Issue 5 Spring 2018

3.21.18 ISSUE 5

THE

RAMPAGE

THE

WOMEN’S ISSUE

Pg. 6 Telling the stories

of the women of Fresno City College

NEWS

New ASG Senator Elected

02

therampageonline.com

OPINION

Are #MeToo and #TimesUp Worthwhile Causes?

The RAMPAGE

@FCCRAMPAGE

09

OPINION

Who is a Woman That Inspires You?

@RAMPAGENEWS

09

The rampage online

2 NEWS 3.21.18

THE RAMPAGE

The student-run newspaper of Fresno City College

EDITORIAL BOARD Editor-in-Chief Ashleigh Panoo News/Multimedia Editor Larry Valenzuela Art Director Ramuel Reyes Sports Editor Anthony De Leon Enterainment Editor Noah Villaverde Social Media Editor Omari Bell Opinion Editor Tommy Tribble REPORTERS Claudia Chavez Anjanae Freitas Andrew Leal Loren Marcotte Jamila McCarty Gabbi Micheli Paulina Rodriguez-Ruiz Sasha Saunders Stefanie Verdugo-Tholen Jose Serrano Tamara Torres-Leguizamon Tasha Turner Business Manager Maria Aguilar Adviser/Instructor Dympna Ugwu-Oju

Contact Us Tip Line 559-422-8262 Letters to the Editor editorial@therampageonline.com Corrections media@therampageonline.com Any correction needed for an article should be brought to the attention of the staff of The Rampage. The Rampage is committed to accuracy and should be made aware of any mistake in an article that appears in this paper.

Views expressed in the opinion pages are those of the individual writer and not of the newspaper.

The Rampage is produced by students of the Journalism 11 A, B, C, D class.

therampageonline.com

Man Pulls Gun on Students in Parking Lot Ashleigh Panoo | Editor-in-Chief apanoo@therampageonline.com

After allegedly backing out of a stall and nearly hitting two students at Fresno City College on March 19, a man allegedly pulled a gun on the same students, according to a post on the State Center Community College District Police’s Facebook page.

Two students were in parking lot A, which faces Van Ness Avenue, around 10:45 a.m. when a black early 2000s GMC Yukon sped out of a stall, police said.

The students hit the back window of the SUV to stop it, and the driver got out, police said.

The man allegedly yelled at the students and went back into the SUV. When he returned, he had a gun in his open right hand.

Police say the man never pointed the gun at the students.

The man then sped out of the parking lot in the SUV, police say, and was last seen northbound on Maroa Avenue.

The driver is described as Hispanic, 5-foot-5 inches, 180 pounds with hazel eyes, and wearing blue basketball shorts and a baseball cap.

Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked not to approach him, but to contact the SCCCD police at 559-244-5911.

New ASG Senator Plans to Provide Students ‘Safe Haven’ Tasha Turner | Reporter tturner@therampageonline.com

New Associated Student Government senator Alexandria Benn said during the March 13 meeting in the Senate chambers that students are not adequately represented.

“If I don’t stand up to address these issues the students are having, no one else will,” she said.

“You can only stand idle for so long until you decide to act.”

Benn said that because she is a student herself, she knows she and her peers are not being represented right.

She said she learned from her discussions with many students, that a lot of students do not have a safe haven on campus. “I want

to strive to make a community for the students where they can have a safe haven,” she said.

“ASG can support the students by having events that students actually want to go to,” she said.

“If you have events that are coordinated around the whole campus, and it’s actually interesting and fun, then you can achieve a lot.” Students really need support, Benn said.

“I want to be that balance that helps everybody be calm,” she said, “not only for the students, but also for ASG because I want to see my school strong.”

Instructors Teach Self-Defense Techniques Anjanae Freitas | Reporter afreitas@therampageonline.com

Only five Fresno City College students showed up for the free women’s self-defense workshop class held in the gym on March 20.

The workshop, aimed at teaching women how to defend themselves from attackers, was sponsored by Linda DeKruif, women’s studies instructor and John Cho, Asian American studies instructor.

“Last semester I gave my students an interview of questions in my classes to see what kind of topics they would be interested in for women’s history month,” DeKruif said. “The theme that kept coming up was women’s self-defense, so we thought for this year we would incorporate this workshop.”

Presley Fletcher, a student, said knowing how to defend herself is beneficial.

“I definitely knew a few self-defense things before, but I talked about those in the class and Cho said not to use those,” Fletcher said.

“It was beneficial to not only learn new techniques, but techniques I shouldn’t be using.”

Fresno City College Instructor John Cho teaches FCC students martial arts techniques in a Women’s Self Defense Work Shop Tuesday, March 20, 2018.

Photo/Anjanae Freitas

3.21.18 NEWS 3

therampageonline.com

Local Women Celebrated for Service to Community Paulina Rodriguez Ruiz | Reporter pruiz@therampageonline.com

Fresno City’s District 1 held the fourth annual “Women Leading the Way” reception in honor of Women’s History Month at the Fresno City College cafeteria on March 17.

“Today is a special day as we highlight the stories of our local women in our community contributing in positive ways,” Fresno City Council President, Esmeralda Soria, said.

Socorro Pelayo, Shimeka Conway, Tammy Rinkenberger, Sophie Jimenez, Susan Kodama, Adela Ruacho, Courtney Sorensen, Carmen Romero, and Alexandria Knudsen-Thornton were honored.

The women were selected through an application process in which friends, family, neighbors, or colleagues submit nominations for community engagement/advocacy, education, health and wellness, youth (18-22), arts and culture, and public safety/military.

The luncheon began at noon with about 100 people in attendance. Soria delivered the opening speech, and told the audience that as the first Latina city council president, she hopes to be an example for women.

Loren Daniels | Reporter lmarcotte@therampageonline.com

“Hear, ye! Hear, ye! Arise!” an announcer of the court calls the audience to order in the reference room of the Fresno City College library, which has been staged to mimic a royal Italian court during the Renaissance.

The college hosted the State Center Community College Foundation’s 14th annual Renaissance Feast for Scholars on March 10, bringing together staff, students, and sponsors with food and entertainment in celebration of successful scholarship recipients within the district.

With three cheers of “hip, hip, hooray!” and the blowing of a horn, the announcer directs the guests to pay attention to the center stage where Queen Elizabeth of the court of Italy, played by actress Brooke Aiello, announced what would be many of the evening’s entertainment.

An impressive cast of student performers mingled with, and amused, an enthusiastic audience with a variety of medieval attractions and showcases of talent throughout the feast.

“I’m here at the Renaissance feast festival because I’m one of the recipients of the scholarship,” Lars Sulzmann, a Reedley College student who dressed up as a court jester, said.

Donors enjoyed a night of entertainment on the FCC campus and dined with scholarship recipients; the Renaissance feast this year surrounded guests with a light-hearted atmosphere

“I want to make sure that the young women here in this room know that this achievement is possible,” Soria said. “I hope that we can all continue to empower young women to take on leadership roles so that I am not the only one.”

Socorro Pelayo, 65, bus driver for over 30 years, received the women of the year award for stopping the attempted rape of a 16 year old girl last February.

Congressman Jim Costa, who attended, congratulated honorees and helped hand out certificates and plaques along with Soria.

“I’ve always found out in my experience that if you get good strong women to work with you, you always succeed,” Costa told the crowd.

Soria created the event four years ago as a way to highlight the contributions of local women in the District 1 area, which is composed of the Tower District, Fresno High School, Lions Park neighborhoods, and west of Highway 99.

