The SWC Sun Fall 2020 Issue 1

RUTH SAX

Holocaust survivor

inspired generations C A M P U S

A N A C P H A L L O F FA M E N E W S PA P E R

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A N AT I O N A L PA C E M A K E R AWA R D N E W S PA P E R

ZOLEZZI FIRED FOLLOWING CRITICAL REPORT

BY INVESTIGATOR

Former facilities director described as ‘abusive’

BY MATTHEW BROOKS News Editor

Former Director of Facilities Charlotte Zolezzi is the latest employee terminated over the college’s handling of charges of racial discrimination by three former custodians.

Zolezzi was formally terminated in June nearly three-and-a-half years after being placed on paid administrative leave for alleged violations of conduct. An investigation

by The Titan Group produced a damning 245-page report that concluded Zolezzi was guilty of a litany of violations, including inappropriate workplace behavior, retaliation and uploading unauthorized software to college devices to spy on employees.

Titan investigator Kathryn Johnson co n c l u d e d t h a t Z o l ez z i e n ga ge d i n workplace behavior that was “intimidating,” “threatening,” “harassing” and “unethical.”

“Shortly after her hire employees and

supervisors became disillusioned by her rudeness and discourteous communication, as well as her total lack of flexibility, calmness and patience,” read the report. “She was vindictive and vengeful.”

Zolezzi was found guilty of multiple board policy and conduct violations. “(Zolezzi) engaged in unethical and dishonest behavior of intimidation and PLEASE SEE Zolezzi PG. 2

PRESIDENT MURILLO ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT Vargas, students praise her accessibility and her work on racial equity

BY JULIA WOOCK Editor-in-Chief

DOWN LOCKED JI HO KIM / STAFF

... AND LOCKED OUT

S T U D E N T S FA C E A Y E A R O F ‘ R E M O T E E D U C AT I O N ’ “Remote instruction” is not remotely close to what anyone expected in January when spring semester began.

Zoom was for traveling salesmen and online classes were primarily the domain of cheesy buy-a-degree private universities.

No more.

Zoom and Canvas are suddenly lifelines to higher education for Southwestern College students

and millions of young scholars in California’s community college and university systems. Everyone’s bedroom, garage and back patio are potential classrooms. So is Parking Lot O at SC where the college opened up a drive-in hot spot.

March’s whining (“I didn’t sign up for this!” and “I don’t teach this way!”) have been replaced by the determination of August (“Let’s find a

way to make this work!”)

Many have fallen away. Enrollment is down more than 40 percent at residential universities across America. Southwestern College enrollment is down another 11 percent on top of a historically-low 17,000 fall enrollment. SC has not been so sparcely attended since the 1980s — and never has it been so empty.

The Sun will continue to publish,

thanks to an unprecedented plan devised by our adviser and agreed to by college administrators. (Thank you!) Send us your ideas and feedback. Let us know what (and how) you are doing in ‘Rona Land. We know you’re out there. That’s why we are back to work.

— The Southwestern College Sun Editorial Board

STAY CONNECTED

@THESWCSUN

DISTINGUISHED BANNED BANDS SC rockers unable to perform in concert venues, write, rehearse and look ahead. Arts, 10 THE SOUTHWESTERN COLLEGE SUN

NOT EXTINGUISHED Students of Distinction denied ceremony, but not respect.

Backpage, 12

SWEET SORROW Brilliant production of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ consigned to legend. Arts, 9

ON A ROLL Roller skating is healthy, fun, a means of expression for social justice. Sports, 11

Leading Southwestern College was the hardest job President Dr. Kindred Murillo said she ever had.

And, she added, the most fulfilling.

Murillo, 65, recently announced she would retire in June, ending a 25year career in higher education and four-and-a-half years in Chula Vista.

She became president in January 2017 replacing Melinda Nish, who was let go as racial tension flared on campus and the college was sanctioned by its accreditation body. Murillo is the first SC president in 40 years to retire of her own accord.

Governing Board President Nora Vargas praised Murillo’s contributions.

“She has done a fantastic job helping us transform the college,” Vargas said. “I am very grateful for her leadership and what she’s done for the campus c o m m u n i t y.

We’ve addressed some really tough issues that I think she led with a lot Dr. KINDRED of collaborative MURILLO leadership. She SC President i s go i n g to b e missed.”

Vargas said Murillo’s commitment to transforming campus culture and working with the board to address institutional racism are among her greatest successes.

Former ASO President Christian Sanchez said he worked closely with Murillo last year.

“It was an insightful experience,” he said. “She has great leadership skills and I definitely learned a lot from her. She definitely was always willing to help, no matter the circumstance. I am forever grateful for her and all that she has done for us.”

Murillo became president during a period of racial tension at the college.

African-American employees spoke out about what they described as systemic racism that caused Black professionals to be underrepresented.

Some employees countered that Latinos, Asian-Americans and Native Americans were actually treated worse and were less represented. She said she was happy with the current racial climate at the college, but insists work remains.

“This is the hardest job I’ve ever done,” she said. “I have had to do things that just kill me. Every time I have to do something employee related I spend hours and hours and hours (without) sleep. There was a lot of work that needed to be done when PLEASE SEE Murillo PG. 2

OCT. 5, 2020 – VOLUME 57-A, ISSUE 1 • 1

Zolezzi: Suspended facilities director calls investigation ‘unfair’ and ‘one-sided’ CONTINUED FROM PG. 1

retaliation to smear the reputation of employees specifically to get rid of employees,” read the report.

College President Dr. Kindred Murillo ordered an investigation after Zolezzi was put on administrative leave in February 2017. She was accused of retaliatory harassment following the filing of a racial discrimination complaint and 2016 lawsuit by former custodians Thaao Streeter, Mark Gutierrez and Roderick Curry. The suit was dismissed in October 2019 after the custodians agreed to a financial settlement with the college.

Southwestern’s investigation, which concluded Sept. 21, 2018, explored 10 allegations of inappropriate workplace conduct and unethical behavior by Zolezzi and sustained eight.

Sustained allegations include: • confidentiality breaches and interference in Equal Employment Opportunity investigations and workplace climate surveys.

• retaliating against subordinates who refused to improperly fire employees.

• retaliation against Streeter, Gutierrez and Curry for filing discrimination complaints.

• uploading unauthorized software to college devices.

T i t a n ’s h e a v i l y - r e d a c t e d investigation report consisted of about 20 confidential interviews with employees that worked with Zolezzi.

Many portrayed her as unethical and vindictive.

One 20-year employee described Zolezzi’s intense desire to be rid of “troublemakers” and her frustration with what she considered the HR department’s unwillingness to fire subpar employees. “ ( Z o l e z z i ) f e l t s h e wa s n o t being supported by HR,” read the testimony. “The custodian’s behavior was not being held accountable nor was punishment being delivered.

Regrettably, (Zolezzi’s) resentment intensified, along with the attitude of, ‘I’m going to get them.’”

A witness described Zolezzi using “inappropriate and unprincipled tactics against the custodians,” the report read. “She would attack the employee maliciously and if necessary fabricate the behavior to suit her own narrative.”

Zolezzi attempted to include an employee in the manipulation of workplace climate surveys and EEO investigations, according to the report. “(Zolezzi) instructed her, and ( R E DAC T E D ) t o ‘s n o o p ’ a n d gather information from employees interviewed to include the length of time each employee was in (an EEO) interview,” read the report. “(She) believed (Zolezzi) intended to use the information to write up or terminate disruptive employees.”

Murillo: President said SC ‘toughest, most fulfilling’ post of her 25-year career CONTINUED FROM PG. 1

I got here. I walked into, I can’t even explain to you what kind of mess. We worked hard and it’s really fulfilling to see (results).”

Murillo said the next president must continue work on the college’s racial climate.

“When you see anti-Blackness you have to call it and that is not easy to do,” she said. “Most of us are not trained to do that. The next president needs to have the courage to continue the equity work and make sure every student and every (employee) feels they belong.”

When Murillo arrived at Southwestern College it had a 17 percent graduation rate, she said, which she found depressing. (SC defines a graduation as a student who transfers, earns an Associate’s degree or a certificate within eight years).

The college now has at a 27 percent

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THE SOUTHWESTERN COLLEGE SUN

Zolezzi’s tactics caused “an intense climate of fear” during employee observations, according to the report, and employees expressed fear of cooperating with the Titan investigation. “(She) said in her 19 years of working at the District she had never experienced the amount of fear she had observed by the employees,” read the report.

An employee whose name was redacted described Zolezzi’s “obsession” with the three custodians.

Witnesses said Zolezzi listened in on the night custodians’ radio conversations from her home and borrowed a friend’s car so she could secretly observe them from the parking lot at 3 a.m. (Asked by The Sun about this incident prior to her suspension, Zolezzi denied spying and said she was delivering homebaked cookies to the custodians.)

Facilities staff outlined a series of retaliatory incidents that led to the destruction of essential facilities documents in June 2017 that forced a massive, college-wide re-keying effort that affected hundreds of employees.

Witnesses told Titan’s Johnson that a group of employees planned to reorganize a storage unit managed by the Civic Center office, which is in charge of leasing college facilities to the public. At the time the college was hosting a stream of large graduation ceremonies for Sweetwater Union High School District campuses in the stadium. Some college employees who were to help with the storage shed reorganization were busy with graduation ceremonies. One of these employees claimed to have received a phone call from Zolezzi demanding that the clean-out of the storage unit happen immediately. The employee said she told Zolezzi she and the other employees were tied up with graduations and asked her not to reorganize the storage unit without the employees that most use it.

Zolezzi refused. “(Zolezzi) told her, ‘You’re not the boss, I am. And this is what I’m doing,’” the report read.

Zolezzi and her crew threw out boxes of important documents -including the college’s key records.

