Spartan Daily Vol. 162 No. 17

San José protests Flour massacre

By Melany Gutierrez MANAGING EDITOR

Bay Area residents gathered in front of San José City Hall on Saturday evening to protest and call for a ceasefire in Palestine after the Flour massacre.

The Flour massacre occurred last Thursday on the southwestern side of Gaza in a region where food aid deliveries have been heavily insufficient, according to a Thursday article by AP News.

The Flour massacre in Gaza resulted in 112 Palestinian deaths and 750 people injured, according to the same article.

“Israeli (soldiers) indiscriminately murdered Palestinians (who were) only seeking aid after being continuously starved out,” said Uriel Magdaleno, a member of San José Against War.

Magdaleno said San José Against War is an anti-war grassroots movement started in San José to fight against war in the U.S.

He said topics and issues related to the Israel-Hamas conflict are brought up during many of their meetings.

“It's all community based, we’re shocked and distraught to see what's going on in Gaza,” Magdaleno said.

He said at an unprecedented time like this for the Israel-Hamas conflict, it’s important to keep the local community aware, engaged and active because one protest is not enough to discuss the severity of the conflict.

Protesting in San José and the Flour massacre

The Flour massacre unraveled when

Palestinians congregated around aid trucks, unpacking boxes of flour and other canned foods when Israeli forces opened fire on them leading to a stampede of people trying to flee the chaotic scene, according to the same article from AP News.

Marwa Sabry, a San José resident and freelance journalist, said she wanted to attend the protest and show her support as an activist but collect information and personal perspectives as a journalist to be able to add context to any future articles.

Sabry said she doesn’t understand how anyone can watch or hear about this massacre and just stay at home doing business as usual, regardless if they are a journalist or not.

“They starve people and they lure them with flour and (other things) for basic needs,” Sabry said. “They don't have water, children are dying from starvation, newborns are dying from starvation and hospitals (are not accessible). How can we see something like this and know something like this and just sit at home and take whatever the mainstream media is giving us?”

Lisa Adhikari, a San José resident and former high school teacher, said since the October 7 attack happened, she’s continuously thought about a previous student she had 10 years ago.

Adhikari said her student was Palestinian and had just lost a young cousin when he was shot by an Israeli soldier on his way to a bakery.

She said she recalled that at the time, the

school she worked at in Oregon discouraged teachers from talking about topics related to Israel and Palestine because it was too big and too uncomfortable of a conversation to bring into classrooms, especially since there were Israeli students to consider.

She said even though it was one of the scariest and dangerous conversations she's ever had, it was important and necessary to air out underlying pain and tension.

Adhikari said after the many incidents since October 7, like the Flour massacre, she’s been at a loss for words at the in-depth ramifications of the conflict and she believes it is going to be a defining issue to play into the upcoming elections.

The role of the American government and the election Marwa Sabry said when she attends these large protests she meets people of all backgrounds and ethnicities who are

If anything happens in the future, I want people to know that the American people have stood up and disagreed with the injustice that is happening.

Marwa Sabry San José resident and freelance journalist

“We need to talk, we desperately need to talk and we need to confront our issues, our biases and prejudices,” Adhikari said.

She said reminiscing on this past experience with this student and conversation has encouraged her to come out, protest and connect with people in her local community during this difficult time.

“I feel like things have been very silent in San José,” Adhikari said.

“It's hard going into San Francisco all the time so it was nice to have a protest where I could stand up and make my voice heard locally, near my house, in my own community, not just traveling to the nearest large-city demonstration.”

proof that no one is alone in standing up against genocide.

Sabry said as a protester, it gives her hope that so many people are showing up and supporting the cause.

She said as a journalist who writes in both Arabic and English, she feels an obligation to tell the Arab world that the American people and the American politicians are not in the same boat when it comes to political stances and support.

“If anything happens in the future, I want people to know that the American people have stood up and disagreed with the injustice that is happening,” Sabry said. “I want them to know that we're protesting

for Palestine and for Gaza and we're calling on (our) politicians and representatives to tell them not in our name.”

