Wings Zine - Spring 2023

CERRITOS COLLEGE SPRING 2023

WINGS

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tan culture is everywhere you look. Any relatively famous person can be idolized by anybody! When you look at a baseball player like Shohei Ohtani, he’s extremely famous and fans waiting for hours to see him just get on a bus.

During the social media age and beyond, this has gotten so popular with musical figures like Drake and BTS, where tons of people are willing to wait tons of hours just to get a glimpse of them too.

Even looking at the past, Michael Jackson was heavily followed and fans would just pass out by just getting a glance of him.

However, social media and the rise of the internet turned simple fascinations onto a digital drug that they can’t get enough of.

In this issue of Wings, created in the spring of 2023, we dive into tons of different aspects of stan culture that you might never have thought of.

From Jesus to anime, we explore the different stans that consume the world we live in today.

For examle, we interviewed tons of people who all have one thing in common --- they deeply love and are even obsessed with one thing in their life.

The staff here at Talon Marks put in tons of hours of work to make this magazine possible so I’d like to personally thank them for their hard work and diligence.

Hope you enjoy our storytelling on the popular culture lovers of today, stans!

Sincerely, Samuel Chacko

Editor-in-Chief

Photo credit: Derrick Coleman

TALON MARKS

Utilizing the First Amendment since 1956 Register for Fall 2023 Journalism 107 News Media Production

Writing • Photography • Design • Multimedia www.talonmarks.com

Wings Magazine Spring 2023 Cover illustration by Jesus Alduenda

Inside the Mind of an

By Michael Delgado & Rogelio Estrada III

What began as curious viewing of a single show has since morphed into a mountain of completed series ans shows that compose a shrine of Juan Contreras’ love of Japanese animation.

The 21-year-old Palmdale native believes anime stans like himself aren’t afforded the same respect as other entertainment fans of bands, social media starlets and movie franchises.

“I understand there are some of us that are weird in a way but there’s no reason why we should be judged because of what we like,” said Contreras, who like many others his age, loves anime.

“I think we are misunderstood, when people see us or hear about us they just assume we are all weird but in reality, we are just like everyone else,” he said. “but people’s perception of us is wrong and unfair.”

Photos by Michael Delgado

Anime stans are some of the most passionate fans of all and most of them aren’t shy to show it.

Some will show it within their personality and style and can even go as far as sexual preferences.

There are different levels to anime fandom. You have the normal fans people who stand on the base level they know about it, but aren’t too crazy about it.

There is also what is known as “weebs.” A weeb is a term used for someone who is obsessed with Japanese culture. It is used in the anime culture to stereotype fans who show an extreme amount of characteristics.

Lastly, you have the Otakus. They’re different from weebs because weebs are directed towards non-Japanese individuals. An otaku is a more common slang used in Japan, but can often be used in the United States.

Juan’s only real interest was to learn how to speak Japanese but he is not too obsessed with Japanese culture.

Illustration by Rogelio Estrada III

“Yeah I would say that watching the amount of anime I have the past couple years has definitely influenced me to want to learn how to speak their language.”

“Also going out to Japan is on my bucket list, at first I never really had any interest of going out there, but now that I love anime the way I do it is a place I would love to go in the future.”

His otaku traits show when you look at the things he owns, wears, and sometimes even the way he acts.

“I for sure see myself in Naruto, the way the shows portrays him as a person that no matter what it is he’ll never give up on his dream because in his words that’s the ‘ninja way,” or even the moments where he’s in his darkest stages of life like the loneliness and the times he felt misunderstood, like I see myself in those moments.”

“The drive and ambition he has inspires me to do better,” Contreras said.

Juan likes a variety of different shows like, “Akame Ga Kill,” “Rascal does not Dream of a Bunny girl Senpai,” and “Gleipnir” but he found his most interest in watching “Darling in the FRANXX.” “Akame Ga Kill” is a more violent anime, while “Bunny girl Senpai” and “Darling in the FRANXX” land on the more romantic side of anime.

