PCC Courier 02/11/2016

CO U R I ER Pasadena City College

Serving PCC Since 1915

FEBRUARY 11, 2016 VOLUME 113 ISSUE 02

ONLINE EXCLUSIVES AT PCCCOURIER.COM

Another year, another head coach

BLACK HISTORY MONTH Ujima ushers in Black History Month on campus

PCC’S ABSTRACT ARTIST Art professor and abstract artist showcases at the Hammer Museum

File photo by Nathaniel Fermin/Courier Head football coach Thom “TK” Kaumeyer advises sophomore Sean Cowell at Cerritos College on Saturday October 3, 2015.

Lancers football players furious over replacement of head coach Christian Rivas Staff Writer Several Lancers players have been outraged since news broke in the locker room that football head coach Thom Kaumeyer will not return to coach the Lancers

next season and will be replaced by Fullerton College quarterback coach Tom Maher, according to multiple players on the football team.

Kaumeyer coached PCC to a 2-8 record in the 2015 fall season, but many of the players feel this past season wasn’t an accurate representation of the team under Kaumeyer due to the timing of his hiring.

“He was hired in late June, early July and our first game was in September,” said freshman lineman Ben Kaiser. “You can’t expect us to learn a new system in just a few months.”

While the Lancers didn’t enjoy success on the field, players like freshman linebacker Daniel Wire

feel Kaumeyer’s biggest success was off the field.

“In his short time here, not only has he brought the Pasadena football team together as a community and a brotherhood, but he has also changed the entire environment around the campus,” Wire said. “He is, and I think a lot of players would say the same, a father figure to a lot of players on this team.”

Kaumeyer was only hired as an interim head coach, but the team fully expected him to be there next year.

“Forget football, forget everything,” said sophomore defensive back Robert Morgan. “We trust

T.K. It took us the whole season to trust him but now we know we have someone we can turn to. Now they’re just going to take that away from me and the team? It’s not right.”

Given Kaumeyer’s coaching experience with NCAA Division 1 football and the NFL, sophomore QB Marc Peart thinks Kaumeyer is more than qualified to be coaching at PCC. “We’re honestly really lucky to have him,” Peart said. “If he were given a chance to interview for the job I think his resume would hold

KAUMEYER PAGE 2

Budget retreat generates collegiality John Orona Managing Editor

Faculty, staff, administrators, and students gave up several hours last Friday to attend the first Annual Budget Retreat, where representatives from all levels of shared governance came together to review and prioritize budget requests based on the mission of the college as the school prepares for a bleak financial outlook from the state.

The retreat is one manifestation of the larger integrated planning model, a budgeting process that aims to link the school budget to planning and prioritization instead of ad-hoc funding, as recommended by the Accreditation Commission for Community and Junior Colleges last year.

The seven-hour retreat had representatives from groups such as the Academic Senate, Classified Senate,

Facilities Standing Committee, and Associated Students team up to rank funding requests for projects from copy machines to conference travel based on three college goals: student success, equity, and access; institutional effectiveness; and community engagement.

Crystal Kollross, director of

institutional effectiveness, specifically arranged the working groups to be as diverse as possible while they reviewed requests.

“We tried to get different voices, we wanted to get them to think about this differently,” she said.

“From a faculty perspective, administrative perspective, a student

Monique A. LeBleu/Courier Dean of the School of Science and Math David Douglass takes department committee participants through a budget article review in the Creveling lounge on Friday, Feb. 5.

GANGSTER WARLORDS Author discusses the true cost of the drug war

New vets clinic coming to campus

Brian Chernick Staff Writer

perspective.”

The success of the retreat shows a tangible, material step in changing the policies, practices, and more importantly, the culture of shared governance.

“The best thing to come out of this is the broader understanding of where our needs are,” said David Douglass, dean of the School of Science and Math. “There was a perception that the squeaky wheel got the grease. This is a more transparent process, but that in itself makes it more complicated.”

Kollross said she hoped the new process involving all parts of the campus would shed light and a semblance of transparency on a budget procedure that used to leave some suspicious.

“The goal was for them to see [the final budget] and say, ‘Right! It

After many years and collaborations between the campus Veterans Resource Center (VRC), Veterans Affairs Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System (VAGLAHS), and congresswoman Judy Chu, Pasadena City College (PCC) will be bringing the first veterans primary care clinic to the campus.

Chu (D-Monterey Park) has expressed the need for a new VA primary care clinic for years. During the 2014 and 2015 Veteran’s Day celebration, Chu reminded people about the ongoing discussion around the clinic. By working closely together, the group is proud to be finally bringing the first clinic of its kind to the San Gabriel Valley (SGV).

According to Chu’s website, this would be the first time the VA has agreed to partner with a community college to locate a health center for

BUDGET PAGE 2

VETERANS PAGE 2

NEWS

2 COURIER

February 11, 2016

New stations rolling into town next month

Danny Larson is a freshman at PCC and uses the Metro buses to get to and from school.

“I live just down the street from the Duarte stop,” Larson said. “I can’t wait for it to open up because I take the bus to school right now and I have to catch the bus at 7:30 a.m. to make it to my 8:45 a.m. class.