“I thought, four years ago, how should we celebrate women’s history month?” Soria said. “When we think about women’s history, we think about iconic women like Rosa Parks, Amelia Earhart -- women that have made history.”

Fresno City Council President Esmeralda Soria, right, presents women of the year Socorro Pelayo at the fourth annual Women Leading the Way Reception in the Fresno City College cafeteria on Saturday, March 17, 2018. Photo/Paulina Rodriguez Ruiz

She added that there are women “in our community that are making history and so let’s see how we can recognize them.”

Carmen Romero was the last woman to be honored for her extensive contributions in community advocacy throughout her lifetime.

She’s served as an instructor for social workers at the Central Cal-

ifornia Training Academy and a Commissioner for the Economic Opportunities Commission, and organized a valley-wide community response to the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, just to name a few of her endeavors.

“I wouldn’t be here without the support and work of women who came before me, including my

mom,” Romero told the crowd.

“Each of us has a story; we have an obligation and a responsibility to tell that story for the younger generation coming in behind us.”

Library Transformed to Renaissance Court for Scholarship Feast

A parade leads off the 14th annual Renaissance Feast at the Fresno City College Library on Saturday, March 10, 2018. Photo/Larry Valenzuela

promoted by a cast that was immediately popular with the audience.

Scholarship recipients and instructors across colleges within the district were among financial sponsors and other guests in celebration at the dinner theateresque feast.

Rico Guerrero, executive director of the foundation, said it took about six months of

rehearsals and set production to pull-off this year’s event.

Larry Honda of the music department was in attendance and played a flute in the Queen’s presence.

Rajinder Deisi, a scholarship recipient who attends Clovis Community College, spoke about the benefits of the financial contributions and scholarships on the educational career of students

like herself who are getting through “the complicated process of starting college.”

“This is a box that Clovis Community checked,” Deisi added.

The period-themed decor turned a normally, dedicated silent space into the ideal environment for uproarious situations of impersonation.

Guerrero shared that the goal

of the scholarship reception was “to raise money on behalf of our students, to support them with scholarships, and to really support them in their success to completion and through graduation.”

4 NEWS 3.21.18

therampageonline.com

President, Police Chief Speak at Safety Event Tasha Turner | Reporter tturner@therampageonline.com

“Don’t be a bystander; be proactive!” a Fresno City College student shouted from the crowd in Room 251 of the old administration building during a school safety awareness event on March 20.

Carole Goldsmith, FCC president, Sean Henderson, dean of students and Jose Flores, police chief of the State Center Community College District all agreed that students must play a larger role to keep the college and the community safe.

“There aren’t enough police to keep everyone safe,” Goldsmith said. “If students see something suspicious, they need to say something.”

Students need to be aware of their surroundings, Henderson said. “Many students have their

face in their phones when walking. By doing that, students can trip, get lost or even get hit by a car.”

He recommends students get into their car and lock the doors before looking at their phones.

“If you dial 911, it doesn’t go to campus police; it goes to the Fresno police department,” Flores said. “You’ve got to know your location and where the incident is happening.”

Inter Club Council chair Kaura Lopez says that students can come to the Associated Student Government if they “have any ideas on how to help our student population learn how to be more active in safety situations.”

It is also the staff ’s job to keep the campus safe, Gloria Flores, a student and staff member, said.

Flores said she was robbed at gunpoint only a block away from

campus in late January and that the college authorities could have done more for her safety.

“Safety is the number one issue we have to work on for the campus,” she said. “Most students are not aware of safety resources the campus provides.”

An easy way for students to be informed of safety resources is to add it to every teacher’s syllabus, Flores said. Sending out mass emails to all students is another solution.

“The students depend on the staff,” Flores said. “And the staff needs to do their best to help them.”

Chief Flores said his office is working on informing students on safety by planning training events. Mass emails will be sent to all students informing them when the trainings will be happening.

District Office to Move to Downtown Fresno

Chief of Police Jose Flores, right, speaks at a safety awareness event accompanied by Carole Goldsmith, Fresno City College president, in room 251 of the Old Administration Building at FCC on Tuesday, March 20, 2018. Photo/Larry Valenzuela

FRESNO CITY COLLEGE DIVISION OF FINE, PERFORMING AND COMMUNICATION ARTS PRESENTS AN ART SPACE GALLERY EXHIBIT

Larry Valenzuela | News Editor

lvalenzuela@therampageonline.com

g, paintin sculpture , an di ns

, ces cti ra

The State Center Community College District Board of trustees approved moving the district office from the Fresno A TANGLE OF MEDIA, and Clovis campuses and into downtown March 1 -- April 6, 2018INTERGENERATIONAL Fresno, possibly making room for park- pril 6, 2018 CONNECTIONS AND FEMINISMS – A rch 1Engiing and a new Math, Science Maand Teresa Flores • Collage • Sculpture • Installation Quilting • Painting neering building at FCC. In a board meeting on March 6, the Adrianna Alejo Sorondo a tang le of mediaboard , interofgetrustees neratioapproved plans to purna Building at 1177 chase the Guarantee lp Fulton Street as the new district office Judy Chicago n io t for $10.6 million.

The money for the pura l l chase came from the $485 million Meata sure C bond.

Tina Williams Brewer The Guarantee Building stands at 12 stories tall and is 82,000 square feet. The purchase includes a 642 stall parking structure adjacent to the building.

Currently, the district office has two Carmen Winant locations, one adjacent to the Fresno City Ronda Kelley College campus at 1525 E Weldon Ave, and one at the Clovis Community College Herndon campus at 390 W. Fir Ave. During a press conference at the GuarOpening Reception: antee Building on March 8, ChancelThursday, March 1, 5:00--8:00PM (ArtHop) lor Paul Parnell said that moving of the district office from FCC would open up opportunities to expand for parking and construction of the new science facility.

Mon/Tues: 10:00am--4:00pm ~ Wed/Thurs: 10:00--7:00pm “This is really exciting thing,” Parnell State Center Community College District said. “Were going to be moving 150 in staff and the free up parking at Herndon and Fresno City College and bring it all into this one building and it has enough space for all of the district and frees up space. We’ll be able to spend less money Division of Fine, Performing, and Communication Arts on parking spaces by free them up and and Communication Arts Division of Fine, Performing, is underconsideration for the new Math pm Science Building location.”

Fresno Mayor Lee Brand spoke in the press conference to praise the the moving of the district headquarters to downtown.

“This is really big,” Brand said. “The Mon/Tues: 10:00am - 4:00pm • Wed/Thurs: 10:00am - 7:00pm decision by the trustees is major move and opens up a world of possibilities for www.fresnocitycollege.edu/art-space-gallery The Guarantee Building was agreed to be purchased by State Center Community College student.”

a n d fem

s in collage, fibe work r, s• ism in

MARCH 1 – APRIL 6, 2018 OPENING RECEPTION: Thursday, March 1 5:00 – 8:00 (Arthop)

District on March 6, 2018, moving the district offices into one building in downtown Fresno.

Photo/Larry Valenzuela

State Center Community College District

3.21.18 NEWS 5

therampageonline.com

From left, former Rampage editors-in-chief Troy Pope and Cresencio Rodriguez Delgado, and current editor-in-chief Ashleigh Panoo present “Becoming a College Journalist” to high school students during Journalism Day at Fresno City College on Friday, March 9, 2018.. Photo/Noah Villaverde

FCC Hosts Second Annual High School Journalism Day Noah Villaverde | Entertainment Editor nvillaverde@therampageonline.com

Local media professionals and hundreds of students from numerous high schools attended Fresno City College’s second annual High School Journalism Day on March 9.

