2015_1_LEGEND_v2i1

LEGEND San Diego City College Summer-Fall 2015

Eyes on the Streets Take a tour with the Xtreme Justice League

2

L egend | Summer-Fall 2015

Flip the Page 5

From the Other Side

8

Agents of Change

11

Enter the Bike Kitchen

13

Through the Mic

16

The Downtown Heroes

20

A Stereotypical Guide

22

From the Legend Locals No Gender in Fashion

19

26

Defining a College Bar

A New Kingdom

24

ON THE COVER Front cover : A member of the Xtreme Justice L eague monitor s the streets of Downtown San Diego. Back cover : Group member s express unity.

Photos by JOE KENDALL

Summer-Fall 2015 | L egend

3

LEGEND

An award-winning, student-produced news magazine serving San Diego City College Volume 2, Number 1 | Summer-Fall 2015 Western Publishing Association 2015 Maggie Award Finalist American Scholastic Press Association 2014 and 2015 First Place Winner San Diego Press Club San Diego Society of Professional Journalists Journalism Association of Community Colleges 2014 award winners Angelica Wallingfor d Editor-in-Chief L aur a Sanchez Managing Editor Joe K endall Photography Editor Jennifer M analili, Nowell M ontej o, David Pr adel, Phoenix Webb Contributing Editors

M ar k Elliott, Edgar I nda-L ares, Richar d L omibao, Tor rey Spoerer, Fr anchesca Walker Magazine Staff Roman S. K oenig Journalism Adviser Legend news magazine is published once per semester.

Signed opinions are those of the individual writers and do not necessarily represent those of the entire magazine staff, City College administration, faculty and staff or the San Diego Community College District Board of Trustees.

Distr ict Policy Statement This publication is produced as a learning experience under San Diego City College?s Digital Journalism program. All materials, including opinions expressed herein, are the sole responsibility of the students and should not be interpreted to be those of the college district, its officers or employees.

M ember ships Journalism Association of Community Colleges, California College Media Association, Associated Collegiate Press California Newspaper Publishers Association L egend M agazine San Diego City College 1313 Park Blvd., San Diego, CA 92101 619-388-3880 legend@sdcitytimes.com www.sdcitytimes.com/legend Designed entirely in the cloud using L ucidpress

4

L egend | Summer-Fall 2015

Editor?s Note Dear readers, Hunched over my computer looking through edit after edit of this issue, I noticed one common theme within all the stories: community.

Community is almost always associated with your neighborhood, usually full of mostly nameless faces of neighbors who live streets over from you or ?community leaders? who no one really makes the effort to get to know about except when they make public appearances at grand openings or parades.

Whatever your definition of community may be, there is one thing that certain ? what makes a community isn?t necessarily who you?re surrounded by, it?s whom you choose to be surrounded with.

Community is your family, friends, classmates and professors.

It?s people you connect with. It?s the places where you hang out and spend your time doing whatever it is that you want to do.

Whether it?s a small radio station in Barrio Logan, a group of masked crusaders roaming the streets of Downtown or students here at City College working hard to achieve their goals and dreams, it?s all just a community of people doing what they love to do with people who they care about.

L egend Editor-in-Chief Angelica Wallingfor d. Top photo: The new campus sign at the cor ner of C and 16th streets.

Photos by DAVID PRADEL The same could be said for all the places we occupy. From the hidden haunts that are almost exclusively local to the cliche locations that are go-to tourist destinations, it?s pretty much the same feeling of community with different people experiencing it.

Whatever your definition of community may be, I hope this issue gives you something to think about.

Angelica Wallingford

San Diego City College student Rober t Black, 56, wor ks on a Psychology Statistics paper on one of the many computer s in the L ear ning Resource Center on Apr il 30. Photo by MARK ELLIOTT

NO GRAY AREA HERE A look at the older generation of students following on the way to achieving their goals at San Diego City College

By MARK ELLIOTT ?We?re agents of change ? ?

Anyone riding a San Diego trolley who has seen the plastered-on ad knows that much about San Diego City College students. There is a profile roster of world changers one will meet on the campus. Race isn?t excluded, nor is enthusiasm or specific age group. There are milky white eyes and deep lines visible on a few agents?faces. There?s certainly no gray area about it. Really look who you?re sitting next to in class ? 45 and older have taken over.

They may enter a classroom with visual aid or with the use of a solid cane, but their attention is on that coveted ?A,? too. The conflict they face in a time in life people don?t think they are developing is Generativitiy versus Stagnation. Psychologist Erik Erikson coined this term ? the big word starting with ?G? simply means to a mature student asking the question, ?Has my life counted?? It also means asking, ?Is what I produce now in this classroom going to prove something to myself?? and ?How will

I contribute??

The body fails, memories can take naps and you now really take time to express a thought. It?s facing all that day to day or deciding to rot for the students in the seventh stage of personal development.

On those first days of class, they?re just as confused as their younger counterparts examining five or six pages of dense syllabus. On the front, the differences between old and young See GRAY, Page 6

Summer-Fall 2015 | L egend

5

GRAY Continued from page 5 are as clear as day ? yet when it is their turn to introduce, it?s all the same.

It?s for my kids.

It's for my mom.

It gives me something to do.

It?s because I couldn?t do it then.

It?s to learn about the time we?re living in.

These motivations are universal, full-haired or bald. They are in it for the cause of change, same as the twenty-somethings or the newly freed high-schoolers. Time isn?t how much of it you have left; time is what an individual makes of it.

If you ask Nel Mercer, professor of human behavior and member of this age bracket, whether or not students in the 45-and-up stage can ?make it? in a modern college course, she will answer in a more articulate way how they ?mop the floor with some of their younger peers.? ?I love having mature students in my classes. Mature students, and

6

L egend | Summer-Fall 2015

especially those in their 50s and up.

They often tell me at the beginning of the semester that they're concerned that they won't be able to handle some aspect of the coursework,? Mercer says. ?They tend to be humble about it and genuinely concerned. But my experience has been that mature students ? and I?ve had a lot through the years ? are nearly always among the very best students in the class. As a rule, mature students come to class prepared, pay attention and participate thoughtfully, and they take advantage of office hours and get feedback on papers long before the deadline.?

It?s funny to think these older students can easily be mistaken as a professor ? sitting mostly in the front and having all textbook definitions committed to memory after the second or third class. You won?t hear them complaining about it. In fact, in the coursework of a single class, a student may learn just as much from those aged doppelgangers.

Mercer adds, ?I also notice that sometimes younger students start to recognize the strengths of their mature

classmates and seek them out as study buddies or just for advice.?