I’ll be able to sleep in longer once

the new stops open up and take it right to school.”

There is also potential for Larson to use the new expansion for purposes other than just transportation to and from school.

“I’ll be going to Los Angeles and Long Beach much more,” he said.

“I can go anywhere with my TAP card, it’s great. The train opening up

more stops was part of the reason I went full time this semester, because I could get a tap card all semester long.”

PCC participates in the I-TAP program, which is operated in conjunction with the Los Angeles Metro, and, according to the Associated Students, the purchase of a card, which costs $30 per semester, allows

students unlimited travel on all Metro transportation, both railways and busses. The cost of an I-TAP card is about half that of a PCC parking permit that allows students to park on campus. Students qualify for a I-TAP card by maintaining a minimum of 12 credit hours per semester.

According to Lisa Whiting, an accounting clerk in the student business services center, there has not been a notable increase in the sales of I-TAP cards among students in anticipation for the opening of the Goldline addition.

“We have not had a huge jump in sales, just the same couple of hundred,” Whiting said. “You would think there would have been!”

Metro broke ground on the Goldline Foothill Extension in summer 2014, and kept a YouTube “video-diary” of their project highlights.

Larson said that living with the process of the new stops being built was an enduring one. He is glad it is over, but ready to enjoy the benefits of the Goldline’s new stations.

“The only drawback has been the construction all around Monrovia and in Azusa. It has made life harder for the past few years,” Larson said.

number of players believe his ties to Fullerton contributed to his hiring.

Current superintendent-president Dr. Rajen Vurdien served as the president of Fullerton College from May 2010 to April 2015, around the same time Maher was coaching at Fullerton—2007 to 2014.

PCC’s Executive Director of

Strategic Communications and Marketing Alexander Boekelheide confirmed that Kaumeyer’s time with PCC has come to an end.

“Coach Kaumeyer will not be returning next year,” said Boekelheide in an email. “The college is grateful for his service and wishes him the best in his future endeavors. Coach

Maher will be returning as the College’s head Football coach effective the 2016/17 football season. “ According to Boekelheide, “Coach Maher’s hiring was conducted in accordance with the appropriate hiring policy and procedure.”

Once the team was informed that their coach would not return next

season, many members of the team took to Twitter with the hashtag #KeepCoachTK. The hiring is expected to be announced next Wednesday at the Board of Trustees meeting where many members of the team will show up to fight for Kaumeyer’s coaching position.

Erin Dobrzyn Staff Writer

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) announced that their expansion of the Metro Goldline Foothill Extension, encompassing six new stations with connections to Arcadia, Monrovia, Duarte, Irwindale, and Azusa, will open on March 5.

The addition of the Goldline Extension cost about $1 billion and provides an alternative to the often congested 210 freeway as well as a straight route to many cities throughout California that would otherwise be a much longer commute via other modes of transportation.

According to Metro, the railways see about 1.4 million passengers on an average weekday, and they expect these numbers to increase with the opening of the new stations.

Many PCC students utilize the Metro as an inexpensive and fast way to get to school on a daily or weekly basis, and through the expansion of the Goldline, the convenience of the railways will increase, encouraging more students to turn to this type of transportation.

KAUMEYER

Continued from page 1

up.”

Kaumeyer’s replacement, Tom Maher, coached at PCC for 9 years from 1996 to 2004, tying the record for longest tenured coach in PCC history. Despite these ties to PCC, a

Eric Haynes/Courier The newly built Arcadia Gold Line station is finally built and ready for service on Feb. 1. The Arcadia train station is one of the five new stations that will be open to the public in the Foothill area on March 5th.

VETERANS

BUDGET

Continued from page 1

Continued from page 1

veterans on campus.

The exact location for the new facility has not been set in stone, but there are tentative plans to have it placed in the upper quarter of Lot 3.

“The Veterans Resource Center would relocate next to the clinic to create ‘Veterans Village’,” said Patricia D’Orange Martin, the coordinator for the VRC. “Much like the Science Village, it’s important to have the clinic and Veterans Resource Center next to each other.”

As it stands today, all veterans in the Los Angeles area, including the SGV, are limited to clinics in the downtown or Westwood area. The three current locations are as close as 13 miles to as far as 27 miles away from the SGV, where, according to a report by the Los Angeles Times, is home to more than 30,000 veterans.

PCC and its veteran’s center has received praise in the past for being one of the nation’s leading community colleges serving veterans. Martin has received accolades for her work within the center for bringing attention to the needs of veterans on and off campus.

“This is a very forward thinking project,” Martin said. “The biggest hurdles has been to develop a protocol for the project.”

Martin explained that once a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) is reached between the law-

wasn’t a backroom deal, I seen that on our [budget prioritization] list,’” Kollross said.

The retreat also included a look into how the school is funded and the process of enrollment management, presented by Dean of Institutional Support Dr. Paul Jarrell.

The school is funded based on the number of full-time equivalent students (FTES), which is determined by a metric using the number of hours students are enrolled in per year.