The employee said she believed Zolezzi did it intentionally.

An employee told the investigator she feared for her safety after finding a threatening note on her car windshield during this period in 2016. “(She)...observed a note written on a Domino’s Pizza napkin,” according to the report. “This note said, ‘You better check your tires shithead bitch.’”

A custodial supervisor said he was ordered by Zolezzi to manufacture “malarkey” write-ups for “problem employees” rather than initiate district-approved re-training and corrective measures.

Zolezzi said she was prevented from speaking in detail to The Sun about the investigation under the terms of her separation settlement. She said the Titan investigation was one-sided and there were several SC employees who offered testimony that she was a good boss and good employee.

She said she was not able to provide details due to the settlement.

graduation rate, which she credits to improved equity.

Murillo said she is proud of increasing faculty and staff salaries because raises were overdue and keep the college competitive.

“I am very excited about our faculty,” she said. “You have some of the best faculty at Southwestern I have ever run across and, for the most part, they fight for you guys every day.”

SC has diversified faculty and staff over the last three years, Murillo said.

Hiring philosophies were modified “to screen people in versus screening people out.” Implicit bias training has aided this effort.

“That’s a hard thing to do because faculty stay for 30 years, so when most of the faculty of this college were hired, Chula Vista was more white and less diverse,” she said. “(Today) our students are 68 percent Latino.

We need more faculty that represent what our students look like.”

Vargas said she hopes Murillo’s successor continues to cultivate openness and transparency, where people feel they can speak up about issues and challenges.

“We are grateful for the work she has done,” said Vargas. “I appreciate that students were always the priority.”

COLLEGE HOLDS FIRST VIRTUAL ELECTION

BY CHANEL ESPARZA Viewpoints Editor

Kiara Mora is the 2020-21 Associated Student Organization President — the first student leader ever elected remotely.

Mora and a slate of officers were elected in May following a campaign and balloting conducted over WebAdvisor after the novel coronavirus pandemic forced Southwestern College to move to remote instruction in March. Joining Mora as the senior student government officials are Student Trustee Melkitsedeq (Jorge) Hernandez, Executive Vice President Rachal Hamilton and Executive Secretary Andrew Shoemaker.

Voting took place May 11-14. Results were announced May 15. Votes were tallied using Simply Voting, a webbased system. ASO officials reported a student turnout of 232 from last

spring’s total enrollment of 17,012.

(Mora declined to be interviewed for this story unless The Sun provided her questions in advance and allowed her to read the story before it was published. Both practices are considered prior restraint, a preRevolutionary War practice that the U.S. Constitution and the First Amendment protect journalists against. The Sun refused to comply with the demand.)

Former ASO official Cesar Vizcaino had previously expressed concern about online elections, but recently said he had a change of heart.

“It wasn’t necessarily that (online elections) are undemocratic… there (were) a lot of things going on,” he said, referring to the sudden closure of the campus.

Vizcaino said steps were taken to ensure the election was as democratic and accessible as possible. Candidates

did not have to collect signatures on a petition for nomination. In past years candidates needed 75 signatures to qualify.

Student Activities Coordinator Richard Eberheart said the ASO is an essential governing body.

“There are still students out there that need us, that need student government to help give out money for scholarships,” he said. “We give money to SWC Cares, which gives out the emergency grants. We wouldn’t be able to do any of that without the ASO.” SC President Dr. Kindred Murillo said she was pleased with the balloting.

“The election process went a lot smoother this year,” she said. “It went amazingly well considering what we’ve been through and the fact that we were remote.”

Murillo said she is looking forward to working with the ASO officers.

PHOTO COURTESY SC DEBATE TEAM

THE BEST, NO DEBATE — Southwestern College’s debate season was cut short by the coronavirus pandemic. The Jaguars finished the year as the top-ranked community college in the country.

Debaters finish short season as America’s top-ranked community college team

BY COLIN GRYLLS Staff Writer

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hen travel bans and stayat-home orders cancelled concerts, plays and athletic events, academic competitions also came to a standstill. At least Southwestern College’s debate team was already on top.

SWC finished its pandemicshortened season as the top-ranked community college in the country.

Overall, SWC ranked 18th out of the 101 two-year and four-year colleges and universities in Cross Examination Debate Association — one spot behind Harvard.

Co-director Eric Maag said competing directly against university students helps Southwestern’s inexperienced debaters realize their abilities.

“Community college students sometimes suffer, kind of like they think they’re a lower class or there’s a reason why they’re not at a four-year university,” Maag said. “So when they get to go into a debate round against someone from a four-year university and they beat them in a debate round, or they lose but it was so close they realize that there’s no difference between them and the type of student that exists at the four-year, I think that’s a huge confidence boost.”

Southwestern was the secondranked team in District I, finishing behind UC Berkeley — which finished second-ranked nationally — and ahead of no. 20 CSU-Long Beach, USC, Fresno State, Arizona State, UNLV, UCSD and San Diego State. Communications major Marnon Navarro said it is motivating as a community college student to keep pace with — and beat — students from well-resourced fouryear programs.

“Usually most of these fouryear schools have an incredible amount of funding, incredible coaches,” Navarro said. “We also

have incredible coaches, but usually the resources afforded to fouryear universities make them more prepared.”

Tournament setup helps level the playing field as debaters are separated into three divisions (novice, junior varsity and varsity) based on their competitive experience. At its last tournament, SWC debaters took three of the top four spots in the novice division.

Maag said they did not even have to finish the final round as the Jaguars would have just been competing against each other.

Teams develop a mutual respect, said co-director Tony Johnson.

Students converge from across the country for tournaments, he said, all of whom struggled researching the same contentious topics.

“We get to have a network of folks who become friends through sharing conflict and dialogue, and modeling the best practices of deliberation and engagement with civil respect for one another,” Johnson said. “But not only do we get to be in the same room, we are competing in very real ways with many four-year schools.”

Communications major Michael Berry said he had doubts when he joined the team. He did not know much about debate and what he did know had little to do with making rational arguments.

“I had joined debate very shortly after the 2016 election and all the bullshit that happened in the months leading up to it,” Berry said. “So I was like ‘wow, debate is stupid.’ Because if this is really going to be like that Hilary-Trump debate, I am really — what have I gotten myself into?”

S TAY I N G O N T O P I C

Berry’s initial misconceptions about debate are common, Maag said.

Newcomers often picture viral Twitter clips of political shouting matches and expect competitions to be about going “back and forth until the loudest person in the room wins.”

Instead, debate tournaments are highly structured. A single judge listens to arguments presented by a pair of two-person teams from competing colleges in six preliminary rounds. A panel of three judges determines the winner in the playoff rounds. Maag said judges base their decisions on depth of research and the intellectual quality of arguments rather than charm “And so people who are generally persuasive might not do very good in policy debate because they’ve always relied on their charisma, or they’ve always relied on speaking louder or with more force,” Maag said. “And I think that one of the things that happens in debate is the people who are usually not into arguing become much better because they’re more thoughtful. They’re better listeners.

They’re better at doing the research and looking objectively at a subject instead of just wanting to force through an argument.”

Southwestern competes in policy debate, where teams spend all year researching a single topic and are expected to argue both the affirmative and negative at tournaments. This year, students debated whether or not the United States should increase cooperation with China and Russia in exploring and governing space. Johnson said topics usually rotate between domestic and international issues annually and are broad enough to cover an array of specific policies.

“We had everything from ‘have a cooperative space policy’ to ‘agree not to put weapons into space,’ and we also would have people talk about the Moon Treaty, which is a way to kind of remove private property from space,” Johnson said.

“Our students talked about, more of like, the historical and critical theory behind settler-colonialism and the idea of expanding into space.”

To develop nuanced arguments, Berry said, debaters must learn the vocabulary required to read.

OCT. 5, 2020 – VOLUME 57-A, ISSUE 1

E D I TO R I A L S

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O P I N I O N S / L E T T E R S TO T H E E D I T O R

The mission of the Southwestern College Sun is to serve its campuses and their communities by providing information, insights and stimulating discussions of news, activities and topics

relevant to our readers. The staff strives to

produce a newspaper that is timely, accurate,

fair, interesting, visual and accessible to readers.

Though The Sun is a student publication, staff members ascribe to the ethical and moral guidelines of professional journalists.

EDITORIAL BOARD Editor-in-Chief Julia Woock

Copy Editor Bianca Huntley News Editor Matthew Brooks Campus Editor Ana Paola Olvera Viewpoints Editor Chanel Esparza

JI HO KIM / STAFF

Arts Editor Aranza Gutierrez-Cortes

Sports Editor Xiomara Villarreal-Gerardo Photo Editor Amy Morales

S TA F F W R I T E R S Anissa Durham Robert de Luna Cade Harbin Diego Higuera Alex Kim Angel Najera Israel Nieves Paulina Nunez Andrew Penalosa Victoria Rietz Andrew Sanchez

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S TA F F A R T I S T S Baby Bonane Kristen Hernandez Ji Ho Kim

Assistant Adviser Kenneth Pagano Adviser Dr. Max Branscomb

AWARDS/HONORS National College Newspaper Hall of Fame Inducted 2018 Student Press Law Center National College Press Freedom Award 2011, 2018 National Newspaper Association National College Newspaper of the Year 2004-2020 Associated Collegiate Press Pacemaker Awards 2003-06, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012-2017, 2019 General Excellence 2001-20 Best of Show 2003-20 Columbia University Scholastic Press Association Gold Medal for Journalism Excellence 2001-20 San Diego County Multicultural Heritage Award California College Media Association Outstanding Community College Newspaper

Trump’s attacks on free press are a danger to democracy

California Newspaper Publishers Association California College Newspaper of the Year 2013, 2016, 2020 Student Newspaper General Excellence 2002-19 Society of Professional Journalists National Mark of Excellence 2001-20 First Amendment Award 2002, 2005 San Diego Press Club Excellence in Journalism 1999-2020 Directors Award for Defense of Free Speech 2012 Journalism Association of Community Colleges Pacesetter Award 2001-18 Newspaper General Excellence 2000-2020

ur democracy is in danger.

