free time for hours a day.

I began social media at 9, I have seen trends firsthand: ins and outs, yes’s and no’s regarding anything from fashion, music and celebrities to extreme ideas about plastic surgery, body types and diet trends.

With the rise of TikTok, there has also been an increase in harmful trends like buccal fat removal — the newest in plastic surgery that reduces cheek fat to give you slimmed-down cheekbones.

But how can we ignore the Ozempic trend to lose weight? Ozempic is supposed to be an injectable prescription medicine used by people with diabetes to lower their blood sugar. The prescription is used for weight loss benefits and is causing a worldwide Ozempic shortage. Mindy Kaling, Kim and Khloe Kardashian and Elon Musk are believed to have used Ozempic for weight loss.

What do these celebrities have in common and why should we care? They are influential within pop culture and vulnerable people who idolize them can fall to harmful new trends.

According to Wallroom media, “the percentage of U.S.-based TikTok users by age: 10-19 – 32.5%, 20-29 – 29.5%, 30-39 – 16.4%, 40-49 – 13.9%, 50+ – 7.1%,” suggests that younger people are easier targets for harmful trends. But there’s a growing number of older people who will be exposed to them as well. This is concerning because as trends become more extreme, it’s harder to achieve results, impacting mental and physical health.

When it comes to filters, you don’t know what is real. There are also face-altering plastic surgery filters that change your face based on what surgery you “need.”

It all rests on body dysmorphia and tricks you into believing you’re only beautiful if you have surgeries. But that’s not all. With popular hashtags like #WeightLosscheck, #WhatIEatInaDay, and #WeightLossJourney drawing more than 1 billion views, it’s hard to escape these ideas when you see them constantly on your explore page.

On the contrary, hashtags like #BodyPositivity, #RealBodies, and #SocialMediavsRealLife all show and celebrate “real bodies.” Bodies with hair, acne, scars, lines, tummies and more are all appreciated rather than shamed into changing.

In the end, we all decide what we do. Do you want to eat like TikTok influencers? Do you want the same face as your favorite TikTok filter? Do you want to live your life based on what is trending now only for it to change next week?

Our lives are not hashtags or post on someone’s explore page, we are not trends.

with one celebrity, who would it be?

“Seth Rogan because he’s chill and pretty funny.”

— Sebastian Davis

“Kendrick Lamar because I want to talk to him about his music and gain some wisdom.”

GUEST COLUMNIST

Arts & Culture 3

‘Creed III’ plot changes course

By MOHAMMAD NAJIMI Staff Writer

Have you ever been taken advantage of by someone close to you? Has anyone from your past come back intending to make your life hell?

In the action film “Creed III,” it showed someone from Adonis Creed’s past come back into his life to get what he wants and thinks is owed to him. This man’s name is Damian Anderson, an amateur boxing prodigy when both Anderson and Creed were younger.

The reason Anderson didn’t show his face before this was due to a 15-year-sentence given to Anderson after he pulled out his gun on a group of people that was jumping Creed. It is good to place the fact that Creed started it after he repeatedly punched an older man who used to beat on him when he and Anderson were in a group home together.

This movie showed a different direction than what the previous “Rocky/Creed” films showed as an

ENROLL

From page 1

up in the fall, which is when the climb back to normality in schooling had its very early beginnings.

In Fall 2021, enrollment in face to face sections jumped from 907 to 4,074 and enrollment in fully online classes dropped from 19,033 to 16,317. This time period also saw enrollment in hybrid sections rise, sections that are partially in-person and online, from 723 to 1,539. Although face to face enrollments would drop the following spring semester, things were still trending in the right direction.

Fall 2022 is when face to face enrollment really began to skyrocket. Face to face enrollment went all the way up to 5,375, a major increase from springs 3,440. Hybrid enrollment numbers went up by 1,000 and enrollment in fully online sections continued to trend downwards.

As of spring 2023, enrollment in face to face sections and hybrid sections are seeing highs that haven’t been seen since before the pandemic. While things are not completely how they used to be, the plummet caused by the pandemic and the slow climb back to normality that followed it is clear.

old friend resurfaced and wanted a title shot. Usually, the movies bring in a much stronger opponent with no ties to the main character, but still is dangerous in beating the hero.

The five “Rocky” films focused on new opponents fighting Rocky Balboa while “Creed” followed the story of Apollo’s son as he went to fight the titleholder at the time.

“Creed II” brought back an old enemy but instead of fighting him, he fought his son. “Creed III” went in a direction that Sylvester Stallone, the actor who portrayed Rocky Balboa, didn’t want it to go in.

“It was taken in a direction that is quite different than I would’ve taken it,” Sylvester said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, adding that, “I wish them well, but I’m more of a sentimentalist. I like my heroes getting beat up, but I just don’t want them going into that dark space. I just feel people have enough darkness.”

This film showcased a much darker plot than the previous movies and it was shown tremendously. The movie

STATE

From page 1

of our students,” said Gov. Gavin Newsom. “I look forward to continuing to partner with Dr. Christian to ensure our community colleges are engines of equity and opportunity.”