Robert Black, 56, is a study buddy and leader to many. He embodies the professor?s glowing endorsement of his age group. In the span of an 18-minute conversation, Black speaks in all sincere intention of being inspired by all the new he sees in younger students.

To him, college is everything presented on those San Diego Metro ads. He talks of variant culture, the different values a generation holds and the little parts of youth he sees in himself. He is the opposite of a man in the grip of stagnation when he states, ?I just don?t like the feeling of going to school and then not doing everything I can do to do the best I can do.?

For a man who can call most of his professors his peers, he never truly removes himself from those classmates he?s graded alongside. He shares the same pit-of-the-stomach ambivalence a student feels the week coming back to class. Once he is there, though, he thrives and loves it all again.

See GRAY, Page 7

GRAY Continued from page 6 A down-to-earth kindness and the work ethic of a baby-boomer is what Black brings to the circle of desks in a study group. Using the leadership skills he honed in his business days, he gets the group talking and adding more to the puzzle, all to get the fullest understanding of the curriculum for the sake of the group?s grade. ?If there is one thing I learned, I can?t say that I have any gleaming knowledge that stands out from anything else; one thing I have learned is to work out as a team and ask for help,? he says. ?If I struggle with something, I go directly to the source; sometimes that?s my fellow student and sometimes it?s the professor.?

Asking for help isn?t anything he finds a bit of shame in, and if a man with the experience Black built up asks, ?What each cortex of the brain does?? it gets one going toward that end-of-the year ?A,? too. And that?s how you

contribute ? but more than possessing that focus, more than trying to prove something to yourself or fighting that memory fading, college is about passion. Whether that means finding it or having it. Robert Black found his again the second time around when he

?I just don?t like the feeling of going to school and then not doing everything I can do to do the best I can do.?

Robert Black, student, 56 came back to the land of exams and handwritten notes. The goal he thought up originally was entirely different from what he ended up gravitating toward.

?I came back to school to get a technical skill. I was going into radiology and I figured two years in and out, that I?d be back on the job market. I started taking general ed ? took psychology and realized I love psychology. I?m fascinated by human behavior; I have been my entire life,? he says.

After switching focus, it brings him a great sense of pride to say he?ll be attending a four-year university. This semester will be part of a goodbye to City College, as Black heads toward the big ?What?s next??

He doesn?t seem a bit sad to go.

There?s a gleam you?ll see in his eye as he talks about the study groups that helped him get here. For a moment, he pauses, and in that pause Black knows that he brought a change in himself and to those peers he studies with.

There will be others in the same position like him ready to replace him in City. Ready to learn again, to make a change and looking for that thing called yourself even at that age. They?re like any good agent. They see ahead.

Lookingfor journalism?FindclasseslabeledDJRN (Digital Journalism) at SanDiegoCity College

Summer-Fall 2015 | L egend

7

Crossing Borders One City College student?s daily routine getting to and from school in one of America?s busiest border towns

By LAURA SANCHEZ The Tijuana-San Diego border is a nonstop pumping vessel. It never sleeps.

Thousands of people flood the border every morning as part of their daily routine. When most San Diegans are tossing and turning to get out of bed, most of our Tijuana neighbors have already tackled the dreadfulness of the borderline wait.

The San Ysidro-Puerta Mexico Port of Entry is the world?s busiest international land border crossing, one of the three points of entry. About 40,000 people crossed northbound by car and on foot during 2013, according to the San Diego Association of Governments.

Tijuana is home to many of our

8

L egend | Summer-Fall 2015

classmates and coworkers ? individuals who go through a daily trek to sustain the border lifestyle ? living there, working here. Dollars are worth more in Tijuana?s standard of living, and that?s enticing for many in this economy, why pay more for less? Tijuana offers many the opportunity to live in a larger place for a much cheaper price, however, it?s her spirit that keeps them there.

Those students and employees are willing to sacrifice a few hours of their day to make the trip from one border city to the other. It?s a love-hate relationship, but as many Tijuana residents would say, she?s worth it.

We accompanied one of those border students on his daily morning trek. His

name is Rafael Villegas, a San Diego City College student. He wants to receive a certificate in computer science. We stood in line with him for about two hours, then followed him on his bus route to City. He shared with us his relationship with Tijuana. She is everyone?s mistress, but as Rafael explained to us, San Diego provides them all with security.

Dr iver s wait to cross over the San Ysidro-Puer ta M exico Por t of entr y in bumper-to-bumper tr affic (above). A long line of people snaking around divider s to get through Customs is an ever yday occur rence for some individuals. Photos by JOE KENDALL

?I start my day two hours earlier.

I drive my car to the border and just leave it over there and I just cross walking ?cause it?s faster, and then just take the trolley to school.?

From 7:56 a.m. start of line to 10:06 a.m., crossed border ?... the only downside is that you have to wake up like two hours before coming to school ?cause you don?t know if you?ll have to wait much in line. So you have to be ready for everything and there?s times you won?t make it. But the good thing is that you don?t pay as much rent as here. You get to see two cultures in action in the morning, how everything starts a new day. Two communities that are so close but so different.?

9:37 a.m.

Rafael Villegas is a City College student who divides his life between bor der s. He is among thousands of people who cross ever y mor ning to go to San Diego. The wait can be anywhere from 20 minutes to three hour s. Photos by JOE KENDALL

Summer-Fall 2015 | L egend

9

?There?s something about that place (TJ) that just makes you start your own critical thinking and see how you can express yourself and reach out to other people. It?s just different.?

10:08 a.m., got on trolley in San Ysidro 11:01 a.m., arrived to City College stop

?My heart is over there (TJ); even when I graduate and when I get my real job ...

I?ll just probably get a Sentri and just cross back and forth everyday. You just get a sense of freedom you don?t get over here (in San Diego).?

7:56 a.m., start of line in TJ; 11:06 a.m., arrived at City 10

L egend | Summer-Fall 2015

Photos by JOE K ENDAL L

A visitor at the Bikes del Pueblo tent of the City Heights Far mer s M ar ket changes the bear ings in the axle of a wheel from his bike with help and guidance from volunteer s on Apr il 18. Photo by TORREY SPOERER

Cycling the DIY Skills San Diego?s only bike kitchen still thriving despite challenges

By TORREY SPOERER Alfredo originally bought his vintage Raleigh road bicycle for only $5, but he has also spent $300 over the past three years on repairs and maintenance. $100 per year on an outdated vintage ride, however, is still probably cheaper than if Alfredo had solely relied on a private bike shop to order rare new-quality parts and then install them onto the bicycle for him.