This means classes with high unit counts and more students enrolled per class earn more money, and classes with mandated classroom caps, like some nursing classes, are likely to lose money.

“We have to remember there is a give and take. If we [lose money] in one course, we have to make it up somewhere else,” Jarrell said.

Since the amount of students per class is the only variable in the FTES formula, Jarrell suggested, an increase in class size is the only way within that system to increase revenue.

However, as some faculty in attendance noted, classroom enrollment affects pedagogy as much as income.

Before the retreat ended, Senior Vice President and Assistant Superintendent Robert Miller foreshad-

Katja Liebing/Courier The inside of the Veterans Resource Center on Wednesday, Feb. 10. yers for the VA and PCC, the Board of Trustees will be left to vote on the MOU. The level of support for the project became clear once the Board of Trustees gave the fundraising committee the green light to fundraise for this project last year.

“There has been such an overwhelming support from the community,” Martin said. “They were able to raise the $300,000 just by word of mouth.”

The $300,000 is being used to open the center, which will provide a variety of services that the current VRC and student health center cannot adequately facilitate.

“Our current student health services are not equipped to work with the multitude of health issues that many veterans have,” Martin said. “Many of their health issues

are derived from their deployment not only in war zones but emergency zones like Katrina.”

Often forgotten are the veterans who suffer physical and mental health issues in non-war zones when exposed to toxins or stressful situations.

“Our veterans are sent all over the world under harsh conditions,” Martin said. “Not just war.”

The biggest improvement sought with the new clinic will be to cut down on appointment wait time, which has gained national attention and notoriety.

“Veterans can wait up from eight to 12 months for an appointment,” Martin said. This has had a particular affect on students as “it can be at a time where they may have a final or critical class.”

Monique A. LeBleu/Courier Crystal Kollross guides department committee participants through a budget retreat project exercise in the Creveling lounge on Feb. 5. owed further bad budget news while explaining the outlook of state finances.

According to Miller, the state will eventually move toward funding based on completion rather than enrollment. With Prop 30 funding ending soon and the constantly rising cost of retired state employees, budget prioritization, transparency and planning will become increasingly crucial for all colleges.

POLICE BLOTTER Monday, Feb. 1: Officer Robins escorted a student with a restraining order off campus.

One individual threw a soda at another individual in Lot 4, level 5 while driving. Officer Robins counseled both parties.

Wednesday, Feb. 3: A male was reportedly casing cars in Lot 3. When officers arrived to check the area, the individual was already gone.

Thursday, Feb. 4: Two males students were report-

ed fighting in the GM – building men’s locker room. One man was arrested and taken to the Pasadena Police Department jail for outstanding warrants.

A male student reported they hadn’t had contact with their girlfriend since her class ended, and

it was unusual for this to happen.

Female later contacted PCCPD and advised she was fine.

Friday, Feb. 5: PPD were advised of a suicidal subject at the Saga Hotel off of Colorado Boulevard. PPD secured

the north side of the library as a precaution.

Sunday, Feb. 7: Flea Market spectator drove her vehicle through the exit lane in Lot 1, causing damage to the vehicle’s tires.

OPINION

3 COURIER

Student suicide needs a serious response Hannah Gonzales Staff Writer

This past fall, as students prepared for their first semester or quarter of the academic year, college campuses across the U.S. were arranging mental health services to deal with the increase in students with suicidal ideations.

It is laudable that the institutions, which are in charge of honing students’ skills, are also taking mental health more seriously especially when there is still a stigma surrounding mental health problems.

However, colleges are addressing an increase in students with mental health issues. Sometimes providing resources for students and sometimes kicking students out.

According to the 2014 annual report by the Center for Collegiate Mental Health at Penn State, nearly 31 percent of students have said that they have considered suicide at some point and 24 percent of students at colleges who sought counseling in 2013-14 had harmed themselves.

A report from Emory University found that more than 1,000 students kill themselves every year and, even with added mental health resources at campuses, addresing suicide remains the third-leading cause of death for people 15 to 24.

One of the questions facing many colleges today is how to stop the strain on resources while maintaining accessible mental health service for s tudents that need them now more than ever.

An example is to create a drop-in center for students who don’t want to or can’t wait to see a mental health counselor, such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), which created a center after four students committed suicide within the span of a year.

Another example, and a rather inexpensive one, is to create a public awareness campaign on campus via social media to make sure that students know that they are not alone and that there is a community of peers and counselors who can help.

However, there’s another reason, besides lack of funds, that campuses might be reluctant to roll out more counselors and mental health centers for students.

On April 16, 2007 a mass shooting occurred at Virginia Polytechnic and State University. The shooter was Seung Hui Cho, a student who had a history of mental health problems.

Instead of asking what they could do for their students who dealt with mental health issues, colleges began to ask how they could avoid liability.

There has since been a strong administrative response across a number of colleges and universities to students who are considered at risk or harmful, whether to themselves or others.

Such as the case of Ian Smith, a

student at the College of William and Mary in Virginia, who committed suicide after going to a counselor to get help for suicidal ideations, who was instead banned from campus grounds by college staff.