Adhikari said with the Israel-Hamas conflict being a defining issue in the upcoming elections she is not looking forward to looking at the ballot or viewing the outcome.

“I am horrified and disgusted with the Republican Party,” Adhikari said. “I am appalled that Biden is on the ticket. I see this election as a choice between monsters and there is no good outcome. This election is going to be devastating no matter what.”

She said she thinks President Joe Biden and his entire administration is indeed complacent in genocide and need to acknowledge the situation.

Explaining Occupation and what Free Palestine would look like

A Palestinian immigrant who wanted to remain anonymous for safety reasons, said he feels lucky to be alive and be able to leave Palestine after having been arrested in Palestine six times for resisting occupation.

The Palestinian immigrant said he has been part of the resistance his whole life in the region of the West Bank where his family lived, and he feels that all Palestinians have the right to dignity and a right to defend themselves.

“These rights actually put us in a situation where you're not alive,” he said. “So why should I be alive if I'm not alive? If I don't have these rights? What makes me alive if I don't

have the rights?”

The Palestinian immigrant said in reality people cannot understand occupation without going through the oppression, pain and uncertainty of not knowing if you’ll have a future.

He said Palestinians can’t worry about a future right now when they have no control, and have to worry about keeping their children and themselves alive and finding basic needs resources.

“Explaining occupation to someone (is) sometimes the same thing (as) trying to explain sweetness (to) someone who never tasted sweet or sugar,” he said.

Donna Wallach, a Jewish anti-Zionist protester, said a clear path needs to be set as to what a cease-fire and a free Palestine is among the chaos of protests in the U.S. and attacks in Palestine.

Wallach said people need to open their eyes and hearts to the truth, tear the apartheid walls down and let Palestinians return to their indigenous homeland of Palestine.

“Free Palestine means all the Palestinian refugees who want to go back home can because according to International Law, all refugees have the right to go back not only to their homeland, but to their homes to their land where they live,” Wallach said.

ALINA TA | SPARTAN DAILY

Donna Wallach, a Jewish anti-Zionist protester, speaks in front of the crowd into a megaphone during a protest at San José City Hall on Santa Clara St. on Saturday evening.

SJSU student memorizes Quran

By Gabriel Evans CONTRIBUTOR

Daanyaal Qureshi memorized the full Quran by the time he was a teen to live his life by the core teachings of Islam. He is what the Islamic community refers to as a Hafiz. “It means guardian

or protector of the Quran,” said Qureshi.

Industrial and systems engineering senior, Daanyaal Qureshi committed to being able to rehearse the entirety of the Quran to memory by the age of 16. The Quran is the central religious text of

Islam. It contains 114 chapters with over 6,000 verses, all in Arabic. The text itself is said to be over 1400 years old, according to qurananalysis.com.

Daanyaal Qureshi said he credits his parents for his success in memorizing the Quran. “When we were very young, me and

my brother went to after school lessons,” he said.

Daanyaal Qureshi said he decided that he wanted to memorize the Quran when he was 12 years old.

“I thought, what better way to ensure that I do that than to memorize the entire book of Allah?”

Daanyaal Qureshi said.

SJSU alumnus and Daanyaal Qureshi’s older brother, Jibraan Qureshi said Daanyaal Qureshi is the “Only one in our family to do it, including our extended family.”

Daanyaal Qureshi said when he was 13 years old, he joined a program called Hifz, memorization of the Quran, an afterschool system that teaches Quran recitation to the youth.

He said during these lessons he was taught from the Qayda, a book that taught the Arabic alphabet and basic pronunciations. He said the program taught him how the Quran is read in original Arabic.

“There are different rules to pronounce certain letters, which ones to elongate, where you should make a certain sound and how to make that sound,” Jibraan Qureshi said.