He found out about Bikes del Pueblo, a local nonprofit bicyclist cooperative ?bike kitchen? a year ago through some of the mechanics at Pedal Pushing, a small bike repair and wholesale storefront located on El Cajon Boulevard (also in City Heights).

As defined by the California Bicycle Coalition: ?Community bike shops ? sometimes also called bike kitchens, bike collectives or bike cooperatives ? are not-for-profit, volunteer-run organizations that offer such low-cost

and free services as do-it-yourself bicycle repairs, bicycle education and bicycle recycling, often with a special focus on serving youth, low-income populations and otherwise underserved communities.?

California is home to more community bike shops than any other state, while Bikes del Pueblo is the only bike kitchen in all of San Diego, according to the coalition.

Every Saturday from 9 a.m to 1 p.m, co-op volunteers set up a mini-shop-style tent at the City Heights Farmers Market, located on Wightman Street between Fairmount Avenue and 43rd Street, and assist market visitors through the process fixing their own bikes.

Anyone can bring their bike to the tent and have access to a fully stocked tool kit and a few mechanic mentors for any donation amount possible, small or big, for using the facilities and mentoring.

Since then, Alfredo's been coming to the open tent one Saturday or so

every four months for help and tips with the repairs that his bike occasionally needs. ?More people keep coming here to fix old bicycles,? Alfredo says.

Visitors are of a various range from more frequent bike riders tuning or fixing their road bikes to kids fixing a flat on their BMX bike or beach cruiser.

Two of the BDP mechanics, Vi Nguyen and Leah Shoemaker, are first-year San Diego City College students. They started volunteering for BDP around a year ago through mutual friends who were also volunteers at that time.

Over their past roughly recorded decade of existence thus far, Bikes del Pueblo has seen many coming and going volunteers pass on through, yet has still maintained a moderately influential position in the Mid-City

See CYCLING, Page 12

Summer-Fall 2015 | L egend

11

CYCLING Continued from page 11 communities of San Diego. It?s as if one generation of volunteers passes on their techniques and passion to the next eager generation of volunteers as part of a cycle. ?We?re kind of trying to put together our own sense of a timeline,?

Nguyen says.

Bikes del Pueblo is also stocked with various salvaged secondhand bicycle parts and components such as wheels, frames and forks, handlebars, gears and so forth. Many of the usable parts can be purchased for roughly low estimated costs that go straight back into the co-op?s operating funds.

However, the garage itself is not open to the public. Visitors can let a volunteer at the open kitchen know if they have a part or bike in mind and the volunteers will grab it for them. If anyone cannot make Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., they can contact the co-op via email.

The BDP garage was moved from the garage at Snowdrop to the basement of the Coven, both co-op houses in City Heights, in late 2012 and has continued to operate out of that basement since then.

The co-op also occasionally partakes in donation drives along with other nonprofit forces, such as in their most recent holiday drive back in late March for helmets, lights and u-locks to donate to the local welfare youths via Pro Kids, a nonprofit golfing and recreational activities organization for underprivileged youths, along with a

bike safety workshop.

Unfortunately, in part due to the limit of labor and energy, growth has been ?kind of hard to count,? according to Nguyen. ?A lot of times, like when applying for grants, they want to know what your impact is on the community.

And we have like almost no way of measuring that. We rarely ever collect much of that info, like how many people we have and how much labor we?re putting in, we don?t really keep track of that very well.?

Without these grants and similar financial resources, their dream goal of opening a nonprofit storefront in City Heights isn?t looking possible just yet. ?Between the amount of volunteers we have, it?s just all that energy just to put on the market, put on the build decks here and such,? Nguyen explains.

There?s also the matter of maintaining the workshop?s ?safe space? policy, which includes the available preference of respecting a level of reserved anonymity via first name basis if the visitor desires such. ?I don?t want to make people feel like they?re in a government office, where we?re asking all of them for address and everything just so they can fix their bike,? Nguyen says.

In recent time, bike visibility in San Diego has slowly but steadily increased. Some most recent examples include new designated bike lanes on Fourth Avenue and Fifth Avenue through Bankers Hill, and the new presence of rental bike stations throughout Downtown, Hillcrest and North Park called Deco Bikes.

The rental bikes, however, require a

credit or debit card and charge a minimum rate of $5 for just 30 minutes, twice as much as a one-way fare on a transit system bus or trolley. ?Personally, with Deco Bikes, I think it?s good for bike visibility in SD, but it?s also not an answer to an issue of transportation and accessibility, because they?re sort of aimed towards mostly tourists, and folks that might not have space in their condo for a bike ? It?s aimed towards a certain demographic,?

Shoemaker explains.

Despite limited resources and a frequently rotating volunteer body, the do-it-yourself ethic that fuels the co-op?s motto of autonomy has kept it going strong. ?I kind of see it as like it?s not so much like I?m doing it because people need the help, but because it should just be around,? Shoemaker explains. ?I think it's based off sort of my own ethics. We need free resources or low-cost resources to be sustainable.? ?It?s great to be able to work on something and fix it up without having to be dependent on a bike shop or like being able to not spend your whole paycheck on getting around,?

Shoemaker says.

No matter who comes to the kitchen for help, or who comes and goes through the volunteer body, the motto of autonomy will always remain core to the kitchen?s character and spirit: they won?t do it for you, but they?ll show you how it?s done and provide a community toolbox so you can do it yourself.

For more information, visit the group?s website at bikesdelpueblo .blogspot.com.

L ar ge tool sets would usually cost a for tune for j ust one individual. At a bike kitchen, however, visitor s and volunteer s have shared access to a ver satile var iety of tools and par ts. Photo by TORREY SPOERER

12

L egend | Summer-Fall 2015

Photo by JOE KENDALL

Street Superheroes A couple of nights with San Diego?s own mysterious band of Downtown heroes

By JOE KENDALL ?Does that thing record video??

Spartan asks from the front seat looking at my camera. ?Yeah,? I reply. ?But I?m mostly here just to take photos.? ?Well if someone gets stabbed can you record then?? he says. ?Yeah, if someone gets stabbed I?ll start recording.?

So begins a Saturday night on watch with the Xtreme Justice League.

The XJL is a group of what is known as real life super heroes. Regular people from all walks of life who dress up in costumes and create alter egos with names like Midnight Highwayman, Vigilante Spider, Spartan Warrior and Violet Valkyrie.