Most of us grew up with a carefully-cultivated certainty that America, land of the free and home of the brave, would always be free. We were taught the U.S. was the strongest, most advanced and most immutable nation on the planet. Maybe we are, maybe we’re not, but one thing is certain -- every great society can fall to ashes. Just ask the Greeks, Romans, Chinese, Russians and English, all of whom were crippled by overreach, arrogance, complacency and a complete failure to see the barbarians at the gate.

America has barbarians at the gate, actually behind the gates of the White House. One of the first signs of a crumbling society is the crushing of dissent and takeover of its communications platforms. It is happening now in America. Journalists are under attack by politicians and police -- verbally and physically -- and have been relentlessly maligned by the president. Donald Trump’s neverending whining about “fake news” and his fantastical “mistreatment” by the news media seems comical, but is actually very dangerous.

He has declared open season on America’s free press, encouraging his “Second Amendment folks” to do battle with the First Amendment folks, whom he calls “the enemy of the People.”

The Southwestern College Sun is a cautionary tale. This college saw first hand how the attempted destruction of its newspaper would have led to the destruction of the college itself.

Just 10 years ago this newspaper, its adviser and its staff members were abused and threatened by a malevolent administration and governing board

Bilingualism an underappreciated talent whose time has come

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American Scholastic Press Association Community College Newspaper of the Year

JOURNEY FOR JUSTICE J U L I A WO O C K

OCT. 5, 2020 – VOLUME 57-A, ISSUE 1

emboldened enemies of free press in other countries.

Dictators have playbooks to seed totalitarianism. They include police terror, indoctrination, propaganda and censorship.

Our position: Americans must Hitler instigated police tersafeguard our news media to keep ror in Nazi Germany through our nation free from tyranny. his shadowy Gestapo and SS. Black Americans are getting a taste of the Nazi treatment by police not held accountwhile reporting a pay-for-play scandal able for violating the same laws they and other malfeasance. Our former are sworn to uphold. Police terror college president called students staff reigned this summer in Portland when members “stupid” and “losers.” He unidentifiable “police officers” hauled grabbed the arm of a female reporter off protestors in unmarked vehicles to and shook the pen from her hand. He undisclosed locations, clearly violatgrabbed and physically threatened our ing habeas corpus. Trump has learned adviser. Our professor’s house and car from the master. were repeatedly vandalized, and his life CNN reporter Omar Jimenez -- who threatened. The college president made was correctly wearing his media ID it very clear he wanted The Sun to back -- was arrested in Minneapolis, along off. with his photojournalist and producer Didn’t happen. The Sun, the faculty, during the George Floyd protests. Petite college employees and the community KPCC reporter Josie Huang was thrown (Republicans and Democrats alike) to the ground by five LA County Sherunited to fight them off and throw iffs after clearly identifying herself as them out. This newspaper changed a journalist. CBS correspondent Katie history and kept Southwestern College Nielsen was arrested covering protests from being shut down by its accreditain Oakland. So far this year nearly 850 tion body. complaints charging violence against America needs to stand up to Trump journalists have been filed, according to like the South County stood up to corthe U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. More rupt officials. Trump has been mostly than 200 journalists were struck or unsuccessful in his efforts to weaken gassed by police, 63 were arrested. press freedom, but he has flamed Mexican journalist Anabel Hernannational scorn of the news media and dez speaks for us. elevated loony conspiracy theorists “I really believe good journalists can on Fox, 8chann, QAnon and other change the world,” she said. “My choice propaganda sites and fever swamps. is to fight.”

Worse, perhaps, he has encouraged and So is ours.

The Issue: Journalism is under assault in the United States and many corners of the world.

ilingualism is a beautiful gift.

Even if some folks don’t know it.

Monolinguals too often look down on citizens who speak two or more languages. I recall in high school speaking Spanish with a friend. Incensed, a nearby girl whirled around and sputtered, “Ugh, why are you speaking Mexican?”

I let her know we were conversing in Spanish, not “Mexican.” Her last name was Hernandez, which she

dismissed with teen callousness. Her dad was Mexican, she said, but she was an American and spoke only English.

It is sad she had lost such a beautiful part of her culture. It is her loss for not learning “the loving tongue.”

I am blessed to be bilingual, speaking English and Spanish from the moment I could talk. I am fluent in both languages because my parents planned it. My Mexican mother speaks English as a second language and spoke to me only in Spanish.

My father, a white German guy from Chicago, speaks Spanish with a heavy accent. He spoke to me in English.

They agreed I should learn both languages with the proper accent.

My parents’ strategy worked. My dad and I still speak English together, without any issues. I speak Spanish with my mom, which often causes consternation when we are out in public. Throughout my life older white women have stormed over to demand we speak English.

PLEASE SEE Bilingual PG. 4

THE SOUTHWESTERN COLLEGE SUN

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Being a Black Man in today's America can be exhausting

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JUST IN THE CULTURE J U ST I N D OUG HT ERY

am very proud to be Black.

Black is beautiful.

At times, though, being Black is exhausting.

Growing up, I subscribed to the Martin Luther King Jr. approach of nonviolence and turning the other cheek as the best way to fight for our equality in America.

Now, though, I am starting to think Malcolm X may have been onto something when he urged us to protect ourselves “by any means necessary.”

Being a large young Black man in America feels like I walk around with a weapon I cannot conceal. I am the weapon — or at least that is what the accusatory stares say to me.

When people catch sight of me the reaction is often like that of a startled deer frozen by the headlights. After the initial startled response, non-Black women clutch their purses for dear life and parents huddle their kids close, squeezing their hands when I walk by. It seems every week I see a video of someone who looks like me killed by police or hanging from a tree.

In journalism class we learned about “narcotizing dysfunctionalism,” a very fancy way of saying people have a limit on how much bad news they can absorb.

I have reached my limit. I can no longer stand to watch videos and read articles about brutalized Black men.

I’m exhausted.

I know a lot of other people like me are, too.

For 401 years, since the first slave ship docked in Jamestown, Virginia, Black people have fought to survive in America. Centuries have turned over and generations have fluttered by like shuffled playing cards, and our quiet war for survival roared unabated. Now my generation has inherited America’s greatest stain and the fight has taken on the 21st century dressing of camera phones, social media and unidentified government militia units on our streets. It seems never ending.

Perhaps it is an infinite reality, like the stars stretching out across our ever-expanding galaxy.

Racism draws its malevolent energy from the sad fact that so much of White America refuses to admit racism exists while justifying racist laws and actions.

The police murder of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin is only the latest in a flow of brutality against Black Americans as relentless and ancient as the muddy Mississippi River. Police responded to a call about a fight between two women that Blake was attempting to stop.

Video showed police pulling them apart while Blake walked to his car, followed by two officers. One, inexplicably, had a gun drawn on him. As he opened his car door Blake was shot in the back seven times at point blank range in front of his three children. He is now paralyzed and not expected to ever walk again.

As posts of the shooting flooded social media like scorched coffee, so did classic racist comments of justification like “He should have complied,” “He has a criminal record” and “He probably had a weapon in the car” … among thousands of others. These tropes, apparently, are enough to comfort the minds of our supposedlyChristian nation to rationalize a

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White cop pumping bullets into the back of a Black man like a construction worker tacking up plywood with a staple gun.

Racism in this country can be ignored by swaths of White Americans because it is not a problem they face. Black people do not have that luxury.

After Reconstruction, White supremacists used torture, murder and high-visability lynchings to let Black Americans know “their place.” Little has changed. We have merely made some substitutions.

Kyle Rittenhouse, for instance, would have been comfortable 100 years ago nightriding in his KKK robes through rural Missouri to burn down a Black family’s barn or tacking posters to a tree inviting his neighbors in Indiana to an Easter Sunday lynching of a Black family.

Rittenhouse traveled purposefully from Illinois to Kenosha on the day of a Black Lives Matter protest with his trusty AR-15 assault rifle ready to teach some folks a lesson about the way it is. He sashayed past smiling police toward Black protesters and their allies. Video shows him and a knot of armed White males as they were thanked by police for coming and offered water as a sort of banzai toast. Rittenhouse waded into a peaceful assembly to shoot and kill two protesters and injure another.

When he was done, he walked away and drove home that night to sleep in his own bed.

Outrage? Not so much. White supremacists and their enablers flooded social media with Chapter Two of the White Supremacist Playbook, including “He was defending property,” “It was selfdefense” and “They should not have been looting.”

A few random comments from the wacky fringe of society? Hardly.

A fundraising page for Rittenhouse has generated more than $1 million so far. That’s right. White guy kills two protesters, injures one, is praised as a vigilante hero and is now a millionaire. At least, perhaps, this shows that Black lives are not completely worthless. We may be witnessing the birth of a profitable new industry.

Law abiding emergency room technician Breonna Taylor was asleep in her own bed after a long shift helping others. She was not a criminal of any sort and, since she was shot to death while she slept, it was impossible for her to be noncompliant.

Atatiana Jefferson was home playing with her nephew when she was shot through the window. Was she non-compliant?

Stephon Clark was shot 20 times in his Grandma’s backyard. What about him?

Somehow even the words “Black Lives Matter” elicit sarcasm, disrespect and violence from too many people. “Blue Lives Matter” and “All Lives Matter” are no more than heavy-handed attempts to dilute the real issue.

Allys can be empathetic, but cannot fully comprehend the reality of dealing with racism.

