Wings Magazine 2018

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Book Cover: Elianne Melendez

Editor’s Letter This issue of Wings Magazine is meant to give a spotlight to students and faculty alike -showcasing their lives outside of Cerritos College.

The team here at Talon Marks Publications spent an entire month looking and searching for those whose lives and hobbies are highlighted here.

These stories are about your peers with some entertaining aspects, while others show the strive that it took to get them where they’re at today.

The last traditional issue of Wings was published back in 2009. The editors here at Talon Marks hope that this issue will be the first of a new consistent printing cycle that is to come.

It’s our desire that this issue be its resurrection.

We would like to thank the staff who have worked hard on these stories. We’d also like to thank the graphic designers from professor Bonnie Barrett’s Art 188 class.

This project was a collaboration between the Journalism 107 College Newspaper course and Art 188, Design for Digital Publishing.

Time went into these stories and we hope you can appreciate the diversity of lifestyles and issues students face on campus.

These stories range from a culinary lifestyle to cosplay. It also highlights the struggles when one faces discrimination and seeks asylum.

With these stories we hope one can embrace the philosophy of the pursuit of happiness.

Every individual loves and seeks out different things; the things that make them happy.

You may even find your own inspiration through these stories or maybe you might find an interest that you never knew was there.

We hope you enjoy this issue of Wings Magazine and hopefully you remain supportive of Talon Marks and the graphic design program. Whether it be through reading the literature or joining the program itself.

May you always strive to find that which you yourself love doing, -David Jenkins Jr., Editor-in-Chief

Spring 2018 Wings 1

Contents

2 Wings Spring 2018

6

Dreaming of Space

9

Cerritos’ Cosplay Cover Girl

12

Top Chef

15

Asylum: An undocumented Cerritos College Student’s Journey from Poland to America

18

Man Behind the Mask: The Skeleton of Color

Limitless

20

From Backstage to Onstage

23

Teaching by Day, Rocking by Night

26

Explicit Art

29

Behind the Camera

32

Spring 2018 Wings 3

Dreaming of Space

By Carlos Ruiz and Jah-Tosh Baruti, staff writers

Y

ulisa Jimenez is a physics major at Cerritos College who was very intimidated when she began and questioned her ability to pursue something like exploring space.

“I didn’t believe in myself and it was just really hard, but there weren’t really any reasons. It was just a lot of self-doubt,” Jimenez said.

The NASA Community College Aerospace Scholars program is aimed specifically at community college students around the country.

Jimenez was drawn to this program for the specific reason that it was focused primarily on community colleges and she decided to take a risk.

4 Wings Spring 2018

It wasn’t until she went to attend the NCAS program the summer of 2017 where she began to have a changed mindset on how this experience was going to affect her positively.

“Throughout the experience, I let those guards down and I was just being myself.

“I found out through that as well, that this was something I really liked,” Jimenez said.

When she came back around the second time for the winter session, Jimenez went in with a different perspective.

“It was one of the greatest experiences of my life. I know what I want to do now and how to do it,” Jimenez said.

Being a Latina, Jimenez is motivated by her mentor Ali Guarneros Luna.

She would say to Jimenez, “No matter what, you’ll always have the opportunities and this is where you begin to pioneer and push others around you in the community.”

Along with the wise words from her mentor Luna, many other people from the program are motivating her as well.

“I had people telling me that I belonged there, that there was something within in me that will drive me to great lengths,” said Jimenez.

The second time attending the NCAS program, Jimenez was hired as a student assistant, with one week pay along with all the trip expenses covered by NASA. “The main thing was making everyone feel as welcome as I did when I went there. I talk-

A closer look at the Endeavor.

Jimenez holding up the certificate she was given after completing the NCAS program.

ed to about 40 people throughout the whole project and I was able to give them tips.

“I helped push the networking that NASA taught me,” Jimenez said.

Her family is from Arantepacua, a very small town in Michoacan, Mexico. Jimenez was raised by a single mother and this affected her in a way where she never had a father figure, as her mom was always working.

“Even now I only get to see my mom during weekends because our schedules are opposite, and when I was younger I would only see my mom for two hours a day.

“I would have to be self-taught because nobody at my house was on [the same level as I was],” said Jimenez.

Nonetheless she gets tons of support on what she does from her friends, family, mentors and professors and this helps her deal with her past — one where she didn’t believe in herself.

Her peers express motivation towards her by reminding her of the accomplishments.

Jimenez was a Compton High School dropout and ended up going to a continuation school, Opportunities For Learning.

Jimenez said, “It had gotten to the point where I was stressed out, overwhelmed and depressed. I wasn’t going to classes and I was just mentally damaging myself.

“I didn’t overcome it in a healthy way, I was in my room alone and not talking to anyone.”

Jimenez shared that with her NASA onsite experience she’s been able to grow as a person because the program forced her to try things she wasn’t accustomed to.

“I had to work with a team. I had to be professional, but also try to have fun at the same time. Things like that, I believe, are things that allow us to grow as people.

“Especially at NASA, I don’t think I’m worthy of these opportunities and so these experiences make me think otherwise, especially when so many people believe in my abilities and personality,” said Jimenez.

Being able to represent Cerritos College on a big platform, “It’s just great, I feel proud of the place that I came from because I have professors who believe in me and in what I do,” Jimenez said.

Although a physics major, Jimenez has always had a passion for music and almost majored in music capable of playing the piano and guitar.

Jimenez once had recitals, performances and choir. She also was a vocalist and she still composes music on her free time.

Her last recital was in Spring 2016 as she made the switch to a physics major because of her attendance at the NCAS program.

“It was very hard for me to make the decision, my friends told me ‘this isn’t the end of music, music will always be there and you can always go back to it’.

“Every semester I’ve been here, I’ve taken at least one music course,” said Jimenez.

She still spends some of her time at the Burnight Center on the Cerritos College campus.

Along with this hobby she also used to play as pitcher and second base in softball, volleyball, soccer and also used to take art classes to destress herself.

Jimenez has applied to UC Santa Barbara, UCLA, UC Irvine, UC San Diego and UC Davis and is currently waiting for responses on 12 NASA internships she’s applied to.

Following that she is applying to a NASA program “Pathways” in which will surely get her a job while working on her education towards a master’s degree.

Spring 2018 Wings 5

All Photos by Carlos Ruiz Jimenez holding up her California Space Grant Consortium certificate awarded to her for completion of NASA/CaSGC Microcomputer & Robotics internship.

“I now know that I want to work with a company like NASA because I believe in [its] mission statement and [its] values.

“I want to motivate and push for education because we need to see the interdisciplinary things between every subject and every major,” said Jimenez.

Jimenez has her eye on a certain area of NASA in where she’d like to work in, “I’ve always wanted to be an astronaut since I was a kid.

the 10 NASA facilities around the country.

Fellow Cerritos College students Micah Pratt; mechanical engineering, Luis Domingo Lugo; electrical engineering, David Ramirez; aerospace engineering and Elliot Olivera; mechanical engineering were among many of the students that went through NCAS. According to Pratt, the program requires one to be a full-time student with nine stem units, a letter of recommendation and a 3.0 GPA or above.