More than just cosplay, members of the XJL spend their time in the streets, patrolling Downtown on the weekends, as well as responding to specific threats around town in what their founder, Mr. Xtreme, calls campaigns.

The Suzuki SUV?s four-cylinder engine labors to get up to speed, carrying the team through the bustling city.

Spartan Warrior is riding shotgun, with Light Fist in the back seat and Midnight Highwayman taking the wheel.

The night begins pretty slowly.

Riding down Fourth, up Fifth and so on, pulling into dark parking lots, looking for signs of trouble. Spartan and Midnight shine bright flashlights down the rows of cars looking for broken glass or passed out drunks, as Light Fist peers out the open rear window doing the same. The most they run into in the parking lots is some teenagers pissing next to a car.

It?s around 11:30 p.m., and the streets outside are alive with activity. A group of women dressed in their Saturday worst walk through giant clouds of smoke blown by men at a hookah lounge.

Riding down Broadway, the unit scans both sides of the street intently, but it?s Spartan who catches something from the passenger seat worth investigating.

Sitting upright against a planter, there is a man wearing a blue button-up and jeans with his head slumped forward against his chest.

Midnight quickly flips on his emergency flashers and pulls the SUV to

the curb. In unison, they hop out of the car, taking positions around the unconscious man, Midnight holding the flashlight as Spartan attends to the man and Light Fist keeps an eye on their surroundings. ?Hey buddy, you all right?? Spartan asks and receives no reply in return. ?Can you tell me your name??

Still nothing. Spartan, a medic by trade, checks the unresponsive man?s heart rate. ?140. Call an ambulance,? he says, and within seconds Light Fist is on the phone with a dispatcher explaining the situation and giving them our location.

They continue to try and talk to the man, but get nothing by the time the ambulance arrives. Spartan quickly updates the paramedics on the man?s condition and paramedics load him onto a stretcher and into the back of the ambulance.

Helping others is one of the largest motivating factors for members of the XJL, spending untold hours of their own See HEROES Page 15

Summer-Fall 2015 | L egend

13

14

L egend | Summer-Fall 2015

HEROES Continued from page 13 time in the service of others. Some having devoted years to the cause, and in the case of Mr. Xtreme, a length of times that spans almost a decade. ?I?ve always wanted to make a difference. I?ve always wanted to stop violent crime because I was put off by all the apathy, and indifference, and all of the people getting victimized by violence,? he says. ?It just seems like nobody cares. And I look around. This world is kinda getting bad, getting worse and worse, and all the evil that I see. I just want to get out and try to do something positive and really make a difference.?

The Suzuki continues to snake its way through the streets of Downtown.

The rest of the ride is quiet, stopping only once more to give a homeless man some bottles of water. It?s around 1:30 a.m. when Mr. Xtreme calls to say he?s Downtown to begin his foot patrol.

The bread and butter of the XJL, foot patrol is a much different experience than the relatively safe and anonymous confines of a vehicle. The previous weekend, the team had taken some potential new members on one such patrol.

The tryouts arrive. Friends and bandmates who were out to make a difference, as well, they had decided to come see if the XJL was a fit for them.

Introducing themselves as Chief Diplomacy, dressed in a Native American headdress, oriental shirt and jeans, El Commandante, wearing a black and white serape and balaclava, and rounding out the lineup, The Third Eye, sporting white coveralls and mask painted to resemble an eyeball.

Once Grim and Violet Valkyrie arrive, the team goes over the plan for the night. Spartan is to lead the excursion and quickly forms the group into ranks. ?I want Chief Diplomacy and I up front. Violet, you and El Commandante in the center, and Grim and Third Eye will take the rear.?

They are very organized as they lay

Prospective member s of the Xtreme Justice L eague roam the streets of Downtown San Diego dur ing a night on patrol. For more infor mation about the Xtreme Justice L eague, contact M r. Xtreme at xtremecr imefighter @yahoo.com or check out xtremej usticeleague.or g. Photo by JOE KENDALL out the plan for the night, assigning each person a specific job. Phone talker, runner and medic are all assigned by the patrol leader before leaving the hall.

It?s 11 p.m. on a busy Saturday night but for now the streets are peaceful. Marching as a single unit, they travel up and down Fourth, Fifth and Sixth, singling up as they squeeze past lines of club goers and sign spinners hawking dollar tacos and pizza by the slice.

Walking through crowds of people with six adults dressed in costume, you hear all kinds of things. The range of reactions received throughout the night covers the spectrum.

From groups of country girls outside of Moonshine Flats stopping them for pictures and hugs, to Guido men in half-buttoned shirts and gold chains outside of Parq looking just as much a pop culture caricature as anyone in the masked group, yelling aggressive taunts as they walked by.

Asked if the comments ever get to them: ?If you?re going to get upset at that, this isn?t the job for you,? one of them replies.

Moving between Fifth and Sixth for another go-around, they spot a commotion. It?s hard to tell from where they?re at, but it?s obvious something is happening on the corner across the street.

They break into a sprint toward the action and arrive on the corner of Fifth and E to find a man that has clearly just been in a fight trying to break away from his companions and continue the scuffle.

De-escalation is the main goal of the XJL, and while Chief Diplomacy closes in on the man reminding him that it?s not worth it, Grim illuminates the corner with his helmet mounted flashlight. The rest of the group fans out and creates a barrier around the man, and his friends provide a presence and ensure nobody comes up for round two. Once the participants realize they?re surrounded by costumed crusaders, all they want to do is remove themselves from the situation as quickly as possible.

It?s impossible to say what would have happened if the XJL hadn?t been there at any of these incidents, but regardless of their alter egos and outfits, having a clear-headed and well-intentioned influence in often alcohol-fueled, out-of-control situations can make all the difference.

That?s what this is all about when you really get down to it. Between the choice of doing something and doing nothing, a handful of people have chosen to do something. Albeit in their own way, not only because it makes them feel good but also because it makes our city a better place.

Pages 14 and 13: M ember s of the XJL walk the city streets looking for trouble, not to star t it, but to prevent it. Gr im, L ight Fist, Green K night, and M r. Smiley navigate through the night in for mation using a system of ver bal and non-ver bal communication to respond to the ever-changing situation. Photos by JOE KENDALL

Summer-Fall 2015 | L egend

15

Radio Pulso

Photo by LAURA SANCHEZ

Community powered airways broadcasting from the Barrio

By LAURA SANCHEZ Nothing nourishes the drained body like a breakfast burrito after one of ?those nights? of too many beers and shots. That greasy overload of carbs and fat brings anyone back to life after flushing your dignity down the bar?s porcelain life counselor. It?s simple comfort and warmth. It?s pure indulgence. That?s the kind of morning relief that the Breakfast Burrito Club radio show provides its loyal listeners.