“After I finished Darling in the FRANXX it made me feel a way I’ve never felt towards an anime like it was something I didn’t expect to feel, I can say it’s what started my love for anime.”

Two years ago, Juan was just your average day-to-day young man after he graduated, just trying to find himself, his passion, and who he truly was as a person. Ultimately, he was unsure about his future.

In the past two years, his obsession with anime changed him forever in good and even some bad ways. The influence from his friends and being locked in his house due to the COVID-19 pandemic brought him into the anime world.

But he has no regrets, he understands the stan culture of anime has its critics all around the world but he doesn’t let that stop him from doing what he loves most.

“Honestly....no I wouldn’t change a thing because anime has brought me some of my closest friends I have today,” Contreras said.

“I love the way I am today because I love myself.”

JERSEY MADNESS Sports fans nowadays are obsessed with collecting jerseys whether it’s for the the aesthetics or the era of another jersey that the person has.

In recent years, we are seeing fans of different sports leagues collecting at least 100-200 jerseys.

Why is this? It could be just another hobby to keep collectors busy. However, it goes much deeper than that.

Nick Pinkerton, the man behind a YouTube channel called Twisted Wrister Hockey, said what got him into collecting jerseys started with collecting sports cards as well as saving his tickets from sports games and was influenced by other hockey YouTubers to start a collection of his own.

He also mentioned that when a Black Friday sale was going on he decided to buy a jersey from the Chicago Blackhawks. He stated that he has over 130 jerseys in his collection.

In cases like Pinkerton, it is often that people get inspired by others to start their own collection.

An interesting wrinkle in the hobby is that collectors having seemingly no problem representing the opposing team.

In Pinkerton’s case, he is from the Bay Area and is a childhood San Jose Sharks fan then said “you cannot pay me to wear a Kings jersey” and got two mystery jerseys from two websites that ended being jerseys from the Los Angeles Kings.

He said “okay, that’s it I’m collecting everybody” and followed up with “I also wanted to own a Mighty Ducks jersey because even though they’re a rival of ours, how can

you not absolutely love that one?”

By Alfredo Menjivar & Samuel Carey

He said that he likes supporting small businesses and will buy jerseys from them as well as finding an authentic Adidas jersey for the same price of a Fanatics on another website.

According to Collectible Football Jerseys, people also collect jerseys due to the value of them.

Another fellow jersey collector is Neil Taylor from Post2Post Productions on YouTube.

Taylor also has hundreds of jerseys across different hockey leagues and is still expanding his collection.

Photo by Nick Pinkerton

“Most collect jerseys as they are the best way to represent their team. They get to wear their teams colors proudly, and when their team has multiple jerseys that span years and decades, collecting them all is a pledge to their support,” Taylor said.

Taylor went more in depth about why people like collecting jerseys. People simply like the logos, the color schemes and interesting designs.

Taylor had also worked professionally in the creative arts industry for almost 20 years so he sees more in jersey designs such as perspectives, when designs and logos are symmetrical and so on.

Though these collectors love getting the kits with their favorite logos, colors and designs. a lot of the time they sell a lot of them to make some money of their own.

Taylor from Post2Post Productions has sold over 30 from his collection and plans on selling at least 20 more.

Pinkerton has sold at least 12 jerseys from his collection but still has a large amount.

This is something that has been going on in recent times and is definitely something that will not be going away. Especially with the new banger jerseys that companies from different sports keep coming up with.

COMPOSITION TOPIC:

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Driven Minds Behind Fan Art Mel Lucas and Christine Nader

is Reyes Spider-Man by Cr

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by Cris Reyes

“I was a little kid doodling on like, tables and stuff, and I’d always get in trouble,” Cris Reyes said with a smile.

The 19-year-old was born with the gift of the arts – and from traditional drawing to digital animation, he’s turning his passion into dollars and cents.

Reyes demonstrated his affinity for drawing at an early age. His imagination unraveled into something more than a phase in his life.