For Interim Chancellor of the Contra Costa Community College District Mojdeh Mehdizadeh, worked with Christian on several statewide committees and was “happy to hear of her selection.” To expand educational resources, both are a part of the District’s Partnership Resource Team where teams across the state provide technical assistance. The efforts are shared with Christian’s District to promote their efforts in creating cohesive data strategy and policy through the Institutional Effectiveness Partnership Institute.

Christian grew her skill set by completing multiple degrees with a bachelor of science degree from the University of Kerala in India; a master of science in applied mathematics from the University of Southern California; and a doctorate from the University of California, Los Angeles.

A long-time leader for the

never felt tedious at any point. The movie had the audience enthralled throughout and the scenes were vital for context surrounding the next scenes.

At the end fight between Anderson and Creed, they had the match viewed

“Without culture, and the relative freedom it implies, society, even when perfect, is but a jungle.”

as though no one was in the stands and it was just them two in the ring fighting it out which looked incredible. It truly showed that Creed was trying to focus on what’s currently going on in the ring instead of their past or future.

The film showed that it could make an incredible trilogy of movies without feeling frustrated over making more films just for the money. The movie was great and I would highly recommend it for anyone who wants to watch the film.

‘Cocaine Bear’ shadows 1985 story

By MOHAMMAD NAJIMI Staff Writer

“Cocaine Bear” is a thrilling horror film that takes the plot from what happened in Sept. 1985 when a man named Andrew Thorton dropped over 850 pounds of cocaine from an airplane looking to make a huge payday. It was reported 3 months later that a 175-pound bear was pronounced dead after an overdose of cocaine. The park rangers found about 40 opened containers of cocaine near the body of the dead bear.

This movie showcased a black bear, with cocaine in his system, on a killing rampage targeting any person he had in sight. The bear would go for the cocaine instead of the people

California Community College System, Christian has worked on policies across the state and is a commissioner of the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges. She collaborated with world languages and cultures faculty member Laurie Huffman to do accreditation for the Guam Community College. Huffman described their final report submitted as “perfect,” and seeing her skills when working together, she believed “she was the best choice.”

“Her patience, expertise, knowledge, inclusivity and progressive way of working with everyone makes her one of the most capable leaders I’ve had the pleasure to work with over the years,” said Huffman. With the new chancellor chosen, the recent appointment is set to make history. Christian will become the first woman and first person of South Asian heritage to be appointed to this position.

“I am honored to be selected to lead the most important system of higher education in the country and grateful to the Board of Governors for their confidence,” said Christian.

For more than 30 years, Christian has actively partic-

which made it more interesting. The bear was hooked on the drugs, and it allowed him to be more dangerous than normal black bears.

The deaths in the movie were simple bear kills, but they made it more realistic to comprehend the plot. The most interesting kill was when the bear was climbing a tree, looking to kill Henry when the bear smelled cocaine on Peter who was on the tree about 20 feet to the right of where Henry was. The bear then jumped down, climbed up to Peter and devoured him. It showed that the bear focuses on cocaine rather than killing people.

The movie had some questionable acting from certain actors, but there were some other actors that did their job well. There was a group of

ipated in state and national programs for equality and quality agendas centered around students in higher education. Given her new position, her focus will be on advancing student success and closing achievement and equity gaps, while strengthening the organizational effectiveness of students, faculty and staff.

“We continue to face many challenges, but I truly believe our greatest challenges enable us to do our greatest work,” said Christian. “We are called to design the most vibrant, resilient, and effective learning environment ever. We are called to do this work at scale, not eventually, but now. And we will work with a shared vision that keeps students first.”

MEN’S

From page 4

Many of the Mustangs stars on this year’s team were freshmen who are set to return next season for the team. However, it will be difficult for the team to fill the void that will be left by defensive standouts Warner and Adeyemi.

The Men’s team won their opening round game against the College of the Siskiyous

teenagers that had no business in being at the park other than dying either by the bear or the drug dealers that went looking for the cocaine that dropped from the airplane. Everything about this movie was shown to be a comedic horror film that wouldn’t be expected to make over $17 million on opening weekend. Turns out, the movie surpassed expectations and garnered an outstanding $23.1 million on opening weekend. It was an enjoyable movie that followed the story closely. The producers were interested to see a killer bear on cocaine on the big screen and their decision didn’t disappoint. I would recommend anyone to watch this movie. It’s a horror film that’ll make you laugh, scream and cry throughout the film.

Micah Simms • Experience

Ryan Hiscocks interjects Law Society event with a question.

LAW

From page 1

doing something you love makes life happier.

“I am a lawyer, and doing the thing I love most for a living makes work feel like play,” she said.

Insinuating that no matter what students are pursuing,

90-80 but lost in the second round to Chabo College

“After the game players and coaches were brought to tears. Not so much about losing the game but more about how much we all care and love one another. It was a special group of young men and I was so proud to be their coach,” Domenichelli said.

doing what they love makes them thrive in life.

This led Weiss to her final claim about failure. She led in with a story about her first few cases as an attorney. Weiss said her first four trials she attempted she lost.

She relayed the grand realization to the students, “The more you lose, the more you learn.”