Pratt said, “It was probably the coolest thing I’ve ever done in my entire life. I think I’ve done a couple of cool things, but that [experience] definitely tops them.”

The NCAS experience motivated Pratt to submit internship applications for a couple of different NASA facilities two days after he returned.

A close look at the Orion.

Space exploration had Lugo in“I never thought that I can do trigued at a very young age, although it, it all just seemed so far away he never thought of having the and now I have the people first-hand experience, NCAS who can get me there. granted him this opportuni“I wanna be an astronaut.” ty to get more in touch with The NCAS program conspace. sists of former alumni of the Lugo said, “It’s a lot of program sharing informawork, I think on average I One of the many NASA ducks Yulisa Jimenez tion and their experiences. got maybe an hour of sleep a hopes to collect in the coming years.

The NCAS program connight. They make you work sists of a five-week online course along with for it, but it’s so enticing that you have no a final project and if selected one is able to problem with it.” participate in an onsite experience at any of Lugo is on his fifth year at Cerritos Col6 Wings Spring 2018

lege and this experience reinvigorated his spirit towards his major.

“Being here for that long, starts to take a toll and you start wondering ‘Should I really be pursuing this, should I just throw this out and switch to something new?’

“Working there really fired up my engines to keep pursuing what I’m doing,” said Lugo.

Ramirez explained how the experience of working on site with the NCAS program taught him was, how to work with other individuals to achieve common goals.

Olvera said, “I thought I knew how to work with a team until I got to NCAS, that’s the biggest impact it had on me.

“If you have even the slightest interest in space there’s nothing better you can be doing right now to familiarize yourself with it.

“This Fall may be the last chance to ever do this and there will be no other opportunity like it and nothing else will bridge you into a internship with NASA or Space X,” said Pratt.

If there is no interest in space at all, again this program is open to students of any major.

“One of the biggest things I learned at NASA was to just go for it, dare to do it.

NASA is a place where it’s not just about space.

Jimenez continues, “NASA will open doors for you, it’s a good place to network and there’s a place for anyone.

“You just have to go for it and see what happens.”

Cerritos’ Cosplay Cover Girl

By Cesar Villa, staff writer

I

t’s humid and smelly, a young cosplayer is struggling to keep her costume from falling apart, at the same time she is being welcomed and applauded for it at the Anime Expo.

The illustrious world of cosplay belongs to those who dare to bring fantasy into reality, whether it’s building an elaborate armor or wearing almost nothing at all.

For students like Elizabeth Craig, a 19-year-old business major, cosplaying isn’t a hobby or a phase, it’s apart of her life.

Craig began her cosplaying career at the age of 15 and has learned to design her own costumes through the help of YouTube and two artists, her parents.

“I’ve always been an artsyfartsy person, I like to just make stuff, and I was kinda cosplaying before I knew what cosplaying was,” she said.

Craigs earliest cosplays

were of Ash and Pikachu from the notorious “Pokémon” anime series.

It wasn’t until she went to the Nasai Festival in Little Tokyo where her admiration and inspiration for cosplay blossomed.

She admitted that at the time she wasn’t dressed as a character, she had simply worn a pink wig, a black dress and white thigh highs at the event.

“All these cosplayers came up to me and said, ‘Hey, come join us in the parade,’” Craig laughed, “So I was in the parade and I was like this is something that I really want to do, and ever since that day cosplay’s been an obsession to me.”

Her first official costume that she made was Yuno Gasai from the manga series “Mirai Nikki” (Future Diary).

It took a long sleepless night to make just so she could wear it on her first day of school in her junior year.

Because Craig likes to “go all out” on her costumes, they tend to range from $200-$300 and can take a week to two months to finish.

She currently has two favorite costumes,

Mae from “Fire Emblem” ,By Cesar Villa

Spring 2018 Wings 7

Photo by Cesar Villa

Courtesy of Eliseo Velasquez

Photo by Cesar Villa

Courtesy of Eliseo Velasquez

Photo by Desmond Byrd

Photo by Cesar Villa

8 Wings Spring 2018

Courtesy of Eliseo Velasquez

the first is Deathwing from the “World of Warcraft” that was an armor build along with a charmanders tail attached to it.

The second is Alex from “Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey Redux,” which had a dark, yet sleek look, both are role-playing video games.

Craig spent over three weeks crafting “Alex” and about $400 went into materials like: fabrics (that she personally sewn into a cape), a $200 bodysuit, a wig, a headset made of resin and a gun made of apoxie sculpts and pvc.

This costume also holds sentimental value.“It took me three weeks to make this intricate cape and I finished it just a couple of days after my grandma died,” she said, “whenever I wear the costume it’s like I feel her with me.”

Unlike many cosplayers, Craig tends to dress up as characters from video games over anime because she’s a gamer at heart.

Craig grew up watching her father play games and picked up the controller at five years old, “I played mainly Playstation and around 11, I got my first Xbox 360 — now I play Nintendo and PC, I’m moving on up to the master race,” she said with a chuckle.

With the combination of her timid nature and the bullying she received in middle school she ended up diagnosing herself with social anxiety and depression.

Because Craig was bullied she often found friends by playing online and would invest lots of time playing.

She found out later that the best way to cope with her depression was through cosplaying, she said, “I fell into depression for a couple months because I wasn’t making anything after my grandma passed away.”

“If I play a video game, working, going to school or even doing school projects it’s not the same, if im not working on cosplay, my life’s a wreck,” she concluded.

Craig also said that she’s been cracking out of her shell due to her cosplaying, and has been gaining more friends on social media.

She has even gained fans that look up to her ability to create and model her costumes and is filled with content and bewilderment as to why they would choose to support her.

Craig has immersed herself with Japanese culture by learning the language, listening to their music and consuming anime and Japanese video games.

She has also faced criticism by others calling her a “weeaboo,” which is a derogatory

Photo by Cesar Villa

Courtesy of Eliseo Velasquez

Courtesy of Eliseo Velasquez

slang term used to describe a westerner who is obsessed with Japanese culture.

“I used to be really insulted by it, but now I embrace because it’s true, its bad but it’s true,” she said, “it’s probably insulting to the Japanese like no you’re white stop acting like your Japanese.”

“I’m not at the point where I’m disrespectful anymore, where I’m speaking half broken Japanese [...] I want to be on that line where I can be interested and willing to learn, but not to the point where I’m actually disgraceful to people,” she said.

Most cosplayers go through some sort of sexual harassment whether it’s online or in public, Craig explained that more often than not people will be harassed when doing photo shoots in public.

Recently she faced an ordeal with a user who left inappropriate comments, and fearing for her safety, she decided to block and report the person.

With the help of her friends she was also able to remove all locations from her Instagram profile, delete an old Facebook account, changed her online name on all social me-

dias and archived all the photos the user had found her in.

She did all this to insure her safety she said, “You can’t always pass things off as internet comments or trolling because they can become very real.”

Craig has been fortunate enough to not have dealt with any body-shamers while cosplaying, and that she feels comfortable with her body while understanding that it’s actually a luxury to feel that way.

She has said that she normally sticks to characters with her body type and skin color, “As much as I believe whatever color of skin or weight you are you could cosplay whatever you want.

“I do think that when it comes to me, a skinny white person, I need to stay in my lane,” she concluded with a laugh.