During elementary school, Daanyaal Qureshi said he and his peers were taught Islamic studies alongside the basic subjects that are normally taught in America.

“The program was Monday through Friday. It started around 8 a.m.

and ended at 1:30 p.m.,”

he said.

Daanyaal Qureshi said he spent three years memorizing and reciting 10 pages a day. After going home and doing his school work, he spent the rest of his evenings reciting the text.

He said when he was 16

I had a ceremony where I recited the last portion of the Quran in front of the entire community.

Daanyaal

Qureshi

Industrial and systems engineering senior

years old, he had officially memorized the entire Quran, which confirmed his title of Hafiz.

“I had a ceremony where I recited the last portion of the Quran in front of the entire community,” Daanyaal Qureshi said.

Daanyaal Qureshi said he then spent two additional years memorizing and reciting the scripture daily.

“I spent as much time as I could, to recite as much as I could, to do six juz (chapters) a day,” he said.

The Quran was revealed verbally, and the Prophet Muhammad

(peace be upon him) would recite the verses, and his companions would memorize them or write them down, according to Lumen Learning.

Political science freshman Sayed Mujtaba said, “They were the first people who preserved the scripture directly from our Prophet Muhammadpeace be upon him.”

Daanyaal said this was done as a way of preservation, as there have been events in history where copies of the Quran were burned, and Muslims were attacked for their religion.

“They had Hafaz who had been reading and reciting the Quran for their whole lives, and were able to rewrite the physical copies”

Daanyaal Qureshi said.

He said the concept of Hafaz, the plural form of Hafiz, is the method of preserving the Quran for future generations.

“I want to live my life according to the rules and regulations provided to us through the Quran”

Daanyaal said.

PHOTO BY GABRIEL EVANS

CAMMY TAN | SPARTAN DAILY

Engineering senior Daanyaal Qureshi holds a Quran, the central religious text of Islam.

SJSU alum puts ‘Nisei’ into play

By Kaya Henkes-Power STAFF WRITER

The new film “Nisei,” an Oscar-qualified film directed by Darren Haruro Rae, a San José State alumnus, brings forth the history of JapaneseAmericans who fought in World War II.

Rae said he was able to bring parts of his grandfather’s diaries to life who served in The 442nd Regimental Combat Team in WWII.

The Combat Team was a segregated Japanese military unit that served in World War II, according to the website for the National WWII Museum.

The unit is considered the most decorated military unit in America with 4,000 Purple Hearts, according to a webpage for the Go For Broke National Education Center. The unit was composed mostly of Nisei or second-generation Japanese-Americans.

“I knew my grandfather in his twilight years,” Rae said. “Having to almost reimagine what it was like for him being an 18 or 19-years-old (boy) was something I don’t think I ever fully thought about when he was alive.”

Rae said that putting himself in his grandfather’s shoes was tough, but also rewarding.

Nisei shows audiences the perspective of two brothers serving in The 442nd Combat Team in WWII, according to the webpage of Roann Films.

The idea of directing the film began with a conversation over the Thanksgiving break in 2021 between Nick Martinez, SJSU’s Spartan Film Studios manager and producer.

Spartan Film Studios is a program that combines SJSU’s theater arts and radio-television program, and allows students to work on films, according to the SJSU website.

“We were hanging out for Thanksgiving and I

was just talking to him (and said), ‘I think our (summer) film program is dead,’ ” Martinez said.

Martinez said Spartan Film Studios has been offering a summer class since 2007 where students worked on a big film project like “Nisei.”

At the beginning of the pandemic, the studio was affected by COVID-19 precautions and saw a halt in its operations, according to a 2023 article on the SJSU NewsCenter.

Martinez said he, Executive Producer Barnaby Dallas and SJSU’s theater program took on this film project in hopes of revamping the course.

“We wanted something that would reconnect the current students with the students who have been gone, to build a bridge between the past and the present,” Dallas said.

Dallas said the movie’s pre-production included six months of finding locations and developing scripts, a month and a half of preparation and six days of filming.