Today, he channels his inner child through his fan art of his favorite childhood cartoons and anime.

As a fan of Spider-Man, Dragon Ball Z and Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, Reyes was inspired to illustrate his favorite characters.

His talent as an artist would eventually open an opportunity l that would offer him the chance to be a commissioned artist and profit off of his talent.

The opportunity came to fruition when an Instagram follower requested a drawing and offered to pay $200 for it. So far, $300 is the most he’s been paid for a commission.

“These people have a lot of money,” Reyes said. “There are people willing to pay $300 just so that they can have a drawing of the stuff they like.”

Like many artists in his field, he doesn’t exclusively draw for one particular fan community, rather he’d prefer to stay true to what makes him happy. Reyes plays by his own rules and strives for pure originality.

The most important fandom to Reyes is the one dedicated to the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. He says the character has had a tangible effect on his life since early childhood.

Reyes elucidated on his personal connection to Spider-Man, crediting him as the inspiration behind his most coveted art piece to date.

His instagram page features only the work he takes the most pride in, currently being only two drawings of Spider-Man and Goku from Dragon Ball Z respectively.

Photo by Christine Nader

Reyes expressed his discontent with the stigma around fan artists, saying that there is more to these artists than meets the eye.

“People think you’re only a fan artist. I draw flowers, landscapes, and other stuff like that.

Stuff that I want to draw.”

Reyes stated that he combines both traditional and digital to achieve a piece that his heart is content on.

First, he quickly sketches out the skeleton of his future piece on physical paper. He then takes a picture of the paper and transfers it to his iPad to finish illustrating and fine tuning his future drawing.

Along the long, winding road of illustration and design, an artist is bound to create a character to call their own. Although he has yet to publicly debut his original characters, Reyes explained that his original art stems from whatever he is into at the moment.

Resident Evil and Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure reign as the two higher influences he incorporates into his character designs.

The window for an artist to complete their work can range from one day to one year and counting, but Reyes said that he completes his works – commissioned or not – done within less than a week due to his concentrated hyperfixation on said art.

Typically, most artists narrow down to one type of drawing method: digital or traditional.

Becoming an artist submits you to a tasking, eventful life doubted by many, but Reyes wouldn’t succumb himself to any other creative grooves.

“Don’t try to copy anyone else... If you are taking an art class and you start drawing exactly like your teacher, well, you’re just your teacher now. Learn your own [art] style, it’s hard but you gotta do it.”

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by Antonio Gonzalez Jr. “I left everything behind after having an experience that was unexplainable.”

J

orge Avila, a tall bald 45- year- old ex– gang member, never shies away from a risky decision.

Gangbanging, selling drugs – even prison time Despite the recent controversies of religion due to political issues and scrutiny from the media, Jorge Avila is one of many others who describe having similar experiences as well as their

Stan for Jesus, including Avila’s daughter.

Michelle Avila, a 24-year-old Christian who is majoring in nursing, spoke about how God guided her back to being happy and her personal opinion on when God appears in people’s lives.

Before a word even came out, her eyes began to water up as she calmly laid back on the couch and said, “I think God appears to everybody in their own way … so I can say that I think people who are their lowest;

a good example is people who are depressed, suicidal and all of that. I think that’s when God will appear to them and be like this is not what you are meant for.

Like your life is not meant for you to live this way …”

As Michelle’s eyes begin to turn red due her eyes being watery, she continues to add, “… I was not that long ago going through it, like depressed. I felt like I had no one and God opened my eyes and told me, What do you mean, you have the only person that you need

in your life and that’s God … so I think at times when everybody is at their lowest, that’s when god will make you realize you are worth more and he has a purpose for you in life.”

Both of the Avilas mentioned their strong faith in God — this strength is what others believe in god. God points to when reflecting on illnesses they’ve defeated.

They say stanning Jesus kept them alive.