If you would like to see more of Craig’s cosplays then follow her on Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr and Twitter @Wyvellie.

Spring 2018 Wings 9

TOP CHEF

By Alison Hernandez and Liz Corcoles, staff writers

F

or Philip Herrera, being a chef means creating food for all types of customers as well as making something that is both healthy and delicious — and appealing to the eye.

As an active student at Cerritos College, Herrera dreams of opening his own restaurant and catering to people of all sorts of restrictions, preferences and trends. It’s something he knows he can and will do.

Herrera stays busy with the culinary arts program, running his own private bartending service, working part-time at a food truck and being a student senator at Cerritos College.

As well as being an active member in Movimiento Estudiantil Chicanx de Aztlan and Go Green task force club. Being busy is part

10 Wings Spring 2018

of the college experience and Herrera is making sure he makes the most of his time while gaining more experience.

Graduating in 2003 from La Habra High School, Herrera never felt like school was for him, at least, in his younger years when he didn’t know where life was leading him.

Herrera attended Mt. San Antonio College right after high school, but that route quickly came to an end. Focusing on his athletic career, rather than his studies, he found that this was a common problem of his.

After a few failed attempts at college, Herrera moved to what he calls the Bay area, specifically Richmond, California, with his aunt, Mary Dominguez.

Herrera’s aunt, Dominguez, felt he was

an artist and making the move to Northern California would be ideal for him to explore and figure himself out. Living in Northern California for six years, Herrera says most of it was a “blur,” the reason for that being that he wasn’t doing anything productive with his life. Besides being a professional bartender, Herrera didn’t have much going at that point in his life.

Dominguez says, “He (Herrera) was intrigued by the cooking part...as well as presenting the food and the controlling aspect.”

As well as being intrigued by the cultural and political atmosphere, Dominguez feels that Herrera enjoyed his time in Northern California. Explaining that there “are more cultures in a smaller area, laid back and better

traffic,” she said with a laugh.

“Once he gets an idea, he’s impassioned, he finds a way to do it. He is always really into whatever he’s studying, throwing himself fully into it.”

Upon reflecting, he says those were the best years because he found his love for culinary.

“It wouldn’t have been possible to find that passion had I not had the life experience I had,” Herrera said.

Now, fast forward a few years, Herrera is taking his studies seriously and making the most of his time.

“I credit a lot of my reasoning of going back to school and being actually successful to my awakening and what I’m passionate

about. Which is cooking and having my own restaurant one day,” says Herrera.

Currently in the culinary program at Cerritos College, Herrera says he fell into the program, not fully knowing what he got himself into.

Nonetheless, he came out successful and three semesters later he says, “I am a certified pastry chef, certified chef, and I’ll be a certified hospitality manager by the end of this semester and [I’m] three units away from my associate degree.”

Hovering over a stove in culinary arts’ kitchen, Herrera shows off his skills, making a southwest eggs benedict plate.

Making breakfast items comes easy to Herrera since he has had previous experience Spring 2018

Wings 11

All Photos by Carlos Ruiz

at a breakfast restaurant. He’s also said that his preferred cooking theme is California cuisine because it’s healthier, focused on locallysourced or homegrown organic ingredients.

His second go to theme is Latin cuisine, which helped inspire the changes he made to his eggs benedict.

“I’d say I’m very entrepreneurial. I stay very busy. I attribute that to having a lot of life experience” Herrera made what he calls “A twist on classic eggs benedict. Poached egg on top of roasted pasilla pepper, chicken chorizo sausage patty, on a whole wheat english muffin.

It’s topped off with Tapatio hollandaise sauce and black bean roasted salsa.”

Herrera has also stated that he likes to do test runs for the dishes he prepares to make sure things will go smoothly. He likes to take people’s dietary restrictions into account when he cooks as well, something not many chefs are willing to do.

He believes that accommodating for these restrictions challenges one’s creativity, especially when you have to think of ways to work 12 Wings Spring 2018

around them and people’s tastes when creating a certain dish.

Chef Michael Pierini was Herrera’s instructor when he took part in the Culinary Arts Department two years ago.

Pierini described Herrera as being a very good student. He said that he was always prompt, focused and driven to learn.

He also said that Herrera is an experienced cook that shows a lot of leadership qualities in the kitchen. He has a very “family-oriented” personality, always looking out for other students and working with them, assisting them and protecting them.

Pierini described Herrera’s character as kind, caring, motivated and driven. He believes his former student cares about the overall big picture of learning and the campus itself. In addition to being in the culinary arts program, Herrera runs his own private bartender side business.

He says, “I’d say I’m very entrepreneurial.

I stay very busy. I attribute that to having a lot of life experience.” As far as his private bartender gig goes? He started it up through Craigslist and books home events and parties.

As well as running most of a food truck, the Cheddr Wheel, Herrera is constantly pushing himself to do more and on April 5, he was elected as Cerritos College’s new student trustee.

Having previous experience, Herrera felt he was a prominent choice.

“The funny thing is I’m not a politician.

I’m very aware of politics. I read the news, but I’ve never been one to be very politically active. But I got convinced to join the cabinet in the Associated Students of Cerritos College the beginning of last year.”

But Herrera feels being a bystander isn’t enough, so running for student trustee allowed him to be the change he wants to see on campus.

With many things playing a role in Herrera’s life, he ultimate goal is to open his own restaurant in the next year or so.

Adding, “The people that I serve, whether it be people close to me, or people that come into my future restaurant, they won’t feel like, ‘Oh this was an afterthought.’”

He says, “I’ve always had goals in my life but now actually accomplishing those goals that are within my reach and I want to keep moving forward because I feel like I have a lot more to learn.”

Although it took some time, Herrera is on the right mindset and track to fulfilling everything he couldn’t before.

“That’s what I learned about myself. I really enjoy making people happy, and for me, food seems to do the trick.”

Asylum: An Undocumented Cerritos College Student’s Journey from Poland to America

By David Jenkins Jr., Editor-in-chief

Photo by David Jenkins Jr.

I

magine for a moment living in five different countries before the age of 18.

Prottyuth “Chapal” Barua doesn’t have to imagine it.

From nation to nation, a young Barua was forced to follow her father’s job route, which leaped from Europe to Asia and finally, to North America.

“Our first posting was in Poland,” Barua said. “I don’t really remember much about that because I was an infant, then we moved to Germany and we lived there for about five

and a half to six years. I remember very vividly I went to a private British school…”

Barua was born in Poland. Her father works for the embassy of Bangladesh and with that comes being stationed in European countries.

He would be repositioned every five to six years, and once he moved, his two daughters and wife followed.

From Germany at the age of 5, to her family’s country of Bangladesh and from Italy, to a life of asylum in the United States, Barua

remains passionate about her education at Cerritos College despite her life as a refugee.

Her first vivid memory of schooling was in Germany. She moved there with her family at the age of 5.

“I lived in Berlin for about five and half, six years. This was back in 2002. And I learned the language. It was pretty cool,” she said. “I remember there were three students, myself, another Indian girl and another Scottish guy.

