Logos (Winter 2022)

Citrus Campus Culture

MANAGING EDITOR

Jaylene Muñatones

DESIGNER

Cesar Aguilar FEATURES EDITOR

Jamie Ramirez

COLUMNIST

EDITORS’ LETTER

Welcome to Logos. What an exciting thing to say, finally Logos is back post pandemic. So, welcome back to this Citrus College tradition. In a way, this issue marks a lot of firsts. Not only is it the first issue of the 2022-2023 academic year, we’re also a new group of editors, writers, and artists working together for the first time. All of us have come from different backgrounds and are pursuing differ ent paths here at Citrus. None of us are journalism majors, but we teamed up to brainstorm how to bring this magazine back and how to make it the best we possibly could. In this issue, you will find an art review, an interview with a happy McDonald’s employee, a story on how the 2022 Midterm Elections impacted our college, and an article about a stu dent-run, woman-owned small business. We have worked together to compose a magazine reflecting what is happening in our communities and to represent what the post pan demic student looks like. As times have changed ever since our last issue, we wanted to spotlight how students work today. We are more adaptable to change, more brave, and not afraid to pursue new ideas. These are all ideas that we wanted to showcase here in this issue. We hope you enjoy reading it as much as we did creating it.

-The Logos Team

Jaylene Muñatones

Cesar Aguilar

Jamie Ramirez

Aimee

Ortiz-Ramirez

A Balancing Act

Q&A with Alex Naranjo

By Cesar Aguilar

Working today is different than working back in the day because the minimum wage is higher than it used to be, but due to inflation, working is mandatory. And, on top of work ing, we have to be students too if we want good-paying jobs one day so that means having to study for exams, do homework, and attend classes. When attending community college, you need a job to live day-to-day. Jobs are the gateway to connections and meeting new people, so the job you choose must be the right one, and there’s no better first job than working in fast food. And what better way to find out the troubles and benefits of working in fast food than hearing from a student worker who is employed at McDon ald’s.

How has the minimum wage affected you working?

Alex Naranjo: Minimum wage is affecting the way I work everyday because not many opportunities are open. I know the wages going up is due to the economy but at the same time it’s going to make finding a job a lot harder. This makes following through to keep things together for your job important, but on the other hand there is school.

Does work interfere with school?

AN:The student aspect is more essential for my life, so finding ways to work a certain amount of hours is difficult. Working creates more obstacles for time but it makes me be better at time management.

Is McDonald’s a good job for a student?

AN: I first started working at Mc Donald’s during the summer but transferring into college I knew school was going to take more time and managing my schedule was going to be most important. At first, I was working the weekdays for eight hours a day then I realized that my school schedule would clash with my work schedule. I let my job know I need a schedule switch and they understood that school was my focus and adjusted my schedule accordingly. If you let them know what you need from them, they won’t have a problem with it. For this reason, I can say that McDonald’s is very under standing and helpful for a college student.

As a college student, what schedule do you work?

AN: The schedule they suggested to me was only for two days and up to eight hours, the shift was only on the weekends from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. which is not the best because weekend people expect to relax but sacrifices needed to be made. This schedule helped me figure stuff out. For example, it gave me more time to myself like hanging out with friends or catching up on daily things or school. It was easier to stay on top of things and I was not so worn out from juggling work.

How is the environment at work?

AN: The coworkers are all around the same age and are doing school as well, so it makes working easier having that in common with most of the crew. Most of the crew is doing the weekend shift as well. The customers on the other hand are a little more difficult.

How are the customers difficult ?

AN: They usually get mad because we tend to mess up orders, but the prices in creasing is another reason they complain. But, the prices of the more popular items like the $1 Coke have gone up so people are ordering them less. It’s not just for McDonald’s but it makes the job feel less overbearing and less stressful.

Has there ever been a time where you’ve been close to quitting?

AN: Honestly, I have never thought of quitting, but the McDonald’s I am at now is not the one I started at. I left my first Mc Donald’s due to the fact that everyone was not welcome to a newbie. This was my first job and the others weren’t open to some one with no experience. But If school and work clash more in the future I might have to consider it.

Would you ever get a second job if needed?