Or in the case of Yale University student Rachel Williams who was forced to withdraw from the college after she admitted to harming herself and having suicidal thoughts.

Students take it at face value that colleges will care. After all, why pay a thousand dollar price tag if a student isn’t going to receive food, education, gyms, and, yes, even mental health care.

However, colleges are businesses and like most businesses, they want to make a profit.

Families of students who have committed suicide or students who are at risk of committing suicide can, and have, sued colleges. Such is the case of MIT student Elizabeth Shin who set herself on fire.

Shin’s parent’s sued the administration for $27.7 million. Other legal victories have been achieved for students with mental health issues, including cases at George Washington University and the City University of New York.

If colleges continue to be fear that their own students might sue then they won’t be lining up to help students with mental health issues anytime soon.

Colleges shouldn’t be worried about profit when human lives are at stake.

February 11, 2016

VOICES

What kind of coping

Another reason that college mechanisms do you use administrators have responded so to deal with the stress and fessed to having mental health issues pressure of school? is because they want to ensure that tragedies, such as the Virginia Tech massacre, don’t occur.

However, administrators who hide behind the excuse of avoiding another Virginia Tech massacre are overreacting by discriminating against students who are already dealing with issues and don’t need the added burden of being kicked out of school.

The Virginia Tech shootings “I meet friends, and I exercise, and I were tragic, but murders on college meditate.” campuses account for less than Kindra Peterson, music one percent of homicides. In fact college campus shootings are so rare that, according to the University of Virginia, the average college will experience a murder on a campus once every 166 years.

The rise of student suicides has meant that the time has come and gone for colleges to seriously reform the way they treat mental health.

Colleges shouldn’t be worried about profit when human lives are at stake.

Some colleges are helping “I came up with an idea called students who struggle with mental Sunday Funday. Every week we conhealth by having longer counseling sciously make the effort to have fun, hours and making sure that students like pick an adventure.” have resources available, but until Ellis Sentoso, graphic design students are seen as human beings and not as liabilities there won’t be a healthy, positive change in the way colleges treat mental health.

Time for a heavier focus on the obesity epidemic

Erin Dobrzyn Staff Writer

Obesity has taken a major focus in recent media and medical studies as it has become an epidemic plaguing 35 percent of Americans, according to the Journal of American Medicine. Southern states and regions that lack fresh produce and whole foods, typically known as food deserts, are the highest in obesity rates, with regions that are land-locked following behind, according to The State of Obesity.

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) reports that 78.6 million American adults are obese, and 12.7 million American children, from the ages of two to 19, are obese as well.

While it may be unreasonable to directly link sugary sodas to death, it is logical to associate too many sodas and developing type two diabetes.

Obesity can cause a plethora of other diseases and complications such as high blood pressure, heart disease, and even some forms of cancer.

Despite many attempts by famous figures, such as Michelle Obama’s various campaigns to boost awareness and prevention of childhood obesity, the trend in obesity of Americans has only doubled in the past 25 years, according to the Journal of American Medicine.

Pinpointing the cause of obesity and the expositional juncture of weight gain is exceptionally difficult to do, and with misleading tactics from food companies funding research in their favor, the conclusion may be running farther from the

COURIER Editor-in-Chief Kristen Luna

Managing Editor John Orona Photo Editor Katja Liebing

source.

Last year, The Washington Post reported on companies such as Coca-Cola who were funding biased studies that were swayed in their favor to promote their brand. These studies lead the public to believe that their products, which are inundated with sugar, are not leading to weightgain in their consumers in order to confuse the public and divert attention from their unhealthy products.

This should be illegal, point blank. Companies that produce food should not be allowed to

Illustration by Hazel Paiz

Serving PCC since 1915 Online Photo Editor Eric Haynes Lifestyle Editor Mick Donovan

News Editor Hannah Gonzales

Sports Editors Ahmad Akkaoui and Christian Rivas

Online/Opinion Editor Amber Lipsey

Scene Editor Hazel Paiz

Staff Writers Angelique Andrade, Irma Carrillo, Peter Chao, Julius Choi, Brian Chernick, Erin Dobrzyn, Lilith Garcia, Taylor Gonzales, Andi Harding, Valerie Kesachekian, Daniel Larson, Timothy Mably, Kelly Rodriguez Murrillo

Hazel Paiz, Russell Latiolas, Alex Stallworth

Staff Photographers Guadalupe Alvarez, Danny Heng, Kelly Rodriguez Murrillo,

Advertising Manager Daniel Nerio

Faculty Adviser Nathan McIntire Photo Adviser Tim Berger

Design Editor Online/Features Editor Samantha Molina Monique A. LeBleu The Courier is published bi-weekly by the Pasadena City College Journalism Department and is a free-speech forum.

Editorials and comments are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the position of the institution and its administration, student government or that of the Pasadena Area Community College District. The Courier is written and produced as a learning experience for student writers, photographers and editors in the Journalism Department.

fund, influence, and publish research that lends the public any information about their products concerning their health.