“So, there was this teacher she would put a picnic blanket outside and the three of us Spring 2018 Wings 13

Photo by David Jenkins Jr.

would sit down and the teacher would just ing back to Bangladesh to await her father’s point at random things. She would say the next task, she lived with persecution.

Another ethnic group in the capital known German word for them. I remember that beas the Biharis would harass her family. ing one of my first German classes, just going out into the wilderness and pointing out different things,” Barua said.

Barua was able to get the majority of her classes in English, but living in Germany she had to pick up the language.

She would go down to the playground when all the kids where there as the kids spoke German, she was able to pick up the language as if it was her own. Barua said she caught so quickly that the school transferred her to the advanced German class where it was taught as a mother tongue.

This isn’t the only time she picked up languages on her path of education.

“In order to keep the education consis- Courtesy of Prottyuth Barua “I was pretty young, but what my mom tent my parents thought it would be better was telling me is when we moved from Gerfor me to study in a private English institution instead of going into the public sector,” many to Bangladesh we moved into a neighshe said. borhood that had a really different ethnic In between times her father would be group. So, for that you need to know a little repositioned, they would go to Bangladesh bit of history of Bangladesh,” she said. where they’d stad in the capital city of Ban“Bangladesh went through a lot of civil wars and there are a lot of ethnic groups there gladesh, Dhaka.

Both her parents are Bengalis. When mov- and there’s a certain ethnic group that associ14 Wings Spring 2018

ated with Pakinstaines. And if you know the history of Bangladesh we kind of don’t like each other, so they kind of stayed in Bangladesh due to war and were not able to go back to Pakistan, they don’t share a border so it’s hard to go back.

She continued: “So, this ethnic group, they’re called the Bihari, they stayed in Bangladesh and they lived in a particular place in the capital city of Bangladesh in Dhaka.

And my parents ended up buying a house there.”

Barua said all sorts of things happened including bangs on their front door at night and frequent water and gas shutdowns on purpose.

“It continued for a good year and a half until we were sick and tired of it and we moved out,” she said.

Because of this, Chapal and her family hesitated to go back to the capital Bangladesh, Dhaka. So after her time in Italy, her mom decided to visit the United States with a tourist visa.

“When I moved here I came with a visa, but I came with a tourist visa. And we weren’t initially thinking about staying here, my mom just wanted to check out the place,”

Photos Courtesy of Prottyuth Barua

Barua said. “She wanted to see America before going back to Bangladesh. And she really liked it here, so she ended up staying...overstaying her visa. And it was a federal [offense], you’re breaking the law by doing so.

“But it wasn’t safe to go back to Bangladesh anymore,” Barua said. “So, my mom, sister and I, the three of us, we filed a case to stay as asylum, refugees.”

Coming to the states in 2014, Barua made her case to the courts to seek asylum.

During the waiting process she feared for her life. She feared the courts denying her case, which would force her to go back to Bangladesh where persecution awaits her and her family.

“So, in the beginning it was terrifying, because once you turn in your case you don’t hear from them for a long time and during that period you don’t have any papers, you don’t really have any valid document at this point,” she said. “You’re just stuck so it becomes terrifying. Like, even police scare you at this point.”

Her case finally made it to court and gave her a bit of hope.

“But, soon after that our court case went to court and they said ‘well you can just stay here and you can work’ so I have a social security and a work permit. But when I come to school I’m still considered undocumented, because I’m not a permanent resident or a U.S citizen,” Barua said.

Despite her status, Barua is about to graduate Cerritos College in the spring of 2018.

She’s going to continue her education by going to medical school. He dream school is UCLA, where she would like to study human biology.

She went on to speak of the distinction between her fight for citizenship and those who have applied for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

“I feel like my fear is different. Different from other undocumented students because...I don’t even qualify, I don’t have DACA. I didn’t move here when I was like 2, I was a full grown adult,” she said. “The American government knows I’m here, but I’m still subjected to removal, because if my court case doesn’t pass, they can just say ‘we’re

going to deny your case, your going to have to go home.’”

Home, of course, would be Bangladesh.

Barua, however, wishes the path to citizenship was easier, she desires American citizenship.

“If immigration were easier here and to do it the right way only took an exam, I would do it,” she said.

Spring 2018

Wings 15

Man Behind the Mask:

By Jaxx Mena and John Chavez, staff writers

F

rom out of the cover of brightly-colored smoke, a man with a giant skeleton for a head emerges surrounded by vivid neon colors, and masked behind a Dia de los Muertos calavera. One might wonder where an artist like this develops his skills. It may be surprising that Cerritos College helped him find out who he was.

Better known as the Skeleton of Color, Butch Loscin is a performance artist who specializes in vivid displays featuring himself in brightly colored suits surrounded by smoke in erossing settings all over LA. He attended Cerritos College in past semesters as a fine arts major and plans on continuing his education here.

He has become so outstanding in his art form that he was recently featured in a music video by the famous American rock band Fallout Boy. The video, “Hold me Tight or Don’t” features Loscin quite prominently, showcasing his art of smoke and colors in time with the music.

Loscin has an intent to get a studio arts degree to transfer out. Though he began school as a kinesiology major as a result of being a personal trainer for a few years, he ultimately decided against it. “As I started taking my classes at Cerritos, I was really settling into a lot of the art classes. “I just really dove into them and it’s really manifested itself in me.”

According to Loscin, what started his passion for art was, “finding out that I was able to do it.” He says that he had always been interested in the fine arts, especially drawings and such. He stated it was his exposure to art at Cerritos College that inspired him.

After taking a few art classes at Cerritos, he began to see what he could really do. “I started to be able to do it myself. It was just one of those things, where I really fell in love with it.”

While his passion for art grew, Loscin began to wonder how he could use his new found skills. He started thinking about his career in college, saying, “Well, in school, I was looking at myself, thinking, ‘How am I going to make a living with this?’ And I started looking at situations where previous artists were successful, and I wanted to emulate something I saw for myself.

“One of the things I really saw was how an artist has like a brand name, or a distinctive look. Something that really just stands out, that makes them who they are. So as I started creating ways for me to be successful.”

16 Wings Spring 2018

Courtesy of @ninja.af

Courtesy of @ninja.af

Courtesy of @Puiglife

The Skeleton of Color

Courtesy of @hecturtle

According to him, he looked at the world around him for inspiration. What he saw here in our own Los Angeles was the Day of the Dead holiday. It was with this that he finally found what he was looking for, a way to express himself in his art.

One thing about the Mexican holiday that intrigued him was the calavera, or sugar skull. “For me, I always liked the sugar skull. I didn’t really know what Day of the Dead meant, I just thought it looked cool. But as I started investing more time, listening to people, what they had to say about it, Mexican people, I really started liking it and then kinda adopted it for myself.”

Loscin then took it further from there. Adding colored smoke and interesting visuals, he crafted the persona of the “Skeleton of Color.”

He then used social media as an outlet for his art, saying, “Social media is such a big game changer for me, having such a huge following. People have to understand that I knew a long time ago when I first started this that I need to have an Image, which was for me the sugar skull, the smoke grenades and the outfits.”

Now, Loscin had to find a way to get himself out there. He found a team of photographers, who identified themselves as a community. They were willing to photograph him, as he would perform at their community gatherings. After receiving professional grade photos of himself in his persona, he posted them online to market himself.