Journalism Day involved the participation of FCC faculty, student volunteers and local media professionals who held numerous workshops for high school students interested a career with the media.

The day-long conference opened with an introduction

by Graciela Moreno of ABC 30, Dympna Ugwu-Oju, journalism instructor and Rampage adviser, Paul Parnell, SCCCD chancelor, and Carole Goldsmith, president of FCC. The introduction was followed by a panel discussion which was

moderated by Kathleen Schock and featured media professionals Joe Wirt of the California News Publishers Association (CNPA), Michael Carr of ABC 30, Gordon Webster of the Business Journal, Lisa Boyles of Fresno State and Mike Oz of Yahoo Sports.

Following the opening panel discussion, the high school students attended workshops that featured Central Valley media professionals from the Fresno Bee, the Business Journal, ABC 30, Community Media Center for Fresno and Clovis (CMAC), KMJ Radio, Fresno State, and others.

Rampage staff also hosted a tour of the newsroom for students.

Through these numerous workshops, high school students explored the many different ca-

“

It’s a great time to pursue Journalism.

Robert styles media broadcasting teacher at monache high school reers that are included within media, including print, web, television, etc.

Kyle Lowe, producer at CMAC, said Journalism Day was a great

opportunity for media professionals in the Central Valley to get students more interested in the many careers available.

“I think there’s a lot of insight to be gained from these media professionals and with their mere presence, they get to engage deeply with the students,” Lowe said.

“Knowing the names that got to talk today, I know that the students received some good information.”

Robert Styles, who teaches advanced media broadcasting at Monache High School in Porterville, said the event will inspire his students with their class work.

“I want this event to ignite a fire within my students,” Styles said.

“That way, they get passionate about the class next year and aim to be more professional with their news broadcasting.”

Johnny Cortez, a student from Sunnyside High School in Fresno, said he his classmates are excited by the workshops they attended.

“I personally enjoyed the Rampage tour of their newsroom,” Cortez said. “Because of student-run journalism, those involved know what to do to reach out to students.”

In regards to the event as a whole, the numerous presenters and visiting high school teachers said they aimed to inspire the students to pursue journalism, given the new resources that are easily available.

“My students make videos, and, through my class, they get to report on issues that matter to them,” Styles said. “It is a great time to pursue journalism right now.”

(Left) Fresno Bee entertainment reporter Josh Tehee speaks to high school students about blogging during a workshop. (Left) From left, Michael Carr, Joe Wirt, Gordon Webster, Lisa Boyles, Mike Oz and Kathleen Schock participate in a panel discussion during Journalism Day at Fresno City College on Friday, March 9, 2018. Photos/Noah Villaverde

6 COVER STORY 3.21.18

therampageonline.com

ALEXANDRIA BENN Ready to Change the World Paulina Rodriguez Ruiz | Reporter pruiz@therampageonline.com

hasn’t always come easy for her.

She said she had gotten emotional when she accepted the role of president for the Pan AfriKan Student Union in 2016 the spring semester.

“I cried because I didn’t know if I was ready. It was my first time ever even doing anything like this,” Benn said. “I didn’t think I was worthy; I didn’t know I had the ability to do it.”

Rebuilding PASU has been an uphill battle: the student union experienced a hiatus in 2016 because it didn’t have the sufficient board members to be recognized as a club.

“It took me all summer to really just think about what I wanted to do and how to bring it back,” Benn said.

Benn said her proudest moment as president was organizing “Bringin’ Black Back,” an event held by the free speech area on Nov. 8, 2017 and meant to signify PASU’s resurgence as an active club.

“There were so many people in the free speech area, to the point that it was full,” Benn said.

“When I looked out, I saw plen-

Fresno City College student Alexandria Benn, 22, waits outside the Senate Chambers in the Student Activities Center on March, 13, nervous, her fate hanging in the balance.

ASG members deliberate her petition to become a student senator, and after a majority approves her request, Benn is invited into the room to be sworn in.

She gathers her belongings and makes her way to the boardroom table; she finally has a seat.

“I felt it was a necessity that I join ASG because I saw that I was being underrepresented,” Benn said.

Being a senator is just one of three leadership positions Benn holds at FCC. This is her second year serving as president for the Pan Afrikan Student Union, and her first year working for MPWR Fresno (Mas People Working Relentlessly), a student-run organization with an emphasis on voter registration.

Benn says, however, that being in a leadership position Continued on Page 10, BENN

Alexandria Benn adresses Fresno City College’s Associated Student Government members on behalf of her senator nomination at the FCC Student Chambers on Tuesday, March 13, 2018. Photo/Paulina Rodriguez Ruiz

.

Photo/Larry Valenzuela

DEONA

MICHELI

Rising in the Midst of Adversity Paulina Rodriguez Ruiz | Reporter pruiz@therampageonline.com

Most people dream of the day they can leave Fresno, but not Fresno City College student Deona Micheli, 22. For her, it was Fresno’s unique geographical location, with access to the Sierra Nevada mountains, deserts, oceans, and lakes that drove her to leave her hometown of Antioch, CA so that she could attend Fresno State.

Instilled with a deeply rooted passion for nature, Micheli is working on developing a location based app inspired by Pokemon Go that would incentivize people to visit and discover their national parks.

This is Micheli’s first year at Fresno City College and she plans on transferring to Fresno State to receive her bachelor’s degree in recreation administration with an emphasis in adventure recreation and tourism.

She currently works at the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Micheli cites naturalist John Muir “Father of the National Parks” as one of her idols.

“When you're in nature, especially in a bigger park around mountains or around a big open ocean or a huge lake, you realize that you are so small but you have such a big impact,” Micheli said. “There are things that are so much greater than you and everyone out there and it just

brings that to reality.”

She attributes nature’s psychological benefits and stress free environment to helping alleviate depression, and anxiety -- two things she has struggled with throughout her life.

Micheli said her grandpa played a huge role in raising her.

He suffered from multiple illnesses, one of which was multiple sclerosis. The disease affects the brain, spinal cord and optic nerves, often resulting in balance, muscle control and vision problems.

“He raised me within his wheelchair, and it wasn't weird to me because that's just how I always knew him,” she said.

She recalls not knowing how to spell “water” in elementary school, and instead of spelling the word for her, her grandfather sent her on a hunt for objects that could contain the word.

“He helped me learn and not in the conventional way of looking things up,” she said.

“He taught me to use my environment.”

Four years ago, her grandfather fell extremely ill and Micheli helped take care of him along with her grandmother, but he eventually passed away.

She struggled with dealing with the grief, but knew she had to better herself.

“I took very little time off of work for mourning and nev-

er quit school,” Micheli said.“I knew that I would go crazy if I just stayed in that bad place.”

Micheli said it was her grandfather who kept her going.

“I had to keep him proud of me, because when he was alive he was very proud of me,” Micheli said. “I don't want to fail him.”

She says the hardest lesson life has taught her is that you have to fight for what you want.

“It's not an easy road, and if it is then you're probably not doing it right,” Micheli said.

“There’s a lot of discomfort in doing new things, it's like working out.”

Five years from now, Micheli hopes to have her own family, and to be working towards running her own park.

“I want to work for some sort of park system, whether it be national parks, state parks, local parks or regional parks,” she said.

Micheli says when she looks in the mirror she sees her past, but also her future, and all the obstacles she has overcome, moving to Fresno being one of them.

“I felt like I could never leave my home,” she said,” I could never leave my family, or my friends, and I could never start over. I've moved two and a half hours, over 200 miles away from my hometown to a town that I know nothing about.”