Caritina Ruiz, a 48-year old Catholic lady, once had her doctor tell her, “I’m going to be honest with you.

You have major health implications, but I am going to work the best I can.”

Ruiz grew up in a religious household, but in that particular moment she prayed more than she ever had. Ruiz is a wife and a mother of two kids and was feeling scared of dying and not being able to see her family again.”

As Ruiz begins to tell her story, she begins to cry as her daughter comforts her with a hug. Ruiz took a pause to recuperate and said she had a surgery that lasted a week, but needed 3-4 surgeries a day while her stomach was open the entire week.

“Two days before I had my surgery, I had a dream where I saw myself at church praying and asking God to help me live since I was scared to die.”

Ruiz begins to cry but manages to keep on telling the story.

“So when I was praying, a pastor came up to me with a rosary of wounds and told me, God had sent me to pray for you because you need it. Here’s this rosary to bless you. The next day I went to the same church that I envisioned, which was Santa Rosa de Lima. As I was praying, a pastor came up to me and the exact same thing happened – ““And before the second day of surgery, I had dream where I saw a monk and I ran to him. I asked if he could pray despite being of a different religion, I asked him because I was still scared. And from that point, I felt relaxed”, she said. “And that is the reason why I have so much faith in God.” Ruiz says she’s grateful to God for giving her strength and that she loves God so much. Some people say she is loving God too much.

A priest named Michael Mastelle who preaches at Saint Helen Church in South Gate argues there’s no such thing as loving Jesus too much.

“You can look at it intellectually or personally.

Would you ever blame a husband for loving his wife too much? Or a son continuing to give thanks and gifts to his mother. Even if the son knows he’ll never be able to repay whatever

he received from my mom, you know. So I think when it comes to God it’s even more …”

Father Michael waves his hand passionately as he sits in a neighborhood coffee shop in his collar. ““See this is the logic of love, our selfishness always puts limits. Well that’s enough, that is work mentally … When it comes to love, there’s no limit. It’s done with joy … so I think Saint Francis is a good example of potentiality and capacity if we fully open to God.” In the end, Stan’s of Jesus Christ, shared a common thing, faith. Whether that would be an illness, depression or asking for a change they had faith and believed.

For those who would ask "when would Jesus appear in their lives to prove he's real,-“ Jorge Avila had an answer, “God is about faith believing by faith. That's something hard because faith is not something you see, it's a belief."

“Do you think those non-believers and atheists don’t have faith?”

Avila responded with confidence, “"They are the type that don't believe what they don't see ... believing in God is just a lot. Not seeing, but believing.”

A Gen Zer who loves books?

by Samuel Chacko and Lukas Luna-Arellano

Photos by Samuel Chacko

I

f you had to describe Adam Marx, you’d find an ambitious biochemistry major at Cerritos College, but he’s not as married to technology and social media as your average Gen Z adult with big viral dreams.

This stemmed from a childhood lacking in technology around him and how his mother, one of his role models, emphasized the love of reading.

“My mom really likes to read and [...] got me into buying paperbacks, fantasy, scifi,” Marks explained calmly as he held his hands together.

The biochemistry major likes collecting

books from his favorite sections like fantasy and sci-fi but recently started collecting science textbooks too.

This love of science textbooks, however, spawned from his curiosity in learning more in school.

“I was never satisfied with the lessons I was given in school,” Marx said, “They teach at a certain level and then go to the next level, I always wanted to go ahead [of that] and was never allowed to.”

He was peer pressured into joining social media by friends in high school --- he’s since come to regret caving to the pressure.

“I think especially when you’re younger,

you feel as if you need an identity [...] and if everyone has social media and you don’t have that one thing, it creates a disparity between you and the rest of the group,” Marx said.

“I made the conscious decision to delete it and try it for a few weeks,” Marx added, “It’s been 2-3 years now and I’ve never regretted it since.”

This love of reading a science textbook, cover to cover, helped him discover his love of Biochemistry in high school.