“That’s how I got in touch with Fallout Boy. They found me through my Instagram page, and they liked what I did. They hit me up and the rest is history.”

Loscin has some encouraging words for students looking to do something similar.

“Really, you just gotta be brave. You gotta go out there. When I look at how I got to be successful to this point, is finding creative solutions. They will appear in front of you, you just gotta be brave. You have to mold it to you, to what you need. It’ll help be successful in what you want to do.

“You have to identify what you want, what you need and realize how you achieve it, and chances will appear. That’s how it always happened to me.”

Loscin stated he found a way to success using his creative talents. According to him, Cerritos College helped him find what he wanted to do.

Courtesy of @hecturtle

Spring 2018 Wings 17

By Carmelita Islas Mendez and Jasmine Martinez, staff writers

Limitless 18 Wings Spring 2018

Photo by Carmelita Islas Mendez

“Y

ou know how some people dance and some people are dancers, she’s a dancer,” Rita Morales said of her daughter, Adriana Morales.

When Adriana, 21, was three, her mom caught her dancing to a Maná song in the living room. That is when she put her in tap and ballet.

Adriana began by dancing tap, ballet and jazz through a parks and recreation program, but later got bored and wanted something different.

“I wanted something more upbeat, something faster,” she said.

Being of Mexican and Guatemalan descent, Adriana took interest in dancing where she could make noise with her feet.

Initially, she wanted to dance Flamenco, but since her family could not find a studio who practiced that style, she went with folklorico instead.

She has been dancing folklorico since she was 5 years old and considers it her dance, the one she is best at.

Adriana elaborated, “I really do like folklorico, because not only do we know the dances, but my instructor teaches us the story behind each dance and why they dance the way they do and each movement has a meaning.

Courtesy of Adriana Morales

“I don’t like to share my emotions or feelings verbally, but if I’m on the stage, I can release everything that I feel inside and leave it there on the stage. I connect with the music” “I like my Latin class, cause we don’t only do Salsa and Bachata, but we do a fusion of hip-hop mixed with Bachata, so it’s like something cool and something fun. It’s a Latin fusion, so it’s a little bit of everything.”

Adriana does not consider herself a verbal person, so she feels she can express herself through dance.

She continued to explain her love for dance by saying, “I don’t like to share my emotions or feelings verbally, but if I’m on the stage, I can release everything that I feel inside and leave it there on the stage. I connect with the music.”

But Adriana is not the only dancer in her family, her two younger siblings also dance.

Aaron Morales, 20, and Andrea Morales, 17, have been dancing from a very young age and did it “following in her footsteps,” according to their mother, Rita.

Aaron has been dancing from the age of 4.

He began dancing folklorico, but says that he does not dance as seriously his sisters do. He says he likes to dance as a hobby.

“When I’m dancing, it just takes my mind off of things. It just makes me happy,” he said.

Andrea has danced since she was two years old. She picked up dancing by watching her older siblings practice.

Andrea recalled, “From what I know…

I would be outside the room practicing and would learn the dances in my diapers.”

Andrea is also currently the captain of the Lakewood High School advanced dance team.

She explained that after 15 years of dancing folklorico with Adriana and Aaron she is in sync with her siblings, but has outgrown that dance style. They know how to dance together, but also have the freedom to be their own dancer.

Andrea now follows more contemporary dance styles, such as lyrical and hip-hop, which she has been doing for four years.

However, Rita explained that her children’s dance careers haven’t always been so easygoing.

She explained that at their first studio, which they had been with for 13 years, “things didn’t go well” and they were asked to leave.

“That was very difficult because that is where they worked as dancers. That is where they learned everything.

“That was a very challenging time because it was a sense of loss. We all went through a grieving process, depression and what-not,” she said.

She also said that it was difficult to leave the studio because she was “grateful” for the skills they learned while dancing.

“One of the many things I am grateful for in terms of their characters and who they became, they have develop a sense of responsibility and commitment. Dancing did that for them,” explained Rita.

She said that she tried to keep herself and her children positive throughout that time.

She remembers it as it being, “A moment of darkness for a world of sunshine because

Photo by Jasmine Martinez

Spring 2018 Wings 19

“When I’m dancing, it just takes my mind off of things. It just makes me happy” that brought us here to Limitless and other studios that they are in.

Limitless, a dance group that includes people with disabilities, performed at the All Abilities Fair hosted by the city of Malibu where they danced to three songs, which included salsa and pop.

“For Adrianna, it gave her a bit more freedom to stretch her wings and truly fly.”

Leaving her first dance studio meant that she was able to join other dance groups and learn more contemporary dance styles as well as attend Cerritos College and “meet her Cerritos family,” as Rita put it.

Some other opportunities that arose after were the chance to appear in the “Hold Me Tight” music video from the Patrick Stump and Pete Wentzlead rock band, Fall Out Boy. “I come out like three times and only two seconds, but that was something cool to do. It was a new experience,” Adriana said.

Rita said that although she enjoys watching her children dance, she doesn’t expect them to become professional dancers.

She would like them to have professional careers, but to continue dancing as a hobby.

Debbie Wang, co-founder of Limitless, is an occupational therapist at a rehabilitation facility as well as a dancer. She is responsible for organizing the 20 Wings Spring 2018

choreographies that the group dances to.

Wang has known the Morales family for about seven years and when she needed women dancers for the group, she reached out to them.

“They are like amazing people and a great family. They are the best family,” she said.

She clarified that it is sometimes difficult to choreograph the dance routines for Limitless because she tries to include everyone to showcase their skills and talent.

She concluded by saying, “We try to find songs that have like a positive message or that they can identify with or help us like, something that inspires us when we choreograph. We don’t really do like hardcore hip-hop or gangster rap or anything.”

Heidi Dombish, co-founder of Limitless, added, “When we show up together, it’s a family and it’s supportive and we enjoy being together and having a good time together, whether we are dancing for fun or dancing for a show.”

Despite of her love for dance Adriana has other ambitions that don’t include any performing arts.

However, in the future Adriana hopes to continue dancing.

She said, “I definitely want to continue dancing, but my goal as I grow up is to be a forensic nurse. I still want to dance on the side if I have time, I don’t want to lose it for sure.”

Photo by Jasmine Martinez

FROM BACKSTAGE TO ONSTAGE

By Jackelynn Martinez and Carlos Martinez, staff writers

L

a La Land is the city where many individuals filled with dreams and determination try their best to get their foot in the door of the entertainment industry. However, in the harsh world of entertainment, only a lucky few are able to make it into the field. For 18-year-old Kailei Lopez, she is now one of them.

Lopez is a film major at Cerritos College, focusing on working behind the scenes in ed-

iting and cinematography and will soon make her mark in front of the camera in an upcoming film, scheduled for release in early 2019.

Lopez was born in the city of Torrance, the second youngest of five children, and eventually moved to Compton with her siblings and mother when she was in kindergarten. During the summer, her family would go to the Park in Manhattan concert series and watch movies where she was exposed to different

varieties of music and films, giving her an appreciation of all genres of music and different forms of art.

Before getting into film, the long-time Compton resident initially wanted to work as a photographer for National Geographic, however, her camera proved to be an obstacle.