P

p

3.21.18 COVER STORY 7

ESMERALDA SORIA therampageonline.com

Determined to Inspire

Tommy Tribble | Opinion Editor ttribble@therampageonline.com

The first time Esmeralda Soria, Fresno city council president and Fresno City College instructor, applied to law school she was rejected. But she tried again, because that is what she does. “I ended up in law school, same thing with the [Bar Exam]. I didn’t pass the Bar the first time,” she said.

Whether it was being the immigration lawyer, the policymaker who worked for Barack Obama and Marco Rubio, the professor teaching Fresno City College students, or the daughter of undocumented farm workers who immigrated to this country in the 70s,

-- Soria’s dream has carried her.

Born and raised in Tulare county, she knew early on that she wanted to make a change, to impact the lives of others.

In high school, Soria became involved with the Chicano Latino Youth Leadership Work Project, which had Chicano-Latino youth doing leadership development workshops and meeting elected officials in Sacramento over the Summer.

“That kind of sparked my interest,” she said. “I guess I can trace it back to, you know, being in high school and realizing that if you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu.”

Continued on Page 10, SORIA

ADRIANNA

Photo by John Walker/Courtesy of The Fresno Bee

ALEJO SORONDO Healing Through Art

Paulina Rodriguez Ruiz | Reporter pruiz@therampageonline.com

Fresno artist Adrianna Alejo Sorondo, 30, sits cross-legged on the floor of Fresno City College’s Art Space Gallery. She peels an orange, while exploring the intricacies of everyday life. She is soft-spoken, words carefully selected, frequent pauses to allow reflection.

Sorondo is one of the six women whose work is being featured in “Thickets,” a multi-disciplinary, intergenerational exhibit, exploring feminist themes in the Art Space Gallery, open through April 6.

“Home Sign,” an ode to Sorondo’s Adrianna Alejo Sorondo showcases her art work at the “Thickets” exhibit at the Fresno City College Art Space Gallery on Thursday, March 1, 2018.

Photo/Larry Valenzuela

Paulina Rodriguez Ruiz | Reporter pruiz@therampageonline.com

her the value of pursuing a higher education.

“My dad was the most brilliant person I’ve ever met in my life, and he went from working in the fields to becoming a physician,” she said. “He taught me that it is higher education that made the difference for him in his life, and because he had that opportunity, the course of my life was entirely different than his childhood.”

When she was growing up, it was her love of movies and desire to go into acting that got her interested in pursuing a career in the media.

“I took a lot of theatre classes in high school and college, and really got into plays and theatre first, but then also had a lot of academic interests as well,” Schock said. “Somewhere along the way I thought, ‘I can kind of combine those two things by getting into journalism.’”

The lack of positive media portrayals of minorities opened her eyes

Reporter. Public relations expert.

TV producer and writer. News associate. Corporate spokeswoman. Advertising copywriter. Name any job in the media landscape, and Fresno City College journalism instructor Kathleen Schock has probably worked it -- and excelled -- in it.

In February, she added another title to her already ambitious resume: deputy director for the California College Guidance Initiative, a statewide initiative that eases the transition from high school into college and beyond.

“What I like about the California College Guidance Initiative is that it’s a really comprehensive approach of thinking about how to make a systemic change in order to remove some of those barriers to student success,” Schock said.

A Fresno native, Schock attended Roosevelt High school, and earned her bachelor’s in international relations at the University of Southern California. Continued on Page 10, SCHOCK She said it was her father who taught

Highway City. She is a mixed media artist and a self taught painter; her first introduction to art was through her mother.

“She’s always just made things with me and given me materials and just told me to use my imagination,” Sorondo said.

Sorondo began to immerse herself in painting when she was 14.

She began to suffer from insomnia and loathed going to school. She was diagnosed with depression and anxiety.

“They gave me a bunch of medication and I just felt so weird, like a Continued on Page 10, ALEJO

KATHLEEN

SCHOCK

Change Through Education

mother, is an immersive art installation featuring a home video, flowers, trinkets and plants all from her local market or neighborhood. Sorondo explores the complexities that encompass her, her Mexican-American background and experience being raised by a deaf mother.

“This specific piece I wanted to honor my mom, because this show is about communication and feminism,” Sorondo said. “All these things that make me up, I feel like, are from my mom. I am the way I am because of her.”

Sorondo was born and raised in Fresno in a neighborhood called

Fresno City College instructor Kathleen Schock teaches her students about the history of newspapers on Tuesday, March 6, 2018.

Photo/Paulina Rodriguez Ruiz

# 8 OPINION 3.21.18

therampageonline.com

#Activism - Are You Really Doing Your Part?

By Claudia Chavez

Love Wins, the Women’s March, Black Lives Matter, Pray For Paris: These are all hashtags I’m sure most of us are familiar with.

Perhaps we “liked” something affiliated with these hashtags on our social media, or marched among our friends, but are we really doing our part and standing up for these causes even after the social media hype?

In the summer of 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of legalizing same sex marriage in all 50 states.

To show support for the LGBTQ community, Mark Zuckerberg at Facebook Headquarters decided that he would give Facebook users an option to have a rainbow overlay over their profile photos to support the cause.

According to an article by Caitlin Dewey at The Washington Post, 26 million people used this option in 2015. This is obviously great, but what else have we done outside of this? Are we speaking out against those who constantly discriminate against others? Do we go out of our way to create social change that creates an impact?

“Profile picture campaigns are effective in showing the friends and family in your social network that you have some affinity for a political candidate or cause,” wrote Philip Howard, a sociologist at the University of Washington and the director of the Digital Activism Research Project in the article. “…

Policy changes are not usually the outcome.”

I don’t know how many of these 26 million people actually stand up against discrimination towards members of the LGBTQ community, but I know that I personally make the effort to create a social change outside of my social media.

I never back down from voicing my opinion while trying to make the more conservative side understand, because as much as the LGBTQ community is being more accepted, there are still many who don’t accept it and I think they just need to be better informed.

I remember when I went to the Women’s March last year, I was speaking to a lot of women and even men about what it meant to them and why they were marching that afternoon.

To my surprise, there were some women marching with the crowd who didn’t have a specific answer other than, “I came with my friend, so we can fight for women’s rights.”

Another said, “I’m standing up

against the president.”

At first glance, there doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with those answers, but for me, those answers seemed too far from the overall cause for the Women’s March.

In 2013, the hashtag Black Lives Matter (BLM) was created after the horrific story went viral about George Zimmerman who was acquitted of all charges after fatally shooting Trayvon Martin.

That was only the beginning.

More victims of police brutality became exposed, and this hashtag started to soar with an impressive 41 million tweets, according to NPR. Patrisse Cullors, a co-founder of the BLM movement, told the the LA Times in an interview, “I think our target has been law enforcement, and that has been important because black folks not only are killed with impunity, but also black folks are some of the most marginalized and vulnerable communities in this country.”

How many times have we “liked” or shared something affiliated with BLM on our social media movement? But, when the meme, article, or photo/video gets “liked” or shared, do we go the extra mile to do our part socially?

According to an article by Olivier Laurent at The Time.com, more than 70 million people from over 200 countries shared the hashtag Pray For Paris on Instagram following the terror attacks in Paris.

Although Paris is so far from our country, I wouldn’t expect it to be easy for us to find an easy way to support the cause other than to display the “Peace For Paris” logo.

However, we are living in a digital era, which means that we have access to so many resources like never before.

The digital era allows us to participate in hashtag activism, but the next time we like, share, or tweet something, I encourage everyone to do more than display the hashtag.