AN: With school going on I would not get the chance but with the pay going up I feel one job is enough for now. It would take double hours during the week which would be super tiring and also less time for school and even less for personal time. The main thing is staying at a healthy limit and making a schedule and sticking to it.

Photo by Cesar Aguilar

A Bill for

My opinion on supporting first–time

Photos by

Students

first–time student voters at Citrus

By Aimee Ortiz-Ramirez

by Cesar Aguilar & Aimee Ortiz- Ramirez

One of the things to look forward to turning 18 is gaining the right to vote. This year Cal ifornia Midterm Elections took place on Nov. 8, 2022, which was not far away from the beginning of the fall semester at Citrus. As high school graduates ranging from 17-18 years old entered Citrus, they got emails prompting them to register to vote.

The Midterm Elections happen every two years and are focused on the House of Rep resentatives and the Senate. While this is a national election and voters may vote for their own representatives, they also vote in their local and state elections. These local elections are for their governor, mayors, judges, local officials, propositions, and more on their local level. Although the Midterm Elections may not be as big as a Presidential Election, they still call for voters and for them to vote for their local offi cials. People then need to cast their vote.

At Citrus College, stu dents receive emails about registering to vote from the Student Affairs department. I, like many

other Citrus students, are incoming freshmen. Receiving these emails was surprising, and I was happy that my community college encouraged me and other incoming students to vote in this election. The constant emails also made me ask, “Why do they keep sending emails like this to us?”

So, I went to Rosario Garcia, the director of Student Life at Citrus and asked her about the constant emails.

During my conversa tion with Rosario, she talked about how important she thinks these emails are and how students should vote. She also introduced me to California's Assembly Bill 963. Assembly Bill 963 establishes California Community Colleges, Universi ty of California, and the Califor nia State Universities to introduce the “Student Civic and Voter Empowerment Program.”

The bill requires all of these institutions to distribute informa tion on voting and election-re lated dates in campus-wide emails to students, posting this information on social media for students to view and designate one person per campus as the Civic and Voter Coordinator

holding these responsibilities and developing a “Civic and Voter Empowerment Action Plan” on their campus. Here at Citrus, Rosario Garcia is the Civic and Voter coordinator in charge of sending out all of these emails to students. Rosario and I talked about Assembly Bill 963 and how important it is to all California Community Colleges but also what steps Citrus takes to promote students to vote. Citrus is required to host three events every election year, one held on national voter registra tion day, workshops about voter information, and a con stitution activity. All of these events are meant to help students understand their rights and how to practice their voting rights. Rosario mentioned how she believes these events are so important here on campus because of how confusing these elections can get by media in fluence. Citrus tries to help students understand how to vote and guide them to make their own decisions. Rosario also shared why she thinks students are encouraged to vote and why they should participate in elections. “It's important because it affects you whether or not you think it's not going to affect you. Of course, it does, everything affects you, whoever is selected for any position in government, it's somehow going to affect you.” The way that she mentions how everything affects our community. This is something that Citrus tries to get students to understand. By promoting how elections work and how to vote the goal is to get students to cast their vote. This bill promoting voting within all California Community Colleges, University of California, and the California State Universities should increase the amount of young voters here in California. This is not the situation everywhere. According to FiveThirtyEight, a new survey with Ip sos states: “More than 8,000 Americans, people between 18 and 34 are less likely to have faith in our political system. But when we asked why they hadn’t voted in the past, we found that younger people weren’t more likely than older people to say they didn’t vote because they think the system is too broken to be fixed by voting, or because all the candidates are the same, or because they don’t believe in voting.” This was seen throughout the 2020 election. Overall, it seems like younger voters still believe that their vote doesn't count. This is where lots of them fall through because they believe that their vote will go to waste and will not pay off the way they expect in their community.

Personally, I believe that it is important to vote. As a young voter I try to become in volved and fully understand how whatever is on the ballot may affect me and my community. Some things that affect the way I vote are my family life and the media. In a way, all the things on the ballot place a big part into our everyday lives. For example, both of my parents are educators; therefore, they always suggest that I vote in a way that may help funding of public schools so students may increase access. Although I understand this is not the situation for everybody, as a young voter it is easy to be influenced by family life. This is one reason I feel it

is important to educate young voters on what is on the ballot and to help them properly dissect how things may affect us.