“It has made me think about a lot of various subjects in many different ways,” Marx said, “Not even just the knowledge [...], just learning different perspectives.”

He also explained how reading breaks outside of his way of normal thinking, “I may not always agree with it but it certainly helps to develop more empathy for other people.”

Marx said that the reader he’s most passionate about is Gene Wolfe, “What drew me to him was his method of writing, it’s very complex and almost written in the sense that it’s not easy.”

The biochemistry major explains that his writing forces you to think about his work and decode his work, to which he joked, “If I could write like Gene Wolfe, I wouldn’t need to go to school.”

Marx likes more complex and older authors but specifically loves reading fiction, “It’s very much that they know about but you might not know about and you have to pick up context clues.”

The main point he makes on why books are beneficial in his life is because it makes him think outside the box – unlike social media.

“You’re probably not going to find something revolutionary or something that makes you think outside of the box or something that makes you think,” Marx explained about social media.

While reading might seem as beneficial, he explains how reading also impacts him negatively.

“It’s very disheartening,” he said about the generation’s perspective on reading, “It’s led to me being more isolated [mentally and intellectually].”

While reading might seem beneficial, Marx explains the downsides, “I find it often that others have a hard time understanding me.”

The biochemistry major said that the desire to reach for knowledge is absent in the younger generation and how the younger generation should apply what they’ve recently learned.

“I’ve noticed a lot of younger people’s [...] social intelligence is limited, it seems as though a lot of younger people are social to the extent to function to a normal degree in the world,” he explained about social media.

“You’ll have those people who use social media or addicting agents, it’s not doing it for them anymore and they’ll just continue to do it because that’s all they know how to do,” Marx adds.

“I would try to find a hobby that isn’t necessarily playing video games or going online, maybe have your hobby grow your own food,” Marx said to Gen Zers, “Start by developing a skill [...] and once you start doing that, you might actually feel as if going on social media is a waste of time because you could be doing something else that makes you feel better.”

By Diana Morales and Sophie Castillo

“You don’t have to be sorry for leaving and growing up.”

- Harry Styles

Q & A WITH TWO HARRY LOVERS

Photo by Sophie Castillo

How long have you been a fan of Harry Styles and what exactly made you become a fan?

Jessica: Well, I was first a fan of One Direction since 2011-12, I’m not exactly sure but I do remember I was in Elementary school when “What Makes You Beautiful” came out.

Yenny: I’ve been a fan of Harry ever since the X-Factor days really. I remember seeing him on TV and thinking he was super cute with such charisma. He’s very down to earth and is very passionabout his career, which is inspiring!

Would you want One Direction back together?

Jessica: I don’t. I regret not going to one of their concerts but I don’t think the boys were ever happy. If I could go back in time I would love to have seen them live, but now I’m happy that they all found their own path.

Yenny: If you were to ask me this maybe four or five years ago, I would say ‘yes’ in a heartbeat!

Now I would say yes only for a reunion. They seem so much happier. Not saying they didn’t radiate that energy in the band, but it’s more present now because they’re able to be themselves creatively without any limitations.

Photo by Jessica Rodriguez

Yenny Pineda recommends the song

“Satellite.”

Jessica Rodriguez has seen Harry live six times!

Photo by Yenny Pineda

What do you think about the hate Harry receives? And what do you have to say to people who say he’s queer baiting?

Jessica: A lot of artist do exactly that to create an audience, but for Harry he’s always been this way. Since his X-Factor days. Once the boys began their solo careers and were no longer under contract they are at liberty to be who they are and do whatever they want to express themselves.

Yenny: As someone who’s openly queer, I think it’s ridiculous that people believe he exploits the LGBTQIA+ community. People see him as a brand.

He’s said before he is unlabeled. He has helped multiple people come out during his shows and that is such a beautiful thing! His moto is treating people with kindness and people should learn to do so.

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fter briefly moving out of his parent’s house in the ‘90s, Javier Arellano was just trying to make ends meet and wasn’t even thinking about collecting records, but as a kid, it was his world.