Find other ways to follow up on the cause, do your research, join meetings to spread awareness within communities, and help inform those who are clueless about the true meaning of the cause.

If we show our support just among our social media group of friends, odds are most of them already agree with your position. So, go find those who don’t necessarily agree or are critics of the cause and don’t be afraid to educate everyone.

3.21.18

therampageonline.com

PRO/CON

Are Movements like #MeToo and #TimesUp Worthwhile Causes?

PRO

Paulina Rodriguez Ruiz | Reporter pruiz@therampageonline.com

I awoke to the sound of knocking on the bathroom stall. Inaudible voices surrounded me.

Disoriented, I found myself on the floor of my dorm bathroom, covered in urine. Somehow, in my hazed state, I unlocked the stall and found campus paramedics descending on me.

Had I been there for minutes, hours? Time shrank and stretched into a continuous blur.

The paramedics placed electrodes on my body. As I looked up I saw my friend. She had been trying to enter the stall after hearing me throw up.

After a few minutes of careful monitoring, the paramedics concluded that I did not have alcohol poisoning. I had been roofied, a result of the fraternity party I had attended. The vomiting would continue throughout the night, but I would be OK. I found myself huddled around a trash can, crying at 4 a.m. , asking myself how could I be so stupid? Why wasn’t I more careful?

How could I have almost thrown my life away?

That night as my roommate watched over me, I echoed the sentiments of people throughout the world who experience sexual assault, or abuse. Blame.

Last October, amid the Harvey Weinstein sexual misconduct allegations, #MeToo began trending worldwide after a call to action from actress Alyssa Milano, asking those who had been sexually assaulted or harassed to respond with the hashtag.

The movement was originally started 10 years ago by Tarana Burke, a black activist, as a way to create community amid women of color who had experienced sexual abuse.

The tweet went viral, nearly a million people tweeted the hashtag over the course of 48 hours according to Twitter. On Facebook, the hashtag generated over 12 million posts, comments, and reactions in the span of 24 hours, according to Facebook.

The movement gave me something I’ve been struggling to find my whole life. A voice.

That incident in college wasn’t my first experience with sexual assault. It happened the first time at the hands of my cousin when I was 6, and again at 13 by my uncle.

According to statistics, every 98 seconds an American is assaulted.

1 out of 6 women have been a victim, of attempted or completed

CON

OPINION 9

CAMPUS VOICES

Who is a Woman That Inspires You? Jamila McCarty | Reporter jmccarty@therampageonline.com

Loren Daniels | Reporter lmarcotte@therampageonline.com

rape in their lifetime.

In a world where judicial courts fail sexual abuse survivors, as was the case during Brock Turner’s trial, victims are constantly questioned and forced to relive their trauma.

For the first time, survivors have been able to find solace in community. #MeToo has provided a medium for stories to be shared, and most importantly a community of allies who believe them.

Condemned for its perceived elitism, with the majority of media coverage focused on celebrities, critics have questioned how the movement benefits non-famous minority women.

When celebrities like Lady Gaga, Reese Witherspoon, McKayla Maroney, and countless others came out, I did not view it as celebrities capitalizing on rape culture. Instead I thought of the 6 year old girl, or the 13 year old girl watching her favorite TV shows and knowing that she’s not alone.

For the first time in history, there is a mass mobilization of women transcending race, gender, class, and sexuality who are saying they will no longer tolerate the constant harassment and abuse imposed on them by the larger hyper-masculine society.

Criticized for inciting a “witch hunt,” and creating an environment in which men are excluded from the conversation and ostracized, the #MeToo movement seems to have instilled a sense of fear in men.

Why should they be penalized, for a woman’s inability to speak out at the time the action was committed?

Trauma is a complex thing, and that’s what isn’t understood when looking at survivors who decide to speak about it years later. It takes recognizing that you were a victim in that moment, and that what happened to you wasn’t normal.

Men worried about losing their jobs must keep in mind the countless women who have lost their sense of safety, of trust, of self.

What is the polite way to say, stop raping us, stop harassing us, stop abusing us? Our sanity is more important than your comfort. #MeToo is simply the beginning of a conversation that’s been put off for too long. We will not be silenced.

Though movements like #MeToo and #TimesUp are right in saying that something needs to be done about sexual harassment in the workplace, they do more harm than healing by implying that the progress that needs to be made in eliminating sexual harassment begins only with men taking responsibility for their actions.

Most of us have been harassed at one point or another in our lives. As a skinny, gawky, young girl, I always desired to be in the presence of those intellectual mentors in my life who had the potential to have a positive influence in my success. I always thrived beneath the umbrella of wisdom I felt these older, highly-educated types offered me, compared to that of my own peers.

As a college student with a preference for older men, I had plenty of opportunities to learn what the word consent meant; but this meant I had to also experience what it meant to not give consent. I had to understand what it meant to be raped, molested, groped, pinched, or have unwanted advances made towards me to be able to decide with what degree I react.

Did I say no? Yes. Did I always mean it? Well, no... not every time.

There were plenty of times that I rejected certain sexual advances long after I consented, because I felt as if I was being pressured into doing something I was not comfortable with. And even though I had said “stop,” I wasn’t forced to continue, and had not done anything to assert myself in meaning it.

Was I ever left feeling used and taken advantage of, as if my verbal rejection to sexual advances had no value? Most certainly: people expect to have our boundaries respected. I have had more than a few opportunities to press sexual harassment charges in the workplace, at school, and in social settings; but I felt as if I took matters into my own hands in a more effective way by making my harassers aware of their degree of misconduct.

There are sexual behaviors that should not be chalked up to a male “just being a guy,” especially when their offenses follows a history. There are men who are aware that their sexual

predilections come with consequences in society, yet continue with their behavior. Often, these are not the kinds of sexual predators who seek out resources to rehabilitate themselves, as much as they seek out their subjects for prey: we should certainly call these types of offenders “bad men.”

But, there are also those men who do stop when you say no, even if they don’t immediately understand their misconduct.

There are those guys who did not know you didn’t want to be touched a certain way, because he did the same thing during a past date that the woman didn’t have a problem with as you did: we call these types “people who made a mistake.” And mistakes happen.

The #MeToo and #TimesUp movements seem to present no purpose other than acting as an echo chamber for victims of all types of sexual abuse and harassment to unleash their angry into.

“

Did I say no? Yes. Did I always mean it?

Well, no... not every time.”

It is a common ground where their individual experiences combine like flames to feed a greater torch, like hunters for witches - except this modern-day witch hunt has been fueled by Hollywood.

I realize that many victims don’t get the chance to defend themselves. There are true victims who deserve to confront their abusers and harassers, just as there are those accused who deserve to have their behaviors appropriately accounted for.

Neither of these situations require the lynch mobbing we’ve seen grow out of in Hollywood through movements like #MeToo and #TimesUp.

Ernest Allen

Criminology Major

“Photographer Dorthia Lane, because she had the courage to take photos of those who were fighting for their lives during the Great Depression Era.”

Jocelyn Bolderas Radiology Major

“My mom, because although both parents are in my life, my mother has always been there, worked, and made time to help us with homework.”

Lauryn Fifer

Psychology Major

“I’d have to say my sister Sheena because she defeats the odds of our family’s norm. She’s showed me that once you get older you must make your own life decisions.”

Kelvaughn Few Biology Major

“Harriet Tubman, because she gave slaves new hope, showed them something new, and what they never thought was possible. I hope to help people like that in my path.”

10 COVER STORY 3.21.18 BENN, FROM PAGE 6

ty of people, people that didn’t even look like me.”