Breakfast Burrito Club is a radio show formed by three Barrio Logan personalities, Bob Green and Ana Brown, cofounders of the Roots Factory art collective, and Teresa Montero, aka ?Bucky,? president of the community-based radio project.

Photo by RICHARD LOMIBAO The radio show starts off every weekday morning from 9 to 11 a.m. with no real script or agenda, simply dictated by humor and soul. Not everyone makes it to the show every morning but it's always a full house with Bob?s charisma and his notorious guests. Bob Green and his impromptu co-host, David Veloz, aka ?el Grinch,? are never timely, but always present. They never seize to provide a morning dosage of comedic relief. Bright and early, Breakfast Burrito Club becomes the energy that drives Radio Pulso del Barrio.

The greater Logan Heights community powers Radio Pulso del Barrio, a bilingual radio station that is centered on culture, arts and education. The station strives to give a stronger voice to the residents of the Barrio.

Photo by JOE KENDALL

16

L egend | Summer-Fall 2015

Radio Pulso del Bar r io took their tur ntables to the annual community event Chicano Par k Day 2015 (top photo).

Ana Brown, Bob Green and Teresa M ontero on air (middle).

BBC mor ning r adio show inter views vocalist Rafael Reyes from the local ?cholo-goth? duo band Pr ayer s (bottom).

L eft to r ight clockwise: Ana Brown, M ilo L orenzana, Teresa M ontero, Bob Green and Er nie Becer r a inter view local ar tist and front man of the band Pr ayer s Rafael Reyes dur ing the Breakfast Bur r ito Club r adio show. Photo by JOE KENDALL The San Diego Museum of Art?s Open Spaces Project, funded by the James Irvine Foundation, established the station after they received the opportunity to organize a self-sustaining public art piece that would empower the community. Four neighborhoods in San Diego, Barrio Logan being one of them, were chosen to design a public art piece for their community and from the community. ?We hired an artist-in-residence and that was Roberto Salas and then we hired a lead artist who is someone who lives in the neighborhood and his name is Misael Diaz and we three as a team facilitate the meetings ... the dialogue was never radio to begin with, the dialogue was more like, we have this budget what would you like to see in your community? Do you want another mural? Do you want a sculpture, where would it be? We got to decide medium, content and location,? explains Irma Aguayo, project coordinator of Open Spaces.

Bucky, now coordinating the project, explains how she got involved by attending the community forums that Open Spaces held to receive input from residents. ?I just started going to the community forums at the museum that Open Spaces was putting together to try to get input from the community as to what they wanted to do with the funding and then coming up with ideas of a public art piece. I would just go to the meetings and participate and be in

the conversation and hear everyone else?s ideas.?

She admits that when the grant writer first approached the community art galleries, such as The Spot, Voz Alta and Roots Factory to propose the project, there was hesitation from the residents because no one wanted the museum to be involved in the space they had created alone. ?Right away everybody was like, we don?t want the museum to get involved with the community because then the museum is just going to go ahead and stamp whatever they want and then call it ?community art piece.??

That hesitance quickly diminished when representatives from the art galleries were called upon to become the main voices of the project.

After a period of about six months, the multitude of ideas and proposals were narrowed down to three viable options. The proposals included the idea to activate vacant lots; a corridor dedicated to worker?s rights leader Cesar Chavez, and the concept of a community radio station.

After a voting process within the committee, Radio Pulso del Barrio was chosen as the proposal that would receive grant funding and support from the two foundations.

The foundations?grant funded the radio equipment and space at Bread & Salt art gallery that would become Radio Pulso del Barrio.

At that point, the museum handed down the project to the community and

appointed a board where Bucky was voted president.

Roots Factory soon got on board with the project. As one of the oldest art collectives in Barrio Logan, it was well-connected with local artists and musicians who offered the critical creative component the radio needed in order to establish itself in the community. ?We?ve been around, we have a lot of connections with people who started these galleries. We?ve really developed these close relationships with a lot people and the artists who support them,? Green comments on the establishment of the Roots Factory in the arts community in Barrio Logan.

No one on board at that moment had had previous radio experience; they just decided to ?wing it? and go on air, explains Bucky.

Instantly, educators and local social justice organizations such as Association of Raza Educators San Diego and Border Angels visited the radio station and supported the project. ?It?s not my project; it?s not Roots Factory?s project; it?s what the community wants,? Bucky asserts. It?s a self-sustainable project run by volunteers, people committed to the project wholeheartedly that follow the grassroots rhythm happening right now throughout Barrio Logan.

Radio Pulso del Barrio incorporates a wide array of topics and music on See RADIO Page 18

Summer-Fall 2015 | L egend

17

RADIO Continued from page 17

Photo by L AURA SANCHEZ

each show, all created by local ar tists, community activists, and musicians. ?The r adio station is impor tant because it encompasses ever ything else that happens. I t is another platfor m of suppor t for ever yone, it?s a platfor m for a voice, it?s a platfor m to mobilize and unify people and I think those things are really impor tant in communities,? I r ma comments on the r adio.

One particularly unique show is from a San Diego City College student Jessie Maria Gomez Villeda. Titled ?Mi Vida Loca,? the show consists of a compilation of narratives told firsthand by people who want to voice out a story, feeling or experience. The stories contain a raw, unstructured and uncensored human component to them. The show airs right after Breakfast Burrito Club without introduction or warning, and instantly delves the listener into the speaker ?s mind and feelings, leaving listeners in constant anticipation of what the narrator will say next.

Jesse-M ar ia says she was inspired to create a platfor m for people to express themselves creatively and emotionally after taking a creative nonfiction wr iting class at City College with Professor Nadia M andilawi. ?I t all tied back to how these exper iences have defined us as people, as students, as wr iter s, so there was a lot of impactful moments in that class,? Jesse-M ar ia says. ?So when it was over it really dawned on me, like wow, from ever ything I ?ve wr itten and poured my hear t into ? ever ything else other s had poured their hear ts into, like there is only a small pocket of time for those moments to be shared and that was in that class. And that inspir ation ended with that class, and then what happens??

This influenced her to make use of the r adio as a medium to give those stor ies continuity and keep them alive. Jesse-M ar ia stands among other ar tists and community activists who have already, in j ust a few months, established Radio Pulso del Bar r io as a tr ue community r adio station by the people and for the people. Tune in daily online and immer se your self in the Bar r io culture at www.r adiopulsodelbar r io.com.