He said the crew started filming on set once summer began and utilized various locations such as the barracks located at the Japanese American Museum of San José, built sets and traveled to Santa Rosa.

“We started putting locations together and at the same time we also love to build a set,” Dallas said.

Martinez said the studio’s group had to work with the budget they had and carefully made decisions to ensure they would stay within that budget.

“He was like, ‘Yeah you can have those (guns) but that’s $2,000 a day,’ ” Martinez said. “I go, ‘Well we can’t use that gun then we gotta use these other ones’ which are historically accurate.”

Martinez said the costs to make the film weren’t the only things adding up and that filming took up to 12 hours a day.

“It’s 12 hours on your feet (and a) one hour lunch,” Martinez said. “You’re shooting in cramped conditions, weather, heat, all that and then you wake up and do it again.”

Radio, television and film senior Kyle Dimick worked as a sound utility on the film set.

“I emailed Nick (studio manager and producer) saying, ‘Hey, I don’t have the money to pay for this class, but I want to be on your set,’ ” Dimick said. “He emailed me ‘Show up.’ Those are the two words he emailed me.”

Martinez said that generally labor on a film set consisted of blue-collar work.

He said certain choices also didn’t have anything to do with cost and rather paying homage to Rae’s grandfather.

Martinez said a patch on one of the actor’s uniforms was one of Rae’s grandfather’s original patches. He said even though it wasn’t historically accurate it was important for him to include it in the film.

“Those (patches) weren’t created until two years (later),” Martinez said. “But (Rae) was like ‘Nope, I’m getting this patch in the film because this is what they represent.’ ”

Rae said this particular film is not a documentary but rather a narrative piece that represents his grandfather and family.

While Asian representation in film has increased in 2022 since a study shows that only 16% of the top 100 films on streaming platforms have Asian characters according to a 2023 article by Variety.

Yvonne Kwan, SJSU Asian-American Studies assistant professor, said movies like “Nisei” connect the older generation with this part of JapaneseAmerican history and plant the seed for the younger generation to learn more.

“I think it’s important for everyone, but especially the older generations it means much more because they grew up in a time where they didn’t see themselves on screen,” Kwan said.

During 1942 and 1945, Japanese and Japanese

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Americans were subjected to forced incarceration in internment camps by Executive Order 9066, according to the National Archives.

Kwan said people were either drafted into the 442 Combat Team or chose to serve in World War II.

Rae said he hopes to turn this film into a longer film or a TV show to share more about his grandfather and his history.

“It’s continuing (the film), developing it and turning it into a longer format,” Rae said. Dimick said he learned about filmmaking, forged new relationships and became immersed in the experience.

“Now when I think about ‘Nisei’ I think about this: using the word ‘yet’ at the end of your sentences and being like ‘I don’t know how to do this yet,’ ” Dimick said.

Martinez said film students need to have hands-on experience because it helps them as they pursue their future careers.

He said without that

experience students wouldn’t be able to decide whether or not the film industry is the right career path for them.

Martinez said he remembers seeing how relieved the cast and crew were on the final day of shooting the film.

“To know that this was going to be the final shot (and time to) set up and to look over and see Darren,” Martinez said. “There’s just this moment where you can see the relief in his eyes.”

Rae said his parents were involved in the entire filmmaking process and his father even played one of the characters.

He said he remembered feeling touched when first hearing the film’s orchestral piece from composer Yuichiro "Sixtwo" Oku.

“I got very emotional and teary-eyed because I thought, ‘My grandfather has a theme song,’ ” Rae said.

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Tattoo artist brings ink to anime

By Joaquin De La Torre COPY EDITOR

Johanna Murazzo never let bureaucratic barriers or substandard-tattooshops stop her from becoming the South Bay’s premier Pokémon tattoo artist that she is today.

Although she is a well-established tattoo artist now, her journey becoming a full-fledged tattooer began as a scratcher over 10 years ago.