Attempting to educate the myopic “Blue/All” folks is an exercise in futility. Rather than pose the questions that need to be raised, they ask “what about the looting?” or “what about black-on-black crime?”

Protesters do not loot. White opportunists do. Black-on-Black crime is a racist construct. Crime does not happen because two people are Black, but because of proximity. To tout Black-on-Black crime as justification for the deaths of innocent Black people at the hands of White police demonstrates deeply embedded racism that stifles meaningful conversation.

Some chant “All Lives Matter” to counter “Black Lives Matter,” but all lives cannot matter until ALL BLACK LIVES MATTER. Being Black is exhausting, but I will find my second wind. There is work to do.

EDITORIAL BOARD ENDORSES JOE BIDEN FOR PRESIDENT America is at a crossroads.

Once the world’s clarion of freedom and idealism, the United States has been reduced to a lurching, lumbering laughing stock under the chaotic, unprincipled administration of Donald Trump.

There is nothing funny about the damage he has done to our nation. Anyone who is remotely paying attention can clearly see that Trump is an incompetent, immoral, intemporate racist and narcissist who cares only about himself.

It is long past time for a change. The Editorial Board of The Sun joins with just about every newspaper editorial board across the continent in endorsing former vice president Joe Biden for President November 3. Biden’s age and perceived centrism may not electrify millennials and other young voters, but none of that matters now. Biden is a competent, rational and decent man with the experience and dignity America needs so badly right now. He has demonstrated effective leadership on issues most important to young Americans and he can lead us through the COVID-19 crisis infinitely better that our current coronavirus denier.

It matters a great deal who our president is, but local elected officials are also very important and make decisions that profoundly impact the Southwstern College community. The San Diego County Board of Supervisors may be the most powerful elective body in the region, and the Editorial Board enthusiastically endorses Nora Vargas for District #1, which covers the South County. Vargas has the brains, energy and compassion to fill the giant shoes of retiring Supervisor Greg Cox. Most important, she has the courage, as she has demonstrated for decades fighting for the rights of women and girls.

As Trump and his ilk are cramming right wing judges into COURTESY WIKIMEDIA COMMONS courtrooms across the nation, we have an opportunity to seat a progressive, intellectual in Superior Court Office #30. Tim Nader has served the area for most of his adult life as Chula Vista Mayor, California State Attorney and Southwestern College Governing Board. He is driven to serve like his heroes Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King, and would help to modernize our staid local judiciary. His opponent, like Trump, seeks support from extremist groups and refuses to denounce white supremacy. Nader has dedicated his life to fighting for civil rights and social justice.

The Editorial Board of The Sun endorses the following candidates and propositions important to our community: President of the United States of America — Joseph Biden San Diego County Board of Supervisors, District #1 — Nora Vargas Judge of the Superior Court, Office #30 — Tim Nader Southwestern College Governing Board — Roberto Alcantar U.S. House of Representatives 50th District — Ammar Campa-Najjar U.S. House of Representatives 53rd District — Sara Jacobs Chula Vista City Council, District 3 — Steve Padilla Proposition 15 (Changes tax assessments, increases education funding) — YES Proposition 16 (Overturns Prop 209, restores affirmative action) — YES Proposition 17 (Restores right to vote after completion of prison term) — YES Proposition 18 (Allows eligible 17-year-olds to vote in primaries) — YES Proposition 20 (Restricts parole for rehabilitated incarcerees) — NO Proposition 22 (Allows Lyft, Uber to return to independent contractors) — NO Proposition 25 (Bail reform for low-income detainees) — YES Young Americans are the largest demographic of voters in our nation today. We can change the direction of the United States if we vote for candidates that share our values about social justice, the environment, global engagement and economic fairness. Not voting is the same as voting for Trump, white supremacy and rule by the wealthy.

Republicans and white supremacists are trying to discourage young people, college students and people of color from voting. Do not let them. Have courage. Be prepared. Vote now like your life depends on it because it does.

Bilingual: Language has the power to elevate and to diminish, so care is needed CONTINUED FROM PG. 3

imposed on los indígenas. It is a lovely language, but not the original “Mexican.”

Spanish, by the way, is not the only language in Spain.

Mexicans generally speak Castellano, from the region of Castile, home of Madrid. Spaniards also speak Catalan, Gallician and Euskera. Mexico has 68 indigenous languages with 364 linguistic variations.

Intolerant Americans are not the only linguistas terribles. Racism is rampant in Mexico. Indigenous communities suffer colorism and classism deeply ingrained in the culture. Mexicanos must stop using cruel phrases like, “Hay que mejorar la raza” (We must better our race) or “india pata rajada” (Indigenous woman with calloused feet). Latinos must avoid the use of “prieta” (dark-skinned) or “india” (indigenous woman) in a derogatory manner. We need to stop idealizing Europe

“This is America,” they crow. “We speak English here, not Mexican.”

Mom and I speak Spanish, not “Mexican,” just I speak English, not “American.” Show me the passage in the U.S Constitution that says English is the nation’s official language. America has no official language.

This is news to many monolingual busy bodies. My first tongue lashing from a Spanish hater came when I was 5, buying stamps at the Third Mexicans generally speak Castellano, from the Avenue Post Office.

I was embarrassed region of Castile, home of Madrid. Spaniards also and ashamed. With speak Catalan, Gallician and Euskera. Mexico has 68 tears in my eyes I asked my mom if indigenous languages with 364 linguistic variations. speaking Spanish was bad.

Mi madre told me never to feel ashamed of who I was. and take pride in who we are.

“Hija, you are Mexican as well as American and should My grandmother was from Oaxaca, a state with a rich be proud of both heritages,” she said defiantly. “Con la history and culture. Oaxacan gastronomy, architecture cara en alto y con el nopal en la frente (a traditional saying and textiles are among the most beautiful in the world. for someone who is proud to be Mexican).”

Yet Mexicans have generalized the use of “Oaxaquitas” as Mom often reminds our uninformed neighbors that a derogatory term to describe indigenous people.

California had been a part of Mexico and prior to Academy Award-nominated actress Yalitza Aparecio that these were indigenous lands. To speak “Mexican” of the film “Roma” is from Oaxaca of Mixtec ancestry. A would require fluency in Náhuatl, the language of Mexican actor, Sergio Goyri, referred to her as a “pinche the indigenous Aztecs, or one of the other 68 known india” in a viral video. Goyri is sadly typical of Mexico’s indigenous languages of mesoamerica. elite and middle classes.

All Mexicans are the product of Spanish colonizers My Mom likes to say “De todo hay en la viña del Señor.” blended with the indigenous people. Spanish colonizers, (There are all types of people in the vineyard of the the armed Karens of the 16th century, purged the region Lord). It is possible to love and embrace all of your of its ancient linguistic diversity. complex heritage. I can love my Mexican indigenous Thousands of global languages have been eradicated roots and still love being an American. I love my Spanish by colonization. Scores of languages and traditions from and my English languages that gave me a foundation to nuestros ancestros have been extinguished, silenced also master Italian. forever.

I wish I could speak “Mexican.” Sadly, I will never It pains me that I do not know the language of my learn my grandmother’s extinct indigenous language. No indigenous ancestors. The Spanish language, like one will.

Spanish soldiers and priests, is an invader, brutally So I will settle for Spanish.

THE SOUTHWESTERN COLLEGE SUN

CAMPUS NEWS / STUDENT NEWS

/

PROFILES

Ruth Goldschmiedova was locked away in her first concentration camp when she was 13. She survived a series of brutal camps with her

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— SANDRA SCHELLER

of genocides. Temporarily closed due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, the library has announced the exhibit will be held over in hopes of reopening in 2021.

Ruth Sax 1928 – 2018

COURTESY SANDRA SCHELLER

MADAME MORAH — Holocaust survivor Ruth Goldschmiedova Sax stared down the Nazis to become a revered San Diego County Morah, a Hebrew honorific for “great teacher.” She spent more than 70 years serving refugees and teaching young people about the horrors of genocide.

R U T H S A X E A R N E D A N H O N O R A RY D E G R E E F O R H E R W O R K A S A T E AC H E R A N D L E A D E R

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Holocaust survivor inspired generations

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BY ANDREW PEREZ Staff Writer

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Ruth Goldschmiedova Sax remembers seeing the hundreds of Nazi Schutzstaffel (SS) soldiers marching outside her house, down the streets of her hometown of Brno, Czechoslovakia. Even after all these years, at age 90, living in peace and safety at Paradise Village Retirement Community in National City, she still gets a shiver down her spine recalling the deafening stomp of those black rubber boots.

Thud, thud, thud, left, right, left.

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E A R LY L I F E

Sax was only 11 when the Nazis invaded Czechoslovakia on March 15, 1939. She would survive three concentration camps and endure one of the darkest chapters in mankind’s history. Yet all the horrors that Hitler and his henchmen threw her way could not break her hopeful spirit.

Born on July 6, 1928 in moravsky Šumperk, Sax was the only child of Oskar and Erna Goldschmied. The family moved to Brno in 1934, when Sax was six.

“Life was really beautiful and simple those first couple of years,” she said. “I went to school, I played with friends, everything a normal child does.”

Early life for Sax was uneventful, she said, but around the time she turned 10, in 1938, she began to notice people acting strangely around her.

“The non-Jewish neighborhood children would avoid me,” she said. “They were afraid to play with me. My parents told me that if I really cared about my friends I would let them go because they could get into very serious trouble being around me. So, regrettably, I did.”

NAZI INVASION

Then came the day that changed everything.