Another thing that is easy to persuade voters is the media. Social media is only pro gressing to be a bigger thing every day with new advancements. At first it felt as if the me dia was only commercials, billboards or listening to commercials over the radio. All of these advertisements are biased on whether or not you should vote on these things on the ballot. While viewing these advertisements you can notice how all are biased and not actually telling you what you are voting for. This is being seen on social media more and more. For young voters on social media, it can be very dangerous to find election information due to most of the information being heavily biased. Luckily, social media sites like Facebook and Instagram have now implemented fact checking so now they can reduce the amount of false information being spread on their sites. However, these things can still be confusing and confuse new voters.

I decided to ask other students here to see if they had the same perspective that I did. Jacob Torres, a first-year nursing major at Citrus explained why he thought it was important to participate in the Midterm election. “I am voting in this election to experience what it's like to be a first time voter. I truly care about my future, and I feel that taking part in this election is important for young adults overall and many of us should participate. When I think about voting in this election now, I think about the outcome of my future in the upcoming years.” Jacob is one of many teens that participated in this last election and understood why it is important to vote. He understood how his choices on the ballot may affect him in the future. Jacob and I also spoke about Assembly Bill 963 and how it impacts students here at Citrus. He was familiar with the bill at first but I began to explain how the bill requires Citrus to send out these voter resources to students. Although Jacob had shared with me al ready that he was already registered to vote, I asked him if he would use these resources that Assembly Bill 963 pushes out. He said that he would and that it was very important that these resources may be shared to students. “Honestly, it's definitely good to keep pushing voter registration on everyone. Because during the fact that we really want as many people to vote as possible, because it is these people who are going to shape the future of the country, and our states, our counties every where that we are, want to make sure that people have their voice heard”

The way that more Gen Zers are coming of age to vote, technology continues to progress and it could easily get con fusing for any first time voter. This generation is coming to vote and make a change for their communities. The process may seem intimidating but implementing Assembly Bill 963 in col leges may help young voters and assist them in this process. L

“This generation is coming to vote and make a change for their communities."

Photos by Jaylene Muñatones

Chicano Art is Here to Stay

By Jaylene Muñatones

The Cheech Marin Center, a new museum that opened on June 18, is a collection of Mexican American artwork donated by actor and cannabis supporter Cheech Marin, who established himself in cinema and television before becoming one-half of the legendary stoner comedy combo Cheech & Chong in the 1970s. His love for Chicano art was sparked in the late 1980s. With the benefit of his lengthy roles on the television show Nash Bridges and his work as a voice actor for Disney animated films like The Lion King, Cars, Coco, and Beverly Hills Chihuahua, Marin has been capable of funding his collection. The collection has been displayed at more than 50 museums, including LACMA, the Smithsonian, and San Francisco’s De Young, even though several arts organizations are against showcasing private collections. The collection will have a permanent home in sunny Riverside, California. Marin’s unbeatable collection will be utilized by the museum and its educational component—which will include a filmmaking lecture taught by director

Robert Rodriguez—to examine important issues, such as the difference between those who classify as Chicano and the (typically younger) genera tion who associate with the term “Latino.” As a young woman who identifies as Latina, this is a needed thing.

There are two levels to The Cheech. The exhibition downstairs features works by the late painter Carlos Almaraz, who is the subject of the 2020 Netflix documentary Playing With Fire; Glugio “Gronk” Nicandro, a multi disciplinary artist who was a part of the Dada-inspired East L.A. collec tive; Patssi Valdez; Carlos Almaraz; Sandy Rodriguez; Frank Romero; Gilbert “ Magú” Lujań, and Judithe Hernández.

I enjoyed the bottom level of the museum be cause it shows many works by different artists and their different techniques and because they’re very relatable to us Latin people. The “Aunt Helen” painting by Michael Alvarez was one of my personal favorites. This image struck a chord with me because it brought back bitter sweet memories of spending the weekend with family at a cookout in the park, enjoying each other’s company, and enjoying my grandma’s food. To me, this image captures the essence of family unity created by my grandparents. Some other great paintings that were shown were “Wachando the Water” by Pablo Andres Cristi and “Consuelo From East LA” by James McClung. The exhibition upstairs, by Einar and Jamex de la Torre, wasn’t my favorite part of the whole museum. It didn’t really feel like it was art. For example, there are some pieces that are kind of scary and not really enjoyable to see, like a video depicting what looked like a dev ilish cult screaming in the forest and a picture that just showed an image of carne.