She attributes her passion for politics and community organizing to the tragic death of 17-yearold Trayvon Martin on Feb. 26, 2012 in Sanford, Florida.

“As a black woman, I am constantly at threat of being killed in the street, or even having my nieces or nephews killed,” Benn said. “Just to have that fact that we can’t live day to day without the threat of death, it empowered me to want to change my environment.”

In her work with MPWR, a student-run organization which SORIA, FROM PAGE 7

Her drive to be at the table took her to Berkeley, where she studied political science and Chicano-Latino studies, disciplines that she would later teach at Fresno City College. More than that, she began to network and gained internships that allowed her to craft policy.

She worked on issues of safe drinking water, air quality, and environmental justice issues when she worked for the California Rule Legal Assistance Foundation in Sacramento.

That thread led her back to the Central Valley. “Fresno seemed to be the right place to come back to,” she said. At the time, then-mayor Ashley Swearengin was pushing Measure G, a policy that would have privatized the city’s garbage collection.

Swearengin met strong oppoSORONDO, FROM PAGE 7

zombie,” Sorondo said. “I started painting to focus and calm down, and I just decided I can heal myself; I don’t need any of this other stuff.”

Sorondo has been able to create a space of her own through art.

She said she’s been able to explore her Mexican-American identity without the confines of language, space or time.

“The identity aspect of my art comes from not being enough,” Sorondo said, “not American enough, not Mexican enough.”

Sorondo said, “There used to be this girl, she went to high school with me, and she would always say, ‘you’re not that Mexican’, and that always bothered me, I never knew why.”

Sorondo was the first in her SCHOCK, FROM PAGE 7

to the power the media holds in shaping society’s reality.

“When Vanessa Williams won Miss America, it was the first time I saw a black woman being celebrated for her beauty in that way,” she said. “And that was really pivotal for me.”

Schock found herself in television. She started off as a production assistant on a Lifetime television talk show and worked her way up and eventually to become a production manager for “House Beautiful,” an A&E show.

“I found that I wanted to do something a bit more meaning-

therampageonline.com

aims to create civic leaders in schools and neighborhoods, the group organized a community cleanup in October 2017 in Kerman, and hosted a workshop focusing on the signs of an abusive relationship on Feb. 13 at FCC. One of Benn’s colleagues at MPWR got tired of the effects of the drug epidemic on his community and decided to transform one of his properties into a community center.

“That day was so empowering to me because so many people stopped just to look at what we were doing, and a lot of them even got out of the car just to help,” Benn said.

MPWR also focuses on

non-partisan voter registration.

They have registered about 700 students, focusing their efforts at FCC and Fresno State.

Benn was born in South Central Los Angeles, the middle child of three and raised by a single mother.

She moved to Fresno a day after her high school graduation in June 2013 and attended Clovis Community College for a year, finally transferring to FCC during the fall of 2014.

Originally a child development major, Benn says she began to find herself after taking an African American studies course. It was there that she was introduced to PASU.

Embracing her African heritage has been a journey, Benn says.

“In high school, I always imagined myself when I walked around as if I was a light-skinned woman,” Benn said. “It felt like if you were dark-skinned you weren’t as beautiful and I never viewed myself as beautiful.”

She condemns the media’s eurocentric construction of beauty and says she wants to stop the negative way black women view themselves.

Benn says her mother is her driving force.

“She was a single mother, and she had a baby at 14. She had to drop out of high school,” Benn said.

“Just to see many nights that I didn’t have lights to come home to,” Benn said, “where she had to warm the house with the oven.”

Today her mother has her GED, associate’s and bachelor’s degrees, and is working on her master’s.

Benn says the biggest lesson her mother taught her was,“to love yourself, and don’t let the evil of the world tarnish your beautiful smile or your beautiful spirit, because they will always try.”

As a senator, Benn says the title is irrelevant, it’s the job that she’s focused on.

“Being a senator is more about making sure that every student is represented no matter race or creed,” she said.

sition from labour unions and community members. “Because although it would save some money to the the city of Fresno for short-term purposes, longterm families would have been impacted by the hikes in prices,” she said.

“That was kind of my first moment where I was like, ‘you know what, I’m not appreciating how things were going.’ And I didn’t like that direction in terms of Measure G.” So Soria did what she does: she got involved. Measure G was defeated.

She would eventually run for city council in 2014. Soria had some federal experience from her time in DC. But her focus, and her entry point, became local politics.

“You see these great policies passed at the state and sometimes at the federal level. But they don’t really trickle down and impact

the community here, maybe in the most positive matter because they’re not being executed or implemented correctly,” Soria said.

She lost the primary, coming in second, 30 votes short of first.

And on election night that same year, “I actually was down 20 votes when they called it a night,” Soria said. But when the absentee and light ballots were tallied later, she managed to close the gap and triumph with a 600 vote margin.

“I became the first Latina president of the council,” she said.

From her seat, she managed to open a grocery store in a food desert via the supermarket on Clinton and Weber. Day to day, her council saw more streets and sidewalks paved, and a deal struck with the fax buses to allow student travel and mobility.

But she seems most proud of one of her earliest, and smallest accomplishments. When Soria

was sworn-in, one of her friends, a mother, had to go to the restroom to change her child’s diaper. There were no changing tables, and she ended up using a blanket and changing the baby on the floor.

Soria saw to it that changing tables were added to both the male and female restrooms at City Hall.

She beams when she talks about it now. “We did that, and we did a small family room and a nursing room,” she said.

Sometimes it’s the little things.

Local government can seem like a little thing. Soria emphasizes its importance. “Being able to teach the students [at Fresno City College] that I have the importance of local government.”

She said one of her political science students sent her a message. “[He] told me how much I motivated him when he was in the classroom.”

Soria also saw the development

of a youth commission, a collection of 15 to 22-year-old members who serve as mini-council members, meeting once a month to discuss issues relevant to young people and pass those messages along to the City Council.

Working with and inspiring young people is a theme in Soria’s life, in her role as a councilwoman and as an educator. “Just today I went to Pyle Elementary, I spoke to fifth and sixth graders to motivate and empower them,” she said.

Soria is running unopposed in her city council primary, and she will continue to return to Fresno City College to teach political science and Chicano-Latino studies.

“Even if I make an impact just on one student every semester, for me it’s extremely rewarding.”

family to go to college. She attended San Francisco State, and received her bachelor’s degree in anthropology. She approaches her art through an anthropological perspective, her practice is centered on being still.

“You just sit and think. ‘Who am I?’ ‘What do I want to put out there?’ ‘What do I want other people to feel’, or ‘how do I get other people to feel what I feel?’” she said.

Sorondo said she had to overcome the anxiety attached to an artist’s lack of financial stability in respect to Mexican-American expectations of success.

Her work intertwines traditional Mexican healing practices with contemporary art, a result of her interest in flower medicine.

“Flowers are healing, but they’re healing in all ways; it’s not

just dry them and make a tea,” Sorondo said. “Growing them, or talking to them, just gathering something and taking them to a friend, that’s medicine too.”

Sorondo currently works at an Indian restaurant, has her own art studio at Broadway Studios in downtown Fresno, runs a garden at Fresno County Juvenile Justice Campus, works as a substitute teacher, and does spiritual cleanses on the side.

“I think it's really important to be a bunch of things at once,” she said.

Last spring, Sorondo began promoting “fuck boi limpias,” a traditional Mexican healing cleanse aimed at men who won’t commit. She also offers saging of phones for drunk texts.

Her “fuck boi limpias” were a way of connecting younger gen-

erations to traditional medicine through a more accessible lens.