“She was trying to get off the camera shy, and you know being in front of people,” Carmen Reynoso, Lopez’s mother, said. “So she Spring 2018 Wings 21

started modeling. That’s what she wanted to do initially cause (sic) she wanted to marry Adam Levine.”

Reynoso stated that in addition to helping her gain confidence being on camera, Lopez also gained a better insight on the role of a photographer.

“She’s an awesome girl, she’s very smart and hardworking,” she said.

Lopez attended Compton High School, where she would eventually meet her film teacher, motivator and parental figure Juan Reynoso.

Juan Reynoso was a graduate from California State University, Dominguez Hills and has worked in the movie industry doing stunt work and production. From the influence of his friends, he became a teacher after returning to school and graduating in 2000 and for almost 20 years has helped young adults with the ways of the industry.

“You don’t have to be famous to make a lot of money in the industry,” he said. “The industry is always enthusiastic about my students.”

“I wasn’t all that interested [in his class] at first,” Lopez admitted with a smile. “It wasn’t my thing and 22 Wings Spring 2018

I wanted to do photography and I had it set that I wanted to do photography.”

Lopez soon gained interest in the world of film through learning experiences of “The Crew,” a group of students both current and alumni who are heavily involved in the TV Production class and get involved with doing industry-type works for events such as lightning, filming and editing.

“Next thing I know, from modeling she comes home and says, ‘Oh you know I’m going to be late at school because I’m learning how to film,’” Carmen Reynoso said, recalling when her daughter started to immerse herself into the production class. “Everything came out of the group he [Juan Reynoso] has.

“From then on, it’s been ongoing. She mentioned she didn’t want to be in front of the camera, she wanted to be behind the camera.”

During her time with “The Crew” and while learning more about working behind the scenes, she met boyfriend Fabricio Monreal, another Cerritos College who is also a film major. Monreal is also an alumni from Compton High School who, like other members, go help the current students enrolled in Juan Reynoso’s class.

In addition, Monreal has done camerawork for productions, short films and scriptwriting.

Monreal stated that he originally took Reynoso’s TV Production as a regular class like Lopez, eventually falling in love with the work.

“She’s very happy and positive,” he said.

“She brings a smile to you and she’s very passionate.”

As the couple work on various projects within the film industry, Monreal stated that they always stay positive for each other and give each other words of encouragement, reminding each other they both got each other’s backs.

“I know she gives it all she’s got,” he said, “and she has great opportunities. She will gain a lot of knowledge [during filming] and it will help her for her career in the future.”

“If she needs anything, I’m there,” he added.

Lopez is currently working with Patricia Vidal Delgado, a director working on a film she wrote, “La Leyenda Negra,” translated as “The Black Legend.”

The coming-of-age film focuses on a burning friendship between a popular student and a social outcast who learns to get the strength and support to be themselves.

Delgado states that casting Lopez in the role of Rosarito, one of the main protagonists in the film, was a perfect choice because both girls are shy and sweet with courage hidden inside of them.

“Kailei has core strength and independence,” Delgado said. “In the beginning of production, she was shy, as we went along she overcame it, which worked well during filming.

“Working in ‘La Leyenda Negra,’ Kailei slowly eroded her natural shyness in order to channel Rosarito’s shyness.”

Delgado sees herself working with Kailei again in the future. “That would be great, I have confidence that she will be fine, I really hope so.”

Being from Compton and living with all the stereotypes different people have of the city and the people who live in it, with the support of her loved ones, Lopez believes she isn’t tied down by those images but excited to embody new depictions of her community.

All Photos by Jackelynn Martinez

“Being in ‘The Crew’ has changed me,” Lopez said, “I became more interested and became more sociable. It’s the reason how I am now.”

She also stated that Juan Reynoso and “The Crew” have given her the support and motivation to finish school and to further her education.

Spring 2018

Wings 23

Teaching by Day, Rocking by Night

By Bianca Martinez, staff writer

A

considerable number of Cerritos College students simply attend their classes, do the work, write down notes and only speak with their professors when necessary, but as students were asking about their grades, did they ever consider asking the professor about his or her hobbies?

Mark Abbruzzese, who has been an anthropology instructor at Cerritos College since 2005, has taught all of the anthropology courses offered here at Cerritos College.

From archaeology to witchcraft, if you took it, he taught it.

However, besides being seen in front of a classroom with a skeleton hanging behind him, Abbruzzese can also be seen on-stage in front of a crowd with band mates playing alongside him.

Abbruzzese has participated in more bands than most people have in their whole lives, “The thing about bands that people don’t really realize that are outside of this, they [bands] can last a couple months, they can last six months, they can last a year, they can last several years, you can be in multiple bands at the same time so I would say between 30 and 50, let’s say 40.”

The professor recalls his first experience in a band, “So I was like 10 or 11, I mean if you can call it a band, it was like three of us at my friend’s house doing cover tunes in our version, which was pretty rough, they weren’t really ready for people to listen to so that’s how that started and along the way I learned different instruments.”

Being an eclectic soul, Mark has played a range of genres throughout the years with rock being a staple.

24 Wings Spring 2018

Courtesy of Mark Abbruzzese

Photo By Bianca Martinez

He has played metal, heavy metal, death metal, rhythm and blues and some folk in the 40 bands that he has been a member of.

The band that Abbruzzese is currently a part of, The Bilmurrays, is only a couple months old having been started sometime in July 2017.

The Bilmurrays are comprised of four members in total including Abbruzzese with two of the musicians being Cerritos College students.

Curtis Ortega, who plays bass with the band, said, “Mark was my anthropology teacher for multiple classes and then I met Dennis [Zanabria] in one of his classes, which is the Maya Inca Aztec class at Cerritos [College] and we said, ‘let’s jam one day,’ and the more we jammed, we said, ‘alright, let’s keep going.’”

Ortega goes on to discuss how the band puts together their songs, “It’s usually one person would be the leader, it’s their song and each of the parts we make on our own, no one really sets each part so Mark will come in with his guitar lick and his melodies, I’ll make my bass part, Dennis will just put some rhythm on it.”

This jam session turned band now has hopes of playing at the South by Southwest with Abbruzzese at the helm.

Zanabria, guitarist, states, “It just originally just started as a jam, we didn’t have any intention for a band whatsoever and then Mark just said, ‘yeah, let’s have a band.’”

Zanabria has been playing guitar for 10

years having been inspired by Michael Fox’s character, Marty McFly, in the movie, “Back to the Future.”

somebody said, ‘what about The Bilmurrays?’ and I’m like, ‘yeah, that’s cool.’ and then we had to think about, well we don’t want people to think that we are Bill Murray or we are doing a tribute to him, so we changed it slightly and we all like to joke around and stuff so it seemed like a natural fit.”

The Bilmurray’s have not made their debut as of yet but hope to start playing gigs sometime in late spring, early summer.

Abbruzzese discusses the band’s current progress, “we have six songs now, most places give you half hour to 45 minutes some places give you more, that’s pretty typical now, that was started with festivals like South by Southwest and all that so most bands depending on how long your songs are gonna do five, six maybe seven songs, I like to have like eight so that way we have a couple extra in case they want us to play more.”