March 14, 1939 started out happily enough. It was her grandmother Klara’s birthday and the family spent all day celebrating. When evening approached and

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THE SOUTHWESTERN COLLEGE SUN

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Ruth Sax: Nazis tore 13-year-old from her home, shipped her to series of brutal camps CONTINUED FROM PG. 5

the festivities began to wind down, the family hunkered by the radio to listen to some music. Instead of soothing melodies, a loud and brash voice rattled the tiny speakers, telling listeners Hitler was invading Czechoslovakia.

“I remember my mother waking me up, telling me to get ready, that there was an emergency,” Sax said. “So we rushed into a taxi and went to the factory where my father worked at because we didn’t know where else to go.”

The factory director greeted the Goldschmieds at the entrance with a swastika on his lapel and a sour look on his face. The man looked at Oskar dead in the eyes and told him in a gruff voice to go home.

“The two of them had known each other for years,” Sax said. “The man had always been so friendly and nice.

But all of that kindness was gone in an instant, replaced with hate.”

Sax and her family tried hailing a taxi to get back home, but found it was a whole new world for Jewish citizens.

“The driver refused to take us home,” Sax recalled. “Not because he hated us like my father’s employer, but because he was afraid. He was afraid that he would be caught giving us a ride. So he dropped us off at the train station, which still allowed Jews to travel, and we got back home that way.”

Home was not safe anymore.

Two SS officers with revolvers were waiting at the Goldschmiedova’s front door demanding entrance.

The family stood on the curbside feeling helpless as the officers ransacked their house, helping themselves to whatever they wanted.

“A couple of days later, my father told a customer of his who was not Jewish that the officers had taken his car,” Sax recalled. “The customer marched right up to the SS’s office and got the car back — not for my father, but for himself. He told the Germans that my father had given him the car.”

Life was turned upside down for 11-year-old Sax, her family and the rest of the Jewish community of Brno.

They were forced to pin the Star of David, emblazoned with the word Jude (German for Jew), onto their clothes. If a Jew was caught without the star they risked being killed. Groceries were severely rationed and stores could only sell to Jewish customers between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. Jewish workers lost their jobs or had their businesses taken over by the Nazis, and they were forced to move into ghettos.

Sax’s family was lucky enough to be allowed to stay in their apartment because it was already paid for by the factory her father worked in.

Life was not any easier for the

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KARLA LUNA / STAFF

family, however. Routines like Oskar’s weekly visits with his cousin Viktor came to an abrupt end.

“One day Viktor was walking down the street, minding his own business, when a German officer came up to him and called him a ‘dirty Jew,” Sax said.

“Viktor spat at the officer, who took out his revolver and shot him dead.

That shook us all.”

T H E R E S I E N S TA D T

On the night of December 5, 1941, Sax, her family and hundreds of other Jews were forcefully crammed into a single compartment of a train car. The ride was long and the conditions poor.

They had to sleep on the floors and were given meager servings of coffee, bread and soup.

When the train finally stopped, everyone on board had to walk two miles in the blistering winter cold to a train station. No one knew where they were. The train was driven in circles and made frequent stops to keep passengers disoriented and confused.

At the station, everyone was pushed into filthier and more dilapidated transport trains. Everyone felt tired and frightened. Many were at their wit’s end.

The train delivered Sax to Theresienstadt, a concentration camp in Terezin in Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia. It would remain in operation for three and a half years, from November 24, 1941 to May 9, 1945. The camp was billed in Nazi propaganda as an area of safe, comfortable resettlement for elderly Czech Jewish citizens.

In reality, Theresienstadt served as a transit ghetto, where Jews were evaluated and sent to other camps based on their perceived usefulness.

“The Nazis wanted only the best of us,” Sax said. “If you were sick, or too young or too old, they took you to the side and shot you. They only wanted eighteen to thirty eight year olds so I had to lie about my age in order to stay alive.”

Theresienstadt was comprised of five barracks. Sax and Erna were separated

A LIFE OF UPHEAVAL — (clockwise from top l) Ruth Goldschmiedova and tens of thousands of Jews from Czechoslovakia were rounded up by German Nazis in 1939. Those not summarily executed were sent to brutal concentration camps. Ruth spent six years in camps. She described herself as a “fairly typical young girl” whose life was uprooted by World War II. While in captivity, Ruth made dolls and miniature Torah scrolls out of bread dough which she carefully hid. It was an act of defiance that could have gotten her killed had the Nazis found them. To the end of her life Ruth kept the boots she was given shortly after she was freed. She is wearing them in the photo on display at the Chula Vista Library. The Nazis forced Jews to pin Stars of David to their clothes before going out in public. Jewish people caught without stars would be summarily executed.

from Oskar and would not see him for four years.

Sax remembers the conditions at the camp being terrible and harsh.

“The cots were full of thousands of bedbugs and you could feel them crawling on you in the night,” Sax said. “There was a lack of food and drinkable water. The toilet was simply a cut out box that was placed over a hole in the floor. It was very unsanitary, to say the least.”

When she first arrived in Theresienstadt Sax ran into her former gym coach, Fredy Hirsch, who gave her and her mother a valuable tip on how to survive in the camp.

“He advised us to find a job that worked around food because you could always sneak a bite of what you were working on,” she said. “He told us that if you worked in the camps you could easily get 800 calories a day, but if you didn’t you would only get 300.”

Sax’s mother worked as a potato peeler and would sneak bits of peeled skin back to her daughter. Erna then worked her way up to a supervisor

position, and she and Sax would bathe in the potato water after closing the kitchen for the day.

Sax worked in the children’s garden growing vegetables. She was under constant supervision, and if anyone was caught stealing food they would be killed on the spot. Sax met the wrath of the officers one day after attempting to shake an apple out of a tree. She was put into 24-hour isolation.

While Sax and her mother were relatively safe time at the camp, others in the family did not fare so well.

Sax’s uncle Zikmund, his wife and children were forced to dig their own graves before being brutally shot to death. Bodies were quickly burned in the camp’s crematory. The acrid odor of burnt, searing flesh hung in the atmosphere for the entire day.

AUSCHWITZ

After spending three and a half years in Theresienstadt, Sax and her parents were transferred to Auschwitz on

THE SOUTHWESTERN COLLEGE SUN

COURTESY SANDRA SCHELLER

COURTESY SANDRA SCHELLER

The Nazis wanted only the best of us.

If you were sick, or too young or too old, they took you to the side and shot you. They only wanted 18 to 38 year olds, so I had to lie about my age in order to stay alive.

— Ruth Sax

KARLA LUNA / STAFF

OCT. 5, 2020 – VOLUME 57-A, ISSUE 1

October 20, 1944.

Auschwitz was an extermination camp, its sole purpose was death and destruction. An estimated 1.3 million people would be sent to the camp, 1.1 million died.

“Everyone was forced to strip and be shaved from head to toe,” she said. “I felt humiliated, having someone shave my most intimate parts. The Nazis would stare at our bare bodies and snicker and laugh, mocking us.”

Everyone was then marched single file to a tall man wielding a crop whip.

Sax remembered his gap-toothed smile, neatly parted black hair, and pristinely pressed Nazi uniform.

The man was war criminal Dr. Josef Mengele.

“We were still naked, and he would inspect every inch of us,” Sax said. “He would then point his whip either to the left or to the right. If he pointed left, you were safe. If he pointed right, you were sent to the gas chambers.

I would survive six encounters with Mengele.”

One particular encounter almost proved fatal for Sax’s aunt Elfie and cousin Dita.

Elfie was not feeling well and Mengele was on his way to inspect the woman’s barracks. Sax’s mother was incredibly worried, and hit Elfie on the cheeks to bring back some color.

She then took a red wrapper from an imitation coffee product and smoothed it onto her sister’s cheeks, which brightened them up considerably and gave her a healthy glow.

Just as Erna finished applying the concealer, Mengele stepped into the room.

Mengele ordered everyone to strip and he began what he called his

“appeal.” The women feared he would see through their ruse, but he did not even offer a second glance.

Elfie and Dita lived another day.

Sax only spent a week in Auschwitz, but the camp burned an indelible impression into her memory.

“They treated us like animals here,” she said. “They made us stand naked in a cold field for hours at a time until we were exhausted. When we went to take showers, they would taunt us.

They knew we knew about the gas, and they would have us stand there for 10 minutes in utter anxiety and anticipation waiting to see if water came out of the spout, or gas.”

The barracks were even worse.

Up to seven people slept in a single bunk with one small blanket shared between them. Their bathroom was a small bucket in the corner, which was always overflowing. If someone was sick to their stomach, had diarrhea and did not have the energy to get up, they would simply evacuate their aching bowels in the shared bed.

OSKAR’S JOURNEY

Sax’s father fared even worse.

Oskar was utterly humiliated and dehumanized. He received the customary numbered tattoo for identification (Sax and her mother would not receive one because they were in Auschwitz for only a short period).

Sax’s daughter, Sandra Scheller, said her grandfather always avoided talking about his tattoo, but on occasion he would use humor to liven the gloomy atmosphere.

“A favorite joke of his is very darkly humorous,” Scheller said. “An old Jewish guy in the United States won the lotto jackpot of $120 million. While being interviewed by the local news, he was asked what he was going to do with the money. ‘First thing I’m going to do is give half the money to the Nazi Party in Germany.’ Somewhat surprised by this response, the news guy asked, ‘Why the hell would you do that after all the things they put you and your family through during the Holocaust?’ He said, ‘Well, fair’s fair’, and rolls up his sleeve. ‘They did give me the winning numbers.’”

Back at Auschwitz, Sax’s father had a friend who had bad case of diarrhea one night. The Nazi officers became disgusted with the man and threw him onto a toilet and started to beat him.

The man laid in his own blood, vomit and excrement as they mercilessly kicked his face. Oskar rushed to the man’s aid, but he was too late. The man was already dead.

The Nazis grabbed Oskar beat him as well, nearly killing him. A Jewish supervisor found him, cleaned him up and covered his cuts and bruises.