“I also like to have humor in my art; I want it to be accessible; I want people to feel they can do this too,” she said. “It's not like some crazy thing you can only see on TV, or there’s only one person that can do it.”

She said she wants people coming to her show to see that there’s “a magic or a wonderment in everyday life if we just take the time.”

One of her paintings is outlined in green. It was inspired by witnessing a comet of the same hue streaking across the night sky when she was driving.

“I just remembered thinking that was crazy, and I wonder how many people saw that,” she said. “That’s a little gift you get for looking up at the sky.”

Sorondo says her love of instal-

lation art stems from showcasing the temporary nature of everyday life.

“That’s why I use fresh flowers, things that aren’t going to last forever,” Sorondo says. “Because it’s like you either show up or you don’t. You either get to see it, or you don’t.”

She wants people to know that it’s possible to “heal yourself with the things around you.”

“Not that it’s simple, but it’s available if you’re willing to be silly or to just look, to be quiet,” Sorondo said. “Just looking at the wind blow at the grass and just being grateful that you can see that. That’s what makes life good, those are the things that stick with you through time.”

ful, and that’s where that pull for journalism came back,” she said.

“Journalism kept calling.”

In 2000, Schock went back to school, attending UC Berkeley and earning her master’s degree in journalism in 2002.

Then she moved to New York City, where she worked for NBC, providing production support for “The Today Show,” “The News with Brian Williams” and “Dateline NBC.” After a year, she moved back to Fresno and worked as a television reporter for KGPE CBS 47.

“I think the thing that I learned the most as a journalist, is that people deal with a lot in the course

of their lives,” Schock said. “And they do it usually with enormous grace and enormous dignity.”

In 2006, Schock left reporting for a position as a corporate spokeswoman at Pelco. Her father had just been diagnosed with cancer, and she wanted to be present for his treatments.

“It was a difficult decision to walk away from journalism; it had been my dream for so long,” she said. “But journalism can take a lot out of you, and I was really tired.”

She worked at Pelco for five years, and in 2010 became the host of public affairs for Fresno Comcast subscribers. In June of

2011, she was appointed director of strategic communications at Fresno State, a position she held until 2017. During her time at Fresno State, Schock received her doctorate in educational leadership, graduating in 2017.

Schock transitioned into teaching in spring 2017 as a part-time instructor at FCC, inspired by the 2016 presidential election.

“One of the things that I noticed in that election was I didn’t feel that the population was very well informed when they went to the polling place,” she said. “What I began to be concerned about was the ability of the public to be critical about the news that they

were consuming.”

She tries to instill within her students media literacy skills.

Schock teaches two classes at FCC: Intro to Mass Communications, and Race, Gender, and the Media, both of which emphasize a critical exploration of media messages and representation.

“I define success as living a life with authenticity, living a life in which I am bringing kindness to situations,” Shock said. “I think if I’m doing that then I’m doing pretty good.”

3.21.18 ENTERTAINMENT 11

therampageonline.com

Ani-Me Con 2018: Anime DeliGHT Michael Mendez | Contributor

One of the biggest conventions in the Central Valley returned to the Fresno Fairgrounds for the seventh annual Ani-Me Con. The two-day event on March 17-18 featured vendors and special guests from all over the country, and racked up 7,000 attendees, according to organizer Rick Phoeng. This year’s convention was the largest Ani-Me Con to date.

The convention has a mixture of things to do. Around 150 vendors sold a large array of merchandise from pins, keychains, posters, pillows, original artwork, etc. The event also featured concerts, dance performances, fashion shows and voice actor panels with Sarah Williams and Erik Scott Kimerer.

The event could be a lot to take in for first time guests. Some found like-minded people there.

Guests like Chelsea Borunda experienced the event for the first time.

“I really love anime, and it was really cool to hear that there was this convention,” said Borunda. “I am really enjoying the event, I’m just a little overwhelmed getting autographs from all the voice actors I wanted to see and looking at all anime things that I want to buy from the vendors.”

Ani-Me Con is not just a place to buy merchandise of all of your favorite pop culture media, but also a way of meeting new people and forming communities with people sharing similar interests.

One thing that is always a sight to see at these events is cosplays that are crafted down to the smallest detail. For professional cosplayer Hana Bunny, coming to this event is a way of showing how creative she can be while having the opportunity of becoming someone else for at least one day.

“I love anime and I love cosplay. Cosplay is a really fun hobby for me as it allows me to take a short break from being myself

and becoming someone else,” said Bunny. “To put cosplays together is half the fun, [to be] able to wear a cosplay that took me a long time to create and able to show it off in events like this makes it really cool.”

Ani-Me Con set positive vibes from every corner of the event, with plenty to see in terms of artwork, comics and manga of favorite characters from the various vendors.

Event attendee Matthew Wheatley said the variety at the event keeps him coming back.

“I experience a lot at this event, from the vendors showcasing some really amazing artwork, [to] the connections I’ve made just by walking around talking to people, said Wheatley. “I like the way that this event keeps on getting bigger each year and I look forward to it when it gets announced. I am coming back next year guaranteed and I hope it keeps getting bigger to bring more vendors and voice actors.”

Yoonah cosplaying as Soraka roaming at Ani-Me Con 7.0 on Saturday March 17, 2018.. Photo/Larry Valenzuela

‘Law & Order True Crime’ Star Inspires Students Noah Villaverde | Entertainment Editor nvillaverde@therampageonline.com

Actor and Visalia native Miles Gaston Villanueva told a Fresno City College audience about his success as a professional actor in Los Angeles during the third annual Theatre Festival on March 7.

Villanueva has appeared in numerous television series’, including in a main role as Lyle Menendez in “Law & Order True Crime,” starring alongside threetime Emmy winner, Edie Falco.

Villanueva’s other television series credits include “Days of Our Lives,” “Chasing Life,” “The Young and the Restless,” “Jane the Virgin,” and “The Fosters.”

He reflected on experiences working alongside actors and ac-

tresses he looks up to on the sets of soap operas, TV series and in the theatre.

He starred alongside Academy Award-winner Al Pacino and two-time Tony winner Judith Light in Pasadena Playhouse’s production of “God Looked Away,” a story by legendary playwright Tennessee Williams.

Villanueva fondly remembers his experience working on that play and briefly mentioned how he referred to the legendary “Godfather” star.

“It’s Al, by the way,” Villanueva said. “It’s not Mr. Pacino.”

Villanueva said his acting résumé was achieved through his persistence and credits his theatre background for honing his craft.

He also warned students of frus-

trations.

“Some days, you’re extremely busy with auditioning,” Villanueva said, adding that students need to maintain a sense of hope when pursuing careers in entertainment.

He urged students to stay hopeful, excited and curious about their future and even with where they are now with writing, acting, directing and creating.

“We lose hope quickly if we don’t get an audition, book something, if some casting director is mean to us or we have a bad experience with an actor on set,” Villanueva said. “There can be no lack of hope in this business.”

From left, Miles Gaston Villanueva discusses his experience as a professional actor to theatre instructor Janine Christl during the third annual Theatre Festival at Fresno City College on Wednesday, March 7, 2018. Photo/Noah Villaverde

Opera Students Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with Music Jose Serrano | Reporter jserrano@therampageonline.com

St. Patrick’s Day is a holiday that attracts parades filled with four-leaf clovers and green clothing as its main event, however, Fresno City College took a different approach.

The FCC Opera honored St. Patrick’s Day with a musical performance consisting of traditional Irish songs on March 17 in the Recital Hall.

With the help of Irish music specialist Russell Noland, the students learned and performed Irish folk songs dating back to the 1700s, and some as recent as 2015 that are popular in Ireland.