The guitarist and vocalist also mentioned some of his personal goals for the band, “start playing regularly, record an album and play South by Southwest, those are the three that I would like to do.”

Abbruzzese’s main form of motivation throughout life being his friend, Kevin.

It was on the behalf of both Kevin and Abbruzzese’s mother that inspired him to pursue music.

Mark recounts, “When I was very little my mom used to sing to me all the time... and she used to encourage me to sing... I would show them [lyrics] to Mom and she would like, ‘oh, put this word, that’s a better word than this word,’ so that kind of got me

“When I was very little my mom used to sing to me all the time... and she used to encourage me to sing” Mark knows how to play the guitar, piano, the clarinet, which he picked up while in marching band, and “a short little foray into drums, which lasted about six months, maybe less, because it was very loud and my dad made me sell them, he didn’t like me having the drums, but at least I learned the basics.”

Abbruzzese has played at small festivals, The House of Blues, the Whiskey a Go-Go, the Doll Hut and the Viper Room. One of Abbruzzese’s goals is to play at the South by Southwest Festival.

Abbruzzese recounts how he and his fellow bandmates came up with the name, The Bilmurrays, “One night we went to go see a band that we like, Super Chunk, up in L.A., this was like two months ago and we were talking about Bill Murray because we all like Bill Murray.”

He continued: “I actually have a picture of Bill Murray on one of my guitars, and so

Courtesy of Bianca Martinez

Spring 2018

Wings 25

Courtesy of Mark Abbruzzese

into music in terms of that.

His mother’s interest in Edgar Allan Poe connected with Abbruzzese’s interest in metal and punk.

“The other major influence would be my friend, Kevin, when I was maybe 8, was the first time I heard Black Sabbath and all these different bands, I was even getting albums at that time because he was four and a half years older than me so he was into this stuff and he would turn me onto it and almost nobody my age would know about this stuff so he kind of pulled me along per say, he didn’t play music but he loved music in a way that is comparable.”

Abbruzzese was this close to not pursuing college in general, let alone teaching at one, he states, “I haven’t always had the discipline in the things you need to do academically to make that [attending college] happen, but to be fair, I lived in a world where college was never a thought, that was just never going to happen for me.”

By challenging that mindset, Mark eventually attended Cypress College.

“So I had this mix of things [classes] and the counselor would go crazy like, ‘You need to pick a major, what are you going to pick?’ and one day he looked at my stuff and he saw that I liked all that diverse set of classes and he goes, ‘what about anthropology,’” Abbruzzese said.

He continued: “I vaguely knew of anthropology so then he explained to me what it was and there’s physical anthropology, archeology 26 Wings Spring 2018

and linguistics and I’m like, “cool” and I took my first class which was an archaeology field class and about two weeks into that class I knew that it was for me and then it clicked, that got me into anthropology.”

Abbruzzese shares how he balances music and teaching with a chuckle, “Yes, it can be difficult but there are certain things, when I first started, I remember teaching at Irvine my first summer, my first classes and it was cultural [anthropology] and physical [anthropology] back-to-back, and that’s all week long because it’s compressed.

“It was wiping me out and I was teaching, doing notes and doing grades continually, and I was concerned whether or not I can do this,” Abbruzzese said. “I talked to the chair of the department and other people whos said ‘once you get further in and you have more experience with the teaching and the grading, it will get easier, you will start building like a system,’ and that’s exactly what happened.”

The musician recalls a moment that really stood out in his musical career, “Five years ago we played the Key Club in Hollywood on the strip, this promoter that I was talking to had a gig coming up with U.F.O, and U.F.O is one of the iconic metal/hard rock bands of all-time and he said, ‘do you want to do it?’

“I’m like, ‘Yeah, I want to do it, of course I want to do the gig.’ We got to play, we didn’t open for them, we were the band before that and that was just massive,” Abbruzzese said.

Courtesy of Mark Abbruzzese

Courtesy of Mark Abbruzzese

Courtesy of Mark Abbruzzese

Explicit Art

By Carlos Ruiz, staff writer

S

tand in front of Lisa Naranjo’s art and you’ll see a series filled with forced religion, abuse, strained relationships and the sexualization of women and another focused on fantasy and liberation from those ideas.

While these ideals may seem complex, this art major at Cerritos College says these topics are what motivate her craft.

Growing up, Naranjo went through her own personal experience of child abuse.

With her dad and step mother being Chris-

tians there were a lot of religious beliefs that were enforced upon her causing her to feel degraded.

“I have two sides of parents; I have my father and stepmother and then I have my very supportive mother and stepfather.

“My mother and stepfather are the ones who pushed me towards my art, they try to make it [a big deal] because it was something I would always do,” Naranjo said.

Naranjo’s mother is highly supportive of her daughter’s artwork. Naranjo recalls, “She

usually says ‘It’s amazing, you can be a cartoonist, you can get that job at Disney!’”

Living with her father and stepmother for a large part of her life, “They never encouraged my art.

“When I used to get in trouble with my stepmother she would rip it, burn it or throw it in the trash right in front of me,” said Naranjo.

Naranjo expressed how these events would make her angry and sad.

She explained how art is her world, so it Spring 2018

Wings 27

competitions with one of them for fun.

Naranjo has completed some goals such as getting into the student art gallery and is graduating this spring semester.

After Cerritos College, Naranjo wants to go to Disney and was offered an internship with Cartoon Network.

When she was a sophomore in high school, she took a bunch of sketchbooks with her to an anime expo and decided to share her drawings with the Cartoon Network table.

Once she gets her feet wet in the art industry, she wants to go to Cal State Long Beach and explore.

Future goals for her would be to find something that matches, what she loves to do.

She has a dream of putting her art up in galleries, when she has a bit more confidence she believes it’s possible.

“It’s a process, although I have a good four semesters of painting under my belt I feel like I’m still just a beginner,” Naranjo said.

Naranjo describes art as a place where you can lose yourself and still have a piece turn out amazing.

“It wasn’t until last semester when I fully got into painting. ‘I hate painting’ is what I used to tell the professor and he would say ‘no, get into it, think of something more personal,’” Naranjo said.

With the many compiled series’ Naranjo has been working on, she still manages to have little mini side projects. “Later on I wanna develop my own web comic, but it hasn’t really worked out because I’m a terrible writer.”

She wants to focus on how teenagers have different lives, one being at home and the other at school.

Naranjo has many upcoming focuses and ventures in which she wants to focus in on her past.

“I was never able to express it when I was younger and now that I’m older nobody can tell me what to do,” said Naranjo.

She explains how art gets her to interact with more people. When it came down to the viewing of her series on abuse, Naranjo said, “Sometimes my art touches people. I’ve had people say ‘I understand, I’ve kind of been through this too.’”

The stunning and dramatic imagery are instilled upon the audience when taking a moment to reflect on Naranjo’s art pieces.

When it came down to it the reaction of the viewers makes Naranjo feel like she’s not alone. When she meets people with similar pasts they connect and have a support group for each other by each other.

“Art is fucking amazing, the whole art world is incredible and it doesn’t get a lot of credit in certain areas and I think it should be more credited. Everyone needs that relief that will help release the stress,” said Naranjo.