A couple of days later, the supervisor found a way to transfer Oskar out of

Auschwitz and into another camp, Blechhammer, and he would then be transferred to Gleiwitz.

Gleiwitz was a sub-camp of Auschwitz built on a rolling stock repair yard in Gliwice, Poland. The prisoners built roads and repaired damaged cars.

On January 18, 1945 the camp was evacuated and the prisoners were marched back down to Blechhammer, in freezing temperatures. Many died from exposure, malnutrition or being shot for holding up the line.

Oskar, along with three other prisoners, avoided this fate by hiding in the kettles in the kitchen for 24 hours. When they slid the lids off of their makeshift refuges, they found the camp entirely empty. They scavenged clothes and a few supplies and fled into the mountains.

Oskar found his stepbrother Manfred Konka, who avoided the camps through a mixture of bribery and hiding. Konka graciously provided Oskar with money, free meals and a place to stay.

Oskar had seen firsthand the worst mankind was capable of, and the hatred that the Nazis had for the Jewish people. Yet he held out hope that his wife and daughter were still alive.

OEDERAN

After only a week and a half at Auschwitz, Sax and her mother transferred to Oederan, a labor camp in Saxony, Germany.

Life at Oederon was not as demanding and deadly as Auschwitz.

Numbered tattooing was not used and there was no uniform for the prisoners. Instead, a giant white letter and stripe were painted onto prisoners’ clothes every week. Sax still has the long black dress her mother wore, the huge X and line crudely scrawled in fading white paint.

Now 16, Sax took a job at the camp’s factory, producing bullets. When no one was looking she would clog the bullet machines with sand, making the ammunition useless. In the winter there was not be enough power for the whole camp, so Sax volunteered to lay electrical cable in the street.

On April 11, 1945 Sax and her mother were awoken by German soldiers and told to grab their belongings.

“I remember as we went outside there was a group of Nazi youth standing there, pointing bayonets at us,” Sax said. “I asked one of them how old they were, and they weren’t much older than I was.”

The prisoners were counted, hosed down and led onto trains bound to Flossenberg, an extermination camp.

The path to Flossenberg was in

PLEASE SEE Ruth Sax PG. 8

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COURTESY SANDRA SCHELLER

Ruth Sax: Matriarch was a leader in the Jewish community and a great teacher

family ate at a local soup kitchen in a hotel basement across from the train station.

“At first the soup was very bare, just broth,” Sax said. “Then as the weeks went by and the kitchens got more supplies, the soup grew heartier.

Potatoes, leftovers, canned food. It wasn’t much, but food is food.”

The Jewish children were finally able to return to school, and Sax eventually completed her primary education. She then enrolled in a local designing school and studied the history and design of clothing.

“I have always loved clothes and sewing, ever since I was a little girl,” Sax said. “My dream was to live in Paris and follow in my father’s footsteps and work as a tailor. When I came to America, I became a factory worker, but I would still always be sewing, creating.”

CONTINUED FROM PG. 7

disrepair. Roads were bombed out and bridges were broken. The Nazi regime was in its final days.

Most of the soldiers went on the run, taking what they could and going into hiding. Those that stayed disguised themselves in the garish striped pajamas of the prisoners, hoping to blend in and go unnoticed.

The Russians eventually found their way to the train carrying Sax and 500 other prisoners, offering them food, water and medical supplies.

“The soldiers were nice to me, giving me chocolate,” Sax said. “Though not all of them were so gentle. Some of the Russians felt that since they liberated the Jews they were entitled to some of the women. Many women were raped, but my mother helped me by swaddling me up in a blanket and pretending I was a baby.”

Since the rails were bombed out, Sax and the rest of the prisoners walked and rode open wagons back to Terezin. The trip took two agonizing weeks, and they could hardly contain their joy as they rounded the corner to the entrance of the citadel.

But they weren’t free yet.

Everyone was forced into typhoid quarantine just a stone’s throw away from freedom.

REUNITED

Time went slowly in quarantine, but there is one day in particular that Sax remembered clearly: “I was in the kitchen working and someone yelled at me, ‘Ruthie, there is someone at the gate who wants to talk to you.’” Sax said. “So I ran to the gate and I saw this really thin, cleanshaven man. At first I didn’t know who it was, but then the man smiled at me and said, ‘Don’t you remember your own father?’”

The truth was Sax did not recognize her father. Oskar had always worn a moustache and malnutrition thinned his once portly frame. Sax said she was in shock when she finally recognized him.

“All these years I had thought that

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LIGHTING THE PATH OF HOPE — (top) Mrs. Sax remained devoutly Jewish and attended synagogue every Saturday. (above) Ruth’s mother was wearing the black dress in the photo when Theresienstadt was liberated by Russian soldiers in 1945. Jewish women in Auschwitz and Theresienstadt were made to wear black dresses with a large X painted on the back. Nazi guards would often paint demeaning words on women’s backs. Mrs. Sax spoke in person to more than 100,000 students in several countries about the Holocaust, including a stirring 2018 presentation at Southwestern College.

my father was dead, but here he was standing on the other side of the gate,” Sax said. “I wanted to hug him, but the gate was electrified. I ran to my mother, yelling, ‘Papa is at the gate!’

She was so happy to see him. He had found us by looking up our names through the Red Cross list.”

On June 15, 1945, after 30 days in quarantine, The Goldschmieds and thousands of former prisoners were told they were free to go.

Czechoslovakia was in shambles and supplies were still scarce. Sax and her family had to rebuild their lives from scratch.

“Everything we owned was gone,”

Sax said. “The only thing I had was a blanket. My parents and I made our way from Terezin back to Brno, and we relied on the hospitality of strangers and what little food and shelter we could get at the Red Cross stations scattered throughout Czechoslovakia.”

When they finally reached Brno, the family found that their former home had been turned into offices for the Nazis. Since Sax’s father had gotten a month’s head start, he had procured another apartment, though the furnishings were minimal. The former occupants had a daughter Sax’s age and, for the first couple of weeks, Sax wore the clothes she left behind. The

Sax began to have correspondence with her second cousin, Kurt Sax, who frequently played with Ruth when they were children.

Kurt fled Austria at the start of World War II and ended up in Northern Italy.

After being sponsored by a family in America, Kurt immigrated to the United States and opened a successful newsstand in Anderson, South Carolina.

After getting Ruth’s picture and address from a friend, Kurt wrote letters to her. Soon a romance blossomed.

Kurt travelled to Brno to marry Ruth, and the newlyweds spent their honeymoon in Czechoslovakia while Ruth finalized her passport.

“We arrived in America at Ellis Island in New York City,” Sax said. “We lived there for a while and then moved to San Diego on the recommendation of a friend and we’ve lived here ever since.”

Ruth saved every penny she could to bring her parents to the U.S. They would go on to try several business ventures, including opening a café and market, and lived a quiet, peaceful life. Erna Kohn died on February 27, 1982, and Oskar Goldschmied died on August 10, 1988.

Ruth and Kurt had two daughters and lived a modest life thanks to Kurt’s successful turn as a stockbroker later in his life.

Kurt died on May 11, 2012, one month after a major stroke. Ruth and Kurt had been married for 63 years.

SHARING HER STORY

Sax never liked talking about her experiences in the war, but now that she has turned 90, she feels her story must be told so the past does not repeat itself.

“Ruthie enjoys meeting with young students and she has received numerous letters, awards, cards, flowers, and tears from people who found her story incredible and moving,” Scheller said.

Scheller said she wants to work with the City of Chula Vista to create a museum dedicated to her mother’s experiences in the Holocaust.

“Anybody can sit here and deny that the Holocaust happened, but we have the letters, we have the dress, we have the Stars of David, we have proof that it happened,” Scheller said. “Our goal is to get as many people as we can to see these things, and to perhaps get a sense of what it would have been like to live through this.”

Scheller wrote a book about Sax’s story, “Try To Remember – Never Forget: From Holocaust Hell To Paradise Village.” She is hard at work on a follow up containing the hundreds of love letters written between Sax and her late husband.

Sax is finally getting her story out, exorcizing years of pent up anxieties and fears. She used to spend her days fearing for her and her family’s lives.

Now she plays bingo, talks about the stock market to her friends and makes jewelry. She is happy now.

But sometimes, in the dead of night, she can still hear the deafening stomp of those black rubber boots.

Thud, thud, thud. left, right, left.

EDITOR’S NOTE

On May 25, 2018 Ruth Sax was presented with the highest honor Southwestern College awards to members of its community – an honorary degree – for her tireless work speaking to students and civic organizations about the Holocaust. Mrs. Sax had spoken directly to more than 10,000 students in San Diego County and many thousands more via her television appearances and film interviews.

When she was presented her degree, Mrs. Sax wore a doctorate tam given to her by a professor and joked she was now “the new Doctor Ruth.” In June she was honored as a San Diego County Woman of Valor at the San Diego Lyceum Theater. In September 2018 she achieved as a 91 year old something she was denied by the Nazis as a 13 year old – a bat mitzvah. Mrs. Sax died that December.

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CAMPUS ARTS

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C O M M U N I T Y C U LT U R E

College closure brings down the curtain on a brilliant production of ‘Romeo and Juliet’

parting is such sweet

sorrow S

BY BRITTANY CRUZ-FEJERAN Staff Writer

tar-crossed Southwestern College theater artists were days away from opening a long-awaited bilingual version of William Shakespeare’s masterpiece “Romeo and Juliet” when the production was cast asunder by the too-sudden closure of the college. Love in the Time of Covid, like the warring Montagues and Capulets, means the sun will not show his head on what promised to be a spectacular production.