Murazzo currently works as a resident tattoo artist at Vampire Battle Mansion, a tattoo shop that strives to create an environment that is safe, inclusive, fun and nurturing, according to its website.

A scratcher is a term used within the tattooing community that refers to someone who is untrained and learns outside of a shopsponsored apprenticeship, often tattooing at home, according to an article by Tattoo Vagabond.

“I would say (that) probably the first 200 tattoos I did or so probably more than likely ruin people’s bodies,” Murazzo said.

Murazzo said working as a scratcher wasn't what she wanted to do, but was a necessary step in her journey.

Her shelves are decked out with the finest Yu-GiOh, Pokémon and Sonic the Hedgehog trinkets and a photo of her and her longtime co-worker

Annie Lindstrom.

Murazzo said she was almost turned away from her first tattoo apprenticeship after she walked into a shop with her portfolio full of manga art.

“They literally said, Nobody wants that anime shit,’” Murazzo said. “Which is so funny because everybody wants that anime shit.”

Angela Pinasco, a Valley Medical Center employee and a tattoo recipient, said she discovered Murazzo through a Facebook group called Pokémon Go San José.

Pinasco said she recalls people in the group asking for local Pokémon tattoo artist recommendations.

“She was actually recommended by several people," Pinasco said, who

recently received a tattoo of the Pokémon Rhydon.

Rhydon is a ground and rock type Pokémon that has gray armor-like hide and was one the original 151 Pokémon released, according to a webpage on Bulbapedia.

Murazzo said she didn’t agree with the opinions of the owners about her body of work, but considers herself to be a dreamer so she still sought an apprenticeship through that first shop.

She said the management was so poor that artists would only stay for a year or two before leaving out of frustration.

Murazzo said she pursued a degree in painting and printmaking at SJSU when she was 28-years-old to achieve

her dream of working annually as a tattoo artist in Japan.

In other countries, Americans can obtain a work visa with a high school degree, but in Japan you’ll generally need at least a bachelor's degree, according to a webpage by InterNations.

Murazzo said she would love to work as a tattoo artist in Osaka, Japan because she has visited Osaka twice – once as a visitor and once as a tattoo artist – and has made some friends there.

“So the goal is six months out there and then six months here,” Murazzo said. “Every year — for the rest of my life.”

“So then I'm like, ‘Well, if that's the only thing (standing) between me and my dreams I might as

well just take myself (to college),’ ” Murazzo said.

“I think one of the things that really stood out to me was just the culture of the tattoo shop,” said Nicholas Devantier, local Google employee and recent recipient of a Dratini tattoo by Murazzo.

Dratini is a blue serpent-style Dragon type Pokémon that was also one of the original 151 Pokémon, according to a webpage on Bulbapedia.

Inside the Vampire Battle Mansion tattoo shop, customers can hear 2000s emo music playing and smell an antiseptic, hospital-like smell.

From Pokémon memorabilia, a framed taxidermied bat, a sticker wall featuring countless eclectic internet memes and timeless reading

material including the popular early-aughts tween magazine, Tiger Beat, a customer’s eyes has plenty of places to linger before receiving their tattoo or piercing.

“The culture there is really fun and honestly Yoyo’s (Murazzo) sense of humor was great, bouncing off me and the fellow artist there,” Devantier said.

On the left hand side of the shop is where Murazzo’s station is located, oozing from top to bottom with all of her favorite odds and ends.

Lindstrom said she first met Murazzo seven years ago when they were working at Guru Tattoo.

Guru Tattoo is a closed tattoo shop that was located in Campbell for 18 years, according to their Instagram page. and Murazzo.

“It’s been great working with her happy energy,” Lindstrom said. “She’s always ready to roll with the punches.”

Murrazo said her and other tattoo artists at Vampire Battle Mansion have a lot of love in their hearts and often see many clients coming back after their first tattoo from them.

“We’re also total nerds so we're in a spot where we can just authentically be ourselves,”Murazzo said.