Right to left: Bob Green, Jesse-M ar ia Gomez Villeda, and DJ Josex are community member s who contr ibute their time and ar tistic endeavor s to sustain the gr assroots movement within the r adio station. Photos by RICHARD LOMIBAO

18

L egend | Summer-Fall 2015

OBSCURING GENDER Fashion trends that are moving toward subverting the boundaries of gender binaries

By LAURA SANCHEZ Color broadcast television was introduced in the United States in 1953.

By the 1970s, an entire spectrum of coloration imbued the public vision with diversified tones and shades. For the very first time, the concept of heterogeneity was depicted on public television screens. Ironically, many viewers today continue to perceive their reality through a black and white mindset.

Our reality is rendered to exist as a dichotomous world. This black and white screen depicts a dual division among many social aspects and structures, which often portrays one of the two as the dominant one.

The notion of a binary reality is well ingrained in our social minds, and society lacks, for the most part, the ability to perceive any aspect existing outside the dual categorizations it itself has created.

Often, as individuals, we place ourselves within categories assuming the roles that have been predetermined to fit the description. We place ourselves in these categories rather than creating a category that fits us. We ignore the rest of the colors that constitute the entire spectrum.

Gender, a topic that has caused much political and social controversy in our society, is considered by a majority of individuals to follow the two-fold categorization structure, and subcategories are deemed ?unnatural? or blatantly ?wrong.? Gender has challenged this concept of ?natural? dichotomy in which both sexes are labeled as either masculine or feminine based on their external sex organs.

Fashion for the past few years has been deconstructing gender boundaries.

Designers like Rick Owens and Yohji Yamamoto have been creating pieces of art that expand traditional silhouettes on the runway. For his A/W

Adr ienne M ccue (left) is inspired by athletic wear and bases her outfits on what shoes and snapback she decides to wear that day. Alice K iddo?s style (r ight) is dr iven by video games and comic book super heroes such Stor m from X-M en, which inspired her androgynous haircut. Photos by RICHARD LOMIBAO 15 collection in February, Owens sent his male models on the runway with pieces that draped around like tunics exposing sensual parts of their body, an aesthetic he has remained loyal to since past collections.

Androgynous styles have seeped

into the streets. Unique individuals are rejecting societal norms and dressing as they will, mixing and blending gendered styles.

We went around City to find students that embody the subversion of gender binaries.

Summer-Fall 2015 | L egend

19

Tourist?s Guide to The stereotypical places that are a must for everyone

Ocean Beach Pier A San Diego icon, the Ocean Beach Pier is home to surfers, anglers and sun-seekers alike. After a long day of soaking up sun and catching waves, check out the variety of bars and restaurants just down the road.

Cabrillo National Monument Lighthouses, tide pools and history.

This national monument pays tribute to the beginnings of San Diego, explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo and the original native San Diegans: the Kumeyaay.

20

L egend | Summer-Fall 2015

San Diego Zoo America?s Finest City plays host to one of America?s most popular zoos. If you can?t explore in person, check out one of the many live animal cams online.

San Diego visiting America?s finest city

Map not enough?

Check out a video of the full tourist experience online at SDCityTimes.com

By LEGEND MAGAZINE STAFF There are many reasons why San Diego is named ?America?s Finest City.?

It was where pop-punk legends Blink-182 got their start, the place where the largest avocado crops in the country are grown, where Spanish missionaries set up the first of many California Missions and where the late great author Dr. Seuss called home. But that?s just the beginning of the shoreline.

There are a lot of must-see locations that are mapped out for tourists that they?ve heard from a destination show host, read in a tour guide or on the popular website Yelp.

Here are just a few of the almost endless locations that are must-sees for anyone visiting, which includes a look at the people involved with San Diego?s beginnings, a cultural and historical mecca full of museums, galleries and gardens, one of many amazing beaches and a certain world-famous zoo home to a few popular pandas.

Photos by MARK ELLIOT and JOE KENDALL | Map from Google Maps

Balboa Park A combination of brains and beauty, be sure to visit Balboa Park?s historic museums, stunning galleries and radiant gardens for your fill of San Diego history and culture.

Summer-Fall 2015 | L egend

21

San Diego , as Told By Locals Inspired by VICE News, Legend magazine staffers give their take on the hot spots that don?t appear on travel guides or destination shows

By LEGEND MAGAZINE STAFF San Diego has been covered by almost every travel show imaginable. There have been guides upon guides writing about where to and what to see while vacationers spend a week or two here.

Those are all well and good if you want the stereotypical San Diego experience. But let?s face it, who wants stereotypical anything?

The reality is that there are a lot of hidden gems throughout San Diego that will never see the light of day on any TV show or pamphlet at the airport ? from an ironically named location off the beaten path of one of the most romantic spots in Southern California to a homegrown

gamers?paradise filled with video games and consuls ranging from the old school Atari to the previous generation?s PlayStation 3.

San Diego hasn?t always been known as an ideal food and drink destination, but it has some of the best places to grab a bite to eat with some friends at an authentic Mexican food place or grab a drink and wind down at a high class cigar lounge after a long day out exploring America?s finest city.

Sound fun? Next time, instead of listening to some run-of-the-mill Travel Channel host who spends a week here at most, listen to the locals instead. We know the area better than anyone else, after all.

Scenic Location Garbage Beach At the very far end Sunset Cliffs is a safe, clean and isolated gem known, ironically, as Garbage Beach.

Some of the richest and most lively tide pools in all of San Diego stretch for hundreds of feet down this beach, while smooth natural rock barriers create perfect swimming lagoons in front of small yet compelling sandstone caves.

Photo

by TORREY SPOERER The only downside is that this beach is not disabled-accessible, since access to the bottom requires cautiously hiking down one of the few paths narrowing down a steep sandstone cliff, including a rope ladder.

Photo by TORREY SPOERER

22

L egend | Summer-Fall 2015

Retail & Shops

Luna Video Games Location 1: Ocean Beach 4847 Newport Ave. (619) 222-2771 Location 2: La Mesa 6954 El Cajon Blvd.

(619) 463-0237

M-Theory Music Location 1: San Diego 915 W. Washington St. (619) 220-0485 Location 2: Del Mar 2710 Via Dia de la Valle Suite B (858) 847-2312

Body Mark?s Tattoo & Piercing 3066 El Cajon Blvd.