Scientific information should be exactly that— scientific. Anything that is biased no longer holds “Going out and laughing. Going out any bearing in a factual realm, and the healthcare with friends, hanging out.” field is not something that the consumer public Bryson Drayton, kinesiology should take lightly.

It is interesting to note that the same article points out that Nestle, which produces cookies, ice creams, and other sugary drinks, also has a corporate division called The Nestle Research Center that sponsored Nature’s special Obesity supplement in April 2014.

Southern states such as Arkansas, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, West Virginia, and South Carolina all have some of the highest rates of obesity in the United States. Living in these states and being overweight could be very detrimental, especially if one was trying to change their weight.

I have to get away from campus and Often, a feeling of belonging breeds comstudy. And that’s usually at home where it’s quiet and I can take breaks placency. In a place where obesity abounds, it Brittany Theus, radiology becomes easier for other heavier people to find a sense of belonging among their overweight peers.

Obesity often perpetuates itself and people in these sorts of environments may find it difficult to break out of their habits when many people around them have similar issues.

Obesity needs to be addressed as what it really is—an epidemic, a serious problem and a killer.

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“I skateboard. I’m in acting class... improv is a good technique dealing with stress. When I’m alone I like to write a lot.”

Robert Gulgotuez, theater

Reporting by Angelique Andrade Photos by Hazel Paiz

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4 COURIER

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FEATURES

6 COURIER

February 11, 2016

Ujima blazes trail for Black History Month Irma Carrillo Staff Writer

The quad was alive Tuesday afternoon as the Ujima program held their opening ceremony for Black History Month with the African group Kabasa Drummers and Dancers. The group shared the culture and a variety of stories through dances and music.

Many PCC students were interested in learning the ethnicity, and surrounded the group alongside Ujima students. A few of them who weren’t part of the Ujima program learned the dances and performed with Kabasa as well.

“Participating in this event was exhilarating,” student Crystal Gordon said. “It’s wonderful to get in touch with my roots.”

Kabasa started off by teaching a song that ushered in the news keeper of the village called the Griot, followed by the dances that went along with the homage. This particular song and dance represents how news is delivered from an announcement, such as a baby being born or

Photos by Eric Haynes/Courier Kabasa dancer Keti Ciofassa jumps in the air as part of her dance routine down the “Soul Train” line held by members of Ujima and outside students in the quad on Feb. 2. someone who is sick.

“A lot of the movements are movements that would take you off balance, but in fact the dance is danced for balance,” Keti Ciofassa, a Kabasa dancer, said.

The performance brought a lot of empowerment to the quad. It wasn’t just about the dances, but teaching the students about mortality—reminding everyone that the culture isn’t indigenous specifically to

Members of Ujima and the Kabasa drummers and dancers celebrating African-American heritage at PCC on Tues., Feb. 2.

Africans and African-Americans, but to all of us.

“This is a part of who we are,” Ciofassa said. “Not just us people of African descent. But all people. The dance and the culture is humanity.”

Of course the dynamic group didn’t just explain the culture through song and dance but out loud as well. They made connections from the past to the future, as well as with current affairs, to impact the students in a positive way.

“If we know where we came from, we know where we can go in the future,” Tyus Ahfiz, Ujima President, said.

The opening ceremony was a great success, and very open and energetic. The Ujima Program hopes for more as they continue to host events for the rest of this month.

They hope to reach out to the larger campus to converse on important issues.

“We have the opportunity to celebrate our culture with the entire campus,” Gena Lopez, Ujima director, said. “Students will get a different perspective seeing us off-campus being exposed to cultural events.”

The Ujima program will be hosting other events such as the Ujima basketball game on Feb. 18 and Blackademia hosts the closing ceremony on Feb. 25.

JaiJae Kabasa gives words of wisdom to the audience after a performance with the Kabasa drummers and dancers in the quad on Feb. 2.

Art professor’s abstract work showcased

Timothy Mably Staff Writer

PCC art professor and abstract painter Rebecca Morris has been chosen as one of 26 local artists to be featured in the third iteration of the Hammer Museum’s “Made in L.A.” exhibition coming in June.

According to Hammer Museum curator Aram Moshayedi, who chose Morris for the exhibit alongside fellow curator Hamza Walker upon visiting her studio, this year’s selection of artists was stricter than “Made in L.A.” iterations of the past. Those chosen are especially well-liked by the curator duo.

“But each of those 26 contributions by artists are quite deep and heavy and substantive,” Moshayedi said to the Los Angeles Times.

“So often with these biennials, the ambition gets confused with the addition of more and more artists, and we really wanted to hone in and concentrate to create mini exhibitions within the exhibition.”

Morris grew up in a creative environment, her dad working as a composer and her mom working as a potter. When Morris’ parents saw how she thrived in drawing at an early age, they encouraged her to pursue art.

“I was always interested in art,

Guadalupe Alvarez/Courier Art instructor and abstract painter Rebecca Morris stands outside the Center for the Arts on Feb. 2.

even as a young child,” Morris said. experiences are turning into stories.