The show shall not go on, but a tiny invited audience of about 40 family, friends and journalists were blessed to be the sole witnesses of a fullproduction dress rehearsal – the lone performance hours before California’s shelter-in-place order brought down the final curtain. Brilliant performances by Jaden Guerrero, Sasha Aguirre, Cassandra Garcia and Marcel Ferrin are now consigned to legend. It was a beautiful creation whose time was done all too soon.

Director Ruff Yeager is hardly the first to rip “Romeo and Juliet” from 16th century Verona and transport it through the time-space continuum, though he did so more cleverly than most. Some Shakespeare purists groaned at the idea of Spanish invading The Bard’s epic English, but Yeager’s creative team made it work and brought heightened relevance to a production staged six miles from the Mexican border.

Without saying so directly, the Southwestern College take on Juliet’s Capulet family hints broadly that they are a criminal enterprise, with her cruel father a slightly more refined El Chapo Guzman. Like many South County households, Spanish is spoken at the Capulet’s home with cleverly placed English subtitles floating just over the heads of the bilingual performers. Spanish may be the loving tongue, but the Capulets’ passionate, rapid-fire conversations used the emotional potential of Spanish to great effectiveness. It had the added advantage of setting the families apart in the eyes of the audience.

Against this tension the production roars to life with one of the many excellent fight scenes skillfully choreographed by Jordan Miller.

Athletic, wiry and brimming with vitriol, the young Montague and Capulet street soldiers scale walls, leap over axes and dodge projectiles with frightening realism.

Jaden Guerrero’s Romeo Montague was a revelation from the moment he appears talking Shakespearean trash with his cousin Mercutio (an outstanding Marcel Ferrin). Guerrero shapes

Romeo like soft clay throughout the production, massaging him into a vessel to express his own deep emotions. He is a handsome but bawdy teenage punk comfortable running with the street rats and skewering rival Capulets who transforms into a movable feast of love and passion, only to once again succumb to the violence and death all around him. Romeo raged against the machine, cried tears of joy and despair, and surrendered to his grief in a heartbreaking moment that had tears streaming down the faces of the audience. It was an astonishing performance by a young performing artist with a very bright future.

Most of the cast was solid and believable, especially considering they were still one week and several rehearsals away from their planned opening. Cassandra Garcia was especially memorable as Juliet’s pliant but loyal nurse who unintentionally contributes to her demise.

Ferrin’s Mercutio was both a festering hood and comic relief whose death scene was a masterfully dramatic moment.

Also starring in this production were the set, lights and props of Professor Michael Buckley, a San Diego County theater legend for his work in professional houses throughout Southern California. Buckley went for baroque, seamlessly blending Verona’s opulent architecture with a colonial Mexican look straight out of Guadalajara or San Miguel de Allende. His palatial buildings had fallen on hard times, however, practically still smoldering from a destructive war that left them bombed out and pock marked. His remarkable lighting abandoned the garish sun of the spotlight and guided the story through cheerful dawns and sorrowful dusks with ceiling lights and specials that were subliminal but sublime.

Yeager made a grip of good choices, though his anachronistic use of music by Fall Out Boy fell flat.

The only cringe-worthy moment of the production was, unfortunately, the very end, where some of the supporting cast with big moments could not rise to the level of Guerrero and the other leads. They are forgiven though, because of the missed rehearsals they were those who rush, stumble and fall.

Theater is the most transient art, created like flowers to briefly blossom, radiate beauty and wither, to live on in memory. It is an artistic tragedy that this transcendental production was not allowed to fully blossom and was given just one fleeting moment on the stage to end in this strange eventful history.

When the history of the Great Covid Plague is writ large at our college, let it be remembered that a great production briefly graced our stage only to dissipate in a fume of sighs.

WHEREFORE ART THOU ROMEO AND JULIET? — Star-crossed theatre artists were days away from opening a long-awaited bilingual version of William Shakespeare’s masterpiece “Romeo and Juliet” when the production was cast asunder by the too-sudden closure of the college. A tiny invited audience of about 40 family, friends and journalists were blessed to be the sole witnesses of a dress rehearsal — the lone performance before California’s shelter-in-place order brought down the final curtain. (left) Juliet (Sasha Aguirre) on the balcony. (below) Romeo (a remarkable Jaden Guerrero) grieves Juliet in the mausoleum.

PHOTOS BY BRITTANY CRUZ-FEJERAN

OCT. 5, 2020 – VOLUME 57-A, ISSUE 1

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P A R T Y C R A S H E R

BY KARLA LUNA Staff Writer

Local bands have been forced off the stage and into seclusion by the novel coronavirus, but even a global pandemic cannot silence Southwestern College rock musicians.

Shelter-in-place orders have closed music venues, cancelled concerts and eliminated raucous rehearsals in garages. Even so, guitars and drums are blazing in preparation for a return — whenever that is.

No shows means no ticket or merchandise sales, but it does not mean bands have to go quietly into the night. Technology and social media are keeping the creative flame burning even as performance spaces sit dark.

Vincent Fierro, lead vocalist of the punk band Leech, said the boost big-time bands saw on digital platforms has not trickled down to the local scene. Undeterred, the SWC recording arts major started scheduling new content and merch for Leech’s online audience.

“For bigger bands and record labels, everything kind of balances out,” he said. “For small and local bands, the virus hits harder.”

Stay-at-home orders prevent bands from practicing together, but have not hindered creativity. The Oathbreakers are still producing songs and have a few ready to record, according to guitarist Saul Ramos. The thrash-metal band uses Discord to work together online from their separate homes. Ramos, a business and music production major, said the band has recorded enough music for an album.

“Luckily, with today’s technology it’s been easier for us to contact each other and send music so we’re working hard within all our houses,” he said.

Ten Til’ Dawn guitarist Brandon Lara, a business major, said being separated from his punk band has been “weird.”

“Just like everyone else out there, we are absolutely bored out of our minds and we only want to play music together,” he said.

CANCELLED SHOWS

Ten Til’ Dawn was about to take a big career step when it was tripped up by coronavirus.

Formed in 2018 to help some friends who needed an open act for a show at SOMA, the band’s longsought headlining gig at the venue’s 500-capacity side stage was postponed, Lara said.

“We were all looking forward to the show, but the day we picked up our presale tickets the president declared a national emergency for COVID-19,” he said.

Members of Ten Til’ Dawn originally thought quarantine would only last two weeks, Lara said.

It soon became clear the headliner show was not going to happen any time soon. A scheduled performance at the Del Mar Fair was also lost when the entire fair was cancelled.

Lara said bands that rely on performances have struggled without concerts.

“It’s sad when a lot of bands that rely on shows, merch sales and streams can’t use (those avenues) at the moment,” he said.

The Oathbreakers were scheduled to open for Ten Til’ Dawn at SOMA. Bassist and journalism major Jahaziel Valencia said some of the bands on the lineup discussed a virtual show.

“There has been talk about doing a livestream event with a few other bands and it sounds pretty cool,” he said.

Appearances by The Oathbreakers have been indefinitely postponed, Valencia said, and remain in flux due to stay-at-home orders extending without a clear reopen date. Gov. Newsom’s fourpart reopening strategy has concerts and large public events in Phase Four. No timelines for the rollout of the reopening phases has yet been announced.

Fierro said Leech’s March and April shows were

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UP ON THE H OUSETOP RO CK BANDS PA COURTESY OA their next gig, THBREAKERS USE —Thrash-m opening at SO et M al A ba fo nd members (left r Te Th n e Ti O l’ at D hbreakers had awn, cancelled to right) Brando due to the nove n Gonzalez, Ja are still working l coronavirus. Ba haziel Valencia together online , Saul Ramos an nd to create new m d Jakob McCul usic. lock

also postponed or cancelled.

“The venues and hosts don’t know when this (shelter in place) will be lifted, so they made the decision to cancel the shows,” he said.

Fierro said Leech relies on live audiences to generate new fans.

“This has put a pause on that because we haven’t been able to advertise ourselves to others,” he said.

Valencia said big name bands with paid staff can adjust to cancellations, but smaller bands sacrifice and scramble to sell tickets and play tours.

S H E LT E R E D J A M S E S S I O N S

Ramos said he is adapting to Southwestern College classes pushed online by the pandemic and he is continuing his music career by live streaming on social media. He said he plans to release an uptempo electric guitar original for people who want inspiration to exercise.

“Why not make something that will get people to work out or encourage them to try new things in quarantine?” he said.

Valencia said he stays busy working his flooring job, which is considered essential.

“It’s either we work or there’s no money, and it’s been weighing over my head,” he said.

Valencia said he has been practicing fast metal music to improve his technique. His goal, he said, is to be ready to return to the stage as soon as possible.

“Learning fast-pace technique with bass will add more strength to the rest of the music with the band,” he said.

Lara said members of Ten Til’ Dawn are writing music and recording with the goal of completing its debut in 2020 despite the pandemic. The group has four songs up on Spotify from its first demo, “Collective Mistakes.”

Lara said he is excited for the release of the newest Ten Til’ Dawn songs, “Hashbrown” and “Chapter Ⅱ (Where Did You Go?).” COVID-19 will not get in the way of his music or the fans of Ten Til’ Dawn, he said.

“Due to the substantial boredom developed during quarantine, we decided to give our fans seven minutes, 53 seconds worth of awesomeness,” he said.

Time away from the stage has afforded Lara the opportunity to privately explore other styles of music, he said. He primarily plays pop-punk and is a diehard thrash metal fan, he said, though he

listens to an array of genres — even if he kids his bandmates for listening to music “older than their grandfathers.”

“One day I will be listening to Slayer and Exodus, and the next day Kiss and Zeppelin,” he said. “Quarantine has definitely opened up our minds to writing new music about the times we are experiencing. Some are silly and some are actually pretty solid.”