Tattoo artist Johanna Murazzo, the Bay's premier anime ink specialist, draws an anime character with her gun.

Stop taking women for granted

At some point in every woman’s life, in one form or another, she feels taken for granted, practically invisible, never celebrated or praised for all the work that she does and she learns to never expect a thank you.

I truly hate that feeling and how normal it has become to see women do it to one another.

I know I’ve been on both the giving and the receiving end of this kind of treatment, and I’m still trying really hard to always recognize and change it.

It’s hard to change this behavior, to rewire your brain to stop doing something that’s part of your human nature.

The vicious cycle is so chronological.

It starts with the mother, then eventually as you, the daughter, grows older you begin to discover that you are not praised as much as the boys when you do something just as equally right.

Sometimes you’re the older sister who gets annoyed when your mom forces you to take your annoying little sister with you to an outing with all your friends and you fail to realize that one day you’ll be begging her to take your phone calls or hang out with you when she’s a teenager or college-aged adult like you once were.

All relationships are everchanging and in the mix of it

all, it’s so easy to take someone for granted when you never really intend to do it and you don’t even notice when you are doing it.

The person can be someone so important, even a parent-like figure, who has always had this profound presence in your life. You can’t imagine a life without them and you naively think you’ll never have to.

But that’s not true.

I would argue women really are the biggest target of these experiences.

Your mother gave you life and there’s nothing you could ever do that could be considered unforgivable in your mother’s eyes.

With that being said, don’t all mothers, being creators of life and giving unconditional love, deserve our utmost attention and respect?

They deserve so much more than rolling eyes, grunts and monosyllables. They deserve more than orchids once a year on Mother’s Day.

I can’t pretend that I have never been an ungrateful daughter.

As I’ve grown up, I’ve made efforts to fix those past mistakes, but I don’t think there is a way I could thank my mother for all the hard work she has put into raising me.

I cannot imagine what it must have been like to brave motherhood alone.

My mother took on both roles because I had a father who was in and out of the house, and unreliable.

My mother did what she could with what she had and she didn’t expect anything back.

The concept of the “invisible mother” is not foreign or

uncommon at all, according to a 2018 article by Psychology Today.

Mothers step into motherhood with the expectation that appreciation is not and should not be needed or wanted for doing motherly work because that would be self-serving and shameful, according to the same article.

I hate that any sort of affirmation, appreciation or praise that a woman wants is labeled “self-centered” or “shameful” when every person comes from a mother!

I cannot lie though, I’ve been the ungrateful daughter, the ungrateful sister, the ungrateful friend. That’s a much more selfcentered position to be in.

I have also felt unappreciated and undervalued at other times and I’ve yearned to say the words, “I want more from you,” but haven’t.

I recognize that motherhood

is hard work, and so is daughterhood. I’ll never be perfect at any of these roles, I also know I won’t get praise for them.

I fantasize about what kind of mother I will be one day. I certainly want to be like my mother even if the cycle continues and my daughter rolls her eyes at me.

I don’t get to see my mother every day now, and it grows harder to make time just for her. It's become easier to take her for granted and for me to think, “I’ll call her another day.”

When I go back home I can see how my mother’s face has aged and I’m sure she notices how my face has matured.

It’s been the most beautiful experience to watch my mother grow throughout her motherhood.

But it doesn’t change the fact that I still need her now and that I’ll need her in the future

even if it’s not as much.

I never knew I would experience the feeling of being taken for granted, if I had, I would have made more of an effort to avoid making anyone feel that way.

When I do experience it, I think back to times when my mother did everything in her power to make me smile.

She sheds a warm, pink hue on my life and makes me stop –pause – breathe and think,“I am stronger than I feel sometimes and I will be okay.”

I don’t think anyone could ever make me feel that way other than the woman who gave me life.

Melany Gutierrez MANAGING EDITOR

PHOTO BY ALINA TA & PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY PRATHAM GIL