She has lectured at a wide variety “My parents sensed this and they Last summer when Morris was of colleges, a few being Columgave me materials. I had a little place looking for something in her studio, bia University, School of the Art in the kitchen at a small child’s table, she came across a rolled up canvas Institute of Chicago, The School of so as my parents were cooking I on a high shelf. Taking it down, she Visual Arts in New York, and Cal would just be sitting there, drawing. discovered it was a half-finished State LA. My father drew with me often. The painting of a black-and-white grid.

About 15 years ago when she was atmosphere was very conducive.”

“It was very strange to find it working at a temporary job so she Morris received a BA from Smith again because I had only a very dim could support herself while painting College and went onto attend the memory of making it and couldn’t in her studio in Los Angeles, a School of the Art Institute of Chifigure out why I had stopped on it, close friend recommended that cago where she earned an MFA. because looking at it now, I thought she should look into She later attended teaching at PCC. She the Skowhegan School “Your work gets seen by the general public now teaches classes in of Painting and Sculpand then it’s put in the context in the history beginning painting and ture and graduated in of art, and that’s pretty spectacular.”

1994. foundation drawing.

— Rebecca Morris When Morris was “The structure of still finding her voice as teaching and being an a creator, she was inspired by paintartist are fantastic, because you don’t it was great. It was like a time maers she discovered in museums, such work from 9 to 5, five days a week, chine gift to myself. So I finished it as Piet Mondrian, Mary Heilmann, and you get summers off,” said right away.” and Moira Dryer.

Morris. “This is hugely beneficial if Morris has received numerToday, Morris has work featured you’re really doing another job.” ous awards over the years for her in museums all over the world, from Morris’ work can be seen at the contributions to the art world, a few Chicago and New York to Germany “Made in L.A.” exhibition at the of which include the Guggenheim and Switzerland.

Fellowship in 2008 and the City of Hammer Museum from June 12 “It’s a real honor to be in a public Los Angeles Award in 2013. through August 18. collection,” she said. “Your work gets seen by the general public and then it’s put in the context in the history of art, and that’s pretty spectacular.”

At the moment, Morris is creating the biggest paintings that she has ever attempted, which will be on display in the “Made in L.A.” exhibit. One piece in particular that she is working on is 10 feet tall by 8 feet wide.

As the creative process leading up to the exhibit is still underway, her

7 COURIER

LIFESTYLE

Village features writer turned mixed artist Timothy Mably Staff Writer

Guadalupe Alvarez/Courier Loretta Keller stands in the reception of her newest installation in the Pasadena Village on Feb. 4.

The Pasadena Village opened its doors to the public on Thursday evening to an exhibit featuring mixed media, oil, and watercolor pieces by 87 year-old artist Loretta Keller.

The rotating gallery of art by Village members includes portraits and abstract works, highlighting Keller’s wide range compiled throughout a span of 25 years.

Keller realized her passion for art at a young age while growing up in New York City. From crayons to oil paints, she has since evolved into a multi-faceted creator.

“Loretta Keller is quite an exceptional woman,” said Peggy Buchanan, executive director of Pasadena Village. “She always thought she should be an artist but her mother thought elsewise, because she didn’t want her to ‘starve or bring home any illegitimate babies.’”

Today, her work is featured in several private collections throughout California and the East Coast.

“I was fascinated always by color and the juxtaposition of different colors, and the emotion they evoked,” Keller said. “I figured if they evoked emotions in me, they must evoke emotions in everybody.”

Keller moved to Los Angeles in 1967 and studied at the Pasadena Art School, which is now the Norton Simon Museum. She later enrolled in the masters degree art program at Cal State University Los Angeles. In the 1970’s, Keller’s art was displayed at the Riverside Art Museum, which led to Riverside

February 11, 2016

College’s head of the art department implementing her work as a part of the school’s curriculum.

She has been awarded for her work, winning first place in “Fiesta de Artes,” a national competition in 1973. Keller was also honored in 2003 by having a part in “Who’s Who in America.”

“I can’t tell you much about why I studied art, I just did. Even as a child, it was something that I felt I very much wanted to do,” Keller said. “The Pasadena Library had a good selection of art books and I think I must have studied all of them.”

Keller also studied the art of sculpting and used polyester resin in her work, captivated by the concept of translucent sculptures. She eventually decided to give sculpting up due to the toxins in the material. After discovering the dangers of resin, Keller went on to work in the news industry.

She has experience in multiple fields as a former writer of 7 years for the Los Angeles Times and as an editor of 12 years for the Pasadena Star-News.

Keller talked about her trip with her husband to the Soviet Union. During their stay, she kept a diary that she later sent to StarNews upon their return to Pasadena.

“About two weeks later, I got a call from the editor at the Star-News and she said, ‘Loretta, we have had so many good reports on your article that we want you to come here and we’ll teach you journalism.’ I feel very, very grateful for that,” said Keller.

Now retired, Keller has returned to her roots in painting, continuing her contributions to the art community.

Author’s look inside Mexico’s criminal insurgency Amber Lipsey Staff Writer

Twitter users across the world witnessed a rare moment of disturbing brutality on Oct. 16, 2014. A social media journalist and doctor, going by the twitter pseudonym “Felina,” was killed and photos of her dead body were posted to her account. At the time of her death, she’d been reporting on the ongoing cartel violence happening in the brutal border town of Tamaulipas, Mexico.