Valencia said local bands are laboratories of new sounds and innovation. They may be rough around the edges, he said, but there is an appeal to the imperfections. Local bands have a lot to prove and work hard to be heard.

“You never know who will be the next Kendrick Lamar or the next Gorillaz, and that’s such a cool thing to experience — a band in its early days experimenting with its sounds and throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks,” he said.

Leech has also been hard at work, said Fierro, and is set to release an album with accompanying music videos this summer.

W H AT C O M E S A F T E R CORONA?

When the shelter-in-place order is lifted and crowds can gather for concerts, Ten Til’ Dawn would like to play as many shows as possible, said Lara. Valencia said The Oathbreakers look forward to once again rehearsing in drummer Jakob McCullock’s garage and getting their merch out. Fierro said he is excited to host a show with Leech.

“We miss our friends and fans,” he said. “We are just itching to play with all our friends and bandmates again.”

Isolation is messing with his sleeping schedule, Fierro said, but at least shelter in place inspires new songs.

“I have one song I’ve been working on for a week or two now,” he said. “When we write, we speak what’s on our minds and sing about our frustrations and what makes us angry.”

Lara said he is hopeful Ten Til’ Dawn will play on stage this year. He said his bandmates are not worried, and expect shows and merch sales to bounce back when venues reopen.

“If you look at major events from the past, society stops for a bit, but eventually people get back on track,” he said.

And bands get back on stage.

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CAMPUS SP ORTS

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F E AT U R E S

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A LT E R N AT I V E S P O R T S

l l a h S s l e e h W

e m o c Over Black roller skaters carry on proud heritage

iming the s are nostalgically procla hile stir crazy American ir eyes. the g lin ck skaters are rol return of roller skating, Bla went away.

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Bloods and Crips respecte ical years old when her biolog Solé Ortiz-Ruiz was nine and on ssi pa his roller skate. It was her k father taught his kids to too d da r pass on, she said. He ir something he wanted to the in ce cti rch of skates to pra to to haunt thrift stores in sea y wa a is g tin music. Today ska backyard to the sound of d release stress. bond with her sisters an e said. and we skate together,” sh “We go to Mission Beach also the s re’ the d an to break a sweat able “It’s just something we do cap are u yo at ur strength and wh part of tricks that test yo of doing.” hically. aracter, she said philosop Skating is also a test of ch y time ver “E . ed better,” she reason “Falling only makes you perfect to me es pir l again. It ins fal to nt wa ver ne I nk thi I fall I the trick.” when , said she began skating Candelaria Ruiz, her sister she was four. ething just really fun to have som “It’s very freeing and it’s s with oe sh ’s “It d. n shoes,” she sai a lot else on your feet other tha rn lea can u Yo fast or do tricks. wheels. You can go really w people.” of stuff and you meet ne ing to s roller skating over runn Ortiz-Ruiz said she prefer ardwalk bo the ng orite path is alo fav r He s. hin rp do en te activa back. way to Pacific Beach and in Mission Beach all the few us cio pre because there are Skaters enjoy that route view the d sai e ils to skate on. Sh long, smooth, straight tra mire ad s ion rat ne ach and older ge is beautiful along the be g. tin ska t have continued younger generations tha many se they haven’t seen that cau “They admire you be They’re m. the at o, so it’s like ‘Look skaters around San Dieg e said. skating. It’s still alive,’” sh ot, walk is a fave outdoor sp ard Skating the nearby bo erside Riv in is k rin best indoor roller Ortiz-Ruiz said, but the County.

“It’s k in Temecula,” she said.

“I like the roller skate rin ces pla te ori fav d that’s one of my there called Epic Skate Rink an are le op pe my folks are. All my all ere wh t’s tha se becau here, but te rink called Skateworld ska er oth an s re’ the se becau s more of people of color. Epic ha I notice there are not a lot Black people.” re fies with the Black cultu Ortiz-Ruiz said she identi ge lar its th wi t d Epic reflects tha embedded in skating an screens, music and vibe. y-known a gift from internationall Her favorite skates were own r he d ne sig azing, who de performer Marawa the Am e skates are rose gold with a tes. Th line of Impala roller ska e metal mmers in the sunlight. Th gli holographic boot that wheels ne tha ure rose gold with plate is a matte and muted th a wi le rb ma ld de from rose go that look like they are ma PETA-approved stamp. really by a Black woman who is “They were given to me unity,” mm co te ska pected in the res d an wn no ll-k we , ted talen ters that own clothing line for ska r he s ha o als he “S d. sai she ne like that getting them from someo So es. typ dy bo all tch ma orite skates ciated. Those are my fav pre ap lly rea l fee me de ma by far.” nce bles, skating is a confide Despite the occasional tum s of ter ska g un yo s uiz encourage booster, she said. Ortiz-R . ort sp the of re tory and cultu color to learn the rich his during ething people picked up som is s thi d an rst de un “I lot of us and tricks to learn, but a y bb F ho AF a ST as / ic em CK nd O pa O s thi ic,” she LIA W PHOTOS BY JU if we weren’t in a pandem do to e tim ve ha n’t uld wo re than world behind it that is mo ic, but young ole em wh d a o an als s p re’ e he th “T d. g sai s. There’s urin ve exploded d d learning your own trick e Civil Rights an ha th tes s ska es le d ur sa yo ce g e re yin at p bu sk t jus There’s that RMS — Roller There’s racism behind it. ltural tradition it. me moves in a d cu so hin h e be ric ic re a ltu ct cu SISTERS IN A ra a on p lly d z ua act too. It’s iz-Rui ans have carrie re’s a lot of love behind it iz and Sole Ort the t Ru bu it ia d ar hin el be African-Americ d ms . an iz ble pro Ru p, l-r) Sisters C fail to realize that.” ine Perez and Movement. (to n little world and people Ortiz-Ruiz, Jasm ow ) its l-r e, ov b (a ark.

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Chula Vista p

FALL SPORTS MAY YET SPRING TO LIFE IN A SHORTENED FORMAT

BY XIOMARA VILLARREAL-GERARDO Sports Editor

Friday and Saturday nights at DeVore Stadium are quiet this fall, shuttered by the novel coronavirus that has cancelled California community college athletics through the end of the year.

Spring 2021 may be another story.

State athletic directors and college presidents agreed that playing tradition fall sports like football, soccer and cross country was unsafe during the COVID-19 pandemic. Delaying fall sports at Southwestern College, centered in one of California’s highest coronavirus infection areas, was, as one coach said, “a no brainer.”

Hope may spring eternal in the spring, said SC Athletic Director Jim Spillers, but caution OCT. 5, 2020 – VOLUME 57-A, ISSUE 1

will guide decisions.

“The number one priority for our college and the (California Community College Athletic Association) is student and studentathlete health and safety,” he said. “Moving everything to spring gave us the opportunity to hopefully watch COVID subside and the possibility for a vaccine or other treatments.”

December infection rates will drive the CCCAA Contingency Plan, Spillers said.

Should COVID infection rates subside or an effective vaccine is available, fall sports including basketball, football, cross country, soccer, women’s volleyball and water polo could begin short seasons in mid-January.

Spring sports like baseball, track, swimming and softball would play during the second half of the spring semester, which usually ends in late May. All sports face a 30 percent reduction

in their regular seasons and are limited to regional postseason competitions. CCCAA will not sanction state championships this year.

SC football coach Ed Carberry said he is cautiously optimistic.

“We want to play, everybody wants to play,” he said. “Safety is the most important thing for sure. It looks and sounds like there is a good chance to be able to play in the spring.”

Kyle Wallace, the men’s basketball coach, said state leaders are trying to make the best of a tough situation.

“Taking away the state championship opportunity for the kids was a disappointment,” he said, “but regional championships, I think, was a positive spin.”

Recruiting has also been modified, said Spillers. Face-to-face visits are off the table, he said, but recruiting via social media, emails,

text messages and telephone is allowed.

“It’s a complete moratorium on (personal recruiting) presently,” he said. “We are still able to recruit high school seniors. We are still able to recruit people throughout the state of California, electronically only.”

Carberry, considered a scouting and recruiting master, said it will be a challenging year with some high schools cancelling the football season.

“The best (way to recruit) is to be able to actually…see the players face-to-face,” he said.

“It’s been difficult for sure.”

SC basketball players have been given a home workout regime to stay in shape for a quick start in January, said Wallace. He is encouraging his team to focus on academics, take the opportunity to get a job and enjoy time with family.

WILLIAM BIRD / STAFF

HOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL — Athletic Director Jim Spillers said athletes’ safety comes first, but he is optimistic for a return to competition in 2021.

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D is ti n c ti o n f o ts n e d tu S e e m e n ts o f th v ie h c a e th t o n re m o n y , b u t e c s rd a w a d e ll e c C o ro n a v ir u s c a n

Alejandra E. Aguilar Administration of Justice

Mariah Cooper

Kelly Alvarez

Alexandria Baker Liberal Arts

Mechanical Engineering

Jacob Bingham

Gamaliel Carreno

Donna Guadalupe Escobar

Ashley Hernandez

Sociology

Nursing

Political Science Business Administration

Jenai Funk

Jennifer Gomez

Natalia Mercado

Alondra Osuna Orozco

Omar Ramirez Pimienta Computer Science

Occupational Health and Safety

SolĂŠ Soso Ruiz

Christian Sanchez

Laura Shimasaki

Nicole Slade

Electrical Engineering

Psychology

Journalism

English

Psychology

Mathematics

Sociology

Bree Robinson

Biochemistry

Journalism

Environmental Science

Erica Ruiz

Education, Ethnic Studies

Isaac-Wright

Business Administration

The Student of Distinction Award (commonly referred to as the SODA) is the highest honor a student can receive at Southwestern College.

It is given each year to students who have displayed exemplary academic achievement and contributions to our campus and our communities.

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