(619) 280-3610

United Records & Sound

Photos by ANGEL I CA WAL L I NGFORD

3104 University Ave. (619) 283-9200

Food & Drink The Quartyard

Burritos Santana

Churchill Lounge

1102 Market St.

Location 1: San Diego 5330 El Cajon Blvd.

(619) 287-1850 Location 2: Imperial Beach 1337 Palm Ave. (619) 429-9670

2415 San Diego Ave. (619) 546-7758

Coin-Op Game Room 3926 30th St. (619) 255-8523

Kayaba & Santouka In Mitsuwa market, 4240 Kearny Mesa Road, (858) 569-6699

Photo by JOE K ENDAL L

Summer-Fall 2015 | L egend

23

Photo by RICHARD LOMIBAO

Lyrics to Inspire the Youth

By RICHARD LOMIBAO and FRANCHESCA WALKER Cory Markiest waits on a ledge area of the rooftop of a parking structure eager to begin production for a ?One Shot? video submission. A joking argument about constellations arises between Cory and Jake G., his friend and videographer.

Downtown San Diego glows behind him in a spectrum of lights that attracted him to use the skyline view of the city as the video?s background. ?I wanna be in a high rise like this one day recording at like 3 in the morning,?

Cory says as he leans against a concrete wall of the rooftop, gazing at the multiple skyscrapers before him. ?One Shot? is an upcoming contestant show curated by reporter and hip-hop mogul Sway Calloway.

The show?s purpose is to discover the best emcee in the United States through auditions, artist mentoring and performances. The winner of the show will be rewarded a record deal and $100,000.

24

L egend | Summer-Fall 2015

Cory is among the countless aspiring rappers in San Diego who wish to be recognized, not just mentioned by someone who?s heard of his music once and tuned out. Hip hop in this city circulates more from word of mouth

?Music is meant to provoke an emotion ? it?s supposed to bring a message.?

Cory Markiest than catching buzz on social media. To gain fans and not be looked down as just another rapper isn?t as easy as one may think.

When Cory was 16, he envisioned himself as a performing artist. He began telling his story through songs about his challenges as a teen.

Although he associates himself with hip-hop, Cory doesn?t identify himself as a rapper: ?I don?t even classify

myself as a rapper, I wanna be known as a musician because I make music.? ?I want to tell stories where these kids are listening to the music they can relate to, real shit instead of ?turn up? all the time,? he says. ?Just to get a message out there. I already feel like people are just using music for the wrong thing. Music is meant to provoke an emotion ? it?s supposed to bring a message.?

At an early age, Cory Markiest listened to ?90s hip hop. He?d study the raps of Tupac, Nas, NWA, Suga Free and Notorious B.I.G. Cory whipped up a recipe for his sound. ?If you could get the Biggie flow with the Tupac intensity and some crazy melodies, you?d be on point,? he says.

His track ?A Woman?s Struggle? was released late last year. Misunderstanding what women may face every day whether it is a bad relationship or street harassment, he narrates his disconnection to females. Shortly after it was released, Jake G. directed the music video for the track, which illustrates

Cor y Mar kiest per for ms at Mind, Body and Soul alongside local and out-of-town r apper s. Photos by RICHARD LOMIBAO

Cory caught between two opposite relationships. The music video is accompanied by a series of 30-second interviews with three different women in the Gaslamp Quarter where Cory asked, ?What are the everyday struggles for a woman??

In an ordinary suburban neighborhood, the Hawk?s Den resides upstairs at sound engineer and rapper 6zilla?s family home. A finite four-corner room, it has everything needed in a recording studio. It?s plainly decorated with foam on the walls for acoustics, a desk with a computer and speakers, and a microphone in the far back corner next to the window overlooking the street.

With such few chairs in the room, catching a breather on the carpet floor becomes necessary when recording.

Stepping up to the microphone, Cory jokes about headphones. He spits his verse on 6zilla?s song ?Lit.? It?s the first time he and 6zilla have worked on a song together. The word ?lit? suggests a good time under the influence of weed or whatever one?s vices are. The song is tantalizing with a snappy, hesitant digital lead that has you raise an eyebrow to its atmospheric groove.

Lolo, who is part of a hip hop collective with 6zilla called Top of the World, produced the track.

Cory zones out as he records one take, bopping his head and doing hand gestures as if he?s performing in front of an audience. It?s a way to make what he says come to life.

Breeds of hip hop spark on different channels and take on their own interpretations of a culture that is

worldwide. In a small venue with a tight occupancy, about 40 people fill the room mostly dressed in Adidas and Converse shoes and the latest threads.

The anticipation builds in the far back corners as acts follow one after the other. Orange lights outline the ceiling edges all around the inside walls of the venue while Cory lays chill on the only sofa pushed back in the back corner, sinking with nerves of excitement. He casually gets up to go outside to catch some air. He sports a Chicago Bulls logo with a bandana on a red tie-dye shirt, light blue jeans and monochromatic white Vans SK8 Hi?s.

His supporters stand in the back waiting for his turn.

6zilla plays his set before Cory and calls him to the stage to perform ?Lit.?

Cory acts as hype-man as 6zilla raps standing on an apple box in front of the crowd.

A snippet of what?s to come, Cory draws back to the sofa listening to the rest of the performances. He receives positive feedback from his supporters, who smile and lock in handshakes and hugs.

Cory finally gets called on stage as ?Surrounded by Darkness? begins. The violin and opera introduction inundates the room. As the audience inches closer, Cory yells, ?black hearted? ? also known as ?blkheartd,? a hashtag reference you?ll see on Cory?s Instagram or on his music post on his Soundcloud.

It?s an affiliation to what Cory sees in his life. ?Battling life?s adversities, channeling knowledge,? he says. ?Surrounded by Darkness? symbolizes an internal struggle to be

human while everyone else has these negative thoughts about wanting to be successful ? it?s a battle to keep pushing to find the light. Cory understands there is an existent evil that people give power to when instead they should be finding a way to be better. ?That?s all I write about is my world experiences. I feel like music, of course you?re going to want some stuff that?s going to entertain people, but at the end of the day, this is your story.

You want people to know about your life and what you?ve been through. So we can influence people to maybe go a different route than they?re currently in,? he says.

Venturing out into other professions and personal projects is another side that drives Cory?s motivation. The ever-changing sport of hip-hop is a challenging quest to pursue. ?I?ll always have a passion for music, but I feel like we just outgrow things as we get older and nothing lasts forever. So I?m just realizing that your music career can be over at any second. It just all really depends if they?re feeling or not,? he says.