The cartel members who killed her commandeered her Twitter account and posted photos of her dead body with the message, “Friends and family, my real name is Maria del Rosario Fuentes Rubio, I am a doctor, today my life has come to an end. Shut down your accounts; do not risk your families’ lives as I have done. I ask your forgiveness.”

Though Fuentes Rubio’s story is tragic, it’s only one of many outlined by writer Ioan Grillo, author of “El Narco” and “Gangster Warlords,” who spoke to a packed house at Vroman’s bookstore in Pasadena on Jan 27.

“Because regular journalists have been so cowardly about even printing some basic stuff, due to threats from cartels, these citizen journalists like ‘Felina’ pop up,” he said. “In some cases they begin to attack and murder citizen journalists, but because they don’t always know who they are, cartels will murder anybody and say, ‘We’ve killed a citizen journalist,’ to create fear.”

In Fuentes Rubio’s case, the person they killed happened to be the real Felina, as reported by The Daily Beast. Her murder created shock waves throughout Twitter, as well as the online community Valor Por Tamaulipas.

“Due to the cartel’s connections within law enforcement and the government, they can sometimes figure out who these journalists are and it creates a horrific atmosphere of fear,” he said.

Grillo has been covering cartel violence in Mexico for 15 years. He’s travelled around Latin America getting stories of people inside organized crime groups, what is driving them and how they operate.

He has even met with drug dealers and murderers; something he now has in common with actor Sean Penn.

“I didn’t want to publicly criticize Sean Penn over this being that I’ve been around a lot of drug traffickers and murders and I

didn’t wanna be a hypocrite and say I could do that and he can’t,” he said. “But it was quite bizarre. You had this Hollywood star who’s played gangsters interviewing this gangster who wants to get a movie made about him.”

Grillo went on to make an apt comparison between the actual violence happening in Mexico with how society uses it for entertainment value.

“There’s an issue when you have Hollywood stars doing this, because it creates a whole thing where violence becomes almost a form of entertainment,” he said. “You have this weird mix, while the real thing is happening and there’s a real tragedy out there; the dimensions of those tragedies are huge.”

In his 15 years of covering Mexican cartel crime, Grillo realized that the trail of violence spreads way beyond Mexico. Honduras, El Salvador, Jamaica, and Brazil experience the same problems, and worse.

Frontline reported last year that from the years 2007 to 2014, 164,000 people were victims of homicide in the drug war against Mexican cartels. That number doesn’t include the homicides happening in the Caribbean.

One story that affected him greatly was of a mother in Monterrey, Mexico. She was a school teacher who had two sons, aged 15 and 18. At this time, the Los Zetas cartel became very powerful in Monterrey, and heavily armed gunmen began wreaking havoc all over the city.

“One night at 1 am about 15 men kicked in her door, tied up the family and tore up her home,” he said. “One man asked her which child was the eldest, and she refused to answer.”

Fearing for his mother’s life, the eldest boy named Roy raised his hand. One member said, “You’re coming with us,” and took the boy away.

Later the mother received a phone call demanding money in exchange for her son. She frantically ran to neighbors, family and friends begging for the money to get her son back.

After she dropped the money at the location she was given, they disappeared with the boy.

“They never gave her back her son,” he said. Grillo paused for a moment to collect himself. “She called the number back and the number was dead. She searched for a long time and to this day has never found him.”

Grillo met the woman one more time two years later, in the midst of a huge story that

came out of Mexico. In May 2012, CNN with this power are one of the big issues of reported that 49 headless bodies were found the 21st century and it’s not just an issue of on a highway outside of Monterrey with their cops and robbers or even of drugs, but this is hands and feet cut off. bigger than that,” Grillo said. “This is an issue He was taken to the building where the of the world we live in today and these crime bodies were being held and ran into the moth- groups and the power they have to overwhelm er. “She was there trying to see if her son was governments.” among the victims, which he wasn’t,” he said.

Grillo further stated that if the U.S. were “That lack of closure, the pain is so immense, to recognize that these are essentially conflict never knowing, never having that closure to zones, the government would have to look a lay your loved one to rest.” bit more seriously at these refugees, and what The issue of these kinds of forced disapkind of responsibility they may have to do pearances in Latin America date back to the something about it. cold war.

“We really need governments and society “Back during the Cold War you had military dictatorships who would disappear people, to wake up and find some coherent policy to and now these cartels are the ones disappeardeal with this,” he said. “Hopefully in 10 years ing people. “ we’re not gonna come back and be talking Grillo stated that the movement of guns, about a million more deaths over something money and drugs around the continent is we can change now.” not like a traditional war.

This drug war is much more fragmented and there are so many different factions of who is fighting who that a governments like the U.S. and England are powerless to deal with it.

These are people who are governed in the world of organized crime.

Like traditional wars, the violence is unleashing refugees. In 2014, the New York Times reported that 67,000 unaccompanied minors came to the U.S./Mexico border, fleeing their home countries.