I like different kinds of arts: abstract, black-andwhite paintings, sketches, pastels, etc., but per sonally, unearthly imagery isn’t my favorite. I like happy art that I can put in my room, some thing that will brighten my mood. I wouldn’t be able to sleep if I had something like the de la Torre brothers’ artwork in my room.

One piece I did enjoy upstairs was a vase with a distorted portrait. It has multiple colors that make the art piece come to life; the eyes were bright blue, and the mouth was a large opening with a red distorted light bulb inside. The technique for this art was just so different that I liked it. If you’re into indie art, different from what you would normally see in muse ums, you would enjoy the upstairs more. The Cheech may be full of Chicano art, but it is sig nificant for everyone, not just Latinos, to be able to see and learn about an important culture that isn’t discussed enough. The museum does an amazing job showcasing that. Truly, it amazes me to see artwork that portrays the childhood I had. The artwork to me shows unity and love. I recommend going to check it out for yourself — it’s an amazing museum.

COST: Adult: $15.95

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Senior (65+)/Educator/College Student: $10.95 (ID will be required at check in.)

Children 13-17 years of age: $10.95

Children 12 and under: Free Military personnel (active and retired): Free (Accom panying adults and children are also free; ID will be required at check in.)

The Piñata

Piñata Maker

A Day in the Life of a Student Businesss Owner

By Jamie Ramirez

Meet Mayra De La Rosa. She is an 18-year old Latina entrepreneur at Citrus College. She is a freshman majoring in nursing; her goal is to be a certified nurse midwife. “I’ve always loved helping people, so that’s something I aspire to be.”

Not only is she a full-time college student, Mayra is the owner of her own business, named after her: “Mayra’s Piñatas,” which she launched during the heart of the pandemic in December 2020. Her love of making piñatas started shortly before her younger brother, Andres De La Rosa’s, fourth birthday. She realized because of the pandemic, her family wasn’t able to do anything special for Andres’s birthday, so she began

building a piñata from scratch, just for him. She says, “It was something that I found super calming and it was very therapeutic for me, sitting there decorating and creating something.” Soon after, she decided to officially run her very own piñata business.

A typical day for De la Rosa starts at six in the morning to get ready for her classes. After school, she comes home and enjoys breakfast while catching up with her mom, Elsa Cervantes-De La Rosa, 40, while checking calls, mes sages, and emails from her clients. As the day goes on, De La Rosa is either posting content to her social media, or drawing out, building, and decorating the piñatas. At one point, she mentioned how she was flooded with five orders all in one weekend:“I’ve never had so many orders in one weekend. I just want to give out my best work to my clients.” Every week you most likely will catch Mayra at Hobby Lobby buying her piñata supplies.

Photo Courtesy by Mayra De La Rosa

Photo Courtesy by Mayra De La Rosa

Once the day is coming to an end, she always manages to squeeze in a few hours for homework and most importantly some quality time with her family at dinner.

Mayra opened up about the stress that comes along with being a full-time student, business owner, and working part time at a restaurant. “It can be very overwhelming, but there’s times where I am super stressed out and then there’s times where you know, I have free time.” When things get hard she always reminds herself, “If I keep pushing, I’m going to get where I want to be in life.” She encourages anyone who is trying to start a business to keep the three main concepts mind. To never rush anything because everything will come on its own time, to be patient, and most im portantly, to be authentic.“Always be true to what you want to do, whom you aspire to be, and be true to your business as a whole,” De La Rosa says.

Will she continue her business in the future? Or will it be too much to juggle with nursing? “As much as I would love to, I know that nursing is a very time consuming job, so I understand that there might not be time for my business anymore, however this will always be my hobby.” But, don’t worry, Mayra’s Piñata’s is still available on Instagram.

Pricing:

Torno Piñata: $45 Mini Piñata: $35

Custom Piñata: $45+

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Photo Courtesy by Mayra De La Rosa

Photo by Jaylene Muñatones

Photo By Ron Lach