Arellano grew up going to many record stores like Licorice Pizza Records and Middle Earth Records, both of which used to be located in Downey, California.

Six years after finishing high school, Arellano opened his own record store called Trash City Records. He’s just one of the many die hard vinyl fans helping usher in a new era of the music platform.

The way people have consumed music has drastically changed and one form of music listening that has managed to become more popular than ever is the vinyl record.

Vinyl records at one point were the top way to consume music before CDs and digital streaming came along. As the advent of CDs came in the ‘80s, vinyl sales declined.

Starting in 2007 came a vinyl resurgence where renewed interest in vinyl buying became more prevalent. By the 2010s it was beginning to outpace CDs in physical sales.

While vinyl as a whole never went away, it has shown to become more and more popular, especially among collectors.

Arellano’s first memory of having a vinyl

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came in the late ‘70s when he was six and someone gave him a KISS single. He used to listen to it constantly on his all-in-one record stereo and it was something he grew to love as a kid.

As Javier got older, Hollywood was the main place to go to see shows and he has seen a number of bands over the years. “[My friends and I] would take the bus when we were like 15 or 16 and it was like two hours one way to Hollywood and that’s where everything was at, at the time,” Arellano said.

Javier opened up his record store, Trash City Records in Monterey Park, in 1998, when he was 24-years-old. He named his store after the song Trash City, by musician Joe Strummer.

“That was the place I was the happiest always. Like, no matter what. So I’m like, shit, imagine if I had my own record store, I’d have to be here every day,” Arellano said.

Despite having no money when it opened, the store was successful enough to be open until 2007. During that time, the advent of Napster and digital-music consumption hurt store sales overall.

The store’s opening was the best time of his life and he maintains friendships from back then to this day.

Despite this, Javier doesn’t miss running

Photo by Julio Rodriguez Ilustration by Joel Carpio

the record store too much as he feels working at the library gives him a similar experience when it comes to learning about the books that are on the shelves and the people that walk through the door.

“Like most people, I think maybe [people] don’t get to do what they want in life sometimes and I was able to do that in my twenties when I was able to enjoy it. I miss it a little but I have my records. I listen to records just about every day,” Arellano said.

With his love for music, Javier loves to travel for music and most recently in October, visited Japan.

He managed to

see his favorite Japanese punk band The Hat Trickers, a band that aesthetically is similar to the characters from Clockwork Orange.

He met the lead singer of the band Clockwork Kenji and ate dinner with him.

Javier praises Kenji as being a total artist, through and through.

It’s bands like the Hat Trickers that are why he likes the Japanese music scene. He likes that they give it their all. An all-ornothing culture as he calls it.

“They may not be like the best players but you can hear the passion and spirit through the music. I think that makes up [for] a hell of a lot for the lack of musicianship,” Arellano said.

Javier hopes to travel to other places for music, around Europe, France and Germany among other countries.

Javier’s collection of music spans not only through vinyls but also CDs and MP3s. He owns about 800 LPs and 1000 7-inches and that’s only accounting from his personal collection.

Overall for Javier, music has been a part of his life from the beginning and it has given a lot to him. “To me, record stores have always, or music and records have always provided.

They’ve done everything for me,” Javier said.

The Harsh Reality of Fetishization

By Emanuel Guadarrama and Susan Romero

“People need to realize that at the end of the day these are just people, there’s no reason why we should be putting them on this pedestal...”

Illustration by Susan Romero

The act of excessively admiring or being fixated on a person or object, to the point it becomes a fetish or obsession isn’t limited to just celebrities or fandoms.

“I was following these adult film stars in a way where I kind of, not worship them, but was really intrigued by them, almost in a way like stan culture,” said Cream Boi, who is using an alias due to the nature of the story.

“You know you’re addicted when you’re following these stars, not only for their scenes, but for their everyday lives …Oh, they were over here on this day, oh they’re going to be at this event, at this center, on this day.”