The show started off with a lesson on Irish hospitality and the tradition of joining together in song.

After this, the song “Black Velvet Band” was sung which despite its jolliness, is a song about betrayal. Betrayal was a common theme through the night, as most of the songs were explaining a sad story.

“The Fields of Athenry” tells the story of a man who is sent to a prison colony overseas during the decade of the Irish Potato Famine after stealing food to feed his family.

However, not all songs were somber. Some were quite humorous, including “Seven Drunken Nights” which is about a drunken Irishman who slowly realizes

over a week his wife is cheating on him when everything he owns is slowly replaced by similar items that he knows doesn’t belong to him.

Some of the more recent songs include “Dreams,” a song performed by the Irish rock band the Cranberries, and was performed in the memory of singer Dolores O’Riordan, who died in January.

After a full setlist of traditional music, the night ended with “Parting Glass,” the traditional Irish parting song.

The event was well received by those who came to watch it. This was in part due to the interaction between the performers and the audience.

Noland made sure to joke around with the audience in a friendly manner. Opera Director Melissa Wolfman let the audience know that this is to show the sense of community within Irish culture.

“Everyone is supposed to be on the same level, unlike other performances like ballet where it’s a higher art form, you admire from afar where you can never participate,” Wolfman said, “but for St. Patrick’s Day everything is supposed to be communal, everyone is supposed to come together.”

12 SPORTS 3.21.18

therampageonline.com

FCC LOSES COMPETITIVE SERIES AGAINST COS Sophmore Jacob Paradine hits the ball clear out to left field against pitcher from College of the Sequoias, allowing Rams to score two runs on Thursday, March 15, 2018. Photo/Larry Valenzuela

Claudia Chavez | Reporter cchavez@therampageonline.com

Fresno City College lost a competitive series against College of the Sequoias (COS) on March 15. The first two innings finished fairly quickly within the first 10 minutes, and neither of the teams scored.

It wasn’t until the top of the third inning when the competition started. FCC’s pitcher Zac Whittaker threw strong pitches in the field and struck out the first COS batter.

COS’s Christopher Gonzalez bunted and great teamwork from Rams catcher to first baseman created the second out for the inning. As the competition continued, a smooth catch from Rams Ian Ross finalized the inning as he quickly threw the ball to first baseman Rickie Garcia and they got COS’s Wyatt Tilley out. That ended the top of the third with no scores.

FCC started a nice play for the bottom of the third as Isaac Rivera struck the ball clear out to right field and singled. Next batter up Fernando Guevara bunted in the direction of the pitcher and ran quickly to first base, while he

was headed to first, COS’s pitcher tried to get Guevara out but he wasn’t fast enough. Ian Ross was next batter up and grounded into double play, meanwhile Guevara was out on the play ending the inning with no scores made.

The top of the fourth inning consisted of a couple of walks for COS and as the third batter up Luke Garispe struck the ball out to center field and a nice catch from FCC’s Rivera finalized the last out making the score 0-1.

Another prompt inning began with the bottom of the fourth for FCC. Chet Allison struck a ball out to right field and was out. Garcia was up next, and pitch hit him so he walked. As COS’s pitcher was preparing to pitch to Gutierrez, Garcia attempted to steal second and was noticed, and safely slid back to first. Jacob Paradine was next batter up and hit the ball clear out to left field allowing both Garcia and Gutierrez to make a score, and two more players Joey Popejoy and Paradine were out. That ended the inning with a score of 2-1.

During the beginning of the top of the fifth, COS’s Christopher Gonzalez doubled. A was bunt made by Max Coyt and unfortunately FCC’s Garcia missed the ball thrown to

first base, so Coyt took advantage and tripled. Both Gonzalez and Coyt scored, and Garcia stepped up his game and got the last three players out finalizing the inning with two scores made by COS. FCC finally made a score during the bottom of the seventh inning. FCC started the bottom of the eighth inning when Allison grounded out to second base, Garcia grounded out to ss, and finally Gutierrez struck out concluding the bottom of the eighth with no scores.

COS Garispe was hit by the pitch during the top of the ninth and walked. Vasquez hit the ball out to left field and FCC’s Sheehan performed a nice catch and got.

The bottom of the ninth didn’t look too well after Paradine singled. Popejoy was up next and struck out, Rivera fouled out to first base, and Nick Sheehan struck out. That concluded the game 8-5.

Assistant Coach Eric Solberg said, “It’s a competitive series, we won the other day and today we just weren’t competitive in certain areas in the game. We just have to play better next time.”

Best of the West Delivers on Impact Anthony De Leon | Sports Editor adeleon@therampageonline.com

A local wrestling promotion held their biggest event of the year on March 17, the Best of the West Year 2 show live on pay-perview from the Fresno City College gymnasium Fans in attendance witnessed top notch wrestling mixed with quite a bit of insanity provided by the stars of BotW. Also making appearances were global superstars and former Impact World Champions “Cowboy” James Storm and Eli Drake.

With doors opening at 5 p.m., the crowd began to trickle in to find their seats and get comfortable for the undercard matches of the evening with first bell at 5:30 p.m. When the undercard began, the crowd in attendance was at nearly 150 fans filling both the chairs at ringside and a good section of the bleachers.

One of the highlights of the event was the insane, high impact four-way ladder match involving Marcus Eriks, Vintage Dragon, Kenny K and champion Virgil Green for the West Coast Championship. In a match filled with so many high-spots it was too fast paced to keep up.

Every second there was move after move that garnered attention and the competitors could

not restrict themselves to keeping the action inside the ring. The additions of tables added another level of insanity to the match with the ultimate victor being Kenny K climbing the ladder to become the new West Coast Champion.

Former Impact Wrestling Champion Eli Drake put on a show in his match against fellow wrestler Sledge that showed why his is one of the best talents in wrestling today. The seasoned veteran fed off the crowd showing off his technical skills garnered throughout the years and was able to pick up the victory.

The biggest pop of the night for sure was when “Cowboy” James Storm’s music hit and out he came with signature beer bottle in hand ready to take on Johnny Butabi and Adam Mayhem in a triple threat match. The outcome of the match saw Mayhem rolling up Butabi for the win after a tough back and forth between all three competitors. Post-match antics saw Butabi and Storm dish out a little punishment to Mayhem and ending with a celebratory drink in the center of the ring.

The main event of the evening saw “The California Black Sheep” Mike Rayne challenge “Your Demi God of Death” Funnybone in what turned out to be an epic, cringe-inducing steel cage match for the Best of the West Champi-

onship.

With bad blood between both Rayne and Funnybone, both competitors pulled out all the stops by including an abundance of weapons on top of the already intimidating steel they were enclosed in.

With more than a dozen of chairs brought in the ring by Rayne, the entirety of the match made fans cringe after every chair shot delivered between the two.

With every feud needing a defining moment to leave a lasting memory, these two were able to deliver that moment when Funnybone decided to up the ante by covering the middle of the ring with skin piercing thumbtacks.

With no way to avoid the tacks, the match became a three way featuring Rayne, Funnybone and the tacks. When it was all said and done, Rayne was the victor and the new BotW Champion by finishing off Funnybone with a move off the top rope onto numerous chairs.

With this being their last show at FCC for the next couple of months, you can catch BotW every Tuesday at 7 p.m. online on FITE.tv and visit BotW.com for numerous upcoming events.

Owen Travers defies gravity with a dive onto his opponents and partner below during Best of the West on Saturday, March 17 at Fresno City College. Photo/Anthony De Leon