For all the idealists who are stuck in their shell and can’t seem to get out there and start dabbling with art, Naranjo says “Just do it, everyone in the art community is nice.

“I think of it as one big family and you [never] know where you’re going to go with art.”

Naranjo said, “I would’ve never dreamed of touching paint, but here I am doing oil paint [and working] on my own series.

“The possibilities are endless with it.”

All Photos by Carlos Ruiz

was almost as if she was getting her world ripped apart.

It wasn’t until her sophomore year of high school when she moved in with her mom.

In order to get there, Naranjo explains how her mental breakdown forced her father and stepmother to push her onto her mom, not wanting to deal with the problem.

Through her art she now demonstrates being liberated.

Art has always been an escape for her when she was dealing with her past. Naranjo said, “It was my own fantasy world to escape from reality.”

Naranjo started working with the aspects of art in the sixth grade, but didn’t start with paint.

She started creating with strictly pencil because she enjoyed having control over her drawings.

When she started drawing in the sixth grade she was inspired by anime. Anime was a calling for her when she was looking for friendships.

Certain shows such as “Sailor Moon,” “Digimon” and “Pokemon” were among the many that inspired her to draw.

Besides anime, when she was younger she would attend school field trips to art museums and would be amazed at how the art was painted, sculpted and created.

Although she would gaze upon these historical artifacts, “I never had the confidence, I realized it’s just practice and you can be as good as anyone.”

Naranjo doesn’t necessarily look up to famous artists, but personally looks up to her fellow classmates and occasionally has friendly

28 Wings Spring 2018

An escape painting, a side of paradise and another in hell. A months work on two canvases.

A little girl sitting on her bed with hand prints everywhere meaning she’s not alone. In the top shelf, blood is being shed meaning a loss of innocence.

Protecting innocence that’s been destroyed. The older version of ones self protecting the younger her.

A very sad performance, trying to entertain, but not wanting to do it.

Painted on canvas board.

Getting revenge for the past, a man getting his genitals chopped off for sexual abuse.

Spring 2018

Wings 29

Behind the Camera

By Karina Quiran-Juarez, staff writer

C

apturing moments big and small with a camera at her side is what Alexandra Menendez finds passion in. This passion has led her to pursue a career in photography and she doesn’t see herself stopping anytime soon.

With the support of her family and boyfriend Kevin Perez, motivation to continue refining her skills in photography, with her unwavering dreams and dedication to become a professional photographer, Menendez is constantly motivated to follow her passion wherever it takes her.

“It began when I started making slide shows for my friends,”said Menendez who is studying at Cerritos College. Currently studying under art history, she plans to major in photography when she goes on to continue her studies as a transfer student.

Growing up, Menendez had always found a love and appreciation for art.

When she was young, she made countless slideshows on her computer for friends and family. However, she began to notice that what she really wanted to improve upon was the photography.

Ever since, she’s been driven to improve upon her craft, whether it’s by purchasing the latest cameras, taking pictures wherever she goes or by staying updated on her favorite

30 Wings Spring 2018

photographer and inspiration, Annie Leibovitz.

Menendez takes every opportunity she can when she’s hanging out with her other family members (like her cousins), taking a vacation, or attending an event, to take photos.

Preferring to treat her photos like a set piece, she wants each single photo to tell some kind of story.

Additionally, with her adoration for film and cinematography, she’s found that whenever she has the opportunity to take photos, she prefers to focus on shots of people.

Movies that have distinct styles, such as Burton films or ones set in specific eras such as “Marie Antoinette” and “Pride and Prejudice” also inspire her. She always finds ways to incorporate them into her photography.

“Setting up a photo is like movie set. It’s a controlled setting and you can manipulate one moment of the truth,” Menendez said.

When asked about specific genres of film that inspire her photography she said, “If it’s usually appealing in terms of aesthetic, I love it. But, I do prefer the sets of dark horror films…”

Slowly upgrading her cameras as the years went by, she reminisced on the first camera she ever bought.

“It was in sixth grade and I bought a pink

to continue with her photography even more through a photojournalism class, offered on campus.

It had always been a constant passion in her life and she knew at that moment that she wanted to pursue photography for a living.

Menendez said that she takes ample time to prep every shot she takes.

“It’s about setting up the scene first, then taking practice shots to get the right exposure. After that, I take as many as I can until my camera is full and take time to edit them after.”

When asked about her photography, her boyfriend Perez said,“We can often take 10-20 pictures in the same spot until she’s satisfied.

But, I love that about her, she’s a perfectionist, focusing on every detail. Whether it’s finding the best angles or working around something in the background, she has so much love for her photography and I’m her number one supporter…”

Menendez states that her family has always been supportive of what she wants to do, especially her mother.

“My mom’s main goal for me was to go to school as long as I graduated college. She doesn’t care what I want to do, as long as I’m happy and I stick with it, ” Menendez said when asked what it was like growing up as an artistic person in her family.

Maria Menendez, Alexandra’s mother, said that ever since she was young, Alexandra would always be doing something on the computer that involved either making videos or editing photos.

“As Alexandra has grown I’ve seen her become more sure of herself in her photography. She knows what she’s doing,” Maria said.

Expanding on who her inspirations are for her photography Alexandra mentioned, “Because I’ve grown up surrounded by strong women (mom and older sister Roxanna), I’m constantly inspired by female directors and photographers.”

“Being extremely close with my older sister”, Alexandra continued to say, “she’s the one who showed me movies and has taken me to museums or exhibits...I even remember her always asking me to take her picture when she’s trying on a new outfit. I found my love for film (and their aesthetics) because of her…”

As for what is on the horizon for her future, Alexandra mentioned she would love to work for a magazine such as Vanity Fair or Vogue, perhaps even teach photography.

She stated when it comes to art, there’s more than one way to do things. With that said, Menendez knows for a fact that she will continue to pursue photography no matter what career path she chooses.

Anything that keeps her behind the camera.

All Photos Courtesy of Alexandra Menendez

point and shoot camera from Circuit City for about $60...I’d always loved being the photographer and remember always getting the disposable cameras,” she said.

From the point and shoot camera to numerous upgrades over the years such as the Kodak, Kodak 2.0, to the Coolpix Nikon at 15 years old, she continued to improve upon her photography with each new camera purchase.

With her family’s constant support of her passion for photography she said happily that at 16, during Christmas, “All of my family members pitched in for my first DSLR, a Canon Rebel T3…”

With an array of cameras in her collection (even ones that shoot in film), she’s found that as the years goes by she has preferred digital to film photography, and leans towards using Canon DSLRs. “Because there’s a limited number of shots and it’s expensive, I’ve found that I need to be more selective with the photos I take in film,” Menendez said.

Though she’s used numerous cameras over the years, from DSLRs, point-and-shoot, and many more, she expanded on one camera in particular with a unique story behind it.

“It was a Rolleiflex camera. It has a lot of meaning to me since my dad gave it to me,” she recalled.

Her father found the camera at a yard sale around 2014 and knowing she loved photography he got it for her.

“Its funny how strong blood is,” she said.

She’s known her father to be an artistic person (through his work as a pastry chef ), and even heard through other relatives that cousins of hers are also pursuing art as a major, just like her.

In high school, she found that she was able

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