Cory aspires to establish a nonprofit business that assists youths from ages 14 to 20. With the business, he desires to ?create a stable environment for kids ? help them realize their goals in life and give them the tools to go after them.? He lists how he will help them: self-discipline, housing, education and other things.

The most important aspects Cory wants to impart are love and counseling by teaching them how to be confident and show genuine compassion.

Summer-Fall 2015 | L egend

25

Crafting Culture The Monkey Paw redefines what it means to be a college bar

By MARK ELLIOTT There?s something one should know every time they look to the drafts and swirling colored chalkboard at the Monkey Paw. There?s a laboratory hidden behind those many taps. There are breakers boiling, measurements taken and growling beasts in brown jugs.

No science fiction going on here mind you, no animal cruelty, either? but there is a mad scientist making $4 pints have a $20 taste back there. Above those plenty of taps are 15 medals and ribbons the bar has taken, and behind any visitor sitting bar-side are the customers they?ve won.

A whole neighborhood is brewed together inside this barrel-looking interior.

It?s part Golden Hill, it?s part City College, the rest of Downtown, and it?s whatever this hell East Village is suppose to be becoming. It?s a dive bar devoid of clientele-fed drama that borders students chasing the up in the world and utter

poverty three or four blocks away.

It's patrons are as diverse as the IPAs, Belgians or stouts in this town. Young, old, hardcore and hip, messengers taking a break from their bike deliveries alongside suit and tie mayoral candidates ? all are holding a glass in their paws.

There?s plenty of college life seen in here, too. Master theses are typed next to bar napkins, professors grade papers in the midday, and end of the year cheers.

Three years it says on its stickers for this bar to get this way. It took three decades ? depending on who you ask in the scene ? for craft beer to get to the boom its riding now.

Like a brew in a customer glass it took a bunch of equal ingredients for this to work. It took Karl Strauss setting up on Columbia Street in late ?89. It took guys having ideas that worked there from one time or another to go on their own. It took bigger companies like Stone to give out the secrets of the trade. It meshed

well with the little brewers pointing in each others directions. That?s bout when the batch boiled It also needed a city seeking more of an identity. San Diego found that in craft beer. The local drinkers eyes?were excited seeing bright taps sneak their way into a pub. San Diego wasn?t just merely a place by the bench any longer.

Monkey Paw came in that hoppy tidal wave that filled up San Diego Reader Ad Space.

It was an all-organic thing, both this bar's creation and this craft scene. Owner Scott Blair was one of those guys going for taste who did time at Strauss. He started this place with one other brewer before the scientist arrived. It?s hard to know whether most patrons remember the original brewer, Derek Freese, or even tasted his ribbon-collecting ales while on tap. But chances are they have seen Cosimo behind the bar.

The mad scientist named after

Be it catching up with fr iends or catching up on the game, the M onkey Paw provides a comfor table place to enj oy a pint.

Photo by JOE KENDALL

26

L egend | Summer-Fall 2015

(Top photo) A man and his malt: M onkey Paw?s head brewer, Cosimo Sor rentino, tends to a batch of his creation. (Bottom) Patrons begin to fill the bar on a sunny Thur sday after noon.

Photos by JOE KENDALL

the stars, Cosimo Sorrentino. A City College alumnus who used to sit over in the Hive drinking Boddiningtons and Guinness, before it had the Nectar Room. All when East Village was the part of town one would call fledgeling.

He doesn?t have a real degree in cartoonish villainy, although he does have the work ethic of a man looking to take the world. He sips a sparkling, in-the-works 4.5 IPA because there?s still more of the work day to go. He periodically checks updates from other brewers and delivery times on a Mac. At one point, he is off to check the Sweet Georgia Brown boiling.

When he returns, Cosimo discusses five brewing years and times he took home brew to Hamilton?s for feedback. There, his potential was seen (or in this case gulped), which lead him to make what he wants in those reflective silos. ?The freedom to come at a beer from any angle at any time really helps me be able to do what I do every time,? Cosimo says. ?And to be honest I never really know what a beer is going to be like when it starts. I have an idea what it should be; doesn?t mean it will be.?

The taste of each brew here is ? well, a craft, in that it took discipline to make a taste that bonds a neighborhood. They have weird names like Fanbelt, Hooked on Chinook, Meaty Beety Big n Bouncy and Cocomootive. There are names that stick to the damn dirty ape theme ? Cornelius, Brass monkey, Lab monkey, Mighty Joe Young. Satanic Chimp, and somewhere in there's Creamsicle beer. It?s not all in the names, it?s all in the brew. It?s an imagination creating a universe of beers to explore on tap.

A creamsicle in a beer for an outsider is unthinkable. Listening to Cosimo explain how an accident becomes a lesson in improv, it doesn?t seem that daft. He isn?t distracted by what good ole Davey?s cooking or the jukebox shuffle when he is breaking down ingredients and time. It?s all

culinary how he speaks. ?I generally go for an experience when I?m designing a beer. I say I want to drink this beer ? Summertime on a patio with a fish taco, and I want to able to have three of them and be able to drive home; or the opposite; cold winter night, I want a piece of chocolate and 8 ounces of this beer,? he says.

Brewers gunning for quality is what compelled restaurants to plant beer gardens all over town.

A craft beer in San Diego is a nice thing to have in your hands.

It?s a way to applaud the brewhouses from South Park to Vista. It?s a person saying I love this city, it?s people and what is made here.

See, this isn?t all just about drinking. This is about a group of people who saw tangible culture and work with their paws to make it real. It certainly wasn?t easy then and it certainly isn?t now. This culture takes plenty of double shifts to be maintained and sometimes what your brewing doesn't turn out the way it was first imagined. So why do it in the first place? All so that there is one more bar around the corner of a neighborhood. Corny as it sounds, sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name.

It isn?t only the the Monkey Paw. There is a laundry list of places to choose because brewers are pushing flashing buttons by shiny fermenters. There are places in town where you can giggle at names on menus and find craft-in-a-can, for a brewer Its worth all the endured steam to the face while brooding over a batch with a long stick.

Is it over the top to compare it all to ?Cheers?? Yes. What?s real is that San Diego has places ? way more places like it open, where creative hold their pints and think of their wishes. It?s this effort that gives a city a chance to be more of a memory.

A memory that will last longer than the effects of even a couple of 12.0 pints.

Summer-Fall 2015 | L egend

27

?I?ve always wanted to make a difference. I?ve always wanted to stop violent crime because I was put off by all the apathy, and indifference, and all of the people getting victimized by violence.? Mr. Xtreme 28

L egend | Summer-Fall 2015