Grillo spoke to many of the refugee children to understand what they were fleeing from.

In El Salvador, the gangs were clearing out entire neighborhoods. The Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gang was responsible for this in many cities.

As reported by NPR, the MS-13 gang wanted to create an area of the city that they controlled against the Diez y Ocho gang. By clearing the Russell G. Latiolais/ Courier cities, it was easier to defend their chosen territory against Ioan Grillo poses with his new book “Gangster Warrival gangs. lords” at Vroman’s Bookstore on Jan. 27. Grillo had a “Organized crime groups discussion and signing for his new book.

SPORTS

8 COURIER

Softball snaps losing streak with blowout win

Hannah Gonzales Staff Writer

After losing 11-1 to Santa Barbara City College on Saturday, the Lancers softball team came back swinging hard against Los Angeles Mission College (LAMC), winning 11-1 on Tuesday at Robinson Park.

The game was called due to the eight-run mercy rule, which is the amount of runs needed to end a game after the fifth inning. The softball team scored more runs in Tuesday’s win than they had in their first four games combined.

Softball head coach Monica Tantlinger attributes the team’s win to their focus on the field.

“They were calm and confident in the box and they really were swinging at a pitch not just to make

contact, but to drive it through,” Tantlinger said.

During the first inning Holly Riker-Sloan, sophomore catcher, hit a 2-RBI single. Raeleen Fuentes, a pitcher, managed a double off the wall, which allowed Riker-Sloan to score.

“I felt like it was really nice that our very first inning we got the first out of the inning,” Tantlinger said.

In the second inning two runs were driven in, one by second baseman Karina Moreno and the other by Riker-Sloan, whose RBI ran up the score to 6-0. Freshman Kelly Bernal also contributed to the overall score by managing to draw a bases-loaded walk.

The third inning saw the Lancers continue to play hard against LAMC. Moreno hit a double and first base-

man Derek Blow hit an RBI single.

Starting pitcher Alyssa Madrid had a no-hitter until it was broken up in the fourth inning.

“I almost pitched a no hitter because of [LAMC],” Madrid said.

“Their defense was there the whole time.”

Although the Lancers finished with an impressive score, for Tantlinger the opportunity to restore confidence in the team and the opportunity to hone in on their skills was more important.

“So the score, while it was exciting, to me it didn’t matter,” Tantlinger said. “It was that we executed what we needed to do to get the win.”

The Lancers will play two non-conference games on Feb. 12 at Citrus College.

season about to start, Givens hopes to improve on the progress she made last year.

“I do want to get faster,” said Givens. “I would love to do a lot better at state because my times weren’t great as they were at conference so I would hope that this year, although conference is important, I can become faster at state.”

Last season for her 100 free, Givens swam a 53:01 and a 52:65 in the relay. She hopes to drop her time to 51 seconds if possible. For her 200 free she finished with a 1:55.

Givens grew up swimming most of her life. At just the age of 7 she started playing water polo and started competitively swimming at the age of 8. The world of water polo was

introduced to her one day when she played for the city of LA and took swim lessons with her cousin.

“Me and my cousin always kind of grew up playing the same sports,” said Givens. “At first I just did swim lessons because I already knew how to swim but didn’t know how to do the strokes and the coaches of the water polo team were like, ‘Hey you’re a pretty good swimmer and I need two girls on my team’ and I was like, ‘Mom, mom let me do it.’ So that’s how I got into water polo.”

From there Givens transitioned to swimming.

Teammate Liza Echeverria praised Givens for her ability to come through for the team in the clutch.

“She’s a good asset to the team,”

February 11, 2016

Eric Haynes/Courier Third baseman Brittany Ching pitches the ball towards first base during the game against LA Mission on Tuesday.

Two-sport water athlete prepares for upcoming swim season

Catrina Estrada/Courier Athlete Ariahn Givens.

Lilith Garcia Staff Writer Ariahn Givens, a sophomore twosport water athlete at PCC, last year had one of her best yet. With water polo season ending and the swim

said Echeverria. “She helps catch up in relays if we’re behind.”

For coach Terry Stoddard, Givens proved that she could be a leader during water polo season.

“She leads by example. She handles the competition well but she’s a builder of everyone else. she sees what everybody is doing and the team is important,” said coach Stoddard.

While practicing and trying to better her times, Givens not only helps the team by helping them win races but by encouraging her teammates.

“She’s energetic and fun,” said Echeverria. “When I don’t want to swim she encourages me and stuff.

She’s very nice and sweet.”

Givens also attributes the team’s

competitive nature during practice to their success.

“What’s really cool is that we’ll compete with each other on the team and sometimes we’ll say to each other ‘come on lets race’ so we can feed off each other and do better,” said Givens.

Most importantly, Givens wants to focus on having fun during the swim season and put a little less pressure on herself.

“Just having fun because during swim season I’m a little bit more tense than I am in water polo season, I take it a lot more serious and I don’t want to say I don’t have fun when I swim but I don’t make it fun for myself and put a lot of pressure on myself,” said Givens.

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