While people can be addicted to social media, fast food and drugs, they can also develop these all-consuming obsessions for adult film stars and pornography in general.

In their case, instead of being referred to as fans or stans, they are instead, in this age of social media, referred to as “simps” or simply porn addicts.

In both cases, there is a level of attentiveness and projection of one’s own desires or fantasies that forms around the individual who is being obsessed about.

Without truly knowing these individuals, some people may put them on pedestals and/or develop unrealistic expectations for them.

Both celebrities and adult film stars may also experience a sense of dehumanization from their fans and the industries that they work in.

They can be seen by the public as a one-dimensional figure rather than a complex

individual who has a life outside of the industry they work in.

This is what leads to them being objectified as they are reduced to being a commodity for people’s entertainment and consumption. Their worth becomes their level of popularity or the amount of money they bring in or even the amount of followers they have on social media.

So although many people may idolize celebrities, form fixations around adult film stars or envy both of their lifestyles, there are also those who hold critical views on the industries and don’t necessarily admire the people who work in them or the cultures that surround them.

Cream Boi says he’s one of those people, who at a young age struggled with an obsession for adult film stars e.g., Riley Reid, but he was able to overcome his obsessions after he was enlightened.

He got into watching pornography in the early 2010s at what he says was “an embarrassingly young age,” given how at this young age, people have questions, they’re going through puberty and being flooded with hormones.

There was also his unrestricted access and freedom to do anything he wanted on the internet.

“At that age people weren’t so aware of internet safety or monitoring kids and such, so there were no restrictions at all.”

The 22-year-old would become very knowledgeable on the industry and eventually wanted to learn how to get into the industry.

Not as a performer but as someone who works with the production team, “I wanted to learn how this was all made, how this was all done and like I said, the average person doesn’t really understand how...

carefully calculated and how rote this whole entire process is.”

He learned how the scenes were made, what it took and not only about the effects it had on the viewers but also on the performers and how easily replaceable they were.

“It really opened my eyes,” he said. His obsession would then shift from admiring all of these adult film stars and following their every move, to pitying them.

“Instead of seeing where they are and what convention at what time, it goes from where they are after five or six years? What are they doing now? Where did they end up? How did this lifestyle affect them?”

It’s this realization of what happens behind the scenes and how it affects these individuals and the effects it has on the viewers that “broke this spell,” as Cream Boi puts it.

“I’m pretty sure once someone realizes, who is not cognitively dissonant of the entire process, that spell will be broken because at the end of the day, it’s all the quixotic fantasy of this pervert director’s vision.”

Realizing all these different things helped Cream Boi – and he believes it can also help others, who may be in a toxic stan culture and want to break out of their obsession over someone.

“People need to realize that at the end of the day these are just people, there’s no reason why we should be putting them on this pedestal just because they do something better than us.”

“They don’t know you exist, they don’t pay your taxes, they don’t put food in your mouth, they don’t put a roof over your head.”

“You know the famous saying right, at the end of the day everybody puts on their pants one leg at a time… Yeah they sing a little better, yeah they dance a little better, yeah they have intercourse a lot better, but they’re just people man, they’re no different than you and I.” Photos and Illustration by Emanuel Guadarrama

Samuel Carey Diana Morales Co-Community Editor Social Media Editor

Joel Carpio Co-News Editor

Michael Delgado Staff Writer

Mel Lucas A & E Editor

Christine Nader Co-Community Editor

Sophie Castillo Opinion Editor

Jesus Alduenda Production Editor

Alfredo Menjivar Sports Editor

Christian Brown Faculty Adviser

Lukas Luna Arellano Managing Editor

Susan Romero Staff Writer

Rogelio Estrada III Staff Writer

Emanuel Guadarrama Staff Writer

Antonio Gonzalez Jr. Staff Writer

Julio Rodriguez Co-News Editor

Alicia Edquist Instructional Lab Tech

Samuel Chacko Editor in Chief