In a court case, there is always a winner and a loser. She gave another example from her life with her speaking skills. She did not like to publicly speak and was “horrible” at it, according to Weiss.

After many years of practice within the court and speaking to growing crowds, she learned how to publicly speak and win her cases. Her parting words: “Believe in yourself and follow your dreams.”

FRIDAY, MARCH 3, 2023

Photo courtesy of IMDB

Adonis Creed (left) faces off with Damian Anderson for a match to determine who is the better boxer.

Photo courtesy of IMDB

A black bear hooked on cocaine climbs a tree looking to maul another character while Sari holds her breath on the opposite side avoiding the bear’s sight.

“It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up.”

Bright future for Mustangs

Dominant year finishes

By JUAN CEBREIROS Staff Writer

The Los Medanos Men’s Basketball team finished a season where they dominated their opposition for most of the season as they cruised to a final record of 22-8. Their season ended when they fell to Chabot College 89-82 in the second round of the California Community College Athletic Association Men’s Basketball NorCal Regionals.

No one predicted the Mustangs Men’s basketball team to be as good as they were this season as all of the starting five from the previous season graduated and were no longer on the team.

“While graduating all five starters on that remarkable team no one expected us to comeback the next

season and be just as good. Once practice started and we saw how hard our players worked. We knew we were going to have a great year,” head coach Derek Domenichelli said about going into this season.

The team jumped out to an 8-5 record to start the season but were unable to catch their stride after taking close losses to San Jose and Yuba Community College as well as being blown out at home by conference rival Contra Costa Community College.

“One of the bright spots of the season was when we won the Mendocino College Tournament,” Domenichelli said about the first half of the season.

Going into 2023, the Mustangs caught fire and won their first seven games of the new year. In the second half of their season, the Stangs

dropped only two regular season games, both of which were to the Yuba College 49ers. The Mustangs finished the regular season with a 21-7 record which was good enough to award them the tenth seed in the Men’s Basketball NorCal Regionals.

Point guard D’Montay Warner became the winningest player in LMC Men’s basketball history and received Bay Valley Conference

All-Defense honors. Warner tallied up 46 wins in his two years playing for LMC and broke the all-time wins record on Feb.17 with a victory over Solano Community College.

Freshmen Devin Carson, Jason Zimmer, and Ramon Bailey each received Bay Valley Conference All-Conference honors as well as All-Freshman honors. Carson led the Mustangs in scoring, averaging

18 points a game. Zimmer and Bailey were not far behind and averaged 14 and 15 respectively.

Forward Adegoke Adeyemi was named the Bay Valley Conference Defensive Player of the Year as well as named to the BVC All-Defense team. Adeyemi led the entire state of California in shots blocked with 104 and finished top 3 in rebounding with 329.

See MEN’S, page 3

Women’s basketball team struggled all season long

By MOHAMMAD NAJIMI Staff Writer

The women’s basketball team had its ups and downs this season which ended with a 11-16 record overall. They didn’t do well in conference play, having a 4-10 record when facing rivals.

The women started off strong, winning their first three games, before losing five of their next seven. They won their next three games to bump their record to 8-5 overall. This was the start of the downfall for the team as they would go on two separate five-game losing streaks, conjuring a 10-15 record with 2 games remaining in the season. Their biggest loss during this struggle was against Laney College with a final score of 90-36.

The struggle was based off of the abundant number of turnovers created from the team and the defense not clicking how they needed it to . The most turnovers they had in one game was in that

90-36 blowout against Laney College when they had 33. It was simple mistakes that the women couldn’t overcome throughout the season.

The season didn’t see the Mustangs heading into the playoffs as they didn’t win enough games to be in the top 16 in the NorCal league. They looked sloppy on the court and shots were mainly forced because players couldn’t get open looks. There were no facilitations of the offense from any of the guards bringing the ball up the court. It looked as though everyone was on their own to make a play for themselves instead of playing like teammates.

However, even with all these struggles, they did have moments where they looked spectacular. They looked like a well-oiled machine looking to blowout every team that they would face. They meshed together, made incredible plays, and didn’t give up if they were down.

The team had some good plays, but they mostly created horrible mistakes that should’ve never happened. The best player this season was Busola Ayiloge, who got rebounds, scored layups, played defense and more. She got physical when necessary and she was the key that kept LMC as close to .500 overall record as it is.

This season overall showed that the women have improvements to be made before next season begins. They showed flashes, but ultimately couldn’t overcome the crucial mistakes that they would continuosly make throughout the season. If they want to bounce back next year, they need to cut down on those momentum changing turnovers they constantly gave their opponent.

“To beat me, he’s going to have to kill me. He’s gonna have to have the heart to stand in front of me and do that, he’s got to be willing to die himself.” – Rocky Balboa

FRIDAY, MARCH 3, 2023

— Vince Lombardi

Juan Cebreiros • Experience

D’Montay Warner drives for a layup over the Siskiyous defender.

Juan Cebreiros Experience

Devin Carson rises for a layup against College of the Siskiyous in the Men’s Basketball NorCal Regionals.

Juan Cebreiros Experience

Busola Ayiloge knocks down a defender as she goes for a floater against Napa Valley.